declaramus dicimus dofinimus pronuntiamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis that is We declare say define and pronounce that it is altogether of necessitie of saluation to be subiect to the Pope of Rome Where the Glosse helpeth out the matter with these words Quie quid saluatur est sub summo pontifice Whatsoeuer is saued is vnder the Pope And on the other side All they that professe the religion of Rome and submit thomselues to the Bishop thereof be Catholikes and the Catholike Church how prophane wicked or vngodly soeuer they be Pope Iohn the 8. the whore Iohn the 12. or as some reckon him the 13. who was an adulterer and of two Cardinals did cut out the tongue of the one the hand of the other and at dice-play would call vpon the diuell and made the pallace of Laterane a stewes of strumpets as Luithprandus Ticinensis writeth Syluester the second a coniurer who gaue himselfe to the Diuell to be made Pope Gregorie the 7. a coniurer and monster Boniface the 7. who robbed Saint Peters Church and put out the eyes of Iohn a Cardinal Boniface the 8. who entred into his popedome like a foxe raigned like a wolfe and died like a dog Alexander the sixt Iulius the second and all they whom Platina calleth monstra portenta monsters and wonders for their wickednesse were not only Catholikes but also heads of this Catholike Church And he that married as I said before his owne sister and Ferdinando a king Naples who maried his Aunt king Philip of Spaine that maried his Neece because they did these things by y e dispēsations and allowing of holy Popes of Rome were Catholikes and good sonnes of the Catholike Church Now whether of these doctrines concerning this article of our faith I beleeue the holy Catholike Church be the sounder truer let the Christian reader vprightly iudge I doubt not but wisdome shall be iustified of her children And whereas you would make men beleeue that the Church whereof we are is contained within the narrow bounds of England and that the Lutherans in Germanie the Hugonotes in France and the Guines in Flanders as you terme them will not ioyne issue with vs in diuers essentiall points of religion you doe to the offending of God deceiuing of your ignorant reader vtter two notorious vntruths For we as I haue said before confesse our selues to be members of that holy Catholike Church which hath beene in all ages and is dispersed ouer the world and we haue communion and fellowship with all them in all nations that feare God and obey his truth especially in the fundamentall doctrines of religion and saluation But how do you truely confesse the Church to be Catholike that is vniuersall comprehending all nations in restraining it to the religion and subiection of the Pope of Rome and so consequently to a small part of Europe vnlesse you will now of late adde the West Indians where the Spaniards haue committed moe horrible murthers then they haue madagood proselytes And what an absurd speech is this that you call the Church of Rome the Catholike Church as if a man should call the Church of Corinth or Ephesus the Catholike Church which if they were holy are but members of the Catholike Church This is therefore that which you vntruly attribute to vs to call England the vniuersall world or Kent the kingdome of England c. But the Church of Rome now committing fornication with stocks and stones is so farre from being the Catholike Church that it is no true member thereof as M. Doctor Raynolds hath learnedly proued And that these whom you contemptuously call Lutherans Hugonotes and Guines do dissent from vs in essentiall points of religion you may easily affirme but shal neuer be able to proue Some indeed in Germanie whom you call Lutherans do dissent from vs in one point concerning the Sacrament of Christs bodie and bloud howbeit you cannot be ignorant but that manie Churches and countries in Germanie ioyne with vs in that matter And let the reader reade and examine the confessions of faith set out by the Churches in France and in the lowe countries they shall see both how great their agreement in doctrine is with vs and also what a shamelesse slaunder this is which this authour hath according to his accustomed maner auouched but not proued And moreouer I will offer this issue to this man who thinketh so highly of himselfe that whereas he shall proue that there is dissension among vs in one essentiall point of religion and doctrine I will proue that there is in three at the least among them And this much for this article The second article of the communion of Saints you say we many waies denie First by not beleeuing that Christ hath institnted seuen Sacraments wherein the Saints of his Church communicate But why do not you bring some plaine proofe y t our Sauiour Christ instituted these seuen Sacraments seeing you say that the denying of the is the deniall of this article of our faith Saint Paul going about to terrifie the Christians of Corinth from going to idolatrous feasts by the example of Gods fearefull iudgements and plagues poured vpon the Israelites for the like sinnes to preuent an obiection which the Christians of Corinth might haue made that the Israelits were not the Children of God so much as they and had not such Sacraments of Baptisme and of Christs supper as they had and therefore God would not deale so hardly with them as he did with the Israelites to take away I say this obiection he sheweth that they were Gods people as well as the Christians of Corinth were and had the same sacraments in substance that we haue For the fathers were vnder that cloud and al passed through the sea and were all baptized by Moses in that cloud and in that sea and did all eate the same spirituall meat and did all drink the same spirituall drinke for they dranke of the spiritual rocke that followed them the rocke was Christ Where Saint Paul making mention of the Sacraments which are tokens of Gods grace and markes of his people nameth but these two Baptisme and Christs supper Saint Augustine also writing of the Sacraments whereby Christ hath tied his people together maketh mention but of the same two in these words Primum itaque tenere volo quodest huius disputationis caput dominum nostrum Iesum Christum sicut ipse in Euangelio loquitur Leui iugo suo nos subdidisse sarcinae leui vnde sacramentis numero paucissimis obseruatione facillimis significatione praestantissimis societatem noui populi colligauit sicut est baptismus Trinitatis nomine consacratus communicatio corporis sanguinis ipsius si quid aliud is scripturis canonicis commendatur c 1. First therefore I would haue thee hold that which is the head of
