where he teacheth the cause of errour he sheweth the same to bee ignoraunce of the Scriptures Ye erre sayth he because ye know not the Scriptures Wherefore if your blinde teachers seeke to witholde you frō the Scriptures you see they deceaue you for these be they only that can witnes the truth How greatly in the Actes of the Apostles are they of Berea commended where the reason is geuen of their great readines in receauing the Gospell for they dayly searched the Scriptures whether those thinges were so you see that the Scriptures the law and the Prophets are onely the witnes and auouchers of the truth These men went not to the fathers writings to enquire whether the Apostles sayd true but they went to the Scriptures as to the piller of trust whose witnes they were sure could neuer deceaue them Thus where your seducers would make you beleue that the Scriptures belong not to you they falsely deceaue you as now they may see the text beareth recorde that these of Berea were both men women and that not a fewe Chrysostome in his Homely of Lazarus and the riche man exhorteth all men to the reading of the scriptures and specially by name occupiers marchantes and householders alledging that they can neuer attain saluation without continuall trauell in the Scriptures affirming that they haue more neede to read the Scriptures then holiermen for that they continually passe their life in greater danger Thus vehemently doth this good father exhort all mē to the reading of the Scriptures which your vncharitable teachers aboue all thinges forbid you and yet you see both out of Paul and Christ himselfe this rule confirmed that all true doctrine hath the witnes of the lawe and the Prophets that is the witnes of the Scriptures Whereby you must examine the truth of your fayth and vtterly condemne all maner of doctrine that hath not this witnes he geueth to the Galathians this absolute decree If we sayth he or an Angell from heauen preach vnto you otherwise thē that which we haue preached vnto you let him be accursed By these rules examine the counterfeite doctrine of your faithles deceiuers search the bottome of their Masse or propitiatory sacrifice say iustly vnto them it hath not the witnes of the lawe and the Prophets no witnes of the Scriptures They bring a newe doctrine ye muste holde them accursed Likewise for theyr praying to Saintes their Purgatory their pilgrimages theyr holybread theyr holy water theyr ringing their senssing their worke of the worker their executed workes their vndewe workes their lyftynges theyr crossinges theyr breathynges their bendynges theyr dombe shewes their washyngs their annoyntings theyr shauynges their reliques and a thousād such follies you may iust ly say to them they haue not the witnes of the law and the Prophets no witnes of Scriptures they preach a new doctrine you must hold thē accursed If they gentle Reader ment to deale playnely with you they could easely tel you that their doctrine can not abide to be examined by the Scriptures of God they could tell you that the greatest indeuour and study of the chief pillers of their fayned Religion is clerely to deface and discredite the scriprures but they will neuer tell you that for thē they be sure you will credit them no farther And because you may know that I tell you the truth I will in hys owne wordes rehearse the sentences of one of their owne Cardinals concerning the same Thus writeth the Cardinal Cusa Certè hoc te non moueat quòd diuersis temporibus alius alius ritus sacrificiorum etiam Sacramentorum stante veritate inuenitur Scripturásque esse ad tēpus adaptatas variè intellectas ita vt vno tempore secundum currentē vniuersalem ritum exponentur mutato ritu iterū sententia mutaretur Truly let not this moue thee that with diuersitie of tyme there is founde diuers formes both of sacrifices and Sacramētes the truth neuertheles remaynyng and that the Scriptures are framed to the tyme and diuersly vnderstand so that one tyme they must be vnderstand accordynge to the vniuersall custome and when that custome agayne is chaunged the meanyng of the Scriptures agayne must be chaunged Gentle reader marke this opē blasphemy for the word of God abydeth for euer That is to say is euer one the same And Dauid sayth that it is an vndefiled law But if this man say true no doctrine can be more filthy for what greater corruption can be attributed to any then to be inconstant vncertayne still mutable with time but beare him yet further Thus sayth he in an other place to confirme the same doctrine Quare nec mirum si praxis Ecclesiae vno tempore interpretatur scripturam vno modo alio tempore alio modo Intellectus enim qui cū praxi cōcurrit est spiritus viuificans It is no merueile if the practise of the Churche interpret the Scriptures at one tyme one waye and an other way at another tyme for the meanyng whiche goeth with the practise is a quickenyng spirite If this to a Christiā cōsciēce be not horror then what may offend it Truly