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<DATE>2011-12-09</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Judith Siefring</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed.</ITEM>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A LEGACIE left to PROTESTANTS, Containing Eigh|teen Controver&s;ies, <HI>viz.</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Of the Holy Scriptures.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Of Chri&s;ts Catholick Church, &amp;c.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Of the Bi&s;hop and Church of Rome,</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Of Traditions needfull, &amp;c.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P><HI>DOWA,</HI> Printed 1654</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Reader.</HEAD>
<P>THe&s;e en&s;uing Controver&s;ies were found in a lear|ned mans &s;tudy dead nine years &s;ince, and commended to the care of a Friend, who dyed &s;oon after him; or otherwi&s;e they had been printed long &s;ince with the fore&s;aid Title, by the Author him&s;elf, prefixed u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">
<PB REF="3"> to them: de&s;iring not to have his name or any dedication ad|ded unto them, but this, <HI>That many lear|ned Freinds had read and approved them, &amp; that he heartily wi&s;hed they might help to con|vert unto the true faith of Chri&s;ts Catholique Church, &s;uch Prote|&s;tants as &s;hould read them,</HI> which I wi&s;h al&s;o: his Friend,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Whil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t he lived, T. B.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="3">
<HEAD>A Table of the &s;everall Controver&s;ies.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. OF the Holy Scriptures, pag. 1.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Of Chri&s;ts Catholick Church in generall, not colourably now a|mong Chri&s;tians, the fir&s;t part, pag. 14.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The &s;econd part, pag. 30.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Of the Bi&s;hop and Church of Rome pag. 48</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Of Traditions needfully added into the Canon of Scripture pag. 69</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. Of Prote&s;tancy begun here in <HI>England</HI> under Queen <HI>Elizabeth.</HI> pag. 82</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. Of the holy Euchari&s;t, pag. 92</ITEM>
<ITEM>Fir&s;t part concerning our Saviours reall pre&s;ence therein, ib.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Second part, pag. 101</ITEM>
<ITEM>7. Of honouring Saints and praying to them, pag. 109</ITEM>
<ITEM>8. Of reverencing of Saints Reliques, pag. 116</ITEM>
<ITEM>9. Of holy Images kept and honoured by us, pag. 120</ITEM>
<ITEM>10. Of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead, pag. 131</ITEM>
<ITEM>11. Of Sacramentall Confe&s;&s;ion, pag. 135</ITEM>
<PB REF="4">
<ITEM>12. Concerning the number and effects of Sacraments, pag. 145</ITEM>
<ITEM>13. Of Free-will, pag. 157</ITEM>
<ITEM>14. Of <HI>Calvins</HI> Solifidian Ju&s;tice, pag. 16<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></ITEM>
<ITEM>15. Concerning the merit of good Works, pag. 169</ITEM>
<ITEM>16. About the po&s;&s;ibility of keeping Gods Commandements, pag. 177</ITEM>
<ITEM>17. Of Fea&s;ts and Fa&s;ts Apo&s;tolically or|dained, and neglected both by Engli&s;h Calvini&s;ts and Independents, pag. 183</ITEM>
<ITEM>18. Concerning praede&s;tination, pag. 191</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 N="1" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="1" REF="4">
<HEAD>THE Fir&s;t Controver&s;ie, <HI>Of the holy Scriptures.</HI></HEAD>
<P>WHerein our Adver&s;aries do notoriou&s;ly wrong us, and make &s;imple people believe that we, Catholicks, yeeld no more authority to &s;acred Writings, then our Church alloweth them: Where|as we firmly believe them to have been in&s;pired by God, and therefore attri|bute a divine and infallible authority unto them, when they are &s;ufficient|ly declared to be &s;uch, and truly Ex|pounded unto us. For without the former condition, to wit, an undoub|ted knowledge of them, no man can &s;ecurely rely on any doctrine contai|ned in them; and without the latter condition of being rightly under|&s;tood,
<PB N="2" REF="5"> all Here&s;ies have been former|ly, and may now al&s;o be drawn per|nitiou&s;ly from them: So as about the&s;e two points, our Adver&s;aries and we chiefly, and indeed only differ.</P>
<P>They (for example) <HI>Calvini&s;ts</HI> e&s;pe|cially, for a certain knowledge of them, rely upon-their own private Spirit, and an imaginary light &s;hining to all faithfull Readers of them; no le&s;&s;e clearly di&s;tingui&s;hing true Scri|ptures from fal&s;e, then light by our eyes from darkne&s;&s;e is di&s;cernable by us: which internall light is a meere Chymaera, (&s;ay we, and other great Prote&s;tants with us) by <HI>Calvin</HI> pur|po&s;ely devi&s;ed, to accept or reject what Scriptures he liked, and inter|pret them as he plea&s;ed, without any authority to controle him: which is (as St. <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> told <HI>Fau&s;tus</HI> his Mani|chean <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. contra <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">um 13. c. 5</NOTE> Adver&s;ary) to take away all au|thority both of Church and Scripture, licen&s;ing every man to believe what he lifte<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">h.</P>
<P>Whereas we Catholicks, for a cer|tain knowledge of true Scriptures re|ly upon the exteriour and infallible
<PB N="3" REF="5"> t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;timony of Chri&s;t's Church, by him|&s;elf warranted unto us, when he com|manded us to heare and obey, &s;uch as he appointed therein to govern and guide us, no le&s;&s;e then him&s;elf.</P>
<P>And whereas <HI>Calvin</HI> deemeth it a thing very inconvenient, and again&s;t the Maje&s;ty of Scripture, to be &s;ubject|ed to mens judgements about decla|ring the &s;acred authority thereof: we &s;ay no, and prove it to be no more in|convenient for Scriptures then for o|ther points of Faith to be made known by the Church's te&s;timony un|to us. And if the holy Scriptures have been written by men divinly in&s;pired, and guided in the penning of them, (as a&s;&s;uredly they have been) why may they not al&s;o by men a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the holy Gho&s;t be made known infallibly unto us? e&s;pecially &s;ithence they can|not give te&s;timony of them&s;elves (as <HI>Hooker</HI> and other chief Prote&s;tants <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. &s;ect. 14. Lib. 2. &s;ect. 4, &amp; 7. Lib. 3. &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ct. 8.</NOTE> have proved) becau&s;e if part of Scri|pture &s;hould give credit to the re&s;t, that very part might be doubted of likewi&s;e: Unle&s;&s;e, be&s;ides Scripture there were &s;omething el&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> that might
<PB N="4" REF="6"> a&s;&s;ure us, which he acknowledgeth to be the authority of Chri&s;ts Church: In&s;omuch as <HI>Egidius Hunnius</HI> a cheife <NOTE PLACE="marg">Colloquio Ratisbonen &s;i.</NOTE> Lutheran Divine, and &s;ixteen others with him at <HI>Ratisbone,</HI> before &s;undry Princes of Germany, were by <HI>Gretze|rus</HI> and <HI>Tanner,</HI> Catholick Divines, in|forced to admit the Church's te&s;timo|ny, and hi&s;toricall tradition (as they c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">lled it) altogether needfull for an undoubted knowledge of Scripture; as heretofore many forged Scriptures have been rejected and others appro|ved by it: Albeit they proceed not conformably therein, by not admit|ing into their Canon all Books and parts of Scripture &s;o approved. For if the Churches te&s;timony be fal&s;e in declaring &s;ome Books, &s;urely it can|not be certain in declaring others, and &s;o we can receive no infallible a&s;|&s;urance from her.</P>
<P><HI>Turtullian</HI> notwith&s;tanding pre&s;crib|eth <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 1. prae|&s;cript c. 6.</NOTE> this for an undoubted truth, that what the Apo&s;tles preached, and Chri&s;t revealed unto them, cannot be te&s;ti|fied unto us, but by the Churches which they founded: and St. <HI>Au&s;tine</HI>
<PB N="5" REF="6"> &s;o affirmed the &s;ame, as he &s;aith, He <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tom. 6. con|tra Epi&s;t. fundament. cap. 5.</NOTE> would not believe the Go&s;pel, were it not that the Church by her authority commended the &s;ame unto him. So far was he, and other Fathers from dreaming of <HI>Calvin's</HI> inward light, communicated to all faithful Readers of Scriptures; wherein the Lutherans might claim an equall &s;hare with him, as his Companions, and &s;o they might agree about their Canon of Scri|pture, as now they do not, nor with any antient Church before them.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 33. con|tra Fau|&s;tum cap. 6.</NOTE> Whereas St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> &s;peaking of our Canon, which him&s;elf among&s;t other <HI>African</HI> Bi&s;hops, had declared in the third Councel of <HI>Carthage,</HI> as St. <HI>In|nocentius</HI> the fir&s;t, had done before him, and many both Popes and Councels <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t ad Exup<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rium</NOTE> have done &s;ince; tho&s;e Books, (&s;aith he) by the con&s;ent of Chri&s;tian Chur|ches and Bi&s;hops of them &s;ucceeding each other downwards from the A|po&s;tles, have been warranted for true Scriptures unto us, and are onely de|nyed by you (&s;peaking then of the Ma|nicheans, as we doe now of Prote|&s;tants) few in number, and lately ri&s;en,
<PB N="6" REF="7"> becau&s;e they make not for your Do|ctrine.</P>
<P>And whereas they provoke us to the Originals, to wit, the Hebrew and Greek Texts of the old Te&s;tament, and &s;eek by what means they can to di&s;grace our Vulgar Edition: We an&s;wer them fir&s;t, that they them|&s;elves in their Tran&s;lations of Scri|pture, follow &s;ometimes the Greek, &s;ometimes the Hebrew, and &s;omtimes neither, but other extravagancies; yea, and often our Vulgar Tran&s;la|tion, as they finde this, or that, or a third, or fourth mo&s;t convenient for them. Secondly, we tell them, that we hold it more whole&s;ome for us, to drink the water of a pure &s;tream, then of a troubled fountain; for that all learned, and impartiall men know the Hebrew, and Greek Originals, to have been by Jewi&s;h Rabbins, &s;ince St. <HI>Hierom's</HI> time; and Grecian Hereticks altered and corrupted in many places; whereas our Vulgar Edition is held in mo&s;t parts thereof to be the &s;ame, which that great Doctor at Pope <HI>Da|ma&s;us</HI> intreaty corrected in the new Te|&s;tament
<PB N="7" REF="7"> according to the Greek; and tran&s;lated in the Old out of the He|brew, by St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> in &s;undry places, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 10. de Civit. dei cap. 43.</NOTE> highly extolled; thu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> al&s;o mentio|ned by Doctor <HI>Whitaker</HI> again&s;t <HI>Reig|nalds, Hierome</HI> I reverence, <HI>Dama&s;us</HI> I commend, and the work I confe&s;&s;e to <NOTE PLACE="marg">Pag. 241. in cap. 1. Luc. v. 1.</NOTE> be godly &amp; profitable for the Church: So as <HI>Beza</HI> him&s;elf is inforced to confe&s;&s;e our Interpretor to have tran|&s;lated the holy Books with marvelous &s;incerity and religion. And <HI>Pelicanus</HI> in his Preface on the <HI>P&s;alter,</HI> which in our Edition is not St. <HI>Hieroms,</HI> affir|meth the Interpretor thereof, to have expre&s;&s;ed the Hebrew Text with great learning and fidelity, not doubting him to have been &s;ome propheticall per&s;on.</P>
<P>And many other cheif Prote&s;tants have highly commended the whole E|dition generally u&s;ed in the Church; as Doctor <HI>Covel</HI> again&s;t M. <HI>Burges</HI> hath affirmed for 1300. pa&s;t: whereas Pro|te&s;tants with &s;harp and virulent cen|&s;ures, mutually condemn each others tran&s;lations; <HI>Zuinglius</HI> (for example) and very ju&s;tly condemneth <HI>Luther</HI> for
<PB N="8" REF="8"> having, in his German Bible, changed, and left out, not onely words, but whole Sentences: And <HI>Oecolampadius</HI> his Bible printed at <HI>Bazil,</HI> is cen&s;ured by <HI>Beza,</HI> to be a &s;acrilegious corru|ption of Scripture. Betw<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">en him&s;elf al&s;o and <HI>Ca&s;talio</HI> like cen&s;ures have pa&s;&s;ed, and been publi&s;hed of their dif|ferent ver&s;ions with greater bitterne&s;s then be&s;eemed Chri&s;tian Doctors. <HI>Carolus Molineus</HI> condemneth <HI>Calvin,</HI> and &s;aith, that in his Harmony, he maketh the Text to leap up and down as he plea&s;eth. <HI>Broughton</HI> hath noted multitudes of errours in all our Eng|li&s;h tran&s;lations; and King <HI>James</HI> in the conference at <HI>Hampton-Court</HI> affir|med plainly, that he had never a|mong&s;t them all &s;een a good one; and judged that of Geneva to be the wor&s;t among&s;t them: So full of incertain|ties are the&s;e new Doctors in the total &s;umme (as I may &s;ay) of their Reli|gion, wholy depending upon the true knowledge of Scripture: For that in their opinion no point or practice of Faith, is to be admitted, which is not expre&s;&s;ed, or gatherable by a clear and
<PB N="9" REF="8"> immediate con&s;equence out of Scri|pture; a tenent which &s;hall be by me afterwards in every controver&s;ie di&s;|proved.</P>
<P>In the mean time, to their pretence, that St. <HI>Hierome</HI> denyed tho&s;e very Books to be of a &s;acred and infallible authority, which they have rejected from the Canon of Scripture. I An|&s;wer fir&s;t, that St. <HI>Hierom,</HI> as a private Doctor, might ea&s;ily erre in his opini|on of the&s;e Books, before our Church|es Canon was fully declared and ac|cepted. Secondly, I An&s;wer, that when <HI>Ruffinus</HI> objected this unto him, <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Apologia 2a. contr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Ru&s;&s;inum.</NOTE> he called him Sycophant, and &s;aid, that he had onely uttered what the Jews, not him&s;elf, thought of tho&s;e Books, and profe&s;&s;ed to tran&s;late <HI>Ju|dith,</HI> becau&s;e the fir&s;t <HI>Nicene</HI> Councel had declared the &s;ame to be canonical, albeit the Jews then denyed it to be &s;o. Neither doth it make much again&s;t the &s;acred authority of tho&s;e Bookes, that the Jews admitted them not into their Canon of Scripture, becau&s;e all, or mo&s;t part of them were written &s;ince <HI>E&s;dras</HI> compo&s;ed their Canon,
<PB N="10" REF="9"> and who can doubt but that Chri&s;ts Church might better from them Apo|&s;tles, than from the Jews come to know true Scriptures.</P>
<P>And whereas &s;ome Prote&s;tant Di|vines pretend again&s;t tho&s;e Books, be|cau&s;e they were not written in He|brew; as though no Scriptures could be written in any other tongue: I can tell them here al&s;o, that it hath been di&s;covered and confe&s;&s;ed of late even by Prote&s;tants them&s;elves, that the two Books of <HI>Machabees,</HI> were fir&s;t written in Hebrew, and &s;o was <HI>Eccle|&s;ia&s;ticus,</HI> which S. <HI>Hierom</HI> te&s;tifieth him|&s;elf to have &s;een in Hebrew, bound up together with the <HI>Proverbs</HI> of <HI>Solomon.</HI> As for the ab&s;urdities pretended by our Adver&s;aries to be found in tho&s;e Books of <HI>Tobias, Judith,</HI> and <HI>He&s;ter,</HI> many of our chief Divines, as <HI>Canus, Bellarmine, Serrarius,</HI> and others have cleared them, and &s;hewed no le&s;&s;e dif|ficulties to be found in other confe&s;|&s;ed Books of Scriptures. That &s;ome ancient Fathers al&s;o, when many for|ged Scriptures were extant, &amp; not di|&s;tingui&s;h'd from canonical writings
<PB N="11" REF="9"> doubted of, or denied the authority of &s;ome Books admitted by us, is an argument that proveth over much, or ju&s;t nothing: for that we know many undoubted parts of Scripture have been que&s;tioned in a lik<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> manner, the Churches Examen having in time di&s;|covered the verity of them.</P>
<P>And albeit no one of tho&s;e Books denied by Prote&s;tants wanteth the te|&s;timonies of antient Fathers to prove the &s;aid &s;acred Authority; yet are there two of them (in former times e&s;pecially) &s;o approved, <HI>Sapientia</HI> and <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">us;</HI> the fir&s;t of them was written (as St. <HI>Hierome</HI> witne&s;&s;eth in his Preface on the Books of <HI>Salomon</HI>) by <HI>Philo</HI> a Jew, long before our Savi|ours time, wherein he compiled the Sentences of Salomon not conteined in his own Books, but by tradition o|ther wi&s;e con&s;erved; this Book is ci|ted for true Scripture by S. <HI>Hierome</HI> him&s;elf, yet with this re&s;triction <HI>Cui</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">In c. 8 &amp; 12 Zacha. iae in cap. E&s;aiae &amp; in 18. H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">iae.</NOTE> <HI>tamen place<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> librum recipere,</HI> if any man will receive this book; and without it in his latter Writings; for then perchance, he &s;aw the Canon of Scri|pture
<PB N="12" REF="10"> more fully declared. St. <HI>Ireneus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apud Eu&s;e|bi um li. 5. Hi&s;t. c. 8. l. 5. &amp; 6. stomatum bomil. 12. in Leviti. cum &amp; lib. 8. in epist. ad Roma|nos. He<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">&s;i. 63. homilia 33. &amp; 34. in Math.</NOTE> al&s;o long before him cited it for &s;a|cred, &s;o did St. <HI>Clement</HI> of <HI>Alexandria,</HI> &s;o did <HI>Origen,</HI> &s;o did S. <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> in <HI>Synop&s;i, &amp; orat. 2. contra Arianos,</HI> &s;o did S. <HI>Ba&s;il lib. 5. contra Eunomianos,</HI> &s;o did <HI>S. Gregory Ni&s;&s;en in te&s;timoniis ex veteri te|&s;tamento cap. de Nativitate Chri&s;ti ex vir|gine,</HI> &s;o did <HI>S. Epiphanius,</HI> S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom,</HI> S. <HI>Ciprian,</HI> S. <HI>Hilary</HI> in <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 127, S. <HI>Am|bro&s;e li. de Salomone cap.</HI> 1. S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> and others highly extolling the Book, as <NOTE PLACE="marg">Exhortati|one ad mar|tyrium.</NOTE> teaching all &s;orts of vertue under the generall notions of Wi&s;dome and Ju|&s;tice, and conteyning in the &s;econd Chapter thereof a clear Prophe&s;ie of our Saviours Pa&s;&s;ion, killed by the Jews, becau&s;e he made him&s;elf the Son of God, &amp;c. which alone is &s;ufficient to prove the divine authority of this Book.</P>
<P><HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;ticus</HI> al&s;o was written by <HI>Je&s;us</HI> the Son of <HI>Sirach</HI> in Hebrew, and tran&s;lated by his Grand-childe into Greek, as appeareth by his &s;hort Pro|logue, before it worthily called by &s;ome Authors <HI>Panaretes,</HI> a receptacle, to wit, or &s;tore-hou&s;e of all vertues,
<PB N="13" REF="10"> fit to in&s;truct all &s;orts of Per&s;ons, and containing, as I have &s;aid, of <HI>Sapientia Salomons</HI> di&s;per&s;ed Sentences diligent|ly by the Author collected, held by &s;ome al&s;o to have been one of the 72. Tran&s;lators, and divinely in&s;pired to write this book cited for Scripture, by St. <HI>Clement</HI> of <HI>Alexand<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ia,</HI> by <HI>Ori|gen,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 1. pae|dagogi. c. 8. hom. 8. in numer. &amp; homil. 1. in Ezechiel. O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">at. 2. in Julianum</NOTE> by S. <HI>Cyprian de opere &amp; Elcemo&s;ina,</HI> by S. <HI>Athana&s;ius in Synop&s;i &amp; li. de vir|ginitate,</HI> by S. <HI>Ba&s;il in regulis di&s;putatis re&s;pon&s;ione</HI> 114. by S. <HI>Gregory Nazianzen</HI> by S. <HI>Epiphanius here&s;i 76, &amp; in Ancho|rato,</HI> by S. <HI>Hilari,</HI> by S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> by S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> by S. <HI>Au&s;tin,</HI> and &s;undry <NOTE PLACE="marg">in P&s;al. 144 lib. de bono mortis c. 8.</NOTE> other chief Fathers; yet able to pre|vaile nothing at all with men hereti|cally &s;wayed to the contrary. So as the <HI>Nicene</HI> Councels Decree about the Book of <HI>Judith,</HI> is &s;lighted al&s;o, and re|garded nothing at all by them.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="2" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="14" REF="11">
<HEAD>The &s;econd Controver&s;ie, <HI>Of Chri&s;ts Catholick Church in ge|nerall, not colourably now a|mong&s;t Prote&s;tants.</HI></HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The fir&s;t Part.</HEAD>
<P>FOr a good beginning of this Controver&s;ie, I wi&s;h my Reader, if he be no Catholick, &s;eriou&s;ly to con&s;ider with him&s;elf, how much it importeth him to finde out Chri&s;ts true Church, and to make him&s;elf a member thereof; becau&s;e a Chri&s;ti|an man (&s;aith S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI>) ought not to fear any thing more than to be &s;epa|rated from Chri&s;ts my&s;ticall body, for that &s;o he remaineth no more a mem|ber of him; nor can he be quickned with his holy Spirit, nor receive any <NOTE PLACE="marg">Li. de unit. Eccl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> Light or Life of Grace from him; they remain not (&s;aith St. <HI>Cyprian</HI>) with God, who live not concordiou&s;ly in the Church of his Son: for &s;hould any out of the &s;ame fry in flames; that
<PB N="15" REF="11"> Death would be no crown of Faith, but a puni&s;hment of infidelity: &s;uch may be killed, but not crowned.</P>
<P>This Church was to be that Hill <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 1.</NOTE> of our Lord prepared on the top of mountains, which <HI>E&s;ay</HI> &s;pake of rai&s;ed above other hills, whereunto the Gentiles &s;hould flow as a Sea, &s;aying unto each other, come let us a&s;cend unto the <HI>hill of our Lord, and to the hou&s;e</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 54.</NOTE> <HI>of Jacob,</HI> to wit, Chri&s;t and his Church &amp;c. willed by the &s;ame Prophet to inlarge the place of her Tents, to &s;pread out the Curtains of her habi|tation, for that &s;he &s;hould increa&s;e on the right hand, and on the left: and <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 60.</NOTE> that her Seed &s;hould po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e the Gen|tiles; that her gates &s;hould be open day and night, and never &s;hut; that the people might enter continually into her; that Kings &s;hould be her <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 42.</NOTE> nur&s;ing Fathers, and Queens her Mothers, &amp;c. And it cannot be doub|ted, but what&s;oever is &s;poken in the P&s;alms and Prophets in a hundred &s;e|verall places, concerning the propa|gation, greatne&s;&s;e, glory, and conti|nuance of Chri&s;ts Church and King|dome
<PB N="16" REF="12"> here on earth, wherein all <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P&s;al.</HI> 71. &amp; 2.</NOTE> Princes to the ends thereof were to adore him, and Nations &s;erve him, hath been and &s;hall be accordingly fulfilled.</P>
<P>To &s;ay therefore, as commonly our Adver&s;aries print in their Books, and preach in their Pulpits, that this once glorious and Catholickly dila|ted Church of Chri&s;t hath fallen away from the true faith and &s;ervice of him, by becomming Antichri&s;tian, Idola|trous, and abominable in her Rights, and Super&s;titions, &s;ome &s;ay 800. &s;ome &s;ay 1000. &s;ome 1360. years together; yea, and to have declined in her Do|ctrines, from the very time of the A|po&s;tles fir&s;t Planters thereof, and one|ly <NOTE PLACE="marg">Enarrat. in P&s;al. 101.</NOTE> to have remained in a few hidden Believers of Prote&s;tancy, but not da|ring to profe&s;&s;e it in our Churches, is (as S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> termed it) a mo&s;t fal&s;e, te|merarious, bla&s;phemous, and witle&s;&s;e a&s;&s;ertion; contradicted by many plain Predictions of the Prophets, &amp; Promi|&s;es of Chri&s;t him&s;elf, &s;hewing that this City built upon a hill cannot be hid|den, that this Tabernacle of God
<PB N="17" REF="12"> placed in the Sun to illuminate the world with the heavenly Rayes of her doctrine cannot be ob&s;cured. That the bloud of Chri&s;t once &s;hed to redeem &s;ouls, &s;hall never for that pur|po&s;e be fruitle&s;&s;e and un-effectuall. That Hell gates &s;hall never prevaile to overthrow that building, by him&s;elf on a rock firmly e&s;tabli&s;hed, again&s;t them. That Gods Covenant made with men to &s;ave the world by his Sons death and pa&s;&s;ion, &s;hould never be fru&s;trated, and made void by any power of the Devill, or wickedne&s;&s;e among&s;t them.</P>
<P>Becau&s;e God him&s;elf &s;peaking thereof, &s;aith thus, <HI>The heavens &s;hall</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay c. 9.</NOTE> <HI>vani&s;h away like &s;moak; the earth al&s;o &s;hall <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">remble and wear away like a garment; but my &s;alvation &s;hall la&s;t for ever; and my ju|&s;tice &s;hall never fail;</HI> and again (&s;aith he) <HI>I will place my tabernacle among&s;t men, and be their God, and they &s;hall be my people; and the Gentiles &s;hall know that I am their Lord, when my &s;anctification &s;hall be for e|ver among&s;t them. Daniel</HI> likewi&s;e &s;peaking of Chri&s;t, &s;aith, <HI>That his power &s;hall be an everla&s;ting power, and his king|dome
<PB N="18" REF="13"> &s;hall never be broken, or taken from him.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 2.</NOTE> <HI>Micheas</HI> al&s;o &s;peaketh mo&s;t plainly of Chri&s;ts Church, <HI>whereunto</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 4.</NOTE> <HI>all people &s;hall flow, and our Lord &s;hall raign over them for ever. Our Redeemer</HI> (&s;aith <HI>E&s;ay) &s;hall come, and remove all iniquity from</HI> Jacob, <HI>and this &s;aith God &s;hall be my league, my &s;pirit which is in thee,</HI> &s;pea|king to his Son, <HI>and the words which I</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 59.</NOTE> <HI>have put into thy mouth &s;hall not depart from it, nor from the mouth of thy &s;eed, nor from the mouth of thy &s;eeds &s;eed, from henceforth and for ever.</HI></P>
<P>Which Texts &s;o plainly proveth the continuance of Chri&s;ts Church, and the truth of heavenly Doctrine therein remaining to the worlds end; as <HI>Calvin</HI> him&s;elf in his Expo&s;ition thereon writeth thus; Here God pro|mi&s;ed that the Church &s;hould never be deprived of that ine&s;timable ble&s;&s;ing of being &s;till govern'd by the holy Gho&s;t, and maintained in the truth of heavenly doctrine; becau&s;e it would have little availed us, to have had the Go&s;pel once preached, or the holy Gho&s;t for a time onely given unto us, unle&s;&s;e he remain continually with
<PB N="19" REF="13"> us, &amp;c. Wherefore our Lord promi|&s;ed here to remain &s;till with his Church, and to have a care that it &s;hall never be deprived of true Doctrine: which being <HI>Calvins</HI> own words, may well &s;erve to &s;hew his plain contradi|ctions in other places about the Chur|ches having faln away for many ages together from the truth of heavenly doctrine, fir&s;t planted in her; and to prove likewi&s;e, that all pretended re|formers of her catholick, and ever continued faith, have been impo&s;tors onely, and produced nought el&s;e but hereticall innovations from the fir&s;t, to the la&s;t of them.</P>
<P>For if Chri&s;t had a will and power to build this hou&s;e of God, and firm foundation of truth as St. <HI>Paul</HI> calleth the Church, &s;o &s;urely on a Rock as Hell-gates, Here&s;ies, to wit Schi&s;mes, Scandals, Per&s;ecutions, or any helli&s;h power el&s;e, &s;hould not prevail again&s;t it (as he expre&s;&s;ily promi&s;ed): if he <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.</NOTE> likewi&s;e intended to remain with it to the worlds end, by his power, to wit, of guiding and protecting it: if he
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.</NOTE> performed his repealed promi&s;es of
<PB N="20" REF="14"> &s;ending the holy Gho&s;t to abide ever with it, for no other end but to co~fort <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Jo.</HI> 16. &amp; 17.</NOTE> guide, and lead it unto all truth, how without bla&s;phemy, and plainly ac|cu&s;ing him of fal&s;ehood in his promi|&s;es: Can any Chri&s;tian affirm her to have been idolatrous and Antichri&s;ti|an in her Religion for many ages to|gether? evacuating &s;o the glory of <NOTE PLACE="marg">Contra Lu|ciferianos.</NOTE> our Saviours Cro&s;&s;e (&s;aith St. <HI>Hier<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m</HI>) and &s;ubjecting him&s;elf to the Devill, as able to bereave him of his Church and Kingdome. God forbid (&s;aith the &s;ame Father) that Chri&s;t &s;hould be &s;aid to have died in vain, and his Pa&s;&s;ion become at any time fruitle&s;&s;e and inef|fectuall to &s;ave us: No, no the eternal Fathers promi&s;e is fulfilled, willing his Son to ask him, and he would give for an inheritance all nations of the Gentiles unto him, and the utmo&s;t bounds of the earth for his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion; <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 62.</NOTE> called therefore by the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> Lord of the whol earth: and it will be <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. 7.</NOTE> a jo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ll and eternall cry of Saints in Heaven, <HI>Thou ha&s;t redeemed us, O Lord God out of every Tribe, Tongue and People, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>So as I may &s;ay here to Prote&s;tants,
<PB N="21" REF="14"> what St. <HI>Optatus</HI> told the Donati&s;ts, if you &s;eek to &s;hut up the Catholick and Univer&s;al Church into corners, and <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|tra Parme|nionem.</NOTE> &s;eclude all nations be&s;ides your &s;elves from the communion thereof, where is that then, which the Son of God hath merited for us? How then will his Fathers promi&s;e be fulfilled of gi|ving all Nations unto him? Why do you infringe his promi&s;e, and &s;eek to &s;treighten his ample Kingdom? why do you deny his Fathers great love and bounty to him? why do you war again&s;t his merits? and not permit him to enjoy what was promi&s;ed un|to him? why do you limit to places and times his Univer&s;al and everla&s;t|ing Dominion? Wherefore to finde out this true Church of Chri&s;t, and di|&s;tingui&s;h the &s;ame from heretical con|venticles, and Congregations, the A|po&s;tles in their Creed, and the two fir&s;t general Councels of <HI>Nice,</HI> and <HI>Con&s;tan|tinople</HI> have fitly a&s;&s;igned the&s;e foure marks of being, one, holy, Catholick, and Apo&s;tolical; which no other Church, but ours, can in their true &s;ence colourably claim, here briefly declared by me.</P>
<PB N="22" REF="15">
<P>She is &s;aid to be one and the &s;ame in her Faith among&s;t all Nations, com|municating <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de uni|tat. Eccl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;.</NOTE> with her, &s;o that illumi|nated by our Lord (&s;aith St. <HI>Cyprian</HI>) as a Sun &s;he &s;preadeth her Rayes throughout the world, yet &s;o as her light is one: as a fruitful Vine &s;he ex|tendeth widely forth her branches; but as from one root, and body which they grow in: as a full and flowing fountain &s;he powreth out her &s;treams, yet &s;o as there is &s;till one head and o|rigine of them. And according to St. <HI>Optatus</HI> his compari&s;on, the multi|tude of particular Churches remain|eth in her, as many fingers in one hand di&s;tant in places, but united in Do|ctrine: for that the very name of a Church importeth Union and colle|ction of many together, in faith, go|vernment and practices of Religion, as all tho&s;e things do, unto which Chri&s;ts Church is likened; for exam|ple to a kingdom, to a City, to a hou&s;e or family, to a flock, to a body con&s;i|&s;ting of different members ordered, and compacted together. She is one by a continuall Succe&s;&s;ion of Pa&s;tors
<PB N="23" REF="15"> and faithfull people in her, &s;till pro|fe&s;&s;ing the &s;ame faith: whereas Here|ticks are choo&s;ers of what they will believe, and divided into &s;o many &s;ects, as there are heads almo&s;t among&s;t them.</P>
<P>She is called holy as the my&s;ticall body of Chri&s;t vivificated by his holy Spirit, governed by a holy Law, &s;an|ctified by Sacraments continually by him, having none but faithfull &s;er|vants of their divine Lord remaining within her, among&s;t whom there are &s;till to be found, many holy Per&s;ons; while&s;t others are like fruitle&s;&s;e bran|ches in a Vine and dead members in a living body.</P>
<P>She is &s;aid to be Catholick for her large extent, embracing many Coun|tryes and Kingdomes of the world u|nited in faith, and governed by her; &s;o that &s;he is &s;till greater than any &s;ort or Sect of Hereticks oppo&s;ite unto her.</P>
<P>She is Apo&s;tolical in her de&s;cent, as being able to prove her Origine from the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves, according to <HI>Tertullians</HI> pre&s;cription, &s;aying, The</P>
<PB N="24" REF="16">
<P>Apo&s;tles founded Churches in divers Cities, and appointed Bi&s;hops to go|vern them; and from the&s;e, latter Churches, by receiving and per&s;ever|ing in their faith, become Apo&s;tolical al&s;o: which pre&s;cription is u&s;ed by ancient <HI>Irenaeus,</HI> in&s;tancing again&s;t He|reticks <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 3. c. 3. lib. 4. c. 36.</NOTE> of his time, the &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of Roman Bi&s;hops in one Sea and Faith, without any mutation different from that fir&s;t profe&s;&s;ed by them. St. <HI>Op|tatus</HI> likewi&s;e, and St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> have done the &s;am<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">, and pre&s;&s;ed the Donati&s;ts, with this pre&s;cription, who like to the Hereticks of this time wanted an|tiquity, and had no unity among&s;t them.</P>
<P>Wherefore our Adver&s;aries fly from tho&s;e ancient marks of a true Church, and a&s;&s;ign two others of their own de|vi&s;ing, true preaching of Gods word, and a due admini&s;tration of Sacra|ments, again&s;t which we object fir&s;t, that the e&s;&s;ence rather than the &s;ig<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">es of a true Church con&s;i&s;teth in them. Secondly, that all &s;orts of Hereticks do equally claim them, &s;o as no Church can be known to be a true
<PB N="25" REF="16"> Church certainly by them. Thirdly, that any man, de&s;irous to be a Chri&s;ti|an, mu&s;t fir&s;t know the Church, before he can know the truth of her Doctrine <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Fourthly, that this judgement of the Churches true doctrine, and due manner of admini&s;tration of Sacra|ments, cannot be made by ordinary per&s;ons, but by &s;uch as are learned; whereas the &s;ign<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s of a Church are to direct all &s;orts of per&s;ons to the knowledge of her. Fiftly, the&s;e marks may be found among&s;t Schi&s;maticks, damnably &s;eparated from a Catholick, and charitable communion with o|ther Chri&s;tians, as S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> in &s;undry places proved again&s;t the Donati&s;ts, who (at their fir&s;t ri&s;ing at lea&s;t) wan|ted neither a true Doctrine, nor Sa|craments; but a will onely to live peaceably with their Brethren: &s;o as to &s;peak truly, Prote&s;tants have pur|po&s;ely devi&s;ed the&s;e marks of a Church, as otherwi&s;e knowing, that the great divi&s;ion, which is among&s;t them in points and practi&s;es of faith, novelty of ri&s;ing, the &s;malne&s;s of their extent hitherto in the world, and
<PB N="26" REF="17"> want of pa&s;torall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion, would convince them to be a rabble onely of Hereticall Conventicles, jarring one again&s;t another. Yet rather than they will admit ours to be the true Church of Chri&s;t, in whom the&s;e &s;ignes may be found confe&s;&s;edly by them&s;elves, and all predictions of the Prophets exact|ly fulfilled, concerning the amplitude, glory, and continuance of Chri&s;ts earthly inheritance and kingdome: they will make him a King without any Dominion, a Head without a bo|dy, a Father without a family, and a Pa&s;tor without a flock, for many ages together: Y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">a, if we will believe &s;ome of them, Chri&s;ts Church was no &s;oo|ner &s;ettled in the truth of heavenly Doctrine, but it d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">clined &s;uper&s;ti|tiou&s;ly and wickedly from it. The Centuri&s;ts (for example) in their &s;e|cond <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">p&punc; 4.</NOTE> Century, after a deniall of Saint <HI>Denis Areopagita</HI> his known Works, be|cau<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e they contain many points and practices of Doctrine again&s;t them, have accu&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d St. <HI>Ignatius,</HI> who lived with our Saviour him&s;elf, and wa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> both for his life and death gloriou&s;ly
<PB N="27" REF="17"> renowned for &s;peaking of Prie&s;ts, Al|tars, Sacrifice, and &s;everall Orders of Church Mini&s;ters not admitted by them, of Colledges, of Virgins and Widdows, vowing to live cha&s;tly; concerning the merit of good works, and other declinings, from the fir&s;t purity of Chri&s;tian Doctrine. They accu&s;e St. <HI>Irenaeu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> for mentioning a Sa|crifice according to the Order of <HI>Mel|chi&s;edeck</HI> in&s;tituted under the forms of Bread and Wine by our Saviour him|&s;elf in his la&s;t Supper, taught by him to the Apo&s;tles, and offered &s;ince in all parts of the World according to
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 1.</NOTE> <HI>Malachies</HI> prediction thereof, and figu|red long before by <HI>Melchi&s;edeck</HI>'s obla|tion, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Others &s;ay Chri&s;ts Church failed in <HI>Con&s;tantines</HI> time, when it fir&s;t began as a bright Sun to break out of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ark clouds of ten horrible Per&s;ecutions, and &s;pread its beams clearly through|out the world to the exce&s;&s;ive joy of Chri&s;tians; as if at that very time An|tichri&s;t had begun his raign, when Chri&s;ts Church mo&s;t flouri&s;hed: be|cau&s;e then Pope <HI>Silve&s;ter,</HI> a mo&s;t glori|ous
<PB N="28" REF="18"> Confe&s;&s;or of Chri&s;t, had the City of <HI>Rome</HI> for his re&s;idence a&s;&s;igned un|to him, by that glorious Emperour; and they are inforced to this Bla&s;phe|my, or el&s;e to allow of our pre&s;ent Church and Religion undoubtedly profe&s;&s;ed in <HI>Con&s;tantines</HI> time, by the Sacrifice of the Ma&s;s &s;olemnly cele|brated with lights on the Altar, with Prayer for the Dead, Honour done un|to Saints, adoration of the &s;acred Ho&s;t, and kneeling before it, images u&s;ed in Churches, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> as is in the Prote&s;tants Apologie for Catholicks, plainly pro|ved in a whole Chapter together.</P>
<P>Others affirm the utter overthrow of Chri&s;ts Church to have happened in the time of Pope <HI>Boniface</HI> the third; &s;o as it hath been no where &s;ince vou|chable, and vi&s;ible in any part of the world, but wholly r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tired to the hearts of &s;ome faithfull Per&s;ons knowing, but not daring to profe&s;&s;e true Religion; members indeed of a Church framed onely by imagination, and fancy, and living perchance in the land of <HI>Faries,</HI> or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ome inchant<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d I|lands, or in Concaves of the Moon
<PB N="29" REF="18"> out of this world, where there is no memory to be found of them: where|as our Catholick Church, even in the horrible&s;t times of per&s;ecution, was by the glorious Martyrdoms of innu|merable Saints, men and women, chil|dren al&s;o among&s;t them, Apologies written in defence of our Chri&s;tian Religion, meetings of Bi&s;hops, learn|ed expo&s;itions of Scriptures, and in many other manners maintained, as is now te&s;tified unto us.</P>
<P>Wherefore, other Prote&s;tant Do|ctors not to trouble them&s;elves with &s;uch fopperies of an invi&s;ible Church, remaining &s;till in ours for &s;o many ages together, affirm our Catholick Church at all times to have been the only Catholick and known Church of Chri&s;t; but not to have been alto|gether free from erroneous Tenents, and practices of doctrine, reformed for&s;ooth by them &s;ince <HI>Luthers</HI> and <HI>Calvins</HI> departure from it. Yet &s;o as the Authors of this opinion differ a|bout the imagined errours of our Church: &s;ome affirm them to have been fundamentall, damnable, idola|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rous,
<PB N="30" REF="19"> and Antichri&s;tian, which is the &s;ame, as to &s;ay, that during &s;o many ages, Chri&s;t had no true Church at all: while&s;t others make a milder judge|ment of them, and &s;ay, that the being of a true Church was not hindred by the belief and practice of them, &s;o as they agree not in the very being, be|fore <HI>Luther of their Church and Religion.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The &s;econd part.</HEAD>
<P>AND becau&s;e they pretend our Church and Religion to have been re&s;ormed by them, they &s;hall give me leave here, <MILESTONE N="1"> to declare what manner of men the&s;e Reformers were?
