C.xlii. Thē had ye missed of reckening al though Higinus had ordened the baptisyng of childer But it is a false lye that Higinus was he that ordened first the baptising of childer If that ye can clere your selfe I wil recant and cry you mercy Wher is your sufficient and auncient author that writeth that Higinus ordened the baptim of childer first I haue read many hystories and cronicles to se whyther Higinus ordened the baptisyng of children or no but as yet I can not fynde it Panthalion which called his booke Chronographia writeth thus Higinus a Greciā borne was in the year of oure Lorde C.xli. and he ordened the chrysme and godfathers to baptyme The boke called epitome hystoriarum reporteth thus of Hyginus Hyginus a grecian ordened chrisme and godfathers to the baptym of christen men and the boke appoynteth to him the year of oure Lorde C.xxix Carhanza the gatherer of the abrygement of the councells and decreees hath these wordes of Hyginus Hyginus the eyght pope put vnto Baptym and confirmation a godfather and a godmother Marke that all these three testimonies witnes not that Hyginvs dyd ordene the Baptyme of infantes but that he ordened to Baptyme or put vnto Baptym Godfathers and Godmothers I aske you to what baptim dyd Hyginus orden or put to godfathers and godmothers ye wil not say that de ordened godfathers and godmothers to old-men for that wer nothynge for your purpose If ye say that he ordened them and put them to the baptyme of lpechelesse chyider then was the baptysinge of chylder before Hyginussis time Then do ye wrōge to saye that Hyginus that pope ordened the chrystenynge of specheles chylder who only added and put to the Baptising of childer chrisme and godfather and godmother Now wyl I com vnto the wytnesses of twoo great clerkes the former who is called Volaterrane sayeth Hyginus instituit ut Baptismo seu confirmationi unus saltem quem compatrem uocant interesset Hyginus ordened that one at the lest that they cal godfather shude be presented at the baptime The latter is named Platina who wrote a propre boke of the byshop of Rome His words of Higinus are these Voluit item unum saltē patrimum unam ue matrimam Baptismo inter esse Sic enim eos appellant qui infantes tenent dum baptizantur He ordened or woulde also that at the lest one godfather or godmother should be presente at baptyme For so do they call them whiche holde specheles chylder whyles they are baptised It is a greate wonder that Hyginus shulde haue ordened the baptim of infates and none of al these learned men wolde make mention of that matter as they haue done clerely of other matters Doutles they haue made no mētiō at al in the declaringe of the deedes of Hyginus that he ordened baptyme Then must I presse you with youre owne mannet of arguynge whyche is thys ¶ We rede not that Christ nothet the Apostles ordened the baptyme of chylder Ergo nother Christe ordened nother the Apostles ordened the baptym of childer If thys be a suer argumente then this that I wyl make of the same fashion must also be suer We rede not in their bookes that wrote the actes of Hyginus that Higinus ordened baptym therefore Hyginus ordened not Baptym But perchaunce ye wyl reason thus he ordened godfathers and godmothers to the baptyme of chylder This argumēte wanteth strength for the hole church or the farer and mother maye present and offer vp an infante vnto Christe and requyre streyght way of thelders of the churche the Sacrament of baptyme thoughe the chrysme wer in his belly that ordened it and the godfathers were neuer ordened Wherfore ye wer to bold nay to vnshame faced to say that pope Hyginus ordened the baptyme of infantes because all men shuld hate it that hate the pope ¶ Ye allege in the ende of your booke Erasmus amonge a great sorte of heretikes which wrote agaynst the baptim of infants and ye alleged Erasmus that chylder was not baptised in the Apostels time and it is true that Erasmus sayde that baptime of chyldren was not receiued in the apostels tyme. for hys wordes are these Nec ea quaestio tum mouebatur quum nondum esset receptū pueros baptizari Then wyl ye say peraduenture here is one learned mans opinion agaynst you that the baptime of childer was taken vp after the apostels tymes I aunswer you that S. Cyprian whiche lyued and florysshed within .cc.lvij. of Christes byrth and Saynt Austen which liued but CCCC xlij after Christes natiuite affirmed both that the baptisyng of chylder came vnto vs from the apostels handes and Erasmus sayeth that the baptime of childer was nod receiued in the Apostels times Whether is it more mete to beleue Cypryan and Austen whiche were so nere the Apostles tyme or Erasmus whiche lyued and dyed in oure dayes What wyll ye answere Aunswer what ye wyll I wyll make Erasmus by hys owne sentence and reason pronounce that Austē and Cyprian are rather to be beleued in suche lyke matter then he is Erasmus beyng sumthing offended with Chrysostome whyche denyed Paule had a wyfe wrote these wordes Chrysostomus fatetur fuisse qui putarent hic Paulū