painted vnto vs there may the eyes of the soule behold him in them doth hee breath in them doth hee lyue in them doth hee reigne and triumphe My Dylemma or double Argument doth not content you wherein I did conclude agaynst Images to witte that hauing life there was no want of them wantyng breath there was no vse nor profite in them How you say theÌ hereunto may not ãâã parcell be iustified by the Scriptures Why doest thou cry vnto me sayth God the father vnto Moyses And yet Moyses in his prayer opened not his mouth Therfore the spirite beyng present doth present the prayers vnto God though all the sences els be silent On the other side If the hart be otherwise occupyed God will not accept the prayers though neuer so many and neuer so laboursome For after this maner the Lord Iesus doth recite out of Esay the Prophet This people doth honour me with their lippes but their hart is farre awaye from me but they worshyp me in vayne c. Behold here worshyppyng is to no purpose the spirite beyng absent Why doe ye therefore spurne agaynst matters so manifest âay but you presume to contend agaysnt the holy Ghost in these wordes saying The spirit being present Images do no hurt and being absent they do very much auayle Amiddes our prayers thynges may not be enterlaced that do not hurt good Syr but matter wherewith our prayers may haue accesse vnto God But whereas you would haue Images to bée auaylable being without spirite This is very straunge monstruous in a Deuine to affirme that our prayers can be commended vnto God by Images or by any other way els without the spirit God is a spirite sayth our Lord Iesus Christ and it behoueth his worshippers to worship in spirite and truth The Lord Iesus doth pronouÌce that the true worshippers ought to worshyp in spirit Our Prelate doth contend that pictures may auayle to prayer without spirite Away Osorius Away For euen on this wise and in the same cause the Lord Iesus did put SathaÌ to flight We assuryng our selues vpon the authoritie of God the father and of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ wil together with the Prophetes and Apostles honour the Lord God the father and him onely will we worshyp the Lord Iesus Christ and the holy Ghost makyng intercession vnto him for vs. As for you if you be so altogether persuaded raunge on in this your crooked procession together with these gorgeous titles of Councels Fathers and with that filthy raggemaâoll of your schoolemen There will come a day when this matter will be more déepely sifted before the IudgemeÌt seate of our Sauiour Iesu Christ. Then shall we know whether part haue more safely and more duetyfully profited in the worshyppyng of Gods Maiestie And so now at the last your first goodly Inuectiue is come to an end from out the whiche if a man will plucke awaye your outrage in cauillyng your venemous scoldyng your superfluous sentences surely very litle will remayne wherein the learned Reader may be desirous to spend any tyme. The second Booke I Am ashamed you say to vse so many wordes in the confutatioÌ of your Booke It is modestly done of you to confesse your fault But your vnmeasurable braulyng hath altogether weryed me of the same opinion are all others also that haue séene your writyng who with one coÌsent do woÌderfully condeÌne this your idle superfluitie of toung in an old man Yet can we sée no amendement in you for the further ye procéede so many the more Fables you do vtter wherby all men may perceaue that you are not induced to writyng of any iudgement or discretion but enflamed with excessiue malice violeÌt outrage with neither of that which your person and grayheaded yeares ought in any wise bee acquainted But whereas you reporte that I seeme to haue taken wonderfull pleasure in that my litle booke Herein you follow the example of wayward men whiche estéemyng other mens affections by their owne be of opinion that scarse any maÌels can be well disposed bycause they bee vndiscréete them selues You begyn to quarell at the ouerthrowe of the Sacramentes wherewith you say also that I do séeme somwhat displeasaunt and therfore you commend me with a scoffe no lesse vnpleasaunt then vnsauory But mocke on spare not You do trauayle with your contumelious wordes to bryng this noble Iland my deare beloued couÌtrey into obloquie with all men with an abhominable lye doe exclame that our Deuiâes haue vtterly subuerted all Sanctuaries Ceremonies and Sacramentes This your infamous shamelesse and reprochfull Hiperbolycall speach I haue scattered abroad crusht in péeces and brought to nought haue so déepely emprinted your flesh with an S. for a slaunderour to your perpetuall shame that neither you nor any of all your feet shal be euer able to wipe it out agayne You do accuse Luther Carolostadius OecolaÌpadius Zuinglius and my Peter Martyr as men that do vnreuerently rende asunder the Lordes Supper First of all I haue sundry tymes heretofore protested that your controuersse concerned vs and not them For your quarell was agaynst our English Deuines whom I vndertooke to defend you slaundered our England I stoode to the defence of the same And therfore I might well haue referred all this contention touchyng their doctrine to them selues so I do yet I will presume to say this much by the way that you deale very vngently herein to scold so importunately agaynst the good name of them which can not now plead their owne cause I do adde hereunto that the rest except Carolostadius onely of whom I can say nothyng bycause I doe not know him all the rest I meane were men of such excelleÌcie not onely in the knowledge of toungues and other liberall sciences but also such singular Deuines as that Ierome Osorius might haue bene scholer to the meanest of them I say this withall that you vtter your vnskilfulnesse herein to couple Luther and Zuinglius together in matter of the Sacrament whose opinioÌs were somwhat discrepaÌt in the same Lastly touchyng the matter it selfe I aunswere briefly That those famous and worthy patrones of the Gospell and true Religion whose names you rehearse in reproch did reuerently and religiously treate of the SacrameÌt of the body and bloud of our Lord if they may be tryed by the true touchstone of the scriptures in whoÌ likewise you can finde no iust cause of repreheÌsion coÌcernyng the other Sacraments vnlesse you suppose that with your naked clamorous affirmatiues ye may expell them out of the Church as meÌ are wont to driue common players from the Stage with hissing and clappyng of handes But they can not be so quayled Osorius They haue obteined better footyng and déeper roote in the harts of meÌ by their learnyng vertue theÌ you can be able to remoue with your penne though it bee neuer so cruell whom the bootcherly crueltie
bolster out uphold this sowsie ragged rabble with stout countenauÌce But it will not be you come all to late And your labour is all lost It was not without reason that I noted haw this huge heapes of Pictures were the offcombe of that vnsauory schoolekitchen Neither did I erre in notyng the certeine limitation of their whelpyng no more can you cease from your old cankred custome of cauilling scarse one minute of an houre You flée ouer to your Councell of Nice as to an inuincible bulwarke as though what soeuer a Councell doth thrust vpon vs ought to be holden of vs for inuiolable In déede your filthy vnmaryed life crawled first into the Churche after this maner So also your friuolous and Sophisticall Transubstantiation was commaunded in the begynnyng But let vs scanne this Deuine Decrée of the Councell touchyng Images which was vttered in that second Nicene CouÌcell vnder these wordes Images ought to be worshipped as reuereÌtly as God is worshipped But you will not admit this to be true I trow when as els where you are of opinion that Images and Pictures remaine to be viewed onely all worship set apart wherein neuertheles you disagrée in your selfe also For in the same place you tell vs a tale of Robinhoode alledgyng miracles withall to witte that bloud hath bene séene to gush out of Images perdy and certeine uertue of healyng hath issued froÌ theÌ And that for this cause they ought to be worshypped Hereby meanyng to proue both of the whiche a litle earst you admitted neither What grossenesse is this Osorius what ouersight what forgetfulnesse of your selfe and your owne wordes you reporte that Eusychius did behold the Images of the Apostles exquisitely paynted What hereof This was but a commendation of Paynters my good Osorius and not a prayse of Pictures Yet you notwithstaÌdyng as though you had made a fayre speake do affirme that it is without all coÌtrouersie that Images were in the Apostles tyme. How or from whence doe you persuade this Osorius is this a good Argument to proue that Images were uisited in the Apostles tyme bycause without comptrollement you tell vs a smoath tale of Thomas of Inde of Eusebius and of Pope Siluester Do ye so conclude my Lord beyng an old man a Priest and a Byshop Semblable and lyke drousinesse is in you where you charge me that I did accuse your Scholemen to be the first founders of Images This is false I doe not charge them withall but I will abyde by this that this uenemous doctrine was wonderfull encreased with the corruption of this poysoned Schoole ây wordes are as followeth When true Religion began to decay Images crept into the Churche by title and litle and that former earnest desire of pure doctrine waxed cold in mens hartes and that bastard and deformed superstitious Schoole Diuinitie vaunted it selfe at the length and immediatly all places were patched vppe with Images c. Now speake Parrotte of Portingall I pray you Did I not orderly enough distinguish the seasons of tymes By litle and litle crept Images in yea long before the péepyng of Schoolemen abroad but beyng settled in their stalles all places were stuffed with Pictures You sée their Originall before Schoolemen but the increasinges thereof in the chief reigne and sway of that brotherhoode And yet ye dare impudently affirme that I named Schoolemen to bee the very wellsprynges of Pictures And at length ye crye out What dulnesse what negligeÌce when as I might more iustly haue exclaimed O forgetfull dottard O rayling scolde After that you haue long turmoyled your selfe in this gulfe sometymes treatyng of Pictures sometymes inducyng them as representations of holy personages you packe vp your trunckes and returne to your former course of exhortation wherein you persuade that bycause Images be sauory Instrumentes to enforme the vnlettered people therefore they ought bee reserued to that vse But learned and godly men will rather say that Images are daungerous Rockes of manifest Idolatry And as I will not much gaynesay that discréete men and well exercized in the Scriptures may haue in their Closettes without any perill the Image of the Crucifixe so doe I boldly pronounce that without great daunger of Idolatry Images can not be placed in Churches to the uiewe of the rude people beyng naturally incliuable to all superstition And therefore it is most necessary to abandone Images out of Churches and to instruct the people in the holy Scriptures the often hearyng and readyng wherof will make the diligent and uertuous followers to finde no want of any such paynted bables Sathan carying our Lord and Sauiour Iesus into the wildernesse willed him to fall downe and worshyp him Our Lord Iesu despising and rebukyng him sayd It is written Thou shalt worshippe the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue Ueryly when I ponder the Maiestie of these wordes throughly in my mynde and the dayly practizes of your Churches wherein so perillous and euident tokens of Image worshyp and knéelyng to Pictures is frequented my very hart panteth and trembleth within me to thinke how this expresse commaundement of God the Father and of our Lord Iesus Christ séemeth vtterly buried in obliuion with you But runne on sith it so pleaseth you and scorche your soules in the flames of Idolatry we beyng terrified with the Deuine Oracles of the sacred Scriptures haue vtterly subuerted Images and Pictures and exiled them from our Churches In like maner we passe ouer the Saintes in our prayers make intercession onely vnto God the Father and our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ and vpon them do we call onely for succour Unto whom with the holy Ghost we do confesse and professe all glory all honour all power euerlastyng eternitie to be due And to confirme this our confession to bee most pure and true the testimonies of eche Testament are plentyfull wherein we doe also follow the manifold examples of the Patriarches Apostles and Martyrs As for you there is nothyng vttered of your part sauoryng of the auncient pure founteine of the primitiue Church either in coÌuersation of life or profession in Religion We haue heard the voyce of our Lord Iesu Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue Certes if the onely Maiestie of God must be worshipped alone the worshipping of saintes ought in no case to be admitted theÌ The Euangelist Iohn begaÌ to worship the Angell but the Angell withstood him yelded the reason I am quoth he thy fellow seruant If we haue Angels our fellow seruaunts Osor. surely we haue no Saints to be our Aduocates There is but one Aduocate betwixt God and man The God and man Christ Iesu. If Saintes make no intercession for vs then to worship them is but vayne Semblably take worshyp away to what purpose serue Images For to gaze vpoÌ them auayleth litle Let the people heare the Scriptures Let them be busied therein There is Christ
like equitie and patience of minde to admitte our confutation thereof into your presence whereby eche partie beyng discouered according to truth your highnes may more certeinly determine of the cause There is a notable Law and an othe established in the Iudgementes of the auncient Athenians To heare with both eares that indifferent eares should be open to eche partie But what maner of custome is vsed now a dayes in this perplexitie and coÌbate of opinions where Byshops armed with the aucthoritie of Princes doe stand raunged in mayne battell agaynst the manifest veritie and doe so bende the whole coÌsent of their fayth to the one partie that all libertie once to mutter is vtterly cutte of from the other partie But here may some contrary doubtfullnes paradueÌture trouble your Royall thought not so much proceedyng from your gracious nature as whyspered into your godly eares by the subtill and slaunderous practizes of glaueryng glosers who vnder the counterfaict vysour of this glorious couÌterfaict Church haue wonderfully bewitched the eyes and eares of many noble personadges vnder preteÌce of succeeding course of many yeares do make glorious bragges that this new-fangled Church wherein the Romish Byshopp in enthronized is the onely Catholicke Church and the supremacy thereof to be onely obeyed alleadgyng the same Church to be the Empresse and gouernesse of all other Churches and which of right ought to be esteemed aboue all Kinges Emperours as ouer the which Christ hath substituted the Byshopp of Rome his sole Vicar and Vicegerent earth and therfore that all degrees ought and may safely submitt themselues to the aucthoritie and determination of that Churche as which beyng continually vpholden by the power and blessing of the holy Ghost was neuer seene hitherto to haue erred ne yet could by any meanes swarue one title from the right lyne and knowen trade of the true fayth taught in holy Scriptures And that all other persons whatsoeuer sequestering theÌselues froÌ the prescript Rules and Cannons of that Churche cann not chuse but runne headlong into wandryng errours amazed blindenes and extreme maddnes Wherefore those Lutheranes and Hugonoughtes are worthely to be expelled from the vnitie of that Church and deseruedly adiudged to fier and fagottes as most dampnable heretiques not worthy of any fauorable protection no not their writinges so much as to be touched with any maÌs handes bycause they dare presmouÌte once to quacke agaynst the supremacy of that Angelicke Ierarchy As touchyng which slaunderous surmises albeit nothyng cann be more falsely and shamefully imagined then those Sorcerous enchauÌtementes it is wonder how much this poysoned Dolldreanche hath betyppledd the sences of many great personadges and hath so long preuailed in great admiration with sundry estates through the onely ignoraunce of learnyng and ouermuch credulitie of godly Princes vntill of late by the incomprehensible prouidence of Almightie God the worthy Arte of Emprintyng was erected by meanes whereof good Letters and Bookes came to the Marte and Printers shoppes discouered the foggy and darkened cloudes of this olde mothe eaten barbarousnes Hereby it came to passe that the tedious deepe doungeons of lothesome ignoraunce beyng surprised with a certein new and cleare dawnyng day of purer doctrine as also of all other liberall Sciences beganne to shyne abroade nor will leaue I trust to ouerspread his brighte glisteryng beames dayly more and more vntill with the inaccessible brightenes thereof it do either thoroughly vanquishe the whole kyngdome of darkenes or at the least chauÌge the same into some better countenaunce And to the ende we may conceaue assured hope of good successe herein two thynges do minister vnto vs especiall comfort Wherof the one consisteth in the mearcy of the Lord the other remayneth in your handes that be Kynges and Princes next vnder the God being the Lordes watchmen For the first we haue an infallible Argument which cann neuer deceaue the assured testimony of Iesus Christ who hath prophecied in his holy Scriptures that the same shal be brought to passe the greater part whereof we haue allready experimented to be accomplished in these our dayes That the Lord with the breath of his mouth shall confounde the pride of the Beast so arrogantly vaunting him selfe in his holy Temple For the next That other is of no small force I meane your vigilant wisedomes and singuler godlynes which causeth vs to coÌceaue well of you that are Princes whom the Lord of his infinite mearcy hath ordeyned to exercize chief rule and gouernemeÌt next vnder him vpon the face of the earth especially whenas him selfe hath pronounced out of his owne mouth in the Reuelation of Saint Iohn That he will lende his helpyng handes hereunto saying And the tenne hornes sayth he which thou didst see vpon the Beast are those âenne Kinges which shall abhorre the Babylonicall Strampett and shall make her desolate and naked and shall deuoure her fleshe and burne her Carkasse in flames of fire for the Lord hath inspired into their hartes to bring this to passe euen as it hath pleased him Apocal. 17. Wherfore awake you noble Princes and Christian Captaines march on in Gods name Atchieue an exployte worthy your noble Race and be no longer trayned with the trayterous sleightes of subtill sycophaÌtes but pursue with the power the godly guidyng of the Lord of hostes Emongest whom I most humbly call vpon your highnes most singuler Paterne of Princely Royaltie not to the ende to teaze you to exercize cruelty agaynst that viperous generation Onely my petition is that for the loue you beare to Iesus Christ and your owne soules health ye vouchsafe to deliuer simple innocentes from the bloudy iawes of those rauenyng Wolues and horrible blouddsuckers That enterchaunge of thynges beyng made the true and pure word of God may be heard what it teacheth And that ye lett lowse the reynes of their licentious insolency no longer so that they do not hereafter abuse you as the Iewes did handle our Lord Iesu Christ whose faceÌ when they had blindefolded they beate his body with whippes There hath bene to many broyles allreády emongest vs Christians to much Christian bloud hath bene spilte to much crueltie and horror hath bene exequuted whiles you in the meane space in whose power rested the staye of this outrage either wincked at their bootchery or at the least left poore innocentes succourlesse in their slaughter houses How long shall this Romishe Nymrod vaunt in his throne how long shall he make a scorne of your patience most excellent Princes when will your Royall hartes and noble courage daunte his pride when will you resume into your handes the whole sword of Iustice the better part whereof the Romishe Russian hath bereft you when will you surcease to be bondeslaues vnto them whom the mighty God hath made vassalles to your lawfull RegimeÌt how long will ye suffer your mouthes to be mooseled and your eyes muffeled with such blynde errours contrary to the manifest light of the Gospell If
the questions whereof ariseth our controuersie were so harde and intricate that they exceeded your capacities I would not haue entruded my selfe into your presence with this maner of persuasion but would haue referred my selfe rather to the censure of the learned But for as much as this Religion of Gods holy Gospell which we professe is so respleÌdisant in the eyes and eares of all men as the bright shyning Sunne in whott Sommers day the doctrine I say wherewith we are enstructed which preacheth RepeÌtaunce to the bruysed coÌscience which agayne imputeth vnto the penitent persons free righteousnesse and deliueraunce from Sinne by fayth without workes in Christ Iesu onely which forbiddeth Idolatry which restrayneth to adde or diminish any title from the prescript rule of holy Scriptures which forbiddeth the inuocation of the dead and prayeng to strauÌge Goddes which acknowledgeth the humanitie of Christ the Sonne of God to be in no place but at the right hand of the Father which approueth honest and honorable estate of Wedlocke in all persons indifferently which hath made all foode and sustenaunce both fishe and flesh without choyse beyng receaued with thankesgeuyng subiect to the necessary vse of man which taketh away all confidence and affiaunce vsually ascribed vnto merites and workes which calleth vs away from the opinioÌ of soules health to be set in obseruation of prescribed dayes and monethes which reduceth vs from the naked elementes of the world from worshippyng of signes and outward ceremonies which I say cleareth our hartes and myndes from the bondage of mens traditions and dreames and doth ensure and establish vs in mearcy and grace which allureth all persons indifferently to the readyng of holy Scriptures which denyeth to no man the participation of the Cuppe of the new Testament in the bloud of Iesu Christ which abbridgeth all Ministers of the word from desire of all worldly superiority And to stay here froÌ the reckoning vpp of all the rest which are more notable and manisest then the bright shynyng Sunne in mydday what cann your Maiestie atchieue more worthy or more beseemyng your highe excellency then to admitt into the secrett closett of your soule this most euident trueth of heauenly discipline If your highnesse be not as yet made acquainted therewith or if ye know the same to be infallible and true that ye will no longer shrowde vnder your protection such pestilent errours allready disclosed and repugnaunt to the knowen veritie wherewith your grace may one day hereafter paraduenture desire to be shielded before the dreadfull IudgemeÌt seate of the Lord of hostes accordyng to the promise of Iesu Christ. And the trueth sayth he shall deliuer you Iohn 8. And if your highnes shal be persuaded that this reformatioÌ of Religion whereof I haue treated doth not apperteigne to your estate or to the charge of seculer Princes what doth the wordes of Osori emporte theÌ wheras writyng of our gracious Queene Elizabeth he doth so carefully admonish her Maiestie to vouchsafe especiall regard to know what the glory of Christ meaneth what the law of the Lord teacheth how much the rule of sacred religioÌ doth exact of her highnes Again whereas in the same Epistle he doth very learnedly pronouÌce that the speciall duty of Princely gouernemeÌt ought to be wholy employed to the preseruatioÌ of true and pure Religion Pag. 10. But els otherwise if your grace do thoroughly conceaue that is most true that the gracious restitutioÌ of gods holy word doth no lesse coÌcerne the furtherauÌce of the Gospell then the preseruatioÌ of your Royall estate Saluation of your subiectes I most humbly then beseech you most noble kyng by that redoubled linke of pietie wherewith you are first bounde vnto the Lord That as your Maiestie shall playnly perceaue this cause which we are entred vpon not to varye or decline any iote awrye from the true touchestone of the liuely word neuer so litle that your highnesse of your excellent clemency will vouchsafe to aduertize your Bysh. Osorius That being myndfull of his professioÌ he do behaue him selfe in debatyng the state of Religion in the vprightenes of iudgement so as the cause requireth and froÌ henceforth he desiste froÌ backbyting his neighbours with clamorous lyeng and slaunderous reproches who haue rather deserued well of him then in any respect offended him If he be of opinion that errours ought to be rooted out of the Church lett him first coÌuince those for errours which he gaynesayth and shew him selfe abler man to make proofe by ArgumeÌt theÌ to resist with onely cauillyng By such meanes will he be deemed a more profitable member of the Church and procure him selfe lesse hatred It is an easie matter for euery common rascall to vomitt out disdaynefull names of infamous persons as Protagoras Diagoras Cicloppes Blindsinckes Epicures gortellguttes and monsters But it fitteth comlyer for learned men and more profitable for the Christian congregation to lay aside distompered choler and instruct the vnlearned and reclayme the obstinate with sounde Argumentes and expresse testimonies of the Scriptures If this order be not obserued euery carter may soone by aucthoritie clayme to be a coÌmon rayler An other methode of writyng was requisite in Osorius more effectuall to edifie then as he hath vttered in his bookes For this sufficeth not for him to reuile men with odious names as callyng them madd impudent childish and infauÌtes and to declame whole coÌmon places vsed agaynst heretiques I doe know and playnly confesse That it is most necessary to oppugne erronious sectes heresies But it is not errour forthwith that hath somewhat a bitter smatclie and is vnsauory to euery queysie stomacke neither is it allwayes trueth that is plausible to eche fonde and dotyng phantasie But wise men ought chiefly haue considered how euery mans assertioÌ is framed to the agreablenes of the word of God Yet now a dayes I cann not tell how the carte is sett before the horse and the preposterous frowardnes of some persons haue brought to passe that bycause men shall not be guided by the Gospell they will runne before it so mens imaginatioÌs shall not obey but beare the principall Banner before But where as the right squaryer of Christian fayth hath none other sure foundation but that onely which is grounded vpon the holy Scriptures our dutie hadd bene to direct the buildyng of our Religion by this lyne and leuell and to ramme fast the wallworkes hereof with this cemente and morter But now I cann not tell how it is so come to passe that many do worke guyte contrary For they despise this well fenced order and hauyng as litle regarde to the meanyng purporte of the word they rayse to them selues a Church which they call Catholicke and the same they assigne to be the onely guide and gouernesse yet notwithstandyng they make no demonstration whether it be the Church of Christ yea or nay But measuryng the same by the onely Title of the Romish See
through swiftenesse of opinioÌ doe affirme her to be such a Church as cann by no meanes goe astray and whatsoeuer this Church doth denouÌce and commaunde the same they doe most greedely catche after with the whole bente of their fayth and defende it with tooth and nayle Out of this sincke were plumped at the first mens traditions and sundry preiudiciall opinions as certein vnreproueable determinations they call them Vnwritten Verities which by leysure they do coÌferre with the Scriptures but in such sorte that whatsoeuer shall seeme to serue for their purpose they Canonize the same as inuiolable but if ought be founde contrary to their expectation then either they submitt it to the IudgemeÌt of the Church or with violent wrestyng do racke the same to colour their suggestions And hereof sprang all that Darnell and Cockell of errours and dissensions bycause many men did fashion their fayth after this frameshapen chaungelyng and not after the simple conduct of the word In which Church when they perceaued those and such other doctrines to be embraced as these to witte that the Romish See ought to be supreme Empresse ouer all other Churches that Purgatory must be beleeued That Pardons were necessary that vowes made to remayne vnmaried were meritorious That Mounckery and cowled profession hadd a certein wonderfull perfectioÌ That Images ought to be worshipped Sainctes prayed vnto and that the Grace and deseruynges of Iesu Christ could not of it selfe suffice to the attaynement of Saluation That no man could obteyne righteousnes through fayth without workes That Christ him selfe flesh bloud and bones was conteined and sacrificed in the Masse vnder bare accidentes That lay persons should be denied the vse of readyng the Scriptures participatyng the cuppe of the Lord. All these and many other like drugges though they neuer could finde in the liuely wellsprynges of holy Scriptures yet bycause they perceaue them to be shryned in the Decrees and Decretalles of Rome they doe constauntly beleeue that they must be of as autentique aucthoritie as if they were so many Oracles letteÌ downe from heauen Hereby cometh to passe that vnder the vysour of the Churche sondry deformed byshapes of doctrine are fostered vpp in the Church and vnder the pretence of Christ the true Gospell of Christ is in no small daunger to be vtterly defaced So that the lamentable complaynte vttered by Chrisostome could neuer so aptly be applyed as to this our Age Many doe walke sayth he vnder the name of Christians but very fewe in the trueth of Christ. But bycause we haue debated these matters with Osorius hereafter at large I will not deteigne your Royall Maiestie with any further Register thereof It remayneth that we make humble intercession to almightie God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ that of his immeasurable mearcy and loue wherewith he disdayned not to disclose him selfe vnto mankynde by his Sonne he will vouchsafe to beautifie and establishe and with his mighty power and outstretched arme to defende and make permanent from all errours and bloudy bootchery the true light of his holy Gospell the bright beames whereof hath allready enlightened the earth We beseeche him likewise that by the Trompett and dewe administration of his Gospell the kyngdome of darkenesse may dayly more and more be subuerted and the Church and kyngdome of his Sonne Iesu Christ may be dispersed abroad ouer the face of all the earth and preached thorough our all Nations and tounges Lastly we pray that he will endue all Christian Kynges and Princes beyng sett in aucthority and especially the puissaunt and victorious Sebastian Kyng of Portingall with all Princely ornamentes to enriche him with all perfect and absolute clemency in vertue and true godlynesse and to enlighten him with the knowledge of his glorious countenaunce and establishe his throne to the settyng forth of his glory and aduauncement of his Church through the merites of the same our Lord Iesus Christ who graunt you in this world millions of his grace and in the world to come lyfe euerlastyng Amen ¶ Faultes escaped in them printyng with correction of the same Wherein note that the figures direct to the Foland and A. B. to the first and second Page FOl. 3. b. President Presidentes ibidem is verified which is verified 15. b. lyfe hereof lyke hereof 15. b. groundewordes groundeworkes 16. a. endyng enduyng 23. b. iugglyng ianglyng 4.2 a. you say lay you 43. b. can vvith can not with 46 b. slaunder slaunderer 56. b. in a by a. 61. a. knowen an vnknowen ibidem to the of the. 66. b. was no litle was litle 96. b. with which 97. a. pitie pictie .105 a. of him in him .106 b. ofter after 10â b. that may that we may .111 b. excludeth excluded .112 a. in other in an other 114 b Sophistically a Sophisticall lye ibidem rather of the rather the .116 a. of a. for a .117 a. requireth required .118 a. geauen be geauen .122 b. they do they that do ibidem the sentence these sentences .130 b. not one no not one .135 b. obiect obiecteth .136 a. of Luthers owne workes he alledgeth Luthers owne wordes .136 b. deny denyeth .137 b. do to to do 137 b nature the nature .151 a. frameth frame .165 a. do thteach doth teach 177. a. iudged be iudged .190 a. deliuered be deliuered .195 a. to onely to the onely 208. a. eare are .231 a. is it not .237 b. may be not may not be .239 b. includeth included .258 b. finally which finally in which .259 a. not but wonder not wonder .266 a. agaynst agayne .275 a. is neither as neither .278 b. to the by the .280 a. to credite no no credite to .285 a. Minister Minster 286. a. fourth a fourth .292 a. yee he .293 b. circumuerted circumuented .300 b. agaynst agayne .303 b. passe to passe .305 a. successours predecessours .313 a. pardon pardoned .329 b. nevves nevv .336 a. same the same ibidem yea yee .357 b. Romeo Rome do .360 b. this these .373 b. dot do not .379 a. hundred hyndred .392 a. by be .426 b. proued prouided .430 a. our your .437 a. sword word .446 a. seduced enduced .446 b. I he it he .462 b. this these 504. b. herefore there hereof therefore To the godly Reader Walter Haddon sendeth greetyng in our Lord Iesu Christ A Few yeares past a certeine Portingall named Ierome Osorius wrate a tedious Epistle to the Queenes Maiestic In the which he imagined many monstruous errours to bee frequented in our church with reprochful rayling most vnreuerently depraued the professours of the Gospel This publicke quarell against my nature countrey troubled me not a litle To some particular pointes wherof I thought good to aunswere although not to all in generall Partly bycause I wated tyme thereunto partly bycause I supposed that Osorius was deluded by some malicious report of our aduersaries therefore I hoped the man would haue bene somewhat satisfied with myne aunswere There passed ouer one yearâ
without any proofe at all I returned the same into your owne bosome with approued circumstaunces of tyme and persons But hereunto our new vpstarte Pythagoras maketh none auÌswere but that my examples are counterfaite and reiected of approued writers Of whom I pray you where how what booteth it to enquire further my Lord Byshop doth affirme it we must needes beleue it Herein yet your companion of Angrence is somwhat more tractable who rather then he will leaue the matter vnconfessed will set two Monkes by the eares and confute the one with the testimonie of the other O gay payre of Byshops which are so intangled in two examples onely that the one is enforced vtterly to disclayme the other to take such witnesses whom no wise man will admit But Osorius forsooth hath gotteÌ an other couert to play boe peépe in where he shrowdeth him self alwayes when he is narrowly chased I force not sayth hee what rules of lyfe our Monkes obserued for such haynous offences as are committed in common weales by men not altogether endued with heauenly wisedome should haue bene cured or vtterly abandoned by the sinceritie of your most holy discipline by the wholesome medicine of this Gospell and by that excelleÌt remedy which your Doctours haue deliuered vnto the world O notable Diuine is this speach meéte for a diuine and a Byshop is it lawfull for you to be murtherers maÌquellers bloudsukers vnpunished Is there not one baptisme onely one profession one onely Lord father of all one onely redeémer Iesus Christ what prerogatiue then caÌ your sect chalenge more vnto your wickednes then ours We allow no amendement of maners but such as that authoritie of the Gospell sacred Scriptures do approue none other integritie of life but that whiche the Gospell doth exact if you be exempt from this discipline the world goeth well on your side loÌg may you enioy that your freédome a Gods name But if there be but one profession one name one bonde of peace why do you so dismeÌber this vnitie or rather rend it in peéces as though it were nothyng materiall in what sorte you behaue your selues bycause we haue an especiall profession and regard of innocencie and vprightnes of life If this were so as you do most absurdely confesse what could this auayle to your Monkes how could they be cured of their festered vlcers beyng aboue an hundred yeares old by these our newly vpstarte lieches as you tearme them You see here how you rubbe your selfe on the gall where soeuer ye touch so hard it is to finde a startyng hoale for such frameshapen cauils And yet beyng altogether vnlucky in handlyng your matters you hauke after tiltes of wordes that so at the least ye may fease vpon gnates I affirmed that you dwelt nearer the worke maister of poyson then I You demaunde what I meane by that whether I note your person your countrey or any other nation Whereunto I demaunde agayne whether the wordes be not Latin wordes and playne enough But they note nothyng of certeintie say you This is your owne fault who vse to chop of the head of the sentence and slyly huddle the rest And I otherwise accusing no man willingly am ashamed to depraue any whole NatioÌ Wherfore though you haue endited EnglaÌd by name it shal be lawfull for me to vse more modestie for more arrogaÌcie and impudencie I can not You snatch at an other vocable which is Perpessa Printed for Persparsa But yet at the last you release me of this quarell coÌfesse that it might be the ouersight of the Printer as though you or any other hauyng any smatch of learnyng could doubt that I had written the seédes of warres to be scattered abroad But you are an immoderate brabbler that can scarcely admitte that which your selfe do seé must of necessitie seéme to be true Here you play hickscorner concernyng the reformation of our maners after the rules of the Gospell Where you sportyngly promise that you will sayle ouer vnto vs to learne this notable discipline of life Come not at vs I pray you except you throw away your hypocritical visour and cal to your memory the saying of the Propheticall kyng Thy worde O Lord is a lanterne to me feete which sentence lyeth drowned amongest you in so deépe a dongeon of bald ceremonies and mens traditions that like night owles you are starke blynd in the midday and are not able to endure the bright beames of the cleare shynyng Gospell Now to the end I might more sensibly disclose the ouglinesse of your fonde superstitions I noted two speciall botches of your lothsome customes Whereof one consisteth in that vnbridled liceÌcious Bulles of Pardons The other entreateth of prayers ouerunne and mumbled vp without feélyng sence or vnderstandyng These two forlorne matters you ouerskip in the playne field succourles without touch of breath wherein surely you deale very discreétly for your Schoolemaister Cicero him selfe if he were now aliue could not perswade this blacke to be white the matter beyng so absurde And yet you haue here illfaudredly prouided for your honestie that so playnly deny that men were not accustomed to assigne the affiauÌce of their saluation to those two plaisters aboue mentioned For as touchyng those leadden Bulles what prerogatiue they obteined how wyde and how farre they stretched with how cruell bondage they had cramped mens consciences not onely the auncient age and receaued custome of many yeares most truly recordeth but the rotten carcasses also buried in graue will beare sufficieÌt witnes against you Amongest a great number of whom were fouÌde caskettes full of pardons safely folded and lapt together in the bottome of their graues Which I suppose would neuer haue chaunced vnlesse vnmeasurable superstitious affiaunce had bene attributed to this peltyng leadeÌ pilfe Now if the liuely authoritie of the holy scriptures haue so vtterly quasshed blurred out this bald ceremonie that at length you confesse now that all confidence of saluation ought to bee ascribed to the onely bountie and mercy of Iesu Christ as your selfe protest in the selfe same wordes Uerely I do hartely reioyce in the behalfe of Spayne But as I haue no quarell with that famous NatioÌ at all so haue I very great agaynst you whose communicatioÌ is so wonderfully variable that a man may scarse trust you in this matter For if it be true that our righteousnesse doth partly depend vpon good workes agayn if it be meritorious to pray to the virgine Marie which both you do verifie and likewise earnestly auow that she hath bene oftentymes founde mercyfull to your petitions of these then proceédeth a good consequente that all the hope of our iustification ought not to be ascribed to Christ onely But these thyngs shal be better coÌsidered hereafter in place fit for them in the meane tyme call to your remembrauÌce what a thyng it is to speake honorably and largely of the
