did sett an order for all the roumes in purgatory and for al kindes of punishment as for the poore vnhappy soules some he assigned vnto punishement some againe for money he toke out by and by at his pleasure also that he toke order for priuate masses that they should be said in euery corner That he whispered the holy misteries wyth a lowe voice and in a strange tonge set vp the Sacrament in all Churches and vpon euery altare caried it whersoeuer he went with lightes and sacring belles before him vpon an ambeling Genet that hee consecrated Oyle Waxe Woolle Belles Chalices Churches Alters with his holy brethe that he solde Iubilees graces licences expectations preuentions Annates Palles the vse of Palles Bulles pardons charters y t he called himselfe the head of the Church the chief Bysshop and Byshop of Bysshops and the only Most holy y t by vsurpation he tooke vpon hym a right and aucthorite ouer other mens Churches exempted himselfe frō vnder all ciuill power y t he made warres set Princes together by the eares and y t hauing his crown garnished w t goldē pendantes his pompous apparell comparable w t the Persians hys royal Sceptre hys golden diademe glyttering with precious stones he rode in a chayre of golde caried vpon noble mennes shoulders these thynges forsoothe dyd Peter when he was at Rome and the very same he deliuered as it were from hande to hande vnto his successours For these thinges be done by the Popes at this daye in Rome and be so done as though nothing else ought to be done Or excepte paraduenture they had rather aunswere thus that the Pope at this daye doth all those thinges which we knowe Peter did in time paste that he trauaileth heare and there in to all Coūtries preaching the Gospell not only in opē assemblies but also priually from howse to howse y t he plieth his businesse in season oute of season in time out of time that he doth the duty of an Euāgelist accomplisheth the ministery of Christ becommeth a watchman ouer the howse of Israell receiueth y e scriptures and worde of God and as he hath receiued them so deliuereth them againe to y e people that he is the salt of y e earth the light of the world that he fedeth not himselfe but hys flocke that he dothe not entangle hymselfe with worldly buisines appertaining to this life nor vsurpeth no dominion ouer the Lords people y t he seketh not to be serued himself of others but rather himself to serue others that he accoūteth all Bysshops for his fellowes and equalles that he is a subiect vnto Princes as vnto those that are sent of God giueth vnto Cesar that which appertaineth to Cesar and that according as the auncient Byshops of Rome did without exception he calleth the Emperour his Lorde Now onles the Popes doe these thinges at this day and except Peter doe those thinges which we spake of before there is no cause why they should bragge so much of the name of Peter and of this succession and lesse a great deale why they should complaine of our departing cal vs home againe vnto their faith and felowship It is said that a certaine Lacedemonian called Cobilo what time he was sent Embassadour to make a league with the Kinge of Persia and founde by chaunce certaine courtyers playing at the dise by and by without further consideration of his busines retourned home againe and when he was asked wherfore he had so little regarde to the doing of those things which he had in commission by common aucthoritie for to doe he answered that he thought it shoulde haue tourned to the slaunder of the common welth if he should haue made a league w t diseplaiers But if we should dispose our selues to retourn againe vnto the Pope and to his errors and make a league not onli with diseplaiers but also with men of much lewder condition then disers this shoulde be not onely slaunderous towardes our good name but also towardes the procuring of gods wrathe against vs and the oppressyon and vtter ouerwhelming of our owne consciences full of presente myschyefe For wee surelye departed from hym whom we sawe had blynded the worlde nowe manye yeares together from hym that was wonte ouer arrogantelye to auaunte hymselfe that hee coulde not erre and what soeuer he dyd that hee myght not be iudged of any mortall man not of kinges not of Emperours not of the whole clergye not of all the worlde together no not if he shoulde carye with hym a thousande soules to Hell from him that toke vpon him to commaunde not only men but also the Angels of God to goe to come to leade soules into purgatory to bring them back againe when it liked him whom Gregory did most plainly affirme to be the Uaunteurrer and standerdberer of Antichrist and that he had renounced the catholike Faith frō whom not long agoe those countrie men of oures that be the ringleders of such as bende themself against the Gospell and against the knowne truth did of their owne choyse and gladly euery one of them disseuer themself neither yet would they be vnwilling to doe it at this day were it not that that the blemishe of inconstancye and shame and their estimatiō amongst the people did let them To cōclude we haue forsaken him to whom we were not bounde and who had nothing except it were onely a certaine fonde ymagination of preeminence of the place and succession that he coulde saye for hymselfe And yet we of all other nations had most iust cause to departe from him for our Kinges euen those also which most carefully inclined themselfe to obey the Authorite and faith of the Bishops of Rome haue felt sufficiētly now long agoe the yoke tiranny of the Popes kingdome For both from our king Henry the second of that name the Romaine Bysshops did plucke the Crowne from his heade commaunding him all his Maiestye laide a parte and in a priuate arraye to the intent he shoulde be a laughinge stocke to all hys people to present himselfe as an humble petitioner and suter before his legate And also against oure king Ihon armed the Byshops and Monks and some parte also of the nobilitie and discharged all his subiects of the othe of their allegeance wherby thei were bound vnto him and last of all moste wyckedly they spoyled hym by trayterous meanes not onely of his kingdome but also of his lyfe And vpon king Henry the eight of y t name a most noble Prince thei thundered out their curses and lightnings of excommunication and stirred vp against him sometimes the Emperoure somtimes the Frenche king so much as was in them gaue ouer the whole Realme to the praie and to y e spoyle doubtles very madde and foolished men that could beleue that either so great a kyng might be made a gaste with bugges and with clyckets or that so mighty a kingdome might be so easily deuoured as
reproches and lyes 1. Nowe a daies thei crie euery where that all we are Heretykes that we are departed from the faithe that we with oure newe perswasions and wycked doctrine haue brokē the cōsent of the Churche That we do raise as it were out of Hell and restore to life againe olde Heresyes such as longe agoe were condemned We sowe abroade newe sectes and furious fansies that neuer before were hearde of Also that we nowe are deuided into contrary factions opinions could neuer agree by any meanes among our selues That we ar wicked mē make war after the māner of y e Giauntes as the fable is against God himselfe do liue altogither w tout care or reuerence of God That we do despise al good dedes and vse no discipline of vertue maintaine no lawes no customes no equitie no iustice no right That we loose y e bridel to al mischiefe allure the people to al kynde of licence and luste That we go about and seke how al the states of Monarchies kingdomes might be ouerthrowen and that all thynges might be broughte vnto the rashe gouernment of the people to the rule of the vnskilful multitude That we haue rebelliouslye withdrawen our selues from the catholike Churche and shaken the whole world with a cursed schisme haue troubled the cōmon peace the general quietnes of the Churche and that lyke as in tymes paste Dathan and Abiron seuered themselues from Moses and Aaron so we at this daye departe from the Pope of Rome without any sufficient iuste cause As for the authoritie of the auncient fathers and olde Councelles we do set at naught All auncient ceremonies suche as of oure grandfathers and great grandfathers nowe many ages paste when better manners and better daies did florish were approued we haue rashely and arrogantly abolyshed haue broughte into the Churche by our owne priuate authoritie without any commaundement of any holy and sacred generall Counsell newe rites and ceremonies And that we haue done all these thinges not for any respecte of religion but onely of a desire to maintaine strife and contention As for them they haue changed vtterly nothinge at all but all thinges euen as they receiued them from the Apostles were approued by the moste auncient fathers so they haue kepte them from age to age vnto this daye But now least thei shoulde seme onely to picke quarels and to speake euell of vs in corners onely to the intent to brynge vs into hatred the Romyshe Byshops haue prouided themselues of certaine men eloquente ynoughe and not vnlearned for to vndertake this desperate cause and to set it forth with bokes and long orations to the intent that the matter being cōningly handled after the best fasshion the simple and ignorant man might suppose there were somwhat in it for truely thei sawe how their cause began to decline in al places how their sleights wer now espied and therefore lesse set by and that their Garrysons decaied euery daie and therfore their cause to be such that it had great nede of helpe Now as touching those thinges whiche thei do obiecte against vs parte of them are manifestly false and euen by the iudgment of the selfe same persons that do obiect them condemned for lies parte of them although they bee as false as the other yet in asmuche as thei carrye a shewe and a counterfeat of truth in suche the symple reader if he take not hede specially if vnto the probabylitie of the matter the painted delicate speache of these fellowes be cunningly applied may easilie be entrapped and caried out of the waie part of thē againe ar such as we oughte not to decline from them as crimes but as thinges right well and aduisedly done to acknowledge to professe them and euen to tell you at a word how the matter goeth these men do slaunder all our doings euen those thinges whiche them selues can not deny to be wel and ordrely done and as thoe it were not possyble that any thinge should be other done or spoken wel of vs so all oure sayinges and doinges thei moste malitiously depraue No doubt it hadde been their part to haue gone more simply and more playnely to worke yf thei had ment to deale truly whereas now nother truly nor courteouslie nor Christianly but couertly craftily thei assault vs with lyes abusinge the blindnes of the people and the ignoraunce of Princes to bringe vs into hatred and to oppresse the truth this is the power of darkenes proprety of men that for the furtherance of their cause haue more confydence in the blockishnesse of the vnskilfull multitude in darkenes then in truth and light as S. Ierome saith of such as with closed eyes do barke against the manifest truth But we gyue thanks vnto the almighty God that our quarel is such that euen these men woulde thei neuer so faine can say nothing in reproche therof whiche might not be tourned in reprofe of the fathers of the Prophets of the Apostles of Peter of Paule and of Christe himselfe Now then in case it be lawfull for these men in railinge and speaking euil to be thus lowde and eloquent truly we in our iuste quarell answeringe for the truth ought not to be dumme and specheles for thei that haue noe regarde what is saide of them selfe or of their quarell althoe it be falsly slaunderously spoken specially when it is suche as thereby the maiestie of God and the state of religion is blasphemed thei surely declare them selfe to be dissolute men and suche as carelesly and wickedly do winke at the iniuries done to y e name of God For albeyt many times other greate and greuous iniuries of a sobre and a Christian man may be borne withal and dissembled neuerthelesse who that paciently can endure to be accounted an Heretike suche a one Ruffine was wont to denie to be a Christian. Wherfore we will now do that thinge whiche all lawes whiche the very voyce of nature commaundeth to be done and whyche Christ him selfe being in the like matter in like sort railed vpon did before vs y t is to say we wil giue a repulse to the accusations of these men and modestly and trulie defende oure cause and oure innocency For Christ what time he was accused by the Pharises of sorcery as one that had familiaritie with Deuills and did many thinges by their helpe I saith he haue no Deuill but I glorifie my father and you haue dishonored mee And Paule what time as Festus the leutenante contemned him as a madde man I saith he noble Festus am not mad as thou thinkest but I speake the wordes of truth and of sobrenesse And the Christians of the primitiue Churche what time as thei were iniuriously slaundered vnto the people as murderers of men adulterers incestuous persons and troublers of commō wealthes and sawe that by such slaunders the religiō which thei
