your Authority and Commendation should be brought to read the Scriptures and therein should find many Prophecies and among the rest how there should come False Prophâ—ts being Wolves in Sheeps Clothing pretending holinesse but Persecuting Gods Saints pretending Religion but oppessing Gods word pretending to be Christ vicâ—royes but tyrannizing over his people and such as should Apostatise from the Faith and set up Doctrines of Devils as in abstinence from certaine Meates and Marriage at certaine times and how Christ and his Apostles were humble and despised the world being crucified unto it and how they which were proud pompous Lords claiming to be their Successors follow none of their steps neither in diligent preaching nor practise of a holy life are such Antichrists as the Scripture hath foretold and how in the last dayes perillous times should come when men should be Selfe-lovers covetous boastors proud blasphemers unholy without naturall affection implacable covenant-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of them that are good Traitors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God Having a forme of Godlinesse but denying the power thereof with many other like things which when they come to compare with the State of the present times and especially of the present Church and chiefly of the Prelates themselves and shall find most of these Prophecies fulfilled in these present times they will certainly hereupon conclude that these be those last dayes and perillous times wherin these things so long agoe foretold doe clearely shew that certainly the Scriptures are the word of God The next thing I note here is that you Say a man so probably led must compare the Scripture with it selfe and other writings What other writings I pray you shall he compare the Scriptures with Shall humane writings light him a Candle to shew him the Sun shining at noon day But thus humane testimony comes in for a Second Inducer And for all your previous inducement you must still at last joyne some thing of man with Scripture Well what 's the third Ordinary Grace And this with the Authority of the present Church may beget in a man an ordinary beliefe that Scripture is the word of God As it seemes such ordinary Grace brought King Agrippa to beleeve the Prophets to be the word of God yet for all that he was but almost perswaded to become a Christian. And this Ordinary Grace is it seems that Holy Ghost which you told us of before The Fourth is morall inducement Well admit this bring him to a morall beliefe or opinion The Fifth is a reasonable perswasion by the voyce of the Church Well what theâ— After all this the Scripture gives greater and higher reasons of Credibility to it selfe then Tradition alone could give Here 's then the upshot of all as we noted before you by these steps advance the Scripture to a Credibility So as all this while you have walkt the round and gone in a Circle and end just where you began for you began at Probability and end in Credibility whereas the Scriptures were credible at least that is such as might be beleeved before you taught this new way to come to the beliefe of them So as this your Conclusion comes to just nothing Only you seem to attribute some thing to the Scripture being assisted with those other inducements wherein it surpasseth your Tradition alone Which is such a comparison and commendation as you could not devise the like to abase the Credit of the Scripture But to conclude What a Tedious Dispute you make here with the Jesuite about that which when you have done all you can will never bring a man upon any sure grounds so much as to beleeve that the Scripture is the word of God much lesse to bring him to Saving faith in Christ. But what doe I speake of Saving faith Alas that 's no worke for your pen. You are for a Scholasticall Dispute here which is so jejune and barren that many Scholasticks would hisse it out of their Schooles much more Divines out of the Divinity Schooles as indeed nothing pertaining to true Divinity but to a Spoyling through Philosophy and vaine deceit as the Apostle Speakes But the summe of all your inducements the Prime whereof must necessarily be your present Churches Authority amounts to this That men being by a bond of necessity tyed to this your Church as without which he cannot come to beleeve Scripture to be Gods word and without this beliefe no faith of Salvation and your Tradition with all other helps cannot bring a man to that beliefe when all is done the Conclusion is that according to your Tradition no man can come to be Saved So as thus by this your new Doctrines you overturne the Foundation of Faith by the very roots leaving no footing for faith to stand upon whereby a man may have any hope of Salvation But I shew'd you before a short and sure way for a man to come to this beliefe and not onely so farre as to beleeve the Scripture to be the word of God but to beleeve that he hath his part of Salvation in that word And this way is by hearing the word of God preached For Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God And this faith being the Saving faith in Christ as it apprehends all the Promises of God in the Scripture to be true and to belong to him so it comprehends the beliefe of Scripture to be the word of God And this this word of God preached and heard is that voyce of the Church of Christ or rather Christs owne voyce in the Church calling men yea and instrumentally causing Gods Spirit effectually working in and by the word to beleeve unto righteousnesse and to confesse to Salvation whatsoever is written in the Scripture to be most true as being the word of God himselfe And besides this true Christians in all ages never beleeved and Authority Tradition voyce of men simply to be any necessary prime inducement to beleeve so much as the Scriptures to be the word of God L. p. 84. That divine light which the Scripture no question hath in it self is not kindled till these helps come Thy word is a Light So David A Light Therefore it is as much a manifestation to it selfe as to other things which it shewes but still not till the Candle be lighted not till there hath been a preparing instruction what light it is till Tradition of the Church and Gods grace put to it have cleared his understanding So Tradition of the present Church is the first morall motive to beleeve P. These words confirme your former with a little illustration A divine Light here you confesse to be in the Scripture But you meane some dimme Light At the best not bright enough not sufficient to shew it selfe to be the word of God And here That Light whatever it is is not kindled till these helps come 'T is but a
by pregnant Comparisons ib. 83. How the Prelate hangs the Beliefe of Scripture to be the word of God necessarily upon the Authority of the present Church and other such poore inducements all but meere probabilities which may beget opinion but never beliefe 152 153 154 155. All examined and proved to be meere vanity in all which the Prelate destroyes all Faith and hope of Salvation 156. also 157. In what sense and way onely a Naturall Man being led by the Prelates hand as of the present Church to read the Scripture may be induced to beleeve it is the very word of GOD 154. 84. Further notorious blasphemies of the Prelate in derogating from Scripture as having no light but as a candle in a box of 12 in the pound till Tradition of the present Church doe light it Examined 157 158 159. How the Prelate perverts the Scripture and puts out the light of it 157. Other blasphemies of the Prelate against the Scripture Gods word and the Holy Ghost making his Church-Tradition the eyes inlightner 159 160 161. Gods own voyce in Scripture read and preached begets beliefe that it is Gods word 161. 85. The Prelates prosecution of this Argument in advancing his present Church Authority further confuted 162 163. 85 86. A Subtile and Sly evasion of the Prelate from the Jusuites true objection 164. A pretty tricke of Legerdemain 195. Scriptures full light teacheth a perfect knowledge against the Prelates Evasion 165 166. 87. The Prelates perverting of Scripture in his Babylonish confounding the Historicall with the Saving and justifying Faith as he alwayes doth and another Scripture in confounding the regenerate with the unregenerate 166. to 170. Whereupon the Replyer addes a notable Discourse of the nature of true Saving Faith 170 to 174 as namely of its admirable operations in the severall faculties of the Soule with its excellencie c. The Prelate Contradicts himselfe not knowing wherof he affirmeth Saving that by Faith he ever meaneth a false Faith whereby he destroyeth the true 173. The Sure beliefe of Scripture is a Christians sure comfort in trouble 172 173. 88. Hookers Sensible Demonstration so applauded by the Prelate throughly scanned and soundly proved to be false by most evident Demonstrations proving the Scripture to prove it selfe Gods word 174 to 177. The Prelates Ground from Nature being applyed to Scripture proved false and Christs Saying which the Prelate objecteth cleared 177 178. 89. Hookers stating of the Question commended by the Prelate for Tradition as the Key to open the Entrance to Scripture proved false in the Prelates sense and that Key to be a false pick-lock 178 179. 91. How the Prelate in charging the Pope for usurping Lordship over the world is taken tardy for doing the like himselfe over All England contrary to S. Peters rule alledged by the Prelate 180. 93. What assistance Lawfully sent Pastors and Teachers have ordinarily of God 180.181 95. The Prelate selfe-condemned ibid. 98. The Prelate belyes the Scripture to credit his Church-Tradition 182. Scripture little heholden to the Prelates Church-Tradition ib. His bold belying the Scripture as if that gave Authority to his usurped Church-Tradition ib. The Prelate catcht in his own Delemma or Net ibid. A Solecisme of the Prelate ibid. 100. The Prelate maliciously yoakes the precise party as he calls it with the Jesuite onely making that 10 times worse 183 184. The precise party with the Prelates factious silence Ministers vindicated from his wicked and false reproches 184 185 186. The Prelates 3 marks of his imagined Author of Ipswich Newes 186. The Prelates hypocriticall words and desperate deeds for Preaching how they agree and his cursed hypocrisie cryed shame of by his infamous practises 187. The Prelate knows not what true Preaching meanes 188. Difference between true Sermons and the Preachers for infallibility ibid. The Prelates Diabolicall malice against the true Preachers of Gods word 189. The Replyer at length forced by the Prelate to answre his compari-tween the Ancient Fathers and the best moderne Reformed Dison be vines for Preaching 190 191. Other Cavils of the Prelate answered 192 193. 104. The Prelate perverteth the Fathers to uphold Tradition still which they were against to the Prelates sense 194 195 196. Prelates Popish pretence of Scriptures deepnesse to draw men from them to seek to the Oracles of the present Church Tradition 196 to 199. With the mischiefes that may follow upon it ibid. The Prelates Popish zeale noted by occasion in his forcing all Bibles to be bound with Apochrypha 196 197. How the Prelate overthrows a true Principle and Maxime by a false 198. Grace makes Supernaturall truth more evident then Nature doth the Naturall 199. 106. Another excellent discourse of Saving Faith occasioned by the Prelate bewraying his profound ignorance herein 200 201 202. The Prelats bold belying and blaspheming Gods secret Councels 202. The Prelates broad blind Popish way 203. Fully confuted 203 204. 109. Prelate againe blasphemeth in belying Gods Councels 205. 1â—6 The Prelate hangs the Credit of Scripture upon mans opinions of Gods sufficiencie ibid. Mans opinion of Gods sufficiencie how vaine blind and impotent 206. The Prelate himselfe proved to have a blind opinion of God and of his Sufficiencie and consequently he is an Infidel not beleeving the Scripture to be Gods word 207 108. as which saith he depends on mans opinion of Gods sufficiencie 111. The Prelate still detracts from Scripture all along 208. 113. By the Prelates Doctrine the Faith of all the Apostles Martyrs ancient Fathers and Doctors which know no such Tradition of the present Church as a necessary prime inducement to lead them to the beliefe of Scripture to be Gods word is Hereticall and Schismaticall 206 210. Ergo the Prelaticall Church Schismaticall and Hereticall 115. Most notorious blasphemy of the Prelate against the Holy Ghost making him the Author of falshood as is shewed 211 212 213 214. Sundry probable Reasons layd down by the Replyer why the Prelate should as he doth chuse the light of nature as the Second to his Church Tradition to introduce beliefe of Scripture to be Gods word and of God to be God 212 213. No reverend perswasion of Scripture had till first the Tradition of of the present most Reverend Father commend it as Laudable 212. How the Prelate dallies with Romish Idolatry 211. How the Prelate hangs mans beliefe of God as of Scripture upon his Church Tradition 212. 116 The Prelates good inclination to mans free-will in beleeving The Prelates notorious and grosse hypocrisie pretending respect to the Scripture to be the motive of his tedious vain groundlesse and gracecâ—ssâ— discourse in disgracing and vilifying of it altogether and that as gâ—osly as ever any â—esuiâ—e did 215 216. The Prelaâ—es most wickâ—d perverting and abusing of Scripture 216 Wâ—o are his Christianly dâ—sposed men whom in his Discourse he â—ndâ—avoureth to satisfie ibid. 118. A nimble shift and put off of the Prelates 217. The absurbity of his Comparison of his
you a reason of my Faith Can you give one reason of yours concerning this Article as you take and beleeve it with your Church of England Show but one reason or shadow of a reason out of Scripture Nay except you bring every Article of the Creed to the examen or tryall of Scripture for the staying and establishing of your Faith you may run into many monstrous errours What doe you beleeve concerning Christs death You beleeve that hee dyed But for whom Whether for the Elect onely in Gods Purpose Account Appointment Acceptance or universally for all men Elect and Reprobate I tell you my Lord if you beleeve that Christ dyed for all men universally as well for the Reprobate as the Elect you destroy both Gods Grace in giving Christ for his people onely the Elect and also the merit and effâ—icacy of Christs death The Scripture shewes these things aboundantly But I mention this onely by the way Againe What doe you beleeve concerning the holy Catholicke Church You beleeve I dare say and you doe say it that the Catholicke Church on earth consists visibly of all Prelates and those that are subject unto them as one intire Body This is your Faith But if you examine this by the Scripture you will find it to be an Errour no lesse soule then false as hath been shewed So doe you not beleeve the Article of the Communion of Saints You doe But who are your Saints on earth You will hardly allow any Saints on earth till after their death they be Canonized by his Holinesse at Rome Nay in plaine termes you persecute both the Saints themselves and their Communion Can you indure such as but professe holinesse And for their Communion doe you not hunt out and persecute Private Fasting and Prayer among the poore soules of Christ when publick they can have none and no other remedy or weapons are left them to defend themselves withall against your bloody Cruelty So as the truth is you neither rightly beleeve the Holy Catholicke Church nor the Communion of Saints but are a notorious both denyeâ— and persecuter of both And therefore we see what a necessity there is that we should bring the Articles of the Creed to the Standard Rule the Scripture both as the surest and safest way yea and the onely way to preserve our Faith from Errour But you object the Fathers for the Sense of this Article of Christs Descent into hell as you beleeve it What if they beleeved so Is their example a sufficient Rule for us We must examine their sense they held of it by the Scripture If it be not according to the Scripture we reject it The Fathers might for a time hold an erronious generally received opinion before it came to be controverted and well sifted and examined by Scripture But they were ever ready to have their faith and opinions tryed by the Scriptures All the ancient Fathers were of this mind and spirit As before Pelagius his time the Fathers spake too liberally of Mans Free-will which after upon his Heresie they reformed and by Scripture abundantly confuted the Pelagians and especially Augustine Ierome Prosper Fulgentius Hilarius and others And Augustine inticing a Donatist to dispute about that Heresie Saith unto him Ratione agamus divinarum Scripturarum authoritate agamus Let us dispute the matter by Argument let us be guided by the Authority of the Divine Scriptures Not what I and thou Say but what Christ Saith And this was the Spirit I say and practise of all the Fathers in such cases So as if this Article of of Christs descent into hell had been by occasion of controversie about it well searched into and examined by the Scripture no doubt but the Fathers would therein have regulated their Faith according to the truth of Scripture But the Church of England say you holds and beleeves that Article as you doe No marvaile when you doe And should you hold otherwise must it not doe so too And yet we have but your bare word for it But you will alledge your Article That Christ went downe into hell But we must examine your Article by the Scripture And it is not the sound of your Article but the sense and that it agreeth with Scripture But we have shewed that no such thing is in Scripture And you tell us withall what Mr. Rogers upon the Articles saith of this That then Then I say in diebus illis the Church of England was not resolved of this Article and he was then the Arch-bishop of Canterbury his Chaplein your Predecessor Richard Bancroft But now your Lordships bare word is enough to Sway the Ballance which before stood but in aequilibrio in an even peize not resolved but now resolved But this I can tell you what ever your Church of England now beleeves there is and I hope a good sound Church of Christ yet in England that beleeves the Creed and all the Articles thereof and this in particular no otherwise then they find them agreeable to the Scripture and the Analogy of Faith And this is agreeable to that which once a Prelâ—te of England said By the generall confâ—ssion of all Antiquity Traditions must he warranted by the Scriptures or els we must reject them And Isidore saith A Prelate if he teach or command any thing besides that which is evidently cammanded in the holy Scriptures let him be taken for a false witnâ—ssie to God and a committer of Sacriledge But looking a little further I find you confessing That the Church of England hath not determined as yet either way by open Declaration upon this Article No hath she not How then doe you affirme and would perswade us that you beleeve with the Church of England that Christ descended into hell without any further Dispute We hope therefore it will not be long before your Declaration come forth with a Definitive Sentence determining the sense of this Article one way or other And the rather because in the late Declaration before the Articles wherein this Article of Christs going down into hell is particularly set downe for one they are declared to be of ambiguous sense and yet men must hold to the letter of the Article So as by that Declaration we are lesse resolved of the Articles then before A new Declaration therefore we would faine see which is cleare Declarative and Determinative and therein tell us whether Christs Soule descended into Hell the place of the damned or into Purgatory the Suburbs of hell and whether Locally and for what end and purpose because the Scripture is altogether silent in this whole mystery and whether you find hell to be in the Center of the Earth or no because your Article saith He went down into hell c. But in the mean time I have for my part ingenuously given you a reason of my Faith touching this Article which I am so resolved on by the Scripture that whatsoever Declaration you or your Church of England
is in the Scripture such a light as is of force to breed faith Nay you have already again and again and I know not how often expresly and flatly denyed that there is in Scripture so much light as of it self hath force to breed so much faith as to beleeve it to be the word of God And this was all the Question with you but even now But how comes in this Negative Not to make a perfect knowledge The Question was not all this while whether the Scripture had so full a light in it as to make a perfect knowledge But seeing you took this in to cast a myst before mens eyes that they may not so easily discern your jugling trick in answering A.C. and yet keeping your credit as if you herein maintained no other thing then what they Divines of the Church of England have held that which you say the Jesuite pretends I will answere this too That all Orthodox Divines do hold and that according to the Scripture that there is in it such a full and cleare light as to make a perfect knowledge For First there is a knowledge perfect and 2 ly we have no other Schoolmaster to teach it but the Scripture and 3 ly this perfect knowledge is required of Christians Be not children in understanding saith the Apostle but in understanding be men So the English hath it But the Originall is tais dè phresì téleio gÃnesthe In understanding or wisdome be ye perfect So Heb. 6.1 Wherfore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us be caried on to perfection That is to perfection of Knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Now this knowledge is no where but in the Scripture and so this perfection no way to be attained unto but by the Scripture as the onely rule and meanes thereof So the Apostle to Timothy saith From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Iesus All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousnes that the man of God may be perfect thorowly furnished unto all good works So as Tertullian might well say Adoro plenitudinem Scripturarum I adore or admire the fullnesse of the Scriptures It is a Fountaine yea an Ocean of Knowledge And if we cannot attaine to that full perfection of Knowledge in this life which is to be found in the Scripture it is defectus vasis non fontis the defect is in the vessell mans soule For we know but in part and we prophecy in part saith the Apostle and not in the fountaine the Holy Scripture which is like Iacobs Well full of Water but deep so as every one hath not such a lage vessell and long line as can draw forth a full measure of knowldge out of it yet he may draw for a plenitude or fullnesse of the vessell according to its quantity and the proportion of Faith given to every man yet not so exactly full by reason of our infirmity and in-capacity of our vessell which is partly of a leaking condition plenus rimarum as he said full of cracks and a great deale we lose in the very drawing of it up as a bucket doth of water before it come to the toppe So as the defect is not in the Well wherein it was but now over head and eares as we Say under water and fuller then it could hold but in the bucket in bringing it up or containing and retaining of it L. p. 87. Faiths evidence is not so cleare for it is of things not seen Heb. 11.1 in regard of the object and in regard of the subject that sees it is in enigmate in a glasse or darke speaking Now God doth not require a full demonstrative knowledge in us that the Scripture is his word and therefore in his Providence hath kindled in it no light for that but he requires our faith of it and such a certaine demonstration as may fit that And for that he hath left sufficient light in Scripture to Reason and Grace meeting when the Soule is morally prepared by the Tradition of the Church P. Speaking Still of that Faith whereby a man beleeves the Scripture to be the word of God which Faith is Historicall here you confound it with the Saving justifying Faith just as the Papists doe For as they so you here alledge for your faiths unclean evidence Heb. 11.1 where the Apostle describes Faith thus Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen By which very description it is cleare and evident that he speakes not of that Historicall Faith of Scripture common to all men but of the Saving Faith peculiar to Gods Elect Tit. 1.1 and given to the Saints Jude 3. which notwithstanding comprehends in it the Historicall Faith of Scripture to be the word of God and that in a higher degree and measure then any Reprobate can have even as the Rationall Soule of man being it comprehends in it the Sensitive faculty in a more excellent manner then it is in the bruit beasts and the Vegetative faculty in a more excellent manner then it is in the plants because as the sensitive and vegetative qualities of the soule of man being comprehended under the Rationalls are subjected to the rule and command of Reason and so doe participate in some kind of the very nature of the Rationall faculty man being both moving and seeing and hearing and smelling and tasting and touching not as a bruit beast but as a Reasonable creature So Historicall Faith being comprehended under the Saving and Justifying Faith in a true beleever it is in him more excellent and advanced to a higher pitch of perfection then it is or can be in a naturall man so as it participates so farre of that plerophorÃa tes pÃsteoes that full assurance of Saving Faith as that it not onely apprehends and beleeves the Scripture to be the word of God but doth beleeve it so certainly and firmly and with such an affiance and affection as that the Beleever will rather dye then for the terrours of death it selfe be brought to deny this truth And what is this trow you but a full and certaine demonstrative knowledge that perswades him to this But for This Historicall Faith in a meere naturall man or one unregenerate though he be sufficiently convinced in his Conscience that the Scripture is the word of God yet he hath neither so much affiance in it nor affection to it as that he wil be content to loose life and all if need be for the maintenance of this truth This full Demonstration he wants But for that Faith which the Apostle speakes of and describes Heb. 11.1 which you make to be your Historicall Faith and the evidence of it in regard of the objest not so cleare as being of things not seene it is
A REPLIE TO A RELATION OF THE CONFERENCE BETWEEN WILLIAM LAUDE and Mr. FISHER the Jesuite By a Witnesse of JESUS CHRIST JOB 38.2 Who is this that darkeneth Councell by words without knowledge 1 KINGS 18.21 How long halt you between two opinions If the LORD be GOD follow him but if Baal then follow him CANT 2.15 Take us the Foxes the little Foxes that spoyle the Vines for our Vines have tender Grapes IMPRINTED Anno MDCXL A SAD AND SERIOVS CONSULTATION OF A DISCONSOLAE MOTHER CHRISTS VIRGIN-Spouse with twelve of her Children about her whose names are Faith Hope Charity Zeale Humility Prudence Piety Patience Iustice Mercy Verity Prayer whose severall judgements the Mother requireth in a doubtfull case MOTHER MY Deare Children how doth the very sight of you revive my dolefull spirits almost drowned in the Dragons flood You are to me as that twelve-starred Crowne upon my head But to the purpose for which I have called you together though indeed you are never asunder nor absent from me and it is this You have taken notice of a notorious Booke lately published by the Prime Prelate of England which he calls a Relation of a Conference c. And how to that Relation a Sonne of mine no lesse known to you all then assisted by you in the worke hath made here a Reply and presented it to me But now how to improve and dispose of it for the best is the doubt The Relator the Prelate ingageth the King in it by two bonds the one of Patronage the other of Command as if the King had first commanded it to be published and now did give it Patronage and protection which if true it puts me in a straight what to doe with this Reply For who so fit to take notice of it yea and to give it Protection too if both the matter and the consequence of it being of so high a nature be well and wisely weighed It hath much perplexed me Now therefore give me your best advice And first Faith what sayst thou Faith Deare Mother put away from you all such perplexed thoughts 'T is true If we looke on worldly meanes with a carnall eye we are all in a straight But this is our safety 'T is well the world hath never an object to allure our confidence to pitch upon it And best of all when all the world is banded against us and our Christ. Is not he alone sufficient to cope with them Doth he not laugh at their proud but vaine attempts which are no lesse against him then against us Is not the Cause then his And are not we his And is not he for us Who then shall be against us What though Principalities and Powers and Spirituall wickednesses in high places be with all the power and pollicie of the world with all the craft and cruelty of the Dragon and Devill armed against us why still Christ is for us That 's sufficient Therefore there be moe with us then against us We are a little flock against a world of Wolves and Foxes Lyons and Beares but we have a watchfull and powerfull Shepheard whose Legions of mighty Angels those heavenly Hosts doe pitch their tents round about us We are his Paradise on earth which he defends continually with his Cherubims flaming sword that proud Apostates cannot so invade us as to take one Tree of life from us Let the wild Beasts then rage and warre upon us let the Aegyptian troopes pursue us as with open mouth to devuore us but stand we still and see the salvation of the LORD He that led his people through the Sea never wants power to deliver his when in most desperate straights Mother Cheare up Not a haire of your head shall perish The faithfull and True hath said it As for outward meanes if we have them we use them as Gods ordinances if we have them not nay if all be against us yet our Faith in GOD is the same and ever greater stronger and nobler without and against meanes then with them And much more is our GOD the same and his glory most shineth where outward meanes are either least helpfull or most opposite My resolution then is this The Reply in my judgement is very necessary to be published and withall as most pertinent and important to be presented to the King But whether he will read it or no leave that to GOD. We shall neither loose our labour nor reward For great is the Truth and shall prevaile what ever opposition Men or Devils make against it And in this Reply the true Faith is defended against the Prelates false and counterfeit Faith I have said Mother Well Hope what sayst thou Hope Deare Mother I am of the same mind and spirit with my Sister Faith By all meanes cast away all anxious and perplexed thoughts and be of good comfort though our Shippe be shrewdly weather-beaten and shaken yet Christ is at the sterne And I have already cast Anchor in the Havens mouth on a firme ground within the Veile When Noahs Arke floated over the toppes of the highest Mountaines in that dreadfull Deluge when the world was a Sea what Pilot safely guided and steered its course that it should rest upon the Mount Ararat Even the same Pilot we have to conduct us through these Floods to the Haven where we would be Let the Reply for truth against falsehood be published under Christs Patronage and protection that 's sufficient As for Men the lesse we hope in them the lesse we feare them And while we doe our duty with the one hand we lay hold on the Crowne with the other I have sayd Mother Charity what sayst thou Charity Deare Mother as my Sister Hope is the Anchor both sure and stedfast So I am the three-fold Cable not easily broken and therefore be of good comfort For Love not all the floods can drowne it Now for the Relation were those many passages in it noted by the Replyer some common slips of ignorance or humane frailty I would cast my large mantle over them but being of a high nature and full of impiety against GOD and CHRITT and the Holy Ghost and the holy Scriptures and against your holy Spouse-ship and against Faith and against Charity and so against all true Religion yea proceeding also from a Prime Prelate pretending great learning and knowledge and professing such singular eminencie and dexterity of wit and judgement as being the onely able Champion of the Church of England to defend the truth against a Jesuite and all this under the faire white veile of hypocrisie onely his Black-moores skin too grosly appearing in his malignant practises in persecuting the Truth and in those malicious and impious passages in his Booke so as he is left altogether naked of all plea of ignorance therefore I hold it fit that his hypocrisie should be unmasqued his bold falcities confuted his insollencie suppressed his impiety rebuked and the Truth maintained against him
