for their defence also as appeareth playnly by their bookes but I enterlaced this withall that if our writers had vsed scriptures onely they had followed herein the example of Iesu Christ and his Apostles What sayth our graue father to this Forsoth he Preacheth much of the Diuine power of Christ our Sauiour how that he was the mynde and wisedome of the father and the accomplisher of the Law and did make new ordinaunces of our Religion which were not expressed in the whole course of the old Law First of all this vnweldie old man perceiueth not how hee hath ouerthrowen him selfe in his owne turne for if Christ be the mynde and wisedome of the father as he hath most truely sayd hereupon consequently followeth that all the particular testimonies of Christ are speciall Oracles of the truth and that all his particular sayinges ought to be engrauen in our harts as heauenly Oracles This did our heauenly Father pronounce vnto Moyses and Moyses declared the same vnto the people in these wordes The Lorde thy God will rayse vp a Prophet lyke vnto me from among you ouer thy brethren him shall ye barken vnto Wherfore if we must harken vnto Christ as vnto Moyses then are we bounde as necessarely to his preceptes as to the ordinaunces of Moyses Behold the same more playnly yet in the Gospell Iesus beyng baptised came forth of the water and behold the heauens were opened and he saw the spirite of God descendyng as a Doue and standyng ouer him and loe there came a voyce from heauen This is my welbeloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Therfore sith the authoritie of Iesu Christ is sealed vnto vs by the mouth of almighty God what greater Maiestie of Scriptures may be pronoūced in the Scriptures taught or imagined more excellent then this doctrine Iames doth recorde That our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ is the onely Lawmaker which can saue and destroy Wherfore in his onely right and interest he did partly establishe new lawes partly amend the old partly expoūde the obscure partly restore them that were worne out of mynde and partly abolishe them that were receaued But what maketh this to your purpose when our Lord Iesus doth vse Scriptures doth he alledge any other then the sacred testimonies of the old Testament it could not otherwise bee say you doth he vouche any other interpreters then the holy Ghost sent downe from heauen he neéded not say you For he whom God hath sent speaketh the wordes of God for God doth not geue him the Spirite by measure The Father loueth the Sonne and hath yelded all thynges vnto his hand This is a true saying of Iohn concernyng Christ which beyng so in deéde that must bee also true whiche I enterlaced That Iesus Christ beyng contented with the testimonie of the holy Scriptures alleadged none other interpretour besides him selfe This is also vndoubted true at the last That you are a very vnskilfull and blockishe Deuine whiche professing the knowledge of God do wauder so erroniously in the nature and power of God If I should sift out the examples particularly that you haue taked together for this purpose I should finde them altogether voyde of all maner probabilitie stuffed full with grosse errours Two onely will I shake out amongest all the rest which shall condemne you of your disguised maskyng You deny that this sentence can be founde in the Law in the Prophets or in the Psalmes that the way is narrow that leadeth to saluatiō or that we must turne the left checke to him that hath striken on the right If you exact wordes you play by that Sophister If you require substaūce or sentence I do affirme it to be found euery where both in the Law in the Prophetes and in the Psalmes The old law hath an expresse commaundement That we shall not bow to the right hand nor the left hand nor adde to the Law nor diminishe there from Is it not apparaunt therfore that we are placed in straightes Truly Dauid perceaued it well who beyng a kyng and a Prophet chosen by that singular prouidence of God to gouerne the people of Israell yet doth greuously complayne that hee was partly placed in narrowe straightes partly forsaken in the darke and sometymes maketh most humble supplication to God to direct his feete in the right way but very often confesseth that the word of the Lord is a Lanterne to his feete and a light to his pathes But what neédeth a Lanterne but in combersome and narrow straightes where a man may easely goe amasked if you be ignoraunt in all those places what doe ye vnderstand that is requisite in a Deuine and Byshop or if ye know them and dissemble them what can be more wayward then you Likewise you obiect that saying of geuyng a blow on the cheékes which wordes do employ nothyng els but that we are commaūded to be patient But patience is most learnedly conteined in that first and speciall commaundement of God Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe There is no mā that will offer iniurie to him selfe in any matter wherfore he ought not to wrong his neighbour at all cā you haue any thyng more plainly spoken The vngratefull people of Israell did exclame and rage agaynst their good mild paynfull guide Moyses sometyme with secret conspiracies sometimes with open exclamations many tymes with threatnynges and very oftē with wicked cursinges What might this gentle Captaine doe in the meane space Beyng stricken yea and buffeted also vpon the cheéke doth hee not turne ouer his other cheéke What els I pray you is meant hereby that he doth often pray vnto God for such cursed caytiues his enemies when he doth so earnestly and vehemently cry out to God either to forgeue them or to blotte his name out of the booke of life if you require yet a more notable example of patience Behold our Lord Iesus Christ is prefigured vnto vs in Esay the Prophet drawen vnto death as a Lambe to be slayne who beyng rayled vpon on euery side vexed by the Iewes and buffeted with fistes on the face held his peace and as a sheepe before the Shearer neuer opened his mouth what may be thought of the whole history of Iob but a conquest of patience and in most miserable calamitie a most ioyfull Triumphe thereof And yet this veépe Deuine is so voyde of common sense that he vtterly deuyeth any sentence to be founde in the Scriptures touchyng patient sufferaunce of our enemyes wronges You say that you haue passed ouer many thyngs It had bene better for you truely that you had passed ouer all thynges then in all thynges with malice and foule speakyng so to turne the catte in the panne that your wordes can neither finde head nor foote to stand vpon can explane nothyng soundly cōclude nothyng duely proue nothyng effectually but raūge in rayling brawle with bare affirmatiues and with pratlyng past measure pester and
For you apply your senses to the vnderstādyng of Transubstātiatiō wherby you will haue Christ to be felt to be tasted to be swallowed downe into the stomacke But I accordyng to the doctrine approued vse of the true Catholicke Apostolicke Churche doe vtterly renounce senses accidētes substaunces transformatiōs do aduisedly behold and comprehend in my mynde the Sacrament the mysterie and the Spirite You cast away the yoke of Christ and embrace the licentious outrage of the Romishe Bulles I am a poore miserable exile of Christ and his afflicted seruaunt You doe choppe and chaunge the benefites of Christ with the peéuishe trinckettes of your Schoolemen I do search for the true doctrine of Christian fayth in the most approued preachyngs of Christ his Apostles Ye do snarle at my conuersation of lyfe as if it were most wicked Wherin though you doe me a great iniurie yet ye geue your selfe a deéper wounde which in so open and manifest a lye doe put all your credite in hassarde of losse For albeit I am a miserable sinner in the sight of God yet I hope I haue so led my whole lyfe through his onely great mercy that I neéde not to feare Ierome Osorius to be myne accuser I could call to witnesse for my innocencie here in Italy Germanie and England in euery of which Regiōs I haue so behaued my selfe that hauyng testimony of all good commendable personages I may easely despise your slaunderous shameles rayling Wherfore a way with this your friuolous and insolent custome of scolding once at the last for it empaireth not the estimatiō of honest persons whiche though be vnknowen vnto you yet haue commendable report els where abroad but it rather hurteth your profession diminisheth your credite