be all sufficient for that ende and purpose to which it is referred and for which it was written denying all other doctrine to be in power and certaintie equiualent with the same For if we should account those reportes which we haue receiued by tradition from our forefathers to be of equall credit with the canon of Scripture I cannot easily conceaue how we should haue due and thankfull regard of that inestimable benefit of committing diuine truth to writing which almightie God did himselfe first ordaine and by diuine prouidence continually hath preserued in his Church euer since the first age of the world that the daies of man were shortned and his memorie waxed fraile For miserable no doubt by this time had the state of the Church been if the meanes of our saluation published by Christ and his Apostles had been deliuered to vs onely by way of tradition from so many reporters We may in some sorte gesse at the daungers by those remnants of diuine storie which the heathen receiuing by tradition haue deliuered to vs in their writings but so broken and intermingled with cloudie phansies and fabulous inuentions as they doe no more resemble the truth then the rainbowe doth the sunne Which though it be the image of the sunne yet are the beames thereof so broken by reflection and refraction in some watrie cloud that it doth alike resemble the sunne as those ancient poeticall fables doe expresse the true scripture storie from whence they borrowed their first light Therefore inualuable is the benefit of the written word aboue relations The ende of the writing whereof was the perfecting of the two premised parts of a Christian mans soule to wit the vnderstanding with diuine truth and the desire with life both ioyntly set downe by Saint Iohn 10. 31. These things are written that ye might beleeue that Iesus is Christ the Sonne of God And secondly that in beleeuing ye might haue life through his name For the effecting whereof albeit the scripture be alsufficient in it selfe yet least by our ignorance we should peruert the more obscure places to our owne destruction we doe with all diligence embrace those meanes which God hath prouided for the interpretation thereof not onely the rules of reason and humane arts sanctified by Gods grace in his faithfull seruants but adding thereto also the record of antiquitie consent of fathers testimony of learned men conferring places waighing circumstances examining translations with such like not singling any one meanes from the rest as you fondly imagine but ioyning them together doe alwaies acknowledge most meanes to make the strongest confirmation Amongst these manifold meanes it liketh you to cull out the conference of places as seeming most of all to be ouerruled by priuat opinion Which rule of interpretation we are so farre from being ashamed of as in earnest I meruaile you will take any exception vnto it since Saint Austin a witnes by your confession without all exception hath bestowed such cost vpon it preferring it before all other rules whatsoeuer In his booke de Doct. Christia laying this ground vndoubtedly that all things concerning beliefe and life are plainly written in the word his first rule is that those things be chiefly noted which are set downe plainly both precepts of life and rules offaith Secondly that obscure and darke sentences be enlightned and opened by the plaine and manifest Thirdly that doubtfull textes bee determined by the cleere and certaine Al this in one chapter After if we cannot finde the true meaning yet let such a sence be giuen as agreeth with the right faith approued by some other place of scripture If that cannot be discussed by sure testimonie of Scripture it might be proued by reason but the safer way farre is to walke by Scripture In that whole worke made for this purpose we finde no mention of your last Remoue from the text to the interpreter from the Scripture to the men But still hath he recourse to the scripture making it the onely Center whereupon we must stay our selues in all discourse and interpretation His generall conclusion is that all places of scripture be expounded by the scriptures which are canonicall as being the rule of godlinesse and faith Yea from the testimonie of the greatest number of ancient fathers alledged by Saint Hierome he still makes his appeale vnto Scripture Hitherto haue I said nothing but Saint Austin whom you acknowledge to assure you not of his owne onely but of the common and constant faith and confession of ancient fathers and Apostolike Church Yet this was Saint Austin his rule of interpretation his golden rule whereupon he so much relied practised at this day in our Church and make you this a motiue to separate your selfe from our Church To put you out of doubt that this rule shal not at last resolue into priuate opinion after all diligence hath been giuen in this kinde we confirme