auoyding of sinne are counsailed to marrie all that haue the gift for them it is more profitable many wayes to abstayne This Luther teacheth out of Christ and Paules doctrine not to ouerthrowe virginitie but to condemne your vngodly vowe of chastitie without due examination whether you haue the continent gift 8. The eyght report is lyke the former making it as necessarie for euery man to haue a wife as it is to eat drinke or sleepe It is as necessarie for him that hath not the gift to marry for auoiding of sinne as it is to eate and drinke for auoyding of famine that is not so dangerous as sinne When you drewe so deepe as these matters you were desirous rather to bryng nothing in deede then nothing in shewe 9. Your last report is that M. Luther should make all Christias as holy as iust as 〈◊〉 mother of God as y â— Apostles were These wordes are true in respect of Christ in whome all the faythfull haue holinesse and honour equally notwithstanding there may bee inequallitie in their giftes and in the measure of their glorie I will not stande vpon the comparisons of these distinctions seruing litle to edification He that is but a doore keeper in the house of God the new Ierusalem hath infinite glorie Yet because you make the virgin Marie and Apostles to beare more rule with Christ in heauen then they dyd while they lyued vpon earth Martin Luther teacheth vs there is no such respect of persons with God but in Christ Iesus whether in heauen or on earth there is neyther Iewe nor Grecian bond nor free neither male nor female but we are all one in him They haue all the same glorious inheritance as they had al like precious faith For the diuersity of measures I haue not bene a coÌ„panion of your bastarde Denis in his iourney to heauen to describe the degrees and dignities there or to determine that which Christ referred to the determination of his Father who shall sit at his right hande in his kingdome who at his left Thus I haue answered these places of M. Luther faithfully without any of your bitternesse in scoffing and vassting at a vantage of nothing as if you had thereby gayned the whole cause By my answere it may appeare these nyne places contayne no straunge newe doctrine as you haue reported without that regarde of trueth or modestie which is pretended But what is that you dare not write to bryng the mans diuine and cleare doctrine into contempt with as many as will be caried away with your smooth stile and bold accusations For as not contented with these vntrueths you woulde make y â— reader beleeue y â— you leaue other infinite beastly doctrines of his inuented by much coÌ„ference with the deuil as you auouch the matter out of Lindan But touching the broken and insufficient credit of this Lindan other your authors I haue noted somewhat before and such as your witnesses are such are their testimonies also the witnesses not lawfull and the testimonies not true For Lindan that hath here filled one page of your Censure as a false witnesse writeth that the deuill hath bene seene talke bodily with Martin Luther by men of very great credit The men are not named nor the matter probable therefore we may beholde a conspiracie to leaue the matter and disgrace the man one beginneth a slaunder and the rest come in one after another to iustifie the same vpon that foremans credit If we had no better testimonies this practise woulde bee as plentifull and strong for vs as for you but we haue not so learned Christ neither doe we stande in neede of euill euidences to auow a good cause But in this matter because you bryng in Luthers wordes against himself to proue some part of your reporte let vs see your misconstruing brought for a defence of your misreport It is well knowen M. Luther felt many tentations and endured great conflictes with the enemie which are very strange to the most of your religion Christ hath rendered the reason of your quiet and godly mens disquiet in this affliction of conscience when a strong armed man sayth he keepeth his Palace the things are in peace which he possesseth As long as SataÌ„ had Luther in possession kept in the chaynes of ignorance and superstition hee felt not the malice of his spirituall enemie Satan had no cause to disquiet a superstitious man whome hee had for the time in quiet holde but when the Lord opened his eyes to see and framed his heart to withstande the kingdome of Satan and Antichrist the the enemie assailed him greuously as himselfe complaineth in many places All which conflictes were not as you dreame in an outward or bodily conference with the deuill but in those inward battailes in those spirituall combates betweene the flesh and the spirite betweene the tentations of Satan and the desires of the Newe men such as the Apostle noteth in diuers places Though the Iesuites be not by experience acquainted with this greeuous whippe of God wherewith he scourgeth many of his deare children yet by reading they myght haue knowen what it meant For Christ endured such tentations 〈◊〉 Paul acknowledgeth 〈…〉 in y â— flesh giuen him and the angel of Satan to buffet him But to make all thin playne that Luther was not otherwise tempted then in the exercise of his conscience and with these inwarde conflictes of the flesh fyghting agaynst the Spirit and againe with the agonies of the spirit resisting the assaultes of the Deuill which as was noted other â—â—intes of God haue suffered and Christ himselfe it appeareth by his owne words in the farre places cited for your purpose I see â—yght well sayth Luther in Dauid and in the other Prophetes 〈…〉 greatly they dyd wraste and gro 〈…〉 in those battayles and the lyke agaynst Satan and his horrible assaultes Christ also him selfe thouth without sinne what teares what anguish and what agonies indured he for vs against Satan He doeth infinitely presse our heartes and ceaseth not but when hee is beaten backe with the worde of God Wherefore you doe not onely in this slaunder intollerablie reproche Martin Luther but you speake euill also of the wayes of GOD whereby hee worketh in the heartes of his children true mortification and strength in Iesus Christ to ouercome such sharpe and dangerous tentations The treatise of Luther de missa angulari so ofteÌ„ aledged by your felowes I coulde neuer see therefore it is as the allegation of his testimonie that is dead or can not bee founde to giue in euidence face to face when he is reuiued commeth forth to beare witnesse he shall bee ansered Touching Luthers death slaine as you think by y â— deuil going drunken to bedde ouernyght you shoulde neuer haue dis 〈…〉 ed your owne discretion in reporting so foule a lie from so
