iustifyed by faithe i Christ is asmouche to say as we optayne remission of sinne and ar acceptyd into the fauor of god by the merites of Christ to be iustied by workes is asmouche to say as to deserue remissiō of sine by workes Paule declarythe that for the dethe and merites of Christ we be sauyd and not by oure awne uertewes so that faythe doothe not only shew us Christ that died and now sittithe at the right hand of God but also applyythe the merites of this deathe unto us and makyth Christ oures faythe layng nothyng to gayge unto the iustice of God but the deathe of Christ and there upō clemythe marci and Godes promes the remission of sinne and desyrythe God to iustyfye and delyuer the soule from the accusacion of the law and right of the deuill whiche he is bound to do for his promesse sak Ezech. 33. Matth. 17. and altowghe withe this remission of sinne he yeuithe like wice the holy goost to work the will of God to loue boothe God and his neyghbowr not withstōding the conscience burdenyd and chargyd with sinne fyrst sekythe remission therof For this thyng the conscience laborythe and contendithe in all feres and terrours of sorow and cōtrycion it disputithe not what uertewes it bringith wreachid soule to accleme this promis of mercy but for sakyng here awne iustice ofrithe Christ ded upon the crosse and sitting at Godes right hand Nothyng makithe it the cause wherfore this mercy shuld be yeuen sauyng only the deathe of Christ which is ton litron the only sufficient price and gayge for sinne And althowghe it be necessary and requysyt that in the iustification of â synner contricion to be present and that necessaryly cherite and uertews lieffe moost folow yet dothe the scripture attribute thonly remission of syn̄e unto the mercy of god wliche is yeuyne only for the merites of Christe and receauid soly by faythe Paule doothe not Exclude those uertewes to be present but he excludith the merites of these uertews and deryuithe the cause of our acceptation in to the grace of god only for Christ And Mark this maner of speache fide iustificamur Hoc est fiducia misericordie sumus iusti This word faythe doth cōprehēd as well à perswacion and confidence that the promese of god appertaynith unto him for Christes sakeas the knolege of god for faith thowghe it desyre the cōpany of Contricion and sorow for synne yet contendith it not in iudgmen upon the merites of no workes but only for the merites of Christes deathe in case it dyd it auaylithe nothing For if a aman desyre to be delyūid from the law the law must be satisfied Whiche saithe diliges do minum deum tuum ex tota mente toto corde ex omnibus uiribus Deuteron 6. Now there is nor neuer was ony man born of the stoke of Adame in originall synne that feryd god asmouche as the law requirithe nor neuer had souche constant faythe as ys requiryd nor souche ardent loue as it requirithe seyng those uertewes that the law requiryd be infirm and debile for there merites we can optayne nothing of god we must therfore only trust to the merites of Christ whiche satisfied the extreme iot and uttermust point of the lawe for us and this his iustice and perfection he imputithe and cōmunicatithe withe us by faythe souche as say that only faythe iustifiethe not because other uertewes be present they cānot tell what they say euery man that will haue his cōscience appesyd moost Marke those too thynges How remission of synne is optaynid and wherfore it is optaynid faythe is the meane wherby it is optaynid and the cause wherfore it is receuid is the merites of Christ althowgh faythe by the meanes wherby it is receauid yet hathe nether faythe ner cherite ner contricion ner the word of god nor all those knyt to gather sufficient merites wherfore we shuld optayne this remission of synne But the only cause wherfore synne is for yeuing is the deathe of Christ Now Mark the wordes of Paule ffrely saythe he wear iustified by his grace Let the man byrst his hart withe contricion belyue that god is godd athowsand tymes burn in cherite yet shall not all these satisfie the law nor delyuer man from the Ire of god untill souch tyme as faythe lettithe fall all hope and confidence in the merites of souche uertewes as be in man and say lord behold thy unfrutefull seruant only for the merites of Christes blud yeue me remission of synnes for I know no man can be iustified other wyce beforethe as Dauid sayth Non iustificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis uiuens Psal 143. agayne Beatus uir cui Dominus non imputat peccatum Psal 32. He that would marke Christes communication wythe that Noble man and great Clerk Nicodemus Ioan. 3. Shuld be satisfyed how and wherfore man is iustified so plainly that no aduersary of the truithe shuld hurt this infallible uerite sole faythe to iustifie Nicodemus hauing â good opinion althow not â sufficiēt knolege of Christ Came unto hym by night and confessyd hym to be sent from God and that