Seeing you acknowledge in your Confession of faith that the Sacraments ought only to be ministred by such as are called therunto by ordinary vocation I demand if your vocation vnto the ministrie be like vnto the calling of all others who haue gone before you in the Church of Christ since the time of the Apostles whom both yee and wee repute and hould to haue been Iawfull pastors and teachers of his flock as S. Cyprian S. Augustin S. Ambrose and diuers others wishing you to shewin al points the conformitie of your vocation with that of theirs 5. who their Doctors Seing after the discours of the election of your Ministers Elders and Deacons yee acknowledge that the Scriptures make mention of a fourth kind of Ministers lest vnto the Church of Christ which also are very necessarie profitable Ephes 4. 1. Cor. 12. and are called by the name of teachers and doctors whose office it is to teach and instruct the faithfull in sound doctrine prouiding with all diligence that the puritie of the gospel be not corrupted ether throgh ignorance or false opinion I pray you to shew at what time any Doctors of such calling haue bene in your Church before Iohn Caluin because the places of Scripture noted by you teach and declare that God hath appointed such meanes in his church that it should neuer be left desolate nor yet his Doctrine to decay for wāt of Doctors other teachers 6. Their admission of Tinkers c. And seeing yee confes in the same place that men cannot profit so well in the knowledge aforesayd vnles they be first instructed in the learned tongues humane sciences for now God doth not commonly worke by miracles and that therefore it is necessary that seed be sowen for the tyme to come to the end that the Church be not left barren wast vnto posterity and also that for this effect schooles be erected wherin youth may be trayned vp in the knowledge and feare of God I demand why yee admitted at the first entry of your doctrine into Scotland and yet doe Taylors Skinars and other Artificers who were neuer instructed but in their owne craft and occupation which they left and abiured and out of their owne heades without any further calling vnto the ministery began to teach the people hauing for all their learning and forme of preaching some English books only which yet themselues very hardly vnderstood 7. If the only written word be Iudge Seeing that among other heads of your alleadged fayth this is one principall that nothing is to be beleeued Cal. l. 4. Inst c. 8. sect 8. but what is found in the written word I demaund what testimony yee haue in the same for assurance of your faith in this point And whether the fayth of the Apostles was groūded on the written word or not 8. S. Thomas Ghospell Where is it written that there is only foure Ghospels and that the Ghospell of S. Matthew with the other three ought to be recea ued and not the Ghospell of S. Thomas Or what authority hath moued you to receaue som books or chapters for canonical scriptur and to refuse or reiect others Or if any man deny any booke of the new Testament as Martin Luther doth the epistle of S. Iames what argumentes haue yee from the Scripture to condemne him Praef. in nou Test 9. VVhy Iewes credited Seeing yee giue so great authority to the Synagogue of the Iewes that according to their canon yee admit reiect sundry bookes of holy Scripture why giue yee not the like authority to the Christian church which hath gone before you in receauing such bookes as are approued by her for canonicall Scripture And if the only cause which moues you to reiect such bookes be because they were not approued by the Synagogue of the Iewes why by the same reason reiect yee not Christ himselfe seeing that Synagogue would not admit him for their Messias 10. Churches authoritie If it be the office of the church to discerne betwixt canonicall Scripture and not canoniall as a De capt Bab Luther b In prologo cont Pet. à Soto Brentius and other of your owne masters doe confes why should not the same church be heard of you in giuing her interpretation vpon any doubtfull place therof called in question Or why call yee more in dout the interpretation of the Scripture giuen by the Church then the very bookes themselues Or why prefer yee the priuat opiniō of Iohn Caluin and your selues before the vniuersall and vniforme consent of all Christian people before you 11. Citing only the written word Why esteeme yee Calu. l. 4 Inst c. 8. num 13. that yee haue an infallible marke of the true religion because yee cite only the written word seeing this hath beene common to all heretiques from the beginning Or what haue you more to say for your felues then they had for themselues in this point 12. If Scripture be easy If the Scripture be so easy as yee teach it to be c Luth de ser arbit what hath moued your owne writers to make so many cōmentaryes therupon Or what is the cause that ther is so great controuersy in religiō as we see at this day Yea