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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03769	Of the expresse vvorde of God A shorte, but a most excellent treatyse and very necessary for this tyme. Written in Latin, by the right reuerend, lerned, and vertuous father Stanislaus Hosius, Bishop of VVarmia, Cardinal of the Holy Apostolyke See of Rome, and of the presidents in the late general councel holden at Trent. Newly translated in to English.	Hozjusz, Stanisław, 1504-1579.; Stapleton, Thomas, 1535-1598, attributed name.	1567 (1567)	STC 13889; ESTC S116558	106,428	242

sake thow entrest into disputation by the scriptures to the end thow mayest confirme him in the trowthe hāging yet doubtfull is leeke inowgh to faull deeper in to heresies when he shall see thow hast profitted nothing the matter remayning in euē termes of defence and denyall Surely of this arguing to and fro he shall departe more vncertayn then he was before not knowing whether of the two is the heresie But this argument may they also agayn retourne vnto vs. For it is necessary for them allso to saye that by vs the scripture is falsefyed that wee do wrongely expounde them and they therefore will nedes take vpō them to defend the trowth VVe must not therfore appeale to the scriptures wherin the victory is none at all or ells vncertayn or not very manifest For albeit we supposed the conference of scriptures should not so faull owt betwene Catholikes and heretikes that it should set vp both sydes a leeke yet the order of thinges required that this pointe should first be propownded which now lyeth only in question As to whom the very fayth belongeth whose be the scriptures frō whom by whom when and to what teachers that doctrine was deliuered wherby wee are made Christians After the same sorte writeth Clemens Alexandrinus one that liued aboute that time also If sayth he they which followe heresies dare at any time vse the scriptures first they will neuer vse them all nor wholle nor as the very body and text of the scripture speaketh but choosing foorth those things which are ambiguous and doubtfull they turne them into their owne priuat opinion gathering here and ther a fewe wordes as it were flowers and not considering what is signified by them but only abusing the bare and naked termes In euery word almost which they bring foorth you shal fynd them stickyng in the only names and termes and quyte swaruyng frō the significatiō therof VVhat could be written better or what more aptly to the matter now in hand then that which we fynd writtē by that most lernyd mā Tertulliā He sheweth vs that the vsage of heretikes was to talke mych of the scripture to persuade by scripture and to holde foorth the scripture But in the meane tyme he admonissheth vs to stop them at that step and that they bee not admitted to any disputation of the scriptures for that they haue no interest or possession theryn sins the Catholikes do prescribe in the possession therof He allso bringeth for proofe herof the testimony of S. Pawll who forbiddeth vs to wast tyme in cōtending with heretikes For that allwayes debate breedyth debate and of argumēt groweth argumēt so as ther is lyke to be no end of brauling and cōtētiō wher a mā hopeth to ouercome obstinat persons by disputatiō For neither wāt they wordes at any tyme and their frowardnesse geueth thē courage neuer to be tyered with cōtention So as it is farre better to auoyde all occasiōs of cōtending with them which is the thing they seeke and to refrayne brawlyng with them by disputation for so myche as therby is that owld prouerb often verefyed By to myche altercation the trowth is lost But see whether those wordes written by Tertullian that this heresie admitteth not some scriptures and so foorth as before be not very truly spoken of the heretikes of our tyme The first fownder wher of did he not I praye you opēly vse the same hatchet to cut of the scriptures which were contrary to his purpose which Tertullian sayth Marciō the heretike did at that time vse He taught only fayth to suffise both to our saluation and iustification And seing that this his doctrine could not stand if the canonicall Epistle of Saint Iames remayned in forse straight waye taking his hatchet in his hand he cut the same of from his booke saying This shall haue no place in my Bibles Loe the imperious auctoritee of the man He caullyth them his Bibles wherby he shewyth they haue no fellowship with the Bibles of the Catholyke Churche Hee tawght also prayers and sacrifice for the dead to be superfluous and herunto seing that parte of the scriptures to be directly contrary which for the more parte all the owld catholyke writers bring foorth of the Machabees he katcheth ageyne his hatchet and cutetth of also that booke He tawght farther that all things came to passe by a certayne