take not vpon thee to iudge the commands of thy betters Finally so b Greg. l. 2. c. 4. in 1. Regum Vera obedientia nec Praepositorum intentionem discutit nec praecepta discernit quia qui omne vitae suae iudicium maiori subdidit in hoc solo gaudet si quod sibi praecipitur operatur Nescit enim iudicare quisquis perfeclè didiceris obedire sainc Gregorie in these tearmes That true obedience doth nether examine the intention of Superiours nor discerne their commands because he that hath submitted all the iudgement of his whole life to one greater then himselfe hath no fairer way then to execute what he is commanded and he that hath learnt perfect obedience knowes not how to iudge Therfore the Iesuites are not to be blamed for making and obseruing a vowe which the Fathers of the primitiue Church doe not onely approue but euen ordayne as a thing necessarie for religious people You say further that they promis this blind obedience to a Generall who is alwayes subiect to the king of Spayne If you had informed your selues well of the truth of the busines you had learnt that it is false that their Generalls are ought to be or were alwayes such for euen Father Vitelesque who at this present is deseruedly possessed of that charge is a Romane borne and the last before him who lately deceased was a Liegois Next you vpbraid them with the Decrees which were made against them but it is sufficient that they were restored and established by the Edict of Henry the Great approued by all the Courts of Parlement in France Vvhich doth sufficiently iustifie the zeale of this order towards kings the affection therof towards the state and the profite which youthes reape of the care they take to instruct them Concerning their doctrine in point of power which they attribute to Popes ouer kinges you had spoken otherwise and more to the purpose if insteed of gathering it out of the writings of some particular men you had receaued it from the mouth of their Generall who in the yeare 1610. made a publike declaration wherby he doth not onely improue and disallow but absolutly prohibite those of his Order vnder most greeuous paines to maintayne vpon what pretext of tyrannie soeuer that it is lawfull to attempt vpon the persons of kings and Princes As touching the secrete of confession I haue not yet vnderstood that they hold any other opinion then that which the vniuersall Church holdeth But it is no wonder since you quarrell with the Sacrament that you imploy all your craft to make this become odious therby to hinder them whom you hold your enemyes because you are the enemyes of Gods Church from hauing accesse to kings persons and from the knowledge of secretes of their consciences wherat you ayme as the last words of your paragrafe doe testifie As for the Equiuocations which you say they vse and teach others to vse before their Iudges I referre you to the Answeres which they so often haue returned you vpon this subiect it shall suffice me onely to shew that blaming equiuocation in in them you practise it your selues nay euen most manifest lyes in matter of faith Vvicklef In the 2. booke on the life of â—videf by whom your french Martyrologe saith it pleased God to awake the world which was buried in the dreame of humane traditions being demanded an accompt of his faith did not he and his vse tergiuersations if we may credit your said Martyrologe who speakes of them in these words Striuing onely to find out tergiuersations and friuolous excuses therby to escape through ambiguitie of words Did not your Augustana Confessio vse equiuocation when it said Cap de Missa Our Churches were falsly accused of abolishing Masse for we doe yet retayne Masse and celebrate it with greatest reuerence Did not Melancton vse equiuocation Apud Hospiman part 2. hister an 25 41. when he did confesse that he and his had made the Articles at Asbroug ambiguous and easie to be turned To what end doth he say that the Articles made at Asbroug were to be changed and to be suted to occasions if he condemne equiuocation They framed ambiguous and guilefull formes of Transsubstantiation saith Caluine Epist 12. speaking of him and Bucere He indeuoured saith Chauaterus to setle a certaine concorde in an ambiguous kind of speach An. 1538. meaning Bucere Vve haue met with a confessing aduersarie For he himselfe teacheth vpon Erasmus that it is lawfull in the affaires of the Gospell to vse colours and clockes Bucere therfore and his fellowes when they grant to Luthere that the body of Christ is truly and substantially in the Eucharist and also that the vnworthy doe receaue it doe they not without compulsion for their owne pleasure yea and euen in matter of faith vse tergiuersatioÌ„s and equiuocations Doth not the same say that the Zuinglians differe from Luther though indeede it is false but in words onely Hospinian part 1. hist Sacram. Doth not Luther vpon this occasion tearme him a sower of words as saith