serve the living God (Col. i. 10). That we should root up all the relics of sin; that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philipp. ii. 12); that it might appear that the spirit of sanctification was in us, and that Christ himself dwelleth in our hearts by faith.

24. To conclude: we believe that this body of ours in which we live, though after death it turns to dust, yet in the last day it shall return to life again, by the spirit of Christ that dwelleth in us; and that then, whatever we suffer for Christ in the interim, he will wipe away all tears from our eyes, and that then through him we shall enjoy everlasting life, and be always with him in glory. Amen.

CHAP. III.

Containing a plain Demonstration of the Causes why and whence Heresies arose in the Church, with Instances of all Sorts in all Times.

THESE are the horrible heresies for which a considerable part of the world at this day are condemned by the Pope unheard; it had been better to have entered a contest with Christ, the Apostles and holy fathers; for they it was, who did not only give a beginning to these doctrines, but commanded them; unless they of the church of Rome will say (as perhaps they will) that Christ did not institute the holy communion, that it might be distributed amongst the faithful; or that the Apostles of Jesus Christ, or the ancient fathers, said private masses in all the corners of their churches; sometimes ten, and at other twenty in one day; or that Christ and the Apostles deprived the people of the cup, or that that which they now do, and that with that eagerness, that whoever will not comply with them in it,

is by them condemned for an heretic, is not called sacrilege by one of their own popes, Gelasius; or that those are not the words of Ambrosius, Augustinus, Gelasius, Theodoret, Chrysostom, and Origen: "That the bread and wine in the sacrament remain what they were before; that that which is seen on the holy table is bread; that the substance of the bread doth not cease to be, nor the nature of the wine; that the substance and nature of the bread is not changed; that this very bread, as to what concerns the matter of it, goes down into the belly, and is cast out by the draught?" Or that Christ and his apostles, and the fathers, did not pray in that tongue which was understood by the people? Or that Christ, by that one oblation which he once offered, hath not perfected the work of our redemption, or that this sacrifice was so imperfect that we need another?" Either they must say all these things, or else they must aver, which, perhaps, they had rather say, that all right and justice is inclosed in the cabinet of the Pope's breast; and, as one of his followers and flatterers once said, that he may dispense against the apostles, against the councils, and against the apostolical canons; and that he is not bound by those examples, institutions, and laws of Christ.

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2. Thus we have been taught by Christ, by the apostles and holy fathers, and we do faithfully teach the people of God the same things, and for so doing we are called heretics, by the great leader and prince of religion. O immortal God! what! have Christ and his apostles, and so many fathers, all erred? What! are Origen, Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom, Gelasius, and Theodoret, apostates from the. catholic faith? Was the consent of so many bishops and learned men nothing but a conspiracy of heretics? Or that which was commendable in them, is

it now blameable in us? And that which was catholie in them, is it, by a change in the wills of men, become schismatical in us? Or that which was once true, is it now, because it displeaseth them, become false? Let them, then, produce a new Gospel; or, at least, set forth their reasons why those things which were so long publicly observed and approved in the church, ought now at last to be recalled. We know that the word which was revealed by Christ, and propagated by the apostles, is sufficient to promote our salvation and all truth, and to convince all heresies. Out of it alone we condemn all sorts of ancient heresies (which they pretend we have recalled from the bottom of hell), and pronounce the Arians, Eutychians, Marcionites, Ebionites, the Valentinians, Corpocratians, Tatians, and Novatians; and, in one word, all those who have thought impiously either of God the Father, or of Christ, or of the Holy Ghost; or of any other part of the Christian religion; all these (I say), because they are convicted by the Gospel of Christ, we pronounce them wicked and lost men, and detest them to the gates of hell; and not only so, but if any of those heresies happen to break out anew amongst us, we severely and seriously correct the revivers of them with lawful and civil punishments.

3. We confess, that, upon the beginning of the Reformation, there arose some new and unheard-of sects, as Anabaptists, Libertines, Menonians, and Zwinkfeldians; but we render our unfeigned thanks to God, that the world is now well satisfied, that we neither brought forth, nor taught, nor maintained those monsters. Whoever thou art who thinkest otherwise, be pleased to read our books, which are every where to be had. What is there in them that can fairly be taken to favour the madness of these people Yea, there are at this day no nations so

free from these pests as those in which the Gospel is freely taught. Now if they would rightly and attentively consider this thing, it is a strong argument that the doctrine we teach is the very truth of the Gospel; for neither tares nor chaff use to spring up or be found, but in corn. And who knows not what a number of heresies arose when the Gospel was first propagated in the world, in the times of the very Apostles? Who before these times ever heard of Simon Magus, Menander, Saturninus, Basilides, Corpocrates, Cerinthus, Ebion, Valentinus, Secundus, Marcosius, Colorbasius, Heracleo, Lucian, and Severus? But why should I mention this contemptible number? Epiphanius reckons eighty, and St. Augustine more, distinct heresies, which grew up with the Gospel. What then? Was not the Gospel the Gospel, because together with it so many heresies were produced? Or shall we therefore say that Christ was not Christ?

4. And yet (as I said) this cursed crop has not sprung up in cur fields, where the Gospel is freely preached, and publicly received and settled: those plagues have had their rise in the darkness and blindness of our adversaries, and with them too they have increased and spread themselves, where the truth is oppressed with tyranny and cruelty; nor are these things to be heard of any where but in corners and conventicles. Let them make a trial; let them grant the Gospel its free course; let the truth of Jesus Christ freely shine and extend its rays to all parts without hindrance, and they shall soon see, that as the darkness of the night vanisheth at the approach of the sun, so will these shadows disappear before the light of the Gospel. For as for us, we daily make it our business to repel and confute these heresies, which we are falsely reported to nou

rish and encourage, whilst our adversaries sit still, and mind nothing less.

5. And whereas they say we are divided into different sects, and that some of us have taken the name of Lutherans, and others of Zuinglians (or Calvinists), and we could never yet agree among ourselves concerning the articles of our doctrines : what would they have said if they had lived in the times of the apostles and holy fathers? when one said, I am of Paul; another, I am of Cephas; and another, I am of Apollos; when St. Paul reprehended St. Peter; when, by reason of a quarrel, Paul and Barnabas separated one from the other, and went several ways; when, as Origen acquaints us, the Christians were divided into so many factions, that they had no name common to them but that of Christian, and they agreed in nothing else but that name, and, as Socrates informs us, they were derided publicly in the theatres by the people for their dissensions and sects; and when, as Constantine the Great said, there were so many contentions and controversies in the church, that this very single calamity seemed to exceed the miseries of the former times (of persecution); when Theophilus, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, Augustine, Ruffinus, and St. Jerome, all of them Christians, all fathers, and all catholics, contested each other with most violent and implacable animosity; when, as Nazianzen saith, the members of the same body consumed one another; when the eastern and western churches contended about leavened bread, and the time of keeping Easter, things of no mighty consequence; when in every council (which were then numerous) there was a new creed, and new and contrary decrees minted. What would these men have then said? to whom would they have applied themselves? from whom would they have fled in what Gospel would