the canonicall Scriptures from the which if they bee found to decline and swarue their iudgements are not to be followed But your meaning is that the Pope with his Councell is the supreme vmpire and iudge in matters of controuersie and the infallible interpreter thereof How they haue most falsly interpreted the Scriptures I haue in some part shewed before and that hee who is a partie and whom a great part of Christendome doth accuse to bee Antichrist and guilty of most grieuous crimes as of impietie idolatrie tyrannie ouer the Church sacriledge treason c. should bee iudge in this his owne cause is against all law and reason It is written in your owne Canon lawe Si Vide Brutum Fulmen 16. quâ—st consuctudo in glossa Distinct 40. Si Papa in gloss Papa cum aliquo causam hâ—bet non debit ipse esse iudex i. If the Pope haue matter with any other he ought not himselfe to be iudge And againe Quando Papa est in statu qui plerisque est offendiculo scandalizat EcclesiaÌ„ nec est corrigibilis tunc non potest esse iudex quia videtur malè sentire de fide i. When the Pope is in that state that he is an offence to many and scandalizeth the Church and is incorrigible then he cannot bee iudge because he seemeth to be of an euill faith And euen so not onely we do but also many of his owne fauourers haue iustly accused the Pope to be You vainly and falsly exaggerate controuersies and irreconciliable iarres as you terme them among vs in essentiall points of faith But why doe you not particularly expresse some of those essentiall points of faith Surely because you cannot I confesse there hath bin in our Church some controuersie concerning externall ceremonies and forme of gouernment as there hath beene heretofore betweene good men as betweene Peter and Paul betweene Paul and Barnabas betweene Anicetus Bishop of Rome Galat. 2. and Polycarpus betweene Chrysostome and Epiphanius and many others who all were godly men agreeing in vnity of faith and knowledge of the Sonne of God But you that are so eager in traducing our iarres cannot see your owne manifold and vnreconciliable iarres and controuersies among your selues As betweene your Schoolemen namely your Thomists and Scotists differing in sundrie matters of moment as not onely Erasmus hath declared but also Iohn Bishop of Rochester hath affirmed Also betweene Assert Luth. art 36. pag. 339. your Dominican and Franciscan Friers about the conception of the virgin Mary debated not onely by words but also by blowes which controuersie was neuer yet decided but in the Councell of Basil which the Papists count a schismaticall Councell and in the same was the false doctrine approoued to wit that the Virgin Mary was conceiued without sinne You cannot see your iarres betweene your great Maister of Sentences Peter Lumbard who iustled Saint Paul out of the schooles and your Sorbonist Doctors of Paris which found and condemned 26. errors in him nor the iarres betweene Ambrosius Catharinus Archbishop of Minorien and Dominicus de Soto confessor to Charles the fift concerning assurance of Gods grace predestination originall sinne freewill and induration of a sinner as in their bitter bookes one against another about these matters appeareth nor the iarres betweene the said Catharinus and Cardinall Caietane whome Catharinus chargeth with 200. errors of which he writeth thus Quae vt non solum euidenter falsa meritò culpari possent veruÌ„ etiam vâ— Christianâ— religioni perniciosa c. Which may be worthily reproued not onely as euidently false but also as pernicious to Christian religion I might mention many mo iarres among the Papists and namely betweene the secular Priests and Iesuits as appeareth by their bitter bookes one against another and particularly that of Willam Watson a secular Priest lately published in print against the Iesuits which this cauilling exclamor cannot espy who can see a moate in our eyes but cannot behold great beames in their owne but for shortnes sake I omit them at this present onely the learned may see how that great Rabbi Rob. Bellarmine iarreth with all other his pewfellowes and in very many essentiall points of doctrine dissenteth from them and controuleth them Whereof also Iohannes Pappus hath made a large collection Here in your later edition and addition you make a particular declaration of our iarres in matters of religion but all grounded vpon your owne baâ—e words without any allegation of places and testimonies whereby they should be confirmed and the reader perswaded