euē vpon the expresse wordes of the last Testament of our Lord which according to the nature of a Testament should be most cleere 13. Conference of places If the priuate iudgment of euery one conferring Scripture with Scripture be a certaine and infallible rule of right interpretatiō as yee say how is it that so many grosse contradictions are foūd in your writinges gayn-saying not only one another but your selues also as is euident in your owne bookes 14. No meanes to be resolued Seeing that the Lutherans the Zuinglians and the Caluinists besides an infinite number of other sectes doe euery one alleage the written word for cōfirmation of their contrarie opinions how shall it be knowen to any man that would resolue himselfe in matters of religion which of them haue the true word sith it is the true vnderstanding that maketh the word and not the outward sounding of the voice as Christ himselfe saith who obiected to the Saduces Mat. 12. that they mistooke the Scriptures because they vnderstood not the meaning of them 15. Traditions Why deny yee any credit to be giuen to Traditions contrary to a Cal. l. 4. iust c. 10. the expres commandment of the Apostle writing to the Thessalonians in this maner b 2. Thes 2. Stand and keepe the Traditions which yee haue receiued whither by word or by our epistle And also contrary to the doctrne of all the auncient doctors of the church Or how haue yee the Scripture it selfe but by Tradition And seeing yee will giue no place vnto Traditions what assurance haue yee that since the Natiuitie of Christ there is only 1623. yeares Or whither it be lawfull for Christian men to call this point in
tha Christ is God and also against the Iewes in the second of his fiue Orations that he made against them That Christ I say is God because his church although it had but a small poore beinning euē then very many very mightie and very fierce enimies yet could not nor cannot euer possibly be suppressed but contrariwise being in the beginning as it were but one litle sparkle of fire whole floudes yea seas of persecutions being poured out vpon it yet could it not be extinguished but contrariwise I say partely hath and partly shall set all the world on fire first or last bringing all to christ according to christs owne prediction which he also doth there alleage Aedifieabe Ecclesiam meam Mat. 16. Portae inferi non praeualebūt aduersus eam I will builde vp my church and Hel-gates shal not preuaile against it Now let it be considered whether this argumente doe holde if it be true which they say to wit that the church of Christ was not inuincible but that it hathe bene these many hundred yeares quite suppressed yea in Chrysostomes own time no church of Christ at all For they knowe if they graunt that thē to haue bene the true church that they must grāt also ours now to be the true church as being all one with that If then they will say that this is not a good argument lett thē be further demaunded whether they dare take parte also with the very Iewes Paynims againste the Christians yea and against the Godhead of CHRIST himselfe and whether they will go about or whether they be able which the Iewes and Paynimes were neuer able nor neuer shal be able to answere this argument And thē againe How they can for shame say theirs to be the Church of Christ not rather a plaine Apostasie from Christ that must needes labour to answer the arguments of CHRISTIAN men which they haue made against such infidels to proue that Christ is God And therfore againe whether it be not a sufficient Motiue for any Christiā man to be of our Church which he so plainely seeth anon more plainly shall see to stand vpon the very same argumentes against these Heretickes whereupon the Diuinitie of Christ himselfe doth stande against the Iewes and Painymes Finally let thē consider whether it be not euidēt by this that when they talke so much of Persecution to bring vs thereby into enuie and thēselues into fauour they do not geue wise mē occasion to marke that they cannot be the Church of Christ For Persecution is not a Motiue of it selfe alone to beleeue any Otherwise not onely one sorte but all sortes should be beleeued because all are persecuted Iulij 22. Stow. as themselues of late did burne certaine in Smithfielde But persecution is a Motiue after this sorte as S. Chrysostome here doth handle it to wit that Christ must be beleued to be God because according to his owne saying no persecution coulde or can ouerthrow his Church which being once granted that the Church of Christ I say alwaies standeth contineweth let the Heretickes say whether they had any cause to rise and therfore if they be wise let them lye down againe returne to the Church and saue their soules The 3. Demaunde Going out VVHEREAS it is manifestly writtē in the holy Scripture of the Apostles actes Act. 2.4.5 28. Act. 15. that the Church of Christ a began visibly a Hierusalem and visibly growing on b came at lengthe