Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	church_n	scripture_n	tradition_n	1,856	5	9.2936	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68023	A briefe examination for the tyme, of a certaine declaration, lately put in print in the name and defence of certaine ministers in London, refusyng to weare the apparell prescribed by the lawes and orders of the realme In the ende is reported, the iudgement of two notable learned fathers, M. doctour Bucer, and M. doctour Martir ... translated out of the originals, written by theyr owne handes, purposely debatyng this controuersie.	Parker, Matthew, 1504-1575.; Bucer, Martin, 1491-1551.; Vermigli, Pietro Martire, 1499-1562.; Hooper, John, d. 1555.	1566 (1566)	STC 10387; ESTC S101661	56,521	86

by men it be commaunded but as the tradition or precept of god Thus farre Doctour Bucer With whom Maister Caluine very wel agreeth saying ‡ That which is part of decencie commended vnto vs by the Apostle though it be prescribed by man is Gods tradition and not mans as kneelyng at solemne prayers and suche lyke So then if you woulde haue rested vppon the censures of these godly learned men you shoulde not haue needed thus vnwysely to haue skoffed at this wysdome of man contaynyng her selfe within the limittes of the wysdome of God as is before proued and myght be fully iustified by infinite places of Germayne wryters and by theyr letters of late sent into the Realme to dyuers godly but for prolixitie The thyrde mayne reason you vse is That none of Christes litleones must be offended Whiche thyng accordyng to your vsage you augment with sundrye textes of Scripture as yf all the men of vnderstandyng in this Realme were yet aslepe and neyther saw nor harde the voyce of theyr maister Christ and his holy Apostle But you passe ouer with silence that whiche you shoulde haue substauncially waded through Vz That these orders nowe taken do iustly offende the weake lambes of Christes folde Wherfore to aunswere to the generall proposition it is not expedient seeing it is holden as most true of all men But concerning the offendyng of the weake briefely In indifferent thynges if lawe for common tranquilitie haue prescribed no order what ought to be done a Christian man ought to haue a great regarde of his neyghbours conscience accordyng to S. Paules doctrine But yf lawe foreseeyng harmes and prouiding quietnes haue taken lawefull order therin offence is taken and not geuen when the subiect doth his duetie in obedience so seuerely enioyned hym by Gods worde Notwithstandyng you say that a wyse shipper in saylyng wyll not come nygh rockes and flattes yf he may but take sea rowme ynough In deede the wyse shipmen of our Churche haue spyed the rockes of false doctrine superstition and errour wherevpon many haue ben cast away and to auoyde them haue taken rowme ynough in the scriptures of God For outwarde apparell of them selues are not suche rockes and flattes as you do phantasie neyther euer harde you any of Christes seruauntes to be in daunger of perishing iustly by them as they be now appoynted Yea you may beholde many a godly passenger vnder these orders saylyng with a straight course towarde that heauenly Hauen whervnto he trusteth safely to arriue Al these men in this ship of Christ takyng example by the politike gouernour S. Paul crye out aloude and say Non omnia papistica edificant All popery doth not edifie and are marueylous circumspect and carefull lest any of Christes deare flocke should be offended As for the place alleaged by you where S. Paule forbyddeth Cōmunion with the Gentyles in their idolatricall worshyppyng yf you had applyed it you shoulde haue perceyued no sequele therof For thankes be to God we dwell not among the Babilonians and Chaldies we haue in our Church no publique worshyppyng of Idolles no Heathenishe or idolatrical sacrifice as were in some place of the citie of Corinth whose societie contagion we ought to auoyde And yf there be in a Church where Christes Gospel is purely preached and his sacraments rightly ministred some euyl among the good as in one net diuers sortes of fishes in one fielde wheate and tares in one barne corne and chaffe yet the good are not sayde to communicate or be defyled of the badde as long as they consent not to theyr wickednes but depart from among them not by corporall separation but by dissimilitude of life and diuersitie of maners though they both vse the same temple the same table the same sacramentes as S. Augustine setteth out at large It is one thyng to flee from communicatyng with open professed idolatrie theyr prophanes rites and deuylyshe orders though in hart we worshyp God and another ryghtly to vse rites and fassions abused all the abuses beyng clearely condempned Of the one we haue an expresse commaundement in Scripture the other our auncient fathers haue practised before you and Gods holy worde hath not forbydden it The fourth foundation or grounde that you lay is That