preuail by his equal ominnipotent power with the father and likewise was it requisite he should bee man that beeing like to his brethren in al respectes sinne excepted hee might haue a full experience of all the infirmities wherewith man is beset Neyther did Christ what hee did and endured onely in that proportion as hee is the head and the Church his body the head with the body mystically but truely so called but also in the dayes of his flesh he and only he satisfied the Law and that by his personal and proper satisfaction and sacrifice wee are redeemed from the Law ransomed from the curse Into this his office vnder heauen nothing must intrude The Pelagian the Iewe the Papist will finde it a matter of greater charge and cost than our impure nature or the impossible Law or our imperfect works can defray and perfourme All abilities congruities dignities cōdignities wel-willing or our best woorking can neuer make vs Sonnes and when we are Sonnes we are thereby heires not of a first supposed iustification alone but heires of al that foloweth after euen of saluation in heauen The fraction of two iustifications is a fond diuisiō a false that frappet or fraction of two iustifications and of double inheritaunces is but a puppet of Papistes deuising as if Christes office should haue bin to deliuer vs first that wee might be redeemers of our selues afterward No no. For we men bring neuer a farding to the paiment neither of our first as they call it nor as we speak to our full and finall redemption and namely to our saluation to life euerlasting which is Rom. 6.23 the gift of God S. Paul could haue made the diuision if it had bin a right diuision partly to God partly to mā if Christ could haue parted stakes in a matter of such importance that brought him being very God from the top of heauen and the bozom of his father that he might be the only giuer and we but the receauers of our redemption from the Lawe and adoption to be Sonnes 6 And because yee are Sonnes God hath sent the spirit of his sonne into your harts which crieth Abba Father 7 Wherefore thou art no more a seruaunt but a sonne nowe if a sonne then also the heire of God through Iesus Christ The working of the trinitie in the saluation of man and in the assurance thereof In the woork of our happy redemption see the gracious goodnes of the holy Trinity by al means woorking a cleare vnderstanding in vs that we may know and acknowledge both what wee are and by whom The father sendeth the spirit euen the spirit of his sonne into our hartes Wherein we see and obserue the euident * distinction of the persons and therein the Scriptures are plaine that the persons are three distinctly 1. The Father 2. The Sonne 3. The Holy Ghost 1. The Father who gaue his Sonne sent his spirit 2. The Sonne who gaue himselfe And 3. whose the spirit is euen the spirite proceeding from the Father and the Sonne and these three are one In sense I can distinguish many things that in nature differ not for example The yee the snow and the water and yet all these three are of one substance and of a watrie nature But neither sense nor reason can deal in these cases it is our Creede There is a blessed Trinity in a sacred Vnity Quod lego credo I reade it in Scripture and therefore beleeue it in heart and leaue off to reason whereof I cannot and I may not reason Well God sent the spirite of his Sonne into the hartes of vs his sonnes * Sonnes by nature and sonnes by adoption So that hee is the Sonne and we the sonnes of God hee by nature and we by adoption through Christ whereupon the Apostle maketh these collections If we bee sonnes and sonnes of a ripe iudgement out of our nonage and wardship of the Law farewell al seruile feare nay because wee are sonnes God hath sent his spirite which crieth in our hartes that which a carnall heart could neuer bring foorth Abba Father And because wee are Sonnes by consequent wee are heires but how Through Christ Sonnes through Christ Heires through Christ sealed and settled with that prerogatiue and most singular priuilege of the holye spirite of Christ The Papist like an Atheist iesteth at the spirit of God in the sonnes of God but what marueil if men laugh at that they knowe not what it meaneth But if they were the children of God and inheritours of heauen they might know that they are not Christes who want his spirite euen this crying spirit The certainty of saluation most assured by the spirit of God and other infallible grounds Heb. 4. A wauering minde hath a stammering tongue in the case of his saluation But the spirit of christ crieth and hath an audible voice in the cōsciences of Christians The Ankerite speaketh simperingly hollowly as it were with the mouth of death out of his grate but the spirit openeth and culargeth our harts and forceth foorth a bold and a free confession and therein wee haue accesse euen as Gods deere Children vnto the throne of grace and not vnto a terrible consistory or tribunall of feare but a most gracious Father and mercifull God Alas alas Popery flyeth after butterflies and beateth the aire and aimeth at vncertainties alas it knoweth neither the right meanes nor the perfect certainty of mans saluation But brethren faith is a sure ground Hope is an infallible anker with God there is no variablenes his promises are all yea and Amen his spirit doth not speake but * Rom. 8. cry thus much in our harts Neither is it an vncertaine sound or a