appellare suam uxorem sed dissentit nec causam reddit cur dissentiat Sed utris potius aequū est accedere Clementi Ignatio quorū ille Petri comes fuit hic Marci Euangelistae discipulus Chrysostomo qui tanto interuallo semotus fuit a temporibus apostolorum Chrysostome graunteth that there were some that thought that Paule in thys place spake spake vnto hys wyfe but he thynketh otherwyse yet sheweth no cause why But whether of thes is it meter that we shuld beleue Clement and Ignatyus of the whych the one was Peters companyon and the other the dyscyple of Marke the Euangelist or Chrysostome whyche was so longe a tyme from the tyme of the Apostles Thys may be gathered of these wordes he is more worthy credence in bearyng of wytnes that is nerer the dede when it is done or nerer the tyme whē it was done Whervpon I conclude thus Austen Cypriane and Orygen were nerer the apostles tymes then Erasmus was therfore Austen and Cypryane are more to he beleued whyche wrote that baptyme came from the Apostles then Erasmus whych sayd that baptysyng of chyldren was not receyued in the Apostles tymes Here are ye dysapoynted of one of your postes that ye lened to in your opynyon that the baptyme of chyldren was not receyued in the Apostles tymes But leste ye shoulde thynke that Austen and Cyprian were not of that mynde wherof I report them to be I wyll rehearse yow Saynt Austens wordes in the fourth boke against the Donatistes of the baptising of chyldren in the fourth chapter Et si quisquam in hacre autoritatem diuinam quaerat quanquam quod uniuersa tenet ecclesia nec conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi autoritate apostolica traditum
A preseruatiue or triacle agaynst the poyson of Pelagius lately renued styrred vp agayn by the furious secte of the Annabaptistes deuysed by Wyllyam Turner Doctor of Physick Beleue not euery spirite but proue the spirites whether they be of God or no. To the moste stedfast godly true preacher of Gods worde maister Hughe Latimer Wylliam Turner Physicion wyssheth long lyfe and good helth if it be the wyll and pleasure of almighty God with continuaunce in al vertues and godlynes and Christ our ryghteousnes THe same thing chaunceth nowe and hath chaunced euer since the begynning vnto all true prechers and defenders of Goddes holy worde that chaunced vnto the noble and doughtye warryer Hercules Hercules for the loue that he bare vnto his country toke many a ieoperdous and labor sum worke in hande and euer after that one was ended another began so that they myght haue semed to be tyed together wyth chaynes one dyd alwayes so coÌ„tinually and almoste touchingly folowe onother But his trouble and busines that he had with the kylling of the seuen hedded water snake called Hydra is moste lyke in all poyntes vnto the labour sum worke of Christes souldiers and true preachers for euer as he kylled one heade with his arrowes and strooke it of with hys sworde There rose vp another agayne vntyll that at the length he destrâ—… them wyth fyrebrandes Euen so the Aposteâ—… of Christe as they had ouercoÌ„med one labour they were cumbred streigth way with another Fyrst they had much a do in conuertyng the Iewes from theyr euil lyfe and not a litle to do to pull them from the false beleue that they had to be iustified by the workes of the law whichâ— for all that they kept not they had muche to do to bryng the Iewes from the ceremonyes of Moyses lawe and to make them beleue that they were put downe by the death of Christe The turning of the heathen from ydolatry vnto the belefe in Christ after that they had conuerted many of the Iewes was both a ieoperdous and a tumbrous labour But after all these great laboures there rose vp a sort of heretikes who wold haue not only defaced blotted out all of the prayse that the Apostels wan by theyr labours but vtterly haue destroyed and vndone all their doynges The names of the heretikes were Simon Magus Ebion and Corinthus Austen Ambrose and Hierom with other lyke fathers in their tymes had great trouble and beesines with the innumerable enemies of Christes trueth And we in our tyme are not in all pointes vnlike vnto Hercules For one labour euer successiuely receyueth and foloweth another First in Cambridge about .xx. yeares ago ye toke great paynes to put men from their wyl workes as pylgrimage and settyng vp of candels and with great labour ye brought many from them vnto the workes that God commaunded expressedly in his holy scripture and to the reading study of Gods worde al dreames and vnprofitable gloses of men set a syde and vtterly despised Then this fundacion of Goddes worde ones layde we that were your disciples hadde much to do in Cambridge after your departing from vs with them that defended praying vnto sayntes iustification of workes holye water superfluous holy dayes the sacrifice of the masse lyinge of parsons froÌ„ their benefices prouision for purgatorye the syngle lyuyng of ministers and the superstitious choyse of meates many suche other doctrines contrary vnto the