the scriptures but I thinke your Honour did leaue this vndone as our saide Maister Gentian Haruet did especially because it was to small and slight a matter for you to trouble your mytered head with all And therefore haue I gladlie taken vppon me this paine and trauell and haue clearely sette forth in this my booke vpoÌ„ what ground and foundation all these thinges are builded So that the necessarie vse of this booke is vnspeakeable as euerie good Catholike shall well perceiue of him self And forsomuch as herein is not written anie thing but it doeth agree aswell yea better with the said booke made by you theÌ„ with Gentians booke I would gladly haue it set forth as an Exposition Glose or CoÌ„mentarie vpon your foresaid prettie booke but considering that I had not anie copie of your said booke in my custodie and fearing also least your Honor might haue bene offended that any man should take vppon him to expounde or comment vpon your writings which are as cleare as hellishe sunne euen as your owne name Sonnius doth signifie so that I haue proceeded with my first determination thinking it sufficient for me if I might hide this my trauell vnder the winges of your Honor like as vnder the same all our newe Bishops haue beene hatched Most humblie beseeching your Honor to accept this my simple gifte in good parte and as becommeth such a worthie Bishop to do trusting yet within short time to set foorth more such woorkes and thereby so preciselie to expounde all the bookes that are set out by your Honour and other doctoures of Louen your companions that a blinde man may feele them with his handes yea and without spectacles or candle conceiue what greate holines lies hid in such coafers You may if it please you in the meane space accept this my woorke as an explanation and commentarie vpon your booke which to doe resteth at your pleasure and good will. And herein I commende your Byshopps Myter and crosyers staffe vnto the tuition of our holie Father the Pope who preserue and keepe your Honour with all your brethren our new Byshoppes in prosperous estate and proceedinges against all Heretikes Datum in our Musaeo the v. of Ianuarie being the euen of the three Kings of Collen at which time all good Catholikes make merie and crie The King drinkes in anno 1569. Your Honours welwilling seruant in all that lies in my simple power Isaac Rabbotenu of Louen The argumeÌ„t of this booke Wherein the Epistle or Letter missiue of Maister Gentian Heruet is deuided into sixe partes and the meaning of the same brieslie declared THis deepe grounded and most learned Epistle of the right worshipfull Doctour Maister Gentian Heruet directed to those that are declined fallen from the holie Romishe Catholike Church is deuided into sixe speciall and principall partes whereof the first is 1 That the Heretikes and Huguenotes cannot repute them selues for faithfull people so farre forth as they do not beleeue all things which our louing mother the holie Church beleeueth without whom no saluation can be obteined especiallie for that they will not beleeue the Transubstantiation of the breade into the verie bodie of Christ. 2 The second is knitte to the first namelie They mainteine iniuriouslie that wee ought to allowe nothing but what is mainteined by Scripture 3 Thirdlie They doe not beleeue nor allowe of seuen Sacramentes especiallie â–ª Auricular confession the sacrament of Matrimonie and the holie ointment of Vnction 4 Fourthlie They doe the Catholikes great iniurie insomuch as they repute them for idolaters and worshippers of idols 5 Fifthlie They seeke nothing else but fleshlie libertie and their owne appetites 6 Sixthlie lastlie Their Preachers are vnlearned Doultes and leade a lewde loathsome and wicked life In these sixe pointes is brieflie rehearsed the whole grounde and foundation of the holie Catholike doctrine taught by the Romishe Church â–ª and is so gallantlie established yea and all the Heretikes so finelie fetche ouer the coales that there remaineth not a iotte to be spoken of anie further Yet seeing the ground and meaning of this Epistles Authour did stretch chieflie to challenge the Heretikes foorth into the fielde and then Championlike to combate with them like as hee sheweth that not long since the noble Knight Maister Nicholas Villegaignon who by his writing thought to egge foorth Maister Iohn Caluine and by that meane to haue wonne a perpetuall fame and euerlasting memorie It is euen in like sorte fallen out with this good fellowe as it did with the saide Villegaignon For his happe was the better to fitte his purpose to set downe as hee before mencioned manie doubtfull partes verie darke and obscure reasons yea and some somewhat grose supposing herewithall as with a baight to drawe the fishe into his net Whereby alas it came to passe that his good and godlie meaning was spelde and construed a wrong waie and the Heretikes did seeme to make a mocke of it as though he were vnworthie to haue an answere to the same considering that hee did shewe verie litle scripture or authoritie to affirme his matter Euen in like manner as they had in times past iested with the foresaid Villegaignon Therefore it hath seemed both good and necessarie vnto vs and for the preferrement of the holie Romishe Church most auaylable that this present Epistle shoulde be at large declared and verie strong and apte authorities to be brought in for euerie part and parcell of the same collected aswell out of the Scripture as out of the besâ— and fittest bookes of the auncient Fathers Councels and Decrees wherewithall our louing mother the holie Churche is most supported to the ende wee should the better conceiue the costlie hidden treasures which are comprehended in this short Epistle and that eache might vse the same to his most aduantage and for a publike instruction hoping thorough this holie and meritorious worke to purchase heauen and withall to redeeme and set free two or three soules out of Purgatorie ¶ Here followeth the declaration of the first parte of the Epistle of Gentian Haruet wherein is treated what the holy Church of Rome is wherein her power and authoritie doeth consist and how farrâ— the same extendeth then is coÌ„cluded That the Lutherans Huguenotes can not be esteemed or taken for true beleeuers but must be banished and burnt for Heretikes The first Chapter VVherein is plainly declared that the Lutheraâ—â— and Huguenotes are Heretikes and ought to be burnt notvvithstanding that as vvell by Scripture as by many examples they shevve themselues to be the very Church of God. AND to the intent that wee maye orderly deale beginning first with one piece and after proceeding with an other our Maister Gentianus doeth here in his 〈◊〉 charge set forth such a noble grounded and sharpe wittie reason to founde and builde his argumentes vpon that the Heretikes and Huguenotes stand alreadie so amazed and ashamed as a horse that hath ouerthrowen his carre
that thine authoritie is great ouer thine owne subiectes yet we can not well beare with thy loftines and vnmeasurable pride neither allowe thy vnsatiable couetousnesse Therefore the deuill be with thee for God is with vs. NotwithstaÌ„ding that some of their Embassadours did in the Councell of Ferrara in the tyme of Pope Eugenius 4. agree therevnto but without consent or commission of their Church which did afterwards call backe and adnihilate the same But long before that time not onely the coÌ„mon people of the Greekes but the Emperours them selues likewise were aduersaries to the Pope of Rome about the setting vp and praying to Images For about the yere of our Lord 730. the Emperors Constantine 5. and 6. and Leo Isaurus did with full aduise and consent of the Councell as well out of the Scripture as of the ancient Fathers conclude That men should in no wise for the seruice of God neither set vp nor pray to anie Images but did likewise vtterly break down destroy al Images before made and set vp For which cause the Popes of Rome did conceiue such malice and hatred against them that from thence forth they sought al maner of meanes and wayes to diuide and ouerthrowe the Emperial state like as in continuance of time they brought it so to passe And likewise not only the Greekes but the Germanes also did long time withstand the forbidding of Priestes to marrie till at length the Popes and that specially Bonifacius 8. did by maine force bring it to passe and establishe the same In the yere 840. one Berthrame a stout and a learned man rose vp who did manfully withstande the Romishe doctrine as touching their Transubstantiation dedicating to Charles the French King brother of Lothorius a notorious booke made for that purpose and did likewise in an other booke confirmed by the Scriptures and strongly defended by the holy Fathers set forth the doctrine of Predestination which these Heretikes do nowe so earnestly stand vpon And about the yere 869. did Iohannes Scotus followe him writing against Transubstantiation euen as Beringarius about the yere 839. had done the like And in the yere of our Lord 964. Huldrike Bishop of Auxburge by his writing reuoked again the saide commaundement of forbidding Priestes to marrie After whom about the yere 1240. Bernard started vp who wrote very much of Predestination and against Freewill nothing vnlike the doctrine of the Lutheranes and Huguenotes yea and did very stoutly striue against the Priestes and Prelates calling them The seruantes of Antichrist and making of the Prelates Pilates Whom in the yere 1157. Iohannes of Sarisburie did folowe and wrote a booke called Obiurgium Clericorum and another named Polycraticus wherein hee doeth pull the whole Clergie vengeably ouer the coles and setteth them out for Phariseis and false teachers calling the Pope Antichrist and Rome The hoore of Babylon And likewise a litle before that had Arnolde the Bishop of Brixen set vp earnestly against the Priestes denying flatly that the sworde of gouernement should anie whit apperteyne vnto them yea euen at the same time was there one Peter Bloix which wrote openly thus That Rome was the right BabyloÌ„ wherof S. Iohn did prophesie and that the Officialles of the Romish Court were deuilish Griphines and the Priestes verie Calues of Bethel Baals Priests Aegyptiacal idols and that euery thing was to be solde at Rome for money About the same time in the yere 1160. started vp in France a quicke fellowe and a worshipfull Burgesse of the Towne of Lyons named Petrus Valdo who hauing studied the Scriptures very diligently began to set vp a newe doctrine which did hit as iust vpon the doctrine of these Huguenotes as might be He left manye Disciples after him in so much that a remnant is remayning yet to this day After that came Petrus de Vinea Chauncelour to the Emperour Frederike 2. and was in the yere 1240. who went about likewise to robbe our holy father the Pope of his intituled authoritie and iurisdiction rayâ—ing vpon him out of measure And after came Guilielmus de sancto Amore in the yeere 1260. who layde loade exceedingly vpon the Prelates Monkes and Friers and did reckon them for subiectes of Antichrist Whose opinions were after in the yeere 1275. by one Laurence an Englishe Doctor at Paris stoutly defended and coÌ„firmed Againe in the yere 1306. came abroad one Petrus Cassiodorus a Gentleman and very well learned who did altogether spil the potage For his writing and doctrine was euen as though he had studied all the dayes of his life in the bookes of Luther and Caluin and he made of the Pope a Nabuchodonosor After that in the yere 1314. did followe one Dulsimus of Nauarra And in the yeere 1315. Arnoldus de villa Noua who caried water all ouer one bridge And at last in the yere 1383. came forth the great Archeheretike Iohn Wiclef who threw all the spindles of the holy Church of Rome in the ashes for he was a naturall Zwinglian or Caluinist and of him sproong vp Iohn Hus in the yeere 1405. which was the father of all Lutheranes Hee it was which came with Hieronymus of Prage to the CouÌ„cell of Constance there to defende his doctrine by scripture but there he was taught a newe lesson for in place of disputation they were both burnt at a stake And yet that notwithstanding their doctrine euer since that time hath bene accepted in many places and by many stout fellowes confirmed Like as there was one Nicholaus Clemangis a Doctor of Paris and Bishop of Bayone in France Oldecastell Lorde Cobham and Knight of the order of the Garter and within a litle while after one William Wight in Englande and Paule Crawe with many other in the countrie of Rome Hieronymus Sauanerola in Italie and a number of other more all which yet were by the Church of Rome banished and condemned for heretikes yea where they could be gotten put to death In summe all such as at any time haue taken vpon them to set forth any like matter against the Church of Rome haue alway bene of the most holy Popes banished and accursed together with all them which would by any meanes mainteyne or defend them In so much that Emperours and Kings yea whole countries haue for withstanding the Pope bene excommunicated and condemned for heretikes yea which is of greater importance one Okam and Dante good Catholike men were by Pope Benedict 3. condemned for Heretikes only because they did mainteine That Emperours holde their Empires of God and not of the Pope and yet notwithstanding that in all other matters they did throughly professe the Popes doctrine I say nothing what is meete to be done to these new Heretikes who go about to roote out and destroy the whole foundation of the
right honourable Bishoppe Guilielmus Blindasinus in his booke called Panoplia wherein he concludeth with strong inuincible reasons That mē were not bound to beleeue the word of God nor to be subiect vnto it if it were not that the holy Church hath so commanded For what do we thinke that the word of God is so strōg of it selfe as to publishe such thinges thorough the power of the holy Ghost if the Church of Rome did not first giue her verdicte in the matter No marie I warant you for so the Heretikes do vnderstand it For these Heretikes will bring the church of God in subiection vnder the scripture therefore do they alledge out of Ieremie That the word of God is like a fire like a hāmer which breaketh stones in pieces that it is liuely mightie sharper than a two edged sword goeth through euen to the soule to the sinewes and ioyntes is a searcher of the thoughtes intentes of the heart and therefore saye they it hath no neede of any mans witnes as Christ him self hath said but that those which do the will of the father shal lightly know by inspiration of the holy Ghost whether the doctrine be of god They say likewise It doth giue light to al things for it is a lampe to lighten the feete of the beleeuers whereby they must walke through the darknesse of this world they say that mans wisdom vnderstanding how great howe wise howe holy soeuer the same can be is plain darkenesse in comparison thereof Well then if it be so that the darkenesse can not lighten the light but that the light it selfe must lighten all things then in very deede can not the worde of God receiue anie light of the opinion or authoritie of man but it selfe must be the light whereby men may knowe which is the Church of God and which is the Synagogue of dissemblers And therefore they conclude according to the worde of the Prophet Esaie That men must followe after the Lawe and the witnesse which is the writtē word of God and that whosoeuer doth not walke after that shall neuer see the daye spring But as I haue alredy said all that is plain heresie for our dearely beloued mother the holy Church of Rome will be chiefe Iudge her selfe ouer the holye Scripture So that the doctrine of the Prophetes Apostles is now no more the foūdation of the Church as it was in the time of Paul but contrariwise the Church with the authoritie the traditions of the same is the onely foundation of the Scripture For euen so might the Iewes before time aduance themselues likewise by the estimation authoritie of the Church alledging that the law and the witnes whereof the Prophet speakes could haue bene of no estimation but by reason the same was consented to thē by the Church and that men should neuer haue knowen neither the Lawe or the witnesse or Gods worde if it had not bene by them and their forefathers set forth declared what they should accept for Gods worde and that the Church with her light hadde lightened the Lawe and the witnesse And so the Church of Rome doeth nowe also saye That the worde of God hath no estimation but that which it hath borrowed of the Church for otherwise as shee sayeth and as all good Catholike writers do declare howe should we knowe that the scripture were the word of God if it were not that the holy Church had so allowed and iudged it Wherefore should we more beleeue the Gospel of Mathewe or Marke than the Gospell of Nichodemus or Thomas For there standes plainly written in the Decrees That neither the old nor the newe Testament were receiued of mē for this cause or that cause nor for that it must be esteemed for an vndoubted rule and perfect knot but only because that the holye Father Innocentius Pope of Rome had so iudged it and so would haue it Therefore yee maye well thinke that God could not plant and establishe his holy worde in mens heartes by the inspiration of his spirit as S. Iohn the Apostle would proue if it were not that the holy Church had therein holpen him So that in this case God is greatly beholden vnto our deare mother the holy Church for her good wil faithfull seruice For if shee had accepted the Fables of Aesope and of Howleglasse the gospel of the Distaffe and of Fortunatus purse the gospel of Nichodemus or the Alcaron of Mahomet or els the gospel which certein Monkes at Paris in the yere of our Lord 1220. had made set forth being ful of al filthinesse and blasphemie naming it Euangelium aeternum that is to say An euerlasting gospel requiring the Pope that it might be by him canonized and so set it forth for the eternall word of God but it ws denied thē as hap was but if it had bene so I say that the pope and the holy Church would as wel haue allowed it as they did the holy scripture with the Masse booke with the seuē Psalmes with the Rosarium beatae Mariae who could haue said No to them And that should then haue bene the worde of God yea and therewith must God haue beene content Wel go too then seeing that men did herein credit the writing and seale of the church wherfore should they not thē giue as great credit to them in al other matters For euen so doth the text of the foresaid decrees argue saying with plaine wordes In so much as men do receiue and accept the old and newe Testamentes because that Pope Innocentius hath ordeined iudged so it doth necessarily folow that the Decretalles of the Popes of Rome must likewise be receiued accepted the rather for that Pope Leo hath likewise ordeined That whosoeuer doth set him self against them his sinnes shal neuer be forgiuen him c. It is very true that by this argumēt it must likewise folow that all the Iewes Caballes Talmood and all their dreames must as wel be receiued as the fiue bookes of Moses the bookes of the Prophets For it is most true that as we haue receiued the new Testamēt of the christē church so hath the christen church receiued the bookes of the old Testamēt of the Iewes Synagogue And now euen as our Romish church hath receiued the writing of the Apostles iudged the same for true so likewise hath the Iewish church iudged the bokes of Moses of the prophets for true receiued thē for authētike Nowe then as men do herein beleeue and allowe the Iewes writings and seale so must wee also following the rule of our Doctours of Louen beleeue the said Iewes in all that they say and teache and thereby nowe shoulde our Romishe Church come short home But we do not esteeme such cōsequencies It is but Philosophie and the Popes of Rome are no
