to heresy And truly euen as the beginning and course of Luthers doctrine hath thouroughely resembled the maner of olde heretikes so his ende was not much vnlike to witt a soden and vnprouided death For being mery and makinge greate feste ouer night he was fouÌ„de dead in the morning Such soden deathe was neuer reade off any Apostle or Euangelist of Christ. But of diuers heretikes especially of Arrius thoughe as by that the Arrians were nothing moued so the Lutherans of this make smal accompte And this much of Luther the father protestant of oure time as touching the pointes of his doctrine where you see bothe what a godly ground he layde and howe in the course and issue there of he hathe showed him selfe to be but a scholer of olde heretikes as he hathe ben the Master of many newe For this man worse then any gutter or sinke whiche receaueth onely the filthe that is brought vnto it bredeth none not onely toke olde heresies of other but added also thereuÌ„to some of his owne breding of his owne filthy brayne as foule fonde doctrine as any foolish heretike before him And of these his proper inuentioÌ„s one of the maddest is that he teacheth the bread remaining bread to be the very naturall body of Christ in the Sacrament Which hathe semed such a fonde doctrine eueÌ„ to the ghospellers theÌ„ selues his scholers and brethern that the farre greater part off them hath in consideration of this point chefely not doubted to condemne him for an archeheretike â–ª as you may see by the wordes of the brethern of Zurich in the thirde parte of this booke And by reason of this absurde doctrine not onely at the first Zuinglius Oecolampadius and Caluin drewe with them diuers countres from the vnite of Luthers ghospell but also the Lutherans them selues hauing many yeares serued the idoll Luther daily faile and shrinke from him cleauing to the cursed Sacramentaries proceding allwaies in mischef and encreasing with time their heresies and abominations About this time two yeare Brema a greate cyte of Saxony and one of the firste that had receaued the light of Luthers ghospel hauing coÌ„tinued in the foresayde doctrine of Luther aboute fourty yeares as zelous and vpright Lutherans now after greate strife and contention amonge them selues hath openly condemned the same and are become Caluinistes Likewise in Augspurg where the famous CoÌ„fession of the Lutherans was made â—â—fred to the Emperour and confirmed by all the Nobilite of the protestants yet nowe there are mo Caluinistes then Lutherans mo that disproue that CoÌ„fessioÌ„ and doctrine of Luther theÌ„ that approue it How other couÌ„tres also haue flitted froÌ„ Luther hauing many yeares serued hiÌ„ you haue in the thirde part of this booke declared Our countre also being at the firste chaunge all Lutheran is nowe become for the moste parte Caluiniste and Lasconicall as not onely oure doings at home declare but other countres abrode haue noted of vs. Peter Martyr at his first coming to Oxforde was a right LutheraÌ„ in the matter of the Sacrament as he declared him selfe not onely in priuat communication but also in his open lessons where inueighing at a time against the argumeÌ„t of the SacrameÌ„taries Christ is in heauen ergo he is not here in the Sacrament he cried oute Profecto est nodus Diaboli that is Sothely this is a shifte of the deuil him selfe He was wonte also at his first coming to Oxford to complaine Anglos nimiuÌ„ vergere ad Zuinglianismum that we english men enclined to much to the Zwinglians Afterward as al the worlde knoweth he condemned Luther and became him self a ZuingliaÌ„ For he had lerned an other lesson in the Courte Philip Melanchthon him selfe the very darling of Luther and father of the Confessionistes in his later daies became a very Sacramentary as his familiar letters to the Counte Palatin of Rhene printed at Heidelberg in the yeare 1560. hathe declared to al the worlde Thus the proper heresy of Martin Luther that he him self by the spirit of the newe ghospel had inuented in the despite of the Pope for so he protesteth him selfe in a letter of his to the brethern of Strasburg was at the first much misliked and is nowe allmost euerywhere vtterly abhorred Ioachimus VVestphalus the onely staye and piller of this Lutheran doctrine coÌ„plaineth him selfe hereof For thus he writeth No false doctrine is so farre spredde none with so much labour and hypocrisy defended non hath more beguiled the worlde then this false doctrine of the blessed Sacrament â–ª meaning the heresy of the Sacramentaries And Nicolaus Amsdorfsius an other zelous Lutheran writeth thus The Anabaptistes and the SacrameÌ„taries do blinde and deceaue Germany with their pretended holines euen as the monkes before blinded the whole worlde And this verely hathe happened on Luther and his felowes not without the iuste iudgemeÌ„t of God For whereas vpon dispiteous malice he laboured by his new doctrines to ouerthrow the church of Rome where it hath pleased our Sauiour to place his vicar here on earthe as in diuers of his writings it appeareth he hath wrought his oune destruction and shame for though in very