of Iudas not Iscariot did say what is the cause that thou wilt shew thy selfe to vs and not vnto the world In this sense I may grant that the world hath not had these gifts of Gods grace these thousand yeares and put another thousand and more vnto them But if we take the world more generally for this great globe and all the inhabitants thereof then proue by the testimonie of all antiquitie that the doctrine which we teach and professe hath not been these 1500. yeares in the world and we will yeeld and you shall winne the victorie But it is vsuall with you and your fellowes to make great and braue bragges to amaze the simple and ignorant and to bring small and poore proofes as you doe here none at all to perswade the wise and learned great braggers are no great doers In deede we confesse that the Church is well compared by Saint Augustine to the Moone For as the Moone receiueth her light from the Sunne so doth the true Church receiue her light from Iesus Christ the sunne of righteousnes And as the Moone is sometimes in the full and shineth in full brightnes and sometimes is in the waine and sometimes is eclipsed and doth little appeare euen so the Church is sometimes in the full and shineth in full brightnes and glorie as in the Apostles times and diuers hundreth yeares after it did sometimes it is in the waine and eclipsed as for many hundred yeares last past it hath been in which that Apostasie from the faith is come which Saint Paul by the spirit of God foreshewed and the euent hath proued by Mahometisme in the East and Papisme in the West During which time although the Church hath been driuen into the wildernes and the light of true doctrine which is the soule of the Church hath been eclipsed yet they haue neuer vtterly perished For in all ages God in mercie hath reserued a remnant according to the election of grace by whom the light of his truth hath been preserued and in whom those admirable promises of his mercie haue been performed These haue been not proude Popes treading vpon Emperours neckes deposing them from their Crownes and Kingdomes raysing bloudie battels and pouling and spoyling Christian countries with greeuous and horrible exactions and deuises as might be shewed not carnall Cardinals Princes peeres hauing 200. and 300. benefices apeece as Gerson and Clamangis Parisian Doctors before named doe affirme not popish blinde prelates Abbats Monkes priests c. wallowing in all worldly wealth and for the most part in great filthines of life as hereafter I will shew but such as the Apostle speaketh of that haue been tried by mockings and scourginges yea by bondes prisonment which were stoned hewen asunder tempted slaine with the sworde wandred vp and downe in sheepe-skinnes and in goates skinnes destituted afflicted and tormented whom the world was not worthie of which wandred in wildernesses and mountaines and dennes and caues of the earth Such were those good people in the time of the foresaid apostacie the Waldenses and Pauperes de Lugduno dispersed in diuers countries as namely Calabria Sauoye Prouence in Fraunce of whom many both long agoe in sundrie places and diuers times were burned as it is written in the old booke called Fasciculus Temporum and also of late yeares were most cruelly and vnmercifully perse cuted in Merindoll the valley of Angrone Luserne and Saint Martin Such were they that were called Begardi of whom to the number of 114. were burnt at Paris as the foresaid booke Fasciculus Tempo sheweth Such were they that were called Albingenses inhabiting especially about Tholossa in Fraunce of whom by the procurement of that false Frier and superstitious Hypocrite Dominicus an hundreth thousand were destroyed as writeth Bernardus Lutzenburgus and an 180. were together burned as both Antoninus the Arch-bishop of Florence writeth and Bellarmine himselfe confesseth Such were they of whom Albertus Crantius writeth which in Sueuia publikly preached that the Pope Bishops and prelaces were heretikes and Simoniakes that the begging Friers did peruert the Church with their false preachings for the which they were persecuted and some burned Such were they in Bohemia and Morauia in great number with whom Aeneas Syluius who was Pope called Pius the second hauing had conference writeth thus of one of them Finitis sermonibus istis assurrexit vnus de primoribus Thaboritarum animo satis inflato quid tu nobis inquit apostolicam sedem tot verbis amplificas Nos Papam Cardinales anaritiae seruos nouimus impatientes inflatos tumidos ventri ac libidini deditos ministros scelerum diaboli sacerdotes Antichristi praecursores quorum deus venter est pecunia caelum That is when these speeches were ended there did rise vp one of the chiefe of the Thaborites and with an hautie minde said What dost thou amplifie to vs in so many wordes the Apostolicall seate we know that the Pope and the Cardinals be slaues to couetousnes imputient proud arrogant giuen to the bellie and filthie lust the ministers of wickednes the priests of the diuell and the forerunners of Antichrist whose God is their bellie and whose heauen is money Such also was Arnoldus Brixianus persecuted by that proud English Pope Adrian the fourth anno 1155. Iohn Rochetailada burnt at Auinion by Pope Clement the sixt 1345. Michael Cesenas burnt 1322. Iohn Wickliffe who died 1387. and after his death his body was burnt Two Franciscan Friers burnt at Auinion by Pope Innocent the sixt 1354. Two others burnt at London 1357. William Swinderby burnt 1401. William White burnt 1428. Peter Clarke and Peter Paine 1433. persecuted and forced to flee into Bohemia Thomas Rhedonensis burnt at Rome 1430. Mattheus Palmerius burnt at Florence as witnesseth Sabellicus Dulcinus of Nouaria and Margaret his wife burnt about the yeare of our Lord 1304. Iohn Hus and Hierome of Prage burnt at Constance 1415. 1416. Hieromus Sauonarola burnt at Florence 1499. These and many such other that might be produced with their faithfull fauourers and followers were the true Church of God in whom his mercifull promises were performed These are they that haue mourned in Zion that haue lamented and cryed for all the abominations that haue been don in Ierusalem or rather in Rome that were killed for the word of God and for the testimonie which they maintained and which came out of great tribulation and haue washed their robes in the bloud of the Lamb. But these now haue beautie for ashes the oyle of ioy for mourning the garment of gladnes for the spirit of heauines and are trees of righteousnes the planting of the Lord in whom he is glorified they be now vnder the altar and are in the presence of the throne of God and serue him day and night in his temple and he that sitteth