and loseth your estimation You doe prayse the Sacramēt plentifully and with many good wordes beautifie the benefites therof Wherein you doe very well for what thing vnder the heauens can be founde more prayse worthy more comfortable more honorable more precious more heauenly then this sacred Supper of the Lord whiche we not onely call by the names of Synaxim Euchariste as you doe but also bread come downe frō heauen and Angels foode Neither can you deuise to speake so fully and aboundauntly in the displaying of the excellent worthynes of this most singular sacrament but I will gladly consent with you therein You say that Cyprian was accustomed to geue this heauenly foode to Martyrs and that he would lykewise remoue from this heauenly Banquet men that were notorious for any great crime We doe acknowledge this godly vsage of Cyprian and the same do I for myne owne part Imitate as much as I may and I know not whether I haue employed any so great endeuour in any one thyng so much as that the pure and naturall honour of this Sacrament might be established and the same dayly frequented in all Churches Let my bookes bee perused let enquirie bee made of my familiars and such as I haue bene conuersaunt withall let the continuall course of my maners and lyuyng bee examined and I shal be founde of all men to haue bene a most humble and dayly folower and guest of this heauenly Supper Wherfore thē do you so immorderatly exclame agaynst me That I doe mainteyne combate agaynst the ordinaunce of Christ agaynst the doctrine of Paule agaynst the excellencie of so delicate fruites agaynst the knowen experience of that wonderfull commoditie and pleasauntnesse and agaynst the vndefiled fayth of the vniuersall Church Wherfore do you adde hereunto That I haue reprochfully abused the body and bloud of Christ and outragiously peruerted the benefite of Gods mercy Why do you knitte vp your knot at the length and say That I doe sport my selfe in these mischiefes and doe infect many persons with the poyson of this pestilēt errour God cōfounde that vnshamefast and blasphemous mouth with some horrible plague most cursed Semei whose cancred toung can finde no end nor measure in rayling I haue alwayes most reuerētly esteémed of the Euchariste as of a most precious most fruitefull sacramēt of Christes death as a most assured pledge and Seale of our redemption as a most precious treasure and mysterie of our fayth and hereunto haue I bene enduced by the ordinaunce of Christ our Sauiour by the doctrine of Paule by the iudgement of aūcient Fathers and by the discipline and receaued custome of the vniuersall Catholicke and Apostolicke Church Touchyng the doctrine therof I haue oftē tymes spoken before now therfore touchyng the Custome The same is perceaued by the dayly Custome of the Disciples which after Christ was takē vp into heauē did continually perseuere together in the doctrine of the Apostles and in participation and breakyng of bread and prayers as appeareth by these wordes Vpon a day of the Sabbaoth when the Disciples came together to breake bread c. Awake Ierome Awake you do heare the holy Ghost call it Bread and bicause you should not doubt therof you heare it agayne and ägayne yea and brokē also and this much more ye finde that the Disciples of Christ continually remayned in this holy custome And yet it was not bare Bread as you do wickedly diffame my sayinges therein but it was mysticall Bread sacred Bread finally it was the participation of the body of Christ in the same maner as the body of Christ may bee deliuered in a Sacrament by fayth and Spirite Therfore for as much as our Lord Iesus hath so instituted this Sacramēt to the euerlastyng Remēbraunce of his death passiō sithence Paule doth make mention of the sayd institution after the same maner sithence the auncient Fathers haue applied their doctrine to the same sense sithēce the primitiue Apostolicke Churche hath confirmed the same with perpetuall Custome Awake Ierome at the lēgth for shame awake if you can and rid your stomacke of that dronken Schoolesurfet of Trāsubstantiation which neither Christ did ordeine nor Paul acknowledged nor the Fathers euer thought of ne yet the Apostolique Church did euer medle withall It is a new deuised mockerie foūded first by Innocētius proclaymed by Schooleianglers scattered abroad by Sathā to the rootyng out of the true remembraunce of Christ from out our soules to the vtter ouerthrow of the power of that euerlastyng sacrifice of the crosse Lastly to the erecting of a damnable Idoll in our myndes supplying the place of Christ him selfe to be worshipped of vs. For what els meaneth this your Transubstantiated bread so much adorned with all ceremony of Religion so reuerently carried abroad so superstitiously reserued and kept in boxe lastly so blasphemously holden vp to the gaze worshypped did Christ our Sauiour do or teach euer at any tyme any of all these did Paule did the first and primitiue Church did the auncient Fathers Christ gaue Bread to his disciples Paule pronoūceth it by the name of Bread once twise thrise The Apostolicke church brake Bread
but honoring the visible signes by the name and caling it his body and bloud whereby he might more liuely expresse to our sences the vertue and efficacy of his death and passion ensuing For it commeth to passe I know not how that as often as we are minded to expresse the excellency of any notable matter we doe not accustome our selues altogether to the naturall proprieties of speéches but apply sometimes vnproper and borowed speéches to make the matter seéme more Emphaticall which thing is vsually frequented not in sacred Scriptures onely but very often and much also in the continuall practizes of humaine actions ciuill societye Such as haue vsually called Money the very Synowes of warres such as haue named Scipio the sword of the Romaines he that sayd that Quintus Maximus was the shield of the Romaines It is not to be doughted but by these figuratiue speéches they did meane to expresse more then the wordes did emport The Parents of Tobias when they named their Sonne the staffe of their age did they forthwith chaunge their sonne into a staffe of wood or did they vnderstand him rather to be their comfort of their lyfe vnder the lykenes of a staffe to leane vnto Paul commaundeth vs to take the sword of the spirite which he doth call the word of God In lyke maner when Christ commaundeth vs to receaue into out mouthes that which he named to be his body why doe we not as truely and in deéde transubstantiate the sword of God into a materiall sword as the Eucharist into the naturall fleshe of Christ If we shall speake after the proper phrase of speéch it appeareth playnely that the same death of our Lord which he dyed for our sakes did purchase for our soules euerlasting sauetye fulnes of lyfe And it is not to be doughted by that the Lord himselfe at his maundy before he suffered foreseéing what was comming vpō him did long before certyfy his disciples thereof by some significant token But to thend his wordes should be more deépely engrauen into their hartes he vouchsafed to enstruct them with some similitude of sensible thinges rather then with wordes by demonstration rather then by speculation setting before their eyes not onely a denomination of bread and wine alone but also a visible example of a material eating to enstruct thereby not our mindes onely vut to endure our senses to perseueraunce much more effectually And hereof both the cause and the originall of the Sacrament begann to spring at the first Doe ye this sayth he in remembraunce of me Go to then let vs aduisedly consider what our Lord did in that Supper and what the Apostles lykewise and what we also ought to doe Christ tooke bread in his handes he brake the same bread which bread being broken he offred not to his Father but to his disciples not for a Sacrifice but for a Remembraunce not to satisfy for Sinnes which could not be accomplished without shedding of bloud but in Remembraunce onely of that bloud which was to be shedd Doe ye this sayth he in Remembraunce of me And this was the whole order of Christ his action at that Supper what did the Apostles they receaued the Sacrament of the body deliuered vnto them when they had taken it they did eate it eating it in a thankfull remembraunce of their Redeémer they gaue thankes Now if we following their example herein doe not doe the lyke accuse vs if we doe the same accordingly