to shewe me the first vser therof much lesse that it was euer controlled by any man that euer was counted Catholike it may be measured according to the necessitie of the time and so as the Church may be most edified FVLK I. The qualification that you now prescribe differeth not a litle from that seueritie of your former exacting of penance or at the least a counterpoise thereof to make pardons beneficiall That the decale of deuotion should make pardons more common in these latter times there is no reason but rather that pardons should cause deuotion to decaie For the nature of men is to be best affected to that which is moste easilie obteined and where there is hope of impunitie to be lesse carefull in offending But you would haue pardons seeme to be as olde as Gregorie the first by authoritie of Pantaleon a Lutheran who could not know what Gregorie did but by relation of other stories why doe you not therefore cite some auncient credible storie that iustifieth as much of Gregory For Pantaleon doth not aduouch what Gregorie did but what the late popish writers ascribe vnto him But though it be not auncient to graunt such pardons yet you saie it is cleare that the thing itselfe is lawfull although of this clearenes you haue as yet made no demonstration You saie further that no Protestant is able to shewe you the first vser thereof If that were true yet thereby pardons are neither prooued auncient nor lawfull But what if Gregorie were named For I will not name Boneface the eight seing you make challenge of Gregorie whome can you shewe that vsed to graunt such pardons before him Although in trueth you are not able to prooue that Gregorie graunted such pardons oranie Pope after him for 400. yeares Your third assertion that these manner of pardons were neuer controlled by any man that euer was accounted Catholike is a sophisticall caption and petition of the principle For manie are true Catholikes that are not so accounted and the Pope with his papists challenge to be accounted the onely Catholikes which of all other are the greatest heretikes ALLEN And thankes be giuen to God the effect of the loue of Indulgences and the contrarie issue of the contempt thereof doe well prooue the Churches good meaning therein For if you view both parties well you shall perceiue more profitable deuotion more Christian charitie more furtherance of common wealthes causes in that side that feareth paines for their sinnes with the Prophet Dauid euen after they be remitted and therefore seeke for all meanes moste humblie by mans ministerie to receiue mercie in one yeare you shall see in these deuoute persons more fruites of repentance then in a wholl old mans life can be found in all the other side that contemptuouslie disdaine or scornfullie deride the moste profitable vsage both of penance and pardons in Gods Church Therefore in so great proofe of the benefite that proceedeth from this kinde of remissions for so Alexander the third aboue foure hundereth yeares since termed Pardons vsed then to be giuen in dedication of Churches and vpon moste assured groundes that it well agreeth both with Gods worde and practise of the primitiue Church and neuer condemned of anie but of such as be themselues worthely condemned of other great heresies and errors the Magisirates will shew mercie still in Christes behalfe and all the holie Byshoppes succeeding lawfullie the Apostles of Christ will giue peace and benediction to such as humblie aske it at their handes and if the parties be worthie their peace by Christes promise shal rest vpon them if they either contemne it or be vnworthie of it then no harme done it will returne to the giuers againe FVLKE Although this argument of the effectes especialie when they are assigned to a wrong cause is no sufficient proofe of the lawfullnes of a thing where an euent is taken instead of an effect yet doe we vtterlie denie this assumpt that more profitable deuotion ' more Christian charitie more furtherance of common wealthes is in them that holde of pardōs then in them that vpon true confidence of Christs satisfaction doe despise them Let the experience of the six yeares of Kings Edwards reigne and the fiue and twentie yeares of her Maiesties moste Godlie and prosperous royall gouernment make triall decide the controuersie in the erection of of hospitalls prouiding for the poore setting vp of schooles and amplifying of the vniuersites relieuing of straungers redeeming of captiues such other workes of Christian charitie fruites of repentance in which although it must be cōfessed to our shame that we haue bene more slacke then our holy profession requireth yet will we giue ouer the aduantage offered of one yeare against fourescore and ten which is an olde mans age and ioyne issue vpon equall time of Queene Maries reigne or any other time of Poperie since pardons haue beene in price Prouided that the maintenance of superstition and Idolatrie in which the worlde hath alwaies beene mad be not accounted a Christian worke or fruite of repentance Ad hereunto that such workes as haue beene done by ours proceeded of a free loue to God and thankefullnes for his mercy not of a seruile feare or couetous desire of reward wherin mē shew the loue of themselues more thē the loue of god That Alexander the 3. who was somwhat aboue 400. yeares ago calleth pardōs vsed to be giuen in dedicatiō of churches remissions it prooueth no more the fulnes of thē then that it is not lawful for the pope to tread vpon the Emperors necke as the said Alexander did vpon the Emperor Frederike before the gate of S. Marks church at Venice But by the same rescript or de cretal epistle of Alexander the third in which mention is made of remissions it appeareth that such pardons were then but new come vp because the Archbishop of Canterburie could not resolue himselfe neither by his owne learning nor by the clergie of all Englands iudgement how farre they did extend therfore was faine to send to the Pope of Rome for the resolution It is in the decretals of Gregory in the title by you named cap 4. inscribed Arch episcopo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quòd autem consisluisti vtrum remissiones quae siunt in dedicationibus Ecclesiarum aut conferentium ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliis prosint quà m his qui remittentib subsunt hoc volumus tuam fraternitatem senere quòd cùm à non suo indice 〈◊〉 nullus raleat vel absolui remissiones predict as illis prodesse 〈◊〉 modo 〈◊〉 quib vt prosint propris indices spiritualiter vel specialiter indulsirunt To the Archbishop of Canterburie Whereas thou didest aske me counsel whether remissions which be graunted in the dedication of Churches or to them that confer to the building of bridges doe profit any other then them which are vnder their iurisdiction that doe remit this we will thy brotherhoode to holde that where is
testament Sozomenus in the place by you cited after he hath commended the Philosophie or contemplatiue life of the solitarie men in those daies hath these wordes of this excellent Philosophie was the beginner as some saie Elias the Prophet and Iohn Baptist so that it is not so absolute as you sett it downe but as some saie and it is of a Philosophicall studie and life in which if comparison be made with Popish Monkes for one thing which they haue like they haue three things vnlike or contrarie to the profession and practise of those auncient Monachi which might haue some resemblance with the manner of Elias life in some thinges and were more agree able to the example of the sonnes of the Prophets which were students in diuinitie as those olde Monks of the primitiue Church readie to serue in the place of teachers whensoeuer they were called That antiquity onely should let the Prophets to be examples of monasticall life it is your owne vaine collection and as vaine is your comparison of Adam to be a paterne of marted men Abel of sheepherdes Caine of husband men c. For M. Charke asketh what you are able to bring out of the word of God why Elias should after more then two thousand yeares be brough in for a patrone of friers which for so manie yeares could neuer be espied in the Church either of the Iewes or of the Christians As for the estate of maried men sheepherds husbandmen citizens Tentdwellers musitians smithes c. is either necessarie or otherwise commendable then by the examples of those auncients of which some in respect of their antiquitie are not to be followed at all as Cain and the rest of his cursed line who yet were inuenters of profitable artes by the gift of God and not by the worthines of the persons As for the slate of the Munkes and friers such as we striue about is neither necessarie nor profitable to the Church but a great infection and poison of the same Nowe whether Iohn Baptist were a president to Monkes whome Master Chark saith to haue beene an extraordinarie and perpetuall Nazarite whose example is not now laid vpon them that teach in the Church you answere that he doth wilfullie mistake the question for that you affirme not that such extraordinarie austeritie is laid vpon anie man of necessitie but that it is lawfull and maketh no sect when it is voluntarilie taken and vsed You do wilfullie omit the pith of Master Charkes argument who is not ignorant of your pretense of voluntarie but addeth that the seuerall offices of those that teach in the Church are expressed in the word of God and therefore there can be no new order of Ministers by anie title or voluntarie assumption but it is a suspitious sect howsoeuer seuerall persons maie as they see iust cause more or lesse prescribe vnto them-selues some extraordinarie austeritie of life for their priuate exercise or chastisment That Saint Iohns austeritie was for the moste parte voluntarie and not of necessitie of the vocation of a Nazarite it is fondlie proued of you by example of the superstitious sect of the Essenes described by Plinie and Iosephus of which Plinie speaketh verie little but Iosephus at large and in some points of austeritic noteth them to exceede any thing that we read in scripture of Saint Iohn Baptist as of their continuall exercise in labour of their handes their forbearing to spitte in the assemblies of men their forbearing to ease their bodies on the sabboth daie and such like superstitious toies Now the austeritie of Saint Iohn in that he did willinglie and not by compulsion vndergo it maie be called voluntarie otherwise in that it was appointed by the wisdome of god whose spirit directed him it was necessarie and especially for the forerunner of Christ to sing the dolefull song and to call the people to repentance and therefore not without presumption drawne into example by them that are neither led with the same spirit nor called to the same office and so no example nor platforme for the superstitious order of Monkes and friars albeit they alwares kept as great austeritie in deede as they professe in wordes But it is a wonderfull argument for your Monkes that the Nazarites did make a religious vow for their dedication to God as your religious people do also vse For it were somewhat that you saie if you could bring as good warrant for the vowes of your Popish votaries to be prescribed and accepted of God as you bring for the vow of the Nazarites otherwise it maie be said vnto you by God as he speaketh by the Prophet quis requisiuit c. who required these things at your handes which if it were said of those things which in some manner and to some end were required how iustlie maie it be spoken of these that in no manner nor to anie end are by God required at your handes but that Saint Iohn was a Monk of the new Testament and a patron of monasticall life although you confesse it to be more then you were bound to prooue so manie fathers as you name do testifie with one consent And what if he were an example followed of those Monkes that liued in moste of those fathers times is he therefore a patrone to your Popish Monkes of these late daies and new orders it will be more then hard for you to prooue that Now let vs consider your authorities which you affirme to testifie that Saint Iohn was a Monk of the new testament and a patterne of monasticall life First Gregorie Nazian orat de S. Bas. 1. hath this testimonie onelie he compareth Basill with Saint Iohn Baptist as resembling him in some thinges as he doth with Peter Paul Iohn the Euangelist and Stephan except you will saie theese were all Monkes Chrisostome in deed Hom. 1. in Mark. calleth Saint Iohn prince of the Monasticall life but not a Monke of the new testament as I haue shewed before in answer to your preface Neither doth Saint Ierome epist. ad Eustoch saie that Saint Iohn was a Monke and patterne of Monasticall life but speaking of the life of an Anachoret which liued by him-selfe alone in the wildernesse he saith huius vitae auctor Paulus illustrator Antonius vt ad superior a conscendam princeps Iohannes Baptista fuit Of this life Paul was the author Anthonie the beautifier and that I maie ascend higher the Prince or cheefe was Iohn Baptist. Where is Iohn Baptist the Monke or patterne of your Papisticall monkish life when they liued not in the wildernes but in cities populous townes not in caues and tents but in gorgious palaces Although Saint Iohn be the cheife of them that liued in the wildernes the same Ierome in the life of Paule the Heremite whome before he calleth the author of the Anachorites life hath these wordes Inter multos saepe dubitatum est à quo potissimùm monachorum eremus habitari
see no reason to refuse it But if you will learne reason when it is shewed you maie see more then you do now Are your ancetors of the primitiue Church greater then Saint Paull Is there anie testimonié of man greater then the witnes of an Angell from heauen yet if Saint Paull him selfe or an Angell from heauen should preach an other Gospell then Saint Paull had preached and is contained in the holi scriptures that false Gospell were to be resused and the author thereof to be accursed Now that Saint Paull preached nothing beside the doctrine conteined in the scriptures he is a sufficient witnes himselfe Act. 26. 22. But why see you no reason to refuse such traditions so obtruded Forsooth because the same men that deliuered vnto you the scriptures and saide this is Gods writen worde and saide of other forged scriptures this is not Gods written worde the same deliuered to you these doctrines saying this is Gods wordes vnwritten So that by this reason you haue no other foundation of your faith but the testimonie of men who as they may speake the truth in one matter so they may lie or be deceiued in an other As euen by your owne reason the Grecians the Armenians the Georgians the Moscouites and all other sectaries are bound to beleeue all that to be the word of God vnwritten which the same men affirme to be such that deliuered the canonicall scriptures to them and said it was the word of God written But in steade of this vnsure and sandie ground the children of God haue a more firme rocke to builde their faith vpon namelie the spirit of trueth sealing in their heartes the testimonie of men concerning the truth of Gods worde written In which the same spirit also testifieth of the sufficiencie of the word written vnto saluation in such sort as if we receiue the word written for truth we must needs condemne for false what word soeuer speaketh either the contrarie or addeth any thing as wanting and not set forth in the word written And this I say not as though the primitiue Church or the godlie fathers of the same haue brought in any thing vnder the name of tradition of Christ or his Apostles as necessarie to saluation although some of them in matters of rites ceremonies haue alledged tradition beside the scriptures yet in such things as are now for the most part abolished either because they were not deliuered by the Apostles as it was pretended or els because such matters are mutable and not perpetuall though they were receiued from the Apostles But let vs examine the examples that you ioyne to your reason First Saint Augustine and Origen doe teach vs that baptizing of infantes is to be practized in the Church onelie by tradition of the Apostles For which you quote August lib. 10. ad gen lit cap. 23. Origen in cap. 6. Epist. ad Rom. What Saint Augustine saieth and how the baptisme of infantes is practized by authoritie of the scripture I haue shewed before sect 11. As for Origen in the place quoted hath neuer a word to any such matter But of these impudent allegations we haue had too many examples alreadie The second example is Saint Hierome and Epiphanius tell vs that the faste of the lent and oher the like is a tradition of the Apostles Hierom. Epist. 54. ad Marcella Epiphann Haer. 7. 5. Hieromes wordes are these against the Montanistes Nos vnam quadragesimam secundùm traditionem Apostolorum toto anno tempore nobis congruo ieiunamus 〈◊〉 tres in anno faciunt quadragesimas quasi tres passi sunt saluatores non quòd per totum annum excepta pentecoste ieiunare non liceat sed quòd aliud sit necessitate aliud voluntate munus offerre We fast one lent or fourtie daies according to the tradition of the Apostles in the wholl yeare in a time conuenient for vs they make three lentes or fourtie daies fast in a yeare as though three sauiours had sussered not but that it is lawfull all the yeare long except in the pentecostor fiftie daies but that it is one thing to offer a gift of necessitie an other thing to doe it of free will Here Hierome saith that one fourtie daies fast is of the tradition of the Apostles but other writers say otherwise For Damasus in his Pontificall saieth that Telesphorus Bishope of Roome did institute this seauen weekes faste before Easter Telesphorus him-selfe in his decretall Epistle saith that he and his fellow Bishoppes gathered in a Councell at Roome did ordeine this fourtie daies faste onelie for clerkes and contendeth in manie wordes that there must be a difference betweene clerkes and laie men as well in faste as in other thinges If you saie these authorities are counterfet 〈◊〉 as I thin 〈◊〉 you may truelie though you will not willinglie yet what saie you to 〈◊〉 an elder witnes then Hierome whoe testifieth out of yeares that two hundered 〈◊〉 before his time there was great controuersie betweene the next successours of the Apostles concerning the daie of the celebration of Easter and that the coutrouersie was not onelie of the daie but also of the fast some fasting one daie some two dates some more So that of the Apostles tradition we haue no certaintie in any monument of antiquitie Againe it is to be noted that Hierome holdeth it vnlawfull to faste betweene Easter and Whitesontyde which he calleth Peatecoste by the same tradition of the Apostles which yet in the Popish Church is not obserued at this daie for beside the fridaie fast they haue also the gang weeke fast in that time which in Saint Hieromes age was accounted vnlawfull to fast in Your other witnes Epiphanius speaketh not of your fourtie daies lent but of a shorter and yet a streighter For these are his wordes Aquo verò non assensum est in omnibus orbis terrarum regionibus quòd quarta prosabbato ieiunium est in Ecclesia ordinatum Siverò etiam oportet constitutionem Apostolorum proferre quomodo illic decreuerunt quarta prosabbato ieiunium per omnia excepta pentecoste de sex dieb paschatis quomodo praecipiunt nihil omnino accipere quà m panem salem aquam qualemque diem agere quomodo dimittere in illucescentem dominicam manifestum est And of whome is it not agreed in all regions of the world that one wednesdaie and fridaie fast is ordeined in the Church But if we must also bring forth the constitution of the Apostles how they haue there decreed one the wednesdaie and fridaie a fast thoroughout all except pentecost and of the six daies of Easter how they commaund to take nothing at all but bread and salte and water and how to spend the daie and how to giue ouer against the dawning of the Lords daie it is manifest Here he speaketh but ofsixe daies before Easter daie and of an other manner of diet then the Popish Church holdeth to be necessarie
of Christ and his spouse the Church which you saie in no sauce we can abide as though wheresoeuer any mysterie is confessed to be there muste needes follow a Sacrament of the new testament ALLEN These fellowes therefore that dare be so bolde to disturbe all the orders and sacramentes of Gods Church and to mainteine their phantasies dare brust the sacred bandes of expresse scriptures in such pointes as doe directlie touch the wholl policie of our Christian common wealth and ordered waics of our saluation euen in those which Christ moste carefullie left to be practized for the vse of his louing slocke by the warrant of wordes moste plaine what shall we saie to such bold and impudent faces that thus dare doe and yet which I more mernaile at in this their vncurtesie and most vnhonest dealing will not sticke to crie and call vpon Gods worde as though they did that by scripture the contrarie whereof they expresslie finde in scripture And truelie where they be not holpen by the verte wordes vaine it shall be for them to stand with vs and with all our Fathers and with the practize of all nations and with the very expresse iudgement of the Church of God it shal not boote them I saie in their darke ignorance infinite pride to stand with vs hauing so many helpes for the true meaning and the expresse text of the worde for our selues and side FVLKE He must needes haue an impudent face and a wicked conscience that so shamefullie slaundereth vs to bereake the sacred bandes of the expresse scriptures wherunto we seeme to attribute al credit as though we denie any one word of expresse scripture do not affirme whatsoeuer the scripture doth affirme in expresse words or denie whatsoeuer the holy scripture in expresse words doth deny according to such sense and meaning as the scripture must haue as it is agreable to it selfe in all places The expresse wordes of scripture touching the Lords supper are these that it is the body blood of Christ we confesse and beleeue as much The expresse wordes of scripture concerning the Apostles authoritie in pardoning or reteining sinnes are as they haue beene often alledged we beleeue they and their successours of whome there is no expresse word haue power to remit or reteine sins The expresse words of scripture concerning the Lords supper are also The rocke was Christ we beleeue that the rocke was Christ. The cup is the new testament we beleeue that the cup is the new testament Also by expresse words to the Apostles there is graunted power to binde and to loose We confesse and beleeue that they haue power to binde and to loose And yet I trust we may be bolde to saie without breaking the sacred bondes of expresse scriptures The rocke was not Christ in nature of his humanitie and diuinitie but a sacrament of Christ. The cup is not the new couenant it selfe but that which is in the cup is an holie signe or seale thereof The Apostles had no power giuen them to binde men with chaines or coardes nor to loose the chaines coards of them that be bound by other but a spirituall authoritie to binde and loose spirituallie In like manner we doe not breake the sacred bandes of expresse scripture when we affirme that the Sacramentall bread and wine are not by transsbustantiation turned into the naturall bodie and bloode of Christ or the bodie and blood of Christ in the sacrament are not corporallie receiued but spirituallie For the contrarie of these we finde not expresselie in the scripture So when we saie the Apostles had not power to remit sinnes properlie which is peculiar onelie to God but to aslure men in Christes name whose embassadours they were of the forgiuenes of their sinnes by Christ we breake no bandes of expresse scriptures For we confesle the wordes according to their true meaning agreeable with other places of scripture that teach it to be peculiar to God to remit sinnes properlie An embassadour is said to make peace or warre when he declareth according to his commission his Princes determination of peace or warre The Kinges Liuetenant hauing such commission offereth or graun teth pardon to rebells or other offenders where he doth onelie declare the kinges pleasure in pardoning or releasing their offences As for the Popish bragge of all our fathers with the practize of all nations and the verie expresse iudgement of the Church of God to be for your assertion how vaine it is will easilie appeare when you come to cite fathers shew forth the practize of all nations declare the iudgement of Gods Church and when the contradictorie shall be manifestlie prooued and brough forth against you ALLEN Sometimes where it may appeare that the wordes and outwarde face of scripture serue not our assertions so plainlie as the holie traditions of Christes Church doe there they call vpon vs with infinite clamours to abide the iudgement of the word which they would be thought to esteeme aboue all mans meaning But whether would they now runne thinke you where all our sacraments stand vpon euident words more then words vpon the verie expresse notorious action of Christ him selfe al instituted sincerelie to be practized of the Church after his de parture hence all commended in knowne termes of greatest moste efficacie that could be not by way of preaching in which he vsed sometimes figures not at such time as he vsed other then common knowne speach but after his resurrection when he now vttered no more parables as he did before that such as faw should not see and such as were of vnderstanding might not vnderstand but did open vnto his dearest their senses that they might vnderstand scriptures and more carefullie expressed his meaning for the instruction of his holie Disciples to the better bearing of that charge which he meant to leaue them in after his departure whither will these men I saie where they see all thinges so enuironed with trueth whither will they flie The scriptures be plainlie ours the Doctors they dare not claime reason is against them there is then no waie to beare it out but with boldnes and exercised audacitie Yet here we wil assay by the notorious euidence of this one cause that we now haue in hand to breake their stonie heartes to the obedience of Christs Church word for whose faith if they haue seene great light force of argument allready shal yet see much more I trust they wil not stil with stand the knowen truth FVLKE We will runne no further for the vnderstanding of Christes wordes concerning the institution and practize of his holie sacramentes although we haue the consent of the moste auncient and approoued doctors of the primitiue Church as witnesses of the same That the sacraments are commended in knowne terms of greatest and most efficacie that could be we cofesse but therof it followeth not that they were not in some part commended by figuratiue speeches
which are often and almost alwaies if they be rightlie vsed better knowne and of greater efficacie then proper tearmes That you saie the sacraments were not commended by way of Preaching it is a grosse and impudent absurditie when they were instituted and commended to be seales of the doctrine that was preached for confirmation of faith which is builded vpon the hearing of Gods word preached As also it is a brutish assertion that Christ vsed no figuratiue speeches after his resurrection For what are these but figuratiue speeches feede my sheepe feede my lambes And what was that but a parable of Peters bandes girding him-selfe and being girded walking where he would and led whither he would not to signifie by what death he should glorifie God Neither did he affect obscurity by parables before his resurrection For his parables were vttered for better and more plaine vnderstanding of his obedient disciples although to the reprobate contemners of his doctrine they seemed hard and inexplicate and were as all things are vnto them and as Christ him-selfe was a stumbling block and stone of offence that they might fall and perish That our sauiour Christ did open the senses of his Apostles that they might vnderstand the scriptures they were the better able to vnderstand figuratiue speeches of which the scripture is full But that he did more carefully expresse his meaning for the instruction of his holie disciples I do denie for he had alwaies before as great care to expresse his meaning and without care was alwaies hable to vtter his diuine pleasure considering that he had appointed the doctrine which he preached before his resurrection to be committed to writing for the publike and perpetuall instruction of his wholl Church To the vaine insultation and boasting that followeth I answer as in the end of the last section before ALLEN All wordes then of institution of sacraments being literallie to be taken and things of so great charge not otherwise to be vnderstanded then are both by act and word of Christ sincerelie vttered we neede not doubt but the forme of Christes sentence in which he giueth the Apostles power to remit sinnes is plainly to be taken in that common sense as the same by wordes importeth and therefore that by force thereof they maie remitte sinnes And yet to make more proofe to satisfie all men I will ioyne to these wordes of our sauiour that most properlie concerne the sacrament of penance other his wordes touching our principall couclusion not vnlike whereby in conference of the like sayinges together which our aduersaries do alwaies as they would seeme well to allow trueth maie trie it selfe Therefore as our master here saith whose sinnes you shall forgiue they be forgiuen And whose sinnes you retaine they be also retained euen so said he twice before vnto the Apostles expressing in other wordes almost the same meaning and sense once to them altogether in the 18. of Saint Mathew and an other time before that in the 16. of the same Gospel to S. Peter alone To them in generall thus saith Christ If thy brother haue committed anie offence towards thee go to him admonish him priuately betwixt him and thy selfe If he take it well thou hast wonne thy brother if he regarde thee not take one or two with the that in the mouthes of two or three witnesses euerie word maie stand if he regarde not them neither then make complaint of him to the Church that is to saie as Saint Chrisostome expoundeth it to the gouernours of the Church and if he will not obey the Church then take him for no better then a Heathen and a Publicane And straight vpon these wordes lest anie man should set light by the Church or rulers thereof Christ added saith Saint Augustine a wonderfull terrour of her seuere authoritie saying Amen dico vobis quaecunque alligaueritis super terram erunt ligata in coelo quaecunque solueritis super terram erunr soluta in coelo Surelie I saie vnto you what things soeuer you binde in earth it shal be bound in heauen And whatsoeuer you loose in earth it shall be loosed in heauen This text is cleere for the Churches claime in remission of sinnes though it properlie pertaine rather to the outward power iudiciarie and court of external iudgement for open crimes and notorious contemptes then for the sinnes of the people that be secret and onelie subiect to power practized in the sacrament of penance which now lightlie is close and onelie vttered in secret to him that hath charge of his soule Neuerthelesse if the Priestes of God haue receiued power to loose and binde which is to pardon and punish open notorious crimes and contemptes which touching the guiltines of the fault doth no lesse pertaine to the power of God then the absoluing of secres sinnes doth then without question they maie pardon orretaine mans sinnes of al sortes as well in the sacrament of penance all that be confessed as in publike iudgement whatsoeuer is by witnesse prooued And as in this they maie at their pleasure where iustice requireth correct the open offender by most graue censures of Gods Church so maie the Priestes giue due penance in the sacrament for the chastisment of such sinnes as be to them confessed and for the satisfying of Gods iustice by sinne violated FVLKE If al wordes of institution of sacramets must be taken literallie then must these wordes be taken literallie This cup is the new testament in my blood The lambe is the Lordes passeouer Circumcision is the couenant and such like But as for your conclusion though inferred vpon a false principle I confesse to be true that the Apostles by force of the wordes of commission graunted to them maie remit sinnes but not properly for that the wordes do not enforce Both the places that you will ioyne to this of Math. 18. and Math. 16. are parables and figuratiue speaches of binding and loosing of the keies of the Kingdome of heauen and of a stone and buildilng of che Church thereupon neuerthelesse the text Math 18. I do acknowledge to be cleere for the Churches claime in remitting offences and that it pertaineth more properlie to the discipline of the Church then to the preaching of repentance and remission of sins whereunto the text of Iohn 21. moste properlie belongeth That you saie pennance is now lightlie close and the sinnes vttered onelie in secret to him that hath charge of his soule you do closelie confesse that otherwise lightlie you will not openlie acknowledge that your practize is contrarie to the vse of the most auncient and primitiue Church But that the ministers of the Church haue authoritie to remit sinnes as well openlie as secretlie I am content it be without question onelie this is the question whether anie thing pertaining to the proper power of God be made common to men For we holde that they do in such sorte remit sinnes as they exercise nothing that pertaineth
make satisfaction to the Church when there appeereth iust cause so to doe But let vs see how manie vntruthes you do boldlie aduouch which are besides this authoritie First that these Bishops had thought not to haue giuen peace to them that had fallen till the houre of death came But that is not so for they saie onelie they had determined that they should haue performed the penance that was enioyned for a long time vnto them vnto the ful except danger of infirmitie required to giue peace at the point of death Their wordes are these Totheir brother Cornelius Bishoppe of Rome Statueramus quidem iampridem frater charissimè participato inuicem nobiscum consilio vt qui in persecutionio 〈◊〉 supplantati ab aduersario lapsifuissent ac sacrificiis se illicitis maculassent agerent diu poenitentiam plenam si periculum infirmitatis vrgeret pacem sub ictu mortis acciperent Nec enim fas erat aut permittebat paterna pietas diuina clementia ecclesiam pulsantibus claudi dolentibus deprecantib speisulutaris subsidium denegari vt de saculo recedentes sine communicatione aut pace domini dimitterentur cùm permiserit ipse qui tegem dedit vt ligata in terris etiam in Coelis ligata essent solui autem possent illic que hîc prius in Ecclesia soluerentur Sed cum videamus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infestationis appropinquare coepisse crebris atque assiduis ostensionibus admoneamur vt ad cert 〈◊〉 quod nobis hostis indicit armati parati simus plebem 〈◊〉 nobis diuina dignatione commissam exhortationibus nostris praeparemus omnes omnino milites Christi qui arma desiaerant praelium flagitant intra castra domini colligamus necessitate cogente censuimus eis qui de Ecclesia domini recesserunt sed poenitentiam agere lamentari ac dominum deprecari à primo lapsus sui die non destiterunt pacem dandam esse eos ad praelium quod imminet armari instrui oportere We had decreed indeed long since moste deer brother by aduise taken amongst our selues that such as in the trouble of persecution were supplanied by the aduersarie and fallen and had defiled themselues with vnlawfull sacrifices should doe full penance a long time and if daunger of infirmity did vrge they should receiue peace at the point of death For it was not lawfull neither did the Fatherlie pietie and clementie of God permit that the Church should be shut vp to them that knocke and that aid of healthfull hope should be denied to them that sorrowed and praied for it that departing out of the world they should be sent awaie without anie communicaiion or the Lordes peace seeing he hath permitted which made the lawe that those things that are bound in earth should also be bound in heauen that those things also might be loosed there which were loosed here in the Church But for as much as we see that the daie of another trouble beginneth to approch and are admonished by often and dailie shewings or visions that we should be armed and prepared vnto the battell which the enemie doth denounce vnto vs we should also prepare the people by gods voutsafing committed vnto vs with our exhortations and should gather in anie wise all the souldiers of Christ which call for armour and desire to fight into the Lordes campe necessity compelling vs we haue thought good that peace is to be graunted to them which haue departed out of the Lords Church but from the daie of their falling haue not ceased to shew repentance and to lament and to intreat our Lord and that they also ought to be armed and furnished against the battell which is at hand These are the words of Cyprian his fellow Bishops which you haue abridged at your pleasure if your note booke did not deceiue you to set down that you haue done as the very words of the epi stle Out of which you gather beside that I haue noted before power to inioyne penance and to release the same againe But where you saie they take vpon them cleerelie to inioyne what they list and how long they list that is not so but what is iust and conuenient and so likewise vpon iust cause they release the same or some parte thereof Againe you slaunder them in saying they take vpon thē to pardon after death for there is no such word or matter in all the Epistle They released and receiued them to the communion being in daunger of death but after death they receiued no man to the communion Nay they decreed that whereas Geminius Victor who had made Geminius Faustinus a clergie man his executor contrarie to the decrees of their synods there should be no oblation made for his falling a sleepe nor anie praier frequented in the Church in his name So farre of was it that they would pardon anie man after death when no repentance auaileth The scripture they doe rightlie applie for the establishing of the discipline of excommunication receiuing againe into the fellowship of the Church such as were fallen vpon their repentance as for the sacrament of penance you say wel they exercized discipline without it for such a sacrament they knew not but they claimed no iurisdiction to receiue offenders without good tokens of their repentāce as their words be manifest Where you saie they claimed iurisdiction by their onelie letters to giue them in absence peace pardon of their inioyned penāce as though their letter did resemble the Popes pardons in writing you speake beside the booke for they doe not giue peace by these letters onlie but signifie vnto Cornelius what they thought necessary to be done vpō what reasons left they might be thought to light in loosing the sinews of discipline toward so notorius offenders Your conclusion follow eth not vpon this example Cyprian and his fellow Bishope did vpon necessary cause release the time of penāce enioyned to certaine greeuous offenders and receiued them to the communion vpon certaine perswasion of their répentance therefore the Pope and his popelings maie giue pardon of paine due for sinnes remitted where hone is due and in the sacrament of penance when no such sacrament can be prooued out of the scripture neither doe you rightlie alledge Christes wordes as those holie Fathers did for they alledged them for the discipline of excommunication and absoluing which is necessarie to be vsed in the Church but you to maintaine a tirannical iurisdiction to loose that which other men haue bound without good cause as they did but for manie often times as they did neuer Therefore there is as great oddes betweene their practize of discipline and these Popes pardons as there is distance betweene their ages which is more then a thousand yeares ALLEN And now to make vp this matter for the true meaning of the said text which we now prooue to pertaine to the establishing of the true title of
be read of euerie man amonge you with your confutations And Doctor Windham then saide that no wise state would suffer it Neuerthe lesse our state God be thanked vpon conscience of trueth on our side hath with no lesse wisedome then good successe alwaies permitted your bookes with our answers to them to be read of all men to iudge indifferentlie so they conteine nothing but question of religion and not shamefull diffamations and inuectiues against the prince and the state of gouernement which matters deserue to be answered with an axe or an halter rather then with penne and paper But to permitte your bookes vnconfuted to haue free passage althoughe they passe with an hundred times lesse daunger then ours maie doe among you as you require it were neither wisedome godlines equitie nor reason AN OVERTHROVVE OF THE ANSVVERE TO Master Charkes preface touching Discerning of Spirites M. Chark beside the matter in question c. IF this answerer beside the matter in question had not made manie vnnecessarie and vnpertinent digressions the substance of his answere might haue bene contained almoste in as fewe lines as nowe it filleth leaues The triall of the Spirites which Saint Iohn requireth that is by the kinde of doctrine in teaching Christ and not the qualitie of the teachers Master Charke desireth the aduersaries refuse allowing nothing finallie but the onelie and falselie named title of the Catholike Church of Rome for them-selues and accusations of the persons some perhapes true some vtterlie false against vs. To this practize so manie popish treatises and this especiallie in hand doe giue testimonie This is the summe of Master Charkes preface Nowe commeth our answerer and because he had manie by-quarrels to deliuer he taketh occasion to vtter them in this place though litle or nothing pertaining to the direct confutation of Master Charkes preface First he chargeth Master Charke to saie that the Papists refuse Saint Iohns triall which is false for their bookes are extant wherebie they haue called to triall all sectaries of our time among whome he nameth Munster and Stancarus against whome I neuer heard what Papists haue exercised their style especiallie Stancarus holding one principle comming verie neare to their position of Christs priesthood to be onelie according to his manhood as Stancarus taught that Christ was a mediatour onelie after his humanitie but reade their bookes who shall and he must needes confesse Master Charkes saying to bee true For first or last they draw all triall to Rome and not to examine which doctrine giueth al glorie to God by Iesus Christ our onelie Sauiour which is the scope of Saint Iohns triall But if wee had not desired triall of Spirites saith he wee would not haue laboured so much to obteine the same of our aduersaries in free printing preaching or disputation You speake of great labor which none of vs euer heard that you tooke except it were in spreading a fewe coppies of Campians seditious libell not to the end of triall of spirites for discerning of trueth but to the stirring vp of mens bodies and mindes to treason and rebellion as the like labors by the like messengers tooke effect and make manifest demonstration in Ireland But if free printing preaching and disputation be a goodway for discerning of Spirites that Christ maie be knowne from Antichrist whie doe not you Papists graunt the same in Spaine Italie and other countreis thrall to the Popes tirannie yet assaulted by the doctrine of the gospell as by the power of Christ against Antichrist if it be not a good waie as it seemeth you thinke because you take it not your selues how can you saie that you require in those places this triall of spirites No no it is an other triall of the sharpest swordes that you meane when you require such triall of Spirites You adde further of the aduenturing of your liues in comming and offering the same to vs at home with so vnequall conditions on your side as you haue done and dailie doe for the triall of trueth There is no daunger of life among vs in offering the triall of Spirites according to Saint Iohns rule but in seeking to auerte the Queenes subiects from their duetifull obedience vnto her Maiestie to make a waie for the execution of the Popes moste blasphemous and traiterous Bull and this hath procured moste iuste and necessarie execution of some fewe of you and not as you slaunder iustice that offering to trie the truth hath obtained nothing hitherto but offence accusations extreame rackings and cruell death Againe these inequall conditions these daily offers these manie petitions and supplications that you speake of whoe hath made to whome haue they bene offered when were they presented where were they seene or heard by whome were they refused except Campians ridiculous challenge be all in all with you But what will a Papist spare to affirme that he maie make falsehood haue some likly shape of truth yet being admitted that you offer trial it must be seene whoe doe offer best meanes of triall And here you will endeuour to shew that all meanes of triall which Master Charke and his fellowes will seeme to allow in worde For they offer none in deede are neither sure possible nor euident but meere shifts to auoide all triall and that your selues do offer all the best and surest waies of triall that euer weere vsedin the Church for discerning an hereticall spirit from a Catholike Your indeuour is great but your abilitie is small for you shall neuer be able to demonstrate either the one or the other howsoeuer with vaine sophistications and wrested authorities you seeke to dasell the eies of the simple Let vs heare therefore howe you beginne The onelie meanes of triall you say which Master Charke will seeme to allowe is the scripture But this is a shift common to all heretikes especiallie of our time First you slaunder Master Charke in saying that he alloweth the scripture to be the onelie meanes of triall of spirites whereof he speaketh not at all in this preface but of triall of spirites by the doctrine of Christ which is moste plainlie and certenlie set forth in the holie scriptures and therefore by the holie scriptures the doctrine maie best and moste certenlie be tried and iudged But that Master Charke by referring him selfe to the holie scriptures onelie as suffiâ—â—â—n and â—â—le to decide all controuersies of Religion doth denie or exclude all other meanes of 〈◊〉 whereby the true meaning of the scripture may be knowne it is impâ—dent he affirmed without either proofe or likelihood of truth as hereafter more plainlie will appeare Saint Augustine as though he were an enimie of conâ—â—â—â—ing heresies by the authoritie of the scriptures onelie is quoted in the margent de nupt Concup lib 2. cap. 31 whose words are these Non est miâ—â—am si Pelagiani dicta nostra in sensus 〈◊〉 volunt detoâ—quere conaâ—tur quando de scripturis sanctis non vbi obscurè
aliquid dictum est sed vbi clara â—â—aperta sune testimonia id facere consueuerunt more quiaâ—â— haereâ—icorum etiam caetâ—rorum It is no maruel if the Pelagians endeuor to wrest our sayings into what senses they will when they are accustomed to do the same by the holie scriptures not where any thing is spoken darkely but where the testimonies are cleere and manifest after the manner indeede of the rest of heretikes These wordes of Saint Augustine doe as aptelie agree to the Papists as though they had bene by name vttered against them as in that which followeth you shall see verified in this Papist whoe both wresteth out sayings to such sense as himselfe pleaseth and also the holie scriptures themselues where they are most plaine and euident against him a right pranek of olde herenkes Note also by the waie that the scripture by Saint Augustines iudgement containeth most cleere and euident testimonies which though they be neuer so much wrested of herenkes yet in the conscience of all that loue the truth they doe manifestlie deliuer true doctrine and confute false and therefore be not as a nose of wax or a leaden rule by which no certentie maie be found or anie sure triall had by them as the Papists doe blaspheme The next quotation l. 3. cont Donat. ca. 15. is vncertaine because of diuerse treatises that S. Augustine did write against the Donatists but I gesse he meaneth his booke de Baptismo contra Donatistas where yet is nothing to his purpose or to anie purpose in hand but that the scripture of the Gospell If it be wholl is the same although it be alleadged by innumerable heretikes according to the diversitie of euerie one of their opinions and so Baptisme ministred by heretikes according to the institution of Christ is the same what opinion soever the heretikes haue of the wordes by which it is consecrated and ministred He saith also that the snares of heretikes and schismatikes are therefore very pernicious to carnal men because their proâ—ting in knowledge is shut from them their sentence of vanitie being confirmed against the Catholike trueth and their sentence of dissention being conâ—â—â—med agâ—inâ— the catholike peace These things are true of obstinate heretikes and consequentlie of Papists but they make nothing against Master Chark or for the triall of spirits which is the question now debated betweene him his aduersarie But that the scriptures are sufficient to beate downe al heresies and to reach all trueth necessarie to saluation and the onelie sure and certaine triall whereby all doctrine is to be examined and adiudged the same Augustine doth plentifullie and in manie places of his workes declare and euen in that same worke de Baptismo contra Donatistas lib. 2. Cap. 2. de vnitate Ecclesiae cap. 2 3. 16. de nup. conc lib. 2. cap. 29. de peccat merit remiss lib. 3. cap. 7. de natura gratia cap. 60. c. Three causes there be saith our answerer of appealing onelie to scripture The first to get credit with the people by naming of scripture to seeme to honor it more then their aduersaries doe by referring the wholl triall of matters vnto it To winne credit by cleauing to the authoritie of God expressed in his holie word written and to honor it by acknowledging the sufficiencie thereof for the triall of all matters of religion that maie comme in controuersie is no shift of heretikes or new teachers but the auncient practize of the best and most approoued Catholikes To pretend these things in shew and not to accomplish them in deed is the guise of hypocrites what religion soeuet they would seeme to mantaine The second cause saith he is by excluding Councells fathers and aunciters of the Church whoe from time to time haue declared the true sexse of scripture vnto vs to reserue vnto them selues libertie and authoritie to make what meaning of scripture they please and thereby to giue colour to euerie fansie they list to teach But Master Charke and his fellowes giuing the soueraigne authoritie to the onely scriptures do not at all exclude councells fathers and aunciters of the Church except it be in case where they teach contrarie to the manifest scriptures of god which doe either in expresse and plaine wordes or els by moste easie and necessarie conclusion deliuer vnto the Church all things needefull to be credited and knowne vnto eternall life as both the Apostle testifieth 2. Timoth. 3. and S. Augustine a worthie Father auncient of the Church consenteth Ep. III. Fortunatiano Neque enim quorumlibet disputationes quamuis CatholicoruÌ„ laudatorum hominum velut scripturas canonicas habere debemus vt nobis nonliceat salua honorificentia quae illis dcbetur hominibus aliquid in eorum scriptis improbare atque respuere si fortè inuenerimus quòdaliter senserint quà m veritas habet diuino adiutorio vel ab aliis intellecta vel à nobis Talis ego sum in scriptis aliorum tales volo esse intellectores meorum Denique in his omnibus quae de opusculis sanctorum atque doctorum commemoraui Ambrosij Hyeronimi Athanasij Gregorij siqua alioruÌ„ talia ita legere potui For we ought not to accompt the disputations of all men although they be catholike praise worthie as the Canonicall scriptures that it should not be lawful for vs sauing the reuerence which is due to these men to disalow and reiect something in their writings if perhaps we haue found out that they haue thought otherwise then the truth is of things by gods helpe either vnderstood of others or of our selues Such one am I in the writings of other men such would I haue other men to be vnderstanders of my writings Finallie in all these which I haue rehearsed out of the workes of holie and learned men Ambros Hicrott Athanasius Gregorie Andif I could so reade any like of other mens writings c. Also Ep. 112. Pauline 〈◊〉 scripturarum earum scilicet quae canonicae in Ecclesia nominantur perspicua firmatur authoritate fine vlla dubitatione credendum est Aliis verò testibus vel testimoniis quibus aliquid credendum esse suadetur tibi credere vel non credere liceat quantum meriti ea admonentem ad faciendam fidem vel habere vel non habere perpenderis What sceuer is confirmed by the plaine cleare authoritie of the holie scriptures of those truelie which are called in the Church canonicall without all doubt is to be beleeued But other witnesses or testimonies by which anie thing is counselled to be beleeued it is lawfull for thee to beleeue or not according as thou shale waigh what worthines he that counselleth those things hath to cause credit or els hath not Againe De doctrina christiana lib. 3. cap. 6. Magnificè salubriter spiritus sanctus ita scripturas sanctas modificauit vt locis apertioribus fami occurreret obscurioribus autem
fastidia detergeret Nihil enim fere de illis obscuritatibus eruitur quod non planissimè dictum alibi reperiatur The holie ghost hath magnifically and wholsomlie so tempered the holy scriptures that with euident places he might satisfie hunger and with more darke places might wipe awaie disdainfulnes For nothing almoste is found out of those obscurities which is not found els where most plainlie vttered It were no hard matter to heape vp manie testimonies of the auncient fathers to this purpose but that the va nitie of this answerer appeereth sufficientlie in all our bookes written against the papists in which not onely by the manifest places of the scriptures but also by most euident testimonies of the doctors of the church we confute them in the most and greatest matters of controuersie that ate betweene vs. But what saith our gallant answerer that the councels fathers and anciters of theChurch haue from time to timedeclared the true sense of the scriptures vnto vs hath none of these at any time erred in expounding the scriptures may we safely beleeue them whatsoeuer they say He wil I warrant you deny it except the Pope of Rome do alow their interpretations And therfore this flying from the only scriptures to the interpretation of Coun cels fathers ancetors of the Church is nothing els but an impudent shift to reserue vnto the Pope liberty authority to make what meaning of scripture they please thereby to giue colour to euery fansie they list to father it vpon the authority of the holie scriptures The third cause he affirmeth to be that by chalenging of onely scripture they maie deliuer themselues from all ordinan ces or doctrines left vnto vs by the first pillers of Christs Church though not expressely set down in the scripture c. In deede to deliuer our selues from the burthen of mens traditions the ordinances or doctrines of men we affirme the holie scriptures to be hable and sufficient to make vs wise vnto saluation by faith in Iesus Christ as the Apostles and principall pillers of the Church haue taught vs who haue left no such ordinances or doctrines but they be either expressely set down in the holy scriptures or by plaine and necessarie collection to be gathered out of the same For how will our aduersaries prooue that anie thing is receaued from the Apostles which hath not testimonie out of the writings of the Apostles who can be a sufficient witnes of such de liuerie seeing manie things were of olde referred to the Apostles tradition which euen our aduersaries do not admit to be Apostolical seeing the most auncient and immediate successors of the Apostles as Polyearpus Anicetus can not agree about a ceremony receaued from the Apostles namelie the celebration of Easter what certentie can there be of anie other ordinances or doctines fathered vpon the Apostles without witnes of their writings yea and some times directlie contrarie and repugnant to their writings But hereof saith our aduersarie they assume authoritie of allowing or not allowing whatsoeuer liketh or serueth their turnes for the time and hereof he bringeth example First of the number of sacraments whereof some protestants haue written diuerslie because the name of sacrament is diuerslie taken sometimes largelie for euerie holie signe sometimes strictlie for such holie signes onely as being instituted of God are seales of the dispensation of his generall grace in the new teftament perteining to euerie member of the Church somtimes for al holy mysteries or secrets c. But what doth it serue anie protestants turne whether there be more or fewer signes in number that maie be called sacraments seeing all protestants agree about the things themselues that are set forth in the scriptures to be visible signes of grace inuisible and the name it selfe Sacrament in that sense we speake of when we saie there are 2. 3. 4. or 7. sacraments is not once vsed This diuersitie therefore is but of a terme and that not vsed in scripture therefore it ariseth not of anie interpretation or peruerse vnderstanding of the scripture as our answerer would haue it seeme to be But let vs heare his example Martin Luther saith he after he had denied all testimonie of man besides himselfe he beginneth thus about the number of sacraments Principiò neganda mihisunt septem sacramenta tantúm tria pro tempore ponenda First of all I must denie seauen sacraments and appoint three for the time Marie this time lasted not long for in the same place he saith that if he would speake according to the vse of onely scripture he hath but one sacrament for vs that is baptisme In this sentence how manie lies and slaunders be packed together First he saith Martin Luther denieth all testimonie of man which is false for he alloweth all testimonie of man that agreeth with the testimonie of God expressed in the scriptures and often citeth the testimonies of the auncient fathers for confirmation of the trueth which he taught indeede he alloweth man no authoritie to institute sacraments or to make articles of faith or lawes to binde the conscience of man and he would haue all mans testimonies to be examined and iudged according to the word of God but this is not to denie all testimonie of man but to distinguish true testimonies of man from false An other slaunder is where he saith that Luther in denying all mans testimonie excepteth him selfe which is altogether vntrue For he requireth none other credit to be giuen to his owne testimonie then he alloweth to the testimonie of other Neither doth he arrogate any authoritie to him selfe which he derogateth from other men And namelie in this booke of the captiuitie of Babilon he taketh not vpon him absolutelie to teach euerie point but so farr forth as he did for the present vnderstand of them promising after greater study more diligent inquirie to intreat of diuers of them more certenly euen in this verie place of the number of the sacraments he saith he will admit three onclie for the present time intending to be further a duised whether there be fewer or more to be entituled with that name Wherein our answerer offereth him the third iniurie in translating tria pro tempore ponenda I must appoint three for the time as though Luther had taken vpon him to appoint how manie sacraments the Church should haue or would challenge power to appoint more or Jesse at his pleasure where as his wordes if the answerer did not wilfullie corrupt them by false translation do import no such thing but onelie as farr as he did presentlie see there were no more but three of those that were commonlie called sacraments of the new testament which were rightlie to be called by that name The fourth slaunder is that Luther hath but one sacrament for vs which is Baptisme if he would speake according to the vse of onelie scripture yea this is a double slaunder for neither doth
their aduetsaries it is well knowne that Master Charke and the ministers of the Church are none such neither haue they anie such authoritie It remaineth then that he accounteth the Prince her councell magistrates and ministers of Iustice his aduersaries who indeede haue good cause so to be not onelie in respect of their heresyes but also in regard of their manifolde and almoste infinite practises of treason against the Prince and realme for which some of them haue suffered moste iustlie and not for offering of disputation as this traiterous heretike euerie where moste slaunderouslie doth avowe But nowe for their partes he saith they offere the best surest and easiest meanes that can be deuised or that haue bene vsed in Gods Churches for triall and they are manie in number The first is the bookes of Scripture receiued vpon the credit of the auncient Church of which we are content saith he to accept for canonicall and allowe all those and none other which antiquitie in Christendome hath agreed vpon But this is false for to omit that they receiue for canonicall such as the Church of God before Christ neuer receiued they receiue also such as the greatest and best antiquitie in Christendome receiued not as the Church in Origens time witnesse Eusebius more then the Church of Rome receiued in Saint Ieromes witnesse Ierome himselfe prologo Galeato and Ruffinus in Expossymb more then the Councell of Laodicea did receiue for canonicall as is manifest by the 59. canon The second way of trial is the expresse plaine words of Scripture wherein they must needs be farre superior for what one expresse plaine text haue they saith he in anie one point or article against vs which we doe not acknowledge liberallie as they doe and as the wordes doe lie yes we haue manie but a fewe shal serue for example God saith Exod. 20. Thou shalt not make to thy selse anie grauen image c. thou shalt not fall down to thē nor worship them Againe Matt. 4. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onelie shalt thou serue Which are moste plaine expresse and manifest against worshipping of Images and other creatures in anie vse of Religion Christ saith drinke ye all of this they be expresse and manifest wordes against the popish sacriledge of the cuppe The 14. to the Corinthians the first Epistle is expresse and plaine against publike praiers homilies lessons in a straunge vnknowne tongue 1. Tim. 4. in expresse and plaine wordes the spirite pronunceth the forbidding of marriage and meates to be the doctrine of deuilles And Heb. 13. Mariage is honourable in all men And 1. Tim. 3. Tit. 1. a Bishop Elder or Deacon must be the husband of one wife beside a great number more But the papists saith our answerer haue infinit texts against vs which we cannot admit without glosses and fond interpretations of our owne A bolde speach as alwaies he vseth but it shall alwaies be founde that if we doe in anie text departe from the grammaticall sense there is necessarie cause why as if it be a figuratiue spcach which is tried either by circumstances of the same place or by other texts of scriptures for the most parte hath the iudgement of the most auncient writers agreing with our interpretation But the most of these examples he bringeth haue nothing in shewe that the expresle wordes of scripture are with them or against vs but by their fonde false vnreasonable collections and such as they can neuer conclude in lawful true syllogismes as for example We haue it saith he for the supremacie expresselie saide to Peter that signifieth arocke vpon this rock will I builde my Church We answere that we might followe the interpretation of the most auncient and approoued fathers that the rocke here spoken of is Christ whom Peter confessed but graunting them that they could neuer euict we confesse that the Church is builded vpon the foundation of Peter the Apostle but not vpon him alone or more principallie then vpon all the Apostles who are all rockes or stones vpon whose foundation as also vpon the foundation of the Prophets the Church of Christ is builded Neither is it possible to prooue the supremacie of the Pope out of those wordes of scripture or anie other But they haue further expresselie touching the Apostles he that is great among you let him be as the younger Luk. 22. We haue no where there is none greater then other among you Neither do we holde that none ought to be greater then other among vs but that the greatest among the ministers ought to be seruant of all the rest and that none ought to exercise Dominion ouer the Lordes inheritaunce yet the primacie of order we graunt euen among the Apostles according to which Iames was president of the Councell at Ierusalem Peter the cheife Aposlle of the circumcision Paull of the gentiles all which will not serue one whit to maintaine the popish tiranny For Paul was nothing inferiour to the highest Apostles But for the reall presence they haue expreslie This is my bodie we haue no where this is the signe of my bodie Neither doe we denie the sacrament to be the bodie of Christ neither doe we affirme that it is a bare signe But that this is a figuratiue speach we haue expreslie This cuppe is the newe Testament in my blood and as expreslie the Apostle speaking of the same sacrament the rocke was Christ which prooueth that it must be vnderstoode in a sigue and after a spirituall manner and so doe al the olde Doctors interpretit as hath beene often shewed We haue expreslie saith he The bread that I will giue you is my flesh Iohn 6. they haue nowhere It is but the signe of my flesh And we confesse as much for we neuer saide that the signe of Christs flesh was crucified for vs but his verie naturall bodie which he promiseth in that text to giue for the life of the world which by faith and the spirit of God is made the spirituall foode of all the elect children of God and without eating of which none can be saued Ioh. 6. 53. But they haue expresly A man is iustified by works and not by faith onelie Iames. 2. we haue no where a man is iustified by faith alone no nor that he is iustified by faith without workes talking of workes that followe faith First we confesse the text that a man is iustified by workes As Abraham was when he offered his sonne and as Rahab was when she receiued the spies that is a man is declared to be iust in the sight of men For Abraham was iustified before God by faith before he offered his sonne whome God did not trie to enforme himselfe but to declare vnto men by the fruites of obedience that Abraham was a iust man euen so by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with the vnbeleeuers when the receiued the spies in peace but by receiuing