professed mighte bee broughte in question specially if thei should seme by their silence in manner to acknoledg the fault least I say this silence sholde hinder y e course of the Gospell thei made orations thei wrote supplications spake before Emperours and Princes in the open defence of them and of theirs As for vs inasmuche as within these .20 yeares laste paste so many thousandes of our brethrē in the middest of their extreme tormēts haue borne witnes to y e truth Princes coueting to bridel y e Gospell in moyling many waies haue lobored all in vaine and that the whole worlde in manner beginneth now to open their eies to beholde y e light we thinke that our cause is already sufficiently pleaded defended and that wheras the matter it selfe speaketh inough for it self there is no great neede of words For if the Popes themselues would or rather if thei coulde consider wyth them selues the whole matter the beginnings and the māner of the encrease of out religion how that their trasshe in manner euery white when no man touched it withoute all helpe of man sell downe to the grounde againe how our profession at the first not withstandinge the continual resistence of Emperors of so many Kynges of Popes Bishops of all men in māner hath encreased and by litle litle spred ouer al the earth and now also at the length is entered in to the Courtes and Palaces of kings euen these things onely might be sufficient tokens wherby to vnderstand that God himself doth fight in our defence and skorneth from heauen all their endeuours that so mighty is the power of truth y t no force of man nor yet Hel gates can withstand it For be ye sure so many free cities so many kings so many Princes as at this day haue abandoned the sea of Rome and adioyned themself to the Gospel of Christe are not become madde And albeit peraduenture hetherto the Popes haue had no leisure to thinke aduisedli earnestly vpō these matters or if now at this day they be letted encombred w t other busines or if thei take these kinde of trauails to be base light matters to appertaine nothing to the maiestie of a Pope yet our cause oughte to seeme therefore neuer a whit the worse Nother if perhaps thei wil not see these thinges whiche thei do see but rather fighte against the knowne truthe ar we therefore by and by to be taken for Heretikes whiche do not apply our selues to their will Truly if Pope Pius had ben the man I saye not whiche he desiereth to be taken for but if he were at the least suche a one as had accounted vs to be other as his brothren or at the leaste as men he woulde fyrste haue diligently waied oure reasons bothe what we haue to saye for vs and what may be saide againste vs not so rashely onely with a blinde sentence determined afore hande in that Bul of his wherin of late he made a counterfaite shewe of a Councell haue condemned a good part of the worlde so many learned godly men so many commō weales so many Kynges so many Princes the persons vnheard the cause not pleaded But inasmuche as he hathe now openly slaundered vs after this sorte leaste that by silence we might seeme to confesse the faulte and specially bicause that in the open Councell wherein he will suffer no man but onely suche as are sworne and addicted vnto his vsurped power to haue authoritie to gyue a voyce or to declare his minde we can in no wise be hearde for therof in the laste assemble at Trente we had ouer muche experience what time the Embassadours and diuines of the Princes and of the free citees of Germany were vtterly excluded out of all their assembles nother can we yet forget how that Iulius the 3 tenne yeares past in his bul strayghtly did forbid that no man of oure proffessyon shoulde be hearde in the councell onlesse paraduenture there were any that woulde recante and chaunge his opiniō euen for these causes specially we haue thought it good to render a reason of oure faithe by writinge vnto suche thinges as are openly obiected againste vs truly openly to answer to the entēt the whole worlde may see the partes and the foundation of that doctrine whiche so many godly men haue preferred before their owne liffes that all men may vnderstande what māner of men thei be and what thei do thinke of God of religion whome the Byshop of Rome not wel aduised hathe condemned for Heretiks yea before thei were called to pleade their cause without lawe without example onely bicause he hearde say thei differed from him from his in some parte of Religion And although in the suspicion of Heresy S. Ierome will haue noe man to be pacient neuerthelesse we wyll demeane our selfe nother bitterly nor tantingly w t many wordes nor yet be caried into any chauffe with anger although in dede he ought not to seeme bitter or tātinge that speaketh truth But this kynde of eloquence we are content to leaue to our aduersaries who what soeuer thei speake against vs thoe it be neuer so bytterly or slanderously spoken yet it is modestly spoken and to good purpose how truly or falslye therof thei make no great account Suche kinde of sleights we haue no nede of that defende the truth But in case we doe proue that the sacred Gospell of God and the auncient Bishops together with the primitiue Churche dothe make for vs and that we haue vpon iuste cause bothe departed from these men and also retourned now againe vnto the Apostles and olde catholike fathers and that we do it in dede not couertly or craftely but with a good conscience before God truly frankly clerely plainely if thei them selues which flee oure doctrine and will be caled Catholikes shal euidently se al those tytles of ātiquitie wherin thei glorie so much wrounge out of their handes that ther is more pith in our cause then euer thei coulde imagine we trust no man amongest them wil be so negligente of his saluaciō but that he will at some time take in hande to bethynke hym selfe vnto whether parte it were best for him to sticke vnto and truly no man except suche a one as hath hardned his hart and wil not heare shal repent him selfe of his laboure to haue geuen eare vnto oure defence and to haue marked bothe what we do say and how agreably vnto y e whole course of Christiā religiō For wher as thei cal vs Heretikes truly the fault is so great y t vnles it be seene vnles it be felte vnles it be gryped with handes and fingers it ought not easily to be beleued of him that is a Christian mā For Heresie is a renouncing of saluation a casting awaie of the grace of God a departing from the bodi and spirit of Christ. But this thing was neuer
the authoritie of Gods word in so muche that as Ieremye saith the nūbre of Gods now dothe cōteruaile or rather excede the nūbre of the cities and the wretched people knoweth not towardes whiche of them it behoued them most to turne themselfe not bicause that albeit they be so many that they can not be numbred yet vnto euery one of thē thei haue apointed a seuerall office what they shal procure what they shal giue what they shall bring to passe but also bicause that bothe wickedly impudently they cal vpon the virgin Mary that she would remembre how she was a mother that she should cōmaunde her sonne and put in vre the authoritie that she hath ouer him We say that mā is borne in sinne leadeth his life in sinne That no mā can say truely My hart is cleane y t the most iustest mā is an vnprofitable seruant that the law of God is perfect requireth of vs a perfect and a ful obediēce that we in this life by no meanes cā satisfie the duety y t thereto doth appertaine Nor that there is any man that by his owne strēgth can be iustified in y e sight of God therfore that our onely sanctuarie and refuge is to the mercye of our Father through Iesus Christ to thintēt we may assuredly perswade our selfs y t he is the propitiatiō mercie sacrifice for our sinnes that w t his bloud al our spottes ar wiped away that he hath pacified al thinges with his bloud shedde vpō the crosse that he with that one and onely sacrifice whiche ones he offered vpō y e Crosse hath throughly perfected all thinges for this cause what time he was dyeng he sayd It is finished as thoe he wold signifie therby that the Raunsome for sinne of all mankind is payed This sacrifice in case there be any mā that thinke it not sufficient let them goe hardely seeke out a better We truly both bicause we know ther is but one we ar cōtent w t one loke for none other bicause it was to be offered but onely ones we doe not cōmaunde it to be repeted also bicause it was ful perfect in al respects we haue not instituted a cōtinual successiō of sacrifices Now although we say we haue no confidēce in our workes and doynges doe grounde the whole course of our saluatiō in Christ onely neuerthelesse we say not therupon y t we may liue loosly and wātonly as thoe it were inough for a Christian man to be dipped onely in y e water to beleue y t nothing els is to be looked for at his hande Trew faith is liuely and can not be idell Wherefore thus we doe teache the people that God hath called vs not to giue our selfs to excesse and our owne luste but as Paule sayeth vnto good workes to thintent to walke in them y t God hath drawen vs out of the powre of darkenes for to serue the liuyng God for to cut of the remaines of sinne for to worke our saluation in feare and trembling that the spirit of sanctification might appeare to be in our membres Christ him self thorough fayth to dwell in our hartes To cōclude we do beleue y t this self same flesh of ours wherin we doe liue albeit whē it is dead it turneth into duste yet at the laste day it shall returne agayne to life through the spirite of Christ which dwelleth in vs. In that daye what so euer in the meane time we suffer for his sake Christe will wipe from our eyes all maner of teares and we by him shall enioye life euerlasting and be with him for euer in glory So be it These be those heresies for the which a good parte of the world is cōdemned at this daye vnheard Wherfore they ought rather to haue brought their action agaynst Christe agaynst the Apostles agaynst the holy Fathers for these thinges haue not onely procedid frō them but also by them they were establyshed onles perauēture these men wil say the whiche also perhaps they will not sticke to say that Christ did not ordeyne the holy cōmmunion to thintent it should be distributed among the faithful or that the Apostles of Christ and the old fathers sayd priuate Masses in euery corner of theyr churches somtimes ten somtimes twēty at ones in one day or that Christ the Apostles did restrayne al the people from the Sacrament of his bloud or that euē that thing whiche at this day is done euery where amongst them and is so done that who that doeth otherwise they cōdemne him for an Heretike is not called of Gelasius their owne man sacrilege or that these be not the wordes of Ambrose Augustine Gelasius Theodorete Chrysostome Origene that bread and wine in the Sacraments remayne the same thinges y t they were before That whiche is sene vpon the holy table is bread that it ceasseth not to be the substance of bread and nature of wine that the substāce and nature of bread is not chaunged that the self same bread for so muche as apperteyneth to the matter goeth downe into the belly is caste out into the priuy place of withdrawing Or that Christ the Apostles and holi fathers did not praye in that tonge whiche the people did vnderstand or that Christ by y e one only sacrifice whiche he offered ones did not perfectly finishe all thinges or that that sacrifice was vnperfect so that now we haue neede of an other All these thinges thei must nedes say onles perauenture they had rather saye that all lawe and right is conteyned in the treasury of the Popes bosome or as one of his hyerlinges parasytes douted not in time paste to say that he might dispens agaynst the Apostles against the Councels against the Canōs of the Apostles and that he is not bounde by these examples ordinaunces and lawes of Christ. These thinges haue we learned of Christe of the Apostles and holy Fathers and the same we doe faithfully teache the people of God and for the same at this day we are called of him forsothe that wil be the prince of Religion Heretikes O mercyfull God Doe you conclude therfore that Christ him selfe and the Apostles and so many fathers haue together all erred doe you conclude that Origen Ambrose Angustine Chrysostome Gelasius Theodorete were men that abandoned and forsooke the Catholike fayth Doe you conclude that so perfect agrement of so many Byshops and learned men was nothyng els but a conspiracie of Heretickes Or els that that thyng whiche at that time was commended in them is now condemned in vs and that whiche in them was catholicke is now onely bicause men haue chaunged theyr fantasies sodenly become Schismatike or that whiche ones was trew nowe by and by bycause it pleaseth not these men shall be false Wherfore let them bryng forthe an other Gospell or let them shew causes wherefore