tell vs Diogines what is it whereat you snarle Now agayne for your partes what you Catholickes doe in corners either vouchsafe to declare your selfe Osorius or harken a litle whiles I doe expresse it First the Priest doth take the bread sett downe vpon a stony Altar taking it doth consecrate it the bread being consecrated he doth himselfe worshipp first afterwardes he lifteth it vpp aboue his head as high as he can betwixt his handes as it were betwixt two theéues to the gaze to be worshipped of others and withall offring the same bread to God the Father in steade of a Mediator maketh intercession betwixt the Sonne and the Father beseéching the Father that he would vouchsafe benignely to accept these oblations of the body and bloud of his owne sonne And this doth the Priest forsooth aswell for the quick as for the poore prisoners in Purgatory Hauyng offred the Sonne on this wise the Priest doth reteigne him thus offred vnto him selfe doth deliuer him to no body but breaketh him to him selfe into threé small peéces if I be not deceiued two partes whereof he placeth vnder his handes one ouer an other after the maner of a crosse the third he drowneth downe in the Challice O wondrous and vnspeakeable mystery of the Pope These thinges being on this wise ordered this Christemaker taking vpp at the last this hoste deuided so into threé peéces two partes he deuoureth vpp and the third he suppeth out of the Challice in such wise neuertheles as that not so much as a croome of this supper or apish Enterlude rather cann come to the peoples share who must be contented to haue their eyes only fedd as it were in playes and Enterludes whiles this whipstart alone haue played all the partes of the Pageaunt and at the last throwing out a blessing from out the bottome of this Chalice commaundeth his gazers euery one to departe whither they will For as much as those things are dayly and euery where practized by you with bigge lookes supported to the hard hedg may I be so bold to learne of you by what right by what title of antitiquitie by what grounde of Scripture or by what example at the last ye be able to defende this your deuouryng of fleshe and breadworshypp by any example of Christ or his Apostles but where did Christ euer institute in the Supper a Sacrifice of his body where did he consecrate bread into his body or where did he transforme bread into his flesh where did he lift vpp any hoste vnto his Father with outstretched armes towardes heauen to pacifie his Father or where did he make a shewe thereof to the people to be gazed vpon what did the Apostles where did they euer worshypp the bread that they did eate in the Supper or in their Communiōs where did they euer inuyte others to any Adoration of this Sacrament and not rather to the eatyng thereof onely where did they Sacrifice it for the quicke and the deadd where did they euer carry abroad the Eucharist in Procession and open assemblies or where did they reserue it for stoare where did they euer defraude the lay people of one part of the Sacrament Briefly how all the proceédinges of this your iugglyng Enterlude doth varry from the first Institution of the Apostles how it hath not any partakyng or acquaintaunce with the Communion of Christ nor any resemblaunce or affinitie with his holy Supper Let whole Christendome be Iudge
to your owne saying hath authoritie to dispence with sinnes by vertue of his Bulles not for a day a moneth or for a yeare onely but for euer euer which also keépeth the keyes of heauen at his pleasure wherewith he geueth the kyngdome of heauen vnto some persons and from others locketh it fast which is inuested in the fulnesse of all power is the vndoubted Uicare of God to whose most royall maiestie all and euery other powers and Magistrates must humble yeld submit them selues Whereas I say you allowe of all those titles of dignitie and not onely teache and defend them in this your vnbridled insolēcy but also so lustely couragiously vaūte and rayse vp your crest What doe you els in that blazyng brauerie of speach but coyne to your selfe others a most manifest Idoll which you may worshyp before whom you may prostrate your selfe most lowly humbly make intercessiō vnto And therfore dissemble Ierome as ye liste yet that is your Romish Idoll Your selfe also a manifest Idolatour You must with all willyngly endure all trauaile be it neuer so hard to attaine the fauour and blessyng of that your God perhappes you may picke vp some crommes thereby and through him be promoted so highe that ye may more nearely behold that your earthly God and be enstalled vnder his elbow in his palace wherin you may do sacrifice vnto his Maiestie You say that I do prouoke you to disputation This is vntrue I do not prouoke you but confute your false accusations wherewith you charge vs as mainteinours of a fayth voyde of all vertue and Religion And euer amōg you thrust in the name of Luther What perteineth that to vs Cast out your challenge to some one Deuine in England by name you shall seé how quickly he will take vp your gloue with no labour crush your Sophisticall canes in peéces You do wish me to peruse those your bookes entitled De Iustitia and in thē you say that I may throughly satisfie my selfe touchyng the iustifyeng of fayth Truly I haue perused your Uolumes deuided into threé bookes entitled De Iustitia in the first wherof ye speake much in the commendation of fayth and therein vse testimonies and Argumentes who doth reprehend you herein I pray you And yet all that your endeuour hath obteined no more but to shewe your selfe an vnnecessary arguer in an vndoubted controuersie Of the same stampe also is your second booke wherein you commend much the worthynes of good workes and herein we do nothing dissent from you but will aduaunce the same as much as you will wish vs. But your thyrd booke is almost altogether a Pelagian and beyng throughly poysoned with the heresies of the Greéke Church doth blasphemously inueighe agaynst the freé mercy of God the Father in Christ Iesu and namely agaynst S. Augustine an vnvanquishable patrone of the heauēly grace And therfore this your gaye poppet so gorgiously paynted whiche liketh your selfe so well is partly friuolous ouerwhelmed with to much tattlyng and partly wicked and execrable whiles it practizeth to trāsforme vs from naturall men almost to be Gods Neither am I alone of that opinion for Cardinall Poole also was for the most part of the same Iudgement whō although Rome had maruailously disguised yet all men knew to be farre better man in liuyng and much more expert in Diuinitie then you are he did alwayes withstand your attempt of publishyng in printe that your delicate impe which you as thē did so louyngly embrace and had in so great estimatiō as your owne derlyng And accomptyng the same to be most perillous and pestiferous gaue this famous verdit thereof worthy to be deépely engrauen in the very entrailes of all Christian hartes It is not possible sayth Cardinall Poole it is not possible to yelde to much to the mercy of God nor to abase the strength of man to much If you had had so much grace as to haue conceaued and emprinted in your braynes this doctrine of humilitie abacement you would neuer haue so nakedly stripped Christ of his grace nor so hautely and arrogantly enhaunced the power of mans will ne yet so proudely and boldly reproued and despised S. Augustine But what dare not Osorius doe who accordyng to the nature of his name dare boldly presume vpō all thyngs peraduēture you will demaunde how I knew Pooles mynde herein I will tell you Our familiar very frēd not vnknowen vnto you M. Ascham did sondry tymes aduertize me therof affirmyng that he did heare the same vttered by the mouth of the Cardinall him selfe This also doth trouble you very much bycause I affirmed it to be your own errour as which being imagined in your own braynsicke mazer you would falsely lay to others charge What then did I not say the very truth herein is it not your owne lye your owne haynous acte your owne slaunder yea your owne errour fayned coyned and imagined by your selfe though afterwardes you would poast it ouer to others without cause And yet you spare not to pinche me cruelly for so saying And amongest other scornes reproche me of my stammeryng speach as though I can not speake playnly But in the meane whiles you wryng your selfe by the nose and geue your selfe two foule blowes First of all in the matter it selfe as euen now