to deserue or not to deserue credit Con. Parmen l. 5. And Optatus B. of Milenis you affirme wee deny betweene your yea and our nay the soules of the people wauer and stagger Let no man belieue either you or vs Wee are all contentious men Wee must seeke out iudges If Christians both sides cannot yeeld them and part taking would hinder truth Wee must seeke for a iudge without If a Pagan hee knowes not the mysteries of Christianity if a Iew hee is an enemie to Christian Baptisme Therefore vpon earth no iudgment touching this matter can bee found Wee must seeke a iudge from heauen But why knocke wee at heauen seeing herein the Gospell wee haue his will and testament With these Fathers your owne men accord The holy doctrine saith Thomas of Aquin Sum. p. 1. q. 1. a. 8. ad 2. vseth such authorities of profane writers as forraine and probable arguments but the authorities of Canonicall Scripture it vseth arguing properly and necessarily and the authorities of the Doctors of the Church as disputing indeed properly yet onely probably For our Faith relyeth on that reuelation which was made to the Apostles and Prophets who wrote the Canonicall books De verb. Dei l. 1. c. 2. but not on reuelation made to other Doctors if any such haue beene And Bellarmin The sacred Scripture is the rule of Faith most safe and certaine and God hath taught vs by corporall letters which wee may see and read what he would haue vs belieue concerning him And Stapleton Del. con Whit. l. 2. De rat Con. l. 2. c. 19. The diuine Scriptures alone yeeld infallible testimony and such as is meerely diuine And Persius also The authority of no Saint is of infallible truth for S. Augustin giues that honour onely to the sacred Scripture But why vouch I human authority hauing diuine God himselfe by the Prophet summons vs vnto the law and to the testimony Esa 8.20 affirming that if any speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Ioh. 5.39 Our Sauiour Christ commandeth to search the Scriptures as which testify of him and wherein eternall life is to bee had Luc. 16 3◠Abraham referred the rich gluttons brethren to Moses and the Prophets assuring himselfe that if they refused to heare them neither would they be perswaded though one rose from the dead The holy Apostle Paul chargeth vs not to presume aboue that which is written 1. Cor. 4.6 in as much as the Scriptures are able to make vs wise vnto saluation through the Faith that is in Christ Iesus 2. Tim. 3.15.16.17 and are profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteousnesse that the man of God may bee perfect Luc. 1.3.4 throughly furnished vnto all good works To what end did Saint Luke write his Gospell was it not that we might know the certainty of those things wherein wee are instructed Phil. 3.1 This saith Saint Paul is a very safe course And hence was it that the Bereans searched the Scripture so carefully Act. 17.11 that they might bee fully assured of those things which were taught thē We haue a more sure word of Prophecy 2. Pet. 1.19 saith Saint Peter whereunto yee doe well that yee take heed as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place vntill the day dawne and the day starre arise in your hearts But S. Paul is yet more peremptory Though we saith hee Gal. 1.8 or an Angell from heauen preach any other Gospell vnto you then that which wee haue preached vnto you let him bee accursed Contra Haer. c. 12. What is it saith Vincentius Lirinensis that hee saith though wee Why not rather though I His meaning is though Peter though Andrew though Iohn yea though the whole Colledge of Apostles preach vnto you otherwise then wee haue preached let him bee anathema A fearefull straine for the maintenance of the first Faith neither to spare himselfe nor his fellow Apostles It is but a little Although saith hee an Angell from heauen preach otherwise then wee haue preached vnto you let him bee Anathema It sufficed not for the preseruation of the Faith once deliuered to mention the nature of humane condition vnlesse he comprehended Angelicall excellency also Though saith hee wee or an Angell from heauen Thus you see that the Faith which was first deliuered and is now contained in the Scripture is the soueraigne rule and iudge of all the doctrines both of men and Angels For whatsoeuer the Apostles preached the same is written as Irenaeus testifieth Lib. 3. c. 2. Whereupon Saint Augustin As touching Christ or his Church Cont. Petil. l. 3. c. 6. or any other thing pertaining to our Faith or life I will not say if wee who are no way to bee compared with him that said Though wee but as it is added if an Angell from heauen preach vnto you otherWise then what yee haue receiued in the Legall and Euangelicall Scriptures let him be accursed Happily you will say the Scripture is indeed the rule of Faith and the law of the Church but not the Iudge or if Iudge yet but a mute and dumbe Iudge and if there bee not some externall visible audible infallible vnerring Iudge to interpret Scriptures and to stint all controuersies there will neuer bee an end of quarels neither will there euer bee peace and vnity in the Church Indeed the name of vnity and peace is a goodly thing and a finall end of all controuersies might it bee had were much to bee wished for But I feare the Church will not bee so happy so long as it dwelleth in tabernacles and is militant here on earth 2. Cor. 11.18.19 Otherwise the holy Apostle would neuer haue written thus to the Corinthians I heare that there bee diuisions among you and I partly belieue it For there must bee also heresies among you that they which are approued may be made manifest among you And the generall experience of former ages confirmeth the same wherein God continually hath exercized his Church either with the fire of persecutions that it might appeare who they are that loue him more then the present world or with the tempests of contrary doctrines that it might bee knowne who are chaffe and who wheat who sound in the Faith and who not Besides this mee thinks the facilnesse and easinesse of the way which your new Masters prescribe vnto you should make you much to suspect the goodnesse of it For whereas it is the good pleasure of God that all men should carefully diligently studie the holy Scriptures Psal 1.2 119. reading them and meditating in them night and day to the end they may grow rich in all knowledge and vnderstanding you by your rule may spare all this paines and though you sit still take your ease and fold your hands yet if you belieue whatsoeuer your externall human iudge
Iewes more then the Epistle to the Hebrewes neither were they all written to all Catholicks for the second and third of Iohn were sent vnto priuate persons onely and all the rest as vniuersally concerne all Catholicks as these few tearmed Catholicke doe I conclude therefore the word Catholicke being latter then the Apostles so must the Creed bee also which vses it Thirdly the different relation of the story bewrayes the vncertainty of it for they giue not all the same article vnto the same Apostle Some marshall them iust as S. Luke doth in the first of the Acts others thus Peter Andrew Iohn Iames the elder Thomas Iames the younger Bartlemew Mathew Simon Iude Mathias Againe some of them attribute vnto Peter part onely of the first article I belieue in God the Father almighty and vnto Iohn the other part Maker of Heauen and Earth But others attribute the whole article vnto Peter and giue another vnto Iohn The like may bee obserued in other articles If then they bee certaine of the tradition why doe they differ thus in their reports If they differ thus one from another who can bee certaine of the tradition Fourthly if the Creed both for matter forme were from the Apostles and they deliuered it precisely in those words in which we now haue it why is it not placed in the Canon of Scripture Certainly in the Church although it euer haue been much esteemed yet was it neuer counted Canonicall Neither hath it been preserued so safe from addition detraction mutation as the rest of the Scriptures always haue been For euen in the ancientest times we find great variety in it Ruffin writing a iust comment on it omits that clause Maker of Heauen and Earth And who knowes not how many there are who relating this Creed leaue out the article of Christ descending into hell De Christi anima c. 6 Euen Bellarmin himselfe confesseth that it was not found anciently in all Creeds and hee voucheth for it Irenaeus Origen Tertullian and Augustin though fiue times he expoūd it and finally the Creed of the Roman Church also as Ruffin witnesseth vnto whom if hee had been so pleased he might haue added a whole armie of others whom for breuities sake I omit Finally the ancient Doctors were so farre from equalling it with Scripture that they appealed from it thereunto as to an higher authority Catech. 4. Cyril plainely affirmeth that wee may not beleeue the Creed without Scripture Biblioth sanc Patr. tom 9. And Paschasius against Macedonius shrowding himselfe vnder some words of the Creed appealeth vnto the Canonicall Scripture for that of it saith hee the text of the Creed dependeth Which had they thought it had been from the Apostles in such forme and as now we haue it without question they neuer would haue done Fiftly the reason which they assigne why they composed this Creed discouers the vanity thereof What was that That it might be forsooth vnto the Apostles a canon rule according to which they should square and conforme their preaching What vnto the Apostles to whom Christ promised his blessed Spirit that should lead them into all truth And that himselfe would put into their mouths a ready answer vpon all occasions so that they should not need to bethinke themselues what to say Could they possibly doubt lest any difference or discord should grow among them in matter of Faith who were so guided by the Spirit of truth and vnity that they could not in any point either erre themselues or lead any other into error Surely so to thinke derogateth much from the truth of Christ and imputeth much weaknesse vnto the Spirit of God and detracteth from the certainty of our Faith which dependeth on their preaching So that for this cause it is vnlikely they made this Creed at leastwise to this end De Symb. ad Cat. l. 1. c. 1. Lastly Saint Augustin saith thus not that false Augustin vpon whom those Sermons de tempore are fathered and whose authority is vsually alledged to warrant this legend but the true S. Augustin saith Illa verba Symboli qua audiuistis per Scripturas sparsa sunt inde collecta ad vnum redacta those words of the Creed which you haue heard are dispersed through the Scriptures and being gathered from thence are reduced into one With him agreeth Paschasius De Spirit Sanct. c. 1. De sacris omninò voluminibus quae sunt credenda sumamus de quorum fonte symboli ipsius series deriuata consistit Let vs take out of the sacred volumes what things wee are to belieue out of which fountaine the order of the Creed is deriued Centur. 1. l. 2. c. 4. And Marcellus a Bishop in a letter to Iulius Bishop of Rome professeth hauing rehearsed the words of the Creed Se hanc fidem ex Scripturis accepisse a maioribus secundum Deum accepisse candem in Ecclesiâ Dei praedicare that he receiued this Faith out of the Scriptures and next after God from his ancestors and that hee preached it in the Church of God If then as these Fathers affirme the Creed bee gathered out of the Scriptures how can the Apostles bee authors thereof For out of the old Testament they could not gather that Christ was borne of the Virgin Mary or that hee suffered vnder Pontius Pilate And as for the new many of the Apostles were dead before all was written and Iames before any was written besides that no part of it was written when the Creed was compiled if it bee true which the legend saith And these are the reasons for which it seemeth vnto me more then probable that the Apostles were neuer Authors of this Creed If it be so will some say why doth it then beare the Apostles name I answere because as out of S. Augustin and others we haue shewed the matter therein contayned is perfectly agreeable with the Apostles writings and was collected out of them Moreouer Apostolicall is a terme extended by writers vnto the first three hundred years after Christ Haet sola fides saith Damasus Ep. 5. quae Nicaeae Apostolorum authoritate fundata est perpetua est firmitate seruanda this only Faith which was established at Nice by the authority of the Apostles is firmely and perpetually to be held So Scythianus and Terebinthus are said to haue liued temporibus Apostolorum in the time of the Apostles Epiph. Haer. 66. who yet liued in Aurelians time towards three hundred years after Christ And Isidor distinguishing betweene Apostles and the First Apostles saith that Apostles continued downe vntill Pope Syluester and that the times before the great Councell of Nice were Apostolicall Although therefore the first Apostles were not the founders of this Creed yet those succeeding Apostles were of whom it may be called the Apostles Creed These things being so let it bee obserued thereupon first how friuolously Papists cauill and quarell with vs affirming that wee hold