was he that at Rome dyd set the crowne vpon the Emperours heade Henry the sixte not with his hande but wyth hys foote and wyth the same foote dyd caste yt downe againe saying withal that he had power bothe to make Emperours and to remoue them Whoe dyd sette Henry the sonne vpon Henry the fourthe his father beinge Emperoure and brought to passe that the Father was taken prysoner of the sonne and that after thei had shorne his crown scornfully abused him was throwen into a monastery where for hunger and sorrow he might pine away to death Who was he that in most shamefull wise did set his feete vpon Frederike themperours necke and as though that had not beene ynough he added moreouer these wordes out of the Psalmes of Dauid Thou shalt walke vpon the Aspis and vpon the Cockatryce and shalt treade downe the Lyon and the Dragonne Such an example of despite and contempt against princely Maiesty as neuer was heard of before in any age except parauenture in Tamerlane the Scithian that sauage and barbarouse man or in Sapor the king of Persia. All these were Popes al successors of Peter all most holy out of whose mouthes euery worde must be vnto us a seuerall Gospell If we be appeached as gilty of treyson whiche doe honour our Princes which yelde ouer vnto them all things so far as it is lawful by gods word whiche do pray for them what I beseche you ar these that haue not only done all these things that we spake of before but also by one assent haue allowed them as thinges right nobly done Trow ye then that either this is y e way to teache the people to reuerence the Maiestrate or that they w tout shame may accuse vs for seditious persons for disturbers of the common peace and despisers of princely Maiesty For we neither shake of y e yoke of oure obedience nor remoue kingdomes from one to an other nor take vpon vs either to make kings or to put them down nor translate Empires nor poison our kings nor offer them our feete to kisse nor triumphe ouer them setting our feete on their necks this rather is our profession this is our doctrine that eueri soule whatsoeuer it be whether it be monke whether it be Euangelist whether it be Prophet whether it be Apostle must of necessite be subiect vnto Kinges and Maiestrates yea and the Pope himselfe onles he will seme to be greater then the Euangelistes then y e Prophets then the Apostels must both acknowledge the Emperour to be his Lorde the which thing the auncient Bishops of Rome when the world was in better estate did neuer refuse and also call him by the name of Lorde Wee teache openly that princes are so to be obaied as men sent of God who that resisteth againste thē resisteth the ordinance of God these be our ordinances and these lessons are euident in our bookes these are in our sermons and these doe shine in y e māners and modesty of our people But as touching that where they say that we haue forsakē the vnite of the Catholike Church it is not only odious but also although it be most vntrue yet hath it some apparance and likelyhode of truth Now amōgest the common people and ignorant multytude not only those thinges that be true in dede and certain are beleued but also such things if any come in place that maye seeme to haue a lykelihoode of truthe Whereupon we se how y t crafty subtill fellowes hauing no truth where with to maintaine their cause haue euer vpholden their matters by those thinges that had a resemblance of truth to the intent y t such as are not able to see the bottom of the matter themselfes might at y e least be entangled with some colour and probalitie of the truthe Thus in times past bicause the Christians our forefathers what tyme they made their praiers vnto God tourned themselues towardes the Easte there were some that said they worshypped the Sunne and tooke hit to be their God And when as they sayde that as touching the euerlastinge and immortall life they liued vpon none other thing but of the fleshe and bloode of that Lambe that had no spott that is to saye of our sauiour Iesus Christe The enuyers and enemies of the Crosse of Christe who sought after nothing els but that Christian religion by any manner of meanes might be euill spoken of perswaded the people that they were wicked persons that they killed men to make sacryfices of them and that they dronke mans bloode Lykewise when they sayde that before God there is nother Male nor Female nor so farre as appertaineth to the attayninge of righteousnesse there is at all noe dyfference of persons and when as amongest themselues euery one called an other brother and syster there lacked not malycious persons to quarell agaynste them that the Christians made no manner of dyfference amonge themselues other of age or of kinde but laye together at aduenture al of them as it came to hande lyke brute beastes And whereas for common praier and hearinge of the Gospel they were oft times fayne to assemble themselues togyther in secrete vauts and hydden places bycause that practisers of conspyracies hathe accustomed sometimes to doe the lyke rumors were openly spread abroade that thei conspired among themselues and practised together other to murder magistrates or to ouertourne the common welthe And furder bycause that in celebratynge the holy mysteries they vsed accordinge vnto Christes institution to haue breade and wine it was supposed of many that they worshipped not Christ but Baccus and Ceres by reason that these counterfeyt gods amongest the hethen were worshipped after their prophane superstition in a lyke ceremony wyth bread and wine These thinges were beleued of many men not bycause they were trewe for what coulde bee more vntrue but bycause they were somewhat lykely and myght well deceyue men wyth the resemblaunce of truthe Euen after the same manner these men slaunder vs for Heretikes and to haue forsaken the Church and the communion of Christ not for that they thinke it to bee true for therof they take no care but bycause that vnto ignoraunt men it myghte paraduenture some way haue an apparance of truthe For we haue forsaken not as Heretykes are wonte to doe the Church of Christe but as all good men are bounde to dooe the contagious infection of lewde men and of Hypocrytes And yet dooe they in thys poynte tryumphe merueilousely sayeng This is the Church this is the spouse of Christ thys is the pyller of truthe thys is the arke of Noe oute of whych no saluation is to be looked for and that wee haue forsakē it we haue torne Christes coate Wee are cutt of from the bodye of Christ and haue abandoned the Catholyke Faythe And when they haue lefte nothinge vnsayde that may bee sayde although falsely and
slaunderousely agaynste vs yet thys one thynge they can not saye that wee haue aparted our selues either from the word of God or from the Apostels of Christ or from the primityue Churche But we haue alwayes estemed the firste age of the Church to be catholyke y e which was in tune of Christ and of the Apostles and of the holy fathers Nor wee doubt not to call y t Church the arke of Noe the spouse of Christ the piller and perfect stay of the truth or vpō the same to repose the whole course of our saluation It is doutles an odyous thing for any man to forsake y t felowship whereunto he hath accustomed himselfe but specially of those men which although they be not yet at the least seeme to be are called Christiās And to say truth concerning their Church euen for the names sake bicause y t in time paste of what sorte so euer it be now the Gospell of Iesus Christ was truly purely set forth in it we doe not so greatly contemne it nor would not haue forsaken it but only of very necessitie and y t very much against our willes But what if an Idole be raised vp in the Church of God that same desolation whereof Christ did prophecy shoulde stande openly in the holy place What if a strong theefe or a pyrate get the possessiō of y e Arke of Noe Doubtles these mē as often as they preach vnto vs y e Church they make themselfes onely to be the Church and all those tytles they chalenge to themselfes and so they triumphe euen as they did in tymes paste that cryed The temple of the Lord The temple of the Lord or as the Pharasies and Scribes did when they boasted themselfes to be the sonnes of Abraham Thus they deceiue the simple w t a vaine apparance of gay thinges and seke vtterly to oppresse vs with y e very name of the Church euen lyke as if a theefe when that he had entered vpō an other mans house and had other violētly thrust out or murdered y e owner therof should afterwardes chalenge it for his owne and keepe out of possession the right heire or if Antichrist after y e he had goten himselfe into possession of the temple of God should say afterwardes that it were his owne that it appertained nothing vnto Christ. For these mē wheras in the Church of God they haue left nothing lyke to gods Churche yet they will seeme to be maintainers and defenders of the Church euen altogether as Gracchus in tymes paste defended the treasure of Rome what time as with launching out of large gifts and vndiscreat expenses he vtterlye consumed cast it away There was neuer nothing so wicked or so farre against reason that vnder the name of y e Church might not easily be couered and defēded For euen the waspes also doe make honycombes and the wicked haue theyr assembles and fellowshyppes together lyke vnto the Church of God But not whosoeuer are called the people of God are by and by the people of God Nor all that are descēded from their father Israell ar all Israelytes The Arryans y t were Heretiks boasted themselues that they only were Catholykes for the reste they called them al sometyme Ambrosyans sometime Athanasians sometyme Iohannites Nestoriās as Theodoret saith although he wer an Heritike yet he couered himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 y t is to say with a certain apparance cloke of the right faith Ebion although he agreed in opiniō with the Samaritanes yet as Epiphanius saith he would be called a Christian. And the Mahometans although it be euident out of all hystories and can not deny themselfes but that they came of Agar the bondwoman yet they had rather as though they were descended out of the stocke of Sara a free woman and the wife of Abraham be called Sarracens for the reputation of the name and of the stocke Thus the false Prophetes of all ages which did withstand the Prophets of God as Esay as Hieremy as Christ as y e Apostles had nothing more rife in their mouthes then the name of the Church Nether for any other cause did they so bitterly turmoile them or call them runnawaies and forsakers of their profession thē bicause they had gone from their fellowship and obserued not the ordiānces of the elders And in case we wil folow the iudgement of those men onely by whom the Church was gouerned at