mans lawe had such a chaire of Uertue as this Popes Chaire is to sitte in then they shoulde not néede to take suche paines in studying nyghte and daye as they doe Therefore this Chaire being so full of vertue as is before saide surely one or other hathe stolne it from the Pope and set another chaire in the place of it like it in fashion but not in vertue truth was there euer any religion so rediculous that woulde teache vs to thinke that the whole knowledge and trueth of the same were nayled or fastned to a Chayre and that their Pope when he sittes in that Chayre can not erre God send vs a more certaine trueth than to depende vpon the trueth of a Chayre But if you be desirous to heare what Uertue and trueth there is in the Popes Chayre and how wise learned it makes the Popes to be after they once si◠in it I will not sticke to shewe you that by an excellēt example There was a great contention betwéene them of Ratispone in Germanie and the Abbay of Saint Denise in Fraunce about the bodie of Saint Denise which was so déepe a doubt to discusse that none but the Pope was able to try y e truth therof And so to Rome they went and the Pope sat sadly in iudgemente about it and examined their allegations and matter throughly and grew to a conclusion and in the end gaue thereof his déepe and diffinitiue sentence and sayde that both they of Ratispone and they of Saint Denise had the whole bodie of Saint Denise and that whosoeuer wold say the contrarie shoulde be an Heretike If the trueth hadde not bene faste nayled to the Pops Chayre the Pope could neuer haue giuen suche a true wise and learned Iudgemente of thys weyghtie matter Nowe surelye it was a Popely resolution yea and suche a one as muste néedes make the veriest fooles in the World beléeue that Wyll Somers woulde not haue giuen so fonde and ridiculous a iudgement This famous Diuine and true iudgement of the Pope is sufficient if there were nothing else to make vs beléeue that the Pope can not lye And as the Pope is verie wise and learned by the vertue of his Chayre to resolue doubtful matters so he hath wise and learned Doctours to giue him weightie and doubtfull matters to resolue Wherof I wil shew you some for a taste to sée howe you wil like them Augustine the Italian Monke that of some hath bin taken for the Apostle of Englande demaunded of Pope Gregorie by way of great councel whether a womanne wyth Childe mighte be Baptized or not and howe long afterwarde it myghte be lawfull for hyr to come to the Church Bonifacius the Apostle of Germaine demaunded of Pope Zacharie whether Iayes Dawes Storkes Beuers Otters Hares wilde Horsses be mens meate or not what order were to be taken with man or Horsse hauing the falling sicknesse at what time of the yeare it maye be lawefull or wholesome for folkes to eate Bacon and if a man list to eate it rawe howe olde it ought to be before he eate it what maye bée done if a Prieste haue a blacke in his eye who may hallow oyle with other déepe and doubtefull questions Surelye vnlesse the Pope had bene déepely profoundly learned by the great vertue of hys chaire he coulde neuer haue resolued these mysticall questions You maye reade the newe Testamente ouer ere you shal finde anye that euer demaunded anye suche thyngs of Christ. Marke further I praye you what dolting doctrine the Pope is faine to haue to proppe vppe hys Papistry wythall and what worthye argumentes are brought out of the Scriptures for prouing that the vulgar or common people ought not to reade the Scriptures Giue not holye things to dogges sayth Christ Ergo sayth the Pope it is not laweful for the vulgar people to reade the Scriptures Is not this an excellent and a true proofe to hide or kéep the Scriptures from the people By as good an argumēt I may say thus open not your secretes to your foe therefore tel not your minde to your friend or thus Giue no drinke to them that are drunken Ergo let sober men haue no drink The lay people are much beholden to the Popes penne men for they liken them to dogges But here for their purpose they can call the Scriptures holy but when they list they will call it the blacke Gospell and a nose of waxe Therefore consider and marke well though euen nowe to serue their turne the Scripture of them is called holye in what estimation and reuerence the Popes Prelates haue the holy Scripture and word of God and howe they extoll their Romishe Churche Ludouicus a Canon of the Churche of Laterane in Rome saith thus The Church meaning the Church of Rome is the liuely breast of Christ. But the Scriptures is as it is nowe deade Inke The Byshoppe of Poyters sayde the Scripture is a dead and a dumbe thing as are all other politike lawes Albertus Pighius sayeth if thou saye these matters muste be putte ouer to the iudgement of the Scriptures thou shewest thy selfe to be voyde of common reason for the Scriptures are dumbe Iudges and can not speake Eckius calleth the Scriptures The blacke Gospell and the Inken Diuinitie Pighius agayne sayeth The Church that is the Church of Rome hathe power to giue Canonicall authoritie vnto certaine writings whiche otherwise they haue not neither of themselues nor of their Authors and thus may the Pope by his aucthority allowe anye booke