THE LOVE OF THE SOVLE Made by G. M. IHS Printed at Roane 1578. TO MY LOVING AND best beloued Sisters DEERE SISTERS my care my loue and of all worldlye thinges next to my good MOTHER my greatest comforte and ioy Vnlesse you did thinke that I doe most hartily loue you you coulde not alwaies heeretofore haue declared your exceedinge great loue soe plentifullye towardes mee for the which Almightie God reward you This my loue because it is not a naturall affection onely but syncere and true Charitie forceth mee to wishe vnto you my louing SISTERS not only many worldly commodities which God be thanked you lacke not but much more all Spirituall treasure and Heauenly riches whereof you cannot haue greate store because you dwel not where it groweth I know good SISTERS that you meane well and most willing are you to doe that which might please God but in good sooth you are out of the way therefore the further you holde on the further you are from your iorneis ende and the further from Heauen The wise man saith Prouerbs 14. There is away which seemeth to a man right but the end thereof leadeth to destruction Beare with me if I write bouldly and tell you the truth plainely I am your Brother I loue you as nature bindeth me not onely in wordly respecte but much more towards God Your soules are deare vnto me my heart alwaies mourneth to thinke vpon your dangerous state wherein you stand O good SISTERS the paine of Hell exceedeth all torments and that fire shall burne for euer Happie are they that keepe them selues by GOD his great goodnesse within the Catholicke Church for out of it there is no hope of saluation And moste happie are they that hauing bene out of this Church by the wicked perswasions of false Preachers when that it pleaseth God to sende them trew teachers will not remaine obstinate but follow good exhortations and good holsome doctrine and so returne againe as obedient Children to Christ their father and to the Church theire Mother who are alwaies ready to receiue them remembring that which a most ancient learned Father writeth S. Austin in the 88. Psal He can neuer account God to be his Father who will not haue the Church to be his mother If you aske me what this Church is that is called Catholicke and how you may knowe it behold the true and certaine markes thereof and your selfe iudge whether you be within it or no. This Church is a Congregation of all true Christians which began in Christ and his Disciples at Ierusalem from thence grewe and multiplied throughout the wholle world according as it is saide in the Psalme their sound speaking of the Apostles is gone out into the whole world their wordes into the ends of the earth Psa 18. ve 5 The first marke of the church is to be vsible So that the first marke of the true Church is that it must grow and multiplie be seene appeare alwaies as a light in the world and therfore Christ calleth it A Citie builded vpon a hill which cannot be hid And the blessed Martyr S. Cip. saith The Church being lightned with the brightnesse of our Lord doth reach forth her beames throghout the whole world And S. Aust besides many other places to this purpose cōpareth Christ his Church to that stone which was cut out of a hill without mens hāds after grew to be a mighty moūtain so that it filled the whole earth For vndoubtedly this stone whereof the Prophet speaketh in CHRIST who was borne of a Virgine without the helpe of man is now growne from a few Apostles and Disciples to an infinite number of Christian people in all countries confessing one Faith one Beleefe and this is the Catholicke Church whereof your CREED telleth and teacheth you to say I beleeue the Catholicke Church Let vs see now whether this marke doth agree to your brethren in England who cal them selues Protestants or to vs whō it pleaseth them to call Papists First they call them-selues in their books the English Church that is to say of that faith which is professed in England but we are of the Catholicke Church that is of such a faith as is professed in France in Spaine in Flanders Brabant Zeland c. In a great part of Germanie in all Italy and beyond whersoeuer there be Christians and is preached in the Indians that neuer heard of Christ before increaseth wonderfullye And within these fortie yeeres in England Scotland Ireland Denmarke and Germany there was no other faith openly professed but ours And now also in all these countries how many are there thinke you of secret Catholickes that wishe for the olde religion againe with all their heart and follow the new only for feare Nay how many are there especially in England that do yet openly professe the Catholike faith Aske good Sisters aske and you shall learne that all the prisons not onely of London but of England are full of them because they will not yeelde to these new proceedings nor cōtaminate their soules with this new seruice and leaue the olde true and Catholicke faith besides