because of souche workes and miracles as he had wrowght Christ made answer Trewly Nicodemus Isay unto the Noman can se the kyngdon of God except he be born from â boue Nicodemus not undrestonding what Christ ment Askid him how an old mā could be born agayne and whether he could entre his mothers belye and then be born agayne Christe bringithe hym yet ner unto the light that he might know the meanes and saythe I tell the treuly Nicodemus that noman can entre the kyngdon of God Except he be born of the water and the holy gost c. Nicodemus confessyd yet agayne his ignorancy and desyryd to be father instructyd sayng How may these thynges be Christ answerid Thow art the great Master and Rabbi in Israel and yet ignorant of these thynges Meanyng that great and horrible must the ignorancy of the people be when there doctors know not the trewthe Nicodemus confessing his ignorancye and receauing reproche at Christes hand because he toke upon hym to teache other and yet â fole hym selfe in the religiō of god Might for shame haue lefte Christ and his gospell yke because he now is made â scholer that before was for his prudence and lerning the cheffe of the Iewes A pharise of moost notable estimacion Christ streight way confortithe hym all other lernid and unlernid and saythe Noman ascendithe into heauen Except he that descendyd from heauen the sonne of man Whiche is in heauen as thowghe Christ had sayd thus discomfort not thy selfe Nycodemus that althowghe thow be agreat lernyd man and yet ignoraunt of the wayes unto euer lasting lief for I promesse the there is noman lernyd nor unlernid that can of his awne wit and lerning ascend unto the knolege of lief euer lasting but only he that descendyd from heauen the sone
in this law it is prescribid Of wbat degre uocation or calling so euer he be his dewty is shewid unto hym in the scripture And in this it differith from mannes lawes because it is absolute perfeit and neuer to be Chaungid Nothing addid unto it nor taken from it And the churche of Christ the more it was and is burdenyd withe mannis lawes the farther it is from the trew and syncere uerite of godes word The more man presumith and takith authorite to interpretat the scripture after his awne brayne and subtill wytt and not as the uerite of text requirith the more he dishonorith the scripture and blasphemith god thauctor therof It is the office of â good man to teach the churche as Christ tawght to reuoke all Errours and souch as Er unto the fold of Christe only by the word of Christ For the water at the foyntaynce hed is more halsom and pure then when it is caryd abrode in roten pypes or styn king diches I had rather folow the shadow of Christ then the body of all generall conselles or doctors sith the death of Christe The deuille neuer slept but allways by his ministres attemptyd to destroy the uerite of Christes relligion and cleane to put out the ligth of truithe Which was perfet in Christes tyme and in the tyme of the Apostelles Nonne sith that tyme so pure Saynct hieromein uita malchi sayth that his tyme was darkenys in the respect of the Apostelles tyme. The antiquite of the worold doth darken the uerite of godes word As Varro sayth truith uetustatem multa deprauare Multa etiam tollere Et tercium seculum inquit non uidet eum hominem quem uidit primum The truith of godes uerite the more it is usidd practysid and taught aster the wisdom of man the more is the glory and perfection therof darkenyd it is the contrary in all Humane artes as Cicero sayth in humanis nihil simul inuentum perfectum fuit usuque exercitatione factum sit Vt hoc praestantiores artes quaedam fuerint quo longius ab origine sua inuentoribus essent deducte The churche of god must therfore be bound to none other authorite thē unto the uoyce of the gospel and unto the ministery therof as Esa sayth cap. 8. Obsigna legem in discipulis meis the Prophete spekith of souch darkenis as shuld folow his tyme conserning the comming of Messias the trew Doctor of the churche therfore prayd to preserue the trew heres of the Prophetes and that it would pleac hym to confirm the doctrine of truth in there hartes lest the word and trew undrestonding of the word by the deuille shuld be put out and seing the church is bound unto this infallible truith the only word of God it is â false and usurpyd authorite that men attribute unto the clerge and bynd the word of God and Christis church to the successiō of byshoppes or ony coleige of Cardinalles Scoles minystres or Cathedrall churches Paule would noman to yeue fayth to ony person or minystre in the church of God but when he preachith the word of God trewli Gal. 1. Men may haue the gyfft of God to undrestond and interpretat the scripture unto other But neuer authorite to interpretat it other wyse then it interpretatithe it selfe whiche the godly mynd of mā by study meditacion and conferryng of one place therof withe the other may fynd how be it