fourteenth day of the Moon of March according to the Prescript of the Mosaical Law which Custom hath been accounted naught Jewish and Heretical for the space of 1400 years to wit ever since the Decree of St. Victor Pope of Rome against the same since which time all Authors that have written of Heresies have held for Heretics those that defended this Custom as may appear first by Tertullian that liv'd in that very time of Pope Victor or presently after as also by the first Council of Nice which was held some hundred years after Victor again and Victor's Decree therein confirmed as after again in the Council of Antioch gather'd together almost 50 years after that of Nice and somewhat after that again by the Council of Laodicea and then by Philastrius and Epiphanius before cited and finally by St. Augustin Theodoretus Nicephorus Damascenus and others that ensued And the Defenders of this Heresie howsoever John Bale and his Fellows will sanctifie them now again for pious men for that they hold against the Roman Church were so odious to the Catholic Fathers even of the Greek and Eastern Church especially after the Determination of the Council of Nice which Determination tho' it be not extant now in the said Councils Decrees yet is it testified sufficiently both by Theodoretus and the Letters of Constantine himself recorded by Eusebius that Socrates in his Story writeth of St. John Chrysostom Archbishop of Constantinople these words Eis qui in Asia Festum Paschatis quartodecimo die mensis primi celebrabrant Ecclesias non secùs quam Novatianis ademit St. Chrysostom did take away Churches throughout his Jurisdiction from those that in Asia did celebrate the Feast of Easter upon the fourteenth of March no less than from the Novatian Heretics themselves And no less doth the same Author report of Leontius Bishop of Ancyra in Asia and other Eastern Bishops 25. And the reason hereof was not only for that by this different Custom of celebrating Easter there grew great Schisms amongst Christians but for that indeed the true Formality of this Heresie consisting in that they would make it of necessity to keep the Old Law in this behalf was begun first by an Heretic called Blastus as appeareth by Tertullian who to use his own words saith thus Latenter Judaismum introducere voluit dicens Pascha non aliter custodiendum esse nisi secundum Legem Moysis quartodecimo mensis He meant covertly to bring in Judaism affirming that Easter was not to be kept but according to the Law of Moyses upon the fourteenth day of the first Month. For refutation of which Heresie Tertullian saith Quis autem nesciat quoniam Evangelica gratia evacuatur si ad Legem Christus redigitur Who doth not know but that the grace of Christ's Gospel is made void if Christ be reduced again to the Observation of the Mosaical Law 26. This then was the very essential point of this Heresie and of them that defended the same to wit That they would bind Christians to the observation of this point according to the Mosaical Law. Against which point of Obligation St. Paul is so earnest in many places of his Epistles as he resisted St. Peter openly for that by his Conversation only he did seem to force or bind men to Judaical Observations Gentes cogis Judaizare you do force Gentiles to follow the Jews And for this cause he wrote so earnestly to the Galatians Ecce ego Paulus dico vobis si circumcidamini Christus nihil vobis proderit Behold I Paul do testifie unto you That if you do circumcise your selves or use this Mosaical Ceremony Christ shall profit you nothing 27. And again he telleth them in the same place That whosoever useth but this one Ceremony of Circumcision bindeth himself thereby to the observation of all the Old Law and consequently doth deprive himself of the whole Grace of Christ which yet is to be understood as ancient Fathers do expound after the Gospel of Christ was fully divulged and in them that did use any of these Ceremonies as of necessity for that otherwise we read of the Apostles themselves gathered together in Council that they gave leave to Christians for a time at the beginning abstinere à sanguine suffocato to abstain from Blood and that which is strangled or rather did ordain the same which yet afterwards was taken away again by Authority of the Church so as it is evident that the toleration was for a time only and as a thing indifferent without obligation And for like respect we read of St. Paul himself that albeit afterward he did forbid to the Galatians the use of Circumcision with such severity as you have heard yet at the beginning he circumcised Timothy for respect of the Jews as St. Luke testifieth for that the Gospel was not yet so far preached as it made the Observations of the Mosaical Law to be wholly unlawful especially if they were used as things indifferent and not of necessity as it is probable that both St. John Evangelist Polycarp and others of the East-Church did when for a time they used the Festival Day of celebrating Easter as an indifferent thing obliging no man to follow the one or the other Use to wit either this of the fourteenth day commanded by the Old Law or the other of the Sunday brought in by Tradition from St. Peter and St. Paul in the Roman Church as among others St. Protherius Patriarch of Alexandria by the Testimony of St. Bede doth write to Pope Leo And long before them both St. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch which Church was founded by St. Peter doth testifie in divers Epistles that easter-Easter-day was to be celebrated upon a Sunday Yea St. John himself making mention of dies Dominicus the Lord's day in the beginning of his Apocalypse as of a solemn Day above the rest which no man will deny to be Sunday there is no other reason why this day should be called our Lord's Day with so special Title of Festivity but only for that it was dedicated in the Apostles time to the Resurrection of Christ And if in every Week it be kept Festival for that respect and that the whole Sabboth be turned into it then much more just is it that the great Sabboth of Christ's Resurrection should be once a year celebrated upon this day Yet was the matter as you have heard left for arbitrary and indifferent for divers years in Asia without constraint on either side 28. But when in process of time the Bishops of Rome especially Pope Pius I. and Victor had perceiv'd that by this Toleration and Difference of Observation not only Schisms and Dissention grew but Heresie also and Judaism was meant to be brought in then the said Pius I. in the year of Christ 148. as Eusebius testifieth made a Decree against the Asian Jewish Observation and after him again in the
