be but a brokeÌ„ staffe as Esay termes weake helpes and will in the end plunge mans soule in desperation in conflict and in hel Such peace tasted Franciscus Spira of that died in desperatioÌ„ tasted Ecchius of that dying vttered desperate wordes tasted Sadoletus of that dyed in a weake fayth tasted Latomus of that roared like an Oxe in his death bedde and as some thinke tasted Bish. Gardiner of Those of that Church do fremere vt vrsi do rore like Beares and those of our Church and those that be the members of our faire woman they doe as the Prophet sayth Gemere vt columbi Mourne like Doues Thei die therfore like our Sauior Christ Ego vado ad patrem taking death to be no more but a passage to the father They die like Paule There is layde vp for me a crowne of glory They die like Steuen Lord I betake my soule to thy handes They die like Polycarpus Lorde make me a partner of thy resurrection They die like Luther God is the great Byshop of my soule let him take carke of my soule They die like Caluine 〈◊〉 haue holden my peace Lorde because thou hast done this This woman this Church bringeth warre to the body and warre to the soule and therefore she is 〈◊〉 foule woman Againe if sinne do make foule and vncleane then is this woman that wayâ—… very foule and vncleane to In respecte oâ—… sinne Tertullian Hierome call Rome Babylon But if they will be so impudenâ—… as to denie their vglie monstrous racâ—… of sinne then let Barnard speake that sayth There is no healthfull place in that Church froÌ„ the toppe to the toe â–ª Nay go ye then to and speake euen ye Italian writers speake Boccas speake Petrach speake Mantuan and speake Pallengenius Howbeit it is vaine in mâ—… to bidde them speake who commonly throughout all their workes doe burste out into most bitter spéeches agaynst the enormious life of the Church of Rome But admit these men had neuer spokeÌ„ any one word agaynst that church yet doo but loke ouer Bales booke of Votaries and a boke called A Cataloge of witnesses agaynst the Pope of Rome and then I doubt not but you will subscribe that this church of Rome is a most sinfull woman In the meane time vpon the witnessing of so many witnesses in great earnest I tell you that she is a most sinfull woman and therfore spiritually a most foule and deformed woman Those thinges that they obiect to our church are but freckes and speckes in comparison of the Botches and Biles of theyr owne church And for our further purgation I report me to a litle booke of Master Caluine de scaÌ„dâ—…lis nostrae ecclesiae of such reproches as may be intended against our church Now if they will say that their church is fayrer because she is trimly attired because she hath curious copes and veluet vestmentes sensing and singing and much ioly ringing it may please them to vnderstand that all this fayrenesse is not fayrenesse from within the church but an outward fayrenesse and a paynted fayrenesse And all those reasons which Peter Martyr in the booke of kings doth bring that a woman ought not to paint her face may be alleged agaynst them that they ought not to paint theyr church And if euer they will proue theyr church to be a fayre church they must first make this good that painted beawty is a good beawty And thus much haue I sayd in these two poynts that Christes church is a woman and hath womanhead that Antichristes church is a drab and a shamelesse brothell that Christes church is fayre that Antichristes church is foule And now let me speake of the church and of the authoritie of the church which I coÌ„fesse to be some because here the church or fayrest of women is asked and doth geue answer of the beloued and doinges of christ Touching theyr argumentes whereby they would geue so great an authoritie to the church they be light and nothing such as they are estéemed To come to their first argument which is Thou art Peter and vpon thee Peter I will build my church â–ª it doth not serue for theyr turne euen by the testimony of the better sort of the fathers For Augustine vpon Iohn sayth Non a petro petra sed petrus a petra The rocke taketh not name of Peter but Peter of the rocke And agayne he sayth I will build thee vpon me and not me vpon thee Such like wordes hath Origen and so Hierom to Iouianus who in an other place sayth that the church is fouÌ„ded vpon all the Apostles But they haue an vnuincible argument out of S. Augustine I would not beleue the Gospell except the authoritie of the church did moue mee I will not expound S. Augustine nor they shall expouÌ„d him but S. Augustine shall expound S. Augustine And here I let them vnderstand by S. Augustine that he vseth to spâ—…ake in the preterimperfectence for the preterplupâ—…ctence So in the first booke of his confessions and â—…enth chapt speaking of his youth he sayth thus Non enim dicerem nisi cogâ—…r Which can not be truely expounded but thus Non didicissem nisifuissem coactus I should