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
Peter in steed of precious â—â—nes to stande in my golden crovvne This â—euotion proceding of that cause and â—eferred to that end which is the worâ—hip and glory of Christ is the very â—round of honoring Relicks and conâ—equentlye the cause of Pilgrimage The glory of Christ I say 1. cor 3. For vvhat is Paule vvhat Apollo vvhat Peter but his â—inisters and seruantes in vvhom vve beâ—eeue Our Sauiour sayeth he that geneth a cuppe of could water to one of his litle ones tantum in nomine discipuli onely in the name of a disciple and 〈◊〉 S. Marke expresseth it Cap. 9. quia Christi sunâ— because they belong to Christ he shall not loose his rewarde And he that receaueth a Prophete in nomine Propheta because he is a Prophete not for anâ— other worldly consideration he shall haue a rewarde answerable to the dignitie of a Prophete Li. 4. cap. 4. We reade in the bookes of Kinges that the welthy woman of Suna hauing entertayned Eliâ—eus at length sayed to her husband I perceaue this is a holy man of God vvhich passeth by our hovvse so often let vs therefore prouide a litle chamber for him and set a hed in it a table a stoole and a candlesticke that he may rest vvith vs vvhen be commeth Therefore sayeth she let vs doe it because he is a holy man of God A goodly reason and godly consideration But what rewarde had she Being barren before now she had a sonne the sonne dyed and was restored to lyfe agayne that after sorow her ioy might be greater In the greate dearth that then happened she was well prouided for in an other countrye and after seuen yeres receaueth all her possessions agayne and the rents for the tyme that she was absent by the Kings commaundment and all this by the meanes of that Prophete whom she so entertayned Leonides father to Origen that learned Doctor him selfe a great clerke and afterward a Martyr was wonte to kisse his sonnes brest being then a litle boye when he laye sleeping â—useb li. 6 cap. 2. If therefore because he was his prety boy it had bene 〈◊〉 litle fondnes but the storye sayeth Osculabatur tanquam Spiritus sancti habiâ—aculum Hiero. in â—pitaphio He kissed it as the dvvelling or temple of the holy Ghost Paula an honotable widow and religious marrone of Rome comming in Pilgrimage to Bethlehem after many godly meditatioÌ„s at length concludeth thus Here is my resting place because it is the country of my Lord here vvil I dvvell because our Sauioer hath chosen it S. Hierome speking of Origens commentaries vpon the twelue Prophets In 〈◊〉 saith that he esteemed them as much worth as Craesus welth Whye because they were written with Pamphilus the martyrs owne hand Si enim laetitia est c. For if it be great ioye to haue one epistle of a Martyr hovv much more to haue so many thovvsand verses vvhich I imagine as though they vvere dravvne vvith the printes of his bloud This deuotion toward God and his sonne Iesus Christ maketh holy persons to honour all thinges that belong to them The trewe end and purpose of godly pilgrims Prophetes because they are Gods Prophets Mattyrs because they are the matyrs of Christ All monuments of them for their sake Concerning places Bethlehem because our Sauiour was borne there Mount Caluarye because he suffred there Rome because Peter and Paule are buried there there they dyed for Christ there are their bodies their shrynes their chaynes other their glorious memories In this respect to goe to Hierusalem to trauaile to Rome is a very frutefull Pilgrimage Otherwise to goe to see strange countryes gaye buildinges prophane antiquities to learne tongues yea and as â—ome traytours doe to espye faultes â—ometyme it is sinfull and neuer to be â—alled Pilgrimage Socrat. â— 4. ca. 18. It is tould much for â—he prayse of Ammonius an auncionte monke that going to Rome with Athaâ—atius he was so farre from all vayne â—uriositie that he desired to see noâ—hing at all of the stately buildinges â—here but onely Peter Paules Church â—arre contrary to a certen countryeman of ours whoe making large reâ—orts of courtysaÌ„ts what goodly howe 's and how many they had wherin by â—he authority of a traueler he thought â—e might bouldly feyne at his pleasure â—eing demaunded of a wyse man how â—any Churches were there how bewâ—ifull how deuoutly frequented could make no answere Such a wonderfull difference there is betweene a good godly Pilgrime and a worldly wicked traueler In Ep. ad Rom. S. Chrisostome declaring his singuler affection toward Rome hath after his maner these excellente wordes I therefore loue Rome albeit I might prayse it for other causes for largenes for antiquitie for beautie for number of people for the Empyre for ryches for mightye thinges atcheiued in vvarfare but letting passe all these therefore I accompt it a blessed Cyttie because Paule did so loue them vvhen he lyued and preached before them and at length ended his lyfe among them vvhose holy body