of the foules to declare dangerous designes of late Salt What call you that fowle Chap. Eagle which mounted and made hast to the Court some say as soone as hee espied a shew of bloud vpon a peece of paper I meane when he suspected some bloudy plot or at least was amazed Salt Blessed bee God that made that Eagle make such spéed after the sight of the paper there is good hope that the diuell hath but a short time hee thareth so sore and would haue roared more if God had not stopt his mouth in time but if you will haue any more of this kind of Salt héere it is Let them bee confounded and put to shame that seeke after my soule â—sal 35.4 let them be turned backe and put to confusion that imagine mine hurt 5 Let them be as chaffe before the winde and let the Angell of the Lord seatter them 6 Let there way be darke and slippery and let the Angell of the Lord persecute them 7 For without cause they haue hide the pit and their net for mee without cause haue they digged a pit for my soule And Dauid faid to Abishai destroy him not 1. Sam. 26.9 c. for who can lay his hand vpon the Lords Annointed and be guiltlesse 11 The Lord keep me from laying my hand vpon the Lords annointed This know all that in the last dayes shall come perilous times 2. Tim. 3.1 for men shall be louers of their owne selues couetous boasters proud c. 2 Without naturall affection truce-breakers false accusers c. Traytors heady high-minded c. turne away therefore from such Then when Iudas which betrayed him saw that he was condemned Mat. 27.3 he repented himselfe and brought againe the thirty peeces of siluer to the chiefe Priests and Elders 4 Saying I haue sinned betraying the innocent bloud but they said what is that to vs see thou to it And when hee had cast down the siluer-plates in the Temple he departed and went and hanged himselfe And so did Achitophel in Dauids time â— Sam. 17.23 when hee saw his counsell against the King was not followed Chap. If we would beleeue indeed that these things are true wee should insteed of being slaues vnto such sinnes striue against them with all the might wee had yea wee should pray heartily for strength to withstand such horrible wickednesse and hold this for a truth that it is not noblenesse but haughtinesse not piety but pride not religion but rebellion that makes such kind of men so stubbornely refuse to obey such as the King of Kings hath placed ouer them Salt If such Parents and Tutors as are so addicted to Popery would instéed of féeding their children with beades and babies call them to reade some chapter of the Bible either in the old or new Testament morning and euening superstition and rebellion would bee loathsome vnto them in short space especially if they would vse prayer and frequent the Church in which such as be wise will do what in them lyeth to haue wise and sober guides least through ignorance and ill behauiour they rather offend then amend such as come to heare them Chap. It were great happinesse yea a great blessing of God indeed if euery Teacher could do as hee teacheth but there is no man liuing I thinke without some fault do none of the ancient fathers acknowledge this in their time Salt You shall heare what one of them wrot more then twelue hundred yeares past who dare assigne to himselfe that hee doth all things that God commandeth Nemo prosus nemo no man no man at all predicamus non facimus we Preach and do not you heare and regard not merito omnes sumus sub flagello wee are all worthily vnder the whippe doth Teacher and doer hearer and contemner we studdy to find fault one with another we do not studdy to sift our owne workes one neighbour backebyteth another one Clearke backebyteth another Clearke and one lay-man anther certainly I see men accusing one another but I see no man iustè se excusantem iustly excusing himselfe The seuenteenth Chapman I Pray you sir if you haue any Salt for so I vnderstand you call the holy Scripture that is fit to season such as seek to charmers Sorcerers and witches let mee hauesome Salt Our Sauiour Christ called his Disciples who were to season men with the word the Salt of the earth and therefore I thought I might without offence call the word of God Mat. 5.13 I meane the holy Scriptures Salt for your purpose take this And he meaning Manasseh who raigned in Iuda after his father Ezekiah did euill in the sight of the Lord 2. Chron. 33. like the abhominaons of the Heathen 2 whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel Hee cause his sonnes to passe through the fire in the valley of Benhinnon he gaue himselfe to witchcraft â— and to charming and to sorcery and he vsed them that had familliar spirits and sooth-sayers hee did very much euill in the sight of the Lord to anger him And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people but they would not regard 20 Wherfore the Lord brought vpon them the captaines of the hoast of the King of Ashur which tooke Manasseh and put him in fetters and bound him in chaines 11 and carried him to Babel You shall not vse witchcraft c You shall not regard them that vse wit-craft neither sooth-sayers Leuit. 19 26 ye shall not seek to them to bee defiled by them 31 I am the Lord your God If a man or woman haue a spirit of diuination in them or sooth-saying in them they shall dye the death they shall stone theÌ„ to death their bloud shall be vpon them In the Epistle to the Galathians witchcraft is reckoned among those deedes of the flesh that hinder vs from inheriting the Kingdome of God Gal. 5.20 Chap. Shall none in whom such workes of the flesh haue bene found be saued Salt Yes if they striue to enter in at the straite gate our Sauiour speaketh of in the 13. of Saint Luk. which is not onely to say Lord Lord or to heare a Sermon or to come to eate and drinke at the communion vnprepared but depart from iniquity to repent truely to cleaue to Christ vnfaignedly and to shew forth fruits of asound faith coÌ„tinually but I neuer heard of any witch that thus returned The eighteenth Chapman IF you haue done with him hearken a while vnto me Salt What newes bring you Chap. I come with no newes but to end an old quarrell if it may be Salt Betwixt whom Chap. Betwixt two women the one is called of some Cathara the other for her religion is called Romana and for her outward beauty Rosamunda Salter Rosamund I haue not heard of many if any of that name but she that was famous in the dayes of Henry the
the vnwilling saith the same book improue rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine Chap. Is it with all long-suffering or with all long-silence Salt The word in the originall is Macrothumia which some translate lenity some patience and some long suffering but why do you aske Chap. If it be long-suffering then I gather that though the Shepheard should see many things that grieue him or that hee liketh not yet he must not cast of his burthen then but beare and beare long to Salt It should séeme so but let me go on without interrupting you shall now haue some Peter-Salt which if your Shepheard and all others lay to their soules they shall haue lesse cause to feare the Salt-peter men which can but kill the body The Elders or Priests as some translate which are among you saith Saint Peter I beseech 1. Pet. ◠which am also an Elder and a witnesse of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall bee reuealed Feed the flocke of God which dependeth vpon you caring for it not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucar but of a ready minde not as though ye were Lords ouer Gods heritage but that you may bee an example to the flocke And when the chiefe Shepheard shall appeare you shall receiue an incorruptible crowne of glory Chap. Stay there this shall suffice for this time now tell mee what I haue to pay Salt I will tell you anon but first you shall haue some Salt for aduantage which may be profitable both to your selfe and your Shepheard also and that is this Obey them that haue the ouersight of you Heb. 3.17 and submit your selues 18. for they watch for your soules as they that must giue accompts that they may do it with ioy not with griefe for that is vnprofitable for you Pray for vs for wee are assured that wee haue a good conscience in all things desiring to liue honestly So much for the vantage now for the payment Wish your Shepheard from mée not to set light by this Salt in regard of my rudenesse which haue shakē it forth according to my homely manner but to consider who made it and to what end my desire is it may do him good and this is all the payment I looke for Chap. I thanke you Guid. Let God haue the thankes for the Canonicall Salt is his and not mine come now who is next Chap. Nay stay a little and answere me to one question more ere I go I had forgot to aske you who they were and where they dwelt whom Saint Peter besought to feede Gods flocke did any feede Christ his Sheep while 3. Peter liued but himselfe Guid. Yes all the rest of the Apostles for Christ our Sauiour meeting them on a mountaine in Galilee before his ascending into heauen Math. 28.16.18.19 said to the eleuen Disciples All power is giuen to mee in heauen and earth goe therefore and teach all nations c. Chap. Why is there mention made but of eleuen Disciples where was the twelfth Guid. The twelfth which was Iudas the fraytor hauing throwne downe himselfe head-long brast asunder in the middes and all his bowels gushed out Acts. 1.18 and Matthias was not chosen in his roome till after the Ascension Chap. But who were they to whom Saint Peter wrot and beseeched to feede the flock of God Guid. Saint Peter himselfe calleth them to whom hee wrot strangers which then dwelt here and there throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithinea among whom no doubt but there were some that could or should feede 1. Pet. 1.1 for the Apostle would neuer haue besought them to do that which belonged not to them Chap. So now I pray let mee haue some of that Salt as is good to cleere the sight of our Shepheard that stumbleth so often in his going The fift Chapman Salt The very heathen may bee one Schoolemaisters as in many other things so in this also and namely Cicero who saith qui sibi hoc sumpsit vt corrigat mores aliorum c. He the hath taken vpon him to correct other mens manners and to reprehend their faults who will pardon him if in any point he faile as not regarding his duty these and the like spéeches of Heathen men if there were none other might bee motiues to stirre both my selfe and all other spirituall Salters to take heede our life bee not offensiue for the which matter among others-that be not Heathen but godly learned Christians In his Epist to the chiefe gouernor of the Schoole of Argent set before his comment on thei udges Though hee excludes workes from iustification which is free yet hee requires a pure life holy actions in him which is iustified thereby liuely to expresse God himselfe c. Peter Martyr séemed to bée very carefull who as he himselfe saith reasoned thus with himselfe If vnto all men beeing iustified onely by the mercy of the true God through Iesus Christ our Sauior not vndoubtedly by works but freely receiuing forgiuenesse of sinnes there remaineth no other thing in the course of this short life then that hauing obtained the holy Ghost and nature being somewhat relieued from his proper corruptiō they should by pure life and holy actions liuely expresse God himselfe their regenerator and Christ their redeemer The same thing without coubt is much more required of men of my profession whom the Ecclesiasticall Spirit hath appointed to administer liuely doctrine vnto other men that whilst they teach vprightly by their euill deeds they deface not the waight and authority of their doctrine which thing if they do meaning if they haue a care to liue wel they shall in the darknesse of this world most brightly giue light vnto others and cause them to lift vp the eyes of their minds vnto God the chiefe fountaine head and beginning of all good things and to honour him with praise and most vpright religion But though the Salt of Cicero a wise man among the Heathen and also this of Peter Martyr a godly and learned Diuine among the Christians be holsome and fit to season yet sithence you came for Salt Canonicall take this Therefore the sin of the yong men was very great before the Lord 1. Sam. 2.17 for men abhorred the offerings of the Lord. Chap. Who were those yong men Salt The sonnes of Eli who were called wicked men and such as knew not the Lord. Chap. So now go on Salt Wherefore the Lord God of Israell saith that thine house and the house of thy fathers should walke before mee for euer but now the Lord saith it shall not be so for them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be despised and vers 30. 30 There shal not be an old man in thy house And this shall bee a signe vnto thee that shal come vpon thy two sonnes Hophni and Phyneas 1. Sam. 3◠4
then take to themselues those garments or that the flock should omit the publicke fodder rather then heare the Pastors so cloathed I thinke some had rather yeeld to such cloathing then to crossing because there be some that do worship that signe and say they will doe so still but that I came for an other haue troubled you so long I would faine haue some Salt for such Sal. The second Commandement forbiddeth such kinde of bowing and worshipping for that is to make an Idole of an Image and if we may not make an Idole of an Image why should we make an Idole of the Crosse Chap. Some say Loue me and loue my Hounde Salt True but the Hound is louing to his Maister and doth him no hurt but rather in hunting helpeth to recreate him after he hath wearyed himselfe aboute such matters as his calling hath tyed him to But the Hammer Nailes and Crosse were no louing Hounds to Christ vnlesse they be louing that hunt one to death Chap. Though Christ felt great paine there and thereon ended his life yet we haue a great benefite thereby Sal. True but tell me this If a man by treason hath deserued death and a friende of his whome the Kings Maiesty fauoureth intreateth or pardon and the King graunteth the Rebell his life on this condition that he which sued for his pardon would loose his right hande would you haue the Rebell or Traytor to kisse and to thanke the Axe and him that chopt with it or his Friende that felt the paine and lost his hande Chap. Me thinkes a man should haue little list to kisse the Axe or the Chopper but rather with all thankefulnesse imbrace such a deere Friend vnlesse such a Friende would haue such a man to esteeme such an Axe more then an other Sal. Let our blessed Sauiour then which gaue his life for vs haue the honoure let neyther the Nailes wherewith nor the Crosse wherevnto he was fastned nor Iudas that betrayed him nor he that entred into that Traytor nor they that saide crucifie him robbe this our Redemer of any part of his honour and glory And note this that as the signe of the Crosse was much in vse and much regarded amongst the auneient Christians whereby they declared that they were not ashamed of that crucified Christ whome the Heathen scorned So sometimes they giue the name of the Crosse to the sufferings of Christ and sometimes the name of blood to the Crosse For when Augustine vpon Iohn sayeth Last of all he chose a kinde of death Aug. in â—â— 8 tract 43. that is sayth he to hange on the Crosse and â—ould fasten the crosse in theire hearts that the Christian might say God forbid that I should reioyce but in the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ c. It is not to be thought that by fastning the Crosse in the heart and by reioysing in the same is ment the wodden Crosse it selfe whereon our Sauiour Christ was fastned but rather that which he suffered thereon Againe when he sayth Aug in â—â— 12. tract 50. Sanguine occisi pecoris Iudeorum postes signati sunt sanguine Christi frontes nostrae fignantur The postes of the Iewes were signed with the bloud of the same lambe our foreheads are signed with the bloud of Christ Doth he not there call the signe of the Crosse Christ his bloud yes no doubt for they signed themselues with that signe and not with his bloud but because his precious bloud was shed on the crosse therefore he giueth it the name of his bloud as the sacramentall wine representing his bloud is called bloud in the Supper Chap. It should seeme then that in Saint Augustines time the Christians did vse that signe but were they all good Catholickes or sound Christians which so signed their foreheads Salt Saint Augustine saith no for some there were whom hee calleth Agitatores which signifieth driuers vexers or troublesome fellowes which saith he facile habent in fronte signum Christi corde non recipiuÌ„t verbum Christi haue easily the signe of Christ in their forehead and receiue not the word of Christ in their heart Aug 10.12 tract 50. But how doe you know that some doe worship the Crosse Chap. Besides those that haue written in defeÌ„ce of it whose doings are in print there came of late into my hands a wild welcome home set downe in Meeter by some that are to willfull as it should seeme in this Crosse-worship regarding that more it is to be feared then the booke of God wherein the true worship of God is taught and the sufferinges of Christ our Sauiour at large sette foorth Sal. I pray you let me see it Chap. Heere it is To the Parson of Enborne our hearty commendation Wishing him a Catholike minde or no saluation NOw Maister Parson for your welcome home Reade ouer these Lynes you know not from whome A holy Crosse for an outward token and signe And remembrance onely of that religion of thine And of the profession the People doe make For more then this comes to thou dost it not take Yet holy Church tels vs of holy Crosse much more Of power and vertue to heale sicknesse and sore Of holynesse to blesse vs from all enill From foule fiende fend vs and saue vs from Diuell And of many a miracle which holy Crosse hath wrought And which into light holy Church hath brought Wherefore holy Church holy worship doth it giue And sure so will we so long as we liue Thou then saist it is idolatrie and superstition Yet we know it is holy Churches tradition Holy church then disgrace not but bring it to renowns For vp shall Holy-crosse and you shall go downe And now what we are if any will know Catholiques we are and so do anow Thy seruice booke here scattered all Is not diuine but hereticall So is thy Bible of false translation To â—ut it and mangle it is no damnation Thy Register also if so we it serue We giue it no more then it doth deserue For why should new heretickes be thus inâ—old With good Catholikes being dead of old Out with new Hereticques hence let them goe Register good Catholiques and register no moe For Catholiques be worthy onely of record And into Church-register to bee restord To the Parson of Enborne giue this with speed The carrier is paid already as much as he looks for And so it shall cost you nothing but the reading And would you haue it better cheap Chap. Haue you framed any answere to this wel come home Salt Yes but not as one that cannot away with that signe but as misliking such as make an Idoll of it Chap. I pray you let meee see it Sal. If you will giue it the reading heere it is To Maister Mar-bible One that fauoreth the Bible wisheth a Christian minde that he may come to saluation IF Maister Parson retourned well home to his house He hath cause to thanke God and not wanton
