he teache all waies the Son to be coeternall with the father wherefore they neuer would affirme that the Son had any beginning of substance Let vs thē leaue these Logicall disputations and looke vnto the expositiōs of the olde writers Put it therfore in the Emperours head that he cal the heretikes before him and aske thē what accōpt they make of such doctours and fathers as wrote before their heresie began and whether they iudge them to be Christen men or none of the church If they mislike thē let them if they dare condemne and anathematise them If they so do the very people will ouerrunne them And so truthe shall ouer come But yf they do not repell the olde doctours it shall thē be our part to bring forth their sayengs and by their testimonies confirme our doctrine This being tolde of Sisinius Nectarius goeth forth with vnto the Courte and declareth vnto the Emperour the aduise off Sisinius who liking it very well and going wisely aboute the matter called the heretikes before him and dissembling his purpose demanded them only whether they made any accompt of the Doctours of the church which liued before their heresie began or no. They not reiecting those writers but calling them their masters and fathers the Emperour asketh them againe whether they woulde admit them as worthy witnesses of the Christen faith The chief masters of that heresie hearing those wordes doubted much what they might answer Whereuppon they striued amonge them selues some thinking the Emperourment wel some mistrusting the issue of his demaundes and perceauing they made litle for their purpose For they were not all of one minde touching the writinges of the olde fathers differing in that point not only from other religions but also from them selues who professed all one religion Thus their wicked doctrine was discouered and confounded as the buylders of Babel by their variaunce in language For the emperour preceauing their disagrement and seing they trusted only vpon contentious disputing regarding not the exposition of olde writers he toke an otherwaie with them commaunding that eche religion should in writing shortly comprise the effect of their doctrine and opinion Thus farre the history of Socrates That Sisinius though good not to dispute with heretikes it was not his first deuise The holy canons had commaunded the same Tertullian and other holy fathers had writen the same And the cause why they thinke it not expedient to trie by disputation matters of our faith is that all heretikes do vtterly take away the true principles off Christen religion which are the sure groundes off good disputation and place in their stede false and forged which are all vncertain and maye serue as we see in coūting sometime for more sometime for lesse sometime nothing at all For he that taketh away the generall and the whole howe can he be sure of the partes Or if ye denie the substance to what purpose were it to dispute of the accident To none at all Therefore he that listeth dialectically and schole like to reason with an heretike if he agree not first with him for the principles he shall fight he woteth not against what nor to what purpose and sooner shall ye take a hare with a taburin then conclude a suttell heretike with an argument For he hath no certainte in his doctrine but is ready to denie that he graunted the last worde before and likewise to graunte that he laste denied flitting and flieng as vauntage serueth Brentius affirmeth the only text of the writen worde to be the first principle of Lutheran religion But in such sorte that it may be lawfull out of this writen text to cut of the epistle of S. Iames cast awaie the epistle to the Hebrews refuse the Apocalypse of S. Ihon and condemne the bookes of Machabes This principle serueth also to reiect any other part of the whole Bible for if any sentence euidently expressed in sctipture be brought against him strayte Brentius crieth The Hebrewe text readeth not so The greke copies haue otherwise And this principle of the only text serueth so fit for these heretikes purpose that for conference with them no waye can be made nor ende can be founde Then the Catholike and Apostolicall vnderstanding of holy Scripture which is euery where one and allwaies agreable with it selfe which is deriued from the Apostles which is the present iudge in all controuersies they vtterly refuse and very rudely and impudently appeale vnto Christ whom in earthe present iudge we can not haue Whom yet some of them denie to be God some to be man and some other saie he is but a tale of Plato And yet forsothe they boaste of the certainte of their faith which in dede is most vncertain as their most manifest dissension well declareth A very vaine and childish crake it is to crie allwaies that their Cōfession of Augspurg is grounded vppon the doctrine of the prophetes and of the Apostles For who saieth so but they them selues and of their only fecte which first inuented it and would impudently compel all Christendō to receaue it But if you ask them howe they proue it they will saie vnto you All the articles of our Confession agree with the prophets and the Apostles and differ frō thence in no point O the madnes of our countre That which is called in question they laie for their groūdes bringing for proufe that which ought to be proued What child in logick would so fondly reason For if you denie againe that the articles of this their confession is grounded vpon the doctrine of the prophets and the Apostles what haue they then to saye peraduenture left they may seme to be put to silence they will beginne to interpret and cōfer Scripture together after their maner But is not this the foule faute in logike called Petitio principij that is to aske that whiche ought to be proued For when we blame the Cōfessiō of Augspurg we blame nothing els but the false and wronge interpretation of holy Scripture vsed in that Confession But you will saye We may as well refuse the interpretation that the Catholikes do bringe of their owne Well truly and worthely For who will heare the Catholike doctour if he bring forthe nothing but saie only that the doctrine of the Catholike churche is grounded in holy Scriptures This must not be tolde but be proued What then will the Catholike bring that the heretike shall not be able to bring He will surely bring and declare first the interprerarion of Scripture which he vseth to be vniuersall to haue ben deriued from the Apostles to be receaued and allowed in all Christendom Then he will showe that euery article and principall point of our faith hath ben confirmed by miracles Last of all he will teache you that all matters of the Catholike church which be proper of the newe testament are founde expressed by euident figures in the olde Testament What
protestants are hotte and seditious and after a sorte kepe vnite and peace with all other sectes as in times paste the heretikes Meletiani amonge the Arrians and Rhetorij Biblijstae Scripturians whiche affirme that nothing is to be admitted read or sette forthe to the people in the church or to the youthe in scholes but onely the bare text and holy scripture of the Bible â–ª and that there nedeth no interpretation for that we be all instructed froÌ„ God So writeth MelanchthoÌ„ to Georgius Spalatinus in his preface vppon the Canons off the Apostles Againe that no parte off Philosophie is to be lerned bicause S. Paule forbiddeth vs to folowe vaine philosophie And againe bicause it is writen of Moyses that men ought to eate their bread in the sweate of their browe Therefore while Luther remained in his Pathmus Carolostadius and Melanchthon persuaded the scholers of Wittenberg that burning their humanite bookes euery man should gette him to some haÌ„dry crafte worke Many did as they were counselled Carolostadius in a certain Village by in the grounde of VVittenberg being before Archedeacon of the cyte became a labouring husband man and Melanchthon getting him to a bakehouse lerned to bake This decree of so great diuines was dispersed abrode in to many cytes of Germany And to omitte the rest it is wel knoweÌ„ that in Silesia at Breslau and Suidnicia graÌ„mer scholes were for the espace of two yeares shet vp and abolished al which time the scholers of the Master ghospellers did reade nothing but the very text of scripture There be at this daye liuing which can well testifie all this The same allso appeareth well in two bookes of Luther set forthe in the yeare 1522. writen to the Magistrates and cytes off Germany for the setting vpp agayne off scholes Adiaphoristae Indifferents which teache that the lawefull constitutions of the churche and of Councels also the cerimonies are thinges indifferent which to obserue or to breake is no sinne So teache the Masters or diuines of Wittenberge and of Lipsia in their Interim made at Lipsia Trisacramentales which admitt onely thre Sacraments Baptim the Supper of our Lorde and Absolution or penaunce such is the practise in the Ordynaunce of Lipsia Quadrisacramentales which alowe foure sacrameÌ„ts Baptim the Supper of our Lorde Penaunce and holy Order so is it obserued in the Ordinaunce of WitteÌ„berg out of Melanchthons common places Lutherocaluiniani which counterfaite that the Lutherans and the Zwinglians accorde smothely in the matter of the Sacrament and would make men wene that the contention is in wordes not in the thinge See Iames Smidelins booke of the Supper of the Lorde See also Nicolaus Amsdorffius in his CoÌ„feâ—sion who vehemently reprehendeth this guile and deceite of Smidelin Semiosiandrini which against Osiander taking the parte of the Antosiandrini teache that man in this life is accompted iuste and righteous by imputation onely â–ª and againe taking Osianders part against the Antosiandrins teache that in the life to come man must in dede be iustified with that very iustice where with God him selfe is essentially iuste of this opinion are the diuines and Masters of Tubing Reade the duke of Prussia his booke set forthe vpon this controuersie of Osiander and the epistle of Brentius writen vnto his prince of the very same controuersie and printed at Wittenberg in the yeare .1552 Maioristae which denie that any man yea infants them selues can be iustified or euer haue ben saued without good workes going before Georgius Maior in many writinges against Illyricus Poenitentiarij which haue corrupted the doctrine of penaunce with seuen grosse errours Illyricus accuseth hereof the diuines of Wittenberg and of Lipsia in a writing set forthe against the corruption of the ghospell printed in Iene in the yeare .1559 and thus intituled Beriche M. F. Illyrici von ethliken artikelen Nouipelagiani newe pelagians which write that a man may dispose him selfe by his owne naturall power to receiue the grace of God so Illyricus accuseth Melanchthon in the writing aboue named and Amsdorfius in his Confession Syncretisantes politik Lutherans whiche persuade and counsell al other sectes that they pretend at leaste vnite amonge them selues seing they can not come to any true agremeÌ„t that like the people of Creta they may with more yoined force sett vpon their common aduersaries the papistes and ouercome theÌ„ the sooner This writeth Melanchthon in his booke against Staphylus The third secte of the confessionistes wherein are the disorderly and vnruly Lutherans althoughe they manifestly oppugne and resist the doctrine of the Confession of Augspurg yet vnder pretext of the same Confession the mayne flocke of these shepe of Melanchthon beare them selues for Lutherans Swenck feldians haue hetherto ben all moste all of one opinion but nowe they begin to scatter and swarue amonge them selues For of the selfe same points in doctrine those of Breslau haue one opinion approuing one point and reprouing an other in Swenckfeldius those of Suidnicia haue an other finding faute with those Swenck feldians whiche call baptim ein Sewbad that is a bathe for swine and those of Glogouia haue yet an other measuring by their proper sprit the writings of Swenckfeldius But the peculiar and speciall doctrines of that man are these That the manhood of Christ is the begetting of the holy ghoste not the creature of God as other men are but a middle thinge betwene God the Creator and man the creature but yet in suche wise that the same manhood of Christ after his ascension in to heauen was made very God This testifieth manifestly his legat at Augspurg and his bookes offred off late to a certain frend off his there Againe that euery man is endued with the same righteousnes the same wisedome the same charite and all the same vertus with the which God is essentially endued of like worthines and in like maner and by this very diuine nature is God Beside that the same vertu or operation which is in the worde of God preached is the very son of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the worde as scripture termeth it Thus he writeth in his booke de duplici statu Christi de vero euangelij vsu and in many other writings whiche he presented to a certayn frende Truly this man wrote many thinges not amisse but these and many other very euill a man not so malitious as vnlerned in true diuinite Osiandrini which saie that Christe iustifieth man by his diuine nature onely vtterly excluding his humanite againe that a Christen man ought to be iuste with that very iustice where with god him selfe is essentially iuste farder that Christe the onely begotten son of god according to bothe natures off god and man as he was in his mothers wombe is the very same image after the which the firste man was created therefore when man in the sacrament of baptim putteth on Christe according to bothe natures of god and man that he is made the
