conuey the faulte from youre selues to an other But the truthe is well knowen to be far otherwise bothe by him who for that that he was a principall doer therein lurcketh presentlie in Scotland and also by that other who so euer he wer that made the booke entituled the harborough for faithefull subiectes Who entending to laie all the burden vpon a straungiers backe hauing forgotten by misfortune the chiefe rule of his arte that a lier should be mindefull euen in the first leafe of his booke declareth him to haue bene an EnglishemaÌ„ when in begging as it were a pardon for him he vsethe thiese wordes considering the griefe vvhich like a good membre of that bodie vvhich then sufâ—red he felt and afterwarde he declareth that that bodie was England and no other Yow maie remembre it is not so long sence when to put men to deathe for religion was a thinge horrible yow saide and expresselie ageinst the worde of god and charitie of the ghospell Nowe the sworde being as yow thincke in your handes yowe teache in your lessons yow crie out in youre sermons and neuer left crieng till yow had brought it to passe that it was decreed by publike auctoritie that such as in religion beleue not as yow doe bothe may and ought to suffer deathe therefore And surelie if the Quene oure moste graciouse ladie would alter the present state of religion yow woulde not faile shortly to sing youre olde songe againe that for religion no man ought to be punished by deathe and I feare me assaie either with some such feditiouse booke as ageinst Quene Marie ye made or by some other practise of which youre parte lacketh no store to remoue her from all manner of gouernement both spirituall and temporall For if youre libertie in the lorde be such as ageinst youre prince that pleaseth yow not yow can saie nothing to much as the author of the harborough saithe he could not that wrote the blast ageinst the gouernement of women had he kept him selfe in the particuler parson of his souereigne lady Quene Mary who douteth but that yow would vse it And for the better proufe hereof I referre me to that booke of late made by your companions of the succession whereby euery man that wit hath may easely perceiue vpon such premisses what conclusion was to be looked for none other forsoothe then the speedy dispatch of her whose clemency being oure gratiouse and souereigne lady because it coulde be brought by no meanes to serue youre furiouse sprite you thought to worcke by other meanes and to prouide for the maintenaunce of youre kingdome youre selues But this power ar ye growen vnto whereof I maruell also that ye make not youre vauntes that ye can make kinges and depose them when ye lyâ—t This mutabilitie and inconstancie in youre owne doctrine in so shorte a space in youre communion first one while decreing that it be ministred in common and leauened bread by and by reuoking that and bringing it to vnleauened at one time coÌ„maunding that youre seruice be in all places vsed in the Englishe tongue not long after chaunging the same in some places in to the latine and yet that reiected once againe and the Englishe restored and all this within the space of little more theÌ„ a yeare This daie youre coÌ„munion table placed in the middâ—st of the quier the nexte daie remoued in to the bodie of the churche at the thirde time placed in the chauncel againe after the manner of an altar but yet remoueable as there is anie communion to be had Then youre ministres face one while to be turned towardes the Southe an other while towardes the northe that the wethercocke on the toppe of the stieple hathe bene noted not to haue turned so ofteÌ„ in the space of one quarter of a yeare as youre ministre hath bene caused benethe in the bottom of the churche in lesse then one monethe as though yow coulde not sufficientlie declare howe restles an euell heresie is excepte yow muste make youre communion table to ronne aboute the churche the ministre first after it and then rounde aboute it to expresse the same This inconstancie I saie and tottring in and oute first aboute the ordre of youre communioÌ„ and then in other thinges before noted causeth diuerse men and emongest the nombre my selfe to suspecte youre doctrine of newnesse because naturallie we see this hurlie burlie and shifting in and putting oute to chauÌ„ce in thinges at their first beginning and contrarie wise neuer in those that haue bene of long and settled continuance If such a communion as yow now haue deuised had euer bene before yow shoulde haue founde presideÌ„tes and formes thereof that shoulde haue directed yow so certeinelie that yow neuer could haue fallen in to this inconuenience of making and marring building and pulling downe But yow had no such forme and therefore I maruell not if it happened vnto yow as it hath THE fowerth cause or consideration that hath moued me hath bene this that besides youre owne misliking with youre owne doinges I finde which is a suer marcke wherebie to knowe the false and malignant churche that yow arre at dissensioâ— emongest youre selues one with an other which hath not neither begonne of late but euen as the poet fained of Cadmus men sprange vppe together with that vnhappie seede of your deuelishe doctrine What shoulde I heare trouble youre eares with the vnpleasant remembrance of that implacable dissension for which euen at this daie their ofspringe ar one with an other at deadlie foode of youre first parentes Luther and Zuinglius or of youre elder brothers Caluin and Oecolampadius What shoulde I remembre youre owne good agrement at home which youre last assemblie in youre conuocation hath made to all the realme so manifest and well knowen And yet is this dissension of youres not in owtewarde ceremonies or triffling matters as yo we woulde haue men to beleue or in the diuersitie of apparell as wherewith for lacke of other stuffe to the greate defacing of youre parte yowe arre constreined to charge vs but in the highest misteries and greatest pointes of oure religion For howe manie opinions ar there emongest yow coÌ„cerning the iustificatioÌ„ of a Christian man howe manie of the valew of good worckes howe manie aboute baptesme howe agree yow with youre late head that calleth god the author of their damnation that arre damned excepte yowe call him so toe how can yow be saide to agree who call that laufull which the chiefe of youre coÌ„panie calleth blasphemie howe agree yow with youre selues in that highe misterie of the sacrament of Christes bodie and blood of whome some of yow and the better some to if learning and honestie maie take anie place defende with Luther Christes reall presence in the sacrament other some with Zuinglius denie the same My leisor serueth me not M. Iuell or if it did my purpose is not here which a iust volume woulde scarse receiue
thereto and some iniury to hym also whose liberalitie to the hynderance perhapps of some I should by thys meanes abuse Thus much thought I necessary good Readers to sygnyfye to you concernyng thys enterpryse of myne Where in yf happely I seeme to some ouer sclenderly to haue excused my self them referre I to hys iudgement for my meanyng herein who shall once iudge both me yf I haue not gonne vpryghtly but troden a wrye and them yf they haue not iudged syncerlye but demed amysse Fare ye well at Antwerp the. 26. of Iuly Anno â—564 Thom. Dorman THE ARTYCLES VVHICH THE AVTHOR HATH TAKEN APON HYM TO PROVE AGAYNST M. IVELLES NEGATYVE THat the Bishop of Rome is the head of Christes vniuersal churche here in earth and that within the first six hundred yeares after Christes departure hence he was so called and taken That the people was then taught to beleue that Christes body is really substantially corporally carnally or naturally in the Sacrament That the communion was then ministred vnder one kinde That there was Masse saide at that tyme although there wer none to receaue with the priest A PRAEFACE OR INTRODVCTION TO THE FIRST PROPOSITION THe blessed Martyr of God S. Cyprian wryting to one Rogatianus a Bishop of his prouince hath thiese wordes Iâ—tia hae reticorum ortus atque conatus schisâ—aticorum malâ—e cogitantium haec sunt vâ— sibi placeant vt praepositum superbo tuâ—ore contemnant Sic de ecclesia receditur sic altare prophanum foris collocatur sic contra paâ—em Christi ordinationâ—m atque vnitatem Dei rebellatur Which is in englishe thus much to say The beginning of heretikes the first springing vp and enterprise of schismatikes thinking amisse in matters of faithe groweth of pleasure that they take in them selues and of that that being puffed vp with pride they contemne ther head and gouernour appointed ouer them By this meanes stray they from the churche Thus is a prophane altar placed wythout the dores and thus rebell they agaynst Christes peace gods ordinaunce and vnitie And agayn in an other place he writeth thus Vndâ—e enim schismata haereses obortae sunt nisi dum episcopus qui vâ—us est ecclesiae praeest superba quorundam praesumptione conteÌ„nitur homo dignatione dei honoratus ab indignis hominibus iudicatur Where of sayeth he doe heresies and schysmâ—s spring but of this that the bishop which is one and gouerneth the church is thorough the proude and arrogaÌ„t presumption of certeine contemned and set at nought and being the man by goddes approbation alowed and honored is of vnworthy men iudged The very same thing although in other wordes doeth S. Basile in an epistle written by him to the bishoppes of Italie and Fraunce bewailing there in the estate of his time most plainelie declare Whose wordes because they doe liuely represent vnto vs the most miserable face of this our age I haue thought good to alleage and set before your eyes Ambitiones eorum qui dominum non timent praesidentias inuadunt in propatulo de caetero impietatis praemium proposita est prima sedes Quare qui grauiores blasphemias protulit ad populi episcopum potior habetur Periit authoritas sacerdotalis populi admoneri nolunt praesides dicendi libertatem non habent Silent piorum ora permissum est autem dicere omni blasphemae linguae Prophanata sunt sacra that is to say The pride and ambition of them whych feare not our lorde doeth inuade and set apon ther heads and openly the chiefest place is proposed as a rewarde for wyckednes And therefore he that can vtter against the bishop of the people most grieuouse and slaunderouse blasphemies is accompted of gretest price and had in moste estimation The authorite of priestehood is lost The layte will not be admonished The rulers be restreined of liberte to speake The mouthes of good men kepe silence Euery blasphemouse tongue is set at libertie All holie thinges ar made prophane Hetherto S. Basil. To be short there was neuer yet any heretike emongest so many as from time to time haue continually troubled the churche of god that made not his first entry into his heresies by the proclaiming as it wer of open war against the beautiful ordre of the churche which they haue alwaies forsene to be to them terribilis vt castrorum acies ordinata terrible as is the froont of a battell well set in ordre and ageinst the bishop of Rome appointed by god to be here in earthe the laufull gouernour and head thereof not lacking also therein greate poliâ—ie that by striking the shepherde they might the easelier scatter the flock Thus did in the time of S. Cyprian Nouatus that greate herety k who as Nicephorus reporteth of him holding betwene his hands the handes of such as minded to receiue of him the blessed sacrament of th' altar vsed to them these wordes Adiura mihi per corpus sanguinem domini Iesu Christi nunquam te a me discessurum ad Cornelium Romanus is Episcopus fuit rediturum esse Sweare to me quoth he by the body and bloud of our lorde Iesus Christ that thow wilt neuer forsake me nor return to Cornelius who was then bishop of Rome So did in our time the scholers and folowers of Martin luther So did Iohn Caluin with his congregation at Geneua So doe euen at this time in oure infortunate countrey those wicked men apon whome I beseche almightie god to extende his mercie who occupieng the places and 〈◊〉 mes of catholike bishops being them selues indurat heretikes ceasse not daily most cruelly to practise that lesson learned of ther auncestor Nouatus For what man admit they to any liuing of whome they exact not first this othe Whome suffer they to continue in his liuing if he giue not this othe For the onely refusall hereof how many notable men of the cleargie bothe for life and learning suffer they to pyne away in prison I remembre not heare the greate nombre of gentlemen and other mere laye men not included in the statute of pooer yong scholers of bothe th' vniuersites who witheout all face of lawe for for th' other theie pretended a colour being not so much them selues spoiled of ther colleages as ther colleages vniuersitees yea ther country self which had of the most parte of them byn likely to hauereceiued bothe help and comfort spoyled and robbed of them wander now abroade in dispersion lamenting th' estate of ther miserable countrie Of the whych they maye and we all iustlie now say much more then did S. Basil of the persecution in his time He onely complained that the churche dores wer shut vp that th' altars lacked that spirituall worship that should haue byn doen apon them that there wer no assembles of Christian men that lerned men bare no sway that there was no wholesom doctrine taught that the feastes and holidaies wer not