of necessarie collection For Logicke would stil iudge whether such meaning could be necessarilie gathered out of such wordes Seeing we are not bound to creditte any writings since the diuine inspired scriptures but so farre as they agree with the scriptures and receiue the light of trueth from them But those auncient writers to whome he would haue vs to referre our selues liued so many hun dred yeares after the Apostles and Euangelists the writers of the new testament as they could no more declare to them then to vs their meaning in their writings and therefore those auncient fathers which ground purgatorie prayer to saintes sacrifice of the altar vse of the crosse c. beside tradition vpon the scriptures as the answerer saith must shew the necessarie collection of them by the iudgement of demonstration seeing they neuer sawe the writers neuer heard them speake nor possiblie could liuing so long after them or els they can carie no credit of necessarie collection outof the expresse wordes of holy scripture As for tradition without scripture since God hath giuen the holie scripture is as good as the credit of men may be without a warrant from God A fourth waie of triall of spirites with him is Councells by which olde heretikes haue beene tried and they are content to referre themselues to all the Christian Councells that euer haue beene since Christ died We acknowledge Christian councells to be a godlie meane to exa mine and trie the spirites but according to the scriptures onelie for matters of faith as in the example of the first Councell of Christendome Act. 15. where the question was determined by authoritie of the scriptures But that the Papists dare abide the triall by al Councells it is false for they admit none but by the Popes consent they admitte nothing in them but that the present Pope doth allow Many Councells in Aphrica forbad appellations to Rome the general Councell of Chalcedon made the Bishop of Constantinople of equal dignitie with the Bishop of Rome the Bishop of Constantinople condemned and accursed a Pope sor an heretike the Pope of that time confirmed it yet now it is not holden for Catholike But I will spare examples vntill this lustie gallant dare aduenture the triall whereof he maketh the challenge But seeing there are many points of controuersies betweene vs and the Papists which in no auncient councell came in question he bobs vs with the last most learned Godlie and generall Councell of Trent which was gathered of purpose for triall of hercticall spirites whereunto all safe conduct being offered we refused to come for triall As though the Catholikes would haue come to the Councell of Nice if nothing might haue beene therein determined but that which pleased Arius or to the Councell of Constantinople if nothing might haue beene concluded but that Macedonius would allow Or to the Councells of Ephesus and Chalcedon if when all had beene saide that which liked Nestorius and Eutiches must haue bene holden for Catholike Such is our case we accuse the Pope to be an heritike yea and to be Antichrist the Pope will admit no councell but where he him selfe is iudge nor any to haue any voice determinatiue but onely such as are sworne to maintaine his heresies and ambition It is great pitie but the Protestants must come to such a councell Such were many councells holden of olde time by heretikes but for the most part not frequented by the Catholikes Some of our profession were at Trent but what entertainement had they euen such as their aduersaries could afforde them they were not permitted to haue any speach but as pleased their enemies wherefore when they saw noe equitie vsed as they could looke for no better before they came they left the heretikes to consult among them-selues by example of auncient fathers in like Chapters of heretikes The sift waie of triall is to referre the matter to the olde Doctors which liued before the controuersies began of which we haue spoken latelie and this we haue often vsed and still vse against the Papists in most controuersies although the authoritie of man is no certaine rule to trie which is the truth of God Augustine against Iulian vsed this waie rightlie first confuting the Pelagians by the authoritie of the holie scripture and then by the testimonie of the auncient fathers also Theodosius also in a case determined by the holie scripture did politikelie circumuent the heretikes after the aduise of Sisinius the Nouatian by the suggestion of Nectarius the Catholike to put them to a foile which had good successe because the others cause was naught But Epiphanius hath a hard saying against vs as our answerer thinketh It is enough to say against all heresies the catholike church hath not taught this the holy fathers haue not admitted this But I wene Epiphanius doth not meane that it is enough to saie so except men can prooue it to be so For els it is aseasy for heretikes to saie so against Catholikes as for Catholikes against heretikes And here out answerer voucheth Epiphanius quoting onelie lib. 2. contra haere but no Chapter of so long a booke wherebie knowing him to be a common foyster we maie well suspect his honestie in this voucher vntill he shew vs in what Chapter we shall finde it The sixtwaie of triall with him is to consider which is the Catholike or vniuersall Church or great multitude of Christians out of which the other part first departed But to consider which is the Catholike or vniuersal Church is no waie of triall but the matter to be tried And the description that he maketh of the Church is as vncerten the great multitud of Christians out of which the other part first departed For the Catholike Church is not alwaies the greatest multitude When the East Church was deuided from the West the one was as great a multitude as the other yea considering the number of prouinces of the East and the largenesse of them it was the greater And one heresie some times departeth out of another as the Rogatians from the Donatists the Eunomians from the Arrians the Iacobites from the Eutichians c. Neither doth Saint Augustine against the Manichecs make the consent of people and the name of Catholike of them-selues to be a sufficient waie of trial but among many thinges which altogether held him beside the authoritie of the holie scriptures he accounteth these which with the truth are a good confirmation but can be no preiudice against the manifest truth as he confesseth in the same place To the iudgement of Vincentius we will subscribe to holde that which euerie where which alwaies which of all hath beene beleeued so hath no point of Poperie Hoc est etenim verè proprièque Catholicum quòd ipsa vis nominis ratioque declarat quod omnia verè vniuersaliter comprehendit For that is truelie and properlie Catholike saith Vincentius which thing the verie force and reason of the name declareth
which truelie comprehendeth all thinges vniuersallie These wordes in rehearsing the saying of Vincentius our answerer could not beare and therefore left them out bragging of vniuersalitie antiquitie and consent whereby his aduersaries spirit might quicklie be tried But let him once attempt to trie anie one peece of Poperie by this rule of Vincentius and so shew it to be Catholike as he describeth Catholike and he shall finde it an harder matter to performe then to talke of examining his point by the authenticall writings of the most auncient doctors for 200. yeares after Christ. The seuenth waie of triall is succession of Popes in the seate of Rome wherein the successor alwaies teaching the doctrine of his predecessor it must needes be a strong argument to prooue the descent and continuance of one the same faith from the Apostles time This argument is vsed by Saint Augustine and Optatus against the Manichees and Donatistes But this waie of triall he knoweth his aduersaries will not admit But he is deceiued for seeing he ioyneth succession in doctrine with succession in place let him make triall when he dare and prooue that Peter and all the Bishops of Rome that liued for foure fiue or six hundred yeares after Christ did holde all points of Poperie and had none other faith then the Papists haue now Some of the later mightholde some few and of the best errors But let them shew all in euerie one and take all but that shall thev neuer be able to doe brag they of succession as long as they list The eight waie of triall is to examine what part doth holde any olde condemned heresie for the true Church can neuer admit or defend any heresie for otherwise she could not be the piller of truth The true Church may erre in matters which are not of necessitie to saluation yet be the piller of trueh so long as she holdeth al truth necessarie to saluation yea some true Church may be seduced for a time with hereticall opinions as the Churches of Corinth and Galatia but not obstinately defend them nor continue in them For of a particuler Church as the Church of Ephesus the Apostle speaketh wherein Timothie had his conuersation But we beleeue saith the answerer with holie Athanasius in his creede that he which holdeth not the faith whollie in all points shall perish eternallie howsoeuer our aduersaries doe salue the matter in their Prophets Berengarius Husse Wicklife and Luther whome they saie to haue bene holie men and yet to haue erred in diuerse pointes offaith and to haue held their errors obstinatlie to the daie of their death And we beleeue with holie Athanasius that whoesoeuer shall not holde that Catholike faith which he or whoesoeuer vnder his name setteth downe in that Symbole or creed wholl and vndefiled without doubt he shall perish eternallie But not euerie one that erreth in any small point of doctrine or faith which is not of the foundation of our religion For so doth not Athanasius saie and our aduersarie falsisieth both his wordes and meaning to drawe him to that sense of his Now if Berengarius Wicklife Husse Luther cannot be conuinced of any heresie contrarie to Athanasius Creede though they erred in other points they are not subiect to his sentence of eternall damnation more then Cyprian Augustine Hierome whoe erred also in some points of doctrine yet are rightlie accounted saints and elect of God as they which held the foundation and all articles of faith necessarie to saluation But where he chargeth vsto saie that Berengarius Husse c. did erre in diuerse points of faith meaning thereby diuerse articles of Athanasius Creede he doth vs and them great iniury for that we neither saie nor thinke neither saie we that they did obstinatelie holde those errors wherein they were deceiued although they did stiflie holde them not as heretikes which are condemned in their owne conscience but as men deceiued with zeale of truth euen in those points wherin they were deceiued But we beleeue saith he the contrarie by which beliefe he will condemne the best and most auncient Catholike fathers who as men helde euerie one of them for the moste parte one error as hath bene shewed But whoesoeuer coulde shew saith he but one confessed heresie to be defended by our Church there needed no more disputation about the matter It will be a hard matter to make the Papists confesse that their Church holdeth any heresie but it hath beene often shewed that the Popish Church holdeth many things of olde time condemned for heresie as worspiping of the Image of Christ in the Carpocratites and Gnostikes Inuocation of Angels in the Caianes licensing of women to Baptize in the Marcionites worspiping of Angels of men and women that are dead in the Collyridians and such like But for the right vse of this triall he requireth two conditions to be obserued The first is that the partie do in deede holde that which is obiected and not a certaine likelyhood of it in which point he chargeth vs to slaunder them with the heresie of Pelagius concerning free will who held that men without the helpe of Gods grace by the power and force of nature could worke well but they require that a man should be preuented and holpen with the grace of God In trueth we do not obiect vnto them all articles of Pelagius heresie but yet they are not free for Pelagius held that by the power of nature men might keepe Gods law but more easelie by the help of Gods grace the former the Papists holde not but they holde the latter that a man holpen with Gods grace hath free-will and power to keepe Gods law Their doctrine also of merite ex congruo of workes preparatorie before grace and such like are nothing els but branches of the Pelagian heresie The like iniurie he saith we do them in objecting the heresie of those that did sacrifice to our Ladie which they do not A great iniurie I promise you the Collyridians offered cakes onelie to her the Papists offer candels ouches and brouches monie and Iewels The Collyridians did garnish a charret where her Image was the Papists adorne tabernacles as they call them yea chappels altars and Churches to worship her Epiphanius condemneth the studie of making her Image and the Images of dead saints as a deuellish attempt He inueigheth most seuerelie against the worshipping of the virgine Marie of Angels and of saintes departed yetall this is Catholike among the Papists and we offer them iniurie to charge them with this olde heresie because they do not offer cakes as the Collyridians did The second condition is that the heresie obiected be accounted condemned for an heresy in the Primitiue Church not onelie held by an heretike for heretikes held manie trueths together with their heresies And here he complaineth that Doctor Fulke doth them wrong in saying that praiers for the dead is an heresie because the Montanistes which were
caepta 〈◊〉 quidam enim altiùs repetentes à beato Helia Iohanne sumpsere principium quorum Helias plus nobis videtur fuisse quà m Monachus Iohannes antè Prophetare caepisse quà m natus est alij autem in quam opinionem vulgus omne consentit asserunt Antonium huius propositi fuisse caput quod ex parte verum est It hath beene often douted among many by which of Monkes especiallie the wildernes began to be inhabited for some fetching the matter somewhat high haue taken the beginning of blesseá Elias and Ihon of which two Elias seemeth to vs to haue beene more then a Monke and Iohn to haue prophecied before he was borne but other into which opinion all the common sorte consenteth affirme that Antonie was the heade or cheefe of this purpose which is partlie true By these wordes it is euident that Saint Ierome counteth Helias and Ihon Baptist to be of a higher calling then that they could be called Monkes or patterns of Monasticall life ascribing the beginning of them rather to Paul and Antonie then to Helias and Iohn Baptist although they both for some time did lead an austere life in the wildernes the same doth your next author Cassianus Collat 18. Cap. 6. neither doth he once call Iohn Baptist a Monke or patterne of monasticall life but onelie sheweth that the Anachorites desiring to encounter openlie with the deuill feared not to pearse into the vast solitarie places of the wildernes ad imitationem scilicet Iohannis Baptistae to the imitation of Iohn Baptist who ledd his life in the wilderens so doe not your Popifh Monkes but lie in their warme nests in the cloysters What Sozomenus saith I haue shewed a little before Isodorus agreeth with Saint Ierome and Cassianus that the Anachorites which liue alone doe follow Elias and Iohn Baptist where as the Coenobites which liue in companies in that point more like your Monks do follow the Apostles As for Theoph. in c. 1. Lu. which you note next hath nothing sounding towards the name of monkor monastical life except you meane where he saith that Iohn liued in the wildernes as Elias did The last author you quote Nicephorus Hist. li. 8. c. 39. hath nothing more then the verie words of Sozomene that some men said that Elias was the beginner of that solitarie life of Christians some that Iohn Baptist. And among all your authors there is not one that saieth Iohn Baptist was a Monke of the newe Testament or a patern of such monasticall life as you defend that there should be so great consent there of that matter where of you bragge so much But names and quotations of Doctors are sufficient either for you that by all likeliehood neuer turned the bookes your selfe or for your sottish schollers that accept all your wordes without examination and triall After this followeth a vaine strife of words cōcerning the signification of this terme sect which of M. Charke is taken for a schisme as it is manifest by the example he bringeth of the 1. Cor. 1. The Censurer sometime taketh it in good part and sometime in euill sometime he maketh it equall with the terme of heresie sometime more particulare which contention seeing it is vnprofitable for the readers I do willinglie omit referring them that list to vnderstand ofit further to the comparison ofboth their writings where they shall finde that Master Charke in effect preuenteth all his cauillations by saying that the names of heresie and sect areoften times confounded which to prooue the Censurer busieth him-selfe in vaine It is somewhat materiall that he saith the Corinthians erred in a point of faith esteeming the vertue or power of Baptisme not to depend onelie of Christ but of the dignitie of the Baptizer And surelie there muste be some opinion touching faith where there is a schisme in the Church though there be not a dissent in the necessarie articles of faith but a schisme or sect may be where neither the generall doctrine nor the societie of the Church is forsaken as inthe example 1. Cor. 1. which is contrarie to the descriptionof the censure Sectaries are such as cut themselues of in opinion of religion from the general body of the Catholike Church for so did not the Corinth 1. Cor. 1. howsoeeur they had an opinion of some excellencie in the minister of Baptisme nor the 1. Cor. 11. 18. where Saint Paul likewise chargeth them with schismes when they came together to celebrate the communion which text being likewise quoted by M. Chark is cleane omittedby the defender But now you would cleare your sectes of Monkes and Fryers from the example of the Corinthian schismatikes by a fond similitude supposing our ministers should saie in a contrarie sense of libertie I will luie vnmaried after the order of my Lord of Canterburie I will bem aried after the platforme of my Lord of London I will haue two wiues together after the fashion of Master Archdeacon of Salisburie I will haue a wife and a wench after the custome of some other Archdeacon and preahcer Concerning your example if any Archdeacons be of such fashion as you describe them I would they had such punishment as to such fashions belongeth and if you be hable lawfullie to conuince them thereof I doubt not but they shal As for the other 2. of being maried vnmaried be matters in deede of Christian libertie that euerie minister may choose that which he findeth to be most expedient for him but if any minister should glorie of his continent life out of mariage by hauing my Lorde of Canterhurie for his patterne or of his chaste life in mariage by following my Lorde of Londons platforme he might iustlie be noted for a schismatike as Saint Paull doth the Corinthians when they saide I am of Paul I of Apollo I of Cephas and I of Christ. For the platforme order patterne or example of men in these cases must not be their warrant but the worde of God which text is plaine that in profession of Religion we may not be called by the names of men no nor by the name of Christ or Iesus therebie to make a diuision or seperation of our selues in excellencie from other to whome Iesus Christ is common as well as to our selues For euerie one of your sects termed of Benedict Augustine Frauncis Dominike Iesus c. although in the generall doctrine of Poperie they al agree yet haue they their seuerall opinions each one of the excellencie of thier orders and patrons which maketh a schisme and often times hath broken forth into great brawling and open contention It is too manifest that the Monkes commonlie hated the Fryars the Dominicans and Franciscans were at deadlie feede the not obseruants enuied the obseruants and they despised the children of their owne father Frauncis as bastardes in comparison of them selues and now the Iesuites are hated and inuicd of all other sects of Monkes and especiallie of Fryars whome they bring
into great contempt wheresoeuer they plant them-selues in so much that the Fryers in some places haue slirred vp sedition against them caused them to be expelled It remaineth therefore that the Iesuites are a sect or schisme euen in Popery as they are a detestable kinde of heretikes against the Catholike faith which is common to al obstinate Papists and it is true likewise which Master Charksayeth that the Pharises were a notorious sect ver did they not cut of themselues from the religiō of the Church nay they bare the greatest sway in the Church albeit some of thē held great heresies yet they professed to imbraceal the doctrine of the Church and so did the Saduces in so much that some of them climed vp euen to the high priests office yet were they a detestable sect but of a bastarde Church as the Iesuites are of the Popish Church of Rome His definition also if you did not cauill and trifle about words is true that a sect is a companie of men that differ from the rest of their religion in matter or forme of then profession Whether you deriue the Etimologie à secando of cutting or à sequendo of following although I thinke Master Charke meaneth it of cutting the absurdities you gather are wilfull cauillations For Bishopes ministers lawyers iudges c. though they differ in auctoritie apparell state and forme of life yet they differ not in forme of profession of religion from the rest of our religion They be diuerse offices and lawful callings in one profession of religion but so are not Iesuites and other orders of Monkes and Fryers for they albeit they hold one religion with the rest yet doe differ in the sorme and profession of that religion beeing no necessarie offices or callinges instituted by God but seuerall professions begonne by men whose imitation soeuer they pretend Therefore no wise man but such a quarreling Censurer woulde haue made the cases of Bishopes iudges lawyers like in this point with Dominicans Franciscans Iesuites Like wisedome and grauitie you shew in flouting of Master Charkes definition with your ridiculous comparisons where he sayeth a sect is a companie of men For when you haue sported your selfe vntil you haue wearied your selfe and your reader in the end you confesse that you are not ignorant that in common speach this word sect may improperly signifie the mē also which professe the same but not in a definition where the proper nature of each word is declared Whether it be properlie or improperlie so taken because it is a brable of wordes I will not contend but if you exclude all improper or figuratiue speaches whose sense is commonlie knowne as this of sect from definitions you will driue them into a straight roome For we may not saie Logicke is a science or arte bene disserendi which in common speach signifieth to dispute well because disserere in latine doth properlie signifie to sow or set in diuerse places and seeing the worde sect in common speach may signifie the men that professe such a seperation why may there not a definition be giuen of the terme according to that signification Now whether the Iesuites be a sect according to Master Charkes definition you will examine after you haue tolde vs that his conclusion is like that he made in the Tower against Campian which was to dispatch him at Tyburne nothing following of the premises which fond comparison I passe ouer seeing all men knowe that conclusion was not of Master Charkes making by which Campian was hanged at Tyburne and all men may see what was Master Charkes disputation in the Tower and how it was answered by Campian But to the matter in hand you aske what is in M. Charkes illation that can make the lesuites a sect if it were all graunted to be true the Iesuites receiue a peculiar vow to preach as the Apostles did euerie where of free cost First to dedicate a mans life by vow to Gods seruice you saie it is alowed in scripture Numbers 6. Ps. 131. yea that is euery mans dutie but Master Charkes illation is of a peculiar vow which by no scripture is allowed but of such things onelie as God accepteth to his seruice and are in our owne power to performe as the vow of a Nazarite the vow of sacrifices of thankesgiuing c. Other be either superstitious or vnlawfull vowes Secondlie to preach euerie where and at free cost you thinke he should be ashamed to saie that it maketh a sect seeing Christ commaunded his Apostles to preach euerie where freelie and Saint Paul glorieth that he had taught the Gospell of free cost Yes Syr this maketh a sect for them to vow to exercise the office of Apostles which are not called by Christ to be Apostles the vow is vnlawfull and the votaries are sectaries not of the Apostles but of that pseudo Apostle Laiolas that was of his own ordination Againe where you saie that the Apostles were commaunded to preach the Gospell in all places freelie it is false for that precept Mat. 10. giue freelie as you haue receiued freelie either is ment of the graces of healing or if you ioyne it with the other preceptes that follow of not possessing golde nor siluer nor monie garments c. other prouision for the iournie it is as they are particular for that viage and not generall for all time of their Apostleshippe For otherwise the Apostles should haue greeuouslie offended in not preaching in all places of free cost and Saint Paull in taking of double wages of somme Churches that in some other he might preach freelie Therefore as vpon good consideration in some place the Apostles did preach of free cost and so may men at this daie yet for any man to vow that in al places and at al times he wil preach at free cost the vow is vnlawfull because it is contrarie to the ordinance of God which hath ordained and appointed that they which preach the Gospell should liue of the Gospell 1. Cor. 9. 14. And it cannot but be to the iniurie such as will procure contempte and neglect vnto them that preach the Gospell and liue according to the ordinance of the Gospell in taking the stipende for them appointed that there should be a sect or company of men which should professe alwaies and in all places to preach of free cost You proceede and aske what then maketh them sectaries to whippe and torment them-selues if it were true seeing Saint Paull chastened his owne bodie and caried the bonds of Christ in his flesh and the scriptures talke much of mortifying our members of crucifying our flesh and the like and neuer a word of pampering the same As though there could be no chastening of the body bearing of Christs markes mortifying the members or crucifying the flesh except men whippe and torment them-selues or that whosoeuer doth not whippe him-selfe doth pamper his flesh Saint Paull did chastise his bodie with
the noble virgine Eustochium testified how litle he preuayled with such immoderate austerity to subdew the lust of his slesh vntil by importunitie of prayers he obteined rest of his vnquiet minde from Christ. Although his wordes be not as you haue set them downe that his skinne was as blacke as an Ethiopian but his deformed skinne was growen ouer with the hearines or scurffe of an Ethiopians flesh squalida cutis situm aethiopicae carnis obduxerat In the margent you note that we will saie Saint Hierome was noe Protestant I answere although we cannot allow Saint Hierome or any man that by hurting his bodelie health with immoderate rigour of austere life bringeth his natural life in daunger yet doe we imbrace S. Hierome as a member of the true Church of Christ whoe trusted not in any merite of such chaistisment but onelie in the mercie of God by Iesus Christ. The like we say of any examples of godlie men that are brought by Cassianus whoe is not altogether so olde as you make him Your rayling and seoffing at Peter Martyr I omitte as meete for such a Censurer but where you charge him to iest at Saint Basill and Saint Gregorie Nazianzen for hard handling of their owne bodies in cap. 16. lib. 3. Reg. your note boke deceiued you for in his comment vpon the Chapter he hath no such matter His iudgement els where may be to this effect That notwithstanding the examples of the auncient godlie fathers yet it is neither lawfull nor expedient for a man with such rigour to handle his bodie as it be not able to serue him in his calling For as chastisement of the bodie to bring it in subiection is sometime necessarie So weakening of the bodie to make it vnable to serue the spirit in such outward actions as require the vse of the bodie is neither wisedome nor godlines what examples soeuer be pretended For as it is not lawfull for a man vnder any pretense of mortifying his flesh to kill him selfe so it is not lawfull for any man to torment his bodie aboue the strength thereof wherby sicknes must needes follow and death may ensue For against all examples of godlie men that can be alledged to the contrary we will oppose the wisdome of the holy ghost in his elect vessel S. Paul whoe calleth Timothie from such austeritie wherebie his health was impaired vnto a moderate vse of gods creatures Drink no more water saith he butvse a litle wine because of thy stomach and often infirmities 1. Tim. 5. 23. According to the proportion of which rule if many of the examples before remembred were exacted they may perhapes declare a zeale in the persons but such as is not guided by knowledge of Gods will reuealed in the scriptures Where you saie If the Ministers of England would vse this cooling phisick there should be fewer Eatons and Hynches openlie punished or flie the countrie for incest rape you would insinuate that for lacke of chastisement of mens bodies so great enormites breake out and in part it may be true so you touch none but such as are guilty who when they be discouered by your owne confession are not winked at in our Church but openlie punished what discipline soeuer you vse when anie of your Iesuites are ouertaken with such offences The number God be thanked of such offenders among vs is not great how small chastisement soeuer you thinke the Ministers doe vse and therefore no cause why you should amplifie them in the plurall number as though for one Eaton or one Hynch there had beene ten of each sorte at the least Too manie we confesse of one but fewer then one there could not be except there had beene none Howbeit we praise God that so fewe haue geuen such offence in so long peace of the Church and praie God they be the last Yet are they a small matter for you to insult against vs if you looke homewarde where for two you may easilie finde two hundred and for two poore Ministers manie of your great prelates yea your Popes by confession of your owne historians haue not beene behind any examples of incontinencie and filthines But if we will not practise this remedie our selues for contristing or making sad the holie ghost within vs which you saie is our phrase yet you will vs not to impute it as schisme and heresie to them which vse it moderatlie as we maie imagine the Iesuites will being not fooles nor hauing iron bodies but sensible as ours are Hereto I answer that the remedie of incontinencie we learne out of the scriptures and haue no neede of your instruction for such matters if God geue vs grace to practise that which we learne out of his word The phrase whereat you scoffe is not ours but vsed by the holie Ghost him-selfe though in a farre other sense then you ascribe it to vs in which meaning you will sooner be hanged for a traitour then you are able to prooue that anie approoued Minister of ours hath euer vsed the same in speach or writing Among the familie of loue perhappes which are catercosins with you Papistes you may finde such blasphemous abusers of holie phrases of scripture The imputing to schisme or heresie ariseth of the Iesuites profession and practise which in such doinges pretend a greater merit and perfection then God requireth of Christians Otherwise we doubt not but many of the Iesuites can fauour them-selues wel enough in their voluntarie whipping especiallie those of our nation or of anie other except the Spaniardes among whome the reliques of the olde whipping heretikes haue continued so ranke in some that they haue beene seene in England to endure greeuous whipping for other mens sinnes that liked not to suffer such penannce in their owne persons The following of one mans rule you sate can make no diuision because it is but a particular direction of life and manners grounded one the seriptures and practise of the fathers and alowed by the superiours of the Church But here you assume more then wil be graunted for neither is the rule of Laiolas grounded one the scriptures neither haue the gouernours of the Church authoritie to allowe anie such rule and last of all it is so newe that it hath no practise of the auncient fathers to shadow it The first is prooued before the second dependeth vpon the first and the last of the newnes is manifest of it selfe But all this while you haue supposed that Master Charkes reportes of the Iesuites life and vocation were true which is false for there was neuer anie that tooke a vowe to whippe them-selues and much lesse to doe it after the example of a sect called by the name of whippers condemned long agoe Here beside a double cauill is nothing worthie the answering for Master Charke meaneth not that their vowe is to followe the condemned whippers but that this whipping is after the example of that condemned sect in that they wippe and torment
your fault At the least it is your fault that in so straunge a report you haue not sette downe his wordes in latine if euer you sawe the preface your selfe As for the corrupt edition or often chaungeing of Luthers workes by him-selfe we haue not to do with it for whie might not Luther reforme his owne workes if ought in them were erronius or offensiue But it is a cauill that you adioyne of the confession of Auspurg whereunto the Germanes perhaps ascribe too much as Alasco writeth For though there be diuers editions thereof differing in wordes yet are they not contrarie in sense as appeareth by the harmonie of confessions latelie set forth at Gencua Now sir so much as we finde sounding toward your reporte I will sette downe that the reader maie iudge how vprightlie you do charge Luther with denying three of the foure Gospells Enarrat in epist. Petri argumentum Primùm omnium notandum c. First of all it is to be noted that all the Apostles do handle the same doctrine for which cause it is not well done that men do number but onelie foure Euangelistes and foure Gospells whereas whatsoeuer the Apostles haue left written is one Gospell For the Gospell signifieth nothing els but the preaching and publishing of the grace and mercie of God by our Lord Christ deserued and purchased to vs by his death and that thou maiest take it properlie it is not that which is conteined in bookes and is comprehended in letters but rather a vocall preaching and a liuing worde and voyce which soundeth into the wholl world and is so openly blowen out like a trumpet that it may be heard euerie where neither is it a booke which conteineth a law in which are many good doctrines as it hath beene commonlie taken heretofore for it doth not commaund vs to worke any thing where by we may become iust but it sheweth vnto vs the grace of God freelie and giuen without our meritte namelie that Christ hath beene our mediatour and hauing made satisfaction for our sinnes hath abolished them and made vs iust and saued by his workes Now whoesoeuer doth either preach or write these thinges he teacheth the true Gospell that which all the Apostles and peculiarlie Saint Paull and Saint Peter in their Epistles haue performed Therefore whatsoeuer is preached of Christ is one Gospell although one handle it after one manner an other man after another in diuerse manner of wordes do reason of it For the matter may be handled either in long or in short speach and be described either streightlie or largelie But seeing all perteineth to this end to teach Christ to be our sauiour and that we are made iust and saued by faith in him without our workes it is one word it is one Gospell as there is but one faith onelie and one baptisme in all the Church of Christ. Therefore thoureadest nothing writen by any of the Aposties which is not conteined in the monuments of the other Apostles But they which haue handled this point especiallie and with greater diligence that faith alone in Christ doth iustifie they are the best Euangelistes of all And in this respect you may more rightlie call the Epistles of Paul the Gospel then those which Matthew Marke and Luke haue written For these men describe not much beside the storie of the Acts and miracles of Christ. But the grace which is wrought vnto vs by Christ none doth sette forth more fullie or more rightlie then Saint Paul especiallie in the Epistle to the Romanes Now seeing there is much more moment in the word then in the factes and miracles of Christ and if we should want the one it were much better to lacke the Acts and history then the word and doctrine it followeth that shose bookes are to be had in highest price which handle the doctrine cheeflie and the wordes of our Lord Iesus Christ. Seeing that if there were no miracles of Christ extant and we were altogether ignorant of them the words were sufficient for vs without the which we could not so much as liue Therefore hereof it followeth that this Epistle of Saint Peter is to be accounted among the most excellent bookes of the new testament and is the true and pure Gospell as in which he doth nothing els but that which Paul and the other Euangelists do teaching sincere faith that Christ is giuen vnto vs which hauing taken away our offences doth saue vs c. This that he speaketh naming Matthew Marke and Luke say you signifieth some tooth against these three Gospells And what tooth I pray you because these three Gospells speake too much of good workes As though S. Paul in his Epistles and namelie in that to the Romanes doth not speake as much of good workes as all those three Gospells and Saint Peter though breeflie doe not speake as much in effect But in the preface in question you affirme that Luther hath these wordes The Epistles of Paul and Peter doe farre passe the Gospells of Matthew Marke and Luke which yet more prooueth Luthers euill opinion of those three Gospells I doubtnot albeit I neuer sawe the preface my selfe but Luther doth plainlie expresse in what respect the Epistles of Paul and Peter doe excell the histories of the Gospell written by Matthew Marke and Luke euen as he doth in this preface vnto his exposition of Saint Peter Because these Epistles are more occupied in setting forth the Grace of Christ and the fruit and benefit of his passion which no more prooueth his euill opinion of those three Gospells then when Christ preferreth Iohn the Baptist before al the Prophets it prooueth his euil opinion of all the Prophets or when he preferreth him that is least in the kingdome of heauen before Iohn Baptist it prooueth his euil opinion of Iohn Baptist. These brutish Papists thinke all men voide of common sense when they make such impudent conclusions As for your first charge that it is a false opinion and to be abolished that there are foure ghospels For the ghospell of S. Iohn is the onely faire true and principall ghospell when you can alledge the words of Luther in latine to iustifie your report and because we know not how to come to the sight of that preface will set downe two sentences that goe before them and as manie that followe them you shall receiue a reasonable answere But vntill you haue thus much performed I am perswaded you wil be as farre to seeke as Campian was for his reporre of Luther that he should call the Epistle of Saint Iames Stramineam strawie or like strawe And yet you take vppon you to shew the intollerable impudencie of Master Chark and his fellowes in the Tower against Master Campian for that he could not presentlie shew out of their bookes where these wordes are written by Luther especiallie of Master Whitaker whoe to the admiration and laughter of all other nations hath set forth in latine that Luther neuer
a witnesse much more to be an accuser witnes and iudge him-selfe alone The law of God will haue no man condemned but vnder two or three witnesses and the discipline of the Gospell will not haue anie accusation to be admitted against an elder of the Church vnder two or three witnesses much lesse ought the slaunder of such an impudent aduersarie being a most vile and absurd person to be receaued to the condemnation of so excellent learned teachers whose life in publike vew and fame where they haue liued hath alwaies bene blameles and vnreprooueable Wherefore the accuser being thus notoriouslie knowne by open factes and iudgements against him there needeth none other detence of the persons slaundered but their simple deniall of the crimes obiected whose nay by al reason must be better then his yea seeing no man is by lawe presumed to be euill before he be lawfullie conuicted Beside this the particular slaunders haue bin so diligentlie confuted by him that first answered this lewd defense for that purpose principallie that I shall not neede to spend anie longer time in declaring the vanitie and fasehood of them But because our defender will needes make a briefe recapitulation of the matter and tell vs that there were six reformers of all our English Religion it shall not be amisse to consider what waightie matter he can bring The first saith he was Luther him-selfe who confesseth expressely him-selfe without glose that the first motion thereof came from the diuill him-selfe in proper person lib. de missa priuata vnctione sacerd How false and slaunderous this reporte is the reader maie see by Luthers owne wordes before sette downe The second Carolostadius saith the defender was by Luthers procurement as vnworthie to liue among Christians banished out of all the dominions of the Duke of Saxonie and so ended his life miserably in labouring the ground as your owne Historiographer Sleidan writeth lib. 5. Sleidan in deede doth write that he was banished as one that seemed to fauour the Anabaptistes but he writeth also that by Luthers procurement he was admitted to purge him-selfe of that crime But that he ended his Life miserabliein labouring the ground Sleidan our owne historiographer doth not write and it is an impudent lie as it is manifest by your owne Historiographer Surius who in Anno 1530. writeth that Carolostadius of an Archdeacon of Witemberge became a deacon of Zurich and after the death of Zuinglius he remooued to Basile and there in the ministerie of a Zuinglian Church as he saith ended his miserable life miserablie Certaine it is that Carolostadius was a vaine man and had great imperfections yet it is a shame to lie vpon the deuill The third you saie Oecolampadius was so lewd a man as by Luthers affirmation he was slaine by the deuill himselfe lib. de missapriuata vnct sacerd or as some other thinke killed him selfe with his owne handes Lind. dial 3. dubit It is true that Luther vttereth his rash and falle sentence of Oecolampadius vpon occasion ofsome fly ingtale that he had heard of the soden death of Oecolampadius She like he affirmeth in the same place of Emser the Papist if his authoritie be good for the one whie is it not for the other But the trueth is that Oecolampadius as he liued holilie and vp rightlie so he made a Godlie and quiet end and was sicke in his bedde 15. daies before he departed as is testified in the storie of his death set forth by that reuerend learned man Symon Grinaeus who was present and saw and heard all that he writeth with manie more witnesses of sufficient credit In his sicknes he was visited by all his friendes both of the Senators of the vniuersitie and of the people So that it is a most shameles fiction either that he died sodainlie or that he killed himselfe as that malitious Papist Lindan writeth The fourth reformer saith our defender was Zuinglius who hauing receaued the proofes of his new doctrine of the sacra ment from a spirit in the night as him-selfe writeth and confesseth that he knew not whether he were black or white liued in such sorte as he was detested by Luther and finallie stirring vp the Suitsers his countrimen to fight was slaine himselfe in the field and his bodie burned That Zuinglius was flaine in the field and his bodie burned by the Papists it is confessed but that he stirred vp his countriemen to battell which were prouoked by intollerable iniuries it is false He went with his countriemen as a Preacher according to their custome and it pleased God that he was martyred by the enemies of the trueth As for the proofes that he receaued from a spirit in the night you shall heare the wholl matter in his owne words lib. de subsid Euchar. But first you must vnderstand that he rehearseth the whole storie concerning the abolishing of the masse at Zurich sheweth that a certaine scribe opposed him-selfe against it the 12. of Aprill and obiected that those phrases vnto which Zuinglius compared the wordes of the institution This is my bodie the seede is the word of god the fielde is the world the enuious man is the deuill c. were spoken parabolically Zuinglius maintained that neuertheles there was in those sayings the same trope or figure that is in the wordes of the supper so the decree was made concerning the abolishing of the masse After this he writeth after this manner Restabat adhuc haud minimus conatus quo scilices exempla proderemus quae nulla cum parabola coniuncta forent Caepimus ergo cogitare omnia omnia reuoluere attamen aliud nihil exemplorum occurrebat quà m quod in commentario proditum est aut quod occurrebat erat illorum simile Cùm verò decima tertia Dies adpeteret vera narro adeoque vera vt caelare volentem conscientia cogat effundere quod Dominus impertiit non ignorans quantis me contumeliis risibusque exponam Cùm inquam decimatertia Aprilis lux adpeteret visus sum mihi in somno multo cum taedio denuo contendere cum aduersario scriba sicque obmutuisse vt quod verum scirem negante lingua beneficium suum proloqui non possem qui me angor vs solent nonnunquam somnia fallaci ludere nocte nihilenim altius quà m somnium narramus quod ad nos attinet tametsi leue non sit quod per somnium didicimus gratia Deo in cuius solius gloriam ista prodimus vehementer turbare videbatur Ibi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 visus est monitor adesse ater fuerit an albus nihil memini somnium enim narro qui diceret Quin ignaue respondes ei quod Exod. 12. Est enim Phase hoc est transitus Domini Protinus vt hoc Phasma visum est simul expergefio èlecto exilio Locum apud 70. primùm vndique circumspicin ac de eo coram 〈◊〉 concione pro virili dissero qui sermo vbi
acceptus est quemadmodum paulò pòst dicemus omnibus sacrarum literarum candidatis qui adhue nonnihil propter parabolae obstacula haerebant omnem nebulam discussit c. There remained yet not the lest endeuour namelie that we should bring forth examples which wereioined with no parable Therefore we began to thinke of all that we could to vnfolde all that we could but yet none other example came to minde but that is set forth in our commentarie or els whatsoeuer came to minde was like vnto those examples But when the 13. daie drew neere I tell the trueth that so true that though I would conceale it my conscience compelleth me to vtter that which the Lord bestowed vpon me being not ignorant to how great reproches and scornes I lay forth my selfe when I say the 13. daie of Aprill drew neere me thought as I was a sleepe that with great tediousnes I was againe disputing with the scribe my aduersarie that my mouth was so stopped that my tongue denying her office I was not able to speake out that which I knew to be true which trouble as dreames are wont sometimes to mocke men in the deceitfull night for here I declare no higher matter then a dreame as cōcerning my selfe although it is no light matter that I learned by this dreame thankes be to God to whose onelie glorie I vtter these thinges which vexation I saie seemed to trouble me vehementlie Then sodainlie there seemed an admonisher to be present with me whether he were blacke or white I do not at all remember for I tell a dreame which said why dost thou not thou coward answere him that which is written Exod. 12. For it is the paschall which is the passeouer of the Lord. Immediatlie as this sight appeered I awoke withall and leapt out of my bed And first I considered the place in the Seauentie Interpreters on euerie side and thereof before the wholl congregation I preached as well as I could Which sermon when it was heard as soone after we shall declare draue awaie all mist or want of vnderstanding from all those that were studentes in the holie Scriptures which vnto that time did somewhat doubt because of the obiection of the parable Thus farre Zuinglius by whose wordes you may easelie perceiue what proofes he receiued of his Doctrine of the Sacrament of a spirit by night as our defender saieth when he sheweth onelie that he was admonished by Gods prouidence in a dreame ofthat example Exod. 12. in which the trope or figure is manifest being also in the doctrine institution of a sacrament whereunto the Lords supper doth most properly answere which is vsed in the words of the Lords supper this is my body without anie such parable as was obiected vnto him in the other examples Where he saith that he remembreth not whether the aduertiser were white or blacke he meaneth no more as all men that know the prouerbe must confesse but that he remembreth not what he was whether knowne to him or vnknowne of whom he dreamed that he receiued that example The same prouerbe he vseth not long before in the same discourse of him that disputed against him who whether he was white or blacke that is what manner of man he was he would not describe Surius quarelleth against him that he would attribute so much to a dreame when otherwise he will admit nothing but holie scriptures whereas euerie reasonable man may see that he admitteth no Doctrine vpon the bare credit of a dreame or of the admonisher were he whit or blacke but is onelie put in minde by a dreame of a place of holie Scripture that serued to stoppe his aduersaries mouth and to remooue all doubt from them that were nouices in the studie of the scripture And this is a thing that manie times commeth to passe that a man which earnestlie studieth of anie matter shall in his dreame be admonished of some better waie then he could thinke of waking Which when he hath considered to be the best for anie good purpose he neede not to doubt but that it came vnto him by the prouidence of God without being afraide to follow it because he thought of it first in a dreame What Luther thought of Zuinglius it skilleth not seeing as he was stiffe in his error of the carnall manner of presence so he was apt both to thinke and speake worse then the trueth was of all them that held the contrarie The last two were Caluine and Beza of whome it is needles to saie anie more then hath alreadie beene setforth in their defense in print these two yeares with out replie of anie papist Although God be praised the Church of England dependeth neither vpon these not vpon other men further then they were faithfull interpreters of the worde of God according to which our faith is framed and not after the decrees of men Concerning the death of Martine Bucer welknown in England whome the papists abroad as they doe of the rest imagine to haue died a foule death our defender quarrelleth with Master Charke for belying of Lindan and charging him to saie that Lindan auoucheth it where he onelie reporteth as he hearde of certaine worshipfull Marchants of Colene But in trueth Master Charke saieth not that Lindan doth auouch it but onlie that by vttering his false reports he maketh Bucers death as horrible and monstrous as may be suspected Pontacus the popish historian vttereth a like report as the defender confesseth that he died a Iew denying the Messias Surius addeth another tale that he circumcised his sonne begotten of I know not what woman Thus these lying papists heape lies vpon lies and when they haue neither sufficient author nor probabilitie of trueth to beare them out then certaine worshipfull Marchauntes then a certaine graue and most excellent learned man then some of Bucers owne disciples are the reportes vnder which cloake it is an easie matter to forge anie slaunder and turne ouer the enuie of it to the man in the moone in the meane time to burthen men with suspicion of infamie among credulous persons where no proofe of their false accusations can be demaunded and obtained Touching Bucers inconstancie The defender out of Surius and other of that stampe gathereth manie thinges peruerting to vnstedfastnes of iudgement what soeuer Bucer did saie laboring to make vnitie betweene Luther and Zuinglius Charging him also to recant the article of the baptisme of infants to be vnnecessarie as he had written before vpon the third Chapter of Saint Mathewes Gospell and vpon the 26. of Mathew to aske pardon of God and of the Church for that he deceiued so manie with the heresie of Zuinglius as he calleth it Both which matters are meere forgeries for in those commentaries vpon that Gospell which we haue seene there is no such matter Finallie where he affirmeth that Caluine differed from Zuinglius which Master Fulke in all his writings most impudentlie denieth he
examples of inuocation of Saintes praier for the dead purgatorie and the like if you can winne them either by manifest wordes or by necessarie conclusion we are content you shall weare them and we also wilyeald vnto them otherwise you prate without proofe of expressed in the scripture trifling vppon the terme expressed which either we vse not in this question or els we meane therbie certainlie declared and taught in the scriptures either in expresse wordes or by necessarie conclusion But now let vs see how Master Chark is distressed in answering these twelue particulers For the first of the seauen which he acknowledgeth to be contained in the scripscripture which is that there is two natures and two wills in Christ he citeth these wordes Rom. 1. of his sonne which was made vnto him of the seede of Dauid according to the flesh Also Math. 26. not as I will but as thou wilt here you saie that the interpretation of the Church being set aside and the bare text onelie admitted these places cannot conuict an heretike yes verelie the onelie authoritie of the textis sufficient to confit me faith and to conuince an heretike For the former point thus The diuinitie and humanitie are two natures in Christ is diuinitie and humanitie ergo two natures The maior is manifest the minor is plaine by the text the sonne of God one nature the seede of Dauid an other nature For the fecond point The will of God and the will of man the one contradictorie to the other are two willes In Christ was the will of God contradictorie to the wil of man ergo two wills The minor is prooued out of the text not as I wil but as thou wilt seeing Christ was both God man That the Monothelits in the 6. Councill of Costantinople could not be conuinced out of the scriptures it is an intollerable slaunder of that reuerend assemblie for euen by this text and manie other their error was made manisest wherunto albeit the consent of the aun cient fathers was added yet is there no word in all that 4. action which you quote to prooue that they were not sufficientlie confuted out of the holie scriptures The second point is the proceeding of the holie ghost from the father and the sonne equallie for which Master Chark quoteth Ioh. 15. 26. When the holie ghoste shall come which I will send you from my father the spirit of trueth which proceedeth from the father c. Against this you cauill that it prooueth not the proceeding equallie and cite Cyril for your witnes in 15. Ioh. who out of this place prooueth that equally as wel as the proceeding seeing the heretikes might be ashamed to say that the spirit of the father was sent by the son as by a minister which also if they should saie he disprooueth for that if the sonn were as a minister he should be of an other substance then the father and the spirit proceeding from the father being of the same substance with the father should be greater in nature then the fonne whereas the sonne saith plainlie of the holy ghoste he shal glorifie me c. An other cauil you haue that this place telleth not whether he proceeded by generation or without generation from the father But it is sufficient that neither this place nor any other place of scripture teacheth that the holie ghoste is begotten therefore we beleeue without generation The third point is the vnion of the word vnto the nature of man and not to the person of man which because you did set downe obscurelie M. Charke did not rightlie vnderstand yet the text that the quoteth 1. 〈◊〉 14. The word was made flesh includeth that assertion also seeing there was no person of the man when the vnion was made vnto the nature of man but the word in taking vpon him the nature of man did vnite him selfe to it in vniting tooke it as it is euident Luk. 1. 35. Mat. 1. 20. The fourth doctrine is the baptising of infants for which Master Charke quoteth Gen. 17. 12. the infant of eight daies shall be circumcised Against this you haue manie trifling cauills that baptisme is not expressed of the sexe of the eight daie Against which I oppose the authoritie of Saint Augustine which lib. 1. cont Crescon Grammat cap. 31. confuteth the rebaptization of such as were baptized by heretikes by example of them that were circumcised by the Samaritantes whose circumcision was not to be repeated to whome the like might be obiected But it is sufficient that wherein baptisme answereth to circumsion the reason is one in both Circumcision was the sacrament of regeneration as baptisme is the one giuen to infantes ergo the other The cerimonie of the eight day had an other reason not needefull to be obserued in baptisme The distinction of the sexe is taken awaie by Christ in whome there is neither male nor female That Beza was striken dumme with this question in the conference at Poyssie it is a slaunder of Cladius de Xanctes confuted by Beza him-selfe But you had rather followe Saint Augustine who contendeth and prooueth that baptizing of infantes is onelie a tradition of the Apostles and not left vs by anie written Scripture lib. 10. cap. 23. super Gen. ad lizeram So you write but I will set downe Saint Augustines wordes that the reader may see what contention and proofes he vseth hauing protested of his ignorance how the reasonable soule commeth into the bodie he concludeth that the baptisme of infantes fauoreth their opinion which thinke that soules are procreated of the parentes And of the baptisme of infantes thus he writeth Consuctudo tamen matris Ecclesiae in baptizandis paruulis nequaquam spernenda est neque vllo modo superflua de putanda nec omnino credenda nisi Apostolica esset traditio Habet enim illaparua aet as magnum testimonij pondus quae prima pro Christo meruit sanguinē fundere Yet the custome of our mother the Church in baptizing of infantes is not to be despised nor by any meanes to be thought superfluous nor to be credited at all if it were not an Apostolike tradition for euen that litle age hath greate weight of testimonie which first obteined to shed blood for Christ. You see that here is neither contention not profe that it is onelie a tradition not leftin writing for he alledgeth one testimonie out of Scripture of gods acceptation of that age to martirdome much rather to baptisme and manie other testimonies might be brought for the same purpose as Matt. 19. 14. 1. Cor. 7. 14. c. As for Origen he doth onelie make mention of the baptisme of infants according to the obseruance of the Church to prooue originall sinne But whether it stand onelie vpon tradition and not vpon the scripture he saith not one word The 5. Doctrine is the changeing of the Sabbath into Sondaie M. Charke quoteth Apo. 1. 10. I was in the spirit on
