know not But in my conceipt it appeareth none otherwise then if some Poet would rayse vp some Furyes of hell as Megera or Alecto out of that fiery lake to lye and to rayle he could not haue imagined any other speaches more apt appropried to all reprochefullnesse then this your Epistle seémeth to be Wherefore as you can not make your Epistle excusable of most haynous slaunderyng without a most manyfest lye so is that also in no respect more true wherein you doe accuse Haddon of the same cryme Who being as you say neuer knowen to you nor euer prouoked by you with any euill word yet doth gnawe your Epistle with slaunderous teeth and doth rushe ragingly vpon you as it were a wilde Boare deadly wounded with the hunters speare In good sooth Osorius you doe very lyuely represent vnto vs a singuler patterne of that olde Phariseé in the Gospell who very briefly beholding a very small moate in his brothers eye was not able to discerne a monstruous beame in his own eye so forcible is the dazeled blindenes of selfe Loue. For euen with lyke insensibiltye doth Osorius beyng himselfe a very cursed speaker expostulate with Haddon about cursed speaking You say he was neuer prouoked by you In deéde neuer by name I confesse But when as that your beastly Epistle and mōstruous Antithesis then the which I neuer sawe any more foolishely talkatiue did rayle agaynst so many godly personages he being one of the same noumber and vnder the same predicamēt of them that were slaundered could not but acknowledge the common quarrell and iniurye of others to be stretched out also vnto himselfe And therefore made aunswere in his owne and their behalfe though not without his owne furniture and pollicye yet much more modestly I will not say then became him surely more quietly a great deale then such an Importunate aduersary deserued for so was it requisite according to your desert Osorius that you should not haue hadd a more entreatable aunswerer but a farre other maner of aunswere that might haue blazed out your armes in their right colours and haue paynted you out altogether according to your due deseruings But Haddon thought it better to haue cōsideration of publique humanity then of his owne priuate griefe And yet as though he attempted all the force sharpenesse of his penne agaynst you it is a wonder to seé what mounteynes you rend abroade because he was not impeached as you saye nor teazed with any iniurious word of yours Go to then And howe had the people and Natiō of England displeased you that you must neédes rage so rudely agaynst them rather then Haddon might agaynst you For so you proceade And yet he runneth furiously agaynst me as though it were say you a wylde Boare deadly wounded with some boarspeare c. How furiously I pray you I would fayne learne what Because he doth commend your witt prayse your dexteritye of nature aduaunce your Eloquence and highly esteéme your bookes and especially that which you wrate of Nobilitye as your selfe cōfesse no lesse is this the part of a madd man or the courteous commendation of a frendly wellwiller And here I beseéch theé gentle Reader Iudge with me herein indifferently what difference there is betwixt the disposition of these two Haddon and Osorius wherof the one doth with frendly prayses aduaunce the style the Eloquence and artificiall disposition of wordes in Osorius thother a most vngratefull creature of man and beast blynded with selfe loue drowned in malice swallowed vpp with his owne conceipt doth so not vouchsafe a man in all mens Iudgements graue wise and excellently learned one ynche so much of commendable place emongest the learned that he shameth not to condemne him euen of most base ignoraunce extreame childishnes as one that is not able to expres by mouth his owne meaning and can vtter nothing purely nothing fully nothing playnely Wherein I doe now appeale to the Readers iudgemēt whether Haddon doth rage more agaynst Osorius lyke a furyous Boare or whether Osorius doe more impudently lye agaynst Haddon lyke a shamelesse Goate But because these meadowes haue bene reasonably well ouerflowed alreadye I thinke it not amisse to shutt vpp the hatches here This Enterlude is at the length come now to the last cast wherein this tourne coate getting a new Coape vpon his back and putting on an other visor vpon his face doth chaunge himselfe as it were into an Angell of light A man would veryly thinke that some one of the superexcellent Seraphycall sort of the ix orders of Aungells were flowen downe frō heauen speaking with whotte burning zeale of Charitye Where calling God himselfe to be his wittnes and Iudge he doth binde himselfe with a most holy protestatiō that we should firmely beleeue that he vndertooke not this trauaile of wryting agaynst Haddō as vrged thereūto for any other cause then of a very earnest desire and zealous affection vnto pure and most sincere Religiō We haue heard of his affection Now let vs harken to the dutyfull loue of Christian Charity more thē brotherly compassion of his and lett vs weépe with him for ioy For on this wise he doth proceéde If you did know sayth he how great compassion I take of you with what deepe desire I am rauished for your sauetye that as it is the part of a good Christian man I would willingly suffer losse of lyfe for you and for your Countrymens sake Surely you would become frendes with me c. If the duetyes and partes of true Loue and charitye may be valued by wordes and not by matter what can be found more vertuous then this minde what may seéme more louing or more fully replenished with charitable zeale of our sauety For what loue can be greater thē for a man to yeald ouer his owne lyfe for an other mans safety But if you will vouchsafe to compare these wordes written here with the slaunders Tauntes and Reproches which are skattered euery where before and will examine Osorius thoroughly within and without I am afrayd a man shall not finde him the man in proofe that appeareth before in wordes but a cleane contrary conditioned man nor very much differing from the shape of those whom Cicero doth not vnfittly decypher vnto vs. Of all the kindes of fraude and vnrighteous dealing there is none more pestilent sayth he then the craft of those men which when they doe deceaue most will so handle the matter that they may be taken for very honest men Not much vnlyke hereunto seémeth to haue happened in Osorius at this present For after that he hath slaundered and rayled lyke a common skold in a Cage in backbyting and reuyling the names and cōuersations of men whose lyfe he neuer knew nor vnderstandeth their doctrine yea and with such an insolent kinde of sawcynesse nypping and skoffing that no common Barretor could haue more fiercely exclaymed agaynst the most Rascall in
peruert the myndes and eares of all men You quarell with Paule and demaunde where he learned that those persons should be restrained from the communion and societie of Christians which retayned Circūcision Hee did learne it of Christ our new lawgeuer as I recited before hee did learne it of the holy Ghost whom by the singular benefite of God he knew to be that reuealer of the truth hee did learne it of God by whom he was by especiall callyng chosen to preache the Gospell He did not say you alledge therfore the old Law to this effect As though any man is so madde besides your selfe that will mainteine sundry sentēces to be alledged out of the old Testamēt which are not conteined there This do I say This is my meanyng This do I verifie that our Lord Iesus Christ did obserue this order continually in enlargyng the Gospell to witte to vouche testimonies out of the law and the Prophetes and the same order was also continued by the Apostles This to be vndoubted true not onely all Deuines and Byshops but all mowers also carters children and women do know and confesse if they haue either them selues handled or heard the Gospell preached by others And yet this our graue grayheaded Prelate in this so manifest light cauillously quarelleth as though the matter were doubtfull and stuffeth whole leaues with toyes gayly knittyng vp the knot at the length on this wise What is it sayth he which the Apostles speake in their assembly It seemeth good to the holy Ghost and vnto vs. They do not say It is written in the Scriptures O rotten gyd dye brayne How could the Apostles vouch the old Testament in a new matter when they made a new ordinaunce But in all thynges that were conteined in the law and the Prophetes these wordes were alwayes vttered in the speaches of our Sauiour Iesu Christ and his Apostles These selfe same wordes I say we shall finde many tymes repeated and euery where redoubled whiche you doe reiect maliciously and impudently It is writtē And this also That the Scriptures might be fulfilled Shall I annexe hereunto examples It neédeth not say you The matter is euident So is this also manifest that you doe wickedly abuse the holy Scriptures to peruert the truth of the Gospell For where as you do demaunde of me a litle after How I dare be so bold to say that the auncient Fathers dyd adde nothyng to the gouernement of the Church but that they founde in the Scriptures I will likewise demaunde of you what came into your braynes beyng an old man a Byshop and so reuerend a father to burden me with wordes which I neuer spake neuer wrate neuer once thought vpon If it shame you nothyng to make so open a lye to the manifest viewe of all the world how will you behaue your selfe in matters of Diuinitie wherein the vnleattered people haue no iudgement I affirmed that the auncient Fathers of the primitiue Church did vouch the Scriptures and the holy Ghost I do acknowledge these wordes to be myne owne Tosse them tumble them as ye list and the more ye gnawe vpon them the more will your teéth be on edge For as then your Councels whereunto you leane so much were not hatched neither any interpretours as yet fully plumed These two wherof I made mention were the onely soūde foūdations and pillers namely the holy Ghost the Scriptures after them whole flockes of interpretours flusht in all which I do not generally condēne Neither had any iust cause of contētion bene betwixt vs in this matter if you were not vnmeasurably quarellsome For wheras I had set downe in playne wordes that our late Deuines do produce the Assertions of the Fathers in their bookes as euidently appeareth by their monumentes what neéde you to prouoke me to a tedious and vnnecessary an aunswere and to plunge your selfe into questions partly false partly impertinent as I haue heretofore declared But our gentle Byshop is so vnmeasurably geuen to chatteryng wherein he delighteth beyond reason that he will willyngly permit nothyng to proceéde in order though it be altogether contrary to the purporce of the disputation Out of this corruption of your mynde commeth to passe That you deny that lust Rebellion and outrage are reckoned sinnes with vs What say you reuerend father do not we accoūpt lust rebellion outrage to be sinnes For this do you affirme in these wordes Here I aske an other questiō of you if you had but one crūme of shamefastnes humanitie wit or modestie would you with such foule slaunders dissame any kynde of people liuyng in the world yet not so foule as foolish for nothyng cā be imagined more foolish then to rayle so absurdely aswell without all shew as likelyhode of truth Pause here a whiles Osorius ponder well this your vndiscreét accusation and henceforth write more aduisedly except you meane to bewray your amazed madnesse to all the worlde But how can you handle any matter discreétly that to pike a quarell to brawle vpon will wrangle about playne wordes nay rather gnaw in gobettes seély sillables and titles of wordes For where as I wrate on this wise You do accuse vs as though we had turned out our Nunnes and droues of Monckes to lust and lowsnes of lyfe and had sold their houses for money This sentence our proper witted Aristarchus doth not cōceaue and doth beleue that these wordes Their houses sold for money should bee construed as though I did meane that the Selles of Nunnes and Monckes were sold for their owne behoofe When as I affirmed playnly that their houses were sold to the vse of the weale publique whiche wordes no man could haue wrested so monstruously but this brablyng rascall Paraduenture this will seéme a great fault to call a Byshop rascall And I confesse no lesse in deéde But I do not argue with a Byshop but with a very Beast crowned with a Myter who oftentymes calleth me franticke sometymes dronken euery where wicked and lyar Wherfore sithence he hath forgotten and vtterly layd away the personage of a Byshop he may not gape for any softer speach from me But if he chaunce to call him selfe home hereafter and gather agayne some grauitie and modestie agreable to his profession it shal be very easle for me to returne to mildnesse and fayre speach which I doe commonly vse with myne acquaintaunce and with straungers also vnlesse they bragge in brawlyng praūce proudly as Princes in ostentation of learnyng and pietie disdaynefully despising all other mens iudgementes in respect of them selues It displeaseth this our Gentleman also that my stile is so inflamed agaynst those stinckyng sinckeholes of that cowled generatiō I spake of ours which I might more easily accuse then you can defend for I knew them better you did my Lord. So had they bene lesse knowen vnto me if by the especiall prouidence of God I had not happely escaped out of these
is this to make guiltie of the body and bloud of Christ your naturall brother that hath not offended you as though he had written that which he neuer wrate as though he had done that which heé neuer did as though you haue affirmed that which you do not proue nor can euer iustifie nay rather which you haue not endeuoured to proue for what haue you alledged of myne what wordes what sentences haue you noted out of my writyngs lastly what one thing haue you explaned whereby you may not bee adiudged of all men a most shamelesse slaunderour and notorious rayler Your processe that ensueth is stuffed full with demaundes wherein albeit I dyd pittie your singular amazednesse very much yet could I scarse hold my laughter in them they were so cold so friuolous so variable and to speake my mynde at a word so altogether like Osorius him selfe Your first question is That though myne eyes are so dazeled in matters of Diuinitie that I can not cōceaue that wonderfull chaunge of earthly bread into the nature of heauenly bread yet why I would notwithstādyng with quarelling peruert so wonderfull a benefite of God Truely I doe confesse right reuerend Prelate that myne eye sight hath bene alwayes so dymme that I could neuer discerne this your counterfait Trāsubstantiation But I ought to haue beén pardoned herein bycause it hath beén a generall disease and blindnes of all tymes of all ages and of all Nations The Apostles neuer saw so foolishe a thyng The auncient Fathers could neuer discerne so cloudy a forgerie at the last Sathan opened the eyes of your Schoolemen made them so sharpe sighted that in Distinctions eccyties and quiddities they could many time easely seé that thing which was no where at all This kinde of people enlumined by the Prince of darkenes furnished with the authoritie of the Laterane Coūcell and Innocentius Pope of Rome not much aboue 300. yeares past did rayse out of hell this newfangled monster of Trāsubstantiation Euen then when that Councell had sitte abrood Transubstantiation began first to peépe out of the shell beyng neuer heard of before any where nor knowē so much as by any name Why then do ye vpbrayde me with blindnes so sharpely sith your selfe I say your selfe do know that all the world was as blind as I before that Laterane Coūcell But do you as ye list I for my part will continue blind still with Christ with the Apostles with the aūcient Fathers with all the commendable company of godly Deuines in this Laberinthe of Transubstātiation rather then I will acquaynte my selfe with so monstruous a frameshapen new start vp puppet with your Schooleianglers confessours and lousie Friers But you begyn here to waxe very whote and teastie and spurre questions at me on all sides What is it you say that you do vnderstand what do you conceaue in your mynde and reasons Lastly what is it that your vnderstandyng doth feele and know I will tell you my good father and without any cholor I promise you if you will heare me patiently First I do seé that you doe childishly wander in this bitter talke that demaunde one and the selfe same thyng in threé seuerall distinct questions Then I do also playnly seé that you are so doltishe and blockishe a patrone of Transubstātiation that ye can not with any honesty open your packe amongest your owne pedlers But you neuer cease demaundyng You aske of me what doth trouble me in the mysterie of the Sacrament Truly nothyng at all graue Prelate troubleth me there but your vnmeasurable vnskilfulnes in so great a mysterie which is no small reproch to your profession and dignitie yea to your gray heares also But ye will know more yet Whether I doe mistrust the power or the clemencie of God Neither of both finewitted Gentleman no more doe I trust your selfe nor yet your Transubstantiation bycause ye goe about to throw it vpon vs contrary to the meanyng of the holy Scriptures in the which God the Father hath most fully declared vnto vs his power and will by his Sonne our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ. Lastly ye demaūde What the cause should be why I should thinke wherefore you should beleue that the body and bloud of Christ is cōteined in the Sacrament in a wonderfull meane and that I my selfe can not beleue the same whereunto you annexe this that in witte and learnyng ye doe farre surmonte me It is a very hard matter holy father to descry any peculiar cause whiche moueth you to beleue and defende Transubstantiation but I will gesse somewhat nearer the chiefest Forsooth you are addicted wholy to your Schooletriflers and Confessours but very litle to the Scriptures by meanes wherof it is come to passe that ye skyppe ouer the open Oracles of truth and are entangled in the weuett of errour peraduenture also ye are become an apprētice to the Romish Seé and ye meane to procure with the prety Marchaūdize of your pedlers pilfe some Cardinals Hatte It may likewise be that for countenaunce sake ye will face out your false packe with a carde often bycause ye thinke it will empaire the credite of your gray heares to be ouersene in any thyng Besides all these custome perhappes of many yeares had made your iudgement rotten before it was ripe as men vse to say of common lyers which redouble a lye so often that by their often rehearsall beleue it to be true at the length euen so may you thinke to establishe the countenaunce of your imagined Transubstantiation by alledgyng in defence therof a continuall allowaunce of long tyme. If none of all these haue moued you I thinke surely ouermuch pride hath blinded you wherewith ye swell in such sort that you dare boldly without blushyng make vaunt of your selfe more like vnto a bragging Thraso or if any thing cā be more vayne thē Thraso then like a Deuine For you doe not exceede me in witte say you nor excell me in learnyng Truely I will not compare my selfe with you nor with any other person Neither do I professe my selfe to know any thyng at all but Iesus Christ and him also Crucified As for you if one droppe of Christian humilitie or ciuill modestie were in you so hautie a bragge of your braue witte and learnyng would neuer haue escaped you Consider with your selfe in good earnest my holy father this your foolish communication and learne somewhat of Christian humilitie lest almightie God besides this your most vnsauory errour of Transubstantiation adde a more heauie plague vpon you for your vnmeasurable arrogancie You accuse me that I doe trust to much to my naturall senses but that you doe direct all the course of your life to the fayth of the Churche and that I doe shake of from my shoulders the yoke of Christ but you take it vpon you and that I doe forsake the benefites of God but that you doe leane stedfastly to fayth All which are cleane contrary
in the remembraunce of Christes death and perseuered in the same Custome The Fathers name it Bread and a Sacrament a mysterie and a figure of Christes body And yet Pope Innocentius commyng lately out of hell with a detestable superstition horrible Sacriledge doth Transubstantiate this mysticall Bread into our Sauiour Iesus Christ. There followed him certeine phantasticall Schoolemen which did most wickedly defile the pure Supper of our Lord with durtie schoole dregges And now at the length starteth by our Osorius a braue champion of this Schoole tromperies Ierome Osorius I say that great Maister in Israell a deépe and incomparable Deuine whō no man exceédeth in witte nor surmounteth in learnyng if a man may beleue him as hee reporteth him selfe Wherfore I would now aske one question good maister Proctour of you of this Transubstātiation whether our Lord Iesus Christ when hee did first institute the Sacrament of the Euchariste did make any mention in his speach of any remouing of the substaunce of Bread of the accidentes that should remayne or whether the substaunce of his body should supply the substaunce of Bread Did Paule touche any of these did the primitiue and Apostolique Churche receiue any such thyng haue the auncient Fathers made mention of any such matter in their bookes Sithence therefore this your wonderfull conuersion of the Substaunce of Bread into the body of Christ whiche your Schoolemen by a more grosse name call Trasubstantiatiō hath bene shapen forged out of these Monasteries whereof not so much as one title can be founde in the holy Scriptures in the Custome of the Apostles in the bookes of auncient Fathers it is a wonderfull straunge matter that a bishop so exquisite in diuinity as you are or would seeme to be would yet vndertake so desperate a cause and obtrude vpon vs such cold schoole dreames in steéde of most apparaūt knowen thynges Ye seé now how pitthily my Peter Martyr hath aunswered you in all thyngs whose soule you would not haue teazed to quarell if you had had any witte For he was worthely esteémed an excellent Deuine amongest the chiefest Deuines of our age whose Scholer you might haue bene in all knowledge and litterature except your eloquence onely in the Latine tounge But you do leaue our Peter now at that length whō if you had neuer prouoked you had done better so neéded you not to doe me so great iniurie as to challēge me for my familiar acquaintaunce with him For if you thinke that ye may with your honesty keépe company and vse frendly familiaritie with that doltish Calfe Angrence hauyng no vtteraunce no witte no sence no vnderstādyng why should not I rather acquainte my selfe with a man not onely excellēt in learnyng but replenished with all comlynesse ciuilitie of maners Make choise of your familiars Osorius as you please Suffer me to enioy myne owne neither is it reason that you should limitte me or I you in this kynde of affaires humanitie cōmon course of mās life requireth that choise be made of frendship as liketh eche mans owne iudgement best not to be ruled by others phantasies Be not you squeymish therfore at the cōmēdations of godly learned men my especiall frendes Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr I loued thē when they lyued I will not forget them beyng dead I frequēted their familiaritie whiles they lyued as much as I might their names remēbraūce of thē though they be dead I will defende as much as I may and if they were now alyue I would esteéme more of a whole yeares conference with them then of one day with you for their conuersation had a certeine discreéte pleasauntnes their conference had a wholesome wisedome the whole course of their demeanour was a most absolute paterne of honestie and godlynesse And I am throughly persuaded that nothing could haue aduaunced my estimation such as it is more then myne acquaintaunce and familiaritie with these two godly Fathers You come at the length to our Church the orders whereof you do captiously snatch at but this ye do so disorderly stāme ringly that all men may iudge that ye did roaue at it in your dreame rather then dispute beyng awake I affirmed that fayth came by hearyng What say you is it no so I sayd also that our Preachers are sent abroad into all the coastes of our Realme to teach the cōmon people their duties in all thynges what will you deny this to be done You can not the matter is manifest But you exclaime and say that our Preachers are Lutherans Bucerans and Caluinistes First of all how know you this to be true then if it be so let the names goe confute their doctrine if you can But this lesson you learned of your Cowled Coockowes to braule alwayes with bare names whē you cā not ouerthrow a sillable of their doctrine Your Maister shyp will not allow that our Parliamēt and publicke assemblie of the Realme should entermedle with matters of Religion for herein ye suppose that the dignitie of Priestes is empayred First what thyng can be publiquely receaued vnlesse it be proclaymed by publique authoritie Then our Prelates and Ecclesiasticall Fathers do propoūde the rules of Religion after that the Prince with the consent of the whole estates do ratifie the same What may be done more orderly or more circumspectly This custome was obserued in the tyme of the kynges of Israell This vsage preuayled in all Counseils vntill that Romishe Ierarche had burst in sunder these lawes with his false ambitious picklockes and had commaūded all thyngs to be subiect to his absolute power I wrate also that there was great reuerence geuen to the holy Scriptures in our Churches and that vnitie and the bonde of peace was wonderfully preserued You demaunde on the other side From whence so troublesome contentions in opinions are raysed in our Churches Shew what contentions there be and we will satisfie your request But if you will not or cā not hold your toūg most wicked rayler require not to be beleued for your onely affirmatiues sake Deale in this maner with your charge of Siluain for ye shall obteine nothyng here but by meare force of Argument I did affirme likewise that our deuine seruice is ministred with vs in the mother and vulgare toūg accordyng to Paules doctrine the approued custome of the Apostolicke Churche what say you to this forsooth you can not like of it bycause it is repugnant to the ordinaūce of Rome and yet you can not well deny so manifest a truth for S. Paule did establish this doctrine of the holy Ghost with so many and so strōg Argumētes as though hee did euen then foreseé in mynde that some such erronious botches would infect our Religion that by such meanes they might blot out vtterly extinguish out of our Churches this most fruitefull worshyppyng of God beyng the very foundation of all Christian godlynes And therfore this godly mā