again And because good Christian readers you shall well perceaue that this is no nowe deuise or fantasie imagined by mâ— I will here lay before your eyes the iudgement of certein notable men whom god gaue to his churche to serue for a wall for the same ageinst the incursions of the wicked Phylistins his enemyes In whom you shal most plainely perceiue this ordre in Christes churche to be so necessarie that the onely breache or lack thâ—râ—of hath byn by them taken to be the highe way and very path that leadeth to all heresies And first to begyn wyth that blessed martyr of god S. Cyprian hath he not coÌ„cerning this matter in an epistle by hym written to Corâ—elius then bishop of Rome thiese wordes Neque enim aliunde obortae sunt haereses aut natâ—â— sunt schismata quà m indé quâ—â—d sacerdoti dei non obtemperatur necvnus in ecclesia ad tempus sacerdos et ad tempus iudex vice Christicogitatur that is neyther yet truely doe heresies aryse or schismes growe of any other cause then thereof that men obey not the priest of god neyther doe thinck that there is in the churche in the steed and place of Christ one prieste and one iudge for the time Hetherto S. Cyprian By the whych wordes good christian readers it is so euident that there must be one priest in the churche whom all other must obey that the same must be taken of vs for iudge here in earthe in the stede of Christe that you see I nothing doubt great cause to condeÌ„ne the grosse ignorance of our late apologie Wher in the authors contrary to thys doctrine of S. Cyprian most impudently pronounce that in hys church Christ our lord vseth not the help of any one man alone to gouern the same in his absence as he that standeth in neede of no such help and that if he did no mortall man could be found hable alone to doe the same and finally wyth the same S. Cyprian who dyed a holy martir and is no dout a saincte in heauen to whome the belief of both these two articles seemed not onely not impossible but also very necessary to lyue and dye in th' obedience of this priest and vnder such a iudge then wyth a sort of lewd losels in whose churche being a certein secret scattred congregation vnknowen to all the world beside and to their own fellowes toe is nother head ordre obedience neyther yet certein rules or groundes where on to stay to runne hedlong ye wot no more then your guides whither But S. Cyprian was he trow yow of this minde alone No verilie for S. Hierom is of the same as by thiese his wordes it is most euident Ecclesiae salus in summi sacerdotis pendet dignitate cui si non exors ab omnibus eminens detur poteâ—tas tot in ecclesâ—a efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes The health sayth he and welfare of the churche dependeth apoÌ„ the estimatioÌ„ of the chief priest who if he haue not auctoritie pearelesâ—e and aboue all other ye shall haue in the churche so many schismes as there be priestes And again in an other place speaking of the apostles he writeth thus Quòd vnus poâ—teà electus est qui caeteris praeponere tur in schismatis remedium factum est ne vnusquisque ad se trabens ecclesiane rumperet that is That one was afterward chosen to rule the rest that was donne for a remedy ageynst schismes least while euery man would chalenge to hym self the churche by such halyng and pullyng they might brâ—ake the same Leo of whom the whole councell of Calcedon as one of the greatest for nombre so of all men accoÌ„pted emongest the fower general for auctoritie reported so honorably that they did not onely wyth one voice all openly professe them selues to beleue as he did but called him also by the name of Sanctissimus beatissimus that is most holy and blessed of all other speaking of the mysticall body of Christes church writeth after this sort Haec conâ—exio totius quidem corporis vnanimitatem requirit c. This combination and ioining together he speaketh of the body of Christes church requireth an vnitie of the whole body but especîally of the priestes emongest whom although there be one dignitie common to them all yet is there not one generall ordre emongest them all For euen emongest the blessed apostles in that similitude of honor was there yet a differeÌ„ce of power and whereas in ther election they wer all lyke yet was yt giuen to one to be aboue all the rest Out of whych forme is taken our difference of bishops and by merueylouse ordre and disposition ys yt prouided that euery one should not chalenge to him self euery thing but that in euery prouince there should be one whose iudgement emongest the rest of his brethern should be chief and of most auctoritie And agein certein appoincted in greater cityes whose care should be greater by whome to the onely seate of Peter the charge of the vniuersal churche might haue recourse that nothing might at any time dissent from the head Hetherto haue yowe hard good readers beside th' experience that we haue of ciuile policy and worldly gouernement the opinions also of S. Cyprian S. Hierom and holy Leo all three agreiâ—g in one that there must nedes be one iudge in Christes churche in his steede that the health of the churche dependeth apon the auctoritie of the chief priest that if his auctoritie be not aboue all the rest there will so many schismes breake in apon vs as there be priestes that for th' auoyding of that mischief there was one chosen euen emongest th' apostles to gouern the rest Last of all that that vsage in christes churche to haue one head is no newe inuention as some men falsely report but taken from th' example of th' apostles them selues I can not heare stay to examyne curiously euery word in these auncient fathers but leauing that good readers to your discretion and not douting but that in these graue witnesses in a matter of such weight and importance as whereapon dependeth the health of the whole churche you wilbe no lesse diligent then you would be in examining the depositions of your owne witnesses or your aduersaries in a triall of landes or other temporall commoditie I shall procede to the coÌ„sideration of the second reason which before I touched of the people of Israel if I fyrst warne you to considre but this by the way that ye may trust those auncient fathers by ther word the better an other time how many schismes be burst in apoÌ„ vs in our country of England for one common receiued truthe in the dayes of our fathers when we remained in the obedience of one chief priest and iudge which shake now so myserably the same howe quietly in one loue in one truthe in one
to them thiese perniciouse persuasioÌ„s that they be here in earth by almighty god placed in his churche to be the heads thereof and not membres to be fathers and not children to rule in causes of religion and not to be ruled that to them it belongeth in the right of their crowune to approue doctrine or to condemne it to alter at their pleasure the state of religion by actes of parliament without the consent of their cleargie to depose bishops and put other in their places in their stiles and titles boldely to write them selues gouernours in their realmes in all things and causes aswell ecclesiasticall as temporall and yet no ordre all this while broken because forsoth theie be such as theie beare them in hand they ar that is to say the heades the rulers the shepherdes the fathers maisters and guides in religion Thiese be theie therefore good readers that as the prophete saith call bonum malum malum bonum tenebras lucem lucem â—enebras good euel and euel good darckenes light and light darckenes Thiese be they that as their Idol of Geneua in this poinct trulie giueth answer goe about to make princes iustle with god Finally thiese ar those lowsy brokers that leading as it wer by the hand their good and vertuous princes after this sweete poysoned bait from the most pleasaunt and fertile valeis of humilitie to the toppe of the highe barren and craggy mountaines of pryde and arrogaÌ„cie showing them when they haue them there the riches and ornaments of the churche the landes and reuenues thereof by good and vertuous princes their predecessors and auncestors long time before for this entent especially thereto giuen that the ministres of Christes most holy word and blessed sacraments being by hauing of their owne deliuered from that comberouse care of prouisioÌ„ for them selues that afterward the holy ghost who was the procuror of such almoise and stirred from time to time the deuocion of good men thereto forsaw thorough the decay of pietie and coldenes of charitie towardes the latter ende of the world they wer likelie to fall into might thereby the more quietlie folow their vocation promise of all the same to make them the lordes and maisters if they will doe them homage and fall down and worship them that is to say harckeÌ„ to their doctrine submit them selues thereto and graunt to it within their realmes and dominions fauorable entreteinement And that this is true good readers that they haue thus shamefully abused and deceiued their princes and not surmised or imagined by me to bring them in to hatred whome god I take to recorde I pity much and hate nothing I hope by his assistaÌ„ce who is the giuer of all good thinges â—o plainely to proue that yow your selues shall at the eye see it and they if there remain yet in them anie sparcle of grace shall not be hable to denie it The which that I may the better perform I shall truly bring furth as it wer into the face of the open courte all such euidence of importance as either parte hath to alleage for them selfe so truely Itrust that the councel of th'other side shall haue no cause to complaine that either I haue suppressed and coÌ„cealed their necessary proofes one waie or obscured their beauty in the bringing of theÌ„ furth on th' other But because an indifferent and vpright iudge must alwaies haue an earnest eye to the issue which is betwene vs who should gouerne in ecclesiasticall causes the prince or the priest it shall not be amisse because to be chief gouernour in thinges and causes ecclesiasticall is nothing elles but to haue the supreme iurisdiction thereto belonging to examine first in what poinctes that consisteth that so by conferring our euidence wyth the same whether it agre with euery parte with none with some and with which we maie at the length by good scanning comme to the knowledge of euery mans owne Iurisdiction therefore ecclesiasticall consisteth especially in thre poinctes in auctoritie to iudge ouer doctrine whych is sound and which is other in the power of the keyes that is to say as our sauiour him self hath expounded it in loosing and binding excommunicating and absoluing in making rules and lawes for the gouernement of the church and in the ministery of the word and the sacraments To the first of thiese three what title Kinges and princes haue it shall if theie haue anie be seene hereafter But for priestes yow shall see to begin withall an auncient commission out of the scriptures where almighty god speking to Aaron vsed thiese wordes Praeceptum sempiternum eâ—t in gener ationes vestra vt habeatis scientiam discernendi inter sanctum prophanum inter pollutum mundum docâ—atisqué filios Israel omnia â—egitima mea that is to say it is a precept that shall euer endure thorough all your generations to haue the knowledge to discern and put difference betwene holy thinges and prophane betwene cleane and polluted and that yow teache the children of Israel all my commaundements To whome gaue almightie god here the power to iudge of doctrine whome commaunded he to teache anie other then Aaron and his race which wer priestes In the booke of DeuteroÌ„ saieth he not also that if there arise any hard or doutefull question the priest must be consulted that he that of pride will spurn ageinst his ordinance shall suffer death therefore and agein in the same booke in an other place that apon the priestes word all causes shall hang. Ezechiel the prophete doeth he not witnesse the same â–ª and when there is anie controuersy sayth he they shall stay in my iudgements and giue iudgement Aggeus and Malachias prophetes bothe bid they vs enquier for the law of god at the priestes handes or at the kinges No assuredlie they send vs not to kinges which had they bene the chiefe gouernours in those matters without faile they would haue doen but to the priestes whose lippes they promise shall not misse to kepe the true knowledge because theie ar our lordes angels Haue we any such warrant of worldely princes No trulie And wer it not more theÌ„ necessary that we should if princes should rule them in matters of religion of whom thiese wordes be spoken But to procede is this auctoritie giue to them onely in the olde testamentâ—ar they not put trow yow in as greate trust in the newe Or ar they thinck yow excluded and kinges admitted theâ—eâ—â—â— If it had bene so neuer would S. Paule tâ—at blesâ—ed aposâ—le haue made his accopte that god had placed in his churche first apostles next to them prophetes then doctours and so furth Emongest all the which although that frantick foole that preaching not many yeaâ—eâ— sence at Powles crosse went about with his rayling Rhetoricke to make his audience as foolish as he was maâ—de in beleâ—ing that this place should make ageinst the auctoritie of the pope because
