who can doe it fyner if to maintaine the slewes who kéepeth a more sturre if to fauor fornication they haue no fellowes Good Orators I warrant you they are But in the defence of the Pope what is their reasons Marrie say they as in a Citie ought to bee one chiefe Mayor or Magistrate as in a shippe ought to bée one Maister as ouer a houshold ought to be one husbande and as in a Realme ought to be one ruler or Prince so in the Church amongst Christians ought to be saye they one head Uicar one Uicegerent or Regent vnder Christ Consider gentle Reader indifferently the strength of the example wey it with thine owne conscience vprightly Is it reason bicause a Prince without the assistance vnder God of others as of his counsaylers and officers can not rule well and orderlye his realme that therefore Christ without the ayde and helpe of man may not guide and rightly order his Church shall Gods infinite power bée so pinched and brought into that straightnesse as to bee compared with the miserable estate and impotencie of man shall the argument bée good bicause man maye not therefore God can not What shoulde we speake of the mutabilitie of mans hart or else of the stedfastnesse of the Lords counsell Fie vppon that man and fie vpon that spirituall man which woulde chalenge to rule the whole earth and that woulde abuse the name authoritie and power of GOD to maintaine such pride Fie vpon that tyrannicall tryple crowne chaire diademe scepter and the carying of vpon mens shoulders Fie in déede with dolor of hart I speake vpon all such popish pompe and pompeous poperie If I be earnest beare with me the cause requireth it What reason is it as though GOD were vtterly absent as though he could not be euery where present for a sinfull man to vsurp the maistrie and such a supreme maistrie ouer all ouer Princes Kinges and Emperors but we shall sée euen with our eyes this pride soone to decaye For the prowde is resisted of GOD and to the humble he graunteth his grace He putteth downe the mighty from their seats and exalteth them of low degree Whosoeuer exalteth himselfe shalbe brought lowe The bishop of Rome exalteth himselfe what then followeth therfore he must nedes be brought low And that hée doth exalt himselfe you shall sée that most euidentlye proued Christ woulde not haue neither his Apostles nor disciples to be called kings or Lords For know ye not sayth he that they which seeme to beare rule among the Gentiles doe raigne as Lordes ouer them and they which bee great among them exercise authoritie ouer them So shall it not be among you c. If that then the bishop of Rome doth contrarie vnto this contrarie vnto Christ contrarie vnto the Apostles doth he not exalt himselfe he doth not onely chalenge to be supreme in causes Ecclesiasticall but also to haue royaltie ouer the Christen people He will bée called Lorde of Lordes King of Kings yea the Pope hath saith his defender a kingly power ouer his subiectes euen in temporall things Where is Iames and Iohn the sonnes of Zebede where is your mother why come you not and craue to sit the one on the right hand of the Pope the other on the left in his glorie good God that the eyes of Christen people were once opened that they might equally discerne what it is for one and the selfe same man to be called the seruaunt O hypocrisie of the seruants of God and contrarie vnto that to vse a temporall power a kinglye maiestie ouer all to haue his sworde his scepter to haue his guilt sturrops fye to put in his holy féete and in all defyance of humilitie to haue kings and Emperors to be his footemen What reason is this Pride sayeth Ambrose hath caused angels to become deuils Pride sayeth all the worlde hath caused the Byshop of Rome to be called Pope and of a Pope to procéede further in all the degrées of Antichrist Let neither Cardinall Councell nor Doctor say who is like vnto the Pope who is like vnto the beast who is able to warre with him For as sure as God liueth Babilon that great Citie must fall the walles of Hierusalem will be raised vp falshoode must flie truth will ouercome darknesse must down the light beginneth to shine the deuil maugre his head must yeeld God will haue the field Let vs therfore neuer abuse eloquence to defende pryde to maintaine the Pope For who toucheth Pitch shall bee filed withall and he that will communicate with the prowde shall cloth himselfe with pride Neuer felt our cuntriemen neuer felt learned men greater reprofe than when by shewe of skill they haue sought to defende shadowes to defende dreames and to defende the filthie abhominable abuses of Rome Oh it was not without good cause that the Christian Poet then thus spake of Rome of the Prelacy I say vnder y e name of the Citie Si quid Roma dabit nugas dabit accipit aurum Verba dat heu Romae nunc sola pecunia regnat If we haue anye thing from Rome they be trifles It receyueth our gold and deceiueth vs. Alas onely mony nowe there raigneth And what is further