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A08326 An antidote or treatise of thirty controuersies vvith a large discourse of the Church. In which the soueraigne truth of Catholike doctrine, is faythfully deliuered: against the pestiferous writinges of all English sectaryes. And in particuler, against D. Whitaker, D. Fulke, D. Reynolds, D. Bilson, D. Robert Abbot, D. Sparkes, and D. Field, the chiefe vpholders, some of Protestancy, some of puritanisme, some of both. Deuided into three partes. By S.N. Doctour of Diuinity. The first part.; Antidote or soveraigne remedie against the pestiferous writings of all English sectaries S. N. (Sylvester Norris), 1572-1630. 1622 (1622) STC 18658; ESTC S113275 554,179 704

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fountaine of life The feare of our Lord is the beginning of wisedome So of Hope it is recorded By hope we are saued Our Lord will saue them because they hoped in him And Euery one that hath this hope in him sanctifyeth himselfe to wit by his free will working togeather with Gods grace as S. Augustine 1. Ioan. 3 v. 3. August in eum locum 1. Ioan. 3. v. 14. Luc. 7. v. 47. Eccles 2. v. 10. Marc. l. v. 15. Act. 1. v. 38. Act. 8. v. 12. Fulk locot citato Ezech. 18. v. 27. Ibid. v. 31. 2. Tim. 2. v. 21. sayth vpon this Text. So of Loue and Charity we read We are translated from death to life because we loue our brethren many sinnes are remitted vnto her because she loued much And yee that feare our Lord loue him and your harts shal be illuminated 2. Or Sorrow and Repentance our Sauiour sayth Be penitent and belieue the Ghospell S. Peter do pennance and be euery one of you baptized in the name of Iesus Christ for remissiō of your sinnes Againe exhorting Symon Magus do pennance from this thy wickednes and pray to God if perhaps this cogitation of thy hart may be remitted Where he requireth pennance in which contrition or sorrow is included and also prayer not as sequells which follow according to M. Fulks pelting Sophistry but as necessary preparations which go before remission of his sinne The Prophet Ezechiel when the wicked shall turne away himselfe from his impiety he shall viuificate his soule And cast away from you all your preuarications wherein yee haue preuaricated and make to your selues a new hart and a new spirit S. Paul If any man shall clense himselfe from these he shal be a vessel vnto honour What more cleare A sinner may begin to cast off his preuarications to cleanse and make himselfe a new hart a new spirit he may by Sorrow griefe and pennance viuificate or giue life to his soule therefore he may being quickned and stirred vp by God freely concurre to his owne iustification as shall yet more euidently appeare by this description gathered out of the sacred Councell of Trent and many most learned Deuines 3. Iustification is a motion or change of our freewill made Concil Trid. ses● 6. by God in detestation of sinne with infusion of grace to the remissiō thereof and gayning of eternall blisse It is called a motion or change because it is a passage or departure from the state of sinne to the state of grace from vice to vertue from darknes to light from being wicked vniust hatefull in enmity with God to be pious iust deare and lincked vnto him in the band of friendship in so much as to iustify the wicked to reconcile the enemy to rayse the lapsed and to sanctify the sinner is one and the selfe same thing although explayned in diuers manners It is said to be of freewill for that the will of man is not forced or violently drawn but voluntarily freely concurreth to this blessed change It is added made by God because freewill worketh not of it selfe but inspired quickned and ayded by him He first calleth on vs auerted from him he knocketh at the gate of our harts he awaketh vs being a sleep in our sinnefull letargy he stirreth vs vp eggeth vs forward helpeth vs labouring refresheth vs fainting and strengthneth vs accomplishing that which he inspireth he likewise remitteth the wrong we did vnto him he pardoneth the fault cancelleth our depts we willingly as I say endeauouring cooperating with him For as a lame cripple holpen by his friend to remoue from this roome to that doth freely go yet supported by another so man by the ayde of Gods preuenting corroborating and helping grace doth freely consent and obey his motions willingly passeth from the prison of vice to the court of his fauour yet succoured by the help of his diuine asistance It is auerred to be in detestation of sin for as much as that preuenting grace layeth before the God stirreth vs vp to the detestation of sinne before he infuse his habituall grace eyes of our vnderstanding the turpitude of vice and vgly shape of our soules the beatitude and happynes we lost the miseryes the seuere punishments the indignation we haue incurred and striketh vs with the feare and terrour of them discouereth the meanes by which we may escape them meanes to recouer our felicity againe Then it inflameth the affections of our will to loue and imbrace these happy meanes by detesting our forepassed and vndertaking a new course of life Moreouer it is inserted with infusion of grace to the remission of sinne because at the same instant iustifying grace is infused and sinne expelled the temple of our soules It is lastly concluded to the gayning of eternall blisse to signify that that is the finall end of our iustification the saluation of oursoules and purchase of euerlasting life 4. Thus man through the great mercy and sweet motions of God is prepared by an act of Fayth Feare Tertul. l. 4. cont Marcion c. 18. Orig. hom 3 in Leuit. Cypr ser 5. de lapsis Basil in psal 33. August tract 9. In ep Ioan. l. de Catechiz rudibus c. 4. 5 l. de natu gratia Clement Alexan. l 2. Strom. ● ante med Imbr. l. ● de poe●it Hieron l● 2. aduers Pelag. in commēad ● c. 〈◊〉 Greg. h●m 13. in ●uāgelium Aug. ep 105. Augustep 106. August tract 44. In Ioan. Cent. 3. c. 4. Colum. 80. Tertul l. de poenit lib. 4. contra Marcion Orig. tract 32. in Matth. hom 24. in Iosue 26. in ●undem Hope Charity and Repentance to returne vnto his fauour and to receaue the stole of his heauenly Iustice for he cannot possibly be excited and recalled from wickednes without grace from aboue he cannot belieue the way of saluation without fayth nor dread the iudgmentes of God without feare nor expect and desire his friendship without hope nor loue his goodnes without Charity nor truly detest offences past without Sorrow Repentance Therfore they all ioyntly make way to this supernaturall iustifying of our soules whereby two thinges are manifest 1. That our freewill before we be iustifyed doth not as Protestants fancy passiuely concurre but as we say actiuely to the callings of God 2. That not Fayth alone but Feare Hope Charity Repentence and other vertues cooperate also to the worke of our iustification as the whole Senate of Fathers agree with vs Tertullian Origen S. Cyprian S. Basil S. Augustine S. Clement of Alexandria S. Hierome S. Gregory and the rest some affirming one of the former vertues to prepare the way to iustification some another And S. Augustine els where writing of Fayth in particuler often teacheth that it meriteth by way of congruity or impetration the remission of our sinnes and true iustification therefore it goeth before the life of grace and cannot possibly be that vertue in which
made Before Iudgment after Iudgment or at the tyme of Iudgment You cannot say before Iudgmēt For such as we are found in the last moment of this life such are we summoned before the tribunall seate of God according to many passages of holy Scripture which S. Gregory in his dialogues gathereth togeather according to Greg. l. 4. dial c. 39. 1. Cor. 3. 2. Cor. 5. ad Rom. 2. ad Gala. 6. Marc. 13. v. 36. v. 17. the expresse words of S. Paul which I shall quote in the next Chapter And according to that of S. Marke where God sayth he shall find in the houre of death some sleepy some breeding and beginning to do well Woe be vnto them Neither can this Purgation be either at or after Iudgmēt For the Iudgment of God is according to truth therfore such as Protestants are presented before his throne such are they iudged They are presented before him not wholy purged but tainted with the corruption the last actions of life draw as they faine from the poisoned fountaine of Nature Therfore they must be iudged guilty of sinne defiled with those filthy dregs And whereas you obstinatly also defend that the wages of all sin without Fayth Fulk in c. 1. Ep. 1. ●● sect 5. and Repentance is eternall death no sentence of remission but the irreuocable doom of euerlasting damnatiō ought to be pronounced against all that dye of your profession vnles you repeale the Law of God recorded by Salomon Eccles c. 11. vers 3. Where the tree falleth there it shal be or cōtrary to the decree of our inexorable Iudge allot tyme to belieue and place to repent after the warfarre of this life is ended to them Field vbi supra that haue their sinnes as M. Field sayth remitted in the first moment of the next Cypr. l 4. Ep. 2. Orig. hom 6. in E●●●d Aug. in ●0 hom hom 16. Dan. 7. vers 10. 28. Lastly the Fathers do not only require an instant but longer space of punishment after this life according to the remaines of sinne S. Cyprian sayth One thing it is a long tyme punished for trespasses to be amended and purged by fire another to abolish all faults by suffering for Christ Origen All must come vnto the fire all to the forge c. If any one bring a little iniquity that little like lead ought to be consumed with fire and if more heauy or leady metall he is more burned that more may be wasted and melted forth S. Augustine discoursing Amb. in c. 12. Luc. Tertul. ● de anima c. 17. Greg. Nazian orat in S. lumina Lactan. l. 7. cap. ●1 Eus Emis hom 3. de Epipha Hilar. in Psal 118. of that propheticall speach mentioned by Daniel A fiery and violent floud ranne before the face of our Lord Some sayth he in the next life shall passe thro●gh a fiery lake and horrible shallowes full of burning flames as much as shall remaine of the drosse of sinne so long shall the delay of passage be S. Ambrose So long is euery one exercised with noysome paynes vntill he pay the punishment of his faulty errour Tertullian S. Gregory Nazianzen Lactantius Eusebius Emissenus and S. Hilary haue many worthy sentences to this purpose which cannot be interpreted of M. Fields momentary Purgation nor of the guilt of sinne which without repentance deserueth damnation but either of the punishment due to former faults or of the saultines of lesser sinnes which are of their owne nature veniall or pardonable the chiefest points I intended to proue in this Chapter the confutation of Obiections I referre to the next THE SECOND CHAPTER WHEREIN Praier for the Dead is defended against the foresaid Doctors M. Field and M. Fulke PVRGATORY Praier for the Dead are lincked together in such mutuall dependency the one with the other as S. Isidore teacheth by the proofe of the latter by necessary consequence the former ensueth Because if our praiers releeue the soules departed they cānot be in state of happinesse for then they should not need Isido l. de diuin offi c. de Sacrif them nor in the state of damnation for then our indeauours could not auaile them Therefore in the state of Purgatory they suffer punishment for their former misdeeds from which they be freed by the Praiers Almsdeeds and other charitable workes of the faithfull vpon earth as the Holy Ghost witnesseth in the booke of Machabees 2. Machab c. 12. v. vltimo 1. It is a holy and behoouefull cogitation to pray for the Dead that they may be released of their sinnes Which although our Aduersaries discard as no Canonicall Scripture yet they ought to credit it as much at least as Liuie the Roman or Thucidides the Grecian Historiographer they ought to reuerence it as the allowed testimony of a graue ancient and most worthy writer worthy to out-countenance all the base vpstarts of our latter age worthy to be accounted Cyp. de exhorta Martyrij Ambr. l. 2. de Iacob c. 10. 11. 12. Hier. in prolog in Machab. Aug. l. 18. de ciu Dei cap. 36. Concil Carth. can 47. Field in appen 1. p. fol. 69. Eccles c. 7. Eccles 38. Cyp. ser de Eleemosy Amb. in l. de Tobia cap. 1. Basil in orat de auaritia Aug. in Spe●ul Tob. 4. Beda in fine Comment in l. 1. Reg. Gen. 50. by S. Cyprian S. Ambrose S. Hierome S. Augustine and by the third Councell of Carthage One of the Diuine Secretaries and Pen-men of the holy Ghost In so much as S. Augustine inclineth not only as M. Field writeth to this opinion but expresly resolueth The bookes of Machabees not the Iewes but the Church esteemeth Canonicall Likewise it is written Mortuo ne prohibcas gratiam Restraine not thy fauour from the Dead Moreouer My Sonne power forth thy teares vpon the Dead c. And In his departure make his memory rest in peace Tobie also whose booke S. Cyprian S. Ambrose S. Basill S. Augustine admit into the Canon of Scripture counsaileth Place thy bread and thy wine on the Sepulcher of the Iust and do thou neither eat nor drinke thereof with sinners 2. Hence it appeareth it was an ancient custome amongst the Iewes to make a feast at the funeralls of their friends to inuite the poore and faithfull persons thereunto who by the charity and Almesdeeds bestowed vpon them might pray for their soules And it is most likely the ancient Patriarkes and Prophets intended this reliefe to their deceased friends whom they with Praier with Fasting with griefe and sorrow so many daies lamented as was otherwise vnfitting vnlesse it had beene addressed as Venerable Bede well noteth to the benefit of their soules 3. The Patriarch Ioseph 77. daies mourned the death of his father Iacob The men of Iabes Galaad 7. daies continued a fast at the solemne buriall of Saul Ionathas Of whose death when King Dauid the Royall Prophet heard he wept fasted and
ashes no clowd of sinne can depriue the iustifyed person of his right to heauen which do not dismantle him of the robe of Iustice Answere therfore heereunto what you list escape you cannot vnles you leape into some detestable heresy 6. My fourth argument is when the Protestant perswades himselfe or vndoubtedly beleeues the remission of his sinnes either he hath his sinne by that act of fayth remitted before or after he that sayth it is after alloweth his precedent perswasion to be false and deceitfull beleeuing the forgiuenes of his sinnes which then was not he that will haue it before admitteth a remission of sinnes and consequently a true iustification before his beliefe which cannot be for without Fayth it is impossible to please God he who holdeth that his beliefe causeth the remission which it beleeueth will haue his beliefe Gab. Vas in 1. 2. disp 110. c. 3. and knowledge so omnipotent as to make the obiect which it knoweth the mystery it beleueth as if a man by beleeuing himselfe to be a great Lawyer a great Physitian a great Deuine should endow himselfe with the Aug. l. 4. de Genes ad lit c. 32. perfect knowledge of Law Phisicke and Diuinity wherein they seeme to surpasse the nature of God whose knowledge being most efficacious and practicall yet it followeth as Gabriel Vasquez teacheth the obiect it knoweth according to the posteriority of vnderstanding It followeth I say in affirming or knowing it to be true In which sense S. Augustine teacheth that no knowledge can be vnles things knowne precede and we may auow that no fayth can be vnles it first presuppose the article beleeued for as our knowledge is true or false because the obiect we know is such so our beliefe is certaine and vndoubted because the thing is infallible which we beleeue 7. M. Field beholding the ruines this Cannon-shot makes in the walls of their perfidious and faythles perswasion rayseth the engines of his wit to diuert the battery and annoyance thereof and first proposeth the argument thus When men begin to beleeue either they are iust and then their fayth iustifyeth them not being in nature after their iustification Field in his 3. booke of the Church c. 44. or els they are not iust then speciall fayth making a man beleeue he is iust is false and so man is iustifyed by alye To this horned argument we answere sayth he that speciall fayth hath sundry acts but to this purpose specially two the one by way of petition humbly intreating for acceptation and fauour the other in the nature of comfortable assurance consisting in a perswasion that that is graunted which was desired Fayth by her first act obtayneth and worketh our iustification and doth not find vs iust when we begin to beleeue by her second act she doth not actiuely iustify S. Thom. 1. 2. q. 83. ●●t 3. but finding the thing done certifyeth assureth vs of it c. So then quoth he fayth in her first act is before the iustification procureth or obtayneth it Hitherto M. Feild and very profoundly without doubt distinguisheth fayth into two acts whereof the first he mentioneth is no act of Fayth but a prayer or petition humbly intreating for acceptatiō Fulk in c. 2. Iacobi sect 9. circa finem Abbot in his defence cap. 4. fol. 487. and fauour which properly as S. Thomas proueth is an act of Religion as much different from fayth as a man from a Calfe And the second seemeth rather to be an assured confidence of the will then any supernatural assent of the vnderstanding in which Fayth consisteth But these thinges I let passe The opposition heere he maketh against his owne adherents the contradicting of Doctour Fulke the ouertwharting of M. Abbot the impugning of another principall and generall article of Protestancy is more remarkable then a priuate absurdity or ignorance of his For to affirme That fayth by way of petition humbly intre●●eth for fauour obtaineth and worketh our iustification and doth not find vs iust is to graunt a certaine kind of preparation congruency merit or disposition to go before the life of grace and iustification of our soules which how earnestly M. Fulke and Doctour Abbot gainesay I haue declared and refuted in the precedent Controuersy Then it is opposite to that common principle which Protestantes maintaine That the captiued will of man concurreth passiuely only to his iustification vntill he be truely iustifyed in Christ. Howbeit M. Field heer teacheth this petition to obtaine to procure to worke our iustification before it be effected which M. Abbot writing against our preparatiue workes of prayer and petition reproueth thus There can be no true prayer without the spirit of grace without the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Abbot c. 4. sect 20. fol. 4 ● Father the spirit of adoption and grace is the spirit of sanctification It followeth then that we pray not but by being first sanctifyed and because sanctification is consequent to iustification it must follow also that iustification must go before prayer Hitherto he warring against M. Feild one Sectary against another as Esay prophesyed of them saying I will make the Aegyptians to run togeather against the Aegyptians a man shall fight against his brother euery man against his friend But I will not further exaggerate these horrible breaches betweene him Isa 29. v. his fellowes I will not intreate M. Field to reconcile his assertion with their other fornamed principles I only desire him to tell me whether the petition which worketh our iustification and doth not find vs iust be in his opinion an act of true iustifying fayth or no Let him answere that it is and he yieldeth that fayth alone doth not iustify he yieldeth this first act to be an act of true fayth and yet that it doth only impetrate and procure iustice and not make vs formerly iust but if the first act of true fayth doth not iustify neither can the second or third or any other ensuing act affoard that benefit for they being all and euery one of the same speciall nature they hauing all the same essentiall forme that effect which in no degree is performed by one cannot be effected by any other except they dreame that one the same vertue should consist of diuers essentiall formes and so by diuers actes yield diuers formall effects which very nature it selfe and euery Puny in Philosophy will condemne of implicancy and contradiction 8. Let him deny it to be an act of iustifying fayth and he denyeth his owne diuision of speciall fayth into sundry acts he deludeth our argument proposed not of any other vertue but of their speciall fayth and of the first act thereof which can be but one and of that one it proceeds whether iustification be before it after it or caused by it as is vrged aboue 9. Againe supposing these two actes into which he brancheth his speciall fayth how is
l. de Euchar opinion of the Church concerning imputatiue Iustice. The like accusation of the most ancient Fathers made by Bullinger D. Whitguift Humfrey Whitaker and others you may see heereafter recyted in the Treatise of merit and in the first part of this worke in the Controuersy of Satisfaction which more then aboundantly conuinceth the consent Feild in append 1. p. fol. 19. of the Primitiue Church for of the later there is no doubt to be wholy with vs in this substantiall point of Fayth and that our Reformers bandy against it and the long continued current of truth in all tymes and Countryes euer since Howbeit M. Field to win credit with the simple audaciously craketh We no way oppose our selues against the vniuersall resolution and practise of the whole Church which to do Augustine pronounceth insolent madnes Let this then M. Field be your taske or let some of your * Thus S. Ambrose derideth Protestāts before they were hatched l. 10. ep ●p 82. new Maisters take the payns to discouer some other publick or hidden Congregration of theirs some other pastours besids the fornamed who taught your doctrine and reproued our errours in S. Cyprian S. Hierome S. Austine the rest as the true sheepheards watchmē ouer the house of God haue alwayes done Were they reckoned such small defects as might be cloaked dissembled And not essentiall not fundamētall points of fayth which shake the whole ground of Religion Were they whispered in corners by some vnknowne or obscure companions not printed in books preached in pulpits diuulged to the whole world by sundry troups of learned men in such vast Regious kingdomes and not one of your ●olifidian professours to open their mouth against them Shall we expect after so long tyme your wresting of their words to some fauourable exposition of your deuising The Centurists your own Collegues partners in beliefe wanted neither will wit diligence or cunning to haue performed it had they not found their sayings vnanswerable their words vndefeatable the mayne drift scope of their discourses wholy vncapable of other construction Shall we thinke they also fauoured the opinion of Protestants and so breathed out of the same mouth truth falshood fire water heate Pomeran vbi supra cold as Pomerane blasphemeth or which is all one that they contradicted themselues as the Centurists sticke not in plaine tearmes to auerre of Clemens Alexandrinus that famous Cent. 2. c. 4. Colum. 6● Cent. 5. c. ● Colum. 1008. Writer and Maister to Origen and of Theodoret Bishop of Cyrus It were too notorious a stumbling and headlong course not heard of before that so huge an army of deuout and learned pillers of the Church should all vniformely precipitate and contradict themselues in this sole point In a chiefe point of Fayth and that not once or twice but ech of them diuers and sundry tymes and none to haue the grace to see so great an ouersight or seeing it to amend it to recant it to seeke to reconcile it with other of their sayings no zealous man in the whole world for so many ages who durst note or twite them of it vntill drunken Lutherans enraged with the fury of an Apostata Frier began to espy that horrible Antichristian and often repeated contradiction It is incredible it cannot be imagined or of it could certes they were no Protestants who maintayned beleeued an article of Fayth quite opposite to the life of Protestancy or worse then Infidells who sought to perswade and inculcate to others that which they beleeued not or knew to be falfe Fye vpon such impious Chams as cannot vphold their follyes without disgracing their predecessours who cannot enter the kingdome of heauen without they condemne these Saints into the pit of hell nor become Christians themselues without making them impious Luth. tom 5. in Gal. c. 4. f. 382. hypocrits damnable Idolaters for no better doth Luther account such as dissent from him and his mates in the iustice of only Fayth Let vs heare his words 13. Whosoeuer falleth from the article of Iustification he becommeth ignorant of God and is an Idolater therefore it is all Luth. ibid. fol. 400. one whether he be a Monke a Turke a Iew or Anabaptist for this article once taken away there remayneth nothing but meere errour hipocrisy impiety idolatry although in shew there appeare excellent truth worship of God holynes c. And some VVhitak l. 8. aduers Dureum and in his answere to 〈◊〉 C●mpiā● r●ason Abbot in his defence ca● 4. Fulke vpon sundry of these places against the new Testam few lines after If that face and forme of old papistry stood now if that discipline were obserued now with so much seruerity and rigour as the Here●its as Hierome Augustine Gregory Bernard Francis Dominicke and many others obserued it little perhaps should I profit by my doctrine of Fayth against that state of papistry yet neuertheles after the example of Paul inueighing against the false Apostles in appearance most holy good men I ought to fight against such Iustice workers-of the Papistical kingdome Thus he confessing S. Hierome S. Augustine S. Gregory S. Bernard c. to haue beene iustice-workers of our kingdome and to haue beene bondmen of the law of sinne and the Diuell cast out of the house of God as he wretchedly auoweth in the same place of which some of his followers being since ashamed haue clipped and pared off much of this his discourse in the later editions But it is high time to view the forces wherein the Aduersary confideth 14. The huge host of obiections which the mutinous enemy disorderly leuieth against vs the Tenent of their Ancestours in ●his and the former two Controuersyes I for more perspicuity and orders sake sunder and part into diuers wings or squadrons In the first I rank those texts of Scripture which attribute vnto Fayth the corporall benefite of health or saluation by which the Matth. ● v. 22. Luc. 18. v. 42. Luc. 8. v. 50. Luc. 17. v. 19. Matth. ● v. 2. spirituall was betokned because our Sauiour seldome cured any in body whome he cured not also in soule As when to the woman troubled with an issue of bloud he sayd Haue a good hart daughter thy Fayth hath made thee safe To the blind man Do thou see thy fayth hath made thee whole To the Prince of the Synagogue Feare not beleeue only and she shal be safe To the cured leaper Aryse go thy wayes because thy fayth hath made thee safe Likewise Iesus seeing their fayth sayd to the sicke of the palsey Haue a good hart Sonne thy sinnes are forgiuen thee These and the like which our aduersaryes produce rather witnes against them then speake in their behalfe for not one of them mentioneth their speciall assurance and particuler fayth relying on the mercy of God remitting their sinnes of which the fornamed Calu. l.