false alarum it is the cry of his spirite I could dilate and I haue debated these things in a treatise of Nature and Grace which you haue in you handes and therefore I referre you thereunto where purposely I haue refuted their chiefest argumentes which either Master Stapleton or Pigghius both being chiefe Papists haue brought in this matter greeuing the spirit of God as much as in them lieth The spirit resēbled to a seale whereby we are sealed vnto the day of our redemption I say whereby we are sealed For therby are we sealed and this seale is set and imprinted on the harts of Christians To an ernest penny The spirite is also called an earnest penny a perfect assurance of a greater sum and a ful payment which shal be discharged in heauen To an inunctiō Likewise it is termed an inunction the annointing of God whereby we are inaugurated and destrinated to an infallible inheritance certainly reserued in the hands of a strong keeper against that famous day of our redemption And therefore they who are Sonns are Heires and they who are Heires shal inherit So saith nay so crieth the spirit Papistes seeke to infirme this faith to weaken our hope to
is he therefore the wiser man The flagellant Friar may whip himselfe the whipping Iesuit may scourge himselfe Baals Priestes may cut themselues and others may be whipt cut scourged of others all these bee no marks that can make the cause good but the good cause sanctifieth those markes that men inflict vpon vs for righteousnes sake Wherefore argue not of prosperity for it is seldome found neither yet argue of the markes of aduersity without discretion except your cause be as Pauls was for though they be more common to most of the godly yet they are not euer necessary nor alwaies proper 18 Brethren the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with your spirit Amen The entrance into this Epistle was not hard the end is easie the middle hath beene as you haue heard and al to set foorth the Grace of God which is almost the first and last woorde of the whole wishing them and euen to their spirites a liuely feeling of his Grace which quickneth the soule And heere why shoulde I dilate or driue and sleek out that which is without pleats and plaine in it selfe and which hath beene laide open more than once already I know the Lombar Thomas Aqui. c. Sarcerius in dict scholasta Pelbartus in Rosareo aureo Schoole-men in steede of diuiding the various significations of this word Grace they break it into shiuers and beat it into pouder and neuer make an end In few and generally Grace is no way Grace that is not euery way gratiously graunted and freely giuen and it may bee offered where it may be refused But where God wil bestow it it shal be receaued Grace In special first the Grace of God is the fauor of the father 2. The Grace of the spirit is the operation of the holy Ghost 3. The grace of Christ is the merit of the sonne and the mystery of his passion And these three go al together and are neuer asunder And these three brethren beeing thoroughlie known and beleeued and laid to hart in a full and certain assuraunce of the spirit not swimming in the quick conceat of an imagining head and gliding vp and down in a slippery tongue but felt in the soule and setled by faith in the inward fruition of the secret parts what comfort work they not They quiet the conscience they pacifie the mind they order the whole tenour of a Christian conuersation in euery good way The feare of the Law hath not these effectes And therefore Paul especially wisheth the Galathians the Grace of Christ Ciuil salutatiō It was an ancient custom among the Gentils to subscribe their letters with an ordinary wish as of SAFETY and HEALTH c. And wee * Dion Nicaeus in vita Tiberi◠reade that when Tiberius the emperour had receaued letters from the Magistrates of Rhodes and by some negligence the customary subscription was omitted hee sent for them and caused them to set vnto their letters their vsuall wishes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to subscribe their letters as the vsage was Christian wishes I note as meaning not to note any farther matter of dict culty in this Epistle that our Apostle and so the rest of the Apostles wisely admitting the ciuil vsage of salutations yet with some amendment reducing all to the center and ground-work of all our doings and deriuing all from the fiest head he and they also wish Grace Mercy Peace Health and Saluation Health of Body Saluation of Soule and Safety of both and that not at a-ventures they knowe not from whom but certainly from the right spirite of all Grace euen from God thorough Christ our Iesus and onely Sauiour And thus the Apostle endeth And now I hope with your good leaue with this ende I may end and betake my selfe to a doubled charge nearer home and at home My deare friends and good Brethren of Abington Fare you wel I can but wish vnto you as to my selfe O Lord and Gracious Father let thine Apostle Pauls wish and praier take place among this people The Grace of Christ Iesu be with you al and with your spirit for euer more Amen NVMB. 6.24 The Lord blesse you and keepe you the Lorde make his face to shine vpon you and bee mercifull vnto you The lord lift vp his countenance vpon you giue you his PEACE FINIS