that time haue no respect other to God or to his woorde or to any other thinge doubtles it cā not be denied but that the Apostles in as much as they declined away from the high Byshops priestes that is to say from the catholyke Church and contrary to their willes cried they neuer so much brought in an innouation a change of many thinges in religion were rightly condemned and according to law Wherfore like as thei writ of Hercules y t in wrastling with Anteus the Gyaunt he was faine to hoist him vp from the earthe his mother before he could ouercome him so our aduersaries must be lifted vp frō this mother of theirs that is to say from this counterfait shape and shadow of the Church which they mass themselues w tall for otherwise they can not giue place to y e word of God Wherfore Ieremye saith Boast not your selues so much that the temple of God is amongst you that is but a vaine confidence for these be saith he y e words of lies And y e Angel in the reuelatiō Thei say saith he thei be Iewes but thei be the Synagoge of Satan And Christ what time the Pharasies bosted themselues of the stock and kinred of Abraham You sayth he are of your father the Deuill for you doe nothing resemble your father Abraham As thoughe he shoulde saye thus You are not the men which you desire so much to be taken for you deceiue the people w t counterfait tytles and abuse the name of y e Church to the ouerthrowing of the Church Wherfore this they ought first euidently and truely to haue proued that the Church of Rome is y e true and the right beleuing Church of God and that the same according as it is gouerned by them at this day doth agree with the primitiue Church of Christ of the Apostles and of the holy fathers which no mā doubted to bee the Catholike Church True it is in deede in case we could haue beleued that ignorāce error superstition worshipping of Idols mans inuentions such as many times are contrary to the holy Scriptures either pleased God or were sufficiēt to the obtaining of euerlasting saluation or if we coulde haue perswaded our selues that the worde of God was writē only for a fewe yeares and then to be put out of all authoritie or that at any time the saiynges and ordinances of God shoulde stande at the discretion of the will of mā that whatsoeuer God sayde or commaunded
I tell you Hilles Forestes Lakes Prisonnes and Whorlepooles seme more safe a great deale for in them the Prophetes eyther remayning of their own choyse or violently dryuen prophecyed wyth the spyrite of God Gregory euen as though he had seene and perceyued aforehand the ruine of things writing vnto Iohn the Byshopp of Constantinople who first of all men toke vpon hym to be called by a name that neuer was hearde of before the vniuersall Byshop of the whole Church of Christ said thus If y e Church shall depēde vpon one man the whole shall fall to grounde And who is it that hath not seene this thing done longe agoe It is now long agoe that the Bysshop of Rome hath brought to passe that the whole Church shoulde depend vpon him alone wherefore it is no maruaile if the same now longe agoe be wholy fallen to grounde Bernarde y e Abbot writing foure hundred yeares past There is nothing saith he pure and soūde in y e Clergy onely there remaineth that the man of sinne shoulde be discouered vnto the worlde The same man vpon S. Paules Conuersion It semeth saith he that persecution is now cessed no rather nowe beginneth persecution euen at their handes which beare chiefe rule in the Church Thy frendes thy neighbours hath drawen neere and stande vp against thee From the sole of the foote vnto the crowne of the head there is no soundnes at all Iniquitie hath issued out from the Elders Iudges thy vicares which seeme to gouerne thy people We can not now say As the people are so is the priest for the people are not in y e state as y e priest is Out alas O Lord God thei be in persecuting of thee the Cheefe that seme to loue y e cheefe preheminence in thy Church and to beare the cheefe rule The same vpon the song of Salomon All frendes are becomme all enemies al familiars all aduersaries the seruants of Christe serue Antichrist Beholde in my peace is my moste bitter bitternesse Roger Bacon a man of great fame after that w t a sharpe oration he had reproued the miserable state of his time These heapes of errors saith he do seeke after Antichrist Gerson complaineth that in his time al the fruite exercise of the sacred study of Diuinity was brought to an ambitious contention of wittes and to a mere Sophistrye The Friers of Lions which as touching the maner of their liuing were no euill men were wont boldly to affirme y t the Church of Rome from which onely at y t time the certen resolution of al doubtful matters were fetched was that same whore of Babylō wherof in the Reuelation of Iohn there be so many euident prophecies and the assemble of helhoundes I know well ynough that they make light of these mennes aucthorite but what if I bring them for witnesses whome they are wonte to haue in great honour What if I saye that Adrian the Bysshop of Rome hath francklye confessed that all these euilles beganne to fall hedlonge from the toppe of the Papall dignitie Pighius dothe confesse that in this point they haue erred bicause that in to the Masse which for all other respectes he woulde haue to be accounted holye many abuses are brought in Gerson also bicause y t through the multitude of trifling Ceremonies the whole vertue of the holy Ghoste which ought to be stronge in vs and true deuotiō is altogether quenched Al Grece and Asia lykewise bycause the Popes of Rome wyth the marchandise of theyr Purgatory and pardonnes both haue oppressed mennes consciences and robbed their purses Touching the tirannie of the Byshoppes of Rome and intollerable pryde to passe ouer such as they bycause they haue freely franckly reproued their vices account paraduenture as enemies euē thei which leade their life at Rome in the holy Citie vnder the nose of the most holy father and might se al his secrets neuer forsoke the Catholike Faith as Laurens Ualla Marril of Padoa Francis Petrarche Hieronymus Sauanorola Iochym Abbot Baptist of Mantua before thē al Bernarde the Abbot Al these I say haue greatly and often complained In so much that sometimes they declared the Pope himselfe to be Antichrist whether they spake truely or falsly we leaue it vnto others but doubtles they spake it plainely Neither is there any cause that any man should obiect that they were y e dysciples of Martin Luther or of Zuinglius For they were not onely manye yeares but also dyuers ages before these mennes names were hearde of Yea they did see also euen at that time that errours were crept into the Church and wished for y e amendment of them And what meruaile I pray you if the Church were lead away with errors specially in those dayes what tyme neither the Bishopp of Rome who had the whole rule in his owne handes nor any other mā in māner either did hys duty or did at al vnderstād what hys duety was For it is not easye to bee beleued that the Deuill whilest they were ydle and slept that in all y t tyme was alwaies either a sleepe or ydle For howe they in the meane time demeaned thēselues and with what vprightnesse they gouerned the house of God though wee say nothing let them be content at the least to heare Bernarde a man of theirs The Byshops sayth he vnto whome the Church is cōmitted at this daye ar not doctors but deceauers ar not shepeheardes but shepeweriers ar not Prelates but Pilates Thus sayd Bernard of the byshoppe that called him selfe the chiefe byshop and of the byshoppes whiche at that time helde the sterne He was no Lutherane he was no heretike he forsoke not the Church yet was he not afrayde to cal the byshops that liued in those dayes seducers deceauers and Pylates Now thē what time the people was opēly seduced and the eyes of Christian men manifestly deceaued and when Pylate sittyng in court of Iudgemēt adiugged Christ and his membres to sworde fier in what case o Lord was the Church in those dayes But of so many and so grosse errors what error haue these menne purged at any time Or what error at the leaste would these mē euer acknowledge or confesse But for asmuche as these men doe affirme that they doe stande in full possession of the catholike Churche and call vs bicause we doe dissent frō them heretikes marke I praye you what note or token this Churche hath of the Churche of God Neither is it so harde a matter in case thou wilt earnestly and diligently seeke it to finde out the Churche of God For it standeth vpō an highe and a stately place euen on the toppe of a hill that is to say it is buylded vpon the foundation of the Prophets the Apostels There sayth S. Augustine let vs seeke the Church there let vs trie oure cause and as he saythe in an other place The Churche ought to be tried
adiudged to be more glorious and more heauenly Euen so these men to the ende that their religion which they themselues haue hatched and that not so long agoe to themselues might be the eassier and better set forth vnto men that eyther were fools in deede or little cōsidered what they did and where about they went are wont to say that it came vnto their handes from Augustine from Hierome frō Chrisostome frō Ambrose from the Apostls from Christ himselfe For right wel thei know that ther is nothing more plausible vnto the people thē these names or better accepted of y e common sortes of men But what if those thinges which these men would haue accounted to be new be founde to be most auncient Againe what if those thinges in maner all which these men so hyghly set forth with the name of antiquitie after that they haue been well and diligently syfted shall be founde at the last to be but grene and new Truely the lawes and Ceremonies of the Iewes although that Aman did accuse them of nouelty yet vnto any man that considered them truly and vprightly thei coulde not appeare to be new for thei were written in most auncient tables And Christe although many supposed that he did declyne from Abraham and from the olde fathers and that he brought in a new Religiō of his owne heade yet he answered truely If you beleued Moises you should beleue mee also for my doctrine is not so new as you take it Moises a most auncient aucthor whom you doe esteme aboue all men did speake of mee And. S. Paule Although the Gospell of Iesus Christ be reputed of many to be new yet it hath saith he a most auncient testimony of the law and the Prophetes As for our doctrine the which we may cal more rightly the Catholike doctrine of Christ is so far of from all nouslty that the olde God of all ages and the father of our Lorde Iesus Christ hath commended it vnto vs in moste auncient monuments euen in the Gospell and in the bookes of the Prophetes and of the Apostles So that now it can not seeme new vnto any man except there be any to whom either the fayth of the Prophetes or the Gospell or Christ himselfe seemeth to be newe But in case their Religion bee so auncient and so olde as they woulde haue it to appere wherefore doe they not proue it oute of the examples of the primitiue Church out of the auncient fathers out of the olde Councels Why lyeth so olde a cause abandoned so longe tyme wythout a defender as for Sworde and Fyer they haue had alwayes at hande but of olde Councels and Fathers no worde at all And surely it had been altogether against reason to begin at these bloody and cruell reasons if they could haue founde any gentyler and mylder argumentes But if they haue in deede such truste in Antiquitie wythout any maner of counterfeiting why did Iohn Clement a Countrie man of oures not many yeares paste in the syght of certaine honest men and men of good credit teare and cast into the fyer certaine leaues out of a most auncient Father and a Greeke Bysshop called Theodoret in the which he dyd euidently and expressely teache that in the Sacrament the nature of bread was not taken away And that at such tyme as he thought no other example coulde be founde in anye place why dothe Albert Pighius denye that Sainct Augustine that olde Father dyd holde a right opinion of Originall synne or of such mariages as are contracted after a vowe professed And where as Augustine affirmeth it to be perfecte Matrimonye and can not be reuoked why sayth he that he dothe erre and