and put vs out of doubt That this you do enuy and would haue them thrust out â—uâ— why should not we those remember and record Which alwaies repose their trust in the Lord. And not in their workes for though they could do all Vnprofitable seruants themselues they must call God grant vs his grace that faith so may worke That we may haue place where no sinne doth lurke Though carrier be paid you come not in sight â—â—â—â—ke you are afraid you haue not done right For such as do euill doe still hate the light As seruing the Diuell by day or by night God guide you and vs while here wee take breath That with our Lord Iesus we may liue after death Chap. To this your prayer I say Amen and so I bid you farewell The seauenth Chapman FRiend Salter tell mee quickly whether you haue any Salt to season an Vsurer Salt An Vsurer what kind of Vsurer Chap. Why do you aske that question is not all kind of Vsury vnlawfull Sal. All men be not of one minde in this matter some mislike it altogether some do not so and the Lord allowed that to be taken of strangers which he forbad to be taken of brethren Deut. 23.19.20 The Apostle saith Loue hurteth not Rom. 13.10 or doth not euill to his neighbour By which words some gather that if a man so lend that his neighbour notwithstanding the paying of Interest hath good and not hurt by that borrowing it is not vnlawfull You know there be some widdowes that haue many childreÌ„ left with portions there are many weake and sickly and neither of these can well follow any trade of buying or selling or if they may haue others to do it for them yet hearing that many haue bene deceiued they dare not commit their mony into their hands If such as these lend some hundred pound or whatsoener to any trades-man to any that hath a ground to store to any that is to purchase or take a lease c. and they the receiued it do sinde that it hath done them a great pleasure and be willing to pay the Iâ—â—erest admitted do you thinke it a sinne to take it Chap. It is no matter what I thinke or you think what saith the Lord in his word doth hee allow to lead vpon Vsury to 〈◊〉 poore man or keepe his pawne if he cannot keepe touch Salt No indéed we should lend to such yea giue to such of charity and as pittying their necessity for no doubt our Sauiour chiefly respacteth such Math 5.42 when he saith Giue to him that asketh and from him that would borrow of thee turne not away And the Lord by Moses said Thou shalt not harden thine heart Deâ—â— 15.7 nor shut thine hand from thy poore brother And touching Vsury vnder correction be it spoken there is a place in Exodus which may well serue to make knowne what Vsury is forbidden in other places of holy Scripture and this is it If thou lend money to my people 〈◊〉 22.25 to the poore with thee thou shalt not be as an Vsurer vnto him you shall not oppresse him â—ith Vsury Where we sée that to take Vâ—ry of a poore man is a crushing an opâ—ressing of him And touching the keeping 〈◊〉 his pledge Leuit. 35.25.36.37 Deui. 23.19.20 we reade thus Exod. 22.26 â—f thou take thy neighbours rayment to â—ledge thou shalt restore it vnto him beâ—re the Sunne go downe for that is his coâ—ering onely and this is his garment for his â—kinne wherein shall hee sleepe therefore â—he he cryeth vnto me I wil heare him for â—am mercifull Luk. 6.36 And therefore our Sauiour â—aith Be you mercifull as your Father also 〈◊〉 mercifull The eighth Chapman Sâ—r if you stand so long in seruing euery one of vs as you haue done with that fift chapman it will be night ere we be all serâ—ed you came so late to market Sal. Time enough my good brother vnâ—sse this Salt which I bring bee better reâ—arded then a great deale of that which â—as vttered by other manner of Salt-men â—en I am or euer shal be in the dayes of our most gracious Quéene Elizabeth in whose times we enioyed many great blessings neuer to be forgotten Chap. Yet there were some that thought some-thing amisse in those dayes sought for a reformation I remember well that once I saw in a certaine book the names of some that met to conferre about such matters Sal. A certaine Minister that feareth God and hath good report of all the know him thought good when hee came to be deposed not onely to shew the cause of such méetings but also to name those whom hee saw at any conference vnto which diuers were requested to come and asked whether they would put their hands to certaine supplications so that though in that booke you saw diuers named yet not all there blamed as authors of any sect or maintainers of any dangerous position neither were all that are named by that Minister present at all conferences in the Dioces wherein he dwelleth some of theÌ„ which were thought to be the authors of such méetings lye now in their graues If the discipline they sought and their manner of séeking for it did please God it is the better for them if not they haue the more to answere for As touching my self I thinke good hauing cause to say thus much before I be laid in my coffin which being vnder my writing table I touched with my knees when I wrot this that I alwaies vsed that booke of common-prayer which was set forth by authority I alwaies loued the peace of the Church prayed for an vnity in the verity hated brawling and iarres alwaies feared to giue any iust occasion of offence to any especially such as were then or be now in authority for whoÌ„ as also for the amending of whatsoeuer the Lord seeth to be amisse in any of vs namely in my selfe and those that be committed to my charge by Gods helpe I will pray heartily as I haue done and so prepare my selfe to go to him which dyed for me euen to the place of true rest where through him I shall be frée from errour sinne and sorrow which will not be in this world Chap. I am of your minde for that but now I pray you serue me of that I come for quickly that I may be gone for a stranger is come to our town who mindeth by God his grace to speake soone and I purpose to heare him Salt To speake where Chap. In the Pulpit Sal. Why do you not say Preach Chap. It was out ere I was aware I haue bene oft quipt for it and yet I forget my selfe but sith you moued this questioÌ„ I pray you if I shall not trouble you tell me whether you thinke it a sinne to vse the word speaking for preaching Sal. I do not thinke that any account it a sinne no more then to call Sunday the Lords day though
is you and not we that lend them Glasses Ribands Laces with Cappe and Fethers and Calles for their faces You suffer you Daughters to be May-ladies so long that shortly after you finde their Laces to short And then arrant Whore out of my doores when it is too late But all the while my Lady hath a Veluet Cap on her head a braue borrowed Gowne on her backe and a Nosegay in her hand You be as merry as Pyes though the name of God be blasphemed the Sabaoth prophaned the Minister contemned your Daughter defiled All is well so long as the Ale lasteth Ro. Haue you seene any of our Daughters in that case Cath. Did you euer see a Nose in a mans Face Madam Make-peace How now Neighbours still iarring haue you not yet eased your stomacks Sal. Now there is a third Woman come that is Madam Make-peace Maddam Truly this is not well Christian Woemen should striue to excell in sobrietie modestie and mildenesse of spirit and not in nipping and quipping and loudnesse of tongue If you should is contend and brawle with your Husbands as you vs one with an other then in Salomons iudgement It were better for them to dwell in the wildernesse Pro. 21.19.12.13.21.9 or to stand in a house that is euer dropping on their heads then to dwell with you I pray you agree for shame agree Cath Why Maddam What would you haue me to doe I haue heard Midwiues bid some Women put on the loose Kerchiefe and it be but to honour God and our Lady you know that it is no part of Gods honour he is not honored with Cloutes he is to be worshiped in Spirit and trueth And the best honour that we can giue to the blessed Virgin the mother of our Sauiour is to follow her vertues Mistresse Romana which neuer commeth to Church herselfe is euer snuffing at me because I frame not myselfe to please her humour she is euer stumbling at Strawes and leaping ouer Blockes Ro. If I stumble but at Strawes I shall not hurt my Toes if I leape ouer Blocks I shall not breake my shinnes Cath. You know my meaning You catch at our Moates and winke at your owne Beames Ro. I pray you Madam Make-peace marke their Moates when others be merry they must be mourning when we fast then they feast when they ly-in there must be no white-sheete for feare of superstition their Husbands holy day Cloake will serue the tourne well enough If we goe to Church vayled they aske vs if we be ashamed of that we haue done forgetting that some of their humour will wash Buckes eare their Child be Christned If any woman follow her that is Churched then they say our Lady must haue her traine If there be a Psalme read as they say your Ministers do read ouer when a woman is Churched then forsooth the Psalme is abused If the woman make her neighbours a dinner they say it pincheth the poorer sort Moris-dauncers be Rogues if they goe to the next Towne Christmas-pies be superstitious in the cold winter when your neighbours lacking foode should be refreshed and wanting Wood should be warmed Then vp to London if not to saue charges or for some other cause I know not what Thus you see their Moates and Beames Cath. It were well if these were your Beames Kerchiefe White-sheete Churching Dinner Morris-belles Christmas-pies Feastings and warmings of the Poore There be other matters that I call Beames you Whitson-lady some of her Maides were dismayded your Morris-dauncers and their followers prophane