emperour yet hath he not thereby gotten auctoritie to depose bishoppes and ordeine newe â–ª which onely bishoppes must doe So strange a thing semed it then good readers in Christes churche which nowe we see so commonly done Long after thiese emperours start vp Leo Isaurus emperour of Constantinople he that made war with images Ageinst him god raised vp also his Azarias one to warn him of his duetie and that was that notable learned man Iohn Damascenus Giue saith he the apostle Paule crieth to euery one his due honor feare pension tribute to eche one that which they ought to haue The charge that kinges haue is to see well to their common weales the ordering of the churches apperteineth to the pastours and teachers This manner of inuading other mennes offices I can terme it no better my brethern then robbery and plaine violence And a little after he hath thiese wordes Tibi ô rex in ijs quae pertinent ad presentis vitae negocia c. As for those thinges ô king which concern onely this presâ—nt life in those we willingly obey the. In ordering thâ— state of the churche we haue shepherdes which haue spoken to vs the worde of god that is to saie taught it vs and haue left vs rites and ordres therefore And in the same place he addeth Non recipio regeÌ„ qui per tyrannidem sibi sacerdotiuÌ„ vsurpat I acknowledge him for no king that vsurpeth by tirany the priestes office And last of all to knit vp the knot in plaine wordes he saith Non assentior vt regum legibus gubernetur ecclesia sed patrum potius traditionibus siue scriptae hae sint siue non scriptae I consent not saith he that the churche of god shalbe gouerned by the lawes of kinges but by the traditions rather of oure fathers be they written or vnwritten And thus much hetherto good readers haue I thought good to reherce that yow may the better vnderstand how the auncient fathers of Christes churche haue not ceased continually from time to time to resist the vnlaufull attempt of such princes as being heretikes or enueigled theretoe by heretikes for of other perdy it was neuer gone about nor of all them neither would contrary to the expresse worde of god the custome of Christes churche from the beginning continued the alowed exaÌ„ples of all ages of all common weales Christian and heathen hetherto practised mingle heauen and earth holie and prophane together by vnlawfull vsurping to them selues the supreme and chief gouernement in causes ecclesiasticall To come nearer home to our owne time and daies if in it any prince haue attempted the like there hath not lacked also stoare of diuerse meÌ„ singuler bothe for their vertuous life and exquisite learning which haue rather chosen to withstand the same with the expence of their bloud and losse of this present life then to the vtter destructioÌ„ of both body and soule and losse of that which must continue for euer to consent thereto But if thiese examples please not the deinty tast of the aduersaries as being ouer stale I shall set before them their owne deare derling the piller while he liued of their religion the very head of their churche if they be not all together headlesse their Idol and their god in earthe whose doctrine and opinions at other times and in other thinges they haue so rauenouslie deuoured Iohn Caluin him self For if kinges and temporall gouernours as our aduersaries affirme ought euerie one of them in their realmes signories and dominions to gouerne in causes ecclesiasticall and matters of religion whie did then that monsterous beaste in his comentaries apon the prophetes Osâ—e and Amos rayl apoÌ„ our late souereigne lorde king Henrie the eight calling him homo belluinus a beastelie maÌ„ and comparing him with Iehû whome he termeth wicked and nought Why termed he theÌ„ blasphemers that first buzzed into his eares that vaine desire to be called chief head of the churche of England for of other yow wot well he neuer attempted to be nor euer was called vnder Christe here in earth If Caluin haue taught the truthe then haue his scholers taught vs and yeat doe feede vs with lies If they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie chief head of the churche of England vnder Christ which is to saie in effect nothing elles but to be chief gouernour in all causes belonging to the same who was yet a man although laie and thereto also of great wisdome and learning in what degree of blasphemie shall we place them that giue this title not to laie men onelie but to women also and children with out respect If Caluin who touching the giuing of this vnlaufull title to our late lord and maister was vtterly innocent coÌ„plained yet that euen his conscience was wounded not a little there withall how much more daungerousely wounded ought they to thinck them selues who of so many horrible and bloudly woundes whereby for the refusall to folow this example in christes churche neuer hard of before so many godly learned and innocent men in this realme haue died some by heading some by hanging some by quartering and tearing peace meale one membre from an other haue by ther false and vntrue suggestions byn the chief and onelie occasion who yet like cruell bloudsuckers and bloudy bourreâ—aus cary about in their murdering aud malicious mouthes the naked knife which wer it laufull for them they would sheathe in the throates of euerie one of vs that thinck not as they doe But if now on the contrarie part their maister Caluin wer deceauid if they be in the right and he in the wrong why steppeth none of them furth to defend and vindicate from perpetuall infamy that prince of famouse memory which by his railing writinges this wretched caytiff goeth about to bring him into why haue they left him so long vndefended who did no other thing then whereof them selues wer the authors and first beginners Or why at the least purge theie not them selues of the horrible crime of blasphemie laied by him to their charges and all such as theie ar for if they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie head of the churche of Englande what priuilege haâ—e thiese that calling not onelie him but his sonne and daughter by the same title in effect they should not incurre the same crime Where is now their spirit of vnitie that they ar wont so much to bragge of which dissent not here in any small poinct or from any meane man but euen from the chiefest caterpiller whyle he liued of their congregatioÌ„ who not onely in thiese places before by me alleaged kepeth as it wer with their proceadings a combat but elles where in his InstitutioÌ„s doeth merueilousâ—y discredit the same And in steede of manie places which might be brought here out of his worckes I shall onely for this time be coÌ„tented to alleage one in such sort as I finde it in the frenche because at the writing hereof
occupation and so maie not I who I thanck god therefore am none of the company will take the paines to stoope and doe it for them It foloweth in Theodoretus after he had mentioned the oration which Constantin had in the councell Haec his similia tanquaÌ„ fiâ—â—us amator pacis sacerdotibus veluti patribus offerâ—bat These wordes and such like as a sonne that loued peace he offred vp to the priestes as to his fathers Lo good readers was not here trow yow a greate president for our Emperours and kinges to meddle with the ordre of religion Well he was as the histories beare witnes the first christian emperour that openly professed the faithe and name of Christ for of Phillip the histories make no greate accompt and before that time the church was gouerned either by infidleles and tirantes as Nero Domitianus and such other or by priestes or by none And this was the very cause that they would so faine haue wonne to their parte the first Christian emperour The next example that they bring is of Theodosius th'emperour that he not onely sat emongest the bishoppes but was also the verie chief of the conference betwene the Catholykes and the Arrians That Theodosius did in this matter nothing of him self but all by the councell of Nectarius the B. of Constantinople had not our aduersaries as they did before in th'example of Constantine mangled the historie any man might easely haue perceuid For reade the beginning of the chapiter where this matter is mencioned and yow shall finde that Theodosius called to him Nectarius then B. of Constantinople asked of him his aduice what ordre wer best to be taken for thappeasing of that schisme which then so miserably troubled the churche and finallie embrased him self and commaunded all other to receiue the same doctrine not which him self had determined to be true but which Nectarius and the other catholyke bishoppes had deliuered and commendid to him And truly maruell had it byn if he had otherwise doen in matters of religion any thing to the preiudice of that auctoritie which bishoppes and priestes of right ought to haue in those matters who at other times had so often declared his minde persuaded to the contrary and namelie in that councell that he caused to be assembled at Aquileia where in the sommons of that Sinode he openlie protested that controuersies arising apon matters of doctrine can not be better tried then by being referred to the bishoppes that they quoth he from whome the very groundes and principles of doctrine haue proceded may if there fall out anie doubtes dissolue the same For the which wordes being afterward rehersed in the councell it appeareth how greately S. Ambrose praised him when he saide openlie Behold what ordre the christian emperour hathe taken he will not doe anie iniurie to the priestes he referreth to the bishoppes the interpretation of all doubtes If Theodosius had taken apoÌ„ him to iudge in matters of faithe being a lay man coulde S. Ambrose thincke yow that florished vnder him haue byn ignorant thereof If he could not would he haue praised him for that he did not would he haue asked of Valentinianus the yonger beginning in his youthe although he after repeÌ„tid to encroche apoÌ„ the spirituall limites and iurisdiction Quando audisti clementissime imperator in causa fidei Laicos de Episcopo iudicasse when did yow euer heare most gentle emperour that in matters of faith lay men haue iudged of the bishoppes doinges Might he not haue answered if it had bene as our aduersaries say I haue not hard onelie but knoweÌ„ also by experience that mine owne felowe in the empire Theodosius hath doen so So that hereapon we may be bould probably to conclude S. Ambrose vertue wisdome lerning long experience and greate practise in Christes churche well coÌ„sidered that Theodosius atteÌ„pted no such matter nor did anie thing in religion without the councell of such bishoppes as being catholike enstructed him what he should doe for thaduauncement and setting forwarde of Christes catholyke faithe It foloweth in the apologie In the couÌ„cel of CalcedoÌ„ the ciuile magistrate condeÌ„ned for heretikes by his senteÌ„ce Dioscorus Iuuenalis Thalassius being all bishoppes and iudged them vvorthy to be degraded Here would I faine knowe in what place or where they finde this historie written If they saie in the. 5. booke and tenth chap. of Socrates historie as the place is in the margent coated I must nedes tell them that the place hauing byn there sought for can not be found And as littell hope is there of finding the same elles where if a man maie beleue vehemeÌ„t presumptions For if in that couÌ„cell Iuuenalis and Thalassius had bene at all condeÌ„ned by any magistrat either ecclesiasticall or ciuile as well should it of all likelihood haue byn mencioned in the actes and recordes of the couÌ„cell of Calcedon as was the condemnatioÌ„ of Dioscorus they being all accused and partakers of one crime True it is although in the place by theÌ„ alleaged there be no such thing that in the actes yet of the councell we finde a record where the ciuile magistrates consented that Dioscorus had well deserued to be of his bishoprick depriued and of all priestely dignitie degraded But how I beseche yow diligently to considre if to the bishoppes to whome god had committed the charge to giue that sentence it should so seme good And thiese ar not my wordes but his that was sent from the whole councell to Dioscorus who then after the manner of all heretikes fled from the face of the councell and lurcked I wot not where Ioannes the bishop of Germanicia who after he had told him in what termes he stoode that was condemned by the whole councell he added this clause Si hoc placuisset sanctissimis episcopis quibus hanc inferre a domino deo creditum est if it so semed good to the holy bishoppes to whome god had committed the power to giue that sentence This sentence afterwarde the said Dioscorus continuing in his obstinacie was by the whole councell alowed and by the legates of the bishop of Rome in his name pronounced no mans name subscribed or consent asked thereto besides the onelie bishoppes And thus much for Dioscorus for of Iuuenalis and Thalassius till they show where and when they wer condemned for heretikes and worthy to be degraded I can saie nothing Although this in the meane season I may boldelie say that if they the ciuile magistrates I meane gaue anie such sentence it is verie likely that they would qualifie it as yow hard before that they did in Dioscorus with this adiection if the bishoppes thinck good to whom that matter belongeth Which if they did what haue they then gotten by th'alleaging of such a sentence I praie yow The next proufe that they bring is out of the third councell of Constantinople where Constantinus they say did not onelie sit emongest the bishoppes