this vncleane spring and the branches of this roote Much more might be saied of other proper heresies of this archeheretike Martin Luther But this one of his maie serue for a taste to the zelous Lutherans of our coūtre that they glory not so much of this their Elias and fiffte euangelist as though all that euer he wrote or sayed were the ghospell it self But nowe to the ciuill Lutherans The ciuill Lutherans are those whiche not with such zele and rigour as the other force men praecisely to euery doctrine and article of Luthers ghospell but are content ciuilly to conforme them selues to better iudgement and take so much of their Master Luther as they shall thinke good and conuenient But these men by this their ciuilite and philosophicall moderation haue conformed them selues to so many frames and facions as there be amonge them Superintēdents and Ministres As for example in the administration of the Sacraments through their ciuilite see in what maruailous vnite their churches be directed At VVittenberg where the see of these ciuill protestants is foure Sacraments are approued and administred to witt baptim the Supper of our Lorde Holy Orders and Penaunce or absolution At Lipsia thre only take place holy orders being wiped awaie At Magdeburg but two are allowed euen as amonge the Caluinistes of our countre And hereof iesting ones merely a lerned mā though with a heuy hart being demaunded why in the Lutherās Churches were not 7. Sacramēts yes forso the quod he there are 7. and two mo For at VVittenberg foure at Lipsia three at Magdeburg are two whiche in all make nyne And these thre cytes be litle distant one from the other The father and head of these ciuill Lutherans is Philip Melanchthon who so longe dalied in this kinde of perilous ciuilite that at the length as you haue heard before he fell to the pestilent heresy of the Sacramentaries And see I praye you how light variable and inconstant a person this man was In the yeare 1540. he wrote bitterly against the Pope defending Luther miserably as if he had ben his slaue or bondmā In the yeare 1548. heenclined again to the Pope and embraced the Interim that was made in Germany that is the delaie and deliberation vntel a generall Councell were called But of late euen a litle before his deathe in the yeare 1559. writing to the Counte Palatin he cōdemned the proper doctrine of his M. Luther and ioyned him selfe to Caluin and the Sacramentaries This graund Captain was the inuentour or rather scribe and writer of that famous Confession made at Augspurg in the yeare 1530. But howe he altered and corrected the same not onely in his Apology in the next yeare after but at diuers other times sometime for better sometime for worse I reporte me to the diuers editions of that booke For who so conferreth the first edition and certain next to the first with the laste he shall clerely see what settled iudgement and constant or grounded knowledge was in that man But after the deathe of Luther howe miserably it hathe ben mangled Nicolaus Gallus a zelous and rigorous Lutherā in opē writing bitterly cōplaineth For thus he reporteth in generall after the reticall of certain particulars Here then saieth he all Christen men may easely perceaue if they wil yelde to reason and consider and conferre together their doctrines howe all those positions whiche our aduersaries in the foresaide articles after the deathe of Luther do teache against vs blasphemousely do in dede in the very grounde touche Luther him selfe and his doctrine though we beare the name thereof yea and beside the person of Luther they belonge properly to the true Confessiō of Augspurg which in the meane while is of them chaunged peruerted and racked in to expresse contrary meaning And this false foisting and iuggling of the ciuill Lutherans though truly very vnciuill in this point is not only euident in the confession of Augspurg the grounde of all their newe broched ghospell but also in the workes of their Master Martin Luther whiche they chaunge and correct daily at their pleasure For Amsdorfius Illyricus and Georgius Rorarius al zelous Lutherans in open treatises and bookes entituled de deprauatoribus librorum Lutheri of the deprauers of Luthers bookes charge the masters of Wittenberg but Melanchthō especially of certain hundreds of places chaūged left oute and corrupted by thē and that as they saie against the ghospel quia non est discipulus super magistrum the scholer is not aboue his master Againe as touching the inconstancy of Melanchthon those whiche haue read and sene his common places can not be ignorant thereof which as ofte as he sette forth so ofte he altered and corrected In the numbre of Sacraments what diuers minde he hathe ben of and vpon what occasion he so chaunged his minde it is very well declared of Staphylus in the first and in the seconde partes of this booke In one other pointeas touching iustification and the workes of man I will showe yow howe contrary he hathe ben to him selfe chaunging his minde with euery wether At the first to gratifie Luther his master denieng fre wil in man In his annotations vppon S. Paule to the Romanes thus he writeth VVe saie that God dothe not onely suffre his creatures to do and worke but him selfe dothe and worketh all thinges properly as we confesse the calling of S. Paule was the proper worke of God so we confesse all other are the proper workes off God whether they be indifferent actions as to eate to drinke and suche like or euill workes as the aduoutry of Dauid the cruelty of Manlius putting to deathe his owne Son And a litle after VVe nede not therefore make that grosse glose commonly vsed to saie that God suffreth euill and doth not worke euill caetera Thus farre Melanchthon where yow see he agreeth with the bonde fre will off Luther and the wicked destyne off Caluin And in this mynde he continewed longe and many yeares But at the length in a conference helde at Wormes he was persuaded by doctor Eckius to reiect this abhominable doctrine And at the next edition off his common places he declared it to all the worlde The zelous and rigorous Lutherans coulde not abyde this his recantation especially Nicolaus Gallus and the Superintendents of higher Saxony But accused him in open writinges of apostasy Farder when diuers vniuersites especially those of Lipsia had subscribed to this later doctrine of Melanchthon directly repugning to Luthers ghospell Nicolaus Gallus a rigorous Lutheran and zelous ghospeller in his booke intituled An awnswer to the booke of the Professours of Wittenberg examineth this their doctrine and chargeth them with Pelagians heresy takē out of Erasmus writings Also in an other litle treatise of his intituled Vox vigilum by certain antitheses and conferences off Luthers sayings he setteth forthe to the worlde the incostāt
holy fathers neuer receaued this VVherefore it is writen Auoide the heretike man In the like maner shall the vnlerned and laie man behaue himselfe with the Suenck feldian demaunding of him whether this be the pure worde of God when he teacheth That Christ as touching his humain nature is not a creature but a begotten thing conceiued and borne of the holy ghoste and that afther the ascension of Christ in to heauen his humanite was made God or rather was chaunged in to God Againe that the same power and operation which is in the worde of God preached is the only begotten euerlasting Son of God Laste of all that all the giftes and graces of God be parcels of the diuine nature For when Longinus the Swenckfeldian shall saie that these doctrines are the very sincere worde of God the laye man maye aske of him againe where holy scripture doth clerely expresse this doctrine To this LoÌ„ginus caÌ„ make no other awnswer then that although it be not there expressed yet it is there mente and vnderstanded here if to the laye maÌ„ asking whether this meaning and vnderstandinge be Catholike and planted by the Apostles or their scholers in Swethen and Silesia and from thence deriued vnto our time Longinus do awnswer ye then must he proue in what place of Silesia and vnder what bisshop that happened Which being not able to do he proueth him selfe a vaine folowe and a lyar But if he saie that this doctrine vntell this time was not receaued in Silesia bicause our forefathers were not of capacite to conceaue these high misteries the laye man may roundely saie vnto him Auaunt heretike and take this fâ—r a finall awnswer The Catholike church neuer taught this the holy fathers neuer receaued this Wherefore it is writen Auoide the heretike man After the same order also maye the laye man aske of Functius the Osiandrin when he teacheth vpon these wordes of Hieremie God is our righteousnes that man ought to be iust by the essentiall iustice of God againe that Christ doth iustifie vs with his only diuinite the humanite being excluded and such like doctrine which he calleth the very expresse worde of God in what place of scripture it is read When he awnswereth that worde for worde it is not in scripture but it agreeth well with the meaning of scripture let him be asked againe whether this his meaning agree with the Catholike expositioÌ„ of scripture deriued from the holy fathers and successours of the Apostles and obserued hitherto continually in the church of Christ without contradiction Here if Functius his conscience forcing him do confesse that this doctrine was of late planted in Prussia by Andreas Osiander and although it was not vntell nowe reueled yet according to his iudgement it agreeth very well with the worde of God and the ghospell the laie man may geue him the finall awnswer of Athanasius The Catholike churche neuer taught this the holy fathers neuer receaued this Wherefore it is writen Auoide the heretike man The like awnswer also may be made to the straunge doctrine of Illyricus the Lutheran writing That good workes are pernicious to saluation that God doth iustifie men by wordes and not by dedes And truly this awnswer is of such force and so mete for a Christen man that vnto all heretikall interpretations to all erroneous doctrine yea though an Angel froÌ„ heaueÌ„ if it were possible should bring any newe ghospell it might with these wordes be awnswered A waye false prophet the third Elias the fifte Euangelist For The catholike church neuer taught this the holy fathers neuer receaued this Wherefore it is writen Auoide the heretike man Last of all the vnlerned laye man may well also demaunde of the Catholike doctour or preacher howe he liketh the opinions of these newe ghospellers whereunto he will awnswer that he hathe perceaued these newe and straunge interpretations of holy scripture and after longe waighing and coÌ„sidering theÌ„ hath founde that they are all auncient condemned heresies which nowe certain braynsicke men by the instinct of the deuill raised vp againe to the vtter destruction of the Romane empire and our dere countre of Germanie Therefore he is readie to showe by good groundes of holy scripture by the right and Catholike vnderstanding of Scripture that the olde religion hitherto receaued is grounded vppon those two pillers and vpon them hath ben sustained from the Apostles time vntel our daies through out the whole corps of Christendom and maintained sounde and perfit against al busy barking of heretikes and cruell bytes of pagan princes And is not this most agreable bothe with religion and with reason that we should embrace and accept that interpretation of the holy Bible for the true and sincere which in all churches of all people and countres hath ben receaued confessed preached maintained and sence the Apostles time hitherto continued as by the testimonies of auncient doctours we are able in all pointes