that they euer remained more then conquerors And now as they haue left behind them a pretious name among the Saints so wee doubt not but their soules are bound vp in the bundle of life and enioy the blessed making vision of God for euermore Such books of theirs as are come to our hands we esteeme as rich treasures and value them aboue gold Them doe wee search and peruse with all diligence bee it spoken without offence no Papists more Yet can wee not throughout them meet with those terrible Bugbears you so much complain of rather wee wonder how you could misse all those good Angels so frequently appearing in them to comfirme and settle you in your first Faith For I wil bee bold to say notwithstanding all the brags and crakes of that side that the Fathers are ours not yours or if they bee yours in any thing it is in the pettiest and smallest matters for in the maine and great questions controuerted between vs they are expresly for vs and against you as hereafter God willing shall in part appeare Vpon confidence whereof whensoeuer wee were summond and called vnto the Fathers by you wee neuer refused their triall but euer haue beene ready to aduenture all vpon their verdict The chalenge of that famous Prelate Ser. at Pauls Crosse Doctor Iewell Bishop of Salisbury is yet fresh in memory that if any learned man of our aduersaries or if all the learned men that bee aliue be able to bring any one sufficient sentence out of any old Catholicke Doctor or Father or out of any old generall Councell or out of the holy Scriptures of God or any one example of the Primitiue Church whereby it may clearly and plainly be proued that there was any priuate Masse in the whole world at that time for the space of sixe hundred yeares after Christ and so foorth in seuen and twenty seuerall articles hee would bee content to yeeld and to subscribe Reply to Hardings Ans This chalenge as that renowned Bishop in his life-time made good himselfe against his aduersary Master Harding so was it neuer yet retracted by any of vs but hath stoutly beene maintained by sundry succeeding champions Heare one for all That sayth worthy Whitaker Con. Camp tat 5. which Iewell most truly and constantly vttered that day when hee appealed to the antiquity of sixe hundred yeeres and offered vnto you that if you could bring foorth but one sentence cleere and euident out of any Father or Councell he would not refuse to yeeld the victory vnto you the same doe we all professe we all promise the same we will not shrinke from our word Thus you see how wee reiect not the Fathers as you would beare the world in hand but triumph rather in the testimony they giue vs and in our Apologies and Defences alledge them plentifully against you Howbeit neither doe wee nor dare wee make Gods of them or equall them with the holy Apostles as if they were infallible and could not erre Clouen tongues neuer sate vpon them as they did vpon these neither did the Spirit of God so guide and direct their pens but that sometimes they might faile and write amisse Had they had infallibility of iudgement safely might wee build our Faith vpon them but this they vtterly disclaime acknowledging it to bee the peculiar priuiledge of the Apostles And so far are they from making themselues Masters of our Faith that they require vs to iudge and censure of their writings by the Scripture which is the rule of Faith Neither would they haue vs to tie our selues vnto their authority more then they tyed themselues vnto the authority of others but freely to accept or refuse as wee see iust cause Hom. 13. in 2. Cor. I pray and beseech you all saith Chrysostome that leauing this and that mans opinion you will search all these things out of the Scripture In Euseb hist l. 7. c. 24. Let it bee commended saith Dionysius of Alexandria and without enuy assented vnto which is rightly spoken but if any thing bee vnsoundly written let that bee looked into and corrected Epist 62. I know I my selfe saith Hierome esteeme of the Apostles in one sort and of other Writers in another that the first alwayes speake truth and the latter as men doe in some things erre De Trinit l. 3. c. 1. In all my writings saith Saint Augustin I desire not only a godly Reader but also a free corrector yet as I would haue the Reader addicted vnto mee so neither would I haue a corrector addicted to himselfe De lib. arb l. 2. c. 32. And againe I am not bound to the authority of this man meaning Cyprian but I examine his saying by the authority of Scripture and what agreeth therewith I receiue with his commendation what agreeth not by his leaue I refuse And yet againe Epist 111. ad Fortunat. Neither are wee to esteeme the disputations of any men although Catholicke and praise worthy as the Canonicall Scriptures that wee may not sauing the honour which is due to those men dislike and reiect something in their writings if happily wee find them to haue thought otherwise then the truth either by others or our selues through Gods help vnderstood Such am I in the writings of others and such would I haue the vnderstanders of mine to bee Epist 19. ad Hieron Finally I saith the same Saint Augustin confesse vnto your charity that I haue learned to yeeld vnto those books of Scripture alone which now are called Canonicall this reuerence and honor that I most firmely belieue no Author of them to haue erred any thing in writing And if I find any thing in their writings which seemeth contrary to truth I will not sticke to say that either the copie is faulty or the translator apprehended not what is spoken or I vnderstand it not But others I so read that how much soeuer they excell in holynesse and learning I thinke it not therefore true because they thought so but because either by those Canonicall Authors or by probable reason not abhorring from truth they were able to perswade mee Thus the Fathers whose steps if wee tread in and whose counsell if wee follow and not taking vp euery thing vpon trust but examining them by the touchstone of truth I hope wee are rather to bee commended then blamed And reason for neither were the Fathers more then men neither are wee of this age lesse then men And I wonder why we may not iudge of the sayings of those who are but men as well as our selues What haue wee not reasonable soules as well as they are we not endued with the same faculty of vnderstanding and discoursing haue wee not still the same helps both of nature and art which they had Or when they died did the Holy Ghost also giue vp the ghost with them or doth hee deny to assist these latter times with his enlightning grace as hee
will either read or heare it read vnto them they cannot but know and vnderstand it This I could easily shew in euery particular and fundamentall point but that I should hold you too long Ps 19.8.9 Ps 119.105.130 Only if it bee not so tell me why doth the Holy Ghost say that they giue wisedome to the simple and light to the eyes that they are a lanterne to our feete and a light vnto our paths that the entrance into them sheweth light and giueth vnderstanding to the simple 2. Pet. 1.19 And why doth the holy Apostle S. Peter tearme them a light shining in a darke place Neither is it to bee neglected that all this is meant of the Scripturs of the old Testament Ioh. 20.31 which if they bee so lightsome how bright and cleere are they of the new These things are written saith Saint Iohn to the end yee might beleeue that Iesus is the Christ the Sonne of God Rom. 15.4 and that beleeuing yee might haue life through his Name And Saint Paul The things that are written are written for our instruction Now if the Scriptures in things necessary be so obscure and hard to vnderstand either it is because the Holy Ghost could not write more plainely or because he would not That hee could not no man will say that hee would not crosseth the end of his writing which was as is aboue said to instruct in the Faith and to bring vs vnto life But that God by writing obscurely and yet commanding vs to search should either intend to mocke vs or faile of his owne end cannot bee imagined without notable impiety Heare what the Fathers say Dial. cum Tryph. Iustin Martyr Harken to the things which I shall report from the holy Scriptures which Scriptures need not to bee expounded but onely heard Clemens of Alexandria Exhort ad Ethnic Heare yee that are farre off heare yee that are nigh the Word is hidden from none it is a common light it shineth vnto all men there is no Cimmerian darkenesse in it let vs hasten to saluation to regeneration Chrysostome In. 2. Thess hom 3. All things necessary are cleere and plaine in the Scriptures so that were it not through our owne negligence wee should not need Homilies and Sermons Augustin Doct. Christ l. 2. c. 9. In those things which are plainely set downe in the Scripture are found all those things which containe Faith and Manners of life to wit Hope and Charity And Bernard Ser. in illud Sap. Iustum deduxit The wayes of the Lord are straight faire full and plaine wayes Straight without error because they lead vnto life faire without filth because they teach cleannesse full for multitude because all the world is within Christs net plaine without difficulty because they yeeld sweetnesse Biblioth l. 6. ann 152. Hereunto your owne men agree Sixtus Senensis diuideth the Scripture into two parts granting that the one is cleere and euident containing the first and highest principles of things that are to be belieued and the chiefe precepts of good life and examples easy to bee knowne such as are some morall sentences and certaine holy Histories Anal. â—iâ— p. 100. profitable for the ordering of manners And Gregory of Valentia Such verities concerning our Faith as are absolutely and necessarily to bee knowne and belieued of all men are in a manner plainely taught in the Scriptures themselues Thus all things necessary to saluation are so plainely set downe in Scripture that at least wise for the determination of them your externall Humane Iudge needeth not Yea but neither are all satisfied with these plaine places neither are all places of Scripture plaine True Yet haue you no reason to doubt of that which is plaine because some through frowardnesse will not vnderstand no more then you haue of the snow whether it be