on the throne doth dwell among them neither doth the sunne light on them neither any heate But this man will say that these were condemned and punished by the Church for heretikes I confesse they were so euen as the Prophets of God Christ our Sauiour and his holy Apostles were before them condemned by the prelates and priests of the Church of Israel which caried the countenance of the Church of God as much and more rightly then the Pope and his prelates now doe Neither were these so few in number but that by confession of some popish writers the Romish false faith was sometimes in danger to haue been subuerted by them Wernerus a Charterhouse Monke of Colen in his foresaid booke called Fasciculus temporum writeth thus Fuerunt nihilominus postea quidam subtilissimi haeretici qui istam haeresim Waldensium defendere conabantur plura regna populos deceperunt that is notwithstanding there were afterwards some most subtill heretikes which went about to defend this heresie of the Waldenses and deceiued or rather truely instructed many kingdomes and nations And againe hauing made mention of certaine popish doctors in those dayes as Hugo Cardinalis c. he hath these words Quos diuina bonitas misit pro fidei defensione alioquin tota pene fides perijsset propter haereticorum multiplicitatem subtilitatem simul potentiam that is whom God sent for the defence of the faith for otherwaies it had like wholy to haue perished by reason of the multitude subtiltie and power of heretikes It appeareth by the testimonie of this popish Monke that in those dayes there were verie many of them whom he falsely calleth heretikes And whereas these detested the enormities and abominations of the Church of Rome and maintained the same substantiall and fundamentall points of doctrine that we doe as it appeareth by the articles obiected vnto them that they did how doth this man say that our religion was not these 1500. yeares in the world It was in the world but hated of the world which hated Christ yet was it constantly confessed euen to death of them whom God the Father hath giuen to Christ out of the world Hereby it may sufficiently appeare that the Synagogue of the Iewes hath not bin more constant in continuance nor more ample in place then the true Church of Christ hath been In deede it may be that the Synagogues of the Iewes haue continued in some certaine places more constantly then the true Churches of Iesus Christ haue done Yet hereupon it doth not follow that either Gods admirable promises haue not bin performed or that the true Church hath perished It is not the Synagogue of the Iewes but the true Church of God that is clothed with Christ the sun of righteousnes treadeth vnder her feete earthly things which be mutable as y e moone and is adorned with the Doctrine of Christs twelue Apostles which is forced to flee into the wildernes Chrysostome saith well Ecclesia est tabernaculū à deo fixum non ab homine ab vno loco in alium fugit sed non à pietate ad impietatem fugit that is The Church is the tabernacle which God hath pight and not man she fleeth from one place to another but she neuer fleeth from godlines to impietie and wickednes As Barrabas found here more fauour with the prelates and priests of Iudah and Ierusalem then Iesus Christ the son of God did So the Popes and Iewes Synagogues haue found more fauour and more quietly rested in this wicked world then the true Church of Iesus Christ hath done As euen in Rome the Iewes professed and open enemies of our Sauiour Christ haue had and yet haue their Synagogues and liue paying their tributes in as great quietnes and safetie as the Curtizans Whores of Rome do which pay yearely to the Pope twentie thousand duckates It is written in the pontificall that at the coronation of the Pope and in his procession to y e Church of Laterane the Iewes vse to meete him and making curtesie do offer the law to him to whom he giueth a gentle answere But whereas the foresaid Arnoldus Brixianus a great learned man reproued the errors and enormities of the Church of Rome Adrian the foure our proud countriman who rebuked the Emperor for holding his wrong stirrop would not go vp to the Church of Laterane to be consecrate vntill he were driuen but of Rome There was also one Arnulphus in Rome a godly mā whom many of the inhabitants thereof acknowledged for a true disciple of Christ that was there murthered by the priests for inueighing against their wickednesse Also in a towne neere Rome called Pole the lord thereof with many others were counted heretikes for saying that none of them which followed Peter were y e true vicars of Christ but such as followed the pouerty of Christ These Pope Paulus the second persecuted and contumeliously intreated as Platina and Sabellicus doe write Hereby we see that it is a thing more allowable in Rome to denie Christ as the Iewes doe then to meddle with the Popes triple crowne or to reproue his pride and enormities This our doctrine of performing Gods admirable promises not in proud Popes and wicked worldlings but in the faithfull which feare God tremble at his word and are for the most part hated and persecuted in the world doth neither shew the path to Atheisme nor open the gap to Machiuilian deuises which by the testimonie of some papists themselues are no where sooner learned then in that schoole wherein T. W. the author of this slanderous libell hath bin as I suppose too much and too long trained I meane the schoole of Iesuites of whom William Watson a popish secular priest in his booke of Quodlibets lately published doth thus write Many Atheal paradoxes be taught in the Iesuites conclaue or close conuenticles Aga. Questionles the Iesuits want neither art nor euill will nor yet malitious meanes to effect it as hauing vsed from the beginning more Machauilian deuises and Atheal practises in secret conference by their inferior agents with schismatikes yea and with our common aduersaries then with catholikes Againe It must needes follow that there is not a Iesuite in all England this day but hath a bitter smack of father Parsons impiety irreligiosity treachery treason Machiuilian Atheisme Again neither Machiuel nor any that euer yet was in Europe came neere vnto the Iesuites for Atheal deuises to preuent the stopples of their stratagems and to further their proceedings Againe But I call them Iesuiticall that is the faction of the Iesuites by abbreuiation to auoyde circumlocution in one word expressing them to be a factious seditious ambitious auaritious treacherous traiterous Machiuilian Atheall consort that abusing the rules of their societie c. By the iudgement of this popish priest let the good reader consider who they be that shew