preciousnesse of the gift 3. the certaintie in receauing 4. and the neede of the receauer 1. The freenesse of the giuer For what is freer than gift And then a gift proceeding of loue Which loued me 2. For the preciousnes of the gift what can bee more precious than the Sonne of God the heire of al Hee gaue himselfe 3. The certainty of receauing is vttered in the specialitie of speaking for mee But O blessed Paul what meane these * Christ is not receaued in a general conceat but by a special applying enclosures Why Is Christ thy Christ Is hee thy Sauiour And is hee not rather the Sauiour of the world That which is thine is none of mine Is it not so In worldly thinges true the right and propriety is in the true owner onely and in him alone and in none other In spirituall rightes it is not so altogether Christ is the Christ of all in generall and in speciall too yet not a diuided Christ but whole and entire whosoeuer hee is In natural thinges see a resemblance hereof the Sunne in the aire is a generall light in the eye a speciall and the sound in the ayre a generall noyce yet seerely discerned in the eare so Christ is a general Sauiour of all that shall bee saued but specially is hee receaued discerned and applied by the eye of faieth which faieth commeth by hearing him generally deliuered but specially applied As take eate take drinke at the Lordes Supper feede on him by thy faieth And blessings so speciallie and certainely taken haue euer a quicker tast in the receauer and prouoke thereby the more thankefulnesse towarde the donor 4. The neede of the receauer appeareth in this * The price of the ransom doth proue the neede of the party and the hainousnes of his trespas who is to bee ransommed that if a lesse ransom would haue doone the deed so great a payment had not needed But somuch it cost to saue one Soule And whereas hee saith Christ gaue himselfe For me it is plaine in how harde a case hee was before that Christ must dy that wee may liue or else wee dy euen as the Ramme was Sacrificed that Isaake might bee saued Wherefore of his perfect mercy and for our pure neede Christ dyed for thee for me and for vs al. Why Christians die though Christ died for them It is but an easie demaunde and soone satisfied why I must dye though Christ died for mee Yet God doubtlesse requireth no double satisfaction hee desireth not to bee twise paied for one debt Notwithstanding nothing is more certaine than that death is the common and vneuitable Lodge and Receptacle of the liuing The Wiseman shall dye as wel as shal the Foole. Dauid when he had * Acts. 13.36 serued his time was reposed to his Fathers and the statute is generall and cannot not be dispensed with al must dye By sin * Rom. 5.12 came in death and as sinne is in al so must all dy If there had beene no sinne there shoulde haue beene no death nor dissolution no not of our mixt bodies no more than there shall be of the very same bodies after their restitution glorification By sinne death entered and must goe ouer all But the question is why wee dye whom Christ hath deliuered both from sinne the cause and from death the consequent of sinne As we are deliuered from sinne not that it bee not but that it sting not so are wee deliuered from death not that it come not but that it conquer not that it lead vs not in a triumph ô death where is thy sting The sting of death is sinne but sinne is doone away and therefore ô graue where is thy victory Death is no Death to a good Christian Thou takest holde of vs not because wee are stung to death but because of a natural necessity indeede inducted thorough sinne at first yet for that the guilt of sinne is taken away death is no right death nowe but a dissolution and a passage to a better life and a very instrument whereby mortality putteth on immortality and whereby we liue for euer And the assurance of our certaine departure hence is hence-foorth a noble monument of the weight of sinne to weane vs from sinning and to win vs to Christ in perpetual thankefulnes for that we are freed from the curse of the Lawe against sinne from the guilt of sinne in it selfe and from the danger of death for sinning and all this by his infinit desert in dying for vs that otherwise should haue died a death euerlasting This grace would not bee abrogated I abrogate not the grace of God this grace of his Gospell Steuen Gardiner Steuen Gardiner in King Edwards time whē he stood much but falsly vpon his innocency and would not yeelde that hee had offended yet at length being asked whether he would accept the Kings pardon or no nay saith he I am learned enough not to refuse the Kings pardon In like manner men may dally and play and vse figge leaues at pleasure truly the greatest wisedome in the end will be to renounce all and craue mercy and stand vpon pardon and to trust vnto Christ and onely in him Grace is reiected when works are annexed And for a good fare-well and end of this Chapter be it remembred and written in the hartes of humble men for euer that wee after the example of our Apostle we disanull not we reiect not we frustrate not we abrogate not we throwe not away the grace of God which necessarily ensueth by meashing or adnexing either the association of Ceremonies or the obseruation of the Lawe vnto his free and absolutely free Grace free in GOD though deserued by Christ our Iesus and onely Sauiour CHAP. III. 1 O FOOLISH Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the trueth to whome Iesus Christ before was described in your sight and among you crucified 2 This only would I learne of you Receaued ye the