and els where I haue declared sufficiently Then in the maner of speache where in steéde of barbarous endytyng ye reprehende me for my stammeryng toung Which neuer any person would doe that hath bene enured to write pure and cleane Latine Surely Syr I do speake very playnly and distinctly through the inestimable benefite of God but your toūg doth both stammer and stutte if the report of them be true who haue had conference with you which blemish bycause it proceédeth of nature I would neuer haue obiected against you if you had not first of all vpbrayded me with the same fault wherewith your selfe are naturally encombred At the length you are entred into the treaty of Iustification but first ye snatche at a few sentences of Scriptures which I haue set downe And the same without all reason after a certeine cōtinuall crooked vsage of cauillyng ye writhe and wrest ouerthwartely And therfore I will bid adewe to that your vnmeasurable captious Sophistry and will sift your Diuinitie a whiles which wil appeare to be your own that is to say most foolish detestably corrupt You rehearse out of my writing euē as it is that these workes are vnprofitable to Iustification yet that they ought not be despised bycause Paule doth seéme to verifie both positions Let vs seé what our Doctour Ierome sayth to this for sooth he raungeth abroad to originall sinne altogether besides the cushian He doth cruelly accuse Luther Caluine and Melancthon bycause they do cōdemne all the workes of the most holy men being cōpared with the glory of God And that the same could not be
any good workes How know you this to bee true For I am assured that in Porting all and in Spayne good prouiso is made that no maÌ„ be so hardy to touch any of Luthers bookes if you referre your Assertion to England or Germany I doe not a litle marueile how this monstruous Spynx can cast his eyes ouer so many Seas so many high mountaines and so great distauuce of Countreys and so curiously behold the lyues of men and prye so precisely into their maners vnlesse some Phebus haue cloured vpon this Mydas head not the eares of Osorius but the eares of some lolleared Asse in the truncke wherof he may catche euery blast whatsoeuer any where blowen abroad or deuised in secrete through the reportes of whisperyng Talebearers like a credulous soole beleue the same forthwith But howsoeuer those Lutheranes in EnglaÌ„d and in Germany do exercise them selues in no good workes it goeth very well in the meane tyme with Porting all and Spayne that men lyue there holy and Angellike For I do beleue surely that men in those Countreys do so glytter in sinceritie of life and brightenes of vertues that their very shadowes do shyne in the darke and glyster more lyke Aungels then men that they are such men as plante their feéte no where but that they leaue behynd theÌ„ a certeine wonderfull fragrant sauour of modestie curtesie singular chastitie so make the very heauens in loue with their puritie sweétenes of their vertues But goe to Osorius tell vs at the length a good fellowshyp what the cause should be that such as doe geue eare to Luther will not apply them selues to doe good workes Truely I suppose that bycause he teacheth that meÌ„ are Iustified in the sight of God by fayth onely and not by workes therfore it must be an infallible consequent That whosoeuer attende to Luthers doctrine will forthwith abandone all thought to lyue vertuously and yeld him selfe carelesly ouer to all idlenesse and filthynesse As though with honest and well disposed persons fatherly clemencie shall cause the children to be sluggish to do their duties or as though the voyce of mercy doth at once vtterly abolish all Morall vertues To what ende therefore doth Christ so much not commende vnto vs that fatherly affection in the mercyfull father mentioned in the Gospell towardes his prodigall sonne but also painte him out vnto vs for an example if that doctrine of the freé mercyfulnesse of God be not true or if it be true that it ought not therefore be published bycause many vnchast and corrupt persons will abuse the same Nay rather why ought net the truth of God of greater reason be generally and openly preached for the necessary comfort of the godly Neither behoueth vs to be inquisitiue how much this doctrine doth worke in certeine particular men but rather to know how true this doctrine is of it selfe And accordyng as we doe finde the same to be true and constant so to preach the same accordyng to the capacitie of the hearers But Osorius doth vrge vs agayne with threé Argumentes chiefly as it were with a threé square battell lyke a threé headed Cerberus doth rushe vpon Luther with threé sondry assautes attemptyng to proue by his Logicke that this Luther of whom we speake doth exâ—irpe and roote out all vertue honestie and godly endeuour First by his disablyng of workes secondly through desperation of honestie thirdly by Confidence of false righteousnesse In threé wordes as it were threé lyes And first of all touchyng Desperation and CoÌ„fidence I thinke we haue spoken enough before where we haue so proued both to be falsely imputed to Luther as that we doe yet acknowledge them both in Luther For Luther doth describe CoÌ„fidence but the same which is the true Confidence he teacheth also Desperation I confesse it but the same very comfortable And therein teacheth nothyng els but the same that the EuaÌ„gelistes and Apostles haue alwayes taught For what can be more true and assureâ— Confidence or more comfortable Desperation or more â—onson unt with the Gospell of Iesu Christ and his Apostles then that we beyng in full dispaire of the righteousnesse of our owne workes doe shroude our selues wholy vnder the mercy of Christ and in his freé bounty and elemency That is to say not in workes whiche the grace of Christ hath wrought in vs but for vs As touchyng the brablyng that he maketh about the despising of good workes by what Logicke will hee proue his cauillatioÌ„ And now pause here a whiles good Reader note the passing pearcyng witte nurtured not in the Schoole of Stoicke Philosophy but nooseled by rather I suppose in some swynesty Luther doth strippe our merites and workes naked froÌ„ all Confidence Ergo Luther rendeth in peeces the very sinewes of all godlines setteth at nought and vtterly abolisheth all the efficacie and dignitie of good workes And though Osorius haue not placed his wordes after this order yet the bent of his conclusion tendeth to the same effect For what did Luther els in all his writynges and Sermons but cut of all hope of workes and so by that meanes allure vs to take ankerhold in the onely ayde helpe of the Mediatour if this be the waye to choake vp vertue and to bury her vnder grouÌ„de I confesse that Luther was an abolisher of vertue and S. Paule also as well as he But Osor. doth many tymes deny this Assertion of the Lutherans to be true that our righteousnes hope of our saluation so depeÌ„deth vpoÌ„ Christ as that the same should be Imputed to vs of God accouÌ„ted our own by ImputatioÌ„ through fayth onely For he supposeth this way to be ouer easie and that it will hereof come to passe that no man wil be carefull studious or desirous to accomplish any good worke In deéde I thinke Osorius is of the mynde of many persons whiche vnlesse be continually beaten pricked foreward lyke dull Oxen with goades and cudgels will neuer yeld their bodies to labour but forced as it were with threatenynges and stripes are drawen to the yoke quyte agaynst their willes But this neuer happeneth in natures of mylde and good disposition but rather the contrary so as by leâ—â—ie and remembrauÌ„ce of receaued benefites they are rather encouraged chearefully to doe their duties The bountifulnesse of almighty God is not to be measured after the proportion of mans imagination Neither ought we regarde how the wicked doe interprete thereof but rather what Christ doth coÌ„maunde to be preached how much the will of God will permitte and what thynges true discipline will allow of I know that there hath bene euer great store and that we shall neuer want to great a number of that sorte of people which will wickedly abuse all thynges that otherwise of their owne nature ought chiefly bee embraced Neither is it reason to defraude vertuous personages of their right for the abuses of