neuer haue learned except I had bene driuen thereto Agayne in the second booke and third chap. he sayth Erubescerem for Erubescebam I should blush for I did blush soo that there hée straineth the moodes In the eight chap. he sayth Si tunc amarem poma illa qua furutus sum which cannot be expounded thus If I then would haue loued these aples which I haue stolen but thus If I had then loued those aples which I had stolen so that we must reade amarem for amassem I had loued for I should loue â–ª In the tenth chap. he sayth thus Ego solus illud non facerem which must néedes be expounded thus I would not had done so So that héere we haue facerem for feciscem the imperfectence for the pluperfectence No otherwise must néedes be sayd Euangelio non crederem that is non credidisceÌ„ The Papistes say I would not beleue the Gospell except the authoritie of the church did moue me to it I by the circumstances of that placâ—… by likenes of these other places do say it can not be expounded but thus Non crederem Euangelio id est non credidiscem Euangelio So that the mere and vnbroken sense of S. Augustines wordes be these I should not had beleued or I should neuer had beleued the Gospell except the authoritie of the church had moued me thereto So that all the authoritie that they can gayne for the church out of this place is but this The church was an introduction to Sainct Augustine to beleue the Gospell therfore it is of more authoritie then the Gospell So they may say that the starre did shew the wise men the way vnto Christ therefore the starre hath more authoritie then christ â—…o Iohn
infinite so thaâ—… he could not perdy forget him self What â–ª was it learning in Doctor Smith to alledge the councell of Nice for Transuâ—…stantiation and than not to be able tâ—… show one word for that purpose â–ª Agayne that Doctor Ogelthorpe sayd openly in great assemble Ostende mihi qualis 〈◊〉 corpus qualis est corpus Is it not learnedly concluded of Prierias The church founded pardons Ergo the church is greater then Christ Is it not excesse of learning that maketh Durand and the rest of their rationals thus to dispute God made heauen and earth in the beginning and not in the beginnings therfore the Pope must be soueraigne Or thus God made two lightes a greater and a lesse therefore the Pope is bigger then the Emperour as the Sunne is bigger then the Moone Or thus princes shall eate the fat things of Ashur therfore princes sonnes must be Cardinals to haue rich temporalities in the church Or thus Iacob layd his handes thwartlinges or a crosse vpon Ephraim and Manasses therefore the wodden crosse is venerable Or thus when one shall go ouer vnto the Lord let his couering be remoued therfore he that becommeth a priest must shaue his crowne Or thus The Lordes is the earth and the roundnes thereof therefore the Oste must be round Or thus the Ethnickes must licke the dust of Israels feete therefore all men must kisse the Popes féete Or thus he shall sprinckle many nations therfore there must be holy water Or thus we sinne by word worke and hart therefore we must say thrise Kyrielison Or thus the Law goeth before the Gospell or Iohn before Christ therfore the Epistle must be red before the Gospell Or thus the Gospell lightneth the world therfore waxen Tapers must be lightned before the reading oâ—… the Gospell â–ª Or thus the Lord paised the earth with thrée fingers therfore we ought to crosse our selues with thrée fingers Or thus God sayd to the north wynde geue therfore the Gospell must be red with the priestes face northward â–ª Or thus A smoke came vp from the prayer of the sainctes Apoc. 8. therfore there must be sâ—…nsing in the church Or thus Mary went not forth to méetâ—… Christ ergo there must be close Nunnes Or thus Elias went to sée Gilgal Bethel and Ierico therfore there must bâ—… pilgrimes Or thus the féete of those that preach peace are beawtifull therfore Bishops must weare purple sandals Oâ—… thus the rocke was Christ therfore thâ—… altar must be of stone Oh high mistâ—…ries of learning and profound depthes of learning and surpassing fathers in respect of learning Should we not now strike downe and sacrifice a great huge forfatted bull to these worthies of learning Or should we not take a shril trompet and blow vp from a lofty Theatre All haile Learned doctors Uenerable doctors Reuerent doctors Doctorall doctors Doctorly doctors Irrefragable doctors Impregnable doctors Seraphicall doctors Angelicall doctors Magistrall doctors Illuminate doctors Autenticall doctors c. But sée the learning of these doctors in the epistles of obscure men and in a dialogue betwene Reuclin and Erasmus Thus haue I spoken good people of questions that they may be asked and that they may not be asked That they should be asked for learning that learning should be that ignoraunce is hurtfull that the aduersaries are vnlearned or learned by vs Touching the