sometym know he repenteth know he beleeueth with some fayth with some repentanc● or other because he sensibly feeleth the inward throbs of his hart behouldeth the teares trickling from his eyes apparent tokens of sorrow and repentance because fayth is a light which manifest it selfe an act of the vnderstanding which cannot be hidden to which effect M. Whitaker and M. Abbot vrge out of S. Abbot c. ● VVhitak l. 8. aduers Duraeum Augu. ep 112. Augustine That the faythfull man doth see his fayth it selfe by which he answereth that he beleeueth Although I say all this be true yet the knot of our difficulty remayneth still vntyed For neither doth S. Augustine teach nor any reason perswade that he infallibly knoweth his repentance to be such as it ought to be done for so pure and diuine a motiue as is requisite for the iustifying of his soule to be true Christian not false Herodian not Antiochus his sorrow that his tears are distilled from the Rose of Charity not squeazed out of the nettles of priuate selfe loue Likewise he cānot certainly know whether his fayth be natural or supernatural whether it rely vpon the authority of God duly proposed and immediatly credited for it selfe or for some other humane reasons as the formall motiues of his belief because there is such cōnexion affinity betweene the naturall and supernaturall acts they are paralelled and consorted togeather in so many branches of neere alliance as it is impossible by infallible certainty to discerne without speciall reuelation humane fayth from diuine vertues infused by God from vertues gayned by mans labour and industry Then it is aboue the reach and skill of man to diue into the secrets of God to trace his steps or discouer the operation and working of his grace In so much as Iob sayd If God come to me I shall not see him and if he depart away from me I shall not vnderstand Iob. 9. v. 11. Greg. l. 9. in c. 9. Iob. c. 10. 11. Aug. in psal 41. serm 13. de verb. Dom. Iraen c. 17. v. 9. it Which S. Gregory interpreteth of Gods comming and departure from our soules of his abyding or forsaking our harts that it is hidden and concealed from vs in this vale of teares for our greater humility Againe we are obnoxious to sundry illusions our hart is inueagled with diuers phantasyes hath such a multitude of folds and windings in it as it is too hard to define what it throughly abhorreth or sincerely imbraceth with all behoofull circumstances as it ought especially in the pious course of vertue which perplexityes abstrusenes of our hart Ieremy deciphreth saying The hart of man is peruerse vnsearchable who shall know it And Caluin delineateth in this manner The hart of man hath so many secret corners of vanity is Calu. l. 3. instit c. 2. §. 10. so full of hypocrysy that it often deceaueth himselfe In the next Paragraffe he addeth Experience sheweth that the reprobate are sometyme moued with the same feeling that the elect are so that in their owne iudgment they nothing differ from the elect wherefore it Hebr. 6. v. 4. Luc. 8. v. is no absurdity that the Apostle ascribeth to them that tast of the heauenly gifts that Christ ascribeth to them fayth for a tyme. If this be so if our hart often beguile vs if the reprobate be sometyme moued with the same feeling as the elect are if they haue a fayth for a tyme how is your conscience infallibly sealed that yours is perpetuall May not your hart your iudgment your firme perswasion deceaue you as it deceaueth others The Anabaptist assureth himselfe that his sinnes by speciall fayth be remitted and that he and all of his sect shall be certainly saued The Lutheran the Caluinist assureth of the like and ech of them is certaine that the contrary to him notwithstanding his assurance shall be infallibly damned Whom shall we beleeue When euery one is equally by faith assured of saluation and yet ech one condemneth the other two and the whole Catholike world condemneth them all to the pit of hell if they obstinatly dye in their perfidious beliefe 2. Secondly if speciall fayth remitteth sinnes and Sectaryes by the same fayth are assured of the remission they can neuer say our Lords prayer without mockery or infidelity For as they cannot intreate the Sonne of God may be incarnate as they cannot intreate his death and passion for the redemption of man vnles they deny or misdoubt the accomplishment of them So if they certainly beleeue the remission of their sinnes effected by fayth they cannot without dissimulation irrision or Field l. 3. cap. 44. fol. 178. plaine infidelity cry vnto God forgiue vs our trespasses which they assuredly beleeue to haue been forgiuen before Feild answereth The iustifyed man knoweth that the dominion of his sins is taken away and that the guilt of condemnation whereunto they subiect such as are vnder the dominion of them is already remoued and therefore he doth not desire nor aske forgiuenes of sinnes in this sort but the inherence of sins he acknowledgeth in himselfe notwithstanding his iustification which still subiecteth him to Gods displeasure and punishments accompanying the same These thinges he desireth to be remoued and in this sense asketh forgiuenes of his sinnes So he The loosenes of whose answere is already discouered in the first Controuersy of Originall sin in which place I haue largely demonstrated that when sinne is truly inherent the guilt of condemnation still remayneth or where the guilt and dominion is abolished there sinne is extinguished there sinne inhereth not not wholy because the dominion is remoued not in part because the blemish of sinne is indiuisible and hath no parts or suppose we speake of diuers sinnes which haue diuers spots diuers deformityes one deformity cannot be cleansed or taken away without the other which M. Abbot had once an eye to discerne disputing Abbot c. 6. sect 7. fol. 766. thus against Doctour Bishop Let him say the sinne in part is pardoned but not wholy and then let him shew vs what warrant he hath that God in that sort forgiueth sinnes by patches and peeces which because he cannot do let him giue vs leaue to take him for that that he sheweth himselfe to be Thus with one eye what with the other the diligent Reader may perceaue in my foresayd Treatise of originall sinne Then this reply cohereth not with it selfe nor with other of his and his fellows barbarismes For if the iustifyed man knoweth the dominion of sinne the guilt of condemnation to be remoued how doth the inherence therof notwithstanding his iustification subiect him to Gods displeasure whereas this common songe is chaunted among you and by you also M. Feild That where the Feild in his 3. booke of the Church cap. 16. Abbot c. 6. sess 7. fault of sinne is once remitted there no amercement or debt of punishment
remayneth behind to satisfy God displeased Where sinne sayth M. Abbot is forgiuen there is no punishment because there is no imputation of that to which the punishment is due Strange men who can neuer pursue the game in hand but euery foot hunt counter to themselues counter to their owne companious 3. Moreouer if Protestants do not desire nor aske forgiuenes of sinnes for any feare of condemnation to which they may be subiect then they cannot pray at least to auoyd that danger of perdition they cannot pray they may not be vtterly abandoned by God swallowed vp by Sathan or cast with the miscreants into outward darkenes They cannot say with King Dauid Destroy not O Psal 25. v. 9. Psal 50. v. 13. Psal 6. v. 1. Psal 37. v. 1. God my soule with the impious and my life with bloudy men Cast me not away from thy face Lord rebuke me not in thy fury nor chastize me in thy wrath that is torment me not in thy fury with eternall nor punish me in thy wrath with Purgatory flames which they fall into who depart this life not perfectly cleansed as S. Augustine expoundeth that place whose testimony S. Gregory cyteth and following his interpretation willeth euery faythfull soule to consider Greg in 1. psal poe● vers 1. what she hath done and contemplate what she shall receaue saying Lord rebuke me not in thy fury nor chastize me in thy wrath as if she sayd more plainely This only with my whole intention of hart I craue this incessantly withall my desires I couet that in the dreadfull tryall thou neither strike me with the reprobate nor affict me with the purging and reuenging flames So he so Manasses so the ancient Fathers so the whole Church of God hath euer prayed to haue the guilt of condemnation remoued from them Therfore they were neuer acquainted with our Protestants presumptuous fayth who do not aske forgiuenes of sinnes in this sort M. Abbot therefore not satisfyed with this answere of Feilds windeth about three other wayes to creep out of the mudd in which he and al Abbot c. 3. fol. 289. 290. his adherents are stabiled First sayth he Our prayer obtayneth pardon at Gods hands therefore we pray and by Fayth do rest assured that vndoubtedly we haue that for which we pray Secondly we pray for forgiuenes not that we haue no assurance thereof but for that we desire greater assurance and more confortable feeling thereof The third reason of our praying continually for the forgiuenes of our sinnes is for the obteyning of the fruit thereof to wit a freedome from all miseryes and sorrowes 4. Neither of these fetches can rid him forth of the mire For the first that prayer obteyneth pardon is refuted aboue in the Controuersy of only fayth against M. Field by M. Abbots owne discourse and can no way be verifyed Protestāts pray like the proud Pharisee according to their principles The second third as little auayle for who did euer read so idle an interpretation Forgiue vs O Lord our trespasses pardon our sinnes that is giue me greater assurance they are forgiuen they are pardoned or graunt me full freedome from all earthly misery which is the expected fruit of their forgiuenes Is this to accuse your selues of sinne to sue for mercy with the humble Publican or rather to say with the haughty Pharisy I acknowledge O Lord thy fauour in hauing remitted my offences yet yield me more comfortable feeling of this thy remission free me I beseech thee from all miseryes as thou hast freed me from my faults O proud oraison O Pharisaicall prayer far from the humility of K. Manasses I am not worthy to behould and looke on Manasses in orat sua the height of heauen for the multitude of myne iniquityes c. Forgiue me O Lord forgiue me and destroy me not togeather with my offences neither reserue thou for euer being angry euills for me neither damne me into the lowest places of the earth Far from his humility who durst not approach to the Altar nor lift vp his eyes to heauen but standing a loof sayd Lord be mercifull to me a sinner These men I hope beleeued aright and yet they were not assured of the remission of their Luc. 28. v. 13. sinnes they knew not for certaine that the guilt of condemnation was remoued from them and you no sooner beleeue but you presently receaue a warrant that your faults are cancelled you need not craue further pardon at the hands of God but only that he would seale vp your ha●●s with more assurance of his graunt you incontinently not only approach to his Altar heere vpon earth but euen to his throne and presence in heauen instantly asking without more adoe the fruit and consummation of your happynes begun the fulnes of redemption which there is prepared after this life What is arrogancy what is presumption if this be not 5. Besides your second kind of petition wholy proceeds Abbot ibidem f. 289. sect 4. fol. 283. 284. Abbot sect 4. f. 283. 284. from imbecility of Fayth For Our fayth say you being weake giueth but weake assurance and therefore we begge of God that our harts may be enlarged that the testimony of the spirit may more freely sound into vs Yet you affirme That some speciall men with the like assurance belieue their owne saluation as they do the doctrine of fayth expressed in the articles of the Creed Then at least after you obtaine the enlargement of your harts after you be once in the number of those speciall men then you enioy that security as you cannot aske a surer certificate of the remission of your sinnes then at the least you can say no longer Forgiue vs our trespasses for as we cannot without blasphemy desire more assurance of the Incarnation and Passion of Christ then that they are proposed in our Creed as articles of our beliefe so if you as infallibly beleeue your owne saluation and consequently the remission of your sinnes as those reuealed mysteryes it can be no lesse then horrible impiety to craue more assurance of them or if you may still craue for more by reason of the weaknes of your wauering fayth why do you boast and glory so much in the prerogatiue of your fayth when neuer any Protestant could yet arriue to this strong and stedfast Fayth 6. Thirdly your assurance of saluation is noysome and pernicious to the progresse of vertue it expelleth So S. Gregory calleth it feare the nurse of wisedome the anker of our soules the guardian of good life It looseth the reynes of careles liberty engendreth pryde arrogancy presumption breedeth a neglect of holesome discipline and many other weeds of dissolute and wanton demeanour Whereas the vncertainty whether we be worthy of loue or hatred whether our workes be acceptable to God or no as long as we haue a morall confidence and stedfast hope that they be cherisheth the seeds of sundry
of colours but only white the most true natiue colour so our Reformers admit all manner of Doctrine and in this present all sorts of Confession but that which is most important and beneficiall for their soules 1. They allow the Confession of sinnes to God in generall 2. The Confession of some sinnes in particuler to a learned Minister to receaue comfort and direction from him 3. The Confession of certaine enormo us crimes publikely made in the sight of the congregation for their satisfaction and terrour of others 4. The Confession of priuate iniuries to the party offended to be reconciled to him But the Confession of all particuler faults to a lawfull Priest to receaue pardon and absolution they vtterly disauow Wherein to proceed more perspicuously they chiefly deny three principall points First the power in Priests to absolue from sinnes Secondly the necessity of sinners to confesse Thirdly the necessity of numbring euery particuler offence All which notwithstanding I will clearly deduce out of that soueraigne Commission Christ gaue to his Apostles when breathing vpon them he sayd 2. Receaue yee the holy Ghost whose sinnes yee forgiue they Iohn 20. v. 23. are forgiuen and whose sinnes yee retaine they are retayned For by this passage it is euident that authority is giuen to the Priests of Gods Church not only to preach the Ghospell and denounce retention to the impenitent remission to the Sparkes P. 323. Fulke in c. 20. Ioan. sect 4. 5 Math 28 Mar. 16. Ioan. 20. penitent belieuer as D. Sparkes D. Fulke with their adherents perfidiously wrest the words but absolute power is granted vnto them as the Vicars and Vicegerents of Christ truly to remit and pardon sinnes 1. Because commission to preach was giuen before in S. Matthew S. Marke 2. That was extended to all Teach all nations this is restrayned to some alone who submit their faults to the keyes and censure of the Church Whose sinnes yee remit c. 3. Forgiuenes of sinnes in heauen is not alwayes annexed to the Preachers exhortation it is to the absolution of the Priest if no obstacle hinder it in the party absolued 4. The Preachers voyce declareth on earth what God hath already persormed in heauen but heere quite contrary God ratifieth in heauen what the Priest by his mynisteriall power pronounceth vpon earth The Iudgment Hila. Can 26. in Mat. Chr● hom 5. de verbis Isa Vidi Dominum or sentence on earth sayth S. Hilary goeth before that which is giuen in heauen Heauen sayth S. Chrysostome borroweth principall authority of iudging from the Earth So as it cannot be the meere vocation to preach but some other extraordinary and singular Iurisdiction which our Sauiour here bequeathed to his Apostles 3. A Iurisdiction signified before by the power of keys which are chiefly giuen to magistrates and rulers of Cittyes not to betoken thinges already locked or vnlockt but to open and shut as occasion requireth A Iurisdiction for the due exercise whereof the Sacrament so a Aug. l. 2. cont Parm. c. 13. Greg. l. 4. Com. in l. Regū c. 5. Calu. l. 4. Instit c. 19. S. Augustine and others tearme it of Ordination was instituted b Chrys hom 85. in Ioan. Greg. Niss ora de lap Isa 44. v. 12. Cyr. lib. 12. c. 56. in 10. Atha ser in illaverba Profecti in pagum Hier ep ad Hedibi Bafil quaest breuib inter 288. Leo ep 91 ad Th●o● Pacian ep 1. ad Sym. pro. Ambr. de poenic l. x. c. 2. 7. Chris l. 3. de Sacer. Spirituall grace infused the Holy Ghost purposely imparted and imparted after a speciall manner of insufflation or breathing on them to denote that the breath of his Priests pronouncing the words of absolution should disperse and dissolue the mists of sinne according to that of the Prophet Esay I haue disolued like a cloud thy sins This ceremony then was vsed to declare the effect of extinguishing sinne the Holy Ghost was giuen to manifest the cause by whom it is abolished For as S. Cyril sayth It is neyther absurd nor yet inconuenient that they forgiue sinnes who haue the Holy Ghost For when they pardon or retaine sinns the Holy Ghost pardoneth or retayneth sinnes by them and that they doe two wayes by Baptisme first afterwards by Penance 4. Lastly that this rare prerogatiue graunted to Priests was not only by the mystery of the word to declare but by the authority of the keyes to forgiue sinnes many other of the Fathers directly teach S. Athanasius tearming it Power giuen by our Sauiour to Paiests to loose sinnes S. Hierome S. Basil S. Leo Pacianus haue the like S. Ambrose expresly proueth this authority in Priests of remitting sins against the Nouatians cuen ouer them to whom they denyed the ministery of absolution albeit they graunted the benefit of preaching S. Chrysostome extolling the dignity of Priests aboue Kings and Angels amplifyeth the same after his fashion with this goulden streame of wordes They that inhabite the earth and conuerse thereon to them comission is giuen to dispense those thinges that are in heauen To them that power is giuen which Almighty God would not communicate either to Angell or Archangell For to ●hem it is not sayd whatsoeuer yee shall bind in earth shal be bound in heauen c. Earthly Princes indeed haue also authority to bind but the bodyes only but that * Sacerdotum vinculum ipsam e●i im animam contingit atque ad caelos vsque peruadit c. binding of Priests which I treate of toucheth the very soule it selfe and reacheth euen to the Heauens In so much as whatsoeuer the Priestes performe beneath the very same Almighty God doth aboue and the sentence * Seruorū sententiam Dominus confirmat of the seruant our Lord doth confirme And what is this truly elso but that the power of heauenly things is graunted by God vnto them Whose sinnes soeuer sayth he yee shall retaine they are retained What power I beseech you can be greater then this The Father gaue all power to the Sonne but I see the same power deliuered altogeather by the Sonne vnto them Wherefore as Christ had a speciall power of pardoning sinnes distinct from his power of preaching so had the Apostles to whome he gaue al power committed vnto him as S. Chrysostome auoucheth and our Sauiour himselfe witnesseth when before he imparted this authority he mentioneth his owne commission Ioan. 20. v. 22. saying As my Father sent me I also send you 5. The power of Priests to remit sinnes being thus established it remaineth I declare how Confession to a Priest the second point which our Aduersaryes deny is heerein implyed M. Fulke sayth Neither doth it follow of M. Fulke in c. 20. Io. sect 5. any necessity that men are bound to submit themselues to the Iudgment of Priests if they haue authority to forgiue sinnes But S. Augustine more ancient more holy more