be heard among them And for us thy poore handmaids here humbly suppliant before thee let thy holy Spirit direct lead and assist us in the way which may be most acceptable to thy Majesty and profitable for thy People and comfortable to us all in our distressed estate And shew unto thy Servants what thou wouldst have us to doe in this difficult businesse about the presenting of this Reply to the King which with our selves and all thine we humbly commend to thy grace and blessing through Iesus Christ to whom with thee ô Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and ever Amen Mother Now my deare Children I will tell you what resolution GOD hath put into my heart upon the very close of this Prayer namely that we addresse our selves to the King with this Reply together with an humble Petition And because all of us perhaps would be too many let as many of you as are willing to attend me goe with me to the King the rest let them goe and be humble suiters at the Throne of Grace that our GOD would give us to find Grace in the eyes of the King so as hearkening to our Petition he may doe accordingly Such therefore of you as are willing to accompany me stand on this side and the rest stand on that side Well I see you are equally divided Six with me and Six for me With me Charity Humilty Prudence Piety Patience and Verity For me Faith Hope Zeale Iustice Mercy Prayer Now my Gracious Children be strong and of a good courage Our Cause is good and GOD is for us and though our enemies be great yet they shall not prevaile against us TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAIESTY THE TRVE CHVRCH AND CHILDREN THE TRUE FAITH AND RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST do humbly present their Petition of Right THAT whereas a Book intituled A Relation of a Conference between WILLIAM LAUDE and Mr. FISHER the Iesuite hath been by the said WILLIAM now of Canterbury lately republished and that under your Majesties Patronage and in the publishing whereof as he saith he hath obeyed your Majesty And whereas A Reply to the said Relation is now under the Patronage of JESUS CHRIST and in obedience to his Word and by assistance of his Grace here published and presented to your Majesty and before all the World in which Reply are detected and clearely evinced by manifold and infallible Testimonies sundry particular passages and Doctrines of the Relator which directly overthrow all true Christian Faith and Religion And whereas in this Reply is clearely proved that Prelaticall Government of the Church or the Hierarchy as they call it is meere Antichristianisme and the very Mistery of Iniquity branded by the Apostle and expresly forbidden by Christ himselfe to his Apostles whose Successors the Prelates falsely pretend to be and that all Prelates even as they are Prelates are both by their Profession and Practise so many Antiâ—hrists adversaries to CHRIST who as the Great Antichrist sit as Gods in the Temple of GOD Lording over the Faith Soule and Conscience of GODS People thrusting CHRIST out of his Throne And whereas notwithstanding the manifest truth hereof confirmed by most cleare Testimony and undeniable Proofes of Scripture the Relator or Prelate hath in his said Relation uttered sundry blasphemous Speeches belying the Wisedome Counsell and Providence of GOD and of CHRIST as making Him the Author and Ordainer of such a Hierarchicall Government of his Church which is to Father upon GOD and CHRIST a most notorious Lye and Falshood where he addes withall a blasphemous New Article of Belief of the Church of England that this is a truth And whereas the Holy Scriptures is and hath been in all Ages and by all Sound and Orthodox Divines both Ancient and Moderne both Forraigne and Domestick universally received held and constantly beleeved and maintained against all Adversaries of the Truth to be the Onely Rule of Faith and Iudge of Controversies in Divinity and alone Selfe-sufficient to give Testimony to it selfe that it is the undoubted Word of GOD as in this Reply also is fully prooved And whereas the Relator notwithstanding hath loded the Scripture with many intollerable reprâ—ohes and blasphemous words of disgrace censuring it as an insufficient witnesse to it selfe and an incompetent Iudge of Controversies in Faith as being both a blinde dumbe and dead Judge and that it hath no light in it selfe but is as a Candle in a box without light till Tradition of the present Church doe light it and the like the very ground of all Infidelity and Apostacie And whereas notwithstanding all such his blasphemies against the Scripture wherewith he hath stuffed some 30 leaves in Follio besides many other the like scattered all along his Book he the same Relator out of his grosse hypocrisie addeth this proud Blasphemy to all the rest That he hath given the Scripture all honour and ascribed unto it Sufficiencie more then enough And whereas also as appeareth in this Reply the Relator belyes and blasphemes the Holy Ghost himselfe making him the Author of most notorious lyes and vanity And whereas the Relator doth define a meere false and counterfeit Catholicke Church contrary to that Holy Catholick Church beleeved in the Creed whereby he overthrowes both that Article of Faith and with all the Communion of Saints teaching that his Catholicke Church though it cease to be holy yet is a true Church of CHRIST still And whereas of and in this his new Catholicke Church which the Relator beleeveth he makes the Church of England and of Rome to be one and the same Church and both to hold one and the same Faith of that his Catholicke Prelaticall Church which Faith is declared in the Reply not to be the true saving Faith and that they both do set up and professe one and the same Religion not different in which Faith and Religion of the Church of England and of Rome he saith as he hath lived so he resolves to dye as much to say as he will live and dye an English-Romish-Catholicke And whereas the Replyer proveth and which no Papist denyeth that the maine substance of the Romish Religion is the Masse And whereas the Relator confesseth that though a simple Papist may as he saith yet no Romanist as a Romanist living and dying in the Roman Faith can be saved and yet this Faith of Rome is the same with that of England wherein he will end his dayes So as the Church of England may hereby see in what a case she is and how highly she is preferred by her Primate as to be brought to be of the same Church the same Faith the same Religion with Rome enough to startle all your Majesties Subjects that till now thought themselves to bo Protestants and no Papists and to cause all zealous Christians to abandon all communion with such a Church as is the same Church of the same Faith and Religion with Rome And wheras
this Relator professeth and teacheth a blind Charity sutable to his Faith which he boldly affirmeth to be not a mistaken Charity in granting that a silly ignorant Papist so living and dying may be Saved by his Ignorance in that Religion conforming himselfe to his Religious life and on the contrary condemning such Protestants of stiffenesse and churlishnesse that are not of the same Charity with him though the Replyer proveth that there is no true Charity without true Faith and Verity And whereas the same Relator is shewed in this Reply to give much more liberty to your Majesties Protestant People to goâ— to the Romish Masse as being with him one and the same undiffering Religion with that of England then the Jesuite doth to his blind Romanist to come to the English Church And whereas the same Relator hath many passages wherein he makes a Generall Councell of Prelates Iudge in all Controversies of Faith ascribing unto them an Infallibility and in case they shall erre and that even in grosse things and points of Faith yet that all men are bound to yeeld obedience at least externall till another Generall Counsell equall to the former reverse those Errours whereupon by Consequence of this Prelaticall doctrine as the Replyer doth instance the Church of England it self is bound to observe the worship of Images and the forbearance of the Cup in the Sacrament c. decreed in Generall Councels and not yet reversed by other Generall Councels equall to those And whereas the Relator calls Transubstantiation Purgatory and the forbearance of the Cup but disputable and Improbable Questions the nature of which is to be taken indifferently Pro and Con And whereas he never once in all his Relation calls the Romish-worship of Images and of the Sacrament or any other Idolatry in all the Romish Church but onely by the name of Superstition abstaining altogether from the name of Idolatry as if with him the Roman Church were no Idolatresse And whereas he much lamenteth the Seperation and rent between the Protestants and Rome with the continuance of it although with the Iesuite he confesse that errour in Faith is just cause of separation And whereas he the same Relator doth cunningly yet palpably enough in sundry passages of his Booke as also he hath openly done viva voce at the High-Commission-Board exclude all the Reformed Protestant Churches beyond the Seaes as no Churches of Christ as not admitting the Hierarchy Finally also in his Book quipping Luther and in him all the Reformed Churches as having made a rent not onely from Rome with her corruptions but even from the Catholick Church it selfe which indeed in the Relators sense and difinition of the Catholicke Church is most true to wit from the universall Hierarchy And whereas he the Relator doth every where highly extoll his Ceremonies in Gods worship as without which he saith there is no light left to shine before men that they may see his Devotion and so glorify GOD therein most foulely and odiously perverting and abusing the holy Text of Scripture uttered by CHRIST to a cleane other purpose as the Replyer hath noted all which Ceremonies being a will-worship after the Tradition and Commandement of men the Apostle doth utterly condemn as wherby the very merits of Christs death are made of none effect who in his death destroyed All Ceremonies in Religion obliging the Conscience and not onely the Leviticâ—ll but all other whatsoever of humane Ordinance as the Replyer clearely proveth So as it is not left to any Power on Earth to impose the least Ceremony yea though it be of nature indifferent to bind the Conscience in the service of GOD seeing all such imposition is Antichristian Tyranny And whereas all Prelaticall Hereticall and Antichristian Faction erected by the Prince of darkenesse against Iesus Christ and his Kingdome as is apparent both by their profession and practice wherein they have nothing at all yea not any one thing to show wherein they resemble either Christ or any one of his Apostles except Iudas Christs Kingdome being altogether spirituall and not of this world but the Hierarchy a meere carnall and worldly Kingdome onely guilded over with the bare name of spirituall And whereas the Relator throughout his whole Booke bewrayeth his most palpable and profound ignorance and notorious blindnesse in the whole mystery of Faith and all true divinity in so much as when ever he Cites Scripture he still perverts it to a wrong sense and is not able to bring any proofe either from Scripture or Common Reason except from some of his Jesuiticall Authors for any of his Paradoxes and strange doctrines delivering all without Book tanquam è Cathedra as but of some Papall unerring Chaire upon the Authority of his bare word and upon meere trust And whereas the Relator saith That worth once misled is of all other the greatest misleader and who of greater worth in the Church of England and in the Esteem of Great ones too then the Great Primate himselfe whose very word with many is taken as a divine Oracle So as if the Church and State of England will but pin their soules upon this Leaders sleeve he will not fayle to lead them in that way the issue whereof seem it never so right in the eyes of credulity will certainly prove to be as Solomon saith the wayes of death And whereas by the Relator sundry occasions are ministred to the Replyer of instancing divers practises charged upon the Prelate as the principall Agent or Instrument of setting up sundry Innovations in Religion in the Church of England all which have been done under his Primacie as The republishing under your Majesties Name the Book for liberty of profane Sports on the Lords day with pressing Ministers to read the Sayd Book in their severall Congregations and upon refusall extreamely persecuting them and thrusting them from their Ministry and meanes with their poore wives and children The authorizing and licencing of some Doctors Books which cry down the Morality of the 4 th Commandement for the Sanctifying of the Lords Sabbath day The setting forth of a New Order to restraine Preachers from Preaching in the Afternoones on the Lords dayes much pressed by the Prelates and their Officers in all their visitations The setting forth of a Declaration in your Majesties Name prefixed to the Articles of Religion which the Prelates practises plainly interpret to be for the restraining and prohibiting altogether the Doctrines of Saving Grace to be preached and wherein the genuine sense of those Articles touching Grace which formerly were universally interpreted to have but one sence agreeable to the Scripture is confounded with the heterodox hereticall doctrines of the Pelagians and Arminians so as none can tell what to make of those Articles saving that by this meanes the Orthodox Ministers must not preach the truth and the Adverse party and Faction may find footing and countenance for their groundlesse and gracelesse heresies and all this to the manifest
Kingdome meerly Temporall 283. Their Government Oligarchicall ibid. Christs Congregations have no need of Prelates to visit them having their own lawfull Pastor to feed them 285. The Govenment of Christs Church is most perfect of all other as consisting of the 3 States of good Politie or Government to wit the Monarchiall the Aristocraticall and the Democraticall 286. Prelates Lordly Tyranny expresly condemned by Christ as Heathenish 287 to 290. 204. The Prelaticall Church in England no lesse Tryumphant then the Prelate taxeth Rome to be 290 291. 205. By the Prelates own allegation nor Kings nor Priests may doe any thing in Reformation of Religion besides Gods prescript Law 291 292. And so by his Confession implicitly where the foundation of Faith and Good Manners are shaken therein Magistrates are not to be obeyed in which respect the Prelate is shrewdly put to it in sundry instances 293 to 297. 210. The Prelate againe blasphemeth Gods Name as if a favourer of the Prelaticall practises in England 297. A blasphemous Article of Faith of the Prelates pinning upon the Church of England ibid. Prelaticall Canons yea and Papall too yoaked and equalled by the Prelate with Scriptures in Governing the Church We must not joyn in Prayer with notorious profane Hypocrites and Enemies of Christ and of his Truth 298. A speciall Prayer for the King in these perillous times ibid. King and State abused and indangered by the Prelates practises and putting forth of this his Booke ibid. The Prelate proves all his Speculations with his bare word 199. What a Polititiant he Ch. of Eng. is grown under such a Primate Prelates no visible Judges of Gods Institution proved at large against the Prelates Blasphemy 399 300 301. Prelates Canons such Law-books as wherewith Christs Law-book cannot consist but is made of none effect They are Antichristian bondage ibid. No more necessity of one Primate over all England then of one pope over All 302. A Speciall duty of Christian Magistrates ibid. 212. How uniny and certainty of Faith is preserved by the Prelates 303. 194. The Prelate makes the Scripture a blind dumb and dead Judge 303 304. Of Generall Councels sundry notable Passages scattered along his Booke and collected by the Replyer and detected to be some of them ridiculous and all of them most impious and detestable from 304 to 324. How by the Prelates Doctrine both himselfe and his Church of England are bound to worship Images and to forbeare the Cup in the Sacrament as being decreed by Generall Councels and not yet reversed by any other equall to those 312 313. The Apostles Assembly Act. 15. no Precedent for Generall Councels in after Ages to be Judges in Controversies of Faith 314 315. and therfore that example not prudently but surreptitiously taken up by the Prelaticall Church The Prelate confesseth that Generall Councels have no Authority by Christs Institution 312 313. How unlike Prelaticall Councels are to that Act. 15. whereof not only the Apostles but the Presbyters and the Brethren the People of God were the Body 313 314. How the Prelate holds the Difinitions of Generall Councels to be infallible and that there is no more question to be made of the assistance of the Holy Ghost in them then that the Holy Ghosts assistance is without errour 325 326. The Prelate boldly professeth that he absolutely maketh a Generall Councel Judge of Controversies 327. Wherein he is abolutely fallen from the Catholick Faith His sundy assertions some ridiculous some contradictorious some blasphemous some darke riddles which he propounds and leaves unresolved and can never Resolve 321 322. He is catcht fast in his own Net And the more he struggleth to unwind himselfe out the mâ—re he is intangled 213. Though the Councel of Trent were not Generall yet it is so Generall as the Decrees thereof do bind all Papists under Anathema 328. 227. Another Reason of the Prelates why a Generall Councel erring yet should stand in force namely for the peace of Christendome confuted He is content to forgoe the Truth for Peace sake 328. The Prelates Heresie in holding it a branch of Heresie to say The Church Militant is without spot or wrinckle according to Ephes. 5. confuted 329 330. The Prelate overthrows an Article of the Faith 331. The Prelates Key of Doctrine primely in the Church wherewith he shuts out Truth and lets in Errour 329. He makes it but a supposition for the Key of Doctrine to let in Truth ibid. The Prelates subtile but futile and vaine Distinction of Transubstantiation confuted 332. He makes Christs Institution not to be cleare against Transubstantiation as against Communion in one Kind Confuted fully 333 334. Romish Adoration of Images minced by the Prelate set forth by the Replyer in its full proportion and shewed to be more grosse Idolatry then that of the Heathen 334 335 336. 280. The Prelates notorious hypocrisie in confessing Images in Churches and other Romish Superstitions to have given great Scandall to many so as to drive them quite away from them detected and selfe-condemned by his practises 337 338. Will-worship in Altar-Service and the like a Service of the Devil 340 341. The Prelates hot zeale in pressing more of Romes Ceremonies makes the old justly suspected as smelling ranke 341. Ilustrated by a similitude ibid. The Prelates Ceremonies condemned by the Same Testimony which he alledgeth 343 344. the By beâ—ng put for the Maine See before 280. The Prelate stands stiffly in this That a silly ignorant Papist living and dying in the Romish Faith may thereby conforming himselfe to his Romish Religious life be saved with his Reasons his so learning of Christ and his Charity not mistaken confuted 345 to 350. That which the Prelate calls Churlishnesse in the Protestants is better then the Prelates Charity ibid. 294 295. The Prelates quoting of 3. Martyrs for the Name of Reall Presence which he would faine have to be brought in use answered 350 351 352 353. Reasons why we ought not to name the Reall Presence in the Sacrament 351. 297. The Prelate dallies with Transubstantiation Purgatory Forbearance of the Cup in saying they are Disputed or Disputable and Improbable Questions 353 354. Romes Tyranny confessed by the Prelate the Image whereof is proved to be in the Prelacy of England 356 357. How he dawbes with the Jesuites about their Salvation 357 358. 299. The Prelate contradicts himselfe and so overthrows his Faith and Charity concerning a silly Papists Salvation in Saying That as a Romanist he cannot be saved 357 358. The Prelates vaine ridiculous and absurd hope of the Salvation of some Papists living in the Church of Rome 358 to 363. The Prelates confession of the Romanists Faith crosseth his hope of their Salvation 372. The Prelate still hath a Reservation for the Salvation of his silly ignorant Papists 302. The Prelates worth misled the greatest misleader 363. The Prelates Rule 'T is safest to beleeve the Article of Christs Descent into hell as both the Churches of England
and of Rome doe agree upon 363 364. He contradicts himselfe ibid. 307. Jesuites Commendation of the English Liturgy whether it be a good signe 364. 318. How the Prelate rewards the late Dr. White for his Deserts and what they were 364 365. The true Church of Christ proved against the Prelate not to be alwayes visible and conspicuous by many Instances Though the Prelaticall be alwayes conspicuous 366 367 368. Most pittifull and perplexed contradictions and confused and false Speeches of the Church of Rome by the Prelate 369. Rome a Tree wholly corrupt without so much as the Barke of a true Church 370. 321. Dr. Whites Errours Fundamentall reductivè confuted 371 372. 325. Wherein the Prelates Church of England is departed from the Foundation 373. The Prelates Latitude of faith in reference to different mens Salvation which he can no more fit to them then a coat for the Moâ—ne 373 374. True Preachers must teach all what and how to beleeve though it be no worke for the Prelates pen 373. 327. The Prelate confesseth that Romanists dare not beleeve but as the Church of Rome beleeves which saith he beleeves not aright How then can his Ignorants be saved 374 375. 332. Apocrypha by the Prelate how neatly brought in as a Co-witnesse with the Scripture to prove points of Faith 375. 336. The Prelates Resolution to live and dye in the Faith of the Primitive Church confuted by sundâ—y Instances 375 376. 338. The Prelate holds not the Saving Faith as not acknowledging other then Romes Faith 377 378 379. And the Saving Faith is not in the Church of Rome 377 The Prelate holds a false Hope and Charity together with a false Faith with Rome wherein he will live and dye an English Romish-Catholicke 379 380. 339. The Prelates haâ—ting and halfing with the Jesuite 380. In charging Rome he checketh himselfe 340. His halting againe 381. Yet he confesseth that the now Roman Faith is not the Catholicke which Roman Faith he will live and dye in 380. What Contradiction is ib. His contradiction noted 382. His halting down-right all along 382 383. 342. How the Prelates Saving Faith of Rome is by himselfe proved to be Infidelity 384. So as compared with the former he will live and dye in the Roman Infidelity Conferre 375 376 377. His Collusion 382. 349 Who the first Founder of Purgatory 386. 365. The Prelates false root of the true Churches existence and true root of the false 387 388. 370. The Church of Rome how yeelded by the Replyer to be visible yet not Apostolicke against the Prelate 387 388. 371. Of Peters being at Rome 388. The Church of Rome for what preserved of God 389. 375 How the Prelate gives more liberty to his Protestants to goe to the Romish Church to heare Masse which he calls the Service of God then the Jesuite doth to his Roman Catholicks to goe to the English Service 390 391 392. 376. The Prelates Assertion That the Church of Rome and the Protestant Church of England do not set up a different Religion 392. And so no great difference of going to either yet that both accuse each other of grosse corruptions indangering Salvation 393. Ibid. Who are the Prelates Indifferent Readers to whom it appeares by his Discourse as himselfe saith That the Religion profest in the Church of England comes nearest to the Primitive Church And what Readers will judge the contrary 394. 377. Not onely Superstition as the Prelate stints it but grosse Idolatry in Adoration of Images in Invocation of Saints in Adoration of the Sacrament 395. 378. By the Prelates confession to the Priest A. C. there should be but little pride in his heart 396. 379. The Prelates wan hope of mercy to the dead Lady 396 397. 388. The Prelates Close or Conclusion wherein he excuseth himselfe by reason of his other weighty affaires and of his Age His misnaming of the Penman of the 90 Psalme least he should through all his Booke but touch or name any one Scripture and withall not mistake misapply or pervert it His fearefull and desperate condition layd home unto him by the Replyer His mocking and abusing Gods Name and Mercy in his hypocriticall Prayer and impenitent heart His blaphemy in Fathering all his Booke written and published for the meeting of his Popish Truth and Peace in a Reconciliation with Rome upon Gods Free Grace His wicked and false hope that God will bring to passe that his Diabolicall Designe and Desire which cannot come to passe but with the utter confusion of the whole Land His hypocriticall and faithlesse giving Glory to God after all his blacke mouthed blasphemies and disgraces throughout his Booke cast upon the Majesty of God of Christ and of the Holy Ghost also upon Gods holy word the Scripture as if he would in the close of all with this one plaister heale so many broken heads 397 to 405. This suffice for a rude Model But what 's that to the House it selfe Enter therfore and take a free and full view Consider what thou readest and the Lord give thee understanding in all things TO THE AVTHOR AND PVBLISHER OF THE RELATION MY Lord that you find not my Name in Front the Reasons are to my selfe And when you find it 't will appeare that feare of your displeasure though terrible enough was not the Cause But whoever I be you will Say perhaps I am some madde fellow and too bold to make a Reply to your Relation But your own words will I hope excuse me for that For you Say A right sober mâ—n may without the least touch of insolency or madnesse dispute a businessâ— of Religion with the Roman either Church or Prelate so it be with modesty and for the finding out or confirming of Truth free from â—anity and purposed opposition against even a Particular Church So you Now my manner in disputing with one so Great though a single Prelate and no Church being with modesty and 〈◊〉 from vaniâ—y and purposed opposition against your Person and the end for finding out and confirming the Truth which God himselfe knoweth I hâ—pe I Say your Lordship wil be as good as your word not to cast upon me an aspersion or Censure of the least touch of Insolâ—nâ—ie or madnesse But this indeed I must confesse unto you and professe before all the world that in a Cause so weighty as this wherein I find my Lord Iesus Christ so deeply ingaged so much dishonoured and his onely true Faith and Religion so much depressed and disparaged and that by so great a Prelate I must crave pardon if herein I be both zealous and plain with you And that so much the more that one so Great I say so high in favour in Court and so potent and prevalent in the State should so doe And to this purpose I remember another Speech in your Booke Worth is no necessary concluder for Truth For worth once misled is of all other the greatest misleader And such is
your worth in the esteem of Great ones too that misled it is the greatest misleader But there you adde And yet God forbid that to worth weake men should not yeâ—ld in difficult and perplexed Questions Certainly my Lord what ever my weaknesse be it will hardly yeeld to your worth though never so great where I find your worth misled and so to become the Great Misleader and that of no lesse then the whole Church of England You know it is every good Subjects part to be zealous of the Kings honour when he seeth it wounded or wronged And shall not every good and faithfull Christian be zealous for the honour of his Lord Iesus Christ and of his Kingdome when he seeth them either openly opposed or secretly undermined by Any though never so Great and honourable in the world And this I shall make manifest and I hope convince your Lordship of if cleare evidence of holy Scripture and Reason will doe it that you have as in your common practise so in this your Last Book not onely bewrayed but confirmed to the world at least to all that have their eyes in their head as the Preacher saith your amity with the Church of Rome and enmity against Iesus Christ and his true Church and so to the Salvaâ—ion of mens soules This by Gods Grace I shall make cleare in my ensuing Reply Wherein I shall observe no other method but as I meet with such Passages all along though perhaps not all as are worthy of Animadversion to tell your Lordship plainly my mind of them And although as the Proverbe is Plaine dealing is a Iewel that is for the rarity of it yet it is not so highly esteemed in Court as others of a more glistering luster And wheras you may imagine and hope as you have exprest your selfe that this your Book will make for your Reputation as being interlaced with some â—arger Discourses or Disputes against the Jesuite which may be a goodly broad Figge-leaves to cover the nakednesse of the rest yet many things in it are so palpably grosse and directly opposit to the Truth that when you have layd on never so much varnish and guilding All will prove but as a painted Sepulchre The Law of God forbids the Jewes to sow their field with diverse kinds of seeds least the whole fruit be defiled This was to teach them and us not to mingle Truth with Errour nor to halt between GOD and Baal for so all their Religion comes to be defiled But your field here is sowne with many Tares mingled with some graines of Wheat which oâ—â—ekthròs Anthopos the enemy having sown and being grown up to such a ranknesse and ripenesse marvaile not that I have brought so Sharpe a Sickle to cut it down The letter L. is to noâ—e your Lordships words p. the page and P. the Replyers Answere And in all I shall be somwhat briefe though perhaps tedious And I suppose your Lordship so formidable by That Late Censure and so secure by the Sure and Closse cooping up of those 3 once troublesome men expected not that any should be left of that mettall so hardy as to take up and maintain such a quarrell against the Great Metropolitan of all England But my Lord deceive not your selfe The Lord Iesus Christ rather then faile will out of the very dust rayse up witnesses to stand up against Antichrist or any of his Confederacie And so in the first place I come to your Epistle Dedicatory to his Majesty THE REPLIE TO THE RELATORS EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO THE KING L. p. 1. THIS Tract will need Patronage as Great as may be had and that 's yours P. Thus you begin your Epistle But you might have added on Earth On Earth no doubt the greatest Patronage you can have is the Kings But haply you neither thought nor hoped of any higher Patron of this Tract then on Earth And therefore it will so much the more need some humane Patronage and that as Great as may be had and all little enough you will find in the end But I hope when once your Tract shal be well troden out and beaten that you will find but few that will travell your way or follow such a Leader and much lesse hazzard their own both honour and safety by Patronizing such a perillous Tract as this will appeare to be And though you should find some to protect you from the Courts of Civill Iustice yet never from Christs dreadfull Throne where you shall certainly be judged according to your worke And let me tell you in putting forth this your Book under the Kings Patronage you lay a greater burthen upon his shoulders then he is able to beare and should he undertake it it would break his back For then he must Patronize all your blasphemous lyes against GOD and his Word and against all Truth which when he comes once to know instead of Patronizing hee will Anathematize both you and your Book L. p. 2. He that seeks it Court Truth with a Roman Bias or any other then for it selfe will run counter when he comes neere it and not find it though he come within the Kenning of it P. Sir you say true And for proofe hereof it will appeare and that too palpably that this Roman Bias hath too much wheeled you about from the Truth which you pretend to seek but neither come neere it nor within the Kenning of it Or if within Kenning so as you have been at any time by its cleare light convinced of it the greater is your sin and the more desperate your case not to confesse it but how much more to fight against it And think not my L. that your plausible naming of Truth here will so blind mens eyes as to beleeve all is truth that you have written in your Book If you seek Truth 't is but as those Sodomites sought for Lots doore to violate his Angel-guests For where you find the Truth sincerely preached and professed doe you not lay violent hands upon Gods Angels the Messengers of his Truth and break into the houses of those righteous Lots those Preachers of Righteousnesse to cast them out And then mervaile not if GOD smite you with blindnesse that you shall never find the Truth for the end you seek it namely to destroy it L. p. 6. He did but skip up and down and labour to pick a hole here and there where he thought he might fasten and where it was too hard for him let it alone P. What the Jesuite did let him answere for himselfe But perhaps you will say the like of me here For I touch not every particular passage as where for your reputation sake you speake some truth thereby to gaine credit to what is contrary as you know who useth to doe and therfore Christ would not suffer the Devils to confesse him at all nor need I labour to pick holes here and there when every where