<MILESTONE N="2"> how they were fir&s;t called to make this Refor|mation? <MILESTONE N="3"> How they began it? <MILESTONE N="4"> And to what antient Faith and Form of Church government they &s;ought to reduce it. And to di&s;cu&s;s the&s;e points <NOTE PLACE="marg">Comment. in cap. 1. ad Galatas.</NOTE> orderly, my Reader mu&s;t know, that the fir&s;t father of the&s;e Reformers, was <HI>Martin Luther</HI> an Apo&s;tate Friar, of St.
<PB N="31" REF="19"> <HI>Au&s;tins</HI> order; who as he writeth him|&s;elf, lived cha&s;tely and well in his Mo|na&s;tery for fifteen years together, but after his departure from it, he became
<NOTE PLACE="marg">S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">m. de Matrim.</NOTE> by his own confe&s;&s;ion a very mon&s;ter of Lu&s;t; no more able to live without a woman, than he could leave to be a man, or forbear natural nece&s;&s;ities of eating, drinking, &s;pitting, &amp;<HI>c.</HI> and luxury at one time &s;o raged in him as for eight dayes together, he could nei|ther pray nor &s;tudy; and &s;hortly after to a&s;&s;wage the heat thereof, one night after Supper he married for&s;ooth, and took for his Bed-fellow, <HI>Katheriue Bore</HI> a lu&s;ty Nun, after eight years of her religious profe&s;&s;ion: which troubled &s;o much his friends, and <HI>Melancthon</HI> chiefly, that in an Epi&s;tle to <HI>Camerinus,</HI> You know, &s;aith he, the manner of <HI>Luthers</HI> life; wherefore I had rather you &s;hould conjecture the re&s;t, then I write thereof; onely I may &s;ay <HI>Lu|ther</HI> is not a man made to live without a woman: which &s;urely was no great commendation for an apo&s;tolicall man, as he by his di&s;cip<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">es is preten|ded to have been.</P>
<PB N="32" REF="20">
<P><HI>Carola&s;tadius, Luthers</HI> fir&s;t Schollar, Prie&s;t and Dean of <HI>Wit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">enberg</HI> Church, and Father of modern Sacramenta|rian Here<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">icks, fierce, unlearned, and void almo&s;t of common judgement, as <HI>Melanct<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">on</HI> de&s;cribed him, prevented his Ma&s;ter in a like marriage, and was quickly followed therein by <HI>Peter Martyr</HI> a Prie&s;t and Canon Regular, &amp; by <HI>Martyr Bucer</HI> a Dominican Friar, who both took Nuns for their B dfel|lows: and &s;oon after <HI>Oecolampidius</HI> a <HI>Brigitan</HI> Monk did the &s;ame, and <HI>Ber|nardius Ochinus</HI> a Capuchin with him, drawing others like them&s;elves to fol|low their example: in&s;omuch as <HI>Zuinglius</HI> Prie&s;ts and Canon of <HI>Con&s;tance,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Operum ejus tom. 2. &s;ol. 110.</NOTE> with the re&s;t of his f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">llows in <HI>Swizzer|land</HI> &s;o much longed to have this E|vangelical liberty of wiving al&s;o granted unto them, as they humbly petitioned the M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">gi&s;trates of that country for the &s;ame; as having al|ready, not without &s;candal of others, experienced their own infirmity, and unablene&s;&s;e to live without women.</P>
<P><HI>Calvin</HI> in like manner an under-Pa|&s;tor of <HI>Noion,</HI> after he became <HI>Lu|thers</HI>
<PB N="33" REF="20"> di&s;ciple, had his <HI>Idoletta,</HI> a Wid|dow of <HI>Strasburg,</HI> and <HI>Beza</HI> his <HI>Can|dida,</HI> truly called <HI>Claudia de No&s;&s;a,</HI> with whom he lived four years before he married her, enjoying her and <HI>Audi|bert</HI> his boy at the &s;ame time; as him|&s;elf in a wanton Poem expre&s;&s;ed his lu&s;tfull delights, wherein he &s;eemed to have had mo&s;t plea&s;ure in his Boy, &amp; to be much troubled, that he could not enjoy them both together. So as men may truly &s;ay with St. <HI>Paul</HI> of the&s;e men, that &s;owing in the fle&s;h, they reaped corruption. And if in the mean time you ask them, who di&s;pen|&s;ed with their Vows, that of Cha&s;tity in particular, whereby they were doubly tyed to live continently, mo&s;t of them, at lea&s;t Prie&s;ts and religi|ous Per&s;ons.</P>
<P><HI>Luther</HI> for&s;ooth, will tell you for his part, in a whole Book together;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. d&egrave; votis</NOTE> that the law of Chri&s;t is of Faith a|lone, and bindeth no man to the ob|&s;ervance of Vows, as not warranted in Scripture unto him. <HI>Peter Martyr</HI> al&s;o in a like treati&s;e will make you believe <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">. bat. &amp; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="3 letters"></NOTE> if you li&s;t, that Vows are Judaical ob|&s;ervances,
<PB N="34" REF="21"> and belong not to Chri&s;ti|ans. <HI>Zuinglius</HI> will an&s;wer you, that St. <HI>Paul</HI> di&s;pen&s;ed with all Vows of Cha&s;tity &s;ufficiently, by &s;aying, <HI>It is better to marry than to burn.</HI></P>
<P>And <HI>Calvin</HI> more cholerickly will tell you, that Continency ordained <NOTE PLACE="marg">In harmonia ad cap. 10. Matt. &amp; in cap. 7. 1. Epi&s;t. ad Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">inthios.</NOTE> for Prie&s;ts, was an Antichri&s;tian Ty|ranny; and Vows of Cha&s;tity the Di|vels nets to en&s;nare &s;oules, pronoun|cing with great Authority all Chri|&s;tians to be free from the ob&s;ervance of them.</P>
<P>But St. <HI>Paul</HI> was not of the&s;e mens minde, when he pronounced &s;uch Widows, as had given their faith to <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.</NOTE> the Church of living cha&s;tly, and mar|ried afterwards, to have acquired damnation to them&s;elves: and the Apo&s;tles, as Saint <HI>Epiphanius</HI> te&s;tifieth, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Here&s;i. 61.</NOTE> taught it to be <HI>grande &s;celus,</HI> a hainous crime to marry after Cha&s;ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y vowed unto God. The &s;ame al&s;o is expre&s;&s;e|ly
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Can. 6.</NOTE> defined in the great Councel of <HI>Cal|cedon.</HI> St. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> likewi&s;e, and St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> on the&s;e words of the P&s;almi&s;t, <HI>&V;ow you and render your Vows to God,</HI> affirm the &s;ame: and many other chief Fa|thers
<PB N="35" REF="21"> have taught, that the ob&s;ervance of Vows rightly made, is both a natu|ral and divine Obligation, &s;econded by all Schoole divines in that A&s;&s;er|tion, and particularly St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epist. 2.</NOTE> writing to <HI>Theodorus</HI> a faln Monk; St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> al&s;o unto <HI>Armenterius,</HI> one of the &s;ame &s;tamp, expre&s;ly affirm the very thought of wiving after their Vow of Cha&s;tity, to have been &s;acrilegious and &s;infull in them.</P>
<P>Concerning their manner of refor|ming our Church, divers great Au|thors have ob&s;erved, that <HI>Luther</HI> be|gan not the &s;ame in an Apo&s;tolical way, as a Sheep among&s;t Wolves; but rather as an inraged Woolf, &s;eeking to devour the &s;ouls and bodies of men together: as when for example, a|gain&s;t <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tom. 2. Je|nen&s;i&s;. 132.</NOTE> the Bi&s;hops of <HI>Germany,</HI> he pub|li&s;hed this roaring Bull: Now you Bi&s;hops and ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ked Devils, look to your &s;elves, for <HI>Martin Luther</HI> will publi&s;h a Bull of Reformation, which will trouble you: who&s;oever &s;hall help to de&s;troy you, and root out your Authority, are true Chri&s;tians and Gods Children, &amp;c. and contra|rily
<PB N="36" REF="22"> &s;uch as &s;eek to defend and main|tain you, are damned per&s;ons, and Imps of the Devil, &amp;<HI>c.</HI> So as pre&s;ently upon the publication of this Bull, the Clowns of <HI>Germany</HI> armed them&s;elves, and invaded the Territories of Bi|&s;hops, not &s;paring likewi&s;e &s;ome t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m|poral Lords &s;uppo&s;ed to favour them, but with &s;uch ill &s;ucce&s;&s;e, as more than a hundred thou&s;and of them are &s;aid to have been &s;lain in &s;undry pla|ces by troops of expert Souldiers &s;ent again&s;t them, &s;o little pittied by <HI>Luther</HI> afterwards, as he would have them killed like Dogs without mercy, becau&s;e they had &s;omewhat exceeded his Commi&s;&s;ion: who&s;e railings in the mean time again&s;t &s;undry great Princes, and our King <HI>Henry</HI> the eighth among&s;t them, onely for being oppo&s;ite to his new Doctrine, were &s;currill, filthy, ribauld, and wholy un|be&s;eeming the tongue or pen of any Chri&s;tian man, and much more of an Apo&s;tolical Per&s;on; and his e&s;pecial hatred to the Pope and Church of <HI>Rome</HI> was &s;uch, and &s;o impotently ex|pre&s;&s;ed by him, as &s;hould it (&s;aid he) be
<PB N="37" REF="22"> decreed in a general Councel, that Prie&s;ts might marry, I for my part, would think him more holy that <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tom. 2. Je|nen&s;i&s;. 214.</NOTE> k<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">pt a Whore or two, and would not marry, then do as the Councel permit|ted him; and I would coun&s;el all mine to do &s;o.</P>
<P><HI>Calvin</HI> al&s;o began his Sect with Re|bellion at <HI>Genua,</HI> as the &s;ame al&s;o was <NOTE PLACE="marg">Vide Ga&s;|parem Va|lenbergium cap. 8.</NOTE> maintained in <HI>France, Scotland, Poland,</HI> and other places: and &s;o did <HI>Zuinglius</HI> with war again&s;t his own Country, wherein him&s;elf was killed and many other armed Mini&s;ters with him: &s;o unlike were they at their fir&s;t coming to Apo&s;tolical Per&s;ons.</P>
<P>The Vocation likewi&s;e of the&s;e new Evangeli&s;ts was neither imme|diately from God, nor mediately from men, by any orderly lawful <NOTE PLACE="marg">H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">b. 5.</NOTE> &s;ucce&s;&s;ion from Pa&s;tors before them; again&s;t that of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>No man a&s;|&s;umeth honour, or &s;pirituall government unto him&s;elf, but called as Aaron was: So Chri&s;t glorified not him&s;elf to be our high Prie&s;t, &amp;c.</HI> and as he was &s;ent by his Father, &s;o &s;ent he his Di&s;ciples, &s;ay|ing unto them, <HI>As my Father &s;ent me, &s;o
<PB N="38" REF="23"> do I &s;end you.</HI> And this mi&s;&s;ion hath been by a continuall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of Pa|&s;tors, <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Locis communi|bus cla&s;&s;e 4. cap. 20.</NOTE> &s;till continued in the Church. So as like Theeves they enter not by the doore, who intrude them&s;elves in|to Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Offices, and charge of Souls without it: Wherefore <HI>Luther</HI> him&s;elf, &s;peaking of &s;uch as &s;tole into the Office of Preaching, being not law|fully &s;ent; examine (&s;aith he) whe|ther they can prove their Vocation; for God never &s;ent any man, but ei|ther by others lawfully called, or by miracles able to prove their Vocation, no not his Son him&s;elf. And Writing to the Senate of <HI>Melhu&s;e,</HI> he repeateth the &s;ame Doctrine, and concludeth, that where&s;oever God changeth the ordinary maner of calling, he alwaies miraculou&s;ly te&s;tifieth his Mi&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>Let then our Adver&s;aries, accord|ing to this rule, tell us whether they were &s;ent mediately by men, or imme|diately <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de ne|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;&s;itate re|formandi Eccle&s;iam ad Carolum 5.</NOTE> by God to reform our Church? <HI>Calvin</HI> I know writeth that he, and his fellows, in a pure zeal of glorifying God, and &s;aving Souls, were inforced to depart from our Church. And
<PB N="39" REF="23"> <HI>Beza</HI> affirmeth it to have been lawfull for them, to follow an extraordinary calling, when no ordinary was to be found or &s;carcely any. But with the&s;e an&s;wers they &s;atisfie not <HI>Luthers</HI> de|mand; where are tho&s;e Miracles, wholly nece&s;&s;ary to te&s;tifie this imme|diate Vocation? Hath now for the&s;e hundred years pa&s;t, any Prote&s;tant Mi|ni&s;ter, cured &s;o much as a lame Dog to prove his Vocation? Wherefore Do|ctor <HI>Seravia</HI> in his Defence again&s;t <HI>Be|za,</HI> writeth thus, That Vocation, which is immediately from God, is never without Miracles and extraor|dinary &s;ignes done in proof thereof. For that it is a thing full of danger; and all &s;orts of Hereticks (albeit ne|ver &s;o ab&s;urd) may claim it in a like manner, and rely upon that alone, no man ought to thru&s;t him&s;elf into Ec|cle&s;ia&s;tical Offices.</P>
<P>Wherefore <HI>Bullinger,</HI> writing again&s;t the Anabapti&s;ts, You pretend (&s;aith he) to be &s;ent as the Apo&s;tles were, prove your Vocation by &s;ignes and miracles, which you will never do: wherefore your calling is naught and
<PB N="40" REF="24"> pernitious to Chri&s;ts Church. The like is written by <HI>Amandus. Polanus, Andreas Mu&s;culus,</HI> and other chief Pro|te&s;tant Writers. And therefore the holy Fathers St. <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> St. <HI>Hilary,</HI> St. <HI>Hierom,</HI> St. <HI>Au&s;tin,</HI> and <HI>Tertullian</HI> doubted not to call &s;uch as took upon them eccle&s;ia&s;tical mini&s;teries without being lawfully called unto them, fal&s;e Prophets, Wolves in &s;heeps garments, theeves, entring not by the doore, to kill, and de&s;troy the flock of Chri&s;t, Children without fathers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Tho&s;e <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 4. c. 43.</NOTE> (&s;aith St. <HI>Irenaeus</HI>) being onely true Doctors, and &s;ecurely in Chri&s;ts Church to be followed, who with the truth of heavenly Doctrine have had their Succe&s;&s;ion from the Apo&s;tles.</P>
<P>The Ordination likewi&s;e of the&s;e men was, and is &s;till &s;uitable to their Vocation in all Sects and A&s;&s;emblies <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de do|ctrina &amp; moribus Secta.</NOTE> of them; of which <HI>George Wicelius,</HI> a learned man, who lived in <HI>Luthers</HI> time, and &s;aw the beginnings of them, writeth thus, They reject the Roman Rite of Ordination, and without more ado, he, whom the Vi&s;itors like, is &s;ufficiently called to the mini&s;tery,
<PB N="41" REF="24"> elected and ordered among&s;t them. Neither is their manner of Ordina|tion yet fully agreed upon: &s;o as &s;ince that time, &s;everal Sects therein ob&s;erve different fa&s;hions; and particularly among&s;t the <HI>Calvini&s;ts,</HI> the Elders are to choo&s;e and approve &s;uch as are to be ordered, and together with their Mini&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">r, Impo&s;e their hands on them, wher<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">in their O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">dination chiefly con|&s;i&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">th: neither holy, nor much to be regarded according to <HI>Luther<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> Do|ctrine, who to vilifi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Sacrament of O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">der, and take away all u&s;e thereof in Chri&s;ts Church, expre&s;ly affirmeth all &s;orts of Per&s;ons, men, women, and children to be in their very Bapti&s;me m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">dePrie&s;ts and Bi&s;hops; admitting no <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tom. 2. Wit+<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">enb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rgen&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;ol. 90. &amp; l. de capt. Babiloni<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">a.</NOTE> di&s;tinction at all between Clergie men and Lay per&s;ons, as <HI>Tertullian</HI> in his Pre&s;criptions &s;aid of Hereticks in his time. One is a Bi&s;hop this day, and none to morrow; another a Prie&s;t now that was none ye&s;terday, for that all among&s;t them, are admitted to Prie&s;tly Functions. Neither doth <HI>Lu|ther</HI> &s;tay his madne&s;&s;e here, but &s;aith, that the Devil him&s;elf in humane &s;hape
<PB N="42" REF="25"> may cone&s;crate the holy Euchari&s;t, and admini&s;ter other Sacraments if he will have a right intention therein, and do what Chri&s;t commanded, nei|ther (&s;aith he) would I lay a wager to the contrary, but that he hath at one time or other plaid &s;o the part of a Pa&s;tor, perchance in their Churches, who have &s;carcely any thing but Bap|ti&s;m &s;acred among&s;t them.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, Concerning <HI>Church-govern|ment,</HI> and particularly that of <HI>Geneva,</HI> craftily devi&s;ed by <HI>Calvin</HI> to gain ther|by to him&s;elf and his Mini&s;ters the go|vernment of that City, as <HI>Hooker</HI> in his Preface of his <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Policy,</HI> mo|de&s;tly declareth it; and <HI>Bancro&s;t</HI> more roundly relateth the manner thereof; I may after many learned mens judge|ments written of the &s;ame, rightly af|firm it to be a politick confu&s;ion of Civil and Ecclefia&s;tical power toge|ther. A diabolical invention of e&s;ta|bli&s;hing Chri&s;t in his Throne, as they term it; but indeed of di&s;turbing the peace of States, and &s;ubverting the go|vernment of Chri&s;tian Kingdomes un|der a colour of propagating the Go|&s;pel
<PB N="43" REF="25"> in&s;omuch as <HI>Bullenger,</HI> who had &s;omewhat holpen <HI>Calvin</HI> in his erecti|on thereof, &s;eeing the inconveniences en&s;uing from the &s;ame, and writing to the Bi&s;hops of <HI>England,</HI> compared the&s;e Con&s;i&s;torial Lords, not in title, but in power, to the &s;editious Tribunes of <HI>Rome,</HI> wont to gain power and ho|nour unto them&s;elves, by moving tu|mults among&s;t the people.</P>
<P><HI>Gualterus</HI> likewi&s;e his &s;ucce&s;&s;or in <HI>Zuirick,</HI> admoni&s;hed in one letter the Bi&s;hop of <HI>London,</HI> and in another the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Eli,</HI> to look in time to that <HI>Genevian Hydra,</HI> ri&s;ing then with new heads among&s;t them; in who&s;e Con|&s;i&s;tories each Mini&s;ter hath Pretorial, and Epi&s;copal power enjoyned toge|ther, as able with his ignorant Elders, to examine and puni&s;h with Excom|munication fir&s;t, and greater penalties after wards, if he be not obeyed, all &s;orts of Delinquents: And the&s;e El|ders are in Cities, Towns, and Vilages, for the mo&s;t part ignorant Trad&s;men, cho&s;en and put in authority for a year onely, and then returned to their &s;hops again: without any manner at
<PB N="44" REF="26"> all of con&s;ecration, yet able that year, while&s;t they are in Office, to determine with their Mini&s;ters, and conclude &s;e|ditious Councels of War again&s;t Prin|ces and States, which they live in; of which <HI>France, Flaunders, Scotland, Po|land,</HI> and other places are able to af|fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d dreadfull examples.</P>
<P>And in &s;etting up this De&s;truction (as I may rightly <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">erm it) of all anti|ent Church government, <HI>Calvin</HI> hath mi&s;appli<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d the word <HI>Presbyter,</HI> and gi|v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n it to his Elders. For albei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> accor|ding to the Gre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">k and Gramm<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tical &s;ignification thereof, it may &s;ignifie any E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> in ag<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> or authority: yet ac|cording to th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Eccle&s;ia&s;tical, and &s;a|cred u&s;e thereof, even in &s;cripture it &s;elf, it &s;ignifi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">th a Prie&s;t con&s;ecrated and ord<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d to offer the &s;acrifice of our L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rd bod<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">, and bloud at the Al|tar, admini&s;ter S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">craments, and preach <NOTE PLACE="marg">I ad Tim. 5.</NOTE> to the peo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">le, according to St. <HI>Pauls</HI> words, affirming <HI>&s;uch Prie&s;ts to be wor|thy of double honour, as labour in the word and doctrine,</HI> d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;tingui&s;h d from the Lai|ty, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">x<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rci&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">g their hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="3 letters"> Office of governing under Bi&s;hops, Chri&s;tian
<PB N="45" REF="26"> People commited in &s;everal Churches to the government of them, having under them fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the mini&s;try of the Al|tar; Deacons, Subdeacons, and other inferiour Church Officers, as glorious St. <HI>Igna<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ius</HI> in his Epi&s;tles particularly m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ntioneth them. What (&s;aith he) <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. ad Trallian<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s.</NOTE> is the Bi&s;hop but Father, Prince and Head of the Clergie? What is Prie&s;t|hood, but a holy in&s;titution of being Coun&s;ellour, and a&s;&s;i&s;tent to the Bi|&s;hop? What are Deacons, &amp;<HI>c.</HI> but helpers of Bi&s;hops, and Prie&s;ts in per|forming a clean &amp; immaculate work, as mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Stephen</HI> did to <HI>James, Timothy</HI> and <HI>Linus</HI> to <HI>Paul, Anacletus</HI> and <HI>Clement</HI> to <HI>Peter</HI> in &s;erving them at Ma&s;&s;e, di&s;tributing the Chalice to the people, keeping and di&s;pen&s;ing the Trea&s;ures of the Church, as St. <HI>Lau|rence</HI> told <HI>Sixtus</HI> his Bi&s;hop de&s;irous to be Martyred with him. Prie&s;ts are good and Preachers of Gods Word; <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epist. ad Smi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nen&s;es.</NOTE> but the Bi&s;hop is better than they: honour him as the Father of Prie&s;ts, and chiefe&s;t of them, re&s;embling God him&s;elf, and like unto Chri&s;t among&s;t his Di&s;ciples, &amp;<HI>c.</HI> And writing to his
<PB N="46" REF="27"> own Church at <HI>Antioch,</HI> I &s;alute (&s;aith he) the Prie&s;ts and Deacons, Subdea|cons, Lectors Acolathi&s;ts, Cantors, Doorkeepers, &amp;<HI>c.</HI> your Colledge of Virgins, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> having then particular|ly written unto <HI>Hero</HI> his Deacon, and told him how our Saviour had revea|led unto him, that he &s;hould next in that See &s;ucceed him. So as the whole order and form of Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall go|vernment u&s;ed in the Apo&s;tles time, is there according to all degrees thereof declared by him.</P>
<P><HI>Calvin</HI> therefore and his Compani|ons in changing the &s;ame, have done, as if a few Rebels invading &s;ome part of a grea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> and well &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tled kingdome, &s;hould change the old laws and go|vernment thereof, to be new in that as in other points of their Doctrine, and refu&s;ing to follow tho&s;e therein, of whom Chri&s;t &s;aid, <HI>He that heareth</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 1. c. 4.</NOTE> <HI>you heareth me,</HI> and of whom St. <HI>John</HI> &s;aid, <HI>He that knoweth God heareth us, and ho who knoweth not God heareth us not; in this we know the &s;pirit of truth and the &s;pirit of errour.</HI> Chri&s;t having before told his Apo&s;tles, and &s;uch no doubt
<PB N="47" REF="27"> as &s;ucceeded them in the government <NOTE PLACE="marg">Joan. 15.</NOTE> of his Church, <HI>I will &s;end unto you the Holy Gho&s;t, and he &s;hall give te&s;timony un|to me, and &s;o &s;hall you, &amp;c.</HI> joyning &s;o together the inward teaching of the Holy Gho&s;t, and outward teaching of the Church both to be embraced, and obeyed by all her children. For albeit (&s;aith St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI>) he uttered all <NOTE PLACE="marg">Enarrat. in P&s;al. 47.</NOTE> the&s;e promi&s;es to his Apo&s;tles, <HI>cum illis loquebatur, no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> intelligebat,</HI> yet &s;pea|king to them he meant us al&s;o, who were to the worlds end to &s;ucceed them, for whom he prayed, and ob|tained the Holy Gho&s;t of his heavenly <NOTE PLACE="marg">Joan. 77.</NOTE> Father, not to remain for a time, but for ever with them.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="3" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="48" REF="28">
<HEAD>The third Controver&s;ie, <HI>Of the Bi&s;hop and Church of</HI> Rome.</HEAD>
<P>NOt as it is the Patriarchial, and particular Church of that City, but as it is head and chief of all other Churches &s;ubjected unto it. And I do not here without hearty grief ent<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">r into this Controver&s;ie, while&s;t I con|&s;ider with my &s;elf how violently, and virulently our Adver&s;aries, have after the accu&s;tomed manner of other Here|ticks before them, by preaching, and writing &s;landerous untruths, made not to men and women only, but even unto very children, the name of Pope, Papi&s;try (as they call our Catholick Faith) hatefull, and &s;carcely with patience to be mentioned among&s;t them; notwith&s;tanding all learned men know, that antiently the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> hath been for the profe&s;&s;ion of her faith, and glory of her Martyrs renowned above other Churches: &s;o
<PB N="49" REF="28"> as thirty three Bi&s;hops &s;ucce&s;&s;ors of S. <HI>Peter</HI> in that Chair, were &s;lain in that City for Chri&s;t amid&s;t their flocks, and innumerable Martyrs with them, after the two chief Apo&s;tles <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Paul</HI> had planted by their preaching, and watered with their bloud the true Doctrine of Chri&s;t, therein thus extolled by <HI>Calvin</HI> him&s;elf, after many <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib. 4. in&s;ti. tut. c.</HI> 6, &amp; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> untruths uttered by him.</P>
<P>I deny not (&s;aith he) but that th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> ancient Fathers do yeeld every where great reverence to the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> and &s;peak highly of her, calling her, for honours &s;ake, the Apo&s;tolical S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e of the We&s;t, as freer from troubles, and more firmly retaining her fir&s;t Faith, than other <HI>African</HI> or <HI>Grecian</HI> Chur|ches: W<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ence it came to pa&s;&s;e, that holy Bi&s;hops injured, and driven from their Sees, retired thither as unto a Port of Safety, and have been from time to time, by the Authority of Popes, righted and re&s;tored to their Churches. Others al&s;o in que&s;tions and doubts of Religion have repaired unto them: St. <HI>Policarp</HI> (for example) Di&s;ciple to <HI>John,</HI> and ordained Bi&s;hop
<PB N="50" REF="29"> of <HI>Smyrna</HI> by him, came to Pope <HI>Ani|cetus</HI> about the due ob&s;ervance of <HI>Ea|&s;ter,</HI> a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> St. <HI>Iren<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">us, Eu&s;ebius,</HI> and St. <HI>Hie|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">me</HI> have left written. And St. <HI>Irenae|us</HI> after him came to <HI>Rome,</HI> as <HI>Tertullian</HI> recounteth, about condemning &s;ome Here&s;ies then n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">wly ri&s;ing. <HI>Origen</HI> like|wi&s;e, as St. <HI>Hierom</HI> te&s;tifieth, &s;ubmitted
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epist. ad P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">machiu~ &amp; Oc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">anum</NOTE> him&s;elf to Pope <HI>Fabian,</HI> and recanted &s;ome doctrines written by him. Saint <HI>Cyprian</HI> in like manner wrote many E|pi&s;tles to Pope <HI>Cornelius,</HI> about &s;undry bu&s;ine&s;&s;es of his Church; and the No|vations then beginning to be trouble|&s;ome unto him. St. <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> and many other Bi&s;hops of <HI>Aegypt,</HI> and <HI>Li|bia</HI> together addre&s;&s;ed them&s;elves by a mo&s;t humble and earne&s;t Epi&s;tle to Pope <HI>Foelix</HI> the &s;econd to crave of him a true Copy of the <HI>Nicene</HI> Councel, which the Arians had in all places bur|ned and &s;uppre&s;&s;ed, to demand al&s;o a re&s;titution to their &s;everal Churches, and to be redre&s;&s;ed in other wrongs done unto them: for that the relief of wronged Bi&s;hops, and other chief bu&s;ine&s;&s;es of the Church, for the emi|nency of hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> authority over all Chur|ches
<PB N="51" REF="29"> and Bi&s;hops, belonged unto him, as it had been declared by the Father<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> of the <HI>Nicene</HI> Councel, at which &s;ome of them &s;elves had been pre&s;ent. And accordingly he that will read the Epi|&s;tles of St. <HI>Leo,</HI> and St. <HI>Gregory,</HI> both &s;urnamed great, for that high and ho|ly e&s;teem which the Chri&s;tian world is known to have had of them, &s;hall find them, as other Popes had done before, to have exerci&s;ed authority over all Ea&s;tern and We&s;tern Bi&s;hops as Cau&s;es happ'ned, even Patriarchs them&s;elv<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s without exception, how&s;oever this certain truth be by <HI>Calvin</HI> impudently denied.</P>
<P>In&s;omuch that the very next Popes to St. <HI>Peter,</HI> &s;o holy in their liv<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s, and glorious in their Martyrdomes for Chri&s;t, that it would be an impious te|merity for any man to object (as &s;ome of our Adver&s;aries have done) any af|fectation of Pride and Ambition unto them, are known by the prerogative of their Chair to have both claimed, and exerci&s;ed this Univer&s;al Authori|ty: <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tom. 1. Con|ciliorum Epi&s;. 3.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Anacletus</HI> (for example) the fourth Pope after S. <HI>Peter,</HI> hath the&s;e
<PB N="52" REF="30"> words, <HI>This holy and Apo&s;tolical Church of Rome hath obtained, not from the Apo|&s;tles, but from our Saviour him&s;elf a Su|pream and eminent power over all Churches, and the whole flock of Chri&s;t,</HI> when he &s;aid unto the mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed Apo&s;tle, <HI>Thou art a rock, and upon this rock, I will build my Church,</HI> &amp;c. S. <HI>Victor</HI> likewi&s;e &s;o clai|med this power and exerci&s;ed the &s;ame over other Churches, as he ex|communicated all Bi&s;hops of the le&s;&s;er <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> for their Judaical and ob&s;tinate ob&s;ervance of <HI>Ea&s;ter;</HI> for which S. <HI>Ire|naeus</HI> blamed him, not becau&s;e he wan|ted authority, but for that he had u&s;ed therein overmuch &s;everity. S. <HI>Calixtus</HI> in his Epi&s;tle <HI>ad Benedictum</HI> expre&s;ly af|firmed the <HI>Church of Rome needfully to be obeyed and followed by all Churches, as Head and chief of them.</HI> The like au|thority was challenged, and exerci&s;ed by all the&s;e holy Popes, living within the fir&s;t 300. years after Chri&s;t, <HI>Anthe|rus, Fabian, Lucius, Diony&s;ius, Foelix</HI> the fir&s;t, <HI>Marcellus,</HI> and others.</P>
<P>Neither were holy Fathers in that time, le&s;&s;e earne&s;t in defending the Su|pream and Univer&s;al Authority of the