Eue of Cain by which Tertullian S. Ambrose and others confirme Gen. 3. 4. Tertul. l. 2. ad Mar. Amb. l. de para c. 14 l 2. de Cain Abel c. 9. Chrys l. 3. de sacer Numb 9. v. 5. Lenit 5. v. 5. our doctrine I come to the Leuiticall Priests who being ordained by God to iudge of corporall Lepers al such as were insected with this disease were tyed to present themselues vnto them to acquaint them with their infirmityes and according to their iudgement to be admitted or expelled the Tents Whereupon S. Chrysostome vseth these wordes The Iewish Priests had leaue to iudge or try such as were purged from corporall leprosy but to our Priestes it is graunted not to try the purged but al ●ogeather to purge not the leprosy of the body but the infection of the soule The second figure is that confession which God commanded in the 5. Chapter of Numbers and 5. of Leuiticus where the circumstance of the text and Hebrew phrase most clearely demonstrate an expresse and distinct manner of Confession as Petrus Galatinus learnedly proueth by the refragable testimonies of many ancient Rabbins But if the Hithuaddu Gala. l. 10 cap. 3. figure required a particuler confession how much more the thing figured by it 10. Of which the Apostles likewise mention S. Luke Many of these that beleeued came confessing and declaring their Act. 19. V. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meschthahhin Sachel cuthebin deeds Or as the Greeke Hebrew or Syriacke word importeth Numbering their sinnes And it followeth that S. Paul to whome this Confession was made caused them that had imployed their time in the study of curious matters to burne their bookes which he could not haue done vnles they distinctly specifyed their faults vnto him S. Paul himselfe sayth God hath giuen vs the ministery of reconciliation c. Which is not only meant of the office of reconcilement 2. Cor. 5. V. 18. by publique preaching the word but by ministring also of the Sacrament as Caluin is pleased to allow acknowledging these wordes to be spoken of the Calu. l. 4. Instit c. 1. ● 22. Iac. 5. Orig. hom 2. in Leuit. Beds m hunc loc Conc. Laodic Can. 2. Sexta Syn. Can. 102. Basil in Regulis breuior inter 288. Leo ep 91. ad Theod. ep 80. ad Episc Campan Pausimus in Vita S. Ambros power and vse of keyes S. Iames exhorteth Confesse your sinnes one to another which Origen and Venerable Bede directly expound of Sacramentall Confession to a lawfull Priest Bede sayth The vncleanesse of the greater leprosy let vs according to the law open to the Priests and at his pleasure in what manner in what time he shall command let vs be carefull to be purified 11. The continuall practise of the Catholik Church euer after approued the same long before the tyme of Innocentius the third For of the custome of the Greeke Church not only the Councell of Laodicea and the sixth Synod but S. Basil also testifyeth who liued many hundred yeares before him It is necessary to confesse sinnes vnto them to whom the dispensation of the misteries of God is committed The vsage of the Latin Church S. Leo describeth in his Epistle to Theodorus and in his Epistle to the Bishop of Campania where he mentioneth secret confession to Priests to be the institution of Christ And Paulinus writeth of S. Ambrose That he wept so bitterly hearing secret confession as he wrong teares from the Penitent The practise of the Church of France and Germany is witnessed by the Councels assembled at Turin at Paris at Rhemes at Wormes and at Mogun●ia Concil Tu. 10. 3. c. 22. Concilium ●●hem can 12. 16. Concil Paris c. 32. 46. VVorms cap. 25. Mogun cap. 16. Aug. ep 180 Victor l. 2● de ●ersecutione Vanda. Orig. hō● 17. in Luc. hom 32 in Leuit. Cyp. ser 5. de Laps Atha in illa Verba Profecti in pagum Chrysost bom 33. in 10. l. 2. 3. de Sacerdo Lactantius de vera sapien lib. 4. prope finē Hier. in c. Isa l. 2 ep 18. ad Demetriadem Pacian ep ● ad Symp. Tertul. de Paniten cap. 7. Iero. ep ad Marcel 10. Damas de haeres c. 80. Guido de haeres Mat. Paris in Henric. 3. Hayn●o in Psal 31. Bern. in medita c. 9. Damia ep 1. Sparkes p. 322. p. 329. Hugode de S. Vict. l. 2. part 14. cap. 1. where the same manner of Confession is generally defined The doctrine vsage of the Church of Africke S. Augustine Bishop of Hippo shall declare saying It is a pittifull case when by the absence of Gods Priests men depart this life either not baptized or not absolued from their sinnes Which the very people of that Country vnderstood when they lamented the banishment of their Priests by the Arian Heretikes as Victor reporteth in this manner Who shall baptize these Infants Who shall minister pennance vnto vs and loose vs from the bands of sinnes 12. It would be too tedious to set downe the words of Origen S. Cyprian S. Athanasius S. Chrysostome Lactantius S. Hierome For Lactantius assigneth Confession and penance a note of the true Church S. Hierome tearmeth it The second table after shipwracke Pacianus and Tertullian do the like who liued notwithstanding many yeares before Innocentius the third So did the Montanists whom S. Hierome the Messalians whom S. Iohn Damascen the lacobites whom Guido and Matthoeus Parisiensis record to haue byn condemned they in former ages these in the yeare of our Lord 600. for affirming That we are to confesse our sins to God only and that Confession of sinnes to a Priest is not needfull So did Haymo so did S. Bernard Petrus Damianus Hugo de Sancto Victore who estsoones inculcate the necessity of Confession to the Preists of Gods Church In so much as D. Sparks shewed small sparks of grace when he affirmed our Confession first imposed as necessary in the Lateran Councell by Innocentius 3. about the yeare of our Lord 1115. No sparks of fidelity in citing Scotus and Antoninus as witnesses hereof who witnesse it not but witnesse the contrary For they both teach with vs that the generall Councell of Lateran determined the circumstance of tyme when Confession should be made and grant withall that the substance it Sozom. l. 7. c. 16. Sparkes p. 330. 331. Chrysoft ho●● 4. de Lazar. hom 3● in ca. 12. ad Haeb. in Psal ●0 Cassi● Costa 20. eap 8. Aug. l. 10. Confess c. 3. selfe and manner of Canfession was ordained by God 13. In lik sort he wrongfully abuseth Necturius Patriarch of Constantinople auouching him to haue abrogated secret Confession whereas it appeareth out of Socrates and Nicephorus that Nactarim only disanulled publike Confession to a publike and determinate Priest by reason of great scandall that theron ensued left euery one iudicio conscientiasu● To the Iudgment
for euer from the sight of his countenance and hath his soule infected with the vgly spot of sinne which the Schoolmen tearme Malum culpae The euill or desormity of the fault By the second he is liable to punishment and made guilty of the perpetuall paines of Hell 2. Secondly all * Greg. de Valen. disput 7. q. 14. puncto 1. de Satisfact S. Thomas 1. 1. q. 87. arti●ulo 6. alij communiter in eum locum Apoc. 18. ver 7. Field in ap pen. 1. par pag 66. Field vbi supra l. 3. of the Church cap. 16. and in append part 1. pag. 42. 43. Field ibidē pag. 43. Catholike Deuines accord that a deadly sinne being pardoned after Baptisme the whole guiltnesse of the fault is taken away in regard of the contagion it included and priuation of Gods grace But the guiltinesse and desert of punishment albeit it be vtterly released in respect of the eternall duration yet oftentimes some temporall chastisement remaineth to be suffered greater or lesser according to the measure of vnlawfull delights taken in sinne which the Holy Ghost enacted in the Apocalyps As much as shee hath glorified her selfe in delicacies so much torment mourning heape vpon her These be the immoueable grounds of true Theologie 3. Our Sectaries herein dissent from vs chiefly in this later point affirming no punishment to remaine where the fault is remitted For saith M. Field Where grace is so perfect that it expelleth sinfulnesse there it must worke aperfect reconciliation to God with which the guilt of punishement cannot stand Againe Charity saith he in such perfection as is able to purge out all impurity of sinne implieth dislike of that which in sinning was ill affected and sorrow for the same equtualent to the pleasure and delight taken in sinning and consequently doth satisfie God in suchsort as that no punishment shall come vpon him that so sorroweth Thirdly Christ quoth he suffered all that the iustice of God requireth not onely for the staine but also for the punishment due to sinne either before or after Baptisme to be committed therefore whensoeuer we are wholy purged by the infusion of Christs sanctifying grace from the deformity of all faults we are in like manner by the imputation of Christs satisfactory workes fully discharged from all touch of punishment And the contrary he dubbeth An heresie of the Papists And M. Fulke accounteth it Horrible blasphemy against the effect of Christs Passion Fulke in c. 8. ad Rom. sect 4. in ca. 2. 2. ad Cor. sect 2. Mat. 26. Ioan. ●0 Act. 24. v. 14. 4. But of such blasphemy the Sonne of God was appeached by the Scribes and Pharisies And of such heresy Tertullus the Oratour of the Iewes accused S. Paul Therefore we confesse with him that according to the way which you call heresy we doe so serue the Father our God belieuing all things that are written in the law and the Prophets Where it is often recorded that the Diuine Maiesty hath iustly inflicted vpon some the fine of punishment after the whole debt of sinne hath byn discharged God pardoned at the intercession of Moyses the crime of Idolatry the Iewes committed in adoring the golden Calfe notwithstanding he sayd I will visit this their sinne in the day of reuenge God pardoned the sister of Moyses and receaued her into his fauour Exod. 32. v. 34. he punished her notwithstanding with seauen dayes leprosy God pardoned King Dauict his murther adultery and pronounced absolution by the mouth of his Prophet Nathan Our Lord hath forgiuen thy sinne neuerthelesse Num. 12. v. 15. he imposed this penance and satisfaction But the Sonne which is borne of thee shalt dye God pardoned Adam our first Progenitour as appeareth in the booke of Wisdome 2. Reg. ●2 v. 13. 14. albeit after reconciliation he was not exempted from that heauy curse Because thou hast giuen eare to the voyce of thy wife accursed be the earth in thy worke Moreouer the Apostle reporteth Sap. 10. Vers 2. Gen. 3. Vers 27. 1. Cor. 11. Vers 30. Aug. tract 114. in Io. Droductior est poena quàm culpa ne parus putaretur culp● c. of certaine punished with death and grieuous diseases for their vnworthy receauing although some of them as we may piously suppose were reconciled to God before their departure 5. And not to be ouer long in particular examples all mankind feeleth the bitter scourge and calamitie of sinne as hunger cold wants sicknesses and death the iust imposed penalties of our fore-fathers transgression Notwithstanding many haue had the guiltinesse thereof cleansed before by the Sacrament of Baptisme Therefore S. Augustine most notably sayth The punishment is more prolonged then the fault least the fault might be little accounted of if the punishment ended with it S. Irenaeus writing of the pressures inflicted vpon Adam Eue and their posterity affirmeth Irand 3 cap. 35. They were thus chastised that neyther accursed they might wholy perish be abandoned of God nor without correction might perseuere contemning God 6. With these might be numbred diuers others who Aug tract 50. homil ho. 50 Cyp. serm de opere eleemosyn l. 1. ep 3. Hier. ep ad Eustochium de obitu Paulae Amb. l. ad virg laps cap. 8. Orig. hom 15. in Leuit. Tertul. l. de Poeniten Lact. de verasapionca 17. li. 6. de vero cultis cap. 13. Bafil in Psa 29. exponens vers il●●●● Conuertisti planctum meum c. Greg Naz. orat de Pauperum amore Pacianus in paraenesi ad Poenit. teach that the punishment remayning after sinne remitted by teares almesdeeds and other workes of Penance may be mitigated and released Of which mind S. Augustine is in his treatise of 50. Homilies And S. Cyprian sayth Sinnes and staines contracted after baptisme may by almesdeeds be washed away And in another place Our offences by satisfaction may be redeemed S. Hierome Long laughter ought to be recompensed with continuall weeping S. Ambrose A great crime needeth great satisfaction And therefore Origen calleth our good workes The price or ransome by which sinnes are redeemed Tertullian Lactantius S. Basill S. Gregory Nazianzen S. Pacianus and all the ancient Fathers preach nothing more then Penance and Satisfaction for offences past The ancient * Conc. Turonen Can. 22. Concil Laodicen ca. 2. Concil Ancyr can 4. 5. 8. 9. Conc. ● Nicen. can 11. Theodor. l. 4. haeret fabularum Dan. 4. Luc. 3. vers 8. 1. Cor. 11. Chrys hom 42. in Mat. Beda in cap. 11. 1 ad Cor. Matth. 4. Councels prescribe place of Penance tyme of Satisfactiō The ancient Priests after Confession inioyned Penance imposed Satisfaction The ancient Church condemned certaine Heretikes called Audiani because they gaue remission to such as confessed without prescribing tyme of Penance The Apostles the Prophets and Christ himself often exhorteth hereunto Daniel counselled Nabuchodonosor Redeeme thy sinnes with almedeeds
S. Iohn in the desert with habit with meate with voyce with deeds cryed Yield fruits worthy of Penance S. Paul saith If we did iudge our selues we should not be iudged which S. Chrysostome and Venerable Bede expound of seuere iudiciall affliction of our selues that we may not be punished of God Finally Christ himselfe began his preaching with this precept Doe Penance for the Kingdome of heauen is at hand 7. Diuers euasions M. Fulke and the rest of his faction heer seeke They answere that the penaltyes inflicted by Fulke in c. 2. ● Cor. sect 2. in c. 3. Matth. sect 4. c. Caluin l. 3. Inst ca. 4. the ancient Canons by the Apostles or by the hand of God were 1. For the publike discipline of the Church 2. For the exercise of vertue 3. As the fruits of true repentance 4. As cautions to beware of future sinnes Tet no way to sa●isfy the Iustice of God for precedent faults But the Scripture flatly declareth the affliction I mentioned to haue beene imposed for offences past The Prophet Nathan sayd to K. Dauid Because thou hast made thy enemyes blaspheme the name of our Lord for 2. Reg. 12. v. 14. Exod. 32. v. 34. Hier. epist 12. ad Gaud. this word the Son that is borne to thee shal dye And God himself sayd I in the day of reuenge will visit this their sinne Therfore he meant to punish their offence which notwithstanding was pardoned if we belieue S. Hierome 8. Likewise many innocent babes after the spot of Originall infection is cleansed by Baptisme are daily afflicted with the panges of sicknes with the agony of death not for the exercise of vertue nor for Penitentiall correction or future amendment of which they are vncapable but for the reuenge and chastisement of our first Fathers sinne Neither can we say that the death of King Dauids child was principally sent vnto him as a fruitefull caution or token of sorrow because he with teares with fasting with lying on the ground sought to shun it as much as he could which so vertuous a Prince would neuer haue done if it had beene any profitable caution or fruit of repentance much lesse could it be any Penitentiall correction for the publike satisfaction and discipline of the Church because he was so vnwilling to haue it Psa ● v. 7. Psa 34. v. 1● Psal 101. ver 10. 3. Reg. 21. ver 27. Ionae 3. v. ● 7. 8. Hiero. in his comm vpon the 3. of Ionas Ionae 3. v. 9. 10. Vid. Fran Riberum in cap. 3. Ionae in cap. 1. Na●um Aug. hom 5. ex 50. homilij●● 5 Non sufficit moresin melius c. nisi etiam de his quae facta sunt fatis●ias Deo c. Aug. in En●hyr ad Laurent ● 70. Cyp. ser de Lapfis Cyp. tract de oper Ele●mosyn Ch●ys hom 41. ad Popul Antio Lact. l. 5. di● i●sti ca. 13. Orig. ho. 3. in l. ludic Amb. l. 2. de Poenit●n cap. 5. come to passe vsing so many meanes to pacify God another way neither is it likely that the Church would haue inflicted such a punishment vpon him the teares likewise he shed in so great aboundance as he washed with them euery night his Couch the humbling of his soule in fasting the mingl●ng of his bread with ashes the wearing of sackcloth and meruailous humility which King Achab shewed the afflictions and voluntary fastings which the Niniuites their King their children their cattell endured were neither vsed for example to others or for amendment of their liues heereafter or for any other cause to asswage the wrath of God recompence the wrong their sinnes had done already pardoned by the secret Contrition sorrow of their harts as togeather with the interpretation of S. Hierome vpon this place the very wordes of the Niniuites Gods answere vnto them do both make manifest The Niniui●es intention was to satisfy God saying Who knoweth whether God will turue and pardon and returne from the fury of his indignation The Prophet replyeth in his person And God saw their works not the repentance only of their inward harts but the Pennance and Satisfaction of their outward workes and Herepented him of the euill he spake against them Howbeit they after slyding back into their former wickednes the subuersion of their Citty ensued which the Prophet foretold 9. Besides the authorityes of the Fathers are also pregnant that the punishments of which they speake were not only inflicted for exercise of present vertue or preuenting of future euills but also to satisfy God and redeeme offences past as nothing can be more euidently recorded S. Augustine pronounceth It is not inough to chang our manners to the better and decline from euills vnles God be also satisfyed for those things which be past by the gri●● of Pennance by the mourning of humility by the sac●ifice of a contrite hart almesdees cooperating thereun●o And in another place By almesdeeds for offences past God is to be made propitious and fauourable S. Cyprian God is to be implored our Lord is to be pacifyed with our Satisfaction Againe By good-workes God ought to be satisfyed by merits of mercy sinnes should be purged S. Chrysostome Let vs take reueng of our selues so we shall appease our Iudge Lactantius It is lawfull to satisfy God Origen As much tyme as thou hast spent in sinning so long humble thy selfe to God and satisfy him in Confession of Pennance S. Ambrose He that doth Pennance should not only wash away his offence with teares but with perfecter workes ought to couer and hide former faults that sinne may not be imputed vnto him ●asil interro 12. in eg breuioribus Psal 100. 10. S. Basil sheweth the reason heereof saying Albeit God in his only begotten Sonne as much as lyeth in him hath granted remission of sinnes to all yet because mercy and iudgement are ioyned togeather by the holy Prophet and he witnesseth God to be both mercifull and iust it is necessary that those thinges which are spoken of Pennance by the Prophets and Apostles be performed by vs that the iudgments of Gods iustice may appeare and his mercy Greg. Na zian orat insancta lu●ina be consumated to the condonation of sinners For as S. Gregory Nazianzen sayth It is a like euill remission without chastisment and chastisement without pardon because the one letteth go the raines too far the other restraineth them too much Wherefore that God may carry ouer vs an euen hand that his clemency may be mingled with some seuerity his iustice and mercy may meete togeather although he alwayes of mercy pardoneth the iniquity of repentant sinners yet he often bindeth them ouer to some temporall chastisement to satisfy thereby the rigour of his iustice as in the partiall iudgment of our professed enemyes all antiquity heerein Caluin l. 3. Inst c. 4. §. 8. Calu. 4 c. 12. §. 8. Kemnitius 2. par exam p. 181.