vaine and wicked thought concerning GOD as if he favoured him and his wicked practises and all because GOD was silent and patient in forbeâ—reing to reprove and punish him Now to apply this If you can find any to whom these things may more fitly and truely be applyed then your selfe doe you apply them home unto them But till you doe give us leave to apply them so farre to your Lordship as we have sufficient warrant and good evidence for First do not you in this your Booke in particular pretend at least to declare Gods word and speak of his Covenant as if you would become a Champion to maintain the holy Scripture against the Roman Adversaries thereof This you professe and willingly grant But in the proofe hereof you set us up Mans Authority above the Scripture as we shall see in the due place And doe you not withall hate instruction and cast Gods word behind you when being by Gods Minister as of late reprooved and convinced of such things as you neither could nor can deny to be true as being written in Capitall Letters in your forehead and on the palmes of your hands yet you not onely hated and despised the reproofe and instruction which was according to Gods word and the duty of a Minister whose strict charge is among other things to reproove with all authority but also have manifested this your hatred and contempt in persecuting this poore Minister beyond all measure and example yea and still continue persecuting him to this day and that most Antichristianly and not onely him but his Wife and Children who have done you no offence at all not suffering the one to goe see her Husband nor the other their Father O my Lord heaven rings of this your fury and the earth groaneth under such more then Heathenish inhumanity not sorting with the Law of common humane nature O How shall you escape the damnation of hell And what plagues may not the Land expect for being guilty of such innocent blood and of such unheard of Barbarisme and that also maintained and continued in cold blood Yea and doth not the spirit of the Beast in you breath out persecution and blast many other of Gods faithfull Ministers never leaving them till you have rooted them out And this you neither feare to practise nor shame to professe And then againe Doe you not give your mouth to Evill and frame your tongue to Deceit You frame it as having a special art and Method in it as the Apostle spekas which you expresse in the fourth mark especially Sitting and speaking against your brother and slandering your own Mothers Son as will further yet appeare and doth by your continuall and dayly practises and specially in or at your High Commission chaire or Boord where as else where you have a power to doe what you list without controule or contradiction And for carnall security in an impious and Atheisticall conceit of GOD as if a favourer of wicked practises because a patient forbearer to punish them presently examine your own heart nay may we not both read it in your courses and understand it by your speeches in sundry places of your Booke where you would seem to have a speciall interest in Gods favour as in his admirable restoring you as you say from your dangerous Fever though you there forgot as those nine Lepers that Christ clensed to return him thanks so much as verball And for the further and fuller clearing of the verefying of all this in your selfe I shall call your Book to witnesse In the meane time here Heare Gods doom against this wicked Man But I will reprove thee and set them in order before thee He will bring every worke to judgement with every secret thing whether good or evill And as David elswhere saith Wherefore doth the wicked contemn GOD He hath said in his heart Thou wilt not require it Thou hast seen it O GOD for thou beholdest mischiefe and spight to require it with thy hand the poore committeth himselfe unto thee Thou art the helper of the Fatherlesse Breake thou the arme of the wicked and the evill man Seeke out his wickednesse till thou find none But How long Lord Holy and True Surely when he maketh inquisition for blood he remembreth them he forgetteth not the cry of the Humble There is a day of Gods visitation a comming and it hasteneth yea we may see it even at the doores Therefore Davids inference hereupon will sort well in this place O consider this ye that forget GOD least I teare you in pieces and there be none to deliver Thus you may see what need you have to beware how you meddle with such edg'd tooles in misapplying the holy Word of God for it is a sharpe two edged sword which not skilfully handled as a Sword in a mad mans hand but applyed to a wrong use and object will rebound back upon you and wound you God give you Grace to repent if possible if you be not come to that Sklurâ—tata kai ametanamton kardian as the Apostle speakes hardnesse and impenitent heart treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath I am plain you see if there may be hope and surely 't is no time now to spare when we heare Gods Trumpet sounding the Alarme You proceed L. p. ibid. In the midst of these libellous outcryes against me some Divines of great note and worth in the Church of England came to me one by one and no one knowing of the others coming as to me they protested and perswaded with me to reprint this Conference in my owne Name This they thought would vindicate my Reputation were it generally known to be mine P. What libellous outcryes my Lord Of Scandalous and Scurrilous pennes If Scurrilous I approve not If Scandalous is not that in your sense onely because against you But the Authours names were to the Bookes which they avowed to be theirs How then libellous And Master BURTON in speciall offered to the full Court at his Censure to prove all his Book to be true And how then Scandalous And if just reproofe of Iniquity and Enormities and that by a Minister of GOD in his own Charge be Censured for Scandalous then how shall the writings of the Apostles and Prophets and the words of Christs owne mouth escape this Censure of being Scandalous For Master BURTON was a Minister of CHRIST which under the Gospell is called a Prophet whose Office is to convince and reproove sinne But he named your Lordship and some other of your Brethren in his Book True And what of that Doe you make this to be Scandalum Magnatum Then what say you to the Prophet Elias telling King Ahab to his face Thou art hee that troubleth Israel And in his writing to King Iehoram hee told him his owne which hee shortly after found too true So the Prophet Elisha when hee spake to the Elders of Israel and
be expected there Can or will the Lord Iesus Christ long suffer such things And what doth England now attempt The recovery of Scotland First ô England be thou thy selfe reconciled to God humble thy selfe for thy fearefull Apostacie revoke and call in all thy ungodly Edicts against Christ and his Word reforme all thy oppressions of Gods People and thine owne maintain not still open warre against the Spirituall Kingdome of Iesus Christ least he destroy thy temporall looke up to God as highly offended with thee and who hath for the present rent a whole Kingdome from thee who hast rent thy selfe from his Kingly Dominion over thee Be no longer rebellious against God stand not upon the confidence of thine own conceited Prudence and Power which unlesse thou hast God on thy side shal be but a snare unto thee and shall stand thee in no stead at thy need except thou dost repent and turn to God unfainedly and refraine thy violent courses and reform all My zeale hath carryed me thus farre for my God and for my King and for my Countrey and for all the People of God and the King in all his Kingdomes my dayly prayer being for Truth and Peace as the Prophet Saith Love the Truth and Peace Truth is both the Mother and Nurse of Peace But to proceed you say No externall action in the world can be uniforme without some Ceremony If you speak of Naturall Actictions nature it selfe doth teach a fit manner in doing of them If of Morall or Civill actions we commonly use such Ceremonies as either humane Lawes Customes or a mans owne reason hath brought in use But if you Speake of Religious actions such as are conversant about the worship of God That 's quite of another nature for point of Ceremony Onely thus farre it holds proportion with the other that as every naturall action hath for its manner of performance and carriage certaine Principles of Nature to guide a Man in the decent and orderly doing of it and as every Civil and Morall action hath for its manner of the decent carriage of it some Rule either intrinsecall within a man and in his own choyce and power or extrinsecall and without him according either to Custome or humane Law even so the externall manner of performing Gods worship hath for its Sole Principle and Rule the will of God himselfe whose service it is and over which he is the Sole Lord whose will for his whole service both internall and externall he hath clearely expressed in his word the holy Scripture And this is a principle which every man that seeth not but by the Spectacles of Natures Light assenteth unto as a firme and universall truth namely That every Master is so to be served as himselfe commandeth And if a Servant presume to serve his Master as himselfe listeth and not as his Master commandeth shall have small thanks for his labour How much more and beyond all comparison is God to be served of us not as we fancie but as himselfe hath expresly commanded in his word And this is a safe obedience wherein a man observing his Rule cannot erre Whereas obedience to Mans command is onely so farre good as the commandement it selfe is good and lawfull But Gods Word and Commandement being every way perfect and given us with a strict charge and under a most severe penalty even a Curse to those that shall either adde to it or detract from it who but Children of the curse will presume to invent what manner of externall service of God his own proud fancie liketh best Such service cannot be called the service of God as wherewith he is served and pleased but the service of Man wherein he pleaseth himselfe Yea when a man hath pleased his own fancie in the invention of this or that Ceremony in religious worship and not content herewith doth withall impose and injoyne it to be of necessity observed of all so as their Conscience is now by humane Law captivated thereunto this service of God becomes Hereticall For what is Heresie in the common use among Divines but an obstinate holding and maintaining of an errour in faith which mans pride hath made choyce of But not onely presumtuously to elect and obstinately and pertinaciously to maintain but to make a Law to enforce others to conform to any such errour in faith this is the highest degree of Heresie that can be And that the inventing holding and imposing of such Ceremonies in Gods worship is an errour in faith and so hereticall is cleare For it is a point and Article of Christian faith to bebeleeve that Christ is the onely Lord and King of his Church and therfore in the Creed we say And in Iesus Christ his onely Sonne our Lord. To whom then doth the power of ordaining Ceremonies in Gods holy service appertaine but to the King or Master of this service This power is Christs Prerogative in his Church This is Christs Throne wherein he sitteth raigneth and ruleth in and over the Soules and Consciences of his people as before is touched He is the onely Teletarkes or Master of ordaining Ceremonies in Gods house or family as the learned Budaeus interprets that word out of Dionisius Areopageta so as TeletarkÃa which signifies a Prerogative and Power in GOD incommunicable to ordaine Ceremonies in his worship is used for the Soveraigne Deity or Godhead and so for the Holy Trinity And Christ hath ever from the beginning reserved this power intire and peculiar to himselfe even as his glory not imparting it to any earthly power not to his Church not to his Prophets and Apostles not to the Kings of Israel under the Law nor to the Fathers before the Law For before the giveing of the Law in Mount Sina GOD taught his Church the use of Sacrifices and Altars and other Rites with the difference of Meates cleane and uncleane At the giving of the Law GOD shewed Moses a pattern for the Tabernacle and all things thereunto belonging with a Charge to doe all things according to the Pattern which he had seen Not the least Ceremony no not a pin about the Tabernacle was left in Moses power or choyce to make of his own head So afterward when the Temple was to be built David received the pattern thereof and of all things appertaining to the whole service thereof from God in writing which David delivering to his Son Salomon appointed of God to build the Temple Said All this the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me even all the worke of this Pattern even the Pattern of all that he had by the Spirit So as though David was a King and a Prophet and that of singular eminency a man according to Gods own heart and aboundantly indued with the holy Spirit of God and the Sweet Psalmist of Israel and though King Salomon was indued with admirable and incomparable wisedome yet the Lord
one of these either expresse word of God or evident consequence â—ut of it And a little before Every wrangling Disputer may neither deny nor doubtfully dispute much lesse obstinately oppose the Determinations of the Church no not when they are Dogmata deposita Deposed Principles P. Now all these Passages weighed together do clearely and distinctly resolve themselves into these Conclusions 1. That the Church may decide and determine some things without any evidence or so much as a probable Testimony of holy Writ and herein you consent and jumpe fully with that notorious Papist and adversary of the once Church of England Stapleton whom the learned Dr. Whitakers publickly confuted in the Divinity Schooles in Cambridge as his Works can yet testifie And yet behold now the Church of England hath got a Champion in the Chaire of Canterbury who pleads for and applauds that in Stapleton which Dr. Whitakers and many other learned Divines in England formerly have refuted And for further Confirmation hereof you tax Bellarmine as of untruth where he confesses that nothing may be certaine by certâ—inty of Faith unlesse it be contained immediately in the word of God or be deduced thence by evident consequence Whereupon you inferre that if nothing can be certaine then certainly no Determination of the Church it selfe wanting expresse word or evident Consequence out of it Thus you condemne Bellarmines true Saying if by the Word of God he understand the Scriptum alone and not his word unwritten and approve and preferre Stapletons false and hereticall sentence before it Secondly That things so decided and determined by the Church without either evident or so much as probable Testimony of holy writ yet are so de fide so firmely to be beleeved as every wrangling Disputer may neither deny nor doubtfully dispute much lesse obstinately oppose Consonant hereunto you â—ay at after pag. 224. The Determination of a Generall Councel â—â—ring is to stand in force and to have externall obedience at least yeelded to it till evidence of Scripture or a Demonstration to the Contrary make the errour appeare and untill thereupon another Councel of equall Authority do reverse it And so also pag. 226. c. Where here I mention for clearer proofe of what you say here but not to anticipate or prevent our fuller Answere when we come to those places where we shall supply our brevity here L. p. 40. I hope A. C. will not tells us there 's any Tradition extant unwritten by which particular men may have assurance of their Severall Salvations P. But what think you of it Will you tell us there is no such thing written in the Scripture That true Beleevers may have assurance of their owne Salvation But if there be why doe you forbid Preachers to meddle with it considering the true and solid comfort which it bringeth to him that hath it As the 17 th Article confesseth might it be suffered to speake out and had you not put a gagge in the mouth of it L. p. 43. Mine is That the beliefe of Scripture to be the word of God and infallible is an equall or rather a preceding prime Principle of Faith wâ—th or rather to the whole body of the Creed P. How The Belief of Scripture to be Gods word and infallible no more but an equall or rather a preceding prime Principle of Faith with or rather to the whole body of the Creed This is yours you say your Saying And I beleeve it to be yours For it is as like to one of your Sayings as may be For here you attribute no more credit to the Scriptures then to the Creed both equall onely differing perhaps in point of some precedencie of time or So with an or rather equall or rather preceding the difference not great if any Thus doe you not equall a Church Tradition with the Divine Scripture For we have it by Tradition that the Apostles compiled the Creed and each his Severall Article And is this or any other Tradition of equall Credit with Scripture And is not the Scripture the Rule whereby the Articles of the Creed are to be interpreted which are no otherwise to be beleeved but as they are agreeable to the Scripture So as for the Purpose if you goe no further for the Sense of the Article of Christs Descent into hell then the very Letter of the Article you can make no Sense of it nor give any reason for it And how then can you give a reason of your Faith in this particular Except you do beleeve it because you do beleeve it and because the words are He Descended into Hell But of this more by and by L. p. 44. Some Traditions I deny not c. to be Apostolicall but yet not fundamentall in the Faith P. You might do well to point out unto us which be those your Apostolicall Traditions that we may distinguish them from those Traditions which Rome calls Apostolicall Or rather perhaps you admit of all those as Apostolicall indeed but yet not Fundamentall Surely if you can prove them to be truely Apostolicall namely that the Apostles delivered them immediately to the Church by word of mouth why are they not fundamentall in the faith Why are not all bound to beleeve them or give as much Credit to them as to the Articles of your Creed which you Say are fundamentall in the faith L. p. 45. The Church of England taketh the words He descended into hell as they are in the Creed and beleeves them without further Dispute and in that Sense which the ancient Primitive Fathers of the Church agreed in P. Here a Question may be moved 1. In generall Whether a man taking up a matter upon such trust as he gives equall beliefe unto it as to the Scriptures themselves doe not therein Sinne damnably As making that a fundamentall ground of his Faith which is not found to be in the Scripture Secondly in particular Whether a man resting in the very Letter of the Article He descended into Hell beleeving thâ—reupon as surely as he beleeves that God is in Heaven that Christs Soule did locally descend into Hell among the damned there having no regard at all to what the Scripture Saith of it whether the Scripture Say any such thing or no doe not hereby make way for his owne Descent into Hell Or thirdly Whteher you do as verily and firmly beleeve Christs Descent into Hell as you doe his Ascent into Heaven Seeing the Scriptures Speakes clearely and expresly of this but not so of that and whether you are aâ— much bound to beleeve his Descent into Hell because you find such words in the Creed as his Ascent into Heaven because you find it in the Scripture Now for Answere to all these together I conceive that to make any thing of the necessity of Faith to Salvation besides what is found in the Scripture is Sinne and in particular to beleeve that because it is Said in the Creed He Descended into Hell therefore Christ
did locally in Soule descend into Hell the place of the damned without any proofe from Scripture is Sin My reasons are these 1. Because this opens a gappe to men to beleeve humane Traditions to be of Faith to Salvation as of equall credit and authority to the Scriptures Now it cannot be proved that the Creed it selfe with its forme and words and Articles and Title called The Apostles Creed is other then a humane Tradition or that the Apostles composed the Creed Secondly This argues as a too high estimation of a thing humane as if it were autópistos of selfe-Credit so a too base estimation and undervaluing of the holy Scripture as if they alone were not the Rule of Faith or not to be relieâ— and rested on alone for all matters concerning Christian Faith So as to give Credit to any thing else besides the Scripture as of equall Authority with the Scripture as you make your Creed to be and not examining it by the Scripture is a detracting from the Authority of Scripture and consequently a denying of the Scripture to be the Sole Rule of Faith For the Creed it is either a part of the Scripture or not a part if it be not a part of Scripture as indeed it is not then all the Articles of Faith in it being but a small abridgement of Christian Faith and so of necessity and in comparison of Scripture it selfe very obscure and Scanty are to be proved and illustrated from Scripture the Sole Rule of Faith and Tryall of all Truths Thirdly in Particular to beleeve Christs descent in Soule into hell locally must stand with some reason and analogy or proportion of Faith layd downe in the Scripture For Christ did or suffered nothing but the Scripture shews the Reason Cause and End of it For instance Isaiah Saith To us a Child is borne to us a Son is given So the Angel to the Shepheards To you is borne this day a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. This then shews the End of Christs Incarnation namely for our Salvation Then for his Death He was delivered up for our Sins And Forasmuch as the Children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himselfe likewise took part of the Same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of dâ—ath that is the Devil And deliver them who through feare of death were all their life time subject to bondage So for his Resurrection He rose againe for our Iustification So for his Ascention It was that he might send the Holy Ghost and goe to prepare a place in heaven for all his So for his Sitting at Gods right hand There he makes Intercession for his people rules as King his Church in preserving protecting governing his people and makeing his and their foes his Footstoole But for any such thing as Descent into hell neither is it found in the Scripture nor much lesse any reasons given there of it Indeed Peter Speaking of Christs Resurrection alledgeth Psal. 16. Thou wilt not leave my Soule in Hell So in the English In the Hebrew it is commonly taken for the Grave not for the place of the damned But will you take Peters exposition of it Speaking by Christs owne Spirit This saith he David Seeing before Spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his Soule was not left in Hell neither his flesh did see Corruption So then this place Psal. 16. was by the Holy Ghosts owne Interpretation a Prophecie of Christs Resurrection from the Grave and not of any Descent into Hell the place of the damned For he is not said to rise out of hell as you say he went downe into Hell nor to ascend out of Hell as you beleeve he descended into Hell Will you have a particular Article of Christs descent into Hell and shall you not need another Article for his Ascent out of Hell againe And the Apostle saith Christ descended Eis tà katótera mère tes ges to the lowest parts of the Earth which is spoken of his humiliation to the Death and the Grave but here is no word of his Descent into any such place as Hell the place of the damned But admit your Faith to be true that Christs Soule descended locally into Hell I aske to what end or purpose Can you shew any Reason from Scripture for this Will you say his Soule went thither to suffer Surely that had its Consummatum est upon the Crosse there it was finished Will you say he went to triumph over the Devil in his owne Dâ—nne That was also done on his Crosse as on his Triumphall Chariot And can you give any reason why Christ should descend into hell in regard of us What that so he might deliver our Soules out of Hell Surely this also was done in his Death And againe if it were necessary that Christs soule should goe locally into hell to deliver our soules then also it was necessary for his body to descend into hell to deliver our bodies from thence For he came to redeem our bodies as well as our soules Or what els can you Say Certainly what ever you can invent the Scripture will presently discover the vanity of it But for my part I dare beleeve nothing concerning Christ and my Salvation but what the Scripture hath revealed But the Scripture hath revealed no such thing as the Descent of Christs Soule into Hell locally But you will then object unto me Do I not beleeve my Creed and every Article in it I answere I doe Why then say you Doe I not beleeve the Article of Christs Descent into Hell I say I doe being understood or expounded according to the Scripture and the Analogy of Faith therein How is that Christ dyed and in his Passion he suffered the Torments of Hell in his Soule on the Crosse and in the Garden But his Descent into Hell is set after his buriall And doe you not know that the ancient Heathen used to put Hádes for the state of the dead So as katelthein eis hadou is to goe or to abide in the state of the dead which Christ did for 3. dayes and then arose againe and revived So as the Article shewes the continuance of Christs being dead and buried till his Resurrection Againe you know the Nicene Creed mentions onely Christs buriall and no Descent into Hell and Athanasius his Creed katelthen eis hadou He Descended into Hell without speaking a word of his buriall All which doe confirme what I say that christ in being buried remained so long in the State of the dâ—ad his soule seperated from his body and being said to Dâ—scend into Hell hades signifying also the Grave thereby is meant his being buried for so long a time till his rising againe As it is said in the next Article The third day â—e rose againe from the dead that is from the Grave where he abode in the state of the dead Now I have given