and satisfied But you thinke your bare assertion will be sufficient for that your fauourers whome you haue with a strong delusion bewitched will take your naked asseuerations for sound probations You say that wee goe about to bleare the peoples braines with I know not what vnity and conformity in matters of faith c. But who haue not onely bleared but also starke blinded the braynes of the people heauen and earth can witnes euen they that haue taken away the key of knowledge haue kept the light of Gods word vnder the busshell of a strange tongue and haue taught ignorance to be the mother of deuotion as before is declared But let vs come to the particular iars which you say are amongst vs. The 1. is the kings supremacy the which you say all sound Puritans in the world deny and defie The which is a most false slander for there is neither Protestant nor such as it pleaseth you to call Puritans so farre-forth as I know and beleeue but as they deny and defie the Popes wicked supremacy which he hath vsurped and wherby he hath tyranized ouer the Church of God and Soueraigne Princes so they doe vnfeynedly confesse and acknowledge the kings Supreme power and authority in his kingdomes and dominions in all causes and ouer al persons both ecclesiasticall and temporall or politicall They all say with Saint Paule that euery soule ought to bee subiect to the higher powers whether they be as Saint Chrisostome saith Apostle or Euangelist or Prophet or whatsoeuer he be for this subiection doth not ouer-throwe God-linesse They all confesse that it belongeth to his royall dignity to see and procure not onely iustice to bee executed and peace mayntained but also that God bee truely and sincerly serued according to his will reuealed in his word And that he ought to suppresse and punish the transgressions not only of the first table of Gods commandements but also of the second in abolishing all Idolatrie superstition and wicked worshippinges and in remouing and punishing those that doe commit them They all confesse that he is next and immediatly vnder God subiect to the censure of none vpon earth If you know any Protestant or Puritaine that teacheth or writeth otherwaies alleage their wordes and produce the places But you say that Caluine whome it pleaseth you to call the Puritanicall Patriarke thought not well of King Henry the eights supremacy I answere
that Caluin of blessed memory well liked and allowed such authority in Kings and magistrates as wee acknowledge to bee in our gratious King and his Maiesty claymeth and vseth This Doctrine Caluine most soundly setteth downe both in many places of his workes and especially in his Institutions lib. 4 chap. 20. But Caluin iustly misliked that power and authority which that great enemy of Gods truth and parasitycall flatterer Stephen Gardiner did attribute to King Henry the same in effect which before they had acknowledged to be in the Pope to doe in a manner what he would in the seruice of God For Caluin saith that Gardiner being at In Amoâ— cap. 7. Ratisbone and dealing about matters of religion disputed not by arguments nether greatly cared for the testimonies of the Scriptures but said that it was in the Kinges will and pleasure to abrogate ordinances and to ordaine new rites and orders That the King might apoint the people to eate flesh this or that day that he might forbid Priestes to marry wiues that hee might take away the cup from the Lay people in receauing the Sacrament of Christes supper This was that which Caluin misliked and our gratious Soueraigne nether challengeth nor exerciseth He acknowledgeth him-selfe to be Gods minister and seruant and that it belongeth to his imperiall crowne and dignity which he hath receaued from GOD to see and prouide that GODS word bee truly preached that GOD according to his owne will therein reuealed bee rightly worshipped and serued and that such decent and holy orders bee vsed in the Church as truly tend to GODLY edifications Of the presbiteries dealing in Scotland I am ignorant But that they opposed them-selues against our Kings authority as though he had nothing to doe with the kirke you generally affirme but doe not particularly proue It may appeare by their subscribing to the second Heluetian confession of faith that they euer haue and alwaies will both subscribe See the 2. Heluet. conâ—ession cap. 30. and sweare to the doctrine of the Kinges authority ouer all persons and in all causes in such sort as here before is set downe Hereby