spirit by the workes of the Law or by hearing of faith 3 Are yee so foolish that after ye haue begun in the spirit ye would now end in the flesh 4 Haue yee suffered many things in vaine If yet in vaine 5 He therefore that ministreth to you the spirite and worketh miracles among you doth he it through the workes of the Law or by the hearing of faith O YEE foolish bewitched and disobedient or incredulous Galathians These are vehement speeches But this vehemency proceeded of great zeale and this zeale for them was grounded vppon many reasons 1. Christ was described before their face and crucified in their sight 2. They had receiued the spirit and the graces of the holie Ghost not by the deeds of the Law for they were Gentils but by the Ghospel preached vnto them And the Law in comparison is flesh and grosse the Ghospel is spirituall Should they beginne with the better and relaps to the worse Be entred and beginne in the spirit and
call Gods promises into question and with out-cries to confound the cry of the spirit But thou who art the Sonne of God in thy bozome in thy brest in thy heart thou hast thou bearest a spirit that defieth and crieth out vpon all doubtfulnes and Popish dispaire In the seuenth chapter of Toby Toby 5 when young Tobyas came to Ecbatane and after questioning Raguel had learned that he was old Tobyas his sonne Raguel leaped and kissed him and blessed him and saide vnto him Thou art the sonne of a good and honest man If Raguel did this in respect of Tobyas parentage why doe not our aduersaries as Raguel did and what shoulde Toby the Sonne doe in respect of himselfe that he was the Son of such a Toby Yea what what should he doe that feeleth in his faith and findeth in his soule that he is the Sonne not of a good and honest man but of the good and louing god Should he not ioie in hart or should he feare and tremble and doubt of his estate But in the former story Raguel was right sory and wept when hee was informed that olde Toby had lost his sight and was blind Euen so verily whose hart doth not bleed to see the blindnesse of our aduersaries that are not only depriued of the light of this comfort but desire also that no man els may see any more than they doe themselues Flesh is fraile Sathan is a tempter sinnes do terrifie vs the law accuseth accurseth popery telleth vs there is no certaine helpe nor hope in Christ except you merit by woorks and by what woorks Or els you fry in purgatory or purchase a pardon or kill a Queene or betray our country and this is the only compendious method to be assured of heauen beleeue them who list for faithfull subiects and the Sonnes of God cannot Yet is it more than strange that men can trust in villaines more than in God who neuer deceiued any that trusted in him Trust in God brethren * Iohan. 16.33 Confidite * Mat. 9.2 cōfide fili trust confidētly Build thine house vpon the rocke and dwell in safety and rest in peace He will not deceaue his seruants muchlesse his sonnes Thou art his sonne thou hast his spirit the ernest penny the pawne the pledge the inunction the cry of his spirit A man maie talke of honie that cannot tast the sweetenesse thereof I do not deny many as the Enthusiast the Family of loue and their like may iangle of the spirit who are not spirituall may talke of the booke of life whose names were neuer written in the check and register of Israel But these proud Cedars and great Oakes that seeme to stand but stand not indeede when they fal their fall wil bee great and the fiar durable that such fuell maketh But he that standeth in Christ shal stand for euer He that is engraffed into Christ shall growe florish and fructifie his leafe his life shal neuer fade He that is once Christs can neuer be but Christs A wind out of the wildernesse may ouer-throwe the house where Iobs children were banketing but Iobs hart was fixed sure * Iob. 18.15 Etiamsi occidat tamen sperabo If God should kill Iob yet would Iob liue in hope and trust in God no the gates of hell and power of sathan cannot preuaile against the children of God Of them whom the Father gaue to Christ he Ioh. 18.9 lost not any one Iudas the lost childe was among the rest but not of them and when he fell away he went into his owne place Wherefore all the time he seemed to be a disciple and a beleeuer it was but a seeming and putatiue supposal either in himselfe or vnto others It was but a shooting starre no firm light a false noyse no true cry of the holy ghost Because the fool thinketh himselfe wise and is not therefore doth not wisedome know that shee is wise But what then What concludeth the Papist out of this Some may seeme to stand to bee in Christ to be Gods Sonnes to haue his spirit and all in vaine True What then Ergo the cry of the spirit is vncertaine Ergo the being and continuing in Christ is not certaine Yea There is a difference betweene seeming to bee and being indeede There is great ods betwixt a flash of a fancie and a faithfull perswasion But how shall I know whether my conceit bee right whether my vnder standing bee a glimmering light or a true vnderstanding wheras a fancifull man may perswade himselfe as thoroughly as the faithfull As throughly Say not so Or if so what then If the mad man standing on the shore thinke all the vessels that come in and their lading to bee his be deceiued shall not cannot therefore the true owners discern their own and claime their right bicause the mad man is