forgeuen but through the merites of Iesu Christ. What then doth not Paul affirme truly that Iewes and Gētiles are all cōcluded vnder sinne Doth not the Propheticall kyng Dauid likewise lōg before him pronoūce truly There is not one righteous person no not one there is not one that will vnderstand not one that will seeke after god All are gone out of the way they are all together become vnprofitable there is not one that doth good no not one If there be not one righteous mā no not so much as one what shal be come of the worthynes of your workes then yea euen amōgest the most perfect and godly If there bee no man that will vnderstand then also the best workes of the godly are of no value If no mā seéke after God what can be duly performed of any person If all haue declined out of the way where be they that haue walked perfectly in the right way Lastly if there be no person that doth good whether then are all your excellent workemaisters vanished a Gods name if all I say all as well Iewes as Gētiles that is to say if all generally are concluded vnder sinne where can those pretie holy men bee founde of whom ye will neédes haue some but Paule vtterly none at all Through the sinne of one man sinne is poured vpon all fleshe to condemnation These be the expresse wordes of Paule which will not admitte any startyng hole yet your Mastershyp notwithstandyng will vrge a certeine perfection of our workes contrary to the manifest authoritie of sacred Scriptures But this Prelate doth make more accompt of the wordes of Christ our Sauiour saying Not he that sayth Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father shal enter into the kingdome of heauen And then hee demaundeth If the yoke of sinne bee so alwayes fastened vnto our shoulders that it can by no meanes be remoued how we may then obteine the state of righteousnesse through the grace and goodnesse of Christ Your selfe haue told it wise man truely euen through the very same grace and goodnes of Christ which you haue named And therfore Dauid being full of the holy Ghost lifting his hādes vp vnto God cryeth out in this maner Wash me throughly from my wickednes and clense me frō my sinne for I knowledge my faultes and my sinne is euer before me Why should we desire to bee washed if we did not welter in the filthy puddle of sinnes and why should we require to bee clensed and throughly purified if we were not corrupted wholy defiled with the stinckyng dregges of sinne As by the fall of one mā sayth Paule sinne is deriued by way of propaganaciō vpon all men vnto condēnation euen so by the righteousnesse of one good is extended vnto all men to iustification of life Agayne The same Paule God hath shut vp all men vnder vnbelief that he might haue mercy vpon all Frō our selues therfore proceédeth euill vnto damnatiō And from God commeth Iustification vnto lyfe Of our selues riseth vnbelief but mercy issueth from God But let vs heare our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ him selfe most sweétely cōfortyng vs with these wordes Come vnto me all ye that doe trauaile and be heauy laden and I will refresh you And therfore all anguish and grief of sinne all burden of trespasses wherewith we are ouerladen and haled down not onely to the groūde but euen to hell gates spryng out from our owne selues euen so the asswagyng of all sorrowes and ease of all our importable burdens come from Iesu Christ onely If you bee ignorant of these sentences good Syr wherewith the holy scriptures doe euery where swarme so plentyfully what is it I pray you that you vnderstand in the Gospell if you doe know them why doe ye so maliciously inueighe agaynst those learned men and singular seruauntes of God without cause especially being as now departed this life agaynst whom if they could speake for them selues ye durst not mutter one worde For what are you beyng compared with them But to let them passe whom I did not vndertake to defend what extreme amazednesse is this in you to rehearse my wordes and cull them out of purpose to carpe at them and from them to glaūce away to Luther and Caluin if your quarell be to me why do you not let them alone if ye liste to striue with them then also cauill not with me Doth not reason require this and is not my request allowable Surely it is extreme maddenesse to challenge me vnto the Barriers and then to sckyppe ouer away to others and to pursue them with your venymous toung You say further that it seemeth by my maisters doctrine for so it pleaseth you to tearme thē that the force of sinne is not as yet extinguished in vs through the bloud of Christ. Truely you and I both may acknowledge those men whose names you did recite before to be our maisters not in Diuinitie onely but in practize of pietie also But whereas ye would haue them to teache that the force of sinne is not as yet extinguised through the bloud of Christ I doe expresse here your owne wordes This is onely your horrible and most shamelesse slaūder agaynst them For vnto this marke alwayes they bent their whole endeuour to expresse vnto you Iesu Christ liuely before your eyes the same also crucified to emprint throughly in the very bowels of your soules the most precious bloud of Iesu Christ shed for vs vpon the Crosse to preach vnto vs remission of sinnes through his bitter death and passion to beate into the blind and deafe eares of the world this glad tydyngs of the Gospell beyng ouerwhelmed oppressed by your couled generatiō massemongers confessours and mens traditions altogether choaked buried vnder grounde through the silence of holy Scriptures and to disclose agayne abroad into the open light and put miserable captiues in remembraunce of the sayd doctrine beyng vtterly subuerted by the tyrannous trechery of your gallauntes And therfore in all their sermons lessons and writynges they vsed these and such like speaches The bloud of Iesu Christ doth clense vs frō all sinne You do know that you were redemed from your vayne conuersation which you receaued by the traditiō of your forefathers not with transitorie thyngs as gold and siluer but with most precious bloud as of an vndefiled lambe c. neither whoremōgers nor worshippers of images nor adulterers c. shall inherite the kingdome of God And such ye were but you are clensed but you are sanctified but you are iustified through the name of Iesu Christ and through the spirite of our God You heare men clensed from all sinne redeémed from their vayne conuersation washed sanctified and iustified through the bloud of Iesu Christ Ye know likewise that these men did take vpon them alwayes infinite labours and trauaile about the establishyng and enlargyng of the Gospell of Christ
if he lifted to prosecute euery of theÌ„ but bycause they were beyond number the maÌ„ beyng otherwise occupied in other studies pardy seémeth well enough furnished with these few whiche he hath piked out of Hosius if I be not deceaued and so thought good to rehearse no more Well now Let vs seé what peéce of worke hee meaneth to frame out of these places of Scriptures so raked together and whereunto to he bendeth his force We shall all be summoned before the Iudgement seate of Christ. This is true Euery person shal be clothed agayne with his own body Those that haue done well shal be crowned with immortall felicitie and those that haue done euill shal be throwen into euerlastyng torments This is also vndoubtedly true Agayne the most iust and vpright Iudge shal be present which shall reward euery one accordyng to his workes and deseruynges I heare it and confesseâ—t to be true For who is ignoraunt hereof But what hereof at length what will Osorius Logicke conclude vpon this Ergo not fayth but workes sayth he doe iustifie which shall purchase for vs Saluation or Damnation But this ilfauored shapen consequent which you haue most falsely deriued from true thynges and confessed we doe vtterly deny vnto you and not we onely but the holy Scripture doth deny coÌ„demne all holy write doth reiect the whole fayth of the Euangelistes and doctrine of the Apostle and all the promises of God with generall consent do crye out agaynst hisse at it If out of these places of Scripture you would haue framed an Argument a right and accordyng to the true meanyng of the holy Ghost ye should more aptly haue concluded in this wise For as much therfore as there remayneth for euery of vs such a Iudgement wherein euery one must yeld an accoumpt of his lyfe speÌ„t there is no cause why any maÌ„ should flatter and beguile him selfe with a vayne promise that his wicked deédes or wordes shall escape vnpunished after this lyfe but rather that euery man so behaue him selfe in this transitory world that neither his good workes may appeare without fayth nor his faith want testimony of good workes Truely this conclusion would haue bene preached to them the number of whom is infinite not onely amongest the Papistes but also euen amongest the professours of the Gospel who professing the name fayth of Christ liue notwithstandyng so dissolutely as they bryng the name and doctrine of Christ into open obloquy And as though it sufficed them to professe Christes most sacred Religion in wordes onely or as though there should be no Iudgement at all to come make no accompt of their callyng but are caryed headlong agaynst equitie conscience into the gulfe of all licentious filthyues to the great dishonour of almightye God and the manifest ruine of their owne Saluation Surely I am of opinion if you had directed your conclusion in this maner agaynst those persons and others lyke vnto them which do so wilfully rash and throw them selues carelessely into manifest abhominations without all respect of equitie and conscience the consequent would more aptly haue bene applyed and of more force We shall all be summoned before the Iudgement seate of the hygh Iudge where accoumpt shal be made of the whole course of our lyfe Ergo who that wil be carefull for his Saluation let him haue especial regard to the vttermost of his abilitie that his life be agreable to his professioÌ„ and stand assured as much as in him lyeth in the testimony of a good conscience knit together with a true fayth voyde of all hypocrisie For otherwise we doe heare what the truth it selfe speaketh And those that haue done euill shall goe into the resurrection of Iudgement We shall likewise heare what Paule sayth Euen for these thynges sayth he the wrath of God doth come vpon the children of disobedience But to what purpose Osorius is this alledged agaynst the Iustification of fayth in them who hauyng receaued the fayth of Christ doe ioyne withall fruites of obedience as companions if not altogether pure and absolutely perfect yet do yeld their endeuour and abilitie at the least such as it is after the small proportion and measure of their weakenesse This trauaile endeuour though it be farre distaunt from that exact requireth perfection of the law is yet neuertheles accepted in place of most full and absolute Iustification in the sight of God who doth supply the want of our workes with his owne freé Imputation for the fayth sake in his sonne onely whiche is not Imputed for righteousnesse to them that do worke but to them that do beleue in him For what although the horrible rebellion of the vngodly whiche walke not after the spirite but after the fleshe doe procure vnto them selues most iust Iudgement of condeÌ„nation yet shall this saying stand alwayes inuiolable notwithstandyng and remayne assured for euer The righteous shall liue by fayth And he that beleueth in me shall not dye for euer Iohn 11. But yet that promise say you doth abyde most euident and vnuanquishable whiche doth promise resurrection of lyfe to them that do liue godly and good deédes Goe to and what conclude ye hereof Ergo Faith onely doth not iustifie vs say you Nay rather neither Faith Onely nor fayth any way els taken doth Iustifie a man or auayle any thyng at all to Iustification if workes accordyng to your interpretation bee examined by them selues by the waightes and ballauÌ„ces of Gods Iudgement shall make full satisfaction But ye conceaue amisse of the matter Osorius and therfore your coÌ„clusion is as ilfauoredly shapen Doe ye expect a reason Forsooth bycause you fayle in the rule Topicke whereby we are taught to apply true proper Causes to true effectes And therfore your consequent is faultie and a Sophisticall cautell deriued from that which is not the cause to that which is the proper cause Let vs discusse the very order of your wordes And they which haue done well What they shall come sayth he into the resurrection of life c. First of all ye perceaue that the workes alone are not treated of simply but the persons that doe the workes Surely in Iudiciall Courtes is no small obseruation vsed chiefly of the difference betwixt the circumstaunces of the Causes and circumstaunces of the persons As when a Seruaunt shall commit the very same which a Sonne shall doe although the factes be of all partes equall yet I suppose that the Sonne shall finde more mercy in his cause of his Father being Iudge then the seruaunt of his Maister being Iudge especially where the Iudge is not constreined to yeld Iudgement by any coaction or expresse rigour of Statute and Law but is at libertie to vse consideration of the trespasse accordyng to his own discretion EueÌ„ so neither do I thinke it all one if a Christian maÌ„ I say a true Christian man shall mainteine his cause before Christ his Redeémer as
Furthermore who be holy vnblameable before God Euen those truly which are voyde of all crime but accordyng to Luthers doctrine you can not bee voyde of crime for hee denyeth that sinne is extinguished and affirmeth that the flames of all abomination do broyle out therof as out of a whotte flamyng Ouē scorching and cōsumyng all things by meanes whereof no man can bee founde vnblameable without spotte The sutteltie of this Sophisticall cauill tendeth at the last to this end God hath chosen vs sayth the Apostle that we should become holy and vnblameable But according to Luthers doctrine no man can be holy and without fault in this lyfe Therfore hereof ensueth an vnauoydeable conclusion Bycause no man liuyng is cleare frō offence therfore neither Haddon nor any of all the Lutheranes can be reckoned amongest Gods Elect. Packe ye hence therefore as banished outlawes all ye vyle Lutheranes packe ye hence with all your torne ragged workes into the helles of Osorius damnable curse For the gate of Election is not opened to any but vnto Popes Osorians Phigianes Hosianes Eckyans and others the like Lordynges in whose most pure and choise behauiour no droppe of filth can be founde worthy of Reproch If Osorius him selfe had not bene so shamelesse beastly as to blaze abroad this trifling Argumēt it would haue loathed me to haue rehearsed the same in this place nor would I vouchsaued any aunswere thereto but that I thought good to geue the Reader a tast of his blockishe ignoraunce that he might smile at it a whiles or at the least learne by this to esteéme of all other his poppet reasons almost in all his booke for scarsely any founder matter is scattered in any part thereof FIrst of all The Apostle both teache that we are elected and chosen that we should become holy This is true Whereby you may perceaue Osorius that whatsoeuer holynes we be endued withall doth neither goe before nor accompany election but that it ought to follow altogether not in order of tyme onely but in respect of the end and effect thereof For the Apostle doth not say GOD hath chosen vs bycause we were holy or should afterwardes proue holy but that we should become holy so that Gods Electiō is now the cause not the effect of our good workes And if good workes do follow Electiō in order of time I seé no cause to the contrary but by the same reason our Iustification should likewise necessaryly follow For as much as the consideration of them both is all one For whom hath chosen the same he hath Iustified and with the same grace that he hath chosen vs hee is sayd also to haue Iustified vs by one selfe same meane and to one selfe same ende For God hath chosen vs if ye aske here the cause of his freé mercy accordyng to the good pleasure of his will if ye seéke the meane In Christ Iesu If ye looke for the ende to worke good deédes not for the good deédes sake not for any our deseruinges but to the prayse of the glory of his grace Truly none otherwise fareth it in the matter of Iustification For whom God of his freé mercy hath chosen the same also he hath freély Iustified not by any other meanes then in Christ Iesu not bycause he foresawe that we would be holy but to that ende that we should walke circumspectly and holyly in his sight But what emporteth this saying that we should become holy and vnblameable paraduenture Osorius bee of the opinion that the Catharres Celestines and Donatifies were imaginyng that herein our full and absolute regeneration of our renewed nature was signified vnto vs and that we should accomplish such a kynde of thyng as the Grecians do call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the which Gods Election and our Iustification could not by any meanes consist Ueryly I could wishe withall my hart that we all could direct the course of our lyfe in such sort accordyng to this Puritanisme of Osorius And that we were all endued with such integritie and Angelicke innocēcie that no part of our life might be defiled with blemish or iust reprehension But what shall we say Such is the condition of mans life such is the weakenesse of the fleshe that euery man hath his infirmitie And we haue not as yet so put of the Nature of man altogether that we should bee forthwith transformed into Angels Goe to then what if it come to passe that in this brickle estate of our frayltie any of vs doe folter and falldowne are we therfore excluded forthwith from our Electiō or haue we by and by lost the benefite of our Iustification I doe not thinke so Osorius For in what sence shall the Electiō of God he sayd to be permanent if it may be cut of and haue an ende or how shall it be called stedfast and assured if it hange vpon the vncerteintie of our frayltie But do not the true elect say you fall at any tyme into deserued rebuke what thē shall euery one that is worthy rebuke be forthwith cast of frō his Electiō A good felowshyp Osorius What if this fall happē before Baptisme You will say that Baptisme doth washe it cleane away What and shall not fayth and Christian Repentaunce clense our offences after Baptisme likewise If there be no forgeuenes of those Trespasses which we Christians doe commit after Baptisme To what ende is that Article in our Christian Creéde wherein we cōfesse remission of Sinnes If no offence be made to what purpose serueth Pardon Surely where nothyng is blame-worthy their Pardon may goe play Let vs seé now will you now dispoyle vs of an Article of our fayth and withall bereue vs of hope of remission that erste bosted so boldly of your strong belief in the wordes of Christ But you say God did chuse vs that we should be vnblameable I do heare you Osorius allow your Obiection if you will likewise accept of myne aunswere Whatsoeuer is forgeuen to the guiltie by Pardon and purged by forgettyng and forgeuyng there is nothyng remaynyng to terrifie that person from Imputatiō or make dismayed for any controllement For that we may so bold to glory as Paule doth What is he that shall accuse the elect of God God is he that doth Iustifie who shall then condemne vs We may lawfully adde hereunto Who shall comptroll vs You seé therfore in what wise Gods elect doe appeare now excusable and righteous not so much through the cleannesse of their deédes as through the bountie of him that Imputeth Not from the begynnyng of vnrighteous nature to speake Augustines own wordes but by conuersion from sinne to righteousnes nothyng blame-worthy but bycause it doth not please the Fatherly clemēcie to exact sharpe and narrow triall of them whom he hath chosen in his Sonne And therefore the Apostle notyng the same thyng sayth Whom he hath chosen in Christ Iesu that they should become holy and
worke Nay rather let them vnderstand if they be the children of God that they are made plyable by Gods Spirite to doe the thynges that ought to be done and when they haue done so to yeld thankes to him by whom they were made to do so For they are made plyable bycause they should do something not bycause they should do nothing c. Which saying doth make euident vnto vs that eche of these two are to be founde in Freewill both that it is made to do when it doth well and agayne that it selfe also doth when it is made to do So that herein is no contrarietie at all but that it may both demeane it selfe by suffering and also by doing and to aunswere for Luther with Luthers owne wordes to witte after diuers and seuerall sortes and after the common phrase of speach in diuers and seuerall respectes For in respect of the worke it selfe whenas will occupyeth the place of an Instrument or toole it both doth is made to do euen as other tooles do in any matter whereunto they are applyed But if you haue relation to the efficient cause or workeman to whose vse it serueth in steéde of a toole in this respect the will of man demeaneth it selfe altogether sufferyngly as the which in respect of procuryng of Gods Grace from whence issueth all motion of good will it worketh nothyng at all but simply obeyeth suffereth For in any good worke what is mans will elles then an instrument of the holy Ghost voluntary in deéde bycause it is moued whether soeuer it is moued of her owne accord yet is it an instrument notwithstandyng bycause of thynges well done it is neither the cause it selfe nor any sparcke of the cause in respect of the worker but a seruaunt rather and a handmayde onely whose seruice the Spirite of God being the worker doth apply to do these things which it pleaseth him to haue to be done in vs for the accomplishyng wherof it ministreth no helpe at all as of her selfe But the Papisticall generation can not disgest this by any meanes to whom sufficeth not that Freewill shal be taken as an instrument or as it were a workeshoppe onely vnlesse it beare as great a stroke or rather with Gods Spirite workyng together with it nor doe they thinke it sufficient that the whole action of our Election and regeneration bee ascribed to the onely freé mercy of God vnlesse we also as felow workemē be coadiutours of this worke together with God For euen the same doe Osorius wordes emporte manifestly which folow in this wise Do ye not therefore perceaue sayth he by Paules owne wordes that Freewill is approued by his authoritie which Luther doth practise to ouerthrowe For to what ende would he haue called vs fellow workers with God if none of vs did further the worke that GOD worketh in vs to what purpose would he haue admonished vs to worke our owne Saluation if to do it were not in our owne power We are together Gods labourers as Paule reporteth 1. Corinth 3. Where I know that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie together labourers But what is this at the length to the purpose doe you not here playnly put the old Prouerbe in practize to witte I aske you for Garlicke and you offer me Oynyones I desire to borrow sickles and you lyke a churlishe neighbour deny that you haue any Mattockes How carefull the Apostles were in plantyng the doctrine of the Gospell we are not ignoraunt nor do deny And it is not to be doubted that Gods prouidence vsed them as most choyse instrumentes to addresse and husband his Uynearde yea and that not without singular profite But we make no enquiry here as now how much mans industry did bryng to passe by the outward preachyng of the word or whom it profited most but the question is here touchyng the fruite of inward cōuersion whether Freewill of her selfe do worke or not worke any furtheraunce towardes the embracyng of fayth towardes repentaūce towardes spirituall righteousnes towards attainement of Saluation and towardes the regeneration of lyfe So that the state of the question be now to witte Whether mās mynde and will beyng of the selfe same nature that it was when we were first borne be endued with any actuall or effectuall power able to worke together with Gods holy Spirite towardes the begynnyng of our conuersion and entryng into our godly consideration of good purposes and actions of inward obedience Wherein many writers doe vary in Iudgement and opinion yea that not a litle But Osorius propositiō alledged here of the Apostles together workers maketh nothyng to the purpose nor auayleth to the maintenaunce of Freewill a rushe For to admit that the Apostles were together workers with God yet that those same together workemē should be hypred to worke in this Uyneard and sent abroad into the Lordes haruest proceéded not of their owne voluntary motion or Freewill but of the freé Election and callyng of God onely Agayne this their Ministery as farre forth as concerneth their own persons euen then when they laboured most earnestly was extended no further then to the outward preachyng dispensation of the word for as touchyng the inward conuersion of the hearers nourishment of their fayth this was the onely worke of the holy Ghost and not of the Apostles Paule did plante Apollo did water But what doth this helpe to Freewill when as neither he that plāteth nor he that watereth are any thing at all but God onely who geueth the encrease And what is the reason then why they are sayd to bee nothyng Is it bycause he that plāteth and he that watereth and he that ploweth doth nothyng at all was Paule nothyng or did he not worke at all who beyng continually trauailyng is reported to haue laboured more then all the rest or shall we say that the rest of the Apostles did nothyng which did employ not their trauaile onely but shedd their bloud also in furtheryng the worke of the Gospell Yeas veryly wonderfull much if you respect the outward Ministery of Preachyng the word and their function But we doe enquyre of the inward operation of conuersion and the renewyng of the myndes which is the onely worke of God not of Freewill nor of mans outward endeuour Godly Preachers in deéde doe pearce into the eares of men with outward voyce set downe before them the wordes of fayth and truth And yet thus to do springeth not of their own Freewill but from the freé callyng of God whereby they are lead to do the same but to beleue the doctrine inwardly to become faithful hearers of the wholesome word is the onely worke of the holy Ghost who by secret inspiration doth dispose the myndes doth renew the hartes doth inspire with fayth finally of unwillyng doth make willyng so that here is no place left now for Freewill to challēge but that he onely possesse
