Body of Divinity, Half title – To the reader 1
Leigh's Body of Divinity.
A SYSTEME OR Body of Divinity: Consisting of TEN BOOKS.
Wherein the FUNDAMENTALS and main Grounds of RELIGION are OPENED: The Contrary ERROURS REFUTED: Most of the CONTROVERSIES Between US, the PAPISTS, ARMINIANS and SOCINIANS Discussed and handled.
SEVERAL SCRIPTURES Explained and vindicated from corrupt Glosses▪
A Work seasonable for these times, wherein so many Articles of our Faith are questioned, and so many gross Errours daily published.
By EDWARD LEIGH Esquire, and Master of Arts of Magdalen-Hall in OXFORD.
Quisquis bonus verusque Christianus est, Domini sui esse intelligat, ubicunque invenerit Veritatem.
August. de Doctrina Christiana l. 2.
LONDON, Printed by A. M. for William Lee at the Sign of the Turks-head in Fleet-street over against Fetter-lane, M. DC. LIV.
TO ALL THE Orthodox and Godly MAGISTRATES, MINISTERS AND PEOPLE of ENGLAND, who are Lovers of Truth and Holiness.
I Am not ignorant that the Socinians make sport in their Books with the Protestant Authours, because they call themselves the Orthodox, and say, We use that as a spell, thinking thereby to charm all dissentiates. And some that plead for Universal Redemption, Apostasie of the Saints, and such corrupt Doctrins, seem to slight those mormolukes of Arminianism, Pelagianism, Socinianism.
Yet there are those who are Orthodox, whose judgement is sound in matters of Faith, and there are also without question many in these dayes, who are Hetrodox and unsound in the Faith, We have no such custome, nor the Churches of Christ, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 11. 16.Quod per omnes Ecclesias receptum est, disputando velle in controversiam vocare est foreign. Grotius in loc. Orthodoxus is videlicet qui de rebus fidei rectam opinionem habet. Drus. Spicileg. Nec etiam illi duntaxat Heterodoxi, vel non Orthodoxi vocari possunt, qui doctrinam aliquam ab Ecclesia apertè damnatam vel rejectam amplexi sunt, sed & qui vel erroneum dogma vel inutile tuentur, quod cum Scriptura non consistit, aut sibi non constat. Aliud etiam est simpliciter orthodoxum non esse, aliud talem non esse in hoc vel illo capite. Spanhem. Exercitat. de Grat. univers. Annotat. in Sect. 2.
The concurrent judgement of the Reformed Churches is not to be slighted.
That saying of Vincentius Lirinensis cap. 5. in Commonit. adversus Haereses is worthy our serious consideration, Mos iste semper in Ecclesia viguit, ut quò quisque foret religiosior eo promptius novellis adinventionibus contrairet. That custome (saith he) hath still flourished in the Church, that the more religious any one was, the more readily he would oppose new inventions.
Truth is precious and should be maintained: Errour is dangerousAmicus Socrates, amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas. and should be opposed. Buy the truth and sell it not, saith Salomon. Ierusalem is called a City of truth, Zech. 8. 3. The Church is called the pillar and ground of truth, 1 Tim. 3. 15. Christ came into the world, that he might bear witness to the truth, Iohn 18. 27. The Prophet Ieremiah complains, That none were valiant Jer. 9. 3.for the truth. Contend earnestly for the Faith, which was once Jude v. 3. 2 Cor. 13. 8. Nullus enim suavior animi cibus est, quam cognitio veritatitis, cujus asserendae at que illustrandae septem volumina destinavimus. Lactant. de falsa religione. l. 1. Accepi à fide dignissimis, cum illi ex consuetudine oblati essent eo die quo coronabatur in regem, tres gladii, in signum quod esset trium potentissimorum Regnorum Angliae, Franciae & Hiberniae Monarcha: quod tandem dixerit, deesse adhuc unum, & cum interrogassent principes, quisnam ille sit: Respondit, esse sacrorum Bibliorum volumen. Ille liber, inquit, Gladius Spiritus est, & gladiis his omnibus longe anteferendus. Baldaeus de Script. Brit. Cent. 2.delivered to the Saints. We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth, saith Paul, It is made a sign of Christs sheep, Iohn 10. 4, 5. to take heed of errours and false teachers.
Our Magistrates should do well to follow the examples of our Iosiah King Edward the sixth and Queen Elizabeth; Two things in King Edward,
1. In his honouring the Word of God.
2. In his opposing of errour and false worship.
When he was crowned, they put into his hands three Swords: he answered, there was one yet wanting, the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit, which was farre to be preferred before all those. When he was pressed by Bishop Ridley and others to tolerate his Sister Masse in her own Chappel, he would not (though importuned) yeeld thereunto, saying, He should dishonour God in it; and being much urged by them, he burst out into tears, and they affirmed, That he had more Divinity in his little fingers, then they in all their bodies.