<PB N="53" REF="30"> Roman Church, than Popes them|&s;elves. S. <HI>Irenaeus</HI> (for example) calleth <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 3. c. 3.</NOTE> the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> the great<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t, mo&s;t antient, and be&s;t known Church, foun|ded by the two mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed Apo&s;tles <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Paul, &amp;c.</HI> Whereunto for her more powerfull principality, all other Churches were to be conformed in the doctrine of Faith, and practice of Religion, naming Popes untill this <NOTE PLACE="marg">Li. de pudi|citia.</NOTE> time &s;ucceeding each other. <HI>Tertullian</HI> likewi&s;e from the &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of Bi&s;hops in that See numbred by him, pre&s;cri|beth again&s;t Hereticks the truth of Chri&s;tian Doctrine, calling the Bi&s;hop of that Church, <HI>Epi&s;copum Epi&s;coporum,</HI> Bi&s;hop of Bi&s;hops, and Father of the Catholick Church. S. <HI>Cyprian,</HI> in a like manner; after he had declared how Chri&s;t promi&s;ed to build his Church on S. <HI>Peter,</HI> and commended the go|vernment <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de uni|tat. Eccle&s;.</NOTE> of his flock unto him, &s;aith, that albeit, all the Apo&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">es received like Authority from Chri&s;t, yet that <HI>Peter</HI> was ordained chief of them, and that all faith was from his Chair chief|ly to be received, &s;aying, <HI>That no Here&s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s would ri&s;e in the Church, if this one Prie&s;ts
<PB N="54" REF="31"> Authority were duly acknowledged, and o|beyed as it ought to be.</HI></P>
<P>S. <HI>Hilary</HI> having prai&s;ed S. <HI>Peter</HI> for <NOTE PLACE="marg">Can. in Mat. 16.</NOTE> his Confe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, cryeth out, <HI>Oh happy foundation of the Church, de&s;igned by that new name</HI> Cepha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">, <HI>a rock, impo&s;ed on him worthy of that building, which &s;hall &s;tand firmly again&s;t Hell gates, &amp;c.</HI> Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> in more than ten &s;everal <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hom. 87 in J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. &amp; ad populum Antioch.</HI> 39, 42, 49. 80. &amp; 87.</NOTE> places&punc; plainly acknowledgeth the pre|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">minency of the Roman Church, and Bi&s;hop, above other Churches and Bi|&s;hops, by the dignity of <HI>Peters</HI> Chaire therein continued. S. <HI>Hierome</HI> profe&s;|&s;ed him&s;elf albeit he lived in the Ea&s;t, under other Patriarcks; to be a &s;heep of <HI>Peters</HI> flock, and to be conjoyned <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epist. 2. ad Dama&s;um.</NOTE> with his Chair, and &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of Ro|man Pa&s;tors therein, as knowing <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. c. 51.</NOTE> Chri&s;ts Church on this Rock to have been rai&s;ed: And S. <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> deman|ded of <HI>Petelian</HI> a chief Donati&s;t, why do&s;t thou call this Apo&s;tolical Chaire the Chair of Pe&s;tilence? as now our Adver&s;aries do the Seat of Antichri&s;t, the Bea&s;t of &s;even heads, whereon the Whore of Babylon is &s;aid to have rid|den; not di&s;tingui&s;hing between that
<PB N="55" REF="31"> City, and Church therein, ever mo&s;t holy and renowned, while&s;t that City Mi&s;tre&s;&s;e of the world, when S. <HI>John</HI> wrote his <HI>Apocalips,</HI> per&s;ecuted the &s;ame for 300. years together, purpled her &s;elf with the bloud of Martyrs, ma|king all Nations of the earth drunk with the poy&s;onous cup of her Super|&s;titions, &s;o as <HI>Rome</HI> was to the Church of Chri&s;t in that City and other pla|ces, as <HI>Babylon</HI> was an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ntly to the Je|wi&s;h Temple, a powerfull and hate|full Enemy, and is called therefore <HI>Ba|bylon,</HI> by S. <HI>Peter,</HI> in the end of his Epi|&s;tle, when he wrote, <HI>The Church which is in Babylon, &s;aluteth you.</HI></P>
<P>Which is &s;o clearly acknowledged in her &s;upream and Univer&s;al Autho|rity by S. <HI>Au&s;tine,</HI> S. <HI>Optatus,</HI> S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> and a multitude of other Fathers, as I could produce here a double Jury of them: Wherefore <HI>Calvin</HI> di&s;&s;embled and lied notably, when in his Epi&s;tle to Cardinal <HI>Sodalet,</HI> he pretended to ayme at no other reformation of our Church, but to reduce it to that be|lief and practice of Religion, which was in the Greek Church, while&s;t <HI>Ba|&s;il,
<PB N="56" REF="32"> Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> and the Fathers of that time lived, and u&s;ed in the Latine Church, while&s;t <HI>Ambro&s;e, Au&s;tine,</HI> and <HI>Hierome</HI> were in it. Whereas he reject|eth in innumerable places the co~fe&s;&s;ed doctrine both of the&s;e and more anci|ent Fathers; and many times with plain con<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">umelies and reproaches vented again&s;t them, as will appear af|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">erwards in each Controver&s;ie. When al&s;o he profe&s;&s;ed no le&s;&s;e fraudulently, and fal&s;ely to believe and admit of all doctrines, and practices embraced in the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> during the fir&s;t 500 years after Chri&s;t: he meant no|thing le&s;&s;e; for that when the Belief, and practice of the Church in the three fir&s;t Ages is objected again&s;t him, and new points of his Doctrine; his an|&s;wer is, that even then the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> was not &s;o pure, as it might in all doctrines, and practices of Religi|on be &s;ecurely followed.</P>
<P>With the &s;ame fraud al&s;o he maketh <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 4. in&s;tit. c. 9. num. 8.</NOTE> profe&s;&s;ion to embrace the fir&s;t four ge|nerall Councels, as teaching and de|creeing nothing but conformable to Scripture. Yet wher<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> it is urged a|gain&s;t
<PB N="57" REF="32"> him, even in this very Contro|ver&s;ie, that in all the&s;e four Councels the Popes &s;upream and univer&s;al au|thority is plainly acknowledged, Cha|&s;tity injoyned to Prie&s;ts, Vows taught to binde in Con&s;cience, and the like points of Catholick doctrine proved out of them, he rejecteth their autho|rity farther, than it is by Gods word warranted unto him; and not onely deni<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">th what they teach of the Popes authority, but mo&s;t impudently aver|reth many notorious fal&s;hoods: For example he denith Saint <HI>Peters</HI> ha|ving been at <HI>Rome,</HI> no le&s;&s;e te&s;tified by antient Authors and monuments, than that <HI>Augu&s;tus</HI> once raigned in that City; and de&s;pairing to make good &s;uch an impudent a&s;&s;ertion, he denieth him at lea&s;t to have been Bi|&s;hop of that City for 25 years toge|ther, again&s;t the clear te&s;timony of S. <HI>Hierom,</HI> following <HI>Eu&s;ebius,</HI> writing <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Cronic&punc; Anno 44.</NOTE> thus long before him, <HI>Peter</HI> a Galilean by his country, the chief Bi&s;hop of Chri&s;tians, after he had founded the Church of <HI>An<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ioch</HI> went to <HI>Rome,</HI> where having preached the Go&s;pel as
<PB N="58" REF="33"> Bi&s;hop of that City for twenty five years, was crucified there under <HI>Nero</HI> with his head downwards, becau&s;e him&s;elf de&s;ired to die &s;o.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Serm. de SS Petro &amp; Paulo.</NOTE> And S. <HI>Leo,</HI> of S. <HI>Peters</HI> fir&s;t coming to <HI>Rome,</HI> m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">keth this &s;peech unto him, <HI>Thou had&s;t already, mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed, Apo&s;tle e|&s;tabli&s;hed the Church of</HI> Ant<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">och, <HI>and by thy evangelical p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eaching converted unto Chri&s;ts law,</HI> Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, A|&s;ia and Bithania, <HI>when thou broughte&s;t the Trophy of Chri&s;ts cro&s;&s;e into the Roman arches, whether by divine ordination the ho|nour of power, and glory of thy pa&s;&s;ion went before thee, that the faith of Chri&s;t might there chiefly flouri&s;h, where the Devils Ty|ranny had chiefly raged, extending from thence thy &s;pirituall Power into more king|domes and Countries, than formerly the Ro|man Captains by their many conque&s;ts had</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ser. 3. de a&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m. ej<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s ad Pontific.</NOTE> <HI>obtained; Chri&s;t having e&s;pecially cho&s;en thee to govern all Nations converted unto him, and preferred thee before the other A|po&s;tles and governours of his Church, when he thrice committed the feeding and go|vernment of his flock unto thee, and pro|mi&s;ed to build his Church firmly upon thee.</HI></P>
<PB N="59" REF="33">
<P>Which high Office and Power was no doubt to be extended to all true and lawfull Succe&s;&s;ors of him: For as Chri&s;ts Church and Flock was &s;till to continue, as hath been already proved, to the worlds end; &s;o were the Go|vernours, and government thereof to be in the &s;ame manner &s;till continued, and not during S. <HI>Peters</HI> time onely, who&s;e authority given by Chri&s;t, dif|fered in this from that which his fel|low Apo&s;tles received likewi&s;e from him, that theirs was delegated onely, and to end with their Per&s;ons, where|as his was ordinary, and to be derived (&s;o farre as the government of the Church required) to his Succe&s;&s;ors af|ter him, which who&s;oever denieth proudly unto them, &s;aith S. <HI>Leo,</HI> he damneth him&s;elf, but le&s;&s;eneth not that authority, which is given by Chri&s;t unto them. And that which was uttered by our Savior, and under&s;tood chiefly of him&s;elf, may be truly applied unto S. <HI>Peter,</HI> and all lawful Succe&s;&s;ors of him, Vicarial heads, and &s;econdary foundations of his Church e&s;tabli&s;hed on them, wherefore he that falleth on
<PB N="60" REF="34"> this Rock &s;hall be brui&s;ed, and on whom it falleth, it &s;hall cru&s;h him.</P>
<P>For that all &s;uch as have at any time heretofore for&s;aken the unity of this Church, and refu&s;ed obedience to S. <HI>Peters</HI> Succe&s;&s;ors in that Chair, depar|ting from the faith thereof, have da&s;h|ed them&s;elves again&s;t this Rock, and onely foamed out their own confu|&s;ions, as may be in&s;tanced in all <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="4 letters">|ticks of former times; whereby the o|ther three Patriarchical Seats of <HI>Alex|andria, Antioch,</HI> and <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> have been fir&s;t corrupted, and afterwards with Mahumeti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m overwhelmed; as now likewi&s;e hath almo&s;t happened unto the Churches of <HI>Greece,</HI> after they had been ten &s;everall times unit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d to the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> and faln again from it; who yet never arrived unto that fra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">tick and witle&s;&s;e folly of Pro|te&s;tants, affirming the Succe&s;&s;ion of Popes in S. <HI>Peters</HI> Chair, even almo&s;t &s;ince the Apo&s;tles time for 1000. years (at l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">a&s;t) pa&s;t to have been Antichri&s;t, that &s;ingle man, and profe&s;&s;ed enemy of Chri&s;t mentioned by S. <HI>Paul,</HI> who is certainly to be received by the Jews to
<PB N="61" REF="34"> raign in <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> and tread the ho|ly City under his feet; to &s;it as a God in the Temple reedified by him, to kill <HI>Enoch</HI> and <HI>Elias</HI> there, the two faithful witne&s;&s;es of Chri&s;t, lying afterwards three dayes together naked in the Streets of that City: the glory of who&s;e raign is to continue but three years and a half, called by <HI>Daniel,</HI> and S. <HI>John,</HI> a time, two times, and half a time, numbred by forty two months, or which is all one by 1260. dayes; when Chri&s;t &s;hall &s;horten the rage of his per&s;ecution for the good of his e|lect, and kill this wicked man with the breath of his own mouth. All which particulars contained in Scri|pture, one by one, can no more agree to the whole Succe&s;&s;ion of Roman Bi|&s;hops, than to the Turki&s;h Emperours, for the&s;e thou&s;and years pa&s;t; nor in|deed &s;o much, becau&s;e the&s;e have had the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of <HI>Hieru&s;alem</HI> for many ages together, and ever have been ene|mies to Chri&s;t and Chri&s;tians: where|as Popes have ever been his faithfull Servants, his Vicars here on earth, and chief Pa&s;tors of his flock by his own Ordination.</P>
<PB N="62" REF="35">
<P>So as <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">othing could have been de|vi&s;ed more injuriou&s;ly to Chri&s;t, or more derogating from his glory in re|deeming us, than to affirm (as in effect they do) that the Devill timely pre|vailed again&s;t him, for the overthrow of his Church, and that al&s;o by the Roman Bi&s;hop and Chaire of <HI>Peter,</HI> whereon as a Rock he promi&s;ed to build, &s;o firmly, as hell gates, to wit, no power of men, or Devils, &s;hould prevail again&s;t it. In the mean time, if <NOTE PLACE="marg">ad The&s;&s;. 2.</NOTE> we will with holy Fathers and all an|tient, or modern Interpreters ex|amine that ob&s;cure place of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> concerning the my&s;tery of iniquity working in his time, it was not under|&s;tood of Popes: but of Hereticks be|ginning then to ri&s;e, and preparing a way for Antichri&s;ts coming; for which cau&s;e they are called by S. <HI>John</HI> Anti|chri&s;ts, as by corrupting the true faith, forerunners of him. And never any Sect or &s;ort of Hereticks, did perform this wicked Office again&s;t Chri&s;t &amp; his Church, more than modern Hereticks have done in their pretended reforma|tion of our Church and Religion.</P>
<PB N="63" REF="35">
<P>Who&s;e malice again&s;t the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome</HI> is &s;o far extended, as even that ble&s;&s;ed Apo&s;tle him&s;elf, who&s;e Chair they &s;ucceed in, is &s;o undervalued by them, that they &s;eek to deny many e|&s;pecial privileges of our Saviours love towards him, magnified by all ancient Fathers, and Interpreters of Scripture before them; as his having been from his fir&s;t calling by the impo&s;all of a new name, de&s;igned by Chri&s;t to be the head &amp; foundation of his Church; and under the title of his Flock, thrice commended the &s;ame to his govern|ment; prayed for him that his faith might not faile; willing him to con|firm his Brethren. He prayed not <NOTE PLACE="marg">In quae&s;t. Novi testa|menti q. 75.</NOTE> (&s;aith S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI>) for <HI>James</HI> or <HI>John,</HI> or any of the re&s;t, but for <HI>Peter</HI> alone, <HI>that his faith might not faile;</HI> becau&s;e on him, as a &s;ure foundation next to him&s;elf, the firmity of his Church chiefly de|pended. So as from this Text the un|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rring judgment of him and his Suc|ce&s;&s;ors in points of Faith, hath been as well by ancien<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Fathers, as later Di|vines, rightly gathered. Neither can it be convinced that any Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome</HI>
<PB N="64" REF="36"> hath, as a private Doctor, erred in any point of Faith; much le&s;&s;e guided the Church ami&s;&s;e, by fal&s;ly declaring any point, or practice of Chri&s;tian Do|ctrine.</P>
<P>And if among&s;t &s;uch a multitude of mo&s;t Learned, Holy and eminent Per|&s;ons, which in the See of <HI>Rome,</HI> have from age to age &s;ucceeded each other, &s;ome few have been blamefull in their lives, as one among&s;t the twelve Apo|&s;tles was a <HI>Judas,</HI> and another among&s;t the fir&s;t &s;even Deacons, is commonly held to have been horribly vicious in his life and doctrine; yet prejudiced not the &s;anctity of the re&s;t, nor the ho|line&s;&s;e of their Function; for why &s;hould the glory of other good Popes come to be ob&s;cured, or the high au|thority of that See be le&s;&s;ened by them; Such &s;candals being &s;ome of tho&s;e gates of Hell, which were permitted by Chri&s;t to be opened again&s;t his Church, but never to overthrow it. Yet I may truly &s;ay here, that in num|bring and naming &s;uch Popes, Prote|&s;tants have notably erred; and with great malice made <HI>Boniface</HI> the eighth,
<PB N="65" REF="36"> and other Popes, black and abomi|nable in their lives, who by the certain te&s;timonies of mo&s;t holy and learned per&s;ons, living in the &s;ame age; and time with them, were very good, holy, and zea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ous Bi&s;hops, and wrongfully defamed by uncon&s;cionable wicked men, profe&s;&s;ed adver&s;aries unto them.</P>
<P>And &s;hould any Pope &s;warve in any point from the profe&s;&s;ed and known faith of Chri&s;ts Church, and in any publick manner prof<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;e his error; there would not (as our Adver&s;ari<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s teach) be wanting in the Church, au|thority or means enough to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o&s;e, or rather declare him to be no true member of the &s;ame, and &s;o no more h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ad thereof: which is &s;poken of a thing in the ayre, and that will never h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ppen. N<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ither is it to be marvelled at, that we Chri&s;tians &s;hould b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">lieve that the cheif Pa&s;tor and Head of Chri&s;ts Church&punc; for whom him&s;elf prayed <HI>that his faith might not faile,</HI> for the confirmation of his Brethren in their Chri&s;tian and Catholick profe&s;|&s;ion, &s;hould be in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">allible in his pub|lick teaching; &s;ithence the High Prie&s;t
<PB N="66" REF="37"> of the Jews, a type onely and figure of ours, was to be &s;o &s;trictly followed and obeyed in his doctrine, as the re|fu&s;ers of his &s;entence were by death, and no le&s;&s;e penalty to be puni&s;hed: and &s;uch as &s;ate in the Chair of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and exerci&s;ed that power, which was provided by God for the in&s;truction of his People, were by our Saviours command, notwith&s;tanding their bad lives, to be followed in their doctrine, and can we think that he would leave his Church void of &s;uch an external, and infallible means in all points and practices of faith to rely on?</P>
<P>For &s;hould the Churches teaching be held fallible and uncertain, even &s;criptures them&s;elves might be que&s;ti|oned in their authority, approved (as I have &s;aid before) by her te&s;timony and tradition, as other declared points of doctrine. And to &s;ay that this in|fallible authority &s;hould be more in the flock than in the chief Pa&s;tor there|of, more in the body than in the head, more in the family than in the father and governour of it, more in a gene|rall Councel than in the Pope, who
<PB N="67" REF="37"> hath authority to call and confirm it, is an extravagant opinion of &s;ome di|vines, and hath little colour of truth in it: e&s;pecially con&s;idering that &s;un|dry great and general Councels, not following the Popes &s;entence and di|rections, given either by their Letters, or Legats in them, have perniciou&s;ly in their Decrees, and &s;candalou&s;ly er|red: Whereas it cannot be proved that Popes alone have in their do|ctrines &s;o failed. Neither hath it in former times been held nece&s;&s;ary for re&s;olving doubts in matters of faith, or for condemning Here&s;ies ri&s;en a|gain&s;t them, to have a generall Coun|cel pre&s;ently called; but Popes alone have commonly performed that Of|fice, acknowledged by chief Fathers in all ages to belong unto them; &s;o as among&s;t many others, which might here to that purpo&s;e be in&s;tanced by me, St. <HI>Hierom</HI> writing to Pope <HI>Dama|&s;us,</HI> about admiting 3 hypo&s;ta&s;ies in the deity, or not, becau&s;e that word then was of a doubtfull &s;ignification, tell me (&s;aith he) whether I &s;hall admit them, or not, as a &s;heep I ask help of
<PB N="68" REF="38"> my Sheapherd; I know not <HI>Vitalis,</HI> I refu&s;e to believe <HI>M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">le&s;ius,</HI> I am joyned to your beatitude alone, &amp;<HI>c.</HI> And in this kinde of language have other an|tient fathers written to &s;ever<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">l P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s to have qu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;tions and doubts of fai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">h re&s;olved by them: which they would not have done, had they not believed our Saviours prayer, that their faith &s;hould not fail, to h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ve been heard for them by his eternal Father, and that a peculiar a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Holy Gho&s;t was promi&s;ed unto them.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="4" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="69" REF="38">
<HEAD>The fourth Controver&s;ie, <HI>Of Traditions needfully added into the Canon of Scripture.</HI></HEAD>
<P>OUr Adver&s;aries, under a &s;peci|ous pretence of following, in the Doctrine and practice of Faith, Gods word alone contained in Scripture, &s;eek to overthrow among&s;t Chri&s;tians all true belief, and Religi|on, for admitting what &s;criptures they li&s;t them&s;elves, and interpreting them as they plea&s;e, is in effect to have a Religion of their own making; no le&s;&s;e ab&s;urd, than if in Kingdomes and Common-wealths, Subjects were per|mitted to interpret laws of them&s;elves without admitting Judges to deter|mine of them, or any authentical De|claration of them; &s;o as every man may to his own advantage in &s;uits and controver&s;ies expound them, and defend any cau&s;e, how bad, and unju&s;t &s;oever it be by them: And that pre|tence
<PB N="70" REF="39"> of Prote&s;tants to believe nothing which is not either expre&s;&s;ed in Scri|pture, or by a clear &amp; immediate con|&s;equence gatherable from it, is a fal&s;e brag and purpo&s;ely devi&s;ed to ex|clude the Churches teaching, and de|ceive ignorant people, unable to note how ungroundedly, and without &s;ence many times, texts of Scripture are cited by them, to prove their own and impugn our doctrines; in&s;omuch as the Catholick and learned Pa&s;tor of <HI>Chaventon,</HI> a place alotted unto the <HI>Hu|gonits</HI> neer <HI>Paris,</HI> hath in &s;undry Vo|lumes di&s;covered the fraudulent pro|ceedings of Prote&s;tants, about main|taining points of their Religion: and particularly &s;hewed, that no point thereof can be without fal&s;e Glo&s;&s;es of their own convinced out of Scri|pture.</P>
<P>For example, when S. <HI>Paul</HI> affirm|eth, <HI>all &s;cripture divinely in&s;pired, to be profitable to teach, to correct, to in&s;truct in ju&s;tice, that the man of God may be perfect.</HI> He doth not &s;ay, as our Adver&s;aires fal&s;ly gather from this place, that &s;cri|pture alone can make him perfect in
<PB N="71" REF="39"> the knowledge of heavenly truth: for that revealed and unwritten doctrines may &s;erve likewi&s;e to increa&s;e this knowledge in him; as when S. <HI>Paul</HI> willed the <HI>Galatians</HI> to &s;tick firmly to <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 1.</NOTE> his doctrine, by writing or preaching delivered unto them; and exhorted the <HI>The&s;&s;alonians</HI> to keep tho&s;e traditi|ons, which either by his Epi&s;tles, or by <NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;&s;. 2.</NOTE> &s;peech they had received from him, pra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ing the <HI>Corinthians</HI> for ob&s;erving &s;uch precepts as he had given unto them: When al&s;o again&s;t Apo&s;tolical and certain tradition they urged tho&s;e texts, wherein our Saviour reprehen|ded Phari&s;aical and wicked doctrines, teaching plainly ob&s;ervances again&s;t the Law of God; &s;ometimes al&s;o vain things and of no moment; their ar|guments are meer fopperies, and prove nothing again&s;t unwritten doctrines, &s;uch as are the Creed of the Apo&s;tl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s, the tran&s;lation of the Jewi&s;h Sabbath into our Sunday, the Fea&s;ts of <HI>Ea&s;ter,</HI> and <HI>Penteco&s;t</HI> antiently ob&s;erved, not for the celebration of Jewi&s;h but Chri|&s;tian my&s;teries, and many other Fea&s;ts and Fa&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">, kept in the Church from A|po&s;tolical
<PB N="72" REF="40"> tradition; the Bapti&s;m of Children, the matters and forms of Sacraments; and many other do|ctrines and practices of faith, not ex|pre&s;&s;ed in Scripture.</P>
<P>Where in the mean time, I will ask tho&s;e m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n, is it either plainly expre&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d or by clear con&s;equencies gathe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">abl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> from Scripture; that the Commande|ments of God are impo&s;&s;ible to be ob|&s;erved, that men have no free will to do good or evill, that the ju&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t men do mortally offend in their be&s;t acti|ons, that there is no inherent ju&s;tice or &s;anctification in us by heavenly graces communicated unto &s;oules clean&s;ed from &s;in, but that all are holy by Chri&s;ts ju&s;tice alone apprehended by faith, and imputed only unto them: that each faithfull man is by an Act of faith to believe, that he &s;hall be &s;aved; no le&s;&s;e &s;urely than Chri&s;t him&s;elf; that Chri&s;t dyed for none but the E|lect, and that others were to have no &s;hare in the fruit of his death and pa&s;|&s;ion for us; that Chri&s;ts body and blood are not really and corporally pre&s;ent in the Sacrament, but by &s;aith
<PB N="73" REF="40"> onely: that Sacraments of the new law are &s;ignes and &s;eals of faith onely, no graces are communicated at all to &s;uch as receive them, and many &s;uch Prote&s;tants Tenents b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ides, which have no true ground at all in Scri|pture for them.</P>
<P>And in this pretence of gathering, and proving the faith out of &s;cri|ptures onely, they imitate many an|ci<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nt Hereticks before them: So <HI>Ma|ximus</HI> the <HI>Arian,</HI> as S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> in his fir&s;t <NOTE PLACE="marg">In principio.</NOTE> book again&s;t him recounteth, reject|eth the word <HI>Homou&s;ion,</HI> becau&s;e it was not expre&s;&s;ed in Scripture; and &s;o did <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 174.</NOTE> <HI>Pa&s;centius,</HI> (as the &s;ame father recoun|teth) and as S. <HI>Gregory Nazi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nzen</HI> re|lateth of <HI>Eunomius,</HI> he was wont to ask his Chri&s;tian Adver&s;aries, why they did name a God, meaning the Holy Gho&s;t, not mentioned for &s;uch in &s;cri|pture, making &s;o (&s;aith he) the &s;acred
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 3.</NOTE> writings of God, a cloak of their im|piety. <HI>Aca&s;ius</HI> the <HI>Arian,</HI> in the Coun|cel of <HI>Selevica,</HI> u&s;ed the &s;ame words; and &s;o did <HI>Eutiches</HI> in the Councel of <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> under <HI>Flavianus,</HI> asking the Fathers therein a&s;&s;embled, in what
<PB N="74" REF="41"> &s;cripture they found expre&s;&s;ed, that <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 6.</NOTE> Chri&s;t had two Natures conjoyned in his Per&s;on; neither could he be drawn from tho&s;e words commonly u&s;ed by Prote&s;tants; I follow onely the &s;cri|ptures, and regard not the Fathers Ex|po&s;ition <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de na|tura de gra|tia cap. 39.</NOTE> of them. The <HI>Pelagians</HI> al&s;o (as S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> cit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">th their words) made profe&s;&s;ion to believe no more than <NOTE PLACE="marg">Anatheti&s;|ma 7.</NOTE> what they read in Scripture: So did the <HI>Iconomachi,</HI> or Image-breakers in the &s;econd Councel of <HI>Nice;</HI> and the <HI>Albigen&s;es</HI> &s;aid the &s;ame to S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hom. 66. in Cant.</NOTE> as him&s;elf recounteth. So did the <HI>Wic|life&s;ts,</HI> as <HI>Walden&s;is</HI> citeth their words, and proveth it &s;till to have been the cu|&s;tome of Hereticks, to cloak their No|velties under a &s;pecious and fraudu|lent pretence of imbracing onely the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. de doctrina fi|dei cap. 9.</NOTE> Scriptures by them&s;elves fal&s;ly ex|pounded; which is (as there he &s;aith) to follow their own judgments, and not Scripture; con&s;i&s;ting (as S. <HI>Hie|rome</HI> told the <HI>Luciferans</HI>) not in the words, but in the true meaning of them: an adulterated &s;en&s;e being no le&s;&s;e harmfull, than a forged letter to be imbraced.</P>
<PB N="75" REF="41">
<P>So as this learned Author deman|ded well of <HI>Wicklif, Why</HI> &s;aid he, <HI>&s;hould we believe your lately devi&s;ed Interpreta|tions of Scripture to prove your Here&s;ies, more than you believe all the ancient Fa|thers and Doctors of Chri&s;ts Church in all places of the world and ages before you?</HI> for if you tell us that they were men and might erre; I may an&s;wer, that you are not Angels, or Doctors &s;ent from heaven; that Chri&s;tians now after 1300 years &s;hould learn a new Faith and Expo&s;ition of &s;cripture from you; wherein al&s;o you differ no le&s;&s;e among your &s;elves than you have done from all antiquity before you; as having no certain rule of Faith to determine differences between you. And tho&s;e very Scriptures, out of which you pre|tend to gather your Faith wholy, nei|ther are, nor can be but by the Chur|ches te&s;timony certainly notified unto you: for as they cannot give te&s;timo|ny unto them&s;elves, nor any one part to the re&s;t; &s;o as <HI>Calvins</HI> inward light pretended to be given unto all faith|full per&s;ons, for the knowledge of them, is a meer fancy, as el&s;where I have proved.</P>
<PB N="76" REF="42">
<P>And whereas Prote&s;tants affirm, that we have in our Church many vain and unprofitable traditions; yea, repugnant unto Scripture; yet in their authority equalled by us unto them, they do herein affirm many un|truths together; for that with us all Traditions are not equal in their au|thority; and &s;uch as are truly Apo|&s;tolical, and have had their origine from the Apo&s;tles, are we &s;ay of no le&s;&s;e authority, as the Church retain|eth a memory &s;till of them, than if they had been by their fir&s;t Authors writ|ten: and we have certain rules where|by they come to be known infallibly by us The fir&s;t is taught by S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> in the&s;e words, that point or practice <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 4. con|tra Donat.</NOTE> of faith, not taught in Scripture, nor decreed in Councels, yet ever retained by the Church, is rightly believed to have from Apo&s;tolical authority de|&s;cended to us; &s;uch is the Bapti&s;m of Children, &amp;<HI>c.</HI> The &s;econd Rule is this, if any point of faith hath been unani|mou&s;ly taught by the holy Fathers, and yet not mentioned in Scripture; it may be &s;ecurely imbraced as an A|po&s;tolical
