conference of Wormes your men that were present there did they not say that the Scripture was a nose of waxe and a Lesoian square And if it were so as you maintaine that the Church is aboue the Scripture it should follow that it were more expedient to find out the head by the testimonie of the members then the members by the testimony of the head It is to the Shepheard that we addresse our selues that he may beare witnesse of his flocke and not contrariwise Turrianus the Iesuite hath abased the maiestie of the word of God so farre as he was able to doe for writing against Sadeel he hath not beene ashamed to spew out after his babling manner Si Scripturam solam fidei regulam in Ecclesia Christus reliquisset quid aliud quam Delphicum gladium haberemus O blasphemer That which strengtheneth the soule giueth wisedome to simple ones that which reioyceth the hearts that which is power from God in saluation vnto all such as beleeue that which is the wisedome of God ordained before all ages vnto our saluation that which is the couenant of God shall it be a Delphian sword You will not haue the common people to reade the Scripture whereunto notwithstanding all manner of people are inuited of whatsoeuer sexe or age they be for feare you say that pearles be cast before Swine For sayth the Cardinall Hosius this prophanation of the Scriptures would make not onely Porters Bakers Shoo-makers and others to become Prophets but women bakers shoomakers and such others of that sex to turne Prophets also Doe you not in that follow the footsteps of the Basilidians and Carpocratians who as Ireneus and Epiphanius write hid their Doctrines We are men sayd Basilides all others are hogges and dogges cast not therefore pearles before hogges and things that are holy before dogges The epithers which you doe attribute vnto your selues to wit spirituall persons Church men doe make the way plaine for you that you may approach vnto the cabinet of those heretickes that there you may contemplate that which is not permitted to those beggerly seculars and laymen to behold And if you should permit the reading of the holy Scriptures vnto all persons indifferently you would be afraid that all Gods people would turne Prophets and therein you are very farre wide of the wish of Moyses The heretickes of Ireneus his time being reproued by the Scriptures began to accuse them of darknesse and insufficiencie saying that the truth thereof could not be found by those that were ignorant of traditions that they had receiued the truth by hearing and by a cabale from the father to the sonne for which cause S. Paul sayd we speake wisedome among the perfect It is the same buckler that you hold vp before you to saue your traditions with but it is so weake that the strokes haue made the light shine through it And that du Peron to the end that he might shew his loquence hath set forth his detestable Booke of the insufficiencie of the Scripture a Booke spewed out of hell and whose author can be no other then Sathan And who were able to make an end if it behoued vs to set downe the hatred and malice which you haue conceiued against the Scripture This example will be a proofe namely when you hold so manifestly that it is not necessary and that the Apostles were not commanded to write but onely to preach Haue you not in like manner minced some morcels of the holy Epistles and Euangiles in the Masse together with some currant prayer to the end that you might the more easily purchase authoritie and fauour vnto your Pompilian idolatries This is the same very practise of Sergius Mahomets Doctor who hath infected the holy Law with a gallemafrey of fables and heresies that he hath placed in the Alchoran Montanus confessed indeede that he embraced all manner of Scripture but he inuented moreouer that the Paraclet was come to finish that which was onely begun as Epiphanius writeth So likewise you hold the canon of the Scripture to be imperfect doe remit the perfecting thereof to your Paraclet of Rome CHAP. X. Of Traditions MAking mention of Traditions we will begin at the Councell of Trent whereof behold here a solemne decree The Councell of Trent receiueth and honoureth with the like affection and reuerence of pietie all the Bookes of the old and new Testament seeing that one onely God is the author of both the one and the other and the Traditions themselues which belong vnto faith as well as vnto discipline as being endited either by the mouth of Christ or by the holy Ghost and haue beene preserued by a continuall succession in the Catholick Church This decree hath made me wonder as it were because of the disposition thereof which is turned vpside downe It is knowne how that traditions are the very proppes of your Religion and the hinge wherupon all the inuentions that are among you doe mooue As touching the holy bookes which the Councell confoundeth not putting difference betweene the Apocryphall and the Canonicall they are nothing according to your iudgement but light armed Harquebusers and lances on horsebacke to guard and defend onely those great armies of Traditions This was the ordinarie buckler of those auncient heretickes Valentin Ebion Apelles Marcion and such others who did boast themselues that they had receiued many doctrines and traditions from the Scripture And thereupon as Ireneus and Tertullian write they confessed after a generall manner that in Iesus Christ consisted all treasures of wisedome and knowledge and that on him was grounded all perfection of doctrine but to the end that they might colour or plaster their dreames and adde more weight and beautie to their inuentions they maintained with a brasen face that the Apostles in so farre as they were men were ignorant of diuerse mysteries that were necessarie for mans saluation or else that of purpose they had concealed and kept backe certaine points the knowledge whereof they reserued for the more perfect sort of their posteritie not willing as yet to reueale them to the world as being vnworthie of the knowledge of so goodly traditions and that they were those that they taught Eusebius writes that Artemon the hereticke bragged that his doctrine was gathered out of the Apostolicke traditions Clement Alexandrin sayth that Basilides gloried in this that one Glaucus was his teacher who had beene S. Peters interpreter that Valentin did boast in like manner that he had beene S. Pauls auditor and that the Marcionists bragged that they were the Disciples of those which had heard and conuersed with the Apostle S. Mathias whose doctrine they allowed taught and obserued as the like also is sayd among you concerning your traditions notwithstanding that you can neither find out the cause nor origine thereof and that not without reason seeing they are