the same by consent of our faithfull and learned brethren and if neede be by the assembly of the Bishoppes and clergie of our Church vnto which our greatest clerkes doe most willingly submit their expositions Their wordes be The sence will I proue by scripture according to the rule of faith the proofe of the sence I submit to the priuat and publike iudgment of the Church Notwithstanding in these quarelsome dayes since each part by likelihood will draw scriptures to their seuerall assertions it is a rule most indifferent euen in your owne iudgments that for pointes of controuersie neither your Church nor ours be iudge but that of olde neerer to Christ and further from these factions which you know to be our owne chalenge and defence aswell as yours So that if you would lay al these together being al held and professed by our Church you should finde our expositions to be neither vncertaine nor priuate Vpon this misconceit you conclude vs to be in a miserable case for that of an infallible proposition and arbitrarie assumption must needes follow a dangerous conclusion It is true indeede but this holdeth onely against protestantes and priuate spirits But wot you not that a counsell and the Pope of arbitrarie premisses can inferre infallible conclusions Cuius Doctrina in medijs discursiua in conclusione prophetica sine preiudicio fidei errare in argumentis potest salua conclusione See now yet are you so peremptorie must needesensue allwaies follow that whilest you lash out these rules of reason you entangle your self in high treason against his holinesse But what meane I still to rubbe this gall Sic tendimus in vetitum Had not your Doctor forbid it I had not so harped vpon it MOTIVE IN like manner they promise security of saluation without respect of repentance and workes which are ineuitable consequences if all be true that they teach So that he which hath faith needeth no more to care for good workes then they that haue drunken a sound purgation for going
inferre vndoubted positions from weake and false premisses infallible conclusions Omnipotent power that makes the conclusion stronger then the premisses whereupon it is grounded But I will spare this sore because Doctor Stapleton saith it is a sinne to touch it Thus it is quoth hee but we must not enquire the maner how it is that were curiositie Happily it is a mysterie and it were safe for your Church it were not looked into The consequence of your argument if any impotencie of erring in one then in all is too too weake there is a meane betwixt all and none at all you run altogether vpon extremities all errours be not at once disclosed nor all truthes alike necessarie to be knowne What say you to your Doctor Stapleton who limits the Church with a condition of determining such points onely as be necessary to be beleeued or belong to the verie substance of faith else she may erre both in discourse and definitiue sentence a condition which would be looked vnto if not quite put out of his workes for it shaketh many a decree Nay what say you to Bellarmine who acknowledgeth there be some true catholikes which hold that the Pope in a general counsel may erre when he giueth not all diligence Which generall condition if it be truly obserued in assembling the synod without partialitie in selecting points of moment and necessitie in consulting with all simplicitie with such like included vnder all diligence doubtlesse Gods spirit for his part will neuer be wanting See now if you would be reasonable we might happily shake hands in this point but you presently runne backe to an absolute omnipotencie of not erring in any one point and so shall we neuer meet I aduise you though doe not take it for an article of your creed but remember Bellarmine his rule That is not to be held as a point of faith against which some catholikes do hold being reputed catholikes of the Church and not condemned for heretiks But some catholikes hold the Church may erre quando non adhibet omnem diligentiam therefore resolue not all your faith vpon this point but alas we haue your resolution MOTIVE COntrarie the Catholikes auouching the inflexible truth of the Church as the voice of Christ and direction of the spirit doe stay the mindes of the faithfull from doubt and wauering But the other making an head from the bodie of the Church are rightly punished both with beleefe in errours and vnbeleefe in truth ANSVVERE SEe now your conclusion which buildeth not vpon that point alone we haue alreadie sifted but assumeth with all a farre more slipperie ground that that Church you haue lately plunged your selfe into is the onely Church we haue talked of all this while the onely true vniuersall visible Church vpon the earth Which two vncertainties wel examined and laid together will I feare me make but a sandie foundation to build vpon and an vnstable principle to stand vpon it owne