Philip Mornay generally all Protestars defend our perfectest actions to be nothing else as Caluin saith but Inquinamenta sordes filth and vncleaunesse Whereon it followeth that the greatest Charity and deepest sorrow man can haue drawing from inward concupiscence the staine of corruption as it rather increaseth then casteth forth the mudde of iniquity so it redoubleth and no way diminisheth the answerable smart of punishmēt But M. Field and M. Fulke insisteth with him That the satisfaction of Christ supposing repentance dischargeth vs of whatsoeuer we haue deserued to suffer for sinne I grant that Christ hath fully and superabundantly satisfied the wrath of his Father for al the transgressions of man and infinite more Fiel in appen r par ful 43. R●● th●se 〈◊〉 obiections in Greg. de Valenti● tom 2 disp 6 q 17. puncto 5. if they had beene possible Yet as it hath pleased him by saith hope and charity c. and by the Sacraments of the Church to deriue vnto vs the inestimable benefits of his sanctifying grace so he hath ordayned by our penall workes to apply vnto vs for sinnes voluntarily cōmitted after Baptisme the precious fruits of his bountifull and aboundant Satisfaction 16. Heer M. Field and his mates make their last encounter and say If our penall afflictions be only required to apply the Satisfactions of Christ they doe not satisfie the justice of God or if they doe either they deroga e from the sufficiency of Christs passion or God craueth one debt to be twise paied which is more at our bands then is sufficient I answer there are two kinds of Satisfaction the one absolute and perfect the other weake and imperfect not equally ballanced with the grieuousnesse of the offence but grounded on the fauourable acceptation of him that is offended According to the first Christ hath not only procured some little mitigation as M. Field maliciously chargeth the Romanists to teach but he Field in his 3. booke of the Church ● 16. fo 96 hath offered a full and more then equiualent ransome sufficiēt to release all mankind both from the whole fault and punishment of sinne According to the second by the value of our workes made worthy by Christ we truly satisfie the outrage committed against God not because he exacteth a double payment of the same this being subordinate dependant and deriued from our Redemers ransome nor because any supply is needfull to the Why God exacteth satisfaction of vs fully satisfyed by Christ see S. Thomas 1. 2. sufficient price of his innocent bloud but for that God at the first so decreed it for our greater benefit his higher glory for the dignity of his seruants conformity of the members with Christ their head 17. It is certaine our Blessed Sauiour by his prayers obtained of God all the gifts and graces which are bestowed vpon men and yet he commaundeth vs to aske and pray and by prayer to obtaine the selfe same thinges which he before by his prayers procured so although he hath perfectly satisfyed for all our offences he might likewise Field in his 5. booke of the Church c. 17. Pag. 55. require some satisfaction at our hands for our own behoofe and honour of his Father without any iniury or extorsion at all It is certaine that Christ by his humble obedience to his Father glorifyed him as much as all the dishonour cōmitted by sinners did euer disgrace him Notwithstanding M. Field 〈◊〉 regis●●ed these words in in sinning must by sorrow of hart disliking and detesting and by confession of mouth condemning former euilis restore that glory to God he tooke from him and seeke and take alloccasions the weaknes of his meanes will affoard to glorify God as much as he dishonoured him before O vnconquerable truth which so often forceth her enemyes to speake in her behalfe 18. Christ restored to his Father all the honour of which we depriued him by sinne and yet it is no iniury to Christ no exaction in God no iteration of payment the sinner himselfe restore that glory he tooke from him it is no offence according to M. Field he gloriyyeth God as much as he dishonoured him before And there is no question quoth he but these thinges are required to pacify Gods wrath fully pacifyed by the bloud of Christ Then there is no question I trow of this which is now in question that God may be satisfyed by our weake endeauours perfectly satifyed already by Christ For the pacitying of Gods wrath by restitution of his honour with sorrow dislike and detestation of former euills is the true satisfaction of his diuine justice of which we speake consisting in the compensation of precedent wronges by actions of submission and penall contrition according to our meane and Pu●ke in c. 2 2. ad Cor. sect 2 4. Calu. lib. 3. inst c. 4 5. 26. 27. c. seeble ability M. Field thus discomfited M. Fulke and Caluin renew the battell with a fresh Host of sundry testimonyes gathered some out of the Fathers most out of holy Writ which I marshall into three seuerall rankes or squadrons 19. In the first they assault vs with such places of Scriptures as declare our Sauiour Christ to haue offe●ed 1. 10. 2 V. 20 for vs a ful and perfect redemption He is the propitiation for our sinnes Behould the Lambe of God Behould he that taketh away 10. 1. V. 29. Hoeb 1 v. 3. the sinnes of the world Hauing by himselfe purged our sinnes sitteth on the right hand of the Maiesty on high Who was ●init en for our sinnes and wounded for our Transgressions By whose Esay 53. 15. 1 Petr 2. v. 24. stripes we are healed I answere as aboue that Christ hath offered indeed a most copious and perfect Satisfaction for all our trespasses but it must be often applyed vnto vs by our satisfactory workes vnles it be otherwise supplyed by the Indulgences and treasure of the Church of which heereafter 20. But Caluin opposeth against this the franke and Calu. lib. 3. inst c. 4. 25. seq free remission of sinnes made by Christ without hope of recompence without any paine or trauell of ours I answere Christs remission is free because he freely enlightneth vs with fayth and repentance freely receaueth vs into his fauour and reconcileth vs to God freely pardoneth the whole guilt of sinne freely offered a sufficient satisfaction for all the punishment due to sinne and freely Marc. 16. Haebr 5. Matth. 10. 16. also inspireth grace into vs by which our meane of themselues without it vn profitable satisfactions are acceptable vnto God which no way impayreth but much ennobleth the dignity freedome of his mercifull redemption For as he freely dyed for all men gaue Prouerb cap. 16. v. 6. himselfe a sufficient ransome for the saluation of all which effectually only profiteth them who belieue in him who obey him who take vp their crosse and follow
8. 2. ad Cor sect 3. 2. Cor. 1. v. 6. Collos 1. v. 24. Rom. 9. v. 3. Orig. hom 10. 24. in Num. 2. Cor. 8. v. 14. Leo the third c Anton 2. p. hist tit 16. cap. ● §. 23. Vrban the second d Ludger●● ep de S. Swiberto apud Surium tom 2. Innocentius the third and others graunted were alwayes dispensed out of the publike treasure of the Church 10. Moreouer it is conformable to Gods iustice auswerable to the Communion of Saints which we professe in our Creed agreable to the mutuall intercourse between members of the same body that the wants of one be supplyed by the store of others and that there be as I say a communication of benefits not only from the head to the members but also from one member to the rest of his fellow-members After which manner not only the chiefe Magistrates and Stewards of Gods house to whom he hath giuen commission to dispense his misteryes all his goods but euery particular man may by speciall intentiō apply not his spirituall merits as M. Fulke contentiously cauilleth but his satisfactory workes with which he aboundeth to such as need them So S. Paul offered his afflictions one while for the Corinthians another while for the Colossians now he desired to dye for the Romans then to be Anathema that is A Sacrifice as Origen expoundeth it for the Iewes For this cause he exhorteth the Corinthians to contribute largely to the poore of Hierusalem saying Let in this present tyme your aboundance supply their want that their aboundance may supply your want As if he should say communicate you now vnto them the superfluity Chrysost Theod. Thom. Haymo Primas Ambros Oecum Theophil in hunc locum Fulke ibid. sect 3. of your worldly wealth that you may interchangeably receaue from them the supererogatiō of their spirituall good deeds Of their integrity of life and trust in God sayth S. Chrysostome Of their commendable patience Theodoret Of their prayers S. Thomas Of their fastings Haymo And of many other such spirituall blessings which Primasius S. Ambrose Oecumenius and Theophilact insinuate So as M. Fulkes saucines is detestable in forcing most of them to his priuate sense against their words and meaning against the text of S. Paul and this profitable exchange of spirituall fauours for temporall gifts 11. In fine King Dauid plainely acknowledgeth the mutuall communication of which now I treate saying Psal 118. Psal 12● v. 3. I am made partaker of all that feare our Lord. And speaking of the Church which he calleth Hierusalem he sayth It is built as a Citty whose participation is in it selfe that is as in a politicke Common-wealth or publike Citty there is a generall trafficke for the common good of all euery particuler mans necessity so in the Church or Citty of God there is a participation or communion of spiritual workes of all to one end to one publike benefite and for the behoofe of euery priuate person In our naturall body one member sayth S. Augustine speaketh in behalfe of the Aug. in Psal 30. con 1. August tract 33. in Ioan. other The foot is troden on the tongue cryeth Why doest thou hurt me And in another place The eye only seeth in the body But what Doth the eye see to it selfe alone It seeth to the hand it seeth to the foot it seeth to the rest of the members c. The hand only worketh But what Doth it worke to it selfe It worketh to the eye So the foot walketh and laboureth for the rest of the members c. The same we see in a body Politicke One Cittizen taketh paine and dischargeth the debt of his fellowcittyzen Why then in this mysticall body of the Church 1. Cor. 12. Matth. 5● Luc. ● which S. Paul compareth to a naturall our Sauiour to a Politike body why I say may not one member suffer affliction and by satisfying the iustice of God according to his weaknes redeeme the fine of punishment which is laid vpon another Because sayth M. Fulke it is written Fulke in c. 1. ad Colos sect 4. Ezech. 18. v. 20. ad Gala. 6. v. 5. Psal 48. v. 8. The soule which sinneth euen that shall dye Euery one shall beare his owne burden And No man can redeeme his brother or giue a price to God for him A weake battery to shake the Fort of my former reasons For there is no questiō but the soule which sinneth mortally of which Ezechiel speaketh incurreth without sorrow and repentance eternal death No question but euery one shall beare his owne burden in way of merit or demerit albeit he may be holpen by others in way of satisfaction It is likewise out of doubt Basil in comment in hunc locum that no man can giue a ransome to deliuer his brother from the guilt of sinne and danger of damnation as S. Basil expoundeth that passage Neuertheles he may giue a price dedicated in the bloud of Christ to redeem him frō the punishment the fault being pardoned 12. But M. Fulke obiecteth Our Buls or Plenaryes are giuen à culpa poena Both from the fault and paine They M. Fulke in ca. ● 2. Cor. sect 4. 6. graunt a full remission of all sinnes as may be seene in the grand Iubiley of Pope Boniface the eight and in that which Leo the tenth granted to the Hospitall of S. Spiritus in Saxia Almae Vrbis I confesse such wordes may be sometyme inserted not that by the force of Pardons the guilt of sinne is released but because they alwayes require as a necessary disposition in sinners either the benefit of absolution or perfect Contrition when absolution cannot be obtained Therefore they are sayd to giue a Plenary or full remission of sinnes to pardon the fault and punishment the fault by contrition or by the Sacrament of Confession the punishment which remayneth by the Charter of Indulgence 13. Then M. Fulke excepteth against the number of M. Fulke in ca. 2. 2. ad Cor. sect 7. yeares some Pardons containe as thousands of yeares and Lents besides full remission of all sinnes I answere when any pardon expresseth many thousand yeares Indulgence they are vnderstood of the years or Lents of Pennance which by the ancient Canons of the Church were inflicted vpon sinners For whereas they assigned sometymes 7. sometymes 10. now 12. now 15. now 30. yeares punishment sometyme the mourning of the whole remnant of our Vide Burchar Epis VVorma de poenit Decret l. 19. de fornicat Decret l 17 Vbi haec probat ex Conc. Ancyran c. 15. ex poenitentiali Theod. ex Decr●t Eutychi Papae ex poen Romano Iob. c. 15. 1● life for certaine enormous crimes and often 40. dayes or a Lent of Pennance for lesser sinnes How many thousand yeares and how many Lents of such due correction are they behind on the score who haue a commō custome of sinning drinke
therfore to Fulke in c. 3. 1. ad Cor. sect 6. Basil in c. 9. Isa Niss orat ad Dornicent Theod in 3. 1. ad Cor. Oecum in eum locū S. Dionys de Eccles Hier. c. 7. Athan. q. 34. ad Antio S. Basil vbi supra S. Cyr. Cat. Mystag 5 Chrys bo 41 in c. 15. 2. ad Cor. Fulke in his confutation of Purgitory p. 237. 260. 371. 313. Bellar. l. 1. de Purgat cap. 11. the Grecians whome M. Fulke hath the face to belye in this manner The opinion of Purgatory was neuer receaued in the Greeke Church S. Gregory Nissen Theodoret and Oecumenius who receaued beleeued and taught it beare witnes against him in behalfe of their Church S. Gregory Nissen his wordes not to be ouer tedious in repeating the rest are these Man after sinne in many toylsome labours ought to be exercised that taught by experience he might return to his first happynes all vitious affections being purged forth either in this world by a sober course of life c. or after our departure hence by the fornace of Purgatory fire S. Dionyse S. Athanasius S. Cyril S. Chrysostome S. Ephrem S. Basil and Epiphanius all Grecians were al of the same mind holding with vs prayer for the dead as M. Fulke much forgetting himselfe confesseth of most of them by name in his confutation of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead where also he hath these wordes In the buriall of Constantine there is mention of Prayer for his soule according to the errour of the tyme. Which was notwithstanding but 300. years after Christ about the time of the first Nicen Councell and he buryed in the Greeke Church of Constantinople 18. Finally that no proofes might be wanting to fortify a truth so generally impugned by our new-refined Ghospellers Cardinall Bellarmine deriueth the opinion of some purging place after this life from the commō consent of all sorts of people of Iewes Gentils Philosophers Poets and Turkes As from Iosephus Plato Cicero Virgil Claudian and Mahomet whose testimonyes he alleadgeth Iosephus l. de bello ludaic c. 19. Plato in Gorg. Phaedone Cic. in som Scip. in fine Virg. 6. Aeneid Claudian l. 2. in Ruffi circ finem Mahum in Alcorano Petr. Gal. de arca Catho verit l. 6. c. 9. 10. The Authour of the Protest Apol tract 1. sect 4. subdi 2. Fulke in c. 8. Luc. sect 5. in 5. Apoc. sect 1. Rabby Haccados l. qui inscri bitur Reuelator arcanorum Rab. Simeon apud Rab. Haccados Oecolamp in l. ep Zuing Oecolam l. 1. p. 19. Zuing l. 3. p. 560. 561. Peter Mart. in locis commun Anglitè pag. 2. c. 18. D. Barlow in his defence of the Protestant Religion pag. 173. M. Iacob in M. Bilsons booke of the full Redēption p. 188. Bils ibidem pag. 189. c. Danaeus ad Rob. Bellar. disp par 1. p. 176. VVhitaker contra Duraeum l. 8. pag. 567. Rubb Symeon in l. Zoar in cap. 18. Gen. Rabbi Dauid in psal 32. Rabbi Isaac in Lucer lucis con 1. p. 2. c. 2. Fox in his acts and monu 1313. 1315. Luch in disput Lipsia not to credit their authorityes any furthet then to shew that this doctrine sprang out of the bowels of nature and not from the priuate policy or inuention of man Petrus Galatinus the Author of the Protestāts Apology for the Romā Church learnedly gather it from the old Rabbines and from the late Reformers themselues from some who grant a third place of Limbus Patrum which M. Fulke and our English Sectaryes stoutly deny Rabby Haccados who liued before Christ writeth in his person I haue decreed to descend into hell to redeeme the soules of the iust which my Father did abandone thither in the rod of his indignation Rabby Simeō agreeth with him heerein So doth Oecolampadius Zuinglius and Peter Martyr who expresly allow Limbus Patrum 19. And touching the ancient writers D. Barlow auoucheth This passeth most rife amongst the Fathers who taking Inferi for Abrahams bosome expound it that Christ went thither ad liberandum liberandos to conueigh the Fathers deceased before his Resurrection vnto the place where now they are Which doctrine M. Iacob confesseth All the Fathers with one consent affirme Neither doth M. Bilson Danaeus or Whitaker deny it but he discardeth it as their errours From others it is deduced who directly acknowledge Purgatory it selfe Rabbi Simeon auerreth of such as are temporally punished in the next life After they are purged from the filth of their sinnes then doth God cause them to ascend out of that place See Rabbi Dauid Rabbi Isaac and others confirming the same Which Latymer also an earnest Protestant and Foxian Martyr confesseth And Luther his fore-runner sayth I strongly beleeue yea I dare boldly say I know there is a Purgatory Concerning the Fathers M. Sutcliffe graunteth of S. Gregory the Great He allowed Purgatory D. Humfrey sayth He and Austen brought it into England Nay long before S. Gregory or this Augustine our Apostles dayes the Magdeburgians recite and reiect the sayings of Lactantius and S. Hierome appertaining to Purgatory They write of Origen Sutcl subtler c. 4. Doctor Humfrey par 2. lesuit rat 5. pag. 5. 627. Magdeb. Centu. 4. col 304. Cent. 3. col 265. col 87. Fulke in his Confu of Purgat p. 78. He appointed Purgatory as a punishment of sinnes Besides The seeds of Purgatory are heere and there scattered in Origens workes M. Fulke acknowledgeth of S. Angustine the Doctour of the Church Augustine speaketh of the amending fire in the place by M. Allen alleadged He doth so indeed but Augustine had no ground of that fire but in the common errour of his tyme. O too to pittious answere Hath M. Fulke sense to deny and had Augustine no ground to affirme Was it cōmon in Augustines tymes and defended by him and shall it be repealed and condemned in vs 20. I will stand no longer in gathering the suffrages of these our enemyes reason it selfe giueth sentence on our side Two depart this life one who hath laboured in the schoole of vertue many yeares togeather is free from the guilt and hath fully satisfyed for his offences past another who hath runne a wicked race al the dayes of his life yet through the mercy of God repenteth in the end is pardoned of his sinnes but hath no leasure to accomplish any satisfaction at all If this second person dying Deut. 25. v. 2. at the same instāt with the former partake the ioyes of heauen as soone as he God were vniust to reward him equally with the other who performed before condigne satisfaction Therefore he must be delayed for a season of his felicity vntill the penalty of sinne be discharged because it is an inuiolable decree of our vpright Iudge According to the measure of the sinne shall the measure also of the stripes be 21. Againe I suppose three seuerall persons the one dyeth pure from
all kind of sinne another guilty of mortall the third only spotted with some veniall fault The first whither goeth he To Heauen immediatly The second whither goeth lie To Hell no doubt The third whither goeth he Not to Hell because he is departed in the grace and fauour of God Not to heauen immediatly Apoc. 21. v. vlt. because Nothing defiled can enter that kingdome Therfore to some purging place where his soule may be cleansed frō the staines of infection 22. No such place is necessary sayth M. Field for Field in appen 1. p. fo 65. 66. by the dolours of death at the moment of dissolution all impurity of sinne is purged forth But how can this be so Death is the punishment of Originall and not any remedy against actuall sinne It is the state and condition of our corruptible nature inflicted on the Reprobate as well as on the Elect. And so neither by it selfe nor by the ordinance of God hath force and vertue to scoure out of our souls all the rust of sinne a prerogatiue denyed by you to the holy Sacraments of God And such a prerogatiue as is proper indeed to the excellency of Martyrdome and not common to the departure of euery faythful sinner whose panges are often more short and farre lesse painefull then the grieuous dolours of the cleane and vnspotted 23. Besides to procure this abolishment of sinne Field ibid. fol. 60. M. Field requireth Charity and sorrow in such perfection as may worke our perfect reconciliation to God And may not thousands or some at least with the spot of veniall or remainder of mortall crime be taken out of this world either in their sleep or vnawares before they arriue to that depth of sorrow It being so hard a thing in perfect health much harder in the agony of death impossible in tyme of sleep to attaine vnto it Or if you pretend the prouidence of God to be so carefull of his elect as they cannot be surprised vpon a sudden to what effect I pray are those exhortations of Christ so often repeated in Scripture Matt. 24. Matt. 25. That we pray and be watchfull least death preuent vs before we are aware To what effect the Parable of the foolish Virgins the Parable of Death stealing vpon vs like a thiefe To what effect are the labours and works of Pennance many zealous followers of Christ vndertake to expiate the faults of their former life when euery faythfull belieuer let him be neuer so slouthfull in this behalfe shal be sure in the last houre to haue grace inough to redeeme the debt and cancell the obligation of his sinnes This is a doctrine I graunt sutable to Protestant professiō it tendeth to the restraint of vertue it tendeth to all vitious and Epicurean liberty it ministreth occasion of slouth to Christian people and maketh God tooto indulgent to their idle sluggishnes But they that make him authour of the horrible iniquityes of the Reprobate what meruaile though they would haue him a fauourer of the smal imperfections and negligences of his Elect And rather then they will iniury as they fondly surmise the bloud of Christ they iniuriously blaspheme and truly wrong heerin the Iustice of God 24. To be briefe Caluin and Plessy Mornay affirme The hereditary naughtines and corruption of Originall sinne drowneth Calu. lib. 2. I●st cap. 1. §. 8. 9. l. 3. inst cap. 15. §. ● Plessy l. 3. de Eucbar cap. 2● as it were with a deluge the whole nature of man so that no part remayneth free from this filthy contagion Secondly they auouch No worke proceedeth from man be he neuer so perfect but is defiled with the staines of sinne Graunt these assertions true which commonly all Protestants defend how can there be either charity or sorrow in such perfection as is able to purge out all impurity of sinne When the most perfect Charity it selfe is impure and stayned how shall these staynes be taken forth By some other act of charity or worke of repentance But this worke also issuing from the inward rottenes of mans corrupted nature shall still be putrifyed with Originall infection 25. For this cause D. Field is so vnconstant in resoluing Field in append 1. part p. 66. p. 65. ibid. in appe● 1. par p. 4. p. ●4 65. how or when the whole vncleanes of sinne is washed from the soule as he wauereth and reeleth vp and downe not knowing where to take hold One while he sayth It is purged out by Charity and sorrow of sinning otherwhile by the dolours of death then by the very separation of soule and body wrought by death but when he dareth not auouch and therefore stammeringly vttereth It is in or immediatly vpon the dissolution of soule and body in the first entrāce of the soule into the state of the other world What giddines is heere If by the dolours of death al sinnefullnes be expelled how in the moment of dissolution If in that moment how immediatly vpon it How in the first entrance into the next life Or if in that entrance how doth Charity then worke or sorrow procure it Read his wordes Field in append 1. part p. 4. 26. The vtter deletion and full remission of their sinnes the perfect purging out of sinne being in or immediatly vpon the dissolution in the last instant of this life and first of the next and not while the body and soule remaine conioyned Pitty it is great pitty to see vnto what distresse a man of wit and learning may be driuen by the weaknesse of his cause For heere M. Field in these few wordes maketh either two instances immediatly togeather the last of this life and first of the next and so composeth diuisible tymes of indiuisible moments against the principles of Philosophy or he supposeth the instant in which sinne is remitted to be intrinsecall to this life and extrinsecall to the next and so crosseth himselfe in his owne speach affirming this full remission of sinne both to be and not to be while the body and soule remaine conioyned Or he taketh the instant of Purgation to be extrinsecall to this life and intrinsecall to the next And contrary to the whole stream of Sectaryes he alloweth with vs a remission or Purgation of sinne and Purgatory-place after this life at least for a moment For that which is done must be done in some place or els it is not done at all To which of these inconueniences he will yield I know not to one he is constrained And if I may gesse at the meaning of his variable and vnconstant speaches seeing he will not haue the perfect purging out of sinne c. while the body and soule remaine conioyned he alloweth it after the dissolution and so admitteth a remission and purgation of sinne in the next life which his fellowes renounce he himselfe would seeme to impugne 27. But when I pray is this perfect purging out of of sinne