gentle reader if thou belong vnto God thy hart can not but tremble at such fearefull blas phemy and yet is this one of the principall pillars of that bewitchyng Synagoge wherevpon your teachers would haue your faith grounded if you knowing and seyng wil runne to destruction ye worthely perishe but I hope better of you This haue I sayd to make you know them what they would tell you if they durst vtter all Nowe touchyng this treatise I haue therin offred no doctrine vnto you but that which is witnessed by the lawe and the Prophetes Namely by the Scriptures vnto euery part wherof after the same is confirmed by the Scriptures I haue added the fathers sentēces which were of the sounder iudgement to shew that both they we do acknowledge one truth whereunto I haue added the shameles and subtile shifts of some of your false teachers captains I meane Some of the head Papistes and principall Scholemen bewraying their trechery wherin gētle reader this onely I craue at thy handes to read with patience examine by the rule of S. Paul and Christ him selfe which of vs soeuer hath not witnes of the law and the Prophetes the Scripture of God thinke he bryngeth a new doctrine holde hym accursed The Lord if it be his holy will open your eyes that you may perfectly see and constantly confesse hys victorious truth in the will of his onely begotten sonne Iesus Christ before whom in that great day shall truth be crowned and errour cōdemned to the glory of hys name and endeles felicitie of all the eelect amongest whom the Lorde place vs to whom be all glory and prayse for euer Amen ¶ The Argumentes of the Chapiters 1. THat Adams willfull transgression made him his ofspring rebels to God
that once founde farwell their market and sale of all their trashe It appeareth by that whiche haue bene sayde that in their definition the name of grace is not applyed vnto the true genus or generall woorde vnder which all the dyuers propertyes thereof bée comprehended but onely vnto one effect thereof namely that whereby wée are prouoked vnto good woorkes Let thys touchyng the true vnderstandyng of grace and their errors about the same suffice Thys beyng declared next commeth fayth to bée consydered Namely in what signyfication it is to bée taken where it is sayde to iustifye or what that fayth is thorough whiche wée bée iustyfied For declaratyon whereof it is also necessarie to note howe dyuersely the woorde is taken It is sometyme taken for the matter or thynge which wee do beleue as the Créede or beléefe is called the Chrystian fayth It is also taken for that wherewith we beléeue and that is that fayth whereof we haue to entreat There bée also other distynctions as a liuely fayth and a dead fayth whiche dead faith is onely fayth in name and not in déede euen as a dead man is called a man though hée be no man in déede and of thys fayth doth S. Iames remember There is also fayth to do miracles whereof Chryst him selfe speaketh sayyng Verely I say vnto you that whosoeuer shall saye vnto thys mountayne take thy selfe awaye and cast thy selfe into the sea and shall not wauer in hys heart but shall beleeue those thinges whyche hee sayeth shall come to passe whatsoeuer he sayeth shall bee done vnto hym And thys fayth is common as well to the reprobate as to the elect as by these woordes of Chryst appeareth Many sayth hée will say to mee in that daye Lorde Lorde haue we not by thy name prophesied and by thy name cast out deuils and by thy name done many great woorkes and then wyll I professe to them I neuer knewe you Depart from mee ye that woorke iniquite There is also momentany fayth or fayth for a time whereof Christ speaketh in the parable of the séede where he affirmeth that some falling in the stony grounde springeth vp for a tyme vntill the heat of the sonne or rage of persecution commeth but then it withereth away because it hath no roote But now omittyng all the rest of the significations of fayth it is in thys place only that firme and constant assentyng of the mynde vnto the truth of Gods promises in Chryst whiche bringeth with it hope charitie sure confidence and all other good woorkes Whiche for more playne vnderstanding may thus be defined Fayth is a full assentyng of the minde vnto the truth of Gods promyses in Christ puryfiyng the hartes of the receyuers The trueth of thys definityon is gathered out of the Scriptures in thys sort First that it is a full assenting of the mynde vnto the trueth of Gods promises in Christ it is thus proued Paule to the Hebrues sayth thus Let vs drawe neare in a true harte with assuraunce of fayth And agayne Let vs keepe the profession of our hope wythout wauering And Saint Iohn in the first of his canonicall epistles sayth thus He that beleueth not God hath made hym a lyer More haynous synne then the which none can be committed Where-fore fayth is so full an assuraunce of the truth of Gods promyse in Chryst as can admit no whit of suspition or doubt for looke how muche it wanteth of