is deceiued that he vseth no good Logike Why did thei now of late in y e printing of y t aunciēt father Origene vpō y e Gospel of Iohn leaue out y e whole sixt chapter wherin it is very credible or rather certain y t he taught many things touching the Sacramēt cōtrary to their doctrin so had rather set forth y e boke in maner maimed thē being perfect it shold reproue their errors Is this to trust to ātiquiti to teare to suppresse to māgle to burne the bookes of the auncient fathers It is a worlde to beholde how wel these men doe agree in Religion with those fathers of whom they are wont to bragge to be on their side The olde Councell called Eliberinum decreed that nothing that y e people worshipped should be painted in Temples An aunciēt father Epiphanius saith that it is an horrible wickednes and an offence vntolerable If any man should set vp so much as a painted Image though it were of Christ himselfe in the Churches of Christian men These mē as though there were no Religion without them haue filled their Church and eueri corner of them with painted and grauen Images The olde fathers Origen and Chrysostome do exhorte the people to the reading of y e holy Scriptures to bye bookes to reason of matters pertaining to religion among themselues in their own howses the husbandes with their wiues the parentes with ther Childrē Cōtrariwyse these mē do condemne the Scriptures as dead elementes and by all meanes they can possibly restraine the people from them The auncient fathers Cyprian Epiphanius and Hierome say that if any hath made a vowe to liue an vnmaryed lyfe and afterwardes leadeth his lyfe in vncleanes and can not restraine the flammes of his lustinge that it is better for him to mary a wyfe and to liue chastely in wedlock And the selfe same Matrimony the olde father Augustine determineth to be lawful and good nor ought not to be reuoked These men contrariwise such as haue once bounde themselues by now although afterwardes he burne in lusting although he hunt after Hores although neuer so filthely damnably he defile himselfe yet they will not suffer him to mary or if perchaunce he do marry they deny it to be matrimony affirming y t it is much better and more godly to keepe a Concubine or a Harlot then to liue in that state That auncient father S. Augustine did complain of y e multitude of vaine Ceremonies by y t which he sawe how euen in those daies mens mindes and consciences were oppressed These mē as though God delyted in nothing els haue encreased ceremonies so out of al measure that now in their Churches holy seruice they haue left in maner nothing els Augustine an olde father denyeth y t it is lawfull for a sluggishe monke to liue in ydlenesse vnder a colour pretence of holines to liue vpon other mens labours such as liueth after y t sort an old father Apollonius saith they be like vnto theeues These men haue shall I say heardes or flockes of monkes whych albeit thei doe vtterly nothing neither trouble themselues so much as to counterfait or to beare any face of
they to consider howe iuste the cause of our departing is For in case they wil saye it is lawefull for thee by no means to departe from that fellowship wherein thou haste ben brought vp Thus they maye easily in oure personnes cōdemne both the Prophetes and the Apostles and also Christe him self For why doe they not likewise finde fawte at this that Loth departed from Sodome Abraham out of Calde the Hebrewes out of Egypte Christ from the Iewes Paule from the Pharisees For onlesse there maye be some iuste cause of suche departynges we see not why they also maye not in like sorte be accused as factious and seditious men Nowe if we ought to be condemned for heretikes bycause we doe not al thinges whiche these menne doe commaunde vs whoe I praye you or what maner of men shall we account them to be which doe despise the commaundementes of Christe and of the Apostles If we be Schismatikes that haue disseuered our selfs frō these fellowes by what name I pray you shal we call them that haue departed from the Grekes at whose hādes they receyued the faith frō the primitiue church from Christ him self from the Apostels euē as it were from their owne parentes For as for the Grekes such as at this daye doe professe the religion and name of Christ althoe they haue many thinges that ar corrupted yet they retaine to this howre a great part of those thinges which they receyued of the Apostles Therfore nother haue they priuate Masses nor their sacramētes mangeled nor purgatory nor pardonnes As for the Popes titles and proude names so muche they doe regard them that whosoeuer doth take them vpon him and wil needes be called either the vniuersal Byshop or heade of the whole Church of him they will not sticke to saye that he is bothe an intolerable arrogant man and a personne that iniuriously defaceth all other Byshoppes his bretherne and also an heretike Now then sins the matter is plaine can not be denied y t these fellowes ar gone back frō those of whom thei receiued the gospel of whom thei receaued y e faith of whome the true religion the Churche what cause is there why they shuld not be cōtent to be called home againe euen vnto the same personnes as it were to the fountaines of religion Wherfore ar they so afrayde as thoe al the Apostles old fathers sawe nothing to folow the exāple of their times for doe they trowe ye see more or be thei more careful ouer the Churche of God then they y t first deliuered these things And now to returne to our selfs we haue departed frō that Churche wherin nother the worde of God could be hearde purely taught nor the Sacramentes rightly administered nor the name of God as it ought to be called vpō and whiche they themselues doe confesse to be corrupted in many thinges and wherin to say the truth there was nothing that could staye any man that was wise and that had any consideration of his owne saluation To conclude we haue departed from that Churche that is now founded not from that Church that was in time past and we haue departed in such sorte as Daniel did out of the denne of Lions as the thre childrē out of the fier yea rather caste out by them with their cursinges and banninges then departed of our selfs Agayne we haue adioyned our selfes vnto that Church wherin they them selfs in case they wil speake truely and according to their owne consciences can not denie but all thynges ar soberly and reuerently handeled and so farre forth as we were able to attayne most neerely vnto the order of the olde time For lette them compare their Churches and oures together they shal see bothe that they moste shamefully haue departed frō the Apostels and we moste iustly haue forsaken them For we after the exāple of Christe of the Apostles and of the holy fathers doe giue the whole sacrament vnto the people These men contrary to all the fathers contrary to al the Apostels and cōtrary to Christ him self not without as Gelasius sayth hygh sacrilege doe deuide the sacramentes and plucke the one parte awaye from the people We haue restored the Lordes supper accordyng to the institutiō of Christ and desire to haue it asmuch as maye be and to as many as may be most common and as it is called so to be in very deede a Cōmunion These men haue chaunged all thinges frō the institution of Christ of the holy cōmunion they haue made a priuate masse so that we present vnto the people a holy Supper they a vayne pagent to gase vpon We doe affirme with the moste auncient Fathers that the bodye of Christe is eaten of none other but of godly and of faithfull menne and suche as ar endued with the spirite of Christe these fellowes doe teache that the very bodye of Christe maye in very deede and as they terme it really and substantially be eaten not only of wicked and vnfaythfull men but also it is horrible to speake it of myse and dogges We doe praye in oure Churches after suche sorte that accordyng as Paule dothe admonishe vs the people may know what we doe pray and with one minde answere Amen These men powre out in the churches vnknowne and straunge wordes like vnto the noyse of soundyng brasse without any vnderstanding without sense without iudgement and this is their only endeuour that the people should not be able to vnderstande any thing at all And bycause we will not reherse all the differences betwene vs and them for they ar in maner infinite We translate the Scriptures into all languages these men wil scantly suffer them to be abroade in any tonge We doe exhorte the people to heare and reade the worde of God these menne driue them from it We woulde haue our cause hearde before all the worlde these menne flee al iudgement and triall We leane vnto knowlege they vnto ignorance We truste to the light they vnto darknesse We haue in reuerence as reason is the wordes of the Apostles and of the Prophetes these men do burne them To conclude we in Gods cause wil stande to the iudgement of God only these men will stande to their owne But if they will consider all these thinges with a quiet minde and a prepared purpose to heare and to learne thei shal not only allow our doyngs which leauing all errours haue folowed Christe his Apostles but also they themselues shal fal away from thēselues and of their owne accorde encline themselues to ioyne with our felowshippe But they will saye that it was an vnlawefull attempt to goe aboute such matters without an holy generall Counsell for therein is the whole powre of the Churche there Christe hathe promised that he will alwayes be ready at hand And yet they themselues haue broken the commaundementes of God the decrees of the Apostles and as we sayde a litle before haue scatered and torne
in pieces in maner all not onlye the ordinances but also the certaine principles concernyng doctrine of the primitiue Church and that without tariyng for any generall Councell But where as they say that it is not lawful for any man to appoint any new order without a Coūcel who I praye you hath prescribed these lawes vnto vs or where haue they founde this decree It was folishly done of Agesilaus the kynge who beyng ones acertained of the minde and pleasure of the hyghe Iupiter woulde needes present the whole matter agayne vnto Apollo for to know whether he were of the same minde that his Father was But we should doe more foolyshlye a greate deale in case that when we doe heare God him selfe speakynge moste playnely vnto vs in the holye Scriptures and vnderstande his will and pleasure if I saye afterwardes as though al this were nothing we would refarre the whole matter to a councell The whiche is nothing els but to searche whether menne be of the same minde that God is and whether menne will allow by their authoritie the commaundementes of God What I praye you shall not the truthe be truthe or shall not God be God except a councell will and commaunde it so to be If Christe would haue handeled the matter so frō the beginnyng that he woulde haue taught or sayde nothing without the consente of the Bysshoppes and woulde haue referred ouer hys whole doctrine vnto Annas and Cayphas where should the fayth of Christ be at this day or who shoulde euer haue hearde of the gospell Peter forsothe of whome the Pope is wonte to speake more often and with more reuerence then of Iesus Christe did boldely withstande the sacred councell and sayde it was better to obeye God then men And Paule what time he had ones receyued the gospell into his minde and that not of men nor by man but only by the wil of God did not counsell with flesh and bloud nor dyd not referre the matter vnto his kinsemen or brothern but went by and by into Arabia for to publishe by the authoritie of God Gods misteries We surely doe not despyse Councels or assemblies and conferences of Bysshoppes and learned menne Nother haue we done those thinges that be done altogether without Bysshoppes or without a coūcell The matter was handeled in full parlament with long deliberation and in a greate assemblie But as touchyng this councell whiche Pope Pius dothe at thys tyme counterfetly set forthe wherein men beyng nother called nor hearde nor seene ar so lightly condemned what we maye loke or hope to gette thereby it is not harde to gesse Nazianzenus longe agoe when that in his tyme he sawe menne that came to suche assemblies to bee so blinde and so obstinate that they were caryed after their owne