Hospiniane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doe not the same Hospiniane and Simblerus swethish authours relate that Martir did vse for a tyme obscure and ambiguous words in the matter of the last supper In a word your Authouâ—s confesse that your inuisible Church for the space of many ages did professe our religion though with hart and mouth they beleeued yours which they could not doe not onely not without equiuocation but euen not without denying God And yet where is any of ours who doth not accnowledge that he is rather a thousand tymes to dy then to vse equiuacatioÌ„ in matter of Faith or to deny him not onely in hart but euen in word whom we are bound to confesse with both Touching their bookes if cortaine particular men composed any which were burnt what need you to stirre in their ashes Doe not the same Decrees which adiudged them to the fire iudge many of yours worthy of the same flames since they handle the same argument The picture which you mention cannot any way aduantage you since you and they aggree not in the fact for they sustayne that he whom you esteeme conuicted of a conspiracie against his king is wholy innocent of the fact and hold that he dyed for the sole defence of the Catholike religion Vvhence in comes to passe that if there be any errour in this it is errour of fact de facto not of right non de iure of Fact as beleeuing he dyed for his vertue not for his vice not of right as though they sustayned that it were lawfull to murther kings and that to suffer death for that cause were martirdome Now to conclud this Chapter it onely remaynes that we beseech God to shewre downe vpon you the waters of the fountaines of his Grace because being the nature of calumnie to obscure and blacken its owne authours not him
which was left vs by the Apostles and which to this day is conserued in the Romane Church This moued S. Ambrose to obserue that as long as Constantinople did nourish the poyson of the Arians in her breast her walls were coÌ„tinually inuironed with the armyes of her enemyes and that hauing once imbraced the Catholike faith she was deliuered from them with triumphe The tragidies which are represented vpon the French stage proceeds not from the contempt of your religion but from the contempt which the professours of it shew to the law of God the authoritie of his Church and their dutie to their kings Heresie hath alwayes occasioned greatest calamities in the states wherin it hath gotten footing and the kings that haue abbandoned the Romane faith haue ordinarily bene vnfortunate Christiernus king of Denmarke the first king that was imbued with your errours was deposed from his kingdome put in an iron cage and finally according to the opinion of the tymes poysoned as I haue alreadie mentioned The Electour of Saxonie nephew to the first Abbettour of Luther was taken prisoner by the Emperour condemned to death and in the end by commutation of punishment lost his Electourshipe and the moictie of his estate in sequall wher of his sonne dyed in prison The Lantgraue of Hesse who sustayned the same cause remayned for a long tyme prisoner Of 28. hereticall Emperours of Constantinople thirteene were slayne Of the rest some had their eyes pulled out some were deposed all dyed most miserably Hist Vvand Of seauen Vvandall kinges subiect to the same errours three were miserably murthered Of thirteene which the Visigots had Annal. Hist twelue did violently dy Of seauen of the Ostrogots two onely escaped the enemys sword Hist Ital. Of seauen which were in Lonbardie one onely escaped an vntymly death So manifest it is that heresie is the source of all mischeife and that he that forsakes the Romane Church is ordinarily oppressed with miseries and misfortunes Vvherfore hauing â—ust occasion to feare that you might be vtterly ruined therby if you continue in your errours I thought good hoping to reclame you and to reduce you to the bosome of the Church hauing alreadie refuted your writing to propose vnto you some reasons which obliging all the world to hate your religion might administer you iust occasion to forsake it I could easily produce a great number yet I will content my selfe with fiue onely which doe conuince that your beliefe is worthy of horrour because it doth introduce schisme into the Church reuiues the old heresies which were condemned in the primitiue Church banisheth all vertue authoriseth all vice and will haue no law whether of the Churche or of Princes to haue power to oblige in conscience THE RELIGION PREtended to be reformed is vvorthy of hatred because it makes a schisme in the Church CHAP. XV. SInce we are diuided and seperated in communion wheras before we were vnited in one body it is euident that you or we haue made a schisme It rests to be examined who is guiltie of this crime wherof I assure my selfe that by the iudgement of the whole world and of your owne consciences you remayne conuinced by vndenyable proofes since they are the same by which the