Although the sentence were true yet woulde you not censure him that should giue sentence against your vnholie father according to Martin Luthers testimonie Why then doe you thinke that we will any more admitte Lindan and his fellowes against Martin Luther then you will admit him against the Pope Therefore in alledging Lindan Cochleus Hosius and Xaintes with some others you commit many faultes without any gayne to your cause First you abase your selfe more then needeth in not thinking your owne credit as sufficient with vs to proue any thing against vs as their credit is For although these witnesses are dashed in to make a shewe in the margent and to deceyue the ignorant readers that knowe neyther their names nor their weake authoritie yet the Censurer if his name were well knowen hath against vs as much credit in his owne cause as Lindan hath or Hosius albeit hee was your great president in the Councill of Trent Secondly in citing your owne partiall men more carryed I thinke with malice against Luther and these causes then your self their sentence can haue no more authoritie then when a man doth stande out to beare witnesse in his owne cause or when one thiefe giueth in euidence to acquite an other Wee goe not about to ouerbeare you in the like causes with the bare authoritie or reportes of Martin Luther of Iohn Caluin of Peter Martyr or other like men for these are all parties and the law alloweth no such for sufficient witnesses in their owne causes Therefore howe vnequall is your measure how insufficient is your trial in bringing such testimonies against vs as your selues would hisse at if the lyke or better were brought against you 〈…〉 Lastly in alleadging such partiall and forsworne witnesses you bewray an euill cause that can not otherwise bee maintayned then by such vnlawfull insufficient proofes But seeing there can be had nothing from you and your witnesses but slauÌ„ders let vs examine how small cause you haue so bitterly to slaunder those that are gone before and for so wicked purposes to infect the iudgement of such as shal come after Entring into the slaunders of Martin Luther you giue a note that he was the beginner of the newe Gospel Doe you not still bewray Campions spirit in charging the religion nowe established in this lande with nouelties and most scornefully calling the Gospel of Iesus Christ which we preache a newe doctrine This is not vpon good grounde to speake against a fewe Fryers but in a blasphemous spirite to speake against God But before I answere the particular slaunders layde downe against Martin Luther I must againe adde that which you haue left out namely howe Luther was begotteÌ„ of a deuil Surely this is as true as the rest and Proteolus as much to be beleeued as the others Therefore the same sparke of modestie which made your paper blush to receiue this as a thing incredible as offensiue to euery mans eares and as bewraying your vnsatiable malice myght also haue refused to tell the other slaunders of lyke bitternesse and no lesse vntrueth Nowe that Martin Luther was stroken with a thunderbolt in a medow though you easily dare report it from an enemie yet you shall hardly â—â—nde a wise man that will beleeue you the matter being of it selfe so incredible A thunderbolt woulde haue taken awaye lyfe or lefte a marke behinde it for a manifest and sure note of that which otherwise can not bee proued I will no more beleeue Lindan in this then in his large and wonderfull tale of a madde dogge pursued with a multitude of armed men whose venemous teeth Lindan himself escaped by the helpe of Saint Hubert as they call him for the which deliuerie he and all his house were afterwarde dedicated to the worshippe of the same Hubert I will beleeue him no more against Martin Luther then agaynst our owne countrey men of whom he writeth that they of the religion in Englande whom he calleth Caluinists doe worship the image of y e deuil Of like credit is your other tale of y e deuil horribly crying out of Martin Luthers mouth and as much to be beleeued from Cochleus alone as froÌ„ him and a thousand such making no conscience to cast out in their writings so malitious and so intollerable libels You adde these wordes that vpon a certaine emulation contention betweene him and the Fryers of Dominiks order hee left his religion cast away his habit broke his vowes maried a Nunne and by litle and litle began to preache strange newe doctrines especially tending to all libertie and carnalitie Howe roundlye are these things written and howe calme doth the floud of malicious wordes seeme to flowe partly to disgrace that y t was lawfully done partly to charge him with that euill which he neuer thought For when the Lord did open his eyes to see as many before haue seene the abhominable hypocrisie and superstition of your religion and orders no otherwise then for hatred thereof he left his former superstition which you call religion he cast away also his superstitious order the pharisaicall habit thereof and thinking him selfe no longer tyed to his vnaduised and superstitious vowe he maried in the Lorde and all this was lawfull That by litle and litle he began to preach straÌ„ge and newe doctrines especially tending to all libertie and carnalitie it shalbe founde an vntrueth deliuered against the man and a malice agaynst the doctrine which hee taught your owne examples shall make the proofe First therfore you charge him to teach there is no sinne but incredulitie neither can a man damne himselfe doe what mischiefe he can except he will refuse to beleeue I will not here measure vnto you as you haue measured vnto me I wil not disgrace you first and then examine the matter for therein you haue offered me great wrong as shall appeare when I come to answere those places But I may plainely pronounce that in this place you doe in wordes and matter report an opeÌ„ vntruth For Martin Luther hath no such doctrine First it was farre from him to thinke there was no sinne but incredulitie and therfore he woulde neuer write so manifest an vntruth He is vehement in condemning many other sinnes as beside infinite other places it appeareth in his expounding the xv Psalme and more largely in his briefe exposition vpon the tenne commaundementes This it is that you haue wonderfully peruerted Martin Luther saith Incredulitie y t is not to beleeue the promise of God doth argue the promise of God to be a lying promise which is a most high sinne of all other Againe he doth not saye as you report a man can not damne him selfe for that is against all knowledge either of mans iniquitie or of Gods iust iudgementes but he speaketh of the baptised which beleeue of the trueth of Gods promise who cannot denie himself Wherin he sheweth that it doth woÌ„derfully comforte a mans
I answere If the learned erre not knowing the scriptures the vnlearned are in more danger of errour through the same want Secondly if the want were not noted in all the supplie shoulde not be made and commanded to all but all euen the people are commaunded to search the Scriptures therefore not to search them or to bee ignoraunt of them is a fault in al be they learned or vnlearned Your argumeÌ„t that Christ shoulde speake onely to the Sadduces and of the resurrection because it is added you know not the power of God is alreadie answered for it is a generall fault aswell to bee ignorant of the power of God as not to knowe the Scriptures Therefore as the ignorance of the one is condemned in all so is the ignorance of the other and the remedie for both is found in the exercise and search of the holy scriptures Your similitude of woordes spoken as by my Lorde Chauncellor to the doctors of the Arches is vnlearned for with an example of speach concerning a speciall matter you would ouerthrow that which was spokeÌ„ by Christ of a generall cause But let your example stande As the studie of the ciuill lawe is proper to all Lawyers and therefore their lawe bookes to bee read and studied of all Lawyers so the studie of the spirituall and heauenly Lawe is the profession of all christians and therefore the bookes of that law to be read and studied by all professors of the same because to erre not knowing the Scriptures is a thing common to all men as was declared An example of the lyke had bene nothing for your purpose as if my Lorde Chauncellor should say to some Iesuites Yee runne into daunger of treason not knowing the Law against al those