sayd thereof little praise I warraunt you and lesse it deserueth Quo magis appropias tanto magis omnia sordent The neerer you come to Rome the worse you will like it the more you loke on it the filthier it shall appeere What should I speake of their briberie ambicion poysoning fornication and euil liuing lothsome is the life if all were disclosed of their chiefe pastor the thing can not bée denyed his déedes be detestable Shall we graunt then by reason shall we be so vnreasonable that such a monster should be a maister and that ouer Gods annointed ouer Kinges and Princes how reuerently doth the scripture speake of Emperours and rulers how vnreuerentlye doth the bishop of Rome abuse and abase them and yet shall we followe the Pope Papam imitari debemus such is the reason that they vse Gregorie in reprouing the pride of the Bishop of Constantinople vseth this reason There were sayth he of the Bishops of Constantinople some that were great heretikes therefore if the bishop there should be called the vniuersall Patriarch the estate of Christes Church shoulde decaye Here if this reason be good we maye frame the like if it be not it is Gregorie and not I that framed it There were of the Bishops of Rome some which were great heretikes and verie lewde men therefore if the Bishop there should be the chiefe then the estate of Christ his Church shoulde decaye This is the Popes owne reason let him sée vnto it Aske of them what Anastasius Sisinnius and Iohn the twelfth of that name were They were Popes of Rome the one was an heretike the seconde was a wicked man and the thirde was a monster and a
How say you now what speake you of the chiefe and Rulers as for the learned I will confesse the truth there are in the ministerie men verie simple and of small vnderstanding I knowe of thē a number I wil not denie it the thing may in time be remedied but to speake indifferentlye if we examine the ministerie with the former prelacy they are as learned now yea better learned than euer they were For in times past what say you vnto Priestes what say you vnto Bishops that coulde not speake anye true Latine Let none thinke that I slaunder them they were such and therfore to excuse themselues thus they say If the Bishops or Preistes doe speake amisse through ignorance in Grammer they maye not bee therefore despised of schollers no marrie bicause the faultes are rather to bee aduoyded in maners than in wordes A proper matter and an arche argument be ye assured The faultes in a mans life are to be rather aduoyded therefore such Bishops or Priestes as can not speake true Latine are not to be dispraised I pray thee of felowship christen reader findest thou herewith anye fault if a poore Minister had made any such shoulde he not haue bene flowted is this their learning O learned fathers Fie vpon such an ignorant time it was to darke it was intollerable Non est deponendus aliquis propter imperitiam no spirituall man say they should be depriued for ignorancie Why speak they then of the learned they themselues being not only ignorant but also the defenders of ignorancie what talke they of learning the effect of their whole glosaicall studie is this Beholde the deceitfull pen of the Scribes hath set foorth lyes What learning what wisdome then can be amongst thē An other obiection is this we sée say they the iniquitye of the time this doctrine cannot be good there is such vngodlinesse euery where In dede we cōfesse that y e world is naught yea and that we are naught we neither wil nor may iustify our selues silētio culpa crescit we hide not our faults we confesse thē vnto God of him we craue mercie And what is y e cause of this mischief let vs be indifferent let vs tell troth Satan forsooth of a long time hauing the world vnder his clawes was quiet without care he was negligent Then loe though most horrible vices raigned yet had they eyther the title of vertues or else had the people no eies to discerne them so that Satan was animi securi homo one that feared nothing he néeded not to be busie a better trade than he had coulde he neuer haue For Superstition had put on the name of Religion hawtinesse was termed holynesse tyrannie was called a zeale vnto iustice whoredome was named chastitie and as Gregorie sayth vitia virtutes se esse mentiuntur vile vices reported thēselues to be vertues suche was the wretchednesse O miserie of the time But in these days Satan being pinched mens eyes opened darkenesse remoued vices defected and the deuill in a maner naked howe on euery side besturreth he himselfe he bloweth abrode his poyson he scattereth euerye where hys newes he calleth vnto him his mates it standeth him vpon he maketh all the troubles that may be And what of all this is it a thing straunge or is not a thing always séene that when the Gospell is preached then Satan is most moued For the deuill hearing that the sonne of god descended into this world hearing the fayth of Christ preached he