the later end of King Henry his time Then you were expreslye commaunded to beleeue that vnder each kind of bread and wine are conteyned the body and bloud of Christ now it is petty treason to fay so I speake not here of Dermarke of Geneua of other cities in Germanve who are all Protestants and all differing among them selues and from you I haue onely declared how great diuersitie and disagreeing their is amonge your Protestantes at home within one little Ilande which is so euident and so farre from good christianitie that it may be vnto you a very certen and suer token that the true fayth can not be amonge them which hitherto can not agree in one fayth each condemning the others opinion Thus derely beloued and my very louinge Sisters I haue geuen you certen generall Markes to learne the true Church To wryte all were infinite because all bookes are full of our religion I trust hereafter to instructe you in euery pointe as you would desire and I pray God geue you grace that you may desire it All at once woulde be to tedious In the meane time remeÌ„ber these two things VVhen your religion began and by vvhom and how it came at length into England This is the yeare of Christ a thowsand fiue hundred eyghty and three Luther began to preache with-in these fiftye yeares If he preached the truth and all before him were deceaued where was the Church of Christ in all the worlde for a thowsande and fiue hundred yeares before and how is Christ â—â—ue of his promis that sayd I vvill remayne vvith you for euer and the holy Ghost shall teach you all truth and the gates of hell shall not prcuâ—â—ile against it But for out Church that is to say the CATHOLIKE CHVRCH we can shew how it is grown and continued from the Apostles vntill this day and neuer fayled We can reccon you from time to time Councels Bishopps Doctors infinite numbers of good christians of all ages that were all of our fayth and of our Church Can your Ministers denye but that S. Chrisostome alloweth praying to Saints or that S. Ierome calleth the Bishoppe of Rome Supreme head of the vvhole Church vnder Christ or that S. Austen prayed for his mother being dead or that he honored the Reliques of S. Steuen or that S. Gregory sayd Masse or that S. Ambrose sayeth hefore the vvords of consecration it is bread and vvine but after the vvords are spoken by the preist it is the very body and bloud of Christ or that all christians in S. Austens time did vvorship the blessed Sacrament or that the second Councell of Niceâ— did many hundred yeares agoe allovve the vse of Images for the memorie and representation of Christ and his sayntes condemning Image breakers or that S. Barnerd was an Abbot and had monkes vnder him as in catholike countryes now a dayes can they deny but that all this is true and dare they deny these vertuous Fathers and Doctors of the Church to be now Saints in heauen O my good Sisters that you could vnderstand their books and their writinges that you might your selues see what they say and what wonderfull men they were endued with the spirit of God exceedingly aboue other euen good men much more then your licentious leaders I doubt not but you would suspect your new doctors and folow these you should perceaue they had the scriptures at their fingers eds they knew right well the meaning and sense thereof night and day by fasting and prayer and chast lyfe beseeching God that they might vnderstand and truly expound his word O what a difference is there betweene them and these new Preachers Sisters I appeale to your consciences whither wil you or ought you to truste in the expounding of Scripture your yong vnlearned fleshly Ministers or these auncient most skilfull and most vertuous Fathers When Christ sayed Mat. 26. Take eate this is my body Al these Fathers say and agree that it was his bodye in verye deede Your ministers tell you it was but bread and wine Mat. 16. When Christ sayed to Peter thou art Peter that is a rocke and vpon this rocke vvill I build my Church These Fathers say that Peter was made Head of the Church and after him all his successors in the See of Rome where Peter was the first Bishopp Your Ministers tell you that Peter had no more preheminaunce then the other Apostles therfore the Bishop of Rome hath no more authoritie then an other bishop hath When Christ sayed to his Apostles Receaue ye the holy ghost Io. 20. vvhat soeuer ye doo loose in earth shal be loosed in heauen and vvhat soeuer ye doe binde in earth it shal be bounde in heauen These Fathers saye that Christ gaue to his Church authoritie to remit sinne by the ministrie of the preist to all such as doe truely repent and therefore will haue the people goe to Confession Your ministers haue taken