that withdrawe the Queenes subiects from their naturall obedience to her Maiestie this should be a note not only to those Iesuites but to al whatsoeuer they be Iesuites or Seminaries or massepriestes or what persons soeuer y â— they must eyther knowe and keepe the lawe or incurre the punishment therein expressed agaynst the offenders Vse good wordes of your countreymen clowne them not for though they bee simple and not trayned in the studie of good letters yet they haue soules to bee fed with the woord and howsoeuer you prayse the Colliers fayth and would put it in execution they are to take heede they find not Christs word verefied against theÌ„ aswell as against y â— Sadduces Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God In the eyght article the Iesuites are reported to say That the righteous man liueth by fayth he hath it not in Christ but by his owne workes First in this question I am charged with vntrueth for the Iesuites haue no such thing as the Censurer affirmeth For answere in this behalfe I referre you to my author whose wordes being truely reported the charge you laye vpon mee is causelesse and must returne But what is this stil to denie the articles to mayntaine quarell and yet to auowe the doctrine to defende the Iesuites Your owne wordes teache that a mans workes are meritorious in Christ and meanes to make him righteous with the seconde righteousnesse as you call it which is playnely to graunt the doctrine denyed before For although you vsey â— name of Christ in this question yet the Apostle coÌ„cludeth that you impute your saluation not to Christ but to your owne workes I testifie sayeth the Apostle speaking of them that dyd not exclude Christ that if yee bee circumcised Christ doeth nothing profit you teaching thereby that whosoeuer will in any part bee righteous in them selues can haue no righteousnesse in Iesus Christ Therefore there was no cause of your impudent lyes You come next to the place auouched for confutation of this errour If righteousnesse come by our workes it is not nowe grace This sentence you truely conster as alledged by mee to prooue that no man 〈◊〉 can bee ryghteous in this life which you say is both from the purpose and false But if the woordes be ful of proofe to shewe there is no righteousnesse in mans woorkes if it be the manifest doctrine of the Apostle what coulde more fitly conuince the blasphemie derogating from the righteousnesse which is by Christ and arrogating to our owne workes then that place which sheweth there is no righteousnesse in our workes but in Christ alone which is imputed to vs by grace onely Nowe let vs see how false it is This you woulde proue by a distinction of a double righteousnesse the first of being called from infidelitie to gayth in Christ which you say is onely of Gods mercie and nor by any merit of our workes the seconde righteousnesse is of such workes as proceede from men after the former calling if they remayne in grace But if this reede whereupon you leane be broken you must needes confesse the former proofe against you to be both pertinent and true For this purpose it is to be considered that as there was but one blessing shewed to Isaac so there is but one onely righteousnes which is not founde in any person or subiect but in our Sauiour Christ Iesus alone This righteousnesse is accounted and imputed to all those that beleeue as their owne In which imputation it is needefull to consider the proportion betweene y t redeemer his redeemed for it giueth great light to this questiâ— As in Christ there was found no cause of death at al yet hee died onely by imputation of our sin so in vs there is fouÌ„d no cause of life at al yet we shal liue onely by imputation of his righteousnes The like proportion is betweene the couenant in the law and the couenant of faith in Christ for as y â— law admitteth no transgression if a man will liue by it so Christ admitteth no satisfaction or merit to ioyne 〈◊〉 his perfect merits if any man will liue by him that y â— whole woorke of our saluation may be of y e grace of God in Christ Iesus the auâ—thour and fynisher of our fayth But to proue this righteousnesse one there is a place to the Romanes in the which the righteousnesse wherby God saueth the beleeuers is called the righâ—eousnes of God and said to be that which is reuealed in the Gospell This is the righteousnesse of faith as the Apostle proueth out of the Prophet witnessing that the righteous maÌ„ liueth by faith which place proueth there is but one righteousnesse of men not onely because the Apostle speaketh of it as one but in naming it expressely the righteousnesse of God and giuing to this faith both righteousnesse and life For if the righteousnesse of faith be the righteousnesse of God that is such as God accompteth for righteousnesse which may also stand before him and make vs holy in his sight what second righteousnesse can there be or what can it doe before God that is
Take ye Eate ye bynde them What moued you here to cite your Clement Ambrose Cyprian with others I knowe not except it were some meriment to ioyne with your similitude of singing for in good earnest you minde not by those places without matter in them to proue that the wordes of Christ Doe this in remembrance of me were onely saide to the Ministers touching Consecration and not to the people also for their participation In the twelfth Article the Iesuites are reported to say Traditions are of equall authoritie with the worde of God wee must beleeue them though they bee manifestly against the Scripture Here the reporte and the texte vouched to disproue their doctrine are both censured The first for adding we must beleeue them though they be manifestly against the Scripture for reporting the rest so generally and confusedly Touching y â— latter point if my report of your doctrine be in these wordes Traditions are of equall authoritie with the worde of God meaning it of some only for who would thinke it of all you hauing so many and so feeble why doe you charge mee as generally and confusedly saying al traditions are equal with y â— scriptures Was it I pray you to deserue your owne note of a sounde lye for a parting blowe which false mis 〈…〉 you haue doubled to make it the sounder For aunswere to the former poyut I doe not onely auow that I haue faythfully reported my authors wordes which is alwayes my iust defence against your vniust flaunder laying them vpon me but I say further that their practise compared with their wordes will â—ustifie the report as truely layde downe against them For proofe whereof not to goe further the Censurer rehearseth amongest these traditions which the Popish Church charge our faith withall the number of the bookes of Scripture the Lent fast Of al other traditions these two are taken out to stande for their owne credit and for the credit of the rest let vs therefore see what treasons there are against God in these your traditions First the Apocrypha bookes are not in the auncient Canon or language of Canaan the fathers haue disauowed them they are euidently repugnant to the doctrine of the holy scriptures and dis 〈…〉 eeing among them selues Yet your Trent conspirarie doeth adde them to the number of the Canonical bookes and bolde all men accursed that holde them not for canonicall scriptures Therefore this your tradition is manifestly against the word of God Further also what is more manifest against the woorde of God then the doctrine of deuils The Lent fast as you commaunde to keepe it for conscience sake forbidding