vnlearned state of their Clergic which hath bene now many a yeare I may well say that which Rabbi Aggai sayd of the vnlearned Iewes Our foréelders sayd he plowed and sowed made furrowes and mowed made flowers and threshed winded and grinded baked and set bread before you but ye Iewes ye had no mouth to eate it So of these Papistes they had Augustine and Chrysostome the Gregories Basill Theophilact and the rest that plowed and sowed made furrowes and mowed c but their mouthes were stopped with steples they had no mouthes to eate it England to thée as thou now art thou hast euen at this day plowers and sowers flowerers and mowers threshers winders and grinders bakers and bread makers bread of zealous doctrine and bread of life Open thy lippes God send thy lippes open O England God send thée good England God send thée mine owne deare countrey lippes to be opened mouth to receaue this bread chappes to conteine it teeth to chewe it palate to taste it toung to support it and to order it throate to conuey it stomacke to welcome it to disgest it to turne it into an heauenly iuice to supernaturall humor to spirituall bloud to life to blisse to spirite to comfort and ioye Fayrest of all women whether is thy spouse gone Here is to be noted that the Church is a woman and that she is fairest of womeÌ„ and of the authoritie of the Church because the question is demaunded of the Church in this place And first that the Church is a woman I will go by the fower Hebrue names of a woman onely I will compare the Church with a woman as she is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The appetite of a woman ought to be to her husband the appetite of the Church ought to be to christ The woman bringeth forth her children in sorrow and paine the Church bringeth forth in gréefe of members and losse of limnies A good woman must call her husband Lorde a good Church must call Christ and make Christ her Lorde A good woman must be obedient to the voyce of her husband learne of her husband at home the Church that is good must be ruled by Christ and not rule Christ Christes scholer and not Christes scholemaister Where it is said to Abraham Abraham heare the voice of thy wife The Papistes must consider that Christ doth not ouersée him selfe as Abraham did and therefore needes no aduertisement from his wife the Church Againe women be fearefull so Ieremy sayth The strong men of Babell shall be fearefull like women so the Church and euery member of the Church is fearfull So it is sayd Feare not Mary Feare not Ioseph Feare not Abraham Ieremy be not afraide of their faces and to Sainct Paule amongest the Corinthians Be not afrayde It was great shame in the olde time for a woman to be barren it is great shame for any Church not to teach the lawes of God to their sonnes and their sonnes soÌ„nes for that engendreth new churches It is as I say the Church of Christ is a woman and hath womanhead towardes her beloued The Church of Antichrist or Rome is a drab and hath no womanhead but fornication betwixt her pappes and adulterie betwixt her scirtes And euen at the last Councell of Trent they called the Pope the spouse of the Church I require all that â—…e of honestie what womanhead there is in that to haue two spouses at once to commit adulterie witâ—… Images to ouerrule the wordes of her husband to adde and take to and fro the wordes of her husband to burne
Satyrus that is all the flowers in hilles and flowers in dales and flowers in many a grene forrest are not so delightfull and smelling The violet hath not the like sauor the Rose hath not the like sauor the Lily the like smel the Giliflower the like sent as good life through good fayth yeldeth to Gods nostrelles And as good life yeldeth 〈◊〉 good sauor to God so euill life to God â—…eldeth an euill sauor So is it sometime â—…ayd of euill liuers ye made vs smell beâ—…ore the Lord. The voyce of the murâ—…her of Abel the voyce of the sinne of the â—…ngodly ones in the Apocalyps the voyce of the sinne of the Sodomites the voyce of the sinne of the Niniuites was not musicke to Gods eare nor the smell of England is muske to Gods nose But if good life make good smell and euill life make euill smell how smelles England how smells it It smells it smells I haue sayd as much as I can with curtesy say non redolet sed olet it smelles not sweetly but it smelles But if I should heare the voyce of the good spirit that speaketh vnto me and indéede I will heare it and speake as it speaketh I should thus say it smelles like a carcas it smlles like a a carion it smelles lik a dounghill And the cause of this so smelling is sinne Now the world will cry out vpon me as they cryed out vpon the prophet Miche Quod scelus quod crimen what sinne or what offence And euen as that prophet answered Ierusalem et Samaria Ierusalem and Samaria So I answer London Yorke Carlill and Canterbury Norwich Lyncolne c those sinnes For euen as