Church of Rome should bee throwne downe and troden vnder feet yea it must needes follow that the holie Pope is accursed a verie Bawde which hath made of the holy Catholike Church of Rome a fowle shamelesse whore Fie fie nay we will none of that Let Augustine much rather be an Heretike and all those that are of his opinion as master Athanasius Origine Hilarius Irinaeus Tertullianus Cyprianus Chrysostomus and Hieronymus let them rather be burnt euen al vpon a heape Although it be easie to iudge that if they were liuing nowe in these dayes they would be lothe to permitte any such grosse stuffe either to be vttred with their toÌ„gues or published by their pennes or if they did they must trudge with other into the fire Yea and Ambrose must recant and call backe againe or eate vp with salt that which he hath openly written That al doctrine whatsoeuer which hath not bene set forth and taught by the Apostles themselues is â–ª full of abhomination and knauerie Therefore all helpes not that they come forth with their writings thinking thereby to outface our deare mother the holy Churche of Rome It is a verie yong woolfe that neuer heard any noyse shee doeth no more esteeme these bragges than if it had thundred at Colen for she will be still on cockehorse let them tosse and turne it the best they can The .iii. Chapter VVherein is set foorth that the Church of Rome hath likevvise povver and authoritie ouer the auncient fathers and may receiue condemne interpret vse them as shall please her holines ANd now hereby doeth specially appeare that the holy Church of Rome hath not power and authoritie onely ouer the scripture of the olde and new Testaments but also ouer all the writing and doctrine of the olde fathers as there are Irinaeus Tertullianus Basilius Gregorius Nazian Origin Cyprian Albin Euseb. Arnobi Ambro. Lactant. Cyril Epiphanius Theodoretus VigilaÌ„tius Appollinarius Hieronymus Chrysostomus Augustinus Cedullius Possidonius Prosper Sidonius Gelasius Gregorius Alâ—uinus Haymo Bartramus and other mo suche like For one she acceptes as good Catholike an other shee reiectes as naught an Heretike some she allowes with additions of certaine gloses and Postils other she referres to euery mans iudgement Vpon some she hath fathered as their owne certain straunge bookes made at the least foure or fiue hundreth yeeres after they were dead And others shee hath cleane plucked and robbed of their feathers In summe she doth tosse them and turne them euen as shee will and windes them vp as short as a clewe of yarne And wherefore should she not I pray you For she might haue condemned them all for Heretikes if she would and in place of them haue taken in and receyued the writing and doctrine of Nicholaus of Bion of Apelles Seuerus Montanus Sabellius Paulus Samosatenus Manes Meletius Aâ—ius Marcellus Macedonius Euonius Eutiches Nestorius Donatus Pelagius and suche other mates But now she hath giuen them that honour that they are taken and counted for Catholik teachers these last she hath coÌ„demned banished for diuelish heretikes false teachers Not because that the one had truly set forth the sincere word of god And the other directly the contrarie for so she should againe submit herself vnder the scripture but because it hath so pleased her And therefore it is no reason that those to whom she hath geuen such honour should now go about to ouercrow her holines and force her with their writings as though she ought to be subiect therevnto No no they must stoope themselues howe learned or godly soeuer they haue beene and the holy Church must alway haue the authoritie and superioritie For it is written in the decrees All whatsoeuer any other teachers haue taught and written that is to bee receiued or reiected according as it shall please and be thought good to the Apostolical seate of Rome For the Pope is master ouer al whatsoeuer any man can teach or write Therefore ye see that the holy Church may choose picke out of the olde fathers what soeuer she findeth for her purpose and what soeuer she perceiueth against her shee may put out finely with a dash of a penne and so esteeme it for false meant as for example Whensoeuer the olde fathers doe with florishing reasons and by a figuratiue maner of speaking extoll and set forth the Sacrament out of that will she gather her transubstantiation And whereas they doe nominate the Sacrament an holy offring or sacrifice of that wil she fetch out her Masse with all the appartenances And whensoeuer any thing is set out by them to the laâ—d and praise of the true seruantes and Preachers of Gods word thereof doth she make a kingdome of priests and a popish Monarchie And when as they do highly praise the holy Saints martyrs deceased therevpoÌ„ commes abrode the praying to saints And in such places as they do earnestly set forth and highly prayse good workes and godly liuing therevpon can she by and by builde vp the pleasant Palace of free will and then she sayles with a faire wind And then are the olde Fathers followed in all points yea there is nothing else talked of here nor there but The olde fathers The olde fathers But now on the contrarie part whereas S. Augustine doth write whole bookes of the Predestination of saints of the special vndeserued mercie of God through Iesus Christ that fayth onely iustifieth of the weakenesse and dulnesse yea of the damnablenesse of mans free will and of the adnihilation of our deseruings all that is nothing else but heresie and going astray Whereas Ambrose and Chrysostome do teache that we shal not take men or dead creatures for our aduocats before God but only christ And where August saith that we shall not pray vnto Saintes nor erect for our â–ª selues particularly anie Chappels or Altars nor pray before Tumbes as the sayde Augustine and Leo doe beare perfect witnesse that neither the dead nor deseruing of Saints can any thing helpe vs to the forgiuenesse of our sinnes but onely the death and merites of Iesus christ And as Epiphanius doeth esteeme it for a shamefull heresie and an abhominable blasphemie of God that men shoulde praye eyther to Marie Gods mother or to anie other Saint but that must be couered with some blewe glose for a cloake As also the sayde Epiphanius doeth vtterlie chace the images as well of Christ as of anie other Saint out of the Church and breakes them in peeces forbidding men plainely to suffer anie such abhominations And as Ambrosius Augustinus Lactantius Origenes Athanasius Clemens Alexandrinus with many other do teache plainly that God will not bee worshipped with any likenesses or images either painted or carued The holy Church is deafe at this wil in no wise vnderstand it Where as Cyprianus Hieronymus Chrysostom and Augustinus doe say and defende that
which serues her turne to fill her hiue with pleasant and sweete honie and what soeuer is not appliable or agreeing to her purpose that she leaues vntouched Therefore the foundation of the holy Church of Rome may very wel be called A Bee hiue hauing the propertie of a tubbe wherein al maner of pleasant things are put The vii Chapter VVherin is declared that the Church of Rome can likevvise helpe her selfe vvith the opinions and doctrine of the olde Heretikes in follovving the same vvhen it serues for her purpose NOwe so farre it is from our deare mother the holy Church to be afraid to spring ouer the pales of the holie Scripture auncient Fathers Councelles and Decrees that often times she will go and solace her self in the pleasant medowes and greene fieldes of the olde heretikes which haue alwayes bin extreeme enemies and directly contrarie to the holy scripture and the Fathers and of them doeth she borrowe very many goodly iewelles too furnishe beautiefie her Gabanet or bee Hiue withall For it is wel knowen and euident that she hath learned of the Heretike Pelagius That we notwithstanding the fall of Adam do still possesse a free will and haue power to Iustifie our selues and to fulfil al the commaundementes of God if we our selues will and That it is not the onelye grace of God whereby we are iustified as Paule doth teache but an helper only after that we of our selues haue prepared our selues therevnto Also That Christ did by his death merit for original sinne onely and that for all other our daily sinnes we our selues must answere and make sufficient amendes Of the Messalians or Euchites likewise of the Pelagians she hath gathered that baptisme alone doth not make vs perfect Christians but is onely necessarie to washe away our originall sin to helpe vs out of our first shipwracke But if we fal againe so run in danger of a second shipwracke theÌ„ we must seke for another plaÌ„ke to helpe vs out of hazard Shee hath likewise sucked out of the breasts of the MessaliaÌ„s to mumble out her Mattines The seuen Psalmes and the Pater noster by â–ª number vpon a paire of beades and with a burning candle pretending thereby to obteine great pardones and to doe vnto God great seruice Also whereas she doeth vse spittle in baptizing after that the diuell is coniured that shee tooke of the Messalians who did teache That men might driue away the diuel with spitting Of the Saturnialles Ebeonites Tatians and Encratites shee hath learned That the state of Mariage is vncleane and spotted and that such as wil please God and be cleane purified must wholy refraine them selues from it Also That there is great holinesse in absteining from eating of fleshe and vsing of certeine other meates although she hath set the things out vnder another colour to the ende men might not knowe froÌ„ whence they come Besides this she hath borrowed of the Montanistes manie newe fasting dayes which she hath commaunded and coÌ„firmed to be obserued vpon paâ—ne of great punishment and beside that on or cemeÌ„ts In the schoole of the Coloredlanes shee hath learned to praye to the holye Virgine Marie and to immolate or offer vp her oblations Of Marcus the sorcerer and Heretike she hath learned to vse in her seruice sacrifices certeine strange wordes in Hebrewe and other languages Of the Anthropomorphites to painte God the Father in the forme of a man with a gray beard Of the Gnostikes and Carpocratians to set vp images of Christ and other Saints and to worship the same with censing and other maner of deuotions vnlesse men will say as Eusebius in the 7. booke of histories in the 18. chap. doth declare that this erecting of images did first spring from the Heathen And last of all she hath learned of Simon the sorcerer father of al Heretikes to giue Bishoprikes Benefices Masse Mattius and Sacraments for money and yet not to sell them For it is but a simple bargaine or contract which the Lawyers call Do vt des I giue that thou mayest giue againe Euen like to Simon who would giue money to receiue the holy ghost So that it is very plaine apparaunt that shee can helpe her selfe well ynough with the doctrines and opinions of Heretikes and sucke out of them what shee thinkes good to carie into her Bee hiue Yea shee doeth in manie things agree with the Alcaron of Mahomet and with the Turkes religion as specially in many pilgrimages in praying vnto dead Saints in the obseruing of fasting dayes in diuers sortes orders of Monkes and particularly in the doctrine of Freewill and iustification by workes Now whether they haue borrowed that of Mahomet or he receiued it from them by reason he had a holy Monke one Sergius for an assistent companion I referre that to the iudgement of the Doctors of Louen Thus much once by the waye that it is easie to be noted that it is all one per dominum and all diet in one fatte and that she is like to a cunning spinner which can make good thred of all sortes of flaxe The viii Chapter Declaring that the Church of Rome hath likevvise borrovved manye things of the levves vvhich shee doeth set forth and holde as articles of the faith NOwe as touching the Iewes shee hath not forgotten to followe them sundrie wayes and that is apparant ynough in that which our master Gentianus hath declared in this worke For hee will mainteine that the Transubstantiation of the bread into the very body of Christ and the changing or turning of the substaÌ„ce of the wine into his verie blood maye bee proued by the testimonies of the Iewishe Rabbines And that is without doubt for one of their Rabbines named Rabbi Moses Hazardan writing vppon the 136. Psalme where the Prophet saith O Lord thou giuest all fleshe their foode saieth thus This texte doth fully and wholy agree with that which is saide in the 34. Psalme Taste and see howe pleasant the Lord is For the bread or meate which he giues to euery man is his fleshe and with the tasting or with the eating it is turned into flesh Out of this hath a good Monke a Catholike writer concluded That this Iewish Rabbin did well vnderstand Transubstantiation which he doth yet againe coÌ„firme by another named Rabbie Cahana who vttereth maruelous woÌ„derful speculations vpoÌ„ that texte of Moses where Iacob did promise to his sonne Iuda an vnspeakable vnmesurable quantitie of wine milke by these wordes He shal binde his foales to the vinetree and his asses to the noble vine branches he shal wash his clothing in wine his mantle in the bloud of grapes his teeth are whiter than milk For out of these woordes of Iacob doeth the foresaid Rabbi conclude That the asse doeth here signifie Messias into whose bodie and bloud the wine shal
which is a God of such power that he causeth all them that will not honour him to be burnt In summe it is apparant that the name of the Masse is fetched out of the Scripture Nowe further whereas the Masse may not be long but vpon a foure cornered stone well foreseene with crosses and coniured with holie wordes all that is likewise fetched out of the scripture For Paule speaking to the Corinthians saieth That they ought not so to glorie in themselues for the sacrament coÌ„sidering that the people of Israel who notwithstanding were pitifully destroied by the hand of God had also euen the like sacrament in the beginning were also baptised and had likewise receiued the spirituall meat to wit Manna and dranke the spiritual drinke which did flow out of the Rocke and saith further there in most plaine wordes And the stone was Christ that is to say after the spirituall interpretation of the holie Church That the Masse must be soung vpon a stone Item Christ is also called A corner stone and which is more his graue was hewen out of a stone as Marke doeth wiâ—nesse Ergo it must needes follow that no Masâ—e may be soung without a stone And because he was wound in white linnen clothes therefore must white linnen be vsed in the Masse And so forth concerning all such Ceremonies as are vsed in the Masse you may touching these read the booke of Durandus or of Innocentius de officio Missae or the booke of Guido de monte Rocherii called Encheiridion Sacerdotum that is to say â–ª the manuel of Priests For there you you shall finde plainly set forth that all the partes of the Masse are finely founded and established vpon the scripture And to begin withall you shall find the times appointed for the Masse that it must be done at three of the clocke because it is written that the Iewes did at three of the clock crie Crucifie him crucifie him or at sixe of the clock for that at sixe of the clocke they did crucifie him or at nine because that then he gaue vp the ghost For although it be so that the Iewes at that time did reckon their houres otherwise than we do now so that three of the clocke was with them as viii or ix of the clock before noone is with vs and their sixe as our xii at noone and their ix as our three at after noone yet notwithstanding our deare mother the holie Church doth not gâ—e so narrowly to worke with her reckonings It is sufficient that simplie the names do agree and then she lettes the rest go where it will. After this now as touching the apparel and other consecrated or hallowed stuffe you shall finde her Albe or long white garment in the Scripture specially where it is written But he that continueth to the end shall bee saued For that long garment doth signifie long lasting or long continuance Concerning the girdle where it is written He that feareth God shall prepare his heart c. By the girdle which doth tucke vp the clothes is ment the feare of god Item the Maniples are fetched out of that saying in the Psalme Those that sowe with tears shall reape with ioy and bring home their sheaues with gladnesse c. For the sheaues are called in the Latine tongue Manipuli so that Dauid did there speake of the Priests maniples And the stole which they haue about their neckes commes out of the saying of Paule Beare in your bodies the dying of our Lord Iesus Christ And last of all the head is founded out of the saying of Peter But aboue all things haue perfite loue among you Let vs liue a perfite life Which is as much to say according to the exposition of the holy church Let vs put on a Cassuffle when wee sing Masse And yet besides all this you shall perceiue that the most part of all that which is read in the Masse is fetched out of the Psalmes and other places of holie Scripture here and there by patches and peeces swept together and trimly tied on a heape as if a man of a great manie peeces of golde as of Ducates Crownes Rosenobles and Portagues glued together with dirt woulde make a goodly doore for a Swinestie yet it is most true that euerie particular peece hath a particular Pope whiche did ioyne it to the rest and so were sewed together insomuche that it is a right beggers cloake as is well knowne to all men and as may easily be proued by the Decrees and Catholike Histories And to be plaine there is not anie thing great or small but they are able to bring in Scripture for it as wee can lightly proue by the foresaid Authours if neede were But wee had rather that those that long for such meate shoulde goe to the Market themselues and buy that they like best and let it bee dressed at the Tauerne or Tippling house according to their owne diâ—t It is ynough for vs that wee haue giuen them to vnderstand who can serue them of such vitaile and then further as the case shall require to proue plainely that the Masse is founded wholie on high euen vpon the flat Scripture The .iiii. Chapter Teaching that the transubstantiation of chaunging of the bread into the verie bodie of Christ and the wine into his bloud is grounded vpon the Scripture after the interpretation of the Church of Rome NOw as touching transubstantiation that is to say the plaine chaunging of the bread into the verie bodie of Christ notwithstanding the same was by the holie father Pope Innocentius 3. first set forth for an article of our beliefe about the yere of our Lord 1198. as by the Decretals is apparant yet haue we plaine proofes therof in the Scripture For first Christ in the sixt Chap. of Iohn saieth thus My flesh is verie meat and my bloud is verie drinke that is to say after the interpretation of our deare mother the holie Church My flesh is truely sensibly and bodily taken and eaten vnder the accident of the bread and my bloud is certeinly receiued and dronken vnder the accident of the wine For although Christ indeede doe otherwise interpret it teaching that this eating and drinking is to be vnderstoode of comming to him and of beleuing in him I am saieth he the liuely bread Whosoeuer coÌ„meth to me shall not hunger and whosoeuer doth beleeue in me shall neuer be athirst Againe It is the spirite that quickeneth the fleshe profiteth nothing The wordes which I speake vnto you are spirite and life Yet all this notwithstanding so long as the holie Church of Rome will haue it to be vnderstoode of her transubstantiation as Syluester Prierias high Steward of the palace of Rome hath specially noted in his golden Rosarie wherein hee hath gathered all the pleasant Roses and floures of the Catholike interpreters together vpon one heape and considering that the
holy Church cannot erre Christ must haue patience transubstantiation must take place But we haue yet a much clearer text to witte where Christ himselfe saieth This is my bodie for by those wordes doeth the holie Church of Rome plainely vnderstand that the same which before was breade is nowe no more breade although Paule woulde call it breade a thousande times but is chaunged into the verie bodie of Iesus Christ as long and as broade as it was hanging vpon the Crosse. And for that cause it is that shee doeth disallowe all the expositions and interpretations which Basilius Tertullianus Theodoretus Augustinus and other holie Fathers haue sette foorth vpon the same saying That those woordes must bee figuratiuely and sacramentally vnderstoode as Christ himselfe hath plainely saide I am the vine or as Paule saieth The stone was Christ and as GOD spake to Abraham saying This is my promise Cut off the fore skinne c. Which is as muche to say that the breade shoulde not chaunge his nature nor the verie bodie of Christ bee there present but onelie that it shoulde bee a true and holie token a Sacrament a warrant and pledge a Seale and assuraunce whereby wee are assured and fullie certified that hee hath giuen vppe his bodie and bloud for our saluation And for this cause doe they call it a figure or token and in the Greeke Typus and Antitypa that is to say Speciall tokens But I doe tell you that the holie Church of Rome will not allowe anie such interpretations vnlesse it were so that men woulde vnderstand them as Damascenus doeth interprete them and as was in the seconde Councell of Nice concluded by the Fathers to witte That the breade shoulde bee such a seale pledge figure and holie token onely before it be consecrated which is to say It should be a Sacrament before it is become a Sacrament For that this is their conceite and meaning it is apparaunt out of this That long before the breade and the wine bee consecrated or made a holie Sacrament they doe offer vppe the same vnto God for remission of sinnes as well of the liuing as of the dead For in the Canon of the Masse yea before the bread bee turned into fleshe or the fiue holy wordes of consecration be heard the Priest doeth pray That God will accept that offering of breade and through that deliuer him from eternall death And then That hee will blesse the saide offering of breade in all pointes and make the same holie profitable meate and acceptable That is may become the bodie and bloud of Iesus Christ. Yea and before hee hath yet put the wine into the Chalice immediately after the Offertorie he saith thus O holie Father almightie and euerlasting God take and receiue this vnspotted sacrifice which thine vnworthie seruaunt doeth offer vppe vnto thee for my sinnes and innumerable misdeedes for my forgetfulnesse and vnthankefulnesse yea and for all these which are here present and for all faithfull Christians as well those that be liuing as those that be dead that it may bee acceptable auailable and effectuall vnto the saluation both of me and of them vnto eternall life Amen And in one of the secretes which is commonly read vpon the 24. Sunday after Trinitie Sunday he saith thus O Lord take and receiue mercifully this offering through which thou art pleased contented and pacified and hast receiued vs againe vnto saluation through the almightinesse and vnspeakablenesse of thy mercie c. Consider now here doeth our deare mother the holie Church ascribe vnto this bread all things which may be attributed vnto our Lorde Iesus Christ the onely begotten sonne of God as to say That God is become mercifull to vs for the bread sake and hath pardoned vs our sinnes and that before the bread bee consecrated or in anie point transubstantiated or changed What maruell is it then that they doe make a God of it after the fiue wordes be spoken ouer it and yet make a Sacrament of it before it can be a Sacrament For as they can of a peece of breade make God himselfe and of nothing create something wherfore should not they likewise be able to make of no Sacrament a Sacrament and of a Sacrament no Sacrament That is to say that a simple peece of bread shoulde bee a holie token and seale of the bloud of Iesus Christ euen before it bee made holie and consecrated And then Econtra that the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ shall bee no more either a Sacrament or token but euen the verie bodie of Christ it selfe So that the holie Fathers must needes haue vnderstoode it so especially when they say that this Sacrament is but a token a seale and a pledge specialy before it is become a Sacrament For after that it is once a Sacrament then no remedie our deare mothers will is that it shall bee fleshe and bloud and not anie longer neither bread nor wine to signifie the fleshe and the bloud And therefore doeth she not make anie account of the exposition of Christ Iesus himselfe who after he had saide of the bread This is my bodie and afterward of the Chalice of Cuppe This is the new Testament in my bloud thereby declaring that those words This is my bodie must be so vnderstoode as if hee had saide This breade is the new promise in my bodie which shall bee broken for you For of that shoulde followe that the breade after the consecration and likewise after the speaking of the fiue wordes should still remaine breade and so bee but simplie a Sacrament and true token of the bodie of Iesus Christ as shewing vnto vs the promise of God made in the breaking of the bodie and shedding of the bloud of Christ Iesus our Sauiour as was saide of the Circumcision This is my couenant which I doe make with you to witte for that the Circumcision is a sure and holie promise a pledge and seale through which the promise of God is verie stronglie and substantiallie made vnto the faithfull No no I assure you that liketh the holie Church of Rome nothing at all She will lay fast holde vpon the first wordes of Christ and not seek after anie exposition or glosse how necessarie soeuer they bee And for that cause shall Paule go without anie Audiuit when he commeth in with his interpretation and saith That the bread which we do breake is the communion of the bodie of Christ. For thereby it should also seeme that it remaineth bread still after the consecration and that it is not the bodie it self but a remembrance of the bodie â–ª which thing the holie Church in no wise admitteth nor alloweth for life nor death But especiallie she will not accept nor like of the interpretation following wherein Paule proceeding doeth declare how and wherefore the bread is the communion of the bodie of Christ saying For al we which eate of one bread become one bodie Nowe truelie that