the Sabaoth they haue misused such Ministers as haue reprooued their vices by cutting off their Horse tayles breaking their Windowes plucking vp their Orchard Plants They poure in as much drinke in one day as would suffice a temperate man tenne daies Looke where is most misrule there with you is the best Christmas kept If some of you could cutt the throates of all that fauour not your customes then they would keepe a merry Christmas then sweare stare and a poxe of all Puritanes I will stirre your powder-plots because the more they be stirred the more they will stinke yea they will stinke in the nostrills of all such as follow Saint Peters counsaile Feare God Honour the King while Sunne and Moone endureth It is not your Keir-cheife Belles and Pies that I stand so much vpon It greeueth me to see how carefull you be for such matters and how carelesse in comming to Church in sending your Children to be Catachised in hauing an eye to them in their meryments in exhorting them to take heed of going foorth with Dina to see faces and fashions and to behaue themselues honestly and soberly in all companies and to come home in due time My Neighbours going to thankes giuing with fewe or many shall not offend me so that you controule not me for going as I thinke good And whereas you haue so often tolde me of our washing of Buckes and comming so soone into the street it may be some poore bodie wanting helpe is driuen to do that which is neyther healthfull nor seemly but you haue no reason to charge all of vs with that which is done by some fewe and that vpon necessity But touching these and such like matters let Madam Make-peace iudge what is best to be donne Ro. Content but first heere me a word or two As you would not haue me charge all precise women with that which is donne by some of the poorer sort so I hope you will not charge all of vs that haue beene brought vp in Poperie with those powder-plots you speake of God forbid we should all haue such murdering minds Cath. If you haue not it is the better for you but I pray you Madam speake your minde Mad. My comming hether was to make you friends but your iarres be so great and my braines so weake that I doubt I shall need helpe therefore I will goe home now and to morrow if God lende life I will bring our Minister with me Ro. Whome do you meane Maister Guide-well Mad. So indeede I haue heard you haue vsed to call not only him but all other of his profession for you thinke none doe well but Seminaries and Iesuits Ro. When you come bring Dame Cathara with you and you shall finde me and a Kinsman of mine walking in my Garden Salt Sith they be gone let vs depart also Chap. Shall I haue none of your Salt for these Women Sal. If the Minister and Madam Make-peace can doe them no good I know not what to say to them and so fare you well Chap. And you also Now retourneth Madam Make-peace with the Minister and Cathara Mad. God be heere and peace Ro. You are welcome Mad. I haue brought him whome you call Maister Guide-well with me Ro. I would you had brought Maister Doe-well also Mad. He commeth limping after he is not so quick-footed you know as Maister Guide-well Ro. I would he were and my Cousen here as quicke-tongued
bloud but it is no proper spéech Tract The Apostle meaneth Christ his bloud shed on the Crosse Guid. True but the words are you fee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the bloud of his Crosse is set downe more plainly in these words Rom. 3 2â— Whom speaking of Christ he hath set forth to bee a reconciliation through faith in his bloud c. Much more then being now iustified by his bloud Rom 5.9 c. By whom we haue redemption through his bloud c. Eph. 17. Heb. 9.14 Vnto him that loued vs and washed vs from our sinnes in his bloud Ioh. 1.7 Reu. 1. â— You sée then that hee calleth the bloud of Christ the bloud of his Crosse Col. 1.20 speaking-more properly verse 14. And so no doubt but the same Apostle in saying that he reioiceth in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ meant his sufferings and also the force effects and merits of his Death and Passion with all the Comforts truits and promises which we receiue thereby as it is affirmed by the reuerend and learned in the Canons Can. 30. Rom. Howsoeuer the word Crosse is to be taken in any of the places cited by my cozen I see no reason why I may not haue the signe of the crosse to put mee in minde of him that died for me Why haue you the picture of the King Queene and Prince in your house but to put you in minde to pray for them If you haue no Crosse to bring Christ his death to your remeÌ„brance then haue you nothing Mad. Yes Mistresse Romana we haue the History of his passion and the Sacrament of his body and bloud after the giuing whereof our Sauiour Christ said to those that sate at the Table Do this in remembrance of me so we do that to remember his loue towards vs which hee biddeth vs to do But who bid you make Crosses or who brought the first Crosse into England I cannot tell Rom. Can not you tell Cozen Tract Some write that the first Altar Polycro lib. 5 cap. 12 â—erk proble pag. 38. 84. and the first Crosse were erected in England by Oswald in the place of the battaile agaiust Cadwall in the yeare 635. Mad. Well whosoeuer first brought it hither it mattereth not I see the word Crosse is much vsed in the New Testament which word so often repeated together with the History of his passion and our Communicating may serue to bring Christ his Passion into our remembrance though we had no signe yet Maister Guidewell and many others besides him doe vse that signe after the childe is baptized not condemning others which say they cannot doe it with a quyet mind no more then he would haue them to condemne him what moueth him to doe it hee knoweth best himselfe Guid. There bee thrée causes that moue me to vse that signing Rom. The one is you are loth to loose your maintenance You had rather giue an Almes then take one Guid. Indeed it is a more blessed thing to giue then to receiue but you get no fée of me if you will bee the Procter to tell my tale before you be required First I finde that ancient Christians being godly men and great Clearks did allow the vse of it in Baptisme Secondly Canon 30. such as command it say it is no part of the substance of that Sacrament and that being vsed afterwards meaning after the Infant is fully and perfectly baptized it doth neither adde any thing to the vertue or perfection of Baptisme nor beeing omitted doth detract any thing from the effect and substance of it The third cause is I sée there bee many of the superstitious Catholikes for I will kéepe the name of the sincerer Catholickes vnto our selues so addicted to shewes and signes though they say wee féede on bare signes that they bee ready to iudge all such as crosse not enemies to the Crosse of Christ and therefore for my part I choose rather to vse it the higher powers that command it not attributing such power vnto it as our Aduersaries doe then to giue any occasion to the Recusants to say the Gouernours would haue vs come to Church and when we come there wee shall sée such as should exhort vs to obey in matters of substance vnwilling to yeelde to such things as themselues call shewes and shadowes Mad. Indeed it is good we take heed we put no stumbling-blockes in the way of such as bee backward But must wee not haue care also that we offend not such as be forward Guid. Wee must not despise the least of the faithfull Math. 18.10 If a Christian Prince command me to do that wherewith some weake brother being a Subiect is offended because hee thinketh God is offended with it what should I doe in this case I cannot satisfie both If I bee willing to obey my Prince my weake brother is offended If I refraine because of the the Subiect my Prince is not obeyed Who seeth not that these things are troublesome Mad. You know wee must so obey our Prince that we put no occasion of falling or a stumbling-blocke as the Apostle saith before our brother Rom. 14.13 Guid. If to crosse be a stumbling-block and I leape ouer it and saue my shin and another stumble at it and breake his shins can I helpe it it is not a blocke of my putting Mad. Though it be not yet perhaps some will say you should set your shoulders to it to help to remoue it because it may hurt others though not your selues Guid. Anumber of men farre stronger then I haue béene heauing at it a long time but I sée they heaue against the Hill others stronger then they by reason they haue authority lift against them as some thinke the vse of these things will driue backe so others thinke it will draw on Experience I thinke in time will tell whose iudgment is best Though some stuÌ„ble at Christ as the vnbeléeuers doe yet Christ is the true Messias and if any through weaknes or howsoeuer stumble at the signe of the Crosse yet it must néeds be granted it is appoynted to be vsed as a sign of that crosse whereto the true Christ and not any counterfeit was fastened Rom. Was there euer any counterfeite Christ Guid. Cooper Fabian are set down by Grafton in his Abridgement as testifying that there was a Councell holden at Oxford of the Bishops in the first yeare of Henry the third 1220 where a certaine man was condemned which taught that hée was Iesus Christ And to confirme the same hee shewed the token of wounds in his Hands Body and Fée and was therefore condemned and crucified on a Crosse at Atterbury besides Banbury-hill till he dyed Rom. I regard not the signe of that crosse whereon that counterfeite died When I crosse me I think on Christ his Crosse as I am in loue with that crosse so I tell you true I cannot be weaned from any ceremony that
