forth against our Souereigne Lady Queene Elizabeth and yet because they doe most plainelie conuince him of the same horrible crime where of he was condemned I will here set downe the same as it is testified in the booke of execution of Papists for treason and not for religion Facultates concessae PP Roberto Personio Edmundo Campiano pro Anglia die 14. Aprilis 1580. PEtatur à summo domino nostro explicatio Bullae declaratoriae per Pium Quintum contra Elizabetham ei adhaerentes quam Catholici cupiunt intelligi hoc modo vt obliges semper illam haereticos Catholicos verò nullo modo obliget rebus sic siantibus sed tum demum quando publica eiusdem Bullae executio fieri poterit The answere to this and many other faculties by them required is this Has praedictas gratias concessit summus Pontifex patri Roberto Personio Edmundo Campià no in Angliam profecturis die 14. Aprilis 1580. praesente patre Oliuerio Manarco assistente Which is thus much in English Faculties to the two fathers Robert Persons and Edmund Campian for England the. 14. daie of Aprill 1580. LEt it be desired of our most holy Lord the explication of the Bull declaratory made by Pius the fift against Elizabeth and such as doe adhere vnto her which Bull the Catholikes desire to be vnderstood in this manner that the same Bull shall alwaies binde her and the heretikes but the Catholikes it shall by noe meanes binde as matters doe now stande but hereafter when publike execution of that Bull may bee made The highest Pontiff or Pope graunted these fore saide graces to father Robert Persons and Edmund Campian who are now to take their iourneyes into England the 14. day of Aprill 1580. Being present the father Oliuerius Manarcus assistant These things knowne considered it is euident that none but as honest a man as Campian could write that Campian was made away by cruell death without any shew or shadow of particuler crime committed by him against Prince or countrey or that Campian suffering for such horrible treason is a Martyr of Christ or that he and his fellowes died moste constant pure and innocent martyrs of their Lord and Master Iesus Christ. But for that Master Charke in person followed Campian to his execution as a conqueror of his aduersarie with bigge lookes sterne countenance proude wordes and merciles behauiour the author of the Censure was mooued to resume his answere as well for the honour of Christs martyr as for declaration of what value he is in reason learning and weight of argument by writing which is so feirce and violent upon Gods saints in death and torments so pompous in gate and speach vnto the people c. Here are many greeuous accusations but no proofe at all but the common reporte and that of trayterous Papists for no honest man will charge Master Charke with these crimes If he followed Campian it was not to insulte vpon his miserie but to exhort him to repentance What bigge lookes or stearne countenance he could put on in that time and case I cannot conceiue I hope all men that know his face will testifie that he looked then no otherwise then he doth at all times except commiseration of the damnable state of those obstinate traytors and heretikes did cause some tokens of heauines to appeare in his countenance What his proude wordes and mercilesse behauiour was in what pointe he shewed him selfe so feirce and violent vpon those trayterous heretikes in death and torments when you can declare but in three wordes you shall receiue an answere In the meane time you may not thinke that with any reasonable man it is sufficient for you to accuse him of pride in wordes and crueltie in behauiour when you bring no example nor proofe thereof And sure I am what wordes of his soeuer then vsed you may wrest to make a shewe of pride you are hable to alledge no action wherein you may declare his vnmercifulnes feircenes or violence As for his pompous gate and speach which you note in the last place I doubt not but all they which know him do laugh to heare you obiect it to him as also that you note him afterwarde to weare gorgeous apparrell and therein to haue excelled Campian His valew in reasoning learning and weight of arguments in writing what they are and how to be esteemed albeit his friendes know already yet I hope his aduersaries also shall in their conscience acknowledge especiallie after the smoke of your authors cauils be driuen away by the cleare light of trueth As for the disturbance thorough searchers and persecuters that you complaine of which caused your author to breake of in the middest is but a shift of descant For as your author whatsoeuer he be is still hidden so in his hiding place he may goe through if it please him or if he be weary of his enterprise he may take his ease without controlement For the extremitie of the time is not such though you whine neuer so much but if he can abstaine from vndermyning the state he may enioy more rest then an heretike deserueth to haue or then Papists in time and places of their gouernement wil afforde vnto true Catholikes But you saith the setter forth hauing gotten the starte before vs in the fauour of our Prince you follow the same with such vehemency and streightnes as you allow vs no one 〈◊〉 either of curtesie or humanity or of reasonable indifferency First marke how manerly he speaketh of our princes fauour as a matter not bestowed by iudgement but gotten by starte of that party that first steppeth vnto her Secondly how hyporbolically he describeth our vehemency no one iot of curtesie humanitic reasonable indifferencie Why sir who are you with whome we deal so streightly for whome we make search so diligently and punish so extreamely A wholl hundred of Papists and more be daylie in our sight dwell in their houses and suffer not so much as the lest ordinarie punishent which is appointed by law for them which come not to Church They be temporall men you will say Read the booke entituled the execution for treason c. and you shall finde a number of your cleargy men vsed with all curtesie and humanity that maie be shewed to men of a contrary religion It remaineth then that you are some rebeilious Iesuits or seminary priests which are sent hither by the Pope and his Antichristian adhaerents to alienate the princes subiects mindes yea to steal away their hearts from obedience of their Lawfull Soueraigne that you might by such meanes prepare a waie the soner for the publike execution of that blasphemous bul of Pius Quintus And would you wandring about with such intents and practises haue curtesie and gentlenes shewed you And yet when you are apprehended there is no duety of humanity denied you You haue the due triall of law and many times the deserued execution is forborne
the Lordes daie Here you cauill that there is no mention of Saturdaie or sondaie much lesse of celebration of either and least of all of the changeing of the Sabbath into an other daie But if it please your Censurship are you ignorant what day of the weeke is called dies Dominicus the Lordsday whether saturdaie or sondaie if it be sondaie as al professors of Christes name confesse here is as much mention thereof as is needfull for the daie into which the change is made Or if that be not sufficient you maie haue further Act. 20. 7. 1. Cor. 16. 2. And whie is the first of the Sabbath called the Lordes daie but in respect of the celebration there of in honour of the redemption of the world by Christ For otherwise all daies of the weeke are the Lordes daies in respect of their creation Thirdlie seeing the Lordes daie was one daie in the weeke vsed for the assemblie of the Church for their spirituall exercises of Religion it is certaine that the change of the Iewish Sabbath was made into that daie except you would be so waywatd to saie there were two daies in euerie weeke appointed by God to be celebrated whereas the lawe of God requireth but one and giueth libertie of bodelie exercise in sixe daies So that the change of the Sabbath daie is sufficientlie prooued out of the Scripture into the Lordes daie The sixt point is about foure Gospells and the Epistle to the Romanes which Master Charke saith to be prooued out of the scripture but yet he quoteth no place of scripture where onelie he saith the inscription expresseth the names of the writers But what a mocker is this you saie Are the bare names of the Apostles sufficient to prooue that they were written by them who can prooue by scripture that these names are not counterfet as in the Epistle to the Laodiceans in the Gospells of Bartholomew and Thomas c. But abide you sir your question hath two branches the one that the 4. Go spells are true Gospells the other that the epistle to the Romanes was written by Saint Paul and not that to the Laodiceans To the former it is answered that they are prooued by other vndoubted bookes of the scripture both of the olde testament and the new secing they declare that to be fullfilled of Christ which was spoken in the lawe in the Prophetes and in the Psalmes To the other it is answered that admitting the Epistle to the Romanes to be scripture the inscription of his name is sufficient to prooue that it was written by Saint Paull And so of therest Although the name of the writer is not materiall vnto saluation when the booke is receiued to be Canonicall as diuers bookes of scripture are receiued whose writer is vnknowne That Epistle which is called to the Laodicians is not receiued and therefore the inscription is vnsufficient as the Gospelles of Bartholomew and Thomas and such like which are knowne to be countefet by the dissent they haue from the other canonicall scriptures Whereas you require one place of Scripture to prooue all the foure Gospelles to be canonicall you declare your wrangling and wayward spirit But name you anie one point of Doctrine writen in anie of those foure Gospells and the same shall be aduouched by other textes of scripture and so maie eucrie point conteined in them if neede were But you affirme that Origen saith he reiecteth the Gospell of Saint Thomas onelie for that the tradition of the Church receiued it not Which is false He saith he hath read the Gospell after Thomas after Mathias and manie other Sed in his omnibus nihil aliud probamus niss quod Ecclesia idest quatuor tantùm euangelia recipienda But in all these we allowe nothing els but that which the Church alloweth that is that onelie foure Gospells are to be receiued In these wordes he affirmeth that he approoueth the iudgment of the Church he saith not that the iudgement or traditions of the Church was the onelie cause whie he reiected those Gospells for he said before they were receiued of heretikes and wherefore but in maintenance of their heresie which is contrarie to the holie scriptures That all counterfet Go spells were reiected by the Church it is confessed but the Church had this iudgement of discretion confirmed by the canonical scriptures against which Epiphanius