in the ende his braine did waxe feeble and he starke madde that man in his booke which hee did write vppon this matter saieth That herein chaunced a great miracle to witte that the bread is no more bread but that there doeth remaine onelie the qualities of the bread hanging in the aire without grounde or bottome as if a Cow should hang vpon a cherie tree and that yet likewise there remaines amongst these qualities a perfect substance of bread so that it is still bread and yet notwithstanding it is no bread In summe you shall finde as manie peares as plummes Yea is no and No is yea Chickens eate haie and with them horse turdes and good sweete figges are all one There are manie both hie and lowe speculations amongest our Doctours who yet trauell continuallie like Asses to vndo this knotte and yet can not bring it to passe For the deeper they wade in the matter the more they are wrapped and entangled therein For they perceiue verie well that it will not come to anie good perfection so that the bread should become the verie bodie of Christ for that then it must needes followe That the bread died for vs and that a dead and liuelesse creature should be our God and Sauiour and yet would they verie faine bring the matter to passe so that they would seeme to sticke to the word of God and yet for all that mainteine and vpholde their Transubstantiation also They do well consider that they can not iustifie the wordes vnlesse they do expound them sacramentallie and figuratiuelie as the Heretikes doe who make no great matter of vengeance wittie questions But our Doctours and faithfull Catholikes wil neuer come to that baite they will rather spend both hide and haire than they will recant giue ouer their opinion yea it were also an eternal slaunder for our deare mother the holy church and a meane wherby she shuld susteine to great damage For Transubstantiation is the verie best fisheponde and shambles that belongeth to her kitchen and therefore will shee defende that with tooth and naile and in no wise suffer it to bee plucked out of her handes Wherefore it is no maruell that our Doctours had rather inuent newe miracles one vpon another and make newe and straunge glosses neuer hearde of before yea turne all topsie turuie neither touching the heauen nor the earth and brall and chide one against another like whoores knaues and cutpurses than they would consent and agree to doe such a spitefull displeasure to their entirelie beloued mother the holy Church of Rome as to ioyne with the Heretikes her mortall enimies to fetch out of Paule or out of the old Fathers a sacramentall exposition and thereby to doe iniurie to the worthie Transubstantiation They are yet besides this in great difference dissention about manie questions depending vpō the same matter for they cannot conceiue whervpon the qualities of the bread are founded or grounded considering that it is no more bread then that it cannot be said that the bodie of Christ it self shuld be round white sauour weigh as bred then whether this weight this roundnesse and this colour remaine hanging in the aire without anie prop or that they are cleane consumed or where they remaine Item when the offertorie or Oste is broken what is there broken whether the accidents and substance of the breade or the verie bodie of Christ it selfe Item whether this transubstantiated body is so quickly gone when there commeth a Mouse or a Ratte to gnawe vpon it or when Mothes or wormes do breede in it Thereof they dispute a pace whether the substance of the bread doeth then with his accidentes and qualities get him home againe or that the Rattes or Mice do gnaw vpon nothing else but onely vpon the accidents and qualities without touching the bread It is verie true that the maister of the Sentences did leaue off this point very slenderly For these are his wordes Verelie it may well be said that vnreasonable beastes do not eate the bodie of Christ although it seemeth they doe so but then what is it that the Mouse taketh or what is it that shee eateth That doth God knowe Yet notwithstanding those other doctours which haue written vpon the booke of Sentences are not therwithall satisfied but will yet haue a further consideration of the matter especially considering that the glosse of Henricus de Vrimaria written vpon that text saieth thus That the mouth of a Mouse is not so vncleane as the mouth of a sinner And all they generally doe teache that the sinners doe without doubt eate the verie bodie of Christ Ergo Potlid Nowe besides this yet can they not agree amongest themselues to knowe whether all the woordes which they of themselues haue added which are not written by the Euangelistes doe serue necessarily to the Transubstantiation or no For Thomas de Aquino will stoutely defende That they are most necessarie therevnto and that without them the Tarte cannot bee well baked Now against this Bonauentura and maister Henricus de Gandauo with diuerse other writing vpon the fourth Booke of the Sentences say that these wordes serue onely to beautifie and set foorth the other for comelinesse sake but it is needlesse for Scotus to write his opinion considering that it cannot bee certeinly knowne whether they bee verie needfull or no. And yet notwithstanding he doth conclude that the Priest is bounde to say them neither more nor lesse than as if they were most necessarie to the framing or making of the Transubstantiation And Guido de monte Rocherii doeth flatly confesse That he knowes not what to say to the matter Then further they are in contention whether the water which they doe mingle with the wine in the Chalice is first chaunged into wine and after that into bloud so that there shoulde be two transubstantiations at once Or that it is incontinent and by and by turned into bloud as well as the wine And if it become bloud as appeareth it shoulde by the example of the two Gosseps of whome I spake before by what power that can bee so seeing Christ did not meddle with anie water nor the Euangelistes doe not write anie thing thereof And then if the Priest shoulde putte more water into it than wine whiche they doe not gladly or willingly whether then the Transubstantiation shoulde take full effect or that it would stay for doubt of drowning in the water Item if by chance after that the wine be consecrated turned into bloud one should put into the Chalice as much wine more whether then the first wine shoulde bee no more bloud but become wine again or that it should be bloud and wine mingled together either that it shoulde all together bee turned into bloud Item whether a Priest may say and serue Masse with vinegre or veriuce or with must or whether for neede with beere and whether that the beere after the
fiue wordes spoken and all parts of the transubstantiation well plaid could doe his office as well as the wine and leape soudeinly out of one substance into another Item if there were thirtene or fourtene Offertories Ostes or singing cakes laid vpon the altar and that the priest could tell no better than my maide and so tolde but twelue and vppon that intent doe pronounce the fiue wordes thinking that there were but twelue then whether all the thirtene should be consecrated and transubstantiated considering that the intent and meaning of the Priest is wholie necessarie to the transubstantiation or that neuer one of them should be transubstantiated coÌ„sidering that the one hath as much vantage as the other and not any one of them more base or bastard than an other seeing that they all did heare and vnderstand the wordes of the Transubstantiation indifferently one as well as another There are yet besides these manie other like difficulties sufficient to make deuout catholike men to doubt touching this foresaid article of transubstantiation for I assure you they trouble the heades euen of our masters of Louen and are oftimes occasion that they must drinke two or three quartes of wine the more and sometimes be so dronke that they fall from the benche and catch a redde nose yea and sometime that they dispute the haire from their heads through the great zeale wherewith they are warmed whereby they often fall into dronken diseases and sometime into Plurisies whereof diuerse times they die and so the Church of Rome doth faile of her best pillars And yet for all this as concerning the highest and most principall article of transubstantiation they al danse after one pipe and agree as well in one as Herode and Pilate And as touching the rest they remit that to God to take care for for after that they haue brought forth many cunning trickes and deepe wittie speculations and bralled about those a long time and in vtramque partem that is to say pro coÌ„tra to and fro haue reasoned on both sides verie Magistraliter that is Maisterly in deed In the end they make this coÌ„clusion Sed quomodo hoc fit nescio Deus scit that is I cannot tell what to say to the matter I cannot conceiue how that may come to passe God knoweth all And yet notwithstanding they doe alway conclude this to be an article of the faith whereof no man must doubt For our deare mother the holy Church will haue it so And yet in the meane space for the better stay of deuout coÌ„sciences somthing to establish these great doubts they haue ioyntly found out a newe practise to prop vp their generall building of Transubstantiation to wit first a great beame which they call Concomitantiae then a long rib called The stedfast intention of the holy Church wherewith they do so strongly prop vp this building that not only Christs bodie but the whole Godhead may sâ—and vpon it without falling And if it were so that the priest did dreame had no regard to his Masse yet haue they a remedie for that For the good intent of the holie Church is so sure and vnremoueable that the intent of the Priest is not greatly to be accounted of but may well inough go walk abrode and see if there be anie good cheare toward and that his maid keepe good rule at home which is a iolly matter For otherwise if the priest were yet half dronke with good cheare the eeuen before or that his maid had chafed him or that but only a flie did come sit vpon his nose he might perhaps therby forget his good intent euen as he was speaking the holy wordes and then should not that bread becâ—me a God which were a perilous matter For the simple people should then pray to a peece of bread in place of their God creator Therefore coÌ„meth the holy Church now in for a helpe doth set forth for a perfit article of our faith that it is likewise sufficient for euerie one to beleue whatsoeuer the Church beleues although they know not what it is And again it is sufficient that the holy church haue generally a perfite determination that wheresoeuer Masse is don there is the bred changed into God although it were so that the priest did thinke onely vpon his maid or on his kitchen In summe there is not a hole but the hellish Church hath a peg to stop it withall she can turne euerie thing to the best so that there is no more difficultie And if the Doctours and Licentiates doe chide and brall among themselues that makes no great matter we ought to commit all these weightie causes to the iudgement of the holie Catholike Church and must simplie and ioyntly beleeue That as soone as the fiue wordes are spoken that which the Priest hath in his handes is turned into God let it then be what it will either verie bread or the accidents of bread or an Indiuiduum vagum that is a wilde veseken That is no matter at all to vs it is sufficient that wee knowe it is our God which we must pray vnto in the Masse For the text is plaine This is my bodie there needes no glosse vpon it And although it be so that all the Doctours of Louen of Paris and of Colen cannot vnderstand it yet it is sufficient for vs that we haue fetcht our transubstantiation out of it and sette it forth irreuocably Although we haue yet manie mo other plaine textes whereby to defend it which are verie plentifully sette forth by the worshipfull Eckius and other worthie pillars of the holie Catholike Church as specially that which is written in Ieremie That when the vngodly Iewish Priests and false Prophets went about to bring Ieremie to death because hee did earnestly condemne their vngodlinesse they said thus one to another Let vs marre his bread with wood or let vs destroy the fruite together with the tree roote him out of the kingdome of the liuing For this now hath our deare mother the holie Church turned for the best vnto our Masse priests as though they had holden this Counceâ—l together and saide Mittamus lignum in panem eius that is to say Let vs cast wood into his bread vnderstanding thereby that they will counterfeit in their Masse the passion death of Iesu Christ who suffred vpon the crosse with a peece of bread And to this end doe they cause these woordes to be soung yerely in the Passion wherevpon shee hath resolutely concluded That the bread is chaunged into the verie bodie of Christ Iesus as is to bee seene in the foresaid booke of Eckius and of other stoute Champions of the Romish Church Yea and likewise to proue that this Transubstantiation is neither so wonderfull nor vnnatural as the Heretikes exclaime that doeth Eckius teach out of the Scripture where the diuel said to Christ If thou be the son of God
commande that these stones bee made bread Consider now is not that a plain declaration wherto no answer is to be made And by this it is wel to be thought that the diuell woulde gladly haue had a Masse in the wildernesse but onely that it could not be for lacke of bread And this may possibly be the cause wherefore our mother the holie Church doth vpon all the altars and in all thee bookes where this storie is in hand and dealt withall clothe the diuell in a friers cowle to the end men may knowe that he was an holie Heremit or an Anker which did verie deuoutly say Masse in the wildernesse and therefore doth looke out so Masselike But when he saw he did lacke bread then he sought and made meanes to our Lorde to see if he would erect a newe transubstantiation And now because this temptation of the diuell is in the Hebrewe tongue called Massah as is before rehearsed therefore it is not to be thought vnlike that our Masse hath thereof borrowed her name For as Satan said Commaunde that these stones be made bread so say the priests in their Masse Command that this bread be made a bodie or flesh Wherein the Priestes are something more likerish than their maister was for that they will not bee contented with drie bread â–ª but that hath his vnderstanding and meaning Howbeit thus much it is in effect That our dere mother the holy church hath out of this Massah or temptatioÌ„ of the diuell verie strongly established her Transubstantiation The vi Chapter Establishing the sufficiencie of the Sacrament vnder the substance of bread alone WE haue heretofore set forth that the holie Church of Rome hath directly against the coÌ„mandment of Christ against the vse of the Apostles and against the long continued custome maner of the primatiue Church commanded That the Lay people should not receiue the Sacrament of the Lordes Supper but vnder one kind only to wit of the bread as it is plainly set foorth in the decree at the Councel of Constance here before declared But now because it shal not seeme that she hath much a do to wrest a text or twaine of the Scripture to bring them in to serue her turne she doth therfore allege here manifest texts wherewith she doth set all things net fine and in perfect frame To begin withall it is written in the 6. of Iohn This is that bread which commeth from heauen that he which eateth thereof should not die I am that liuing bread which came downe from heauen if anie man eate of this bread he shal liue for euer And the bread that I will giue is my flesh which I will giue for the life of the world c. Note here now doth he meddle but with the bread saith Eckius Ergo the Lay people neede not the wine That soundes as well as if a man shoulde make this argument Christ saith in the 15. of Iohn I am the true vine you are the braunches c. Here he speakes onely of the vine and not of the bread Ergo the Lay people need not receiue the Sacrament vnder the substance of bread but only vnder the substance of a vine Is not that verie well reasoned to catch the Heretikes in a trap After that we read that Christ was known in Emaus vnto two of his disciples by breaking of bread there is not one word of drinking Ergo the Lay people may not drink out of the Chalice And if anie man thinke that Christ should not there haue ministred a sacrament as the Heretikes will say that is a lie for our deare mother the holie church hath determined otherwise declaring that he did minister the Sacrament two times once at Hierusalem for the Priests at his last supper another time at Emaus for the Lay people after his resurrection And although it is certeine that these two disciples were Cardinals not Lay men as Eckius in deede doth finely mainteine in a certein place yet what is that to the purpose Did you neuer see Cardinals that were no Priests That is no newes There are now a dayes that are but young children newly crept out of the shelles And when all this is saide there is no where written that these two disciples had shauen crownes or the priestly character or cognisance Ergo then must they needes be Lay people Now thirdly we pray thus in the Pater noster Giue vs this day our daily bread and we do not speake of anie wine wherfore then should the Lay people desire to drinke wine in the Communion And although the priests theÌ„selues sing the same wordes in their Masse yet notwithstanding are not content with drie bread that cannot serue the turne For the prrests must needes haue some prerogatiue because they are the beloued children of our mother the holy Church Fourthly â—uke in the Acts of the Apostles writeth That those which beleeued continued in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayer which streight-way after he setteth out more amplie saying And sold their possessions goods and parted them to al men as euery man had neede And they continued daily with one accord in the Temple brake bread in euerie house and did eate their meate together with gladnes and singlenes of heart praysing God. Out of this doth our deare mother the holie Church coÌ„clude That the cup ought not to be ministred vnto the Lay people in the Supper of the Lorde because that here is no mention made of wine but onely of bread For although in manie other places of holy scripture all kindes of meates and drinkes are vnderstoode vnder the name of bread and eating yet that can not take place here considering that our deare mother the holy Church hath otherwise interpreted the same And Paul hath directly written That all men should esteeme the Apostles and Preachers as Ministers of Christ and disposers of the secretes of God. For out of this doth our dere mother the holie Church teach That the Priests are to be resembled to God and are mediators betweene God and the people and so by this meanes may freely chaunge or alter the Sacraments as they shall thinke good Is not this a subtile and double dealing with the Scripture Wherefore then doe these Heretikes say That we haue no scriptures wherewith to defend this our doing whereas we bring in sacks ful of Scripture as all men may see And then touching that they will beate vs with our owne rodde saying That the Church her selfe hath alwayes done otherwise as may appeare out of the ancient fathers Councels and Canons we care not a point for that we hang that on the hatch For all that is past and gone the worlde is now in another state than it was then For in those dayes they were for the most part all readie to shedde their bloud for the