meates created of God to bee taken with thankesgiuing is plainly called a doctrine of deuils Furthermore your opinion is playnely deliuered to be with this distinction Ecclesiasticall traditions are of no greater authoritie then the writings and other decrees of the Church and Apostles traditions are of no lesse authoritie then if they had bene written by them or then are the other thinges which they wrote This is confusedly taught and needeth yet more plainenesse for not all orders deliuered by the Apostles are to bee kept perpetually and vnchangeably of like authoritie with the doctrine of the Gospell which they preached The Apostolique doctrine is perpetuall subiect to no varietie of persons of times or places but some traditioÌ„s that is some orders are altered as that in the acts where they commaunde to absteine from strangled and from blood for it appeareth that the Apostles commanded not this for a perpetuall order alwayes inuiolably to be obserued but onely for a time to auoids offences which cause ceasing the order or tradition was no longer in force Againe some orders might be set downe by them for comlinesse which yet were not to be beleeued as necessary partes of saluation nor yet to remayne for euer in that forme or kynde and therefore can not be matched with the Apostolique doctrine of fayth which is euer al one and which whosoeuer beleeueth not cannot bee saued Nowe touching your pretensed Apostolicall traditions I vtterly denie that there are any such beside those which are euidently shewed or by iust consequence fitly gathered out of the written worde For what so euer is necessary to saluation is in this sort to be proued by the holy Scriptures Therefore your Censureshippe dyd well to adde If they be certaynly descended from Christ and his Apostles But how can this I pray you be certaynely knowen but by the holy writings can any other custome or testimonie assure your consciences what came vndoubtedly from Christ or what from his Apostles Is there any one of your traditions that you can vouch to descend from so sufficient authors otherwise then by report of insufficient witnesses What is it then for you to boast of inuincible arguments to proue diuers doctrines not written but left by woorde of mouth onely whereas you bryng nothing but counterfeyt Couneils erring Fathers fabulous stories and Apocrypha scriptures This is right the bragging Apostle and a shewe of the vaine chalenger Yf a man coulde be feared with the guilte of your armour or with your plume of feathers you woulde bee a worthie champion wounding more with a vayne feare then with the force of your shrinking arme In this encounter of al your profes you haue sorted out two the first is out of that excellent chapter to the Thessalonians conteining a prophecie and reuelation of Antichrist For an answere to which place it is first to be vnderstoode that the worde Tradition in the Apostles speach commeth as it doth in Latin of a verbe to deliuer so that whatsoeuer y â— Apostle deliuered to the Churches those were the traditions hee lefte with them Therefore I denie that Paule doth in any place by tradition signifie any vnwritten veritie but that as in other places he vnderstandeth the doctrine of the Gospel which in the sundrye partes thereof he deliuered This appeareth apparauntly by the place so cited for your purpose without regarde of any more then the worde Tradition For in the verses nexte before the Apostle maketh mention of the Thessalonians faith to the trueth saying God hath called you thereunto by our Gospell to obteyne the glory of our Lorde Iesus Christ and therupon inferreth this conclusion now therefore brethren stand fast holde the tradition which you haue learned eyther by worde or by our epistle Whereby it plainly appeareth that the traditions or thinges deliuered by him partly by word and partly by writing were the diuers partes of the Gospell which hee had taught them Wherefore the written woorde affordeth you no proofe for vnwritten verities The seconde is of doctrines which you say wee holde not by record of writing but by word of mouth from Christ and his Apostles as for example baptisme of infants celebratioÌ„ of Sunday y â— number of y â— bookes of scripture the fast of
Lent If this be not hudling and confounding of things together of vnlike sort I knowe not what may be called confusion For what order is it to repeate vpoÌ„ the Censurers occasion y â— which was noted in the fourth article to match the baptisme of children with the fast of Lent The one being by plaine argument gathered out of the worde as namely out of the wordes of the conenant I will bee thy God and the God of thy seede and thy children after thee for euer This couenaunt dyd appertayne to both a like to Abraham and his seede whereunto the seale and practise was adioyned in circumcising infantes of eyght dayes as well as Abraham of great age and that by expresse commaundement of God Thus the doctrine is so prooued out of the written worde as that no doubt remayneth Nowe circumcision was the sacrament or seale of that righteousnesse which is by fayth as Saint Paul teacheth wherein it is equall our baptisme But this is your great learning when you are not able for your ignorance to prooue a doctrine out of the written worde to say we haue it by tradition and by worde of mouth from the Apostles Now your Lent fast as you vse it hath not onely no grounde out of the worde but is agaynst the worde as I prooued before If this bee your methode and discretion I maruell not if good order be huddling and confounding in your accompt For the number of the bookes and for the Lordes day I myght likewise make proofe out of the worde so that if you can bring vs nothing by worde of mouth from the Apostles but your Lent fast your letters of credence will not serue you to be deleeued The seconde Censure is that the place alleadged by me to confuce the aucthoritie of traditions should be impertinent This the Censurer woulde shewe by three differences betweene it and this purpose First of the diuers cause of those traditions which our Sauiour Christ inueyeth against whereof they had beene authors to them selues and of these which he affirmeth to descende from Christ and his Apostles But as in deede the difference woulde be great if this were true so being false and vntrue as it is it can make no difference at all Theirs were in deede such as they affirme and though you deny it so are yours also For which of all your traditions came eyther froÌ„ Christ or from his Apostles wheÌ„ you proue them froÌ„ either of them your difference shall be allowed Secondly you say Christ reprehendeth not al obseruation of meÌ„s traditioÌ„s but the naughtie obseruing of theÌ„ which was as you affirme in that y â— Pharises esteemed them more then Gods word brake it for the keeping of them which you condemne This also if it were true were a sufficient difference but it is vntrue that our Sauiour Christ reproued onely the esteeming of them more then Gods commaundementes It can not bee denied but he reprooued this in them in the same chapter before but in the woordes alleadged You worshippe mee in vaine teaching doctrines that are but traditions of men which are no wordes of comparison our Sauiour simplie rebuketh them for esteeming the keeping of mens traditions to be any seruice of GOD to which â—ude the sentence had bene first vttered by the Prophet The thirde note is double first that these traditions were idle foolish of which sort are yours and whatsoeuer the idle brayne