to doe as the noble man the Queene Candaces Treasurer did to seek to a faithful Philip that is a godly and learned man by him to seeke to haue them opened and expounded so did Fabiola other godly women to Saint Hierome So Augustine saith Scripturarum expositio ab ijs petenda est qui earum doctores se esse profitentur that is The exposition of the Scriptures is to be sought of them which professe themselues to be doctors and teachers of them Yet with Saint Paul we say that as we are not to despise prophesying that is the expounding of Gods word so we are not rashly to receiue whatsoeuer is deliuered to vs but we are to proue all and to hold that which is good and to abstaine from all apparance of euill for the eare trieth the words as the mouth tasteth meate So also Saint Basil saith Quod in edulijs est sensus qualitatis vniuscuiusque edulij hoc in verbis sanctae scripturae est intellectus Gula enim inquit cibos gustat mens verba dijudicat that is That which in meates is the tast of the qualitie of euery meate the same is the vnderstanding or minde in the words of the holy Scripture For the throate saith he tasteth the meates and the minde iudgeth the words Now I will retort your argument vpon you in this manner Whosoeuer buildeth his faith vpon priuate and false expositions of the Scripture is an infidel The Papists build their faith vpon priuate and false expositions of the Scripture as I haue shewed before and can proue in many places moe ergo the Papists be infidels And thus much to your second article of faith The Pamphlet All Protestants who are ignorant of the Greeke and Latine tongues are Infidels 3. Article WHosoeuer relieth his faith vpon the ministers credit and fidelitie hath no faith at all But all those in England who are ignorant of the Greeke and Hebrew tongues rely their faith vpon the ministers credit Ergo. All those in England who are ignorant of the Greeke and Hebrew tongues haue no faith at all The Maior is manifest because they themselues confesse that euery man may erre and doth erre neither haue they any warrant why the ministers doe not erre since they constantly doe defend that whole generall councels yea and the vniuersall Catholike Church may erre and hath erred The Minor I proue for all such Protestants ground their faith vpon the Bible translated into English the which translation they know not whether it be true or false whether the minister Tindall for example erred or no either vpon ignorance as Broughton one of the greatest linguists among the precisians affirmeth in an epistle dedicated to the Lords of the Counsell or vpon malice to induce the people to protestancie or to cause them to leaue the Catholike Religion as Gregorie Martin in his discouerie most pregnantly prooueth These errors I say they know not and consequently cannot discerne a true translation from a false and therefore must needes rely their faith vpon the sillie ministers faithles fidelitie which conuinceth that they haue no faith at all Answere I Deny the Minor or second proposition of this Syllogisme and say that we rely not our faith vpon the Ministers credit and fidelitie but vpon the word of God translated the which we know to be true and holy not so much for that it is by publike authoritie and generall assent of men allowed as for that it containeth most holy doctrine agreeable to true faith and godly life whereby any that readeth or heareth it may behold the Maiestie of Gods spirit appearing in it As for example I beleeue these sayings to be true that Iesus Christ came into this world to saue sinners that he is the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world that the grace of God which offereth saluation to all men hath appeared and teacheth vs that we deny vngodlinesse and worldly lust and liue soberly righteously and godly in this present world c. not for that this or that man hath translated them but because the spirit of God doth beare witnes vnto my hart that most holy pure and diuine doctrine is contained in them And therefore to say that those which vnderstand not the Hebrew and Greeke tongues because they vse the word of God translated to them into other languages doe rely their faith vpon the Ministers credit and fidelitie and haue no faith is most foolish and absurd And let the Christian reader marke and consider how this sottish reason tendeth to the discrediting not only of vs but also of the most part of all godly and faithfull Christians in all ages yea and to the most of the godly Doctors and Fathers of the Church who were almost all ignorant of the Hebrew tongue and some of the Greeke also The holy Scriptures were translated into many tongues in the which the people of God did reade and heare them As Theodoritus writeth Hebraici verò libri non modò in Graecum idioma conuersi sunt sed in Romanam quoque linguam Aegyptiacam Persicam Indicam Armenicamque Scythicam adeoque Sauromaticam semelque vt dicam in linguas omnes quibus ad hanc diem nationes vtantur that is The Hebrew bookes be translated not onely into the Greeke tongue but also into the Romaine Aegyptian Persian Indian Armenian and Scythian and also the Sclauonian tongues to say at a word into all languages which the nations vse vnto this day Did the ancient faithfull Christians which read and heard the holy Scriptures in these sundrie languages rely their faith vpon men that did translate them or vpon the diuine doctrine and precious promises of God contained in them And let this cauiller shew sufficient reason why we are not either to be acquited with them or they condemned with vs. They could no more iudge of the truth of the translations then our people can yet they did to their great comfort and godly instruction and edification reade and heare the holy Scriptures grounding their faith not vpon the translators who might be and sometimes were euill men but vpon the sound holy and heauenly doctrine therein contained Saint Hierome exhorted ladies and gentlewomen not onely to reade the Scriptures themselues but also to bring vp their young daughters when they were but seuen yeares ould in that holy exercise They were not able to iudge of the translations otherwayes then to discerne and perceiue that the doctrine by them deliuered was pure and holy agreeable to true faith and godly life And euen so they that be godly in these dayes although they hauing not the knowledge of the Hebrew and Greeke tongues cannot iudge so exactly of translations and of the truth of them as those that vnderstand them can yet they may discerne whether the translations deliuer sound and holy doctrine consonant to true faith good manners and the generall heads and