might almost be taken for a blasphemie and an heresie For although it bee verie true that the holie Churche hath no golden Calfe yet hath shee not therefore forgotten to follow herein the trace and footesteppes of the Iewes her good schoolemaisters For in place of that that Aaron the high Priest once halowed the golden Calfe our deare mother hath ordeined and set foorth that the Pope of Rome who vndoubtedly is established in Aarons place shall yeerely hallow and blesse a certeine number of lambes of waxe which he doeth call Agnus Dei that is to say The lambe of God or The sonne of God which hath taken away the sinnes of the worlde and being slaine as a lambe for vs hath released vs from the bondage of the diuell euen as Aaron and the Iewes did name their Calfe The God which had deliuered them out of the slauerie of the land of Aegypt And now although that a Calfe is better than a lambe and golde of muche greater value than waxe yet our holie father the Pope of Rome hath suche a notable deuise of Alcamistrie that he will for these lambes bring good fatte Oxen into his kitchin and lumpes of golde which will not bee muche lesse woorthe than the golden Calfe of the Iewes for the power of these lambes is so great that it is vnspeakable And that may be perceiued out of the Latine verses whiche Pope Vrban did once send with fiue such Agnus Dei to the Emperour of Graecia for a great and solemne present whiche verses are these that followe Balsamus munda cera cum Chrismatis vnda Conficiunt Agnum quod munus do tibi magnum Fonte velut natum per mystica sanctificatum Fulgura de sursum depellit omne malignum Peccatum frangit vt Christi sanguis angit Praegnans seruatur simul partus liberatur Dona defert dignis virtutem destruit ignis Portatus munde de fluctibus eripit vndae ▪ That is to say Balme virgin waxe and holie water an Agnus Dei make A gift than which none can be greater I send for thee to take From founteine cleare the same hath issue in secrete sanctifide Aynst lightening it hath souereigne vertue and thunder crackes beside Each heinous sinne it weares and wasteth euen as Christes precious blood And women whiles their trauell lasteth it saues it is so good It doeth bestowe great giftes and graces on such as well deserue And borne about in noysome places from perill doeth preserue The force of fire whose heate destroyeth it breakes and bringeth downe And he or she that this enioyeth no water shall them drowne Now my maisters how like you this sauce Let vs now see if the golden calfe of the Iewes had such might and power No that was farre from home Neither do the Iewes ascribe anie such thing to their calfe but did euen simplie thinke ▪ seeing Moses was away that they wold haue some apparant thing before their eyes which should put them in remembrance of their deliuerance by God and therefore they did call it The God which had deliuered them out of the land of Aegypt as our mother the holie church doeth likewise cōmonlie say by an old rotten blocke ▪ Behold there is your God which was hanged vppon the crosse for you or There is our Ladie which hath done great miracles So that their Calfe is not to be compared with our Agnus Dei. But nowe seeing the Iewes do knowe nothing of all this neither do vnderstande of what power this is therefore may they iustlie thinke that their golden Calfe and our Agnus Dei are both children of one mother So that Maister Gentianus had done much better speaking vnder correction that he had not so quicklie and spitefullie blamed them for that matter least nowe they should say that the potte doeth blame the kettell for being so blacke with smoke The ii Chapter That the sacrament of the Altar must be prayed vnto otherwise Christ were no god ANd nowe proceeding to the conclusions which Maister Gentianus doeth adde herevnto which I assure you are verie fine and spiteful wittie is a very learned piece which the schoolemasters of Louen call Argumentum cornutum that is to say A cornet or horned Argument because he doeth herewith thrust all the Huguenotes as farre backwards as a lustie yong oxe would crushe Paules steeple in pieces with his hornes Marke nowe this is his argument If the sacrament of the Altar were not prayed vnto then were Christ no God and now Christ without all dout is God Ergo these Huguenots must needes be damnable Samosatenes which denie the Godhead of Christ. That hitteth as iumpe as sixe fingers in a gloue For the holie church hath once for all resolutelie concluded That the breade of the sacramēt is the verie body of Christ as long and as broad as it did hang vppon the crosse Then it must needes followe that whosoeuer doth not beleeue that doth therewith also not beleeue that Christ is God or else must men needes say that the Church of Rome hath erred which were so daungerous a matter as would make the brisles of a wilde Bore to stand on end It is verie true that Christ did not commaund vs to praye to it but said simplie Take eate c. And neither Saint Paul ▪ nor anie of the Apostles did euer knowe of anie praying to it But what is that to the purpose Seeing men are sufficientlie informed that they had not yet that power to make goodlie pixes or sacrament houses to laie him in and to carie him sometime about in procession vnder a Canopie of silke The followers were then to many they had not the leasure nor time neither was the dearelie beloued and eldest daughter of our deare mother the holie church of Rome as yet borne to wit Transubstantiation But as soone as that blessed babe was brought into the worlde by the meane faithfull helpe of that good middewife called Theologia Sophistica and was nourished vppe with the sweete milke of her deare mamme and nourse Concomitantiae then came first in sight iointlie withall The praying to the sacrament and then they lodged their God in the halfe moone and shut him in a goodlie golden cofer or pixe till the time that hee should goe abroad with the Giant in the procession to quicken his spirites a little and then they will daunse before the Bride with a fife a drumbe And thus doth this wittie conclusion and argument of Master Gentianus proponing remaine so fast and firme as a reede which is shaken to and fro with all windes The iii. Chapter Of praying to images and especiallie to the crosse and of the great power and aduantage of the crosse NOwe after the praying vnto shapen goddes hee doeth begin againe with praying to images and to the crosse which is from the Oxe to the Asse and surelie he hath conceiued that verie wiselie where he saith That we may not
whether flies dare presume to beshite it With other more weightie questions without mesure or end wherein the Heretikes are nothing seene nor can tell no more of than of the wind which last blew of my hat therfore it must of necessitie followe that they are most ignorant vnlearned They suppose it is nowe as it was in the dayes of Paul the other Apostles wheÌ„ there was no talke of Bachelers nor Masters of Art when as Quotlibets horned or forked Sillogismes Quidditates Identitates Realitates and other such like rattes nestes were not yet found out when Fishermen were preachers and Tanners Apostles And therefore are they all busie with their Paul and their Prophetes and scoffe at all that our Doctor subtilis Iohannes Scotus Doctor Angelicus Thomas de Aquino That our Albertus Magnus Petrus Lombardus Occa and all other such like famous and learned Doctours haue written in great bookes and large volumes and whiche they haue after deepe and speciall speculation concluded and sette foorth for chiefe and principall articles of our beleefe But we pratle in vaine they must at the least go yet these ten yeares to schoole if they will be reputed and taken for learned What tattle I of ten yeares A wise Doctour of Diuinitie said to Erasmus That in nine yeares could not be vnderstood what onelie Scotus in his argument vpon Petrus Lombardus had written And another said That it was impossible to conceiue one sentence or place in Scotus except hee had Aristotles Metaphysickes at his fingers endes What a good yeare meane these Heretikes then that they are learned because they haue read the Bible or S. Paule or Augustine and Hierome Or because they vnderstand Hebrew the Chaldean and Greeke tongues They must to it a litle better and must yet these twentie or thirtie yeares goe beate their braines in their common scholes and drawe Aristotles breeches ouer their eares or else they shal remaine but vnlearned doltes all their life time and can neuer proceede Maisters of Arte or Bachelers I say not Doctours Yea although they had eaten seuen Bibles and know asmuch as euer did Paule Therefore it is no maruell that maister Gentian doeth cast in their teeth and vpbraideth them with their ignorance forsomuche as they did neuer tast the knowledge and doctrine of our mother the holie Church nor yet the wisedome of the deepe grounded and surpassing learned Louanistes The .vi. Chapter Declaring the life and reformation of Huguenote Preachers and the citie of Geneua and to the contrarie of the great vertues valure of the citie of Rome and of the loue and kindnesse of the church of Rome And of the taxations or rate booke of the penaunce Parloure COncerning their liues Maister Gentian doeth put in vre his arte whiche he learned of the Oratoures and maisters of eloquence and filed speaking Forsomuche as he doeth first burden his contrarie partie with suche crimes as his owne conscience doth pricke him for and findes himselfe guiltie in Notwithstanding he doeth handle the matter very circumspectlie For he saieth but that hee hearde say That in the Citie of Potiers in Fraunce was executed a Huguenote Preacher who had all his life time bene a thiefe and murtherer and had with his owne handes murdered as good as a hundred persons And if so bee that this be true it seemes straunge vnto him that suche preachers will accuse and rebuke the Pope of Rome for a theefe and raueniâ—g bloudhounde and the Cardinals and Bishoppes for villaines and reprobates In deede it were straunge For it is vnsitte that one Woolfe shoulde bite an other They ought rather to be faithfull friendes together and say according to the common prouerbe Te ti Te mi Clawe me and I will clawe thee or Keepe my counsell and I will keepe thine Howebeit Master Gentian will not say or assure much thereof For he saieth that he knoweth none such wherein as an honest man he doeth acknowledge his faulte in time least he might be taken for a brother of that companie Therefore although he saith that the common brute goeth that there are some Huguenote Preachers whiche are little better than those whiche stande by the high way side Fellons and rauishers of virgins yet he soone letteth slippe his purpose and doth leaue them for such as they are He feares perhappes that he might come to nigh the holie seaâ—e of Rome and rubbe the holie fathers to neere the gall For it is not onely a common reporte but the verie truth which euerie one may see and feele That whensoeuer suche fellowes are wanting which might fittely serue to furnish a Gallie they are not to be found in anie place more readie than at Rome For according to the glosse which is written vpon the decrees Rome was first founded and built by Rouers and Fellones and doth yet obserue her auncient customes Wherefore it is called in Latine Roma as though one shoulde say â–ª Rodens manus that is gnawing the handes Like as the saide glosse doth testifie in the decrees with this following verse Roma manus rodit Quos rodere non valet odit That is to say Rome gnawes the flesh from th'andes of euerie one And hates all those of whom she can haue none Which being considered by the good worthie king Alphonsus he was wont to say That the greedie rauening birdes called by the Poetes Harpies did not nestle or dwell anie longer in the Islandes â–ª but were remoued to Rome and did possesse the Romishe Court. And too this purpose in like maner did Pope Adrian the 4. lament and complaine vpon to Iohn of Sarisburie Bishoppe of Chartres saying that the Pope of Rome was rightlie named Seruus seruorum that is A slaue of slaues forsomuch as he was a seruant and slaue of the Romanes which are the verie slaues and seruantes of couetousnesse Like as the Glose doth also testifie in this common verse Seruierant tibi Roma prius Domini Dominorum Seruorum serui nunc tibi sunt Domini That is to say O Rome in time past Lords of Lords were thy vassals But nowe at the last Slaues of slaues and ranke rascals Are Lords ouer thee As all people see Yea he said further That the Pope of Rome was no more a follower of Peter but of Romulus which Romulus in the time when the citie walles were a building did murder his owne naturall brother called Remus And within a small while after did perforce rauish the wiues and yong virgins of his neighbours the Sabines vnder pretence of keeping a speciall day of solemnization Insomuch as the citie of Rome is meerlie founded sanctified and hallowed with murder riot and rauishing of women And therefore it is no maruell though such birdes keepe their feastes there and are so welcome into it Yea not onlie Murderers Spoylers by the high way side and Rauishers of women but also all whatsoeuer without terrour a man can not call to mind
You poore Heretikes saieth he howe can you be of a true beleefe if you do not first accept the twelfe articles of the faith And how should you accept them seeing you will not beleeue the holy Catholike Church For consider this he doeth take to serue his turne a most certeine and vndoubted point That no man can beleeue the holie Church but hee must ioyntly withall receiue and accept all whatsoeuer the saide Church doth set forth and beleeue And this is greatly to be coÌ„sidered seeing herevpon doth rest the most speâ—ial ground and strongest bulwarke of the holy Church of Rome For these Heretikes can very stedfastly say that they theÌ„selues are the church of god And to 〈◊〉 that they introduce and bring in many goodly textes out of the Scripture but they alledge them only according to the letter euen as though the Church were nothing els but an assemblie or congregation of holy men that is to say of such as through faith or beleefe are by the bloud of Iesus Christ blessed and chosen to be the sheepefolde of Iesus Christe the true and only sheepheard of our soules into which fold none are receiued but such alone as will hearken to the onely voyce of that onely shepheard and followe and goe after him onely forsaking and not knowing the voyce of any straunger Whereby they will nowe conclude that our great Maister the Pope with all the right honourable Bishops and Prelates which haue of them selues set forth manie goodly ordinances whereof Christ neuer knewe word should be those very straungers and hirelings which seeke onely the wooll of the sheepe and haue serued God feignedly setting forth and teaching the commandements and doctrine of men yea that they shuld be the theeues and murtherers that haue not entred in at the right doore which is Iesus Christ but are crept in a wrong way to steale kill and destroye And therfore do they cut vs cleane off notwithstanding what soeuer wee alleadge of the Church of God and of her authoritie power and woorthines But they alledge out of the Prophet Ieremie That al is but lyes and deceyt whervpon we establish our selues crying with the Iewes The Church of God The Church of God The Church of God. And herevpon doe they bring vs forth and alledge their Paul saying That the only true ground and foundation of the Church of God is established onely vppon the doctrine of the Prophetes Apostles so that who soeuer he be that falleth from the same can not be accompted for a true member of Christs Church And then they bring forth an Esaie out of a corner and an Ezechiel an Oseas with diuers other out of the olde Testament which they set al together on a heape and will defend themselues therewith that the stedfast successioÌ„ and that long continued race of the Popes Cardinals Bishoppes and Archbishops are in no wise that right token and that vncounterfeyt marke of the Church but the onely the sincere worde of God when as that is in our mouthes and in our heartes and in the mouthes and heartes of our children accompanied with the right vse of the Sacraments according to the perfit ordeining of Christ Iesus who is the only head of the Church and congregation in whom all people are ioyntly vnited euery one according to the measure of the gift which he hath receiued of the head to the ful growth of the whole body in loue Well well when they haue done all their prating yet must this needes be true That they are but Heretikes and smel after the fagot the good yere and all the cause why For that they doe not beleeue all that the holy Church doth beleeue and without the Church is no saluation but all such as fall from her must be burnt like fagottes for to that end haue we a plaine text of Scripture which saith thus Who soeuer doeth not abyde in me shall be cast out of the vineyarde as a branche and there wither and men gather those branches and cast them in the fire and burne them And this same is apparent out of the second point of this Epistle nowe folowing Whereas Gentianus doeth openly coÌ„fesse that at al times and for euer there haue bin some men which haue helde the same opinions set forth the like learning that these Lutheranes and Huguenotes do nowe followe But he answereth the matter thus That such haue alway bene banished and cursed for heretikes and all this is verie true For euer since that Iohn the Archfather Patriarch of Constantinople began to take vpon him to be the vniuersall Bishop of all Bishops within Christendome which attempt the Pope of Rome dyd in the beginning stoutly withstande and that then afterwardes Boniface the thirde did obteyne that tytle for him selfe and was by the Emperour Phocas declared Cheefe or superiour Bishop ouer all Christendome and ordeined the head of the Church which thing was brought to passe in the yeere of our Lord 680. From that time forward I saye there haue alwayes bene many factious and busie fellowes stirring abroade which as well by writing as preaching haue withstoode the Pope and condemned his doctrine decrees and ordinances euen by the Scripture yea and blazed and set him selfe forth for an Antichrist alledging euen as our Heretikes nowe do that men ought to repose themselues and buyld vpon the sincere word of God onely and further to holde and esteeme all ordinances of the Popes not agreeing with the Scripture for deuilishe doctrine But as before is declared such haue alwayes bin reputed and condemned for Heretikes Therefore to the ende that no man shall thinke this to be nowe a new dealing of the holy Church to condemne these Lutheranes and Huguenotes for Heretikes and likewise that no man shall suppose that this their doctrine and Articles which they set forth are first growen in their gardens I will therefâ—â—e make here a brief discourse of such as haue here before set forth these matters as well by mouth as by writing to make it plainely appeare to the worlde that there is not one Article which they bring forth but iâ— hath bene long before â—et a bâ—â—che openly â–ª that the holy Church of Rome hath both punished and condemned it for heresie Then to begin withall it is plaine that the Grekes haue alwayes daâ—peâ—ly withstoode the holy Pope of Rome and would neuer acknowledge him neither for Pope nor for the head of the Church like as yet euen in these dayes they do not in so much as in the yere of our Lorde 1328. at which tyme Pope Iohn the 23. had written very wisely and sharpely to the Grekes and by many wordes defended the cause That first there was but one only Church whereof he ought to be the head vnder whom all Christendome ought to submit them selues they dyd againe sende him this answere which followeth We beleeue verely
Romish schole and take vpon them to face vs out with their Paul with their Esaie their Ieremie What a mischiefe Do they not know that those fellowes whome they alledge and bring vs forth were likewise esteemed for Heretikes as well as they are themselues Yea â–ª in so much that one of them was hanged another was burnt the third clouen thorough the middest with a saw the fourth set vpon a wheele c. And therefore are we no more moued for them than for a bladder full of beanes For the holy Church of Rome would neuer accept their doctrine but vpon this bargaine and condition to wit that shee might alway applie the same as she should thinke good and as might best come to passe for her selfe and that no reuoking nor reuolting nor appellatioÌ„ should be made against her doings no nor that the name of Iesus Christ should in that case serue like as shall by vs shortly in the part next folowing be declared at large For this verely is most true that if our blessed Lorde him selfe would haue followed the exposition and coÌ„mentarie which the Priestes Phariseis Doctours had at that time made vpon the holy Scriptures in the name of the holye Church he had neuer bene crucified or hanged vpon the crosse But because that hee would full wisely go and bring in newe matters and so set vp a newe reformation according to the text and doctrine of the Gospell like as these Heretikes go about nowe to do therfore did they deale so hardly with him Notwithstanding that nowe since the holy Church of Rome hath so finely handled and set forth this newe religion of Christ and brought it vnto such a trim frame that nowe it is very gladly receyued of euery one in a maner yea and if it were so that these Huguenotes would accept the same setting it forth likewise surely men would no more be so readie to bring them to a stake as heretofore they haue done yea and pretend hereafter to do But nowe to come to our matter againe it is necessarie that we well consider and substantially declare wherein the worthines and authoritie of the holy Church doth specially consist what commandements traditions and ordinances of the same men must receyue and accept without all contradiction or gainsaying And this for so much as our Doctors of Louen are troubled with so manye other profounde and deepe questions that they haue not the leasure to set out this point effectually is notwithstanding the right ground and fouÌ„dation of all their building yea and is most needefull to our saluation and to the extirpation and rooting out of all heresies For it may be demanded Whether men shall holde for commandementes and traditions of the Church only alone that which is plainely set forth in the scriptures of the olde and newe Testamentes Or els that which the olde holy Fathers Doctours as Augustine Chrysostome Hierome and such like haue left behinde them in their bookes and writings or a great deale rather that which hath ben concluded in the holy Councels either els that which the holy Popes of Rome haue ordeined and enioyned or last of all that which is scraped together out of the one and the other all layd in one Pastie and baked in one Cake and which is nowe in our dayes obserued in the holy Catholike Church of Rome The 2. Chapter VVhereby is declared that the Church vvith her povver and authoritie can not be inclosed vvith in the pales of the holy Scripture but that the Church may adde to the Scripture or take from it vvhat she thinkes good and therevpon are many examples and profouÌ„d reasons alledged VPon this demande profound proposition very much might be saide but we will make short of the matter And to begin withal we conclude with our Master Gentianus and with the holy CouÌ„cell of Trent That all they which woulde inclose the power and the authoritie of the Church within the limites bounds of the holy Scripture as though the holy Catholike church of Rome could reade no further than is spelled before to her in the Bible are euill and naughty heretikes yea they are euen of those Apostataes or backsliders to whom our Master Gentianus hath written this his Epistle For as touching that for the defence of their opinions they bring forth howe it is written That none shall either put to it or take from it one iote that is simply spoken to the Iewes Rabbines onely so that they should not take any such thing vpon them as to change any words of the texte and to correct Magnificat like as they haue presumed to do as meÌ„ may see clearly without a candle by the honourable Bishop Guilielmus Blindasinus in his booke intituled De optimo genere interpretandi wâ—â—ch is to say Of the best and surest maner of expounding or interpreting For therein he doeth shew very plainly that al Hebrew textes of the Bible are falsified and embaced by the Iewes yea and the like is done to all the textes in Greeke of the new Testament by some Heretikes enemies of the trueth So that neither Christ nor his Apostles nor anie of the olde Doctours should haue had the right Bible but onelie our most holy Catholike Church of Rome which only was borne vnder the right Planet and shee alone hath shot downe the Popingaie Therefore must the texte before specified be vnderstoode and meant of the Iewes alone and of such like Heretikes which haue so falsified the textes of the Bible But you may not gather by this that the holy Church of Rome is not licenced to ad vnto the Scripture whatsoeuer shee doeth marke to be yet lacking and to innouate change and remoue al that tendeth not perfectly to her purpose For you see daily that she doeth freely take vpon her so to do and furthermore she doth punish for ranke Heretikes all such as will not allowe and accept her adding and changing for the perfite worde of God. Men do knowe very well that shee hath finely conueyed out of the Register of the ten commandements the seconde commandement which was That no Images should be made nor fashioned because shee did perceiue the Heretiks would alledge the same to the hinderance both of he she Saintes which stand vpon the altars in the Church Furthermore because men shuld not lacke the number of ten shee hath taken the last commandement speaking of desire and diuided the same in two so made the tailes agree iust And likewise notwithstanding that our Lord Iesus Christ had openly coÌ„manded That the Communion should bee ministred as wel with wine as with bread yet the holy Catholike Church of Rome considering the great daunger which was therein for that the wine might be spilt or being in the winter freeze or be turned into sowre vineger if it should be long kept in a Pixe or litle Sacrament Boxe And especiallye considering that when