affections and foughte rather for victorie then for truthe pronounced in playne wordes that he neuer sawe good ende of anye councell What woulde he saye nowe if he were a liue at this daye and shoulde vnderstande what these menne wente aboute For in that tyme all though they were gyuen to partes yet bothe mennes causes were hearde and manifeste errours by the common consente of all partes were taken awaye These menne agayne neyther will suffer the cause to bee freelye debated nother will endure to haue anye thyng chaunged howe many errours so euer there be For that is a thyng whiche they ar wonte often and with out all shame to boaste of that their Churche can not erre that in hit there is no blemyshe that there is nothyng to be graunted vnto vs or yf there be anye thyng that the iudgement thereof appertayneth vnto Bysshoppes and Abbots they be the directers of those matters they be the Churche of God Aristotel saythe that bastardes can not make a citie But whether the Churche of God maye be made of these fellowes or no let them consider for surely nother be they lawfull Abbots nor right Bysshoppes But let them hardely be the Churche lette them be hearde in coūcels let them only haue authoritie to giue a voyce Neuerthelesse in times paste when the Church of God if it be compared with their Churche was resonably wel gouerned as Cipryan sayth bothe Elders and Deacons some parte also of the common people were called to the hearyng of Ecclesiasticall causes But what if these Abbotes and Bysshoppes haue no knowledge What yf they vnderstande not what religion is and what opinion they oughte to haue of God What if law be loste of the preeste coūsel of the Elders What if the night as Micheas saythe be vnto them in stede of a vision and darkenes in stede of forseyng thynges to come What if all the watchemen of the Citie as Esaye sayth ar become blinde What if the salte hath loste his strēgth and his taste and as Christ sayth is good for nothyng not so muche as to be caste out vpon the dunge hill Forsothe they will committe all thynges to the Pope whoe can not erre But that to beginne withal is a folishe deuise that the holy ghost should flie away in haste from the holy Councell to Rome to the intent that if he doubte or sticke in anye thyng and not be able to winde him selfe out he mighte take counsell of some other spyrite I wote not who better learned thē him self For if the case stande so what needed it that so many Byshops should in this time at so great charges and through so long iorneys be summoned to come to Trent It were yet a much more wiser better way sure I am it were bothe shorter and more commodious for them rather to put of all thynges to the Pope and to repayre at the firste dasshe to the heauenly determination of hys sacred breaste Moreouer it is agaynste equitie to put ouer oure cause from so manye Bysshoppes and Abbottes to the iudgemente of one man speciallye of hym whoe standeth accused by vs of moste weyghtye and greuous offences and as yet hath not brought in his answer who also hath condēned vs without iudgement before wee were once called to bee iudged What trow ye that these be things of our own deuise Or is not this y e order of their Councels at this day Or be not all thinges committed ouer from y e holy Councels vnto the Pope alone in such sort that as though so many voices and subscriptiōs serued to no purpose he alone may adde chaunge diminish take away alow release and againe restraine what him lyfteth Then I pray you of what maner of men were these words spoken Or why did the Bishops and Abbots not long agoe in the last Coūcell of Trente decree after this manner at thende of their constitutions Sauing alwaies in al things the Authorite of the Apostolicall seat Or why doth Paschale the Pope write of himselfe so arrogantly As though saith he any Coūcels had prescribed a lawe vnto the Church of Rome wheras all Councels both are made by
as though forsoothe that nowe also the whole worlde myght not perceiue that this is a very conspiracy and not a Coūcell and that these Byshops which the Pope hath called vnto him at this time are not by their othe and affection vtterly addicted vnto his name and wil neuer do any thing but that which they shal perceiue to agre with his pleasure to make for the aduaucement of his power and to be according to his will or that amongest them euery mans reason and sentence were not rather nūbered then wayed or that the better parte were not ofte times oppressed with the greater Whereupon we know that ofte times it hath come to passe y t many good men and Catholike Bysshops what time such Councels were summoned wherin factions and parts were openly maintained knowing that they should only leese their labour in as much as the mindes of their aduersaries were bent vpon euill and therfore not possible to doe any good haue tarried at home Athanasius beyng called by Themperour to the Councell of Cesarea when he saw that he shoulde present himselfe to y e deadly hatered of his aduersaries he refused to come The same man afterwardes being come to the Councell of Syrmin when his minde gaue him by reason of the fiersenes and hatred of his enemies to what ende y e matter would come he trussed vp his baggage went his way Iohn Chrysostome although the Emperour Constātius had sent for him by fower letters to come to the Councell of the Arrians yet he kept himselfe at home What time as Maximus the Bysshop of Hierusalem sate in the councell of Palestine the olde man Paphnutius taking him by the hande ledde him out of the dores saying it is not lawefull for vs to sit in councell of these matters amongest these wicked men Unto the councell of Syrmin from which Athanasius did conuey himselfe away the Bysshops of the Weste countries woulde not repaire Cyril appealed bi his letters from the councell of those that were called Patropassiani Pauline the Bysshop of Trier diuers others when they saw the practise and power of Auxentius refused to come to the councell of Millane For in vaine they saw they should go vnto y t place where no reason but faction was hearde and where al causes were determinable not according to iudgemēt but according to fauor And yet they albeit they had neuer so greuous and obstinate aduersaries neuertheles if they had come at the least they shoulde haue had free liberty to speake to be hearde in the councell But as for vs in as much as it is not lawful for ani of our sort once to sitte or so much as to be seene in the assemblie of these men much lesse to be hearde freely to speake and on the other side for as much as the Popes Legates the Patriarches the Archbyshops the Bysshoppes the Abbots all coniured together al fettered in one faute al bound with one othe only haue place to sit only haue aucthoritie to giue their voice and in cōclusiō as though thei had done nothing to submit al their iudgements to the Popes wil and pleasure alone euen to the intent that he who ought rather to haue pleaded his own cause at the barre should giue sentēce of himself in as much I say as that olde and Christiā liberty which in all Christian Councels ought chiefly to be maintained is now in coūcel vtterly takē away no good and godly man ought to maruaile if wee doe now at this time that thing which thei see the fathers and Catholike Bysshops did afore time whē like cause was offered so that bycause in the councell we cā not be heard Princes Embassadors ar laughed to scorne and we all as though the matter were already dispatched and concluded ar before iudgement condempned if I say we had rather tary at home cōmit the whole matter vnto God then to go to y e place where we shall neither haue any place nor yet any thing preuaile at al. But as touching our own iniuries we can beare them paciently quietly ynough But wherfore I pray you doe they exclude Christian Kinges and godly Princes from their councels Why doe they either so vncurtesly dispatche them out of their company or reiect them w t such reproche when that as though they were no Christian men or were not able to iudge they will not suffer them to sit in counsell in causes of Religion nor to knowe the state of their owne Churches Or in case they doe entermedle at any time by their aucthoritie doe y e thing which thei may do which thei are cōmanded to doe which they are bounde to do and which we know Dauid Salomō other good prīces haue done and take vpon them other whiles the Byshops be a sleepe or whiles they doe rebellyously resist to bridle y e raging lustes of priestes and both driue them to the doing of their duty and kepe them from disorder moreouer if they plucke downe Idolls withdraw superstition set vp the true worship of God Why crie they by and by that they turne all things vpside downe that they breake into other mens offices and behaue themselues lewdely and arrogantly What Scripture hath at any time forbidden Christiā Princes from y e hearing of such causes Whoe did euer make these lawes but these fellowes onely But they will say Ciuile princes haue learned how to manege the common welthe and to exercise armes as for the misteries of Religion they vnderstande them not Then I pray you what other is y e Pope at this day but a Monarche or a prince What be the Cardinals which degree it is now scantly lawfull for any others to haue then Kinges and Princes sonnes What be the Patriarches what Archbisshops for the most part what Bysshops what other be the Abbots at this day in y e Popes kingdome but worldly Princes but Dukes but Earles wyth stately gardes about them whersoeuer they go and decked also many times w t collers and chaines of Golde They haue in deede sometime a peculier apparell Crosses Pillers Hattes Myters Palls the which kinde of pompe the auncient Bysshops Chrysostome Augustine and Ambrose had neuer Now besides these things what teache they what say they what do they what liue they in any point that is comlye and commēdable not onely for a Bysshop but also for a Christian man Is it so great a matter to cary a counterfait title and for onely chaunge of garmentes to bee called a Bysshop Surely y t the waight of all gouernement should be assigned ouer vnto thē only which nether do know nor will know what appertaineth to these thinges nor set not a halfpeny by any part of Religiō further thē as it toucheth the kitchin the belly y t they onely shoulde be made iudges and be appointed as it were blind men to keepe the watche towre on the other syde to haue a Christian prince
it were at one morsell And as thoughe all these thinges had not been ynoughe they woulde haue had the whole Realme also to be tributary vnto them and out of it moste vniustly they did exacte an yerely rent So costlye forsooth was the frendship of the Citie of Rome vnto vs. But in as much as by crafty meanes and with lewde sleightes thei wrested out these things from vs there is no cause why the same againe by lawefull meanes and good lawes might not be taken from them Yea if our kings in those times of darknes ledd by some opinion of their coūterfet holines of their owne accorde and liberalitie gaue them those thinges for Religion sake yet afterwardes when the errour is espied of other kinges that haue the same aucthoritie they may be taken away for that gift is of none effect that is not approued by the will of the gyuer but that can not seeme to be a will which is darkened and empeched with errour Thou haste heard Christian reader that it is no new thing y t at this day Christian Religion being restored to his former estate and as it were newe borne againe be slaulderously and shamefully spoken of For the same thing happened vnto Christ himselfe and to the Apostles Neuertheles least thou shouldest suffer thy selfe to be ledde out of the waye and to be deceiued with these outraging clamors of our aduersaries wee haue sett forth before the the whole course of our Religion what wee dooe beleue of God the Father what of his onely sonne Iesus Christe what of the holye Ghoste what of the Church what of the Sacramēts what of the Ministery what of the holy Scriptures what of Ceremonyes and what of euery parte of a Christian mans profession We haue declared how that we doe detest al olde Heresies the which other the holy Scriptures or the auncient Councels haue condemned as pestilences and poysons of mens soules and that as much as we can