day of generall resurrection after which tyme no Purgatory remayneth but all the elect shall presently raigne in peace Thirdly that saying is specially directed to those rare and constant persons that shall endure the brunt and withstand the fury of Antichrists persecutions who though they be not all crowned with Martyrdome yet they departe this life as Ribera like himselfe iudiciously noteth with most singular and eminent sanctity consequently with freedom immunity from all the mulcts and penaltyes of sinne Or if any sinnefull drosse remaine from which they must be purged after death they are sayd notwithstanding to cease from their labours and rest in peace because they are discharged from the troubles calamityes and persecutions of this life are ranged amongst the number of them who shall partake of eternall rest are secure from the danger of sinne and feare of damnation and are infallibly certain of the fauour of God and their future felicity which affoardeth vnspeakable ioy peace and comfort to their mindes The words of S. Cyprian obiected by M. Fulke Fulke against Purgat pag. 140. Cyp. trct 1. cont a Demetr ianum Ambros l. debono mortis e. 2 Chrys bo 2. de Lazaro Fulke in his confut of Purg. in c. 2. 2. ad Cor. sect 1. After our departure hence there is no place of Pennance no effect of Satisfaction The wordes of S. Ambrose No remission of sinnes can there be made which hath not beene heere procured The like of S. Chrysostome are all vnderstood of no remission or satisfaction to be made in the next life of mortall deadly sinnes of which we haue not had in this detestation and sorrow 33. The iniury to Christ the euacuation of his Passion which M. Fulke often inculcateth to ensue of Purgatory is largely refuted in the Treatise of Satisfaction to which I referre the Reader for his full satisfaction heer conclude in a word That as the prayers we make vnto God do not lessen or extenuate the feruent prayers of Christ once offered earnest intercessiō he now maketh in our behalfe so neither the dolorous griefes which in this life we suffer or Purgatory-paines we indure in the next do anyway euacuate but rather enrich the treasure of his manifold sufferings sith they depend and borrow their whole fruit vertue and efficacy from the inexhausted Mine of his incomparable merits Sith they are enhaunced by his Passion and dipped in the liquour of his pretious bloud in which I humbly beseech the diuine piety to soake these my labours and steep the paines of all such as peruse them that it may so fully auaile to wash away the lees and cleanse forth the staines of our soules as we may neuer need heerafter either the scouring soape or raging fire of Purgatory flames The end of the third Booke An aduertisement GENTIL Reader wheras M. D. Bilson hath printed his booke Of Christian Subiection both in quarto and in octauo these are to aduertise thee that most commonly I doe cite that in quarto as also the other of M. Whitaker de Scriptura Ecclesia as they were printed before they were last compiled togeather in one volume for that the quotations of page leafe do otherwise disagree FINIS Faultes escaped in the printing to be corrected In the first Part. IN the Epist to the Reader pag. 3. line 3. ferrret euery one out reade ferret them out of euery c. Ibid. Epist pag. 4. l. 14. occosion reade occasion Pag. 7. l. 24. on reade of pag 34. l. 5. Canon the Canon pag. 40 l. 29. one another to one another pag. 49. l. 25. which with pag. 50 l. 17. out the. reade out of the. pag. 51. l. 13. their other Ibid. l. 28. is it pag. 74. l 6. depth the depth pag 80. l. 1. waiteth writeth pag. 82. l. 30. in the. pag. 84. l. 6. same substance same in substance pag. 91. l. 9. corruption incorruption pag. 95 l. 11. euen euer pag. 104. l. penult glorifieth glorieth pag. 110. l. 18 purchased purchase pag. 11o l. 18. cruell a ●●●ell pag 15. l. 15. of to Ibid. line 28 clamous clamorous pag 136. l. 1. refragable irrefragable pag. 115. 11. glorifieth glorify pag. 188. l. 5. Not. Nor. pag. 190. l. 1. out these out of these pag. 201. l. 25. others other pag 207. l. 19. Carninall Cardinall pag. 221. l. 14. But. By. pag. 227. 9. Leo. of Leo. pag. 229. l. 5. makes markes Ibid. l. 29. Paul not bad Paul had not had pag. 233. l. 9. stying styrring Ibid. l. vlt. Crinthus Cerinthus pag. 237. l. 29. sinne signe pag. 238. l. 1. partes are partes pag. 239. l. 3. far and far pag. 240 l. 15. worships worship Ibid. l. 24. Abias Abdias pag. 241. l 15. lawfull awfull pag. 242. l. 4. as curteous as a courteous Ibid. l. 20. nuture nurture pag. 245. l. 16. sonne sonnes Ibid l 29. no. not pag 246. l. 27 honour I honour pag 252. Image Christ Image of Christ pag. 263. l. 20. expect from expect it from pag. 277. l. 3. and. of pag. 278. l. 19. a as as a. pag. 275. l. 15. deleatur the. pag. 285. l. 8. some solemne pag. 331 l. 3. of the Iudgement of the day of Iudgement pag. 333. l. 26. prayers prayers pag. 335. l. 21. deleatur of Other lesse faultes by reason of the obsoure Copy in many places absence of the Authour the Reader himselfe will easily obserue and courleously correct as he readeth AN ANTIDOTE OR TREATISE OF THIRTY CONTROVERSIES VVith a large Discourse of the Church IN WHICH The soueraigne truth of Catholike doctrine is faythfully deliuered against the pestiferous writinges of all English Sectaryes AND In particuler against D. WHITAKER D. FVLKE D. REYNOLDS D. BILSON D. ROBERT ABBOT D. SPARKES and D. FIELD the chiefe vpholders some of Protestancy some of Puritanisme some of both Deuided into three Partes By S. N. Doctour of Diuinity THE SECOND PART Deut. 32. vers 30. How should one be able to pursue a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight Is it not therefore because their God hath sold them and our Lord hath inclosed and made them thrall Permissu Superiorum M. DC XXII THE principall maintainers of Protestancy of whome I spake in the former page are D. BILSON and D. FIELD THE pillars of Puritanisme are D. REYNOLDS and D. SPARKE who where chosen Proctours for the Precisian Faction in the Conference before his Maiesty at Hampton-Court THE Abbettours of both are D. WHITAKER D. FVLKE and D. ROBERT ABBOT who sometimes defend the articles of the one sometimes of the other THE TABLE Shevving all the Controuersies discussed and maintayned in this Second Part. THE FOVRTH BOOKE The Sixteenth Controuersy MAintayneth Originall sinne to be abolished by Baptisme and Concupiscence remaining to be no ●nne against D. Whitaker D. Field D. Abbot pag. 1. The second Chapter of this Controuersy IN which Concupiscence is more particularly proued to be no sinne Other
washed but not purifyed exorcised and breathed on but not infranchised from the power of the Diuell Say also that bloud is shed for them in remission of sinnes but they are cleansed with the remission of no sinne these be strang thinges which you teach new thinges which you teach false thinges which you teach we wonder at the strang beware of the new reproue the false If he thus canuased them for denying the VVhitaker l. 8. aduersus Duraeum and in his answere to 8. reason of M. Campain f. 22● in English In his marginall ●ots added out of his defence purgation of infants soules who acknowledged in them nothing to be purged how would he haue ratled you who acknowledg them defiled yet not purifyed from their ordure You say I confesse their persons are accepted through the mercy of God their faults are not imputed they are outwardly couered with the veile of grace but within within lurketh the venome which infecteth the whole man within in themselues in the secret bowells of their soule they are as deeply tainted poysoned and corrupted as when they were first borne the children of wrath the sonnes of darknes and of vtter perdition 18. O Diuellish facriledge O hatefull barbarisme which Whitaker himselfe would seeme to abhorre for being charged therewith first by M. Campian after by Duraeus he answereth That channell of sinne doth remaine not within them that haue attayned true righteousnes as you slaunder vs to teach but by the power of the Holy Ghost it is dayly purged out You see he would fayne wash his handes and plead not guilty of this hideous blasphemy but examine him vpon the former interrogatoryes and you shall find him as innocent as Pilate was from the bloud of Christ Aske him or any of his followers what is purged by renouation from the soules of the righteous Is the whole staine of Originall infection cleansed forth and do the scarres the infirmityes only abide We desire no more you recant your heresy and ioyne handes with vs. Or is any part of the contagion although it be essentially a priuation and consist not of parts scoured out by infusion of grace Not so for this liquor is so pretious as it cannot endure the spot of mortall crime the bed of our soules is too narrow to lodge any part of the one with the presence of the other And the Holy Ghost too full of purity might and goodnes to create a worke so imperfect a monster so deformed as I haue partly already and shall more fully demonstrate in the next Controuersy which followeth This is more largly proued in the next cōtrouersy of inherent iustice Notwithstanding let vs graunt that some part is purged out heerof it must needs ensue that that which by parts is taken away may at length be wholy destroyed for euery finite thing by subtraction of finite parts must of necessity be exhausted in the end Therefore if we be often renewed by the power of the Holy Ghost we may in this life at least in long processe of tyme and dayly increase of vertue be perfectly cleansed from all spotes of sinne Which Whitaker neuerthelesse and all his complices VVhitak vbi supra Feild Abbots loc citais account impossible obstinatly persisting that as long as we dwell in this world sinne must needs dwell in vs and such of it owne nature is mortall and damnable for veniall they deny What glosse then what exposition can they make of the wordes before cyted But that the chānell of sinne is sayd to be purged out because it is resisted kept in and restrained from breaking forth into workes of iniquity wrought with full consent for iniquity still worketh as themselues confesse not much vnlike the wickednes of him who by sleep is hindred from voluntary mischiefe or rather like a hidden impostume or poysoned canker which cannot be cured but is stopped by Physicke from further infection And this is the abhomination of which we condemne them an abhomination not fit to be proposed to Christian eares or further refuted if necessity did not presse vs with pens of Christians THE SECOND CHAPTER IN WHICH Concupiscence is more particularly proued to be no sinne Other obiections to the contrary answered against Doctour Whitaker Doctour Feild and Maister Abbots MERVAILE not Courteous Reader that after so large a discourse and full confutatiō premised I shold notwithstanding Originall sinne in habiting as Protestāts hold in the regenerat is the only ground of many other their impious paradox● more exactly refell this dangerous paradox of our home-b●ed fin irremediably lurking in the bowells of nature The reason is because I find it the generall head-spring or poysoned source from whence sundry puddles of other venemous errours are drawn For from hence our Protestants sucke that deadly ba●● that all the actions of man euen his deuoutest prayers best workes and desires are stayned with the aspersion of mortall crime because they passe through the stinc●ing channell of human corruption Hence they deny the merit of our good deedes wrought by grace because there is no good●es in vs pleasing to God from which they should proceed hence their impossibility of fullfilling Gods Commandments for that euery action of the iust is of it owne nature a transgression of his law hence no inherent but a vaine imputatiue righteousnes for ech one in all his facultyes pestered with this capitall vice no inward iustice no inherent grace but a meere outward imputation belongeth vnto him hence their iustification by fayth alone and apprehension of Christs promises applyed vnto them and not through the dignity of their workes enhaunced by Christ hence no difference betweene the workes of the misbeleiuing Infidel Bell in his down-fall p. 49. Abbot in his defence c. cap. ● p. 176. faithfull Christian but that they both damnably offend in whatsoeuer they do only the misdeedes of the faythfull are not imputed vnto them the faults of the Infidels are hence no freedome of will to performe any morall good no liberty in man to cooperate with God when he first moueth awaketh and calleth him out of the state of sin hence I say from this Cancker of concupiscence as from the sincke of mischiefe in our Sectaryes conceit creepeth the infection of all the fornamed heresyes which pernicious conceit that they may more plausibly maintayne they distinguish following the doctrine of our Deuines concupiscence into two sorts actuall habituall habituall is the habit the inward corrupt quality or powers of the inferiour portion to exorbitant motiōs actuall in the immediat act the vntoward motion or affection it selfe both which they account not only to vndergo the name but to partake the essence and nature of sinne in so much as they hold the vnuoluntary motions of concupiscence although they preuent the vse of reasō although they be resisted and suppressed yet to be truely sinnefull in themselues and transgressions of the law Thus they 2.
places The same S. Paul writing to the Corinthians sayth As we haue 1. Cor. 15. v. 49. borne the image of the earthly let vs also beare the image of the heauenly but the Image of earthly Adam we haue truly borne by the deadly impression of internall and hatefull sinne Cent. 3. c. 4. Column 48. therefore we must truly beare the figure of Christ by the beautifull stampe of internall and acceptable grace as Origen cyted by the Centurists doth plainely insinuate and the Apostle likewise confirmeth in his Epistle to the Ephesians Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man which according to God is created in Iustice and holynes of Ephes 4. v. 24. truth behold we haue not the new man imputed vnto vs but we put him on vs formed and created not in signe and sanctification but in iustice and holynes of truth and that according to God Besides it is sayd We are buryed with him by ad Rom. 6. Baptisme to the end that as Christ did rise from death so we may walke in newnes of life Vpon which wordes S. Augustine auerreth Aug. in Enchir. cap. 52. That as in Christ there was a true resurrection so in vs there is a true iustification Whosoeuer then detracteth from the truth of our infused iustice detracteth from the verity of Christs resurrection and whosoeuer impayreth the perfection of this darkneth also the glory of that S. Chrysostome commenting vpon that passage of S. Paul aboue cyted You are washed you are sanctifyed you are ● ad Cor. 6. v. 11. iustifyed sayth He sheweth that you are not only made cleane but holy and iust Illuminated and made perfect sayth S. Clement of Alexandria Of old made new of humane diuine sayth S. Gregory Nazianzen Which are most euident testimonyes Clem. l. 1. Pedago cap. 6. Nazian ora in san bap for my purpose yet to leaue no place of tergiuersation to wrangling Sophisters I will further corroborate this chiefe and fundamentall article with other most cleare and irrefragable arguments 8. That grace and renouation is perfect entire and not the effect but the true cause of our iustification by the VVhitak l. 8. aduers Dutaeum very consent of our Aduersaryes which absolueth vs from sinne endueth vs with purity and holynes in the eyes of our Creatour engrafteth vs into Christ vniteth vs vnto God and giueth vs life in him maketh vs his adopted children entitleth vs to the right and purchaseth the inheritance of our eternall kingdome All this is wrought not by any other precedent cause but by that inherent Rom. ● v. 4. iustice or infused charity which God deriueth into our soules therefore that maketh vs truly righteous and iust before the Tribunall of his highnes First it cleanseth vs Ibid. v. 7. from our sins as S. Paul to the Romans defineth saying We are buryed togeather with Christ by Baptisme into death Rom. 8. v. 2. Tertul. l. de resur carn c. 46. Basil de spir san c. 15. Aug. l. 1. de nupt concup c. 22. Lib. de lib. arbit c. 14. 15. 16. de sprit liter 8. 17. What death but the death of sinne of which it immediatly followeth he that is dead is iustifyed from sinne to wit is released and absolued from sinne by the newnes of life wherin he resembleth the resurrection of Christ Againe The law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath deliuered me from the law of sinne where Tertullian insteed of deliuered vseth the word manu misit hath set free like a bound man enfranchized and set at liberty by the benignity of his Maister S. Basil explicating the former place sayth The spirit infuseth liuely and reuiuing force recouering our soules from the death of sinne into a new life And S. Augustine the later writeth thus The law of the spirit of life in Christ hath dissolued the guilt of concupiscence procuring remission of all sinnes who doth also often testify that the law of the spirit of life is the grace of the new Testament written in our harts Secondly it doth not only expell the mists of sinne but garnisheth also our soules with the lustre of vertue as I haue already conuinced in my first encounter against M. Abbot which cannot be interpreted Ephes 1. v. 4. of signes of beauty grateful to men who pierce not into the closet of our soule nor behould the light and brightnes therof mentioned aboue Therefore it must Ioan. 15. 1. Cor. c. 12. v 26. needs be expounded of the purity splendour and holynes it displayeth before the face of God according to that of S. Paul He chosevs that we should be holy and immaculate in his sight in charity that is by meanes of his habituall charity harboured in our brests 9. Thirdly this inward renouation doth truely incorporate vs in the mysticall body of our Lord Sauiour Coloss 3. v. 13. Gal. 3. v. 17 Rom. 8. v. 11. Aug. de spir lit c. 29. Rom. 13. v. 13. 14. it engrafteth vs like liuely branches into him our true vine it maketh vs the body of Christ and members of member Doinge on sayth S. Paul to the Collossians the new man him that is renewed vnto knowledge according to the image of him that created him To the Galathians as many of you as are baptized in Christ haue put on Christ. And how haue yee put him on but as the same Apostle testifyeth By his spirit dwelling in you Wherof S. Augustine sayth By the spirit of Christ incorporated made a member of Christ euery one may inwardly affoarding increase accōplish works of iustice Besids that very word to put on Christ often vsed in holy Write doe on the armour of light doe yee on our Lord Iesus Christ according to the Hebrew * Indui haebraic● la●a● Isa 61. Chrys in 1. c. ad Gal. in c. 3. ad Rom. Cyril l. 9. in Genes Hieron ad Pamach Rom. 6. v. 10. 1. Cor. 6. v. 17. Ioan. 14. v. 23. 1 Cor. 3. v. 16. 17. 1. ep Ioan. c. 3 v. 24. 1. Ioan. 4. v. 16. 1. Ioan. 4. v. 17. Rom. 6. v. 11. Augu. de verbis Apostol ser 18. 28. l. de ciuit Dei c. 24. phrase and allusion to the long gownes of the Iewes signifyeth great plenty and aboundance of grace sanctity and iustice with which they that put on Christ are inwardly clad as it were with a rich and gorgeous robe which doth not only couer the nakednes but wholy adorneth the temple of our soules with heauenly rayes of incomparable vertues Therefore Isay calleth it The vestment of saluation the garment of iustice or coate of ioy as the 70. Interpreters or vestment Iesus as other translate it wherof read S. Chrysostome S. Cyrill S. Hierome 10. Fourthly by this inhabiting grace a true vnion is made a league is contracted betweene God and vs We liue to him Are one spirit with him