white because Anaxagoras thought that it was blacke If nothing can be certaine but that which is vnquestioned we must all turne Scepticks and neuer beleeue any thing For as in Philosophy so in Diuinity there is nothing almost so absurd but one or other hath held and what dispute there is euen about this Iudge of yours and the last resolution of Faith you cannot bee ignorant As for those darker places if you vnderstand them not yet assenting vnto the plainer you are without danger seeing in those plainer as wee haue shewed all things necessary are comprehended Neither is their darkenesse so great but that without your torch-bearer they may bee enlightned In Esa 19. For as Hierome saith It is the order of the Scripture after hard things to set downe things that are plaine and what is first spoken in Parables afterward to deliuer in cleere tearmes Doct. Christ l. 2. c. 6. And Augustin There is nothing almost among those obscurities but in other places one may find it most plainely deliuered In. 2. Cor. hom 9. And Chrysostome The Scripture euery where when it speaketh any thing obscurely interpreteth it selfe againe in another place So the rest And hence they gather that Scripture is to bee interpreted by Scripture and the doubtfull places by those that are more certaine as appeareth in their writings but specially by Saint Augustin in his books of Christian Doctrine purposely by him written to demonstrate as much According to this precept was their continuall practice and what interpretation they found agreeing with plaine Scripture and the particular circumstances of the text that they admitted as true but what they iudged to swarue from it that they reiected as contrary to the Analogie of Faith and the Principles of our Religion Which course if wee also take and this course wee ought to take vnlesse wee thinke that God is not the best interpreter of his owne words we cannot at leastwise dangerously erre in our interpretations and we may boldly refuse those as false which we find contrary vnto this Analogie of Faith For example These words of Christ This is my Body wee vnderstand thus This Bread is Sacramentally my Body you thus This Bread is turned or transubstantiated into my Body The question now is whether is the truer interpretation yours or ours Let vs trie it by this rule Your owne Scotus and Cameracensis thinke that opinion which holdeth the substance of bread and wine to remaine 4 d. l. 11. q. 3. lit F. Quaest in 4. q. 6. a. 2. Lit. â— to bee the more probable and reasonable opinion yea and in all appearance more agreeable with the words of institution De Euchar. l. 3. c. 23. In regard whereof saith Bellarmine It may iustly be doubted whether the text bee cleere enough to inforce it transubstantiation seeing most learned and witty men such as Scotus was haue thought the contrary So that in these mens iudgement the likelyhood is on our side and you haue great reason to doubt of your exposition Besides this the Analogy of Faith teacheth vs that Christs Body is
which they are iustified and so come to eternall life But what say I vnto the Minor deliuered in other tearmes thus Knowledge of Christ apprehendeth eternall life I say first it is not the same Proposition because the tearmes are changed neither are they equipollent Secondly I grant it to bee true whether you meane by knowledge Dogmaticall Faith or Particular assurance for by the one doe we apprehend that there is an eternall life by the other that wee haue speciall interest in it Well then if it apprehendeth eternall life doth it not follow that therefore also it apprehendeth iustification No by no meanes for as wee haue aboue demonstrated it is not necessary that that which apprehendeth the latter should apprehend the former also And yet though I disallow the consequence the consequent I readily yeeld you that Particular knowledge apprehendeth iustification for so haue wee defined Faith of promise to be a perswasion or assurance that the promise of God made in Christ to wit iustification remission of sinnes adoption regeneration finally election it selfe and eternall saluation doe particularly pertaine vnto mee and are mine What gather you now of this Ergo say you it is iustifying Faith How so Because whatsoeuer apprehendeth iustification is iustifying Faith Nay contrarily whatsoeuer apprehendeth iustification it not iustifying Faith for apprehension followeth iustification no man apprehending himselfe to bee iustified vntill hee be iustified but Iustifying Faith is in nature before iustification that being the cause and this the effect And therefore vnlesse you will say that that which followeth is that which goeth before you cannot say that that which apprehendeth iustification is that which iustifieth To conclude therefore neither is Faith knowledge nor knowledge Faith but particular knowledge for ought you haue yet said or can say commeth in time after Faith But whereas finally you inferre that Faith is knowledge in the beginning knowledge in proceeding knowledge in the end besides that the foundation vpon which it is grounded is vntrue it is cleane contrary also to that which erewhile you affirmed that Faith is but one compounded of my three nice distinctions the first being the beginning the second the progresse the third the end For the third is Faith of Person and in the Will and is by your confession there the end of Faith yet here you say faith is knowledge in the end which things how they can stand together I see not vnlesse you will say that knowledge is in the Will and so confound the faculties and operations of the soule N. B. In Ioh. 1. Ep. c. 5. to 13. The place of Saint Iohn by you cited to proue your Minor in your argument maketh nothing for you because the Apostle speaketh of their increase of knowledge and not of the originall begetting of knowledge and so saith M. Caluin I. D. The text in the clearest tearmes that may bee distinguisheth betweene Belieuing and knowing and vnto that giueth the priority before this but your glosse confoundeth their natures and saith that the Apostle here speaketh onely of increase of knowledge Wo to the glosse that corrupteth the text for if this bee S. Iohns meaning it is as if hee should say I write vnto you that know that yee are iustified haue eternall life that yee may increase in knowing that yee haue eternall life and that yee may know yee are iustified and haue eternall life which how vnworthy it is the pen of an Apostle euery one easily seeth But Caluin you say interpreteth the place as you doe Bee it so yet is it not the name of Caluin how venerable soeuer that may sway this matter For seeing I professe to differ from him in the definition of Iustifying Faith hee defining it by knowledge I by Affiance you may not thinke it vnreasonable if in this point and the explication of such scriptures as may seeme to concerne it I desire rather to bee pressed with his reasons then borne downe with his authority But what saith Caluin Because there ought to bee dayly proceedings in Faith therefore he writes to them that belieue already that they may more firmely and certainly belieue Whereunto I willingly assent if you apply it as Beza in his annotations doth vnto the last clause of the verse and that yee may belieue for then the meaning without forcing or constraining the words will bee as if hee should say I write vnto you that belieue that belieuing yee may know yee haue eternall life knowing the same may constantly perseuere and proceed on in Belieuing For as the clouds poure downe raine to moisten the earth and the earth moistned sendeth vp vapours againe to make clouds so likewise Faith begets Assurance and Assurance being gotten doth againe confirme and strengthen faith And thus doe the Century-writers expound this place Cent. 1. l. 2. c. 4. p. 276. gathering from it that Cetainty of Saluation is an Effect of Faith and so euidently distinguishing knowledge from Faith Treatise 3. Arg. That which in nature comes after iustification cannot bee iustifying Faith This appeares because Faith is the Efficient Instrumentall cause of Iustification and euery Efficient by the rule of Logicke is in nature before the Effect But this knowledge or assurance is in nature after Iustification Ergo it is not Faith N. B. Your Minor is very false and so proued by my former arguments For particular knowledge and assurance of our saluation is not in nature after Faith but is Faith and wholy infused by the Spirit of God and begotten by hearing of the Word preached and commeth to act by degrees according to the measure of grace giuen of God For it is in Habitu sometime not in actu Faith habituall in power actuall in the deed of belieuing as when one sleepeth his beliefe is not in actu and yet hee liueth vnto God by his faith which liueth powerfully in him though not actually I. D. The Maior of my Syllogisme is vndeniable because as I haue said Faith is the cause of iustification For as D. Fulke saith vnto Bristow excluding it from Efficient causes Reioinder to Bristow p. 172. Seeing Scripture often affirmeth that God worketh in vs by Faith faith must needs be an instrumentall efficient when you haue said all that you can except you will teach vs new Grammar and Logicke The Minor therefore you say is very false and so proued by your former arguments But those arguments are already answered and thus I proue the Minor For as for the rest of your idle and wilde talke touching the infusion begetting degrees habit act of Faith I willingly passe ouer lest pursuing you in this course I seeme to run riot and play the wanton with you Treatise The truth of a Proposition is alwayes in nature before the knowledge of the truth for Propositions are not therefore true because they are knowne so but they are first true and knowne so Therefore this Proposition I know I am iustified spoken
Fiducia a Rest or Deuolution the Subiect of it the facultie of the Will not the Vnderstanding the next end of it Iustification the remore end eternall saluation and I thus define it A rest of the will vpon Christ and his merits for iustification and consequently saluation I. D. Because you complaine anon that the word Rest which I haue made to bee the iustifying act of Faith is ambiguous and thereupon it pleaseth you in your Answers following to take aduantage and make you mery with the Equiuocation thereof you shall giue me leaue before I step a foot further in a few words and a little more plainely to open my meaning touching that Act. And to this end seeing to proue that Faith is an Affiance or Rest I reported mee in my Treatise vnto the words vsed in the originall of the old Testament as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the forme of words vsed in the new as to belieue in to hope in or as in some translations it is read to belieue on to hope on I will first shew that these tearmes applied vnto Christ the right Obiect of Faith import that very Act whereby wee stand iustified before God and secondly I will diligently inquire and search out what may bee the true proper and naturall meaning of these tearmes both which being cleerely demonstrated it will manifestly appeare both what that Rest is which I make to be the iustifying Act of Faith and how fondly and vainely you cauill and dally with the ambiguity thereof That Belieuing in or vpon importeth that Act is in it selfe so apparant that I thinke no sober man will deny it but because to you a man must proue that the Sunne shines thus I demonstrate it That which is imputed for righteousnesse and by which wee are iustified is the true Act of Iustifying Faith This you cannot deny vnlesse you will turne Papist for our Religion will not permit you to ioyne any other companion with Faith in the matter of