<PB N="77" REF="42"> tradition: &s;uch is the per|petual Virginity of the mother of God, the number of the Go&s;pels, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The third Rule is, if any thing hath been practiced, and believed &s;till in the Church, which could not be at fir&s;t by humane authority introduced, and e&s;tabli&s;hed, it is to be thought to have come from the Apo&s;tles; &s;uch are the matters and form<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> of Sacraments, their number, and the proper effects of them, prayer for the dead, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The &s;igne of the Cro&s;&s;e u&s;ed in Bapti&s;me, and other &s;uch religious cu&s;toms, which if as things of light moment, they &s;hould come to be neglected (&s;aith S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI>) and not regarded, the
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Spi|ritu Sancto.</NOTE> belief and practice of the Church in points of greater moment would tot|ter al&s;o, and become weakened in their authority; &s;ithence the Go&s;pels them|&s;elves are not more certainly, than by the Churches tradition, and authori|ty confirmed unto us. <HI>Tertullian</HI> with S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> teacheth &s;uch traditions, and
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de pu|dicitia &amp; de coronam clitis.</NOTE> &s;o doth S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> S. <HI>Au&s;tin,</HI> and ma|ny other chief Fathers, even &s;uch as lived with, or neer the Apo&s;tles them|&s;elves,
<PB N="78" REF="43"> as S. <HI>Dennis,</HI> S. <HI>Ignatius,</HI> S. <HI>Irenae|us,</HI> S. <HI>Ju&s;tin Martyr, Origen,</HI> and S. <HI>Cy|prian,</HI> blamed therefore by the <HI>Calvi|ni&s;ts</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. cent. cap. 4. 3. cent. c. 4.</NOTE> for this doctrine.</P>
<P><HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> al&s;o affirmeth <HI>Hege&s;ippus</HI> a di&s;ciple of the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves, to have wrote five Books in a &s;imple &s;tile, but with great &s;incerity of &s;uch traditions, as had been left to the Church by them again&s;t <HI>Calvins</HI> impi|ety, peremptorily after his manner, and proudly condemning for &s;acrile|gious and &s;uper&s;titious, all external rites u&s;ed in the Service of God, and not expre&s;&s;ed in Scripture. Yet we finde that him&s;elf in the order of his <HI>Genevian</HI> Congregation, hath many new rites and ordinations of his own appointment, no where mentioned in Scripture: pre&s;uming &s;o of a power in him&s;elf, above the Apo&s;tles them|&s;elves to ordain them, for that his mu&s;t be imbraced, and theirs condem|ned, and deemed &s;acrilegious, albeit <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 3. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">4.</NOTE> never &s;o authentically te&s;tified unto us. Perchance he had never read, or little regarded that important que&s;ti|on, which antient <HI>Irenaeus</HI> propo&s;ed a|bout
<PB N="79" REF="43"> Traditions, and verities of faith believed by all good Chri&s;tians, yet not expre&s;&s;ed in Scripture. What (&s;aith he) if the Apo&s;tles had left no Scriptures at all behinde them, ought we not to have followed the order of Tradition, which they left unto tho&s;e Bi&s;hops, unto whom they recommen|ded tho&s;e Churches, which had been founded by them? and to &s;peak no more hereof, even now in our time, we know many barbarous Nations, to have received by their preaching, the faith of Chri&s;t, and to per&s;evere holily therein, flying and dete&s;ting all Here|&s;ies contrary in any &s;ort unto the &s;ame, who as wholy unlearned never had any Scriptures at all, but onely &s;tick unto the Traditions, which were at fir&s;t by the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves deli|vered unto them.</P>
<P>And if &s;uch Traditions, as are now in our Churches retained, and ob&s;er|ved for the order of divine Service, and decency therein to be u&s;ed, &s;hould be accounted &s;acrilegious and abomi|nably &s;uper&s;titious, as <HI>Calvin</HI> would have them. The u&s;e for example of &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|cred
<PB N="80" REF="44"> Ve&s;tments, the &s;igne of the Cro&s;&s;e in Bapti&s;me, Prayers &s;aid at the burial of the dead, bowing at the name of Je&s;us, and other like Ceremonies; that admonition of S. <HI>Pauls</HI> would come to be neglected, charging the <HI>Corinthians</HI> to do all things hone&s;tly, or in a &s;eem|ly <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.</NOTE> manner, and according to order in the Church, as we can prove from a&s;|&s;ured te&s;timonies the Primitive Chri|&s;tians did, during the fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t hundred years after Chri&s;t in their publick &s;i|naxes, or meeings at divine Service, and Sacraments together recounted by S. <HI>Dennis</HI> of <HI>Areopagita</HI> in his <HI>Eccle&s;i|a&s;ticall Hierarchy</HI> in the 2 or 3 chapters together, by S. <HI>Ju&s;tin Martyr</HI> in his &s;e|cond Apology for Chri&s;tians to <HI>Anto|nius Pius</HI> the Emperour, and by S. <HI>Igna|tius</HI> in&s;inuated plainly enough in ma|ny places of his Epi&s;tles, by <HI>Tertullian</HI> al&s;o in his book <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> pudicitia,</HI> and other fathers living in or near unto the age of the Apo&s;tles.</P>
<P>And &s;uch Ceremonies as are by <HI>Cal|vin</HI> &s;o rejected, and condemned in the publick order of divine Service, are thus by S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> approved in &s;uch
<PB N="81" REF="44"> things as are not determined in Scri|pture, the cu&s;toms of Gods Church,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 87. ad Ca&s;ulanum.</NOTE> and antient Ordinations, are to be maintained and ob&s;erved as laws pre|&s;cribed unto us. Neither doth <HI>Calvins</HI> denial of them to be lawfull, becau&s;e they are not expre&s;&s;ed in Scripture, derogate any thing at all from the an|tiently allowed authority of them; and the want of them in his reformed or rather deformed Conventicles is a notable blemi&s;h unto them: in&s;o|much as a great Lord of <HI>France,</HI> behol|ding another H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">gonet Lord his friend, after a Pompous Funeral, caft like a Dog into the Earth, by two ordinary labouring men, without any Prayer or Ceremony u&s;ed in the Burial of him, &s;ware that <HI>Calvins</HI> Religion was like a bald mans head without any hair upon it; and another Lord there pre&s;ent &s;aid merrily in an&s;wer of him, not without an Oath, that it was a Religion (if you will call it &s;o) fitter for Beggers than Gentlemen.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="5" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="82" REF="45">
<HEAD>The fifth Controver&s;ie, <HI>Of Prote&s;tancy begun here in</HI> Eng|land <HI>under Queen</HI> Elizabeth.</HEAD>
<P>ANd &s;ince continued untill now, when Puritani&s;m by covert means at home, and help of Scotti&s;h neigh|bours abroad, came to overtop it, and made an open way to the de&s;truction of all &s;etled, and con&s;tant profe&s;&s;ions of Faith, by the power of &s;uch as call them&s;elves Independents, as depend|ing on none but them&s;elves in the choice of their Religion. Queen <HI>Eli|zabeth</HI> intended not this freedome of Sectaries now licen&s;ed unto them; nor did &s;he of her &s;elf &s;o di&s;like Cath<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|like Religion, but that &s;he could have been contented to have continued the &s;ame in her kingdome, if the Flaw of her Mothers marriage, contrary to the Popes order, and the act of her own father excluding her from the Crown, had not cau&s;ed King <HI>Henry</HI> the &s;econd
<PB N="83" REF="45"> of <HI>France,</HI> who&s;e elde&s;t &s;onne <HI>Francis</HI> had newly then married <HI>Mary</HI> Queen of <HI>Scotland,</HI> and next heir to the Crown of <HI>Engand</HI> to proclaim her a Ba&s;tard, and re&s;olved to maintain the right of his Daughter in law again&s;t her.</P>
<P>By which unfortunate occa&s;ion her ears were opened unto bad Councel|lors then about her, and for their own ends bu&s;ily per&s;wading her, that if the Popes power were &s;till obeyed, and Catholick Religion continued among her Subjects, &s;he could not have any certain hope of enjoying her Crown quietly: and upon this ground chief|ly &s;he was moved to change the an|cient Religion of her Kingdom, which could not be done, but in Parliament; of which I have &s;een a daily Relation gotten from Mr. <HI>Camden</HI> by a Prote|&s;tant Bi&s;hop, and lent by him for &s;ome daies unto me.</P>
<P>So as out of the &s;ame, I can truly affirm, that &s;uch Burge&s;&s;es and Knights were cunningly packed out of every Shire and Burrow-town in the lower Hou&s;e; as for their inc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ination to Prote&s;tant Religion, or other private
<PB N="84" REF="46"> re&s;pects, would ea&s;ily conform them|&s;elves to the Queens intentions. And among&s;t the Lords in the highe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Hou&s;e many great ones, loth to be long ab|&s;ent from their Country Sports, or by their fir&s;t Acts to di&s;ta&s;te the young Queen, ab&s;ented them&s;elves from Par|liament, and gave their Proxies to the old Earl of <HI>Arundell,</HI> a known Catho|lick, and the Duke of <HI>Norfol<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"></HI> his Son in law; not doubting but that they would do all things to maintain their Religion again&s;t all uncermining thereof. But it proved not &s;o, for the Earl put in to a vain hope of marrying the Queen, when by his age he might have been more than her father, and the Duke of <HI>Norfolk</HI> being neither &s;ound in Religion, and for other ends of his own not &s;incere in his proceed|ings; prevailed by their many Pro|xi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s, to exclude the Bi&s;hops from &s;it|ting in Parliament, all holy and lear|ned men able to have turned the bu|&s;ine&s;&s;e as they li&s;ted; after which Vote pa&s;&s;ed, the Queens party in both hou|&s;es &s;till prevailed; &s;o as not long af|ter new Bi&s;hops in place of the old
<PB N="85" REF="46"> were cho&s;en, &s;ome come <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m <HI>Geneva,</HI> others out of <HI>Germany</HI> of different Re|ligions, yet contented for honour, we<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">lth, and wives to joyn in any pro|fe&s;&s;ion: Seven of them were Apo&s;tata Monks and Friars, and mo&s;t of the re&s;t meer Lay-men, having neither Ordi|nation nor Juri&s;diction, be&s;ides that which the Queen and Parliament could give them: commonly there|fore called the Parliament Bi&s;hops, and Patent Prelates.</P>
<P>I know they have tried many waies and fained an old Record to prove their ordination from Catholick Bi|&s;hops; but it is fal&s;e, as I have recei|ved from two certain witne&s;&s;es; the former of them was Doctor <HI>Darbi|&s;hire,</HI> then Dean of S. of <HI>Pauls,</HI> and Ne|phew to Doctor <HI>Bo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ner</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Lon|don,</HI> who almo&s;t &s;ixty years &s;ince lived at <HI>Meu&s;e Pont,</HI> then a holy religious man very aged, but perfect in &s;en&s;e and memory; who, &s;peaking what he knew affirmed to my &s;elf and another with me, that like good fellows they made them&s;elves Bi&s;hops at an Inn, becau&s;e they could <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">t no true Bi&s;hops to con|&s;ecrate
<PB N="86" REF="47"> them. My other witne&s;&s;e was a Gentleman of known worth and credit, dead not many years &s;ince, who&s;e Father a chief Judge of this Kingdome, vi&s;iting Archbi&s;hop <HI>Heath</HI> permitted, by Queen <HI>Elizabeth</HI> his god|childe, to live in <HI>Surrey</HI> at the Par&s;on|age Hou&s;e of <HI>Cobham,</HI> &s;aw a letter &s;ent from Bi&s;hop <HI>Bonner</HI> out of the <HI>Mar&s;hal|&s;ey</HI> by one of his Chaplains, to the Archbi&s;hop, read while&s;t they &s;ate at Dinner together, wherein he merrily related the manner how the&s;e new Bi&s;hops (becau&s;e he had di&s;&s;waded <HI>Oglethorpe</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Carlile</HI> from doing it in his Dioce&s;&s;e) ordained one ano|ther at an Inn, where they met toge|ther. And while&s;t others laughed at this new manner of con&s;ecrating Bi|&s;hops; the Archbi&s;hop him&s;elf grave|ly, and not without tears expre&s;&s;ed his grief, to &s;ee &s;uch a ragged compa|ny of men come poor out of Forraign parts, and appointed to &s;ucceed the old Clergie in rich Deanries, Preben|daries and Canons places: who had &s;uch ill luck in meeting with di&s;hone&s;t Wives, as an Ordination was put out
<PB N="87" REF="47"> by the Queen and Parliament, That no woman &s;hould for a wife be com|mended to any Mini&s;ter without her hone&s;ty could be te&s;tified withall &s;uf|ficiently unto him: and many, who had been Clergie men before, were ur|ged either to take Wives, or loo&s;e their Benefices, as many were conten|to do, and follow the&s;e Bi&s;hops ex|amples.</P>
<P>The Tenents of Faith imbraced by the Queen and Parliament were <HI>Cal|vinian</HI> Doctrines, but the form of Church Government was &s;eemingly Catholick, and the Title of Lord was to the new Bi&s;hops con&s;tantly to be continued, and all other Officers un|der them, as Deans <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And when &s;ome for their own ends would have had the new Bi&s;hops put to pen&s;ions, the Queen would not hear of it, as af|fecting the ancient &s;plendour in her new Clergy. And albeit Altars were pulled down, and in place of the Ma&s;&s;e, a Book of Common Prayer ordained; yet the Bi&s;hops were to keep their ha|bits, and the Mini&s;ters appointed to u&s;e Caps and Surplices, for Decencies
<PB N="88" REF="48"> &s;ake in time of Service, much di&s;liked afterwards by Puritans at home, and Prote&s;tants abroad: So that &s;uch profe&s;&s;ors are called u&s;ually by them <HI>Calvino-papi&s;te:</HI> Calvinian Papi&s;ts, Sama|ritans, half Jews and half Gentiles.</P>
<P>And the Queen her &s;elf was for &s;uch eccle&s;ia&s;tical authority a&s;&s;umed by her, &s;o much di&s;liked abroad, as a chief Prote&s;tant Doctor wrote thus to the Elector <HI>Brandeburg</HI> of her; Elizabeth <HI>Queen of</HI> England, <HI>hath with a temerity never before heard of, made her &s;elf</HI> Papi&s;|&s;am, <HI>a &s;he Pope in all Churches in her king|dome: And all her Subiects mu&s;t under great Penalties &s;wear it to be &s;o.</HI> And had &s;he not been for her power u&s;efull in tho&s;e times to the Hereticks of <HI>France, Scotland,</HI> and the Low-Countries in Rebellion again&s;t their Sovereigns, &s;he had been more than &s;he was cried out again&s;t by them.</P>
<P>So as it is evident, that in this change of Religion, &s;ecular policy chiefly prevailed to the perpetual di&s;|grace, and &s;hame of &s;uch as &s;ince have imbraced it.</P>
<PB N="89" REF="48">
<P>And a mixture was made therein of many Religions, as the Queen and her bad Councellors li&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d, wholy diffe|rent from any other Prote&s;tant Refor|m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tions; d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">d therefore extremely by all &s;everal Profe&s;&s;ors of them; yet &s;o by prejudice of opinion, education, and cu&s;tome imbraced by many in their affection at lea&s;t thereunto; al|beit the u&s;e thereof be in the&s;e times debarred unto them, as with tho&s;e fooli&s;h Id<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">laters they &s;till cry out, that their gods are taken from them: &s;ome affecting it the more, becau&s;e it is for|bidden unto them; others al&s;o be|cau&s;e the <HI>Elizabethian</HI> Church Service and Government carried a greater de|cency, and outward &s;hew of Religion with it, than that which among&s;t la|ter Sectaries is now u&s;ed, in a Song and a Sermon onely ended, without any &s;et form of praying together, not barer of ceremony than void of devo|tion; and many times in <HI>ex tempore</HI> praying and preaching wholly ridi|culous, like it &s;o much as they cannot be drawn from it, even now when it is taken from them by a prevailing
<PB N="90" REF="49"> power, unexpectedly rai&s;ed to depre&s;&s;e Prote&s;tants, and Puritans together, to end al&s;o Bi&s;hops and Bi&s;hopricks with them.</P>
<P>In&s;omuch as in the&s;e mi&s;erable times, I deem it to be a needfull and high point of Chri&s;tian wi&s;dome, for <NOTE PLACE="marg">Dialogo ul|timo contra Luci<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ria|nos.</NOTE> each one, according to S. <HI>Hieroms</HI> rule, to leave all new Sects, and betake them|&s;elves to that Church, which hath un|alteredly continued one and the &s;ame profe&s;&s;ion of faith, &s;ince the Apo&s;tles time; while&s;t Novili&s;ts have in vain laboured to change it, and are come them&s;elves to nothing: &s;o as wi&s;e men will in &s;ucceeding ages with grief and compa&s;&s;ion, conclude and deplore the eternal damnation of &s;uch, as have li|ved and died in the profe&s;&s;ion of them.</P>
<P>Was there ever (for example) any He|re&s;ie &s;ince Chri&s;ts time, &s;o powerfully broach'd &amp; &s;ubtly defended, &s;o la&s;ting|ly continued, as the <HI>Arian</HI> Here&s;ie for a long time together; &amp; in &s;o many parts of the world by whole Countries, and Nations imbraced with &s;uch a &s;hew of Scriptures making for it, and other arguments produced by learned men
<PB N="91" REF="49"> to prove it; yet we &s;ee now the &s;ame by all good Chri&s;tians worthily hated and dete&s;ted, as all modern Sects of Pro|te&s;tants will after an age or two come to be abhorred, and accounted to have been mi&s;erable Seductions of Souls, and damnable profe&s;&s;ions of different beliefs before in the world not &s;o much as heard of, time and truth pre|vailing to di&s;cover the fal&s;hood of them.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="6" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="92" REF="50">
<HEAD>The &s;ixth Controver&s;ie. <HI>Of the Holy Euchari&s;t.</HI></HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>1. PART.</HEAD>
<Q>Concerning our Saviours reall Pre&s;ence therein.</Q>
<P>PL<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">inly imported in the&s;e words, when of br<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ad ble&s;&s;ed in his la&s;t Supper, he &s;aid, <HI>this is my body,</HI> &amp;c. and of Wine, <HI>this my <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">loud of the new Te&s;ta|ment, which &s;hall be &s;hed for many in remi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ion of Sinnes,</HI> ever literally un|der&s;tood, and believed (&s;aith <HI>Luther</HI>) <NOTE PLACE="marg">L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">b. de in|terpret. v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">r|borum Cae|nae.</NOTE> by Chri&s;tian Pa&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">urs and People, &s;ince the Apo&s;tles, calling his S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">cra|mentari<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n Adver&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ries Corrupt<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rs of Chri&s;ts plain words, and mu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">derers of &s;ouls by new and fal&s;e interpreta|tions of them: and I would have (&s;aith he) the&s;e brave men, who from Sen&s;e and Rea&s;on chiefly im<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ugn the literal under&s;tanding of them, to tell me
<PB N="39" REF="50"> why God by his infinite and uncon|ceiveable pow<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">r cannot make the &s;ame body to be at once in many places; &s;i|thence our Saviours r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">peated and ex|pre&s;&s;e promi&s;es of giving us his fl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;h to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">at, and his bloud to drink plain|ly require this miracle to b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> done by him for the fulfilling <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">f th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m. Not di&s;tributed by parts, and in their proper formes, as the Carphar|nites carnal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y and gro&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ly un|der&s;tand them; but Sacramentally, and hiddenly under the forms of Bread <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd wine communicat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d unto us. In which &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n&s;e St. <HI>Paul</HI> asked of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Corinthians, <HI>the Chal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ice of bene|diction which we ble<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">e, is i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> not the com|munication of Chri&s;ts bl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ud? and the Bread which we break, is it not the parti|cipation</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ep. 1. c. 10.</NOTE> <HI>of our Lords body?</HI> to wit under the forms of B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ead and Wine, wont t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> be con&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">crat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d by the Apo&s;tles them|&s;elves, and di&s;tributed to the People, according to St. <HI>Ju&s;tins</HI> words: where &s;peaking of the Primitive Chri&s;tians, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apologia 2. ad Antoni|um.</NOTE> in their Sinax<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s, and publick meet|ings, we receive not in them (&s;aith he) common Bread and Wine, but we be|lieve
<PB N="94" REF="51"> them to be the Fle&s;h and bloud of our incarnat Lord. For the Bread
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Serm de Coena.</NOTE> (&s;aith St. <HI>Cyprian</HI>) which our Lord gave unto his di&s;ciples, was not in &s;hew, but in the nature thereof chan|ged, &amp; made fle&s;h by the omnipotency of Chri&s;ts words, from whom we are warranted to drink bloud by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> in his law &s;o &s;trictly forbidden. And St. <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Catech.</HI> 1, 3, &amp; 4.</NOTE> <HI>Cyrill</HI> having affirmed the &s;ame Do|ctrine, addeth, albeit &s;en&s;e &s;ugge&s;teth the contrary unto thee, yet let faith confirm thee, that Bread and Wine, after the invocation of the ble&s;&s;ed Trinity are made the Body and Bloud of Chri&s;t; and he who refu&s;eth to be|lieve <NOTE PLACE="marg">In ancorato</NOTE> &s;o of them (&s;aith <HI>Epiphanius</HI>) lo&s;eth grace and &s;alvation.</P>
<P>St. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> likewi&s;e thus plainly <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib. 4. de Sacramen|tis. c.</HI> 4, &amp; 5.</NOTE> delivereth the &s;ame Doctrine; Bread di&s;tributed at the Altar is Bread before Con&s;ecration, but after Con&s;ecrati|on of Bread, is made the Fle&s;h of Chri&s;t, and let us certainly believe it. But how can that which was Bread be made &s;o? by Con&s;ecration, by what words then, and by who&s;e, is Con|&s;ecration made? by tho&s;e words of
<PB N="95" REF="51"> our Lord Je&s;us, <HI>this is my body,</HI> &amp;c. for when the venerable Sacrament is to be made, the Prie&s;t u&s;eth not his own words, but the words of Chri&s;t, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and St. <HI>Hierome</HI> to the &s;ame purpo&s;e, that Bread (&s;aith he) which our Lord brake and gave to his Di&s;ciples, was, as <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">0. quae e&s;t ad Hedibiam.</NOTE> we believe, his own fle&s;h; and the Challice which he ble&s;&s;ed was his Bloud: neither is it man now that con&s;ecrateth the Bread and Wine laid on the Altar, and maketh them the Bo|dy <NOTE PLACE="marg">Homil. de proditione, Judae.</NOTE> and Bloud of Chri&s;t, but him&s;elf who was crucified for us. (Saith St. <HI>Chri&s;o&s;tome</HI>) the words are pronounced by the mouth of the Prie&s;t; but the Elements are con&s;ecrated by the power of Chri&s;ts words, and as the &s;peech of God, <HI>increa&s;e and multiply,</HI> once pronounced, hath force &s;till to effect what he intended by them; &s;o have Chri&s;ts words, <HI>this is my body,</HI> &s;till power at all Tables of the Church to perfect the Sacrifice.</P>
<P>He (&s;aith <HI>Gaudentius</HI>) who de&s;cend|ed <NOTE PLACE="marg">In cap. 2. Exodi.</NOTE> from heaven, &s;aid, <HI>the Bread which I will give &s;hall be my Fle&s;h,</HI> who being Lord, and Creator of all things, a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">
<PB N="96" REF="52"> he produceth Corn from the earth to make Bread, &s;o both he can, and pro|mi&s;ed of Bread to make his Body. And he who of Water made Wine, can of Wine make his Bloud, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> think not therefore that to be earthly which is heavenly. Truth cannot lye, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> St. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Orat. ma|gna Cate|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hetica.</NOTE> <HI>Gregory Ni&s;&s;en</HI> likewi&s;e biddeth us to con&s;ider; how Chri&s;ts Body, received in many places, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd by thou&s;ands to|gether, can wholly and intirely be communicated <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ch one of them: wherefore I do rightly believe, Bread by Gods word to be tran&s;muted, or wholly changed into th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Body of Chri&s;t, and not to remain both toge|ther in the Sacrament; as <HI>Luther</HI> even <NOTE PLACE="marg">Harmoni<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> in cap. 26. Matth.</NOTE> in <HI>Calvins</HI> opinion ab&s;urdly affirmed. And indeed all the Authorities of an|cient Fathers hitherto alledged by me, do plainly prove a totall change of Bread into the body; and of Wine in|to the bloud of our Saviour, fitly cal|led in the great Laterane counc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">l <HI>Tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation.</HI></P>
<P>And that in the di&s;tinct Con&s;e|crations of our Saviours Body and Bloud at the Altar; under the
<PB N="97" REF="52"> forms of Bread and Wine is celebra|ted, his mi&s;terious Sacrifice, accord|ing to the order of <HI>Melchi&s;edech,</HI> and foretold by <HI>Malachy</HI> the Prop<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">et, is &s;o plainly and frequently te&s;tified by Anciente&s;t and Chiefe&s;t Fathers of Chri&s;ts Church, as when we cite the Te&s;timonies, even of &s;uch as lived <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de vera reformatio|ne Eccle&s;iae,</NOTE> with the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves, <HI>Calvin</HI> pa&s;&s;eth on us this mild and mode&s;t cen&s;ure, <HI>Solemne e&s;t i&s;tis nebulonibus, &amp;c.</HI> It is the cu&s;tome of the&s;e knaves, to rake up out of the ancient Fathers, what&s;oever hath been written erroni|ou&s;ly, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">al&s;ly by them: when there|fore they object <HI>Malachies</HI> foretelling a continuall Sacrifice, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> We an|&s;wer (&s;aith he) that the&s;e Fathers al|&s;o taught Chri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">s bodily pre&s;ence in the Sacrament; but &s;o ridiculou&s;ly as Rea&s;on and Truth inforce us to leave them. Could a Devil in human<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;hape have more proudly or contemptu|ou&s;ly cen&s;ured St. <HI>Irenaeus,</HI> St. <HI>Ju&s;tin,</HI> St. <HI>Cyprian,</HI> St. <HI>Alhana&s;ius,</HI> St. <HI>Chry|&s;o&s;tom,</HI> St. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> St. <HI>Hilary,</HI> St. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine,</HI> and many others, chief lights of Chri&s;ts Church in their time, for
<PB N="98" REF="53"> learning and Sanctity highly re|nowned.</P>
<P>And el&s;where I &s;ee (&s;aith he) the Fa|thers, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 4. In|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">it. cap. 28. Sect. 11.</NOTE> even the anciente&s;t and chiefe&s;t among&s;t them, to have wre&s;ted the me|mory of Chri&s;ts &s;acrifice on the Cro&s;&s;e, and to have acknowledged therein the face of a renewed oblati|on, more than was agreeable to the in|&s;titution thereof; imitating &s;o the Jewi&s;h manner of &s;acrificing, more than Chri&s;t ordained, or the Go&s;pel permitted. as if he alone knew better than all ancient Doctors before him, what Chri&s;t ordained in his la&s;t Sup|p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">r, even &s;uch as had known the A|po&s;tles them&s;elves, or conver&s;ed with &s;ome of their chiefe&s;t Di&s;ciples, in his Commentary al&s;o on St. <HI>Pauls</HI> Ep. to <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 6. v. 9.</NOTE> the <HI>Hebrews,</HI> he hath the&s;e words, <HI>I can|not but wonder to &s;ee the ancient Fathers &s;o preoccupated with the opinion of Chri&s;ts corporall Pre&s;ence in the Sacrament;</HI> but a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> one errour draweth on another, when they had forged a &s;acrifice in the Lords Supper, and adulterated there|by the &s;am<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">, they laboured to gather colour<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ble Arguments, whereby they
<PB N="99" REF="53"> might &s;eem to maintain their errour. So as mentioning no further his im|pudent and unchri&s;tian boldne&s;&s;e in accu&s;ing &s;o many glorious Saints, now raigning with Chri&s;t in Heaven, of Judai&s;me, Idolatry and Super&s;titi|on practi&s;ed by them&s;elves, and taught to others, I will accept here what he &s;o plainly confe&s;&s;eth, that all the an|ciente&s;t and chiefe&s;t Fathers of Chri&s;ts Church, held the reall pre&s;ence of our Saviour in the Euchari&s;t, and ac|knowledged a true &s;acrifice in the dai|ly Con&s;ecration thereof celebrated &s;till by us, after their example, and our Saviours in&s;titution; mentioned al&s;o by St. <HI>Paul,</HI> ble&s;&s;ing Bread and <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.</NOTE> Wine, and di&s;tributing them as the Body and Bloud of our Lord, accor|ding to S. <HI>Irenaeus</HI> his words, our Lord, &s;aying of Bread, <HI>this is my Body,</HI> and <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 4. c. 32.</NOTE> confe&s;&s;ing the Challice, which he con|&s;ecrated to be his bloud, taught us a new oblation of the new Te&s;tament, which the Church, having received it from the Apo&s;tles, offereth to God throughout the whole world, as <HI>Ma|lachy</HI> had foretold, &amp;<HI>c.</HI></P>
<PB N="100" REF="54">
<P>And not to &s;peak of tho&s;e ancient Li|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">urgies extant in Greek and Latine under divers Apo&s;tles names, and pro|ved to have been truly theirs, by many grave and learned Authors; one<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y be|cau&s;e Prote&s;tants are not plea&s;ed for &s;uch to accept them: I will boldly here affirm, that no point or practice of faith can be more faithfully made known and te&s;tified by all manners unto us, and even in Prote&s;tant Au|thors them&s;elves more plainly confe&s;|&s;ed, than that this great and onely &s;acrifice of Chri&s;tians, hath &s;till in all ages &s;ince Chri&s;t, even untill this very time, both in our We&s;tern, and tho&s;e Ea&s;tern Churches of <HI>Greece, Syria, Ar|menia, E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ypt,</HI> and <HI>India</HI> it &s;elf been ce|lebrated: &s;o as yearly out of tho&s;e and other parts of the world, Chri|&s;tians come with their Prie&s;ts unto Je|ru&s;alem, many thou&s;ands of them to|gether, having no other publick &s;er|vice of God, but the celebration of this &s;acrifice u&s;ed among&s;t them, never but in their fir&s;t Apo&s;to|licall Conver&s;ions taught unto them, and &s;ince &s;till retained by them.