so afterwards and not as being Byshop when Christ rose If he were what was Peter but whosoeuer they meane by that Byshop I see no cause why I should not beleeue Saint Iohn before all those that write of any such giuing of the Shroud Rom. Why what saith he Guid. Hee saith that the other Disciple meaning himselfe did out-run Peter Ioh. 20.4.5.6 and came first to the Sepulcher and stooping downe saw the linnen cloathes lye and the kerchieffe that was about his head not lying with the linnen clothes but wrapped together in a place by it selfe and what linnen cloathes were these were they not the same wherein Ioseph of Arimathea Ioh. 19.38.39.40 and Nicodemus wrapped his body If you will say Iesus returned to fetch them you make him forgetfull and like a traueller who hauing left his cloake in his chamber after he hath gone a little way missing it returneth to fetch it What thinke you of this Maister Tractable doth that tale of giuing his Shroud to the Byshops man agree with that which Saint Iohn saith of himselfe and Peter finding the linnen cloathes in the Sepulcher Tract There seemeth to bee some iarre in these two Stories but what haue you else to say of it Guid. This. If you will haue it taken for a true Story theÌ„ our Sauiour said not bring an Altar but bring the Table which if hee did what should moue Maister Harding in his Confutation to call our Communion Table an oister-boord Againe if the Lord bid him eate bread after hee had blessed it why doe you say the substance of bread is gone after the blessing Moreouer if Saint Iames dranke wine at our Lords Supper why do you say it is bloud Why doe you deny that Christ by a figuratiue speech called it his bloud Aug de Eecl dogm ca 75. Verily Saint Austin saith Vinum fuit in redemptionis nostrae mysterio there was wine in the mystery of our redemption Rom. If my cozen list to acquaint himselfe with your opinion in this hee may at his leasure if hee thinke good reade that which your side haue written thereof at large for I haue not read their bookes yet some of my friends haue named some of your Writers vnto me I for my part if my cozen would not frowne vpon mee would gladly heare one more of these Stories which you make so light of Guid. I thinke you had rather heare one of these then tenne Sermons Rom. You may be sure of that Guid. Seeing you are desirous to haue one more you shall to the end you may see with what fictions called by some narrations the Fryers did vse to feede withall The words as I finde be these THere was saith one of them a woman that was deuoute in our Lady seruice and many times for our Lady sake and loue that shee had to her gaue away her best cloathes and w ent in the worst her selfe So it happed on a Candlemasse day she would faine haue gone to the Church but for she was not honestly arrayed she durst not for shame for shee had done away all her best cloathes Then was she forry shee should be without Masse that day wherefore shee went into a Chappell that was nigh her place and there she was in her prayers and as she prayed she fell a sleepe and then she thought shee was in a faire Church and saw a great company of maidens comming to the Church and one was passing all other for faire and went to fore with a crowne on her head and she kneeled downe and all the other by her Then comes there one with a great burthen of Candles and first he gaue the maiden a candle that had the crowne on her head and so after all the other maidens that were in the Church and then hee came to this woman and gaue her a candle Then â—was shee glad and then shee saw a Priest and two Deacons with two Serges brenning in their hands going towards the Altar reuershed to go to Masse And as shee thought Christ was the Priest and the two Deacons was Laurence and Vincent that beare the Serges and two yong men beganne the Masse with a solemne note Then when the Gospell was read the Queene of heauen offered her candle first of all to the Priest and then all other after her and when all had offered the Priest abode after this woman to come and offer her candle Then the Queene sent after her and bad shee should come the Priest abideth her and the messenger bad her come and shee said nay shee would not leaue her candle but keepe it for a great deuotion Then sent the Queene another messenger and bad him say to her that shee was vncourteous for to tarry the Priest so long and said but she would come with a good will and offer it take it from her and yet shee said nay then would the messenger haue taken it from but shee held it fast so betwixt them two the Serge brake in the middst and halfe the messenger had halfe the woman had with her and so in this wrestling this woman woke out of her sleepe and had halfe the Serge in her hand and then shee thanked God and our Lady heartely that she was not without a Gospell that day and offered her candle to holy Church Et pro maximis reliquijs reseruatur it is reserued for a great relique And thus you haue the whole fable in the same words that I found it set forth withall Rom. Call it a fable or what you list If I had that péece of candle I would burne some of it euery Candlemasse day so long as it lasted Guid. Would you wish for such a substantiall Relique as was giuen in a dreame what if your Church could not spare it but if you had it to what end would you burne it that day Rom. In the honour of our Lady who offered her candle the same day she was purified Guid. Who told you so Rom. Do not you heare that the woman did dreame that the Quéene of heauen did offer her candle first Guid. It is a weake building Mistris Ro. that is built on a drowsy dreame Rom. I hope you reiect not all dreames Ioseph the sonne of Iacob dreamed so did another Ioseph long after him I meane the Ioseph to whom the blessed Virgin was espoused Guid. These dreames are found in the Canonicall Scriptures and the things that appeared or were foretold in those dreames comming to passe and nothing required in them contrary to the word do warrant vs that they were not illusions nor rose of any naturall cause c. but at the will and pleasure of God Rom. So might this Womans dreame come from the same cause Guid. Did you euer heare of any that dreamed they were eating drinking fighting riding c. that when they awaked found in their hands bread drinke a weapon a boote or any such matter vnlesse they had it in their hands when
Rom. 9.20 shall the thing formed say vnto him that formed it why hast thou made mee thus for the Potter hath power ouer the clay of the same lumpe to make one vessell to honour and another to dishonour But aske him which said No man commeth to me except my father which sent me draw him And all take not this word but they to whom it is giuen Mat 10. Mat â—3 Mat. 11 And to you it is giuen to know the Kingdome of God but to others it is not giuen And no man knoweth the Sonne but the Father and hee to whom the Sonne will reueale him Rom. I cannot tell what to say to those words of Saint Augustine but if hee were heere now I would aske him what were true Religion that I might embrace it Guid. When he was here he said Est enim vera religio qua se vnâ— Deo anima Aug. de animae quantitatâ—â—â— 36 vnde se peccato velut abruperat reconciliatione religat For that is true Religion saith he by which the soule doth by reconciliation binde herselfe againe to God from whom shee had as it were broken off her selfe by sinne In his 8. booke and 17. chapter De Ciuitate Dei hee sheweth how true Religion forbiddeth those things which the Diuâ—ls loue And in the end of the Chapter he saith that the summe of Religion is to imitate him whom thou doest worship Sith then the Religion which we professe is not to draw you to the seruice or worship of any Angels nor of any creatures that sometimes liued heere much lesse to the worship of things that neuer had life as Images and crosses but bindeth vs to the worship of one true liuing eternall God from whom we are fallen by sin the which God our religion requireth vs to follow with the Apostle which saith Be ye followers of God as deare children I see no reason why you should mislike the religion here maintained Tract Whatsoeuer your religion is this is certaine that England had the Christian Faith from Rome Guid. If it were so which yet is denyed of some which to omit others cite Nicephorus who saith Simon Zelotes doctrinam Euangelij ad occidentem insulasque Britanicas praefert Simon Zelotes carrieth the doctrine of the Gospell to the West Ocean sea and so to the Istands of Britanie yet it doth no mere follow that they of Rome should now for that cause be more frée then we from errour then it followeth that the Iewes doe more steadfastly cleaue vnto Christ then we because their Fathers had Moses and the Prophets which testified of him hundreds of yeares ere wee heard of them Though it bee fit a daughter should be ruled by her mother being sober in her right mind yet there is no more reason she should be ruled by her when she is besides her selfe then for you to send for fire to your neighbours house when it is infected because you did so heretofore when it was cleare Rome is not now as she hath béene Many learned men not onely Professors of the Gospell but such also as durst not but séeme to fauour them haue set downe so many bad things found as they say in this new Rome and charged her so often with ambition pride whooredom couetousnes cruelty superstition heresie idolatry that in respect of most of these I know not to whom I may better compare her then to that ancient Tyrus to whom the Lord by the Prophet saith thus Because thine heart is exalted and thou hast said Ezek. 28.2 I am a God I sit in the seate of God in the middest of the sea Yet thou art but a man and not GOD though thou diddest thinke in thine heart