I am moued thus to conceaue of them If any be otherwaies minded I approue them not nor their adherents The same I say of those whom you call praecisions at home who not denying the kings authority in eclesiastical causes yet forbeare the things here by you named because they be not perswaded of the Lawfulnes of them and for that as that most reuerend and learned father Bishoppe Iuell saith they haue bâ—ene of them of your part fouly abused to filthy purposes and because they would not gladly in any appearance shew themselues like vnto them that haue so Defen of the Apol. Part. 3. cap. 5. Diâ—â—s 1. Page 400. vntruly and of long deceiued the world c. But leauing these to their owne defence certaine it is that neither the Presbitery in Scotland nor these praecisians in England haue euer made any shew of such horrible barbarous and trayterous practises against the Kinges not onely authoritie but also life and safety as cursed Papists and diuelish Iesuits or rather Iebusites haue done As touching the second matter you obiect of the authoritie of Bishops I do know none that do so hardly and iniuriously iudge of it as you here do in calling it if your owne fingers or your Printer haue not deceiued you an hereticall order Howbeit we make it not so a matter of faith that saluation dependeth on it But wee beleeue that God may be glorified in that his holy word is truly preached and effectually receiued and good order in the Church vsed where the authoritie of Bishops is allowed and receiued and where the same is not obserued for as in the politicall estate there be diuers orders of gouernment as Monarchie Aristocratie and Democratie which haue bene and as yet are vsed to the good of the people so in the Ecclesiasticall estate there may be diuers formes of regiment vnder which God may be truly worshipped the people vnto saluation edified sin suppressed and good order in the Church obserued And although there bee some diuersitie of opinions amongst vs which is the best forme of Ecclesiastical regimeÌ„t yet in this we al concurre and consent that the meanest and worst which is in any of the reformed Churches is better and more to the glory of God and true comfort of the people then that exorbitant insolent and tyrannicall gouernment is which your great Monarch the Pope hath to the dishonour of Princes and calamities of countries long excersised For the third thing alleadged concerning our iarring it seemeth that you draw very low when you obiect vnto vs dissention about feastes and holy-daies I know neither Protestant nor as you distinguish them Puritane who accoumpt them the Sabboth day excepted as matters of faith and saluation but that they may be vsed or refused as to them in authoritie shall be thought meet Socrates the Ecclesiasticall Historiographer saith that neither Lib. 5. cap. 22. fol. 248. Christ nor his Apostles did command any thing concerning holidaies and that it was the scope and purpose of the Apostles not to giue lawes of holidaies but to bring men to good life and godlynesse Your owne friendes and fauourers haue misliked the multitude of your holy dayes Annot. in Math. 1. Erasmus saith that in the dayes of Saint Hierome there were but few Festiuall dayes Nunc feriarum neque finis neque modus est but now there is neither end nor measure of Ja argum in Tertul. de corona militis Hollidaies Beatus Rhenanus writing of these holydaies saith Quarum antiquitus mira paucitas Holydaies in old time were very few As for that you write of the Quarto-decimani I finde that the Councell of Nyce did take order that Easter day should vniuersally be kept after one sort and order and Ruffin lib. i. c. p. 6 that not vppon the fourteenth day of the Moone as the East Churches had vsed it and many did still obserue it But that the Councell did condemne them for heretikes Haeres 50. de Haeres 29. I finde not in the Canons of it expressed I am not ignorant that Epiphamus Augustinâ— do number the Quaterdecimans among heretiks The which it may seeme they did ouer obstinatly partly to much follow the fashion of the Iewes whose law concerning that matter was expired and nayled to Christâ— crosse partly resist the decree of that godly Councell which did therein seeke the peace and vnitie of the Church which had beene too much distracted and troubled by it especially by the meanes of Victor Lib 55. cap. 25. Bishop of Rome as appeareth by Eusebius Concerning your fourth matter of fasting neither you doe make proofe nor I doe accknowledge any controuersie in this Church of England but that all will willingly Defen of the Apol. part 1. cap. 2 diuis â—t part 2. cap. 14. diuis