saith nothing But when Faustus the Manichie denied the Gospell of Saint Mathew saie you saith not S. Augustine Mathaei Euangelium probatum aduersus Faustum Manichaeum per traditionem The Gospell of Mathew was alleged against Faustus the Manichie by tradition August lib. 28. Cont. Faust. c. 2. If you aske me I saie no he hath no such wordes Yet doth he auouch the Gospell of Saint Mathew in that Chapter by testimonie of the Church from the Apostles by continuall succession euen vnto his time against the Maniches but in far other words then you haue set downe in steed of Saint Augustines wordes by which the reader maie once against perceiue how impudentlie and ignorantlie you ailedge whatsoeuer the note booke which was neuer of your own gatheriug because you vnderstood it not did minister vnto you For these are the wordes of the collector of your notes not of S. Augustine Maie not the papists haue great ioie of such a Cenfure defender Yet you triumph like a Iustie champion and aske what can be more euident then all this to prooue our opinion of the necessitie of tradition to confound the fonde madnes of this poore Minister Alas poore defender what waightie euidencethou hast brought to prooue the necessity of tradition which prooueth thee to be a blind beggerlie yet a bolde brocher of other mens notes which thou vnderstandest not thy selfe The seuenth doctrine which is required to be prooued out of the scripture is that God the father begat his sonne onelie by vnderstanding him-selfe Here Master Charke in steede of these darke wordes out of Thomas how the father begat the sonne wisheth cleare and perfect wordes in so high a mysterie which you saie are plaine and vsuall to those which haue studied any thing in diuinitie As though there were no diuinitie in the holie scriptures and so many of the auncient fathers which haue neither this question nor these wordes but that al diuinity were included in the brest of Thomas Aquinas and such doctors as he was That he quoteth a place or two of the scripture to prooue that Christ was the onelie begotten sonne of God you make smal account of seeing the question is of the māner how this generation maybe which the Church de fendeth against the aduersaries And here you insult against M. chark as ignorant in those high points of diuinitie whereas Catholiks know what the Church hath determined herein against heretikes and infidels as though either of both cared for the Churches determination if the one were not vanquished by scripture the other by right reason
Thus saith he in sense FVLKE This Nicephorus is too late a Greeke writer that we should approoue his iudgement for the necessitie or perpetuall practise of auricular confession Againe there is nothing but a fragment of an Epistle remaining by which we cannot thoroughlie gather what his iudgement was But this is manifest in him that men ought no more to confesse them selues to an vnlearned man then in sicknes to take counsell of one that is ignorant in phisike Againe he saith not as you report that once al men came confessed their sinnes to Bishopes But he gathered vpon the commission graunted to Bishoppes by those wordes which were spoken to Peter whatsoeuer thou shalt binde shal be bound and whatsoeuer thou shalt loose shal be loosed that olim omnes oportehat ad ipsos pontifices accedere suaque illis occulta prodere sic vel reconciliationem vel repudium ferre Ignoro autem quî factum sit cur haec minùs obseruentur quamuis existmem pontifices negocij taedio frequentique 〈◊〉 turbulentia defatigatos id operae ad Monachos transmisisse eos scilicet qui verè probati sint aliisque valeant esse vtiles nihil enim tale inexpertis indoctis permiserunt In times past it behoued all men to come to the bishoppes them selues to vtter their secretes vnto them and so to receiue either reconciliation or refusall But I am ignorant how it is come to passe that these thinges are not obserued although I thinke that the Bishoppes being wearied by the tediousnes of the busines and the often troublesomenes of the multitude haue set ouer that labour to the monkes namelie those that are trulie appooued and are able to be profitable vnto other for to vnexpert and vnlearned men they haue permitted no such thing In this writer there is nothing but his owne collection and coniecture which is not sufficient to 〈◊〉 mens consciences with a necessity of confessing all their secret sinnes to a Bishoppe or Monke and lest of all to an ignorant and vnlearned priest such as are and haue bene the moste rife and readie confessors among the papists ALLEN These therfore and manie other do testifie for their Church in what solemne vse sacramentall confession hath euer beene Wherein we haue the lesse need to stand long seeing the same Historie that our aduersaries doe sometime alledge plainlie reporteth not onelie in the Church of Constantinople but also in the West Churches and namelie at Rome alwaies since Nouatus the Heretikes false opinion touching penance rose a vertuous Priest sadde secret and wise was appointed to heare the sinnes of all men and was called the Pnitentiarie then as he and the like of that office he called yet We call them Confessours and of olde in Greeke they were named Spirituall Masters or Fathers as we now terme them in our Mother tongue Ghostlie Fathers also Quisecundùm vniuscuiusque culpam indicebant mulctans Who saith Sozomenus according to euerie mans fault prescribed due penance Which penance though it were often openlie done by the confessours appointment yet the sinnes were not knowne for which the penance was preseribed For the confession was secret or auricular as we call it now as is plaine by the historie else the Priest of that office should not haue beene charged with secrecie and silence though the confession sometimes was also open where the penitents deuotion or desire so required as it maie be yet For it is no matter for the substance of the sacrament whether it be publike or priuate And it is the condiscending to the peoples weakenesse that that should be so secret generallie which often in olde time hath beene open And yet I think no man was euer compelled by anie precept of the Church to confesse in the publike face of the Church his sinnes that were committed secretlie Though in Leo the greathis daies there was a custome not allowable that men were forced to giue vp a libell openlie of all their sinnes Which rigorous custome the said holie father afterward abrogated Neuerthelesse the penance was of olde often publike the forme whereof appeareth in Saint Ambrose in Tertullian who both haue written seuerall bookes De poenitentia in Saint Augustine in sundrie places and in this present Historie of Sozomenus And long after their daies there were called Poenitentes Penitents which were barred from the holie communion the secrets soueraigne holie of the blessed mysteries of the Masse so long as their prescribed penance indured besides fasting almes and other like penalties inioyed And especially in Lent time there were of these deuout publike penitentes as appeereth by diuerse orders of the seruice in the Church appointed agreeing to them who lightly were separated till the celebrating of the Lords supper passion in the holie daies next before Easter Whereof yet in most Churches there remaineth a small signe by discipline giuen to the people with roddes on the same daies But now these manie yeares the peoples feablenes considered there is no publike penance giuen nor receiued in the Sacrament much lesse open confession made of anie secret crimes the Church being well assured that this auricular confession sullie answereth Christes institution and agreeth also with the often practise of the Primitiue Church herein though the heretikes and some of their faulters as Beatus Rhenanus or who else soeuer wrot the preface that commonlie 〈◊〉 annexed to Tertullian denie the same And truly seeing their wanton pleasure is not to beare secret confession I dare saie they can much lesse awaie with publike penance or confession which is a thousand times more burdenous FVLKE There hath hitherto no ancient writer bin brought to testifie the necessitie of confession of secret sinnes nor that there is anie sacrament whereof such confession should be part The storie before remembred testifieth of the abolishing of such confession in the Church of Constantinople but that there was anie such Priest or confession vsed in the Church of Rome it maketh no mention but onelie sheweth that they which did open penance which was for open offences for which they were excommunicated were enioyned an exercise or triall after the performance whereof they were receiued into the Church againe As you thinke that no man for his sinnes committed secretlie was compelled to make confession in the publike face of the Church so doe I thinke that no man in those auncient and better times was euer compelled to make anie confession open or secret of all his secret faultes committed in thought word and deede The publike penance mentioned in Tertullian Ambrose Augustine was for publike offences The ridiculous discipline giuen with rodds in the popish Church by the verie name therof declareth that it is a mockery of the old discipline no signe of anie sacrament of confession And therfore as yet nothing is brought to prooue auricular confessing of secret sinnes to be a necessary institution of Christ or agreeable with the practise