whiche it is Of this Necessary Aristotle hath seâ— downe two principall begynnynges the one internall the other externall Then also distinction is made of this Necessitie which is moued force of the internall cause and inward proprietie of Nature So that some thynges may be called simply and absolutely necessary as God and those thynges whiche beyng chaunged do emply contradiction as if a man would say that foure were not an euen nomber that foure and threé were not seuen in nomber And this is called Geometricall Necessitie which will not admitte any chaunge by course of nature There is an other Necessitie called Naturall Necessitie Which albeit bee of her selfe the begynnyng of her owne motion yet it consisteth not in so simple and absolute an estate but followeth onely the vsuall course of her owne nature And after this manerâ— fier is sayd to bourne of Necessitie The Sunne is continually carried about in his course of Necessitie whiche can not chuse but doe as they doe accordyng to the proprietie of their naturall disposition yet doe they not follow their naturall inclination so absolutely and vnauoydeably but that God may hinder and alter their dispositioÌ„ or make them cease from their naturall operation Such a kynde of Necessitie to Sinne we say that man is clogged withall sith the fall of Adam if the holy Ghost and Grace be absent For of them selues they can not but sinne albeit there is no let in their nature but that they may bee holpen or chaunged and otherwise altered as we seé come to passe in those that are regenerate in Christ. That Necessitie therefore whereby wicked men are sayd to bee lead to sinne is not so absolute and vnaduoydable that they can not chuse but sinne for assoone as the holy Ghost and the Grace of Christ commeth this Necessitie is vtterly cut of And thus much of that internall Necessitie But the Necessitie that spryngeth from externall causes is also deuided two maner of wayes Whereof the one is violent and is called Compulsary Necessitie As when a thyng is forced to moue or to styrre agaynst her own nature And this Necessitie can by no meanes fall into mans will for it is impossible that will shall will any thyng vnwillyngly The other is stable and infallible or of the Hypothesis or by reason of the Consequence which Logicians do take to be in Sensu composito not in Senfu ` Diuiso Now this Necessitie called of the ConsequeÌ„ce is on this wise As when a thyng may be true by occasioÌ„ of the Necessary couplyng together of one proposicion with an other though the thyng that is concluded for true bee not Necessary of it selfe And in this respect we do affirme that all our actions are done of Necessitie not by the force of the inwarde cause or els their owne nature that is to say if they be considered apart referred to their next cause to witte vnto will Euen so will beyng considered apart in her owne nature from the externe begynnyng to witte Gods prouidence and foreknowledge it is sayd to be freé in his certeine kynde so that it is endued with a certeine facilitie to encline it selfe to whether part it will although it bee not able of her selfe to moue and encline at all but vnto that part which God did foreknow Whereby you perceaue Osor. in what sense this Necessitie which we do affirme is not alwayes absolutely tyed to our actions as farreforth as they doe proceéde from our owne will but through the couplyng conioynyng of Gods Predestination with our workes Which thing to be euen so the Deuines did seéme to signifie ` Per Sensum Compositum and Necessitatem Consequentiae ¶ A Description of Freewill and the thynges apperteinyng thereunto after the rules of Diuinitie taken out of August P. Lombard anâ— others Fiue thyngs chiefly to bee coÌ„sidered in Free-will 1. What Free-will is Will. Is a thyng properly perteinyug to reason whereby man doth liscerne good froÌ„ euill what is to be desired or what to be eschewed Free Freedome is a thyng properly perteinyng to will whereby of voluntary appetite without foreine coaction it may either will good or euill but to will good coÌ„meth of Grace which maketh to will and to doe ¶ The desâ—â—â—ption of Freewill talen out of Argâ—na 〈◊〉 lâ—b 2. Dist. 24. Freewill is an â—â—â—initie of reaâ—on and will whereby good is chosen through the assistauÌ„ce of Grace or euill if Grace bâ— absent or thus Freewill is a facuine of the Soule which can will good or euill discernyng them both 2. In what thyngs Freewill doth consiste In God first and chiefly Whose wiâ—l is of it selfe simply and absolutely most 〈◊〉 froÌ„ all boÌ„dage of 〈◊〉 and all infeccion of sinne for God can â—ot of his own nature sinne not bycause any force restrayneth him but bycause of his own nature he caÌ„ not so will so that God is both holy of necessitie and yet this necessitie 〈…〉 Freewill from God in whoÌ„ all â—ccessitie ioyned with all freedome is reliaunt In blessed Angels Whose state and condition is this that their will is made stedfast and vnchaungeable in all goodnes not of them selues but through Grace In mans nature and that foure maners of wayes according to the fourefold diuision of mans state 3. In what respect it is called mans Freewill Not in respect of things present nor thyngs past bycause present thyngs and thyngs past be of this qualitie that beyng done they caÌ„ not be vndone nor thynges paâ— can be reuoked But is called Freewill in respect of thyngs to come And these be the thynges that our Lombardines do affirme are in 〈◊〉 power but vntruely for maÌ„s habilitie to confesse truth is directed by gods euerlasting decree neither is it in maÌ„s habilitie to order chauÌ„ceable thynges at his pleasure 1. In the state of innocencie Whose freedome was once such which could both sinne not sinne And in this sense the auncient writers must be vnderstanded as often as they speake of mans Freewill that is to say of the Freedome of mans nature 2. In the state of blessednesse or of his heauenly couÌ„trey as scholemen terme it where man shal be endued with a freedome that can not Sinne by any meanes 3. In the state of life after sinne before regeneration by Grace In which state man hath no Freewill to do any thyng but to Sinne deadly as Lombard sayth and of this state meaneth Luther writyng of bonde will 4. In the state of life after sinne after regeneration by Grace In whiche state man hath freedome not to Sinne except veniall Sinâ—e as sayth Lombard But although Augustine and Luther doe yeld an habilitie not to Sinne after a certeine sorte Yet in respect of actuall Sinne they doe not except man either from veniall or deadly Sinne. Bycause was neuer any man yet found Christ onely excepte endued with such 〈◊〉 of Grace that had not in all his lyâ—e Synned yea and that
vnsearcheable will doth sometymes encline the willes of men to committe horrible mischiefes and after a certeine maner willeth Sinne. Ergo God may be iustly accused of vnrighteousnes iniquity Which Argument applyed in the behalfe of mans nature might seéme to be of some validitie perhappes in the opinion of men But to transpose the same from men to God It can not holde And why so bycause there is great difference betwixt thynges wherof God is the Authour and thynges wherof man is the doer For euen Sinnes them selues and wickednesse as they come frō God are scourges yea and that most righteous and whatsoeuer is decreéd either by his couered or discouered will it is in this respect both holy and righteous bycause the will of God ought alwayes to be accompted for the very foundatiō of all righteousness Upon which matter let vs heare what Augustine speaketh in his thyrd booke De Trinitate euen his owne wordes The will of God is the chief and principall cause of all kindes of actions and motions For there is nothyng done whiche proceedeth not frō that vnsearcheable and intelligible wisedome of the most mightie Emperour accordyng to his Iustice vnspeakeable for where doth not the almightie wisedome of the highest worke as it willeth which reacheth from one ende of the world to an other mightely and ordereth all thynges sweetely and doth not these thynges onely which beyng in dayly practise and by reason of common vse are not much marked or marueiled at but thynges also passing all vnderstandyng and capacitie and whiche for the rarenesse of vse and straungenesse of successe seeme marueilous as are Ecclipses of the Sunne and Moone earthquakes mōsters and vgly deformed vnnaturall shapes of creatures such like Of the which no one thyng commeth to passe without the will of God though it seeme to be otherwise in the Iudgement of many persons And therfore it seemed good to the phātasticall Philosophers to ascribe such vnkindely operations to other causes beyng not able to discerne the true cause thereof which in power surmounteth all other causes to witte the will of God wherefore besides the will of God there is none other principall cause of health sickenesse reward punishment of blessinges and recompences This is therfore the onely chief and principall cause from out the which do flow all thyngs whatsoeuer and is it selfe without beginnyng but endureth without endyng Let vs now gather the Argumēts of Augustine into a short abridgement If the will of God be the souereigne and principall cause of all motiōs what remayneth but that Osorius must either deny that Sinnes are motions or yeld vnto this of necessitie that the same motions are not done without the will of God which will neuerthelesse must be adiudged cleare from all reproche Moreouer if the same motions which are on our behalfe Sinnefull be punishementes for Sinne What should lette why that euē the selfe same sinnes should not seéme to proceéde after a certeine maner frō God without any preiudice of his Iustice at all none otherwise truely then when as God is accompted the creatour of monsters Ecclipses of the Sunne Moone vnpassable darkenes vntymely byrthes and yet notwithstandyng no ioate of his maiesty and integritie empayred But we are vrged here with an Obiection out of the Scriptures where it is sayd that God is not a God that willeth iniquitie Aunswere As though Luther did not perceaue this saying of the Prophet well enough or that he were so impudent at any tyme as that he would cōtrary to the Prophet deny that sinnes raunge immoderately agaynst Gods will We rehearsed a litle earst out of Augustine that somewhat may be done agaynst the will of God which neuerthelesse cā not happen without his will In the one part wherof the vnsearcheable wisedome of his Deuine counsell is playnly discernable in the other the thyng that is naturally wicked displeasaūt in Gods eyes So that the thing which is of it selfe in respect of it selfe naturally euill may become good in respect of Gods ordinaūce in respect of the end whereunto it is directed by God The worke of our redēption from sinne and death is a good worke of Gods mercy But man should neuer haue stoode in neéde of this redēptiō vnlesse death sinne had happened Therfore death and sinne could not execute their malice wtout the foreknowledge ordinaunce of God So also no lesse notable is the worke of Gods Iustice in executyng his iust wrath agaynst Sinners which seueritie of Iustice had neuerthelesse neuer expressed his wonderfull brightnesse if sinne had neuer bene committed But here I suppose Osorius will not deny that men rushe headlong into wickednesse and Sinne if not by Gods prouidence yet by his sufferaūce at the least For it may be that many thynges may happen by a mans permission in the which he that did permit them may be blamelesse notwithstandyng I heare you well aunswere to the same that it is not altogether nothyng that Osorius doth alledge in deéde and yet this allegation of his comprehendeth not all For first I demaunde what if Osorius beyng a Bishop do suffer Gods flocke committed to his charge to starue by defraudyng thē the necessary foode of the word whom of duety he ought to cherish with all diligēce and care What if the Shepheard doe willyngly suffer the maggotte to pester the sheépe or what if the Maister should suffer the seruaunt to perish whose perplexitie he might haue releued by puttyng his hand to in tyme may not we iustly accuse Osorius of fraude for not feédyng or can Osorius acquit him selfe by any slipper deuise of negligence in this behalfe If in cōmon cōuersation of lyfe the man that will not repell iniury when he may be adiudged in euery respect as blameworthy as if he offereth the iniury him selfe by what meanes can God whō you say doth permit sinnes to be done either deémed be excusable in respect of this sufferaunce onely or how can you charge vs as accusing him of iniustice bycause we say that he doth not onely permit but also will sinne after a certeine maner Which thyng Augustine doth very well declare If we suffer sayth August such as are vnder our correctiō to doe wickedly in our sight we must needes be adiudged accessaries to their wickednesse But God doth permitte Sinne to raunge without measure euen before his eyes wherein if he where not willyng surely he would not suffer it in any wise and yet is be righteous notwithstandyng c. Wherfore your allegation of bare Sufferaunce doth neither helpe your cause nor disaduantageth ours any thyng at all But go to let vs somewhat yeld to this word of yours Sufferaunce whereupō ye stād so stoughtely yet will ye not deny but that this Sufferaunce of God is either coupled together with his will or altogether sundered frō it If ye confesse the will and Sufferaunce be ioyned together how can God be
no vnrighteousnes with God and likewise it must be firmely beleued that God hath mercy on whom he will haue mercy and on whoÌ„ he will not haue mercy theÌ„ he hardeneth That is to say on whom he listeth he will not take mercy whereupon whether he geaue any thing or require that is dew vnto hym neyther he of whom he requireth it can well complayne of hys vniust dealing nor he to whom he geueth ought to be ouer proud and boast of hys giftes for the one neither rendereth any more then is due and the other hath nothyng but that which he hath receaued If God had commaunded vs to do the thinges that hym selfe saw were impossible for vs to do he might seeme worthely to be accused of vnrighteousnesse This obiection were perhaps to some purpose vnlesse the scriptures had prouided a Triacle for this malady namely Fayth in hys Sonne in whom when we do beleéue endeuoring in the meane whiles as much as lieth in vs we do then fulfill the whole Law of workes That is to say we do attayne full absolute righteousnes as well as if we had fulfilled the whole beyng endued wiâ—h righteousnes now albeit not properly our owne yet enioying hym notwithstanding whiche of God was made our righteousnesse by Fayth Whereupon Luther in hys booke of Christian liberty hath written very excellently That which is impossible for theé to bring to passe in the whole works of the Law sayth he which are in number many thou shalt easily accomplish with small labour Namely by Fayth Because God the Father hath placed all thinges in Fayth so that whosoeuer is indued with this Fayth may possesse all thinges and he that is voyde of this Fayth may possesse nothing at all After this maner the promises of God doe geue that which the commauÌ„dements do exact they do finish that which the law commauÌ„deth so that now he onely alone is he that may coÌ„mauÌ„d and he onely and alone is he that may bryng to passe c. To what end are ordinauÌ„ces to liue well prescribed why are threatninges added to the stifnecked and rebellious if men were not able to liue well why is a freedome of choyse set out vnto vs to enter into whether way we will if we can not be able to holde the right way who is so madde to commaund a blinde man to keepe the right path or who will commaund that man that is so fast bound as beyng vnable to moue hys arme but vnto the left side to reache hym a a thing on the right side whiche is not possible for hym to doe Augustine will aunswere That which man is not able to atteine to by nature vnto the same may he yet attayne by grace he doth meane there of liuyng commendably not of liuyng perfectly which was neuer as yet graunted to any one person in this life no though he were aided by grace but to Iesu Christ alone But ye will demaund agayne to what end then was the law published and naturall choyse set out vnto vs if that choyce be not free to make choyse of these thinges that are set forth to our Election I do aunswere That this complaynt of Nature might beé not altogether impertinent if he that gaue the lawes had created the same Nature such as we haue at this present But now whereas he did at the beginning create Nature vpright and vnspotted God according to the selfe same Nature did publishe hys law vnto men whiche shoulde be holy and vndefiled Neither could he do otherwise whose commaundemeÌ„ts if we be not able now in this corruption of Nature to accomplish with due obedience there is no cause why the fault thereof should be imputed to GOD who can neyther will nor commaund any thing but that which is most righteous but we our selues and our first parentes Authors of this disobedience and the Deuill the couÌ„sellor are to be blamed therfore God caÌ„ not be vnlike himselfe If we become vnlike to our selues whose fault is it ours or his Furthermore touching the obiection of the blind and the maÌ„ that was bound hereunto I do aunswere That the similitude is not in all respectes correspondent for this cause For if God had blynded man at the first or had chayned hym fast with such Roopes of Necessitie and afterwardes had commaunded hym whom he made blynde to keepe the right pathe or him whom he had first bounde fast to reach afterwardes ouer to the right hand this were perhappes not altogether from the purpose that is cauilled but now for as much as the cause of this blyndnes was procured by man him selfe and not sent by God he is not to be blamed that geueth necessary counsell to speake as Augustine doth but he that hath entangled him selfe into such a Necessitie out of the whiche he can by no meanes vntwyne him selfe agayne A righteous and wise Law geuer doth neuer proclayme such Statutes the performaunce whereof will exceede the abilitie and capacitie of his subiectes God is the most righteous and most wise Law geuer Ergo God in publishyng his law did prescribe nothyng beyond the capacitie and abilitie of his owne Creatures I do aunswere vnto the Maior two maner of wayes First That the same is true in deéde in those lawes whiche were established of the Lawgeuer to this onely ende that the subiectes should exactly performe the same But albeit GOD did desire this thyng chiefly that all men should precisely and throughly obserue his Ordinaunces yet besides this consideration there are many other endes and causes 1. That the Iudgement and wrath of God agaynst Sinne should be made manifest 2. That we might be more easily brought to the acknowledgemeÌ„t of our Sinnes and weakenesse 3. Thyrdly that vnderstandyng our weakenes the more we feéle our selues more heauyly oppressed with this burden the more sharpely we should be prouoked as with the Schoolemaisters rodde to fleé vnto Christ who is the end of the law 4. That by this Schoolyng as it were we may learne what way we ought to take that if it be not geuen vs at the least to atteyne the full and absolute obedience of the law yet that begynnyng to be obedient we may profitte as much as we may Secundaryly we do confesse that the Maior is true in respect of those lawes for the due obseruation of the which there is no cause to the coÌ„trary either by the Lawgeuer or in nature it selfe but such as appeareth rather in the Subiectes Whose onely fault and disorderous licentiousnes procureth the breach therof As for example If a Prince do sende foorth an Ambassadour in all respectes whole sounde and well enstructed to whom afterwardes he geueth in commaundement to put some matter in execution which he might very easily bryng to passe vnlesse through his owne default and disorder he made him selfe lame halte or vnable to execute the commaundement of his Prince Now if this Ambassadour
Gods Electiō goyng before did depend vpō mens workes that follow after they do conclude vntruely For as the Potter in fashionyng his earthē Uessells hath no regard to the merite of the clay euen so the purpose of God in the rule of his Electiō is free frō all respect of workes And therfore Paule doth resemble the same of the power of the Potter But if they will trāslate the same to the punishments rewardes of workes in this respect we confesse they say true euen as mē behaue thēselues so shall they finde their Creator affectioned towardes them Yet in such sort neuertheles that if any vertue or cōmendation be in the Uessell that may moue to please the same confesse that it commeth not of it selfe but of the free liberality of the Potter on the contrary if it haue any thing worthy of punishment then to yelde that this proceedeth from themselues and not from the Potter For he made Nature at the beginning whole sound and vpright Afterwardes came in vgly deformitie wilfully and voluntarily defiled through originall sinne God hath no regard but to the poore and contrite in Spirite Ergo The Grace of God is not promised to any but to such as are prepared thereunto before True it is that none but humble in spirite are capable of Gods Grace But from whence commeth this Iowlines and humble reuerence towards God truely not from the Nature of our corrupted flesh which is wont alwayes to be the Mother of pryde but from the onely gift of the holy Ghost Whereupon if any man vrge that there ought to go some preparation in man before apt to receaue the grace of God neyther will the Lutheranes deny this but so that they also confesse with Augustine that the same commeth to passe not by the direction of our Freéwill but by reformation and renewing of the holy Ghost Forasmuch as the cause of all men is generall and the estate indifferent as the Lutheranes do say Ergo There is no cause not reason why God in the choise of man should preferre some before othersome and seperate some from othersome S. Paule rendereth this cause for vnreproueable I will haue mercy sayth he on whom I will haue mercy Aunswering as it were to this same obiection that thys commeth to passe not because God findeth any cause in man but for that he onely receaueth hym of hys owne mercy I will not the death of a sinner but rather that he be cōuerted in liue If this saying be referred to the secret will of Gods good pleasure how is it then that such will not be conuerted nor fleé from Damnation whom the almighty will of God both would haue to be saued and can make able also to be saued But if it be vnderstanded of hys reuealed will which is called Volunt as Signi what maruell is it if such will not be saued but perish besides the will of God which are left to the power of their owne Freéwill by the secret and vnsearcheable will of God What soeuer is voluntary may be auoyded Synne is voluntary Ergo Sinne nay be auoyded This is aūswered before out of Aug. The Maior were true if it be vnderstāded of nature beyng soūde but now nature is woūded defiled either bycause it doth not seé by reasō of her blyndnes or bycause it doth not performe by reasō of her weakenes God would not commaūde the thynges which he knew man could not do Augustine maketh aunswere And who is ignoraunt hereof but he doth therfore commaunded some thynges which we are not able bycause we may know what we ought to craue at his hāds Where Nature and Necessitie beare rule there is no iust crime in Sinnyng The Lutherans do teach that Sinne doth cleaue fast with in vs by nature and that of very Necessitie Ergo. Accordyng to the Lutheranes doctrine there shal be no iust crime in Synnyng And hereunto aunswere is made before In the Maior I do distinguish Nature and Necessitie If it haue relation to Nature that was sounde and Necessitie of coaction true it is that there is no accusation of iust crime of Sinne to be layed there But if it meane Nature corrupt and Necessitie of inuincible and vnchaungeable bondage it is false of which Necessitie Augustine speaketh But now faultynesse punishable ensuyng did make a Necessitie of Freédome There is no reason to make it Sinne where is no power to be able to auoyde it I do aūswere that it was true in Adam who cōmitted that whiles nature was sounde which he might haue eschued but in vs not so who in this corrupted and forsorne nature now whether we may auoyde it or not auoyde it yet doth Sinne follow vs of Necessitie For if will could eschue Sinne yet can it not cleare it selfe from sinne of her selfe and of her own abilitie but onely through the assistaunce of helpyng grace whereupon will deserueth no commendation though it can cleare it selfe but if it eschue not the sinne which it might eschue so much the more doth it aggrauate the trespasse And why commeth not forth any one such at the length which can or dare boldly professe that he hath euer eschued the sinne that these Iacke braggers boast so much may be auoyded on the contrary although will can not escape from Sinne yet doth it not therfore cease to be Sinne bycause it sucked this imbecillitie not from nature wherein it was created at the first but from him whiche might haue bene without Sinne if he had would No mā lacketh the Grace of God but he that will cowardly faynte of hym selfe True it is but to make mā not to be faynt harted in him self it is neédefull that the grace of God be present first without the which all our good will is vneffectuall Moreouer whoso beyng holpen with grace doth begyn to will well to endeuour well is not now altogether a coward crauen but he that is faynt harted is therfore faynte harted bycause he was not assisted with the effectuall Grace of God God doth constrayne no man forcibly I do graūt but that they may be made willyng he doth first of vnwilling make them willyng draweth such as are stiffe-necked to become inclinable creating new hartes within them renewyng a new Spirite within their bowels to make them tractable and willyng seruauntes for hym selfe But thou accordyng to the hardnesse of thy hart doest procure to thy selfe vengeaunce The Apostle speaketh here of the externall blessing or callyng of God which he exercizeth indifferently aswell towardes the good as towardes the euill and not of the spirituall Grace of Regeneration wherewith he doth peculiarly seale and establish his Elect vnto hym selfe The Grace of God is none otherwise effectuall then as we be not sluggish or retchelesse to vse his helpe offered vnto vs. Ergo It is in our power either to receaue