you must needes cast away and forsake all those thynges as haue ben brought into the Church besides or contrary to the Scripture This platte you enlarge with a dosen seuerall sentences all which paynes you myght well haue saued yf you had not mynded to haue ben bytyng and snappyng by the way at your superiours This trueth all faythful Christians confirme with you That concernyng fayth and doctrine concernyng remission of sinnes and eternall saluation nothing ought to be taught or receyued which is contrary or not grounded in the Canonicall Scriptures For holy writ geuen by the inspiration of God is not only a lyght to our feete as Dauid sayth but also so profitable that thereby the man of God maye be absolute beyng made perfecte vnto all good workes as Saint Paule testifieth And though this be most true touchyng the substaunce of Christian religion yet the maner and order of settyng of it foorth is not particularly expressed but generally left to the disposition of Christes Churche from tyme to tyme accordyng to those wordes of Saint Paule * Let all thynges be done comely and orderly Wherein whatsoeuer shalbe lawfully done to those purposes is not to be iudged besydes the Scriptures As for example Fastyng is commaunded in Gods worde But what dayes we shoulde fast or what dayes we shoulde not beyng not there determined yf the Christian Churche decree it is not besydes the Scripture The ministryng of Baptisme the Lordes supper is commaunded in Gods worde But what dayes what tymes what places in what companye with what prayers before and after yf the Christian Churche decree it is not besides the Scriptures And accordyng to this Saint Augustine wryteth touchyng the receyuyng of the Sacrament of the body bloud of Christ fastyng in the mornyng Saluator ideo non praecepit quo deinceps ordine sumeretur vt Apostolis per quos Ecclesias dispositurus erat seruaret hunc locum Our Sauiour therfore hath not cōmaunded in what order the Sacrament shoulde be afterwarde receyued because he myght reserue this place to his Apostles by whom he woulde order the Churches Thus also the preachyng of the Gospell is commaunded in Gods worde but howe to do this office in Pulpit or otherwayes in mornyng or after noone and so forth yf the Christian Churche decree it is not besides the Scripture The lyke may be sayde concernyng lawes politike of Princes affayres and trafficke betwixt man man whose groundes and rules are in Gods worde and yet the particular circumstaunces in practising them being diuers in sundry Countreys accordyng to the iudgement of magistrates are not besides Scriptures when al those diuersities haue Gods worde for theyr

booke yf it had not ben to make al gods workemen sauing your selues suspected to the world as pluckers downe and destroyers of Gods most holy Temple buylded vppon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophetes when as through the grace of God workyng in them by true and sounde doctrine in this apparell and orders manye earnest labourers of the lordes do trauayle to bryng his people to the full knowledge of Chryst howsoeuer you haue entangeled and accombred the consciences of your hearers So then to the two fyrst places that be out of the second and fourth Chapter to the Ephesians no more needeth to be spoken but that all the carefull buylders in this Churche of Chryst whiche haue other commaunded or receyued these lawfull orders fyrst as they haue before time so do still take paynes to amplifie and beautifie the spouse of Christ with the precious iewels of spirituall wysedome And secondly do vtterly forsake vayne vngodly and vnprofitable inuentions of man whiche two thynges you seeme to require by your note in a true preacher and can not denye them yf you be not wylfull to be in very many vsyng this apparell Upon this vniuersall sentence That Christes Ministers must builde vp and not pull downe you determine that Uicars Curates and paryshe Priestes ought to admit no orders whiche may not manyfestly appeare vnto them that they do edifie Geuyng euery man in his paryshe an absolute aucthoritie muche more then they had before the prophecie was fulfilled Kynges shalbe thy Nursefathers and Queenes thy Nurses Yet you fearyng the inconueniences that must nedes folowe so an absurde an opinion remember your selues in the next lynes and saye That yf you myght but conceyue an hope that the vse of these thynges myght helpe forwarde the Lordes buyldyng you woulde not refuse them So one tyme all orders not manifestly edifiyng must be condempned another tyme yf you may hope that they wyll do well you will admit them This your chaungeable opinion well weyed differeth not muche from that straunge saying of the Donatistes of whose number one Ticonius sayde Quod volumus sanctum est What we wyll is holy If you had ben in S. Augustines time when the Church was burthened with humaine presumptions so that the condition of the Jewes was more tollerable as he wytnesseth then