Luther say that he hath but one sacrament for vs in that mea ning of the word sacrament in which he is charged by the cauiller to alter his opinion so shortlie but in an other meaning neither doth he saie that this one sacrament is haptisme in which I can but wonder at the impudency of this fellow that forgeth this last lie in his owne braine without all colour or shew of Luthers words as though Luther would allow no sacrament of the Church but Baptisme The wordes of Luther are these of the number of sacraments After he hath denied the number of seauen admitted for the present but three namely Baptisme penance the supper all which he affirmeth by the court of Rome to be brought into miserable captiuitie and the Church spoiled of all her libertie he addeth Quanquam si vsu scripturae loqui velim non nisi'vnum sacramentum habeam tria signa sacrament alia de quo latiùs suo tempore Although if I would speake after the vse of scripture I haue but one sacrament and three sacramentall signes whereof more at large in due time This one sacrament whereof he speaketh is the holie mysterie or secret of our redemption or saluation by Iesus Christ of which the other that are commonlie called sacraments are holie and mysticall signes so that herein he changeth no opinion of the thing but onelie speaketh of the diuerse taking of the worde Well yet will our a duersarie replie he alloweth three sacraments so doth the confession of Auspurge Melancthon fowre and Caluine two and all this by onelie scripture I haue shewed before sufficientlie that this question of the number of those signes that maie be called sacraments properlie or vnproperlie generallie or speciallie is not determinable by the holie scriptures because this name of sacrament is not found in them Those holie mysteries which by externall elements do testifie the inuisible grace of God workeing in vs vnto our saluation by regeneration and preseruation are plainlie set forth in the scripture Baptisme and the Lords supper without naming them sacraments which comprehend that whol mysterie of our saluation which Luther calleth the onelie sacrament by the vse of the scripture according to which explication of the word sacrament there are but two so rightlie properlie and speciallie to be termed according to the auncient vsage of the Latine Church and no more acknowledged by anie protestant of sound religion For Luther his enemies shall testifie which were appointed to gather out of his writings whatsoeuer they thought to be erroneous to be obiected against him this is their Censure Negat septem esse sacramenta sed tantùm tria pro tempore ponenda baptismum poenitentiam panem Immo non nisi vnum esse sacramentum tria figna sacramentalia Duo tamen in Ecclesia Dei esse sacramenta baptismum panem He denieth say the collectors that there are seauen sacraments but that three onelie for the time are to be admitted baptisme penance and the breade nay rather that there is but one sacrament and three sacramentall signes neuertheles there are two sacraments in the Church of God baptisme and the bread Luthers iudgement thus appearing by the confestion of his owne aduersaries that as baptisme and the supper are called sacraments there are no more that rightlie and properlie can beare that name The confession of Auspurge and Melancthon which as our answerer saith pretend and professe to follow Luther in all things can haue none other meaning in this matter of the number of the sacraments of the new testament And Melancthon expressely discoursing of the term sacrament sheweth how diuerslie it maie be taken to comprehend two three or fowre And in the last edition of his common places where he answereth the articles of the Bauaricall inquisition he holdeth but two properlie to be called sacraments as Luther before him in his Catechisme the greater and the lesser Wherefore this friuolous cauill is thus easilie discussed to the shame of the cauiller and to the attestation of our consent in the matter and substance of trueth The like brable of wordes he maketh of the title of heade of the Church which Caluine and the Magdeburgeans doe mislike and Caluine in King Henrie found to be Antichristian but Caluines folowers in England do finde by onelie scripure to be moste Christian. Where all the dissention is in the terme which being rightlie vnderstood as by law it hath bene confirmed vnto the Prince conteineth no other authoritie then Caluine and all other professors of the Gospell do acknowledge to pertaine vnto the Christian magistrate and is prooued to be moste Christian not onelie by scripture but also by testimonie of the moste auncient and Catholike Fathers of the Church as it were easie to shew but that it is here no place to decide these controuersies The title of supreme head of the Church graunted to King Henrie Caluine saieth was blaspheomus not as it was vnderstoode of the godlie at that time but as it was applied by Stephen Gardiner who in a conference at Ratisbone cared not much for the testimonies of the scripture but said it was in the Kings power to abrogate decrees and to institute new ceremonies as to appoint daies of fasting abstinence from flesh c. And not staying there he proceeded further to affirme that it was lawfull for the King to forbid mariage vnto Priests to forbid the laie people to drinke of the cup in the Lords supper and generallie to commaund or for bid in his kingdome what he would because he had soueraigne authoritie This authoritie or the title in this sense neither our princes do accept neither doth anie godlie man allow vnto them A third example he bringeth of burning of heretikes wherein he saith The Protestants a greate while by onelie scripture defended against the Catholikes that no heretikes might be burned or put to death whereof large bookes are written on both partes Now they haue found by euident scripture that they maie be burned As though there were not controuersies enow betweene the Papists and the Protestants this man will needes make more as this of putting blasphemous heretikes to death which was neuer denied the scripture of stoning blasphemers false Prophets and Idolaters being so manifest A. nabaptists indeede and such like sectaries are lothe that heretikes should be punished with death But there hath bone long bookes saith he written thereof on both partes If you aske him by whome he biddeth you in the margent looke Eckius in Encher and Luther contra Latom. de incendiariis Would you not thinke this follow had read these treatises for burning of heretikes pro contra whereunto he sendeth vs to iustifie his saying of large bookes written on both partes but in truth he either neuer saw the bookes or els he is the moste impudent forger that euer was heard of for Fckius in his litle booke called Encheridion loco 27. de hereticis Comburendis
Sacerdos qui est secundùin ordinem Melchisedech obtulit sacrificium effecit vt alia sacrificia non essent necessaria cur noui testamenti Sacerdotes mysticam liturgiam seu sacrificium peragunt Scd clarumest iis qui sunt in rebus diuinis eruditi nos non aliud sacrificium offerre sed illius vnius Salutaris memoriam peragere Hoc enim nobis proecepitipse dominus Hoc facite in meam recordationem vt per figurarum contemplationem earum quoe pro nobis susceptoe sunt perpessionum recordemur in benefactorem beneuolentiam couseruemus futurorum bonorum perceptionem expectemus 〈◊〉 therefore the priesthood which is of the law hath receaued an end and the Priest which is after the order of Melchisedech hath offered sacrifice and brought to passe that other sacrifices should not be necessarie why do the Priests of the new testament celebrate a mysticall liturgie or sacrifice But it is cleare to them that are instructed in diuine matters that we do not offer an other sacrifice but do celebrate a remembrance of that one and helthfull sacrifice For this our Lord him seife commaunded vs Doyee this in rememberance of me that by contemplation of the figures we might remember the passions that were suffered for vs and continew good will towards our benefactor and waite for the fruition of good things to come This saying of Theodoretus is a full and large answere in deede to the obiection by him made of the vnproper terme of sacrifice whereby the celebration of the Lords supper was commonlie called in his time but it is nothing fauorable to the Popish sacrifice of the Masse yea rather it sheweth the right vse and end of the sacrament which is an holie memoriall of Christs sacrifice not the same sacrifice it selfe nor anie sacrifice propitiatorie but onelie eucharistical of praise and thankesgiuing The other author to whome our answerer referreth his reader is Saint Augustine Ep. 23. ad Bonifacium who proposeth this doubt saith he how we sacrifice Christ euerie day vpon the altar seeing he is said to be sacrificed once for all vpon the crosse But in deede the question he answereth is how the godfathers in baptisme answere that the infants do beleeue whereas they do neither beleeue in deede and it is vncertaine whether they will beleeue for resolution of which question he bringeth in example of the Lords supper called the bodie of Christ and a sacrifice whereas it is not properlie either of both but a signe sacrament and memoriall of those things so is baptisme called faith and infants said to beleeue when they are baptised his wordes are these often alledged against the Papists Nempe saepe it a loquimur c. Verielie we do often times speake so that when Easter is at hand we saie to morow or the next daie after is the passion of our Lord whereas he hath sufferrd so manie yeares passed before and that passion was suffered but once in all For on the verie Sondaie we saie This daie our Lord arose againe whereas there are so manie yeares passed since he arose againe Whie is no man so foolish that would charge vs to haue lied when we speak after this manner but because we name these daies according to the similitude of those daies in which these thinges were done So that the daie is called the same which is not the same but in reuolution of time like vnto it and the thing is saide to be done on that daie for the celebration of the Sacrament which is not done that daie but was done long before was not Christ once offered in him-selfe and yes in the sacrament not onelie in euerie solemnitie of Easter but euery daie he is offered for the people neither doth he make a lye which being asked the question shall answere that he is offered for if Sacraments had not a certaine similitude of those things where of they are sacraments they should be no sacraments at all And of this similitude for the moste part they take the names euen of the things them-selues Therefore euen as after a certaine manner the sacrament of the bodie of Christ is the bodie of Christ the sacrament of the blood of Christ is the blood of Christ so the sacrament of faith is faith And to beleeue is nothing els but to haue faith And by this when it is answered that the child beleeueth which as yet hath not the effect of faith it is answered that he hathfaith because of the sacrament of faith to conuert him-selfe to God because of the sacrament ofconuersion because the answere it selfe perteineth to the celebration of the sacrament As the apostle of baptisme it selfe saith we are buried with Christ by baptisme vnto death He saith not we signifie his buriall but plainlie we are buried with him Wherefore he called the sacrament of so great a matter by none other name then of the verie thing it selfe This answer of Saint Augustine how full and large it is in that sense the Papists defend their sacrifice of the Masse or rather how directlie contrarie to the same I referre to the iudgement of anie indifferent reader that with anie conscience will consider it Neither hath Eusebius Demonstr Eua. lib. 1. cap. 6 or 10. nor Theophilact although a late writer in cap. 5. ad Heb. anie thing that maie vpholde the Popish propitiatorie sacrifice of the Masse Eusebius verilie hath these wordes to cleare him both of the heresie of transsubstantiation and of the masking sacrifice after he hath spoken of the dignitie and sufficiencie of the sacrifice of Christs passion Hauing receaued to celebrate the remembrance of this sacrifice at the table by the tokens or signes of his bodie and healthfull blood according to the rites of the new testament we are againe instructed by the Prophet Dauid to saie Thou hast prepared a table in my sight against mine enemies c. By which words it is manifest that Eusebius acknowledged no sacrifice of the naturall bodie and blood of Christ in the sacrament but a memorie of that onelie sacrifice celebrated in the symbols or tokens of his bodie and blood Likewise in the exposition of the prophecie of Malachy he saith That God by the voice of the Prophet hauing refused the sacrifices after Moses doth by oracle declare what should be done of vs saying For from the rising of the sunne vnto the going downe of the same my name is glorified among the gentiles and in euerie place incense is offered to my name and a pure sacrifice wherefore we sacrifice to god that is aboue all the sacrifice of praise we sacrifice a diuine reuerent and holie sacrifice we sacrifice after a new manner according to the new testament a pure sacrifice and the sacrifice to God is said to be a broken spirit for a contrite and humbled heart God will not dispise and we doe burne also the propheticall incense offering to him the sweete smelling fruite of the moste excellent