Fathers of old did conuince those whom you your selues accnowledge to be Schismatiques It is euident saith saint a Cypr. l. de vnit constat à Christo eius Euangelio seperari non enim nos ab illis sed illi 〈◊〉 nobis exieâ—unt Cyprian speaking of the Nouatians that they are seperated from Iesus Christ and his Gospell because we went not out from them but they from vs Caecilianus saith a Lib. cont Farmen non enim Cacilianus exiuit a Maiorino sed Maiorinus a Caeciliano vna erat Ecclesia antequaÌ„ diuideretur ab ordinationibus Maiorini videndum est quis in radice cum toto orbe manserit quis CathedraÌ„ sederit alteram quae ante non fuerat S. Optatus against the Donatists did not seperate himselfe from Maiorinus your greatgrand father but Maiorinus from Caecilianus nor did Caecilianus Sperate himselfe from the Chaire of S. Peter or of S. Cyprian but Maior in the chaire in which thou sittest a chaire which before Maiorinus had no origine And a litle after The Church was one till it was diuided by those who ordayned Maiorinus Vve must now see who remayned with the whole vniuers in its beliefe and in its roote who is seared vpon another chaire then that which was before These two passages doe shew that the Nouatians and Donatists were accompted Schismatiques both because they with drew themselues from the Catholikes not the Catholikes from them as also because they erected a new chaire and finally because they stayed not together with the vniuers in the roote whence they sprung Now all these things doe conuince you considering that you went out from Catholikes and not Catholikes from you that you set vp a Chaire at Vvitemberg and at Geneua which was not before your tyme and that you haue seperated yourselues from the roote which produced you in lieu of remayning together with the whole world in the Romane Church which brought you forth That you went out froÌ„ Catholikes is iustifyed by your owne confessions and it is euident in that you cannot name one of the first followers of Luthere who had not bene of ours That you your selues are the Architectes and Founders of your chaire it is cleare Confess Helueticac 16. Ecclesiae nostrae se à Romana separarunt Luther in c. 11. Gen. Nos sumus sancti Apostatae defecimus enim ab Antichristo Sathanae Ecclesia Calu. 4. Instit c. 2. §. 6. Abeorum Ecclesia recessimus Et cap. 6. §. 1. ZaÌ„chius tract de Eccles c. 8. since none before the coming of Luthere did know at Vvitemberg nor at Geneua before Farell and Caluin the Chaire where your doctrine is preached and that you will not affirme that they which preceeded those personages in those places taught therin the same doctrine which you teach That you remayned not in the roote from whence you sprunge t' is manifest since you are no more in the Romane Church where you tooke your origine therfore it is vndoutable that the arguments of the said Fathers doe conuince you of schisme Nor doth it serue your turne to say that our abuses were the cause you withdrew your selues for without examining the cause of your seperation it sufficeth to know that you are separated there being no cause at all which can exempt a Church from schisme which comes intire out of another This is manifest in that the Church hauing drawen her beeing from no other but Iesus Christ cast into a sleepe vpon the Crosse like as Eue was drawen from no other place then from the side of Adam layd a sleepe in Paradise in that it preceded euerie false Christian societie euen as the Architype precedes that which is copied from
It is the part of a subiect to serue without voyceing his seruices leauing the accnowlekgment and publishing therof to the Prince If the Prince come short of our iust expectation yet hath a man no actioÌ„ of coÌ„plaint against him If a man coÌ„playne he is blameworthy and coÌ„sequently much more if he complaine while he hath cause to commend The Reader shall iudge whether those that haue bene admitted by their kings to establish a new Chaire in a state to erect a new ministrie who ly coÌ„trarie to that which they accnow ledge to be the tiue Ministrie of the Almightie who haue full libertie to make profession of a Belief directly opposite to theirs who are admitted to offices dignities and estates who by the benefit of the kings bountie inioy no smale number of townes and Castles for their safetie though all the rest of the French doe absolutely relie vpon his faith the true and sole Refuge of subiectes finally if those who haue large pensions who receaue grate benefits in whose fauour verie aduantagious Edicts are made and inuiolably kept the Reader I say shall iudge whether such people haue cause to complaine of their kings and tacitly to accuse them of ingratitude while they declare them selues loaden with iniuries for reward of their seruices If the Anabaptists had afforded as much assistance to some one of your Princes for the recouerie of his Estats as you pretend to haue afforded to Henry the Great would you