deceiued Bicause the sick persons mouth in his distemperature is out of tast cannot therfore a man in good helth relish his drink meat Ioh. 3. Qui credit habet vitam He that beleeueth hath life he hath it he doth not doubt whether he hath it or no. He hath life life euerlasting I graunt sometimes euen the best children of God are brought to narrow straites somewhat stoppeth their cares they cannot heare somwhat dulleth their harts they cannot vnderstand what the spirit crieth and sealeth vnto their harts at all times alike and yet they are their Lordes and they cannot perish and they must not dispaire Dauid Abeit a man according to Gods owne hart and therefore no doubt a man in whose hart the sport of God was in great measure yet such is the frailty of our nature euen holy Dauid and that after hee had endured many stormes vp-held with the promise that God woulde place him in the roome of his master yet at the last hee fainted and faied in his infirmity 1. Sam. 20. that there was but a step betweene him and death surely one day I shal fal into the hands of Saul And therefore he fled to Achis and flattered the very enimy of God Notwithstanding after all this reforming his frailty and comming to himselfe againe he found that God was faithful and that his promises were certaine and as constant as the sunne and vuremoueable as mount Sion and that euer God knoweth best how long it is best to detaine his owne vpon the tenters No doubt when like Dalila a deceatfull suggestion the subtill finde a melancholy humor infirme fleshe naturall imperfections or forceable considerations what euer haue done their woorst ioyntly all or seuerally any of them when they haue learned where lieth our strength when they haue battered our strongest holdes when they haue cut off Sampsons haire yet this haire will grow againe and his strength returne and that man or woman whom the Lorde so trieth is the pure and perfect gold and so in the end wil proue 1 Cor. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and the spirite against the fleshe and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot doe the same things that ye would 18 And if ye bee led by the spirit ye are not vnder the Law The Galathians as they were to recognize the state wherein they were placed and the condition whereunto they were called and therein to liue die to stand to that so yet because licentious men may soon abuse the liberty of the gospel Paul deliuereth foorth a caueat and maketh as it were a circle least men take an exorbitant and a wandering course in the waies of their saluation Grace hath superabounded but sinne may not therefore abound Abraham and Abrahams race is iustified and sette at liberty by faith by the promise in the seede through fauour and grace from our sinnes as likewise also from the olde ceremonies shall wee therefore ad sinne to sinne and liue as we list and lust after the flesh and offend euery weake one being called to lead a life after the spirit and that in perfect loue and brotherly charity Phy for shame The nature of man is prone to superstition and bent to ceremonies and ready to take any other way to Heauen than God himselfe prescribeth Of old Spiridion bishop of Cypris Sozo lib. 1. c. 11. a man most renouned known by fame wheÌ„ in a fasting time a stranger came to him coÌ„sidering circumstances he willed his daughter for he was maried to dres such prouision as he had to wit a peece of bacon when it was ready himselfe did eate and bad his ghest doe the like and take part the straunger refused so to do because he was a Christian nay saieth Spiridion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by so much the rather thou shouldest not refuse All things are cleane to the cleane The Scriptures are plaine And I ad God is not the god of meats he careth not for fishers more than for butchers for salt fish more than for powdred beefe for meates too or fro Touch not tast not were Iewish seruices wee are free as Spiridion said euen because we are Christians and so are wee free from the fleshely grosser yoke of the whole Law euen because we are Christians but yet not to liue after the flesh without the rules of the Law and beside the orders of charitable and duetiful consideration A Christian is most free and most bound In two woordes I may seeme to speake contraries but mark what I say yea 1. A Christian is the only freeman 2. Againe a Christian is as much bound though not seruilely bound as anie man els 1 Concerning the curse of the Lawe the degrees and wilfulnes of sinning the slauery of sathan the feare of death the thrall of ceremonies old or new and the bond of damnation a christian man is a free-man 2 On the otherside not onely to serue God whose seruice is perfect freedome but also to serue one another a Christian is most bound of al men Which kind of seruice is no slauery but a willing seruice and dewty and not a compelled doing and seruitude because al is and should bee in a louely performance labored and contended vnto To induce men hereunto the reasons are very forcible 1. The commaundement to loue 2. The excellency of loue 3. The inconuenience in not louing 1 If God command what seeke we farder Ego Dominus I am the Lorde is the conclusion which God euer maketh either in his prohibitions or precents and Hely taught Samuel to say that which we al must say Speake on Lord thy seruant heareth and by hearing is meant obedience in hearing