euidently to declare Contrary wise may we not worthely esteme these newe doctrines broched so lately proceding of olde condemned heresies and renued by wild worldely men to be hainous heresies and detestable deceites of the deuill Surely this was the chefe and principall cause why I accompted the diuers doctrine of Luther and his felowes to be hereticall and for such do vâ—terly forsake it and detest it this againe is the cause why I esteme the doctrine in all Christendom which they call the Papacy receaued to be the only true and wholesom doctrine bicause this doctrine is the Catholike and vniuersally receaued interpretation of scripture but their doctrine is only their priuat opinioÌ„ and their priuat deprauatioÌ„ off holy scripture I coÌ„fesse I haue emploied the studie off Diuinite and laboured matters of controuersie about these two and twenty yeares not medling with any other worldely or ciuill matter in all that time nor I can not denie but I haue ben a scholer of the Lutherans and haue so farre lerned their misteries that within these fourten or fiften yeares the diuines of WitteÌ„berg would allmost haue coÌ„strained me to be a doctour of their vniuersitie Againe I haue bestowed much time that I might thoroughely and substantially be lerned in the Catholike doctrine conferring allwaies the sayings and writings of bothe partes And allthough that I had much a do to shift my selfe out of their crafty captious and contentious controuersies yet as sone as by the helpe of God I attained thereunto espieng the erroneous and hereticall doctrine of the Lutherans and perceauing the true and sounde doctrine of the Catholikes I laboured not only vtterly to ridde my stomacke of that poisonned doctrine of Luther but also to auoide all company and familiarite of heretikes that I might neither see them nor heare of them Which lacke of my olde acquaintaunce and maner of liuing bothe empaired much the helthe of my body and procured also great losse of my substaunce And is like to do
daily more and more vnlesse God of his mercie stretch forthe his helping hande Howbeit whatsoeuer befall of me I am ready to lese body and life honour and goods for the furderaunce of the auncient Catholike religion And I wish to my dere countre of Germanie that minde also For sure I am whosoeuer is no Catholike he must nedes be an heretike Seing therefore that holy write aduertiseth vs to flie from heresies euen as from present poison I be seche all good men to marke wel this example which I knowe to be true and wil here recite to showe what it is to be ones fallen in to heresie A certain young man of my acquayntaunce very well lerned and sometime preacher in Misnia being according to the doctrine of Melanchthon and Maior an Adiaphoriste that is of that secte of Lutherans which take good workes and constitutions of the church to be thinges indifferent c. departed in to Saxony vppon hope of some ecclesiastical liuing there Being then demaunded of what religion he was he awnswered that he was of the opinion of Philip Melanchthon and Georgius Maior Then saieth vnto him the Illyrican Superintendent it semeth thou arte an apostat heretike And withall asked him whether he thought good workes to be pernicious vnto saluation Whereunto this poore preacher awnswering he beleued that they helped rather then hindered saluation the Superintendent strait saith vnto him Seing you are an heretike of the ghospell you maye not abide in this cite nor countre and therefore get you hence With this awnswer he departed and went in to Prussia where meting with an Osiandr in Superintendent and desiring some ecclesiasticall seruice he was demaunded whether he beleued That man ought to be made iuste by the essentiall iustice of God and whether he iudged those for heretikes which thought or taught the contrary Whereunto awnswering that he could not so thinke seing that Melanchthō and Illyricus interpreted the scripture otherwise incontinently he was thrust backe like an heretike and commaunded to depart out of all the dominions of that countre After this he came in to Pole and meting with certain Caluinistes being of thē examined and founde that he agreed not with the Zuinglians he was repelled also of them for an heretike Seing then he could not spede there passing on furder by the waye he came to the Picardi hoping that he might be receaued in to their secte But when he refused to abiure all other sectes and religions and beleue onely them he was faine to departe thence also After which he came to a Noble man of Silesia requiring seruice of whom being required howe he liked the doctrine of Swenck feldius whether he beleued That the externall ministerie or preaching was but superfluous and that the internall worde or rather the power and operacion off the worde being preached were the Son of God him selfe he awnswered that this doctrine semed vnto him an olde heresie confuted thouroughly of Illyricus Melanchthō Caluin and diuers other writers Which awnswer nothing pleasing that Noble mā our poore Minister was forced to get him packing Seing therefore that he loste his labour and spent his time in vaine he stroke ouer to Morauia where the Anabaptistes beare rule Not that he minded to tary and abide with them but to trie and knowe their religion But they craftely preuēting him asking him first of what religion he was though he went about the bush with them thinking to coulour the matter yet they perceauing that he liked not their rebaptising he was also chased from thence as an heretike At the last after longe and wery trauail and trouble this poore Minister came vnto Vienna where he happened vpon a Catholike lerned man vnto whom he declared his trauaill aduersites and diuersites off heresies that he chaunced vpon beseching him for the loue of God to helpe him and instruct him howe he might attaine to some sure and certaine doctrine and interpretatiō off holy scripture Then was it tolde him that he should folowe such doctrine and embrace such interpretation of Gods worde as was Catholike and vniuersally receiued in all places and at al times casting awaie all priuat opinions and propre interpretations of this secte or that secte For it was impossible that any priuat secte could admit the Catholike exposition of scripture whiche is commō to all or that the sectes could euer agree among them selues eche one setting forthe his owne opinion and condemning all the rest As it is writen in the prophet Ezechiel Wo be vnto these foolish prophetes which folowe their owne sprit and see nothing Therefore if he would be a Christen man and in all places be taken for such he should embrace and folowe the Catholike vnderstanding of scripture such as in Catholike doctours and writers we find From the which Catholike and vniforme expositiō of scripture although many in diuers countres haue failed and departed yet before our time it was in all places without contradictiō or gainesaieng receiued and beleued and many thousands of soules haue in that belefe ben saued Beside that there are also yet diuers Christen Countres and kingdomes diuers natiōs and people which acknowledg no other doctrine or interpreation of holy scripture then the Catholike and olde accustomed which they haue receaued of the Apostles and their first founders of religion Wherein if any doubt nowe a daies ariseth or any cōtrary interpretation be brought it is most expedient to seke of the first and most auncient teachers of Christen religion the truthe thereof For so Scripture willeth vs to do and all auncient and approued doctours as in S. Irenee a writer very nie vnto the Apostles you may see whose wordes are these These thinges then being so euident we ought not to seke the truthe at other mens handes which we maye easely haue of the Church For the Apostles left vnto the church and layde vp in her as in a riche aumerie all truthe that whosoeuer listeth may drawe of her the drinke of life For the Church is the gate of life all other are theues therefore we must auoide them but loue all that the Church teacheth vs and embrace the traditiō of truthe For what if there were but a small matter called in controuersie ought we not to haue recourse to the most aūciēt Churches in the which the Apostles haue liued and enquire of them the truthe and certainte of our doubt And what if the Apostles had not left vnto vs scripture at all ought we not to haue folowed the order of tradition which they deliuered vntothē whom they left to gouuerne the Churche after them the which order many nations of Barbarous people such as beleue in Christ do folowe hauing their saluation without paper and ynke by the holy ghoste writen in their harte and keping diligently their olde traditions Thus farre S. Irenee With this good lesson and information the Lutheran Minister being somewhat amended afterward in shorte time
vtterly detesting all sectes and heresies becometh a right good Catholike And surely so it happeneth that who so ones departeth from the church if he entre but a litle with other heresies he is accompted an heretike of the heretikes them selues From the which our Lorde of his tender mercy preserue vs alwaies Amen Our forefathers the auncient Germans were euer accompted men of grauite constancie and of a setled iudgement not light brayned inconstant or wauering with euery wind as peraduenture some other countres were noted for For lightnes in dede in men of wisedome is a greate blotte But what can be more light or more vaine then to beleue euery light person without any sure grounde of his doctrine He that beleueth quickely saith the wise man is light of hart These preachers and newe ghospellers that nowe a daies runne from countre to countre be vile vagabondes light and wilde persones men of no grauite nor whorthy of any authorite And that their outewarde behauiour declareth Their bearde they let growe only vppon the vpper lippe like the Turkes their cotes be cut shorte at the buttokes with large wide sleues as the sergents or catchepolles in times past were wont to haue and thus like frogges they leape in to the pulpit crieng and creking there Our Confession of Auspurg is grounded vppon the writings of the Apostles and Prophets and hathe endured these thirty yeares Beholde good Catholike reader a wonderous matter The Confession of Augspurg is thirty yeares olde Is not this a maruailous loÌ„ge continaunce and yet these felowes will not be a knowen that our Catholike religion hath continued these thousand fyue hundred yeares and aboue twise their thirty without breache or interruption Nowe where they bable that their Confession is grounded vppon the writings of the Apostles and Prophets doth not euery secte and euery heretike crake the same Do not the Anabaptistes crie it is writen in the xxvj of Marke He that will not beleue shall be condemned But children haue no faith and can not beleue ergo they can not be saued nor ought not be baptised â—Like wise the ZuingliaÌ„s crie they not that it is writeÌ„ in the vj. of Ihon. The flesh profiteth nothing and therefore they will haue it but bread in the Sacrament Againe the scholers of Osiander alleage they not the saying of the prophet the 23. of Ieremie Iehouah is our iustice Who can denie but all these allegations be the writinges of the Apostles and prophets why theÌ„ do the LutheraÌ„s abhorre the Anabaptistes why condeÌ„ne they Osiander and his felowes why doth Luther call Zuinglius an heretike Do not they crie that their doctrine as well as the other crie that their Confession is grounded vpon the writings of the Apostles and prophets yes they crie truly so euen as lowde and as truly as the Lutherans What theÌ„ lacketh in this matter Truly not who alleageth Scripture for that euery heretike doth but who can proue his doctrine in dede not only in wordes by Scripture For who caÌ„ abide the preacher be he neuer so Catholike that crieth only that his doctrine is grounded vppon the writings of the Apostles and Prophets It is not sufficient to alleage and hudle vp many places of scripture which the heretikes do as roundely as the Catholikes but you must by good reason and sure grouÌ„de proue that those your places be well and duly alleaged and expounded But by what grouÌ„de and reason may this be proued By thre maners of waies First the teacher of any doctrine or preacher ought to proue and euidently declare that his doctrine or interpretation of holy Sripture is Catholike deriued from the Apostles receaued through out whole Christendom and continued vnto our time Secondarely that all the ordre maner and disposition of the church of Christ in the newe lawe was figured and shadowed by other obseruaunces and doings in the olde lawe Thirdly that euery principall