that comfortable SacrameÌ„t of penance away altogether WheÌ„ Raphael the Angel sayth in the twelfth chapter of Tobias That he did offer vp Tobias prayer to almightie God And when in the second booke of Macchabees the fifteenth chapter Onias the priest saith of Ieremie being dead This is he that prayeth much for his people and for the holie citie these fathers say that the Angells and Sainctes doo praye for vs and that we may pray to them your ministers doe not stricke to say that these books of Tobie the Macchabces are scant good scripture Many other things lyke vnto these I could reccon but I should be to loÌ„g fearing least I should werie you these fewe are sufficient to geue you to taste of such marks as may shew you the CATHOLIKE CHVRCH These and many other great reasons doe keepe all good christians within the Church These thinges make so many catholiks partly to haue suffred death partly to haue died in prison partly to continew in prison so many yeares partly to forsake their pleasant countrie their dere frends and to liue to their conscience among strangers being thought of many worldly men to be very fooles for so doing but they know right wel that the wisdome of this worlde is foolishnes before God Mat. 10 And Christ sayth He that loueth father and mother sister and brother better then me is not vvorthie of me Sisters geue me leaue to tell you some-what of my selfe not for anye bragge but the more to moue you and to geue God all the praise for his great goodnes towardes me It pleased my parentes to bring me vp in learning as you know as I was not the best so I was at al times not compted the worst among my felowes and companions some small estimation I had in Oxforde aboue my desert more afterwards wheÌ„ it pleased the Duke to make me though vnworthy Tutor to the Erle his sonne as long as his grace did prosper I liued in his howse to my conscience without
sometyme the Paynims in so much that the learned bookes of Chrysostome Austen and others made in this case to proue agaynst them are not sufficient to perswade our owne faythlesse false brotherhood wherein I maruaile they are not ashamed pretending the name and profession of Christians agaynst the authorytye of the wholle Prymytiue Church to plead the Paynims causeâ— who to discredit the miracles of Christ and his Apostles 22. eiuit c. 8. obiected thus as S. Austen writeth Cur nunc illa miracula quae praedicatis facta esse non fiunt VVhy are not the lyke myracles donne novv a dayes to them vvhich you saye vvere vvrought sometyme by the Apostles To answere them fully although to alleage later myracles was not necessary because at the beginning they were requisite til faith was planted afterwarde they were not to be loked for yet to answere them fully whereas it pleased God alwayes from tyme to tyme to nourishe fayth and deuotion by them these holy Fathers alleadge myracles wrought at sayntes tombes by their Relikes The paynims were at a poynt to beleeue neither the one nor the other what doth Luther what Caluin The former they are content to admit least they shold be otherwise no christiaÌ„s The later they wil not grauÌ„t least they should be good Catholiks But S. Austen saith of both sorts thus Non creduÌ„t hoc qui etiam dominuÌ„ Iesum per integra virginalia matris enixum ad dissâ—pulos suos ostiis clausis ingressum fuisse non credunt They do not beleeue these later which also do not beleeue that our Lord Iesus was borne of his mother wythout empayring of her virginitie and that he entred in to his disciples the doores beyng shutte The auncyent Doctors did easely-beleue myracles Againe he saieth to philosophers concernyng the former that which may verie wel be sayd to our aduersaries touching the later Vlt. ciuit-dei Si rem credibilem crediderunt c. If christian people did beleeue such thinges as vvere not incredible let them consider vvhat fooles they are that do not also beleeue it Agayne if it vvere incredible hovv is it that al the vvorld hath so long beleeued it S. Hierome in another case of certen meruelous fasters but in the same case concerning faythles heretikes saith verie fynely Hoc illis incredibile videbitur qui non credunt omnia possibilia esse credentibus â—n vita Pauâ—i Eremitae This wil seme incredible to such as do not beleeue that al thinges are possible to them that beleeue Nafianzene also that famous doctor wryteth thus Et illud est narratu dignum Corin. devita sua That also is vvorthy to be toulde vvhich to many seemeth incredible as other things doe such men as thinke nothing that they see done playnely and vvithout delusion My selfe dare not discredit them vvhom strang thyngs do moue as much as any man for in deed it is vvorse to stand styfly agaynst all thinges vniuersally then contrarievvyse to be conteÌ„t to beleeue any thing easely this proceedeth of simplicitye and lightnes that of presumptuous bouldnes Fynally the Apostle sayth Charitas omnia credit Charitie beleeueth al things which is trew in this sense that a charitable man is not conteÌ„tious and selfwilled to stand agaynst the likely report of an honest man much lesse against al senses al reason al authority al custome practise and therfore to such S. Austen sheweth also the reason why it is verie credible that saynts do worke these myracles at their tombs Reliks Haec a domino impetrare possunt propter cuius nomen occisi sunt 22. ciuit ca. 8 9. 