of truth concerning religion and saluation We haue learned and godly Bishops and Pastors to teach the truth of Gods word to confute both by preaching and writing errors and heresies And we haue Synodes although not generall yet prouinciall wherein controuersies may be decided and heresies condemned as heretofore the truth hath beene maintained and heresies confuted and confounded in some prouinciall Councels as that called Gangrense and some other Africane Councels as well as they haue beene in some generall I would faine know of you what other and better meanes the Church of God had for the space of three hundred yeeres after Christs in carnation then these to determine controuersies and abolish heresies Generall Councels they had not before Constantines time which therefore your fellow Papist Fighius counteth to haue been an inuention of his but your great Rabbin Rob. Bellarmine therein controlleth him and saith it is false So well these men be setled in vnitie of beleefe And to your great Master of Rome whom you now would make the Oracle of the world there was before that time but small respect and regard had as your owne Pope Pius 2. in these words confesseth Ante Concilium Nicenum sibi quisque viuebat ad Romanam Ecclesiam paruus habebatur respectus i. Before the Councel of Nice euery one liued to himselfe and there was small regard had to the Church of Rome Shew vs therefore what meanes the Churches of God then had for maintenance of vnitie of faith which we want You say that Christ willed vs to heare his Church if we would not be accounted for Ethnicks and Publicanes The which place your said Rob. Bellarmine Reader full wisely alleageth to proue the Pope and his Councel to be the supreme Iudge of controuersies As though our Sauiour Christ there spake of deciding of controuersies in doctrine or of expounding the Scriptures or by the Church meant the Pope and his Councel and that euery man against whom his brother trespasseth must goe to the Pope and his Councel to make his complaint These be vanities and follies which nullo impellente ruunt and neede no confutation You further alleage out of Ioh. 14. 17. that Christ promised vnto the Church the assistance of the holy Ghost where by the Church you meane the Pope and his Councell as your Master Bellarmine hath taught you who writeth vs Sed hîc in genere dicimus iudicem veri sensus Scripturae omnium controuersiarum esse ecclesiam id est Pontificem cum concilio in quo omnes Catholici conueniunt that is Wee generally say that the Church is the iudge of the true sense of the Scripture and of all controuersies that is to say The Pope with the Councel wherein all Catholikes doe assemble or rather dissemble together But our Sauiour Christ made this promise to his disciples saying I will pray the Father and he shall giue you another Comforter that he may abide with you for euer euen the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receiue because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you This promise pertaineth not to all the successors of the Apostles but to all them that truly feare God and beleeue and obey the holy doctrine which Christ deliuered to his Disciples and which they preached the which when you shall soundly proue that your Popes Councels do then we wil grant that this promise of Christ belongeth to them In the meane time wee will follow Chrysostomes good counsell Si videris aliquem Euangelica repetentem profecto spiritum sanctum habet Venidt enins spiritus sanctus vt recordari vos faciat eorum quae docui Si quis igitur corum qui dicuntur habere spiritum sanctum dicat aliquid a scipso non ex Euangeliji non crodite meam doctrinam sequimini that is If thou see any man speaking out of the Gospell surely he hath the holy Ghost For the holy Ghost shal come to put you in remembrance of those things which I haue taught you If therefore any of them which are said to haue the holy Ghost doe speake any thing of himselfe and not out of the Gospels beleeue him not but follow my doctrine Whereas you say that you beleeue certainly that the Church cannot erre that the generall Councels cannot deliuer false doctrine c. I answere that you foolishly begge that which is in question For as wee acknowledge Councels assembled of godlie learned and modest men which simply seeke the glorie of God and the profit of his Church are good meanes to suppresse errors and heresies and to abolish abuses and enormities so to affirme that generall Councels cannot erre or deliuer false doctrine is most false absurd as by many both reasons and examples might be prooued But for shortnes sake I will touch but a few examples The councell of foure hundred Priests of Israel erred and Santan was a false spirit in the mouth of them all to the destruction of Achab that cursed king of Israel The councell of the Priests of Iuda erred in cōdemning Iesus Christ to death The Councell of the high Priest and other Priests Rulers Elders and Scribes erred in forbidding Christs disciples to speake or teach in the name of Iesus The councel of Neocaesarea erred in iudging hardly falsly of second marriages which Gods word alloweth Rom. 7. 3. 1. Cor. 7. 39. the words of the Councell be these Presbyterum conuiuio secundarum nuptiarum interesse non debere maxime cum praecipiatur secundis nuptijs poenitentiam tribuere that is A priest ought not to be present at the feast of second mariages especially because he is commanded to appoint penance to second mariages This Councell although it were prouinciall was confirmed by Pope Leo the fourth as appeareth by Gratian and the Papists hold that prouinciall councels confirmed by the Pope cannot erre The Councell of Ariminum wherein were assembled aboue foure hundred Bishops horribly erred in maintaining the blasphemous doctrine of Arius The like did the Councels of Millaine Seleucia and of Tyrus The second Councell of Ephesus erred and maintained the false doctrine of Eutyches These Councels the Papists confesse to haue erred and why because they were not allowed and confirmed by the Bishop of Rome A simple and shamelesse shift as though the Bishop of Rome had in those daies power either to call or confirme Councels any more then the other Patriarks had In that second Councel of Nice most vnlike vnto the first not only the wicked worshipping of Images was allowed and the Scriptures for the confirmation thereof most shamefully abused and detorted as appeareth by the said corrupt councell and Caluin and Mart. Chemnicius haue largely shewed but also in the same was decreed that the Angels haue bodies and that the soule of man is corporall and therefore they may bee