of man deuiseth to serue â—od withall the second that some of them were impious direct contrary to the word of God such as were certayne corrupt expositions of the lawe where you are as like to them as the sonne may be to the father For neuer were there more false gloses vpon the word of God violently thrust and by litle and litle secretly conueyed into the Church peruerting the true meaning of the Scriptures and corrupting the simple worshippe of GOD then haue beene brought in by your Rabbines that haue obtayned the highest seates and the most honourable names more then euer did any among the Iewes You speake of the Talmud as dyd bastarde Denis of the orders in heauen but this florish of your skill in those bookes because it hurteth not the cause let it serue you and your frendes for as much credit as it may Lastly the Iesuites are reported to teach that we must worship y e image of Christ with like honour that wee doe the holy bookes of the Gospell In this article the doctrine is graunted without any word of contradiction your Censure onely toucheth the second to the Corinthes the sixt chapter as not alledged to the purpose In deede if you list not to vnderstand to what end it is vouched you may well complaine against the alledging thereof as from the matter You take it as brought to proue that we may worship the image of Christ with greater honour then the bookes of the Gospell but you mistake the matter and wilfully as it shoulde seeme to haue some what against the cause for how could you think that he which detesteth al idols would alledge a place to prooue that the image of Christ is worthy honour more then Gospels Or howe may not any maâ— note you of open contradiction against the word of God that being deuoutly madde vpon idols would for their loue prophane the temple of God and therefore dare to say there is more agreemeÌ„t betweene them which yet the Apostle maketh most contrarie then there is betweene the place of Saint Paul the matter which the same place doth fitly disprooue But if you liâ—â— to vnderstand the place serueth to prooue that no image at all is to be worshipped for which the wordes are so pertinent and is strong as all the wisedome of your Censureship and of the rest will neuer bee able to answere them Therefore you lost your labour in framing arguments to prooue why the material booke of Gospels should be no lesse worshipped then the image of Christ for neither of bath are to bee worshipped nor any other creatures whatsoeuer according to that which was before alledged to this purpose Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serue You can not escape for saying you giue no diuine honour vnto them for this bowing downe before them which is one of the least deuotions you vse is chalenged as diuine honour and expressely forbidden in any respect of religion or deuotion to images or any other creature as hath beene often declared But here saying the honour done to the image of Christ and to the letter of the Bible is not done to them selues you dissemble your owne idolatrous doctrine which alloweth the same honour to the image that is due to the paterne and namely the same most honourable and diuine worship of Latria to the Crucifix which is due to the Lord Iesus Christ himself Your bookes that teach this are many and not vnknowen So
to haue fully answered the chiefe matter of this article but you drawing me on with your tauntes I must answere to them also For the difference of an Image and an Idol you knowe my answere and I acknowledge not your difference Couching your honours done to the creature and creator I doe not maliciously confound them but you do vnlearnedly make a distinction in wordes when in deede there is none When wee teach y t al your worshippes are idolatrous we offer you no wrong neither do we therin blind our hearers or charge you with doctrines which are not your own For if any worship be greater then other that you giue to the crosse and image of Christ you can not denie this being your playne doctrine as I haue declared by Thomas by Saunders by Andradius so expressed as we can not more expresse it against you Therefore we doe not mainteine matter of rayling against the true Catholike Church which hath alwayes more detested all Idolaâ—â—â—e then your Church doeth or can defende it For your repeated words God forgiue you I must conster them in the best part but comming in the middest of other scosses they giue me occasion to note that many offend in the vttering of them against God whose name they take in vaine and against their neighbour whome they curse and tant with wordes that import a charitable prayer which is to be reformed in our speach least such sinnefull vse of good wordes increase the note of euill maners All these XIII articles are graunted yet your Censureshippe doeth couer the graunt most carefully as one that knowes well what shame it is playnely and openly to graunt so foule absurdities You might haue prouided better for your owne credit and agaynst mine if you had directly denied but one of them to proue at the least one slaunderous false report for this alone woulde haue preuailed more against mee then all your naked vauntes and vndeserued sentences of disgrace But no one being denyed what cause had you as fearing no examination of your booke and without all regarde of trueth to saye Thus I haue answered briefely your slaunderous false reportes of the Iefuites doctrine In place of an answerer you haue only shewed your self a cauiller passing by the matter you haue propâ—unded to your selfe newe propositions from the purpose such as you might more easily confute theÌ„ those wherewith you are charged Therefore it appeareth notwithstanding your Censure that I haue with seemely and fitte wordes charged the Iesuites that they teach blasphemies against God and his worde that they are the Popes procters in that seruice and bewraye the spirit of Antichrist Let the record of your false sentence charging mee with a lying spirit of Antichrist with an ignorant and rayling spirit remayne with the placing of your name for mine til you haue otherwise proued that my speaches against the vncleane doctrine and rebellious practises of your Iesuites are vntrue or rayling And because so cleare places in the worde of God with the interpretation of the name and nomber of 666. agreed of by auncient fathers and founde to accorde with the Latin and Hebrewe wordes doe make Antichrist to sit at Rome in the citie buylded vpon seuen hilles if they make it to be a Latin and Romish Church let y â— record stande agaynst the Pope y t he is Antichrist and against al other his instruments for that they haue the spirite of Antichrist full of all corruption Wheras you charge me that my zeale ouerranne my witte in reporting the former doctrines as blasphemous it is to speake without proofe and to slaunder without controlement For I must agayne saye that all your ignoraunt euill zeale and al your witte knoweth not howe to denye any one of these XIII articles except you will willingly wittingly runne into a curse of the Trent Councill Therefore your bitter taunt was without cause in respect hereof as also in respect of that y t followeth about a masse booke For in my conscience I am not priuiâ— y t I did at any tune crye out or at all vtter these wordes A blaâ—phemie findyng the blessed virgin named mother of God Wherefore vntil you bring better proofe of it my religious deniall shal more then weigh downe your hateful affirmation conuince you of breaking y t nienth