ground and vphold all religion Yet this is your only sanctuary wherin you secure your soules of all sound beliefe which standeth vpon these two main pillers first that the Catholike Church cannot erre which is not so dangerous if rightly conceiued as hath been said Secondly that this Romish Church whereof you professe your selfe a member is that Catholicke Church Which second branch must be yet further resolued into other vncertainties presupposed by you as vndoubted truthes whereupon the frame of your religion doth rest it selfe to wit first that this present Romish Church doth not degenerate from the ancient Catholike but soundly and sincerely professeth that same faith which was established in the primitiue by the Apostles continued in the ancient Romane Church in the time of the Fathers for the space of 600 yeares Secondly this being proued and made manifest you must adde further that this Church of Rome is not so Catholike as was the Church of Corinth Galatia c. that is not as a member communicating in the faith of the whole Catholike but that it selfe is the whole entire Catholike Church thereby excluding all other Churches in Christendome as hereticall which doe not acknowledge themselues subiect to the Bishop of that Sea Which thing you must defend not against protestants onely who proue you rather to be an Italian faction then the Catholike Church which Iohn Hart doth ingenuously acknowledge to be more probable then he was aware of but euen against your owne Doctors and Cardinals must you arme your selues in this point who complaine there is nothing decreed in counsels but what the Italian Nation liketh of as Ludouicus Cardinall of Arle complained at the Councell of Basil and Claudius Espencaeus a Doctor of your owne in Paris witnesseth for Trent Haec est illa Helena qua tridenti nuper obtinuit c. speaking of the Italian Nation Now if any of these pointes faile you which me thinkes be verie tickle then is not the voice of your Church euermore the inflexible truth of Christ and direction of his spirit which you presume to be the first ground of Christian Religion that doth stay the minds of the faithfull from doubt and wauering in all the rest THE THIRD MOTIVE THe infinite waies of errours draw themselues in their originall into two heads opinion and affection which as two cankers breed the one in the vnderstanding the other in the will for our iudgement is easiest deceiued by those things we esteeme truest and our inclination by what we loue best There is nothing of more manifest presumption then the truth of the Scriptures nor fuller of desire then securitie of happinesse therefore these two being left vnlimited the one of Canonitall exposition the other with necessitie of meanes are a direct method of indirect consequence Such is the practise of the later religion they teach that nothing is to be credited but what is warranted in holy bookes and giue not infallible rules of interpretation but such as at last must be ouerruled by priuat opinion for conference of places propriety of phrase acceptations of wordes can make no other conclusion then euery ones conceit will aforde So that of an infallible proposition and arbitrary assumption must needes insue a dangerous conclusion though not euer in the matter which is concluded yet alwaies in the manner of concluding ANSVVERE TO let slip your philosophicall introduction sparing in this short discourse to catch at by matters you haue pitched your motiue vpon the two maine partes of a christian soule The vnderstanding of diuine truth and the desire of true happines assuming to your selues and denying wholly to vs both sound iudgment for the triall of the one and necessarie meanes for the enioying of the other Our iudgment is impeached for resting it selfe wholly vpon the written word being depriued also of the infallible interpretation of the same For the first point we doe indeede maintaine the written word as the most perfect worke of God to
which that ancient writer so approued by you doth auere Solus sufficit ad omnia satis superque all reformations of the Church whatsoeuer haue been since or hereafter shalbe must come vnder the name of meere restitutions without addition not instituting any new doctrine but restoring the ancient not creating a new Church as you fondly imagine but reducing the old vnto the primitiue Therefore in this kind there is no need of miracles or prodigious signes seeing our reformers bring no new reuelations of their owne but only make appeales to the iudgement of the primitiue Church desire credit of others no further then they giue euidence of argument drawne from such grounds as be receiued of all hands Then seeing their proceedings be ordinarie what extraordinarie wonders are to be expected Neither was it their desire motion in this reformatiō that the present visible Church should fly the world and