Iustification But such belieuing is imputed for righteousnesse and is that by which we are iustified so saith the Apostle Rom. 4.5 To him that belieueth in him that iustifieth the wicked his Faith is counted for righteousnesse and againe Wee haue belieued in Iesus Christ that wee might bee iustified by the Faith of Christ Adde hereunto that whereas the same Apostle saith With the heart man belieueth vnto righteousnesse Rom. 10.10 forthwith in the next verse hee interpreteth that Belieuing by Belieuing in For saith hee the Scripture saith V. 11. whosoeuer belieueth in him shall not bee ashamed Wherefore I conclude that so to Belieue is the Iustifying Act of Faith So also is Hoping in or vpon being in effect the same with Belieuing in For although Hope and Faith bee in nature two distinct Graâ—es and so reckoned by Saint Paul yet seeing by reason of the neere affinity betweene them Hope is sometime put for Faith it may not seeme strange that to hope in is also vsed for to belieue in Now that Hope is sometime put for Faith appeareth by that of Saint Peter 1 Pet. 3.15 Bee ready alwayes to giue an answer to euery man that asketh you a reason of the Hope that is in you where Hope as Caluin saith In eum loc is by a Synechdoche taken for Faith And as manifest is it by Saint Paul that to Hope in is no other then to Belieue in for hauing said That wee should bee vnto the praise of his glory who first hoped in Christ Eph. 1.12.13 In whom also yee hoped hauing heard the Word of Truth the Gospell of your Saluation by and by hee ads by way of interpretation In whom also Belieuing yeee were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise In a word the Act of Hope properly taken is expectation or looking out for the performance or comming of a thing but Hoping in imports Affiance or trusting on something for the performance thereof As touching the words of the old Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first I find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confounded with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as words of the same signification they being after the manner of Scripture ioyned together in the same verse as equipollent the one to explane and expound the other for example Psal 118.8 Psal 37.5 It is better saith Dauid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to trust in the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then to put confidence in man and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Roll thy way vpon the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and trust vpon him But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it selfe is in the same manner confounded with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which construed with the Proposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to Belieue in and is by your owne confession the very Act of iustifying Faith for example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they belieued not in God Psal 78.22 Mic. 7.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and trusted not in his saluation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Belieue not in a friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trust not in a Prince Againe that which in the old Testament is vttered by one of these words the same in the new is expressed by Belieuing in for example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We trust in the Name of his Holinesse saith the old Testament Psal 33.21 Ioh. 1.12 1 Ioh. 3.23.5.13 Prou. 3.5 Act. 8.37 Psal 25.2 Psal 31.1 Rom. 10.11 Hee that belieueth in his Name saith the new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trust in the Lord with thy whole heart saith the old If thou Belieue with thy whole heart saith the new finally In thee O Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haue I trusted let mee not be confounded saith the old Hee that Belieueth in him shall not bee ashamed saith the new If you except against this last parallell that the Apostle hath reference vnto that of Esay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee that Belieueth maketh not haste rather vnto those passages of the Psalmes aboue quoted I answer with Beza that it is not likely In ad Ro. 10.11 partly because the vniuersall particle and the word in him is not to bee found in the Prophet partly because the Apostle saith not as the Phophet Esay doth maketh not haste but precisely accordeth with the words of the Prophet Dauid saying shall not bee confounded nor ashamed Howsoeuer seeing in all these places the same thing is intended and meant it is cleere that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Belieuing in are Synonyma differing in name but not in definition and so I conclude what aboue I vndertooke to demonstrate that all these tearmes properly import the Iustifying act of Faith In the next place are wee to inquire the right acception and signification of these words that wee may more perfectly conceiue what that Fiducia or Rest is which wee haue made to bee that Act. And first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as R. Kimchi obserueth properly and primitiuely signifieth to retire into
did the former Ioh. 16.13 Certainly the Spirit that leadeth into all truth is yet and euer shall bee amongst vs vnto the end of the world And as before the writings of the Fathers were hee directed his Church vnto the true sence of Scripture so now I doubt not but if all whatsoeuer they haue written were vtterly lost he would still guide vs therein as hee did them And verily vnlesse wee will bee too vnthankfull wee cannot but confesse that as age through Gods bounty hath had more meanes then those heretofore so through his blessing it hath made further proceedings also in the knowledge of Scripture For besides that wee haue whatsoeuer helps they had we haue ouer and aboue the benefit of all their works together with much skilfulnes in the Originall of the old Testament which most of them wanted and of the new also wherewith some were but little acquainted In regard whereof whosoeuer shall duly compare the ancient Commentaries with those of latter times must needs bee either weake in iudgement or obstinate in preiudice if hee preferre not these Your owne men ingenuously acknowledge so much Art 18. cont Luther It cannot bee vnknowne to any saith Fisher B. of Rochester that there are many things as well in other Scriptures as the Gospels now more cleerely discussed and throughly vnderstood then in ancient times namely because the Ancients had not the yce broken vnto them or because their age sufficed not exactly to sound the whole sea of Scripture In Rom. 5. disp 51. And Salmeron God hath not giuen to all men all that euery age might enioy some truths which the former knew not Euery age hath euer ascribed much to antiquity yet this wee auouch the yonger the Doctors the cleerer sighted And Dominicus Bannes Jt is not necessary that the more remote the Church is from the Apostles times the lesse perfect knowledge of the mysterie of Faith should bee therein because after the Apostles time there were not the most learned in the Church which had dexterity in vnderstanding the matters of Faith Wee are not therefore enwrapped in the more darknesse for that in respect of time wee are more distant from Christ but rather the Doctors of these latter times being godly and treading in the steps of the ancient Fathers haue attained more expresse vnderstanding in some things then they had For they are like children standing on the shoulders of Giants who being lifted by the talnesse of Giants no maruell if they see further then they themselues In Luc. 10. This similitude Stella also vseth to the same purpose God forbid saith he that I should condemne what such and so many wise men haue with one accord affirmed yet wee know well that Pigmies set on the shoulders of Giants see further then the Giants themselues doe Thus they Whereby you see the Fathers haue no prerogatiue aboue vs because they were before vs but wee rather haue the aduantage because wee come after them In a word bee they whatsoeuer you will their seruants wee are not but their fellow seruants sent from God with the same commission to the same end and with the same promises that they were Neither doth their authority more bind vs in that they are our predecessors then our authority shall bind them who many ages hereafter may be our successors But draw we a little closer The ancient Fathers say you are the ground of your Faith What seuerally and single by themselues 〈◊〉 12. I suppose no for there is not one of them as your owne side confesseth but hath his error and I presume you would bee loth to follow them therein The Fathers therefore either all iointly or the more part of them agreeing in one So Canus Loc. lib. 7. c. 3. What the greater part of the Fathers iudgeth that wee professe to bee of the Catholicke Faith So Salmeron also In 1. Ioh. 3. disp 25. When all or almost all Fathers agree in one it is an ineuitable argumeÌ„t And Gregory of Valentia It is infallibly true which they deliuer with one consent Anal. l. 8. c. 8. â—ea an infallible rule iudging And Onuphrius Prim. Pap. p. 1. c. 6. It is rash and foolish and terrible rashnesse to goe against a sense giuen by the Fathers for the vnderstanding of the Scriptures And finally the Councell of Trent which peremptorily chargeth that no man dare to interprete the Scriptures against the vnanimous consent of the Fathers This then vndoubtedly being your assertion as euery way according with the Tenet of the Church of Rome let vs in Gods name trie the strength thereof and see with what security and safety a man may aduenture his Faith and consequently his eternall saluation vpon this ground And first whosoeuer will stedfastly repose his Faith vpon consent of Fathers had need be right well assured which are the authenticall writings of the Fathers For if these bee doubtfull and vncertaine the whole frame raised vpon them must of necessity shake and totter Now that there are bookes more then a good many which in their forefronts are inscribed and entitled vnto the Fathers yet in truth are meerely suppositious and apocryphall I know you cannot bee ignorant Nor Origen nor Athanasius nor Basil nor Chrysostome nor Cyril nor Tertullian nor Cyprian nor Ambrose nor Hierâ—me nor Augustin nor any one almost of all the Fathers but hath suffered notorious wrong in this kind hauing base brats and misbegotten bastards fathered vpon him Which also is so cleere and manifest that Posseuin and Salmeron and Maldonat and Baronius and Bellarmine and all the rest of that side though too frequently they make vse of such refuse stuffe yet euery where in their writings are constrained to acknowledge so much Biblioth l. 4. But amongst the rest Sixtus Senensis especially who purposely recording the works of all the Fathers taketh vpon him to demonstrate as much in euery one of them as in his Catalogue hee passeth from one Father to another So that indeed it would bee but an idle wasting both of oile and time if I should spend many words in proofe of that which is denied of none and therefore I forbeare further to trouble you with particularity Only because in our Conference you so confidently affirmed that Dionysius the Areopagite euen he who was Saint Pauls conuert and Scholler was the right Author of all those books that are now extant vnder his name I must entreat you to haue a little patience while I maintaine against you the negatiue which I then held and for which I stand still engaged vnto you That this Denise is but a counterfait but Diuines proue by sundry vnanswerable arguments I will not vrge them all but cull out the choicest Omitting therefore the Stile sauouring more of three hundred yeeres after then those Apostolicall times and his curious speculations in the secrets of heauen as if hee had beene surueyer thereof or had taken a muster