the Lordes daie Here you cauill that there is no mention of Saturdaie or sondaie much lesse of celebration of either and least of all of the changeing of the Sabbath into an other daie But if it please your Censurship are you ignorant what day of the weeke is called dies Dominicus the Lordsday whether saturdaie or sondaie if it be sondaie as al professors of Christes name confesse here is as much mention thereof as is needfull for the daie into which the change is made Or if that be not sufficient you maie haue further Act. 20. 7. 1. Cor. 16. 2. And whie is the first of the Sabbath called the Lordes daie but in respect of the celebration there of in honour of the redemption of the world by Christ For otherwise all daies of the weeke are the Lordes daies in respect of their creation Thirdlie seeing the Lordes daie was one daie in the weeke vsed for the assemblie of the Church for their spirituall exercises of Religion it is certaine that the change of the Iewish Sabbath was made into that daie except you would be so waywatd to saie there were two daies in euerie weeke appointed by God to be celebrated whereas the lawe of God requireth but one and giueth libertie of bodelie exercise in sixe daies So that the change of the Sabbath daie is sufficientlie prooued out of the Scripture into the Lordes daie The sixt point is about foure Gospells and the Epistle to the Romanes which Master Charke saith to be prooued out of the scripture but yet he quoteth no place of scripture where onelie he saith the inscription expresseth the names of the writers But what a mocker is this you saie Are the bare names of the Apostles sufficient to prooue that they were written by them who can prooue by scripture that these names are not counterfet as in the Epistle to the Laodiceans in the Gospells of Bartholomew and Thomas c. But abide you sir your question hath two branches the one that the 4. Go spells are true Gospells the other that the epistle to the Romanes was written by Saint Paul and not that to the Laodiceans To the former it is answered that they are prooued by other vndoubted bookes of the scripture both of the olde testament and the new secing they declare that to be fullfilled of Christ which was spoken in the lawe in the Prophetes and in the Psalmes To the other it is answered that admitting the Epistle to the Romanes to be scripture the inscription of his name is sufficient to prooue that it was written by Saint Paull And so of therest Although the name of the writer is not materiall vnto saluation when the booke is receiued to be Canonicall as diuers bookes of scripture are receiued whose writer is vnknowne That Epistle which is called to the Laodicians is not receiued and therefore the inscription is vnsufficient as the Gospelles of Bartholomew and Thomas and such like which are knowne to be countefet by the dissent they haue from the other canonicall scriptures Whereas you require one place of Scripture to prooue all the foure Gospelles to be canonicall you declare your wrangling and wayward spirit But name you anie one point of Doctrine writen in anie of those foure Gospells and the same shall be aduouched by other textes of scripture and so maie eucrie point conteined in them if neede were But you affirme that Origen saith he reiecteth the Gospell of Saint Thomas onelie for that the tradition of the Church receiued it not Which is false He saith he hath read the Gospell after Thomas after Mathias and manie other Sed in his omnibus nihil aliud probamus niss quod Ecclesia idest quatuor tantùm euangelia recipienda But in all these we allowe nothing els but that which the Church alloweth that is that onelie foure Gospells are to be receiued In these wordes he affirmeth that he approoueth the iudgment of the Church he saith not that the iudgement or traditions of the Church was the onelie cause whie he reiected those Gospells for he said before they were receiued of heretikes and wherefore but in maintenance of their heresie which is contrarie to the holie scriptures That all counterfet Go spells were reiected by the Church it is confessed but the Church had this iudgement of discretion confirmed by the canonical scriptures against which Epiphanius saith nothing But when Faustus the Manichie denied the Gospell of Saint Mathew saie you saith not S. Augustine Mathaei Euangelium probatum aduersus Faustum Manichaeum per traditionem The Gospell of Mathew was alleged against Faustus the Manichie by tradition August lib. 28. Cont. Faust. c. 2. If you aske me I saie no he hath no such wordes Yet doth he auouch the Gospell of Saint Mathew in that Chapter by testimonie of the Church from the Apostles by continuall succession euen vnto his time against the Maniches but in far other words then you haue set downe in steed of Saint Augustines wordes by which the reader maie once against perceiue how impudentlie and ignorantlie you ailedge whatsoeuer the note booke which was neuer of your own gatheriug because you vnderstood it not did minister vnto you For these are the wordes of the collector of your notes not of S. Augustine Maie not the papists haue great ioie of such a Cenfure defender Yet you triumph like a Iustie champion and aske what can be more euident then all this to prooue our opinion of the necessitie of tradition to confound the fonde madnes of this poore Minister Alas poore defender what waightie euidencethou hast brought to prooue the necessity of tradition which prooueth thee to be a blind beggerlie yet a bolde brocher of other mens notes which thou vnderstandest not thy selfe The seuenth doctrine which is required to be prooued out of the scripture is that God the father begat his sonne onelie by vnderstanding him-selfe Here Master Charke in steede of these darke wordes out of Thomas how the father begat the sonne wisheth cleare and perfect wordes in so high a mysterie which you saie are plaine and vsuall to those which haue studied any thing in diuinitie As though there were no diuinitie in the holie scriptures and so many of the auncient fathers which haue neither this question nor these wordes but that al diuinity were included in the brest of Thomas Aquinas and such doctors as he was That he quoteth a place or two of the scripture to prooue that Christ was the onelie begotten sonne of God you make smal account of seeing the question is of the māner how this generation maybe which the Church de fendeth against the aduersaries And here you insult against M. chark as ignorant in those high points of diuinitie whereas Catholiks know what the Church hath determined herein against heretikes and infidels as though either of both cared for the Churches determination if the one were not vanquished by scripture the other by right reason
of Colene in a moste apt similitude called the scripture a nose of waxe and Pighius the leaden rule of the Lesbian building But now concerning the matter it selfe You would shift it of by saying The Iesuites doe compare the hereticall wresting and detorting of scripture vnso the bowing of a nose of waxe vpon certaine circumstances which are these First not in respect of the scripture it selfe but in respect of heretikes and other that abuse it and that before the rude people that cannot iudge thirdlie to the ende to flatter Princes or the people in their vices Thus much was said before in the Censure But it was replied that Andradius confesseth the fathers of Colene doe saie that the holie scripture is as a nose of wax So doth Pighius and it is a thing more commonlie knowen then that it can be denied Therefore the wresting of the scripture is not compared by them to the bowing of a waxen nose but the scripture it selfe to a nose of wax as that which is as easie to be drawne into any sense as a nose of wax may be turned euerie waie The wordes of Pighius are plaine Sunt enim scripturae velut caereus quidam nasus qui sicut hor sum illor sumque facilè se trahi permittit quo traxeris haud inuitus sequitur ita illae se flecti duci atque etiam in diuer sam sententiam trahi accomodarique ad quid-uis patiuntur nist quis veram illam inflexibilemque earundem amussim nempe Ecclesiasticae traditionis authoritatem communemque sententiam ilsdem adhibeat For the holie scriptures are as it were a certaine nose of wax which as it easelie suffereth it selfe to be drawne this waie and that waie and whether soeuer you draw it is followeth not vnwillinglie so also they doe suffer them selues to be bowed to be led and also to be drawen into a contrarie meaning and to be applied vnto what you will except a man lay vnto them that true inflexible rule of them namelie the authoritie and common vnderstanding of the Churches tradition These wordes declare if the sense of all Papists be the same that the Iesuites do not onelie compare the scripture it selfe but also that they make this comparison in respect of the scripture it selfe which suffereth it selfe as easelie to be wrested and abused as a nose of wax abideth to be bowed nor before the rude and ignorant onelie nor to flatter Princes and people in their vices alone but before any persons or to any purpose whatsoeuer and that there is not in them a certaine and infallible sense to iudge of the Churches doctrine or to finde out the true Church from all false congregations by the trueth taught in the scriptures but that the authoritie and common vnderstanding of the Popish Churches tradition is the onelie true sense inflexible rule of the holy scriptures wherebie also it is manifest though you denie it neuer so stoutlie that you doe impute the wresting of the scriptures vnto the imperfection of Gods worde set forth in them and not onelie to the malice of the wrester For if the will of God be but as well expressed in them as the will of princes is in their written lawes and proclamations the one maie as well be found out by reading and weighing of the holie scriptures as the other may be out of prophane writings especially where the spirit of God graunted vnto the praiers of the elect openeth their vnderstanding not onelie to conceiue as the naturall man maie by studie and ordinarie helpes the true scope and purpose of God vttered in them but also to beleeue and embrace whatsoeuer the Lord their God hath propounded in them Therefore though the scripture may be wrested to the destruction of the vngodlie as Saint Peter sheweth yet Master Charke telleth you that it cannot so be wrested but that still it remaineth the light vnto our feet and the lanterne vnto our steppes and euerie parte thereof is like the arme of a great Oke which cannot be so wreste but that with great force it will returne into the right position to the shame and perill of the wrester which answere of his you doe so dissemble as though you had neuer seene it And you doe wiselie seeing otherwise then by silence you could not auoid it But howsoeuer Master Charke storme you will defend your blasphemie of the nose of waxe not onelie in a kingdome where the Ghospell is preached but also in the kingdome of vs ministers where the letter of the scripture is worsse wrested by vs to all errors and licentiousnes then euerie waxen nose was yet bended to diuerse fashions O ye senseles papists had you neuer a man of moderat iudgement to set forth against vs but this loosetongued Gentelman which so he maie raile with full mouth against vs hath no care how his slaunders maie be coloured Doe we peruert the scriptures to all errors then surelie we holde no trueth there neuer was anie heresie neither can there be anie heresie but that with manie errors it maintaineth and holdeth manie truethes Yea the Deuill him-selfe the father oflies beleeueth some truethes and for shame dare not professe the maintenance of all errors We thinke verie hardlie of Antichrist and his brood the papists yet we maie not saie that they wrest the scriptures to all errors and licentiousnes for if they so did they should not deceaue so manie by shew of trueth in errors except they did professe some articles of trueth in deede As for the wresting of the Scripture to all licentiousnes let God and all the world of reasonable and indifferent men iudge how iustlie we maie be charged therewith If we be licentious in our liues God will finde it out and let man where he findeth it punish vs. But if we wilfully peruert the scriptures to the maintenance of all licentiousnes the Lord reward vs according to our deedes and be not mercifull to them that sinne of malicious wickednes But it is no fault in the scriptures saie you that they may be abused For Christ him-selfe was called the rocke of offence and the stone of scandall not for anie faulte or imperfection in him but through the wickednes of such as abuse that benefit So if the Iesuites had said no more but that the scripture maie be abused no man could haue found fault with them And Christ is called a stone of offence or stumbling not altogether in respect of the wicked that abuse him for he is called a stone moste precious and necessarie to build vpon of stumbling to those that refuse to build vpon him which meeting with him must either stumble and fall or els if it fall vpon them they must be ground to pouder But the the scripture is compared to a nose os wax because it is in their imagination that vse the comparison as pliant to follow euerie waie and to yeald as probable a sence one waie as an other as
of the canonicall scripture which was receiued by Christ and his Apostles and the primitiue Church long after them But the Papists adde of their owne authoritie to the holie canon and therefore as much are they subiect to gods curse as if they did take away Neither doth Luther discredit or deface the whol epistle of Saint Iames as you saie although in comparison of some other bookes of scripture by a similitude he maketh it farre inferior to them What Doctor Fulke and Master Whitaker haue written the one of the booke of Maccaebees the other of Tobie they haue sufficientlie maintained in their replies whereunto I remit the reader and for Master Charkes reuiling of Iudith to the reporte of the disputation in which your impudent slaunder is confuted Where you conclude that no man in the world euer spake more reuerentlie of holie scripture then Iesuites do you ouer reach very much as you do very often They which teach that the holyscripture is sufficient to make vs wise vnto saluation speake more reuerently then the Iesuits whichdeny the sufficiency of the scripture for the instru ction of the Church Last of al the Censure ridiculously charged M. Charke with fraudulent translation of this worde Immaculata when he alledgeth this text psal 19. as oppo sit to your nose of waxe The law of the Lord is perfect out of the original tongue the best translations from which the greek in sense dessenteth not not out of the olde latine translation Now you trifle to no purpose about the Hebrew Greeke Latine termes which to those that are but me anelie learned are well enough knowne what they signifie And first if you should graunt al that M. Chark said you thinke he had gained nothing For you also confes that the law of the Lord is perfect but not in that sense wherein M. Chark vsech it to wit that because the law of the Lord is perfect therefore the scripture cannot be wrested And afterward when you haue tolde vs that these wordes vnde filed irreprehensible and perfect which answer the latine greeke and Hebrue wordes 〈◊〉 not much in sense for whatsoeuer is irreprehensible and vnspotted may also be called perfect you conclude that this doth not prooue the scriptures to be perfect in sense in such sort as it maie not be wrested or peruerted You say true but it is false that Master Chark maketh anie such illation as you charge him For thus he inferreth the lawe of God is perfect ergo it cannot be wrested as a nose of wax or as his owne wordes are the scripture is perfect and manteineth her perfection against all corruptions as a right line sheweth it selfe bewraieth that which is crooked The lawe of a wise man as hath beene said before may be so perfect as it cannot be wrested like a nose of waxe into anie sense that the wrester wil imagine but that his vaine cauillation shall be odious and ridiculous to al men Much rather is the lawe of God so perfect as though all the deuilles in hell should breake their braines to wrest and peruertit yet can they neuer wrest it like a nose of wax to euerie side or shape but that the perfect sense of the scripture remaineth ful constant and manifest to them that haue the spirit of God yea euen to them that will iudge but indifferentlie according to right reason By the waie you charge Master Charke with railing and inueighing against your olde translation and with running he careth not whether forging he careth not what and reprehending he careth not whome yet in all that discourse he hath no more wordes of it but these your olde translation doth goe alone In which wordes what rayling running forging reprehending inueihing may be conteined let ihe wiser sort iudge and fooles learne to be wiser But where he saith that the best translations differ from the olde translation you aske what best or better or other good latine translation hath he then the olde As though none might be good but your olde translation I perceaue you would not acknowledge any good of them that were set forth by Munster Leo Iude or anie other professed protestant yet what saie you to the translation of Vatablus a famous and learned reader of Paris How dare you condemne the translation of Pagnine of the olde testament and Erasmus of the new testament as naught which the Pope allowed as good Finallie what exceptions can you take to the translation of Isidorus Clarius censured and approoued by the deputies of the Councell of Trent maie none of these be good better or best but that your olde translation hath the prerogatiue in goodnes in all degrees that it leaueth all other behinde it as nought O waightie censure of a wise Papist But let vs see wherein the excellencie of the olde translation doth consist as you suppose First you saie it was in vse in Gods Church aboue 13. hundred yeares past as maie be seene by the citations of the fathers which liued then But euen those verie citations doe prooue the contrarie at the least that it was not in generall vse in the latine Church Saint Augustine in the place by you quoted for the bowe of heretikes where your translation hath in obscuro did reade in obscura luna and standeth much vpon exposition of the darke moone Yea throughout the wholl Psalter whosoeuer wil compare the text which Saint Augustine vsed with your olde translation shall finde great difference betweene them But this your olde translation you tell vs was afterward oueruewed and corrected by Saint Ierome we know verie well that Saint Ierome did oueruew and correct a certaine auncient translation of the septuaginta that was vfed in his time But how are you hable to prooue that this your vulgar translation is the same either corrected or vncorrected For it appeareth by the citations of diuerse of the latine Church which liued after Saint Ierome that they vsed an other text then this translation euen vntill the daies of Bernard When you saie that this your olde translati on was highlie commended by Saint Augustine you make such a shameles 〈◊〉 as you obiect without shame to M. Charke when he saith that the Septuaginta agree with the hebrue in signification of the word perfecte for they saie irreprehensible which must needes be perfect but so is not your latine 〈◊〉 vnspotted or vndefiled which you your selfe in your censure do egerlie contend to be differing from perfection You name the translation of Erasmus and Luther of which the one translated onelie the new testament which Leo. 10. and Clemens 7. did both allow the other translated not the Bible at all in latine except perhappes some partes vpon which he wrote commentaries Here your Printer will make vs beleeue that you were remooued with a writ de remouendo so as you could proceede no further but now there is a writ de renouando sued against you if you
or vnoccupied in the worke of our redemption yea that the godhead did not worke the principall and moste necessarie part thereof it is too too abominable and intollerable heresie Out of the like stinking puddle it proceedeth that you saie that the holie Trinitie being of infinit power to worke their will in all creatures yet would not repaire the world nor remit our sinnes anie otherwise but by the seruice of the sonne of man That the seruice of the sonne of man was necessarie to be vsed it is moste true but that authoritie of the sonne of God was not necessarie for so great a worke as wel as the seruise of the sonne of man it is such an impudent blasphemie as I thinke the Pope him-selfe would condemne it if his opinion without partialitie thereof might be knowne As for the worke of Christes humanitie ioyned in one person to his deitie and the commission graunted to his ministers to remit sinnes are nothing hindred by acknowledging that God onelie doth properlie and absolutelie forgiue sinnes euen when his ministers according to his commaundement doe forgiue sinnes as S. Ambrose saith and all antiquitie doth accord Here it is declared by the scripture that the same power of remitting sinnes which God the Father by commission gaue vnto his Sonne as he was man was also by Christ bestowed on the Apostles after his resurrection THE SECOND CHAP. ALLEN IN what high reputation man hath euer bene with god his maker it is not my purpose now to treat of neither will I make anie tediouse talke though it be somewhat more neere the matter how estimation is encreased by the honourable and most merueilous matching of Gods onelie sonne with our nature and kinde whereof whosoeuer hath anie conside ration he shall nothing wonder I warrant him at the soueraingtie of such as be placed in the seat of iudgement and gouernement for the rule of that comonwealth whereof Christ is the head These thinges though they be well worthie our labour and deepe remembrance and not verie far from our matter yet so will I charge my selfe with continuance in my cause that I will onelie seeke out the dignitie of priesthood touching the right that the order laimeth in remission and retaining of mans sinnes In all which cause I take this a grounde that our Masters messenger stood vpon when his disciples grudged that Christ had his followers and practized Baptisme no lesse then him selfe did which is That no man can rightlie receiue anie thing that is not giuen him from aboue Therefore if it may be sufficientlie declared that the order holdeth by good warrant this their preheminence of pardoning or punishing of the peoples offences and that by commission from him who without al controuersie is the head of the Church then the contrarie must learne to leaue their contentious reasoning and vniust contempt of that order which is honoured by power and prerogatiue proceeding from Christ Iesus FVLKE That God of his meere goodnes and mercie hath vouchsafed man of so great honour that of him selfe deserueth eternall shame it is more reason to wonder at Gods mercie then to insinuate anie peece of mans dignitie or worthines That it hath pleased god to aduaunce some men to the gouernment of his Church vpon earth we haue cause to magnifie his maiestie that disdaineth not our base condition but putteth his honour and authoritie vpon them driueth vs not from them by the excellencie of their nature aboue ours but familiarly inuiteth vs to obedience of his wil that we may attaine to his promis of eternal happines The title of this chapter That our sauiour Christ gaue vnto his Apostles the same power of remitting sinnes which God the father by commission gaue vnto his sonne as he was man we do all agree but that Christ did exercise a more soueraigne authoritie in forgiuing sinnes then he did bestow vpon his Apostles or their nature was capable to receiue it is prooued sufficientlie in the Chapter going before Neuerthelesse I will examin all partes of this chapter and if in anie thing I dissent from you I will shew that you dissent from the trueth And first where you professe onelie to seeke out the dignitie of Priesthood touching the right that the order claimeth in remission and retention of mans sinnes you should haue done better to haue sought and set out the duetie of such persons also to whome such dignity is committed lest as it falleth out in your bastarde Popish Priesthood the dignitie be onelie sought for the labour and duetie almost or altogether neglected The ground you take out of Saint Iohn is infallible and therefore your Popish priesthood doth blasphemouslie vsurpe a pretended power to offer vp our sauiour Christ vnto his father as a sacrifice propitiatorie for the sinnns of the quick and the dead for graunt of which power from aboue you can shew no warrant out of the written word of God the onelie true record of Gods graunt and sufficient euidence for so great an authoritie ALLEN And of two or three places in holie scripture pertaining to this purpose that shall be first proposed which with moste force driueth downe falsehood and most properlie pertaineth to the pith and principall state of the cause which we haue in hand Thus then we finde of Christes wordes will and behauiour concerning the commission graunted out to his holy Apostles for the remission and punishment of our sinnes in the 20. Chapter of the Gospell of Saint Iohn Where the Euangelist thus reporteth that Christ after his glorious resurrection came into a secret chamber where his disciples were together the dore being shut for feare of the Iewes and there after he had giuen them as his custome was his peace and his blessing and she wed him self to their infinite comfort that he was perfectlie risen againe in the same bodie that so latelie was buried he then straight afterwarde to make worthie entrance to so high a purpose gaue them this peace againe in manner of a solemne benediction and therewith said Sicut misit me Pater ego mitto vos Euen as the father hath sent me so I do send you And when he had so spoken he breathed on them and said Accipite spiritum sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata remittuntur eis quorum retinueritis retenta sunt Receaue you the holie ghoste whose sinnes soeuer you shall forgiue they are forgiuen them and whose sinnes you shall retaine they be retained This is the place lo in which the iudgement and rule of our soules with all authoritie in correcting our sinnes in moste expresse and effectuall termes and in moste ample manner is giuen to the Aposiles and their successours Christ him seife doth communicate vnto them the iurisdiction that he receiued of his Father he giueth them in a solemne ceremonie that same spirit of God by which in earth him-selfe did remitte sianes hemaketh them an assured promis that whatsoeuer they pardoned or corrected in mans
otherwise but in his right name whosoeuer shall controlle or cōremne they not onely irreuerently touch gods annointed but they sacrilegiously laie handes on ipsum Christum Domini euen on him that is annointed aboue all his fellowes Well I conclud vp this matter with these few wordes of Saint Ambrose Vult Dominus plurimum posse discipulos suos Vult á seruis suis e a fieri in nominesuo quaefaciebat ipse positus in terris Our lordes pleasure is that his disciples should haue great prerogatiue he will haue the same thinges wrought by his seruants in his name that him-selfe did in his owne person when he was in earth FVLKE He that seeth not the difference of the ministerie of man from the power of God in those actions wherein God worketh by man gropeth in the darke seeth nothing as he ought to see Therefore let vs come to the light of your logick and thereby consider if we can the distinction of the one from the other If the maior or first proposition of your former syllogisme be vnderstood of a power or commission graunted to the manhood of Christ such as might haue beene graunted by God to anie other meere man then your Minor is not true that Christ by such a power and commission onelie setting his Godhead aside though truelie and effectuallie yet not in proper forme ofspeach by his fathers sending and commission remitted sinnes for then could he not be the author of remission of sinnes but onelie a minister thereof and therefore in proper forme ofspeach he could not be said to forgiue sinnes which is proper onely to god but to preach the forgiue nes of sinnes in Gods name or to testifie that God did forgiue sinnes as the ministers of the Church do Butif the Maior be vnderstood of such power commission as was giuen to Christ as the Mediator in respect of his manhood but yet such as he couldnot receiue exercise but in respect of his godhead such as could not be graunted to any but vnto that person which is God man such is the absolute principall power of remission of sinnes then I denie that such power was giuen to the Apostles at his departure For when Christ him-selfe did truelie effectuallie and in proper forme of speech remit sinnes he did it as God hauing equal and principall authoritie with the father and the holie ghost so to do The conclusion of your second syllogisme I graunt that the Apostles were sent to forgiue sinnes but retaining the former distinction of the authoritie of God and the ministerie of man For as Christ was sent of his father to preach the remission of sinnes so were the Apostles sent by Christ to preach remission of sinnes therefore such power as he had by preaching onely of remission of sinnes to forgiue sinnes such power be graunted to his Apostles whome he ordained preachers in his place but the proper pow er of his deity he graunted not nor any power which is proper to the person of the Mediator God and man Theresore these wordes of Christ As the father sent me so send I you must not be extended further then our sauiour Christ in that place meaneth For els infinite absurdities might be concluded thereof as that he sent his Apostles to redeeme the world to die for the sinnes of the world to be sauiours of the world c. or that he sendeth all ministers of the Church to whome this commission extendeth to clense leapers to raise the dead to giue sight to the blinde and to do all other miracles that he was sent to do According to this distinction that Rhetoricall amplification of Chrisostome is to be vnderstood and doubtles wonderfull great is the authoritie that man doth exercise in the name of God although that which is peculiar to God be not attributed to men The similitude that Chrysostome vseth in the same chapter Lib. 3. cap. 5. of a King graunting power to one of his subiects to imprison men and to release them sheweth that he knew the difference of the Lord from the seruant who if he abuse the authoritie committed vnto him deserueth sharpe punishment and therefore hath not absolute authoritie to do all things as his Lord and can not transgresse in doing And in the next Chapter he sheweth that Priestes do exercise this power of forgiuing sinnes by teaching admonition and by praier Not onelie by teaching and admonishing but also by the helpe of praiers and a manifest difference sheweth Saint Ambrose when he saith Christ would haue his disciples to do in his name the same thinges which he did on earth partlie in his fathers name and partlie in his owne name The power of priesthood touching remission of sinnes prooued by the solemne action of Christ in breathing vpon his Apostles and giuing them thereby the holie Ghost THE THIRD CHAP. ALLEN THe commission and power that our Master Christ receiued of his euerlasting father being in moste ample manner communicated with the Apostles made great proofe and euidence for the right that they claime in remission of sinnes but the present power of Gods spirit breathed by Christ vpon them and giuen vnto them for the ministerie and execution of that function helpeth our matter so much that whoso euer now denieth this authoritie of the Apostles concerning the pardoning of our offences doth not so much sinne against the sonne of man which of it selfe is greeuous inough as he doth controll the worke of the spirit of Christ which is the holie Ghost in whome both he and his Church doth remit sinnes The more plaine and more exact our master Christ was in the bestowing of that power to remit and retaine sinnes the more is our contempt in the disobedience and deniall thereof He sendeth them 〈◊〉 with his owne authoritie in this case he giueth them the verie spirit of God by whose diuine power they maie execute the function to which he called them he giueth them the expresse warrant of his owne word that sinnes they might pardon and punish and yet we make doubt of their vsurpation But how they might forgiue sinnes by Christes sending we haue alreadie said Now for the holie Ghostes power and prerogatiue in the same action which was breathed on the Apostles we must further conferre with such as call in question matters so plaine And first I am in goodhope that no man will denie but Christ gaue them the holie ghost for no other purpose so much as to remit sinnes Secondlie I doubt not of their faith and beliese in this point but they will confesse the holie ghost to be of power by nature and proprietie to forgiue sinnes Thirdlie I claime of their sinceritie thus much more that Christ being as well God as man was well able for the furniture of their calling to giue them the holie ghost all which being confessed of all men and denied of no Christian aline how the conclusion so beset with all
by them which haue the holie ghost in them-selues For when they remit or retaine the spirit which dwelleth in them remitteth or retaineth by them And that shal be by them as I thinke by two meanes first by baptisme and then by repeatence for either they induce men that beleeve and are approoued for holines of life vnto baptisme and diligentlie expill from them that are vnworthie or where the children of the Church doe offend they rebuke them indeede and pardon them that repent As Paul did once commit the fornicator among the Corinthians vnto the destruction of his flesh that his spirit might be saued and receiued him againe lest he should be drowned with greater sorrowe Therefore when the spirit of Christ dwelling in men performeth the worke of the true God how shall he not be God by nature which naturallie possesseth the power and dignitie of the diuine nature when he hath so excellent authority vpon the lawe of God This last argument of Saint Cyrill by which he prooueth against the Macidonian heretikes that the holie Ghost is verie God declareth that he neuer meant to deifie Priests with the same authority that is proper to god by which it should follow that the holie Ghost were not God if men had that authority of remitting sin that god hath wherefore it followeth that men are onely instruments by which the holie ghost speaketh declareth his own will of remission of sins not that the holie Ghost is subiect to the Censure of man which were intollerable blasphemie And therefore if the same father did anie where cal the ministers of the Church protectours an̄d curers both of bodies and soules it cannot be drawne to anie such meaning as though they were in deede deified and made as you would saie partakers of Gods nature to worke Gods owne office in the world but the ministers of God appointed to serue for the eternall saluation of the Elect both in bodie and soule Their order is diuine and they exercise the office of the holie ghost as S. Ambrose saith but yet so that nothing is communicated vnto man that is proper to God Who they were that did simplie and plainlie tearme the principall Pastours of the Church halfe gods not meere men you do not expresse perhaps you meane the Author of that blasphemous verse writen to the the Pope and by him not refused Nec Deus es nec homo quasi neuter es inter vtrumque Thou art neither god nor man but a neuter between both I finde in the scripture that ciuil princes are called not halfe Gods but whole Gods because they execute some parte of Gods authoritie among men Yet he that shall saie their persons̄ are therebie deified might well be accounted a most blaspemous flatterer We may now see out of what pudle the toades of the familie of Loue are crept that vpon pretence of the spirit of god dwelling in men moste blasphemouslie affirme that it deifieth their persons to make them of abilitie to exercise the workes of God whereas the power of remitting of sinnes is graunted euen to wicked Priestes in which the holie Ghost dwelleth not although he hath bestowed his giftes vpon them to make them sufficient in knowledge and vtterance to preach the gospell ALLEN But Saint Ambrose helpeth our matter with a long discourse all I will not now reporte for the present purpose thus he saith disputing against the Nouarians for the assertion of Priestly dignitie in assoyling our sinnes Qui Spiritum sanctum accipit sic enim scriptum est Accipite spiritum sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata remittuntur eis quorum retinueritis retenta sunt Ergo qui soluere peccatum non potest non habet Spiritum sanctum Munus spiritus sancti est officium sacerdotis ius autem spiritus sancti in soluendis ligandis que criminib est He thatreceiueth the holy ghost his meaning is in the taking of orders receiueth therewith the power to binde and loose For so is it written Receiue you the holie Ghost whose sinnes you doe forgiue they are forgiuen them whose sinnes you doe reseine they are reteined Therefore they which cannot forgiue mens offences they haue not the holie ghost that is to saie they haue not the gift of the holie Ghost which is giuen to the officers for their execution of their function in Christes behalfe for the gift of the holie Ghost is the office of the priest and proper right of remission of sinnes standeth in the holie Ghost Thus wrote Saint Ambrose against the heretikes of his time and both toucheth and ouer ouercommeth all the falsehoode of our daies against the minesterie of man which so ioyneth Gods spirit in all these diuine functions that it cannot without blasphemie and special contempt of God be contemned FVLKE S. Ambr. helpeth your matter neuera whit if you be not content with a mynistery a seruise a power subiect to the wil of God But you wil be halfe gods and more then men you wil haue your persons deified you wil be able to exercise the proper works of God For S. Ambr. reasoneth against the Nouatians which would take vpō them to binde them that were fallen but would not loose them nor receue them againe into the Church vpon their repētance signifying that the power of the one is as wel graunted to the Church as of the other that it was as proper to God to reteine sinnes as it was to forgiue them so that if they renounced the one they must renounce the other also by the same reason for it is the proper right of the holie ghost to doe the one as well as the other And the Nouatian heretikes were found transgressours of Gods commaundement who willeth the repentant to be loosed as well as the obstinate offender to be bound Ambrose therefore sayeth nothing for the deifying of mens persons but for the executing of gods commaundement of mercy as well as of iustice ALLEN But I remember Saint Augustine the Churches great Captaine against her aduersaries of those daies did euer in disputation against the Pelagians and other like enemies of faith make the greatest accoumpt of victorie and their ouerthrow when they were driuen to denie that which euer before had beene not onelie acknowledged of all men for trueth but also had beene vsed as a graunted trueth ground and principle for the notable euidence thereof to the impugning of other falsehoodes For there can be no doubt but that which our holie Fathers did vse without controlling and contradiction euen of their aduersaries to impugne their aduersaries withall there is no doubt but that it hath in it selfe exceeding much light and force of trueth as a thing hauing so litle neede of proofe that it may be made and taken for a probation of other matters that be doubtefull and vncertaine The matter which we haue now in hand is of that sort For the authoritie and power practized of priests in the
holie ghost was God by whose authoritie and proper power they did alwaies since Christs word was spoken remitte the same The which beeing true as it cannot be false that is so agreeable both to scriptures and to all our fathers faith the heresy of our time must needes directly impugne the vertue and power of Gods owne spirit For as the proofe of mans ministerie in this foresaid function induceth the true and euerlasting Godhead of the holy ghost by whome they practize that power so the denial thereof and robberie of priesthoode of this their moste iust claime doth directlie spoile God of his honour and of the euerlasting right that he hath in remission of sinnes So whiles these goodmen seeke to abase man vniustlie they blaspheme God highlie and together with mans ministerie they bring vnto vtter contempt Gods owne authoritie FVLKE Your deifying of popish priests doth altogether weaken the force of that argument which our fathers vsed against the auncient heretikes to prooue the diuinitie of the holie Ghost For it were an easie matter for Eunomius Macedonius or anie other heretike that was against his godhead to replie that by ministerie of God the holie Ghost might as properlie forgiue sinnes as Priestes do by the ministerie of Christ and of the holie ghost yea so farre forth as thereby they are made halfe Gods yea deified and made Gods in deede But you vtter repugnancie when you saie that by Gods authoritie and proper power Priestes do forgiue sinnes Where you make it not proper to God which is common to others with him Therefore you should speake more properlie to saie that God the holy ghost by his owne authoritie and power proper to the deitie doth forgiue sinnes in their ministery men thereto authorized do no more in proper speach and sense but testifie and declare what God doth for which declaration and testification seeing they are the embassadours and messengers of God vnto the world to declare his pleasure of reconciliation or condemnation they are said to forgiue sinnes or to retaine them which they do not properlie but pronounce the sentence of God concerning the remission or retention of mens sinnes And that this was the meaning of the Auncient fathers concerning the authoritie and power of Gods ministers it is moste manifest by this argument whereby they choke the enuier of the holie ghostes diuinitie from which you cutte of all the sinnewes and force it hath to prooue it when you communicate to men that which is proper to God and aduance men aboue the nature of meere men when you deifie their persons by meanes of the giftes of the holie Ghost giuen to them and make them of abilitie to exercise the proper workes of God As for the deniall and robberie that you ascribe I can not tell to what heretikes of this time we detest as much as ye not seeking to abase man beneath the nature and condition of man norseeking to extoll him by robbing God of his glorie and proper effects to magnifie menne to deifie the persoas of men as you do in plaine termes Whereby it is manifest we are as far from blaspheming god or making mans ministerie contemptible which he exerciseth in the name of God as you are from sobrietie thus to iudge if your meaning be of vs or thus to reason if you would defend the argument of the auncient fathers against the auncient heretikes ALLEN But for the readersease and more light of our cause I ioyne thus in argument with them againe vpon the second part of Christes owne wordes and action had in the authorizing of his Apostles Whatsoeuer the holie Ghost maie doe in this case by the proper power of his Godhead that may the Apostles and Priestcs do by seruice and ministerie through the power of the holie Ghost But the holie Ghost properlie and rightlie doth remit sinnes Therefore the Apostles doe rightlie remit sinnes by their ministerie in the said holie Ghost All partes of this conclusion stand vpright and feare no falsehood they be guarded on euerie side by Christes action by wordes of scripture by the Doctors plain warrant and by all reason With all which whosoeuer is not contented but will needes extinguere spiritum extinguish Gods spirit and violentlie take from the Church the greatest comfort of all mans life that in this infirmitie of our flesh standeth in moste hope by his gift in remission of sinnes for which especiall cause the said spirit was mercifullie breathed vpon the Apostles peculiarly before the mare common sending of the same from heauen aboue If all this reason and iust demonstration of trueth will not serue them I will charge them with this graue conclusion of S. Augustine vttered partlie against the Nouatians especallie against the desperate that would not seeke for Gods mercie by the Churches ministerie in the sacrament of penance To be briefe I will speake it in English Whosoeuer he be that beleeueth no mans sinnes to be remitted in Gods Church and therefore despiseth the bountifulnes of God inso mightie a worke if he in that obstinate minde continue til his liues end he is guiltie of sinne against the holie Ghost in which holy ghost Christ remitteth sinnes FVLKE I doe greatlie commend you that you haue such regard of the readers ease and it seemeth you haue good confidence of your cause that you flie not the light of Logicall iudgement by which the trueth shall more plainelie appeere to all sortes of men then by anie discourses at large vnder which many great errors may be often couered vnder sophistical cloudes ambiguity of words which in a briefe syllogisme is soone and easilie espied To answere your argument therefore First I distinguish of your Maior for if you meane by seruice and ministerie the expressing and declaring of the will and pleasure of the holy ghost wherunto they are authorized I acknowledge your Maior proposition to be true whatsoeuer the holie Ghost maie doe in this case by the proper power of his godhead that maie the Apostles and Priestes doe by seruice ministerie through the power of the holie Ghost But if you meane by seruice and ministerie that the proper power of God is communicated to men I denie your Maior as false and absurde For the Apostles and Priests maie not by seruice and ministerie through the power of the holie Ghost forgiue sinnes properlie which the holie ghost by proper power of his godhead may doe for this is a proper power not com municable vnto any creature but a declaration of the will of him that hath such power is the ministeriall authoritie by which men forgiue sinnes Secondlie I answere that your conclusion is deceitfull For your Minor Extreame or Assumption is not perfectlie ioyned with your Maior or Proposition in the conclusion For your Minor is that the holie ghost properly rightlie doth remit sinnes So your conclusion should be therefore the Apostles properlie and rightlie doe remit sinnes by their ministerie
that they are the twelue rocks or stones the foundation of the walles of the new Ierusalem Apoc. 21. 14. and the Church is builded vpon the foundation of all the Apostles Eph. 2. 20. Secondlie you saie the promis made to him Ioan. 1. Math. 16. was perfourmed no doubt after his resurrection when he committed to him the feeding of all his sheepe yong and olde Ioh. 21. 2. We graunt as much but that it doth exceedinglie import a wonderful incomparable soueraigntie and iurisdiction ouer mens soules greater or other then was equally graunted to the rest of the Apostles we see not how it can be inferred of anie scripture Euerie one of the Apostles being sent into all the world to teach all nations and to preach the Gospell to euerie creature hath as generall authority to feede the shepe of Christ both olde and yong as Peter Thirdlie you saie for a mortall man to receiue the keies of the kingdome of heauen and by them to binde and loose to lock out and let in before our Master Christ who had full iurisdiction therein it was neuer heard of But we read that the samekeies were committed to the scribes and Pharisees and teachers of the law which they did shamefullie abuse and therfore are threatned by our sauiour Christ woe be to you teachers of the law for you haue taken awaie the key of knowledge and neither you your selues do enter and you forbid them that would Woe be vnto you Scribes and Pharisees ye hypocrites for you shut vp the kingdome of heauen before men For neither you your selues do enter nor suffer those to enter that would enter Luk. 11. Mat. 23. here you note inthese places the key of knowledge by which the kingdome of heauen should haue beene opened taken awaie and the kingdome of heauen shut vp from them that gladlie would enter if they knew which way The keies in deede do signifie power and authoritie but that onelie Peter hath those keies and not the Church and euerie true Pastour of the same or that Peter by them had greater power and authoritie then the rest of the Apostles which had them also you shall neuer be hable to make demonstration Your remembrance serueth you well that all the olde writers do make no difference betweene the authoritie of Peter and the rest of the Apostles concerning the remitting of sins But you do forget that the power of bynding and loosing was by our sauiour Christ graunted equallie to all the Apostles and to their successours though it were once singularlie vttered to one The subtiltie of Origen to make a difference betweene binding and loosing in all the heauens and in one heauen onelie beside that it is vaine in it selfe yet is it not brought of Origen to dignifie Peter aboue all the Apostles whome both vpon the place of Mat. 16. and this also he confesseth to haue receiued equall power with Peter but to prefer Peter and such as Peter was before them that haue thrise reprehended offenders and beeing not heard haue bound the sinner vpon earth iudgeing him as an heathen or publicane whereof he inferreth Quanto melior fuerit qui ligat c how much better he is that bindeth by somuch he that is bound is bound more then in one heauen and how much better he is that looseth by so much he shall be more happie that is loosed for he is loosed in all the heauens The greater preheminence of rule and iurisdiction the fullnes of power and prerogatiue deriued from Peter as from a fountaine be matters of bolde assertion but void of all manner of proofe or demonstration ALLEN But we will not stand hereon now nor yet to put difference betwixt these wordes and tearmes loosing or remitting binding or retaining nor to dispute whether these two textes more properlie signifie the authoritie and iurisdiction giuen to the spiritual Magistrates for punishing by temporal pain enioyned and releasing by mercie as they see occasion the same appointed penance againe or els it properlie concerneth the verie release of sinne it selfe or retaining the sinne which they vpon iust causes will not forgiue These thinges would grow to ouer tedious a tale and ouercurious for the simple whome I would moste helpe in these matters and I shall briefllie touch so much hereof as is necessarie hereafter when I shall dispute of pardons For in deede these two textes of binding and loosing as well spoken to Peter as to the residue afterward shall be the ground of our wholl discourse there and therefore till then we must touch these textes no further but as in common pertaineth to remitting or retaining sinnes For they are brought indifferentlie of the holie fathers with the foresaid wordes of Saint Iohn in which as I haue declared the verie institution of penance and Priestes iudgement of our soules and sinnes be moste properlie grounded Theresore that by all these wordes so often vttered by our sauiour you maie well perceiue the verie literall and vudoubted meaning to be that Priestes haue authoritie by Christes warrant to remit and retaine sinnes I will recite one or two places of most auncient fathers that they ioyning with such plaine wordes of sundrie places of scripture maie make all most sure to such as can by anie reason be satisfied First Ialledge the saying of S. Maximus an olde author a blessed saint He doth by conference couple together these textes whereon we now stand thus hespeaketh verie pithely therefore you shal heare his owne words Ne qua vos fiatres de creditis Petro clauibus regni more nostrarum clauium cogitatio terrena promoueat Clauis caeli lingua est Petri quam singulorum meritae censendo Aposiolus vnicuique regnum coelorum aut claudit aut aperit Non est ergo clauis ista mortalis artificis aptata manu sed data à Christo potestas est iudicandi Denique ait eis quorum remiseritis peccata remissa erunt quorum detinueritis detenta erunt Thus he saith in our tongue Least anie earthlie cogitation mooue you to think of anie such materiall keies as we occupy in earth when you heare of committing the keies of the kingdome to Peter you must thus vnderstand that the key of heauen is Peters word or tongue because the Apostle weighing well euerie of our deserts openeth or shutteth to euery man the kingdome of Christ. This key therfore is not made by mortal mans hand but it is the power of iudgement giuen by Christ. To be briefe he saith to them al whose sins you shal forgiue they shal be forgiuē c. Thus saith Maximus ioyning together fitly two textes for one purpose out of both maketh a moste forcible argument that the iudgement of our soules which is a passing authoritie and the verie letting in and keeping out of heauen is addicted by the keies to Peters and the Apostles ministerie For which cause also S. Gregorie calleth all Christes Apostles and the iust occupiers
spake So the charge both of preaching and babtizing was giuen to a fewe chosen men then present but that al the world might preceiue that of his wisdome careful prouidence the charge authoritie pertained to the gouernours of the Church for euer no lesse then to them whome he then called to that function he added I will be with you to the end of the world meaning that they should exercise that office in his name assistance to the daie of iudgement Which in their own persons was not true but in their successours For this cause it is no doubt but what authoritie soeuer Peter had alone aboue the residewe of his fellowes that the same is by all reason to be diriued from him to all his successours and that caused Chrysostome to saie that Christ shed his 〈◊〉 to winne the sheepe which he committed to Peter and his successours to feed where Christ in person presentlie spake but to Peter alone and yet because he knew the like gouernment was both necessarie after Peters death as well as in his time and no lesse by Christs appointement to be continued in the Church after as before the Doctours doubted not to enlarge Christes worde vttered to Peter alone to al them that sis cceeded in the same roome Vpon these most strong groundes euerie man plainlie may argue the like power yet to be in the Church of God in euerie case euen as Christ did institute at the beginning when he gaue the charge to the Apostles first For looke what forme of gouernement and order of the Church was thought vnto his wisedome to be best then the same must needes be best now I speake for the substance of thinges for by diuersities of time and person some alteration may rise in the circumstances Therefore if it were good at that time that one should be the generall Vicar of Christ and pastour of all the sheepe for which he shed his blessed blood it is good yet also if some had authoritie then to consecrate Christs body some haue the same power till this time if some then must needes baptize preach other some must now also do the same finally if certaine then had commission by Christ the holie ghost giuen them to remit sins therewith power by his word both to pardon punish to bind to loose it must by force of the foresaide argument necessarilie be induced that some at this date must haue the like office For els Christ could not continue the same power office in the Church which he for the Churches sake did first institute which he counted of his heauenlie wisedome moste necessarie for the Chucrhes gouernement But I think no man hath yet so shaken of shame and feare of God that he dare holde that Christ was not hable to mainteine all power rule and iurisaiction with all kinde of functions which he instituted for the benefite of the people till the worldes ende both him-selfe and the holie ghost promised to be present for that purpose till the generall iudgement And that those functions were necessarie for his euerlasting common wealth his solemne institution and carefull prouision of them doe declare that he meaneth no lesse to establish the same which he then instituted not onelie the foresaid reasons but that saying of Saint Paull doth prooue He gaue vnto the Church some to be Apostles some to be Prophets some to be Euangelists some to be Pastours and Doctours and all this to the worke and maintenaunce of the ministerie for the persiting of the Saints and vpholding of Christes bodie till the time of the acknowledgeing of Gods sonne Thus doth Christ prouide for his deare Church in all manner of seruice and office euen til the last daie Wherebie it is most cleare that the power of remission of sinnes beeing once giuen to the Church can neuer cease whiles man of his continuall frailtie ceaseth not to sinne That which was then counted a necessarie refuge and remedie for sinnes committed can not now perish in the worlde where sinne is a great deale more rife and the remedie more needefull FVLKE There was a certaine power committed to the Apostles to haue a generall charge to preache ouer all the world which ceased by their death as that which was proper to the office of the Apostleship But such power as they had for the building vp of particuler Churches by preaching administring the sacramentes and exercising of discipline is perpetuall and died not with the Apostles And this authoritie is deriued vnto them immediately from Christ and not from Peter And therfore you abuse the name of Chrisostome to make him witnes of your deriuation for he acknowledgeth Christ him selfe in the wordes by you alleadged to haue 〈◊〉 feeding of his sheep to Peters successors that is to all preistes which be successours of the Aposties as Saint Hierome saith no les then vnto Peter him selfe for they are not Peters commissaries but Christes embassadours ministers and dispensers That one should be general vicar of Christ pastour of al the sheepe for which he shed his blood it was neither good not possible and therefore he instituted many and no one with such singular authoritie as is pretended The bodie of Christ is of perfect holines and therefore needeth no consecration of men but there remaineth authoritie with the ministers of the Church to consecrate breade and wine to be the bodie and blood of Chist that is the sacrament signe or figure thereof Likewise to preach and baptize to excommunicate and to receiue againe And that for which you bring in the rest to remit and reteine sinnes according to the pleasure of God reuealed in his holie Ghospell whereof the true dispensours are appointed to be true and faithfull interpreters and declarers ALLEN But to conuince them plainlie that thinke contrarie let them tell me whether Thomas beeing not then present as the Euangelist saith and therefore the wordes not vttered to him in person let them shew me whether he had not afterwarde by force of that institution power also to remit sinnes If he had as by reason I am sure they cannot denie as full preheminence and power to doe all thinges that then Christ charged his ten Disciples which were present to do in his name then the power of remission of sinnes was not so streightlie limited as the words might seeme to be vttered by which no doubt a sacramen was instituted to take force in the Church both then afterward to the worlds ende not that any man may of his owne head vpon force onelie of Christs commission giuen at that time to his Apostles take that high function vpon him but that he which ordinarilie shall be called by receiuing of grace and the holie Ghost in externall sacrament by laying on of handes of Priesthoode may likewise vpon his owne flocke and cure exercise that office no lesse then those holie men might after Christes calling thereunto occupie the
vbi de fructu suae conuersionis infidus est Christ deliuered the keies to the Church saith S. Augustine that whatsoeuer she loosed in earth should be loosed in heauen and what soeuer she bound in earth should be c. that is to saie that whosoeuer would not beleeue that sinnes should be forgiuen him in his Church they should not beforgiuen vnto him but whosoeuer did beleeue and being corrected did turne him-selfe awaie from them being placed in the bosome of the same Church should be healed by the same faith and correction For whosoeuer doth not beleeue that his sinnes maie be forgiuen vnto him is made worsse by dispairing as though nothing remained better for him then to beleue when he is vnfaithful vnbeleeuing of the fruite of his conuersion These wordes of Saint Augustine do shew that sinnes are forgiuen to the penitent and faithfull that beleeue the doctrine of repentance and forgiuenes of sinnes which is preached in the Church The place of Optatus vrging the vnitie of Peters chaire against the schismatikes that were deuided from the communion of the Catholike Church ascribeth no greater authoritie to Peters chaire in exercising the keyes or anie other power of the Priesthood then to all other chaires That Epiphanius allowethrepentance after baptisine against the Catharistes it prooueth no more an other sacrament of penance then that we do euen as he graunt that there is place of repentance before god reconciliation vnto the Church for such as do daily fall after baptisme But contrary wise it appeareth that Epiphanius alloweth but one sacrament of repentance which is baptisme Andyet saith he we take not awaie the mercie of God knowing the preaching of the trueth and the mercie of the Lord c the pardonable nature the vnstedfastnes of the soule the weaknes of the flesh the deepenes of the sense of manie men because no man is void of sinne and pure from filthines though his life be but one daie vpon the earth And perfect repentance in deede is in the lauer of baptisme but if a man fall the holie Church of god doth not loose him for it gran teth him a returne and after that repentance an other repentance The Greeke word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying a sorowfullnes for that which is committed by which the partie maie be brought to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfect repentance that he spake of before that is recouer the grace of forgiuenes of sins confirmed vnto him in baptisme which is the onelie sacrament of repentance the fruite whereof endureth vnto our liues end to make vs partakers of the fruite of regeneration that is life euerlasting The examples that he bringeth of repentanee offered to Cain and graunted to Peter do Prooue that he speaketh not of any sacrament of rePentance but sheweth that God receaueth them that fall after baptisme vnto repentance according to the preaching of trueth and of the mercie of God I muse what you meane when you saie that Epiphanius termeth baptisme perfect repentance with Saint Paul to the Hebr. cap. 6. For the Apostle to the Hebrewes hath no such terme either in that chapter or in anie other place of that epistle except you dreamed of such a matter because he professeth to leaue the first principles of religion as repentance from dead workes c. which pertaineth to the doctrine of baptisme and Imposition of hands and to grow to perfection In the Catholike Church as Lactantius saith there is confession because there is faith there is also repentance which wholsomlie healeth the sinnes and wound to which the weakenes of the fleshis subiect by which it is prooued that there is remission of sinnes in the Church continuing vntill the comming of Christ to iudgement ALLEN But he that listeth to see in what office and by whome he holdeth this singular honour of remission of sinnes he shall finde not onelie the Apostles who were called by Christ but all other Bishops also that succeede them in the Church to be her ministers herein Whereof let him reade the 26. Homely of Saint Gregorie pertaining almost whollie to that purpose I will repeat a few wordes onelie out of it committing the rest to the diligence of the reader Libet intueri saith he illi discipuli ad tanta onera humilitatis vocati ad quantum culmen gloriae sint oeruecti Ecce non solùm de semetipsis securi fiunt sed etiam alienae obligationis relaxationis potestatem accipiunt principatumque superniiudicij sortiuntur vt vice Dei quibusdam peccata retineant quibusdam relaxent Ecce qui districtum iudicium Dei metuunt animarum iudices fiunt alios damnant velliberant qui semetipsos damnare metuebant Horum profectò nunc in Ecclesia Dei Episcopi locum tenent ligandi atque soluendi authoritatem sumunt grandis honor sed graue pondus est istud honoris It is my meaning now to beholde to what marueilous honour the Disciples of Christ be exalted which before were called in their base state to great burden and troubles For now they be not onelie in assurance of their owne state but they haue obtained power of binding and releasing other and the verie soueraigntie of heauenly iudgement that in Gods owne steade they may some mans sinnes release and other offencesreteine Loe those that once feared the straight sentence of Gods owne iudgement are made the iudges of other mens soules to condemne or deliuer where they list that before doubted of them-selues And now truelie in these mens roomes are the Bishops of Gods Church and receiue the authoritie of binding and loosing and their owne state ofregiment High surclie is their Chaire but greater is their charge S. Gregorie said so farre But Saint Augustine shall make vp this matter with words of such waight that I trust euerie man shall see the trueth and almost feele the grossenesse of falsehood thereby He writeth thus vpon this verse of the Psalme Eructauit which is the 44. in number with him Pro patribus tuis nati sunt tibi filij constitueseos Principes super omnem terram In place of thy parentes thou hast Children borne thee them thou maist make the Princes of the wholl earth The Apostles did beget thee they were sent them-selues they preached in their owne persons and finallie they were thy fathers But could they alwaies corporallie abide here And though one of them said I would gladlie be dissolued and be withChrist yet for your sake I counted it more necessarie to tarie in flesh Thus he said but how long could his life last he might not remaine til this daie much lesse for the time to come What then is the Church desoiate after the departure of her parents God forbid In steade of thy parentes thou hast sonnes saith the text what is that to saie Marie the Apostles sent by Christ are as fathers and for them God hath raised vp children or sonnes which be the holie Bishops of the world