Asscention day and Whitsonday and the Feast of all Saintes be passed ouer with no lesse brauery if besides this outward shew vayne glorious pompe nothing be ministred els to rayse vppe Fayth to the contemplation of matters of farre greater importaunce For what may we thinke when Christ was first Circumcized when he was first named A Sauiour wheÌ„ in floud Iordan he was Baptized of Iohn and manifested agayne to be the Sonne of God by a most excellent voyce from heauen when as he was tempted of the Deuill after sixe weékes fasting whenas hauyng finished that triumphe of his Resurrection asscended into heauen he powred vpon his Apostles clouen fiery tounges may we thinke I say that all these were done to none other end but that we should in remembrauÌ„ce of them keépe idle holy dayes in pastyme play And yet we do not much finde fault with the memorials of those thyngs in godly affected myndes wheÌ„as they be rightly taught vnto them as certeine helpes and aydes of godly exercizes eueÌ„ so also we do not vtterly reiect those holy dayes approued of auÌ„cient tyme by vse and custome yea rather we do in many places reteigne and keépe the same Holy dayes as they doe albeit not with like ceremony as farre as we may without reproche of superstition For euen we also do assemble our selues together and come to the Church celebratyng the memory of the byrth of Christ his Resurrection and Ascention and the Feast of Peâ—therost also but not as a memoriall alone whereof we ought to be myndefull euery day and euery houre but seékyng an occasion of the day to heare somewhat that may conduce to sounde and pure Religion and the edifieng of our fayth vnto saluation And therfore we doe not simply deny and reiect these holy dayes but the maner of solemnizyng the same the stinking abuses superstitious worshyppyng the multitude of holy dayes your soâ—ges and sonnettes for the most part idolatrous your prayers and inuocations most manifestly repugnaunt and iniurious to the glory of Christ those we do vtterly abolish and not without cause The Iewes had their solemne holy dayes in tymes past though in nomber not so many yet prescribed by God him selfe They had also their bloud offringes and Sacrifices Fastynges Easter Solemnities and the brasen Serpent wherof as loÌ„g as they folowed the lawfull vse as beyng certeine signes and meane instruments shadowes leadyng to the endes whereunto they were instituted they were acceptable enough vnto God But after that by turnyng catte in the panne they placed the chief worshyppyng of God and principall marke of true Religion in those thynges which of their owne nature were the last and of least valew how horrible and execrable they became in the sight of God no man can tell you better then Esay yâ— Prophet What haue I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices ' I am full of them the Burnt offring of your Rammes and fatte of your fattlinges the bloud of your Calues of your Lambes and of your Goates I would not haue when you come before my presence who sought for these thinges at your handes to walke so in my Courtes offer no more any Sacrifice in vayne your Incense is abhominable in my fight your new Moones and Sabbathes and other holy dayes I will not away with your assemblies are wicked my soule hateth you Kalendes and solemne Feastes I am greeued with these things and ouerladen with them And when you stretche forth your hands vnto me I will turne away my face from you and when you multiplie your prayers I will not heare you c. And yet God him selfe ordeined all these thynges in his owne law What then Doth God condemne the thynges which he commaunded No truly but bycause they wrested forced those thynges to an other end then they were instituted for bycause they were fastened wholy to those and had settled the chief foundation of ReligioÌ„ in these Rites neglecting in the meane tyme the greater and high matters of the Law this now was it that the Lord could not away withall Go to Le ts vs also now take a through view of your notable Feastes and solemne worshyppynges and let vs compare your ordinaunces who liue now vnder the Spirituall law with that people that liued vnder the carnall Law For they neither worshypped their Sacrifices nor burnt offringes at any tyme they neuer painted the resemblaunce or counterfaite of Gods couÌ„tenauÌ„ce in table or picture they neuer bedecke their TeÌ„ples with Images they did neuer set downe any visible signes or portraictes of Patriarches or Saints to be gazed vpoÌ„ neither did they euer gadde on Pilgrimage to visite theÌ„ to their Psalmes Prayers they had nothyng patched els nothyng intermixt froÌ„ els where they made no intercessioÌ„ to Saintes Sainctesses they neuer made inuocation to the dead In their Lessons was neuer any thyng heard but Gods scripture onely nor any thyng pronounced out of the Scriptures that was not in their mother toung intelligible enough of all sortes young and old indifferently Briefly there was nothyng exercized but by the expresse prescript and commaundement of Gods law so that the state and condition of the Iewish Feastes may seéme to be farre more â—afie and tollerable then yours if we haue respect to the onely outward forme superstition of myndes And yet as I sayd before I do not stand so much in this point but that ChristiaÌ„s may haue their holy dayes and solemne Feastes wherein they may refresh them selues be raysed to the remembraunce of Gods benefites and manifold mercyes bestowed vpon vs so that the same be obserued wtout preiudice of fayth in simplicitie of vnfayned piety Neither am I so curious to haue that comely traditions of our elders to be abolished so the true ReligioÌ„ remaine meane whiles vndeffled the vse wherof coÌ„sisteth not in outwards ceremonies nor in corporall exercises nor in places and times but in spirit truth so that false preposterous hipocriticall deuotion be abandoned wherewith God waxed wroth and was highly displeased For how many christiaÌ„s may a man seé which do measure the chiefe worshyppyng of God by any other endes almost then by their dayly frequenting churches often hearyng of Masses keéping the euens and holydayes orderly fasting the Ember dayes carefully reiterating their Paternosters and Aues often and solemnely powring out their Synnes into theyr priestes bosomes in Lent treatably croochyng and kneélyng to the Crucifixe barefooted and barelegged humbly Receiuyng the very body and bloud of Christ vnder the formes of bread wyne once a yeare yea euen in their death beddes deuoutly and that besides there remayneth nought to be superadded to attain perfect saluation beleuing stedfastly nor that they be ought indepted to Christ vdoubtedly but suppose vnfaynedly that they ought forthwith for these causes receiue heauen for theyr meéd of very duety I besech you If Esay the Prophet liued now
haue taught They acknowledge him to be heauenly you make him earthly Theyr doctrine doth rayse vs from the earth vppe on high where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Your doctrine what doth it whereunto tendeth it whether doth it call the mindes of Christians but from aboue downeward out of heauen into the earth withdrawing the senses from the Spirite to the flesh So that we must seéke for Christ there not where he is but where you imagine him to be present The Apostle Paule when he preacheth vnto vs the liuely feature of this Christ who taking vpon him the shape of a Seruaunt suffered death in the same shape once for our sinnes vnder Pontius Pilate and afterwardes accomplishing the mistery of our redemption rose agayne for our iustification doth teach vs playnly that he ascended into heauen not leauing his body wherein he suffered behinde him here on earth but taking vpp the same body into heauen was with the same receiued into glory whom also he affirmeth he knew no more now according to his fleshlye presence that is to say according to the capacity of his carnall senses And that besides this Christ onely he knew none other Christ nor this Christ otherwise then according to the new creature onely namely visible in spirite with the eyes of fayth and not with fleshlye eies Let vs make now a comparison betwixt this Christ of our Gospell with that your Christ of the Pope in the same manner as you do fashion him and make a gaze of him to the eies and eares of the people after the order of your Gospel which seémeth to me to be after this manner not as hauing taken vpon him the shape of a seruaunt but the forme of bread is in the same forme of bread and vnder the accidents of bread made of wheat set out to the