Loue and Charitie 2 The excellency of loue appeareth herein that loue God and loue man also loue God and man and the perfection of the Law could require no more Of so large a compasse is loue and of so excellent a quality But yet the Apostle doth not dispute nowe whether a man can loue in the highest degree but what hee must endeuour to doe being freed from his imperfection and wanting the perfectnesse which is required If we could loue in that measure we ought in that sort we should and in what manner the Law commandeth then might we fulfill the Lawe no doubt But we haue a discharge from that perfection for we are not vnder the Law but yet not without release from contending to perfection for thereunto the spirit leadeth and louingly conductâ—…h vs al along By the spirite is meant the first fruites of the holy Ghost the effects of grace and power of christ working in christians which because some relickes of the old man remaine in vs which the Apostle calleth the fleshe alas this flesh lusteth against the spirit so that we cannot doe what wee would and therefore not what we should For many times we wish to doe lesse than we ought and yet let vs euer endeuour to doe the most Herein the onely way is to go the wayes of loue and charity For loue thinketh nothing harde though it be neuer so hard In louing as the heauens are placed aboue the earth so the God of heauen is to be beloued aboue al his creatures And yet loke what loue we duly and orderly shew to our neighbour hee accepteth as doone to himselfe so that in him and for his sake wee performe it throughly as vsually wee would to our own selues Man hath a natural * Selfe-Loue forbidden philauty and selfe-loue but God requireth not the euil kinde of loue whereby alwaies and especially in the last daies men shal be louers of themselues but the high degree of hartines in louing others euen as our selues the Law would haue Eate not thy bread alone by thy selfe breake it to the poore Break it with discretion but breake it Iudas the traitors voice was what will yee giue me Cain asked am I the keeper of my brother And why not the keeper But God saue euery innocent Abel from such keepers Yet indeede no man hath greater charity than to giue his life for his brethren I deny not the greatnes Magis aut minus non variant speciem greatnes or litlenes doth not alter the question it is charity to loue and it is the nature of true charity to lay downe our liues for the good of our neighbours euen as Christ Iesus did all that hee did not for himselfe whether in his birth Nobis natus hee was borne for vs or in his life nobis datus he was giuen to vs or at his departure Expedit vobis it was expedient for you that hee should ascend All the actions of our Sauior were commodious and profitable for vs not behoouefull for himselfe Let no man seek his own but the wealth of others saith the Apostle Loue loueth our neighbours all yea and aboue our selues I need not resolue you who is your neighbor The Samaritane in Saint Luke Luc. 10. in compassion and true loue spareth neither his wine nor his oyle nor his
had thought that the name of Protestants had not beene so ancient and we gesse the books of Chronicles were not written in Latine so expresly to hit vpon the name of Protestantes and we take that the matter you alleadge is a flat story of the present fact not a fore-prophesieng of a future euent And we tel you and by occasion of your falsifieng master Pointes we tell the woorld you haue told a tale of a tub of the man in the Moon and of Protestants of your owne making How and when the Name of Protestantes came first vp May it please you brethren to bear with me and in a woord I shall shew you both why we are named Protestants and what the name of Protestants meaneth in that place of the scripture For Master Points is quite beside the Text. In the yeare of our Lorde * Sleid. Com. lib. 6. 1529 after sundry debateings precedent for the reformation of things amisse and some agreement accorded vpon in that respect yet it was put in the head of the Emperour how to deuise for a contrary course to be taken in a meeting at Spiers Whereupon the Princes of Germany were constrained to frame did frame out their lawful Protestatiō A thing vsual and known in euery common court to protest against the iniquity or nullity of proceeding So did these Pieres Princes Nobles of Germany others associating themselues in so iust a cause concerning the honor of God and glory of his name Whereupon the name of Protesting and Protestantes was not vnwillingly accepted of al who misliked disorders And so it became a common appellation vnto this day And this is the true original or short and plaine narration to the demaund and motiue for the name of Protestants Now for the allegation of Points his Scripture and so may I cal it for the scripture it selfe is to another sense and if his grammer woulde serue him but to conster the woordes he would soone haue seene his palpable error Verily the meaning is that God sent his Prophets and his Prophets went and protesteth the wrath of God but there were not Protestants but there were that would not giue eare to the protestations of the Prophets quos Protestantes illi audire nolebant There were that woulde not hear the Protestants and these Protestants were Gods Prophets Religion goeth not by Names And hence if we would trifle in names we might make a faire shew by the name whence foolishly