<PB N="101" REF="54"> And albeit Ne&s;tori&s;me, be&s;ides other ancient and condemned here&s;ies, have crept in lamentably among&s;t them; yet in a Catholick belief of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ur Savi|ours pre&s;ence in the Sacrament, and &s;acrifice of the Ma&s;&s;e ordained by him, there is no di&s;agreement at all be|tween them: and this concord of ma|ny Nations remote from each other, and void of all commerce between them&s;elves for many ages together, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|&s;cript.</NOTE> according to <HI>Tertullians</HI> rule, <HI>non error &s;ed traditio e&s;t,</HI> is no error but traditi|on &s;till continued among&s;t them.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The &s;econd Part.</HEAD>
<P>FOr proof of the Ma&s;&s;e al&s;o I could here, if <HI>Calvins</HI> former con|fe&s;&s;ion, that the anciente&s;t and chiefe&s;t Fathers acknowledged and celebrated the &s;ame, &s;aved me not that labour; heap up many pregnant te&s;timonies out of their authenticall works truly collected: that being mo&s;t true, which S. <HI>Epiphanius</HI> affirmed, that all the A|po&s;tles &s;everally pre&s;cribed the order of celebrating this &s;acrifice. And St.
<PB N="102" REF="55"> <HI>I&s;idorus lib. 2. Officiorum,</HI> telleth us that the Ma&s;&s;e u&s;ed in his time, in the&s;e We&s;tern parts of the World, was ac|cording to St. <HI>Peters</HI> Ordination, which my&s;terious and unbloudy &s;a|crifice, albeit in the Ho&s;t it &s;elf, and chief Offerer thereof it be all one with the &s;acrifice of the Cro&s;&s;e; yet is it far different in the manner and ceremonies thereof; for whereas, in that his body and bloud were painful|ly parted, and his death thereby cau|&s;ed, in this they are onely by di&s;tinct con&s;ecrations of them my&s;teriou&s;ly &s;everved.</P>
<P>So as to di&s;tingui&s;h the&s;e &s;acrifices we may fitly call that other, the &s;acri|fice of our redemption, con&s;ummated indeed fully by it, and this latter a &s;a|crifice of Religion, for that thereby the divine per&s;ons are highly honou|red and religiou&s;ly &s;erved. By that our Saviour merited all graces for us, and by this other, they are applied unto us in a mo&s;t liberall and loving manner, not without a mo&s;t grate|full acknowledgement of his effu&s;ed love, and bounty exhibited in the o|ther
<PB N="103" REF="55"> unto u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. So as &s;uch a Sacrifice dignifying above mea&s;ure Chri&s;ts new Law and the Prie&s;thood thereof, well became the infinite, wi&s;dome, power, and goodne&s;&s;e of him that ordained it, ending by his painfull death on the cro&s;&s;e the Prie&s;thood of the old Law, and all Sacrifices thereof, and e&s;tabli&s;hing a new Law, and a new Prie&s;thood therein, according to the order of <HI>Melchi&s;edech,</HI> who&s;e &s;acrifice of Bread and Wine was a Type of this wherein Chri&s;ts Body and Bloud con|&s;ecrated under the forms of Bread and Wine, were fir&s;t offered by him&s;elf, when he in&s;tituted this Sacrifice, and are now &s;till, and &s;hall be to the worlds end offered by the Mini&s;try of his Prie&s;tly &s;ervants, authori&s;ed in the oblation thereof to do as he had done before them, <HI>hoc facite in meam com|memorationem,</HI> do this in remembrance of me.</P>
<P>And whereas Prote&s;tants admit this my&s;terious King of <HI>Salem,</HI> to have been a lively type of our Saviour in his per&s;on, but not in his &s;acrifice, they contradict <HI>Davids</HI> plain te&s;timo|mony
<PB N="104" REF="56"> in&s;tanced by the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Thou art a Prie&s;t for ever, according to the order of</HI> Melchi&s;edech, not of his Per&s;on onely, b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">cau&s;e a new order of Prie&s;t|hood &s;uppo&s;eth a new Sacrifice; no le&s;&s;e than a new &s;acrifice proveth a new Prie&s;thood, and by both toge|ther a change of the old Law, is by St. <HI>Paul</HI> nece&s;&s;arily inferred. For &s;aith <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad Heb. 7.</NOTE> he, <HI>the Prie&s;thood being transferred</HI> or changed, the Leviticall into that of Chri&s;t, according to the order of <HI>Mel|chi&s;edech; it was needfull al&s;o, that the Law &s;hould be tran&s;lated and changed.</HI> And tho&s;e who deny this new &s;acri|fice, deny Chri&s;ts Prie&s;thood al&s;o, both by <HI>David</HI> and St. <HI>Paul</HI> expre&s;ly averred; and le&s;&s;en thereby the force of his ar|gument, u&s;ed thereby to prove the old <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de mi&s;|&s;a A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">gu|lari.</NOTE> Law altered and changed, dreadfully making that a negative Article of their faith, which the Devil taught <HI>Luther,</HI> when the Sacrifice of the Ma&s;&s;e was by him fir&s;t denied and impugned, as him&s;elf hath particularly related&punc; the di&s;putation then pa&s;&s;ed between them, who indeed was a fit Ma&s;ter for &s;uch a Schollar; and the Le&s;&s;on which
<PB N="105" REF="56"> he learned of him was a bla&s;phemy left by a Devil, delivered unto him: alb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">it the arguments, whereby h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;ought to prove it, as <HI>Luther</HI> recount|eth them, were inde<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d far from con|cluding what the Devill &s;ought to prove by them. How much more hap|pily then had <HI>Luther</HI> ble&s;&s;ed him&s;elf from &s;uch a teacher, and retained his ancient faith of this h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ly Sacrifice, the greate&s;t, and gratefulle&s;t to God, that by him, who was wi&s;dom it &s;elf, could have been devi&s;ed: never offered (&s;aith St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI>) by the Prie&s;t at the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Sa|cerdotio.</NOTE> Altar; but Troops of Angels are invi|&s;ibly about him, ready to adore their heavenly Lord, God and man offered unto his eternall Father by him, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hom. 5. in Epiph.</NOTE> (him&s;elf having had the Grace to &s;ee them) as <HI>Nilus</HI> his Di&s;ciple recounteth of him, ordained &s;aith St. <HI>Eucherius,</HI> by the Son of God, that as he offer|ed him&s;elf once for our Redemption, he might in a my&s;terious &s;acrifice be daily offered for us, <HI>jugiterqu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> coleretur per my&s;terium, quod &s;emel offerebatur in pretium, perenni&s;que illa victim<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">viveret in memoria, uni<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">a &amp; perfecta ho&s;tia fide ae&s;ti|m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="4 letters">
<PB N="106" REF="57"> non &s;pecie corpus effecta, &amp; &s;an|guis Sacerdotis no&s;tri:</HI> as a perpetuall &s;a|crifice to make Chri&s;ts bloudy and painfull &s;acrifice, whereby we were redeemed daily to be remembred by us, and repre&s;ented unto us by Saint <HI>Dennis Areopagita</HI> in his Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 3.</NOTE> Hierarchy, and particularly declared in the whole order thereof, called by <HI>Calvin</HI> therefore, to deny the autho|rity of &s;o great a Father, a counterfeit <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hom. 34. in Evangelia.</NOTE> babling Author, albeit St. <HI>Gregory</HI> the Great, more than a thou&s;and years &s;ince, citing a Te&s;timony out of him, called him ancient and venerable Fa|ther. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hom. 2. in diver&s;os.</NOTE> <HI>Origen</HI> al&s;o long before that ci|ted him by the name of great <HI>Diony&s;i|us Areopagita:</HI> and <HI>Diony&s;ius Alexandri|mus</HI> his Schollar is affirmed by Saint
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quae&s;t. 4, cad Antio|hum. Epi&s;t. ad Car<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">lum calvum.</NOTE> <HI>Maximus,</HI> Abbot and Martyr to have written Annotations on his works. St. <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> likewi&s;e produceth his authority to prove nine orders of an|gels, called by St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom,</HI> as <HI>Ana&s;tatius Bibliothecarius</HI> te&s;tifieth, the bird of heauen. And St. <HI>John Da|ma&s;cene</HI> often citeth him under the ti|tle of <HI>Diony&s;ius,</HI> among&s;t Divines, the
<PB N="107" REF="57"> greate&s;t and holie&s;t, to omit innume|rable <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. de fi|de cap. 12. &amp; lib. 2. Titulo de Synaxi, &amp;c.</NOTE> like te&s;timonies of both ancient and latter authors.</P>
<P>This great Father then, in his Ec|cle&s;ia&s;ticall Hierarchy, mentioneth the Bi&s;hops coming unto the Altar, calling it, <HI>aram divinam:</HI> his incen&s;ing likewi&s;e thereof; his intoning the P&s;alms &s;ung by the Clergy, attend|ing him in the celebration of the &s;a|crifice, and then cau&s;ing the <HI>Catechumes</HI> to be put out of the Quire, he ma|keth an Oblation of the bread and Wine then to be ble&s;&s;ed, and con&s;ecra|ted by him; wa&s;heth his fingers at the mid&s;t of the Altar, with the Prie&s;ts kneeling by him, and after the prai&s;ing of God in his works, <HI>ea quae&s;unt divini&s;&s;ima rite perficit, &amp;c.</HI> He per|formeth, to wit in con&s;ecrating the Bread and Wine, mo&s;t divine things, under the Signes then adored by him, crying out unto Chri&s;t, <HI>tu dixi&s;ti, hoc facite in meam commemorationem</HI> thou ha&s;t bidden us to do this in remem|brance of thee, humbly acknowled|ging him&s;elf unworthy to celebrate &s;o great a Sacrifice, &amp; be&s;eeching him to
<PB N="108" REF="58"> open tho&s;e &s;acred coverings and &s;igns unto him, and &s;piritually clear his eyes, for the better under&s;tanding of him&s;elf pre&s;ent under them: which te&s;timony alone of &s;o great a Father, <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 3. Apologia 2. ad Antoni|num Impe|ratorem.</NOTE> confirmed by Saint <HI>Ju&s;tin</HI> Martyr, and repeated in all other Apo&s;tolicall Li|turgies, would be abundantly <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">uffici|ent; to prove our whole Doctrine, and belief of the holy Sacrifice of the Ma&s;&s;e, were not our Adver&s;aries ob&s;ti|nately bent to reject all &s;uch proofs, though never &s;o convincing.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="7" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="109" REF="58">
<HEAD>The &s;eventh Controver&s;ie. <HI>Of honouring Saints, and praying to them.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe Honour, which we Catholicks yield unto Saints, is not that high Honour called <HI>Latria,</HI> due unto God only, but &s;uch an inferiour honour, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gene&s;is 18. Numeri 20</NOTE> as <HI>Abraham</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> yielded to an|gels appearing unto them, which Ho|nour being infinitely inferiour to the other, given unto God him&s;elf, can|not but fal&s;ly and fooli&s;hly be called Idolatry, &s;uch as Painims yielded to their Idols, by a&s;cribing Divinity un|to them. Whereas Saints are as friends onely and Servants of God, inferiour|ly re&s;pected and reverenced by us, ac|cording to <HI>Davids</HI> words, <HI>Thy friends O Lord, are much honoured.</HI> This kind of honour was in the pure&s;t times of Chri&s;ts Church yielded to Saints, as S. <HI>Ju&s;tine</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apolog. 2. ad Anteni|num.</NOTE> witne&s;&s;eth in the&s;e words, <HI>we are call<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d</HI> (&s;aith he (<HI>athie&s;ts, becau&s;e we
<PB N="110" REF="59"> wor&s;hip not your Gods:</HI> it is true, we ac|knowledge no &s;uch Gods, but one true God alone, &amp;<HI>c.</HI> and his only Son, who came from him and taught us to &s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ve him: we reverence the whole Ar|my of his angels, and ble&s;&s;ed Spirits of the Prophets, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> which honour yield|ed unto Saints, is by St. <HI>Deunis</HI> in his cele&s;tial and Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Hierarchies, by St. <HI>Ignatius</HI> in his Epi&s;tles, and in all ancient Liturgies peculiarly ex|pre&s;&s;ed: and in this we believe com|munion between them and us, that as we rejoyce in their felicity and great|nes, &s;o they &s;ecure now for them&s;elves (&s;aith St. <HI>Cyprian</HI>) are &s;ollicitous for us: and the higher they are now in their own Heavenly glory and great|ne&s;&s;e, the more clearly do they know our nece&s;&s;ities, and are ready from their divine Lord and ours to obtain remedies for them.</P>
<P>And if whil&s;t they lived here on earth they might lawfully pray for us, why may they not now do the &s;ame in their happier e&s;tate? not hindering, but increa&s;ing their Charity towards us: &s;ithence e&s;pecially their locall re|motene&s;&s;e
<PB N="111" REF="59"> from us, hindereth not their hearing of our prayers directed unto them; no otherwi&s;e than an|gells know by the te&s;timony of our <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 22. Lucae 10.</NOTE> Saviour him&s;elf, the &s;ecrete&s;t conver|&s;ions here of &s;inners, and rejoyce in them, Saints being in their ble&s;&s;ed e&s;tate, like and equall unto them, and tho&s;e, who together behold the Chari|ty of their heavenly Lord, in whom <NOTE PLACE="marg">Morali 14. &amp; lib. 4, Dialog.</NOTE> all things are contained, can be igno|rant of nothing (&s;aith St. <HI>Gregory</HI>) belonging unto them, in which &s;en&s;e St, <HI>Paul</HI> telleth us, <HI>that we are come to Mount Sion, heavenly Jeru&s;alem, and Ci|ty of the living God; to the frequency of millions of Angells, and the Church of tho&s;e, who were fir&s;t con&s;cribed among&s;t them, &amp;c.</HI> &s;o gone before us, as we are hopefull to arrive unto them, and become as now they are, fully united unto him, <HI>qui e&s;t caput &s;uper omnem Ec|cle&s;iam,</HI> who is head of his whole Church, &s;o as they and we belong to one body, and have &s;ome communi|on as fellow members under one and the &s;ame head together. <HI>Calvin</HI> there|fore without book, and out of his
<PB N="112" REF="60"> own hereticall fancy, affirmed the Saints of heaven to be &s;ecluded from having any commerce at all with us, and that they pray in generall, but not in particular for us, becau&s;e for|&s;ooth they cannot hear us: for how (&s;aith he) hath it been revealed unto any man, that Saints have ears &s;o long, as to reach down from heaven unto us whil&s;t we pray unto them?</P>
<P>Which Que&s;tion had been better made by &s;ome Infidel, than any Chri|&s;tian Authour of learning or judge|ment propo&s;ed: for who knoweth not that pure Spirits (&s;uch as are &s;ouls &s;eparated from bodies) have a &s;piritual manner both of hearing and &s;peaking without ears, tongue, or o|ther corporall &s;en&s;es: &s;o as it would be no ab&s;urd thing, if I &s;hould tell <HI>Calvin,</HI> that Lucifer in hell knew him very well, and &s;uch Here&s;ies as were to the ruine of &s;ouls broached by him, albeit he had no eyes to view his papers, or ears to hear his Doctrines preached, by the naturall light of his under&s;tanding in ab&s;ence al&s;o pene|trated by him; which is as ears and
<PB N="113" REF="60"> eys unto him: who&s;e &s;ub&s;tance as we conceive not, &s;o is the &s;piritual man|ner of his under&s;tanding things hid|den wholy from us, wherein Angels and Saints in heaven do far, no doubt, exceed him, becau&s;e they have a purer and higher light, to wit of glory com|municated by God unto them; and according to his ab&s;urd que&s;tion of long ears for Saints to hear our pray|ers directed unto them, a man may well conceive him to have &s;carcely be|lieved, that our Saviour as Man accor|ding to his humane and glorified &s;oul, heareth the prayers of men here on earth directed unto him, or knoweth their actions according to which not|with&s;tanding he &s;hall judge them.</P>
<P><HI>Calvin</HI> in the mean time could not but know, when he impugned our invocation of Saints; that we in our addre&s;&s;es unto them, intend nothing el&s;e but to obtain more ea&s;ily at Gods hands by their interce&s;&s;ion ble&s;&s;ings, and benefits needfull for us. For if the joynt Prayers of two or three here on earth, be more gratefull to God, than of one alone, and more effectuall
<PB N="114" REF="61"> to obtain what we ask of him; how can it be but profitable for us, to have with our own prayers the &s;uffrages of Angels and Saints holily conjoyned? we of our &s;elves b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ing &s;inful wretches, and wholy unworthy to obtain any thing of him; Wherefore as Malefa|ctors here on earth, think them&s;elves happy, when any favourite of their Prince will be plea&s;ed to &s;ollicite their pardon for crimes committed a|gain&s;t him; &s;o are we in a like man|ner humble &s;uiters unto the&s;e Cour|tiers of heaven, to become unto their divine Lord and ours, Mediators and Interce&s;&s;ors for us.</P>
<P>Neither doth this Mediation of Saints derogate any thing at all from the mediation of Chri&s;t: For that he immediately by him&s;elf and in the right of his own merits advocateth and obtaineth at his fathers hands what graces he will him&s;elf, and ble&s;|&s;ings for us. Whereas Saints in a me|diate and &s;ubalternate way of Media|tion, by him, to wit, and his merits who redeemed them and us al&s;o, be|come interce&s;&s;ors for us. And this cu|&s;tome
<PB N="115" REF="61"> of praying in this manner unto Saints hath been &s;o anciently u&s;ed in Chri&s;ts Church, as all Greek and La|tine Fathers almo&s;t, who&s;e works are now extant, have approved and pra|cticed it.</P>
<P>Angels (&s;aith S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI>) are to be <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Vi|du<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE> invoked to our help; the Martyrs are to be &s;ought unto, who&s;e bodies we keep as pledges of their love towards us. And S. <HI>Hierome</HI> di&s;puteth thus a|gain&s;t <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 3.</NOTE> <HI>Vigilantius,</HI> as now I may doe a|gain&s;t <HI>Calvin</HI> or any other Prote&s;tant, Thou &s;aye&s;t in thy Book, that while&s;t we live, we may pray for each other, but not after death: But I tell thee, that if the Apo&s;tles and Martyrs living here in bodies, could pray for others, when they cared for them&s;elves, how much more may they now do that, after their Crowns and victories.</P>
<P>So that if our Adver&s;aries would admit any true Church, or pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ctice of Religion before them, they could not but acknowledge this doctrine and cu&s;tome taught and practiced in our Church to have ever been truly Chri|&s;tian and Catholick: but as their he|retical
<PB N="116" REF="62"> Conventicles are newly rai&s;ed, &s;o will they have a new Religion be|lieved, and practi&s;ed in them.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="8" TYPE="controversy">
<HEAD>The eighth Controver&s;ie. <HI>Of reverencing of Saints Reliques.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AS we yeeld not unto Saints them|&s;elves now in heaven a divine ho|nor; but onely a reverend re&s;pect, in|finitely inferiour unto it: &s;o likewi&s;e their Reliques are not, but by the &s;ame reverenced by us: And our Adver&s;a|ries &s;encele&s;ly abu&s;e words, when they accu&s;e us of Idolatry for yeelding this reverence unto them, the&s;e Reliques being not fal&s;e Gods, or things belong|ing unto them; but Reliques and parts of their bodies, who were Gods true Servants, and either lo&s;t or &s;pent their lives in the &s;ervice of him, mo|ving us by their very &s;ight to a like practice of Piety, Fortitude, and other virtues eminent in them. So as in ho|nouring
<PB N="117" REF="62"> their Reliques, we magnifie chiefly Gods graces in them. Where|fore S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> &s;peaking of <HI>Nazarius,</HI> and <HI>Cel&s;us</HI> bodies, then found out new|ly by him, and fre&s;hly as it were blee|ding in their wounds, why (&s;aid he) &s;hould not faithfull people honour their bodies, &s;ithence Devils do feare them, which once with torments they afflicted? Wherefore I honour that body which honoured Chri&s;t un|der the &s;word, and which &s;hall raign in heaven with him.</P>
<P>So as it is a notorious untruth of the <HI>Centuri&s;ts</HI> fir&s;t, and of <HI>Calvin</HI> after <NOTE PLACE="marg">C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nt. 2. c. 3. l. de nece&s;&s;i|tate refor|mandi ec|cle&s;iam.</NOTE> them, when they affirmed the cu&s;tome of honouring Reliques not to have begun in the Church during the fir&s;t five hundred years after Chri&s;t; for that <HI>Cajus</HI> living in the age next unto <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. Hi|&s;toriae c. 24.</NOTE> the Apo&s;tles, as <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> recounteth, told <HI>Proclus</HI> his <HI>Cataphrigyan</HI> Adver&s;ary, that he could &s;hew unto him in <HI>Rome</HI> the trophies of the two Apo&s;tles <HI>Pete<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> and <HI>Paul</HI> honoured by Chri&s;tians. And the Chuch of <HI>Smyrna</HI> in their Epi&s;tle of S. <HI>Policarps</HI> Martyrdome, di&s;ciple to the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves, wont for e|dification
<PB N="118" REF="63"> to be read in Chri&s;tian Churches (according to S. <HI>Gregory Tu|rinen&s;is</HI>) recounteth, how the Jews got his body to be burned into A&s;hes, and thrown into a River that his Re|liques might not be honoured by Chri&s;tians, as were in that very age the
<NOTE PLACE="marg">De viris il|lu&s;tribus in Ignatio.</NOTE> remnants of S. <HI>Ignatius</HI> bones gather|ed and &s;ent unto <HI>Antioch,</HI> as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> recounteth. <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> likewi&s;e relateth <NOTE PLACE="marg">De viris il|lu&s;tribus in Ignatio l. 7. cap. 14.</NOTE> great honours done to the body of <HI>Marinus</HI> by Chri&s;tians, and how mira|culou&s;ly <HI>Apphianus</HI> his dead corps was brought out of the Sea, and ca&s;t on
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 8. c. 14. Lib. 13. prae|parat. E|vangelit. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> cap. 7.</NOTE> &s;hore to have due honours yeelded un|to it, as being meet (&s;aith he el&s;where) that Gods Friends and Champion<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">, &s;hould have at their Tombes honours yeelded unto them.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Orat. in Theod<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">at. in Ju|lianum Ca|teche&s;i 18.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> in &s;undry places teach|eth this honour to be due unto the Reliques of Saints, and &s;o doth his Brother S. <HI>Gregory Ni&s;&s;en.</HI> S. <HI>Gregory Nazianzen</HI> likewi&s;e and S. <HI>Cyril</HI> of <HI>Hie|ru&s;alem.</HI> S. <HI>Hierome</HI> al&s;o again&s;t <HI>Vigi|lantius,</HI> particularly mentioneth, how &s;olemnly <HI>Samuels</HI> body was brought in time of <HI>Areadius</HI> out of <HI>Jury</HI> into
<PB N="119" REF="63"> <HI>Thracia,</HI> with a continual proce&s;&s;ion of Bi&s;hops, Prie&s;ts, and People honour|ing the great Prophet in his Reliques, untill they brought it to <HI>Calcedon.</HI> St. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Et Homiliis de S. Babild S. Ignatio Iuliano, &amp;c</NOTE> <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom</HI> in many of his Homiles <HI>ad populum Antiochenum,</HI> mentioneth great honours done unto the Reliques of Saints. And Saint <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> in a whole Chapter together recounteth tho&s;e great miracles, which he had &s;een done at S. <HI>Stephens</HI> Reliques all condemning by their te&s;timonies the contrary do|ctrine
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 22. de civit. c. 8.</NOTE> of Prote&s;tants, dete&s;ting, de|&s;troying, and defacing in &s;everal man|ners Saints Reliques; whereas <HI>David</HI> telleth us, that God will keep all the bones of his Servant<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="9" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="120" REF="64">
<HEAD>The Nineth Controver&s;ie. <HI>Of holy Images kept and honoured by us.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AMong&s;t other Here&s;ies anciently condemned in Chri&s;ts Church, this again&s;t the Catholick u&s;e, and venera|tion of Images hath been by modern Hereticks pernitiou&s;ly again revived; and fitly &s;erved them to make us, with ignorant Per&s;ons, &s;eem guilty of Ido|latry, by yeelding, as the antient <HI>Pai|nims</HI> did a divine honour to &s;tocks and &s;tones, and praying unto them as if they could hear us: in which imputa|tions they do &s;landerou&s;ly, and noto|riou&s;ly bely us, abu&s;ing many waies, &s;imple Per&s;ons hearing and believing tho&s;e a&s;&s;ertions again&s;t us. Fir&s;t, for ex|ample holy Images repre&s;enting Chri&s;t, or his Saints, or &s;ome other My&s;tery of faith are fal&s;ly called Idols by them; for that an Idol according to S. <HI>Paul</HI>
<PB N="121" REF="64"> is <HI>nothing in the world,</HI> meaning accor|ding to the per&s;on, or thing repre|&s;ented by it, to wit, a God or &s;ome|thing el&s;e, made onely by imaginati|on and Fancy. Whereas the incarnate Sonne of God, his ble&s;&s;ed Mother, &amp; Saints, now glorified in heaven, are in our Images or Statues repre&s;ented &s;till, or &s;uch My&s;teries of faith, as were in the great worke of our Redemption really performed: for example, a Cru|cifix repre&s;enteth Chri&s;t, as he hung upon the Cro&s;&s;e painfully nailed unto it, and dying for us, more movingly &s;o objected to our eys, than if that &s;a|cred My&s;terie were by an ample di|&s;cour&s;e declared unto us. In which true &s;ence St. <HI>Gregory</HI> called Images, the books of unlearned Per&s;ons, for this and other my&s;teries of Faith re|pre&s;ented in them.</P>
<P>And our Adver&s;aries mu&s;t be &s;tu|pidly ab&s;urd, if from Scriptures them|&s;elves they learne not to di&s;tingui&s;h I|mages from Idols in their proper &s;ig|nification: Chri&s;t for example is o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t aid to be the Image, but not the Idol <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> the Father, the m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n to be the Image,
<PB N="122" REF="65"> not the Idol of God. And there are ma|ny places wherein the word Idol in place of Image, could not be but ab|&s;urdly &amp; abu&s;ively u&s;ed. And who but can bla&s;phemou&s;ly affirm the two Sta|tues of Cherubins in the inmo&s;t taber|nacle, covering with their wings the Arke and propitiatory T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ble, to have been Idols?</P>
<P>And whereas our Adver&s;aries ob|ject again&s;t us, that we cut off the &s;e|cond Commandement, and divide a|nother into two, becau&s;e our Images a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">bid in it, they bely us, becau&s;e in ou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Bibles the holy T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">xt is no le&s;&s;e in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> than in theirs, onely in our Ca|te<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hi m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s, and books written for the in&s;truction of common Chri&s;tians, and Children among&s;t them, we print not that which they call the &s;e|cond Command<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ment, and we affirme to be a part and e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">plication of the fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t, commanding particularly the Jewes not to make the likene&s;&s;e of Calves, or any thing <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">l&s;e; lea&s;t then prone to Idol<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">try, they &s;hould yield divine honour unto it, by adoring it as God him&s;elf: of which now there
<PB N="123" REF="65"> is no danger among Chri&s;tians, and &s;o no u&s;e of that part of the fir&s;t Com|mandement; and even <HI>Calvin</HI> him|&s;elf <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Exod.</HI> 20&punc;</NOTE> in his explication thereof is in|forced to grant, that all &s;orts of Ima|ges or Statues are not forbidden by it. And it is well known to all learned men, that many holy Fathers have, as now we do, divided the Commande|ments, the ancient Hebrew Text ha|ving no divi&s;ion at all in it.</P>
<P>In the meane time concerning that reverend re&s;pect, which is yielded un|to Images by us: Fir&s;t, it is not ab|&s;olutely due, or given to the materiall Images or Statues them&s;elves, but as holy Per&s;ons and my&s;teries are repre|&s;ented by them, unto which our minds and intentions in beholding them <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">re carri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d. So that in &s;uch acts the Im<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ge or Statue is re&s;pectively honoured for the per&s;on or my&s;tery repre&s;ented in it, and they are like|wi&s;e honoured in them. In which &s;en&s;e S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;aid <HI>Rex dicitur regis ima|go non duo Reges,</HI> the image of a King is called the King, nor is he and his i|mage called two Kings, nor is the ho|nour
<PB N="124" REF="66"> divided between them; becau&s;e the honour done to the Image a&s;cen|deth to the exemplar.</P>
<P>And as in Images different per&s;ons are repre&s;ented, &s;o are different ho|nours yielded unto them: For exam|ple, to the Image of Chri&s;t, a higher <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;pect is intended by us, then to the Image of any Saint; becau&s;e him&s;elf is therein honoured; which our dull Ad|ver&s;aries either will not, or do not under&s;tand: and therefore they ex|claime again&s;t us, and make ignorant people believe that we adore a Cruci|fix, as Chri&s;t him&s;elf. Whereas accor|ding to St. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI>'s doctrine, Chri&s;t him&s;elf is chiefly adored, becau&s;e the honour a&s;cendeth unto him.</P>