we attribute lesse power of imputation to their merits then to the merits of Christ when we vtterly deny the imputation of theirs and absolutly graunt the imputation of his yet that it sufficeth not to make vs truely iust But concerning Saints we only hould that their merits may by way of impetration obtaine for vs increase of grace We teach that the surplusage of their satisfactions may by holy indulgences be applyed vnto vs but that their merits should be thus applyed we neuer teach Christ only say we hath merited for himselfe and vs his obedience his humility his iustice hath beene only the efficient and meritorious cause of our Iustice and not the merit of any Saint or Angell whosoeuer 20. Therefore that which M. Abbot reciteth out of Abbot loc citato Matth. Paris in Hen. 3. Matthew of Paris of the Cistercian Friers who communicated vnto other the participation of their good workes is only vnderstood of their penall and satisfactory works which by reason of the neere coniunction and mutuall intercourse that is betweene the members of Christs mysticall body are not only profitablle to the doers but appliable also to the benefit of any their fellow-mem-bers after which sort we graunt that the Passiōs of Christ are far more forcibly applyed vnto vs and the sufferings of Saints as dedicated and consecrated by the dignity of Coloss 1. v. 24. 2. Cor. ● v. 6. Cypr. ep 13. 14. 15. VVhitak l. 8. aduers Duraum ●ag 60. Abbot in h●s 〈◊〉 cap. 4. Perkins in his reforms Cath. c. 4. his pretious bloud So S. Paul reioyced in his tribulations one while for the Colossians another while for the Corinthians And the Martyrs of the primitiue Church often communicated vnto others the fruit of their bands chains and afflictions for although one cannot as I say properly merit for his friend yet he may beare the burden and discharge the debt which he oweth Hence our Aduersaryes picke a new occasion of quarrell for say they as one may be truly freed from his debt released out of prison by the payment which another disburseth for him so we may be truly made iust by the iustice of Christ by which he intierly pleased and fully satisfyed the law of God But the difference and disparity is cleare for to discharge the foresayd debt is an extrinsecall actiō which may be performed by another and accepted of by the creditor as the payment of the debter but to be made iust is an intrinsecal thing which requireth an intrinsecal forme and cannot be truly wrought by any outward denomination Secondly as the payment which is made for a captiue is not his releasement out of prison or the liberty to which he is restored but the procurement and cause thereof so the ransome which Christ gaue for our redemption the Iustice which he purchased to himselfe in our behalfe is not the liberty of Iustice or freedom from fault which he imparteth to vs but the true cause which meriteth and procureth those effectes by inward grace infused into our soules Auant therfore you accursed Sectaryes auant you enemyes of Christ and cruell robbers of men who rob and despoyle them of the chiefestiewell of their soule Auant you pleaders for contagious sinne And thou O faythfull Christian washed with the bloud and enamelled with the beauty of thy celestiall spouse admire the brightnes of thy inward iustice admire the splendour of thy wedding garmēt triumph with the glory of that heauenly weed thy stole of ioy thy mantle of honour thy dowry of blisse pleadge of immortality yet triumph with humility for feare of loosing it triumph with gratefullnes praysing the giuer of so faire a liuery And with the cooperation of his grace who hath clad thee with it labour to keep it from all staine and infection labour to preserue it heere vnblemishhed and present it after white immaculate before the throne of mercy THE EIGHTEENTH CONTROVERSY IN WHICH It is proued that Fayth Hope Feare Loue Sorrow c. precede as dispositions to Iustification in such as are arriued to the vse of Reason against D. Fulke and Maister Abbot CHAP. I. HAVING inuincibly demōstrated that our Iustification is not imputatiue but inherent adorning and dwelling in vs three other questions heereupō Fulke in c. 2. Iacobi sect 9. Abbot in his defence c. 1. sect 5. cap. 4. sect 1. sect 20. fol. 467 arise First how we may be disposed and prepared to attaine this heauenly grace pretious gemme of oursoules Secondly in what vertue it principally consisteth whether in Fayth orin Charity Thirdly by what meanes it may be afterwards nourished and increased Of all these in their due place Now concerning the first Fulke peremptorily denyeth all dispositions and preparations of mans hart by prayer or other meanes to procure his first iustification And M. Abbot in his defence of Perkins most bitterly inueigheth against them as the reliques of Pelagianisme and stifly contendeth that man before Iustice can no more intreate aske or dispose himselfe to grace no not by the ayde of God then a dead man only helped can prepare himselfe to his resurrection Notwithstanding we constantly teach that sinners endued with the vse of reason do vse the help of sundry vertues as preparations or manuductions to guide and bring them to the fauour of God as the holy Scripturs manifestly teach Be prepared O Israel Amos 4. v. 12. 1. Reg. 7. v. 3. Prouer. 16. v. 1. to meet thy God And Prepare your harts to our Lord. It pertayueth to man to prepare his hart Which holy and behoofull preparations commonly proceed in this manner He who by the inspiration of God beleeueth in him and considereth the seuerity of his iustice depth of his iudgments riches of his mercy goodnes benignity patience c. and remembreth withall the multitude and enormity of his sinnes first conceaueth a Feare of his most terrible dreadfull punishments Feare stirreth vp hope of mercy pardon and forgiuenes Hope enkindleth loue of so good and bountifull a Lord Loue breaketh into sorrow and repentance of former defaults Sorrow accompanyed with the precedent vertues and full purpose of amendement inclineth the hart of our heauenly Father to cleanse Hebr. 11. v. 6. Habac. 2. v. 4. Ecclesiast 1. v. 28. Prouer. ●4 v. 27. Prouerb 1. v. 7. Rom. 8. v. 24. Psal 36. v. 40 and remit all our iniquityes And that these vertues doe not follow as sequels but go before as preparations necessary to iustification we proue by the same arguments by which they conuince the precedency or necessity of fayth for as fayth is required because it is written Without fayth it is impossible to please God And The iust man liueth by fayth c. so feare of God is likewise necessary because of that it also sayd The feare of our Lord expelleth sinne And he that is without feare cannot be iustifyed Againe The feare of our Lord is the
true Iustice consisteth Remission of sinnes sayth he it selfe is not without some merit if fayth do get or impetrate it neither is the merit of fayth none by which fayth he sayd Lord be mercifull to me a sinner and descended iustifyed by the merit of faythfull humility And in the epistle next following But if any man shall say that Fayth doth merit the grace of working well we cannot deny it nay we willingly confesse it c. They therefore that haue fayth by which they obtaine iustification through the grace of God haue arriued to the law of Iustice Likewise in another place This confession sayth he meriteth Iustification 5. The Centurists taxe Tertullian Origen S. Gregory Nissen S. Ephrem S. Hierome for fauouring heerin our doctrine Tertullian say they seemeth to hould that good workes do both goe before and follow fayth for so he auerreth of Patience And in his fourth booke against Marcion he affirmeth the chief cause of Zachaeus iustification to haue been in that he not knowing fullfilled the precept of Isay breake thy bread vnto the hungry In like manner Origen in so many places I cyte their owne wordes ascribeth to workes the preparation to saluation and cause thereof as in his Commentaryes vpon S. Matthew Such truely sayth he as do professe their fayth in Iesus and do not prepare themselues by good workes to saluation are resembled to the foolish Virgins And in his homilyes vpon Iosue The habitation or dwelling of God in vs he attributeth to our merits that is to our merits of congruity as S. Augustine taught whome I cyted before Then they reprehend and labour to refell this saying Cent. 4. c. 10. Colum. 953. Nissen l. de vita Moys Cent. 4 c. 4. Colum. ●94 Ephrem l. 2. de compunct cor cap. 8. Cent. 4. c. 10. Col. 1249. of S. Gregory Nissen The grace of the holy Ghost dwelleth not in man vnles be first mortify in himselfe the force of sinne They accuse S. Ephrem for teaching that Contrition doth merit remission of sinnes Wherupon they reiect this as one of his blemished places Who doth not admire that God by the teares of this short space forgiueth sinnes and that we gauled with the sore of a thousand woundes he at the eleuenth houre cureth vs by teares Againe When he hath healed vs he rendreth the reward of tears S. Hierome also they blame because in his commentary vpon the prayer of Ieremy Nimium tribuit contritioni he attributeth too much to contrition they blame him likewise for houlding That Cornelius receaued the holy Ghost by the works of the naturall law by which Abraham Moyses and other Saints were also iustifyed What S. Hierome there meaneth by receauing the holy Ghost and whether Cornelius were S. Basil reg 224. ex breuior Greg. hom ● in Ezech. iustifyed before the comming of S. Peter I referre my Reader to the expositours vpon that place and certaine it is that S. Basil S. Gregory do insinuate that the almes prayers and other morall good workes which Cornelius wrought were acceptable preparatiues to moue God to mercy and to communicate vnto him the grace of inherent Iustice Which preparation Prosper expresly acknowledgeth and freeth it from the heresy of the Pelagians Prosp l. de lib. arbitr ad Ruffin Beda in hunc locū saying that they did not vnderstand that preparation of Cornelius to be made by Gods grace as we do And Venerable Bede out of S. Gregory affirmeth of the same Cornelius He knew God Creatour of all but that his omnipotent Sonne was incarnate he knew not and in that fayth he made prayers and gaue almes which pleased God and by well doing he deserued to know God perfectly to belieue the mistery of the Incarnation and to come to the Sacrament of Baptisme S. Augustine also thus Because Aug. l. ● de Bapt. c. ● whatsoeuer goodnes he had in prayer and almes the same could not profit him vnles he were by the bands of Christian society and peace incorporated to the Church he is bidden to send vnto Peter that by him he may learne Christ by him he may be baptized Wherby it appeareth that all these allowed his preparatiue workes to deserue in a manner by way of congruity the iustifying grace of the holy Sacrament of Baptisme 6. It is bootlesse to demur any longer on the recitall Rom. 4. Ioan. 20. v. 29. Matth. 8. v. 10. 15. v. 8. Luc. vltim 25. Marc. vlt. v. 14. of other sayings in a point so cleare which Protestants themselues could neuer gainesay vnles they would haue vs worke like stockes and stones or like brute and senseles creatures without freedome and election in the most noble and supernaturall act of our fayth wherein they place the summe of our spirituall life For if that be free as the Holy Ghost declareth it to be commending the fayth of Abraham and of many other that belieued rebuking the incredulity of such as belieued not which he would not haue done if it had not beene in their power to belieue or not to belieue Then it must needs presuppose a pious affection of the will to go before and bend the vnderstanding to assent vnto such hidden misteryes as he imbraceth not only because that alone can affoard it the dignity of freedome but also because the vnderstanding being not inclined by nature nor drawne by the euident sight S. Tho● 2. 2. of the obiect nor otherwise inforced cannot possibly as S. Thomas the oracle of Deuines reasoneth giue assent to darke obscure and ineuident articles vnles it be bowed and determined by the force of the will which force and Concil Araus c. 5. Concil Tol. 4. c 55. refer c. de Iudaeis dist 45. August tract 26. in Ioan. Ambr ad Rom. 4. in illa verb. Ei autem quioperatur c. inclination the Arausican Councell tearmeth Initium fidei ipsum credulitatis affectum the beginning of Fayth and the affection it selfe or desire of belieuing And for this cause the fourth Toletan Councell sayth Mentis conuersione quisquis credendo saluatur By the conuersion of his owne mind euery one belieuing is saued S. Augustine recyting many thinges that man may do not willingly immediatly inferreth but belieue he cannot vnles he be willing S. Ambrose To belieue or not belieue is the part of the will for he cannot be forced to that which is not manifest Origen No man is depriued of the possibility of belieuing for this is placed in the arbitrement or choice of man and in the cooperation of grace S. Clemens Alexandrinus The kingdome of heauen is yours if you will c. it is yours if you shall only be willing to belieue Which wordes the Centuristes quote and with their proud and audacious pen censure as Origen ho. 2. in diuersa loca sacrae Scripturae Clement Alexan. in paren Cent. 2. c. 4. Col. 59. Iraen Col. ●8 apud Centur. erroneous As also the like of
ad Vitalem and proposed vnto vs. We besides that outward grace and fauour of preaching belieue also an internall grace which inwardly moueth and worketh with vs. For if a way faring man should fall a sleep in a dangerous wood where he were ready to be deuoured and should be so benūmed of his senses or infeebled with trauaile that he could not moue without help it were not inough for another to awake and warne him of the danger to shew him the way by which he may escape vnles he affoard him also his helping hand vnles he succour stay and ayde him to depart so it is not sufficient to heare the word of God thundred in our eares to heare the truth deliuered the examples of Christ of his Saints and followers set before our eyes vnles God himselfe vouchsafe to enlighten our vnderstanding inflame our will touch and open the Act. 1● vers 14. stringes of our harts as he opened the hart of Lydia to attend ●o those thinges which were sayd by Paul vnles he inwardly inspire moue and cooperate with vs to imbrace the sayth which is outwardly propounded 9. In this therefore and all the former positions of Grace we dissent from the Pelagians as M. Abbot might haue seene in the selfe same places he quoted out of S. Augustine if that passion which ministred to his pen those Aug. l. ● 2. de grat Chri. peccat orig odious comparisons betweene them and vs had not dimmed his sight from discouering these manifold differences of truth from heresy He might moreouer haue read in the foresayd S. Augustine that al beit Pelagius by those ambiguous acceptions of the word Grace deluded many Bishops in the Councell of Palestine yet he neuer could how beit he endeauoured much deceaue or beguile the Roman Church that impregnable rocke against which no heresy can euer preuaile But M. Abbot vbi supra c. 1. fol. 105. 106. 107. Abbot contendeth and struggleth to proue that the Romā Church the an cient Fathers and S. Augustine himselfe cōdemned Pelagius because he confessed not the habituall quality and guift of renewing grace to be necessary to euery pious and Godly deed although he acknowledged Idem folio 110. the worke of preparation to proceed from the preuenting grace and help which we and the holy Councell of Trent admit yea sayth he this grace of ours the very Heathens Aristotle and Tully allowed saying Neuer any man Arist. de mundo Cicero de natura De orum 1. q. Tuscula proued great and excellent without some diuine instinct I answer he struggleth I confesse and struggleth eagerly to heap vp falshoods and hatefull criminations not to all eadge any grounded proofes or substantiall testimonyes either against vs or that Oecumenicall and venerable Councel For albeit the Heathens acknowledged the diuine concourse or speciall influence of the supreme cause to all heroicall acts yet they still bounded and restrained it within the confines and limites of nature they neuer dreamed of any supernaturall grace of any motion or illumination bestowed vpon vs through the merits of Christ or any speciall succour or inspiration of God ordayned to the remission of sinnes iustification of our soules in this life or to our future glory and felicity in the next For although those heauenly impulses which God gaue to the Pagans were often addressed to that end as S. Augustine affirmeth of the strang mutation made in Polemo by the Aug. ep 230. Araus 2. Can. 5. 7. 15. Aug. ep 105. perswasion of Zenocrates Yet they were not acquainted heerewith they ingulfed in the lake of superstitious infidelity neuer acknowledged the extraordinary benefite of those supernaturall fauours of which we only speake Secondly how falsly we are accused to agree with the Pelagians and how mayne an opposition there is in sundry points betweene vs and them I haue already declared Thirdly that the Roman Church and Ancient Fathers censured Pelagius among the rancke of Heretikes not for his denyall of habituall but chiefly of actual grace Augu. ep 105. 107 l. degra lib. arbi c. 17. l. 1. de praedest Sanctor c. 19. l. 2. de pece merit remis c. 18. in Enchirid c. 32 de nat grat c. 32. l. 1. ad Simpl. q. ● which preuenteth and cooperateth with the consent of our will independent of the merits thereof is so euidently expressed and so often repeated not only in the second Arausican Councell but also by the Pelagians chiefe Antagonist our greatest champion S. Augustine himselfe as M. Abbots paper might haue blushed for him when he wrote the contrary For it is not inough to confesse an habitual or inhabitant grace which S. Augustine calleth the grace of remission of sinnes but we must also sayth he acknowledge a grace precedent which must dispose and prepare vs to obtaine remission styled by him Preuenting and ayding or concomitant grace the one wrought in vs without vs that is without our free consent the other in vs with vs to wit with our free consent 10. But the dust which stopped M. Abbots eyes from behoulding a truth testifyed in so many places was the cause of his mistaking of some of S. Augustines wordes calling Abbot ibid. f. 105. the grace for which he contended with Pelagius the grace whereby we are Christians and the children of God whereby we are iustifyed c. And yet he only graceth with those tearmes the former motiōs or illuminations of the holy Ghost because they moue induce and disspose vs to be iust good and the children of the highest Gab. Vasq 1. 2. disp 18● c. 1. or because they make increase in the perfection of Iustice already attayned as Gabriel Vasquez solidly interpreteth him And S. Augustine himselfe plainely insinuateth in his epistle to Sixtus a little after the middest saying No man is Aug. ep 105. deliuered and iustifyed from the euills of his transgression or pre●a●ication but by the grace of Iesus Christ our Lord not only by remission of sinnes but first by inspiration of fayth it selfe and feare of God Now in what sort can we by inspired feare by inspired fayth be iustifyed in what sort can we be deliuered from our offences before our offences be forgiuen before remission of sinnes but only by them as by dispositions preparations or certaine merites of congruity to obtaine remission therefore S. Augustine taketh grace by which we are iustifyed for that which moueth or disposeth to iustification in which sense he affirmeth about the beginning of the same Epistle That fayth by some kind of merits August ibid. obtayneth remission and yet that remission is not of merit because fayth is a free guift of God and not proceeding from our selues as the Pelagians boasted of their beliefe S. Augustine also in many other his Treatises cyted aboue speaketh so expresly of preparing preuenting and ayding grace before the infusion of habituall as his wordes can beare no other
interpretation then that which I haue mentioned vnles a man would bend his wits and force his quill of purpose to misconstrue his meaning THE NINTEENTH CONTROVERSY DECLARETH How Fayth alone doth not iustify against D. Whitaker D. Feild D. Abbot and all Sectaryes CHAP. I. THAT we may not stumble at the beginning Ch●nitiu● in 1. part examina● Con i● Trid. Calu. l. 30 instit c. ● §. 9. Fulk in c. 13. 1. ad Cor. sect 5 Perkins in his reform Cath. f. 7● nor post away in vaine before I go further I will truly lay down the state of this question as it is controuerted defended on both sides Protestants distinguish three sorts of fayth 1. The historicall fayth as they tearm it by which they belieue the history of the Bible 2. The guift of fayth to worke miracles of which S. Paul If I should haue all fayth so as I could remoue mountaines c. 3. The sayth and affiance in the diuine promises of God So that the truth and veracity of God is the proper obiect of the first his power of the second his mercy and goodnes of the third Which later fayth they subdeuide againe into Abbot inhis defence cap 4. fol. 453. VVhitak l. 1. aduers Duraeum two members or branches into a generall beliefe that God will faythfully accomplish all his promises will graunt remission of sinnes to all true beleeuers and into a particuler and speciall fayth whereby euery Protestant perswadeth and assureth himselfe that his sinnes by the mercy of God in Christ be forgiuen him And in this speciall affiance and firme perswasion all Sectaryes place their iustifying fayth from whence Charity and good workes according to them only flow as fruits and necessary sequels accompanying their beliefe Thus they 2. We on the other side defend that Charity and good workes are not only fruits or signes but the life or Ephes 4. v. 5. Cyril ca Greg. Nazian or at ●ltim in sanctum lauacrum Aug. in Enchirid. c. 2. 5. 7. 8. l. 2. conduas epist Pelag. c. 5. Leo serm ●1 de Epiphan Fulg. l. de side ad Petrum in prolog Hebr. ●1 v. ● Ga● V●s ●● 1. ● disp ●10 ● 7. substance of iustification Likewise we deny that counterfeit diuision of seuerall fayths which they deuise and imbrace with holy Scriptures one dogmaticall and Catholik Fayth by which we belieue the Ghospell of Christ the articles of our Creed and whatsoeuer in this kind the vniuersall Church proposeth vnto vs. For as there is but one formall motiue or subiect of beliefe to wit the prime verity or diuine auctority obscurely reueiling the histories of the Bible the power of working miracles the promises of God and whatsoeuer els So there is but one true and Theologicall vertue of fayth which with most constant assent beleeueth them all one Lord one Fayth one Baptisme And to this one sole fayth not to the peculiar perswasion of Sectaryes is ascrybed by S. Cyrill Patriarch of Hierusalem by S. Gregory Nazianzen S. Augustine S. Leo and S. Fulgentius the whole force of iustification which in any part of sacred Writ is attributed vnto Fayth Wherefore although we hold that this Theological Fayth be the beginning foundation of our spiritual building for be that commeth to God must beleeue that he is Though it be also the roote from whence the life of grace doth somtyme spring by stirring vp and exciting the affections of the will to loue good and detest sinne yet it doth not fully engender that sparke of life it doth neither wholy dispose to the fauour of God as I haue already proued nor intierely sanctify and make vs iust as I shall now demonstrate Math. 25. v. 11. Matth. 7. v. 22. Ioan. 12. v. 42. 43. Matth. 22. v. 11. 3. The foolish Virgins who cryed Lord Lord open vnto vs had fayth and beleeued in him whome they inuocated The false Prophets beleeued who wrought miracles in the name of Christ. The Princes of the Iewes who loued the glory of men more then the glory of God yet as the Scripture sayth they belieued in Christ The guest who was found at the marriage feast without his wedding garment he belieued also for by fayth he yielded to the calling came into the house VVhitak l. 8. aduers Duraeum in his āswere to 1. reason of M. Campian Abbot in his defence c. 4. Orig. tract 32. in Matth. Hilar. can 27. Hier. ep ad Demetr Theoph. Euthy in cum locū August tract 54. in Ioan. August tract 53. in Ioan. Beliar. de iustif l. 1. c. 15. of God and yet none of these were iustifyed therefore Fayth alone is not sufficient to iuftification M. Whitaker M. Abbot and the rest will answere that These had not a true but a faygned dead and idle fayth dead and idle we cōfesse it was yet true and vnfaygned in respect of the essence and nature of Fayth for the Euangelist speaking of the Iewish Princes vseth the same word crediderunt they beleeued in Christ as he doth when he discourseth of them who beleeued indeed which would breed intollerable ambiguity doubtfullnes in expounding of holy Scripture if he were not to be vnderstood of true beliefe Secondly the anciēt Fathers interprete al these places of true and vnfaygned Fayth Origen S. Hilary S. Hierome the first affirming the foolish Virgins to be excluded from their bride-grome not for want of true fayth but for want of good workes S. Hierome Theophilact and Euthymius the second of the false Prophets attributing to their fayth the inuocation they made Lord Lord haue not we prophefied in thy name and intimating thereby that fayth alone is not inough to saluation S. Augustine expoundeth the third place likwise of true fayth comparing the fayth of those Princes with the true Fayth of such as openly confessed the name of Christ Affirming that if they also had proceeded and gone forward in that entrance of beliefe they might by profiting haue ouercome the loue of humane glory But that Fayth as Cardinal Bellarmine wel argueth which by profiting could vanquish the affection of vaine glory was true fayth otherwise that Fayth had Tertul. l. de resurrec carnis Orig. Chryso in hunc loc Ambr. ser 14. de na●ali Hieron Gregor Theoph. Euthy in ●um locū Maldon in cap. 22. Matth. Iacob ep cap. 2. v. 14. 17. 14. Augu. de ●●de op●rib c. 14. VVhitak l. 1. aduers Duraeum in his āswere to 1. reason of M. Ca ●pian VVitak vbi supra Fulk in c. 2. Ioan. sect 9. Abbot c. 4. f. 476. 477. not profited but another arriuing to perfection that had fayled Lastly that he who wanted his wedding garment beleeued also aright is insinuated by Tertullian Origen S. Hierome S. Chrysostome S. Ambrose S. Gregory Theophilact and Euthymius who conformably teach that he was cast into outward darknes not for any defect of fayth but for want of
