THREE SMALL AND plain Treatises. 1. Of Prayers or Active Divinity. 2. Of Principles, or Positive Divinity. 3. Resolutions, or Oppositive Divinity. Translated and collected out of the Ancient Writers for the private use of a most Noble Lady. By an old PRAEBENDARY of the Church of Lincoln. CERTAIN PRAYERS, AND short MEDITATIONS translated out of the Writings of S. Augustine, S. Gregory, S. Bernard, joannes Picus Mirandula, Ludovicus Viues, Georgius Cassander, Charolus Paschalius, and others, for the private Use of the L. M. B. Morning Prayer. MY Soul fleeth unto the Lord before the morning Watch, Psal. 130.6. I say, before the morning Watch. O let me hear thy loving kindness betimes in the morning, Psal. 143.8. for in thee is my trust: show thou me the way, that I should walk in, for I lift up my soul unto thee. O Lord assist me with thy holy Spirit in my prayers, And let my cry come unto thee. Our Father which art, etc. A Prayer for Confession of sins. S. Greg. Homil. 33. in job. Receive (O Lord) in the arms of thy mercy, thy distressed handmaiden, who in remorse and contrition, returns unto thee from her sins. Because the life of that sinner is not abhorred of thee, which is accompanied with sighs, and repentance. Pardon then (O Lord) all my offences for thy dear Sons sake. Amen. A Prayer for the Morning. ALmighty God, Georg. Cassander Pres. Eccles. our heavenly Father, which hast brought me thy handmaiden to this present morning, protect me still with thy mighty power, that this ensuing day, I may fall into no sin, nor run into any kind of danger, but that my thoughts, words, and deeds may tend to the honour, and glory of thy name, and the eternal comfort, and salvation of mine own soul, through jesus Christ my Lord, and only Saviour. Amen. Another. Viues. O Most sincere, and pure Light, from whence this light of the day, and of the Sun fetcheth his beginning; Thou which enlightenest every man, that cometh into the world. Thou Light, whom no night, or evening can obscure, but continuest ever in thy High-noon brightness. Thou Word, and Wisdom of so great a Father, enlighten this morning my soul, and understanding, that thy weak handmaiden may be this day as blinded to the Vanities of the world; and quicksighted only to those things, which are pleasing unto thee, and leading to the ways of thy Commandments. Amen. For the Mediation of Christ. LOrd jesus, Greg. Hom. 7. in Ezech. that art not only righteous, but righteousness itself, and art my Advocate with God the Father, justify thou me thy hand-maiden in the day of judgement, because I acknowledge, and accuse myself, as full of unjustice, and pollution. For it is not upon any action, or contrition of mine own, that my soul relies, but only upon a faith, assurance, and bold confidence in thee, mine Advocate, who livest, and raignest with the Father, and the holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. Against Temptations. Give me thy grace (O Almighty God) so to vanquish, Aug. Serm. 86. de verbis Domini. and overcome the lusts, and temptations of this world, that I may triumph with thee over the Devil, and his wicked angels in the world to come. Amen. For Piety. I Humbly beseech thee (O Almighty God) that this desire of reading, Aug. Serm. 82. and hearing thy sacred Word, which by thy holy Spirit thou hast planted in my heart, may by thy grace, and mercy be daily renewed, and augmented unto a perfect fire of zeal, and devotion to the honour of thy Name, and salvation of mine own soul in Christ jesus. Amen. A Prayer for a Noble-woman. Carolus Paschalius. O Lord jesus Christ, that art so far from contemning Nobility of birth, that thy Evangelists have diligently searched out, and recorded thine own genealogy, give me thy unworthy handmaiden the grace, that I abuse not by ingratitude this thy favour, and mercy. But rather, as it was first acquired in my Ancestors, let it still be preserved in my person, by my continual serving of thee, and doing (as it shall lie in my power) all works of Charity to my neighbours. Give me grace, that as thou hast placed me in Birth, and rank, so I may be found in devotion, piety, lowliness of mind, meekness, and a religious care of thy worship, conspicuous above others. And if it be ●hy gracious will to make me a mother of children, and a mistress of a family, let me appear a pattern and ensample of devotion, and piety to all that are about me. And make me and them so to live in thy fear, that we may die in thy favour, through jesus Christ our Lord, and only Saviour. Amen. A Prayer for a Wife. Charolus Paschal. ALmighty God, which haste given me to be a comforter, and an helper unto my husband, endue my soul with those heavenly Graces, wherewith I may be most enabled to serve thee, and please him. Knit our minds, as well as our bodies in an indissoluble band of sincere affection. Give either of us sanctified hearts, zealous towards thee, thankful towards our Sovereign, sincere, and loving one towards another. Crown withal, if it be thy will, these chaste intentions with thy fructifying Grace, that we may become the happy Parents of such Olive branches, as may one day advance thy glory in this Church, and Commonwealth. In a word, so incorporate us both by faith in Christ unto thy kingdom of Grace, that we may at the last attain unto thy kingdom of glory. Amen. A prayer for one attendant near the person of a Prince. Carolus Paschal. ALmighty God, by whose gracious providence it cometh, that my Lord, and Husband is thus employed in that nearness of attendance upon his Royal Majesty, give him grace so to serve thee, that he may the better serve him, and by making him thy Saint, continue him his servant. Fill his mind with all wisdom, knowledge, and other virtues befitting his rank and calling, that he may seem no more elected by the King, then selected by thee for these employments. Make him vigilant, careful, and industrious in his Masters afaires. Make him to account it his only happiness to serve thee, his only virtue to observe him, and all the rest as glittering vanity. That after a troublesome, but long life in a King's Court, his soul may be carried by the Angels unto thy Court, where one day is better than a thousand. Grant this for thy dear Son's sake jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Meditation. Count MIRANDULA, his twelve Thoughts, or weapons against all the temptations of Sinne. Think Io. Pici Mirandulae Doctr. Salutif. 1 THe pleasure thou art tempted unto, but short, and momentary. 2 And even this is attended with loathing and anxiety. 3 And yet that for this, thou must lose Heaven. 4 That thy life is but as a dream and shadow. 5 Thy death is sudden, and at thy door. 6 Thy time of repentance casual, and uncertain. 7 Thy reward, or punishment endless and eternal. 8 That thou art a creature of an excellent worth, and made to serve God. 9 That thou hast no happiness to the peace of Conscience. 10 Think how good thy God hath been unto thee. 11 Think of the Cross, and of Christ, who there died for thee. 12 Of examples of holy men and Saints, who lived before thee. Walk about your chamber a turn or two after your prayers, and meditate upon these points seriously, and you shall find, that temptations to sin will vanish away, and leave to assault you. The 4. last things to be first thought upon by all good Christians. Bern. Bonauent. Dionys. Carthus. 1 The day of thy death, thou knowest not how suddenly. 2 The day of judgement, that will come certainly. 3 The joys of heaven, if thou live religiously. 4 The pains of hell, if thou continuest to do wickedly. The end of Morning prayer. Evening Prayer to bedward. O Lord hear my prayer. And let my cry come unto thee. Our Father which art, etc. A Prayer for Evening. O LORD, Carol●● Paschal. I do confess to my shame, and confusion, that this day hath been spent by me with less purity, and piety, than it should have been. I have augmented since this morning the score of my sins. My thoughts have been polluted, my wit profane, and unsanctified, my tongue more rash, and unbridled, then became any one of that rank, and calling, wherein thou hast set me. I have sinned through idleness, ignorance, slothfulness, and malice. And this darkness of the night puts me in mind of that eternal darkness my sins have deserved. Pardon, and forgive me all my transgressions. Let this darkness be a fit time unto me of rest, and sleep, and no opportunity of snares, and temptations. Send thy holy Ghost into my heart, to free, and purify the same from all rolling motions, and suggestions of Satan, and from the usual terrors, and affrightments of the night. Preserve this house in safety (O Lord) and all the people that are therein. Let my prayer ascend up unto thy presence as the incense, and let this lifting up of mine hands be as an Evening sacrifice, through jesus Christ our Lord, and only Saviour. Amen. Another. Having spent the day, Viues. we betake our▪ selves to our repose in the night. So after the troubles of this present life, we shall rest ourselves in death. Nothing doth more resemble our life then the day, our death then sleep, our grave then the bed, and our resurrection then our awaking in the morning. Do thou then, O God my protector, and defender, preserve me in my sleep, from the incursions, and temptations of the devil, and in my death from the guilt and punishments of my sins. I have no strength to resist in the one, nor merits of mine own to display in the other. Look only upon the merits of my Lord, and Saviour, and give me a strong, and steadfast faith, to apply his righteousness to mine own soul. In confidence, and full assurance of whose satisfactions for all my sins, I do for this night lie me down in peace, and take my rest, for it is that Lord only, that maketh me to continue in safety. Amen. Another. ALmighty, G. Cass. and everlasting God, who makest the light to succeed the darkness, give me the grace to spend this night freed from the snares of sin and Satan, and to be here again upon my knees in the morning, to give thee thankes for the same, through jesus Christ my Lord, and only Saviour. Amen. MEDITATIONS. When your maid is getting you to bed. Viues. He that willingly goes to bed, should as willingly go to his grave. We willingly put off our , being to put them on again in the morning: and should as willingly put off our bodies, being to put them on again in the Resurrection. 