great lacke ofrulers if she haue made her onelie contemners to be her owne gouernours No these sellowes holde not by her but they holde against her these sit in no seat Apostolike but they by all force dishonour the seat Apostolike these are not they qui pro patribus nati sunt tibi filij but these are the sonnes quos enutriuisti genuisti ipsi spreueruntte If you aske of these men how they holde they seeke no Fathers after whome they maie rightly rule they seeke no large rew of predecessours in whose places they may sit they aske no counsell of Gods Church by whose calling they should gouerne but they make a long discourse of statutes and temporall lawes to couer their ambitious vsurpation that in great lacke of Christes calling their vniust honour may be approoued by mans fauour Thereby let them holde their temporall dignities their landes their liuelihoodes their wiues also if ther can obtaine so much at the commō wealthes handes but their spiritual functions their ministering of Sacraments their gouernance of our soules and what els soeuer they vsurpe without the warrant of Gods Church the longer they exercise them the farther they be from saluation and the neerer to eternall woe and miserie But to come to our purpose it is our Church Catholike in which all holie functions haue bene practized after Christes institution euer since his ascension vp to heauen And therefore this principall power of remitting and retaining sinnes must needes be contained in the Church by her ministers and priests as it was begonne in the Apostles before FVLKE I like well your pretence after a large discourse to knit vp your whole entent in a Syllogisme which you set as a matke for vs to shoote at while we liue verilie your argument if one word were awaie I would willinglie graunt but the word properlie you are neuer able to prooue while you liue nor all the papists in the world after you are dead therefore in respect of that word I denie your Minor And yet I graunt that you inferre vpon it your conclusion in such termes as you haue set it downe that lawfull Priestes Elders or ministers of Gods Church at this daie haue as fullpower to forgiue sinnes in their seuerall charges as the Apostles had in their gener all commission But here you will needes examine vs what Church that is in which Christ doth preserue the gouernment giuen to the Apostles The Catholike Church forsooth 2. Where the power of ministring the sacraments if you meane that by your termes of making and practizing hath continued still in the Catholike Church 3. What companie of Christ an people that is wherein the Apostles Doctours preachers ministers through the perpetuall assistance of Gods spirit be continued for the building vp of Christes bodie which is the number of the faithfull Still I answere the companie of the Catholike Church 4. What Church that is which bringeth forth from time to time sonnes to occupie the romes of their Fathers before them Here I answere manie hereticall and malignant Churches but onelie the Catholike Church hath continued from the beginning in such propagation You answere your selfe and saie it is not it is not the pelting-packe petrie congregation of the Protestants to your double negatiō a single affirmation may serue It is the Church of them you cal Potestantes in Europe which is a part of the Catholike Church dispersed ouer all the earth which Church of the Protestantes I see not why you should so pelt at it with your pettierhetorike It is God be thanked as great and as glorious at this time in the eies of the world as the Romish rable except that the ministers thereof be not so prowde nor so gorgeous That whore of Babilon your dame whome you would haue to be accepted for the Catholike Church of Christ which boasted her selfe that she was no widow is now of manie forsaken of her spirituall for nication begetteih but feew bastardes in comparison of that she was wont to doe Therefore it is not no no that wil be able to pul vs out of the Apostolike chaires in which we teach nothing but the Doctrine of the Apostles consonant vnto the Doctrine of the Prophets These Fathers we seek to holde of and all other that holde of the same line we hold with them as for large view of predecessours we know it must necessarilie insue the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles because of the perpetuall continuance of the Church And therefore we take not vp olde mouldie and mothen parchementes to seeke our progenitours names but by consanguinitie of Doctrine with the Apostles as Tertullian calleth it knowe we are Apostolike and set in Apostolike places As for the long discourse of statutes temporall lawes that you talke of we claime no spirituall inheritance thereby although we accept the confirmation of temporall lawes for the better execution of our offices What I pray you Sir had not you Papists in Queene Maries time as large a discourse of statutes and temporal lawes as we haue for the maintenance of your popish superstition and all thinges thereto belonging and yet you would procure enuie to vs of statutes and temporall lawes as though wee helde onelie by them As for temporal dignites landes lieuely hodes I knowe not how they shoulde be mainteined but by temporall lawes Out wiues we holde by the law of God against which there is no temporal lawe of the land by infinit better right then you doe hold your stewes and other remedies of your incontinencie and as for spiritual functions we holde them by the same right that they were first giuen to the Church and haue therein continued euen to this daie An answer to such as denie this power to passe from the Apostles to al other Priests because many of them beeing euill men may be thought not to haue the holy Ghost whereby they should effectuallie remit sinnes THE SIXTH CHAP. ANd to Caluin or other of his secte that require the like vertue and force of the holie Ghostes assistance in all men that take vpon them to remit sinnes as it was giuen to the Apostles who first receiued that power I answer that the same gift of the holie Ghost is yet in the ministers of the same Sacrament no lesse then in the Apostles For though they had more plentifull sanctification whereby they were in all their life more holie and more vertuous then lightlie anie other either Priestes or laie men were after them yet the giftes of the holie Ghost touching the ministerie and seruice of Gods Church which were not so much giuen them for their owne sakes as for the vse of the common wealth and for the right of practizing certaine holy functions requisite for the peoples sanctification as they were also giuen to diuers that were neither good nor vertuous and therefore lacked that which properlie is that grace of the holie Ghost that is called of our schoole men
gratia gratum faciens such a grace as maketh a man acceptable to God Therefore the holie Ghost breathed vpon the Apostles then by Christ and giuen yet to Priests in their ordering by Bishopes is a gift of God and a grace of the holy ghost not whereby man is made rertuous or cunning or happie before God but it is a gift onelie of God whereby man is called aboue his owne nature and dignitie to haue power and authoritie to doe and exercise anie function in Gods Church to the spirituall benefit of the people which is not onelie not alwaies ioyned to vertue and holie knowledge but it full often by calling due to them which are moste wicked persons without anie impaire of their authoritie And these kinde of giftes and graces of the holie Ghost be called gratiae gratis datae certaine giftes giuen to men for no desertes of their persons but freelie for the vse of other men to whome they be beneficiall euen there where they be hurtfull to the bestowers In which sense Saint Paule numbreth a great sorte in the fourth to the Ephesians and the first Epistle to the Corinshians and he calleth them not onelie the graces of the spirite but also the diuisions of functions and ministrations as the gift of working of miracles the gift of tongues the gift of prophecying the gift of preaching and so foorth all which being the giftes and graces of the spirit for the Churches edifying and of Saint Peter being called the holy Ghost in the Actes yet they were giuen to euill men often as well as to good without all imparing of Gods honoure yea with the great encrease of God glorie that euen by the wicked is able to worke his wil and holie purpose for the benefit of his Elect. And in this sense the spirite of God breathed vpon the Apostles was a gift of the holie Ghost whereby man should remit by lawfull power the sinnes of the people Whereupon Theophilact sayeth that Potestatem quandam donum spirituale dedit Apostolis vs remittant peccata ostendens quod genus spiritualium donorum eis dederit inquit quorum remiser it is peccata remittuntur eis that is to saie Christ gaue to his Apostles a certaine power and spirituall gift whereby they might remit sins for he shewed what power of the spirit it was that breathed on them when he said whose sinnes you doe for giue they be forgiuen Whosoeuer shall vndoubtedlie remit sinnes and absolue sinners must haue the same gift of the holie Ghost which the Apostles had whereby he cannot erre And this gift no man denieth but it maie be in a wicked and vngodlie man For euen such an one may preach the doctrine of Christ of remission of sinnes publikelie and priuatlie if he haue the calling that is required to that office Neither doth Caluine or any other that are of his iudgement otherwise require the like force of the holie ghostes assistance in al men that take vpon them to remit sinnes For there is not onelie a power but a knowledge required in him that shall assuredlie and vndoubtedlie forgiue sinnes And therefore the papistes doe vnreasonably make a diuorse of the keie of power from the keie of knowledge which power if it be no guided by knowledge doth nothing but insteade of opening and shutting with the keies committed to the Church throw forth the keies as the blinde man casteth his staffe which cannot happen so right in to the locke that they should open it to the penitent sinners For it is not the Priestes authoritie that can open the dore of comforte to a sinners conscience except he can declare vnto him out of the word of God how and by what meanes he maie be reconciled vnto God That the holie Ghost is giuen by Bishopes to Priestes in their ordering it is more boldlie affirmed then euer it can be prooued for Christ onelie hath authoritie to giue the holy Ghost and therefore to declare that it commeth from him alone among men he breathed vpon his Apostles which though the Bishops doe vntill their longues ake yet can they not furnish their parties by them ordered with giftes meet for their calling as Christ did his Apostles They must make choise therefore according to the Doctrine of the Apostle of those that haue those gratious and necessarie giftes of God before and to them they must commit the power and authoritie to exercise the same to the publike benefice of the Church But if they wil giue authoritie to them that haue no wisdome to exercise the same they make the most foolish iudges of all the world and such are worthelie contemned Therefore howsoeuer you distinguish grace you must not seeke to winne credit to them which haue nothing but pretense of authoritie when they be voide of all vnderstanding how to vse it as manie hundreds yea thousandes of your hedge Priests are if their calling were neuer so good as it is moste corrupt and vnlawfull ALLEN If our aduersaries be ignorant of these thinges which be so common in schooles of diuinitie yet we think they should remember that Saint Paul did not dissalow the authoritie nor power of preaching in such as were euil men and taught for emulation and not of sincere zeale of the Gospell and that Christ him-selfe stopped not such as cast out deuilles in his name and therefore were not without the gifte of workeing miracles though he professed that manie of them at the date of iudgement challenging some right of heauen vpou that acte should not be receiued to glory how the gift of prophecy was common in the olde 〈◊〉 not onelie to the wicked but to such as willinglie would deceiue the people And Caiphas he prophecied by the spirit of God as by force of his office being yet in purpose to worke wickednes against Christ himselfe for whose trueth he then by force of the spirit prophecied But of the Sacramentes of Gods Church euerie one that they may beministred beneficiallie to the receiuing in much wickednes of the giuer there is no man can be ignorant For it is a rule and a principle moste certaine that God worketh his will in them by the ministerie of men be they neuer so euill For elle they were mans sacraments and not Gods and we could not be certaine neither of our baptisme neither of right receiuing of Christes bodie in the holie sacrament of his eultar nor of any other spirituall benefit that we now by mans ministery receiue in the Church Much cōsort it were for al Christian people to hauesuch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then soules and such disposers of Gods mysteries as would could in all sinceritie and faithfulnes worke Gods 〈◊〉 and that would alwaies vse the high power giuen them to 〈◊〉 and neuer to destroie and that they would so doe both S. Peter and S. Paule doe often exhort them But neither the miserie of mans sinsull nature can suffer that nor our wickednes can
Christ gaue them the holie Ghost But Caluinsaith notso but that authoritie to remit sinnes is graunted to be exercised by preaching both priuatelie and publikelie that is to assure men that God doth remit their sinnes and that the giftes of the holie Ghost were graunted to the Apostles that they might be inabled to exercise that high office and function which giftes no man hath power to giue but onelie God neither doth anie man at this daie receiue them in such plentifull measure but that he maie erre of whomesoeuer he be ordeined or sent to preach Neither doth Caluin require that power of not erring but onelie in them that arrogate vnto them-selues an absolute power to remit sinnes as properlie as the holy Ghost doth forgiue them who we knowe cannot erre in binding him that is to be loosed or loosinge him that is to be bounde as popishe pristes doe which yet presumptucusly and blasphe mouslie arrogate vnto them-selues such power and authoritie That it standeth well with Gods houour that mortall men should ren it sinnes and that Nouatus the heretike was of olde condemned for denying the same and that he was the father of this heresy which denyeth the Priests authoritie THE SEVENTH CHAP. ALLEN Now by all our former discourse the right of remission of sinnes sufficiently prooued to pertain to priesthood some will perhaps count it vaine labour to make more declaration of that which is so plaine or further to establish that by reason which standeth so fast on scriptures But if anie so thinke they see net the wyde waies of heresie nor the manifolde shifies that she attempteth euen there where shee maie seeme to be fullie beaten The simple and the sinfullstand moste in her danger that can not in their lack of intelligence compare reason to reason nor gather one trueth of an other and therefore to their mouthes we must chew all meates verie small els there could be no great need of their further information how this claime of remission of sinnes or the vsisall practize thereof could stand with Gods glorie For being answerable to his ordinance it can not but be agreeable with his honour But because in desperate cases our aduersaries haue taught their fellows there to wrangle vncurteouslie where they can not mantaine reason pithelie I will not onelie serue my cause but sometimes pursue their follie though I doubt not but the wisdome of God shal more and more appeare touch ing his meaning in our matter not alonelie by our defence but a great deale the rather by their discontentation Now therefore intending to declare that this preheminence of priesthood doth nothing abase or derogate to Gods aignitie I think it not amisse to match our new doctours of whome I heare often this complaint with other their forefathers that at once both trueth maie fullie be serued and a yoke of aduersaries ioyntlie drawing against the Church and our saluation may be almost with one breath refuted Our yong masters may be glad to grow so high in gods Church as to be reprooued with them who were condemned thirteene hundreth yeares since and though they be so modest that lightlie they list not crack of their auncestours yet we will not defraud them of that glorie nor healpe our cause by dissimulation of their great antiquitie It is their pusillanimitie I know that they will not often in distresse of their doctrine call for aid of their forefathers who were doubtlesse verie auncient and manie of them within the first six hundred yeares In other causes Vigilantius might healpe in some Iouinian would attend vpon them Manes might do them often high pleasure Iulianus the apostata a prince for their purpose Simon Magus one of the Apostles age would stand by them surelie if our aduersaries had 〈◊〉 they would well neere winne of vs by antiquitie And truelie I can not dissemble with them in this cause that now is in hand they haue one patron against vs of yeares very auncient and of reason much much like vnto themselues Nouatus is his name of whome the followers were called of the Church Nouatians but them-selues liked to be called Cathari that is to saie cleane and vndefiled persons Their opinion was that such as did fall into anie mortall sinne after Baptisme could not by anie man or meanes be assoiled thereof and for that they dissalowed the Churches wholl practize of mercie and remission of sinnes in the sacrament of penance nothing dissagreeing from Caluin that condemneth the saying of Saint Ierome as sacrilegious where he writeth that penance is as a second beord of refuge whereby after shipwrack a man may be saued Neither did Nouatus denie but himselfe might haue mercie and giue pardon after mansfall but the Church could not therein meadle as he thought without singular iniurie to Christ and his onelie prerogatiue And that he ioyneth in this matter fullie with our men that they maie take more comfort on him you shall perceiue by Socrates one of the writers of the Tripartit historie who saith thus Nouatus scribebat Ecclesus ne eos qui Daemonibus immolauerant ad sacramenta susciperent sed inuitarent quidem ad poenitentiam remissionem verò Dei relinquerent potestati cuius solius est peccata remittere Nouatus wrote his letters to diuerse Churches that they should not admitte anie man to the Sacramentes that had sacrificed to Diuelles but that they should onelie mooue them to doe Pennance and committe to God the remission of their sinne who onelie can forgiue mans offences And therefore though in some other point Nouatus did ouerpricke his children yet herein they fullie meet in one Epiphanius writeth that he denied saluation to those that did fal to greeuous crimes after their Christendome and therewith did holde that there was but one penance which was done in baptisme after that the Church to haue none How hansomelie he defended this error and vnmercifull heresie ye shall see anone by Saint Ambrose who learnedlie followed and chased him or his followers in an wholl worke written for that purpose In the meane time it were good for the more credit of the man and his cause to note with the auncient Doctors of his daies his conditions his comming vp his proceeding and practizes S. Cyprian who was most molested with him knew him best geueth him this praise Nouatus was a man that delighted much in nouelties and newes of insatiable auarice a furious rauin with pride and intollerable arrogancie almoste puffed past him selfe knowen and taken of all Bishoppes for a naughtie packe condemned by the common iudgement of all good Priestes for a faithlesse heretike curious and inquisitiue them to betraie for to deceiue alwaies readie to flatter in loue neuer faithfull nor trustie a match euer fired to kindle sedition a whirle winde and storme to procure the shipwrake of faith and to be short an aduersarie to tranquilitie and an enimie of peace These were his conditions then FVLKE In the latter
contrarie doings may be What Epiphanius writeth of his heresie and Saint Ambrose confuted the same is shewed before as also how truelie Caluine is charged to iumpe with Nouatus in denying repentance after Baptisme because he calleth baptisme the sacrament of repentance as before him the auncient writers vsed accustomablie whereof you maie reade in his institution the place before mentioned ALLEN Mary long before that his fall to heresie S. Cornelius writein that he was possessed in his youth with an euill spirit for which he had to do great while with coniurers that he lacked all the holie solemnitie of Baptisme and confirmation and consequentlie the Spirit of God which by them he should haue receiued and therefore tooke orders against the law vpon sinister fauour and afterward by vnlawfull artes attempted to get abishopricke with great othes protesting that he would not be a Bishop if he might But when indeede he could not attaine to that holie dignitie which he so inwardlie and intollerablie gaped for he fell in despite of Gods Church to heresie that he might get that without order whch he could not obtaine in the right manner of the Churches making And for that purpose he procured three base Bishops out of a straunge and remote part of Italie who neither knew the case the man nor his manners and them through ignorance he beguiled and by force caused them to consecrate him Bishop by the colour whereof for true imposition of hands was it none sodenlie he appeareth as a new creature a Bishop of a strange stamp apparuit Episcopus velut nouum Plasma saith Cornelius And for this attempt one of the poore Bishops did great penance the other two were deposed In the meane time this mocke Bishop vendicabat sibi euangelium challenged the word of the Lord for him-selfe denied him-selfe to be a Priest because he would not giue to the people as Theodoritus saith in their extremitie the remedie for their sinnes which is nothing els but to giue them absolution which worke he could neuer abide To be short he was so incensed against his lawful Paslour and superiour the holie Bishop of Roome that in the deliuerie of the blessed sacrament to the people he would force them to take an oth by the blessed bodie which they had in their handes readie to receiue that they should stick to him and for sake the Bishop of Rome Cornelius All these thinges in sense hath Eusebius of Nouatus the first patron of the Protestants doctrine concerning the impugning of the Churches title in remission of sins of which her right he would haue robbed her in pretence of maintenance of Gods honour Whereby he also abrogated the wholl Sacrament of penance This falsehood though it were streight with he author condemned in a great Councell holden at Rome and afterward in diuerse Prouinciall Synodes and by the holie councell of Nice it selfe repressed also Yet it spred very sort and cintinued long and was not onelie by S. Cyprian but also by Dyonisius Alexandrinus Saint Amb ose and Saint Chrysostome refused in sundrie workes written against the Nouatians By whome and other though the course of that false assertion was often broken in gods Church yet in some partes they did knit againe sometimes by certaine heretikes of Nouatus daies called Tessarescedecatitae qui auersabantur poenitentiam saith Theodoritus who did abhorre penance and sometimes by a sort called Iacobitae 〈◊〉 whiles by wrcliffe his else by the Waldenses now and than by the Anabaptistes latly by the Lutherans moste of the protestantes by the Caluinistes eueryone All which blacke band though they agree not at euery pinch of Nouatus heresit for it is not possible that such should euer fullie consent yet all these knit tailes together in this that there is no sacrament of penance after Baptisme in which the priest may forgiue sinnes and that it standeth not with gods honour so to remit the peoples offences Of other the like heresies which he lent our men as of forbidding holie Chrisme and annointing of such as were by him baptized in so much that the holie fathers were glad to make vp the lacke thereof in all such as came from their heresie to the vnitie of Christes Church I will not here speake purposing onelie because that onelie concerneth our matter to refute that olde heresie raised so long since against the prerogatiue of Gods priests and onelie helpe of our sinnes that at once both the author and the ofspring may be fullie ouer throwen FVLKE Nouatus as he is described by Cyprian but that he came too soone before the open reuelation of Antichrist had beene a man much more fit to make a Pope of the Church of Rome whereof he was mockbishop then a poore minister of the Church of England And whatsoeuer you gatherout of Euseb. Theodoret or any other writer against him declareth that he was an execrable man but maketh no resemblance of his heresie with our doctrine concerning the power of remitting of sinnes You saie that he lacked all the solemnitie of baptisme and confirmation and consequentlie the spirit of God which by them he should haue receiued Eusebius indeed out of the Epistle of Cornelius writeth that after he was helped by exorcistes he fell into dangerous sicknes and being at the point of death and not considering he receiued baptisme in his bed if it may be said that such a one receiued For after he escaped his sicknes he obtained not therest whereof he should haue bin partaker according to the canon of the Church that is to be sealed or confirmed of the Bishope and hauing not obtained this how obtained he the holie Ghost By which wordes Cornelius meant that he which was baptized in extreamitie when he knew not what was done vnto him and afterward when he was whole had no care to approoue his baptisme by the Bishoppes iudgement vpon his owne confession acknowledging of Christian Religion could not be taken for a right Christian much lesse according to the discipline of those daies might be admitted vnto the ministerie But being admitted by a singular and if you will a sinister dispensation in time of persecution he was so fearefull that he denied himselfe to be a Priest when he was desired to come vnto them and onelie by wordes to confirme them that were stricken with the terrour of the tyrant as Therdoret writeth The oathe that he exacted of such as receiued the Sacrament of the Lordes supper at his handes was more like the oath that the pope exacteth of all Bishopes at their consecration then anie ministred in the Queenes Maiesties visitation That Wickliffe the Waldenses Luther or Caluine do denie repentance or reconciliation of them that are fallen after Baptisme it is a meere slaunder although they denie the Popish sacrament of penance whereof there was no mention in the Chuch manie hundred yeares after Nouatus That the Nouatians did not anoint those that
were by them Baptized it seemeth they take it of their Master Nouatus who because he had contemned he ceremonie vsed in that time of the Church him-selfe taught his schollers to doe the same left it should hawe beene reputed a want in him Although not the omission of the ceremonie but the contempt of the vsage of the Church being not impious in it selfe was chiefelie condemned in him For at such times as he was ordained Elder or Priest of the Church of 〈◊〉 it was thought by the Bishope a matter that might be remitted in him that for other respectes seemed meete for the office neither was it thought necessarie that he should receiue that cerimonie so by him omitted but not yet as it was thought in despight of the Church refused The Fathers oflater time as Theodoret writeth decreed that such as came from his heresie and would be incorporated into the Church should by receiuing that cerimonie which in time of their heresie they despised declare that they were truelie conuerted from it and willinghe submitted themselues to the Catholike Church and her Doctrine But of late daies when that ceremonie of anointing hath beene accounted a Sacrament yea and a greater Sacrament then Baptisme and thought necessary to eternall saluation whereas yet it hath no institution of Christ set forth in the holie Scriptures the reformed Churches haue iustlie abrogated that custome according to that libertie which the Church hath in all ceremonies not commaunded by God according to the example of the Church in former ages which hath abrogated manie ceremonies vsed of auncient times aswell as that of anointing with oile them that are Baptized ALLEN And first because generallie all the foresaid ioyne together against the trueth in this argument that it is dishonour to god and great presumption in a mortall man to claime the power so proper to God let the studious reader well consider that no function power ne dignitie be it neuer so peculiar to God him-selfe by naturaii excellencie but the same maie be occupied of man secondarilie as by the waie of seruice ministery or participation so that man challenge nor vsurpe it not as of him selfe or when it is not lawfuliie receaued nor orderlie giuen All the workes that extraordinarilie and miraculouslie were wrought either by Christ in his humanitie or by the Prophets or Apostles wordes or by their garments or by what other instrumēt so euer they were donne were the works of god no lesse then to remit sins yet al these things other the like brought to passe by man through the power of god that worketh by mans ministerie the same nothing derogateth to gods glorie but infinitelie augmenteth his honour euen so the power of pardoning mans sins being emploied by God the father vpon Christ his sonne by Christ vpon his Church ministers practized by them not of their owne might heades but in the 〈◊〉 of the holie ghost which by the sonne of god was 〈◊〉 vpon them this authoritie I saie is no derogation but an euident signe of his mightie power of saluation left for the faithfulls sake in the Church When the person that was lame from his birth begged of Peter and Iohn somewhat for his reliefe at the Temole dore as his manner was Peter answered him that golde and siluer he had none to giue but that which he had he would willinglie bestowe which was power to heale him of his incurable maladie for proofe whereof he bad him arise and walke and so he did at his word in the sight of all that there were gathered which being done and the people wondering thereat the Apostle thus instructed them Brethren faith he why wonder you at vs as though we had brought this strange worke to passe by our owne strength and power it is the God of Abraham Isaac Iacob that hath glorified his sonne Iesus whome you refused and betraied to Pontius Pilatus to be crucified in his name and faith this poore man is recouered Marcke well that the same thing which peter said him selfe had to giue quod habeo tibi do the same yet he professeth that he holdeth not as of his owne right or might but as of Christ Iesus in whose name he willed the lame to walke euen so the the power of pardoning sinner is truely and properly in the Priestes as the power of working miracles is properly in Peters hands neither the one noryet the other holden as of their owne might and power but both practized for the glory of God in the name of Iesus of Nazareth by their appointed ministery And as truly as Peter might saie to the feeble in body that which I haue I giue thee rise and walke in the name of iesos of Nazareth so surelie may the Priest saie to the sicke in souie that which I haue I giue thee in the name of Iesus thy Ennes my sonne be forgiuen thee No lesse is the one the peculiar worke of God then the other no more doth one dishonor god then the other FVLKE Nothing that is proper or peculiar to God can be communicated to man but it ceaseth to be proper to God For it is against the nature of properties to be made common to any other subiect then to that whereof they are proper adiuncts And yet I denie not but that which is proper to God he doth exercise often times by the seruice or ministery of men in which they are but instrumental causes he him selfe is the principal efficient otherwise man maie not occupie or execute secondly or thirdly or last of all by waie of participation that which is proper or peculiar to God So that it remaneth still an vndoubted truth that God onelie doth forgiue sinnes properlie and man doth not forgiue sinnes properlie but is the instrument of God to vtter and declare the good pleasure of God in forgiuing sinnes to all and euerie one that repent and beleeue the Gospe ll Your general negatiue that there is no function power nor dignitie be it neuer so peculiar to God by naturall excellencie but it maie be occupied of man secondly as by the waie of seruice ministery or participation if it were vrged against you would breed horrible absurdities To omit all other the power of creating thinges of nothing by what meanes maie man be partaker thereof occupie it or exercise it But let vs consider your induction All Miraculous workes worught by Christ in his humanitie the Prophets or Apostles were no lesse proper to God then the power to remit sinnes Yes verilie for manie miraculous workes that God did by Moses the inchaunters of Egipt did the like by the power of the deuill whereby it appeareth that although ail power be deriued from God as from the first cause thereof euen that power which the deuill hath yet it is otherwise communicated to creatures then the power of remission of sinnes is For that remaineth onelie in the hande of God and is not properlie
name and authoritie shall sufficientlie beate downe these mens boldnes Saint Ambrose in this case is moste plaine and standeth with the Nouatians as I doe now with the Zuinglians euen in the verie same argument in these wordes Sed aiunt se Domino deferre reuerentiam cui soli remittend orum oriminum potestatem reseruent imò nulli maiorem iniuriam faciunt quà m qui eius volunt mandata res indere commissum munus refindere nam cùm ipse in Euangelis suo dixerit Dominus Iesus accipite Spiritum sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata c. quis est ergo qui magis honorat Vtrum qui mandat is attemperat an qui resistit Ecclesia in vtroque seruat obedientiam vt peccatism alliget laxat That is to saie These Nouatians saie that they denie penance or power to remit sinnes in earth in respect of the maintenance of such honour as is due to God to whome onely they will reserue the pardoning of mans sinnes But in deede none doe so much iniury to Gods glory as those which breake his commaundements and make a diuision of that charge and commission which he giueth For seeing our Lord Iesus by his owne mouth spake these words Receiue ye the holy ghost whose sinnes you doe forgiue they be forgiuen and whose sinnes you holde they beholden who in this case more honoureth God He that obeieth his commaundement or he that resisteth the same The Church obeieth in both as well in binding as in loosing Thus there And a litle after Looke to whome this charge was giuen and that person may lawfullie and with Gods good leaue vse the same Au l therefore the Church may lawfullie both binde and loose heresie and her attendants can rightlie doe neither This right is onelie committed to priests and therefore the Church rightlie challengeth that authoritie because shee hath lawfull priests and so heresie cannot doe because shee hath not the priests of God in her cursed congregation Thus said Saint Ambrose for the answere of the Nouatians in his daies and so say I now in the Churches behalfe against the like affected enemies of Christs honour which whiles they in face of scripture and Gods word would seeme to defend they are become sworne aduersaries of his honour and open contemners of his commaundements and holy ordinance Saint Ambrose here taketh it for a ground that it is Gods ordinance that Priests should remit sinnes he is bolde to call the contrarie doctrine heresie he maketh a principle of this that it neuer dishonoureth God that man should doe that which God giueth him either commaundement or commission to doe in his behalfe he taketh it for a knowne trueth that as the Church of God hath true and lawfull priests so shee may by them vpon Christes warrant bath loose and binde and contrariwise that heresie may well enough giue ouer that right of remission of sinnes because shee hath lightlie no lawfull priests by whome shee may practize the same FVLKE First you make a vaine exclamation or outcrie as though heresie hath spoiled the Church of her treasures vnder pretence of Gods glorie but such rhetoricall vamties all wise men will deride The Church is not spoiled of her treasures when neither Christ nor his grace is conteined in the sacraments but when Christ her onelie treasure is spoiled of his glorie of sole redemption and fatisfaction for our sinnes or of any other parte of the office that belongeth to the mediator Therefore it is her greatest honour that Christ may haue his true honour in whome with whome she hath al things not to the glory of flesh bloode but to the glorie of God to whome all glorie of right belongeth what Saint Ambrose did write against the Nouatians pertaineth not to vs who denie neither the power of remitting nor of reteining of sinnes but graunt both But that Saint Ambrose did not meane of such a power as the Papists doe claime I haue shewed before out of his owne wordes in the same place where he saieth that our Lord hath chosen such Disciples as should be interpreters of their Lordes will This power is graunted to all true ministers of the Church that they are the Legates or embassadors of god to declare his wil pleasure vnto men aswel for remitting as for reteining of sins And therefore Nouatus or Nouatianus did very absurdlie by Saint Ambrose his iudgement that did arrogate vnto himselfe power to reteine sinnes while he pronounced that they which fell into Idolatrie after Baptisme might not be receiued into the Church vpon any trial of their repentance and would not yeald that the ministers of the Church by the same authoritie might pronounce that they which were truelie penitent of their former wicked behauiour were forgiuen in the iudgement of God which was to remit their sins vpon earth with faith in Gods promise that they shall be forgiuen in heauen Thus the answere of Saint Ambrose vnto the Nouatians doth nothing in the world make against vs which denie no power that Christ hath graunted to his Church vnder collour of maintenance of Gods honour ALLEN And surelie it is a maruclous force of trueth or rather the might of Gods prouidence that driueth Heretikes to disdaine destroie and dissanull the graces and manifold giftes of Christes Church that impugning them where the verie right of such holie actes doe lie they may plainlte confesse and to their shame acknowledge that they haue none such themselues nor cannot by Gods warrant challenge any such giftes which with all their might they would wholie if they could together with Gods spirit and Church extinguish Alas into what miserie hath this forfaken flocke willfullie cast them selues and their adherentes which can forsake Gods house vbi mandauit Dominus benedictionem vpon which God hath bestowed his blessing abide there where by their owne confession there is no Priesthood no penance no host no sacrifice no remission where they can let of sinnes no grace in sacramentes nor no gift of the holie Ghost All other herisies lightlie by force of the Fathers Doctrine and iudgement lost either their Priesthood because they had no waie out of the Church to make Priestes as Saint Hierome writeth of Hilarie the Deacon or els the vse and function of Priesthood by reason the workes of God cannot be orderly nor benefi iallie vsed out of the house of God and yet they euer claimed to themselues not onlie the order but for moste parte all other functions that by Christ and his Church were annexed to that order but ours wherein they passe all their forefathers in a manner willinglie giue ouer the wholl profession freelie and without compulsion denie them selues with Nouatus to be priestes denie to sacrifice denie to enioyne penance denie to giue the holie ghost either by imposition of handes or by Chrisme or by any other solemne right of Gods Church To be short take nothing from these fellowes that belongeth
to Christianitie for they will giue all ouer them selues But briefllie to conclude vp the answere to their reason founded vpon Nouatus his principle touching Gods honour thus I saie That neuer derogateth to Gods honour which is agreable to gods ordinance but that priests should remit sinnes is the ordinance of God as is declared therefore the vse thereof doth not derogate any whit to gods honour Againe as great workes and as proper to god as remission of sinnes was practized by the Apostles and yet is vsed by the Bishops of holie Church without all dishonour of god giuing the holie ghost and gods grace by laying on of 〈◊〉 Ergo remission of sinnes may be also practized of priests without all iniurie to God and the onelie right therein FVLKE Whethersoeuer the force of trueth or prouidence of God driue heretikes we haue no purpose to follow them The gifts which god bestoweth on his Church and the ministers thereof with all humilitie and thankefulnes we acknowledge receiue and exercise to his glorie and the benefit of his Church although we arrogate nothing vnto our selues either in them or in any other thing that is proper to God And therefore it is both a vaine and a false complaint that the Church adorned with Gods blessinges is forsaken and a congregation barren of all Gods giftes imbraced All offices of ministerie in the Church that God hath ordained we admit and practise neither will we giue ouer anie thing for all your childish prating whereof we haue warrant to enioie it out of the word of God To your syllogismes I answere thus to the first That to exercise the Power of remission of sinnes in such sorte as it is ordained of God is no dishonour to God but a great honour To the second I denie that anie thing proper to God as remission of sinnes giuing the holie Ghost and Gods grace as it is proper to God was or could be practised by the Apostles or anie mortal man properly otherwise I confesse that remission of sinnes as Christ hath commaunded it may be practised without all iniurie to God and his onelie right therein For further proofe of the forsaid matter it is declared that neither Christ nor his euerlasting Father nor the holie Ghost doe giue ouer vnto man or resigne the power of remission or anie other holie function of the Church but doe themselues continuallie worke all those graces by mans mynisterie and seruice THE EIGHT CHAP. ALLEN FVrthermore we must here consider that what worke soeuer God appointeth man to exercise in his Church either in remission of sinnes or giuing grace of Gods spirit or what other holie action soeuer may in his name be done for the benefite of the people by the ministerie and seruice of man either by the meanes and mediation of any other instrumentall cause we must learne that in these workes so wrought either by man or through other creatures God doth not resigne his right to the waies and workers thereof and giue ouer the wholl title that is due to himselfe in the saide diuine acts For then in deede mans practize should derogate from Gods power and he should as it were succeed God in the right of his proper power and euerlasting inheritance which onelie to surmise as heretikes do were meere follie Christ is by euerlasting right made the head of the Church and he resigneth not this office to anie mortall man For if he did then the partie that should by his graunt occupie for a season the same dignitie were his fuccessour and should holde in like right the same office as he did before But that notwithstanding he hath made his substitute and vicegerent by whom in his corporall absence he ruleth now the Church as he did before in his owne person not giuing ouer his preheminence supreame power therein but now practizing that by another which afore he exercised him selfe in his owne person It had beene a great derogation to Christ that Peter should haue bin Christes heir and successour for then Christ had lost the perpeiuitie an other man gouerning after him in like right and preheminence as he had before But for Peter to rule the Church vnder him in his steade as by his euerlasting right with commission from him that holdeth that soueraigntie for euer by whomesoeuer the Church shall be ruled till the worlds end in earth this I saie is no derogation to God nor his sonne Christ at all but it much prooueth that Christ according to his manhood is the head of the Church for euer because by man in earth he ruleth the same til his comming again the whichman though he be his vicar vicegerent yet he is not his successour Saint Augustine did trimlie allude to the vse of the olde law comparing the ministers of Gods Church to the yonger brethren who were charged to marrie the elder brothers wife when he died without issue in whose name they did practize the worke of mariage and therefore could not call their children by their owne names but by the name of their elder breethren For as they raised seede to their brother and for their brothers honour so the Priests that haue taken vpon them as it were in mariage to gouerne Christes Church and to bring forth children not in their owne names but in the name of their elder brother and her departed Husband As when they bring foorth children in Baptisme as through the wombe of the Church they bring them not forth as for them-selues and in their owne names but in the name of Iesus Christ beeing their elder brother euen so it is in remission of sinnes also in which case Christ resigneth not his authoritie as though he lacked that power him-selfe but practzeth that mightie worke by the ministerie of man which before he exercised in his owne person And as the baptzing not in the name of Peter nor Paull nor Apolle but in the name of Christ the first husband of the Church after whome the Children be called Christianes not Petrianes nor Paulianes doth much set foorth the honour of the eldest spouse so it prooueth and augmenteth Christes euerlasting honour and moste iuste title in remission of sinnes that till this daie no lesse now in absence by the seruice of his Priestes then before when he was present by his owne worde and will sinnes be in his name and faith fullie remitted yea euen the verie function of Preaching the Gospell which they saie is meant by remitting of sinnes although they say most foolishlie therein and against the common sense of all the fathers yet euen that function is Christs still though it be vsed of man in earth FVLKE You are as plentifull in proofe of that which is confessed as you are naked and barren in proouing that which is denyed The title of your Chapter we will graunt you without proofe and according thereunto we are content to decide this controuersie But you will no longer abide by it
be found in the scripture it is most cleere that God forgiueth our sinnes otherwise then by externall orders or sacramets Againe the sacrament of Baptisme is a seale and assurance vnto vs of the forgiuenes of our sinnes not onely such as are com mitted before baptisme receiued but euen vnto our liues end whensoeuer we are truelie penitent for the same Also the sacrament of the Lords supper in which we are spirituallie fed with the bodie of Christ which was giuen for vs and with his blood which was shed for the remission of our sinnes is a sure pledge token and seale of the remission of our sinnes committed after baptisme that we neede not the Popish sacrament of pennance for the same ALLEN As for my selfe good Christian Reader I am not so free from sinne wo is me therefore nor so void of mans affection but as often I heare in the sacrament of penance the Priest who to me then is Christ in full power of pardoning saying the wordes of absolution ouer me me think truelie I heare the sweete voice of Christ saying with authoritie thy sinnes be forgiuen thee Whereof no mortallman shall euer forbid me to take hope and singular trust of remission of sinnes with the passing comfort that thereon ensueth All these that are without Christes folde seeke not to heare his voice for all their load of sinne from the heauenlie and intire ioy whereof they be as farre as from the conceiuing of of the felicitie to come in heauen it selfe But let them assure themselues that Christ writeth with his holie finger all their sinnes though to Christ they will not now confesse them whiles they refuse the power ofremission that he both had aud hath in earth to the worldes end without which outward solemne act of penance man should either dispaire of Gods mercie and liue in feare intollerable of euerlasting perishing which often fall to timerous consciences or els which is now of daies more common men would liue in such passing presumption and vaine securitie of heauen that they should neuer till the very last breath of their euill time either be sorie for sinne or seke to do any good worke at al. This time shall testifie with me herein and the verie diuersitie that is betweene these our corrupt conditions and the holy studies and endeauours of our forefathers shalltestifie but the daies that yet are to come must need most feele the smart of it when these that now haue the direction of other mens steppes shall be gone by whome for olde discipline wherein they were brought vp Some signes and remnantes of vertue be continued in the world For when they be spent and our yonkers that neuer heard of the Churches discipline but haue had their full swinge in sinne with the instruction of a most wanton doctrine shall be the principall of the people if this diuision so long continue which God forbid into what terms shal trueth and vertue be then brought Me think I see before hand the lamentable state of things and in a manner beholde the fruit of our onelie faith of this bolde presumption of Gods mercie of remouing the discipline of penance of refusing the onely ordinance of God for remission of our mortall sinnes Euil are we now but a thousand partes worsse shal they be then which in long nouseling in this naughtie learning of libertie shall be in perpetuall wo and haue no feele nor sense thereof And all this must needs follow vpon the lack of these outward acts external waies of pardoning punishing offences and intended either for mans present comfort and solace or els to keepe in awe the wantons of the world by the rodde of outward discipline which in the Church hath euer especiallie beene obserued in the sacrament of penance FVLKE When we heare the authorized embassadours and messengers of reconciliation pronounce in the name of Christ according to the scriptures and promises of God that our sinnes are forgiuen vs whensoeuer we be hartilie sorie truely penitent for the same we haue sufficient warrant out of Gods word to assure our selues of remission of them with inestimable ioy comfort of conscience But for the sacrament of penance or the Priest to be Christ vnto vs in fullpower of pardoning or to haue anie wordes of absolution said ouer vs because we haue no ground in Gods word whatsoeuer imaginarie pleasure you haue therein we finde nothing that is of force to staie a weake conscience to comfort a troubled spirit or to heale a broken heart To confesse our sinnes to Christ who onelie knoweth whether our repentance be vnfained God forbid that we should refuse But to confesse them to a Popish Priest or anie lawfull minister if they be secret there is no law or commaundement of God to require vs. If our conscience be not satisfied about anie offence that we haue committed how we should declare our vnfained conuersion or repentance we maie vse the aduise of the Godlie and learned pastor who is able out of the word of god toresolue our doubts and quiet our conscience That the want of Popish pennance will driue all men either to desperation or securitie and presumption it is affirmed without anie proofe God be praised experience cryeth out of the contrarie side But rather the doctrine of poperie concerning the pretensed sacrament of penance is manifest occasion of securitie in them that are carnallie minded of desperation in them that haue a tender conscience For the one thinketh he hath an easy remedy for his sinnes to discharge them into a priestes eare the other considering the impossibilitie of confession and vnsufficiency of the satisfaction that be parts of this counterfet sacrament can finde smal comfort in the priests absolution Your blasphemous rayling at the doctrine of God iustifying by faith onely which you cal the instruction of a most wanton doctrine and the naughtie learning of libertie is sufficiently confuted by the examples of many thousands of Gods Saints who acknowledging that they are iustified in the sight of God by faith onelie in the merites of Christ are more fruitfull in good workes then all the popish hypocrites in the world Where you terme your popish penance to be the onely ordinance of god for remission of our mortall sinnes you vtter not onelie a grosse contradiction of the trueth taught in the holie scriptures but also directlie contrarie to the doctrine of all Papists and euen of your selfe For what saie you M. Allen were you wel aduised when you said that penance is the onely ordinance of God for remission of our mortal sins If it be as you saie then the sacrifice of the masse is not the ordinance of God for remission of our mortall sinnes as al Papists beside you do holde and mantaine and extreame vnction wherof you haue latelie affir med the contrarie is not the ordinance of God for the remission of our mortall sinnes The discipline of the Church wherby wantons are kept in
you We maruaile not why Christ hath giuen authoritie to man to forgiue sinnes whose ministerie he hath vsed in all times both by preaching his worde and by administring his sacraments to dispense his misteries vnto the rest of his Church vpon earth But that God doth not ordinarilie remit sinnes but by the ministerie of the priest nor any way ells for the moste parte but by externall acts we maruel how you are able to prooue it seeing God often times vseth many other occasions then the priests ministerie to bring men to repentance and without all waies of externall acts or sacrifices to assure men of the remission of their sinnes by faith But this admiration altogether passeth the reach of our capacitie to vnderstand how it may be conuinced That all priestes by warrant hereof may challenge all manner of interest in the gouernement of our soules It were much to challenge any interest in gouernment of our soules which is proper to our Sauiour Christ but to challenge all manner of interest in gouernment it sauoureth to stronglie of Antichristian presumption that any Christian should abide it The Apostles in exercise of their calling acknowledged them selues not onelie to be the seruants of God but also of the Church for we preach not our selues saith the Apostle but Iesus Christ and our selues to be your seruants for Iesus Christ. It is a ministerie and not a Lordeship that we must exercise not as temporall Princes who although they may be saide after a sorte to serue the common wealth yet they are so seruants as they are also Lordes But the ministers of the Church in their spirituall gouernement are seruants and not Lordes as Saint Peter testifieth therefore they cannot iustlie challenge all manner of interest in the gouernement of our soules For if they might we should haue many Lordes of our soules and denie God our onelie lorde our Lorde Iesus Christ our onelie sauiour ALLEN Much more might be said out of diuerse holie fathers much out of the decrees as well of Bishopes as Councells the authoritie wherof no Christian Catholike did euer reiect In Lateran in Florence and in Trent Councells Penance is decreed to be a sacrament and of necessitie to all such as fall into deadelie sinne after Baptisme The minister thereof by their holie determination is a Priest lawfullie ordered the remission of sins is in them all challenged to be his right not onelie by declaration that God hath or will pardon them nor by the preaching of the Gospell nor any other waies newlie deuised by the Deuill to delude Christes ordinance and misconstrue his plaine wordes But properlie is the priest prooued to be the minister vnder God of reconciliation and therefore may by his wordes absolue men in the saide sacrament of their sinnes as in Christs owne steade whose honourable iudgement seat byhis commission and the holie ghosts assistance he doth lawfullie possesse And so surelie doe Gods ministers holde this power and preheminence that no power or dignitie of man could euer be so well warranted and approoued by Gods owne worde and practize of all ages and nations christened as this is All the Princes in earth though they reigne full righteouslie can not yet shew the tenth part of the euidence that Gods priests can doe for their title of remission of sinnes and it booteth not mee in this my base state to admonish them though I hartelie wish they would consider it that the contempt of spirituall iurisdiction and the dignitie of priesthoode salleth at length to the difobedience of all temporal power and wicked contempt of ciuil gouernement also as in these disordered daies we may to our great griefe beholde when vnder pretence of religion and Gods worde whereof they haue no more respect surelie then the Deuil him selfe hath they haue disobeied not onelie Peters keies but also Cesars sworde Neither let any man thinke that where the bands of conscience the awe of gods maiestie the feare of hell and damnation the hope of heauen and saluation is remooued that there can be any ciuil obedience long Feare of man is much flatterie of man is more but bond of conscience passeth them both Thiu therefore haue Gods priests made account of their calling and long practised power of remitting and reteining the peoples offences FVLKE Whatsoeuer you can saie out of any auncient fathers will not prooue your intent of shrift and pardons your sacrament of penance is but a young beginner that can shew no auncienter councells for her authoritie then Lateran Florence and Trent the eldest of which is not much aboue 300 yeares olde and yet in the place you send vs vnto Confession is straightlie commaunded but penance is not decreed to be a sacrament Declaration of the pastour by preaching that God wil pardon al penitent sinners you count to be awaie newlie deuised by the diuil to delude Christes ordinance and misconstrue his plaine wordes as though your deuelishand blasphemous witte and tongue were hable to prooue out of Christes wordes your popish shrifts penance and satisfaction to be of Christes ordinance whereas it hath beene the doctrine and practize of all the Prophetes and Apostles to preach remission of sinnes to all that truelie repented and were turned vnto God and by authoritie of their commission receiued from God to assure all such of perfect forgiuenes of all their sinnes To compare the euidence wherby they holde this authoritie with the right of princes wherby they holde their croune so farre to preferre it is a point of antichristian and anabaptisticall presumption For ciuill Princes haue as cleere euidence in the scripture to auouch al their lawful authority as priestes haue to exercise that whereunto they be called Otherwise the particuler calling of euerie priest must leane vpon aiust title as well as the aduancement of princes into their throne and much more or els they haue not so great euidence as you talke of For a Prince being in the throne by what right soeuer he possesseth it is to be obeied But a minister of the Church except he be lawfullie called is not to be regarded You haue great cause to complaine of these daies that vnder pretense of Gods word and religion temporall and ciuill power is disobeied and contemned where there is no such manifest examples of such disobedience contempt as in your popish Northern rebellion and in an hundreth other vile attemptes to wring the scepter out of the hands of Gods anointed and your most lawful Prince vnder pretense in the Deuils name of religion and the Catholike Church But such religion and such a Church as aloweth in Italian Priest to depose anie Christian Prince from his throne God of his infinite mercie deliuer this Ileland and graunt all true subiectes of the same to yealde their faithfull obebience to their Godlie Prince not onely for feare but alfo for conscience Here it is prooued that b mitting sinnes the duety the right of the Priest
is affirmed Where you quote Damascene I finde in him nothing for nor any thing sounding that waie in the place by you noted But in the tenth Chapter where he speaketh of eight kindes of baptisme the fifte he maketh Baptisme by the holie ghost and fire Which may be saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a punishing Baptisme because of the fire to come immediatelie followeth the sixth kinde of baptisme which is verie painfall by repentance and teares So that the one beeing distinct by the author from the other I know not by what learning you doe confound to make it seeme as both were one ALLEN Neither may we thinke that this authoritie and approoued power of priests concerneth onelie the open offences which by witnesse and proofe may be conuinced and deferred to the publike Magistrates of the Church as some Protestantes confounding all places of like wordes and tearmes in scripture doe Wherein they consider not that the perfectnesse of the Gospell teacheth man willinglie to accuse condemne and iudge himselfe that he be not iudged of our Lorde Neither doe they weigh that this iudgement of our sinnes though it be ministred by man is yet the seate and court of Christ to whome it no lesse perteineth to binde and loose our secret sinnes then our open offences And he without exception committed remission of all manner of sinnes vnto the Apostles and priestes saying Like as my father sent me so doe I send you But Christ was sent to heale the contrite and sorowfull of al sinnes priuate and publike therefore al manner of offences be they neuer so secret belong to the priests not onelie pardon but also correction and punishment whereof because they be men they cannot iustlie discerne or determine to remit or reteine giue pardon or giue penance except they be confessed by the parties penitent Christ him selfe perfectlie seeing all diseases both of bodie and soule the inwarde sorow and sute of euerie mans heart yet saied to the sicke man blinde Quid vis faciam 〈◊〉 what wouldest thou haue at my hands And shal the priest being a mortall man take vpon him to giue sentence of the diseases of our soules before he knowe them or pardō him that wil not shew vnto him wherein for what sin he asketh a pardō Furthermore the sins of mans cogitation that cannot be discerned by the priest with out the confession of the partie be often no lesse greeuous dānable before God then the open offences therefore there may be no doubt but Christ hath ordeined mercie as well for them as other that be actuallie committed and subiect to the sight of the world but yet no otherwise but by the sacramēt of penance in which without exception the priests haue power to remit or reteine sinnes as well priuate as publike Therefore the same secret sinnes beeing subiect to the Churches iudgement no lesse then the open they must needes be vttered and confessed or els they cannot be realesed much lesse haue any enioyned penance for them But it is mecre wrangling of our aduersaries in so plaine a case follie in all other to doubt whether secret offences euen committed in thought onelie against the last two commaundements forbiding vnlawfull coueting and desires of the minde be properly subiect to the Priests iudgement seeing they can by no otherwise be released but in the sacrament of penance sincere confession of them For here is practized a iudgement not of ciuile Magistrates which onelie punish by laws of all nations actually committed faultes against the weale publike but of soule and conscience which properly pertaine to the cure of Priestes as they properly occupie Christes owne roome to whose pardon and punishment not onelie open sinnes but also priuate offences either in deede or thought committed doe in like perteine For external penance or publike is rather vsed to satisfie the Church of her right in which sinnes can not openlie be committed but to the great offence of her children and therefore must in her by publike penance be corrected for the example of discipline and prouiso of the like sinnes to come FVLKE I knowe no Protestantes neither I suppose you can name anie writer of them that doth think that the authoritie of sorgiuing and retaining sinnes concerneth onelie open offences and not secret But it maie be that some protestantes haue written as all I think do holde and you your selfe in the end of this section do acknowledge that open confession is most conuenient fot the satisfaction of the Church which is offended where and by whome open and notorious sinnes haue beene committed But that secret confession made to a priest is necessarie for the discharge of secret sinnes all Protestants denie neither can anie Papistes prooue it For such reasons as you bring are verie weake and friuolous The perfectnes of the Gospell teacheth man willinglie to accuse condemne and iudge himselfe that he be not iudged of our Lord Ergo he is bound to shriue him-selfe to a Priest Nay contrariewise if he be made accuser condemner and iudge of himselfe he neede not seeke anie other externall iudge but in his owne conscience accuse examine condemne and iudge him-selfe before God And this court of conscience we acknowledge to be the seat and court of Christ where no priest or other mortal man hath authoritie to sit and iudge Neither doth anie correction punishment of our sins belong to priestes by reason that Christ sent the Apostles and their successours to Preach as he was sent by his father but they may remit or retaine sinnes without hearing the particuler confession of euerie sinner by declaring the mercie of God to all that repent and his iustice to all that continue in sinne without repentance But it is a maruetlous strong argument Iweene to prooue the necessitie of confession because our sauiour Christ caused the blinde man by vttering his request in particuler to declare his faith Nay if he had caused all them whose sinnes he pronounced to be forgiuen first to make particuler confession vnto him it had beene more coloure and yet no sufficient argument to prooue the necessity of confession to be made vnto other men much lesse that he would haue the blind mā acknowledge that he beleeued that he was able to giue him sight wherfore vpon a Principle shamefully begged that confession to a priest is necessary you go about to proue that confessiō of secret faults and cogitations of mans heart is also to be made to a priest you accuse your aduersaries of wrangling in so plaine a case and all men of follie that doubt whether such secret offences be subiect to the Priestes iudgement seeing they can not otherwise be released but in the sacrament of penance and sincere confession of them but which of your aduersaries will graunt that they can not otherwise be released or how will you satisfie them that doubt out of the holie scriptures of the institution of