by common consent and is rightely termed the certificate of their doinges to Leo the pope wherein they called him the heade and them selues the membres and in that that they termed him the man to whome our lorde committed the keping of his vineyarde doe moste plainelie affirme the same there is nowe left to our aduersaries no starting hole to escape Besides all this that yowe haue hard there is a notable testimonie of Iustinian the emperour who in his Codex calleth in plaine wordes Ioannes that was then the pope of Rome caput omnium ecclesiarum that is the heade of al churches And thus much for such as within the first sixe hundred yeares haue called the B. of Rome by this name heade of the churche To come nowe to those who although they haue not vsed the same terme haue named him yet notwithstanding by the like and haue attributed vnto hiÌ„ and acknowleged in him in all poinctes the same iurisdiction and auctoritie I shall first bring furth the testimonie of that stroÌ„g piller and vnmoueable rocke of Christes churche Athanasius and yet not him alone but accompanied with the whole noÌ„bre of the bishoppes of Egipt Thebaida and Libia Who writing to three seuerall popes Marcus Liberius and Felix called first Marcus S. Ro. Apostolicae sedis atque vniuersalis ecclesiae papam that is the bishop or pope for the worde is in the auncient doctours vsed indifferentlie for bothe of the holie apostles seate at Rome and also of the whole vniuersall churche of Christ and the churche of Rome the mother and heade of all churches acknowleged in the secoÌ„de written to Felix that almighty god had placed the bishoppes of Rome insummitatis arce omnium ecclesiarum curam habere praecepit in the chiefest tower that he had commaunded them to take on them the charge not of their owne propre and peculier churche of Rome onlie as though their charge extended no farder but of all churches vniuersallie witnessed beside whereof theie coulde not be ignorant them selues being present there and then which they coulde not haue brought a stronger proufe to proue the superioritie of that See that in the first councell holden at Nice it was ordeined and agreed apon that no councells should be holden or bisshoppes condemned without the auctoritie of the B. of Rome And in their lettres last of all to Liberius the popeâ— doe so openlie and manifestlie witnesse their opinion in this controuersy in saieng that to him as pope was committed the vniuersall churche of Christe to labour for all to helpe euerie one that I can not ynough maruell at your impudency M. Iuell who standing in defence of the contrary beate in to the eares of the people that this doctrine of the popes auctoritie is newe and hath for warrante thereof not so much as one auncient writers approbation and that as suerly as god is god the Catholikes if they had vouchesaufed to folowe the scriptures the generall councels the examples of the primitiue churche or opinions of th'auncient fathers would neuer haue brought in the pope again being once banished out of the realme The seuerall answers of euerie one of thiese popes wherein they acknowleged no lesse burden of charge then was by these fathers laiâ—d apoÌ„ theÌ„ I here forbeare to bring in lest theie maie by yow perhappes be chaleÌ„ged as principall partes to the title in strife The which because I knowe yow can not say by S. Hierom S. Ambrose S. Austen and other such like I shall here of many alleage some for the confirmation thereof S. Hierome called Damasus who was B. of Rome the chief and highest prieste S. Ambrose calleth him ruler of the churche Ecclesia saieth he domus dei est cuius hodie rector est Damasus The churche is goddes house the gouernor whereof at this day is Damasus S. Austen saieth in writing to Bonifacius the pope ageinst the Pelagians that although the office of being a bishop be to them all comon that yet he was in that care placed aboue the rest And in an other place comparing together the blessed apostle S. Peter and the holie martir S. Ciprian he had cause to feare he saied least he might seme to be towardes S. Peter contumeliouse not as though touching the crowne of martirdome they wer not bothe equall but in respect of their seates and bishoprikes Quis enim nescit illum apostolatus principatum cuilibet episcopatui praeferendum for who is quoth he ignorant that that principalitie of apostleship is to be preferred before all bishoprikes To these shall I adde Theodorite the B of Cyrus who writeth in this wise to Leo the pope Si Paulus praeco veritatis tuba sanctissimi spiritus ad magnum Petrum cucurrerit vt ijs qui Antiochiae de institutis Legalibus contendebant ab ipso adferret solutionem multò magis nos qui abiecti sumus pusilli ad apostolicam vestram sedem currimus vt ecclesiarum vlceribus medicinam à vobis accipiamus Vos enim per omnia primos esse conuenit If Paule that is to saie the messanger of truthe and trumpet of the holie ghost ran vnto mighty Peter to fetch from him the resolution of such doubtes as rising apon th' obseruation of the Lawe ministred to them occasion of strife that wer at Antioche much more neede had we which ar weake and abiect to run vnto your apostolicall seate from thence to fetch salues for the sores of the churche For expedient is it that in all pointes before all other yow haue the preeminence And a little after he addeth that the churche of Rome is of all other maxima praeclarissima quae praeest orbi terrarum the greatest the noblest and that which ruleth all the worlde By occasion of this place of Theodoritus calling the churche of Rome the chief of all other which yet he doeth not alone neither for so did well neare two hundred yeares before his daies Irinaeus when he would haue euery churche that is as him selfe expoundeth it all faithefull Christians from all partes of the worlde to mete and conforme them selues to the imitation of this churche propter potentiorem principalitateÌ„ saieth he for the chiefest souereintie that it hath and after him aswell S. Ambrose whose opinion was that Rome hath bene more honored thorough the preeminence and principalitie of the apostolicall priestehood by hauing there the chief tower of religion then it was before when it had there the chief throne of worldly power and ciuile iurisdiction as also S. AusteÌ„ affirming that in that churche the preeminence and chief honour of the apostolicall priestehood hath alwaies florished I shall here make this argument for the better coÌ„firmation of this controuersie that the B. of Rome is the heade and chief of the whole churche this allwaies presupposed that yowe M. Iuell whome I desire to solute this argument ar stille of this minde that the
grounded the doctrine of Christes true presence in the sacrament and so consequently that I deserue no blame who vse this auctoritie no otherwise then I finde by good and laufull recordes that the learned fathers of Christes church haue doen before me next that apon this doctrine once settled they buylded an other that Christ dwelled naturally and truly in vs against the Arrians who denied it And for so vndouted a truthe was this true and reall presence of Christ taken to be with Hilarius that blessed bishop that a littell before the place euen now alleaged to proue that Christ dwelled naturally in vs he vsed this argument or reason The word was truly made flesh in Christes incarnation we receaue the same word truly made flesh in our lordes foode Therefore he dwelleth naturally in vs. To this auncient father for the better iustifieng of this terme truly or verely I shall here adde the auncient councell holden at Ephesus one of the first 4. generall and therefore allowed with vs at home for good by act of parliament The fathers in this councell assembled to Nestorius who as by that councell it may appeare beleued the bread in the sacrament to be so turned in to flesh as that it should haue no manner of coniunction at all with the godhead nor be any other thing then the flesh of a pure and holy man wrote after this sort that we should thinck that we receiue flesh in the sacrament non vt hominis vnius ex nobis sed vt verè propriam eius factam qui propter nos filius hominis est factus vocatus that is to say not as the flesh of a man one such as we ar but such as was truly made his owne propre flesh who for our sakes was made and called the sonne of man Can there be any plainer proufe to show that Christes flesh is truly present in the sacrament then this M. Iuell You can not here shift of this place with Oecâ—lampadius and say as he most impudently did that this auctoritie is no part of th'actes of the councell For if yow so say the inscription of the epistle out of the which these wordes ar taken â–ª sent by the councell to Nestorius will ouerthrow you and proue yow bothe liers The wordes ar these Religioso amabili consacerdoti Nestorio Cyrillus quicuque sunt apud Ephesi synodum To the religiouse and welbeloued of god our fellow priest Nestorius Cyrillus and as many as ar gathered together at the synode of Ephesus By the which it appeareth that there was in the sending of this epistle common consent and agrement of them all which is ynough to sober wyttes and honeâ—t iudgements to proue that this epistle is and so ought of all men to be taken laufull and authentike But what labour I to proue by the auncient fathers this terme verely or which is all one therewith Really which in Iohn Caluin him self is to be founde in his coÌ„mentaryes apoÌ„ S. Paules epistles where he writeth thus Concludo nobis realiter in coena dari Christi corpus vt sit animis nostris in cibum salutarem I conclude saith he that in the supper is giuen to vs really the body of Christ to be to our mindes a wholsom meate Thus haue yowe had proued to yowe M. Iuell that Christes body is in the sacrameÌ„t truly and that we may not so much as doubte thereof that it is there naturally for that was Hilarius meaning when he prooued that Christ dwelled naturally in vs and last of all as Caluin hath and yow haue hard really Here I feare not a little least after the manner of children that whine and whimper till they haue gotten at their mothers handes some trifling thing such as their childishe appetite listeth after which so soone as they haue once fingred they streight way cast in the durt and traÌ„ple vnder their feete You will play the like part with her that of right ought to be your mother the Catholike church of Christ. And whereas to satisfy your waÌ„ton request not for any necessitie that she knewe you stood in thereof she showeth you by good and laufull recordes and some other such as your self in times past haue accoÌ„pted for sound and worthy credit where the body of Christ hath bene said to haue bene in the sacrament truly naturally and really and myndeth to doe the like in your other termes demaunded hereafter I feare me I say least when yow haue all your asking yow handel them in such homely manner as was said before by casting them in to the mire of your distinctions as you vse them to subuert the truthe not durty but poysoned Symbolice Sacramentaliter Spiritualiter and such other Which if yow doe thincking that to such places as expressely mencion that Christes fleshe and bloud is truly present in the sacrament may be answered that it is there truly by a figure by a signe Sacramentally or Spiritually then how euer this seeme to be a childishe guise yeat will it prooue in the ende an old knauish practise of Valentinus the heretike and his mates who liued almost fourtien hundred yeares ago For he and his as yowe ar not I am suer ignorant denied that Christ had any true or naturall body such as mans nature consisteth of graunting neuerthelesse that he suffred in true fleshe on the crosse as yow will perhappes cleaâ—ing to your distinctions not denie that he hath fleshe and bloud truly in the sacrament Now euen as Irenaeus told them when they so said Neque enimesset verè sanguinem carnem haâ—ens per quam nos redemit nisi antiquam plasmationem Adae inse recapitulasset Christ should not truly haue had bloud and fleshe by the which he redemed vs onlesse he had renewed in him self the old shape of Adam so may we tell yow M. Iuell saing that Christes flesh and bloud is truly in the sacrament but yet in a figure in a signe onely and spiritually that then he is not there at all hauing true fleshe and blouâ—â— the same that the scriptures and fathers say he redemed vs with all except he be in that old shape of Adam And thus much of the termes verily or Really and naturally or by nature The next of your termes is substaÌ„tially after the which manner of being I prooue Christes body to be present in the sacrament by Irenaeus Who after many vaine opinions of Valentinus and his compagnions by him rehersed as that Christ had a certein fleshe brought with him from heauen not true or naturall such as oures is with other like inferreth thereapon these wordes Sic autem secundum haec videlicet nec dominus sanguine suo redemit nos neque panis quem frangimus communicatio corporis eius est Sanguis enim non est nisi a venis carnibus a reliqua que est secundum hominem substantia that is to say By this meanes neither did our
