pulled downe and they cast out and those that did offer sacrifice vnto theÌ„ grieuously punished then saieth he the iustice is not certaine through the pâ—ssion or for hauing suffered death but the death and passion is glorious when it is for the sustaining of the true faith And therefore saieth he our sauiour because he would not haue the simple deceiued vnder this colour of trueth he did not onely say blessed are those that suffer but hee added for iustice But this can in no wise be attributed vnto those heretiques that suffer to seperate the vnion and concorde of the Catholique church c In that booke it appears these Donatists did indeed complaine and yet brag of their persecutioÌ„s but thus much I finde not there testified against them or of theÌ„ In his booke de haeresibus ad quod vult Deum he writeth to this effect of them And in his booke de vnitate Ecclesiae contra Epistolam Petiliani he doeth write that the Donatists which were a sect of heretiques that raigned in his time to confirme their doctrine they did not attende that others should put them to death but they did cast them selues downe from high places others did burne themselues in the fire to be honoured after their death as Martyrs and that is more they did threaten men if they would not kill them d He writes in that epistle no such thing you had the worst lucke in quoting of your testimonies that euer had aâ—y for 3. for one you cite wrâ—ng S. Cyprian in like maner doeth write in the first booke of his Epistles in the first Epistle that though an heretique suffer death for Christ that doeth not confirme him as a Martyr but that his death is the very punishment of his errourâ— and that he cannot go to heauen which is the mansion of the humble for seeing that he doeth seperate himselfe froÌ„ the house of peace which is the church yee know well of what church he doeth speake that he cannot be receaued into heaueÌ„ c. All those that haue writen the histories of the BohemiaÌ„s doe say that in the time of e Zischâ— was a famouâ— souldier captain but minister he was none one Zischa a martial minister of the heresie of the Heborits or Hussites there were a certaine sect of heretiques called Adamites like vnto the olde heresie of the Nicholaites for they did saie as these doe that mens wiues should bee common and they vvent all naked euery one taking the woman hee liked best whom hee did carie vnto their minister and before him hee did saie the holie ghost doeth inspire me to lie with this person then the saied reuerent father did giue him his blessing saying Increase and multiplie and so they went awaie This aboue named Zischa although hee had done a number of wicked deedes yet hee determined to abolish and take awaie this sect f And therefore popish traytours that are executed amongst vâ— for high treason though they seeme to take their death neuer so patiently we lawfully couÌ„â— call tâ—aitours though you â—anonize them for Saints and so he caused two women to be burnt for this abhomination the which two notwithstanding the torment of the fire did sing and giue thankes to God for that it had pleased him to permit them to die for so holy so iust a quarrell Did not Michael Seruet who was once master Caluins dearling rather desire to suffer at Geneua then he would confesse that Christ was God and yet notwithstanding his great patience or to saie the trueth diuilish obstinacy cannot be sufficient to make him a Martyr nor to perswade you to beleeue his doctrine g What need all these seing none of vs euer stande vpon the bare sufferings of meÌ„ no more then you you should yet haue named the places where these things are writen and not thus haue sent vs to seeke we cannot tell where There is a certaine minister of the Lutherans called Ioachim Westphall who in a worke of his doeth mocke at Caluin who did vaunt that within these fiue years aboue an hundred had suffered death to sustaine the Gospell of Geneua and he doeth answere him at large prouing that the sect and doctrine of the saied place ought not to bee approued for the multitude of false martyrs for the Anabaptists whoÌ„ he doeth iustly coÌ„deÌ„ne haue had of their sect a great many more for in lesse theÌ„ three years there haue suffered a great number more then euer there did suffer of Caluinists in fifteene And to conclude this matter the saied Westphal doeth say that the deuill hath his Martyrs euen as well as God with whom like a good sergeant he doeth march giuing the vauÌ„tward vnto the martyrs of the Caluinists that haue suffered at Geneua h The more to blame are they if they should say so but though heat of contentioÌ„ caused Westphalê° to write so bitterly I thinke very few will ioyne with him in this iudgemeÌ„t sure I am they whom you cal Caluinists doe not iudge so of them because of that 1. Co. â— v. 15 So that if one demaund of the Lutherans whither go those that die in the Religion of Caluin of Beza or of the Anabaptists they saie to the Diuell And if one demande of the Caluinists in like maner whither go the Anabaptists and the Lutherans they saie likewise to the Diuell And who would put the like question to the Anabaptists I am assured they would saie at the others to the Diuell For my part I beleeue you I assure you all three i This argueth a most diuelish and profane spirit in the writer And seeing that yee agree so well that one serue for an others harbenger we were very fooles if wee should stay your passage but let you go all to the Diuell for company for I thinke if you were all gone our debates would cease and hell would be so full that the deuill would long for no more The XXXI Chapter YOu neede not to tell vs that Augustine and Chrysostome haue taught that it is not the death but the cause that maketh a martyr For we know that to be a most certaine trueth and the generall doctrine of all good writers both olde and new and therefore you might haue spared your paines bestowed in the proofe of this And therefore most willingly wee acknowledge as Christ hath taught vs that onely they are blessed martyrs that suffer for righteousnes sake Mat. 5. and none to be martyrs howe patientlie soeuer they seeme to suffer their deathes that by for an il cause either in life or doctrine And yet we are not ignorant that many haue died in lewde and for lewd opinions who yet haue seemed to die willingly and cherefully and therefore wee deny not but that it may be true that some such wicked women of that beastlie heresie of the Adamites were put to death in Zischaes time in Bohemia died as you write and
meanes to preach the lawe of God And I tell you truely that I cannot maruaile yet sufficientlie that anie man of anie reason iudgement and learning as you would seeme to bee should be so farre past all shame as confidently to set downe in print that wee cannot deny but that Luther 1517. began first our Church and Religion that we can name none 100. or 200. yeares before that taught it when you cannot be ignorant vnlesse your ignorance be verie grosse that we name vnto you verie manie and that in all ages to haue beene of the same Religion and Church that wee are now of For first there is nothing more vsuall with vs then to tell you that all the ancient Patriarches Prophets Euangelists and Apostles witnesse the canonicall Scriptures liued and died in our Church and Religion The same opinion wee tell you wee haue of all the Christian martyrs whose number is infinite that were slaine in the first 300. yeares after Christ vnder the 10. bloudy persecutions that were in that time For during that time our Religion was onelie professed and embraced in the Church and verie little or nothing was there of those opinions for the which especiallie wee account your Religion Antichristian vnlesse it were of heretiques and such as had learned it of them in those daies once thought of And after for three hundreth yeares more at least in all the most substantiall pointes of Christian Religion and the greatest questions betwixt vs and you all the ancient doctours and the Christians that liued in their times as wee haue diuerse times sayed so haue wee often so proued it that you shall neuer bee able therein to disproue vs were fully ours And though after these times when Boniface the third had once obteined of that traiterous murderer Phocas the Antichristian title of Oecumenicall or vniuersall Bishop the mysterie of iniquity did euery day work more plainelie then other hasted to his height yet as I haue shewed in my answere to your publishers preface and in the sixteenth Chapter of this my answere to your selfe where you bragge againe as you doe here of 1500. yeares antiquity and continuance there were after these times from time to time that both spied the growth and proceeding thereof and set themselues against it For Bertram Iohannes Scotus were with vs against your grosse real presēce aboue 700. years ago Trithemius maketh mētion of a booke writen 400. yeares ago which is supposed was writen by one Arnulphus for as Sabellicus and Platina testifie much about that time was hee put to death of the Romish cleargie in which booke the authour grieuously complaineth of the enormities amongst the saied Cleargie and findeth many faultes in the Romish Church Gisburne also in his storie writeth that in the yeare 1158. Dulcinus Nauarensis and Gerrhardus preached earnestly that the Pope was Antichrist and that they had thirtie followers whom they brought into England who were persecuted then here for preaching that and other such like doctrine against the Romish Church Much about this time but somewhat rather before a company of Christians who by your Prelates were nickenamed Albigenses did florish and there were great multitudes of them euen about Tholossa whereof you Master Albine are called Archdeacō who did vehemently resist your Pope and his proceedings setting vp vnto themselues a Bishop whom they called Bartholomew oppugning the grosse pointes of your Religion euen as wee doe witnesse Nicolas Triuet and others in their Stories Hildegarde though shee were a Nunne yet in the yeare 1146. prophesied the ruine of your kingdome at Rome and bitterly inueighed against the wickednesse of your Cleargie and Friers So did Geffery Chaucer about the same time namely in his Dialogue called Iacke Vpland very saltly taunt and deride the vanity of your frierly superstition In the yeare 1164. was Petrus Valdus a citizen of Lions whose followers after had giuen them diuerse names to disgrace them withall For your frendes call them Waldenses Albigenses pauperes de Lugduno Picardos Boslauienses Thaboritas and Leonistas changing their titles and names according to the diuersities of places and times they liued in howsoeuer their Religion was all one And these haue beene of ancient time and of great continuance in very many places namely in Prouince