absolute necessitee and that wee owght to be certayn and sure of grace and saluation Against this his opinion maketh that which is written in the booke of wisedom and in Ecclesiasticus He therfore with his hatchet cutt of also these bookes So wee see that those scriptures which serued not his purpose he receiued not but taking his hatchet in hand cut them out of his Bibles Nowe those scriptures which he did receyue and allowe did he not by his additiōs and detractions peruert them to his owne priuat purposes making of good Latyne lewd high Dutche VVhich is layd to his charge not only by the Catholikes but allso by the sectaryes them selues And yf he did receyue any scriptures whole and sound did he not deuise therunto strange or rather mere contrary expositions which thing we allso see doon by the rest of the heretikes who be no lesse diuers among them selues then contrary to the catholikes in expounding the scriptures which thing to haue lykewyse been doon by the heretikes of his tyme Tertullian remembreth From their owne rules sayth he them selues do varye whilest euery of them do pype after his owne volūtary those things which he hath receiued euen as he that first deliuered thē framed the same by his owne fancye VVith such therfore as receiue no scriptures but suche as they leeke and those which they doo receyue wreast by addition and detraction to their owne purpose or ells deuyse therunto newe and straunge expositions Tertullian willeth vs in no wyse to enter into disputation of the scriptures but commaundeth them to be sett ouer to the Ecclesiasticall tradition VVhich his mynde euē Luther him self semeth to allowe when he hath to do with sacramētaries and Anabaptistes But you shal heare his owne wordes he sayeth VVee haue read what the holy fathers did in the councell of Nice so sone as they heard the heresie of Arius read they hissed it owt with one voyce and would not vouchesase to heare them that presented it nor suffer them to defend it but presently condemned them withowt any disputation as manifest blasphemers Moyses allso in his lawe commaunded that suche false teachers should be stoned to death Euen so in this case ther is no disputatiō to be vsed but suche manifest blasphemers are to be condemned withowt pleading their cause As Pawle allso commaundeth in the third chapiter of his Epistle to Titus that an heretike should be auoyded after one or two warnings He allso forbiddeth to Timothee all contentions and disputations as things which do nothing ells but

to persuade that it should myche perteyne to the preseruation of the tranquillite of your Realme yf the vse of the cuppe were graunted to those which require it to whom it may well be sayd you wotc not what ye aske But it is in deed most certayne and vndoubted that yf the thing they require be graunted that shall bryng to your kyngdom mycbe greater troubles The wyse and pollityke men of this world which haue written of common welthes haue taught vs how perillous to euery common welth is innouation and chaunge Namely of lawes or auncient manners VVhich they haue proued by a similitude taken of the body of man In so myche as they which leaue their accustomed manner of diet and chose vnto them selues a new hardly and very seldom doo it without hazard of their health VVherfore they thinke it better to tollerat some faultes of the lawe makers and magistrates For that it is often seen that in diuers cases there cometh not so myche good of correcting an errour vnorderly as hurt in that therby men are by lytle and lytle accustomed not to obey the magistrat So as ofte to chaunge lawes seemeth to be none other thing but to withdrawe all the force and credit from the lawes and to accustome men by litle and lytle to the attempting of moe and greater alterations And ofte we see that thinges which in them selues seeme small do proue causes of great mischieffes And doo wee not euen presently before our eyes see those thinges thus to haue happened both emong our neighbours and euen emong them allso which in this your realme applyed their myndes to innouatiōs I could touche soome by name which at the beginning requyred but the cuppe which allso soone after they vsurped to them selues But did they rest there No but after receyued and imbracyd the whole confession of Augspurg And within a whyle reiecting that tooke the Picardican religion And after that the Gehennian I woold haue sayd Geneuian but that Gehennian and Geneuian be all one which Lysmaninus the Apostata bānyshed by your highnesse king Sigismōd dooth now openly professe VVhat they will doo in the end I knowe not perhapps they will faull to Suenckfeldius I woold any man coulde shewe me any one contrey where the cuppe hath by priuatt aucthoritee been begoonne to be vsurped where very sone after many other and most horrible heresies haue