of all the heauenly hoste of the blessed Spirits therein whereas Saint Paul himselfe though hee had beene rauished vp into the third heauen euen into the Paradise of God 2 Cor. 12.3.4 yet returning backe neyther durst nor did vtter any such thing and lastly that hee talken so familiarly of Churches and Chancels and Monks and diuers other orders and ceremonies which are well knowne to be of a much latter date omitting I say these and the like obiections although perhaps not so easy to bee answered consider with mee I beseech you these few reasons following First if these were the books of that Denâ— which was Saint Pauls Scholler how commeth it to passe that neither Eusebius in his Ecclesiasticall history nor Ierome nor Gennadâ—ui purposely writing Catalogues of all the famous Writers before them nor Origen nor Chrysostom nor any ancient Father so farre as I can learne maketh any mention of them vntill Gregory the Great who liued about 600. Hom. 34. de 10. dragm yeares after Christ and speaketh very doubtfully of them too For as for Athanasius whom you affirmed to quote him I suppose you meant him in his Questions out of the old and new Testament wherein hee cites his Mystica Theologia But neither was this booke of Denis knowne in the time of Athanasius nor did Athanasius himselfe write that Biblioth l. 4. as your Sixtus Senensis thinketh For had hee written it would hee thinke you haue vouched his owne authority and that with such arrogance vnder the name of Great Athanasius or could hee haue mentioned Gregory Nazianzen who flourished so long after his decease I trow no yet hee doth both Quest 23. 117. 129. Act. 17. 34. Ib. 16.3 c. Secondly it is well knowne that S. Paul was the man that conuerted Denis and that before his comming to Athens Timothy had beene entertained by him and in his company had trauelled ouer many countreyes and grew so intimate and deere vnto him that he both counted and called him his Son 1 Tim. 1.2 2. c. 1.2 Which being so it cannot reasonably bee imagined that the true Denis would proue either so vngratefull or so presumptuous as this counterfait sheweth himselfe to bee vngratefull in that forgetting Saint Paul he euer speakes of one Hierotheus in obscure man in comparison as of his Master presumptuous for that as if hee were a Father to Timothy as well as Saint Paul hee calleth him his Sonne notwithstanding hee were farre more fit to bee his disciple Thirdly Diuin nom c. 5. Strom. l. 8. this Denis citeth Clemens the Philosopher not Clemens of Rome as some would haue it but of Alexandria for in him the very passage quoted by Denis is to bee found Deuin nom c. 4. And yet this Clemens liued two hundred yeeres after Christ Hee citeth also these words out of Ignatius My loue is crucified as if hee had beene present at his Martyrdome Memod and yet the true Dionysius suffered vnder Domitian whereas Ignatius both wrote his Epistle and was martyred some good while after him vnder Trajan Hee further citeth the Gospell and Reuelation of Saint Iohn as if they had a long time beene parcels of holy Scripture howbeit if wee may belieue history both those books were written but a little before Saint Iohns death and fourteen yeeres after the death of Dionysius And yet againe in an Epistle to Polycarpus hee speaketh vnto him as vnto a reuerend Bishop and Doctour Neuerthelesse Dionysius himselfe suffered in France in the yeere of our Lord ninety sixe as Writers testify but Polycarpus in the yeere one hundred sixty sixe and of his age eighty sixe so that at the death of Dionysius Polycarpus could be but a stripling and about sixteene yeeres old Fourthly according to the Prouerbe the Rat perisheth by bewraying himselfe for speaking of Infants and why they are baptized thus he saith Hier. Eccl. c. 7. Hereof wee say those things which our diuine Masters being instructed by the old tradition haue brought vnto vs. In which words ere hee was aware hee hath discouered that nor Paul nor any other of the Apostles could be his Masters for it is both vntrue and absurd to say that the holy Apostles were instructed in the point of Christian Baptisme by the old tradition Lastly this Denis writeth that himselfe together with Timothy and Hierotheus were present at the departure and funerall of the Blessed Virgin Mother Ep. ad Tim. Now story saith that shee liued threescore and three yeeres being fifteen yeeres of age when she bare Christ whereunto if yee adde thirty three yeeres of Christs life and fifteen more to make up her full age it will appeare that shee dyed eight and forty yeeres after her Sonnes birth and fifteen after his Ascension But on the other side it plainely appeareth that Denis Arcopagite was not conuerted vnto the Christian Faith till the eighteenth yeere after the ascension one and fifty yeeres after Christs birth Our Diuines gather it thus The Scripture witnesseth that Saint Paul was not called till Christ was ascended Reinold in Conc. 8. d. 2. Act. 9.5 Gal. 1.18 Act. 9.26 Gal. 1.21 Act. 13.4 Gal. 2.1 Act. 15.4 Act. 16.1 Being called hee stayed three yeeres in Damascus and Arabia before hee came to Ierusalem Thence he went into the coasts of Syria and Cilicia and the Countreyes thereabout And fourteen yeeres after hee came to Ierusalem againe with Barnabas to the Councell From the Councell hee went to Derbe and Lystra Where hee receiued Timothy And hauing trauelled through Phrygia Galatia Mysia Macedonia hee came at last to Athens Act. 17.34 where hee conuerted Denys So that it must needs bee about eighteen or at the least seuenteen yeeres after Christs Ascension before Saint Denys know Christ All which duely considered it is euident that the Blessed Virgin dyed if not three full yeeres yet more then two before the conuersion of Denys and consequently that he could not be one of those Brethren who were present at her death and funerall Whence also it followeth ineuitably that the Authour of that booke cannot possibly be this Denys This argument being pressed by that renowmed Reinolds vpon Iohn Hart Confer c. 8. d. 2. hee confessed ingenuously that hee knew not how to accord it And these or the like reasons haue so preuailed with sundry of your owne side that they haue beene forced some to doubt of him others vtterly to disclaime him from being the true Denys Praef. in Probl. Alex. Aphrod Theodorus Caza affirmeth those books of the Hierarchy to be none of Denys the Athenians In Act. 17. Ibid. Erasmus also professeth himselfe to be of the same mind And Laurentius Valla saith that the learnedest men of his time entitled one Apollinarius vnto them Cardinall Cajetan not onely saith it In Act. 17. but also sheweth how vnlikely it is that hee who wrote of the Names of God and of the Heauenly and
Articles he meriteth by belieuing although it be an error because hee is bound to belieue vntill it manifestly appeare that it is against the Church O immortall God if this bee true how easy a thing is it for a Papist to bee saued Onely belieue what your Prelate or Curate telleth you and you shall not need to trouble your selfe further for whether it be true or false sound doctrine or heresy you are out of danger nay it is meritorious to belieue it Alas alas that poore simple people should bee so miserably cheated and seduced God I hope will ere long open their eyes to see these impostures and by the light of his word guide their feet in a surer way In the meane season giue me leaue to summe vp all what I haue hitherto sayd and thereupon to inferre the Conclusion first intended Seeing therefore as wee haue now fully demonstrated the Fathers were but men as wee are neither hauing the Promise nor assuming vnto themselues the Priuiledge of Infallibility aboue vs seeing secondly many Counterfaits are set forth vnder the names of the Fathers which the best of your side cannot so readily discerne and which they ordinarily alledge in euery controuersie betwixt vs for authenticall Fathers seeing thirdly the writings of the Fathers are pitifully corrupted and adulterated by Hereticks and others and that sundry wayes by Addition Substraction Alteration Misquotation and False translation seeing fourthly the sayings of the Fathers are so ambiguous and obscure that not onely we and you one against another but your owne side also among themselues are distracted and diuided touching the sence and meaning of them seeing fiftly the more part of the Fathers sometime consent in errour yea and such errors as the present Church of Rome condemneth with Anathema seeing sixtly the most learned of your side make no scruple to reiect the Fathers whensoeuer they consent against them and warrant their so doing with diuerse reasons seeing lastly they make not Consent of Fathers but the authority of the present Church that is to say the Pope for the time being to bee the onely Infallible iudge of Controuersies seeing I say all these things are vndoubtedly so I will not bee afraid to conclude that the pretended Consent of Fathers is too weake and deceitfull a ground for a man with security to build his Faith vpon For whereas you say that beleeuing as the Fathers did if they bee saued as doubtlesse they are you cannot miscary take heed lest this proue but a broken reed and deceiue you in the end For first if for the reasons aboue set down you cannot be infallibly certaine which are the true Fathers and what is their right meaning how can you bee infallibly certaine that you belieue as they did Againe doe you thinke it safe to hold all their errors also and because they are not condemned for them that you shall escape condemnation in like manner beleeuing them Cont. Haer. c. 10. Heare then what Vincentius Lirinensis saith O wonderfull change of things saith hee the Authors of the same opinion are iudged Catholicks and the followers Heretiks the Masters are absolued and the Schollers condemned the Writers of the books shall bee the Sonnes of the Kingdome and Hell shall keep those that maintaine them For who doubts but blessed Cyprian the light of Bishops and holy Martyrs together with the rest of his Collegues shall raigne for euer with Christ Contrarily who is so impious as to deny that the Donatists and the rest of that pestilent crew who vnder the authority of that Councell presume to rebaptize shall burne for euermore with the Diuell Thus hee whereby you see how dangerous it is to beleeue euen as the best haue done before vs vnlesse wee haue better warrant then so for our doing Lastly suppose the Fathers consenting erred not yet are you neuer the safer For the strength of Faith exceeds not the strength of the testimony nor the strength of the testimony the Veracity of the Witnesse Now the Veracity of the Fathers is but the Veracity of men and the Veracity of men is imperfect and inconstant euer leauing roome for that word of truth All men are lyers Whence it followeth that your Faith being grounded only on the Veracity of men is no better then an Acquisite and Humane Faith Whereby though you belieue all that the Fathers did yet not belieuing as they did they may bee saued and you perish For they building vpon diuine testimony belieued with a Diuine Faith and therefore Sauing but you relying on humane authority belieue onely with an Acquisite and Humane Faith which saueth not no not although the things you belieue thereby are true For an Acquisite Faith the diuels themselues may haue and yet are damned Wherefore it being as you see so dangerous and vnsafe to trust in man and as the Prophet speaketh to make flesh your arme let mee entreat you euen in the bowels of Iesus Christ to take vnto you Christian seuerity and with all speed to returne your Faith backe againe vpon the rocke from which so rashly and vnaduisedly you remoued it Remember I beseech you how S. Augustin in a controuersy betwixt him and Hierome touching S. Peters dissimulation hauing eleuated the authority of foure of those seuen Fathers which were vrged against him and not being able to oppose three to the other three remaining Epist 19. quitteth himselfe thus When saith he I seeke a third that I also may oppose three to three verily I suppose I might easily find him if I had read much howbeit to mee the Apostle Paul shall bee insteed of all yea and aboue them all To him I flie to him I appeale of him I aske and demand c. In like manner doe you also and in Gods name let your finall appeale bee made vnto the holy Scriptures as vnto the supreme iudge in all questions of Faith Catech. 