shall set forth to the contrary I must crave pardon if it be not of the same faith with you And thus farre you allow any in the Church of England this liberty for your words are Is it not lawfull for any in the Church of England to say I conceive thus or thus of it c Although you adde L. p. 51. It is one thing to hold an opinion privately within himselfe and another thing boldly and publickly to affirme it P. I doe I confesse boldly and publickly affirme this my faith concerning this Article which my faith I doe assure my selfe is true being grounded upon good and cleare evidence of the Scripture on which my faith is built and not upon any thing of humane Authority And in making open confession of this my faith I doe therin follow the Rule of Scripture which saith Bretheren if any of you doe erre from the Truth and one convert him Let him know that he which converteth a Sinner from the errour of his way shall save a Soule from death and shall hide â— multitude of Sinnes Now what know I that this Declaration of my Faith with Reasons from the Scripture may by Gods grace be a meanes to convert if not your Lordship from your errour yet others or may preserve them from falling into it being dangerously entred into it by such an example as your selfe And however if it be lawfull for you boldly and publickly to affirme such things of beliefe which are not found to be in Scripture why may it not be as lawfull for me boldly and publickly to affirme the Contrâ—ry But the Scope of your Speech as I conceive is to maintaine your practise in punishing in High Commission such as expound this Article by and according to the Scripture L p. 53. For that all the Positive Articles of the present Church of England are grounded upon Scripture we are content to be judged by the joynt and constant beliefe of the Fathers which lived within the first foure or five hundred yeares after CHRIST when the Church was at the best and by the Councels held within those times and to submit to them in all those points of Doctrine P. But first as is before noted as you give accasion why have you made your Articles to be DÃpsucoi of a double sense So as in that respect how can you call them Positive being so perplexed in themselves And againe Whom doe you meane here by Wee I suppose you and your church of England You are contented to be Judged by Fathers and Councels within the first 500. yeares whether your Church-Articles be grounded on Scripture or not Are you contented so indeed Then you must be contented to undergoe the Censure of departing both from the judgement of the Scriptures as disavowing them for the onely rule of Faith and Doctrines to be tryed by and also from the joynt and constant beliefe both of Fathers and Councels within the first 500. yeares For their joynt constant and unanimous beliefe was that nothing besides the Scripture is to be Judge in matters of Faith And if you want leasure to read the Fathers doe but peruse the learned Discourses and Disputes of the Divines of the Church of England before your being a Prelate as Dr. Carleton of the Church De Ecclesia Dr. Whitakers forementioned Dr. White his way to the true Church Dr. Bilson yea and all those that have written of these Controversies and they will abundantly show this that it was ever held as a Principle and therefore not to be denyed nor needfull to be proved and which Dr. Carleton in his said Book proves never to have been altered till in and by the Councel of Trent That the Scripture is the sole rule of Faith But thus you and your Church of England are contented to be one and the Same Church with Rome in refusing the Scripture as the Sole Iudge of your Doctrines But will you be judged by the joynt and constant beliefe of Fathers and Councels within the first 500. yeares whether your Articles about Grace Election Predestination c. bearing as you Declare a double and opposite sense in their Pelagian and Arminian sense be according to the Scriptures or no If I name onely Augustine who was Pelagionorum Malleus that Hammer to knock down the Pelagians both the Fathers and Councels within those first 500. yeares did joyntly and constantly professe that which he writ to be the Beliefe of the whole Church it was so clearely and fully proved out of Scripture In so much as you may read in the Histories of the Councels as in Binius how that some Councels and Bishops of Rome set downe Large Passages in Augustins Tracts against the Pelagians as the Jugement of the Catholick Church and the particular Decrees and Acts of such and such councels If then you will stand to the Judgement of those ancient Fathâ—rs and Councels then you must at their Barre hold up that hand which was a chiefe instrument in drawing up the said Declaration which hath so enigmatized and darkened the Articles as they have no other Light left but a kind of twilight which inclines rather to the night then to the day rather to favour the Pelagian Heresie then the Orthodox verity But this being your language all along that you put not onely your Articles and the Articles of the Creed but the Mysteries also of the Scriptures to the Iudgement of the Primitive Church Fathers Generall Councels we will Supersede from speaking more of it in this place Again where you say that the Church was then at the best if you understand it during the age and time of the Apostles 't is most true but if of the Succeding ages within 500. yeares we may doubt of it or rather resolve the contrary unlesse you meane it comparatively to the ages after that wherein Antichrist and the Mystery of Iniquity began more brightly to shine forth and display themselves in the Roman Sea both in corruption of doctrine and of Gods worship beyond all excesse For you may know that within the space of the first 500. yeares the Church was so overgrown and pestered with the heresie of Arius as the world groaned under it wondering it was become an Arian as Hierome speakes Totus ingemuit mundus miratus se factum esse Arianum And among many corruptions and much unsoundnesse in Doctrine what multitudes of Superstitious devises and heathenish Customes not onely crept but crowded into the service of God Which Heathenish Rites as we find in B. Rhenanus his Annotations upon Turtullian were by the Christians in a kind of carnall policie admitted both because many ancient men being converted to Christianity such as it was could not easily part with their old Customes as also that thereby they might draw other of the Gentiles to become Christians Just such a policie as our new Doctors I meane of your Church of England have used in a pretence at least making us beleeve
tâ—e Rule and Foundation of our Faith but what we find written in the holy Scriptures This is that word of God which is authenticall of Authority to his Church and therefore Authority to us because written So as your unwritten word whereiâ— you agree with Bellarmine and your Apostolicke Traditions wherin you come home to your A. C. the Jesuite we receive none of them all as authentick or to have any thing to doe to expound the Scripture in any doubt about the Faith But if you can shew us any Traditions Apostolick we will by your leave examine them by the Scriptures and not the Scriptures by them You name baptizing of Infants for a Tradition Apostolicke We doubt not but the Apostles baptized the Infants of beleeving Parents For the Infants or Children of such are holy as the Apostle sheweth And so they belonged to the Covenant And as the Children of the Jewes in the old Testament were circumcised as pertaining to the Covenant and promise made to Abraham and to his Seed So Baptisme succeding in place of Circumcision as a Seale of the Same Covenant belongs to all Children of beleeving Christian Parents As the Apostle saith Therefore it is of Faith that it might come by Grace and the Promise might be sure to all the Seed not to that onely which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abrahâ—m who is the Father of us all So as beleeving Christians have the same interest in the Covenant with Abraham and their Children or Infants have the like priviledge of Baptisme as the Infants of the ancient Israelites had for Circumcision Therefore the Baptizing of Infants was certainly practised by the Apostles as well as the baptising of beleeving Parents So as we doe not baptize Infants because you tell us it is a Tradition Apostolicke but because it is as clearely and firmely grounded in the Scripture as the baptizing of beleeving Parents We exclude therefore whatsoever Word unwritten or Traditions Apostolicke as you call them as being either partiall or equall Rules of Faith with the Scriptures as Bellarmine calls them or as Interpreters and Iudges of the Scripture in doubts about Faith as you are bold to affirme We have no word of God but the Scripture we acknowledge no Traditions Apostolicke but what we find they delivered in Scripture The Prophets in the old Testament sent Gods people to the Scripture for information instruction resolution in all matters of Faith and Cases of Conscience To the Law and to the Testimony Saith Isaiah if they Speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them He Saith not To the Traditions of our Fathers but To the Law and to the Testimony Gods word written Els there is no light in men they are blind guides that in matters of Faith lead us any where but to and by the Scriptures And the Prophet Ieremiah They have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisedome is in them All wisdome without this word of God is foolishnesse all knowledge without this is ignorance and blindnesse So our Saviour Christ Search the Scriptures for in them ye thinke to find eternall life and they are they which testifie of me So as Christ allowes us no other Testimony of him and of Faith in him but the Scriptures We must erunan Search them not the Archives or Sacraries of blind Traditions though guilded over never so faire with the name of Apostolick nor of any pretended word of God unwritten And Christ answereth the Lawyer when he asked what he should doe to inherit Eternall life What is written in the Law How readest thou And the Apostle That none presume above that which is written And Whatsoever things were written afore time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And Peter We have a more sure word of Prophecy to wit the Scriptures of the old Testament whereunto ye doe well that ye take heed In all which places and many more the Scripture is still commended to us as the onely absolute sufficient perfect and compleat Rule of our Faith in all matters or doubts of Faith touching our Salvation So as it hath no other interpreter but it selfe not any Tradition not any word unwritten But of this you will give us occasion to speak more at after L. p. 72 73. Faith is the gift of God of God alone and an Infused habit in respect whereof the soule is meerely recipient The Sole Infuser is the Holy Ghost Till the Spirit of God move the heart of man he cannot beleeve P. I confesse when first I read these words I began to muse with my selfe and to argue thus What is my Lord of Canterbury turn'd Orthodox no Arminian in the Doctrine of Grace But looking a little further and observing both the Authors you alledge as Stapleton a great man with you and other Popish Authors as is usuall with you throughout your Book and also considering of what Faith you here Speak I changed my conceit and found that you were no Changeling For wheras I thought that all this faire â—â—ourish of Faith is the gift of God of God alone A habit infused The Holy Ghost the Sole Infuser The soule meerely recipient Till Gods Spirit move mans heart he cannot beleeve had been meant of that Grace of Saving and Iustifying Faith which the Scripture teacheth and particularly the Apostle Ephes. 2.8 By Grace ye are saved through Faith and not of your selves it is the Gift of God c. I imagined I say that as you used the Apostles very words and the Language of Scripture so you had done it in the sense and mind of the Apostle and of the Scripture which Speaks so of the Saving and Iustifying Faith But when I found the contrary I confesse I blushed at my folly in having such a conceit of you having had so much experience both of your usuall perverting of Scriptures and your corrupt sense throughout your Book and considering that light and darknesse cannot stand together and how you hâ—ve altogether suppressed the Preaching of the Doctrines of Grace and finding that all this Faith you Speake of is nothing els but that historicall Faith in beleeving the Scriptures to be the word of God which beliefe is common to the very Reprobates and Devils themselves who beleeve and tremble Phristouâ—i they quiver and Shake as when mens teeth Chatter in their head in extreme cold And yet how doe you abuse the Scripture and your Reader in giving to this Faith those peculiar Attributes which are proper and peculiar to the onely Saving Grace of Saving Faith the Sole Infuser Giver and worker whereof is the Holy Ghost Tell me how come the Devils to that historicall faith whereby they beleeve the Scripture to be the very word of God and all things therein to be most certainly true and so all
those plagues written therein and threatned against Reprobates and Devils shal be most certainly inflicted in beliefe whereof they tremble What have they this Faith given them of God and is the Holy Ghost the Sole Infuser of it or any Infuser of it at all And yet I say This historicall faith is that which you Speake of here For you do in that 16 th Section consisting of about 30 leaves in folio Speake of that Faith alone which beleeves the Scripture to be the word of God the onely subject of that long and tedious Discourse wherein you have spent so much sweat to so small purpose And the words immediately preceding doe shew this And your words immediately following are to confirme it which you alledge out of Stapleton Saying The Holy Ghost did not leave the Church in Generall nor the true members of it in particular without Grace to beleeve what himself had revealed and made credible Wherupon you inferre a little after Till the Spirit of God move the heart of man he cannot beleeve be the object never so credible Thus we see your mind at full what Faith what Gift of God what Grace this is which you Say none but the Holy Ghost giveth to his Church namely not that faith not that gift of God not that Grace not that worke of the Holy Ghost whereby a man comes to beleeve in Christ and to be indued with the Grace of Regeneration and Sanctification the proper worke and gift of the Holy Ghost whereof the Apostle speaketh in the fore-cited place but such a faith such a grace as the Councel of Trent professeth and aloweth and so that which Stapleton and all other Pontificials write of which is common to all wicked men and Reprobates as we have elswhere fully proved L. p. 75. The world cannot keep a man from going to weigh the Scripture at the Ballance of Reason whether it be the word of God or not For the word of God and the Book containing it refuse not to be weighed by Reason And pag. 76. For Reason by her own light can discover how firmely the Principles of Religion are true but all the light Shee hath will never be able to find them false P. 'T is â—rue that mans naturall Reason being not bridled by grace is so head-strong that the world it selfe cannot restrain it within its owne bounds but will be medling But yet though Reason be not excluded from giving her voyce and assent to the Scripture yet She must know her place She must come in the Reere of all and as a hand-maid not as a Mistresse Nor is it Reasons office to bring her ballance to weigh the Scriptures whether it be the word of God or not for herein She hath no negative voyce but onely of assent So as in this respect as a Judge Gods word refuseth to be weighed by Reason much lesse can it be true that Reason by her own light can discover how firmly the Principles of Religion are true For mans Reason being but Naturall and Gods word Supernaturall there is no proportion between them and Reason can no more judge of Scripture in this respect then a blind man can judge of colours So as Reason must not come in with her ballance and weights till a man be illuminated by the Scriptures themselves and by the Spirit of God and then being convinced of the truth thereof She gives her full assent that the Scripture is the word of God The Apostle saith The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned How say you then That Reason by her own Light can discover how firmly the Principles of Religion are true Point blanke against the Apostle The Lord openeth the heart of Lydia to attend to the things spoken of Paul Now if the naturall man by the light of his naturall reason receiveth not nor is thereby capable of the things of the Spirit of God contained in the Scripture but that they are foolishnesse unto him untill God open the heart and reveale those things by his Spirit as the Apostle saith then Reason cannot judge of Scripture by her owne light For what is Reasons light in a naturall man Surely darknesse it selfe unto Spiritâ—all things Ye were once darknesse saith the Apostle Darknesse in the very abstract Mans naturall understanding and Reason darknesse And therefore as Christ saith If the light that is in thee be darknesse how great is that darknesse And Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh tà tes sarkòs phronousin doe savour the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Spirituall things are as unsavory to a naturall mans Reason as wholesome meat is to an aguish palate They are unto him morÃa foolishnesse saith the Apostle And Rom. 8.6 The wisdome of the flesh is death and ekthrà emnity against God and it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Ye saith Ieremy Every man is brutish in his own knowledge Can you then hale the Scripture to the barre of mans naturall Reason which is brutish to be judged by it whether it be Gods word or no And David saith Surely men of low degree are vanity Yea say you Men of low degree but not so men of high degree of learning and parts But take all with you Surely men of low degrâ—e are vanity and men of high degree are a lye to be layd in the ballance they are altogether lighter then vanity What men of low degree vanity and men of high degre a lye Yea Surely yea altogether lighter then vanity it selfe being â—ayd in the ballance But in what ballance In the uneven ballance with the false Scales of your naturall Reason No but in the Ballance and with the weights of the Sanctuary your Reason must be weighed And this ballance of the Sanctuary is the Scripture If then your Reason must be weighed at the ballance of the Scripture and there be found too light yea lighter then vanity yea altogether lighter then vanity yea Surely altogether lighter then vanity yea a very lye then what weights can your Reason bring being altogether lighter then vanity it selfe whereby to weigh the Scriptures Or how shall Reason which is a lye with her unequall Ballance and false weights weigh verity it selfe But if all this will not put you out of conceit of your naturall Reason as an incomptent Judge of Scripture to be the word of God which must needs argue the truth of Scripture that mans Reason is blindnes darknes emnity against the truth brutish vanity a ly altogether lighter then vanity it self give me leave a little to put you to it You perswade your selfe that you can by the strength and light of your naturall Reason judge or weigh the Scripture whether it be Gods word and discover how firmely the Principles of Religion
are true for had you been perswaded hereof by Gods Spirit you would never have attributed so much to mans Reason but herein you have consulted altogether with flesh and blood having no acquaintance certainly with the Spirit of truth that leads his into all truth Now then by the Same Reason you may discover whether Christ be of God or no for he is the Summe Substance and Scope of the whole Scripture and so is called The word of God And Christ Saith Search the Scriptures for these testifie of me Doe you beleeve then that the Scripture is Gods word and therefore true Doe you beleeve all things in it to be true And to be a word of wisdome surpassing all the wisdome in the world Doe you beleeve this And that to obey and follow this word of God is mans chiefe wisdome and happinesse Doth your Reason apprehend this What say you then to that word of Christ If any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and take up his daily Crosse and follow me Doth your Reason comprehend this Is it not durus sermo a hard Saying as that to the rich man Vade vende omnia Goe Sell aâ—l and give them to the poore and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me But all Gods Saints doe thus Mâ—ses accounted the Râ—bukâ—s of Christ greater riches then the Treasures of Aegypt and chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God thâ—n to enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a Season Paul accounted all his Prerogatives losse and dung to win Christ. The Apostles forsooke all to follow Christ. You will Say A few poore 〈◊〉 nets Nay Saith Aug. they forsook not onely what they had but whatsoever they might have in the world Abraham when God called him forsook his native Countrey and all his friends Do you beleeve these men did wisely in doing this Doth your Reason apprehend so Do you thereupon Conclude that this Scripture is Gods word because it teacheth such things as the doing whereof brings a man to true happinesse Can you then be content to follow Christ upon his Conditions to forsake all and take up your Crosse dayly and follow him Can your Reason down with his or your Stomack digest this Or will you Say To forsake all is but matter of Councel not of Precept Yes certainly of Precept in those things especially the retaining whereof detaines us from Christ and are a barre to come to him and so to heaven Si in Limine Pater jaceat per calcatum perge patrem Saith Ierome If they old Father lye crosse the threshold to hinder thee from Christ tread on thy Father to come to Christ. If any thing stand in our affections in competition with Christ we must forsake it He that loveth Father or Mother or lands or honours more then me Saith Christ is not worthy of me For the amity of the world is emnity against Christ. Now if things in themselves good and lawfull being loved above Christ keep us from Christ and therefore must be forsaken then how much more such things as are in themselves evill unlawfull unwarrantable for a man to keep as being against Gods word and against Christ and against a mans salvation How then can your most refined Reason perswade his Grace of Canterbury to deny himselfe to abandon all that Grace to forsake his Hierarchy as being emnity against Christ and a Tyranny over his Church and therewith to account all his Dignities as dung to cease persecuting of Gods word Ministers People to abandon his counterfet and hypocriticall Devotion in in will-worship which is a vaine worship of God and in stead of all these to take up his Crosse dayly and to follow Christ in obedience in patience in humility in meeknesse in holinesse Doth your Reason apprehend this to be good to be the wisest and onely way to come to heaven and happinesse For this Gods word commandeth Then either follow this word as Gods word or els never looke to perswade the world that your own Reason can with her own light discover how firmly the Principles of Religion are true No no my Lord away with these vain Speculations and presumptuous Speeches which have not one crumb of Salt in them Will you professe you know God and in works deny him Do you beleeve the Scripture to be Gods word and yet by accounting the preaching of the Crosse foolishnesse make God a lyer But I will conclude with your last Clause Reason say you for all the light she hath will never be able to find the Principles of Religion false Nay certainly although you deny Reason any ability by her owne light to discover how firmly the Principles of Religion are true yet we will not deny unto her blind impotencie a Speciall faculty in finding them to be false not false in themselves but yet false in her own apprehension For is not this one of the main Principles of Religion to wit to know Iesus Christ and him Crucified This was the Apostles Chiefe Learning I determined saith he to know nothing among you save Iesus Christ and him Crucified But saith he The preaching of the Crosse is to them that perish foolishnesse but unto us which are Saved it is the power of God And who are they that perish Such as are wise in their owne conceit and prudent in their own understanding and Reason as the Apostle saith in the next words for it is written I will destroy the wisedome of the wise and will bring to nought the understanding of the prudent Such as exalt their own understanding and Reason to such a height as they presume therwith as with a Ballance to weigh whether the Scripture be Gods word or no and with the light thereof to discover how firmly the Principles of Religion are true And when they have said and done all their actions and practises doe plainly shew that they reject and despise the Scripture as being none of Gods word yea they Persecute oppresse and seeke all the wayes they can to destroy it and utterly to quench the light of it As will yet more clearely appeare by those things that follow L. p. 77. Though this Truth that the Scripture is the word of God is not so demonstratively evident à priori as to enforce assent yet it is strengthened so abundantly with probable Arguments both from the light of nature it selfe and humane Testimony that he must be very wilfull and selfe conceited that shall dare to suspect it And more plainly pag 80. The light which is in Scripture it selfe is not bright enough it cannot beare sufficient witnesse to it selfe The Testimony of the Holy Ghost that is most infallible but ordinarily it is not so much as considerable in this Question which is not how or by what meanes we beleeve but how the Scripture may be proposed as a Credible object fit for beliefe P. We are still in
your 16 th Sextion mentioned before which continueth from p. 59. to 116. wherein are sundry passages â—o this purpose whereof the last was one and the rest we shall touch as we meet with them And here I cannot though I said I would no more wonder but admire that such Speeches should flow down so fast from the Sea of Canterbury which is a mighty Catarrhact or distillation of the eye drowning the sight and flowing from such an abundant humour in the head as it is like to turne into a Dropsie possessing and putrifying the whole body which if not prevented by some remedy from hâ—aven must needs prove Epedemically mortall You are the first Antagonist of Iesuites that ever uttered such things and you might well have given them leave to utter such base Speeches of the holy Scriptures as more proper for a Jesuite then one pretending the Faith of a Protestant But the difference is not great nor matters is much which of you be the mouth having all one Spirit and being all one and the Same Church So as being the Metropolitan of that Church which with Rome is one and the Same you have the greater priviledge to speake in the language of that pregnant Mother who is so full of the names of Blasphemy against the word of God Now is not the Scripture so demonstratively evident in it selfe as to enforce assent What then shall doe it Probable Arguments from the light of Nature But Nature is blind as we shewed before of naturall Reason And againe how can that which is but probable confirme that which is truth For the Scripture is Truth it selfe As Christ saith Thy word is Truth Now there being strictly no proportion between Probability and Truth how can the Light of Nature which you say is but probable confirme that which is truth And we shewed also how the Naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God which things are contained in the Scripture But you adde Arguments from humane Testimony confirme the Scriptures to be Gods word That which is but humane cannot strengthen that which is Divine I receive not the Testimony of man saith Christ. So the Scripture is so farre above humane testimony that it can receive no strength from it no more then God can receive strength from the creature Gods word from mans word And the Scripture being Gods written word is above Mans bare word As Christ tells the Jewes who took Christ for a meere Man If ye beleeve not Moses his writings how shall you beleeve my words Thereby implying That Writings the Scripture are above mans words Againe humane testimony in Comparison to Gods word is but a lye For every man is a lyer Moreover in saying The Scripture is not evident enough to demonstrate it selfe to be the word of God and to enforce assent but being strenthened by Probable Arguments from the light of Nature and of humane Testimony 't is then wilfullnesse and pride to suspect it Here you set the light of Nature above the word of Grace probability above Truth humane Testimony above Divine Man above GOD. For Christ tells us that the Scriptures beare witnesse of him And you Say the Scriptures are not sufficient witnesses of themselves and so consequently of Christ without mans testimony So as hereby you disable the Scripture as being an incompetent witnesse of Christ because not evident enough in themselves without humane Testimony So as how you can cleare your selfe from blasphemy I see not But this is but one degree For you adde The light which is in Scripture is not light enough it cannot beare sufficient witnesse to it selfe Now you open your mouth a little wider to blaspemy But we shall have yet more of ths Suffe out of your Wardrobe Of which I may say this by the way That you bewray how grosly and palpably blind you are in discerning the Scriptures glorious brightnesse being like that Woman in Lipsius who being blind her selfe blamed the house she was in for being very darke So you because you are blind your selfe the god of this world having blinded your eyes therefore you blame the holy Scriptures of GOD for being darke not bright enough to to beare witnesse to it selfe Why Surely all light is Sui index sui Communicativum it is a witnesse to it selfe that it shineth So as all in the house doe see it yea though it be but the light of a Candle as Christ saith If therefore the Scriptures have not so much light in them as all may see it to shine forth then they have no light at all For if there be any light at all it will shew it selfe But this you will not stick to tell us anon that the Scripture hath no light in it selfe and therefore no mervaile if here you say the Light that is in it is not bright enough And you tell us here also That the Testimony of the Holy Ghost ordinarily is not so much as considerable in this Question Why What is the Question Is it not how or by what meanes we beleeve the Scriptures to be the word of GOD Is not this the Subject Question of this whole 16 th Section and which you handle throughout And this being so have you forgotten what you told us before of this beliefe that the Scripture is the word of GOD Namely that faith is the gift of God of God alone and an infused habit in respect whereof the Soule is meerely recipient and that the sole infuser is the Holy Ghost and Till the Spirit of God move the heart of man he cannot beleeve And now doe you come and tell us The Holy Ghost ordinarily is not so much as considerable in the Question Yea but here you tell us this is not the Question What then Namely how the Scripture may be proposed as a Credible Object fit for beliefe And for this you set us downe a rule of Proposall which must of necessity take its rise from the Tradition or Authority of the Present Church Whereof we shall heare more anon But by your leave this is not the Question but the other For this your manner of Proposall you put it not as a Question but as an a'Ãtema a Question begged not to be argued and disputed upon as the nature of a Question is to be but you doe dogmatÃzein obtrude and force upon us a novell opinion of your owne devising without proofe of Reason Argument or Authority from the Scripture And therefore we deny your Question or Position as Heterodox or a Paradox contrary to the truth of God word which is the onely rule of determining all Questions in Divinity about faith whereof this is not the least How or by what meanes a man comes to beleeve the Scripture to be the word of God Now for the determining herof you would tye us to the one only manner of Proposing the Scripture as a Credible object fit for beliefe and that is necessarily to