not followed VVithin the memory of our Grandfathers in the kingdō of Bohemia our next neyghbour first fell this cōtentyon about the cup which soome Cittyes of their owne aucthoritee vsurped to themselues But what mōstrous heresies did not presently ensue How few townes coold yee find in Morauia or Bohemia where the vse of the cuppe was receyued in which you might not see sixe or seuen sectes at once and all miserably deuided one from an other But in Germany which with owt great sorrowe and woōder wee cānot behould wherof did this Sathanisme take beginning but of the cuppe These sleyghtes which by the members of Sathan are vsed and framyd against true pietye seeme myche lyke vnto a wedge which being very thīne at the edge semeth scarce entryd into the wood whē soone after it throwghly cleaueth and deuydeth the same in soonder But albeit the first edge be but thinne yet maketh it a waye to the growing thicknes that followeth so as when the first part is receiued and edge entryd of necessitee the rest followeth vntyll at the last the whole peece be soondered And yf a man woulde saye the cuppe to be the thinne and sharpe edge of this destroying wedge he shall no whit erre frō the truth For where the same hath been receyued wee see the thicke parte of the wedge hath followed First the Augustane confession which toke away both priesthood and sacrifice and brought God him self as it were in to an equallite of degree so as he should haue no more honour doō vnto him then to mortal men Thē entryd by and by a thicker part which was the Tigurin and Lascan cōfessiō which tooke away those ij sacramentes to witt of the supper of our lord and of baptisme which yett the Augustane confessiō had of curtesie left vnto vs to the end that as that confession had left their followers with owt priesthood or sacrifice so this would farther allso leaue theirs withowt sacramentes And this secte findeth no lesse fault with the Lutherans then it dothe with vs that be Christians But cōdemneth both of idolatry because we both are persuaded though after a diuers sorte that the very body and bloud of Christ is conteyned in the sacrament And therfore as by their iudgemēt wee made of that a certayne ydoll so doo we also as they saye of the sacrament of baptisme in that wee attribute therunto remission of synnes and beleue our selues to be saued thorowgh the fonte of regeneratiō Looke therfore what we seeme to the Luthe rans the same do the Lutherās seeme to the Sacramentaryes that is to saye idolaters At last foorth cometh Suenckfeldius who taketh away not only the whole scripture but allso all outward ministery of the word and maketh the Sacramentaryes Lutherans and vs Christians idolaters all a leeke who hauing regard to the bare letter meaning the canonicall scriptures seeke there in to fynd our saluation And this was the last but or end of the wedge whose first part being entred and receyued how thinne so euer the edge therof seemed wee see how by litle and litle all the rest of this Sathanisme brake in as more largely wee haue opened in an other booke Thus doo you see most vertuous kyng wherunto the matter is now brought How after that in despight of the churche the cuppe in the beginning had encroched how greate a forwardnes and swaye grewe therby to the rest of the Sathanisme VVho so euer is a Christian man at the lest yf he be of any pietye can not easely be induced to depart from the sense and consent of the vniuersall churche But so soone as a beginning of departure in any one thing is made now is it more hard to fynd the end then it was to see the beginning So as not without cause it hath been taken for an old prouerb the beginning is more thē the halfe of the whole which wee may see manifestly verefyed in them which at the first by the only vse of the cuppe wowned thē selues out from the knot of the churche who sone after receiued if not all other sectes yet at the lest the whole Lutherā heresie owt of hand Haue wee not to good proufe of this matter in Germany There was set forth a certain Interim religiō as muche to saie as religion put to daying how well I will not saye but at the lest by auctoritee suffred and receyued allmost of all sauing only a few But I pray you with them that receyued it was the