that thou wast equall with God Thou wast perfect in thy wayes from the day thou wast created 15 till iniquity was fouÌ„d in thee By the multitude of thy Merchandize they haue filled the middest of thee with cruelty and thou hast sinned 16 therefore I will cast thee as prophane out of the mountaine of God and I will destroy thee couering Cherub from the middest of the stones of fire Thine heart was lifted vp because of thy beauty 1 and thou hast corrupted thy wisedome by reason of thy brightnesse I will cast thee to the ground I will lay thee before Kings that they may beholde thee Thou hast defiled thy Sanctification by the multitude of thine iniquities 18 and by the iniquity of thy Merchandise Therefore will I bring a fire from the middest of thee which shall deuoure thee and I will bring thee to ashes vpon the earth in the sight of all them that shall beholde thee All they that know thee among the people shall bee astonished at thee thou shalt be a terrour and neuer shalt thou bee any more Tract God forbid the Mother Church should haue such a fearefull fall as is there threatned to Tirus for if she should then might we well say she is that Babilon spoken of in the Reuelation and then would such Kings of the earth as had committed fornication and liued in pleasure with her lament for her and standing a farre off for feare of her torment say alasse alasse the great Cittie Babilon the mighty Citty for in one hower is thy iudgement come the Marchants of the Earth would weepe and waile ouer her because no man would buy their wares any more Rom. Harke in your eare Couzen is any of the Marchants wares named there Tract Yes much of it Rom. Is there any mention of Frankensence and Oyle Tract Yes in the thirteenth verse Rom. I meruaile at that Tract Why so Rom. Because these things are vsed in our Churches and not among the Protestants Guid. Speake out Neighbour Romana that we may heare you Rom. If you fauoured Rome I would but I thinke you would be glad to see her fall Guid. If she be that Babilon that is spoken of in that Chapter Heauen it selfe with the holy Apostles and Prophets Re. 18.20 must reioyce when her iudgement is come Rom. Cannot you find in your heart to pray heartily with vs that if it be the will of God Rome may neuer haue such a dredfull downefall Guid. Truly I pray God from my heart to amend all that is amisse wheresoeuer You knowe wee in the Church of England pray God to haue mercy vpon all men by which words as I thinke men of all Nations and of all degrees are vnderstood Rom. I know not for I neuer came there The cause is this you do not hold the Pope to be Christs Vicar generall you say he may erre you charge some of them with grieuous crimes your translations are mislyked besides this such as dame Cathera here can not abide to see one of the poore countrey Fellowes that drudge and droyle all the yeere to shake their Bells a little at Whitsontide wee Catholikes though we fast and pray in Lent yet we loue to be merry at
In the yeare of our Lord God 1581. on the fourteenth of October there was a Glocestershire Gentleman examined in the Towne-Hall of North-hampton M. Kirtland was then Mayor The cause why hee was examined was for that some of the Officers seeing him and a Woman that was in his company stay in the Towne longer then Trauellers vse to doe suspected that the Woman which stayed there so long in his company was not his owne wife Being therefore questioned withall about this matter he answered Indéede I am betrothed vnto her and I thinke that I may lawfully marry her though shee whom heretofore I tooke to wife bee yet liuing The reason is for that shee I meane which was my first wife was sometime my Fathers Harlot by whom hee had three Children and after that did enforce mee beeing foure and twentie yeeres of age to marry her to the end I might be partaker of that which hee was minded to bestowe vpon her that so hee might stoppe two gappes with one bush So I marryed her and after I had two Children by her I was diuorced from her in Bishop Hoopers time for the Lawyers said it was not Matrimonium ab initio Afterwardes in Queene Maryes time Bishop Brookes who was great with my Father being both Papists perswaded me to take her againe I did so and had seuen children more by her and then turned her vp againe and kept company with this Bridget Taylor a mans daughter of Busheley Mad. What say you to this neighbour Romana whose fruits were these the father being a papist constraineth the sonne to marry one by whom he himselfe had three children and after the diuorcement a popish Bishop perswadeth the sonne to take her againe Rom. What say you Ma. I promise you I was almost an ace out Mad. O you cannot heare on that side now you are asleepe but let vs passe ouer other mens faults and looke to our owne If any professor of the Gospel by his ill dealing be a stumbling-blocke in your way go by it and remember that we are bid to bee followers of God as deare Children And that our Sauior saith Happy is he that shall not be offendedia me Eph. 5.1 Math. 11.6 Let not mens faults keepe vs from hearing Christs voice Good sheep will take their fodder though there be neuer so many pillards in the flocke or though the sheepheard halt Tract Your translations be not currant Guid. Speake the truth M. Tractable Is not that translation best which commeth neerest to the Hebrew in the old Testament the greatest part whereof was written in that tongue and to the Greeke in the New Tract They being the Fountaines I sée no reason why I should not say yes What then Guid. Can you shew where our Translations doe vary from the originall in any chiefe poynt of our religion Tract I cannot call things to remembrance on a sodaine Gen. 34.3 Ios 24.31 yet this one place of the 7. of the Acts I remember well where you translate Hamor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hamor the the sonne of Sychem But the word sonne is not in the Greeke besides Hamor is diuers times called in the old Testament the father of Sychem Guid. If your Latine translation had not Filij Sychem you might haue been the bolder to haue found fault with ours but whether Hamor were the Father or the Sonne of Sychem it neither maketh nor marreth our faith It should seeme that as in that 7. of the Acts Abraham is put for some of the house or posterity of Abraham to wit Iacob so it may bee that some which first translated tou suchem finding in the third of Luke these words beeing as men supposed the sonne of Ioseph tou Heli tou Mathat tou Leui c. of Heli of Mathat of Leui c. meaning that Ioseph was the sonne of Heli and Heli the sonne of Mathat and Mathat the sonne of Leui might also thinke that tou Sichem should bee translated the sonne of Sichem forgetting that Chamor is found to be the sonne of Sichem ten times in Genesis 34. and once in Ioshua 24.32 Howsoeuer it came to passe you may not deny this word sonne in some translations to bee printed in smaller letters And your vulgar Edition hath a filijs Omor filij Sichem of the sonnes of Omer the sonne of Sichem But what else doe you obserue in our Translations Tract In the Psalme 105. according to the Hebrue but in our Latine Translation 104. we finde these words Lo maru eth debario thus translated in the Psalter which you reade in your Church they were not obedient to his word But we reade it thus Et non exacerbauit sermones suos that is saith Ludane non infideles fecit hee made not his words vnfaithfull he was faithfull in his word or promise And Fryer Titellman sometimes a diuine reader in Louaine in his exposition which hee calleth Elucidatio taketh these words to be spoken either by God or by Pharaoh and in respect of God he giueth this sence non irritos fecit c. the Lord spâ—ke not in vaine but as he threatned Pharao by Moses and Aaron ita factum fuit so it came to passe But as they might be referred to Pharaoh hee expoundeth them thus Non amara neque blasphema loquutus est Hee spake no bitter nor blasphemous words but sought for pardon and sending for Moses hee desired to bee deliuered from the Plague meaning here the plague of Darknesse Exod. 10.21 Psal 105. Guid. You may see if it please you to looke on that English Translation printed Cum priuilegio 1576. these words Lo Maru c. translated thus They were not disobedient to his Commission And in the Bible of the largest volume printed 1585. those words are Englished thus they went not from his words In both which translations the verbe Maru is taken for the third person piurall and not the singular as in your Latine Tract But the first of the two translations named by you doe English the 22. verse of the 37. Chapter of Isaiah thus This is the word that c. He hath despised thée and laughed thée to scorne O daughter of Ierusalem hee hath shaken his head at thee But it should be thus The virgin the daughter of Sion hath despised thee meaning the King of Ashur and laughed thee to scorne the daughter of Ierusalem hath shaken her head at thee Guid. In the last of these Translations which I named that ouer-sight of the former is corrected But I maruell that in searching for faults in Translations you cannot or will not see whst a number of faults some of the Learned haue noted in your old Latine Translations differing so much from the Hebrew in the old Testament and from the Greeke in the New D. Whit CoÌ„ 1. q. 2. ca. 11. pa 137. 138. A Learned professor of Diuinity hauing occasion to search into these matters after he hath set downe many faults found in