also visibly to Rome Whether the Protestantes can shew vs out of Scripture or storie that the Romanes with whom as it is manifest we agree in all pointes who then were in the church went againe out of the Church forsaking at any time the communion or company of other christians then liuing and making a new seueral church or companie by themselues asunder So as it is knowen themselues haue done being first of our company and their Captaines for the most parte also of our Mōkes Fryars as Luther Oecolampadius Hooper Bale with many others and afterward breaking from our company by disobedience and contempt of their ordinarie Superiours and so seditiousely setting vp these factions of theirs which now we see Whether also they can name vs any company that euer since the Apostles time so did and obstinatelie stood in it that was not Schismatical As it is plaine that they are Gono out so it is plaine I say that we neuer went out wherof it foloweth sensibly that as they be notwithin so we be stil within And therefore let them be vrged what they can say to this either for themselues or against vs. Or rather let them if they be wise geue ouer and quickely without more a doe come in againe The 4. Demaunde After rysing WHETHER they be able to name any time since the Apostles time when our Church first Arose Or because they refuse not onely our company as Schismatiks but also our Faith as Heretikes and also almost all our Religion as plaine Apostatats whether they can name any certaine Author and first beginner of the peculiar Articles of our Faith and Religion but Christ and his Apostles onely Let them be vrged to name the Article the time and person Sure it is that they can name no such But on the other side it is euident that their companie or companies beganne of late the Author therof is knowē the time of his rising not onely recorded in Histories but also fresh in the elders memories and very manie Articles of his Doctrine before vnheard of Many such cōpanies are noted in Histories rising so with new Articles after the begining of the church as Nouatians Sabellians Arrians Pellagians and very many moe Now for defense of their owne doing let thē looke amongst them all and name vs some one of them that notwithstanding this their rising afterward was not Schismatical nor their Articles Hereticall Sure it is againe that they can name no such and therefore is it euident both that we bee still the true and Primitiue or first christians and also that they be of a new false makinge and not true christians The 5. Demaund VVondred at ALso whether at any time the christian people wōdered at our Religion Doctrine or any point therof as then first appearing and afore not heard of and whether the Pastors and Doctors of the church then presently controled the same as new diuerrs from the Doctrine that was before And whether that all Heresies were not so wōdred at and so controlled at their first appearing WHETHER also that which seemed so strange to them that stoode in vnitie which was so gainesaid resisted in bookes Disputations and councels by them that had the charge of the Church of Christ were not alwayes Heresie the Professors of it if they were obstinate alwaies Heretickes without exception As our doctrine therfore which euen from Christ his Apostles is come quietlye to our handes
Father for thē nor for any one thing that they hold against vs The 34. Demaund Authoritie VVHETHER the Church of Christ did not euermore take her selfe to be of Authoritie irrefragable and so beare her selfe as necessarie worthie to be beleeued vpon her onelyword and therfore no man to controll her a Aug. ep 105. Sentence or Iudgement no man to misdoubt her b Aug ep 118 c. 3. ep 105. Practise And whether S. Augustine haue not written a booke therupon which he calleth De vtilitate credendi Of the vtilitie of beleeuing the Church in all thinges shewing how profitable how necessary how sure a way that is for the finding out of true Religion And whether the Maniches then as the Protestantes now founde not fault with that way And whether the true Christians notwithstanding did not for all that hold thē against those all other Heretickes vpon the Churches Authoritie Chris con gent. de S. Ba◠coll 882. 