Christes owne person Which prouing and iudging of mans selfe to be meant by the diligent dif cussing of our consciences sinnes and misdeedes by contrition and confession of them to our ghostlie Father the practise of the Church doth most plainlie prooue which neuer suffered any greeuous sinner to communicat before he had called him selfe to a reckning of his sinnes before the minister of God and so iudged him selfe that he receiue not to his damnation that which to euery worthy person is his life and saluation Whereof S. Augustine or the authour of the booke de Ecclesiasticis dogmatibus set forth with his name giueth vs good notice for his time Quem mortalia crimina post Baptismum commissa premunt hortor priùs publica poenitentia satisfacere ita sacerdotis iudicio reconciliatum communioni sociari si vult non ad iudicium condemnationem sui Eucharistiam percipere sed secreta satisfactione solui mortalia crimina non negamus I exhorte euerie man saith this holie doctour that is burdened after his baptisme with mortall sinne to satisfie for the same by publique penance and to be reconciled by the priests iudgement to be restored to the communion of saints if he meane to receiue the holy Sacrament not to his iudgement and condemnation And I denie not in this case but deadly sinnes may be remitted by secret satisfaction Thus he By whose wordes you see in what a damnahle state men now of daies stand seeing that whosoeuer receiueth the sacrament of Christes bodie and blood before he be reconciled by a priestes sentence and assoiled of his sinnes he doth receiue it to his euerlasting damnation Vnto whose iudgement I ioyne Saint Cyprian in this same matter complainig verie earnestly vpon certaine Conuersies in his daies that would aduenture vpon Christes bodie and blood ante exomologesim factam criminis ante purgatam conscientiam sacrificio manu sacerdotis Before their sinnes be confessed and their consciences purged by sacrifice and the Priests hand Al these thinges might be at large declared and confirmed farther by the iudgement of mostauncient Fathers but because I haue bene verie long and enough alreadie maie seeme to be said for such as by reason will be satisfied a great deale more then anie Protestant will answere vnto and also the scriptures them selues giuing the Priest so plaine power of binding and retaining as wel as of remitting and loosing will do more with these that haue charged themselues with the beleefe of nothing that is not in expresse writing of Gods word then the vniforme consent of all ages and the moste notable persons in the same In respect of their humor therefore I will not saie much more for this point then I haue said onely my meaning now is for the Catholikes comfort to repeat a few such euident sentences out of moste authentique authors by whom we take a 〈◊〉 not onely of their meaninges which is much for the matter but especiallie of the Churches practise in all ages and moste countries christened since the Apostles time which I account the moste surest waie to touch trie truth by that by the example of al our forefathers euery man may willingly learne to submit him selfe to the sentence of such as God hath made the iudges of his soule and sinnes FVLKE Yf Saint Poul had meant Popish shrift he could and would haue said Submit your selues to the examination iudgement of the Priest and not as he hath said Let a man trie him selfe Iudge your selues brèthren Yf auricular confession be necessarie vnder paine of damnation for euerie one that receiueth the sacrament of Christes bodie and bloode immediately before it many thousandes of your priests which saie masse euerie daie without shriuing themselues are in a damnable case I or there passeth no day of mans life without some deadelie sinne if not in deede not word yet at the least in thought but that you popish hypocrites by your distinction of veniall sinnes flatter your selues to be cleare when you are moste foull and filthie but the perpetuall practize of the Church you saie prooueth the necessitie of auricular confession whereof you take witnes the author of the booke de Ecclesiasticis dogmatibus for his time which you doe honestly not to father vpon Saint Augustine being a man of much later time lesse learning and more corruption of doctrine but you do fraudulentlie cut of his saying in the waste because that which followeth declareth plainlie that either he meaneth not of mortall sinnes as the Popish Church now doth holde or else his opinion for secret satisfaction is farre differing from that you would haue men weene that he meaneth namely such as you vse to inioine in your confession fiue Ladies Psalters fiue fridaies fast fiue pence groates or shillings to so many poore men in remembrance of the 5. wounds and such like stuffe but these authors wordes require another manner of satisfaction Sed secreta satisfactione solui mortalia crimina non negamus sed mutato prius secularihabitu confesso religionis studio per vitae correctionem iugi immò perpetuo luctu miserante Deo it a duntaxat vt contraria pro his quae poenitet 〈◊〉 eucharistiam omnibus dominic is diebus supplex submissus vsque ad mortem percipiat Poenitentia vera est penitenda non admittere admissa deflere Satisfactio paenitentiae est causas peccatorum excidere nec eorum suggestionibus aditum indulgere But also that by secret satisfaction mortall crimes may be loosed we doe not denie but so that the secular habite be first changed and the studie of religion confessed by amendment of life and by continuall yea perpetuall sorow God being mercifull so onelie that he doe the contrarie things to those for which he doth penance and humblie and lowlie receiue the Euchariste euerie sondaie to his dying day It is true repentance not to committe things to be repented and to bewaile such as are committed The satisfaction of repentance is to cut of the causes of sinnes and to yeald no entrie vnto their suggestions Wherefore it is plaine that in this writers time there was no auricular confession but an open confession and publike penance for open and hainous offences and that none was admitted to secret satisfaction except he changed his habite became a Monke performed other conditions by him required by which it is manifest that the iudgement of this writer though corrupt yet is contrarie to the practize of the popish Church at this daie But Saint Cyprian is a better witnes I trow for the necessitie of auricular cōfession of secret sins sauing that he speaketh of them that had openlie fallen to Idolatrie and without open confession of their fault and publike satisfaction of the Church by some vndiscreete pastours were admitted to the Lordes table describing them he saith Mortiferos Idolorum cibos adhuc pene ructantes exhalantibus etiamnum
scelus suum faucibus contagia funesta 〈◊〉 Dominicorpus inuadunt c. Almoste yet belching out the deadly meates of their Idoles the iawes as yet breathing out their owne wickednes sauoring of the deadelie infection they set vpon our Lordes bodie And immediately before the wordes by you cited Plus modò in dominum manib atque ore delinquunt quà m cum Dominum negauerant They doe more offende now against the Lord with their hands and their mouth then at such time as they denied the Lorde These wordes declare of what kinde of men of what kinde of sinnes of what kinde of confession and of what kinde of satisfaction this Doctor doth speake whose vehemencie tendeth to the maintenance of discipline being in great daunger of decaie by the vntimelie and vngodlie lenitie of some flattering Church men in those daies that would reconcile such vnto the Church by admitting them to the communion which after their moste greeuous fall and deniall of Christ before men had not giuen sufficient tokens and testimonies of their hearty repentance before God without the which the wrath of God iustly kindled against them for their henious offences couldnot be appeased Hetherto therefore for the necessitie of auricular confession we haue seene nothing that anie learned protestant might voutchsafe of anie answere as for the scriptures giuing the Priest so plaine power as wel of binding and retaining as of loosing and remitting doe laie no necessity vpon anie man to confesse vnto them the particularities of his secret faultes nor giue any authoritie vnto the priestes to exact the same I saie not by expresse wordes but not by any necessary illation or conclusion out of the expresse words of the scripture which we holde to be of as great credit as that which is contained in expresse wordes As for the vniforme consent of all ages and the mosie notable persons in the same whereof you make your cómon vaunt can neuer be shewed for the necessitie of auricular shrift no nor for anie other point of poperie though you would make choise of the eldest error that you holde That you take the Churches practize in al ages to be the moste surest way to touch and trie truth by you declare what reuerent opinion you haue of the word of God which our Sauiour Christ saith is the truth wherin he praieth his father to sanctifie al his disciples vnto the worldes end Vnto which rule of truth al practize of mé must be exacted and by it be tried For what mad blasphemie were it to saie that the word of God which was before all practize the onelie trueth of touch hath now lost his credit or the best part thereof if practize of men in all ages be now become the most surest waie to trie and touch trueth by as if the manners of men were alwaies the best interpretation of the lawe That confession hath euer beene vsed of all mortall sins in all countries and ages since Christes time it is prooued by the witnes of moste learned fathers with an answer to such things as out of the Fathers be sometimes obiected to the contrarie THE 11. CHAP. ALLEN I Am the longer in this approoued trueth because I remember what Saint Chrysostome saith And I see by these daies that it is verie true which he writeth Multa arie opus esse vt qui laborant Christiani vltrò sibi 〈◊〉 persuadeant sacerdotum curationibus sese submittere That it is a point of high wisdome and cunning to bring to passe that Christian men which are sicke in soule would persuade themselues to submit in all causes them selues to the priests curing For indeede in Nectarius his predecessours daies there was such an offence arose in the simple sorte and such a tragedie in Constantinople Church by the naughtie fact of a deaton there that their Bishoppe was glad to make the state of penance which then was often published euen for priuat sinnes to be a great deale more free then before Whereupon the people tooke occasion of such libertie and licentious life that when their common Penitenciarie by the commaundement of Nectarius was remóoued they were exceeding loath to confesse or doe iust penance for their sinnes actuall Though that good man condescending to the peoples weaknes meant neuer to take awaie that wholl order wherein he had no authoritie because it is no politike prouision but Christes institution but onely that the penance should not be publike except the party listed of those sinnes which were to the said Penitentiarie confessed in secret Which fact of his though perchaunce it was necessarie for that time yet was not allowed of the writers of the same Historie As a thing saith Sozomenus that brought much dissolute life and alteration of the peoples manners into the Church Yet our aduersaries are in such aistresse for their maintenance of their contrarie assertion against holie confession that they be not ashamed to alledge this mans doubtfull example Which if it were good and to be followed yet made it nothing against shrift which they cal now auricular confession or if it did make against the whole Sacrament euerie waie ministered yet it could not of reason be followed being but one bishoppes compelled act and that disalowed euen of the reporters them selues and prooued to be euill by the practize of all Churches christened to the contrarie FVLKE Chrysostomes wordes by you translated if you had not falsifyed in translation by adding of your owne these wordes in all causes which are neither in the originall Greeke nor in the latine version make but a small shew for the necessitie of the auriculer confession For in that place Chrysostome sheweth how much more difficult the office of a spirituall shepard is then the charge of a bodely herdman by this that the shepperd of vnresonable sheepe may both see the diseases of his cattell and also compell them to take his medicines and diet but the spirituall shepheard cannot alwaies see with what diseases his flocke are infected neither can he compell them but must exhort them willinglie to submit them selues to his cure whereby he meaneth his doctrine of admonition reprehension and such like But because you make mention of a storie and doe not expresse it and yet excuse Chrysostome thereby in any thing that he hath written sounding against the necessitie of confessing before men of sinnes committed in secret as though he durst not fullie set downe his iudgement thereof before the peo ple. I will set forth the storie as it is reported by the Ecclesiasticall writers Socrates and Sozomenus Socrates L. 5. C. 19. writeth thus About the same time it was thought good to take awaie those elders or priests of the Churches which were appointed ouer publike repentance vpon such cause Since the time that the Nouatians were deuided from the Church for that they would not communicate with them that had fallen in the persecution that was vnder Decius the Bishops of the
Church added vnto the Ecclesiastical canon or rule a certeine priest or elder which should be ouer them that repented that they which were fallen after baptisme should confesse their sinnes before this appointed priest And this rule holdeth still vnto this time in other sects Onelie they that holde Christ to be of the same substance with his father and the Nouatians which agree with thē in this faith haue reiected this priest appointed ouer them that repent The Nouatians in deede at the first receiued not this additiō But they which now hold the Churches hauing obserued it for a long time vnder Nectarius haue changed it by occasion of this matter that happened in the Church A certeine noble woman came to the priest appointed for repentance and made particular confession of those sinnes she had committed after baptisme the priest charged this woman to fast and praie cominuallie that with her confession she might shew forth the worke that was meete for repentance But the woman proceeding accused her selfe of another offence for she declared that a certaine Deacon of the Church had line with her This being declared caused the Deacon to be cast out of the Church but a tumult was raised among the priests for they were sore greeued not onelie with that which was done but also because this fact tended greatlie to the slaunder and contumelie of the Church So while cleargie men were in great reproch for these thinges a certaine blessed elder of the Church borne at Alexandria gaue in councell to the Bishop Nectarius to take awaie this priest that was appointed ouer repentance and to permit euerie man according to his owne conscience to be partaker of the mysteries For by that meanes onelie he should haue the Church voide of slaunder These thinges because I heard my selfe of that blessed man I was 〈◊〉 to commit vnto this writing For as I haue often said I haue giuen all diligence to learne of euerie man that knew these matters and exactlie to search them out that I might write nothing beside the truth But I saied vnto Eudemon or that blessed man your counsell Sir hath brought into the Church God knoweth what or no. But I see that you haue giuen occasion that one should not reprehend an others sinnes nor to obserue that precept of the Apostle which saieth Communicate not with the vnfruitfull workes of darkenes but rather reprooue them But of these matters sufficient Sozomenus Lib. 7. Cap. 16. reporteth the matter after this manner About this time Nectarius which gouerned the Church of Constantinople was the first that would no longer permit that priest which was appointed for them that repented And him followed al most al other Bishops Now this matter what it is or whence it began or for what cause it ceased diuerse men report diuerselie I will declare what I thinke For seeing not to sinne at all it is a matter more diuine then agreeable to mans nature and that God hath commaunded to graunt pardon to them that repent although they offend often times and in refusing to confesse sinnes the debt groweth more burthenous as it is like it was thought good among the priestes of olde time that as it were in an open theater vnder the witnesse of the multitude of the Church men should declare their sinnes And for this purpose they appointed a priest or elder of the best conuersation continent of speach wise to whome they came which had sinned and confessed such things as they had committed in their life And he according to euerie mans sin after he had appointed a mulct what he ought to doe or to abide absolued them when they had performed their penaltie by themselues But as for the Nouatians which made no account of repentance needed not this matter But in other sects of heretikes it is obserued euen vntill this time And it is diligintlie obserued in the westerne Churches and especiallie in the Church of the Romans For there is a certein open place appointed for them that are in exercise of repentance For they stand with heauie cheere and as it were sorowing And when the seruice of God is ended being not made partakers of those things that are lawfull for the holie ones with weeping lamentation they cast themselues downe flat vpon the earth the Bishop beholding them runneth to them weeping and likewise falling vpon the earth the wholl multitude of the Church is then filled with mourning and weeping Then first the Bishop riseth vp and lifteth vp the sinners that lie on the ground after he hath praied as it is meetes for the penitents that haue sinned he dismisseth them Then euerie one of them willinglie afflicting himselfe either with fastings or abstinēce from washings or certein meats or with other things that are enioyned thē cōtinueth a seaso so long as the Bishop hath appointed vnto him And at the time appointed after he hath payed as it were a certaine debt he is released of the punishment of fin and com meth into the congregation with the rest of the people These things the priests of Rome obserue euen vntill our daies But in the Church of Constantinople the priest or elder that was appointed ouer the penitent did exercise that office vntill ā certein noble woman being appointed by the priests to fast and pray to God for those sinnes which she had declared while she continued in the Church for this purpose confessed that shee had committed fornication with a Deacon whereof the multitude hauiug vnderstanding was sore greeued for defiling the Church and it was an exceeding great slaunder vnto the whol cleargie Nectarius beeing in doubt how to handle this matter that had happened first depriueth the fornicator of his ministerie And beeing counselled by certein men to permit euerie man as his conscience serued him and as he might be bolde to cōmunicate the mysteries he caused the priest to giue ouer that was appointed for repentance and from that time this custome taking holde hath hetherto continued Now I thinke the auncient grauitie and precisenes hauing begon by litle and litle to fall awaie into a diuerse and negligent custome seeing before as I suppose the offences were lesse both through shame of them which declared their owne transgressions through the precisenes of them that were appointed iudges in this case And for the same cause I gather that the Emperour Theodosius prouiding for the good name grauitie of the Churches made a law that women should not be admmitted to the ministerie of god except they had children and were aboue threescore yeares old according to the expresse cōmaundement of the Apostle and to expell out of the Churches those women that were shorne in the head to depriue such Bishops from their Bishoppricke which did admit any such women The storie beeing as I haue set it forth out of the reporte of the Ecclesiasticall writers now let vs see how sincerely you handle the matter and report thereof at
your pleasure First you say that Nectarius made the state of penance more free then before where as by the storie it is plaine that he toke awaie altogether that publique forme and triall of repentance leauing euerie man to his conscience Secondlie you saie the people tooke such occasion of libertie that they were loth to confesse or doe iust penance for their sinnes at all It is not vnlike that the wicked sort as they abuse all Christian libertie so being left to the examination of their owne conscience whereunto the scripture leaueth them would be more dissolute But the godly being deliuered from such a burthenous vnnecessarie ceremonie and custome would neuerthelesse confesse their sinnes before God and be truelie penitent and hartelie sorie for the same Thirdlie you saie Nectarius neuer meant to take awaie that whole order wherein he had no authoritie But that he toke it wholie awaie the storie is plaine and that he had authoritie in an order and decree of the Church first made against the Nouatians which was subiect to mutation Socrates doth declare And Sozomene reporteth the consent imitation of all the Catholike Bishoppes of the East which they it is not like would haue yealded vnto if it had beene as you say an institutio of shrist That it was not alowed of the writer of the storie Sozomenus it is a small matter seing it was alowed of so many hundred bishops for so manyyeares before him that were better deuines then he therefore you saie vntruly that it was but one mans doubtfull example but one bishops compelled act which was alowed of all the Bishops of the East followed But if it were good you saie it maketh nothing against priuat shrift yes verily for a thousand times greater incōuenience hath come by auricular confession then the abusing of one gentlewoman To omit all other the storie is famous and fresh in memorie within these few yeares when the Inquisitors in Spaine charged al honest women matrons that had beene sollicited by their ghostlie fathers vnto adulterie to confesse the same before them how the holie house was pestred with accusations and how full the streates were of women repairing to the holie house to declare the abuse of confession against their ghostlie fathers Wherfore if one such a fact as the old storie reporteth were thought a sufficient cause vnto all the godlie and learned Bishops of the East to abolish that vnnecessarie order custome of confessing and doeing open penance in the Church for secret faults how much more so many so shamefull abuses as haue ensued of this eare shrift ought to haue mooued the Church of God in these dates to put awaie the necessitie thereof that I speake nothing of the vngodlie opinions that are helde therof to the snare of mens consciences which make it alltogether intollerable Last of all where you alledge the practize of all Churches christianed to the contrarie how vntrue it is the verie storie is plaine and the custome of the Greeke Churches confessed by Gratian not to admit this kinde of confession as beeing onelie a positiue decree of men no necessarie institution of God ALLEN And sure it is that Saint Crysostome who succeeded Nectarius hadmuch a doe to bring the people made more licentious by the foresaide graunt to the distinct numbering of all their sinnes to the priest againe which he knew to be necessarie by Christes institution and therefore in exhorting them to confession he speaketh much of bashfulnes which the people had in vttering their sinnes and of feare of vpbraiding such things as they had confessed to the priests and of comming forth as it were to a publike stage to open their offences as the vse was in his predecessors daies Of all which things and other impediments of confession this doctor doth discharge the penitents by a warranting of them that priuate confession which is made without witnesse and to him that shall not laie any thing confessed to their charge or open it to the world is enough though the open order vsed before he counteth the more perfect and better wherein he saieth that Iob was not ashamed to confesse his faultes before the worlde much lesse Christen men should be aboshed to open themselues to God not meaning so by confession made to god as though he discharged them of opening their sinnes in the close consistory of the priests iudgement which he in deede did not but he meaneth as the Master first answered and other schoole men of great and exact iudgement after him that in steede of publike confession made in the face of the Church secret opening to the priest who occupieth there the seat of God and therefore would neuer shame him afore men would serue Marie the truth is that the late libertie that his people was set in through the disordered demeanour of the foresaid Deacon made this cunning shepheard and expert preacher so to vse his wordes as they might winne moste of the worste and be least offence to the weake And therefore he speaketh so warelie and indifferentlie that sometimes he biddeth them confesse to God and yet with seuerall numbering of euery of their sinnes and other whiles in the very same sermon he saieth atque oportebat maximè apud homines ea dicerc and yet they should be opened to men that so they might vnderstand his meaning and yet not be able to reprehend his words who were so weake as I said and so vsed to libertie by the loosing of the law in Nectatius daies that Saint Chrysostome had much a doe to make them submit themselues and their sinnes to the pastours of their soules Wherein not onelie his great obtestations in the beginning of his sermon but also his continuall beating on this string that they should not be confounded nor abashed to vtter their sinnes prooueth plainlie that his onelie purpose was to bring them to confession penance sacramentall done by the priestes ministerie For there he chargeth them that they did not weepe nor lament which he could not doe rightlie if those thinges were onelie inwardelie in cogitation harte to be done For how could be know that they did not make confession to man as we now know that no heretike maketh confession neither lamenteth neither doth penance for his sinnes because they haue remooued the way of Gods Church wherebie such things had wont to be done And by which Christ hath appointed is to be done Otherwise they will saie they confesse themselues dailie to God and so did Saint Chysostomes flocke I warrant you but he counted that no sacramentall confessing except they did it to God by the priestes ministerie which is the waie of confession which God hath appointed FVLKE So sure it is that Saint Chrysostome went about to bring the people to the necessity of auricular cōfession that it standeth only vpon your owne assurance without any warrant of Chrysostomes wordes which are cleane contrarie thereunto
euen in that sermon you quote requiring confession of secret faultes to be made onelie to God and not to men Sed confunderis erubescis peccata tua effari Atqui oportebat maximè apud homines ea dicere inuulgare Confusio enim est peccare non est confusio confiteri peccata nunc autem neque necessariùm presentibus testibus confusio confiteri Cogitatione fiat delictorum exquisitio absque teste sit hoc iudicium Solus te Deus confitentem videat Deus qui non exprobat peccata tua sed soluit peccata propter confusionem Nunquid sic grauaris retrocedis verùm ego scio quòd conscientia non sustinet sua delicta But thou art ashamed and abashed to vtter thy sinnes Yet thou oughtest moste of all to declare and publish them before men For it is ashame to sinne it is no shame to confesse thy sinnes But now it is neither necessarie to confesse in the presence of witnesses Let examination of thine offences be made in thought let this iudgement be without a witnesse let god only see thee making thy confession god which casteth not thy sinnes in thy teeth but too seth thy sinnes for thy shame what and arte thou greeued to doe so much and goest backe yet I know shy conscience cānot abide her owne offences These wordes a man would thinke should be plaine enough against the necessitie of auricular confession but that you haue found out a moste impudent interpretation of them to saie that by confessing to God he meaneth the close consistory of the priests iudgement who occupieth the seate of God and of this exposition the Master of the sentences should be author other schoolemen should be approouers Verelie whosoeuer inuented it or whosoeuer haue alowed it Chrysostome crieth out plainly that it is not his meaning which requireth the examination to be in thought alone and the iudgement without witnes which cannot be if the priest doe heare it And although he count it greater perfection to make open confession before men yet he denieth it to be necessarie Again in his commentarie vpon the Epistle to the Hebrews Cap. 12. Hom. 30. more plainlie after he hath exhorted men to count all their sinnes seuerally before God and to make an hartie confession of our vnworthines he addeth Non 〈◊〉 tibi vt te prodas in publicum neque vt te a pud alios accuses sed obedire te volo Prophetae dicenti reuela domino taunt viam Ante Deum ergo confitere peccata apud verum iudicem cum oratione delicta tua pronuncia non lingua sed conscientiae tuae memoria tunc demum spera misericordiam te posse consequt sihabueris in mente peccata tua contiuuò nunquam malum aduersus proximum in corde retinebis I say not to thee that thou oughtest to bewraie thy selfe abroad nor that thou shouldest accuse thy selfe before other men But I will haue thee obey the Prophet saying open thy wait before the Lorde Confesse thy sinnes therefore before God prononnce thy offences before the true iudge with praier not with thy tongue but with rememberance of thy conscience and then hope that thou maist obteine mercie if thou shalt haue thy sinnes in minde continuallie thou shalt neuer reieine euill in thy heart against thy neighbour We must confesse our selues before the consistorie of that true iudge where we neede not to pronounce with our tongue but in our constience our sinfull state which is not the close consistorie of popish shrift where without the tongue the priest can know nothing Yet again the same Doctor vpon the 50. Psal. Hom. 2. writeth moste plainlie Pecoata tua dictio vt deleas illa si confunderis elicui dicere quia peccasti dicito eaquotide in anima tuas non dico vt confiter 〈◊〉 seruo tuo vt exprobret dicito deo qui curateoe Haec enim si non dixeris ignorat ea Deus nunquid à te vultea 〈◊〉 Cùm faciehas ea practo erat cùm admitteres 〈◊〉 are non erubuisti confiteri erubescis dicito in 〈◊〉 vs in illa requiem habeas dicito ingemiscens lachrimans Declare thy sinnes that thou maiest 〈◊〉 them out if thou be ashamed to declare to any that thou hast sinned declare them dailie in thine owne soule I doe not saie that thou oughtest to confesse them to thy fellow seruent that he may cast thee in the teeth declare them to God which doth heale them For if thou shalt not declare them is God ignorant of them Or would he know them by thee when thou didest them he was present when thou didest commit them he knew Thou waste not ashamed to sinne and art thou ashamed to confesse declare thy sinnes in this life that thou maist haue rest in that life declare them groning and weeping With what conscience could the Master of the sentences first or any man after him wrest these words of Chrysostome to so contrarie a meaning But what durst they not doe which had giuen ouer them selues whollie to mainteine the corrupt customes of the Romish Church how concrarie soeuer they were either to the holie scriptures or to the testimonies of the auncient Doctors But you haue an inuincible argument to prooue plainlie that his onelie purpose was to bring men to confession and penance sacramentall you meane to Popish shrift For there he chargeth them saie you that they did not wcepe nor lament nor confesse their sinnes which he could not doe rightlie if those thinges were onelie inwardlie in cogitation and heart to be done For how could he knowthat they did not make confession Yes Master Allen beeing their pastour and ouerseer of their soules he might know by their outward sinfull and carelesse conuersation that they did not weepe nor lament nor confesse their sinnes before God For if they did dailie examine themselues as he chargeth them they would not haue bene so loose in life as they were and therefore you haue not so much as obscurelie prooued your purpose lest of al that it was Chrysostomes onelie purpose to driue his people to shrift which if it had beene a necessarie institution of Christ as you holde he would not haue beene so daintie for any offence of the weake as you make him to cal men vnto it vpon necessitie of saluation He that feared not openlie to reprehend the Empresse would he haue beene afraide of the peoples displeasure No no Master Allen Gods institution necessarie to saluation maie not be concealed though heauen and earth should runne together about the publishing thereof ALLEN But whosoeuer list see the moste assured and vndoubted meaning of this holie Father touching confession to apriest whereon I stand the longer because our aduersaries would picke quarells with Gods Church vpon certeine particles of his sentence let him read the second and third booke of the dignitie of priesthoode where he doth not onelie attribute more dignitie to that order then
of the Primitiue Church or to disprooue Beatus Rhenanus which denieth the same accusing both the noueltie and and the tyranie thereof and the danger that mens consciences haue beene in through it beside manie other knowne inconueniences ALLEN But now if you conferre with the Fathers of all ages and of euerie notable Church touching this confession to Gods Priests you may beginne if you list euen at this daie and driue vp both the trueth of the doctrine and the perpetuall practise thereof euen to the Apostles time In the late holie Council holden at Trent both the doctrine is confirmed and declared with all grauitie and also the aduersaries of that sacrament and the misconstructers of Christes wordes of remission to pertaine to preaching of the Gospell not to the verie act of absolution be by the consent of all Catholike states of the Christian world accursed excommunicated It was at Furence also decreed in a most generall assemblie of both the Latine and Greek Church that as wel the whol sacrament of penance as that especiall part which is called confession was of Christes institution In the great councell holden at Lateran there is so plaine charge giuen to euerie Christian to confesse his sinnes either to his owne ordinarie Parochian or to some other Priest that hath by him or otherwise authoritie and iurisdiction ouer the penitent that Protestantes affirme albeit verie false'y that confession was first instituted in the said Councel and this was more then three hundred yeares since And foure hundred yeares before that in a Prouinciall Councell that was kept at Vormacia there is a Canon made concerning the qualities of the priests that are constituted to be confessours and Penitentiaries where it is commaunded that they be such Qui possunt singulorum causas originem quoque modum culparum sigillatim considerare examinare That can particularlie trie out and examine the causes of euerie offender the manner and ground of their faultes FVLKE We are so well accquainted with your often bragges of Fathers and Councells that we neuer start for them seeing we knowe you haue nothing but the drosse of the latter times to cast at vs. For the Councell of Trentes decree we esteeme it as it is worthie being made by a few buckeram Bishoppes of Italie and some other Epicurian prelates of other countries to patch vp rather then to repaire the ruines and decaies of the kingdome of Antichrist In the late Councel of Florence I remember nothing decreed of this matter neither doe you note where we should finde it In the Lateran Councell that was kept litle more then 300. yeares since the Protestantes doe trulie affirme that the necessitie of auricular confession was first imposed vpon men of the Romish Church For in the councell of Wormes which you saie was 400 yeares elder there is neuer a word of confession or confessor but of wife consideration to be had of them that did penance by which are ment open offenders that did open pennance neither are you able to prooue the contrarie Paenitentibue saith the Canon serundum differentiam peccatorum c. To the penitents or such as doe penance let penance be decreed by the iudgement of the Priest according to the difference of their sinnes Therefore in giuing penance the Priest ought seuerallie to consider the causer of euerie one the beginning also manner of the faulies and diligentlie to examine and manifestlie to know the affection and sighings of the offenders also to consider the qualities of the times persons of the places ages that according to the consideration of the places ages or times or according to the qualitie of the offences the groning of euery offendor he turne not his eies from the holie rules Thus sarre the Canon after which follow the rules of penance to be apointed for diuers kindes of offences as for him that hath killed a Priest a pagane his parents or brother or for him that hath slain a man in his madnes or against his will and such like whereby it appeereth that the Canon was made for penance to be enioyned to publike offenders and not to compell men to confesse their secret sinnes ALLEN Which decree is borowed word for word almoste out of the last Canon of Constantinople Councell called the sixth generall which was long before all the forsaid Synodes Their discourse is long vpon the Priestes dutie which shoulde sitte on confessions whome they instruct by these wordes Oportebit qui facultatem absoluendi ligandi à Deo receperunt peccati qualitatem speculentur peccatoris promptitudinem ad reuersionem vt sic medicamentum admoueant aegritudini aptum ne si de peccato sine discrimine statuant aberrent à salute aegrotantis Those that haue receiued of our Lorde power to loose and binde must trie out the qualitie of euerie fault and the readines of the offender to returne vnto vertue that they maie prouide a medicine meet to the maladie lest if they should without distinct knowledge of their sinne giue iudgement they should erre in poruiding health for the sicke person By which Councell kept in Constantinople you maie easelie gather that neither confession was euer omitted by the lawe nor the common Penitentiarie long abrogated out of Constaninople Church And when I name these decrees of so manie generall Councels in diu rfe ages I do not onelie call them generallie to witnesse for my cause which were inough seeing euerie determination there passeth as by the sentence of the holie Ghoste and Christes owne iudgement of whose presence such hotie assemblance is assured but I appeale to eueric holy Bishop Priest and Prince of the world that agreed to the same and were there assembled euerie of which was of more experience learning and vertue or at the least of more humilitie then all our aduersaries aliue But now if you go to trie other the learned writers of all times for the practize of this point then our labour shall be infinite but our cause more strong and 〈◊〉 aduersaries sooner confounded I need not for that practize name the learned schoolemem of excellent capacitie in deepe mysteries because they were so late and because Heretikes can not denie but they are all vndoubtedlie against them and euerie one for vs Thomas Aquinas is ours Dionysius is ours I meane the Carthusian If anie man doubt of Saint Bernard let him reade the life of Malachie whome he praiseth sor bringing into vre the most profitable vse of confession in the rude partes of Ireland Saint Bede is prooued before not onelie to haue allowed confession to the Priest but to haue expounded Saint Iames wordes of confession for the sacrament of pennance and vttering our sinnes to Gods Ministers And he recordeth that in our Countrie of England before his daies confession was vsed to a Priest Whereof as also os pennance and satisfaction there is an example or two in the
they be but thinges indifferent you doe not wiselie to be contentious about them Finallie seeing a companie of heretikes maie erre in one article and teach soundlie in all other as the Arians Donatists Nouatians and such like a man maie followe the iudgement of such a companie in all other points and without follie or signe of fantasticall choise departe from them in that one wherein they erre And therefore your faith was as good as his that beleeueth there is a man in the moone because he heareth manie men saie so whome he dare credit in other matters and is loth to forsake them in this ' one But your Christian profession mooued you to follow the Churches iudgement in all things And what heretike will not saie as much without triall or proofe which is the Church or what is Christian profession Therefore what ground had you that your profession was Christian or your felowship the Church of Christ You confesse you had neither the determination of generall councells nor the decrees of the chife gouernours of your Church nor the practise of the people in diuers ages by which waies you saie the Churches meaning of doubtfull thinges is moste assuredlie knowne but onelie you deeme the Church allowed them So that you because such as bare the name of Christian folke and Catholike men did approoue them had nothing but the bare name of Christian folke and Catholike men to ground your deeme vpon And is the bare and onelie name of Christian and Catholike men so sure a ground to build faith vpon without either the authoritie of the scriptures reason determination of general councels or decrees of the chief gouernours of the same or the practise of the faithful in auncient times then surelie Iet all heretikes content themselues where they are and dwell togither for there they shall haue the name of Christian folke and Catholike men which you account to be the breefest rule in the worlde for an vnlearned man to keepe himselfe both in faith and conuersation with that companie which by the generall and common calling of the people be named Catholikes The rule indeed is verie briefe and you saie in the margent also that it is good But who I praie you prescribeth this rule doth God the author of trueth where finde you it in his worde shall the generall and common calling of the people be the vnlearned mans rule to direct him to the Church which is the piller and staie of truth then surelie the vnlearned Grecians Aethiopians Armenians and other that dissent from the Church of Rome and from the truth it selfe haue a good and briefe rule to holde them where they are for by the generall and common calling of the people in those partes of the world they be named Christians and Catholikes Yea the rule serueth them ten times better then you Papists the forgers of it for they haue the more generall and common calling of the people to be Catholikes in those places then you haue here in Europe by a hundred parts For there no man calleth them otherwise then Christians and Catholikes here you haue God be praised many hundreth thousandes of the people that commonlie call you Papists heretikes antichristians Cacolikes and such other names agreeing to your heresies If you will cauill that by the generall and common calling of the people they be not named Catholikes because you Papistes doe neither so call them nor count them they maie answere you by the same reason that you are not by generall common calling of the people named Catholikes because neither they nor we doe so call you or account you But it is fufficient belike that you call your selues so and the rule is to be restrained to people of these partes of the world and among them to Papists onelie and so it is as good a rule as that aske my fellow if I be a theefe A good rule indeed for vnlearned Papists because draffe is good enough for swine which had rather sleepe in the myre and puddle of ignorance then come to the knowledge of the truth by searching the scriptures in which Christ the waie the truth and the life is to be found and out of which all Christians ought to gather knowledge that they maie be able to giue account of that hope that is in them But Saint Augustine I wene should be author of this rule for vnlearned men although he himselfe were not vnlearned Contra epistolam Manichaei quam vocant fundamenti Cap 4. This is great impietie to faine so absurd a rule and then to slaunder so godly a father to be either the author or approouer therof For Saint Augustine indeed against the Maniches which were a particuler sect of heretikes confesseth that among manie other thinges the name of the Catholike Church did holde him in the bosome thereof but not that the onelie name of Catholikes was a good rule for vnlearned men to know the Church by But protesting to reason the matter with them without anie preiudice and to trie the trueth without anie rashnes as one willing to yeald vnto thē if they can perswade him with trueth so that they shall not require him to yeald before they can giue him a cleere reason without anie darkenes of allthinges pertaining to the saluation of his soule thus he beginneth In Catholica enim Ecclesia vt omittā c. For in the Catholike Church that I maie omitte that moste sincere wisdome vnto the knowledge where of a fewe spirituall men doe come in this life that they maie knowe it but of the lest part because they are men but yet without doubt for the rest of the multitude not the quicknes of vnderstanding but the simplicitie of beleeuing doeth make moste false Therefore that I maie omitte this wisdome which you beleeue not to be in the Catholike Church there are manie other thinges which maie moste iustlie holde me in her lappe The consent of people and nations holdeth me the authoritie begunne with miracles nourished with hope increased with charitie confirmed with antiquitie holdeth me The succession of Priests from the verie seate of Peter the Apostle to whome our Lorde after his resurrection commended his sheeepe to be fedde vnto this present bishoprike doeth holde me last of all the verie name of Catholike Church doth holde me which not without cause among so manie heresies this Church alone hath so obtained that whereas all heretikes would haue themselues to be called Catholikes yet to a straunger that asketh where men meet at the Catholike Church none of the heretikes dare shewe either their owne Church or house Therfore these so manie so great most deare bondes of Christian name doe rightlie holde a man that beleeueth in the Catholike Church although for the dulnes of our vnderstanding or the desert of our life the tructh doth not yet shewe it selfe moste openlie But among you where none of these things is that maie inuite or holde me there soundeth nothing
but the promise of truth which indeed if it be shewed so manifest that it cannot come in doubt it is to be preferred before all those things by which I am holden in the Catholike Church But if it be onelie promised and not exhibited no man shall mooue me from that faith which bindeth my minde with so manie and great knottes vnto Christian religion Let vs see therfore what Maniche doth teach me c. These wordes declare that setting aside the wisdom of the Church grounded vpō the scriptures which the heretikes would not acknowledge there were manie other things that might iustlie holde him in the Catholike Church among which the name of Catholikes was but one and serued onelie at that time when the Catholike religion was moste commonlie imbraced therefore he denied not that the name of Catholike onelie was sufficient to teach a man to knowe the Church and the trueth by it but acknowledgeth that all these motiues of vniuersalitie consent miracles succession name of Catholike must giue place to the trueth when it is plainlie shewed out of the canonicall scriptures as in the chapter following he vrgeth them to shew out of the gospells of Christ wher it is writen that Manicheus was an Apostle of Christ as his sect affirmed and his epistle pretended As for the reason you alledge that vnlearned men are not able to stand with heretikes in disputation which wil challenge the Church to themselues is of no force for the vnlearned man ought to know the Church by the true notes thereof conteined in the scriptures which is sufficient for to satisfie his conscience although he can not cunninglie auoide all the Sophisticall arguments that the aduersarie bringeth whereas theonelie name of Catholikes can breede no true faith or quietnes of minde which is not obteined by the peoples iudgement but by authoritie of the worde of God And seing the people are commonlie deceiued in many matters of difficultie and moste of all in misnaming of things what assurance shall the vnlearned haue that they be not deceiued in this so weightie a matter and wherein their speach may so easilie be abused But howsoeuer it was the common calling of the people brought you to know Catholikes Catholikes to know the Church and the creede taught you to beleeue the Church rules in Popes pardons then in other articles Thus is your faith builded altogether vpon humane presumptions the ladder whereof is this you beleeue Popes pardons because the Church of Rome alloweth them you beleeue the Church of Rome because it is the Catholike Church you beleeue that it is the Catholike Church because the people commonlie call it so But of Christian faith Saint Paull describeth another ladder faith commeth by hearing hearing by the worde of God preached by ministers sent of God so that against the authoritie of god who giueth both his worde and preachers and by them true faith you haue the generall and common calling of men which giue authority to that companie to be the Church which is surnamed Catholike which company so called may cause you to beleeue what they list and this indeed is the ground of al your heresies if you had gone one step lower that the Deuill inspireth ignorant and wicked men to call his fowle blouse the Romish synagogue by the name of the beautifull spouse of Christ his Catholike Church ALLEN The second cause that mooued me to reuerence the power of pardoning in the high Bishup and to like his Indulgences was the verie persons of them which first reprooued the same In whome because I saw the worlde to note and wonder at other manie moste blasphemous and inexcusable heresies I verilie deemed though I was then for my age almoste ignorant of all thinges that this opinion and impugnation of Pardons could neither be of God nor of good motion that first began in them begate such a number of most wicked cōtentio is opinions as streight vpon the controlling of the Churches power herein did ensue not onelie against Christs officers in earth but against his Saints in heauen against himselfe in the blessed Sacrament This extreame intollerable issue mee thought verilie could haue no holie entraunce and therfore with the other named cause stayed me in the Churches faith euen then when I had no feeling nor sense in the meaning of these matters FVLKE You were a wise young man in those daies when being almost ignorant of all things as you confesse you would follow the iudgement of the worlde in condemning the persons of them that reprooued pardons and were not able to iudge whether they were iustlie condemned of other blasphemous inexcusable heresies Nay at this presēt time as great a cleark as you are taken to be among your friends you are not able to conuince thē of such blasphemous inexcusable heresies as you prate of And yet if you had bin thō as able iustly to haue reproued thē by the scriptures of such monsters as the world did wonder at in them yet you staied vpō a weake staffe except this be a good atgumēt with you heretiks hold manifest false opinions therefore they holde no true opinions Much more wiselie and soundlie you should haue sought the true Church as Saint Augustine teacheth out of the scriptures and thereby iudged of the worldes noting and wondring which because it consisteth moste of wicked men doth commonlie condemne Christ and his Gospell Out of the same scripture you should haue learned who were Christes officers and whoe the limmes of Antichrist what honour is due vnto the saints in heauen and what manner presense there is of Christ vpon earth But as your faith was thē grounded vpō simple sophistrie in supposing that which no wise man will graunt so is it not now much differing from the same although you haue learned with more craft to peruert a few scriptures and to wrest the sayinges of some dctors for a florish hauing no more substance of true faith which is builded vpon the word of God then you had before For if your shameles principle be denyed that you are the Church of Christ then you come back to these beggerlie motyues as in your articles and Bristowes motyues is manifest being not able either to finde the notes of the true Church in the synagogue of Rome nor to iustify the doctrine of the Church of Rome to be builded vpon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles when triall is to be made by their writings ALLEN But afterwad reading the historie of the pitifull fal of our time and there considering the sinister intent and occasion of the first improofe of Pardons and all the strange endeuours of Luther whose name is cursed to all good men who first in all mans memorie sauing one Wicleffe who was condemned in Constance Councell for the same was so bolde onelie vpon contention and couetousnes to condemne that which himselfe in Conscience knew to be true and lawfull I could not
but much be confirmed in my faith thereby And yet all this while though the matter of pardons seemed to me to be more and more sound in it selfe and as true as the Spirit of God is true who was the author thereof in the Church yet I did not then consider of it as a thing of anie great importance but I conceiued it to be a small matter subiect to a certaine iugling in reason such as wicked men lightlie make their close and craftie entrance by to more mischiefe and further attemptes against the common faith of the Church I could not then conceiue which I after ward so plainlie and now more and more by the better surueie of the cause do perceiue that in this one falsehood there was couertlie conteined the verie pith of falsehood and improofe of the greatest matters which life and faith doth stand vpon FVLKE Your first motiues to this faith of yours were not more feeble then your confutations in the same were fond and foolish You did reade the storie of the alteration in religion that hath fallen in our time But of whose writing I praie you euen of such as were proctors for the Popes pedlarie ware or pillers of his pretensed power which was none other but according to the prouerb before mentioned aske my fellow if I be a thiefe If you had read the storie written indifferentlie without partialitie to either partie you might haue iudged better of the wholle matter Some perhapes are liuing that can testifie of the things that were done publike monuments are extant totestifie the same so much more intollerable is your arrogancie to iudge vpon the onelie sinister report of the aduersaries of Luther of holie and blessed memorie with all true Christians that onelie contention and couetousnes mooued him to condemne that which himselfe in conscience knew to be true and lawfull Like boldnes you shew in affirming that Luther was the first in all mans memorie sauing one 〈◊〉 that despised pardons forgetting the Waldenses that were long before Wiclefe and the Bohemians that were after him before Luther who condemned popish pardons as much as Wiclife or Luther For they condemned the Pope to be Antichrist as much as these did But now let vs examine the storie as it is knowne to be moste true in Saxonie where Luther first found fault with pardons When Pope Leo. 10. had sent abroad his pardons which were preached by Terelius a Dominike frier in such impudent manner that they seemed to serue for no end but the Popes couetousnes and the licentiousnes of the people Luther at that time hauing a zeale of God but not according to knowledge did mildelie and modestlie admonish the people of the deceites and abuses of pardons and pardoners which long before his time were reprooued in the Councells of Latrean and Vienna he complained to the Archbishoppe of Ments to the Bishop of Branderburg to the prouinciall of the Augustine friers and to the Pope him selfe in all thinges submitting him selfe to the Pope and Church of Rome so it were not against the holie scriptures When he could finde no equity nor redresse of these abuses which euen Surius the papist confesseth to haue bene iustlie complained of by him and vniustlie manteined or dissembled by the prelates he proceeded farther as God gaue him knowledge and at length compelled by intollerable iniurie and neglect of manifest trueth and reformation of lise did cast of the Anrichristian yoke of the Popes obedience Now whereas you charge him with contention and couetousnes the world your iudge before maie gather whether Luther if against his conscience he would haue set forth the Popes pardons especiallie at such time as the Pope had great neede of monie for warre against the Turkes might not haue made a more easie waie for him selfe to honour and ri hes then by setting himselfe against them But howsoeuer it was your fault faith was thus confirmed and that to such blasphemous boldnes that without authoritie of the holie scriptures the matter of pardons seemed to you as true as the spirit of God is true and hauing none other arguments to perswade you but that Papistes called them selues the Catholike Church and condemned Luther of manie heresies and write in their stories that Luther was mooued by contention and couetousnes to oppose him selfe against them you nothing doubted but that the spirit of God was author of popes pardons in the Church Beeing now resolued of the substance you were not yet perswaded of the quantitie but thinkeing the matter at the first was but small at length you came to a perfect knowledge how great and weightie it is and how it draweth with it all other waight in so much that the verie pith of the greatest matters of popish life and faith doe stand vpon it If then the pith of the greatest matters of poperie doe stand in Popes pardons and this pith hath no ground either in the scriptures or the fathers of the Church for a thousand yeares after Christ we maie the more easily see that the plant of poperie whereof pardons is the pith is not of Gods owne planting and therefore shal be plucked vp by the rootes ALLEN Thou wouldest not thinke I dare saie into what a summe and abridgment heresie hath by the Deuilles deuise and Luthers seruice drawne her selfe into For by this one false conclusion and for maintenance thereof this man and his posteritie haue taken awaie all penance and satisfaction for sinne haue spoiled the Church of her iust and and moste necessarie discipline controlled Gods owne holie vsage incorrection of his children haue entered into his secrets of the next world and there abandoned the place of his iustice and iudgement for sinnes that be remitted but not enough to his wisdome and will corrected haue robbed the holie Saints of all their merites that is to saie Christ of his giftes and grace whereby onelie they besosoneraigne and satisfactorie haue imbarred the bodie mysticall of Christ of the benefit which the wholl and euerie member thereof should receiue by the satisfaction and holie workes of the common head which is Christ haue broken the communion of Saints and the sweet felowship of all the holie members of Gods Church and the benefit which riseth frometh to other by mutuall participation of their good works and desertes and to be short haue by this one falsehood preached against pardons done iniurie to Christ to his Church to his Saints and to his sacraments and haue mightelie shaken the whole frame of Christian religion and doctrine I doe not here riot in wordes to ouerrunne my aduersaries in talke or to make more of the matter then it is but assuredlie without destruction of all these so necessarie articles of our faith there can no man defend Luthers doctrine against Indulgences I knowe he fumbled at the beginning otherwise then his fellowes and followers to disgrace the same sometimes by holding the pardons to be lawfull but not