leaue her kingdome royaltie but onely this y t it should be purged because reason telleth vs experience hath proued it that the visible Church is not al spirit but some flesh though she be informed by the holy Ghost in her holy and generall assemblies yet she consisteth likewise of earthly fraile sinful men therfore she must of necessity gather some dust in time grow corrupt if she do not clense refine her selfe Wherupon motion was made to the commanders of the Church for the reformation of certaine abuses which being crept in had gotten a head and were growne to that pitch that they became burdensome to the consciences of religious men This complaint being not harkened vnto they perswaded themselues that the backwardnes of their brethren could not be to them a sufficient excuse not to reforme themselues For this cause they protested a separation from their fellowship and communion in those points vntill such time as it should please God to moue their minds so to refine themselues from those corruptions as there might insue conformitie a thing wished and praied for with sighes not to be expressed So that the strength of this your Motiue which makes Martin Luther his fellowes seeme so odious vnto you is resolued into these two questions First whether in his time there were abuses in the Church that required a reformation Secondly reformation being denied vnhoped for whether they were abuses of that nature degree as did bind the conscience of true catholikes not to cōmunicate with others in them Which two points if they be true they cleer our reformers frō all slander suspitiō either of heresy or schisme vntil you haue proued them false this the like generall motiues to this purpose be mere shadows without substance of no value or force at all THE SIXTH MOTIVE AS the cause is the paterne of the effects vpon which ground Saint Paul from the vnitie of Gods Church buildeth the vnitie of faith so may we go backwards from the defference of effects to denie the affinitie of the cause and from the impossibilitie of vnion in faith take away the possibilitie of dependance vpon God Such is the religion of the protestants which hath no certaine principle of vnitie and therefore lacketh the cognisance whereby true religion is knowne For where there is not an infallible authoritie which doth iudge and decide controuersies by remouing all actions of doubt and reply and vnto which absolute obedience is tied there must needs be varietie of iudgements and opinions which cannot be tied in one knot For all vnitie in particulars proceedeth from the vnitie of some cause wherein all agree But there is no such infallible authoritie the iudge of controuersies besides the voice of the Church which the protestants either put altogether to silence or else obey so farre as they please For the scriptures whom they haue erected to be iudges as rebels that put downe all iudges and pretend to be ruled onely by the law cannot alone supply this place to take away all occasionof controuersies And if there were no other argument their owne irreconcilable quarrels in so manifold differences among themselues might suffice to stop their mouthes herein For as diuers parcels of silke of deeper or lighter ground dipped by the Dyar in the same liquour drink in a seuerall tincture of colour according to their former varietie so they that diue in the letter of the holy scripture according as their iudgements are before stained with preiudice of one or other opinion come forth againe not in vnity of minds but in the same differences as they went in more or lesse Or as in the miracle of tongues giuen to the Apostles when many auditors of diuers languages came to heare them although the same men could speake no more but one idiome at once yet the seuerall auditours comprehended them as if they had spoken in the proprietie of their speech so when many of diuers languages in religion come to heare some one of the Apostles speaking in the scripture although the author vse onely the voice of the truth yet euery sundrie faction doth conceiue him as speaking in the seuerall confusion of their opinions Neither can they comfort themselues with any hope to see these diuerse opinions wound vp in one confession For as the vnitie in conclusion in logick cannot be without the vnitie of the medium so they cannot meete in that middle way which should bring them into peace able cōposition vnlesse they returne to the Church For all grant there is no way to accomplish it without a councell but who shall call it when there is none whom they all obey How many factions shall assemble out of what sect shall the president be chosen what number of suffrages shall there be on euery side what rule shall bee allowed for the interpretation of the scriptures And if all this were by a dreame imagined yet the authoritie of the Canons and conclusions shall not be so