painted the which he foule errors If you will not allow the worshipping of Images to be an errour then you cannot say but that the Councell of Constantinople vnder Leo the Emperour where were present 338. Bishops and another of Frankford vnder Charles the Great in which the worshipping of images was condemned did erre Some of these Councels erred To omit for breuitie sake manie other Councels a Councell at Rome vnder Stephanus the sixth or as some reckon seuenth condemned Pope Formosus and his doings Another Councell at Rauenna vnder Pope Iohn the tenth restored Formosus and condemned Stephen and the actes of his Councell I hope you will not or cannot say but that one of these Councels erred Another Councell at Rome vnder Pope Nicholas the second caused that excellent learned and godly man Berengarius to recant and to confesse that the verie true bodie of Christ is indeed handled and broken by the priests hands and torne with the teeth of faithfull people The which is a grosse false and blasphemous doctrine The Councell of Constance erred most wickedly in taking away the cup of the Lord from the lay people contrarie to the word of God and the testimonie of all antiquitie And that their last Councell of Trident hath fouly erred and confirmed false doctrine repugnant to the truth of Gods word and the Canons of ancient Councels both these excellent learned men Martinus Chemnicius and Innocentius Gentilletus haue shewed and we do and will proue to the consciences of all those whom the God of this world hath not blinded I am not ignorant what colours that Iesuite Bellarmine seeketh to cast vpon the foresaid errours of these Councels and such others and what simple shifts he seeketh to elude and auoid them the which I wil not stand here to answer but I will referre the reader to the answers of Lamb. Danaeus and to that excellent man of blessed memory D. Whitakers where he may find the weaknesse and nakednesse of Bellarmines said shifts plainly discouered and the same fully confuted the which I thinke will stand as other of his works haue done long vndefended Whereas you note in your margent the ancient Councels of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon wherin old heretikes were confuted and condemned and thereby claime them to appertaine to your Church I answer that as it is most certaine that those Councels were not called not gouerned and directed by the Bishops of Rome as now by vsurpation they are so you shall neuer proue that those godly and learned fathers agreed with you in manie great and principall points of Christian doctrine It were easie to shew that sundry things were condemned by them which be receiued and vsed by you And therefore you vainly brag of their names whose doctrine and proceedings you haue forsaken neither haue you so much by disputation in Councels as by cruel persecution through fire and fagot suppressed such as in all ages haue complained of your idolatry and abominations as plainly appeareth by histories As it is true that we admit the holy Scripture or rather the holy Ghost speaking in the Scripture to bee the supreme vmpier and Iudge in matters of controuersies and acknowledge him to be the onely infallible interpreter of his own words so is it false that we admit no other iudge but remit al to euery mans priuate spirit and singular exposition We say that as the holy Ghost in the Scriptures is the high infallible iudge and interpreter of the Scriptures so we acknowledge inferiour Iudges and interpreters both priuate and publike Euerie man is a priuate iudge to discerne and iudge of the doctrine which he heareth or readeth in the Scriptures So Saint Paul saith I speake as vnto wise men iudge ye what I say Let the Prophet speake two or three and let the other iudge Despise not prophecying Try all things and keep that which is good Abstain frō all appearance of euill Beloued beleeue not euery spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God The spirituall man iudgeth all things Good Christians ought to haue their wits exercised to discerne both good and euill The true sheepe of Christ heare and know his voice and they will not follow a stranger but they flie frō him for they know not the voice of strangers whereby our Sauiour Christ sheweth that those which be his sheepe and be truely gathered into his fold can iudge and discerne betweene his voyce sounding in the Scriptures and the voyce of strangers deliuering a strange doctrine differing and dissenting from the same such as is the false doctrine of the Church of Rome We also admit publike iudges of controuersies both seuerally as learned Bishops pastors and doctors who may giue their sentences and iudgements in matters in question and coniunctly when they be assembled in Synodes and Councels to examine questions of greater difficultie and to decide the same How beit their iudgements be not infallible for all men be lyars and subiect to ignorance and errour neither haue they any absolute power and authoritie to iudge after their own spirit or mind but according to the canonicall Scriptures from the which if they bee found to decline and swarue their iudgements are not to be followed But your meaning is that the Pope with his Councell is the supreme vmpire and iudge in matters of controuersie and the infallible interpreter thereof How they haue most falsly interpreted the Scriptures I haue in some part shewed before and that he who is a partie and whom a great part of Christendome doth accuse to bee Antichrist and guilty of most grieuous crimes as of impietie idolatrie tyrannie ouer the Church sacrilege treason c. should be iudge in this his owne cause is against all law and reason It is written in your owne Canon lawe Si Papa cum aliquo causam habet non debet ipse esse iudex i. If the Pope haue matter with any other he ought not himselfe to be iudge And againe Quando Papa est in statu qui plerisque est offendiculo scandalizat Ecclesiā noc est corrigibilis tunc non potest esse iudex quia videtur male sentire de fide i. When the Pope is in that state that he is an offence to manie and scandalizeth the Church and is incorrigible then he canot be Iudge because he seemeth to be of an euill faith And euen so not only we do but also manie of his owne fauourers haue iustly accused the Pope to be You vainly and falsly exaggerate controuersies and irreconciliable iarres as you terme them among vs in essentiall points of faith But why do you not particularly expresle some of those essentiall points of faith Surely because you cannot I cōfesse there hath been in our Church some controuersie concerning externall ceremonies and forme of gouernment as there hath beene heretofore betweene good men as betweene Peter and Paul betweene Paul and