2 After the troubles of the day comes the quietness of the night, Viues. in the which the King, and the swain differ nothing: so after this life comes death; where poor, and rich are alike, and equal. 3 Here is a fit time (especially laid in your bed) to fall to your Audite for the day past. The practice of the King's Majesty, as I have heard What evil you have committed by 1. Swearing. 2. Lying. 3. Taunting. 4. Being too angry. 5. Vain talking, especially of Religion. 6. Exceeding in fare or apparel. 7. Injuring of another. Repent of it. Detest it. Resolve to do it no more. What good you have omitted, as Saying grace when you eat. Praying. Relieving of a poor body. Respecting your husband parents. Spending some time upon Meditations. Works of charity. Desire God's grace to be more wary. What good you have performed If you have learned any thing that day. If you have done any man good that day. If you have kept your private and public prayers, that day. If you have given any alms that day. If you have heard the Word, or received the Sacrament that day. If you have spent any time upon your Meditations that day. Rejoice in it, and give God thankes for it. When you have run over these accounts, and find sleep coming, say, Into thy hands I commit my Spirit, for thou hast redeemed me (O Lord) thou God of truth. Amen. The end of Evening prayer. Some other Collects. For Faith. MAn is blinded by sin, Viues. but thou (O Christ) by the goodness and mercy of God the Father, art become our guide in the way of salvation. And yet such is our wretchedness, and misery, that we stagger for all this, sometimes not understanding, sometimes not believing, many times not applying to our souls with a sure confidence thy promises of salvation set down in the Gospel. O miserably blind that we are, that can neither see ourselves, nor believe our guider, and instructor. O thou eternal, and pure verity, vouchsafe so to slide into our hearts, that we may be more certainly persuaded of thee, and thy Truth, then of those things we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and handle with our hands, the weak apprehensions of our bodily senses, upon which this flesh and blood doth so much depend. Appease and assuage those rolling thoughts, and wand'ring motions of the flesh, that make us to doubt, and stagger in those high mysteries, of the which we ought most firmly to be fixed, and resolved. Faith is thy gift, and therefore work it by the holy Ghost in my heart, that all my senses, and imaginations may become slaves, and captives to the same. Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. O Lord increase my faith. Amen. MEDITATION. Viues. 1 How easily we believe a lewd, and lying man, and yet how scrupulous we are to believe God himself. 2 We believe a man in things, which nothing concern us; we believe not God in matters of our salvation. Man is impotent, God omnipotent. 3 We believe our senses, which often delude us, as in all tricks of Legeyr-demaine: we distrust Christ, who can neither be deceived, nor deceive us. For the King, and the Royal Issue. I Humbly beseech thee, G. Cass. Almighty God, to prevent with all blessings of goodness, our King, and his Royal issue. Increase upon them day by day all thy favours, vanquish with thy mighty hand, all open enemies, and privy Conspirators, who oppugn their religion, life, diadem, or dignity. Crown each of them with all virtues, these virtues with long lives, and their lives at the last with eternal glory. Amen. For Charity, or the works of Mercy. August. Meditat. O Lord of mercy, and compassion, I beseech thee by the tender bowels of thy Son Christ jesus, to move my stony heart to the works of mercy, that I may keep my hours of prayers, mourn with them that mourn, counsel them that are amiss, help them that are in misery, relieve the poor, comfort the sorrowful, help the oppressed, forgive them that trespass against me, pray for them that hate me, requite good for evil, despise no man or woman, reverence my betters, respect my equals, be humble, and courteous to my inferiors: imitate those that are good: shun those that are bad: embrace virtue, eschew vice. Be patiented in adversity, modest in prosperity, thankful in either. Keep a watch over my tongue. Scorn this world, and thirst after heaven. Amen. For the receiving of the B. Sacrament. O Lord jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God, G. Cass. through whom only is granted forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting, who didst justify the Publican, when he confessed, the woman of Chanaan, when she prayed, Peter when he repent, and the thief upon the Cross, when he called upon thee, grant unto me, a most miserable, and wretched sinner, pardon and forgiveness of all my transgressions, which I most humbly confess I have committed against thee: that I may receive this Communion of thy body and blood, not to my judgement, and condemnation, but to my everlasting comfort and salvation, who livest and raignest with the Father, and the holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen. Meditation When you have newly received. O Lord increase my faith, O Lord, G. Cass. let the body and blood of Christ be fixed in my soul to my comfort in this life, and eternal salvation in the life to come. Amen. For that day you expect to hear a Sermon, or when you read upon your Bible. G. Cass. Almighty, and everlasting God, whose Word is a lantern to our feet, and a light unto our paths, open and enlighten my understanding, that I may learn the mysteries of thy Word, so fare forth, as is necessary to my salvation, purely and sincerely: and be so transfigured in my life and conversation, unto that which I shall learn, as to please thee in will, and deed, through jesus Christ my Lord, and only Saviour. Amen. For sickness, and all other uses, you have excellent Prayers in the Book of Common prayers. PRINCIPLES. Few Notes for the private use of my L. M. B. A Prayer to be said upon your knees, before the reading over of these Notes. Almighty God, the Fountain of true Wisdom and knowledge, send thy holy Spirit into my heart, that I may sufficiently understand, and steadfastly believe all the doctrines necessary to my Salvation, and add such practice and obedience to this Faith, through the whole course of my life and conversation, as I may so serve thee in thy kingdom of Grace, that hereafter I may be made partaker of thy kingdom of Glory, through the only merit and mediation of thy dear Son, and my dear Saviour jesus Christ. Amen. I. MAn, sithence his fall in Adam, hath no hope of salvation, but by the Covenant of Grace betwixt God and Man; Whereby God promiseth unto man, Mercy and Forgiveness of Sins, and man unto God, true Faith in Christ and holiness of life and conversation. II. ALl men have not interest in this Covenant of Grace, but they only that are of God's Church: Now the Church of God is; Any Company or Congregation of men wheresoever living, called by God through the sound of the Gospel, unto the Faith of Christ, and distinguished from other Societies by these five Marks especially, 1. hearing and reading the Word, 2. Faith thereunto, 3. the use of the Sacraments, 4. Prayer, and 5. Sanctity of life. Where these five things are, there is ever a Church of God and sufficient means of salvation. III. THe Word must be read often upon your Bible, with modesty and short desires of the heart unto God, to give you grace to understand it, to believe it, and to practise it, It must be heard upon all convenient occasions, especially in those two hours of the Sabbath day, appointed by the Church and the State for that Divine worship, and then you must observe four Rules. 1 Observe the Preacher with attention & modesty. 2. Secondly, apply unto yourself in particular, the Doctrines and Uses which are delivered in general. 3. Examine your conscience if you be guilty of the sins there reproved, and presently call to God for grace to amend them. 4. Think upon these things again when you come to your Chamber. FOUR THis outward hearing and reading of the Word, together with the inward working of the holy Ghost in your heart, doth beget a true, lively and saving faith, which is, A certain knowledge and assurance of the heart that all is true which God hath spoken or promised in the Scripture, and that you rest wholly and confidently upon God, that he hath granted unto yourself in particular, forgiveness of sins, and true righteousness in Christ jesus. This is the main point you are seriously to meditate upon, and therefore observe these precepts, 1. If you do not believe, or if you do doubt of any thing in Scripture, presently pray unto God to strengthen and enlighten you. 2. If you doubt whether you may have any particular interest in those general promises of grace in Christ, propounded in the Gospel, fall again to your prayers for an increase of Faith. 3. If you doubt, and yet can find in your heart to pray for more faith, Let your conscience never be troubled with such a doubting. 4. Mark well when the Creed is in reading, and give an assent with your heart to every Article. And (as I doubt not you have learned it) so keep it still in memory. V NOw as this faith of remission of sins, and righteousness in Christ is wrought in us by the reading and hearing of the Word joined with Prayer, so is it signed and sealed in our hearts by the two Blessed Sacraments. Baptism. The Lord's Supper. Observe in either Sacrament two parts. A visible sign Water in Baptism. Bread & Wine in the Supper. An invisible grace. Remission of sins in Baptism. The benefit of Christ's passion in the Supper. VI Baptism is the first Sacrament of the new Testament, to wit, An outward washing of Water appointed by Christ in his Church, with this promise, that upon your being Baptised, you were as certainly washed from your sins Original being an infant, and actual, if you had been of years, by the holy Ghost, and the Blood of Christ, as you were rinsed outwardly in body by this Element of Water. Mark then these uses of Baptism. 1. It assures us we are washed from our sins by the Holy Ghost, and the Blood of Christ. 2. It keeps us from despair, because it assures us our sins are washed away. 3. It keeps us from sin: for it is a shame for one washed to soil himself again. 