the state of Christes Church in those dayes belike you would not haue continued preachyng and ministring as he and other did because those burthens were not at the fyrst dashe cleane taken from your shoulders But he learned and taught other that Multa tolleranda vbi facultus non datur resecandi Many thynges muste be borne when orderly meanes do not serue to cut them of Yea he tryed by experience that some tymes profitable alteryng of such thynges as were long accustomed bread trouble in the Churche by newenes of chaunge as these his wordes testifie Ipsa quippe mutatio consuetudinis etiam quae adiuuat vtilitate nouitate perturbat For the very chaunge of custome as it may do good for the profite thereof so it may make much trouble for the newnes therof Thus this learned father would haue men to expect in alteration done by publike aucthoritie conuenient tyme and season in matters that myght be tollerated without Gods heauy displeasure Here before you shewe what ruine and destruction of gods building these fewe orders lawfully enioyned do make frankely you graunt all these thynges refused nowe of you to be of theyr owne nature indifferent and that they may be vsed or not vsed as occasion shall serue It is harde to say whether this be the mynde of all the shrinking refusing Ministers of London who are knowen herein not to be of one iudgement Yea it is affirmed of you a litle after in your declaration that they be monumentes of Idolatry and so to be vtterly destroyed that they be contrarye to Scripture and so also not to be receyued though Prynces commaunde them A man myght aske of you what vse that is whiche causeth these thynges nowe not to be indifferent the vse that hath ben or the vse that they are nowe appoynted vnto If the indifferencie of these orders hange vpon the vse then we must loke wherevnto they are ordeyned and not wherein they were before abused Nowe are you come to the chiefe poynt of the first argumēt which is as you say that Christes Church is not edified by these garmentes Which assertion you go about to perswade two wayes Fyrst because the simple Christians are gre●ued and are redy thereby to fall from Christ. These whom you tearme simple Christians are those who as may well appeare perswade thēselues to haue deepe knowleage in Gods worde to haue growen to so certayne a perfection that they can and wyll sodeynlye iudge of all men and of all doctrine and they thynke them selues to be setteled and quieted in greater matters then these They see weyghtyer thynges in the Church yf they see any thyng at all whereat they may be greeued as other good men are and yet must be contented tyll God graunt fitte and orderly meanes to remoue them with charitie to beare lest the vnitie of Christes Church shoulde be rent vpon euery lyght offence and horrible scisme for trifles be brought in But the simple indeede who are yet to be fedde with mylke who haue not through custome theyr wittes exercised are sore greeued and that iustlye seeyng you not receyue indifferent and comely orders Of whiche sort thousandes are dryuen backe by suche kynde of disobedience as yours is whyles you wylfully withdrawe your selues from your dueties and charge of Gods beloued chyldren and the deare flocke of Christ wherin if you haue taught your Nouices that these ordinaunces such other are superfluous idolatrious and superstitious when they are for decencie and order sake by lawfull aucthoritie thus left vpon whiche teachyng their offence may arise you ought nowe on gods behalfe otherwayes to infourme them But yf they be taught to take these thynges as Gods worde doth prescribe then your wearyng shall not be the woundyng of theyr consciences neyther by Gods grace shal you neede to feare the heauy curse of God wherof you write I pray God it be not as at S. Augustines tyme that this troublyng of the weake come not by the contentious obstinacie of some brethren as is before sayde Secondly You woulde haue vs thynke that the receyuyng of these orders doth not edifie because as you imagine the obstinate papiste shalbe confirmed in his opinion This thyng is easyer and oftener saide of you then proued as yet For truely this may be a meanes rather to wynne the aduersaries from theyr errours when they see vs without superstition or any necessitie turne those thinges to good vses which they fowly abused and heare vs condemne in open preachyng that which they set so much by And vppon this cause it seemeth the Apostles vsed long after Christes ascention the Ceremonies