were once elected before he were a priest or anie other bishop in like case according to the compasse of this regiment let it be first noted I saie that such pardons howsoeuer they be giuen out of the sacraments do not forgiue sinnes that be deadlie And if anie man thought before that the Pope might or did vse to giue such liberall graunts or pardons wherby without the sacrament of penance or consession anie man might claime full remission of all his deadlie sinnes let him correct the misconstruing the matter in him-selfe and assuredlie know that it is not sothought of gods Church nor so meant by the giuer nor so expressed in any pardon FVLKE Stil you follow your positions without probations The Pope dispenseth with othes with vowes with killing of men c. without the sacrament of penance which things if they were donewithout this dispensation I think you will accompt to be mortall sinnes and this he doth by his key of iurisdiction therfore he may as well by the same power absolue men of periutie breach of vowes killing of men or if his key be naught in absolution it can be no better in dispensation Cettaine it is that Saint Paul with the Church of Corinth did release and absolue the incestuous man as largelie as he had bound him For so his words are plaine Whatsoeuer you do pardon I also pardon But you can not agree thereto in anie case although other men be of that minde and Saint Paull saith as much him selfe Peraduenture you will rather beleeue Chrysostome who vpon the former wordes of Saint Paul thus writeth Ne redderet illos elatos quasi huius negotij authoritas penes ipsos esset itaque fieret vt non absoluerent hominem 〈◊〉 adigit illos ad hoc dicens sese quoque ills condonasse Least he should make them to proude as though the authoritie of this matter were wholie in their power and so it might be that they would not absolue the man againe he driueth them to this saying that he also hath pardoned him Againe he speaketh inthe person of Saint Paul Ego iam condonaui qui in priore epistola condemnaueram I haue already pardoned him which in my former epistle had condemned him This is Chrysostomes iudgement whereto in any case you can not agree The reason you adde of the necessitie of the sacrament confession and institution thereof is nothing except you prooue them out of the scriptures as you neuer shall be able the one or the other That remission of sinnes is so proper a worke to God as it is incommunicable to anie creature to graunt the same absolutelie you saie true whether it be with sacrament or without sacrament For remission of sinnes followeth not the external administratio of the sacraments but the sacraments as seales of his worde follow the pleasure of God therein Wherefore your determination of Gods absolute power in remission of sinnes as also your discourse which followeth of Christes humanitie vnited to the Godhead remitting sinnes is cleane contrarie to your former deliberate assertions conteined in the first booke Chapter the 1. 2. as appeareth by the verie titles of the chapters and in the latter end of the 4. Chapter where you make your syllogisme the maior whereof is this They truelie and properlie do remit sinnes vpon whose sentence in earth the pardons of God immediatlie doth insue in heauen Thus you dangle vp and downe looking onelie vpon your purpose in hand and forgetting how your matter should hang together which euerie meane reader will finde out of himselfe though you do not admonishhim therof You returne againe to Saint Pauls absolution which although the text and the doctors interpretation vppon the text be most manifest that Saint Paull as a principall partie in his excommunication doth also as principall minister restore him yet you will haue him to be but onelie an exhorter or counseller of other men what they should do But the text is plaine he did not onelie iudge him worthie to receiue pardon at the hands of priestes or Church of Corinth but he also did for his parte and according to that interest he had ouer the Churchof Corinth himselfe pardon him that in the person or presens of Christ. But hereof you admonish vs that we shal haue occasion to consider more hereafter In the meane time while you would make the Popes pardons seeme more tollerable to ignorant persons you go about to persuade them that you do not exalt the Pope so farre but that you giue to euerie simple priest authoritie in respect of his order more then to the Pope and repeat againe that the Pope can not absolue men of mortall sinne and yet hath the Pope as I haue prooued taken vpon him to absolue men of mortall sinne If he did contrarie to the Popish Churches 〈◊〉 let the Popish Church expostulate with him if his meaning were otherwise then might be gathered by his wordes then was he a shamefull dissembler cosener and deceiuer ALLEN Notwithstanding the power of iurisdiction sometimes ioyneth with the sacrament of penance and the power of orders as when anie indulgence is geuen forth by the Pope in which is expressed that whosoeuer shall be partaker thereof must confesse him-selfe and be contrite for his sinnes past and therewith receiue the holie sacrament of the Altar and such like by this pardon so ioyning with the sacrament of remission or in a manner including the same a full forgiuenes is had of all sinnes and paines therfore which in that case maie be called as it is a plenarie remission or a pardon à poena culpa from both the fault and the paine due therefore FVLKE Howsoeuer you ioyne or disioyne the Popes pardons to or from the singlesoled sacrament of popish confession the Popes pardons for mortall sinnes will prooue no better then fooles bables by your owne confession For without the sacrament of confession you saie they are not able to forgiue deadly sinnes and in the sacrament of confession you holde that deadlie sinnes maie be forgiuen without the Popes pardons therefore either with it or without it the Popes pardons for deadlie sinnes are not worth a rotten nutshell So that while men paie monie to the Pope or his pardoning questors for leaden bulles they are made leude Calues to buy that for mony at his hands which their Parish priests are bound to giue them freelie without monie The Pope therefore in graunting plenarie pardons à poena culpa both from the fault and the paine due therefore doth nothing els but deiude the world seing he can neither graunt pardon for anie mortall fault as you confesse and when he pretendeth to pardon such faultes he pardoneth no more then was pardoned before or which might receiue pardon without his pardon ALLEN There be also certaine greeuous crimes which euerie Curate or Priest Parochian can not remit because they be reserued to the audience of the higher Pastours For
communicat both functions at once and gaue the Magistrates of the Church not onlie by preaching to threaten or exhort men to vertue or promise them release of their sinnes by only faith as men haue now plained the waie to heauen but also by force of their regiment to giue great penance as we haue prooued greatpardon againe as to their wisdomes and for the Churches edifying may seeme most conuenient Of this great power of Christ communicated to his Apostles we haue practize as well for punishing sinners as pardoning them For vpon this soueraigne iurisdiction it rose that the Apostles mightelie ministred iustice vpon offendours as well by afflicting their bodies with enioyned long fasies and large almoses as by excommunicaton other meanes Which thing whsoeuer well weigheth in the manifolde examples of Gods worde they shall not wonder that the holie Bishops of Christs Church may giue a pardon of penance enioyned For by this authoritie did S. Peter who first receiued the keies of iurisdictiō power ouer the Church kil both Ananias and Saphira his wife which is as great a bodilie punishment for sinne as may be By this authoritie did he excommunicate Simon the Sorcerer by this power did S. Paull offer to reuenge disobedience by this did he threaten tocome to the faithfull with a rodde of discipline By this he prescribed to Timothie whom he consecrated Bishop how he should heare accusations and behaue himselfe in rebuking sinne correction of diuerse states By this power did he mightely deliuer vp some to Sathan and bodelie vexation By this power did he strike blinde Elimas the witch and released him at his pleasure againe FVLKE That the ministers of the Church haue authoritie not onelie to preach the worde of life moste comfortablie to al penitent sinners and moste terribly to all reproba tes and impenitent persons but also to exercise discipline of correction vpon offendours and to release the same vpon hope and apparance of their amendment it is at all times and in all places by vs willinglie confessed and acknowledged Wherefore this discourse is altogether needelesse but that you muste interlace some trueth not denied among so manie vnpropable and vnreasonable propositions that of no wise men will euer be graunted The waie to heauen is no other wise plained by vs in promising men release of their sinnes by faith onelie then it was by Saint Paul Rom. 4. and before him by Dauid psal 32. That the Apostles ministred iustice vpon offenders as well by afflicting their bodies with enioyned long fastes large almes as by excommunication and other meanes when you prooue it out of the scriptures we will yeelde vnto you We finde they did excommunicate and that they exhorted men to fasting and almes but that they enioyned any prescript fastes or almes such we finde not And yet we doubt not but they esteemed fasting praying and sorowing for sinnes almes and other Godlie exercises to be fruites of true repentance in beholding of which they were mooued to receiue againe into the Church such as for their offences were iustlie cast out Neither did Saint Peter by the same keies of iurisdiction as you call them kill Ananias and his wife by which he did excommunicate Simon the sorcerer if that denuntiation of Gods iudgement maie be called an excommunication Neither did Peter properlie kil Ananias who was stryken immediatelie of God for lying against the holie ghost neither hath anie successour of his authoritie to kill mens bodies howsoeuer you would insinuate that your Antichrist the Pope haththe power of both the swords to slaie mens bodies with the one as he murdereth their soules with his pestilent heresies That the Apostles deliuered some to Satan to be vexed in their bodies it prooueth no ordinarie iurisdiction of punishing mens bodies for that it was onelie a miraculous power they had which goeth not by succession vnto their posteritie like as the example of Saint Paul striking Elimas with blindnes can not be drawne to discipline which is practized onelie vpon the members of the Church whereof that Sorcerer was neuer anie parte neither did Saint Paull release him at his pleasure but at the time appointed by God ALLEN By this power haue holie Bishops excommunicated mightie Emperours suspended manie from the sacraments disgraded diuers spirituall men from their functions interdicted wholl Realmes and to be short by this power hath the Church of God prescribed a due punishment for euerie deadlie sinne iustlie respecting the greeuousnes thereof and continuance therein As we maie see in the penitentiall booke of I heodotus and Bede the cannons whereof be translated into the booke of decrees which is the 15. intituled De poenitent And namelie in the most auncient Councell of Ancyre which was holden well neare 1300. yeares since in the most pure time of Christian religion when I trow our aduersaries dare not saie that the faith was corrupted There the Priests and deacons that relented in persecution were suspended from the executing of their seuerall functions Such as supt in the temples of Idols and sacrificed to false Gods were charged beside absteining from the sa craments with 3. yeares penance those that committed brutish sinnes vnnatural should do 25. years penance for adultery 7 yeares penance for women that destroied their birth 10. years for murtherers 7. if it be not voluntarie if it be wilfull til the endof mans life for superstitious southsaiers or dreame readers or sorcerers and witches fiue yeares Finallie for rape 10. yeares were prescribed The like were made for diuers crimes in the councell of Nice But it is inough that we know though the eternall paines deserued by dcadlie sinnes be forgiuen with the sinnes them-selues and yet there remaineth for the satisfying of Gods iustice some temporall scourge to preuent which the Church enioyneth paine for faults remitted that both Gods mercie be followed in the remission of their sinnes and his iustice partlie answered in the punishment of the same the which debt of deserued paine being not here fulfilied or released it must in another world be answered FVLKE By power receaued from Christ holie Bishops haue practized christian discipline in excommunicating euen Emperours and great estates separating from the sacraments and displasing of ecclesiasticall persons from their functions But I neuer read that anie holie Bishop did interdict wholl realmes but onelie Antichrist of Rome Victor of olde time did take vpon him to excommunicate all the Churches of the East for not celebrating of the feast of Easter as he did but he was counter maunded and reprooued by his fellow Bishops not onelie of the East but euen of the West which agreed not with him in that ceremonie as by Ireneus Bishop of Lions in Fraunce and other That the Church of great antiquity prescribed a certaine time of punish ment for euery kinde of heinous sinne it was partly to reforme the facility of
som Bishops that were to easie in graunting reconciliation to greeuous offenders partlie to meete with the hyporisie of manie sinners which vpon hope to be easily receiued made lesse account to become offenders cast out of the Church Andhereof came those seuere canons of the Ancyrane councell which were soone afterward somwhat mitigated in the Nicen councell and charge giuen to the Bishop to deale more gently with them that shewed great tokens of repentance before their time of penance expired Abomnibus verò illud praecipué obseruetur vt animus eorum fructus poenitentiae attendatur But let this be chiefelie obserued of all men that their minde and their fruite of repentance be considered Wherby they declare for what cause such time of penance was prescribed namelie by the fruites of repentance to make triall whether men were truelie penitent for their sinnes and meete to be receaued againe into the congregation or no. The councell of Carthage aster that perceiuing manie inconueniences to arise by those certaine prescript times of penance decreed Vt poenitentibus secundùm peccatorum differentias episcopi arbitrio poenitentiae tempora decernantur That times of repentance by the discretion of the Bishop should be appointed vnto them that doe penance according to the differences of their sinnes but that there remaineth for the satisfying of Gods iustice some temporall scourge after eternall paines by deadlie sinnes deserued be forgiuen with the sinnes themselues we know not out of the scriptures but the contrarie namelie that these sinnes being forgiuen and Gods iustice throughlie satisfied in Christ there remaineth no temporall punishment due for the sinnes forgiuen but sometimes a mercifull and fatherly chastisment which is not in anie mans power to release or remit but when it pleaseth the father of his wisdome and clemency to take it awaie ALLEN And therefore S. Augustine saith of the Churches vsage in prescribing penance thus Sed neque de ipsis criminil us quamlibet magnis remittendis in Sancta Ecclesia Dei desperanda est misericordia agentibus poenitentiam secundùm modum sui cuiusque peccati auia plerunque dolor alterius cordis occultus est alteri rectè constituuntur ab iis qui Ecclesiae praesunt tempora poenitentiae vt fiat etiam satis Ecclesiae in qua peccata remittuntur Euen for sinnes being neuer so greeuous and great we maie not dispaire of Gods mercie nor of reneission to be had in the Church marie alwaies presupposed that the offenders must doe penance according to the quantitie and greeuousnes of their offences And because often it chaunceth that the sorrow of mans hart wherein much standeth is vnknowne to other men it is verie reasonable that the Church should limite their penance by her gouernour to be accomplished in certaine times and appointed seasons for the answere of the Churches right in which onelie all sinnes be remitted as out of her lappe none at al be forgiuen for any benefit to the partie So saith this doctour of publike penance And of secret satisfaction which nowe is more vsed after confession lest anie man should feare that that were not sufficient to satisfie for the remnant of debt due for mortall sinnes forgiuen thus saith the author of that booke de Eccles. dogm set forth with Saint Augustines name Sed secreta satisfactione solui mortalia crimina non negamus Neither we doe denie but mortall sinnes maie be loosed by secret satisfaction Feare nos the worde satisfaction as though it derogated anie thing to the redemption which is in Christ Iesus It is here and in manie places of S. Augustines workes most common and no lesse vsed of all Catholike writers since Christes time who knew right well that the fruites of Christian penance done in the vertue and force of Gods grace doe applie Christes satisfaction effectuallie to our benefit and not remooue the vse therof from vs. But they haue a faith so solitarie now a daies that it will alpne apprehend what ye list and reach so farre into Christes iustice that her fautors shall haue no need of Christian workes or fruitfull repentance FVLKE Saint Augustine saith to verie good purpose but nothing to the maintenance of your purpose for which you alledge him namelie that temporall punishment is due to Gods iustice for sinne remitted whose saying I maruell why you do so geld that you recite it not whollie as he hath written but that either you would not haue men certainlie know that he speaketh of open penance done for great crimes committed or else you haue cited the place of some other mans credit rather then of your owne reading After he hath said that some man maie liue without crime but no man without sinne his wordes be these Sed neque deipsis criminibus quamlibet magnis remittendis in sancta Ecclesia Dei desperanda est misericordia agentibus poenitentiam secundùm modum sui cuiusque peccati In actione autem poenitentiae vbitae lecrimen commissum est vt is qui commisit a Christi etiam corpore separetur noÌ„tam consideranda est mensura temporis quà m doloris cor enim contritum humiliatum Deus non spernit Verùm quia pierunque dolor â—lterius cordis occultus est alteri neque in aliorum notitiam per verba vel quaecunque alia signa procedit cùm sit coram illo cui dicitur gemitus meus à le noÌ„ est absconditus rectè constituuntur ab iis qui Ecclesiae praesunt tempora poenitentiae vt fiat etiam satis Ecclesiae in qua remittuntur ipsa peccata extra eam quippe non remittuntur Ipsa namque propriè Spiritum Sanctum pignus accepit sine quo non remittuntur vlla peccata ita vt quibus dimittuntur consequantur vitam aeternam But neither of those crimes be they neuer so great to be remitted in the holy Church the mercie of God is to be dispaired of to them that repent according to the measure of euery mans sinne But in the doing of penance where such a crime is committed that he which hath committed it is also to be separated from the bodie of Christ the measure of time is not so much to be considered as of the sorrowe for God dispiseth not a contrite and an humbled heart But because often times the sorrow of one mans heart is hidden to an other and commeth not into the knowledge of other men by wordes or other signes whatsoeuer although it be knowne before him to whome it is said my groning is not hid from thee there be rightlie appointed by them that gouerne the Church times of repentance that the Church also maie be satisfied in which those sinnes are remitted for whithout they are not remitted For she hath properlie receaued the pledge of the holie Ghost without whome no sinnes are remitted so that they to whome they are remitted doe obtaine eternall life In these wordes Saint Augustine sheweth plainely that times of penance or repentance were enioyned
fundation afterwarde to make a florish in wordes and a vaine 〈◊〉 of confirming your foundation As in this cause it had beene moste necessarie if the compasse of your cause could haue borne it to haue first prooued substantiallie that there remaineth temporall punishment after sinne remitted to satisfie the iustice of God Then that the iustice of God not satisfied by the act of Christs sacrifice on the crosse may be satisfied afterward Thirdlie the meane wherby it may be satisfied which you cal the treasure of the Church fourthly that dispensation therof belongeth to the pope these things once prooued the way had beene plainner to bring in the Popes pardons for proofe of which to be good you haue plaide the proctour all this while But these matters must be daintelie touched the compasse of your cause can not abide to haue them thoroughlie handled And therefore it is sufficient to affirme them for other proofe you haue none of them And yet as though you brought with you noe worsse then mathematicall demonstrations you blow the trumpe afore hand to giue more light to the matter the greater ouerthrow to falsehood to driue the cause forward and weigh the wholl state of things And what saie you to the purpose forsooth you tell vs that there be three kindes of punishment of mans sinnes after they be remitted But sir wee beleeue you not where is your demonstration Why Is it not sufficient that M. Allen saith so what an vnrea sonable man are you that will not learne to abide the orderlie methode and compasse of the cause well seeing we muste haue none other proofe of your sayings let vs see what you say first the fruites of repentance which man chargeth himselfe with all are none What those be I know not except it be some superstitious vowes and such like matters but the fruites of repentance which God chargeth a man withal be so necessarie to be brought forth that otherwise the repentance is fained and thereof followeth no remission Againe ciuill punishment is none and yet nothing is more like to prooue that purpose what is it then The first easiest is that penance which is enioyned in secret confession In deed that is easie and such as may encourage men to commit sinnes for which they make so easie satisfaction toties quoties But what is the effect of this satisfactió It standeth for a full satisfaction before God when it is accomplished What alwaie Nay often times if it be any thing correspondent to the crimes Then is there no certaintie in this matter but in steede of a quietnes of conscience a torment followeth vpon it if the sinner be not assured that his penance enioyned will goe for paiement or satisfaction Well when this easie penance is a full satisfaction whence taketh it so great force you answere small workes by force of the sacraments are verie effectuall But to prooue this patch of Poperie to be a sacrament what daie wil you take for that which is the grounde of al your disputation is denied of vs as you know So that hetherto but by petion of principles you get nothing ALLEN The second way of punishment is appointed by the Canons generallie for such faultes as be committed after Baptisme that is to saie by the lawes of the Church or Decrees of Bishops and chiefe Magistrates thereof and is called Canonicall satisfaction Which is much more sparpe and greeuous then the other that in priuate penance is commonlie giuen and a great deale more answerable to Gods iustice and the greeuousnes of the crimes committed And so the Canons were not onelie prescribed as some iudge not right of them for open offences to satisfie the Church and the offence of the people but also euen for secret sinnes as we may perceiue by Saint Augustine Tertullian and other that haue written of penance And this waie prescribed satisfaction by the auncient decrees of Councells which lightlie appointed seuen yeares of penance for euerie deadelie sinne was almost a rule for such as heard secret confessions to moderate their penance by which they lightlie gaue to the penitents euen after the limitation of the saide decrees auncient Canons Now to giue so many yeares or daies of penance signifieth the iniunction or prescriptions of fasts by certaine weekelie thoroughout the said prefixed times or continualfasting from moste meates euerie daie in all those yeares of penance other then would suffice for susteining of nature as bread and water and such shinne diet which 〈◊〉 bodie in this fall of our strength and manners could now scarse beare with this continuall mourning in outward behauiour of countenance speach and apparell and which was the greatest of all necessarie abstinence from the holie sacrament till the said penance was accomplished And this great penance was in the Primitiye Church prescribed by the Canons not onelie for cautell and prouision for the like sinnes afterward to be committed then when the Church had her punishment for sinnes seuerall from the paines appointed by the ciuill lawes for the same but also for the satisfiyng of gods iustice for the penitents sinnes the burden whereof then was counted as indeede it is so intollerable that neither the Church spared to enioyne great satisfaction nor the offenders refused to receiue and accomplish the same with humilitie This therefore is the second waie of punishment or prescription of penance for mortall sinnes remitted or in waie to be remitted by the penance of the partie In which kinde you may account also the seuere punishments which concerne the soull moste although sometimes they are ioyned vnto some corporall afflictions as excommunication suspension degradation such like for al these were vsual in the beginning of Christian daies for correction of sinne FVLKE Canonical punishment as we heard latelie in the next Chapter before was vt satis fait Ecclesiae to make satisfaction to the Church and not to the iustice of God who accepteth a contrite and an humble heart thorough the vertue of Christs death and passion as a full satisfaction to his instice You saie the Canons were not onelie prescribed as some iudge not rightlie of them for open offences to satisfie the Church the offence of the people but also euen for secret sinnes But how is this prooued that you saie you tell vs that we may perceiue it by S. Austine Tertullian and others that haue written of penance If it be as you saie why be not their sayings set downe and we with them that iudge not rightlie conuinced by them At lest why be not the places quoted where we may perceiue such a matter belike the compasse of the cause cannot abide it as also you sate this fal of our strength and manners could scarse beare such streight penance as by the Canons is prescribed You ioyne two things together of diuerse natutes If the strength of mans bodie be so greatly fallen as they are not able to endure such hard punishment
the Church should of dutie initigate the rigor of those Canons and not send men to secke pardons for them Whereas many a man that hath needc lacketh either monie or other occasions to purchase pardons but if the manners of men be so dissolute as they like not streight penance they are more dissolute vnto sinne and so had need of the bitte of streighter penance to keepe them in then the raine of pardons and easie penance to let them runne You repeat againe that this penance Canonicall was appointed not onelie for cautele and prouision against the like sinnes but also for satisfying of Gods iustice But hereof no proofe at all but a bare affirmation ALLEN The third waie of punishment of temporal sinne is by Gods owne hand as when he striketh some by sickenes 〈◊〉 by temporal death or by the paines of Purgatorie which 〈◊〉 a place of temporal satisfaction correction of the soule only in the next life Thus were diuers of the Corinthians cast into infir mites manie striken dead and further also punished in the next world in the place of iudgement there not eternal but transitory because they would not iustly iudge and correct themselues And which is much to be noted for our purpose the Apostles also had authoritie giuen them to punish the offendours often by bodelie vexation and death sometimes that they might thereby make true shew and proofe to all the world that they and their successours had iurisdiction ouer the soules of men whiles they made it euident by manifest signes wrought in the face of all the world euen vppon the bodies themselues which are not so properlie subiect to the gouernours of the Church as the soules of the faithfull be though their bodies to for the soules sake be subiect to the said power And not withstanding the same miraculous force in correcting sinners did cease afterwardes yet the like power ordinarilie to be exercised by giuing penance and seperating from the Sacraments remaineth in the Churches right still And here we maie not thinke that the killing of diuers as well by Gods owne hand amongest the people of Israell in Moset time as of other that died of diseases for punishment of vnworthie receiuing the Sacrament in Saint Paules daics or sleaing of Ananias and his wife by S. Peters hand manie moe perhapes whereof there is no talke in the text we maie not deny I saie that these were all killed either of God or Christes Apostles to eternall damnation but rather for their temporall correction and the auoiding of Gods iudgements to come especiallie where anie of them did repent them of their fault before their deserued death came vpon them FVLKE That God striketh by sicknes or temporal death his children sor their chastisment and example of others it is verie certaine but that he sendeth anie into purgatorie or punisheth for satisfaction of his iustice I must stil denie vntil I see it plainly proued Neither do I finde that the Corinthians which neglected to iudge themselues in this life were punished with anie transitorie punishment in the next world That the Apostles had authoritie to aftlict mens bodies prooueth not that they or their successours had iurisdiction ouer mens soules But their spirituall power is otherwise sufficiently testified as well in retaming sinnes as in casting out of the Church such as teeme by gentler discipline incorrigible Concerning all those that haue bin or be striken with the hand of God with temporall death we leaue the iudgement to him selfe If they did trulie repent before their death we haue sure testimonie that God hath receiued them to mercie But hereof it followeth not that their temporall punishment was a satisfaction of Gods iustice neither-saith Saint Hierome anie such thing ALIEN Now by these three diuers waies of correction for sinnesremitted no doubt the Pardons of Gods ministers must be limited and vnderstanded so that whosoeuer giueth a pardon lawfully he must either discharge the penitent of the punishment which his Ghostlie Father enioyned him or that the olde lawes of most holie Councels charged the like offenders withal or that God himselfe enioyned sometimes in this world but especiallie in the next life where god more exactlie properlie punisheth both for sins remitted not remitted If the pardō be large it taketh awaie the whole pain if it be otherwise it determineth the number of daies and releaseth not all but part of the pennance onelie that is to saic so manie daies or yeares as in the Indulgence is mentioned Whereof no man can now be ignorant if he doe but marke that the penance which the Pope taketh vpon him to remit was also limited by yeares of fasting praying abstinence from the Sacraments and such 〈◊〉 as if your Confessour had giuen you in penance to fast euerie fridaie bread and drinke onelie for some notorius sinnes confessed vnto him then the Pardon for twentie daies would discharge you of so manie daies from your said bond as be named and if it be a free and plenarie Indulgence it shall discharge you of the bond of all the daies or yeares appointed which you haue not before the receit of the said pardon accomplished And this is exceeding plaine for the two first kindes of punishments which we said were adioyned for satisfaction by the Churches lawes and by the confessours prescription For they stood vpon daiet and yeares so the remission of the same must needes keepe the like forme For which cause you shal see often expressed De Poenitentiis iniunctis in the Indulgence And that forme of graunt remission was vsed alwaies in gods Church For S. Cyprian did remit a great peece sometimes De poenitentiis inunctis of the enioyned penance when he gaue peace to such as fell in time of persecution long before they had fulifilled their prescribed penance and so did S. Paull to the Corinthian that had committed incest And so doth Nice Councel prescribe to Bishops that they should or might at the lest Humaniùs agere deale more gentlie with those that denied their faith in the persecution of Licinius that they might pardō them before if they saw cause though seauen yeares penance was prescribed vnto them In which places that the Church now calleth a Pardon or Indulgence was tearmed sometimes donare aliquid in persona Christi to giue or graunt something to the offender in Christes person and so called Saint Paull it sometimes it was called Dare pacem as Saint Cyprin termeth it in manie places of his workes sometimes it was called Humaniùs agere To deale gentlie with sinners or to shew vnto them humanitie and so doth Nicen and Ancyran Councells terme it Licebit etiam Episcopo humanius circa aliquid cogitare It shall be lawfull for the Bishop to deale more curteouslie with them saith the holie Councell FVLKE First you tell vs that the pardon must discharge men either of al or some part of these three kindes of
that euer recouered by the Popes pardon among so many 1000. sick persons as haue receaued the Popes pardon was neuer none sick by gods appointment for satisfying of his iustice onelie But admit he were sick for other causes as welll as for that should not the popes pardon at the least take away some parte of his sicknes namelie so much as was laid vpon him for that cause onelie Let the Pope if he will make triall of his power to the confusion of his abuersaries graunt a generall pardon to all Papistes as he maie easilie do and then let it be tryed whether anie one shall straight recouer of his bodelie sicknes or other affliction or how manie shall be eased in their bodilie or wordly affliction Prouided alwaies that we haue no counter fait crankes that shall step vp sodenlie recouered of that disease whereof they were neuer sick But if you dare be bolde to saie that the Popes pardon can cause anie man to recouer straight vpon the recept of it you must also be bolde to say that the popes pardon can worke miracles for no man can sodainlie recouer of any disease which is not come to the period without miracle if the naturall cause thereof be not first taken awaie But alas who doth not see your miserable startinghole if that infirmitie were for none other cause but that onelie as it may be for manie mo wherof no man can easilie iudge A wretched clout to hide your infirmitie where no one example among so manie thousand as are sick in the world can be shewed So that purgatorie paines and the release of them are grounded vpon temporall afflictions whereof noe man can iudge for what cause they are no man can shew one example of the release of them by pardons ALLEN And therfore not onelie Christ him-selfe as I shall declare hereafter but Aaron also healed in the olde law the infirmities of thousands which came vpon them onelie for temporall punishment of sinnes And in the sacrament of extreme vnction the Apostle Saint Iames affirmeth that our Lord shall vpon the priestes praier lift vp the penitent or ease him of his sicknes whichhe meant onely or chiefely of that sicknes which commeth vpon the partie by Gods hand as a punishment of those sinnes which be remissible in the sacrament for such like means As Saint Chysostome sheweth also a passiing power in the ministers of God Church saying That they maie keepe mans soule from perishing and maie charge him with more easie paine euen at his passing hence besides that they maie ease his bodelie infirmitie also by their holie praiers in the act of extreame vnction in this sense speaketh he thereof FVLKE Said I that no man can shew one example of the release of bodilie afflictions Master Allen sheweth here examples of thowsands healed not onelie by Christ but by Aaron also of infirmities that came vpon them for temporal punishment of sinnes as he will declare hereafter But I replie what miracles Christ or Aaron wrought in his name they be no examples of the Popes pardons by which if he can prooue that anie man receaueth recouerie of his sicknes it is somewhat to the purpose The llke I saie of annointing with oile by which the elders of the primitiue and Apostolike Church endued with the miraculous gift of healing cured manie of their bodilie infirmities but that anie extreame vnction restoreth anie man to health or euer did I vtterlie denie and therefore we will not dispute of what sicknes they heale them Neither doth Chrysostome saie that the Ministers of Gods Church haue such a passing power that they maie ease bodilie infirmitie by their holie praiers in the act of extreame vnction neither hath his words anie sense thereof and therefore you deale fraudulentlie to tell vs of the sense when you rehearse not the wordes Plaine dealing becommeth an honest cause but when neither wordes nor sense can helpe you you must faine a sense which can not be prooued of the wordes which are these De sacerdotio lib. 3. cap. 6. preferring the ministers of the Church before bodelie parents by so much as the life to come excelleth this life for they truelie do beget vnto this life but these vnto that to come And they truelie can not so much as deliuer them from bodylie death nor driue awaie sicknes that falleth vpon them but these have often saued the soule that was stck and readie to perish causing some to haue a gentler punishment suffering some not to fall from the beginning and helping them not onely by teaching and admonishing but also by praiers For not onelie when they regenerate vs but after warde they haue power to forgiue sinnes It anie man sick among you saith he let him call for c. Where the text of Saint Iames is alledged onelie to prooue that they haue power to obteine forgiuenes of sinnes by praier and neither for healing of bodylie sicknes nor for extreme vnction The ceremonie whereof with the miracle whereunto it was annexed was ceased long before Saint Chrysostomes time ALLEN But as I said because no man can well iudge when man is afflicted onelie for temporall discipline or satisfaction or when far other purposes to vs vnknowne the Church of God that vseth high wisdome and moderation in all things medleth not directly in pardoning by her iurisdiction with any such bodily afflictions as god chargeth man with alin this life which maie be to the forsaken as a beginning of their eternall damnation as Saint Augustine saith as well as a temporall correction and therefore not effectuallie remissible in the Church But the bond of Purgatorie that I saie in the Church maie be released and is released at euerie time that man worthilie receiueth a full and plenarie remission of all penance enioyned due to be enioyned by the law of the Churches decrees I do not speake now of the deliuerie of anie person from the paines of purgatory which alreadie is actuallie there or for the Churches power in releasing of their painet after they be in the course of Gods iudgement for the same I am not so farre yet but I speak of the discharge of the bond thereof or some portion of the same now before the partie do passe hence which is a great deale more proper to the Churches power and more easie to be brought to passe then when the penitents soule is alredy in iudge ment there to which place the Churches iurisdiction as some suppose doth not extend If the simple vnderstand me not let him marke my meaning by an example The paines of hell can not neither by God nor man ordinarilie be helpen or released after man be in the same but the debt of Hell which is due for euerie mortall sinne is discharged allwaies at our repentance in so much that the priest in the sacrament of penance with the sinne euer remitteth the bonde of Hell and preuenteth Gods iudgement in the same So if
Purgatory could not at al belong to the iurisdiction of the Church nor 〈◊〉 person therein yet in the life of the party some peece of the debt thereof oral may be released afore hand whiles the partie is in the power of the Church and her discipline ad so it must needs be at euerie time that the Church pardoneth the partie of all satisfaction or anic portion there of recompensing the same by application of Christes satisfaction and his saints For the bond of Purgatory riseth as I haue said vpon some satisfaction and penance to be fulfilled or done in this life the which 〈◊〉 bue either by our paines accomplished to the satisfying of Gods righteausnes or o therwise pardoned there is no debt or bond of purgatorie at all the which is so cancelled by thy Church our Mother that it can not be required of God our father FVLKE The Popish Church 〈◊〉 more sabtillie if shee take not vpon her at all either directlie or indirectlie to heale bodilie sicknes by pardons not because men can not iudge so well for what cause they are laid vpon the diseased but because shee knoweth right well that though shee may in the darke bregg of such a matter yet hath shee in deede no such power nor authoritie neither in the fortaken or reprobate nor in any of Gods elect But the bonde of Purgatorie where of there is neither argument nor experience shee may be bolde to deale with al at her pleasure either in preuenting or releasing Wherein I maruell you make the matter so deintie seeing it is holden on 〈◊〉 side that the Pope hath authoritie by his pardon 〈◊〉 onelie to release some out of the paines of purgatorie but also to spoile all Purgatorie and to leaue it 〈◊〉 Your example of the paines of hell that can not neither by God nor man be helped or released hath an instance in your owne schoole of the Emperour Traiane eased of hell paines at the praier of Saint Gregorie if the tole be true Beside Augustinus de Ancona disputeth earnestlie that the Pope hath power in hell to mitigate or release the paines of the damned or at the lest of some of them and that the Church praieth for that ende Wherfore you agree not with your fellowes nor with the Popish Church which praieth for the deade vt liberentur de ore Leonis de profundo lacu that they be deliuered from the mouth of the Lion and from the deepe lake But be it as you saie yet your argument of the similitude of hell and Purgatorie is of no force because we know certainlie by the scriptures that there is hell but Purgatorie we finde not in the holie scriptures as Saint Augustine saith of any third place But by the scripture we finde the ende wherefore Purgatorie is imagined to be forged false blasphemous against the sacrifice of Christ his death and satisfaction which was once perfectlie performed by himselfe and not committed to the application of any other man ALLEN And this mooued alwaies the Church of God diligentlie to prouide of her tender mercie toward her louing Children that they should neuer departe out of this life in any debt of penance knowing well that the residue not satisfied here should be required at their handes afore God in the next life And therefore though many yeares of penance were prescribed to all such as did notorious crimes yet there was made euer lightlie a prouiso that at the houre of their extremitie they should haue peace and pardon and the Churches blessing in the holie sacrament and so departe free from bond of the Churches discipline as far as in her laie might be also discharged of the temporall scourge in the next life as no doubt they were if their remained no other impediment in thēselues So doth Nice Councell moste mercifullie prouide and so doth Ciprian and other fathers of the Primitiue Church that saw in their high wisedome the temporall paine to come much to hang on the parties satisfaction and the bond of the Churches enioyned penance And euen at this daie prouision is also made that no penance be giuen but vpon condition of his recouerie to any man that lieth at the extremitie of death lest he depart hence Ligatus bounde as Saint Augustine tearmeth it whereby the debt of his enioyned satisfaction might be required in Purgatory And nothing in the world prooueth more the Churches doctrine of purgatory Pardons then doth the continuall concorde and moste agreeable practize of these holie acts of binding and loosing vsed in her gouernement FVLKE The auncient Church in deede not acknowledging that shee had any authority to release any punishment to be suffered after this life determined alwaies the times of Canonicall penance with the ende of mens liues as I haue shewed before now you do acknowledge no lesse But if the Church had power after men were deade to release them of any paines shee needed not to haue beene so carefull in that point as shee was willing to comfort the penitent offenders at their depar ture as for the cancelling of all debt due for the satisfying of gods righteousnes which you did ascribe vnto the Church was the proper office of our sauiour Christ who performed that most necessarie worke to our eternal benefit once for all when he did put out the handwriting that was against vs in decrees and vtterlie abolished it nayling it to his crosse Finallie if nothing in the worlde prooueth more the Popish Churches doctrine of Purgatorie and pardons then the continuall practize of binding and loosing iustlie vsed in gouernement as you doe constantlie affirme it will easilie appeare that nothing in the world can prooue at all your blaspemous heresies of Purgatorie and pardons seeing the right vse of that power can be none other then according to the authoritie graunted by our sauiour Christ of binding and loosing but neither purgatorie nor pardon out of that authoritie in any lawful forme of argument can euer be concluded howsoeuer in loose talke or scribling ignorant men may be caried awaie with the flow of wordes where there is no pitho argument How the practize of pardons of these late hundred veares differeth from the vsage of the primitiue Church and in what sense such great numbers of yeares and daies be remitted by the Popes pardons THE 8. CHAP. ALLEN BVt here we muste note some diuersitie in giuing Pardons and preuenting Purgatorie paines betwixt the primitiue Church of olde and ours of these latter hundred yeares which did moste iustlie rise vpon the alteration of ment manners state of things For in the primitiue Church enioyned penance was so large for euery mortal crime that it might seeme verie answerable vnto the nature of the faulte And doubtlesse it may not otherwise be thought but the spirit of God did limitate satisfaction by the Canons as agreeable in all pointes to the debt of sinnes forgiuen which God
required for answere And therefore when they gaue a Pardon of the enioyned penance there could be no great doubt but the penitent beeing in zeale and deuotion qualified thereunto was therwith fullie pardoned of Purgatorie and the bonde of all paines to come in the next life But now of daies when penance and large satisfaction our nature declining euer to the worsse and deuotion continuallie decaying is not enioyned according to the olde Canons and but a small signe thereof remaining onelie in secret satisfction which is not of it selfe in this exceeding flow of sinne any thing agreeable to the faultes committed in this case to remit onelie the enioyned penance were not enough commonlie to preuent Purgatorie paines or to discharge the penitent of all satisfactory correction to come Whereby the Church by instigation of Gods spirit dealeth so much more mercifullie now then before because the people had neuer so much neede to hang on pardon as when their sinnes be greatest and their recompense lest Neuerthelesse such is the frowardnes of our time that they had rather take away penance contemptuouslie then haue it released by the power of god lawfullie For the great infirmitie of this world was the manifolde 〈◊〉 vsed and yet the meekenes of the Church which by the motion of God shee applieth her selfe vnto for the distresse of these daies and for the sinners sake is yet moste of sinners now commonlie contemned and of verie many that haue full great neede thereof as meere follie laughed at Yet the Church for her childrens reliefe bestoweth mercie still and a great deale lesse it is offended on that side then the other as no doubt the holie ghost guiding her affaires she standeth vpright on both sides FVIKE You doe not amisse to note a diuersitie betweene the practize of the auncient primitiue Church from the late Popish Church touching the Popes pardons and purgatorie for the moste auncient primitiue Church knew neither the one nor the other But you will haue the difference to arise moste iustlie vpon the alteration of mens manners and state of thing 's Touching the state of things it is so large a tearme that I know not what you meane thereby And I maruell what state of things that should be that should bring in a new religiō into the church of Christ as this of Popes pardons purgatorie is But the alteration of mens manners if it require another forme of discipline the change of manners from better to worsse requireth a discipline to be changed from milder to sharper and not as your Popish Church pretendeth to haue done from sharper to mil der and from milder to none at all For Canonicall penance satisfaction you haue changed to arbitrary penance satisfaction which you confes to be but a signe of the Canonicall nothing agreeable to the faultes committed And of the same arbitrarie satisfaction with all the desertes thereof you haue set the release to sale in your popes Pardons which in effect is nothing else but to sel a lisentiousnes of sinne when you haue taken awaie all feare of punishment therefroe eternall by shrift and temporall by pardons and pelting commutations without exacting true repentance and the true fruites thereof which appeere in amendment of life But to follow your vaine you say the penance enioyned in the primitiue Church was so large that it might seeme very answerable to the nature of the fault It is true that as the faultes were greater so the discipline was harder for satisfying of the Churches iudgement in accepting the offenders repentance and reconciliation to the Church But there was no meaning to satisfie the iustice of god vnsatisfied in the sacrifice of Christes death howsoeuer you make it a doubtles case as also you vse to doe euerie thing by bolde and stout asseueration which you are not able to prooue by anie sound or probable argument Well if it were as you saie there was no vse of pardons in the primitiue Church nor feare of purgatory paines which is a true conclusion although it be brought in vpon false principles But now you saie the Church by instigation of Gods spirit graunteth manie great Pardons because the people in respect of their great sinnes and small or no penance and satisfaction for them had neuer so much need to hang on pardon In deed the greater mens sinnes be the more need they haue that grace and mercie should abound for the release of them but then they must haue recourse to the fountaine of mercie and onelie ground where grace groweth euen the God of all consolation reconciled in Iesus Christ vnto all them that trulie repent of their sins purpose vnfeinedlie to lead a new life agreeable to his lawes and commandements But whereas the popish Church taking awaie in a manner all sorrow for sione and feare of punishment by offering satisfaction of pardons openeth a wide field vnto all wickednes and beside teacheth men to depend vpon the pardon of a man who commonlie selleth the same for aduauntage and disposeth it at his pleasure it is out of doubt she doth this by the instigation of the Deuill and not by the spirit of God For the spirit of God is the spirit of trueth of purenes of holines giuing no licence encouragement or consent to continue in sin as the doctrine of pardōs doth most manifestly the blasphemie of which is more to be detested then the follie to be laughed at of al them that be zelous of Christes glorie saluation of his people ALLEN She seeing therefore that remission of the enioyned penance could not discharge vs of the bond of the transitory paine to come being sure that it is no les lawfull to remit the paines due by the canons is enioyned effectually by the canons she giueth now 〈◊〉 not onely de 〈◊〉 penitentus but also de iniun 〈◊〉 of such penance as by the nature of the fault before god or the decrees of Councells should or had wont to be enioyned For there is no man that hath in penance prescribed either of fasting or praying or such like a 1000. or moe years and yet it is knowen that many such pardons are and haue been giuen long Neither could the 〈◊〉 of Purgatory wholy be discharged now as it was of old by the pardons of the primitiue Church in which onelie there was remission of the penance appointed because al penance thought reedful was then appointed except there were releasing also sometimes of al the penance or a great peece of the penance that shouldby law and reason haue beene inioyned FVLKE The man of sinne supreame head of the synagogue of Sathan vpon earth seeing that his glorie power and profit ariseth principally by the increase of the peoples sins hath first taken away al bridles of canonical repentance auncient discipline secondly giuen pardon not onelie of penance inioyned which is nothing in effect as you confes but also of penance to be inioyned
wherby he hath set the sinner out of feare of al discipline so at liberty to commit what wickednes he will without punishment Whereby it appeereth how true it is that you said that the pope was slaundered by them that said that for monie you maie obtaine of the Pope a free pardon before hand of any greeuous sinnes that you commit afterward when you now doe acknowledge that he giueth pardons not onlie de iniunct is poenitentiis but also de iniungendis of penance to be inioyned which you extend further by interpreting it of penance that should or ought to be inioyned though it be not inioyned at all So that it is all one in effect whether a man haue a pardon before hand of anie greeues sinne or whether he hath a pardon aforehand of all punishment due for the same or a pardon of course as they terme it for his monie after he hath committed the sinne ALLEN And this is the Churches meaning in giuing somanie daies and yeares as be often times expressed in pardons in titles of praiers or vse of certaine sanctified creatures made holie by Gods word and praier Of which because we see not the originall and because by vnlawfull practize of Printers or writters the grauntes of diuers Bishops for multiplication of the yeares may be ioyned together against the meaning of the giuers there may be some forged not authenticall yet we will not stand in that point because it is certaine that such be indeed graunted diuerse times by them that haue lawfull authority in the Church The vndouted sense whereof though euerie man maie easelie vnderstand by the premises yet fullie to open the case which is now so common in moste mens mouthes not well considered of manie Looke how manie daies or yeares a man maie deserue to be punished in this life if his sinnes were to the vttermoste taxed and the appointed penance of the Church fullfilled so manie yeares may the gouernours of the Church remit and forgiue by a Pardon But manie a man may and God knoweth often times doth commit so manie 〈◊〉 offences continue so long in sinne liue so wantonlie and so careleslie in all manner of wicked 〈◊〉 euen to his liues end alalmoste that being conuerted by Christer grace and so departing hence in his fauour as it often through much mercie falleth he must needes be in exceeding great debt for so long a life so euill spent And I thinke if you call him to account for all his common and dailie offences for all his daies vnthriftilie wasted for euerie of his idle wordes for euerie of his vaine thoughtes for so manie occasions of good workes omitted which he ought to haue done for often fellowship in other mens misdeedes besides his owne all this willriseto a great debt in a mens case that neuer required in all his time effectuallie to haue his debtes forgiuen him and therefore he must needes stand much bound euen for his veniall trespasses which though they deserue not of their nature damnation eternall yet beeing not remitted they binde man to transitorie punishment according to the number time and waight of them But now if you sit on the audit of the greater matters of this mans conscience where euerie of his sins deserued by the Churches limitation for correction onelie after they be remitted necre hand seuen yeares penance and some manie moe where he hath done nothing els all his euill and long time but heaped sinne vpon sinne where infinite sacrilege boldlie hath bin committed where his flesh was neuer satisfied of most vnlawfull lustes where his minde was euer full of greedie gaine where his handes or heart were allwaies imbrued with innocent blood were no parte of his minde or bodie hath beene free from what iniquitie you can name in all this corrupt case of manie a mans life where no good works that I maie vse Saint Chrysostomes wordes are found by which there maie be anie hope of release where there is abundance of all sinnes without anie satisfaction in this lamentable state of a life so euill spent how manie years penance if it were possible for the partie to liue so long were he by the Churches iudgement by the waight of his wickednesse or by Christes iustice to be chardged with all Surelie if his life were not onlie a thousand years for so long almost aid some of the olde Fathersliue but if it were ten thousand yeares he could not fatisfiefor so much temporall paine and bebt of sinnes as reason law and Gods iustice would and well might charge him withall though the great debt of euerlasting damnation by Christes grace were mercifully remitted in the Priests absolution at his confession before Threfore whether the partie liue or die he is in debt for such penance if rigour were shewed as so great sinner deserued And if he liued ten thousand yeares he were bound in his life time and in his body to accomplish as he might the due penance for his desertes and if he die straight vppon his repentance he is not lesse bound by suffering paine and punishment in the next world to fullfill the same For gods iustice leeseth no right because man leeseth his life FVLKE As priuie as you make your selfe to the Churches meaning the popish Church could haue no good meaning in graunting pardon for so many thousand years yea for so manie hundreth thousand yeares which the Church of Christ for a thousand yeares after Christes ascension neuer heard of Some part of the fault is laid vpon printers and writers which for lucre haue increased the numbers but in the end the greater numbers are coufeised for otherwise the bulles of lead as dumme as they be would crie out against you But whereas these yeares be expressed in pardons in titles of praiers or vse of certaine creatures the last of these are said to be sanctified and made holie by Gods worde and praier Why Sir All the creatures of God are sanctified in the lawfull vse of them by the worde of God and by praiers as the Apostle teacheth vs to which no such pardon is annexed Who is he then that despising the holines giuen by God to all his creatures in the ordinarie vse of them taketh vpon him to adde agreater holines to certeine creatures to applie them to another vse and ioyne not onelie holines vnto them but also remission of sinnes and of paine due for sinnes to the vse of them for which he hath no word of God to warrant him and therefore can haue no praier to helpe him surelie this can be none other then he that exalteth himselfe aboue God which can make Gods creatures more holie then God hath made them But now for this number of yeares wherof you make your Audit at your pleasure valuing mēs offences in a heauy ballāce to make your popes pardons seeme more probable saleable your account neuertheles will fall short of many thousand yeares by your former reckoning You confessed in
proofe or authoritie you doe so confidentlie affirme ALLEN And yet I talke not now of taking or deliuering anle man out of Purgatory so much sooner as so many daies release doth import when he is in it alreadie but I meane as I often saie for the simples sake of him that is yet aliue and in the Churches iurisdiction and therefore may haue by the keies of the Church a pardon of his dets either all or part to preuent the paines of Purgatorie or discharge the debt thereof before that terrible daie come when it shal be actuallie required And in this sense vndoubtedly are the great number of yeares daies to be taken which be exceeding necessarie to procure mercie in these euil times wherein we may behold the pitifulwaste of Christian workes euerie where and litle penance to be done no not of the better sort of Christan people As for the other disobedient children that euerie way laugh their mother to scorne whether she vse sextritie of discipline or lenitie in remission they haue no part neither of the Churches blessing nor of the holy workes of Saintes nor of Gods owne peace and pardon Our Lord giue them the grace of repentance that they may haue a tast either of the Churcher discipline or of her mercy and lensty FVLKE You talke and meane that men should make haste while they are aliue to take their pardons whereof perhapes you are a proctor or pettie marchant vnder the Pope not regarding so much what the Popes iurisdiction is ouer poore soules in Purgatorie as how to get monie out of liuing mens purses for pardons and dispensations to mantaine you in your traiterous popery Your complaint of litle penance done is vaine hypocritical seeing you your selfe by mantaining of pardons are occasion that none at all need to be done of them that haue mony to paie for them God open the eies of the simple if it be his will to see your treacherie and either giue you true repentance orels that which your treasons heresies hypocrisie haue long agoe deserued It is prooued as wel by sundry examples of the old law as by Christs one often fact his Apostles that inioyned or deserued punishment may be released by the gouernours of the Church in their pardons THE 9. CHAP. ALLEN Some may here maruel perchance that such power should be giuen to mortall men as to remit such great portion of penance as by iustice ought to be enioyned or such a number of yeares as are appointed for satisfaction correction of former misdeeds thereby to remooue from the partie the heauy hand of god prepared for iudgement who would not wonder much hereat if they considered that the debt of hell paines and eternity of punishment which incomparablie exceedeth manie thousand yeares might by the Priestes office and alwaies is in the due execution of the sacrament of penance fully remooued from the partie penitent And where mercy putteth away deserued damnation there may much lesse force of grace turne awaie the punishment of Purgatorie being not transitorie and equivalent onelie to the penance of a number of yeares prescribed In which case if the Church of God should haue no preheminence now after the incarnation of Christ since which time the waiet of mercie towardes mankinde must needs be much enlarged our state gouernment should be much inferiour to the regiment and to the priesthood of the old law which trulie did in al things but as a shadow and figure resemble the Maiesty of our Churches prcheminence especiallie there where mercy grace were to be shewed which came by Christ Iesus Behold then some sleppe of this most excellent power giuen to our chiefe Priestes in the persons of Moses and Aaron whoe are noted in the booke of Exodus and Numbers meruelouslie to haue procured Gods mercie and sometimes by force of sacrifice praier and singular zeale to hauereleased some great portion of the paines and punishment which God himselfe by his owne mouth and determination had laied vpon the people With what meruelous confidence of his office and pitie of the afflicted sort did one of them crie out vnto god to holde his hand and pardon the people after they had deserued se great punishment for worspiping the golden Idoll of the Calfe in the wildernes Lord saith Moses this people hath committed an horrible sinne and they haue erected golden Gods Forgiue them this sinne Lord or ells if thou wilt not dash me out of thy booke to which thou hast written This gouernour and this priest praied not after a common sort for pardon of the peoples punishment but he claimeth it wish confidence and in a manner requireth it as by his iurisdiction and office Such was the force of praier and priesthood before Christs spirituall souer aignitie was honoured in the worlde otherwise then in a figure And yet god in a manner was at that point with them then that he would pardon punish at their pleasures For when the sinne was exceeding greeuous he maketh as it were meanes to Moses that he should not stay him nor his anger from punishing of the offendors Let me alone Moses saith our Lord suffer me to be angrie FVLKE Men may iustly maruell that you professing methode doe set the Cart before the horse and frame of your building the roofe before the foundation but if they consider that this way you take is of more force to confounde a simple witte then to teach a matter plainlie they maie cease to maruell and acknowledge that the compasse of your cause whereof you speake in the beginning will abide none other order But to the matter and argument of this Chapter it hath bin answered before that in the discipline of the Church the gouernours thereof haue power vpon good consideration and triall of the offenders repentance and not otherwise at their pleasure to release enioyned time of repentance which was enioyned for none other end so much as to bring the party to repentanes and thereof to assure or satisfie the Church But as the discipline of the Church militant serueth for the onelie time of her warfare in this life so the gouernors of the Church haue no authoritie either to inioyne or to release out of the compas of this life And therefore this power of binding loosing vpon earth cannot be extended to anie purgatorie paines or rather pickpurse after this life and consequentlie it can be no shadowe to couer the filthie and blasohemous nundination and chaffering of the Popes pardons for thousands and hundreth thousands of yeares What authority the ministers of the Church haue in remitting sinnes hath beene handled sufficientlie before They are Gods messengers to declare his forgiuenes to them that trulie repent and so they are to release the bande of discipline in open offenders where the fruites of repentance doe appeare Your argument that the priesthood in the new law is of more power to purchase mercie then in the