dede through the pernicious persuasions of that wedded frere certain places and corners of Christendome haue swarned froÌ„ the Catholike church and authorite of that Apostolike see in these northe partes of the worlde yet it hathe thousands folde more ben enlarged in the west partes and the newe landes founde oute by Spanyardes and Portugalles in these late yeares as the letters off the Iesuites directed from those countres in to these partes do euidently and miraculousely declare And truly eueÌ„ so befel it at what time Grece and the easte churche departing from the head and vnite of Christes church gaue them selues to sundry schismes and heresies For then sprange vp the faithe in Germany Pole Dennemarke Swethen Norwaie and other northe Countres For thus from the east to the northe and from the northe to the west of the faithe of Christe passeth donec as Christe saithe impleantur tempora gentium Vntell the times of the gentils be acomplished Oure Lorde graunte that it passe not from vs by heresy and schisme as it passed from the grekes and from Afrike the southe parte of the worlde For bothe these people through schismes especially of the Arrians and their ofspringe lost the faith of Christe as the histories declare vnto vs. But to returne to our matter the church of Rome the see Apostolike that Luther laboured by heresy to ouerthrowe standeth yet in his full force and interest notwithstanding the miserable losse of a numbre in our countre and otherwhere Truly Luther him selfe cometh very short of the counte he made being reiected nowe allmoste euery where The Catholike also may lerne to auoide and shunne hereby all maner of protestants what so euer name or secte they be of proceding all of this heade beinge all the corrupted issue of
alone And therefore all charite agrement and vnite is broken amonge them And no maruail For God is the authour off peace as the Apostle say the and the deuill of dissension The Turke hath possessed Hungary onely by dissension of religion For as soone as these LutheraÌ„ preachers had spread abrode their cursed heresies and stirred vp thereby among the estats of the Empire much variaunce hatred and malice neighbours began so to mistruste one an other that all honesty fidelite and freÌ„dly feloweship vtterly decaied Whereby euery man sowghte after his owne profit nothinge regarding the common welthe and good estate of the Empire In the meane season they that bordered on the Turkes were destituted of all comforte and succour of vs. Yea and the enemies of the Empire hath diuers times had of the Empire it selfe succour and ayde Beside that we haue many waies hindred and kept backe our owne countremen and Princes whiche bothe ought and desired gladly to withstande the enemies of our countre getting and winning grounde daily vppoÌ„ vs. And to make shorte herein it is muche to be feared that we Germans haue ministred sufficient occasion to the accomplishement of that olde prophecie which Lactantius mencioneth and diuers other writers That the Northe shall rule ouer the Southe and the Easte ouer the Weste And so Magog from the Easte and Gog from the Northe shal come and destroie the Romain Empire whiche yet thoughe weake and al most spent haÌ„geth by a weake threde in the haÌ„de of vs GermaÌ„s We haue the examples of two greate nations whiche geue vs good occasion to feare the fall of the Empire in Germany â–ª to witte of the Grekes and off the Liflandmen For what other thinge did Grece in times paste then that we do presently in Germany The Grekes resisted the bishop of Rome would not acknowledg the sea of S. Peter to be head of the churche They made them selues at home bishops and prelats against all canons and rules of the churche whom they made al of equal and of like authorite And what I praie you folowed of the gouuernemeÌ„t of this headles church First in the clergy spronge vpp many heresies and schismes Then the Emperour of Constantinople and other princes of Grece fell at warre together and vtter deffiaunce one withe an other Thirdly euery bishop and Minister being of like authorite hauing no head or chief bishop whom they might folowe and obey as their spirituall Magistrat euery man expounded Scripture as it pleased him brief newe sectes and schismes were so plenty in all Grece that by reason of partes taking in religion the Emperour rose against the other Princes and they against him spoiling wasting ransacking one an other countre against countre Prince against Prince vntell all came to nought For the Venetians in this confusioÌ„ and dissensioÌ„ gotte from the Grekes Peloponnesus Epirus Corâ—yra and other countres The Hungariens wonne in to their handes Croatia Dalmatia and other prouinces Vntell at the length the Turke entring in to Grece vnder pretence of reconciling the Princes and the Emperour slewe murdred and extinguished miserably all the remnant of the grekes bothe Spirituall and temporall the Emperour and all other princes and Rulers ouerthrewe and toke in to his owne haÌ„des the whole Empire of grece spoiled also the Hungarians and the Venetians of that whiche they had gotte