abstinence and fasting he did beare in his bodie the markes of Christ by suffering imprisonment stoning whipping not of his owne hand but of the persecutors of the Gospell As for mortifying our members and crucifying our flesh be higher matters then any voluntarie exercise and extend much farther in ouercomming our whol corrupted nature which it seemeth you little knowe or practise for al your whipping and tormenting of your selues by your comparing of them to exercises of bodelie chastisement Moreouer the seuerity of S. Iohn Baptists life and of other Saintes of the new Testament the olde mencioned in the scripture fauoreth not your superstitious whippings For albeit they did willinglie sometime abstaine from pleasures that are lawful were tormented by other yet none of them was a tormentor of himselfe And as for the great store of examples that you promise the reader in one Chapter of Marcus Marulus lib. 3. cap. 10. of Saintes chastizing their bodies with whippes there is in deed some store of examples of voluntarie not onelie chastening but also tormenting of the bodie but we haue smal warrant either that they were all Saintes or that anie Saintes in such examples of tormenting their bodies pleased God yet is there verie fewe examples of them that whipped them selues The first is of Frauncis the father of graie friers which being assaulted with the thoughtes of marriage being angrie with him selfe therefore did beat him-selfe verie hardlie with the corde wherewith he was girded But when stripes litle preuailed he tumbled him-selfe naked a great while in the deepe snow and afterward binding to his wholl bodie the shapes of men made of snow he spake vnto him-selfe by the waie of rebuking and said loe Francis here is thy wife loe here be thy children either cloath them that they be not so frozen for colde or els forsake al things and serue the Lord onelie So saith your author at length he tamed the wantonnes of his flesh with whipps and quenched the burning fire of lustes by embracing colde snow with his naked breaste But the holy ghost wiser then Francis prescribeth marriage which he did fight against and not Images of snow which he embraced to be a remedie to quench burning Iust. I. Cor. 7. But of whippers there are three more examples Elizabet anunne of Comagie whipped her selfe certaine houres euerie daie Maria Decegnies that was married against her will by often praiers fasting and whipping of her-selfe mooued her husband to vow chastitie with her where your author saith Naufragium c. she had made shipwrack of virginitie being committed to the waues of Matrimonie but while she leaneth to the board of fasting praier chastisment vnhurt and vntouched she swamme out vnto the hauen of saluation But the holie ghost giueth an other rule to them that be married that the wife be not separated from her husband except it be for a time of fasting and praier and then to returne againe together lest Sathan tempt them through incontinencie and that they which are maried should not seeke to be loosed 1. Cor. 7. ver 10. 5. 27. Beside these there is a Dukes wife of Thuringia called Helizabeth that commaunded her maides to whippe her in her priuie Chamber and these are the goodlie examples of Saintes that vsed whipping of them-selues Manie of the rest are wearing of haireclothes as Thomas Becket Maiorus Bishop of Sarina I wot not where in the I le of Britanie Medericus Eduensis Abbas Lewes the 5. King of Fraunce Cecilia and Radegundis wife of Clotharius King of Fraunce vntill she had obtained the dissolution of the band of marriage by binding her-selfe to chastitie agreeable to the doctrine of the Apostle 1. Cor. 7. as well as white and black resemble each other Edmunde of Canterburie ware a coote of maile wouen with leade Macharius Abbat of Alexandria bare on his shoulders a sacke full of sand A Monke in Saint Hierome being commaunded by his elder caried a great stone eight yeares together twise in the daie by the space almost of fiue miles Hierome to Eustochium testifyeth that he cried often day and night together and ceased not beating of his brest vntill by the Lords rebuking quietnes returned An example more meete to be followed of them that seeke the like cause then any we haue had yet which is confirmed by authoritie of the Scripture Psal. 22. Psal. 32. and 42. Bonifacius Archbishop of the nether Missia ryding barefoot in winter his feete were frozen to the stirop and thowed with hotte water Hospitius Monke of Nuceria vsed an Iron girdle Philoramus a Priest liued enclosed in a stonie denne being bound hand and foot with iron bandes and the last daie of his life confessed if you will beleeue the storie that he omitted no moment of time in which he thought not somewhat of God he had beene better occupied to haue attended on the flocke of the Church whereof he was a Priest or elder Martin a Monke of Massick in Campania had bound his foote in a chaine fastened to a rock but being bidden by the Abbat Benet to beware that the iron chaine did not holde him there more then the chaine of Christ he vnloosed the bandes but would neuer departe further Iohn a Monke stood three yeares vnder a hollow rock of a mountain that his leggs thereby swelled and broke into vlcers Pacomius an Abbat walked barefoot thorough the brambles and thornes and returned into his celle with his feete all bloodie Simeon a Monke tooke a rope from a bucket and wound it about his bodie vntill his flesh were eaten with it and putrified till stinke betrayed the secret then the rope beeing loosed he was expulsed out of the Abbey for his follie but afterward being sought for by his Abbat which was troubled with terrours in the night he was found in a drie pitte in the desart and brought back againe Last of al Sara an Abbesse in Scithia by the space of 60. yeares would neuer looke out at a window to beholde the water that ranne by or the pleasant meddow I praie God she were not worsse occupied within then she might haue beene in beholding Gods creatures a broad And these except Saint Paules chastening of his bodie which he nameth first are all the store of worthie examples gathered as you saie out of all antiquitie and yet Paull being the first Thomas Becket is the next and although there be some of greater antiquitie yet out of all antiquitie you would not haue said if you had read the Chapter your selfe except you care not what you saie You adde further that Saint Hierome testifieth of himselfe by an occasion giuen to a secret friend of his that his skinne was well neere as blacke with punnishment as the skinne of an Ethiopian Epist. 22. ad Eustochium And that Iohannes Cassianus that liued about the same time hath infinite examples of the practize of the fathers in this point Saint Hierome in deede writing to
acceptus est quemadmodum paulò pòst dicemus omnibus sacrarum literarum candidatis qui adhue nonnihil propter parabolae obstacula haerebant omnem nebulam discussit c. There remained yet not the lest endeuour namelie that we should bring forth examples which wereioined with no parable Therefore we began to thinke of all that we could to vnfolde all that we could but yet none other example came to minde but that is set forth in our commentarie or els whatsoeuer came to minde was like vnto those examples But when the 13. daie drew neere I tell the trueth that so true that though I would conceale it my conscience compelleth me to vtter that which the Lord bestowed vpon me being not ignorant to how great reproches and scornes I lay forth my selfe when I say the 13. daie of Aprill drew neere me thought as I was a sleepe that with great tediousnes I was againe disputing with the scribe my aduersarie that my mouth was so stopped that my tongue denying her office I was not able to speake out that which I knew to be true which trouble as dreames are wont sometimes to mocke men in the deceitfull night for here I declare no higher matter then a dreame as cōcerning my selfe although it is no light matter that I learned by this dreame thankes be to God to whose onelie glorie I vtter these thinges which vexation I saie seemed to trouble me vehementlie Then sodainlie there seemed an admonisher to be present with me whether he were blacke or white I do not at all remember for I tell a dreame which said why dost thou not thou coward answere him that which is written Exod. 12. For it is the paschall which is the passeouer of the Lord. Immediatlie as this sight appeered I awoke withall and leapt out of my bed And first I considered the place in the Seauentie Interpreters on euerie side and thereof before the wholl congregation I preached as well as I could Which sermon when it was heard as soone after we shall declare draue awaie all mist or want of vnderstanding from all those that were studentes in the holie Scriptures which vnto that time did somewhat doubt because of the obiection of the parable Thus farre Zuinglius by whose wordes you may easelie perceiue what proofes he receiued of his Doctrine of the Sacrament of a spirit by night as our defender saieth when he sheweth onelie that he was admonished by Gods prouidence in a dreame ofthat example Exod. 12. in which the trope or figure is manifest being also in the doctrine institution of a sacrament whereunto the Lords supper doth most properly answere which is vsed in the words of the Lords supper this is my body without anie such parable as was obiected vnto him in the other examples Where he saith that he remembreth not whether the aduertiser were white or blacke he meaneth no more as all men that know the prouerbe must confesse but that he remembreth not what he was whether knowne to him or vnknowne of whom he dreamed that he receiued that example The same prouerbe he vseth not long before in the same discourse of him