possiblie we doe call home againe the discipline of the Church the which our aduersaries haue vtterly brought to nothing and doe punishe according to the auncient lawes of our forefathers all losenes of lyfe and licencious manners and that with such seueritie as the cause doth require and so farre as our power will stretche that we doe vpholde the state of kingedomes in the same condition that we founde them without empairing or chaunging any thing and doe maintaine to the best of our power the Maiesty of our Princes safe and sounde that wee haue forsaken y t Church which these men had made a den of theeues and wherein they had left nothing sounde or sauering of the Church of God and which by their owne testimony had erred in many thinges none otherwise then as Loth in time past wēt out of Sodoma or Abrahā out of Chaldey not of a desire to cōtend but by y e commaundement of God himselfe and y t we haue sought out of the holy Scriptures which we knowe can not deceiue vs a certaine constant forme of Religion and are now retourned vnto the primitiue Church of the Apostles and of the auncient fathers y t is to say to the first originall and to the beginnings and as it were to the very fountaines of Christes Church True it is in dede y t for the accomplishemēt hereof we haue not attended vpon the aucthoritie or consent of the councel of Trente in which we coulde not hope to see any thinge vprightly and orderly done specially where all mē are sworne to one man where our Princes Embassadors ar cōtemned where none of our diuines mai be heard where men ar euidently enclined vnto partes and to ambition but according as the holy fathers in tyme past and our predecessors haue done oft time we reformed our Churches by a councel gathered in our owne prouince and that as touching the yoke and tirannye of the Bysshop of Rome vnto whome wee ought no dutye and in whom there is no resemblance either of Christ or of Petre or of an Apostle or in any point of a Bysshop according as it behoued vs we haue shakē of and cast away And last of all how y t we doe agree amongest our selues in all the principles and articles of Christian Religion and with one mouthe and one spirit doe worshippe God and the father of our Lorde Iesus Christ. Wherfore good Christiā reader in as much as y u seest the reasons causes both of our doings touching the restitutiō of Religiō amōgst vs also of our departing from the fellowship of these men thou oughtest not to maruaile if y t we had rather obey our Iesus Christ then men Paule dyd admonishe vs that we shoulde not suffer our selues to be caried out of the way with these variable doctrines and thal specially wee should flye from them that woulde sowe any dissension from that doctrine which wee had receiued from Chryste and from the Apostles Their iuggeling toyes euen as the owle at the rysing of the Sunne beginne alredy to fall and flye away at the presence and light of the Gospell And although they were pyled and heaped vp euen to the highe skyes yet they fall downe againe vpon the least occasion and in manner of their owne accorde For thou oughtest not to imagine that al these things are happened at a blind auenture or by chaūce for it was goddes will that maugre the malice in maner of all men the Gospell of Iesus Christ shoulde be spredde in these dayes throughout the worlde Wherefore men beyng admonysshed by gods worde haue of their owne accorde applyed themselues to the doctrine of Christe Wee surely haue not sought to wynne vnto our selues either glory either riches either pleasure eyther ease thereby For all these thinges our aduersaries haue in great aboundance and we also what time we were amongest them had such thinges more largely and more plentifully Neither doe we abhorre from peace agrement but for conseruation of worldly peace we will wage no warres w t God Doubtles saith Hylarius the name of peace is sweete but peace saith he is one thing and thraldome is an other For to assent which is the thyng that these men doe seeke for that Chryste shoulde bee commaunded to sylence that the truthe of the Gospell shoulde bee betrayed that wicked errours should be dissembled that the eyes of Christian menne shoulde be blered that men should manifestly conspire agaynst God is not an establyshment of peace but a moste horrible couenant of thraldome There is saythe Nazianzene a certayne kinde of peace vnprofitable ther is a profitable discorde For we muste allowe peace with an exception so farre as it is laweful and so farre as we may For otherwise Christ himself brought not peace into the world but a sword Wherefore yt the Pope will haue vs to be friendes agayne with him lette him firste reconcile himselfe with God For hereof saythe Cyprian scismes doe aryse bycause the head is not sought for
these thinges whiche so longe time hath bene openlye obserued and approued in the Churche of God ought now at the laste to be reuoked But we doe certenly knowe that that same worde which by Christ was reueled and published abrode by the Apostles is sufficient as well for our saluation as also to defende al truthe and to conuince al heresie By that same onely we doe condemne all kinde of olde heretickes whiche these men saye we do rayse vp agayne out of Hell the Arrians Eutychians Marcionites Ebions Ualentinians Carpocratians Tatians Nouatians and at a worde all such as haue had wicked opinioÌ„ other of God the father or of Christ or of y e holy Ghost or of any other parte of christian Religion in as much as by the gospell of Christ they are reproued them we doe openly pronounce to be wicked and damned and euen vnto Hell gates doe detest them And not only this but also in case they breake out in any place vtter them self we doe seuerely earnestly correct them with lawefull and conuenient punishmentes We coÌ„fesse in deede that certen newe sectes and such as before hath not ben hearde of as Anabaptistes Libertines Mennonions Zuenkfeldians by by at the springyng of the Gospell did starte vp But we giue thaÌ„kes vnto our God the world seeth now wel inough that we nother haue bred nor taught nor fostered these monsters Reade I praye thee whoe so euer thou arte our bookes they be in euery place to be solde what was euer written by any of oure men that might euidently fauer the madnes of these fellowes No there is no countre so free from these pestilent fellowes as these be wherein the Gospell is freely openly taught But yf menne will consider the very matter diligently rightly this is a great argumente that this doctrine whiche we teache is the truthe of the Gospell For nother is darnell commonly wonte to grow but with some kinde of grayne nor chaffe but with corne By and by after the time of the Apostles what time the Gospel was first spred abrode who knoweth not how many heresies sodenly sprang vp together Whoe euer hearde before of Simon Menander Saturnine Basilides Carpocrates Cherinthus Ebion Ualentine Secundus Marcosius Colorbasius Heracleo Luciane Seuerus And what shoulde we reherse these Epiphanius reckeneth fourescore Augustine moe and that distincte heresies whiche grewe vp together with the gospell Howe then was the gospell no gospell bycause that heresies sprange vp together with it other was Christ therfore no Christ And yet as we sayd this seede buddeth not amongst vs that openly freely teache the gospell AmoÌ„gest our aduersaries eueÌ„ in blindnes in y e darke these pestileÌ„ces doe rise and gather encrease strength wheras truthe is oppressed with tiranny cruelty can not be hearde but onely in corners and in secrete metinges Let them make a profe let them giue free course to the ghospell suffer the truthe of Iesus Christe to shine and to caste forth his beames into all partes they shal see by and by these shadowes at the lighte of the gospell to vanishe awaye euen as the darkenes of the night at the appearyng ot the Sunne For al those heresies whiche these men doe flaunder vs to foster and to nurrishe we dayely whyles they sit still and ar otherwise occupied doe confute and chase awaye Where as they saye that we are fallen into diuerse sectes and that some will be called Lutherans some Zuinglians that we could neuer wel agree amongst our selfs touchyng the summe of our doctrine what I praye you woulde they haue sayde if they had bene in the firste age of the Apostles and of the Fathers when one sayd I holde of Paule an other I of Cephas an other I of Apollo or when Paule reproued Peter when vpon occasion of stryfe Barnabas departed from Paule when that as Origene dothe testifye the Christians were deuided into so many factions that thei retained onely the name of Christians commune to them al els nothing that was like vnto Christian meÌ„ And as Socrates saithe y t for their dissensions sectes thei were scorned openly in stage plaies of the people when that as the Emperour Constantine dothe saye ther were so many dissensions braules in the Church that the misery therof might seeme to passe all the other miseries that were before Also wheÌ„ that Theophilus Epiphaniê° Chrysostome Augustine Rufine Ierome all being ChristiaÌ„s al Fathers al Catholikes did striue amongst themselues with most bitter contentions and such as coulde not be appeased when that as Nazianzenus saith the membres of one body one destroied an other when the Easte parte of the worlde was deuyded froÌ„ the West about leuened breade and for Easter matters of no great waighte when in all Councells nowe and then new Creedes and new Decrees wer stamped what trowe ye these menne woulde haue saide in those daies To whiche woulde thei haue chiefly applied theÌ„selfe From which woulde thei haue fledde Which Gospel would thei haue beleued Which would thei haue taken for Heretikes which for Catholikes Now for two names onely Luther Zuinglius what a busines do thei make Only to the enteÌ„t that bicause there is somthing whervpon thei two do not yet agree we shoulde ymagine that bothe of them erred nother of them had the Gospell and that nother of them did teache rightlye and truelie But Lorde what men trowe ye be these that fynde faulte with dissensions amongest vs Do thei all agree amongst themselfe Hathe euery one of them wel aduysed himselfe what waye to folowe Was there neuer no dissensions no braules amongst them How happeneth it then that the Scotistes and the Thomistes do agree no better about merytes of conueniency and merites of duety about oryginall sinne in the blessed virgine about a solemne and a simple vowe why doe the Canonistes say that eare confession is ordained by humayne positiue law and the SchoolemeÌ„ contrary by gods law Why doth Albert Pighius dissent from the Cardinall of Caieta Thomas from Lumbarde Scotus from Thomas Occame froÌ„ the Scot Alliensis from Occame the Nominales from the Reales And although we passe ouer the infinite dissensions of Friers and Monkes wherof some of them doe appoint their holines to be in fishe some in herbes some in shooes some in slippers some in a linnen garment some in a wollen some go in white some in blacke some are shauen broder some narrower some are shodde some are barefoote some girded some vngirded yet they ought to remember that there be some among them that say the body of Christ is present in the supper naturallye againe there be some euen of their owne company also that deny it that there be some that saye the bodye of Christ in the holy Communion is torne and crusshed w t teeth againe there be some that deny it that there be some that write that
