authority ouer the sacred Scriptures whose authority is venerable as Augustine saith Omnia quae proferuntur à sanctis Scripturis plena veneratione suscipere debemus All things whatsoeuer are deliuered out of the holy Scriptures wee ought to entertaine with all reuerence As Tertullian saith Adoro Scripturaeplenitudinem I adore the fulnesse of the Scriptures But what need we further testimonies to vindicate this Catholick truth that the authority of holy Scriptures was euer aboue the Church yet we will only adde a testimony or two that in the mouth of two or three witnesses euery word may be established In St. Chrysostomes workes the vncertaine author but allowed of all euen of the Pontificians themselues vpon the 24. Chapter of St. Matthew vpon these words Then when yee shall see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place let them which are in Iudea flee to the mountaines saith thus that is When ye shall see wicked heresie which is the Army of Antichrist standing in the holy places of the Church then they which are in Iudea let them flye to the Mountaines that is they which are in Christianity let them betake themselues to the Scriptures For as a true Iew is a Christian as the Apostle saith Hee is not a Iew that is one outward but hee that is one inward So the true Iudea is Christianity whose name doth signifie Confession And the Mountaines are the Scriptures of the Apostles and Prophets as it is said of the Church her foundation is vpon the holy Mountaines And why at this time doth hee command all Christians to betake themselues to the Scriptures Because at this time since Heresie hath inuaded the Churches there can be no triall of true Christianity nor other refuge for Christians which desire to know the truth of faith but the holy Scriptures For formerly it was knowne many wayes which was the Church of Christ and which was Gentilisme but now those which would know which is the true Church of Christ cannot know it by any other meanes but by the Scriptures Why Because all those things which are proper to Christ in the truth the same also heresies haue in a figure or similitude they haue likewise Churches they haue likewise the Diuine Scriptures themselues likewise Bishops and other Orders of Clerkes likewise Baptisme likewise the Eucharist and all other things and in a word Christ himselfe Therefore if any would known which is the true Church of Christ how can he in the confusion of so great a similitude discerne it but only by the Scriptures And many other things to this purpose doth the same author there set downe sending vs to the Scriptures as the only touch-stone to try the true Church from the false counterfeit Antichristian Church If therefore the true Church of Christ be known onely by the Scriptures then surely the Scriptures depend not vpon the authority of the Church But that must needes bee the Antichristian Church that challengeth and vsurpeth an absolute power ouer the Scriptures which for their authority and sense must be beholden to the Church to wit the Church of Rome to wit the Pope And the same Authour in the 44. Homily vpon the 23. of Matthew faith Hereticall Priests does shut the gates of truth to wit the holy Scriptures for they know that if the truth should once bee made manifest then their Church is to be forsaken and themselues must come downe from their sacerdotall dignity to a popular basenesse and neither themselues doe enter into the truth of the Scriptures because of their auarice nor suffer others to enter by reason of ignorance But in a point so cleare and not once called into question among the Fathers of former ages but onely by a sort of Heretiques as the Arrians and Manichees and the like still the authority of the Scriptures was preferred aboue all till of late dayes the Church of Rome hauing called from the dead the old hereticall vsurpation hath cryed downe this authoritie of the Scriptures We shall not need to produce more authorities out of the Fathers to vindicate the Scriptures authority aboue the Church or any man whatsoeuer Let vs conclude the controuersie onely with one question The Church of Rome challengeth authoritie ouer the Scriptures I would faine know who gaue her this authoritie For whatsoeuer authority the Church of Rome hath if shee haue it not from the Scriptures of what worth is her authority And if she haue her authority from the Scriptures how comes shee to challenge authority ouer that from whom shee receiueth her authority vnlesse the Church of Rome deale with the Scriptures in the case of authorities as she hath dealt with the Emperours in the case of supremacy For the Bishop of Rome first receiued his supremacy ouer other Bishops from the Emperour hauing it confirmed by that vsurping Parricide Phocas This supremacy not long after grew to that height as that it ouer-topt the imperiall Soueraignety it selfe and so the Pope began to vsurpe authority ouer the Emperour of whom hee receiued