a number of sundrie degrees which are dead in prison namely twentie three Bishops all depriued of their liuing these twentie three yeeres and now but two of them aliue I omitt Doctours Deanes Archdeacons Knightes Squires partly in prison partly departed the realme and forsaking all rather then they will forsake God and his most true and vndoubted Religion This is true good Sisters as knoweth God you seldome heare of these thinges therefore you thinke eyther there is no other Religion but that cold seruice without all comfort and deuotion which you see in your parishe Church or you thinke that must needes bee the best because you are not taught any other whereas you see if you beleeue me that all Christendome almost is of another Religion And therefore this is the Catholicke Church and yours is worthely called by your owne ministers the Church of Englād The secōd mark is succession But this shall better appear if I giue you an other marke of the true and Catholicke Church which is that it may continue for euer and from the first beginning which was in Christ his Apostles neuer to faile but to appeare be seene stil as a City vp on a hill or a light in the world For Christ said I will be with you vnto the end of the world Mat. 28 And againe I will send you another comforter the spirit of truth who shal romaine with you for euer And vnto Peter vpon this Rocke will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not preuiale against it Mat. 16. That is to say the Diuell and all his Ministers shall neuer so preuaile against this Church but that it will still appeare and professe one the same faith So that there shall be no time wherein this faith this
Church is not Now marke good Sisters I pray you hartely whether your Church and your English religion hath bene alwaies in the world since Christ his time I will speake vnto you as before God and as I shall answere before him at the latter day and therfore I request you to marke well my wordes and to consider of them A whole thousand fiue hundred yeeres after Christ your English religion was not heard of in anie part of the worlde but I tolde you before that the true Church must continue for euer and appeare alwaies vnlesse you think CHRIST is false of his promise Whē began your religion them Forsooth about fiftie veeres agone by one Martin Luther in Germanie a Friar who as well for other vngodly respectes as also because hee would needes marrye and breake his vowe which he had made of chastitie beganne to preach against the Pope and against the Catholicke Church and because hee taught greate libertie as that Princes ought not to reuerence the Pope that all Priestes might marry that no man need to fast and such like he found many Disciples in Germany and hath vnto this day carnall and fleshly men that loue their own plesure more then the will of God and his holy Church But will you know what māner of man this was Forsooth being examined by learned mē concerninge his doctrine hee was so prest and so angred with the force of truth that he saide in a great rage This quarrell was neuer begun for Gods sake neither for his sake shall it be ended Will you know further that he wrote against the Pope for malice and not for conscience him selfe in his letter to ARgentmenses saith I neither can deny neither will I that if Carolstadius or any other man cold fiue yeres agon haue perswaded me that in the Sacramēt is nothing but bread and wine he might haue deserued of me great thanks for I laboured in that matter very carefully knowing right well that by that meanes I might much haue hindred the Popes autority Marke that this man wold gladly haue found some what against the blessed Sacramēt but a long time he could not till at length the Diuell had taught him to write against the Masse as him selfe witnesseth in his books de Missa angulari where he telleth what talke he and the Diuell had togither Much more could I tell you of this man but of this litle you may iudge whether you may aduēture to build your faith vpon this man who liued within these fiftie yeares and to forsake the ancient faith of all Christendome continued from Christ vntill this day for it is most certaine that from this man came your newe Religion into England but not immediatly at the first when hee began to preach Maiesties Father wrote a learned Book against Luther for the Pope Afterward he forsooke him not vpon religion or conscience but vpon displeasure for King Henry the eight wrote a learned booke verie earnestly against The Queens him which is commō to be seene but long after partlie when the King began to take displeasure against the Pope because he might not be married vnmaried as he list partlye especially when King Edward beeing in the beginning of his raigne but a very Childe was ouerruled by wicked Coūsellers to maintaine such a Religion as might best agree to their carnal appetite This was the beginning of your Religion