alleage for them selues Scripture and will not be brought down from their priuat sense to vnderstand those Scriptures as old blessed fathers haue interpreted them that herefor to make an end and to stopp the moâ—thes of all arrogant persons we will and define that old fassions old customes auncieÌ„t interpretatioÌ„s and so furth shal preuail For the question here in this CouÌ„cel was not of custome custome traditioÌ„ traditioÌ„ which should preuaile for the ArriaÌ„ did medle with no tradition or former custome or vsage Neither was the questioÌ„ in coÌ„paring former vsage with some late writers inuention for Arrius would alleage no one mans writing taking him felfe to be better learned theÌ„ all other and if he would haue alleaged his owne authority only that had ben so folishe and diueliâ—he that it was to be reserued for Luther or some other of the priuy couÌ„sell of Antichrist Wherin then was the strife not in those two pointes which I haue named but in this onely that wheras Arrius would be tried by scriptures only and plentifully brought them out for a shew of his defence and wheras vnder the letter of the scripture he vttered his blasphemous sprit and went against the plain traditioÌ„s and lessons of the Apostells and fathers of Christ his Church therfore saieth the Councell Let old customes and maÌ„ners preuaile which is to say we alow scripture and we alleage scripture but after that sort that we must not ne will admit any thing contrary vnto the Apostolike faith receaued for as concerning your text Sir Arrius where you say The father is greater then I am And againe God made me in the beginning of his waies with such like they must be vnderstood as our â—decessors maisters and fathers haue deliuered vnto vs. neither must you bring you in neuer so many places of the old or new testameÌ„t think therfor that you may conclud a sense and meaning contrary to the old faith Away with this pride of yours submit your vnderstanding to the faith of the Churche leue of your new termes of extaÌ„tibus and non extantibus receaue the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and coÌ„substancialitie which word although it be not expressed in Scripture yet it is in tradition Consent and agree with the Councell of the whole world These wordes loe and such like doe expresse truly what the fathers should meane in saing Let the old customes preuaile And this being proued to be the very meaning of that worthy sentence what hath M. Iuell doon in setting it before his sermon in the first shew therof is it put there to be laughed at or to be folowed and regarded If to be laughed at the CouÌ„cell of Nice is not so simple a thing If to be folowed why are the Catholikes reproued then for defending auncient traditions and why are the heretikes honored which will haue nothing but â—he bare text onely together with their priuat comment vpon it If customes manners fashions vsages call it as you will if they must preuaile wherfore doe we all this while contend with the Protestantes vpon verities writen and vnwriten vpon traditions and vses of the Catholike Churche Euery boke almost which is of common places hath the question of Scripture and traditioÌ„ moued therin which nedeth no more to be any question you being so well acquainted M. Iuell with the Protestantes and hauing so great credit among them as they lightly can geue to such a person For at one worde you shall end the whole matter perswading them that old customes and fashions must preuaile which in my minde I thinke to be impossible but nothing is hard perchaunce to you for this is clere euen in sight the last and third communion is preferred before the second the second better estemed then the first and if a new one come furth you shall I warrant you see it plainly proued that quite against your will and against the Councell of Nice the old fashions shall not be preferred And this much hitherto I haue saied as coÌ„cerning old customes supposing and graunting that the CouÌ„cell of Nice might vse that senteÌ„ce as M. Iuell alleageth it for a generall conclusion and determination whereas in very dede those wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ar onely mentioned in the beginning of the sixt Canon as concerning one especiall matter about the prerogatiue of the sees of the Bishopp of Antioch and Alexandria and should not therfore be drawen vnto a generall sentence But we shall meet again with M. Iuell vpon this point before the end I thinke and therfore now will I turne ouer the lease and coÌ„sider his sainges and apply som answers and infer so well as I can som obiections against him VVhen so euer any ordre geuen by God is brokeÌ„ or abused the best redresse therof is to restore it againe into the state that it first was in at the begnining If you take the paines leisurly to consider the illation of this conclusion you shall perceaue the wordes of the blessed Apostle vnto S. Timothe the first epistle chapter to haue in these our daies the persons vnto whom they may and must be applied The end of the coÌ„maundemeÌ„t