4. It gives an entrance into the Church. 5. It hath a visible sign. Water. Grace invisible. Forgiveness of sins by the blood of Christ. VII. THe Lord's Supper is a distribution of Bread and Wine, which seals, signs and exhibits, or gives unto you Christ's true Body offered, and his true Blood poured out upon the Cross, for your sins, as certainly, as the Priests exhibit unto your hands the Bread and the Wine. And withal, the Supper assures your heart, that Christ's Body and Blood nourish your soul to perpetual life, as surely, as Bread and Wine doth nourish your body to the offices of this temporal life. Mark then the uses of this Sacrament of the Supper. 1. It assures you of all the benefit that is to be expected from the Body and blood of Christ. 2. It puts you continually in mind that Christ died for you. 3. It strengthens and ascertaines your faith, if it be received worthily. And therefore you must not neglect (twice in the year at the least) to approach with all reverence this heavenly Table. VIII. THat this Sacrament may be received worthily, you must examine yourself before the receiving, Pray unto God for Faith in the receiving, and take heed of gross and premeditated sins after the receiving of this Sacrament. IX. BEfore the receiving, you must examine four things: 1. You must examine your knowledge, 1. Whether you know how you ought to live. To this end read over the 10. Commandments. 2. Whether you know how to believe. Read over attentively your Creed. 3. Whether you know how to Pray. Say over advisedly the Lords Prayer. Without this little knowledge (at the least) you are not fit to Receive. 2. You must examine your faith Whether you are assured in your heart, that Christ hath fully satisfied for your sins, and perfectly reconciled you unto God, not others only, but yourself also. Without this assurance (in some measure) you may not receive. 3. You must examine your Repentance. 1. Whether you are sorry for your sins. 2. Whether you hate sin. 3. Whether you resolve to endeavour to sin no more. Without this Repentance you cannot receive worthily. 4. You must examine your Charity. 1. Whether you forgive all the world. 2. Whether you are free from malice and hatred. When you have examined these four points you may receive worthily. X. NOw your faith in Christ which you have gotten in God's Church, being thus hatched by the holy Ghost in your heart, brought forth by your hearing, cherished by your reading of the word, sealed by your Baptism, and strongly confirmed and strengthened by your partaking of the blessed Sacrament of the Supper, must be continually maintained and preserved by these two means, Prayer unto God & him only. And Good works, or holiness of life. And this is the sum of all your notes which I recommend unto you for this time. 1. Salvation is only by faith in Christ. 2. Faith only in God's Church. 3. Where, by the Word read or heard, Faith is nourished. 4. By the Sacrament of Baptism assured. 5. By the Sacrament of the Supper ratified and confirmed. 6. By Prayer and Good works for ever established. A Prayer after the reading of these few Notes. O Lord God, that I may be partaker of thy covenant of Grace, make me a believing member of thy Church, send thy holy Spirit into my heart to beget there a confidence and full assurance of the remission of all my sins in Christ jesus, let this assurance be still nourished with my hearing and reading of the Word, let it be sealed unto me by my Baptism, confirmed by the Sacrament of the Supper, and fully established by my serving of thee in Prayer and Good works, to the glory of thy Name, and the endless comfort and salvation of mine own soul, through jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ¶ A SHORT CATECHISM concerning Faith and good Works, to be read and meditated upon once every week at the least: which may be well called, The Catechism of the Conscience. Question. WHy hath GOD made me a reasonable Creature, and not (as well he might) of a meaner kind? Answ. That with your whole heart, that is, with your will, and understanding, you might serve him, and love him: which creatures only endued with reason can do. Q. How is God principally served, and loved of me? A. By your faith and good works, which God commands you in his Word. And these good works of yours are twofold, Prayers to God. Charity to men. Q. What is Faith? A. A full belief, assurance, and persuasion of your heart, whereby you are unmoveably resolved of these three points: 1. That there is one only God, one Essence, & three Persons. The Father, who created you. Son, who redeemed you. Holy Ghost who sanctified you. 2. That God the Son came into the world, to do all that was to be performed, and to suffer all that was to be endured by you, for your sins actual, and original. And hereby obtained for you perfect forgiveness of all your sins, and hath bestowed upon you his own perfect righteousness, by the means whereof you stand just, and guiltless before the throne of God. 3. That God hath prompted with his holy Spirit the Penmen of the Scriptures, to teach you all this faith, and belief, as also all the course of his worship. And that every thing contained in these Scriptures is true. Q. Why doth God so much require of me Faith, and belief? A. Because without believing in him, you cannot love him, nor reverence him. As if you did not believe your father to be your father, you would not love him, or reverence him, as your father. Q. How is this Faith first wrought? A. By your hearing of God's word, and using those two Sacraments appointed by Christ in his Church, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper: And withal, by praying continually unto God, and doing of good works. Q. How shall I know that I begin to have Faith? A. If you find in yourself these alterations: 1. If you find, that you have gotten more knowledge of God, and of Religion, & are glad thereof. 2. If you do desire more than you did, to have the Son of God to become your Saviour, and to stand betwixt you and God's wrath for the sins you have committed against God. 3. If you take more delight than you did in Reading and hearing the Word of God. Receiving the Sacrament. 4. If you find doubtings in your mind, and can pray unto God, to strengthen your Faith. 5. If you endeavour to abstain from sin, for fear of offending so good a God. 6. If you begin to endeavour to live godly, and righteously, because it is the will, and commandment of God. 7. If you take more delight than you did in praying to God. 8. If you thank God privately for these his good motions. By these eight points you may soon know, whether you have true faith or not. Q. What is the infallible mark of true, and justifying Faith? A. The effectual applying of Christ, and all his benefits to your own soul, in particular. This application doth make a difference betwixt justifying Faith, and all other kinds of faith, which cannot save us: As Historical Faith, which is a bare knowledge. Faith of Miracles, which is a bare assent. Temporary Faith, which is but a bare profession of the Faith for a time, embraced only for the desire of Knowledge. Credit. Profit. Q. What is the meaning of this assertion of S. Paul's, that we are justified by Faith alone? A. The meaning is this. Even as when you give your alms to a beggar, it is received by his hand alone, and yet his hand is not alone when it receives these alms, but accompanied with an arm, sinews, and arteries: Even so, when God offers unto you Christ, and his righteousness, you do receive him by Faith alone, and yet this Faith, which receives Christ is never alone, but still accompanied with Charity, and good works. In a word. 1. To hold alms is proper to the hand, and not the arm: and to hold Christ, proper to Faith, and not good works. 2. You are justified by Faith alone, and yet if your faith be alone, it cannot justify you. Q. What is the meaning of S. james, when he saith, That we are justified by works, and not by Faith? A. The meaning is this? 1. Faith justifieth us before God, good works before men. 2. Faith makes us, good works declare us to be justified. 3. Faith gives us our first justification; good works our second, which is our Sanctification, or holiness. Q. What is the least, and weakest degree of Faith, that I may build upon, to keep me from despair, in case I find not all those alterations in myself, which you spoke of before? A. 1. If you desire Faith, or pray unto God, that you may desire Faith. 2. If you can pray, or desire of God, to enable you to pray. 3. If you find fault with your want of faith, and desire sometimes of God to help this want. You are for all that the child of God. RESOLUTIONS. OPPOSITIVE DIVINITY: OR The ordinary Objections of Papists, against them of the reformed. Churches. DIALOGUE. Papist. Protestant. CHAP. I. Of the Church. Pap. THe Church of England is no Church, 〈…〉 strange, considering your own Writers conclude a Church to be there, where there is found ¹ doctrine of salvation, Georg. Cassan. consult, titul. de Ecclesia. according to Scripture, ² the use of the Sacraments, and ³ outward discipline, or Ecclesiastical government, although the Churchmen should fall short of those Apostolical, and primitive perfections, which flourished in their predecessors. Pap. Yea, but it is not the Catholic Church mentioned in the Creed, I believe in the Catholic Church. Prot. 1. No more is the Church of Rome: for there was no Church at all in Rome, when the Creed was made by the Apostles at Jerusalem; Ruffin in Symb. Augustin. Ser. 115. every Apostle making his Article, when they were to departed to plant particular Churches in Rome, Id. Serm. 181. de Tempore. England, and other places. 