not grounded on the Scripture And how should they be so seeing that for the most part they were inuented more then a thousand yeares after the death of the Apostles such as monasticall rules and others of that sort are Truly you cannot deny either that they haue beene vnknowne or else haue beene kept backe for the knowledge of the posteritie to wit of you my Masters the Prelates that haue the keys to draw whole bags full of them out of your Councels either generall or prouinciall and out of the determinations of your Sorbonists or Iesuites Let vs see farther what is the chiefe foundation of your traditions the most beautifull plants and roses of the garden of the Romish Church Behold it is here That the Apostles knew not all things or if they haue knowne all things and none of them hath preached otherwise then the rest did that they haue not taught all things to all persons Is not this to accuse those great Stewards of the Church of ignorance of cowardlinesse and that they haue not dealt vprightly in their calling That they haue not beene faithfull obseruers of the Couenant or new Testament whereof the preaching was committed vnto them The Ambassador hath no power to dispense with his Masters will It is the dutie of a seruant to discharge things faithfully in their fulnesse and as he hath beene commaunded to doe In the making of our contracts or testaments we would not suffer the notarie and witnesses to keepe backe a part thereof and not to beare ful testimony of our will vnlesse they would incurre the danger of punishment and can that be tolerated in a matter of so great moment to wit in the Testament which the sonne of God hath ratified by his death The Apostles hauing declared faithfully the whole will of their maister and hauing discharged their businesse very well it were sacriledge and an intollerable blasphemie to accuse them either because they knew not or were not able or would not beare witnesse of the kingdome of God as they were enioyned to doe I could here insert that ample discourse which Tertullian maketh in answering to the arguments of the heretickes as also what infallible prescription he vseth against them but to be briefe I will send you backe to that which himselfe hath written and hath spoken to you as well as to the heretickes of his time Ireneus that was a disciple of the disciples of the Apostles writing in expresse termes of the true iustifying faith which the Church receiued from the Apostles and hath deliuered from hand to hand vnto their children is no other thing then the Gospell that we haue receiued from the Apostles themselues for as much as they first preached the same with their mouth and thereafter penned it to the end that it might be the foundation the pillar and proppe of our faith Then without the Gospell we cannot imagine any doctrine of saluation what name or title so euer it haue For Christ and the Apostles haue left vnto vs by writ all whatsoeuer is necessarie vnto true pietie and honest conuersation Why then doe you alledge vnto vs the insufficiencie of the written word Truely it must needs be that those famous men Hierome Cyprian and the Fathers that were assembled in the Councell of Laodicea had a beame in their eye when they could not perceiue that which you say is more cleare to you then the Sunne is in the noone-day to wit that the holy and canonicall Bookes were not sufficient to proue matters concerning faith and charitie and that we must haue recourse vnto traditions and the vnwritten word And for this cause when we goe about to conuict you by the proofes of the Scripture that we may declare what harmonie and agreement is betweene you and the Marcionists the Valentinians the Ebioneans the Apellians by imitating of them you couer your selues with this buchler to wit that the Scripture is obscure and that the truth cannot be fully collected from thence vnlesse we helpe our selues with the vnwritten traditions which the Apostles deliuered from their owne mouth without Scripture And what manner of things are they which they would haue vs to embrace vnder this pretence The forbidding of certaine meates on certaine dayes the forbidding of a certaine order of persons to marrie Lent chastitie and such like things that belong not to faith but to a simple custome which is diuers in diuers places according to the humour of such as beare rule in the Church These are the things of so great weight as you will haue them to be which Bellarmine sayth that the Apostles did not preach to the common people to whom they ministred simply that which was necessarie and profitable vnto them but concerning other things to wit those weighty matters before mentioned they taught them apart and in priuate vnto those that were of greatest vnderstanding that therafter they might deliuer them from hand to hand vnto those that should be found most capable of them Are not these goodly reasons Reasons that are so pertinent that it hath seemed expedient vnto you to make vp huge Tomes thereof that haue bin published wherunto notwithstanding our writers haue not failed to answer reasōs I say that are so vnreasonable that you cannot deny that by the meanes thereof you collude and agree with the auncient heretickes The chiefe argument of those of Ireneus and Tertullians time which was ordinarie in their mouths was grounded on that which our Sauiour saith to his Apostles That he had yet many things to say vnto them but that they could not beare them Of this did S. Austin complaine in his time and chiefly in two places of his workes In the first he vseth these termes All the madder sort of heretickes who will be called Christians doe labour to shadow the boldnesse of their inuentions which the vnderstanding of man doth euen abhorre by taking hold of these words of the Gospell where the Lord sayth I haue yet many things to say vnto you but you cannot beare them now In the second he writeth thus And sith our Lord hath made no mention of them which of vs will say they are such or such like things Or if he were so bold as to say so how could he be able to proue it For who will be so foolish or so rash when he hath sayd all that he listeth to whom pleaseth him best although it be true as to affirme without any diuine proofe that he hath spoken those things which our Lord would not reueile at that time And if S. Austin hath written after this manner against the heretickes of his time If Ireneus and Tertullian could not endure the Gnostiques and others to abuse the same why may not we doe after the same manner with you to the end that we may exclude all the fansies of men We will adde further to that which is said before how that
them from the Kingdome of God We and you are ordained to be contraries You call vs Hereticks and wee returne againe this title vnto you like a ball in the Tennis-court Who will beleeue you Who will beleeue vs There is no difficulty here let vs examine the doctrines let vs search diligently for that which is true That is true saith a certaine Father which is the first that is first which is from the beginning and that is from the beginning which is from the Apostles Wee haue this true this first this beginning the doctrine of the Apostles which is the Anchor of our Faith There will nothing remaine for you therefore but the last and false to wit the dregges of heresie Yet doe you not cease to reproach vnto vs that we haue renued and as it were drawne out of hell many old Heresies which as you exclaime we haue broached in these latter times and haue insinuated them into the beleefe of men for Euangelicall doctrines And to the end that none should thinke that you had spoken idlely and without reason you set downe their number and if you might be trusted there is no scab or sore of the auncient Hereticks whereon we haue not rubbed our selues It is after this manner that you tickle your selues to make you laugh and when you haue spent all your force whether it be in sleight or eloquence to rouse vp the implicite faith of your flockes you thinke it is enough and that we haue nothing to reply thereto Wee deplore the heresies and haue the register thereof in our memorie to the intent that we may beware of the same Epiphanius gathereth to the number of 80. S. Austin reckoneth eight more Philastrius more yet And before these Ireneus and Tertullian made some catalogues