of the Scriptures and so he may make Scriptures Againe he sayth as one both truely and merily sayde the Scripture is like a nose of waxe that easily suffereth it selfe to be drawen backwarde and forward and to be moulded and fashioned this way and that way and howsoeuer they list Thus they teache the people to reuerence and estéeme the holy Scripture Gods worde they cal it deade Inke a liuelesse letter a dumbe Iudge that can not speake a blacke Gospell Inken Diuinitie a nose of waxe a thing vtterlye voyde of aucthoritie of it selfe Notwithstanding that Christ the sonne of God sayeth Search the Scriptures c. and they are they that testifie of me and hys Prelates giue good credite to Gods worde which is the chiefe worker of our saluation When obiection was made that King Dauid being not a Bishop but only a Temporall Prince had written the Psalmes that is to say the very key of the scriptures Hosius made aunswere Wrote Dauid Psalmes and why shold he not write them Horace sayth we write Ballades euerye body learned and vnlearned tagge and ragge so vnreuerently he skorneth and scoffeth at the holye scriptures the most pure word of God and compares the heauenly ditties of the holy Ghost to a vile heathen wanton ballade The same Hosius as one that hathe a mouth to speake blasphemie and to saye without all shame what he liste
of God you wil scantly like The Popes Doctors say auouch it for truth that if the Priest say thus when he doth Baptise a childe Ego te Baptiso in nomine patris filij spiritus sancti diaboli that is I Baptise thee in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and of the Diuell yet the forme of Baptisme is very good and the child is rightly christned I remember that Christ bad his Apostles Baptise in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost but that he bad them Baptise any in the name of the Diuel I neuer heard If they be rightly christned that are christned in the name of the Diuel according to the Popes law then I hope they are not falsely christned that are christned in the name of God without naming the Diuell accordyng to Gods lawe If wée shoulde allowe such Baptizing to bée good and that they were rightlye Baptized that were Baptized in the name of the Diuell you that call vs nowe Sathans broode woulde then call vs as you myght well the chyldren of the Diuell Must not this Churche of Rome bée a holy Church that hath such goldy doctrine and diuine Doctours if they bée curst that take any thing from the worde of God then they are not blest that adde the Diuell to the Baptizing of the children of God Euerye one that haue an affection to the Popes Religion woulde scantly beléeue that there is such handsome doctrine belonging to his religion This is not much vnlike other of the Romish Doctors doctrine for in the Defence of the Apologie which the learned Bishop of Sarisburie wrote against the confutation of Doctor Harding are these wordes Petrus Asotus Hosius sticke not to affirme that the same Counsell wherein our Sauiour Iesus was condemned to die had both the spirite of Prophesie and the holy Ghost and the spirite of truth And that it was no false saying when the Bishop sayd we haue a lawe and by our lawe he ought to die and that they so saying did light vpon the very truth of iudgemēt and that the same was a iust decree whereby they pronounced that Christ was worthy to die Thus the Popes Prelates take part with Annus Caiphas against Christ. If that were a good true iudgement that most shamefully wrongfully condemned the sonne of God to death then where shal we finde any false and wicked iudgement by this meanes the Popes sentences iudgements in burning the members of Christ for professing of y e Gospel cā not be false wicked or euill I feare they y t say they had the holy ghost the spirite of truth y t iudged Christ to death and that the same was a iust decrée wherby they pronounced y t Christ was worthy to die I feare I say y t they are none of them that Christ dyed for and as they y t iudged Christ most wrongfully did it not by the spirit of God Euen so Asotus Hosius and all other that say y t their iudgement was true that their decrée was iust whereby they pronounced that Christ was worthy to die spake and vttered the same by the spirit of y e diuell for if they gaue true iudgement against Christ then Christ was an offendor and deserued to die The Lorde blesse euery man from beléeuing the doctrine of such that either say or beléeue that Christ the Sonne of God that neuer offēded nor sinned was worthily or rightly condemned to die If our Bishops Preachers and Doctors shoulde preach teache or write such blasphemous doctrine you might then iustly cal vs Heretiks as we may wel cal them al other y t take their partes blasphemers the disciples of Antichrist But Caiphas sayd it is good that one man die for the people least all the people perishe Ergo sayth M. Harding Caiphas had the spirit of God To whom that learned and worthie M. Iewel late Bishop of Sarisburie replyes with these wordes But that ye may the better M. Harding espie your ouersight like as ye saye Caiphas prophesied blindly himselfe not vnderstanding what he sayd Ergo he had the holy Ghost S Paule sayth no man can say the Lorde Iesus