10. They can easely obteyne these thinges of our Lord for vvhose names sake they vvere put to death Praecessit corum mira patieÌ„tia vt in bi miraculis tanta ista potentia sequeretur Their vvoÌ„derful patience vvent before that in these myracles this so great povver might folovve after Credamus ergo eis vera dicentibus mira facientibus Dicendo enim vera passi sunt vt possint facere mira Let vs therfore beleeue them both when they say truly and when they do wonderfully for by sayeng trewly they suffred death that they might be able to do wonderfully So far S. Austen To conclude this point agaynst al stubbourne negatiues and Ethnyshe reasoning the same holy Father him selfe was so easie to beleeue and so careful to publysh them because he knew God was much glorified in them that he toke orderin his owne Church where S. Steuens Relikes were to haue al the miracles from tme to time written Id namque fieri voluimus cum videremus antiquis similia diuinarum signa virtutum etiam nostris temporibus frequentari ea non debere multorum noticiae deperire For we would haue it so for asmuch as we saw that the like signes of God his power to them of olde tyme were often shewed in our age also to the ende they might not dye but be knowen of manye To say the very truth there are two euident causes why the heretikes of our tyme abhorre from this article and others The causes of heretical incredulitie and hatred of Relikes Lacke of fayth and want of deuotion such as S. Iude discribeth in his epistle Animales spiritum non habentes Brutish men that haue no feelinge of the spirit at all Arbores autumnales lyke dead trees when their leafe is sâ—llen They litle consider the power that Christ so assuredly promised to his sayntes Amen Amen dico vobis Verely Verely I say vnto you he that beleeueth me the workes that I doe shal he also doe and greater then they are shall he be able to doe They can be as stoute as S. Thomas to auouche and to sweare it that they wyll not beleeue vnles they put their fingers in the verie print of the nayles But when the thing is so euident palpable Heretikes haue no spritual film of feruenâ— deuotion that in deede they may see touch handle the glorious myracles wrought at holie places as it were the marks of martyrs blood and certen prints of Christes nayles left to vs by the vertue of his passion they are farre from the heauenly affection that Thomas felt when he brake out with hart voise into this goodly confession Dominus meus Deus meus My Lord and my God O if they did know what it were to touch the memorie onely of Christs wounds and his ayntes what it were to adore but in the place where his feete stoode to sitte at his feete a whyle with Mary and washe them with weepinge teares to touch the hemme onely of his garment and feele the vertue that proceadeth from thence to see but a glimse of his glory and his saynts with the three Apostles and in all this to heare as it were this voyce of S. Iohn vnto Peter Dominus est It is our Lorde it is he that maketh the diuils rore he healeth the
sawe so farre in the very cote of Paule the Eremite aboue-named Hiero. in vita Pauli which that good man himselfe had made of palme leaues that he kepte it for a Relike of that faint and ware it onely vpon high feasts in honor of the day S. Hierome also in the ende of Paules lyfe which he writeth is wonderfully moued to conclude with these wordes I humbly request euery one that readeth this story to remember Hierome the sinner who if he mighte haue his wishe of God would much more desire Paules cote with all his good merits then Princes purple with their painfull punishmeÌ„ts And because we talke of holye mens garmeÌ„ts Soceaâ— â—i 7. ca. 22. Theodosius the yonger a Prince of noble vertues and verye religious was wont to weare the facke cloth of a certen holy Bishop that died at ConstaÌ„tinople quantuÌ„uis sordidatuÌ„ although it were not very cleane persuasus se aliquid ex mortui sanctimonia inde percepturum Beinge fullye perswaded that he should receaue thereof somewhat