and so at the laste vtterly abolished and destroied all the Sectes and heresies making his slaues all the remnaunt of the catholike ChristiaÌ„s as they remaine yet to this daie presently Nowe the state of Germany to be as Grece was before the cominge of the Turke euery man seeth And that we may feare the like ende as the grekes had the like inuasion of the Turke or Moscouite or some other tiran I leaue it to euery wise man to be waighed and considered An other example of the calamite hanging ouer our heades whiche nowe we see in Liflande maketh me remember the miserable destruction of the cite of Ierusalem and the Iewes For what is more like then the ouerthrowe of these two people the Iewes and the Liflandmen There were among the Iewes thre sectes repugnant to the right doctrine of Moyses and the Prophets As the Pharises the Saduces and the Esseni The ground of the Pharises doctrine as Iosephus writeth was this That men did all thinges by forced necessite from God not by liberte of fre will And this is the very grounde of the zelous Lutherans doctrine as Illyricus witnesseth The Sadduces affirmed as the ghospell witnesseth that there should be no resurrection of the dead And althoughe the Suinglians professe not openly this doctrine of the Sadduces yet it foloweth necessarely of their doctrine that our bodies shall not arise if as they saie we receaue not the true body of Christe really present in the Blessed Sacrament For this most holy Sacrament through the naturall and corporall coniunction of Christ his body with our bodies is a most assured warrant of our resurrection as Cyrillus and other doctours of the churche do teache The thirde secte of the Iewes the Esseni accorde maruailousely with our Anabaptistes as in the place of Iosephus aboue noted it maie appeare These thre factions and sectes of the Iewes at what time Vespasian beseaged Hierusalem caused the horrible dissension and strife whiche was then within the cyte amonge the Iewes them selues For notwithstanding the straite beseaging of the Romans and the greate daunger they stode in yet diuiding them selues in to thre partes some folowed Zelotas some Simon Gerasenus and some other Iohannes Giscalenus the Masters and ringleaders of these sectes Yea they destroied and mangled one an other in the cyte no lesse then Vespasian did abrode Nowe let vs conferre the state of Liflande with this I doubte not but we shall finde them like in euery point The Moscouite hath thre greate armies and well appointed in Liflande laieth sore seage to the Archebishop of Runebourg and hath all readie gotte his cheafest forts in to his haÌ„de Riga and Reualia And what doth the worshipful Order in this perturbatioÌ„ and tumulte what helpeth the Priour and Master of the Order What sucker bringe the foren protectours of the countre Let me nowe with good leaue speake that all the worlde seeth and crieth out at It fareth amoÌ„ge them nowe euen as it did in Hierusalem amonge the sectes of Ze lotas Simon and Iohn For amonge them some are Lutherans some Zwinglians and some Anabaptistes â–ª and while euery secte vnder pretence of his ghospell hopeth to gett some parte of the countre from the Moscouite to him selfe the Moscouite marcheth on winneth grounde daily as Vespasian did in Palestine and the Turkes in grece and this he dothe vnder a plausible pretence of recoÌ„ciling the dissensions and extinguishing the sectes in Liflande and of restoring the countre in to that mightie princes handes It is muche to be feared
owne Liege and Souuerain Therefore it should at that time diligently ben prouided that men folowed not this seditious and false high waie of Luther which no subiect can treade without his princes leaue Especially perceauing that this highe waie of Luther hath euer an vnhappy and miserable ende repugning manifestly to the worde of God all writen lawe and Luthers owne doctrine Demosthenes the lerned and eloquent oratour saith wise men deliberat before the facte and fooles after the facte For as Liuy writeth the euent teacheth fooles And we Germans vse to saie the Italian taketh aduise before he begin the french man when he is a doing and the German when he hath done Which although it hath hindered much our countre in diuers affaires yet this is in vs no voluntary negligence but a naturall infirmite For Hesiodus the poet noteth thre sorts of men to be on the earthe saieng VVho knoweth all him selfe is the best man aliue He is the nexte that counsell can vse But he is the worste that woteth not to thriue And yet of an other doth counsell refuse Seing then we Germans are not so quicke of iudgement which peraduenture procedeth of our colde countre as the Italian is to foresee what is to be done yet we maye nowe by this lamentable calamite that we see hath befallen vs and the present greate waste of our deare countre lerne and remembre howe within this fourty yeares it flourished and prospered in al respects before this German prophet and fifte euangelist Luther ranne out of his cloister And although our dutie had ben at that time to haue remembred that saieng of our Lorde Beware of false