man iustifyed by Fayth The second act of comfortable assurance doth not as he sayth actiuely iustify but finding the thing done certifyeth and assureth vs of it the first doth but impetrate obtaine and procure it by way of request no act can he assigne betweene the first and the second therefore no act of fayth can he assigne whereby he may be formally iustifyed On the other fide I thinke the Protestants petition which humbly intreateth for acception and fauour must needes proceed from fayth For how shall they humbly ad Rom. ●● v. 14. intreate How shall they in●ocate in whome they haue not beleeued Beleeue then they do before they intreate and yet they are not iust therefore Fayth alone doth not iustify but only by way of impetration by stirring vp our affections and exciting our will to craue and desire it which with S. Augustine and the whole schoole of Catholike August ep 105. de praedest Sanctor c. 7. Deuines we willingly imbrace And to which M. Feild must at length retire for rest and safeguard or els well canuased he is driuen to the wall which way soeuer he turneth 10. The fifth argument which I meane to prosecute is of the regeneration of young baptized Infants who Feild in his 3. booke ● 44. fol. 179. cannot be iustifyed by an act of special fayth because they can haue none as M. Field accordeth with vs but by the habituall qualityes or inherent habits of Fayth Hope and Charity therefore all others are iustifyed by the like because the same spirit of adoption the same title of diuin Augu. l. 1. cont 2. ep Pelag. ● 7. c 21. l. 1. dē pecc meri c. ●● ep 157. Marc vlt. v. 16. Act. Apost c. 8. v. 37. filiation the same new birth and regeneration in Christ the same seed of life the same formall cause of iustification is in euery one of these faythful in euery child of God in euery state whatsoeuer as S. Augustine teacheth 11. Likewise when the Adul●i or such as arriue to the vse of reason are baptized fayth is required as a necessary disposition for them worthily to receaue the grace of Baptisme therefore our Sauiour sayd He that beleeueth and is baptized shal be saued And S. Philip to the Eunuch desirous to be christned answered If thou beleeue withall thy hart thou mayst But the Fayth which Christ the fayth which Philip exacted before Baptisme was no doubt true perfect fayth that fayth which togeather with the Sacramēt was sufficient to saluation and yet that fayth alone did not iustify or if it did it remitted them their sinnes it regenerated and implanted them in Christ acheiued before all those heanenly effects for which that holy Sacrament was ordayned in vaine then was it instituted in vaine was it after applyed No say you it is after applyed as a signe or seale of regeneration as the outward pledge of adoption Rogers art 27. VVhitak l. 1. aduers Duraeum fol. 675. Calu. l. 4. instit c. 24. §. 3. Calu. ibid. as an addition to confirme and ratify the promise of God to establish vs in the fayth thereof But this pledge seale and addition is not requisite in the behalfe of God for his truth sayth Caluin is by it selfe sound and certaine though and cannot from any other where receaue better confirmation them from it selfe Neither is it needfull for the ignorance as he fancieth and dulnesse of Protestants for their speciall affiance being as they bragge certaine knowne and infallible iustifying fayth giueth them more assurance of the remission of their sinnes and promises of God applyed vnto them then any outward signes or additions whatsoeuer Againe the performance 2. Pet. 1. v. 10. of good workes to which S. Peter exhorteth the word of God heard or read is more apt and efficacious to excite and stir vp our Fayth to confirme vs therin then the dumbe elements of water bread and wine which you only vse Besides the Scriptures and Fathers attribute vnto Baptisme not only the force of a signe or seale to Tit. 3. v. 5. Ioan. 3. Ephes 5. 1. Cor. 6. Ambr. l. ● de Sacra● c. 4. Leo. serm ● de natiuiitat Clement Alex. l. 1. paeda c. 6. Basil l. c. de spirit sant cap. 15. Hier. l. 3. cont Pelag Hilar. in psal 65. Tertul. l. de Bapt. c. 1. Dion c. 3. Eccles Hiera p. 1. Nazian in sanctum lauacrum Aug. in psal 73. l. 19. in Faust c. 13. Iren. l. 4. cont baer c. ●0 Chrys bo 17. in Gen. Orig. bom 3. in Gen. Epiphan baer 30. Basil l. de spir sanct c. 14. Euseb Caesar l. 1 demon Euan. c. 10 ● bistor c. 1. Emisbom in Sabb. post 1. Domin Quadr. Ambr. ●p 72. ad Iren. in cap. 4. ad Rom. August ep 19. ad Hier. tract 41. in Ioan. q. 25. in ● Numer ratify grace but the true efficacy of an instrumentall cause to iustify and cleanse our soules from the filth of sinne therefore sound and entiere fayth which goeth before as a preparation necessary doth not worke the effect but the Sacrament which is after ministred Whereupon it is tearmed not the pledge or token but the lauer of regeneration by which we are borne a new are cleansed are washed from sinne So S. Ambrose also sayth of the baptized By this fountaine he hath passed from thinges earthly to heauenly from sinne to life from fault to grace from defilement to sanctification S. Leo The power of the most high which made that Mary brought forth a Sauiour doth make that the water regenerateth the beleeuer S. Clemens Alexandrinus tearmeth Baptisme the grace perfection illumination and lauer by which we are washed and wipe away sinnes S. Basil S. Hierom S. Hilary and Tertullian haue the like 12. S. Denis S. Gregory Nazianzen and other also of the Greeke Fathers call Baptisme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illuminationem illumination because in Baptisme man is illuminated and enlightned with the fayth of Christ he receaueth the fellowship or society of the first and increated light and the beginning or head spring of all diuine and celestiall illustrations as the same S. Denis affirmeth S. Augustine assigneth this difference betweene the Sacraments of the old and the new Law that they promised a Sauiour these affoard saluation that these are greater in vertue for profit and vtility better They according to S. Iren●us S. Chrysostome Origen Epiphanius Eusebius Caesariensis and Emissenus S. Ambrose and S. Augustine were signes and shaddowes only euen Circumcision in the opinion of some their chiefest ceremony which betokned the verity of our Sacraments yielding and exhibiting Grace And S. Basil sayth that the Baptisme of Basil hom 1. de Bapt. Christ giueth the Holy Ghost which the Baptisme of Iohn did not giue 13. Which it hath pleased also our mighty Soueraigne K. Iames in his answere to Card. Peron fol. 32. in Latin fol. 20. in
quite contrary also to the Apostle who acknowledgeth Charity only to be the fountaine nurse or mother of vertues saying Charity is patient is benigne c. Charity 1. Cor. 13. v. 4. v. ● suffereth all things beleeueth all thinges hopeth all thinges beareth all things But how is it patiēt How benigne c. not formally for that were to make it a monstrous vertue compounded of diuers speciall formes Causally then because it is the Mother that begetteth the nurse that cherisheth the soule that giueth life of grace vigour of iustice preheminence of merit to the whole army of vertues 4. How inexcusable now are our seduced Protestants how wretchedly inchaunted with their Ministers charms who engrosse all to fayth which the Secretaryes of the Holy Ghost ascribe to Charity How entitle they fayth alone to the possession of life which S. Iames affirmeth to be dead without the workes of Charity How enthrone they fayth in the highest chaire of eminent dignity when S. Paul defineth Charity to be greater then it Marry a veile they haue to maske themselues vnder For Fulk in c. 13. 1. Cor. sect 3. Abbot cap. 4. sect 22. fol. 478. Ephes 3. v. 17. Charity sayth M. Fulke and M. Abbot with him is the greater in regard of continuance because fayth is but for a time Charity abydeth for euer Then it is the greatest also quoth M. Abbot if we respect latitude of vse for Charity is extended euery way to God to Angells to Men c. But if we consider man priuatly in himselfe and for his owne vse Fayth is more excellent then Charity as wherein our communion and fellowship with God by which Christ dwelleth in our harts into which as a hand God putteth all the riches of his grace for our saluation and by which whatsoeuer els Abbot fol. 479. in vs is commended vnto God Therefore he concludeth that to saue and iustify fayth is the greater So he It is true that Charity continueth when Fayth is euacuated but one truth ought not to impeach another that cannot derogat from the excellency of Charity in many other pointes wherein both Scriptures and Fathers giue her the preheminence But as for latitude of vse as you there take it Bern. serm ● in vigil nat Christ Fides veluti quoddā aeternitatis exemplar praeterita simul praesentia ac futura ●i●u suo vastissimo cōprehendit for the materiall obiects which they respect very false it is that Charity extendeth to more thinges then Fayth because fayth mounteth to God to Angells to men c. it descendeth to hell to the Diuels to their perpetuall torments it stretcheth it selfe to the fall of Adam to the deluge past to the future iudgment and many other obiects which Charity imbraceth not it reacheth besides to all tymes which either are haue beene or shall be heerafter Therefore S. Bernard calleth it The image or paterne of eternity which in her wide and vast bosome comprehendeth all thinges both past present and to come 5. Howbeit let this goe on the score of other the Authors rash and inconsiderate speaches The marke I shoot at is that Charity is preferred before fayth euen in the worke of iustificatiō and saluation of our soules in all these particulers in which M. Abbot giueth the first Abbot vbi supra 1. Cor. 13. Ioan. 1. c. 4. v. 12. Rom. 5. Ephes 3. 17. Aug. de spir lit cap. 17. Charitas lex est fidei spiritus viuificans dilectorem August tract 9. in ep Ioan. Chrys de incōp Dei nat hom 1. Leo ser 8. de Epipha Basil in proem de vera pia fide Prosp l. 3. de vita cōtemp c. 13. Ambr. in c. 13. Cor. Berna ser 24. super Cant. Idem serm 2. de resur chiefest place to fayth for when the Apostle defineth we are nothing without Charity he meaneth surely that we are nothing in the fauour of God nothing in the way of grace in the way of iustice and saluation S. Iames and S. Augustine meane the like whome I cyted aboue Moreouer haue I not already shewed that Charity adopteth vs to be the children of God that by Charity we are regenerated and new borne in Christ that by Charity the Holy Ghost by Charity God himselfe is harboured in our soules If we loue one another God abydeth in vs and his Charity in vs is perfected Also The Charity of God is powred forth into our harts by the holy Ghost which is giuen vs And if M. Abbot had not vsed his dexterity leauing out the wordes which maketh against him he might haue read in that very place which he quoteth for his purpose that not in Fayth but in Charity originally standeth our communion and fellowship with God for after these wordes By fayth Christ dwelleth in our hartes it immediatly followeth rooted and grounded in Charity Therefore Charity is the roote the origen or first beginning of Christs viuificall presence for as the tree draweth from the roote the sap of life so fayth from charity the liuely inhabitatiō of God in our harts For which cause S. Augustine sayth Charity it selfe diffused in the hart of the beleeuers is the law of Fayth and the spirit that giueth life to the lo●er He calleth it otherwhere The health the beauty of the soule S. Chrysostome The chiefe good and head of all good thinges S. Leo The mother of all vertues S. Basil The proper budge or ensigne of a Christian man S. Prosper A Summary and abridgment of all good doings of the which euery good worke taketh his life S. Ambrose The head of Religion is Charity and he that had not the head hath not life c. Immediatly after Charity is the foundation of Religion S. Bernard sayth The separation of Charity is the death of fayth and he that deuideth them is tearmed by him Fideicida The murtherer of Fayth then he testifyeth with S. Augustine That Fayth taketh her life or soule from Charity Aug. l. de cognit verae vitae c. 37. 6. Further they affirme of Charity that it vniteth a Aug. de subst l. di●ect amoris and knitteth vs to God Marryeth b Bern. serm 83. in Cant. our soule to the word Marketh c Amb. l. 2. ep ep 7. man a friend to God Imparteth d Chrys in psal 132. heauen and vnspeakable good thinges to vs. He e Basil in institut Monach. that hath Charity hath God And f Idem in constit Monast c. 35. he that is depriued of Charity wanteth diuin grace By g Aug. l. de mor. Eccles cap. 13. Charity only it is wrought that we be not auerted from God and that we conforme our selues rather to him then to this world Moreouer say they Charity h Hilar. comment in Matth. ca. 4. couereth the multitude of sinnes By i Orig. hom 3. in c. 3. Leuit the aboundance of Charity remission of sinnes is made The
c. He also thinketh some whose fayth is enobled with no accesse of works may indeed be * To wit infants and such as by Baptism or contrition being iustifyed are preuented by death before they can accomplish any good workes Method serm de resurr Cuius fragmentum extat apud Epiphan l. 2. tom 1. Tertul. l. aduers Iudaeos Cent. 3. c. eo Colum. ●40 saued but attaine not to the height of the kingdome or liberty which say they what is it other then without works no man to be perfectly iustifyed And the Authour of the homilye●in Cantica maketh a double iustice one of Fayth another of Workes and truly to ech of them ●e imputeth saluation c. Methodius seemeth to hold that we are iustifyed by the obseruation and fullfilling of the naturall law which is performed by the ayde and help of Christ Tertullian sayth The Saints were iust by the iustice * Done by grace and fayth in Christ Cent. 3. c. 4. Col. 80. 81. Cypr. l. 3. ep 25. Serm de eleemos Tob. 4. v. 11. Eccles 3. v 33. Ioan. 5. v. 14. Serm. de eleemos Cent. 4. c. 4. Colum. 292. 293. Cent. 4. c. 4. Col. 292. 283. of the law of nature He attributeth to satisfaction remission of sinnes teaching nothing in the meane tyme perspicuously of the fayth in Christ or of free remission of sinnes as almost no where doth he either touch plainely inough or handleth very slenderly the article of the Ghospell and iustification With which errour Cyprian yieldeth to descipline or strict obseruation of good life That it is the guardian of hope the retentiue or stay it maketh vs alwayes remayne in Christ continually liue in God and to arriue to the heauenly and diuine promised rewards c. So he professedly teacheth sinnes committed after Baptisme by almes deeds and good workes to be abolished At once sayth he in Baptisme remission of sinnes is giuen dayly and continuall doing of good after the imitation of Baptisme imparteth the indulgence and mercy of God which he endeauoureth to proue by words of Scripture as by almesdeeds and fayth sinnes are purged As water extinguisheth fire so almesdeeds sinne also by the saying of Chryst Behould thou art whole see thou sinne no more least some worse thing befall thee he reasoneth that by good workes saluation had is to be kept and lost to be recouered 10. In the fourth hundred yeare they reproue for the same cause Lactantius Nilus Chromatius Ephrem S. Hierome S. Gregory Nissen S. Hilary S. Ambrose and Theophil●● Alexandrin●● Some of their words I will set downe as they are recorded by the Centurists the rest I omit for breuityes sake Lactantius say they auerreth that God giueth eternall saluation for our vertues labours afflictions torments c. Lactant. l. 7. c. 27. l. 3. c. 9. Chrom in conc de beatid Cent. 4. c. 4. Col. 301. Voluntariam paupertatem suo merito diuitias regni caelestis acquirere ait Eadem cent col 192. l. 8. comment in Isa Eadē cent Col. 293. Ambr. l. 10. ep ep 82. Qui sunt hi Preceptores noui qui meritū excludunt i●iunij Eadē cent col 293. Theoph. Alexand. l. 3. Pasch Cent. 5. c. 4. Colum. 504. 505. 506. 507. 508. 509. 510. c. 10. colum 1008. Chrys hom 6 in c. 1. Ioan. c. 4. col Cent. 5. c. 4 Colum. 504. Chrysost hom 20. in e. 2. Ioan. eadem cent 506. Cyril c. 18. in Ioan. Eadem cent c. 4. col 505. citant Aug. it a dicentem l. 2. de peccat merit c. 3. 4. c. haec de Aug. cent 5. c. 4. colum 507. 508. To serue God sayth he is nothing els then by good workes to maintaine and preserue iustice Chromatius attributeth so much to voluntary pouerty that he auerr●th the riches of the heauenly kingdome to be attayned by the merit thereof Hierome sayth It is not inough to haue the wall of fayth vnles fayth it selfe be strengthned with good workes S. Ambrose What saluation can we haue vnles by fasting we wash away our sinnes When as the Scripture fayth fasting and almesdeeds deliuereth from sinne Who are therefore these new Maisters who exclude or deny the merit of fasting Is not this the voice of the Gentils saying Let vs eate and drinke c. Theophilus Alexandrinus Such as fast that is imitate in earth Angelicall conuersation through the vertue of abstinence by a short and small labour gaine to themselues great and eternall rewards 11. In the fift age are traduced by them in like manner S. Chrysostome S. Cyrill S. Leo S. Augustine Theodoret Sedulius Prosper Hesychius Primasius Theodulus Saluianus Maximus Salonius Thalasius Marcus Eremita Eucherius and Paulinus For in the beginning of that Paragraffe of Iustification thus they write Most of the Doctours of this age ascribe also too much to workes in iustification and acceptation of men before God c. Chrysostome speaketh of many wayes or kindes of iustification c. Chrysostome is an immoderate Encomiast or prayser of humane workes For this he sayth Let vs endeauour withall our forces to attaine saluation by our owne good workes c. Againe Is it inough to life euerlasting to belieue in the Sonne No truly c. Cyrill also contendeth that fayth alone sufficeth not to saluation but fayth and workes Augustin attributeth sometyme too much too workes c. He recyteth some testimonyes by which he proueth euill workes to condemne good workes to merit eternall life As out of the first to the Corinthians the sixt Chapter Out of the first to the Galathians out of the ninetenth and fiue and twentith of S. Matthew Theodoret contrary to himselfe affirmeth The●d quest 63. in Exod. ita asserunt de Theod. cent 5. c. 10. col 1008. Prosp l. 1. de vit contemp c. 19. Cent. 5. Col. 505. that only fayth is not sufficient to saluation but it needeth workes Prosper sayth Neither workes without Fayth nor fayth alone without workes doth iustify Hitherto the Centurists 12. And yet they are not singular in condemning all these Doctours of the Church Pomeran once Superintendent of Wittemberge sayth In the books of the Ecclesiasticall Doctours seldome shall you find the article of Iustification purely expressed not certes in the bookes of Athanasius A little after Touching Iustification they write at a venter whatsoeuer cōmeth in their mind Then he concludeth You ought not to beleeue the Fathers because out of the same mouth they blow both heate and could Chytraeus another Protestant complaineth that not Chytr l. de stud theol only Basil and Hierome but most of the Fathers either very sleightly touch or darken and depraue with politicke opinions concerning the iustice of the law the speciall doctrine of the Ghospell touching the grace of God and Iustice of fayth which is the chiefe and proper patrimony of the Church Schnepsius one of the same fraternity sayth Augustine neuer vnderstood the true and settled Sch●●ps