authenticall but that any priuate head may refuse it if in his owne singularity he thinke it disagreeing from the scripture so desperate is the possibilitie of vnion among them that hope which imagineth impossible things cannot possibly imagine it ANSVVERE AS euery defect and imperfection tendeth vnto dissolution so the good estate of euery bodie aswell politicke and mistical as natural doth consist in the vnity of the whole harmonie of the parts amongst themselues Therfore seeing the band of vnitie knitting many members into one whole maketh an entire body that societie is of all others conceiued to be most absolute which hath attained to the greatest perfection of vnitie Which kind of reason moued the Philosopher to giue the preeminence to a Monarchy before other simple formes So the Apostle in the place whence you take your rise from the vnitie of Gods Church doth build the vnity of faith as also the vnity of spirit in the bond of peace vrging a preseruation and increase of the same as a thing most perfecting the
whole body This is a marke Saint Paul willeth vs to aime at and indeuour to attain the perfection of it But you as if your Church had alreadie attained it and were perfect in this vnitie of faith haue fansied to your selfe such an vniformitie in religion and such an infallible meanes to enioy the same as doth expell all differences in iudgements and opinions remoue all occasions of doubt and reply and vnto which perfect obedience is tied By this cognisance haue you discerned and noted the onely true catholike Church and thereby cut of al protestants from that body So did Tully describe an oratour who neuer yet was knowen either at Rome or Athens so did Plato imagine a commonwelth collected of the select perfections of all societies and so hath your chymicall phansie conceited a Church in her state here militant which by triall will proue a meere Eutopia not to be found vpon the earth For you might easily conceiue euen in reason that albeit vnitie be essentiall to a bodie and consequently the vnitie of faith to the Church of Christ yet as there be many degrees of perfections in the church so be there likewise of vnitie in faith Concerning the very bodie of religion and more materiall pointes of faith there is in our Church an vniforme accord and agreement though in other branches some differences as amongst your selues how manie iarres betwixt Aquin and Scotus and y e rest of that scoole scarce three of thē saying one thing How many errours cōdemned in your Cardinal Caietan by Melchior Canus and Bellarmin The Iacobins and the Cordelians could neuer agree about the Virgin Mary her conception In a word it cannot bee denyed but so many orders of fryers almost so many sectes in opinions and deadly quarrels euen at this day Wherefore before this your peremptorie conclusion of deposing Churches it had bin a point verie requisite first to haue defined what degree of vnitie were necessarie and what kinde of differences brings the Church of Christ to vtter dissolution so that it remaine noe longer to bee a Church But you taking a course most easie to deceiue your selfe and others discourse aloofe in generalities and take the perfection of vnitie at the highest pitch to make a more glorious shewe So then the weight of this your argument resteth it selfe vpon these two poyntes First that the prouidence of God hath prouided for his Church militant a perpetuall and infallible meanes of vnitie in faith and such a vnity as takes away varietie of iudgments and opinions remoues all occasions of doubt and reply and vnto which absolute obedience is tyed Secondly that this meanes is to be found in the Church of Rome and not els where Let vs briefly examine the first ground which if it proue sandie the whole frame of this your building falles by it owne weight Saint Paul his argument in the fourth to the Ephesians from whence you haue raised this whole discourse in your owne sence makes directly against you For as from vnitie of Gods Church hee buildeth the vnitie of faith so doth he likewise the vnitie of spirit in the bond of peace Then if from the defect of vnitie in faith you will goe backward to deny the Church you must deny it likewise by vertue of the same text vpon any quarrels or contentions ciuill or eccleasticall which doe impeach the vnitie of loue in the bond of peace But I wot you will be better aduised and graunt there may be a visible Church though the vnitie of peace be not in perfectiō And may there not be one also amongst vs in some differences of iudgments yea much more since varietie of opinions rise commonly from ignorance and weaknes of iudgment whereas those other quarrelles proceed rather from malice and enuie and therefore are lesse veniall and more likely to take away the possibilitie of dependance vpon God Let vs then leaue to straine at gnattes and ingenuously acknowledge