place is both to be translated so as I haue saide and to bee applied to the reuelation of the Gospell it is euidently declared by the plaine text and by the application thereof in the epistle to the Romanes Thus the first proposition is false and drawen both against the wordes of the text and farre from the sense thereof opened by the Apostle The seconde proposition is false also for neither is it true that all these first motions are altogether out of our power for the gift of continencie and mortification doth more and more subdue them neither doth it followe that wee are not subiect to the Lawe for such offences as wee can not resist the fault being ours through corruption why wee can not resist them Shall not a wholesome lawe made for drunkardes stand in force a 〈…〉 hath so accustomed 〈◊〉 selfe to the 〈◊〉 that now it is v 〈…〉 for him to 〈◊〉 Shall we iustifie our euill though 〈…〉 â—ause it is not in our 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 good thought 〈…〉 fort iustifie the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 you must condemne these opinions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you and your fellowes bring thâ—â—â— false daungerous propositions to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—clusions and venture thus vpon so 〈…〉 〈…〉 pretations it wilbe easie for you both to write at will and to dispute at â—arge â—ustens opinion against lust euen before the consent appeareth by the places alledged before and in many other places therefore his owne answere serueth to exâ—ounde this place I doubt not but Auâ—â—â—n which forbâ—â—deth the disease of lusting will much more forbidde the consent and following of such sinfull steppes In these questioÌ„s of coÌ„cupisceÌ„ce the first motioÌ„s of lust a little feeling of a good conscience would cut off all this contention of speach For if they that teache otherwise woulde looke into the Law Thou shalt not couet with such eyes as Saint Paul did and would also consider the corruption the force and fruites of originall sinne and m 〈…〉 ouer regarde the power of Gods enâ—â—â—â— â—nd perfect iustice which is iustly prouoked with the least offence because hee made vs in the greatest perfection they would then speake no more in defence of the vncleane concupiscence of an vncleane heart but would with Saint Paul confesse 〈◊〉 the Lawe Thou shalt not couet teacheth â—s to knowe sinne not onely that grâ—sse sinne knowen and punished among inâ—â—â—els but somewhat more that flesh and blood cannot acknowledge euen that all concupiscence all vncleane lust is sinne because God is a spirituall Lawegiuer who hindeth our sp 〈…〉 it and bringeth all our desires into obedience restraining the least motions of vncleane coÌ„cupiscence by this holy and streight commandement Thou shalt not couet In the fourth place it commeth to bee examined how litle authoritie the Iesuites giue to the worde of God and howe much they attribute to vnwritten beleefe They are charged to saye The holy scripture is a doctrine vnperfect maimed lame not conteining all things necessary to fayth and saluation Wherein you censure mee as being to shameles in setting forth these for the Iesuites wordes Howsoeuer Gotuisus report or misreport the Iesuites if I report him faithfully it is no shame to me but to you it is some blame still to charge me with that is none of mine As for the question you handle it subtillie reporting not your owne iudgement but with some corruption what Monhemius saith and againe what the Iesuites answere whereas you are in the name of the Iesuites eyther to graunt that the scripture is perfect and conteyneth all thinges necessarie to saluation which is coÌ„trary to the Councill of Trent or els plainely and without perhappes to set downe the thinges that are to be beleeued of necessitie and yet not comprehended in the scripture which is clearely to graunt that which before you denied for the scripture is maymed and wanteth if any substantial doctrine of faith belonging to a Christian man bee left out There followe twelue particular pointes which you make of one sort to be beleeued and affirme them but with perhappes to be deduced out of scripture of the which seuen are not by perhappes but vndoubtedly conteyned in the word as that there are two natures and willes in Christ that the holy Ghost proceedeth froÌ„ the father and the sonne without generation Thirdly which you vtter in woordes that are obscure and vnsound that the worde did take the nature of maÌ„ to be one person not the person Fourthly that infantes are to be bapâ—â—sed Fifthly the change of the Sabaoth So also we receiue the foure Gospels and the epistse to the Romanes as approoued out of the worde by the inscription there expressing the names of the writers thereof For your darke wordes out of Thomas Howe the father vegate the sonne I wishe cleare and perfect woordes in so high a mysterie We beleeue by testimonie of the worde that Iesus Christ is the onely be gotten sonne of the Father and God aboue all to bee praysed for euer That I may refraine other speath I pray you examine your heart