In reading of them we haue found matter enough against you because we haue learned and bee not offended that you are fellowes and fauourers of those who through their Heresies sought to destroy the Church How then can it be possible that we are their companions Thereupon you pay those of your side not with reason or with any likelyhood but with false calumnies against such as withstand you and to this end you picke out certaine Heresies at your pleasure which you say haue beene as it were renued and restored againe by those great Heralds the restorers of true piety which haue gone before vs in the reformation of the Church This little Preface shall declare the contrary and such Christian soules as are mildely disposed shall be iudges of our right and of your wrong Ireneus saith of the Simonians that they taught that men were saued through the mercy of Simon and that workes were not necessary vnto saluation from whom Eunomius hath not gone farre who witnesse S. Austin g did hold the opinion that men could take no harme by sinne how great soeuer it were prouided that their faith had not fayled Bellarmine accuseth Luther for consenting to these follies being followed by Caluin Brencius and others who verily confessed that good workes were the effects of Faith but denyed that they could merit life euerlasting The learned treatises which haue beene compiled by our writers on this subject should haue serued for phisicke vnto your eye-sight and should haue taken the moate out of your eyes that you might behold the truth against your preiudicate doctrine Wee will not doe you so much wrong as to debauch them from your companie that we may draw them to our side Then let them remaine still there in a good time we denounce them accursed Those infamous persons wallowed themselues in all manner of crimes No thing as they thought could hurt them if they had acknowledged Simon Magus to bee the chiefe way vnto saluation Haue you found any thing in our Churches like vnto this Simon reiected all manner of vertuous and iust workes as superfluous wee acknowledge them as necessary but not as meritorious for grace can get no entry there where merits haue taken place already We abhorre Eumenius likewise We confesse the separation of faith from good workes to bee more impossible then to separate the beames and light from the Sunne And what doe you finde worthy to be censured whiles we teach that sinne cannot hurt him that hath the act of Faith You couer your selues with the ambiguity of this word Faith whereby you vnderstand nothing but a simple knowledge of the doctrine and a naked insight in Religion and not this certaine perswasiou that the iust man liues by his Faith Truth it is that the sinnes which make vs guilty before God doe astonish vs but we say in like manner that they are not imputed vnto vs and that they are couered through the iustice of the sonne of God and mediator Christ Iesus Also you would haue vs to bee fellowes withone Florinus and to say with him that God is the author of sinne an heresie which Vincent de Lirin did likewise attribute vnto Simon Magus For an answere hereunto Bellarmine is your oracle it sufficeth if he hath said so to you This assertion saith Ireneus is more then heresie Shall we therefore defend the same Truely all things moue vnder the prouidence of God The wicked and their sinnes are not exempted from this celestiall power and gouernement Is God therefore the cause of sinne Fie on this blasphemie It is not he that inspireth man with wickednesse this worke is of the Diuell The Butt that wee ayme at discerneth the actions The scope of mens euill actions is nothing but rebellion and contempt of the Creator and by the contrarie God aymeth onely at the execution of his immoueable and eternall decree The good and the bad Trees being nourished both with one manner of iuice in the same soyle and place are different notwithstanding in their fruites Who can blame the ground Let vs therefore exeeme God from the imputation of iniquitie and let vs not play the Marcionists Origen thought that Adam through his fall had altogether lost the image of God whereunto he was created in his originall vprightnesse and that Hell was nothing else but a terror of Conscience You doe inclose Caluin within the compasse of the same errors and are not ashamed to cite those places which you vnderstand amisse and interpret worse that you may make him bee detested like an Hereticke Wee abhorre both the one and the other reauing of Origine Caluin speaketh not so grosly he saith indeede that the image of God is not altogether defaced that there are many remnants left vnto vs after this ship-wracke the reason the vnderstanding and other naturall gifts This wee affirme with Caluin that those supernaturall graces wherewith God had honoured man were quenched and lost as the wisedome which made vs to know God the righteousnesse which pushed vs forward vnto a voluntarie obedience of his commandements and holinesse
our sinnes in this world and the same Chrysostome sayth that those prayers were vsed as a thankes giuing to God for that he had crowned those that were dead The same Aerius left fasting in the free power of the faithfull said that the Bishops and Priests differed nothing in dignitie And what harme I beseech you either in the first so that it be vnderstood of priuate fasts or in the last Concerning fasts there is no question touching the last Aerius and we agree both with the holy writes and with the venerable antiquitie which cry out with a lowd voice that all Byshops and Ministers of the word haue alike power in whatsoeuer place they be whether in Naples or in the Indies or among the Tartarians If Aerius then haue taught but these three points he is wrongfully accounted among heretickes And Theodoret freeth him thereof opposing onely one Eustathius his mortall aduersarie although Epiphanius and S. Austin be not of the same opinion Iouinian is not forgotten They would make vs to agree with him in fiue heresies The first that man after he hath receiued Baptisme cannot sin wherunto Caluin hath subscribed say you without shewing the place where who writeth that the faith that is once receiued into the heart of the faithfull cannot make shipwracke We graunt the second and impugne the first which concerneth Baptisme and experience furnisheth vs with proofes of the contrarie and freeth both Caluin and vs from these impostures The second pretended heresie imputed to Iouinian is concerning the difference of meates and merites through fasting which he reprooued And thereupon you raise hue and cry after Caluin If that which you hold concerning the difference of meats the fish and flesh dayes be true I know not how you shall be able to resist and what rampart you can set before your Canons Canons I say which vomite forth powder and bullets to bruse all to peices Moreouer if Iouinian maketh marriage equall with chastitie both in dignitie and merite whiten not your tongues against Caluin in that matter exclame against Christ Iesus who hath sayd so and beare ill will against S. Paul that hath written so Your Erasmus wished to finde in S. Hierome a modestie and greater mildnesse against his aduersaries this is your desire likewise It is true that in so farre as Iouinian withstoode the perpetuall virginitie of Mary the mother of Christ Iesus he deserued a very seuere and rigorous punishment yea euen the fire And vpon this blaspemie S. Hierome had very good reason to frame his inuectiues against him The like is not taught in our Churches and it