〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For in these things wee may bee vncertaine and so be deceiued but faith cannot bee deceiued And here wee are ledde by sense but in matter of faith wee are ledde by the spirit And vpon the Epistle to the Romanes Ch. 4. where the Apostle saith vers 21. Being certainly perswaded c. Chrysostome saith Obserue that he saith not simply He beleeued but He was certainely perswaded For such a thing is faith that it is more manifest and cleare than those demonstrations which are deduced from reason and doth more perswade than they For he that is perswaded by reasons may be induced by other reasons to wauer in his iudgement but he that is settled vpon faith hath now long agoe carefully guarded and guirt about his hearing as it were with a Rampart or strong Wall round about lest hee should be infected with peruerse speeches And a little after It is the property of a weake pusillanimous and wretched minde not firmely to beleeue If therefore at any time it happen that any doe flout vs for our certainty and confidence in beleeuing let vs againe obiect vnto them incredulity as to those that are wretched pusillanimous foolish and weake and which haue no better vnderstanding than the very Asses For as to beleeue is the point of a magnanimous and noble minde so to bee incredulous and wauering is a signe of a most foolish minde light and abased euen to the bruitishnesse of the vnreasonable Beasts Therefore saith hee leauing these let vs imitate the Patriarch Abraham and glorifie God as he also gaue glory to God And what is it that he saith giuing glory to God Hee considered Gods righteousnesse and his neuer sufficiently comprehended vertue and power and so conceiuing in his minde a thought worthy and beseeming such a person hee got a most certaine perswasion of the promises So he Thus wee see this holy man disclaimes all hesitation or doubting in faith he propounds the patterne of Abraham whose faith was most certaine whom we are to follow in the same steps as the Apostle saith Rom. 4. 12. for the promise is made sure to all the seede to all those that are of the faith of Abraham vers 16. He that wants this certainty of faith doth not truly beleeue as Chrysostome saith he vnderstandeth no more than a beast than the very Asses hee is of a base and pusillanimous spirit he denieth to giue glory to God which as Chrysostome saith is the most excellent property of a Christian mans life Let the Pontificians and among them Vega with his Councell of Trent looke to their credit in this point least as men without vnderstanding they be found like to the beasts that perish St. Basil saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is the property of faith an vndoubting assurance or full confidence voide of distrust The same Sain Basil also in another place saith That faith beyond all reasons of Sciences and Arts doth draw the soule to a consent yea and that faith relyeth not vpon Geometricall or necessary demonstrations but is iufused into the soule by the operations of the holy Ghost And againe Faith is an vndoubted assent to those things which are heard in a certaine perswasion of the truth of those things which are preached by the grace of God which Abraham shewed saith hee hauing testimony that hee doubted not through distrust but was strong in the faith giuing glory to God and being certainly perswaded that he which had promised was able also to performe Tertullian afore him saith Fides integra secura est de salute sound and intire Faith is secure of saluation But shall wee neede to bring candles to shew vs the light of the Sunne The Sunne-shine of the Scriptures hath so clearly manifested the truth of the certainty of faith that the ancient Doctors of the Church borrowing their light from that Sunne are as so many Starres witnessing the same truth So as not so much as a cloud of doubtfulnesse is to be seene in them as touching this point howsoeuer the Pontificians dazzled with the bright beames of truth would also cast a myst before faiths eyes and would perswade vs that where the Fathers speak of the certainty of faith they meane some morall or experimentall certainty distinctions which their simple hearted spirits neuer dreamed of in this kinde and where the Fathers speake of our manifold infirmities and weaknesses that are in our nature and of those doubts and feares that arise from our carnall corruption the Pontificians would perswade vs that they meane of the doubts and feares that are in faith So witty are the Pontificians in their selfe-deceiuings Now besides this natiue certainty of sauing faith in euery beleeuer there be many other accruing and concurring helps seruing to seale vp this infallible certainty of faith with all fulnesse of assurance As first the infallible testimony of the Spirit of truth witnessing to our spirits to the spirit of faith that we are the Sonnes of God Rom. 8. 