but in the Spirit of God hereof by your Logicke you may reason thus the Diuell sayd vnto Christ I knowe that thou arte Christ the Sonne of the liuing God Ergo the Diuell had the Spirit of God c. If Caiphas had the spirit of God then he had y e holy ghost that wrote this note vpon the Popes decrée that the Iewes had committed mortall sinne if they had not nayled Christ to the Crosse. Now open your eyes and beholde whether this be good sound doctrine or not y t these Papisticall Doctors do teach They that worship God aright follow Christes Gospel wil do detest such diuellish doctrine Therefore flie from this Romish Church that taketh the Pope to be hir heade and that refuseth to be tried by the Scriptures and spéedily become members of that Churche that taketh Christ to be hir heade and is content to bée iudged by the Scriptures For they that are of Christ will heare his voyce which is the Gospell which true Church wherof Christ is the head can not be knowne but by the Scriptures Chrisostome saith now can no mā know the Church but by the scriptures S. Augustine saith Whether they haue the Church or no let them shewe by the Canonicall Bookes of the holy scriptures we must know the Church euen lykewise as we know Christ which is the head of the Churche in the holy Canonicall Scriptures Againe he saith the holy Scriptures shewes the Churche without any doubtfulnesse Againe the question or doubt is where the Churche shoulde be what then shall we doe whether shall we seeke the Churche in our owne wordes or in the wordes of hir heade which is our Lorde Iesus Christ In my iudgement wee ought rather to seeke the Churche in his wordes for that he is the trueth and best knoweth his owne body And agayne he sayeth Let vs not heare these wordes this say I This sayest thou but these wordes let vs heare Thus sayth the Lorde there let vs seeke the Churche there let vs discusse our cause And Saint Ambrose sayeth the Church shineth or is knowne not by hir owne light but by the light of Christ which is the word of God These learned holy and auntient fathers wordes are sufficient to proue vnto vs that y e Church of Christ is known and is chiefely to be discerned by the word of God But what if these auncient and learned Doctors had not written thus shoulde wée then haue taken that for the Churche of God which the Popes doctrine doeth allowe then we shoulde haue a trimme and holy Church as by the premysses doth appeare And nowe bicause nothing can describe which is the true Church better than Christ
with a greate man it is no harme to speake to his Chamberlaine or to one that is next vnto him that he may shewe y e king of vs which vaine reason Saint Ambrose answers very wel saying we are broughte vnto the Princes of Kings by Lordes and officers bycause the king is a man and knoweth not to whom he may committe his Realme But to obtaine Gods fauour from whome nothing is secrete as knowing what euerie man is meete to haue we neede no spokes man but a deuoute minde wheresoeuer suche a one speaketh vnto God God wil aunswere him Thus hath that learned Doctour aunswered this foolish and vaine obiection wherby it plainely appeares that there wer some of your opinion in his days and that he was of the same opinion that we are in these dayes But if Saint Ambrose Saint Augustine and a thousande moe of learned men shoulde write that we ought to praye vnto the Uirgin Marie and to the Saintes yet we oughte not to beléeue them for as muche as Christ hath taught vs contrarie who biddes vs to make our prayers onelye to GOD oure Heauenlye Father But as long as the Doctoures and Fathers doe agrée with the Gospell we wil allowe them but if they do not we wil reiect them But whatsoeuer Christ sayth y e Pope saith otherwise now marke wel herein the holy doctrine of the Church of Rome which allows wils you to pray vnto y e blessed Uirgine thus Let him know thee to be his mother commaund thy sonne vse thy motherlye authoritie ouer him Is not this a trim kind of prayer you shal not finde this in al the Lordes prayer that Christ taught to his Disciples if you say y t this is but a spiritual dallying as M. Harding said to maister Iewel then I wil answere you as M. Iewel answered M. Harding this must néedes be a blessed kinde of Diuinitie that can turne praying to dallying This kinde of prayer was vsed vniuersally saith M. Iewel throughout all the Church of Rome that men women and children learned and vnlearned were taught and forced thus to praye Thou art the Queene of heauen Thou art the Lady of Angels cōmaunde thy sonne shew thy selfe to be the mother Cardinal Bembus sometimes the Popes secretarie calleth the Virgine Mary Lady and goddesse Ambrosius Catharinus in the late Chapter at Trydent calleth hir goddes fellow by these words fidelissima eius Socia that is Gods moste faithful fellow Nicholaus Cusanus a Cardinal of Rome saith This thing turneth to the praise of God and the Virgin Marie the mother of Christ that she was neuer at any time vnder the Princehoode of the author of death That Virgin neded no deliuerer that should redeeme hir from the sentence pronounced against Adam and his posteritie Mary was neued raced out of the booke of death for she was neuer written in it Here