endured you will easily see the Fruits of that new Gospel 4. For first all begun with manifest perfidiousness against the old King that was dead For whereas he had two things in abomination above the rest First that his Son should have a Protector considering the fatal events thereof in former times for which cause he appointed sixteen Tutors to govern with equal Authority during the Minority of his Son the other that Heresie but especially Zwinglianism should enter into his Realm both these things were determined contrary to the said Kings Will and Ordination within three days after his death and above a dozen before he was buried For that the young Child being Proclaimed King upon the 28. of January and his Father not buried until the 14. of February his Uncle the Earl of Hartford was made Protector both of the King and whole Realm upon the first of the said Month of February following and this by the private Authority of the greater part of the Executors only without expecting any Parliament or consent of the Realm for so great a change and charge as that was 5. And albeit for obtaining the consents of the greater parts of Executors to this mutation great advancements and Dignities were promised and some of them also performed for that the Lord Dudley was made Earl of Warwick the Lord Parre Marquess of Northampton the Lord Chancellor Wriothesley was created Earl of Southampton Sir Thomas Seymor was made Lord Sudley and High Admiral of England and other the like and this within fifteen days after the Protectors Advancement and tho' hope also was given to those that were Catholicly inclined as the most of them were if they had followed their Consciences that no great alteration of Religion should be made for the present yet twenty days had scarce passed after this advancement but that the Protectors Fingers did so eagerly itch to be doing and tampering about Innovation in Religion as upon the 6. of March next following he sent away Commissioners into all parts of the Realm to pull down Images and other Ecclesiastical Ornaments throughout all the Churches of the Realm and to make other Innovations by his Authority which now in all things he would have to be the Kings And for that the Chancellor Wriothesley resisted the same and would have had it stayed until a Parliament might be called his Office was taken from him thereby to terrifie others from speaking in like Cases Bishop Tonstall also was put beside the Council for like offence though he were one of the sixteen Executors appointed by King Henry So as now the Protector would needs have all things absolutely in his own Hand both without Law and before Law yea expresly against the Laws of King Henry yet in force 6. And for that both he and his followers did easily see the affection of the Realm to be wholly against these Mutations as before we have shewed in the end of our former part he devised with the Lord Dudley who soothed him in all at that time the Journey into Scotland of Musselborough Field which all men know under pretence to gain the young Queen by force to Marry with the King. But yet every man of judgment and discourse did easily see that not to be a thing likely to get such a Princess by way of Arms from her Subjects Neither was King Edward of such Age as they needed to have hastened so much to get him a Wife so soon he being but nine years old but that the matter might have been treated peaceably with the Scots to have concurred willingly for their own interest to that conjunction of both Realms by that Marriage according as they had done in King Henry's time And so wrote Bishop Gardener to the Protector presently upon the first Sermon he heard the Bishop of St. Davids in Wales make in London about that matter I mean to exhort the people to the enterprise of Scotland For that now all Preachers were set a work by the said Protector and Earl of Warwick to shew the great Glory and utilities of that Attempt 7. But the true cause of this Enterprise was indeed to have thereby a just pretence and occasion to raise an Army within the Land and to call in Foreign Forces as they did both Germans and Italians under Petro Gamboa that had served King Henry at Bologne and other Leaders who they thought would be always more sure unto them than English Soldiers in occasions of Religion And so it fell out indeed For the very next year after these Foreign Soldiers did stand the Protector in very good stead when divers Shires of the Realm took Arms for defence of their Religion in the third year of King Edward's Reign as after you shall hear 8. This then was the first Summers work after King Edward's Coronation to wit that the Protector made his Voyage towards Scotland having first sent Commissioners and Preachers as you have heard into all Shires to preach against Images Procession Litanies Pilgrimages Mass praying to Saints And this of his own Authority without and against Law for that no Parliament had yet disannulled the Religion left by King Henry Which thing so much grieved the common Catholic people as they began to exclaim every where against the said Commissioners and one of them called Body was slain in Cornwall for which divers Men were Executed in sundry places of that Shire and a Priest sent up to be Hang'd Drawn and Quarter'd in Smithfield for the terror of others for that he was said by some to have been Accessary to the said Body's death 9. And this was the beginning of planting new Religion in England by Authority of the Protector under a Child-King which Protector notwithstanding for that he mistrusted his home-Doctors as well as his home-Souldiers to be sufficient for so great a Work as the planting of a new Religion he sent over into Germany for divers strange Sectaries of what Religion soever so they were not Catholic But especially he desir'd to have Apostate-Friers that had ty'd themselves to Sisters assuring himself that they would be most pliable to his purpose And so there came into England Martin Bucer a Dominican Frier who unto that day had been an earnest Lutheran and Peter Martyr a Canon-Regular that inclin'd to Zuinglianism but yet came with great indifferency to preach and teach what he should be appointed Bernardinus Ochinus was the third who had been a Franciscan Frier and by taking a Woman had lost all Religion writing a Book de Polygamia for having many Wives at once and died after a Jew 10. These three were distributed into three principal Fountains of the Land London Oxford and Cambridge and with these joyned other of the same Coat and Profession as Coverdale an Augustine Frier Bale a Carmelite and other-like English-men as before we have shewed All which beginning to preach in divers parts of the Land filled mens heads with Novelties and