Sarmatia Lyuonia Bohemia Morauia Polonia Silesia Belgia and in Calabria and of you wheresoeuer or whensoeuer they were they haue beene cruelly persecuted for heretiques and yet if their opinions bee iudged of not as you the more to disgrace them haue charged them but as they in their owne confessions of their faith and Apologies haue set them downe they in many thinges helde the verie same that wee doe and condemned the same for errours in you that wee now doe They are of 400. yeares continuance at least For Aeneas Syluius a man of your owne for he was Pope ere he died writeth handling the stories of Boeme that they had continued vnto his time from the yeare 1160. And Gulielmus Paruus writeth that their doctrine was examined in Oxforde and found sound concerning God and the merites of Christ for your doctrine concerning the iorning of our owne merites with Christes to make vp full satisfaction and redemption is of farre later inuention and their life saieth hee was commendable but in the doctrine of the Sacrament they were found to differ from the Church of Rome Yea Reinerus a writer 300. yeares ago who as he himselfe saith was often at the examination of them in his booke of inquisitions writing of them calling them Leonists confesseth that some saied they had continued from Syluesters time and that some saied they had beene euen from the time of the Apostles he further reports that they had great shew of holy life in liuing iustly before men and that they beleeued all things well of God and all the articles contained in the creede onely he chargeth them that they hated blasphemed the Romish Church And this he further writes that there was no land wherein that sect did not creepe speaking but of thē that were thē but in one cuntrey yet this he testifieth that they had there ten schooles in one parish called Camach that there were forty congregations or Churches of them euery one hauing their leaders or teachers and that their power in his time was such that none as hee saieth durst then openlie resist them There are yet to bee seene as good authours report the consultations and records of the proceedings of foure great Bishops in France against them writen three hundreth yeares ago namely of Narbonensis Arelatensis Aquensis and Albanensis yea 355. yeares ago I read there was a Councell kept in Tholossa especially against them And yet though both of ancient times and later daies the Synagogue of Rome hath sought to roote them out by all possible cruelty they and their successours continue vnto this day in great numbers in Bohemia and in other places But because you very
of mans merites and praying to Saints c. And Franciscus Petrarcha florishing about that time in his ninteenth twentieth Epistle calleth the seate of the papacy the whoar of Babylon the temple of heresie and treachery and in such sort describeth it both at Rome and at Avinion where then the Pope sate that he as it ther seemeth coūted it the greatest euil that can befall a man to be made pope Iohannes de rupe scissâ about 10. yeares after in the yeare 1340 was so sore a rebuker of the abhominations of the cleargy that he was therefore imprisoned he also compared the pope to a bird richly clad with other birdes feathers yet so as that for the pride of that birde he prophecieth that the time would come when the other birdes would call for their feathers againe and so make him know himselfe Cōradus Hagar one of the city Herbipolis about this time preached 24 yeares as it appeareth in the Recordes of Otho bishop of that City that the masse was no propitiatory sacrifice either for the quicke or the dead And within three yeares after the booke called Paenitentiarius Asini was writen wherein the Pope is resembled to the Woulfe the Cleargy to the Foxe and the Laitie to the poore Asse In the yeare one thousand three hundred and fifty Gerrhardus Ridder wrote a book called Lachrima Ecclesiae wherein he vehemētly inueigheth against begging Friers Michael Chesenas before mentioned amongst other things preached that the pope was Antichrist and Rome Babylon Hee had many followers whereof I read some were burned as Iohannes de Castilone Franciscus de Arcatarâ and he himselfe beeing Prouincial of the Grey Friers was depriued and condemned in the yeare one thousād three hūdred twenty two or there abouts And in the time of Innocent the 6. 1353 I read that two Frāciscane Friers were burnt at Auinion whereof the one was one Iohn de Rochetalayda otherwise called Hayabolus witnes Premonstrat and Henry Herford Who as Henry of Herford writeth preached in the time of Pope Clement the 6 in the yeare 1345 that he was commanded by God to preach that Rome was Babylon and that the pope and his Cardinals were very Antichrist and beeing brought before the pope for it to his face he boldly did aduouch the same Brigit whom you your selues haue made a Saint about the yeare 1370 in her booke of Reuelations was a most bitter rebuker of the pope and his cleargy and so likewise was Katherina Senensis 2 yeares after as Antonine writeth in his 3 part of his story terming the pope a murderer of soules a spiller piller of the flocke of Christ saying that they were more abhominable thē Iewes more cruel thē Iudas more vniust thē Pilate worse then Lucifer himselfe And the former of thē plainly prophesied that their kingdō should be thrown downe as a milstōe into the deepe that the clergy had turned al Gods cōmandemēts into these two words Da pecuniā giue money Mathias Parisiēsis a Bohemiā about the year 1370 wrot a large book of Antichrist prouing him to be come that the pope was he the Locusts in the Apocalyps he saith are his hypocritical clergy About this very time Greg. the 11 sent a bul to the Arch-Bishop of Prage stirring him vp thereby to persecute one Melitzius and his followers who is charged in that bull to haue preached that the Pope was Antichrist and to haue had congregations following him As Brushius writeth in the yeare 1390. there were burned at Bringa 36. citizens of Moguntia for the doctrine of the Waldēses holding also that the Pope was Antichrists and Massens recordeth that there were burnt about the same time 140. for the same cause in the prouince of Narbon and the same authour testifieth that in the yeare 1210. 24 suffered at Paris and that the next yeare there were 400. burned for the like cause 80. beheaded Prince Armericus hanged and the Lady of the castle stoned to death Houeden also noteth that about these times there were great numbers put to death in France for this cause of Religion Trithemius writeth that Ecchardus a dominicke Frier was put to death at Hiddelberge in the yeare 1330 for withstanding the Popish doctrine There is an olde monument of processe against 44◠persons for the same cause in Pomerania Marchia and places there about in the yeare 1391. And certaine it is that if the recordes and statutes of all countries in these westerne partes should bee searched euen thereby would it appeare that the number of those that haue gainesaied the Pope his proceedings in the time of his greatest florishing and cruelty ' haue beene from time to time infinite how much greater then is it likely was the number of them that informer times when hee was not growen to that power to vexe the seruants of god as he hath beene for these last 300. or 400. yeares haue professed the trueth boldely against him Thus are we come to Iohn Wicklifes time who florished here in England about the yeare of the Lord 1372 and yet I haue for the auoiding of too too much tediousnes omitted the names of a number of famous men that haue also withstoode poperie and ioyned with vs in sundrypointes against them in those times that I haue run thorow as namely Alcuinus Archbishop of Canterburie directly with vs against them in the matter of reall presence Aelfricus Ioachim Abbot of Calabria Arnoldus Brixianus Almericus a learned Bishop in Innocents time the third iudged a◠heretique for teaching as we doe against images Beringaiius Reymundus Earle of Tolossa Lord Peter de Cogneriis Eudo Duke of Burgandie the Archbishop of Armah and infinite others I might also here againe haue remembred that with H. Mutius writeth of an 100 burnt in one day in Alsatia vnder Innocent the 3 in the yeare 1215 when Antichrist in the Lateran councell bringing in the new and monstrous article of Transubstantiation shewed himselfe to be euen growen to his highest degree of iniquity But to let these passe and to proceede Iohn Wicklife as it is famously knowen was with vs against you in the most and weightiest things betwixt you and vs in controuersie and therefore in your councell of Constance you condemned him and caused his dry and rotten bones to be taken vp againe and burned Whiles he liued he had many great learned men here in England that ioyned with him as namely Nicholas Herford Philip Repington Iohn Ashton and Laurence Redeman and so many followers had he and they and hee had such fauour and protection especially of the Duke of Lancaster that then was that though your prelates here in England vexed and molested them what they could yet they and their fauourers in short tyme grew to that strength and multitude that by the yeare 1422 Henry Chicheley then Archbishop of Canterbury certified the pope that they all could not be suppressed they were so many but by force of warre