article of our Catholike religion hath beÌ„ confirmed with some miracle whereby the verite of it hathe vnuincibly ben warranted As for example Amonge vs Catholikes it is a sure and vndoubted point in our religion that in the blessed Sacrament of the aultar vnder one kinde the whole and perfit body of Christe is contained as well as vnder bothe This point we first proue by the expresse worde of God vttered by the Apostle saying that Christ can not be diuided Nowe that this saying of the Apostle is well applied to the one kinde of bread in the Sacrament the common practise of Christes Catholike churche these many hundred yeares dothe abundantly witnesse Againe it is proued by an euident figure of the olde lawe For we reade in Moyses that although some gathered more some lesse of Manna which vndoubtedly as S. Paule witnesseth was the figure of our Lordes supper yet he that gathered lesse had as much as he that gathered more So Hilarius pope of Rome decreeth saying Where parte of the body is there is the whole for the like is in the body of our Lorde that was in Manna that figured it For not the visible quantite is to be considered in this misterie but the spirituall efficacie and vertu of the Sacrament Last of all this hath ben confirmed by so sundry and strauÌ„ge miracles wrought from God that who so hath any sparckle of Christen faith remaining in him can neuer doubt but that the body of Christ is as well vnder one kinde as vnder bothe The stories of the Iewes may testifie clerely this matter which happened in diuers places as at Passau Breslau Regenspurg and Tekendorph in Bauaria in the yeare of our Lorde 1337. and afterward at Berlin in the Marchise of Brandeburg in the yere 1512. and now lately in Pole in the dyocese of the Archebishop of Gnesna In whiche all places it hathe ben seen that out of the Hoste of our Lordes body foined in with daggers by the Iewes bloud hath gushed out and many other miracles haue befallen The which all surely almightie God of his mercie hath wrought for the confirmation of his churche in this article that vnder the forme of bread is fully contained his precious body and bloud and for the conuicting also of the damnable heresie of the Maniches who aboue a thousand yeares agone affirmed that vnder the forme of bread was the body without bloud This I haue brought in for an example to show howe the Catholike doctours are able to proue euery article of Catholike religioÌ„ That is by the Catholike vniuersal and receaued expositioÌ„ of holy scripture by the figures and shadowes of the olde lawe by the operation of miracles Surely who can thus proue his doctrine he may boldely saie that it is grounded vppon the writings of the Apostles and prophets Nowe if the Confessionistes speake as they think when they saie their doctrine is grounded vppon the Apostles and prophets and that they will proue it to be so in
iustification is necessary and that good workes were pernicious to saluatioÌ„ yet afterward writing against the Antinomi his scholers he corrected his former doctrine after this sort That the lawe before iustification is in dede necessary for the knowleadg of sinne but afterward is vtterly vnprofitable For the maintenaunce therefore of this PelagiaÌ„ and Manichean heresie the shifting in of the worde Nur nothinge but fitted his purpose maruailous well For by this only worde he hath planted againe two notable and auncient heresies The one of the Pelagians whiche saide that the lawe auailed nothing but for the knowleadg of sinne teaching what we ought to do and not to do and that by the ghospell we haue no grace geuen vs to perfourme that which by the lawe we learne to be good and godly An other of the Maniches which teache as Luther doth that the lawe is made for wicked men not for Christen men which can be helde in by no lawe nor are not bounde to any good workes In an other place where the Apostle according to the Latin and Greke text hath thus Haue we not power to leade about a sister a womaÌ„ Luther thus traÌ„slateth it Haben wir nicht macht ein Schwester zum Weib mit vmbher zu fijrn that is Haue we not power to leade about a sister for a wife Here againe like a false foister he shifteth in counterfaited droges amonge the swete spice of holy scripture adding thereunto of his owne these wordes zum Weib that is for a wife which is farre different from the meaning of the holy ghoste and was neuer writen by the Apostle nor reade in holy scripture from the beginning of the church by any Christen Catholike man But what intended Luther by this his addition surely to roote out of mens hartes all loue off chastite and virginite lest perhaps if S. Paule and the rest of the Apostles had caried no wiues aboute with them some woulde be content also by their example to lacke them yea he maketh the blessed Apostle a lyar whereby he might remoue him cleane out of the Bible For the Apostle say the in an other place I would haue allenâ—n be as my selfe That is as he expoundeth himselfe that all priestes and preachers off the worde of God should abstaine from matrimonie and all pleasure of the flesh to the entent that they might studie rather to please God then their wife As also againe when he saythe He that marieth his virgin doth wel and he that marieth her not doth better meaning thereby that bothe are right good bothe to mary and to liue single Yet whem one of the twaine and the better must be chosen certain it is that the Apostle preferreth single life before mariage But Luther by iumbling in only these wordes Lum Weib that is for a wife hath taken awaie the meaning and godly inteÌ„t of the Apostle not only out of the scripture but also out of thousandes of mens hartes not without great losse of many a soule He hath beside hereby not only disgraced the excellent vertu of chastite and virginite but also brought so in contempt the holy sacrameÌ„t of wedlock as if it were in inuention of maÌ„ that nothing is now more common then as Luther him self teacheth in the sixt tome of his workes If the wife will not let the maide come And there be yet extant certaine epistles of Luther and Melanchthon and aduises geuen by their letters wherein they do openly permit and pronounce it to be lawefull that one husband may haue two lawfull wiues I could also alleage and note with my finger diuers examples hereof agreable to the doctrine of these blessed ghospellers Neither may any man here thinck that this false and deceitefull translation of Luther is any newe inuented tricke of him selfe it was practised also in the time of S. Augustin who coÌ„futeth it with these wordes For vpon this respect sayth he speaking of relief made to the Apostles godly and faithefull wemen hauing wordly substaunce went about with the Apostles and ministred vnto theÌ„ of their substance that they lacked nothing necessary for this present life Which S. Paule showeth he might lawfully haue done as the other Apostles did but he saieth afterward he woulde not vse his power and authorite herein And this point certain men not perceauing expounded not asister woman where the Apostle saith haue we not power to leade aboute a sister woman but a wife These men seme to be deceaued by the ambiguite of the graeke worde For that in graeke one worde signifieth bothe a woman and a wife Allthouh the Apostle so placed that greke worde that they might not be deceaued For neither he sayde a woman only but a sister woman nor to mary but to leade aboute but other interpretours were nothing deceaued with this ambiguite translating it a woman not a wife Thus farre S. Augustin very plainely and roundely confuting the fonde interpretation or translation of Luther There is in the church a laudable custome and godly institution of the Apostles to applie holy scripture to the passion of Christ. So that Lessons and other praiers in the church especially of priestes and other in holy orders be so deuided and distributed in to certain howres that bothe the storie of Christ his passion and the rest of holy scripture may by that orderly distribution more coÌ„ueniently be vnderstaÌ„ded Hereof as we haue before touched were instituted the Canonical houres of Matins of Prime of the iij. vj and ix howres of EueÌ„song and CoÌ„plin And that al this is not by mans coÌ„stitutions or traditioÌ„s it may by diuers places of holy scripture euidently be confirmed Dauid in a certain psalme writeth SeueÌ„ times in the daye haue I saide laudes vnto the vpon the iudgemeÌ„ts of thy righteousnes And that this was done at certain houres and prescribed times it appereth by an other place of the same psalme I arose at midnight to confesse vnto the vpon the iudgements of thy righteousnes And in an other psalme he writeth At euening at morning and at none daie I wil praie and he shall heare my voice Morning praier in the church is couÌ„ted the Prime None daie the ix howre after Masse At euening the EueÌ„song In the Actes we reade of the Sixte howre Where it is writen that Peter ascended in the vpper partes to praie about the Sixte howre The iij. also the vj. and the ix howre aremeÌ„cioned in Daniel at the which howres he praied with teares ouer against HierusaleÌ„ Complin time of praier appeareth by that which S. Luke writeth of our Sauiour It happened in those daies he weÌ„t vp in to the MouÌ„te to praie alone and continued all night in praier to God These howres also by Gods institutioÌ„ are so distributed for the remeÌ„brauÌ„ce of Christes passioÌ„ that euery howre coÌ„taineth the remeÌ„braunce of some speciall acte of the passioÌ„ For at Matins
Smidelin a trim pacifier doth he not by good reason reconcile these protestants together In the booke against my table he raileth and saith he must nedes be a wicked person which woulde saye that amonge the Swinglians were eight diuers and seuerall opinions and who is so blinde that seeth not Luther him selfe in his wordes aboue alleaged to recite eight contrary opinions of the Swinglians It foloweth then by the iudgement and sentence of Doctor Smidelinus that Luther is a wicked and pernicious felowe Surely very well and as it should be for such honour vse kinde scholers to geue to their masters But truly they are bothe vsed according to their deserts while the Master proueth his scholer a liar and the scholer proueth his Master a knaue and nowe it happeneth as we commonly see of a frowarde curre a peuish whelp But what will Smidelin saie if that amonge the Lutherans them selues be sacramentary sectes and schismes and that not a fewe This present yeare 1560. in the seconde of Octobre was printed at Heidelberg the iudgement of Philip Melanchthon touching the Supper of our Lorde dedicated to the honourable prince Electour CouÌ„te palatin of the Rhene where he writeth thus It is not hard but somewhat dangerous to awnswer yet I will declare that debate and controuersie which happened at Heidelberg and admonish men as much as I may at this time I will also praie vnto Christ our Lorde that it will please him prosperously to directe these our aduises and their doinges Greate and greuous coÌ„tentions shal vndoubtedly arise in the worlde vpon the Controuersie of our Lordes supper for the worlde must nedes be punished for their idolatry and other hainous offenses Let vs then praie that the Son of God teache vs and direct vs. But seing that many are yet in many places feble in the faith and not well instructed in this doctrine off the church but rather nouseled in many errours it is mete that first we take order for such I like ther fore very well the aduise of the most honourable prince Electour that all such as contend of the Supper of the Lorde be put to sileÌ„ce lest dissensioÌ„ and variaunce arise in the church yet tendre and weake whereby the febleiÌ„ faith might perhaps be seduced and disquieted And I would wish also that the contentious persons on bothe sides were some other where VVhich being seÌ„t awaie the rest might agree into some forme of wordes And in this controuersie me thinketh it were best to kepe the wordes of S. Paule The bread which we breake is the participation of Christ his body much also must be saide of the frute of the Supper to stirre vp men more to loue this pleadge and the oftener to vse it Againe the worde Participation is to be declared and expounded For S. Paule saith not as the papistes do that the nature of bread is chaunged nor that the bread is the substaÌ„tiall body of Christ as the ministers of Bremesaie Nor as Heshusious saith that bread is the true body of Christ but that it is a participation or communion that is by the which we are coupled and made one with the body off Christ. VVhich copulation and making of one consisteth in the vse not without it imagining that mise could