that disputed against him who whether he was white or blacke that is what manner of man he was he would not describe Surius quarelleth against him that he would attribute so much to a dreame when otherwise he will admit nothing but holie scriptures whereas euerie reasonable man may see that he admitteth no Doctrine vpon the bare credit of a dreame or of the admonisher were he whit or blacke but is onelie put in minde by a dreame of a place of holie Scripture that serued to stoppe his aduersaries mouth and to remooue all doubt from them that were nouices in the studie of the scripture And this is a thing that manie times commeth to passe that a man which earnestlie studieth of anie matter shall in his dreame be admonished of some better waie then he could thinke of waking Which when he hath considered to be the best for anie good purpose he neede not to doubt but that it came vnto him by the prouidence of God without being afraide to follow it because he thought of it first in a dreame What Luther thought of Zuinglius it skilleth not seeing as he was stiffe in his error of the carnall manner of presence so he was apt both to thinke and speake worse then the trueth was of all them that held the contrarie The last two were Caluine and Beza of whome it is needles to saie anie more then hath alreadie beene setforth in their defense in print these two yeares with out replie of anie papist Although God be praised the Church of England dependeth neither vpon these not vpon other men further then they were faithfull interpreters of the worde of God according to which our faith is framed and not after the decrees of men Concerning the death of Martine Bucer welknown in England whome the papists abroad as they doe of the rest imagine to haue died a foule death our defender quarrelleth with Master Charke for belying of Lindan and charging him to saie that Lindan auoucheth it where he onelie reporteth as he hearde of certaine worshipfull Marchants of Colene But in trueth Master Charke saieth not that Lindan doth auouch it but onlie that by vttering his false reports he maketh Bucers death as horrible and monstrous as may be suspected Pontacus the popish historian vttereth a like report as the defender confesseth that he died a Iew denying the Messias Surius addeth another tale that he circumcised his sonne begotten of I know not what woman Thus these lying papists heape lies vpon lies and when they haue neither sufficient author nor probabilitie of trueth to beare them out then certaine worshipfull Marchauntes then a certaine graue and most excellent learned man then some of Bucers owne disciples are the reportes vnder which cloake it is an easie matter to forge anie slaunder and turne ouer the enuie of it to the man in the moone in the meane time to burthen men with suspicion of infamie among credulous persons where no proofe of their false accusations can be demaunded and obtained Touching Bucers inconstancie The defender out of Surius and other of that stampe gathereth manie thinges peruerting to vnstedfastnes of iudgement what soeuer Bucer did saie laboring to make vnitie betweene Luther and Zuinglius Charging him also to recant the article of the baptisme of infants to be vnnecessarie as he had written before vpon the third Chapter of Saint Mathewes Gospell and vpon the 26. of Mathew to aske pardon of God and of the Church for that he deceiued so manie with the heresie of Zuinglius as he calleth it Both which matters are meere forgeries for in those commentaries vpon that Gospell which we haue seene there is no such matter Finallie where he affirmeth that Caluine differed from Zuinglius which Master Fulke in all his writings most impudentlie denieth he
see no reason to refuse it But if you will learne reason when it is shewed you maie see more then you do now Are your ancetors of the primitiue Church greater then Saint Paull Is there anie testimonié of man greater then the witnes of an Angell from heauen yet if Saint Paull him selfe or an Angell from heauen should preach an other Gospell then Saint Paull had preached and is contained in the holi scriptures that false Gospell were to be resused and the author thereof to be accursed Now that Saint Paull preached nothing beside the doctrine conteined in the scriptures he is a sufficient witnes himselfe Act. 26. 22. But why see you no reason to refuse such traditions so obtruded Forsooth because the same men that deliuered vnto you the scriptures and saide this is Gods writen worde and saide of other forged scriptures this is not Gods written worde the same deliuered to you these doctrines saying this is Gods wordes vnwritten So that by this reason you haue no other foundation of your faith but the testimonie of men who as they may speake the truth in one matter so they may lie or be deceiued in an other As euen by your owne reason the Grecians the Armenians the Georgians the Moscouites and all other sectaries are bound to beleeue all that to be the word of God vnwritten which the same men affirme to be such that deliuered the canonicall scriptures to them and said it was the word of God written But in steade of this vnsure and sandie ground the children of God haue a more firme rocke to builde their faith vpon namelie the spirit of trueth sealing in their heartes the testimonie of men concerning the truth of Gods worde written In which the same spirit also testifieth of the sufficiencie of the word written vnto saluation in such sort as if we receiue the word written for truth we must needs condemne for false what word soeuer speaketh either the contrarie or addeth any thing as wanting and not set forth in the word written And this I say not as though the primitiue Church or the godlie fathers of the same haue brought in any thing vnder the name of tradition of Christ or his Apostles as necessarie to saluation although some of them in matters of rites ceremonies haue alledged tradition beside the scriptures yet in such things as are now for the most part abolished either because they were not deliuered by the Apostles as it was pretended or els because such matters are mutable and not perpetuall though they were receiued from the Apostles But let vs examine the examples that you ioyne to your reason First Saint Augustine and Origen doe teach vs that baptizing of infantes is to be practized in the Church onelie by tradition of the Apostles For which you quote August lib. 10. ad gen lit cap. 23. Origen in cap. 6. Epist. ad Rom. What Saint Augustine saieth and how the baptisme of infantes is practized by authoritie of the scripture I haue shewed before sect 11. As for Origen in the place quoted hath neuer a word to any such matter But of these impudent allegations we haue had too many examples alreadie The second example is Saint Hierome and Epiphanius tell vs that the faste of the lent and oher the like is a tradition of the Apostles Hierom. Epist. 54. ad Marcella Epiphann Haer. 7. 5. Hieromes wordes are these against the Montanistes Nos vnam quadragesimam secundùm traditionem Apostolorum toto anno tempore nobis congruo ieiunamus 〈◊〉 tres in anno faciunt quadragesimas quasi tres passi sunt saluatores non quòd per totum annum excepta pentecoste ieiunare non liceat sed quòd aliud sit necessitate aliud voluntate munus offerre We fast one lent or fourtie daies according to the tradition of the Apostles in the wholl yeare in a time conuenient for vs they make three lentes or fourtie daies fast in a yeare as though three sauiours had sussered not but that it is lawfull all the yeare long except in the pentecostor fiftie daies but that it is one thing to offer a gift of necessitie an other thing to doe it of free will Here Hierome saith that one fourtie daies fast is of the tradition of the Apostles but other writers say otherwise For Damasus in his Pontificall saieth that Telesphorus Bishope of Roome did institute this seauen weekes faste before Easter Telesphorus him-selfe in his decretall Epistle saith that he and his fellow Bishoppes gathered in a Councell at Roome did ordeine this fourtie daies faste onelie for clerkes and contendeth in manie wordes that there must be a difference betweene clerkes and laie men as well in faste as in other thinges If you saie these authorities are counterfet 〈◊〉 as I thin 〈◊〉 you may truelie though you will not willinglie yet what saie you to 〈◊〉 an elder witnes then Hierome whoe testifieth out of yeares that two hundered 〈◊〉 before his time there was great controuersie betweene the next successours of the Apostles concerning the daie of the celebration of Easter and that the coutrouersie was not onelie of the daie but also of the fast some fasting one daie some two dates some more So that of the Apostles tradition we haue no certaintie in any monument of antiquitie Againe it is to be noted that Hierome holdeth it vnlawfull to faste betweene Easter and Whitesontyde which he calleth Peatecoste by the same tradition of the Apostles which yet in the Popish Church is not obserued at this daie for beside the fridaie fast they haue also the gang weeke fast in that time which in Saint Hieromes age was accounted vnlawfull to fast in Your other witnes Epiphanius speaketh not of your fourtie daies lent but of a shorter and yet a streighter For these are his wordes Aquo verò non assensum est in omnibus orbis terrarum regionibus quòd quarta prosabbato ieiunium est in Ecclesia ordinatum Siverò etiam oportet constitutionem Apostolorum proferre quomodo illic decreuerunt quarta prosabbato ieiunium per omnia excepta pentecoste de sex dieb paschatis quomodo praecipiunt nihil omnino accipere quà m panem salem aquam qualemque diem agere quomodo dimittere in illucescentem dominicam manifestum est And of whome is it not agreed in all regions of the world that one wednesdaie and fridaie fast is ordeined in the Church But if we must also bring forth the constitution of the Apostles how they haue there decreed one the wednesdaie and fridaie a fast thoroughout all except pentecost and of the six daies of Easter how they commaund to take nothing at all but bread and salte and water and how to spend the daie and how to giue ouer against the dawning of the Lords daie it is manifest Here he speaketh but ofsixe daies before Easter daie and of an other manner of diet then the Popish Church holdeth to be necessarie