gaze of the people to be tooted vpon and is of Christians worshipped and offered to God the Father and this not once but dayly not vnder Pontius Pilate but vnder the Pope of Rome not a Sacrifice onely for the quicke but for the soules in Purgatory also to the washing away of theyr synnes Which Sacrifice being ended he is buried in deéd but buryed or rather drowned in the paunch of a priest from whence he neither riseth agayne nor ascendeth afterwardes but descendeth rather nor is euer looked for to come agayne from thence And this is that same Christ not the Euangelicall Christ but the Papisticall and poeticall Christ whom thought the Apostles or Euangelistes neuer knew yet must we be enforced will we nyll we to honor and worshippe neuerthelesse as the very Sauiour of the world forsooth Whom may not suffice to lift vppe hartes and mindes on high to him onely which dwelleth in heauen vnlesse we also lift vppe our fleshly eyes to this visible Christ and kneéle and crootche vnto him with great reuerence yea although the eyes themselues do behold nothing but bread and wine yet the eyes must lye and all the sences must be deceiued neither may in any wise be reputed other then verye herityques but in despyght of eyes and senses all we must of infallible persuasion of fayth firmely beleue that it is now no more bread and wine that is seéne But the bread and wine being thrust cleane on t of dores Chryst onely yea whole Christ doth possesse euery part of that place who though be not present in his owne naturall shape nor in the same proportion of body which he tooke of the Uirgine Mary yet in the selfe same nature trueth substaunce Identity notwithstanding vnder other formes forsooth and yet not figuratiuely but truely most absolutely perfectly and fully must in the same whole body and the same naturall blood be contayned felt seene and without all contradition worshipped These be the misteries of your diuinity as I suppose by the which you haue begotten vnto the world a new Christ I knowe not whom altogether an other Christ neuer borne of the Uirgine Mary doubtles whom the Gospell neuer knew nor the Apostles euer taught nor the Euangelystes euer saw I adde also whom neuer any of you hath seéne hetherto yet nor shall euer seé hereafter And yet these so wittelesse so dotish and monstruous deuises of drowsy dreames then which nothing can be spoken or imagyned more false and more monstruous you shame not at all to vaunt to be most auntient and most true as the Gabyonites of olde time did theyr shooes And for the same your Popish Christ made of bread you stick not to aduēture limm life more earnestly then for the true Glory of that Christ whom we do most certaynely know to be in heauen where also we do worshippe him And euen this doth your horrible butchery of an infinite number of our Martyres declare to be true by most plain and euident demonstration With the blood of whom because your holy mother the church seémeth so beastly dronken long sithence this one thing would I fayne learne of you what special cause was it that enforced you to vtter such outrage in the shedding of so much blood of your naturall brethren was it because they defrauded Christ the Sonne of God which was borne for our sakes crucified rose agayne ascended vp into heauē sitting now a Lord in heauē of one dramm so much of his due honor nothing lesse Was it because they abused or defiled the Gospel I thinke not so Was it because they brake the auntient ordinaūces and approued doctrine of the holy Apostles and Prophettes in any one thing or because they went beyond the bondes prescribed by the auntient fathers none of all these But the cause was for that they refused to allow of that newfangled and vpstart Idoll of the Popish Masse and that lately sprōg vppe Breadworshippe contrary to the doctrine of the Apostles yea contrary to Christ himselfe and because they would not in this behalfe be as furiously franticke as the Papistes themselues In the meane time we speake not this as though we were of opiniō that Sacramentes should be defrauded of theyr dewe honor For it is one thing to reuerence the Sacramentes accordyngly and an other thyng to conuert the Sacramente of Christ into Christ him selfe and to worshippe earthly Sygnes for the heauenly Christ in the one whereof is a kynde of Religion in the other manifest Idolatry To the whiche wanteth nothyng now but that they chaunt lustely together with Ieroboam These be thy Gods O Israell But we shall be vrged perhappes with the wordes of Christ in the Gospell This is my body c. As though in the wordes of Christ which be Spirite and life it be so rare vnaccustomed phrase of speaking to vse Tropes and figures now and then seing there is no kinde of doctrine that more vsually delighteth in figures Tropes parables Similitudes metaphors allegoryes mysteryes thē the mystycall speéch of the sacred
to exclayme agaynst Luther was hissed out of the place not without great gleé and delight of the beholders So small and so no acquayntaunce at all hath this proud hawty and loftye kynde of myncing Minnions with our Lord and Sauior Iesu Christ. I do willingly abstayne from naming of men because I would haue them forewarned rather to theyr benefitte then reproched to their infamy if there be any besides this Osor. whom this Ciceronian skabbe hath infected with like dottage But I come agayne to Pardons wherwith as they say they sweépe all Purgatory and make cleane riddaunce when they will and by which picklockes they locke fast the gates of hell opeÌ„ the gates of heauen to whom they list But I pray you Osorius by what authoritye doe they this By the same authoritye you will say where of was spoken to Peter I will geue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen c. That the keyes were geuen to Peter no man will denye But what is this to the Pope of Rome because next vnto Peter the succession of the See Apostolick falleth vpon the Pope forsooth And why so how will you proue this to be true I beseéch you What because he doth enioy Peters Chayre what had Peter no more Chayres but one or did he fitt no where but at Rome And what if he neuer sate at Rome But putt the case he sate at Rome I wil geue you an argument not much vnlike vnto this It was not vnknowne to be old Poetts what a skilfull Harper Orpheus was whom they imagined to haue drawen aâ—ter him with the sweétnesse of his Harpe stoanes and woodes It came to passe in processe of time that one Neanthus Sonne of Pittacus chaunced to come by the same Harpe who being farre vnlike this Orpheus in skill of playing altogether an Asse as the prouerbe speaketh at the harpe yet through a foolish opinion conceaued of himselfe dyd persuade himselfe that he should be able to draw after him Rocks and Woddes immediately vpon the sound of the Harpe This clownish Cocklorrell therefore wandring abroad ouer hilles and dales and maruayling that the Rockes and Woods stood still as before vnmoueable and would not sturre out of theyr place at the sound of the Harpe neuer surceased from striking from stretching from thumping the Harpe vntill hauing made hymselfe loathsome to the very cattell with the tedious and brutish noyse of the Harpe became a pray to dogges and was guawed and rent in pieces by them And what els doth this popish Prelate emport with his pompous pryde and stately Chayre wheron he is no lesse â—rantickly fond then this seély soule was vpon the Harpe I list not as now to gesse the garbroyle of his glory of the thing it selfe I dare boldly speake this much as Orpheus Harpe maketh not an Harper forthwith so neyther doe Peters Keyes shape a right succession but the onely confession and fayth of Peter And yet did the Church alwayes acknowledge the Byshoppe of Rome to be the Successour of Peter the Apostle So did also the consent of the Fathers and the Antiquity of time I do heare you But by what authority by what testimony and witnesses will you iustify this to be true or by why what reason or argument will you proue it what because he canne shew the Chayre that Peter sate in Nay rather lette him expresse the vertuous life and gratious giftes of Peter and in his life geue forth vnto vs as Peter did a President and patterne of the causes precedent and the true Circumstaunces for the which the Keyes were deliuered vnto Peter For on this wise are we enformed by the Gospell Because flesh and bloud hath not reuealed this vnto thee but my Father which is in heauen You