16. And Gal. 4. 6. Because yee are sonnes God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father And Ephes. 1. 13. In whom also yee trusted after that ye heard the Word of truth the Gospell of your saluation in whom also after that yee beleeued yee were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance vntill the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory This place is very pregnant and worthy our best attention The holy Ghost is called the seale wherewith wee are sealed and the earnest of our inheritance Now a seale and earnest are Symboles of assurance But marke this seale and earnest is giuen vs after that we haue beleeued So that here is the seale of the Spirit annexed to the seale and certainty of our faith ad corroborandum titulum as the Lawyers speake to strengthen our title That as the Apostle saith by two immutable things wee might haue strong consolation who haue fled for refuge to lay hold vpon the hope set before vs which hope wee haue as an anchor of the soule both sure and stedfast and which entereth into that within the vaile whither the fore-runner is for vs entred euen Iesus made an High Priest for euer after the Order of Melchisedech So 1. Ioh. 4. 13. Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in vs because he hath giuen vs of his Spirit Faith then being certaine and confirmed also by the seale of Gods Spirit what more certaine Hence it is that Bernard writing to Pope Innocent against Abailardus saith Abailardus fidem definiebat aestimationem quâ—si cuique in ea sentire loqui quae libeat liceat aut pendeant ab incerto in vagis ac varijs opinionibus nostrae fidei Sacramenta non magis certa veritate subsistant Nonne si fluctuat fides inanis est spes
vsum experientiae terminos Disce id habere certiùs id tutiùs sequi quod illa suaserit Noli me tangere nondum enim ascendi ad Patrem meum nam tangi à fide voluit Touch me not saith Christ that is dis-wont thy selfe with this seducible sense rest on the Word acquaint thy selfe with faith faith that knowes not how to bee deceiued faith that comprehendeth things inuisible doth not feele the want of sense For it transcendeth the bounds euen of humane reason the vse of nature and the limits of experience Learne to account that for more certaine to follow that more safely which faith shall perswade thee of Touch mee not for I am not yet ascended to my Father is as if he had said he would then be touched by faith Besides the sure and viue testimony of faith we haue the attestation of Gods holy Spirit the testimony whereof is no lesse infallible than it is most euident in the heart of euery true beleeuer This holy Spirit assureth all those that beleeue in Christ and belong to him both of their election and perseuerance This Spirit witnesseth to our spirits that wee are the Sonnes of God that 's for our election and adoption and the Apostle addes If sonnes then also heires yea coheires with Christ of his Kingdome that 's for our perseuerance This Spirit sealeth all beleeuers and is the earnest of our inheritance Till when Euen vntill the redemption of the purchased possession vnto the praise of his glory that is vntill the consummation of all our blessednesse in and with Christ. Therefore is the Holy Ghost the seale and earnest euen of our perseuerance vnto glory This Spirit is that Annointing whereof Saint Iohn speaketh The annointing which yee haue receiued of him abideth in you And againe Hereby wee know that hee abideth in vs by the Spirit which he hath giuen vs. And againe Hereby wee know that wee dwell in him and bee in vs because hee hath giuen vs of his Spirit The Pontificians and Vega by name being consciously conuict and pressed with these cleare euidences are faine to flye to most miserable shifts and euasions Forsitan c. saith Vega Perhaps it appeareth more probable that eyther Saint Iohn spake these things of himselfe onely and his fellow-Apostles or else that hee speakes not here of the mansion and habitation of the Spirit in some particular persons but of his generall residence in the Church Yea moreouer saith hee that testimony whereby Paul proueth that the faithfull doe not vnfitly call God Father as wee call him in the Lords Prayer is not any inward testimony whereby the Holy Ghost doth testifie to euerie righteous man that hee is absolutely the Sonne of God by grace but this testimony forsooth is that glorious and most excellent testimony whereby the Holy Ghost by admirable