Erasmus saith we iustly reiect and condemne We exhort men when they come to receiue that holy mysterie the Sacrament and pledge of our saluation in Christ to examine themselues and so to eate of that breade and drinke of that cup For he that eateth and drinketh vnworthily eateth and drinketh his owne damnation because he discerneth not the Lords bodie But if as you say sinfull liues conforte not with this sacred mysterie I meruaile how your Priests liues consorted with it which how holy they were I will shew hereafter Lastly you charge vs with a new negatiue religion wholy standing vpon negation of Sacraments ceremonies rites lawes customes and other practicall points of the Catholike Church whereunto I answere that we deny nothing that God hath commaunded in the holy canonicall Scriptures the which as I haue before shewed is the onely rule of our religion and life In deede we deny and defie your trifling traditions and vnwritten vanities and inuentions with the which you haue gone a whoring as the Prophet saith If you can shew that we deny any thing which God hath commaunded as wee can plainely proue that you doe then spare not to charge vs with a new negatiue religion You deny the sufficiencie of the Scriptures and that all doctrine necessarie to saluation is contayned in them You deny the same Scriptures to bee in the vulgar tongue for all Gods people to reade and heare to their comfort You deny prayer and the publike seruice of God to be in the same vulgar tongue You deny Christ to be our only mediator betweene God vs. You deny the Cup of Christs Supper to Gods people You deny the lawful authoritie which Princes haue ouer their people subiects in all causes ecclesiasticall and temporall You deny mariage to ecclesiasticall ministers whereby what great and horrible wickednesse you haue caused I will hereafter declare You say we bring in for fasting feasting for praying playing c. Concerning your fasting consisting in a superstitious obseruing of times and diuersitie of meates and tending to the honouring of Saints and satisfying Gods iustice for your sins we deny it But fasting purely vsed according to Gods word to humble our soules before God to mortifie the wicked affections of our sinful flesh we allow and especially that great and principall fast in abstayning from sinne whereof Saint Augustine speaketh in these words Ieiunium autom magnum gerale est abstinere ab iniquitatibus ab illicitis voluptatibus seculi quod est perfectum ieiunium in hoc seculo The great and generall fast is to abstaine from iniquities and vnlawfull pleasures of the world which is the perfect fast in this world Chrysostome saith Ieiunium dico abstinentiam à vitijs I say that fasting which is to abstaine from vices Hereby let it be discerned who doe most truely fast In deede I know that it is your manner much to glorie in your writings and speeches of your outward fasting from meates as the Pharisee in the Gospell did who gloried that he fasted twise a weeke which neither God in his law had required nor the Apostles of Christ for any thing we reade vsed Whereby wee may note that true godlynes neither is to bee measured by such outward abstinence from meates nor is alwayes ioyned with it Iohn Baptist vsed greater austeritie in his diet and abstinence from meates then our Sauiour Christ did yet was his life nothing so holy Iohns Disciples vsed more fasting then the Disciples of our Sauiour Christ did Yet it is not to be doubted but our Sauiours Disciples liued as godly or more then they did The Montanists Heretikes were greater fasters then were y e true Christians as Tertullian sheweth And S. Hierome writeth y t they obserued three Lents in a yeere and yet were Heretikes condemned by the Church of God although then fauoured by the Bishop of Rome as Tertullian sheweth in the beginning of his booke against Praxeas The Iewes vsed such great abstinence and fasting that they brought weakenesse and sickenesse to their bodies as Saint Hieromie writeth who neuerthelesse were enemies to our Sauiour Christ The Moscouites which neuer acknowledged the Popes authoritie bee as great fasters as Papists are And so also be the Turkes And therefore these men neede not to boast so much of their fasting Saint Paul saith that bodily exercise profiteth little but godlinesse is profitable to all things and hath the promise of this life present and that which is to come Howbeit as I will not deny but that there may be lesse fasting and more feasting then were requisit yet that there is more feasting and superfluitie in fare now especially in ecclesiastical persons I thinke it would be too hard for this man to proue Whence came these phrases As fat as an Abbot he hath a face like an Abbot and an Abbey Lubber but of their immoderate fare and feeding And how these men were giuen to gluttonie and excesse I will shew at this time but by one example Giraldus Cambrensis in his Booke intituled Speculum Ecclesiae writeth that the Abbot and Monkes of Saint Swithens in Winchester came to King Henry the second hunting at Gilford in Surrey and fell downe in myre and durt before him pitifully crying out The King asked them what was the matter They answered that their Bishop had taken three dishes of meate from their dinners and suppers He asked them how many he had left vnto them They answered tenne but from the foundation of their house they had vsed daily to haue thirteene dishes at a meale The king turned to his Nobles and said By the eyes of God for that was his oath I thought their house had bin burnt and now I see it is but a matter concerning their paunches And then turning to the Abbot and Monkes said If your Bishop deale not with you as I haue done with my court to bring you to three dishes I would he were hanged This was the remedie that these gluttonous Monkes found at the hands of that prudent Prince Where the reader may note not onely the great gluttonie but shameles impudencie of these men or monsters in making such a lamentable complaint for wanting of three dishes hauing tenne remayning The same Cambrensis writeth that in some Abbeies they had at euery meale sixteene dishes which slender diet was a good meanes to preserue their vowed virginitie Hereof came the old ryming verse O monachi vestri stomachi sunt amphora Bacchi c. To come to the next I wish there were more praying and lesse playing then there is yet this wil I say that there is now more true praying according to the will of God lesse playing then was euer in poperie Dicing and carding is in some reformed Churches abolished and of those that truely professe the Gospel lesse vsed then it hath been of Papists But I wil not stand to