knawe that bread The papistes and such as are like them to earnestly contend that the body of Christ is vnder the forme of bread or included in the bread beside the vse and when it is not receaued they wil haue it adored also as Doctor Morlin of Bruns wicke saith Thou must not saie Mum. Mum But what is that which the priest hath in his handes Sarcerius would haue all the parcels that sal doune to be gathered vp and to be burned together with the earth on which it fell Two yeres past wheÌ„ we were at wormes a quaestioÌ„ was asked vs out of the Courte whether the body of Christ passed downe in to the bely and so forthe Such absurde questions ought not to be moued better it is that the forme of S. Paules wordes be kept and that men be well instructed of the vse and frute of this Sacrament The forme of wordes of the Supper ye may see in the ordinatioÌ„ of the church of the Megapolians where also aduertisement is geueÌ„ of the frute thereoff The Son off God in the ministery of the ghospell is present and worketh also in those that beleue But he is present not for cause of the bread but for mans sake as he saith him selfe Tary in me and I in you I in my father and you in me and I in you And with this true Comfortes he maketh vs his membres and testifieth that he wil raise vp and quicken our bodies Thus do olde writers expounde the Supper of the Lorde but some terme this true and plaine doctrine buskins or showes mete for euery foote and will haue that the body is in the bread or in the forme of bread as though the Sacrament were made for the breads sake or to be adored papistically Then other imagin that the body should be enclosed in the breade some will haue it euery where and in all places Melanchthon dalieth here at his pleasure but all holy fathers and olde writers haue continually hitherto taught the conuersion transmutatioÌ„ and chaunging of the creature of bread in to the body of oure Lorde that we may truly say with Christ This is my body Heshusius saith he can not agree with Origen terming the bread and wine the signes of the the body and bloud So he reiecteth Clemens Alexandrinus ready to do the like to Augustin Ambrose Prosper Dyonisius Tertullian Bede Basill and Gregory Nazianzen which calleth the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Theodoret which writeth that the nature of bread remaineth Is theÌ„ the authorite of Heshusius so great that we will rather bâ—leue him theÌ„ the olde writers which testifie clerely that the church in their time had no adoration nor no such doctrine as the papistes no we teache For seing these are newe and straunge in the church we doubt whether it be conuenient to bring in newe doctrine in the church And I am not ignoraÌ„t that many alleage forged bookes vnder the name of olde writers but let the lerned iudge hereof I will not make any longe debate of this matter presently nor entre to dispute with contentious men defending the idolatry and robberies of their forefathers VVhose tyranny and cruell persecutions I feele also I thought good only to declare my minde herein what were best to be done in respect of our weake and tender church Therefore I am still of that minde that bothe partes be put to silence and that one forme of wordes be vsed VVhich if some like not and will not therefore come vnto the Sacrament they may be permitted to do as they see good so that yet they styrre vp no dissension amonge the
the broode of that fonde frier sing the same song Beza and his companions at the late Synod of Poissy in FrauÌ„ce were stiff in that opinion aloÌ„g time but at the leÌ„gth were driuen from it whereupoÌ„ they chaunged the tenour of their supplication calling them selues Les esleus de Dieu the chosen of God This wilde persuasion is allmost receiued of all protestants It is the very heresy of the Pelagians condemned therefore in S. Augustins time as in his booke De heresibus he reciteth at large What a great corrupter of holy Scripture Luther hath ben in the second part of this Apologie it is at large declared by Fridericus Staphylus How our protestants also haue folowed his example therein and how manifoldly they haue peruerted the very text of holy Scripture I haue in part touched to geue good warning in the rest Who list to see how this hath ben the guiâ—e and maner of olde heretikes Let him reade Tertullian in his praescriptions S. Ambrose vpon the epistle of S. Paul to Titus Iraeneus also and S. Augustin writing against Adimantus the manichee cap. 12. 14. 16. What should I procede farder in declaring how Luther and his scholers folowe rhe race of olde heretikes bothe in their doctrine and in the maner and setting forthe thereof The very refusall of the auncient fathers in Christes church pronouÌ„ced as you haue heard so impudently of Luther and folowed with no lesse impudence of his scholers is no new point but euen the very shift of their forefathers cursed heretikes of olde time This appeareth well by the disputations of Athanasius with Arrius by the counsell of Sisinnius to the Emperour Theodosius by the maner of Eutyches in the Councell of Chalcedon by the writings of Cirillus touching Nestorius and of S. Basil coÌ„cerning Eunonius For all these lerned fathers could not drawe those vnruly heretikes to the rule of the auncient and holy writers in the Church of Christ. They appealed to only Scripture and would be tried only by that as Luther would and the protestants of our time wil though many heretikes receiued not the whole corps of Scripture but such partes only as liked them reiecting all that made against them euen as now a daies also Luther and his scholers reiect the bookes of Machabees and the epistle of S. Iames the one bicause it praieth for the dead the other bicause it writeth directly against their only faith Of what heretikes they lerned this shift we haue already declared defending the Machabees against M. Grindall Aduise your selues now good Christen readers whether you thinke the surer waie to saluatioÌ„ to for lowe the steppes of these fathers of Luther and all new ghospellers all condemned heretikes aboue a thousand yeares past or embrace the doctrine of the holy Fathers and lerned approued writers in Christes church May we not wel iudge and assuredly persuade our selues that the very sprit of heresy spake in Luther and speaketh in all new ghospellers preaching and defending olde condemned heresies Why haue protestants departed from the olde Catholike religion and embraced the new doctrine of Luther they saie forsothe bicause all thinges are reformed after the paterne and practise of the primitiue Church What meane they trow ye herein truly I do not otherwise thinke but that a great numbre the vnlerned and deceiued sorte take them to meane wel and that all is reduced to the doctrine and religion approued and generally receiued in the primitiue church for the espace of fiue or six hundred yeares after Christ. But vndoubtedly the lerned and ringleaders of this new fangled faith if they meane truly must nedes meane the renewing of such heresies as were in that time condemned For thus and no otherwise do they folow doctrine practised in that time that is of heretikes as in a numbre of particular assertions you haue sene But to returne to Luther what point of a right heretike is there that hath not in him ben verified He condemneth the Church and holy Fathers appointed of the holy Ghoste to gouuerne and direct his church as you see by his owne wordes before alleaged He corrupteth holy scripture by false translations as the secoÌ„de part of this Apologie hath declared you He denied partes hereof at his pleasure after the acustomed maner of al heretikes He holdeth teacheth and defendeth olde cursed and loÌ„ge condeÌ„ned heresies as we haue before deducted vnto you He hath bredd diuers sectes by his owne doctrine repugnaÌ„t and coÌ„trary one to an other to wit the Anabaptistes the SacrameÌ„taries the S weÌ„ck feldiaÌ„s and diuers other as it appeareth clerely by the Table of his Ofspring in the thrid part of this Apologie Finally bicause al heretikes are knoweÌ„ by their frutes what the frutes of this maÌ„s doctrine haue beÌ„ it is in this Apologie of Staphylus in diuers places expresly set forth as wel for the great decaye of deuotion and spirituall vertus as for the temporall waste and misery that of this heresy hath ensued Of his terrible arrogancy and pride the most euident token of a wilfull heretiken and voide of all grace and goodnes all that haue read his writings can testifie abundantly None more complaine thereof then his felowe protestants the Sacramentaries of Zurich as partly by their wordes in the thirde parte of this boke alleaged it maye well appeare Neuer baude in bridwell nor scolde in the stewes so railed as this man doth beinge comptrolled of his doctrine His awnswers against all such as wrote againste him abundantly declare the same For hereupon the ciuill Lutherans do swarue in many pointes from such doctrine as he was wonte to vtter in the vehemency of sprit as they cal it and in his cholere He wrote him selfe an Euangelist off Christ euen as Manicheus called him selfe an Apostle of Christ as S. Augustin witnesseth And off his scholers he is called the thirde Helias as in the story of his deathe we reade writen by Melanchthon Ionas and Pomeranus Euen as Manicheus was of his scolers called the holy ghost and Montanus of his secte also He writeth that he is sure and certain he hath his doctrine from heaueÌ„ eueÌ„ as Aetius sayde also of him selfe I knowe God moste clerely and euen as perfitly as I knowe my selfe The cause and original of Luthers departure from the church was ambitioÌ„ as all the ecclesiasticall histories of our time FoÌ„tanus Rouerus and other do testifie to witt bicause he was not preferred to the publishing of the famous pardon of the croisad The same ambition made Aerius an heretike bicause Eustathius was preferred before him in a certain bishoprike as Epiphanius recordeth The like writeth Tertullian of ValeÌ„tinus and Nicephorus reporteth of Montanus lib. 4 cap. 2. of Nouatus libro 6. capite 3. of Florinus libro 4. capite 20. and of Thebutes one of the firste heretikes in the Apostles time the very same cause of falling in
and chaungeable minde of this Archeprotestant Who lyste to knowe more of this man and howe he with al his ciuil secte is misliked of the zelous Lutherans let him reade the bookes of Heshusius and Hieronimus Menczelius de pastoribus not that I wish such bookes to be read but that who will nedes reade them may note this in them where they greuousely complaine of the licentious liberte of these ciuil and conformable protestants Melanchthon and his complices He maye reade also the booke of Iohannes Spangenbergius sette forthe in the yeare 1561. whiche beareth this litle A true declaration of the benefits bestowed especially vppon Germany from God by D. Martin Luther of holy memory and of the greate vnkindnes of diuers towarde so greate benefits receaued In the which booke he inueigheth not so much against vs Catholikes whiche haue allwaies worthely abhorred the cursed heresies of that lewde fryer as against the ciuill Lutherans and disordrely extrauagants whiche haue swarued from the holy worde of that fifte euan geliste Which they haue done in such sorte that nowe none beareth lesse rule then he that first sturred all this storme and was the inuenter of this terrible tragedy At what time the generall councell of Trent by the consent of all the estates of the Empire and other Christen princes was gathered together and be gonne the protestaÌ„ts of germany especially the Lutherans hauing their saufconduit and prouision after the largest and surest maner graunted Melanchthon drewe backe and retracted the time by all meanes possible Whereupon first he came to the Emperour Charles soiourning at that time at Inspruch fewe daies iourney from Trent and made greate suite bothe for him selfe and his felowes that they might not present them selues at the councell For him selfe he alleaged first his aage then that he was no diuin but a louer and fauourer of diuinite And yet this is that Master of WitteÌ„berg successour in the schismaticall see of Luther father of that famous Confession of Augspurg whiche not onely the Lutherans but the Caluinistes them selues do reuerence no lesse then the foure ghospells But this awnswer no thing satisfing the Emperour he pretended he woulde shortely repaire to the councel returned to VVittenberg and from thence toke his iourney thitherwarde but at Norimberg he staied vntell his prince the duke Mauritius concluded the councel with fire and sworde And this charitable deuise of Melanchthon agreeth well with other his doings as that