signes and wonders and peculiarly by his visible descending Acts 2. hath openly testified to all the world that they are the Sonnes of God which did receiue the Faith of Christ and his Baptisme But to assay to answer these Pontifician Peraduentures and seeming Probabilities what were it else but to goe about to shape a coate for the Moone Such lunaticke interpretations such miserable tergiuersations such slye euasions such absurd and senselesse shifts such false and profane glosses deserue no other answer than to be hissed and exploded out of euery common Schoole yea whipped also and lashed out of Gods Sanctuary for such their monstrous and shamelesse profanation of the sacred Truth FINIS Bellarmin de Iustif. l. 1. c. 4. Act. 19. Hist. Concil Trid. lib. 2. Concil Trid. Sess. 6. Proem cap. 2. 5. 7. Bern. Serm. ad Clerum Et super Cant. Serm. 33. See Bulla Pii 4 super confirmatione Conc. Trid. super Forma iuramenti professinis fidei a Luke 22. 31. Amb. de fide l. 1. c. 8. Hier. ad Ctesiph de libero arbitr contra Pelag. Ep. 3. Concil Trid. Ses. 6. cap. 5. Ibid. cap. 6. Free-will the mother of Romes preparatory workes Vega lib. 6. de preparatione adultorum ad Iustif. cap. 12. * Per â—am paenitentiam Which I translate Penance according to the vsuall and vulgar language of their Rhemes Testament nor haue they any other repentance but Penance Can. 1. â—â—el â—ist 14. lib. â— quaest 2. Aqu. 12. qu. 114 art 3. c. â— c. Aqu. 12 qu. 1â—4 a. 6. c. quian homo c. The vanity and incongruitie of Popish preparation Concil Trid. Ses. 6. cap. 6. Aqu. 12. quaest â— 14. art 7. c. * This Councell speakes of a former and later grace but names them not Ses. 4. cap. 5. Concil Trin. Ses. 6. Can. 5. a Doctè Richardus de statu inter hom cap. â—2 Cum audis liberum arbitrium esse captiuum nihil aliud intellige quà m infirmum natiuae potestatis virtute priuatum Andr. Vega lib. 15. de vera sicta iustiâ— cap. â— Concil Trin. Ses. 6. cap. 5. Prima gratia seu gratia gratis data secunda gratia seu gratia gratum saciens Romes first and second grace Aqu. 12. qu. 114 art 3. 6. Aqu. 12. qu. 114 art 5. ad 2. Aqu. 12. qu. 114 art 3. c. Vega de meritis ex Congruo iustif cap. 7. Ibid. propos 3. A notable Pontifician shift Ibid propos 4. Fides alia bona opera quil us disponimur ad gratiam gratum facientem qua â—orâ— aliter iustificamur simus accepti Deo meritoria sunt ex Congruo eiusmodi gratiae nostra iustificationis Soto de nat grat lib. 2. cap. 4 de merito ex congruo What the ancient Fathers vnderstood by the word Merit August Aug de tempore ser. 35. * Greg. in Fuang hom 34. * See Histor. Concil Trid. lib. 2. Pontificians can with facility reconcile flat contradictions Si quis dixerit hominem suis operibus quae vel per humanae naturae vires vel per legis doctrinam siant absque diâ—ina per Iesum Christum gratia possè iustificari coram Deo Anathema sit Can. 1. Ioh. Sarisbury in Polychron lib. 6 cap. 4. Greg. Past. Curae pars 3. admon 33. Qui morbum suum nescit quomodo medicum quaerit maior enim quò citius quia sit culpa agnoscitur co etiam celeriùs emendatur minor verò dum quasi nulla creditur cò peiùs securiùs in vsu retinetur a Rom. 7. 18. b Gen. 6. c Rom. 7. 13. Seâ— 6. Caâ— 7. Si quis dixerit opera omnia quae ante iustificationem fiunt quacunque ratione facta sunt verè esse peccata vel odium Dei mereri c. Anathema sit a Pelagians Pontificians compared together b Aug. contra Pelagianos lib. 3. in fine tom 7. Aug. contra Iul. Pelag. lib. 4. cap. 3. tom 7. Obiection Answer Why Romes doctrine of preparation is hereticall antichristian To receiue Christ is to beleeue in him Vega de meritis ex congruo
Iewes abide not still in vnbeleefe they shall bee graffed into the true Oliffe tree that is into Christ againe If they abide not still in vnbeleefe implying if they beleeue they shall be re-ingraffed so that faith is the instrumentall meane of our ingraffing into Christ of our vniting with him Whereupon Augustine saith Quam insertionem Oleastri amputatis propter infidelitatis superbiam naturalibus ramis etiam ipse Dominus in Euangelio praedixit occasione illius Centurionis qui in eum ex Gentibus credidit significans inseri Oleastrumpropter humilit atem fidei Which ingraffing of the wilde Oliffe the naturall branches for their proud infidelity being cut off the Lord himselfe foretold in the Gospell by occasion of that Centurion who of the Gentiles beleeued in him signifying the implanting of the wilde Oliffe for his humblefaith Thus we see vpon what ample proofes and testimonies this truth standeth that by faith wee are vnited vnto Christ. Now because our vnion with Christ is a doctrine of singular vse setting forth the nature and excellency of our Iustification by Christ and wherein we put on and possesse Christ our righteousnesse therefore wee esteeme it fit to bee treated of in an intire Chapter by it selfe CHAP. VIII Of the nature and kinde of the vnion betweene Christ and the faithfull and of the fruits and effects arising from the same VNion is a making of many into one Now there are sundry kindes of vnion there is a consubstantiall vnion as Bernard cals it in the diuinity but this so transcendent as it may be called rather vnity than vnion and rather one than vnity The Father the Word and the Spirit these three are one 1. Ioh. 5. 