they shoulde haue dealte the Wine abroade the common people might haue thought whether that the long racked bodye were without bloud or at the least that there could be no right and perfite Transubstantiation and changing of the bread into the very body of our Lorde Iesus Christe In this behalfe hath she cōsidered further and hath bene better aduised than our Lord him selfe was and so hath forbiddē the laie people the Chalice For thus the Councel of Constance doeth decree That notwithstanding Christ after supper did ordeyne and minister vnto his Disciples the most blessed Sacrament vnder both kindes of bread and of wine And although that in the first ancient Church of the faithfull the same was alwayes vsed vnder both kindes neuerthelesse seeing that the contrarie vse custome is not without great occasion and willingly now put in vre for the auoyding and eschewing of some inconueniences and perilles therefore shal all Patriarches Prelates Archbishops Bishoppes curse and excommunicate all such as shall take vpon them to minister vnto the common people the Sacrament in that maner And so far forth as such do not turne recant then they to be deliuered into the handes of the temporall Iudges to be by them arbitrally executed And herevpon did the President of the Councell named Ostiensis in the name of all the whole College of Cardinals and all other Bishops after him answere Placet which is to say So it pleaseth vs. So that it is euident that the ancient maner good meaning of the Church maye cleane alter vtterly abolish the commandement of Christ the olde custome of the Apostles their Disciples We do likewise see that notwithstanding S. Paul by inspiration of the holy Ghost cōmanded That whosoeuer did feele that weakenes in him selfe that hee could not liue chaste should take a wife for that it was better to marrie than to burne And he did in a maner by speciall words command the same to the Bishops and other Ministers of Gods worde saying That they should haue their wiues their children brought vp in the feare of God. And further That mariage is holy and commendable in all men yea he did esteeme The forbidding of mariage for a doctrine of deuils And yet all this notwithstanding our holy Mother the Church of Rome seeing deeper into the matter and for the eschewing of manie inconueniences hath expresly and slatly commaunded Priestes Bishoppes and al spiritual persons that they in no wise shall take vpon them the state of Matrimonie teaching precisely the contrarie to the doctrine before specified That the state of Matrimonie is nothing else but plaine vncleanesse filthie and shamefull yea a great and foule spot vnto carnall copulation In so much that such as giue themselues therevnto cannot be acceptable before God for that it is writtē Who so liues after the flesh cannot be acceptable before God and haue therefore concluded that it is not decent that a holy Priest who is the temple of the holy Ghost should become a slaue to the lying with a woman and to fleshly lust Like as in the Popes decrees and Decretales is specially set forth Moreouer touching the same point it is concluded in the saide Decrees That the doctrine of the holy Church is nowe more perfite than either the doctrine of Iesus the sonne of God or of his Apostles hath bene in times past For thus the text saith Before that the Gospell was corrected amended and expounded there were manie things permitted which nowe since the time is come that all the doctrine is made perfit are clearely abolished and taken away as especially notwithstanding that the mariage of Priests was neither by the Lawe by the Gospell nor the doctrine of the Apostles forbidden yet hath the holy Church flatly forbiddē the same We do likewise plainely see that Iesus Christ hath streightly forbidden any dispēsation for Matrimonie hath specially declared That who soeuer doeth leaue his wife except it be for adulterie and doth marie another is a whooremonger Truly if it were not that our holy mother the Catholike Church of Rome had full power authoritie aboue Gods word and aboue the special cōmandement of Christ she would neuer haue takē vpō her to haue chāged nor put down this mariage of priests Now let vs further see that the most holy honorable Popes Iulius Innocentius Colestinus being with a great number of Bishops Prelates stately iudicially assembled in the holy Ghost in S. Peters church at Rome haue cōcluded iudged pronoūced whatsoeuer Christ notwithstāding had thereof spoken saide That if so be there were anie which were married together and had christened the children at the fount the one of the other before should be diuorced and the woman to haue her marriage good restored backe againe and within a yeere after it should be lawfull for her to marie another man and for him to marrie another woman Euē as our holy father the pope of Rome Deus dedit doth openly testifie in a letter which for a perpetuall memorie is written in the booke of Councels word for worde and likewise entred in the Register of the Popes decrees and ordinances yet ouer besides this the holy Church hath concluded that if any Nonne Baggine sister or other should marie a husbande the Bishop of that Diocesse where they dwelt should diuorce them cause the Nonne to returne and take vpon her againe her vowe of chastitie Like as in Concilio Triburino and by the Popes lawes is concluded commanded Out of the same authoritie hath the foresaid holy Church likewise cōcluded That what woman soeuer after the decease of her first husband should marrie agayne shee was an open and common harlotte not regarding at all that which S. Paule in his time had written directly to the cōtrarie yea had moreouer straitly charged and commanded the yong widowes That vnlesse they coulde well liue a continent and chast life they should marie againe After this did not S. Paul or rather the spirit of God by the mouth of S. Paul directly forbid any straunge language to be vsed in the Churches and congregations ordeyned for the seruice of God neither in prayer nor in thankesgiuing nor in singing nor in prophesying Yea he did greatly rebuke the Corinthians for so doing in their congregations And yet men plainly see that the holy Church of Rome doth minister her Masses her Mattens Euensong prayers and song al in Latine and some times therewith doeth mingle Greeke and Hebrew wordes In such sort as that not onely the common people but the Priestes and Bishops likewise do not vnderstand it Yet will the holye Church haue it so done yea and puniseth such as woulde otherwise vse it like damned heretikes Like as out of Eckius Piggius Hosius and other Catholike writers is manifest and plaine to be seene Then hereby of
a worthie matrone of Spaine called Senora Maria Osorio who did obteyne of Pope Paule 3. licence and power for her selfe and twelue of her bloud to coniure and holowe such beades and these beades were of this might that whensoeuer any person did saye a Pater noster thervpon although it were done without deuotion or once thinking of the matter yet did they thereby obteyne forgiuenesse of the thirde part of their sinnes And for this cause were the balles of these beades made of Copper and set in the Church where was set out by them in print their full might with all their properties and nature as is before declared so as at this day men may openly see by the common people which come and say their Pater nosters vpon their beades there holding their handes vpon those balles that thereby they may obteyne the forgiuenesse of their sinnes Nowe ouer and aboue all this the Belles are not onely coniured and hallowed but are also baptized and haue appoynted for them Godfathers which holde the rope wherewith they are tyed in their handes and do answere and say Amen to that which the Suffragane or Bishop doth speake or demaund of the Bell. And then they put a newe cote or garment vpon the Bell and so coniure it to the driuing away of all the power craft and subtiltie of the diuell and to the benefite and profite of the soules of them that bee deade specially if they bee riche and can pay the Sexton well and for many other like things In so much that the Belles are so holy that so long as the Church or the people are vpon anie occasion excommunicate they may not be rong Like as by Pope Bonifacius 8. and Gregorie 9. is manifestly ordeined although yet it is of speciall grace permitted to toll the Aue Maria as Iohannes Caldarinus hathe trimlie written And this I assure you is no small matter For Doctour Albericus de Rosato doth declare that the religious had amōgst themselues at Rome a long and weightie dissention wherevpon great processes were mainteyned and all about this namely which of all the Orders shoulde first knolle the Aue Maria in the morning ▪ which processes did long endure till at the last it was concluded and adiudged that they which were first vp should first knoll Euen after the maner of kine who alway let the formost go before and the last followe after Why I praye you hath it not bene seene that the Spaniardes which are the first sweete and most deare children of the holy Church of Rome comming nowe of late to Groninghen in Friseland did there christen coniure hallow theyr Ensignes naming one Barbara another Katharine c. I saye nothing howe they coniure the diuell out of yong children which are brought to be christened euen as though the yong children to whome Christ doeth witnesse the kingdome of heauen to belong and be those which with their fathers are conteyned vnder Gods promises and made cleane by the bloud of Iesus Christ were possessed with the Diuell The Masse I pray you what is it but a plaine coniuring sorcerie or witchcraft ▪ Wherein the breade and the wine which are but dumbe creatures are by the breathing of the Priest and the power of fiue woordes conuerted into fleshe and bloud So that it is most apparaunt that all her Religion all her diuine Seruice and ceremonies are full of witchcraft sorcerie and coniuring full of ydolatrie setting vppe of Images and giuing them worshippe full of mennes traditions institutions and deuises and in conclusion full of all that which by the holy scripture is openly reproued and plainely forbidden So that verelie these Heretikes must needes bee verie blinde if they doe not well perceyue that the power the ordinaunce and authoritie of the holy Church of Rome neyther can nor will bee shutte in nor hedged about with the pales and walles of the holy Scripture For see here this is that which the steadfast pillar of the Theologie of Louen Iodocus Tiletanus himselfe hath openly written We are not satisfied sayeth he with that which the Apostles or the Gospell doe declare but wee saye that as well before as after there are diuers matters of importance and weight accepted and receiued out of a doctrine which is no where set forth in writing For we do blesse the water wherewith we baptize and the oyle wherewith we anoynt yea and besides that him that is christened And I praye you out of what scripture haue we learned the same Haue we it out of a secret and vnwritten ordinance And further What Scripture hath taught vs to grease with oyle Yea I pray you from whence commeth it that wee doe dippe the childe three times in the water Doeth it not come out of this hidden and vndisclosed doctrine which our forefathers haue receyued closely without any curiositie and do obserue it still c But what neede haue I to trauell much for the establishing hereof seeing there is a generall rule in the holy Church of Rome That the Pope maye franklye ordeyne and commaunde contrarie to the writing doctrine and ordinaunce of the Apostle Paule Considering likewise in especiall that as Eckius hath set downe Christ did neuer commaunde his Apostles to write but to preach True it is that Paule doeth defende saying That the blessed woorde of God is set foorth and is sufficient to instruct to teache to punishe to amende yea and wholie apte and sufficient to make men wise ynoughe for their saluation and to instruct them sufficientlye to all good workes And that who soeuer shall teach any other Gospell than that which hee hath taught though hee were an Angel from heauen is accursed But all that must bee vnderstoode of the tyme wherein hee was whilest the Church was yet in her infancie or childehoode and laye in the cradle For it was yet necessarie for her then to drinke such milke being yet vnable to digest the strong and grosse meates of holy Prelates and Doctours of the holie Church of Rome For that her stomache was yet too weake and quasie And in effect men doe clearely see that notwithstanding the saying of Paule That in Christ Iesus and in the knoweledge of him all the treasure of wisedome and knowledge lyeth hidde so as the faythfull ought not to receyue any institutions or doctrine of men Yet a long time after the Apostles yea aboue seuen or eight hundred yeeres after theyr decease our mother the holye Catholike Churche hath founde out a wonderful and vnspeakeable newe hoorde of wisedome and knowlege through which a mā may come to perfite iustification and to an angelical life and aboue that get in store a heape of deseruings and good woorkes to helpe a good friende withall at a pinche and yet to release a dozen or twaine of sillie soules out of Purgatorie And these be they especially The holie order and full
Iewes Therfore that which they do and ordeine hath an other maner of couÌ„tenance than that which the Iewes haue ordeined Therefore must our former argument remaine fast vnmoueable especially considering that the Church of Rome is fullye credited in the one therefore must shee of necessitie be as wel beleeued in the other For truely this argument is the trimmest and finest stuffe whereof Iohn Blindasinus hath made his Panoplie which is as muh to say as his Ful furniture of weapons harnesse For by this is proued that S. FraÌ„cis Vineyarde The goldeÌ„ Legend The booke called Conform S. Franc. And the Masse booke must be as much esteemed in all respects as the very scripture of the Bible yea in the boke called Confo S. Fran. which was made by Barthol of Pisa is alowed for good in the chap. of Assis. In the yere 1389. is written That the same booke is better thaÌ„ the Gospell for that Saint Francis is placed in Lucifers seat aboue all the companies of Angels at the vpper ende of all Also there followeth out of the same that the common sort of people may be as well instructed in the knoweledge of God by dumbe Images and mumming representations as by the preaching of the Gospel and that men must as well christen the Belles at the Font as the children whiche are shapen after the likenesse of God and bought by the precious bloud of Iesus Christ that in baptising shall be vsed spittle and oyntment as well as water that the holy Sacrament shall bee caried about the streetes in the Procession with Baners and Pipes as well as it shall be taken and eaten in the Congregation of the faythfull in remembrance of the death of the Lorde In summe men are as deepely bound to do that which the holy Church and the Popes of Rome haue dreamed set vp and commaunded as that which by the expresse worde of God and by the doctrine of the Prophetes and Apostles is specially commaunded Yea and I praye you why should it not be so Seeing out of the same argument it must of necessitie be concluded that the word of God cannot be Gods word but it must first by the church be therto shapen fashioned For note well this word is with special wordes of our learned master Iodocus Tiletanus in writing thus That the worde of God alone conteyned in the holy Scriptures of the old and the newe Testamentes together with the three Symbols or Creedes as of the Apostles the Councel of Nice of the father Athanasius yea and thereto ioyne the three first Councels are not the rule perfite knot of the truth whereby it is apparant that in no wise men can perfitely know whether these be the word of God or no without the traditions or setting forth of the Church which doth assure vs of al this without any Scripture c. In summe the truth can be no truth nor the light light yea God can be no God except that the holy Church of Rome that is to say the holy Pope of Rome with his bishops prelates do consent thervnto So that it is no maruel that they can of a peece of bread make a God creator of heauen and earth For if it were so that they should say that at noone day it were darke night wee must streight wayes beleue the same as an article of the faith by and by without delay get vs to bed For we say by a certaine coÌ„mon prouerbe That when all the world doeth affirme that a man as by example SoÌ„nius or Blindasinus is a swine he must out of doubt trudge vnto the swinestie and there eat only draffe How much rather theÌ„ when the holy Church with that worthie coÌ„panie of Bishops Abbats Prelates and Cardinals gathered together at Trent or elswhere do coÌ„mand any thing are not we bounde to receiue beleue obey the same without any denial by and by to say Amen therevnto And herein may men perceiue a great miracle which I do assure you is greater by the head thaÌ„ any miracle that euer was don by the Apostles to wit that the child was borne before the mother yea that the mother commes of the child For it is most certein and wel knowen that the worde of God is the seede whereof the Church of God doth spring is ingendred as the Apostle Peter witnesseth coÌ„sidering that the Church is nothing else but a Congregation of such as doe faithfully beleeue Gods woorde and firmely sticke vnto the same where thorough they are also called The Congregation of the liuing God The pillar and staye of the truth So that the woorde is the right mother of the Church Well nowe see here goeth the holy Catholike Church of Rome before the worde of God and his truth which is as much to say the childe goeth before the mother yea the worde can haue no might no credite no estimation nor no being in the worlde vnlesse it bee by speciall grace borrowed of her daughter the holy Church As the foresayd Blindasinus Hosius Sonnius Piggius Eckius with all other Catholike Doctours haue forceably coÌ„cluded and irreuocably determined taking this for a most true vndoubted article of the faith yea for the most speciall ground whervpon they and all their writing is founded which is That men may not beleeue the worde and truth of God otherwise than by the appoyntment of the holy Church of Rome which of duetie must alwayes goe before and lead the daunse which is as muche to say that you can not ride to Louen but you must set the Wagon before the horses And therefore whensoeuer the Churche doth ordeine any thing that is contrarie to the Scripture as is before saide we will giue the Scripture an honest passeport or safe conduct and a great many of farewels and clâ—ue to the holy Church like a Burre For the srcipture cannot defend this cause but the holy Church of Rome can bring a man to the stake And it helpes not to alledge and bring in Augustine here who hath written in diuerse places That wee ought to beleeue the holy Scripture only without any contradiction and to trie proue all other writinges and doctrines howe substantiall soeuer they be yea all Councels decrees and ordinances by the holy Scripture as by the onely true vncounterfeyted touchstone and abolish and put away vtterly all whatsoeuer doth not therewithall agree for that all smelleth altogether of heresie And where as he sayeth further That when soeuer the Church doeth giue eare to any other voyce beside the onely voyce of her bridegrome she is then become whorish and a wedlocke breaker yea and that they are all accursed which go about to seduce the Bride of Christ from her Bridegrome to the doctrine and institutions of men that is the plaine doctrine of Heretikes For if that were so all the before specified rules ordinaunces and decrees of the holy