what wee beleued but beleeuing what good or euill wee haue done here in this liffe But seeme they not on bothe sydes armed with the woordes of the lawe of godd Truly both partes glory of his expresse woorde Bothe crye ▪ the woorde of the lord The mouthe of the lord hath spoken it Thus sayeth the lord The Catholikes bring foorth these scriptures Shewe foorth good fruictes of penaunce Except yee repent yee shall all perishe VVee must suffer with Christ yf wee wyl be glorified with him wee must dye with him yf wee will lyue with him wee must indure with him yf wee will raigne with him If thow wilt enter ynto life keepe the commawndementes If you knowe these thinges yee are happy so that yee doo them Thow lord wilt geeue to euery man according to his woorkes VVee must all be browght before the iudgement seate of Crist that eche man may carry away according as hee hath done yn the flleshe either good or euill Mercy shall make a place to eche man according to the merytt of his workes I comme quickly and my reward is with me to yeeld to euery man according to his workes They which haue doon good shall coome foorth to the Resurrection of lyffe and they which haue doon euyll to the Resurrection of Iudgement Man knowyth not whither hee bee woorthy of loue or hatred VVho vnderstandeth his offences From my secret and hidden sinnes lorde clense me who can saye my hart is cleane I am pure from synnes I fearid all my woorkes knowing that thow wooldest not spare an offender My conscience dooth not accuse me of any thing yet am I not Iustified therby Of synne pardoned yett stand not cleerly without feare Say not the mercy of the lorde is great he will haue mercy on the multitude of our sinnes For his mercye and wrathe are soone at hand and wrath is bent vppon synne VVith feare and trembling worke your saluation Blessed is the man ▪ that is all wayes fearfull He that is without feare can not be iustified These and many others which were to long to recyte are the scriptures wherby the Catholykes and right beleeuers as by the expresse word of God Indeuour to proue that it is not Inough for a man to beleeue his sinnes be thorowgh Christ forgeuen him that hee standeth yn good grace and is an heyre of the lyfe euerlasting howe so euer the matter goe with his workes but euen as It behoued Christ first to suffer and so to enter ynto his glory so must wee allso suffer before wee come to that glorye and as hee walked so must wee allso walke That wee must by our good workes make stronge or sure our vocation and yett when wee haue all doon wee must not stand assured or Carelesse but mistrust all our workes and say wee be vnprofitable seruauntes so farre foorth as wee be not without feare euen of that synne which is forgeeuen vs. They on the other syde which haue deuyded them selues from the Churche bring foorth allso their scriptures and defend the contrary opinion Hee that beleeueth and is baptised shall be saued So God looued the world that he gaue his only begotten sonne that euery mā that beleeueth yn him should not peris he but haue lyfe euerlastīg Doo manfully and feare not at the sight of them Doo manfully and thy hart shal be comfortyd Saye yee vnto the cowardes be yee of good chere feare not Putt on you all the armour of God that yee may resist yn the euyl daye VVhom resist you being strong yn faythe Hee hath sent his sonne yn to the world that wee should liue throwgh him Godd shewyd foorth his loue towardes vs in that that when wee were yet sinners Christ was doon to deathe for vs. The lord gouerneth me and I shall want nothing If I walke yn the middes of the shadow of death I will feare no euill because thow art with me The lord is the protector of my lyffe of whom should I bee affrayed In thee lord haue I trusted I shall neuer be Confownded Sure I am that neither deathe nor lyfe nor Angels nor anny other creature can seperatt me from the looue of God All that my father geeueth me shall come vnto me and him that cometh to me I will not cast foorthe VVhoo so euer callyth on the name of the lord shal be sauyd All that is borne of God ouercometh the world and this is our victory which ouercometh the world Our fayth These be the scriptures which Brentius bryngeth to confirme his assurednes and vayne suerty by Yett they be suche as you shall sooner drawe foorth mylke of a poomisse stone then owt of thē the thing which Brētius seeketh You see now how owld a practys this hath been of heretikes to glory yn the woord of God sins it was vsed euen yn the dayes of Hieremy and Ezechiel But what Euen soone after the coomyng of Chryst was not that deuyse allso putt yn vre VVell knowen is that Storye of the Gospell wher in it is wrytten howe Christ so soone as he was baptised was ledd by the spiryt ynto the wildernes and was there tempted of the deuill But with what other weapons did he assault Christ but with the very scriptures The Euangelyst Mathew sayth The diuell sett him on the pinacle of the Temple and sayd vnto him If thow be the sonne of God throwe thy self downe For it is written he hath geeuen his Angelles charge of thee that they shall take thee yn their handes lest thow hurt thy foote ageinst soome stone which place S. Ambrose treating of prouidently warnyth vs saieng Learne here allso for the diuell transsormyth him self yn to an Angell of light and of the diuyne scriptures thē selues makyth ofte tymes snares to intāgle the