7. and Christ saith I and the Father are one not vnited but one Ioh. 10. 30. So that this vnion in the diuinity this vnity this one hath no parallel As Bernard saith speaking of some other vnions Haec omnia quid ad illud summum atque vt ita dicam vnicè vnum vbi vnitatem consubstantialitas facit All other vnions what are they to that one supreame and as I may so say that onely one where consubstantiasity makes the vnity And super Cantica serm 71. Singularis ac summa illa est vnitas quae non vnitione constat sed extat aeternitate That is the most singular and excellent vnity which consists not by vnition but existeth by eternity There is also a personall vnion and that is of the two natures in Christ which Bernard cals dignatiua vnitas qua limus noster à Dei verbo in vnam assumptus est personam a vouchsafing or gracious vnity whereby the word of God vouchsafed to assume our slimie nature into the vnity of his person There is a Sacramentall vnion between the signe and the thing signified in the Sacraments There is a naturall or animall vnion of the soule and body in man There is an accidentall vnion betweene the mind and learning found in a learned man There is an artificiall vnion betweene the hand and the instrument as when the work is predicated of or denominated of them both ioyntly as a carued worke implies both the hand and toole wherewith it was wrought There is a morall vnion between two friends as Dauid and Ionathan There is a ciuill vnion between the Prince and the People There is an vnion of dependency betweene the Creature and the Creator for in him wee liue and moue and haue our being Acts 17. 28. Finally to passe by others there is a spirituall and mysticall vnion betweene Christ and beleeuers which is called spirituall especially from the principall efficient of it the Spirit of God and of Christ as the Apostle declareth 1. Cor. 12. 13. By one spirit are we all baptized into one mysticall body of Christ. Now this spirituall vnion between Christ the beleeuer as it comes short of that first transcendent vnion in the sacred Trinity in vnity so it doth as farre excell all those other vnions yet so as it seemeth to partake in some thing of them all For first concerning that stupendious and wondrous vnion in the diuine Hypostaces or Persons our vnion with Christ is resembled to it as Ioh. 17. 20. 21. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall beleeue on mee through their word that they may all be one as thou Father art in mee and I in thee that they also may be one in vs. And Ioh. 14. 20. At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father and you in mee and I in you Yea Christ and his beleeuers are so vnited in one in one mysticall body as Christ and they are called one Christ 1. Cor. 14. 12. So is Christ that is Christ and all his members being there compared to one body compacted of many members So is Christ saith the Apostle So then as the Father is in the Sonne and the Sonne in the Father one God so beleeuers are in Christ and Christ in beleeuers one Christ. So that the vnion betweene the Father and the Sonne and betweene Christ and vs seemeth to be alike It is somewhat like indeede but nothing alike for the Father and Christ are one so is Christ and the beleeuer one but yet in different respects The Father and the Sonne are one but essentially and naturally Christ and the beleeuer are one not essentially nor naturally but are made so by grace as Ioh. 17. 23. That they may be made perfect in one So 2. Pet. 1. 4. We are made partakers of the diuine nature by gift And as Bernard saith Hanc vnitatem nontam essentiarum cohaerentia facit quam continentia voluntatum This vnity is wrought not so much by the coherency of essences as by the correspondency and nearenesse of wils And againe Homini Deo sua cnique natura substantia est cum Patris Filijque coâ—stet penitus esse vnam In the vnion betweene God and man each of them notwithstanding retaine their nature and substance proper to themselues but the Father and the Sonne haue both one and the same substance So that in our vnity with God in Christ there is not confusio naturarum sed voluntatum consensio not a confusion of natures but a consent of wils Secondly this vnion betweene Christ and the beleeuer is not an hypostaticall or personall vnion such as is betweene the two natures in Christ but it is mysticall onely and such as maketh the beleeuer in Christ to be with him one Christ yet not personally but spiritually mystically as 1. Cor. 6. 