Britanny And forasmuch as this Church of St Martins was found fit to say Mass and Baptize in according to the use of Rome and for that the Britan Christians were never found to have reprehended or misliked this manner of serving God used by St. Augustin and his Fellows it is an evident Argument that the same was and had been in use also among them from all Antiquity neither was it a novelty brought in by St. Augustin 3. Moreover about the same time of the Romans going out of Britanny or soon after to wit about the year of Christ 440 it appeareth by Bede that the two French Bishops St. German and St. Lupus the first time and St. German and St. Severus the second time came into Britanny to resist the Pelagian Heresie and to reestablish the Catholic Faith that was among them before And so they did as well by working many Miracles as by their Preachings which Bede recounteth at large throughout many Chapters But now that these three holy Bishops the first of Antisiodore in France the second of Troy in Campany the third of Trevers in Germany were all of the Roman Religion and held in all Points of Controversie against the Protestants of our Time both in Doctrin and Practise is evident not only by that the Roman Church doth hold them all three for Canoniz'd Saints and celebrateth their Memories the First upon the 31 of July the Second upon the 29 of the same Month the Third upon the 15 of October which would never be permitted if they had been different in any one Point of Faith but also the same is clear as well by their own Writings that are extant and by their Lives written by others as also by divers things recounted by St. Bede in his Story of their Doings in England as namely where he writeth of St. German how he cured the Tribunes Daughter of Blindness by his Prayer and by applying the Relics of certain Saints unto her Eyes in the sight of all the People Deinde saith he Germanus plenus Spiritu sancto c. Then St. German full of the Holy Ghost did invoke the Name of the Blessed Trinity and presently took from his side a certain Box of Saints Relics that he was wont to carry about his neck and with his hands did put them upon the maids eyes which out of hand received perfect sight therewith Whereat the Parents of the maid rejoyced exceedingly and all the People did tremble at the sight of the miracle c. 4. Thus writeth St. Bede of that Act. And further that the said Bishop went to the Sepulcher of St. Alban which even at that time appeareth to have been kept with great Devotion prayed to the Saint largely and there left in his Sepulcher part of the Relics of all the Apostles and of divers other Saints which he had brought with him out of France and carried away with him in exchange thereof much of the earth that was died with the Blood of St. Alban Which he would not have done if he had been a Protestant And then yet further talking of another famous Miracle and Victory achieved by the said St. German against Heretics with sounding out the word Alleluia St. Bede saith Aderant Quadragesimae venerabiles dies quos religisiores reddebat praesentia sacerdotum c. The venerable days of Lent were come which the presence of these Priests of God made more religious c. 5. Behold here now almost 200 years before St. Augustin came into England the use of Relics of Saints of praying to Martyrs and honoring their Sepulchers the use of Alleluia the Religious Observation of Lent and such other Points recorded to be in practise among the Christian Britans Is this Protestant-like think you or can these men be presumed to have been of our new Religion But let us proceed to talk of some Britan Teachers and Pastors themselves 6. Geffrey of Monmouth in his British Story much esteemed and alledged by our Adversaries writeth that at a certain Feast of Pentecost at Chester about the year of Christ 522. as Bale holdeth King Arthur being present there was a great meeting of Princes Lords and Bishops for his Coronation and that of the three Archbishops of Britanny at that time which were London York and Chester Dubritius Archbishop of Chester did the Office of the Church that day of whom he saith Hic Britannia Primas Apostolicae Sedis Legatus tantâ religione clarebat ut quemcunque languore gravatum orationibus sanaret This Man being Primate of Britanny and Legate of the See Apostolic was so famous for his Religion and Sanctity as he did heal any sick Man by his Prayers 7. Lo here the Popes Legate among the Britans did also Miracles before the coming of St. Augustin And then further talking of the Church Solemnity that day he saith Postremo peract â processione tot organa tot cantus fiunt utrisque templis c. Lastly the Procession being ended there were so many Organs did sound and so great variety of Music heard in both Churches as was wonderful c. Behold Procession and Organs in Britanny before St. Augustin's coming This Man afterwards left of his own will the said Archbishoprick and became an Ermit as both Jeffrey and John Bale do testifie which Protestant Bishops are not wont to do 8. And further Bale writeth of him that he died the 18 day before the Calends of December Anno Domini 522. and that his Body afterward in the year of our Lord 1120 the Sixth of May was translated under Vrban Bishop of Rome to the Church of Landaff in Southwales All which could never have been done nor permitted by the Bishop of Rome if there had been any Suspicion that he had held any Point of Doctrin different from the Church and Faith of Rome at that time which maketh also the matter evident that the Heretical Custom of celebrating Easter according to the Jews which in St. Gregory's time was found in Britanny was a latter custom not held by all but by some few only 9. In this Man's place was made Archbishop the famous Man David Menevensis King Arthurs Unkle as Jeffrey and Bale do testifie who passed the said Archbishoprick from Chester to St. Davids and so it is called at this day of his Name This David saith Bale was a goodly Man of Stature about four cubits high learned and eloquent and after ten whole years Study in the Scripture expounded the same as a Trumpet carrying always the Text of the Gospel with him He extinguished the Relics of the Pelagian Heresies in Britanny preached incessantly cured many sick and built twelve Monasteries and was held for a very great Saint in his days and canonized afterward by Calixtus II. Bishop of Rome c. Per Calixtum secundum saith he Papisticorum deorum ascribitur in Catalogum He was put in the Catalogue of the Papistical Gods by