fire c. or where he bryngeth vpon men inward griefes by the seruice of Sathan exequutioner of hys wrathe as famine of hys holy word ignoraunce blindenes of vnderstanding hardnes of hart as appeareth euidently by the Scriptures I pray you what meane you by that whiche you reade in the 9. of Iudges God did send hys euill spirite betwixt Abimilech and the people of Sychem c. When you reade in Moyses I will harden the hart of Pharao adding a cause to the same wherefore he would do it And agayn when you heare that the Lord did harden the hart of Syhon King of Hesbon When you read in Esay the Prophet Blunt the hartes of this people stopp their eares And agayne why doest thou make vs wander from thy wayes O Lord What is this in the 3. of the kings the 22. chap Behold the Lord hath geuen the Spirite of lyeng into the mouthes of all the Prophets c. and in Iob. 12. The Lord doth take away the hartes from them that rule ouer the people of the earth and he maketh them to goe astray c. of the same sence are the wordes of the Prophet Ezechiell If the Prophet be seduced and speake a word I the Lord haue seduced that Prophet And in Amos If there shal be any euill in the Citie that the Lord hath not done And agayne in the 2. to the Thessalonians the 2. chapter God shall send vpon them strong illusione to beleue lyes c. These and innumerable like vnto these who so shall heare euery where in the scriptures can he dought hereof that the sinnes of the wicked are not hidden vtterly from the decreed will of God or that any thing is done in any of all these by Gods Permission so as hys effectuall prouidence doth not worke also withall Now as concerning the inconuenience as though it were of Necessitie that Gods Iustice shold be therfore called in questiō and that it would by that meanes come to passe that wicked mē would hereof take occasion to excuse themselues as though they should not offend through their own default but by the compulsary constraynt of Gods will if so be those thinges be so taken according to the very purporte of the bare letter wherwith God is sayd to deliuer ouer into a Reprobate minde to make blynde to harden the hartes c. then is this also eche way as false Neyther doth the conclusion of hys argument thus shuffled vp hang together All thinges that God hath foreordayned shall come to passe do chaunce through absolute Necessiitie God did foreordayne that sinne should come to passe Ergo When sinnes do come to passe they are to be imputed aswell vnto man as beyng an instrument as vnto God hymself as beyng the Authour Nay rather the conclusion ought to haue bene framed on this wise Ergo God hath ordayned that sinnes should be which for the same cause cannot but be of very Necessitie And so in deede is the conclusion right and to be graunted also For it is without all controuersie that sinnes cannot come without the ordinaunce of Gods will which ordinaunce neuertheles hauing iust cause of defence ought to be acquited of all vnrighteousnes And to shew that it hath iust causes of defence Three reasons may be rendered First This seely earthly worme had skarse yet thrust hys nose out of the dyrte whenas he would needes make hymselfe equall with God hys creator farre aboue the reach and cōpasse of his creation presuming to attayne the knowledge of good and euil then came it to passe by the most iuste iudgement of God not by hys Permission but by hys prouidence also that Freewill beyng as then throughly furnished with vnderstanding and reason but destitute of Grace could not gouerne it selfe but must needes both agaynst hys owne knowledge and conscience stumble and fall downe withall And no meruayle For assoone as God had withdrawne hys light right spirite and helping hand whereupon issued lacke of well doyng blindenes and hardnes of hart it could not otherwise be but that the grace of God being withdrawne all abillitie to do well beyng taken away this proud presumptuous Uermine must fall to the ground both of very Iustice and of very Necessitye whereof the one is ascribed to God and not to man this other not to God but to man and to hys owne Freewill And hereupon aryseth that absolute and vnauoydeable Necessitie whereof we treat so much and withall the most iust defence of Gods Iustice. Then besides this Freewill there is yet an other reason that will playnly acquite the iust prouidence of God from fault though it worke in the sinnes of men together with men themselues As when he bryngeth vppon man eyther diseases of the body or blindnes of vnderstanding for sinnes already committed punishing sinne as it were by sinne Euen so Pharao that had vsed horrible tyranny before in drowning the suckling babes of the Hebrues was himselfe afterwardes most iustly hard harted by God and at the last miserably drowned in the read Sea Euen so likewise Esay and the other Prophetes did prophesye that the Iewes should be blinded for the wickednes whiche they had committed By the like Iudgement of God came it to passe that which was spoken of the Gentiles As they would not geue themselues to know God God did deliuer them ouer to the lustes of their owne hartes c. And in an other place writing to the Thes. For this cause sayth he God will send vpon thē strong illusion to beleue lyes c. Besides these most iust causes spoken of before there is yet a thyrd no lesse rightfull and iust which although be somewhat darke vnto vs yet seémeth not so darke to the vnderstādyng and knowledge of S. Paule where Gods Deuine prouidence doth wonderfully order and dispose his workes to witte by his Iudgemēt hidden in deéde but alwayes iust leadyng and directyng all thynges to that ende whereby he may make his Iustice or his power discernable to mankynde And to this end at a word do all the counsells of God and all the effectes of the same tende and be directed whether he do fashion the vessels of his wrath to destruction or prepare the vessels of his mercy to Glory or whether he be mercyfull to whom he will or whether he do harden the hartes of whom it pleaseth hym or whensoeuer it pleaseth him so to do or when he doth styrre vppe the myndes and endeuoures of men where unto him lysteth by the seruice of Sathan minister of his wrath or whether he do comfort and make glad the hartes of his chosen by the operatiō of the holy Ghost And yet is there no cause in the meane whiles why any man should complayne that the thynges are done iniuriously which are done by Gods secrete Iudgement or that God ought to be blamed in any of all these whenas whatsoeuer is
Iudge them not worthy to be heard in any wise whiche will affirme that God doth chuse whom he will vnto Saluation out of the whole masse of mankynde for none other cause but bycause it so pleaseth hym Pag. 163. First where hath Luther any such Assertion Why do ye not set it downe good Syr and admit that he hath what is it that your carpyng cauillation cā gnaw at here if you interprete it aright For although Luther seéme in your goodly conceipt to be more then a thousand tymes madd whom ye can neuer name without some gall of raylyng speache yet was he neuer hetherto so foolish as to haue a will to spoyle the most wise workes of God of Reason and counsell in any wise There is with God a most perfect stable vnchaungeable knowledge of all the workes of his owne handes but such a knowledge as doth altogether surmount the greatest reach of our nymblest capacities and seémeth rather to be wōdered at then to be searched out by vs. Surely it is farre beyond the Reason that you make vnto vs. For deliberately notyng with my selfe and entring into a very deépe viewe and consideration of the thynges which are spoken of Election of purpose of Gods prouidēce for this word Predestination as scarse fine enough for a Ciceronian you abhorte neither dare ye so much as once to name in all your bookes hereūto all your drifts seéme to tende that ye suppose that Gods Iustice can by no meanes be defended in makyng a differēce betwixt them whom he reserueth to be saued those whom he adiudgeth to be damned but by foreknowledge of those workes which God doth behold shall be in them As though Osorius would seéme to argue with God with such an Argument as this is There must be alwayes with God a stable assured and vpright reason in euery choyse to be made There can be none other iust cause of Reason of Gods Election and Reprobation but in respect of the merite that must follow Ergo To the attainyng the grace of Election some preparation of merite must needes go before First I do aunswere out of Augustine that it is a most pestilent errour to say that the Grace of God is distributed accordyng to merites this is one of the errours of Pelagius Then as touchyng the Maior There is in deéde with God a perfect sounde vnchaungeable Reason of all his workes But by what reason be ordereth his workes may not be subiect to the Iudgement of the claye as Augustine sayth but of the Potter Now I come to the Minor Which we do vtterly deny for where you make a definition of Gods prouidence in chusing or refusing whom he will to be none other then such as dependeth vpon the foreknowledge of workes this is altogether most brutishe and vnreasonable For albeit that preuēting for eknowledge of things which out Deuines doe call foreknowledge is vnseparably knitte together to the will of him that doth Predestinate yet do we not graunt the same to be the cause of Predestination For first as concernyng the cause efficient for as much as the will of God is the very substaunce of God aboue the which there cā be nothyng more highe there can be no efficient cause thereof rendered either before it in limitation of tyme or aboue it in Maiestie but the materiall and finall cause therof may after a sort be assigned The materiall cause about the which it doth exercise her force is mākynde and those thynges which God doth geue vnto men by Predestination namely Vocation Faith Iustification Glorification The finall cause is two maner of wayes either that which forceth him to doyng by the preuentyng will and reason of the first Agent or els that which is produced out of action And bycause there may be many endes of one thyng it may be that there is one end of Predestination an other end of him that is Predestinated and an other of him that doth Predestinate As for exāple As Saluation and life euerlastyng is the end of Predestination the end of him that is Predestinated is to beleue and to lyue well and the end of him that doth Predestinate is his owne glory and the manifestation of his Iustice power and mercy As we do reade in Salomons Prouerbes God doth make all thinges for himselfe and the wicked man also for the euill day And therfore if it be asked whether God do predestinate for the workes sake it may be aunswered with S. Paule that the holy ones are predestinated not for their good workes but to do good workes so that now the respect of workes be vnderstanded not to be the cause efficient of predestination but the effect rather For thus we heare the Apostle speake Euen as God hath chosen vs in hys sonne frō eternitie that we should become holy to the prayse of hys glory c. not because we were or should be holy sayth he but that we should become holy to the prayse of hys glory c. So that no reason of Election may appeare but that which is to be sought for in the freé liberalitie of hym that doth make the Election neyther that any other last end may be conceaued but the prayse of the manifestation of hys heauenly grace So that as without God there is no cause efficient which may enforce predestination so if weé seeke for the very beginninges of eternall predestination we shall perceaue that S. Paule doth reduce them to iiij principall heades chiefly 1. to hys power Where he sayth hath not the Potter power c. 2. to hys purpose or hys good pleasure For so we reade in the Epistle to the Ephesianes where he vseth both these wordes because he hath predestinated vs sayth he according to the good pleasure of hys will c. And immediately after whē we were predestinated sayth he according to hys purpose c. 3. to hys will Rom. 10. he will haue mercy on whom he will haue mercy and will harden c. 4. to hys mercy or loue Where he sayth Rom. 10. It is neyther of hym that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that taketh mercy Last of all if you demaund further for some reason of Gods Election who shall more liuely expresse the same vnto you then the Apostle Paule writing to the Romaynes on this wise If God sayth he willing on the one side to shew his wrath and to make his power knowne did with much lenity beare with the Vesselles of wrath prepared to destructiō and on the other side to make knowen the riches of hys glory towardes the Vessells of mearcy which he hath prepared to glory c. Unlesse you haue ceased long sithence to be a reasonable man Osorius what more perfect reason can be made vnto you or more manifest of Gods workmanship then this that is here set downe in Paule Whereby you may playnly perceaue that all these councells and workes
where none was Nay rather why dyd not the Pope rather throw away his proude ambition and filthy Iucre and embrace the wholesome counsell of his brother and sithence he disdayned the maÌ„ why did he not douchâ—afe to yeld to the truth If he be so humble a seruaunt of the seruauntes of God as in name title he professeth to be why shamed he to harken vnto a godly man a learned Doctour and a graue Deuine not onely teachyng the truth but also castyng him selfe downe so humbly Nay rather why shamed he not to abuse the name of his Christ his Gospell in so false and filthy a matter Why shamed he not to blind the eyes of the people with such smoakes and to delude theÌ„ for whom Christ shedd his most precious bloud so craftely finally why durst he spurne so malapertly agaynst the expresse authoritie of the word and for as much as there is nothyng of more valour and more excelleÌ„t in this life then freé remission and forgeuenesse of Sinnes which we do enioy by the onely bloud of the sonne of God what more pestilent practize of lyeng and deceite could haue bene imagined or what ought he to be adiudged els then the very enemy of mans saluation who betrayeng vs of the most precious iewell in the world doth sell vnto vs smoake and dead coales in steéde of true and perfect Treasure These thynges beyng so manifest and cleare as nothyng caÌ„ be more manifest and cleare for as much also as Luther defended so honest and rightfull a cause as no man euer better and whereunto he was not allured by any his owne affectioÌ„ but forced rather by the peéuishe frowardnesse and manifold iniuries of others euen agaynst his will which also he could neither recant without haynous offence nor mainteyne without perill of lyfe where be those ianglers now which slaunder Luther as that he sought meanes of him selfe to disturbe alter ceremonies where be those whoÌ„ you rayle at so much I pray Osorius Who do set vppe Schoole no where but that they make all thynges more abhominable Finally where be these new Gospellers who so vayne gloriously tooke vpoÌ„ them to restoare the puritie of Gods pure Euangely Nay rather where was your shamefastnesse where was your honesty when you wrate this where was your Logicke wheÌ„ you ouerflowed so monstruously with filthy lyes in steéde of true honest Argumentes For what so simple a witted maÌ„ may be fouÌ„de that caÌ„ not seé a great mayme want to Iudgement in you in this kynde of Logicke when he shall view and read so wynde shaken and rotten Argumentes where in all your Assumptions ye vouche no maner of truth nor yet of all the same Assumptions any one hangeth agreably with the other For first begynnyng with a manifestlye you Assume on this wise Your Prophetes say you and your Apostles tooke vppon them and bounde them selues with an oathe that they would restore the pure and liuely wellsprynges of the Gospell Which is most false where dyd they vtter any such promise in word or halfe a sillable of a word so much But what doe you assume hereof But nothyng is ameÌ„ded in your Churches through their endeuour Hereof we shall seé the proofe hereafter Goe to conclude at the length Therefore those new Gospellers of yours be not of God O wonderfully not concluded but confused Argument of yours as are all your Argumentes els But if I may be permitted to builde such scattered Cobbewebbes together without morter or lyme why may not I as lawfully argue on this wise Ierome Osorius Bishop of Siluano hath taken vpon hym to confute the Lutheranes But his attempt hath little preuayled vnlesse it be to make their cause more manifest Ergo The purest Elleborus doth grow in Antycyra But let vs proceéde and because you haue taken your pleasure hitherto with our Gospellers teachers reasonably well Syr Ierome may we be so bold to enquire likewise what your Gospellers and great Doctours haue performed at the leÌ„gth what fruites what notable marchaundizes they haue enriched their people withall what aunswere will you make to this They did neuer promise any such thing say you I do beleue you But I demaund not of you what they promised but what they performed howe much they profited to the restoring of the puritie of your Churche what they ought to haue done this is the thing that I do aske You suppose that they haue well acquited themselues when by your testimonye they neuer made any vaunt of themselues to bring any thyng to passe euen as though when your friend shall staÌ„d destitute of your helpe you care not how naked you leaue him so that you binde not your selfe vnto him with any parcell of promise But I am of an other opinion and this I reason with you not because you haue not profited nor giuen any hope of profiting or help towardes the restitution of the puritie of your Churche but this I say and do expostulate with you because the most pure doctrine ordayned instituted by Christ himselfe for our behoofe ratified by the Prophets and Apostles and most wisely deliuered ouer vnto vs by our elders is wholy altogether or surely for the most part therof I say not not conuerted but vtterly subuerted by you because you haue obtruded vpoÌ„ vs such an estate of the Church is neyther Christ nor his Apostles if they were nowe aliue would euer acknowledge which if any man will dought whether be true or no from whence shall be he better certified then if he throughly peruse the very shape and lyuely Image of that Romish Church which your self do represent vnto vs here comparing the samewith the true Apostolique and that auncient Romaine Church that was for many yeares agoe Therefore let vs now harcken to Osorius preaching of hys owne Church First sayth he we haue neyther the Gospels of Luther nor of Melancthon nor of Carolostadius nor of Zuinglius nor of Caluine nor of Bucer but we do firmelye retaine the Gospells of Mathew Marke Luke and Iohn c. This is well done indeéde if it be true that you say and I wolde to god it were so I would to God Osor. you woulde stande faste and vnremoueable within the limytts and bowndes of that doctryne which the Actes wrytinges of the Apostles and Euangelistes haue deliuered ouer vnto vs and beyng contented with the same Gospelles you would not seeke for any other meanes of Saluation but such as in these sacred Scriptures is ensealed vnto vs by the finger of the holy Ghost But what is the cause then that yee defraud the godly of these Gospelles why do you hyde them in darcknes and why do you ouerwhelm them not vnder a Bushell onely but with fagott also and fire and by all meanes possible els consume them As to that where you say that you renounce the Gospelles of Luther MelaÌ„chton and Caluine truely I doe wonderfully commend
measure without end raging vpon the bodyes vpon the goodes vpon all ages indifferently young and olde men women and children and all sexe and degrees of people yea of them also which doe confesse and professe the same Christ the eternall Sonne of God whō they do why do they broyle moyle and turmoyle all thinges with such cankred Ranckor with such furious outrage with so many dead corpses pilladge polladge as that all peacible tranquillitie beyng now vtterly taken away from out of al Christian natiōs there is no part thereof be it neuer so small which is not eyther crusht downe with more cruell and sauadge persecution then any Turke would haue vsed or at least that had not rather lyue vnder the Tyranny of the Turk then vnder the Iurisdiction of such a church What can it possibly enter into anye mans thought that these are the fruites of the holyghost or are guyded to the leading and conduct of our most meeke Sauiour Iesu Christ If you haue grounded such an indefesible confidēce vpon the truth of your cause if you stand so defensible by the protection of the holyghost agaynst all assaultes and attemptes of heretiques why then with a safe conscience and vndaunted courage do ye not committe your cause to the Lord the protector of the same and rest your selues assured vnder his sauegard following herein the good and godly councell of Gamaliell If the doctrine sayth he be not of God it will easely shiner in peeces though all the world seeke to vphold it Now this so great slaughter bootchery so great horror of Sauadge brutishe crueltie so execrable Phalarisme and Tyrāny from whatsoeuer authour it raungeth so rudely it sauoreth nothyng at all of the sweéte and amyable countenaunce of the holy Ghost surely nor of the naturall lenitie and humilitie of the Euangelicall doctrine But which he addeth last of all is of all the rest most magnificēt and Triumphaunt promising assuredly of the euerlastyng victory of his Churche that it shall remayne inuincible for euer For euen thus he speaketh wherein he seémeth in my conceite to differre very litle from that foolishe reioysing of a people mentioned in the Apocalipse who worshyppyng that same very Romishe Beast vndoughtedly did ascribe vnto her that vnuanquishable power of continuaunce euen by a like phrase of speach Who is like to the Beast say they and who is able to fight agaynst her And this much hitherto of the fayth the Church of Rome It ensueth next in order that we heare henceforth of the great Uicare of Christ somewhat and of the high and chief gouernour of the Church Bycause sayth he by the Gospell and testimony of Martyrs and the fayth and agreement of all holy Fathers Is there any more yet Finally we haue knowe the same by experience and proofe of thynges c. Goe to And what is it that you did know good Syrs That it could not possibly be that the Churche should be one vnlesse it haue one chief head the same highe Vicare of Christ. It is well and what doe ye conclude vpon this strong Reason at the last Forsooth that for this cause we yelde most humble obedience to the Byshop of Rome who is Christes Vicare vpō the earth c. Good GOD what doe I heare Osorius haue you pyked such a kynde of doctrine out of the Gospell and the Recordes of the Martyrs that there must neédes be one Churche on the earth wherein also of necessitie much be such a head as must beare chief principallitie rule and superioritie ouer all the rest In deéde if you meane this of Christ I am wholy on your side For he in very truth is the onely husbād of his onely spouse and Prince of Princes and the very head of all thynges without exception he onely is the highest and greatest of all But whereas you prouide two Princes for the Churche at one tyme together as it were an office committed vnto two persons wherof the one may supply the place of the other as though the other might in the meane tyme lye vpon one side doing nothyng I pray you good honest men did you euer learne this rule in the Scriptures Nay rather doth not the Gospell of Christ whereas it cōmaundeth all men to obedience and subiection prescribe that the Ministers of the Church aboue all others chiefly should cast away all Souereigntie and Lordlynes and should be contented with pouertie in so much that amongest the Apostles them selues it would admitte to superioritie Moreouer doth not Christ him selfe also throughout the whole Euangelistes very earnestly stirre vppe his Ministers to follow his example who was him selfe so farre of from desiryng any superioritie as that he refused the same vehemētly when it was offered would he thinke you Osori like well of such brabbling as we make now a dayes amongest our selues for Lordshyps and dignities And can you so boldly now take vpon you to be Proctour for this high Monarchy to be established in your Church cōtrary to the example of Christ defendyng the title therof by the Gospell and the Recordes of Martyrs contrary to the example of Christ him selfe and the prescript rules of his Gospell and yet in the meane tyme not vouch so much as one text out of the Gospell or the Histories of the Martyrs to make your party good Although I am not ignoraunt altogether that you haue certeine Sentences and wordes in the Gospell which by wringyng wrestyng you doe accustome to force to your purpose whether the Gospell will or no yet for as much as Haddon hath sufficiently enough aūswered those places in the first booke sith also nothyng can be superadded hereto that hath not already bene spoken it shal be but neédelesse to rubbe that gall my more But what he meaneth by Martyrs or what kinde of Martyrs he vnderstandeth I can not well perceaue If his meanyng respect those first auncient Martyrs of the Primitiue Church surely we haue ouer fewe monumentes of them left vnto vs yet none at all makyng ought for that Romishe Sinagogue But if you conceaue of the Martyrs of this later age in our dayes I am well assured that not onely the monumentes but the very bloud of thē also doth long sithence cry vnto the heauēs for vengeance against that vnconquerable Ierarchy of yours I speake here of true Martyrs And as to the Fayth and agreément of holy men vnlesse ye ioyne also hereunto a perpetuall consent of places and tymes generally and the truth also withall ye shall no more preiudice our cause then if you tell me of the consent and agreément of the Iewes cryeng out agaynst Christ Crucifige Crucifige And therfore in my conceipt your shall doe farre better if in steéde of this consent of men whereupō you bragge so lustely ye follow the counsell of Augustine Let not this be heard amongest vs sayth he This say I this say you but thus sayth
rather All and singular this your Papaeâ—e how large and wyde soeuer it is outstretched is nothing els but a very sect and a certeine mightie faction armed with the power of men directly agaynst the Gospell of peace But of this hereafter shal be spoken more at large In the meane space bycause this place requireth that I aunswere rather for our owne Preachers then accuse others I returne to the complaint of Osorius Where makyng mention of sectes although by name he expresse to sect at all yet may it easily be coniectured what he doth mumble inwardly in his secret conceipt But I suppose he would haue the very same to be spoken that we assoone as we turned away from that Romishe Patriarche throwyng our Ryder as it were to the grounde whose spurres and snaffle we were affrayd of before are now raunged the fielde kickyng and flingyng into many brambles and thickettes of contrary sectes wherof he meaneth some to be Lutheranes some Zuinglians others he entituleth with factious names of Caluinistes Buceranes Swenckfeldianes But as this slauÌ„der is no new thing so neither did those names of sects grow or arise from them but are of your owne coynyng For neither Luther Zuinglius nor Caluine did lead any flockes of Scholers at any tyme nor euer erected any Schooles or sectes in their owne names as beyng of this mynde and profession alwayes that they could like nothyng worse then that any man should abuse either his owne name or any other mans name whatsoeuer to the dissoluyng of the bonde of peace and vnitie of Christian name And therfore these be your own imaginations voyde of all colour of truth forged by your own selues not raysed out of any other spryng then of that stinckyng puddle of malice and slauÌ„derous cauillyng Wherein you feéme to me to differre very litle from the peéuish affections of wemeÌ„ who if coÌ„ceaue neuer so slender an offence waxe whotte withall fall forthwith to playne scoldyng and auenge them selues with cursing brawlyng not vnlike the custome of litle boyes which amiddes their pleasauntest pastimes iarryng for small trifles as they will easily be moued waxe very angry so that in steéde of weapon whatsoeuer cometh next to hand they flyng at their fellowes heades Such is the dealyng here agaynst Luther Zuinglius others who neither varyeng froÌ„ Christ nor from the coÌ„munion of the Gospell nor froÌ„ fayth in any respect nor yet disagreéyng one from other in matter of substaunce nor in the principles foundations of Christian doctrine nor in the thynges that apperteine to true Relligion or worshippyng of God finally not in any Article of the Catholicke Creede yet bycause they hold not with the Pope of Rome hereof ariseth all that treason against the Maiestie of the Deuines here of malice tooke the first rootes in their hartes and out of that pestileÌ„t roote budded out those heresies sectes schismes not which be so in deéde but such as seéme to be so in the Iudgement of the slaunderer For what so small a gnatte may there be that raÌ„cor venemous hatred will not by and by transforme into an ElephaÌ„t Behold say they what a sturre these heretiques keépe amongest them selues The Zuinglians scold agaynst the Lutherranes and yet do not theâ—e Lutherans agreé amongest them selues in all thynges in which kyngdome how many factions may a man easily perceaue for scarsely the Ministers of one Church doe consent together firmely in all pointes All which albeit be not as true as they are bitterly heaped together of these ianglers to bryng the Lutheranes into hatred yet see I pray you how iniuriously they deale herein that they will not permitte one man to swarue from an other in any particular thyng whatsoeuer Which I am not assured if did happen to the Apâ—stles them selues yea after the commyng of the holy Ghost In deéde this was to be wished for if wishyng could preuayle that generally all might haue consented and concluded together in one mutuall vniformitie And yet vpon this vniformitie alone stand not all matters besides neither is the Sinagogue of the Scribes Phariseés for this cause of any better estimation bycause they conspired together and were all of one mynde to spoyle Christ and his Apostles Agayne neither did the Apostles not rightly departe and sequester them selues from the Phariseés sect bycause certeine small sparckles of dissention were scattered abroad amongest them And albeit a few Christians were molested and troubled throught some small contrarieties and variauÌ„ces arisen amongest them selues in the swathlyng cloutes of the Primitiue Church though also the Corinthians were deuided and soundred in partes as particuler affection preuayled yet was not that cause sufficient enough to proue that they might therfore renounce Christianity and reuolte to the Phariseés sect agayne If we make sectes and schismes as often as interpretours doe varie in opinion in their seuerall Expositions of the holy Scriptures amongest so many of all the Rabbines which haue wonderfully trauailed in the explication of the old Testament how many I say of them do agreé together in all pointes what a difference is there in their Commentaries yea how often doe the Hebrues them selues varie in their Expositions so that the old Prouerbe may be well verified here so many heades so many wittes Amongest the Expositours of the new TestameÌ„t is somewhat a more agreable and consonant agreément And yet amongest them all how many are you able to name that do not in some one thing or other vary and dissent how many and how great controuersies and disagreémentes in opinions were amongest the most approued Doctours of the auncient Church so that whiles euery particular person endeuoureth to preserue his seuerall errour inuiolable scarse any one is throughly cleare from some fault or other at the least After the same maner may it be adiudged of Luther Zuinglius who if in one onely place of Scripture do varie a litle what maruell is it sith you your selues that reprehend others so much offend more often more filthyly in many thynges But you will say peraduenture that this contention had not growne betwixt the Lutheranes and the Zuinglianes if they had kept themselues within the bosides and Iurisdiction of the Church of Rome Truely I may easily beleeue you Osorius For the Bishop of Rome would long sithence haue burnâ—d theyr bodyes For this is the Popes best corriziue wherewith he eateth out the canker of controuersies most speédely And yet neuerthelesse if the Iurisdiction of the Pope of Rome be a matter so warrantable to knitte fast the knotte of vnitie amongest men From whence then commeth to passe That within the very walles of that Court hath bene so many broyles and contententious debates so many kindes and names of settes so many contrarieties of opinions so many Brotherhoodes of Religions factions diuers in opinioÌ„s which the Romish Seé hath so long fostered vp nor was euer able hitherto to bryng to any