of Moises and that in the Temple to wynne to Chryst the obstinate Jewes The histories Ecclesiasticall also haue diuers experiences howe much our auncient fathers increased Christes Churche by such godly pollicie Hence it was that they plucked not downe all the Jewyshe Sinagoges and Heathenyshe Temples but turned them to the seruice of God that they altered theyr feast dayes that they chaunged their rites to Godlye purposes And that this myght be done it appeareth by S. Augustine to Publicola saying Cum vero ista vel in honorem veri dei conuertuntur hoc de illis fit quod de ipsis hominibus cum ex sacrilegis et impiis in veram religionem mutantur When these thinges be conuerted vnto the honour of the true God it is of them as it is of the parties them selues whan they were before committyng sacrilege and impietie nowe they be conuerted into true religious persons These fathers thought not them selues in suche thynges vnder the commaundement which God gaue his people to practise in the land of Canaan therfore durst not with an herotcal spirite destroy all that the Heathen had inuented before But dyd Vindicare tanquam ab iniustis possessoribus in vsum suum clayme to theyr owne ryght vse as it were from the iniust possessours such lyke thynges as you talke of in this declaration Neyther dyd almyghtie God wyll his people to ouerthrowe the Cananites images and aulters leste those Gentyles shoulde be made more obstinate in their false religion as you alleage the cause but rather as the text declareth leste Gods seruauntes shoulde thereby fall vnto their idolatrie For they were charged not to bryng that heathenyshe people to Gods true seruice but to rote them cleane out of the land which they had so wickedly polluted Wherfore you do wrye this place from his naturall sense Upon this text you adde a note in the margent That al monumentes of Idolatrie must be destroyed signifing what your auditours and readers shoulde iudge of these orders which yet you your selues sometimes acknowledge to be indifferent and maye be vsed when occasion shall serue If these thynges required at your handes be preciselye vnder that commaundement of God to his people enteryng the lande of Canaan then is all this controuersie at an ende Proue that and al is done It woulde helpe you very much in this matter to consider that there is great difference betwixte those thynges that were meerly inuented of the Heathen to the worshyp of Idols and to maynteyne idolatrie and those that haue ben abused of papistes specially these fewe thynges beyng first institute for no such intent From this argument of not edifiyng wherein you would haue vs rather yelde to your saying then be perswaded by your reasons you fall to speake against pollicie without the compasse of Gods word vnder the which you would comprise these orders not impius wicked And for want of matter thorow your spirite of ironie you must as you do to the Prince the Counsayle the Byshops the learned men ● wyse geue also to the aduertisementes theyr gyrde and nip whiche very prudently thinketh it well yf Ministers receyuyng these orders teache and protest for what ende and purpose they take and vse the same wherby others may learne what difference there is nowe when these thynges are set forth for decencie and order and the tyme when suche lyke were inforced as the seruyce of God What fault you fynde with this rule you declare not Peraduenture you thinke those garmentes yet stayned with Idolatry and therefore not to be receyued by any protestation wherein you are contrary to your selues to all learned men and to the scriptures Or els you thynke not this declaration suffient in these thinges indifferent that they be not vrged of necessitie that they be onlye appoynted for decencie and order wherevnto you maye adde more circumstaunces yf you wyll but they are contayned vnder those two whiche yf the Minister both holde hym selfe and diligently declare to other he may with discharge of conscience obey his Prince knowyng that comelynes and order edifie the Churche of Chryst. Well the aduertisements must be defaced with the infamous title of the inuention of man and such lyke And vpon what reason shall this be done Forsoth it is lyke the wysdome of them that woulde haue ymages you say in Churches to exercise theyr strength in refraynyng from the worship of them whiche thyng is agaynst the wysdome of God Deut. 7. You shoulde haue done the dueties of discrete preachers yf you had vttered this your vnlykely lykelyhood to them that stande in so fonde defence of ymages whereof what the doctrine of this Realme is it is publykely declared And as for these orders all obedient men well vnderstande that they are not geuen to trye any mans perfection Neyther do they passe the wysdome of God whiche in the Scriptures willeth all thynges to be done decently and orderly whiche graunteth the godly magistrate aucthoritie of makyng ecclesiasticall lawes whiche hath geuen also power to the Churche whiche promiseth his spirite to Synodes yea for ordeynyng rytes and maners But to beate downe this pollicie of mans brayne you say very lytle nay nothyng at all to the purpose that in thinges neyther commaunded nor forbydden we must not folowe our owne phantasies lest we heare In vayne do they worship me teaching doctrines the preceptes of men These preceptes of men wherewith the Prophete and the Apostle saye God is