2. But our Church is a branch, and portion of that Catholic Church, as is also the a Theoriani collo. Damianus à Gets. Onuphrius in vita julij. Greek, Armenian, Aethiopian, and Syrian as well, if not rather then the Roman Church. Pap. Peradventure these other Churches may be members of that Catholic Church, as joined and united with us, but the union betwixt your Church, and ours hath been cut asunder above an hundred years agone, and therefore you are quite cut off from the Catholic Church. Prot. This is more than you know, or then I am bound to believe. For Cassand. consult. pag. 930. merely spiritual consisting in Faith, Hope, Charity, true Doctrine, etc. Institut. of a Christian fol. 19 This union of the members of the Catholic Church is inward, not outward, and therefore discerned only by God himself: We never sundered ourselves from the people, or Church of Rome, but from the Faction, or Court of Rome, not from the sincere doctrine of that Church, but from the corruptions and innovations foisted into that Church. And therefore although we be never so hated, Cassand. ibid. and excommunicated by your Priests, yet, we may be still united in internal society with your Church, if you retain those principles of Religion sound, and unaltered, in the which our forefathers died, and (as we well hope) were saved. Pap. How are you then gone from us, if you be still united with us. Prot. As the Prophets went from the corrupt Churches of the jews, and as Christ, and his Apostles from the Scribes, and Pharises, clamando, & dissentiendo, by crying out against your corruptions, and dissenting from your innovations, and this a Cas. consult. pag. 929. Gerson. de p●●●…tate Ecclesiae. your own men allowed us to do. Pap. I, but some of your men say, that we had no true Church of God in the West of many years before Luther's time. Prot. Their meaning is to be limited in respect of the Predominant, and prevailing Faction. Your Church held (I confess) a saving profession of the Truth of God, but your Churchmen mingled therewith many damnable impieties. And these innovators only carrying the greatest show of the Church, are denied by our Writers to be the true Church of God. Pap. This it is we Catholics observe. You dare not for all your malice deny the Church of Rome to have in some sort a saving profession of the truth of God, but our Priests conclude directly that your Church hath no truth at all, and that a Barclaius paraenes. li. 1. pag. 7. none can be saved in that Church. Prot. As in every kingdom the general estate is nothing so forward, active, quick, and peremptory, as the private Factions, and yet is found at the last more wise, and stayed in final resolution: So in the Catholic Church, the b Can. loc. theol. l. 4. c. 1. Lindan. panopl. lib. 4. cap. 7. Factions are ever more heady, and precipitate in their denunciations of Heaven, and Hell, than the main body thereof. Hence it cometh to pass, that although the Greek, Armenian, Ethiopian, and Syrian, and (for the most part) the Protestant doth censure charitably of those Laickes, who living rather In then Of the Church of Rome, hold the grounds of the doctrine of Salvation, without any notorious mixtures, with the late superstitions, and impieties crept into the same; yet doth the a Quodlibet pag. 342. Papist, b Russic. conun. c. 23. p. 103. Russeist, c Sle. Hist. l. 5. Anabaptist, d Allens confess. Familist, and e Protest. p. 16. Puritan hold no Church a Church of God, but his own conventicle, and all to be damned, that are not of his society, and combination. Now what belief you shall afford these Bouteseux of the Catholic Church, that dispose of Heaven, and Hell, as if it were their own Fee-simple, I leave to your wisdom and common understanding. Pap. Me thinks you now put me in mind of another objection, which usually we make against the Protestants of England that they bring in too much good fellowship in religion, and make Salvation a flower, which grows in every man's garden. Seeing that according to their Tenets, Papist, Protestant, Anabaptist, and Familist, may every one of them by means offered in his own Church, as a portion, or fragment of the Catholic Church attain unto Salvation. Prot. If you were learned I could answer you in a word, that none of these three Sectories considered in his own Formality, Quadratus talie, as he is a Papist, Anabaptist, or Familist can ever attain unto Salvation, but only as he is a Christian man, admitted by Baptism unto the visible Church, & there made partaker of God's word, and Sacraments. For then (although these blessed means are very much weakened, and obscured in their Synagogues by the malice of Satan, and inventions of men) yet may that holy Spirit, that * john 3.8. bloweth where he listeth, work in such a man's heart by these weak instruments, (and the rather, the more the Word is faithfully preached, and the Sacraments be in those places sincerely administered) a true faith in Christ jesus, to bring him to salvation. So then we do not hold, that Papists, Anabaptists, and Familists, but only that some Christians living in their congregations may (though with great difficulty in comparison of this flourishing Church of ours, and these admirable means of Salvation tendered in the same) by the special mercy of God be saved, and preserved. If we be in an error, it is safer to err in Charity, then in Malice, and praecipitancie, considering the event hereof is unknown to either of us. Pap. I but where was your Church before this reformation began? Prot. 1. When our Saviour Christ withdrew the people from the a Matt. 16.12. leaven of the Scribes, and Pharisees, to the bread, b john 6.35. which came down from heaven, and to salvation by faith in his Name, was it fitting to demand of him, where his Church was before that Reformation? 2. When these Churches of c 1. Corin. 5.1. Corinth, d Galat. 3.1. Galatia, e Reuel. 2.12. Pergamus, and f Reuel. 2.18. Thiatyra, were full of abuses, if some part only upon the preaching of the Apostles had reform themselves, and so a division had grown: would you strait ways have taxed them of Novelty, or asked them where their Church had been before this reformation? 3 When the Apostles cast off ●he Law of Moses, excepting only those g Acts 15.29. three or four Ceremonies: and when the Primitive church some hundred years after, cast off those Ceremonies also (for I find them breathing of their last as it were about the times of h Anno 〈◊〉. 140. Dialog. qu● ins●●●●tur Tryphon. justin Martyr) had it not been a poor challenge of the jews, or Traskists of those times, to demand, where this unceremoniall Church lay hid before the reformation? I answer then, that our Church, before this reformation began, lived together in one communion with yours, with toleration of all those abuses, which you have still retained, and we most justly rejected. Pap. I, but I hope you dare not compare in the gifts of the Spirit with Christ, his Apostles, or those worthies of the primitive Church. And therefore how presumed you to reform yourselves? Reformation, being a work fit for a general Council to have gone about, then for a small handful of Northern people. Prot. Luther. in epist. ad Galat. in praefat. distinctio admissa in Comitijs Augustanis ab ipsis Germanis Principibus. Scultet. annal. decad. 1. pa. 43. The Court of Rome had so gained upon the Church of Rome, that is, the Pope, and his conclave of Cardinals had wriggled in themselves to that transcendency of power over the rest of the Clergy, and well minded laity, that it appeared both at a In the year 1415. Constance b In the year 1546. & Trent, there was small hope of Reformation from such a Council, where the Pope the party to be reform, became the party reforming, and supreme judge, and precedent of the Reformation itself. Although poor seduced ignorant women are much carried away with the name of the Council of Trent; yet you will quickly find out this ridiculous absurdity. In a general Council (as now it is held since the decay of the Empire) the Pope is the party to be accused, yet puts up his own endictment, passeth a jury of his own vassals, and find they what they will, being to give final judgement, he will be sure to do, as his supposed predecessor taught our Saviour to do, to wit, favour himself. Matth. 16.22. So as there was no hope of doing good by a General Council, See the history of the Council of Trent. unless it were a generous and free Council, and such a one the Pope (you may be sure) would never abide. Gerson. de council. unius obed. And therefore one of your own writers concludes, that in such a case, several kingdoms are to reform themselves by National Counsels, which England and Denmark did put in practice. Pap. Yea, but it is too well known, It was no zeal of Reformation, but carnal respects, that moved King Henry to touch upon religion. Prot. To you (it seems) it is given to know these secrets, but I see no reason we should think so. The King could not be induced to this reformation, as a means to possess himself of the abbeys for they were already swallowed up. 31. Henr. 8. Nor as a preparative for his wooing (as Saunders thinks) because Fisher the Bishop of Rochester, who opposed his marriage, made up the one and twentieth prelate in banishing the Pope out of this Kingdom. Instruction of a Christian in the Preface. But without doubt, the finger of God was the cause, whatsoever was the hint, or occasion. Act. 23.1. Festus his popularity, and humour of pleasing gave S. Paul occasion to appeal to Cesar, and to visit Rome, where, and when he laid the first stone of the Roman church. Would you like it well a Protestant should say, that your Church was founded upon courtship and popularity? If any carnal respect, whetted on the king, that was but the opportunity, God only was the first mover, and prime Agent in this reformation. Pap. Nay surely, God is the God of unity, but your Church being once severed from the Roman, was presently cantled out, into as many factions almost, as there are Countries; witness the Lutherans soft and rigid, the Caluinists, Puritans, Conformitans, Brownists, Anabaptists, etc. So as one may easily guess, from what Lerma, and fenny ground this Hydra of so many heads had her first Original. Prot. This argument sounds very big in a lady's closet, and weighs much with the ignorant, and unlearned people, but with a man, but of a reasonable understanding, this seeming division is no scandal at all to our reformed Churches. What man of any reading in the Histories of the time, but knows well, that after the trumpet for this reformation had blown, the first warning by a In the year 1375 Wicklef, b In the year 1410. Hus, and Hierome of prague, and then the second by c de signis ruin. eccl. Gerson, d 1411. Peter de Aliaco, e Bucholcer Anno 1517. Cardinal Cusanus, f in Theor. Picus Mirandula g Phil. Coming. l. 3. Savanorola, and many others, (of whom we read in h Guic. hist. l. 4. Guicchiardyn) when