text and so prosecutes them with proofes of Scripture and Reasons and lastly applyes this word in sundry uses to the hearts and Consciences of the hearers reproving this or that sinne and pressing it home And all this while knowing nothing that any such Creature as the Archbishhop of Canterbury is in his Congregation in the ardor of his holy Zeale hee lets flye his Darts of sharpe Reproofe Steeled with Divine Authority of GODS Word the Scripture as against Pride Hypocrisie hatred of GODS Word Persecution of Gods Ministers and People under a colour of piety and peaâ—e-making in the Church and the like and so drives the nayle to the head as that the dart pierceth through all your armour of proofe as the Arrow shot at adventure hit Ahab between the joynts of his Armour to the the very quick of your Conscience not onely to the awakening of it but driving it to a trembling fit as Pauls preaching did to Felix and to be in a cold Sweat and to wax wanne and pale as Belshazzar at the sight of the hand-writing which is a part of Scripture what would you imagine of this Perhaps that the Minister knew of your being there But the contrary appeares to your selfe you did it so secretly as you knew none could discover it as you want neither wit nor art to doe such a feate if you will Well you can draw no other Conclusion from that your Conviction upon this occasion but that sure those were the Darts of the Scripture that wounded you yea and sounded you and found you out in the Croud pulling off the veile of hypocrisie from off the the face of your Conscience and therewithall so terrifying it as you are perswaded all the men in the world could not have struck such terrours into your Soule and therupon you are forced to Conclude and Confesse that surely the Scripture must needs be the word of God having such a mighty power in it being applyed but by a weake man As the Apostle saith We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power might be of God and not of us For you could discerne nothing of the Minister himselfe but that he was a simple plain man and did but speake as his text led him and for which he brought good proofe from the Scripture Thus if your Lordship should make but such an experiment as this would you not doe with this your Book wherein you have besides many other strange passages all along as will appeare yet more at large pronounced so many disgracefull Sentences against the Sufficiencie of the Divine Scripture to prove it selfe to be the word of God as those Converts in the Acts did with their Books of Curious Arts or as you did though against your will with that Popish Book of the Bishop of Geneva in Smithfield But I proceed As the Scripture not onely in and of it selfe but by the Ministry of it discovereth such a cleare selfe-light as whereby even naturall men are convinced and enforced to beleeve and confesse that Surely the Scripture is the very word of God so this word this Scripture is not as the Papists say and you say little better a dead letter but as it is the word of God uttered by his Spirit by which holy men spake and wrote it so it carries meat in the mouth as we say it never goes alone but is accompanied with the Spirit of God which Spake it giving testimony unto it that it is the undoubted word of God For even as the veines in a naturall body doe carry and convey in them the life-blood and as the Arteries doe containe in them those animal Spirits conveyed from the head to all the members whereby they are vegetated and moved So the Scriptures and every part of them have in them the Spirit whereby they are quickned and which is in them as the light in the body of the Sun their proper light wherein they shine forth in such a brightnesse as is sufficient to convince all men that they are the word of God and effectuall in perswading and assuring all the Elect of God of the truth thereof even to their Salvation And as the Soule with its faculties as understanding and Reason in mans body doe shew him to be a reasonable creature Man So the Spirit of God breathing and moving in the Scriptures doe shew them to be the very word of God For in the Scripture doe shine forth Gods Majesty Wisdome Holinesse Power Providence Iustice Mercy Truth Goodnesse Omniscience and all his excellent Attributes so as they all beare testimony unto it that it is the word of God So as to seperate these from the Scripture as they doe who affirme that the Scripture is not bright enough to be a sufficient witnesse to it selfe to the begetting of Beliefe that it is the word of God is as if they should abstract and seperate the light from the Sun and say it is not sufficient to prove it selfe to be the Sun For indeed take away the light from the Sun and then you may say truely it is not bright enough to shew it selfe to be the Sun Nay it ceaseth to be the Sun any more when the light and heat of it is taken away For the Sun is pherónumos according to its names in the Hebrew Shemesh so called because by its light it is a Minister or Servant to the world or some derive it quasi Sham-esh ibi ignis There is fire or according to another name from its property of calefaction or heating But take away its light and it looseth both its nature and its name and serves for no use So if you take from the Scripture those things in it which are its life and soule its native light and â—uster which can no more be seperated from it then the light from the Sun nay the Sun shall come to loose his light as it once did at the Ecclipsing of the Sun of Righteousnesse in his Passion on the Crosse but Gods word endureth for ever in heaven you quite destroy the nature of the Scripture and so make it to be no longer the word of God I might here inlarge my Discourse upon this excellent Subject but I shall have further occasion ministred by you to speake something more of it as I passe along For you proceed L. p. 83. A man is probably led by the Authority of the present Church as by the First informing inducing perswading meanes to beleeve the Scripture to be the word of God but when he hath studied considered and compared this word with it selfe and with other writings with the helpe of ordinary Grace and a mind morally induced and reasonably perswaded by the voyce of the Church the Scripture then gives greater and higher Reasons of Credibily to it selfe then Tradition alone could give P. Here you begin to tell us your manner of proposing the Scripture as a credible object fit
for beliefe And you place the Authority of the Present Church in the forefront as a prime leader and inducer to this beliefe And this you inculcate very often and Say pag. 120 I confesse every where that Tradition introduces the knowledge of them And pag. 126. you tell the Jesuite A. C. saying Herein we goe the same way with you because we allow the Tradition of the present Church to be the First inducing Motive c. So as herein you jumpe with the Jesuite So then Authority of the present Church is the Prime Or as sometimes you call it Tradition or otherwhiles The voyce of the Present Church All comes to one reckoning Then to this Leader you muster up a troop of followers as here Ordinary Grace a mind morally induced and reasonably perswaded and before a mans owne Reason and humane Testimony morall perswasion Reason and Force of the present Church the Holy Ghost Conferring of the Scripture with it selfe and other writings And what then Then and not before the Scripture gives greater and higher Reasons of Credibility to it selfe then Tradition alone could give What No more effect for all this but a Credibility I expected you should with such a Troope under the command of such a Generall as the Authority Tradiâ—ion and voyce of the present Church have effected that Rockie Forâ— of mans heart to have yealded to open the Gates of his Infidelity to let in this Beliefe that Scripture is the word of God And can you obtaine no more then a Credibility Alas poore Scripture Can all Mans witty inventions advance thy credit which they have taken away no higher then to a Credibility But thus we may see the vanity of Mans wit when it hath cast away the truth This is right as the Preacher Saith Lâ—e this onely have I found That God made man upright but they have sought out many inventions So when men reject the word of the Lord what wisdome is in them Then they fall to their inventions like Michals stuffing her Image with Goates haire and laying it in the bed instead of David Or a right Embleme hereof we have in our First Parents when they had disrobed themselves of that plain simple seamelesse but glorious robe of their Innocencie having thus lost their uprightnesse wherein God made them presently they fall to their inventions they will supply the want of that robe with a many faire fresh Fig-leaves sowed together without either needle or thread vainly imagining that this would cover their shame when indeed it was a plain signe they had lost their Glory and yet could not hide their nakednesse So when a man hath lost the Truth he shall loose his wits in his manifold Inventions before he shal be able thereby to make up his losse Thus did the Church of Rome of old no sooner had they thrust out Gods word and the preaching of it out of their Temples but up goe their Images for Lay-mens Books and in comes crowding a multitude of Ceremonies the Inventions of man as if these would make amends with advantage instead of the holy Scriptures Just your practise in the Church of England at this day And just your like practise here When you have cast a black veile over the Scriptures native beauty and light disabling them as sufficient witnesses to prove themselves the word of God you invent here a number of things to stop our mouthes to make us beleeve that by these you will bring Mans naturall blindnesse to see and his infidelity to beleeve just nothing at all that the Scriptures are the word of God So as you deale with us here as some Parents doe with their Children take the piece of gold from them and please them with a handfull of deafe nuts Onely they doe it providently to preserve the Gold from being lost but you Popishly to destroy the Gold and to set up the painted dresse of your New-nothing Or you put out the Eyes of the Scripture and then light your Candle before it as after you tell us But let 's a little examine your words First I note here what a blind guide you commend to blind men to lead them to the beliefe of the Scriptures to be the word of God For what is it Certainty No Probabilty A man is probably led But of Probability we have spoken before And take this with you for a certaine truth Probability may beget an opinion but never a belief But by whom probably led By the Authority of the present Church What present Church Of the Prelates or Hierarchy ever But who gave you Authority to be a Church Or Suppose you were the true Church of Christ who gave you this Authority to take away from the Scriptures their sufficiencie of guiding men to the faith of them and to tie men to depend upon the Authority of the present Church thereby to be induced to beleeve the Scriptures And what 's your present Church Is it not the Same with that of Rome And is not this Authority which you arrogate Romish And what if your present Church with Rome shall induce us to beleeve the Apocryphall Bookes to be part of Scripture Or some word unwritten which you call Apostolick Traditions to be equall with the word written as you agree with Bellarmine in this Distinction of the word written and unwritten as before is touched And what if as you have given us too much proofe you should limit us in beleeving the Scripture what part to beleeve for Canonicall and what otherwise For as Hierome saith The Scripture consists more in the marrow of Sentences then in the barke of words more in the Sense then in the Syllables What say you then to the 4 th Commandement which your present Church denyes to be Morall for a Seventh day Sabbath and thereby overthrow the Sanctification of the Lords day What say you of the Doctrines of Grace which you have overthrowne by your Declaration before your Articles What of Altars and the like If herein you overthrow the Sense of Scripture doe you not proclaime to the world that such and such Scriptures are not Canonicall Or if the words be still holden for Canonicall yet it must be according to the Sense of your present Church As Paulus 4. the Pope in the End of the Councel of Trent tyes all Priests by oath to interpret the Scriptures no otherwise but according to the Sense of the Catholick Church the Summe whereof is the Decrees and Canons of Trent Is not thus the whole Scripture made voyd But come on let men be primely induced by the Authority of the present Church to wit of the Prelates or Hierarchy for no other Church you allow nor we you to be any other but of Antichrist by what Argument trow you is it likelyest they will be perswaded that the Scriptures are the word of God Will you give me leave to tell you my Opinion It is this in briefe When men upon
Scripture it selfe As if you had Said The Tradition of the present Church does all it openeth the blind eyes of the naturall mans understanding to see and the deafe eares of his Soule to heare for after it hath cleared his understanding and taught and informed the Soule then the voyce of GOD is plainly heard in the Scripture it selfe And besides you tell us here that after Tradition of your present Church hath taught and informed the Soule the voyce of GOD is plainly heard in the Scripture Ergo not till then Ergo your Tradition opens the eares of the deafe And then there 's double testimony and both Divine What Tradition of the Apostles delivering it You meane surely the divine Tradition of your present Church one of your obstruse Apostolick Traditions Otherwise what doth the mention of the Apostles Tradition in this place And thus you acquaint us with the whole Mystery of your new Divinity New I call it because it is contrary to the old For the old is which is not yet antiquated The Commandement of the Lord that is the word of God is pure inlightening the eyes And vers 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soule the testimony of the Lord 〈◊〉 sure making wise the simple And Psal. 119.30 mentioned before The entrance of thy words giveth light it giveth understanding unto the simple Now who is the blind and simple but the naturall man before his Conversion and Regeneration And what is that which inlightens his eyes and cleares his understanding Gods word For The entrance of thy words giveth light it giveth understanding unto the Simple The light of Gods word going forth in the Ministry of it is the first that makes entrance into the Soule Now doth not your Lordship grant all this Yes you cannot but confesse it but alwayes provided that it is ever understood the Tradition of the present Church must prepare the way first that must first cleare the naturall mans blind eyes of his understanding that must first teach and informe his Soule before Gods word can inlighten his eyes and give understanding to the Simple But do you consider what you Say The Scripture you must needs confesse you cannot deny inlightneth the eyes Well but you Say againe your Tradition must first cleare the understanding and light the Candle of Scripture Now to cleare the understanding is to open the eyes How then can Gods word be said to open and enlighten the eyes when they are cleared before Or how can it give understanding to the simple when the Soule is taught and informed before The Tradition of the present Church prevents all and saves the word that labour Unlesse you will say The Tradition of the present Church is a preparing instruction to the opening of the eyes by the Scripture as the anoynting of the blind mans eyes with clay went before his washing in the poole of Siloam whereupon he received his sight Indeed your Church-Tradition in this Case might well be compared to the daubing of a naturall mans blind eyes with Clay to confirme him in his blindnesse that he shall never see so long as he depends upon the necessity of your present Church-Tradition as a preparing instruction to cleare his understanding and to teach and informe his soule as without which he shall never come to have his eyes inlightned by the word of God So as in very truth this Tradition Authority voyce of the present Church which you every where so plead for and presse as a necessary previous inducer yea clearer of the naturall mans understanding and teacher and informer of his Soule before he can plainly heare the voyce of God in the Scripture it selfe is a Doctrine of Damnable Blasphemy against Christ and his holy word For this clearing of the naturall mans understanding this inlightning of the blind eyes of his mind this teaching and informing his Soule is both the proper and prime act of Christ of his Spirit and of his word working together Of the words inlightning David hath sufficiently informed us before And Christ sends us to the Scriptures for search and not to any Church Tradition as bearing witnesse of Christ and so directing us to him for eternall life And Saith Christ No man can come to me except the Father which sent me draw him and I will rayse him up at the last day As it is written in the Prophets And they shall be all taught of God Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh to me Heard What The Tradition of the present Church No the preaching of Gods word which is Gods owne voyce as we said before this voyce in the eare being accompanied with Gods learning and teaching within as Augustine hereupon well notes is that which brings us unto Christ Thus the Lord opened the heart of Lydia that she attended to the things which were spoken of Paul It was not the Tradition of the present Church but as she was hearing the word the Lord opened her heart both to attend and to beleeve Pauls Doctrin◠And Luke 24.45 Then opened he their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures Away then with your Blasphemous Romish Doctrine of Tradition of your present Church from having any thing to doe in this divine businesse wherein onely God and Christ and the Holy Ghost and the voyce of God in the Ministry of his Word have the whole and sole worke in opening both the eyes and eares of mans Soule to see and heare the wondrous things of Gods Law contained in the Scriptures As David Saith Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law But you adde And then here 's double Authority and both Divine that confirmes Scripture to be the word of God Tradition of the Apostles delivering it and the internall worth and argument in the Scripture obvious to a Soule prepared by the present Churches Tradition and Gods Grace And. Then Sill Then and not before all goes currant Worth in Scripture comes in with their double Divine Authority Then when the Soule is prepared as before with the present Churches Tradition Els all the fat is in the fire Nor Apostles Tradition Nor worth in Scripture are worth a rush in this matter And thus all must depend upon your present Churches Tradition Still But here you bring in againe Gods Grace as a Second to your Tradition But I told you before and tell you againe that your present Churches Tradition hath nothing to doe with Gods Grace nor with any Grace of God not with common and ordinary Grace Gods Grace is a concomitant and Assistant unto his owne Ordinance But for the Authority and Tradition of the present Church to be a necessary inducer to the beliefe of Scripture by clearing a naturall mans understanding and teaching and informing his Soule is none of Gods ordinance but an Antichristian Romish presumption and therefore hath no promise of
and so no title to Gods Grace either to accompany or assist it When Christ tooke his Farewell of the Apostles he left his Commission with them for the Ministry of his Word and Sacraments and thereupon gave a Promise of his continuall assisting grace to them and to all his faithfull true Ministers of his Word successively to the end of the world Goe Saith he and teach all nations baptizing them c. teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And Loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Now 't is plaine as is both shewed before and will yet more that your present Church being Prelaticall and Hierarchicall is a false and Antichristian Church a Church of Priests of a strange Order not of Christs institution nor your Government of Christs ordinance and so your Church is of no Auhority nor doe you faithfully and truely preach the Word and administer the Sacraments but with the mixture of your owne Superstitious devises nor doe you teach men to observe all things whatsoever Christ commanded in his word and hath left written in the Scripture but on the contrary you suppresse the preaching of his word and oppresse his faithfull Ministers and by publick Authority assumed make voyd Christs eternall Law as before So as Gods people have cause to take up that complaint and prayer of David It is time for thee Lord to worke for they have made voyd thy Law And therefore that promise of Christ to his Apostles and true Ministers of the Gospell pertaines not to you and so not to any of your usurped Authority and pretended Tradition of your present Church But you proceed L. p. 85. After the morall perswasion reason and force of the present Church there is ground enough to move any reasonable man that it is fit he should read the Scripture and esteeme very reverently and highly of it And this once done the Scripture hath then In and home Arguments enough to put a soule that hath but ordinary Grace out of doubt that the Scripture is the word of God infallible and Divine P. The same man Still But what if as with the Church of Rome and the Jesuites your present Church of England doth hold this Paradox so She should take up Romes practise and by your Authority forbid all men the reading of the Scriptures but such onely as shal be thought fit to be dispensed withall to read it We know not what you may doe if once you can obtain voyces in Convocation as what may not you doe to make this your bare assertion and Antichristian opinion an Irrefragable Canon of the present Church of England That men ought not to presume to read the Scriptures till the Authority of the present Church hath made way and her Tradition cleared their understanding and taught and informed their Soules and thereupon very reverently and highly esteeme of it For this is the Cleare Summe of your words here No reading of the Scriptures no esteeming highly and reverently of it no In and home Arguments enough to puâ— a soule out of doubt that Scripture is the word of God Infallible and Divine So as till he be perswaded hereof 't is but vaine and frivolous for a man to read the Scriptures and this perswasion he cannot have till after the morall perswasion reason and force of the present Church And here I note again how you put the Tradition of your present Church single and alone forgetting to Second it with Gods Grace which doth but confirme what I said before that Gods Grace Ordinary Grace when you doe mention it it is but when you stumble upon it and it stands but for a Stale it is your Tradition and Authority of the present Church that is all in all But you proceed L. p. 85 86. Thirdly you to wit A. C. pretend that we make the Scripture absolutely and fully knowne Lumine suo by the light and testimony which it hath in and giveth to it selfe c. We doe not Say that there is such a full light in Scripture as that every man upon the first sight must yeeld to it The Question is onely of such a light in Scripture as is of force to breed Faith not to make a perfect knowledge P. The pretence of A. C. herein was not without just cause onely he considered not what the present Church of England now under your Primacy doth hold So as you should or might have shaped your Answere thus A. C. Distingue tempora Distinguish the times Know you not who sits now in the Chaire of Canterbury True it is that formerly the Church of England or rather some private men all or most of the Divines thereof that have written of this Subject allthough very learned I confesse and of great note place and ranke in the Church in their time held and writ so against you but that was onely their private opinion though all their Bookes were published by Authority But what 's all this to the Church of England now Now you may heare and understand by me who am the voyce of the present Church of England that it is otherwise And what you doe pretend I doe thus interpret We doe not Say c. But what doe you not Say We doe not Say that there is such a full light in Scripture as that every man upon the first sight must yeeld to it How So perhaps not any hath Said Yet this all our Orthodox Divines before you have said That there is such a full light in Scripture as that every man by the thorow and serious reading over of the Scripture hath sufficient evidence therein to convince him as to yeeld it to be the very word of God And if he doe not therupon yeeld the defect is not in the Scripture but in himself But at first sight This is a miserable shift and poore put off to answere fully to the Jesuites pretence or rather true assertion For in this he saith true that we to wit all the Orthodox Divines of the Church of England as aforesaid do hold the Scripture absolutely and fully to be known lumine suo by the light and testimony which it hath in and gives to it self Only we do not make it so as you expresse the Jesuite but we find know and beleeve it to be so But they never said At first sight This is your owne Flam. But what our â—ormer Divines have written hereof they have with such Arguments confirmed as not you with all your Divines of note and worth of which you patch up your present Church of England are able to Answere oudè gru not one word or Syllable But come we to the Question as you State it The Question is say you onely of such a light in Scripture as is of force to breed faith not to make a perfect knowledge And what 's your resolution of this Question of your own Stating Do you yeeld thus much that there
to all the faithfull As the Apostle Saith Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope But on the other side this beliefe that the Scripture is the word of God being in a Reprobate or wicked man the stronger it is in a perswasion and conviction that it is Gods word and so a word of truth the greater terrour it strikes into him when he considers of those fearefull judgements punishments and torments of hell therein denounced against all impenitent persons As Felix trembled when he heard Paul reasoning of judgement to come And Agrippa said to Paul en olÃgo somewhat or almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian when Paul had said unto him Beleevest thou the Prophets I know that thou beleevest So that a wicked man may be throwly convinced in his Conscience that the Scripture is the word of God he may certainly be perswaded of it and that hoes en horámati as a thing visibly before him and he apprehends it as too true But that place of the Apostle We see here dì ainìgmatos as through a darke Saying it is not to be applyed to this Faith that is in a wicked man For the Apostle there speakes of true beleevers We Saith he now doe see through a glasse darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known So as there he speakes of the estate of the godly here comparatively to their estate of glory hereafter and that concerning their knowledge and spirituall vision of God here and hereafter Here we doe with Moses see but Gods back parts in comparison to that we shall see when we shall see him face to face here we know him at the best but imperfectly but then we shall know even as we are knowne in full perfection And yet so great and glorious is our knowledge of God in the State of Grace that the Apostle saith We all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord. So glorious is the Image of Christ in every new-Creature or regenerate man had men but eyes to see it But this by the way On the other side againe as some naturall and morall men may have a certaine evidence of an Historicall Faith thus farre that the Scripture is the word of God and so he trembleth at it So others again and such as think themselves great Clerks and glorious Priests may perhaps see but en skotómati blindly in a brainsick miorim or giddinesse so as their head swimming with wâ—imses the eyes of their understanding being darkened or rather blinded with the god of this world they imagine the world goes round with them and while they so much dispute of the Authority of the present Church in clearing a mans understanding to beleeve the Scripture to be the word of God the conclusion is that they can bring never a good Evidence to prove that themselves have any faith at all You goe on and Say Now God doth not require a full demonstrative knowledge in us that the Scripture is his word and therefore in his Providence hath kindled in it no light for that but he requires our faith of it and such a certaine demonstration as may fit that When shall vaine words have an end as Iob Speaks You have reproched the Scripture these 10 times and therein blasphemed God and are not ashamed as he Speaks in another Case God doth not require Say you a full demonstrative knowledge in us that the Scripture is his word No Doth he not But he requireth such a faith in us which hath in it a full demonstration of knowledge For such is Saving Faith whereof we formerly Spake it is a demonstration of things not seen it is a plerophorÃa a full assurance Now whereon is this faith grounded Is it not grounded upon the Scripture And if this full demonstration of faith be grounded on the Scripture is there not such a full demonstrative knowledge in the Scripture For alwayes the Foundation must have a full latitude and depth proportionable to beare up the building which is layd upon it Faith then being a full demonstration and the Scripture being the foundation of it the Scripture then must have in it a full demonstrative knowledge and if such a full demonstrative knowledge be in the Scripture God requires in us also such a full demonstrative knowledge as is sutable to that full demonstration of Faith As the Apostle saith I know whom I have beleeved And our Saviour joynes knowledge and faith together saying That ye may know and beleeve And so the Apostle speaking of beleevers saith Which beleeve and know the truth And that which in other places is attributed to faith is Ioh. 13.3 attributed to knowledge This is life eternall that they may know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom â—hou hast sent And the act of beleeving is typed out by an act of the eye in seeing to shew that beleeving is a seeing and knowing As Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wildernesse even so must the Sonne of Man be lifted up that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have eternall life Where beleeving in Christ lifted up upon his Crosse hath relation to those in the wildernesse who being stung with the fiery Serpents looked up upon the brazen Serpent upon the Pole which Moses by Gods appointment lifted up and looking upon it they lived There being then such an affinity or rather unity or union between Faith and knowledge Faith being a certain knowledge of the thing beleeved which is the Scripture and faith being begotten by the word of God which is therfore call'd the word of Faith both because it is the seed of Faith and the ground wherin it is rooted and every seed having in it the nature of that which springeth of it it necessarily followeth that there is in the Scripture a full demonstrative knowledge and consequently God requireth in us such a full demonstrative knowledge as whereby we are fully assured and know certainly that the Scripture is the very word of God And this full demonstrative knowledge is in true Faith which apprehending and imbracing Christ the beleever by the same Faith doth know assuredly that that Scripture by the heareing wherof preached he came to beleeve is the very word of God And there is such a necessity of this full demonstrative knowledge to be in every beleever it is both de esse of the beâ—ing of a beleever and also de bene esse of his well-beeing That it is of the beeing of a beleever we have proved out of Scripture because it is of the very beeing of Faith And secondly it is necessary for