is without all reason that these great lights of our age Bucer and Molineus are blamed Esay shall be a warrant for that which we beleeue and likewise that which Ezechiel writes which the auncient writers all with one accord haue expounded of the perpetuall virginitie of the glorious mother of Christ Iesus shal ouerthrow those desseings whereby you labour to make vs hatefull vnto all men Yea and we should be very sorrie to helpe our selues with the authoritie of S. Basill who sayth that the beleife concerning the perpetuall virginitie of the holy Virgin after the dispensation of the conception and natiuitie of the Sonne of God cannot profit vs any thing to be sought out and that it is curiositie to take any notice thereof The last heresie which S. Hierome and you doe attribute vnto Iouinian is touching the equalitie of the reward of this life from which as you write Luther goeth not farre seeing he writes that Christians are vnder the same paralell of righteousnes in the Kingdome of God with the virgin Mary We could insist vpon Iouinians affirmatiue for there is but one manner of faith amongst all the faithfull then there is but one manner of reward But that you may not surprise vs let vs say that concerning holinesse and inherent iustice there is some inequalitie which notwithstanding is remoued in regard of the holinesse and iustice of Christ Iesus which being grounded on the eternall election that he hath made of his owne is equally distributed amongst all the faithfull and regenerate Vnto faith and the excellent effects thereof which are the gifts of God and are crowned by him we doe attribute diuerse rewards according to the greater or lesser measure this maxime neuerthelesse being still true that we are receiued and auouched by the heauenly Father through the onely one meane of the obedience of Christ Iesus his onely and well-beloued sonne Vigilantius shall haue his part here also and we shall become Vigilantius or Dormitantius chuse which of them pleaseth you best if we would beleeue you If he hath sayd that the reliques of Saints ought not to be worshipped behold we are on his side behold S. Austin is in like manner we honour sayth he the memorie of the Saints but we doe no seruice to the dead in their graues Item the Martyres are not Gods they are named and inuoqued by the Priest Vigilantius hath in like manner condemned the inuocation of Saints Caluin hath done the same we haue imitated him Shall we all be heretickes Then the holy Ghost shall be so also who by his Oracle teacheth vs that the dead know nothing of our affaires and that they medle no wayes with them And put the case that they prayed will it follow by good Logicke that they must therefore be worshipped Vigilantius reproued singlenesse of life and graunted mariage vnto the Ministers of the Church O what a great crime O most damnable fault for that we teach the same The holy Ghost according to your speech knew not what he indited to the Apostle when he accounted the forbidding of mariage among the Doctrines of Deuils What farther Vigilantius found fault with the giuing away of their goods the mother of the Fryers pouertie And what profit redounded hereof Your men such as the Capuchins and others giue all that they haue but to their owne kindred and not to Christ Iesus they enter into the Monasterie where they haue greater plentie then vnder their owne roofe and S. Francis his bag is at least worth a Cardinals reuenue What are we farther Pelagians you answere Wherefore Because you deny originall sinne with them and thereafter teach that the children of the faithfull are holy and are saued without Baptisme We disaduouch them in so farre as they sayd that children were without all sinne true indeed that we attribute holinesse vnto them euen from their mothers wombe because of Gods couenant wherein they are comprehended if this be not true the Apostle must be a Pelagian As touching Baptisme condemnation proceedeth not of the want thereof but of the contempt of that sacrament which was instituted by Christ Iesus And how say you farther can you purge your selues from Pelagianisme seeing that with the author of that sect you make all sinnes equall and for the smallest
to loue God with our whole heart Syluester Prierias holdeth that this commandement is not of necessitie but of honestie Which is the very same opinion of Molanus and this is as much as if they had taught that it were not needfull to loue God most perfectly but that it should be sufficient for vs to know that he ought to be loued so Let vs reason briefely vpon euery one of the commaundements and let vs see the antithesis which is betweene them the Popes Thou shalt haue no other God but me The Pope is called God not hyperbolically but effectually Dominùs Deus noster Papa Thou shalt not make vnto thee any grauen image Contrariwise the Pope commandeth that all manner of images and representations be affixrd and set vp in the Temples and Churches of Christians that they may be honoured apparelled lighted and that we may bow downe our selues before them in all reuerence as it may be seene in your Canons and the Bookes of your chiefest Doctors Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine sayth the Eternall The Pope absolueth subiects from the oath which they haue made to their naturall Prince Honour thy father and thy mother The Pope dispenseth with his Priests and Fryers yea and with all those that be on his side Thou shalt not kill Our Fraunce hath made triall in the parricide that was practised on the person of the most Christian King Henry the third what dispensation is graunted in this case Thou shalt not commit adulterie but Hildebrand a Fryer of the order of the Clumacenses called Gregorie the seuenth forbade mariage neuerthelesse it is well knowne after what manner he behaued himselfe with Mehant Countesse of Mantua And who knoweth not that the Pope approueth whordome sith he receiueth tribute from the whores of Rome Robberies and false witnesses are but childrens sport And touching concupiscence you are of the opinion that it is not forbidden and that it is no sinne vnlesse the fact be ioyned therewith What shall I say farther In the Romish Church they take away change diminish and adde to the Law what pleaseth those best that haue the charge thereof They haue taken away the knowledge of the word of God from the people reseruing the same for great Doctors They haue forbidden to read the holy Bible which is against Gods ordinance Enniche the mother of Timothie shall rise vp in iudgement and condemne them They haue bin so bold as to stretch forth their sacrilegious hands vnto the sanctuarie of God that they might pull away from thence the second commandement of the first Table They haue changed their Priests into Sacrificers the Euangiles into Masses the preaching into ringing of Bels singing lights and such like trash They haue changed the breaking of the bread in the holy Supper into hostes altogether round They haue diminished to wit the cup contenting themselues with a part onely They haue added namely the commandements which they call of the Church Christ comwaunded vs to loue our enemies and pray for them Yet notwithstanding your Molanus denieth that God hath commaunded vs to pray chiefly for our enemies and that we ought to salute them louingly You vpbraid vs with the debates that are among vs. We are at one together praised be God But make Torrensis agree with Catherin to whom he reprocheth that he hath written that the law of Moyses is not the Law of God and that the