olde lawe to prooue that the Popes pardons extend vnto purgatorie is verie farre fett For the priest hood of our sauiour Christ hath succeeded to the priesthood of the lawe as the bodie to the figure or shadow thereof But purchasing of mercie perteineth not to the ministers of the Church but preaching and declaring of Gods mercie wherein they excell the preaching office of the priests of the lawe in more large plaine and cleare demonstration thereof in Christ exhibited borne suffered raised from deade and ascended into heauen not in the matter of mercie or the onelie meane meritorius to obtaine it which is Iesus Christ. As for the discipline of the Church now is not vnlike to the discipline then neither is there anie cause in respect of Christ exhibited that it should be anie Iooser now then it was then For the grace of God which bringeth saluation to all men hath appeered instructing vs that we should vtterly denie vngodlines and worldlie lustes and liue soberlie iustlie and godly in this world waiting for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great god and our sauiour Iesus Chist which hath giuen himselfe for vs that he might redeeme vs from all iniouity and purge vs a peculiar people vnto himselfe zelous of good works Thus the holy Ghost describeth the end and effect of the mercie of God in Christ exhibited chargeing Titus to speake and exhort to these thinges to reprehend with alearnestnes and suffer no man to contemne him There is no cause therefore why the sinnews of discipline in the Church of Christ should be loosened or rather cutte in sunder by the Podes pardons which taketh vpon him to release all time of repentance appointed by the gouernours of the Church vnder pretense of greater mercie showed by Christ then was shewed in the olde law But Maises and Aaron you saie procured mercie and pardon for the people and then you bring in the example of paid no breined for worshipping the golden Image of a calse where Aaron him selse was so deepe in that he was no meete person to make intercession for others But in the example you prooue not anie power or iurisdiction of priesthood which doth ser forth onelie the effect of the praier of the faithfull as Saint Iames suth of Helias that he was a man and yet obteined great thinges by his praier Neither doth Moses pray with confidence of his priest lie office which he had not for Aaron was priest both by the law of nature as the elder and afterward by Gods especiall appointment but Moses praieth vpon confidence of Gods promises which were these that the people shoulde be brought into the lande of Chanaon and that Christ should come of the tribe of Iuda which could not haue had their effect if all the people had beene destroied though a great nation had beene made of Moses He strengthneth his faith also by two other reasons in his praier the one of the glorie of God which should be blasphemed by the Egyptiens if the people were destroyed in the wildernes the other of the benefites of God alreadie bestowed vpon the people which should be in vaine if the people shoulde thus sodenlie be consumed But of claiming it with confidence of his priesthood and requiring it as by his iurisdiction and office there is no mention For what iurisdiction or office could he haue to controll God in his iudgements And therefore it is a horrible blasphemous saying that God in a manner was at that point with them that he would pardon and punish at their pleasures Where your meaning is yet more biasphemous that God should much rather he at that point now to pardon and punish at the Popes pleasure which is nothing els but to exalte Antichrist aboue God when his iustice and mercie should depend vpon that deuill incarnates pleasure Yet for reason to excuse this blasphemie you saie that God maketh as it were meanes to Moses that he shoulde not staie him nor his anger from punishing of the offenders Let me alone Moses saith our Lord and suffer me to be angrie But who is so meanlie exercised in the scriptures that he doth not acknowledge that this speech of God as a thousand more in the scriptures is vttered after the affection and infirmitie of man whereof God is moste free yet condescending to the weakenes of mans vnderstanding often vseth so to speake Of which phrases of speech who so shall conclude as you doe maie inferre an hundred horrible heresies and more The true sense therefore of those wordes is that the people indeede had deserued to be destroied but that he had otherwise determined at the praier of Moses and for those causes which his spirit instructed Moses to vtter whome by this speech he prouoketh and stirreth vp to pretie for the people he was purposed to pardon and spare them not that he euer was of minde to submitt his iustice and mercie to mens pleasure in such sorte as he shoulde be driuen to make meanes to men that he might execute his iudgementes and shew his mercie both which he doth according to his owne moste free wil moste excellent wisdome and incomparable glorie ALLEN So when his sister Marie was punished by a leprosie for enuying at her brothers authoritie he cried vnto our Lorde and said Lorde God heale her againe of this disease and of his mercie so he did inioyning onelie vnto her seuen daies separation Aaron also procured pardon for the people by the like force of his praier and prieslhood when by sedition the people had highlie offended God yea he did as it were limitte and moderate Gods appointed punishment that his wrath should extend no farther but to the deslruction of a certaine number For when God said vnto Moses and Aaron depait you hence from amongst this people for euen now will I consume them Vpon which worde streight the destruction began and grew verie sore a flame of fire pitifullie consuming them But Aaron out of hande with his incense ranne to that parte where the plague of Gods ire wasted moste and there censed vp towardes heauen and carnestlie requested for the people and so placing him euen iust betwixt those that were slaine and the residue that were aliue the wrath and indignation of God ceassed FVLKE Moses by his praier obteined of God that he did heale his sister of her Ieprosie Ergo the Pope by his pardons maie release men of the punishment laide on them by God when in his pardons he vseth not humble praiers but standeth vpon his power and iurisdiction vpon the power of Peter and Paul and in paine of their indignation beside Gods wrath and sometimes moste presumptuouslie commaundeth the angels to execute his pleasure But whereas God enioyned to Marie seuen daies separation you should haue made your argument somewhat more probable if you could haue shewed out of the scripture that Moses by his pontificall iurisdiction released those daies or anie part
Apostles iurisdiction so fast locked and bound for his wickednes and let vs consider whether by the sime iurisdiction he may not receiue pardon and be loosed by which he was bound and punished before Yea let vs not doubt but it stoode in Pauis pleasure to padon the man sooner or later as he thought moste conuenient for the Churches edifying and the parties profit and therefore might haue tied him for twenty yeares together either in Sathans bondes or other enioyned penance or conirarie if he had thought expedient might haue loosed him within one houre and so haue giuen him so many daies of pardon as he list and ment to recompence by Christes satisfaction and the communion of Saintes in which the lackes of certeine may be supplied by the abundance of others Thus Saint Paul meaning to pardon the penitent giueth the Church of Corinth to vnderstand his pleasure touching the saide sinner that there stoode in the bandes of penance vpon his former sentence Lot his 〈◊〉 and checke giuen him of many be enough And now rather it were expedient that you did forgiue him and comfort him lest perhapps he be drowned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with excessiue sorow Therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 renew and confirme your loue towardes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mooue you in this matter to prooue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you be obedien in all things And where you 〈◊〉 there doe I forgiue also In deede as for me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is for your sake and in the person of 〈◊〉 that we be not circumuented of the deuill whose meaning in such matters I well vnderstande That you 〈◊〉 did the Apostle punish and thus did he remie againe 〈◊〉 the moderation of the Churchs discipline in his 〈◊〉 so far as his iurisdiction did extend amongest Christes people whose obedience in all such matters be claimed as you may perceiue by his owne wordes yet not without great respect and consideration of the offenders case and especiall care of the Churches edifying For full 〈◊〉 Saint Augustine said In actione autem poenitentioe vbi tale crimen commissum est vt is qui commisit à Christi etiam corpore separetur non tam consideranda est mensura temporis quà m doloris In the docing of penance where the sinne is such that it deserueth excommunication there is not so much respect to be had of the time as of his sorowfullnes that committed the fact FVLKE So long as you will gather nothing but the exercise of Christian discipline in binding loosing excommunicating and absoluing inioyning of Canonicall 〈◊〉 and pardoning of the sinne out of this example of Saint Paul you haue an inuincible proofe of the authoritie or iurisdiction of the gouernours of the Church of Christ against which we will neuer contend But when you will vrge more then the text will aford you can gaine no victory at our hands As first that the deuist was is aopointed to torment the sinners bodie it is not prooued by this text And Saint Ambrose whome you cite vpon Timothic speaking of the punishments of Hymineus and Alexander who perhapes were tormented for their blasphemie doth not so thinke vpon this very text but expoundeth this deliuerie vnto Satan to the destruction of the flesh to be his casting out of the Church which is the kingdome of god into the power of Satan as one that had deserued destruction both of bodie and soule that his carnall lust might be ouer come or mortified which Saint Augustine expoundeth also in like manner and more plainelie Quidergo agebal Apostelus nisi vt per interitum carnis 〈◊〉 spiritual 〈◊〉 vt siue aliqua poena 〈◊〉 corporali sicut Ananias vxer 〈◊〉 ante pedes Apostole Petri ceciderunt siuè per 〈◊〉 quoniam Satana traditus erat interimeret in se sceleratam carnis concupisientiam quia ipse 〈◊〉 dicit 〈◊〉 membra vestia quae sunt super terram inter quae for nicationem commemorat Et iterum Si enim 〈◊〉 carnem vixeritis moriemini c. For what did the Apostle but that by destruction of the flesh he might prouide for his spirituall health that whether by some temporall paine or death as Ananias and his wife fell downe before the Apostle Peters seet or whether by repentance because he was deliuered to Sathan he might kill in himselfe the wicked concupiscence of the flesh For he saieth also Mortifie your members which are vpon earth among which he rehearseth fornication And againe for if ye shall liue according to the flesh yee shall die By this you may see the opinion of corporal torment in this discipline of S. Paul is not necessary Againe where you saie it stood in Pauls pleasure to pardon the man sooner or later and he giueth the Corinthians to vnderstād his pleasure touching the said sinner you would perswad the ignorant that the gouerners of the Church vere bound to no lawe or rule in these matters but might doe what pleased them Although in the former you mittigate the matter by adding as he thought moste conuenient for the Churches edisying and the parties profit which is well said if by his thought you meane a sounde and right iudgement For the matter is not left to euerie man thinking more then to their pleasure but to a Godlie and necessarie consideration And therefore it stood not in Paulles pleasure to pardon the man sooner then he sawe in him the fruites of repentance nor later then he had certaine intelligence thereof Neither might he haue tied him for twentie yeares but vpon condition to release him immediatlie vpon his true repentance neither haue loosed him within an hower except within the space of that hower he had sufficient arguments of his repentance and satisfaction of the Churches offence and iudgement The reasons that he alledgeth why he iudged him now to be pardoned doe shewe no lesse lest he be swallowed vp by too much sorrowe lest we be intercepted by Sathan It was not lawfull for the Apostle to suffer the penitent to be ouercome with too much sorrowe not the Church to be circumuented by Satan Therefore it was not lawfull for him to haue differred his loosing anie longer As for the recompencing by Christs satisfaction the communion of Saints which is the blasphemous dispensation of the imaginarie treasure of the popish Church is not mentioned in this text nor in anie text of the bible nor in anie auncient Father but was lathe deuised to set a glosse vpon the popes pardons and practizes in purgatorie In the end you saie well both that the Apostle had great respect of the offenders case and care of the Churches edifying which prooueth that without neglecting that consideration and care he might not sooner or later haue loosed him nor tied him otherwise then he did And the saying of Augustine doth prooue wel that the prescript times of penance limited before his age were not so conuenient as the liberty of time where in the parties repentance might be iudged best as
it was in the Apostles That the Church of God meaneth not to make all men partakers of the pardons which would seeme to be rel eued thereby but such onelie as be of sit disposition therefore and how they ought to be qualified that must be partakers thereof THE 10. CHAP. ALLEN IT is here necessarie therefore that we should aduertise al men that the Popes and Bishoppes of holie Church though they haue not onelie by Christes expresse worde but also by the warrant of the Apostles and practize of their predecessours authoritie to binde and loose yet cuerse of their Pardons or releasing of penance not alwaies to be beneficiali to euerie one that shall claime benefit thereby either in the world present or the next For the holy sacraments themselues doe not at all times attaine to that effect in man for which they were instituted by Christ through the vnworthines of the partie that should receiue them Therefore to make the Pardon 's beneficiall at there must be good consideration and respect in the giuer so the receiuer must by especiall loue zeale and deuotion be made fit and apt to be par taker of so singular a treasure The giuer of the Pardons because he is man may haue sinester respect to the parties person whome he seeketh to pleasure either for kindred for frindship for feare for ritches for honour and such like and they which required them maie for slouthfullnes because they lost not doe penance for their sinnes or for delicatenesse whiles they refuse to absteine from thinges that be pleasaunt for recompence of their pleasures past in these and such other cases some Popes may give by the abuse of their keies authoritie or by error proceeding on false suggestion a pardon as the penitent may also receiue in the face of man But let them assure them-selues that so be affected that God himselfe who cannot be deluded nor by sinester affection caried from iust iudgement will not here confirme the sentence of his seruant who was in this matter either himselfe to blame without cause to bestowe so pretious a pearle of Gods mercie or else the partie vnfit that required to be partaker of that grace whereof afore God he is prooued vnworthie Though the preheminence be neuer so great yet as 〈◊〉 the keie of order may erre through the fault of one partie in remitting sinnes in the sacrament as the keic of iurisdiction may erre in pardoning the inioyned penance out of the sac 〈◊〉 Therefore it is not good for 〈◊〉 man to leaue his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vndore or to omie such necessarie workes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at whereby he shalrather be unworthie to be partaker of a 〈◊〉 FVLKE If the poopish Church haue another meaning then the Pope the heade in meaning is deuided from the body The Popes meaning is 〈◊〉 by his wordes which he vseth in his Pardons If the Pope also haue a contrary meaning to his words what is he then but an impupent dissembler which 〈◊〉 great thinges and deceiueth them that pay for them which suppose that their ware is as good as it seemeth to be But by your determination the matter is altogether mistaken Your first reason to prooue that pardons are not alwayes beneficiall to the receiuers is that the sacramentes haue not alwaies their effect thorough the vnworthines of the receiuers But if the receiuer be disposed according to the conditions expressed in the pardon he is capable of it by the iudgement of the canonists Your second reason is the sinister respect or error that may be in the giuer But it is not right that the receiuer being a capable person especiallie hauing paied for his ware should leese his benefit thorough the default of the giuer if he be such a one as hath autority to giue That slouthfulnes or delicatnes should exclude a man from the benefit of his pardon that is in state of grace as they terme it I suppose you are not able to prooue by any groundes of popery The glosse vppon the Bull of Iubileie first graunted by Pope Boniface 8. saith that the Pope declared consistorially that penances inioyned before are also taken away by commutation of the satisfactotic worke in this pardon prescribed and that vowes also except the vow of Ierusalem are taken away by this paidon not onely those vowes which were inioyned for commutation of penance as for satisfaction of sins but also those vowes that haue no such respect as if a man being in daunger of the sea or in siknes doe vow to goe to S. Ieames So that if a man wil performe such penance or vowes it is but a worke of supererogation But if the Pope may so easily erre in occupying of his key of iurisdiction as here you pretende no man can haue confidence in any pardon or dispensation of the Pope because he can not be assured whether the keie did erre in that pardon or iurisdiction likewise seeing the key of order may so easilie goe awrie what trust may a poore Papist haue that his sinnes be forgiuen him that must hang vppon the hitting or missing of tow so vncertaine keyes ALLEN Christ our Lord pardoned Mary Magdelen of manie sinnes and by all likelihood forgaue her all the paine due for her greeuaus offences both eternall and temporall Marie she was wonderfully well framed and apt to receiue such a singular benefit for shee loued exceeding much and therefore much was forgiuen her She washed Christes feet with her teares and with her heare of her head she wiped them againe She honoured Christes bodie with ointment of price towardes his buriall with other such expresse tokens of passing loue of our Lord which did winne her a pardon of so manie sinnes For of loue it is written Charitas operit multitudinem peccatorum Charitie couereth a number of faultes And yet after all this large remission if we beleeue histories of the Church shee ceased not all her life to doe passing pennance FVLKE It is certaine that Christ pardoned the sinnefull woman whereof Saint Luke speaketh as well of all paine as of all sinne And shee was wonderfully wel framed to receiue his pardon by the grace of God by which shee was endewed with faith as he himselfe acknowledgeth saying vnto her thy faith hath saued thee And this her faith was not idle but wrought thorough loue which shee acknowledged ought to be the greater as shee had receiued the greater mercie so gaue forth great tokens therof But her loue was not cause of her pardon or forgiuenes of her sinnes but because manie sinnes were forgiuen her therefore shee loued much as shee had greater cause for he to whome litle is forgiuen ioueth litle as it is manifest by the parable of the two debters Neither doth charitie couer manie sins by winning a pardon for them but as S. Peter citeth the prouerbe out of Salomon whoe declareth that it is the effect of loue to hide our neighbours faultes where hatred contrariwise
pardon of all that was past but made him his substitute in earth and chiefe pastour of all his flock FVLKE If a pardon can not take awaie penance then you recant that you defended before so egerlie If the debt of penance maie be taken awaie by the Popes pardon as you tolde vs oft before he can not iustlie be saide to neglect penance which doth not performe it because that is pardoned which he was content to haue performed if he had not bene pardoned If he be charged for omitting his dutie that performeth not his pardoned penance then were he as good to haue no pardon at all If a pardon serue onelie for them that lack time and space to satisfie then no man can haue benefite of a pardon in this life Beside the pardons are false that promise to all men that goe on such voyage or pilgrimage or saie such a praier or praie on such beades or giue to such a building or hospitall full remission à poena culpa or so manie yeares or lents of pardon de penitentiis iniunctis iniungendis of penance inioyned or to be inioyned Beware therefore left while you vrge so earnesthe the necessitie of penance to be performed you fight against Popes pardons which you tooke vpon you to maintaine And whereas you take vpon you by your aduertisement as it were to inioyne or commute penance where the Pope hath pardoned the sinne you doe in effect make frust rate the Popes pardon as the glosse vpon the bull of Pope Boneface 8. doth shewe where he saith That the Pope declared consistorialiter that his penitentiarie ought to inioyne nothing more then is inioyned in his pardon for ets as he saide the pardons should be made frustrate And whereas you presume to prescribe the change of one penance into another the Pope doth that alwaies in his pardon or els it is not of force as the same glosse teacheth that there must 4. thinges 〈◊〉 as principall to make a pardon effectuall Authoritie in the graunter capacitie in the receiuer godlines in the end profitablenes in the worke Now this worke into which the Pope chaungeth all penanceremitted though it be neuer so small yet being profitable to the honour of God or the exaltation of faith is sufficient without anie other supplie because in a pardon saith he not the quantitie but the kinde of the worke is considered by reason that a pardon principallie respecteth grace and not merite or els it should not be called a pardon For which cause also they that dwelled at Rome and visited the Churches in Rome appointed by the Popes pardon had as great Indulgence as they that came with great cost and trauell out of the furthest partes of Scotland or Ireland If this that the glosse writeth be currant poperie then doth your aduertisement differ from the iudgement of the Popish Charch and of the Pope himselfe But whereas you affirme that Christ gaue the Pharistes in charge to purge their sinnes by almes and that almespurgeth ventall sinnes you speake more then the text alloweth For Christ teacheth not the Pharisies to purge anie sinnes with almes but after he hath rebuked their hypoctisie that were carefull to make cleane the outside of the cuppe or platter when the inward parte of their heart was full of rauine and wickednes he prescribeth them the contrarie practise to purge the inward man by repentance and to testifie the same by almes which is contrarie to rapine spoyling and then all the creatures of God should be cleane vnto them although they vsed no such superstitious washing with water And if it be as you saie that not onely veniall sinnes but also the temporall debt that remaineth for deadly crimes after they be remitted be forgiuen by saying the Pater noster who is so foolish to paie anie monie for a pardon or what meaneth the Pope to make such a bragge of his pardons which can remiit no more then euerie man maie obteine at home by saying his Pater noster As for hearing of Masse taking their rightes if it be no more worth but to make men fit to receiue fruitfullie the Popes pardon they be litle worth sceing the pardon it selfe as in all this chapter you labour to prooue is but of small profite and the Pater nosier saying is as good as anie pardon Finallie where Saint Hilarie Saint Cyrill saie that Christ caused Peter to wipe away the blot of his treble denying with a treble confession neither of them both saie that Christ made him his substitute on earth chiefe pastor of all his flock otherwise then he made euerie one of the other Apostles ALLEN If it stand thus therfore with the partie penitent then the Popes pardon shall vndoubtedly be beneficiall vnto him otherwise either not at all or els nothing so much as they seeme so sound For although it be an old saying quod indulgentie tantum valent quantum sonant that Indulgencies be of as great force and valour as the forme of their wordes do import yet that is not otherwise to be vnderstoode then there where there maie seeme iust cause of graunt to the giuers and not euill disposition in the receiuers For as Adrianus that once was Pope himselfe reasoneth If the magistrates of the Church may not without iust cause giue dispensation cōcerning vowes othes fastes mariages or such like nor dispose the temporall treasures of the Church without reasonable cause then may not surelie the Byshops be lauish of the treasure of Gods house which is much more pretious whereof there can be no man partaker that is an vnprofitable member of the bodie FVLKE If the partie penitent be so qualified as he need not the Popes pardon then it shall vndoubtedlie be beneficiall to him But the Pope will not haue the power of his pardons to be so much extenuated nor his liberalitie restrained to so fewe persons nor to so narrowe a case And that olde saying Indulgentiae tantum valent quantum sonant pardons be of as great valour as the forme of the wordes doe import shall be taken for a good principle in the Popes consistorie when you with your new prouisoes shall be taken for a curious and a daungerous Papist The glosse vpon the first pardon of Iubelie graunted by Pope Boneface the 8. determineth idoneitie or capacitie in the receiuer that he be a member of the Church and purged from the fault Oportet quòd capax indulgentiae sit purgatus à culpa quòd sit in contritione ille ergo est habilis indulgentiam recipere qui est verè penitens confessus It behooueth that he which is capable or meet to receiue a pardon be purged from fault which is brought to passe in contrition he therefore is able to receiue a pardon which is truclie penitent and confessed The like saith Augustinus de Ancona Ex parte recipientis requiritur quòd habeat fidem in intellectu quia non nist
homini Christtano indulgentia potest dari qui firmiter credat Papam posse dare se posserecipere habeat charitatem in affectu vt sit verè contritus confessus Of the parte of him that receiueth ae pardon it is required that he haue faith in vnderstanding because a pardon cannot be giuen but to a Christian man which steadfastlie beleeueth that the Pope is able to giue and he able to receiue and that he haue charitie in affection that he be truelie contrite and confessed More then this beside the fulfilling of the cause for which the pardon was graunted he doth not require In so much that he alloweth that a man maie receiue a pardon for his father and mother whether they be liuing or dead if the Pope doe so applie his pardon that he which will goe ouer the sea or to S. Iames in his fathers or mothers name shall inioie it for them and the receiuer doth performe as much for them The iust cause of graunt in the giuers is determined by the glosse aforesaid to be the honour of God and the exaltation of faith by such profitable workes as are expressed and required in the pardons as pilgrimage saying of such a praier giuing to such a fraternitie c. in which not the quantitie but the kinde of the worke is to be considered so that for a verie small worke maruelous large pardon maie be graunted if it please the Pope to whome the dispensation of the treasure of the Church is principallie committed for Bishops which are able to giue but fortie daies out of that treasure are but pettie baylies whome if you will accuse for lauishing the treasure in graunting of ouer large pardons you break the Canon lawe which telleth you that you must not call him to an account for his doings ALLEN Neuertheles the causes of giuing indulgencies may be more or lesse reasonable according to the state and varietie of thinges which to the wisdome of Gods Vicar in earth is best seene whome Christ so ruleth in that case that he maie be most beneficiall to his holie houshold in so much that it is not to be doubted but in these daies and in this great contempt of deuout and religious exercises the moouing onely of the people to prayer to holie peregrinations to the obedience of the Church may be a sufficient cause why there should be to praiers said vpon bookes beads or sanctified creatures for such purpose annexed great remission For looke what thinges be moste condemned of heretikes those things must Christian men be induced to reuerence with moste singular zeale religion Neither can there be anie thing in the worlde so necessarie for vs christian men of these times that be so voide of good workes as by deuotion and entire zeale to ioyne with our elders that in the holy communion of Sainctes we may be partakers of their vertuous deedes And that is the verie ende of all the Popes Pardons to make vs in our lake of satisfaction for our sinnes felowes and coparteners of the abundance that was in Christ first and then by him in our holy brethren departed before vs. FVLKE Throughout this chapter hitherto you haue disputed against the power of the Pope and the force of his pardons now it is time for you to coie him againe and to raise vp his pardons which you haue pressed downe so lowe Now the wisdome of Gods vicar is sufficient to iudge the causes of giuing indulgences and Christ so ruleth him in that case that he maie be moste beneficiall to his houshold in so much that it is not to be doubted but in these daies the Popes large pardons for litle workes may be of great force Then belike your former discourse serueth not for these daies that men muste fulfill their penance if they maie notwithstanding anie pardon that a pardon doth not remit anie good worke inioyned in penance that if a man lack power to fulfill this penance he must supplie it with other workes counteruailable or els the Popes pardons shall not be beneficiall to them at all or nothing so much as they seeme to sound But why saie you that in these daies Christ ruleth his Vicar in this case that he maie be most beneficiall to his holie houshold Hath not Christ as great care of his holy houshold the Church in all times and in all cases as in these daies and in this case Yes verilie But Christ hath not alwaies and in all cases ruled the Pope as it might be moste beneficiall to his Church for then his key of iurisdiction should neuer haue erred nor his life bene wicked to the great hurte and shame of his Church that I speake not of his criors in doctrine which you will not graunt as you doe the other Therfore it followeth that the Pope is not Christes vicar in earth appointed for the most benefite of his Church Your principle that thinges which heretikes doe hate must be moste reuerenced is false For nothing is to be esteemed more then the nature of the thing requireth whether it be loued or hated of heretikes The Anabaptists hate the wearing of armour it followeth not therefore that the wearing of armour should be counted a religious thing or more reuerenced then as a lawfull vsage and sometimes necessarie among Christians The verie end of the Popes pardons is well known to be the maintenance of the Popes pride and couetousnes the pretended end is wicked blasphemous derogating from the sacrifice of Christs death which is a full satisfaction and purging of all our sins the participation wherof is through faith wrought in our hearts by the spirite of God and not by the Popes application or coupling of anie Saintes merites with the onelie and omnisufficient sacrifice of Christ. ALLEN Vpon all which it is verie plaine that euerie man can not beneficiallie receiue the fruite of a Pardon this at least being requisite in euery man that listeth to attaine benefite thereby that he be in state of grace aud in earnest intent to continue in the knot of Christ his Church with loue and liking of the holie workes of his Christian brethren and accomplishing at least that small worke which commonlie now is ioyned to the Pardon for increase of Christian deuotion The continuance of which deuotion that more and more decaieth maketh the Pardons to be more common at this daie of late yeares then they were in the primitiue Church when moste men in the spring of Christian religion and feruour of faith sought to satisfie exactlie the debt of the penance or else which was a common case then recompensed it by Martyrdom though S. Gregorie the first of that name more then nine hundered yeare since in the ordering of the slations at Rome is knowne to haue giuen Pardons for yeares or daies in like forme as now is vsed And cleare it is that the thing it selfe being found lamfull no Protestant aliue can euer be able
soules of that parish so well hang to gether these blasphemous dreames of Saints merites and Christes satisfaction seperated from the act of his passion claimed to be at the Popes and prelates disposition The aboundance of one releiuing the lacke of another whereof Saint Paull speaketh is no communication of merites nor anie thing like vnto it but a participation of the gifts of God in this life As for merites of Saintes what should we speake of thē or whence should they haue them when mercie is their crowne as Saint Ambrose saieth Finallie howsoeuer you abase the dignitie and authoritie of inferrior ministers in graunting of pardon the auncient Church admitted them to reconcile in the absence of the Bishoppe or in case of necessitie as diuerse Cannons doe shew Wherefore if this power of pardoning were anie such a thing as the auncient discipline the popish Priestes should not be wholie excluded from it ALLEN And yet the Bishops themselue haue not in this case so full power and prorogatiue being but rulers of portiones of Christs Church as he hath whome Christ appointed to be his owne Vicare through his whole dominion For as Christ tht head of the whole bodie is annointed farre more plentifullie then all his bretheren so doubtles he that occupieth his seat of iudgement throughout the whole earth to whome not onelie the affaires of all priuat men but also the confirmation and gouernement of all his brethren Bishops of what dignity so euer they be doth belong Vpon whome Christ hath laide the foundation of his Church and to whome he seuerallie gaue the keies of heauen with moste ample authoritie both to loose and binde feede and gouerne all the sheepe of his folde It is this man no doubt that hath the full treasure of the holie communion of Saints to bestow with maruelous authoritie ouer mans soule with wonderfull might in binding and exceeding grace and mercie in loosing This is the man of whome Saint Bernard saith alluding to Iosephs preheminence in Pharos house constituit eum Dominum Domus suae Principem omnis possessionis suae He hath made this man the Lord of all his house and the Prince of his wholl possession This man therefore representing Christs owne person through the wholl Church and hauing the cure and regiment of euerie one of Christs sheepe may moste lawfullie donare aliquid in persona Christi shew mercie to any man in Christes behalfe none being exempted from his iurisdiction nor any of the churches treasure restreinea from his disposition FVLKE The Pope graunteth to the Bishops as it pleaseth him a shadow of this power of pardoning reseruing the rest to himselfe for his owne aduantage and pre ferment The reasons here alledged to prooue that no Bishop hath so great preheminence in pardoning as the Pope are all petitions of principles which as they are here barelie affirmed so it shall be sufficient for me flatlie to denie them as that the Pope is Christs Vicar heade of the Church occupieth Christs seate of iudgement hath the foundation of the Church laied vpon him hath the keies of heauen seuerallie and so of all the rest Neither is S. Bernard a late writer sufficient to giue the Pope the steuardship of Gods house as Ioseph had of Potiphar the Egiptian therefore he hath no more power to pardon then any other Bishop admitting he were Bishop of Rome and not Antichrist which hath no power at al but vsurped tyrannie ouer Gods house ALLEN But because I cannot ground this my meaning better then vpon a generall Councell I will reporte the decree of the moste holie assemblie holden at Lateran more then three hundreth yeares since vnder Innocentius the thirde by which not onelie this doctrine of Pardons is approoued but also the superfluttie thereof and such disorder as was therein through couetousnes of euill persons or lacke of authoritte in the giuers is corrected with a declaration who be the onelie lawful ministers in such remissions of inioyned penance Thus goeth the decree Quia per indiseretas indulgentias atque superfluas quai quidam Ecclessarum Praelati facere non verentur claues Ecclesiae contemnuntur poeniientialis satisfactio eneruatur decernimus vt cum dedicatur Basilica non extendatur indulgentia extra annum siue ab vno solo siue à pluribus Episcopis dedicetur ac deinde in anniuersario dedicationis tempore quadraginta dies de iniunctis poenitentiis indultaremissio non excedat intra hunc quoque dierum numerum indulgentiarum literas praecipim is moderari quae pro quibuslibet causis aliquoties concedantur cùm Romanus Pontisex qui plenitudinem obtinet potestatis hoc in talibus moderamen consueuerit obseruare That is to saie Because the keies of the Church be contemned and sacramentall satisfaction is much weakened by certain indiscreete and superfluous Indulgences the which certain Prelates of the Churches are ouer bolde to bestowe we decree that hereafter at the dedication of any Chappel no pardon be giuen more then for one yeare whether it be dedicated by one bishop or moe the that there be noremissions afterwarde in the yearelie celebrating of the said dedications more then of fourtie daies of enioyned penance The like also to be obserued in all other common instruments by which for other good causes and holie purposes pardons shall be giuen seeing the Bishoppe of Rome himselfe who hath the fullnes of power herein vseth customably so to moderate the letters of pardons that proceede from him By which holie Councell you may perceiue not onelie that the Bishoppes of Gods Church may giue pardons but that the Bishoppe of Romesright is much more ample in this case then theirs can be and especiallie how carefull the Church euer hath beene to purge all corruption of doctrine or vsage crept into the worlde thorough the disorder of mans misbehauiour how wicked the indeuours of some euill disposed persons be who cease not vnhonestlie to attribute that to the Church of Christ which shee hath euer sought to redresse in the euill manners of them that haue disgraced the doctrine of trueth and made contemtible the moste profitable practize of holie thinges by their misuse of the same FVLKE Seeing you can ground your meaning no better as you your selfe confesse then vpon this popish Lateran Councell all indifferent readers may see how weake and latelie laid ground and foundation it hath To omit your translation of Basilica for a Chappell which rather signifieth a Cathedrall or Princelie Church I will consider what you gather out of this Councell First that Bishops may pardon nay rather that Bishoppes then did pardon Secondlie that the Bishop of Romes right is more ample nay rather that euerie Bishoppe of olde did graunt larger pardons then the Pope vsed to graunt who vsed not to passe one yeare in dedication and 40 daies in all other occasions For according to that moderation the Bishop of Rome did vse all
pardons are ordeined to auaile and except them that lacke merit sacramentall which are saued immediatelie by the grace of God which is not bound vnto the sacraments But it were no reason you saie that priuate persons should communicate and send to the soules in purgatorie there fasts almes and praier for the release of their paine he that represents Christs person should not applie some part of the common treasure for their deliuery c. I answere wee acknowledge no such communication sending or lending by priuate persons for any such purpose or to any such effect into Purgatorie But if that were graunted yet were it no reason that the Pope where he hath no authoritie should by any colour doe more then a priuate man of the same worthines or merit And when the Pope is a wicked man of life as you will not denie but many haue beene what should his sute or suffrage preuaile whereas if he were twise as great in office as you faine him to be yet where his office extendeth not he should by sute preuaile no more then priuate men of such behauiour That this pardon per modum suffragij is agreeable to the practize of the Church and forme of pardons alwaies vsed you saie without proofe but I haue prooued the contrarie before That you require in the partie to be benefited by this new kinde of pardons not onelie that he departed hence in grace and zeale of the Church but also frendship in the worlde of such as will be contended to accomplish the appointed worke of the pardon you declare that the Popes pardons goe not as Gods pardons without respect of persons but with a necessarie respect of worldlie frendshippe so that the soules of poore men such as lacke frendship in this world are in nothing so good a case as the soules of rich men that with their pens are able to purchase frendship enough in the world So that with you the poore whome Christ pronounceth happie are most miserable the rich euen they to whome Christ maketh the entrance of heauen impossible may haue soonest dispatch out of purgatorie for the old prouerbe was alwaies true in the Popish Church no pennie no paternoster No frendshippe in the worlde no helpe of the Popes pardons for poore mens soules for whome yet the redemption of Christ is as plentifull and effectuall as for the scules of rich men Whatsoeuer the Deuill or the Pope hath imagined to deface the glorie thereof and to make the frendship of the world which is enmity with God to be necessarie for the applying of his moste free grace generall pardon and vndeserued reconciliation A declaration of the Churches meaning touching the common treasure which is saide to remaine in her store for the recompense of such iniovned penance as she releaseth by her pardons with the conclusion of the wholl matter THE 12. CHAP. ALLEN BVt now if you aske me here how it standeth with the iustice of God thus to forgiue the paine and debt of satisfaction which either God or the Church inioyneth for the recompence of the former sinnes especiallie seeing the Catholike Church doth holde that it perteineth to Gods iustice no lesse to punish sinnes with some temporall scourge after it be forgiuen then it doth perteine to his mercy to forgiue the saide sinne and the debt of euerlasting damnation Now if it stand not with his iustice to let a sinner escape whollie without correction or satisfaction then it may much more appeere to be against his iustice also that any power of man should remit release that bonde of satisfaction which Gods instice required and was to the offender inioyned For the answere and perfect vnderstanding of this doubt it is to be knowne and well weighed that in deede no release could be had of such inioyned penance or deserued paine for sinnes past if Gods instice were not otherwise recompensed and the lacke of the parties punishment supplied againe by the abundance of satisfaction made by Christ vpon the Crosse eueric drop of whose innocent bloode and stroke laid vpon his blessed bodie were hable of the infinite inestimable worth and force thereof to satisfie for all debt due to all the sin in the worlde whether it be death and euerlasting damnation or tempor all paine and purgation By which abundant price of his passion and copious ransome the Church for whose sake this precious price was paied doth not onelie holde her selfe to be redeemed from death and damnation and so saued by Christ her head for he is the sauiour of his bodie saith Saint Paull but shee holdeth the ouerplus as a man wouldsaie of so abundant copious and infinite redemption to be a treasure in the house of God to relieue her childrens lackes to release their paines to worke with them in satisfying for their sin and to worke mercie for them also for lack of satisfying for their offences that want being founde in our penance towardes the recompensing of our euill life paste may be supplied by the treasure of Christsdeath that remaineth yet of full force and strength to be applied vnto vs in such our necessities as shal be thought meet vnto Christs Vicar generall in earth other his holie appointed ministers with whome as Saint Paul saith he left the bestowing of gods mysteries For although the holie and precious treasure of Christes paine and satisfaction be of it selfe sufficient to relieue the lackes of all men without exception not onely of those which shall be saued but also for the damned and for the wholl worlde saith Saint Iohn yet no man may be so hardie to claime the benefit thereof otherwise then through such meanes as he hath appointed and by the ministery of such men as he hath placed ouer his householde and familie to giue the Children meat and sustenance in due season not as they shall inordinatlie craue it but as he shall discreetlie finde to be meere for them Therefore where this wise stewarde of Christs holie householde to whome he gaue the kcies of the treasure and sufficient authoritie to fceae and gouerne his wholl flocke where he shall orderlie iudge the offender meete and of good congruitie worthie of grace and mercie there he may pardon and recompense the residue that can not be fulfilled of the partie penitent with some peece of that inestimable treasure of Christs redemption which remaineth in the Church impossible to be wasted and so shall remaine to the vnspeakeable benefit of the faithfull FVLKE This dreame of the Churches treasure the power of dispensing of the same resting infinitlie in the Pope in comparision of a few small crummes left vnto the Bishoppes should haue beene first handled as the foundation of popish pardon if the compasse of your cause and the method of deceit could haue abidden it which if it had beene done manie a one that had seene the foundation to be no surer would neuer haue taken paines to vew the rest of the
the Church the glosse thinketh that it should be in vaine if it should serue vs to no purpose as though if any such thing were might stand with Gods iustice it might not serue to set forth the glorie and riches of Christes incarnation Ad hereunto that the ouerplus were needeles for vs if the value of one drop be sufficiēt for the perfect redemption of the whol world it might also be sufficient to take away all temporall paine But if we should further admit that there were such a treasure of the Church who made the Pope generall stewarde of it and other Bishops to haue so small a portion of so infinite a treasure You answere that Saint Paull saith that Christ left to his Vicar generall and other his holie appointed ministers the beslowing of Gods mysteries But Saint Paull speaketh of no Vicar generall but of all Gods ministers which be not onelie bishops I trow that they be stewardes of his mysteries which mysteries are his holie word and sacraments or if this treasure were parte of them the dispensation of it perteineth to priests as well as vnto Bishoppes To proceede this treasure beeing so plentifull as you saie no man notwithstanding may claime the benefit of it otherwise then through such meanes as God hath appointed and by the ministrie of the man that he hath appointed But neither this treasure nor the meanes nor the man are appointed of God as farre as we can learne out of his written worde neither is the Pope any such steward to whome Christ would commit the keies of so inestimable a treasure which considereth not the worthines of the person but of the price which he receiueth for his pardons as the greatest practize of them hath beene euer since they were inuented Againe if the offendour be meete and of good congruitie worthie of grace and mercie what neede any peece of his treasure to be laide out aboute him for Gods iustice is as much bounde vnto congruitie as vnto condignitie Neither can he deny pardon to any that in any respect is worthie to receiue it sauing that grace is no grace where their is the worthines of the partie to deserue it but the rewarde is accounted according to debt and not according to grace ALLEN And such a perfect knot there is now since Christes incarnation of euerie member in Christes mysticall bodie which is the Church and companie of faithfull with him beeing the heade of the said bodie that his merites workes suffering and satisfaction maie well be applied to serue and supplie all wantes of ech member thereof yea more then that the holie suffering and tribulation of holie Saintes as of our blessed Ladie Christes mother and the holie Apostles with numbers of constant Martirs Confessours and Virgines helpe to supplie our lack also and encrease the huge treasure of the Church for the satisfying for our sinnes which yet notwithstanding as they were meritorious to the sufferers be fullie rewarded by the glorie of Christes kingdome and eternall felicitie which farre exceedeth not onelie the merites of all Saintes but sufficientlie rewardeth the incomparable humilitie and obedience of Christ to his father in suffering death vpon the crosse though his workes as they be satisfactorie for vs are not yet answered in vs nor can not be till the worldes end ALLEN That knot of communication of the benefites of Christes death was as effectuall before his incarnation as since although it became effectual by meanes of his incarnation euen as the effect of his death extended to the saluation of his elect before his death But you doe well to follow your author at the harde heeles the writer of that glauering glosse vpon Pope Bonefacius Bull which immediately aster the words by me last cited addeth Nam propter vnionem capitis membrorum meritum capitis attribuitur membris quia sic per alienum meritun non per proprium meritum liberantur à poena ideo quantum ad ipsos talis liberalior dicitur remissio seu indulgentia licet quoad Christum qui hoc nobis meruit vocetur redemptio copiosa For because of the vnion of the heade and the members the merit of the head is attributed and applied vnto the members and because they are so deliuered from paine by the merit of an other and not by their owne merit therefore in respect of themselues such deliuerance is called a remission or pardon although in respect of Christ which deserued this for vs it is called a plentifull redemption We know that by meanes of the vnion of the head vnto the members the redemption wrought by the head perteineth to the members but the application thereof is by the spirit of God and not by the Popes pardon or any ministrie of man in speaking properlie which extendeth no further then the outwarde senses in speaking the worde of God to the hearing in washing with water or deliuering the bodelie foode in signe of baptizing with the holie ghost and feeding with the bodie and blood of Christ. But more than that you saie the holie suffrings and tribulation of Saints doe helpe to supplie our lacke and increase the huge treasure of the Church Your wordes found as though your meaning were that the suffring of Saints doth more supplie our lacke then the infinite treasure of the passion of Christ. But that I may not take you at the worst you meane at the lest that they ad vnto it you say plainly they increase the treasure of the Church But you forget the infinite valure of Christes bloodwhich you spake of before which can no more receiue any increase then it can be diminished for there is no proportion of that which is infinite tò that which is finit But if the treasure of the Church which is infinite by Christs merit may be made greater by the merit of Saints which are finit then the quantitie thereof must be greater by so much or so manie partes as are added and so there shall be proportion of finit to infinite or ells the treasure of Christs merit shall not be infinite This grosse and impossible absurditie therefore came in after the first deuise of the Churches infinite treasure by Christs merit For Clemens the fixt which brought the Iubelie yeare from euerie hundred to euery 50. as he learned of Aug. de Ancona that liued in this time ioyneth in his bull the merits of all Saints to increase the infinite treasure of Christs merits Of what value the merits of Saints be we shall heare in the next section ALLEN And for Christ in this case our aduersaries perchance would not much sticke with vs but for the remaine of Saints satisfaction they can not abide And if Saint Paull in expresse words did not vtter this my meaning concerning the trauaile of holie Saints for Christes bodie which is his Church the litle kolie ones of these daies would haue spurned at these kinde of speaches for feare of doeing iniurie to Christ of
whose honour the good men make themselues so tender These wordes then doth Saint Paull vtter of his trauaile taken for the Churches sake Now I doe reioyce in my passions or tribulations taken for your sake and I fullfill those things that doe want of Christ passions in mine owne flesh for his bodie which is the Church Thus said Saint Paul Wherby you see that not onelie the want of one member may be supplied of the heade of the bodie but that ech member may helpe the insufficiencie of an other member Whereby for all that we may not conceiue that there is any lacke or insufficiencie on Christs parte or passion which was so full and abundant of it owne valure that by it selfe alone without the helpe of all mans merits or other creatures it was a sufficient price for the sinnes of all the worlde and moe if moe might be But the lacke that this his passion was not in effect so forcible and so fullie in all mens cases was the want of some paines and passion in his bodie the Church by which she and euerie of hers were bound to conforme them-selues vnto Christ by taking paines in their flesh and suffering together with Christ their head For so long Christes passion wanteth his due effect in vs though it were neuer so full and sufficient in it selfe as we do not conforme our selues to his paine tribulation taken for vs. Therfore though Christ in his owne person suffer now no more yet he doth suffer and dailie shall suffer till the worlds end in diuers members of his holie bodie as the heade saith Saint Augustine suffereth when the finger aketh and as Christ him selfe charged Saint Paul that he persecuted him when he onelie molested his members And so long as the Church militant trauailesh here in earth so long hath Christ our Maister somewhat to suffer to make his passion effectuall in such as shall be saued and in that sense some peece of his passion in euerie of the faithfulls bodies must be supplied By all which holie paines of the head himselfe principallia and of the holie members of his bodie who wrought not onelie for themselues but expreslie meant to benefit other by their workes as the Apostle confesseth of himselfe we neede not to doubt but the lacke of many a poore member of this blessed incorporation is dulie supplied and the want of worke satisfactorie in some recompensed by the abundance of paines and penance of others For this is the blessed cause of such as be in the Church of God in the fellowshippe of the faithfull in the knot of those members whereof our sauiour is the head that is to saie in the holie communion of Saints in which as some do lack so other some by Christs gift do abound and are able to procure mercie for the needie and to satisfie God for their poore breethrens sinnes And yet all this entercourse of benefits and mutuall helpes passeth not from the head to the members nor from one member of the bodie to another but by the ordinarie meanes of Christes appointment as by sacraments sacrifice and sundrie waies of his seruice and that not without the ministerie of men in whome he hath out the word of his reconciliation to whome he hath committed his keies to keepe his sheepe to feed his mysteries to dispose and to whome finallie he hath giuen full power both to binde and loose FVLKE Of all the auncient doctors and learned of the Church whose writinges haue come to our hands it is great maruell no one could see the increase of the Churches treasure in this texte of Saint Paull But seing they saw not all thinges let vs consider in what expresse wordes Saint Paul vttereth your meaning Where is mention of the treasure of the Church in this texte where is mention of the merit of Saintes where is mention of the remaines of Saints satisfaction ouer and aboue their owne necessitie where is mention of the wante of satisfying Gods iustice for temporall paines If there be neuer a worde of all these thinges in what expresse wordes doth Saint Paul vtter your meaning First he reioyceth in his afflictions which he suffered for their sake because they tended to the confirmation of their faith and example of Constancie Secondlie he sulfilleth those thinges that want or remaine of Christs passion in his owne bodie this argueth no insufficiencie of Christes passion you confesse for his parte but the wante of some paines in his bodie the Church so farre wee agree with you for Christ was to suffer in his members the saints and they are by suffering to be made conformable vnto him that they might reigne with him but that these sifferinges were satisfactions vnto Gods righteousnes for temporall paine to make the passion of Christ effectuall to themselues or vnto other Saint Paull saith not in expresse wordes neither shall you euer be able to prooue by a true syllogisme out of this place or anie text in the scripture that he meaneth But Saint Paull saieth he suffereth for Christes bodie which is his Church namelie to confirme the faith of the Church as all the olde Fathers doe expound it and as he doth a best expound himselfe 2. Cor. 1. 6. but to satisfic for paine not satisfied by Christes death he neuer saith ne meaneth In tribulationibus saith S. Ambrose vpon this text quas patiebatur exultare se satetur quia profectum 〈◊〉 videt in side credentium Saint Paull acknowledgeth that he reioiceth in the affictions which he suffered because he seeth his profit in the faith of the beleeuers And the words of S. Paul are plaine when he saith that he suffereth for the Church according to that dispensation which was committed vnto him which was to edifie the Church in the faith not to redeeme the Church by his sufferings S. Augustine speaking of the suffering of martyrs and the effecte of them and comparing them with the passion of Christ thus writeth Ille nobis non 〈◊〉 nos saluos saceret nos sine illo nihil possumus facere ille se nobis palmitibus praebuit vitem nos habere preter illum non possumus vitam postremo etst fratres pro fratrib moriantur tamen in fraternoruam peccatorum remissionem nullius sanguis martyris funditur quod fecit ille pro nobis neque in hoc quid imitaremur sed quid gratularemur He had no neede of vs that he might saue vs we without him can do nothing He hath giuen himselfe to be a vine to vs the branches we be side him can haue no life Finallie although breethren do die for their breethren yet the bloood of no martir is shed for the remission of his brcethrens sinnes which he did for vs neither hath bestowed vpon vs herein anie thing that we should follow but that we might reioycein In these wordes Augustine denyeth that Christes passion wanted the paines aud pas sions of martirs to be fullie