parts of mans body yet still that member wants other members to beare witnesse unto it that it is a part of mans body As if every particular member of mans body by its inherent proper motion were not a sufficient witnesse not onely to all the rest of the body that it is a living and true organicall body of man but also to it selfe that it is a true living member of this body Or as thus It is not the whole frame of heaven and earth that can assure us that we doe well to thinke that God made all the world for if any one Creature should give testimony to all the rest yet still that Creature would require another Creature to give testimony to it that it is one of Gods Creatures and so we should never come to any pawse to rest our assurance this way that God created the whole world heaven and earth and all the Creatures therein Now what is there besides the Creature that can assure us of this What The Authority of men or the Tradition of the whole world No for By Faith we come to understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were made of things which did not appeare Now whereupon is this Faith grounded Surely on the word of God and confirmed abundantly by the whole frame of heaven and earth and all the Creatures therein not one of them but having a stampe of the Creator upon it to assure us that it is his Creature And how doe we come to be assured that this word of God is contained in the Scripture By the Authority of the present Church Doth Hooker Say so Had you Said The Ancient Church as the Jewes in witnessing for the Old Testament and the Ancient Apostolick Church in witnessing for the New you had said Somthing As also if you had put the Ministry of the Word for the Authority of your present Church For as we said before the Ministry of the Word is Gods own voyce which commends unto us the Scripture as the word of God This is Gods owne ordinary meanes to bring men to Faith and not the Authority and Tradition of I wot not what present Church And now against Mr Hookers sensible Demonstration as you call it I will oppose another Demonstration which is not onely sensible but most true as proving that the testimony of Scripture to be the word of God is in the Scripture it selfe First Paul in the Epistle to the Romans witnesseth that unto the Iewes or Israeliets under the Old Testament were committed the Oracles of God those Oracles were contained in all the severall Bookes of the Old Testament which the Jewes kept intire and inviolate without the mixture of Profane Books And of this Scripture Paul speaketh and testifieth saying All Scripture is given by inspiration from God And Christ himselfe giveth testimony of the Old Testament saying to the Jewes Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternall life and they are they which testifie of me And what those Scriptures were the Jewes knew well enough for they were deposited with them and they kept them as their chiefest treasure And Peter also gives testimony to the Old Testament saying of it that Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost speaking of the Scripture expresly in that place in the former verse And To Him give all the Prophets witnesse Thus the New Testament gives testimony to the Old that it is the word of God And I hope you will not except against this testimony as insufficient Againe the New Testament gives witnesse to it selfe that it is the word of God Peter witnesseth of Pauls Epistles that Paul wrote them according to the wisdome given unto him that is the Holy Ghost And Christ said to Peter I have prayd for thee that thy Faith faile not Yea He sent the Holy Ghost to all his Apostles that should lead them into all truth Ergo what they preached and wrote was the Truth and word of God And Christ made all his Apostles his witnesses who in all their writings beare-witnesse of him both of what they saw and heard and so their record left in writing is true See Luk. 1.2 1 Joh. 1.3 3 Joh. 12. And none writ the New Testament but either Euangelists or Apostles all indued with the Holy Ghost And the Wisdome of Christ reserved his beloved Disciple Iohn as the last surviver of all the rest to write the Book of the Revelation and to conclude as the New Testament so the whole Bible with that Charge If any man adde to this Book or take away from it c. as shewing that the whole and intire Scripture was now compiled and consummate I might be copious in this point But I will summe up all this The New Testament gives testimony to the Old that it is the word of God also to it selfe one Book to another one Apostle to another who were all witnesses of Christ Christ and the Holy Ghost to all the Apostles all their writings being guided by the Spirit of Truth and giving joynt witnesse unto Christ and to the truth of the Gospell Yea and the severall parts beare witnes to themselvs As 1 Cor. 14.37 If any man think himselfe to be a Prophet or Spirituall let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the Commandements of the Lord. And 1 Pet. 5.12 I have written brieflly exhorting and testifying that this is the true Grace of God wherein ye stand And Joh. 20.31 These things are written that ye might beleeve that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that beleeving ye might have life through his Name So 1 Joh. 1.3 4. 2 Joh. 5. 3 Joh. 12. And we also â—eare record and ye know that our record is true And as the New Testament doth every where beare witnesse both to the Old and to it selfe both in the whole and every part even by the Spirit of God that speakes and breathes in the whole and every part So the Old Testament in like manner beares witnesse both to it selfe and to the New Testament and that by many Types and Prophecies all which are fulfilled in the New So as these two Testaments are as Ezechiels Wheeles one within another the New Testament being the Old revealed and the Old the New veiled Or they are like the two Cherubims both looking towards the Mercy-Seat which is Christ the Summe of them both the Old looking upon him as he was promised and to come the New as he is now exhibited and come Thus we have here a full true and evident Demonstration that the whole Scripture gives testimony to it selfe that it is the word of God And yet you Say That Truth it selfe cannot say that Scripture it selfe can doe it But you adde L. ibid. That Scripture cannot beare witnesse to it selfe nor any one part of it
as then in Norfolke and Suffolke and Essex while these godly and painfull Ministers preached the word of God it did as the Apostle saith trékein run or diarrusai flow forth like the waters in the Sanctuary When Paul was prisoner at Rome and yet had liberty to preach the word for in those dayes Les Diables estroyent encores en Leur Donat the Devil was but a Grammer Scholar and had not learned in Machiavels Schoole to be one of Antichrists Statesmen to shut Ministers up in the Inquisition-house that they shall never tell Tales more in the Pulpit he Said For the which I am a Prisoner in bonds but the word of God is not bound So as while Gods Ministers are not restrained from preaching the word of God but that they freely preach it without impeachment it may be truly said The word of God is not bound But on the contrary when Godly and painfull Ministers are silenced then it may alike truly be sayd The word of God is bound I will recollect all and conclude with a Syllogisme If the free Preaching of Gods word be the liberty of it and the silencing of Gods faithfull Ministers be a binding of Gods word then the freeing of such silenced Ministers is the restoring of Gods word to its libetty But the free Preaching of Gods word is the liberty of it and the silencing of Gods faithfull Ministers Therefore the freeing of silenced Ministers is the restoring of Gods word to its liberty The consequence of the Antecedent cannot be denyed and the Minor is the Apostles in that place forealedged so as here is nothing left for you to deny but the Conclusion And that 's enough for you Yet might those Ministers have but eqâ—all Law and liberty to plead their Cause against you they would easily purge themselves from such an aspersion of being Factious when some of your party would prove to be deep enough plunged at least in a Premunire to say no more were not the Laws asleep and in this case in as much bondage as the Gospell I passe from the matter of your Ipswich Newes to the Author And it would be News to tell us truly who that might be But all the tidings you can tell us of him is by certain marks to describe him unto us And those are three 1. Is H.B. which in your Book set out concerning those three foresaid bitter men and which you read in the Starre-Chamber before all the Court at their Censure you set in the margent over against those passages which you cite out of Ipswich News This is one of your marks although as I said before and as I have it by very credible intelligence he was not the Author of it and therfore you take and have set your first mark amisse for H. B. it was not And yet this mark falsly set became the occasion of the seting on of the second mark and that was an Eare-marke and that upon both the Eares for failing and that closse to the head which escaped scarce a hayres breadth and this upon the Pillory that some thousands of beholders might be witnesses of it The third mark I find here in your margent in this form †a Crucifix I cannot call it but it is next unto it a Crosse it is and very like to Christs Crosse and as like to that Pillory wherein H. B. stood as can be A fit mark therfore for him whom you had so marked before So as if any inquire of this Author who it should be your Book can shape him a ready answere Ecce signum Loe here a signe of that Pillory on which he suffered In the last place you call him here in scorn and through the nose as Tertullian speakes in another case of an Hereticke the Godly Author of the late Newes from Ipswich and all this he may do by Authority that sits in Cathedrâ— derisorum in the scorners chaire making a mock of all true Religion Godlinesse and honesty And thus you cease not still to persecute the poore Man every kind of way here by â—ruell mocking as the Apostle speakes But he but drinks of the same Cup which his Lord and Master drunk of before him And all these things you load Christs Servant withall shall but make his crown the more glorious For I heare he indures that his perpetuall closse Imprisonment and Banishment from Wife Children Friends Countrey all with as great a continued magnanimity as he did his standing and suffering on the Pillory L. ibid. I ever tooke Sermons and so do still to be most necessary expositions and applications of holy Scripture and a great ordinary meanes of Saving knowledge But I cannot thinke them or the preachers of them divinely infallible The Antient Fathers of the Church preached farre beyond any of these of either Faction and yet no one of them durst thinke himselfe infallible much lesse that whatsoever he preached was the word of God And it may be observed too that no men are more apt to say that all the Fathers were but men and might erre then they that think their own preachings are infallible P. Here you acknowledge Sermons to be necessary expositions and applications of holy Scripture and a great ordinary meanes of saving knowledge Doe you so Have you indeed ever taken them to be so And so still indeed What still What all this while that you have been and are a most notorious persecuter of and rooter out of godly Preachers whom your late Brother White in Scorne in his Book of the Sabbath or rather against the Sabbath calls Sermonders And is there a generation or profession of men above ground whom you hate more then these If you ever took Sermons to be such why do you continually take the Preachers themselves in your nets and so devoure them Are Sermons necessary expositions and applications of Scripture and that by your owne confession Then the greater your condemnation that take away this Key of Knowledge And that they be a great meanes of Saving knowledge Then why do you not onely suffer the people to perish for want of them but chase away good Pastors from them Thus are you not guilty of the blood of so many thousand Soules and have pronounced the sentence of condemnation against your selfe with your own mouth And thus doth not the nakednesse of your notorious and shamelesse hipocrisie discover it selfe to all the world while you professe in words one thing and in your deeds practise the contrary But you give the reason your selfe because you take Sermons to be such as you say therefore you persecute the Preachers of them Neither yet come you full home to the truth in giving Sermons their due for all your sugred words Sermons I meane the plain powerfull and sound preaching of Gods word by explication and application You say they are great meanes of sound knowledge You doe not say so of Sermons as of your externall
worship The GREAT WITNESSE but a great meanes not The great meanes nor the GREAT MEANES put in Capitall Letters much lesse doe you say as the Apostle That preaching is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that beleeveth Or as 1 Cor 1.18 The preaching of the crosse is to them that perish foolishnesse but to us that are saved it is the power of God Or To them that are called we preach Christ the power of God and the wisdome of God And yet with you it is but a great meanes And well too that you will vouchsafe to give it so good a word But it is such a great meanes as there is none other ordinary meanes of saving knowledge whatsoever to be compared with it But you cannot thinke Sermons divinely infallible I thinke not such Sermons as you make But are not those Sermons which being a true explication and application of the the word of God the Scripture doe convert soules to God doe beget faith in the hearers and make of them new Creatures divinely infallible can such Sermons be otherwise then divinely infallible I doe not meane your Court Sermons And can that preaching which is a great meanes as you confesse of saving knowledge but be divinely infallible Can that which brings men to salvation deceive men I speak still of true preaching But you put Sermons which you say are expositions and application of Scripture and a great meanes of saving knowledge and preachers together whom you doe not think to be infallible There is some difference by your leave For the Sermon may â—e divinely infallible saving the hearers soules and yet the preacher himselfe be deceived and put by his purpose in preaching of it For instance I remember Augustine tells how on a time preaching upon a text he did besides his purpose and intention extravagate from his text and fell upon the Manichean Heresie which was nothing to his text in which extravagant discourse he notwithstanding according to his dexterity â—oundly confuted that Heresie Well after the Sermon a Manichean that there had heard him came to Augustine and told him that his Sermon had much wrought upon him and convinced him of his error desiring him further to instruct him in the true Faith Hereat Augustine fell into an admiration saying to the man give glory to God and never thank me for it for I never intended when I came into the Pulpit at that time so much as to touch upon that poynt But now I see Gods mercifull hand led me out of my intended course that I should going out of mine owne way bring thee into the right way Thus we see the Sermon may be divinely infallible when yet the Preacher himselfe was deceived Againe the Preacher being a man is subject to error when yet his Sermon is infallible being divine that is according to Gods word the Scripture and his life through infirmity may have many errors when yet his doctrine is upright and sound being regulated by Gods word and Spirit which is not wanting to his faithfull Servants in his owne Ordinace But say you the ancient Fathers of the Church preached beyond any of these of either Faction and yet no one of them durst thinke himselfe infallible much lesse that whatsoever he preached was the word of God Here first you shew still your teeth and utter your extreme malice against Christ in calling his faithfull servants the Ministers of his word a Faction and such a Faction as you yoake with that of the Jesuites Certainly if godly Ministers such as you place in the precise party of the reformed Church be a Faction it is under and with their King and Captain Christ fighting and confederating against all Antichristian adversaries the disguised enemies of Christ and of his word and true Church and of all his faithfull Ministers and people that doe sincerely professe his Name Which your malice being so Diabolicall the Lord reprove you for it and reward you according both to your words and deeds who doe thus confound the precious with the vile the good with the evill light with darknesse Christ with Belial true Christians with Antichristians Certainly ther 's a woe belongs to you for this We doe utterly reject all Iesuites and Antichristians as who neither doe nor dare nor can preach Gods word truly to the begeting of Saving Faith and Saving Knowledge For then they must preach against the Popes Kingdome and his cursed doctrines which in the Councel of Trent doe both forbid and accurse all saving doctrines of grace and burne with fier and fagot the Preachers of them whom you also most cruelly persecute with all the Engines of cruelty that malice it selfe can invent and a desperate man against all Laws of God and man dare execute For the antient Fathers of the Church whose preaching you farre preferre before any of that precise party as you call it for as for A. C. and his Faction we altogether exclude them out of the number of preachers in the reformed Churches whether ignorance or malice hath more blinded your judgement in this I cannot directly say Ignorance not onely of the Fathers preaching but much more of the preciser party of preachers in the Reformed Churches whose Sermons and writings I suppose you have but a little acquainted your selfe withall but for your malice against these I dare confidently say you have no want of that And seeing you draw me though against my will to enter within the lists of such a comparison between those antients and our moderne reformists I hold it fit to speake somthing of it though I declined it before when you gave the like occasion both to discover the weaknesse of your judgement herein and to vindicate the truth it selfe in maintaining the just reputation of the truly Reformed Churches Now no reason can be given why those Antients though otherwise of honourable mention should preach farre beyond the best preachers of the Reformed Churches For they could not have that knowledge and learning which so many ages since have produced together with much experience all which the truly reformed preachers make use of Again doe but compare most of the writings and Sermons of those Antients with our moderne Reformed Divines and a right judgement will find the oddes of your farre beyond to be on the side of the reformed party In comparison of whom how poore were those Antients both in their expositions and applications of Scripture Augustine that excellent light in those times though in his Polemicall Tracts and especially against the Pelagians and Semi-pellagians in the vindicating of Gods grace and so in opening all those places of Scripture concerning those points he shewed an accute dexterity and sound judgement yet in his other exercises or Sermons and expositions of Scripture he was not so pregnant As in his 8 th Tome containing his expositions and Sermons upon the Psalmes although the Reader shall not repent him of his labour because he
same unchangable truth still and hath in it sufficient evidence both to reconcile those differences and to convince the gainsayer 'T is true Let no man presume upon his owne strength for the secret of the Lord is with them that feare him Whaâ— was the cause then that you have all along your Booke as in part hath been shewed so perverted the Scriptures was it not because you took not with you for your guide the Tradition of the present Church And was not this then a prusuming upon your own strength when you goe so solely and singly to worke But what meane you by going single without the Church The not consulting the Prelates Or because the Papists object as you The Scriptures are deep and darke therfore we must in all things take the present Church Tradition in our way where it may be bad and be guided by that as by Ariadnees Thread through those manyfold Meanders of that intricate Labyrinth the Scripture as you make it Or that you meane by Church Tradition the Authority of the present Church of England as one with that Church whereof none is and that this Authority must needs proceede and like a Candle before the Sun at noon-day as before shew us the way to know the Scripture to be the word of God if we be willing to shut our eyes and blindfold to be led by the Traditionall Authority of this your Church what know we but by such Authority you may tell us puting the â—ible clasped into our hands All that is cantained within those claspes is the word of God This you may be sure of you have Authority for it you need goe no further And all your Bibles of your present Church of England being by expresse Charge bound with the Apocrypha so as they are punished that doe it not all the Books forfeited which may breed an opinion in the people that those Bookes also are a part of the word of God If now one hereupon opening the Bible and lighting upon either that ridiculous tale of Tobies Dog or that of the Angel who tells Tobiaâ— that he is his kinsman and of the Smoke of the Fishes Liver that drives away the Devill or of Razis killing of himselfe and commended for it by the writer of the Books of the Maccabees or that of the same Authors doubting whether he hath done well or no in writing that Story and the like he may possibly by this meanes be brought to think meanely of the Scriptures and that they are not the word of God because he finds such things in the Bible so as it is bound as are ridiculous false vaine impious and uncertaine whether the rest be done as it should be c. And thus by your Apocrypha delivered into his hand by the Authority and Tradition of your present Church he is brought to beleeve that either the Scriptures of thaâ— Old and New Testament are not the word of God as wherwith those Apocryphall Books are equally bound in all Bibles or else that such Tradition of the present Church it little to be regarded while pretending to lead men to the beliefe of the Scriptures to be the word of God there is no more difference made between them and the Apocrypha so full of vain lyes and ridiculous tales And perhaps you may come in also as Time and Plaâ—e will permit with your Verbum Dei non scriptum to boot the word of God not written of which you tell us before agreeing therein with Bellarmine And at last when your Tradition and Authority hath sufficiently prepared the way you will perhaps bring in your Traditions Apostolicke accompanied with the Decretalls of Gratian which your Sister Church of Rome equall with the 4 Euangelists But however were it for nothing else but to maintaine the credit of your present Church Tradition and Authority in commending to men the Scripture to be the word of God you might doe well to take away your Apocrypha which your Zeale will have placed in the midst between the two Testaments not suffering any Bibles to be bound without it which is as one saith as a Blakamore placed between two pure unspotted Virgins Nor doe I think that your Lordship so placeth your Blackamore as Ladyes put a black patch upon their Cheek or Chin as a foyle to make them seem more fayre so you to make the Scriptures the more lovely and desireable or the better to be known as things by their contraries as white by blacke or the straight by the crooked or truth by error standing near it And though Hierome who excludes the Apocrypha out of the Canon of Scripture saith they may be read ad morum institutionem non ad confirmationem Fidei for instruction of manners and not for confirmation of faith yet considering both the fooleries and falsities and vanities and commended impieties and confessed uncertainties in them as aforesayd all these things put together might be me thinks of sufficient strength to thrust out that Blackamore by the head and shoulders from betweene those two fayre and unspotted Virgins L. ibid. It is most reasonable that Theology should be allowed to have some Principles as well as other Sciences which she proves not but presupposes And the chiefest of these is That the Scriptures are of Divine Authority P. How Is the chiefest of these Principles allowed to Theologie This That the Scriptures are of Divine Authority Doe you not forget Tradition now Doe you not reckon that for the first and so the chiefest as without which the other cannot be granted Or perhaps you doe not reckon your Tradition or Authority of the present Church to be a Principle of Theology What then Perhaps of Muthology the science of setting forth Fables Or of Buttologie the science of much babble to no purpose Or Argologie the science of vaine and frivolous talke Or Carphologie a gathering of Chaffe as if you would by the heape of Chaffe shew us where the Wheat is Onely your Tradition is no Principle of Theologie and therfore a heape of chaffe wherein there is not one grain of the pure corn But let us come to see what is most reasonable It is most reasonable say you that Theologie should be alowed to have some Prinâ—iples as well as other Sciences which she proves not but presupposes And what is Theologie but the Scripture it selfe and the Doctrines therein contained And however it be with other Sciences which in comparison of Theologie are but imperfect and beggerly so as they have need to begge their a'itemata some Principles to be granted them as grounds to worke upon as the Mathematicks c. yet you might have given that honour to Queen Theologie to which all other Sciences are but handmaids as to exempt her from being a begger yea and of that too which is her own and in her own possession namely That the Scripture is the word of God This is one of Theologies prime Principles which
witnesse to it selfe But this Say you it hath not Ergo not the other Againe you Say pag. 81. Church-Authority must first light the Candle Ergo the Scripture hath no light of it selfe much lesse light enough for faith to beleeve But though it should though it be granted that Scripture had light enough for Faith to beleeve yet light enough it gives not to be a convincing Reason and proofe for knowledge As if you said Neither for Faith for we have proved before that faith and knowledge goe inseperably together true faith being a seeing and knowing faith and not a blind faith The Scripture teacheth no blind faith And why should not Scripture give light enough to be a convincing Reason and proofe for knowledge When it is a sufficient light to discover unto a man the secret thoughts and intents of his heart wherof man himselfe is thorowly convinced and thereby in himselfe condemned of his own Conscience But this knowledge you cannot away withall But you can never put out the eyes of your Conscience though you may for a time fold it or lull it fast asleep Much lesse shall you be able to put out the light of Scripture which is greater then the light of your Conscience As Saith the Apostle If our heart or Conscience condemnes us God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things If therfore the heart or Conscence that is in man be a sufficient witnesse of all his thoughts good and bad and layeth them before him as the Apostle saith much more is Gods word a sufficient witnesse and giveth light enough to be a convincing reason and proofe for knowledge And Solomon Saith The spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly If such then be mans spirit the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly that is all the secrets of mans heart how much more is the Spirit of God in the Scripture his Word such a searcher yea saith the Apostle The Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God And these deep things of God he hath revealed unto us by his Spirit And where but in his word the Scripture is the voyce of this Spirit of God And it was the constant sentence of all the Ancient Fathers whom you would seem so much to adore which Augustine expresseth in these words In Scripturu sacris apertè continentur ea omnia quae necessaria sunt ad Sâ—lutem In the holy Scriptures are clearly contained all those things which are necessary to Salvation Now how should this be true if the Scripture doth not give light enough to be a convincing reason and proofe for knowledge L. p. 113. To prove the Scripture to be the word of God first cometh in the Tradition of the Church the present Church So 't is no Hereticall or Schismaticall beliefe Then the testimony of former Ages c. P. Here at length you come neere the winding up of the long thread of your endlesse Discourse in this your 16 th Section the summe wherof is to prove that the Scripture is of no selfe-credit and Authority And first and last your present Church Tradition must be the Prime hand to lead the blâ—nd to this beliefe that Scripture is the word of God For otherwise the beliefe thereof should be Hereticall or Schismaticall For thus you say To prove the Scripture to be the word of God First comes in the Tradition of the Church the present Church So 't is no Hereticall or Schismaticall beliefe Ergo Beliefe of Scripture to be Gods word comes by any other way as by the word of God it selfe read and heard in the preaching of it and by Gods Spirit speaking in it then wherein the Tradition of the Church the present Church hath been the Prime leader This beliefe is Hereticall and Scismaticall Ergo this beliefe in all the Apostles Martyrs Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Primitive Ages who never knew any such Tradition of the present Church as whereon this beliefe should depend for its necessary prime inducement was Hereticall and Schismaticall They constantly held till Rome and you brought in this your blind guide to tread down under feet the light of the Scripture and to exalt the Authority of your Antichristian Hierarchy that the Scripture was of self-Authority and Sufficiency to prove it selfe to be the word of God and by the hearing of it preached and read to beget and confirme faith in al beleevers without any such inducement of Church Tradition as you speake of And therefore here you passe your sentence of condemnation of this beliefe in all those forementioned for Hereticall and Schismaticall But how justly may this sentence be retorted upon your selfe and your present Church as both Hereticall and Schismaticall Hereticall as in the maintenance of Doctrines of Devils as afore of the Pelagian and Semi-Pelagian Heresies under colour of your doubtfull Articles of Religion as you have made them by publik Edict and Declaration and flatly forbidding to preach of the Saving Doctrines of Grace as they are clearly layd down and taught in the Scripture and in seting up and maintaining of your Altars whereby the onely Altar Iesus Christ is denyed and in dâ—spensing with the 4 th Commandement yea destroying and unmoralizing of it and so overthrowing the Lords-day-Sabbath wherein you subvert the whole worke of Redemption with the Resurrection and the like thus your present Church is Hereticall as also in this in holding and stiffly maintaining by you a necessity of your present Church-Tradition for the inducing of beliefe of the Scripture to be Gods word as not sufficient and wanting light of it selfe to doe it and which otherwise is of no credit at all Thus I say you are damnably and desperately Hereticall Secondly your present Church is also Schismaticall being a Seperation from the true Church of Christ in your Hierarchy or Prelacy which being altogether â—ntichristian hath no communion in that respect with Christs Church and therfore is notoriously Schismaticall yea in this also Schismaticall that you account and brand that beliefe of Scripture to be Gods word for Hereticall and Schismaticall which is not first induced by your present Church-Tradition wherein you are Schismaticks from the Faith and so from the Church of the Apostles and Ancient Fathers and succeding Churches which never held any such Hereticalll opinion concerning any such insufficiencie of the Scriptures and Authority of the present Church as you most pertenaciously and pernitiously hold Therfore I Conclude that if the present Church of England approve of your Book and hold as you doe it is both Hereticall and Schismaticall But you conclude L. p. 115. So then the way lyeth thus as farre as it appeares to me The Credit of Scripture to be Divine reduces finally into that which we have touching God himselfe and in the same order For as that So this hath three main Grounds to which
