4▪ Vvho vvil al men] The perishing or damnation of men must not be imputed to God, vvho delighteth not in any mans perdition, but hath prouided a general medicine & redemption to saue al from perishing that vvil accept it, or that haue it applied vnto them by his Sacraments and other meanes by him ordained, and so vvould haue al saued by his conditional vvil and or∣dinance: that is, if men vvil them selues, by accepting, doing, or hauing done vnto them al things requisite by Gods lavv. for God vseth not his absolute vvil or povver tovvardes al•••••• this case. But he that list see the manifold senses (al good and true) that these vvordes may beare, let him see S. Augustine, Ad articul. sibi false impos. resp. ••. to. 7. E••ch. c. 103. Ep. 107. De cor. & grat. c. 15. and S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 li. 2. de orthod. fide ••. 29.
5 One mediator.] The Protestants are to peuish and pitifully blind, that charge the Catho∣like Church & Catholikes, vvith making moe Mediators then one, vvhich is Christ our Sauiour, in that they desire the Saincts to pray for them, or to be their patrones and intercessors before God. Vve tel them therfore that they vnderstand not vvhat it is to be a Mediator, in this sense that S. Paul taketh the vvord, and in vvhich it is properly and onely attributed to Christ. For, to be thus a Mediator, is, by nature to be truely both God and man, to be that one eternal Priest and Redeemer, vvhich by his sacrifice and death vpon the Crosse hath reconciled vs to God, and paied his bloud as a full and sufficient raunsom for al our sinnes, him self vvithout neede of any redemption, neuer subiect to possibilitie of sinning: againe, to be the singular Aduocar and Pa∣trone of mankind, that by him self alone and by his ovvne merites procureth al grace & mercie to mankind in the sight of his ••ather, none making any intercession for him, nor geuing any grace or force to his praiers, but he to al: none asking or obtaining either grace in this life, or glo∣rie in the next, but by him. In this sort then (as S. Augustine truely saith, Cont. ep. Parm. li. 2. c. 8.) neither Peter nor Paul, no nor our B. Lady, nor any creature vvhatsoeuer, can be our Mediator. The aduersaries thinke to basely of Christes mediation, if they imagine this to be his onely pre∣rogatiue, to pray for vs, or that vve make the saincts our Mediators in that sort as Christis, vvhen vve desire them to pray for vs. vvhich is so far inferior to the singular mediation of him, that no Catholike euer can or dare thinke or speake so basely vnto him, as to desire him to pray for vs: but vve say, Lord haue mercie vpō vs, Christ haue mercie vpon vs: & not, Christ pray for vs, as vve say to our Ladie and the rest. Therfore to inuocate Saincts in that sort as the Catholike Church doth, can not make them our Mediators as Christ is, vvhom vve must not inuocate in that sort. And as vvel make vve the faithful yet liuing, our Mediators (by the Aduersaries arguments) vvhen vve desire their praiers, as the departed Saincts.
But novv touching the vvord Mediator, though in that singular sense proper to our Sauiour, it agreeth to no mere creature in heauen or earth, yet taken in more large and common sort by the vse of Scriptures, doctors, and vulgar speach, not onely the Saincts, but good men liuing▪ that pray for vs and help vs in the vvay of saluation, may and are rightly called Mediators. As S. Cyril li. 22 Thesaur. c. 10 proueth, that Moyses according to the Scriptures and Ieremie and the Apo∣stles and others be Mediators. Read his ovvne wordes, for they plainely refute al the Aduersaries cauillations in this case. And if the name of * fauiour and redeemer be in the Scriptures giuen to men, vvithout derogation to him that is in a more excellent and incomparable maner the onely Sauiour of the vvorld: vvhat can they say, vvhy there may not be many Mediators, in an inferior degree to the only and singular Mediator? S. Bernard saith, Opus est mediatore ad Mediatorem Chri∣stum, nec alter nobis vtilior quam Maria. that is, We haue neede of a mediator to Christ the Mediator, and there is none more for our profite then our Ladie. Bernard. Ser. qui incipit, Signum magnum apparuit &c. post Ser. 5 de Assumpt. S. Basil also in the same sense, vvriting to Iulian the Apostata, desireth the mediation of our Ladie, of the Apostles, Prophets, and Martyrs, for procuring of Gods mercie and remission of his sinnes. His vvordes are cited in Conc. Nic. 2. act. 4. pag. 110 & 111. Thus did and thus beleeued al the holy fathers, most agreably to the Scriptures, and thus must al the children of the Church do, be the Aduersaries neuer so importunate and vvilfully blinde in these matters.
12. I permit not.] In times of licentiousnes, libertie, and heresie, vvomen are much giuen to reading, disputing, chatting, and langling of the holy Scriptures, yea and to teach also if they might be permitted. but S. Paul vtterly forbideeth it, and the Greeke Doctors vpon this place note that the vvoman taught but once, that vvas vvhen after her reasoning vvith Satan, she persuaded her husband to transgression, and so she vndid al mankind. And in the Ecclesiastical vvriters vve find that vvomen haue been great promoters of euery sort of heresie (vvhereof see a notable discourse in S. Hierom ep. ad Ct••siph. cont. Pelag. c. 2.) vvhich they vvould not haue done, if they had accor∣ding to the Apostles rule, folovved pietie and good vvorkes, and liued in silence and subiection to their husbands.