mulieribus quas ad confessionem admittunt Scelestissimè fornicantur Luk 2. cap. 37. 1. They Priests do often most wickedly commit fornication with the women of there parishes which they admit to confession The like writeth Marsilius Patauinus in his booke intituled Desensor Pacis part 2. ca. 6. pag. 286. To your sixt accusation I answere that we exclude and banish our Sauiour Christ neither from the Sacrament of his supper nor from the hearts of the faithfull but acknowledge that as by faith hee dwelleth in the one so by Ephes 3 17 2. Cor. 13 5 the same hee is receiued of the Godly in the other Your false and grosse doctrine of Transsubstantiation which the Greeke Church neuer beleeued and the Latine Church lately defined as Erasmus saith wee iustly reiect and condemne â—râ—s Anno â—â— in 1. Cor. 7 We exhort men when they come to receiue that holy mysterie the Sacrament and pledge of our saluation in Christ to examine themselues and so to eate of that bread and drinke of that cup For hee that eate haâ—d drinketh vnworthily 1. Cor. 11. â—8 eateth and drinketh his owne damnation because he discerneth not the Lords bodie But if as you say sinfull liues consorte not with his sacred mysterie I meruaile how your Priests liues consorted with it which how holy they were I will shew hereafter Lastly you charge vs with a new negatiue religion wholy standing vpon negation of Sacraments ceremonies rites lawes customes and other practicall points of the Catholike Church wherevnto I answere that we deny nothing that God hath commanded in the holy canonicall Scripture the which as I haue before shewed is the onely rule of our Religion and life Indeede wee deny and defie your trifling traditions and vnwritten vanities and inuentions with the which you haue gone a whoring as the Prophet saith If you can shew that wee deny any thing which Psal 106. 39 God hath commaunded as wee can plainely prooue that you doe then spare not to charge vs with a new negatiue religion You deny the sufficiencie of the Scriptures and that all doctrine necessarie to saluation is contayned in them You deny the same Scriptures to bee in the vulgar tongue for all Gods people to reade and heare to their comfort You deny praier and the publicke seruice of God to be in the same vulgar tongue You deny Christ to bee our only mediator between God vs. You deny the Cup of Christs supper to Gods people You deny the lawful authority which Princes haue ouer their people subiects in all causes ecclesiasticall and temporall You deny mariage to ecclesiasticall ministers whereby what great and horrible wickednesse you haue caused I will hereafter declare You say we bring in for fasting feasting for praying playing c. Concerning your fasting consisting in a superstitious obseruing of times and diuersitie of meates and tending to the honouring of Saints and satisfying Gods iustice for your sinnes we deny it But fasting purely vsed according to Gods word to humble our soules before God to mortifie the wicked affections of our sinful flesh we allow and especially that great and principall fast in abstayning from sinne whereof Saint Augustine speaketh in these words Ieiunium autem magnum generale August in Ioan traâ—l â—7 distinct de consecra cap. Ieiunium est abstinere ab iniquitatibus ab illicitis voluptatibus seculi quod est perfectum ieiâ—nium in hoc seculo The great and generall fast is to abstaine from iniquities and vnlawfull pleasures of the world which is the perfect fast in this world Chrysostome saith Ieiunium dico abstinentiam à vitiis I say that fasting which is to abstaine from vices Chrysost in Genes hom 8. Hereby let it be discerned who doe most truely fast In deede I know that it is your manner much to glory in your writings and speeches of your outward fasting from meates as the Pharisee in the Gospell did who gloried Luke 18. 12. that he fasted twise a weeke which neither God in his law had required nor the Apostles of Christ for any thing wee reade vsed Whereby wee may note that true Godlines neither is to bee measured by such outward abstinece from meates nor is alwaies ioyned with it Iohn Matth. 11. 18 Baptist vsed greater austerity in his diet and abstinence from meates then our Sauiour Christ did yet was his life nothing so holy Iohns Disciples vsed more fasting Matth. 9. 