some more some lesse as God yeuith his grace For the ponyshement of our synnes God leuithe in all men à great imperfection and souche as were induyd withe excellent wytt and lernyng saw not allwayes the truithe As it is to be seen in Basilius Ambrose Epiphanius Augustyne Bernerd and other thowghe they stayed them selfes in the knolege of Christ and Erryd not in ony Principall article of the faythe yet they did inordinatly and more then Inowghe extolle the doctrine and tradicion of men and after the deathe of the Apostellis euery doctors tyme was subiect unto souche ceremonye and mannes decrees that was nether profetable ner necessari therefore diligently exortyd Paule the churche of Christ principalto consider and regard the fundacion of all ueryte Menyng that Doctors of the chnrche had there imperfectiō and faultes Fundamentum inquit non potest poni aliud praeter id quod positum est quod est Iesus Christus In the se few wordes is stablyshe al oure faythe and all false religion reprehendyd upon this foundacion sommen buld gold to say godly and necessari doctrine as Policarpus that confutyd the he resy of marcion de essencia Dei of the causis of sinne that the deuyll and mā is the cause of sinne and not god nor fatall destiny nor the influens or respectes of the planetes He meynteinid the trew religion of god and gouernyd the church As the scripture tawght whiche he lernyd of Iohan euangelist and defendyd this truith withe woūderfull cōstāce and martyrdō Basilius and many other reteynid the articles of the faythe but they institutyd the lieffe and rule off monkes and preferryd that kynd of lief before the lief of souche as gouern in the comune wealth the people of god and persuadyd men that souche kynd of lieffe was auery deuyne and acceptable honoryng of god After hym folowyd souche as augmentid this yle and said it was not only acceptable unto God but also that men might deserue therwithe remission of sinne thus alitle and alitle the deuill augmentid supersticion and deminyshyd the trewth of Godes glory so that we se no where the churche of Christ as it was in the Apostelles tyme thowghe mani and godly uerites hathe byn browght unto light in our tyme by men of diuerse graces yet is not the truithe of necessary uerites playnly sheuyd by them lest man shuld to mouche glorye in hymselfe he permyttyd them to ar in certayne poyntes As Luther of ablyssyd memorie which wrote and preachyd the gospell of iustificacion nomā better yet in the cause of the sacramēt he arrithe concerning the corporall precens of Christes naturall body that there is no man can ar more I shall haue occasion to writ the truith concerning this mater herafter it is no reproche of the did man but myne opinion unto all the worold that the scripture soly and the Apostelles churche is to be folowyd and nomans authorite Be he Augustine Tertullian or other Cherubim or Cherabim unto the rules and Canones of the scripture must man trust and reforme his errores therby or else he shall not reform him selfe but rather deform his consciens The churche of the Romaynes Corin thiōs and other the seuē churches that Ioā writithe of in the Apocalipses were in all thinges reformyd unto the rule and form prescribyd by the euerlasting God the ymayge of these churches I allwayes prynt in my mynd And wher so euer I com I lok how nere they resemble the afore rehersid and whether there prechers
but untill souch tyme as they shew me that glorious and perfeit mannes body of Christ as it was shewid unto the blessid uirgine there sayng belyue belyue shall not com into my belyue for Christ saith Nolite credere Of Christes wordes Marci 13. de die illo nemoscit the moment of the last tyme No man knowithe nether the sonne of god in asmouche as he is man I gather this argument A maiori if it be denied Christ concerning his man hed to know the last day mouch more to be euery where or to be in diuer places at one tyme is denied his humanite for it is more iÌ„possible and wounderfull to be euery where then to know many thinges I kno the Geographus conceuithe and coÌ„prehendithe all the worold in his hed But to be in all places where as his thowghtes and sprit is ocopyed it is impossible farther Christ is body hathe not loost his corporall qualites but wher so euer he be corporaly there is he with all qualites of abody and not withe out qualites as these dreamers imagine I will not iudge my sauiour that died for the sinne of the worold to haue abody in heuen sensible with all qualites of trew man and in the sacrament with out all qualites and quantites of à trew body But abhor and detest with the scriptura this opinion as an heresy so litle differing from marcion that I can scarse put diuersite as corporally is the corporall and substantiall body of all Englond in the hed of hym that describith by mape or cart the hole Realme in Italy or other wher so corporally is the body of Christ in the hart of the Christian