faith full So dooth the heretike so dooth hee ripp vp the faith so dooth hee assault the lawes of pietye Therfore lett not the heretike deceyue thee because he can bring foorth some exāples of scripture Lett hī not stande much in his owne conceyte because he hath some shew of Learning for the diuell allso vseth the testimonye of the scriptures not to teache but to cumpas and deceiue Very excellenty allso doth Vincentius Lirynensis a writer allso in the dayes of S. Ambrose handle that place yn that his goulden booke which hee intitules For the antiquitee and vniuersalyte of the Catholyke faythe I will the more at large repete his wordes because they are worthy not only to be read but to be lernyd without booke Here sayth hee some man will perhaps aske whither heretikes doo allso vse the testimony of the scriptures They doo sure and that vehemently for youe shall see thē fllee throwgh euery volume of the holly lawe Throwgh Moyses the bookes of the kinges the psalmes Apostles Euangelystes

OF THE EXPRESSE VVORDE OF GOD. A SHORTE BVT A MOST EXCELLENT TREATYSE AND very necessary for this tyme. VVritten in Latin by the right Reuerend Lerned and vertuous Father Stanislaus Hosius Bisshop of VVarmia Cardinal of the Holy Apostolyke See of Rome and one of the Presidents in the late General Councel holden at Trent Newly translated in to English Beholde I come to these Prophetes sayth our Lorde vvhich take their ovvne sayinges and saye The Lorde sayeth it Ierem 23. Hilarius lib. 2. de Trinitate Of vnderstanding not of Scripture ryseth haeresy And the meaning not the vvorde is blamed Imprinted in Louayne by Iohn Bogard at the signe of the golden Bible with Priuilege An. 1567. PRIVILEGIVM REgiae Maiestatis Gratia Speciali permissum et concessum est Ioanni Bogardo Typographo iurato Academiae Louaniensis tuto ac liberè imprimere libellum Anglico sermone scriptum inscriptum A Treatyse of the expresse worde of God ac publicè distrahere nullo prohibente Datum Bruxellis 4. Nouemb. Anno. 1566. Subsign De la Torre THE TRANSLATOVR TO THE READER SEing the Iniquyte of the present tyme to be suche that the mouthes of al Catholyks being stopped the aduersaryes only of Christ and his Crosse are suffred to crie and crowe with open mouthe against our common mother the Catholyke Churche seing the faithe of our Fathers assalted with heresy Truthe ouercraked with falshood Religion turned in to opinions Vnite in to sectes I coulde not but thinke it high tyme for euery honest and faythful Chrystian in suche sorte as he were able to steppe to the susteining and repayring the Rāpars of the Churche being daily bothe by secret vndermyninges and suche open shott so fiercely assaulted and shaken by Sathā and his Ministres And being vpon these and other iuste respectes entred in to that mynde and determynacion fynding yet my selfe in myne owne conceyte vnable to yelde of myne owne any thinge worthe the reading I thought not amisse for a beginning to Imparte by the cōmodyte of our vulgar toūge to my vnlerned countremē in which sorte I thinke the greatest number of the deceyued to consiste some worthy worke of some other mannes Amonge the whiche fynding in myne opinion none more leekly to induce reasonable men to see their owne faulte and by what meanes they haue bene and daily be deceyued I haue selected out of the notable workes of the light of this our age that most vertuous and lerned Father Hosius nowe Cardinall and one of the Presidētes in the late general Coūcell holden at Trident that discourse and treatyse which he made and intytuled Of the expresse worde of God a worke allready translated in to diuerse vulgar tounges sette forthe in sondry editions distracted and solde by greate numbers for the singular and euident cōmodyte thereof And this pece the rather amōge the rest I haue selected for that I haue by experyence noted that there is no one deceyte vsed by Sathan that dothe so muche enlarge his kingedome or so muche withdrawe the membres of Christ from his Mysticall body the Churche as dothe that glorious shewe which by his Ministres he maketh of his owne worde vnder the plausible name of the VVorde of God For well ye wote nothinge is in the mowthes of these newe and sedytious Ministers and promoters of the v. Ghospel more ryse and cōmon then the scripture the Gospel and the worde of the Lorde The worde of the Lorde the worde of the Lord is euer in their mouthe Of this they iāgle This they ringe allwaies in our eares But the Catholike church of whō we shoulde lerne what in dede the word of God is of whose mouthe only we must harken for this worde and by whom only we knowe which is the true written worde of God and what the true sence of that worde is this Catholyke Churche they speake not of VVe professe in our Crede that we beleue in the Catholyke Churche If we did in the Crede