of the dead mans holines But to returne backe a litle to such men as Christen dome esteemeth for renowmed Saints Blessed Hillarion going in Pilgrimage to S. Authonies eremitage Hicro invita Hilarionis reioysed in his spirit at euery litle memory of that holy man when it was tould him here he was wonte to sing here to pray in this place he did worke and there he rested him selfe these vynes and litle stocks were of his planting that alley he made with his owne handes this poole cost him much labour paynes to water the garden this mattocke he had manye yeares to digge and delue withall If this good man be therefore thought a superstitious foole because he was a monke forsoth almost twelue hundred yeres agoe and a myracle of that age Chrysostome an Archbishop and honorable in the world was no foole vndoubtedly howe so euer he maye seeme superstitious because he is a Catholicke He expresseth the very lyke affection to the least monumentes of the Apostles that you can deuyse Praefat. in cp Pauli ad philemonem Vtinam sayth he non defuissent c. I vvould there had bene some one that could haue geuen vs the vvhole story of the Apostles not onely vvhat they vvrote but vvhat and vvhen they did eate vvhere they sate vvhither they vvent and so furth For if vve see but the places onely vvhere they sate thither vve direct our mynd oftentymes and beginne to a vvake and feele our selues better disposed And that you may knowe he was alwayes the same man tender harted toward all sacred monuments were they neuer so litle See qd vtriusque testamenti sit vnus legislator he wryteth of him selfe that hauing a picture in wax wherein the Angell destroyed so many thousand Assyrians in one night as in the booke of Kinges is mentioned he was wonderfully delighted to behold the mighty power of God in that small image of sory wax All the which examples doe declare this one point what grace they had and how vertuous men they were that of small thinges could reape great deuotion Prophane affection toward see uler monumentes deuotion I say toward God and his sayntes not as prophane heretiks that more gladly looke vpon Tullies face because he was eloquente or Caluins rounde cappe because he was a minister or some noble mans armes that is Patrone of their bishopricke No no but the sweete picture of some heauenly thinge the blessing of a vertuous hand or of Gods anoynted the vew of holy place and touch of sacred Relike these worke wonderfully the prayse of God in the hartes of sad and sober Christians 22. ciuit 8. S. Austen noteth verye diligently in him that prayed instantly at S. Steuens memory for his father in law that was a Panyme and lay very sicke how he tooke away with him of the flowers that were vpon the Altar such as came first to hand which in the nighte he putte vnder the sicke mans head and before day he cryeth out in all haste to sende for the Bishop and so was baptysed and not long after made a godly end Of another he wryteth that had the palsye who requested to be brought to a new chappel that was built a litle before by S Austens coÌ„sent ouer a portion of that holy land wher Christ rose agayne for the more reuerent reseruing therof thyther he was brought and imediatly recouered Agayne I know saith he a mayd of Hippo this cittie who anoynting her selfe with oyle embrewed with the teares of a preist that prayed for her was deliuered from an euill spirite S. Hierome wryteth of the aboue-named Hilarion that Bishoppes preists iudges men of great calling graue and welthy matrones besides the common people out of country and towne tanne to him in heapes onely to take halowed bread and oyle at his handes Halowed bread and oyle which had the vertue to preserue from death namely the doughter of one Constance and her husbande All these thinges being practised by men of such vertue and reported to vs by doctours of so Agaynst scoffing heretikes great authoritie skoffyng heretickes wil iest at and no maruel The prophecie of Inde the Apostle can not be false In nouissimo tempore venient illusores secundum desideria sua ambulantes in impietatibus In the later tyme ther shall come mockers walkyng at their pleasure in all vngodlines Such were the yong laddes irrifores as S. Austen calleth them that laughed the poore olde man FloreÌ„tius to skorne for prayeng at the Reliks of the tweÌ„ty martyrs 22 ciuit 8. that he might by some meanes haue wherewith to cloth him which he obtened as there is told very myraculosly Such were they that iested at Macarius the Byshoppe of Hierusalem Sozom. li. 2. Cap. 1. when they saw him put two of the crosses to the sycke woman and that she Was nothing the better and thought it a verie foolyshe mockery who were controwled by