first ordeine lawes then assigne his Magistrates the Apostles Lastly that this bonde of mutuall societie might not be broken and so the couenable agreement of this Citie disturbed he did erect a Monarchie and therein inuested Peter with the highest soueraigntie First of all what heauenly commoÌ wealth do you dreame of vpon earth when as that heauenly Ierusalem is aboue wherein dwelleth God him selfe and our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ whereas the earth can haue none other Citie then earthly Neither did Iesu Christ take vnto him mans nature to the end hee would coyne new lawes but to accomplishe the old that the glad tydynges might be preached That prisoners might bee loosed that the sicke might be healed lastly that by offring vp his most precious body on the Crosse our sinnes might be clensed As for any superioritie in gouernement the Apostles receaued none nor any other authoritie was committed vnto them but that they should wander through the whole world emptie of all worldly furniture cariyng nothing with them and should sow in all places abroad the comfortable doctrine of the Gospell Nay rather when arose betwixt them a question who should be greatest amongest them our Lord and Sauiour Christ did so vtterly suppresse that ambicious contention that he briefly denounced that he which was left should be greatest amongest them Agayne when Iames Iohn had besought of our Lord and Sauiour that the one of them might sit on his right hand the other on his left hand when he were ascended into heauen vnto the throne of Maiestie he reproued them both so sharpely blamyng their ignoraunce that he told them They knew not what they asked and immediatly callyng the rest of the twelue together he so tempered vnto them lowlynes humilitie and obedience by manifest Arguments that they might easely perceiue how they were forbidden all maner of superioritie Sith these thyngs therfore are true I woÌder what came into your mynde to dreame of so dry a Summer that a Monarchie was erected amoÌgest the Apostles and that vnto Peter was geuen the preheminence thereof Was Peter so appointed the chief ouer the rest of the Apostles when as Christ him selfe doth so embace them and fearefully terrifle them from all maner of supremacie was Peter so worthy to be a Monarche when as Christ him selfe did hyde him out of the way bycause they would haue made him a kyng must we be so subiect to Peter and his Successours as vnto Princes when our Sauiour Iesu Christ came downe from heauen for this entent purpose to become a seruauÌt vnto others requiryng of his Apostles the selfe same duetie of abacement But there is nothyng you say more cleare then these wordes Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke I will builde my Church And what soeuer thou byndest vpon earth shall be bound also in heauen And I haue prayed for thee that thy fayth may not fainte And thou at the last beyng coÌuerted confirme thy brethren And many other like Whereby you will coÌstreine vs to beleue That Peter was preferred before the rest of the Apostles I will treate therfore of euery of these seuerally That it may be euidently knowen what a deépe insight this Reuerend Prelate hath in Diuinitie For if he haue made here a strong and souÌde foundation his passage wil be the easier to the rest of his Assertions But if his groundewordes be planted vpon Sande the rest of his buildyng will quickely shiuer in peéces and come to ruine First of all therefore Note this to bee commonly vsed throughout the whole Scripture That when our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ would demaunde any question of all his Apostles Peter would make auÌswere in the name of the whole generally and not in his owne name particularely So to that question But whom do you say I am Peter maketh auÌswere for them all Thou art Christ the sonne of the liuyng God Agayne when the Lord demaunded Whether they his Disciples would depart away from him with the rest of the Iewes Peter not onely for him selfe but for his whole company denyed saying Lord whether shall we goe Thou hast the wordes of eternall lyfe The life hereof is in Peters Sermon when he exhorted the Iewes to repose their whole affiaunce of saluation in Iesu Christ whom they Crucified and was risen agayne froÌ death to life For in the same place it is sayd that Peter alone did not preach to the Iewes but with the other eleuen The wordes were pronounced by Peters mouth onely but the mynde sentence enteÌt was agreed vpoÌ by all the Apostles Now therfore if those Scriptures do admitte these phrases of speach as appeareth playnly by the wordes of the holy Ghost Then this is a necessary consequent That our Lord Iesu Christ did in lyke maner apply his wonted communication vsed with the Apostles to Peters coÌmon aunswere In the like phrase of speach were those wordes Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke will I build my Church For as Peter in the behalfe of all his fellowes affirmed that hee was Christ the sonne of the liuyng God so Christ likewise though he named Peter onely yet acknowledgeth the vniuersall consent and confession of all the rest and in the same doth promise to establish his Church which interpretatioÌ if you will not allow without witnesses behold Oâotius I haue alledged auncient Fathers mainteinyng myne allegation agaynst you and haue noted their places not obseruyng your disorder herein whiche vse to packe together a Rable of names of Fathers omittyng the matter as though to the resolution of doubtfull matters neéded nothyng but names Next hereunto you place in order the promise of Christ in these wordes What soeuer thou shall bynde vpon earth shall also be bounde in heauen what then ought this promise to bee restrained to Peter onely or was this promise equally coÌmunicated to the other Apostles whose speach is this then Receaue ye the holy Ghost whose soeuer sinnes ye do forgeue shal be forgeueÌ them and whose sinnes soeuer you doe reteine the same are reteined Is not this the gift of Christ is not this Christes promise made vnto his twelue Disciples standyng in the middest of them and preachyng vnto them all endyng them all with his heauenly blessing somewhat afore his Ascention Is not this sentence manifest enough the witnesse approued the authoritie not comptrollable vnlesse paraduenture you will contend like a child and stand vpon the nycenes of these sillables byndyng and loosing wherof you made mention before And yet if ye will obstinately persiste herein you shal be vrged with sillables and titles of like wordes Verely verely I say vnto you whatsoeuer you shall bynde on the earth the same shal be bounde in heauen also and whatsoeuer you loose vpon the earth shal be loosed also in heauen Here you this Do you also perceaue it and are ye not ashamed will you attribute that vnto
Peter particularly yea and in earnest will you vrge and defende stoutly the very same senteÌce wherein Mathew Iohn by manifest proofe do coÌuince you who expresly do protest that the very same power of byndyng and loosing was geuen by our Sauiour Christ to the other Apostles in generall what will you not dare to do in the darcke good Syr that practize to defraude vs of the cleare shynyng sunne how will you peruert and wrest the fathers that will so craftely iuggle with the expresse wordes of the Scriptures truely you must either bewray your pestilent âeger de mayne in this place or confesse your grosse errour Your thyrd place is this I haue prayed for thee that thy fayth saynte not and thou beyng at last conuerted confirme thy brethren And what hereof Can any man bee so witlesse to say that those wordes of our Sauiour Christ were not aswell spoken to the rest of the Apostles as to Peter by name I will therfore first scanne the wordes of the Euangelist in order that they may be more apparaunt But you are they which haue perseuered with me in all my temptations And I do prouide for you euen as my Father hath prouided for me a kingdome that you may eate and drinke at my table in my kingdome and may sit on seates iudging the xij Tribes of Israell And the Lord sayd Symon Symon behold Sathan hath desired to sist you as wheate but I haue prayed for thee that thy fayth faint not and thou at length being coÌuerted confirme thy brethren In this parcell of Scripture is nothyng particular to Peter but the same is common to all the Apostles That they perseuered with Christ was common to them all The reward likewise is common to them all videl to sit at the heauenly table Agayne the thyrd parcell had relation to them all Symon Symon Sathan hath desired to sift you as wheate Sithence the whole processe of the Text therfore was referred to them all by what Argument may it be applyed vnto Peter onely Namely sithence our Lord Iesus goyng a whiles after suffer death and makyng preparation for his Ascention into heauen poured out most earnest prayers vnto his Father with a long and vehement repetition of wordes not for Peter particularly but for all the rest of the Apostles in generall whiche last and generall prayer of Christ to the Father who so aduisedly considereth shall easely conceaue that our Lord Iesu Christ made not intercession for Peters faith alone but for all the rest of the Apostles And hereof will also maruell much how great learned Clarkes dayly exercised in the Scriptures can Iudge therof otherwise Truly the most notable of the auncient Fathers do constantly affirme that the very same sentences wherewith Supremacie is challenged vnto Peter are commoÌ to all the other Apostles together with Peter And this haue I most manifestly proued by the selfe same places which your selfe vouched And albeit we passe ouer all these geue eare to the holy Ghost speakyng vnto vs by the mouth of the sacred Scriptures yet all this Monarchie of Peter which you do so exquisitely aduaunce aboue the Moone and the seuen Starres shal be founde to haue bene vsurped by the inordinate ambition of Byshops of Rome and not by any authoritie grosided vpon the doctrine of the auncient Apostolicke Church I will begyn with our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ who hauyng spoken these wordes Thou art Peter c immediately after calleth Peter Sathan and commaunded him to departe from him bycause hee knew not the thynges that apparteined vnto God How did Christ then I beseéch you erect the supremacie of his Church in the person of Peter whom immediately almost with one breath he rebuked bytterly by that most execrable name of Sathan and that not without cause for hee dissuaded him from goyng to Ierusalem Moreouer if Christ made intercession to the Father for Peter onely that his fayth should not faynt how came it to passe that within a few dayes after Peter onely with open mouth denyed forsware Christ his Lord and Maister But I doe much miscontentedly make mention of the fall of so notable an Apostle whoÌ I do acknowledge the most excellent amongest the famous Apostles Onely this I would to be knowen that he was ordeined to no seuerall supremacie in the Churche of Christ by any authoritie of the Scriptures We haue heard Christ let vs come now a litle lower to his Apostles and namely vnto Paule who laboured in the Churche of God as hee reporteth of him selfe more then they all he therefore doth playnly and constantly affirme that he had receaued as great authoritie from Christ to be an Apostle ouer the Gentiles as Peter had ouer the Iewes and addeth further that he had conference with Iames Cephas and Iohn whom he nameth Pillers of the Church as the chief of all the rest Yet in the meane whiles hee acknowledgeth no singular prerogatiue of prheminence in Peter Nay rather he vseth great libertie of speach agaynst Peter him selfe without all respect of Principalitie or mention of dignitie But why seéke we other testimonies Peter is a good witnesse concernyng him selfe I beseech the Elders whiche are amongest you sayth heé that am also an Elder and a witnesse of the Passion of Christ and partaker of the same glorie which shal be reuealed c. Behold here the dignitie behold the Supremacy and Monarchie of this reuerend father He is an Elder amongest Elders A witnesse amongest other witnesses of the Passion of Christ partaker with the rest of the same glory to be reuealed Here is a Triple Crowne truely yea a most precious Crowne not made of goldâ nor beset with precious stones A most honorable Ambassadour of the heauenly glory to bee reuealed not of any Temporall or earthly dominion Lastly a most Reuerend Father not in any singular Lordlynes but by especiall ordinary power of his fellow brethren Who so will throughly sift the doctrine the ordinaunces the lyfe and conuersation of the Apostles shall finde a most perfect patterne of vnchaungeable consent but shall not smell any tast no not one sparke so much of this Lordly Monarchie wherof this ghostly Prelate doth so subtlely and largely dispute Unlesse perhaps he will driue vs to friuolous gesses as to picke vp children kyckesses together As that Peter went before That hee spake oftentymes first that hee looked into Christes Sepulchre before Iohn But if we shall hunte after such gnattes The honour geueÌ to Iames is of more substaunce Namely when in their publicke assembly the rest of the Apostles did subscribe to the ordinaunce that he made And that other also to wit when Peter was desirous to know who should betray our Lord Sauiour Iesu Christ to the Iewes him selfe did not enquire therof but beckened to Iohn whiche did leane vpon the breast of our Lord that hee might demaunde the question But howsoeuer these
weaken the Maiestie of the Romane Empire but ransacked and rent in peéces the whole world almost Euen so the Romishe Byshops in the first swathling cloutes of the first primitiue time of the church were very godly and sounde and to vse the wordes of the scripture did many tymes withstand the enemies of the Gospell euen with losse of lyfe But after they had erected this Lordly superioritie of the Papane Monarchy there was of godlynes and integritie of lyfe no dramme at all but of intollerable ambition vnbridled licentiousnes whole swarmes did appeare And yet I speake but a litle It is not therefore requisite to hang all the keyes vnder one maus gyrdle alwayes nor yet scarse good pollicie For if it were so there might be some dauÌger therein lest the frowardnesse of one person might ouerthrowe the whole estate of Christianitie There is farre lesse ieoperdy where seuerall Prouinces are ruled by their seuerall Pastours for proofe wherof if it be not sufficient to haue alledged reason experience I will recite vnto you out of the Register of Romish Byshops for witnes Gregorie the first Who in this matter vttereth the same reason in the same wordes And for playnesse of the matter I will set them downe as hee hath spoken them whiche are these If we haue but one onely head the fall of that head is the fall of the whole Churche it any maÌ presume to take vpon him this name of vniuersall Byshop the whole Church falleth downe from her estate when he falleth which is called vniuersall But farre may this name of blasphemie be from all Christian myndes whereby the honour of all Priests is diminished in part whiles this arrogaunt singularitie is presumed vpon c. May any thyng be sayd more playnly or plentyfully can any thyng be pronounced more vehemently or effectually agaynst this extraordinary and presumptuous Lordlynes of Papacie Neither did Gregorie otherwise then he spake For when this Satanicall name of vniuersall Byshop was offred vnto him by the CouÌcell of Calcedon hee refused it with great detestation and would by no meanes be acquainted therewith although you deny the same most shamelesly as shal be declared afterwardes But here you obtrude agaynst vs the misticall Sonet of Salomon Wherein he commaundeth his spouse to catch the Foxes destroying the vynes which be as you interpret it heretiques peruertyng the Churche And this you affirme caÌ by none other meane be brought to passe except some one be set in authoritie that may roote vp the mores of hereticall contagion before they be ripe First of all Osorius it is hard to establish a firme doctrine by an Allegorie Moreouer the denomination of Foxes doth no more resemble heretiques then any other wicked persons But to graunt this vnto you in some respect by what argument do ye proue that heretiques can by no meanes els be apprehended vnlesse your singular Monarchy be admitted The Emperour Phocas did first of all erect this Papal Empire in Boniface the iij. What then Had not Peter long before Foxes in chase and the other Apostles likewise Call to your remembraunce Ananias Saphira and Elymas the sorcerour forget not other pestilent examples like vnto the same and you will be better aduised Proceéde a degreé lower to those graue Fathers the first Byshops of the Romish Church ClemeÌs Anacletus Marcellus many others Could the holy Martyrs haue sealed our Religion with their bloud vnlesse they had first daunted the pride of Tyrauntes and heretiques with the sword of the Scriptures But here paraduenture you will Triumph bycause I make so honorable mention of the Romish Seé I wis it is neédelesse For I doe here commend Byshops not Popes Martyrs not Monarches And yet in truth I haue no quarell with the Romishe Seé or the Byshop therof nor euer had It is that vsurped authoritie that exalteth it selfe aboue all earthly power which I do challenge and will proclaime open warre agaynst whiles breath is in my body except I finde a stronger Goliath then you are hetherto But we will returne to your Foxes whereof I haue noted the ouerthrow of sondry most subtill and craftie before the Papacie This our later age praysed be God doth punish and vtterly suppresse whole sects of heresies although the same doth not acknowledge your Papane principalitie I dare be bold to vouch England and I conceaue no lesse frendly of other common weales agaynst the which you can not forge any probable reason to the contrary or why it should not be so For if there were no vniuersall Monarche of the Churche sittyng in that stately chayre at Rome ought that be any estoppell to the Byshops of England Scotland Poland or Germany yea of Spayne or Portingall or any other dominion or common weale but that they may apprehend hereticques yea and punish them Haue they no Magistrates do they lacke lawes are they voyde of sense and vnderstanding Put on your spectacles Osorius and behold all Christian Nations and marke wel the maners of the people Are they not sufficiently prouided for their common safetie and tranquilitie by their owne peculiar lawes do not Princes gouerne their seuerall territories in orderly pollicie may they administer all other matters well and can not confute the absurdities of heresies without this Tyrannous Ierarchy of Rome Can not we touch an heretique or can not other Regions do the like which are in the furthermost part of the world seuered from the costes of Italy except they gad to Rome for a Pelting Oracle do you iustifie this Osorius is this the wisedome of an old man are you so altogether voyde of learnyng experience and discretion also Yea rather before any Pope was at all heretiques were layd handes vpon Euen now also rigour of law is executed agaynst them Neither can any Foxe be foside so crafty as your reasons alluded vnto theÌ are vtterly friuolous vnskillfull But ye skippe from Salomon to Paule and of him you write in this maner Therfore Paule in his second Epistle to the ThessaloniaÌs denyeth that it may come to passe that Antichrist shall come before there be a departyng from the fayth First of all this is somewhat straunge in you that you note the place And surely in very good tyme haue ye done it for euen here your vnshamefast imprudencie is taken tardy Paule pronounceth in that place that our Lord Iesu Christ shall not come before a departyng be of the fayth first but you for our Lord and Sauiour Christ haue placed Antichrist Paules wordes are these Let no man deceaue you by any meanes for the Lord shall not come except there come a departyng first and that sonne of perdition be reuealed You are caught Osorius and so entangled in this snatch that ye can not escape Are you not ashamed to depraue Paules sentence so blasphemously can you with so execrable impietie and horrible ignoraunce place Antichrist in steéde of Christ and the sonne
for their defence also as appeareth playnly by their bookes but I enterlaced this withall that if our writers had vsed scriptures onely they had followed herein the example of Iesu Christ and his Apostles What sayth our graue father to this Forsoth he Preacheth much of the Diuine power of Christ our Sauiour how that he was the mynde and wisedome of the father and the accomplisher of the Law and did make new ordinaunces of our Religion which were not expressed in the whole course of the old Law First of all this vnweldie old man perceiueth not how hee hath ouerthrowen him selfe in his owne turne for if Christ be the mynde and wisedome of the father as he hath most truely sayd hereupon consequently followeth that all the particular testimonies of Christ are speciall Oracles of the truth and that all his particular sayinges ought to be engrauen in our harts as heauenly Oracles This did our heauenly Father pronounce vnto Moyses and Moyses declared the same vnto the people in these wordes The Lorde thy God will rayse vp a Prophet lyke vnto me from among you ouer thy brethren him shall ye barken vnto Wherfore if we must harken vnto Christ as vnto Moyses then are we bounde as necessarely to his preceptes as to the ordinaunces of Moyses Behold the same more playnly yet in the Gospell Iesus beyng baptised came forth of the water and behold the heauens were opened and he saw the spirite of God descendyng as a Doue and standyng ouer him and loe there came a voyce from heauen This is my welbeloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Therfore sith the authoritie of Iesu Christ is sealed vnto vs by the mouth of almighty God what greater Maiestie of Scriptures may be pronouÌced in the Scriptures taught or imagined more excellent then this doctrine Iames doth recorde That our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ is the onely Lawmaker which can saue and destroy Wherfore in his onely right and interest he did partly establishe new lawes partly amend the old partly expouÌde the obscure partly restore them that were worne out of mynde and partly abolishe them that were receaued But what maketh this to your purpose when our Lord Iesus doth vse Scriptures doth he alledge any other then the sacred testimonies of the old Testament it could not otherwise bee say you doth he vouche any other interpreters then the holy Ghost sent downe from heauen he neéded not say you For he whom God hath sent speaketh the wordes of God for God doth not geue him the Spirite by measure The Father loueth the Sonne and hath yelded all thynges vnto his hand This is a true saying of Iohn concernyng Christ which beyng so in deéde that must bee also true whiche I enterlaced That Iesus Christ beyng contented with the testimonie of the holy Scriptures alleadged none other interpretour besides him selfe This is also vndoubted true at the last That you are a very vnskilfull and blockishe Deuine whiche professing the knowledge of God do wauder so erroniously in the nature and power of God If I should sift out the examples particularly that you haue taked together for this purpose I should finde them altogether voyde of all maner probabilitie stuffed full with grosse errours Two onely will I shake out amongest all the rest which shall condemne you of your disguised maskyng You deny that this sentence can be founde in the Law in the Prophets or in the Psalmes that the way is narrow that leadeth to saluatioÌ or that we must turne the left checke to him that hath striken on the right If you exact wordes you play by that Sophister If you require substauÌce or sentence I do affirme it to be found euery where both in the Law in the Prophetes and in the Psalmes The old law hath an expresse commaundement That we shall not bow to the right hand nor the left hand nor adde to the Law nor diminishe there from Is it not apparaunt therfore that we are placed in straightes Truly Dauid perceaued it well who beyng a kyng and a Prophet chosen by that singular prouidence of God to gouerne the people of Israell yet doth greuously complayne that hee was partly placed in narrowe straightes partly forsaken in the darke and sometymes maketh most humble supplication to God to direct his feete in the right way but very often confesseth that the word of the Lord is a Lanterne to his feete and a light to his pathes But what neédeth a Lanterne but in combersome and narrow straightes where a man may easely goe amasked if you be ignoraunt in all those places what doe ye vnderstand that is requisite in a Deuine and Byshop or if ye know them and dissemble them what can be more wayward then you Likewise you obiect that saying of geuyng a blow on the cheékes which wordes do employ nothyng els but that we are commauÌded to be patient But patience is most learnedly conteined in that first and speciall commaundement of God Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe There is no maÌ that will offer iniurie to him selfe in any matter wherfore he ought not to wrong his neighbour at all caÌ you haue any thyng more plainly spoken The vngratefull people of Israell did exclame and rage agaynst their good mild paynfull guide Moyses sometyme with secret conspiracies sometimes with open exclamations many tymes with threatnynges and very ofteÌ with wicked cursinges What might this gentle Captaine doe in the meane space Beyng stricken yea and buffeted also vpon the cheéke doth hee not turne ouer his other cheéke What els I pray you is meant hereby that he doth often pray vnto God for such cursed caytiues his enemies when he doth so earnestly and vehemently cry out to God either to forgeue them or to blotte his name out of the booke of life if you require yet a more notable example of patience Behold our Lord Iesus Christ is prefigured vnto vs in Esay the Prophet drawen vnto death as a Lambe to be slayne who beyng rayled vpon on euery side vexed by the Iewes and buffeted with fistes on the face held his peace and as a sheepe before the Shearer neuer opened his mouth what may be thought of the whole history of Iob but a conquest of patience and in most miserable calamitie a most ioyfull Triumphe thereof And yet this veépe Deuine is so voyde of common sense that he vtterly deuyeth any sentence to be founde in the Scriptures touchyng patient sufferaunce of our enemyes wronges You say that you haue passed ouer many thyngs It had bene better for you truely that you had passed ouer all thynges then in all thynges with malice and foule speakyng so to turne the catte in the panne that your wordes can neither finde head nor foote to stand vpon can explane nothyng soundly coÌclude nothyng duely proue nothyng effectually but rauÌge in rayling brawle with bare affirmatiues and with pratlyng past measure pester and
enough and is busied about heaueÌly thyngs and godly coÌtemplation Truly this your speach doth not describe vnto vs any godly Moncke but either some notorius hypocrite or happely some drunkard or some one distraught of his wittes For why should his senses be ouerwhelmed at the namyng of God They should rather be liuely and ioyfull Wherfore should he fall to the ground on the deuils name if he were a true Christian he should rather rayse him selfe vp and reioyce in him from whom onely commeth all saluatioÌ How chaunceth this holy father that you an old man a Byshop a Deuine of so great estimation are so fallen to Fables Certes a meéte aduocate for so monishe a matter You demauÌde of me why we suffered our MoÌckeries to escape vnpunished if there were such licentiousnes of lyfe amongest them How did they escape vnpunished good Syr we ouerthrew their durtie dennes The Brothelles them selues beyng bondslaues to all vnthriftynes we haled out of their swynestyes set a libertie we did abolish the occasioÌs of their treachery as much as we might not hatyng that persoÌs but their vyces when their vyce was rooted out what els might haue bene exacted not of you onely who blinded with malice know nothyng but of any other reasonable person To this dauÌce you hauge the Uestale virgines whom the auÌcient Romanes reuereÌced greatly so in lyke maner require our Nunnes to be honored of vs. Surely you handle this matter very kindly Salij Priestes of Mars did dauÌce naked in their opeÌ filthy Pageantes for this was a speciall Article of their Religion why then do not you likewise beyng an old priest thinke it as seémely for you to daunce for Religion sake Herein I may seéme to scoffe ouer bytterly No truely For what can be lesse tollerable then an old grayheaded Byshop and a Deuine as he persuadeth him selfe to march with the madde superstitioÌs of the Romaines agaynst the veritie of the Gospell of our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ You turmoyle your selfe much about the vowes of widowes which doth not coÌcerne our disputation and argue as though virgines vowyng chastitie could not bee ioyned in lawfull mariage without great haynousnesse How can men or maydens promise single life or if they promise rashly how can they performe truly when as chastitie is the peculiar gift of God and is not in our own power Get you to S. Paule whom you produce in your behalfe touchyng the same matter These be his wordes But euery man hath his proper gift of God one after this maner and an other after that What can be alledged more manifest then this If you be not yet satisfied annexe hereunto our Sauiour Christ and withall his owne wordes touchyng Eunuches wherein you triumph so Iollylye bycause that our Lord Iesus reported that some did geld them selues for the kyngdome of heauen Is not this also added a litle before He that can take it let him take it all men can not conceaue this saying but those to whom it is geuen Wherefore if chastitie be the proper gift of God we may not assure to our selues the thyng that is the proper gift of God And if none can be chast but to whom it is geueÌ how can we promise to our selues that which we know not whether we shall euer attaine or no Great is the force of the truth greater then this our great Maister of Israell can coÌprehend And howsoeuer he lyst to iangle here he confesseth the same a litle before in expresse wordes that chastitie is the gift of God as in deéde it is And for proofe therof vrgeth the same wordes of Christ mentioned before namely All men can not compreheÌd this saying but vnto whom it is geuen I maruell much Osorius that you haue so quickely forgotten your selfe But I ought not maruell thereat bycause of a very greédy affection to cauill an ârabble you rush headlong many tymes into most pestilent errours You accuse Luther Bucer Zuinglius Oecolampadius Caluin and Martyr of lust As though men liued not chastly which hold them selues within the limittes of lawfull Matrimonie or as though all the Cowled droues of Sophisters aswell of your Nation as of any part of the world els were comparable with these godly fathers in commendable conuersatioÌ of life or excellencie of learnyng or as though the namyng of those persons made your cause any myte that better or as though Paule whom you do wrest and peruert for the mainteynaunce of your single lyfe did not sufficiently interprete him selfe or as though there were any thyng in you besides arrogancie cauillyng and choler You moue a very saucie question of Christian libertie Whether the same appeare greater in your Cowled generations then in maryed folkes I aunswere that the pure Eunuches whom God hath endued with the gift of chastitie do enioy most excellent freédome of mynde but the question coÌcerneth not those persons in this place But the rest of your mocke Eunuches haue no freédome of mynde except you lift to tearme it a wicked fréedome an horrible libertie to whoredome Neither am I alone of this iudgement for that were of no credite Paule is of the same mynde Who hauyng sayd It is good for a man not to touch a wife immediatly addeth But for auoyding fornication let euery maÌ haue his owne wife and thereof presently rendreth this reason For better it is to marry then to burne The first part of this senteÌce you vrge very stoutly Osorius but the later you doe wickedly wincke at But we may not halt so bycause as Paule sayth we goe the right way to the Gospell not haltyng as you do But halt you as ye lift dissemble still wincke still at the horrible actions of your cowled Lurdeines yet is this true yea to true alas that these hypocriticall professours of chastitie doe not burne onely but swell also and are enflamed with insaciable firebrandes of Lecherie And it is not a whiueryng voyce of a vow bloweÌ out in respect of gayne or idlenes that can very easely quenche suppresse in the myndes of young persons those intollerable flames of naturall corruptioÌ There be great droues nay rather vnmeasurable herdes of your drousie Uotaries to be so bold as to coyne a new name for a new thyng whose poysoned filthynesse hath so defiled the earth that they may with horrible feare looke for Gods iust terrible vengeaunce to bee poured vpon them with Gomorrhean and Sodomiticall brimstone and fire heauen vnlesse they repent be tymes You do reproche Luther with his Mariage and slaunderously rayle that at the celebratyng thereof Venus was President not Venus of Paphia nor Erycina but Venus the furie of hell O vncleane mouth Dare you so blasphemously rayle agaynst the estate of Matrimonie commeÌded with so glorious titles as which the holy Ghost commaunded to be honorable amongest all persons whiche our Lord Iesus Christ did honor with his presence which was ordeined of God
of your side be it neuer so sauadge can with fire Fagot coÌsume out of the myndes of the godly But this our new maister dispatcheth all thyngs in scoffes a petie questioÌs He demaundeth of vs what is to be vnderstanded of those Sacramentes which we doe reteine First of all if we doe vse any Sacraments at all you are taken tardy for a common lyar agaynst vs especially for you rayled a litle earst that all Sacramentes were vtterly abolished by our preachers and that you haue as many witnesses of this solemne lye as England hath inhabitauntes But you proceede and would know What Sacraments be If you doe know already and will dissemble why doe you playe the foole in so earnest a matter but if you bee ignoraunt hereof what maner of Deuine will you be accoumpted that know not the first principles of Religion Nay say you I am not doubtfull of the Sacraments of Scholemen but I know not your bare and naked Images by the whiche you deny the grace of God to bee obteined How many faultes Osorius in so few wordes For first of all who euer called Sacramentes by this name Images but you alone in déede they are named signes and markes of holy thynges many tymes seales of our saluatioÌ many meÌ call them tables and so diuers men geue diuers names But your selfe are the very first that euer gaue this tearme of Images to SacrameÌts But as touching wordes though you be ofteÌtymes ouer captious we wil be more tractable with you therein and will prosecute the matter You say that our Deuines doe place naked Images in steade of Sacramentes How naked my Lord I pray you we do agrée with S. Augustine that Sacramentes are signes of holy thynges or thus that Sacramentes are visible signes of inuisible grace I trust you will permit me the same libertie of wordes which you vse to take to your selfe We do grauÌt that we are by Baptisme regenerate to eternall lyfe we doe also yeld that in the holy Communion our Lord Iesus is truely receiued of the faythfull in spirite by fayth Whereby it appeareth that our Deuines do not accoumpt the Sacramentes as bare naked signes but for thynges most effectuall most holy thynges most necessaryly apperteyning to our comfort they be sacred mysteries of our Religion they be assured pledges of heauenly grace And yet God the father which made vs of clay is not tyed to his workemaÌshyp nor bounde to his creatures But taketh mercy of whom he will haue mercy and forgeueth our sinnes for his owne sake not for the Sacraments sake Lastly Life euerlasting is the gift of God through Iesus Christ not through operation of the Sacramentes And therfore we do refuse and detest such naked falsely forged Images as dreames of your owne drousie braynes and vse the true Sacramentes as most sacred thynges as pledges of our fayth and seales of our saluation yet we do not attribute so much vnto them as though by the meanes of them the grace of God must of necessitie be poured our vpoÌ vs by the Workes wrought as through conduct pipes This impietie we turne ouer to your Schoolemen the very first sprynges of this poyson For inheritaunce is geuen of faith accordyng to grace The Sacramentes are reuerend signes of Gods grace vnto vs are excelleÌt monumeÌtes of our Religion are most perfect witnesses of our saluation If you can not be satisfied with these commendations of the SacrameÌts heape you vp more vnto them at your choyse we shal be well pleased withall so that you binde not the grace of God to these signes of very necessitie For we are not saued by the receauing of these SacrameÌts But if we coÌfesse with our mouth our Lord Iesus Christ and with our hartes beleeue that God raysed him agayne from death this confession onely will saue vs. Iulian the Emperour was Baptized in the name of Iesus yet dyed in manifest blasphemie Iudas Iscariote did féede vpon the Sacrament of Euchariste yet immediatly after Supper hee departed to the enemyes of our Lord Iesu and betrayed innoceÌt bloud what néedeth many wordes SacrameÌtes are most precious tokens of Gods fauour but they doe not obteine Gods fauour SacrameÌtes are excellent monumentes of godlynes but they do not make godlynes He that will glory let him glory in the Lord not in the Sacraments For by God we are engraffed into Christ Iesu whiche was made vnto vs by God wisedome righteousnes sanctification and redemption And this much to your generall obiections framed agaynst our order of administryng the Sacramentes Now I will come to those two principall points which you séeme specially to haue culled out that in them you might braue out the nimblenes of your witte eloquence of toung Confession you name and the Sacrament of the altar as you tearme it Of Confession you draw forth a tedious talke and in the same endeauour to include the Sacrament of Repentance First of all you cast your accoÌptes amisse in your numbryng Osorius for if you receaue RepeÌtaunce in the name of a SacrameÌt either you must admit eight Sacramentes contrary to the old custome of your Church or els you must turne one of your other seuen Sacraments out of the doores wherein vnlesse you deale more circuÌspectly you will haue more fistes about your eares then your owne euen amongest your owne fraternitie But please them as well as you may and vs you shall easely winne to wincke at you which do content our selues with two Sacramentes onely to witte Baptisme and the Supper of the Lord yet do we also exercize the rest withall as matters singularly profitable and so fast knitte to the rule of true godlynesse that Christian profession can not want them When I name the rest I do not coÌprehend all but Confession and yet not your hypocriticall and schoole coÌfession wherof we will treate hereafter but the pure and auncient confession authorized by the Scriptures practized by the Prophetes and Apostles I adde hereunto amendement of lyfe ordination of Ministers celebration of Matrimonie and prayer although you passe by this last as a foreine straunger All these I say are in dayly vse with vs and had in great estimatioÌ though they reteine neither name nor nature of Sacramentes properly There be some other also wherof it is néedelesse to make any mentioÌ at this present for these are the chiefest which though we do not vsurpe for Sacraments as you do yet we do allow of them reuerently and religiously accordyng to the ordinaunce of the Gospell of God Whiche I thought méete to touch briefly by the way left any person vnacquainted with our orders and geuyng to much credite to Osorius may estéeme so much the lesse of our Religion Now I returne to your CoÌfessioÌ whispered into the eares of your Priests whoÌ though you embrace as your swéet babe and enriche with a great dower of wordes and decke with
his name Christ teacheth farre otherwise of him selfe Behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any maÌ heare my voyce and opeÌ vnto me the gate I will enter vnto him and will suppe with him and hee with me O sweéte and most comfortable voyce of our Lord Sauiour Iesus Christ which if once may be throughly rooted in the inward partes of our soule will easely rase out abolish that priuy blind buzzyng in the eares of those Massemongers and Friers But Osorius sticketh fast to his substitution and mainteineth earnestly that the Apostles were assigned to be Christes Uicares on earth whiche should supply his iurisdiction and should enterlace their owne definitiue sentences with his These are both false God is a ielous God and will not geue his honour to any other Hee hath appointed no Uicare and the holy Scripture doth acknowledge no such word neither was it his will that the Apostles should entermedle in his Iurisdiction Your surmise is false quite contrary to his heauenly prerogatiue For Christ onely hath the keyes of hell and death Christ onely is the slayne Lambe and the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda the roote of Dauid which openeth the booke and louseth the seuen seales therof neither was there any besides him in heauen in earth or vnder the earth that could open the booke and looke into it Our Lord Iesus beyng raysed from death and appearyng vnto his Apostles spake vnto them in this maner All power is geuen vnto me in heaueÌ and in earth Of this power was neuer iote empaired in any respect and neuer shal be What was the Commission of the Apostles then Christ him selfe doth open it in the selfe same place Goe ye therfore and teach all nations Baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost teachyng them to obserue all those sayings which I haue commauÌded you This was the Embassie of the Apostles this was their CommissioÌ Iurisdiction or to speake more playnly bluntly this was their function this was their office To this authoritie the keyes of heauen and remission of sinnes and whatsoeuer els of the same kynde must be applyed S. Paule doth comprehend all these briefly in these wordes Let men so esteeme vs as Ministers of Christ and Stewardes of the mysteries of God You be not Uicares theÌ Osori you be Ministers ye be not iudges to constitute Lawes as you do wickedly take vpoÌ you but ye be Stewardes to dispose the mysteries of God or at the lest you ought to bee But how belongeth this doctrine of Christ and his Apostles to your Massemongers Confessours They haue an other Romishe doctrine whereby they doe receiue the seély rude people runnyng in heapes vnto them rehearsing their sinnes priuily and in some close corner superstitiously when they haue vttered what them listeth they pronounce ouer them of their own power an absolution in a strauÌge language in steade of Satisfaction they do enioyne them some fastyng dayes or some long pilgrimages and to make an ende of the play they pike from them a few peÌce for their labour This is your vsurped power of CoÌfessioÌs Osorius which you affirme was geuen first to the Apostles afterwardes to you by a certâine title of Succession Tell me now did you euer read that any thyng was whispered into the Apostles eares priuily or that sinnes were seuerally repeated or the people absolued by their owne absolute power or any thyng done in a language not vnderstanded or any penauÌce as you tearme it enioyned or at the last any reward taken What vnshamefastnes is this what impietie is it to defend this close superstitious and mercenarie eare confession vnder pretence of the authoritie of our Sauiour Christ example of his Apostles especially wheÌ as none of these was euer instituted by Christ or frequented of his Apostles But your braynes are so be witched and intoxicated with eare confessions that ye shame not to alledge other stuffe yet whiche is most absurde of all the rest You say that it is daungerous for men to bee left in their owne libertie wheÌ they should confesse them selues to God For if it were so we would not willingly yeld to that embacing and throwyng down of our selues which Dauid named to bee the most acceptable sacrifice to God You do heare and acknowledge your owne wordes my Lord then the which I neuer heard any thyng vttered more blockish The matter shal be made manifest by the same example of Dauid which your selfe do alledge Dauid beyng a Patriarche a Kyng and a Prophet and a maÌ accordyng to Gods hart to vse the wordes of the Scripture was notwithstandyng continunually exercized in this kynde of Confession whiche is betwixt God onely vs in whom there is such store of sorowyng sighyng lamentyng weépyng afflictyng and bewayling as the like hath neuer bene in all your seââet whisperyngs no not sith the first whelpyng of the same For ãâã els is there in all that heauenly golden Psalmes of Dauids pâayer then a mournefull and lamentable confession of sinne ioyned with hartie repentaunce sure hope of pardon Be mercyfull to me O Lord sayth hee accordyng to thy manifold mercies wash me throughly froÌ my wickednes and clense me froÌ my sinnes for I do acknowledgâ my faultes and my sinne is ââer before me Agaynst thee onely haue I sââed and done wickedly in thy sight Loe here a true and souÌde forme of CoÌfession fully described in Dauid whoÌ you haue alledged In this coÌfession we do exercize our selues In this we remaine in this we do dwell We do also poure out publicke Confessions of sinnes in our Churhes where the godly Minister is harkened vnto which may minister an wholesome plaister to our wounded consciences some sentence ãâã of the authoritie of the Scriptures These be the keyes wherewith he doth opeÌ the kyngdome of God to theÌ which do vnfaynedly repent pronounceth vs that are bouÌde with the chaines of our sinnes freély loosed and deliuered from them in the name of our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ. These Confessions as well priuate as publicke these keyes this power of byndyng loosing we doe acknowledge appointed by the Scriptures and practized in the tyme of the Apostles Neither was any thyng done with Iohn in a corner touchyng Confession nor yet with the Disciples of Christ. This matter was referred and ended also to and before God wherof we haue a most manifest example in the Gospell which ought not onely enter the eares but also pearce the very hartes of all well disposed persons When the lost and prodigall sonne had riotously consumed and wasted all his substaunce in so much that he was driuen to eate Peascoddes with hogges he begynneth at the last to call him selfe home and earnestly to deuise how he might be reconciled to his father herein he prayeth no ayde of any Leuite nor sittyng in a