counsell him to permit them more libertie then you inioy in France Or inioying so much would you admitt of their complaintes for that they did not iaioy equall libertie with you To conclude I appeale to your owne coÌ„sciences not onely whether all the Princes which professe your beleife but whether euen any of theÌ„ doe so treate curs in their States no I will demande yet lesse I aske not whether ours receaue benefits whether they beare offices whether they be preferred to any degree of honour it is too much I will yet fall lower and onely aske if they haue libertie giuen to professe our religion not openly but euen in secrete with assurance of their life Bezae Epist 4. Non dubitamus Magistratus optimoiure in praefatos Anahaptistas gladiuÌ„ strinxisse Bezade haeret puniend lib. integro Idem Epist. 1. est hee merè diabolicum dogma sinendum esse vnuÌ„quemque vt si voler pereat After you shall haue wellpondered the question which I haue put vnto you you will be able to returne me no other answere saue onely that some grace they receaue in such States to witt that of Martirdome which we doe most highly prise And indeede your authours doe teach that Heretiques are to be bainshed and punished and that libertie of conscience is diabolicall whence you doe prohibite it vs in all places wher you haue power While yet there is a faire differeÌ„ce betwixt your conditioÌ„ and ours you are Nouellists and consequently they whose possession you impeach might iustly haue hindred the exercise of your new beleife Luther and your owne Authours teaching Luth in 1. ad Galat. Luth. â—puâ— S. eâ—d l. 5. that so it ought to be done and practising accordingly Vve are possessours possessing a doctrine which the Apostles left vs by an vninterrupted transmission from hand to hand and therfore we cannot be lawfully repelled vnlesse we be first condemned by a generall Councell which is so far from euer hauing bene done that euen the Princes which imbrace your religion haue not yet condemned vs with any show of iustice since we haue neuer yet bene heard herin you vse their cunning who hauing giuen occasion of complainte complaine first Colloque de Poissy Conference de Fontainebelleau making show of aggreeuance in the same thinge although indeed this libertie is not denyed you and we are exceeding glad that it is giuen you knowing well that as many combats as we fight shall be as many Lawrells for vs and victories for the Church And desireing nothing more then by diligently obseruing the Edicts made in your fauour to meete with the occasions wherin we may bring a way to the aduantage of Truth new spoyles ouer your errours CHAP. III. Section I. MINISTERS FOr if this vvere permitted vs vve vvould make him clearely see that our religion is hated because it admitts no other rule of saluation then the vvord of God contayned in holy vvritt nor other head of the vniuersall Church then our Sauiour Iesus-Christ nor other Purgatorie for our sinnes then his bloode nor other sacryfice propitiatorie for our sinnes then his death and passion nor other merite before God then his obedience offered vp for vs to his beauenly father ANSWERE THe first thing which we are to marke in this point is the Art by which you vse to gaine mens harts and to alienate them from the Catholike Church in which we liue You represent your beleife hated for many reasons by which notwithstanding you pretend to make it commendable before God and man You will haue it to be hated for sustayning in points controuerted betweene vs that which makes most to Gods honour and for condemning in our Faith that which you hold vnworthy of his perfection In this you imitate the old Heresiarkes who opposed the principall points of Catholike religion vnder pretext of conseruing Gods honour more intire For this reason the Schismatikes as S. Cyprian deliuers Apud Cyprian ep 55. Hilar. l. 2. de Trinit solicite nimium ne patrem filius ab eo natus euacuet Marc. 2. Quis potest demittere peccata niss solus Deus Matthae 9. vnder collour of exalting God his mercy communicated with the christians who had sacrificed to Idolls before they had shewed a lawfull repentance For the same cause the Arians as we reade in S. Hilarie denyed that the sonne was consubstantiall with the Father least the dignitie of the Father might haue bene exhausted by this honour of the sonne For the same the Iewes would not haue Christ to haue power to absolue from sinne rendring that honour to God that it might be reserued to him alone For the same as we find in S. a Amb. l. 1. de poenit cap. 2. Aiunt Nouatiani se Domino deferre reueremiaÌ„ cui solt remittendorum criminum potestateÌ„ resernent Ambroise the Nouatians denyed that the Church had the same power For the same saith S. b August l. 32. contr Faust Quiae ta ia ibi sunt quae Christa gloriam decolorent Augustine the Manichies denyed certaine bookes of the scripture which they said contayned thinges which stayned the luster of the glorie of Iesus Christ To be short diuers others tooke this colourable cloake yet were they all condemned by the Fathers and most iustly because God in the establishing of christian Religion did not search that which was most honorable vnto him selfe especially in our iudgement but that which was most profitable vnto vs as we see planely in these words