they haue and therfore that Cittie thereby is made more glorious then by all other thinges And as it vvere a great mightye bodye that had tvvo gliftering eyes so it hath the bodyes of those Saints Peter and Paule The heauens I tell you doe not so shyne vvhen the sunne casteth his beames as doth the Cyttie of Rome vvith these lampes that lighten the vvhole vvorld Consider me I pray you and be amased to thinke vvhat a fight Rome shall see vvhen Paule shall ryse sodenly out of that Coffin of his vvith Peter to meete our Lorde O that I might be so haeppie as to embrace and grype that body of Paule rounde about to be tyed in his graue a vvhyle to see but the duste of that bodye vvhich caried the markes of Christ Tell me gentle Reader when thou hearest this art thou not moued with deuotion towarde the very carcasses of those Apostles and coÌ„sequeÌ„tly toward the Cittie where they are to be seene I confesse vnto thee my folish kind harte in this case As often as I reade it I am redy to melte for ioye But marke as I began to say the cause of his affection towarde Rome to wit the bodies of the Apostles lying there and why the bodies because they caried the markes of Christ This is it that causeth Pilgrimage This consideration The eruenâ— deuotion oâ— pilgrimes whence it procedeth for the loue of Christ and the honour of him inflamed this godly Father and all the beste Christians in the Primitiue Church to loue sacred monumeÌ„ts to be desirous to see them to goe farre and neere vnto them to touch to kisse to licke them to weepe in the place to conceaue such a lyuely imagination of thinges done there by Christ or his Saynts and withall such a sensible feeling of heauenly deuotion that it was a payne to remoue from thence a death to dwell farre of A
your owne sake and for our good frend this berer It is not reason that for his good will he should incurre any danger God forbid my truste is in your wisdome that you will keepe this very close til hereafter by reason of the great persecution The matter is waighty and concerneth both you and this berer verye much be wise and trusty and deceaue not your brother that loueth you as himselfe and therefore wisheth by all meanes to do you good S. Paule sayth He that hath not regard of his ovvne kindred 1. Timoth. 5. hath denied the fayth and is vvorse then an Infidell S. Chrisostome vpoÌ„ the same place wryteth thus If a man instruct strangers in the fayth and suffer his ovvne kinne to continevve in their error vvith vvhom he vvere lykelly to preuaile most because they make most accompt of him vvere he not a most cruell and barberous man For this cause I wryte vnto you and wish you al grace al goodnes al heauenly comfort laste of all and least of all to prosper in this world and yet I wish you that with all my hart at the pleasure of God Other good thing I haue none to sende you but this I will remayne in your debte for your gentle tokens Commend me to your selues your louing husbands and your litle ones and when you haue learned to beleeue ryght your selues bringe them vp accordingly teach them to feare God Make much of this berer I praye you and saue him harmelesse by your wyse and discreate dealings Almighty God preserue you and by his holy spirite leade you into all truth Amen THE COPY OF A LETTER WRITTEN TO M. DOCTOVR Whyte Warden of the new Colledge in Oxforde RYGHTE Worshipfull although your worldly dignitie and the iuste opinion of your greate wysdome compared with my contraries mighte feare me from writing vnto you in this bould maner yet many thinges moued me especially my charitie towardes you to whom I am beholding for causes which you may remember and my dewtie towards God whose good motion I hope it was that I should tell you rather frendly then finely playnely theÌ„ curiously that which your selfe doe knowe much better but haue not cause so well to remember Isa 28. Because that vexation doth geue vnderstanding Ps â—8 and man vvhen he vvas in honor did not vnderstand Which differeÌ„ce in estate maketh that the yonger man for yeres more simple for wit and knowledge may notwithstanding sometime truly say with the prophete Ps 118. Aboue auncients haue I vnderstood Quare doctoralis ille facessat splendor cuiuscunque dignitatis recedat ambitio cum fratre conseruo meo filig matris ecclefiae discipulo Iesu Christi loquor Therefore setting a side that doctor all honour and the respect of vvhat dignitie soeuer I may be bould to speake playnely vvith my brother and fellovv-seruant in Christ vvith a childe of our Mother the Church and a scholler of Iesus Christ Presupposing then that you are in conscience a catholike and seing that in outward shew you professe the contrary I am bould to reason familiarly with you and to demaunde whether you thinke it lawfull to beleeue one thing inwardly to protest the contrary openly and how you can auoyd these euident scriptures VVith the harte vve beleeue to Iustice But when