with iustice which they cannot haue without ordinary fayth yet he testifyeth of thē that they could not know whether they should perseuere and go forward in the way of iustice without reuelation therefore he must needs be vnderstood maugre M. Abbots out facing the contrary not of the ordinary reuelation of fayth which they had but of some speciall and extraordinary which they had not It were too long to lay before you the agreement heerein of S. Chrysostome S. Hierome S. Gregory S. Bernard Prosper Chrys hom 5. in c. 1. ad Tim. l. 1. de compun cordis Hier. ep 127. ad Pabiol l. x. comm in c. 7. Matth. Greg. l. 6. in 1. Reg. Bernar. ep 107. Prosp l. 2. de vocat gent. Luth. de capt Babil c. de Bapt. Abbot c. 3. sect 10 fol 321. 1. Ioan. 3. v. 9. Psal 37. v. 24. Sect. 9. f. 318. Fulke in c. 13. 1. ad Cor. sect 5. Fulk in c. 3 ep Ioan. sect 5. 1. Ioan● 3. v. 14. 15. and others 8. Therefore to conclude Luther some few yeares since stayned his breath with this contagious speach That the faythfull man cannot perish if he would how wickedly soeuer he liue vnles he cease to beleeue which the whole Christian world then abhorred as the furnace of licentiousnes as the mouth of hell But his disciples more pernicious then he dare now auerre that he cannot only not perish vnles he forsake his fayth but that he cannot at all forsake his fayth that he cannot by any deboyshnes by any lasciuious and wanton demeanour be finally abandoned and cast off from God For thogh the iustifyed by occasion fall yet they neuer so fall but that his seed remayneth in them And his hand is vnder to lift them vp againe In the Section before he openeth his meaning in this sort When we say that the regenerate man is neuer wholy cut off from Christ we meane as touching inward spirituall grace Another of that crew Though all sinne be against fayth and Charity yet we do not hold that either fayth or charity in them that are iustifyed is vtterly lost by deadly sin Likewise He which is borne of God cannot be voyd of loue towards his neighbour though he sinne particulerly against the rule of Charity If Beelzebub should send his preachers abroad could he desire a fitter Ghospeller a more zealous promoter of his kingdome then this A more ready to further iniquity to smother the truth of Christ and splendour of his Ghospel Which quite oppositely preacheth He that loueth not abideth in death whosoeuer hateth his brother is a murderer And you know that no murderer hath life euerlasting abiding in himselfe What is this life euerlasting but the inward and spirituall grace The inherent charity the seed of God springing vp to eternall life Which the holy Euangelist S. Iohn denyeth to abide in him that sinneth against the rule of Charity contrary to the auouchement of this new Euangelist Of him I say and some other his confederates for all are not attainted with so mischieuous a corruption D. Feild interpreting Fiel l 3. c. 22. fol. 118. the recited words of Luther A man cannot perish though he would and how wickedly soeuer he liue vnles he cease to beleeue Luther quoth he constantly teacheth that iustifying fayth cannot remaine in that man that sinneth with full consent nor be found in that soule wherein are peccata vastantia conscientiam as Melancthon speaketh following Augustine that is sins raging ruling preuayling laying wast and destroying the integrity of conscience which should resist against euill and condemne it This is all then that Luther sayth that no wickednes which with fayth may stand can hurt vs as long as fayth continueth but if sinne once become regnant and so exclude fayth we are in the state of damnation Heer you see that fayth may be lost that the iustifyed may fall into the state of damnation and vtterly perish 9. More plainely D. Ouerall then Deane of Paules in the publique conference at Hampton Court setteth downe his iudgment namely that whosoeuer though before iustifyed In the summe of the Confer before the Kings Maiesty 41. 42. fol. 42. fol. 30. did commit any grieuous sinne as adultery murder treason or the like did become ipso facto subiect to Gods wrath guilty of damnation whose opinion his Maiesty with his Princely censure most iudiciously approued and taxed the contrary as a desperate presumption with whome the greatest and learnedest part of that Assembly in all likelihood consented therefore I might haue spared this my labour if by the retchlesnesse of inferiour officers that execrable doctrine had not beene printed anew nor permitted to be sould and spread abroad in former writinges which because the secret fauourits of dissolute security are willing to dissemble Ioan. 4. v. 15. 14. Ioan 6. v. 37. Ioan. 15. v. 2. Philip. 1. v. 6. Rom. 11. v. 29. I must be as carefull to destroy the rest of their bold affiance which are these Texts of Scripture He that shall drink of the water that I wil giue him shal not thirst for euer Al that the Father giueth me shall come to me him that commeth to me I will not cast forth Euery branch that beareth fruit the Father purgeth that it may bring forth more fruit He that hath begū a good worke in you will perfect it Without repentance are the guifts and vocation of God Therefore whome he once iustifyeth whō he once inocculateth in the stocke of life he pruneth cultiuateth and neuer suffereth to perish or decay 10. To all these passages I answere as Maldonate doth Maldon in ●●loca to the first and second out of Rupertus and others that they only declare the condition of God the benignity of Christ and nature of his grace that it is not like our corruptible water which is disgested consumed dryed vp in tyme tormenting them againe with thirst who drinke thereof but the spiritual water of the holy Ghost neuer perisheth is neuer consumed is of that incorruptible property of it owne nature that it maketh vs neuer to thirst any more it is a liuely spring which of it selfe spouteth vp to the mountaine of eternall blisse So Christ of his owne benigne and soueraigne clemency casteth off none but imbraceth all that repaire vnto him God the Father is ready to cut off all superfluityes from the mysticall boughes which grow in his Sonne he is ready to bring to perfection the worke he hath begun neuer willing to reuoke his gift vnles we by sinning make our selues vnworthy vnles we destroy his building breake 1. Ioan. 3. v. 9. Matth. 7. v. 38. Ierem. 32. v. 40. Abbot fol. 268. VVhitak l. 8. f. 626. ourselues off from that heauenly vine flye from vnder his wings vomit out his graces infused into vs then the fault is not his nor any defect in his grace but the whole blame lighteth vpon
4. Gen marked with g doe well shalt thou not receaue againe And if thou doest ill shall not thy sinne forthwith be present at the Dore But the lust or appetite thereof shall be vnder thee and thou shalt haue dominion ouer it 10. Heer M. Whitaker heere M. Fulke heere you see that neither man since his fall nor Cain fretting with malice is enchained in the fetters or Necessarily subiect to the Captiuity of Sinne but sinne is rather subiect to him he might if he would raigne ouer it as S. Ambrose S. Bernard and Rupertus gather out of the former speech And will M. Whitaker now will his Rebellions faction beleeue the Apostles beleeue Christ will they beleeue this Oracle of God No They rather venture to peruert and falsifie the same forcing it to be spoken of Cains dominiō ouer Abell not ouer sinne And in liew of those words The lust thereof shall be vnder thee c. they guilefully trāslate Also vnto thee his desire shall be subiect and thou shalt raigne oūer him with this Gloze in the Margent The dignity of the first borne is giuen to Cain ouer Abell 11. O pernicious O sacrilegious Adulterers of holy Writ What connexion is here Thy sinne shall be present at the Dore c. And thou shalt rule ouer Abel What Texts What Pererius l. 4. in Gen. c. 4. ver 6. 7. Aben Ezra in Haebr comment in hunc lo. Aug. l. 15. c. 7. de Ciu. Dei Hier. quest haebraic in Genesim Manuscripts What Copyes What Originalls What Comments What Scholies haue you for this Translation The Latine deliuereth a quite contrary sense as you haue heard The Greeke of the seauenty Interpreters cited by Peterius and allowed by S. Ambrose S. Chrysostome S. Augustine conformably readeth To thee is the conuersion thereof and thou shalt rule and master it The Hebrew hath thus vnto thee is the appetite therof and thou shalt beare rule ouer it that is ouer sin as Aben Ezra a great Rabin commenteth vpon this Text affirming it to be a meere forgery to expound it otherwise And S. Augustine reprehending in the old this vile corruption of our new Manichees saith Thou shalt beare sway ouer it What Ouer thy Brother God forbid Ouer what then but sinne With whom S. Hierome Because thou hast Freewil I warne thee that sinne haue not the Soueraignty or Maistership ouer Iustin in Apolog. ad Imperat. Antoniu p. 31. Orig. bom 12. in Nū thee but thou ouer sinne 12. To these two excellent Lights I might ioyne many other both of the Greeke and Latine Church who although they allude not particulerly to this place yet strongly defend the liberty of Free-will I haue now in hand S. Iustin Martyr Vnlesse man by Free-will were able both to eschew dishonest things and follow good and vertuous he were without fault as not being cause of those things which are Hilar. in Psal 2. done after what sort and manner soeuer But we teach that mankind by free arbitrement and free choice doth both well and ill Origen handling that passage And now Israël what doth our Lord require at thy hands but only to feare him c. Let them be ashamed saith he at these words who deny Free-will How should God require vnlesse man had in his power what he ought to offer to God requiring S. Hilary To euery one of vs God hath permitted liberty of life and iudgment not tying vs to necessity on my side S. Augustine of whom Caluin aboue all other chiefly vaunteth The Diuine precepts themselues should not profit Aug. de gra l. Arb. c. 2. Idem l. 2. contra Faustum c. 5. Man vnlesse he had free liberty of will c. And against Faustus the Manichee We put no mans Natiuity vnder the destiny of Starres that we may exempt the free liberty of the will by which we lead a good or bad life according to the iust iudgement of God from all bond of necessity The same freedome also from the seruitude of sinne he proueth by innumerable places both of the Old and New Testament as Be thou not vanquished Rom. 12. Psal 31. Prouer. 1● Psal 35. Psal 77. of euill Doe thou not become like vnto a Horse or Mule c. Refuse not the Counsels of thy Mother He would not vnderstand that he might do well They would not receaue discipline And infinite such what do they shew quoth he but the free liberty of humaine will 13. M. Fulke replyeth that S. Augustine doth defend Fulke in c. 12. Mat. sect 1 in cap. 25. sect 5. the liberty of Free-will against the enforcement of Nature the Manichees fayned not against the Seruitude of sin which he and his Mates vphold But he cannot thus escape For S. Augustine disputeth not against the ground but against the deniall itselfe of Free-will vpon what ground soeuer it be denied Therefore although the Protestants dissent from the Manichees in the cause of Mans captiuity the Manichees Fulke vbi supra affirming it to proceed from Nature by creation of the euill God the Protestants according to M. Fulke not from Nature but from the free and sinfull fall of Adam yet in the effect it selfe and captiuity of our will they fully agree and S. Augustine fiersly impugning fighting against that wherein they accord with the same forces battereth the Protestants with which he beateth downe the wals of the Manichean Aug. l degrat l. arbit heresie Let the Reader peruse that one booke Of Grace Free-will S. Augustine dedicateth to Valentine and he shall perceiue all Protestants as sore annoyed with his shot as the Manichees themselues and that his maine Discourse driueth as mightily against them as the whole power and strength of the other Fathers whose writings many principall Sectaries indeauour to disgrace for being too fauourable in defence of Free-will 14. Caluin saith All the ancient writers except Augustine Calu. l. 2. Instit c. 2. §. 4. Melanct. lib. de loc com Cent. 2. c. 4. Col. 55. Ibid. Col. 58 Cent. 2. c. 10. Col. 227. or 221. according to another edit c. 4. Col. 59. Cent. 3. c. 4. Col. 77. Tertul. l. 2. aduers Marc. l. de exhort castitat de Monog Orig bo 9. innum hom 12. in eosd Cypr. l. 3. ep 3. l 3 ad Quirinū c. 52. Methōd in ser de Resurrect Cent. 4. c. 4. Col. 291. printed at Basil 1562. D. Hūfrey Iesuitis part 530. who notwithstanding is as opposite to him as any of the rest either exceeded wauered or spake intricately of this matter Melancthon Presently after the Infancy of the Church by Platonicall Philosophy so he tearmeth the liberty of Free-will Christian Doctrine was defaced And a little after Whatsoeuer is extant in Commentaries altogether sauoureth of this Philosophy The Magdeburgian Centurists writing of the two hundred yeare after Christ Although this age say they was neere to the Apostles yet the doctrine
Gods sight much lesse pleasing sacrifices to him as in the precedent discourse hath beene shewed if they be defyled with sinne 4. M. Abbot answereth Therefore good works being touched and infected with the contagion of sinne before they can please God must haue some meanes to take away the guilt imputation of the sinne c. which Christ doth perfuming them with the sweet Abbot c. 4 sect 44. fol. 578. 579 incense of his Obedience But how doth Christ take it away By abolishing or not imputing the contagion By not imputing sayth Abbot but thus he taketh away according to them the filth of adultery of murder of sacriledge and all heynous crymes from the beleeuing Protestant And are those sinnefull workes thereby made gratefull hostes and acceptable sacrifices pleasing vnto God No sayth he agayne Our good deedes are not sinnefull workes Are they not What is that guilt then of contagious sinne which must be taken away before they can please God If they be not sinnefull no contagion of sinne is to be pardoned by not imputing if they be sinfull then your sinneful acts inherently in themselues sinnefull by not imputing the guilt of contagion become gratefull pleasing and acceptable vnto God Neyther can M. Abbot any way cuade by his frequent and worm-eaten answere that the action we do is not sinnefull because it is in substance a good Ibid. ●7● worke and the fruit of the good spirit of God and the default and imperfection is only an accident to the worke Nor Whitaker who to the same purpose replyeth in his answere to Duraeus VVhitk ● in his answere to Duraeus l. 8. pag. 698. We meane not that good workes are sinnes but that they haue some sinne mixed with them For it followeth not that siluer is drosse because it hath some drosse mingled with it Seeing our dispute is not heere of the physicall substance which in euery action euen of murder theft and the like is transcendentally good or in genere Entis to vse the Philosophers tearmes but of the morall bounty or deformity of a worke which if it be tainted with the mixture of any euill how accidenttally soeuer it cannot be good sith it is true which Dionysius teacheth Good ariseth from an entiere cause euill from euery defect So that Whitakers example which Abbot also alleadgeth Dionys de diuin nomin c. 4. par 4. Bonum ex vna tota causa malum ex multis particularibu● que proficiscitur defectibus of gold or siluer mingled with drosse is nothing to the purpose because there be two materiall substances really distinct heere we question of one morall act which admitteth no distinction there although one metall be mingled with the other yet by seuerall veynes in seuerall places they are so incorporated as the siluer is not drosse or drosse siluer heere the same act flowing from the same will aymed at the same end must be both good and bad pure and defiled siluer and drosse which is impossible For as it inuolueth contradiction that one and the same assent of vnderstanding should be at the same tyme both true and false in the agreement of all Philosophers and Deuines so likewise it implyeth that one and the same acte of the will should be ioyntly at the same moment good and euill laudable and vituperiall pleasing displeasing vnto God Wherefore if euery action of it owne nature be euil no worke of ours can be in substance good as M. Abbot would haue it none excellent as Whitaker pretendeth but the most excellent must needes in it selfe be wholy marred wholy odious vnto God wholy and substantially naught howsoeuer by outward acceptation it may seeme beautifull and fayre Not so say they for our good workes are not wholy euill not hatefull not sinnes but infected quoth M. Abbot with the contagion of sinne We say not quoth Whitaker to marry a wife is sinne Abbot VVhitak in the places cyted aboue but that they who marry wiues intermixe some sinne in that good action But you say that that intermixed sinne may wholy marre the action make it odious to God if that which is done be weighed in the ballance of diuine iustice Therefore you say that the action of it selfe is wholy euill wholy marred altogeather odious vnto God and hatefull of his owne nature vnles you beleeue that an action weighed in the ballance of diuine iustice becometh thereby worse more odious and abhominable then of it selfe it is and that our supreme highest Iudge who iustly condemneth the wickednes of man maketh it more wicked by the seuerity of his iudgement 5. Moreouer from whence creepeth this spot of sinne into that good and lawfull action of marriage Not from the will of taking a wife for that is laudable no sinne according to the Apostle not from the substance of the act for that M. Abbot also alloweth to be good not from any other accidentall circumstance of end tyme place or person for I suppose they be all guided by the rule of reason How then is sinne intermixed in the good action of marriage By the same act which inseparably draweth the stayne of corruption with it or by some other adioyned The desire of taking a wife for a good end in such as may lawfully marry is free from all sinne as by a wicked intention to which it is ordeyned if by the same one and the same action is both good and euill a sinne and no sinne agreable to reason and disagreable consonant and dissonant to the will of God the often refuted vnauoyded implicancy which you incurre If by some other act or vicious intent either this intention is principall and the cause of marriage as to marry the easier to contriue the murder of his wife or some other then the action of marriage is not good but impious wicked and detestable or it is a secondary intent and followeth the desire of marriage so it cannot vitiate the former good desire nor be termed a sinne intermixed therewith which albeit obstinate and ignorant aduersaryes can hardly be drawn to confesse yet will I make it so cleare as they shall not be able to deny Let vs take for example the act of louing God or dying for his sake what mixture hath it or slyme of euill any stayn that ariseth from the obiect beloued or will which loueth it Not from the obiect for that is infinite goodnes without all spot or blemish therefore no blemish can be intermixed with that act as it tendeth to so pure an obiect nor from the will of louing it for no feare of excesse no danger of impurity can possibly flow from desiring to loue the fountaine it selfe and mayne sea of purity not from the mudd of distraction not from the scumme of vaine glory not from the froath of pride which sometyme may accompany that heauenly loue for as it is impossible the act of loue should be an act of distraction vanity
reason of the hatefull obiect he discouereth in them he doth so punish and abandon them as men are wont to do the thinges which they hate Thus that infinite goodnes that sea of loue hateth and reprobateth such as he foreseeth by the determination of their will Fulgen. l. 1. ad Monim iustly to deserue it otherwise he cannot possibly exercise any hatred or decree of damnation against them according to this of S. Fulgentius It is well known that the wrath Aug. l. 3. in Iulian. c. 18. of God cannot be auouched but where mans iniquity is beleeued to haue gone before And the like of S Augustine God is good God is iust he may deliuer some without good deserts because he is good he can damne no man without evill deserts because he is iust The reason is because to deliuer his elect is an act of mercy which presupposeth hath for her proper obiect Misery wherin al mankind was enwrapped by original sinne but to condemne or depute to punishment is an act of iustice which must needs argue a fault in him Fulk in c. 13 Matth. sect 2. that is punished because as S. Augustine saith God is not A reuenger before man be a sinner Therfore we conclude that he may predestinate vs independently of our merits but he cannot reprobate any without the preuision of their demerits 11. The third heresy is that God purposely intendeth Fulk in̄ ca. 6. Math. sect 5. in c. 1. ad Rom. sect 10. in cap. 11. ad Rom. sect 5. not only the eternall damnation of the wretched but their very obduration blindnes final irrepentance and other enormous crimes by which they are plunged into that hopelesse calamity God hardeneth quoth Fulke the wicked not as an euill author but as a righteous iudge not by bare permission or suffering but by with-drawing and with-holding his grace and deliuering them into their ownelust or into the deceipt of Sathan In which deliuery he graunteth an action of God as his wordes both heere and elswhere import not only to the meteriall entity wherunto we also confesse Gods generall concourse but to that formall obduration or precise formality of contempt and hardnes to which we only allow his sufferance or bare permission or els why doth he alwayes exclude this permission of ours or seeke to excuse God that he concurreth as a righteous iudge vnles he meant that God actually concurreth as a righteous iudge to the same specificall degree of willful resistance or malicious purpose of abiding in sinne to which man cooperateth as an euill actor els to what end deuiseth he that distinction that sinne is against Gods reuealed will not against his secret will vnles he speake of formall sinne for the materiall entity is not against his reuealed will but only the formall obduration or culpable blindnes therfore he supposeth that God sendeth the spirit of errour and giueth the wicked ouer to a reprobate sense by speciall concourse to the very malice it selfe of their sinfull obstinacy 12. It is also a principle of M. Fulkes that God appoynteth before hand not only the end but also the meanes by which men come to that end but the meanes of damnation Fulk in cap. 27. Act. sect 3. are finall impenitencie and other foregoing sinnes therfore they in his diuelish opinion are preordeined by God To which effect writeth of certaine Iewes who refused to imbrace the fayth of Christ forthat they neither would nor could be willing to beleeue because they were reprobate Fulk in cap. Ioan. sect 〈◊〉 making reprobation and consequently Almightie God the cause of their infidelitie willfull peruersitie aboad in sinne For whosoeuer captiueth others without their default in such a bewitching thraldome as they necessarily sinne and cannot auoide the bondage of sinne must needes be the author and cause of their sinnes but thus doth God with the reprobate he according to Fulke before any desert foreseene of theirs before he seeth the propension inclination or any concurrence at al of their will ordeineth them to destruction by his immutable counsell which cannot be repealed then supposing that vnchangeable will and ordinance irreuersible they haue not left them any power to repent or grace to belieue but they are vnauoidably chayned to the fetters of Prosper in respons ad obiec 11. vice vnauoidably carried from vice to vice therfore God O most execrable Conclusion which necessarily followeth out of these our Sectaries premisses God I say though I feare to say it is the cause and only cause of Note that it is al cne Whether God inforce or necessitate men to sinne in repect of making him author of sinne all their incestes murders other abhominable vices 13. Against which I only oppose that excellent answere of S. Prosper If to the deuill it should be obiected that he were the author he the prouoker to such villaines he might I ween acquit himselfe in some sort of that calumnie and euince their owne will to be worker of those mischiefs For though he were delighted with the furie of the delinquents yet would he proue that he * inforced them not to sinne With what follie then or with what madnes is that referred to the appoyntment of God which cannot be wholy ascribed to the deuill Who in the detestable acts of offenders is to be thought the egger on of allurenients not the causer of their wills Therfore God predestinated none of those businesses to be done nor the soule that wil liue wickedly and beastly did he prepare or prouide so to liue Thus S. Prosper you see how dissonant from M. Fulke yet Fulke was not the first broker of these atheismes for looke what he writeth in this kind he coppied Caluin l. 3. instit c. 23. sect 4. 8. out of the originall of Caluins Institutions where Caluin sayth It is not meete c. to assigne the preparing to destruction to any other thing then to the secret counsell of God The whole band of the wicked cannot comeyne nor endeauour nor do any mischiefe but so far as God permitteth but so far as he commandeth Then discoursing of Gods concurrence vnto Calu. l. 8. instit c. 17. §. 11. sinne he hath these words I speake not heere of Gods vniuersal mouing wherby as all creatures are susteyned so from thence they take their effectuall power of doing any thing I speake only of that especiall doing which appeareth in euery speciall act In another place If the blindnes and mades of Achab be the iudgement of God then the deuise of bare sufferance is in vaine A litle after Calu. l. 2. Instit c. 4. 2. Calu. l. 1. Inst c. 18. §. 1. auouching That God blindeth the eyes of men striketh them with giddines maketh them drunke with the spirit of drowsines casteth them into madnes hardneth their hartes he immediatly addeth These things also many doe referr to sufferance as if forsaking the reprobate he suffred