not worshipped were such as Chrisostome wryteth whiche the seniours had made newe other wayes then Moyses commaunded and preferred them in Gods seruice before the lawe of the Lord and added them to Gods worde as iudgeyng it otherwayes vnperfect for the saluation of Gods people On this maner no man at this tyme vrgeth these orders That holsome lawes of godly magistrates whiche seruing God as S. Augustine affirmeth they make not onlye for humayne societie but also for Gods religion which furthermore he truely tearmeth Clensing instrumentes of the Lordes barren floure profitable terrours commodious admonitions healthsom boundes medicine right phisical That these I say are not to be thought the preceptes of man it needeth not to call together here all the auncient felowship of fathers Doctour Bucer vpon this place may teache you the same who most godly pronounceth thus Quicquid homo statuerit quod quomodocunque ad vsum proximorum faciat c. Whatsoeuer man shall decree whiche by any meanes may make to the vse of his neighboures for that the same is deriued from the rule of charitie as be lawes ciuill domesticall statutes ceremonies and rytes whiche Christian men vse thereby to teache or heare Goddes worde more commodiouslye or to praye and about the Lordes Supper and Baptisme yea whatsoeuer shalbe a furtheraunce to passe our lyfe here more profitablye and decently That thing ought not to be esteemed as a tradition or precept of man though

proue they can not be knowen yet you can not be ignoraunt but that suche thynges were vnder Ecclesiastical discipline Wherof euen touchyng apparell and ornamentes Ciprian folowing his maister Tertullian saith after great commendation therof Hanc sectari salubre est et auersari ac negligere laethale To folowe this discipline it is a healthsome thyng but to turne from it and neglect it is as daungerous as death In this tyme Tertullian sharpely reprehended a Byshop that suffered a wydowe to syt without a vayle in the Church among other wydowes Eusalius also a Bishop dyd cast Eustathius a Priest out of the Churche because he vsed an apparell Qui sacerdotem non deceret whiche was not comely for a Priest to weare The whiche Eustathius afterwarde was condempned of the councell in Gangra for doyng manye thynges otherwayes then the order of the Church was and for alteryng his apparell I leaue here to rehearse the seuenth general councell with the decrees of sundry good Byshoppes that haue taken order for theyr Cleargies apparell because this thyng only is intended at this tyme to shewe howe litle the examples brought by you conclude that thyng which you woulde Saul you say dyd aske Samuell where was the Seers house when as Samuell himselfe was the Seer or Prophet As yf Samuell myght not haue on hym the Apparell of a Leuite though Saule thereby dyd not knowe hym to be a Prophete If God stirred vp a Prophete among the Leuites as Samuell was we reade not therefore that he altered his apparell This seemeth rather against you thus That Samuell though a singuler Leuite yet in the number of them that went alyke was not knowen to haue that gyft he had Touchyng Elias whom Ochozias seruauntes meetyng knewe not to be Elias the prophete It maketh nothyng agaynst this but that the Leuites myght haue and vse a distinct apparell Yea it appeareth rather that Ochozias the kyng dyd knowe hym hearyng the description of his apparell by his seruauntes And what a kynde of reasonyng is this Straunge seruyngmen dyd not know Elias to be Elias when they met hym Ergo he was not apparelled as other Ministers Dr Ergo his apparell helped not to make hym knowen Garmentes make not the person knowen by name but his common function not his particuler and speciall gyft What nede you to bryng in S. John Baptist who as he was singulerly called to prepare the way of the Lorde so had he his meate dyet and garmentes singuler This is wonderfull shyft to seke out extraordinary persons leaue the ordinarie state of Gods ministers to searche what was done in troublesome tymes of the Churche and leaue the peaceable gouernement of the same to alleage what a prophete beyng persecuted dyd weare and so necessaryly inferre what we may do in quietnes and peace But from S. John Baptist doynges one myght as your common kynde of reasonyng is reason against that you defend thus Saint John wyllyng the Pharyseys to repent neuer mentioned the castyng away of theyr supersticious apparell Ergo abused apparell may be reteyned styll But Peters example you suppose helpeth your matter muche who was knowen in the hygh Priestes hall by his tongue and not by his coate Neyther dyd Peter preache after the ryngyng of a bell neyther sayde any seruice appoynted neyther made sermon in Churche or pulpyt and yet for all that you and godly men wyll thus do Truelye there was then no lawe of any godlye Magistrate to induce Peter thervnto If it had ben so wayghtie a poynt of religion to differ from false Christians in outwarde