and by with the third crosse that healed her bycause it was the same crosse that our Sauiour suffered on as appered by the myracle Mauritius the Emperour although he was sometime in these cases very incredulous Niceph. li. 18. ca. 31. yet such a skoffer he was not who thought at the first that the myracles done at Euphonia the Martyrs shryne were delusions wroughte by men but he tryed the contrary by such vnfallible meanes that euer after he honored them exceedingly Hiero. But Vigilantius was an ould captayne of such scoffing mates who called the Catholiks ashmongers Reliks folish duste wrapped in a clowte wax candles burning before them vyle taper lighte Such were Eunomius and Porphyrius that sayed the diuels made as though they had bene formented greeuouslye by martyrs Relikes whereas they felte no such thing Marc. 5. Such were they that laughed at Christ him selfe Irridebant eum sayeth the Euangelist when he sayed of Iairus doughter Puella non estmortuae sed
dormit The mayed ie not dead but sleepeth And vndoubtedly these iesters of our tyme if very shame of the world rather then feare of hell did not stay them would laugh merely at Peters shadow Act. 5. Iac. 5. Io. 9 Tob. 9. Dan. 14 Iud. 1â—â— 4. Reg. 2 Iames oyle Christs spittle Râ—phaels fishe Daniel dragon Samsons law-bone and Elias cloke Doest thou wonder why I will say so and tell me that I ought not to iudge Because it is euidente they can neither abyde ceremonies nor beleeue myracle it is their profession For example Peter Martyr in the disputations at Oxford being vrged in the question of the blessed Sacrament with this axample Peter martirâ— iudgmeÌ„t of Christes miracle entring when the doores was shutt that Christ entred into the place where his disciples were the dores being shutte sayed that he first opened the dore forsoth and so entred A wonderfull myracle that Christ did goe in when the dore stood open As well he might say that he could not haue rysen agayne vnlesse the Angell had firste remoued the stone from the sepulcher nor be borne of his mother without breache of her virginitie which infidelitie S. Austen obiecteth to the Paynims as I haue before mentioned But especially in the facte of Eliseus 4. Reg. 6. when he caste a pyce of wood into the water to make the yron swimme that before did sinke appeareth what they would do if they durst which when a witty catholicke to confound a scoffing hereticke propounded to him barely without circumstance of Eliseus or of scripture A skoffing heretike finely confuted as though some monke had wryten it asking his iudgment if it were not like to the foolish fables of Papists concerning miracles at martyrs tombes This good felow by his wisdome made gay sport with it till he vnderstood it was playne scripture theÌ„ in what plight he was you may easely ghesse in his owne play to be so flatly foyled So litle they vnderstand the wisdome and power of God Myracles as truly wrought by relikes as sometyme by the Apostles who of purpose hath chosen by small and folish thinges as they may seeme to confound and controwle the hawty witts of worldly resoners If they will tell me that whatsoeuer scripture reporteth the authority therof forceth them to beleeue it although reson reclayme but for all other testimonies it is at their pleasure to beleeue them or not S. Austen answereth 22. ciuit 8. that for the truth of thinges Etiam nunc fiunt miracula in eius nomine siue per sacramenta eius siue per orationes vel memorias sanctorum Nowe also at this present myracles are wroughte in his name what by his sacacraments what by the prayers or memories of sayntes But the difference is Non eadem claritate illustrantur vt quanta illa gloria diffamentur They are not so famously knowen not bruted abrode so gloriously as the other the reason whereof is there also to be seene moste reasonable If they had rather cauill thus that signae sunt infidelibus the myracles that Christ and his Apostles did were for vnbeleeuers to bring them to the sayth now since all the world beleeueth they are to no purpose Aduers vigilantium therfore they thinke there is no such thing Firste S. Hierome shall answere them Vigilantius all at once that the question is not betweene vs for whom they are wrought but by what power and therefore tell me not sayeth he that vvonders are for such as vvill not beleeue but ansvvere me bovv in dust and ashes there is such a forcible presence of vvonderfull operations Secondly I add moreouer that because there are alwayes in the worlde infidels or vnbeleeuing heretiks myracles are alwayes to good purpose agaynst both sorts to maintayne true fayth in the hartes of Catholicke Christians eodem Deo as S. Austen sayeth nunc faciente