corner vnfoldeth vnto him by peécemeale how wickedly and filthyly he had behaued him selfe in all his misdoynges in hope to receaue pardon of him who could not relieue him but with an assured confidence commeth to his heauenly father and maketh his humble Confession into his eares in this wise Father I haue sinned agaynst heauen and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy sonne make me as one of thy hired seruauntes Truly this is both an humble and lowly Confession the sentence wonderfully effectuall nor any whit tedious in wordes And yet it came to passe hereupoÌ that this most myld father was very ioyous and clothed his sonne gorgiously rendryng therof this reason My sonne was dead and it aliue was lost and is founde agayne Behold here a pure and Gospel like Confession by the which we passe from death vnto life from destruction to saluatioÌ And therfore we that are instructed with these godly preceptes ought to obey the holy Ghost which teacheth vs by the mouth of S. Paule That because we haue an high Priest that hath pearced the heauens euen Iesus the sonne of God we should boldly approch to the Throne of his grace with affiaunce that from thence we may obteine mercy and grace and finde necessarie relief Yet for all this our great Proctour of Confession speaketh on and faceth out the matter endeuouryng to fetch the petigreé therof out of the Prophecies of Esay and demaundeth of me How I thinke that place of Esay must be vnderstode that it Should come to passe that after the birth of Christ the suckling Babe should thrust his hand into the denne of the Cockatrice and draw him out from thence First let vs heare the famous interpretation of this reuerend father If you will interpret this place sayth he as becommeth a Christian by children you must vnderstand those persons to whom Christ hath geuen power to treade downe Serpentes and Scorpions that is to say all sauadgenes of wickednesse the deceites of Deuils and all crueltie lurkyng in the very Dennes of the soules For although those persons be of a childishe simplicitie yet are they endued with such force and strength that they may easely kill Vipers beyng baled out of the most inward entrailes of the soules Marke here Reader this deépe interpretatioÌ of this graue father Byshop and Deuine But what shall I reprehend in this old Dotterell first He resembleth Confessours to sucklyng babes By what reason by what resemblaunce by what likelyhoode Paul doth enforme the Ministers farre otherwise whom hee requireth amongest other thynges To hold fast the mysterie of faith in a pure conscience then that a triall be had of them first and after admitted to the Ministerie Both which are farre beyond the age of Childish simplicitie but the power to treade vpoÌ Serpentes Scorpions was grauÌted to the Disciples of Christ as apperteinyng to their bodyes not to their soules That they should be dayly conuersauÌt amongest poyson without any empairyng of their health for euen so doth our Lord Iesus promise theÌ Behold I geue you power to tread vpon SerpeÌts and Scorpions and vpon all the force of the enemie and nothing shall hurt you So did Paule shake from his hand into the fier the Uiper which by chaunce stacke fast vpoÌ him beyng him selfe safe and whole when all men did looke that hee should haue swollen and burst in peéces Wherfore this promise of Christ whereby the health of the Apostles was preserued that nothyng might hurt them can not bee so mistourned and wrested to the edifieng of soules through ConfessioÌ vnlesse it be by you and your schoolemen which in mydday ouerspread all thynges with cloudes disguise all thynges licentiously at your owne will whiche chauÌge white blacke and blacke white that by such meanes that peéuishe and cold inuentions of your CommeÌtaries may be imputed vnto our charge In like maner bycause God did place in the firmamentone great light and an other lesse in the first creation of the world ye will haue this also to be almost an Article of our fayth that hereof it came to passe that the Pope is in degreé aboue the Emperour O passing witte that can make of the Sunne a Pope and of the Moone an Emperour But ye route so soundly in these drousie dreames that you can not bee awakened out of them and therfore I will leaue you snortyng in them and will auÌswere you of the true meanyng of the Prophecie whereof you moued your question Esay the Prophet doth in that place treate of the commyng of our Sauiour Iesu Christ and doth foreshew that in that tyme shall peace and full tranquillitie of all thyngs be which peace after a Propheticall maner he doth beautifie and make apparauÌt vnder allusions and variable figures that by them we might be enduced to haue a better tast and feélyng therof And to expresse the same more playnly I will recite that part of Esay froÌ the begynnyng which you haue slightly runne ouer The Prophecy is knit together in this phrase of wordes And there shall spring a braunche out of the roote of lesse and ae blossome shall grow out of his roote c. Vpon whom the spirite of the Lord shall rest c. then a litle after The Wolfe shall dwell with the Lambe and the Leoparde shall lye downe by the Kidde And agayne The Bullockes Lions and Cattaile shall keepe companie together so that a litle Child shall leade them The Cowe and Beare shall feede together and their youÌg ones shall lye together The LyoÌ shall eate straw like the Oxe or the Cow the suckling babe shall haue delight to the Serpentes neast and when he is weaned he shall put his hand into the Cockatrice ` Denne This much Esay who did most eloquently describe vnto vs the coÌmyng of Christ into the earth florishyng to the great benefite of vniuersall peace and publike prosperitie by way of allusion of the coÌcorde and agreément of sauadge beastes accompanyeng together peacybly And because he would Emprinte the same more deépely into our inward senses he is pleÌtyfull in comparisons and figures amongest the which he bringeth in this comfortable similitude of the sucklyng babes desirous to playe with the Serpentes whereby he doth most manifestly expresse vnto vs the happy estate of those dayes and the wonderfull clemencie and innocencie of Christ. All men may well know that this was the true and vnfayned meanyng of the Prophecie whiche will consider the purpose of the Prophet and withall will know this also that your Fable therof is very triflyng a meéte lesson for your peltyng schoole of CoÌfessours and schoolemen Now here is your goodly Confession so gorgiously painted by you which you affirme to be the Queéne of all Christian discipline beyng in very deéde as you haue set her out in stage a most filthie handmayde of your Schoolemen and most pestilent bondslaue of the Romish Seé Now come we
brawlyng toung with the chaynes of holy Scriptres and tame your waywardnes Now therfore albeit God hath called him hence vnto him selfe let vs imagine that hee were alyue and in fewe wordes confutyng your cursed declamation after this maner First of all how may I take this reuerend Prelate that you beyng an old man a Deuine and a Byshop at the first choppe should call me most wicked man whereas I am not knowen vnto you nor haue euer bene sene oâ you nor haue deserued any euill of you Is this the brotherly loue which Christ requireth of his Disciples Is this the mildnesse and modestie of a Byshop wherof Paule maketh mention I haue written I confesse it haue spoken in the commoÌ Argument of ReligioÌ as seémed good vnto me I haue not offeÌded you in any thyng neither haue I had any disputation with you touchyng matters of Religion neither was any contention betwixt vs at any tyme. Wherfore then doe you storme agaynst me so vnciuilie why do ye call me most wicked which can not duely charge me with any wickednes at all But be it that your maners are so naturally of an euill disposed inclination that ye can not choose but oppresse your brother with infamous reproches whom of duetie you ought gently haue admonished beyng in errour why do ye haynously offende in the cause whiche you haue vndertakeÌ that you must neédes stampe out so manifest a lye in the very begynnyng for ye write that the Sacrament of Euchariste is defaced defiled peruerted by me This is false and you herein are iniurious and slaunderous I call to witnes myne owne bookes let them be brought forth perused it shall euidently appeare that I haue beautified this excellent Sacrament with most honorable titles haue spoken therof alwayes with greatest reuerence But whereas you demaunde of me and my maisters with what face we durst attempt so execrable a fact contrary to so many former ages and where you also demauÌde if so many Martyrs and so many Religious men haue strayed from the truth and we onely haue seéne the truth Truely I caÌ not coniecture what Maisters what Martyrs and what Religious men you doe meane Neither doe I presume any thyng vpon my selfe nor do derogate from any other man neither caÌ I iudge you to be sober enough which in matter of nothyng caÌ gush out such a Sea of idle words But you are come somwhat nearer the matter and would bee certified of me What great matter our Lord Iesus Christ did if in his last Supper he did leaue nothyng els vnto vs but a naked remembraunce of his death In this question I turne you ouer to the Anabaptistes whose speaches are these A bare signe bare bread and bare remembraunce which their nakednes of speach I do abhorre and condemne as well as you I do speake honorably iudge most reuerently of the excellencie of this godly Sacrament The Sacrament is the most excellent and effectuall visible signe of inuisible grace the heauenly bread mysticall bread the pledge and vessell of our redemption finally it is the true body of our Lord Iesus Christ euen in the same maner as the true body of our Sauiour may be present in a Sacrament spiritually by fayth and in a mysterie Therfore away with those your bare signes your bare remembraunce I call them yours bycause they are your slauÌders your manifest quarels agaynst me for I do not acknowledge nor defend any such matter for myne As often therfore as you do repeate the same which you do very often so ofteÌ you do repeate not myne errour but your owne lye You imagined in my writyng very monstruous interpretations and absurde disputations Wherof I neuer thought of once so much as in my dreame All whiche come to this onely effecte as if I had taught that nothyng had bene in the Sacrament but a bare signe of Christ Crucified for vs. Wherein you are very farre wyde not onely from the duety of a Byshop and person of a Deuine but also from the profession of a true ChristiaÌ man for you thrust vnto me a Bastard whelpe as it were myne own and the same also you tosse topsie tyruie from post to piller after your own ãâã as if it were mine But this whelpe is not myne it is a Bastard I hate it and abhorre it and will forsweare it also if you will haue me so do At the length you are come to the very bowels of the controuersie and do stoutly affirme that the matter is most manifest proue the same with the wordes of Paule But let a man first proue him selfe and so eate of that bread and drinke of that cuppe alledgyng also these wordes of our Lord Iesu. This sayth hee is my body do ye this in remembraunce of me You will therfore that we should stand fast to these wordes beyng so notable and euident and accuse my wicked interpretation of Christes wordes affirme that I do make none accouÌpt of the meanyng of Paule Doe I apply a wicked interpretation of Christes most sacred wordes Syr Ierome Do I esteéme the sence and mynde of S. Paule of no value shewe the place recite the wordes bryng forth in the face of the world this haynous crime that all men may abhorre myne impudencie detest myne impietie and spitte at myne ignoraunce If you can discouer nothing in so notorious an escape if you exclame against me without cause if you be clamorous without reason if none of all these be in me but if it be your foule and vnshamefast slauÌder what maner of Christian what Deuine and what kynd of Byshop shall meÌ surmise you to be Now I will returne to your allegations whereby to deale in playne open tearmes with you if vpon those wordes you will haue it coÌcluded that Christ is truely deliuered in the Sacrament to the true beleuers in fayth and spirite I will not gaynsay you But if you meane to grounde the foundation of your grosse Idolatrous Transubstantiation vpon the same wherof you make mention a litle after I must neédes tell you that I doe vtterly dissente from you and your Maisters the Schoolemen herein and do so nothyng refuse to debate this controuersie by the very selfe same testimonies whiche you haue alledged that I doe rather desire and most earnestly require the same This is therfore the sentence of Paule Let a man examine him selfe and so eate of that bread and drinke of that cuppe Which word Bread Paule through the whole discourse of that Chapiter once twise yea many tymes doth inculcate Whereby it appeareth playnly that when a man hath tryed him selfe to the vttermost when he hath done all that apperteineth to the due receiuing of the Sacrament he must yet at the last eate Bread So that after your consecrations Bread remaineth and neuertheles the Sacrament yea Bread remaineth euen to the last Wherfore the substauÌce of the materiall Bread can not passe into an
heaueÌly substaunce as you do imagine for Bread can not remaine materiall Bread without the substaunce of Bread no nor be surmised by thought to be Bread Paule doth sondry tymes call the Sacrament Bread But naturall Bread is not the body of Christ. Ergo. The Sacrament can not be the naturall body of Christ. I do speake here euen of the consecrated Bread as you call it or as Paule calleth it the Bread whiâh is blessed Whereof Paule hath an infallible sentence in his Epistle to the Corinthians The bread which we breake is it not the partaking of the body of Christ This Sacramentall Bread therfore after blessing when it is taken to be eaten is euen then Bread and brokeÌ as naturall Bread Ergo it loseth not his naturall substaunce nor is traÌsubstanciated into the naturall body of Christ as you vse to speake monstruously in a monstruous matter How then say you doth Paule call Bread the participation of the body of Christ For sooth in the same maner in the which a litle before he doth call Christ a spirituall Rocke They did all drinke sayth Paule of one spirituall Rocke which folowed them and the same Rocke was Christ and by and by after is set downe in the same Chapiter We many are one bread and one body In both which we do acknowledge the most wholesome and familiar speache of the holy Ghost but can not acknowledge your monstruous and newfangled TraÌsubstantiation To this purpose are the wordes of our Sauiour Christ to bee applyed This is my body whiche is deliuered for you doe ye this in remembraunce of me For the latter part doth explane the first part of the sencence most expressely For if the transubstantiated bread should conteine in it selfe the very naturall body of Christ hanged vpon the Crosse and thrust into the side for vs as you doe dreame what neéded then so often a rehearsall to be made vnto vs of the RemembrauÌce of his body especially the body it selfe beyng presente and subiect to our senses and dayly handled in our handes But for as much as our Lord Iesus in the sight of the Apostles and the Angell declaryng the same did ascende vp into the heauens and sitteth there now at the right hand of his father of his infinite mercy hee hath left behynde him this most fruitefull and most healthfull Sacrament vnto our vse by the receauyng wherof we might be exceédyngly comforted and should emprinte deépely in our memory and reserue inuiolably the liuely and effectuall remembraunce of his most bitter death and Passion apperteinyng to the sauetie of our soules Now if any man doubt whether this bee so or no let him heare our Lord Iesus in the Gospell of S. Iohn so playne and perfect an interpretour of him selfe that nothyng can be added to make it appeare more manifest My fleshe sayth our Lord Iesus is meate is deede and my bloud is drinke in deede He that eateth my sleshe and drinketh my bloud the same dwelleth in me and I iâ him Many therefore of his Disciples hearyng this sayd This is an hard saying who can abide it But Iesus knowing with in him selfe that his Disciples did murmure at this saying said vnto them Doth this offende you TheÌ what if you shall see the sonne of ãâã ascendyng where he was before it is the Spirite that geueth life the flesh profiteth nothing at all my wordes are spirite and life Your speach is a hard speach Osori it is a hard speach of traÌsubstantiating the bread into the naturall body of Christ. Touchyng the carnall and fleshly eatyng of Christes body your saying is hard yea as hard as yron who can heare or abide it Let vs here take our Lord Iesus to be the Expositour of his own wordes who doth so atteÌper mollifie this his speach beyng in outward apparaunce most hard of all other with a most sweéte interpretation as that nothyng caÌ be thought more mylde more apte for our coÌsolation Be not offended at my wordes sayth our louyng Lord and most sweéte Sauiour Iesus for I must asceÌde vp vnto my father from whence I dyd deâceÌd vnto you at the first And my body I must neédes take vp with me which you may not froÌ thenceforth haÌdle here on the earth Therfore in this case to witte to conceaue this mysticall eatyng of my flesh whiche I haue commended vnto you behoueth of very necessitie that you bee endued with a spirituall vnderstandyng For it is the Spirite that doth quicken the flesh proâiteth nothing at all That is to say the spirituall feédyng vpon my body which is geuen for you shall nourishe you to life euerlastyng But that fleshly eatyng which doth trouble you so much profiteth nothyng at all At the last our Lord Iesus coÌcludeth this place wholy vnto them in this wise The wordes that I do speake vnto you are spirite and life The wordes which Christ spake of the eatyng of his flesh are spirituall The flesh profiteth nothyng at all if we may beleue our Lord Iesus speaking of him selfe Let vs therefore take hold of that quickenyng spirite whiche may make vs partakers of euerlastyng lyfe beyng authorized hereunto by Christ him selfe and sithence you can not disgest this sweét and comfortable foode of the heauenly Table by fayth spirite we will leaue that other carnall and grosse banquet of the transubstantiated bread to you and to your Capernaites You seé now whereunto your testimonies that you trusted so much are come at the last whose authoritie I do not refuse but reuerence them and suppose that your transubstantiation is ouerthroweÌ and vtterly brought to naught by conferryng those two sentences with the other processe of the text Neither am I alone of this iudgement in the interpretatioÌ of these places For S. August writyng vpon Iohn alledgeth the same sentence in expresse maner of speach Tertul. also pronouÌceth the same most euidently in his treatize vpon the distribution of the Sacramentall bread which two haue bene alwayes accoumpted learned and auncient Authours You presse me with a whole forest full of slauÌders affirming that this SacrameÌt is fowly deformed by me the body and bloud of Christ is troden vnder feete the power and force of this wonderfull SacrameÌt is dusked and vtterly extinct by me I demaunde of you agayne what my wordes be where these botches doe lurcke in my bookes what I haue written what I haue done where and by what meanes I am ready either to repulse your errour or to coÌfesse mine own if I haue coÌmitted any such fault I craue no pardoÌ But if there be no such matter if it be rather all coÌtrary if mine innoceÌcie be blameles herein I call to witnesse God men heauen and earth agaynst that most wicked toung whiche hath practized falsely to condemne the credite of your brother with so greéuous an accusation and so horrible a crime Fie fie Osorius what vnbridled licentiousnesse of Scorpionlike stinge
For you apply your senses to the vnderstaÌdyng of TransubstaÌtiatioÌ wherby you will haue Christ to be felt to be tasted to be swallowed downe into the stomacke But I accordyng to the doctrine approued vse of the true Catholicke Apostolicke Churche doe vtterly renounce senses accideÌtes substaunces transformatioÌs do aduisedly behold and comprehend in my mynde the Sacrament the mysterie and the Spirite You cast away the yoke of Christ and embrace the licentious outrage of the Romishe Bulles I am a poore miserable exile of Christ and his afflicted seruaunt You doe choppe and chaunge the benefites of Christ with the peéuishe trinckettes of your Schoolemen I do search for the true doctrine of Christian fayth in the most approued preachyngs of Christ his Apostles Ye do snarle at my conuersation of lyfe as if it were most wicked Wherin though you doe me a great iniurie yet ye geue your selfe a deéper wounde which in so open and manifest a lye doe put all your credite in hassarde of losse For albeit I am a miserable sinner in the sight of God yet I hope I haue so led my whole lyfe through his onely great mercy that I neéde not to feare Ierome Osorius to be myne accuser I could call to witnesse for my innocencie here in Italy Germanie and England in euery of which RegioÌs I haue so behaued my selfe that hauyng testimony of all good commendable personages I may easely despise your slaunderous shameles rayling Wherfore a way with this your friuolous and insolent custome of scolding once at the last for it empaireth not the estimatioÌ of honest persons whiche though be vnknowen vnto you yet haue commendable report els where abroad but it rather hurteth your profession diminisheth your credite and loseth your estimation You doe prayse the SacrameÌt plentifully and with many good wordes beautifie the benefites therof Wherein you doe very well for what thing vnder the heauens can be founde more prayse worthy more comfortable more honorable more precious more heauenly then this sacred Supper of the Lord whiche we not onely call by the names of Synaxim Euchariste as you doe but also bread come downe froÌ heauen and Angels foode Neither can you deuise to speake so fully and aboundauntly in the displaying of the excellent worthynes of this most singular sacrament but I will gladly consent with you therein You say that Cyprian was accustomed to geue this heauenly foode to Martyrs and that he would lykewise remoue from this heauenly Banquet men that were notorious for any great crime We doe acknowledge this godly vsage of Cyprian and the same do I for myne owne part Imitate as much as I may and I know not whether I haue employed any so great endeuour in any one thyng so much as that the pure and naturall honour of this Sacrament might be established and the same dayly frequented in all Churches Let my bookes bee perused let enquirie bee made of my familiars and such as I haue bene conuersaunt withall let the continuall course of my maners and lyuyng bee examined and I shal be founde of all men to haue bene a most humble and dayly folower and guest of this heauenly Supper Wherfore theÌ do you so immorderatly exclame agaynst me That I doe mainteyne combate agaynst the ordinaunce of Christ agaynst the doctrine of Paule agaynst the excellencie of so delicate fruites agaynst the knowen experience of that wonderfull commoditie and pleasauntnesse and agaynst the vndefiled fayth of the vniuersall Church Wherfore do you adde hereunto That I haue reprochfully abused the body and bloud of Christ and outragiously peruerted the benefite of Gods mercy Why do you knitte vp your knot at the length and say That I doe sport my selfe in these mischiefes and doe infect many persons with the poyson of this pestileÌt errour God coÌfounde that vnshamefast and blasphemous mouth with some horrible plague most cursed Semei whose cancred toung can finde no end nor measure in rayling I haue alwayes most reuereÌtly esteémed of the Euchariste as of a most precious most fruitefull sacrameÌt of Christes death as a most assured pledge and Seale of our redemption as a most precious treasure and mysterie of our fayth and hereunto haue I bene enduced by the ordinaunce of Christ our Sauiour by the doctrine of Paule by the iudgement of auÌcient Fathers and by the discipline and receaued custome of the vniuersall Catholicke and Apostolicke Church Touchyng the doctrine therof I haue ofteÌ tymes spoken before now therfore touchyng the Custome The same is perceaued by the dayly Custome of the Disciples which after Christ was takeÌ vp into heaueÌ did continually perseuere together in the doctrine of the Apostles and in participation and breakyng of bread and prayers as appeareth by these wordes Vpon a day of the Sabbaoth when the Disciples came together to breake bread c. Awake Ierome Awake you do heare the holy Ghost call it Bread and bicause you should not doubt therof you heare it agayne and ägayne yea and brokeÌ also and this much more ye finde that the Disciples of Christ continually remayned in this holy custome And yet it was not bare Bread as you do wickedly diffame my sayinges therein but it was mysticall Bread sacred Bread finally it was the participation of the body of Christ in the same maner as the body of Christ may bee deliuered in a Sacrament by fayth and Spirite Therfore for as much as our Lord Iesus hath so instituted this SacrameÌt to the euerlastyng RemeÌbraunce of his death passioÌ sithence Paule doth make mention of the sayd institution after the same maner sithence the auncient Fathers haue applied their doctrine to the same sense sitheÌce the primitiue Apostolicke Churche hath confirmed the same with perpetuall Custome Awake Ierome at the leÌgth for shame awake if you can and rid your stomacke of that dronken Schoolesurfet of TraÌsubstantiation which neither Christ did ordeine nor Paul acknowledged nor the Fathers euer thought of ne yet the Apostolique Church did euer medle withall It is a new deuised mockerie fouÌded first by InnoceÌtius proclaymed by Schooleianglers scattered abroad by SathaÌ to the rootyng out of the true remembraunce of Christ from out our soules to the vtter ouerthrow of the power of that euerlastyng sacrifice of the crosse Lastly to the erecting of a damnable Idoll in our myndes supplying the place of Christ him selfe to be worshipped of vs. For what els meaneth this your Transubstantiated bread so much adorned with all ceremony of Religion so reuerently carried abroad so superstitiously reserued and kept in boxe lastly so blasphemously holden vp to the gaze worshypped did Christ our Sauiour do or teach euer at any tyme any of all these did Paule did the first and primitiue Church did the auncient Fathers Christ gaue Bread to his disciples Paule pronouÌceth it by the name of Bread once twise thrise The Apostolicke church brake Bread
are teachers and therupoÌ that confusioÌ of all thyngs doth ensue amoÌgest vs. Both these are false Osorius and it becoÌmeth you nothyng at all beyng a Bishop and an old man to imagine all thynges so licentiously disorderly in the face of the whole world after your owne phantasie Yet make you no ende of demaundyng And therfore you desire to know what we dyd lacke at any tyme heretofore to the sober discipline of good myndes There lacked both the old and the new Testament which is the onely instrumeÌt of the health of our soules beyng close locked fast from vs by the wicked practize of your Confessours and Friers and Monckes we wanted godly Pastours and especially good Byshops vnlike vnto you whiche should haue fed the flocke of Christ committed to their charge with that heauenly foode of the holy Scriptures accordyng to Christ his own institution And yet ye demaunde once agayne Whether we wanted learned Priestes who could deliuer out so much of the holy mysteries as was needefull which without daunger might haue bene expouÌded to vnlearned men What is this that you say Osorius so much as is neédefull do ye beleue that in the Scriptures is any thing to much will ye prescribe any boundes or limites to the holy Ghost our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ was of an other mynde who spake in this maner Man doth not liue by bread onely but by euery word proceedyng from the mouth of God Your meanyng is that some tast bee taken onely of the holy Scriptures Christ commaundeth vs to be instructed in euery word you teach that men should warely touch so much of the heaueÌly doctrine as farre forth as may be without daunger But the holy Ghost by the mouth of Paule teacheth farre otherwise in these wordes All Scripture inspired by the holy Ghost is profitable to teach to admonishe to reproue to instruction which is in righteousnesse that the maÌ of God may be made perfect prepared to all good workes Paule doth commende vnto vs all heauenly Scripture iudgeth that we ought to be instructed with the same vnto all perfection of godlynes It pleaseth Osorius that so much onely be taken as may be deliuered without daunger O blasphemous toung do you feare ieopardie in the doctrine of the holy Ghost do you thinke that there is to much in the Scriptures or any thyng neédelesse that may be cut of and left out But this foolish demaunder proceédeth yet forewardes and enquireth If heretofore wanted any that might supply the place of the vnlearned that might pronounce this worde Amen Truly I dare not tearme you by the name of an Idiot my Lord beyng a stately Prelate and a profound Deuine but I shall not do amisse if I call you a playne blockish Asse Paule commaundeth all doctrine and all prayer to bee vttered in the congregation in a knowen tounge that all the people vnderstaÌding the matter may say Amen You in steade of the whole coÌgregation do appoint some one Idiote or vnlearned Parish Clarke to vtter this word Amen But I beseéch you with what reason by what Custome with what ArgumeÌt do you proue your Assertion except you will obiect vnto vs the monstruous rable of your Cowled generation and Confessours late vpstartes whose wickednesse and ignoraunce we do condemne as execrable and abhominable at the last our Syr Ierome concludeth That errours vprores pride and a thousand other discommodities are wont to ensue by the vnderstanding of Scriptures These do so in deéde as you say Osorius but they come from the deuill they proceéde out of the durtie pudles of your Massemongers Confessours and Monckes not from the pure riuers of holy Scriptures whiche are plentyfull vnto vs into euerlastyng lyfe Not from the engraffed worde which is able to saue our soules not out of the preachynges of the Prophetes to whom we must geue diligent heede as to a candle geuyng light in the darke Lastly not from the readyng of holy Scriptures whiche our Lord Iesu Christ commaunded vs to searche bycause they bee the same that hold most faithfull testimonie of our Sauiour Iesu Christ. You may now perceiue by these most true and inuincible sentences partly taken out of the Decreés of our Lord Iesus partly out of the Apostles how detestable blasphemous your conclusion is which doth make the Scriptures to be Authours of all wickednes when as by the infallible testimony of the holy Ghost The law of the Lord is an vndefiled law conuertyng soules the testimonie of the Lord is true and geueth wisedome to the simple whenas the Statutes of the Lord are right and reioyce the hart and geueth light vnto the eyes In deéde this is the wisedome of your scarlet Doctours whiles you are not coÌtented to persecute the professours of the Gospell with all maner of crueltie but also diffame the Gospell it selfe make it guiltie of all naughtines When notwithstandyng that godly reuerend Elder Peter whom ye do shamefully alledge as founder of your Churche doth in expresse wordes pronounce That the word of the Lord which endureth for euer is deliuered vnto vs by the Gospell Now you doe perceaue Osorius or the Christian Reader may easely vnderstand although ye will exclame agaynst it how you haue behaued your selfe in this question not onely mischieuously and wickedly but blockishly and ignorauÌtly whiles ye doe so blasphemously defend that prayers should be ministred in the coÌgregation in an vnknowen language coÌtrary to reason contrary to auncient Custome contrary to nature and contrary to the holy Ghost And now glauncyng along by the rest of the doctrine of the Church you make a long rehearsall of my wordes yet touch not one sillable of theÌ so much as to confute them Surely my Lord you are at very good leysure when you can spare so much tyme to entermixt whole sentences of myne in your writyngs play mumme budget in theÌ all if you do allow them why doe ye recite them if you doe not allow them why do ye not repreheÌd some one of them was euer any man besides your selfe so franticke that would in a long discourse recite whole senteÌces out of the writyngs of his aduersary and would refell nothyng in any one of them This is very fond foolish childish vtterly to be scorned at but it is altogether your owne the common fault of your selfe Osorius Consider I pray theé Christian Reader and behold what a sage and wise aduersary I haue At the last you take vp that by the toe which I did confesse That we had shaken from our neckes the Popes yoke At this you seéme to bee wonderfully displeased yet I know no cause why you should not be pleased withall For you proue nothyng you discouer nothyng with any Argument but after your old maner heape vp a number of slaunders together wherein is neither truth nor any likelyhoode of truth At the last you adde hereunto a
disagreé from his frend nor the Scholer from his Maister nor the Seruaunt from his Lord ne yet the wife from the husband That is to say it is not conuenieÌt that the frend from his frend the Scholer from his Maister the Seruaunt from his Lord or the wife should disagreé from her husband What say you Osorius is any of these not spoken after the Latine phrase are they not vttered playnly and properly doe ye not in all these conceaue the negatiue and not the affirmatiue Are you not ashamed doe ye blush nothyng at all at this manifest fault and marke of your follie I haue a boye of sixten yeares age whom I keépe to Grammar Schoole who shoulde haue felt the smarte hereof if hee had made so foule an escape in these Grammer principles Truely I am wery long sithence gentle Reader to bee so childishly occupyed in siftyng out the titles and sillables of wordes after this maner but you may note the amazednesse and ouerthwartenes of myne aduersary to whom the fault must be imputed accordyng to reason which beyng both bussardly blynd in ponderyng bare wordes and also fondly franticke and senselesse in the substaunce of thynges doth altogether deny any difference to be in this how farre so euer a sunder the head bee separated from the members so that they be vnited in one fayth Surely experience hath not onely taught vs here in England but the practize of all other natioÌs also doth playnly bewray his singular ignorauÌce and blockishnesse what it is to be seuered from Italy by farre distaunce of regions when as in matters of Religion iustice equitie could not bee ministred but it must bee procured with immesurable charges and tedious pursuite of many yeares From whiche inconuenieÌces we have good remedy prouided through the speciall goodnesse of God For we haue in our owne Realme both Iudges and Consistories But our reuerend Father caÌ not disgest this by any meanes that the Queénes Maiestie should entermedle with the Churche and after a long friuolous preamble after his accustomed maner at the length choppeth downe to a sentence of myne videl The Queenes Maiestie is Lord ouer all maner of persons in England And these wordes he supposeth to be spoken barbarously bycause the gouernement of a kyng is not with force Tyranny nor tendeth to keépe his CouÌtrey people whom he hath vndertake to defende of a fatherly loue in seruile subiection nor is referred to the consideration of his owne profite but to the publicke sauetie of his subiectes And therfore sayth he it is false that a kyng doth rule as a Lord vnlesse we should take him for a Tyraunt rather then a kyng Harken I pray you harken vnto this AldermaÌ brable harken vnto this most subtill corrector of the Latine toung There was neuer such an other Valla or Varro in our tyme for this our notorious Prelate doth farre surmount all Vallaes and Varroes who by his fine pythe and polished Iudgement hath fishte a Poole and caught a Foole and with his new sharpenesse of witte hath espied that wherof no man could euer conceaue so much as a shadow in his dreame what say you my Lord Byshop doth no maÌ rule as a Lord except he be a Tyraunt Ergo no man is a Lord vnlesse he be a tyrauÌt if at least he bare any rule Truly you had neéde of Helleborous to purge that Calues braynes Our Lord Iesus Christ is sayd sometymes to bee a Lord of the quicke and the dead sometymes to be a Lord in heauen and in earth and in all the holy Scriptures throughout is called by this name Lord. Therefore this your blasphemous and horrible Grammar distinction ought be accompted a TyrauÌt this can not be denied Becommeth you an old Byshop to vtter such mockeries can you beyng a Prelate either through fury or maddenesse to be so frame shappenly translated to bee openly franticke and make your selfe a laughyng stocke to litle boyes Truely I am ashamed in your behalfe for I did neuer seé so great so foule so monstruous absurdities in a maÌ of such yeares that hath bene all his life long conuersaunt in learnyng Afterwardes you do make a very subtill distinction I promise you of the authoritie of kynges that is to say though they gouerne all their subiectes yet are they not Lordes ouer all causes Yes in deéde good sir they are Lordes ouer all causes aswel Ecclesiasticall as Temporall which may seéme to apperteine to the good gouernemeÌt of the coÌmon wealth And yet they do not minister in their own persons in matters Ecclesiasticall as I wrate before for how can they so do but they doe assigne and authorise other Magistrates vnder them who may execute euery thyng in due order In like maner albeit Emperours be onely chief of their Armyes yet haue they vnder them Centurians LieutenauÌts Serieauntes Corporals and other meaner officers which do trayne in due order and exercize the whole affaires the rest of the Souldiours So doe Maisters of Nauies and Shippes appointe vnder them their Mates and Boateswaynes and other meaner degreés to their seuerall offices by this meanes to preserue their course the better at Seaboorde whereby appeareth that the chief authoritie is resiaunt alwayes in the chief and knowen estates but the trauaile toyle and execution of orders is ministred by inferiour Magistrates But ye require to make demonstration how these things can be so First of all your question is worthy to bee scorned beyng so voyde of reason to haue euident demonstration to be made of those thynges which common course of mans lyfe and dayly practize of all common weales may assure you were you neuer so voide of sense But I will satisfie that captious grossehead of yours in this matter with threé wordes I do affirme that the authoritie of kynges is aboue all other and yet that kyngs them selues do not minister in Ecclesiasticall matters Which two are most manifestly proued aswell by the gouernement of kyngs in the old TestameÌt as also in the later age in the tyme of the new Testament For Dauid Salomon losias Ezechias and other godly kynges amongest the people of Israell did commaunde the Priestes in matters of Religion yet did not they entermedle with execution of any thyng In the tyme of the Gospell Paule that great teacher of the Gentiles coÌmauÌdeth That intercessions and publicke prayers bee made with fayth and truth first of all for kinges then for all others that are set in authoritie Peter also that excellent Elder For other name then Apostle or Elder did hee neuer acknowledge howsoeuer you do coÌuey your false Papisticall Seé froÌ him Peter I say in open and expresse wordes doth verifie my saying when as he geueth commaundement in this wise Submit your selues to euery humane creature for the Lordes sake whether it âee to the king as most excellent or to the Magistrates as to them that are sent by him assigning the punishement of