full assurance so muche suspition by these wordes of Saynt Iohn it admytteth of Gods vntrueth any iot whereof were more thē horrible to be suspected whereby it followeth that fayth is a full assenting of the minde to the trueth of Gods promyse in Christ whiche was first to be prooued And hereunto well agréeeth these woordes of Hillarius Ergo regnum coelorum quod Prophetae nunciauerunt Iohannes praedicabat Dominus noster in se esse positum est professus vult sine aliqua incerta voluntatis ambiguitate sperari alioquin iustificatio ex fide nulla est si fides ipsa fiat ambigua Therefore the kingdome of heauen whyche the prophetes foretolde Iohn preached and our Lorde professed to bée placed in hymselfe hée will haue it hoped for wythout all waueryng doubte of mynde otherwise if fayth it selfe bée made incertayne then is there no iustyfication of fayth And Augustine sayeth Quid est enim credere nisi consentire verum esse quod dicitur For what signifieth thys to beleeue but to consent that that thing which is sayd is true Nowe touchyng the seconde parte namely that it puryfieth the hearts of the receyuers Peter in the Actes of the Apostles affirmeth it in playne woordes for thus he sayeth He put no difference betweene vs and them after that hee had by fayth puryfyed their hartes Thus the definition beyng by euident wordes of the scrypture confirmed the truth thereof is manyfest and that this definition doth agrée with that which S. Paule geueth to the Hebrues it is manifest if we note the matter wherabout fayth hath his vse whiche is the word promise of God hys definition is this Fayth is the grounde of thinges hoped for a certaynty of thynges whyche are not seene In that he calleth fayth the grounde of thynges hoped for and that the thyng hoped for is the promised fauour of God in Chryst Therefore is fayth the grounde of the promised fauor of God in Chryst And what he meaneth by calling it the ground thereof he presentlye declareth in that hée termed it a certainty of thynges that are not sene whereby it is euident that by hypostasis or ground hee meaneth a certayntye or full assuraunce And vnto fayth as it were a present possession of that promised fauour of God in Christ whyche is yet neuertheles but hoped for and in expectation and not present vnto the senses whereby appeareth the truth of that definition whyche I haue put And by this definition of S. Paule it also appeareth how much they erre that accompt fayth wythin the predicament of qualitye wher in déede it is a relatiue in the predicament of relation for fayth is not but in respect of hys obiecte namely the promise of God perfourmed in Chryste so that if no promise were there coulde be no fayth at all touching iustyficatyon Now hauing shewed a true definition of fayth I thinke it not amysse somewhat to note what the scholemen and papistes hold concerning the same that thereby their error may partly be apparant The maister of the sentences geueth out of S. Augustine thys definition thereof Fides est virtus qua creduntur quae non videntur Fayth is a vertue wherewyth thinges are beléeued that are not séene The generalitie of whyche definition by a certaine contraction hée presently streyghtneth thus Whyche sayth he is not to be vnderstand of all thynges that are not séene but onely of suche thynges as appertaine to religion In this definition as the
to the heresie of the Eutychians And the Calcedon councell woulde haue geuen to Leo Byshop of Rome the name of vniuersall byshop if the good father being absente had not vtterly refused it But thys your blinde guides do hold for sound doctrine But no former Coūcel would euer so iudge it The Councell where Cyprian was chiefe did consent to the rebaptising of hereticks And did not the Councell of Constaunce breake the institution of the sacrament of the bloud of Christ in withholding the cup from the laitie which no Councell before woulde haue allowed Thus in the Councels you see open error and that they alwaies teach not a constant truthe But Salomon affirmeth that a true mouth is euer constante but you see the councell not so and therefore by these wordes of Salomon subiect to vntruth wherby it appeareth that they containe not the fountaine of truth wherupon to gather the direction of your fayth and what authoritie the fathers them selues attributed to the Councels may easely be iudged by these wordes of Augustine against Maximine an Arrian byshop Thus he writeth Sed nunc nec ego Nicenum nec tu debes Ariminense tāquam praeiudicaturus proferre concilium nec ego huius authoritate nec tu illius detineris scripturarum au thoritatibus non quorumcunque propriis sed vtrisque communibus testibus res cū re causa cū causa ratio cum ratione concertet But nowe neyther may I alledge the councel of Nice nor you the councell of Arrimine to others preiudice neyther stande I bound to the authoritie of thys nor you to the authoritie of that but by the authoritye of the Scriptures which are witnesses proper