prophets and the wordes of S. Ihon. Trie the spirits whether they be of God and so to deliberat before the facte yet seing we haue forslowen that let vs at the leste after the smarte be wise and haue recourse nowe at laste to that cōmaundement of almighty God where he commaundeth the simple people to warde them selues from false prophets and teachers For this question being in holy writ propounded Howe shall I vnderstande the worde that oure Lorde hathe spoken God awnswereth and saithe This token I will geue the to vnderstāde it That which the prophet hath foresaied in the name of the Lorde and cometh not to passe that worde the Lorde spake not but the prophet of his owne vaine fantasie forged it If we drawe the line of Luthers prophecye to this rule we shall euidently see that he is not onely a false prophet but also as his greate grande father Satan is a cruell murderer Is it not a greate pride and rashe arrogancy of Luther to prophecye and write that the god of the Catholikes whō he calleth papistes wil not heare their praiers for the deliuraūce of the Duke by what reuelation had he this Againe that no man liuing shoud be able or so bolde as to restore him in to liberte Againe that those his princes the Duke of Saxony and the Lantgraue should not be bound with those fetters which the coyne brought from base Germany pretended Farder that the warre thē ensuing should haue a prosperous successe Laste of all that S. Brigids prophecy was false and his true saieng that the See of Rome and estat of the Pope should then vtterly perish and neuer rise vp againe All these thinges did Luther prophecye in the booke aboue mencioned And did the euent proue all this Not one iote But in euery point it hathe proued cleane contrary Then this worde of Luther was not the worde off the Lorde as Moyses teacheth but it was the worde of the deuill in the person of Luther Againe that Luther hath ben a very murderer of men and a stronge thefe in Gods churche it is euident hereby that his doctrine and vaine prophecyes setting together the princes by the eares hath ben the onely cause of all seditions warre and bloudshed that within this fourty yeares haue happened in Germany The first booke that Luther made to spoyle and ransacke the churche was his booke De Captiuitate Babylonica Christiana libertate In the whiche booke he so debaseth reuileth and bringeth in contempt not onely the awncient true and Catholike religion of Christ his churche but also the lawes bothe Canon and Ciuill that it maye seme he lacked but a head and capitaine to make a perfit sedition But whereas at that time there was yet amonge men more feare of God and reuerence to their magistrats thē that they would be moued with Luthers light talke fewe were founde to helpe blowe the fire which he had kindled vntell at the length Luther him selfe moued peraduenture more hotely with the sprit ronge the alarum him selfe in the yeare 1523. setting forthe a booke entituled De saeculari potestate in a parte whereoff he writeth these wordes These are our Christen princes which defende the faith and deuoure the Turke In dede worthy men and such as you maie truste that by their greate wisedome they are likely to do some what as to breake their owne neckes first and then leade whole countres and peoples to breake necke after These blinde princes I would well aduise to be ware onely of one small sentence of the 166. psalme whiche is this He pooreth oute contempt vppon Princes I swere vnto you by God that if through your negligence this poore sentence ones take holde on you you are vndone were you as mighty and of as greate power as the Turke himselfe Nether will your storming any thinge profit you The matter is nowe all ready well begonne For fewe princes are nowe that are not counted for villaines and fooles and that bicause they showe themselues for such and the people beginneth nowe to wexe wise and the plage of princes which god calleth contēpt encreaseth daily in the peoples hartes and I feare me it will not be staied onles princes behaue themselues as it becometh them and begin againe to rule more modestly For men ne will ne can lenger abyde your tiranny O wellbeloued Princes and Lordes Therefore prouide for yourselues God wil not suffre this your tiranny any more the worlde is not no we as it was in times paste when you were wonte to hunte and chase men like bestes awaie therefore with your pride power and haugtynes and labour to do that is right and good suffer the worde of God to haue his course which yet it must haue and shall haue and you shall not be able to let it If we teach heresie let it be confuted by the worde of God If you will trie the matter with the sworde take hede leste some man cōmaunde you to put vp your sworde not in Gods name But you wil saie peraduenture If amonge the Christians there ought to be no secular sworde nor Ciuill gouuernement howe then shall men be kepte in order howe shall they be gouuerned For amonge Christen mē must be magistrats and officers
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
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