whom though some may bee of opinioÌ to excell in the knowledge of the Ciuill Law yet will not forthwith vnder that title yeld vnto me the lyke commendation in the interpretyng of holy Scriptures All this matter is resolued at a word O counterfait GrammariaÌ For if accordyng to the doctrine of Peter and Paule certaine degreés bee limited in eche dignitie and by the same doctrine likewise determined that the royall dignitie of a Kyng doth excell aboue all other power Then is it manifest by the same decreé that the authoritie of the kyng must be honored without all coÌparison as chiefest But after your wonted guise ye runne at raundon with many wordes concernyng the meanyng of Paule and of a distinction to bee made betwixt the ciuill and Ecclesiasticall authoritie First of all no maÌ can so snaffle that vnbridled touÌg but that it will roue and raunge triflyngly whether it lusteth And yet the meanyng of Paule and Peter can not bee vnknowen to any men that will haue but a will to vnderstand it for they doe make a diuision or speciall distinction of Magistrates by certaine degreés and in the same doe precisely and manifestly ascribe chief rule and highest authoritie to kyngs And albeit ye triumphe iolylye in your differeÌce of tymes yet this will nothyng preuayle you For ye beleue that this speache of the Apostles ought not to be applyed to ChristiaÌ kynges bycause it was written in the tyme of wicked Emperours which were enemies to Christian Religion Consider the sayings of the Apostles more aduisedly peéuish Prelate and acknowledge once at last your owne vnskilfulnesse Peter writeth in this maner Submit your selues to euery humane creature for the Lord whether it be to the king as to the most excelleÌt or to the Rulers as vnto them who are sent by him to punishe the wicked doers and to aduaunce the well doers Now therfore I demaunde this question of you Osorius whether God did send Nero that sauadge and beastly cruell Tyraunt as you know an horrible bloudsucker of Christian professioÌ to punish the wicked aduaunce the well doers if ye affirme that he dyd you are madde if ye deny it then all your former AssertioÌ lyeth in the durte Let vs seé likewise what Paule sayth Whose sentence herein is much more plentyfull Princes sayth he are not fearefull to well doers but to the wicked wilt thou not feare the power doe well then and thou shalt haue prayse of the same for they be the ministers of God appointed for thy wealth But if thou doe euill then feare thou for they beare not the sworde in vayne For they bee the ministers of God to take vengeauÌce on them that do euill What say you now could this speach of Paule touch Nero in any respect whiche embrued his sword in the bloud of innumerable ChristiaÌs who alwayes oppressed the innocentes who wallowed all his lyfe long in all maner of outrage and crueltie No discreét or sober person will thinke so But albeit the Apostles beyng enspired with the holy Ghost gaue these preceptes in the time of tyrannous Emperours yet they had relation thereby to Christian and godly kynges because they should vndertake the defence of their subiectes and should be nurses of the congregation of Christ accordyng to the Prophecie of Esay And yet due obedience is not thereby forbidden to be geuen vnto kynges in Ciuill causes though they bee inâidels as appeareth manifestly both by the example and doctrine of our Sauiour Christ. You are contented that kinges should be placed aboue the Nobilitie Ciuill Magistrates and other officers in temporall causes accordyng to the saying of Peter but not to be aboue the holynesse of Churches nor the profession of Religâous persons ne yet to reconcile the fauour of God Paule commaundeth euery soule to be in subiection to the hygher power amongest whom the kyng is chiefest And therfore all ye Byshops together with all other what soeuer Ecclesiasticall orders are holden subiect vnder the authoritie of the kyng vnlesse ye bee without soules as perhappes your maistershyp is if then ye be subiect to kynges ye ought to obey their commaundementes vnlesse they prescribe agaynst God And yet they beare no function in your Churches nor âit in your Churches as rulers of them nor administer the Sacramentes but they may and ought to chastize you reduce you into good order if happely ye neglect your dueties or behaue your selfe vnseémely in your function which is to be approued by the authoritie of both the old and new Testament as it is ofteÌtimes repeated before To coÌfirme your AssertioÌ you bryng for example Core Dathan and Abyron of a singular blockishnesse and ignoraunce For they made Rebellion agaynst Moses and to vse the very wordes of the holy Scriptures They were gathered together agaynst Moses and Aaron and sayd vnto them Ye take enough and to much vppon you seyng all the multitude are holy euery one of them and the Lorde is amongest them Why lifte you your selues vppe aboue the Congregation of the Lord Behold here in this their execrable speach ouer and besides a most pernitious rebellion we heare also in the same one onely equabilitie in all degrees For asmuch therefore as they did abrogate all maner of authoritie from Magistrates beyng appointed by God as the Anabaptistes of our age do practize they were accordyng to their desert swallowed vp of the gapyng gulfe prouided by God for that purpose But why do ye thrust these persons into the stage who caÌ occupy no part of the play For we doe neither entreate of any Rebellion nor of any trayterous suppression of Magistrates but our coÌmunication tendeth to this ende whether kynges haue any lawfull gouernement ouer Ecclesiastical persons No lesse foolishly haue ye patcht to your purpose Oza Ozias and Balthesar whom ye do affirme to haue bene greuously plagued of the Lord bicause they did rashly handle holy thynges and thus ye say was done accordyng to their deserte Likewise should our kynges be worthely punished of the Lord if they would vndertake to minister Baptisme to infantes or would in their owne persons distribute the Lordes Supper or clymbe vp into pulpittes and vsually preache For they should entrude into other mens functions namely Ministers and Elders whom God hath peculiarly chosen to execute those orders in Ministerie Euen so the Lord hath aduaunced kynges in hyghest superioritie bycause they should commauÌde and prouide that all matters should be executed by others their subiectes in due conuenient order This doctrine beyng both âounde and profitable approued by the testimonies and examples of the purest ages and most applyable to the ordinauÌce of holy Scriptures yet this our pelting Prelate seémeth so squeymishe at it that he spareth not to curse vs to the pitte of hell bycause we will not agreé with him in his most friuolous Assertions Ye maruell much why I am so hatefully bent agaynst the Byshop of Rome why
I doe alwayes inueighe at him Truely I doe not hate the Byshop of Rome for hee neuer did me any iniurie personally it is his extraordinarie superioritie that I write agaynst Bycause in my opinion it is a manifest rebell agaynst the holy Scriptures agaynst saluation and the whole state of Christianitie Neither doe I reproue their Canons especially those whiche were established in that first and purer age of the Churche ne yet those later Canons such I meane as doe concerne Iudiciall Courtes Which teach good and commendable preceptes and rules for the administration of Iustice. But I do vtterly detest and as much as in me lyeth abhorre those ambitious and flatteryng constitutions and pestilent dispensations and such like infinite filthy absurdities erected for the procurement of dignities or for pillyng and pollyng of coyne I will alledge two holy constitutions for example sake Wherof the one is described in these wordes The Lord hath committed the charge of all earthly heauenly Empire vnto Peter beyng appointed porter of eternall life What Christian hart can willingly suffer such Sathanicall arrogancie to be yelded vnto a mortall creature And yet I will shewe one other of the same stampe farre more horrible The Pope hath an heauenly will and in those thinges that his will is bent vnto his will must bee taken for law neither can any man say the contrary why he should not doe so For he may dispence beyond all law and make that to bee right that is quyte coÌtrary in amendyng and alteryng of lawes bycause the fulnesse of all power resteth in him These be those golden Decreés for sooth wherewith our Syr Ierome would haue vs yoked This is that notable Iurisdiction of that Papane Seé for the whiche our Osorius waxeth so whotte That though I burst in sonder yet ought all Christian Nations be subiect vnto it as he affirmeth But I on the contrary part do iustifie that this Papane supremacie is no more mentioned in the Scriptures then a meare strauÌger so altogether vnknowen vnto Peter vnto Paule and the rest of the Apostles and to the succeédyng course of the primitiue and purer Churches that there was neuer one worde spoken of it vntill the reigne of the Tyraunt Phocas at what tyme was the very first hatchyng of it Afterwardes in deéde by litle and litle through pride pillage peltyng flatteryng it enhaunced it selfe so farre aboue measure that it claymeth now Iurisdiction ouer Heauen Earth and Seas as I haue declared somwhat before doth more pleÌtyfully appeare by other blasphemous Decretalles published by the very mouthes of these holy Popes them selues Wherfore this extraordinarie Iurisdiction of the Pope is a most friuolous paynted disguised and deformed frameshapen chaungelyng though Osorius would hange him selfe therefore And kingly authoritie shall beare chief preheminence vpoÌ the earth accordyng to the sundry and euerlastyng testimonies both of the old and new Testament vnto the whiche Peter and Paule do in expresse wordes subscribe whereunto all coÌmeÌdable antiquity most approued auÌcientie haue willingly yelded their agreable coÌsent which hath alwayes exercized their gouernement in so well disposed moderation as beyng contented with her owne limites territories hath not licentiously presumed vnlawfull clayme ouer all the worlde as your most arrogant chaire of pestileÌce doth challenge whose vnsatiable greédy gapyng for filthy lucre the heauens the earth nor hell it selfe is able to satisfie You affirmed in your Epistle that through the abolishyng of your Canons all feare and care was vtterly rooted out of our hartes I made aunswere that many men were wonderfully enriched by your Canons but very fewe enduced to haue any especiall regarde to feare God by the knowledge of them But you trustyng to discredite myne aunswere demaunde a question of me Whether the Ciuill Law doe instruct men in the feare of God whiche albeit they doe not say you yet the monumentes therof ought not be consumed with fire What is the matter Osorius How hanges this together The question was moued of Canon Lawes and you on eche parte vbrayde agaynst vs the Ciuill Law Our communication was concernyng the feare of God You deny that the Ciuill Lawes ought to be burnt Are ye starcke dronke or doe ye bable this out in a dreame Are ye not ashamed of this monstruous talke truely it is very irkesome to me and I am throughly tyred out with so blockish an aduersary I affirmed that the authoritie of the Canon Lawes dyd so farre forth preuayle with vs as they were founde agreable to godlynes and that Iustice was ministred by the Decreés therof in our Ecclesiasticall Courtes You maruaile how this caÌ be true for so much as Luther had already burnte them all First of all I demaunde this question of you Why do ye maruaile at that thyng now which earste ye did so constauntly deny why did you so wtout all shame dissemble in matters so euident Wherewithall neither all Portingall nor your Maistershyp could but bee acquainted consideryng the dayly entercourse and continuall traffique betwixt vs. Agayne what moueth you to name Luther herein Uerely we for our partes haue the name of Luther in such great admiration that we do firmely beleue that you might likewise haue easely bene his Scholer in Diuinitie All which notwithstandyng we name not our selues Lutheranes but Christians neither doe we iudge any man so absolutely perfect amongest the whole ofspryng of Adam whose wordes and deédes we may accoumpt without exception vnreproueable Furthermore I founde fault with you bycause you accused our Preachers as though they taught in their publicke Sermons vnpunishable libertie in sinning and herein I likened your saucie malapertenes to litle better then to blasphemie because with so horrible reproche you did infamously slaunder the doctrine of the Gospell preached by our Deuines whiche sentence after your wonted guise you turne in and out and peruert the same from thyngs to persons and say that I doe ascribe Deuine Godhead to Luther Bucer and Martyr O monstruous vermine did I euer speake or thinke any such matter I did esteéme them in deéde when they lyued as famous worthy personages in respect of their learnyng and godlynesse in like maner now they are dead I will defend the remembraunce of their names as much as I may namely Bucer and Martyr with whom I was familiarly acquainted and did know them to be auncient godly Fathers exquisite in all vertue learnyng and so much more furmountyng you in Diuinitie as you do excell that your drawlatche derlyng Dalmada in your deintie delicacie of the Latin touÌg But sithence it hath pleased you with so grosse and foolish a lye to forge new gods for me whoÌ I should worshyp I will be bold by our leaue to disclose your Idoll whom maugre your teéth ye shall not deny but your selfe doe worshyp with Deuine honour I meane that Romishe Prelate of the Papall Seé The whiche for asmuch as accordyng
forgeuen but through the merites of Iesu Christ. What then doth not Paul affirme truly that Iewes and GeÌtiles are all coÌcluded vnder sinne Doth not the Propheticall kyng Dauid likewise loÌg before him pronouÌce truly There is not one righteous person no not one there is not one that will vnderstand not one that will seeke after god All are gone out of the way they are all together become vnprofitable there is not one that doth good no not one If there be not one righteous maÌ no not so much as one what shal be come of the worthynes of your workes then yea euen amoÌgest the most perfect and godly If there bee no man that will vnderstand then also the best workes of the godly are of no value If no maÌ seéke after God what can be duly performed of any person If all haue declined out of the way where be they that haue walked perfectly in the right way Lastly if there be no person that doth good whether then are all your excellent workemaisters vanished a Gods name if all I say all as well Iewes as GeÌtiles that is to say if all generally are concluded vnder sinne where can those pretie holy men bee founde of whom ye will neédes haue some but Paule vtterly none at all Through the sinne of one man sinne is poured vpon all fleshe to condemnation These be the expresse wordes of Paule which will not admitte any startyng hole yet your Mastershyp notwithstandyng will vrge a certeine perfection of our workes contrary to the manifest authoritie of sacred Scriptures But this Prelate doth make more accompt of the wordes of Christ our Sauiour saying Not he that sayth Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father shal enter into the kingdome of heauen And then hee demaundeth If the yoke of sinne bee so alwayes fastened vnto our shoulders that it can by no meanes be remoued how we may then obteine the state of righteousnesse through the grace and goodnesse of Christ Your selfe haue told it wise man truely euen through the very same grace and goodnes of Christ which you haue named And therfore Dauid being full of the holy Ghost lifting his haÌdes vp vnto God cryeth out in this maner Wash me throughly from my wickednes and clense me froÌ my sinne for I knowledge my faultes and my sinne is euer before me Why should we desire to bee washed if we did not welter in the filthy puddle of sinnes and why should we require to bee clensed and throughly purified if we were not corrupted wholy defiled with the stinckyng dregges of sinne As by the fall of one maÌ sayth Paule sinne is deriued by way of propaganacioÌ vpon all men vnto condeÌnation euen so by the righteousnesse of one good is extended vnto all men to iustification of life Agayne The same Paule God hath shut vp all men vnder vnbelief that he might haue mercy vpon all FroÌ our selues therfore proceédeth euill vnto damnatioÌ And from God commeth Iustification vnto lyfe Of our selues riseth vnbelief but mercy issueth from God But let vs heare our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ him selfe most sweétely coÌfortyng vs with these wordes Come vnto me all ye that doe trauaile and be heauy laden and I will refresh you And therfore all anguish and grief of sinne all burden of trespasses wherewith we are ouerladen and haled down not onely to the grouÌde but euen to hell gates spryng out from our owne selues euen so the asswagyng of all sorrowes and ease of all our importable burdens come from Iesu Christ onely If you bee ignorant of these sentences good Syr wherewith the holy scriptures doe euery where swarme so plentyfully what is it I pray you that you vnderstand in the Gospell if you doe know them why doe ye so maliciously inueighe agaynst those learned men and singular seruauntes of God without cause especially being as now departed this life agaynst whom if they could speake for them selues ye durst not mutter one worde For what are you beyng compared with them But to let them passe whom I did not vndertake to defend what extreme amazednesse is this in you to rehearse my wordes and cull them out of purpose to carpe at them and from them to glauÌce away to Luther and Caluin if your quarell be to me why do you not let them alone if ye liste to striue with them then also cauill not with me Doth not reason require this and is not my request allowable Surely it is extreme maddenesse to challenge me vnto the Barriers and then to sckyppe ouer away to others and to pursue them with your venymous toung You say further that it seemeth by my maisters doctrine for so it pleaseth you to tearme theÌ that the force of sinne is not as yet extinguished in vs through the bloud of Christ. Truely you and I both may acknowledge those men whose names you did recite before to be our maisters not in Diuinitie onely but in practize of pietie also But whereas ye would haue them to teache that the force of sinne is not as yet extinguised through the bloud of Christ I doe expresse here your owne wordes This is onely your horrible and most shamelesse slauÌder agaynst them For vnto this marke alwayes they bent their whole endeuour to expresse vnto you Iesu Christ liuely before your eyes the same also crucified to emprint throughly in the very bowels of your soules the most precious bloud of Iesu Christ shed for vs vpon the Crosse to preach vnto vs remission of sinnes through his bitter death and passion to beate into the blind and deafe eares of the world this glad tydyngs of the Gospell beyng ouerwhelmed oppressed by your couled generatioÌ massemongers confessours and mens traditions altogether choaked buried vnder grounde through the silence of holy Scriptures and to disclose agayne abroad into the open light and put miserable captiues in remembraunce of the sayd doctrine beyng vtterly subuerted by the tyrannous trechery of your gallauntes And therfore in all their sermons lessons and writynges they vsed these and such like speaches The bloud of Iesu Christ doth clense vs froÌ all sinne You do know that you were redemed from your vayne conuersation which you receaued by the traditioÌ of your forefathers not with transitorie thyngs as gold and siluer but with most precious bloud as of an vndefiled lambe c. neither whoremoÌgers nor worshippers of images nor adulterers c. shall inherite the kingdome of God And such ye were but you are clensed but you are sanctified but you are iustified through the name of Iesu Christ and through the spirite of our God You heare men clensed from all sinne redeémed from their vayne conuersation washed sanctified and iustified through the bloud of Iesu Christ Ye know likewise that these men did take vpon them alwayes infinite labours and trauaile about the establishyng and enlargyng of the Gospell of Christ
and to know how you ought to haue behaued your selfe wheÌ you were there what doctrine you ought haue published in so great an Auditorie what personage ye doe represent in your countrey not the person of a common Ruffian I suppose but of a Byshop mary now you haue played so the part of a very rascall vnder the visor of a Byshop pardon me I pray you speakyng the truth that no common barrettor nor Rogish Ruffian could vomitte out more shamelesse scurrilitie S. Paule doth so little esteéme the credite of any other Gospell That hee holdeth him no better then accursed yea though an Aungell from heauen doe bryng a contrary one to this same And shall we beare with this collouerthwarte Osorius like a vice in a play with a new founde chauÌgelyng to make myngle mangle with the sacred worde of the Lord and with such vnsauorie subtelties to peruert the pure and vndefiled sinceritie of the Gospell of grace and like a wild Boare to moyle vp by the rootes the florishyng and most plentyfull Uynearde of our blessed felicitie planted by the Lord him selfe If that blynd bussardly Owle eyes of your mynde Osorius be as yet wrapped in so darkened a cloude that this cleare light of the gracious mercy of God shynyng from aboue can not pearce into those dull dazeled senses to seé the manifest light of the truth it should yet haue bene much more seémely for you to haue comforted them whom the holy Ghost had enabled with better grace to teache the truth so simply to haue yelded to the same Truely it behoued you to haue quallified your rage and vsed more modesty at the least towardes them that did dissence from you And if your selfe were not willyng to pursue the true pathe to heauen ye should not yet haue foreclosed the entrye to others that were willyng to enter in And knowyng your owne disabilitie in teachyng ye should yet more shamefastly haue bewrayed your vnskilfulnes and made some end once at the leÌgth or at the least reteyned some reasonable order from that rascallyke raylyng and immeasurable insolencie and not so wilfully haue rushed into such Tragicall exclamations before you had bene better acquainted with the cause But as now you tosse and turmoyle your selfe in these questions as though ye were of some other profession and a meére straunger to the matter wherein you scarcely sauour any thyng at all surely vnderstand so little so coldly and senselesly as no man more brutishly and with all vse your selfe therein so disorderly and outragiously as the very furies of Hell could not more horribly You must pardon me Osorius if I spake playnly franckly as I thinke wherein I will not speake as moued of malice or of any melancholicke affectioÌ agaynst your person whom I wish well vnto truly and beseéke God hartely to graunt a more sound IudgemeÌt But I feare me Osorius least within this Osorius dwelleth some other guest besides Osorius hee not all the best perhappes whatsoeuer he be that doth continually teaze and pricke foreward those busie braynes of yours to poysoned and pestiferous deuises of whom I wish you to be well assured Osorius if you loue your soules sauetie But if wholesome CouÌsell of a wellwiller shall litle preuayle with you I would aduertize the tender vnskilfull youth of the posterite in the bowels of Iesus Christ that they take diligent beédefulnesse to the readyng of Osorius his bookes left beyng allured with sweéte poysoned bayte as with Mermaydes melody do vse the wordes of S. Ierome they bee hooked vnwares and carryed away into delusions and errours I know how plausible and easie a matter it is to the Iudgement of the flesh learnedly and plentyfully to preach of the payse and commeÌdation of vertue or righteousnesse of the rules and preceptes of mans lyfe of Ciuill gouernement of polliticque Statutes and ordinaunces and of the excellencie of lawes And there happeneth not for the more part in any other Theame a more swifter readynesse of speach a more sensible sharpenesse of deuise or more vsuall admiration of worldlynges Wherein many notable Rhetoricians most subtill Philosophers heretofore haue thought best to employ their endeuours and whole force for their eloquence not without great commendation of witte and singular prayse of ingenious inuention whole laudable trauaile therein I ought and can not chuse but accompt prayseworthy as men that were desirous to emparte to the posteritie most worthy moâumentes atchieued through excellencie of learnyng and nymblenesse of capacitie and seuere pursuyng of vertue and vertuous discipline wherewith they were wouderfully beautified But I returne to Osorius whose diligence also in Imitation I doe commende for that he hath made his choyse of such especially after whom he may direct his Imitation But whereas he doth nothyng els but affect their Heathenishenesse I doe not onely not prayse him but vtterly disallow and refuse his order of study herein These men hauyng none other so commendable an exercize wherein they might bestow their tyme as by all meanes possible to beautifie the giftes and ornamentes of nature and to allure men thereby to honest and seémely Ciuilitie did worthely deserue the prayse of that whiche they so earnestly pursued And therfore M. Tullius Cicero hath of right obteyned the garland of an honest Citizen and learned Philosopher who bendyng all the powers of his excellent vnderstandyng in blazyng the dueties and offices of mens lyfe and defence of vertue agaynst the beastly and swynish pleasures of Epicure esteémed that matter worthy his study and trauaile Wherein he bestowed such diligence and actiuitie of witte as that him selfe did neuer better in any other Theame nor any man els could haue handled the same more aboundauntly And euen the same dyd he as then accordyng to the necessitie of the present tyme with singular learnyng for as yet besides the orderly course of naturall doctrine were not any other preceptes of purer discipline extaunt amongest those Nations wherein the fine and nymble wittes might exercize them selues And therefore it was no maruell if hee beyng a man endued with wonderfull instinct of nature did embrace that thyng as the chiefest felicitie worthy whereupon he might discourse and whiche he sawe to be most notable and had in greatest prize amongest all the workes of Nature neither could rayse his mynde beyonde the limites of Nature nor stretche out the force of his capicitie further then to that outward righteousnesse obteyned by speciall pursuite of vertue But now as the state of the tyme is altered from that which was then so haue we now receaued an other Schoolemaister froÌ heauen whose Maiestie as surmounteth in glory all worldly state condition so his doctrine being not straighted within the boundes of Nature doth disclose vnto vs thynges farre passing the reach of all Nature whose Scholer you ought to haue bene Osorius especially sithence ye be aduauÌced to so high dignitie in the Church for we haue receaued now not
a M. Cicero playeng the RhetoriciaÌ in his Tusculane walkes but the very sonne of God him selfe from out the bosome of the Father who beyng sent downe into the earth may teach vs not the hidden secretes of mans Philosophye but make discernable the will of his Father vnto vs not define by reason distinguish by Arte and propose in order the Morall principles of prophane Phisolophye albeit he doth describe the same many tymes as occasion is offred but commeth forth with farre higher mysteries instrustructing vs of the kyngdome of God of eternall life and of true and euerlastyng felicitie neither instructyng vs onely but by his doctrine powryng also the same blessednesse into vs obteyned it by his death confirmed it with his rising agayne doth dispose it by his dayly raignyng ouer vs doth enseale it vnto vs by his Sacraments and promiseth it in his word To conclude doth geue the same felicitie of his owne liberatie without all respect of reward freély to all that beleue vpon his name Now therfore since the tyme is altered the Schoolemaister chaunged the order of doctrine must likewise neédes be chaunged not bycause we reiect those things in meane whiles as vtterly false which the auncient Philosophers did in tymes past deliuer vnto vs teachyng the preceptes of orderly liuyng wherof you debated earst concerning good maners and godly actions But bycause the Euangelicall Philosophye doth call vs higher to farre deéper mysteries the doctrine whereof consisteth in greater and better rudiments Our study therfore must haue regarde to an other marke That is to say We must not onely learne seriously to know how to direct the course of this transitory lyfe but also by what meanes we may attayne euerlastyng lyfe not how much our righteousnesse auayleth in the sight of men but what thyng doth Iustifie vs in the sight of God You beyng addicted altogether to the rules of your old Maister of Ethnicke Philosophy heape together many good and commendable preceptes of perfect righteousnesse wherein you are not so much to be misliked But in that ye doe nothyng els but the selfe same thyng whereof they haue treated much more cunnyngly and plentyfully before your tyme as Cicero in his bookes of Offices Aristotle in his Ethickes Plato in his bookes De Legibus and many other learned men in their bookes likewise herein surely you caÌ not be excusable nor voyde of blame not bycause you agreé with them in those good preceptes whereof they dispute well but bycause you are so fast tyed to their opinions that ye skippe away from Christ and obstinately resist his Gospell not bycause you Imitate them whom we accompt to be learned the ensuyng of whole studious industry we do not neglect but for that you do so much Imitate the prophane writers as that ye seéme to doe nothyng els then Imitate theÌ as though with Paganes you would become a professed Pagane for that disputyng so carefully of righteousnesse and good workes ye make stay and rest your selfe wholy there from whence you ought haue stept a degreé further and pursued the better way to higher mysteries and matters of greater importaunce And as though there were no difference betwixt Morall Philosophy and Christian Diuinitie ye so racke all thynges to the practize of vertue and pursuyng the perfect plotte of righteousnesse and with I know not how huge a heape or wordes blaze out vnto vs a certeine absolute portraite of innocencie whereof happely ye can painte some shewe or shadowe in your bookes better then expresse in your conuersation And yet are we not so much displeased with that imaginatiue deuise howsoeuer deuised and engrauen by you For we know and doe confesse together with you Osorius all the whole secte of auncient Philosophers that there is nothyng more beautyfull amongest all the actions of mans lyfe then vertue and nothyng of more estimation then righteousnesse and do withall as hartely and earnestly as you wishe and desire that this integritie of life might be throughly emprinted in all mens maners and conuersation whereof you finde so great a mayme and want in these new Gespellers But will you heare agayne Osorius This integritie of innocent and vndefiled lyfe whiche you require so earnestly yet performe nothyng lesse will we will we is lost long agoe not in you or in me onely but in the whole nature of mankynd generally also and so altogether lost that it can neuer by any meanes be restored with good life but by beleéuyng onely But you will say That this righteousnesse though altogether lost in vs may bee restored through the grace and bouÌtie of Christ and so many times is restored in the faithfull Ueryly I would graunt vnto you as much as ye speake Osorius if you would either aptly define that Grace whereof ye make mention or rightly distinguish that rigthteousnesse For it is not to be doubted but that the comfortable Grace of Christ doth purchase vnto vs perfect Righteousnesse But this Righteousnesse if ye will know it good Syr consisteth not in that which we doe procure by well doyng but in that which by onely forgeuyng is not Imputed Wherefore all that Righteousnesse and blessednesse whatsoeuer is in vs is grounded rather vpon the remission of sinnes then vpon any vertuous workes Will you heare the summe of all your felicitie described vnto vs and knit vp in few wordes in the mysticall Psalme and mentioned by the recitall of the Apostle Blessed are they sayth he whose sinnes are forgeuen and whose Iniquities are couered blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not Imputed his offences Psal. 31. Furthermore whoÌ that Mysticall melodious Psalmiste doth call blessed the same man onely Bernarde doth denounce to be blessed meanyng thereby the same thyng in deéde which is most true that there is no meane nor ayde from whence maÌ may hope for eternall felicitie besides this onely and alone Why so Ueryly bycause the whole Nature of mankynde is so ouerwhelmed with sinne that vnlesse the continuall mercy of God dyd preuent vs winkyng at our wickednesse who I praye you could stand in Iudgement not I. No nor yet your selfe Osorius For we haue all sinned and we all haue neede of the glory of God And yet notwithstandyng through his onely mercy pardoning vs our offences are in the case as though they neuer had bene committed wherein if you beyng an old raynebeaten souldiour dare not geue credite to our new Gospell Let it not loathe you yet at the least to heare Bernarde him selfe a witnesse both of our Gospel and of our Iudgement herein who albeit is reported not to haue seéne all things yet did discerne this perfectly enough For thus he speaketh Whatsoeuer he hath decreéd not to Impute is as though it neuer were hereunto addeth an other saying which I would wish you to note aduisedly Not to sinne is the Righteousnesse of God but the righteousnesse of man is the
if a Turke or Infidell should pleade before the same Christ his Iudge And why bycause the one is very much holpen by yeldyng his fayth to the promise the other hath none other ayde to trust vnto but the rigour of the law But let vs proceéde that we may come at the last to the pricke that is shot at I vnderstand therfore by these wordes of Christ what shal be betyed of theÌ at the last that haue liued well that vnto those that are founde such in the Iudgement shall geuen possession of eternall life I heare this well But I would fayne know at the length what the Cause should be why this mercyfull Iudge will vouchsafe to reward those workemen so highly For our controuersie consisteth not in this point that reward is geuen but in this for what Cause reward is geuen Whether of any desert or without all desert whether for the proper worthynesse of the workes them selues whiche you call good or rather for the Fayth of the person from whence those workes doe obteine both to bee called good and to bee esteémed for good You will say that the spring of this together working grace floweth vnto vs out of the founteine of Fayth from whence all abilitie to do good deédes is so aboundant within vs whiche being receiued afterwardes through the bountifulnesse of Christ fruites of holy workes do issue out from vs which do make vs worthy to be Iustified and to place vs in the possession of euerlastyng kyngdome I do aunswere that ye do neither speake as much as ye ought nor that altogether true that ye doe speake For albeit we confesse that all the good whatsoeuer we do proceédeth from the bountyfull gift of God yet this is farre wyde from the marke of our controuersie now in hand neither is this matter in handlyng now to know from whence the fruites of good workes do spryng but after they are come vnto vs the question is how much they do auayle vnto vs whether they them selues through their owne worthynesse do worke our Iustification before God or whether they stand destitute of any other ayde whereby they may be Iustified them selues whether doe ye thinke workes of their owne nature so effectuall as to bee able alone to endure the heauye burden of Gods Iudgement or that the operation of the Fayth of the beleuer rather theÌ of the worke doth present the persons together with their workes to Gods freé Imputation and so accomplish Iustification But I doe heare a continuall ianglyng of this Portingall Coockoe chatteryng alwayes one maner of laye in myne eares Not fayth but workes sayth hee wayed in the ballauÌce of Gods Iudgement do purchase either Saluation or DamnatioÌ vnto vs. Where finde you this Out of the wordes of Christ And those that haue done well shall goe into euerlasting life but those that haue done euill into euerlasting destruction I auÌswere it is most true that the Lord speaketh but most vntrue that Osorius concludeth hereof Christ comprehendyng the fruites of workes together with the whole treé and ioynyng the Causes together with the persons doth encourage them with the hope of eternall lyfe which do yeld their endeuour manfully to their vtterest abilitie to performe the rule of the Gospell not defiuyng what the proportion of their workes doe deserue but declaryng how bountyfully and manifoldly he will require their labours whiche haue suffered any kynde of afflictioÌ for his names sake Osorius framyng hereof meérely false propositions doth with his crafty conueyaunce wrest force those thynges to the workes them selues onely whiche the Lord doth apply to his faythfull that liue vertuously and so at length turnyng awry that is to say From the Concreto to the Abstractum to vse here the termes of Sophistry seueryng the persons from the thyngs doth conclude disorderly after this maner of false conclusion Faythfull and godly Christians liuing vertuously shal be rewarded with eternall lyfe Ergo Good workes by them selues wayed in the ballaunce of Gods Iudgement doe deserue eternall lyfe What caÌ be more falsely imagined or more foolishly coÌcluded theÌ this lye In deéde workes are the fruites of ChristiaÌ fayth and tokens not causes of Saluation Euen as a treé that bringeth forth fruites if the treé be good it appeareth by the fruites not bycause the fruite maketh the treé good but bycause the treé maketh the fruite good In lyke maner the deédes of the godly haue nothyng in them selues that may enable them to stand vpright in IudgemeÌt But if they finde any grace or reward the same may not bee ascribed to their owne merite but partly to Mercy partly to ImputatioÌ through the sonne that is the Redeémer to Mercy I say which doth forgeue our euill deédes to Imputation whiche accepteth our good workes though they be of them selues neuer so vnperfect as though they were perfect and doth reward them with a crowne of glory so that the glory hereof is not now to be ascribed to men but to God not to righteousnesse but to grace not to workes but to fayth not to Iudgement but to mercy For confirmation wherof if we seéke for authoritie who may require any one a more faythfull witnesse or of more approued authority then the Apostle who beyng sent vnto the Gentiles as to his proper peculiar charge what doth he preach vnto theÌ Not by the workes which we haue done sayth he but for his mercy sake he hath saued vs If wordes may obteine any credite with you what can bee spoken more playnely if the authoritie of the witnesse may preuayle what more assured testimony can be sought for then Paule that speaketh him selfe But Osorius lacketh not a shift of descante here thinkyng thereby to craze the force of veritie For whereas Paule affirmeth that we are saued for his mercyes sake he doth interprete this saying to be verified after this sort Bycause mercy doth endue vs with abilitie and power to worke that hereof those godly deedes of pietie doe ensue which may make vs vs righteous before God and that hereof likewise it commeth to passe that all whatsoeuer true righteousnesse appeareth in vs doth proceede from the mercy and bountie of God and not from our own nature Such is the doctrine that he scattereth abroad euery where in these bookes in those other also which he hath entituled De Iustitia followyng herein as it seémeth his forerunner Hosius who maskyng in the like maze doth affirme that life euerlastyng is geueÌ to men so farreforth through the grace of God as it is deliuered to mens merites which do issue out of the mercy and grace of God But Augustine will helpe to vnlose this knot easely so will also all the most famous and auncient interpretours of the Greeke Latine Churche who altogether with one voyce doe so ascribe all our saluatioÌ to the mercy of God not that which is obteined by doyng good deédes
at all where so manifold so great treasures of good workes doe flow so pleÌtyfully out of that riuer of fayth which workes do prepare an assured way to perfect righteousnes For what maÌ is he that dare presume to challenge the name of a righteous man in respect of his vnrighteous dealyng or who is he that repenteth him of his good deédes But let vs marke the sequele of this tale Agayne whenas the same Lord doth say you shall bee my frendes if ye do the thynges that I commaunde you If I do geue credite to Christes wordes and doe earnestly desire to be receaued vnto his freÌdshyp I will employ all the power of my soule to fulfill all his Commaundements c. Truely I do commeÌde you Osorius and accompt you an happy man also if you performe in deédes that ye protest in wordes But what neédeth then to make any playster of Repentaunce for as much as you do accomplish all Gods commaundementes as you say No but I doe apply all the power of my soule that I may accomplish them How so I pray you Bycause I doe beleue Christes wordes and therfore yeld my carefull endeuour that if I doe any thyng amisse I may purge the same with Repentaunce and that I may obserue all his good preceptes to the vtterest of my abilitie Behold now Reader the platforme of Osorius his fayth Whiche by succeédyng encreasinges of dayly buddyng blossomes yeldeth continuall fruites of most beautifull and holy workes coÌteined in the sappe braunches and barke of that pleasauÌt stocke How commeth this to passe First of all bycause hee is endued with that fayth which fayth is proper and peculiar to holy Church TheÌ bycause he doth beleue the wordes of Christ Furthermore bycause he doth prepare him selfe through this fayth that he may clense his sinnes with Repentaunce and what shall become in the meane space of righteousnesse of workes in the Confession of sinnes Lastly bycause he doth addresse the conuersation of his lyfe as neare as he can after the line and leuell of Christes rules Go to Let vs compare this platforme of his fayth and the fayth of Luther and Haddon together Osorius a Gods name doth credite Christes wordes Luther and Haddon distrusting Christ hath geuen no credit at all to the wordes of Christ. Osorius beleuyng Christ and esteémyng aright of his wordes gaue him selfe to Repentaunce as became a good Christian maÌ and so enured him selfe thereunto that hee abhorreth his owne wickednesse and is become obedient to Christes Commaundementes These iollyfellowes haue raunged all their lyfe long in such carelesse securitie as men neuer touched with any remorse of RepentauÌce or regarde of amendemeÌt of lyfe after the doctrine of Christ. Auaunte therefore cursed Luther and his coÌpanion Haddon both byrdes of an ill feather with this your vnbelief which could neuer be enduced to haue a will neither to beleue Christ nor to come to Repentaunce nor yet to accomplish Christes preceptes You might at least haue taken example by Osorius patterne and thereby haue learned fayth and bytternesse of Repentaunce But goe to now Bycause Osorius doth triumph so gloriously of the credite that hee geueth to Christes wordes Let vs discusse the truth of his speach and search out the difference betwixt this his fayth whereof he maketh such bragges and Luthers Fayth Take an example The wordes of Christ in the Gospell are these This is the will of my Father that hath sent me that euery one that seeth the Sonne and beleeueth in him shall haue euerlastyng lyfe and I will rayse him vp in the last day Iohn 6. And immediatly after the same Christ redoubleth the same wordes agayne and agayne thereby to emprinte theÌ more deépely into their mindes Veryly veryly I say vnto you he that beleueth in me hath euerlasting lyfe Agayne Iohn the first To as many as beleeued in him he gaue power to be made the Sonnes of God And by by in the 3. Chapter He that beleeueth in the Sonne hath lyfe euerlasting And how oft doe you heare in the Gospell the sondry sentences and the notable titles and Testimonies wherewith the Lord doth aduauÌce the fayth of his Elect and the wonderfull commeÌdation wherewith he doth amplifie the force and efficacy therof Thy fayth sayth hee hath saued thee Be it vnto you accordyng to your faith Math. 9. Be it vnto thee as thou hast beleeued Math. 8. Feare not beleeue onely Mar. 5. Beleeue onely and thy daughter shal be made whole Luc. 8. If thou canst beleeue all things be possible to the beleuing maÌ Math. 9. And he that beleueth in me shall do the workes which I do and greater workes theÌ I do shall he do Iohn 14. You doe acknowledge these wordes of Christ I suppose which you can not deny I demauÌde of you now whether your fayth or Luthers fayth do agreé better with the wordes of Christ Luthers that doth call backe all thyngs vnto fayth Or yours that doth yeld ouer all to the workes of righteousnesse Whenas the Lord being dayly conuersaunt with the Publicanes as the Gospell reporteth doth preferre the Publicane before the Pharisee Mary Magdalene before SimoÌ Banqueteth his prodigall Sonne more sumptuously then his obedient brother whenas he carrieth vpon his shoulders his scattered and lost sheepe looketh narrowly for his lost groate bindeth vp the woundes of him that fell among theeues offereth him selfe a Phisition to the sicke more gladly then to them that were sounde and whole whenas hee placeth Harlottes and Sinners in the kingdome of God before the Pharisees when hee requiteth their trauaile with equall wages that came to worke the last houre of the day with them that bare the brunte and heate of the whole day in the Vynearde when hee compareth and setteth the last before the first when hee promiseth Paradise to the theefe for his faithes sake onely when he fashioneth Paule of a deadly Enemie to be an Apostle whenas he doth not onely receaue to mercy the Gentiles castawayes by nature excluded from the promise voyde of all hope Reprobates for their Idolatrie but hath them in greater estimation then his naturall Sonnes What did hee meane els by all these examples then to disclose vnto vs the secret mystery of our Iustification Which consisteth rather in forgeuenesse of Sinnes then in doyng good deédes which is to be esteémed by the onely mercy and promise of God wherof we take hold fast through fayth and is not to be wayed by the valew of righteousnes nor any merites of workes Therfore sithence all you opinion doth so wholy discene from this kynde of Doctrine with what face can you affirme that your Fayth is consonaunt with the wordes of Christ and Luthers discrepaunt The Apostle doth in so many places throughout his whole Epistles thunder out as it were that there is no righteousnesse but through the faith of Iesu Christ that no saluatioÌ is to be obteined