17. He that is ioyned vnto the Lord is one spirit Thirdly this vnion betweene Christ and the beleeuer is not that Sacramentall vnion between the signe and the thing signified sith the signe hath no benefit from the thing signified nor is it any longer a signe than in the Sacramentall vse and application to the beleeuing Communicant and so the Sacramentall vnion ceaseth yet
angry Iudge within the conscience boyling without the world burning The righteous shall scareely be saued the sinner taken tardy where shall hee appeare To lurke shall be impossible to appeare intolerable Who shall aduise me Whence shall I expect saluation Who is he that is called the Angell of great counsell The same is Iesus The same is the Iudge betweene whose hands I tremble Pause awhile O sinner doe not despaire Hope in him whom thou fearest flye to him from whom thou hast fled O Iesus Christ for this thy name sake deale with mee according to this name looke vpon this wretch calling on thy name Therefore O Iesus bee my Iesus for thy names sake If thou shalt admit me into the large bosome of thy mercy it shall be neuer a whit the narrower for me True it is my conscience hath deserued damnation and my repentance sufficeth not for satisfaction but certaine it is that thy mercy surpasseth all misdeedes c. It is recorded of Edward the Confessor once King of this Island that lying on his death-bed his friends about him weeping he said If ye loued mee ye would forbeare weeping and reioyce rather because I goe to my Father with whom I shall receiue the ioyes promised to the faithfull not through my merits but by the free mercy of my Sauiour who sheweth mercy on whom he pleaseth Thus by these and such like testimonies of holy and deuout men not in their Rhetoricall declamations to winne applause with men but in their saddest meditations as standing in the presence yea before the dreadfull Tribunall of that iust God it may easily appeare what confidence is to be put in the best mans workes or inherent righteousnesse All these will proue but dry fewell and stubble when they come to that consuming fire to those euerlasting burnings It is an easie matter for a carnall man seduced with errour and possessed with the spirit of pride while hee is in his prosperitie and senslesse securitie as little considering as conceiuing the power of Gods wrath as Dauid speakes as little knowing the nature of sin as the terrour of Gods strict iustice to be pussed vp with an opinion of a few poore beggarly supposed good deeds Iust like our first Parents who when they had sinned and so incurred Gods eternall wrath got a few figge-leaues to couer their nakednesse and shame thinking themselues now safe and secure enough But no sooner did they heare the voyce of the Lord God comming as a Iudge towards them but for all their figge-leaues they runne and hide themselues among the Trees of the Garden Their figg-leaues quickly beganne to wither when once the fire of Gods iealousie beganne to approach But let now the brauest Pontifician of them all standing so much vpon the pantofles of inherent righteousnesse let him lav aside his carnall security his loue of the world his wilfull blindnesse hauing looked his face in the glasse of Gods Law and catechised himselfe according to the strict Canon thereof c. and let him now bethinke himselfe of an account he is to make and that presently before a most seuere and vnpartiall vncorrupt Iudge of all his thoughts words workes omissions commissions let him take into his consideration if hee haue so much grace and iudgement to consider the nature of sinne which is such as the least sinne is sufficient to damne him soule and body for euer for Hee that keepeth the whole Law and yet faileth in one point is guilty of all And the Law saith Cursed is euery one that continueth not in all things written in the Law to do them Mark In all things yea such is sin as it could not be purged nor mans soule redeemed from it nor Gods wrath appeased nor his iustice satisfied but by the only death of the only son of God Tel me what that iustice is which will not be satisfied Tell me what that sin is which will not be expiated but by the extreame humiliation bloud-shedding death passion of the deerest son of the eternall God Tell me how seuere is that