one mans power but onely to know whether Christ being the head of the Church one should contumeliously wrong him by establishing an other head therof which doth cleately show a paritie betwixt a Particular head being compared to Iesus Christ as such and an vniuersall head compared vnto him in the same nature and qualitie of vniuersall head Now whether one man be of sufficient abilitie to gouerne the whole Church is a new yet a easie question to be decided sith that which a man performes by the helpe ef a friend himselfe is said and esteemed to doe But that I may cut of all euasions â— demand of you whether if the whole Church which you brauingly pretend to be reformed were in England whom you hold to be the head of it would be also in your opinion the head of the vniuersall Church If you grant this why should a qualitie which is not iniurious in his person be iniurious in the person of Peter But if you deney it render a reason of your negation It is not in that the essence or nature of Head is in genere or generally speaking contumelious since you grant it to a prince whom you honour Nor is it for that one onely is not sufficient to gouerne the vniuersall Church because following that supposition the Church is reduced to such circumstances that it doth not exceede the abilitie of one man to gouerne it since one man actually in that extention doth gouerne it And therefore it is manifest that that which we teach is not iniurious to Iesus Christ or if it be impertinently then doe you sustayne the part of a Plaintiue in a crime wherin you your selues will be conuinced as culpable Vvhich yet will be made more euident by the insuing articles where I will endeuour to shew that it is a greater aduantage of honour to produce a thing by the assistance of another though one man alone be able to produce it permitting another to haue share in the glorie which he could reserue to himselfe alone and will make appeare by consequeÌ„ce that it is more honorable to Christ Iesus who alone is able to gouerne the Church yea thirtie Churches if so many there could be to let others share in this gouernement then wholy to reserue it to himselfe And euen at this present I will giue you a scantling of it in that which by the light of faith you haue seene to witt that God did repute it a greater laude and glorie to haue constituted Christ as man the Heade of the vniuersall Church vnder him then to haue retayned and reserued all that dignitie to himselfe without communicating it to any other In conclusion I would in treate the Reader diligently to obserue the Ministers subtiltie which is of this nature that wheras there are two sorts of questions The one Vvhether the Pope be the Heade of the vniuersall Church The other whether supposing him to be the head of the vniuersall Church he ought to be called another head of the Church then Iesus Christ or not In like manner whether good workes be meritorious and supposing them to be meritorious whether that merit ought to be tearmed another merit then that of Iesus Christ Vvhether the workes of pennane doe cleance from sinne and supposing they doe cleance from sinne whether they ought to be called another cleanceing or purgatorie then the blood of Iesus Christ whether the rite and celebration of the Eucharist be a true sacryfice and supposing it to be a true sacryfice whether it is to be called another sacryfice then that of the Crosse Of which two questioÌ„s the first belonges to the nature and beeing of the thing and is of Faith The second respects the name onely and is not of Faith S. Aug. contr Iulianum cap. c. and therfore as S. Augustine saith may be disputed pro con amongst Catholikes Doctours without impeachment to Faith In these questions this is the Ministers craft They passe the first which is of faith ouerin silence The other which is not of Faith they discusse To the end that by reiecting these formes of speach There is another head of the Church then Christ another merit then Christs merit another sacryfice then the sacryfice of the Crosse c. they may carrie away the Reader to beleeue that none is head of the Church but Christ and finally that no action but that which Christ performed vpon the Crosse was a sacrifice And be it that following some Catholike Doctours we may vse those kindes of speach ether meaning that there is another head of the Church then Iesus Christ another merit another sacryfice c. not of another kind but of another order onely or els that there is another person then Iesus Christ who is heade of the Church other workes meritorious another actions sacryfice c. In which sense