worketh in vs both to will and to do accordyng to his good pleasure and the Lord doth first frame and fashion the will c. Therefore whereas it is sayd that God doth knocke at the gate of our will I gladly yeld hereunto but to say that he doth no more but knocke this I do vtterly deny In lyke maner whereas you say that hee admonisheth that hee foretelleth daunger ensuyng that he feédeth with hope that he promiseth ayde and that he allureth with reward truely these are not vntruely spoken Osorius But ye speake not all nor as much as should be spoken And therefore herein your haltyng bewrayeth it selfe playnely For you are flowen into a Fallax which the Logicians do tearme Ab insufficiente causaruÌ enumeratione True it is that the grace of God doth knocke doth forewarne and doth allure what doth grace therfore nothyng els but knocke forewarne promise and persuade Doth it not also create within vs a cleane hart doth hee not renew a new spirite within our bowels doth he not plucke out of our fleshe the stony hart and engraffe in steéde therof a fleshly hart Yea doth he not also alter all our whole nature I meane all those inward naturall qualities doth hee not make them plyable and as it were out of an old deformed lumpe new fashion it into a new creature doth he commaunde those thynges which he willeth by admonishyng onely by callyng and persuadyng onely doth not Gods Grace geue also that which he commaundeth And where in the meanes whiles lurketh then the law that is written within in the hartes of the faythfull When we heare these wordes in the Gospel No man commeth vnto the Sonne but he whom the Father draweth Tell vs a good felowshyp doth he which draweth nothyng els but admonish but call but allure What is he sayth Augustine that is drawen if he bee willyng for the willing are lead and none are drawen but the vnwilling And yet no man commeth but he that is willing but to this willingnesse he doth draw vs by wonderfull meanes who is skilfull to worke within euen in the very hartes of men not to make the vnwilling to haue fayth but to frame the vnwilling plyable to be willing c. If it be so that the heaueÌly Grace by inward operation do make men willyng that before were not willyng I would fayne learne now whether Grace do nothyng els but knocke onely Go to and whiles Grace is a knockyng who is it within that openeth Freewill I suppose But now for as much as this Freewill is powred into all persons indifferently by a generall influence as much in one as in an other why doe not all alyke open to the heauenly Grace when the Lord doth knocke forsooth bycause they will not you will say yet doth the wheale runne neuerthelesse as rounde as it did before For I demaunde agayne why some seéme to be willyng whiles others are vnwilling what els thinke you to be the cause hereof but bycause God doth open their Freewill first whiche do open vnto God that they may be able to open otherwise it could neuer opeÌ vnto him Whereby you may easely perceaue that Freewill is not the porter to let in Grace so much as the very gate it selfe and that it doth not els open but as it is first opened by his meanes whiche doth knocke and that it applyeth not any way els but as it is made plyable and so made plyable that it may seéme rather to be drawen then to bee lead neuer goyng before Grace but followyng altogether and to speake the wordes of Augustine Neuer as a foregoer but as an handmayden of Grace onely in euery good worke If you will deny this to be true what Argument shall I better vse agaynst you then the wordes of your owne mouth For what meaneth it els that you your selues of the Romish Sinagogue at the begynnyng of your Mattens pray dayly to the Lord Domine labia mea aperies Lord open thou our lyppes if they open of them selues and are not rather opened by him And in what sorte doe you then desire the Lord to open your lyppes that your mouth may shew forth his prayse whom you affirme to do nothyng els but knocke onely Why therfore doe ye not rather amende your booke that your prayer may bee agreable with your desire and sing an other song on this wise our Freewill shal opeÌ our lippes O Lord and our mouth shall chaunte forth thy prayse What then will you say is it not in our owne power to moue our lyppes Yes truly Osor. there is nothyng more easie then to moue them to conteÌtion to quarellyng to lyeng to blasphemous communication to noysome talke and vayne tittle tattle But I will in no wise graunt that we are able to moue our lippes or to open our hartes of our owne will to shew forth the prayse of God All which notwithstandyng tend not to this ende as though Freewill did worke nothyng at all yes it worketh surely but how it worketh and how it is wrought bycause Osorius doth not declare sufficiently Augustine shall make playne vnto him Not they that are carried of their owne motion but as many as are carried by the Spirite of God they are the children of God Here will some man say vnto me Then are we plyed and do not plye our selues I auÌswere yea rather thou doest both apply thy selfe and art applyed And euen then doest thou plye well if thou be plyed by Gods spirite without whom thou canst doe no good thing euen so also thou doest apply thy selfe of thine owne Freewill without the helpe of Gods Spirite theÌ doest thou euill To this ende is thy will which is called free prone and effectuall that by doing euill it become a damnable handmayd c. Whiche wordes you must interprete to bee spoken of Augustine in this wise not that will doth worke nothyng but that it worketh no good thyng without Gods helpe And that you may conceaue the same more effectually harken what the same Augustine teacheth in his treatize De Gratia Lib. Arbit It is vndoubtedly true sayth hee that we doe when we doe and that we will wheÌ we will but he bringeth to passe in vs to will and to do geuing to our will most effectuall abilitie which hath sayd I will make you that ye shall be able to do Briefly to coÌclude It shal be lawfull for me to speake the same and in such wise touchyng openyng whiche and in what wise Augustine spake of doyng when the Lord doth knocke we do open with a Freewill in deéde bycause when we do open we do it freely and willingly but that we may be able to do so not we but he doth open our harts first Whereby you may perceaue to what end this our discourse tendeth not that Freewill hath no place but that it be voyde of merite vnworthy of prayse and to
he doth that no wrong Thy God he is thy potter what art thou to coÌtend with him a weake man with thy most mighty God a lump of clay with the potter for this is the effect of your ArgumeÌt Surely God willeth nothing that he willeth without most iust and righteous reason but in such sort that this very will cannot seeme to proceede from any els where or otherwise be defended in the order of predestination but of works foreseene and of the foreknowne well vsing of good giftes as the schoolemen do say Which saying how false and friuolous it is shal be declared both out of Augustine and more notably out of S. Paule for these are the wordes of Augustine discoursing vpon Esau If so be sayth Augustine that God did therefore predestinate Esau to become vassall to his younger brother because he did foreknowe that he would worke wickednes then did he also predestinate Iacob to become Lord of his elder brother because he did foreknow taht his works would proue good And therfore the saying of the Apostles is false Not of works c. And imediatly after enterlacing many other thinges betweene If you will once graunt quoth he that a man may be chosen or refused for the thing that as yet was not in him but because God did foresee what would be in him it followeth hereupon that he might haue been chosen for the worthines of his workes which God foresaw would be in him though as yet he had done nothing and this saying that they were not yet borne will not preuayle thee at all where it was spoken And the elder shall serue the younger to declare hereby that it was sayde Not of workes because as yet he had wrought nothing at all c. But to let passe August Let vs heare what Paule himselfe speaketh Who debating very largely vpon this poynt of Predestination doth amongst other at the last breake out into this speach touching the same If God willing on the one side to shewe his wrath and to make his power knowen hath with great sufferaunce and lenity borne with the vessels of wrath prepared to destruction and on the other side do make knowne the riches of his glory towardes the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared to glory c. Let vs more exactly ponder the wordes of the Apostle where he sayth that God was willing therein you heare first that God doth will and withall the cause and reason why he willeth ye perceiue expresly set downe afterwardes But he is sayd to will wrath that is to say willing to shew the seueritie of his Iustice Where I pray you or towardes whom what towardes all creatures indifferently Certes this might he haue done according to his Iustice but this would he not do for his mercy sake Towards whom theÌ Towardes the vessells of wrath prepared vnto destruction Where you heare the name of a Vessell you doe withall conceaue a Potter bycause no vessells are made without the Potter Moreouer where this worde Prepared is annexed thereby forthwith commeth to remembraunce the will of the Potter not the will of the thyng fashioned For it standeth not in the power of the port it selfe to fashion and forme it selfe after it owne will but the fashioning therof resteth in the will and purpose of the Potter For if any sense or feélyng at all were in earthen vessells would any vessell fashion it selfe into a vessell of dishonour if it had power to fashion it selfe by any meanes into a vessell of houour whereupon it followeth consequently that the order and disposition of fashionyng resteth wholy in the will of the Potter and not in the will of the vessell Now therfore as concernyng the will of the Potter left any maÌ shall thinke that his will is vnaduised nor directed by equitie and reason The Apostle doth forthwith set downe the cause therewith the mouth of the slaunderous backbyter may be stopped To shew sayth he the riches of his glory towardes the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared vnto glory c. He doth not say bycause God foresaw the good workes of the godly and the euill doynges of the wicked that these were therfore ordeyned to daÌnation those other chosen to saluation but hee sayth that those are prepared to destruction whom he would haue to be vessells of wrath the others to glory And yet this notwtstandyng neither vnaduisedly nor contrary to equitie Wherein if any man be desirous to know the reason or the Iustice of God in his predestination let him heare Augustine herein The whole masse of mankinde was subiect sayth he to one state of perdition rightly deseruyng the scourge of Gods Iustice which whether be executed or pardoned proceedeth not of any vnrighteousnesse in God Now it pleased Gods good will of his mercy to make a choyse of some of these and to relinquish other accordyng to his Iustice. If you require a reason hereof the Apostle doth not hyde it from you To make knowen sayth he the riches of his glory towardes the vesselles of mercy which he hath prepared vnto Glory c. Wherein the principall and first cause of doyng is ioyned together with the last end therof In the meane space many meanes are enterlaced betwixt these two For euen as the will of God doth not otherwise preferre his elect to the honour of glory but as it were through many tribulations so neither doth he execute the seueritie of his Iudgement agaynst the Reprobate by by but by long sufferauÌce much lenitie and tolleration of their wickednesse But as the afflictions of the elect is not the cause of their saluation so neither the lenitie and long sufferaunce of the wicked is the principall cause that moueth God to exercize the seueritie of his Iustice agaynst them And therfore are they called Vessells the one sorte vessells of wrath the other vessels of mercy prepared either to destruction or to saluatioÌ first and before either God did with patience endure the wickednesse of the one or with tribulations exercize the Fayth of the other To conclude therfore in few wordes briefly I come agayne to the Argument that was proposed which albeit he choppeth together without all order of teachyng yet in my conceite a maÌ may briefly reduce it into this forme For out of these wordes of Paule wherewith God is sayd to haue borne with the vessels of wrath in much lenitie Osorius doth gather his cutted Sillogisine with a wonderfull dexteritie of witte Gods deuine Iustice did scourge none but such as with much lenitie he did beare withall first Neither are any destitute of Gods mercy but such as forsake it beyng offred Finally saluation and the mercy of GOD is extended vnto all persones but vnto such as will not them selues be saued The defence of Iustice consisteth wholy in mercy And onely mercy doth acquite Gods Iustice from all reproche Neither doth any man perishe but beyng condeÌned
all do not apprehend fayth Agayne we heare also by the testimony of the same Paule That it is neyther of him that runneth nor of him that willeth but of God that taketh mercy finally of theÌ which are ordeined sayth Luke to eternall lyfe and whose harts as the same Luke recordeth God doth open to make them know the word of God And agayne the same Paule doth deny them to haue knowne the Lord of glory for if they had knowne hym they would not haue crucified Christ. But what was the cause that they knew him not but because the whole matter thereof rested not in their owne willes but because by Gods secret decreé it was not geuen to them that had eares to heare and eyes to seé For their eares were made deafe that they should not heare and their hartes were blynded that they should not vnderstand And therefore the Lord himself doth openly pronounce that manye were called but fewe are chosen Moreouer in an other place the same Lord calleth his flock a little flocke And why doth he call it a little flocke good sir I beseech you If Gods mercy so largely poured abroad and so freély offered as you seeme to blaze it out doe extend it selfe to all persons indifferently without exception why do not all persons then indeffereÌtly repayre vnto Christ at the least why is not the greatest part drawne vnto him forsooth because they will not say you You are come back agayne to the first question For I demaund what the cause is why they will not but because it is not geuen vnto them so that ye may perceaue now the very welspring of this fountayne springeth not from mans will but from the counsell of God Or els how doth Christ name them which be hys to be but few in number but that he foreknew assuredly that it would be so or how did he foreknow it but because it was decreed first of an infallible certeinty And therfore Christ teaching his disciples spake openly and playnly vnto theÌ That it was geueÌ vnto them to know the misteries of the kingdome but to others in parables that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not heare Likewise Peter confirmed by the same spirite speaking of the rock of offence doth openly denounce not onely what they should do which should be offeÌded at Christ but also that they were ordayned of very purpose so to doe And yet I will not deny that which they teach of the mercy of God I do know and confesse that it is farre and wyde dispersed abroad euery where and that the same mercy of GOD denyeth it selfe to no person as Augustine sayth but to such as will not receaue it But in thys same very mercy neuerthelesse two thinges are to be considered That God doth not onely offer those promises of benefites and blessings of his meére mercy bounteous liberalitie but also that he doth inspire the hart of man inwardly with hys spirite to receaue those thinges that be offered And so after the first maner of speakyng I do confesse that there is a certayne generall grace of God and a certayne freé choyse of Election layed open to all without exception that he may receaue it that hath a will to receaue it so that vnder thys word layd open Gods outward calling be vnderstanded which consisteth in preceptes in exhortatioÌs in Rules writteÌ either in the tenne CoÌmaundementes or in the conscience or in preaching of the word And in this sense may we rightly say the Pharao hymself wanted not the grace of God nor Saule no nor any of the rest whom he did oftentimes allure with geÌtle promises terrifie with miracles reward with giftes enuyte to repentauÌce with prolonging of punishment suffer with much patience alluring calling all men dayly to amendment of lyfe All which be infallible tokens of hys mercifull will called Voluntas Signi But after the second maner of speakyng if we behold the mercy of GOD and that grace which maketh acceptable or if we respect that will of his wherewith he not onely willeth all to be saued but wherewith hee bringeth to passe that these whom he will shal be saued the matter doth declare it selfe sufficiently that that Mercy and Grace of acceptyng those thyngs whereunto they are called is not layd open for all and euery one indifferently but is distributed through a certeine speciall dispensation and peculiar Election of God whereby they that are called accordyng to the purpose of his grace are drawen to coÌsent By meanes wherof it commeth to passe that the same callyng accordyng to Gods purpose fayling euery man hath not in his own hand to chuse or refuse that earnest desire and generall Grace indifferently offered but such as haue either receaued the gift of God or are denyed the gift of God Neither doth the matter so wholy depende vpon the choyse of our will either in chusing or refusing totally for then might it be verified that there was no Predestination before the foundations of the world were layd if our ElectioÌ were necessaryly guided by our willes and that our will were the foundation of our SaluatioÌ Therfore whereas they say that God doth accept them which will embrace his grace and reiect theÌ which will not receaue it is altogether vntrue Nay it rather had bene more coÌuenient to fetch our fouÌteine froÌ the wellspring of Grace then froÌ the puddle of our owne will So that we might speake more truly on this wise That God doth endue vs with his grace and fauorable countenaunce bycause we should be willyng to embrace his ordinaunces and Commaundementes on the contrary part as concernyng those that will not receaue his grace offered that such do worthely perish And that the very cause that they will not receaue it doth hereof arise bycause their will is not holpeÌ and that they do therfore not receaue it bycause they are not theÌ selues receaued first For as touchyng the Obiection vrged out of Chrisostome that God did as much vnto Pharao in deede as hee could doe to saue him if ye referre Gods doyng there to that will which is called Nâon signi but to beneplaciti which God could would vtter in those whom he made Vessels of mercy wherof S. Paule maketh mention treatyng of the mercy of Predestination surely the Scripture is quite repugnaunt agaynst it saying God did harden the hart of Pharao For if GOD did harden the hart of Pharao how then did he to Pharao as much as he might But if Pharao did harden his owne hart after that God had not mollified his hart had not tamed his insolencie and not bowed him to godly inclinations which he is accustomed to doe to his elect In what sence then is he sayd to haue done as much to Pharao as to his other Vessels of mercy whom Election had Predestinated to be saued But to let Chrisostome passe
of Peace layed vnto Luthers charge therein the accusation is wrongfully mistourned and Luther iniuriously dealt withall For it is not Luther that hath turned the Peace of the Churche vpsidowne but the worldlynges with their Osorius do in a corrupt sense define the Peace of the Churche It is an vndoughted truth that they speake and whiche wee also do confesse together with them to witte that the Churches of Christ as it is one and most peacible so delighteth in nothing more then in Peace But let Osorius geue vs such a Peace vnder vysor whereof lurketh no conspiracie agaynst the Lord Let him geue such a Church wherein are not fostred Enemies and traitoures of the true Church I speake it not because I recken them all enemies of the church that are Resiaunte within the borders and territories of that pontificall Ierarchye So neyther Luthers vehement writings were bent agaynst them all Nay rather Luther carpeth at no mans person priuately inuadeth no mans possessions nor seéketh the losse of any mans life Onely agaynst the wicked Assertiones Determinations and decreés of your pestilent patched doctrine agaynst the established erroneous falshoods abhominations and heresyes agaynst the wicked worshipping of Idols Breadworship and stock worshippe and most pestiferous Superstitious Absurdities wherewith the force efficacy of the EuaÌgelicall fayth was well neére ouerwhelmed not without manifest perill of the losse of many thousandes of Christian Souldiers Luther vndertaking the Necessary patronage of the truth endeuoured with all hys skill and force not to the end he would hurt any man but that he might enduce others to the same cleare light sweéte ioyce of vnderstanding whiche himselfe had sucked out of the pleasaunt source of holy Scriptures If your darcknes vanish cleane away at the view of this light If Herode withall hys IerusaleÌ be troubled If the Gentiles do frett and fume and the people imagine vayne thinges If monasteries fall down altogethers If Idols shiuer in peéces If the issues and sproughts of Religiones neuer planted by god be plucked vp from the bottome of the Rootes is this the fault of Luther or the greuousnes of the malady rather that will by no meanes eudure the launcing of the soare or is it because the botches and plagues could no rather be handled but woulde of theÌselues burst out and vanish away into vapours and smoke And what if Landes and possessions long times englutted with gorbelly mouncks became a pray to the spoylers or were tourned to some better vses first what an iniury is thys to impute that vnto Luther which Princes and Magistrates in their seuerall dominiones dyd establish as they lawfully might morcouer what is that to Luther or what meruell is it if the byrdes do pluck their own fethers againe which they gaue before to the though And what should let but that a man being better aduised might reuoke and employ to better purpose as may seéme him best the thing wh he did foolishly or wickedly lauish out before But hereof enough and I am long sithence throughly weryed in spending so much breath and losse of so much tyme in contending with such a trifling brabler who accustoming himself to nothyng els almost but to lying and slaundering yet amonges so many notable lyes heaping together so many slaunders vpoÌ slaunders hath not hitherto iustified any one of all hys lyes to beare but euen a bare resemblaunce of truth And here agayne commeth to hand an other most shamelesse and abhominable lye So conning a craftesman he is that the further he proceédeth by so much more he contendeth with hymselfe yea and exceédeth hymself in slaundering And thys is it forsooth That Luther as he sayth doth accuse God to be an vnrighteous God Good words I pray you good my Lord In what place of all Luth. speaches or writinges dyd you euer finde any such worde or sillable wherein heé layed the cryme of vnrighteousnes vpon God Not so but a man may gather no lesse by hys assertion And no meruell if you be the expositor thereof your selfe For what other thing els doth the venimous spyder suck out of the most sweete honnysuckles and pleasaunt roses but poyson But go to Let vs heare at the length this notable Collection for Luther doth affirme that all thinges doe proceâde from out Gods eternall predestinatioÌ aswell wheÌ such as beyng Vessells of wrath are damned through theyr owne default as also when such as are Vessells of mercye without any their desert are aduaunced to glory Thys phrase of speeche beyng not founded first by Luther but long before hys dayes preached by Paule and confirmed by the full consent of the whole Scriptures Osorius knittyng and plattyng together many absurdities which are both false and ill fauouredly placed by the meanes of wrong misconceauing the said phrase of speeche is come at the last to conclude on thys wyse That God of Necessitie must be accompted vnrighteous as one that doth vniustly punishe poore wretched miserable men for the euill deedes which they do not of their owne accord but whereunto they are forced through eternall coaction But this conclusioÌ is not Luthers but framed by Osori hymself And I think no man aliue besides Osorius was euer able to forge so madde a conclusion who if were as voide of desire of friuolous cauilling and slaundering as Luther is cleare of this reproch to condemne God to be an vnrighteous God he would neuer haue patched vp his papers with such friuolous libels and vnsauory ArgumeÌtes bewraying therein his notorious ignoraunce But that the matter may appeare more playnly let vs display and vnfold his whole captious argumentation which he hath framed to entangle Luther withall standing in armes as it were agaynst him with a certeine brood of ill fauoured coupled propositions And in this sorte crawleth forth thys slipper deuise for the more parte If be determined by the sure and established decree of predestination what shall become of euery thing and that it can not be but as he hath decreed what soeuer he hath decreed shall come to passe Then is it necessary that all things must be bouÌd and tyed to an euerlasting Necessitie If all thinges be brought to passe by an absolute Necessitie then must God be accompted the onely author and workes of all thinges whether they be good or badde If all thinges good or euill be ordered by the guyding of God the Author thereof Then remayneth nothing for mans Freewill to put in execution If this be graunted it followeth hereupon that men when they rushed headlong into mischiefes do not now coÌmit wickednes of their owne accord but as it were tooles and instrumentes of wickednesse plyed thereunto by an others hand and enforced with merueilous coaction Which propositions being thus argued by Luther thereensueth vpon the same being-layed together this Necessary Conclusion That God doth deale vniustly if he will punish that in man which hymselfe willeth and
of God do loue do wish and earnestly desire to be saued But yet we do call these the effectes not the causes of mercy who beyng now made the Uessells of mercy could neuerthelesse not haue bene able of theÌselues to bryng to passe that they should haue attayned the first primitiue Election of God August sayth that men are worthely cast away for sinne Ergo On the contrary if men are reiected for their sinnes why should they not aswell be predestinate for their good workes Augustine doth not meane here that reprobation that is coÌtrary to predestination but vnder this reprobation he doth vnderstand the last end effect of Reprobation namely damnatioÌ And in this sence it is true that men are daÌned for their sinnes not forsaken as they are neyther predestinate for their good works Luther and Caluine doth deny that it is in mans power before grace receaued to seeke and desire it But Augustine affirmeth the contrary Nay rather what is more common in Augustines mouth then these speaches Couldest thou be conuerted vnlesse thou were called Did not he that called thee back agayne bring to passe that thou shouldest be coÌuerted And agayn do not presume vpoÌ thy coÌuersion for vnlesse he had called the back agayne thou couldest not haue bene conuerted And in an other place God doth not onely make willing of the vnwilling but maketh also obedient of such as are stifnecked and stubborne The doctours of the popish faction although deny not that nature is very much corrupted in originall sinne yet yeald they not thys much that man can do nothyng els but sinne Neyther that any thing els is taken away from Nature besides the supernaturall gift onely whereby Nature might haue bene made more perfect if it had not fallen And therefore that Nature was beautified with those supernaturall giftes of the which she is now spoiled the naturall power and abilitie of will remayning in her force notwithstanding This is most vntrue whereas Nature and will it selfe not by alteration of Substaunce but by accesse of sinne and disposition is so depraued and reuolted from God so weakened and spoyled through it own operation as that it may be not conuerted but by the onely grace of God hauing of her self no part in thys work but as farre forth as it is preuented by God Whereupon Augustine doth witnes That will doth not goe before but is handmayd to well doyng Wherefore the same Nature and substaunce of will remayneth still not chaunged into a new shape by Gods creation but defiled with the corruption and filthe of Nature The same affections also do remayne that were before in respect of their substauÌce but in respect of their disposition they be so putrified and stincking that nothing can be found in them now that bringeth not with it some matter of filthines Who soeuer is holpen he doth worke somewhat together with hym that helpeth hym and suffereth not him self to be applyed meerely passiuely Will beyng not renued is holpen of Grace Ergo Freewill euen sithence the first creation seemeth to bring much to passe and not to be altogether applyed passiuely In the Maior proposition should haue bene added perse by it selfe For what soeuer worketh by it selfe hauing the help of an other is not altogether plyed passiuely but with this exception the Minor must be denyed for freedome of choyse when as it selfe neuer preuenteth grace following her but is altogether holpen of Grace goyng before according to the testimony of Augustine what can it bryng to passe at all of it selfe Or if it can do any thing at all by it selfe that whiche it is able to doe it doth in morall good thinges externall and ciuill exercises certes to deserue eternall lyfe to purchase the fauour of God Saluation Iustification and the euerlasting kingdome Freéwill is altogether vneffectuall but is a meere sufferer onely nor hath any thing but that which it hath receaued and is altogether vnprofitable yea when it hath done all that it can possibly do And this is it that Luther seemeth to stand vpon Let hym be accursed that will say that God commaundeth thynges impossible Melancton doth aunswere what soeuer were the occasion of this saying surely those wh vouch the same so busily vrge it seéme voyde of vnderstanding in the causes why the law of God was geuen worldly wisedome supposeth that lawes are published onely because they should be obserued But the Lawe of the Lord was ordayned for this cause chiefly that the Iudgement and wrath of God should be layd open agaynst sinne that it should conuince vs of wickednes and increase the horror therof that wickednes might be restrayned from to much licensiousnes that putting vs in remeÌbraunce of our own weakenes frayltie it should in steed of a schoole master enstruct vs to Christ as it is declared before And there was no lye found in their mouthes Apoc. 14. to this August maketh aunswere aduertising vs how man may be in this sorte sayd to be true of hys worde through the grace and truth of God who otherwise of hym selfe without all doubt is a lyer As is that saying You were sometymes darcknesse but now are ye light in the Lord when he spake of darcknesse he added not in the Lord but when he spake of light he annexed by and by in the Lord. But Osorius will vrge agaynst vs here Ergo Nature beyng holpen through grace sayth he may eschew all lying and sinning To aunswere hereunto agayne out of Augustine he that will speake so let hym be well aduised how he deale with the Lords prayer where we say Lord forgeue vs our Trespasses which we needed not to say except I be not deceaued If our consents neuer yelded to false speaking nor to the lust of the flesh Neyther would the Apostle Iames haue sayd We are trespassers all in many thinges for that man doth not offend but he whom flattering lust hath allured to consent contrary to the rule of righteousnes Thus much Augustine Out of the wordes of Ieremy If I speake of any Nation that I may destroy them and they do repent them c. And if I say the word that I may plant them and they tourn away from me c. vpon this the Romanistes do build as followeth Euen as men behaue themselues such shall the potters vessels be afterwardes Ergo it is false that the Lutheranes teach that the regard of worke doth fight agaynst Freedome and the power of God in chusing or refusing The Prophet doth treate here properly of the punishment rewardes which do follow mens workes at the last IudgemeÌt and not of the maner of eternall ElectioÌ which doth preceéde all our workes either goyng before as August reporteth which were none at all or comming after which were not as yet If the aduersaries of Luther shall wrest these words of the Prophet to the cause of ElectioÌ as though
They that doe fortifie Grace in such wise as that maÌs Freewill may in no sense be admitted withall doe not Iudge therof rightly For mans will whether it be good or whether it be euill doth neuer cease to be after a certeyne sort Free either Free to righteousnes or Free to Sinne which if it be good she receaueth her goodnes of Grace if it be euill she sucketh that euill of her selfe and therfore sucketh it of her selfe bycause it is seuered from Grace Furthermore it must be coÌsidered in what sence Augustine doth construe Freewill Surely if our aduersaries doe interprete Freewill after this sence as though it coÌteyned in her owne power a Free election of chusing good or euill they swarue altogether from Augustines interpretatioÌ Who by this vocable Freewill seémeth to signifie nothyng els then that will onely which worketh those thynges voluntaryly that it worketh whether they be good or euill An other Obiection out of Augustine Beleue the holy Scriptures both that there is Freewill and the grace of GOD without whose helpe man can neither be conuerted to God nor profite with God Agayne out of his 2. Epistle to Valentine The Catholicke fayth doth neuer deny Freewill either towards good life or towards euill life Neither doth it attribute so much vnto it as that it may be of any value without the grace of God whether it be conuerted out of euill into good or whether it continue profityng in good or whether it attayne to the euerlasting good whereas now it feareth not least it quayle and waxe faynte c. What is meant els by these wordes of Augustine but that vnder the name of Freewill that will be vnderstanded in man which is capable aswell of euill as of good and may be euill of it selfe through corruption of Nature but good onely by reformation of Grace All actions that men take in hand do proceade froÌ God the first mouer and ruler as from the first cause thereof accordyng to Luthers doctrine All sinnes are actions Ergo After the Lutheranes doctrine all sinnes doe proceade from God as from the chief and first cause First in the Maior this word Actions must be distinguished Some Actions are Naturall some are Deuine and Supernaturall Now if the Maior haue respect to these Actions then is the Maior true and the Minor to be denyed For the Maior doth not meane properly these Actions which are not of nature but agaynst nature of which sort are sinnes and the ActioÌs of wicked Spirites or if it do meane those Actions it may be denyed There is besides theâe a thyrdkynde of Action which is called a Freé and voluntary Action I call it Freé for this cause wherby will is willingby euill without all coaction as August witnesseth And these kyndes of Actions which are proper and peculiar to man doe proceade from will as from the nearest and most proper cause although not altogether without the prouidence and ministery of God which as it powreth it selfe abroad through out all maner of thyngs by a certeine secret influence beyond all reach of capacitie euen so doth it encline and make plyable the very wills of men to whatsoeuer purposes it pleaseth him Yet so notwithstaÌdyng as that no man is constrayned thereunto by this inclination For neither is any man compelled to be euill agaynst his will when he doth naughtyly except he will him selfe So that now it is neédelesse for any man to seéke for the cause of Sinne without him selfe as Caluine truly teacheth But Osorius doth obiect here agayne Whosoeuer doth entice and allure an other to wickednesse is as much in faulte as he that is allured thereununto at the least is not voyde of blame God doth moue and prouoke mens wills to do haynous offences after the Lutheranes doctrine Ergo God him selfe accordyng to the Lutheranes as the first motioner and cause of euill can not be cleare of faulte The Maior is true there where both he that doth allure he that is allured are lead both by one kynde of coÌsent are holden both together vnder one selfe coÌditioÌs haue both regarde to one selfe ende in their doyng But now all these thynges doe chaunce farre otherwise in God then in men For as God doth worke nothing but that which is wrought with a maruelous pure sincere will who caÌ will nothyng but that which is most good euen so doth he attempt nothyng at any tyme but that he may doe of his most Freé Iustice nor is tyed to any conditions or lawes Now where no law is there neither is any Sinne at all For Sinnes properly are defined not so much by the bare actions as by the conditions lawes and endes At a word to make this matter more discernable God coÌmaunded Abraham that he should kill his Sonne if any other had coÌmaunded the same or if the Father had attempted to do the same at any others coÌmaundement he had âurely sinned But now sithe it was the Lordes Commaundement neither was there any sinne in him that did commaunde neither in him that did assent no though he had slayne him in deéde What âhall we say of this That the same Father of heaueÌ and earth when he gaue his onely begotten sonne to be flayne yea altogether vndeseruyng it for this Tragedy was not played surely without his hand and secrete counsell shall we therefore say that he sinned bycause in this worke he willed the same that the murtherers dyd For neither was his coÌsent absent nor seneâed froÌ their will which did Crucifie the Sonne of God ne yet his ordinaunce yet was this ordinauÌce of his cleare from sinne notwithstaÌdyng but their fury lacked not sinne In deéde his consentyng will dyd will the same that they willed But not after the same sort for a farre other maner of end For in them that dyd Crucifie Christ appeareth a treble ArgumeÌt playne demonstration of Sinne. First bycause they brake the lawes that were commaunded theÌ contrary to all equitie right Agayne for that they layed violent handes vpon the innocent beyng enflamed with malice and despight wherein also they did not respect any other end but to embrue their madd murtheryng handes with innocent bloud to establish thereby their arrogaunt ambitioÌ All which were farre otherwise in God For first who euer limited any lawes for God which he might not breake Wherfore beyng Freé from all law he neither did any thyng here nor at any tyme els can doe any thyng that is not in all respectes most lawfull for him to doe And yet neither did the Father here so procure the death of his Sonne but that the Sonne him selfe did voluÌtaryly of his own accord yeld theruÌto Moreouer in this the fathers will was nothing amisse in his ordinaunce nothyng malicious in the end nothyng but most glorious for our saluation For on the other side in all this actioÌ was woÌderfully vttered expressed his