thus much at the first that all differences doe not take away the nature of the true Church Next that all vnitie doth not proue a Church For there may be aswellconspiracie in errour as vnitie in faith Yea the kingdome of Sathan is at vnitie with it selfe Or els saith our Sauiour it could not possibly endure If this policie be the strength of his kingdome no meruaile if the same be found amongst his instruments as the prophet Nahum speakes of the enimies of Gods people the Assyrians comparing them to a firre bush or heape of thornes twined or folden one within another Your next shift will be that differences of iudgments among catholikes before definitiue sentence giuen bee neither damnable nor concerne matters of faith but after the Church hath giuē her voice vnto which perfect obedience is tyed then such a truth so determined is presently to be imbraced without reply or further enquirie Which conceite seemes to make voide the ende of that diuine dispensation by which you affirme some sediitons and factions to spring in the kingdome of God Which in his wisedome be not onely permitted but disposed and ordered to the exercise and more full triall of the faithfull To which purpose wee are often vrged in the text to search the scriptures trie the spirits proue all things but here is a shorter cut for a catholike Onely these two poynts First in any doubtfull question vndetermined either let him suspend his iudgment or if he lift to take a side it is not daungerous vntill the Church haue defined and then secondly after definitiue sentence let him imbrace it as a matter of faith without further examination Me thinkes this triall is too too easie that a catholike should put himselfe into such complete armour as y e Apostle biddeth as to haue his loines girt with veritie his feete shod with the preparation of the Gospell to take vnto him the shield of faith the sword of the spirit to make such search and examination for the truth of God and when it comes to the point so he keepe himselfe within compasse of the visible Church which is verie spacious he may safely fight on which side he list without daunger and when sentence is past yeelde consent with securitie Which position I must needes confesse hath the aduantage of mans nature farre aboue the other For that which we desire and wish for we are easily induced to beleeue wherefore euery man naturally affecting to enioy securitie with all facilitie and ease that may bee doth willingly perswade himselfe of this and the like plausible conceites euen by the sway of his owne inclination Which thing makes it no whit lesse suspected of errour but rather much more because euery naturall motion and desire arising out of the inferior part of the soule must by the kingdome of Christ be either quite subdued and rooted out or at the least so crossed and qualified as it seldome remaines the same So then to draw this whole poynt to a
principally we appeale to scripture as to the certaine rule and ground of all the rest yet for the true sense and interpretation of scripture we confirme our selues by the consent of the learned in the Church by the analogie of faith and common grounds of beliefe deliuered by the Church and collected by the ancient fathers out of the most plaine vndoubted scriptures by the generall consent of antiquitie by prouinciall and generall counsels which at this day we wish and heartily pray might be called without partialitie but our complaint is the same with Saint Basil and Gregorie Nazianzene in their time that a generall counsell cannot be called with indifferencie in the throng of so many quarrels especially since the head of the strongest faction must needs be possessed with a preiudice in his owne cause These meanes of finding and maintaining the truth of God though taken seuerally they may seeme the weaker yet all or most of them ioyned together are sufficient to rest the consciences of true Catholikes To the perfection where of we labour to attaine forgetting that which is behind and endeuouring to that which is before THE SEVENTH MOTIVE THe diuine prouidence which as a center indifferently extendeth it selfe to the vniuersalitie of things hath allowed euerie creature common strength to preserue his being such is in liuelesse bodies their place or motion or qualities in vegetable their instinct of distinguishing their proper aliment in beastes the iudgement of sense and priuiledge of nature and in man an apprehension censure and proiect from the intelligence of sensible occurrents both in naturall and ciuill bodies The same wisedome and bountie which hath been so enlarged to his seruants cannot be straightned to his children and therefore it is aboue all doubt that he hath set some plaine and certaine direction in his Church both of discerning of heresies when they arise and of auoiding the infection of them neither hath the holy Ghost failed herein for because all the dangers of the Church were chiefly to come from heretikes hee hath drawne in the scripture as in a table the picture of heretikes their apparrell fashion speech and cariage whereby they might be noted vpon the first apparance But among all other Items none is oftener giuen for a marke to discerne them then their difference of doctrine from the former tradition and custome There shall be false teachers which shall bring in heresies 2. Peter 2. 