i In the year 1512. Luther in Germany blew the last, and that there appeared no hope of a free and indifferent Council, so as several kingdoms were thus necessitated to provide, and take care for themselves, this worthy Act of Reformation, beginning in sundry estates, by reason, partly of their diverse shapes, and forms of governements, and partly, of a great disadvantage that one part of Christendom, knew not, what another did, nor consulted with their fellows, that so they might with unanimity proceed in the same, did necessarily produce a seeming difference in the outward forms of particular Churches. But lo, the goodness, and providence of Almighty God. Although these Churches have several faces, yet have they all but one heart, there being no essential, fundamental, or material difference amongst any of us of the reformed Religion, as you may easily find by reading the confessions of our several churches. And therefore for these odious Nicknames of Lutheran, Caluinist, Huguenot, Zuinglian, and the like, be more sparing of them, until you have reconciled your own churchmen, as your Minorits, and Dominicans about the conception of the blessed Virgin, your jesuits, and Dominicans about predestination, and those dependant questions, your Sorbonists, and jesuits about the bounding, and mereing out the Regal, and Papal Authority: and you shall find more doctrinal oppositions in your own, than you can imagine in our Churches. But keep you at home in your native country, and look (without envy or partiality) upon this flourishing Church of England, & name me one Kingdom in all Europe that hath continued very near this hundred years in that constancy, and immutability of doctrine or discipline. We are ordered with that consecration, that † Sand. de schiss. Angl. lib. 3. Archbishop ‖ 32. of Henry 8. Cranmer was, we renounce the Pope by that abjuration, that Archbishop Cranmer did, we subscribe to those Articles of religion, which * In the year 1552. Archbishop Cranmer in the Reformation pitched upon, before we can be admitted to any Ecclesiastical function. Some wild coults we have, that start, and boggle at the first, if they see but their own shadows, but by the discipline of the Church they are curbed, and fetched about again, and taught in a little while to come on gently to this uniformity and subscription. So that malice itself cannot challenge the Church of England, this most glorious portion of that Catholic Church, of any fractions, or divisions in points of Doctrine. Pap. Nay, but I have often heard, that you have no Bishops or Priests at all in your Church. But that in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's reign, lay-men in the Parliament did appoint you Bishops, who consecrated one another in a Tavern at the * Saunder. de Schism. lib. 3. Harding against jewel. Nagshead in Cheapside, and that your Priests were ordered only by these Parliamentary Prelates. Prot. This tale of the Nagshead, Harding, Sanders, and Stapleton have forged out of their own Nagges-heads without any ground, or likelihood at all. And yet as easily as they came by it, it put a a M. Mason Archdeacon of Suff. Minister of our Church to an infinite deal of learned pains. Who by his Majesty's special commandment, did search out the ancient Records of the Archbishop of Canterbury (agnized sithence by many Priests and jesuits, in the Clink, and other prisons) and out of them hath composed a learned book, showing the successive Consecrations of all the Bishops of England, from that first convocation that b Institut. of a Christian. fol. 19 banished the Pope about the year 1536, so as any Minister looking out that Bishop, who gave him Orders, may presently ascend in a right line of Bishops to those Prelates, that lived in the reign of Henry the eighth, before the reformation. And therefore if your own Priests be lawful, you may not quarrel with ours, differing only from yours, in their renouncing of your impieties, and superstitions. Pap. This Record you speak of, is somewhat to the purpose, unless the heresy of those first Bishops did disable them for granting of lawful Consecrations, and Orders. Prot. c S. Basil. Nazianz. S. Ambros. S. Hierom. S. Austen: were in their times called heretics. Lindan. panopl. lib. 4. cap. 7. Heretic indeed, is a common word for us, in the mouth of every woman, that is but a little Romanized. But is it not strange how d Institut. of a Christian, fol. 18 he should be an Heretic, that says the Creed, and the Lords prayer in that literal, and explicit sense, and meaning, that all the Fathers of the Church for the first 500 years understood the same? Yet this is nothing to the point in hand. For first, if the Bishops in Queen Mary's time were lawful, notwithstanding their being consecrated by Cranmer, and other tainted Bishops (as you term them) why may not the Bishops in Queen Elizabeth, and King james his time, expect the same privilege? And secondly, your own e Dominic. a● Soto. in 4. Sent. d. 25. Biel. in 4 d. 25. q. 1. Con. 4. Capreol, in 4. d. 25. q. 1. art. 3. etc. Writers confess, that Heresy (which we suppose, but not yield these Prelates fallen unto) cannot raze out from that Character of a Bishop, this inseparable power of consecrating, and ordering. Pap. Yet there remains an objection against your Church, that it cannot possibly be a true Church, because it is severed from the true visible head thereof the Pope of Rome. Prot. This is a stolen objection, and soon answered. The church of f Euseb. li. 5. c. 23. Eras. epist. in Agrippa de vanit. c. 59 Asia severed from Pope Victor in the year 200. g Baron. tom. 3. ad ann. 375. Athanasius, and his fellows from Faelix and Tiberius in the year 375, h Euseb. l. 7. c. 2. 3. 4. Casian. consult. art. 7. Cyprian, and his brethren, yea and three National Counsels from Pope Stephen, in the year 250, i Bellar. de Ro. Pont. l. 2. c. 25. & 46. Lindan. panopl. l. 7. c. 89. Possevinus in Apparat. titul. Carthag. the Bishops of Carthage Schismatized from all Popes of Rome for an hundred years together, about the year 409. lastly k Bellar. de Ro. Pont. l. 2. c. 31. Idem de Matri. c. 15. art. 2. the Greek Church cut off from the Roman for 300. years, are sufficient testimonies, there may be a true Church of God, though severed▪ and divided from the Pope of Rome. And here in this kingdom it was no Protestant, but Popish Bishops, that concluded in a Nationall Synod, l Institut. of a Christian, set forth anno 1537. by Authority. our King might (if he pleased) create a Pope of his own in his own kingdoms, and dominions, and yet remain a member of the Catholic Church. Pap. Well the best is you have been so tedious in your answers, that I have (I thank God) forgotten all, that you have said for your reformed Church. Prot. But I will help that quickly by summing up of all into these 12. Positions: 1 We have a Church, as having Doctrine. Salvation. Discipline. 2 It is a portion of the Catholic Church. 3. It hath a Spiritual union of doctrine with the untainted members of the Church of Rome. 4 And yet hath severed herself from the Church of Rome by crying against, and dissenting from her Superstions. 5 Which some of us hold no true Church of Gods, in regard of the prevailing Faction. 6 Although we judge charitably of the Salvation of some in that Church. 7 Who notwithstanding are saved not as Papists, but as Christians. 8 And in one lump, or communion with this Church lived ours before the Reformation. 9 Which then for want of a General, did sever herself, by a Nationall Council, from the same. 10 Nor was it any by-respect of the Kings, but God, and the cry of that age, that caused this reformation. 11 Nor do our reformed Churches descent amongst themselves in doctrine, but in outward polity, and discipline only. 12 Our Bishops and Priests come by a lineal Succession from Henry the eights time, nor can a supposal of Heresy cut off this descent. CHAP. 2. Of the Scriptures. Pap. Do you then hold this Church of yours to be the ground of your Faith, and reason of your believing, So as you do therefore believe all the points of your salvation to be true, because the Church doth teach, and instruct you in the same? Or have you any other rule, and ground of your faith? Prot. The Authority, and good conceit we have of God's Church a August. contra Epistol. fundam. c. 5. prepareth us to believe the points of our Salvation, and serveth as an introduction to bring us to the discerning, and perfect apprehension of these mysteries of our faith, but the Scripture only is the ground, and reason of our believing. For as the b john 4.29. Samaritans were induced, and drawn on to believe in Christ by that talk of the woman, but having heard Christ himself, profess plainly, they believe no longer for her saying, but c john 4.42. because they heard him speak himself: So do we begin to believe; moved thus to do, by the good conceit we have of the Church, but rest not in it, as the ground of our believing, but only in the infallible assurance of God's truth in the book of Scriptures. Pap. Then God help you, if that be your last resolution. For our Church cannot err, but your Scriptures without the help of the Church, to tell you so much, can never be ascertained unto you, to be the word of God; And therefore what assuredness of belief can you propose yourselves upon so unsettled a foundation? Prot. The Catholic Church indeed, Wald. doctr. fid. l. 2. art. 2. c. 27. spread over the world, cannot err damnably, though the Church of Rome, and all other particula Churches, may, as your own Writers confess. But the Scriptures we know to be the word of God, not because the Church, or Churchmen, do tell us so much, but by the Authority of God himself, a Caluin instit. l. 1. c. 7. d. 4. whom we do most certainly discern to speak in his word, when it is preached unto us. For if we bring pure eyes, and perfect senses, the majesty of God forthwith, presenteth itself unto us in the holy Scriptures, and beating down all thoughts of contradicting, or doubting things so heavenly, forceth our hearts to yield assent, and obedience unto the same. And therefore if you doubt whether that which you read in your Bible be the word of God, or find any reluctancy in your understanding to the doctrine of the same, it is in vain to fly unto either Church, or Churchmen, to be persuaded in this point, but down upon your knees, and pray fervently unto God for Faith, and the illumination of the Holy Ghost, which can only assure you of the truth of the Scriptures. Caluin. instit. l. 1. c. 7. dist. 5. For after we are enlightened by the Spirit, we do no longer trust either our own judgement, or the judgement of other men, or of the Church, that the Scriptures are of God, but above all certainty of humane judgement, we most certainly resolve, as if in them we saw the majesty and glory of God, that by the ministry of men they came unto us from Gods own most sacred mouth. Pap. But what certain ground of faith can you place on the Scriptures, seeing by the several interpretations of men and women they are turned and wrested like a nose of wax to every private design and purpose? Do not you observe how the Catholics, Protestants, and especially the Brownists, and Anabaptists, do fit all their turns out of the holy Scriptures? on which of these senses, and imaginations is your faith rooted? or peradventure, have you some odd capritchious kind of interpretation of your own apprehension to direct you in these businesses? Prot. We lay-folkes are licenced in the Church of England to read, Do all interpret. 