commaundements of the Apostle S. Paul are not the commandements of Iesus Christ. CHAP. VIII Of Predestination THis Doctrine of Predestination is of great importance S. Austin hath written whole Treatises thereof Through it we know that without Christ there is no saluation It is a refuge in time of temptation to perswade vs more and more of the assurance of our saluation which we beleeue to be grounded on the sonne of God that we may cast away farre from vs all manner of desperation It is a spurre to pricke vs forward to the studie of good works which are the effects of our election It is a bridle to containe our insolencie and bragging within the limites of Christian modestie that we may not attribute to our selues that which proceedeth of the grace of God All the holy antiquitie doth send vs vnto the pure free mercy of God through Iesus Christ vnto iustification by faith vnto our infirmitie and wretchednes of our workes And neuerthelesse you are not contented with this simplicitie contrariwise you doe attribute predestination vnto good workes that are foreseene as the Pelagians haue done The common opinion of the greater part of your Schoolemen is bent that way as Catharin can well reproch vnto your Diuines his fellowes CHAP. IX Of the Scripture IS it not true that the theefe abhorreth nothing so much as the Law nor the heretick any thing so much as the Scripture May I not liken you to the Owles that cannot endure those glistering beames of Gods word Vnto those betelles that aboue all things hate the balme of those celestiall decrees You say that it is imperfect obscure doubtfull ambiguous a dead letter that killeth a matter of debate and riddles Your whole refuge is vnto homilies trophonaries passions legends lectures antiphonas graduaries breuiaries fermologues and Missals And for the Scriptures you beleeue them no more then the fables of Aesope vnlesse they be authorised by the Pope Eusebius sayth that the holy auncient Fathers accused and that with very good reason Samasatenus because that by departing from the Canonicall bookes he had beene the author of an hereticall Doctrine in so farre as he had not followed the Apostolicke Doctrine And to whom belongeth this censure more then to you Ought you to speake not onely when the holy Scripture is silent but also when you are flatly condemned therby Would to God we had not this right to blame you of that which S. Austin sayd in old times vnto those that were like you That you ayme at no other thing but that the whole authoritie of the holy Scripture may turne to nothing Bellarmine hath laboured much for his part when of purpose he hath made a whole Chapter of the insufficiencie of the Scripture the Scripture I say which is the true rule of our vnderstanding and the solide anchor of our saluation Tertullian in his time fought against your fellowes who denied the Scriptures to be perfect And likewise the heretickes would neuer graunt them to be the true rule of faith notwithstanding that Ireneus did send them backe vnto this doctrine of the Apostles which S. Chrysostome and Basill in diuers places of their workes haue called the exquisite balance the rule of equity and the canon of veritie Your Eckius your Pighius yeeld no more authoritie vnto the holy Scripture then that which your Church is pleased to bestow theron And in that
the auncient heretickes did abuse euen as you doe that which the Apostle sayth And we speake wisedome among them that are perfect This was the ordinarie defence and argument of the Carpocratians witnesse Ireneus Bishop of Lion although that in this passage he doth not place those that were perfect as opposites vnto ideots This is it which S. Athanase remarketh against the Arians concerning those bragges of Arrius who blinded the eyes of his followers with these goodly titles in shew Electis Dei secundum fidem peritis Dei ita didici ego Montanus ioyned with the old and new Testament certaine other obseruations of his pretended paraclete is not this the very same that was said of that holy Ghost that was carried by post from Rome to Trent in a cloake-bagge CHAP. XI Of the Church THe Donatists tyed the Church to a certaine place as for you you tie it to Rome and to a counterfeit succession of persons say that the generall assembly is composed onely of such as follow the Romish Church as mother and Mistresse of all the Churches and doe acknowledge the Pope to be successor to Peter the Prince of the Apostles and vicar of Christ Iesus Hearken vnto S. Hierome The Church doth not consist in walles but in the sowndnesse of doctrines Wheresouer true faith is there is the Church also And they do Christ Iesus great wrong to tye him to the Temple of Rome hee that departed from his temple that was builded in Ierusalem because of the wickednesse that was committed among the Sacrificers Whosoeuer therefore would know which is the true Church of Christ saith Chrisostom let him finde out the same by the Scriptures And S. Austin We haue found Christ in the Scriptures we must finde the Church there also CHAP. XII Of Baptisme VVHo hath taught you that Baptisme taketh away onely the sinnes that are past and secureth vs only from the first shipwracke but the Marcionists the Messalians and Euchites as Epiphanius writes You doe attribute with them the vertue of Baptisme vnto sinnes that are past and to the Sacrament which you terme Penitence the washing and purging of other offenses in case wee should fall againe therein through weakenesse which is in stead of a table to saue vs from this shipwracke The Messalians taught that man was not made perfect through Baptisme The Iesuites hold that this is no sure pledge vnto vs that our sinnes are forgiuen vs. This moued Marcion to reiterate the same to his followers And although Baptisme be not renued in the Romish Church yet so it is that she vseth the Chrisme in her pretended Sacrament of confirmation to make those that are annoynted become more skilfull in spirituall combats that they may become wholly and perfectly Christians Qui nunquam erit Christianus saith the Canon nisi qui confirmatione Episcopali fuerit chrismatus Would you heare any thing more horrible then this and namely when confirmation is preferred to Baptisme the institution of men to Christs Theodoret writes that the Messalians were the authors of crosses and exorcismes for said they the childe at his birth is accompanied with his Demon who cannot bee chased away but through coniuration And what Know you not very well that it is forbidden by the Law of God to vse charmes coniurations and exorcismes of any creatures whereby any vertue or dignity aboue the course of nature is attributed vnto dumbe things We are not ignorant that this manner of coniuring was practised in the Church in S. Cyprian and S. Austins time let vs rest notwithstanding on that which Christ Iesus and the Apostles haue done and not on the Fathers when they are destitute of Gods word And what neede haue children to be exorcised seeing they are members of Gods euerlasting couenant You haue a certaine coniured oyle ordained of purpose for baptising of little children And of whom haue you learned this manner of doing but of the Hereticks Marcus Marcosius and Valentine as Epiphanius witnesseth And to the end that corruption and abuses might take the greater increase it hath beene permitted vnto women to baptise according to the error of the Marciomists Quintillians Cataphrygians Montanists Pepuzians Priscillians and Artotyrites although the ministration of Baptisme belong vnto a part of