apparell to the which ende all your force is bent it is marueylous that we haue no such example in the Apostolyke Churche Here next are brought in of you two women lyuyng solitaryly in a kynde of banyshement to confirme what the publique state of the Cleargie eyther myght or dyd weare Hierome you say dyd councell Eustochiū a virgin to weare apparell Nulla diuersitate notabilis notable by no diuersitie Myght not this virgin notwithstandyng weare the attyre proper for virgins though she dyd not differ notably from all other virgins If this Eustochium were a mayde that publiquely in the presence of the Church toke vppon her to kepe her virginitie as diuers then were perswaded to do then had she the vayle But yf she for to auoyde the continuall troubles of those tymes mynded to lyue sole and in a solitarie place she myght weare as best lyked her herselfe The lyke may be aunswered of Marcella and those worthy queers of Munkes syngyng in theyr owne language at Hierusalem in those wretched dayes of whom there was none a minister in the Church of Christe as farre as can be gathered For Munkes in those dayes were none of the Cleargie And yet in some places Collegiate Munkes had their habite as appeareth in the councell of Chaldedon and in Epiphanius Nowe foloweth somewhat that seemeth to touche the Cleargie that is That the Cleargie of Rauenna as you report wrytte to Carolus Caluus that they shoulde not differ from the people in apparell but doctrine c. Fyrst yf you wyll let these wordes be referred to the first auctour therof that is to Celestinus Byshop of Rome as you partly graunt and then consider howe they further your purpose Celestinus about the yere of our Lorde 430. writte to to the Bishops of Fraunce against certaine that brought in vpon superstition Nouitatem vestium contra morem Ecclesiasticum Newe kynde of apparell contrary to the Ecclesiasticall maner folowyng the outwarde letter of the Scripture that is they woulde be Amicti pallio et lumbos praecincti Couered with a cloke and gyrte about their loynes Which thynges because you spyed there you lefte out these wordes betwixte your two sentences alleaged Nam si studere incipiamus nouitati traditum nobis a patribus ordinem calcabimus vt locum superuacuis superstitionibus faciamus For yf we begyn to studye vppon noueltie we shall treade vnder foote the order deliuered vnto vs from our fathers and so make rowme for superfluous superstitions Nowe yf you wyll set together all these circumstaunces you shall perceyue all to make agaynst you Fyrst Celestinus meanyng is of them that would serue God rather in garmentes then with puritie of hart Then he speaketh agaynst those that commyng out of the Laitie wyll vse styll lay apparell Last of all against those that seke innouations in suche matters contrarye to long prescribed vsage and order Reade his wordes in his Epistle and you shall not denie this If it please you to vrge the wordes that we are to be discerned from the people not by apparell but by doctrine you wyll remember that here is such a comparison as this Non misit me Christus baptizare sed Euangelizare Christ hath not sent me to baptise but to preache the Gospell and yet Paule baptised So they myght be seperate from

called Dalmatica and so stode in lynnen Chrysostome maketh mention of the whyte vesture of the ministers of the Church Moreouer the auncient wryters declare vnto vs that Christians when they came first vnto Christes religion chaunged their apparell and for a gowne they dyd put on a cloke for the which cause when they were mocked of the Gentyles Tertullian wrote a very learned treatise De Pallio that is to say of a Cloke Neyther as I take it you be ignoraunt that a whyte vesture was wont to be geuen to them that were baptized Wherfore it appeareth that before the Popes tiranny ouerwhelmed the Church there was some maner of diuersitie of apparell in the Church But be it so let them be the inuention of the Pope as you woulde haue it yet notwithstanding for the respecte of the papisticall inuention in them I can not be perswaded so muche impietie to be therin that whatsoeuer it toucheth it doth by and by so infecte and corrupt that it cannot be lawfull for good and godly men to vse it Godly I suppose ye vnderstande what my iudgement is eyther in reseruyng or bringing in agayne the Moisaicall or papisticall rites Nowe that I haue briefelye gone ouer these two chiefe poyntes of your reasons I come vnto that whiche ye also graunt That all thynges inuented by man be not forthwith to be reiected and condemned For what is it els but mans inuention that we communicate at the Lordes table rather in the mornyng then when we haue dyned It was also deuysed by man that the value of such thynges as was to be deuyded in the primatiue Churche were layde at the feete of the Apostles I graunt with you that these choyses of apparell do not of it selfe edifie And yet for all that other men wyll iudge it expedient that they