4. Theod. l. 1. c. 7. For as Cyril B. of Ierusalem saith The security of our Faith ariseth from the demonstration of the holy Scripture and the resolution of those things we seeke for must bee taken out of the diuine inspired Scripture saith Constantin in his oration to the Bishops of the Nicen Councell Con. Herm. De bon vid. c. 1. Orat. de ijs q. adeunt Hierosol Hom. 13. in 2. Cor. Epist 112. ad Paulin. And reason for the Scriptures are the rule of Faith as Tertullian and Augustin say A straight and inflexible rule as Gregory Nyssen saith A most exquisite rule and exact square and ballance to trie all things by saith Chrysostome In regard whereof saith Saint Augustin If a matter bee grounded on the euident authority of holy Scripture such I say as the Church calleth Canonicall it is without all doubt to bee belieued but as touching other witnesses and testimonies vpon whose credit a thing is vrged vpon vs to bee belieued thou majest lawfully either credit or not credit them as thou perceiuest them
shall dictate vnto you you are safe and cannot miscarry Now among simple and vnlettered Papists who is this Iudge but some Priest or Iesuite for other Iudge I am sure they meet with none A plausible course I confesse to many specially those that are idle and loth to take paines or weake and dare not trust their owne iudgement or superstitious and thinke they merit much by their blind obedience vnto their teachers But how plausible soeuer it may seeme to flesh and blood sure I am it is too broad to bee the narrow way that leadeth vnto life and the Kingdome of Heauen will neuer be attained vnlesse it suffer more violence then so I adde further it is too presumptuous to tie Diuine Prouidence vnto humane policy and for man first to deuise what in his wisdome seemeth fittest and then to resolue that therefore God hath ordered it so Yet this is the course your side ordinarily holdeth you loue rather to giue lawes vnto God then to take lawes from him and in this particular to prescribe what meanes God should appoint to settle vs in the knowledge of his truth rather then to vse the meanes which hee himselfe hath to that end appointed If you thinke this too hard a censure be it knowne vnto you that Bellarmine the Prince of Iesuits reasoneth so God saith hee De verb. Dei l. 3. c. 9. was not ignorant that many difficulties concerning the Faith would rise vp in the Church hee ought therefore to prouide some Iudge for the Church What Iudge Such a one doubtlesse as by his sole authority and sentence must bee able to resolue all difficulties Which for as much as neither Scripture noâ— any secular Prince can doe therefore it must needs bee the Prince of Ecclesiasticall that is the Pope See I beseech you how peruersly and preposterously they deale with you first they take vpon them to direct God whâ—â— what he should doe or else forsooth he shall not be prouident and discreet enough and then thrust their owne fancy vpon you as a point of Faith that God hath done it But to answer this yet a little more fully I affirme three things First that holy Scripture knowes not secondly that the ancient Fathers acknowledge not thirdly that as long as wee haue the Scripture there needs not any such standing humane Iudge in the Church as you dreame of As touching the first if you know any passage of Scripture wherein God hath authorized such a Iudge as you dreame of I require you to shew it for my part I know none Expresse Scripture I am sure you cannot shew deductions and consequences by your owne rule I haue no reason to admit For example if for proofe hereof you vrge that of our Sauiour to S. Peter I haue prayed for thee that thy Faith faile not Luc. 22.32 I would demand who shall bee iudge of the meaning of these words for I heare that Christ hath prayed for Saint Peter but I heare not that hee hath prayed for the Pope that his Faith fayle not and I know Saint Peter was firme and constant in the faith vnto his liues end but it seemes by Ecclesiasticall Hystory that sundry Popes haue made shipwracke of the Faith and become Hereticks If there be no Iudge to determine this doubt why doe you thrust such a Iudge vpon vs If there bee who is hee you will say the Pope Then thus you reason Christ prayed for S. Peter that his Faith might not faile by S. Peter the Pope also is vnderstood and this appeares because the Pope saith so therefore neither can the Popes Faith faile and consequently he is the ordinary infallible Iudge of the Church More briefly thus the Pope is that Iudge because the Pope will haue it so Nominate what other Iudge soeuer you list and what other Text besides you please and the argument is still the same too weake to persuade what you intend vnlesse by some new priuiledge out of any premisses you may conclude what you will In a word search the Scriptures throughout and you shall finde the Ministery and seruice of men established to bring vs to the Faith but an infallible humane magistery and Lordship to command Faith it knowes none That prerogatiue Royall it reserues onely vnto Christ himselfe Neither doe the ancient Fathers acknowledge any such Iudge which is the second point If they doe point I pray to the place for hitherto it hath beene vnknowne Many and sharp bickerings had those ancients with diuers and sundry Heretiks as Arius Macedonius Eutyches Nestorius and the like yet neuer did they either obiect vnto them that they wanted an infallible Iudge as you doe vnto vs or conuent them before the tribunall of such a Iudge which doubtlesse had beene a readier way then disputation to stop their mouths had there been such a soueraigne Officer in the Church Sundry and manifold are the writings of the ancient Fathers touching the Christian Faith of which some also were purposely written to instruct vs in all the doctrines of our religion and is it not strange that such men in such books remembring carefully all other points should forget so maine and principall a point as this is Nay more then this Tertullian long agoe wrote a booke of Prescriptions or Fore-pleadings against Hereticks Saint Augustin also wrote foure books of Christian Doctrine wherein his direct intent is to prescribe rules how to vnderstand and interpret Scripture And Vincentius Litinensis also hath written a short Commonitory for the Antiquity and Verity of the Catholike Faith against the profane nouelties of all Heresies If these Fathers had acknowledged this your imaginary Iudge how commeth it to passe that they no where mention him in these books For certainly here was the proper place and they could not without extreame supinity and negligence omit him had they knowne such a one such a one I say as vpon whom the security of Faith and vnity of the Church dependeth But this deep silence of theirs and that in so due a place and of matter so important euidently argues that they neuer were acquainted therewith and that it is but an Idole of these latter times Now if neither Scripture nor Fathers know such a Iudge I hope I may bee bold to inferre that the Church needs him not which is the third point For I trow this is both a safer and sounder kind of reasoning then that of yours Such a Iudge wee conceiue to bee necessary Therefore such a one hath God ordained But to cleere this point also I affirme that the Scriptures by themselues through Gods blessing vpon our endeauour is a sufficient outward meanes to bring vs to saluation and therefore there is no necessity of your externall Iudge The Consequence is plaine and euident the Antecedent thus I proue because all whatsoeuer is necessary to saluation is so cleerely and manifestly deliuered in them euen to the capacity of vulgar and ordinary men that if they
haue better exprest it For my part I cannot guesse what it should bee nor will I trouble my braine in seeking it Happily your selfe know not what you would And thus haue I though breefly yet fully answered all your reasons It now remaineth that either you produce sounder arguments then yet you haue giuen vs or adde more vigor and strength vnto these or because I feare you can do neither that considering the weaknes of those reeds whereon you haue hitherto leaned hence forward you trust them no more It can bee no disgrace vnto you to bee ouercome of Truth neither is it leuity or inconstancy vpon sight of your errour to change both your opinion and practice Take therefore vnto you Christian seuerity and ingenuously reuoke what you haue held or done amisse so shall you giue glorie vnto God and God shall honour you in the sight of all his Saints But if notwithstanding all that hath beene said you meane still to persist in your error and will not bee persuaded although you be perswaded I feare lest after straining at these gnats you fall to swallowing downe of Camels and proceed from dislike of a few indifferent ceremonies vnto flat schisme and separation which God forbid for his mercies sake Amen See T de ora HOW S. PAVL AND S. IAMES ARE TO BEE reconciled in the matter of IVSTIFICATION YOV demand how Saint Paul teaching Iustification by Faith onely without the Works of the Law Ro. 5.20.28 Gal. 2.16 Iam. 2.24 and Saint Iames affirming that of Works a man is iustified and not of Faith only may bee reconciled I will endeuour to giue you the best satisfaction I can in a few Propositions 1 Scripture being the Word of God who is truth and whose promises are not yea and nay 2. Cor. 1.17.18.19.20 but yea and Amen although sometime there may seeme contrariety in it yet reall difference and repugnancy there can bee none truth euer agreeing and neuer contradicting it selfe 2 Paul therefore and Iames being inspired by the same spirit must needs conspire in the same truth although the one exclude Works from Faith in the matter of Iustification the other include Works together with Faith 3 The readiest way to reconcile this seeming contradiction is to obserue carefully the Occasions whereupon they were moued to deliuer these doctrines and to distinguish the Equiuocation and diuers vse of these two words Iustification and Faith For if there bee the same meaning in both and no ambiguity in either of these tearmes it cannot bee auoided but they must of necessity crosse one the other 4 Saint Pauls occasion was this Hee saw with what eagernesse contention certaine Iewes maintained Act. 15.1 that vnlesse the law of Moses were kept and obserued together with the Gospell there could bee no Iustification and that thereby mans Works were either substituted in the roome of or yoked together with Faith to the great preiudice of Gods free Grace Ro. 2.24 And therefore against these he proues by the testimony of the Law the Prophets that we are Iustified by Faith in Christ freely without the works of the Law 5 Hereupon some there were who like spiders sucking venome out of the wholsomest flowers so interpreted this comfortable doctrine as if it skilled