1. If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine Iohn 2. 10. And the contradiction of Corah 1. Tim. 8. If any man teach other wise then that which you haue heard from the beginning Let it abide in you fight for the faith once deliuered keepe the traditions you are taught And if any man would fashion in his wishes a plaine and sensible rule whereby the thickest conceits that are not able to goe betweene truth and errour in the loosest controuersies might determine any question there cannot bee a better fancied then this difference of teaching and innouation of doctrine which he that vnderstandeth not the sense may perceiue by the words the soundes and contradiction of former opinion as men that are skilfull in musicall proportions and being acquainted through vse of song can easily iudge if any chaunge be made therein By this were all heresies apprehended at the first and also arraigned So that Stephanus Bishop of Rome ouerthrew the decree of the councell of Carthage for rebaptising wherein Saint Cyprian was president with his owne rule Ecclesia Dei non habet talem consuetudinem So Luther and Zwinglius and the rest of that crewe were at the first appearing branded by this note for heretikes ANSVVERE THis is the same fallacie with the former applyed another way for as in the last motiue you haue assured the Church of an infallible meanes to define all truth so in this you secure her members likewise of a power with facilitie to discerne heretikes by argument drawen from the generall prouidence of God extending it selfe to all creatures but most of all to his children In which ground there is some truth but entwined with some errours For as in other creatures the diuine prouidence is verie bountifull for the preseruation of their seuerall beings against iniurie and daungers yet for all the power of nature in senceles things or the iudgment of sense in the vnreasonable or the benefit of reason in men they be notwithstanding oftentimes subiect aswell to the pray and violence as to the crafte and deceit of others so is it in the professours of christian faith vnto whom God hath reuealed a meanes to preserue their spirituall being in this state militant more certaine and far more sufficient for them then he hath giuen to any other yet not with such ease facilitie to be enioyed as in this motiue you indeuour to perswade For albeit the Scripture hath not been wanting in describing heretikes so plainly as by way of prophecie could possibly be expressed yet are they not thereby presently knowne vpon the first appearance nor can the thickest conceites so easily iudge of them If you take your markes as you say from their apparell fashion or outward carriage then a sheeps skin drawen ouer a woolfe will easily deceaue you their outward apparance will in euery respect seeme holy and innocent as the sheepe of Christ. Therefore is there neede of a serpents wisedome to discerne them and not that onely but also of diligence and watchfulnesse to espie them For as they come in sheeps skins so come they priuily as Saint Peter noteth in the place by you first mencioned There shalbe false teachers who priuilie shall bring in damnable heresies Which word though it carie the emphasis of the sentence yet is it by you wisely omitted happily because you thought it a note of an heretike not so well beseeming Martin Luther who came not so priuily I wis but open inough and in his owne liknes contrarie to the common fashion of heretikes who first put on a sheepes skin and then creepe into the flock the easier to deceiue Wherefore when that prophecie is fufilled which you haue so fitted vnto these times concerning the doctrine of many false Christs where the bodie is thither will the Eagles resort not owles or bussards but such as haue a quicke eye of faith to discerne the Lord and the swift wing of deuotiō to fly vnto him Nay y e delusions of heresies shal thē grow so strong as nothing shall be able to withstand them but only the eternall election of God For if it were possible the verie elect should be deceiued A small number God knowes in compare of that glorious multitude you so boast of in your fifth motiue yet it seemes these fewe must stand when many great troupes are caried with the doctrine of false Christs Ecce hic ecce illic But these difficulties seeme nothing vnto you who can imagine a direction so plaine against