and Charitie As though amongest all other this were not the least porcion of your care whenas Bishoppes beé for the more part busily exercized about other affayres some very flowbackes some bussardes and blockheades vnappt altogether to teache and whenas Priestes attend their singing and piping no tyme canne be spared for preaching I speake of many of this sort For the whole charge of teaching is throwen vpon momish Monckes flattering Fryers and others such lyke Religious Rackhells altogether almost And these do teache the people in deede But what do they teach Osorius the word of God or the traditions of men do they preach the Gospell or do they seek to please seély women doe they persequut their Enemyes and reuenge priuate griefes or preach the kingdome of heauen or do they scatter abroad olde false fables out of the legend of lies or out of pupilla oculi◠or out of manipulus Curatorum doe they barcke agaynst the Lutheranes and Zuinglianes and with full mouth keépe a sturre about the reall natural corporal Identicall formes and presence more then metaphysticall in the Sacrament For these be commonly the Theames about which theyr whole prating preaching is spent But go to Admitte that amongst those are many also which in their preaching do expresse these thinges which be auaileable to the endeuor of godlinesse and piety and for that cause do sette open display to the view of their audytory the glorious crown os eternall Glory and the horrible paynes of euerlasting Tormentes Yet sithence the people and vnlettered are admitted to heare such preachers why may they not also be permitted to reade at home in their houses the Prophettes preaching vnto them in the olde Testament and the Apostles yea Christ hym selfe in the new Testament teaching them more perfectly forsooth you descry me here a great and daūgerous Rock to witte least being dazeled with the brightnes of that light which they are not able to endure like as men that bend the force of their eies directly agaynst the sunne beames they may be ouertaken with blindnes Truely I do know and confesse that there be many thinges of such nature as will require a necessary moderation and quallification of light Of which sort is the inaccessible brightnes of the glory of Gods Maiestie So was also the Apparition of Christ when he was manifested vnto Paule the brightnes whereof exceeded the reach of mans capacitie Not much vnlyke vnto the same is the cleare beholding of the vnspeakeable righteousnes of God and the contemplation of our owne Sinnes without confidence in Christ Whereof Barnarde speaketh very fittely in a certayn place the prayer of a Sinner is hindered two wayes sayth he eyther by ouermuch light or by no light at all that Sinner is enlightened with no light that neyther seeth hys owne sinnes nor confesse them Agayne that Sinner is blinded with to much light which seeth hys sinnes to be so great that he doth dispayre of release from them Neyther of these two do pray truely What then this light must be quallified that the Sinner may behold hys sinnes and may pray to be forgeuen them In these therefore Osorius and in others like vnto the same you might well haue required a certayne quallification But where was euer any daunger to be feared of ouermuch lightsomnes in any man that were willing to reade the Scriptures The Psalmist doth call the light of the Lord a bright light enlightening the eyes not blynding the eyes And agayne Blessed is that man called that doth exercize himselfe in the Law of the Lord day and night And therfore forasmuch as the kingdome of Christ is the very principall matter handled through the whole Scriptures what man is able to bend the eyes of hys mynde or of hys body sufficiently to the searching out of the glory of this kingdome Whereas Paule himselfe wryting to the Ephesianes of the incomprehensible Maiestie of this glory desireth nothing in his prayers more earnestly then that God would vouchsafe to open the eyes of their hartes whereby they might perceaue and knowe the heighth length breadth and depth of the knowledge and loue which is in Iesu Christ. And the same Paule doth pray in an other place that the Ephesians may know Wher is the vnmeasurable greatnes of hys power towardes vs c. But where can a man attayne to any more perfect or plentifull knowledge hereof then in reading the holy Scriptures We heare the saying of our Maister Christ cōmaunding all persons without exception on this wise Search the scriptures What And shall we suffer the Romish Philistines to stoppe vpp agayne from vs the Cesternes of holy Scriptures which the mouth of the Lord hath discouered vnto vs Albeit I know that there be many which doe wickedly wrest and wrieth the holy Scriptures to their peuish sensuality and corrupt hereticall affections Yet forasmuch as this commeth to passe not through the fault of tounges in the which the enlightned efficacy of the holy Ghost doth speake indifferently to all creatures ingenerall without exception but through the peruerse waywardnesse of some men abusing good thinges for the most part to an euill purpose I seé no cause why the reading of holy scriptures in what toung soeuer may be any thing preiudiciall to the lay people so that they be endued with an earnest godly desire wh is the best interpretor to the vnderstanding of Gods word On the contrary part where so euer wāteth this godly affection of minde which is gouerned by the holy Ghost there the reading is very perilous doubtles yea euen in the learned themselues Therefore where these wise fathers are so prouident to preserue the vnlettered from gathering a dimnesse of vnderstanding by reading Gods word I cannot discern wherein their wisedome may be praysed To my iudgemēt they should do much more wisely if themselues would employ theyr carefull endeuor to read the scriptures least themselues which do take vpon them to be guides of the blinde doe become most blinde of all others So also if they doe eschue those thinges chiefly which they finde to be manifest vntruthes contrary to the sincerity of the written word But now whereas these godlye Catholickes do so behaue themfelues as that they cannot choose but feéle the Gospell of Christ directly repugnant agaynst their intollerable pride their horrible cruelty theyr peéuish decreés their stately dignities their vnmeasureable couetousnesse their pompous trayue and theyr vnspekeable lust and portlye Lordlinesse their filthye superstition and abhominable Idolatry what maruell is it if they prouide so circumspectly that the greater part of the people may not become acquaynted with the Scriptures because they may more freely disport themselues in that generall blindenes of men and rule the roast as they list There remayneth now to treat of the Authority of Popes and Byshoppes because Osorius doth make a freshe challenge herein and offereth the field with a new onset
albeit of the same matter hath bene spoken sufficiently already And because as semeth by his writing the same doth consist chiefly in this that it may restrayne the lictiousnes and vnbrideled lust of men and may exclude from the congregation of Christians such as persist their wickednesse wilfully and obstinatelye c. Doubtlesse mankinde may thinke that the state of mans life is come to good passe if it be so that the generall ordering of publique chastity must hang vpon your authority and regiment ◠semeth to me to be of this cōdition as if the ouersight of the common treasory should be credited to a Spēdall or a Dicer or the Liuetenaūtshippe of a Prouince should be cōmitted to a notoryous Traytor And surely hereof I thinke it comes to passe that we are so much beholding vnto them for the vnspeakeable virginity of our maydens and for the incredible chastity of the matrons that we haue also so few hoorehunters and adulteries cōmitted in our parishes that there be no Brothell neastes of filthy foules in the city of Rome and that we heare of no priestes Concubines within nor without the walles of that Citye so great and so wonderfull silence vsed in holy confessions So that it is altogether neédeles now to rippe vp the remēbraunce of that Constantinopolitane Deacon matrone for whose cause Nectarius the Byshoppe there did abrogate all manner of priuate confessions And that I may now passe ouer in silence innumerable other in no respect more chaste examples and factes of Byshoppes and Priestes which being notwithstanding not vnknowne vnto your selues ye lulle a sleépe in confesūons As it is not my part in deéde to rippe abroad the rude reuelles of your liues nor to sturre abroad the stincking dunghill thereof pype vp and play your pageauntes as priuely ye liste though not so chastely as ye ought yet as couertly as ye canne your mysteries appertayne not vnto me There is one that beholdeth you whose eies ye can neither deceaue nor escape his iudgement This one thing will I be bold to speake that it is not all golde that glistereth nor are they al gelded which vowing that vow of chastity are presmounted to Byshoppes and priestly dignitye Nay rather it is greatly to be feared least among those selfe same counterfeyt Eunuches are ouer many which vnder the visor of yealing Eunuches play the partes of crauine Chereas But if those flames and firebrandes of lust and lechery heé throughly mortified by this pontificall prouision as you say herein surely I do commend your diligence and allow wel your prouidence But this maketh me to wonder in the meane space what should be the cause that whereas you yeéld ouer all other forrayne haynous offences to the sword of the ciuill magistrate ye reserue to your coram and court of conizaūce onely all manner of presentmentes touching lechery incest adulteries fornication and other such filthy stench of inordinate incontinēcy And I know not whether there lurke also any other mysticall matter of closer conueyaūce to be decided by that Censure Apostolique For where this your vnmaried life which you professe contrary to the commō course of nature is subiect to so many the more horrible filthinesse you haue bene very wisely circūspect in this behalfe to sequester the ciuill magistrate from intermedling herein reseruing the consideration thereof to your owne courts and conūstories and that of some singuler suttlery and pollicy as it seémeth By meanes wherof if any thing fall out vnhonestly handled amongest men of your coate the same may be coucht close in your couert confessions but if any lay persō shall chaūce to tread his shoe awrye the commodity thereof may redound to your coffers as profitable for the pursse wherein although to say the truth I cannot tell what certeintye I may determine of your dealings yet this one thing doth minister me much matter of suspicion That amongst so many dayly and hourely whooredomes and adulteries wherof some lay men now and then paye for the pottadge especially the poore neuer any priest hetherto hath bene knowen to be cited to your courtes for whooredome or adultery or put to any penaunce for the same But to confesse thus much vnto you which cannot well be denied that in all well ordered common weales consideration ought to be had of no one thing more circumspectly then that prouision to be made vpon some greéuous penaltye for the punishment of filthy lust and vnbrideled licentiousnesse of leud liuing yet do I not seé any such great necessitye why the authority and ouersight of such punishmentes should be more appropriate to the iurisdiction of your consistories then to the temporall magistrate And to admitte that in some respect it may be lawfull for you to determine in such cases of incontinency Yet this importeth no such necessity as that the christiā people should aduaūce your pontificall royalty to so outragious an excesse or that the popes and byshops them selues should magnifye their maiestie with such Pompeous Lordlines so farr aboue Kings and Emperors as to ouerlord thē or that they should ouerflow in such an vnmeasureable excesse of Possessions and treasure or that they should become so mighty Monarches of the world ruffling in so glorious glittering a shew waited vpō with so huge a train of attendauntes and seruice or that they should in so princely pallaces lead so delicate and sumptuous liues in idlenesse and lust pampering vp palfraies for their pleasures and dogg◠for delight or that they should not be contented to be caried on horse backe but as the Arke of God in the olde time vpō mens shoulders beyng hoyst vp aloft vpon the shoulders of Dukes offerre themselues to the gaze of the multitude not so much to be uewed as to be kneéled vnto and worshipped And can you say now that this Seraphicall maiestie was either deliuered vnto them from others or raked to themselues by their owne tyranny for the punishment of lust and not rather to support and mayntayn it As though if popes and byshoppes were orderly vsed as sitteth meétest for their personages the world should want meéte magistrates to punish fornication and adulteries I speake not this to the derogatiō of the authority of godly ministers and bishopps which I do hartely with they may throughly enioy yet would I the same to be no vsurped power but a true and lawful authority Neither do I desire the authority of good and Godly Byshoppes to be empayred that authority I meane whereunto they are authorized by Gods word but I like not that Tragicall Tyranny of counterfait Cloysterers and popish prelats Let them therefore enioy that authority that Christ hath endued them withall a Gods name so that they employe the same to publique commodity and aduauncement of Christes glory and not to their priuate profit and cherishing of idlenesse Pompe And forasmuch as the countenaunce of euery Ambassadour dependeth vpon the maiesty of the person whom he represēteth
Asscention day and Whitsonday and the Feast of all Saintes be passed ouer with no lesse brauery if besides this outward shew vayne glorious pompe nothing be ministred els to rayse vppe Fayth to the contemplation of matters of farre greater importaunce For what may we thinke when Christ was first Circumcized when he was first named A Sauiour wheÌ„ in floud Iordan he was Baptized of Iohn and manifested agayne to be the Sonne of God by a most excellent voyce from heauen when as he was tempted of the Deuill after sixe weékes fasting whenas hauyng finished that triumphe of his Resurrection asscended into heauen he powred vpon his Apostles clouen fiery tounges may we thinke I say that all these were done to none other end but that we should in remembrauÌ„ce of them keépe idle holy dayes in pastyme play And yet we do not much finde fault with the memorials of those thyngs in godly affected myndes wheÌ„as they be rightly taught vnto them as certeine helpes and aydes of godly exercizes eueÌ„ so also we do not vtterly reiect those holy dayes approued of auÌ„cient tyme by vse and custome yea rather we do in many places reteigne and keépe the same Holy dayes as they doe albeit not with like ceremony as farre as we may without reproche of superstition For euen we also do assemble our selues together and come to the Church celebratyng the memory of the byrth of Christ his Resurrection and Ascention and the Feast of Peâ—therost also but not as a memoriall alone whereof we ought to be myndefull euery day and euery houre but seékyng an occasion of the day to heare somewhat that may conduce to sounde and pure Religion and the edifieng of our fayth vnto saluation And therfore we doe not simply deny and reiect these holy dayes but the maner of solemnizyng the same the stinking abuses superstitious worshyppyng the multitude of holy dayes your soâ—ges and sonnettes for the most part idolatrous your prayers and inuocations most manifestly repugnaunt and iniurious to the glory of Christ those we do vtterly abolish and not without cause The Iewes had their solemne holy dayes in tymes past though in nomber not so many yet prescribed by God him selfe They had also their bloud offringes and Sacrifices Fastynges Easter Solemnities and the brasen Serpent wherof as loÌ„g as they folowed the lawfull vse as beyng certeine signes and meane instruments shadowes leadyng to the endes whereunto they were instituted they were acceptable enough vnto God But after that by turnyng catte in the panne they placed the chief worshyppyng of God and principall marke of true Religion in those thynges which of their owne nature were the last and of least valew how horrible and execrable they became in the sight of God no man can tell you better then Esay yâ— Prophet What haue I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices ' I am full of them the Burnt offring of your Rammes and fatte of your fattlinges the bloud of your Calues of your Lambes and of your Goates I would not haue when you come before my presence who sought for these thinges at your handes to walke so in my Courtes offer no more any Sacrifice in vayne your Incense is abhominable in my fight your new Moones and Sabbathes and other holy dayes I will not away with your assemblies are wicked my soule hateth you Kalendes and solemne Feastes I am greeued with these things and ouerladen with them And when you stretche forth your hands vnto me I will turne away my face from you and when you multiplie your prayers I will not heare you c. And yet God him selfe ordeined all these thynges in his owne law What then Doth God condemne the thynges which he commaunded No truly but bycause they wrested forced those thynges to an other end then they were instituted for bycause they were fastened wholy to those and had settled the chief foundation of ReligioÌ„ in these Rites neglecting in the meane tyme the greater and high matters of the Law this now was it that the Lord could not away withall Go to Le ts vs also now take a through view of your notable Feastes and solemne worshyppynges and let vs compare your ordinaunces who liue now vnder the Spirituall law with that people that liued vnder the carnall Law For they neither worshypped their Sacrifices nor burnt offringes at any tyme they neuer painted the resemblaunce or counterfaite of Gods couÌ„tenauÌ„ce in table or picture they neuer bedecke their TeÌ„ples with Images they did neuer set downe any visible signes or portraictes of Patriarches or Saints to be gazed vpoÌ„ neither did they euer gadde on Pilgrimage to visite theÌ„ to their Psalmes Prayers they had nothyng patched els nothyng intermixt froÌ„ els where they made no intercessioÌ„ to Saintes Sainctesses they neuer made inuocation to the dead In their Lessons was neuer any thyng heard but Gods scripture onely nor any thyng pronounced out of the Scriptures that was not in their mother toung intelligible enough of all sortes young and old indifferently Briefly there was nothyng exercized but by the expresse prescript and commaundement of Gods law so that the state and condition of the Iewish Feastes may seéme to be farre more â—afie and tollerable then yours if we haue respect to the onely outward forme superstition of myndes And yet as I sayd before I do not stand so much in this point but that ChristiaÌ„s may haue their holy dayes and solemne Feastes wherein they may refresh them selues be raysed to the remembraunce of Gods benefites and manifold mercyes bestowed vpon vs so that the same be obserued wtout preiudice of fayth in simplicitie of vnfayned piety Neither am I so curious to haue that comely traditions of our elders to be abolished so the true ReligioÌ„ remaine meane whiles vndeffled the vse wherof coÌ„sisteth not in outwards ceremonies nor in corporall exercises nor in places and times but in spirit truth so that false preposterous hipocriticall deuotion be abandoned wherewith God waxed wroth and was highly displeased For how many christiaÌ„s may a man seé which do measure the chiefe worshyppyng of God by any other endes almost then by their dayly frequenting churches often hearyng of Masses keéping the euens and holydayes orderly fasting the Ember dayes carefully reiterating their Paternosters and Aues often and solemnely powring out their Synnes into theyr priestes bosomes in Lent treatably croochyng and kneélyng to the Crucifixe barefooted and barelegged humbly Receiuyng the very body and bloud of Christ vnder the formes of bread wyne once a yeare yea euen in their death beddes deuoutly and that besides there remayneth nought to be superadded to attain perfect saluation beleuing stedfastly nor that they be ought indepted to Christ vdoubtedly but suppose vnfaynedly that they ought forthwith for these causes receiue heauen for theyr meéd of very duety I besech you If Esay the Prophet liued now
doth lye in all his Bookes Hereof therefore canne not be denyed but that he writeth Bookes Or els how could he lye in his bookes if he wrote no bookes at all And yet neither did Luther in that Article affirme symply that the righteous man doth sinne in euery good worke But annexing thereunto an exception conditionall he doth qualifye the sharpenesse of the proposition expounding himselfe with the testimonies of Gregory and Augustine on this wise If God proceed in his iudgement sayth he straightly without all consideration of mercy Meaning hereby not that God should take good workes from righteous men but should despoyle works of that perfection which of it selfe were able to counteruayle the cleare iudgement of God so that the perfection of our righteousnes consist not now in doing well but in acknoledgement of our owne Imperfection and humble confessing the same For this do we heare Augustine speake Vertue sayth he wherewith man is now endued is so farre forth called perfect as the true and humble acknowledgement of mans owne imperfection ioyned with an vnfayned confession of the same doth make it to be accepted for perfect Now what poyson lurketh here I beseéch you worshippfull Syr Unlesse perhappes you thinke thus that because God doth not commaund impossibilities for this cause they that be regenerated may in this life accomplish the law of God fully and absolutely and that your selfe be of the number of them which in this life abcomplish all righteousnes throughly If you thinke thus of your selfe what better aūswere shal I make you then the same which Constantine the great did on a time nippingly to Acesius a Nouatian who denyed that such as were fallen could rise agayne by repentaunce Set vppe your Ladders quoth he and clymbe you vppe to heauen alone Acesius Furthermore where you are wont to obiect in this place impossibilitie of performing the law surely this doth not so much empaire Luthers assertion nor helpe your presumptuousnes sithence Augustine doth aunswere you sufficiently in Luthers behalfe All the cōmaūdemēts of God saith he are thē reputed to haue bene performed when whatsoeuer is left vndone is pardoned And in his booke de perfectione iustitiae debating this question whether the commaundements of God were possible to be kept he doth deny that they be possible to be kept But he affirmeth that neither in this life they be possible to be kept nor to keep them commeth of nature but of the heauenly grace But hereof hath sufficiently bene spoken already before so that it shall not beé needfull to do the thing that is done already It remayneth next now that we enter into the discourse of the holy ceremonyes decreés and ordinaunces of the Church because he complayneth for the suppressing of these also wherein what iust cause he hath to complayne shall hereby apeare If we consider duly and aright the auncient ordinaunces and determinations of the primitiue Church Amongest which auncient ordinaūces of the Church I suppose this was establshed That no man should be abridged from freédome to marry and from eating all kinde of meates fish or flesh as euery man foūd himselfe best disposed It was an auncient ordinaunce also that aswell the lay people as priestes without exception should communicate vnder both kindes the bread and the wine And that nothing should be redde in the Churches besides the scriptures Moreouer that the Scriptures should be read openly to all persons generally in their mother toūg that euery man myght vnderstād it The auncient ordinaūces of the church did neuer admit any more sacramentes then two nor widdowes vnder threéscore yeéres old nor vouchsafed any that were but newly entred into the profession to beare any rule in the congregation nor any els but such as were knowne both godly and prayseworthy aswell for the soundnesse of theyr doctrine as for the continuall course of their liues It was an especiall prouiso of the auntient discipline that no one person should haue any more Cures the◠one nor should receiue out of any Church any greater contribution then should seéme sufficient for necessaryes onely and not to mayntayne prodigality and lust It was also an auncient custome amongst the elders that the newly professed should be applied to reading of lessones and singinge onely And the Priestes in the meane time should apply preaching of the word Amongest other aūciēt ordinaūces that Canon of the counsell of Nyce seémeth worthy to be placed here which prouided that the ouersight of all other churches should beé committed to threé or foure patriarches equally in such wise as that no preheminence of superiority should be amongst them but all to be equall in dignity Adde vnto this the generall discipline of the church which did not hang vpon one mans sleéue onely but was exercised indifferently in all places agaynst all notorions offences without respect of persons Now therefore where Osorius complayneth that the ordinaunces of the auntient and primitiue Church are taken away abolished herein he doth not amisse So do many godly personages more beside Osorius complayne very bitterly of the same But in the meane space I do maruaile much what monstruous deuise this Byshoppe coyneth agaynst vs who neither liketh with the abolishing of the auncient customes of the primitiue Church nor can in any respect disgest those men which do endeuour and desire onely to haue a generall reformation For to saye the trueth whereunto tendeth all the endeuour of those men whome Osorius here wringeth vpon so sharpely but that those auntient decreés and ordinaunces wherewith the Church of Christ was endued at the first might recouer agayne theyr former dignity from which they haue bene lamentably reiected If they could bring this to passe by any meanes nothing coulde please them better But if their harty desires attayne not wished Successe no men are more to be blamed for it Osorius then you your selues who vnder a deceauable and craftie vysor of antiquity practize earnestly and busily alwayes that no Monumēt of auncient antiquitie may remaine but haue forged vs a certeine new face of an vpstart Church with certeine straunge and newfangled Decreés and Decretalles which the true and auncient antiquitie if were alyue agayne would neuer acknowledge otherwise then as misbegotten Bastardes But to proceéde this Rhetoricall amplificatiō waxeth more hotte yet in more choler Moreouer neither contēted sayth he with the lamentable desolatiō of these thynges ye haue dispoyled mā of all freedome of will and haue bounde fast with a certeine fatall and vnauoydable Necessitie all the actoins and imaginations of men be they good and godly or be the perillous and pernitious cōtrary to Nature Reason and the law of God c. Touchyng the freédome of mans will and that fatall necessitie as Osorius tearmeth it bycause aunswere sufficient is made already before It shall be neédelesse to protract the Reader with a new repetition of matters spoken already To be brief and