argument he asketh him what he can laie against these witnesses As though it were not the easiest thing in the worlde to answere that all these though the noblest the best and worthiest of credit in their time yet were to far distant from the place where he liued to be eie witnesses of his naughty behauiour And therfore whatsoeuer they did write must needes proceede from the false suggestion of his enemies Where otherwise it is not credible that the Duke of Saxonie vnder whom Luther liued if he had known him to be so vile a person would haue suffered him to liue much les would haue reformed religion according to his preaching From Luther thus summoned to appeare he taketh vpon him as the Pythonesse plaied with Samuell to call vp Caluine out of hell to confesse that he kept a Nunne fiue yeares in his chamber vntill she was great with childe by him and that he married her to an Apostata channon that dwelled at Lausanna And this he saith that all the world knoweth If you aske him by what testimonie he produceth a slaunderous libellintituled passauant Parisien printed at Paris 1559. Against the falsehood whereof which neuer deserued credit with anie reasonable man the wholl citie of Geneua is readie to giue testimonie vnder their common seale if neede were that there was neuer any colour of such a slaunder so impudentlie deuised which in deed sufficientlie confuteth it selfe that in so manie yeares and among so manie enemies as Caluine had both in that city and abrode it could neuer be broched vntill the yeare 1559 which was 24. yeares after his comming to Geneua which vile slaunder Fowler in the description of his infamous picture setterh forth with blasphemous abusing of the holy name of the Gospell to signifie the most vile and filthie act of lecherie From Caluine our Frarine passeth to Beza whome with like impudencie he burdeneth with two hainous crimes and yet so confidentlie that he doubteth not to speake vnto him in these wordes Denie if thou dare Theodore Beza denie if thou canst for shame Would you not thinke he had manifest proofes of the crimes in such sorte obiected Let vs heare then what they are First he chargeth Beza to haue sold his eccleslasticall liuinges which he had in Fraunce before his departure to two diuers men for readie monié For which double dealing he was denounced excommunicate and so proclaimed in all the market places of Parris To prooue this crime he quoteth in the margent the preface of Bezaes confession But in that preface Beza indeed cōfesseth that the reuenewes of those Church liuinges which his friendes had procured for him were a great let to him for a long season to make open confession of his faith from the sweetnes of which gaine as a filthie dogg from greasie leather he could hardlie be driuen awaie vntill almightie God by an extreame sicknes so waked him out of that securitie that immediatlie after his first recouerie he left at once his countrie Parents and friendes and departed with his wife vnto Geneua But of selling his benefices in such an vnhonest manner there is no mention but contrariwise in the same preface he defieth all the world for any other crime of dishonestie then the setting forth of certaine wanton verses which were made when he was a child and printed while he was vnder the age of twentie yeares The second crime obiected is that he maried an other mans wife who was a tailor dwelling in Harpe street at Paris whome Master Charkes Censurer out of Bolsec affirmeth to haue dwelt in the Calender street that you maie know how wel the witnesses agree togither with further slaunderrs as that shee was called of Beza Mistres Candidae or mistres Bewtie in his bawdie verses Whereas it is well knowne that Beza in that poeticall fiction deuised after the imitation of auncient Poets meant no special person and least of all could meane his wife for that in those verses he commendeth Candidae being great with childe to the Gods Whereas his wife neuer had anie childe by him Further he saith that shee fled to the stewes because her husband hauing taken her in adultery had giuen her a gash with a knife in the hippe A pretie inuention if the gash had bene in her face or in anie other part of her bodie that might haue bene seene with honestie some or other should haue beene witnes of the scarre and therefore it is placed where none for shame might demaund the sight for triall An other cause of her flight vnto the stewes was as he saith because she had bene put in prison for that she fetched a friscoll when she was dawnsing in a tauerne with her customers said Hoigh one leape more for all Christian soules A sorie cause why she should flie to the comme stewes because shee had beene imprisoned Is it not more like if any such thing had beene or if shee had beene willing to depart from her husband that shee hauing so many customers as this tale pretendeth and specially Beza who could spend seuen hundred crownes by the yeare as he confesseth would not haue sought aid of him or them rather then to haue cast her selfe into a place of such publike infamie But all this fable is vtterlie denied of Beza as containing no sparke of trueth for his wife whom he maried priuilie in Paris in the presence of one or two onelie of his friendes was of so godlie and honest behauionr that she would not consent to the match but vpon expresse promise and condition that assone as he could conuenientlie al impediments set asside he should carie her into the Church of God and openlie confirme the matrimonie betweene them and also that in the meane time he should enter into none of the Popish orders both which conditions he faithfullie performed Here isnothing therefore brought against Beza or his vertuous wife but accusations without witnes slaunders without proofe lies without colour or shew of trueth The like I saie of that generall railing which followeth both against the schollers of this gospellish congregation as he scornefullie termeth them and the Mistres of the same whose wickednes in all kinde of horrible sinnes he affirmeth to be so great that if the lot had bin betweene the Protestantes and the papists which order of iustice he wisheth had bin obserued that whether haue most wickedly trāsgressed gods and mans laws should haue gone first to the gallowes there had not beene one Protestant left aliue to holde warre against the Papists I am ashamed to vse any wordes in confutation of such a monstrous a lie which no eninmie of the Protestantes being in his right wittes doth thinke in his conscience to bere any credit or similitude of trueth Many called Protestantes haue beene wicked liuers but that all should be condemned in capitall crimes beyond the moste wicked of the Papists it is too beyond measure a moste pestilent but yet a riduculous slaunder But
first he saith though Kinges for light or no iust causes making warres are greatlie in fault yet the soldiours are excusable because they obeie lawfull authority But in these warres where no Magistrate biddeth them strike all are priuate men or rather all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and most cruel murtherers so with many needles words he runneth out into the common place of treasō rebelliō in which whatsoeuer cause be pre tended the war is vnlawful because it wanteth lawfull authority But such was not the cause of the protestāts warres in France where the King being vnder age and brought into captiuitie against his wil by a traitor by whōe also the edict made by the authority of the three estates of the Realme was violated witha moste barborous and cruel slaughter ofinnocent men being in exercise of their Religion as it was lawfull for them to doe by the Princes of his bloode and other nobles called also thereunto by the often letters of the Queene his mother to deliuer him and her from captiuitie was sought to be set at libertie his lawes to be obserued and the publike quiet of the realme to be restored and so Frarines question is answered whence came you who sent you by what authoritie doe you all these things The princes and noble men that ioyned in leagu to withstand the tirannie of the Guisians haue declared their commission in a publike instrument set forth to the vew of the world the copie of the Queene mothers letters are set forth in storie for euerie man to reede The originalles remaine with the prince of Condyes heires and haue beene seene of manie But what shall Guise answer if he be called to shew his commission by what authority he slew the poore people at Vassie by what authoritie he seased vpon the persons of the King and the Quene his mother against their willes as was manifest by the Queenes great pro testation against the violence and iniurie and the yong Kings teares By what authoritie he remooued them from the pallace of Fountaine de Bleu first vnto the prison of Melun castle and afterward to Paris a place indeed more meere for a King if the violence of the enemy had not made that also a prison For not somuch the place as the restraint of libertie maketh a prisoner It is certaine that Guyse had no commission no authoritie no lawfull power to doe these thinges nor whatsoeuer he did afterward abusing the name of the captiue King and the authoritie of the King of Nauarre contrarie to the edict and true meaning of them that laide gouernment vpon him As for Beza and the ministers of the reformed Church whome he faineth to haue beene dombe when they were demaunded by the Cardinall of Lorraine in the assemblie at Poysie answered for their vocation first to the Sorbonist Espensius who proponed those questions that they were lawfullie called and approoued in the Churches where they serued And the next daie more at large to the shame and confusion of the Popish cleargie and their vnlawfull and simoniacall vocation contrarie both to the olde Canons of the Church and to the authoritie of the holie scriptures declaring also that as the ceremonie of imposition of handes by the ordinaries as they call them is not allwaies needfull in an extraordinarie calling So miracles are not alwaies necessarie to approoue an extraordinary vocation as the examples of Esay Zacharie Amos and others of the Prophets declareth But Martin Luther whome Frarine maketh our chiefe Apostle and patriarch he taketh vpon him to know verie well what he was whence he came and what authoritie he had First his name was not Luther but Luder which signifieth a slaue or knaue but that for shame he changed that filthie name of his He would make vs beleeue that he was driuen to do the same that Pope Os porci or Hogges snowte did which turned his name to Sergius of whome all Popes since saue one haue taken the custome to chaunge there names which thing if Luther had done he had done no worse thē the pope had giuē him example to do It is a folish quarrel that is picked against a mans name which he hath receiued of his elders although the name of Luther being of honest signification needed no such change for who will thinke that Luther knewe not his owne name as well as Frarine But it it is a greater matter that he was begotten of a spirit Incubus as the common report goeth saith Frarine For that he was borne at Islebium in Saxonie I trust it is no reproch to him more thē for Frarine to be borne at Antwerpe in Brabant But is Frarine such a great philosopher to beleeue the common report of Luthers conception by a spirit Incubus which is impossible And whoe should be the authors of such a report But such impudent wretches as shewed more malice then wit in deuising such a monstrous lie as neuer was nor euer could be And yet what papist is there of any acount which fauoreth not this foolish fable which although in their conscience they know it neither was nor can be true yet are not onelie content that it runne among fooles as a currant argument but also offer it in their writinges to the ignorant as a matter sufficient to discredit Luther and all his teaching But to proceed that he studied the ciuill law when he was yong that he was mooued to become an Augustine frier by terror of his companione slaine with thunder or lightning if it were neuer so true what needed it to be rehearsed seeing it maketh nothing to the lawfullnes of his calling or to the discredit of his doctrine But at last saith he he was made Doctor with shame enough for he came to that degree with the monie that was bequethed vnto an other man whom with the helpe of his prior he be guiled If Luther were not sufficientlie knowne to the world to haue beene excellentlie well learned he would insinuate thathe were like a doctor Bullatus which bought his doctorshippe of the Pope for mony But seeing for the solemnitie of that degree in schooles their is vsuall some expences he chargeth Luther at the least to haue come by that monie wrongfullie and as it were by theft They that write the storie of his life affirme that the Prince his soueraigne did beare the charges of his cōmencement And this slaunder of Frarine as it is void of profe so hath it not so much as anie likelie hood of truth For Luther being at that time a frier could possesse nothing in proper no more could anie other frier possesse anie monie that was bequeathed vnto them Now if the prior of the house did defraie the charges of Luthers commencement with the legacie that was giuen to anie other of his bretheren it was all one as if he had done it out of there common boxe for friers possesse nothing in proper but in cōmon the dispositiō wherof pertaineth to
for the warre of the Heluetians it is a wonder to see how he termeth it sedition and insurrection stirred vp by Zuinglius whereas it is certaine that the fiue Cantones of the Popish faction by intollerable iniurie prouoked them of Zurek and Bernes to lawfull warres whose cause if it had bene neuer so vniust yet might it not be termed insurrection because they were states of themselues and ought no obedience to the other The rebellion of Wiat and practises to kill Queene Marie were neuer allowed by the teachers of the gospell in England And Knookes his booke was misliked and forbidden to be solde euen at Geneua where it was put in print But the Pope the head of the Popish faction hath not onelie 〈◊〉 vp rebellion against the moste honourable Prince of Europe Queene Elizabeth in England but also hath sent his standard and Souldiers to inuade her dominions in Ireland And to omitt the traiterous writing of Saunder Bristow what is more vile then that beastlie Bull of Pius the fiste against our saide moste noble soueraigne confirmed by that hypocrite which now sitteth in the chayre of Pestilence at Rome with a faculty graunted to Parsones and Campiane by which he licenseth the Papists to dissemble their obedience vntill publike execution of that Bull maie be had that is to be priuie Traitours till with hope of successe they maie be open rebells The Scottish Queenes behauiour hath so much dishonoured her Person that Frarine is to be pardoned if he spake any thing in her praise before the vttermost of her reproch was made manifest to the worlde The rebellion of the gentlemen in Sueuia and of the commons in Denmarke I passe ouer as Frarine doth seing if it were vnlawfull our religion alloweth it not if it were vpon iust cause and by sufficient authoritie it is vniustlie called rebellion and vprore But he cannot omitt the late treason and cruell conspiracie of the Hugonites in Fraunce whereof Caluin was dictatour and generall Beza lieuetenant Othomannus and Spisamius petie captaines whoe can refraine laughing to heare these pleasant deuises but least you should thinke he iested he saith these were the chiese doers indeed though they vsed the names and seruice of certaine of the Nobilitie to beare out the brunte whilest they slept as the Knaues in the stocke and as for the other they were but their trumping cardes Such pesantes he maketh all the Princes and Noblemen which tooke armes to deliuer the King and his Mother from captiuitie his lawe from oppression and his subiects from cruell murther and tyrannie Yet he confesseth this tragedie had a peaceable beginning for they gat a lawe by force and extorsion saith he against the King and Magistrates will and pleasure Marke how probablie he speaketh A lawe was made whereunto none gaue assent that had authoritie to make a lawe But their consent was enforced for the Parliament of Paris made answere at the first we cannot we will not we ought not But afterward they were compelled to let the bill passe and so the edict of Ianuarie was made Here is force here is extorsion and compulsion alledged to elude the authoritie of the lawe but by what persons what meanes and in what manner it is not shewed in one word And indeed it is vnpossible to be shewed that neuer was for in truth the edict was made by the consent of the three estates in Fraunce in time of peace when their was not so much as any feare or suspition of warre but of policie to maintaine peace and to auoide all troubles that might insue thorough controuersie of religion The quiet and peaceable behauiour of the Protestantes in the conference at Poysie was so notorious that our Oratour being not able to denie it saieth it was dissembled that they might more easilie obtaine a lawevnder shadowe whereof they might banish all lawe and religion out of the world roote out all ciuill order and pollicie of all temporall affaires out of all Christian realmes countries cites A moste wicked purpose But howe is it prooued First they made a conspiracy to robbe spoile al the Churches in Fraunce in one night witnes hereof Claudius de sanctes a man verie like to be made priuie of such a conspiracie an vtter enemie of all true religion and the professors thereof But the execution in Gascoine and diuers other places doe testifie of this conspiracie Indeede by some more zealous then wise at Turon and Bloise the Popish Churches were bereued of their Idolls which fact because it was contrary to the edict the prince of Condie forthwith gaúe charge to the kinges officers that the authors thereof should be diligentlie sought out and seuerlie punished according to the edict Cōpare with this fact the horrible murther of the faithfull by the Guisians at Vassie by which the edict was first broken whereas these men in time of the warre without the hurte of anie mans person did onely breake a fewe stockes and stones by which God was dishonered Neuerthelesse the punishment of the offenders confuteth the pretended conspiracie which to saie the truth hath not so much as the shadowe of trueth in it For how was it possible for them to spoile all the Churches of Fraunce in one night where they were not of power to spoile the tenth part if they had so cōspired But it is a greater matter which followeth that at Challone in Burgundie they made a Synodicall decree that euerie man should endeauour to his power to driue three vermines out of Christendome The Church of Rome the Nobilitie the publique order of iustice And this if you denie saith he your names are to be seene yet in the recordes of the high court of Parliament at Paris where manie of you were accused for it by the rulers and estates of Burgondie A sufficient proofe no doubt that the names of them that were accused are extant in recorde It is sufficient proofe among the Papists that men be accused and that by their malitious aduersaries yea the verie accusation is a condemnation But it seemeth the Parliament of Paris had more regard of lawe and iustice then to giue sentence against them vpon a bare accusation for if it be sufficient to accuse no man shall be innocent If the court had condemned them he would haue alledged the sentence and lawfull processe remaining in record against them But almightie God knoweth that the Protestantes haue not onelie bene free but haue alwaies abhorred such Anabaptisticall conclusions and laboured by al meanes to establish the authoritie and obedience due vnto Princes which the Pope by his pretended supremacie shamefullie vsurpeth against them as though the charge of feeding spirituall gouernment were graunted onelie to the Pope by those wordes of Christ to Peter Or if it were that vnder colour of feeding and spirituall gouernment he had authoritie to commaund Princes at his pleasure yea to commaund their crownes of their heades and their scepters out
fit of the common wealth Besides this he imputeth to those warres the Turkes gaine of Hungary and whatsoeuer calamitie insued thereupon As though the first miserie of Hungary beganne not at the breath of the league with the Turke whereof the Pope was cause The next which fel in Luthers time when Belgrade was taken was long before any wars were mooued by the Protestantes or against them and so was that ouerthrow in which Lewes the King was ouerthrowen and slaine Al other inuasions of Hungarie by the Turk haue beene by occasion of the claime which Ferdinande the Emperours brother made to that kingdome wherein be was resisted by the Vaiuode of Transiluania The cōquest against the Turk that Frarin dreameth of might be atchiued by occasion of his ouerthrow at Malta were not these dissentions in religion I passe ouer as a thing to be wished for rather then loked for vntil God se the good time When all was Poperie and no appearance of dissention in religion the Turke neuerthelesse gained and Christendome went to wracke Therefore moste vnreasonablelie is the Turkes gaine and our losse imputed to the Protestants warres whoe mooue none but such as are necessarie for defence of religion and the common wealth when they are lawfullie called thereunto Likewise the shutting vp of the schoole dores and the solitarines of diuerse vniuersities in Fraunce which is an vsuall effect of warre must be laied to the charge of them whose oppression crueltie and tyrannie inforced those warres That Luther despised the vniuersitie of Louaine and called it a stable of Asset stewes and schoole of the diuell it was not for hatred of good learning but in contempt of those Barbarous doltes which in those daies opposed them selues against the light of the truth Erasmus whome all men knewe to haue deserued verie well of good learning writeth as hardlie of the vniuersitie of Louaine in respect of the multitude of vnlearned sophisters which were in that time as Luther saying there was no place for the muses there where so manie hogges grunted where so manie asses routed so many Camells blattered so many Iaies chattered so many pies prattled But doctor Cox is chardged to answer why the schooles in Oxford were suffered to go downe in King Edwardes time and the ordinarie disputations in Logick and Philosophie were left of Not for contempt of learning I warrant you but either because the Papistes his predecessers had so wasted the vniuersitie stock as it was not sufficient to set them vp or els because those litle celles were thought to be vnsufficient for so famous an vniuersitie and therefore they hoped that through liberalitie of the king or of the nobles a more magnificall building able to receiue the multitude of that vniuersitie should haue beene erected In the meane time the exercises of learning ceased not in euery colledge no nor yet the ordinary disputations inlogick and philosophie were left of but remooued to a more publike place namelie to Saint Maries Church where Master Warde the great professor of philosophie in the hearing of manie yet a liue did exercise the same by meanes of which good learning was as much promoted in King Edwardes time as euer it was before or since Naie saith Frarine they haue set their heades together and fullie agreed among them selues to banish the greeke and latine tongues quite and cleane out of the country O monster of impudencie who hath more deserued of the Greeke Latine Hebrew Caldy Syrian and Arabique tongues then such as haue bene professours of the Gospell Who are found in all places better learned in the tongues then they who haue more care to instruct youth in the knowledge of the tonges then they I knew the vniuersitie of Cambridge in Queene Maries time and this I dare be bolde to saie there are more good Grecians in one of the litle colledges now then was in those daies in the wholl vniuersitie But it is a great confirmation of Frarines or Fowlers senslesse slaunder that a preacher in the diocesse of Sarum beeing ignorant in the Latine tongue thanked God that he had neuer learned that Romish and Papisticall tongue If any such thing were it shewed the folly of one man which might be requited with an hundred mery tales of Sir Ihon Lacklatines in poperie if a man were disposed to blot paper with such bables But their ouerthrow of schooles and vniuersities saith he they excuse by bringing all knowledge into the mother tongue and by inuenting a compendious order of teaching wherby children in short time may profit more then auncient men in many yeares of olde time True it is that much knowledge is brought into the vulgare tongue for the benefit of them which haue not studied the learned languages and the methode of teaching hath found an easie waie in shorte time to great knowledge learning but it is vtterlie false that any such excuse is made for the ouerthrow of schooles and vniuersities which the professours of Christiā religion desire by al meanes to be mainteined and increased as there is manifest experience in all places where our religion is imbraced by publike authoritie When Luther burnt certeine bookes of the Canon law he meant no decay of good learning but protested against the heresie blasphemie of the Pope of which those bookes were full who neuerthelesse most iniuriouslie condemned Luther vnhard burnt his bookes vnconfuted Whatsoeuer Corolostadius did against good learning seeing Frarine confesieth it was misliked by Luther what should the blame therof extend any further then the offendour But Frarine wisheth they had beene satisfied with burning of bookes and had not proceeded to burning of men cutting of throtes tearing chopping in peèces with much foolish amplification of their crueltie in generall tearmes All which might be exemplified more truelie of Popish tyrannie in time of peace then it can be verified of any outrage committed in time of warre allowed by the Princes and captaines of the fielde or by the preachers and teachers of the Gospel But at length he descendeth to some particulars calleth forth Beza to tell him why he went vp to the pulpit in Orlians with his sword by his side and a pistolate in his hand and exhorted the people to shew their manhood rather in killing the papists then in breaking of images al which was reported to him at Orlians Although in time of warre it were not much to be wondered if the peacher especiallie in such places where be manie traiterous enimies as were that time in Orlians should be armed as well as other men yet it hath bene reported vnto me by them which heard dailie Beza preaching at Orlianes that there was no such matter But if he exhorted soldiers to exercise their manhoode against their enimies rather then vpon stokes and stones seing the warre was lawfull and necessarie I see not whie he should be reprehended The rest which followeth wherein he is charged with murther of
Magistrates selling of townes spoiling the countrie pulling downe of Churches giuing the spoill to straungers prophaning of Churches with his whores and laying vp of armour and lodging of soldiers robbing of all Churches in which he came is nothing but generall slaundering vnworthie of any wise mans answer other then a flat general denial of al. In like manner that he saith was reported vnto him by Caluines schoolefellowes in lawe that he stole the 〈◊〉 crosse and vestimentes which were committed to his custodie when he departed from Orleanes is thorougly confuted by the publike decree of the vniuersity wherby the degree of doctorship was freely offered vnto him at his departure and by his continuance afterward in diuers Vniuersities of Fraunce where this sacriledge should haue bin required at his hands if euer any such had bene Also that Beza in Champanie tooke many Priestes prisoners sat in iudgement vppon them condemned some to dongeons some to be hanged some to be burned other to be beheaded so that his mouth was sprinkeled with the bloode and braines of those that were murdered at his feete Is any man so madde that he will beleeue it That many priestes were slaine in time of that warre it is not altogether vnlike For the enemies spared not to murder the preachers of the gospel moste cruellie wheresoeuer they found them yet of certaine and true reporte we heare not of many beside those two which were hanged at Orleans of which Parson Guisent beeing a cruell in quisitor had cast the president of Orleanes in prison and they both had beene extreame persecutors of the Gospell in time of Popish tyrannie Yet had not this example of seueritie beene shewed vpon them if the Papists by hanging vp of Augustine Marlorate and other learned and Godlie preachers at Rone after they were taken prisoners contrarie to the law of armes had not inforced the Prince and estates vnto this warlike kind of reuenge vpon two which had well deserued it to teach them to vse more clemencie toward such of the religion as might afterward happe to fal into their handes What outrage soeuer was committed by the Soldiers without commaundement and consent of the Princes and Captaines no wise man will impute to the wholl state of Protestantes as Frarine doth and yet he bringeth nothing but flying tales such as in time of warre are blowne abroad on both sides I haue giuen some diligence to enquire of them which liued in Fraunce at that time and they can saie nothing that they heard of anie such examples of barbarous cruelty committed by the Soldiers of the Protestants campe as Frarine hath heaped together except the reporte of one which made him a chaine of Priestes cares who for his crueltie when he required to be of the Church of Geneua was not receiued yet it followeth not that he killed all those Priestes whose eares he cut of Neuertheles they confesse that although the discipline of warre was as well looked vnto as in that state of thinges it could be yet manie things were done by vnrulie Soldiers which neither the captaines nor the Preachers could thinke well of If anie that fled out of Orleans to carrie newes to the enemies were hardlie dealt with all it is the lesse maruaile seing within the citie keeping them-selues quietlie they might haue continued without anie man hurting them as a great number of the Popish priests liued there euen to the end of the warre whereby it appeareth that those reportes of crueltie deserue lesse credit that Priestes were dragged with ropes about their neckes in the streete bound to trees and shot at with gunnes for exercise that their guttes were wound about a staffe and drawne out of their bellies and cast about the house that they were hanged vpon the roode in the Church that their eies were put out their noses cut of the toppes of their fingers cut of the skinne of their crownes pared their priuie members cut of rosted they compelled to eate them afterwards their bellies ripped to see how they could digest such meate and such like monstrous inuentions which if they had bin true should haue found some Papist of Fraunce that would haue committed them to writing set them forth with all the circumstances that they should not stand vpon the onelie light report of an Orator of Louane who bringeth no testimonie but report of one prebendarie of the Cathedrall Church of Orleans whose name he hath forgotten which laie hidde in a bench hole and through the chinkes of the bench saw while the butchers cut of a priests members pulled out his guttes and cast his entralles all about the house But what if the poore prebendarie was so ouercome with feare that he imagined he saw through the narrowe creuisses that which was neuer done nor intended For what similitude of truth hath it that the souldiers would so beraie that house with blood and bowells wherein they themselues lodged peraduenture a hogge or some other beast was killed dressed for the Souldiers supper which he in the bench hole thought to be the Curate of the towne The cutting of litle children in peeces at one stroake with a sword the burning of children in a Church at Patte not farre from Orleans who will thinke they were like to be true when Baldwine in his inuectiue against Beza could finde no such matter to obiect vnto him although he obiected a great manie thinges more then were true But these and such matters if they had beene committed as they are impudentlie fained by barbaous and outragious souldiers why shoulde the reformers of religion beare the blame of them you will saie perhaps they should reteine no soldiours of so cruell and wicked a disposition and certaine it is that willinglie and wittinglie they did not but such is the necessitie of warre that souldiors be not alwaies saints Dauid for his necessarie defense was faine to reteine such as came vnto him which as the scripture describeth them were scarse honest men but a sight of male contents which for debt and desertes could not abide to ta rie in their countrie And yet was Dauid the lords annointed and vsed that bande both for his owne defence for annoiance of his enemies and for obtaining of his right in the kingdome Let not the crueltie therefore outrage of souldiers if any such were as none is prooued be obiected against the preachers and procurers of reformation Other dammages and losses he rehearseth the rasing of the Kings house and diuerse Churches in Orleanes filling vp the ditches throwing downe the bulwarkes making the walles plaine and passable destroying the suburbs and vines about the citie All which things who is so madde that he will not acknowledge to be the act of their enemies for the moste part except that the necessitie of warre requireth some places in such townes to be rased for fortification He cōplaneth of the Image tombe of king Lewis the eleuenth broken downe his
bodie burned with the Church wherein he was buried ouerthrowne at Cleris foure leagues from Orleans which is like to haue beene in detestation of idolatry there committed For otherwise if it had beene in hatred of his monument and memorie the Protestants being so long in possession of the towne of S. Dennis two leagues frō Paris would not haue spared so manie monuments of the kings as are there yet to be seene vntouched The burning of K. Frauncis the 2. his heart at Orleans whome he suspecteth to haue bene poysoned by the Gospellers is a fond fable For which he citeth Claudius de sanctes a lying frier of Paris where as if anysuch thing had bin Frarine might haue learned the trueth when he was at Orleans himselfe As for the crime of poysoning was neuer obiected by the papistes themselues of Fraunce neither is there any likelihood seeing it is certaine that he died of an aposteme in his head where of grew an intollerable paine in his eare which after it tooke him being readie to take his iournie left him not vntill life so iooke him The impouerishing of manie welthy townes in Fraunce the slaughter of men and all other incommodities of warre how vniustly he obiecteth vnto the Protestants which were no cause of the warres all indifferent men may iudge though I saie nothing But the pouertie of S. Peter and the riches of our preachers gotten with sacrilegious spoile of Churches were more meete to be obiected to the pope and his proud prelates which by the spoile both of Churches and tounes haue made them selues Lordes of the earth Yet is it most certaine saith Frarine that Beza and his companions stole out of the Churches at Towres 2000. markes in syluer and 1000. markes in gold besides precious stones chaynes and Iewells of greate value and and in so great aboundance of treasure were so gredie that they left not a naile behinde them Which wickednes he doubled by burning the shrine and casting the ashes of Saint Martine into the riuer But Beza himselfe when the like was obiected vnto him by Baldwine the apossata answered that all this is a moste impudent slaunder For he was then at Orleans when the treasure of the canons of Towres was taken not spoiled before sufficient witnesses a goldsmith weighing al things the notaries writing all things by the commaundement of the most Noble Prince of Condie and that for most iust causes as they themselues will testifie which moste misliked that sight All which thinges are testified in publike acts and were alowed after by the kings counsel that no reasonable person may saie that any thing was done vniustly or vnlawfully in so necessary a time And as for the dispersing of S. Martins reliks for which he declameth so tragically Beza confesseth that he aloweth the same by the exampell of the brasen serpent in like manner destroied when it was abused to Idolatry As were thereliques also of S. Iraene S Hylarie to the great dishonour of God and ignominte of those holy men and this supposing they were true reliques But to the intent all men may know what manner of reliques they were the abolishing where of he so pitefullie bewaileth Beza bringeth two or three examples There was at Towres a siluer crosse set with many precious stones which there was worshipped with shameful superstition Among which stones there was an Acates of auncient and curious grauing which after it was brought to Orleans and vewed in his hands which had brought it there was foūd the image of Venus bewailing the death of her minió Adonis slaine with a bore And this stone was that which on goodfridaie was moste deuoutlie kissed of them that crept on their knees to the croslc as the Image of the blessed Virgine Marie There was also brought forth a siluer arme as the case of an holy relique of the Saint which when it was vnclasped in the presence of the Canons themselues by the goldesmith that which was hidden within with maruelous foulding of silkes was brought forth there was 〈◊〉 first a paper which conteined a baudie song written in olde Rithme and within that a Carde commonly called the knaue of Picques or Diamondes At an other place that is at Biturige in an other case of reliques there was found a stick thrust into the naue of a woodden wheele with this magicall or foolish verse written in partchement Quand cesteroüe tournera Celleque i aime in aimeraidest When this wheele shal be turned she that I loue shal loue me and these thinges Beza offereth to proue by fiue hundred witnesses and affirmeth moreouer that a large volume will not suffice to rehearse such shamfull dishonour to God and dilusions of the people Let Frarine therefore crie out as long as he wil against the destruction of Idolatrie compare it with the cruelty of the Panimes mentioned in Eusebius which for hatred of Christian religion raged against the bodies of the saines whom they murdered yet al reasonable men must acknowledge a wonderfull great difference not onely in the facts of them and these but also moste speciallie in the ends But yet againe to returne to Orleans Frarine rehearseth the vncomelie stripping of an honest maide and shamefull groping of her to search if she had hid anie monie aboue the rate of the proclamation to carie priuilie out of the towne about her a foule fact surelie if it were true and worthy to be punished for they might rather haue committed the search of her to honest women But a thousand times more detestable was the violent rauishing of a maid in Picardie by that Popish captaine Monsieur de pontes whose soldiers held the maide til the captaine forced her for indignation whereof shee slewe him with a knife The souldiers slew her with their gunnes And the Pesants of the countrie destroied the souldiers as is testified by a Pamphlet set forth in French and English And yet more monstrous euen in time of the first warres in Fraunce wherof Frarine speaketh was the rage of the Popish women of Prouince against their owne sexe which hauing cast of-al womanhood yea all humanitie like furies of hell ranne about in the night spoiling the houses of the faithfull and such women as they found they dragged through the citie with manie stripes vnto the place which they had appointed for their diuelish crueltie and there they hanged them by the heeles and by thrusting a staffe in their priuiest parts a thing moste shamefull to be rehearsed or heard of in that most beastlie maner murdered them Of this hellish practise the cities of Marciles and Aix are witnesses What witnes Frarine hath of a Traitour as he calleth him by Angiers which to saue his fort from gun-shot hung a noble woman out in a basket I know not but if anie such thing were it was a stratageme or pollicie of warre the like whereof in such cases hath often heretofore bene vsed But that there full purpose was
peece of Gods worde and traditions are an other peece and this peece must be added to that or els it is not a perfect or sufficient instruction of itselfe for Gods Church The comparison you make of ioyning S. Lukes Gospell to that of Saint Matthew or Saint Paules epistles to them both to resemble your patching of traditions to the written word of God is both odious and vnlike and without begging the wholl matter in question gaineth nothing For the adding of the writings of one Euangelist to another or of an Apostle to the Euangelistes is but the heaping of heauenlie treasure to the further inriching of the Church in all light of spirituall knowledge so the accession of the bookes of the new testament is as it were the vnfolding or laying open of the same diuine riches that was perfectlie contayned in the olde testament for the saluation of all Gods elect that liued vnder that discipline But your traditions as you maintaine them argue an insufficiencie of the holie scriptures which allso you confesse your selfe and are not a more plaine or plentifull application of the mysteries comprehended in them Therefore though you can for manners sake otherwhile forbeare odious speeches aginst the dignitie of holie scriptures yet euen that odious conclusion gathered by Gotuisus must needes follow of your doctrine concerning the insufficiencie of scriptures and the necessitie of traditions That your traditions are Gods word and of equall authoritie with the scriptures you promise to shew more largelie in the twelft article together with certaine meanes how to know and discerne the same Sed haec in dicm minitave Parmeno You haue taken a pretie pause of three yeares long since you were interrupted as you 〈◊〉 in the end by a writte de remouendo But the daie will come that shall paie for all Whether anie cause or matter hath beene ministred by you of odious speeches against the dignitie of holie scriptures Mastet Charke declareth by one example out of Hosius which with all the rest that he saith you omit to answer as trifling speech to litle purpose So whatsoeuer by anie colour of reason you can not auoid by your censorious authoritie you maie contemne and passe ouer But his conclusion seemeth worthie the answer which he maketh in these wordes To conclude it is a great iniquitie to adde traditions or your vnwritten verities to the written word of God whereunto no man maie adde because nothing is wanting from which no man maie take because nothing is superfluous But to him that addeth shall the curses written in the booke be added for euer Against this conclusiō you note in the margent great iniquitie to adde one veritie to another or to beleeue two verities together A fine ieste but a grosse begging of the wholl cause For who shal graunt that your vnwritten vereties be truth and not falsehood falselie by you termed verities vnwritten There is no veritie of matters necessarie to be knowne vnto saluation which is not written in the holie scriptures that are hable to make vs wise vnto saluation But good Lord what a sturre you keepe because M. Chatk noteth in the margent Apoc. 22. ask how this place is alledged against you c. As though that which is true of one booke yea of euery booke of the scripture maie not iustlie be verefied of the wholl bodie and boke of the the Bible Because adding to the word of god argueth imperfection in the word of god Your stale obiection of Saint Iohns Gospell written after the Reuelation is alreadie answered For al bookes of scripture that haue beene written since the fiue bookes of Moses are no addition to the word of God but a more cleere explication of the 〈◊〉 first com mitted to writing by inspiration of God Neither do they teach an other waie of saluation then Moses did but set forth the same more plainlie by demonstration by examples of Gods iustice and his mercie by threatenings by exhortations by explication of his promises by shewing the accomplishment and the manner of perfourmance of them in Christ and his Church And this they do moste absolutelie sufficiently and plentifully to the saluation of Gods people These things saith S. Iohn are written that you should beleeue that Iesus is Christ the sonne of God and that beleeuing you maie haue euerlasting life in his name Here you maie as well cauill that not onelie the Gospell of Saint Iohn or the miracles written in the same is necessarie to be beleeued vnto saluation but all the rest of the scripture also foolishlie opposing thinges that are no waie repugnant but the one including the other For the beleeuing of Saint Iohns Gospell doth not exclude but include all other bookes and partes of holie scripture which teach the same meane of saluation or any thing thereto pertaining But how holdeth this argument saie you no man maie adde to the booke of Apocalips ergo no man maie beleeue a tradition of Christ or his Apostles Maie we not as well saie ergo we maie not beleeue the actes of the Apostles No sir for we make our argument in this man ner No man maie adde to the booke of the Apocalips much lesse may anie man adde to the wholl Bible of the olde and new testament And consequentlie there are no traditions of Christ and his Apostles to be credited as needefull to saluation which are not contained in the holy scriptures Thus we alledge scriptures and thus we argue vppon them not as it pleaseth you to deseant vpon our allegations and to dissigure our arguments But it is lamentable you saie to see the 〈◊〉 dealings of these men in matters of such importance It is verie true vnderstanding you and your complices to be the men that vse such fleightes in 〈◊〉 waightie causes As for our doctrine is plaine without any seame that the scriptures are sufficient to saluation therfore al tradition besides them are 〈◊〉 to that purpose But let vs see who 〈◊〉 sleightes by your iudgement First you aske Master Charke what he 〈◊〉 by adding Who doth adde Or in what sense as though his meaning and sense of adding were not manifest as also his accusation that the I suites the Papistes do adde to the word of God their traditions a necessarie to saluation yet not expressed or contained in the word of God But if God saie you left anie doctrine by tradition vnto the Church and our ancetours haue deliuered the same vuto vs especiallie those of the 〈◊〉 Church what shall we do in this case Shall we refuse it It seemeth dangerous and I see no reason The question is not whether we should refuse anie thing that God hath left but whether God hath left anie such tradition to be beleeued vnto salua tion which is not contained in the holie scriptures But if our ancetours of the primitiue Church haue deliuered anie such tradition vnwritten as left by Christ what shall we doe you
in stead of which word properlie you craftelie conueigh in the worde truelie so your wholl syllogisme is a paralogisme and may lawfully be denied Notwithstanding your conclusion as it is we do graunt that the Apostles do rightlie and truely remit sinnes by their ministery in the holie ghost but as it should be inferred vpon your premises we denie it which cannot be gathered but vpon a false Maior Whatsoeuer the holie ghost may doe properlie in remitting sinnes the Apostles may do by ministerie as properlie As for the comfort of mans life taken away by denying sinnes to be properlie forgiuen by Priestes is a fond cauill and meere slaunder For we acknowledge it a singular comfort of mans life that God hath appointed men by their ministerie to assure vs of his fauour and reconciliation in the remission of oursins And we beleeue with Saint Augustine that sinnes are forgiuen in Gods Church vpon earth acknowledgeing the bountefullnes of God in so mightie a worke anathematizing and detesting the Nouatians and all other heretikes that obstinatelie and willfullie mainteine the contrarie The power to remit sinnes is further prooued to be giuen to the Apostles by these wordes of Christ Whose sinnes you do forgiue c. by the Doctors exposition of the same and by conference of other wordes of scripture of the like sense THE FOVRTH CHAP. ALLEN HOw the priestes of Christes Church haue defended this right and calling for remission of sinnes as wel by the commission that Christ first receiued of his father and afterward bestowed vpon them as by the assured receiuing of the spi rit of god from Christes blessed breath to the same and purpose I haue hitherto declared at large Now the third part of the place before alledged out of S. Iohns gospel concerneth the words of Christes promis and warrant made vnto his Apostles out of which wordes distinctly vttered we must see what force may be further added vnto our Catholike assertion for the pristes autho rity to remit and retaine sinnes And surely if none of the former wordes of commission nor any other mean or mention had beene made of the holy ghostes assistaunce herein these onlie woordes vpon the credit that faithful men owe to Christ had bin sufficient to haue assured the world of the authoritie of priesthood of the wholl cause that now is called in controuersie For what can be said either of god or man more properlie or more playnlie then this whose sinnes you shal forgiue they be forgiuen whose sinnes you shal retaine they be retained I must needes heree complaine of these vnfaithful and vnhappie times that in the continuall lothsome bragges of the scripture and Gods word in perpetuall tossing and tumbling of the booke of the Bible in endlesse contention and disputation of most high mysteries in them contained haue wholie conuerted the cleerest and onely vndoubted meaning of such places specially as moste touch the verie life and saluation of all mankinde and which be of all other thinges in termes of scripture most open and euident sull foolishlie and vnlearnedlie haue both the simple sort handled Gods word as in such grosse ignorance of al thinges they needes must and their new procured Masters also in not much more knowledge and farre passing pride can not otherwise do but whilest they plaie them selues in things of smaler importance they are to be laughed at rather then lamented but if the deuil driue them farther as he lightlie doth wherere he se quietlie possesseth and cause them to dallie and delude the places of scripture that principally concerne the state and saluation of vs al then we must with al force resist lest we leese the fruite and good of our Christianitie What can be of higher importance in the world or touch our soules and saluation so neere as the holie sacraments of Christ Church by which grace and mercy through gods appointment be procured yet these blessed fountains especiallie euen these waters springing euerlastingly to our life and comfort haue these men most infected FVLKE You fare as though we denied all power of remitting or retaining of sinnes whereas we do moste gladlie imbrace all such power as Christ hath giuen vs which we must so take as it be not dishonourable to the godhead that man should exercise that which is proper to God him-selfe The power therefore we graunt but what manner of power this is we must inquire whether an absolute power for priests at their pleasure as you speake afterward in this Chapter to forgiue sinnes properlie or a power to declare the same to be forgiuen according to the pleasure of God to them that repent and beleeue the Gospell and also whether this power is to be exercised by preaching the Ghospel or by auricular confession You spend manie words therefore in vaine to prooue the power and authoritie whereof we stand in no controuersie with you but what manner of power this is and by what meanes it is to be exercised As for the lothsome bragges of the scripture and Gods word in perpetuall tossing and tumbling of the bookes of the Bible doe argue that you complaine of sauoreth not of the spirit of Christ which willeth the scriptures to be searched as those which beare witnes of him To glory in the truth of Gods word contained in his holie scriptures is no vaine bragging but such as Christians ought moste of all to delight in The rest of your railing I passe ouer as vnworthie anie answere when whatsoeuer you prate in generall shal be founde false in speciall when you come to prooue the particulers ALLEN In the institution of Sacraments Christs wordes were euer plaine without colour or figure as wordes that worke with singular efficacie grace and vertue and therewith giue to the ministers iust authoritie for the execution of Christes meaning which could not be done in figuratiue speaches and parables without infinit error Did God speake parables when he instituted the solemnitie of so manie sacrifices in the olde lawe when he signified vnto Moses and Aaron euerie seuerall sorte of beast or creature with their sexe kind all the ceremonie thereunto belonging Did he speake parables when the sacrament of the lambe was to be instituted Did he speake by figure to Abraham when he commaunded him to circumcise the male of euerie of his people Did he speake by figure when he instituted the Sabbath Did he to be breefe euer in the olde lawe speake one thing and meane another when anie externall worke by the charge of his worde was to be practized for euer amongest the people In common speach in prophecying in preaching in similitudes in examples vttered for the declaration of manie thinges and for grace and varietie of talke to stirre vp mans industrie in searching the secretes of the trueth there figures of all sortes be vsed but where by externall wordes and actions force of inward grace must be procured or perpetuall vsages in the Church are
in outward signes and elements to be instituted or commission of great matters graunted or charge of singular waight giuen to seruants in absense of their Masters in all such cases plaine speaking by Gods prouidence was euer vsed and by all reason must be vsed or ells man falling into error in the execution of his commission is sufficientlie to be excused because he could not attaine to the meaning of his Masters wordes And yet the wicked of these daies haue found such light in scripture that they haue made our Master Christ to speake one thing and meane the contrarie in the very instiution of Sacraments and haue found figures to delude deseat the world of the necessarie fruit of them al. FVLKE Since you were a Papist you neuer vttered a more fase proposition that in the institution of Sacraments Christs wordes were euer plaine and without colour or figure nor yet a more foolish and vnlearnd assertion For you oppose figure to plainenes and colorablenes As for your Metaphor of colour I will not meddle with it but if you meane thereby as it is commonlie taken for dissimulation I protest that Christ in no speach euer vsed anie As for plainenes he sought when he vsed figures or rhetorical colours Therefore as I graunt that in institution of Sacraments Christs wordes were euer plaine so Ivtterlie denie that in institution of sacraments Christes wordes were neuer figuratiue and I holde him for a verie either ignorant or impudent person that dare affirme the contrarie That the wordes of Christ could not worke with singular efficacie grace and vertue and therewith giue to the ministers iust authoritie for the execution of Christs meaning being vttered in figuratiue speaches parables without infinite error is a brutish affirmation as afterward I wil shewe by manie particular examples In the meane time that which commeth neare to this cause what boie that learneth Moselanes figures will denie that these speaches of binding of loosing of the keies of the kingdome of heauen of Peter being a rocke or stone on which the Church is builded are figuratiue speaches and parables meaning not proper binding loosing keies Rocke or building but parables or thinges like vnto those But against this you obiect with interrogation did God speake parables when he instituted the solemnitie of so manie sacrifices c Yea verilie then did he moste of all speake parables For then he signified that reconciliation was onelie by Christs death whereof all these sacrifices were parables similitudes and figures as the Apostle declareth Heb. 9. verse 9. in plaine wordes And yet it followeth not that euerie word was figuratiue or parabolicall which he vsed in the institution of euerie sacrifice and therefore the seuerall sorte of the beast or creature with the sexe and kinde and other partes of the ceremonie thereto belonging might be in proper tearmes without iustifying of that monstrous paradox that no figuratiue speaches were vsed in the institution of sacraments or that in the institution of sacraments Christs wordes were euer without figure But you vrge vs farther asking whether he did speake parables when the sacrament of the Lambe was to be instituted I hope you plaie not the lad to trifle about the distinction of parables and figures but you meane that he vsed no figuratiue speaches as your first proposition was I answer you he did and that doe I plainelie prooue when he said the Lambe so taken prepared and eaten with haste is the Lordes passeouer where indeede it was a sacrament and signe thereof and not the Lordes passeouer in proper speach Moses also reporting the Lords institution biddeth the people to slaie the passeouer and the people are willed to teach their yonge children ignorant of the end and vse thereof that it is the Lordes passeouer and so diuerse times both in the 12. and 13. Chapters it is repeated that the lambe so slaine is the passeouer of the Lord. Therefore it is plaine that God did vse figuratiue speach in the institution of the Sacrament of the Lambe euen when he did teach the people the vse and end thereof not to obscure the mysterie but by similitude of passing ouer their houses where the posts were sprinckled with the blood more plainelie to expresse and set forth the same You aske the third time whether God did speake by figure to Abraham when he commaunded him to circumcise the male of euerie one of his people Gen. 17 I answere you yea he did speake by figure For when he begane to speake of that matter ver 10. He said this is my couenant betweene me and you and betweene thy seed after the which ye shal keepe that euerie male among you be circumcised Which that you should not doubt to be a figure in the next verse following he expoundeth it saying that circumcision shal be a signe of the couenant that is betweene me and you And verse 13. he saith so shall my couenant be in your flesh for a perpetuall couenant And in the 14. verse the soule of the vncircumcised male shal be rooted out from his people because saith he he hath transgressed or made void my couenant The like demaund you make of the institution of the Sabbaoth which I knowe not whether you number among the sacraments or no. In Gen. 2. where it is said that God rested from all his worke which he had made there is a figure because he ceased onelie from creation but not from gouernment and preseruation of those thinges which he hath made And in the 35. of Exod. whereunto you send vs if you take the wordes of the law without anie figure whosoeuer shall do anie worke on the Sabboth day shal die the death you condemne a great manie whome our sauionr Christ doth excuse not onelie from punishment of death but euen from breach of the cōmaundement Luke 13. 14. Mat. 12. To your last question I answere that he neuer dissembled in the olde lawe or the new but if you vnderstand by speaking on thing and meaning an other figuratiue speaches I saie he often vsed them when anie externall worke was to be practized for euer by charge of his worde among the people as is moste euident in the sacramentes of circumcision and the passeouer therefore your distinction is falsc friuolous for God hath vsed figuratiue speaches often times in the institution of the sacraments not to deceiue the people that they should take one thing for an other but the better to expresse the vertue and effect of them according to the capacitie of the people As in calling the Lambe the pascal they were more liuely put in minde both of the temporall benifit and passing ouer and also of their spirituall deliuerance When circumcision is called the couenant whereof it was a signe the people were admonished what was the spirituall meaning thereof namelie that they should cut of the olde man with all concupiscences of the flesh which God requireth of all them that
For at this daie the Bishops that be throughout all Christendome how rose they to that roome The Church calleth them fathers and yet shee did beget them and she placed them in that roome of their fathers Non ergo reputes desertam quia non vides Petrum quòd non vides Paulum quòd non vides illos per quos nataes de prole tua tibi creuit paternitas pra patribus tuis natisunt tibi filij constitues eos principes super omnem terram Do not therefore think thy selfe desolate because thou hast not Paull because thou hast them not now present by whome thou wast borne of thy owne issue fatherhood is growne to thee and for thy fathers thou hast brought forth sonnes them shalt thou make the rulers ouer al the earth Thus much out of Saint Augustine By whome you maie perceaue the great prouidence of God that euerlastinglie vpholdeth the ordinance of his sonne Christ Iesus as well now by the children borne from time to time in the Churches lap as before in the spring of our faith by the Apostles sent and appointed in person by Christ him-selfe FVLKE I suppose the title of your booke will admonish you not to restraine this office onelie to Bishops which so often you haue made common to all priestes For Gregory also in the same homyly nameth often times all pastours of the Church to whome the power of binding and loosing doth appertaine which are many other beside Bishops Moreouer inueighing against the ignorance and vnworthines of them that occupied such places which take vpon them to loose where God doth binde and binde where God doth loose he concludeth that then the absolution of the gouernours of the Chuch is true when it followeth the will of the eternall Iudge By which saying and more to the like effect in that place he declareth his iudgement of the kinde of power or authoritie which the Church hath that it is not absolute but subiect vuto the will of God and is an expressing of Gods forgiuenes or retaining not a proper forgiuing or retaining The saying of Saint Augustine prooueth in deede a continuance of the ministery of the Apostles in the office of Bishops but hereof it followeth not that onelie Bishops as they are distinct from priestes haue this power for not onelie Bishops be the children of the Church but all faithfull men to whome the inheritance of the world is like wise appointed ALLEN And here you must know that not onelie Bishops who succeede the Apostles in all kinde of power and regiment but also all other inferiour Priestes to be compted with them as successors in ministring diuerse sacraments as baptisme penance the reuerend Sacrament of the Aultar and such like but looke what power either Apostle or Bishop hath in remission of sinnes in consecrating Christes bodie in baptizing the same hath the wholl order of holie Priesthood by the right of their order and maie practize the same vpon such as be subiect vnto them in all causes not exempted for reasonable causes by such as haue further iurisdiction ouer the people Wherof I will not now talke particularlie the learned of that order know the limits of their charge and commission better then I can instruct them and the simpler sort must seeke for knowledge of their duetie by the holie Canons of Councels and decrees of Bishops made for that purpose I can not now stand thereon meaning at this present onelie to defend the holie order and challenge for it such right as the scripture and Chistes owne word giueth which in this contempt of vertue and religion is moste necessarie for all men to consider FVLKE There is no power or authoritie graunted by our sauiour Christ to preach the word of God or to minister anie sacrament but the same is common to euerie one of the Pastoures of the Church and not onelie lawfull but also necessarie for them to exercise in their seuerall charges Wherefore that ministering of some sacraments is permitted to them and of other denied them it is beside the word of god Againe the word of god that giueth them general power whose sinnes soeuer whatsoeuer you shal bind or loose is directlie against al exempted cases which sauor of nothing but of Antichristian tyrannie As for the cannons of Counceles and decrees of Bishoppes whether you send the simple to learne the limites of their charge can not restraine that Christ hath enlarged and therefore if your meaning were as your wordes professe to defend the holie order and challenge for it such right as the scripture and Christes owne worde geueth you would enueigh against the pride and ambition of the Pope other prelates that exempt anie cases from the Priests power and authoritie which the holie scripture and the expresse wordsof our sauiour Christ doth in such ample manner graunt vnto them ALLEN Therefore vpon our large discourses for this last point I now deduct the particulars to this summe which maie stand for a certaine marke as well for the good to discerne the trueth as for the aduersaries to shoote at whiles they liue Alpower and euery iurisdiction or right of Christs Church remaineth as amplie and in as full force and strength at this daie and shall till the worlds end so continue as they were by Christ graunted first in the persons of the Apostles or other instituted But the power of remission of sinnes was giuen properlie and in expresse termes to the Apostles Ergo the same remaineth still in Gods Church Whereupon it is so cleare that the Priestes at this day haue as ful power to forgiue sins as the Apostles had And this argument of the continuance of all offices and righte of the Church is the moste plainest and readiest waie not onelie to helpe our cause now taken in hand but vtterlie to improoue all false doctrines and detestable practises of heretikes For they must here be examined diligentlie what common wealth that is what Church that is in which Christ doth prescrue the gouernment giuen to the Apostles where it is that the power not onely os making but also of practizing al sacraments hath continued still what companie of Christian people that is wherein the Apostles Doctors preachers ministers through the perpetuall assistance of Gods spirit be continued for the building vp of Christes bodie which is the number of faithful people What Church that is which bringeth forth from time to time sonnes to occupy the romes of their fathers before them It is not good reader the pelting packe of Protestants It is not I saie and they knowe it is not their petie congregations that hath till this daie continued the succession of Blshoppes by whome the world as Saint Augustine saith is ruled as by the Apostles and first Fathers of Religion Surely our mother the Church hath hene long baren if for her Fathers the Apostles who died so long since she neuer brought forth children til now to occupie their roomes and