is charite which cometh out from a pure harte and good conscience and vnfained faithâ— from which certen men wandering a side are turned vnto vaine talke coueting to be teachers of the law not vndersâ—anding yet neither the thinges which they speake neither vpon what thinges they make affirmatioÌ„s M. Iuel here in the wordes which I haue recited maketh mention of an ordre geuen by God and of ordre broken and of redresse of the same by retorn to the first institution In whiche sainge can he tell what he speaketh or what and wherfore he affirmeth what ordre geuen by God did he talk of before to bring in the wordes thus when anye ordre geuen by God is broken c. In the third leafe he saith that S. Paule had appointed the Corinthias as touching the Sacrament that they shold all eate and drink together Doth he call this the ordre geuen by God I beleue verely that what soeuer S. Paule appointed the same did come from God as the principall gouernour of his churche But for all that there is great difference betwixt the coÌ„maundmentes expressely geuen by God ordres set by men as ministers of God For with the one kind non can dispence withowte especiall licence froÌ„ God and in the other kinde the heades of the church haue the power in ther owne handes without further question to sett and remoue plant and pull vp as they shal see it profitable for the present state of the churche Wherfore although the blessed Apostle did neuer make such ordres vpon his own head as did not agree with the will of almighty God yet properly to speak an ordre geuen by God is so to be taken that without all exception it must be kept and folowed without speciall reuelation for the
thinges are reuealed and opened which ar knowen to be vnderstode of no other besides vnder the soun O mischeuous prid great madnes furor of vaine glory wisedom of the deuill which mightely hath inuaded their most wicked mindes The exposition of Scriptures which the welbeloued of God hath made did nothing feare them from their purpose the agreable reuerence which their felow ministers vsed towardes Christ did nothing tame their wildnes Thus thē loe the Arrians being so much selfe minded what better remedy might the reuerēd fathers of Nice haue against them then to bring furth the former receaued doctrine and māner to establish that with their decree For if natural reason shall preuaile the Christian faith can not be so wel perswaded or rather it can not be perswaded at all If by Scriptures only the treuth shalbe decided then shal ther neuer be found any end wher both parties alleage the wordes of Scripture for them selues Only therfor tradition custome and māner is that thing which killeth the heretikes hartes and therfore they will not be iudged but by expresse Scripture only and it is the thing which defendeth the Catholike Christians and therfore gladly doe they folow the waies of the auncient fathers VVhich thing is plainly proued by this honorable Coūcell of Nice about which our talke is For as it appeareth by the actes of the same Councell after long disputatiō and learned betwene certaine philosophers hired of purpose by Arrius in defence of his cause and most excellent fathers inspired with the holy ghoste for the vttering of the truth It pleased saieth the history all the fathers vnto one that like as it was deliuered from the holy fathers and successors of the Apostells so they should decree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wich is to say the equality of substance in God the Sonne with the Father and prouide it to be put in the Crede of the Church Against which worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and decree of the fathers what did Arrius or any of his sect afterwardes alleage to the reprouing therof And you in the meane time my welbeloued frind N. thinke it not long which is not vnprofitable and chose out the tyme to reade that quietly which the cause requireth that I should write plainly What did the Arriās then sayd I argue against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what was their chefest best reason for soth this onely that it was not in Scripture O M. Iuell that your eloquence had not ben born at those daies you would haue stode greatly against them with your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let old customes and manners win and preuail But yet you may doe good seruice in these daies to perswade with the multitude of them which take them selues wiser then all other which haue ben these nine hundred yeres and which will beleue nothing but the writen worde and bare letter that olde customes must be regarded and preferred also I mislike not the saying but it agreeth not with your person as I beleue Catholikes may all the company of them alleage truly both scripture and custome heretikes doe pretend Scripture onely and that yet not truly but custom they can neuer alleage at all This we haue receaued from the Apostells and their successors saith the Councell of Nice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not in all the scripture