coÌ„mandemeÌ„t by raysing â—â—ch infamous reproches in print agaynst your neighbour eyther vpon light report of an enemie oâ— vpon your owne imagination I am not in this sort ouergreedie of your discredit to whom in that generall loue I owe to all men I wish in the Lorde the riches and honour of true godlinesse praying that you may receiue the loue of the trueth and bee blessed as I woulde bee blessed But this your cause of teaching errour and labouring to roote out the gospell must more and more bee brought into discredit eyther to drawe you to a loue of y t trueth or to make you ashamed of such lies If I did in deede any way hurt my cause you loue it not so well as to admonish mee thereof but I trust y t Lord would prouide me more faythful remeÌ„brancers For your next wordes of reproche that wee seeme to haue made a compact betweene vs euery man to lye his part howe vntrue are they and howe full of reproch To lye is a fowle sinne but to lye with consent and conspiracie that the lye may haue the more force and greater credit it is double iniquitie and furder from vs by the grace of God then from any of you If the force of trueth ouerbeare you not without Gods extraordinary iudgemeÌ„t I looke not to see you ouerborne This thirtieth leafe of your booke will afford a scantlin of your brotherly loue if any man will take the measure Notwithstanding in the ende you please mee so well that I must thanke you for your helping hande in a good woorke And although you tell the tale so that I may seeme to haue a fellowshippe in the offence yet being free I subscribe to your good a 〈…〉 tisement against imprinting lying 〈◊〉 as that from Rome For it is so great a sinne to imprint lyes and râ—â—ore for â—â—â—thy lucrâ— and euery where â—o empty mens purses and â—â—ll their heades with â—ables that for such an inquitie euery such Printer 〈…〉 ueth to carye a print of his vngod 〈…〉 couetoâ—snesse 〈◊〉 dishonour offered to 〈◊〉 so excellent and so profitable 〈◊〉 Touching the purpose of him that to perswade the allâ—wance was like to aff 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 er 〈◊〉 he were a Papiâ—â— such as is 〈◊〉 like 〈◊〉 tell what is done at Rome hee had a 〈…〉 d to sinne hi 〈…〉 of purpose that he 〈…〉 ht laye it 〈…〉 If it were 〈◊〉 you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 woulde so 〈…〉 e y t Pope which cannot be gathered by any word in all the 〈◊〉 it was in him a greater sinne For without lying newes there is true matter â—â—ough
next Sabboth day though to the Churchwarde they must be draweâ— or driuen or caried betweene two men like obstinate bâ—ares to a stake yet could they after y â— sermoÌ„ walke home vpon their own legges stoutely ynough and strongly as other folkes This is indeede to straine at a gnat and swallowe vp a camell to complayne of iustice mercifully necessaryly vsed to two or three and your selues with all horrible tormentes to destroy great cities and attempt the desolation of whole kingdomes But to passe from this sâ— causelesse and foolish complaint which may worthily hurt your cause I nothing feare any losse that can come to our religion by so necessarie iustice As for your last note of desperation which may come by these torcures it is not to be feared you are so resolued yf we may beleeue Campions protestation for himself and his fellowe Iesuites haue such a confideÌ„ce in your cause that there is no such feaâ—â— they are prepapared by the whippe to endure greater things especially in the cause you esteeme so great and so woorthy your sufferings This neuerthelesse I may graunt you that your euill cause may more charge and racke yoâ—â— consciences to desperation then a thousande times more coulâ— dâ—â— to the godly martâ—â—s who haue sounde it a ioyfull thing not onely to beleeue in Christ but also to suffer for him The Censurer hauing vsed a large digression returneth to the man finding his defence a barren matter doeth only denie some things which in my answere were proued against him secoÌ„dly adding a praise y t al the gold in England wil not gilt â—im and that if he mette with me in equall balance I should appeare too light which naked assertions may bee sufficiently answered with a bare deniall Yet for a further answere what is it to proue Campions quiet purpose by his owne naked woordes when his open practises appeare to the contrary For notwithstaÌ„ding your scoffe a man seeing little into common wealths might easely see into these matters and knowe both what the Iesâ—ites superiours seeke and what their instrumentes woulde bring to passe in this kingdome Let any man iudge will not the Iesuites bee as faithfull to their superiours as Balam the false Prophet was vnto the Lorde Balam blessed where the Lord had blessed and cursed where the Lord had cursed And shal the Pope discharge hee Maiesties subiects of their Liegeance and wil not Campion declare it shall hee denounce the curse against her and will not the Iesuites subscribe thereunto But I will not agayne proue y t which is already sufficiently prooued Your tales of the Iaponian Iesuites are neither of credit being written by themselues in their owne prayse nor to the purpose if they be as quiet as they you report For eyther they are in the Portingales Islandes and neede not or among the Heathenesse and dare not yet rebell Secondly you will not seeme to vnderstande a plaine speach of your Golden day so often by the goodnesse of God adiourned or as I hope for euer disappoynted but expounde it as spoken onely of Campion and his loue of golde the least suspicion whereof neuer entred into my thoughtes But you haue here the seconde time deliuered that hard iudgement agaynst me with other reproches which I let passe I knowe that notwithstanding any parrishes or Parsons opinion at the balances yet the iudgement appertaineth to the Lord. Touching the matter NOw the Censurer is come to the matter as appeareth by the title of the third part which title sheweth that the rest hath beene from the matter or about circumstances not so materiall This is the like arte to that which hath bene noted For howe absurde is it to haue spent so many leaues eyther from the chiefe purpose or in things not so weightie now conclude that which hee calleth the matter in 〈◊〉 seely leaueÌ„s and an halfe But this is yet more absurde comming but nowe to the cause it selfe giuing it so smal allowancâ— yet thereof to speake no one word dire 〈…〉 to the question For he was to prouâ—â— y t 〈◊〉 is not incoâ—uement for the state to 〈…〉 te 〈◊〉 disputation against theÌ„ 〈◊〉 agaynst the lawes against re 〈…〉 gion a◠〈◊〉 ar 〈…〉 challenge of a seditious Iesuit◠〈◊〉 finding this hard to be proued and 〈◊〉 reasons not very easie to be confuted he 〈…〉 eth to the generall question and proueth that dis 〈…〉 tation may bee sometimes graunted which proposition was neuer denieâ— Let vs th 〈…〉 fore consider what hee sayeth still front tâ—â— matter I alleadged the q 〈…〉 continuancâ— of religion two twentie yeeres free from Iesuites and from all such chalenges this is not a good reason vtterly to â—ebaâ—re all disputatioÌ„ neither was it so allâ—adged but this setled peace maketh it an inconuenieÌ„t thing to admitts men guiltie of rebellion to dispute agayast the peace of the kingdome and the authoritie of religion Your pretensed continuaunce of Poperie a thousande yeeres without interruption is clearly sounde false by many and great euidenceâ—â— but if it were true what doth it proue If religion were reentred into Ierusalem and there established two twentie