after this life is neither any more time nor place to make amendes for our sinnes or obteine any mercy or forgiuenes at Gods hands there she shrinks backe into her shel and lettes her hoode hearken to that And where as the said Cyprianus and Hieronymus do stoutly teach That al Ministers true Preachers of Gods worde haue like power in what place soeuer they be whether it be at Rome or at Naples or amoÌ„g the Indies or in Tartaria all that is pedlers French to our holy mother the church of Rome whereas Gregorius doth plainly write and in diuerse places sayeth That whatsoeuer he be that names himselfe a general Bishop or The chiefe head and principall of all Bishops he is the very messenger of Antichrist and the sonne of the diuell for that neither hee nor no man liuing can beare the name of a generall Bishop without the vtter defacing of the seruice of the Church But that must be vnderstood with a prouiso to wit The Pope of Rome alwayes excepted Nowe whereas k Tertulianus Augustinus Theodoretus and many other moe doe expounde these wordes of the Sacrament This is my bodie sacramentally and say that it is a figure a signe and a seale of the bodie of Christ that was offred vp and broken for vs then is there nothing to say but God helpe you There is no bodie at home Whereas they doe generallie with one consent teache and stoutely mainteine that the Supper of the Lorde ought to bee ministred vnto all men vnder both kindes that smelles of a Ratte the Cow is broken loose Whereas Irinaeus who wrote that about a hundred yeres after saint Iohn the Apostle the number of the beast whereof Saint Iohn speaketh in his Reuelation or vision doeth meane by this word Latinos the Romish or the Latine Church and regiment and the Tertul. Hieronymus do expound the beast with seuen hornes for the citie of Rome that is al bibble babble In summe whensoeuer they set forth or teach any thing that souÌ„ds not wel in the eares of our deare mother the holy Church she lettes them be packing without any mention making of them or else she correctes them throughly considering that they are but men and may erre And wherfore For that she is not subiect to the writings of the fathers neither can her authoritie be subiect to their iudgement but she as wee haue saide before is aboue the fathers and gouerneth them turnes and winds them as she will forceth them eueÌ„ as she thinkes good And whatsoeuer they haue written must bee sifted through her siâ—e to picke out thereof the finest flowre For otherwise seeing that the olde fathers do oftentimes differ amongst themselues and other whiles write contrarie to that which they haue set downe before and alwayes for the most part haue done directly agaynst the opinion and dealing of the holie Church of Rome howe should yea howe shoulde men make good cloth of such yarne if it were not that the holy Church of Rome did giue her iudgement and sentence on their dooings and did chewe the pappe before in her owne mouth to put the same with more facilitie and easinesse into ours her sucking babes as it were with a Spoone giuing vs that which she alloweth for good and casting the rest away which tastes not well in her mouth into a corner The summe of all is that we maye not make anie foundation of our faith vpon the writings of the olde fathers vnles they haue first bene vnder the hands of the holie Catholike Church of Rome and be by her ouerseene and set forth as shall seeme good to her holinesse The iiii Chapter VVherein is set foorth that the Church of Rome is not subiect to anie Councell but maye approue or disanull them according as shee shall thinke best for her ovvne benefite And this is confirmed by many examples and profounde reasons BVt nowe are there some such grosse fellowes which notwithstanding they do see that the Church is aboue the Scriptures and aboue all the doctrine and Writinges of the olde Fathers yet they thinke that her power and authoritie maye be as it were compassed in and paled about by the Councels So that there should be nothing receiued for a commaundement of the church but it must first be concluded by a Councell And what soeuer were once there coÌ„cluded and agreed vpon with that neither the church of Rome should medle nor the Pope haue anie thing to doe Yea mary these good felowes O they come in due season they might a great deale better haue tarried at home For consider seeing that all the Prophetes and Apostles and likewise the old Fathers altogether yea Iesus Christ the very Sonne and trueth of God himself could neuer so binde nor make subiect the holy church that she should yeeld and submit her selfe to their writing and doctrine onely howe doe these felowes thinke then that the Councels should haue greater power to bring her within their parke and pases considering that they are men which haue so often times erred yea and swarued cleane from the trueth Wee knowâ— well ynough that the Councel Ariminense Sirmiense and Seleucense did in the time of Constantine the great fortifie the heresie of the Arrians with their Decrees The seconde Councel of Ephesus did cleue vnto the Heretike Eutyches and did blasphemously and confusedly mingle the two natures of Christe together The councel of Carthago in the time of Cyprian which was holden before the first councel of Nicene did conclude That heretikes ought to be christened againe But what needeth al this Was not Christ him selfe iudged coÌ„demned in a generall councel at Hierusalem which was the chosen citie of God And that the councels haue often times erred may lightly erre it appereth plainly inough by the witnessing of Gregorie Nazianzene who was accustomed to say That he neuer saw couÌ„cell that teÌ„ded to a good end Yea do we not see how there haue bin many couÌ„cels whose proceedings haue bin flat against the doctrine institutions set forth by our holy mother the church and yet would defend their doings by the holy scripture But what a good yere Can the couÌ„cels preuaile against the church of Rome they hauing no power nor authoritie at all other thaÌ„ is giueÌ„ them by our holy father the pope How I pray you should that then hang together that they should be placed at the vpper end not only aboue the pope but aboue the whole church Is it not written in the booke of the decretals That no couÌ„cel can in any thing forbid the holy church nor set any commandment ouer her considering that all couÌ„cels haue bin at her appointment and receiued their power authoritie froÌ„ her holinesse And that in al statutes ordinances decrees of the couÌ„cels the authoritie of the Pope is excepted exempted See we not likewise that in the councel of Lateran it was coÌ„cluded likewise
excommunicated Yea marie syr it were better that the Councels were al at the gallowes thaÌ„ the holy church should be subiect to that order Then after this might they come in and dashe vs in the teeth with the Councell of Triburine which did forbid any money to be takeÌ„ for buryings what a gods name who could digest that morsel And to this they would adde the Councel of Basil where was plainely and sharpely ordeined That â—he Court of Rome shall not take any money for any Dispensations Elections Postulations PresentatioÌ„s nor any other Ecclesiastical offices authorities benefices hallowings blessings no not for the very Pallium or Bishops mantle neither to be paid vnder the colour of bulles seales nor aÌ„nuales by what colour or pretence soeuer they might be done Aha friend What an Eclipse would that breede in the Popes purse They would also come forth with the Councel of Mentz which was holden in the time of Carolus Magnus where was ordeyned That there should bee giuen againe and restitution made of al the goods lands which by bequest last will or testament had bene left to anie of the Spiritualtie tending to anie losse or hinderance of the right heires Goddes populorum That were too bitter a Pill to swallowe and digest Then would they assaulte vs with the Councell of Laterane whereat by Pope Nicholas 2. and fourteene Bishops was verie solemnly and irreuocably concluded That the Pope of Rome should be chosen by nomination the whole common people assembled together the spiritualtie with the Colledge of Cardinalles present And if it shoulde bee prooued that any man should by rewardes giftes bribes or any other indirect meanes attaine to the same roome the same should not onely be banished but should likewise be taken for a shamelesse heretike a backslider from Christ and an Apostata So that it should be lawfull to pull him out of his seat c. Aha my masters what a piece of worke were that By that meanes they might ouerthrowe and cleane roote out the holy Church of Rome Moreouer besides they would proue the pope Eugenius was by the councel of Basil iudicially condemned for an horrible Heretike and a shamelesse knaue and was deposed from his seate as a wicked vile villeyne who yet notwithstanding was after by fine handling and prettie practises of simonie and also with force holpen againe into his seate and of him euer since vntill this our time are al Bishops Cardinals Popes yea and all priests in general bred and sprung vp like a litter of pigges farrowed of a fruitful sow Al which one with an other head taile should be banished and esteemed for heretikes vngodly knaues if it were so that the Councels might beare any swinge against the authoritie and estimation of the sea of Rome and our mother the holy Church but that I assure you woulde be to feareful a matter And therefore must we of necessitie conclude That the CouÌ„cels can in no wise ouerrule the Church nor by their coÌ„mandments or ordinances coÌ„pel her to any thing no more than a Spiders web can hold or kepe fast a Pie or a Crow But al Councels must be subiect to the holy Church euen as an obedient child is subiect to his mother yea and they must alwayes daunse after her Pype Therefore when as these Heretikes and Huguenotes do bring in a great heape of these Councels to streÌ„gthen their doctrine withal agaynst the Romish Church they do but breake their braines in vaine They may well 〈◊〉 auace that the Councell Eliberinum in Spaine which was holden about the yeere 300. in the time of Constantine the great did plainely ordeine That there should bee no Images in the Churches nor in no wise to paint or carue any thing to be prayed vnto And they may alledge that in the twelfe Councell of Toledo in two Councels of Constantinople the one vnder Constantius the fift the other vnder Constantinus the sixt and likewise in a Councell in Fraunce vnder Carolus Magnus did all with one voyce consent in the same But we can not heare on that side They may likewise bring in apace and alledge That the Concilium Auristanum did clearly ouerthrow mans free will and iustification by workes teaching that all our righteousnes all the good works that we can do and al that is in vs must be imputed to the only goodnes vndeserued mercye of God that it is not in our natural power to prepare our selues to mercie but that we must receiue al eueÌ„ as beggers by mere gift through meeknes of the spirit But in all this they do but loose their labour and it is euen as much as if they would cut the aire in twaine for we do not esteeme al they can say worth a rushe That being done they may bring in apace for witnesses the Councels Affricanum and Mileteranum wherin saint Augustine did set forth such stuffe as were ynough to shame them all praying to saints vtterly ouerthrowen for that there was by perfect proofe and expresse Scriptures proued and concluded That neither is nor euer hathe beene on the earth so holie a man Christ onely excepted which hath not bene spotted with sinne himselfe and had neede continually to pray for remission and forgiuenesse of his owne sinnes So farre doth it differ from that then that the Saintes should haue any sparkle of deseruings remaining ouerplus But al these authorities are not worth a nut shell neither will we receiue their witnesses Moreouer whereas they make much a doe with vs that the first councel of Nicen did consent That it was lawfull for priests to marie and that the Councel of Gangren did curse and banish all such as vnder the colour of any cloyster religion or spirituall state should forsake their wiues or deface the state of matrimonie Whervnto the Councell called sexta Synodus coÌ„senting did further and aboue that ordeine That no man should require of any priest to make the vowe of chastitie vnles they of themselues were willing so to do But all this is euen as much as to knocke at a deafe mans doore And if that they also out of the sayde Councell of Gangrensis and out of the Councell of Ancerano kept about the same time of the Councell of Nicene will go about to perswade vs that they that eat flesh vpoÌ„ the Fryday or in the Lent should not be punished nor condemned yea and that in matters of mariage and eating of meates we may not charge mens consciences by the vertue of any newe lawe or bond al that is of Dauie Duttons dreame and wee 〈…〉 wise giue anye eare vnto it Furthermore they will bragge muche vpon the first Councels of Nicene and of Constantinople for that they did ordeine That the Bishop of Rome shall not haue any authoritie or iâ—risdiction out of his owne borders to witte the landes nigh adioyning to Rome
decree in the chapter Placuit de consecra dist 4. bring free-will to the gallowes They woulde rid Auricular confession out of the way and vtterly confounde the defending of Priestes to marrie and quite abolish the forbearing of flesh yea they would throw downe fastens euen and Iacke a Lent and breake both their neckes Besides all this they woulde plucke downe all Bishops and Prelates all Abbaâ—s Monkes and Chanons from their riches welthinesse and merie dayes And would make of them poore beggers with Pokes because it is ordeyned by speciall woordes in the Decrees That spirituall persons shall not enjoy any landes or possessions And euen so woulde they dispossesse the holy father the Pope of all his patrimoniall goodes and heretage whereof Saint Peter by his testament hath put him in plentifull and peaceable possession and would leaue him nothing but this bare deuise or prouerbe Aurum argentum non est mecum That is to say I haue neither golde nor siluer by mee And so where he is nowe a riche God they woulde in steade thereof make of him a poore deuill and then they would driue all Priests and Parsonnes Monkes Friers and Nonnes into their Churches and Cloysters euen as men woulde driue a heard of swine into their Styes â–ª and that by force of the decree Cap. Clerici causa 14. quaest 4. and cap. peruenit dist 86. and more such like which are written in the 86. distinction And nowe note another thing which is worst of all they would mainteyne that all Priestes Monkes and Chanons with all the hellish shorne and greasie swarme are exâ—â—â—able and shameles heretikes yea accursed and false theeues â–ª and that al Cardinals Bishops and Popes haue effectually and Ipso facto forfeyted all their offices authorities benefices prebendes according to the decree Si quis dist 69. cap. Nullâ—â— cap. Baptisando 1. cap. Quicquid cap. Placuit and an innumerable companie and too long to rehearse So that herewithall shoulde our deare mother the holie Church of Rome be cleane rooted out and spoyled of all her goodly treasures riches possessions and gouernments and in the ende should vtterly loose her credite countenance and being forced to play the bankrupt should be driueÌ„ into an hospital there to ende her sorowfull and miserable dayes Therefore let euery man which will pretende to be a good and faythfull member of the holy Church looke well about him that he in no maner of wise for any thing that may be do extoll the decrees so high that the holy Church of Rome should be subiect vnto them but let our holy mother alwayes remaine vnhindered at libertie and free that shee may freely as touching all Decrees Canons writings and ordinances dispense ordeine iudge dispose order and reserue and in summe bind the diuel vpon a cushen for she neither may nor will be constreyned in any matter considering that shee is like vnto these olde Foxes which can not bee taken in anie trappe She can leape ouer all gates and hedges ouer all ditches quagmires ouer al parkes pales and she hath no other order nor rule but what she thinkes good euen her owne deuotion her good intent c. And to conclude that which shee perceyueth to tende most vnto her pleasure and profite The vi Chapter VVherin is concluded out of that vvhich is aforesayd that the benefite and profite of the Church of Rome is the onely rule and direction of all scriptures decrees and Councels HErevpon may wee boldly conclude and out of that which is sayde before make a most true and infallible generall rule That neither the holy Scripture of the olde and newe Testaments nor the writings and doctrine of the olde fathers nor Councels nor Decrees nor any other institution or ordinance in the world can be specially holden for the certein rule of fayth wherevnto the Church is bounde nor yet for the traditions and institutions of the holy Church which all Catholike men are bound to beleeue vpon paine of damnation But the estimation and benefite of the holy Church of Rome is the only principal most sure rule directioÌ„ whereby all Scriptures councels ordinances and decrees must bee guided and gouerned Yea it is the verie pricke the white and the but whâ—reat all good Catholike christeÌ„ people must shoot al their arrowes and lay their iust leuel Therfore whensoeuer the holy Scripture will serue the turne of our deare mother the Churche of Rome shee may accordingly vse it and wherein so euer the Councels can doe her any seruice she may commaunde them and when the olde Fathers say any thing that can further her cause shee may allowe it and let the rest goe Also wherein soeuer the decrees may further her purpose she may haue them in reputation and make them equall with Gods worde But whensoeuer the Scripture doth make against her she may finde a glose or an Allegorie vpon it and so couer the matter with a blewe mantle And when the olde Fathers write any thing which soundes against her holines she may thrust them out of the doores and send them packing And wherein soeuer she doeth mislike of the Councels she may admit approue other councels against them and so driue one thunder away with another And when soeuer the decrees tend any thing against the maintenaÌ„ce of her honorable state she may boldly deface theÌ„ set an earmarke on theÌ„ which shee calles Palea that is to say Chaffe or Strawe or else she may sauâ—e them with something adde vnto them a glose of Accursius â–ª or Panormitanus or of Iohn Andraeas which will bring the matter in frame As for example Whereas almightie God doth by his holy worde commaunde That no man shall make anie image or likenesse that is spoken onely for the Iewes And as the Councel of Africa only because of the ambition of the Popes of Rome who would haue questions suites to come before them and there be determined did ordeine That no man shoulde transport anie matter ouer Sea by appellation and such like Therevpon shall her Gratianus gratiouslie glosse excepting onely such as shall appeale to Rome And whereas Pope Gelasius doth command that euerie one which will not shamefullie separate the Sacrament of Christe shall minister the supper of the Lord vnder both kindes to witte of breade and wine That must be vnderstoode onely vpon al priests and so like vpon all other And when as they can finde no good glose to couer the matter withall then it is sufficient to say Non credo I do not beleue it or Hoc antiquum est This is ancient happened In illo teÌ„pore In that time c. In summe she will vse the matter so handsomely as shal make most for her own aduantage Then you may perceiue well ynough that she is like the honie Bee which wil sit vpon euery flowre and fetch out of euerie one of them that