Infants X. That they should both learn and teach the Lord's Prayer and the Creed in English XI That all should joyn together in their Ministry after one uniform Rite and manner XII That in a modest voice they should sing in the Church XIII That all Holy and Festival-days should be celebrated at one time together XIV That the Sabboth day be reverendly observed and kept XV. That the seven hours Canonical every day be observed XVI That the Rogation-days both the greater and lesser should not be omitted XVII That the Feast of St. Gregory and St. Augustin our Patron should be observed XVIII That the Fast of the four times should be kept and observed XIX That Monks and Nuns should go regularly apparelled XX. That Bishops should see these Decrees not neglected XXI That the Church-men should not give themselves unto Drunkenness XXII That the Communion should not be neglected of the Church-men XXIII Item That the same also should be observed of the Lay men as time required XXIV That Lay-men first should be well tried before they entred into Religious Order XXV That Alms should not be neglected XXVI That Bishops should see these Decrees to be notified to the people XXVII They disputed of the profit of Alms. XXVIII They disputed of the profit of singing Psalms XXIX That the Congregation should be constituted after the ability of their Goods XXX That Monks should not dwell among Lay-men XXXI That public Prayer should be made for Kings and Princes These Decrees and Ordinances being thus among the Bishops concluded Cuthbert the Archbishop sendeth the Copy thereof to Boniface which Boniface otherwise named Wenfride an English-man born was then Archbishop of Mentz and after made a Martyr as the Popish Stories term him 10. Thus far I thought good to set down the Decrees of these two Synods of the first two Ages of our primitive Church in the words themselves of John Fox whereby you might see or at leastwise make some guess of the Learning and Vertue of these times which Fox endeavoreth by all means to bring in contempt Which point I mean of their Learning Piety and Godly Solicitude for governing our new-founded Church of England would more evidently have appeared by these two Synods if this lying Historiographer had not used here also his too Fox like tricks of falsifying and fraudulent omission of other things which he should have related For better understanding of these which he hath here set down I shall speak a word or two of them briefly for it were infinit to follow him in all these traces turnings and windings of his 11. First then touching the former Council or Synod held by Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury and related by St. Bede for of this only will I treat for brevities sake to shew an Example thereby how you may trust John Fox in the rest which he writeth these points may be noted First That whereas he saith that this Synod was held in the year of Christ 680 and quoteth Bede for the same in his Margin he falsifieth him plainly for that Bede's words are these set down at length Fact a est haec Synodus ab Incarnatione Domini sexcentesimo septuagesimo tertio quo anno Rex Cantuariorum Egbertus mense Julio obierat c. This Synod was made in the year after the Incarnation of Christ 673 in which year Egbert King of Kent was dead in the month of July before The same testifieth St. Bede in other words in the very same Chapter saying thus That this Synod was gathered the 24th of September in the third year of the Reign of King Egfrid of Northumberland who began his Reign according to Stow in the year of Christ 670. All which Fox having seen yet setteth down as out of Bede that it was in the year of Christ 680. 12. Secondly Fox writeth thus of the place In the time of this Theodorus a Provincial Synod was held at Thetford mentioned in the Story of Bede But he that will read St. Bede himself shall find these words In loco qui dicitur Herudfrod In a place called Herudfrod that is Hartford as William Cambden doth testifie in his Description of Hartfordshire citing also this very Council out of Bede held at Herudfrod So as I marvel how doting Fox did fall upon Thetford 13. But thirdly there follow more malicious changings and falsifications in citing the Articles themselves of this Synod whereof he scarce relateth any one without some alteration as each man may see that will compare them with the Original of St. Bede himself I shall touch for example the first and the last of the ten for that they have more express malice in them than the rest which I do let pass 14. The first Decree of this Synod was saith Fox That Easter-day should be uniformly kept and observ'd throughout the whole Realm upon one certain day viz. prima 14 Luna Mensis primi that is to say upon the first 14 Moon or day of the Moon of the first Month to wit of March. Which is just as the Jews do observe it against the Use and Custom of the Church of Rome and is an old condemn'd Error and Heresie as before you have heard discuss'd at large in the second third and fourth Chapters of this Treatise And you must note that Fox maketh this Decree to say that this fourteenth Moon or fourteenth day of the first Moon of March for this is the phrase of Ecclesiastical Calculation to say Luna prima Luna secunda Luna tertia for the first second or third day of the Moon must be certain or certainly observed so as it may not be alter'd nor Easter observ'd upon any other day wherein standeth the formality of the former Error as hath been declared for that it putteth a necessity of observing the old Jewish Law and thereby doth evacuate the force of Christ's Grace and Gospel as you have heard before discussed Which being so will you easily believe that the whole Church of England could be brought to decree such an Error in a public Council and that St. Bede in particular would ever relate the same with his approbation seeing he mislik'd the same so greatly in some of the Britans as in the former Chapters of this Treatise we have declared 15. Well then let us see what the words of St. Bede himself are in this Synodical Decree corrupted by Fox Primum Capitulum saith he relating it out of the words of the Canons themselves ut sanctum diem Paschae in communi omnes servemus Dominica post 14 Lunam primi Mensis The first Article of our Decrees saith the Council is that we do all in common observe the holy day of Easter upon the Sunday next after the fourteenth Moon of the first Month. 16. Thus saith the Decree truly related by St. Bede quite contrary to that which Fox related before he putting out and putting in of his own without shame or conscience