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euerie man that hath but small knowledge in the tongue doth know to signifie and require a mutual confession aswell as a mutuall praier of one man for another But yet let vs examine what your authorities doe containe First Origen in the place by you cited speaketh not a word of this text confesse your offences one to another but only of the two verses going before For making seauen meanes of remitting of sinnes after his corrupt vnpure manner of teaching By baptisme by martyrdome by almes by forgiueing one another by conuerting of sinners by aboundance of charitie he addeth the seauenth in these wordes Est adhuc septima licet dura laboriosa perpaenitentiam remissio peccatorum cum lauat peccator in lachrimis stratum suum fiunt ei lachrima suae pánes die nocte Et cùm non erubescit sacerdoti Domini indicare peccatum suum quaerere medicinam secundùm eum qui ait Dixi pronunciabo aduersum me iniustitiam meam Domino tu remisisti impietatem cordis mei in quo impletur illud quod Apostolus dicit si quis autem insirmatur vocet Presbyteror Ecclesiae imponant ei manus vngentes eum oleo in nomine Domini oratio fidei saluabit 〈◊〉 si in peccatis fuerit remittentur ei There remaineth yet the seauenth kinde of remission of sins although it be verie harde and painfull by repentance When the sinner washeth his bed in teares and his teares are made vnto him breade daie and night and when he is not ashamed to declare his sinne to the Priest of the Lorde and to seeke medicine acording to him which saith I haue said I will pronounce against my selfe my owne vnrighteousnes vnto the Lord and thou hast forgiuen me the vngodlines of my heart In which also that is fullfilled which the Apostle saith if anie man be diseasedl et him call the Elders of the Church let them lay hands vpon him anoynting him with oile in the name of the Lord and the praier of faith shall saue the diseased and if he shal be in sinnes they shal be forgiuen vnto him Thus much writeth Origen Now it is to be vnderstood that after his manner he alligorizeth vpon the sacrifices of the lawe comparing these meanes of remission to them And lest you should thinke that by declaring of sinne to the Priest of the Lord he doth meane confession to a popish priest he himselfe expoundeth before whom he meaneth by this Priest In morali loco potest pontisex isse esse sensus pietatis religionis videri qui in nobis per orationem obsecrationes quas Deo fundimus velut quodam sacerdotio fungitur In morall place this high Priest may seeme to be the sense of godlines religion which within vs by praiers and supplications which we powre forth to God exerciseth as it were a certaine priesthood And so likewise he taketh the place of Saint Iames alligoricallie as his application of the seauenth waie of remission vnto the Iudaicall sacrifice doth declare Si autem in amaritudine fletus fueris luctu lachrimis lamentatione confect us si carnem tuam maceraueris 〈◊〉 ac multa abstinentia aridam feceris dixeris quia sicut frixorium confrixa sunt ossa mea tunc sacrificium similam à sartagine vel à craticula obiulisse te 〈◊〉 But if thou hast bene in the bitternes of weeping consumed with sorowe teares and lamentation if thou hast afflicted thy slesh and made it drie with fasting and much abstinence and said my bones are fried as a frying pane or a fire thing then knowe that thou hast offered in sacrifice flower of the frying panne or of the gredeyorn Origen therefore giueth a colour in words but no substance in matter vnto this popish confession Concerning the opinion and authoritie of Bede touching this matter I haue spoken before but by the circumstance of the letter you saie it may well appeere that the Apostle speaketh of sacramentall confession to be made to gods priests How so I praie you forsooth Because he had there willed them to send for the Priestes of the Church to anoynt them and streight after addeth this text of confession and praying ouer the sicke A simple reason god wot because priests were spoken of in an other matter therefore none but priests may be vnderstoode in that which followeth nay rather the circumstances make against auricular confession and popish anointing also For what needes more priests then one to be sent for to other of those popish purposes or what papist sendeth for more although there be neuer so manie priests in the Church But the companie of elders in the primitiue Church being chosen of the moste replenished with heauenly graces that were in the congregatiō both for the gift of healing for praier to be made ouer the sick man were most conuenient to be sent for But it is in vaine by couller of anie circumstances to restraine the confession to priestes when the verie wordes of the letter as you call the text doe make it generall and mutual and therefore here was no cause for Luther to denie the authoritie of the epistle or for anie other to corrupt the text But where you count it a corruption to writ in stead of send for the priestes of the Church this call for the Elders of the congregation you doe either abuse the ignorant of willfull malice to make them thinke the sounde of words being changed the sense is anie thing altered or else you ignorantlie quarell about the translation which is word for word out of the originall greeke into English as no man meanelie learned in that tongue can doubt It is not the sounde of the wordes you rehearse that troubleth vs for we both like and vse them in their right sense our selues but it sufficeth you to haue an accidentall sounde when you cannot sinde a substantiall reason of your popish ceremonies and sacraments in the holie scriptures ALLEN But that thou maiest see good Christian reader the necessity of confession the better and that it is not growne to such a generall practize and opinion of necessitie vpon anie charge giuen by man or positiue lawes marke well with me that it dependeth directlie vpon Christes owne wordes whose sinnes you doe forgiue they be forgiuen and whose sinnes you doe retaine they be retained And therefore sacramentall confession to be of Christes institution For if Christ gaue power to Priestes to forgiue or retaine mens sinnes then there must needes be some subiect to their power iudgement else in vaine were so long a confession of binding and lossing mens sinnes if the right of the power did not necessarilie charge all men that haue such sinnes to be subiect to their binding and loosing Therefore this is a cleare case that in the verie 〈◊〉 wordes that the power was deliuered vnto them the bond of obedience was also perscribed
Christes owne person Which prouing and iudging of mans selfe to be meant by the diligent dif cussing of our consciences sinnes and misdeedes by contrition and confession of them to our ghostlie Father the practise of the Church doth most plainlie prooue which neuer suffered any greeuous sinner to communicat before he had called him selfe to a reckning of his sinnes before the minister of God and so iudged him selfe that he receiue not to his damnation that which to euery worthy person is his life and saluation Whereof S. Augustine or the authour of the booke de Ecclesiasticis dogmatibus set forth with his name giueth vs good notice for his time Quem mortalia crimina post Baptismum commissa premunt hortor priùs publica poenitentia satisfacere ita sacerdotis iudicio reconciliatum communioni sociari si vult non ad iudicium condemnationem sui Eucharistiam percipere sed secreta satisfactione solui mortalia crimina non negamus I exhorte euerie man saith this holie doctour that is burdened after his baptisme with mortall sinne to satisfie for the same by publique penance and to be reconciled by the priests iudgement to be restored to the communion of saints if he meane to receiue the holy Sacrament not to his iudgement and condemnation And I denie not in this case but deadly sinnes may be remitted by secret satisfaction Thus he By whose wordes you see in what a damnahle state men now of daies stand seeing that whosoeuer receiueth the sacrament of Christes bodie and blood before he be reconciled by a priestes sentence and assoiled of his sinnes he doth receiue it to his euerlasting damnation Vnto whose iudgement I ioyne Saint Cyprian in this same matter complainig verie earnestly vpon certaine Conuersies in his daies that would aduenture vpon Christes bodie and blood ante exomologesim factam criminis ante purgatam conscientiam sacrificio manu sacerdotis Before their sinnes be confessed and their consciences purged by sacrifice and the Priests hand Al these thinges might be at large declared and confirmed farther by the iudgement of mostauncient Fathers but because I haue bene verie long and enough alreadie maie seeme to be said for such as by reason will be satisfied a great deale more then anie Protestant will answere vnto and also the scriptures them selues giuing the Priest so plaine power of binding and retaining as wel as of remitting and loosing will do more with these that haue charged themselues with the beleefe of nothing that is not in expresse writing of Gods word then the vniforme consent of all ages and the moste notable persons in the same In respect of their humor therefore I will not saie much more for this point then I haue said onely my meaning now is for the Catholikes comfort to repeat a few such euident sentences out of moste authentique authors by whom we take a 〈◊〉 not onely of their meaninges which is much for the matter but especiallie of the Churches practise in all ages and moste countries christened since the Apostles time which I account the moste surest waie to touch trie truth by that by the example of al our forefathers euery man may willingly learne to submit him selfe to the sentence of such as God hath made the iudges of his soule and sinnes FVLKE Yf Saint Poul had meant Popish shrift he could and would haue said Submit your selues to the examination iudgement of the Priest and not as he hath said Let a man trie him selfe Iudge your selues brèthren Yf auricular confession be necessarie vnder paine of damnation for euerie one that receiueth the sacrament of Christes bodie and bloode immediately before it many thousandes of your priests which saie masse euerie daie without shriuing themselues are in a damnable case I or there passeth no day of mans life without some deadelie sinne if not in deede not word yet at the least in thought but that you popish hypocrites by your distinction of veniall sinnes flatter your selues to be cleare when you are moste foull and filthie but the perpetuall practize of the Church you saie prooueth the necessitie of auricular confession whereof you take witnes the author of the booke de Ecclesiasticis dogmatibus for his time which you doe honestly not to father vpon Saint Augustine being a man of much later time lesse learning and more corruption of doctrine but you do fraudulentlie cut of his saying in the waste because that which followeth declareth plainlie that either he meaneth not of mortall sinnes as the Popish Church now doth holde or else his opinion for secret satisfaction is farre differing from that you would haue men weene that he meaneth namely such as you vse to inioine in your confession fiue Ladies Psalters fiue fridaies fast fiue pence groates or shillings to so many poore men in remembrance of the 5. wounds and such like stuffe but these authors wordes require another manner of satisfaction Sed secreta satisfactione solui