<P>Concerning the timely u&s;e of Ima|ges <NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2. &amp; 4.</NOTE> among&s;t Chri&s;tians, St. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> as his words are cited, in the &s;eventh generall Councel, affirmeth them to <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 7. hi&s;t. dap. 4.</NOTE> have been ordained by the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves: &s;o as <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> mentioneth how the woman at <HI>Paneada</HI> cured of a bloudy flux by our Saviour with the touch of his garment, erected a bra&s;&s;e Statue of him, with a miracu|lous
<PB N="125" REF="66"> flower growing under it, curing all &s;orts of di&s;ea&s;es, when it ro&s;e &s;o high as to touch his garment: which &s;he would not have done had &s;he dee|med it Idolatry to erect &s;uch a Statue, or Image of our Saviour in memory of that great benefit received from him. Neither would almighty God have miraculou&s;ly graced the &s;ame, if it had di&s;plea&s;ed him, <HI>Tertullian</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">pud.</NOTE> mentioneth the Image of our Saviour carrying on his back the lo&s;t &s;heepe, to be u&s;ually engraven on the Chali|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">es. and St. <HI>Methodius</HI> in the next age <NOTE PLACE="marg">Orat. de re.</NOTE> after him, comparing holy pictures of Angels with prophane Images of the G<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">tiles, affirmeth them to have been made for the glory of God. <HI>Mi|nutius Felix</HI> likewi&s;e blamed the Gen|tiles <NOTE PLACE="marg">In &s;uo Oct.</NOTE> for hating Chri&s;t's Cro&s;&s;e (as Hereticks now do) albeit &s;uch a kind of picture was fa&s;tened on the top of the Imperiall Standard, which com|plaint would not have been made by him, if the picture of our Saviour nailed on his Cro&s;&s;e had not been u&s;u|all among&s;t Chri&s;tians. St. <HI>Gregory</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Orat. de St. Theod.</NOTE> <HI>Ni&s;&s;en</HI> telleth how much plea&s;ed the
<PB N="126" REF="67"> people were to &s;ee St. <HI>Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">odorus</HI> his Chappell with holy pictures decently adorned. and St. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> his brother inviteth painters to expre&s;&s;e in a live|ly manner St. <HI>Barlaam,</HI> behaving him|&s;elf <NOTE PLACE="marg">H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m. 8.</NOTE> victoriou&s;ly in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">s torments, more perfectly than he could declare them. St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> &s;peaketh of our Saviours I|mage
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de con. Evan. c. 11.</NOTE> wont to be drawn with St. <HI>Peter</HI> and St. <HI>Paul</HI> in the &s;ame Table.</P>
<P>Neither are the Images of Chri&s;t and his Saints more fitly any where placed, than in Churches, for that as ill pictures are apt to rai&s;e ill motions in &s;uch as behold them, &s;o are holy pictures apt to cau&s;e in mens minds looking upon them pious thoughts, and affections.</P>
<P>Neither are the &s;imple&s;t per&s;ons or very Children among&s;t us <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o &s;tupid as to think them Gods, or to yi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ld, as our adver&s;aries fal&s;ly pretend, divine honour unto them, as the <HI>Painims</HI> did anciently to their Idols. And in|deed the here&s;ie of the <HI>I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">onocla&s;ts</HI> un|der two or three wicked Emperours, trouble&s;ome &s;in &s;ome Churches of Greece, by Jews and Negromanticks
<PB N="127" REF="67"> fir&s;t introduced, and chiefly main|tained, was at length with &s;o full a con&s;ent of the whole Chri&s;tian world condemned and dere&s;ted; as the &s;ame Div<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">l &s;urely was powerfull with &s;uch h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">reticks, as &s;ince again have revived it.</P>
<P>And as they chiefly dete&s;ted the I|mage of our Saviour hanging on his Cro&s;s, &s;o is the &s;ame by Prote&s;tants chiefly hated, and was at the fir&s;t ri|&s;ing of their Sect pulled down in all Churches, and &s;olemnly burnt, as the proper <HI>Dagon</HI> and God of the
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. ad Phil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d.</NOTE> Papi&s;ts: Whereas that holy Trophy of Chri&s;ts victory (as S. <HI>Ignatius</HI> calleth it) and &s;igne of our Redemption, fearfull to our infernall Adver&s;aries, vanqui&s;hed by the Cro&s;&s;e, was &s;o ho|lily reverenced by the devouter &s;ort of Chri&s;tians, from the very time of the Apo&s;tles, as they u&s;ually &s;igned their brea&s;ts and foreheads with it, accounting them&s;elves from all pow|er of Divels protected by it: &s;o as <HI>Tertu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ian</HI> by an exaggeration affirmed <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de cor. milit. ca. 3. &amp; l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">b. 2. ad ux. c. 5.</NOTE> Chri&s;tians in his time, by frequent making of this &s;igne, to weare out
<PB N="128" REF="68"> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Catech. 4<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &amp; 13.</NOTE> their foreheads; by which &s;aith St. <HI>Cyril</HI> Chri&s;t triumphed over all infer|nall powers, and made the very &s;igne of Cro&s;&s;e terrible unto them; willing therefore all Chri&s;tians frequently on their brea&s;ts and fortheads to &s;igne
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib de I&s;. &amp; anima.</NOTE> them&s;elves with it. And &s;o doth St. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> give the &s;ame advi&s;e: and St. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 8. c. 6.</NOTE> <HI>Hierom</HI> writing to <HI>Demetriades</HI> a virgin, willeth her that the exterminator may have no power to hurt her, to guard her &s;elf by this &s;ign as by the letter <HI>Tau</HI> (which was a Cro&s;s in the old He|brew Characters) made in the I&s;rae|lites foreheads, they were from the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 9.</NOTE> killing &s;trokes of the Angell prote|cted. <HI>Tertullian</HI> u&s;eth the &s;ame com|pari&s;on, and &s;o doth <HI>Origen,</HI> asking
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib. contra</HI> Nar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i.</NOTE> this que&s;tion, what do Divels feare and tremble more at than to &s;ee the
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hom. 6. in Exod.</NOTE> &s;igne of the Cro&s;&s;e, by which their power was de&s;troyed, made faithfully by us? St. <HI>Cyprian</HI> all&s;o &s;aith, that <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cont. Jud. lib. 1. c. 8. &amp; lib. 2. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. 22.</NOTE> <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> held up his armes in forme of a Cro&s;&s;e, while&s;t <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> overcame <HI>Amalek.</HI></P>
<P>And that <HI>Ezechiel</HI> &s;hewed, how &s;afe we are when in our foreheads we
<PB N="129" REF="68"> make it. Saint <HI>Cor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">elius</HI> Pope &s;aith, that <HI>Novatian</HI> received not the Holy Gho&s;t, becau&s;e he was never with the Seal of our Lord &s;igned by any Bi|&s;hop, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. ad Fabium Anti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">che|num. Lib. 4. c. 27.</NOTE> to wit in Confirmation, where|in this Signe is e&s;&s;entially u&s;ed. <HI>La|ctantius</HI> declareth the vertue of this Signe in many occa&s;ions, and e&s;pe|cially in di&s;&s;olving Magicall Incanta|tions, and &s;ilencing Oracles. And Saint <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> affirmeth the &s;ame to <NOTE PLACE="marg">Orat. de in|carnat. Chri&s;ti.</NOTE> have been proved by many examples. Saint <HI>Gregory Nazianzene,</HI> recounteth likewi&s;e how <HI>Julian</HI> the <HI>Apo&s;tata,</HI> in an Idolatrous Temple, being terrified at the fight of many Devils, rai&s;ed by a Sorcerer before him&punc; <HI>ad crucem vetu&s;que remedium confugit,</HI> had recour&s;e to the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Orat. 3. in Julian.</NOTE> Sign of the Cro&s;&s;e, a &s;ure remedy a|gain&s;t them; &amp; at the making thereof, the Devils vani&s;hed before him. A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d to &s;ay as Prote&s;tants do, that Devils fain this fear, to make Chri&s;tians conti|nue in this &s;uper&s;tition, is a &s;en&s;ele&s;&s;e a&s;&s;ertion: as if Devils had been carefull that wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ked <HI>Julian,</HI> Chri&s;ts profe&s;&s;ed enemy, &s;hould leave his Super&s;tition, or as if that helli&s;h Impo&s;tor could
<PB N="130" REF="69"> &s;o ea&s;ily deceive Chri&s;tian Pa&s;tours, and people, u&s;ing to make that Sign for 1500 years together, yea, and the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tract. 3. in Jo. &amp; 36. in P&s;al, 30. concione 3. &amp; Serm. 19 de Sanctis.</NOTE> Apo&s;tles them&s;elves, who fir&s;t (as I have &s;aid) cau&s;ed this Sign in Admi|ni&s;tration of Sacraments, and all &s;orts of ble&s;&s;ings to be u&s;ed, as is by Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in many places ex|pre&s;&s;ely affirmed. And he who will read the life of Saint <HI>Anthony</HI> written by Saint <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> and of Saint <HI>Hil|larion</HI> written by Saint <HI>Hierome,</HI> &s;hall &s;ee what a heavenly force they a&s;cri|bed to the Sign of the Cro&s;&s;e, either made upon them&s;elves, or in the aire again&s;t Devils, in dreadfull appariti|ons trouble&s;ome unto them, &s;o as by the contempt thereof, any man may conclude Prote&s;tants to be no good Chri&s;tians, or devout rememberers of Chri&s;t crucified for them.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="10" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="131" REF="69">
<HEAD>The tenth Controver&s;ie. <HI>Of purgatory and Prayer for the Dead.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>CAlvin</HI> &s;aith, that with Voice, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib. 3. In|stit. c.</HI> 5, &amp; 6.</NOTE> Throat, and Sides together, Pur|gatory is to be exploded, as a damna|ble invention, evacuating the death of Chri&s;t, derogating from Gods mer|cy, and cau&s;ing many Scandalls and impieties to be practi&s;ed among&s;t Chri&s;tians. With like fury al&s;o he condemneth Prayers for the dead, cal|ling it an abominable &s;uper&s;tition, a prophane Invocation of God, an in|con&s;iderable credulity, timely (he confe&s;&s;eth) brought into the Church, and &s;o timely indeed as the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves were authors thereof.</P>
<P>For that S. <HI>Dennes</HI> S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Di&s;ci|ple in a whole Chapter together, de|clareth the manner of Chri&s;tian buri|all u&s;ed in his time, with particular prayer made by the Bi&s;hop for the
<PB N="132" REF="70"> party decea&s;ed. And <HI>Calvin</HI> could not but know, that <HI>Aerius</HI> was ancient|ly condemned, and is by S. <HI>Epiphani|us,</HI> S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> and others ranked a|mong&s;t hereticks, for denying this pious and laudable cu&s;tome, ever u&s;ed in Chri&s;ts Church before him, of praying for the Dead, full of cha|rity towards &s;ouls departed, and no wayes tending, either to evacuate the merits of Chri&s;ts death, or to le&s;&s;en Gods mercy towards us purcha&s;ed by it, but rather extolling both: &s;ithen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e to &s;atisfie his Ju&s;tice, and to le&s;&s;en the rigour thereof again&s;t &s;inners, and &s;ins in this life, not &s;atisfied for by them, he is contented to accept the prayers of living per&s;ons, and to have Chri&s;ts merits, and &s;atisfactions in &s;everall manners, as by Alms, Pennances, Sa|crifices, and other means as holy Suf|frages offered for them. Which made the Holy Gho&s;t truly no doubt <NOTE PLACE="marg">Machab. l. 2</NOTE> to tell us, <HI>that it was a holy and whole|&s;ome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be ab&s;olved from their &s;innes.</HI> But by the&s;e new Doctours, Scriptures them&s;elves mu&s;t be denied, and all o|ther
<PB N="133" REF="70"> te&s;timonies rejected, if in any part they &s;erve to di&s;prove their no|vell, and groundle&s;&s;e fancies. For if we tell them that S. <HI>Dennis</HI> of <HI>Arepa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o|gita</HI> affirmed Prayers to have been offe|red for the dead, even in the Apo&s;tles time, they will call him a counterfeit pratling Authour, whom <HI>S. Gregory</HI> 1000 years &s;ince, called an ancient &amp; venerable Father, acknowledged by other Popes, Fathers, and Councels to have been S. <HI>Pauls</HI> learned Schollar, and the greate&s;t among&s;t Chri&s;tian Di|vines, as S. <HI>John Dama&s;cen</HI> calleth him. If we tell them that ancient <HI>Tertullian</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Co|rona milit.</NOTE> numbred Sacrifices for the dead 1400 years &s;ince, among&s;t Apo&s;tolicall Tra|ditions: that <HI>Origen</HI> plainly taught <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hom. 6. in Exodum.</NOTE> a purgation of Souls, and by fire after death; that S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> held it a diffe|rent <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. ad Antonium.</NOTE> thing for martyrs to be crowned in their deaths, and for others to pay the la&s;t farthing, and after la&s;t|ing torments to be freed out of pri|&s;on; That all ancient Liturgies have prayer for the dead in them Apo&s;toli|cally <NOTE PLACE="marg">In colloquio cum &s;orore de re&s;urre|ctione.</NOTE> ordained; that S. <HI>Gregory Ni&s;&s;en,</HI> taught a purgation for &s;ouls after
<PB N="134" REF="71"> death, and &s;o did S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in his <HI>Enchiridion,</HI> and in many other of his works; That S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> prayed for <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 110.</NOTE> <HI>Theodo&s;ius</HI> and <HI>Valentinian</HI> Emperours, in both his funeral Orations of them; that &s;undry ancient Fathers out of S. <HI>Pauls</HI> words, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 3. have gathered, that &s;uch as build upon Chri&s;t the Foundation &s;tubble and &s;traw, &s;hall come not with&s;tanding to be &s;aved, <HI>yet &s;o as by fire;</HI> they will not to all the&s;e and other like te&s;timonies &s;tick to &s;ay, that all the&s;e chief Fathers of Chri&s;ts Church, were in this point over cre|dulous, and &s;wayed by the bad cu&s;tom of their time, in allowing and pra|cti&s;ing &s;uch &s;uper&s;titions, and parti|cularly <HI>Calvin,</HI> if you tell him that S. <HI>Monica</HI> de&s;ired to be prayed for after her death, and remembred at our Lords Altar, will an&s;wer, that it was <HI>anile votum,</HI> an old womans tale, and di&s;like S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> him&s;elf for re|counting it.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="11" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="135" REF="71">
<HEAD>The eleventh Controver&s;ie. <HI>Of Sacramentall Confe&s;&s;ion, and Prie&s;tly Ab&s;olution.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>CAlvin</HI> asketh us, with what face <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 4. In|&s;titut. c. 15. Num. 3.</NOTE> we can affirm Confe&s;&s;ion of &s;innes to a Prie&s;t, to have bin a divine In&s;titu|tion, &amp; affirmeth al&s;o el&s;ewhere with <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Antid. Sect. 6. c. 15.</NOTE> a notorious fal&s;hood, that Confe&s;&s;i|on was free to be made or not, untill <HI>Innocent</HI> the third, with a few horned <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 3. In&s;ti|tut. 6. 4. num. 17.</NOTE> bea&s;ts, ordained this &s;nare to make a generall intanglement of Chri&s;tian people, calling in another place Con|fe&s;&s;ion of Penitents made to their Pa|&s;tors, <NOTE PLACE="marg">lib. 3. c. 3<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> num. 1. &amp;c. 4. nu. 12.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">iring and tearing of mens Con&s;ciences; and no le&s;&s;e ab&s;urdly than <HI>Luther</HI> had taught before him, he denieth the Prie&s;ts to have received a|ny greater power from Chri&s;t to ab|&s;olve &s;innes, than all other Per&s;ons, men or women, onely by their age and wi&s;dome they are able to afford direction and comfort unto &s;uch as
<PB N="136" REF="72"> come afflicted in con&s;cience unto them.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib. 4. c. 1. num.</HI> 21. &amp; 22.</NOTE> Yet afterwards changed in his do|ctrine, he affirmeth by Chri&s;ts me|ri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s and power of the holy Gho&s;t, this benefit of the Churches Keyes, and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes to be daily imparted unto the faithfull people by them, who as Legates of Chri&s;t, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib. 3. c. 4. num.</HI> 13, &amp; 14. 17, &amp; 18.</NOTE> have the mini&s;tery of reconciliation committed unto them: exhorting in another place each one burthe|ned with Sinfulne&s;&s;e of his con&s;ci|ence, to confe&s;&s;e them privately to the Pa&s;tor, and particularly as he can remember them: and e&s;teeme it no &s;mall benefit, that he can repair unto one, who hath this power of re|conciling &s;ouls committed unto him. And from this doctrine, the u&s;e of private and publique pennance hath been brought into all Calvinian Co&s;i&s;tories, not without frequent defamings of &s;uch as fit in the &s;toole of pennances to be ab&s;olved of &s;ins confe&s;&s;ed by them. Whereas in our Church, men burthened in Con&s;ci|ence, come to their Gho&s;tly Fathers,
<PB N="137" REF="72"> and are heard, while&s;t they confe&s;s their &s;innes charitably by them, &s;ecure to have nothing revealed afterward which hath been confe&s;&s;ed unto them.</P>
<P>So that our incarnate Lord and Re|deemer never opened the inmo&s;t bow|ells of his mercie and bounty more widely towards us, than when in his Church he erected this high Tri|bunal of Ju&s;tice (as I may well call it) and mercy conjoyned: ordaining Prie&s;ts and Pa&s;tors of Soules to be Judges thereof, with mo&s;t ample Commi&s;&s;ion given unto them to ab|&s;olve all Crimes what&s;oever commit|ted again&s;t him, not once or twice, but &s;o often as men fall into them, and came penitently to confe&s;&s;e them with a purpo&s;e no more to fall in|to them: which kind of clemency was never u&s;ed by any earthly Prince towards his Subjects, nor &s;carcely by any father toward his children, frequently and hainou&s;ly offending him.</P>
<P>This Commi&s;&s;ion was by Chri&s;t after his Re&s;urrection given unto
<PB N="138" REF="73"> his Apo&s;tles, and all tho&s;e no doubt, who were in the government of his Church afterwards to &s;ucceed them, when after he had &s;aid, <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> my Fa|ther</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">John 20.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ent me I &s;end you,</HI> he breathed upon them, and bad them receive the holy Gho&s;t: <HI>who&s;e &s;innes you remit &s;hall be remitted unto<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> thems and who&s;e &s;innes you retain &s;hall be retained:</HI> having fir&s;t, &s;o by breathing out of him&s;elfe the holy Gho&s;t into them, com|municated a divine power to per|forme what his words imparted, ex|cluding <HI>Calvins</HI> corruption of them, by affirming this power of remitting &s;innes to &s;ignifie nothing el&s;e, but to delcare by Chri&s;ts merits &amp; mercy abundant remi&s;&s;ion for them: which were the &s;ame as to &s;ay, that Judges in their circuits receive from their Prince no power at all to free or condemne Malefactors brought before them, but onely to de|clare (as Notaries and Cryers are w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nt in Courts) the Princes plea&s;ure in freeing or condemning them: than which nothing can be more fal&s;ly or fooli&s;hly affirmed.</P>
<PB N="139" REF="73">
<P>And If Chri&s;ts words &s;ignified no more, St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aid not well of him&s;elf, and theother Apo&s;tles, that Chri&s;t had committed the Mi|ni&s;tery
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.</NOTE> of Reconciliation unto them, and made them his Legates, ab&s;ol|ving &s;uch as had offend<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d him, the effect of a Legate ever importing power granted with it.</P>
<P>S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> therefore &s;aid well again&s;t <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de poe|nitentia, c. 2</NOTE> the <HI>Novatian</HI> hereticks, revived now againe in moderne Prote&s;tants, that under a pretended reverence yielded unto God, by leaving all power of remitting &s;innes unto him&s;elf, they more highly injured him, by not do|ing what he commanded them, asking afterwards this que&s;tion of them, why doe <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ye baptize, if men cannot remit &s;ins? for that this is performed fully in Bapti&s;me, and what importeth it
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. c. 10.</NOTE> whether by Pennance or Bapti&s;me this be performed, the power of Prie&s;ts given by God being alike in both Scraments. St. <HI>Leo</HI> in the &s;ame manner extolled Gods mercy in this, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">1&punc; ad Theodorum.</NOTE> that as he had ordained Bapti&s;me, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">r the fir&s;t &s;anctification of Souls,
<PB N="140" REF="74"> &s;o likewi&s;e was Pennance ordained by him, that Graces lo&s;t by &s;inne after Bapti&s;me, might come to be re&s;tored by the gate of reconciliati|on and prie&s;tly Ad&s;olution after Con|fe&s;&s;ion of our &s;innes opened unto them.</P>
<P>The u&s;e of this Sacrament is menti|oned <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 19.</NOTE> in the <HI>Acts</HI> of the Apo&s;tles, where many of the faithfull are &s;aid to <HI>have come and confe&s;&s;ed their &s;innes</HI> with terror no doubt of con&s;cience (&s;aith <HI>Calvin</HI> on that place) &amp; a de&s;ire to be ab&s;olved by the Apo&s;tles from them, and in that very age S. <HI>Dionis</HI> in his E|pi&s;tle to <HI>Demophilus,</HI> &s;harply reprehen|ded him for &s;triking away with his feet, a poore penitent kneeling before <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. c. 9.</NOTE> a Prie&s;t to receive pardon of &s;innes from him, and rev<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ling the Prie&s;t be|cau&s;e he would ab&s;olve him. S. <HI>Ire|naeus</HI> &s;peaking al&s;o of a woman cor|rupted by one <HI>Mark</HI> a Sorcerer, &s;aith, that after the brethren had with much difficulty converted her, &s;he <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib. de poe|nitentia c.</HI> 10, &amp; 12.</NOTE> &s;pent a great time in making her Confe&s;&s;ion, weeping and deploring what &s;he had &s;uffered from him. <HI>Ter|tullian</HI>
<PB N="141" REF="74"> likewi&s;e blameth &s;uch, as through &s;hame hide &s;ome &s;inne in Confe&s;&s;ion to the Prie&s;t, choo&s;ing &s;o, rather to be damned, than in their foulne&s;&s;e di&s;covered: reprehending others likewi&s;e, for coming not at all to this needfull remedy for &s;innes, after bapti&s;me graciou&s;ly prepared for them. S. <HI>Clement</HI> of <HI>Alexandria</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. Stre|matum. Homil. in P&s;al. 37.</NOTE> in like words almo&s;t delivereth the &s;ame Doctrine, by <HI>Origen</HI> more large|ly declared, comparing Confe&s;&s;ion to the opening of fe&s;tered wounds, that by the Prie&s;ts power they may be clean&s;ed, ca&s;ed and cured. S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> exhorteth mo&s;t earne&s;tly &s;ome Chri|&s;tians fall'n in per&s;ecution to confe&s;&s;e <NOTE PLACE="marg">Serm. de lap&s;is.</NOTE> their &s;innes unto the Prie&s;t, and receive Ab&s;olution from him; and com|mendeth &s;ome who had done &s;o with many tears, and Signs of contrition. <HI>Lactantius</HI> condemneth the Novatians
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 4. in&s;tit. cap. 30.</NOTE> for hereticks, becau&s;e they denyed the power of Prie&s;ts to ab&s;olve &s;inners coming unto them, and by the u&s;e of Pennance di&s;tingui&s;heth Catholick <NOTE PLACE="marg">Can. 28. in Matth.</NOTE> Churches from Hereticall Congrega|tions. S. <HI>Hilary</HI> expre&s;ly affirmeth the
<PB N="142" REF="75"> &s;entence of Prie&s;ts ab&s;olving &s;inners here upon earth, to be ratified in hea|ven. <NOTE PLACE="marg">In regulis, &amp;c. ad quae&s;t. 288.</NOTE> S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> teacheth the &s;ame Do|ctrine, and S. <HI>Gregory Ni&s;&s;en</HI> his bro|ther, advi&s;eth a &s;infull woman to l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y <NOTE PLACE="marg">Orat. de non judicandis aliis.</NOTE> open her whole &s;oul &amp; con&s;cience to &s;ome charitable Prie&s;t, who will have a care to &s;ave her honour, and help <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 65.</NOTE> her. S. <HI>Hierome</HI> is blamed by <HI>Calvin</HI> for calling Pennance a &s;econd table <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. &amp; 3. de &s;acerd<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> after &s;hipwrack. S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> highly and frequently extolleth the power which Prie&s;ts have to ab&s;olve &s;innes. And S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> teacheth expre&s;ly, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib. 2. de <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;itat. in|firmorum cap.</HI> 4, &amp; 5.</NOTE> that &s;orrow alone without Confe&s;&s;i|on and Ab&s;olution of the Prie&s;t, is not &s;ufficient to free men from their &s;ins; becau&s;e otherwi&s;e, Chri&s;t had given the Keyes in vain, if there were not in his Church a needfull u&s;e of them: and let not any man tell me (&s;aith he) that he con<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;&s;eth them in his heart to God, who knoweth them; for Chri&s;t will have us humbly to &s;ubject our &s;elves to the &s;entence of his Prie&s;tly &s;ervants, for remi&s;&s;ion of them. Di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|dain not therefore (&s;aith he) to open thy con&s;cience fully and clearly unto
<PB N="143" REF="75"> them, who as Chri&s;ts Vicars and Le|gates have power to ab&s;olve thee.</P>
<P>So great a Lye was that of <HI>Calvin,</HI> when he affirmed Sacramentall Con|fe&s;&s;ion to have been left free for every man to make it, or not, untill Pope <HI>Innocent</HI> the third, <HI>cum pauculis cornu|ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;uis,</HI> with a few horned bea&s;ts, im|po&s;ed a Precept thereof to en&s;nare all Chri&s;tians, and this, either ignorant or malitious man, might well have blu&s;hed, when he asked with what face we could affirm Confe&s;&s;ion of &s;ins to a Prie&s;t to have been as by the Son of God, divinely ordained; who by gi|ving &s;uch a power as he did unto Prie&s;ts to ab&s;olve &s;innes, tyed guilty &s;ouls to confe&s;&s;e them: for that with|out a revelation, otherwi&s;e Prie&s;ts could not prudently exerci&s;e their power, and know what &s;ins were to be remitted, or retained by them, or how they might be&s;t direct the con&s;ci|ences of Penitents coming unto them, or enjoyn them to make a due re&s;titu|tion of fame, goods, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> taken from others by them.</P>
<P>And whereas our Adver&s;aries ob|ject
<PB N="144" REF="76"> that <HI>Nectarius</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Con&s;tanti|nople,</HI> and S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;toms</HI> predece&s;&s;or, took away the u&s;e of Confe&s;&s;ion and Pennance in his Church, for a Scan|dall which had happened by it. I an|&s;wer, it was not of private Confe&s;&s;ion, and Pennance ordained by Chri&s;t him&s;elf as parts of a Sacrament: but that which was publickly made by Penitents, before the whole Congre|gation, by a holy zeal of Prelates, and Penitens together anciently in|troduced; which might, and hath been taken away, not onely by <HI>Necta|rius</HI> in his City, but by S. <HI>Leo,</HI> and o|ther Bi&s;hops; becau&s;e as the fervour of Chri&s;tians became cooled, &s;undry inconveniences happened by occa&s;ion of it, which are not wanting in all Calvinian Con&s;i&s;tories, making their &s;tool of Penance ridiculous, and of little benefit to &s;uch as are brought unto it.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="12" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="145" REF="76">
<HEAD>The twelfth Controver&s;ie. <HI>Concerning the number and effect of Sacraments.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>CAlvin</HI> &s;eemeth in words to extoll <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>In Antide|to Se&s;&s;. 7. c.</HI> 5, &amp; 6.</NOTE> the Sacraments of the new Law, as fountains of our Saviour, ordained to clean&s;e and &s;anctifie &s;ouls; yet when he cometh more clearly to expre&s;&s;e his Doctrine, he affirmeth them, with the re&s;t of his fellows, to be no other than bare Signes of faith, and Seals, as it were, of Chri&s;ts grati|ous and liberall promi&s;es made in the Go&s;pel unto us. And therefore in the holy Councell of <HI>Trent,</HI> they were ju&s;tly condemned, declaring them, as the Generall Councel of <HI>Florence</HI> had done before, not onely to be Signs, but true cau&s;es of &s;uch graces as are &s;igni|fied by them, as fountains flowing from Chri&s;ts wounds, and graciou&s;ly ordained by him, to apply ea&s;ily, and efficaciou&s;ly for the &s;anctification of
<PB N="146" REF="77"> our &s;ouls, &s;uch graces as by his life and death he merited for us.</P>
<P>Wherefore S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> again&s;t <HI>Fau|&s;tus,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ib. 19. c. 10</NOTE> his Mainchean Adver&s;ary, affirm|eth them to work after an un&s;peak|able manner their effect of heavenly graces in us. And el&s;ewhere he asketh, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tract 80. in John.</NOTE> how water in Bapti&s;me cometh to have that force, by touching the bo|dy, to clean&s;e and &s;anctifi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the &s;oul, but by being rai&s;ed above its own force, &amp; made the water of a Sacrament or|dained by Chri&s;t for that purpo&s;e. In <NOTE PLACE="marg">Orat. de S. Bapti&s;.</NOTE> which &s;en&s;e al&s;o S. <HI>Gregory Ni&s;&s;en</HI> com|paring the &s;eed of man, and the water of Bapti&s;me together, &s;aith, that as the naturall body of a man is framed by the one, &s;o is the &s;oul and &s;uper|naturall man framed by vertue of the other, cau&s;ing graces in him. And S. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. in Jo. c. 42.</NOTE> <HI>Cyrill</HI> teacheth that as water made hot by fire, &s;caldeth and warmeth as fire it &s;elf doth; &s;o the water of Bapti&s;me is by the Holy Gho&s;t, as a heavenly fire rai&s;ed to have a divine vertue in it, of &s;anctifying &s;ouis wa&s;hed with it, cal|led therefore by Saint <HI>Paul</HI> the Laver of Regeneration, and Renovation,