scripture And though this stryfe agaynst Gods enemies were common to me 〈◊〉 many yet I had specially to do with a bucke wiâ—… a certayn man that had a name of the colour of â—…adder with the fox and hys foster and with a certayn wytche called maystres missa But after I was easid from al these monsters by the help principally of almyghty God and by the â—yde of the kyng and his counsell I thought to haue bene at good rest and quietnes from contentious striuinges wherewith I had bene muche troubled in tymes past and had fully purposed to haue set all my ordinaunce against grosse vyces and noughtye lyuyng of the people in this realme But beholde sodenly sterte oute a woode spirite muche perillouser then all the beastes that I had to do with before not because he is stronger then the other but because his poyson that he intenderh to spoute oute is more perillous then the others poyson was Some man peraduenture wyll saye that if I woulde I myght haue auoyded all these perilles if I would haue medled with my Physick only not haue cumbred my self with matters of diuinite and that I am therfore well worthy this trouble To whom I aunswer that if that I had had such a conscience as to many now a dayes haue that I could haue founde in my harte to take the dignities rewards and lyuynges of Christes churche and to do nothyng for them and if that I hadde not thought it better that one man should runne into ieopardy then that many thousandes should haue ben poysoned with the poyson of Pelagius I myght in deede haue easely auoyded this perillous labour But after that my lorde Archebyshop of Yorke had ones geuen me a prebende I could not be quiet vntill that I had licence to reade or preache Whiche obteyned I began to rede and so to discharge mi conscience And because I dyd perceyue that diuerse began to be infected with the poyson of Pellagius I deuised a lecture in Thistelworth agaynst two of the opinions of Pelagius namely against that childer haue no original sin that they oughte not to be baptised But within a few wekes after one of Pelagius disciples in the defence of his masters doctrine wrote against my lecture with all the cunnyng and learning that he had But lest he should glorye and crake amonge his disciples that I could not aunswer him and to the intent that the venemous seede of his soweyng maye be destroyed and so hyndered from bryngyng forth frute I haue set out this boke to aunswer hym in the one of his opinions and God wyllyng when I haue set out my Herbal I shal aunsuer hym to the other And this small worke I dedicate vnto you as a worthy patrone for it I myght haue dedicated it vnto some great man of aucthoritie power and ryches but consyderyng that nether aucthoritie power nor ryches are able to defende my boke if the Pelagians should write agaynst it I haue chosen you as a patron to defende it with your learning whiche is only a better defence then all the dignitie riches of the worlde be they neuer so great Nowe after that I haue desired you to be a patrone vnto my boke I must aske you counsel how that I and my felowes shal behaue our selues agaynst this monstere of our tymes that ye may by our labours be put afterwards to lesse payne This monstre is in many poyntes lyke vnto the watersnake with seuen heades For as out of one bodye rose seuen heades
rectissime creditur That is If any man loke for the autorite of God in this matter Howbeit that which the hole churche holdeth and is not ordened of any counsell but is alwayes holden styll it is mooste ryghtlye beleued that it was geuen oute and ordened by the Apostles The same Austen in a sermonde of the baptysme of infantyng agaynst the Pelagyaus sayth these wordes Cypriane beyng axed whether an infant myghte be baptysed before the viij daye because in the olde lawe the childe myght not be cyrcumcysed but on the eyghte day Saint Cyprian said that no man shulde be hyndred from grace and that the spirytual cyrcumcysyon oughte not to be hyndred by carnall cyrcumcysyon Cypriane wryteth also in the viij epistel of the thyrd booke these wordes concernyng the baptyme of infantes Porro autem si etiam grauissimis delictoribus in deum multum ante peccatibus cū postea crediderunt remissio peccatorum datur ae baptismo atque gratia nemo prohibetur quanto magis prohiberi non debet infans qui recens natus peccauit nisi quòd secundum Adam car naliter natus contagium mortis antiqua prima natiuitate contraxit Furthermore but yf that forgeuenes of synnes be geuen vnto the greatest synners and to them that dyd greately offend before after that they dyd beleue and no man is forbydden frō baptyme grace How much more ought not a spechles chylde to be forbydden whych beyng lately borne hath commytted no offence but that it beyng borne carnally after Adam hath caught the infeccyon of the olde death by hys fyrst byrthe This is the mynde of Cypryane concernyng baptysyng of chylder and of originall synne And the same doctor writeth in an other place Nos iure damnamus omnia quae Christus non docuit We condemne by