before the Lorde you that dare teach that these most high mysteries of God the Sonne and God the holy Ghost are not reuealed in y â— scriptures so farre as they concerne our faith but stande vpon the warraunt of mens traditions The rest of these twelue points as they are not euidently conteyned in the woorde so a Christian is not absolutely bounde to beleeue them as that the common Creede the articles whereof notwithstanding we beleeue as grounded vpon the Apostolicall doctrine was made by the Apostles the celebration of Easter day vpon a Sunday the perpetuall virgiuitie of the blessed Virgin The Epistle to the Laodiceans although many make mention of it Paul maketh none so that eyther you ignorantly passed ouer the Greeke or wilfully addicted your selfe to the olde translation being in this place playnely corrupted For by the originall Paul speaketh of an epistle froÌ„ Laodicea and not written to the Laodicenses as you vntruely affirme Nowe what haue you gayned by all or any one of these twelue notes seeing they are al eyther proued by y â— Scriptures theÌ„ no warrant for your traditions vnwritteÌ„ ve 〈…〉 not necessary points of our faith and therfore not of like authoritie to the holy writings of the Apostles and Prophetes After this sort you may easily publish A briefe Censure confounding and hudlyng together without distinction matters of our â—eleefe with things which we are not bound to beleeue and articles playnely conteyned in Scripture with points that are not there at all The place foloweth alleadged to ouerthrow the former doctrine of the Iesuites All the Scripture is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable to teache to confute to correct to instruct in iustice that the man of GOD may be perfect and throughly instructed to euery good work Here y â—
Take ye Eate ye bynde them What moued you here to cite your Clement Ambrose Cyprian with others I knowe not except it were some meriment to ioyne with your similitude of singing for in good earnest you minde not by those places without matter in them to proue that the wordes of Christ Doe this in remembrance of me were onely saide to the Ministers touching Consecration and not to the people also for their participation In the twelfth Article the Iesuites are reported to say Traditions are of equall authoritie with the worde of God wee must beleeue them though they bee manifestly against the Scripture Here the reporte and the texte vouched to disproue their doctrine are both censured The first for adding we must beleeue them though they be manifestly against the Scripture for reporting the rest so generally and confusedly Touching y â— latter point if my report of your doctrine be in these wordes Traditions are of equall authoritie with the worde of God meaning it of some only for who would thinke it of all you hauing so many and so feeble why doe you charge mee as generally and confusedly saying al traditions are equal with y â— scriptures Was it I pray you to deserue your owne note of a sounde lye for a parting blowe which false mis 〈…〉 you haue doubled to make it the sounder For aunswere to the former poyut I doe not onely auow that I haue faythfully reported my authors wordes which is alwayes my iust defence against your vniust flaunder laying them vpon me but I say further that their practise compared with their wordes will â—ustifie the report as truely layde downe against them For proofe whereof not to goe further the Censurer rehearseth amongest these traditions which the Popish Church charge our faith withall the number of the bookes of Scripture the Lent fast Of al other traditions these two are taken out to stande for their owne credit and for the credit of the rest let vs therefore see what treasons there are against God in these your traditions First the Apocrypha bookes are not in the auncient Canon or language of Canaan the fathers haue disauowed them they are euidently repugnant to the doctrine of the holy scriptures and dis 〈…〉 eeing among them selues Yet your Trent conspirarie doeth adde them to the number of the Canonical bookes and bolde all men accursed that holde them not for canonicall scriptures Therefore this your tradition is manifestly against the word of God Further also what is more manifest against the woorde of God then the doctrine of deuils The Lent fast as you commaunde to keepe it for conscience sake forbidding meates created of God to bee taken with thankesgiuing is plainly called a doctrine of deuils Furthermore your opinion is playnely deliuered to be with this distinction Ecclesiasticall traditions are of no greater authoritie then the writings and other decrees of the Church and Apostles traditions are of no lesse authoritie then if they had bene written by them or then are the other thinges which they wrote This is confusedly taught and needeth yet more plainenesse for not all orders deliuered by the Apostles are to bee kept perpetually and vnchangeably of like authoritie with the doctrine of the Gospell which they preached The Apostolique doctrine is perpetuall subiect to no varietie of persons of times or