so expressely professe we beleue in the worde of God howe vehemently should that Article haue bene beaten into our heades VVhat vauntes what exclamations what repetityōs woulde here haue suffised Nowe the Church not the worde being expressed the Master and teacher not the lesson it selfe beīg professed they crake of the lessō and forget their teacher they bable the word And no word of the Church The parte of lerned and playne dealing mē had bene first to define and make playne vnto the worlde what that is which they call the clere and expresse worde of God and which they make as it were their shooteanker their touchestone and their cōmō refuge whēsoeuer they be by the Catholiks pressed with soūde and vnuincible Authorite of the Churches doctrine In dede Epicure out of whose schole this voluptuous ghospell may seeme to haue issued did not leeke to haue thinges plainely defined But Cicero sayeth that without definition it can not be that they which contend aboute any thinge can agree what is the thinge in question These men therefore seeking to kepe in store blinde and vnknowen Angles to flee vnto when they be chased wil not orderly define what is that their Gods worde of which they triumphe so much nor allowe any expositiō thereof but their owne or any iudge but the vnlerned multytude Sins therefore that is the swete bayte wherewith the mortal hooke is coouered and the softe flese wherin the wolfe is wrapped who gladly will not discouer him selfe this graue vertuous and lerned Father Hosius the Auctor of this treatyse moued with Christian pietye will herein manifestly open and displaye vnto thee what is hiddē vnder the glorious shewe of Gods worde howe farre the bare and darke letter of the scriptures where in they only comprehend their Gods worde at the lest yf they lymit it within any compasse is from being so clere and playne as they suppose it And farther that the same being by them peruerted and deliuered to thee with a wrōge sence and a wrye hereticall expositiō differing from the Churche which is the sure groūde and piller of al truthe the faitheful interpreter of Gods worde aud the storehowse of al right knowkeadge is in dede so farre frō being the expresse worde of God as that thou shallt plainely perceyue it to be the expresse worde of the diuell Finally thou shalt besides many other notable things by the waye whereof in the Table to this Booke annexed thou shalt see greate Copie lerne also herein the true definition of Gods worde and which is the very true expresse and as they call it the liuely worde of the Lorde that is the quickening and life-giuing worde of God VVhich in dede is open and clere Yea so clere shorte and easy as it maye of all persons of all sortes ages and capacytees be lerned euen without euer reading the Scriptures And that is this worde Loue or Charyte The only scope of al scriptures The ende of all the Cōmaundemētes The

weyght Doo wee not heare Melancthō complayne that where hee wrote the confession of Augspurg they now goo about to take from him the name and honour therof For the Illyricans doo gredely challenge that to them selues and labour to exclude from the same the Melācthonists with their maister whom as in diuers other things they shewe to haue gone frō the mynd of his maister Luther so doo they lowdly charge him in the doctryn of the sacrament to haue ioyned him self to Caluin his lore Of which thing Caluin him self also dooth not a lytle glory Now yn that matter which they will haue to bee the summe of the Gospell which is os Iustification Lord how sore Melancthon and Brētius dissent the one from the other while Brentius defendeth Osianders opinion which the Melancthonistes thinke most execrable So amōg the disciples of Luther there is litle agreement of the principal doctrines of our religion wherof very contenciously they quarrell emong them selues and be as it were heretikes one to an other so as they neede not to be better blasoned then them selues blasone one an other VVherfore of right Luther must suffer by the lawe which him self gaue to others that there be no disputation allowed to the followers of his doctrine but that so sone as it apperith they be of that sort they bee presently cōdemned vnheard For it is no more trewe of the Zuinglians then of the Lutherans which is sayd by the disciples of Luther that they are to be restrayned not by writing but by the Mace and power of the magistrate especially synce neither these bringe almost any thing that was not more then a thousand yeres past condemned for heresie But wee may seeme to haue wandered somwhat from our purpose VVherfore let vs returne to the matter frō whence wee haue by occasion a litle declyned VVee haue shewyd you before that euē at that tyme when that most auncient doctor Tertullian floorisshed heretikes vsed to vaūt to talke and