fire c. or where he bryngeth vpon men inward griefes by the seruice of Sathan exequutioner of hys wrathe as famine of hys holy word ignoraunce blindenes of vnderstanding hardnes of hart as appeareth euidently by the Scriptures I pray you what meane you by that whiche you reade in the 9. of Iudges God did send hys euill spirite betwixt Abimilech and the people of Sychem c. When you reade in Moyses I will harden the hart of Pharao adding a cause to the same wherefore he would do it And agayn when you heare that the Lord did harden the hart of Syhon King of Hesbon When you read in Esay the Prophet Blunt the hartes of this people stopp their eares And agayne why doest thou make vs wander from thy wayes O Lord What is this in the 3. of the kings the 22. chap Behold the Lord hath geuen the Spirite of lyeng into the mouthes of all the Prophets c. and in Iob. 12. The Lord doth take away the hartes from them that rule ouer the people of the earth and he maketh them to goe astray c. of the same sence are the wordes of the Prophet Ezechiell If the Prophet be seduced and speake a word I the Lord haue seduced that Prophet And in Amos If there shal be any euill in the Citie that the Lord hath not done And agayne in the 2. to the Thessalonians the 2. chapter God shall send vpon them strong illusione to beleue lyes c. These and innumerable like vnto these who so shall heare euery where in the scriptures can he dought hereof that the sinnes of the wicked are not hidden vtterly from the decreed will of God or that any thing is done in any of all these by Gods Permission so as hys effectuall prouidence doth not worke also withall Now as concerning the inconuenience as though it were of Necessitie that Gods Iustice shold be therfore called in questioÌ and that it would by that meanes come to passe that wicked meÌ would hereof take occasion to excuse themselues as though they should not offend through their own default but by the compulsary constraynt of Gods will if so be those thinges be so taken according to the very purporte of the bare letter wherwith God is sayd to deliuer ouer into a Reprobate minde to make blynde to harden the hartes c. then is this also eche way as false Neyther doth the conclusion of hys argument thus shuffled vp hang together All thinges that God hath foreordayned shall come to passe do chaunce through absolute Necessiitie God did foreordayne that sinne should come to passe Ergo When sinnes do come to passe they are to be imputed aswell vnto man as beyng an instrument as vnto God hymself as beyng the Authour Nay rather the conclusion ought to haue bene framed on this wise Ergo God hath ordayned that sinnes should be which for the same cause cannot but be of very Necessitie And so in deede is the conclusion right and to be graunted also For it is without all controuersie that sinnes cannot come without the ordinaunce of Gods will which ordinaunce neuertheles hauing iust cause of defence ought to be acquited of all vnrighteousnes And to shew that it hath iust causes of defence Three reasons may be rendered First This seely earthly worme had skarse yet thrust hys nose out of the dyrte whenas he would needes make hymselfe equall with God hys creator farre aboue the reach and coÌpasse of his creation presuming to attayne the knowledge of good and euil then came it to passe by the most iuste iudgement of God not by hys Permission but by hys prouidence also that Freewill beyng as then throughly furnished with vnderstanding and reason but destitute of Grace could not gouerne it selfe but must needes both agaynst hys owne knowledge and conscience stumble and fall downe withall And no meruayle For assoone as God had withdrawne hys light right spirite and helping hand whereupon issued lacke of well doyng blindenes and hardnes of hart it could not otherwise be but that the grace of God being withdrawne all abillitie to do well beyng taken away this proud presumptuous Uermine must fall to the ground both of very Iustice and of very Necessitye whereof the one is ascribed to God and not to man this other not to God but to man and to hys owne Freewill And hereupon aryseth that absolute and vnauoydeable Necessitie whereof we treat so much and withall the most iust defence of Gods Iustice. Then besides this Freewill there is yet an other reason that will playnly acquite the iust prouidence of God from fault though it worke in the sinnes of men together with men themselues As when he bryngeth vppon man eyther diseases of the body or blindnes of vnderstanding for sinnes already committed punishing sinne as it were by sinne Euen so Pharao that had vsed horrible tyranny before in drowning the suckling babes of the Hebrues was himselfe afterwardes most iustly hard harted by God and at the last miserably drowned in the read Sea Euen so likewise Esay and the other Prophetes did prophesye that the Iewes should be blinded for the wickednes whiche they had committed By the like Iudgement of God came it to passe that which was spoken of the Gentiles As they would not geue themselues to know God God did deliuer them ouer to the lustes of their owne hartes c. And in an other place writing to the Thes. For this cause sayth he God will send vpon theÌ strong illusion to beleue lyes c. Besides these most iust causes spoken of before there is yet a thyrd no lesse rightfull and iust which although be somewhat darke vnto vs yet seémeth not so darke to the vnderstaÌdyng and knowledge of S. Paule where Gods Deuine prouidence doth wonderfully order and dispose his workes to witte by his IudgemeÌt hidden in deéde but alwayes iust leadyng and directyng all thynges to that ende whereby he may make his Iustice or his power discernable to mankynde And to this end at a word do all the counsells of God and all the effectes of the same tende and be directed whether he do fashion the vessels of his wrath to destruction or prepare the vessels of his mercy to Glory or whether he be mercyfull to whom he will or whether he do harden the hartes of whom it pleaseth hym or whensoeuer it pleaseth him so to do or when he doth styrre vppe the myndes and endeuoures of men where unto him lysteth by the seruice of Sathan minister of his wrath or whether he do comfort and make glad the hartes of his chosen by the operatioÌ of the holy Ghost And yet is there no cause in the meane whiles why any man should complayne that the thynges are done iniuriously which are done by Gods secrete Iudgement or that God ought to be blamed in any of all these whenas whatsoeuer is
substauÌce of God what kynde of couplyng do ye desire to be had betwixt Reason and the will of God Who in deéde can will nothyng but that whiche is perfect sithe that nothyng is perfect but that which he willeth And whereupoÌ then riseth this hauty crest of yours that can not be satisfied with the bare will of God beyng expressed in his playne word Neither seémeth it sufficieÌt in your Iudgement that God should chuse any to saluation vnlesse his secret counsell herein may be made discernable by the deépe reach of your owne reason and that he should render an accoumpt and reason of his decreéd will herein vnto your Maistershyppe Albeit I doe not deny this to be true that the profounde wisedome of the Deuine Godhead can not be sundered from the knittyng together of his Reason and counsell that is to say from it selfe Yet out of what Schoole suckt you such Diuinitie O singuler Piller of the Romishe route so earnestly to require and to sift out the counsell and Reason of the Creatour euen in the very vnsearcheable wisedome of him that created you I suppose ye were thus schooled in your sacred confessions Surely you neuer learned it out of holy Scriptures If you neuer noted what aunswere the Lord made to Moyses in the Scriptures marke now somewhat more attentiuely I will haue mercy sayth he on whom I haue mercy and I will take compassion on whom I will take compassion c. Here you may seé a singuler Mercy of God in takyng compassion whereof you nor seé nor heare any other rendred in the whole Scriptures besides the onely will of God I will haue Mercy saith he will you know the causes and the persons the doth not say bycause I perceaue theÌ to be worthy of my benignitie whose foreseéne workes doe delight me now before I take Mercy but I do therfore take Mercy bycause I will take Mercy and I will take compassion on him of whom it pleaseth me to haue Mercy And therfore S. Paule addyng a very fitte conclusion Ergo sayth he God will haue mercy on whom he will haue mercy and will harden whom he will harden With these wordes bridlyng our nyce curiositie as it were and withall geuyng vs to vnderstand that it is enough for vs to know that so is the will of the Lord although there be no manifest demonstration made vnto vs of the cause wherfore he would so do For of what soeuer it shall please the Lord to bryng to passe albeit we can not atteyne the Reason yet ought we to grounde our selues vpon this for sufficient and lawfull Reason bycause the Lord hath brought it so to passe we ought also to learne of Christ this lesson Bycause it hath so pleased thy good will O Father For as much as it is not lawfull for any creature to presume to enquire any reason beyond the will of God Right well therfore and very profoundly doth Augustine geue vs this lesson It is not meete sayth he to search for the causes of Gods vnsearcheable will it is not lawfull to know it for that the will of God is the principall and highest cause of all thinges that are and therefore if when it is asked why the Lord did it it is to be auÌswered bycause he so willed it if thou go further in asking why he willed it thou askest some greater and higher thyng then the will of God is Which can not possibly be founde out And agayne the same Augustine in an other place writyng of PredestinatioÌ and grace God sayth he taketh mercy on whoÌ he will haue mercy and of whom be will not haue mercy he will not take mercy He geueth to whom him listeth and requireth that whiche is due vnto him of whom he will Here agayne ye heare the Will of God named yea and that alone wherewith if you be not yet satisfied bycause it is named alone harken what is immediately annexed by the same Augustine for thus it followeth He that shall continue to say God is vnrighteous let him harken vnto the Apostle O man what art thou that contendest with God man with God earth with the Potter c. Doth he herein not note you excellently Osorius and as it were poynt at you with the finger as that no man could possibly haue noted any matter more notably Paule the Apostle doth render no causes at all of Gods Election but his will onely Augustine dare enquire after none All the whole Scripture is throughly satisfied with his will onely Onely Osorius can not be satisfied nor thinketh it lawfull enough for God to doe that him lyketh best vnlesse with sutteltie of Reasonyng as it were with cutted Sophismes and Sillogismes maÌ mainteyne Argument with his GOD earth with the Potter Which thing how horrible it is learne at the least out of Esay the Prophet Woe sayth he vnto him that will contend with his maker a brittle pottesharde of the outcast potteshardes of the earth shall the clay say vnto the Potter why doest thou make me thus did thy handes fayle thee in thy worke c. As though there were any of the Creatures of God that doth vnderstand the mynde of the Lord or were euer counsellours vnto him or as though it were not permitted him to will as him lysteth or as though what soeuer pleaseth him were not lawfull for him to do vnlesse he did geue vs a reason and orderly render vnto vs the causes that moued him thereunto And what if he will not discouer it Osorius Yea and what if he ought not what if when him lysteth to display it most manifestly your balde mazer and the blockyshnes of your nymble capacitie can not be able to pearce into the vnsearcheable depth of his glory wisedome and counsell Ieremy the Prophet beyng commaunded to go downe into the house of the Potter and there to behold throughly the workemanshyppe of the runnyng wheéle and the hand of the craftesman when he saw the Uessell that was newly made and was by and by broken agayne neither doth he require a reason thereof of the workeman nor yet doth the Lord beyng the workeman reÌder any reason vnto him onely he declareth his power in makyng new and renewyng agayne of that which was broken in these wordes Am not I of power to do vnto you as this Potter doth to his claye O house of Israell sayth the Lord. Behold as the clay in the hand of the Potter so are you in my hand O ye house of Israell And will Osor. dare be so bold beyng a fashioned lumpe of the Potters wheéle neither reuerencyng the Maiestie of his maker nor contented with his onely will to require a reason of his creation besides the lawfull will of the Creator and will he not permit it to be sufficient for God to doe in his owne workes what it pleaseth him best For what do these wordes of Osorius emporte els Where beyng squeymish at Luthers speache He doth
doctrine were of such authoritie with you why did you shut vppe your eares from your Masters lessones If you betooke your selues to Armes through occasion of one sentence wrongfully vnderstoode or misconstrued why dyd ye not forsake the field for so many my exhortatioÌs and notable exclamations to the contrary But go to Osorius bycause vnder the person of the Boores complaynte you do so vehemently wrest all this false suggestion of mischief agaynst me What if I deny your Assumpsit how will you be able to proue it perhappes by heare say amongest the clownes what of any that be liuyng or that be dead But when the poore clownes lyued and were drawen to execution tormented and stretched out vpon the rackes in which extremitie men are wont for the more part to vtter more theÌ they know If there were one so much of that whole rable muttered euer halfe a sillable of me such as your Carterlyke and senselesse Imagination hath deuised agaynst me I will willyngly yeld to this accusation of suspitioÌ But by your occasion say you this tumult might haue bene raysed easily So might the Blacke Moore chauÌge his skinne And Osor. also might leaue his lyeng But all thynges are not by and by done that may be done But onward how proue you that it might haue bene so Bycause say you that God worketh all in all in vs accordyng to Luthers Assertion and we be instrumentes onely applyed and wrest with his handes hereupon followeth it therefore sithe God onely raysed vppe these tumultes and was the onely procurour deuisour and accomplisher of this sturre that the Boores of necessitie must be guiltlesse and innoceÌt hereof Go to And do ye suppose Osorius that these wordes were the whole seédeplotte of all this Rebellion what shall we say theÌ to that which we read in Paul That it is God that worketh all in all And agayne That worketh all according to the purpose of his will And in the Prophet Amos. There is no euill in the Citie that the Lord hath not done And agayne wheÌ we heare on euery side aswell amongest the Prophetes as the Apostle That men are made blinde of God are deliuered ouer into a Reprobate mynde Why might not the Boores haue taken occasion of these wordes aswell as of myne Go to And what and if I had writteÌ these wordes also namely That it is in the power of our Freewill to dispose our selues whereunto we lyst either to make our selues earthen vessels or golden vessels in the house of the Lord would the Boores haue the sooner bene quieted for this cause And yet this is the generall proclamation of that notorious Seé of Rome dispersed throughout all Catholicke Nations the same doe all their Recordes and Canons noyse abroad wheresoeuer they crawle yea many yeares before Luther was borne and the very same also doth Osorius write at this day in Portingall and many other of the lyke fraternitie elles where what was there neuer any coÌmotions therfore of the rude multitude before Luther was borne in Portingall none in Italy Germany Fraunce England Cycill other Nations Could this or any other portioÌ of Scripture or doctrine eueÌ so bridle the affections of the vnruly but that they would at one tyme or other burst out into outragious extremities I adde moreouer Admit that my wordes beyng either misconceaued or misconstrued might suggest some matter of euill occasioÌ shall it be lesse lawfull therfore to beare testimony of the truth bycause there be some that are so beastly brutish that will mishandle the wordes and deédes of others be they neuer so well spoken By this reason away with the Bible bycause out of the same the most parte of heretiques haue sucked their poyson what dyd not Paule therfore not commende the Iustice of God aright by our vnrighteousnesse bycause there wanted not that would abuse his saying to occasion of euill Let vs doe euill say they that good may come thereby The auncient godly Christians were wont to assemble together and sing Psalmes before day light and to receaue the Sacrament of bread wyne Hereupon began rumours to be scattered abroad that the ChristiaÌs dyd worshyp the rysing of the Sunne dyd sacrifice to Ceres Bacohus And what hath bene so well spoken or established at any tyme that the peéuishenesse of peruerse and froward persons will not depraueâ if they lyst to pyke a quarell or slaunder the good wordes and well doynges of men The same came to passe with Augustine him selfe through the Pelagians who after had once brought in the name and commendation of grace hereupon forthwith they began to quarell with him as though he should affirme that men are made good by fatall Necessitie And agayne where he denyed that Grace was distributed accordyng to meÌs deseruyngs this saying they gnawed at as though he should say That no endeuour ought to be looked for from the will of man contrary that saying in the Gospell where the Lord spake Aske and it shal be geuen you seeke and ye shall finde knocke and it shal be opened vnto you for euery one that doth aske shall receaue c. And all this haue I debated with you euen as it were truth that your counterfaite imagination hath deuised to witte that I should be the originall of all that rebellious insolencie I come now to that pynche of my true defence Namely to deny that there is or euer was any Boore in all Germany that did euer Iustifie this slaunder agaynst me This was neuer the speéche of any Boore but the rude vnshamefastnesse of Osorius voyde of all matter of probabilitie to make me authour of all this mischief The very authour wherof if as yet you do not know and would fayne know him in deéde I will tell him you but briefly yet truly Osorius When Sathan perceaued that the kyngdome of your pride was ready to haue a fall and that the Romishe Prelate could now no longer mainteyne his erroneous sacriledges agaynst the glorious excellency of the gladsome Gospell he entred by a notable pollicie into this deuise vnder the pretence of the Gospell to tickle vppe madd braynes thereby to bryng the Gospell in obloquy and infamy the ouerthrow whereof he perceaued now past his compasse as the which he was now no longer able to withstand Then also vnlesse this lying Osorius had sett him selfe forth as an especiall Instrument of this wyly Serpent vpon whose shauen sconse not so much as a herebreadth may be founde growing of an honest or sober man ye would neuer haue so filthyly infamed the good reporte and credite of honest personages standyng in the defence of the Gospell with so many slaunderous lyes and cursed reproches If Luther should vse this or the lyke counterbuffe accordyng to the frankenes of his speéche agaynst your rusty clownish and illfauored false Diuinitie I do not aske what you could answere him agayne Osorius But I feare this rather least as he should not
is well enough known what meanes he vsed for the suppressing that teÌptes of Carolastadius the Suenfeldians Zuinglius in hys booke entitled Elenchus contra Catabaptistas Caluin de hereticis Bullenger of Tiguirine in hys inuectiue agaynst the sectes of our time the Basileanes against the Georgianes The Heluetianes and people of Sauoye and Lumbardie how seuere and earnest pursuers were all these in rooting out of wicked opinions how estraunged and alienated from all desire of Faccions all these I say haue geuen vnto vs notable presideÌts and examples therof And to speak nothing of other Churches what hath bene done in England long sithence yea and of late also towardes the ouerthrowing and confuting of erroneous opinions Let your Portugall MarchauÌt certifie you by letter your notary what soeuer he be or in what corner soeuer yee lurcke whoÌ I suppose to be sent ouer into England not for any other purpose but to become Osor. hys spye Go to where is now the experience of Osorius by the wh he hath found out in Luther as he sayth so many sectes and diuersities of opinions But the names of Sects had neuer bene so raked vp together no nor any sound of any such should euer haue bene heard at any tyme. If abode had bene made in the Fayth of the Pope and of the Romanistes So likewise also I suppose that if weé had not bene diliuered from that Ethnick Paganisme of the old Idolatrye this Botche had neuer infected our Churches neyther had Ierusalem bene euer troubled at anye tyme vnlesse Christ had bene borne neyther had so great and so many swarmes of Heretickes flusht abroad vnlesse the Apostles had preached the Gospell why therefore are we not weltered back agayn into that puddle of Paganisme or Iewishnes hauing shaken away from our shoulders the most sincere and pure religion of Christ according to the choppe Logicke of Osorius that wee may shroud our selues safely from the company of those wilde faccious Sectes and daungerous diuisions But Osorius though fallen away at the last from his tackle of mans experience hath gathered more courage yet vnto hym takyng handfast of the Ankerholde of Christ his owne wordes for the proofe of the Popes Chayre so that nowe this Seé seémeth no more humayne or terrestryall but heauenly and Angelicall Affirming that this power is established not by the ordinauÌce of man but chiefly by the very words and ordinaunce of our Lord and Sauiour Christ himselfe Surely if Osorius can perswade that to be true he shall beare the bell away But by what reason will he make it apparaunt vnto vs not with one nor with a simple and naked reason but with a double horned Argument that shall cutt like a sworde for besides the authority of holy Scriptures and the Testimonyes of all auncient antiquitie also whereof he boasteth himselfe not a litle skilfull he affirmeth that he knoweth it to be true by experience But go to it remayneth that you declare vnto vs what authoritie of the sacred Scripture that is at the length and wherein that testimony of auncient antiquitie is to be found Thou must needes attend a whiles perhappes he will tell theé hereafter gentle reader For as now because Osor. is not at leysure to tell theé let it suffice theé that the man hath spoken it and vouchsafe at this present to interprete all hys speaches to be very Oracles as sweéte as honny And this much hitherto touching the Maiesty of the Seé of Rome The next vnto this hath he placed in order the obedience that they yelde vnto Princes which I maruell if any man can reade and not laugh at so also I beleue sure that Osor. himselfe could not stay but laugh at himselfe or els doughtles he was disposed to dally with vs when he wrate these wordes so pleasauntly deuised and so cunningly coulered But we sayth he do not refuse the aucthoritie of any lawfull power Howe truely you speak herein how reuereÌtly you esteéme of princes how obediently you behaue your selues to the higher authoritie and how huÌbly you do acknowledge it and how you refuse no commaundement of the Magistrate Weé will take a taste if it please you by the conference of faythfull Historiographers by the course affayres of experience whereof the actes monuments of Princes doe make mencion Finally by search of antiquitie it selfe whereof you make your selfe experte and well beseene And to beginne first with the Empire of Greece the lawfull succession whereof contynued from Constantine the founder thereof about 500. yeares more lesse if the Bishop of Rome at that tyme would not haue refused to be subiect to the authoritie of the higher powers why then did Hadriane and after him Leo 3. hauing rooted out the kingdome of Desiderius and the Lombardes contrary to their faith an allegiaunce presume to be so hardye as to pluck away the imperiall maiesty afterwardes from the right and true heyres vnto the whiche aswell they the Bishops theÌselues as also all the Italiane NatioÌ had submitted and obliged them selues by othe no lesse then the Greékes and why did they at theyr owne appointemente traÌslate the same froÌ the Greékes to the Frenche nacion And although Charles him self vnto whom the Diademe Imperiall was geuen seéme worthy to be registred amongst the most vertuous famous Princes as one that endued the Church of Rome with greatest treasures possessions and liberties Yet was not that cause sufficient wherefore the maiestie of the sacred Empyre should beé vyolated and oppressed with manifest iniuries Namely sitheÌs the ouerthrow of that state could not choose but draw after it wonderfull troubles rancour of hartes Which thing happened in very deéd not long after For euen by the meanes thereof chiefly it came to passe that not only the Emperours of the East West were enflamed agaynst ech other with perpetuall deadly and vnquenchable hartburning hatred and enmity but also that Greéce being left naked of those helpes became an open Road to the Turkes and Sarracens for the suppressing of whose powers and recouery of which countrey I knowe not whether the whole power of the Romanistes when they haue retched it to the vttermost will be euer able to preuayle But to admitte that this translation of the Empyre came either of the speciall prouidence of God or to attribute the same to the worthines of Carolus or the Necessitie of the tymes or to mittigate the matter with some plausible and colourable excuse Yet is not this excrable sawcines of these Romish Bishopps sufficiently accquited hereby which durst be so presumptuously arrogant at that tyme or the Popes of this present which do imagine that their authoritie which they claime from Peter may priuileadge their insolent vsurpacion ouer the kingdomes of the earth and theyr iniurious transposing them where they liste nor doth waraunt their shamelesse challenge of lineall succession in the same authoritie as deriued from Peter himselfe vnto
well knowen to all men by the Hystory thereof Anno. 1159. But I can not tell whether the vnmeasurable insolency of HadriaÌ the 4. did exceéde the outragies of all the rest Who first sweépyng the Citie cleane from all Consuls dignitie of Consulshyp did challenge vnto him selfe the whole and onely superioritie and rule ouer all By meanes wherof grew wonderfull disturbance and disquietnes After this the same Pope dâd with a sterne countenaunce behold Frederick Themperour because he did vnaduisedly take the lefte styrrope in hys hand when hys holines alighted from horseback and was greuously offended with hym for the same Not long after he arereth wonderfull tragedies agaynst William the Prince and lawfull heyre of Apulia perswading Frederick agaynst hym first And because heé could not winne Themperour thereunto he prouoketh Emanuell the Emperour of Greece to bidd him battell In which Battell Emanuell was ouerthrowne and the Pope taken prisoner Peace beyng forthwith coÌcluded with William within a whiles after the sayd Pope beyng wonderfully wrothe agaynst Themperour because in hys letters he wrate hys owne name before the popes and because he presumed to sweare the Bishoppes of hys owne prouince to keepe their due allegeaunce vnto hym without consent of certaine Cardinalles he teazed all the Cities of Italy for the most part to a traytorous reuolte and to this confederacie conspired also the more part of the Cardinalles together with the pope he himselfe skattereth abroad terrible flashes of flaming excommunications Finally the conspiracye is ratified with a solemne oathe namely That if the Pope should dye none should be admitted into the Election except he were a confederate of this faction by meanes whereof the knotte of this sacred societie might neuer be seuered But loe a straunge chaunce whiles our holy father is most busie about hys excommunications and cursinges a flye slippyng downe into hys throate stopt vppe hys pypes and choaked him to death in the yeare 1159. After the death of Adriane the sentence of the cursse remainyng yet in force Frederick addresseth to the Colledge of Cardinalles that the sentence may be determined But Alexander the Pope would not suffer Iudgement to proceede who as theÌ had teazed vp the Myllanoyes agaynst Cesar and ouerranne Italy it selfe with a very bloudy battell In the which the Citie of Myllayne was rased to the ground and Genua put to the sack ouer and besides many thousandes of Romane Citizens slayne The Pope betaketh him to his heéles and escapeth away by flyght whom whiles Otto the Emperours some doth pursue by Sea falling himself in the handes of hys Enemie was brought captiue into Uenice to the Pope Through which mischaunce Themperour enforced to conclude a peace was driuen to yelde to very hard and straight conditions And though he prostrated him selfe in Uenice at the Popes feete the Monster neuerthelesse not contented with this humble submission of Themperour besides this treadeth very contumeliously vpon Themperors necke with hys feete commaunding to beé proclaymed Super aspidem Basiliscum ambulabis c. Albeit neyther the Emperour himself in this humble submission could altogether suppresse hys heroicall courage but vttering agayn a singular president of a worthy personadge answered the Pope on this wise Non tibi sed Petro noting hereby that this honor what soeuer so humbly offered was not done for any feare heé had of the Tyraunt but for the reuerence that he did owe vnto Peter whom the Pope with open mouth entercepted most arrogantly saying Et mihi Petro. This was done in the yeare 1177. I beseéch you hartily Syr Ierome if you neuer haue reade these Monumentes where is that knowledge of yours in Antiquities whereof ye bragge so much But if you will confesse that you haue read them what maner of obedience to higher powers is this whereof you write We do refuse no commaundement of the Lawfull power How truely ye speake let this one History besides infinite other examples teach you Wherin enter I pray you into a due coÌsideratioÌ of both the personages of Themperour of the Pope and marke well their speaches the gestures and behauiour of them both If any thing could beé added to expresse the singuler lenitie and humilitie of th one or the Monstrous Luciferlike Insolency and arrogancy of that other were it possible to finde a more notable paterne of vnspeakeable pryde in kyng Tarquin or Leo the proud Finally in any other mighty Monarche or in Lucifer himselfe And yet the same Lucifer being the Prince and Captayne of all pride durst not Michaell Tharchaungell reproche with any word of despight whiles they disputed together about the body of Moses But attempering the intemperate heate of speaking euill vsed this speach Let the Lord rebuke the sayth hee If it were not lawfull for Michaell to speak reprochefully to the Deuill what shall we say vnto theÌ which blushe not not onely to speake euill and cursse the higher powers and Emperors to whome for the authoritie of their maiesty they owâ due reuerence and obedience but also most shamefully treade with their feéte and heéles vpon the neckes of them whose feéte Christ himselfe if had bene preseÌt would not haue disdayned to washe wype cleane with some clothe NazianzeÌ can in no wise disgest the execrable hautines of such as coÌtemning the authoritie of the higher powers to the which they ought of duety assubiect themselues will presume so proudly to pearch through intollerable pryde to make theÌselues their coequalles speaking on this wise It is the property of all euill seruauntes to renounce mastershippe and to rebell agaynst superioritye and that which is superiour in degree to make fellowlyke vnto themselues But what would Nazianzen haue sayd If he had bene present with Theodore the Marques and had beholden this goodly spectackle and this so highe authoritie of the maiestie it selfe not onely prostrate at the Popes feete but troden vpon also with the durty heeles of so proud a caterpiller would hee not haue cryed out with open mouth being troubled with the strauÌgenesse of the matter that very Antichrist was come playnly personally to be seene We haue spoken of Frederick the first not much vnlike vnto whom may the troublesome estate of Frederick the second be adiudged sauing that th one seémed to be entangled with two Leopardes onely and this endured the continuall assaultes of three most venemous Uypers For immediately after the death of Innocent the 3. Honor the 3. like a warelike hackster setteth vpon Themperour ruffleth agaynst him with hys cruell Bulles of excoÌmunication and cursinges depriueth him of the title of Emperor and as Marius reporteth raged so furiously agaynst hym that he supported and mayntayned the rebells that reuolted in Tuscane agaynst the Emperiall maiestie After him Succeéded a farre more moÌstruous Hydre Gregory 9. a very proud man a very helhound whelped for none other purpose but to sowe treachery and treason who as
through the malice trechery of your holy Fathers and their fraternitie So that this whole Seé of yours may seéme to haue attayned that loftyness of absolute power and sole superioritie to none other end then to teare rende abroad and dissipate lawfull authorities Potentates and Magistrates established by the ordinaunce of almighty God What happened but of late dayes by the atteÌpt of Pius the 2. I thinke is not yet slipt out of your remeÌbraunce who would not grauÌt to the coÌfirmation of the Bishop of Iseberg vnlesse he would promise that the Bishop of Mentz should neuer assemble the Electours before the Pope were made acquainted yea gaue his coÌsent thereto Which if the pope might haue coÌpassed once doughtlesse he had wonne the spurres for the suppressing of the authoritie of the Electours for euer This insoleÌcy the Byshop of Iseberg did stiffely oppugne whom beyng for the same scorched with the horrible lightening of the popes curses deposed from his Byshoppricke the Palatine Fridericke vndertooke to defend in this righteous and lawfull cause apperteinyng to the state of the Electours and sauety of Germany By meanes wherof when the matter came once to handy stroakes the iust and righteous cause preuailed Now I beseéche you Osorius Such as challenge vnto them selues a Lieutenauntshyp not of one Citie onely but of the whole world such as teach that Emperours do not reigne of them selues but vnder the Pope such as affirme that all right to create Kynges and Princes doth belong vnto them selues were these persons euer of the mynde to geue due honor to the high powers whenas they acknowledge no power on earth aboue them selues whenas of late yeares Pope Clement the 7. bent his thunderboltes of excommunication agaynst Henry the 8. Kyng of England whenas also of late Pope Pius 5. waxed very wroch agaynst our most Souereigne Lady Queéne Elizabeth and threw out agaynst her his truell curse and seditious Bull whenas he cutteth her of froÌ her Regall dignitie and the congregation of Christians assaulteth her with slaunders and reproches nameth her pretensed Queéne proclaimeth her refuge for runneagates whenas he procureth her subiectes to become traytours and teazeth them to armes agaynst their naturall Princesse yea whenas he releaseth them in this behalfe of their Oathe of allegeaunce do these Prelates obey the counsell of Pauleâ Wherein euery soule is commaunded to submitte it selfe to the highe powers Which place of Paule Chrisostome interpretyng Doth say that not onely Byshoppes Prophetes and Euangelistes but also the Apostles them selues are subiect to the same law Let vs briefly runne ouer the remnaunt of Osorius Fable So that hereof it coÌmeth passe that we doe Decree that nor onely the Cannons of the Byshops but also the ordinaunces of Princes beyng not directly contrary to the Lawes of God ought to be obeyed most duetyfully To this end tendeth his talke to witteâ That these holy Fathers may not seéme ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to warre against God For whosoeuer resisteth the lawfull Magistrate resisteth God And therfore you do decreé that the ordinaunces and lawes of Princes beyng not contrary to the lawes of God ought to be as duely obserued as the Popes Decrees But you may pype vppe this kynde of caterbrawle Osorius to such as are not yet well acquainted with your Catholick maskings in some other world if it please you in Noua Hispania or els in Calecute For with vs thinke not to finde any so foolish to follow you fantasticall all deuise and to credite your affirmatioÌs who being ouermuch enured to your ingglyngs are sufficiently instructed in those your wyly beguilye are to well acquainted with your ambitious hawtynes your continuall cruell combattes with Princes your suppressing of Kynges your exemptions from politique and Ciuill lawes so many hundred yeares Now that you haue brought to passe by your vnmeasurable and vnsatiable Tyranny that the Monarches and chief Potentates of this world are become subiectes vassalles vnder your authoritie daryng not to mutter no nor so much as to hisse once agaynst your coÌmaundementes vnlesse your fatherhoodes gape vpon theÌ Osor. like a fine man steppeth forth endeuouryng to persuade with his sweéte eloqueÌce that all the Packe of their Popish priesthoode is already trussed vpp offereth it selfe alwayes most humbly applyable to all the ordinauÌces CommauÌdemeÌtes of Princes and higher powers which are not repugnaunt agaynst the lawes and ordinauÌces of God But come of now let vs take a tast of this your Seraphicall obedience and let vs set down for example that which may come to passe hereafter or at least that which is hartely wished for to come to passe in deéde Put the case that this your noble Sebastian Kyng of Portingall whom for the reuerence I beare him I name a puissaunt Prince should geue you an expresse commaundement that all Idolles Pictures and Images should be pluckt out of your Churches Surely this commaundement were nothyng disagreable to the ordinaunce of God I beseéch you tell me what would Osorius do here would he obey the commaundemeÌtes I dare scarsely beleéue him But there is no such matter commaunded by your kyng nor shall euer be commaunded What your Prince shall do hereafter neither doe you know your selfe Osorius neither am I inquisitiue to knowe whereabout your Noble Kyng of Portingall doth bestew his tyme at this preseÌt but I speake what he ought to do And what if the Lord in whose handes are the hartes of Princes do by secret inspiration of the holy Ghost enduce him to coÌmaunde it at one tyme or other The Pope say you would not permit it yea Syr I do beleéue this in deéde And therfore the king should not adueÌture to geue any such attempt though he were wholy bent thereunto Neither would Osor. obey though he did it Yet surely the word of God would permit it though the Pope and all his Cardinalles do spurne and kicke agaynst it In the meane tyme O wonderfull authoritie of Kynges in those Nations and O miraculous obedience of Catholickes whereas neither Princes are at libertie to enact and establish that in their owne common weales that they ought to do nor is lawfull for the Subiectes to obey their Princes lawes in matters approued by the word of God vnlesse the Popes authoritie beyng farre higher then either the authoritie of man or power of God be obteyned first By whose crafty deuises after that the Lordes and Princes be forced to that issue that it may not be lawfull for them to institute any ordinaunce but such as shall please the Byshops and Priestes then are all those shauelynges at elbow by and by to execute whatsoeuer their Princes commaunde them whenas the Princes may not commaunde any thyng in deéde but as they shal be guided and lead as it were by the lippe of their owne Subiectes O singuler superexcellent obedience of such Subiectes towardes their Magistrates Departyng a whiles froÌ Portingall let