good ryght all thynges whych Christe hath not taught But Cypryane alowed the baptyme of chyldern therfore he reckened that the baptysyng of chyldren was taught of Christ That Origen is of that iudgement that the baptyme of chylder came from the Apostels hys wordes vpon the epystle to the Romanes and vpon Iohan do clearly testyfy as hereafter I shall proue whē I shall come to the place where as ye alledge Orygen your owne selfe Now seyng that these noble learned men whych were so nere hand the tymes of the Apostles holde in theyr workes with the baptyme of infantes and saye that it came vnto vs from the Apostles what wyse man wyll rather beleue yow beynge so longe after the Apostles tymes then them whych were so long ago and so nere the tymes of the Apostels Ye haue therefore long and besely babled in vain holding without any autorytye and agaynst learnyng and authoritye that the Pope ordened fyrst the baptyme of infantes And so ye haue won nothyng sauyng that ye haue founde and made a rodde for your owne tayle I meane that I haue gotten and gathered of your assertyon and opynyon a good coniectural argument that the baptyme of infantes came from thapostles tymes For ye shewed me fyrste that Hyginus ordened the baptyme of infantes which Hyginus as I shall declare hereafter was but .xxxviij. yeares frō some of thapostles For Volaterane wryteth in hys boke called Anthropologia that Saint Ihon the Euangelyst lyued vnto the .lxviii. yeare after the passion of Christ hys wordes are these Ioannes longa senectute confectus 68. anno post Christi supplicium extinctus est And Christ was .xxxiiij. yeares olde when he suffred therefore Iohan beyng alyue .lxviij. after hys passyon was alyue in the 102. yeare after Christes byrth And Hyginus was 140. yeares after Christes byrth therfore Higinus and some of the apostles namely saint Iohn the Euāgelist were no more one frō another then xxxviij yeares Whereby thorow youre helpe I haue now proued that the baptisynge of yonge chyldren was vsed wythin .xxxviij. yeares of some of the Apostles tymes I haue also proued by good auctorytye that Hyginus dyd not orden the baptysynge of chyldren and that he onlye put and added to the baptyme of chyldrē chrisme godfather godmother wherfore the baptysyng of chyldren beyng before Higinusses tymes and seynge he seynge he was with in .xxxviij. yeres of some of the Apostelles tymes it is a probable and very lykelye thynge that the baptysyng of childer came vnto vs euen from the apostels who were but a very shorte tyme before Ye are disapoynted of your purpose whych thought to haue brought the baptysynge of spechles chylder into a great cōtēpt an vtter despysyng because it had ben as ye thought of the Popes ordenyng makyng yf ye had not bē proued an arrāt lier but ye are proued a lyer wher ye sayd that Hygynus ordened the baptim of infants and an argument of antiquite is gathered of the longe contynuaunce of chylders baptyme and of the long approbatyon of the same thorow oute all hole Christes churche which is more worthy to be admitted then your supersticious opinion whose author was that perilous heritike Pelagius whom in th ende of your boke ye bryng in right honorably for a wytnes to mayntayne your dyuelishe opinion But although Hyginus had ordened first that childer shuld be baptised yet shulde not their baptyme haue bene Popyshe for in the tyme of Hyginius the byshops of Rome had not yet vsurped any supremacie ouer other Byshops muche lesse ouer Kynges and Emperours Neyther hadde the byshops of Rome brought in the dyuelyshe doctryne wherefore theyr doctrine was hated and called popyshe and dyuelyshe In the tyme of Hyginus euery byshop was called Papa as euery prest in hygh Almony is called pfaff and in low Germany pape euē vnto thys day Wherefore the doynge of Hyginus shuld haue no more ben called popysh then the ordynaunce of any other byshopp that dwelt out of Rome ether in Asia or Aphrica How be it thankes be vnto God I haue had wytnes ynough to proue that the baptyme of yong chyldren was not ordened of Higinus and lo can the baptyme of chyldren in no wyse be called popysh as we call suche as yow Popysh whych at the last ester right Popishly knelyng toke the sacrament geuyng occasyon vnto all men to thynke that ye were a sterke ydolater and beleued that bread was turned into a God For your doyng was the ordinaūce of a lofty and a right Antichristian byshop of Rome whiche vsurped power both ouer all byshops and also ouer al Kynges and Emperours Although I haue with the rehersal of .vii. places of scripture sufficiently reproued your folyshe and monkish maner in dilaying of baptime your tyrannical tying it vp vnto certayne tymes and that your Cathechumeni with their yeares of probation are contrary to the vse of Christes primatiue church yet for to proue that youre dylaying of baptime whereupon ye wolde groūde your erroure that childer ought not to be baptised is agaynst the scripture and only the ordinaunce of men I wyll shew what men and what coūcels haue ordened all