iustice how implacable that indignation against sin which would not spare the most immaculate Lambe of God the pure spotlesse Sonne of righteousnes euen righteousnes holines innocency it selfe These things well weighed digested in thy more refined iudgment according to the standard of the Sanctuary come now Pontifician glittering in thy white linnen of thine inherent righteousness set thy self before Gods dreadful Tribunall to receiue thy eternal doom according to thine own deseruings bring with thee all thy merits number now before the iudge of heauen earth thy many pilgrimages thy many Prayers Pater-nosters Aue-Maries Canonicall houres Shrifts Shrines adored Saints inuoked and the like But thy conscience will giue thee that all these being but will-worship and humane inuentions of which God wil say Who required these things at your hands condemned also in Esay saying Their feare towards me was taught by the precept of men they will vanish into smoke when they are tryed in Gods Test. Therefore howsoeuer the Romane-Catholicke Church preferres these her own Rites and Ceremonies and Ecclesiasticall obseruances of her own inuention as beeing more holy and more meritorious than those duties of Christian holinesse commanded and prescribed in Gods Word yet in the more sober iudgement of thine vnpartiall Conscience know that if God respect any righteousnesse at all in vs it must be that especially which himselfe hath commanded If therefore thou hast any store of these bring them with thee If thou canst Tell this Iudge that thou hast dealt truely and iustly with all men that thou hast beene liberall to the poore giuen much Almes yea perhaps bequeathed all thy goods and possessions to pious vses euen in thy life time and that not to the maintenance of a Monasticall Society of lazie and lustfull Abbey-lubbers but vpon the truly poore indigent Brethren of Christ that thou hast dispossessed and diuested thy selfe of all earthly preferment and honor so become poore for Christs sake thou hast exercised thy self with watchings fastings not as man but as the Lord hath commanded and much more than all this if thou canst alledge for thy selfe Well But all these things must now bee weighed in a iust and euen ballance not of mans imagination but of Gods strict iudgement Now will not he finde thinkest thou an infinite lightnes in thy best works will not his most pure eyes easily discerne thy most pious actions to be fraught with many imperfections defiled with the mixture of manifold corruptions as water running through a puddly chānel he will discouer in all these works of thine besids infinite defects faylings in all thy many sinister ends the pride of thy heart thy self-loue the loue of vaine glory the loue of thine own felicity more than of the glory of God a thousand secret corruptions lurking in the secret corners of thy selfe-deceiuing heart Nay besides
by diuine reuelation the Fathers haue opened in those words of the 13. Chapter Veruntamen c. But let them that thinke they stand take heede lest they fall and so vnto the end of the Chapter Thus wee haue the state of Pontifician Doctrine touching the certainty of iustification in regard of predestination and perseuerance For the maine substance of these Trent-Fathers Decrees and Canons touching predestination and perseuerance wee shall trye what truth is in them when we come to set downe the opposite doctrine of the Catholicke Faith In the meane time let vs a little weigh the moment of Vega's arguments for the defence of the Councell In his second Chapter of his 12. Booke Of the vncertainty of predestination and perseuerance after a goodly flourish and triumphall tripudiation as if the field were already won before he had strucke stroke he saith Habemus certissima fortissima argumenta c. We haue most certaine and strong arguments whereby to confirme and defend the Doctrine deliuered here by the Fathers and to vanquish the contrary heresies And first to proue this definition of the Fathers saith he Non omnis c. Not euery one that is iustified is predestinate We haue many places of Scripture to serue our purpose prouing that there haue been many in the state of grace and afterwards haue fallen from it and at length damned For example Saul that was elect to be King of Israel is said 1. Sam. 9. 