Queen Elizabeth after her Coronation, when the Bible wasSpeed. Chro. c. 24. p. 838. presented unto her at the little Conduit in Cheapside; she received the same with both her hands, and kissing it, laid it to her brest, saying, That the same had ever been her chiefest delight, and should be the Rule by which she meant to frame her Government.Baldazza… a Germane Divine, writing to Oecolampadius, saith, Venia… verbum Dei & submittemus, etiamsi nobis essent sexcenta colla.
Fregevill a wise French Writer in his Apology for the general cause of Reformation, observes two memorable things in Queen Elizabeths Government:
1. That under her first, Reformation had free and full course throughout England.
2. That she was a favourer of the Clergy.
She once in her Progress visiting the County of Suffolk, all theEgo quidem sine verbo ne in Paradisa optarim vivere, cum verbo etiam in inferno facile est vivere. Luth. T…m. 2 …hr. 30. 32. Iustices of Peace in that County, met her Majesty, every one of them having his Minister next to his body, which the Queen took special notice of, and thereupon uttered this Speech, That she had often demanded of her Privy Councel, why her County of Suffolk was better governed theu any other County, and could never understand the reason thereof but now she her self perceived the reason, It must needs be so (said she) where the Word and the Sword go together.In Regum solenni & publica inauguratione, inter alias Ceremonias, quoque Liber legis in manus ipsis datus fuit, & sub isto symbolo veritatis coelestis in eo comprehensae Protectio commendata, 2 Reg. 11. 12. ubi per Testimonium, tam Hebraeorum, quam Christianorum Interpretes, librum legis intelligunt. Buxt. Epist. Dedicat. ad Anticritica.
It is the Duty of the Magistrate not onelyonly to regard that the life of his Subjects be civil and honest, but also that it be religious and godly. Therefore we are taught to pray for them, that we may live under them a peaceable life, not onelyonly in all honesty, but also in all godliness, or true worship of God, as the word used by the Apostle doth signifie. Therefore the King was commanded to take a copy of the whole Law, and not of the second Table only, implying that he should look to the execution as well of the first Table as the second.
Ministers also should appear for the truths of God, and be able (now if ever) to convince the gain-sayers, Tit. 1. 9. The Scripture is profitable for doctrine and for reproof, 2 Tim. 3. 16. Shall we have the Pelagian Doctrine of Free-will, and the power of nature pleaded for; and our Bertii maintaining the Apostasie of Saints, and shall we have no Bradwardines to write de causa Dei, nor Augustines de bono Perseverantiae?
I remember when the worthy Prolocutor of the Assembly with other Divines, brought in the Confession of Faith into the House of Commons, he said, They had been the longer, and had taken the more pains about it, that it might obviate the errours of the times.
Sozomen relates a very remarkable story to this purpose.Hist. Eccles. 18. When the Synod of Nice was called against Arius, many of the wiser Heathens came thither to hear the Disputation there. One Philosopher among the rest behaved himself very insolently there, and petulantly derided the Christian Ministers: an old plain countrey-man (ex illustrium confessorum numero) being not able to brook his arrogancy, desired to dispute with him, and having a last gained liberty, he began thus, Philosophe audito, VNVS EST DEVS COELI, TERRAE, &c. Hear Philosopher (making a Confession of his Faith) there is one God, maker of Heaven and Earth, and all things Invisible, and then shew'd how Christ was born of a Virgin, and conversed here with men, and died for them, and should after come to judge men for all that they had done here on earth, and then concludes, That these *Ista ita se habere, sine ulla alia curiosa indagatione pro certo credimus. Noli ergo in his quae fide duntaxat rectè intelliguntur curiosè refutandis laborem frustra consumere, quaerereve quî ista fieri aut non fieri possint. Quod si credis, mihi quaed…m sciscitanti responde. Quibus obstupefactus Philosophus, Credo, inquit. Et gratiis illi actis, quod ipsum devicisset, non solùm eadem cum sene ipse sentire, verum etiam consilium dare coepit illis, qui perinde erga fidem Christianam atque ipse antè, affecti erant, ut jam doctrinae Christianae assentirentur: atque jusjurandum adjecit, se non modo sine numine divino mutatum esse, sed etiam vi ac virtute quadam inexplicabili ad religionem Christianam conversum.things are so without any other curious search, we certainly beleeve. Therefore do not spend your pains in vain in a curious refuting of these things, which are only rightly understood by faith, or in searching how they may be done or not. But if thou beleevest, answer me some Questions; with which things the Philosopher being astonished, answered, I beleeve; and giving him thanks that he had overcome him, was not onelyonly of the same judgement with the old man, but also began to give counsell to others (who were before enemies to the Christian Faith as well as himself) to assent to the Christian Doctrine, and added an Oath, that he was not onelyonly changed by a divine Deity, but also by a certain unexpressible force was converted to the Christian Religion.