to divert these Prophesies from the true Antichrist and apply them to certain Bishops of Rome do beat their heads how to devise out some new Expositions of these numbers never heard or thought of before And namely John Fox more fondly than the rest will have the number of 42 Months to import 294 years that is every Month to signifie seven years or as fantastically he calleth it a Sabbath of Years For proof whereof having neither Authority nor any one Example of Scripture he confirmeth it by a Revelation of his own as after you shall hear 10. His device therefore is That the 1000 years wherein Sathan is said in the Ayocalypse to be ty'd up must begin as you see after the said 294 years of Heathen Persecution were ended So that the loosing out of Sathan against the Church again must fall in the year of Christ 1294 when Bonifacius VIII was chosen Pope or as the Monks Prophesie was upon the year 1260 when Antichrist was born Which is both contrary to that he said before that he was loosed about the year 900 as also that the Popes Gregory VII and Innocentius III. by Sathan's help no doubt overthrew the Church about the year of Christ 1080 or 1215 For if that Sathan was bound and not loosed until the year of Christ 1294 how could he overthrow the Church before 11. Wherefore all these new Interpretations of the words of the Apocalypse are but fantastical devices of wrangling Heretics seeing the ancient Fathers do interpret all these things far otherwise And first they put the binding up of Sathan for 1000 years there mentioned before the other number of 42 Months given to Antichrist to work his will and do say that the said loosing of Sathan began from the very Death and Passion of Christ when the power of Sathan was bound according to the saying of Christ himself in St. John's Gospel drawing near to his Passion Now the Prince of this World shall be cast forth And secondly they do interpret these 1000 Years not to signifie any certain time but generally to signifie all the whole course of time between the death of Christ and the coming of Antichrist three years and a half before the Day of Judgment according to the ordinary phrase of Scripture As for Example Quod mandavit Deus in mille generationes God hath commanded his Precept to be kept for a thousand Generations that is to say to the Worlds end and not for any certain time And again in Job If a Just man should contend with God he cannot answer him one for a thousand 12. This then is the ancient Interpretation of holy Doctors quite contrary to these new fancies of John Fox whose Expositions are both contrary to himself as in part you have seen and opposite to the words and sense of Scripture it self For whereas first these 42 Months importing by his Account 294 years were given to Sathan to work his will against the Saints of God the Scripture saith they were given to the Beast that is to say to Antichrist by the Dragon and not to the Dragon himself And secondly whereas he would needs have the 42 Months to signifie 294 years the Scriptures do expound them by 1260 days which make just three years and a half as hath been said 13. Thirdly Fox shall never find any place or example in Scripture where the word Month either in Greek or Latin doth signifie seven Days Weeks or Years as in Daniel the Greek word Hebdomada doth and may by its proper signification And yet is John Fox so fond and resolute in his device as all other proofs and probabilities failing him he will needs confirm it by a Revelation from God which he recounteth in these words following 14. Because the matter saith he being of no small importance greatly appertaineth unto the public utility of the Church and lest any should misdoubt me herein to follow any private Interpretations of my own I thought good to communicate to the Reader that which hath been imparted unto me in the opening of these Mystical Numbers in the foresaid Book of Revelation contained by occasion as followeth c. 15. As I was in hand with these Histories c. being vexed and turmoiled in spirit about the reckoning of these Numbers and Years it so happened upon a Sunday in the morning lying in my Bed and musing about these Numbers suddenly it was answered to my mind as with a majesty thus saying inwardly within me Thou Fool count these Months by Sabboths as the Weeks of Daniel are counted by Sabboths The Lord I take to witness thus it was Whereupon thus being admonished I began to reckon the 42 Months by Sabboths first of the Months and that would not serve and then by Sabboths of Years and then I began to feel some probable understanding Yet not satisfied herewith eftsoons I repaired to certain Merchants of my acquaintance of whom one is departed a true and faithful Servant of the Lord the other two yet alive and Witnesses hereof to whom the number of these foresaid Months being propounded and examined by Sabboths of Years the whole Sum was found to surmount to 294 years containing the full and just time of the foresaid Persecutions neither more nor less c. 16. And thus you have the Revelation made to John Fox which he saith that he relateth unto us for that we shall not misdoubt the truth thereof nor think that he followeth any private Interpretation of his own but that it came from God immediately And this is the first Dream of John Fox in his Bed. And the second ridiculous point is that he went to three Merchants to confer this Revelation and that they approved the same The third point is open Folly where he saith that this number of 294 containeth the full and just time of the first Persecution of Christians under Pagan Emperours neither more nor less which before hath been confuted and is evident in it self seeing that from Christ to the Victory of Constantine against Maxentius there are assigned by Eusebius 318 years and yet did not this Persecution of Christians cease then neither but continued under Licinius and other Tyrants for divers years after See then how just these Numbers fall out neither more nor less All which being considered I find no one thing so true or credible in all this Revelation as those words of the Spirit unto him saying Thou Fool for that this maketh him a Fool indeed by Revelation And so much of him and of this whole matter of binding and loosing Sathan and Reign of Antichrist Now let us return to the continuation of our Conference with John Fox about his Church 17. The deduction of the Catholic Roman Church from William the Conqueror downward unto John Wickliff's time is no less easie and clear but rather more than the former deduction from Christ to the Conquest for that the Church was now more spread and