the preaching of the Gospell and that all things ought to be done with comelinesse and good order in the Church Was it euer permitted by the Law of God vnto women to minister the Sacraments or Sacrifices that were ordained in the first Church of the Israelites Is there any signe how little soeuer it bee of any permission in the new Testament of Christ Iesus by which this female sexe is licenced to doe so It is written in the historie of Moyses that his wife Sephora being moued with a womanlie furie tooke a sharpe knife or stone and cut away the foreskin of her sonne but that was done without any commandement and through a rash vsurpation of that which belonged no wayes vnto her And S. Austin hath expresly forbidden women to doe the same following the councell of Carthage where hee had beene present which did the verie same You cannot deny therefore that you insitate those Hereticks and most of all the Pepuzians who permitted the Priesthood vnto women seeing that through a supposed necessitie you agree that a part of the Ministerie should be discharged by them You haue gone on further for this expresse manner of Baptisme that was appointed by Christ Iesus in the name of the three persons of the most blessed Trinitie is changed and you haue taught that Baptisme is lawfully minished although it were vsed after this forme Baptiso te in nomine Patris filij Spiritus Sancti Beatae virginis Mariae The Marcosians in the administration of Baptisme vsed some Hebrew and strange words that the hearers might be astonished thereat as Ireneus writes and namely this Syrian word Etphethah You doe worse for not onely in the administration of Baptisme but in your whole seruice you speake strange languages and mingle the same with certaine words that amongst a thousand Priests there is not one that can pronounce them well let be to vnderstand them This spittle this saliue and holy water are of their inuentions and of your imitations CHAP. XIII Of the Lords Supper AS the holy Apostles receiued it from our Lord so haue they deliuered the same vnto vs and so will wee keepe it We will not enter in discourse touching that which may be said and written of the Eucharists our intention is only to declare vnto you that you haue borrowed from the Hereticks or the Hereticks from you many things that belong not to the institution of this Sacrament Ioh. Scotus saith that the Priest hauing an intention to consecrate saying the fiue words vpon all the bread that is in the
market and vpon all the wine that is in the celler immediately thereafter all the bread and wine is changed into the naturall body and blood of Christ Iesus I know none of the Hereticks that beleeued this transubstantiation of the bread touching the wine the Marcites as Epiphanius reporteth did assure themselues that the grace of God powred the blood of Christ into their cup and Marcus their schoole-master made them beleeue that hee changed the wine of the Eucharist into blood You would make the whole world beleeue that there is a transubstantiation of wine into blood made in the Chalice and that you may the more easily deceiue men and blinde the eyes of the simpler sort you bring with you sometimes certaine false miracles and illusions And from these goodlie traditions some wretched creatures haue taken occasion to inuent this mingling of blood that is drawne from young children that they may burne the same with the bread of the Lords holy Supper as the Cataphrygians who as wee reade in S. Austin did inuent a manner of transubstantiation of wine into blood realy corporaly It cannot be vnknowne to you that the decree of transubstantiation was established by two Councels holden at Rome the one vnder Nicolas the second against Berengarius and the other vnder Gregorie the seuenth being both prouinciall and not generall The most ancient of them being a thousand yeeres after the Apostles You would couer the newnesse of this doctrine with antiquity which neuerthelesse can bee but imaginary Wee yeelde to you antiquitie but such a one as is taken from the Marcites and Cataphrygians The vse of leauened or vnleauened bread in the Sacrament was holden a great while to bee indifferent in the Church Wherefore then hath Alexander the first of this name restored the Iewish ceremonie concerning vnleauened bread as if the Sacrament were to bee celebrated after the manner of the Iewes Is not this to follow the doctrine of the Ebionians who taught that the ceremoniall Law of Moyses was necessary vnto saluation Is not this I say to imitate the same that one Symmachus an Hereticke of Palestina had taught before The glosse of the decretall of Honorius the third vpon the word fermentato saith that it is not lawfull to vse leauened bread because it is written Not with old leauen but with the vnleauened bread of sincerity and truth And in your gloses which you haue approued and authorised after the rules whereof the Romish Church liueth and beleeueth we finde that pepper being added to the Sacrament marreth not the transubstantiation of the wheate but contrariwise that leauen marreth the same And in this how differ you from the Hereticke Sabacius who vsed vnleauened bread onely and no other Nicephorus speaking of the Heresies of the Armenians that were followers of the Theopaschites saith thus The same in the Eucharist vse vnleauened bread and not that which is leauened And in the chapter following The auncient Law giuers saith he doe wrongfully boast themselues that the famous Gregorie Bishop of Armenia did leaue vnto them those ceremonies by tradition chiefly the oblation of vnleauened bread and the cup without water because that in like manner in that mysticall supper of our Lords the sacrifice was without leauen and the wine pure which things notwithstanding the Catholick Church doth not alow in any waies Concerning vs we doe not impugne the mixtion of the Chalice but onely the condemning of such as doe not mingle it For we haue alwaies acknowledged that the most auncient Fathers vsed wine mingled with water in the Sacrament and we reade not that the Churches of Armenia were euer excommunicated for that to wit for vsing of pure wine Behold what he hath said here Furthermore like as the Messalians dipped the bread in the wine so also in the breaking of your Eucharist which is done after that the Agnus Dei is sung you mingle the third part thereof with the supposed blood of your Chalice The councell of Constance hath taken away the cup from the communion which you terme Laicall The Manicheans also vsed but one sort in the celebration of their Eucharist as Leo and Gelasius Bishops of Rome do witnesse and of this last Gratian maketh mention in his rapsodies The same Manicheans maintained that all things which appeared outwardly in Christ were but meere accidents May it not be that you haue learned from those that the forme figure colour and waight of the bread remaine still in the Sacrament without their owne substance There remaineth nothing fit to finish your picture but to mingle cheese with bread as the Artotirites did CHAP. XIV Of Purgatorie PVrgatorie springeth from the heresie of the Catharians against whom Epiphanius hath learnedly written And although Purgatorie be the chiefe patrimony of the Romish Clergie and the onely foundation of Masses yet it is vnknowne to the Church that was vnder the Law to the Church that is vnder Grace being without all warrant without any likely-hood how little so euer it be CHAP. XV. Of Miracles THe Donatists would haue proued their errors by Miracles which appeareth