not whether they practized good works and led a godly vertuous life so as they did belieue And against this sort of men the Apostle Saint Iames thought it necessary to oppose himselfe 6 So that Saint Iames doth not dispute against Saint Paul but for the right meaning of S. Paul against those that depraued and wrested his doctrine to a wrong sence Paul so defending Iustification by Faith without Works as hee denies not the necessary practice of them but only denies the power of Iustification vnto them Iames so establishing good Works not as giuing them force to make a man acceptable and iust in the sight of Gods iustice but onely disabling that Faith from hauing any power to Iustify vs which is not accompanied with them 7 And thus Saint Augustin vnderstandeth it When De fide oper l. 1. c. 14. saith he the Apostle saith that a man is iustified by Faith without the Works of the Law hee meaneth not that Faith being receiued and professed the works of Iustice should bee contemned but that euery one should know that he may be iustified by Faith although the works of the law goe not before For they follow him that is iustified but goe not before him that is to bee iustified And againe 83. quaest q. 16. When as Paul speakes of the good works of Abraham which accompanied his Faith it is manifest that by the example of Abraham he doth not so teach that a man is iustified by Faith without works that if hee doe belieue it concernes him not to worke well but to to this end rather that no man should thinke that by the merit of his former good Works he hath attained the gift of iustification which is by Faith 8 As the consideration of the different occasions which moued these two Apostles to speake so differently doth in part cleere this question so will it yet bee more euident if wee know the seuerall acceptions and vses of these words Iustification and Faith and in what sence either Apostle vnderstands them 9 Iustification vsually in the Scripture phrase signifieth not to make iust by infusing the quality of Iustice into the soule 2. King 15.4 Deut. 25.1 Psal 81.3 Prov. 17.15 Mat. 12.37 Ro. 8.33.34 but to pronounce and declare to be iust being indeed a Law-terme and drawne from ciuill Courts of iudicature and is opposed to Condemnation And this is so cleere that Tolet a Iesuite confesseth it most frequently so to signify in Scripture Pineda Vega and Salmeron three great Papists acknowledge it in this sence to be vsed by S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans where hee disputeth purposely of Iustification 10 Now there is a double tribunall where wee are to bee iudged one is Gods the other Mans and therefore God is sayd to Iustify and Man also God when he acquits a sinner from his sinnes for the merit of his Son Christ Man when seeing our good works which are the fruites and testimonies of our grace with God out of the iudgement of Charity hee accounts vs the Sonnes of God Of the former Saint Paul speakes of the latter S. Iames. S. Paul enquireth how wee are made lust before God namely by Faith S. James how it may appeare vnto men that wee are Iust namely by Works Faith is the principle of Existence by which we are Iust Works of Knowledge by which we are knowne to be Iust Iac. 2.10 In id cap. 11 That Saint Iames vnderstandeth such a Declaratiue Iustification is plaine by that he saith Shew mee thy Faith by thy Works And Thomas of Aquin affirmeth that Workes following Faith are not said to Iustify as Iustification is an infusion of
not the Faith of the Creed because we question it whether the Apostles were authors of it or no. As if to doubt of the author were to doubt of the truth of the matter or as if all those Ancients reiected the epistle to the Hebrewes for Apocryphall which were not resolued who wrote it whether Paul or Barnabas or Luke or Clemens Secondly how weaklie Popish traditions are supported by the tradition of this Creed For not being the Apostles how can it be a tradition of the Apostles or if it be a tradition of theirs yet is it such a tradition as is written contayned in Scripture and such wee willingly receiue Let them proue the rest of their pretended traditions to be such and we will readily embrace them also But returne wee to our purpose This Creed by whomsoeuer it was made is intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Symbol the reason whereof we are now to inquire To let passe those barbarous and iocular notations which ignorant Monks haue giuen of it lest relating them I should both spend time defile my paper some deriue it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying as they say a shote or reckoning Ruff. Symb. Aug. ser de tem 115. for that the Apostles meeting together to compile it did each conferre his article as it were his symbole for defraying of this heauenly banket But first the Apostles as we haue declared neuer compiled this Creed Secondly if they compiled it yet as Antonius Nebrisensis saith Quinquag c. 40. it is neither credible nor likely that each of them conferred his particle seeing in those things that are constituted and decreed by many it is not the manner for euery one seuerally to put his word or saying into it but for all iointly to agree vpon the whole Adde hereunto that if it were so men would neuer haue diuided the Creed as they haue done some into seuen articles because of the seuen gifts of the holy ghost very many others into fourteen but onely into twelue according to the number of the Apostles who dictated each of them his article Lastly not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a shote as the learned know neither can it bee shewed to bee otherwise in any Greeke writer Indeed in Latine writers yee shall sometimes find Symbolum so vsed yet that it is found so in any skilfull Criticks impute it to the ignorance of Notaries and by the warrant of the best Manuscripts restore the Feminine Symbola into the roome thereof Others fetch it from Symbolum signifying a Pledge or token and first such a pledge whereby persons espoused bind themselues to bee faithfull and true one vnto another because likewise in our spirituall espousals with Christ as he giues vnto vs his blessed spirit as an earnest of his constant loue to vs so wee returne backe againe the profession of our faith as a firme pledge of our loyalty and subiection to him This reason caries good likelyhood and proportion with it So doth also the next when it signifieth tesseram hospitalem such a token as Cities were wont to giue vnto their friends that shewing it they might find friendly entertainment in confederate townes or such as one friend was wont to giue vnto an other to the like end Which how it fits the amitie and frienship betweene Christ vs who sees not Neuerthelesse I rather thinke it is so called from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it signifieth a watchword For the Primitiue Church seemeth much to haue beene delighted with militare terms I suppose because in Scripture Christians are so often compared vnto souldiers And hence it is that the Church is distinguished into Militant and Triumphant that Heathen are called Pagans in opposition vnto souldiers that the two mysteries of the Church are termed Sacraments a word importing that oath of obedience which souldiers take vnto their Generals In like manner may the Creed be called a Symbole because it is as a watchword by which true Orthodoxe Christians many discerne one from the other Painims Iewes Turks and Hereticks Heerwith agreeth Maximus Taurinensis Symbolum tessera est signaculum quo inter fideles perfidosque secernitur Hom. de trad Symb. the Symbole is a watchword or marke by which Faithfull and Faithles men are discerned And Ambrose De voland Virg. l. 3. Symbolum cordis signaculum est nostrae militiae sacramentum the Symbole is the seale of the heart and the sacrament of our warfare In Symb. And Ruffin Nequa doli surreptio fiat symbola discreta unusquisque dux suis militibus tradit quae Latine vel signa vel indicia nominantur ut si forte occurrerit quis de quo dubitetur interrogatus symbolum prodat si sit hostis an socius lest there should be any surreption or deceit euery captaine deliuereth vnto his Souldiers a distinct watchword that if they meet with any of whom they doubt by demanding the watchward they may discouer whether hee bee a friend or an enimy And this hee accommodateth vnto the present purpose Now seing the Gentiles were wont to giue for their watchword the names of some of their Gods Xenoph paed l. 3. 7. Pausan l. 10. Suet. Calig c. 18. as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Minerua Iupiter and the like what fitter Symbole could Christians haue then their Faith in the holy indiuiduall Trinity And thus much of the title of the Creed proceed wee yet further Besides this Creed there are diuers others verie ancient both Generall of the whole Church such as are those foure famous ones of Nice of Ephesus of Constantinople of Chalcedon and Particular either of seuerall Churches or of priuate men among which that of Athanasius is most renowned All which though in forme of words they vary yet for substance are all one there being Eph. 4.5 as S. Paul saith but vna fides one faith Neither yet was this number of Creeds needles or endles For when heresies began to encrease and preuaile the Church thought it necessary to set forth some short Confessions by which the people as by a touchstone might discerne the gold of Orthodoxe truth from the copper of errors and heresies Saith S. Hilarie Nihil mirum videri debet fratres charissimi quod tam frequenter exponi fides caeptae sint necessitatem hanc furor haereticus imponit you ought not to maruell much beloued brethren that nowadayes Creeds are so frequently set forth the fury of hereticks hath layd this necessity vpon vs. Thus against Arius denying the diuinity of Christ was the Nicene Creed framed against Macedonius and Eudoxius denying the Deity of the holy Ghost and his proceeding from the Father and the Sonne the Constantinopolitane against Nestorius denying the vnion of both natures of Christ in one person the Ephesine against Eutyches confounding both natures and swallowing vp the humane in the diuine that of Chalcedon Thus of late the reformed Churches to quit