haue taught They acknowledge him to be heauenly you make him earthly Theyr doctrine doth rayse vs from the earth vppe on high where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Your doctrine what doth it whereunto tendeth it whether doth it call the mindes of Christians but from aboue downeward out of heauen into the earth withdrawing the senses from the Spirite to the flesh So that we must seéke for Christ there not where he is but where you imagine him to be present The Apostle Paule when he preacheth vnto vs the liuely feature of this Christ who taking vpon him the shape of a Seruaunt suffered death in the same shape once for our sinnes vnder Pontius Pilate and afterwardes accomplishing the mistery of our redemption rose agayne for our iustification doth teach vs playnly that he ascended into heauen not leauing his body wherein he suffered behinde him here on earth but taking vpp the same body into heauen was with the same receiued into glory whom also he affirmeth he knew no more now according to his fleshlye presence that is to say according to the capacity of his carnall senses And that besides this Christ onely he knew none other Christ nor this Christ otherwise then according to the new creature onely namely visible in spirite with the eyes of fayth and not with fleshlye eies Let vs make now a comparison betwixt this Christ of our Gospell with that your Christ of the Pope in the same manner as you do fashion him and make a gaze of him to the eies and eares of the people after the order of your Gospel which seémeth to me to be after this manner not as hauing taken vpon him the shape of a seruaunt but the forme of bread is in the same forme of bread and vnder the accidents of bread made of wheat set out to the gaze of the people to be tooted vpon and is of Christians worshipped and offered to God the Father and this not once but dayly not vnder Pontius Pilate but vnder the Pope of Rome not a Sacrifice onely for the quicke but for the soules in Purgatory also to the washing away of theyr synnes Which Sacrifice being ended he is buried in deéd but buryed or rather drowned in the paunch of a priest from whence he neither riseth agayne nor ascendeth afterwardes but descendeth rather nor is euer looked for to come agayne from thence And this is that same Christ not the Euangelicall Christ but the Papisticall and poeticall Christ whom thought the Apostles or Euangelistes neuer knew yet must we be enforced will we nyll we to honor and worshippe neuerthelesse as the very Sauiour of the world forsooth Whom may not suffice to lift vppe hartes and mindes on high to him onely which dwelleth in heauen vnlesse we also lift vppe our fleshly eyes to this visible Christ and kneéle and crootche vnto him with great reuerence yea although the eyes themselues do behold nothing but bread and wine yet the eyes must lye and all the sences must be deceiued neither may in any wise be reputed other then verye herityques but in despyght of eyes and senses all we must of infallible persuasion of fayth firmely beleue that it is now no more bread and wine that is seéne But the bread and wine being thrust cleane on t of dores Chryst onely yea whole Christ doth possesse euery part of that place who though be not present in his owne naturall shape nor in the same proportion of body which he tooke of the Uirgine Mary yet in the selfe same nature trueth substaunce Identity notwithstanding vnder other formes forsooth and yet not figuratiuely but truely most absolutely perfectly and fully must in the same whole body and the same naturall blood be contayned felt seene and without all contradition worshipped These be the misteries of your diuinity as I suppose by the which you haue begotten vnto the world a new Christ I knowe not whom altogether an other Christ neuer borne of the Uirgine Mary doubtles whom the Gospell neuer knew nor the Apostles euer taught nor the Euangelystes euer saw I adde also whom neuer any of you hath seéne hetherto yet nor shall euer seé hereafter And yet these so wittelesse so dotish and monstruous deuises of drowsy dreames then which nothing can be spoken or imagyned more false and more monstruous you shame not at all to vaunt to be most auntient and most true as the Gabyonites of olde time did theyr shooes And for the same your Popish Christ made of bread you stick not to aduēture limm life more earnestly then for the true Glory of that Christ whom we do most certaynely know to be in heauen where also we do worshippe him And euen this doth your horrible butchery of an infinite number of our Martyres declare to be true by most plain and euident demonstration With the blood of whom because your holy mother the church seémeth so beastly dronken long sithence this one thing would I fayne learne of you what special cause was it that enforced you to vtter such outrage in the shedding of so much blood of your naturall brethren was it because they defrauded Christ the Sonne of God which was borne for our sakes crucified rose agayne ascended vp into heauē sitting now a Lord in heauē of one dramm so much of his due honor nothing lesse Was it because they abused or defiled the Gospel I thinke not so Was it because they brake the auntient ordinaūces and approued doctrine of the holy Apostles and Prophettes in any one thing or because they went beyond the bondes prescribed by the auntient fathers none of all these But the cause was for that they refused to allow of that newfangled and vpstart Idoll of the Popish Masse and that lately sprōg vppe Breadworshippe contrary to the doctrine of the Apostles yea contrary to Christ himselfe and because they would not in this behalfe be as furiously franticke as the Papistes themselues In the meane time we speake not this as though we were of opiniō that Sacramentes should be defrauded of theyr dewe honor For it is one thing to reuerence the Sacramentes accordyngly and an other thyng to conuert the Sacramente of Christ into Christ him selfe and to worshippe earthly Sygnes for the heauenly Christ in the one whereof is a kynde of Religion in the other manifest Idolatry To the whiche wanteth nothyng now but that they chaunt lustely together with Ieroboam These be thy Gods O Israell But we shall be vrged perhappes with the wordes of Christ in the Gospell This is my body c. As though in the wordes of Christ which be Spirite and life it be so rare vnaccustomed phrase of speaking to vse Tropes and figures now and then seing there is no kinde of doctrine that more vsually delighteth in figures Tropes parables Similitudes metaphors allegoryes mysteryes thē the mystycall speéch of the sacred
For this is almost the whole strength substaunce of their defence And I am not ignoraunt how plausibly this probable shew glittereth in the eyes of vnskilfull and vnlettered people For so do Philosophers define Probabilitie to be such as seémeth probable either to all men or many or at the least to wise personages But in heauenly thyngs ought a farre other maner of cōsideration be had For if we grounde our selues vpon many we are taught by Christ himselfe That many are called but few are chosen And agayne in an other place That his flocke is a very litle flocke And afterwardes he demaundeth If when the Sonne of mā shall come whether he shall finde any Faith vpō the earth Neither are those thyngs alwayes best wt delight many Agayne if we shall depend vpon the Iudgemēt of the wise we heare likewise the same Lord him selfe geuing thākes vnto his Father that he had hiddē those thinges frō the prudent and wise of this world and reuealed them to litle ones And agayne we read in Paul The wisedome of this world is very foolishnes with God And therfore where as they would haue the Church to be placed on high apparaūt to the view of all the world truly they Iudge not amysse herein namely if they meane of the preaching of the word And yet this is no good Argumēt notwithstādyng that euery Citie vaūced on highest hill shall be forthwith esteémed the true church of God or els what shall be sayd to that famous great City mētioned in the Apocalips Which was foreprophecied should be built not vpon the Toppe of on hill onely but vpon seuen hills Or what shall we Iudge of that exceédyng wondering and worshyppyng of so many Nations so reuerētly hūbled to that Beast whose marcke it is sayd that small and great young and old riche and poore freemen and bondmen yea and those in noumber not a fewe but vniuersally all shall be marked withall in their right handes and in their foreheades Uerely if common sence and consent of people do make a Church where was euer a greater consent or more well likyng and greater admiration of fautours and frendes But they say that the cōsent cōmunitie of their Church is vniuersall Catholick which may not erre by any meanes Now let vs seé how they proue it The Apostle say they in his Epistles did greatly cōmēde the fayth of the Romaine Church This is true Peter also did both consecrate the same to be a See and instruct it in the Fayth I am in dought of this But what hereof After the Apostles tyme many of the Apostles Disciples say they learned Doctours and holy Martyrs Ignatius Irenaeus Cyprian Tertulliā Augustine and all that auncient age of graue Fathers did alwayes most gloriously esteeme of this Church Is there any more yet In the tyme of Basile Nazienzene Chrisostome the Church of Rome was not onely had in highest estimation but also was diuers tymes sought vnto for counsell and ayde neither will I deny this to be true couple herewith if you will that whē other Churches were tossed and turmoyled euery where with Schismes and rent in sunder with seditious factions no one Church besides stoode so long in so quiet a calme not assaulted with any such contētious sectes or variable opiniōs which did not a litle aduaunce the estimation of the Church and gate it no small authoritie Go to and what shal be concluded at the last out of all this For sooth The Church of Rome whiles it reteigned the sounde doctrine and simplicitie of the Fayth was commended of the holy Fathers by the name of a Catholicke and an Apostolicke Church Ergo The Church of Rome is the head and Metropolitane Church of all other Churches which hath neuer hetherto swarued from the true tracke of the truth nor shall euer erre vnder the which all other Churches must be subiect of very necessitie the cōmaundement wherof is an haynous obstinacie to disobey From the which to depart is manifest Schisme agaynst the which to resist and stand is playne heresie all the cōmaundements whereof to sweare obedience vnto is the surest way of sauety moreouer also a very necessary Article of eternall Saluation You do seé I suppose the whole force and subtiltie of your Catholicke cutted Enthymeme Whereof if you will seé a right proportion it is this The Church of Rome was allowed of the holy Apostles or the most auncient Fathers and all the most approued Doctours of the Church for Catholicke and Apostolicke But our Church is the Church of Rome Ergo Our Church is approued for Catholicke and Apostolicke by the consent of all the godly First we aunswere to the Maior proposition The auncient primitiue Church of Rome was approued by the famous cōsent of the learned for Catholicke and Apostolicke Peraduenture it was so yet was not this Church of Rome accompted so alone nor yet to this end so accompted bycause it should be the vniuersall Church of all other Churches For this will forthwith be gayne sayd by the Councels of Nice Mileuitane and by Pope Gregory and all the learned Deuines of that age vntill the cōmyng of Boniface 3. Moreouer neither was it for that cause so famously commended with so great consent bycause it was the Church of Rome but bycause it was a Christian Church Neither for any prerogatiue of the place though Peter sate there a thousand tymes For euen this also will an aūcient Pope Gregory deny as appeareth euidently by the Decreés Neither the places nor the dignities do make vs more acceptable to our Creatour but either our good deedes doe couple vs vnto him or our euill deedes do exclude vs frō him Moreouer not bycause it can prescribe an ordinary Succession of Byshops For Ierome also will not admit this They be not children of holy ones forthwith sayth he that occupie the possessiō of the holy ones but they that practize the workes of the holy ones But bycause with the Succession of Byshops they did ioyne agreable profession in true Religion bycause they did apply them selues to imitate the Fayth Religion and order of worshyppyng instituted by the Apostles bycause they did not varry frō well ordered Churches in any part of sounde doctrine For this cause I say namely for their sincere vnstayned Fayth and constaunt vprightenes of Religion not defiled with filthy stenche of erroneous doctrine the Church of Rome obteined of the auncient godly Fathers to haue a place amongest the Catholicke Apostolicke Churches But what is this O ye Apostolicke Princes to this your Romish Church in the state that it is now in the disorderous order whereof as it is at this day reuelyng with Cardinalles riotyng in Court glorified with this title of Uniuersall head garnished with tripple Crowne garded with the double sword magnified with Patriarches and innumerable other titles of dignitie armed with Abbottes mounted with Mounkes saluted
the vse for the which the foresayd collection was pretended Many such pageantes haue bene played by the Byshops of Rome But Mystres money made vpp alwayes the peryode of the play Let vs call to remembraunce the ages of our auncestors which were but a whiles sithence and note well the Actes and Recordes of the same within these fewe yeares for what is he so blockish who but meanely acquaynted with the late Chronographers canne not easily perceiue those practizes whenas he shall read of so many bloudy battels so many preparatiōs for the recouery of the holy Land shall heare of so many redd Crosses beautifully blazed and embrodered with the Popes trypie Crowne with a skarlett Boxe whenas he shall perceiue the perpetuall prating of Proctours Frier beggers which had skill to claw the poore clownes for their croomes voasting much promising infinite performing nothing Wherunto were added sweéte names titles of Renowme Now must there be a leauy raysed agaynst the Turke by and by the Pope is in great hassard by force of the enemy then comes there a Iubilee euery hundred yeare first not long after an other Iubilee euery fifteth yeare the last euery xxv yeare that so the retourne being more speédy might also be more neédy call for more reliefe Within a whiles after the Church of Saynt Peter must be built vpon the hill called Vaticanus mons in Rome Then began Saint James of Compostella in Spayne to waxe hūgry sometime the holy Ghost in Rome was driuen to extreame beggery So also the world went hard a boord with the poore Mounckes of Mount Sinay Then was compositiō offered for a Restitutiō to be made of loane money or a Iustification of goods euill gottē And so to cease here what were all these but open Marketts deny this to be true Osorius if you canne If you cann not denye it with what face shame you to make warrant that no portesales haue bene made of holy Reliques at any time in your holy mother Churche But the matter goeth well peraduenture these fellowes are to much ashamed of theyr powlyng pranckes and because they can render no reasonable excuse for their bribery and pilladge they beleéue that they shall be able to stoppe mens mouthes with dissimulations and lyes And I doubt not but it will shortly come to passe that they wil as stiffely deny hereafter that they did euer worshippe those holy misteries and signes of the body and blood of Christ in the holy Sacrament in steéde of the very naturall bodye and bloud of our Sauiour Iesu Chryst. And so let this suffice for Pardons OF Images what shall I say sithence hereof hath bene spoken sufficiently enough already and sith he also alledgeth no new matter but olde and bare names onely of Nazianzene Basile Ierome and Ambrose neither vouching any places of the Authors in the meane space nor citing any example at all out of any theyr writinges Goe to and what is it that these Nazianzene Basile and other Doctours do say at the lenght For sooth euen this they do say They doe extoll and magnifye with all the ornamentes of Eloquence such holye Sainctes and godly Martyres to whom was geuen this high honour and glory to persist stoughtely in the face of the Enemie for the testimony of Christ and to washe their garmētes in the bloud of the Lambe their vnuāquishable constancy and heauenly fortitude of courage theyr names actes and Monumentes they do aduaunce very studiously and religiously they pray all night before their Tombes and exhort other godly congregations to read ouer their Actes and Monumentes and to celebrate theyr memorialles Where is all this Osorius and from whence fetch ye this ware Seéke for it good Readers and let it not be tedious vnto you to peruse the volumes of the Doctours ouer and ouer And here by the way especially let Haddon be ashamed which hath so whollye addicted himselfe to the perusing of Accursianes writinges that he coulde spare himselfe no vacant tyme to read the Bookes of these Doctours But to passe ouer these trifles let vs consider the Argumēt of Osorius The auncient Fathers doe honorably sett forth extoll and magnifye the holye Martyres that suffered death for Christes cause I do know this I do know I say that the bookes of the holy Fathers are full of such commendations and prayses of godly men So doth Basile describe famouslye the vertues of Saynt Iulitta Gordius Barlaa Mamantes and forty Martyrs more Nazianzene doth highly commend Marcus Arethusius and Cyprian Chrisostome prayseth his Babyla Ambrose also is full of the like commendations so doe many others extoll and magnify aboue the skies such as they accoūpt prayseworthy But what is all this to the purpose who euer practised to defraude any godly Martyr one title so much of his worthy cōmendation Neither doth our discourse now concerne Saynctes or Martyrs but Pictures and Images Let the holy Martyres haue theyr cōdigne prayses Let the Fathers be aboundantly and plentifully eloquent in theyr commēdatory Declamations Yet did all that garnyshing magnifiyng of Saynctes and Martyrs vertues constancy tend to none other end then to expresse vnto vs a certayne liuely president thereby to imitate theyr patience and to practize their integrity of life and not with crootching and kneéling to worshipp them Neither was that auncient learned age euer so superstitious and bussardly blinde as to adore and make intercession to men in stead of the Lord theyr God But woulde glorify their God rather in his Sainctes And for this cause do I thinke were auncient Monumentes erected Temples buylded wherein the Christian people might heare the Actes and vertues of those holy Martyres to be taught to imitate their example not because the Martyres that were deade shoulde be worshipped Afterwardes some Portraictes were added perhapps wherin the conflictes and intollerable tormentes of these valiaunt Martyrs were curiously paynted as may appeare in Gregorye Nicenus in his commendatory treatise of Theodorus the Martir which labour peraduenture was not altogether fruitlesse according to the capacity of that age that so by the beholding of the History and noting the maner of their agonies and passions others might be the more encouraged to endure the like as occasion should be ministred But that any Pictures and Images of dead bodyes were seéne erected in the Churches of Christians to be worshipped in those dayes vnto the which the Christian people might be so affyed as to celebrate the dead portraict of dead bodies with more then prophane Religiousnesse to witte with prayers with owches and brooches with sacrifices with vowes with supplications with Pilgrimages with temples with Altars with Capers with hollidayes with fasting dayes with excommunications and cursinges with intercession with inuocation with affyaunce and hope of assistaunce in the stead of their Christ or should worshippe Christ in those Images or by those Images Certes no man can make this iustifiable by Basile Gregory or
argue agaynst your subtile Sophisme by contraposition out of S. Iames. For if it be true that mercy doth farre exceéd Iudgement and that the water of grace be of more efficacie to quench and putt out then the fier of Iudgement to bourne and consume why may not I frame an Argument A Fortiori that there is no Purgatory after this lyfe to them which in this life are Baptized in Christ Iesu wherfore to knitt vpp the knott in few wordes I seé no such Buggbeares yet in that your Purgatory fier of whom they which be Baptized in Christ neéd to stād in any feare or dought But Osorius shouldereth out the matter agayne and agayn Why then sayth he are men sayd to the Baptized in S. Paule for the dead if there redounde no profitt at all out of Baptisme Those that do discourse of the efficacy vertue of Baptisme do deuide the vertue and efficacy thereof into foure Braūches namely Into renouation into washing away of Sinnes and into making men myndefull of the Resurrection to come These threé qualities be so annexed vnto Baptisme that they do neither profitt otherwise nor to any other persons but vnto them onely that are washed in this founteine whiles they liue in this world Whereupon they are worthely rebuked in Chrisostome Which do cast away water vpon the dead and holy thinges vpon the earth And for that cause was the heresie of the Marcionites detested bycause they did substitute others to Baptisme in the behalfe of them that were dead as is before rehearsed And this not without great cause For as no man doth feéde him selfe to quench an other mans hunger nor any man is washed to cleanse the vncleannes of an other and as the Church doth not allow that the holy Communion of bread and wyne be thrust into the mouth of them that are dead euen so Baptisme which is ministred with the element of water doth washe away not an other mans filthynes but the corruption and filthynes of euery particuler person that is bathed therein Whereupō Thomas Aquinas discoursing not altogether vnfruitefully of the intention and meanyng of Christ doth expounde thereof in this sort to witte that Baptisme is profitable to them which are in this lyfe Baptized in the Fayth of Christ. For it were not conuenient that it should be profitable otherwise For whereas the Sacrament of Baptisme wherof Paule doth treate in this place is of this nature that it ought not to be ministred twise what will Osorius aūswere to me here whether he that is Baptized for an other be Baptized for him selfe before yea or nay if you affirme that he is then you make him an heretique whatsoeuer he be that doth reiterate Baptisme If you deny that he was Baptized first thē doth he sticke fast cloyed yet in the filthe of originall Sinne and therfore he can not be Baptized for an other mans bondage but that by the same meanes he becomes him selfe a bondslaue and needeth now to be purged him selfe first Moreouer what reason can you render that the liuyng ought to be Baptized for the dead accordyng to your Sophisticall collection For if you meane of the flesh beyng dead but vnto this you will not agreé to witte that any such flesh is in Purgatory If you meane of the Soules but sithence your selfe can not say in any respect that the Soules be dead your Assertion therfore must neédes be false that they are Baptized for the dead which are Baptized for soules which do liue in Purgatory Therfore to be Baptized for the dead accordyng to S. Paules rule is nothyng els in the Iudgement of the Deuines if you will esteéme of the matter aright but to be dipped into that founteyne and so to be taken frō out the same into the mortification of the flesh into the rising agayne of the same flesh Whereupon Chrisosto not vnaptly To be dipped into the water sayth he and to rise out of the water agayne is a pledge or tokē of our goyng downe to hell and our returning frō thēce againe And for this cause Paule doth tearme Bapptisme by the name of a Graue or sepulchre You are buried together sayth he through Baptisme into death c. Thus much Chrisost Frō whō Ierome doth not differre very much who discoursing vpon the same place of Paule to be baptized for the dead doth not expound it otherwise then to be so baptized in the death of Christ that with Baptisme we shew our selues dead vnto the world And proceéding foreward What auayleth it to dye to this world sayth he if life euerlasting do not follow the contempt of the world and therefore Ierome doth apply that saying to be Baptised for the dead not to appertayne to the dead that are in Purgatory but to our flesh in this world being as it were mortified already For what auayleth sayth he the flesh to be baptized in this life if it ryse not agayne to another life To passe ouer in the meane tyme other Glosers of our new vpstart schoolemen whereof many doe interprete this place of Paule for the dead That is to say for deadly sinnes and workes of sinne that beé dead If this be true surely Baptisme can by no meanes agreé with Purgatory forasmuch as soules are cast into the bottomlesse pitt of Hell for deadly sinnes onely and into Purgatory for none other but for veniall sinnes onely as they say By these so manifest and so many Testimonies of writers I do suppose that euery man may plainly perceiue the very meaning of the Apostle in those words to emport nothing lesse thē that which Osorius with his most shamelesse definition would seéme to enforce on this wise To be Baptised sayth he is for a man to offer himselfe a Satisfactory hoafte to wash away and to purge cleane the filthinesse of the soules of the dead And by and by agayne To be Baptized for the dead he doth affirme to be nothing els then to honour God with a Satisfactory offring and with a Sacrifice for the saluation of the dead and to offer also the hoast of the bodye voluntaryly for the saluation of their soules Say you so Osorius To be baptised for the dead is it nothing els then to offer a satisfactory Sacrifice of the body for the cleansing and washing away the sinnes and filth of the dead And where be those dead a Gods name Iwis in the skalding house of Purgatory Uery well done Ergo thē Christ when he suffered his passion was baptized for thē that were in Purgatory Yea marry Syr what els Foreward now what say you then of Paule and others that were likewise baptized for the dead No lesse I warrant you For euen so we heare Osorius vttering his owne wordes It appeareth playnely sayth he by this place that not onely Paule but many others also did offer most holy sacrifices for the dead that is to say for the saluation