belong not to the kingdome of Heauen because they haue no merits of strife whereby to ouercome vices How neere you iumpe with these old Heretikes as you doe in many matters with many others let the Christian reader indifferently iudge Secondly I say that we are enemies neither to those true merits of Gods mercies and Christs sufferings before mentioned nor to mans good workes but to the merit of them and vaine confidence put in them We say with Saint Augustine Si vis alienus esse à gratia iacta meritatua i. If thou wilt be voyde of grace boast thine owne merits Thirdly wee beleeue that the kingdome of Heauen commeth to vs by inheritance and not by the purchase of our workes and merits Christ saith Come ye blessed of my father take the inheritance of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Saint Paul saith If we be children we are also heires euen the heires of God and heires annexed with Christ Thus the kingdome of Heauen is ours in that we be coheires with Christ By whose bloudie and blessed merits it is purchased to vs and not by the workes and deserts of vs vnprofitable seruants and prodigall children who haue alwayes neede to pray and say Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant for in thy sight shall no man that liueth be iustified and if thou O Lord straightly markest iniquitie O Lord who shall be able to stand To conclude you that so seuerely censure vs looke to your selues and take heed you be not like that proud Pharisee who gloried of his workes and disdained the sinfull Publicane and that you be not like the Angell of the Church of Laodicea who said that he was rich increased with goods and had need of nothing and did not know that he was wretched miserable poore blind and naked And that you be not like that mad man of Athens called Thraselaus who comming in his madnes to the hauen named Pyreum did vainely imagine that all the shippes and riches there were his owne but being cured and brought to good vnderstanding he saw his pouertie and perceiued that he scarce had a penny in his purse Euen so if you were throughly cured of this phrensie of Poperie you would acknowledge your owne miserie and hunger for Gods mercie confesse your owne pouertie that Christ may inrich you your owne nakednes that he may with the robe of his righteousnesse couer you your owne guiltines that he may acquite and iustifie you and finally humble your selfe that hee may exhalt you For it is hee that filleth the hungrie with good things and sendeth the rich emptie away I would you would ioyne with your owne Cardinall Poole in this poynt who misliking of Osorius booke de iustitia dedicated to him for attributing too much to mans iustice and righteousnesse did adde this worthie saying and worthie by al meanes to be receiued That we can neuer attribute too much to the mercie and righteousnesse of God nor too much take from the righteousnesse of man This is written not only by Doctor Haddon in his booke against Osorius but also by Pruilus his Secretarie in his life as that excellent Antiquarie and learned man my good friend Master Camden did tell me To conclude bee not like the froward Iewes who hauing a zeale towards God but not according to knowledge being ignorant of the righteousnesse of God and going about to establish their owne righteousnesse haue not submitted themselues to the righteousnesse of God For Christ is the end of the lawe for righteousnesse vnto euery one that beleeueth but obey the counsell and calling of God Ho euery one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and yee that haue no siluer come buye and eate Come I say buye wine and milke without siluer and without money Wherefore doe yee lay out siluer and not for bread and your labour without being satisfied Hearken diligently vnto me and eate that which is good and let your soule delight in fatnes Encline your eares and come vnto me heare and your soule shall liue and I will make an euerlasting couenant with you euen the sure mercies of Dauid The which sweete and hid Manna of Gods mercies they that refuse to eate but had rather feede on the draffe of their owne muddie merits shall neuer inherit heauen but shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for euermore FINIS Faults escaped Pag. 5. lin 34. reade merita p. 6. l. 16. quote Rom. 1. 2. p. 33. l. 9. r. scribitur Ibid. l. 24. r. accommodant p. 36. l. 14. in marg r. Theophil in Ioan. 14. p 43. l. 23. r. Hiueum p. 45. l. 5. r. Sanctes p. 48. l. 1. r. Guiues p. 50. l. 32. r. omnium p. 63. l. 31. r. they p. 70. l. 19. r. one Pope p. 100. l. 30. r. are waies p. 120. l. 3. r. after this matter a full point p. 126. l. 22. put out that is 2. King 23. Sopho. 1. 5. 6. 8. 9. 12. Chap. 3. 1. 2. Genes 19. Numb 14. Zach. 7. 11. Lactant. lib. 5. cap. 1. Idem ibidem Ibidem Act. 28. 27. 2. Thess 2. Psal 119. 105. Commenta de dictis factis Alphonsi Reg. lib. 2. 17. Tom. 1. Serm. coram Alexand. Papa in die Ascensionis Nicol Clemang de corrupto Ecclesiae statu fol. 5. b. Ibidem fol. 10. b Ibidem fâ—l 13. Dist 38. ex conc Tole Contra Maâ—ichâ—â—s Haeris 66. Hier. in Esaiam dist â—8 si iâ—â—â—a Prou. 2. 4. In the conference at Westminster in the beginning of her Maiesties raigne See the beginning of the Prâ—face of the New TestameÌ„t set out by them 1582. Psal 119. 2. Timoth. 2. 7. Iohn 9. 41. Genes 3. 16. Genes 22. 18. Act. 10. 43. In the popish Primer printed 1557. In the same Primer Lib. 1. Caeremo titul 7. Psal 115. 135. Cicero de Natura deorum lib. 2. Inter sermones discipuli Serm. de S. Katherinae In promptu discipuli Supplementuns Chronicorunt Bergomens lib. 13. fol. 205. Erasmus in Colloquio peregri ergo Blondus de Rema instaurata lib. 3. propefinem Holingshead in Henry 8. p. 946. Caluinus admonitione de reliquijs Gregor Turonens lib. 9. ca. 6. 2. Timoth. 4. 4. 2. Thessal 2. 9. Preface to the defence of the Apologie edition 2. Iohn 1. 5. 1. Cor. 2. 14. a Isa 60. 11. b Matth. 16. 18. c cap. 28. 20. Iam. 2. 19. 1. Cor. 13. 7. Faith Hope Charitie 1. Iohn 3. 14. Repentance Marke 1. 16. Acts 20. 21. Iustification Luke 17. 10. 15. 21. Iohn 3. 36. Rom. 3. 25. 4. 5. Ephes 2. 8. Ephes 3. 17. Church Galath 4. 26. Matth. 8. 11. Altas 1. Cor. 10. 21. Sacrifice Heber 9. 14. Priests Religion Rom. 3. Christ 1. Tim. 1. 15. Ioh. 1. 29. Matth. 17. 5. 1. Cor. 4. 3. Epipha in Ancorato Rom. 3. 22.