yeeres woulde you thinke it â—onuenient that Maâ—â—met shoulde bee admitted to dispute because hee also can pleade many hundred peres prescription as wel as you Passing ouer the reasoâ—â— you thought good as that of your oâ—â—â—inate purpose not to yeeld which also saketh such disputation as you 〈…〉 e very inconuenient You repeaâ—e in the second place my argument of a small victorie ouer two or three last and least in the quarrell To this you say somewhat in 〈◊〉 but it would proue nothing because it is not in your power to perâ—ourme or in your purpose to doe it For doe you esteeme your selues such pillars of Poperie that al the Catholiques in Englande and abroade so long and deepely sâ—â—led in their religion will presently yeelde if you bee ouercome with demonstration of the trueth Doe they stande no longer then you preuayle or must they needes fal when you are ouer throwen If to shew y â— trueth with vs were the way to gayne you you had beene gayned long agoe as many thousandes haue bene But some haue 〈◊〉 to see and will not see they haue heartes to consider and will not understand Ca 〈…〉 on in his chalenge forgate that which you do well aduertise him of concerning hiâ— fellowes preast 〈◊〉 readie to helpe him if he should come to the danger of his chalenge The thirdâ— reason against your 〈◊〉 distinctions is 〈…〉 all this thirde part for I alledgâ— that 〈◊〉 particular distinctions of 〈…〉 learned and p 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 question di 〈…〉 ly are profitable If this 〈…〉 propound and assâ—â—le his 〈…〉 can obteine no victory but 〈…〉 and I can be but a witnesse of it 〈…〉 oâ—s I graunt are generally 〈…〉 of the cheifest partes of a learned man consisteth in the
knowledge how to distinguish aright But what is this to proue all distinctions good euen those that Iesuites make only to auoyde the power of trueth Simples generally are good seruing for the health of man but what is this to proue those euill simples good which haue lost their vertue and which an euill Apothecarie may serue in place of good for a triall of the Iesuites distinctions you referre me to their disputation but I may haue a sufficient triall of them and of their disputation before hand in this your booke if there were no other proofe to iustifie my report As you would bring your quilits into credit so you labour to bring my arguments and interpretations into discredit as lying and false but in a good conscience and according to the trueth I haue auowed them true and good as will easely appeare to the indiffereÌ„t reader You that before made me much inferiour to Edmund Campion now make mee inferiour to thousandes of the Iesuites scholers Whatsoeuer I am to the meanest of them the Lorde I trust wil inable me to mainteine his trueth euen against Campion your great champion to say nothing of his disciples I confesse your distinctions offend 〈…〉 as being full of 〈…〉 ltie and sometimes so darke and vnlearned that there appeareth neither good cause nor good vse of them yet you take it to heart that I should account them vnlearned and peruish As for the accusatioÌ„ of Iude against the despisers of good 〈◊〉 ses it was corrupcly brought against mee for reiecting your sophisticall deuises against the trueth for proofe whereof I referre me to these your distinctions chosen out of many for your purpose which one excepted are all vnlearned and peeuish seruing to put darkenesse for 〈…〉 ght and â—â—olâ—trie in place of Gods seruice For as they that distinguish not where the word hath distinguished may soone fall into schisme and heresie so also you in distinguishing where the worde admitteth no distinction do offend in like â—orâ— and with no lesse danger There is you lay cleare difference betweene an Idol and an image Surely this is somwhat that you saye for an idol is the image of the superstitious Gentiles and an image is the 〈…〉 and 〈◊〉 named Christians There is I graunt a cleare difference in the letters but no difference at all in the word no more then is betweene Omnipotent and Almightie For to passe by Phauorine Hesychius and some places in Plutarch who all make these two wordes of one signification Plato maketh the matter most euident who mouing a question what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be maketh this answere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is manifest we will make answere that those things are idoles which are seene in water and in looking glasses and those moreouer that are painted or set out in types or portratures other things of this sort whatsoeuer By these words of Plato the Censurer may learne that any image carued paynted represented by a glasse or seene in water is among the Grecians where the worde is in his owne countrie and proper vse called an Idol Tullie moreouer who could aswell iudge of the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the Latine word image as the Censurer be in his translatioÌ„ maketh them one Lastly to returne to the holy Scriptures God in the second Commandement forbiddeth both the making and worshipping of an Image to represent the true God or any of the false Gods Thus much to she we your vnlearned and most vntrue distinction betweene an Image and an Idol which you and your fellowes repeate so often and vrge so much You doe it to vpholde Idoles vnder a more honest title of Images as you suppose but as they differ not in name so in nature they are all one euen stumbling blockes of offence the worshippers whereof are open idolaters I am taught by the word of GOD that there were materiall and are still spiritual sacrifices in the Church but for sinne I read y â— there is no sacrifice without bloud So that your second distinction of bloudie and vnbloudy sacrifices is plainly against scripture Iustice by faith wee acknowledge but merite by workes is proued to be against the worde So the mediation of Christ is according to faith but your intercession of saintes against the scripture For who is more mercifull then the Lorde that he may saue or who more ready to heare vs that he may be the Lordes remembranceâ— faith that beleeueth the promise and hope that patiently wayteth for the issue of faith we acknowledge and the distinction I haue layde downe in the ninth article Your counterfeit traditions of men and of the Apostles are al without warrant in the causes necessary to saluation But why haue you left out the distinction of the two worshippings Latria to God and Dulia to images Is it left out because wee condenine it and you now allowe no more of it All these distinctions are most daungerous when you will with some distinction or change of a name reteine still the same iniquitie forging such wicked deuises of man to disanull the truth of God Therfore they are but your vntrue assertions and vaine bragges that you distinguishe things into their proper natures that you can proue eche part of your distinction consonant to the word of God that when you haue so distinguished wee haue no more to saie that wee bewray our ignorance and finally that the truth is made manifest to euery mans eyes When any one of these fiue definitiue sentences is proued true I will acknowledge the rest I much maruaile that in such vanting speach you would not set down one true assertion of so many But you care not what you say to reproche the godly making account that your owne side will take it in good part be it neuer so vntrue neuer so reprochfull The fourth argument touching the libertie of your pen I haue answered already but I answere further you may haue it without print and if that will not content you there are printes inough neerer hande beyonde seas where you are if we may beleeue you so often affirming it The daunger persecution you speake of is a fruite of your murmuring spirits complaining without a cause For you go safely away w t many matters as much as you coÌ„playne against vs openly as intercepting all your bookes other Popish stuffe I thinke you doe much more brag among your selues of many escapes But if you had as many prints as you can set a worke what can you of lesser giftes write that the most learned of your side haue not written long agoe as Ecchius Pighius Hosius and which nowe Turrianus Andradius doenot furboish in a vaine hope at last to make an ende of Sifyphus labour What issue all these haue had of coursing discoursing againe the questious betweene you and vs we may consider it with great ioy of heart