made great haste against him to shut vp mens harts in sinne and infidelitie thinking that he coulde destroye as much as Christ was able to saue For example therof what should I speake of the persecution in the primatiue Church it shal suffice if I set before you but a péece of the wickednesse and of the lamentable estate of y e Romaine Empire beginning anon after Marcus Commodus the Emperour you know caused most cruelly all his good fathers friends to be slaine he liued in moste detestable whoredome and murther he him selfe was in thende after other great daungers poysoned and strangled Next him succeded Pertinax a verye good man yet was he slaine and murthered of his owne souldiors What shoulde I speake onely of murther what wickednesse raigned not These cut throte souldiours after the death of Pertinax solde the Empire vnto a couetous Carle one Iulianus But what came thereof the whole estate of y e Empire was troubled thrée at one time claymed the authoritie Iulianus Niger and Seuerus Againe of the death of Antoninus and of Iulia his mother what should I saye go thorow the whole historie and you shall finde almost nothing but méere impietie And yet at this time the Gospell was preached wée may not say that the doctrine was not therfore good bicause the time ouer flowed with iniquitie Consider this Christen Reader wey it with thine owne conscience and then iudge vprightly They obiect also that y e life of the Ministers is naught that they be vicious lewde and I knowe not what Their lewdenesse I will not defende if they be euill God amende them I knowe hereof more thā for some causes I will yet write I know there be within y e Ministerie a number of the Popes friendes in Protestantes skins I know their trades I know them If in the Church now there be some lewde men I maruaile not So was amongst and of the twelue a Iudas there was one naughtie person amongst eight within the arke of Noe in the house of Abraham in the house of I saac of Iacob of Dauid there were offenders and men altogither vnfaithfull in the heauen it selfe many of the Aungels were faultie What then thoughe some yea euen of the Preachers be peruerse There are some which be lewde I wil graūt it Were they not so in S. Paules time I haue no man sayeth he which with a like affection will care for your matters with me for all doe seeke that is their owne and not that is Iesus Christ What saye you to this how saye you vnto that time Touching the Pope and his Prelacie who can accuse them for though they be neuer so lewd of themselues though they offende in most detestable filthinesse though the Pope doe not one good déede yet the vertues of his Predecessors maye suffice him These be their owne words wey them I aske with indifferencie In this their owne Doctor their owne Pope is against them I meane Gregorie Grace sayth he and not the place doth saue the soule Surelye had I here time to set forth their lewde and fonde Canons had I leysure cōuenient to lay out before you their foule fornication their naughtinesse and abhomination you woulde doubtlesse abhorre them we should altogither defie them But would you thinke vnto their friendes I speake that they defended whoredome would you beleue that these were their wordes One hauing no wife that hath
of Christians acknowledge y e truth that you sée embrace true and playne doctrine detest falshood abhorre foolish wrangling and wicked wresting of Scriptures Hither vnto haue we spoken of the abuses of the Church of Rome of the vsurped supremacie of their painted vaine Purgatorie and of their carnall vnderstanding of Christ his wordes spoken at his last supper But nowe wee will brieflye treate of the translation of holy Scripture into the vulgare tongue of singing of Psalmes and of such like things as they shal occurre which now are by Satan reprooued by his ministers repugned and by his chiefe defenders resisted And herein that I maye be indifferent I will vse such authorities as let Satan doe his worst must néedes be allowed Much a do many now make bicause they sée the holy Scriptures to be in the English tongue and that to the comfort and saluation of many a thousande But what trow yée is the cause that they finde themselues therein so much grieued Oh therein lieth the verie whole matter therein hangeth all the marring and making of their market For if the people once perceiue what superstition is will they thinke you be superstitious if they perceyue what Hipocrisie is will they be Hipocrites if they sée how hainous Idolatrie is wil they then succor Idolators if they beholde what blindenesse is will they delight in darkenesse if they doe vnderstand the ignoraunt abuses of times past will they perseuer still in ignorancie if they were deceyued blinded and moste shamefully abused will they then any longer followe dreames or delight in the couetous deuises of men when holy scripture is heard reade vnderstanded then are errors afraid lewd men amazed the