the beginning I saye for as for King Henry he went nothing so far as they are now come but whereas for his pleasure he had put away the Popes authority for his profite had plucked downe Abbeies he let all other pointes in manner remaine as before for this repented before he died as it is knowne if not woe be to him that euer he was bornes for there in the nexte worlde good Sisters Kings Queenes come to their accountes as well as you and we poore folkes I could here tell you of many learned and vertuous men that were then put to death because they woulde not yeelde to the King in his vnlawfull dooinges knowing right well that it was all contrary to the law of God Amongst whō were these two the Bishop of Rochester the most vertuous and best learned of all the clargie as appeareth by his bookes And Sir Thomas Moore Lord Chauncel or of England a Lay-man who for his vertue wisedome and learning passed all temporal men that euer were in that realme as appeareth by his learned works written in the English tongue but nowe not suffred to be read because they teach the Catholick faith some man will tell you that they were beheaded for treason but beleeue him not vnlesse it be treason to obay God rather then Princes surelye other treason they committed none The .3 mark is vnitie One marke more I will shew you to discerne the true church that in fewe wordes but so plaine that your selfe will confesse it To know the Catholick Church this is a certaine and an vnfallible marke if it be in vnitie and concord if it haue an agreement consent of harts opinions that is to say if it haue but one faith religion For of the true Church it is said The whole multitude of beleuers had one hart one mind Act. 5. And saint Paul saith One God one faith one Baptisme Eph. 4. And againe God is not a God of dissentiō but of peace vnitie 1. Cor. 14. Looke now and consider the state of your Protestantes in England onely are they all of one religiō Haue you not among them some Lutherans some Caluinists some Puritanes all agreeing against the Pope and each disagreeing one from the other Doe not your Lutherans preach yea before the Queene not without greate thankes for their labour that the Body of Christ is really present in the Sacrament And doe not your Caluerusts preach cleane contrarie that there is only bread and wine And as for your Puritanes do not they preach and write so far contrary from the other two that they are now forbidden to preach cast into prison and put from all liuings Yea the communion booke it selfe doth it not now say clean contrary to that which it said in the latter end of King Henry his time Then you were expresly cōmanded to beleeue that vnder each kind of bread wine are contained the body and blood of Christ now it is a petty treason to say so I speake not heere of Denmarke of Geneua of other citties in Germany who are all Protestants and are differing among them selues and from you I haue onely declared how great diuersity and disagreing there is among your Protestants at home within one litle Iland which is so euident and so far from good Christianity that it may bee vnto you a verie certaine and sure token that the true faith can not be among them which hitherto can not agree in one faith each condemning the others opinion Thus dearly beloued
and my very louing Sisters I haue giuē you certaine generall markes to learne the true Church To write all were infinite because all bookes are full of our religion I trust hereafter to instruct you in euery point as you would desire and I pray GOD giue you grace that you may desire it All at once would be too tedious in the meane time remember these two thinges When your religion began and by whome how it came at length into England This is the yeare of Christ a thousand fiue hundred eightie and three Luther begane to preach within these fiftie yeares If he preached the truth all before him were deceaued where was the Church of Christ in all the world for a thousand fiue hundred yeares before and how is Christ true of his promise that said I will remaine with you for euer the holy Ghost shal teach you all truth the gates of hell shal not preuail against it But for our Church that is to say the Catholick Church we can shew how it is growne and continued from the Apostles vntill this day and neuer fayled we can recken you from time to time Councels Bishops Doctours infinite numbers of good Christians of all ages that were all of our faith and of our Church Can your Ministers deny but that Saint Chrisostome alloweth praying to Saintes Or that S. Ierome calleth the Bishop of Rome Supreame head of the whole Church vnder Christ Or that S. Austin praied for his mother being dead Or that he honoured the Reliques of S. Steuē Or that S. Gregory saide Masse Or that S. Ambrose saith before the wordes of consecration it is bread and wine but after the wordes are spoken by the Priest it is the very body and blood