mortalia crimina non negamus sed mutato prius secularihabitu confesso religionis studio per vitae correctionem iugi immò perpetuo luctu miserante Deo it a duntaxat vt contraria pro his quae poenitet 〈◊〉 eucharistiam omnibus dominic is diebus supplex submissus vsque ad mortem percipiat Poenitentia vera est penitenda non admittere admissa deflere Satisfactio paenitentiae est causas peccatorum excidere nec eorum suggestionibus aditum indulgere But also that by secret satisfaction mortall crimes may be loosed we doe not denie but so that the secular habite be first changed and the studie of religion confessed by amendment of life and by continuall yea perpetuall sorow God being mercifull so onelie that he doe the contrarie things to those for which he doth penance and humblie and lowlie receiue the Euchariste euerie sondaie to his dying day It is true repentance not to committe things to be repented and to bewaile such as are committed The satisfaction of repentance is to cut of the causes of sinnes and to yeald no entrie vnto their suggestions Wherefore it is plaine that in this writers time there was no auricular confession but an open confession and publike penance for open and hainous offences and that none was admitted to secret satisfaction except he changed his habite became a Monke performed other conditions by him required by which it is manifest that the iudgement of this writer though corrupt yet is contrarie to the practize of the popish Church at this daie But Saint Cyprian is a better witnes I trow for the necessitie of auricular cōfession of secret sins sauing that he speaketh of them that had openlie fallen to Idolatrie and without open confession of their fault and publike satisfaction of the Church by some vndiscreete pastours were admitted to the Lordes table describing them he saith Mortiferos Idolorum cibos adhuc pene ructantes exhalantibus etiamnum
sacrifices prescribed by the Lord for remission of sinnes saieth there are seauen kindes of remission of sinnes in the gospell namelie 1. In baptisme 2. In martyrdome 3. In almes giuing 4. Inforgiuing to other men 5. In conuerting a sinner 6. In abundance of charitie the seauenth he expresseth in these wordes which you rehearse verie vnperfectlie and translate falselie Est adhuc septima licet dura laboriosa per poanitentiam remissio peccatorum cùm lauat peccator in lachrimis stratum suum fiunt ei lachrimae suae panes die ac nocte cùm nou erubescit sacerdoti domini indicare peccatum suum quaerere medecinam secundùm cum qui ait dixi pronunciabo aduersum me iniustitiam meam domino turemisisti impietatem cordis mei In quo impletur illud quod Apostolus dicit Si quis autem infirmatur vocet presbyteros Ecclesiae imponant ei manus vngenteseum oleo in nomine domini oratio fidei saluabit infirmum si in peccatis fuerit remittentur ei There is yet a seauenth kinde of remission of sinnes though hard and painefull by repentance when the sinner washeth his bed with teares and his teares are made to him his foode daie and night and when he is not ashamed to declare his sinne to the priest of the Lorde and to seeke medecine according to him which saith I haue saide I will pronounce against my selfe mine owne vnrighteousnes vnto the Lorde and thou hast remitted the vngodlines of my heart wherein that also is fulfilled which the Apostle saith if anie man be sick let him call the elders of the Church and let them laie their handes vpon him annointing him with oyle in the name of the Lord and the praier of faith shall saue the sicke person and if he haue bene in sins theyshal be remitted to him These are the words of Origen but you in your latine after indicare leaue out pee catum suum and translate it and is not ashamed to vtter all his sinnes to make the place seeme more pregnant for auricular confession I passe ouer that you alter the wordes folowing which are secundùm cum qui ait initio sicut scriptum est by which it appareth that you borowed this place out of some other mans allegation or note-booke negligentlie gathered and doe not cite it of your owne reading But to the matter I answere that Origen is not plaine for anie necessitie of shrifte to obteine remission of sinnes when he sheweth fiue other meanes to obtaine it after baptisme beside this Secondlie it is euident that he speaketh of open confession to be made in the exercise of publique repentance which is not necessarie for all men For otherwise there is no remission of sinnes after baptisme but vnto them that be penitent before God althouh they suffer martirdome giue almes forgiue other men conuert sinnes abound in charitie if they be not sory and repent for their owne sinnes they shall not obtaine forgiuenes at the hands of God He speaketh therefore of open repentance where there is open confession which also maie be gathered by his allegation of the texte of Saint Iames where not one priest for auricular confession but the Elders of the Church are called for The priest of the Lord also that he nameth by the text following of Dauides confession before God maie be vnderstood of Christ of whome the Leuiticall Priest to whome Origen alludeth was a figure as I haue declared before so that here is no plaine testimony nor any certeine warrant for the necessitie of eare confession For that confession maie be made for quieting of a mans conscience we denie not but that it is necessarie to be made by all men of all their mortall sinnes and that without such confession there can be no remission of sinnes that I saie we vtterlie and alwaies denie ALLEN S. Dionise also an Apostolike man doth inuinciblie prooue vnto vs that confession to a priest and the sacrament of pennance was in vse in his daies that is to saie in the Apostles time for he was S. Paules scholler He checketh verie earnestly one Demophilus a naughty Monke that you maie see Monkes be olde when there was an euill one in S. Dionise daies and yet there was an euill Apostle before there was an euill Monke that you maie see both orders be auncient though be they neuer so holie they cannot be alwaies void of euill But this Demophilus I saie bare a great rebuke of Dyonisius that he vsurped once a Priestes place and function and that on a time he thrust backe from the Priest and rebuked contemptuouslie a poore penitent that came to confession and called the Prieste sitting on confession a wretch and a miser that he durst take vpon him to make a sinner a iust man Which wordes were verie fitte for Luthers mouth an other religious man of like humour and honestie So soone was confession hated of the wicked and so speedilie was it desended of the faithfull as of Saint Dionise who here calleth the orders diuine actes of penance the decrees and institutions of God FVLKE Indeed we reade that one Dionysius Areopagita was conuerted by Saint Paul but that the author of these bookes which goe vnder that name was an Apostolike man we doe vtterlie denie For Eusebius S. Hierome Gennadius woulde not haue omitted the mention of such a writer and such bookes being so diligent sertchers of auncient monuments of the Church as they were if anie such had bene heard of in their times by the space of fiue or sixe hundreth yeares after Christ. But concerning the matter this Dyonise whosoeuer he be saieth nothing for the necessitie of auricular confession which is the matter in question although he rebuke Demophilus for abusing a poore penitent presuming to raile vpon the Priest and to commaund him to auoide Neither is there anie mention that the Priest did sit vpon confession or that the penitent came in popish manner to shriue himselfe but to seeke medecine for his sinnes perhaps to offer himselfe to open penance for some hainous transgression openlie knowne as it shoulde seeme by the wordes of Demophilus reported by Dyonisius But thou as thine owne betters declare didst thrust awaie with thy heeles an vngodlie and sinnefull man as thou saiest euen when he was fallen downe before the priest Thou being present against thy selfe then did he intreate and confesse that he was come for the healing of his diseases But thou wast not terrified but increasing in boldnes didst raile vpon the good priest that he was a wretch in iustifying a penitent and an vngodlie person and at length saidest vnto him get the out c. These words prooue not although they were the wordes of Dyonisius the Areopagite himselfe that it is necessarie that euerie man is bound to confesse euen his secret sinnes to a Priest And as for the sacrament of penance which you say is inuinciblie
make satisfaction to the Church when there appeereth iust cause so to doe But let vs see how manie vntruthes you do boldlie aduouch which are besides this authoritie First that these Bishops had thought not to haue giuen peace to them that had fallen till the houre of death came But that is not so for they saie onelie they had determined that they should haue performed the penance that was enioyned for a long time vnto them vnto the ful except danger of infirmitie required to giue peace at the point of death Their wordes are these Totheir brother Cornelius Bishoppe of Rome Statueramus quidem iampridem frater charissimè participato inuicem nobiscum consilio vt qui in persecutionio 〈◊〉 supplantati ab aduersario lapsifuissent ac sacrificiis se illicitis maculassent agerent diu poenitentiam plenam si periculum infirmitatis vrgeret pacem sub ictu mortis acciperent Nec enim fas erat aut permittebat paterna pietas diuina clementia ecclesiam pulsantibus claudi dolentibus deprecantib speisulutaris subsidium denegari vt de saculo recedentes sine communicatione aut pace domini dimitterentur cùm permiserit ipse qui tegem dedit vt ligata in terris etiam in Coelis ligata essent solui autem possent illic que hîc prius in Ecclesia soluerentur Sed cum videamus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infestationis appropinquare coepisse crebris atque assiduis ostensionibus admoneamur vt ad cert 〈◊〉 quod nobis hostis indicit armati parati simus plebem 〈◊〉 nobis diuina dignatione commissam exhortationibus nostris praeparemus omnes omnino milites Christi qui arma desiaerant praelium flagitant intra castra domini colligamus necessitate cogente censuimus eis qui de Ecclesia domini recesserunt sed poenitentiam agere lamentari ac dominum deprecari à primo lapsus sui die non destiterunt pacem dandam esse eos ad praelium quod imminet armari instrui oportere We had decreed indeed long since moste deer brother by aduise taken amongst our selues that such as in the trouble of persecution were supplanied by the aduersarie and fallen and had defiled themselues with vnlawfull sacrifices should doe full penance a long time and if daunger of infirmity did vrge they should receiue peace at the point of death For it was not lawfull neither did the Fatherlie pietie and clementie of God permit that the Church should be shut vp to them that knocke and that aid of healthfull