where I rest O most beautifull amongst all women follow thou the path that thy flocke hath made before thee setting thy tabernacle or thy lodge hard by the tabernacle of thy Shepheards If wee well note and vnderstand this answere it will learne vs that that shall suffice to keepe vs from running euer astray The sense is this O thou Christian which art troubled in thy conscience not knowing because of so many heresies which way thou shalt go or how thou shalt discerne the true religion from other false doctrine take my counsaile the which is to follow step by step the flocke that went before thee If that a thousand or two thousaÌ„d sheep run ouer a plaine those that come afterward doe not they knowe wel the path that is made before them Doe not they discerne the way that the first went Yes surely although there be no Shepheard to guide them And if thou doest answere that this doeth not suffice for I doe see diuerse pathes I see the path of the Caluinistes Cant. 1. the path of the Lutherans and the path of those of the Roman Church but yet doe not I knowe which flocke I should choose To this I answere thus set thy Tabernacle by the Tabernacle of the shepheardes and of thy Pastours I meane that a Then we may not leane to yours for this can it neuer doe I would haue thee to leane to that flocke that can leade thee from age to age and from yeare to yeare vnto the crosse of Iesus Christ on the which hee was nailed at noone daies and there it is where thou oughtest to quiet thy selfe and thy conscience Then to beginne If thou doest aske the Caluinistes Where is the true faith the which as they saie doeth consist in the true preaching of the worde of the Lorde and in the administration of the Sacramentes according to the institution of Iesus Christ they will answere It is at Geneua the Lutherans will answere at Wittemberge and the Anabaptistes will answere at MonasteriuÌ„ the Vbiquitaries they wil answer at â—ubing and the Trinitaries at Petricone and so consequentlie of the rest And then pursue and aske further where it was twentie yeares agone They will saie in the saied cities but if thou come to demaund of them where it was an hundred or two hundred yeares agone if they are ashamed anie thing at all to lye they wil not answere at all for there is none of them that can denie but that Luther who began to preach his new Gospell the yeare b This is a monstrous and impudent vntruth for constantly and generally wee say and proue by the Scripture that our religioÌ„ hath plentifull warrant both in the olde newe Testament 1517 was the first beginner of all these troubles the father of al those that teach this reformed Religion Then is it farre from that place where thy frend was nailed at middaie or where hee was crucified aboue 1500. yeares agone before the newe Church was dreampt of And therefore thou maiest easilie perceaue that this flocke cannot leade thee to the place that thou doest desire and consequentlie that is not the flock that wee should followe Then let vs come vnto the Roman Church and demaund where was this flocke an hundred yeares agone They will answere thee in France Spaine England Germanie and so ouer all Christendome And of thou aske where it was 500. yeares agone c They wil say so therefore it was so they will saie In the saied places And a thousand yeares agone likewise and likewise a thousand and fiue hundred yeares agone This flocke then will not leaue thee by the waie as the others doe but it will leade thee vnto the verie time of the death and passion of d This is also most vntrue for the popish doctrine from point to point wee are able to shew when it began and how it hath growen by degrees to that which it is not in a thousand years after Christ Christ by continuance of oâ—â— doctrine and by succession of pastours which Salomon doeth call the Tabernacle of the sheepe heardes And therefore this is the place where thou must seeke thy Tabernacle and quiet thy conscience to the ende that thou bee not a lost sheepe and that thou bee not readie to turne at euerie blast of new doctrine e None such coggers as Papistes in giuing the sence of the Scriptures who make not them the rule of their practise but their practise how mutable so euer the rule to giue the sence thereof by that our new coggers of the Scriptures doe set forth to deceaue the simple sheepe The IIII. Chapter TO this fourth chapter I answere that with Salomon to finde out the true Church of God wee as well as you exhorte Christes sheepe to followe the tracte of the flocke of Christ and to feede by the tentes or Tabernacles of his sheepheardes that so they maie bee ledde on and vp to Christ himselfe But then forasmuch as wee haue learned before by that which hath beene noted in the former Chapter concerning the fashion of heretiques especiallie seeing the same confirmed in you and other heretiques and apostataes in these our daies that euerie flocke is not Christes flocke that will pretende so to bee nor they alwaies his true sheepeheardes that are so accounted wee wish euerie one that wilfullie is not disposed to suffer himselfe to bee seduced by those that falsely thus pretende to learne to bee able as Saint Iohn hath taught all true Christians in the first Epistle and fourth verse to trie the spirites whether they be of God or no which they shall and may doe in trying both the flockes and their sheepheardes by the infallible worde of Christ contained in the Canonicall Scriptures For Christes sheepe will heare and obey his voice Ioh. 10. which vndoubtedlie and sufficiently is sounded in the written worde For the Scriptures are able to make a man wise vnto saluation through the faith which is in Christ Iesus For the whole Scripture is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable to teach to improue to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute being made perfit vnto all good workes 2. Tim. 3. And therefore his true sheepeheardes will feede his sheepe with the sincere milke of this worde because that is it which they must desire as new borne babes doe milke that they may growe vp thereby if so be they haue tasted how bountifull the Lord is 1. Pet. 2. And because that is it according whereunto he that speaketh must speake because it is writen if any maÌ„ speake let him talke as the words of God 1. Pe. 4. By which rule if the flockes and sheepeheardes whom wee followe bee tryed they shal bee founde the sheepe whose tracte is to bee followed and the sheepeheardes by whose tentes is safe feeding And contrarilie by this rule your flockes and sheepeheardes come to the tryall of it when you
oft in this your booke and the rest of your side continually beare the simple reader and vnlearned Christian in hand that before Luther there were none of our religion that haue so condemned your Church and religion as we doe I wil vouchsafe for the better inabling of euery one that shall read this my answere to see your vanity and impiety though this which I haue noted already be sufficient to lay open your folly to proceed yet somewhat further in this matter Wherefore to go on in the course of times though your popish Church hath bene in her ruffe and at the heighest that euer she was this latter 400 yeares yet we are able to shew that there haue bene many euen in this time from time to time and that in sundry places that haue ioyned with vs against you that therefore there is no such newnesse or strangenes in our religion a d doings as you would make the ignorant beleeue For in the dayes of Gregory the 9 in the yeare 1230 the Greeke Church and other Easterne Churches did quite forsake communion with yours who euer since ioyne with vs in a number of thinges against you as namely in withstanding the supremacy of your Romish Bishop as appeareth not onely by one Epistle that Germanus Petriarch of Constantinople wrote vnto the pope in the yeare 1237 but also by a large booke writen about the yeare 1384 by Nilus Archbishop of Thessalonica wherein he doeth not onely confute his Supremacy euen as we doe but also he enueigheth against al those that hold communion with the Popish or latin Church And as it appeareth in ancient record in the Church of Herford wherein 29 of the Articles wherein they differ from the Church of Rome are set downe they ioine not only with vs in this point in seperating thēselues frō the Romish Church in denying the popes supremacie which is the very foundation of your Church and religion but also in denying purgatory and masses for the dead in holding it lawfull for their ministers to enioy the benefit of matrimony in not vsing any priuate masse in not denying the cup to any that receaue in not ministring the communion in priuate houses in not vsing extreme vnction and in sundry other points And by diuers Epistles writen from thence of late extant in print both in greeke and latin to Chitreus and other Germans it euidently appeareth that they ioyne with vs against the Romish Church in many other great and weighty points of our religiō and that great hope there is that they might easily be brought to ioyne with vs in the rest Besides these Easterne churches euē here in these westerne parts euident it is that there haue beene many great learned and famous persons with innumerable followers at all tymes from age to age in these latter 400 yeares when the tyranny of your popes to represse them hath bene the greatest and strongest that euer it was which yet haue openly with vs stood forth against them and their religion For Fredericke the second as diuers other Emperours had beene before him as namely Constantine the 5. Leo his sonne and Constantine the 6 in the East and Henry the 4 and 5 in the West was a notable Antagonist of the 3 popes in his time contending against them to maintaine the authority of Christian princes against their vsurped Supremacy ouer them about the yeare 1260 as notoriously the Cronicles of those times writen by your owne men Platina Sabelicus and others declare And 20 years before that Krātzius testifieth in his history that there were many that preached openly in Sueuia that the Pope was an heretique his clergy Symoniakes and generally they all seducers of the people Ten yeares after that florished Arnoldus De nouâ villâ a Spaniard who taught that Sathā had thē seduced the world that the faith thē taught was but such as deuils had meaning belike a bare historicall faith that the pope led men to hell that he and his clergy did falsifie the doctrine of Christ that masses were naught not to be saied for the dead c. and therefore your popish Church condemned him for an heretique Much what about the same time was Gulielmus De Sancto amore a master and chiefe ruler then in Paris who went as farre as Arnoldus applying the same Scriptures which concerne Antichrist as we doe to the pope and his clergy and therefore hee also was condemned for an heretique and his bookes burnt by your popish rout And in the yeare 1260 Laurentius Anglicus a master of Paris also tooke this Williams part against the pope wrote a booke in his defence In the yeare 1290 Petrus Iohānes a Minorite directly preached the pope to be Antichrist and Rome great Babylon and therefore he was burnt after he was dead 30 yeares and more before this Robert Grosthead a famous learned man and Bishop of Lincolne for hee died in the yeare one thousand two hunderd fifty three was a great withstander of the popes tyranny and three dayes before his death hauing conference with his clergy he laboureth to make them see by sundry demonstrations that the pope was Antichrist and his doings Antichristian King Philip of France about the yeare one thousand three hundred was a great withstander of the Supremacy which now the Pope challengeth and a resister in his dominions of sundry of his enormities and William Nagareta and the prelates of France then ioyned with their king against the pope Grosthead this king Philip and his clergy as afterward king Edward the 3. king of England in the yeare 1346 despised the popes curse appealed frō him to God There is in an ancient Chronicle of S. Albons a notable Epistle of one Cassiodorus to the Church of England wherein are layed forth a number of lamentable abuses in the Roman Church in the yeare one thousand three hundred twenty eight In the Extrauagants we reade that Marsillius Patauinus Iohannes de Ganduno Michael Chesenas Petrus de Carborea and Iohannes de Poliaco all great learned men were condemned by the Pope for preaching against his Supremacy and other errours of that Church of his about the yeare 1326. There were thē also many learned mē more that disputed wrote against his Supremacy which took part with Ludouicke the Emperour against him as William Occam Luitpoldus Andreas Landanensis Vlricus Hangenor the Emperors treasurer and others Dante 's liuing in the yeare one thousand three hundred wrote against the Pope the orders of religious men and the Doctours of the Decrees saying that these were three great enemies to the trueth he flatly hath left in writing in his cāticle of Purgatory that the Pope of a pastor was become a woulfe that he was the whoar of Babylon In the yeare 1350. Gregory Ariminensis Andreas de Castro and Burdianus taught as we doe against your doctrine of freewill and merites Taulerus then a preacher in Argentine preached openly against your doctrine