somme tymes I call the Euchariste another sacrifice then that of the Crosse and good workes other meritorious workes then those of Iesus Christ But for as much as I obserued that the Ministers by this slight of impugnig a manner of speach aymed at the vtter destruction of certaine Articles of Faith I thought good to grant them that we were not barely to sustayne that there is another heade another merit another sacryfice c. therby to make euident that whether we grant or we deney them this manner of speach yet can they thence draw no aduantage against that which is of Faith SECTION IV. MINISTERS NOr other Purgatorie for our sinns but his bloode ANSWERE IF by the word Purgatorie you vnderstand not the place where but the cause wherby we are purged from our sinns we intirely ioyne hands with you for in that sense we teach Aust l. 2. cont Crescon c. 12. Mundantur homines baptismâ— munâ—aÌ„tur verâ—o veritatis muÌ„dantur sacrificio conâ—riti cordis muÌ„dantur â—leemosynis muÌ„dantur â—â—sae charitate that there is no other Purgatorie then in the blood of Christ We say indeede with S. Augustine that there are other things as baptisme the word of truth the sacryfice of a contrite hart almes deeds and Charitie which doe purge and purifie mens soules but wheras they doe cleance vs nether by their owne vertue nor by the meanes of any other thing which is distinct from the blood of Christ but by the power and vertue therof and that in a far different manner to witt inferiour and subordinate to that by which he doth first purge vs one ought not to call it another purgatorie because diuers Purgatories for the reasons alreadie alleaged import a purifying diuersi generis of another kind while yet no such thing is found in mans iustification there being nothing at all which can purge vs but by the force and efficacie of the blood of Iesus Christ This blood it selfe of it selfe doth expiate our crymes as being the onely and proper prise of our sinnes and that wherby our debts are cancelled But the word of
owne nature and substance as may be seene in Hospiniane and diuers other Authours Hauing conuinced you to be enemyes of the Saints Enemies of God of the B. Virgine Iesus Ch. and good workes we will now see whether you be not also enemyes of God And certes you are enemyes of the whol Trinitie making God almightie authour of sinne and euery effect of the three persons is common which being without God proceeds from his power You deny that you teach this blasphemie I affirme it we are at variaÌ„ce in this point But shortly we shall aggree at least by the iudgment of all men that without passion and perturbation doe consider the case For myne owne part I will indeuour to speake nothing which shall not be openly accnowledged to be the same which you affirme Is not this to make God guiltie and the cause of sinne if you auerre that he wills sinne as sinne That sinne was ordayned by Christ that euill is not onely foreseene but eueÌ„ predestinated by God That God would certainly ordaine the fall of maÌ„ and gradatim dispose the causes of his damnationâ— Finally that man is blinded by the will and command of God And yet these things you say Sinne saith Sanchius a Zanchius in Miscell lib. de Excaecat q. 5. Peccatum consideratum etiam vt peccatuÌ„ quatenus ad illustraÌ„daÌ„ Des gloriam facit eatenus peccatuÌ„ malum culpae praeordinatum est à Deo coÌ„sidered euen as it is sinne so farforth as it makes to the illustrating of Gods glorie in this sense sinne and the euill of the fault malum culpae is ordayned by God By Gods ordonnance and becke saith Caluin b Calu. in c. 3. Gen Dico Dei ordinatione nutu lapsum esse Adam hominem labi voluit Adam fell He would haue man to fall It is the opinion of our Doctours saith Pareus c Paraeus l 3. de amiss gratiae c. 2. NostroruÌ„ Doctorum senteÌ„tia est quod Deus tentationem lapsum bomini infallibiliter decreuerit that God did infallibly decree the temptation and fall of man God d Lib. 1. de Praed Deus non tantum ad damnationeÌ„ sed etiam ad causas damnationis praedestinauit quoscuÌ„que libucrit saith Beza did not only predestinate who soeuer he pleased to damnation but euen to the causes of damnation Man was blinded saith Caluine e Calu. 1. instir c. 18. §. 