Lucane speaketh of a body sore wounded totum est pro vuluere corpus all the body was as one wound and our Sauiour Christ bearing the sinnes of the world was by Paul called sinne So the prophet Miche being asked what sinne sayd Samaria and Ierusalem as though for theyr sinfulnesse they were nothing but méere sinne So if they aske me in these dayes what sinne I answer London Yorke Douer c. I meane these cities are so sinfull that they are sinne But if the world haue so longing a lust to trouble me with asking what sin and what sinne then be thou strong my spirite and go and fly out my voyce to tel the sonnes of this earth this sinne and that sinne and first if the papistes will desire to know of me what sinne I tel them that idoles doo cleaue still in their mindes which is as swéete a sinne as the name of idoles in the hebrue toung is a swéete word which signifieth a more vnswéete place then I can honestly rehearse That sinne Qui sordescebat sordescet adhuc He that was a papist in Quéene Maries time is still a papist that sinne Agayne those which had tasted of a good light of the Gospell are runne backe agayne to theyr owne vomet that sinne He that euer stoode before is now fallen that sinne If our protestantes aske me what sinne I will tell theÌ„ our protestantes are most of them all like vnto mice Mice will be still in the house but neuer be acquainted with the master of the house sâ—… are our protestantes to godward that sin They are like to Iudas they kisse Christ and geue him gentle outward interteinment but it is for 30. pence or 30. pound vauntage or money more or lesse that sinne They are like that Egle which the prophet Esay speketh of The egle which is with thee is not on thy side that sin They are like the princes of Iury that beleued in Christ but dare not confesse for the Pharasies that sinne They are like Symon Magus that walketh with Philip like an Apostle but workes with money like a worldling that sinne They be like Ananias and Saphira that dare not venire all they haue with Christ and the Apostles and hang clerely vpon Gods prouidence but will be sure to kéepe one péece for after clappes that sinne Our protestantes are the most that euer I sée like to Acabbes wife she neuer put on dâ—…e apparrell but when she spake with the prophetes so these men are neuer holy but at sermon times and in presence of those whose holines they doo reuerence that sinne But I will say perticulers If the great men of the Land aske me what sin I will then tell them thus The great men of the Land seeke to reare vppe houses of Sicamore trees and new baked bricke battes and to grow into such rancke reuenewes in their counties and sheeres that they feare nether God in heauen nor prince in earth nor feend in hell that sinne It is a tickling pleasure and most of all cordiall to some of those to make princes glad of an vnprofitable title of clemency so that they will not distribute one philip of correction to Gods long continued idolatrus enimies that sinne Through some of these and other violent welthy worldlines all Westminster hall and other places of helpe are not able to kéepe Naboth his vineyard alas and more then thrise alas Naboth loseth his vineyard and his vine his shéepe and his kine his coate from his doublet his doublet from his shert his shert from his bare naked skin that sinne Agayne they kéepe the clergy and men of God so farre from the accesse to the prince that they are farre froÌ„ the state of other prophetes Elizas bad his hostes aske of y king what she would and he would dispatch it Now Elizas must dispatch from the king what he can and not what he would I say not but that Elizas can doo some thing by courtly friendes and other meanes but Elizas in the name of a prophet as he is Elizas can doo now a little or nothing that sinne Agayne if those of the ministery demaund of me what sinne I will answer for vs all we are all of Peters minde bonum est nobis hic esse we thinke it a mery life to be still in this world and to buylde our nestes as high as warme and as during as we can that sinne We be like Ely he durst not sharpely enough correct his children nor we controle our auditours Iacob fell downe seuen times before Iacobs face but we make seuenty seuen low downe crouching curtesies to euery noble man before we will tell him of his duty how vndutifull so euer he be that sinne Agayne some that go for our brethren and of the auncient sort of vs count vs very vndiscrete and but starke fooles when so euer we begine to practise some little of that which wee should doo that sinne An other sort broch and brabble many foolish fronticke follies in diuinitie that sinne Euery Christes crosse losell hath a church plot in his head without all subiection of spirit to spirit doth thinke them selues euen péeres to Primates that sinne If Magistrates iudges and Iustiâ—…rs request of me what sinne that which our Sauiour in S.