14. then the Disciples of our Sauiour Christ did Yet it is not to be doubted but our Sauiours Disciples liued as godly or Tertul de Iâ—iâ—nio adueâ—s Psichicos Hierom. in Aggaeum cap. 1. pag. 230. more then they did The Montanists Heretikes were greater fasters then were the true Christians as Tertullian sheweth And S. Hierome writeth that they obserued three Lents in a yeare and yet were Heretikes condemned by the Church of God although then fauored by the Bishop of Rome as Tertullian sheweth in the beginning of his booke against Praxeas The Iewes vsed such great abstinence and fasting that they brought weakenes and sickenesse to their bodies as Saint Hierome writeth who neuerthe Hierorymus ad Algaesiam quast 10. lesse were enemies to our Sauiour Christ The Moscouites which neuer acknowledged the Popes authority be as great fasters as Papists are And so also be the Turkes And therefore these men neede not to boast so much of 1. Tim. 4. 8. their fasting Saint Paul saith that bodily exercise profiteth little but godlines is profitable to all things hath the promise of this life present that which is to come Howbeit as I will not deny but that there may be lesse fasting and more feasting then were requisit yet that there is more feasting and superfluitie in fare now especially in ecclesiastical persons I thinke it will be to hard for this man to proue Whence came these phrases As fat as an Abbot he hath a face like an Abbot and an Abbey Lubber but of their immoderate fare and feeding And how these men were giuen to gluttony excesse I will shew at this time but by one example Giraldus Cambrensis in his Book intituled Speculum Ecclesiae writeth that the Abbot and Monkes of Saint Swithens in Winchester came to King Henry the second hunting at Gilford in Surrey and fell downe in myre and durt before him pittifully crying out The King asked them what was the matter They answered that their Bishoppe had taken three dishes of meate from their dinners and suppers He asked them how many he had left vnto them They answered tenne but from the foundation of their house they had vsed daily to haue thirteen dishes at a meale The King turned to his Nobles and said By the eyes of God for that was his oath I thought their house had beene burnt and now I see it is but a matter concerning their paunches And then turning to the Abbots and Monkes
it most euidently appeareth that blessing and thankesgiuing is all one thing And yet this is more manifest For whereas Saint Matthew and Saint Marke say as is before declared that our Sauiour when hee tooke bread blessed Saint Luke Luke â—2 19. 1 Cor. 10 24. â— Cor. 14. 16. and Saint Paul say hee gaue thankes Hereunto also pertaineth that plaine place of Saint Paul When thâ—â— blessest in the spiâ—it how shall hee that occupieth the place of the vnlearned say Amen to thy giuing of thankes seeing hee knoweth not what thou sayest Who is so blinde and so ignorant that heere seeth not blessing and thankesgiuing to be all one thing And therefore againe I say that by blessing is not here meant a secret whispering of fiue words to the conuerting of the substance of bread and wine into Christs body and blood as Priests foolishly vse and falsly teach but a thankesgiuing to GOD for so louing vs that hee hath giuen his onely begotten Iohn 3. 26. Sonne for vs that as many as beleeue in him shall not perish but haue euerlasting life For the which cause this Sacrament is of the ancient fathers called Eucharistia that is to say thankesgiuing As touching the breaking of bread which mâ—y resemble to vs the breaking of Christs body vpon the Crosse wee doe follow our Sauiour Christ therein and doe breake it when we distribâ—â—e it vnto the people the which the Papistes doe not but thrust in a whole vnbroken wafer into their mouthes Indeed I know that the Priest himselfe doth in his Masse breake his hoste into three parts One to signifie the Saints in heauen another the faithfull vpon the earth the third the soules in Purgatory But this deep diuâ—nity they haue found vpon the back side of the Bible But because this Gentlewoman or author of this scrole vrgeth eagerly the breaking of bread I would faine know what the Priest doth breake when he breaketh his Hosâ—e as they call it into three parts First hee breaketh not by their doctrine the substance of bread for they say there is none remaining to say that they breake Christs body wre blasphemy although it pleased that holy Pope Nicholas with his Councell to prescribe that godly and learned man Berengarius