an ordinary Grace and this Ordinary Grace hath no force at all unlesse the present Churches Authority prepare the way So as this Ordinarily of yours admits of no exception at all in any case though never so extraordinary And thus you exclude that your Divine Faith as it is a worke of ordinary Grace as you call it from being any Grace of God at all except Grace of Canterbury can dubbe it for a Grace For all Grace is one of those two kinds I named even now either that Grace of God which makes a man freely accepted in Christ which your Ordinary Grace by your own Confession doth not or that common Grace which is said to be freely given of God to whom he will without the intervention or prevention of any outward meanes or respect which your ordinary Graces cannot be for your selfe every where professe that no ordinary Grace nor any thing else can worke beliefe that the Scripture is the word of God unlesse your present Church Authority tanquam Gratia preparans ac praeveniens as a preparing and preventing Grace prepare the way And thus you see to what a Confusion all your Schoole Distinctions are brought And in truth your Schoole Distinctions for the most part being weighed in the just ballance of the Sanctuary prove too light and doe corrupt the truth For even that Distinction which I named of Gratia gratis data Gratia gratum faciens though the termes are good and true yet as some apply the latter to wit Grace making acceptable it is corrupt As when by that Grace they understand Faith Hope and Charity which being infused into the soule aâ—e the matter say they of Iustification and of our acceptation with God Now in this sense this member of the Distinction holds not good but is Popish For Faith onely is that Grace which makes us accepted of God but this not as it is a worke or Grace inherent but as an Instrument apprehending and applying Christ in whom alone we are through Faith accepted of GOD who makeâ— us accepted in the beloved So as he that will find any good and sound Distinction out of the Schoole-men he must doe as Virgil said of his reading of Ennius Margaritas è caeno legere gather pearles out of the mudde and he must look to have them well washed and polished and tryed by the Scriptures before he use them to illustrate or confirme any Doctrine of sound Divinity This by the way L. p. 226. The time was before this A. miserable rent in the Church of Christ which I B think no Christian can look upon but with a bleeding heart that C you and we were all of one beliefe D That beliefe was tainted in Tract and Corruption of time very deeply A division was made yet so as E both parties held the Creed and other Common Principles of beliefe Of these this was one of the greatest That the Scripture is the word of God For our beliefe of all things contained in it depends upon it Since F this Division there hath been nothing done by us to discredit this Principle Nay we have given it G all honour and ascribed unto it more sufficiency even to the containing of all things necessary to Salvation with satis superque enough and more then enough which your selves have not done doe not H And for begetting and setling a beliefe of this Principle we goe the same way with you and a better besides The same way with you because we alow the Tradition of the present Church to be the first inducing motive to imbrace this Principle onely we cannot goe so farre in this way as you to make the present Tradition I alwayes an infallible word of God unwritten P. Here I Have Alphabetically as by A B C. c. noted sundry particulars A That you call the Protestants seperating from the Church of Rome a miserable rent Why miserable when Christ Commands it As Rev. 18.4 as is noted before and shall yet more in a fit place So as the Protestants had been in a miserable condition if this seperation this rent had not been made B 2 dly And must every Christian heart bleed to see it because it seems yours doth Surely this hath cost the heart-blood of many thousands of Gods Saints and Martyrs shed and spilt by that blood drunken whore Yet better so to perish by her temporally here then to perish with her eternally hereafter which must have been had not this miserable rent been made C 3 dly But before this rent say you they and we were all of one beliefe You may speake for your selfe if you had lived before the rent was made We doubt not but both you would have been of the same Faith with Rome and would have continued in it so as for your part there should never have been made such a miserable rent We know well both your Faith and your Charitable and Peaceable disposition for that matter Yea though that one beliefe was tainted That should have broken no square For you say D 4 ly That beliefe that very one beliefe whereof you and they then were before the rent was tainted yea very deeply too But I say still speake for your selfe and your Confederates onely usurpe not the name of all Protestants quorum tu pars minima whereof you were the least part if any at all that seperated from Rome whereof many before they came to be called Protestants which was upon their protesting against the Whore of Babylon and for their just and necessary seperating from her dissented from and disliked and so farre as the iniquity of the times and humane frailty and unavoidable necessity permitted seperated themselves privately at least from many of her most notorious and intolerable en ormites and not a few in their severall ages wherein they lived openly protested against her both by writing and preaching though it cost them their heart-blood for it You have at hand a Catalogue of them in Catalogus Testium veritatis and in the Book of Acts and Monuments and other Authors both forraigne and domesticke and that of fâ—esh bleeding memory E 5 ly You prove your Faith was then one for holâ—ing the Creed and other CoÌ„mon Principles of beliefe of which one of the Greatest c. Indeed before that rent Rome professed and held the letter and externall form of the Creed but not the sense faith life and substance as elsewhere you confesse of the present Church of Rome Did you so then so now I doubt 't will prove so in a great measure For though you tell us that your beliefe of all things contained in the Creed depends upon this principle That Scripture is the word of God For that is the best sense can be made of your words yet there be many even fundamentall Doctrines in Scripture which your beliefe depends not upon nor your practises agree unto as both before is touched and occasion will be given yet more to speake of
F 6 ly But since this Division say you nothing hath been done by you to discredit this Principle That the Scripture is the word of God No Nothing Not when you say The light which is in Scripture it selfe is not bright enough it cannot beare sufficient witnesse to it selfe Not when you say The Scripture is a light but as a Candle that yeelds no light till first it be lighted by Tradition of the present Church Not when you say That Scripture to be the word of God is not so demonstratively evident à priore that is of and by it selfe primarily as to inforce assent Not when you say Such a full light we doe neither say is nor require to be in Scripture as is in Prime Principles which carry a naturall light with them Is not this point blank against this Principle That Scripture is the word of God Not when you say God doth not require a full Demonstrative Knowledge in us that the Scripture is his word and therfore in his Providence hath kindled in it no light for that Not when you say That the Scripture cannot beare witnesse to it selfe nor one part of it to another And yet in all this and much more hath nothing been done by you to discredit this Principle That Scripture is the word of God Now let the Lord of the Scripture whose Word it is and all the Children of Truth be Judge in this matter against you G. 7 ly Yet you dare say more that you have given it all honour and ascribed unto it more sufficiencie as more then all even to the containing of all things necessary unto Salvation with satis superque enough and more then enough How enough and more then enough What A worke of Superarogation or superarrogancie rather Now fie for shame Will no bounds of Sober Speech contain your lawlesse spirit but that you must cast it in Gods dish That you had ascribed to his Word all honour and more sufficiencie and more then enough Had you yet turned Lyrinensis his word in the margent superque Abundantly it had been both more agreeable to reason and not lesse disagreeing with Grammer Certainly it had become you of all other to have qualified the construction of Satis superque better considering what palpable hand and harsh language you have dasht the Credit of Gods most holy Bible withall Extreames are not good And your Hypocrisie here is too grosly counterfeited Just as some Gentlewomans bad face for want of Art is daubed so much with laying on of Colours that it is ridiculous to every beholder And how say you in the truth of your heart were there any there that the Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation when it doth not containt tha assertion of yours That the Scripture is not known to be the word of God but by the Authority and Tradition of the present Church When yet this That the Scripture is the word of God is by your own expresse Confession one of the greatest Principles of beliefe H 8 ly For your going the same way with the Jesuites partly your whole Booke and partly all your practises doe Satis superque superabundantly witnesse Onely you say you cannot goe so farre in that way with them to make the present Tradition Alwaies an Infallible word of God unwritten No not Alwaies Infallible I hope Onely somtimes perhaps Infallible when you say the word of God And if your present Tradition be not alwaies an Infallible word of God unwritten I pray you is it at any time an unwritten word of God If it be then at such a time especially when its Infallibility is in Season is it not Infallible For Gods word is alwayes Infallible be it written or when he speaks it from heaven But when shall we se the time when you will prove your present Tradition to be a word of God unwritten or to have any Ground at all in written word of God the Scripture But if your present Church Tradition be not alwaies infallible but that somtimes at least it may deceive us certainly I conceive our safest course wil be alwayes to goe immediately and directly the shortest Cut to the Scripture it selfe which I am sure is alwaies Infallible and will never deceive us and not at any time to depend upon your present Tradition which is not alwaies an Infallible word of God unwritten But me thinks I heare you say That you make not the present Tradition An Infallible word of God unwritten No not absolutely not Alwaies We understand English But if you could prove This your present Tradition to be but somtimes an infallible word of God unwritten in the use at least you put it to it were no great Mastery to conclude it to be in that case Alwaies an Infallible word of God unwritten and so you should by this way of the Jesuites come full home to Rome But I hope you will more clearely and fully expresse your selfe in this grand point when to use your own words before It shall fit Time and Place In the meane time if this be not the genuine sense which I have picked but not stollen for the interpretation is Grammaticall and sensible out of your words then I confesse your meaning is more abstruse and mysticall then can be gathered from your manner of expression your words having a tang of that confusion of tongues at the building of that old Tower But the summe of it is Here is the grand difference between you and Rome She makes her Tradition alwayes a word of God unwritten unfallible you yours not Alwayes somtimes therfore and so it is blasphemy But at length pag. 127. the Lady calls you from the point of Church Tradition to heare what you will say of the Church of Rome whether you will Confesse it to be the Right Church And saith the Jesuite the Bishop granted that it was Now if the Lady were not dead as elswhere you tell us I should give her hearty thanks for being an occasion of delivering us out of this Purgatory-lake of your tedious irksome and endlesse Discourse of your present Tradition wherein otherwise it is to be feared you lye so long till you had been drowned in your own puddle or burnt up with your own hot zeale But let us heare your Answere to the Jesuites relation of what you granted L. p. 128. There is a great deale of difference between The Church and A Church and some between a True Church and a Right Church For the Church may import in our language The onely True Church and perhaps the root and ground of the Catholick And this I never did grant of the Roman Church nor never meane to doe But A Church can imply no more then that it is a member of the whole And this I never did nor never will deny if it fall not absolutely away from Christ. That it is a True Church I granted also but not a Right
Rule of Faith the Scripture Implying that to hold the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith is one speciall note of A true Church But now you confesse againe that Rome holds not this Rule but as a partiall and imperfect Rule And therefore denying this Rule of Faith she ceaseth to be a pure Church of Christ And which is the more this the Church of Rome doth ex professo solemni Decreto professedly and by solemne Decrees ratified as irrefragable and that under Anathema to be received of all And this is farre more then to doe it by Practise onely And yet in Practise to destroy and overthrow but onely some speciall Doctrines of Scripture though otherwise the Scripture be professed and confessed in this or that particular Church to be the intire and onely Rule of Faith is de facto to disclaime the whole Scripture and to unmake it the perfect Rule of Faith and so thereby such a Church possessing such and such Errors as are Fundamentall that is against the Foundation is fallen from Christ as hath been formerly proved Now if but any one part of Scripture in this or that Doctrine of Christ be overthrown so as therein it is not made the Rule of Faith and this overthrowing such Doctrines being once professed and maintained generally in any one particular Church makes that Church to cease to be a true Church of Christ as not holding the Scripture intirely but professedly overthrowing it in such and such particulars then how much more the Church of Rome professing and maintaining gumne kephale with a whores forehead that the holy Scripture is not the onely Rule of Faith intire and perfect but partiall and imperfect as your Lordship confesseth doth thereby proclaime her selfe to all the world to be fallen away absolutely from Christ and so ceaseth to be a true Church of God And denying the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith she denyeth the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone and so is fallen quite from the Foundation Nor onely thus by Addition of another Rule doth the Church of Rome overthrow the onely Rule of Faith the Scriptures but also by denying the selfe Authority of them as also you doe and withall by tying the sense of Scripture to the interpretation of the Church as also you doe at least in difficult places and by holding and maintaining false Doctrines against the Scriptures which overthrow Christ and wherein they will not be regulated by the Scriptures as you also doe in your Altars and forbidding the Doctrines of Grace to be Preached and other things which if the Church of England hold with the Church of Rome and with you you and both your Churches are fallen absolutely from Christ and so cease to be true Churches of God As also your very Hierarchy makes you to be no true Church of Christ were there nothing else as before is sufficiently proved And if you desire any further proofe that the Church of Rome is no true Church of Christ I still referre you to the forementioned Book Babel no Bethel And though you supprest the Book yet ten to one but one of your Hounds will hunt it out for you Next for the Sacraments which is your second Reason you say The Church of Rome holds both the Sacraments as instrumentall Causes and Seales of Grace though they adde more and misuse these Ergo she cannot but be a true Church in Essence For Answere First she holds them not absolutely to be Sacraments but dependently upon the Priests intention which you mention elsewhere And so hath the Councel of Trent defined of the Sacraments so Vega so Bellarmine Secondly if she be sure the Priests intention be not wanting or going a wool-gathering in his Consesecration then she makes the Sacraments to be not Instrumentall Causes of Graces but aitia kúria Principall and efficient working causes of Grace ex opere operato as they barbarously speake by the immediate vertue of the worke wrought So the Councel of Trent also So as they shut out the Holy Ghost from this worke as the Principall Efficient worker and sealer of Grace Thirdly For Baptisme which you make to be an Infallible Marke of that Church to be Christian besides their infinite corruptions of the Element of water which the Apostle calleth pure water with their spittle salt creame exorcismes or conjurations of the Devils insultations and the like they hang the very beeing not onely the vertue of this Sacrament upon the Priests intention which intention of the Priest is so uncertaine as Vega one of the prime Sticklers in the Councel of Trent as aforesaid in his Booke upon the Councel of Trent especially the sixt Session where he treateth of certainty of Faith in Iustification Confesseth that there can be no certainty of Salvation to a man because he cannot be certain whether he hath true Baptisme or no and that in regard of the Priests intention whereof he cannot be certaine So as by this their own Doctrine no one Papist can be sure that he is a Christian and so consequently neither can all the members of that Church severally nor conjunctly the whole Body it selfe be sure whether they or it be Christian or no and so the Church of Rome upon this very ground cannot resolve certainly whether she be a Church of Christ or no unlesse your Testimony will help her out at a dead lift And that not onely in regard of the Priests intention in the Sacrament of Baptisme but also in their Additionall Sacrament of Orders one of these more which they have added to the two So as for default of the Popes intention in ordering of Prelates or of the Prelates invention in ordering one another and in ordering of Priests and of Priests intention in Consecrating their Sacrament of Baptisme as themselves Vega and others do argue the case they are all put to the stagger whether they have in that Church either Priesthood or Sacraments For all hangs upon that weake pin or haire of the Priests intention So as another of their Primipili a Standard-bearer of the Dominicans in the same Councell Dominicus Soto forementioned in his Book de natura gratia saith that Deus in potestate Sacerdotis posuit Populi salutem GOD hath put the peoples Salvation in the Priests power Now all this considered and withall the time when this was made a Decree in the Councel of Trent a matter of 100 yeares agoe and when it was but new and the Pope and Prelates and Priests could not perhaps of a good while learne their lesson perfectly and so get a habit of it but that in all their Consecration of Prelates and Priests still intention was to seek and where it breakes off as in the Pope and Prelates in their Consecration of Orders there followes a meere nullity in succession of the whole Generation of Priests downwards and so through that whole body no Priesthood now no Sacraments
then to Iudas the Standard-bearer of that troope that came to apprehend Christ for Iudas came to Christ with Hale Master and kissed him and with this kisse as by the signall given betrayed him And is not your Ordine primus by this very Character known to be Antichrist while pretending to be Apostolick and a Successor of the Apostles he doth the more easily betray Christ in his Word and Members into the hands and bands of men Object But Peter was Ordine primus What such as to avoyd confusion As a head uniting all the members and governing all the body as your Ordine primus to avoyd confusion necessarily imports Did Peter at any time convent the Apostles Was he that Ordine primus that struck the stroke and gave the Difinitive sentences in that first Generall and Apostolicall Councel Act. 15. Did not Iames determine and the whole Church assented And Gal. 2.9 Is not Iames set before Peter And was not Peter and Iohn sent by the rest of the Apostles to Samaria When was this necessity then of an Ordine primus to avoyd confusion And what confusion is avoyded this day in the Church of England by your being Ordine primus nay prim-as both in honour and Authority and Iurisdiction Have you not by that your Ordine primus brought a confusion upon Religion Upon the Doctrinall Articles Upon the Consciences and Faith of men not knowing what to beleeve or what to doe or how to live in any peace inward or outward But you thinke to shift well enough for one so long as you put an other Ordine primus before as before is noted upon whose back you may lay all your burthens So as if any thing be amisse or succeed not well you are not then the Ordine primus Lastly one thing I observe more from your Ordine primus and that is the necessity of it which say you some one must be What one soever this is whether the Patriarch of the greater world or he of the lesser or other World but Rome rather must be she there 's a necessity for this that one be Ordine primus What 's this By the necessity of this Ordine primus is brought in a necessity of your new Catholicke Militant Church consisting of the Prelacy or Hierarchy which is so one as one must be Ordine primus as generall of the whole Army as the Dragon and his Angels to warre against Michael and his Angels So as here is an indissoluble and inseparable combination and confederacy of Prelates throughout the world making up that one Militant or Malignant Church whereof one must 〈◊〉 the chiefe to order the battel that there be no disorder but that every one keep his ranke and fight in his station against the true Militant Church of Christ as was before noted L. p. 182. Let Rome reduce it selfe to the observation of Tradition Apostolicke to which it held in Irenaeus his time and I will say as he did That it will be then necessary for every Church and for the faithfull every where to agree with it P. Let Rome reduce it selfe to the rule of the Scripture in all things which the faithfull there held in Pauls time when he was prisoner yet Preacher in Rome and then I will say and wil be the first that will doe it I wil be one of the faithfull that will agree with it But for Tradition Apostolicke I know not what you meane and therfore I dare not say as you doe But still you hold with Ordine primus I am sure of it You hold fast together for your Hierarchy wherein you place the Pope your Ordine primus Which while you doe Whatsoever Tradition Apostolicke Rome shall reduce it selfe to it wil be most perillous and pernicious too for any of the faithfull to agree with it And I am sure the Hierarchy and our Ordine primus in that was no Tradition Apostolicke So for that ther 's no talke of reducing either for Romes or Canterbury And could you perswade the world to agree with with the Ordine primus at Rome then that speech of yours pag. 182. would easily take place in these our times as well as Irenaeus his time Very great reason was there in Irenaeus his time that upon any difference arising in the Faith Omnes undique fideles all the faithfull or if you will all the Churches round about should have recourse that is resort to Rome being the Imperiall City and so a Church of more powerfull Principality then any other at that time in those parts of the world But the meaning of A.C. is we must so have recourse to Rome as to submit our faith to hers And should I grant them their own sense that all the faithfull every where must agree with Rome which I may give but can never grant yet were not this saying any whit prejudiciall to us now For first here 's a powerfull Principality ascribed to the Church of Rome so you Here are many words conningly woven and packt up together that to discover your full meaning you had need to unâ—old your whole pack Now all round about Rome is a large compasse for the whole world lyes round about Rome it being also at least there the Imperiall City and so a Church of more powerfull Principality then any other which might therfore challenge resort of all unto it as to the onely Oracle for resolving all your faithfull every where in doubts of Faith Yea and if you should grant too that all must submit their faith to Rome you say it were no whit prejudiciall to us now And should you not grant it how should it agree with your necessity of having one Ordine primus For to what purpose should there be one Ordine primus to avoyd confusion iâ— to his Call Summons and Judgement all your faithfull resorting they should not rest this their faith in his Determination Otherwise how should Confusion be avoyded For then to what one Ordine primus should they goe But do you yeeld it or no You say you may give it but can never grant it I pray you whether shall your affirmative giving or your negative granting be of more force Or if you give it how do you not grant it too Yea giving is more then granting If therfore you give it you doe more then grant it But suppose you restrain it onely to Irenaeus his time Had Rome then an Infallible Oracle in the Popes brest Or was his Iudgement the more infallible because his Chaire was in the Imperiall City Or his sentence of the more credit because his Church had the more powerfull Principality Then why in all doubtfull cases of Faith should not all the faithfull in England resort to the Chaire of Canterbury as which hath the most powerfull Principality of all the Prelates in England Why should not the thresholds of your Palace be as much worne with the footsteps of those that come to your Oracle for resolution
after the Pleasures after the Ease and after the goodly Palaces and Demeanes of your Bishoprickâ— in all which you cannot shew kâ—lòn ' érgon a worthy worke And so indeed these words of the Apostle and elswhere concerning a Bishop do nothing concerne you but onely to convince you that you are none of those Bishops whom the Scripture so styleth Well what be those speciall qualities which the Apostle requireth in a true Bishop set over the Congregation of the Lord It shall suffice to mention for the present purpose but some of them As first He must be Anégkletos unreprovable such as cannot be justly accused of any crime Now none of you come thus cleane to your Bishopricks for you are or may be justly accused of having been Pluralists which is against your Old Canons Non-Residents Idle Dreanes seldome Preaching in their own Cures but by a poore Stipendary Curate flattering Court-Preachers and the like Nay who is capable or heire apparent of a Bishopricke or Prelacie that hath not two or three â—at livings with a Prebend or two and a Deanery that being thus qualified having his Purse well lyned I say not that he may purchase his Bishopricke he may be able at least at his In-coming to defray five or six hundred Pounds or a thousand Markes for Fees and Feasts and Gloves at his Consecration Well secondly He must not be Authádas selfe-willed so our last Translation renders the word And beleeve me this may come neere the proudest of your Coats when you come with your Volumus Iubemus We will and command and that without either Law or Canon And you must have your will ther 's no remedy for that else ye will take the pet or pepper in the nose and cry out of contempt of Authority And the word signifieth also one that is arrogant and proud a selfe-pleaser You may take all these senses if you will Thirdly He must not be Plékges a strikâ—r whether with his own or others hands as delivering over to the secular Power or Sword whereby he so strikes as he sheds the blood of the Innocents He must be none of that society Fourthly he must not be OrgÃlos soon Angry testy or touchy such as Naâ—al that one might not speake to him he was so snappish and curst Fiftly he must not be Aiskrokerdès given to filthy lucre as in exacting Fees he or his Officers of poore Ministers either extraordinary at their Admissions or ordinary at Visitations and a thousand wayes besides Viis modis sine modo in your Bishops Courts Sixtly He must be Philágados a lover of good men not a hater and persecuter of them Seventhly he must be DÃkaies just not oppressing Innocents by a faction and confederacy of voyces forepacked in your Courts before the Cause come to be heard Eightly He must be Osios holy not one that is an enemy to all true holinesse and persecutes the very name of it and suppresse the practise and meanes of it as by crying down the sanctification of the Lords day and the sincere Preaching of the word of God and commending and dispensing with profane sports on that day Ninthly He must be Didáktikos apt to teach not onely sufficient and able for his Scholarship or one that can make a Sermon if he will but he must be diligent in preaching in season and out of season He must hold fast the faithfull Word that he may be able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and to convince the Gainsayers So farre must he be from abbetting and countenancing false Teachers and unsound Doctrine and old damned Heresies and forbidding to preach sound Doctrine and punishing those that doe I might reckon up sundry more qualities which Christ requireth in those whom onely he allowes and appoints as fittest to govern and feed his People as becomâ—th good Pastors to doe their flocks as 1 Tim. 3. and Tit. 1. and elsewhere But because Lord Prelates or Diocesan Bishops as I said before are none of those Bishops here which the Apostle requires to be thus qualified therfore I have said enough to convince you that you are none of Christs Bishops if you do but look your selves in this Glasse And if you mark it well these are those that immediately succeded the Apostles and Euangelists in the Ministeriall function As we read Eph. 4.11 where the Pastors and Teachers are those who are elswhere called Presbyters and Bishops such as Paul and Barnabas did Keirotonesi elect ordaine or appoint by imposition of hands Kat ' e'kklesÃan in every Church or particular Congregation A place very remarkable And these Presbyters Bishops Pastors Teachers Preachers Ministers for all is one and the same Office as they succeded the Apostles but with a particular limitation every one to their peculiar charges and Congregations respectively so while the Apostles lived they were still next unto them as we see Act. 15.2.4.6.22 23. And these are those Elders that rule well which especially doe Kopian labour hard in the Ministry of the Word and Doctrine These are those Aristoi those Optimates the best men by whose Aristocraticall Government according both to the thought we may boldly and truly say and to the expresse word of Christ the severall Churches and particular Congregations and flocks of Christ are governed and that not by any their own devised Canons but by the onely Canon of Scripture wherein are expressed all those Laws and Rules by which all true Ministers of Christ doe regulate themselves and govern their severall Congregations For although Christs faithfull and true Ministers are the best men and therfore are but few in comparison and who is fit or sufficient for these things saith the Apostle yet Christ left them not to governe his Churches or flocks as they should thinke best but according to his own Laws as Deputies are to govern the people according to the Kings Laws and no otherwise For such is the Government of Aristocratie it is established upon good Laws of the Common-weale otherwise it should degenerate into the corrupt and bad Government of Oligarchia So as here is no roome for your Diocesan Lord Bishops for you are none of those Aristoi Optimates the best mâ—n whom Christ thought fit for the Aristocraticall Government of his Church sith ye are neither qualified for it as he requires in his true Bishops nor will you confine your Prelaticall Government to the Laws of Christ expressed in his word but will govern by your own Canons and lusts as usurpers use to doe And therfore by the way no mervaile if you speake so contemptibly and basely of the holy Scripture seeing in them you can find no ground either of Precept or Apostolick Precedent for your Antichristian Hierarchy All which considered doth in the second place give us just cause to doubt at least or rather to be well assured indeed that Diocesan Prelates or Bishops as you usurpe the Title are no Vice-Roys under the Great King Iesus Christ because your