in Saint Austins writes Iustin Martyr and Athenagoras say that those be Hereticks that worke Miracles in their Churches and that to doe Miracles is no signe and demonstration of Gods true seruice S. Chrysostome saith There can be no other proofe of Christianity then the holy Scriptures the signes are now abolished and will rather bee found among false Christians CHAP. XVI Of Praying to Saints VVe doe honour and worship the Saints but it is in imitation This is S. Austins maxime honor andi sunt propter imitationem Wee doe not call vpon them nor pray to them that they may become intercessors and aduocates for vs at Gods hands we retaine and follow onely their good life and doctrine by holding and reputing them blessed in heauen We know that worship belongeth to God onely all manner of creatures being excluded We will not produce your arguments here neyther yet our defences wee should neuer haue done I will aske you this onely how can you with an vpright conscience deny the harmony that you haue with the Melchisedechians and Sethians who worshipped the Saints as you doe And where can you shew that this inuocation hath beene taught in the Primitiue Church or yet many ages after Verily in the Primitiue Church all gifts were thought to proceed from Iesus Christ alone no mention was made eyther of Saints or Angels contrariwise it was the doctrine of Hereticks of the Basilidians and of the Ophites who called on the Angels in their operations as if the earth had beene deuided among them and assigned vnto them certaine names and sought to appaise them by certaine composed formes namely this as Ireneus writeth O tu Angele ab a te or opere
Eustathius Bishop of Sebaste of whom the Eustathians haue proceeded commaunded to eschew as an abhomination the blessing and communion of the Priest that had a wife whom he had taken to be his lawfull spouse when he was a lay-man Marcion hath borrowed the foundation and ground of his opinion from the Philosophers and Poets of whom the greater part thought very hardly of marriage by calling the coniunction of sexes in mariage sinne and as Tertullian writeth would not receiue any to be baptised that had not forsaken mariage and embraced chastitie The Manicheans permitted not mariage vnto their elect perfect ones no more then you doe to your Priests and Fryers whom you hold to be in the estate of perfection And like as their elect were forbidden so they permitted the same vnto those whom they named auditors whom we may call the laytie The Montanists about the yeare 200. were pleased in outward shew to condemne second mariages but by such reasons as did ouerthrow the first also from whence we suppone that your railing accusations haue proceeded Thereafter the Nouatians which vnder a pretence that they would be more pure then others hauing caused a great schisme in the Church that they might authorise it the better did admit none into their Clergie that had beene twise maried in that therefore being more reasonable then you are that forbid the first expreslie Your answere is that you debarre not all manner of persons from mariage and that the Romish Church cannot be blamed in that respect which is as much as if you would excuse a murderer and pronounce him not guiltie because he had not murdered all the world but a part onely Moreouer that you may shun the sentence of the Apostle who affirmeth plainly that the forbidding of mariage is the doctrine of Sathan you agree in one with the Encratites and Tatianites who went too plainely to worke saying that mariage differed nothing from fornication and that it proceeded of the Deuill But it is easie to be decided whether it be pronounced against the hereticke or the heresie against the person or against the thing and in the end if such as hold the mariage of a Priest to be incest be not condemned by the Apostle Those of Phrygia forbad the laytie to mary as being more rigorous then others The Hieracites forbad the same in all manner of persons the Dositheans praysed nothing but chastitie the Adamians did in like manner from whom the best common places of your Iesuites concerning celibate haue proceeded Consider here then if Pope Syricius had more reason for him then those heretickes had among whom although there was some that condemned onely second mariages yet so is it that he hath spoken as much in generall of the first and of the second saying that those that are in the flesh cannot please God so terming maried persons Out of all this that hath beene mentioned we may gather that you haue imitated the heretickes and being vnwilling in this show of holinesse that is so much applauded of the common people to giue place to them in any wayes you haue thought it more conuenient that married persons should not touch those things which you name holy I cited certaine Canons a little before that forbid and exclaime vildly against mariage and approue chastitie It shall not be impertinent if we discharge here some others against them which hold and commaund the contrarie And how will you be able to accord these flutes Moreouer why doe you not answere directly to the first Councell of Nice and to the Councell of Paphnucius which was written in the records And the Councell of Gangra hath condemned and excommunicated all those that vnder the colour of Monasticall vowes of Religion or Priesthood doe abandon their wiues Whereunto agreeth the sixt Councell of Constantinople assembled in Trullo The proofes going before doe sufficiently declare that you are enemies to marriage seeing that which doth not hinder piety is by you termed pollution the worke of the flesh adultery whoredome and filthinesse which is the cause why you haue degraded those Ecclesiasticall persons that are ioyned in matrimonie according to Gods institution and contrariwise such as haue Concubines are not excluded from your communion witnesse that which the Councell of Toledo hath set downe in plaine termes He that hath no wife and in stead of a wife hath a Concubine ought not to be excluded from the communion yet after such manner that he content himselfe with one onely whether she be wife or Concubine Vnto this Canon we will adde another that sayth It is not lawfull for a Christian to haue moe or two wiues together but one onely or otherwise in place of a wife if he hath none a Concubine Which we vnderstand not particularly in regard of Priests but of all persons indifferently CHAP. XXII Of Fryers COncerning Fryers although that supposed Denys Areopagite make mention of their consecration through tonsure yet we haue learned of S. Hierome that Antony the Hermite was the first Fryer that dwelt in the Desart and Hilarion his disciple the first that gathered them into Monasteries And this Antony died in the yeere 361. Their institution therefore is not so ancient as it is noysed among you for concerning that place in Philo which you abuse it hath beene answered to you that he speaketh of the Esseans who were Iewish Hereticks and not of the Fryers of the Romish Church Now to wearie you no longer we shall declare only how that the statutes decrees rules and deuotions that are practised in the Monasteries of both sexes were made after no other modell then that of the Hereticks that liued euen in the Primitiue Church We haue made mention before of Celibate whereunto they bound themselues by a solemne vow wherefore we shall only remarke by the way how that Marcion the great Arch-Hereticke the Ebionians the Apostolicks the Aerians the Encratites or Tatians the Hieracites the Manicheans c and others recommended chastitie aboue all things would admit none into their companie that were married and liued not chastly whether it had beene men or women And from whence then should Celibate haue proceeded but from these good Masters In what Idea haue they receiued their forme those vowes of chastity that are obserued by the Fryers Iesuits and Priests but in the schoole of these good men It is true that Matrimony which the Manicheans had kept back from their elect was permitted vnto those that were auditors onely And let vs search what Epiphanius Philastrius Austin and others haue written as well of those antient Hereticks as of others that haue beene since such as be the Gnosticks the Adamians the Priscillianists the Saturnalians which in the meane time wallowed themselues in abhominable vilanies euen as your Fryers at this day are both knowne to do and