he wrote yea and put forthe in prent a litle booke to the people of Bohem wherein he sturreth them against their lawfull Prince and counselleth them to rebell against their Souuerain whereupon ensued ciuill warre and calamitous seditions in that countre as also that he and other masters of WitteÌ„berg in the yeare 1548. at what time the duke of Saxony and the Lantgraue off hesse rebelled wrote opeÌ„ly against the Emperour Charles and all his adherents Whereof Mathias Illyricus a zelous Lutheran chargeth them and reprocheth it vnto them bitterly in a certain litle booke which he made called An Information vpon certain articles c. This Philip Melanchthon father of these ciuill protestants as in wauering and ofte chaunging his doctrine he was a right ciuill Lutheran so corrupting the general Confession of his brethern and the workes of his Master he showed him selfe very vnciuill truly but a right heretike I assure you For this was the practise of awncient heretikes to flie and flitt from their saiengs being pressed with the lerned Catholikes And truly of this famous Confession of Augspurg and of Luthers workes daily thus altered and corrected I would saie corrupted of these ciuill Lutherans we may worthely pronouÌ„ce as Tertullian dothe of the Marcionistes who had made also a ghospell of their owne whereof he saieth Quotidie reformant illud prout a nobis quotidie reuincuntur aut erubescunt de magistro suo vbique traducto They frame it a newe daily as they are of vs daily conuinced or be ashamed of their master all wheres reprouued And see I praie you if these ciuill reformers of Luthers ghospel represent not vnto vs the face and behauiour of olde heretikes of whom TertulliaÌ„ in an other place thus speaketh Mentior si non etiam a regulis suis c. Let me be accompted a liar if they vary not froÌ„ their owne rules while euery one tuneth at his pleasure the songe he lerned euen as he that first taught it did sette it at his pleasure The Valentinians were as bolde as Valentinus their Master the Marcionistes made at their pleasure a newe faith as their Master Marcion had done before them Brefely al heresies well considered shall be founde to vary from their first heades in diuers pointes Thus farre TertulliaÌ„ which how true it is in the scholers of Martin Luther the archeheretike of our time these ciuil Melanchthonistes declare vnto vs and that to the greate griefe of the zelous Lutherans as the sundry writinges of Gallus Amsdorfius Illyricus famous SuperintendeÌ„ts of that secte do euidently showe This practise of Melanchthons inconstancy flitting from his owne doctrine the ecclesiastical histories witnes vnto vs to haue ben the maner of olde heretikes Off Thedotus Asclepiodotus Hermophilus and Apollonides thus writeth Nicephorus Quilibet etiam illoruÌ„ castigationeÌ„ proprioruÌ„ scriptoruÌ„ edidâ—â— idque varianantium dissidentium inter se exemplarium discordantia indicat that is Eche one of them did sette forthe their owne writings corrected and altered whiche the diuersite of the sundry and contrary copies doth declare The greate variaunce and inconstancy of the Arrians no lesse then of the LutheraÌ„s appereth wel by the ecclesiasticall histories also First in their priuat Synod at Antioche hauing concluded and agreed vpon a certain confession of their belefe shortly after they put forthe an other much different from the first Not loÌ„ge after three of these Arrian bishops being conueÌ„ted before ConstaÌ„s in the west and being demaunded a declaration of their belefe they vttered it in a farre other sorte then they had decreed at Antioche In Nicephorus their diuers confessions are sett oute at large Fâ—we yeares after the ArriaÌ„s meting together at Sirmium published three sondry and diuers confessions of their belefe al contrary to the former Let vs nowe see whether oure Lutherans haue not practised in like maner In the general meting of the protestants at Ausgpurg before the Emperour Charles in the yeare 1530 First those of Strasbourg Costniz and Memming offred vp a confession of their faith as farre different from the Saxons as they were from the Catholikes Then in the Confession of the Saxons deuised by MelanchthoÌ„ in the descriptioÌ„ of Christes church the worde Catholike is cleane left oute The nexte yeare after Melanchthon writing his Apology put the worde Catholike in but with a straunge and false exposition added vnto it euen such as the Donatistes made vnto S.
lerned writers he writeth thus They saie it is the similitude of Hierom whose so euer it be no doubt but it is a wicked similitude Againe in his treatise of predestination where as S. Gregory as all other Catholike writers teacheth that no man can be assured off his election he vaunteth proudly that lerned Father with these wordes Pessimé perniciose Gregorius c. that is worst of al and wickedly taught Gregory c. In his commentaries vppon the sixt of Iohn disprouing the interpretation of Chrisostom whom Theophilact Euthymius and diuers haue coueted alwaies to folowe Fallitur saieth he meo iudicio Chrisostomus Chrisostom in my iudgement is deceiued What thinke you would Caluin feare to vtter that setteth so light by these lerned fathers whom the church so many hundred yeares hath reuerenced and folowed May not we saie to Caluin and al such presumptuous preachers of new doctrine we knowe S. Augustin we reuerence S. Hierom we credit Gregory and Chrisostom but you M. Caluin what are you as it was saied to the vnbeleuing Iewes attempting to worke miracles vnder the name of Iesus and Paul Iesum noui Paulū scio vos autē qui estis that is Iesus I knowe and Paule also but who are you Caluin yet staieth not here he is not contented to reiect certaī of the Fathers the most lerned and most approued in certain pointes He goeth farder He cōdēneth the whole primitiue church in the whole maner of the worshipping of God For disputing against the blessed sacrifice of the Masse he chargeth it with Iuish superstition and thus he pronounceth off the whole order of the speciall and most principall seruice of the primitiue church They folowed rather the Iuish maner of sacrificing then as Christ had ordained or the order of the ghospel required Thus saieth Caluin not speaking of these late yeares but euen of the primitiue church of the first six hundred yeares vnto the which time our Caluinistes at home dissenting in this point from their Master at lest as they pretend do referr all their doings and make the people beleue that the primitiue Church vsed that order of Cōmunion as they do now telling them withall that the blessed sacrifice of the Masse and the maner thereof hath ben vsed onely sence these later hundred yeares Notwithstanding Caluin their master acknowledgeth that maner off sacrifising in the primitiue Church longe before that time which bicause off the ceremonies thereof he calleth Iuish I wote not herein what more to maruail at and lament other the vntolerable pride of this presumptuous heretike condemning the very primitiue church and therefore leauing vs no church sense the departure hence of our Sauiour or the wicked guile of our newe preachers which doing no lesse then Caluin doth sett yet a better coulour thereon to entrappe thereby the readier the vnlerned and well meaning people in to their schismatical communion For they condemne not openly the primitiue church of Iuish sacrifising as Caluin doth but denie stoutely that any such sacrifice or cerimonies was then vsed and offer to yelde if we can proue it Let them now lerne off their Masters owne confession that such there was and let them lerne off their Crede where they saie they beleue the Catholike church not to condemne the primitiue church therein which if they denie to be the Catholike and true church of Christ they may as wel denie Christ him selfe head thereof and frustrat the whole mistery of his blessed Incarnation as you heard before Dauid George did and many Lutherās and Caluinistes do now in diuers partes of Germany to the great grief of al good Christē hartes But to returne to Caluin what may not he or any other heretike do condemning and setting light by the fathers of the primitiue Church For by them we haue not onely the true and right interpretation of holy scripture but the scripture also it selfe which without their testimouy we could not be assured of Wherefore S. Augustin after he had left the Manichees and cleaued to the Catholike church of Christ writing against thē and commending vnto them the authorite thereof he saieth Euangelio non crederem nisi me Ecclesiae commoueret authoritas I would not beleue the ghospell vnlesse the authorite of the church moued me thereto Now Caluin is nothing moued therewith but leaneth more to his owne iudgement then to al the lerned writers and holy Fathers of Christes church beside Whereof he was worthely ones checked of Bucer telling him quod iudicaret prout amaret amaret autem prout libet that he iudged as he loued and loued what him pleased And truly the only cause whereby Caluin in his Institutiōs in his commētaries vpō holy scripture and in other his workes abuseth the reader and deceiueth the vnlerned is that he feareth not expounding scriptures boldely to preferr his owne iudgemēt eloquently sett forth before the iudgement of S. Augustin Hierom Chrisostom Ciprian Gregory Bernard and all the other holy lerned men that euer wrote Now what arrogancy is this If euery lerned man may sette forthe his iudgement to the worlde as the true meaning of Gods worde and condemne the allowed doctours of so great antiquite lerning and vertu as the holy Fathers are who seeth not that euery countre in Christendom euery vniuersite of the countre yea and euery lerned man of eche colledg in the vniuersite may plante from time to time new doctrine make new expositions off holy scripture contrary to all other and teache daily a new faith especially in this our time whē lerned mē such as Caluin was lacke not in al coūtres Howe bitterly wrote Luther against Zwinglius Melanchthō against Illyricus VVestphalus against Caluin Brentius against Peeter Martyr and all the other against these Eche of them by lerning laboureth to drawe the worlde to their owne iudgement while they all condemne all other mens iudgements You will saie We must cleaue to scripture and leaue al partes aside Truly al do so And that is not the controuersy betwene these men nor betwene thē and the Catholikes which of them cleaue to scripture For al do so as fast as is possible but whether of them all do rightly expounde and truly vnderstande holy scripture For the Caluinistes do otherwise vnderstand holy scripture then the Melanchthonistes The Melanchthonistes otherwise then the Saxon Lutherans The Saxons otherwise thē the Osiandrins The Osiandrins otherwise then the Suenckfeldiās and they otherwise then all these Those whiche haue read their writings can not be ignorant thereof I will make you here a brief note of the speciall matters now in controuersy betwene them and so make an ende with Caluin The Zuinglians and Caluinistes agree with the Ciuill Lutherans the Melancthonistes in the article of good workes that they are necessary to saluation and in the Supper of the Lorde that the figure only not the true body of Christ is there geuē