doe heare mention made first of the notable testimony of his faith and open confession of the Sonne of God which was not discouered vnto him by flesh and bloud nor by any naturall Philosophy nor engraffed within him by any force of natures lore but which being endued with heauenly inspiration he had receaued from aboue beyond all reatch of humayne Capacity For the knowledge of Christ commeth by the onely inspiration of the holye Ghost Which assoone as the Lord perceaued was engrauen within Peter wondring as it were at the greatnesse of the miracle doth first declare vnto him the glad tydings of blessednes froÌ„ God Thou art blessed Simon Bariona then alluding to the nature of his name because he was called Cephas that is to say Peter vpon that Petra that is to say vpon that Rocke of his fayth an confession he doth promise to establish the building of his Churche And added hereunto the promise of the Keyes I wyll geue thee sayth he the Keyes of the Kingdome of God c. By which CircumstauÌ„ces what are we taught els then that the foundation of the Church of Christ wheresoeuer it be is grounded vpon nothing els then vpon true fayth and vnfayned confession of the Sonne of God For when the Lord spake this vnto Peter he made no accouÌ„pt of his righteousnesse nor of hys vertues and conuersation of life neither of his fastings nor his dutifull obseruation of the commaundementes ne yet the holines of his Religion forasmuch as all these ornamentes dyd shyne as aboundauntly in others as they did in Peter But at the first vtterannce and confession of his excellent fayth the Lord doth denounce him to be blessed buildeth his Churche and doth promise the Keyes vpon the same Whereupon remayneth that we conclude at the last most truely that wheresoeuer the Keyes are exercised which are Christes true Keyes in deéd there of necessity must an influence and speciall inspiratioÌ„ of the holyghost and a certayn earnest and harty effectualnes of fayth and coÌ„stant confession of Christ goe before On the contrary part where no perseueraunce or feéling can be perceiued of the ingraued knowledge of Christ from the heauenly Father whose minde being not endued with any influence of the holyghost sauoureth of nothing at all beyond the retch of flesh and bloud who hath wedded his hart to earthly treasures to the Royalty pompe and gorgeousnes of this world who neglecting the glory of Christ is vassall and bondslaue to Ambition subiect to affections geueth himselfe to pamper the paunch and is drowned in the deépe doungeon of worldly cares who doth breath out of his nostrilles the blood and butchery of his brethreÌ„ That person in what Chayre soeuer he sitte doth with to much shamelesse arrogancy vaunte vpon the possession of the Keyes And therefore yf this Romishe ruffler doe meane to royst stille with Peters keyes he must endeuor to expresse in his maners the vertuous lyfe and godly conuersation of an Apostle and not chatt so much of a Chaire Otherwise to what purpose is it how sumptuously soeuer a man be enthronized yf he be wicked and vnworthy the place the place doth not
SathaÌ„s Deuilles Treasons false Prophets Coyners of a new Gospel subuertours of vertue Enemies of theyr countrey and of ReligioÌ„ Churchrobbers most abhominable the destruction and pestilent CoÌ„tagion of the whole world and what not But if this outragious licentiousnes of your unmoderate wilfuâ—lnes might haue bene satisfied with threé or foure tauntes and slaunderous reproches it might haue bene pardonable as seémyng some escape issuing somewhat vnaduisedly rather in some heate of disputation then of any naturall greédynesse of curssed speaking Now what is your whole aunswere els almost then a continuall processe and an vncessaunt course of cursed raylyng You begynn with cauillyng you proceéde with slaunderyng and end with rayling Neuerthelesse after all these tragicall outragies wherewith you haue prouoked both the wrath of the Lord and teazed all godly personages agaynst you so insolently you do now at the length challenge other men to keépe modesty If any man saye you do write agaynst me if he will argue with reason with Argumentes or with Testimonyes I will not refuse the Challenge c. And herewithall in the meane space is enterlaâ—ed a place of S. Paule Whereby we be taught to eschew the company of endurate heretyques after once or twise admonition forasmuch as they be condemned by theyr owne iudgement Which Rule of the Apostle if must be obserued duely as it ought to be surely there is nothing of more force to maintaine our departure fromout your papisticall Seé For if we be commauÌ„ded by the authority of the Apostle to auoyde the company of such as being once or twise warned will not be conuerted from theyr waywarde obstinacye in error what fellowshipp and partaking ought we to haue with such a conuenticle which being polluted with so many more then hereticall errors which being so bastardly estraunged and defiled with so heathenish Idolatry with such absurde Traditions and so manifest blasphemies doth not onely couple with this filthye stenche of Deuelish doctrine sciffenecked and obstinate supportauÌ„ce but also adde thereunto a more then Pharisaicall and Tyrannicall persecution Wherefore in that you thinke it best to passe ouer and eschew our society from henceforth therein follow your owne affection Osorius a gods name But whereas you geue vs full skoape to frett fume exclayme as much as we lyste truely we are not so mynded nor affectioned to rush so rudely into other mens interest as to seéke to disfrauÌ„chise you of your froward malapert sawcinesse whiche by the law of Armes you haue so valiantlye wonne in the field And therefore you shall freély and without impeachment continew still your possession as in your owne proper Title From the which we do so much the rather disclayme because in this kinde of faculty you doe excell and are Mayster of the Craft But lett vs heare this most milde Byshopp reasoning with this vnquiet Haddon I did neuer prouoke you say you by word or writing beyng a maÌ„ that I neuer knew Myne Epistle which you doe infame with slauÌ„derous railyng is cleare from all vnseemely speeches vnlesse perhappes you will say that a most iust quarrell and a true discouery of Errors and wickednesse is a kinde of reproche c. First I will say somewhat touching your Epistle and of Haddon shall be spoken afterwardes Now therefore were your wittes distempered with wyne when you wrate this Epistle haue you forgotteÌ„ now what you wrate then If your Epistle haue not one reprochefull word I beseéche you what name shall we geue to these wordes wherewith you rage not onely agaynst Luther as though he were a dissolute persoÌ„ a common Barretor and manqueller but withall agaynst all the congregation of those which professe the true Gospell of Christ agaynst whom you be carried with more then a Carterly kinde of rayling with foule mouth and most slaunderous Tauntes As men that raging in maddnesse doe rend in sunder all established orders of law and Religion Pag. 14. who with their frantyque preaching and bookes do exile all shamefastnes do put honesty to slight do treade vnder foote all lawes positiue and politique do proclayme hauocke of sinning defile Temples skorne holynes do support vnshamefastnesse do supplaÌ„t all ChristiaÌ„ society with most horrible fierbraÌ„des of discord Pag. 15. all whose enterprises tend to none other end then that spoyling Princes of theyr liues they may conspyre with full consentes agaynst the vtter rooting out of theyr dignityes and honours some of whom they haue raught hence already by poyson and some others they doe practise to destroy with the sword Pag. 16. Finally he calleth them false Prophetts Pag. 34. Who wheresoeuer they sett foote on ground of purpose to enforce theyr Gospell vpon the ignorauÌ„t they are so farr of from Reformation of maners that they doe defile all thinges with muche more stench then they found it who do abandone ciuility geue skoape for couetousnesse to raunge riotously and renouncing all feare of God graunt free libertye to doe all maner mischieues without coÌ„trollement in such shamelesse carelessenesse that they seeme to wish nothing rather theÌ„ to see vtter confusion of all thinges Pag. 30. Who be not onelye of themselues estraunged from all honesty but accompt it yea and ratify it for matter as haynous also as hygh TreasoÌ„ if any man dare be so bolde to vow perpetuall Chastity for