of Christ or that all Christians in S. Austins time did worship the blessed Sacrament Or that the second Councell of Nice did many hundred yeares alow the vse of Images for the memorie and representation of Christ his Saintes condemning Image breakers Or that Saint Bernard was an Abbot and had Monkes vnder him as in Catholicke Countries now a daies can they denie but that all this is true and dare they deny these vertuous Fathers and Doctors of the Church to be now Saints in heauen O my good Sisters that you could vnderstand their bookes and theire writinges that you might your selues see what they say and what wonderfull men they were endued with the spirite of God exceedingly aboue other euen good men much more then your licentious leaders I doubt not but you would suspect your new Doctors and follow these you shoulde perceaue they had the Scriptures at their fingers ends they knew right well the meaning sense therof night and day by fasting and praier and chaste life beseeching God that they might vnderstand and truely expound his worde O what a difference is there betweene them and these new preachers Sisters I appeale to your consciences whether will you or ought you to trust in the expoundinge of Scripture your yong vnlearned and fleshly ministers or these auncient most skilfull and most vertuous Fathers When Christ saied Take eate this is my Body All these Fathers say and agree that it was his Body in very deed your ministers tell you it was but Bread and Wine When Christ sayed to Peter Thou art Peter that is a rocke on this rocke wil I build my Church Mat. 16. These Fathers say that Peter was made head of the Church and after him all his successors in the See of Roome where Peter was the first Bishop Your Ministers tell you that Peter had no more preheminence then the other Apostles and therfore the Bishoppe of Roome hath no more authoritie then an other Bishop hath Whē Christ said to his Apostles Receaue yee the Holy Ghost what soeuer yee doe loose in earth shall be loosed in heauen what soeuer ye do binde in earth shall be bound in heauen These Fathers say that Christ gaue to his Church autoritie to remitt sinne by the ministrie of the Priest to all such as do truely repent and therefore will haue the people go to confession your ministers haue taken that comfortable Sacrament of Pennance away altogether When Raphael the Angell saith in the twelfth chapter of Tobias That he did offer vp Tobi as praier to Almightie God And when in the second booke of Macchabes the 15. chap. Onias the Priest saith of Ieremie being dead This is hee that prayeth much for his people and for the holy Citty these Fathers say that the Angels and Saintes do pray for vs and that we may pray to them your ministers do not stick to say that these bookes of Toby and the Machabees are scant good Scripture Many other thinges like vnto these I could reckon but I should be too long fearing least I should weary you these fewe are sufficient to giue you to tast of such markes as may shew you the Catholicke Church These and many other greate reasons doe keepe all good Christians within the church These things make so many Catholicks partly to haue suffered death partly to haue died in prison partly to continue in prison so manie yeares partly to forsake theire pleasant countrie theire deere friends and to liue to their conscience among strangers being thought of many worldly men to be very fooles for so doing but they knowright wel that the wisdome of this world is foolishnes before GOD. And Christ saith He that loueth father mother sister brother better than me is not worthy of me Mat. 10. Sisters geue me leaue to tell you somewhat of my selfe not for any bragge but the more to moue you and to giue God all the praise for his great goodnes towards me It pleased my Parents to bring me vp in learning as you knowe as I was not the best so I was at all times not counted the worst amongst my fellowes and companions some small estimation I had in Oxford aboue my desert more afterwardes when it pleased the Duke to make me though vnworthy Tutor to the Earle his sonne as long as his grace did prosper I liued in his house to my conscience without trouble when he was in the Tower and other men ruled his house I was willed to receiue the Communion or to depart if I woulde haue yeelded I had very large offers which I need not tell It pleased God to stay me so with his grace that I chose rather to forsake all then to doe against my beleefe against my knowledge against my conscience against the lawe of Almightie God For a time I lay secretlie in England afterwardes I came beyond the Seas into these Catholicke countries out of schisme and heresie for the which I doe thanke Almightie GOD much more then for all the estimation that I had or might haue had in England Whatsoeuer my estate is heere I doe more esteeme it then all the riches of England as it now standeth And were I so