would coÌ„municate with the prieste some Secondarilie they teache that this sacrameÌ„t ministred in the masse was chiefelie instituted to be a sacrifice to be offred vp to god by the prieste for his owne sinnes and the sinnes of the people and nexte to be a spirituall foode for all Christian people and nexte to be a spirituall foode for all Christian people to feede apoÌ„ and that as the first vse of anie thing maie not depend apon the second but contrarie wise this apoÌ„ that so in this sacrament the oblation which is the chiefest vse thereof and whereunto the prieste is bounde maie not so depend on the peoples coÌ„municating which is the seconde and whereunto touching so often receiuing theie ar not bounde but stand at libertie that without their deuotion serue them to receiue it he maie not doe his dutie that is to offer it Thirdlie that although for lacke of company the prieste doe receiue alone the sacrifice is yeat neuer the more priuate or lesse coÌ„mon For as no man is so madde to saie that a greate riche man keping a common table for his pooer neighbours hath left his olde accustomed wont and maketh nowe his table priuate if the gates of his house standing wide open as theie wer wont to be his tables furnished with plentie of meates and all thinges in a readinesse his geastes forbeare to come euen so it fareth in this case where the table is laide the gates be open the goodman of the house the prieste supplieng the place of Christe abideth loking for his geastes who onelie refraine to come Is this table priuate is he a niggard or shall he not eate that woulde because theie will not that shoulde Is a conduict builded in the middest of the open market place of a towne the lesse publike or common if the inhabitantes for whose ease it was made refuse to fetche water thereat Last of all we saie that hethertoe yow haue not discharged your promise which was to proue that within the first six hundred yeares after Christe there was neuer Masse saide nor might be without a nombre to receiue with the priest So that now we may saye vnto yow Vbi est illa seuitia vbi est ille fremitus Leonis Nonne sagittae infantum factae sunt plagae eorum Where arre now become youre cruell wordes ageinst the Catholikes to what ende is your Lions roring O Gregory O Augustine O Hierome O Chrisostome O Leo O Dionise O Anacletus O Xistus O Paule O Christ. If we be deceiued yow haue deceiued vs to what ende I saie is it brought Nonne sagittae infantum factâ—e sunt plagae eorum Ar not the woundes that yow haue giuen vs such as childrens cockeshootelles ar wont to make Well these be the pointes that the catholike doctrine standeth apon in this article To the which if youre stomacke serue yow to replie and that yow haue digested that which yow haue allready receiued I moste hartely praie yow to kepe yow without straieng from the matter or alleaging proufes impertinent as close as yow can So shall yow doe bothe to youre selfe in writing and to me in answering a very greate pleasure while I am suer your euidence is so much that six lines I speake with the moste will receiue with ease all that yow shall haue to write THE CONCLVSION CONTEINING 12. CAVSES HABLE AS THE AVTHOR IVDGETH either to stay the wauorer in matters of religion or to calle back the wanderer in thiese perilouse times HEtherto haue yow hard M. Iuell for the confirmation of fower articles the chiefest in a manner of all the rest that arre at this daie in controuersie betwene yowe and vs the scriptures the councels the Doctours and examples of the primitiue churche not their bare names as apoticaries set furth their empty painted boxes but full euen to the toppe of moste wholesom triacle and pretiouse preseruatiues ageinst the venime and contagion of your poisoned and pestilent hereticall doctrine So that now there remaineth no more but that euen as of late yow haue bene warned allready so now by me yow be put in remembrance once againe according to your promise to returne froÌ„ your heresies to your mother the Catholike church The which to perswade yow the rather and with the better will to doe I haue thought good here to communicate with yow such causes and reasons as by parte whereof I haue by experience founde my self against oure coÌ„mon ennemie the craftie serpents assaultes at such times as he hath laboured to drawe me to youre parte not a little strengthened and confirmed in Christes true religion and his catholike faithe FIRST I beseche yow considre and weigh well with your self whether Christ at his departure from vs men left behinde him here in earthe a churche or none Whether he promised to aide the same and to be present with it to the ende of the worlde to defend it in such sorte as if hell gates wer set wide open and all the diuels there sent abroade to vexe it they should not yet all of theÌ„ be able to preuaile When all this shalbe well considered and founde to be true then marche yet one step farder I praie yow and aske as it were of youre self how this churche prospered afterwarde whether as if according to his promise he haue bene continually present therewith all it needes must it multiplied and encreased or by his absence therefro decreased and went backeward Here wote you well you must needes saie either th' one or the other If yow saie that it hath alwaies hetherto either encreased or byn at the least so mainteined that no enemie no heretike no diuell him self no not all the diuels with all the power of the worlde ioining together could euer yet preuaile ageinst it then must you also graunte that at all times sence Christes departure from hence there hath bin a churche visible such as of all men might bothe be seene and knowen for such a one left Christ behinde him to vs his xij apostles besides the nombre of disciples to be a pillar for them to leane vnto that thorough infidelitie should be in daunger of falling and a house to harbour and succour them that otherwise should be like in the tempestes and stormes of heresies to lie without the doores If yow saie thus and that he hath neuer forsaken his churche but allwaies noorished it at all times in such sorte defended it that neuer was there time yet in which for feare of all the tiraunts in the world for dread of burning hanging hedding or other torments what â—oeuer it could be forced to hide it self to seeke meanes to lurcke in cloudes or walâ—k inuisible but hath allwaies to the coÌ„trary well declared it self to be that tabernacle placed in the cleare shining sonne that citie builded on the top of the mountain that caÌ„dell which giueth light to all that arre in the house theÌ„ demaunde I hartely praie you
of your owne coÌ„science where fifty yeares a goe that schismaticall churche which yow call the true churche and boaste your self to be of was in the coÌ„passe of all the wide worlde to be seene or hard of where your bishoppes had their consistories where your pastours and doctours were resident where youre religion was preached and SacrameÌ„tes ministred in such sorte as yow preache and ministre theÌ„ S. HieroÌ„ saieth where is no priest there is no churche S. Paule teacheth vs that in Christes churche be placed apostles prophetes EuaÌ„gelistes pastours and doctours Bring furth your priestes shewe where were your doctours and preachers If yow can not as in deede by the confessioÌ„ of youre apologie where yow confesse that forty yeares a goe the truthe which yow teache began first to spring that theÌ„ it was by Martin Luther and Hulderick Zuinglius first as neuer before hard of for yow call it inauditam veritateÌ„ brought to the knowledge of men yow ar not able confesse then at the length that yow had at all no churche ioine youre self to them which can of all times and of all ages bring furth good testimonies and euideÌ„t proufes where the religion which they professe the doctrine which they preache hath byn preached and taught and the sacramentes which they ministre ministred in such sort and manner as by them they presently arre Thus much if you graunte to vs that Christes churche according to his promise hath prospered hath preuayled ageinst all enemies and backe frindes hath alwaies sence his departure hence byn visible and to be seene of all men But if now on the coÌ„trary parte you saye not thus but for the citie that should staÌ„d on the toppe of the mountaine to be sene of all meÌ„ you will leade vs to a ragged cotage standing in some darcke hole and obscure caue able to be sene of no man or very fewe if for the tabernacle placed in the bright sonne you point vs to a doghole in some cloudy cellar or rotten barne and tell vs that there youre church hath lurcked and all this long while lien hidden for feare of persecution then must we tell yow in plaine Englishe that although yow were able to finde out some such luskes coâ—ner where youre coÌ„uenticles had bene assembled as if a man should aske yow but of the yeare before Luthers time you can not yet this would in no wise serue youre turne as being the strange voice of those false prophetes of whome in the gospell our sauiour gaue vs a watche worde to beware and take heede For Christ and so by a consequeÌ„t the body which must folow the head the chuâ—che I meane is not in partes here or there and therefore yow deserue no credit when yow so saye He dwelleth not in the desert of singularitie but in that well peopled citie cuius participatio eius in idipsum which is at vnitie with it self and whither the multitude ascendith not by one and one alone but by whole tribues and companies together And therefore when yowe tell vs that his abiding is in deserto in the desert or wildrenes we maye not goe out of that populouse citie nor step oute of the common beaten way there to seeke him no more then we maye beleue yow when yow crye in penetralibus that he is in the secrete and priuey places of the house Thus tolde S. Austen then whome the churche had neuer yeat a champion more exercised or better practised and acquainted with the manners and fasshions of heretikes Petilian that heretike his wordes ar thiese Sed haec interim sepono tu ostende ecclesiam I am vox illa mihi sonabit quam in pseudoprophetis Dominus vitandam praemonuit ostendentibuâ— partes ab vniuer so alienare conantibus Ecce hic est Câ—ristus Ecceillic Sed vsque adeò putas veras oues Christi cor non habere quibus dictum est nolite credere vt lupum audiant dicentem hic est Christus pastorem non audiant dicentem per omnes gentes incipientibus ab Hierusalem That is to saye But thiese thinges I lay all a syde and slip ouer showe me the churche Here will that voice sounde in my eares which our lorde warned vs to beware of in false prophetes showing vs partes and going about to drawe vs from the whole saing Lo here is Christ and there is Christ. But thinckest thow PetiliaÌ„ that the true sheepe of Christ to whome it is saide beleue them not ar so hartelesse that they will harckeÌ„ to the wolfe howling that here is Christ and will giue no eare to the shepherd sayeng thorough out all nations beginning at Hierusalem Thus taught he vs in an other place to discerne true preachers from false Si quis tibi Christum praedicat attende considera qualem praedicet vbi praedicet Christus enim veritas est per scriptur as sanctas praedicatur non in angulis non occultè sed palam publicè In sole posuit tabernaculum suum hoc est in manifesto collocauit ecclesiam suam If any man that is to saie preache vnto the Christ marcke and considre what maÌ„ner of Christ he preacheth and where he preacheth him For Christ is truthe he is preached by the holy scriptures not in corners not in hocker mocker but openly and publikely He hath pitched his tabernacle in the sonne that is to saye he hath placed his churche in the open sight of all men The same S. Austen told Seuerinus a kinsman of his that the churche was ciuitas supra montem posita a citie buylt on the top of a hill and that therefore it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greke because it was diffunded thorough out the whole world and finally that for that cause according to the worde of god it could not be hidden To this that hath byn alleaged maye be added that if euer Christes church should haue bene brought to such extremitie at any time after the fundation thereof once layed that a man might haue sought for it and not haue founde it that no one duâ—sâ— put furth his head to kepe the possession and right thereof that then it had byn vtterly ouerthroweÌ„ that hell gates had preuailed ageinst it And how had then Dauids prophecy bene true spokeÌ„ before hand of the churche Dominabitur a mari vsâ—ue ad ma re à flumine vsâ—ue ad terminos terrae It shall rule from sea to sea and from the floud to the ende of the world How had the churche ruled and gouerned that shoulde haue byn so brought vnder and vanquished Or how could Daniel haue called it the greate stone that grew and becam a houge mountayne and filled the whole worlde Yea how had Christ acquitâ—ed him self of his promise to be alwaies present with his churche if it had euer byn brought to thiese termes Greate persecutions the churche we confesse of Christ hath suffred but