up by God for lightening the World and impugning the Church of Rome he leaveth to himself a starting-hole for all necessities when he shall be pressed telling us That albeit in John Wickliff 's Opinions and Assertions some blemishes perhaps may be noted yet such blemishes they be which rather declare him to be a man that might err than which directly did fight against Christ our Savior c. 8. Consider I pray you what a Defence this is Perhaps saith he some blemishes may be noted as tho' the matter were in doubt whether he had any blemishes in his Doctrin or no. Which yet after the Fox is forced to confess and to disclaim them openly And further he addeth full wisely That if he have blemishes or errors in Doctrin they are such as do rather prove that he was a man and might err than that he did directly fight against Christ Mark the manner of his Defence His errors do prove only That he was a man and might err And so I say also of the worst Heretics that their errors and blemishes in Doctrin do prove that they were men and erring men yea wicked men also in that they obstinately defended their own errors And so I say of Wickliff in like manner But mark what followeth Rather than that he did fight directly against Christ Which is as much as to say that it importeth not much tho' he impugned Christ indirectly if directly he did not fight against him And may not any Heretics that ever lived be defended in this sort No Heretics do openly and directly impugn Christ but rather pretend to honor him above others bearing ever the Names not only of Christians but also of the best and most reformed Christians and consequently they never fought directly against Christ but indirectly pretending one thing and doing another 9. After John Fox hath greatly justified Wickliff by divers Leaves of Paper together he cometh to set down 23 of his first Articles condemned by the Church of England at that day and that as Fox confesseth by special chosen Judges gathered together to wit eight Bishops fifteen Religious Learned Men of divers Orders fourteen Doctors and six Batchelors of Divinity all which Fox doth name and contemn And yet these Articles tho' in divers points they concur with Luther Zwinglius and Calvin's Doctrin in these days yet in others they do greatly disagree and Fox I think will not defend them As for Example The fourth Article is That if a Bishop or Priest should give Holy Orders or consecrate the Sacrament of the Altar or minister Baptism whiles he is in mortal sin in were nothing available 10. Will Fox yield to this Article think you For if he do we may call in doubt whether ever he were well baptiz'd and consequently whether he were a Christian seeing it may be doubted whether the Priest that baptiz'd him were in mortal sin or no when he did it And again the ninth Article is That it is against Scripture for any Ecclesiastical Ministers to have any temporal possessions at all This Article if Fox will grant yet his Fellow-Ministers and his Lords the Bishops I presume will hardly yield thereunto but will pretend Scriptures to the contrary against Wickliff Let us see the rest The tenth Article is That no Prelate ought to excommunicate any person except he know him first to be excommunicated by God. The fifteenth is That so long as a man is in deadly sin he is neither Bishop nor Prelate The sixteenth is That Temporal Lords may according to their own wills and discretion take away the Temporal Goods from any Church men whensoever they offend The seventeenth is That Tythes are meer Alms and may be detained by the Parishioners and bestowed where they will at their pleasure 11. These were some of Wickliff's first Articles condemn'd at Oxford about the year of Christ 1380 but after he published many worse And I would here know of John Fox Whether He and his Fellow-Ministers will allow of these Articles or no And if not but that they will have them accounted for his blemishes or errors as Fox calleth them then may we also with better reason account for blemishes and errors his other Propositions wherein he agreeth with the Protestants against Us as I doubt not but that John Fox will account those also wherein he agreeth with Us against Him which are many and far more than the former wherein he joyneth with Him against Us as may be gathered by these few Articles alleged here by Fox himself whereby tho' mingled with much other erroneous Doctrin as you see it is evident that Wickliff held divers Points also of Catholic Religion as Holy Orders Consecration Excommunication distinction of Venial and Mortal Sins and other like For which cause I marvel why John Fox would allege these Articles but only to confound himself and to shew that his holy Patriarch Wickliff is so full of blemishes as scarce any unspotted thing can be found in his Doctrin 12. But this is the beggery of this new Church that it cannot be made up but by such Dunghil-clouts gathered together from under the feet of their Adversaries For albeit Wickliff Husse and other like Sectaries did hold many more Articles with Us against the Protestants than with Them against us yet such is the Integrity Purity Severity yea Majesty of our Church that forasmuch as they agreed not in all and every point of Belief we according to the Creed of Athanasius reject them and as spotted and blemished Rags do cast them out to the Dunghil whom poor Fox gathereth up again with great diligence putting them into his Calendar for Saints and chief Pillers of his new Church and so consequently maketh his Church of our Shoe clouts which how honorable thing it may be esteemed let every man judge For if these Heretics did agree with him in all Points of his Doctrin tho' by joyning with them he should shew himself an Heretic yet they not agreeing but in some Points only and impugning him in the rest it sheweth a marvelous base mind and lack of common sense to make them Pillars of his Church as he doth 13. But there is yet another point worse than this which is that he doth not only allow of the Religion of these men but defendeth also and justifieth their Life and Actions in what case soever and tho' never so orderly and lawfully condemned by the Church or State of those days yea tho' they were convinced to have conspired the King's Murther and Ruin to the State or had broken forth into open War and Hostility against the same As did Sir John Oldcastle by his Wife called Lord Cobham Sir Roger Acton and many other their Followers in the first year of King Henry V. which Story you may read in John Stow truly related out of Thomas Walsingham and other ancient Writers 14. He setteth down also without blushing I mean Fox as well