his supreame authority Thus he dealeth with the Scriptures For the Pope cannot but confesse that what authority hee hath is grounded vpon the Scriptures else his authority is of no value yet notwithstanding the Pope is not ashamed to auouch that now the authority of the Scriptures doth wholly depend vpon him But if the Popes authority bee such as it hath no ground nor foundation in the Scriptures then he must proue it to bee some diuine Numen falling vnto him immediately from Heauen like the image that came downe from Iupiter so adored of those Ephesians whose Goddesse Diana was so famous Nor euer was that image nor that great Goddesse Diana more adored of the Ephesian world than this imaginary vnlimited transcendent power of the Pope ouer Scriptures and all adored of the Pontifician world But say some Angell from heauen brought him this power in a boxe Vnlesse this power haue vtterly taken away all power and Authoritie yea and truth from the Scriptures it cannot escape Pauls Anathema which Augustine applyeth and wherwith we will shut vp this point Siue de Christo c. Whether it be of Christ or of his Church or of any thing whatsoeuer pertaining to our faith and life I will not say Wee for wee are not to be compared to him that said Although that wee but as he addeth there If an Angel from heauen shall preach vnto you besides that which you haue receiued in the Legall and Euangelicall Scriptures let him bee accursed Now what can be of greater moment concerning faith and life than the Popes authority ouer the Scriptures which being not found in the Scriptures it is together with the Pope and all his worshippers branded with Anathema Which leauing to the Pontificians let vs now come to pitch the certainty of saluation vpon the vnmoueable Rocke of the holy Scriptures Now for the Catholicke doctrine of the certainty of
this yet this Faith is a true iustifying Faith though it bee dead This is the expresse perplext doctrine of the Church of Rome concerning Faith without any equiuocation at all Come wee now to examine the truth of this doctrine CHAP. XII Wherein Romane-Catholicke Doctrine concerning the kinde of iustifying Faith is confuted and the Catholicke Doctrine confirmed also of Faiths obiect and subiect FIrst whereas they allow no Faith in Scripture but one which they ground vpon that of the Apostle Ephes. 4. 5. One Faith it is euident they build vpon a wrong ground That there is but one Faith in the Apostles sense it is true that is but one sauing and iustifying Faith but that this faith is that which the Romane Catholicks only allow of is vtterly false and fabulous And yet they cal this the iustifying faith which Vega describeth thus Fides cui sacrae literae nostram tribuunt iustificationem c. That Faith to which the holy Scriptures attribute our iustification is for the most part and specially the Faith of the only Mediator betweene vs and God or to speake more plainely it is the Faith of Iesus Christ to wit a credulity or perswasion whereby we certainly and vndoubtedly beleeue that we may possibly be saued by him alone and also other things which are deliuered eyther by himself or by his Church or by his Apostles which we are to beleeue concerning his life death resurrection glory and dignity and grace Note here the nature of the Pontifician Faith They call it the Faith of the only Mediatour between vs and God This is well said but it is with limitation it is but vt plurimum for the most part Therefore this is not the true Catholicke faith as we shall see anone Then they call this Faith a credulity or perswasion wherby we certainly and vndoubtedly beleeue How Certainly and vndoubtedly beleeue This may passe for good Catholike doctrine But what do we certainly and vndoubtedly beleeue namely Per eum vnum nos posse saluari That we may possibly be saued by him alone So they place their faith in a possibility of saluation by Christ. But is this all No this faith hath for its full and adaequate obiect as the entire rule of it whatsoeuer is reuealed or deliuered by writing or tradition either by Christ himselfe or by his Church or by his Apostles So that this faith must bee regulated as well by that which the Church saith and what he meaneth by the Church we all know as what Christ and his Apostles haue said as well by traditions Romes vnwritten word as by the written Word of God Nay the Councell of Trent goes farther making the maine rule of faith to be that sense and meaning which the Church alwayes vnderstand of Rome hath or shall set downe concerning all things written and vnwritten And this is the Romane-Catholike faith Now if this faith of theirs bee the iustifying faith how comes it to passe that they that haue this faith are not iustified by it And if men hauing this faith may notwithstanding be damned and carry it with them to hell how is it a iustifying faith But with Romes good will we must not touch vpon particulars Suffice it there is one faith and this is the Catholicke faith of Romane-Catholicke beleeuers There is but one faith say they whether it be formed or vnformed which they take from the Scoria of the Schooles forge For Aquinas saith that faith formed or vnformed is one and the same in kinde and in number as the Logicke terme is Indeede Aquinas might speake his pleasure of faith formed and vnformed as being the first Forger of the forme of faith Whereas if this Scoria be but cast into the Test it will presently fume into the ayre For according to Philosophy Aquinas his profest and pretended proper element a thing without forme is non ens if it be Tohu it is Bohu too Gen. 1. 