to defend their ancient and accustomed Liberty Regiment and Laws they may not well be countod Rebells So he But this by the way But I have somthing more to say about the shaking of the Foundations of Faith and Good Manners though I mentioned it before but now upon this occasion And that is concerning Ceremonies of humane ordinance in Gods worship which being imposed upon mens Consciences is not onely a shaking of the Founâ—ation of Faith but an overthrowing of it for thereby Christ is denyed to be the onely King of his Church And therfore as the Kings of Israel did nothing in reforming of Religion and the worship of God but what was expresly commanded and prescribed in Gods Law so Christian Kings and Magistrates ought not to doe any thing no not to impose any one humane Ceremony or Ordinance in Gods service besides that which is written in Gods word otherwise the Foundations of Faith is overthrown Of such moment is the least Ceremony in Gods service that it is of the substance and Foundation of Faith L. p. 210. But 't is time to return For A.C. in this Passage hath been very carefull to tell us of a Parliament and of living Magistrates and Iudges besides the Law books Thirdly therfore The Church of England God be thanked shines happily under a Gratious Prince and well understands that a Parliament cannot be called at All times and that there are visible Iudges besides the Law-books and one supreme long may he be and be hapâ—y to settle all Temporall Differences which certainly he might much better perform if his Kingdome were well ridde of A. C. and his Fellows And she beleeves too that our Saviour Christ hath left in his Church besides his Law-books the Scripture Visible Magistrates and Iudges that is Arch-bishops and Bishops under a Gratious King to governe both for Truth and Peace according to the Scripture and her own Canons and Constitutions as also those of the Catholicke Church which Crosse not the Scripture and the Iust Laws of the Realme But she doth not beleeve there is any Necessity to have one Pope or Bishop over the whole Christian world more then to have one Emperour over the whole world P. It were time indeed for you to return from your Course when once there is mention of a Parliament For thriving If you mean that your Church of England hath of late dayes well thriven in her prevailing for the seting up of Images and Altars for bringing in more Superstitions into your Service for puting down sincerity Purity and power of the true Religion and of the Preaching of Gods word for suppressing the Doctrines of Grace forementioned for hampering the Puritans as you call them by puting down suspending and silencing of Godly and painfull Preachers and by crying down both the Doctrine and Practise of the sanctification of the Sabbath or Lords day and by smothering in the birth all sound and Orthodox Books against Popery and other Heresies not suffering them to be Printed and by licencing of Popish Books to be Printed and Publâ—shed and the like and if this be the way of the well thriving of your Church whomsover you have cause to thanke yet surely you have small cause to thanke God whose Name herein you doe abuse and blaspheme as perhaps your own Conscience may tell you as if he favoured such practises of yours because for a time he patiently suffers and winks at them and that in judgement to a sinfull Land and for tryall of his own servants and people and for a preparative to your certaine ruine if speedy repentance prevent it not For God is not mocked with such thanks though he be mocked but whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reape How then doth it concerne all Christian Magistrates to look to it least if they suffer Christs Kingdome to be betrayed into the hands of Antichristian Usurpers by giving way unto them to doe what they list while themselvs seem to sleep they provoke God too much For as Samuel sayd to the People If ye doe wickedly you shall perish both you and your King For my part though I will not joyne in Prayer with such a Profane Hypocrite as you are and an enemy of Iesus Christ and his Truth no more then the Apostle Iohn would be in the same Bath with that Heretick Cerinthus yet my dayly Prayer is and shall be that God would more and more let the King see how miserably he is abused and the Peace and safety of his Kingdome distracted and indangered both by the late violent practises which have been held in Church-affaires and now by the publishing of such a Book as this so notoriously perillous or rather most pernicious and so much the more in these times of troubles about Religion lately sprung up in the Iland of Great Britaine Which Book though it make many faire pretences for Peace yea Peace and Truth yet in truth it will prove the greatest troubler of Israel and the falsest friend to true Truth that the light hath seen these many yeares This I speake not by conjecture much lesse out of malice to the Authors Person but from the cleare evidence of the word of Prophecy in Scripture in such cases But how comes your Church of England to be so well seen in State-Mysteries I pray you as so well to understand that a Parliament cannot be called at all times Or by the Church of England doe you not meane the the Chaire of Catnterbury as the Church Collective or representative of England For you should better understand such State-matters especially for the not calling of Parliaments at all times or suppose it were at Notime or Nevermas least perhaps it might prove as a Frost to nippe your thriving and overforward spring then your Lordship For my part I am no States-man and so I leave State matters to States-men who should best understand them But if your A.C. and his Fellows be such troublesome fellows why doe you trouble your selves with them when a good honest Parliament might ease the King and Kingdome â—oo of that trouble provided that good Laws already enacted and by the next Parliament if ever there shal be any quickned by a new Law to put them in better execution there may be also a good season to bring forth such Visible Iudges as without straining the strings either of their Purses or Consciences coming clearly to their Benches and not making them as Banks but siting Rectè in Curia they may without feare of any Prepotent Prelate or Partiality in respect of Persons do Justice I passe now from the understanding of your Church of England to her Beliefe which you also tell us of She beleeves too What doth she beleeve That our Saviour Christ hath left in his Church besides his Law-books the Scriptures visible Magistrates and Iudges that is Arch-bishops and Bishops How Is this come already to be an Article of the Faith of the Church of
what one wise and honest man did in preventing so wicked a Decree of a whole Generall Councell of many Prelates And assure your selfe were there but a few sound Puritans admitted to your Generall Councel and might have free liberty to speake you would not be able to resist the evidence of Truth which they should bring in as Arelatensis told the Prelates in the Councel of Basil concerning the poore inferiour Priests But if you shall exclude the Puritans and so all Reformed Non Prelaticall Churches out of your Prelaticall Councel Generall how should it be a Generall Councel But I cry you mercy Puritan Reformed Churches are already by you doomed for no members of your Catholicke Church whereof and wherein yours and Romes Church are one and the same and therfore as Heathen they ought to be shut out for Wranglers as they were from the Councel of Trent Another Reason against a Generall Councel being Iudge in Controversies is because all sound and Orthodox Divines both Ancient and Moderne both Forraigne and Domesticke in the Church of England formerly with all the Orthodox Fathers in this point have held professed and beleeved That the holy Scripture is the sole sufficient Iudge in all Controversies of Faith And for proofe hereof What say you to Dr Whitakers Lectures against Bellarmine and Stapleton in this Point Or how do or can you answere any of his Arguments drawn from cleare Scriptures and Testimonies from the Ancient Fathers But it seems you have not been acquainted with him as not once mentioning him in all this For that were besides your Purpose But you will except against him as a Puritan which is a sufficient confutation with one puffe of your mouth And so you doe all honest sound learned Religious Orthodox Divines whatsoever whom particularly to alledge here would but make your stomacke rise and so I passe on to the rest Secondly and Thirdly and againe and againe I deny that the Decrees of Generall Councels bind any true Christians Faith and Conscience so much as to outward obedience to any one Ceremony as before Yea though your Councel Decree according to the Scripture yet jure proprio and absolutely of its own Authority it binds not the Conscience That 's proper and peculiar to the Scripture alone immediatly the onely binding Rule of Faith and Conscience How much lesse doth a Councel bind in a matter of error in a point of Faith This is such an abominable point of Divinity as never any Arch-Prelate of Canterbury since the Reformation and I presume before ever uttered Divinity say I yea Divinity Diabolicall and monstrous Impiety and Antichristian Tyranny to be hissed out by all that beare but the bare name of Christians And this Answereth also to the Fourth which is as full of ridiculous absurdity as of impious folly You hope forsooth that a Councels errors will not be so great as all men shall discerne them That may well be when many thousands take no notice at all of any such Councel Decrees And how many men have not the eyes to discern even the grossest errors How many in the Church of England doe discerne the grossenes and danger of your seting up of your Altars in all the Churches of England as namely that it is a denying of Christ the onely Altar And the bringing in of the Popish Priesthood and sacrifice But what if you could in a Provinciall Councel of Canterbury make a Decree for seting up and worshiping of Altars as you doe and that all men did see the grossnes of it Would the sight of it exempt them from at least externall obedience being once defined in that your Synod And so of a Generall Councel for universall obedience No the knowledge of the grossnes of the error will not serve their turnes to excuse them from obedience For you tell us We must notwithstanding yeild obedience If so surely it were the safest way then for men to close their eyes that they may not see at all and so yeeld blind obedience to your Decrees pinning their soules as I said to the Prelates Innocent white sleeve to be led blindfold to hell then seeing and knowing to sin against their Conscience in yeelding obedience But how ever seeing or not seeing hang or be damned the Decree of a Generall Councel even in point of error in the Truth yea though men know it to be against Gods word must be universally obeyed till evidence of Scripture or a Demonstration to the contrary made the error appeare and untill thereupon another Generall Councel equall to that did reverse it Which may be long enough before all these things concurre What Must the Decree of the seventh Generall Councel the second of Nice for the worship of Images bind all men to Obedience till another Generall Councell equall to that upon Demonstration to the contrary shall reverse it Or must the Decree of the Councel of Lateran under Pope Innocent 3. for Transubstantiation be beleeved and obeyed by all men at least in externall obedience to worship the Altar and Hoast till another Councell equall unto that shall reverse it Or must the Decree of the Generall Councel of Constance for the taking away of the Cup in the Sacrament from the People bind all to obedience till another Councel equall unto that shall reverse it Or lastly shall the Decrees of the Councel of Trent which calls it selfe a Generall Councel ratifying the worship of Images Transubstantiation and the taking away of the Cup wiâ—ing the Peoples nose of it besides all those other damnable and damning errors against the cleare Truth and Faith of Christ bind all to obedience till another Councell equall to that shall reverse it Then certainly all Papists by your sentence are bound to be damned Nay are not you and your Church of England bound to obey all those Decrees of Former Generall Councels as that of the second of Nice for worship of Images not yet reversed by a Generall Councel equall to that though by a Councel at Frankford called by Carolus Magnus Emperour of the West that wicked Decree was condemned But the Decrees of this Councel are smothered and kept in hugger mugger as being outfaced by such a prevailing generallity of unblishing Images and so have lost their place among the Records of the Councels And besides that Councel at Frankford was not for generallty equall to that of Nice under that wicked Empresse Irene Which being so and so that Decree of Nice not yet reversed why say I doe not you obserue your own Rule in obeying that Decree in worshiping of Images Or why at least though you here write somthing against them to some small purpose as coming neare to Idolatry doe you not yeeld externall obedience in doing corporall Reverence to those Images you have set up onely reserving your internall worship and keeping your Faith to your selfe But to satisfie us for that you have over or upon your Altar in your own Chappel at Lambeth
to the Testimony if they speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Art thou not Christs Spouse Then heare Christs voyce the Scripture Say with the Spouse in the Canticles Tell me O thou whom my soule loveth where thou feedest where thou causest thy flocks to rest at noone For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions To whom Christ her beloved Spouse answereth If thou know not O thou fairest among women goe thy way to the footsteps of the Flocke and feed thy Kiddes besides the shepheards Tents Here the true Church Christs Spouse in her perplexities and doubts wherein she is like to loose her selfe goes to Christ to her shepheard and asks of him where he feedeth where he causeth his Flocks to rest at Noon where his Congregations may find a shady layre rest and refreshing from the meridian heat of Persecutions or her Faith find rest in doubtfull cases of Faith or Conscience For why saies she should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions Why should I be uncertain and unsettled in depending upon the guidanâ—â— and conduct of false shepheards such as pretend to be as thy fellow-shepheards that sit as God in the Temple of God shewing themselves to be God equall to thee in power and Regall Authority over thy Kingdome and Church making what Laws they please in binding our Consciences and that even to their erronious Decrees To whom Christ Answereth If thou know not O thou fairest among women although despised by men goe thy way forth by the footsteps of the Flocke to the green Pastures and the waters of comfort the Scriptures where my flocke doth ordinarily find pasture For man liveth not by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God there thou shalt find the true Pasture by the footsteps of the flocke by the continuall treading of my sheep which know no other pasture but this For here my sheep heare my voyce even here by the shepheards Tents my Ministers whom I have set over the flocks to feed them with understanding and knowledge Here be those waters for every one that thirsteth here is the milke and wine that 's to be had without money Hearken diligently unto me incline thine Eare and come unto me and thy soule shall live search the Scriptures for in them is eternall life and they are they that testifie of me These are the onely light which I have left to be a lampe for thy feet and a light for thy steps These are the onely Oracles of God which shall clearly resolve thee in all thy perplexed doubts These are my onely faithfull witnesses which I have left to witnesse the truth and to establish thy heart in the faith in me if any man teach otherwise and consenteth not to the wholsome words of Scripture which are mine own lâ—vely voyce and which containe all things pertaining to faith and godlinesse he is puft up and knoweth nothing he is a false Prophet a false shepheard a blind Guide a seducer an Antichrist Thus Christ speaketh to his Spouse in the Scripture his owne voyce the onely true living and infallible Iudge And to this Judge Christs voyce in the Scripture the true Spouse of Christ in all Ages hath still resorted and therein been resolved in her doubts and comforted in her distresse For here is that wisdome which is justified of all her Children And whatsoever is therein written is written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Nothing can comfort us in our calamities nothing can confirm and establish our faith and hope in all our perplexed doubtings but this Before we shewed how all the Fathers with one voyce took this sanctuary came to this Iudge made this the onely Rule to determine all doubts and disputes by so Augustine so Tertullian so the incertain Author upon Mat. 24. in Chrysostome saith that in the times of Antichrist even in these our Times one cannot know the true Church but by the Scripture because Antichrist with his wicked Clergy make such a faire shew and pretence that they are the Catholicke Church just as your Lordship doth Therfore let all true Christians in these perillous times of Antichrist and Antichristian Prelates which cry down the Scriptures as an insufficient Iudge in Controversies of faith and cry up their own usurped Authority as the supreme Iudge of the Scripture at least in all doubtfull cases though they confesse their Judgement not to be of Infallible Credit fly to the Mountaines and to the Fountaines the Scriptures the lively voyce of Christ they they onely will resolve us and settle our faith in all doubts and difficulties and will discover unto us the true Church of Christ from all false pretended counterfeit Antichristian Prelaticall Hierarchicall Churches and Synagogues Now seeing though you arrogate but are not able to prove that Christ hath left your Catholicke Church an Infallible certainty which yet you confesse to be uncertaine give us leave though we touched this before now againe upon a fresh occasion to vindicate the Truth of Christ that he not onely intended but indeed hath left unto his true Church an infallible certainty of his Spirit which by the rule of his word doth guide his Elect into all truth in all ages successively unto the end of the world When he took his long Farewell of his Apostles and Disciples as concerning his bodily presence with them upon earth he left them this Promise yet to comfort them concerning his perpetuall spirituall presence with them saying Lo I am with you alwayes unto the end of the world To the end of the world Ergo with all those that are his true Disciples unto the end of the world So as wheresoever Christs Churches and Congregations be there his Spirt is This Spirit leads his into all Truth into all necessary and saving Truth infallibly and most certainly This is that Anoynting of which before He that hath not this Spirit of Christ this Spirit of truth is none of his And he that hath it is preserved from the seducements of false Prophets which come in Christs Name and shall deceive many but not the Elect for that 's not possible Every true beleever cannot will not willingly erre in any point of faith and truth necessary to Salvation I say not wittingly For many of Gods deare Children doe that ignorantly whereby Christ is denyed as in yeelding obedience to mans devices in Gods worship and that through custome wheras if they were rowsed and put to it and asked if they beleeved not that Christ is the onely King of his Church and Lord over the Conscience oh they beleeve and acknowledge none other King Aske them againe whether they beleeve that any man may exercise this Authority over them oh
whatsoever faith is requisite and necessary to salvation as the beliefe of Scripture to be the word of God as is shewed before And this saving faith is the faith of all them that are heires of salvation to wit of all Gods Elect and all the Saints But it seems with Father Bellarmine you have an Implicit faith for your ignorants and an Explicit for you that are great Clerks or the letter of the Creed for those and the sense for these But I handled this also before Onely you propound a Paradox which is no worke for your pen wherein you are the wiser not to take upon you to read or expound such riddles had you been so wise as not to have propounded â— And yet it is the worke of every good Minister of Chrâ—â—t to teach the people what to beleeve and to exhort them to grow in Grace and knowledge and Faith and so declare unto them the whole Counâ—el of God and to keep nothing backe and to build men up in knowledge more and more unto perfection As the Preacher saith Because the Preacher was wise he still taught the people knowledge yea he gave good heed and sought out and set in Order many Proverbs The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of truth The words of the wise are aâ— Goads and Nayles fastened by the Masters of Assemblies which are given from one shepheard But this is not a patterne for you to follow neither by your tongue nor pen. You have other imployment for them But though we cannot set a bound to faith in respect of perfection of degrees yet we ought to teach the people all the parts of saving faith and knowledge striving unto perfection And besides it is the duty of every good Minister of Christ to limit and set bounds to all the negatives of faith in discovering all manner of sins and errours which are all contrary and enemies to faith and salvation For which end they must open all the ten Commandements as Christ did Mat. 5. and all other points of saving Doctrine in the Scriptures Now though you have not the skill or will to set bounds how farre men shall beleeve yet you want no will nor power to inhibit and restraine Preachers shewing them how little a way they must goe in teaching the people and so consequently how little a way the people must goe in beleeving and saving knowledge as in restraining and forbidding to preach the Doctrines of Grace as before forbidding Lectures and especially all Sermonâ— on the Lords day afternoon forbidding long Preaching at any time forbidding expounding of the Catethisme as many of your Prelates doe and the like Thus you can finely set men bounds how little thy shall beleeve or know of God to their salvation That 's a worke if not for your pen or hand yet for your head and not unlikely of your hand and pen too L. p. 327. The Romanists dare not beleeve but as the Roman Church beleeves And the Roman Church at this day doth not beleeve the Scripture and the Creeds in the sense in the which the ancient Primitive Church received them P Dare they not How then say you there is possibility of salvation in the Roman Church for any when it condemneth and accurseth saving faith and justification thereby with other saving truths For if the Papists dare not beleeve but as their Church beleeves then they are bound to good behaviour they dare not beleeve to their salvation And if they dare not beleeve to their salvation then they cannot be saved And if they cannot be saved what possibility of salvation for them living and dying in that faith And here Why do you noâ— say in the sense of the Scriptures themselves and not of the Primitive Church But you doe not like the Scripture sense except the Church interpret it You allow not Scriptures to speake for or testifie for themselves You are the same man still And as we sayd before you doe wisely in that to stoppe the mouth of Scripture as Ahab did Michaiahs for it never speaks good of you but evil alwayes L. p. 232. I will acknowledge every fundamentall point of faith as proveable out of the Canon as we account it as if the Apochryphall were added unto it P. As if Apocryphalls were any divine proofe at all of the fundamentall points of faith in Scripture or ought any way in that respect to be so much as named with the Scripture Apocryphalls saith Ierome may be read for instruction of manners but not for confirmation of faith as before L. p. 336. I have lived and shall God-willing dye in that faith of Christ as it was professed in the ancient Primitive Church and as it is professed in the present Church of England P. As you handle the matter ther 's a vast difference between the faith of Christ professed in the ancient Primitive Church and that which is now professed in the present Church of England For the Ancient Primitive Church taken properly and strictly as somtime in your Booke as before you put it was that wherein the Apostles lived Now will ye be tryed by the Ancient Primitive Church of the Apostles held and professed What say you my Lord for your faith in this case Will you put your faith and Religion to the tryall of the most intire and upright Jâ—ry the Twelve Apostles Certainly if you decline this tryall 't is a shrewd suspicion that the faith of yours wherein you are so resolute to live and dye is not right Therfore for shame of the world you must at least professe or pretend that you wil be tryed by the the Faith and Religion which the Apostles and the true Church of God in their time as being the most Pure Prime Ancient Primitive Church held and professed First then That Primitive Church neither held nor professed nor practised any Hierarchicall government of Prelates or Bishops but have câ—ndemned it in their writings the Scriptures of the New Testament And yet I are say you resolve to live and dye Primate of Canterbury and Metropolitan of all England Secondly The Apostles and the ancient Primitive Church in their Age and time had no Altars but onely the Lord Iesus Christ Heb. 13.10 as it is formerly proved but you and your Church of England both set up and worship Altars and â—each the people both by your Books and practise to do so too and force Ministers to erect Altars or force them out of their Churches And this Faith and Religion also I dare say you resolve to live and dye in Thirdly The Apostles and the anciciâ—nt Primitiâ—e Church in their time celebrated and sanctified every Lords day in holy duties onely and in preaching as well in the afternoon as in the fâ—â—enoon never forbidding but still exhorting to preach in season and out of season giving no liberty to vaine and profane sports and Pastimes either upon
Ground 〈◊〉 false if applâ—â—â— to Sâ—ripture * Ioh. 8.13 14. ‡ Psal. 19. ‡ Ps. 119.93 § 2 Cor. 10. Heb. 4.12 “ Rom. 1. ‘,‘ 2 Cor. 2.15 * Luk. 11.52 ‡ Mat. 12.44.46 * 1 Cor. 13. ‡ 1 Cor. 12.7 ‡ 2 Cor. 10.8 13.10 The Prelate self-condemned * The Prelate belâ—s the Scripture to credit his false Tradition Scripture little beholden to the Prelate for his Tradition ‡ The Prelate catcht in his own Delemna or net A Solecisme of the Prelates A. Gelius Noct. Atâ—icarum * 1 Pet. 4.11 ‡ Tâ—t 2 1. ‡ v. 8. § Hâ—potâ—posin T it 1.13 * 2 Thes. 3.1 ‡ Ezek. 47.12 ‡ A French Proverbe § 2 Tim. 2.9 2 Tim. 2.9 The Prelates 3 marks of his imagined Author of Ipswich Newes * Heb. 11.36 ‡ Mar. 10.34 Mat. 27.31 Prelates words and deeds agreâ— nâ—t * Hos. 4.6 Prelate a notorious persecutâ—r of the true preaching of Gods word Rom. 1.16 1 Cor. 1.24 The Prelates Diabolicall malice against the true Ministers of Christ. * Iude. Ier. 15.19 Esay 5.20 * The manner of the old Triarian Souldiers fighting ‡ Rev. 16.14 * Psal. 59.12 * pag. 101 * Esay 12.3 2 Pet. 3. * Psal. 25.14 Epistle Dedicâ—tory ‡ Mr. H. Bâ— Hierom. Epist ad Laetom A true Principle overthrown by a false * Pro. 22.7 Tit. 3.10.11 â— Cor. 5.13 14. Act. 21.13 Ioâ— 10.20 Mar. 3.21 * Belying of God and of the Scripture and bewraying profound ignorance ‡ Col. 2.3 †2 Cor. 4.3 ◠§ 1 Cor. 2.9 †1 Tim. 1.5 6.7 * Esay 29.9 * Bold belying and blaspheming Gods Secret Counsels * Ioh. 14.6 ‡ Ioh 1.4 ‡ Ephes. 5.8 § Ioh. 1.9 †Act. 26.18 Prelates blind Popish way Iohn 6.40 Ephes. 4.11 1 Pet. 4.3 Hos. 4.1 Ier. 3.15 * 2 Sam. 5.6 * Mat. 11.12 ‡ Mat. 21.31.32 Pag 109. Blaspheâ—â—â—g againe of Gods Counsells ‡ Gal. 1.8.9 § Deut. 27.18 Credit of Scripture hang'd upon mans opinion of God See 165. * 2 Tim. 3.16 ‡ 1 King 19.12 13. Mans opinion of Gods Suffiâ—iency 〈◊〉 â—ain and blind The Prelates blind opinion of Gods Sufficiencie * Hâ—b 4.12 ‡ 1 Ioh. 3.20 ‡ Rom. 2.15 * Pro. 20.27 § 1 Cor. 10 2â— Most notorious blâ—spheming against the Holy-Ghost making him the Author of falshood * Exod. 10. ‡ Iude 16. * Ioh. 3. ‡ Psal. Iob 35. Belying and blaspheming the Holy spirit of God * Notorious and grosse hypocrisie pretending respect to Scripture when never any Iesuite did more vilifie and nullifie the Authoritie and credit of it Detection of the Hipocrisy * 2 Cor. 10.8 ‡ 2 Pet. 3.16 Mat. 15.9 Sect. 18. ‡ A 〈…〉 or put off § Psal. 19.5 †Prov. 4.18 * Mal. 4.2 ‡ Pag. 90. * Gnômon ‡ 2 Pet. 1.19 The Prelate in a Circle * Mal. 4.2 ‡ Heb. 1.3 * The Prelate selfe condemned * Ephes. 1.2.5.6 ‡ Rom. 3.24 * Ephes. 1.6 * Blasphemous lye ‡ A subtile insinuation A shamefull lye * Pag. 80. ‡ pag. 83 84. ‡ pag. 77. § pag. 86. * pag 87. Blasphemous lye * 〈◊〉 Subtile Insinuation detected 〈◊〉 vanity Epistle Dedicatory * Gen. 11. Difference between Rome and the Prelate about Tradition Major Minor Conclusâ—â—â— * Sweet ‡ 1 Cor. 11.20 * Iugd. 6.32 ‡ 2 Chron. 3â— 16. ‡ Rom. â— * A Privy Nippe Act. 8.23 * 1 King 20. ‡ Isa. 29.21 * Ier. 13.23 ‡ Ier. 51.9 ‡ Act. 19.34 * 1 Cor. 11.20 ‡ 1 Cor. 10.21 * Tesparákonta hóras * Hoi prosou Presbuteros Fpempon EukaristÃan ‡ Eccl. Hist. l. 5. c. 26. Et Socr. lib. 5. Eccl. Hist. c. 22. ‡ Rom. 14.5 * A most 〈◊〉 conclusiâ—n of an erronious faiâ—h ‡ Rev. 13.12 ‡ Mat. 24.24 * 2 Thes 2 1â—.11 ‡ 1 Cor. 15.14 § Gal. 5.2.4 Oâ— the Lords 〈◊〉 Day †Psal. 95. * Deut. 5.12.13.14.15 * Reve. 20.5 ‡ Heb. 4.9 ‡ vers 8. § Heb. 4.8.9 Pag. 141. * Rom. 11.16 ‡ 1 Cor. 3.17 A peremptory speech Plain dealing The tender-hearted Prelate 〈◊〉 to make the rent wider * 2 Chro. 11 15. ‡ 2 King 1â— * Amos 7.10 11 12 13. * Ier. 38. ‡ Rom. 9.6.17 * Ier. 51. ◠‡ Gal. 3.1 ‡ As De 〈…〉 * Rom. 8.28 * Epistle Dedicatory * Pag. 205. ‡ Epistle Dedicatory Englands halfe Reformation now made a whole Deformation * Ovid. Thus still noâ— the Scripture must be Iudge Pag. 176. * Epistle Dedicatory * Athanasius * Pag. 176. ‡ Hâ—w comes then Canterbury to have the 〈…〉 Yâ—â—ke raâ—â—â—r then 〈…〉 there Constantine was 〈◊〉 And the the old Propâ—eâ—â— is Yorkâ— shal be †Rom. 1.1 1 Cor. 1.1 2. Cor. 1.1 c. * Pag. 176. Psal. 45.16 Rev. 1.6 * 1 Pet. 2.9 Rev. 5.9 10. Iam. 2.5 Rom. 8.16 17 * Rom. 8.29 Heb. 2.11 ‡ Pro. 26.12 ‡ Iude. 16. § Gen. 9. †Psaâ— 66.12 * Fredericke ‡ Revel 17. Act. 15. Gal. 2. ◠‡ Act. 8.1 â— * pag. 182. * idid ‡ Selfe-condemned * Ier. 23.32 Blasphemy against Christ as being Author of the Antichristian Hierarchy * 1 Tim 6.15 ‡ Rom. 16.27 ‡ Ioh. 15.14 15. § Gen. 18.17 †Iam. 2.23 ‡̶ Psal. 25.14 * Dan. ‡ Rev. 1. ‡ Rev. 12.4 § 2 Thâ—ss 2. Cicer. Offic. * 2 Cor. ‡ 1 Tim. 3.1 c. * Act. 14.23 ‡ 2 Cor. 2.16 * Ioh. 16.14 ‡ Eph. 2.2 Metà 〈…〉 * Ioh. 10.10 12. ‡ Ier. 3.15 ‡ 1 Pet. 5.2 L' aeil de beuf § Esa. 27.3 †Mat. 18.20 * 1 Tim. 5.17 ‡ 1 Tim. 3. Tit. 1. Math. 20. * Luke 22.25 ‡ 1 Pâ—t 5 * Iude 1◠‡ Iude 19. Mat. 24. 7 1â— * Rev. 19.19 20. ‡ Rev. 18.7 ‡ Vt sedeat sedendo quiescat in Tabernaculis pacis c. As Rev. 18.7 Sedeo Regina § Rev. 17. * Phil. 3.19 ‡ Rev. 18.6 7 8 c. ‡ Pag. 205. § 2 Chro. 26.16 17 18. * 1 King 7 21· * pag. 205. â—â— * Cicero ‡ Wits Common-wealth ‡ Dr. White of the Sabbath Dr. Primrose Dr. Heylin Dr. Pocklinglon * Epist. Dedicatory ‡ Rev. 13.10 * Eccl. 4.1 ‡ S. Edmund Elect of Cant. ‡ Dr Bilson of Christian subjections and Antichristian Rebellion Part 3. pag. 52â— Printed 1585. * The Prelate here blasphemeth Gods Name as if a favourer of his Prelaticall practises ‡ A blasphemous 〈◊〉 â—f Faith Prelates Câ—nons equaled with Scripture for governing thâ— Church * Gal. 6.7 ‡ 1 Sam. 12.25 A blaspemous Article of faith Prelates â—â—sphemy * Mat. 11.17 ‡ Pag. 274. ‡ Iâ—h 19·7 A 〈…〉 if Prelates be Iudges A spirituall duty necessary to all Christian Magistrates * As Hesâ—us Pignius eâ— alis * See Aeneas Sylviâ—s of the Councel of Basâ—â— who was after Pope Pius 2. See also Book of Martyrs ‡ Mat. 24.28 ‡ Pro. 28.11 § Luk. 10.21 †Ephes. 2.12 * 1 Tim. 4.1 2.3 4. * Rom. 14.23 * Mat. 3.12 ‡ 2 Cor. 11.13 * Acts. 15.20.21 * Act.