he seeketh our vtter shame But it is too vaine a labor to argue of names good or bad the one way or the other But backe againe to our purpose what euer we are called by you or otherwise are you called the catholick Church Who calleth you so Your selues We doe not But suppose you were so called Thinges goe not by names For then as the country-man saith we should haue no Wood-hens for all the birds of that kind are named and called Wood-cockes And were he not then a proper wise man that woulde ground his reason vpon common speach This were good for your Popes who hauing ill fauored faces and wriemouthes and woorse maners and yet when they can gette and clammer vp into the Papacy they change their names into words of flattering signification But you see names are not forceable proofes neither against others nor for themselues either for the goodnesse of their verie Popes or for the Catholicknesse and Motherdome of their Church The Rhomish dame is too ceremonious to be the free Mother 2 Secondly as the Romane Church being at the most when she was best but a Church and therefore not the Catholique whole Church so Rome as she is now she is too seruile a dame to be the Mother of those who are free and freed in christ She is too Ceremonious too Slauish too Peeuish in her Ceremonies and God which hath abolished his owne rites must needes abhor her trinkets which seeme to some faire and greatly adorning and gracifieng all like the Iuy about the Tree which in the ende will be the death of the tree it embraceth What are hir Duckings Beckings Fiskings vp and downe apish Illusions infinit endlesse and purposelesse Obseruations with terror of Conscience and trouble of mind onely occupied and set on woorke with friuolous wil-worships and fond conceats in euery thing to draw men from a solid and sound vnderstanding of the substantial points of true deuotion Col. 2. Touch not Tast not Handle not Eate not Marry not now but when we appoint not you but you whom we permit and al vpon pain of damnation peril of saluation in as many as misse the heauenly hestes of holy Rome Is this the spirit of Christ pacifieng our minds or rather intangling our soules with so many wind-laces The true worshippers Iohn 4.23 worship in spirite and truth And what spirit is there in these and these like toyes There is no substaunce no truth no graine but all chaffe in these eares in these filly-follies Reply to D.F. Pag. 119. No maruel if Bristow require in Christians not the spirit of truth but the spirite of obedience but of what Obedience To what And whom If men were but meanly directed by the truth it were impossible they shoulde so obediently delue and dig and so grouelingly serue in the mines and misteries of slauery it selfe Wherfore because Rome is not Catholicke because Rome is too too be-spanged and set about with Ceremonies vnfruitfully therefore she is none of our Mother nor we her children 3 The Catholick Church is not locally tied to any territory The motiue of the visibility of the Church Both for the consideration of Catholicisme and also for that shee descendeth FROM ABOVE and is by grace and holdeth not of any place and looketh vpward and seeketh those things which are aboue and setteth hir affections on heauenly things There is much adoe about the VISIBILITY of the Catholicke Church May I tary you now in sifting somewhat more that question a while Paul describeth the Church to be from aboue spiritually by speciall fauour and reflecting againe vpward in inward hartines and requisite dueties Our aduersaries seeke hir on earth and require hir to be liable to the ey and locally visible and that in Rome as Hierusalem was in Iurie where God for a time was best known We speak of the catholique Church * The Catholick Church property taken what it meaneth which is the society or company of all the Saints of God of al times and places the whole body whereof cannot bee seene nay the meanes whereby any part of the Church is made a part and continueth a part thereof is secret inward and inuisible and the certainty thereof is an article of faith and not obiect of the ey sight Credo Ecclesiam not Video Ecclesiam I beleeue that God hath a chosen Church and that the Lord knoweth who are his though I discerne it not by sense For the glory
Then to reuiue vs in al goodnes that we may be newe creatures in him The redemption is perfect and was paid by Christ in his owne person on the crosse and resteth vppon his proper discharge in whome wee haue redemption through his blood that is the remission of our sins Phil. 1.14 The life wee liue in Christ through the vertu of his passion and operation of his spirit whereby we are mortified to the world hath not these degrees of perfection because of the imperfection of the flesh wherein wee yet are detained the Law of our mindes beeing hindered by the frowardnesse of our members and fettering vs somewhat in the waies of our full deliuery but yet of our ful deliuery we neede not doubt For as the prisoner being acquit at the bar feeleth the comfort of his release and yet he must go backe to the prison and then in expedient order of time his bolts shall bee knockt off and hee perfectly released so wee albeit wee are pronounced quit by Christ and the enditement bee cancelled and the world and al be crucified and we in hart find the ioy thereof yet in processe of time the perfection of our ioy is finished and not by and by perfected