we are taught that Marie the Virgin is our Lady and goddesse that she is Gods fellow and that she had no neede to be saued by the death of Christ nay your church of Rome teacheth to pray vnto hir thus Saue thou al thē that glorifie thee and this also is in Lipomanus beholde howe mighty is the mother of God and how no mā may be saued but by hir What is blasphemie if this be not blasphemie yet this is the religion of your holy church of Rome would you haue thought y t either they had writtē thus or durst be so bold to write thus there was none that euer came of the séede of Adam but they haue néede to be saued by the death of Christ. These Bookes that containe these things you ought to burne and not the holy Scriptures wherin you can spie no such faultes Your Church of Rome calles the Uirgin Marie which is the mother of Christ the Quéene of Heauen but it mistakes hir as it doth many other things for she is not the Quéene of Heauen but hir Sonne Christ is the King heauen Therfore the Church of Rome doth most wickedly to worship hir as they doe Wherevpon Epiphanius sayth Let no man eate of this errour touching S. Marie for though the tree be faire yet is not the fruite to be eaten although Marie be beautiful holye and honorable yet is she not to be adored But these women worshipping S. Marie renue againe the sacrifice of wyne mingled in the honor of the goddesse Fortuna and prepare a table for the Diuell and not for God as it is written in the Scriptures They are fedde with meate and wickednesse And againe Their women boult flowre and their children gather stickes to make fine cakes in the honour of the Queene of Heauen Therfore let such women be rebuked by the Prophet Hieremie and let them no more trouble the worlde and let them not say we worship the Queene of Heauen Thus much writeth that auncient Father Epiphanius against the fonde and vnchristianly exalting and honouring of the Uirgin Marie for the Quéene of Heauen Marke also what a blasphemous prayer y e holy Church of Rome doth teache you to pray whereby it appeares that they that belonge to that Churche néede not the bloud of Christ to saue them for the bloud of Thomas Becket which was once a traitour to his King here in England is sufficient for they say thus in their Mattins O Christ make vs to ascend vnto heauen whether Thomas is ascended euen by the bloud of Thomas that he shed for thy sake Is not this Church of Rome thinke you the true Churche of God that blots out the blessed bloud of Christ without which there is no saluation puts in the bloud of a sinfull wretch to climbe to heauē by but I thinke they mistake y e words perhaps the meaning of them is thus make vs to descende into hell whether Thomas is descended euen by the bloud of Thomas y t he shed for the Popes sake for surely if Thomas Becket did pray to ascēd by the bloud of any but of Christ as these of the Churche of Rome doe by his I beléeue that this your holye Saint Thomas a Saint of the Popes making is rather in hell than in heauen Can the children of God or they that are Christians bée content to abide in this blasphemous Church of Rome that vseth suche a kinde of praying as desires to climbe to heauen by the bloud of a vile wretched sinner and refuseth the bloud of that immaculate lambe Iesus Christ the sonne of God Surely if I were as déepely drowned in that detestable Papistrie as any of you are or euer was hearing but halfe this that I haue written I should not onely with al spéede detest that abhominable Religion of the Pope but also flie vnto Christ and take holde on his holy Gospell as I doe not doubt but assuredly trust that many of you will And as this Romish Church hath with hir most wicked prayer blotted out the pure and perfecte order of praying
Lambe at the Townes side a certayne Butcher within the Towne was as busie in slayinge of a Bull whiche Bull hée had faste bounde in ropes readie to knocke hym in the head But the Butcher belyke not so skylfull in hys arte in killyng of beastes as the Papistes be in murthering Christians as hée was lifting the Axe to stryke the Bull fayled in hys stroke and smitte a little to lowe or else howe he did smite I knowe not but this was certaine that the Bull somethyng grieued with the stroke but yet not stricken downe put his strength to the ropes and brake lowse from the Butcher into the stréete the very same tyme as the people were comming in very great prease from the burnyng of the godly woman Who séeing the Bull commyng towardes them and supposing him to be wilde as was none other lyke gaue way for the Bull euery man shifting for him selfe aswell as hée might Thus the people gyuing backe and making a lane for the Bull he passed through all the throng of them touching neyther man woman nor childe till hée came whereas the Chauncellour was Against whome the Bull as pricked with a suddaine vehemencie ranne full but with hys hornes and taking him vpon the paunche gored him through and through and so killed him immediatly carrying his guttes and trayling them with his hornes all the stréete ouer to the great wonder of all them that sawe it Although the carnall sence of man be blinde in considering the workes of the Lorde imputing many times to blinde chaunce