Now betwixt Iohn Wicklifes tyme and the florishing of Iohn Hus which was about the yeare 1410 very many both here and elsewhere for following Wicklife were persecuted as namely here in England William Swinderley Walter Brute William Sautry Iohn Badby and William Thorpe whereof diuerse were most cruellie burned Then when Iohn Hus and Hierome of Prage had beene burnt at the councell of Constance for taking the like course in Boemia that Iohn Wicklife his fellowes had done before here in England about the yeare 1417 the religion that we now professe began to gather so great strength in Boemia that the professours therof were able not onely to defend themselues by force of armes from the intended oppressions against them by the Bishop of Rome and his adherentes but also to get many glorious victories against the strongest powers that the pope could raise against them Now from the yeare 1410 when Hus began to florish vnto Luthers tyme 1517 wonderful many both there in Boemia here in Englād and elsewhere continually rose vp and stoode forth euen vnto the death against popery in the profession of our religion Amōgst whō here in England at one tyme in the yeare 1413 there were burned in Saint Giles fielde vnder the name of Lollardes 36. Amōgst whom Sir Roger Acton Knight Master Iohn Browne and Master Iohn Beuerley were put to death After 1415 Richard Claydon and Richard Turning were burnt in Smithfield about this tyme 16. of name were persecuted in Kent and very many in other places of this Land Within a while after in the yeare one thousand foure hundred twenty two William Tailor was burnt here and two yeares after that William White was burne and betwixt that time and the yeare 1430 father Abraham of Colchester Iohn Waddon and Richard Houeden were burnt And about that time Paul Crow a Bohemiā was burnt there Thomas Rhodonensis at Rome And ere Luther beganne to preach against the Pope and his doctrine from the yeare one thousand foure hundred and thirty here suffered for the same religion that we now preach and embrace amongst many others Richard Wich Iohn Goose one Babran one Ierome and others with him Iames Marden William Tilsworth one Father Roberts and Sir Iohn Olde-castle the Lord Cobham Now since Luther I hope you will not deny but the nūber of them that are on our side against you euen in these Westerne parts cary such a visible shew that you cannot but heare and see the multitudes thereof round about you at home and abroad to be such that I dare say your harts begin to feare that if the number increase but a while longer as it hath done of late your Romā prelate is like to turne vp his heeles to leese his glory in these westerne parts aswel as hee hath done long ago in the Easterne cuntries And therefore you cannot but likewise thinke that he doth very wisely prouidently to send before hand as he doth his Ihesuits amōgst the sauage and wilde Indians to prepare him there a new kingdome against he hath lost his old here For not onely vnder your owne noses in Italie and Spaine and elsewhere wheresoeuer your antichristian tyranny causeth your religion to haue outward and publicke allowance to your griefe you see doe what you can our religion findeth still many constant confessours euen vnto death and hath done now these many yeares but also you know that so many kingdomes and cuntries haue giuen yet doe open allowance to ours and defyance to yours as antichristian that by this time you cannot but see your old argument of vniuersality groweth fast to be out of date force with you and beginneth a pace to stand on our side For euē in these Westerne parts our doctrine is embraced and professed and hath beene now a good while with the allowance of publicke authority and yours openly defaced writen and preached against as antichristian in the kingdomes of England Ireland Scotland Denmarke Sweden and France likewise in Bohemia and in Polonia in diuers whole territories Dukedomes in Holand and Zeland and in the Prince of Russia his dominions And besides who knoweth not that in like maner it is now hath beene long in the Dukedome of Saxonie and of Brunswicke in the dominions of the Palsgraue of Rhene the Dukedome of Wittenberg in the territories of the Lantgraue of Hessia and the Marques of Brandeburge besides the great common weals of Heluetia Rhetia Vallis Tellina and the cuntries of diuers other noble men in other places of Germany and elsewhere But they that hereby sufficiently doe not perceiue the folly falshood of your saying that before Luther we can name none to haue beene of this mind I refer them for further confutation of that your shamelesse vntrueth vnto Illiricus Catalogue of the witnesses of the trueth to the Centuries of them of Magdeburge and to master Foxes Actes and monumēts of the Church where they shal finde not onely much of these thinges here briefly touched by me more at large set down but also further proofe out of good authors that this religion which wee nowe professe hath had alwaies since Christ to these dayes in once place or other both embracers and teachers of it And therefore though it hath not alwayes had so visible and glorious a succession of pompous ambitious and proud prelates as yours hath had for these later tymes since Antichrist grew to his pride and height yet it hath neuer beene without flockes and sheepheardes one going before another in the profession of our religion euen vp from our dayes vnto Christ But when for very shame conuicted with the force of the trueth you are driuen to confesse that in some parte it may be true that there were alwaies some that ioyned with vs yet to driue vs from alleadging their names and succession against you you say they yet helde so many different and lewde opinions that we cannot fetch any continuance to our faith or religion from them Whereunto I answer first that we are not to beleeue your reportes of them but their owne Apologies and writings whereby it appeareth that it hath bene alwaies your fashion the more thereby to discredit thē to charge them to holde a number of absurd opinions which they neuer held Besides I say though it may be in some points we and they differ yet as long as we they agree in the foūdation we haue learned to account them our brethren 1. Cor. 3. and so to ioyne with them in that which they hold well And lastly to driue you from this shift we tell you that if you will countenance your religion and Church with none but with those that agree with you fully in all pointes there is neuer an ancient father for 600 yeares no not any writer or pastour in the Church of any good credit for 1000 yeares that you may make any reckoning of that which then wil go very neare you euen
to God the consciences of his superiours The XVI Chapter NOT we but your Romish Iesuites and seminary Priests are the sowers of that seede of sedition that you speake of neither is it we but they and such like of your side which when they haue so done alleadge onely for their defence their ardent and Apostolique zeale and affection to winne soules This in England and Ireland these late yeares hath notoriously and very often beene found true in these and questionlesse other kingdomes where the Gospell is preached and established haue and doe finde the like For they go vp and downe secretly vnder the pretence of reconciling men and women into the bosom of their mother Church to alienate their heartes from their naturall soueraigne to the obedience of a forraine potentate and so prepare them against the time when opportunity shal best serue to procure the death or deposition of their lawfull Prince And that thus without anie offence to God they maie doe they perswade themselues by vertue of the Popes bull in that therein they bee absolued from their alleageance vnto their home supreme magistrate and are thereby also taught that in furthering either his depriuation or death they shal doe honourable acceptable and meritorious seruice to the mother church of Rome These thinges I say haue of late yeares too too often here in England in open places of iudgement beene manifestly proued against your Iesuites and Popish Priestes and therefore as traitours a number of them and their followers haue beene most worthely executed Which thinges being so euident as they are great shame is it that yet you should not blush to charge vs with these thinges whereof yours are most famously guilty and whereof truely you cannot conuict any of ours You tell vs wee should haue praied to the Lorde of the haruest to thrust forth more labourers thereinto as Christ hath commanded vs Math. 9. and not as you quote it Math. 15. and that in the meane time we should haue reformed our selues and not haue taken vpon vs without some expresse commaundement from God a matter of such importance as the reformation of your estate is According to this counsell of Christ wee haue praied to the Lorde of the haruest and he in his mercy towardes his Church hath heard our prayers and wee hope will euery day more and more to the full ouerthrowe of yours and perfect consummation of ours But that in the meane time they whose eies God hath opened to see the Babylonish confusion of yours should there haue staied as you would haue had them vntill they had a further commission from God then already they had for so you must needes meane by that further commission or expresse commaundement that you would haue had them first to haue had you can neuer proue For they whose ministrie it pleased God to vse to detect your Antichristian doings according to his worde 2. Thessal 2. in these later daies were such as namely Wickliffe Iohn Hus and Luther that had not onely the ordinary calling of those times to feede Gods people as pastours and doctours but also they were such as God had blessed with rare and extraordinary giftes of knowledge and zeale and therefore if they seeing the abhominations of your Synagogue and the grosse blindenesse and errours that you still laboured to holde Gods people in had contented themselues onely with praying vnto God for the redresse therof with reforming of thēselues had not saied their hands shoulders to the work vsing the talents that God had bestowed vpon them to his best aduantage without a further new and expresse commaundement then they had alreadie receiued in the writen word should not they with the vnprofitable seruant Math. 25. haue had their wages They tooke not in hand to doe as they did as you would make your Reader beleeue onely vnder the colour of zeale without expresse warrant from God their Lorde and master For beside their zeale and knowledge by their callinges in that they were famous doctours and pastours in their times they were bound by Gods expresse worde Esay 58.1 Ezech. 