The concept imaginacion or form conceuid of Englond is not the body mater nor substance selfe of inglond no more is the spirituall coÌ„cept of Christes body the corporall body it selfe thowg Auicen and Auerrois would prow souch à conclusion yet the fayth of our Religion will not suffre it à Pantasticall imagination to be à trew substannce to say that Christes uere naturall body is in the erth and yet inuisible it is to destroy the body and not to honor the body Aristole li. 5. metaphisicoruÌ„ cap. 22. definit what inuisible is inuisible inquit est quod non habet omni no colorem Take this from Christes body that it is trewly in the sacrament corporally and yet inuisible is to say Christ hath lost all the colour shape and form of his humanite But what shall Aristolle do in this our fayth the scripture teachith what we shuld belyue ascendit ad coelos sedet ad dex tram Dei patris omnipotentis Inde ueÌ„turus est iudicare uiuos mortuos Act. 1. Mar ultimo Luc. ultimo And hath leffte us à sacrament of his blessid body the which wear bond to use religiousy and many times to exercise and stablish our fayth and he being absent corporally dooth communicat by fayth in sprit that most precious body and the merites of the same and would to god peple would use it with more reuereÌ„ce and more awght as the scriptur teachith with trew amendemet of lieff and fyrm fayth I pout out a book in Septembre last past dedycatyd to my lord of wincheffter where in I haue declarid all my fayth conserning this blessyd and holy sacrament therfor I will passe to the other offyce of Christes pryshed Caput IX THe fourthe offyce of Christ is to consecrat and sanctifie these that beliue in him He is not onli holy him self but makith holy others also As he saythe IoaÌ„ 17. Pro eis sanctifico meipsum ut sint ipsi sanctificati perueritatem this sanctification is none other but à trew knolege of God in Christ by the gospell that teachyth us how unclene wear by the sinne of Adamme an how that wear clensid by Christ for who is sake the father of heauen doothe not only remitt the sinnes wrowght willyngly agaynst the word of God but also the imperfectioÌ„n and naturall concupiscens whiche remaynythe in euery man as long as the nature of man is mortall How the father dooth sanctifie his people the prayer of Christ shewith Ioan. 17. sanctifica eos per ueritatem tuam sanctifie them by thy word purche the hart teache them halow them make them apt for thy kyngdon wherwithe withe thy worde which is euer lastiÌ„g uerite The meaÌ„s to sanctifie is the word of God the holy gost and faith that receuith the word of our redemption so doothe Peter say Acto 15. Fide purgari corda nostra Here is the cause expressyd wherby we accept our sanctificacion by fayth sayth sanct Peter saynct Paule 1. Corint 6. shewith for whois sake and wherfore we ar sanctified Abluti estis sanctificati estis iustificati estis per nomen domini Iesu ê‘ spiritum Dei nostri For the merites of Iesus Christe by the operacion of the holy goost This is to be allwaies markyd that when Christ had prayed his father to sanctifie his church by his word and by his holy sprit and destityd hym to preserue them from ile for his mercys sake He addid the pryce the merites and iust deseruyng of Godes graces and sayd I sanctifie my selfe for them because they may be sanctified by the truith He sanctified hymselfe for the churche when he died for the detestable unclenys and fylthinis therof more stynkyng and fylthy theÌ„euer was the thaborryd and leporous bodi of Lazar 9. as tawghe he had said for asmouch as I offer aÌ„d submitt myselfe unto the bytter and cruell payne of the crosse for the church thow must most holy father sanctifie them and accept them as sanctified norysh theÌ„ loue them and defend them for the price and satisfactioÌ„ of my deathe what à consolacion is this for euery troblyd consciens to undrestond althowgh it be unworthi of remission of sinne for the gratnys therof yet for the prayer of Christ he shall not be a cast away so that he belyue as Christ said he praid not only for his Apostelles but also for as many as shuld beliue his word till the woroldes end as many as wilbe gospellers as the Ioue the gospel aÌ„d there awne saluacion let them not daily and play with it as thowgh god were à babe to be pleacid with à figg for syn let hym thynk upon the most uile and tyrannous deathe of hym that only was able to clense us from sinÌ„e and from hens beware of sinne it suffycit as Paule saythe that before we knew the truith to lyue want only 1. Cor. 6. Caput X. Of this verite and truit that the gospell reachith us only to be sanctfiied in the blud of Christ is confutyd the blaspemus pryde of the Bishope of Rome THat namith hiÌ„selfe the most holy father and takith upoÌ„ him to sanctifie all other men of therth as Godes uicar and leaue tenent to absolue à poena à culpa to pull out of hel aÌ„d send to heuen with his pardons Masses and