the death of Christ is not of sufficient efficacy and power to accomplish the misterye and pryce of our redemptiō vnlesse a supply of Sayntes afflictions be annexed to make vpp the full measure herein they do eyther moustruously lye or els it is false that Saynt Paule doth affirme that we are all made absolutely perfect and complete in Christ Iesu for asmuch as it is vndoughted true that the thing that is most perfect and fully absolute can want nothing to fyll vpp the measure of perfect perfection And so also is the saying of Saynt Paule to the Hebrues in ech respect as false where it is sayd that Christ did by one onely oblation consummate or make perfect them that be sanctified Surely if one onely oblation doe fully accomplish all the partes of our satisfaction then all other oblatiōs whatsoeuer be not onely not profitable but wicked also and execrable Moreouer whereas that Typicall Lambe in the olde law did represent vnto vs the perfect patterne and Image of the true and immaculate Lambe which was slayne from the beginning of the world what shoulde be the cause that the redemption which is of the bloud of the sonne of God should in any respect not be as fully perfect vnto vs as was that deliueraunce of the people full and absolute that went before but in a Type or representation And whereas they dare be so shamelesly Impudent as to make a mingle māgle of the merites and afflictiōs of Sayncts with the passion and bloud of Iesu Christ I do wonder that they are not ashamed hereof howbeit I can not deny but that the death of his Saynctes is precious in the sight of the Lord yet is not this to be taken so as though the price of theyr death were of as great value as that it ought or can be able to counteruayle the wrath of God by any meanes Neither are they therfore sayncts because they do dye and suffer persequution but because they that do suffer persequution be holy therefore is theyr death called precious in the sight of the Lord. And the cause why they are Sainctes and be called Sainctes commeth not of any vertue of theyr death but of the onely power efficacye of the death of the sonne of God in whō they do beleue which dignity they do receiue by theyr owne fayth onely not for any their afflictions sake so that now to be Sainctes is not of any merite of their own but of the merite of the onely sonne Iesu Christ who is onelye righteous and doth make others righteous as Augustine doth both wisely and learnedly testify Christ sayth he was that one onelye man which could both haue the fleshe of man and could also not haue any Sinne. Euen that onely he and alone which is himselfe iust and doth instifie others the man Iesus Christ. And therefore sayth he we can not be compared with Christ although we suffer Martyrdome for his sake euen to the sheading of our bloud And immediatly after making a comparison betwixt the afflictions of Christ and the afflictions of the godly Martyrs Christ sayth he had no need of any our helpe to worke our saluation but we cann do nothing at all without him he gaue himselfe vnto vs his braunches a liuely vine and we without him can not haue so much as any breath to preserue life withall Finally although brethren do suffer death for brethren yet is not the bloud of any Martyr shedd for the remission of his brothers offences which thing Christ did in his owne person for vs. Neither did he by this exāple as by any speciall patterne direct vs to immitate him but onelye that for this example we should become thankefull and reioyce in him c. 3. So that by this testimony of S. Augustine now I doe suppose no man doth dought how he ought to determine of the other threé namely the Treasory of the Church Pardons and Purgatory For if it be true that the same Augustine doth say that the most holy ones of all others are not able to cure the woundes of their brethren being themselues daylye and incessaunt beggers in theyr dayly prayers for remission of theyr owne Sinnes What shall become then I pray you of the merites of Sayntes 4. But if the merites of all holy Martyrs and Apostles be nothing auayleable with what reason then can this gaye treasory of the Church be mayntayned of whose Iewelles they brag so gloriously or what shall become of that office of Stewardship and dispensation of Pardons 5 Moreouer if those ragged skrappes of pelting Pardōs be throwen out to the dounghill I neéde not drawe forth any long discourse to tell theé gentle Reader what shall become of that rydiculous Relique and bable of Purgatory For as much as the matter it selfe being so easely discernable will quickly enduce theé to perceaue that this fable which these catholick Fathers haue forged of Purgatory doth no more emporte any trueth or lykelyhood of trueth then this lye and peéuish pracing of Pardons doth differr from manifest falshood foxlye fraude then which toye neuer crept into the Church any one trinckett more ridiculous or worthy lesse credit All which notwithstanding our Portingall Rhetorician must yet proceéde forward and shoulder out his puppett Purgatory with all the strength that he can and demaundeth a question Whether there may be any tyme for Christians to abstayne lawfully from Carity whose chiefe and principall poynte of Religion doth consist in Caryty If you speake of Dearth Osorius It is true that you speake that the principall groundworke of all your Religion is Dearth For she maketh most on your side And hereof commeth it that all ecclesiasticall matters are sould so dearely with you yea the Churches themselues Byshopprickes Prouostshippes Priestehoodes Myters Palles Consecrations Immunityes Priuiledges Dispensations Indulgences Monasteryes Temples Altars Colledges Emongest all which the highest degreé of Papacy it selfe what a price it beareth and what a Dearth hath growenouer all these thinges is skarse credible to be beleued or able to be expressed with pen or tongue But you meane Charitie a word deryued from out the grace loue and mercy of God I doe aunswere you that in all your Religion is either so no Charity at all or surely so litle as that all thinges with you are full of skarsitye and dearth But our Osorius Tullianisme doth not distinguish Caritatem Dearth from Charitatem Loue by any speciall difference And therefore lett vs heare the questiō that he propoundeth himselfe of this his Caritas dearth What can there be any exercise of caritas imagined greter then this wherein we do pray with most earnest prayers vnto God for the saluation of our Brethren No surely I thinke And therefore for the great affection and loue that I doe beare vnto you I doe pray most humbly and hartely vnto God for your sauety that pardoning this your lewdnes of wryting he may
he hath debated somewhat and so debated as himselfe doth confesse not of any gredy desire of flattering as speaking the thing that â—he doth know to be plausible to his Catholickes but hath written the very same doctrine which he doth firmely beleue to be true which I doe yeld vnto that you haue perfourmed accordingly For as much as hitherto you haue alleadged nothing but phantasticall conceiptes of your owne wandring imagination and fryuolous opinions of your owne gyddy deuise Thoroughout all your bookes no sparke of Scripture no sentence at all of auncient writers besides bare names onely is vouched able to geue any creditt to your cause And therefore you haue sayd well in deéde that your writing doth agreé with your meanyng in all pointes but there is nothing more corrupt then that iudgemeÌ„t of yours nor any thing more vayne then your writing And for the thinges themselues whereof you make mention hath bene spoken sufficiently allready to witt of the Popes supremacy of the Popes warres of Purgatory of Sacrifices of Marketts of Pardons of the vncleanesse of Priestes and of their filthy superstition All which disgracementes of Religion from whence they issued out at the first although Haddon affirmed that you were not your selfe ignoraunt albeit you dissembled the contrary yet surely of this you ought not to be vnskilfull except you list to be reputed an open counterfaite that all those Trincketts which you thrust vpon vs vnder the cognizaunce of Religion did sauour nothing of the foundation of Christes Religion of his Apostles or of the Prophetts doctrine but haue bene deuised by other men long sithence the comming of Christ and by couert creéping by litle litle into the Church are growÌ„e to this vnmeasurable Rable Which hath bene displayed abroad aboundantly enough before as I Iudge in these same bookes After all these ensueth a common place of the filthy and wicked lyfe of Priestes which being more notorious then can be couered more filthy then can be excused Osorius is driuen to this streight that he can not deny but many thinges are amisse in the maners of Priestes and many things out of order which require seuere and sharpe correction howbeit he doth so extenuate this cryme as that he shameth not to confesse but that the greater part of these Catholick shauelings doe liue most chastely without all blemish of worthy reproch Of the rest he hath good hope yea and doughteth not thereof vpon the confidence that he hath of the good beginnings of the most holy Father the Pope Pius the fifte whose wonderfull godlynes ioyned with marueilous zeale of true Religion cleare and voyde from all ambition greedynesse and rashe temerytye doth geaue vs especiall comfort that it will shortly come to passe that the disorders and dissolute misdemeanours of Superstition and Priestes will attayne to a better reformation But if happely this hope happen not to good successe and though all thinges doe runne into further outrage yea although also no man minister medicine and remedye to this diseased Church yet is not this forthwith a good consequent that good and godly ordinaunces shall for the retchlesse trechery of some euill disposed persons be vtterly taken away And that humaine actions did neuer staÌ„d in so blessed an estate as to be cleare froÌ„ all matter worthy of reprehension not onely emongest Priestes and MouÌ„ckes but also through all the conuersation of Christian congregatioÌ„s And that it standeth not therefore with Reason for the negligence of a few disordered Mounckes to roote out the whole order of Mounckerye and for the wickednes of some Priestes therefore to subuert the whole dignitye of Priesthood and authoritye of Byshopps None otherwise then as if in the holy state of Matrymony many thinges chaunce sundry tymes not all of the best and vnseemely handled yea and that wantonnes grow euen to brech of wedlock yet is it not reasonable that for this cause the whole bond and vowe of mutuall loue and lawfull vniting should be cutt asunder Semblably ought we to determine of the orders of Priestes and Mounckes Emongest whom though all thinges be not done orderly and decently yet such thinges are not by and by to be discontinued which were instituted for godly purposes nor followeth not forthwith if there be some festered members in the coÌ„mon weale which must of necessitye be cutt of that for this cause the whole state of the coÌ„mon weale shall be tourned vpsidowne but rather that the ouergroweÌ„ weeds be pluckt vpp and such as be scattering brauÌ„ches be applyed to better order and reduced to their first patterne And that there is nothing more perillous in Common Weales then the often innouation of good and commendable established ordinaunces and lawes which doth commonly breed not onely a generall contempt of wholesome statutes but for the more part procure an vtter ouerthrow of the whole state according to the testimony of Aristotel who did sometime openly withstaÌ„d the decree of Hippodamus Milesius made for the aduauncement of such as should deuise good and profitable lawes being of this opinioÌ„ that lawes should be comprised within measurable lymitts and boundes that the well keeping of tollerable lawes emported more safetye then the innouation of new To Aunswere this large discourse briefly Osorius could haue alledged nothing more coÌ„modious in the defence of Luthers cause and nothing more vehemently agaynst these newfangled Romaines For if Aristotel did worthely reproue Hippodamus Milesius Who being not contented with the present state of his owne Countrey did practise an alteration of the state What shall be sayd vnto you who haue so chopt and chaunged all things in the Church that there is not left therein one title so much of Apostolick antiquity or auÌ„cieÌ„t Doctrine Therefore if all matters must be reduced to the first foundations what one thing can preuayle more to further the LutheraÌ„s desire who in all theyr writings and wishinges haue neuer endeuoured any thing more carefully then that a reformation might be had of the Publicke abuses and corruptions of the churche according to the first most godly institutions to the vtter abolishing of all newfangled vpstartes wickedly supported And those first Institutions I doe call the very first foundations of the Apostolyque doctrine most godlye grounded vpon the holye ghost and the Testament of Christ. From the which how much your doctrine and Traditions do varry I haue sufficiently discouered before For whereas Christ is an infallible principle ground of the Apostolicke doctrine and whereas the chiefe pillers of the Euangelicall buildyng do stand principally vpon this poynt to preach vnto vs euerlasting life promised by the freé gift of God through fayth in Iesu Christ euen by this one marke may easily be discerned of what value and estimation the whole state of the Romish religioÌ„ may be accounted which doth not direct vs to Christ but to the Pope not to the onely sonne of God but to the sonnes of
of this milde Phenix our most gracious Soueraigne a few yeares more in this life truely I doe nothing mistrust but that the whole generatiō of your Catholick Caterpillers loytering lozels shall be driuen shortlye not to the gallowes but to that howling outcries and gnashing of teéth described in the xviij Chapter of the Apocalipps which you may reade and peruse at your leysure and afterwardes aunswere vs when time and place wil serue for it But we must cōmitt all these as all other our actions successes els to the guidyng and conduct of him in whose handes are the hartes of Princes and Potentates and the order and disposition of tymes and of chaunces He is our Lord. Let him determine of vs as seémeth best in his sight whether his pleasure be of his infinite mercy to blesse vs with a continuaunce and settled stay of this quyett calme which he hath fauourably bestowed vpon vs or whether he will scourge our Sinnes with the cruell whippes of these Popish Philistines or whether he will vouchsafe accordyng to his promise after the long and greéuous afflictions of his tourmented Church to roote vpp the foundations of your Babylonicall Towres and ouerwhelme them in the deépe doungeon as it were a mylstoane in the Sea But whatsoeuer the successes shal be of our hope it can not be but most acceptable and commodious for his faythfull whatsoeuer his prouident Maiestie shall determine This one thyng I would wish from the bottom of my hart that our lyues and and conuersations were aunswerable to our publique profession and that our maners were so conformed as might no more prouoke his indignation and wrath then the doctrine that we embrace and professe doth moue him to displeasure which one Request if might preuayle with our Englishmen there were no cause then wherefore we should be afrayed of hundred Romes sixe hundred Osorianes and as many Portingall Dalmadaes Now the onely thyng of all other whereat I am dismayed most is not the force of your Argumentes not the brauery of your bookes not the crakes of your courage not the legion of your lyes Osorius but our home harmes onely our pestilent botches of pestiferous wickednesse and licentious insolency Wherein you seé Osorius how litle I doe beare with the maners of our people and how much I doe agreé with you in condemnyng their waiwardnesse whose maners you do gnawe vpon so fiercely whose Fayth and Religion neuerthelesse I can not choose but defēd agaynst your Sycophanticall barkyng with iust commendation as they do duely deserue But for as much as we haue treated largely of Queéne Elizabeth I will now come downe vnto others and will pursue the conclusion and end of your booke furious enough and full of indignation wherein you heape whole mounteynes of wordes brauely and behaue your selfe most exquisitely and artificially and besturre your stumpes lyke a sturdy pleader couragiously and launche out lyes as lustely yet herein not as Oratours vse orderly but after the Cretensian guise ouersauishely Of whom S. Paule maketh mention The men of Creete are common lyars For you say that Haddon dyd counsayle you that you should not meddle with the holy Scriptures Which coūsell as neuer entred into Haddones head so neuer raunged out of Haddons penne And out of this lye beyng as it were the coyne of the whole buildyng it is a wonder to seé how you shoulder out the matter what greéuous complaintes you doe lay to our charge which haue neither toppe nor tayle foote nor head I would wish you to peruse the place of Haddon once agayne whereat you cauill so much but with more deliberation For this was neuer any part of his meanyng to abbridge you the Readyng of one lyne so much of holy Scriptures Moreouer neither did he so couple you to the Colledge of Philosophers and Oratours as to exclude you from the noumber of Deuines as your cauillation doth sinisterly emporte without all cause of iust quarrell For what can be more conuenient for a Byshopp and a Deuine and an old man also then to be exercized in the mysteries of heauenly Philosophy night and day or what dyd Haddon euer imagine lesse then to rase your name out of the Roll and order of Deuines But when he perceaued as truth was that you did behaue your selfe much more plausibly in other causes and therefore highely commended many qualities in you to witte an excellency of style exquisite eloquence ioyned with ingenious capacitie stoare of Authours and many bookes of yours likewise and especially your booke De Nobilitate and withall did grauely consider by the conference of your bookes that you were by nature more enclined or by Arte better furnished to treate of other causes then to dispute of those controuersies of Religion wherein you seéme a meére straunger and goe groapyng lyke a blyndman wandryng altogether in Iudgement and withall a professed enemy to the Maiestie of the glorious Gospell takyng vpon him the part of an honest friendly man thought good to aduertize you friendly and louingly not that you should not employ any study or trauayle in this kynde of learnyng but surceasing that presumptuous boldnesse of rash writyng and vnaduised decyding of controuersies wherewith you were but meanely acquainted that you would with a more circumspect deliberation consider of the matters whereof you purposed to discourse and that you would not from thenceforth rush so rudely agaynst vs with such disordered Inuectiues which doe in deéde bewray nought els but your ignoraunce procure generall myslikyng and auayle nothyng at all to publique commoditie For hereunto tended the whole scope mynde and meanyng of Haddon Which you doe causelesly miscouster agaynst him euen as though he had debated with you as your Catholickes doe vsually accustome with old wemen poore badgers Carters Cobblers the meaner state of poore Christiās whom you doe prohibite with horrible manacings cruell prohibitiōs frō the reading of sacred Scriptures none otherwise then as from bookes of hygh Treason But in very deéde you doe interprete of the matter farre otherwise then euer Haddon did meane And therfore here was no place for your nyppyng Satyricall scoffe which you did pretily pyke out of Horace Uerses wherewithall he doth dally with his Damasippus and you beyng an old and meary conceited man resembling the old dottarde Silenus of Virgile do ridiculously and vnseasonably deride Haddō withall The Goddes and the Goddesses Rewarde you with a Barbour for your good counsell Nay rather keépe this Barbour in stoare for your selfe Osor and for the rascall rabble of your sinoath shauelynges who in respect of your first and second clippyng nypping shearing and shauing must neédes room dayly to the Barbours shoppes who also doe accompt it an haynous matter to weare a long bearde as is also especified in the same Satyre For you I say euen for you and those dishheaded dranes of that shauelyng and Cowled rowte who with bare scraped scalpes beyng a new fangled
marke of Circumcision haue glorified your Church carrying the marke of the Beast vpon your crownes that Barbour of Horace whatsoeuer he be will serue for your turne much more fittly Upon which wordes of the Poet you proceéde forewarde But by what meanes doe you know me so well Who did euertell you say you that I haue not bestowed longer tyme vpon the Readyng of holy Scriptures then vpon Cicero Demosthenes Aristotle and Plato Truly if you perfourme in deéde Osorius as your wordes do emporte you are much to be commended But your bookes declare otherwise Howbeit we do nothyng mistrust but that you are busily exercized in readyng the Scriptures as your function and dignitie requireth nor did Haddon obrayde you with any such matter as that you did litle or nothyng at all apply the perusing and conference of Scriptures and so also did he meane nothyng lesse then to forbidd you beyng a Byshop as you say and a Priest from the study and practize of Gods holy Testament Wherein you doe vnhonestlye slaunder him and belye him without cause And therefore I cann not seé to what end these wordes of yours which you inferre hereupon and wherewith you seéme to fight with your owne shadow as it were do preuaile on this wise Is it lawfull for you to geue full liberty to wemen to Porters and Carters to tattle and clatter without Iudgement of matters of Diuinitie and will you presume to prohibite me I do not say a Byshop I do not say a Priest finally I do not say a mā many yeares exercised in the most sacred Scriptures furnished with no small encrease of knowledge but as you doe affirme a man of vnderstandyng and wisedome that I may not medle with this most holy learnyng Abate somewhat of your courage good my Lord Byshop I pray you if you can And lett vs reason together vpon some true allegations Tell vs a good fellowshypp where in what place when and at what tyme in whose presence with what phrase of wordes did Haddon euer forbidd you the study of heauenly Philosophy in speach or in thought If you can not Iustifie agaynst him by any meanes to what purpose then is all this so gorgeous and glorious floorish of wordes about the Mooneshine in the water But this braue Marchaunt would neédes blaze out his bracelettes and Iewells lately transported vnto him from out the Calecutes and therefore on this maner ietteth forth this Buskine Portingall Moreouer by what law by what authoritye by what power may it be lawfull for you being a Cyuilian to pearch so presumptuously to handle Gods booke Renouncing the proctorshipp for old Rotten walles windowes and gutters vyle and base contractes Couenaunts and bargains and pleading with pelting libells and may not I who am called to this function to instruct my flock committed vnto me with the word of God be so bold to employ some labour and diligence vpon the interpreting and expounding thereof without your comptrollement c. You haue heard an accusation tragicall enough if I be not deceaued and a very haynous complaynt of this babler For the rest now harken to the Morall of the Fable You offer me a double iniurye sayth he for you doe both entrude vpon an other mans possession and you dispossesse me from my right with most iniurious prohibitions c. Yea but if a man may be so bold vnder correction by your leaue being so great a Byshop so wise a Priest so great a Clarke to speake as the trueth is your selfe haue made two lyes together Osorius without touch of breath For neither he beyng a Ciuilian forsaking his pleadyng of walles windowes gutters doth entrude vpon any other mans possessions nor yet doth force you out of your owne right nor doth prohibite you with any such kynde of prohibitions but that you may proceéde in that course of studies which beseémeth your age profession best bestow as much trauaile thereupon as you can by all meanes possible Yea rather he doth earnestly perswade your holynesse thereunto Enioy therefore a Gods name those possessions which you clayme as your right as much and as longe as you may Haddon will neuer interrupt your course no more will any Christian man els driue you from your interest therein But in the meane space lett vs behold what maner of possessions these be whereof you speake verely if you meane the knowledge of Christ the word of lyfe holy Scriptures readyng hearing of heauenly Pphilosophye Certes I seé no cause why you should haue any more especiall prerogatiue in these possessiōs then any other Nor why this treasure ought apperteigne more to Osori because he is a Priest then to Haddon being a Ciuiliā for as much as by Godes institution this one learning aboue all other is prescribed to all persons indifferently as the chiefe and principall rule of this lyfe vnlesse we will accompt this saying Search the Scriptures to be spoken to Priestes onely and that for this cause Lawyers and Ciuilians ought not intermedle therein But if it were lawfull for Bartillmew Latomes being a Lawyer to write agaynst M. Bucer in matters of highest Diuinitye If Iulius Phlugius a professed Ciuilian might be warrāted by themperour Charles the 5. to sitt in Synodes and disputations of Deuines If Albert Pius Earle of Carporites writing agaynst Erasmus a Deuine and a Priest If King Henry the 8. doing the lyke agaynst Luther and descending into disputation in matters of Diuinitye being neither a Byshopp nor a Priest was supposed neuerthelesse to doe nothing vnseémely his Regall magnificence nor contrary to order Why is Haddon accused then as an encrocher vpon other mens possessions because being a Ciuilian he dare presume to encounter with a priest in matters of Religion But he should haue yelded ouer the charge of writing against you to Deuines and Byshops rather Truely it is not to be doughted but he would haue done so Osorius If in this kinde of conflict he could haue bene perswaded that he should haue contended agaynst a Deuine But whenas he perceaued by the course of your writing that your whole discourse sauored of nothing but of a Rhetorician and a Philosopher and that in your treaty of Diuinitye you alleadged skarse any one sentence of true Dyuinytye and sound doctrine he being himselfe a Rhetorician and withall throughly studyed in the same kinde of exercizes did conceaue in his minde that there could be no fitter match for him then being a Rhetorician to deale agaynst a Rhetorician as Bithus did in tymes past with Bachius that so with one manner of weapō and one kinde of furniture he might encoūter your lyes wherewith you doe so nimbly seéke the ouerthrow of the verytye In this poynt therefore of Haddons determination touching the debating of this cause he did nothing vncomely or vnseémely for his personage nor did he for this cause relinquish his owne walles and encroch vpon your possession yea so much