places but some traditioÌ„s that is some orders are altered as that in the acts where they commaunde to absteine from strangled and from blood for it appeareth that the Apostles commanded not this for a perpetuall order alwayes inuiolably to be obserued but onely for a time to auoids offences which cause ceasing the order or tradition was no longer in force Againe some orders might be set downe by them for comlinesse which yet were not to be beleeued as necessary partes of saluation nor yet to remayne for euer in that forme or kynde and therefore can not be matched with the Apostolique doctrine of fayth which is euer al one and which whosoeuer beleeueth not cannot bee saued Nowe touching your pretensed Apostolicall traditions I vtterly denie that there are any such beside those which are euidently shewed or by iust consequence fitly gathered out of the written worde For what so euer is necessary to saluation is in this sort to be proued by the holy Scriptures Therefore your Censureshippe dyd well to adde If they be certaynly descended from Christ and his Apostles But how can this I pray you be certaynely knowen but by the holy writings can any other custome or testimonie assure your consciences what came vndoubtedly from Christ or what from his Apostles Is there any one of your traditions that you can vouch to descend from so sufficient authors otherwise then by report of insufficient witnesses What is it then for you to boast of inuincible arguments to proue diuers doctrines not written but left by woorde of mouth onely whereas you bryng nothing but counterfeyt Couneils erring Fathers fabulous stories and Apocrypha scriptures This is right the bragging Apostle and a shewe of the vaine chalenger Yf a man coulde be feared with the guilte of your armour or with your plume of feathers you woulde bee a worthie champion wounding more with a vayne feare then with the force of your shrinking arme In this encounter of al your profes you haue sorted out two the first is out of that excellent chapter to the Thessalonians conteining a prophecie and reuelation of Antichrist For an answere to which place it is first to be vnderstoode that the worde Tradition in the Apostles speach commeth as it doth in Latin of a verbe to deliuer so that whatsoeuer y â— Apostle deliuered to the Churches those were the traditions hee lefte with them Therefore I denie that Paule doth in any place by tradition signifie any vnwritten veritie but that as in other places he vnderstandeth the doctrine of the Gospel which in the sundrye partes thereof he deliuered This appeareth apparauntly by the place so cited for your purpose without regarde of any more then the worde Tradition For in the verses nexte before the Apostle maketh mention of the Thessalonians faith to the trueth saying God hath called you thereunto by our Gospell to obteyne the glory of our Lorde Iesus Christ and therupon inferreth this conclusion now therefore brethren stand fast holde the tradition which you haue learned eyther by worde or by our epistle Whereby it plainly appeareth that the traditions or thinges deliuered by him partly by word and partly by writing were the diuers partes of the Gospell which hee had taught them Wherefore the written woorde affordeth you no proofe for vnwritten verities The seconde is of doctrines which you say wee holde not by record of writing but by word of mouth from Christ and his Apostles as for example baptisme of infants celebratioÌ„ of Sunday y â— number of y â— bookes of scripture the fast of
people in that Citie Did he note your two Popes two P 〈…〉 s together at 〈◊〉 time yea somtime three somtime foure Popes who 〈◊〉 the Chatre sometime at Rome sometime at 〈◊〉 sometime in other places Did hee euer consider that they which 〈◊〉 the storie of these men can not agree either in the number nor in the succession of these your Popes Any one of all these or of many other matters written by your selues being well coÌ„sidered might haue bene a weightie cause to keepe him from that fall For these bishops many of them succeeded with such wicked conditions and for so wicked purposes that their succession may shewe out matter to proue them rather the race of Antichrist and the spirit of fornications which long agoe beganne to worke the mysterie of iniquitie but hath nowe made vp all the measures thereof so that the prophesie is fulfilled that Antichrist in the succession of his ministers exalteth him selfe against all that is called God or is worshipped and sitteth in the Temple boasting him selfe that he iâ— God This is that succession of Antichrist which is glorious in the eyes of flesh and bloud and therefore made Woodeman depart from Christ whom whosoeuer wil folowe must euery day take vp his Crosse and folow him 3 As for his third reason of miracles in the Popishe Church I leaue it as very false insufficient Notwithstanding some I graunt wil beleeue if a man come from the dead which wil not beleeue Moses and the Prophets The kingdome and Church of Christ was planted in the power of doctrine and miracles and also by the power of the holy Ghost while Christ and