there is necessary occasion Ro. 10.10 VVith the mouth confession is made to saluation He that shal deny me before men Mat. 10.33 I also vvill deny him before my Father vvhich is in heauen But if you thinke it vnlawfull so to doe because you wote well it is condemned of old in the hereticks called Helcesaitistes and Priscilianistes and yet doe agaynst your owne perswasion Buscb li. 6. ca. 31. Aug. coÌ„t Mendac Cap. 2. Ro. 14.22 how answere you these places Blessed is he that iudgeth not himselfe in that vvhich he approueth And vvhatsoeuer is not of fayth is sinne Ro. 6. That is as S. Augustine and others expounde it reluctante conscientia Our conscience striuing against it If neither the one nor the other but you are perswaded that a man may lawfully professe both religions as time and Prince altereth Besids that it was the heresie of Basilides Lib. 4. ca. 2. Tò ádiaphore in as Nicephorus wryteth What interpretatioÌ„ haue you for these scriptures Vsquequo claudicatis in vtramque partem c. 3. Re. 18.21 Hovve longe haulte you on both sides I four Lorde be God solovv him But if Baal folovv him Ecclesiast 3. And agayne Coringrediens duas vias c. A harte that goeth tvvo vvayes shall not haue successe and the peruerse of harte shall be scandalized in them And 1. Cor. 10.11 you can not drincke the chalice of our Lorde and the chalice of deuils Mat. 6.24 Mat. 12.30 you can not serue tvvo Maisters He that gathereth not vvith me scattereth And agayne Iac. 3.16 Doth the fountayne geue foorth at one hole svveete and sovver vvater And yet agayne Apoc. 3.16 But because thou art lukevvarme and neither could nor vvhot I vvill begin to vomit thee out of my mouth I neede not vrge the terrible threatenings your wisdome may carnestly consider of it But it is possible that you mislyke of certen things in the Catholicke religion which you would wish to be otherwise and conceaue a mixte religion compounded of that which is best in both But M. Doctor you are in myne opinion wyser then they whoe notwithstanding for this singularitie are esteemed to be wyse men and of graue iudgement but of the vnwyser sort You know concerning things to be mislyked ether they pertayne to fayth or to manners If these later offend you wot what S. Augustine hath long agone answered the Donatistes Tollerare ecclesiam non probare paleas in tanta copia esse vt frumentum tegant donec veniat is qui ventilabrum habet in manu sua vt purget aream suam That the Church doth tollerate and not approue them and that their is so great quantitie of chaffe that it couereth the corne till he come that hath the fanne in his hand to purge his floore If any poynte of doctrine agreed vpon by the whole Church which is alwayes directed by the holy Ghoste mislyketh you you may vpon deeper consideration iustlye feare leste your selfe or any other man in this case be not a true Catholicke nor of that Church out of which is no saluation For that which is the grounde of your fayth in one poynt must consequently be the grounde of it in all the rest So that if you beleeue as you doe the presence of Christ in the blessed SacrameÌ„t because the vniuersal Church out of the scriptures hath so concluded then if the same Church doe define any other Article for example Of Purgatorie of praying to Saincts of Pilgrimage of Pardons of Images you must in like maner beleeue the same If not What authoritie doe you folow What doe you
make your grownd but your singuler fancie as in these so in all the rest which you seeme to beleeue Farre from the obedience which the Apostle teacheth Captiuatinge their vnderstanding to the obedience of fayth 2. Cor. 10.3 And very wide from S. Austens moste learned and humble opinion Contrâ—cy fundaâ—a 5. Non crederem Euangelio nisi authoritas Ecclesiae me moueret I vvoulde not beleeue the Ghospell except the authoritie of the Church did moue me He that sayed so would he not also vpon occasion offered boldly and confidently haue sayd I beleeue their is Purgatorye that their are Pardons in the Church that we may pray to Sainctes because the Church doth teach me to beleeue so And if you aske him what church he wold send you to his long treatises against the Donatists shew you as in a glasse a very liuely discription of this present CATHOLIKE ROMANE GHVRCH No dout the authority of the Church is ether so necessary or so sufficient a foundation to builde vpon that without the warrantise of it a man beleeueth nothing because he beleeueth his owne braynes and with it a man may and ought euen agaynst humane reason beleeue any thing because it is the Oracle of the holye Ghost And in good sooth it is a small reason to credite one article and discredite an other both defined by the Church As to saye this is golde and this is copper both being tryed golde by the touâ—ch stone As much to say in playne wordes this I will and this I will not Prospeâ— pru P. 2.0.27 Siâ—yolo siâ—iubeo stet proratione voluntas Vnnaturall