whereof as many their notable lessons did aboundantly declare so aboue all other who can wonder enough at that heauenly voyce of Scipio the Romayne surnamed Affricanus being an Ethnicke whereof Marcus Cicero doth make relatiō in his Treatize called the dreame of Scipio Writing on this wise There is sayth he a certayne sure and determined place reserued in heauē for all such as do preserue ayd aduaunce their natiue coūtrey where they shall liue in euerlasting felicity for euer and euer There is nothing more acceptable to that high and mighty God that guideth and ruleth all the world amongest all the actions of men then counsailes corporations and societies of men lincked and knitt together with orders and lawes which are called Citties c. If we regard the iudgement of the flesh what sentence cann be spoken more plausible or more notable in the singler commendation of vertue then this was which doth assure the good deseruinges and mutuall amities of men ech towardes other exercised here of eternall and infallible rest and ioyes in heauen Go to And what is it els almost that this diuinitye of Osorius doth trayne vs vnto then to teach the very same that Scipio the Romaine did namely That there is no passable way to the attaynmēt of the blessed felycyty of eternall lyfe then that whych is atchyeued by godly actions wyth an absolute integryty of excellent life Pag. 32. But heauenly Philosophy doth direct vs a farre more neare way The heauenly Scholemaister doth out of heauen display abroad and chalke vs out a speédier way and an easier iourney towardes heauen teaching vs in the Gospell on this wise I am sayth he the way the trueth and the life Neither will Osorius deny this to be true I know in word but in deéd what doth he els then deny it For to admitt him his saying that there is no passable way to heauen but which is purchased with absolute perfection of life what may we winne hereof els but that this way to heauē be not Christ but the speciall prerogatiue of our owne purchase So that by this reasō if our owne industry do satisfy all thinges what neéd is there of Christ thē or to what vse will his death and passion auayle yes forsooth to this purpose you will say that by the merite of his passiō he may purchase for vs the grace and gift of sanctification regeneration wherewith being once endued hereof fortwith springeth that excellency of absolute perfection and other ornamentes of charity and vertues which will make vs an easy passage into the kingdome of heauen What then doe you so depaynt vs out the whole office and power of Christ in this one onely action namely that he shall powre out vpō vs new qualityes godly actions by the Deuine operation of the holy ghost what doth he not redeéme vs also doth he not iustify vs and reconcile vs yes What els you will say Doth he iustify all men without exception or the faythfull onely if he doe iustify them onely that do beleue I do demaūd further what the cause is why they be iustified Is it for their faythe 's sake or for their workes sake If it be for their faythe 's sake I aske againe whether for faith onely or faith ioyned with good workes I do here expect some oracle frō you for an aūswere hereunto If you finde that there is no hope of any thing to be iustified by wtout fayth then must you neédes alter your foundation that you grounded vpon before to witt That there is no passable way to heauen but whych is atchyued wyth godly actions of thys lyfe Pag. 32. And that it is onely righteousnesse that doth obtayne the fauour of God to Mankynde Pag. 142. And in an other place That fayth onely is onely rashnesse Pag. 74. What shall fayth therefore be quite banished away No but you will couple her with some copemate that neither Fayth without the company of good workes nor workes without the cōpany of Fayth may be able to procure righteousnes But this knott will the aucthoritie of the Scriptures easily cracke in peéces for if Fayth onely doe not aduaunce the faythfull to saluation except it be coupled with excellēt integritie of life why did not Christ thē couple them together whē he spake simply Hè that beleeueth in me hath euerlasting life Why did not Peter couple them together when he doth preach Remission of Sinnes vnto all as many as doe beleeue in his name prouyng the same by the Testimonies of the Prophetes Act. 10. why did not Paule couple them together Actes 16. where he instructeth the Gaylor in Fayth Beleeue sayth he in the Lord Iesus and thou and all thy houshold shal be saued Many Sentences might be vouched purportyng the same in effect but it shall suffice to haue noted these fewe for breuities sake The History of the Galathians is notably knowen who beyng seduced by the false Apostles did not simply reuolt frō Christ nor did simply abandone their Fayth in Christ but endeuoured to couple the good workes of the beleéuers together with Fayth in the Article of Iustification before God for the attaynemēt of lyfe euerlastyng On which behalfe how sternely and sharpely the Apostle did reproue them his owne Epistle beareth sufficient Testimony But here commeth a Reply by and by out of the same Epistle where writyng to the Galathians he doth treate vpon such a fayth as doth worke by loue Upon this place Osorius agreéyng with the Tridentine Councell doth builde an vnseparable coniūction of Fayth and Charitie together so that Fayth without Charitie as an vnshapen and vnformed Image is altogether vneffectuall to the absolute fullnes and perfect accomplishment of righteousnes But that Charitie which they call a righteousnesse cleauyng fast within vs is so vnable to be seuered a sunder from the worke of Iustification that they dare boldly pronoūce that it is the onely formall cause of our Iustification To satisfie this place of S. Paule here is an easie and a Resolute aunswere For in the same Epistle the Apostle doth endeuour by all meanes possible to call backe agayne his Galathians to the onely righteousnesse of Fayth from whence they were backslyden and withall bycause they should not be seduced with a vayne persuasion of counterfaict Fayth he doth discouer vnto them what kynde of Fayth it is which he doth meane Not the fayth that is idle and dead without workes but which doth worke by Fayth sayth he And in this respect it is most true that Fayth is not alone But what maner of concludyng an Argument is this Liuely Fayth is not alone without Charitie Ergo Not Fayth onely but coupled with Charitie doth Iustifie The Argument that is deriued from thynges setterer by nature to thynges coupled by nature concludyng from that which is Secundum quid ad Simpliciter is worthely reiected in the Logicians Schoole and is called a meére
vnblameable c. Wherein you haue both the cause the end of our Electiō The cause is Christ or the grace of God in Christ The end is herein signed that we should become holy vnblameable For he speaketh not in this wise he did chuse thē which had lead an vncorrupt life to the ende he might engraffe them in Christ. But he did chuse vs in Christ Iesu first that we should liue holy and vnrebukeable But by what meanes vnrebukeable say you whenas the very elect them selues can not be free from faulte as Luther doth say The aunswere is playne and easie Whereas Luther doth deny that Gods true elect are freé frō all guilt he seémeth therein to haue regard to the frayltie of mās nature making a comparison therof doth set the same directly opposite against the seuere Iustice of Gods law This weake nature bēding her force as much as she may agaynst the assaults of sinne although she get the vpperhād sometymes yet besides that she yeldeth ouer very oft as vāquished euē then chiefly whē she hath obteined the maistry she doth neuer yet expresse the immaculate sinceritie vndefiled vprightenes in mainteinyng the battell but some default may be foūde in her most perfect obedience so pumples will yet sticke fast in the flesh that they may be easily espied For curing wherof she shal be cōstreined of necessitie to pray in ayde for the generall triacle of the Church Lord forgeue vs our sinnes c. So that Augustines wordes may well be verified here why is the possibilitie of nature so much presumed vpon It is woūded maymed troubled and vtterly destroyed it neédeth a true Confession and not a false purgation c. Furthermore where the Apostle maketh this addition Thar we should become holy vnblameable he seémeth not therein so much to respect the naturall perfectiō of innocēcy which I doubt whether may be foūde in the very Angels as the zealous mynde godly will earnestly bent affectiō of euery of vs in this life vprightnes in euery our seuerall vocatiō meanyng nothyng in this placeels thē as he did in an other place where speaking of the vocation of widdowes cōmaūdeth thē to be instructed to lead an vnreproueable life 1. Timo. 5. Likewise making mētion of Byshops sayth That they must be vnblameable haue a good testimony left they fall into reproch and reprofe of the slaūderer 1. Tit. 3. Agayne setting an order for seruaūtes cōmaūdeth thē to haue regard to their calling lest the name of God the doctrine of their professiō should be brought into obloquy In like maner to Titus the 2. chap. Appointyng a rule of comely cōuersation he doth exborte all persons that euery one so behaue him selfe in his vocation that the word of God be not blasphemed that the aduersary may be ashamed hauing no iust quarell to accuse vs. And agayne to the Colloss the first chap. That he may deliuer you holy and vndefiled and vnblameable in his sight c. Which sayings tend not to this end as though mās nature could put on that perfection wherby by she might be preserued frō fallyng at any tyme afterwardes by frayltie from the state of integritie but prouoke vs rather thereby to take heéde that our will be no more in thraldome vnder wicked rebellion so voluntary yeld ouer the members of the body to sinne or by any meanes bryng her selfe in bondage to wickednes And this is the meanyng of the Apostle as I suppose That we are therfore chosen of God not to be delighted in mynde with the cōcupiscence of the flesh to fulfill the lust therof But to become holy That euery of vs in this world should demeane our selues in our callying soberly vprightly and godly as be seémeth the chosen and holy ones of God Whereby you may sufficiently perceaue if I be not deceaued That those sentēces which Paule hath written cōcernyng holynes and Luther touching naturall infirmitie are not so repugnaunt one agaynst the other but they may both be admitted well enough For hereof ariseth no repugnauncie but that in outward conuersation and obseruyng the rules of our function duely it may be sayd after a simple maner of speach and vnfaynedly That is to say in the sight of God a man may demeane him selfe honestly in whose nature notwithstādyng some such filthe may cleaue as may of necessitie compell him to crye out with that elect vessell of God wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of death But Osorius perhappes will chaunte vs an higher note not with this miserable Paule Vnhappy man that I am who shall deliuer me But will descaunt I suppose with that blessed Phariseé I thanke thee O heauenly Father that I am not as other mortall men are c. But let vs goe foreward and pursue the Reliques of this notable monument And sithence we are come now to the treatize of Predestination and Freéwill Let vs marke well what stuffe this Raunger hath brought out of his Forrest and what dogges he leadeth to course other mens game withall ¶ Of Predestination and Freewill LVther affirmeth that freewill is a thyng in name onely or a Name without substaunce That mā is the patiēt and not the agent That he is drawen and doth not purpose or Deliberate any thyng That man is an instrument onely and as it were a Sawe or Axe whiche God doth frame and force whether he will and whereunto him pleaseth and that mā hath no power nor strēgth reserued him either to doe good or to cōmit wickednesse in so much that we are not able not onely not to do good or euill but also not to thinke any thought by any meanes of our selues Moreouer when I name Luther I vnderstād also withall Melancthon Bucer Caluin and the rest of your Iolly fellowes whose opinions and writynges tend to this effect at the length That no difference at all may seeme to be betwixt man and any other toole or instrument In uery good tyme Syr blessed bee this houre wherein we are come now at the length to the most combersome and crabby treatie of Freéwill which beyng heretofore so oft tost to an fro in common Schooles in assemblies and disputations of Deuines after so many combates turmoyles hath now at the last founde out a champion hope I through whose onely force and actiuitie beyng defended and shrowded as it were vnder the Target of Aiax she shall be able to endure and withstād all the assaultes and coūtermoyles of all heretiques whatsoeuer For whereas heretofore this vnsearcheable gulfe hath encombred entangled the wittes and studies of so many notable Clerkes Cardinalles Byshops and Priestes the bottome and depth whereof could notwithstandyng neuer yet bee attayned vnto I suppose the onely let thereof hitherto hath bene for that our Osorius was not hatched as then nor produced to be Proctour in this cause But
of God which we do see were begonne and atchieued not for any fayth foreseene before nor for any foreknowne good works but to magnifie and make discernable hys power and the prayse of hys grace And yet is not this vntrue that the fayth of the holy ones was foreseene and the works of the vngodly were foreknowne long before they were but yet these do follow as effectes and do not preuent nor make predestination nor do certifie a reason or playne demonstracion of Gods prouidence but are thēselues established rather by the reason of Gods prouidence For to hym that will enquire amongest all the workes of God what is it that his most hyest and vnsearcheable will hath respect vnto chiefly for what reason for what cause and to what end all these were instituted in the same order and maner as we do beholde them the matter may by this reason be made notorious vnto hym to make manifest sayth he the power of hys wrathe and to make knowne the riches of hys mercy But I will pursue the other reasons wherewith they do vrge vpon vs. If thou wilt conuert vnto me I will conuert thee and if thou be retourned and will make thy self to be retourned thou shalt stand before my face If thou wilt make separation of that which is precious from that which is vile thou shalt be euen as myne own mouth Be ye tourned and I will heale you I will retourne and not turne away my face from you The office of the holyghost is of two sortes the outward calling by preaching And the Inward operation of the minde whereof the first is layd open for all men indifferently the other concerneth none but the chosen properly Moreouer for asmuch as repentaunce is a spirituall resurrection frō death I cannot see how the same may be within the compasse of mans power more then for a man that hath bene dead can be able to restore hymself to lyfe agayne If God do vouchsafe to empart hys liberalitie to some without all respect of preparation he shal be iniurious and cruell to the others whō he passeth ouer in the meane time God doth witnes of hymselfe that he alone is he that is able do discerne and Iudge betwixt men when as otherwise we are all like eche other in all thinges but after what maner GOD doth discerne make the difference the scriptures doe declare Not in respect of mans preparation but according to the good pleasure of hys will for so we reade Ephes. That God hath predestinate vs all according to the purpose of hys will c. If God should not worke in respect of the workes foreseene before he should seeme vnrighteous in hys election S. Paule doth propose these same obiections to himself and withall maketh an aunswere to the quarrelling cauiller O man what art thou that doest aunswere with God adding thereunto the similitude of the Clay and the Potter And yet GOD hath much more power ouer men then the Potter hath ouer the clay If the Potter be at his owne libertie to fashion the Uessels as he will himselfe shall it not be as lawfull for God to shewe forth hys power vpon hys owne creatures but that he must be enforced to follow mens merites and that our deedes now must be vnto hym a rule of Election Roboam was sayd to be reiected for this cause because he did not encline hys hart to seeke God Ergo It is in mans power to make the harte apte to receaue grace The hardnes and peruersenes of the hart wherewith we are made prone and propense to wickednes vprofitable and vnable to do good is a generall disease of all mankinde vntill the new regeneration of the holyghost do minister a new remedy for the same Which remedy if it come once Grace is to be thanked for it onely If it do not come let euery man impute it to his owne frowardnes and to hys naturall disease and not vnto God who did create mans nature whole and sound at the beginning Briefly to aunswere at a worde This aunswere shall suffice to all those threatninges and exhortations which our aduersaryes do pyke out of the bookes of sacred scriptures euery where and do obiect agaynst vs. I may seeme perhapps to haue bene ouerlong and tedious in heaping together and confuting the obiections of our aduersaries It remaineth now that I make aunswere to certeine slaunders and lyes of these persones who being vnable to bring any thing to passe with sound argumentes and good matter do attempt the ouerthrow thereof with crooked conueyaunce with false slaūderous cauillations wherein as many others do turmoyle themselues very much so doth this our porting all ouer greedely busye hymselfe more then all the rest The Cauillacions of the Aduersaries wherewith they do impugne the doctrine of predestination as altogether vnprofitable and superfluous for edification and Iustitution of good lyfe FOr this they vse to obiect that by the meanes of this doctrine of predestinatiō all carefulnes is takē away frō mē that are fallē to ryse agayn that to such as do stand occasion of sluggishnes is ministred because mans trauaile is altogether Superfluous in both respectes if neyther he that is woūded cānot be able to become sound agayn through any hys owne industry neyther he that is chosen can fall away through any his negligence by the one whereof desperation is nourished by the other slouthfulnes is mayntayned If all things be first decreed vpon with God by hys vnchaungeable counsell of predestination what neede we thē any preaching or godly exhortations Whereby mens affections may eyther be stirred vp to embrace vertue or terrified frōtheir accustomable licēciousnes of life Whenas the desperate minde shall think with it selfe on this wise Whether we lyue well now or otherwise we shal be such notwithstanding at the length as God did foreknow that we should be if good then good if euill then euill Forasmuch therefore as through the teaching of thys doctrine the very sinewes of all endeuour are brust asunder and that there remayneth a certayne fatall Necessity onely they do say that it were more conuenient not to haue any wordes or speach at all of this matter They do add moreouer that it is superfluous to dispute of that matter the depth whereof neuer was man able to reache vnto as a thing nothing fitte for the instructiō of the Auditorye besides that if it were true yet ought it not be taught say they because it deliuereth matter very perniciouse not to be receaued and because such thinges being not able to be conceaued may without any daunger be holden in couert Moreouer there want not some now a dayes Which do defend their obstinacye by Auncientye forasmuch as the auncient fathers did eyther wryte nothing at all or els very litle thereof or do teach of this grace preuenting the merites of the holy ones farre otherwise Wherfore they would haue
the people to be taught on this wise rather That God of hys goodnes and mercye would haue all men to be saued And that the cause why all are not saued is for that all will not receaue the grace indifferently offered vnto them And this maner of teaching they do suppose to be sound On the contrary that the other doctrine of predestinatiō doth take cleane away all force vse of wholesome preachinges exhortations and disciplines c. If we onely eyther were alone or were the first that were vrged with these slaunders and cauillationes there were lesse cause to wōder at the wickednes of this our age But I do seé now no new thinge here neuer spoken of before nor any other thinge but such as many notable learned men haue bene sundry tymes combred withall long sithence Emongest whom cōmeth first to hand Augustine whom beyng occupyed in thys cause sometyme the Pelagianes but most of all the Massilianes did molest much with the very same obiectiones as appeareth playnely by the transcript of Prosper and Hillary their letters to Augustine euen the which obiections our deuines are now a dayes pressed withall which if were true then might he seeme to haue vndertaken this quarrell not rashly nor altogether in vayne as our men haue done also But let vs aunswere to their complayntes Such as are appoynted teachers in the congregation of God if they should beate into the grosse eares of the rude multitude this part of doctrine which treateth of the secrett predestination of God so nakedly and barren of it selfe as not doyng ought els nor respecting any other thing ne yet applying wtall any wholesome exhortations and allurementes to vertue shold stirre and prouoke none to vertues endeuour honest carefulnes and godly lyfe these reasons might carry some showe of truth perhapps But this matter ought to haue bene foreseene Osor. how these preachers behaue thēselues what they preach how in what maner and to what end they do lay this doctrine open before the people before you should haue burst out into those cruell accusacions and slaunderous reproches If some yoūglings peraduenture may be found not so modestly and soberly to demeane themselues as may beseeme them allured either through delight of noueltie or caryed thereunto through lightnes of witte or to braue out their knowledge and learning it is not conuenient that the lowse and vncircumspect dealing of some particuler persons should be preiudiciall to the truth of the doctrine Godly and modest wittes surely as they conceaue the true reason of this doctrine so doe they Iudge it no lesse necessary to be applyed to the end they may pluck downe that pernicious opinion of yours treating of merites of confidence in workes and of doughtfulnes of Saluation For the ouerthrow whereof what more necessary doctrine to edifie the congregacion withall may be applyed in the Church of Christians And therfore to conclude briefly For asmuch as all the doctrine of Predestination doth tend to this ende chiefly that men may be forewarned not to trust to much to their owne strength but to repose all their hope and affiaunce in God It is vntrue that you do obiect That the doctrine of predestination doth perswade rather to desperation then to godly lyfe For what is this els as Augustine sayth then as that you should say that men do then dispayre of their owne safety when they beginne to learne to repose their hope and affiaunce in God and not in themselues in any wise c Whosoeuer therefore shall instruct the ignoraunt people in the true doctrine of predestination of the holy ones discretly and modestly and in due season when case so requireth and shall ioyne withall godly and wholesome exhortations the same shall he do profitably enough without anye inconuenience seeing that the preaching of both may be well coupled and agree together according to the testimony of Augustine who affirmeth that neyther the preaching of fayth profiting in godly fruits ought to be hindered by the preaching of predestination that they which are taught may learue how to obey And agayne that the preachīg of Predestinatiō ought not to be hindered by the preaching of fayth profiting in godly fruites that they which obey may know in whom they ought to reioyce not in thoir owne obedience but in him of whom it is written he that doth reioyce let him reioyce in the Lord. Will you vnderstand Osorius how the coupling of these too doctrines is not preiudiciall to the preaching of the one to the other Paule the Apostle of the Gentills did many tymes sette forth the doctrine of predestination to the Rom. Ephe. Timot. The same did Luke in the Actes of the Apostles Christ himself likewise doth make often mencion of the same in hys sermons all which did not cease to preach the word of God neuerthelesse and do notwithstanding withal entermixt diuers good and godly exhortations to liue well Paule when he sayd it is God that doth worke in vs to will and to bring to passe according to hys good pleasure did he therefore abate any thing of hys godly lessons to make vs lesse carefull to will and to worke the thinges that are acceptable vnto God In like maner where he sayth he that hath begonne a good worke in you will bring the same to effect euen vntill the day of Christ Iesu Yet did he not cease to perswade them earnestly in the same Epistle written to the Phillippianes that they should not onelye beginne but perseuere vntill the end Beleue sayth Christ in God and beleue in me yet is thys neuerthelesse true that he speaketh in an other place No man commeth vnto me or beleeueth in me vnlesse it be geuen him from the father Christ sayth also he that hath eares to heare let hym heare Yet doth God speake in the scriptures these wordes also that he will geue them a hart frō aboue that they may vnderstand eyes that they may see and eares that they may heare c. And although it were not vnknowne vnto hym who had eares to heare and who had not that is to say the gifte of obedience Yet doth he exhort all men to heare Although Cipriane did both know and wryte that fayth and obedience were the gift of God and that we ought not reioyce in any thing because we haue nothing of our owne yet this was no hindraunce at all vnto his earnest preaching but that he taught Fayth and obedience neuerthelesse and most constantly perswaded to good life When we heare S. Iames teach vs that euery good and perfect gift commeth downe from the father of lightes yet this preaching of grace nothing withstoode but that he continued to rebuke such as troubled the cōgregation saying If you be bitterly zelous and your hartes be full of contencion doe not reioyce nor lye not against the truth for this is not the Wisedome that came from aboue but earthly beastly and diabollicall