the Records of the Chancery as the Act of Parliament it self whereby they were condemned of open Treason and confessed Rebellion for which sixty nine were condemned in one day by public Sentence and yet doth the mad fellow take upon him to excuse and defend them all by a long Discourse of many Leaves together scoffing and jesting as well at their Arraignment and Sentence given as also at the Act of Parliament holden at Leicester Anno 2 Hen. 5. cap. 7. and in the year of Christ 1415. And after all he setteth forth in contempt of this public Judgment a great painted Pageant or Picture of those that were hanged for that open Fact of Rebellion in St. Giles's Field in London as of true Saints and Martyrs namely of Sir Roger Acton and others pag. 540. And some Leaves after that again he setteth out another particular Pageant of the several Execution of Sir John Oldcastle with this Title The description of the cruel Martyrdom of Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham And more than this he appointeth unto them their several Festival Days in red Letters which were the days of their Hanging as unto solemn Martyrs The first upon the sixth of January with this Title Sir Roger Acton Knight Martyr And the other upon the fifth of February with this Inscription in his Calendar Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham Martyr Whereby we may see that these men do not measure things as they are in themselves but as they serve to maintain their Faction 15. And it is further to be noted That albeit these two Rebellious Knights Acton and Oldcastle besides all other their convicted Crimes did make public Profession of a far different Faith from John Fox as may be seen by the Confessions and Protestations set down by Fox himself yea and the latter of them also did openly recant all the Errors and Heresies that he had held before yet notwithstanding will not Fox so let them go but perforce will have them to be of his Church whether they will or no. It would be over long to rehearse many Examples some few shall you have for a tast 16. Page 512. Fox setteth down the Protestation of Sir John Oldcastle with this Title The Christian Belief of the Lord Cobham By which Title you may see that he liketh well of his Belief and holdeth it for truly Christian Well mark what followeth When after other Articles about the blessed Trinity and Christ's Deity Sir John Oldcastle cometh to treat of the Sacrament of the Altar he protesteth thus And forasmuch as I am falsly accused of a misbelief in the Sacrament of the Altar I signifie here to all men that this is my Faith concerning that I believe in that Sacrament to be contained very Christ's Body and Blood under the similitudes of Wine and Bread yea the same Body that was conceived of the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary hung on the Cross died and was buried arose the third day from the dead and now is glorified in Heaven This was his Confession and is related here by Fox And will Fox agree to this think you It may be he will for that he saith nothing against it at all in this place 17. But some Leaves after repeating another Testimonial of the said Oldcastle's Belief witnessed by his own Friends concerning this Article he writeth thus Furthermore He believeth that the blessed Sacrament of the Altar is verily and truly Christ's Body in form of Bread. Upon which words Fox maketh this Commentary in the Margin In form of Bread but not without Bread he meaneth Yea John is that his meaning How then standeth this with his former words Vnder the similitudes of Bread and Wine Is the Similitude of Bread true Bread Who seeth not this silly shift of a poor baited Fox that cannot tell whither to turn his head But mark yet a far worse shift 18. Sir John Oldcastle shewing his Belief about three sorts of Men the one of Saints now in Heaven the second in Purgatory the third here Militant upon Earth saith thus The holy Church I believe to be divided into three sorts or companies whereof the first are now in Heaven c. the second sort are in Purgatory abiding the Mercy of God and a full deliverance of pain the third upon Earth c. To this speech of Purgatory Fox thought best left it might disgrace his new Martyr to add this Parenthesis of his own if any such place be in the Scriptures c And by this you may perceive how he proceedeth in all the rest to wit most perfidiously like a Fox in all 19. Furthermore he setteth down at length a very ample and earnest Recantation of the said Sir John Oldcastle taken out of the Records as authentically made as can be devised Wherein he thus protested In Nomine Dei Amen I John Oldcastle denounced detected and convicted of and upon divers Articles savouring Heresie and Error c. I being evil seduced by divers Seditious Preachers have grievously erred heretically persisted blasphemously answered and obstinately rebelled c. And having recounted at length all his former condemned and heretical Opinions he endeth thus Over and besides all this I John Oldcastle utterly forsaking and renouncing all the aforesaid Errors and Heresies and all other like unto them lay my hand here upon this Book and Evangel of God and swear That I shall never more from henceforth hold these aforesaid Heresies nor yet any other like unto them wittingly c. All which Recantation and Abjuration being related at large by John Fox he saith nothing at all against it but only that it was devised by the Bishops without his consent alleging no one Author Witness Writing Record Reason or probable Conjecture for proof thereof but followeth the fond shift before touched by me against the Magdâ—burgenses of him that being accused of heinous Crimes bringeth in first the best Witnesses of all the City to prove the same against himself and then answereth all with only saying that they are Lyars and know not what they say In which kind I cannot omit to allege an Example or two more for your better satisfaction in this behalf 20. This Fox in his Protestation to the Church of England wherein he pretendeth to put the very sum of all his whole Volume being desirous to prove the Antiquity of this his visible Church not only by these Witnesses the Wickliffians Hussites Lollards and other Sectaries of that time above 200 years agone but also by the testimonies of divers Statutes and Acts of Parliaments made against them in England at the same time he citeth sundry Statutes and Acts of Parliament for that purpose and presently discrediteth the same again telling you That you must not believe Them but rather Him and His Words against them all You shall hear him in his own words 21. Let any man saith he peruse the Acts and Statutes of Parliaments passed in this