1 Volente iubonte Deo excaecatur homo by the will and coÌ„mandement of God Doe not they who speake in this sort make God the cause of sinne yea euen of the malice of sinne which sinne as it is sinne doth formally import and contayne Moreouer to affirme that God was Authour of Pharaos obduration to coÌ„stitute the diuine will the prime and supreame cause therof that God doth inflict sinne and that he made maÌ„ and Angells violaters of the diuine law is not this to make God Authour of sinne in plane tearmes And yet this you auerre too Certaine it is saith Sanchius f Zanchius sup q. 1. Certum est Deum primariuÌ„ fuisse huius obdurationis authorem that God was the prime Authour of this obduration We resolue saith g Calu. lib de Prad In Doum transferimus obdurationis causas Caluine the cause of obduration into God And in another place h Lib. de Prouid Dei voluntas summa est vel remota causa obdurationis Et 3. Instit c. 23. § 1. Sequitur absconditum Dei consilium obssurationis esse causam the will of God is the chiefe or remote that is the primarie cause of obduration Gods Decree saith i Beza de Praedest ad art is Corruptionis causis excludere Des decretum non potest Beza cannot be excluded from the causes of corruption God saith a Martyr in Rom. 1. Deus infligit peccatum originale Mart. doth inflict originall sinne God saith Zuin. b Zuingl lib. de Prouid c. 5. makes maÌ„ ad Angells traÌ„sgressiours He that affirmes that God doth incite moue necessitate and doth so compelle men to sinne that they cannot anoyd it and that the efficacie of the errour proceedes from God doth he not make God guiltie and cause of sinne Dâ—us Angelum transgressorem facit hominem He that attributes the species attributes without doubt the kind genus too and therfore whosoeuer ascribes this qualitie to God that he doth compell men to sinne doth also doubtlesly make God cause of sinne since compulsion is but à certaine species vnder that generall cause and yet this you doe God saith c Mart. in Rom. 1 Deus in clinat impellit voluntates impiorum in grauta peccata Martyr doth incline and inforce the wills of the wicked vpoÌ„ greeuous sinns God saith Zuingl d Zuing lib. do Drouid c. 6. Mouet Deus latronem ad occidendum Deo impulsat occidit at inquies coactus est ad peccandum permitto inquam coactum esse Et in margine Deus mouet sontes ad pecâ—anduÌ„ doth moue the thiefe to kill God incites he kills but you will say goes on the same that he was compelled to offend and I admit your inference he was compelled The reprobate saith Caluin e Calu. 3. Instit c. 23. §. 9. Gall would be thought excusable in offending because they cannot auoyd the necessitie of sinning especially since that depends vpon the ordonnance and will of God but I contrariwise deny that that can be à sufficient excuse for them because this disposition of God is iuste A Creature saith Parçus f Paraeus li. 2. de amiss grat c. 13â— Nei essario quidem iustisssmo iudicio Dei peccat creatura Item lapsum hominis ex accideÌ„ te ob Dei decretum necess â—â—ium ineuitabilen fuisse nostri redissime asserunâ— doth necessarily offend and that by Gods most iust iudgment Our men saith the same doe rightly affirme that mans fall was by accident by reason of Gods decree necessarie and ineuitable God adds the same a Et cap. 4. Opera malorum Deus quae sunt mala poenae iusta sua iudicia facit efficacissime doth the workes of the wicked most efficaciously Which are the euills of paine mala poenae and his iust iudgments The efficacie ef the errour saith Caluine b Calu. 1. Instit cap 18 §. 2. A Deo ipso manat efficacia erroris vt mendacijs credant that credit is giuen to lyes proceeds from God They that will haue God be Authour of all those things which as we teach happen by Gods permission onely doe they not deliuer in expresse tearmes that God is authour of the malice of sinne which we hold he permitts onely and yet this you doe Now I haue plaÌ„ly enough shewen saith Caluine c Calu. 1. Instit c. 18 §. 3. that God is called the Authour of all those things which those Controwlers will haue to happen
by his idle permission They that doe teach in expresse tearmes that God by his pure will of his owne free motion without all consideration of merite doth predestinate to dānation and damnes man doe they not speake yet more detestably then when they make God the Authour of sinne And yet this you doe God of his owne accord saith Luther d Luth. lib. de seru arbitrio Deus mera sua voluntate homines deserit indurat damnat abbandons hardens and damnes men In damning them saith e Et ibid. Non respicit merita en damnandis Et ib. Immeritos dānat itam seuerit atem spargit in immeritos he in another place he respects not merits be damnes those that haue not merited it He powres out his wroth and seueritie vpon such as haue not merited the same And yet in another passage he saith f Hic est sidei summus gradus credere illum esse iustum qui sua voluntate nos necessario damnabiles facit that the soueraigne degree of faith consistes in beleeuing that he is iust who by his sole will make vs necessarily damnable God saith he a Ibid. Deus absconditus operatur vitam mortē omnia in emnibus multa vult quae verbo suo non ostendit sese velle sic non vultmortem peccatoris verbo scilicet vult autem illam voluntate imperscrutabili wills many things which yet by his word he shewes not to will so he willeth not the death of sinners to witt in word but he wills it by his inscrutable will By his onely will saith Caluine b Calu. 3. Instit c. 23. §. 