Againe these two sectes in diuers other articles vary out off measure As in originall sinne in free will in baptim and in Penaunce For Caluin denieth all these as the Church teacheth whereas the Melanchthonistes acknowleadg them The Lutherans of Saxony to witt the zelous Lutheraus agree with the Caluinistes denying free will and braule with the Melanchthonistes for allowing free will against the doctrine of their Father Luther Yet againe these zelous Lutherans in the article of originall sinne agree with the Ciuill Lutherans and defie the Caluinistes But in the articles of Iustification of good workes of the Supper of our Lorde and how the lawe and the ghospel ought to be distinguished in these the zelous Lutherans dissent bothe from the Ciuill Lutherans and from the Caluinistes For they teache good workes to be pernicious to saluation they acknowleadg the reall presence which bothe the other sectes denie The Osiandrins agree with the zelous Lutherans of Saxony in the article of the Supper of our Lorde with the Ciuill Lutherans in the article of free will with the Caluinistes in the article of good workes But these againe dissent from all those three sectes in the article of Iustification and diuers other speciall pointes of doctrine The Suenckfeldians agree with the Osiandrins in the article of Iustification with the Melanchthonistes in the article of free will with the Caluinistes that euill men receiue not Christ in the Sacrament But with all other sectes they disagree in the doctrine of baptim and of al the Sacraments of preaching the worde of faith of the church of the humanite of Christ and of diuers other Thus you see brefely sett before you the vnite consent and agreement of this late ghospel You see what man Luther was what Melanchthon what Caluin the three cursed springs of three most wicked sectes swarming now in Christendom where this new ghospel hath spred his branches to witt of the zelous and vpright Lutherans of the Ciuill and conformable Lutherans and of the Caluinistes or Sacramentaries You may iudge by the heads what the ofspring is by their frutes what their sprits be by these particulars of their doctrine which for a taste only we haue discoursed vpon what their whole ghospell is These are the blinde guides and lying Masters whom in place of all approued writers in Christes church a numbre of deceiued persons haue folowed In stede of holy Hierom lewde Luther of lerned Augustin inconstant Melanchthon of blessed Ambrose proude Caluin In place of sounde religion olde condemned heresies of constant faith contrary opinions of vniuersall belefe priuat imaginations of Gods holy worde mens deuises A great shame to forsake auncient belefe A hainous offence to make partes in Christes church A wicked impiete to departe from Christ and his dere spouse the grounde and piller of all truthe But a farre greater shame to embrace the lewde liberte of Luther to folow the variable brayne of Melanchthon to cleaue to the cursed heresies fonde absurdites and clere contradictiōs of Caluin The heresies of Marcion Valentinus Arrius Nestorius and other had coulour of lerning The Montanistes the Tatiani the Manichees the Nouatians had pretence of holynes and vertu These two conditions were vehement persuasions to drawe the worlde vnto them But the heresies of our time be grosse blasphemous and dissolut The denial of the blessed Sacraments and right vse thereof procede of ignoraunce in true diuinite The deniall off free will and wicked assertion of fatall destine vnder the name of Gods forekuowleadge is a horrible blasphemy The breach of ecclesiasticall authorite doctrine of only faith contempt of all good order and constitutions is a mere licentious liberte and wantō dissolutnesse How then happenteh it that men are so abused that the lerned are drawen the vnlerned deceiued Wil you haue the truthe tolde Peccata nostra diuiserunt inter nos Deum Our sinnes haue diuided betwene God and vs. The gate of his grace is shutt from vs. And why We loue the worlde we let slippe our faith we be nailed to our tēporal trash we make it our God We will rather become hethen then suffer for our conscience Otherwise if we feared God we would mistrust this dissolut religion if we were not blinded with selfewill and hardnesse of hart the plage of former sinnes we should espie the absurdite and fondnesse off this vpstert ghospell Howe were it to be wished that at the entry of these newe preachers and planters of straunge doctrines we had had a Pacuuius amonge vs I will recite you the story of him It is writen first of Liuy and repeted of Macchiauell in his discourses After the greate bartaill lost by the Romains at Canne al Italy allmost forsaking their allegeaūce to the cyte of Rome and trēbling at the power of Hanniball the cyte of Capua misliking the gouuernement of their Senatours and Counsellers as it fareth in time of calamite and distresse that the faulte is layed to the Rulers conceiued a great hatred against them and deliberated to murher them euery one and to place other in their rowmes which they thought should better direct their cōmon welthe and more to their cōtentation This Pacuuius being then the chefest Ruler of the cyte perceauing well the peoples furious intention and the daunger the whole Senat stode in deuised with him selfe a witty policie both to appease the people and to saue the Senat. He calleth the Senat together Declareth them the intent of the people openeth them his meaning and saieth My aduise is you suffer your selfe to be shut vp in the palace in my custody I will assemble the people and showe them what case you stande in For the rest if you dare trust me I will take such order that no harme shall befall you They trusted him He calleth the people and saieth vnto them People the time is now come that you may order the Senatours as you desire without any farder tumult But yet bicause I know well you wil not leaue the cyte withoult a Senat and counsel you must nedes if you will destroye the old make a new And therefore lo here the names of all the Senatours As I name you one to deliuer vp in to your handes so you must name me an other to succede him This being saied he opened the scrolle and named an auncient and graue Senatour The people hearing his name cried straight he was a proude and cruell man and not worthy to beare rule Well then quod Pacuuius Who shall succede him Here the people was at a staie and looking one vpon an other knewe not a longe time whom to name At the length one being named some began to smile some to laugh other to disdaine All perceiued well as Macchiauell wittely noteth that the fault appearing in the Senat vniuersally when it came to particular examination was no faute in dede but a misseconstruing and wronge iudgemēt of the people By this meanes
the people knew theÌ„ selues the Senatours remained in authorite Particular fautes were redressed the whole order and estat remained Sucha Pacuuius I say was at the entry of these heresies to be wished and preseÌ„tly may also be heard For although that which is past caÌ„ not be reuoked yet it may be amended Let vs then with Pacuuius demaunde of such as lothe their auncient and receiued belefe what newe faith will they embrace For without some faith I thinke none yet that beare the name of Christians will line Will they be right and zelous Lutherans taking Luther for the very man of God and vndoubted prophet to reuele his holy worde in these our later dayes Will they reiect all Fathers all Councells all that Christendom hath hetherto beleued as you haue heard before Luther doth Then beside all that we haue saied of his doctrine and behauiour sufficieÌ„t I trust to proue him a right heretike if an heretike may be knowen by his frutes let them satisfie the ciuill and disordrely or repining Lutherans let them accrode with the Sacramentaries the Anabaptistes the Osiandrins the Swenkcfeldians and all the remnant of Luthers branches as you may see and vew in the petigrew of his ofspring drawen out by Staphylus If they set light by that fonde frier as the more part of protestants do to the great grief and bitter complaining of all zelous Lutherans what secte wil they be of Will they ciuilly beleue at pleasure as MelaÌ„chthon did and be euerlerning as S. Paule of heretikes pronounceth but neuer attaining to the truthe Who laugheth not at so fonde a chaunge if in so waighty a cause any Christen hart can laugh and not rather lament such willfull blindnesse or blind willfulnesse as in these ciuil Lutherans appeareth Will they forsake Luther vtterly and become Sacramentaries Yet then we may demaunde of what secte of Sacramentaries they will be For Caluin and Bullinger Geneua and Zurich agre not But if they will be Caluinistes as most parte of Sacramentaries are who yet will not disdayne there at knowing the pride of Caluin setting light by the holy Fathers his corrupting of holy Scripture wicked renewing of olde condemned heresies fonde auouching off most clere contradictions rashe teaching of moste absurd doctrine in that article where he we was thought moste to haue excelled All which and much more we haue in this simple discourse discouered vnto you gentle Readers to the entent that you may see what an euill chaunge you make to leaue the auncient fathers the Catholike and vniuersall belefe the faith you were baptised in and in the which all our forefathers these thousand fiue hundred yeares and vpwarde haue serued allmighty God and liued as Christen men and true membres of Christes church to leaue I saie all this and to become protestants or new ghospellers that is men of a new faith and religion which you must lerne of some one of these three Luther Melanchthon or Caluin or of such as haue lerned it of them By this consideration I trust you shall pereiue that though the vniuersall name of refourmed ghospellers and chalengers off gods worde haue pleased you though the generall name of papistry haue displeased and misliked you yet the particular being now discouered as well off the persons as of the doctrine you will either incontinently returne from whence you departed or at lest deliberat thereof and of these fewe lerne to mistrust the rest Fridericus Staphylus whose Apologie we haue here translated you being a Lutheran many yeares and so farre in credit with the protestants that he might haue ben a doctour of diuinite amonge them also a Superintendent at Augspurg at Brunsuick Lubeck and Hamburg by this very consideration became a Catholike For hauing many years ben a Lutheran and a familiar frend of Melanchthon aduised with him selfe to write also in defence of the Lutheran doctrine He had not yet at that time read the auncient fathers but had heard them much alleaged of Luther and Melanchthon and trusting to their allegations thought vndoubtedly that the doctrine of Luther was agreable with the lerned fathers and the primitiue church Hereupon he diuised after the imitation of the Master of the sentence and other schole men to set forthe in one volume the whole effect and summe of Luthers doctrine This booke he intituled Corpus doctrinae Lutheranae the body or summe of Luthers doctrine For this purpose he began to â—eke the doctours and serche the original of Luthers and MelaÌ„chthons allegatioÌ„s But here lo in this particular serche and examinatioÌ„he found the doctours and auncient writers to condemne directly the doctrine of Luther At this he was maruailousely astonned brake of his enterprise began with priuat study to peruse him selfe the auncieÌ„t and approued writers in Christes church as well the grekes as the latins and to conferre with them these new writers of our time About this study he bestowed as he writeth in this very Apologie two and tweÌ„ty yeares not medling with any other ciuil or worldly matters in al that time By this meanes though slowly and slackely as in the preface of this Apologie he complaineth him selfe he shifted at length him selfe out of the captious coÌ„trouersies of this time and became not only a right good Catholike priuately and in coÌ„science but opeÌ„ly also to al the worlde he declared it and discouered more theÌ„ any of our time hath done bothe the false grounde of all their pretended doctrine that is the bare title of gods worde without the right vnderstanding of the same and also their variaunces sectes and dissensions amonge them selues Whereby in diuers partes of Germany especially in the territory of Bauaria many haue returned from the dissolut heresy of Luther to the holesom discipline of the Catholike church This he did to his dere countre of Germany in this Apologie writen of him in his mother tongue This I haue made now common to my dere countre also hauing no lesse nede thereof then that miserable countre of Germany hath I trust herein I shall offende none but suche perhaps as firste muste be offended before they can be amended Heresy is compared to a caÌ„cre Vnlesse it be launced it festereth and groweth to the corruption not only of it self but of other To make an ende I desire the protestant to make the example of this lerned and vertuous maÌ„ Fridericus Staphylus to reade this his labour to consider the grouÌ„de of false doctrine taught by Luther and his successours to vewe the diuersite and contrariete of his scholers the numbre of sectes the blasphemies of eche one to waigh the issue off this doctrine the dissolut life and contempt of order the countres of Hungary Lifland and Prussia lost by Luthers heresy finally to beholde the olde heresies renewed by Luther and other his behauiour resembling heretikes the incoÌ„stancy variete and wilfulnesse of Melanchthon the fonde absurdites clere contradictitions and most hainous heresies of Ihon Caluin I besech the