33.6 7. and in sundrie other places to doe as they did But to bring vs and our ministers into hatred in this Chapter you labour to perswade your reader that as of burning zeale they haue in many places dispossessed your Bishops and Priestes of their places so as Gods Lieutenants and as men voide of all partiality for thus tauntingly it pleaseth you to write they wil proceede against ciuill magistrates both higher and lower in like maner because many of them haue beene and be as you say as ill liuers and rather worse then your Popish Prelates haue beene Which to bee an vnlawfull thing and the cause of all confusion and horrible disorder you bestowe a great deale of needelesse paines to proue for it is a thing that wee teach and vrge in earnest and you your practise to the contrary beeing so vsuall as it is considered onely in iest and for a fashion teach it But indeede this is the way which the malicious and ancient enemies of Gods Church haue alwaies vsed to disgrace the true seruants of God by with the Kings and Princes of the world and therefore you doe well in that you are nothing behinde them in malice enmity against Gods people in that you studie also to be like them in this Wee reade you know after the returne of Gods people out of their captiuitie in Babylon when they beganne once to build and to go forward either with Gods house in Hierusalem or the walles of that City alwaies this was one of the practises of their enemies to labour their discredit to the hinderance of their worke to accuse them to the Persian Kings to intende therein sedition and rebellion against them Ezr. 4. Nehem. 6. And it appeares Iohn 19. it was the principallest meanes whereby the high Priest and the Iewes prouoked Pilate to giue sentence against our Sauiour that they tolde him that he was not Caesars frend if he deliuered him thereby insinuating though in trueth hee had both payed tribute vnto Caesar and had taught others both by example and word publickly to yeelde vnto Caesar whatsoeuer was due vnto him Math. 16. 22. and they of all other did most repine at Caesars iurisdiction ouer them and their cuntrey that hee was one whose doings and doctrine tended to the supplāting of Caesar In like maner Act. 17. 24. wee finde it one of the vsuall meanes that the vnbeleeuing Iewes and other lewde people then when none in their hearts regarded Caesar and his authoritie lesse vsed to discredit the Apostles and their doctrine to accuse them to be seditious and such as cared not for Caesars decrees Neither did this practise die when the common weale of the Iewes ceased for it appeares in Euseb lib. 5. cap. 1. and in Tertullians Apology in sundry places that there was nothing more common in the primatiue Church
to abridge them of their wil and to resist their tyrannicall oppressions then they laboured practised by all meanes to hamper them also in so much that certaine it is that Gregorie the 7. excommunicated Henry the 4. or as some write 3. about the year 1078. gaue his empire to Rodolph who missing of it being slain the Emperour yet to be recoÌ„ciled with the Pope waited 3. daies 3. nights in the winter with his wife and child at the gates of Canossus and within the suburbes thereof barefoote barelegged before he could come to the speech of the Pope when he had obteined that then he was faine to kisse his foote and to yeelde vp his crowne into his hands to take it againe vpon such conditions as it pleased him to prescribe and yet his successour Pascalis raged against the same Emperour againe set vp his owne naturall sonne Henry to depriue his father of his Empire Who when he had got it yet he was in the ende accursed and excommunicated by that Romish see as his father had beene and not preuailing sufficiently that way the Saxons at last were set vp to warre against him and depose him And thus they hauing hampered these two HeÌ„ries vnto Frederick Barbarossa came which was about the yeare 1155. they did what they listed who beganne somewhat againe to abridge them of their vsurped supremacy and so did his sons sonne Frederick the 2. but in the ende Alexander the third brought the necke of the first vnder his feete in S. Marks church in Venice and Pope Adrian controlde him from holding his wrong stirrop excommunicated him for being so saucy as to set his name in writing before his and the other was miserably vexed by Honorius the 3. Gregory the 9. and Innocent the 4. For the first of these interdicted him the second excommunicated him twise raised the Venetians against him and the third did in the end spoile him of his Empire caused him to be poisoned and at length strangled by one MaÌ„fredus Innocent the 3. in the minority of Frederick the second and before he was chosen Emperour dealt in like sort with Philip and Otho the 4. placing them and displacing them at his pleasure Frederick the seconds sonne called Conrade and the next of his line also called Conradine were amongst theÌ„ miserably abused for the first of them was soone dispatched they stirring vp against him the LaÌ„tgraue of Turing who droue him into his kingdome of Naples where he died of poisoÌ„ giueÌ„ him as some write the other claiming but the kingdome of Naples after his death the matter was so handled they stirring vp Charles the French Kinges brother against him that both he Frederick Duke of Austria were takeÌ„ imprisoned in the end beheaded HeÌ„ry the 6. Frederick the firsts son Pope Celestine the 3. crowned at Rome but in such sort that with his foote he put the croune vpon his head therewith he spurned it of againe And the like that happened to Frederick had almost befalleÌ„ Philip the FreÌ„ch king by Pope Boniface the 8. who because he could not haue whatsoeuer commodities he demaunded out of France by his bull denouÌ„ced sentence of deposition against the saied King Philip and gaue the title thereof to one Albertus king of the Romans â—â—t for all the roaring of that bull Philip kept his place still AlexaÌ„der the 3. that trode vpon Frederick the firsts necke at Venice euen here in England so farre abused King Henry the 2. about Thomas Beckets death that he caused him to go for penaunce barefoote in winter with bleeding feete to his tombe And Innocent the third caused King Iohn his sonne after that 7. yeares he had resisted their supremacy tyranny by the meanes of his excommunicatioÌ„s indicements of his land and encouraging of his subiects against him to surrender his croune to the hands of his Legat Pandelphus and so he continued fiue daies before hee receiued it againe and then was glad to take it in farme of him for a rent by indenture Infinit be the villanies that haue bene offered done by that see to Emperours and Kings For did not Gregory the 7. to the great iniury of the Empire set vp Robert Wisard and made him King of Sicilia and Duke of Capua Did not Pope Vrbane the second put downe Hugo an Earle in Italy discharging his subiects from their oath and obedience vnto him Did not Pope Clement the fift most despitefully cause Franciscus Dandalus the VenetiaÌ„ embassadour suing but for absolution of Venice from the Popes curse to lie a long time first tied by the neck in a chaine vnder his table like a dogge before he would harken to his request Furthermore Gelasius the second brought the noble captaine Cintius so vnder that he was glad lying prostrate before him to kisse his feete and by the yeare 1237 the Pope Gregorie the 9. had so cursed king Henry the 3 king here of EnglaÌ„d that he was glad to currie fauour with him to receiue a Legat of his called Cardinal Otho meeting him at the sea side that in most lowly maner bowing downe his head in low curtesie towards his knees And though he yeelded wonderfull submission to the next Pope Innocent the 4. yet he tooke of one Dauid Prince of Northwales 500. marks by the yeare to set him against the King of England exempted him his welshmen from their fealty which they had sworne vnto him before Most intolerable were the exactioÌ„s coÌ„modities that one way other the Popes for theÌ„selues their frends had out of EnglaÌ„d in Henry the 2. king Iohns HeÌ„ry the thirds time they exceeded ofteÌ„ as it appeareth in the stories the ancieÌ„t reuenues of the crowne wonderfully empouerished the land yet wheÌ„ these kings though in neuer so huÌ„ble maner at any time neuer so litle sought to stay these pillages oppressioÌ„s of the laÌ„d the Popes raged most extreamly against theÌ„ did theÌ„ what despite they could vntill they had their will Yea so intolerable hath beene their pride insoleÌ„cy against kings Emperors that they haue brought theÌ„ to lead their horses by the bridle to waite on theÌ„ on foot like lackies they riding like high mighty princes ouer theÌ„ they haue made theÌ„ faine to please theÌ„ withal to hold theÌ„ water to serue at their table And though their power bee not as it hath beene yet 〈◊〉 â—lice and will to trample Princes vnder their feete is as 〈◊〉 as euer it was and therefore not onely haue Pius 5. and Gregory the 13. by their cursed buls roared against our gratious soueraigne Lady Queene Elizabeth that now is thereby labouring her deposition but also both secretely and openly a number of waies they and their fauourits haue gone about both by opeÌ„ hostility and priuy conspiracies to bring that their wicked purpose to passe yea though it were by the shedding of her innocent