themselues of the vniust imputations of heresie and apostasie wherewith they were charged haue beene forced sundrie times to set forth seuerall Confessions of their Faith all which or most of which are recorded in the harmonie of Confessions Scurrilous therefore is that taunt of Papists who for this cause terme vs Confessionists For what haue we done herein whereunto their slanderous criminations haue not compelled vs what whereof we haue not example from the Primiue Church Nay what whereof we haue not Gods expresse commandement 1 Pet. 3.16 charging vs to bee ready on euery occasion to render an account of the Hope that is in vs But yet among all the ancient Creeds this of the Apostles hath euer beene counted of greatest authority and ought still so to bee counted Among the ancient Creeds I say for the Scripture is peerles and equall authority with it neither may it chalenge vnto it selfe neither did any of the ancient Fathers giue it as aboue wee haue touched For although the substance and matter of the Creed be diuine and perfectly according with the Scripture yet for forme and order of words it is humane whereas the Scripture both for substance and circumstance matter and forme and all is no way humane but wholly and entirely diuine The greater the blasphemie of Rhemish Iesuites auouching this Creed to be the Rule whereby all the writings of the new Testament are to be tried In Ro. 12.6 and approued whereas contrarily the Scripture out of which the Creed is collected is the only Rule by which both it and all other Creeds are to bee examined Howbeit the second place as it is its due so we willingly yeeld vnto it First in regard of the antiquity thereof because of all other it is the eldest Secondly for the perfection and fulnes thereof there being no one article of absolute necessity vnto Saluation which is not either in expresse tearmes or impliedly and in its principles contayned therein Thirdly and lastly because it hath had the vniuersall approbation of all Churches in all times both ancient and moderne The ancient Fathers giue vnto it most honorable and magnificent titles They call it the key of Faith the rule of Faith the foundation of Faith the summe of Faith the forme of Faith the body of Faith the rule of truth the sacrament of humane saluation the mysterie of religion the character of the Church and the like On it they commented rather then on any other Creed vnto it all others were conformed so as they seeme to be but expositions of it Finally it was their manner neuer to admit any that was adultus either to the Sacrament of Baptisme or to the holy Eucharist without making confession of his Faith by rehearsing this Creed In like manner all the reformed Churches with all reuerence and duty receiue it they vse it in their publick Liturgies and expound it in their Catechismes The more malitious is the slander of Gregorie Martin and others Disc of Eng. trans c. 12. who shame not to say that we hold not the Christian Faith of the articles of the Creed Yea saith another of vs they haue no faith nor religion Tho. Wright Att. they are infidels they beleeue not the holy Catholick Church the communion of Saints the remission of sins that Christ is the sonne of God or that he descended into Hell And as if these had not yet said enough Credo Caluiniscq another opening his mouth as wide as Hel affirmeth our Creed to bee this I beleeue in the Diuell the tormentor helmighty corrupter of heauen earth And in not-Iesus-not-Christ the only stepsonne degenerate who was spoiled of his glory by the holy Ghost and borne of Mary no Virgin c. To all which I answer Increpet te Dominus the Lord rebuke thee Satan If they haue called our master Belzebub it can be no disgrace to vs to suffer the same reproch The more incredible things they charge vs withall the lesse are themselues beleeued and the more credit do wee gaine vnto our profession All what is contayned in holy writ in this Creed of the Apostles in that of Nice and Athanasius wee firmely and entirely beleeue Let Hell and Antichrist and all the brood of Papists burst with malice and enuy yet this and no other Faith do wee hold and teach A SHORT CATECHISME QVaest Who placed you here in this World Ans God the maker and Gouernour of all things Q. Wherefore did hee place you here A. To serue and glorify him Q. How will he be serued A. By doing his holy Will and Commandements Q. What Commandments hath hee giuen you A. The ten Commandements of the Morall law Q. Repeat them vnto me A. Heare Israel I am the Lord thy God which c. Q. What duties doth God require of you in this law A. Two to loue God aboue all and my neighbour as my selfe Q. Haue you done this perfectly A. No neither yet can I nor any man els Q. Why can you not A. Because all are conceiued and borne in sinne Q. How commeth that to passe A. By the fall of our first parents Q. Had you obeyed the law what had beene the reward A. Life euerlasting Q. What is the punishment of Disobedience A. Euerlasting death Q. Your case then it seemes is very miserable A. Very miserable vnlesse God bee mercifull in Iesus Christ Q. What is Iesus Christ A. The Eternall Sonne of GOD made Man Q. Wherefore was he made Man A. To die for mans sin and to reconcile him vnto GOD. Q. Are all men reconciled by him A. No but true belieuers onely Q. Who are true Belieuers A. They who by faith accept him for their only Mediatour and Sauiour Q. How is this Faith wrought A. By the preaching of the Gospell Q. What is the summe of the Gospell A. It is contained in the Apostles Creed Q. Repeat the same vnto me A. I Belieue in God the Father Almighty maker c. Q. How may we know that we haue true Faith A. By the fruites thereof Q. What are the fruites of Faith A. New Obedience and Repentance Q. What is new Obedience A. A sincere practice of holynesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of my life Q. Can you doe this perfectly A. No but if I striue vnto perfection God in grace accepteth it Q. But what if you fall into sinne againe A. I am to rise againe by speedy repentance Q. What call you repentance A. A hearty sorrow for sinne with the amendement thereof Q. You say it must bee speedy tell mee wherefore A. Because if I bee preuented by death I perish eternally Q. What is the benefit of Repentance A. Forgiuenesse of sinnes with recouery of Gods fauour Q. You haue told mee how Faith is wrought and how it may bee discerned tell me now how it must be nourished and preserued A. By the vse of the Sacraments and Prayer Q. What is a Sacrament A. A seale of the
commanded if of things indifferent accidentally only inasmuch as it is referred to the worship of God and therefore cannot without sacriledge be giuen to any creature 5. Theol. Pract. comp tract 2. c. 8. art 33. How then can the Popish Church vowing vnto Saints quit herselfe of notorious Idolatrie specially seing by the confession of Molanus a principall champion of hers a Vow is an act of latria that is of such worship as is due vnto God Neither can she cloake her Superstition with any shew of Scripture De cult Sanct. c. 9. for Bellarmin himselfe freely acknowledgeth that when the holy Scriptures were written the custome of vowing vnto Saints was not yet begun 6. The matter of a vow is things lawfull whether they be necessary as being commanded or arbitrary as being neither forbidden nor commanded For that duties commanded may be vowed appeareth euen by the vow in Baptisme In Psal 46. And although vertues as Chrysostom saith be due vnto God albeit they be not promised yet what letteth but what God bindeth vs vnto by precept we by vow as by a new knot may also bind our selues vnto De Monach. c. 19. 7. Bellarmin indeed is bold and affirmeth that it is the common opinion of Diuines that the Promise in Baptisme is not properly a vow Instit Mor. l. 11. c. 14. but Azorius his fellow Iesuite can tell him otherwise that the ancient Diuines together with the Master of the Sentences seeme to thinke that Baptisme is a vow properly and truly so called 8. That things of an indifferent and middle nature may also be Vowed is granted of all hands God hauing permitted vnto the Church and members thereof iudgement and dispensation of them Yet this must be vnderstood with caution for seeing as Saint Paul saith those things that are lawfull are not alwayes expedient and things otherwise lawfull may in regard of circumstance become vnlawfull those indifferent things that are inuested with such circumstances cease during the while to be the matter of a Vow 9. Iustly therefore are excluded from being the matter of a Uow first all such actions as are in their owne nature euill next such as hinder a greater good then those that crosse the generall Vow made in Baptisme farther such as are impossible and out of our power moreouer such as are friuolous and vnprofitable finally those things that are naturally necessary and if there be any other besides of the like quality 10. I adde farther by such as haue power so to doe for none may Vow but they who by their vocation haue liberty thereunto Now this vocation in regard of things commanded extendeth vniuersally vnto all and therefore it is free for euery man to vow them But in respect of things indifferent it stretcheth not so farre For first they who by reason of age or distemper haue not the vse of reason or iudgment secondly they who are vnder the authority and iurisdiction of others hauing not power of themselues because of their calling may not nor cannot lawfully vow without the consent and good liking of their superiors Num. 30. 11. This condemnes the impious practice of Popish Friers who inueigle yong youths from the obedience of their parents and without their consents intangle them in the vow of Monasticall life treading directly in the steps of their Great-grand-father Eustathius against whose wicked doctrine the Councell of Gangra thus decreed Can. 16. If any children shall forsake their Parents especially being faithfull vpon occasion of Religion thinking it iust so to doe and shall not rather performe due honor vnto them reuerencing euen this in them that they are faithfull let them be accursed 12. Finally the End of a Vow is partly to testify our affection to God as namely our thankfulnesse for benefits receiued and partly our duty in carefulnesse to preuent sinne and to preserue and increase Gods graces in vs. In a word it serues as an instrument or helping meanes to further our obedience to Gods Lawes And because the End it selfe is of greater importance then the meanes conducing vnto the End surely Obedience must needs bee better then Sacrifice that is then the Vow which fitteth only vnto it 13. The Romish Church therefore teaching that vowes are of greater perfection in this life and deserue an higher degree of glory in the next then the very works of the Morall law cannot be excused of manifest blasphemie Comment in Mat. 19. Which it seemes Cardinal Cajetan also saw when he said that Christ prescribeth no vow to him that will obtaine perfection of life because the obtaining of perfection consisteth not in the bonds of vowes but in the works themselues 14. This being the true nature and definition of a vow I conclude as touching the Obligation or bond thereof that euery vow thus made vnto God in such Forme of such Matter by such Persons to such End as wee haue said bindeth the Conscience vnto performance in so much as the breach thereof is no lesse then mortall sin and very dishonorable vnto God For if lawfull promises are to bee held with men much more with God Psal 15. And if we bee slack to pay them hee will surely require them of us and so should it be sin vnto us Deut. 23.21 15. But what if a man haue rashly vowed that which is vnlawfull Surely in such a case it is better to retract the vow then by keeping it to adde sin vnto sin For a vow saith the Canon may not be the bond of iniquity and excellently to this purpose counselleth Philo the Iew De leg spec Let such a one therefore abstaine saith he and humbly entreat God of his Clemency to pardon the vnaduised rashnes wherby he was so headlongly carried to sweare for to double the offence when thou mayst discharge thy selfe of the one halfe is extreame madnes and scarcely euer curable 16. Now let vs apply what hath beene said vnto the particular vow of virginity or single life And first whereas nothing may be the Matter of a vow but that which is lawfull and things lawfull are of two sorts eyther simply and morally good or arbitrary and indifferent surely Virginity cannot be ranked in the first order For to vse no other then Gersons reasons P. 3. de Consil Euang. stat perfect Morall vertues are commanded and are not destroyed but by vice and being lost may bee recouered by repentance But Virginity is no where commanded and is destroyed by Matrimony which is no sinne although Pope Syricius heretically call it vncleannesse and pollution of the flesh and being lost cannot possibly be recouered And therefore howsoeuer it may giue a kind of luster and grace vnto vertue yet vertue it can be none 17. Hereupon it followeth that Virginity and Mariage are not in themselues acceptable vnto God one more then another but that it is the mind which rightly vseth both the one and the other which