2. For the forme giues the being to the thing Now the faith of Deuils and of the wicked wanting a forme as Pontificians say is no faith at all But the faith of Deuils is not no faith a faith it is therefore a forme it must haue What forme Indeede as Scaliger saith the formes of things are hard to be found out But euery thing that hath but a name must haue a forme that giues the being Now that the faith of Deuils hath a forme proper vnto it is manifest because it hath a speciall act and motion in beleeuing which springeth from the proper forme of it The act of the Deuils faith is to beleeue that God is and that he is true in his word and iust in his iudgements so as it maketh the Deuill to tremble withall If therefore the Deuils faith hath a speciall forme to giue being vnto it then this forme puts a specificall difference betweene the Deuils faith and the Saints faith For euery thing is differenced in kinde from another by its proper forme As therefore the Saints faith hath a speciall forme to difference it from the faith of Deuils so the Deuils faith hath a proper forme to difference it specifically from the faith of Saints as the beasts soule is by the forme of it differenced from a mans soule And the forme makes the maine difference But this by the way to shew how these Philosophicall Doctors defile their owne nest To proceed That there is but one faith whereby we are saued all Catholike Diuines haue euer taught but that the liuing faith which they call formed and the dead faith which they say is vnformed should be all one faith in kinde this is a mysterie neuer known nor I suppose euer so much as dreamt of by any of the ancient Catholick Doctors of the Church Leo sirnamed the Great who was Bishop of Rome about the yeare of Christ 440. while as yet the faith of that Church was truely Catholike he saith Vna fides iustificat vniuersorum temporum Sanctos ad eandem spem fidelium pertinet quicquid per Mediatorem Dei hominum lesum Christum vel nos confitemur factum vel Patres nostri adorauere faciendum A sentence worthy to be written in golden letters One faith saith he doth iustifie the Saints of all times and it appertaines to the same hope of the faithfull whatsoeuer eyther we confesse already done or our Fathers adored should be done by the Mediator of God and men Iesus Christ. Note here this good old Bishop of Rome acknowledgeth one faith What faith A iustifying faith What A faith common to reprobates No such as iustifieth the Saints What Saints Those of the Popes Canonizing No The Saints of all times such as were long before the new order of Saints instituted by the Pope long after St. Leo. Such Saints as are not mentioned in the Popes Calender namely all those Saints of the old Testament whereof the Popes Rubricke hath none As the same Leo saith Omnes
away were once in the true faith and therefore a man may fall away from true faith and consequently from grace finally and totally But Saint Augustine cleareth this in many places of his Bookes shewing that a man cannot fall away from the faith of the elect As Fides Christi fides gratiae Christianae id est ea fides quae per dilectionem operatur posita in fundamento neminem perâ—â— permittit The faith of Christ the faith of Christian grace to wit that faith which worketh by loue being built vpon the foundation permitteth none to perish And therefore where hee speakes of such as were once in the faith and fall from it hee meaneth not the proper faith of the Elect but the common faith of Christians As he also saith Appellamus nos electos Christi Discipulos Dei Filios quia siâ— appellandi sunt quos regeneratos pâ—è viuere cernimus We doe call men euen the elect Disciples of Christ and the Sonnes of God because they are so to bee called whom we see to be regenerate and to liue godly but if they haue not perseuerance they are not truely called sith they are called that which they are not And therefore Quia non habuerunt perseuerantiam sicut non verè Discipuli Christi ita nec verè Filij Dei fuerunt etiam quando esse videbantur ita vocabantur Because they had not perseuerance as they were not truely Christs Disciples so neyther were they truely the Sons of God euen when they seemed to be so and were called so Of this sort and sense is another place of St. Augustine to bee taken which the Author