conuinced thereof we shall finde that they haue all with one accord banished and chased holy Matrimonie out of their conuents although the forbidding thereof bee a marke of Antichrist as the Prophet teacheth vs. Your Canons should haue taught you so farre that chastitie may be councelled and recommended only and not commaunded Remember I beseech you that worthy sentence of S. Bernard Take away Matrimony out of the Church and you shall fill it with whoredomes with incests and with Sodomitrie And that great Baldus writeth that the Pope did once giue licence to the Fryers to marrie for a certaine space vntill such time that they had gotten some off-spring conditionally that immediatly thereafter they should take on their hoods againe Truely in this restraint you oppose your selues to the holy Ghost to the commandements of the Gospell to the example of the Apostles to the whole antiquitie to the most approued Fathers and to the best Councels And it is pleasant that the Canon saith Before the Gospell was spredde abroade through the world many things were tolerated which after that a more perfect doctrine hath taken place are vtterly abolished as for example Howbe it Priests were not forbidden to marry neyther by the Law nor by the Gospell yea not by the doctrine of the Apostles neuerthelesse the holy mother the Church hath forbidden it altogether Concerning that to haue nothing in propertie from whence haue you the inuention thereof but from the Apostolicks and Apotacticks The onely way to become wealthy is to possesse nothing in propertie for nothing can be giuen away And it is meere mockery this counterfeit Monkish pouertie which hydeth inestimable and princely treasures And verily we may say that the Apostolicks were the inuentors of those societies which we see renued in our age and of those new fashions of liuing Those then are the Fathers of your Fratrie and the authors of this voluntary pouertie which consisteth onely in possessing nothing in propertie which is as much as to haue all things to possesse all things And the Anabaptists of our time doe verily conforme themselues vnto your Fryers who carry nothing about them and haue all things common among them The garments of the first Fryers as likewise those of the order of S. Benedict were eyther blacke or rather without any regard to the colour course and meane according to the custome of the countrey At this time their cloathing is the latus clauus of the Romanes which is the broad band that is to bee found among the garments of the most auncient orders The Eustathians taught their disciples to apparell themselues in certaine garments of cloath and that such garments were able to cleanse and sanctifie them The Capuchins and such others being worser then the Eustathians make the people beleeue that to take on their habit is a second Baptisme and to die therein is to goe straight to Paradise to be buried therein is to goe free of that burning fire of Purgatorie Bernardine teacheth in his Rosarie That he that taketh on the habit of Religion receiueth the same Grace from aboue that hee that is Baptised That to put on a Fryers habit and to lurke vnder his hoode giueth free remission both of the fault and punishment of all their sinnes That he that dieth in the habit of S. Francis cannot be damned And what blasphemies are these to attribute vnto a garment inuented by some fanaticke and melancholick persons that which belongeth to the only blood of Iesus Christ And Thomas himselfe who is yet more strange by reason of his exquisite doctrine We reade saith he in the liues of the Fathers that a certaine person saw the like grace descend from heauen vpon him that was cloathed in the habit of Religion that he had seene descend vpon him that had receiued Baptisme which is to make the filthie hood of a durty Fryer equall with Gods ordinances Moreouer those goodly Abbeyes Monasteries and sumptuous Conuents are they not the inuentions of the Euphemites or Messalians Epiphanius writeth of them that they builded for themselus great lodgings large walkes and termed all those places of prayer The Iesuites in this sort of Oeconomie goe beyond all their companions of the Fratrie in so much as they build nothing and doe alwais take hold of such palaces as they finde already perfected and finished The same Messalians and Euchites haue taught your Fryers the holy misteries that are in shauing of the beard and in the barbers operation that you may play gaudeamus in coenaculo charitatis that you may dally and put off time in idlenesse in singing and buzing by measure and compas For my part I hold this shauing of the beard to be a most pleasant and delectable thing sith Suetonius saith that the Emperour Otho vsed the same often that so he might increase the beauty of his visage And how will your Friers agree together touching long and short beards The diuers readings that are found in the copies of the councell of Carthage haue nourished their contentions In some they reade comam nec nutriant nec barbam in others nec barbā tondeant I referre my selfe to the decision of some councell The Messalians were called of the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by reason of this fained and as it were continuall labour in singing praying prating and babling both day and night prayers psalmes and other meditations whereof they haue composed their offices accompanying them with lights tapers and burning candles yea euen in the noone-day And this exercise being continued both day and night made the common people astonished In like manner they vsed spittle in their Sacraments as a thing that had a certaine force and vertue to chase away the Diuell The same Euchites and Psallians as S. Austin writeth thought it not lawfull to labour with their hands that they might earne their liuing And against these pests Amphilochius Flauianus most worthy Bishops haue written most sharpely mostgrauely of whom Theodoret makes honorable mention and if they were aliue now they would wash your Fryers heads soundlie with no smaller reason then they opposed themselues to the Messalians For this they hold with them that to play the Fryer well there must be no working that handy workes are vnworthy of the white and delicate hands of Monachisme and that sloath is the nourishing mother of the Gospell And what answere will they returne to the author of the History tripartite who saith that a Fryer that worketh not with his hands ought to be accounted as a theefe And to the Apostle that he shall not eate The Primitiue Fryers placed no part of their saluation in their abstinences Yea as S. Austin saith they admonished after a brotherlie manner those that through too much