the thinges whiche properly perteyneth to Gods onelye prayse and prouidence yet in this so straunge and so euident an Example what man can be so dull or ignoraunt whiche séeth not herein a playne myracle of Gods mightie power and iudgement both in iust punishyng of this wretched Chauncellour and also in admonishing all other lyke persecutours by this example to feare the Lorde and to abstaine from the lyke crueltie These wonderfull and myraculous examples with a great number mo to the great comfort and consolation of the persecuted Gospellers and to the fearing and terrifying of the cruell vnmerciful murthering Papists the worthy godly and learned M. Foxe with his great trauell studie and labour hath set forth at large in his Booke of the Acts and Monumentes of the Churche commonly called the Booke of Martyrs I feare there are some of you so farre drowned in that abhominable Romishe Religion and so farre in loue with the Pope and with all things whatsoeuer he or any of his cruell crue doe or commaunde to do that if a mad man had chaunced to haue runne on this wicked Whittington the Chauncellour and had killed him hurting none of all that great throng and number of people but onely him woulde haue sayde that the man had made himselfe madde for the nonce and that some of the hereticall Gospellers had hyred him to doe it But I trowe none of you will saye that the Bull made himselfe mad for the nonce that the Gospellers hyred him to runne onely on the Chauncellor kill him and to let all the rest of the people goe away safe and vnhurt Wherefore it can not be denyed nor by any way be auoyded but that it was the Lordes wrathe and vengeance that lighted on this cruel and persecuting Papist and murthering Chauncellor And as the Diuel procured this wicked Chauncellor to be his slaughter man on the sayd godly woman the seruaunt of God So God sent this Bull to be his slaughter man on the wicked Chauncellour the seruant of the Diuel Therefore as I said before if the pacient constant ioyfull and myraculous endes and deathes of the professors of the Gospell can not allure nor persuade you from Papistrie to the Gospell from the Pope to Christ from the Diuell to God yet let the fearefull horrible desperate and dolefull deathes of the Papisticall persecutors murtherers of the professors of the Gospell enforce feare and terrifie you to flie with all spéede from the Popes daungerous detestable and Diuelish doctrine What made Iudas to say I haue sinned betraying the Innocent bloud but that he was pricked in conscience and that he was enforced through Gods might to vtter y e truth and that hée had falsely and wickedly betrayed Christ his Maister What made Iulianus the Apostata that once professed the Gospell and turned from it to saye Vicisti Galilee that is O thou man of Galilee thou hast ouercome meaning Christ but that he yéelded to Christ and that he graunted that Christes Gospel was the true religion that he most wrongfully persecuted the seruants of God What made y t cruell persecutor of the Gospellers Iohn de Roma to say in his maruellous paines tormentes as is before mentioned I know I suffer for the euils and oppressions that I haue done to the poore mē but y t he was pricked with the sting of Gods iudgement that they that he had so tormented were the seruauntes of God and that he was the minsster of Sathan What made that rigorous Rockwood to cry out beyng at the point of death and to say I am damned all to late all to late for I haue sought maliciously the deathes of a number of the honest men in the Towne c. but that God enforced him to confesse the truth when it was too late to haue mercie and that he knewe then in his conscience y t the Romishe Religion was false and wicked and that the professors of the Gospell were the seruauntes of God that he did persecute for the Pope What made Bishop Gardiner to say at his death I haue denyed with Peter but neuer repented with Peter but that he knewe in his conscience beyng stung with the wrathe of God that he wickedly and wrongfully resisted the truth and most vniustly persecuted the professors of the Gospell the seruantes of God Why did the Sherifs seruaunt before mentioned saye that Iames Abbas that was burned for professing of the Gospell was the seruaunt of God and was saued and that he himselfe was damned but that he was procured through the power of God to acknowledge and open the trueth that thereby euerye one that then heard him or afterwards shoulde heare of it myghte playnely perceiue that the Gospell is the true Religion wherein GOD is chiefely pleased and that they that are persecuted for professing of the same are the seruauntes of God and that the Papistes that murther and persecute them are the children of the Diuell Learne therefore to confesse willingly your errours and to recant and refuse your diuelishe Papisticall doings and doctrine in tyme whyles you may repent recant obtaine mercie by these wofull wretches that compelledly confessed their errours and recanted their diuelish doings and doctrine out of time when they coulde not repent neither obtaine any mercie at all If you could shewe vs but one of your Papistical Religion that died so willingly chéerefully constantly Christianly