of the new Gagge for the old Goose for haste as Charity may deeme rather than eyther of malice or ignorance not easily incident to a man of such rare and extraordinary learning hath perhaps casually in such a swift flowing current of discourse dropped from his Goose-quill His allegation out of St. Augustine is in these words Credendum est quosdam de filijs perditionis non accepto dono perseuerantiae vsque in finem in fide quae per dilectionem operatur incipere viuere aliquandiu fideliter iustè viuere postea cadere neque de haâ— vita priusquam hoc eis contingat auferri The author of the Gagge seemeth to alledge this place to proue that a man may totally fall away from grace sith from faith working by loue And the words as he alledgeth them seeme to fauour that opinion as if it were Augustines definitiue conclusion for all peremptorily to beleeue it Credendum est But as a guelt man though he haue all the other signes of a man hath lost his virility the chiefe difference of his Sexe so this sentence being but a little guelt how much is it made to degenerate from the Masculine stile of St. Augustine For Augustine speaking there of the gift of perseuerance inferreth this sentance thus Propter huius vtilitatem secreti credendum est quosdam c. For the benefit of this secret to wit of perseuerance credendum est where wee are to note that these first words left out by the Author are a speciall qualification and limitation of our faith herein namely how farre forth and in what respect Augustine would haue vs thinke so that men may fall from that faith which worketh by loue to the end that thereby they should bee more carefull to keepe their standing therefore he saith Propter huius vtilitatem secreti A clause in no case to bee neglected for little though it bee it leaueneth and seasoneth the whole lumpe As the same Augustine elsewhere saith Deus melius esse iudicauit miscere quosdam non perseueraturos certo numero Sanctorum suorum vt quibus non expedit in huius vitae tentatione securitas non possint esse securi God iudged it better to mingle some that should not perseuere with the certaine number of his Saints that they for whom security in the tentation of this life is not expedient might learne not to be secure Now that Augustine by that faith working by loue mentioned in the former allegation from whence he would haue vs beleeue for our owne profit and proficiency in perseuering that the reprobate fall did not meane that true reall faith of the Saints and Elect which worketh by loue but onely such a faith in appearance and common account besides many other places and those also which we haue forecited that one may conuince it where he saith vpon 2. Tim. 2. 19. Horum fides quae per dilectionem operatur profecto aut omnino non deficit aut si qui sunt quorum deficit reparatur antequam vita ista finiatur deleta quae intercurrerat iniquitate vsque in finem perseuerantia deputatur The faith of those which worketh by loue eyther doth not faile at all or if there be any whose faith doth faile it is repaired before this life be ended and the inquity which came betweene being blotted out perseuerance is deputed euen vnto the end Yea he saith definitiuely Fides eius qui aedificatur super Petram pro qua etiam or auit Christus ne deficiat non deficit His faith that is built vpon the Rocke for the which also Christ prayed that it should not faile faileth not And Christ saith expresly That the house built vpon the Rocke faileth not but standeth firme against all windes and waues of tentations The Rocke is Christ and the house vpon this Rocke is euery true beleeuer But say that former allegation out of Augustine had beene altogether set downe by him eyther in those termes or in that sense as the Author citeth it what if one such speech tending that way should haue fallen from that excellent holy man shall that one preponderate the whole tenure of St Augustines workes Nay rather let it bee interpreted by his other sayings than they be ouerthrowne and euacuate by this And let the learned Author of that booke of the Gagge so maintaine the truth of Christ in the maine current of his other writings as they may not only extenuate but wholly expiate and expunge to omit other things at least this blot dropping from his penne Augustine though a most excellent light in Gods Church yet wherein he saw his errours such was his rare humility and dextrous ingenuity hee writ a Booke of Retractations But for his Doctrine in the point of the Saints perseuerance in the state of grace vnto the end it is so cleare and consonant to the Scriptures that it needes no retractation and as vneasie it is almost by any wit to bee peruerted as subuerted Onely let not a misalledged place or a mis-conceiued allegation out of Augustine stand as the Rest whereon the state of the Doctrine of the Church of England must lye at hazzard Nor euer let it be said that the Doctrine of the faith of the Church of England is any other