saieth the heretike And as euery cuntry is distincted one from a nother by proper and peculiar language so doth the Catholike euer speake after the voice of the Churche and the heretike bableth onely after the letter of the boke Reade you the fifth Chapter of the Tripartite history the fourth boke There it is plaine that Constantin the great did put a chaplaine of his in trust for the deliuery of his testament to Constantius his sonne which chaplaine being in deede an Arrian and hauing accesse to the Emperor and acquaintance with him by occasion of the testament perceauing also the yong Emperor his mind to be vnstable and wauering what persuasion did he vse first of all as you think He saied as Theodoretus testifieth they were to blame which had put the worde Consubstanciall among the articles of the faith And why so which worde saieth he is not writen in all the Scripture Loe here is his greatest reason and such in deed as becometh heretikes most of all Let vs goe yet forward and seke whether any mo heretikes will vse that reason And where shall you more plainly find this matter then where the very pack of them is gathered together In a cōfession of a faith which was made at Sirmium Constātius him selfe being present with to many Arrian Bishoppes after other thinges this decree foloweth As for the worde substance bicause being simply put furth by the fathers it is not knowē of the common people and it maketh a scandalum and offence and bicause neither the Scriptures haue this worde in them it pleaseth vs it should be abrogated and hereafter no mention at all to be made of substance in God bicause the Scriptures diuine do in no place make mentiō of the substāce of the father and the sonne You may see what great price they made of this argument it is no Scripture ergo no matter of faith bicause that in so few lines they doe twise repete the selfe same reason Which vndoutedly was then and is now the very principall but not most surest stay of all vnconstant mindes As in the same boke againe see what a nother cōpany of scismatikes do speake for them selues against the Coūcell of Nice VVe say they which are gathered together in Seleucia which is in Isauria we haue yesterday which was the fifth before the Kal. of Octobre geuen all diligence according to the Emperor his will to kepe straitly the ecclesiastical peace and to thinke earnestly vpon the faith as our welbeloued Emperor Constātius hath cōmaunded according to the sainges of the prophetes and Ghospells and to bring furth nothing besides the Scriptures in the matter of the faith Ecclesiastical This againe doth proue my purpose that it is propre to the heretikes to appeale to the scriptures onely bicause they are quickly condemned by tradition custome and manner To conclude therfor this place Arrius being so proud as we haue said hauing many textes of Scripture for him as he vnderstood them which toke him selfe to be best learned the Councell of Nice defining the cōsubstantiality of God the Sonne with the Father bicause they had so receaued it from the Apostells by their successors the same Councell being allwaies reproued of heretikes for that it defined that matter as an article of faith which was not in Scripture I aske now what it is like that the Councell did meane when it should say Let old customes and manners preuaile Can it well be vnderstood otherwise if the wordes be taken generally as you M. Iuell doe alleage them then after this sort that for as much as heretikes can
one to interpret and expound them wheras daily seruice is and may be well done of more then two or three skore Again by their interpretation of speaking in tongues all seruice must be in the mother tongue and women thereat may sing But S. Paule doth so take speaking with tongues that he sayeth let women hold their tongues in the church One thing they might say with good reason that the Epistle and Ghospell which are appointed for the instruction of the people might be readen in the mother tongue if they were first well translated And yet also euen by Sainct Paule if the priest were able to expound it afterwardes he might read it in the masse time in an vnknowen tongue to the common people For S. Paule doth not forbid to speake with tongues so that one be present which can expound them Ergo say they when none doth expounde it ther is a great fault committed Goe to let me graunt that all is not so exact but that heretikes may peeke a quarell Who shall amend that which is not well or who hath made you controllers in the howse of God why doe ye not first make a priuy exposition of your conceit vnto the officers why doe ye not then cast your heades together and make a most humble supplication why goe not you to Rome and confer with Peters successor as Paule aâ—â—ended to Ierusalem to Peter and the rest Why doe ye not pray to God that he will helpe when no peaceable request can obteine And if God for som cause knowen to him self should differ his help must you take the sword into your handes or vsurp the auctoritye of Christ his church and make