1. Cor. 12.30. but not to interpret Scriptures, excepting only those passages, which contain the necessary points of our Salvation, the which passages are so plain, & easy every where, that any man, or woman of the meanest capacity (especially if he, or she be instructed in their Catechism or grounds of religion) may perfectly conceive, Staplet. cont. 6. q. 7. exp. si art. and understand them. But for the harder and more difficult places, we leave them to be interpreted by our Churchmen in their Sermons, and daily ministry. For the ordering of which interpretations, there are (as I have been told) 10. several helps, Observed out of D. Field, M. Hooker, Chemnitius, and Trelcatius. the which if they be followed will be sure, and unfallible guides, to bolt out the true meaning of each place of Scripture. 1 An illumination of the understanding by the Holy Ghost. 2 A mind free from other thoughts, and desirous of the truth. 3 Knowledge of the Scriptures, Creeds, Catechisms, Principles, and other Axioms of Divinity. 4 A considerations how our meaning suits with other points of Christianity. 5 The weighing of circumstances, antecedents, and consequents. 6 Knowledge of Histories, Arts, and Sciences. 7 Continual reading, meditating, and praying. 8 joint, and uniarring expositions of the Fathers. 9 Consenting decrees of ancient Synods, and Counsels. 10 Knowledge in the tongues. Because therefore lay-men, and women, Papists, Brownists, and Anabaptists, are wanting in all, or some of these helps, they bring forth many times such lame, and prodigious interpretations. Pap. If we make the Scripture, & not the Church the rule of our Faith, how shall we believe, the Creed, the Trinity, the Sacraments, the unity of Essence, the three persons in the Deity, etc. words never read in the Bible, and yet necessarily to be apprehended of us upon pain of damnation? Prot. I say that all these things are set down in Scriptures, either in so many syllables, or at leastwise by necessary inferences, and deductions. And we do not therefore believe them because they are only taught by the Church, but because they are rooted and grounded in the holy Scriptures, the only stay and pillar of our affiance. To sum up therefore all this Chapter, 1 The Church doth prepare us, but the Scripture only doth force us to believe. 2 The whole Church cannot, any part thereof may err damnably. 3 We are taught the Scriptures to be the word of God by the Holy Ghost, moving in our hearts, and not by the Church sounding in our ears. 4 Laymen are to read, not to interpret Scriptures. 5 The miss of some rules causeth wrong expositions of Scriptures. 6 All things necessary to be believed are either found in, or collected and inferred from the Scriptures. CHAP. 3. Of justification. Pap. HOW then do you learn out of the Scriptures, that you are to be justified, and saved before God? Prot. I am to be justified before God, by an Act single in itself, but double in our apprehension, which is, By Gods not imputing unto me my sins, and the same Gods imputing unto me Christ's righteousness, and withal by his creating of faith in my heart by the Holy Ghost, to assure my Soul that God, for the Active and Passive obedience of Christ jesus hath accomplished those two former Acts, of not imputing my Sin, and of imputing unto me Christ's righteousness. Pap. A very easy, no doubt, and reasonable religion, which you have learned out of the Scriptures. Hear is no burden left for your own back, you cast all upon Christ's shoulders by the means of these two fine words, Not imputing, and imputing, and a third swimming notion of your own conceit (which any man may have with a little imagining) termed by you faith, it would be known therefore, where your Church hath found out these words of Art, in the holy Scriptures. Prot. We do in all humility confess, that the globe of our sins, and the world of that righteousness, which is to appear in the presence of God's justice, is too massy for us to sustain, that are but dust and ashes, and supportable only by that Atlas, Verba Lutheri ep. ad Henr. 8. tom. 2. ep. p. 290. Christ jesus, upon whose shoulders, not our conceits, but the goodness of God hath placed and pressed them. But that these words imputing, and not imputing, are such Greek unto you, I do impute it to your not reading of Scriptures, and taking up your religion by trust, and credit from such Fripperers, and Brokers, as by lending your souls, a false opinion of merits and good works▪ do dive into your purses, and eat up your estates, by way of interest. Not to trouble you (as I might) with a thousand places, ask David, Psal. 32.1. whether not imputing of sin, and S. Paul, Rom. 4.45. whether the imputing of Christ's righteousness doth not make us blessed, and justified. For the words use your own eyes, and inspection. And for the meaning, I refer you to a August. tom. 8 in psalm. 31. S. Augustine's upon the one, and b Amb. in ep. ad Rom. c. 8. S. Ambrose his commentary upon the other passage. Now that you fondly imagine, that Faith, this heavenly hand, that reacheth at this double Act, and applies it to our own Souls, is such an apprehension, as you may command, when you please out of your own fantasy, it is such a poor opinion, that no Soul, warmed with the least touch or feeling of religion, but contemns with a most holy scorn, and reproach. I tell you, (and if you once have it, your conscience will tell you no less) this Faith is the richest jewel in God's cabinet, Ephes. 2.8. and can never be compassed by any endeavour of ours, until the Holy Ghost comes down from heaven to set, and enchase it in our hearts with his own fingers as it were. And being once obtained, it new moulds, and fashions the whole nature of man, so as the understanding becomes more enlightened to know God, the will to obey God, the affections, to love God, and our brethren. Nor can it be preserved (to the comfort of our conscience) without daily praying, meditating, doing good works, reading the Scriptures, hearing good Sermons, and perusing of devout, and godly Treatises. My belief therefore is this: Gods not imputing of sin, and imputing of righteousness is the worker, The Merits of Christ the procurer, Faith wrought by the holy Ghost the instrument, or applier, good works, or my inherent righteousness (poor as it is) a consequent only, effect, and follower, of my justification. Pap. I have heard some of your side, rail against the very name of inherent righteousness, which you seem now to acknowledge, & embrace. Do Protestants therefore challenge any other righteousness, besides that of Christ's, which is imputed? Prot. They do acknowledge a Sanctification, or inherent righteousness, in the same sense as the ancient Fathers took the Word, but not as jesuits of late mistake it. We have righteousness inherent, or subsisting in us, according to the which we shall be judged, but not according to the which we shall be justified. You make your righteousness to go before as the cause; we ours, to come after, as the effect of justification. You suppose yours so absolute as to evict from God; all we expect from ours, is, but to testify unto men, that we are justified. You brag of a perfection of degrees, we only teach a perfection of parts in our righteousness. For as in the dawning of the day, every part of the heavens is enlightened, though none as yet in a full, and complete splendour: so after the Act of justification, apprehended by faith, every faculty of the soul is sanctified, and made righteous, the understanding, the will, the affections, the thoughts, the words, the deeds, but none of those, so exactly perfect, as to implead a justification at the throne of God. We therefore wave off this little righteousness of our own, as a piece of * Esay 64.6. polluted cloth in the Act of our justification, and cast anchor only upon the merits of Christ. But according to your Doctrine of * Concil. Trid. infused Charity, not the Almighty reconciled, but the man qualified, not Christ patiented, but an habit inherent, not God by grace pardoning, but an instilled virtue (like a receipt of Mithridate) expelling sin, is the cause of your justification. Pap. But have you any use of your Freewill in either righteousness; I mean that imputed, or this inherent? Or are you (as some relate your opinions) merely suffering, and passive, like so many stocks, and stones, casting not so much as a sigh, groan, or short wish, towards this great work of your conversion? Prot. In our first conversion to be righteous, and the Act of our justification, we are like so many Niobes, or images of marble, which move not at all, but as they are, in the whole lump, carted, and transported; Our understandings not affording themselves the least glymps of knowledge, nor our wills, the least show of inclination unto this Act, but as they are either of them powerfully bended by the Holy Ghost to lay hold by Faith on this imputed righteousness. But in our second conversion to be more righteous, which we call the Act of our Sanctification, we move like * Arist. polit. 