in his De consecra dist 2 â—go Berengariuâ— recantation to affirme the body of Christ Manibus Sacerdotum tractari frangi fidelium denâ—â—bus atterâ— i. To be handled with the Priests hands to be broken and torne with the teeth of the faithfull And to say they breake accidents without a substance were folly or rather madnesse These things before being considered let the indifferent reader vprightly consider how truely this Catholike Gentlewoman saith that we obserue none of these Now it followeth in the sayd paper The truth of the Catholike religion and of euery part thereof is proued euidently by the testimony and consent of all writers in all ages since Christ and his Apostles As for example the Real presence of Christ in the Sacrament the Sacrifice of the masse Purgatorie Prayer for the dead Prayers to Saints the vse of Images the signe of the Crosse Pilgrimage to holy Places and the rest now in controuersie Answere HEere bee things as boldly affirmed as they bee barely proued or rather cleane omitted and therefore they might without further proofe as well bee denied of mee as they bee affirmed of them And although I minde not long to stand vpon these particular poynts yet I will not let them goe so nakedly as they do but will somewhat touch them But heere let the Christian reader consider and marke that whereas this Catholike Gentlewoman saith that the truth of their Catholike religion and euery part thereof is prooued euidently by the testimonies of all writers in all ages since Christ and his Apostles they seeme to exclude from this proofe the Law and the Prophets the Gospell of our Sauiour Christ and the writings of the Apostles contained in the canonicall Scriptures For if they had meant otherwise they would haue sayd that the truth of the Catholike religion and euery part thereof is proued euidently by the testimony of the holy Scriptures and of all writers in all ages since Christ and his Apostles Therefore if their meaning bee as their words seeme to import to exclude from this proofe the canonicall Scriptures then they exclude the onely true triall of Christian religion for if the holy Scriptures Caâ—s 8. quest Nec suffâ— â—erâ— bee the onely rule of our faith and life as Beda saith in these words before alledged Nobis sacris literis vnica est credendi pariter viuendi regula praescripta i. The onely rule both of faith and life is prescribed vnto vs in the holy Scriptures then in the proofe of Christian religion we ought not to exclude them but chiefely yea onely to admit them And if Saint Aug. de natu â— grat cap. 60. Augustine doe truely say that wee ought without refusâ—ll to giue our consent onely to the Canonicall Scriptures then surely wee ought to trie and examine all matters by them Therefore I may say vnto you with the same Saint Augustine Auferantur ergo De vâ—itat Eccle cap. 2. c. Let these things bee taken away which wee recite and bring one against another not out of the holy Canonicall bookes but from else where And so let vs trie these points of your Catholike Religion by the holy Canonicall Scriptures the testimony whereof is sufficient and all other testimonies without the same bee of no force so saith the same Saint Agustine Qui diuina testimonia non sequuntur c. Arg. Epist 50. i. They that follow not the diuine testimonies haue lost the waight of mans testimonie Therefore I conclude this point with the same Saint Augustine Non audiâ—mus c. i. Let vs not heare This say I This sayest thou but Aug. de vnitat Eccles cap. 3. let vs heare This saith the Lord. There bee the Lords books whose authority we both consent vnto we both beleeue and wee both obey there let vs seeâ—ke the Church there let vs discusse our cause Bring then plaine proofes out of the holy Canonicall Scriptures for those your catholike points of Religion and I will yeeld And without them whatsoeuer testimonies you bring else where you shall nothing preuaile Well saith Saint Ierome Omne quod loquimur debemus affirmare Hier. in Psalm 98. de Scripturis sacris i. Whatsoeuer wee speake wee ought to affirme or proue it out of the holy Scriptures Idem ad Titum And againe Sine authoritate Scripturarum garrulitas non habet fidem i. Without the authority of the Scriptures pratling hath no credit Now to come to your particular points As touching your Real presence of Christ in the Sacrament if you meane thereby not a Real presence of Christ to the faith of the godly and worthy receiuer whereby wee affirme and beleeue that hee doth