per quos vult quemadmodum vult 22. ciuit 8. qui illa quae legimus fecit The selfe same God working now by whom he will and as he will that wrought those former which we reade of in scriptures Of abuses If they will tell me sadly and rouÌ„dly that their be many abuses herein delusions esteemed for myracles false reliks much superstition First it is great rashnes to thinke so without euident causes as in the notable example of Meuritius the Emperour before is declared Agayne the lyke abuses haue bene in all ages euen of the Primitiue Church without any preiudice to the Catholike customes but to the better tryall of constante Christians which will not stumble at euery straw and refuse the corne because of the chaffe Adue vigil Paucorum culpa sayeth S. Hierome non praeiudicat religioni The faulte of a few is no preiudice agaynst religion Iudas treason did not destroy the Apostles fayth Ep. ad Rusticâ— monacum And agayne In omni conditione gradu optimis mixta sunt pessima In all stats and degrees the worst things are mingled with the best which consideration of former tymes which by all reason shoulde be moste pure the neerer to Christ and that our Sauiour sayed Necesse est vt veniant scandala It is necessary that offences do come seemeth to me a verye goodly instruction for weakelings that quickly condemne a good thing when they see it abused of one superstitious woman iudge all Idolatours for one false relike thinke none true S. Gregorie in this case put trew Relikes in Place of the false mainteyning the catholtke vse redressing the abuse in his answer to the teÌ„th interrogatorie of S. AusteÌ„ our Apostle for one fayned myracle will geue credit to none Where of the learned and holy Martyr of our country S. Thomas Moore hath moste wysely and pithely as his maner is disputed in his english volumes sufficient to satisfie any reasonable and graue witte S. Austen wryteth of certen idle monkes or rather false monkes in that weede that went gadding abrode out of their cloyster shewing martyrs reliks si tamen martyrum De. op mona ca. 28. if happely they were so in deede for to gayne by it or to seeme the more holy And yet I trow no man will say that he condemneth monkes or reliks that shall reade the selfe same booke de opere monachorum how monks ought to be occupied and my former testimonyes out of him for myracles S. Hierome telleth of some superstitious womeÌ„ that caried crosses about them whereupon some hastie hereticke will take me short and by by conclude ergo S. Hierome doth mislyke of wearing Crosses Let him staye his wisdome for he addeth also parua euangelia and she caried also the Ghospell in a litle volume did that also mislyke S. Hierome trow you No soothly neither the one nor the other well vsed and as well the one as the other abused Hiero. Culantiae matrouae if they beare them to seeme the more holy as the
his Apostles neuer to fayle but to appeere and be seene still as a citrye vpon a hill or a light in the world Mat. 28. For Christ said I vvill be vvith you vnto the ende of the vvorld And againe I vvill sende you an other Comforter the spirite of truth vvho shall remaine vvith you for euer And vnto Peter Vpon this rocke vvill I build my Church Mat. 16. and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it That is to say the deuill and all his ministers shall neuer so preuayle against this church but that it shall still appeere and professe one and the same fayth So that there shall be no time wherin this fayth and this church is not Now marke good Sisters I pray you hartely whether your Englishe church and your Englishe religion hath bene alwayes in the worlde since Christ his time I will speake vnto you as before God and as I shall answeare before him at the later day and therefore I requeste you to marke well my wordes and to consider of them A whole thowsande and fiue hundred yeres after Christ your English religion was not heard of in any parte of the world but I tolde you before that the true church must continewe for euer appeare alwaies vnlesse you thinke Christ is false of his promise When began your religion then Forsooth about fiftie veres agone by one Marten Luther in Germanie a frier who aswell for other vngodly respects as also because he would needes marie and breake his vow which he had made of chastitie began to preach against the POPE and against the CATHOLIQVE CHVRCH and because he taught great libertie as that Princes ought not to reuerence the POPE that all Preestes might mary that no man neede to fast and such like he found many disciples in Germanye and hath vnto this day carnall and fleshly men that loue their owne pleasure more then the will of God and his holy church But will you know