the end Saint Austins minde in this point may the more appeare I will set downe some of his speaches touching some words of our Sauiour in the sixt of Iohn Ioh 6.44 Your fathers did eate Manna in the wildernesse and are dead What cause is there saith Saint Austen to the Iewes why you should bee proud they did eate Manna and are dead Why did they eate and died because they beleeued that which they saw and vnderstood not that which they saw not therefore your fathers because you are like them For as touching this visible and bodily death brethren we also dye that eate of the bread which came downe from heauen And a little after But as touching that death meaning eternall death whereof the Lord terrifying spake when hee said These mens fathers are dead Moses eate Manna Aaron eate Manna Phinâ—es eate Manna and many others there which pleased God did eate and died not why Quia visibilem cibum intellexerunt spiritualiter spiritualiter esurierunt spiritualiter gustauerunt vt spiritualiter satiarentur Because they vnderstood the visible meate spiritually they spiritually hungred for it they spiritually tasted it that they might bee spiritually filled with it For wee also hodie to day or now in the time of the Gospell haue receiued visible meate but the Sacrament saith he is one thing the vertue of the Sacrament is another thing many take or receiue from the Altar and dye and euen in taking dye And heere-hence it is that the Apostle saith They eate and drinke to themselues Iudicium iudgement or damnation For the Lords morsell was not poyson to Iudas yet hee tooke it and when hee had taken it the enemy entred into him not because hee tooke an euill thing sed quia bonum malè malus accepit But because hee beeing a bad man tooke a good thing in a bad sort Looke to it then brethren panem caelestem spiritualiter maÌ„ducate innocentiam ad altare portate that is eate the heauenly bread spiritually bring innocency to the Altar Thus hee counselleth such as minde to come to the Altar Tract 26. de ca. 6.10 which twise together in the same treatise he calleth the Lords Table saying the Sacrament of this thing that is of the vnity of the body and bloud of Christ some where dayly c is prepared in Dominica Mensa in the Lords Table Et de mensa Dominica sumitur and taken from the Lords Table Hee counselleth such I say before they come there to marke what they say in that prayer Forgiue vs our trespasses or debts as wee forgiue them c. If thou forgiuest saith he thou shalt be forgiuen come secure and safe meaning with a good conscience panis non venenum est the bread is not poyson but see thou forgiue for if thou doe not thou lyest vnto him whom thou deceiuest not thou maist lye to God but thou canst not deceiue God But to come to that which chiesly now I would shew out of that Tract touching these words â— 5 catabanon this is the bread descending or as Saint Austin saith which descendeth from heauen This bread saith hee Manna did signifie this bread the Altar of God signified those were Sacraments in their signes diuers but in the thing which is signified paria sunt 1. Cor. 10. they are like Heare the Apostle I would not saith he haue you ignorant brethren that all our fathers were vnder the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized vnto Moses your vulgar edition hath in Moyse citton Mosen 1. Cor. 10.3 in Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eate the same spirituall meat The same spirituall meate indeed saith Saint Austin namâ— corporalem alteram for another bodily meate for the Manna nos aliud wee another thing but the same spirituall meate that wee eate sed patres nostri non Patres illorum but our fathers not their fathers quibus nos similes sumus c. to whom we are like not to whom they were like meaning though the vnbeléeuing Iewes then and such as abide not in Christ nor haue Christ abiding in them now of whom he speaketh afterwards had then or haue now the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ which Sacrament he calleth bodily and visible meate and saith it is pressed with the téeth in a carnall sort and visibly yet they do not eats his flesh nor drinke his bloud spiritually for that is done of them which abide in Christ and in whom Christ abideth Read the whole tract M. Tractable Rom. I maruell our Sauiour should rather say Take and eate c. then looke on a Crucifix in remembrance of mee Guid. Our Sauiour knew the Images set vp in the sight of the simple sooner made Idols then bread that is eaten vnlesse any would be so bold to teach and so foolish to beléeue that bread is God because he called it his body Besides this the Sacrament being a seale of the promise and taken so soone after these words This is my body which is giuen for you c. doe stirre vs vp as much as such things may by faith to féede on the body and bloud of Christ which worthily eaten and drunke do nourish vs to eternall life as Bread and Wine doe strengthen and comfort vs in this life Tract Maister Guidewel you seeme to speake many good things but I would heare one substantiall Argument out of any one of the Fathers against Transubstantiation Guid. Yee shall Whosoeuer commendeth his body and bloud in those things which are brought together into one consisting of many Cornes and many Grapes commendeth them not onely in that which is called Accidents as the forme the colour and taste of Bread and Wine but also in the substance and subiect in which those Accidents haue their beeing But our Sauiour commended his Body and Bloud in such things as consisted of many Cornes and many Grapes Ergo he commended them in things substantiall and not in Accidents wanting their substance Tract I deny the minor Guid. If you deny that Christ commended his body and bloud in such things as consist of many Cornes and many Grapes I haue S. Augustine against you for he on the fixth of Iohn saith that our Lord Iesus Christ commended his body and bloud Aug. Ioan 6. tract 26 in those things which beeing many are brought together into some one thing saying Let them be the body of Christ if they will liue of the Spirit of Christ Aug. in Ioan tract 26 Nam aliud in vnum ex multis granis conficitur constat aliud in vnum ex multis acinis confluit For one thing consisting of many Cornes is wrought or made into one and another thing sloweth togegether into one consisting of many clusters Now take the meate and drinke spoken of in that sixth of Iohn in what sence you wil but tell me how we may haue a thing that consisteth of many
reputed iust Tract There be some which thinke that Saint Iames spake of iustification as it comprehendeth sanctification but go on Guid. The sixt meane is not onely to conferre like places with like but also vnlike with vnlike Except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud you haue no life in you let this place be compared with the like in the fourth of Iohn Whosoeuer shall drinke of that water which I shall giue vnto him there shall bee in him a spring of water rysing vp vnto life eternall This water is spirituall Eademratie and the manner of drinking of it is Spirituall And there is the same manner of eating his flesh for to eate and drinke are alike Therforeas that water is drunke after a Spirituall manner which maketh that wee neuer thirst euen so ought the flesh of Christ to be eaten and his bloud drunke but Spiritually Now for vnlike places compare that former place Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man c. with the sixt commandement Thou shalt not kill for if it be a wicked deed to kil a man much more to eate and deuoure Therefore Saint Austin saith that those words Except yee eate the flesh Aug. li. 3. do doct Chr. c. 16. c. are to bee vnderstood and interpreted figuratiuely because otherwise they should command an heinous and wicked deed The seuenth helpe for the vnderstanding the darke places is to haue a care that all our expositions agree to the Analogy of our faith By Analogy is meant a constant and perpetuall sentence of the Scriptures in those places which are plaine and easy such as are the Articles of our faith and such things as are contained in the Lords prayer and the ten Commandements so that whatsoeuer â—pposition agreeth not with this Analogy is fals For examples sake our Aduersaries out of the words of the Supper This is my body picke a Transubstantiation giuing this sense this bread is changed into my body The Lutherans interpret them another way to wit vnder this bread is my body and here-hence they gather Consubstantiation Now both these expositions dissent from the Analogy of faith which teacheth Christ hath a body like to our bodies but such a body cannot either ly hid vnder the accidents of bread or be together with bread Secondly the Analogy of faith teacheth that Christ is in heauen therefore he is not in the bread or with the bread Thirdly the Analogy of faith teacheth that Christ shal come from heauen to iudgement and not out of a boxe The eighth meanes is when we féele not ourselues skilfull euough to vse the meanes to go to others that be more skilfull to reade other mens bookes to aske counsell of the Comentaries and expositions of learned interpreters alwaies prouided that wee attribute not too much to them and that wee thinke not their interoretations to bee receiued because they come from them but because they are either warranted by the authority of the holy Scriptures or vnderpropped with sound and substantiall reason Rom. You haue ledde my cozen along with these eight meanes but you haue not shewed any fault or any errour in any Pope Guid. I cannot shew all at once if wee liue wee will talke of that to morrow The Dialogue Guide-well HOe Who sits next the fire Rom. That doe I reading the Resolution though it grieue you Guid. It grieueth not mee so that you take heed of that which swerueth from the Analogy of faith whereof you heard yesterday Rom. I thinke you reade none of the books which are writen by those