yeat neuer was there any so vehement that could make all to hide their heades that some there were not who euen to the teethe of the proudest tyrants of them all standing at defence apon the walles defended not stoutely Christ and his churche For if it had bene otherwise then had the diuell as before hath bene sayed gotten the victorie and Christ taken the foile then had the churche which at Christes departure hence was bothe seene and knowen whereas by this meanes it should be neither not onely haue bene nothing at all auaunced but also in deede much abased By this that hath bene alleaged I trust you see M. Iuell and will easely confesse if not with me with Caluin yeat your late capitaine that Christes church◠must needes be visible that as his reason is we may knowe it to ioyne our selues thereto For a pooer piller shoulde it elles be to leane vnto and as homely a house for succour to flie to if when a man should stand in distresse and neede thereof he wer suer neuer to see it or knowe it by which meanes he should finde it Next after this yow will graunte I hope that this churche of Christ hath alwayes kept with it the truthe of gods worde and right vse of his sacramentes and in fewe wordes to comprehend all that it neuer yeat erred in any necessarie point of doctrine For if it haue as in your apologie yow labour in vaine to proue it maye then shall yow heare once again and as often as yow so saie yow must not thinck much to heare that Christ hath not kepte touche with his churche that he was from home when the diuell was there that hell gates by which one right well vnderstandeth heresies haue preuailed against it the contrary whereof after the scriptures S. Austen emongest the auncient writers most plainely affirmeth Thirdly it hath bene proued that this churche of Christ is not in partes but dispersed ouer the whole and therefore called catholike as much to saye as vniuersall Last of all the truthe will compell yow to confesse that there is no certein nombre of yeares limited or prefixed for the churche to be visible after which time it should be darckened and not be seene no more thē Christes promise made to aide it for euer can berestreined to any such certeine or determinate time Which being true then foloweth it that the churche hath bene aswell visible and preserued from errours thiese nine hundred yeares last past as it was in the six hundred before And then if it be so in what a plight yow be which confesse for vs that for nine hundred yeares the practise of the churche hath ronne on oure side we prouing for oure selues that for the six hundred yeares before it hath doen the like I praye you well to considre to laie youre hand apon youre hart and thincke apon it seriously This fundation layed let now yow and me imagine together which I haue oftentimes doen with my self alone that we were fiftie yeares agoe bothe mē liuing together in this worlde of good yeares and discretion that beginning then to mislike and suspect the religion thorough all the worlde vsed we sought for the churche of Christe which we were persuaded not to be emongest them who preached the worde and ministred the sacramentes as they did such a church for example as nowe is in England to be seene where the head should be a laie man a womā or a childe in no wise a priest where should be but two sacramentes where there should be no sacrifice yea the very name should be odiouse where in the sacrament of the altar should be saied to be nothing but bread and wine in the which there should be no inuocation of sainctes no prayeng for the dead no abstinence from meates on prescript daies where onely faithe should be taught to iustifie good worckes to be nothing auaileable or meritoriouse to the doers and finally in all pointes qualified according to the directiō of youre cōmunion booke Let vs I saie imagine that all waies presupposed that such a churche as I haue described is the true churche of Christ where we should in those daies haue sought after it where we should after long seeking to ioine our selues thereto to harbour our selues therein to rest oure backes thereat being all forweried with wādring from opinions to errours from errours to heresies haue at the length foūde it Or let vs discourse with oure selues whē after all this busie searche and diligēt enquiry therefore it appeared in no place what we had bene likely to haue saied the one to the other Truly what we would haue saied I know not but what we bothe should I know right well We should first haue entred in to a merueilouse mislike with oure owne wittes who being in nombre but two in learning and wisdome not the most excellent in a country on th' one side ageinst the whole wisdom of the world on the other had euer fallē in to any such foolishe fantasy or furiouse frenesy as to condēne the doings of all the rest to bring in place oure doltish dreames to thincke our selues onely to see and all other mē to be blinde to beleue that the moste learned the moste vertuouse should erre and we onely priuileaged that we might not We should haue remēbred our selues and with S. Austen haue saied Qui nō vult sedere in consilio vanitatis nō euanescat typo superbiae quaerens conuenticula iustorum totius orbis vnitate separata quae non potest inuenire Iusti autem sunt per vniuersam ciuitatē quae abscondi non potest quia supra montē constituta est montē illum dico Danielis in quo lapis ille praecisus sine manibus creuit impleuit vniuersam terrā He that will not sitte in the coūcell of vanitie let him not vanishe away with the shadowe of pride seeking after conuenticles of iust men the vnitie of all the world being seuered which he shall neuer be able to finde For the iust ar dispersed thorough out that vniuersall citie which can not be hiddē because it is founded apō a hill euē that hill that Daniel speaketh of in the which that stone that was cut forth without handes grew and filled the whole worlde Besides this we should haue iudged our selues men altogether faithelesse that giuing no more credite to Christes promise we would thincke his churche to haue byn by him at any time forsakē and the whole world inuolued and wrapped in an vniuersall darckenesse Whereas true faithe and good reason ought on the contrary part to haue persuaded vs that we had our selues rather bene starcke blinde not hable to see then that conspicuouse citie on the top of the hill sene of all other men should be remoued or quite ouerthrowen and Christ false in his promise If we should haue thought and saied thus then M. Iuell as I see no cause why we should haue
omitted so much as one worde ▪ let vs nowe I beseche yow as yow tendre the common quiet of the churche as yow regarde the health of youre owne soule doe the like Youre owne selues confesse within the terme of yeares by me mencioned of the beginning and continuance of youre religion youre Apologie alleaging 40. yeares for all the vniuersall worlde M. Haddō to Hieronimus Osorius standing more stoutely then wisely apon the quiet possessiō of thirty yeares six excepted in which the course thereof was interrupted within oure realme of England So that yow can not say that I haue here imagined a case impossible but by youre owne selues confessed and by manie a man aliue if yow would denie it easy to be proued To conclude if all that hath byn allready saied satisfie yow not let yet Tertullian persuade yow in this poinct whose wordes touching this matter written ageinst the heretikes of his time folow in english after this sorte Well let it be graunted that all haue erred Hath the holie ghost yet all this while regarded no churche to leade it into the truthe being sent for that purpose by Christ being therefore expressely demaunded of his father to be the teacher of all truthe Let it be so that goddes bailif and Christes vicair haue suffered the churches to vnderstand otherwise then he taught by his apostles Is it yeat likely that so many and famouse churches should erre in one faithe And a littell after he addeth thiese wordes The truthe belike looked for some Marcionites and Valentiniās the heretikes against whome he wrote to deliuer it in the meane season till whose comming the ghospel was not rightely preached so many thousand thousands baptized amisse so many worckes of faithe euell ministred so many vertuouse cures and giftes wrongfully wrought so many priesthodes and ministrations naughtely executed so manie martirdome to make an ende suffred in vaine Thus far Tertullian To whome it seemed a thing absurd and vnlikely that the holie ghost should faile the churche in the reuealing and opening to the same of any wholesom and necessary truthe that gods bailiff and Christes vicair should suffer so many churches to fall in to an erroniouse and wrong belief that so many agreing all in one faithe should erre that no chaunce should at one time or an other haue varied the ordre had it byn nought of that doctrine which so many churches taught This wrote he when Christes churche was yet in herba when it had continued little aboue two hundred yeares What would he haue saied were he now aliue in oure time to heare that all the churches in the wide worlde the same where the apostles them selues gouerned from whence as from a spring all scripture all true religion next after god flowed in to the reast of Christendome should be noted agreing all in one faithe to haue perniciously erred not one hundred yeares or two but by the continuall space of fiftene hundred Or if that cōfession fell from yow in youre Apologie vnwares as in a booke set furth with such publike consent first commendid to the world next as the common and certeine pledge of youre religiō and last of all vaunted to be placed openly in the eyes of all the world and such as no one of youre aduersaries wer able to refell it is not easi to be presumed yeat for the terme of nine hundred yeares at the least For for so long continuance the moste parte of yow graunt that we ar able to bring proufes and witnesses of oure religion and therefore yow chalenge all the writers that haue written within that compasse Would he not now haue cried out and haue asked where was become the holie ghost apppointed by Christ demaunded of the father to leade the churche in to all truthe Whether it were likely that so many and notable churches agreing all in one faithe should erre would he not thincke we take vp oure newe doctours yow and youre cōpanions telling yow that the truthe laie euer bounde and could neuer be losed till frier Luther and his brother Zuinglius cam and set it at libertie and that in the meane season the ghospel was neuer preached aright baptesme euel ministred with such like functions in the churche But leauing Tertullian and comming nearer to oure owne time will not thinck yow Hieronimus Osorius laughe in his sleeue whē of thirteene hundred yeares for so long is it and more sence we Englishe men first receiued the faithe at the handes of pope Eleutherius M. Haddon his aduersary after so much turning and tossing troubling and vexing of Cicero his maister and chiefest author of his diuinitie could at the length with much ado finde but .24 yeares that our countrie had continued in the doctrine of the gospell Is he not like thinke yow to serue him again with this tennis ball Hoc est tuū Gualtere nescio stupidius an improbius ad Hieronimi epist. respōsum And will not some other trowe you cut him shorte of this accounte eleuen yeares and bid him for .30 lacking six to write .30 lacking .17 Except he will flie to this to iustifie his reaconing that as soone as the pope was once banished although Masse Mattins and all other seruice cōtinued till the deathe of king Henry that yeat was all as it shoulde be and according to the doctrine of their gospell How euer it be fower and twenty or .13 yeares hath not the Quene our gratiouse lady trow yow and the whole realme good cause to decree and appoint a perpetuall salary out of the common coffers to such a patrone But because Osorius is well knowen to be man good ynough for M. Haddon and therefore bothe cā and will if he thincke it needefull to reply apon so fond an answere defend him selfe I will leauing to write any more thereof as perteining not principally but incidently to my purpose conclude here this first cause with my earnest request to yow once again that yow considre it diligently and seriously not lightely or scornefully THE second cause that hath weighed much with me and maie also iustly doe the like with yowe is the same that S. Austen disputing with the Maniches affirmed to haue kept him in the lappe of the catholike churche that is the auctoritie of the same churche by which we ar taught to giue credite vnto the ghospell For as he reasoned thus ageinst Manichaeus Quibus ergo obtemperaui dicentibus c. Those therefore whome I beleuid bidding me beleue the ghospell why shoulde I not giue credite to the same men warning me not to beleue Manichaeus so maie yow or I saie to all such factiouse men as labour to bring vs from the obedience of the catholike churche of Rome to their parte The churche of Rome the mother and chief of all other taught vs Englishe men first to beleue the gospell and other knowledge the reof then which we had from that church we haue none Why should we