be tollerated for a tyme as though peraduenture by that meanes these contentions wyll be auoyded by which it is in hazarde lest greater benefites and more ample commodities be hyndered and as we see it falleth out lest mennes myndes be withdrawen from the Gospell I wyll not here saye that they whiche stande to the defence of this matter may pretende some honest and iust signification of the apparell and that not dissentyng from the worde of God which is this The Ministers of the Church as the prophete Malachy witnesseth be Angels and Gods messengers but Angels for the most part appeared being clothed in whyte garmentes I pray you howe shall we debarre the Church of this libertie that it can not signifie some good thyng in settyng foorth theyr rites and ceremonies especially beyng so done that no maner of Gods honour is attributed vnto them and that they be in sight comely and in number few and that Christian people be not with them ouerburdened matters of greater importaunce be omitted Peraduenture you wyll say to me Let Ministers of the Churche declare themselues to be Angels not represent Angels by signification But Paule the Apostle might so haue ben aunswered when he taught the Corinthians that it was meete that a woman shoulde haue her head couered and a man his head vncouered vrgyng it only in respecte of signification For some man of the Church myght haue aunswered hym saying Let a man declare hym selfe to be head of his wyfe and let a wyfe declare her selfe to be subiect vnto her husbande not in signes but in deedes and conuersation But yet Paule iudged it a meete and a profitable thyng that both of them aswell the man as the woman should be monished of theyr duetie by such a signe or action For by such signes and meanes we be stirred vp to do our office and duetie for they bryng into our myndes that whiche is decent for vs to do And yf hereby the weakelynges take an occasion of errour let them be monyshed that they be but indifferent thynges and let them be taught that no part of Gods honor and religion is placed in them Nowe whether the eyes of them that be present be turned cleane away from thynkyng of serious matters because of the diuersitie of apparell peraduenture euery man wyll not graunt it Fyrst the aduersaries maye aunswere that this shall not folow yf such apparell be appoynted that hath no gorgeousnesse but is playne and vsed before in the Church For no man maruelles at those thynges that be dayly vsed and of small value Nay it is more like that men beyng stirred with the reuerence of them shall haue theyr cogitacions more attentiuely vpon serious thynges for the externall partes of the sacramentes seeme to be instituted to this ende that we euen of the very fyght and of our externe sensis shoulde be inwardely moued to haue contemplation of diuine thynges Neyther suppose I by and by a tiranny to be brought in yf any thyng that is indifferent should be receyued into the Church to be done and that many should constantly obserue the same Nowe a dayes we do minister the Lordes supper in the mornyng so that we wyll not receyue at al after dyner in the publique congregation But who wyll say that this sauoureth of any tiranny which we all do with one wyll and consent Truely it woulde please me rather as I haue oftentymes rehearsed that we shoulde only do those thynges that Chryste dyd and Paule delyuered but yf there be some indifferent thynges added I woulde not nowe therefore greatly contende especially forsomuch we see that they by whom the lyght of the Gospell is much aduaunced in England and dayly may be more aduaunced do take part agaynst vs. I graunt with you that all which is not of fayth is synne Neuerthelesse that which is written of Saint Paule to Titus seemeth greatly to serue for to ease and quiet the conscience that is All thynges are cleane to the cleane And to Timothy Euery creature is good For it is not necessaryly required that we shoulde proue euery particuler thyng which we vse to be expressely mentioned in the Scriptures It is enough generally to knowe this fayth That indifferent thynges can not corrupt those that be of a pure mynde and sincere conscience in theyr doynges These thynges haue I briefely gathered together as touchyng the controuersie whiche ye proposed vnto me out of the which I beseche God with all my hart that ye maye shyft your handes well of And I desyre you to take in good part that I haue written for yf I coulde haue aunswered eyther more substancially or more playnely I woulde haue satisfied your request to my power But forbecause it is not graunted to euery man to wryte handsomely and redyly of these matters you must needes pardon me And assure your selfe further of this one poynt that I am redy nowe and at all tymes to beleue the trueth when I shall be otherwayes instructed In the meane season thynke ye not that this iudgement whiche here I haue declared vnto you was but nowe fyrste perswaded vnto me For euen