whom you call superstitious Catholickes Guid. Yes more then you doe of ours we are to try all things but wee must hold fast nothing but that which is good Rom. I will heare what you haue to say against any of the Popes ere I try what is in your bookes Guid. That which is written in the books of Bishop Iewel Doctor Reynolds and others shew farre more of their errours and wickednesse then I minde to rehearse though memory and time did serue If your cozen would buy those bookes you should heare their good dealings at large But to what end would you heare of errour sin Rom. Because if I shall see that any of the Popes were very had I will take heed how I call them the Vicars of him which was very good Tract Why cozen Iudas was one of the twelue though a traytor Guid. Do not you thinke that many of the Popes which seemed by their deeds rather to succéede Iudas then Peter cannot shew so good a warrant for their lawfull entrance into the Pope-ship as Iudas might shew for his entrance into the Apostleship Tract Though they bee not chosen to their office immediatly by Christ as Iudas was to the Apostle-ship yet I thinke none take that roome without election Guid. When there were two Popes at once which of them was Christs Vicar which of their elections was most lawfull Tract Let that go and let vs heare what you haue to say of any of their errours of liues Guid. Vincentius Lyrinensis giueth vs to vnderstand that there was a time when almost all the Latine Byshops fauoured Arrianisme And if you would reade but Byshop Iewel his preface to the defence of the Apology you shall finde these wordes Where I say Pope Liberius was an Arrian herritick Maister Harding answereth or else you are an errant slanderous lyer iudge thou vs indifferently good Christian Reader and let the lyer haue his meede This is not my iudgement of Pope Liberius It is written and reported by sundry others euen by such as Maister Harding cannot condemne for errant liers Here wil I speak nothing of S. Hierome for Maister Harding vtterly refuseth his iudgement in this behalfe and saith hee was much deceiued how be it errant lyer I trow hee will not call him for his authorities sake But Sabellicus saith Liberius vt quidam scribunt ex confesso factus Arianus Liberius as some men say by open profession became an Arrian Alphonsus de castro saith in plaine words De Liberio Papa constat fuisse Arianum For Pope Liberius it is well-known that he was an Arrian heritick The same is auouched by Rhegino by Platina by Cardinall Cusanus by Anselmus Rid. and others Laurentius Valla a Chanon of the Church of Rome saith thus Papa Caelestinus sensit cum haeretico Nestorio Pope Caelestine agreeth in iudgement with the hereticke Nestorius The same reuerend B. touching Pope Hildebrand in the said preface saith Nauclerius hereof writeth thus The Cleargy said that Pope Hildebrand had defiled the Apostolique See with Simony heresie murder and adultery that he was degenerate and had forsaken the faith of Christ and that therefore hee was for good causes iustly excommunicate by all the Byshops in Italy Sigibertus Gemblacensis saith Pope Hildebrand in his time troubled all the States in Christendome and for his out-rage and cruelty being banished and driuen
out of Rome in the end when hee saw death approach hee made his confession to one of his Cardinals that he abused his Pastorall office that hee had troubled mankind with malice and mischiefe by the counsell of the diuell Tract It seemeth strange to me that the Cardinall should reueale that which the Pope confessed to him on his death-bed Guid. It may be he was moued in conscience to do it to the end that such Popes as succeeded might beware by his example Tract Well go on Guid. Pope Honorius was a Monothelite Confer R. 〈◊〉 H 90 Maister Harding himselfe doth not deny this and others of this matter haue written thus Then were two meetings of Byshops in Constantinople which doe beare the name of the fixt Councell the former vnder the Emperour Constantinus the fourth about the yeare of Christ sixe hundred and eighty the latter vnder his sonne Iustinian towards a thirty yeares after The former was assembled against the herisie of the Monothelites the Byshops of the West Church as of the East The Monothelites said that Christ had but only one will so by consequent but one nature were present and they with one consent did all condemn Honorius If you Maister Tractable be not acquainted with these matters you may reade more at your leasure of Boniface the eighth who is said to haue entred like a Fox raigned like a Lyon and to haue dyed like a Dog Conf R. H 229 240 and of Alexander the sixt which Pope is said to haue bought the voyce of many Cardinals c. His couetousnesse is called vnsatiable his ambition vnmeasurable Onuph in Alexâ— his eruelcy more then barbarous and that hee had a most feruent desire of aduauncing by what meanes soe-euer his children of whom hee had many c. Such a Serpent held the seate of Saint Peter for the space of tenne yeares vntill his owne venome killed him Rom. How I pray you Guid. I will tell you how I finde it set downe by others When he and his sonne heire the Duke of Valence had purposed to haue poysoned a Cardinall whom they were to sup with as commonly they vsed not onely their enemies but also their friends yea neerest friends which had riches that themselues might bee enriched with their spoyle the Duke had sent thither Flagons of wine poysoned by a seruant whom hee made not priuy to the matter but willed him to giue them no man The Pope comming into the Cardinals before supper time the weather being hot he thirsty called for wine Now because his owne prouision for supper was not come from the Pallace yet the seruant of the Duke gaue him of that wine which he thought his Maister had willed to bee kept for himselfe as the best wine of which while hee was drinking his sonne the Duke came in and thinking the wine to be his fathers owne he drunke of it too so the Pope was carried sodainely for dead home to the Pallace and the next day hee was carried dead after the manner of the Popes into Saint Peters Church blacke swollen and vgly most manifest signes of poyson Rom. If this be true I must needs say it was Gods iust iudgement vpon them But what were those heresies ye spake of before of Arrius and Nâ—storius Guid. Saint Austin saith Aug. de 〈◊〉 ad quod that the Arrians would not haue the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost to bee of one nature and essence c. Nestorius Vni Lyr. ad verâ—haer as Vincentius salth fayning to distinguish two substances in Christ on a sodaine bringeth in two persons and by a wickednesse vnheard of would haue two Sonnes of God two Christs c. Rom. If my cozen had made these things knowne vnto mee I thinke though diuers laboured to keepe mee from going to Church yet I should haue kept in some froward speeches as namely this that I would be torne in peeces with wilde horses ere I would come to Church Guid. I haue heard that many haue vsed that desperate speech but I would wish all those which minde not to prouoke Gods wrath to their own woe to aske themselues what should moue them so to say Doe they think that God will be offended with them for hearing the Minister say Enter not into iudgement with thâ—â— seruants ô Lord c. or the a sorrowful spirit is a sacrifice to God despise not ô Lord humble contrite hearts or that it is a sinne to make a generall confession of our sinnes to say the Lords prayer to heare the Psalmes and chapters read to pray in the Letany among other things that it would please God to bring into the way of truth all such as haue erred and are deceiued or to be present where all estates degrees are prayed for yea that it would please God to haue mercy vpon all men to forgiue our enemies at the end of the commandements to say Lord haue mercy vpon vs and write all these thy lawes in our hearts wee beseech thee Or when we come to the congregation to say kneeling O almighty God Father of our Lord Iesus Christ iudge of all men we acknowledge bewaile our manifold sinnes and wickednesse which we from time to time most griueuously haue coÌ„mitted against thy Diuine Maiesty by thought word and deed prouoking most iustly thy wrath indignation against vs we do earnestly repent bee heartily sorry for these our mis-doings c. After the Communion to heare the Minister reade any of the prayers containing thanksgiuing as in the booke are appointed or to sing with the rest of the thanksgiuing in Méeter which beginneth The Lord be thanked for his gifts And mercy euermore That he hath shew'd vnto his Saints To him be laude therefore The reading or finging of this thaÌ„ksgiuing doth edifie coÌ„mfort the faithfull humble coÌ„municant far more then the hearing of an 100 Masses in a strange tongue by which indeed the vnlearned hath no edifying at al. Mad. What say you to these things Mi. Romana is there any thing heere that should hinder you from praying with vs Rom. Aske my cozen Guid. Aske your cozen aske your owne conscience What if your cozen should tell you that Peter brought men to the worship of Christ by magicall Arts and bad feates as some fayned before S. Austins time who wrot more then 1200 yeares ago Aug. de ciuit li 18 c 53 54 would you beleeue it to be so if your cozen should say so Tract I would you should well know Maister Guide-well that I am so far from hauing that opinion of Peter that I hold him for a true Teacher and for that Shepeheard whom Christ appointed to feede his Sheepe Guid. If you meane by Sheepheards the onely Sheepeheard I may not yeeld to you vnlesse I should dissent from S. Austin who on the tenth of Iohn saith Et quidem fratres c. And verily brethren in that hee