children and therfore in deede no true children that deuideth their mother the Church lyking this misliking that which is properly deuidere sententiam Euen as Salomom iudged moste truly her to be the false mother that requyred moste impudently Be it neither to me nor to thee but let it be deuyded 3. Reg. 3.26 In. Ps 88. conc 2. Quid prodest si Dominum confiteris Deum honoras if sum predicas Filium eius agnoscis sedentem ad dexteram patris confiteris blasphemas ecclesiam eius VVhat doth it profit thee sayeth S. Austen if thou confesse our Lord if thou honour God if thou prayse him if thoudost acknovvledge his sonne and confesse him to sit at the right hand of the Father and yet doest blaspheme his Church And after he had recyted all the heresies before and in his tyme he sayeth Omnis christianus catholicus ist a non debet credere Ad Quodul in sine sed non omnis qui ista non credit consequenter debet se christianum catholicum iam putare vel dicere Possune enim haereses aliae quae in hoc opere nostro commemoratae non sunt vel esse vel fieri quarum aliquam quisquis â—enuerit Christianus Catholicus non erit Euery christian catholike ought not to beleeue these thinges but it follovveth not that euery one that belecueth not these thinges ought to thinke and accompt him selfe to be a christian catholike for their may be many other heresies vvhich are not reconned vp in this booke any one of the vvhich vvhosoeuer holdeth is not a christian catholike And therfore Athan â—si is in Symbolo sayeth VVhich Catholicke fayth except euery one doe keepe vvholy and inuiolable vvithout doubte he shall perish euerl estingly Thus much I haue sayed by the way rather to you then of you because I haue knowne certen learned and wyse men of that mislyking and distinguishing humor But to you I will talke as to one that is in conscience a full Catholicke and for outwarde behauiour may be esteemed contrary S. Austen exhorteth vs Vbi supra Amemus Dominum Deum nostrum Amemus Ecclsiam eius illum siout Patrem istam siâ—ut Matrem Matrimonium hoc magna cum charitate compaginatur Nemo offendit vnum promereâ—ur alterum Nemo dicat ad Idola quidem vado sed tamen Dei ecclesiam non relinquo Catholicus sum tenens Matrem offendis Patrem c. Let vs loue our lord God let vs loue his Church Him as our Father her as our Mother This matrimonye is knitte together vvith greate charitie No man offendeth the one and deserueth thankes of the other Let no man say I goe to the Idols and yet for all that I doe not forsake Gods Church I am a Catholicke houlding thy Mother in harte and offendinge thy Father in facte openly c. I neede not tell you that to communicate with Idolaters and with hereticks is all one Passim in prophetaâ— Quia omnis heresis Idolum est sectatorum eius Because all heresie as S. Hierome sayeth is the Idoll of her follovvers And therefore S. Austen declaring the danger of the one to be more then the other sayth Vpon the. 54. Psal Ab illis qui longe sunt facilis cautio est non me tamcito fallit qui dicit veni Idolum adorare multum a me longe est Christianus es Christianus inquit expropinquo aduersatur prope est redime in pace animam meam ab iis qui appropinquant mihi VVe may easily bevvare of those that be afarre of for he doth not so soone deceaue me vvhich sayth Come adore the Idoll he is very farre from me Art thou a christian I am a christian sayeth he he is neere to me he is against me euen at hand redeeme thy soule in peace from those vvhich are neere vnto thee S. Ambrose Fraterno nomine non fraterné ecclesiam persequntur â—e Incar Ca. 2. siquidem sub optione nominis Christiani quadam nuncupatiua fidei germanitate paricidalibus gladiis nos cupiunt vulnerare They persecute the Church vnder the name of a brother but not brotherly truly they desire to vvounde vs vvith their murthering svvord vnder the chosen name of a Christian and a certen fayned brotherhood of fayth Now if the pretensed name of a Christian doth so easely procure credite to false doctrine What doth the name of a Catholicke to perswade erronious opinions which I beseeche you consider deepely For a Catholicke you are esteemed and learned and wyse Many good meaning men that gladly would doe well depende vpon you harken what you say looke what you doe and because they are determined to folow you by your doing ill and saying worse you doe pitifully infecte many hartes either with error or dissimulation and wounde their soules to euerlasting death and that because they compte you a Catholicke and therefore are perswaded that you will not teach them amisse Lyke as the Iewes conceyued of one Alâ—mius the hygh Priest saying 1. Mac. 2. The man being a Priest of Arons stocke and comming vnto vs after this sorte vndoubtebly will not deceaue vs. But you can well remember howe by that name and tytle he abused them Surely if Heresie should choose persons for her commendation there could be no greater pollicy theÌ„ to hire