to holde foorth before them the scriptures and that Tertullian doth vtterly forbid all disputation with them or triall of the controuersies to be referred to the scriptures but would haue thē putt ouer to the tradition of the Churche But dooth not S. Cyprian allso complayne of the deceyts of the diuell who transfigureth him self as it were in to an aungell of light and suborneth his ministers leeke vnto the ministers of iustice teaching night for daye damnation for saluation desperation vnder the veyll of hoape infidellite vnder pretence of fayth and finally Antechrist vnder the name of Christ that while they falsly report thinges not all together vnleekly they may by their subteltie chase and driue awaye the very truth it self Nothing could be sayd more trewly then that which wee fynd to be written by Cyrill All heretikes gather the occasions of their errour owt of the scripture inspired by God corrupting those thinges by their owne malice which by the holy Ghost were well geuen and vttered and so kendling vpon their owne heddes an vnquenchable fier S. Augustin allso sayeth that heresies and peruers doctrine intangling and throwing downe headlong the sowles of men in to h●●● cometh of none other grownd but whē thinges well written in the scriptures are not well vnderstanded and when that which is not well vnderstāded is rashely and bouldly vtteryd for a truth And therfore S. Ambrose did thinke good in this sort to describe heretikes Heretikes sayth he are they which by the very wordes of the lawe do impugne the lawe for they adde vnto the wordes of the lawe their owne sence and vnderstanding that by the authorite of the lawe they may sett foorth the shrowdnes and malice of their owne mynd For wickedness knowing authorite to weygh muche worketh her snares vnder the name therof to the end that sythens an yll thing by it self can not be acceptable it may be commended to the world vnder the name of a good thing VVhen they which in the Councell of Carthage were by Agrippinus assembled sayd it was no trewe baptisme which was geuen by Schismatikes and heretikes did they not saye they so found it in the holy scriptures and seemed to cōfirme that their sentence by the expresse word of God This councell yet afterward by the auctoritte of the Churche was disanulled But let vs heare Vincentius Lirinensis talke of that matter So great excellency of witte sayth he was in those fathers suche flowing vaynes of eloquence suche a number of them that affirmed it so great leeklyhood of truthe in so many texts of the scripture but after a newe and yll sort vnderstanded that me thinke all their great agreement conspiring in one could neuer haue been ouerthrowen yf only the profession of nouelty which was the only cause of all that great styrre so much then mayntayned defended and extolled had not discredyted the whole matter They therfore were destitute not of textes and authoritees of scripture but of the trewe vnderstanding of them VVherfore S. Hilary doth very well warne vs. Remember sayth he that ther is no heretike but faulsly affirmeth that all the blasphemyes he vttereth are warrantyd by the auctoritee of scripture For hereof Marcion when he readeth the word of God vnderstandeth it not Hereof Photinus could not fynd by his doctrine Iesus Christ to be a man Herof Sabellius when he could not vnderstand this text My father and I be all one could not fynd God the father nor God the sonne Herof Montanus by his madde weemen went about to maynteyn a newe holy Ghost Herof Maniche and Marcion hated the lawe because they found it written the letter kylleth and the Prince of the world is the diuell They vtter all the scriptures without sence and pretend fayth withowt faith For the scriptures consist not in reading but in vnderstanding not in thwarting but in charitable consent and vnitee VVhom S. Hierom following in his booke against the Luciferians sayeth Let not heretikes flatter them selues if they seeme to fynd somwhat in some chapiters of the scripture which they thinke cōfirmeth their heresies since the diuell him self hath allso alleaged places owt of the scripture and the scriptures cōsist not in reading but in vnderstāding In leeke sort wryteth allso Athanasius of the Arriās If sayth he mē reading some goodwordes of the holy scripture written in these fellowes bookes will therfore by and by take blasphemies for blessinges it will allso come to passe that whē they see Iues of this our tyme diligētly to read the lawe and the prophetes they will also with the Iues denye Christ Perhapps also hearing the Maniches vouche certayne places of the Gospells they will with them denye the lawe and the prophetes But if throwgh ignoraūce they do so boyll and babble let them learne out of the scriptures how the diuell him self the inuentour and deuiser of heresies for feare of