If Zanchy may be credited, the perseverance of Saints in theDoctrina Dei & quidem praecipua pars Evangelii fuit non tantum in dubium vocata, sed etiam damnata, doctrina nimirū de perseverantia Sanctorum in fide, ex qua pendet articulus de certitudine salutis nostrae per Christum. Haec verò doctrina de perseverantia pendet à doctrina de immutabili sanctorum electione ac praedestinatione, sine qua doctrina articulus de gratuita per Christum justificatione, nullo modo consistere potest. Zanch. discept. cum Marbachio. Faith, is a main part of the Gospel. Vedelius in his Panacea Apostasiae bono constantium & lapsorum praescripta. l. 1. c. 3. shews, thatTota haec doctrina Christi est & Apostolorum, explicata ab Augustino, recepta ab Ecclesia Catholica renovata à Luthero & Bucero totius Germaniae duobus luminibus. Id. ibid. an Apostate breaks all the ten Commandments.
I wish that the Reformed Churches by their unhappy divisions (fomented by the Boutefeus of Christendom, the lesuites) do not weaken themselves, and accomplish their enemies great design.
It is observed by Chemnitius *Anno 1540 intercedente Cardinali Contareno, à Paulo III. petierunt, ut vitae illud institutum. Pontificia autoritate confirmaret: Qui addita hae cautione, illud ratum habuit, ne plures quam 60 viri, ad eam societatem adscriberentur. Sed cum postea animadverterent, illam vitae rationem ad restituendam & resarciendam nutantem & labascentem Pontificiam Ecclesiam prae caeteris ordinibus maximè idoneam esse, 1543. anno decrevit, ne ullis vel locorum terminis, vel personarum vumero, societas haec Iesu nomine insignita circumscriberetur. Chemnit. in exam. part. 1. Decret. Conc. Trid. Praef., that in the year 1540. the Iesuites by the Intercession of Cardinal Contarenus did obtain from Paul the III, that he would confirm that order by his Pontificial Authority, who did ratifie it with this caution, that onelyonly threescore men should be of that Society. But when afterward they observed that that order was more active then others in upholding the tottering Church of Rome, he decreed in the year 1543. that this Society of the Iesuites should not be limited to any either terms of places, or number of persons.
It is also observable what Campanella laies down in his discourseCertò constat Regem Hispaniarum si selum Angliam cum Belgio donare posset, toti…s Europae magnaeque partis mundi Monarcham citò evasurū. Iam verò ad evertendos Anglos nihil tam conducit, quam dissensio & discordia inter illos excitata, tum perpetuo que nutrita, quod citò occasiones meliores suppeditabit. Campanellae de Monarch. Hisp. Discur. c. 25. Equidem nulla opportunior aut major potentia est ad opponendam classem Anglicam, quam potentia Hollandiae & Zelandiae. Nam hae non solum navium numero, sed etiam experientia maritima omnes alias multis parasangis antecedunt, ut taceam jam de ferocia & divitiis gentium. Campan. ib. c. 27. of the Spanish Monarchy; It is manifest (saith he) that the King of Spain if he could subdue England with the Low-countreys, would soon become Monarch of all Europe, and a great part of the world. Now nothing so much conduceth to overthrow the English as a dissension and discord stirred up amongst them and the Dutch, and perpetually nourished, which will soon (saith he) afford better occasions. In Chap. 27. of the same Book he speaks much to the same purpose.
Parsons the English Jesuite in his Memorial for Reformation, or a remembrance for them that shall live when Catholick Religion shall be restored unto England, he would have the grand Charter burnt, the municipal Laws abrogated, and the Innes of Court converted to some other use; that for Lawyers. Then for Divines, The Colledges in both the Vniversities should be onelyonly in the power of six men, who should have all the Lands, Mannors, Lordships, Parsonages, &c. and what ever else belonged to Church or Cloister resigned into their hands. That at the beginning no mans conscience be pressed for matters in Religion: then, that publick disputations between Papists and Protestants be held in both the Vniversities. That for some years it will be more commodious for the publick, and more liberty for the Preachers, to have no Appropriation nor Obligation to any particular Benefice, but Itinera—mitto caetera. M. Smiths Preface to Dailles Apology for the Reformed Churches, translated by him. He saith there he hath been told by the London Booksellers, that at the least thirty thousand Popish Books have been printed here within these three last years.
Shall the Iesuitical and heretical party be so active for Popery, for errour, and shall not the Orthodox be as studious to hold fast and hold forth the Truth? Let Magistrates make the interest of Christ his Truths, his Worship, his People, their great interest, let them discountenance gross errors and damnable heresies. Let Ministers preach down, pray down, live down those abominable Doctrins now amongst us: Let all the people of God study Fundamentals, labour to be stablisht in the Truth, and in their places oppose Falshood, Libertinism and all horrid Blasphemies, and pray earnestly to God, that he would cause the false prophets and the unclean spirits to pass out of the Land, Zech. 13. …. and I should yet hope (though our case be very sad) that God would continue his Gospel still amongst us in power and purity, though by our sins we have forfeited so great a mercy▪ Which blessing that it may be vouchsafed unto us (though altogether unworthy) shall be the prayer of,
Your true Christian Friend and hearty well-wisher Edward Leigh.