haynouslye to exclayme agaynst our life It were a great deale more wisdome for them first other to make good their owne doynges before men or at the least to couer them somwhat more conningly For we doe kepe in vre oure olde auncient lawes and so farre forth as it maye be in these dayes and maners and in so great a corruption of al thinges we doe execute diligently and earnestly Churche discipline as for stewes for cōmon whores or flockes of concubines harlots we haue not Nor we doe not prefarre adultery before mariage nor we doe not occupie bawdery nor we gather no rentes vpon bawdy houses nor we doe not suffer incests and deuelish abuses of bodily luste nor such as Aloisius or as Casus or as Diazius the murderer to goe vnpunished For if these thynges had liked vs we needed not to haue departed from the felowship of these men where those thinges doe florish and ar had in price by rayson of our departing thus to fall into the hatered of men and into present perils Paule the fourth had not many moneths paste in prysonne at Rome certayn Augustine friers divers Byshops a great nōbre of other godly mē for the cause of religion He put them to tortures he examined them vpō interrogatories he assaide alwaies that might be At the laste how many coulde he finde of all these to be mē of vnordinate lustes how many whorehūters how many adulterers how many incestes Thākes be vnto our god although we be not such as we ought to be such as our professiō doth require yet what so euer we be if we be compared with these men euen our life and our innocencie shal easily cōfute these slaūders For we doe exhorte the people not onely w t bookes and sermōs but also with examples and well doyng vnto all kinde of vertue and of good deedes We teach that the gospell is not an ostentation of knowlege but the lawe of life and as Tertullian saith that a christian mā ought not to speake nobly but to liue nobly And not the hearer but the doers of the law ar iustified before God Unto al these thinges they ar wonte also to adde this to enlarge it w t all kindes of rayling that we be seditious personnes that we pluck the scepters from out of the handes of Kinges that we arme the people that we overthrowe all courtes of Iustice that we abolyshe lawes that we bryng possessions into common that we turne kingdomes into a popular state that we confoūde al thinges vpside downe To cōclude we would haue nothyng in y e cōmon welth to remayne vnfoyled O how often haue therwith these wordes inflamed the hartes of princes to the intent they should put out the light of the gospel whiles it were yet in kindelyng and should first begin to hate it before they might attayne to know it And that the magistrate as oft as he should see any of vs so ofte he should imagine that he sawe his enemie It would trouble vs very much to be thus odiously accused of high trayson but that we know that Christ him self before vs and the Apostles and infinite other good men and Christians were brought in hatered in māner for the same matter For Christe although he had taught that we ought to giue vnto Cesar y t which was Cesars yet he was accused of sedition bycause he was reported to be a mā that went about newe deuises and aspired to a kyngedome For this cause in open courte of iudgemente the people cryed agaynste hym If thou lettest this man goe thou arte not Cesars friende And the Apostles although they had alwayes and constantly taught that magistrates ought to bee obeyd and that euery soule is subiecte vnto the higher powres that not onely for feare of displeasure and of punishement but also for consciens sake yet they weer reported that they troubled the people and stirred vp the multitude vnto rebellion Aman chyefly by this meanes broughte the whole nation and name of the Iewes into hatered of the kynge Assuerus in sayng that they were a rebellious a stubbern people and that they cōtemned the proclamations and ordinances of Princes The wicked king Achab speaking vnto Eli the prophet of God Thou sayeth he troublest Israel Amasias the prieste of Bethel accuseth Amos the Prophet vnto kyng Hieroboam of cōspiracy Beholde sayeth he Amos hath made a conspiracie agaynst thee in the middest of the house of Israel To conclude Tertullian sayeth that this was a common complaint in his time agaynst all Christian men that they were traytours that they were enimies of their country that they were enemies to all mankinde Wherfore if truth now also at this time be euil spoken of and as it is the same thyng so it be intertayned with the same reproches wherewith it was wonte to be althoughe it be greuous and vnpleasant yet it can not seeme to be newe or a thing that hath not ben before accustomed It was an easye matter for these men fortie yeres paste to deuise these slaunders and other more greuous matters agaynste vs what time as in the middest of that darkenes some little lightsome beame of the truth as yet in those dayes vnknowne and not hearde of beganne first to rise and to shyne what time as Martine Luther and Huldericus Zuinglius twoe most excellēt personages sente of God to giue light vnto the world came firste vnto the Gospell what time as the matter was yet but newe and the successe vncertaine and mēs mindes were waueryng and astonied and their eares open vnto slaunders and no mischief so haynous could be deuised agaynste vs whiche for the noueltie and straūgnes of the doctrine it selfe should not of y e people easily be beleued For after this maner the olde enemies of y e Gospell Simmachus Celsus Iulian Porphyry in times paste toke in hande to accuse all Christians of sedition and of treyson before that other the Prince or the people could knowe what maner of mē those Christians were or what they did professe or what they beleued or what they would haue Now after that oure very enemies doe see can not denie but that alwayes in all our wordes and writinges we haue diligētly admonished y e people of their duety how that they ought to obey their Princes and Magistrates although they were wicked and that vse and experience doth declare thesame and the eyes of all men whatsoeuer and whersoeuer they be doe see it and beare witnes thereof It was but an vnsauery deuise to obiecte suche thinges agaynst vs and for wante of newe and fresh matter to goe aboute to brynge vs into hatred only with olde forworne lies For we giue thankes vnto oure God to whome alone this cause doth appertayne that in all the kingdoms Iurisdictions countrays and Commonweales whiche haue receaued the Gospel hytherto no such example hath ben at any
time For we haue ouerthrowne no kyngdome we haue deminished no mans rule or right of possessiō we haue disordered no cōmon welth They remayne yet in their place and in their auncient dignitie The kynges of our country of England of Scotlande of Denmarke of Suetia the Dukes of Saxonie the Erles of Palse the Marqueses of Brandeburgh the Lantgraues of Hess the common weales of the Heluetians and of the Grysonnes the free cities Strausborough Basile Francforde Ulme Anguste Norinberge all these I say remayne in the same right in the same state wherein they were before or rather by rayson that for the gospels sake they haue the people more obediēt in a much better estate Let them goe hardely into those places whereas nowe through the goodnes of God the gospell is hearde where is more Maiestie where is lesse ostentatiō and tiranny where is the prince more honored where doth the people lesse ryse into vprores and tumultes where was there euer anye common weale where any Churche more calme and quiet But you will say that at the beginning of this doctrine the husbande men of the country beganne to rage to make vprores in Germany Admit it were so But Martine Luther y e setter forthe of this doctrine wrote vehemently and sharply many thinges agaynst them and brought them againe to peace to dewe obediens Now as to that that is wonte to be sometimes obiected of men not well acquaynted with matters of the world touchyng the alteratiō of the state of Suycherlande and the killynge of Leopolde duke of Austria and restorynge of theyr countrye into libertie all this was done as it is euident ynoughe by all the Histories towe hondred and threscore yeres past vnder pope Boniface the eight at what tyme the Popes authoritie dyd chiefly florishe the whiche was aboute towe hūdred yeres before Hulderichus Zuinglius either begāne to teache the gospel or yet was borne From that time hetherto they haue euer kepte all thinges in reste and peace not only frō outward enemies but also frō ciuile warres and vprores at home But admit it were an offence to deliuer their coūtrie from the rule of straungers specially when they were arrogantly and tirannously ouerpressed yet were it agaynst all right and rayson eyther to burden vs with faultes that appertayne nothing vnto vs or thē with the offences of theyr forefathers But o merciful God will the Bysshop of Rome accuse vs of trayson wil he teache y e people to be obediēt subiect vnto magistrates or hath he any regarde to magistrates at al why thē doth he at this day y e which thyng none of the aūcient bysshops of Rome euer did suffer himself euē as though he would haue at Kinges and Princes whosoeuer or where so euer thei be to become his seruātes of his parasites and hierlinges to be called lord of lordes why doth he auaunt himselfe to be king of kinges and that he hath ouer them as his subiectes a kinges authoritie Why dothe he compell all Emperours and princes to promise by their othe true obedience vnto him why doth he boaste that the imperiall maiestie is a thousandfolde inferior to his estate grounding him self chiefly vpon this rayson that God made twoe lightes in Heauen and bicause heauen and earth were not in twoe beginninges but in one wherfore hath he and all of his marke like to the Anabaptistes and Libertines to the intent they might the more losely and safely range in al mischief shakē of the yoke of obedience and exempted themselues from vnder all ciuil authoritie wherefore hath he his legates that is to saye most crafty spies to lie as it were in a waite in the courtes in the councels in the chambers of all kinges Wherefore dothe he when it liketh him set christian princes together by the eares and to serue his owne luste turmoileth the whole wolrd with seditiōs why dothe he excommunicate and commaunde him to be takē for an Heathen mā and a Pagane if any Christian Prince doe refuse to obeye him and moreouer promiseth so liberalli his Purgatory pardones to any man that by any meanes dothe kill his enemie Doth he I pray you mainteine Empires and Kingdomes or hath he any desire at al that common weales shold be at reste and quiet Thou must pardon vs good reader if we shal seeme to vtter these thinges with more vehemencie and bitternes then should become diuines For the matter of it self is so shamefull and the desire of dominion is so great and outrageth so farre in the Pope that with other wordes it can not be vttered or after any more quiet maner For he was not afrayd to say in open Councell that the whole poure of all kinges depēded altogether vpō him He through ambition and desire of dominion hath plucked the Romane Empire in sondre and hath tossed and torne into peces al christendome he trayterously discharged the Romanes and the Italiās and also himself of that othe wherby he ought his allegiāce to the Emperour that remained in Grece and prouoked the subiectes vnto rebellion and called Charles Martel out of Frāce into Italy beginning a newe forme of regimēt made him Emperour He did caste out Chilperiche kyng of Fraunce beyng no euill prince from his kingedome onely bicause he liked hym not and made Pipine king in his place He decreed and iudged the kyngedome of Fraunce vnto Alberte the kynge of Romanes And that Philip should be caste out if his powre mighte haue serued hym thereto He brake the force of the moste florisshynge citie and common welth of Florence his owne coūtry and out of a free and quiet state he deliuered it vppe to be ruled after the luste of one mā He through his setting on brought to passe that all Sauoy on the one side by the Emperour Charles the fyft by Fraunces the Frenche king on the other was miserably torne in peeces so that the poore Duke had seātli one citie left him to repaire vnto I am weary of examples and it would be ouer tedious to reherse all the notable deedes of the Popes of Rome Of what religiō I pray you were thei that poisonned Henry the Emperour in the consecrated breade that poysonned Pope Uictor in the holy Chalyce that poysonned Ihon our king here in Englande in a drinking cuppe Sure I am who soeuer thei were and of what secte so euer thei were thei were nother Lutherans nor Zuinglians Who is it that is content at this daie to lette the greatest Kynges and Monarches of the worlde to come and kisse his blessed fete Who is he that commaundeth the Emperour to holde his horse by the bridel and the French kinge to holde his stirrope when he goeth to horsebak Who was he that toke Fraunces Dandalo Duke of Uenice kynge of Candy and of Cypres bounde him in chaines and threwe him vnder his table there to gnaw bones amongst the dogges Who