is manifestly taught in others which is your fashion altogether and we alleadge them truely to confirme onely the trueth and therefore are very well contented that our interpretations should be tried by all soūd and good rules of interpreting Whereas you adde If we say they were heretiques and abused the scriptures c. the like report you say is of vs I say the more is their fault that so report of vs for they can neuer proue it Howbeit to make your report seeme the more probable you cōpare our dealings with theirs which by your saying are very like But the reader must be aduertised that you frame their speeches doings here without booke I meane without warrant of any good authour that reporteth these things of them euen of your owne head that so you may the better make their speeches and ours alike I praie you in what good authour did you euer reade and yet here you confidently aduoutch it that the Palagians Nouatians Nestorians c. who were long dead and buried before your Pope was hatched preached that the Pope was Antichrist It may be true that you write that some of them railed against the Roman Church that then was But alas what is this for your Romish Church now which is no more like that then then an apple is like an oister Indeede this is one of your trickes wherewith you coosen the poore simple people For it is the fashion of you all when you finde in any ancient father anie thing that soundeth to the credit of the Catholique church or to the commendation of the Roman Church in their daies to alleadge it as spoken in the commendation of your Romish church now a 1000. yeares after their death whereas there is more difference betwixt yours and that which they speake of in weighty materiall points of doctrine and discipline then in yeares If your Romish Church now would returne to the state of the ancient church of Rome and grow once like that you and we should soone agree For that is the thing that we will stand vpō with you that it is you in your railing vpon our churches that according to the fashion of these ancient heretiques raile vpon the church of Rome that then was rather then we For our churches are 1000. times more like it indeed thē yours as it is now Nether are you able to produce your authours to proue that these heretiques did at euery word alleadge scripture or appeal onely thereunto For the contrary is euident both in Epiphanius Tertullian Irenaeus August and others that wrote against them For they testifie that many of them shunned the triall of the Scriptures onely and fled euen as you doe to traditions succession of fathers visions other such like motiues as councels fathers antiquity consent c. as I haue shewed cap. 3. as appeareth euidently in diuers of these fathers writings as in Tertul in praescrip contra haeret Epiphanius in many places de haeresibus Chrysost in Math 4. Irenaeus libro 3. cap. 2. August Contra Maxim lib. 1. de Baptismo contra Donatist lib. 3. cap. 2. in Ioan Tract 13. de vnitate Ecclesiae cap. 15. Epist 165. ad Generosum Who but one of your Religion would euer thus grossely abuse his simple poore Reader You yet as a man that had saied all this while nothing but that you might truely say proceede on with your comparison tell vs that they were condēned by generall Councels so are we they were found cogging knaues and so shall we Whereunto I answere that those which you call generall Councels were but late Conuenticles of your owne since the apostasie of your Church from the ancient Roman Church wherein there was indeede no freedome of a lawfull Councell enioyed and therefore whose condemnation we neede care no more for then Christ and his Apostles needed to care for the sentence of condemnation that in their times the high Priestes Scribes and Pharisees gaue of them and their doings in their councels And as for your vnmanerly prophecie we neede not esteeme it For neither is your mouth any slander nor yet doe we take you to be a true Prophet But seeing say you they and you be thus like why should they be condemned for heretiques you absolued receiued I answere the likelihood is denied and the reason I haue giuen you alreadie As for Augustines probleme you talke of it is impertinent and toucheth vs not For we doe not with the Donatists shut vp Christs inheritance within the compasse of any place as they did in Africke neither say we that Christ at any time hath lost his in heritance but we say that Christ hath had alwaies and hath still his Church without restraint of place wheresoeuer it pleaseth him neither doeth it remaine now onely with a fewe rude Switzers and in two or three corners besides as it pleaseth you to speake For it is well seene that diuerse whole kingdomes as England Scotland and Denmarke haue receiued our Religion and that indeede it groweth so mightily in most places that it maketh the stoutest of you greatly feare that ere it be lōg your kingdome of the Pope will be greater in the west Indies then in these parts Hauing done with vrging this probleme which indeede fitteth you Papists better then vs in that you tie Christes inheritance to your Popes girdle you tell your Reader but you meane to proue it at leasure that these heretiques that you haue talked on all this while haue fortified their campe with as manie moe places as wee alleadge and therefore once againe you would haue a reason why that notwithstanding they should bee counted heretiques and not we You make vs answere because they did interpret them contrarie to the Churches doctrine which you suppose is the onely answere we can giue But I haue tolde you that because when there is questiō of truth there is cōmonly also questiō of the church our answere is that their alleadging of them was hereticall ours true and right as may be proued by the scriptures themselues and by the right rules of interpreting of them But be it that we answere as you imagine what haue we lost or you gained thereby This say you that you haue no more right then they to be counted Catholiques because you alleadge them also contrarie to the Churches doctrine Here againe you deceiue both your selfe and your Reader with the ambiguity of the word Church For if wee answere that we reiect their allegations for that they alleadged them contrarie to the Churches doctrine that then was we by the Church vnderstand a sound and sincere church of Christ in possession of sound Religion and not whatsoeuer Synagogue will entitle it selfe with the name of the Church and so vnder the name of the Church warre against the true church In which sence onely your Church against whose doctrine wee alleadge them hath the name of a church And yet you as though it
is no reason in the world why you should count from that yeare for neither Daniels words will beare it neither yet the true account of the time from thence to Christs death for that was about the yeare of the world 3354 and he suffâ—ed Anno. 3996. as Functius calculateth Neither is there any mention in Dan of 72. weekes but of 70 of numbers whereinto he deuideth that Beside it seemeth that your Arithmetique or wits were very sleÌ„der to reckon 72. weekeâ— that is so maâ—y times 7. years to be iust fiue hundred when as if you account againe you shall finde that your number is not so iust by 4. as you would seene for 72. times 7. makes 504. A shaâ—efull learned man sure you haue shewed your selfe here but he did assigne the very time that is to say by the seuenty two weekes counting from the fourth yeare of the raigne of Zedechias vntil the time that our Sauiour was naâ—â—ed vpon the Crosse the which time was iust 5. huÌ„dred years TheÌ„ seeing that Christ came at the verie prescribed time he might well haue saied vnto the Iewes that the Scriptures did beare witnes of him But yet to say the trueth if he had done no other but this he had not fully approued his vocation to condemne their incredulity For they might haue saied vnto him we know wel that by the saying of the olde prophetes the Messias should come of the line of Iacob about this time forasmuch as the scepter of this kingdome is taken froÌ„ the line of Iuda to be deliuered vnto Herod But what though is this a good consequence a But now that tâ—is point is sufficiently confirmed already so also al the doctrine of the gospel by him and his Apostles therefore now to refuse to beleeue the ordinarie ministers of the Church vnles they proue the same againe by miracles which is your deaâ—ing with vs is an euident signe of vnbeliefe the Messiaâ— ought to coÌ„e about this time therefore it is I No no shew vs your coÌ„mission let vs see some signes how we shal know it for if we should receiue you as our king it may be that some other would come and craue the like saying that we were abused Our Sauiour Christ sore fearing this obiection toâ—ke another witnes with him besides the scripture I meane his miracles The workes that I doe saieth * John 5. Christ in the name of my father beare witnesse of me The like proofe is made wheÌ„ S. Ioh. * Mat. 11. Baptist sent his disciples to our Sauiour to haue him teach the true beliefe that they should haue in him this question was put to him art thou he that should come or ought we to attend for some other Go your waies saied Christ and tel Iohn what yee haue heard and seene The blinde receiue their sight the lame doe walke vpright the dumbe speake the deafe heare the lepers are cured the dead are raised againe and the poore are preached vnto the which is as much to say as tel Iohn that I am the true Messias that he ought to attend â—â— other I doe verifie my doctrine both by the Scripture and by Miracles For first Esay doeth write that when the Messias should come he should doe the Miracles aboue mentioned Then seeing that I haue done theÌ„ in your presence it foloweth that I am he that should come Thus you see Sirs that both the b And by the same scriptures and by the same Miracles we iustifie our vocatioÌ„ and religion what wil you haue more Scripture and Miracles were necessarie for the confirmation of the comming of Christ among the Iewes who were neuer harder of beleife then we are according to your opinion and therefore blame vs not if we sende you packing like Coggers of the Scriptures c But they doe 2. Thess 2. Apoc 14. vers 8.6 and 7. the which doe neither beare witnes of your comming nor yet doe any miracles the which two thinges and more are necessary to make vs beleeue your reformed Gospell The XXX Chapter THe drift of this Chapter is to proue that Christ did not onely warraÌ„t his vocatioÌ„ doctrine by the testimonies of the Scriptures but also by miracles which I grant you proue sufficiently Wherupon you would coÌ„clude that we accouÌ„ting you as hard of beleife as euer were the Iewes therefore we should proue our calling and religion vnto you by both whereas if it be true that you say we can doe neither and so are to bee sent packing like coggers onely of the Scriptures Whither the Scriptures giue testimony vnto our religion or no. I referre to the reader to iudge by that which I haue writen already by that we haue writen from time to time in our bookes made in the defence of our religion And concerning our vocation and calling I trust I haue sufficiently confirmed that by theÌ„ also in that I haue shewed our calling to be conformable to the calling of true Pastors in the Apostles time But if further you require a more