Religion sake Pag. 22. Who also do affirme that it is wicked to be sorrowfull for sinne Pag. 27. And do say that sorrowfull teares do emport a weakenesse waÌ„t of fayth pag. 26. And this much of the professors of the gospell Now let vs heare his blasphemous tongue touching the Gospell it selfe the doctrine thereof which he doth call by the name of a Secte For these be his wordes Beleeue me gracious Queene sayth he this secte which for our sinnes hath inuaded many partes of Christendome is the ruine of CoÌ„moÌ„weales the Canker of Ciuilitie the dissipation of the Realme and the small destruction of princely renowme Pag. 17. And in an other place making meÌ„cion of the same Gospell he doth exclame on this wise O Gospell full of conspiracye and false dissimulation for it promiseth lardge good thinges and procureth present infection it maketh a fayre countenaunce of hope of Freedome and it cloggeth with yoakes of intollerable bondage it doth persuade with glauering allurements of present felicity afterwardes it drowneth the soule in deepe doungeon of dispayre it preacheth a direct way vnto heauen and them that trust vpon assuraunce thereof it doth throw downe headlong into hell Page 32. And agayne proceading in the same Epistle doth geue this iudgemeÌ„t of the doctrine of the Gospellers that he affirmeth it to be wholy patcht together of the craftes and subtiltyes of SathaÌ„ Pag. 35. I haue now rehearsed your owne wordes Osorius if at least they be your owne wordes and not some other guest of yours not all of the best which how farre doe differ from reprochefull and slaunderous raylyng in your eye I
in the world more readyly then to ioyne with you What can you craue more Osorius But if this request can not be brought to passe nor obteyned of you to witte that you abandonne out of your Church Idolles and prophane worshyppynges nor will yeld to a reformation of your filthy errours and corruptions of Religion accordyng to the true touchestone of sacred Scripture that the same confuse licentiousnesse of vncleane single lyfe croochyng and kneélyng to Images and greédy gaddyng to the Reliques of the deadd more then Heathenish may be vtterly banished that your breadworshypp Imageworshypp your prophane abuse of the Lordes Supper your false packettes of Pardons eare whisperyngs satisfactions merite meritorious and other vnmeasurable monsters of your ragged Religion may be altogether abrogated If these I say so many so horrible botches and cankers of superstitioÌ„ disceiptes vntruthes patcheries and impieties propped vppe in the Church by your filthy ignoraunce you will not raze and scrape cleane out of the Church of Christ but haue determined rather to mainteyne and vphold the same more then barbarously with slaughter bloud and all maner of sauadge cruelty nor will as yet yeld to be tryed by any lawfull aucthoritie but continue vnappeasable agaynst the manifest trueth and persist vnremoueable in the supportation of your blasphemous Idolatry with vnmercyfull greédynesse Briefly if you call vs to such a Churche and to the embracying of such a Fayth as no Christian faythfull man may by any meanes professe except he will renounce the true Churche of Christ vnlesse he will vtterly denye Christ him selfe and his Fayth herein neither shall it be conuenient for vs to agreé with you and become partakers of this your horrible bootchery nor shall it become you to require vs thereunto moreouer we assuredly trust that Christ will neuer permitt vs so to do I haue aunswered you now as briefly as I could yet will I speake it somewhat more briefly If any man dare be so hardy to chaunge to counterfeiâ—t to peruert the Lawes Statutes and autentique Monumentes of any earthly Prince or the Testament of any deadd person after this sort as you do Canuasse the word of God no Prince would permitt such a treachery in his Realme and an hundred Gallowes and Tortures would seéme to litle for so haynous an offence And what shal be sayd then to them who hauyng mangled and made hauocke of the euerlastyng Testament of GOD whereunto to adde or to diminishe therefrom any title is not lawfull vpon payne of damnation who treadyng vnder foote the ordinaunces of the the Lord of Lordes who hauyng chaunged and counterfayted the fine and pure gold of the sacred Scripture and coyned vnto vs such drosse and ofscombe of Religion wherein we must be forced to lyue now not after the Lawes and Ordinaunces of Christ but after their Decreés and Decretalles I beseéch you shall it be reasonable for Osorius to allure vs to such a kynde of conformitie and then after this lyfe to promise vs euerlastyng glory to the ioye of all the Company in heauen Wherein Osorius doth expresse in deéde a certein glorious presumption of a courage wonderfully fawnyng vpon his owne dexteritie Howbeit whatsoeuer sounde this shrill Trumpett of Osorius shall noyse forth from out of Portingall we must neuerthelesse geue our attentyue eare rather to the Trumpett of GOD and marke diligently whereunto it calleth vs as the which soundyng vnto vs a farre vnlyke marche commaundeth vs in any wise not to goe out of Raye nor to depart from our Auncient and Standarde vpon a greéuous payne least we be partakers of their Treason and be punished with their plagues And agayne with most cruell manaces threatenyng all such as shall receaue the marke of the Beast either on the forehead or on the hand to whom he doth promise not euerlastyng glory to the reioysing of all the company of heauen but the bitter cuppe of Gods euerlastyng wrathe which is myngled with wyne in the Cuppe of Gods vengeaunce And they shal be tormented sayth he with fire and Brimstone in the sight of the holy Angelles before the face of the Lambe and the smoake of their Tormentes shall ascende world without ende Apocal. 14. Which I doe most humbly and hartely beseéche the most mercyfull Lord that he will tourne farre away from you and from vs all And so is both your prayer come to an ende and our Apologye finished And so an ende A knitting vp to the Reader NOw for as much as Osor. and I haue sufficiently debated our matters together It remayneth that I vse some conference with the godly and Christian Reader herein whom I would aduertize by the way in few wordes to be well aduised of Osorius not of any malice truely nor of any vnhonest affection of disquieted minde conceaued agaynst the man but moued hereunto by necessary instinct of well wishing harte in respect of some young men not altogether voyde of commeÌ„dable knowledge and learning though perhappes otherwise not so well setled in Iudgement who may be easily carryed away into vayne conceipt allured with the outward glittering brauery of Osorius minion Eloquence as seély fishes caught with sugred hayte vnlesse they flee the hidden hooke whom for the same I thought good to admonish before haÌ„d Not meaning to dissuade them from reading of Osorius bookes altogether nor to defraud Osorius of any his prayseworthy grace of Eloquent style or to extenuate his glory if he haue deserued any therein For as for me truely as I am neither acquainted with the countenaunce of the man so doe I not so much regard the outward foyle of his paynted speéch howsoeuer any man shall streake himselfe with blazing the beauty of fyled tongue concerneth me nothing at all so also apperteigneth as little to the matter There is an other thing that I requier more namely in a Byshopp a Priest and a Deuine Therfore if any man shall take pleasure in the floorishing forme of Osorius phrase and will not be remoued from the fragraunt flowers of Osorius speéch lett him enioy his delight a gods name and lett him read his bookes the will yea I doe wishe hartely that all and euery person would reade and peruse him that so the more witnesses there be in the matter the more directly men may determine of the creditt of the person Therefore lett them reade him I say whosoeuer be so minded and lett them not onely carry the booke dayly in their handes but lull him also in their bosomes I will not gaynesay them therein This councell onely I geue that they reade him with Iudgement neuerthelesse and esteéme of him as a RhethoriciaÌ„ and an artificiall Orator but take him for no Deuine And that they become not so rauished with the gorgeous gaze of this prancked Peacocke nor fixed to faste in the fyne feature of his fawning feathers but behold below his blacke feéte withall lett theÌ„ be so enamored with the delicate deuises of their