884. Et con Iud. ar 2. col 928. Eus Hist l. 1. c. 3. Devt or c. 14. yea and alleage it also vnto the Iewes and Painimes to proue that Christ is God and that the holy Scriptures with the Miracles and all other things in them contained be true because I say the Church or company of the Christians so saith and so beleeueth And whether Saint Augustine and that by true reason doth not infer therupon that seeing we beleeue Christ and the Scriptures because of the church we must therfore beleeue the Church in all other thinges also whatsoeuer it saieth against the Heretickes And whether this Authoritie do not therefore argue that the Church can neuer erre And whether neuer erring doe not argue that it can neuer perish And therfore again whether it do not now also well worthely claime the same authoritie Yea whether the Protestants themselues haue not receaued many thinges as Christ himselfe and the Scriptures themselues c. vpon our churches credite the church I say that now is Aske them then howe they can possiblye bee the church who willingly doe renounce the claime of such Authoritie and doe by their doings confesse it to be in the companie of their aduersaries Finally bydde the deceaued consider this well that they haue no forte or nūber of men amōgst them whom they may truste in all thinges with whom and in whose steppes they may venture to walke the way of Faith and Religion towardes saluation None of all the Sectes in our countrey nor in all the world so happie none so secure and therfore no Church amongest them because I say they openly renounce the claime of Authoritie confessing therby that it is not of them that the Creed saith I beleue the Church in so much that they haue suffered of late an vnlearned Christian as he is called to set out in Print a vaine libell againste the Aucthoritie of the Church of God comparing and opposing vnto it the Authority of the word of God as though the word of God and the Church of God were one against the other it being yet so plainely written that as the Father saied of his Sonne Mat. 17. Mat. 18. Ipsum audite Heare him So the Sonne said of his church Si Ecclesiam non audierit sit tibi ficut Ethnicus Publicanus If he will not heare the Church do thou vse him as the Iewes did as an Heathen and a Publican And yet this felow trusteth so much in his owne folie Prou. 17 that he is bold to prouoke all catholiks to answere his childishnes or els they must be accounted saith he no lesse then very Murderers It were good for him poore man that he had in him no more pride then learning My best counsaile to him for his saluation is that he reade humblye these Demaundes and looke whether any of his greate Masters will answere them And if after this his stomacke serue him still let him set out his Libel more orderly with his name with approbation of their Rabbins and with priuiledge that we labour not in vaine with the grace of God he shall quickly see it answered as vnworthy as it is The 35. Demand Vnity THEN whether vnity proced not of the sayd Authority And our Church therefore one for euer and not possibly by any questiō or controuersy to be desperatly deuided within it selfe They on the other side for lacke thereof running euery day into more and more diuision amongst thēselues multiplying Sectes as all men do see without hold or measure not being able to aleage herein any excuse for thēselues which the Arians Donatistes other olde Hereticks might not as well aleage for excuse of their diuisions yea euen their owne Doctrine being the very cause therof and they therfore guiltie of all these sectes that doctrine I say wherin they teach that the Scriptures are so easye and that therefore euerie one may folow his owne sese yea and vant also that it is the sence of the Spirite himselfe And whether the Churches inseparable vnitie be not so sure an argument of Truth that it is a moste iuste Motiue by Christes owne saying for the world to beleeue in Christ that no man meruaile seeing the infinite Sects that be now in Englād that there be also so many incredulous that beleeue not in Christ The 36. Demaund Kepers of Scriptures VVHether it were not our Church that notified to the worlde the Canon of the holye Bookes of the new Testament Whether it were not our Church that hath had the custodie construing both of the foresaid and of the other Bookes of the holy Bible euer since the Apostles time Or else whether before this time the Expositors thereof were Protestants And whether the Protestants had not the saide Books of vs And whether they can charge our Church all this longe while of her possesion with adding or minishinge any iote thereof Or whether they can not bee charged this short while of their vsurpation with robbing vs of many wholle Bookes thereof Bookes I say canonized in aproued Concels and of many a particulare portion more or whether euer any coulde be so charged but only Heritikes Finally whether our Church therefore be not the ōly true possessor or keper of this treasure as to whom only the Apostels cōmited it and therefore againe ours the only true Church The 37. Demaund Storehouse of all Truthe VVHETHER not onely all Canonicall Scripture as I haue saide but also all other truthes agreed vpon at any time by the Church of God and as it were laide vp for euer are not at this tym to be foūd in our church as that which was agreed vpon against the Arians that which was concluded against the Donatistes briefly that which was defined aganst all other Heretikes Aske them whether it haue not bene hither vnto and whether it be not still safelye keapt in our Church And how them selues came by the saide Truthes whether otherwise then at our