what manner of man this was Forsooth being examined by learned men concerning his doctrine he was so prest and so angred with the force of truth that he sayd in a great rage This quarrell vvas neuer begon for Gods sake neither for his sake shall it be ended Will you know further that he wrote against the POPE for malice and not for conscience himselfe in his letter to Argentmenses fayeth I neither can deny neither vvill I that if Carolstadius or any other man could fiue yeares agone haue persvvaded me that in the Sacrament is nothing but bread and vvine he might haue deserued of me great thankes for I labored in that matter very carefully knovving righte vvell that by that meanes I might much haue hindred the Popes authoritie Marke that this man would gladly haue fouÌ„d some-what agaynst the BLESSED SACRAMENT but a long time he could not till at length the deuill had taught him to wryte agaynst the Masse De missa angulari as him selfe witnesseth in his bookes where he telleth what talke he and the deuill had together Much more could I tell you of this man but of this little you may iudge whether you may aduenture to build your faith vpoÌ„ this man who lyued within these fiftye yeares and to forsake the auncient fayth of all Christendome continewed from Christ vntill this day for it is moste certen that from this man came your new religion into England but not immediatly at the first when he began to preach for Kinge Henrye the eÌ„ight wrote a learned booke very earnestly against him The Quenes M. father wrote a learned booke a gaiust Luther for the pope Afterward he forsooke him not vpon religion or conscience but vpon displeasure which is common to be seene but long after partly when the King began to take displeasure against the POPE because he might not be maried and vnmaried as he list Partly and especially when King Edvvard being in the beginning of his raigne but a very child was oueruled by wicked couÌ„sellers to maintayne such a religion as might best agree to their carnall appetite This was the beginning of your religion the beginning I say for as for King Heury he wente nothing so farre as they are now come but whereas for his pleasure he had put awaye the Popes authority and for his profit had plucked downe Abbaies he let all other poyntes in manâ—r remayne as before and of this also repâ—nted before he died as it is knowen if not wo be vnto him that euer he was borne for there in the next world good Sisters Kings and Queenes come to their accompts as well as you and we poore folkes I could here tell you of many learned and vertuous men that were then put to death because they would not yeeld to the King in his vnlawfull doings knowing right well that it was all contrary to the lawe of God Amongst whom were these two The Bishop of Rochester the most vertuous and best learned of all the Clergie as appeareth by his books And Sir Thomas Moore Lorde Chauncel or of England a lay man who for his vertue wisdome and learning passed all temporal men that euer were in that Realme as appeareth by his learned workes written in the Englishe tongue but now not suffered to be redd because they teach the CATHOLIQVE FAYTH Some man will tel you that they were behedded for treason but beleeue him not vnlesse it be treason to obay God rather then Princes surely other treason they committed none One Marke more I will shew you to discerne the true Church The thirâ—e marke is â—nitie that in few wordes but so playne that your selfe will confesse it To know the CATHOLIKE CHVRCH this is a certayne and an vnfallible marke if it be in vnitie and concorde if it haue an agreement and consent of hartes and opinions that is to saye if it haue but one fayth and one religion Act. 4. For of the true Church it is sayd The vvhole multitude of beleeuers had one hart and one mynd Ephe. 4. And S. Paule sayth One God one fayth one baptisme And againe 1. Cor. 14. God is not a God of dissention but of peace and vnitye Looke now consider the state of your Protestants in England onely are they all of one religion Haue you not among them some Lytherans some Caluinists some Puritanes all agreeing against the POPE and ech disagreeing one from the other Do not your Lutherâ—Ì„s preach yea before the Queene not with-out great thankes for their labour that the body of Christ is really present in the Sacrament And doe not your Caeluinists preach cleane contrary that there is onely breade and wine And as for your Puritanes doe not they preach and wryte so farre contrary from the other two that they are now forbidden to preach and cast into prison and put from all liuings Yea the communion booke it selfe doth it not nowe saye cleane contrary to that which it sayed in