your selues leutenants vnder God And yet it is no greater fault to read the Ghospell in Latin vnto English men then to read the same in English vnto Welshmen But you will prouide hereafter that Welshmen may haue iâ— in the mother tongue or cause them to learne English How say you then to Irishe men Northen men and Cornishmen Ther is no remedie but euery spech must haue a boke of seruice in ther proper mother tongue But yet in the meane time doe those quarters which obey the Kinges of England and vnderstand not the Englishe tongue lacke the frute of their deuotion whiles they be at seruice And shall we make folish coÌ„plaintes and exclamations that the poore welshmen doe lacke the liuely worde of God that S. Paules will is broken that the order of the primitiue church is neglected and so furth as far as our rhetorike will serue vs bycause they vnderstand not what the priest sayeth Let it be an abuse that the people three yeres sence did not vnderstand the Ghospell but onely stode vp at it and bowed their knee at the name of Ihesus and did conceaue wonderfull high thinges to be vnderneth the Latin spech and honored God in their hartes How much better is it now I pray you when the simple folke and those which are of the old making vnderstand the sentences but by halfes and either for lacke of attention or dulnes of hearing or smalnes of voice in the reader doe beare very litle away and when those of the new making doe herken to mainteine talke there vpon or to appose the priest or to iudge the priest or condemne the church of God or to glorye in their knowledge deceauing them selues and wening that they be able to expounde the Scriptures which are not able for lack of humilitye to heare them onely as yet Charitie without science is more to be alowed then science by which charitie is greatly confounded Yet for all this let the epistle and the Ghospell be in the mother tongue what hath M. Iuell to doe with the Canon In which the priest doth as Sainct Chrisostom sayeth stand before God as a suter for all the whole worlde For whom the people should pray that his seruice for them might be acceptable and that he may haue good successe What if they vnderstand not his spech all that while The quire according to the Latine and Greke church is occupied in singing the angelicall hymne of Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus Whiles the priest prayeth softly and closely at the altar the laitye were to be taught to loke for the consecrating of that body which was borne circumcided presented with fast debated scorged torne cruciâ—ied raised vp and which at lenghth ascended into heauen for their sakes And that presence of Christ once beleued they shold nede no English tongue or sermon for that tyme to bring hym vnto theyr remembraunce whom presentlye they know by the infallyble fayth of the church to be vpon the altar What nedeth then any English at this point yf one might speak with tongues of men and Angells yet at the presence of those mysteries al tongues are to like And therfore good men forsake theyr tongues and goe to their hart and there speake they after a more excellent sort then Latinistes Grecians or Hebricians can doe Which spech of hart which soundeth in the eares of God almighty good people had most of all when they were lest busied with the spech of bodely tongues with which they vttered mysteries and thankes and vowes and loues and complaintes and requestes and all heauenly desiâ—es and deuotions Out of the pulpet they lerned theyr faythâ— out of the church they talked of God in the chauncell they appointed priestes and clerkes to prayse God and to pray for them at the altar there stode the priest alone and there was theyr Sauior and ours ready for them And after this sort seruice being appointed there remained for them consideration of the thinges which were by externall signes declared The true religion consisteth not in tongues which tongues are necessarye for learning of the faith but faith ones receaued and taken in the hart the most perfect way afterwards of seruing God is to consider in our mindes the greatnes of his benefites which we comprehend by faith And by this reason one plaine picture of the passion of Christ shall gene more deuotioÌ„ vnto him which alredy is faythfull then a most eloquent learned sermon of M. Iuell him selfe Bicause the end of the sermon is to leaue in my hart and mind a picture of Christ and the beginning of a picture is the Image of that which I haue printed in my conceuing so that I may say where a preacher endeth there beginneth a painter and hearing of sermons is for those which are to be instructed and beholdinges of externall signes and pictures is for them which loue in silence and closenes to practise their beleife Wherfor ther is no cause to haue the Canon of the masse in Englishe but cause ther is why the lay people should be instructed what to think in time of the Canon And again I say it is no greate matter to heare what is therin saied but the only matter is to beleue that which therin is done And as at the