no maruell that she hath of her selfe set vp so many newe ceremonies and sacrifices and brought in so many Patrones Baalims builded altars and erected chappels in all high places and wayes and that she doth daily kill the Prophetes and doeth crucifie Christ again in his members For seeing the Iewes haue done so she is much more bounde to do it And vpon this point is the before alledged text verie plaine and cleare saying thus Hereby it doeth appeare that men may alledge and bring in good arguments and instructions vpon the examples of the Infidels Which doth serue our purpose verie well to the setting forth of this our purpose considering that hereby is apparaunt that matter which we haue in hand to wit that our mother the holy Church is not subiect to anie Bible or woorde of God and muche lesse to anie Councels or Popes decrees but may dongue her grounde with all kinde of dyrte and may make her Bee hiue fatte The ix Chapter VVherein is declared that the holie Church of Rome hath gathered manie things of the doctrine examples of the Heathen which she hath conuerted and turned to her owne commoditie and profite YEa here it is plainlie to be seene that she doth not helpe her selfe with the Iewes onely but likewise with all sorts of false doctrine religion and examples So that it is euident that she hath followed the steppes and Religion of the godlesse Infidels as well Romanes as other wheresoeuer the same might serue her turne For out of the rounde Temple at Rome which is called La Rotunda which was in those dayes by the Heathen dedicated to all the Gods and to that ende was named by a Greeke worde Pantheon thereof hath she made following the saide Heathen a Temple for our Ladie and all the Saints But is were mere foolish to stand vpon one example thereby to proue a matter whereof all the bookes and the whole Theologie of the Catholike men is full euen to the toppe For the verie foundation it self of their doctrine diuinitie is much more deepely grounded and built vpon the doctrine of Aristotle than vpon any either Prophete or Apostle by this same token that at this present a Doctours hoode or the Caputium of a Theologian or Diuine at Louen is called Aristotles breeche or Codpeece Yea and moreouer the most part of all our Scotistes Thomistes Albertistes Occamistes Realistes Nominalistes and other Doctours are sprong vp of Aristotle of Plato of Porphyrius Auerroes Abeupace and such other like Saintes euen as out of their head spring and principall well In so much also that the Doctours and Theologians of Colen haue very wittily concludâ—d That Aristotle hath bene Praecursor Dei in naturalibus sicut IohaÌ„nes Baptista in diuinis that is to saye Aristotle was the forerunner of God in al things naturall as Iohn Baptist was in thinges diuine and supernaturall And for this cause amongst other hath the holy Church condemned Martin Luther for that the doctrine of Aristotle which is the verie mother of the diuinitie of the Louanistes Sorbonistes and Colenars was by him reiected and nothing set by After this doth the worthie Bishop DuraÌ„dus testifie That the holy church did learne of Nabuchodonozor to halowe their churches and altars euen like as he caused his golden image to be halowed and consecrated which he would haue all people and nations to pray vnto So that it ought not to seeme straunge to anie man that the Church according to his example doeth likewise cause Heretikes to be burnt which will not praye to her images considering that he caused the three yong men of the Hebrewes Sidrach Misach and Abednago to be throwen into the hoate burning ouen because they denied to praye vnto his consecrated golden image But what neede I to trouble my self much with these matters The children in the streetes doe knowe well inough that a great many of the ceremonies of the holy Church of Rome are gathered out of the ordinances and religion of Numa Pompilius king of Rome For the decrees and the booke of Sentences do very cunningly set forth that from thence they proceede and that in these dayes men call the Pope in Latin Pontifex because Numa Pompilius caused his high Priestes so to be named From thence likewise the generation of Priestes hath issue For like as Numa Pompilius had his Flamines Archesâ—amines and Protosâ—amines appointed euen so nowe hath the holy church her Sacerdotes that is her Priests her Archipresbyteros that is her high Priests and her Protonotaries as by plaine wordes is to be seene in the booke of decrees So that Eberardus Bishop of Saltzburgh about 200. yeres ago at a general assemblie called a Riiâ—x day did verie wel rightly in naming the Priestes of Rome Flamines Babyloniae that is to say Babylonish Priestes And hath not our beare mother the holy Church ordeined the bonefire of Peter ad Vincula in place of a holy day whereon at the same time the Heathen did make bonefires to the honour of the Emperour Augustus And likewise the other saint Peters day which is commonly calles Saint Peters Seate is not that come in place of another bonefire daye which the Heathen did obserue at the same time And CaÌ„dlemasse â–ª I pray you what is that els but a kind of Candlemasse which the Heathen did vse whereon they euen at the same time of the yeare vsed fire with burning of torches and candels in the worship of Ceres Proserpina and Flora And of whome haue they learned I pray you that euerie man must serue God according to the vsage of his owne countrie as his fathers haue done before him but only of Pythagoras and of Plato A thing directly contrarie to the coÌ„mandement of God who saith by the mouth of his Prophete Ezechiel You shall not liue after the commandements of your fathers neither obserue their statutes neither pollute your selues with their idols for I am the Lorde your god You shall liue after my commandements and you shall obserue my statutes and followe them Where haue they fished out the Legende of Saint Margarete but only out of the fable of Andromeda or Hesiona the daughter of Laomedon And what is their S. George but a dumbe or mumming Perseus or an Hercules on horseback And her Chrystopher is a newe Polyphemus or Nessus And her seuen Sleepers are not they of the kinred of Endymion After al this what doth this meane that they haue so specially coÌ„manded That all their altars shoulde bee set toward the East but that they will directly herein followe the example of the Heathen who in honour of the Sunne whom they named Apollo did in all their prayers and offrings turne them selues towardeâ— the East Considering especially that God had for the same cause forbidden the Iewes to be like vnto the Heathen in that point as to turne their faces towards
yet in verie deed they will proue out of Paule that this new law of the Gospell whereof Ieremie doth speake is nothing else but the ministration of the Gospell which Paul did minister in his preaching and set forth aboundantly in his writing which remaines continues for euer And that did Paul openly witnes That he had neither forgotten nor kept secret anie thing of that which might serue to saluation but that he hath vttered truly set forth all the same before the Congregations ioyntly together Insomuch that he before the holy Pope which came afterwards should not haue left one iot behinde Wherevpon should follow that the law of the Gospel which the Pope doth carie in his bosome is altogether of an other Gospell much differing froÌ„ the law of that Gospel which Paul did preach or whereof Ieremie did speake then should the Pope be accurssed by the saying of Paule to the Galathians Whosoeuer doth preach any other Gospell than that which I haue preached vnto you â–ª let him be accurssed yea although hee were an Angel out of heauen But yet the Pope of Rome doeth not thinke that this doth touch him for that he is something greater than an Angel of heauen as we shall giue you to vnderstand in due time fit place Now that which he brings forth out of Iohn to wit that Christ said â–ª That the Apostles could not yet vnderstand all that the holy ghost should descend and instruct them further is somewhat more apparant But yet for all this he is neuer the neare For he cannot with this stop the mouthes of Heretikes by reason that they wil stil obiect say that this was spoken before the Apostles had receiued the holy ghost but after they had receiued him then did they put al the instructions which they had learned of the holie ghost in writing to the end that through that which is written all men might bee saued by faith in Iesus Christ as by the said Iohn is precisely written without this addition that they shoulde haue neede to watch anie longer after the Popes Buls or Masses of Requiem But it is euen as I haue told you our master Gentian hath bene so wildely prickt forwarde with that zealous spirite that hee did not see well what he said For he is a man that hath whole drifattes full of wit marie the bottoms are out And therfore will we helpe him againe out of his dreame omitting all such vnprofitable tittle tattle and purposing for the second part of this matter which we haue in hand to teach That whatsoeuer our mother the holy Church hath brought to light studied inuented or found out since the Apostles time is altogether so surely substantially grounded timbred bricked walled vpon the plaine text of the holy scripture so farre as they be spiritually vnderstood according to the interpretation of our mother the holy Church that it were not possible to erect any castle or tower more surely vpon the highest sandhill in all Hollande And this I assure you will bee a goodly peece of woorke whereby I shall deserue muche and bee partaker of a great manie goodly pardons and indulgencies and shal besides that become verie necessarie and seruiceable to the comforting of our sorrowfull mother the holie Church and to the extirpation and rooting out of all erronious opinions of newely vpstart Sectaries and Heretikes whiche doe yet thinke that they haue the Scripture on their side But they will haue but foolishe countenances when they shall see that the whole Scripture with the interpretations of the holie Fathers doeth at the least close vp as well with our doctrine as a ring in a Swines snowt The ii Chapter Declaring that the sonne offring of the Masse and the order and office of Priestes and Masse Priestes is gathered out of the Scripture if it be rightlie vnderstoode according to the interpretation of the Church of Rome THen to begin withall we will digge the holie sonne offering of the Masse out of the holie Scripture and proue that shee hath thereon a deepe and sure foundation Consider nowe it is plainly written That when Christ had broken the bread giuen it to his disciples he spake thus and saide Take Eate This is my bodie which shall be broken for you Do this in remembrance of me Do you wel perceiue nowe yee poore Heretikes that Christ doeth here commande to singe Masse for that same worde Doe this is iust as much as if he had saide Offer my bodie in the Masse to God my Father for the liuing and for the dead And that is first stronglie set forth by the Poet Virgil who saieth thus Cum faciam vitula that is to say When I shall doe it with a calfe Looke nowe by this worde Doe he vnderstandeth nothing else but onelie To do or offer a sacrifice and sonneoffring Ergo it must needes folowe That Christ did vnderstand it no otherwise than the worshipful Catholike Doctours of Louen Paris haue very well declared and irreuocablie concluded For our deare mother the holy church hath receiued approued strongly established their doctrine institution and prescript for an article of our faith So that it appeares that the Masse is verie ancient seeing it was vsed in Virgils time sauing onely that they did offer either Calues fleshe or Oxe flesh whereas nowe our Priestes doe celebrate their Masse with mans fleshe and bloud And herevpon you may note further that these short and sweete wordes Doe this is remembrance of me hath a wonderful emphasis or force For out of the grounde of the same hath the holie Catholike Church of Rome fished That the Apostles were Priests or Prelates with shorne crownes and did sing Masse and thereof it is that all our Priestes are created For Doe this is as much to say in their language as Become Priestes and see that your fingers bee annoynted with holie oyle that you may deuoutly say Masse And for this hath the holie Church of Rome commaunded That none of the Laâ—e people shall receiue the Chalice because our Lorde did not here speake to anie of the Laie or common people as the Apostle Saint Paule did in his time when hee willed the whole Congregation and Church of the Corinthians to doe as Christ Iesus had done But the Apostle Paule did meane simplie and onelie those which were able to sing the holie Masse as our Priestes and Prelates are who onelie ought and may drinke out of the Chalice as you may more perfectly and plainlie perceiue by the writers vpon the booke of Sentences and by all the before named Doctours of Louen of Paris and of Colen Moreouer and besides this wee can stronglie confirme the Masse offering out of the Prophete Malachie who in the 1. Chapter and 11. verse saith thus From the rising of the Sunne vnto the setting of the same is my name honoured amongest the Heathen and in all places
christian beliefe And for that cause did they drinke the bloud of Christ as the Catholike Doctours haue written according to the doctrine of Cyprianus saying how can they shed their owne bloud for Christes sake if they doe not drinke of Christs bloud But now there is no more tidings of those matters for the holy church of Rome wil not lose one drop of her bloud considering that she hath ynough to do for the defence of the holy Catholike faith to shed the bloud of the Lutherans and Caluinists like water in the streetes And therefore it is not any more needful that the Lay people should drinke the bloud of Christ out of the Chalice vnder the substance of wine They can digest it well inough rawe as it was shed out of the bodie of Christ Iesus yet for all that the priests haue this aduantage that they may drinke the bloud of Christ both waies And yet is not the bloud of Christ in the Sacrament taken quite away from the Lay people For when they do eate the whole body with flesh bones it is certeine that they gette in the bloud wall For the before named Bonauentura doth make mention of a certein miracle of one which would not beleue that there was any bloud in the holy Ost or singing bread vsed in the holie Masse and sodeinly there came bloud ruÌ„ning out And likewise Alexander de Ales doth declare that vpoÌ„ a time when the people would haue receiued the Sacrament vnder both kindes there was sodenlie before them a platter full of bloud whereof the good deuoute people being meruellously abashed were glad to content them selues with the one And that the bloud vndoubtedlie is with the bodie we haue here before by manie other miracles declared sufficientlie proued Therefore haue the Laie people no occasion to complaine as though the bloud of Christ were denied them for euen the Priestes them selues are contented with one kinde on the good Fridaie next after the shire Thursday when they haue had their sops in good Bastard or Romnay For then the next day being good Friday they sing a drie Masse and keepe a Mouses banket as well as the Laie people doe at Easter Before time likewise in the Iewish church the Laie people had no parte of the drinke offerings but the Priestes onelie For although that Chrysostome saith touching this matter that this is now changed and that in this Sacrament the Laie people must enioye the like meate and drinke as the Priestes doe so as nowe the one hath no more aduantage than the other as they had in the olde Lawe yet can not the saying of Chrysostome anie thing serue in this place For against Chrysostome wil we set Brother Barnard of Luxenburgh professour in Theologie and Iohn Eckius with all other good Catholike writers of our time who haue otherwise written and determined of this matter And as touching that which the Huguenotes do alledge out of Paule yea out of Iesus Christ him selfe saying That Paule did command all christen people to do according as Christ had ordeined and as Christ had saide Drinke all of this We do answere to that That this was onelie a simple permission and not a speciall commandement as he saith in another place Destroie this temple and I will builde it vp againe within three dayes for that is no commaundement but onely a permission as if he said If it be so in deede that you will destroie this temple of my bodie I will not forbidde you but I will builde him vp againe c. In like manner doeth our mother the hâ—lie Church saie that these woordes Drinke you all of this And As often as you drinke this you shall declare the death of the Lord Those wordes are thus to be vnderstoode as though he had said I doe not will you Laie people to doe so but the Priestes onelie notwithstanding if you will doe it and that the Priestes are contented withall I will not then bee against it Thus you see the game is won Nowe let vs to an other matter tending to the like ende The vii Chapter VVhich doeth treate of full satisfaction for sinnes of the desertes of good workes also of the merites of Christes passion and of Iustification of the difference betweene mortall sinnes and veniall sinnes and of the assured hope of saluation NOwe seeing that wee haue sufficientlie spoken of the holie Masse and the Sacrament of the altar and that our mother the holie Church of Rome doeth moreouer teache and set foorth for an article of the faith That wee by desert hearing a Masse and receiuing the Sacrament may make full amendes for our offences and sufficientlie satisfie for our sinnes therefore it is now verie necessarie that we something treate of satisfaction for sinnes and of deseruing by good works the rather because the Heretikes do with their scriptures so trouble vs touching this point as they turne both the spit and the rost meat into the ashes in so much that wee shall loose both the sheepe and the fleece if wee suffer this to be so plucked from vs And therefore it is necessarie to put all good Catholike children in remembrance that in no wise they doe giue anie eare to the Heretikes touching this point for feare lest therby they should be brought out of the right way and so by receiuing their goodlie reasons multitude of scriptures be persuaded from their due obedience to the holie Church of Rome And to the ende that euerie man should be warned and not by negligence sodenlie taken in a trappe therefore shall I set out something more at large their meaning touching this point to the ende that euery one may see whether our deare mother the holie Church haue not iust occasion so bitterlie to curse and banish their doctrine Then to beginne withall they do take vpon them to defende and mainteine by Scripture That all sinnes are deadlie mortall because that sinne is the breaking of Gods commaundements as S. Iohn saith And That who soeuer doeth not obserue all whatsoeuer God hath commaunded in his Lawe is accursed For S. Iames doeth witnesse That who soeuer transgresseth in one point of the Lawe is guiltie in the whole considering that the same God which câ—mmaunded the one did also commaunde the other In so much that all those which commit sinne are through sinne alienated and estranged from the life which is onelie to bee had at the hand of God and so must fall into the hand of heath seeing that The recoÌ„pense of sinne is death according to the saying of S. Paule whereby all men without anie exception which are vnder sinne are likewise vnder the bondage of eternall malediction death and damnation considering that all haue sinned are fallen away from that life which is of God into his wrath and do thereby become if the speciall mercie of God were not
prouoke people to deuotion muche more then is it tollerable to rehearse some odde and strange iestes of Heretikes as to wit that they are blacke and foule fauoured and worke matters with the diuell with such like thinges to affright people from the studie of their doctrine Now the examples are also verie sure waightie For vpon such like lies which the holy supposses or subiects of the Romishe Churche hath persuaded Emperours Kings to beleue were they permitted to make their placards priuileges against the Lutherians Huguenotes wherby such controuersies tumultes are growen sprong vp in the world that it is to be doubted great bloudshed will be made before they will be apppeased againe This may sufficiently appeare by the wordes of the Placard in the reigne of the Emperour Charles of noble memorie set forth in the yeere .1521 at the citie of Wormes declaring expresly That Luther was a Pelagian and did disdainefullie contemne the Saintes Also he taught that there ought to bee neither gouernment nor superioritie nor yet obedience did gainesaie reproue and disalowe all good ciuil pollicie and spirituall reformations to the ende the commonaltie should be moued prouoked to raise armes and rebell against their rulers as well Ecclesiasticall as Ciuill and to frame themselues to contend murther and steale wasting and consuming all thinges with fire and sworde to the great indammaging of the whole common wealth of Christendome ▪ And which is more detestable he ordeined allowed a certeine kinde of life whereby each should doe that which he would in manner of brute beastes and as a lawlesse man did abiect and detest all Ecclesiasticall temporall lawes Beholde these be the verie wordes of the Emperours acte and this is the verie first originall welspring of all the bloudshed which hath happened throughout all Christendome for the space of seuen and fortie yeeres vntill this present time the which all men may both see with their eyes and in a manner feele with their fingers to be most grosse blockishe and palpable lies which Petrusa Sotto the Emperours good ghostly father and other Catholike Priestes did blowe in at his eares not for that they did suppose it to be so for they had not a haire on their heades but it knewe the contrarie But fearing the reformation of the Gospell did moue the Emperours Maiestie which otherwise of himselfe was not by nature giuen to wrath or any desire of bloudshed to a bloudie abolishing wrathfull extirpation of all these Lutherans Caluinistes which were not in any respect for their tooth forsomuch as they sought to reforme papistrie by the authoritie of the Gospell Notwithstanding vpon their wordes onely did the Emperour proceede in his purpose would not at any time giue eare to the Heretikes Like as now the King of Spaine of a good zeale supposing to doe God high acceptable seruice doth also proceede to the vtter ruine manifest destruction of his own inheritance naturall countrie his most loyall louing obedient subiects knowing no other but that all is true which his ghostly fathers and other Spanish Priestes and foster fathers of the holie Inquisition do put in his head yea vppon the same hath not spared his naturall and onely sonne but hath deliuered him ouer into the handes of the hellishe Inquisitours permitting them to throwe him into prison where most miserably he ended his lamentable life Verelie this was a slie and fine fetche whiche our holie mother did wiselie weigh that to a good intent men might make a lie For otherwise if they might haue manifested naught but a troth then shoulde the Heretikes haue founde audience by Kinges and Princes the plaie had been made and all thinges woulde haue gone a wrie with Priestes and Poperie Masses and suche tromperie of the Romishe Churche yea the whole Spiritualtie would not haue beene worthe a beane like as wee may perceiue in all places where these Heretikes haue had hearing and where they haue beene permitted to plead their cause openly But worship bee vnto our Ladie of the seuen Okes and Saint Iob of Wesemall with all the glorious Saintes which are at Antwerp on the high aulter For there in good time did happen some foresight by the cunning of vnfolding the booke of lies and causing Kinges to beleeue that the Moone was made of greene cheese And good reason for who so faines himselfe to be a sheepe may happen to bee deuoured of the Woolfe according to the vulgar saying But yet haue ye another commoditie whiche groweth by this kinde of sacred dealing For if Priestes and Monkes were bound alwayes to preache the truth there woulde ensue a great disgrace vnto them for that they woulde oftentimes in their pulpettes become as dumb as fishes being vnable to bring foorth any thing because they are all vnfortunate in declaring the trueth and therefore shoulde misse the meane to vtter their excellent giftes of filed eloquence But when they haue no more arrowes lefte in their quiuers then doe they fall vppon the Heretikes and haue store of matter to talke of yea wonderfull things to declare against them they rage they rore they thūder they lighten make them so blacke deformed like diuels in hell Sometime they catch a Caluin by the throte sometime Beza sometime their quarell is against Marottes Psalmes sometime with the Greeke and Hebrewe texte whiche in no sauce they can abide sometime they martyr the Catechisme so pitifully as though they had it on a racke To be briefe they regard neither doore nor post but shoote their shaftes vp to the feathers in it They prattle like Pies and seeme in a manner as they had soulde all their potte herbes and yet reserue of the best to themselues that is truely a sport and pretie pastime specially to the deuoute women which are not greatly acquainted with the Bible or Gods worde but rather listen to the Popes lies and to daunse after his pipe or to heare some Gospell of a distaffe and tale of a tubbe In fine a man would verily iudge that such Catholike preachers had beene all their dayes Pedlers or pelting Apothecaries of Dutchlande or that they had farmed the prattle courte wholly to themselues Like as daily may bee perceiued at all their Sermons and specially at the woorthie Sermon which a goodly grayfrier doeth vsually make in Frenche at Antwerpe in S. Iacobs Churche It seemeth he is one of those foresaid pelting Apothecaries whiche hath trudged these seuen and thirtie yeeres to all markets faires about the countrie to sell his triacles and rattes bane It doeth also appeare by the preaching of the foresaid brother Cornelis the whipper who doeth with such a zeale roare against Heretikes that he will haue them rooted out quite and to bee burnte to ashes Yea he hath not long ago preached That childe bearing women ought to haue their wombes rent and torne to take out their babes and