2. to be electus bonus an elect and good man so that there was not a better than he among all the children of Israel Now saith Vega being said to bee bonus electus elect and good as the vulgar Latine hath it it is manifest that he was then in the state of grace for the Scripture saith hee doth not adorne men with such prayses which are out of the state of Gods grace But saith he Saul afterwards fell and was reiected and damned I answer Saul is there called an elect man in that he was a choice and goodly tall young man proper of personage insomuch as none was found comparable to him for personage and stature for hee was taller by the head and shoulders than any of the people Doth this proue that hee was one of Gods eternall election Or doth God elect men to saluation for the goodlinesse of their person No wee see the contrary 1. Sam. 16. 7. That Saul dyed a reprobate and desperately we easily grant it But that Saul euer was in the state of grace Vega saith nothing yet to the purpose to proue it nor euer can he I rather maruaile why Vega omitted a more probable argument to proue Saul to haue once been in the state of grace to wit because the Spirit of the Lord comming vpon him he was turned into another man An argument which some other Pontificians vrge yet Vega alledgeth St. Augustines censure of Saul who concludes him to bee a reprobate saying The example of this Saul makes against some proud heretickes which deny that any of the good gifts of the holy Ghost may be giuen to those that doe not appertaine to the condition of Saints Which saying of that worthy Father doth plainly proue that Saul was neuer of the number of Gods Saints and that euen wicked and reprobate men may haue notwithstanding some speciall gifts of the holy Ghosts and yet be neuer a whit the nearer to the state of grace Saul was said to be changed into another man when Gods Spirit came vpon him not in regard of conuersion from sinne vnto God or from a wicked life to the state of grace but of a priuate man whose thoughts reached no higher than his fathers Asses hee was made a Prince and endowed with Princely qualities of wisedome and courage the gifts of Gods Spirit whereby hee was enabled for such a weighty gouernment Yea we are not affraid to put this case to the tryall euen of a Bishop of Rome Gregory the last good Bishop of Rome saith thus of Saul Saul electus dicitur non secundum gratiam sed secundum iudicium Bonus dicitur vt diuine aequitatis dispositio commendetur Bonum profectò est quicquid est iustum c. Saul is said to bee elect not according to grace but according to iudgement He is called good that the disposition of diuine equity might be commended That indeed is good whatsoeuer is iust c. And he illustrates this by the instance of Ecclesiasticall Pastors Per iustitiam quippe Dei Pastores reprobi c. For by the iustice of God reprobate Pastors are permitted to climbe to the regiment of holy Church but they which are euill by their iniquity are good by diuine dispensation and now by the secret ordination of God they are elected who at the last in the vniuersall iudgement shall be reprobated Therefore a reprobate shepheard because by diuine dignation he is appointed to that office may bee called elect and because he is iustly permitted hee may bee called good And because hee is thought fitter than others to execute Gods iudgements therfore none is said to be better than he among the children of Israel Seeing therefore it cannot be proued that Saul was euer in the state of grace but the contrary is manifest euen by the iudgment of him who was once Bishop of Rome no maruaile if he dyed a desperate Reprobate Hereunto Vega addeth Salomons example that being endued with extraordinary wisedome from God and so standing in the state of grace he afterwards fell away and Vega laboureth to proue that Salomon dyed a Reprobate For answer that God gaue such wisedome to Salomon this proues him no more to be in the state of grace than that which was giuen to Saul This wisedome giuen to Salomon was famous indeede but for ought we finde it was no other but a naturall and morall wisedome and knowledge whereby he might the better iudge that great people committed to his charge as Salomon himselfe saith 1. Kings 3. 9. and know the nature and property of all creatures as 1. Kings 4. 29. 30. 31. c. Not that I deny but that Salomon might now be in the state of grace and no doubt but he was but that hee was not therefore in the state of grace because of his extraordinary wisedome giuen vnto him For doe not wee know that for a naturall and morall wisedome euen Heathen men as many Pagan Philosophers haue farre excelled many of Gods Saints Againe as we deny not but that young Salomon was now in the state of grace so we deny that hee euer fell totally away from this estate It is true he fell fearfully but not totally for marke what the Scripture saith expresly 1. Kings 11. 4. It came to passe when Salomon was old that his wiues turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as was the heart of Dauid his father And in the 6.