to neither of vs but common to vs bothe let matter bee compared with matter cause with cause and reason with reason Thus you may see your leaders abuse you theyr stuffe is but feeble they flie from the rocke and builde vpon sande theyr groundes bee vnconstant ye ought to forsake thē theyr hope is still doubtfull their faythe is vncertaine their sute without comfort Refuse them for the better and geue eare to him that cryeth I am the way the truth and the life Know you who spake it He that neuer told lye he in whose mouth was no guile he that liueth in truth in equitie and righteousnes he at whose anger the mountaines shall melt euen the Lorde Iesus Christ him selfe he it is that speaketh it vnto you If he wished not your saluation he would not teach you the way In that he sayth he is the way haue ye not warning enough that there is no other way besides him Why then do ye stray into pathes of perdition returne heare him his word is a light vnto the feet of the righteous Thy word saith Dauid is a light to my feete Thē folow the light that ye may bee sure to see whether ye goe at the presence thereof al darknes doth vanish desire you to be blessed I know you desire it Then put on the badge whereby to be knowne put on the delight which they that be blessed are furnished withal His delight saith Dauid is in the law of the Lord and in his law will he exercise him selfe both day and night The scriptures be that light that whosoeuer foloweth can not walke in darkenes whereby not onely the fathers and Councelles but the whole worlde shal also be iudged as Christ him selfe witnesseth The worde sayth he which I speake shal iudge in the last day The maiesty whereof the fathers had in due reuerence as partly ye haue heard in that they acknowledged the same onely iudge of all councelles and writinges And touching farther confirmation hereof thus writeth Hierome Omne quod loquimur debemus affirmare de scripturis sanctis Whatsoeuer we affirme we must proue it by the holy scriptures And agayne Chrisostome speaking of these wordes of Abraham in the parable of the ritch glotton that If they would not beleue Moses and the prophetes neyther would they beleue him that should come from the dead Writeth thus Haec autē Christus ipse inducit in parabola loquentem Abraham declarans se velle plus fidei habendam esse scripturis quā si mortui reuiuiscant Paulus verò porrò cum Paulum dico ipsum Christum dico hic enim erat qui eius mentem agebat etiam Angelis è caelo descendentibus praeponit scripturas idque valdè congruenter Siquidem Angeli quà mlibet magni tamen serui sunt ministri Coeterum omnes scripturae non à seruis sed abvniuersorum domino Deo venerunt ad nos Christ him selfe in the parable bringeth in Abrahā to speake this to declare that he would haue more credite to be geuen to the scriptures then vnto the dead if they should reuiue agayne And Paule when I name Paule I name Christe for hee it was that directed hys mynde Paule I say preferreth the Scriptures before the Angels though they should discend from heauen and that very aptly for although they be mighty yet be they seruantes and ministers but al the scriptures came vnto vs not from seruantes but from the Lord and God of all thinges And agayne Augustine Titubat fides si diuinarum scripturarum vacillat authoritas If the authoritie of the holy scriptures wauer then doth fayth stumble Agayne Augustine in his 157. Epistle hath this sense Sine Scripturarum authoritate nihil desiniendum Nothing is to be affirmed without authoritie of the Scriptures Thus you see the good and holy fathers in the Primative Church gaue the whole preheminence and iudgementes of all truth vnto the holy Scriptures Wherefore in forsaking your blind and vnfrendly teachers and following the example and counsel of these reuerend fathers apply your selues to the study thereof and ye shall soone finde out infallible rules to be wray the treachery of your guilfull deceauers this is one of the easiest and it can neuer faile it is gathered out of Paul to the Romanes as a sure touchstone to discerne truth frō errour his wordes bee these But nowe is the righteousnes of God declared without the law hauing witnes of the lawe and the Prophets By which wordes this rule is plainly gathered that the righteousnes of God hath alwaies the witnes of the lawe and the Prophets what soeuer is truth the lawe and the Prophets that is to say the Scriptures will euer acknowledge and what soeuer doctrine they geue not witnes vnto is falsehoode and errour Now if your blind teachers would make you beleue that the search of the scriptures belongeth not vnto you Christ him selfe doth teach you the contrary And whether it be more right to follow him or thē iudge your selues Search the Scriptures sayth he for those are they that beare witnes of me Ye see how Christ him selfe doth followe the rule he claimeth witnes of the law and the Prophets he geueth the Scriptures for the discerner of truth And in an other place