1. c. 1. Daedalus his statues, or pageants upon wheels, dull, and unwieldy in our own natures, but so quickened, and enlived by those engines of Grace, and motions of the holy Ghost in our souls, and consciences, that now our understandings, wills, and affections do cooperate, and run along, with the Grace of God in all our works of piety, and devotion. To that imputed righteousness therefore we have no freeness, or cooperation of our Wills: to our inherent righteousness we have. We have no concurrence in that first Act of our justification, but we have a cooperation of the will (roused up, and excited by grace) in all subsequent Acts of our Sanctification. The points therefore of this Chapter are these: 1. justification consists, in Gods not imputing of Sin, and in his imputing of Christ's righteousness unto us. 2. It is not our conceit, but the justice, and mercy of God, which lays this load on our Saviour Christ. 3. Whosoever is acquainted with the Scripture, cannot be unacquainted with imputed righteousness. 4. Imputed righteousness is soon apprehended, but infused Faith, must be first obtained. 5. We have an inherent righteousness, which is the effect, but none, which is the cause of our justification. 6. Grace alone works our justification; Grace, and we together (but we in the second place) our Sanctification. CHAP. 4. Of Saints, Souls of the Dead, and those dependant questions. Pap. We are scandalised likewise at your Church, because you give no more reverence to the Saints than you do, neither praying unto them, nor adorning their images, nor giving them any set employment above in heaven, or the least care of us here on earth. Which smells very much of the heresies of the a Epiphan. Cainans, and Eunomians condemned so many years agone in the Christian Church. Prot. What employment the Saints have in heaven, besides the contemplation of God face to face, b Hugo de S. V l. 2. de Sacram. c. 11. Al●is. l. 3. we know not, nor do c Cassand. in consult. art. 21. we deny their praying for us. Upon earth they receive in our Church, all that honour bespoken for them in the primitive Church. We keep duly the memorial of the blessed Virgin, and the twelve Apostles, and a yearly panegyrical commemoration of all the Martyrs, & Saints of God: respecting them▪ as our d August. contr. Faust. l. 20. c. 2. fellows and friends, though not as our e jovius hist. lib. 24. Tutelar gods, and young little Saviour's. We admire their lives, and as we do not furiously deface, so do we not adore their images. Because f August. in Psal. 113. S. Augustin would fain know, where that Christian may be found, that prayeth or adoreth, beholding an image. g Idem de civet. Dei. lib. 22. cap. 10. We rear them no Temples, as to Gods, but trophies only of praise, as to deserving men. h Epi. ad Hebr. cap. 11. S. Paul himself did all this, and he did no more. We dignify them as Saints by celebration, we dare not deify them, as Gods by invocation. Your i Eckius in his Enchirid. own men confess, there is for this praying to Saints neither precept nor example in all the Bible. And 1 Orig. l. 2. in Epist. ad Rom. Origen made but a question, 2 Basil. cited by the Bishop of Lincoln. S. Basil an If, 3 NaZ. Orat. 1. in julian▪ & orat. in Gorgon. Gregory Nazianzene a thinking, or an opinion only of this, which you make an Article of Faith. We are commanded to call upon 4 Psal. 50 15. God, upon him 5 Matth. 4.10. only, for he is our 6 Psal. 74.12. King of old, and we are stark mad if we think to better ourselves by changing of Masters. Pap. I, but how will you answer Antiquity: For I have been told, that there are found in the writings of the Ancient Fathers, prayers made to many of the Saints and holy men departed. Prot. If you please to observe them well, you shall find, they are no Orisons, but Orations. A certain kind of passionate, and rhetorical exclamations made unto the dead, concerning some notable events happened unto the Church in general, or the parties themselves in particular. This is easily believed of them, who use to read the Greek Fathers, which are full of such ejaculations in their affectionate Discourses. And that their passages, are no prayers, this is an argument. 1 aliens. resp. ad Apolog. pag. 42. Because there is not any of all these Fathers, when they treat of prayer, (as it is their usual theme) of set purpose, and handle all the objects, and kinds thereof, that ever mention one syllable of this prayer to Saints. This is an answer will never be taken away by any of your side. Now if your Priests took an hint hereby, to erect Masses for the 2 Vide Epist. Vratislaviens. apud S●●ltetum, Annal. decad. 1. p. 150 dead, I hope you know they lose nothing by the bargain. Pap. You likewise contemn, and deride the Relics of the Saints, which are showed, preserved, and adored in our Churches. Prot. We are so fare from contemning any thing in this kind, that did we know them to be true relics, and no impostures, we should honour them more than you do, to wit, 1 K. james preface monit. with an honourable, and Christian burial. We hear indeed that there were of old 2 August. de moribus Ecclesiae. some Christians that attributed too much to the relics of the Martyrs, but we hear from the same Father, 3 August. de civet. Dei, l. 8. cap. 27. The better sort of Christians did not so. And we hold it very idle to 4 Plin. Sec●●▪ l. 4. ep. 8. propose for our imitation any other, than the best, and most absolute pattern. Pap. You do also speak basely of the blessed virgin, and compare her to your own wives, and such baggages. Prot. A railing Frenchman doth charge Melancthon with such a comparison, Florim. Remond en son Histoir ex Hom. Mel. in euang. de incarnate. but that book or passage he cities, is not to be found among the works of that most learned and modest writer: However, our Church hath never a * Roger's in art. 22. Saint ruffian (as yours hath) to heal all frenzies, and madnesses, and we count no better of those desperate speeches, that any one shall vomit against the glorious virgin. Yet I think your men abuse her fare more, * Leo 10. ep. ad Bemb. 17. one calling her a Goddess, another * Rosar. Mar. the Goddess of the sea, which is the title of Venus. Making of Mary the ever Virgin a mere * in Petr. Arbit. Quartilla, that could never remember she was a Virgin. In every deed you all abuse her. For * Polan: synt. l. 3. c. 24. as one well observes, when you say your Aue Maries, you pray for her. But we hold, as to pray for her to be most * Aug. serm. 17. de verb. Ap. injurious, so to pray to her to be most * Epiph. l. 3. adverse. haeres. unlawful and superstitious. Pap. Also you never use to pray for the dead, although the Ancients did so. Prot. We dare not indeed For if they be in Heaven, * P. Lomb. 4 sent. distinct. 45. we shall wrong them, if in Hell, we cannot help them; and Purgatory, * Roffens. contra art. Luther. art. 18. your own men confess, was never heard of amongst the Ancients. Now for those prayers for the dead in the old Liturgies, they were conceived (if you mark them) for men dying, Caessand. prec. eccles. and passing, not dead already, and so they are still used in the Church of England, and most diligently, & devourly in the Collegiate Church of Westminster. But to stretch, and extend these * Vide epist. Vratislau. apud Scultet. Annal. dec. 1. pa. 152. Collects to men stone-dead, and past their particular judgements was a pretty project of the Monks and Friars, and they were very well paid for their wit, and invention, as you shall find, when you shall have occasion to purchase a Mass for any of your kindred departed. Pap. Nay say you nothing of the Mass, for out of malice, and derogation from the Sacrifice therein offered, you have bred in the people such a sleight opinion of the Blessed Sacrament, as they make of it, but a bare sign, or a token, or a figure, or I cannot tell what: And dare not conceive Christ to be there, for fear of imprisonment, or the high Commission. Prot. We do indeed acknowledge no oblation in the blessed Sacrament, but a * See common prayer book. lively commemoration of that oblation of Christ, which he offered upon the Cross for our redemption. Nor any Sacrifice at all, but that Sacrifice of Collects, prayers, and thanksgiving, which the Church pours out unto God at the receiving of the Sacrament. And these commemorations, and collects, are the reason, why the Supper of the Lord, was termed by the Ancients, a Sacrifice, an Oblation, the Eucharist, the Host, etc. But the reverence due to this great Sacrament is as observable, as the manner of Christ's presence therein is unexpressable. The names of a figure, a sign, a type, and the like, we keep to expound the words only, but not as though they were keys to open, and unfold the manner of the mystery. The speech is to be expounded figuratively, because * Schoolmen in 4. sent. This, and Christ's body (before the pronunciation of the last syllable of the words) are disparats and of a contrary nature. But Christ is present there, for the matter a Aug. confess. apud Cassand. consult. art. 10. substantially, b Caluin. in 1. Cor. 11.21. truly, c Melan. in ep. ad Palat. & Granguellam. really, nay most truly, d Fortunatus Caluinista apud Greg. de Valent. l. 1. de praesen. Christi in Euchar. c. 7. dist. Istius. and most really, and more truly, and more really, than the bread and the wine, but for the manner ineffably, and unexpressably. And this is that Calvinistical doctrine, you so much cavil at, and deride. 1 We honour the Saints with Ecclesiastical observation, but not with a Spiritual adoration. 2 The ancient Fathers made Orations, but no Orisons unto them. 3 The blessed Virgin is more abused by Papists who make her To give suck to a Priest. Vincent. Spec. h●st. l. 7. 84. Mend Thomas a Beckets' old hose. Cantip. lib. 2. c. 29.12. Heale a scabbed head. Caes. l. 7. c. 25. Clip a Monk. Id. l. 7. c. 51. Kiss another. Id. l. 7 c. 33. Sing to a third. Id. l. 7. c. 22. Lie between man and wife. Vincent. lib. 7. c. 8. Supply a Nun's place that was gone to a Bawdy house. Caesar. lib. 7. cap. 35. Bring an Abbess to bed gotten with child by her Servingman. Vincent. Spec. hist. lib. 7. cap. 87. 4 We are ready to bury, but not to adore relics. 