not therefore beleue that churche willing vs to giue no credite to Luther to Zuinglius to Caluin and such like seing we obeied it coÌ„maunding vs to beleue the gospell If it deceaue vs nowe in counceling vs not to beleue them What more assurance haue we that it might not doe the like in deliuering to vs the gospell THIRDLIE youre inconstancie in misliking one daie that which you praised th' other in chaunging youre opinioÌ„s as maketh best for youre purpose in vsing now in manie thinges the reasons of the Catholikes which once ye condemned When in the olde writers I finde that this was the very manner of the olde heretikes and considre on thother side how the Catholikes remaine alwaies settled and staied without change or innouation how so euer the course of time turning about alter many thinges to their disaduauntage this I say hath moued me not a little to rest rather with them then stray with yow neither yow nor I wot whither And because yow shall perceiue that I goe not about by false and sclaunderouse reportes to bring yow in hatred but haue noted trulie the maÌ„ner of youre proceding that you may the rather detest the same Call to youre remembraunce the changing and turning in and out of youre communion booke how the first was praised for vniformitie to be agreing with Christes institution and the vsage of the primitiue churche and yet in how shorte a space that being takeÌ„ awaie yow broughte in a newe to the first in the principall pointes cleane contrary to Christes institution and the order neuerthelesse of the primitiue churche as agreable iust as was the first And yeat that whether it be in all pointes as ye minde to haue it squared and trimmed youre self and youre coÌ„panions perhappes can tell wise men that knowe the nature of heresie and haue obserued the practise and ordre of youre procedinges thinke vereily no. And whether yow youre self M. Iuell haue at any time by priuate letters to Frauncis Baldwin cast out anie by wordes to that effect of chaunging some such thinges which yet yow take to be but grenelie handled apon better laisure you knowe best your selfe at the least he hath so reported of you But because what yow will doe hangeth but apon vncerteine euentes I shall leauing that as likely whereof yow haue giuen vehement presumptions put yow in remembraunce that there was a time when youre nombre was yet but small that the Catholikes laide to youre charge that their doctrine was vâ—iuersallie receauid of all meÌ„ and in all places which no doute Christe assisting alwaies according to his promise his churche and not suffring hell gates which one righte well interpreteth to be ment of heresies to preuaile ageinst the same coulde neuer haue bene had their doctrine bene false and that youres was such as comming sodenlie no man wist from whence had onelie founde entreteinemteÌ„ at the handes of a fewe miserable men who either for the lothesomnes of some streight and peinefull profession that theie before had bounde them selues vnto gredelie desired now to walcke in the wide fieldes and brode waie of that large and lewde libertie which theie sawe to be openlie proclaimed by yow other elles thorough plaine desperation of thriuing in their present state looked after some change which as theie trusted might better the same so wer theie suer coulde empaire it neuer At which time ye coulde glorie in youre fewenes with boasting on the scriptures wronglie vnderstoode that Christes flocke was but little that manie were called but fewe chosen with such like Now beholde youre inconstancie I praye yow After that youre heresies haue gotteÌ„ in a greate parte of Germanie in England Fraunce Scotland and elles where some more libertie and freer passage as though all the world were on youre side you vaunte youre selues of youre nombre and make in youre Apologie a necessarie argument that youre doctrine must nedes be true and sounde which notwithstanding so manie enemies such a nombre of backe friendes as from the beginning it hath had hath yeat at the length founde such happie successe â–ª as that now it ruffleth in the courtes and palaces of noble men O you that triuÌ„pheas ye doe of this little which yet o god is by all were thy will otherwise to muche and yet in dede compared with the rest of the Catholikes or with that nombre and power that in his time Arrius his heresie was of verie little what woulde ye theÌ„ haue saide how woulde yow haue taken vp the Catholikes reasons of generalitie and consent which now ye set so little by if yow might once haue gotten that aduantage by th' ende which now of youre small scattred coÌ„pany brag and boaste so much Euen thus did as S. Austen rereporteth of them those perniciouse heretikes the Donatistes Who when at the first theie were but fewe bragged therein afterward when theie were groweÌ„ to be manie triumphed likewise in their nombre The Arrians also when thâ—ie were so now encreased that theie had gotteÌ„ the emperour of the worlde besides a greate nombre of bishoppes and priestes almost all to take parte with them had theie not trowe yow M. Iuell as good cause if happie successe ageinst all enemies and gainesaiers be a cause to triumphe then as yow haue now Yea trulie in all mennes iudgement theie had But euen as of them Hilarius the bishop saide Antea in obscuro atque in angulis D. Christus Deiesse secundum naturam filius negabatur c. In times pastour lorde Christe was denied to be the naturall sonne of god and was preached hauing no parte of his fathers substaÌ„ce to haue had his beginning commoÌ„ with other creatures of nothing and thus much onelie in hocker mocker But nowe heresie breaking in apon vs by the helpe and fauour of publike auctoritie triumpheth of that like a coÌ„querour which before she whispered in corners like a micher so maie we at this time iustlie saie of you And therefore we enuie not youre sorie ioye wherewith yow woulde seme to make your selues merie but contrarie wise doe pitie much your case who seing how you arre dailie driuen to such miserable shiftes that yow ar faine after the manner of suche olde heretikes as haue heretofore vexed the churche to change with the time youre opinions haue not yeat the grace to perceiue the same and to mislike that doctrine which can not come forwarde but by such meanes as heresies haue doen. When it serued youre tuâ—ne yow defended stoutelie with toothe and naile that a woman might not gouerne a realme laufullie descended vnto her no not in ciuile and politike matters Within how fewe yeares yea monethes after taught ye the time so seruing for youre purpose and yet doe that a woman maie rule not a realme in temporall thinges but the churche in spirituall I am not ignorant of your excuse in this behalfe which is to couer youre malice with the cloke of a straunger and so to
vultibus omnium iracundiam ac ferociam miram prae se ferentibus Sic opinor discedunt milites à concione ducis ad praelium exhortati Quis vnquam vidit in eorum concionibus quenquam fundentem lachrimas tundentem pectus aut ingemiscentem I neuer was that is to saye in any of their churches but some times I haue sene them coÌ„ming from the sermons as possessed of some euell spirite the countenaunces of them all declaring a certeine angre and cruelty So I wene vse the souldiours to departe from the oration of their capitaine when they haue bene exhorted to the battell whe euer sawe in any of their sermons any of them weeping knocking his breaste or yet sighing Thus much hath Erasmus touching youre newe gospell I passe ouer here in silence the infamouse companie of common minstrelles and entrelude plaiers who be all brothers of youre fraternitie membres of youre corporation and in so good credite emongest yow that they haue their charge of dispensing the worde as well as yow So farre furth that in youre filthy and dirty donghill of stincking martyrs yow call players one of the engines set vp by god ageinst the triple crowne of the pope to bring him downe Let the ciuile lawes note such marchantes with infamie Yeat emongest yow they maie goe for honest men Let the canons forbidde them to accuse euen them that be faultie Yeat youre churche admitteth them to blaspheme Christes sacramentes to sclaundre and speake euell of his ministres I meane not here bishoppes onely and priestes but princes also and other magistrates to whome vnder god the charge of the common wealthe hath bene committed Finally let S. Cyprian saie as long as he list that it is neither agreable to the maiestie of god nor discipline of his gospell that such be admitted to the holye communion whereby the honour of the churche should by their filthy and infamouse coÌ„tagion be defiled yeat is not youre communion so pure but that that honest kinde of men maye beâ—re yow company and sitte with yow euen at one messe nor youre churche so honorable or doctrine â—o parfecte that yow nede to feare the blemishing thereof in to whose handes or mouthes so euer it shall happen to come But all this I saye I passe ouer and shall goe forwarde in prosecuting of other causes that make me to abhorre youre doctrine THE nexte cause hathe bene apon the consideration of the parson of him that yow boaste to haue bene the author and founder of youre religion Was not he a lewde lecherouse frier an apostata Maried he not if by so honest a name I maie call so filthie a deede a nonne an acte besides the commaundementes of the scriptures so vnderstanden by the churche by the ciuile lawes also by Iouinian the emperour twelue hundred yeares agoe lacking three vnder the paine of deathe moste seuerelie forbidden Was he not one that passed all other in pride Deserued he not trowe yow for these qualitees that fauor and good grace at his fathers handes of the obteining whereof in diuerse passages of his worckes he reioiseth so much as of the conference that he saithe he had with his saide father the diuell when by force of his reasons he was constreined to write againste the Masse of the familiaritie that he showed him when it pleased him to kepe him so manie yeares companie as betwene them manie busshels of salt were eaten The which time we maie not thinke neither to hane bene idellie speÌ„t betweâ—ne them but as first in the Masse that so afterwarde he enstructed him sufficientlie in the rest Emongest which enstructions was it not trowe yow a lesson meete for such a scholemaister Si vxor nolit aut non possit ancilla venito If the wife will not yealde to her husbande the due debte of mariage or be not able let the maiden come And againe for the husband on the other side that if he be in that case that he can not reÌ„dre to his wife the same that she shall first aske leaue of him to repaire to his brother or some other of his bloude for such carnall companie and that finally if she can not obteine it she shall get her a waie and marie clam Is not this trowe yow proufe good ynough that youre doctrine commeth from the diuell while youre selues graunte to haue receiued it froÌ„ Luther and he bothe by wordes and deedes that he had it from him Boaste now of him as long as yow list call him the man of god claime him for youre patrone and founder terme him prestantissimus vir ad illustr andum orbem terrarum a deo datus the moste excellent man and sent euen from god to lighten the darckenesse of the worlde as in youre Apologie you doe For as we enuie not youre fortune so persuade we oure selues that had all the worlde till his comming bene as yow woulde beare vs in hande it was ouerwhelmed with errours god woulde yeat haue chosen an other manner of piece to bring it in frame againe then he either in his life or doctrine showed himself to be and that he which shoulde haue done such an entreprise ought to haue conferred with the holie spirite of god not with the cursed and wicked spirite of Sathan THE roote of this youre doctrine was it not auarice mixed with enuiouâ—e hatred whilest Luther the author thereof partlie for that the office of publishing certeine indulgences graunted by Leo then pope was taken from the order of the Augustine friers of the which he was one and committed to the friers preachers of the ordre of S. Dominicke wherewitheall no small gaine went also awaiâ— together from them partelie of enuie that theie of that religion shoulde be thought meter for the execution thereof then he or his And of such rootes shall we loke for good fruite Cast youre eye apon other countries where youre religion is now embrased Considre diligently by what meanes it founde first there entreteinement in some apon desier of reuengement in other by couetousnes by lechery and such like vices and in none by charitie and youre selfe I trust will saye with me that I had good reason to be moued by this consideration AN other cause why I haue abhorred youre doctrine and yeat doe is for that I finde by the auncient histories and alowed recordes of the fathers writinges that in many pointes of the same and in youre manners beside yow agree with the olde heretikes that haue heretofore troubled the churche of god with the Iues with the Ethnikes and paganes with tyrauntes and infidelles with Antichrist yea with Sathan him selfe If yow demaunde of euery one of these seuerall examples beholde here they follow Simon Magus To beginne first with Simon whome for his knowledge in Magike the histories haue called Magus for as much as of all heretikes he maye be rightly called the father as he that liuing in