speciall testimony from thence of our comming by our calling I sende you now to 2. Thess 2.8 and Reuel 14.6 c. where it is prophecied that God would towards the later end send his messeÌ„gers againe to consume Antichrist and by preaching the euerlasting Gospel to ouerthrow Babylon And as touching miracles you haue bene answered sufficiently already but that you complaine not that we refuse to answere you as long as you can obiect any thing to this now alleadged I say that you must vnderstand that it was necessary for Christ to confirme his calling by miracles because it is true as you alleage out of Esay that it was prophecied that the Messias should worke miracles when he came so also it was necessary once to establish and confirme the particular doctrine of his person the ceasing of the ceremonies of Moses law and other such new strange things as the comming of the Messias brought with it both to Iew and Gentile which reasons you cannot shew why we should work miracles now to confirme our vocation or religion by to you For neither was it prophecied that the ministers of Christ should bring Antichrist to consumption or the whore of Babylon to her fall by working of miracles but as you haue heard by the spirit of Gods mouth breathing in his euerlasting gospell the force whereof in our ministry you perceiue daily to be such that it is eueÌ„ a miracle and wonder vnto you to see in how short time it hath preuailed and preuaileth still against your kingdome doe you what you can to let it neither neede those things so notably once confirmed by Christ and his Apostles which are the onely things that wee teach to be for your sakes confirmed againe though you be neuer so harde hearted The word writeÌ„ and the miracles therin recorded already must serue the turne to conuert you to our religion therein taught and
for it as you would make men beleeue your prayers for the dead be For that had beene then furiously for a trifle to rage against the dead But alas master Albine both you and your fellowes are wonderfully deceaued in thinking that Cyprian meant here by oblation sacrifice and prayer as you doe For questionles by oblation and sacrifice he meant but the sacrifice of praise and thankesgiuing and therefore he saied not pro peccatis eius for his sins but pro dormitione eius for his sleeping and by praier not praier for to ease him of his sinnes but the publique and ordinary praier wherein then they vsed to make commemoration or remembrance of the godly brother departed the better to prouoke others thereby to imitate him which you might perceaue by his saying he deserueth not to be naÌ„ed in the praier of the Priest All which you might the better haue learned thus to vnderstande if you had remembred that the same Cyprian in his fourth booke of epistles epist 5. hauing spoken of certaine famous Martyrs Celerin Laurence and Ignatius addeth for these alwaies you remember wee offer sacrifices as oft as wee solemnize the passions and dayes of the Martyrs anniuersariâ commemoratione with a yearely commemoration For I am sure you holde that these were not in purgatory and that therefore these stoode in no neede to haue an oblation and sacrifice of the masse offered for them or praiers in your sence to be made for them Yea how can these otherwise be vnderstoode then of the oblation and sacrifice of thankesgiuing in the memorial or remembring the godly life and constant Christian death of such And so we neither dislike the practise of such thankful coÌ„memorations of the godly departed now nor deny that of ancient time for the comfort and instruction of them that were aliue that it hath beene vsed And of this offering of the oblation of praise and thankesgiuing for the faithfull departed very well may and must that be vnderstoode which vsually you alleadge so much out of the Lyturgies which you father vpoÌ„ Basil and Chrysostome For you know in offering it they teach you to offer it to God for those that are at rest in faith their elders their fathers patriarchs Prophets Apostles Euangelists Martyrs and for Mary the blessed Virgin her selfe For I hope you thinke not all these staÌ„d in neede to be offered praied for to be eased in purgatory And yet your praying for the dead your purgatory are right Hypocrates twins they must laugh and weepe togither they must stand and fal beginne and ende both at once I am sure you haue heard of Augustines saying Qui orat pro martyre iniuriam facit martyri he that prayeth for a martyr iniureth a martyr And therefore long after the councell of Bracchar in Spaine mentioneth onely a coÌ„memoration of the dead that die in the Lorde with Psalmes of thankesgiuing which it forbiddeth to be vsed for those that kill themselues or for their faults are put to death can 34. Indeede in that councell which was in the yeare of the Lorde 630. in the time of Honorius the first for I speake of the first held there I finde mentioÌ„ in the 39. Canon which is the last thereof not onely of a commemoration of the dead but of some offering when that was or when the feasts of martyrs in their memories were kept of mony or some other thing for the reliefe of the needy where order is taken for the receauing of it and bestowing of it which either were the free will offerings of the liuing to testifie their thankfulnesse to God for the good departure of the dead or bequests and legacies of the dead to the reliefe of the poore other holy vses against the staying detaining whereof the fourth Councell of Carthage and the second of Vase sharplie decreed And it appeareth in Iustinus martyrs second apologie that euen so long ago after the communion there was an oblation of almes giuen for such vses but he in neither of his apologies though therein hee shewe what the forme and maner of the Christians seruing of GOD then was of purpose once remembreth so much as any commemoration then made of the dead in their assemblies Of such offerings and oblations at the commemorations of the dead I noted before what the authour of the tractes vpon Iob commonly fathered vpon Origen hath saied Other oblation sacrifice or offering then these two of thanksegiuing and almes I cannot finde in any ancient and sound writer allowed The more are you to blame Master Albine that thorow the ambiguity of the wordes not vnderstoode of your simple Reader will make him beleeue that yet because Cyprian hath these words that therefore thereby he alloweth of your kinde of offerings oblations and sacrifice of the â—asse for the sinnes of the dead If there had beene aâ—â—â—â—ch vse of the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ why haue none of the Apostles or Euangelists made any mention of it Or neither Christ nor they hauing spoken one word of anie such vse of it what reason is there that if there aftercoÌ„mers should without all warraÌ„t from any of them that we should be leeue them therein Surely whosoeuer he be that should especially also seeing we cannot finde how many kinde of sacrifices soeuer God for diuerse occasions in the old testament appointed that euer he appointed any or made any mention of any for the dead we would learne of Chrysostome euen therefore to say vnto him you see into what great absurdities men fall when they will not follow the Canon of the Scripture Homil 58. in Genesin and with Augustine though he were an Angel because of a matter of so great importance he speaketh without warraÌ„t either out of the old testameÌ„t or new he would boldly hold him accursed Contra literas petiliani lib. 3. cap. 6. But to auoide this I know because in a cause so gainefull for you you will not seeme to bee altogither destitute of Scripture the bookes of the Machabees euen to help you at a pinch in this case in spite of all good antiquity and trueth shall be Canonicall Scripture and Iudas Machabeus fact 2. Mach. 12. must be vrged not onely as a lawfull fact but as a president to warrant your offering and sacrificing to relieue soules in purgatorie And yet in very deede when you haue alleadged this fact of his neuer so much you shall finde your dealing herein as voide of credit out of the Scriptures of God as before For first certaine it is that these bookes are none of the Canon of the old testament as you know well enough Origen apud Eusebium lib. 6. c. 24. Athanasius in Synopsi Cyril Hierosolymitanus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianzene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierom. in prologo Galeato Gregorius magnus libro 19. Cap. 17. vpon Iob the councell of Laodicea and diuerse others haue determined whose iudgements are inuincibly confirmed by the
philosophers and contrarily the trees may bee good as grafte vpon the true Catholique Religion and yet the fruites degenerate from the stocke Be it graunted that Christs meaning was no more generally to be taken in the one then in the other and that it followeth thereupon that euen as sometime a man through hypocrisie may speake well and thinke ill so a good tree may sometimes by some occasion haue some fruite not answering the goodnesse thereof intermingled with the good yet you shall neuer be able to proue but that Christes speech here is so generallie true as that alwaies a good tree bringeth forth good fruite and a bad tree bad fruite as alwaies it is true that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh at one time or other though at sometimes also and in some thinges the mouth be bridled For Christ doeth not deny but that euen of a good tree there may bee founde here and there a rotten apple a worme-eaten one or otherwise not answerable to the naturall fruite of that tree For hee knewe what imperfections there were and would bee alwaies founde in the best men neither doeth hee that saied Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh saie it would alwaies be so For he knewe how through hypocrisie oftentimes the abundance of filthie matter lying in the heart would bee dissembled It is sufficient for the verifying of these two Prouerbes generallie in that sence that Christ meant them that the good tree naturally bringeth forth good fruit and the bad bad fruit and that the abundance of the heart will make the mouth at sometimes bewray that which lieth in the heart let otherwise hypocrisie doe what it can And therefore you conclude more then your premises will beare For though it bee graunted you that the one prouerbe hath some limitations as well as the other yet it must bee onelie in maner as I haue saied Whereupon will neuer more followe that an ill tree may haue sometimes naturallie good fruite growing vpon it and a good tree bad fruite then it will euer be found false that at one time or other out of the abundance of the heart euerie mouth will speake And the examples you haue set downe are both vnfitte For neither were the workes of the heathen