<PB N="147" REF="77"> becau&s;e we are renewed in our &s;ouls, and &s;upernaturally regenerated by it.</P>
<P>And the &s;ame in a proportionable manner, may be &s;aid of other Sacra|ments, &s;even in their whole number, becau&s;e the Son of God ordained &s;e|ven Ceremonies to be u&s;ed by us, with promi&s;es of Graces annexed unto them, if we preparedly and worthi|ly <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad Eph. 5.</NOTE> receive them. <HI>Bapti&s;me</HI> for exam|ple, is &s;aid to be the Laver of life clean&s;ing &s;ouls. Confirmation is &s;pi|ritually <NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 8.</NOTE> to &s;trengthen us, given with impo&s;ition of hands by the Apo&s;tles fir&s;t, and &s;ince by Bi&s;hops, not with|out the Holy Gho&s;t vi&s;ibly hereto|fore, and now invi&s;ibly no doubt gi|ven by it. The holy <HI>Euchari&s;t</HI> is as a heavenly food, and ordained to nou|ri&s;h
<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.</NOTE> our &s;ouls, declared by Chri&s;t him|&s;elf in the gracious effects thereof. <HI>Penn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nce</HI> is al&s;o a whole&s;ome medi|cine to clean&s;e and cure the wounds and di&s;ea&s;es of mens &s;ouls, by remi&s;|&s;ion of &s;innes promi&s;ed to &s;uch as worthily receive it. <HI>Order,</HI> conferreth Graces to di&s;po&s;e and make men fie for Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Functions; for
<PB N="148" REF="78"> which Rea&s;ons S. <HI>Paul</HI> will<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d <HI>Tim<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|thy,</HI> made Bi&s;hop by him, to re&s;u&s;ci|tate, and make u&s;e of that Grace, which by impo&s;ition of his hands had been given unto him. <HI>Matrimony</HI> is called by the &s;ame Apo&s;tle a great Sa|crament, repre&s;enting the union which is between Chri&s;t and his Church, not perfectly &s;ignified with|out Grace given, that the beginning of man<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> life might (&s;aith S. <HI>Cyrill</HI>) become &s;anctified by it. <HI>Extreme &V;n|ction</HI> is mentioned by S. <HI>James,</HI> and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes declared to be the effect thereof.</P>
<P>The councell of <HI>Florence</HI> gathered this numher of &s;even Sacraments, from &s;even conveniences in our &s;piri|tual &amp; corporal life equally required: a generation to wit in the on<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">, and a regeneration in the other, growth and increa&s;e of &s;trength: <HI>medicines</HI> to cure di&s;ea&s;es, <HI>Superiours</HI> to govern Subjects, means of procreation, and a comfortable departure out of thi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> world, &amp;<HI>c.</HI> That the&s;e Sacrament<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> give grace of them&s;elves beyond the di&s;po&s;ition of &s;uch as receive them, i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">
<PB N="149" REF="78"> proved by S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> from the effect of Bapti&s;me in little children; which proceedeth neither from the &s;anctity of him that bapti&s;eth, nor from any di&s;po&s;ition in the children them&s;elves, but meerely from the vertue of the Sacrament, <HI>ex opere operato,</HI> as Divines expre&s;&s;e it. And whereas our Adver|&s;aries term this expre&s;&s;ion barbarous, <NOTE PLACE="marg">In P&s;al. 138.</NOTE> I will an&s;wer them with S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, melius <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t ut nos reprehendant Grammati|ci, quam ut non intelligant Populi,</HI> it is better that Grammarians &s;hould re|prehend us, than that the people &s;hould not under&s;tand us. And in this <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">fficacity of Sacraments a chief di|gnity of our Chri&s;tian Religion pro|perly con&s;i&s;teth; for that never any o|ther exteriour Sacraments had pow|er in them&s;elves, to &s;anctifie &s;ouls. For which cau&s;e S. <HI>Paul</HI> comparing the Sacraments of the old Law with ours, calleth them <HI>egena &amp; infirma ele|menta,</HI> barren and infirm Elements.</P>
<P>Neither do our Adver&s;aries duly con&s;ider, as they ought, that in the de|nying the number and efficacity of Sa|craments, they detract from the me|rit
<PB N="150" REF="79"> of our Saviours death, and power which it had to &s;anctifie &s;ouls in &s;eve|rall manners, and to communicate by Sacraments heavenly Graces unto us, according to our Adver&s;aries Do|ctrine, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib de ca|ptivitat. Babilonica titulo de Bapti&s;mo.</NOTE> to little or no effect at all, or|dained by him, <HI>Luther</HI> having writ|ten thus of them, the &s;igns ju&s;tifie not, and as S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aid, Circumci&s;ion a|vaileth nothing, &s;o I &s;ay of Bapti&s;me, it is nothing, nor is the Participati|on of our Lords Table any thing, they <NOTE PLACE="marg">In locis commun. tit. de &s;i|gnis. part. 8.</NOTE> are te&s;timonies onely, and Seals of Gods love towards us. <HI>Melanctthon</HI> taught the &s;ame Doctrine, and albeit many Lutherane Divines do now de|part <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Antid. &amp; l. 4. in &s;titutionum.</NOTE> from it, yet <HI>Calvin</HI> and his Ad|herents con&s;tantly &s;till maintain it. Infants (&s;aith he) are holy from their Mothers womb for Gods promi&s;e made to <HI>Abraham, I will be thy God, and the God of thy &s;eed after thee. Beza</HI> likewi&s;e maintaineth the &s;ame Do|ctrine, <NOTE PLACE="marg">In 2. De&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n|&s;ione de Sacram.</NOTE> and other chief Authors a|mong&s;t them. So as Bapti&s;me with them (&s;aith <HI>John Skutts</HI> a great Lu|therane Divine) is as Radling to <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 50. cau|&s;arum c. 17.</NOTE> mark &s;heep with, that their owners may know them.</P>
<PB N="151" REF="79">
<P>And this Doctine hath been by the Devil him&s;elf (I doubt not) purpo&s;e|ly &s;ugge&s;ted unto the&s;e men for the d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">mnation of innocent children dy|ing without Bapti&s;me, by occa&s;ion thereof, as not held nece&s;&s;ary for their &s;alvation, expre&s;&s;ely again&s;t the words of our Saviour, Joh. 3. <HI>&V;nle&s;&s;e a man be born again of water and the Holy Gho&s;t, he &s;hall not enter into the Kingdome of hea|ven;</HI> &s;o literally under&s;tood by all Chri&s;tian people and Pa&s;tors, that the very Pelagians (as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> hath in &s;undry places affirmed of them) al|beit they denyed originall finne, and con&s;equently the nece&s;&s;ity of Bap|ti&s;m, for the remi&s;&s;ion thereof; yet by the plainne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;ts words, they were convinced, that children with|out Bapti&s;me could not enter into the Kingdome of heaven, albeit other|wi&s;e &s;aved.</P>
<P>And <HI>Calvins</HI> explication of Chri&s;ts <NOTE PLACE="marg">Antidotis in cap. 3. Joan.</NOTE> words is &s;o &s;trained again&s;t the plain meaning, as <HI>Stapleton</HI> rightly calleth it a ridiculous corruption of them.</P>
<P>And &s;uppo&s;ing what all good Chri|&s;tians believe, that <HI>Adam</HI> by his &s;inne,
<PB N="152" REF="80"> lo&s;t grace for him&s;elf and his whole po&s;terity, how can it be rea&s;onably proved or believed, that this &s;uperna|turall gift &s;hould be trausfu&s;ed into children, by their very carnall gene|ration; &s;o as to make them holily u|nited with Chri&s;t, without being by Bapti&s;me regenerated in him: for that Gods promi&s;e made to <HI>Abraham,</HI> and &s;o much in&s;i&s;ted upon by <HI>Calvin, I will be thy God, and God of thy &s;eed after thee,</HI> literally proveth no more, than that as <HI>Abraham</HI> him&s;elf was dear to God, &s;o &s;hould his Po&s;terity be an elected People, and favoured particularly by him. And if we under&s;tand &s;piritu|ally tho&s;e words of <HI>Abrahams</HI> faithfull Po&s;terity, it proveth nothing at all for <HI>Calvins</HI> Doctrine again&s;t the nece&s;|&s;ity of Bapti&s;me for children: yet hath this bold and blind Doctour ad|ventured to draw from this Text a|lone, or chiefly at lea&s;t, the &s;anctifi|cation of Chri&s;tian children from their Parents without Bapti&s;me, a|gain&s;t the Catholick belief, and pra|cti&s;e of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ithfull people, and Pa&s;tours i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> all ages before him. In mean while
<PB N="153" REF="80"> I will ask him here, whether God may not be truly &s;aid, a God of <HI>Abrahams</HI> faithfull Po&s;terity by the death of his Son, and his merits, as well by Sacra|ments as divers other means applied unto them; unle&s;&s;e in their naturall or<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">gen he infu&s;ed &s;anctity into th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m&punc; I cannot truly but wonder how his followers, &s;uch e&s;pecially as have learning and judgement, can in a main point of faith, embrac<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;uch a new Doctrine as this is, &s;o &s;lenderly, or not at all proved unto them.</P>
<P>S. <HI>Cyrill</HI> a greater Doctour, than proud <HI>Calvin</HI> can be pre&s;umed to have been, on this place of S. <HI>John</HI> treat|ing of Bapti&s;me and the nece&s;&s;ity thereof, expre&s;&s;ed &s;o clearly by our Saviour, &s;aith, that water and the Holy Gho&s;t were therein <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">tly conjoy|ned by him, becau&s;e man con&s;i&s;ting of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;oul and body, whil&s;t the one i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> wa&s;hed by water, the other by the Ho|ly Gho&s;t is &s;anctified and clean&s;ed, of which Sanctification and clean&s;ing, S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaketh thus, <HI>Chri&s;t loved his Church; and gave him&s;elf for it, that he</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad Ephe&s;. 5.</NOTE> <HI>might &s;anctifie the &s;ame; clean&s;ing it by the
<PB N="154" REF="81"> Laver of water in the word of life,</HI> in few words &s;o expre&s;&s;ing the matter, from and effect of this Sacrament, ordained to clean&s;e and &s;anctifie &s;uch as receive it; by <HI>Calvins</HI> Doctrine flatly denyed, for that all children born of Chri&s;ti|an Parents are holy, clean&s;ed, and a|dopted Gods children without it.</P>
<P>That other &s;aying, likewi&s;e of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> is denyed by <HI>Calvins</HI> Doctrine, <HI>God</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>according to his mercy hath &s;aved us by the Laver of regenerati|on and renovation of the Holy Gho&s;t, abun|dantly powred on us through Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Saviour, that being ju&s;tified by his grace, we might become Heirs, according to the hope of Eternall life.</HI> Teaching &s;o plainly, that not by our naturall births, but by Bapti&s;me we are rege|nerated, renewed by abundant gra|ces, and have the right of Gods chil|dren to an eternall life conferred on us, and that the&s;e &s;upernaturall ble&s;&s;ings purcha&s;ed by Chri&s;ts death and pa&s;&s;ion for us, cannot without Bapti&s;me be obtained, hath been in divers ancient Councels again&s;t the Pelagians expre&s;ly declared, and often
<PB N="155" REF="81"> taught by S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in his books a|gain&s;t <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tom. 7. ope|rum.</NOTE> them, <HI>do not believe</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>do not &s;ay that children dying before they are bapti&s;ed can be &s;aved, for that they are onely by the Sacrament made Chri&s;tians,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de pec|meritis, c. ultimo l. 3. de anima &amp; origine ejus, c. 9. Lib. 1. de Abraham c. ultimo.</NOTE> <HI>and faithfull per&s;ons, no otherwi&s;e, than by the habit of faith, and heavenly graces in|fu&s;ed into them.</HI> S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> teacheth the &s;ame Doctrine and &s;aith, <HI>that Gods pro|mi&s;e to</HI> Abraham <HI>of being his God, and God of his Po&s;terity, is not &s;o extended to the faithfull, as to &s;anctifie their chil|dren, and make them Heirs of eternall life without Bapti&s;me, whereby they are as branches to a Vine united with Chri&s;t, and begin to live in him.</HI></P>
<P>And whereas in <HI>Calvins</HI> School, it is commonly affirmed, and taught, that our Saviours Bapti&s;me was no more powerfull to give grace than S. <HI>Johns</HI> was. I may truly &s;ay here, that S. <HI>John</HI> him&s;elf taught the contrary in the&s;e words, <HI>I bapti&s;e with water,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.</NOTE> &amp;c. <HI>but he that is to come after me,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>&s;hall bapti&s;e with the Holy Cho&s;t.</HI> And we know that the Apo&s;tles bapti&s;ed <NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. c. 9.</NOTE> again &s;uch as had received <HI>S. Johns</HI> Bapti&s;me, and they received the Holy
<PB N="156" REF="82"> Gho&s;t thereby, which before they had not heard of, which heavenly gift &s;uf|ficiently declared the excellency and &s;anctifying force of our Saviours Bapti&s;me above S. <HI>Johns,</HI> &s;en&s;ele&s;ly and again&s;t plain Scripture, by <HI>Calvin,</HI> and his followers denyed, extenuating thereby our Saviours gracious Boun|ty and Mercy towards us.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="13" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="157" REF="82">
<HEAD>The thirteenth Controver&s;ie. <HI>Of Free-will.</HI></HEAD>
<P>REa&s;on is the directing, and Free|will the commanding power of mans &s;oul in all humane actions; and the excellency of our nature therein chiefly con&s;i&s;teth, whereby our will hath a freedome in it &s;elf to do, or not to do what is propo&s;ed unto it, without being enforced to either, and without this liberty, no|thing either belonging to conver&s;ati|on or government in mans life could orderly be performed; but all Laws and power in &s;ome of commanding others mu&s;t be taken quite aw<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="3 letters">: re|wards, puni&s;hments, admonitions, con&s;ultations, and reprehen&s;ions cea&s;e among&s;t men. For why &s;hould Pa|rents and other Superiours admoni&s;h their children, &s;ervants, or Subjects; reprehend or puni&s;h them when they offend, if they have no power to do
<PB N="158" REF="83"> the contrary more than bea&s;ts, or mad men? according to one of <HI>Lu|thers</HI> articles condemned by Pope <HI>Leo</HI> the tenth, affirming man by the cor|ruption of his nature to have lo&s;t all liberty of his will, &s;o as he can nei|ther choo&s;e, nor de&s;ire, nor do any good thing: as if by the &s;in of our fir&s;t Parents, men were &s;o degenerated from the noblene&s;&s;e of their nature, as to become bea&s;ts and devils toge|ther. <HI>Calvin</HI> al&s;o taught the &s;ame do|ctrine, &s;o ab&s;urd in it &s;elf, and again&s;t faith and rea&s;on, as many of his di&s;|ciples are known to have left him; and &s;ome of them are come &s;o far as to imbrace in this point Catholick doctrine; which is to admit a natu|rall freedome of our will in all na|turall elections and actions, but in others &s;upernaturall and belonging to the &s;ervice of God, the help of grace is &s;o required, as it mu&s;t fir&s;t incite and move us to doe them: and a&s;&s;i&s;t us &s;o in the performance of them, as neither our will without grace, nor grace without our will doth any thing ever free and never en|forced in them.</P>
<PB N="159" REF="83">
<P>Both the&s;e liberties of our will in naturall and &s;upernaturall actions &s;o declared, may evidently be gathered from a hundred cleare places of Scri|pture; <HI>Moy&s;es</HI> (for example to in|&s;tance <NOTE PLACE="marg">Deuteron. 3.</NOTE> here &s;ome few of them) &s;peak|ing unto his people, <HI>I invoke heaven and earth</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>that I have propo|&s;ed unto you life and death, benediction and malediction, choo&s;e therefore life</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> likewi&s;e &s;aid to the &s;ame peo|ple, <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 24.</NOTE> <HI>thou ha&s;t thy cboyce, choo&s;e this day what plea&s;eth thee, and whom thou wilt &s;erve chiefly:</HI> on which words <HI>Calvin</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">l. 2. in&s;tit. cap. 2. n. 7. &amp; cap. 3. n. 10.</NOTE> unmindfull of what he had taught in other places again&s;t Free-will, and the very name thereof hatefull unto him, &s;aith, God gave them this li|berty of choo&s;ing, that being tyed by their owne wills, they might blame onely them&s;elves if they performed not what they had cho&s;en.</P>
<P>God likewi&s;e propo&s;ed unto <HI>David</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 24.</NOTE> three &s;orts of Puni&s;hments for his &s;inne of Pride, in numbring his peo|ple, and bad him choo&s;e which of them he would.</P>
<P>And el&s;ewhere <HI>David</HI> &s;aith of him|&s;elfe,
<PB N="160" REF="84"> I have cho&s;en to be an <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">bject in the hou&s;e of God, rather than to dwell in the Tabernacles of &s;inners. Becau&s;e I have &s;poken (&s;aid God to <NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="3 letters"> 65.</NOTE> his people) and you have not heard me, but did evill before me, and have cho&s;en what I would not have you done, for this therefore, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> like to this Speech, was our Saviours cry unto <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> Math. 13. and S. <HI>Ste|phen</HI> told the Jews, that they ever re|jected the Holy Gho&s;t; which with|out freedome in their wills they could not have done: in&s;omuch that St <HI>Au|gu&s;tine,</HI> in his Book of grace and Free|will, heapeth more than thirty pre|gnant places of Scripture together, to prove this Catholick point of Do|ctrine, &s;o evidently gatherable from rea&s;on it &s;elf, and experienced daily both in our &s;elves and others, as S. <HI>I|renaeus</HI> truly affirmed, that a man is
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 4. c. 9. &amp; 29.</NOTE> not to be accounted rea&s;onable, who will deny the freedome of mans will, without which he could neither be <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 1. 6. 5.</NOTE> ju&s;tly damned nor &s;aved. <HI>Tertu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ian</HI> a|gain&s;t <HI>Marcian</HI> proveth, that man loft not the liberty of his will by &s;inne,
<PB N="161" REF="84"> and that the likene&s;&s;e of God ingraf|fed in his nature chiefly therein con|&s;i&s;teth. And <HI>Origen</HI> in the&s;e words, <HI>and</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Homil. 22. inn Nume|ros.</NOTE> <HI>now O I&s;rael, what doth thy Lord God ask of thee?</HI> writeth thus, let them blu&s;h at the&s;e words, who deny the freedome of mans will; for how could God ask any thing of men, if they had not power to offer it unto him: and to omit the like te&s;timonies of O|ther Fathers, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in three <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tom. 7.</NOTE> whole books together, of Free-will cleareth this Controver&s;ie, for (&s;aith S. <HI>Hierome</HI>) where nece&s;&s;ity inforceth, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. con|tra Jovini|anum.</NOTE> <HI>nec condemn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tio, nec caro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">a e&s;t,</HI> men are neither damned nor crowned.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="14" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="162" REF="85">
<HEAD>The fourteenth Controver&s;ie. <HI>Of</HI> Calvin's <HI>Solifidian Ju&s;tice.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AS <HI>Calvin</HI> ab&s;urdly denyed Free|will proved again&s;t him in my for|mer controver&s;ie, &s;o hath he not <NOTE PLACE="marg">lib. in&s;t. c. 14. num. 9. 10. 11.</NOTE> &s;hewed him&s;elfe a Chri&s;tian Doctor in many Tenents about the manner of our Ju&s;tification, averr'd &amp; taught thus plainly by him.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, that before God our be&s;t actions are not onely void of merit, but mortally al&s;o defiled and &s;in|full in the ju&s;te&s;t per&s;ons.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">ibid. c. 17. &amp; 18. c. 3. n. 10.</NOTE> Secondly, that the holie&s;t Souls are never clen&s;ed from &s;innes by any in|teriour graces in&s;u&s;ed into them: but onely by Gods mercie, they are not unto the elect imputed to damnation.</P>
<P>Thirdly, that good works are as fruits of faith gratefully by us per|formed, but concurre not in any &s;ort to our &s;alvation, and that faith
<PB N="163" REF="85"> alone withont them doth ju&s;tifie u8; <NOTE PLACE="marg">ib. c. 11. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. &amp;c. 2. n. 1. 9. 10.</NOTE> and by this faith he<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">aneth not that whereby revealed verities are believed by us, little valued by him: but that particular faith, whereby each elected per&s;on is to believe and firmely to per&s;wade him&s;elfe, that he is beloved of God, and &s;ure to be &s;aved, defi|ned by him to be a certaine a&s;&s;urance of enjoying eternall life, freelie by
<NOTE PLACE="marg">ib. c. 2. n. 38. &amp; 40. &amp; lib. 4. 6. 17. n. 2.</NOTE> Chri&s;t promi&s;ed, and interiourly by the holy, Gho&s;t revealed, and &s;igned unto him.</P>
<P>And in his farther declaration thereof, he confe&s;&s;eth that many here|tofore,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">lib. 3 c. 11. n. 13. 14.</NOTE> meaning the holy Fathers, conceived and taught, that by faith and good works together men were <NOTE PLACE="marg">c. 14. n. 16.</NOTE> ju&s;tified in Gods &s;ight. But we &s;ay this ju&s;tice to be gained by faith a|lone, and that it cannot &s;tand where good workes are valued and joyned with it, or confided in, even &s;uch as are &s;pirituall and be&s;t performed by us. Which doctrine was an he|re&s;ie in the Apo&s;tles time, and con|demned by them, as St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> af|firmeth, <NOTE PLACE="marg">lib de fid. &amp; ope<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. c. 14</NOTE> chiefly gathered then, as it
<PB N="164" REF="86"> is now from an ill under&s;tanding of hard places in S. <HI>Paul's</HI> Epi&s;tles, which unlearned and un&s;table per&s;ons (&s;aith St. <HI>Peter</HI>) depraved, as they do other Scriptures to their owne perdition. Which Here&s;ies, &s;o anciently condem|ned, ought now al&s;o to be bani&s;hed from all Chri&s;tian hearts (&s;aith the &s;ame Father) as tending to make them carele&s;&s;e to live well. And when S. <NOTE PLACE="marg">ad Rom. 3. 5.</NOTE> <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aid, <HI>I think a man to be ju&s;tified by faith without works,</HI> he meaneth not works by the faith and grace of Chri&s;t holily performed, but works of the Law, which the Jews were apt to glory in, even after their conver&s;ion to Chri&s;t, as if by them they had merited farre above the Gentiles to be called by him: Which fal&s;e per&s;wa&s;ion St. <HI>Paul</HI> doth refute in them.</P>
<P>Neither are the Apo&s;tles (&s;aith St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> St. <HI>Paul</HI> and St. <HI>James</HI>) con|trary to each other, when the one affirmeth, <HI>a man to be ju&s;tified by faith without works,</HI> &amp; the other teaches faith without works to be dead and worth nothing: becau&s;e the one &s;peaketh of
<PB N="165" REF="86"> works done before faith in Chri&s;t, and the other of workes by the grace and faith of Chri&s;t duly performed. Which true explication of &s;o great a Doctor, and by many other ancient Fathers embraced, <HI>Calvin</HI> in his wont|ed <NOTE PLACE="marg">l. 3. in&s;tin. c. 21. num. 10. 1 Cor. 13.</NOTE> mode&s;ty calleth <HI>&s;ubterfugium inepti&s;|&s;imum,</HI> a mo&s;t fooli&s;h eva&s;ion: albeit St. <HI>Paul</HI> in confirmarion thereof, &s;aith, that if he had all faith able to remove mountains, yet if he wanted charity it were nothing: for, &s;aith he, <HI>in Chri&s;t Je&s;u neither Circumci&s;ion, nor Prepuce availeth any thing, but faith that worketh by charity.</HI> And if <HI>Calvin</HI> had <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;cribed our ju&s;tification to this faith, he had taught true doctrine: But his particular faith and certaine per|&s;wa&s;ion which every one mu&s;t have, that he is one of Gods elect, and that Heaven is no le&s;&s;e &s;ure unto him than that Chri&s;t him&s;elfe enjoyeth it, is a mo&s;t de&s;perate fancy overthrow|ing all true Faith and Religion.</P>
<P>For whereas St. <HI>Paul</HI> willeth us <NOTE PLACE="marg">ad Phil. 2.</NOTE> with feare and trembling to worke out our Salvation: and S. <HI>Peter</HI> willeth <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 2. c. 1.</NOTE> us to &s;trive by good workes, to
<PB N="166" REF="87"> make &s;ure our vocation, and he that &s;tandeth i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> bidden to looke that he fall not, the&s;e and other like exhor|tations about fearing Gods Judge|ments, keeping his Commandements, walking as Children of Light, and the like, have no place at all where <HI>Calvin's</HI> faith is admitted. Yea, which is more ab&s;urd, &s;uch as have it can|not pray to obtaine of God per&s;e|verance in his love, and &s;ervice, without being &s;haken in their mo&s;t certaine a&s;&s;urance of eternall life pre|pared for them, no le&s;&s;e &s;urely than for Chri&s;t him&s;elfe; and why then &s;hould they pray for it or any thing belonging to the attaining thereof. But from what place of Scripture this particular faith may be gathe|red, by each party conceiving him|&s;elfe to have it revealed by the ho|ly Gho&s;t, and &s;igned in his heart, I could never learne, nor any man of Judgement. For albeit Chri&s;ts promi&s;es are &s;weet, able to afford great help and comfort unto &s;uch, as by a true faith and good life doe &s;eek to de&s;erve &s;uch eternall ble&s;&s;ings
<PB N="167" REF="87"> as are promi&s;ed in them; yet is there no one of them made unto any man in particular: nor, as they are made in generall, doe they want conditions needfully to be performed for the attaining of them: as when Chri&s;t &s;aid to the young man, <HI>if thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandementss. And when he told his</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mat.</HI> 5. &amp; 19.</NOTE> <HI>di&s;cipl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s, you are my friends, if you doe the&s;e things which I command yeu: tel|ling them el&s;where, that if their ju&s;tice did not abound more than that of the Scribes and Phari&s;ees, they &s;hould not enter in|to the kingdome of heaven:</HI> requiring &s;o not faith alone, but deeds al&s;o.</P>
<P>Becau&s;e the beginning of eternall life (&s;aith S. <HI>Ignatius</HI>) is faith, and the
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ep. ad Eph.</NOTE> perfect attaining thereof is Charity, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tract. 3. in Mat.</NOTE> and tho&s;e (&s;aith <HI>Origen</HI>) who have faith without good workes, have Lampes without Oyle, like tho&s;e fooli&s;h Virgins. Faith teacheth us our duties to God, but Charity <NOTE PLACE="marg">C. in Mat.</NOTE> performeth them: St. <HI>Hilary</HI> affir|meth all men to be &s;aved by right|ly believing what God hath revea|led, and doing what he commandes.
<PB N="168" REF="88"> <NOTE PLACE="marg">m. cap. 2. Epi&s;t. 8. Jac.</NOTE> St. <HI>Gregory Nazianzen,</HI> &s;hew thy faith by workes to be alive, and the &s;oyle of your Soul to be fruitfull, that you may hope to gather from it a plentitull harye&s;t. Remember o~ Chri|&s;tian
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Catech. 4. 15.</NOTE> (&s;aith St. <HI>Cyril</HI>) that in thy judgement thou &s;halt not by thy faith, but by thy workes be &s;aved or condemned. They are the oyle which will keepe thy Lamp flaming, when the heavenly &s;pou&s;e &s;hall come to call thee. But by faith (&s;aith St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI>) <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">om. 9. in</NOTE> we are invited to the wedding fea&s;t; but Charity is the wedding garment, with which we mu&s;t come cloathed unto it, when <HI>Calvins</HI> particular faith &s;hall prove a fancy.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="15" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="169" REF="88">
<HEAD>The fifteenth Controver&s;ie. <HI>Concerning the Merit of good Workes.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>CAlvin</HI> is &s;o great an enemy to the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 3. in&s;t. c. 15. n. 5.</NOTE> very name of merit, as he wi&s;heth that the ancient Fathers had never troubled the Church, and corrupted the true doctrine of Faith by it: and he is &s;o farre from granting any power of meriting unto us, as he de|ny<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">th the &s;ame unto Chri&s;t him&s;elf; if we &s;imply oppo&s;e him to the Judge|ment of his father, &amp; his rea&s;on is, <HI>quia non reperitur in homine dignitas, qua po&s;&s;et promereri Deum:</HI> Becau&s;e there can be <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2. c. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">7. n. 1.</NOTE> found no worth in man to merit of God any thing. U&s;ing &s;o a Ne&s;torian manner of &s;peaking, as if Chri&s;t had been man onely, and not God al&s;o, according to St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s words &s;aying, <HI>that God was in Chri&s;t reconciling the world unto him&s;elfe;</HI> &s;o that by the &s;ub|&s;i&s;ting of humane nature in a divine.