and his soule And this is lo the well spring of sondry heresies nowe a daies Wherein me thinketh it fareth as if the common craftes men of a cite vpon a stomach of priuat presumption would sodenly displace all phisicians and remoue poticaries from their shops persuading themselues to knowe as wel as they the vertu of their medicines balmes drogges waters ointmēts rootes herbes and other such ware and hereuppon would take vpon them to minister bothe to them selues and vnto other potions purgations and all kinde of medicine Were not these men thinke you likely to do much good in shorte time especially if other would be so madde as to beleue them would not experience quickely teache them to call home againe their olde Masters Phisicians and poticaries and set these men to their craftes againe Surely so it is of the holy scripture translated in to the vulgar tongue and so made common for all men For the laye man may so reade them and picke out metsons mete for his appetit but for lacke of skill as experience hath tried he will cast him selfe downe being whole before and so as they saie shall paie for touching For in very dede the vnlerned man is not acquainted with the phrase of scripture he knoweth not the language of the holy ghoste and although he heare the sounde yet he seeth nothing nor vnderstādeth not to what ende or purpose this or that be spokē For it fareth in scripture as in medicines which although they are ordained of God for the helthe of mans body and are the giftes of God yet if they be not vsed in time and place as the desease requireth and as the lerned physician appointeth they may be mischef in stede of a remedy and serue to kill man being made to heale man By this similitude the vnlerned maie gather howe dangerous it is for him to reade the scripture in his mother tongue especially with the entēt to interpret it as he shal thinke best him selfe Nowe whereas I haue in dede founde faute with the translation of Luther and haue withdrawen men frō reading of it I haue don it vpon good reason and waightie considerations For it is euident that Luther in his translatiō hath bothe corrupted the text omitting and altering the very wordes and also hath depraued the sence of the text by false and hereticall gloses partly added in the margin partly foisted in the text it selfe So by clipping awaie the termes of the text and patching on the suttle shiftes of his owne braine he hath gaily coloured his pernicious doctrine with the painted shethe of pretended scripture I wil here bringe you for a taste some fewe examples of his liegerdemain geuing you to vnderstāde what conscience he is likely to haue in other doctrine that feareth not to iugle to cogge and to foist in holy scripture it selfe S. Paule writeth thus vnto the Ephesians according to the Latin translation Which also worde for worde agreeth with the graeke text Wherefore take vnto you the whole armour of God that ye maye be able to resist in the euill daie and stande perfite in all thinges These wordes of S. Paule the honourable and lerned man George Gienger one of the preuie counsell vnto the Emperoures Maiestie translated after this sorte Darum ergreift den harnisch Gottes auf daffir andem boesen tag widersteē kundt vnd in al len dingē als die volkommen vesteen mijghr that is Therefore take on the barnis of God to the entent that in the euill daie you maie resist and in all thinges stande as the perfite But Luther clipping the text translated it thus Omb des wegen so ergreifft den hamisch Gottes auff daf ir widersteen kundt an dem bosen tag vnd in allen ewren thun besteen mijgt which soundeth thus Therefore so take on the barnis of God to the entent that you may resiste in the euill daie and stande in all workes In the which sentence Luther omitteth the worde perfecti in laten als die volkommen in dutche perfyte in englishe which deprauation of the text in this place and cutting awaie the worde perfyte serued his turne very well to raise vp againe the stinking heresie of the Maniches For he writeth that Sinne is parte of man and a thing giltie it selfe which cleaueth also so fast vnto man that it can in this life be taken a waie by no vertu of the grace of God or of the Sacraments and therefore that man remaineth allwaies in sinne nor is not able to attaine to any point of righteousnes in this life And herein Luther as the maner and custome of heretikes is fighteth against scripture with scripture it selfe For S. Paule saieth Not bicause I am alreadye perfyte but I folowe iff that I may comprehend and a litle after Let vs therefore as many as be perfyte be thus wise minded Here he maketh mencion of two sortes of perfectiō One which cōsisteth in hope and is looked for in the life to come of the wich the Apostle in an other place speaketh By hope we are saued an other which Christ speaketh of saying Be ye perfyte as your father of heauē is perfyte and again Be merciful as your father of heauē is merciful which perfectiō is as for exāple that oure glory be the witnes of our owne conscience which we are boūde to haue in this life and therefore ought to labour as S. Paule before exhorted vs that taking vpon vs the armour of God we may stāde perfyte in all thinges Now Luther admitteth no perfectiō in this life but teacheth that man is so farre from being perfyte in this life that God doth compell him to sinne S. Paule vseth often times the worde perfection but so that he confoundeth not the perfectiō of the life to come with the present which in this life as procliue and subiect to sinne maye and ought be kept of vs as farre as our infirmitie beareth Yet this perfection as litle as it is Luther to the entent he might vtterly take awaie he sticketh not as you see to clippe the coyne of Gods worde and bereue the text of the worde perfite lest any man perhaps woulde labour to be honest and vertuous The like slight vsed he in an other place of the Apostle for the like purpose and intent For whereas the Latin and Greke text bothe do reade By the lawe we haue knowleadge of sinne Luther corrupteth it translating after this sorte Durchs Gesetz ist nur erkantuus dee Sijnden that is By the lawe is nothing but knowledg of sinne For as before he clipped awaie the worde perfyte so here he foisteth in the worde Nur nothinge but to buylde againe the former heresie vpon this text But although Luther as by his writinges it is manifest and as the Illyricans and Antinomi his scholers do yet teache professed at the first that the lawe nor before nor after
which it is nowe clere he doth If ye answer that so it is done bicause men by their owne wickednes malice and vngratefulnesse haue so deserued to be forsaken of God that shall be well and truly answered But bicause yet we see not the reason of this variete why some being brought to obedience other continewe indurated in the discussion of this doubte we must nedes haue recourse to that whiche S. Paule noted oute of Moyses to witt that from the beginning the Lorde had stirred them vp to showe his name through out all the worlde Now these wordes from the beginning are not in S. Paule nor Moyses in any text latin greke or hebrewe but are the wordes of Iohn Caluin added to the text of Gods worde for a vauntage to witt to make vs beleue that from the beginning euen before the fall of Adam God was the cause off induration aud harde hart of reprobats For he is not you see coÌ„teÌ„ted to attribut it only to their owne deserts and malice but seketh a superiour cause in God and that by the wordes of S. Paule from the beginning which he nor none of all his scholers are euer able to showe vs in any text of S. Paule that is This is lo the plaine dealing of these ghospellers and refourmers of Christes Church These be the chalengers of Gods worde This is the pure text they vaunte and boaste of They pretend to couet after the pure text and bare letter But as the poet saied ex vno disce omnes By Caluin lerne what the rest are And Time Danaos dona ferentes trust not an heretike though he bringe you scripture it selfe What false tricke is there that Caluin hath not plaied He hath corrupted the text with false translation as we showed you in the 9. chapter of Salomons prouerbes He belieth holy Scripture as yow heard in the S. chapter of S. Paull to the Romans He denieth expresse scripture as we declared you in the 19. chapter of the Actes of the Apostles He requireth to be heard against expresse scripture as we recited you oute of his Institutions And nowe you see he addeth to holy Scripture If this archeprotestant and greate ghospelling doctour behaueth him selfe so in his printed workes which remaine to be vewed of all lerned men what will the nouices of his religion and young prinking preachers sticke to do in pulpits where they knowe their audience to be not allwaies lerned and of the lerned some of a presumed preiudice to take all for good other to winke at all vti foro Albeit the doctrine of Caluin as you haue partly sene be stuffed with abhominable heresies and most absurde contradictions yet in all his doctrine he talketh peremptorely He matcheth him selfe with the Apostles He condemneth and reprouueth at his pleasure all holy fathers Whereby his pride and presumptuousnes sure mates of heresy vttereth it selfe I will for example note you a fewe of his sayinges where you shall see howe proudely he demeaneth him selfe and howe courteousely he ordereth the holy auncient and lerned fathers First as touching his contradictions about free will witting and feeling him selfe very well that he might wottly be charged therewith in one place of his booke of predestination he vtereth his feare and with a worde of his mouthe thinketh to make all the matter smothe These are his wordes I saie again I am not ignorant what apparent absurdite and contradiction this doctrine hath with prophane men and dispisors of God But whatsoeuer they bable or barke our conscience ought to serue vs for a thousand witnesses Is not this a gaie solution trow ye hath he not geuen vs a substaÌ„tiall warrant of the vniformite of his doctrine For what saieth he Forsothe whatsoeuer contradictions we see and beholde with our eyes yet we must trust Caluins coÌ„science that he is so honest a man that he would neuer saie or vtter any such thing Now reade againe those fewe of his contradictions that we haue recited who list and let him iudge in his owne conscience what the conscieÌ„ce of Caluin is and howe farre it is to be trusted Againe as touching the singularite off his doctrine which he knoweth and confesseth to be contrary to the olde fathers what reason thinke ye bringeth he for the defence off it In his treatise of baptim the 17. chapter of his Institutions he expouÌ„deth the wordes of Christ to Nicodemus Vnlesse a maÌ„ be borne again by water and the holy Ghost he shall not enter in to the knigdoÌ„ of heauen to be but an allegoricall speache against the whole practise off Christes church and consent of all holy fathers and lerned writers expounding the wordes off Christ literally as the text hath for necessite of baptim This Caluin knewe and confessed But how then thinke you doeth he excuse the matter what clâ—ke hath he for his singularite Ye shall heare After longe talke thus he concludeth Scio alios aliter interpretari sed hunc esse germanum sensum non dubito that is I knowe that other men haue otherwise expounded this but I doubt not but this is the right sence Lo Caluin doubteth not and therefore we must beleue him more theÌ„ all the church beside What is arrogancy if this be not Likewise in his doctrine and booke of predestination such as finde fault with his doctrine he saieth they blaspheme God and crieth vnto them as S. Paul did to such as Caluin is VVhat arte thou man which disputest with God Now what the doctrine off Caluin is you haue sene partly by this our simple discourse and more especially it appeareth in the third parte of this Apologie Yet he matcheth him selfe with God and vaunteth the coÌ„ptrollers of his hereticall doctrine with the check of S. Paul as curious serchers of Gods depe secrets And therefore no maruail iff he sett light by the holy Fathers off Christes church and reuerence them no deale at all In his treatise of baptim labouring to promote his heresy touching the baptim off S. Ihon that it should be equall with the baptim of Christ remembring that the Fathers of the church laie in his waie and withstode him to make the restafeared he geueth the venter vpon S. Augustin and saieth Nec recipienda est illa Augustini argutia in spe dimissa fuisse peccata Ioannis baptismo Christi baptismo reipsa dimitti that is Neither is that sutteltly off Augustin to be admitted that by the baptim of Ihon sinnes were forgeuen but in hope by the baptim off Christ they are forgeuen in dede In other places he calleth S. Augustin in dogmatibus ecclesiae fidelissimuÌ„ vetustatis interpreteÌ„ a most trusty reporter of antiquite in doctrines of the church But when it pleaseth M. Caluin S. Augustins doctrine is but a suttelty Likewise reprouuing the doctrine of penaunce where it is compared to the borde after a shipwracke which is a vsuall similitude off all