burne them before they shoulde bee borne or brought foorth into the worlde which he doeth affirme with a plaine texte which he hath read in the kitchen bible or else hath learned of his Cooke namely that of Egges fride in a frying panne come no ill chickens I omitte the goodly Sermons of dronken Nicholas the Bishoppe of Harlem and many famous sermons more of sundrie worthie champions which doe ring their larum belles with suche vehemencie against Heretikes that when they are in their pulpites their hearse and rustie throtes will scarse bee refreshed and cleared againe with foure or fiue pottles of wine Yet can I not forget nor let slippe out of memorie that pretious Sermon of the reuerend Bishop of Vtrecht which he made when the Prouinciall councell was holden there whiche is about three yeeres past For in the same he declared and pronounced it out at large of the Dutche Beare Luther and that his mother was a whore and had slepte by the Diuell with many suche like Caunterburie tales and forged fables whiche he had rakte together out of Cochles or brother Laurence Surius who were godly Catholike pedlers And verelie suche trustie speares as Laurence Surius and Cochleus haue well deserued a good peece of rosted beefe hotte from the spitte considering that with their notable and excellent briefe histories they haue furnished and well armed the Bishoppes Monkes and priestes with suche stuffe as will serue their turnes to occupie their Pulpittes with all So as their stories may well and aptly bee called Dormi secure that is to say Sleepe without care So that the Monkes and Parishe Priestes neede not studie in their Bibles for to make a sermon so long as they are prouided of suche bookes For therein they finde made readie to their handes matter enoughe to prate vppon yea if it were naught else but the pretie pageant whiche the foresaid Laurence Surius doth rehearse of Caluin To wit That Caluin shoulde seeke to confirme his doctrine with miracles and therefore shoulde persuade a man to suffer himselfe to bee borne in a coffin to Church And when Caluin called to him before the multitude that if his doctrine were true he should arise the man being smothered in the cheste was founde starke deade his wife beginning pitifully to lament Caluin did with faire speache and promises of recompence perswade her to bee still and presently gotte him into the Pulpitte declaring to the people that it was long of their vnbeliefe that this miracle woulde not fadge It is a common saying that To him which telles a lie or a fable it behoues him to haue a good memorie But this was out of this good Historiographers heade for so muche as he did not call to minde that they are not accustomed at Geneua to bring deade ▪ corses into the Churches ▪ and muche lesse in time of any Sermons besides he had forgotten that Caluine did alwaies teach it to be an vngodly and a diuelishe acte to goe about to confirme the doctrine of the Gospell a new with miracles which hath alreadie in times past beene sufficiently confirmed with most notable and wonderfull miracles of god But the good Catholike is to bee pardoned for that with eating too muche fishe his braines are weakened and his memorie thereby decayed Yet he declares more which sounde a great deale better As touching the miracles of Luther of the bloud which issued out of the Sacrament from the altar in the countrie of Brandenburge whiche it may bee he hath learned of Aloysius Lippomano who hath likewise written a great booke full of such iestes And many more suche lies and toyes with a witnesse which serue greatly for the vse of Priests and Monkes in time of their sermons preachmentes And chiefely these newe base Countrie Bishoppes whiche for the most part haue spent their time in studie betwixte the butterie and the kitchen and can saie but litle except they be prickt forwardes with some helpes like as may appeare by the worthie sermon of the reuerend Bishop Franciscus Sonnius the father of all the newe Bishops which he made at his first entrie to a citie called Hertoghenbosch saying That the citizens might reioyce for so much as they had gotten him to be their Bishop for that henceforwards quoth hee you shall haue great resort of manie strangers which afore times were wont to haue their trade to Luyke and Vtrecht and the one should eate a herring the other should drinke a potte of beare which would be a great helpe to their impost c. Was not this a good helpe to sing Gaudeamus In like manner also Curtius at Bridges which notwithstanding had bene Pastour or Curate of the great and chiefe church at Louen expounding that parte of the Gospell Ego sum nolite timere I am hee be not afraid said That he was the man of whom so much had bene spoken and that they should not stande in feare of ought considering he was a towns man borne and christened in the same font In fine it was which way to London A pooke full of plummes The good Curate had but litle to say for hee knewe no tales of Robin Hoode nor yet of Caluin nor the Dutch Beare his miracles Hee had not red ouer the pleasaunt histories of Laurence Surius Cochles nor Lippomanus Therefore are they highlie to bee commended which can furnish out their matter with such pleasaunt rehearsals to keepe the audientes waking as for the Byble or Gospell they haue not forgotten much because they feare to read it least thereby they should become Heretikes To conclude so farre foorth as lies and fables doe serue to the aduancement of the holie Church of Rome they are not onelie to bee borne withall but also greatlie extolled And therefore it is no maruell that Maister Gentianus durst thus boldlie affirme by writing That the Huguenotes and Lutherans did hate and detest all prayers fasting and abstinence This is than the first point which is to be cōsidered hereof for his discharge to wit That he hath in this behalfe behaued him selfe as a good and faithful Catholike The ii Chapter VVherein is declared Howe it is to be vnderstood that the Huguenotes the Lutherans do hate all prayers fasting abstinence and penaunce or mortification and herein is comprehended of the abstinence and mortification of Monkes Bishops Prelates and other and of the mortification which is vsed amongst the Huguenotes Lutherans THe other part is that hee hath great reason to say the Heretikes are mortall foes to prayer fasting mortification For there is a rule in lawe That to plead a case ill and otherwise then it ought to be or to neglect the same wholie doeth fall out to one effect Well then albeit the Heretikes doe often pray fast for so much as they doe it not as they ought it serues them to no purpose It is true they pray morning euening would be loth to go to
a paire of gloues that their left hande knoweth not what the right hand doth And their gold ring what doth it els signifie but that they be vpright without dissimulation Their staffe that they are strōg against heretiks And their handkercher which is alwaies at hand that they bee euer readie to abandon all earthlie filthines and wholie doe rubbe of their fleshlie affections After this all Priestes in generall haue they not a shauen crowne on their heades to shewe that like as a round crowne hath no corners so haue they not anie filthines which they can spare or be without But if I should rehearse all these matters peece by peece it would verilie seeme to be a Babylon which is A fowle confusion or meruellous medlie Therefore it is suffient to gather hereby what great mortification doeth lurke and lie hidden in the skinnes of these holie subiectes of the Romish Church which by their outward apparell and seeming doe shewe such exceeding great holinesse I referre now al men to consider what is to be thought of their inward parts which are so holie as though they were possest with seuen spirites To the contrarie whereof these newe Preachers haue neither sticke nor staffe myter nor ring neither yet anie shauen crownes or other whereby they may declare their mortification yea they goe arraied like other plaine people and say that Penance and mortification doeth not consist in such and such like outward ceremonies but in the conuersion of the mind and soule to Godwardes and in an inwarde feeling of miseries a true feling of Gods wrath against sinne and in a firme faith and trustie staie vppon Gods goodnes and mercie through the merites of Iesus Christ. Moreouer That bodilie excercise is litle vailable but Godlinesse in all thinges is profitable and helpefull Wherein they sufficientlie shewe that they knowe litle concerning the mortification which the holie Church doeth teache and they contemne holie Confession Contrition Absolution and Satisfaction and other such like thinges and loue the first day of Lent aswell as the last Behold for this cause is it that Maister Gentianus hath so cunninglie concluded in this Article That they hate wholie condemne fasting praying abstinence and mortification of the flesh The iii. Chapter VVhich doeth shewe howe it is to be vnderstood that we can not make satisfaction for the least offence and hree is concluded that the penaunce of Heretikes is not acceptable with God. BVt forsomuch as they do here acknowledge that we can neuer make satisfaction for the least offence of the worlde that might seeme to be a great heresie for if it were so the Heretikes shoulde haue great reason to saye that our satisfaction were vaine and friuolous And therefore they would say as hath bin shewed before That we ought to laie aside and treade vnder foote all hope of satisfaction and wholy to cleaue trust to the meere goodnes vndeserued mercie of God which in respect of our partes is without desert bestowed vpō vs but in respect of Gods righteousnes is giuen vs for an exceding deere price to witte the bloud of Christ Iesus the vnspotted lambe which as Esaie saith hath borne our infirmities was laden with our punishments which was wounded for our sins and for our sakes did suffer death and vpon him is laid the punishment whereby we are at peace And hereout they conclude with Paul That we haue through Christ all satisfaction and that hee is wholie our saluation iustification and deliuerance ▪ And with Peter That by none other in the world saluation is to be gotten for somuch as there is not anie other name giuen to mankinde whereby they may be saued insomuch that all our boasts whether it be of good workes merites or satisfaction is wholie excluded and brought to nothing in so much as before God it doth not preuaile and that no fleshe can be iustified in his presence by the workes of the lawe and that all our righteousnes is naught els but a stained cloth But al this is heresie as it hath ben sufficientlie shewed before and they which learne such are hanged and burned like Heretikes For els as hath bin said what should become of satisfaction and meritorious deedes which according to the doctrine of the holy Church do amend faultes escaped and by good foresight defend and set vs free from those to come What should become of al our good works whereby wee can deserue three sundrie things namelie Eternall life Increase augmentation of mercie and Forgiuenes of sinnes What should become of the merites of Saintes through the which the holie church doeth pray vnto God that he wil pardon all their offences through the Saintes whose reliques bones do lie on the altar where the Masse is said In so much as often shee doeth pray through the merites of ashes horses and dogges whose bones for the most parte remaines also as reliques on their altars What moreouer should become of our exceeding good workes which are called Opera supererogationis wherewith wee doe not onelie make satisfaction for our selues but also for others and especiallie for the soules in Purgatorie Yea what shoulde become of Purgatorie it selfe if there were not satisfaction What would become of Pardons and Bulles which are allowed and sent from the Pope Verelie they would serue for no purpose better than to be brought to the house of office to be sealed with portingale waxe if so bee it were true which Maister Gentianus doth here set downe as that wee are vnable to make recompence for the least offence It were in deede a lamentable case therefore we must vnderstande him here aright For his meaning was to speake thus obscurelie because he would tole and entise the heretikes into the field For otherwise this is not his meaning but doeth simplie vnderstand that we can not satisfie Nisi concurrente gratia that is to say Except mercie doeth assist and helpe our merites as is said before sometimes thorough the pikes For we haue apparantlie concluded that wee must make a bargain betwixt God and vs He doeth giue vs his mercie in our baptisme but after that wee must shift for our selues and by our good deedes bind God vnto vs so that of duetie he must receiue vs into heauen especiallie if we be assisted with the meanes and by helpes of holie church namelie by the vertue of the Masse holie water tapers c. and with the Popes Bulles for thereby will our infirmities amende like corne shaken with a shower of haile or like fish left on the sandes and as sower Ale in Sommer And if so be that besides this we will submit our selues and take vnto vs the habit of a Monke or Frier and so frame our selues after the ful shapen order of S. Francis S. Dominicks rule and so compasse more then God hath commaunded vs then wee excell all the rest of our
with the breath of his mouth and force of his holie Spirit consume and destroy the wicked wasters and falsifiers of his holie worde and doctrine to the glorie of his most holy name and the edifying of his Church and Congregation But seeing that here aboue in this our Bee hiue of the Romishe Churche wee haue often and in sundrie places repeated that with manie ragges and patches it is botcht and sowed togeather and selected from diuers and sundrie sortes of flowres and herbes to make the honnie sweete wee will for thy delight and for the further declaration confirmation of that whiche is said dilate and more amplie declare the condition and propertie or rather commoditie of our Bee hiue the original disposition nature cunning and capeable capacitie of our Bees in their honie and honie combes their rule and regimentes with all things appertaining to the end it may be knowen wherein they doe agree with our common sorte of Honie Bees and in what respect they disagree decline from them In which treatie we will presentlie followe with the description of Bees which Aristotle in Greeke Varro Columella Virgil and Plinie in Latine haue wittilie written and for our learning left behinde them But because none shall thinke that we will in anie respect be iniurious to the holie Romish Church forsomuch as we compare her holinesse and vnmoueable foundation to Bees and a Bee hiue I will first and before all other matters rehearse the high prayse and commendation which shee her selfe doeth attribute vnto them For beholde these are the wordes which shee doeth vse vpon Easter eeuen in the hallowing or sanctifying of her Easter Tapers Cum igitur huius substantiae miramur exordium Apum necesse est laudemus originem Apes vero sunt frugales in sumptibus in procreatione castissimae aedificaÌ„t cellulas cereo liquore fundatas quib humanae peritiae ars magistra non coaequatur Legunt pedibus flores nullum damnum floribus inuenitur partus non edunt sed ore legentes concepti foetus reddunt examina sicut exemplo mirabili Christus ore paterno processit Foecunda est in his sine partu virginitas quam vtique Dominus sequi dignatus carnalem se matreÌ„ habere virginitatis amore constituit Talia igitur Domine digna sacris Altaribus tuis munera offeruntur quibus te laetari Religio Christiana non ambigit Per Christum Dominum nostrum Amen Which in our English tongue is to say Forsomuch as we doe maruellouslie wonder in considering the first beginning of this substance to wit waxe tapers then must we of necessitie greatlie commend the originall of Bees for they are sober in diet exceeding chast in engendring They make closettes found them on the souple waxe whervnto mans â–ª inuention and knowledge is not to bee compared they gather of the flowres with their feet and yet the flowres are not endamaged by it they bring foorth no yong ones but deliuer their yong swarmes through their mouthes like as Christ for a wonderfull example is proceeded from his Fathers mouth they haue a fertile chastitie without bearing which example Christ hath thought good to followe and ordeined to haue a carnall mother for loue of chastitie Therefore O Lord are such worthie giftes offered and presented vpon thine Altar wherein Christian Religion is assured that thou delightest exceedinglie through our Lord Iesus Christ Amen Beholde here wee perceiue what a precious iewell these Bees are Wherefore our deare and louing mother the holie Church of Rome ought not to scorne or disdaine that wee doe compare her customes and orders to a Bee hiue considering that she her selfe doth compare the incomprehensible generation of the sonne of GOD from his Father together with his birth out of the pure and vndefiled Virgine Marie vnto the Bees whiche were in verie deede a great blasphemie if the Bees were not of so great valour and vertue that by them wee might liken and compare the holie Church of Rome And seeing shee saieth That GOD is delighted with the giftes and presentes of the Bees why should not shee her selfe exceedinglie reioyce with our Bee hiue Therefore can none blame vs herein vnlesse also they blame and accuse the holie Church of Rome for blasphemie Which considered we will without feare or dread proceed with this our Bee hiue Now followeth further the exposition declaration of the Bee hiue and the description of the Bees the Honie and Honicombe with all things belonging therevnto The first Chapter VVhereof the Bee hiue is made THE Bee hiue then wherein our Bees dwel swarme make their honie is made with tough and strong wicker or oziers of Louen Paris plaighted and wrought together They commonlie call them at Louen Sophismata or Quotlibeta and are founde for the most part by the Basketmakers of the Romish Church namelie by Iohannes Scotus Thomas de Aquino Albertus Magnus and other such like which haue bene verie expert and câ—â—ning in this arte These roddes thus wouen or plighted together must for the more securitie be bounde also with grosse Iewish or Thalmodician cables and then ouer that drawe a clammiâ— or cleauing morter plaster made of olde rubbish or chaskie dust wherewithall the auncient old decaied Councels were wont to bee morteied and dawbed beeing good and small beaten to poulder and wrought verie thinne with a litle chopt straw which the Apothecaries call Palea Decretorum weâ—â—ing and often moystening the same with scomme of the auncient Doctors and also mingled among the same some newe chalke of Trent and so wrought together with sande whiche is digged out of the decayed welles of mens superstitions or of that olde sande which the Heretikes were wont to binde their argumentes withall Here vnder you may also mingle some Iewes lime or Bitumen which is a verie tough and cleauing substance wherewithall the citie and Towre of Babylon was wont to be bound and it is drawen out of the poole and dead sinke of Sodom and Gomorre For herewithall thou shalt make such an excellent morter that neither the heate of the Sunne nor showres of raine will bee of force to moisten it or make it to splitte The maisters of this Bee hiue who loue to haue it somewhat garishe to the eye vse besides all the rest to make snowe white Gypsus or a kinde of playster of white biblish Marble stone very finely grounde in a Louauist or Parisian mill beeing wrought with excellent stronge durtie decrees and so stroke ouer with a whiting brushe or pincell and then painted with all manner of gallant pictures and braue images for that makes a gaie shewe and causeth the Bees the rather to enter into it The ii Chapter Declaring the first originall of these Bees COncerning the first original of Bees are sundrie opinions amongest the learned Some amongst the Poetes as Higinius and others saye that there was a woman named Melissa whome Iupiter did transforme into a Bee.