2. Nudo etus in arbitrio citra propriū meritum in aeternam mortem prae destinantur and without cōsideration of their owne merits they are predestinated to eternall death Caluine saith Paraeus c Paraeus li 2. de Grat. lib. arb cap. 16. ait Caluinus Apostolum sequutus praedestinationē peccati praeuisione priorem facit following the Apostle makes Predestination preceede the foresight of sinne How can you now purge your selues of blasphemie wherof you stand indited in making God Author and cause of sinne especially being conuicted therof by so many expresse testimonies of your owne principale Authours To what pourpose shoald you deny with your mouth so detestable à doctrine since it lyes still at your hart and since your writinges wch you should haue waighed in the waightes of the Sāctuarie ought rather to winne credit thē your words For if not to auouch ones crime were à sufficient meanes to be purged of it ther would none be found criminall though they stood conuicted of the fact What will you say to this that our senses deceaue vs and that we see what is not we appeale to your owne eyes which I dare be bold to say will aggree with ours if you will please to take the paines to open thē and looke vpon your booke to see therin the passages which I haue most faithfully coted You will say peraduenture that their meaning is onely that God is cause of sinne not that he is Authour therof But this answere is no defence for you since your Doctours doe say againe and againe that he is Authour of sinne ether in expresse tearmes or in words equiualent Adde that though there is indeede à difference betwixt these words Authour and cause in that the one doth signifie more then the other Authour signifying à first cause which doth moue of it selfe yet light you of nothing which can free you from crime since it it is blasphemie not onely to make God Authour of sinne but euen to hold him to be the cause therof You say that when yours doe make God the Authour and cause of sinne they speake of the acte not of the malice of sinne But you cannot haue recourse to this answere because you vse this reduplication sinne as sinne tearming him cause of the euill of saulte mali culpae and making him the fountaine whence flowes the efficacie of errour What haue you then to reply That though you deliuer in your writings that God is Authour of sinne yet doe not you beleeue it you will not gaine credit in this nether and againe which is yet worse it is à part of the Diuell and his disciples whose ayme is the destruction of soules to speake one thing and beleeue another in matter of saluatiō You condēne in one place what you professe in another or rather you blush vpon some occasiōs to make that good which you are not ashamed to beleeue at all tymes Indeuour your vtmost you shall neuer be able to persuade euen the most ignorant that those truthes which you miscall calumnies in your writings are calumnies indeede for euery one will easily discouer that if there be any calumnie and iniurie it is that which you impose vpon the Saints the B. Virgine Iesus-Christ good workes God him selfe Which calumnies and iniuries doe indeed make your religion odious for which yet you can iustly blame none but yourselues seeing it is euident that you are so far from refuting those blasphemies by your writings sermons and liues that contrariewise your writings preachings and liues doe teach them In this extreamitie and being reduced into these straights whither are you to betake your selues certes if you stand to your word you are to depart out of humane societie and to retire your selues into same corner of the world not yet inhabited Yet if you will please to let me haue credit with you you shall doe yet beter You shall accnowledge your faulte forsake your errours and then in steede of seperating your selues from the societie of men the Church shall receaue you againe into the societie of her children which you abandoned and in which onely saluation is to be found CHAP. VIII MINIST BVt principally we could make knowen to your Maiestie that we are hated and hardly dealt withall because we maintaine the dignitie of your crowne against vsurping strangers who doe defile and bring it into slauerie For your Maiestie may call to mynd that in the late assemblie of the states at Paris the question was handled whether the Pope Could depose our kings and whether it is in the Popes prower to dispose of your crowne and that by the faction of the Church-men who drew à long with them à parte of the Nobilitie you lost your cause Wherupon the Pope dispatched vnto them letters triumphant and full of prayse A thing which we and diuers of your Catholike Romane subiects would neuer endure knowing that we owe our liues and fortunes to the defence of the dignitie of your crowne especially to the defence of à right which God bestowes vpon your Matie and which is grounded vpon his word Hopeing that one day God will open your eyes to discouer that vnder this specious name of Romane Church the Pope doth establish vnto him selfe à temporall Moniarchie vpon earth and hath withdrawen from your obedience