5 We pray for men departing, as the Fathers did, not for the departed as the Friars did. 6 Christ is in the Sacrament really for the matter, ineffably for the manner. CHAP. 5. Some idle personal exceptions. Prot. Have you any other points of our Religion that you stumble at? Pap. These are the main points of your religion questioned. But some aspersions more are cast upon the persons of your Ministers. As that they lie wilfully, and against their knowledge in points of Divinity, and are thus zealous in the cause, out of a desire only to preserve their great estates in the Church, whereas our Priests have no other worldly comfort, but the goodness of their cause, and the testimonies of their consciences. Prot. Let your common discretion be your judge in this case, whether we, that ground our doctrines upon the word of God, interpreted by those ten rules I formerly set down, or these men, that put all to the determination of the Church that is, to their own proper fantasies, and the gross exposition of an unlearned Pope, are most likely to gull the world, with crotchets, and Chimeras. Besides, you know how full this kingdom is of men well read, as in all sciences, so especially in Divinity. You know (and yet none knows it so well, as they that best know him) the profound learning and deep apprehension of the King himself, as having perfectly digested, the very body and bulk of all sacred knowledge. And is this a stage for ignorance & imposture to play their parts on? Or doth this learned Monarch, the Lord of 3. Kingdoms, wooed and sought unto, by all the Catholic Princes, palliate his religion, in hope of a Bishopric? These are poor and toothless aspersions. Then for our Ecclesiastical estates, they are so par'de, and pol'de with duties, and impositions (all which had their Original from the Court of Rome) that the time of the charge of breeding up a minister, would raise him a better means than he hath in the Church in any other trade or traffic whatsoever The King is gracious to his servants of all professions. But a Country Minister cannot inn for the harvest of a whole year, what a jesuite can get in an hours confession. Lastly, concerning these professors of poverty the Priests, and the jesuites, it is too well known they want no maintenance. What by traducing our Nation abroad, and seducing our people at home, their bones are full of marrow, and their eyes swell with fatness; and what the Statute hath taken from us, cogging, and cheating hath drawn upon them, I mean the privy Tithes, and Benevolences of the Kingdom. But to choke this Objection in one word. That our means is no cause to keep us in this profession, witness our Brethren in France and elsewhere, who without the same means, teach & preach the self same doctrine. Pap. They also inform us that your Ministers have neither learning, nor honesty. Prot. It is true indeed, they teach their Novices, that the greatest Doctor in our Church, doth not understand the common grounds of Divinity, and must of * Britanno-Romanus pag. 19 necessity be put to his A. B. C. again. But common reason can inform you, whether this be true or not. Again, they are only the base fugitives, and discontented runagates of our own nation, that spread these rumours, who think their Countrymen the grossest fools in Christendom, that they dare thus amuse them, and lead them by the nose, with such impossible assertions. And therefore I will give you a touch here, how other Papists have ingeniously acknowledged the learning, and piety of many Protestants. * Aeneas Silvius de orig. Bohem. c. 35. Pope Pius commended Hus for learning, and purity of life; Alph. lib. 2. adverse. haeres. tit. Ador. haer. 2. Alphonsus de Castro Oecolampadius for all kind of knowledge, and the tongues especially, * In annot. in Tert. coron. Militis. In defence. conc. Trid. l. 1. p. 41. Rhenanus also Conradus Pelican as a man of a wonderful sanctity, and erudition; Andradius likewise, Chemnitius for a man of a sharp wit, and great judgement; Costerus all the Protestants for their civil behaviour, their alms, their building of hospitals, and forbearing from reviling, & swearing; * Enchirid. c. 2. p. 101. De prohib. l. 2. c. 13. Gretzer himself, our ordinary writers to be (for the most part) of great learning, 1 Recherches de la France, pag. 910. & 511. and judgement, Stephen Paschier held Caluin worthy (set his opinions aside) to be compared for zeal and learning to the chief Doctors of the Catholic Church. 2 Lib. 11. epist. 11. Epist. Erasmus held Luther of that integrity of life, that his very enemies had nothing to cast in his dish; 3 Lindan. l. 3. Strom. cap. 33. Lindanus acknowledged Melancthon to be adorned with all kind of learning. In a word, your Writers themselves did so applaud the persons of their adversaries for learning, and piety, that 4 Index expurg. distinct. 2. Pope Clement the 8. was fain to command all your Controversy-writers to be reviewed; and these graces, and praises bestowed on our men, to be blotted out, and expunged. And therefore when you next hear a jesuite in this theme, think upon these true relations, and withal laugh at him, and pray for him. Pap. Sir, I have received some satisfaction, that matters are not so fare out of square in the Church of England, as I have been informed. But yet my conscience will not serve me, to come to your congregations, because there are (beside these trivial) many other points of doctrine never heard of amongst Protestants, which be in very deed the Caballas, and mysteries of the Romane-Catholique Religion. You have been very tedious in your answers and declarations, I pray you therefore bestow the last Chapter upon me, to show the reasons, why so many Ladies, and good Souls refuse to conform themselves to the Church of England. Prot. With all my heart, I will therefore end my speech with the summing up this fifth Chapter, and leave the event to God, and your Conscience. 1. The means of our Churchmen are not so great, as to make them maintain a false religion, but their religion is so true, as it makes them contented with any means. 2. Yet in other countries, where no hope of preferment appears, there appears an equal zeal of our Religion. 3. Our Churchmen are commended for their lives, and learning, by the pens of their prime adversaries. CHAP. 6. Reasons of refusal to leave the Romish religion, collected out of printed Authors. Pap. I Cannot leave my Religion. I. Reason. Because, We must simply believe the Church of Rome, whether it teach true, or false. Stapl. Antidote. in Euang. Luc. 10.16. pag. 528. And if the Pope believe there is no life to come, we must believe it as an Article of our Faith. Busgradus. And we must not hear Protestant Preachers, though they preach the Truth. Rhem. upon tit. 3.10. Blasph. And for your Scripture, we little weigh it. For the Word of God, if it be not expounded, as the Church of Rome will have it, is the word of the Devil. Hosius de expresso verbo Dei. II. Reason. You rely too much upon the Gospel, and S. Paul's Epistles in your Religion, whereas, Blasph. the Gospel is but a fable of Christ, as Pope Leo the tenth tells us. Apol. of H. Stephen. fol. 358. Smeton. contra Hamilton. pag. 104. And the Pope can dispense against the New Testament. Panormit. extra de divortiis. And he may check, when he pleases the Epistles of S. Paul. Carolus Ruinus Consil. 109. num. 1. volum. 5. And control any thing avouched by all the Apostles. Rota in decis. 1. num. 3. in noviss. Anton. Maria in addit. ad decis. Rotae nou. de Big. n. 10. And there is an eternal Gospel, to wit, Blasph. that of the holy Ghost, which puts down Christ's. Cirellus a Carmelite set it forth. III. Reason. You attribute all your Salvation to Faith in Christ alone. Whereas, He is the Saviour of men only, but of no women. Dial. of Dives and Pauper, compl. 6. cited by Rogers upon the Artic. and Postellus in jesuits Catech. l. 1. cap. 10. For women are saved by S. Clare. Mother jane. Som. in Morn. de eccl. cap. 9 Postellus in jesuits Catech. lib. 8. cap. 10. Nay to speak properly, S. Francis hath redeemed as many, as are saved since his days. Conformit. of S. Fran. And the blood of S. Thomas a Becket. Hor. Beat. Virg. And sometimes one man, by his Satisfactions, redeems another. Test. Rhem. in Rom. 8.17. iv Reason. In your Church there is but one way to remission of sins, which you call Faith in Christ, but we have many. For we put away Our Venials, with a little holy water, Test. Rhem. in Rom. 8.17. Mortals, by 1. Merits of the B. Virgin, Hor. B. Virg. 2. The blood of Becket, ib. 3. Agnos Dei, or holy Lambs, Cerem. l. 1. t. 7. 4. Little parcels of the Gospel, Breviar. 5. Becoming Franciscans, confor. l. 1. fol. 101. 6. A Bishop's pardon for 40. days, a Cardinals for a 100 days, and the Popes forever. Taken. Camaer. apud Espens. in 1. ad Tim. V Reason. You stand too precisely upon your Sacraments, and require a true Faith in the partaker. Whereas with us, To become a Monk, or a Nun, is as good as the Sacrament of Baptism. Aquin. de ingres. relig. l. 2. c. 21. And the very true, and real body of Christ may be devoured of dogs, hogs, cats, and rats. Alex. Hales, part 4. q. 45. Thom. part 3. q. 8. art. 3. VI Reason. Then for your Ministers, every one is allowed to have his wife, or else enforced to live chastely, whereas with us, the Pope himself cannot dispense with a Priest to marry, no more than he can privilege him to take a purse. Turianus found fault withal by Cassand. Consult. art. 23. But whoredom is allowed all the year long. See Sparkes discovery, pag. 13. & constitut. Othon. de concubit. cleric. removend. Abominable. And another sin for june, july, August. which you must not know of. Allowed for this time by Sixtus Quartus to all the family of the Cardinal of S. Lucy, vessel. Grovingens. tract. de indulgent. citat. a jacob. Laurent. jesuit. lib. pag. 196. vide Io. Wolfij lection. memorab. centen. 15 p. 836. For indeed the wickedness of the Churchmen is a prime argument of the worthiness of the Roman Church. Bellar. l. 4. de Rom. Pont. cap. 14. artic. 28. And the Pope can make that righteous, which is unrighteous. l. 1. Decretal. Greg. tit. 7. c. 5. And yet can no man say unto him, Sir, why do you so? In extrau tom. 22. titul. 5. c. ad Apostolatus. VII. and last Reason. You in the Church of England have cast off the Bishop of Rome, Blasph. whereas the Bishop of Rome is a God. Dist. 96. c. Satis evidenter. & Panorm. cap. Quanto Abbas. FINIS.