And as they which are ransomed from the Turke though the price be all paide and they are sure it is so and in part their bandes are taken from them yet while they are in their iourney homeward in remembraunce of this old captiuity for a submission al along as they go through the territories of the Turk they are not without some kind of bonds or fetters euen so while wee yet remaine in the vale of sinne in the tabernacle of the body and till wee can quite get out of the Turkes dominions till this corruption shall put on incorruption in another woorlde this present woorld is an hinderance and an hampering and a fettering vnto vs but the nearer wee come to our owne countrey the more wee take our leaue of the world and in the end we relinquish all and enter the perfect perfection of all perfections in Iesu Christ Verse 16. As manie without distinction as walke and are directed according to this rule which is the Canon of the Gospell and the scepter of Christ Paul wisheth them mercy and peace or signifieth vnto them that they haue the promises of peace mercy because they they are the Israel of God for God is not the God of Israel according to the flesh as the false Apostles bear them in hand but according to the faith For circumcision auaileth nothing neither yet is vncircumcision any thing there is no difference in eyther But the new creature in Christ is the Israel that preuaileth with God Circumcision Circumcision was a couenant of righteousnes and a seale of faith and a bond to doe al that God should command his people to do so he that was circumcis◅ was expresly afterwarde bound to the Law which God commanded But as it was a couenant of righteousnesse and of faith so was their faith of a righteousnes in christ to come and therefore because Christ is come that fashion of the seale is dashed out and the forme of righteousnesse commeth by Christ that is to come and to that ende is come that hee might deliuer vs from the Law and be the accomplishment of al in himselfe euen to all that beleeue in him thorough out al the woorld But of this matter hath beene debated very often To draw to an end 17 From henceforth let no man put mee to busines for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Iesus There is no ende of wrangling if a man will follow them who make no conscience what they say or doe For the whole matter as of the pretences of Moses Law of Abrahams name of the people of Israel c. enough hath beene debated if any thing can bee enough and namely diuerse times of circumcision a marke which they laboured vnfruitfully now vnder the Gospell to set in the flesh wherein Paul opposeth the marks which were imprinted in himselfe which hee calleth significantly the marks of the Lord Iesus Whereof a word or two Neither prosperity nor aduersitie are the proper and necessarie markes to discerne the trueth by Since the first beginning when I consider generally the Church of God floting in the waters turmoiled in Aegypt wandering in the wildernes wasted with wars destroied with corporal plagues and led into sundry captiuities I began as Ruth after the haruest of Booz so I after the labors of many others wiser than my selfe to make these euentes as certaine markes to know the Church by In special when I looked vpon the murdering of Abel the sale of Ioseph the lake of Ieremy the den of Daniel the desert of Elias and the like Vnder the new testament when I beholde the pouerty of Bethlehem where our Sauiour was borne and therein the stable and manger wherein hee was laide and so his exile ensuing and likewise the race he ran hauing not any where to rest his head And since til our time for the first 300 yeares when I see the Church most afflicted with tyranny the next 300. most infested with heresies for 800. yeares following beseeged with apostacie and the last 100 and od yeares abounding with swarmes of inconueniences I began as afore so againe to make no reckoning of a florishing successe in the cause of truth and I reade it the better marke of the two to measure doctrine by the hard lotte of the true professor than by the faire prosperity of the world affourded Notwithstanding I would be loth to repute that as a speciall marke of the sheepe of Christ which may bee common to a company of Gotes and may be not incident to the Church of Christ at some better seasons Agar troubled Sara but yet Sara tombled Agar out of doores Ismael persecuted Isaack but the bond brat had no part in the inheritance And albeit there bee a farther learning in these ensamples of spiritual cōfort yet they were also literally true and for the time trouble was vpon the vngodly and the godly for a season was not to be discerned by the marke of aduersity The aduersitie may be the same but the cause being diuerse doth distinguish the aduersity and maketh it sometimes a tast of farder pumshment sometimes a monument of desert and a recalling from sinne sometime a triall of faith an exercise of patience an experience of hope a duety of all men to endure al in expectation of better thinges purchased by Christs suffering and laid vp in heauen whereinto a man must enter by many tribulations On the crosse there were three who suffered a damned theefe a saued soule and the Sauiour of vs al. The penalty of the crosse was one to them al. But yet there was an incomparable difference in their persons The vnquiet man maie purchase a great deale of trouble to no purpose but