you in this kingdome and in our neighbour kingdomes may behold it with vexatiō of spirit Therefore notwithstanding your bragges before you come to the triall and that you tell vs misusing the place in the forehead of your booke of the fier in the moūtame yet we feare no more to encountre with you then they that see their enemies without armoure or ouerthrowne before they come to giue them the charge Lastly you like not my opinion that only the Scriptures should bee admitted for iudges in disputation But the opinion is good and the practise needefull seeing the holy scripture is the onely touchstone to make triall and the onely iudge to giue sentence in all questions apperteyning to the doctrine of fayth and saluation Howe reuerently I thinke of the chiefe councils of the fathers and doctors and what profit I acknowledge to come by their great labour it was declared in my answere But you euermore omit that which maketh not for your purpose where in you take an euil but yet a readie waye to condemne a good cause Notwithstanding to determine controuersies in iudgement of religion I admit them no seate but refuse them al not onely with one breath but with this one short sentence The rule is not ouerruled You shoulde haue proued that the doctours and councils haue not places contrary one to another and sometimes contrary to themselues If you had cleered them of this warre among themselues you had made them somewhat fitter to make peace amongst vs. In affirming that I say some of the fathers are condemned of forgerie you doe manifestly peruert my playne wordes for I spake of the places and you drawe it to the persons It is one thing to say some places in Austen are forged and an other to say Austen him selfe is forged Now that places in Austen are forged and namely many of his short sermans to the brethren in the wildernes it appeareth by the iudgement of Erasinus and by the notes of bastardie set downe in your owne editions Cyprians places are also acknowledged by your selues especially that notorious booke of the reuelation of Iohn Baptistes head where Cyprian maketh mention of king Pipin that liued fiue hundred yeeres after that Cyprian was dead But I neede not to alleadge any more you wil not deny but there are many Now there followeth a comparison that you ground your beliefe onely vpon the word of God and make it the onely obiect of fayth more thē we do Your reports here and in the ninth place confirmed 〈◊〉 an othe can haue no credit against your knowen doctrine and dealinges to the contrary For doe you not in this verie question pleade the authoritie of men as the warrant whereby we receyue the Scriptures Doe you not denie that wee are saued by faith onely Howe then doe you buylde your beleefe onely vpon the word of God or make that the onely obiect of faith more then we doe In the wordes following you keepe on your course prouing that which is graunted and affirming that which shoulde bee proued I dyd graunt that Councils Fathers and stories yeeld profitable helpes to shewe the estate of the Church from time to time and also for the better vnderstanding of the worde of God yet this is that which you make y ◠questiō as denyed by me and to be proued by you After this strange order of disputation you myght as fitly in forme and more truely in matter proue your doctrine blasphemous and your practises full of rebellion If you woulde proue this it were a true proposition but no confutation of that I say affirming the same So in prouing that doctors bring great helpes to learning you proue a trueth but not in any ouerthrowe of my answere For I haue acknowledged as much The questiō in deede is whether Councils and Fathers be iudges to giue sentence in controuersies and rules to ouer rule interpretations to the proofe whereof you shoulde haue tyed your selfe but without any further proofe you affirme it as a cleare matter and altogether out of dout Is this that disputation which you so boast of to proue that is graunted and to leaue that without proofe which is in question I shall not escape the note of audacitie If vpon your Censures false report I shal be thought to denie that which I doe most manifestly anouch But this note of audacious bouldnes cleaueth to you who blush not to say that the authoritie of Scriptures dependeth vpon the testimonie and allowance of men and that otherwise we know not which is the word of God and which not As many as hold this opinion had neuer their eares bored nor their heartes opened by the Spirite of GOD to heare and see more then the bare letter they neuer felt the lyfe and spirite thereof which is the holy spirite of God not onely bearing witnesse with our spirite that we are the sounes of God but also that the holy scriptures are the worde of God and his power to saluation that they are also the rule which should rule all and not be ouerruled of any Neither haue those disciples of the word humbled them selues at the footestoole of the Lorde to behold his absolute perfection in all his wayes especially in the full reuelation of his will to the sonnes of men by his holy scriptures neither haue they considered y ◠vanitie of vanities y ◠infinite hardnesse of heart and corruption of iudgement which is in all flesh This humilitie would confirme them in the faith of that saying no man knoweth the things of God but the spirit of God This Spirit leadeth vs into all trueth to knowe it and to proue it and to be comforted thereby not in the iudgemēt or after the sense of man but according to the worke of God opening our hearts and sanctifiyng our vnderstanding so that the worke and iudgement is of the spirite according to the woorde of God Herein also standeth an answere to your seconde assertion that by the fathers wee knowe which is the right meaning of the word of God for as the authoritie of the worde is confirmed by the spirit so are the interpretations thereof also As man is not the author so he is not the interpreter of the worde of God otherwise then by the autoritie of the worde it selfe This saint Peter proueth making it a reason why no Scripture is of a priuate interpretation because it came not from man but the holy men of God spake as they were moued and caried with the holy Ghost so that the holy Ghost doeth deliuer and warrant and interprete vnto vs the holy woord of God expounding scripture by scriptures and not leauing this high office to men otherwise then to ministers conteyning themselues within the faithfull seruice of their charge in their written and authenticall commission And you dare not say who dare say much y ◠an interpretation is true because an ancient father hath it