must prepare me c. And having thus spoken he kneeled down saying to them that were about him I beseech you all to bear me witness that I die in the true Catholic Faith. And then said he the Psalms of Miserere and De Profundis his Pater Noster c. 47. This is Stow's Narration whereby you see first the dishonesty and falshood of the other Chroniclers that leave it quite out and the cozenage of John Fox that only saith it in two or three Lines and lieth most shamefully affirming That he having Promise made unto him that tho' his Head were upon the Block he should have his Pardon if he would recant he consented thereunto Which yet you see the Duke protesteth the contrary upon his Death that it was not for Flattery or hope of Life or upon any Man's Instruction but only upon Conscience first to save his own Soul and then for desire to deliver his natural Country from the Infection of Heresie and Calamities thereon ensuing 48. And thus much of those Men and their Fruits who first planted this Gosael But now as for the Means whereby these things were wrought you have heard them before that they were all commonly by pulling down thrusting out dissolving of Discipline giving immunity from punishments to all sorts of Heretics and of Marriage to loose Priests and Apostate Friers and other like licentious Liberties far different from the purity severity and strictness of Life used by the first Planters of Christ's Gospel And as for the form and fashion of this new Religion set up under this Child-King it was as you have heard both their own Men and ours testifie compounded and patched up of all diversity of Sects and Religions as it pleased the Composers many things they took and retained of ours as well in Doctrin as in Rites and Ceremonies Some things of the Lutherans some others of the Zuinglians some of the Relicks of King Henry's mutation as that of the Supreme Head of the Church a singular Point of Doctrin proper to England above all other Nations But most of this Composition was of their own Inventions which yet neither the Protestants that remained in secret under Queen Mary did wholly allow as appeareth by that which I have cited before of John Rogers's Prophecy nor the other that began again under her Majesty that now is did wholly readmit the form and fashion but made a new one of their own as by their Communion-Book is evident nor do the purer sort of Calvinists in these days any way like or approve the one or the other as before we have shewed 49. Whereupon I may conclude as well this Chapter as also this whole Second Part that neither under King Henry the VIII nor King Edward the VI. nor Queen Mary had John Fox any distinct Church extant or known to the World especially if his Church be the Puritan Congregation as he will seem to signifie in many places of his Acts and Monuments But whether he have any such Church now visible under her Majesty at this day in England and in what state and condition it standeth I will not stand to enquire or discuss but do leave it to my Lords of Lambert and London whom most it concerneth being sufficient for me to have shewed throughout all former Christian Ages that John Fox hath had no Church of any Antiquity and consequently if he he have any now it must be a very young Church and of so tender Age as he may marry her to what Sect or Sectary he listeth for her Youth and that with hope of Brood and Issue And so much of all this matter CHAP. XIII The Conclusion of both these former Parts together with a particular Discourse of the notorious different Proceeding of Catholics and Protestants in searching out the truth of Matters in Controversie BY all that hitherto hath been written and discoursed good Christian Reader about the former Subject of discerning true Christian Religion and the way whereby to know and find the same I do not doubt but that of thy prudence thou hast observed a far different course holden by us that are Catholics and our Adversaries in this behalf we seeking to make matters plain evident easie perspicuous and demonstrable so far as may be even to the Eye it self whereas our Adversaries and namely John Fox according to that which by reading this Treatise you have seen doth altogether the contrary intangling himself and his Reader with such Obscurities Difficulties and Contradictions both about Times Matter and Men as he findeth not where to begin nor where to end nor yet how to go forward or backward in that he had taken in hand which I suppose to have been abundantly shewed by that which hitherto hath been written For whereas we for our parts begin clearly with the very first Corps or Body of Religion Instituted by Christ himself and the first Professors thereof that made a Church or Christian Congregation and do never after leave the same but do deduce it visibly and without interruption from that time to this and thereby do shew the beginning and continuance of one and the same Religion from their days to ours John Fox on the other side knoweth not well either where to begin where to insist or where to end as sufficiently you have seen tried For albeit in the Tile of his Book he tells us that he will bring down his Church from the Apostles time to ours and then after in his Protestation to the Christian Reader he doâ—h tell us farther that his true Church is different from the great visible Roman Church yet in the prosecution of his Work he setteth forth and describeth only the Roman Church as before we have declared and doth not so much as name any distinct visible Church of his own or other except only of such Heretics as himself also condemneth for such different from the said Roman Church for the space of almost 1200 years and then falleth he into such a strange extravagant humor of building a new Church for himself and his out of all sorts and Sects of later Heretics as being not able in all Points for very shame to allow their Opinions which in many Points are most absurd and contradictory both to him and us as also among themselves he findeth himself extremely intangled nor cannot tell which way to wind tho' he be a Fox nor which way to turn his Head but is forced to double hither and thither to go forth and back say and unsay and to cast a hundred shadows of wrangling glosses upon the whole matter thereby to obscure the same to the Eyes and Ears of his Reader 2. And finally it seemeth to me that the difference between us and him and his to wit between Catholics and Protestants in this behalf is not much unlike to that of two Cloth-sellers of London the one a Royal Merchant which layeth open his Wares clearly giveth into your