SacrameÌ„t vver not such blood as yssueth from vaines or-such fleshe as is of the Substance of maÌ„ such I meane in substance not in maner of being Substantially Corporally Carnally Lib. â— Paschal Manicheus taught that Christ had no true but a fantastical body Homil. 5. de paschate Homil in Encenijs The misteries he calleth the bread and vvine In Ioâ—â— lib. 10. cap. 13. Lib. 11. cap. 27. A reasonable request to M. Iuell and his fellovves Exod. 7. Exod. 22. Psalm 81. The scripture belied by the heretike Philipp Cap. 2. lib. 5. contra MarcioÌ„ cap. penult Epist. 47. Colloss 1. Hebre. 1. Hovv the sacramenâ— is called a figure of Christeâ— bodâ—e Homil. 24 in 1. Cor. 10. Christes body vvorshipped in earthe not in heauen onely M. Iuell In psalm â—8 Christ ministred the sacrament vnder one kinde Luc. 24. Lib. 3. de consens Euangelist Cap. 25. Homil. 17. Act. â— Act. 20. Laica communio Lib. 4. epist. â— Caâ— 2. Can. 50. Lib. 9. Confess Epist. 180 Theophil Alexandr alleageâ— by M. Iuell In His sermon folio 35. Cap. 32. Lib. 8. Euel Sprites and heretikes hate the Masse alike Lib. 9. Cap. 12. Hoâ—il 3. in epist. 〈◊〉 Ephes. The true meaning of Chrisostomes place â— Corin. 11. Homil. 83. In Math. M. Iuelles proufes against Priuate Masse examined Iuell M. Iuell coÌ„fesseth the doctours to be good groundes to builde apon In the second ansvvere to d. Coles letters Iuell Iuell a epist. ad Burdegal b in Luca cap. pr. c de ciuitate dei li. 10 cap. 20. et lib. 17. cap. 20. d in epist. ad hebreos in cap. â—0 Homil. 17. e Hieron cap. 1. in Tit. Amb. epist. 33. f Chrisost. 1. Cor. 10. â—omil 17. The. 10. canon of the apostles brought against priuate Masse The ansvvere The yeare of our lorde 274. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Iuelles allegatioÌ„s be not to the issue Anacletus l. inciâ—ile ff de legib The true vnderstanding of the place of Anacletus The place of Anacletus brought by M. Iuell turned against him selfe Hovv the auncient vvriters at to be vnderstaÌ„d forbidding all to be present at the Masse saue those that vvil receaue vvith the priest A fimilitude Canon 47 18. Sermo 251 De â—eÌ„por Actâ— 5. No Scripture forbiddeth the priest to receaue alone or the alie man to be present thereat vvhen he communicateth not In his Sermon fol. 34. Math. vlâ— Marci 16. Lucae 22. 1. Cor. 10. Lib. 2. epist. 3. Lib. 3. de ciuitat dei lib â— contraduersl â—eg proph cap. 20 Serm. 6. de Paschâ—t Vbi supra Epist. ad Ianuar. 118. Math. vlâ— Ast 8. 10. Lib. contra FaustuÌ„ 32. cap. 14. Confess lib. 3. cap. 7. In quaest ex nou testam q. 75. In psaâ—m 36. coâ— c. 3. The churche hath her times of grovving The catholike doctrine touching priuate Masse Tvvo speciall vses of the Sacrament M. Iuell hath not brought so much as one proufe against priuate Masse In the Sermon fol. 43. Psalm 63. The first cause 1. Timoth. 3. Psalâ— 18. Math. 5. Contra Luciferianos Ephes. 4. Fol. 26. of that booke vvhich being last printed hath no place named vvhere The protestants confessioÌ„ concerning the antiquitie of their religion Math. 24. Christes churche vniuersal Psalm 122 Coutra literas Petil. lib. 2. cap. 16. Lucae 24. Libro de cantico noâ—o cap. 5. S. Austens rule to knovv the true preacher from the false Epist. 170. Psalm 71. Daniel â— Lib. 4. Instit. cap. 1. The churche is visible It erreth not De â—iuitat Dei lib. 20. cap. 8 It is vniuersall Contr. epistol Parmeniâ—ni lib. 3. cap. 5. â—ib de praescript aduersus haeâ—es The yeare of oure lorde 182 â–ª M. Haddons confession of the continuance of the Gospel in England The .2 Contra epist quam vocant fundamentum cap. 4 â–ª The .3 De â—inod aduâ—rsus Arrianoâ— The. 4. Caluin lib. 3. Instit cap. 23. Caluin in 1. Osee. â— 7. Amos. Apologie The late Apology reasoneth against vâ—itie Cap. 4. 1. Cor. 14. Ioan. 13. The. 5. Ast. 13. 14. The testimonie of Erasmus concerniâ—â— the nevve ghospellers In Epist. in Pseudoeuangelic Ministrelles and players chief ministres in publishiÌ„g the nevve ghospell Fol. 750. â—l quod ait praetor § ait praetor ff De his qui not infam Concil Caâ—thag 7. Cap. 1. Lib. 1. epist 10. ad EucratiuÌ„ The. 6. The first author of the nevve ghospell L. Si quis non dicam C. de episcop cleric Libr. de Missa angulari Luther persuaâ—ed by the diuell to haâ—e Masse In a sermon of matrimonie printed at vvitem berge first Anno 1522. after vvard An no. 1553. Tom. 6. German fol. 177. The. 7. The. 8. Iâ—inaeus lib. 1. cap. 20. That goâ—d vvorckes be not meritoriouse an hereâ—y of Simon Magus a Histor. trip lib. 8. cap. 9. b Nicephor lib. 6. cap. 30. The pope renouÌ„ced c Hieron in proaem dialog adâ—ers Pelag. August de haeresib cap. 45. Free vvill Fasting dayes d Epist. 86. ad Casulanum praesbit e Epiph. lib. 3. â—aeres 75. Sacrifice and praiers for the deade f August de haeresib cap. 82. AbstineÌ„ce froÌ„ meates No difference of sinnes Virginitie and mariage August lib. 2. Retract cap. 22. De peccat merit lib. 3 cap. 7. Heres 82. Hieroâ— contra Vigiâ—aâ—iuÌ„ ad Exuperium Epist. 75. Lib. 6. Cap. 33. Lib. 7. cap. â—6 Lib. 6. conâ—ra Donatist Altars ouerthrovven Optatus Lib. 2. contâ—a Donatist i August lib. 3. â—cap 4. 5. contra Crescon Gramat k August Epist. 15â— l Augustâ— Bonifacio comiti epist 50. m In demonstrat aduers. Gentil quod Christ Sit deus Macedoniâ—9 Histor. tripart lib. 5. cap. 34. Epist. 152 Anno. 1. Reginae Eâ— lizabethae 〈◊〉 8. The cruelty of the Caluinistes in Fraunce Theodorit lib. 3. cap. 6. Horrible crueltie n Victor De perseâ—ut Vandaâ—c lib. â— cap. 3. o L. â— C. dÌ„e off praefect praetor p Victor lib. 3. Orat. ad Heron. Philosophum q Theodoritus lib. 3 Cap. 6 r lib. 6. â—â—Ì„tra luâ—iâ—n The crosse s Lib. 10. coÌ„tra IuliaÌ„ t Sozomen lib. â— cap. 12. v Theâ—doâ—â— lib. 3. Cap. 6. Homil. De peâ—tâ—coste Michael Fabritius contra Bâ—â—am x lib. 5. cap. 21. y lib. de pass imag Christi Petr. Crinit lib. 4. de honest discipl Hovv the heretikes occupie their igno rant and vnlearned brethern He liued in the yeare of oure orde 220. In Orat. quam hab contra Iul. Lib. 3. cap. 3. Lib. 10. coÌ„â—ra Iulian. Sozomenus lib. 5. cap. 21. The image of Christ placed by the Christians in the churche 1200. yeares ago Sup. Math. â—omil 54. Epist. 186. The. 9. Lib. de Spâ—ritu sancto Cap 27. CoÌ„tra Cresâ— con Gram. lib. 1. cap. 33. The. 10. M. Haddon Vâ—ler Max. lib. â— cap. 7. Math. 18. Musculus Socrates lib. 2. cap. 17. 〈◊〉 Gardiner B. of vvin toÌ„ misreported by M. Iuell â—ol 71. The councell of Carthage mangled by M. Iuâ—ll cap. 47. Anacletus guâ—lefully alleaged Epist. 81. ad Dâ—oscor Leo falsified by M. Iuell Theophil Alexandr August de bono viduit cap. 10. The. 11. Theodorus Beza The. 12. In CoÌ„men in epist. ad Ro. prioris aedit Lib. 3. cap. 23. Sect. 4. Genes 4. Genes 4. Iacob 2. Philip. 2. De visitâ—â— infirm lib. 2. cap. 4. In Leuitic homil 2. De ciuit dei lib. 10. cap. 20. Homil. 24. 1. Cor. 10 Deciâ—itat De lib. 10 cap. 20. East â—ib 1. Apologetic aduers. Eunom
shape but in nature that by a spirituall meanes the same fleshe and bloud is daily made by the handes of the priest apon the altar that before the consecration there is bread and wyne that after there is the body and bloud of Christe with such like that yet I say for all this I haue proued no thing because forsooth I haue not vouched your termes Really substantially corporally carnally or naturally If yow flee to this bare and miserable shift then shall yow doe all men to vnderstand that yow ar driueÌ„ to an Exigent when to defend your diuelish doctrine yow ar faine to cauill apoÌ„ wordes and termes which also you shall but wrangle about in vaine the thing it self being most euidently proued which those termes and wordes could doe no more then signify Besides that yow shall well showe your selues to be muâ—h either more foolishe or maliciouse then wer those faithelesse Capernaites Of whome there was yet no one emongest them all so voide of wit or fraight with malice who hearing our sauiour coÌ„mend to them the eating of his fleshe and drincking of his bloud beleued not streight waies thoroughly that he ment as he said of his true and naturall fleshe and bloud all wer it so that he neuer mencioned your termes Really naturally substantially corporally or carnally And truly to say the truthe I see no cause why yowe might not also if yow listed renew Marcion his heresie again and say with him that Christ suffered not in a true but in a fantasticall body if such pleas on your parte may be allowed that except certein termes such as yow list to demaunde can be founde otherwise let the truthe be vttred in wordes neuer so apt or propre yow will neuer graunt theretoe For the Euangelistes I pray you M. Iuell which of them euer told vs in describing Christes death and passion that his body was nailed on the crosse Really substantially with the rest of your termes And will you therefore with Marcion deny that he suffred in a trewe body onlesse we can finde to yow such termes as you demaunde Or if yow saie that in this article of our faithe you make no such demaunde but that yowe holde your selues fully contented with such wordes as you finde vttred in the scriptures for the expressing thereof Why then beleue you not as well the veritie of this article being by Christes owne mouthe first by the voice of his churche sence in all ages confirmed as you doe the Euangelistes touching the suffring of his blessed body Or why might not Marcion denieng Christes body on the crosse then haue bidden Tertullian and other that stroue against him proue it by these termes Really substantially corporally carnally or naturally aswell as you denieng it nowe on the altar driue vs to the prouing the presence thereof there by the same Especially the wordes vttered by the Euangelistes to ascerteine vs of the true suffring of Christes body on the crosse being no more manifest to that effect then ar the wordes of Christ to the other that is to giue vs to vnderstand of the true being of the same apon the altar Well yet shall I euen in this point assay to satisfie if it may be your deintie and delicat appetite Although this must I nedes by the way confesse that the auncient wryters vsed not thiese termes so commonly as the latter haue doen. For in that pure and vnspotted age of the primitiue churche when no heretike durst once open his mouthe to impugne this veritie there was not to say the truthe like occasion as sence Berengarius his time hath bin ministred Or rather the innocency and parfect simplicitie of those dayes thought it not necessary for them to vse your termes corporally carnally with the rest which had said the same body that suffred death on the crosse the same that walcked here on the earth whereas it might probably be thought that they whom such wordes should not persuade to yelde in this point to the truthe would not faile also in such wise to cauill and wraÌ„gle about the other that had they bene vsed neuer so often they would yet by one shift or other seme to auoid them and so coÌ„tinue in their olde heresie still And this I feare me will hereafter appeare by your doinges how euer for the time yow dally with your dilatory exceptions which being brought to wise meÌ„nes scanning be not all worth a blew point or a rotten rushe But nowe I come to your termes The first which is realiter Really is a barbarouse word and therefore of likelihod not to be founde in the learned eloqueÌ„t worckes of the auncient fathers Which thing maketh me to thinck that if in your chalenge M. Iuell yow ment good faith yow will not take it in euell parte if for that which caÌ„ not be had I giue you an other as good I meane for this terme really the word truly or verely For in right iudgement they signifie I dout not all one thing This being presupposed your chalenge touching this term may be answered by the words of our Sauiour where he entreateth of this most blessed sacrameÌ„t and in expresse wordes taught his disciples that his flesh which he would giue them and they should eate should be truly meate and his blood truly drinck Which if it be so then is it not by fiction or imagination as yowe and your companions dreame but in true and to speake after your manner in reall existence If yow say that the wordes of Christ be here by me racked and violently wresteâ— to a far other sense then him self had in them then turne I yow ouer to trye that matter to Hilarius that worthy Bishop of Poyctiers in Fraunce Who reasoning ageinst the heresy of Arrius as I doe now ageinst yours applieth them after this sort to the same purpose De naturali in nobis Christi veritate quae dicimus nisi ab eo discimus stultè atque impiè dicimus Ipse enim ait Caro mea verè estesca sanguis meus verè est potus De veritate carnis sanguinis non est relictus ambigendi locus Nunc enim ipsius domini professione fide nostra verè caro est verè sanguis est The which wordes in our English tongue sound thus Of the naturall veritie of Christ in vs what so euer it be that we teache except we learne it of him we teache bothe foolishly and wickedly For he saith him self my flesh is truly meate and my blood is truly driÌ„ck Of the truthe of his flesh and bloud there is not any place left to dout For now both by the testimony of our lord hiÌ„ self and by our faith it is truly his flesh and truly his bloud Hetherto Hilarius by whom in this place may be gathered good readers first that in the primitiue churche apon these wordes of Christ my flesh is truly meat c. the fathers and bishops of that age