hope should be denied to them that sorrowed and praied for it that departing out of the world they should be sent awaie without anie communicaiion or the Lordes peace seeing he hath permitted which made the lawe that those things that are bound in earth should also be bound in heauen that those things also might be loosed there which were loosed here in the Church But for as much as we see that the daie of another trouble beginneth to approch and are admonished by often and dailie shewings or visions that we should be armed and prepared vnto the battell which the enemie doth denounce vnto vs we should also prepare the people by gods voutsafing committed vnto vs with our exhortations and should gather in anie wise all the souldiers of Christ which call for armour and desire to fight into the Lordes campe necessity compelling vs we haue thought good that peace is to be graunted to them which haue departed out of the Lords Church but from the daie of their falling haue not ceased to shew repentance and to lament and to intreat our Lord and that they also ought to be armed and furnished against the battell which is at hand These are the words of Cyprian his fellow Bishops which you haue abridged at your pleasure if your note booke did not deceiue you to set down that you haue done as the very words of the epi stle Out of which you gather beside that I haue noted before power to inioyne penance and to release the same againe But where you saie they take vpon them cleerelie to inioyne what they list and how long they list that is not so but what is iust and conuenient and so likewise vpon iust cause they release the same or some parte thereof Againe you slaunder them in saying they take vpon thē to pardon after death for there is no such word or matter in all the Epistle They released and receiued them to the communion being in daunger of death but after death they receiued no man to the communion Nay they decreed that whereas Geminius Victor who had made Geminius Faustinus a clergie man his executor contrarie to the decrees of their synods there should be no oblation made for his falling a sleepe nor anie praier frequented in the Church in his name So farre of was it that they would pardon anie man after death when no repentance auaileth The scripture they doe rightlie applie for the establishing of the discipline of excommunication receiuing againe into the fellowship of the Church such as were fallen vpon their repentance as for the sacrament of penance you say wel they exercized discipline without it for such a sacrament they knew not but they claimed no iurisdiction to receiue offenders without good tokens of their repentāce as their words be manifest Where you saie they claimed iurisdiction by their onelie letters to giue them in absence peace pardon of their inioyned penāce as though their letter did resemble the Popes pardons in writing you speake beside the booke for they doe not giue peace by these letters onlie but signifie vnto Cornelius what they thought necessary to be done vpō what reasons left they might be thought to light in loosing the sinews of discipline toward so notorius offenders Your conclusion follow eth not vpon this example Cyprian and his fellow Bishope did vpon necessary cause release the time of penāce enioyned to certaine greeuous offenders and receiued them to the communion vpon certaine perswasion of their répentance therefore the Pope and his popelings maie giue pardon of paine due for sinnes remitted where hone is due and in the sacrament of penance when no such sacrament can be prooued out of the scripture neither doe you rightlie alledge Christes wordes as those holie Fathers did for they alledged them for the discipline of excommunication and absoluing which is necessarie to be vsed in the Church but you to maintaine a tirannical iurisdiction to loose that which other men haue bound without good cause as they did but for manie often times as they did neuer Therefore there is as great oddes betweene their practize of discipline and these Popes pardons as there is distance betweene their ages which is more then a thousand yeares ALLEN And now to make vp this matter for the true meaning of the said text which we now prooue to pertaine to the establishing of the true title of
that they haue any such power of healing bodelie diseases It is a better reason that you alledge out of Saint Augustine that remission of sinnes in the Church respecteth the iudgement to come but that he speaketh there of any temporal iudgement after this life you are not able to prooue Neither doth the citing of the text of Saint Paull I. Cor. II. helpe you which he citeth to prooue that temporall paines are laide vpon men in this life to them whose sinnes are done awaie that they should not be reserued to the ende as his wordes are plaine in that wholl Chapter Magis enim propter futurum iudicium fit remissio peccatorum In hac autem vita c. For remission of sins ie made rather for the iudgement to come For in this life it preuaileth so much which is written a heauie yoke vpon the sons of Adam from the daie of their comming forth of their mothers wombe vnto the day of their buriall into the mother of all thus we see euen litle children after the lauer of regeneration to be tormented with the affliction of diuerse euills that we may vnderstand that all which is doue by the healthfull sacraments doth pertaine rather to the hope of good thinges to come then to reteining or obteining things present Manie euills also seeme to forgiuen heere and to be reuenged with no punishments but the paines of them are reseruea vntill afterwarde For not in vaine is that called properlie the daie of iudgement when the iudge of the quicke and the deade shall come As on the contrarie side some things are reuenged heere and yet if they be remitted verilie in the worlde to come they shall not hurt Wherfore of certaine temporall paines which are laid vppon sinners in this life in them whose sinnes are done awaie that they should not be reserued vnto the ende the Apostle saieth for if we iudged our selues we should not be iudged of the Lord but when we are iudged of the Lord we are chastened that we should not be damned with this worlde Thus it is plaine by Saint Augustines iudgement that Saint Paull speaketh of temporall paines laied vppon sinners in this life to bring them to repentance not of temporal iudgement to be exercised after this life But you meane not that Popes or Bishops pardons should alwaies take away bodelie sicknes because Christ did not so vnto ai Nay rather because they are not able to heale a sore finger in any one man For Christ healed as many as he would if the Pope haue Christs power why should he not as well heale whome he will Your similitude that as Christ tooke away temporall paines so may Popes and priests holdeth not for there is great odds betweene Christ and his seruants he did what he would they may doe no more then he hath giuen chem power and charge And for releasing of times of repentance appointed to satisfie the Church they may by power giuen from him but for the releasing of debt to be paied in the world to come he gaue them neither authority nor cōmaundement That the priest doth dailie heale in your sacrament of aneling it is an impudent lie For first they anoint none in their dailie practize but such as are in dispaire of life of whom if any recouer by the wilof God it is sacriledge to impure it to the power of the priests anointing who hauenot the gift of healing as the elders of the Apostles Church had whome S. Iames willeth to be sent for to heale the diseased ALLEN But in Saint Paull we haue inuincible proofe of the authoritie and iurisdiction of Bishops and princivali pastcurs touching as well the power of enioyned pename and satisfaction for sinnes committed as the lawfull power of pardoning the same which before was enioyned and so in one fact of the Apostle a cleare practize of binding and loosing He first bound him by excommunication that had so greeuouslie offended and to shew what a terrible torment this kinde of panishment is and how much it is to be dred he maketh it euident by a slraunge corporall vexation that all Chrillian men might conceiue the miserie of those persons which be excommunicated hereafter when the externall signe and miraculous torment should ceasse in the Church I wili reporte the matter fullie There was amongst the Corinthians one of reputation that kept vnlawfullie his fathers wife the which being knowne to their Apostle Saint Paul who then was absent srom them and being accounted of him as in deede it was an exceeding grieuous fact and notorious he gaue in charge to the Church of Corinth to take the person that had so offended as excommunicated that is to saie to be separated from the sacraments the seruice and common fellowship of Saints But see with what a maiestie and might of operation with what force of wordes and authoritie of his calling with what a kinde of punishment Christes officer here correcteth the offender Thus runneth his determinate sentence on the offender that all the worlde may take heede and wonder at the Churches authoritie and condemne the vaine voices of them that doe restraine the power of Gods ministers onelie to the preaching of the Gospell I beeing absent in bodie but present in spirit haue alreadie giuen iudgement as well as if I were present that the person that hath thus wickedlie wrought should be deliuered vpto Sathan in the vertue of our Lorde Christ Iesus you there being gathered with my spirit in the name of our said Lord Christ Iesus and all for the vexation of his flesh that his soull may be safe in the daie of our Lord Iesus Christ. This in effect is the Apostles sentence on that incestuous person wherby he was temporallie tormented by the force of Saint Pauls power of binding sinners giuen by Christ and exercised no otherwise as you may see but in Christs vertue holie name Where it may be noted for a strange 〈◊〉 of mans word that the deuill himse fe should be therby appointed to torment a sinners bodie not as he would but as far as the diuine Magistrate shall limit him Diabolus enim quia ad hoc paratus est vt auerses à Deo 〈◊〉 in potestatem audita sententia corripit eos The 〈◊〉 saith Saint Ambrose who is alwaies readie to take them to his power that are turned from God sireight as soone as he heareth the sentence pronounced vpon sinners he doth afflict and correct them As it may also appeere by our Sauiours wordes in the Gospell of a woman that had spiritum infirmitatis the spirit of infirmitie whome the deuill had eighteene yeares together fast bound in sickenes for her sinnes to whome also Christ gaue a pardon by imposition of his holie handes Where we may haue an other example of his mercie in loosing the temporall band and punishment appointed for sinne But let vs turne to Saint Pauls patient whome we left by the key of the