<PB N="170" REF="89"> per&s;on, the actions and pa&s;&s;ions were <HI>Theandricall,</HI> and of an infinite value, becau&s;e an infinit maje&s;ty was humbled in humane nature, by doing and &s;uffering them for us.</P>
<P>And that Chri&s;t merited by his o|bedience unto Death, and the death of the Cro&s;&s;e, the glory of his body, and exaltation of his name above all names; &s;o as at the name of Je&s;us all knees in heaven and earth below it likewi&s;e &s;hould be bowed, is by St. <HI>Paul</HI> expre&s;ly affirmed.</P>
<P>And that que&s;tion which <HI>Calvin</HI> pro|poundeth, <HI>quibus meritis a&s;&s;equi po&s;&s;et</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">ibid. n. 5.</NOTE> <HI>homo, ut judex e&s;&s;et mundi, caput Ange|lorum</HI> &amp;c. Argueth him guilty of folly and bla&s;phemy together, as unwilling to have any honour, how due &s;oever, granted unto God and Man our hea|venly Redeemer. And I can an&s;wer his que&s;tion in our Saviour's owne <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.</NOTE> words, &s;aying <HI>all power in heaven and earth is given unto me,</HI> thus explicated by <HI>Calvin</HI> him&s;elfe, he &s;peaketh not here of his eternall power, but of that which he had newly received, when hee was ordained Judge of the
<PB N="171" REF="89"> world, a little before denyed ab&s;o|lutely unto him; albeit the con|tinuall cry of Angels and Saints in heaven &s;heweth this dignity, both to have been given unto him, and merited by him. <HI>The Lamb which was &s;laine is worthy to receive all honour and glory, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>But it is no novelty for <HI>Calvin</HI> to <NOTE PLACE="marg">c. 5. n. 3. &amp;c. 11. n. 18. &amp; cap. 15. n. 3.</NOTE> contradict him&s;elfe by affirming and denying the &s;ame thing in a hundred places of his In&s;titutions onely. For example in the third book, he ex|pre&s;ly affirmeth that there can be no ju&s;tice of faith, but where good works and the opinion of merit gained by by them are excluded. Albeit before <NOTE PLACE="marg">c. 17. n. 1.</NOTE> in his &s;econd book he had blamed the overmuch nicene&s;s of &s;ome, who albe|it they acknowledge us by Chri&s;ts me|rits to be redeemed, yet love they not to hear the name of merit pronoun|ced, as co~ceiving his grace to be ob&s;cu|red by it: But (&s;aith he) Chri&s;ts merits <NOTE PLACE="marg">lib. 3. cap. 15. n. 3.</NOTE> are fooli&s;hly oppo&s;ed to Gods mercy for betweene &s;ubalternated things, there is no oppo&s;ition, Gods mercy, to wit, in freely ju&s;tifying us, and
<PB N="172" REF="90"> his Sons meriting &s;uch mercy for us. God in mean time calleth tho&s;e works done by his help ours, and promi&s;eth both to accept and reward them, &amp;<HI>c.</HI> good works therefore plea&s;e God, and are not unprofitable unto &s;uch as per|form them, which is Catholick do|ctrine, denied in other places frequent|ly and expre&s;&s;ely by him. Are there no merits (&s;aith S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI>) of ju&s;t per|&s;ons? <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 105. ad Sixtum.</NOTE> Yes, a&s;&s;uredly becau&s;e they are ju&s;t; but that they are ju&s;t, proceeded not of their own merits; for where grace precedeth not, merits cannot follow or be gained by any man: &s;o as when God rewardeth our works, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epist. 46.</NOTE> he crowneth his own mereies in us, and he maketh him&s;elf indebted to us, not by receiving any thing from us
<NOTE PLACE="marg">in p&s;al. 83.</NOTE> but by promi&s;ing to reward our acti|ons done for his &s;ervice.</P>
<P>And in this &s;ence we affirm all worth and merit of our Actions to proceed from Chri&s;t, and that union which by Faith and grace we have with him; as branches in a Vine receive all growth and fruitfulne&s;&s;e from it; while&s;t he infu&s;eth his holy &s;pirit into
<PB N="173" REF="90"> us, according to that of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>the charity of God is diffu&s;ed into our bearts by the holy Gho&s;t, who is given unto us;</HI> whereby we become the adopted chil|dren of God, and brethren of Chri&s;t, as partaking the &s;ame &s;pirit with him, and come &s;o to have a right unto a heavenly inheritance purcha&s;ed for us by him. Being likewi&s;e rai&s;ed to &s;o high a dignity, our actions as done by Gods adopted children, and with help of grace, become dignified al&s;o in the value of them, and worthy of that reward which God hath promi|&s;ed unto them; &s;o as from fir&s;t to la&s;t, Chri&s;t is the Origine, &s;ource and foun|tain of all merit in them.</P>
<P>And to prove the merit of holy a|ctions &s;o performed by us, there are &s;o many, and &s;uch pregnant places of &s;cripture, as any wi&s;e man may won|der at <HI>Calvins</HI> contrary doctrine. St. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.</NOTE> <HI>Paul</HI> for example, &s;aith that God &s;hall render unto every one according to <NOTE PLACE="marg">ad Gal. 6.</NOTE> his works: and teacheth us, el&s;where that each one &s;hall receive a reward ac|cording to his labours; for what a man &s;o weth, that he &s;hall r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ap. Call
<PB N="174" REF="91"> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.</NOTE> (&s;aith Chri&s;t) the workmen, and give them their hire, &amp;c. St. <HI>Paul</HI> for his labours and combats expected to be
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.</NOTE> crowned. Our Saviour biddeth his A|po&s;tles to rejoice at judgment approa|ching, becau&s;e the reward of their la|bours and &s;uffering &s;hall be great in
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Li. 4. c. 28.</NOTE> heaven: Who (&s;aith S. <HI>Irenaeus</HI>) wan|teth not our &s;ervices, yet requireth them of us, that for them he may be|&s;tow his ble&s;&s;ings upon us. And how <NOTE PLACE="marg">In &s;corpiaco cap. 6.</NOTE> el&s;e (&s;aith <HI>Tertullian</HI>) do Saints in hea|ven differ in their glory as &s;tars do in their brightne&s;&s;e, but by the variety of their merits. S. <HI>Hillary</HI> hath a whole <NOTE PLACE="marg">In P&s;al. 2.</NOTE> di&s;cour&s;e concerning the merit of good works, taught by S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> and by more than a Grand Jury of o|ther <NOTE PLACE="marg">c. 7. parte 3.</NOTE> Fathers: In&s;omuch as S. <HI>Dennis</HI> in his Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Hierarchy, after particular provings of rewards due to holy actions, concludeth that Gods ju&s;tice con&s;i&s;teth in this, that every one according to his work good or bad, is to be rewarded or puni&s;hed. And whereas many actions are plea&s;ing un|to God if they be done, and yet not commanded by him, as to imbrace Vir|ginity
<PB N="175" REF="91"> or continency of life perpetu|ally for the greater freedome to &s;erve God; to profe&s;&s;e poverty in a holy imitation of our Saviour, and imbrace other evangelicall Councels, <HI>cum omni alacritate adimplendo ea, que non &s;unt praecepta,</HI> with all alacrity fulfilling things not commanded unto them: as S. <HI>Ba|&s;il</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">cap. 22. con|&s;titutionum.</NOTE> &s;aid of his Religious, that as men offend not in omitting them; &s;o do they in ob&s;erving them plea&s;e God, and merit graces for them. And &s;uch works as the&s;e, we call works of &s;u|pererogation, not that we pretend (as our Adver&s;aries affirm fal&s;ly of us) to do &s;ervices above our duty to God, and what he hath by his infinite bounty de&s;erved from us; for to think or &s;ay &s;o, were folly and bla&s;phemy joyned together, but becau&s;e knowing our frailty and unablene&s;&s;e to love and &s;erve him, as the maje&s;ty of him&s;elf, and his infinite goodne&s;&s;e meriteth love and &s;ervices from us: he was plea&s;ed to command the performance of &s;ome duties under pain of being puni&s;hed if we omit them, and to leave others free unto us, which we may by the a&s;&s;i|&s;tance
<PB N="176" REF="92"> of his grace &s;upererogate, and add over above tho&s;e which are by him commanded &s;trictly unto us, not without &s;ingular rewards promi&s;ed by Chri&s;t unto them: as when he told S. <HI>Peter, You that have left all and followed me, &s;hall have a hundred fold in this life,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.</NOTE> <HI>and after it life everla&s;ting:</HI> which words (&s;aith S. <HI>Bernard</HI>) have filled the world with contemners thereof, and reple|ni&s;hed Mona&s;taries, and de&s;ert places with men and women, leaving the earth to gain heaven, accounting po|verty their riches, and living as Angels pure in their mindes, and cha&s;te in cor|ruptible bodies; accounting it their greate&s;t glory to be humbled for Chri&s;t unto Superiours cho&s;en by them&s;elves, and obediene in all things unto them. And &s;uch works of &s;u|pererogations, are not onely perfor|mable by religious, but by &s;ecular Per|&s;ons al&s;o, by exerci&s;ing the &s;pirituall and corporal works of mercy, al&s;o when they are not tyed to the perfor|mance of them: as in fa&s;ting for morti|fication of their bodies, on days and times not commanded unto them, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="16" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="177" REF="92">
<HEAD>The &s;ixteenth Controver&s;ie. <HI>About the po&s;&s;ibility of keeping Gods Commandements.</HI></HEAD>
<P>I will not mention here a horrible Sect of <HI>Luthers</HI> Di&s;ciples, called com|monly <HI>Antinomi,</HI> becau&s;e they wholy reject the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> according to morall precepts al&s;o, and as the De|calogue is therein contained, bla&s;phe|mou&s;ly affirming it to be better nailed to a G<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">llows, than propo&s;ed to Chri|&s;tians. Nor will I affirm here (as I might truly) that from <HI>Luther</HI> him&s;elf they learned this doctrine, albeit after|ward di&s;claimed by him: who (as a German Author of known &s;incerity citeth his own words) &s;pake thus of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and his law; We hear them not, they belong to Jews, and not to Chri|&s;tians; &s;o as if any one propo&s;eth him
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vlenbergius c. 18. ex <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">. 3. Germani|co Jenen&s;i f. 40, 41.</NOTE> with his commandem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nts unto thee, and would have thee to ob&s;erve them, bid him go with his <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to the Jews,
<PB N="178" REF="93"> for thou art none: will him not to troublethee with them, for that he is
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colloqui is men&s;alibus Ger. fo. 152, 153.</NOTE> an enemy to Chri&s;t, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> teaching in many other places that the law of Chri&s;t is a law of faith only, and not of other precepts, intangling mens Con&s;ciences again&s;t Chri&s;tian Liber|ty.</P>
<P>But omitting his gro&s;ne&s;s, I will come to treat with <HI>Calvin</HI> more <NOTE PLACE="marg">In luca c. 10 ver&s;um 26.</NOTE> &s;moothly, and in covert phra&s;es teach|ing the &s;ame d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ctrin, as where he hath the&s;e words, The law can do nothing but condemn us, becau&s;e it is not po&s;|&s;ible for us to perform what it com|mandeth, again&s;t that &s;aying of our Saviour, <HI>My yoak is &s;weet, and my burthen is light:</HI> and again&s;t S. <HI>John</HI> &s;aying of <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 1. c. 5.</NOTE> Gods commandments, <HI>gravia non &s;unt,</HI> they are not heavy: making God more cruel than any Tyrant among&s;t men can be, in commanding unto men things impo&s;&s;ible to be ob&s;erved by them; yet puni&s;hing with eternal tor|ments, &s;uch as do not ob&s;erve them: and (as <HI>Calvin</HI> affirmeth) that he re|gardeth not in the precepts of his law what men can do, but what men&s;hould
<PB N="179" REF="93"> do: whereas in many plain texts of <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 36.</NOTE> Scripture again&s;t this Bla&s;phemy, God promi&s;ed to put a new heart and a new &s;pirit into us; whereby we &s;hould be enabled to walk in his pre|cepts, and ob&s;erve his commande|ments. And it is &s;aid of <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> that he <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 11.</NOTE> fulfilld all the commandments, which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> gave unto him, and omitted not all precepts which God had given un|to him. And of S. <HI>John Bapti&s;ts</HI> parents it is &s;aid, that they were ju&s;t, and wal|ked in all the commandements and ju&s;tifications of our Lord without complaint: for which rea&s;on al&s;o <HI>Noah, Abraham, Job, David,</HI> and others are called in Scripture ju&s;t per&s;ons and faithfull &s;ervants of God, loving him with their whole heart: in which love the ob&s;ervance of his law, and commandments is certainly included, according to S. <HI>Johns</HI> words, <HI>He who &s;aith he loveth God, and ob&s;erveth not his commandements, is a lyar,</HI> to wit, accor|ding to that degree of love, which is in the fir&s;t commandment required of him, not meaning an infinite love, as God is in him&s;elf worthy to be belo|ved
<PB N="180" REF="94"> nor &s;uch an ardent and ince&s;&s;ant love, as is in the ble&s;&s;ed of heaven to|wards him, nor &s;uch a love as a holy man on earth may by any helps of grace po&s;&s;ibly attain unto; But only &s;o far as in our love no creature be preferred before him, or for the love of any created thing we be drawn to offend him. And to this degree of di|vine love every man is tyed, and can|not attain heaven without it, accor|ding to S. <HI>Johns</HI> words, <HI>qui&punc; non diligit, manet in morte,</HI> he is dead that loveth not: and for what more he addeth to this love, he &s;hall in heaven be glori|ou&s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> ewarded.</P>
<P>Neither can any rea&s;onable man conceive &s;o fooli&s;hly of our heavenly Redeemer, the Word and Wi&s;dome of his Father, that after his la&s;t Supper, he would more than once require of his Di&s;ciples, &s;o dear as they were un|to him, that they &s;hould &s;hew their love towards him in keeping his com|mandments, if he had known it to have been (as <HI>Calvin</HI> affirmeth) impo&s;|&s;ible for them or any man to ob&s;erve them: nor had he &s;o &s;weetly required
<PB N="181" REF="94"> of them the obfervance of them, <HI>If you love me keep my Commandements.</HI> For had they believed <HI>Calvins</HI> wicked do|ctrine, they might have replied and asked of him, Lord how can'&s;t thou require of us, if we love thee to keep thy commandments; if it be impo&s;&s;i|ble for us to ob&s;erve them? And when the young man in the Go&s;pel told him <HI>That he had kept them from his youth,</HI> our Saviour denied not what he &s;aid, but rather loved him for it, as the Evan|geli&s;t telleth us, and propo&s;ed a higher cour&s;e of Sanctity unto him.</P>
<P>Moreover, were <HI>Calvins</HI> doctrine true, when the young man asked our Saviour, what he might do to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e life everla&s;ting? his an&s;wer was dread|full to him and us al&s;o, <HI>If thou wil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> en|ter into life, keep the Commandments.</HI> For if this condition be needfull, as Chri&s;ts &s;peech importeth, and impo&s;&s;ible to be <NOTE PLACE="marg">Serm. atten|de atten|de tibi.</NOTE> performed (as <HI>Calvin</HI> affirmeth) how can any man hope to be &s;aved? Where|fore S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> rightly affirmed it to be a wicked &s;aying, that Gods Command|ments were impo&s;&s;ible to be ob&s;erved. S. <HI>Hierom</HI> &s;aid well, that Chri&s;t co~man|ded <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Mal. 5.</NOTE>
<PB N="182" REF="95"> perfect things, not impo&s;&s;ible. St. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de nat. &amp; gratia c. 43. &amp; 69.</NOTE> <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> in &s;undry places averreth and proveth this doctrine thus declared, more then 1200. years &s;ince, in the 2. Arca&s;ican Council: Wee believe as a Catholick point of faith, that men bapti&s;ed by the help of Chri&s;t, &amp; a&s;&s;i&s;t|ance of his grace, if they labour faith|fully with it, may perform what to <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hom. 8. de paenitentia.</NOTE> the attaining of eternall life is requi|red of them. S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> moreover addeth, that many do more than is re|quired of them to be &s;aved.</P>
<P>Rea&s;on likewi&s;e it &s;elf teacheth us, that if Gods commandments were impo&s;&s;ible to be ob&s;erved, no man could offend by the breach of them, be|cau&s;e no man can be rea&s;onably tyed to what is impo&s;&s;ible to be ob&s;erved by him: whence it would follow that &s;inne, con&s;i&s;ting in the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion of Gods law, &s;hould be no &s;in at all, as not voluntarily but nece&s;&s;arily incurred. Neither hath Chri&s;t provided &s;uffici|ently for our &s;alvation again&s;t many texts of &s;cripture, if by his grace he nei|ther hath nor can inable us to fulfill his law and Commandements under
<PB N="183" REF="95"> pain of damnation required of us, not without a manife&s;t cruelty again&s;t his known goodne&s;&s;e, and mercy towards us, and again&s;t the very end of his coming to reedeem us: that as holy <HI>Zachary</HI> &s;ung in his Canticle, <HI>Being de|livered out of the bands of our enemies, we may &s;erve him in &s;anctity and ju&s;tice all dayes of our life.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="17" TYPE="controversy">
<HEAD>The &s;eventeenth Controver&s;ie <HI>Of Fea&s;ts and Fa&s;ts Apo&s;tolically or|dained, and neglected both by Engli&s;h Calvini&s;ts and Indepen|dants.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AMong&s;t whom no fea&s;t at all is ob|&s;erved but Sunday; whereas in all Provinces belonging to the Low-Country States, tho&s;e, who profe&s;&s;e <HI>Calvins</HI> doctrine, and decline not unto the utmo&s;t &s;trictne&s;s &amp; impiety there|of, are yearly accu&s;tomed with great &s;olemnity to ob&s;erve for two dayes together, the fea&s;t of our Saviours Na|tivity, and in like manner the fe&s;tivi|ties
<PB N="184" REF="96"> of Ea&s;ter and Whit&s;untide. Our Saviours Pre&s;entation al&s;o, his Incar|nation, and the Epiphany are among&s;t them fe&s;tivally ob&s;erved, and &s;o are the Fea&s;ts of All Saints, and of the A|po&s;tles, with &s;ome other chief Fe&s;tivi|ties: and in other of le&s;&s;e note Ser|vants and Trade&s;men ab&s;tain from work, as I have noted in &s;everal Cities whil&s;t I lived among&s;t them, and here|by they retain &s;ome &s;hew of Chri&s;tia|nity among&s;t them. Ask likewi&s;e of any Pa&s;tor or intelligent per&s;on a|mong&s;t them, (as I have done of ma|ny) why they celebrate, for example, Chri&s;ts Nativity? they will tell you, it is to honour his comming into the world to redeem us. Ask al&s;o, why they keep Ea&s;ter? they will an&s;wer it to be in memory of his Re&s;urrection, after he had by his death on the Cro&s;&s;e redeemed us. And ask them, why they celebrate Penteco&s;t? they will &s;ay be|cau&s;e on that day the Holy Gho&s;t de|&s;cended upon the Apo&s;tles and Di&s;ci|ples of our Saviour, to write his law in their hearts and make them able to preach and teach it unto others al&s;o
<PB N="158" REF="96"> and Pa&s;tors in their &s;ermons on &s;uch dayes have, as I have &s;aid, a commen|dable care to declare unto the people the my&s;teries and meanings of &s;uch fe&s;tivities, affirming them to be no good Chi&s;tians, nor worthy to par|take in &s;uch ble&s;&s;ings received by the Son of God, who will not in &s;uch fea&s;ts gratefully and particularly ac|knowledge them.</P>
<P>All which religious manner of ob|&s;erving <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. in|&s;tit. cap. 8. n. 8. &amp; &s;e|quent.</NOTE> Fea&s;ts for the &s;ignification of them, and chiefe My&s;teries of faith remembred in them; is held by <HI>Cal|vin</HI> him&s;elfe, and other pure profe&s;|&s;ors of his doctrine to be plainly Ju|daicall and &s;uper&s;titious. Yea, and that Sunday it &s;elfe is for orders &s;ake onely in the Church to be &s;o indiffe|rently ob&s;erved, as Chri&s;tians may, if they will, choo&s;e any other day in the week in place thereof. So willing is he and his followers to blot out of mens memories all benefits and ble&s;|&s;ings by the Son of God con<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">rred on us; yet they cannot but know, that Chri&s;tians made in the Apo&s;tl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="3 letters">e their Synaxes and meetings on Sun|day
<PB N="186" REF="97"> called in the Acts by St. <HI>Paul</HI> after <NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 20. 1 Cor. 16. Apoc. 1.</NOTE> an Hebrew manner of &s;peaking, <HI>una Sabbati,</HI> one or the fir&s;t day of the week: and by St. <HI>John</HI> our Lords day, and by St. <HI>Ignatius,</HI> who lived to &s;ee <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;tol. ad Magnet. can. 16. A|po&s;t. Apolo. 2. de coron. milit. lib. 7. &s;trom. hom. 7. in Ex<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d.</NOTE> Chri&s;t, the chiefe and Queen of all dayes, mentioned by St. <HI>Clement,</HI> by <HI>St. Ju&s;tin Martyr,</HI> by <HI>Tertullian,</HI> by St. <HI>Clement</HI> of <HI>Alexandria,</HI> by <HI>Origen</HI> and other ancient Fathers, as Apo&s;toli|cally ordayned, and wont to be kept in memory of our Saviour's Re&s;ur|rection.</P>
<P>And if the Apo&s;tles had authority to tran&s;late the Jewi&s;h Sabbaoth, which was Saturday into our Sun|day, and command the ob&s;ervance thereof, why &s;hould not other Fea&s;ts likewi&s;e certainly ordained by them, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 5. c. 13.</NOTE> be by us equally ob&s;erved? The day for example of our Lords Nativity, men|tioned by St. <HI>Clement,</HI> and graced by many homilies and &s;ermons preach'd thereon by many chie&s;e Fathers. The day likewi&s;e of the Epiphany, the fea&s;ts of Ea&s;ter, Penteco&s;t, and our Saviours A&s;cen&s;ion in their Apo&s;to|licall antiquity te&s;tified unto us:
<PB N="187" REF="97"> and &s;o are the fea&s;ts of St. Stephen, <NOTE PLACE="marg">St. Clemens lib. 8. con|&s;tit. cap. 39.</NOTE> of the holy Innocents, and many dayes of Apo&s;tles, and Martyrs kown to have been in Chri&s;ts Church timely ob&s;erved. The church of <HI>Smyrna</HI> for ex|ample &s;olemnly ob&s;erved the day of St. <HI>Polycarp's</HI> martyrdome, as <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> recounteth; <HI>Origen</HI> mentioneth the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. bi&s;t. 6. 15.</NOTE> the fea&s;t of Innocents celebrated in his time &amp;c. And if the Angels in heaven <NOTE PLACE="marg">hom. 3. in diver&s;os</NOTE> rejoyce at the conver&s;ion of Sinners on earth, why may we not as well rejoyce and prai&s;e God in the glori|ous martyrdome of his Servants, and their happy entrance into heaven; whereby God is more glorified, and the number of ble&s;&s;ed Souls increa&s;ed ready to pray for us.</P>
<P>And whereas it is objected by our Adver&s;aries, that St. <HI>Paul</HI> feared the Galatians, becau&s;e they did ob&s;erve dayes moneths and yeares; willed the <HI>Colo&s;&s;en&s;es</HI> al&s;o that no man &s;hould judge them either in meat or drinke or part of any fe&s;tivity: it is certaine that he &s;pake of Judaical ob&s;ervances about meats, dayes, new moones, and other like Fe&s;tivities.</P>
<PB N="188" REF="98">
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> c. Mat. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> lib. 4. in&s;tit. c. 12: n. 19, 20, 21.</NOTE> When <HI>Calvin</HI> likewi&s;e after his ac|cu&s;tomed boldne&s;&s;e concerning the &s;o|lemne Fa&s;t in Lent, mentioned by St. <HI>Ignatius</HI> and other chief Fathers after him, as an Apo&s;tolicall in&s;titution, exhorting people to a &s;trict and reli|gious ob&s;ervance thereof, he calleth it a meere foolery, and dete&s;table wick|ed mockery of Chri&s;t, and u&s;eth this brainle&s;&s;e argument to prove it, be|cau&s;e for&s;ooth Chri&s;t's miraculous fa&s;t, without any meat or drink at all, is ob&s;cured by it. And for that we proudly adorne our &s;elves with his &s;poyles, onely becau&s;e in a holy imi|tation of him we make fewer meales, than we are accu&s;tom'd a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> other times, and ab&s;taine from fle&s;hly meats mo&s;t nouri&s;hing and plea&s;ing unto us: As <HI>Daniel,</HI> to ha&s;ten the returne of his <NOTE PLACE="marg">c. 10.</NOTE> Peoople out of their Babylonian cap|tivity, fa&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ed, and ab&s;tained from Bread de&s;iderable, or mo&s;t de&s;ired by him.</P>
<P>And when he objecteth that in our fa&s;ts, by ab&s;taining from fle&s;h we imi|tate the Jewes in the legal difference of clean and uncleane meats, he lyeth
<PB N="189" REF="98"> again&s;t his Con&s;cience: for when he was an under-pa&s;tor of our Church at <HI>Naion,</HI> he was bound to know and teach the contrary; to wit that in Lent and on fa&s;ting dayes we ab&s;taine from fle&s;hly meats to mortify our &s;elves, not becau&s;e we conceive &s;uch meats in them&s;elves to be uncleane and unwhole&s;ome, but becau&s;e they are on &s;uch dayes by a ju&s;t praecept of the Church, and an ancient cu&s;tome of all good Chri&s;tians forbidden un|to us: And &s;uch as are &s;ick, or have any ju&s;t cau&s;e freely doe eat them, without any uncleanne&s;&s;e at all con|ceived of them.</P>
<P>And why is it that he and his fel|lows are &s;uch profe&s;&s;ed enemies to all publick fa&s;ts, and other exerci&s;es of mortification u&s;ed anciently a|mong Chri&s;tians, but becau&s;e under a fal&s;e pretence of evangelicall liberty they &s;eek after commodities of their belly. Whereas our divine Lord him|&s;elfe promi&s;ed, that his children <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 9.</NOTE> &s;hould fa&s;t when he was taken from them: and St. <HI>Paul</HI> coun&s;elled mar|ried <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor.</NOTE> couples to make at times their
<PB N="190" REF="99"> and prayer more acceptable to God by living continently together, as in other places he willeth Pa&s;tors and Guides of Souls to exhibite them|&s;elves Gods mini&s;ters in much pati|ence, <NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.</NOTE> in vigils, <HI>injejuniis multis,</HI> in patience in labours, in watchings, and much fa&s;ting: And while&s;t that praecept did la&s;t of ab&s;taining from bloud and &s;trangled meats, it was by all good Chri&s;tians &s;trictly ob&s;erved. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 4. in|&s;tit. c. 12. n. 14.</NOTE> And if that be true which <HI>Calvin</HI> affir|meth him&s;elfe, that in the Church by the power of the keys, Pa&s;tors for ju&s;t cau&s;es may ordaine &s;olemne fa&s;ts, &s;up|plications, and other exerci&s;es of Chri&s;tian Piety, albeit not expre&s;&s;ed in Scripture, and that this power was u&s;ually, and lawfully practi|&s;ed, not onely by the Apo&s;tles, but Prophets likewi&s;e before them: Why might not the Apo&s;tles al&s;o by the &s;ame power ordain the fa&s;t of Lent and Ember dayes: Vigils al&s;o before great fea&s;ts for the glorie of God, and &s;pirituall benefit of faithfull &s;oules throughout the whole Church con|&s;tantly &amp; continually to be ob&s;erv'd.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="18" TYPE="controversy">
<PB N="191" REF="99">
<HEAD>The Eighteenth Controver&s;ie. <HI>Concerning Prede&s;tination.</HI></HEAD>
<P>WHerein <HI>Calvin's</HI> doctrines are horribly bla&s;phemous in them&s;elves, and injurious to the knowne goodne&s;&s;e and mercy of all|mighty God: for whereas he was &s;aid in Scripture, <HI>not to have made Death,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Sap. 1.</NOTE> <HI>nor to rejoyce in mens perdition. That he would have all be &s;aved, and none to peri&s;h,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2.</NOTE> <HI>but by penance to have all return unto him.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3.</NOTE> That God is never angry with any man (&s;aith <HI>Fulgentius</HI>) but fir&s;t offen|ded by him; <HI>Calvin</HI> expre&s;&s;ely affir|meth <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 3. cap. n. 1. &amp; 2. &amp;c. 21. n. 4.</NOTE> him in &s;undry places of his In|&s;titutions, of his own free will with|out any re&s;pect of their actions good or bad, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o have praede&s;tinated the greate&s;t rart of men to be eternally <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>ib. c, 23. n. 4. 7. &amp; 9. &amp;c. 24. n.</HI> 8. &amp; 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&punc;</NOTE> damned, and ordained them to com|mit many and grievous &s;innes, that they might become ve&s;&s;els of his wrath &s;ury and indignation ju&s;tly executed
<PB N="192" REF="100"> upon them. Yea, and that Chri&s;t died not to &s;ave them, or to purcha&s;e faith, grace or any benefit at all for them.</P>
<P>And if you aske him with what ju|&s;tice <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. in&s;tit. c. 17. &amp; 15 Lib. 2. c. 4 Lib. 3. c. 23. In Mat. 13.</NOTE> God can puni&s;h &s;inners, whom him&s;elf ordained to offend him, yea, which is more, whom he incites, mo|veth and enforceth, &s;o as they cannot re&s;i&s;t him to commit &s;uch &s;innes as are mo&s;t hainous and di&s;plea&s;ing unto him? he will tell you that it is <HI>area|num</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 2, c. 8. n. 3.</NOTE> <HI>quoddam humanae mentis per&s;picaci|tatem longi&s;&s;ime excedens</HI> a &s;ecret far &s;ur|pa&s;&s;ing mans wit to be conceived, ma|king God not onely Author of mens damnation, but of tho&s;e &s;innes like|wi&s;e for which he condemneth them, and &s;o con&s;equently a greater Tyrant than ever was among&s;t men, or can be imagined.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t again&s;t plaine authorities of Scripture, wherein God is &s;aid <HI>non</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 5</NOTE> <HI>volcns iniquitatem,</HI> no willer of iniqui|ty, but a hater of the wicked and all <NOTE PLACE="marg">Sap. 14. P&s;. 44.</NOTE> their impiety. That he loveth Ju&s;tice and hateth all iniquity. That his eyes are cleane, and cannot approve
<PB N="193" REF="100"> evill. That he delivereth men from temptations, but tempteth no man.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Habac. 1 Jacob 1.</NOTE></P>
<P>Secondly, again&s;t the light of Faith and Rea&s;on together, by chan|ging the nature it &s;elfe of Sinne, and making it a holy worke; as b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ing done according to the will of God, inciting and moving men unto it, ta|king &s;o away all difference between good and evill actions, by making the greate&s;t &s;ins of men Gods, e&s;peciall works: and de&s;troying the high at|tribute of sanctity in God, whereby all his Coun&s;els, Will, and Works are &s;aid to be holy, as ever conformable to the highe&s;t rule of rectitude, his own wi&s;dom, to wit, and goodne&s;&s;e, which he cannot go again&s;t without denying him&s;elf in any wicked will, or action done by him.</P>
<P>So as <HI>Eu&s;ebiu&s;</HI> &s;aid well, he among&s;t <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 6. de praep<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rat. Evangilicae</NOTE> men mu&s;t certainly be the wickede&s;t, that will affirm God to move men to commit Adulteries, Rapines, and o|ther Sins: becau&s;e if this were &s;o, not men, but their Creator him&s;elf &s;hould be chiefly Author of &s;ch &s;ins, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd men not blameable at all in doing them,
<PB N="194" REF="101"> as inforced by him to commit them: which &s;eemed &s;o helli&s;h a doctrine to the Magi&s;trates of <HI>Bern, Calvins</HI> next neighbours, as under great penalties they have forbidden their Pa&s;tors to hold or teach it. And <HI>Amandus Pola|nus,</HI> chief Profe&s;&s;or at <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> hath writ|ten a whol book again&s;t this execrable doctrine. And <HI>Graverus,</HI> a chief <HI>Luthe|ran</HI> Divine, hath in a particular Trea|ti&s;e, proved <HI>Calvins</HI> whole doctrine of Prede&s;tination, <HI>impiam e&s;&s;e &amp; ab&s;urdi&s;|&s;imam,</HI> to be mo&s;t wicked and ab&s;urd. <HI>Jacobus Andraeas Luthers</HI> &s;ucce&s;&s;or at <HI>Wit|tenberg,</HI> hath made the like judgment <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Epitome Colloquii Montis graden&s;is.</NOTE> thereof, and &s;o have the <HI>Tigurin,</HI> and <HI>Bernian</HI> Divines in their &s;everal con|fe&s;&s;ion<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> of faith. <HI>Bullinger</HI> likewi&s;e him&s;elf hath particularly impugned it, be&s;ides other Authors, &amp;<HI>c.</HI></P>
<P>And again&s;t <HI>Calvins</HI> horrible do|ctrine, <HI>that Chri&s;t died onely for the Elect,</HI> without any benefit at all intended for others by him. <HI>Hemingius</HI> hath written a book intituled, <HI>De gra|tia &V;niver&s;ali,</HI> of Univer&s;all Grace, wherein he proveth by many clear texts of Scripture, that Chri&s;t was &s;ent
<PB N="195" REF="101"> by his Father to redeem the whole world, to &s;ave all mankinde, to take away the &s;innes of the world, to call &s;inners, to clean&s;e them with his blood &amp;<HI>c.</HI> that his death was in it &s;elf &s;uffi|cient to redeem all men, made for that purpo&s;e by them&s;elves ineffectuall. And that nothing can be more cer|tainly and plainly te&s;tified in Scri|pture, then that great graces have been given unto many, who notwith|&s;tanding are damned, becau&s;e they did not rightly and per&s;everantly make u&s;e of them.</P>
<P>God is good (&s;aith S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI>) and <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 3. in Julianum de articulis illi fa. &s;o impo&s;itis.</NOTE> he is ju&s;t, he can &s;ave &s;ome without any merits, becau&s;e he is good, and he can|not without demerits condemn any man, becau&s;e he is ju&s;t, <HI>ejus praede&s;tinatio nunquam extra bonitatem, nunquam extra ju&s;titiam e&s;t,</HI> his prede&s;tination ever in|cludeth goodne&s;&s;e and ju&s;tice; he knoweth before they are done the good, and evill actions of all men; yet &s;o (&s;aith S. <HI>Fulgentius</HI>) as he prede|&s;tinateth <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. ad No|nymum.</NOTE> the former, and the latter are permitted onely by him. And this is true generally, that he is never angry
<PB N="196" REF="102"> with any man untill he hath by his iniquity provoked him. And when he is &s;aid to be Author of evils in Scripture, it is to be under&s;tood of penall evils, and puni&s;hments of &s;uch, as have offended him: when likewi&s;e he is &s;aid to have hardned <HI>Pharoahs</HI> heart, and cau&s;ed the Egyptians to hate his People, to have commanded <HI>Simei</HI> to revile <HI>David;</HI> the&s;e and the like maner of &s;peakings are to be un|der&s;tood, not only of permitting &s;uch per&s;ons to will and do wicked things, but of withdrawing al&s;o for ju&s;t cau|&s;es the light of his grace from them, and &s;uffering the Devill more power|fully to tempt them: ordaining &s;till to his own greater glory the wicked|ne&s;&s;e of them.</P>
<P>Let us not therefore conc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ive &s;o hardly of him, who is mercy &amp; good|ne&s;&s;e it &s;elf; that the onely chief cau&s;e why he permitteth mens &s;innes, to be this, that he may puni&s;h the Authors of them: for albeit among&s;t other rea&s;ons S. <HI>Paul</HI> a&s;&s;igneth this for one, yet are there other cau&s;es to be yeild|ed for his permi&s;&s;ion, as to leave men
<PB N="197" REF="102"> to the freedome of their own wills, to &s;hew greater mercy unto them, after they have offended him; that his Sons merits may be u&s;efull in his Church, by being applied to the remi&s;&s;ion of mens &s;ins by Sacraments, for that pur|po&s;e ordained by him, who&s;e incarna|tion was by <HI>Adams</HI> &s;in, as the Church &s;ingeth on <HI>Ea&s;ter</HI> Eve, happily occa&s;i|oned; Ble&s;&s;edly therefore permitted by God, not ab&s;olutely willed or de|creed by him, as is by <HI>Calvin</HI> fal&s;ly and wickedly affirmed: from who&s;e patient loving and mercifull proceedings to|wards Sinners, here in this world, af|ter they have often and hainou&s;ly of|fended him, we may well gather how far he is now, and ever he hath been from ha&s;ting his judgments, or de|lighting him&s;elf in executing the ri|gour of his ju&s;tice on them, according to <HI>Calvins</HI> doctrine; again&s;t which we Catholicks deny not Gods Prede&s;tina|tion and Reprobation of Souls to be chief parts of his generall Providence over Creatures, to their &s;everall ends directed by him: but acknowledge that by the &s;ormer, all ordained to &s;alvation are certainly &s;aved by him,
<PB N="198" REF="103"> and by the latter others are no le&s;&s;e certainly damned: the one is an Act of Gods mercy freely and graciou&s;ly without any de&s;ert at all unto &s;ome a|above others afforded by him, and the other is an act of Ju&s;tice, and a will to puni&s;h &s;uch as have offended him, that is the Origin and Source of all ble&s;&s;ings and meanes of attaining &s;al|vation for us in this life prepared, as St. <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> hath defined it. The other is the cau&s;e not of &s;in (as <HI>Calvin</HI> affirmed) but of all pain and puni&s;hment due to it, that is of Gods free election, not &s;uppo&s;ing any good in our &s;elves be|fore it: but this other is neither de|creed nor inflicted by God, all good|ne&s;s &amp; mercy, but for &s;ome evill for|merly committed. Tho&s;e were not more worthy or better di&s;po&s;ed to be cho&s;en by God, than the&s;e other, who made them&s;elves worthy by their ill deeds to be damned by him.</P>
<P>As tho&s;e by congruous &amp; effectuall graces are holpen unto their lives end to attain Salvation, &s;o the&s;e others want not &s;ufficient graces, &amp; helps to be &s;aved with a free liberty of their
<PB N="199" REF="103"> wills to make u&s;e accordingly of them. God for his part doth mo&s;t &s;eriou&s;ly exhort, command, by threats likewi&s;e and promi&s;es &s;eek to draw &s;inners unto him out of a will to &s;ave them; &s;o as it mu&s;t be imputed unto them&s;elves, when for their &s;ins they ju&s;tly de&s;erve to be damned by him. And to conclude this doctrine, as a crown is prepa|red according to the merit of such, as are free|ly prede&s;tinated &amp; cho&s;en, &s;o are puni&s;hments prepar'd &amp; inflicted on tho&s;e, who are reproba|ted &amp; not cho&s;en, as by wicked facts they have de&s;erv'd them. And herein con&s;i&s;ts the aby&s;&s;all depth of Gods mercy to ward his elect, that in a like e&s;tate of damnation incurr'd by all man|kind, he will have mercy of &s;ome to &s;ave them, and not of others according to his high plea|&s;ure without any wrong at all done to them.</P>
<P>This doctrine de&s;troyes the dilemma, or mad arguument of &s;ome carele&s;s of their eter|nall &s;alvation. Either I am prede&s;tinated or not? If I bee, &s;ure I am, let me doe what I will, to be &s;aved. If I be not, let me live ne|ver &s;o holily, &s;ure I am to be damned: becau&s;e nether part of this collection is true; for if thou art prede&s;tinated to glory, it mu&s;t be by living well, and &s;erving God as thou &s;hould'&s;t do: and if thou faile&s;t in doing &s;o, thou may&s;t
<PB N="200" REF="104"> a&s;&s;ure thy &s;elf that thou art prede&s;tinated, nor can&s;t thou have any hope to be &s;aved. And if thou art not prede&s;tinated, thou &s;halt, I deny not, certainly be d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">mried, but it &s;hall be for thy owne &s;infull life, which thou might&s;t have ordered otherwi&s;e by Gods grace, not denied unto thee, and &s;o have come to be prede&s;tina|ted and &s;aved.</P>
<P>And this free election and prede&s;tination of &s;ome, and not of others to grace &amp; glory, in|crea&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">th true piety in holy &s;ouls, by perfectly &s;ubjecting them to the high will and plea&s;ure of God; and relying on his grace, make them with fear and trembling work their owne &s;al|vation, and &s;trive as St. <HI>Peter</HI> willeth them, by living well and doing good works to make &s;ure their election; not pre&s;uming of their owne forces or merits, but &s;olidly grounding them&s;elves in an humble &amp; confident hope of Gods gracious love and goodne&s;&s;e for his &s;ons &s;ake, and by his inexhau&s;ted merits procured for them. Leaving his &s;ecret judgements unto God him&s;elf with love and veneration, and without overcuriou&s;ly diving into them, &s;o re&s;olved, that during their life (what&s;oever &s;hall happen unto them afterwards) they will &s;trive as they can, by the help of his grace to plea&s;e, love and &s;erve him.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
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</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