philosophers what shewe soeuer they had outwardly of goodnes good workes indeede nor euer will it be graunted you of any that can distinguish betwixt good and euill that a Catholique in your sence with doubtles with you is one of the Popish Religion that now is is a good tree The reason of the one is because howsoeuer the works of those philosophers had in them the matter of good workes in the cōformity they had to the outward actions commanded by the law yet they lacked the forme of good workes in that they neither proceeded from a right fountaine were done to a right ende nor in right maner and you know that forma dat esse rei the forme is that that causeth the thing to bee this or that and that it is writen whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne Romans 14 and it is impossible to please God without faith Heb. 11. which faith they were without The reasō of the other is that your religiō being naught Antichristian it selfe cannot make any man or woman a good tree but bad like it selfe for qualis causa talis effectus such as the cause is the effect will be Wherefore for any thing you haue saied as yet euery good tree will so bring forth good fruit and euerie bad tree bad fruit as that by their fruit they maie bee discerned And indeed cauill you to the contrary as much as you list this is most certaine all the difficultie is in knowing the good and bad fruit that Christ meant of and how alwaies to discerne the one from the other In my iudgement and I thinke likewise in the iudgement of euerie one that well weigheth Christes words and the circumstances thereof by the good fruit wee are to vnderstand pure religion ioined with an holie life by the bad fruit a bad religion and like life the good tree that beareth the former are onely the children of God whom he hath regenerated and iustified indeede in Christ Iesus the bad tree that beareth the later are those that remaine in their sinnes and vnder the burdē thereof not yet hauing had their eies truely opened to see the trueth nor their hearts effectually touched and taught to beleeue aright in Christ And these trees are to be discerned by sound triall and examination which of their fruites are iustified by the writē and vndoubted word of God and which not The XXXIIII Chapter IF that the sence of this prouerbe be harde for you to disgest I a◠content to staie vntill your stomacke be somewhat better assuring my selfe that you can interprete it no waie vnto your aduantage There is nothing more certaine then the good tree to beare good fruite if one doeth not make him change his owne nature but if one doe grafte vpon it some crabstocke or some other kinde of wilde fruite the tree can beare no other but crabs or wiledings euen so we Christian persons who are the trees of God planted by the pleasant fountaine of his grace and purged with the holy water of Baptisme to beare fruite at our season so that we take euer to prosper withall the dewe of his grace that planted vs I meane the faith of our sauiour Iesus Christ so long we beare good fruite as it is saied before alleadging the a The 5. you would say as before 3. of S. Iohn ill vnderstood by Iouinian he that is borne of God doeth not sinne for the generation of God doeth preserue him and the enemy of our health shall not touch him b If yo◠had lookt into the booke you should not haue found both these testimonies in one chapter for the first is in the fift this in the third And in the saied Chapter he saieth againe all men or euery man that is borne of God doeth not sinne for the seede of God is in him and he cannot sinne because be is borne of God By this it is not meant that Baptisme the which he doeth call the beeing borne c He speaketh of reall not simply of sacramentall regeneratiō of God doeth take awaie from man the power or libertie to doe euill for if he will degenerate from the grace that he hath receaued by the sacrament of regeneration and that in steede of growing graft vpon the stocke of the loue of God which is the true life that he will fructifie towards his death and destruction in this case hee is no more the sonne of God for as Christ saieth * John 8. If yee be the children of Abraham doe the workes of Abraham But as hee doeth continue and hath this good will which was taught by the Angell vnto the sheepheardes and that hee doeth continue
hauing the grace that was inspired in him by the holie ghost at his baptisme so long he doeth not sinne vnto eternall death d Yea the Apostle to the great comfort of them that are once truely regenerat teacheth in these places that such by the power of that grace shall be so preserued that they shall neuer sin as the vnregeneraâ— do with their whole man vnto death for the generatioÌ„ of God that is to saie the grace receiued by this holy sacrament doeth so defend him that the Deuill cannot persecute him to death being not able to preuaile against him and as long as this good seede which is the word of God doeth dwell in him he cannot sinne and if he did sinne the seed would no loÌ„ger remain in him The holie ghost saith * Sap. 1. the wisemaÌ„ shall refuse the hypocrite and dissembler and shall depart from the vaine and crafty cogitations and therefore the grace of God and sinne can not dwell togither nor we ought not thinke S. Iohns wordes strange in that he saieth that he that is borne of God doeth not sinne for it is as much to say as that one can not serue two masters and that he that serueth God can not serue the Deuill For. S. Paul saieth * 1. Cor. 10. You cannot assist at the table of God and of the Deuill altogether for what communication is there betweene iustice and iniquity or betweene Iesus Christ and Belial And hee that doeth loue this world declareth himselfe an enemie vnto God And a little before he had saied he that doeth commit sinne is the sonne of the Deuill the which doeth not affirme that a sinner cannot be the sonne of God if he repent and doe penance but in the meane while a If this assertion be true â—â—en as often as the regenerate either actually sinneth or hath but a minde to sinne he is not the childe of God I would gladly know theÌ„ h w often the authour hath coÌ„tinued a moreâ—h the child of God togither or any man else he that is in actuall sinne or hath a minde to doe euill is as then not the sonne of God but the sonne of the Deuill The good tree doeth not beare ill fruite for although the fruit doe rot or perish vpon the tree that corruption doeth not proceede of the tree but of the wormes birdes or of some other kinde of vermine and therefore when they say that by the fruit we shall knowe the tree and by the workes the faith this ought to be vnderstood when the fruite doeth ripe in season and that it hath the naturall humour and property of the tree And in a man that he haue the influeÌ„ce of the true faith not otherwise for euen as the rotten fruit hanging vpon the tree doeth digresse nothing from the good stocke euen so the ill workes of vs that are Christians ought not to staine our holy and Catholique religion b Thus we also answere the obiection that you make against our religion froÌ„ the lewd liues that you see in some which seeme to be of our profession It is a good defence for you you thinke why should you not graunt â— then so to be to vs For the corruption of our ill fruites coÌ„meth of our selues and not of our religion the which doeth defende vs from doing that we doe I meane to sweare to blaspheme to commit adulterie to doe anie man wrong or to offend God anie waie He that doeth desire then by the fruit to know whither the tree of our Religion bee good hee ought not to bende his eies to looke vpon the rotten fruit as if that were sufficient to disproue the goodnesse of the tree but let him looke vpon the good fruites c You shall finde that you farre oueâ—shot your se fe in your reckoning when you compare indeed their religion exp essed in their writiâ—gs with yours such are all the Doctours aswell of the Greeke as Latin church so manie good Emperours and vertuous Kinges Princes Dukes and Earles which haue raigned in France Spaine Germany and England and ouer all the worlde and haue died in the faith leauing their workes to beare witnes of their good fruites d Many Kings Quâ—enes Nobles and others of our religion haue done these things also The which haue builded so manie faire hospitals to helpe releeue the poore so many goodly Colledges to entertaine fatherles children at their bookes so manie foundations and workes for the common wealth and that haue builded so manie sumptuous e The first pulling of them dowâ—e here in England came euen from your Cardinals and great bishops vnder the pretence therwith to found colledges and so hauing giuen the king an example wheâ— he was disposed to follow it they easily consented indeed the abhominaâ—ions therin committed was their ouerthrow Abbeies and houses of Religion the which you with your godlie zeale haue not onely robbed and spoiled but that that is more odious you haue pulled them cleane downe to deface the memorie of our ancesters to acquite all these which are notable monuments you brag of the good deedes that your good Christians doe which are much like vnto the gaines of those that vse to cog at dise for although they win much it is neuer seene or like the Iewes which to colour their horrible crueltie in putting our sauiour vniustly to death they weÌ„t bought with the monie that they gaue to Iudas a field to bury the dead k As deepe and grounded papists were lickorish of Abbey lands as any other and as greedily and securely they enioy them still amongst vs. Cardinall Woolsey and the Bishop of Rochester your great Martyr first began that course here And so you hauing robbed spoiled froÌ„ the religious houses and Abbeies more then you are able to restore you thinke to acquite it al with giuing a little to the poore No no these deuises are but vaine if by the fruit the tree be knowen as Christ saieth let them that haue anie iudgement looke vpon the fruit of our trees then iudge whither they be good or no. The XXXIIII Chapter PArtly in the former Chapter but more plainly in this you shew that you vnderstand by the trees that Christ spake of good Religion and bad But if you view the place you will at least I am sure you should rather thereby vnderstaÌ„d the persons of men effectually called as I haue saied or not called at all or at least yet vneffectually called that sound religion is one of the principall fruits that he meant should grow vpoÌ„ the former to discerne him from the later For his scope was not there to teach vs how to discerne religions but how to discerne the children of God from the children of sathan And thus it will proue that the sence of this prouerbe will not proue hard at all to vs to digest but to you who what shew soeuer you caÌ„ make with