be of more authoritie in a Realme if ye way well his purpose what was more profitable for the Countrey or more agreable to Gods word Let vs now behold a singuler president of Catholicke obedience which if were as playnly discernable in the lyues and maners of your Clergy Osorius as you haue notably painted it out with your penne I would not thinke you to be more worthy of credite theÌ your Catholickes worthy of commendation Now how ready and diligent they were in performing the Kynges commaundementes the matter doth more then sufficiently declare it selfe For it was so farre of that the pope would yeld any iote at all to the Kynges Requestes that he seémed to grow into great choller agaynst the Kyng yea and to threaten him for the care he had of his owne Realme The kyng of England sayth he which doth kicke and spurâe agaynst vs now hath is CouÌsell But I haue my Cousell also which I will follow c. and withall sendeth ouer Letters with expresse Bulles to the Byshops to the Byshop of Worcester chiefly whereby he was coÌmaunded to prosecute the popes practize by all meanes possible at a day prescribed thereunto which was the AssuÌption of our Lady agaynst which day Auditte must be geuen of this sacred Receipt Addyng also thereunto that whosoeuer should withstanding his proceédynges herein should be presently accursed yea if it were the kyng him selfe what thinke you of these dealynges right reuerend Father is this to obey Princes commaundementes suppose you or rather to commaunde Princes what they shall doe What may we say to that request whereas the same Henry accordyng to his princely prerogatiue and as of right he might lawfully haue done aduaunced into the Bishopprick of Canterbury one Richard who being repelled by the Monckes and in despight of the king an other A Moncke of the same house named Gualter beyng enstalled the king not a little displeased with the vnhonest refusall made meanes to the Pope by his letters and Ambassadours who after hys wonted maner more inclinable to the Monckes then to the King coulde be by no meanes reconciled the King because he would not seéme to be ouercome of hys owne Monckes in his owne Realme was enforced to growe to composition with the Pope and to graunt hym a tenth of all the goodes moueable in England and in Scotland The most holy Father vndermyned with this crampe yelded by and by But it shall not be amisse for the better declaration of the matter to sett downe the very wordes of the Author Our Lord the Pope sayth he beyng inwardly inflamed aboue all things to suppresse the hautines of the king recoÌforted with these promises was made to consent This much Mathaeus ParisieÌ Which grauÌt how pestiferous pernicious became afterwardes to the Realme can skarsly by any estimate be comprehended An. 1229. Raunge at random now Osorius and spare not to vtter whatsoeuer shall come into your harish Eloquence as lowdly as ye can of the humble obedience and ready inclination of your Clergye towardes the Lawes and commaundementes of Princes But ye annexe a tagge to your poynt Which ordinaunces are not contrary to Goddes lawes And what may bee construed I pray you of that where Charles the great and Otto the first one a Frenche Emperoure the other a Germaine to the singuler benefite of the Empyre dyd ordayne yea and that not without the generall consent and agreément of the bishops and the Councelles that no person should be chosen pope of Rome without the consent and confirmation of the Emperour and that the right of appoynting Bishoppes and the determination of ecclesiasticall causes should be ordered by the Temporall authoritie This ordinaunce so holy so faythfully instituted by them so long and so firmely obserued and kept by their Successors eueÌ vnto the warres of Themperours Henry the father and the sonne and the Popedome of Hildebrand yea and Cannonized also amongest your decreés will you affirme to be contrary to the Law of God if you do graunt it how came it to passe that they were established by your popes which could not erre if you deny it how chaunced that Hildebrande and the other Lordinges Successors of that Seé did abrogate the same so wickedly And with what face may the ordinauÌces of Princes be sayd to be duetifully obserued of them who do so litle shame to speake agaynst their owne Princes and oppugne their ordinaunces who accompte it no small part of their Maiestye to delight and pastime themselues in scorning theyr Lawes deryding and denienge their requestes In like maner to be so bolde to Inferre somewhat of our owne Countrye Lawes It was an auncient custome here in England tyme out of mynde that the Byshoppes and the subiectes of the Realme should sweare their allegeaunce to their kyng accordyng to a fourme thereof prescribed And also that no person whatsoeuer should be so hardy to appeale to Rome without the kinges coÌmaundement Moreouer that in Election of Bishoppes and disposing of Ecclesiasticall promociones namely such as were of greatest estimacion should haue the first and chief voyce afore all other c. out of Parisiensis Of these auncyent ordinaunces you shall heare what our Auncient kynges do testifie in the Chronicles themselues For in this wise King Henry 1. speaketh There is an auncient custome sayth he of my kingdome ordayned by my Father that no person shall sue any appeale from vs to the Pope whosoeuer will attempte to enfringe this custome doth offend agaynst our Maiestye and the Crowne of England He that will seeke to dispoyle vs of our Crown is an enemy Traytour to our persoÌ c. Now agayn Let vs heare the wordes of the same King to hys Subiect What haue I to do with the popes letters I will not breake the Lawes of my Realme c. And out of all question These constitutions remayned sound safe and inuiolable vntill the tyme of Hildebrand By force of which ordinaunce Lanfranck was appoynted Archbishoppe of Caunterbury by William King of England DuÌstane enstalled Byshoppe of Worcester by Edgar Odo by Adelstane Oswalde made Archbyshoppe of Yorke by Edgar without any consideration had of the Bishop of Rome So were also other Bishoppes admitted by other kynges Which auncient lawes and ordinaunces of Princes if your clergye had euer determined with themselues to obey as inuiolable what ment Sainct Anselme Sainct Beckett Langton and many other Archbyshoppes and Moncks of Yorke Canterbury and Douer what did they meane I say who roonning to Rome in their often chase rechase sweating turmoyling spent coÌsumed great Sommes of mony about pacifieng of tryfles wh would haue bene concluded at home with lesse charge and more ease if they would haue harkened vnto their owne princes and obeyed their lawfull lawes and ordinaunces rather then haue bene so much addicted to the pope But what do I moyle my selfe in thys huge and vnmeasurable Gulfe
bycause she loued much And agayne where excludyng all other by helpes he willed the Maister of the Synagoge to beleeue onely and sayd vnto an other all things are possible to him that doth beleeue And to the sicke of the palsey all sinnes are forgeuen thee without openyng mouth to any confession at all what shall we say that Sinnes are not therfore forgeuen bycause this word of confession was neuer heard of before or shall we say that God hath not heard their confession bycause there wanted priestes at that tyme If it suffice not to open the secretes of the hart vnto GOD what do these wordes of Chrisostome emporte where writyng vpoÌ the 51. Psalme Homel 2. If thou be ashamed sayth he to confesse thy Sinnes to any maÌ confesse them dayly in thy hart I bidd thee not to confesse them to thy fellow seruaunt which may reproche thee coÌfesse thee to him that may heale thee And agayne in an other place I bidd thee not to come before the people nor that thou accuse thy selfe to others But I will haue thee follow the wordes of the Prophet saying Open thy sinnes vnto the Lord. Confesse thy faultes therfore vnto God open thyne offences vnto the true Iudge with harty prayer not with thy touÌg but with a remorse of conscieÌce c. And yet I speake not this as though that priuate confession of sinnes ought not be receaued in the church as vnprofitable whereas the counsell of a godly Minister is desired or consolation required by troubled consciences where the exercize of priuate absolution which is the word of the Gospell is by authoritie of the Gospell vttered by the Ministers And yet I doe so allow of it as that this name priuate Confession wherewith you haue wickedly entangled Godly consciences may neither participate with any nature of a Sacrament nor be deliuered to any as coÌmauÌded by Gods law Moreouer neither so necessary at all tymes as though without it sinnes were not forgeuen to the contrite and sorowfull in hart grouÌdyng them selues vpon the infallible fortresse of Fayth Wherfore if you be so farre in loue with this sacred eare coÌfessioÌ Osori you may a Gods name go to your Priest as ofteÌ as much as ye liste If we content our selues to be washed in the bloud of Iesu Christ if we repose all our hope affiaunce whatsoeuer in him alone trouble vs not nor hinder vs I beseéch you For thus are we directed by the authoritie of the Scriptures to beleéue that to be dypped ouer head cares in this most comfortable and sacred fonte is sufficient for the clensing and purgyng of our sinnes and agayne that neither this most blessed bloud of Iesu Christ is any other wayes effectuall vnto vs nor appliable to our comfort any other wayes then through Fayth onely which is to beleéue in his name Whatsoeuer Resemblaunce of truth your decreés do expresse vnto vs doughtlesse the Scriptures cannot lye wherein we are taught that our hartes are washed cleane by Fayth and that remission of sinnes is receaued through Fayth which is in Christ Iesu. Addyng moreouer the testimony of all the Prophetes that it must come to passe that as many as beleeue in Iesu Christ shall obteine forgeuenesse of their sinnes So that neédelesse Stole of your Catholicke confessours is altogether fruteles towardes the cleansing of our consciences In the meane space if the soule be afflicted with some more greéuous scrupule wherein brotherly consolation may seéme to be requisite we gaynsay no man that will goe to some godly learned Minister nay rather we do hartely allow therof we our selues also do the same many tymes yet such is our repaire togethers as tendeth rather to seéke counsell and comfort then for any necessitie to craue pardon for our sinnes Neither do we compell any man to do so nor do we make to speake Chrisostomes owne wordes a necessitie of Freédome neither make we a Sacrament therof Nor yet require we a Beadroll of all their Sinnes neither doe we enforce any person to state tymes of the yeare Finally we do not burdeine them with any clogge of satisfactory penaunce which of all other is most horrible Wherein it is a wonder to seé what is be fallen vpon you and the rest of your Catholickes Osorius I thinke veryly that Dame folly her selfe if could speake with toung would neuer vtter nor do any so wittles a foolery as hauing first pardoned acquited the offendour cleare from crime to enioyne him afterwardes to penauÌce whereby he should be compelled after pardon receaued to make satisfaction notwithstandyng and so to send him after into Purgatory where he must satisfie to the vttermost far thyng I beseéch you Right ReuereÌd Father for the honor of your great wisedome if all the filthynes of your consciences be thoroughly clensed first by Confession to what purpose serue any satisfactory and penall lawes where the offence beyng pardon remaineth nought now to be satisfied If they be not throughly clensed whereunto then auayleth that Priestly Stole Priestly crossing what becommeth of that absolution which you promise who will euer say that his offence is forgeuen which must be forced to make satisfaction by some maner of composition Moreouer if Christ haue made full satisfaction for our Sinnes and if his satisfaction be a generall release of punishmeÌt and crime what other neéde is there of any humaine satisfaction Agayne if Christes satisfaction be not a full satisfaction but that there must be enioyned a Temporall punishment then do I demaunde further what is it that the Priestes Stole and Crossing or the Popes pardons caÌ geue more to the releasing of punishment and crime theÌ the bloud of Iesu Christ the sonne of God was able to geue But to proceéde Now that this Catholicke people haue with this spunge of penaunce cleane purged all the spottes and blottes of conscience so happely what do they stay here No I suppose but steppyng foreward from vertue to vertue The myndes beyng furnished after this maner they doe forthwith addresse theÌ selues to that most holy mystery of all other most miraculous the Euchariste not rushyng rashely thereunto nor with vnwasht handes as the Prouerbe is but with feare and tremblyng doe humbly kneéle vpon their kneés with great reuerence open their mouthes to the priest ready to receaue that heauenly banquet in that which they tast not any bread at all no wine at all no nor any other terrestriall matter nor yet that substaunce which they do seé with their eyes and handle with their fingers but all substaunce of bread and wine beyng vtterly driueÌ away they do at one morsell receaue swallow down the very same body of Christ which was borne of the virgine Mary and the naturall bloud shed out of his side though vnder the forme colour and kynde of wine and not of bloud contrary to all sense and feélyng of
agayne amoÌgst ChristiaÌs or S. Paule the Apostle and should behold these our serions and toylesome triflinges in our temples these cunnyng counterfaytes Images Alters bread worshippinges and the whole face of Christian Religion so transformed into Apishe ceremonies should seé how prety holy you will shew your selues in trinckets and toyes and how retchles and vnmindefull of the principall poyntes of doctrine how niggardly skraping from relieuing the poore how vnmeasurably prodigall in buildyng of Temples in decking of Monasteries in enriching of churches in costly coapes in Iewels and plate in dawbing of walles in glyding of postes how excessiuely sumptuous In corporall exercises which are of small value how foreward and couragious but in the exercise of true pietye whiche is profitable for all things how litle or no care at all employed as that it may seéme we haue either forlorne all mercy and compassion or that pitty and mercye haue forsaken their owne intralles and vowelles Moreouer in iudging our brethren how frowardly headstrong in burning and killing how âooâcherly cruell and Sauadge If Esay the Prophet and the Apostle Paule I say did behold these thinges and withall did seé before their eyes such and so much christian blood sucked out spilt by your meanes so many thowsandes of martires murthered and sent vnder the Altar would not he most rightfully or woulde not God by the mouth of his Prophet in much more fiercenes and vehemeÌcy of stomack redubble the saying agaynst you more iustly then he did sometimes agaynst the Iewes I will not accept your holidayes your sabbaothes soleÌne feastinges your asseÌblies are wicked my soule hateth your kaleÌds soleÌnities I am greued with theÌ am ouerladeÌ with theÌ Why haue we fasted and thou hast not beholden vs Behold in the day of your fasting your mindes are enclined to wickednes You fast to contention and strife and oppresse your brethren cruelly wrongfully and without cause Be your washed be ye clensed remoue away the euill imaginations of your hartes out of my sight What would Paule haue added moreouer who endued you at the first with a farre other manner of doctrine if he should now behold your doctrines your rites inuocations decreés masses multitude of holidayes your ceremonies worshippinges croochings and kneélinges and the disorderous abuses of all your religion if heé should note that the coÌfideÌce affyaunce wh he taught to be placed in Christ onely were by you transposed translated into an infinite heap of aduocates proctors rent euen in sunder by you Would he acknowledge you for ChristiaÌs I pray you or at least standing in great feare of you would he not exclaim agayn vpon you You obserue dayes and monethes I am afrayd of you c. But it is well Osorius doth now at length beginne to speak somewhat to the matter I do confesse in deed saith he that al those things wherof I haue made meÌcioÌ all others of the same sort which I haue omitted for I think it not needfull to rehearse al by name are not of any such great perfectioÌ for they be certayne principles certayne âecessary helpes for vs where with as yet our weake and mortall estate hath some familiarity and acquayntaunce and of this we haue good proof by dayly experience c. The loÌg processe therfore that you made of state feasts and other gadding holydayes in the yeare belike are of the quality then as you haue said Osor. of that wh though you seéme to haue rehearsed very many yet haue you not remembred all In deéde in this you speake the trueth For you haue ouerskipt almost an innumerable multitude besides these to witte the feastes of the Sayncts and she Saynts And first of Saynct Iohn Baptist the feastes of the Apostles Martyrs moreouer of Confessours Uirgyns Byshoppes and Abbots of the inuention and exaltation of the holy crosse of hallowing of Ashes of Gangeweéke and procession of Saincte Michael of Sainct Peters chayre Sainct George Sainct Nicholas Sainct Katherine Sainct Thomas of the assumption coÌception natiuity and Annnuciation and visitation of our blessed Uirgine Mary of the patrone of the church dedication day and Relicksonday And who is able wich toung to expresse all which in such clusters are crepte into the Kalender that it might iustly haue bene feared least if the popes holines had coÌtinued a while longer in good credite all working dayes should haue bene turned into holydayes or euerlasting Iubilees But forasmuch as Osorius is contented to pare away these skrappes as not altogether so necessary for his commentaries we will be contented also to make as litle account of them and to returne agayne to Osor. description wherein the same also which he doth very fittely deny is not altogether true namely that the things which he rehearsed are not valuable as perfect but are certayne principles and necessarye helpes prouided for such as groaning yet vnder the burden of flesh and blood are not throughly huÌbled in spirite But I beseéch you good honest man what maner of speache is this what kynde of helpes be these wherof you treat is it euen so Syr to carry candles burning at hygh noone in the eyes and gaze of all men call you this a helpe for weake memoryes or rather a playne president of ridiculous superstition to worshippe the crucifixe barefooted and barelegged to fall groueling before Images to sette vp tapers and caÌdles burning before them to part stakes of the honour due vnto God with he Sayntes and sheé Sayntes to make vowes vnto them to craue their helpe in mishappes and misfortunes to ãâã as much to theyr merites as to Chryst himselfe to nourish thââânorauÌce of the vnlettered in an vnknowne touÌg to remoue the vnlearned multitude from the reading of scriptures to carry them with dumme and colde ceremonies where ye list to feéde the eares with musicke and song whose soules you ought to haue fed with the word of God and enstructed vnto fayth finally to make a greater brable and sturre for the breach of these holy dayes and neglecting those ceremonies yea to hate your brethren more deadly rack them to more tortures for these peéuish Bables more spightfully then for not performing the lawe of the Lord Will you perswade vs to account these to be principles of piety or shall we boldly call them rather mysteries of iniquity and playne blockes and lettes of true Religion What shall we thinke of this that not contented yet to haue so largely debated of the celebrating of holy daies and the manifold Fruit of the same he proceédeth further beateth the naile to this issue that he maketh now of the very same principles a very necessitie which earst he vouchsafed no place towardes the attayning of perfection So that now these shadowes and signes of holy thinges though of themselues vnperfect doe yet yeélde great helpes to perfect pietye not onely in these that are weak but seéme also very necessary
litle that which Theodore Byshoppe of Ancyra teacheth We thinke it vnseemely to paynt in materiall colours the countenaunces and counterfaytes of Saynts but we ought to delight our selues now and theÌ with the beholding of theyr vertuous liues which theyr writinges do deliuer vnto vs as certayne liuely Images of the soule But such as erect theyr portraictes lett them tell vs what profitte may redownd vnto them by the same Is it because the maner of remembraunce by this spectible view doth helpe their memory But it appeareth manifestlye that all such Imaginations are vayne and dyabolicall deuises c. Moreouer Eusebius Byshopp of Pamphilia writing to Constantia Augusta for aunswere to here request made vnto him for the Image of Christ Denied that it could be possible that the resplendizaunt and most orient exellency of his Maiesty could be portrayed by any dead resemblaunce or any trisling picture Using this reason If that his heauenly disciples quoth he were not able to behold him in the Mount who fâlling flat vpon the earth confessed that they were not able to behold so great a sightâ howe much lesse can the fashion of his flesh be resembled or endured sithence he had put of mortality and washing corruption cleane away had now translated the shape of a Seruaunt into the glorious Maiesty of a Lord and God c. To passe ouer of sette purpose the reasons of Nazianzen Basile and Athanasius debated vpon this matter in the same couÌsell For what neéd I cyte any more Testimonies of men sithence the Lord himselfe doth witnesse the same out of heauen The voyce of our God cryeth out in his word Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen Image nor the likenesse of any thing Contrary to this crieth out the Pope in the TrydeÌtyne counsell let vs make our selues grauen Images we will make vs Imamages and Pictures who shal be obayed the pope or the Lord What hath the temple of God sayth Paule to do with Idols How shall the Temple of God stand sayth the Pope without Images and Pictures The Popes Parasites prate apace in theyr decreés The honor that is done to the Image of Christ is done to Christ himselfe For the honor of the signe doth redownd to the thing signified But the voyce of Chryst cryeth out farre otherwise which doth teach that the honor done vnto the first patterne can neuer be employed better then vpon his liuely members and liuely Images Whatsoeuer you haue done to the least of my brethren you houe done it to me He that receiueth you receiueth me Iohn the Apostle doth geue this lesson My litle children beware of Images What doth the Pope with his Trydentyne hyrelynges decreé out of his triple Crowne My sweét Babes retayne Images with you and seé that there be no saint in heauen which may not haue a Temple on the earth nor let any place of the Church be seéne voyd without some Imagerye whosoeuer shall either teach or thinke the contrary let him be accursed And by thys meanes what make ye els of the Temple of God but a denne of Idols The Lord crieth out by the mouth of his prophet Iere. Theyr Pictures are the doctrine of vanity and Abacuc the Prophet calleth Images the workemanship of lying And you make carued Images and woden Images bookes of the lay people On which side shall the fayth of the christians bestow it selfe shall they beleue the Prophets of God or the liyng of the Papistes If we that be christians doe liue by fayth and if fayth come by hearing and hearing by the worde of God and not by Images why are your Temples so open and common receptakles of dumme Stockes and Blocks and so fast lockt and shutte vppe from the word of God to speake freély to euery nation in their mother toung Nay rather why are the liuely Images of the liuyng God mangled and cutte of and why are his lyuely Temples consumed with fire and sword for dead Images of dead soules But to admitte thus much that Images and Pictures may happely serue to some vse els where then in Churches and besides the case of worshippyng Yet by what testimonye of the Scriptures do ye presse common weales not onely with the vse of Images but with a necessity also of hauing theÌ in churches and chappelles as though Christian Religion were not established vpon a sure Rock and defesible enough vnlesse it must be vnderpropped with the Popes pelting poppets how is it then that they which freély preach agaynst this neédeles necessity and fruitlesse fawning vpon Images accordiding to the prescrypt Rule of Gods word yea so protest the same as neuerthelesse offering not a finger so much nor any kinde of force in the meane time to the ouerthrow of those altares and Images but referre the matter wholy to the Magistrate not respecting ought els but that all Christians should worshippe God onely and alone Shall these professors say I which teach the trueth be accused or they rather which agaynst the direct word of God enforce the people to manyfest Idolatry But of this briefly and as it were lightly ouerrunue whereof Haddon hath both grauely and aboundauntly discoursed before Behold yet how this slaundrous mountayne swelleth and increaseth You haue most wickedly condemned sorrowfull contrision of the hart and good workes of the godly you haue cutte of all hope to liue vertuously and Godly by coÌfirming a certayne notable vnpunished Licentiousnesse of liuing c. Where finde you this Osorius In the golden Legend I suppose or in the seuen sleépers dreame If you haue found any such thing in any their writings that doth condemne Contrition Godly teares and workes of good men Set downe the Authors name then good Syr cite the wordes and place if you can If you canne not what meaneth then this your vncessaunt outrage of lying and slaundering But happely Osorius is not so much to be blamed for this as his Notary is who raking together certayne scrappes out of other mens writinges very ill fauouredly and more illfauouredly deprauing them doth make a most illfauoured and framshapen deliuery of them to Osor. For by the matter it selfe it is apparaunt that Osorius was neuer exercised in the bookes whereat he barketh so much This sentence I confesse is in one of Luthers Articlesâ namely The righteous man doth offend euen in his best workes And hereupon Osorius concludeth his argument Ergo A righteous man doth not worke any good worke but all that he doth is wicked and mischieuous But where did this Portingall learne his logicke whereas the right order of concluding after the Rules of Logicke should haue bene rather on this wise The righteous man doth offend do he neuer so well Ergo. The iust man doth worke well For vnlesse he did worke good workes how could he offend in a good worke As if a man shall frame an argument on this wise Osorius
Cannons made for the vse of the Masse ech contrary to other botcht vpp partly by Gratian which afterwards were enlarged with new vpstart and more horrible blasphemies by Pope Gregory the 9. about the yeare of our Lord 1227. and after him by Pope Boniface the 8. about the yeare of our Lord 1330. And this is euidently to be found in Historyes euery where Touching Images Idols pictures pilgrimages worshipping of Sayntes and praying for the dead yf antiquitye be demaunded what it can say I would desire you to aunswere me at a word Osorius whether you thinke those Ages and Churches to be more auncient that neuer hadd the vse of them or els those which haue had them Concerning the Celebrating of the Communion If you can Iustify by any probable recorde or testimony that the florishing age of the Apostles or of the auncient Fathers that euer any mention or motion was made of the lifting the bread aloft of transubstantiating it of worshipping it of hanging it vppe of carrying it about of sacrificing it for the sinnes of the people of deuouring it alone or of any of all these toyes which you haue chopt into the Church at this day you shall winne the victorye But if you can not Surcease then at the length for very shame to vrge Haddon so earnestly to defend his Noueltye seing your selfe are not able to defend your owne by any manifest or probable authoritye Agayne for mariage of Priestes forbidden by publique authoritye Choyce of meates Uigilles State holydayes and Imber dayes ouer much babbling in your intercessions and prayers ioyned with a certeine opinion of Religion and obteining forgeuenes for the same Be it generally spoken as before I will not speake much of your Canons Decrees Decretalls by force whereof you haue erected to your selues a plaine Emperiall kingly and poltique Superioritye in the Churche contrary to all Antiquitye and cleane contrary to the nature of the Gospell It is vndoughted true that the Sonne of God was sent from aboue not to establishe any worldly or seculer principalitye in this world but a spirituall and euerlasting kingdome which is vnited and knitt together by the preaching and ministery of the word not by any humaine power force of Armes Imperiall dignity bodely pollicy And as for your infinite rable of Lawes innumerable decrees and Cannos partely Sinodals partely Prouincialls some prerogatiues of the Pope others peculiar of seuerall Bishopps wherewith Christian consciences are so miserably entangled to what end tend they all at the last or what doe they emplye other then vnder the title of the Church to fortify you a kingdome Tyranicall Ierarchye vpon the earth Which no power nor potentate of this world may be able to counteruayle Otherwise what doe these wordes of your Decretalls emport wherein you chalenge vnto Peters chayre the authoritye of the temporall sword If any man gaynesay you herein you doe forthwith exclayme that he doth not well vnderstand to speake your owne wordes that saying of the Lord. Putt vppe thy sword into thy sheathe Agayne where you force th one sword vnder subiection of the other so that the Temporall sword must of necessitye be subiect to the spirituall sword And at the last measuring the proportion of your Authoritye by ynchmeale as it were how much and by how many degreés it surpasseth the Temporall authoritye you alledge for profe these wordes Whereas the earth is seueÌ times greater then the Moone and the Sonne eight tymes greater then the earth it remaineth therefore according to this proportion that the Popes superexcellency must surmount in dignitye all kingly royaltye fiftye times sixtye degrees At the length hauing on this maner enthronized your Ierarchye ye haue forced the matter to this passe That if any man will be so hardy as once to mutter agaynst the Maiestye of this triple dignitye you haue Decreés and Cannons farre worse then Cannonshotte to hale the poore Heretique to the stake and consume him to Ashes I come now to the orders and armies of Monckes and Friers and that whole generatioÌ of Cowled Crauines whos 's first foundation if you search for we shall finde that they are start vp long sith the age of the Apostles and that purer age of the primitiue Church If you desire to know to what ende they were erected the matter will declare it selfe manifestly that these caÌcred Caterpillers were sent for a speciall plague onely to deuoure the Gospell of Christ and to fill vppe the full measure of the mystery of iniquitie which is enough thoughe I speake no more of them Howbeit I deny not but that in the tymes of Augustine Ierome and Basile wanted not a great nomber of men and wemen who either forced through cruelty of persecution or loathyng the losenes licentious life of the commoÌ people did abandon them selues into desertes and solitary places chusing rather to liue farre from company with a few then amyddes the turmoyles and troubles of worldly affaires to be carried from the quiet and tranquillitie of their myndes But Monckery was then a sequestration departyng froÌ the world not a profession in the world And euen those Monckes were theÌ in nomber but few none other but of the lay people whom not Religion not coates not cowles not colours not rules not vowes did sequester from the company of the laytie nor were they soiourning then in the Cities or Townes But coucht close vpon toppes of mouÌtaines or in vnhaunted woodes and fennes nor lay snortyng in slouth or pamperyng the paunche vpon other mens purses but either liued moderatly with their own reuenewes or gatte their liuyng with the sweate of their browes Emongest whom was no foundation layed as yet of those threé Vowes with the other trinckettes apperteinyng to the same vowes namely wolle flaxe colour cowle leather belt or gyrdle of knotted coard shoes cut or whole fish egges pulse heary cloth scilence night Orisons The Seraphin had not yet ouerspread the world with his sixe Monckish wyngs wherof the first was all orderly obedience the second EuaÌgelicall pouertie the thyrd immaculate virginitie the fourth most humble humilitie the fift peacemakyng Simplicitie the sixt Seraphicall Charitie of whom though I dare not affirme that they were not altogether voyde of those godly gifts yet was not so Celestiall and Seraphicall a profession of them flowen from out the fiery Firmament into the earth as yet And no maruell for as much as these Seraphicall fraternities of Cowled Cloysterers nor the roysting vpstartes of Religious rowte had not yet cloyed the earth namely first the Carthusians whose founder was Bruno erected vnder Pope Vrban the 2. in the yeare .1084 Then the order of Cistersians which start vppe within a whiles after in the yeare .1098 Emongest the which was Bernarde not the least ornament of that order out of whoÌ sprang a fresh sprought of momish Monckes After them followed
scripture especially when meÌtion is made of Christ hymselfe or when Chryst hymself would vouchsafe to expresse hys great and inestimable benefittes towardes vs and the euerlasting efficacy of hys death and passion I know not how it had rather vnder certayne shadowes and mystycall resemblaunces as vnder Allegoricall cloudes to speake as Ierome doth signyfye the same more modestly rather then to proclayme it openly in wordes By meanes whereof we ought many tymes to consider That in the Propheticall Scriptures Christ our Lord Sauiour is called by sondry and seuerall names accordyng to the diuers seuerall operation and effectuall power and workyng of his Diuine Maiestie and pleasure towardes vs. For in that he doth enlighten the Darckenes of our mindes he is called the light of the worlde In respect of his wonderfull might and power surmounting all power whatsoeuer he is called the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda In respect that he guideth vs he is called the way In respect that he leadeth in he is called the dore In respect that we are none otherwise engraffed then in him he is called the Vine and we the Braunches And so according to the nature of his Innocency and our deliueraunce he is called the Lambe of God in respect that he loueth his Church with more theÌ an husbandly loue doth cherish it endow it cloath it beutyfy it he is called an husband he is called also the Rock sometime a grayne of Corne dead in the earth many times a Serpent set vppe vpon a Crosse sometymes a wellspring gushing out into life euerlasting And so in diuers and seuerall respectes he is called by diuers seuerall names In like maner bycause he feédeth and defendeth vs he is called A good Shepherd and bycause he feédeth vs with none other thyng theÌ with the death of his owne body shedding of his bloud He is also called our meate our bread and our drinke Moreouer bycause this bread and this drinke is of the Lordes owne mouth coÌmaunded to be receaued to renew the remeÌbraunce of him for this cause those elementes do put on the nature of a SacrameÌt and so vnder this very couer and mystery of a Sacrament are called his owne body and bloud Whiche least I shall seéme to iustifie of myne owne proper knowledge Let vs heare the testimony and agreable consent of Augustine Who reasonyng of Sacramentes and of the likenesse of thyngs wherof they be Sacramentes doth vtterly deny the Sacramentes can be in any respect Sacramentes at all vnlesse they haue a likenesse of some things and for that cause in respect of the likenesse of the thyngs them selues he affirmeth that they are many tymes called by the name of the thynges them selues So an ArgumeÌt may be framed out of August on this wise The Sacrament of the last Supper hath a likenesse of the body of the Lord. No likenesse is the thing it selfe wherof it is the likenesse Ergo The SacrameÌt of the Eucharist is not the body of Christ. But if Osorius be of opinion that Christes wordes ought to be taken simply accordyng to the bare letter of the flesh let him harken agayne to the same Augustine This is a Mystery sayth he that I tell you which if it be vnderstoode spiritually will quicken and geue life And the same Augustine in an other place opening playnly the figure of the same wordes doth witnesse directly on this wise The lord doughted not to say This is my body when he gaue the signe of his body I could vouche many other graue and auncient Testimonies witnessing the same namely Tertullian Origene Ierome Chrisostome Theodorete Gelasius and others But of this matter I do not meane to make any curious discourse as now There shal be hereafter more fitte place for the same more at large by Gods grace In the meane space for my learnyng I would fayne learne one QuestioÌ of Osorius who albeit hath not bene ouer much studied in Augustine yet hath at the least bene busied amongest the RhetoriciaÌs Let vs therefore consider the matter by the circumstaunces of Rhetoricke And to graunt this much first that Christ is omnipotent which accordyng to the power of his Diuine omnipotency can and is able to do all thyngs in heaueÌ and in earth what matter should moue him now both to take away his owne body from hence which was but one onely body from vs yet withall should leaue the selfe same body behynde him with vs which though could not be done accordyng to the nature of humanitie yet to graunt that it might be done miraculously what profit then or what necessitie was there to worke a miracle herein You will say bycause the spouse the Churche could not lacke the presence of her owne husband Christ. And wherfore I pray you For this is the thyng wherein I desire to be taught of you chiefly Osorius sithence it is not credible that miracles which are wrought agaynst nature should be wrought rashly without some singuler or especiall consideration I am now therfore desirous to know what cause you will alledge To feede vs with his body you will say What to feéde our bellyes or our soules Surely our soules he hath fed already sufficiently enough long sithence in that very day wherein he washt away the Sinnes of the whole world and pacified all thynges both in heauen and in earth once for all What to feéde our bellyes then But he doth aboundauntly feéde vs with other foode dayly Moreouer neither caÌ Augustine nor yet the Scripture it selfe disgest this that man shal be fed with mans flesh and drinke mans bloud Do not prepare your teeth sayth he but your hart And agayne in an other place as many tymes els also inuityng vs to a spirituall eating of Christ Why doest thou make ready thy teeth and thy belly sayth he beleeue and thou hast eaten Agayne to beleeue in him sayth he is to eate that liuely bread Moreouer annexe hereunto That whenas Christ hath accomplished all the partes and duties of his holy office which neéded the vse of his flesh to performe the worke of our redemption In the which flesh he satisfied all the partes of the law pacified the wrath of his Father ouercame Sinne and death and the Deuill him selfe beyng the authour of death hath troden vnder foote for euer euer In which flesh he rose agayne and ascended into heauen like a most triumphaunt Conquerour FroÌ whence he doth euen now also miraculously nourish preserue and comfort his Church here on earth through the vnspeakeable power of his excellent omnipotency so that now to the full accomplishment of our Saluation seémeth no one thyng at all to remaine vnperformed but that onely last day of Iudgement These matters therfore beyng vndoughted true what thyng may that be now Osorius wherein his fleshly presence may seéme in any respect necessary from hence forth and not rather his absence in the flesh
gloryous name couÌterfaytyng the hornes of the immaculate Lambe doth vnder the person of Chrystes Uycar on earth attempt nothyng els in very deéde but that he may be the chiefe Monarch of the whole world and that all others Princes and Potentates of the earth may become buxam and bonnair vnto hys beck and commaundement For may it be lawfull Osorius for a man to speake the trueth franckely and in playne wordes to call a Toad a Toad Let that vysor of presumptuous pretence be pluckt from your pates and but a litle whyles turne downe that tytle and cloake of the Church wherewith you couer your selues and lette vs behold the thyng as it is in deéd to wytte the whole course of your conuersation your treasury myghty Maiesty gallant trayne pryncely pallaces stately dignyty pompous pryde terryble Lawes your lofty Castles presumptuous power what difference shal we seé betwixt the hyghest gouernemeÌt of an Empyre and the supremacy of the Pope betwixt the courtes of Kinges and the Reuelyng Rout of Rome betwixt Princes parliameÌts and the Popes generall councels Now if you lyst to take a view of the gallaunts themselues what is the Pope himselfe other theÌ the Monarch and chiefe Ruler of thys world sauyng that other worldly Prynces be crowned wyth one single Dyademe onely but thys Ruffeler can skarse be satisfied wyth a Tryple Crowne Cardynalles what do they represent els then kynges and kynges Sonnes what do the Patryarches Archbyshoppes Byshopps and Abbottes in that pontificall kyndome shew themselues other then earthly prynces Dukes Earles equall or rather exceédyng them in sumptuousnesse wayted vpon wyth stately trayne wheresoeuer they goe and Ryde and many of them also Rynged and Chayned to whom a man may lawfully lyncke the Lubberly Rowt of monstruous Mounckes and false Fryers in stead of a gard Finally what one thing is done in any common wealth or pryncely courtes that these iolly Rufflers haue not conueyed into the Church of Christ by ambytious emulation Kynges and Emperours enduced hereunto for necessary preseruation of theyr state doe ioyne vnto them counsellors and Piers Those haue theyr Ambassadours and Messengers they haue also theyr pryuy ligiers and skowtes what doth the Pope want his consistory hath not this most holy father his Synodaryes doth he lack his legates nati legates de latere who wheresoeuer they be sent vse no lesse pompe theÌ any other Piere or poteÌtate of highest nobility yea though he be neuer so sumptuous No more is he destitute of his skowtes and spyes whom he hath priuelye lurkyng euery where armed with treason at a pynche in princes courtes in theyr councels yea in the closettes pryuy chambers of Kynges and Queénes Do ye not thinke that thys is a comely concordaunce Osorius and a reasonable resemblaunce of Chrystes lyfe and commaundementes agreéable with the Apostles and Euangelists with the auncient Fathers with the ordinaunces of the primitiue Church and with the former presideÌt of the Elders The Lord cryeth out in the Gospell As my lyuing Father sent me eueÌ so do I send you What and do you thinke that he was so sent into the world that he should establish a new Regyment on earth and like an other Romulus builde an other stately and Emperiall Rome Or do ye thinke that the ministers of Chryst were sent after any other sort then the Sonne himselfe was sent from the Father Christ proceédeth yet foreward Receaue ye the holye Ghost sayth he whosoeuer Sinnes you shall forgeue the same are forgeuen them whosoeuer Sinnes you shall retayne the same also shal be retayned Other power then this he neuer did entitle his Church withall nor yet gaue this power to any but vnto them onely whom he purposed to endue with his holy spirite If we will value the Church of Christ by Christ his owne Lawes and not after the decreés of Popes what can be more euident then the wordes which he spake vnto his Disciples Ye know that such as will seeme to rule ouer Nations are Lordes ouer them theyr Princes haue dominion ouer them But it shall not be so with you for he that will be greatest shall humble himselfe minister to all the rest For the Sonne of man came not to be ministred vnto but to minister to other himselfe and to geue his lyfe to be a redemption for many Agayne Who made me iudge betwixt you we are taught like wise in Paule that the weapons of our warrefare are not carnall but mighty in the power of God wherewith we captiuate all vnderstanding and wisedome in subiection vnto Christ. And agayne Let euery man so esteeme of vs as the ministers of Christ and Stewardes of the misteryes of God And the same Paule in an other place Not because we be Lordes ouer your faith but we be helpers of your ioy For by fayth you are made perfect In the same sence also Peter Not being Lordes ouer the Clergy sayth he And agayne in the thyrd chapter of the same Epistle meaning to expresse the efficacy of the Gospell he doth call it a ministery not of the flesh but of the spirite And therefore to the end he may make vs more spirituall he doth wisely forbidde not the ministers onely but generally all other to be alike fashioned to this present word what would he now say If he did beholde the shape and vgly deformity of the Romish Church as it is now if heé aduised well the Royaltyes of S. Peter the fulnes of power the authority of both swordes the Keyes of all Churches stollen away and hanged all vpon the Romish bunch the toppe gallauÌt of the pontificall maiesty the Cardinalles the Legates preuayling aboue Prynces the empalled and Mytred Byshoppes the orders of Shauelings the swarmes of Mounckes and Fryers the Lawes Bulles decreés which they vse as forcible as CaÌnon shotte theyr might and power fearefull yea terrible also to Princes The Lord hymselfe cryeth out mightely in the Gospell that his kingdome is not of this world nor canne away with the thinges that are mighty of the earth But our pontificall prelate will storme and waxe wroth if the world enioy any thyng that is not subiect vnto his power And this Ierarchy meane whiles more then wordly they fayne and God will to be the Church at whose becke as at the sight of Gorgones vgly face they make astonyed all the Monarches and Tetrarches of the earth And the same haue they magnified with the name of Catholicke forsooth By vertue of which name they will haue to be notyfied not a congregation dispersed vpon the face of the whole earth agreéing together in one conformity of doctryne and worshypping of Christ whyche doth make a true Catholicke Church But they meane hereby that onely Ierarchy which they will haue tyed fast to the Romyshe Seé And hereunto for the greater aduauncement of the authority they haue deuised a trymme tytle of Antiquity