deuil himself astonied This moued our forfathers to take great paines that y e scripture might be translated out of one tongue into another that so the more might vnderstand them that so the more might haue reade theÌ„ And touching any fault in our English translations if in some some thing be amisse who will maruel was not the truest auncient translation in the Latine corrupted and violated Doth not S. Hierome himself so say but I will answere such as pretende faults in our translation reade in the Church and except he defende himselfe well he is like to feele and yet I shall deale with him friendly of hys owne blowes And first I demaunde of him whether in a translation he would obserue the true sense or else séeke for y e Noune substantiue for Genders and Cases as hée hath done in the iudgement of all learned and good men the meaning of the author is to be folowed the hunting after words is not to be liked But what blameth he in our translation forsooth we haue not rightlye translated sayth he this verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It should sayth he be englished in the sixt of Iohn to worke as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worke the meate Oh sir and why not labour for the meate what I praye you is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is it not victum quaerere to labour for ones liuing you see herein your ignorance your wylfulnes the one or both you sée our true dealing vnderstanding plainesse To the rest Qui manducat me ipse viuet propter me How englisheth he this Marrie he that eateth me he also shall liue for mee And what Englishe giue we vnto it he that eateth me shall liue by the meanes of mee I praye thée Christen Reader consider this and sée who goeth néerest vnto the text yea who hath the right meaning he or we Doe not we liue by the meanes of Christ what liue we for him and is not he liuing fie why erre ye so much by the meanes of the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why speake ye here so much of the Accusatiue case hath it not the selfe same signification sometimes in the Genitiue Againe Qui manducat hunc panem hee that eateth saye we of this bread Hee that eateth sayth he this Bread What difference I pray you is here what fault is in our traÌ„slation yea it is true sayth he himselfe to saye he that eateth of thys Breade Is it true why iarre you then why séeke you a fault where none is Also Cum accepisset Iesus panem gratias egisset fregit dedit discipulis ait Iesus sayth he hauing taken Bread giuen thanks or blessed brake and gaue to the Disciples sayd Sée so to speak it how vnsauery how without sense he translateth Iesus say we tooke Bread and when he had giuen thankes he brake it and gaue it to the Disciples and sayd How sayest thou indifferent Reader who hath here the plaine sense of Christ his words plainly vttered he or we but he findeth fault with this worde it and why bicause it is Christ his meaning and so it ouerthroweth all his writing Let him for he hath had to doe with his Pronounes and Rules as late as I though yet I teach let him I say aske this question whom or what and he shall find that it answereth vnto this question But he is accurst which moueth such childishe iangling specially treating of the mysteries of God Further. Hoc facite make sayth he this thing This saye we doe ye Doest thou gentle Reader vnderstande the Latine if thou doest without anye doubt thou must néedes detest his quarelling But will he compell me to doe as he doth to fall a construing facite doe ye hoc this What blame finde you in this what shall no shame moue you shall reason condemne you shall no honestie worke in you well what followeth in meam commemorationem for sayth he the remembrance of me In saye wée the remembrance of mee O Lorde howe playne this is be not these the English phrases for a mans sake in a mans remembrance and not in a mans sake for a mans remembraunce Who then giueth the truest English we or you Let vs go forwarde Communicatio sanguinis Christi communicatio corporis Why maymeth he the sentence why bicause the Cup and the Breade may not like him The sentence is this Calix benedictionis cui benedicimus nonne câ—mmunicatio sanguinis Christi est panis quem frangimus nonne participatio corporis domini est The Cup of blessing which wee blesse is it not the partaking of the bloud of Christ and the Breade which we breake is it not the partaking of the body of Christ What fault woulde he finde here Marrie that we Englishe it partaking and haue not they themselues translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be participatio is it not so in the old translation what then can they make of participatio but partaking what remayneth wee being manye are one Breade Of sayth he the one Bread And what sayeth their owne translation vâ—us panis one Breade Good God! is it not a shame for one that would teach to be blamed in the thing which he himself blameth I know