his Apostles liued Now it is against faith if any looke for miracles to confirme the Gospell againe which is already so confirmed that an Angel from heauen or any miracle worker perswading otherwise must bee accürsed By miracles it is an easie thing to deceiue and bee deceiued seeing Satan to that purpose changeth himselfe into an Angell of light Such were many of the lying miracles not onely printed from Rome but receiued and registred at Rome and thrust vpon mens consciences to beleeue being matters that might easely drawe them headlonges into all error and idolatrie as was prophesied of this kingdome of Antichrist and hath no we appeared by the lamentable effect Therefore his third reason was to weake to haue drawen him froÌ„ the Church of Christ if he had bene tied to it but with one bande of loue to the trueth and power of doctrine 4 Xilanders fourth reason dath huâ—â—â—e vp and confound many reasons As that he was moued with the authoritie of the vniuersall of the visible and of the Catholique Church where like a good plaine dealer he left out that which he founde not in the Romish Church namely holinesse And what are all the rest without this holinesse Againe of those three notes that moued his falling off two are all one in worde and sense For the worde vniuersal and the word Catholique are as these two wordes Wodeman and Xilander which do not signifie two but one and the same thing That the Church of God must alwaies haue a visible and glorious Maiestie vpon the earth is not yet proued Also that the Church of Rome was neuer Catholique or vniuersall as it pretendeth the Churches of y â— East while they florished the Greeke Churches such as remayne at this day doe make sufficient proofe Againe we receiue the Scriptures from God hee by inspiration hath giuen them and hath alwayes kept them in his arke and the Philistins could not keepe the Arke from vs. The pretended victorie ouer heresies must be proued before it be admitted for a reason I graunt the Romish Church hath had a victorie and a tryumph in outwarde shewe ouer many thousand Saints most cruelly murdered for the trueth But ouer heresies it tryumphed not but in the time of her chastitie before the Lorde had giuen her a bill of diuorce after which time shee embrewed her selfe in the bloud of the Saintes and became the mother of all fornications With his other reasons hee linketh Saint Augustines saying so often misalleadged to proue the authoritie of the Church aboue the Scriptures that he woulde not beleeue the Gospel but onely vpon the Churches authoritie By these wordes his minde was not to determine which had greater authoritie the Church or the Scriptures but to declare against the Maniches in his owne practise what brought him first to esteeme the worde at his conuersion from inâ—â—deâ—tie The authoritie and consent of the Church may in such a case perswade one to receyue the worde which being receyued is of it selfe founde to be greater then that which first perâ—â—â—ded Thus of many reasons heaped vp together in y â— fourth place there is not founde one good The Romish Church was neuer vniuerfall or Catholike but particular and of â—ne â—erritorie though by vsurpatioâ—it enlarged her selfe by litle and little and the visiblenes therof is nothing for the true Church of the elect is inâ—isible Moreouer as I declared it neuer triumphed ouer heretikes it hath not any peculiar custodie of the Scriptures neyther dorth the authoritie of the Gospel depende vpon hir ratification being authenticall of it selfe Therefore al these reasons and put them together coulde not open the least dore for his departure if he had euer beene placed within the Church 5 The fift reason is that the Romish Church is the true Church because many that liued there are nowe Saintes in heauen and namely Dominic and Frauncis as Xilander doeth imagine I say as before there was a time when Ephraim spake there was trembling he exalted him selfe in Israel but he hath sinned in Baal and is dead Neuerthelesse seeing Xilander went so farre for a fift reason let vs examine what he hath brought There is no doubt saith he but Dominiâ— Fraâ—ncis and others are Saintes in heauen therefore it cannot bee that they liued in errour Who hath made it out of doubt to vs that they are in heauen seeing there are writte 〈…〉 many 〈…〉 dent lyes and blasphemies of them in the Legenda and that most detestable Alcaron called the booke of confo 〈…〉 who will beleeue that Dominic raysed the dead which you teach Who can heare or reade those your blasphemies in making Fryer Frauncis an other Iesu in type and figure matching him w t Christ froÌ„ poynt to poynt and his miracles with Christs myracles If the Censurer had not menâ—ioned Frauncis the Fryer among his saints it myght haue beene hoped the Iesuites would refourme that booke or rather condemne it to the pit of hell But to returne to Xilanders argument it is a very bad one prouing the lesser doubt by the greater For it is not so great a doubt what those famous Fryers taught as whether they be in heauen Neuerthelesse if it were out of doubt they are in heauen yet