full mouth so much The olde Cannons that are called the Canons of the Apostles doe with wonderfull seueritye manace and threaten them who frequenting the Church hearing the preachings doe sequester themselues from receauing the Communion On this wise did Pope Calixt who would doe nothing without the Censures ecclesiasticall exhort and perswade all men to communicate publiquely together wheresoeuer the supper of the Lorde was ministred The wordes of Ierome be in each respect no lesse euident The Supper of the Lord sayth he ought to be generall to all because Christ himselfe did equally distribute the Sacrament to all his disciples that were present And how doth this geare agreé with the celebrating of your priuate Masses The same Canons prouided that the Byshop should be deposed which would ioyne a ciuill office with a spirituall fuÌction The same also did Pope Clement detest as horrible haynousnes And what doth the Pope then meane by that newe power of both swordes is it because he will be armed to fight a new combate with the Dragon that fought agaynst the Aungel Michaell Many yeares sithence did the Councell of Carthage forbid that nothing should be read in the Churche but the Canonicall Scriptures Which Scriptures IustiniaÌ the Emperour commaunded to be vttered with a lowd audible voyce that the people might gather some fruite thereby If Antiquitie of time or authoritye of Councels could haue obtayned any creditt amongest the Romanistes the olde councell Elibertine did decreé that nothing should be paynted in the Church that might be an occasion to moue the people to worshippyng So did also Epiphanius that auÌcient Father accouÌt it for an intollerable sacriledge yf any man would be so hardy as to set vp in Churches of Christians any kinde of Image yea though it were the Image of Christ himselfe The Auncient Fathers were no lesse godly zelous then zelously studious to perswade enduce the people to the Readyng of holy Scriptures and to the buying of Bookes of the same that emongest themselues euery one in his seuerall familye wyues with their husbands children with their parentes the plowgh man at the plowe the weauers in their Loomes women and maydens spinning and carding might debate of the holy Scriptures and sing some sonets and songes of the same as Origen Chrisostome and Ierome do testifie It was not tollerable in the time of Augustine that A MouÌck should idely coÌsume his time in slouth and sluggishnes or should vnder visor and pretence of holynes lyue vpon an other mans trencher but by the sweate of his owne browes such a one also Appollonius also doth lyken to a theéfe There was an auncient custome of this Land instituted from the auncient fathers that no person should appeale to the Pope for any cause without the kings leaue at what time our kings yelded to the popes no submission at all Whereupon when Anselme did deliuer the Popes letters to the king What haue we to do sayd the king with the Popes letters we will not breake the lawes of our kingdome Whosoeuer shall presume to infring the Custome of our Realme the some is a traytor to our Crowne and dignitye he that doth take away our Crowne from vs is an enemy and Traytor to our owne person There was an ordinaunce sometime within the Realme no lesse profitable then auncient That if any man did possesse two Benefices at one time bearing charge of sowle especially the same should be depriued from both And this ordinaunce continued so long in force vntill the Pope with his medley of dispensation innouating all thinges and turning all thinges vpsydowne after his owne lust and pleasure did leaue nothing in Churches that had any smatch of Antiquitye And no maruell though he were so malapertly sawcy with the Lawes of our Realme when as in the last Councell holden at Trydent skarcely 24. yeares sithence by publique authoritye and consent of the whole Councell an Edict was established that no person should enioy two benefices at once this Cannon notwithstanding there is so litle regard of authoritye of that Councell emongest these Prelates that a maÌ may easily seé now a dayes many Monasteries two Byshopprickes yea sometimes threé or fowre swallowed vp into one paunch all at one tyme. The same may be verified of the CouÌcels of CoÌstance and Basile Where though many matters were determined vpon wickedly enough this decreé notwithstanding was published being good and profitable for the Church That generall Councells assembled together by lawfull Sommons were and ought to be esteémed better and higher in authoritye then the Pope And yet this decreé sone razed out by the power of the Pope how quickly was it dispatcht so farforth doth nothyng delight these fine heads of Rome that whether it be old or new nothyng can please them but that which is for their owne toothe Wherein I would wishe that Osorius would marke diligently this one thing sithence this Seé doth conuey her lawfull discent not froÌ any decreés of meÌ but froÌ christ himselfe as he affirmeth what doe these Fathers of the CouÌcell of Constance and Basile meane by this decreé Wherein they commaunded that the Romishe Seé should be gouerned by the generall Councells Now what may be spoken or imagined of the Prouisiones Reseruations yearely pencioÌs Pardons Priuiledges Exemptions Dispensations Graces Preuentions Expectatiues Palles Uisitations and other lyke snares and trappes of that Romishe Seé what shall we number these trinketts also emongest thother sacred Reliques receaued in that Apostolique age aboue xv hundreth yeare sithence I come now more neare vnto those partes of ReligioÌ wherin all the glory and vaunte of your Antiquitye triumpheth chiefly And first that doctrine of TraÌsubstantiatioÌ your onely Goddesse and chiefe vpholder of that your popish kingdome From whence did it issue and who was the author of it before Pope Innocent 3. in the Councell of Lateran not many yeares ago At what tyme the consecrated hoste was commaunded to cast away all her nature of Bread or at least before Nicholas 2. and his Successor Hildebrand in a Councell holden at Rome at what Councell Berengarius was forced to Recant And why were not Pope Gelasius Theodoret Augustine Tertullian Origen Eusebius and with them also the whole Greéke Churche cited to Recant For the same error of Berengarius Why was not the Church of Moskouites compelled to abiure which from thence euen to this day doe minister the Communion with bread broken and distributed in deéde but not consecrated into the body of the Lord To passe ouer other Churches why was not all this Church of Saxons in our kingdome condemned for hereticall which maintayned the same cause that Berengarius did as of late hath bene declared by certeine auncient Recordes lately found out emongest vs in the Saxons tongue Although this opinion of consecrated bread beganne to sparckesâ abroad not many yeares agoe after the Councell of Nice the second
entred into any order Ecclesiasticall foreswearing to be coupled in wedlock should sweare them selues to obserue perpetuall vow of vnmaried lyfe If any man be of opinioÌ that this TyraÌny was brought in by the Apostles and not rather directly agaynst the ordinauÌce of the Apostolicke Church is much deceaued in imagination whereas that law was neuer begon nor euer heard of before the tyme of Hildebrand And although I can not deny that there were many vnmaried Ministers many dayes agoe in the Church of Christ at that tyme when as there was not such a huge multitude of Priestes and more plentyfull giftes of chastitie possessed Christian Churches yet did neuer any man read or heare that this necessitie of vowyng chastitie became a publique coÌmon coaction before HildebraÌd was borne How earnestly the Germaines did set them selues agaynst this wicked prohibition decreéd by Pope Gregory the 7. at what tyme the Archbyshop of Mentz Sollicitour of this Popish decreé was almost slayne let the Histories beare witnesse As touchyng what was done in England I will note somewhat my selfe For on this wise writeth Henry Huntyngton in his Chronicle Anselme sayth he did prohibite Mariadge of Priestes in England which was neuer prohibited before Which seemed to some a matter of wonderfull contineÌcie but to other very pernitious and perillous least whiles they should couet for a cleannes that surmounted their power they might rushe healong into horrible filthynes to the great reproche and dishonour of Christian name This much he with whom also accordeth the testimony of Monumetensis touchyng the same matter Herbert Byshop of Norwiche sayth he by the commaundement of Anselme and a Decree of a Prouinciall Synode did endeuour by all meanes possible to sequester the Priestes from their Wiues in his Diocese And when he could not bring it to passe he was constrained to send to Anselme for Counsell This is to be founde in a written History pag. 240. The same also happened to Gerrarde Archb. of Yorke about the same tyme. Now what will Osorius say to this If I shall be able to shew him out of our own auncient Recordes more then 40. Recordes and Rolles which doe make mention not onely of our Priestes companying together with their Wiues but also that do by publique authoritie and law of the land prouide that their Wiues ought to be endowed in landes and possessions There was an old Decreé in the Councell of Gangren That no man should make any difference betwixt an vnmaried Priest a maried Priest as to Iudge the one more holy then the other in respect of his vnmaried lyfe I will annexe the wordes of the CouÌcell If any man doe take exception betwixt a Maried Priest at that in respect of his Mariadge he ought not to minister the Communion and so sequester him selfe from Communicating with him let him be accursed There ensued after this the Councell of Areletens the 2. wherein was a contrary Decreé made that no person should be admitted to Priesthood that was Married to a Wife vnlesse he vowed to depart from his Wife c. Whereunto also agreéd a Decreé of Pope Lucius long after the other Whereby Priestes and Deacons and such as serued the Altares should lyue continently And this hetherto tollerable enough But what kynde of coÌtinency he did meane let vs marke by the sequele But if it happen sayth he that a Minister doe go to bedd to his Wife after he haue once receaued orders let him not enter within the ChauÌcell nor be made bearer of the Sacrament nor yet come a neare the Altar c. As touchyng Images Inuocation Sacrifies for Sinnes and Freéwil hath bene spoken sufficiently before And what shall I adde more of the rest of the rascall rable to witte of Purgatory of Satisfactory Constitutions of vowes of other lyke peltyng pelfe of the newfangled Romish Traditions and of the antiquitie of all the rest but euen as they be in deéde namely that in them all appeareth no countenaunce of true Antiquitie but are deuises altogether of mens inueÌtions bastardes and misbegotten chaungelyngs of Scholeianglers and cowled crauens not grounded vpon any authoritie of the Scripture altogether vnknowen vnto the auÌcient primitiue Church the most part wherof hath bene hatcht thrust abroad into the world within these 500. yeares within which compasse of tyme that noumber of yeares began to be fulfilled which was long before Prophecied of for the lettyng louse of Sathan into the world whose libertie out of that bottomles gulfe of hell was foretold by the Propheticall Scriptures should be after a thousand yeares to the end he might now preuaile to deceaue the people dwelling vpon the foure corners of the earth Gog and Magog c. By meane of which pestiferous deceauing it is scarse credible to be spoken what moÌstruous ruine dissipation of Empires and Kyngdomes with in these 500. yeares what an alteration hath ensued in that church chiefly how much of Christian force hath bene decayed through Ciuill warres priuate grudgynges how greatly the power of foreine Nations hath increased to our destruction and vndoyng And how in the meane tyme whiles the Turke doth inuade the Christian Church without seékyng with foreine force to vndermine it The Popish Prelates be no lesse busily bent to builde vppe their fortresse of furious Tyranny euen within the bowels of the same Church and to fill vppe their Coffers with Treasures they moyle and turmoyle all thynges Procure warres and bloudshed for the establishment of their primacy sturre vppe Ciuill warres and commotions turne all thynges vpsidowne WherupoÌ commeth to passe that doctrine is nought sett by by how much their treasory aboundeth in ouer flowing-plenty by so much to speake with Ierome their vertues are pyned away with famine skarsity Idolatry ambitioÌ superstitioÌ haue growne to an vnmeasurable excesse all things are defiled with abuse ReligioÌ ruleth the roast with violence cruelty Finally all things are come to nought Trueth is turned to playne lying and treachery The place of sincere fayth possesseth false hipocrisie Praying for the dead kneéling and crowching to Images supplyeth the place of the true and pure worshipping of God The word of the Lord is troden downe with mans authoritye The most godly and auncient ordinaunces are transformed into new fangled traditioÌs the simple meaning of the Scriptures is entaÌgled with scholetrickes and Sophystrye Luste and vnbrideled licentious outrages preuayle aboue godly conuersation and seueritye of discipline PresuÌptuous pride and greédy desire of Lordlynes and superioritye doe wrestle agaynst lowlynes and humilitye huge heapes of new Noueltyes increase dayly errors and falshode flocke abroad vnmeasurably Finally the whole state of the auncient Church is become a very stage of an earthly Monarchye and a filthy forgeshoppe of foolishe fond ceremonies But now assoone as the Lord of his louing mercy good pleasure towardes vs vouchsafed to amend this dayly drowsy darkenes with
Moyses Howbeit it was so much the lesse to be marueled That the same should be obiected agaynst Paule in that tyme especially when as the Iewes were yet chiefe rulers of the Temple it selfe and Moyses ordynaunces were as yet in their chiefe force and authoritye What and haue we profited this farre now at the length after so great and long labors employed after so many aduertizements of thapostles after so many instructions of the holy ghost after so many examples of the Church after so many miracles so many bookes so many testimonyes of learned men so many helpes of sownd doctrine that we must after all these neédes âunne back vnto old Iewishnes agayne may we not now skarcely open onr mouthes to preach Iesus Christ the Sonne of God but we must seéme Iniurious to Moyses For what els did Luther meane Whereunto els tended all his doctrine trauaile endeuour and thought but that the gracious mercy of God discouered in the Gospell might through his minystery he commended to weakâ and aflicted consciences and glorified of them In which maner of doctrine yf any thing seéme displeasaunt to your minde let your owne minde and Imagination offend you rather then Paule or Luther For there lurketh a plague or pestilence not in the Doctrine but in the minde which in my iudgement seémeth to be such as that if you had liued in the tyme of Christ with the Scribes and Pharises being of the same mind wherewith you gnaw this doctrine so viperously now you might haue bene fellow mate with them which cryed out Crucifige Crucifige agaynst Christ. Not so say you but the wickednes and abhominations of this age doe much displease me with that am I worthely offended And what good or godly man is not throughly displeased herewith Peruse who will the writings of Luther Melanckton Bucer Zuinglius Martyr Caluine and he shall easely peceaue that this deadly decay of Godly lyfe was no lesse greuous to euery of them then to your selfe that I neéde neuer speake of this besides to witt that Luther being very oftentymes disquieted with the maners and vnthankefulnes of his own countrey men did long before with a very propheticall vehemencye foretell that the same lamentable slaughter should befall them for their vngratefull contempt of Euangelicall lyfe wherewith not long after they were greuously pinched And how then may any reasonable man credit you Osorius that lye so impudently vpon these men whom you make to be Authours and standerbearers of all those mischyeues and Tumultes But here is yet another argument clowted vppe and patcht together with the lyke stuffe whereby he would proue vpon trust of hys Rhethoricke That these false Prophets Lutherans were not sent from God Let vs first note the wordes which he citeth out of the Scriptures Marke well sayth he What the Lord spake of a false Prophet The Prophet that is puft vp with pride and will speake in my name the thing that I doe not commaund him to speake or in the name of any other straunge Godds let him be slayne And if in your secret conceypt you thinke with your selfe how shall I vnderstand that it is not the word of God that he hath spoken Take this for a signe Whatsoeuer that Prophet shall Prophecy in my name and it come not to passe that hath not the Lord spoken but the Prophet himselfe hath imagined it through the pride of his owne hart and therefore thou shalt not feare him c. Where is this Seéke for it Reader in the old Testament or in the new for eyther it pleased not Osorius to note the place or perhappes it serued not for his purpose so to doe But the place is to be found in the 18. Chap. of Deut. Go to and what is it that this wonderfull Philosopher of this world hath pyked out of these words Forsooth hauing vttered this much first by way of preamble It followeth now sayth he that we see what Luther Melancton Bucer Caluine and the other iolly companions haue promised and vndertaken to doe what hope they haue geuen of their glorious promises to witt that it should come to passe that they would call home agayne the discipline of the Gospell to her auntient sinceritye restore Religion hold vpp the Church that was ready to fall downe That is to say that they would fully restore the decayed fayth of the Church restore lenitye Chastitye Concord Vnitye Modestye Obedience Charitye together with godlynes and great bountye of godly loue All these things wherof they promised largely and in many wordes to bring to passe it lacketh so much of thacomplishment of their promise that they haue left all things in farre more worse case more peruerse more filthy and more deformed by the meanes of their goodly trauayle as men that haue placed Sacrilege in stead of Religion Crueltye in stead of Lenytye Tumults in stead of Peace Ciuill warre in stead of Concord Licentiousnes of lyfe in stead of chastity Contempt of Magistrates in stead of Obedience Pride in stead of Modestye Finally in stead of Charitye and Pietye Enmitye and hatred amongest good men Monstruous wickednes and vtter ouerthrow and confusion of all common weales The matters being so to conclude at the last who can thinke that any man may doubt that these men were sent from God or moued by his holy spirite Breéfly passing ouer all friuolous circumlocutions of words to gather the whole matter agayne together into a shorte breuiate Behold here a full sillogisme after this maner and forme The Prophets which doe prophecie in the name of God yf it come not to passe as they haue prophecied are not sent from God It is so farre of that Luther Melancton Bucer or Caluine haue performed the thinges that they promised that all haue proued in farre more worse case Ergo. Luther Melancton Bucer and Caluine were not sent from God but are lying Prophets and therefore according to Gods lawe worthy of euerlasting death I am in doubt whether I may aunswere or laugh Thone of both paraduenture the Reader will looke for t thother the fondnes of the argument doth perswade me to doe For what can be spoken more senselesly what can be more crookedly wrested out of the whole Scriptures what could haue bene attempted more cruelly and falsly agaynst godly personages what could haue bene concluded more absurdly First there is a place vouched out of the Scripture wherein the people is taught how they may discerne a false Prophet froÌ a true namely by the true successe euent of thinges as farre forth as the thinges foretold doe happeÌ or not happeÌ And yet in this behalfe also speciall consideratioÌ of choyse ought to be hadd some secret inspiration of the holy ghost For although Caiphas be sayd to haue foretold as the trueth was Yet will you not geue him a place emongest the holy Prophets So also neither did Balaam lye altogether when in a Propheticall speach he
foretold the people of God good and gladsome tidings yet I thinke you will not nuÌber him emongest the Godly Prophets of God The Spirite that was raysed by Saul in the name of Samuel to foreshew what should become of the successe of the battell dyd not tell otherwise then as it came to passe afterwardes Lykewise also in the Acts of thapostles The Prophetisse at Phillippos dyd prophecye many things of Paul and Timothe which were true and maruailous yet will no man assigne her a place emongest the true Prophetisses What shall we say of the Deuil himselfe which dyd foretell to Siluerster the Pope that he should neuer dye before he came vnto Ierusalem what was not the sequel aunswerable to hys former tale How then Osorius are those then to be accoÌpted the true Prophets of God which doe foretell the thinges that shall come to passe I thinke not so Neither doth the Scripture affirme the same to be true The true Prophets of God doe pronounce truely from out the true treasures of the hart And not contrarywise all they that doe tell true thinges altogether ought alwayes to be takeÌ for true Prophets of God But whatsoeuer he be that teacheth false Doctrine and is found a lyar it is most certein that he is not sent of God Telling trueth therfore namely in Successes humaine doth not alwaye asrgue him that doth foretell the same to be a true Prophet of God But lying doth alwayes bewray a false Prophet And this is it wherof the Scripture would haue vs to be forewarned in this place For the wordes of the Scripture doe not so directly determine that euery person whosoeuer foretelleth the trueth of euery thing is therefore sent from God But it setteth downe this speciall marke That yf any Prophet haue foretold any thing in the name of the Lord which doth not afterwades come to passe By thys marke sayth the Scripture shall you know that a man hath spoken it and not the Lord Then which signe say you no thing can be more sure nothing more euident nothing more commodious for our sauetye And thys also doe we confesse as well as you doe And so much hitherto for the Maior But to auÌswere the Minor now what is any of all this to Luther Melancthon and their companyons Because they haue promised say you so largely and so lowdly whereas they gaue so great a hope of themselues by their glorious promises that it should come to passe that they would call backe agayne the decayed lyfe of the Christians and the dissolute maners of the Church to the auncient purity of the Gospell they did so performe nothing of that they promised that they left all thinges in far worse case then they receaued them I will aunswere to both And first your allegation of their promises we haue shewed already how it is altogether vntrue to the iustyfying of which flaunder agaynst theÌ you haue not brought forth one sillable so much hitherto out of all the writinges of Luther or Melancton wherewith you are able to charge theÌ Whereas on thother side it will be no matter of difficultye for me to conuince you for an open lyar by innumerable places out of Luther himselfe EmoÌgest many I will cyte one by the which the Reader may easily vnderstand how farre of Luther was from that glorious kinde of braggery of Reformation wherewith you doe slaunder him most Impudently For after this manner doth he make a reporte of himselfe writing vpon the Psalmes of degreés I doe gladly vse sayth Luther mine owne experience for what is it or how much is it that he hath geuen to me alone I did desire no thing els then that this abuse of pardons might be taken away But behold what an vnmeasurable Sea of Gods marueilous bounty and liberality ensued therupon So that it is generall true that no man dare wishe so much as God is ready to geue The cause is the mistrust fulnesse of our hart the lacke of hope and weakenes of fayth Thus much Luther Go to now and where is now that glorious hope promised and bragge of promise whereas himselfe coÌplaineth of waÌt of hope of mistrustfulnes of hart and weakenesse of fayth or vpon what confidence could he dare promyse so largely and boldly to others that which him selfe confesseth playnely he durst not be so bold as to wish for But put the case they promised all that you haue spoken what then you adde forthwith But they dyd not performe their promisesâ what they performed or what they did not performe in the reformation of manners I doe not so much stand vpon Nor do I speake all here that I could But leaue it to the iudgement of him that shall iudge the quicke and the dead Euery person canne iudge himselfe and his owne cause best but of others it is very hard to determine any certaynty Malice is alwayes a blinde iudge Malepart slaunder is a lying witnesse It had bene more sittyng for you and your modesty beginning at your owne home to haue first purged your owne faultes to haue pluckt the beames out of your owne eyes before you had vttered such insolent waywardnesse in troubling of other mens studies Admitte that it may be freé for a man to proclaime openly to the world the notorious faultes and offences of others which either himselfe doth seé or doth gather vpon common report yet this iudgement as it may be frée so ought it be vpright iust But you enflamed with I know not what outragious insolency of minde not of any iudgement but of a certayne franticke fury do so handle your cause as though he were no good man nor could be a good man whosoeuer doth beare the name of a Lutherane that is to say a professed Christian and as though neuer any such abhominations could haue infected the world if Luther had nener taught at all theÌ which slannderous maner of speéch what could impudency it selfe haue spoken more impudently or more vntruely But not to tary long vpon this poynte and to graunt you also that you Assume so impudently For this I suppose you assume as matter most certayne that these men did performe no part of that which they promised Goe to and when weé yelde you all that you will to witte that they entred into large promises and that they performed nothing and that all things became worsse to what end teÌd all these at the last what doe these mountaynes of Gilboe bring forth at the length Come of Luther now with all thy Lutheranes and take a full conÌclusion of all and goe hang your selues Ergo You be false Prophets deceitfull and fraudulent seducers not onely to be eschued of men but by Gods law worthy to be burnt also The Cocke crewe and it was day all abroad But that weé may be so bolde to sift out this rusticall Logicke what doe I heare Osorius Is it so ought all such as breake theyr promises and couenauntes
to witte That the Church is a multitude of people such as is bounde to obey the Pope of Rome seuered from other Nations by certeine Ceremonies which the Popes haue ordeyned fast tyed to the ordinary coÌtinued course of Succession of Byshops and to that onely interpretation of Scriptures which the Byshops and Councels doe deliuer And this is the true proportion and full DefinitioÌ of your Church if I be not deceaued But this DefinitioÌ the learned in Logicke will deny to be good sounde where the thyng defined is not of all partes equiualeÌt with the DefinitioÌ Which rule is not obserued here For to admitte this vnto you that in the true Church of Christ must be Popes Byshops who must be obeyed who also must haue an ordinary outward succession and who may challenge vnto them selues a speciall prerogatiue in the interpretation of the holy Scripture yet is not this by and by true that all Popes Byshops which are entituled by the name of Popes and Byshops which do pretende a continuall succession which do carry the countenaunce of consentes which do challenge a right in the interpretatioÌ of Scriptures are the true sheapherds of the Lordes flocke And why so forsooth bycause that thyng waÌteth which makyng specially for the purpose you haue specially left out namely the truth of sounde doctrine which may be able to treade downe and crushe in peéces errour and hypocrisie That is to say That Byshops do truly and vnfaynedly become the same in the sight of God which in vtter shew they would fayne seéme in the sight of men Agayne that Succession be not of persons onely but a speciall Succession of Fayth vertuous lyfe that the obedience of the people may not proceéde so much of feare of punishment as of harty affection and willyngnesse of mynde that the interpretation of scriptures be not wrested to the maintenaunce of errour and mens sensualitie but be directed and aunswerable to the meanyng of the holy Ghost and the true naturall sense of the Scripture For these be the true markes Osor. whereby a true Church is discernable from a false not the title and name of a Church not the authoritie and Succession of Byshops not the opinion of a multitude besides the truth of Gods word But the very Rule of the word must be kept which will so describe vnto vs a true Church by true markes tokeÌs boundes and foundations That it be a Congregation dispersed abroad euery where ouer the face of the whole earth vnited agreéyng together in souÌdâ doctrine of Fayth and the true worshyppyng of God which beyng sanctified by the holy Ghost and admitted by partaking the Sacramentes do truly beleéue in God through the Sonne of God Iesu Christ accordyng to the doctrine of the Gospell although some be enlightened with more spiritual graces gifts and some with lesse By this standard and Rule let vs measure now the Argumentes of Osorius Luther and Melancthon are fallen away from the Pope of Rome and his Cardinalles Ergo Luther and Melancthon haue rent in sunder the vnitie of the Church The onely Church of Rome hath an ordinary succession from Peter Ergo The onely Church of Rome is the true Church The great part of Christendome doth acknowledge the Church of Rome Ergo The Churche of Rome is the Mother Churche and Queene of all Churches The Churche of God hath a promise that it shall neuer erre Ergo He that doth interprete the Scriptures otherwise then after the meaning of the Church of Rome or that doth not acknowledge him selfe obedient to the Romish Decrees in all thynges is an heretique and doth sequester him selfe from the boundes and communioÌ of the Church To this aunswere shal be made briefly and logically These be meére fallacyes and deceites of the Equiuocation deriued from a false description of the Church and the succession thereof and from false markes For as touching the names and Tytles as touching the long pedigreés of neuer interrupted course of Succession as touching the consent of the multitude and the promises made by God if the other tagges were tyed to these poyntes and made suteable namely sound doctrine true godlynesse surely it would seéme somewhat to the purpose that Osorius mayntayneth But now whatsoeuer they bragge and vaunt of tytles and other reliques without the especiall coupling and coÌioyning of the Euangelicall and Apostolicall doctrine is altogether nought els but smoake and winde nothing auayleable to establish the true vnity of the Church First as concerning the name of the Church we do heare Christ himselfe speaking Many shall come in my name Touching SuccessioÌ we heare out of Ierome Not they that sitte in the places of Sainctes c. Touching the multitude Augustine doth teach vs. That the consentes of voyces must be weyed and measured not numbred Touching Gods promise made for perseuerance in the trueth harken what Iohn Baptist speaketh Do not say we haue AbrahaÌ to our Father For God is of power to rayse vppe sonnes to Abraham out of these stoanes If Osorius will argue after this maner why should not these arguments be of as great force The high Priest of the old law in the Iewish Regiment did beare the face and name of the Church with full allowaunce and coÌmon consent of all the multitude yea euen in the tyme of Esay Ieremy Amos Elias and Christ. The same also did conuey theyr Succession from the priesthood of Aaron And did vouch also theyr authority seat lawe and the promise agaynst Ieremy agaynst the Prophettes and agaynst Christ. The Law say they shall not perish from the Priestes Ergo Those high priestes did enioy a true Church nor coulde possibly erre at any tyme. But if Osorius shall thinke with him selfe that these Argumentes were not forcible enough in the olde Church why should they be more effectuall in the new Churche In the olde lawe it was lawfull to examine the very prophettes themselues if they spake the word of the Lord yea certayne infallible tokens were set downe whereby they might be discerned In like maner euen in the new testament we are commaunded to proue the Spirites if obey be of God being forewarned by the spirite of God that we beleue not euery spirite And what kinde of people then be these Popes and Cardinals of Rome which of a more then Imperious Lordlynesse doe commaund and require all men to receaue and reuerence their Satutes Ordinaunces Ceremonies opinions and all theyr wordes and deédes ingenerall without exception and contradictioÌ vpon greéuous paynes and Penalties that shall ensue agaynst him whosoeuer dare presume to make a question of the right of their authoritye or to make any doubt of any theyr deuises and imaginations And so geuing the slippe to all those he commeth downe againe to our Church with a maruailous blaff of windy words but with no reason at all imagining to proue
of the dead I do commend you But will you heare me agaye If the death of Christ were vndertaken for them that are in Purgatotory in the maner as you before sayd then is it a good consequeÌt hereupon that either your Purgatory was vtterly abolished by the death of Christ or els that Christ himselfe suffered death in vayne Aunswere either of them which you list Moreouer if this be true that your Diuinity doth inferr that Paule and manye others did dye as you say a satisfactory death for the cleansing of the dead and for the saluation of the whole world what difference then will you make betwixt the death of Christ and the death of those others Nay rather what neéde haue we of the death of Christ at all if Paule and many other did dye a satisfactory death for the saluation of the world as you say how thys your reason and communicatioÌ delighteth you and your Catholickes I know not in my iudgement surely it seémeth none other then as if any Turke or Iew had taken penn in hand and of sett purpose deuised to write agaynst Christ he could not haue written any thing more despightfully agaynst Christ nor more horribly agaynst the Catholicke fayth The Lord of his mercye open your eyes and endue you once at the length with a better minde if it may so please his heauenly Maiesty But I returne agayne to the course of your disputation wherein albeit I seé nothing worth the refuting yet because you bragg here so shamelesly that we be vtterly ouerthrowne with your most manifest Testimonies and that your argumentes are not resolued I thinke it conuenient to make manifest what maner of argumentes you haue sett downe and of what force the substaunce of your argumentes may seéme to be First touching the testimony of Saynt Paule in the 1. to the Corinthians the 15. Chapter before mentioned where Saynt Paule treateth of Baptisme and Resurrection You thinke to haue a great aduauÌtadge here to build your Purgatory vpoÌ And why so Because Baptisme is many times vsed in the Scriptures for Sacrifices and offeringes Where finde you that Forsooth where the Lord doth demaunde of the two brethren that were at strife betwixt them selues for the chiefe and highest seat in the kingdome of heauen whether they were able to be partakers of the same Baptisme In deéd the scripture vseth many times peculiar Tropes figures and I am not ignorauÌt that amongest the latter Deuines Baptisme is deuided into threé sortes to witte Baptisme of water of Fire of Bloud Howbeit these two latter kindes haue not in them any proper nature of a Sacrament if you haue regard to the naturall propertyes of Baptisme to wit Matter Forme as they call them And therfore howsoeuer it pleaseth the new Deuines to ascribe vnto theÌ the matter of a Sacrament yet doe they not attribute vnto them a Sacrament no nor so much as the name of a Sacrament but acquiuoce But what doth this concerne this place of Paule cited by you where it is out of all controuersy that the wordes of the Apostle ought to be vnderstanded not of Blood nor of Fier but simply of that kind of Baptisme onely wherewith all Christians in generall without exception are washed through the fouÌtayne of regeneration into hope of rising agayne to life euerlasting Therfore I do here appeale to the Iudgement of the Reader how blockishly Osorius doth wrest this discourse of Paule to Martirdome yea much more Doltishly to Purgatory There is besides this an other place cited out of the same chap. where Paule as appeareth purposing to sanctify himselfe not onely for the dead but for the liuing also hath these wordes Why do we vndertake dauÌger euery houre I do dayly dye through the reioysing that I haue of you in Christ Iesu our Lord. And these forsooth be those substaunciall Testimonies wherewith we are ouerwhelmed a Gods name accordaunt to the matter nowe in question as iumpe as Germaynes lippes It remayneth now that we discusse the substaunce and pith of the Argumentes likewise deriued from the prayers and oblations of the Church You do mayntayne stiffely that Sacrifices offred for the saluation of the dead be very effectuall which forasmuch as are auaileable to none but such as be in Purgatory hereupon therefore you doe conclude that there must be a Purgatory of very necessity But what if I would deny all this vnto you euen by the same law and order as you haue propounded them For what reason is there to the contrary but that I may aswell deny at a word as you affirme at a word First as touching Prayers which you affirme that the Church is enured vnto for saluation of the dead If you meane here the true Apostolicke Church You say most vntruly If you note the vsage of your owne Babylonicall TeÌple it forceth not of a rush what you do there Neither do I enqurie what you haue in haÌdling there but what you ought to looke vnto what duety doth exact of you and what you ought to do according to the prescript rule of the scripture Moreouer whereas you annexe afterwardes that these Supplications and Prayers made for the saluation of the dead are altogether vneffectuall and vnprofitable vnlesse they be applyed onely vnto them which are afflcted in Purgatory We would fayne learne first how you proue this Forsooth say you because the soules that be drowned in the deepe doungeon and euerlasting darcknesse of hell can be redeemed from thence with no prayers This is true and what hereof Agayne you say the Soules that are in heauen haue no need of those prayers neither am I displeased with this Rhetorical partition Goe to what is it that this Orators pertition will conclude at the last Behold reader now a conclusion more then logicall wonderfully wrought and called froÌ out the very braines of capacity it selfe wherby you may forth with note a very disciple of Theophrast Damned Soules being in hell sayth he are not eased by the prayers of the liuing And agayne the soules that are in heauen haue no need of any supplications It followeth therefore that there is some middle place betwixt heauen and hell which we are wont to call Purgatory As if the Argument were on this wise If there be no Purgatory the supplicatioÌs of the church for the saluation of Soules are voyde and vneffectuall But the Supplications for the deadd are not voyde and vneffectuall Ergo It is concluded that there must be a Purgatory of very Necessitie We are come backe agayne now ad Petitionem Principij as the Logicians do tearme it Where one vncerteintie is confirmed by an other vncerteintie in all respectes as vncertein For I am as farre to seéke whether Prayers and Supplications for soules departed be vnprofitable as when Osorius doth affirme that there must neédes be a Purgatory And therfore in my conceipt you shall do very discretly Osorius bicause
dead how is the safetie of all men and the state of the Churche preserued thereby To make this matter good Iustifiable S. Paule him selfe is forced maugre his beard to become wittnesse agaynst him self beyng charged with his one wordes spoken once or twise in his Epistle written to the Corinthes as when he sayth I do dye dayly through the reioysing that I haue of you in Christ Iesu our Lord. c. And agayne writyng to the Collo Now I do Reioyse sayth he ouer my afflictions for you and I do fill vpp that which wanteth in the afflictions of Christ in my fleshe for his body which is the Church c. Out of these wordes of Paule well spoken not well vnderstanded and wickedly wrested it is a wonder to seé what horrible doctrine and monstruous blasphemies these false Apostles doe inferr and thrust in place For whereas the Apostles meanyng doth note onely the confirmation of doctrine and the afflictioÌs and agonyes that he endured for the enlargyng of the Fayth of Christ onely the same doe these praters most horribly mistourne force to the satisfaction for Sinnes yea to the very price of our Redemption not without manifest Sacriledge agaynst the bloud of Christ As though the Death and Passion of the onely Sonne of God Iesu Christ could not otherwise suffice to the absolute accomplishment of the whole action of our Redemption vnlesse meritorious afflictions of Sainctes were annexed besides which beyng mingled together with the bloud of Christ should counterpeise in equall ballaunce the iust and true proportion of the Iudgement of God and with full measure as it were fill vpp that euer flowyng founteyne which doth purge and washe cleane away the Sinnes and filthe of the quicke and the deadd Which mingle mangle they call by the name of the Treasure of the Churche which of all the rest is most vayne foolishe And this Treasure of the Church they dare not committe to the custody of Christ onely nor to euery of the Ministers nor yet to laye men nor to Priestes not to poore Prelates not to Abbottes or Priours not to Prouostes and Wardens of Colledges nor to simple Preachers as they call theÌ but to Byshoppes onely and amongest them also chiefly to the high and superexcellent Byshoppe the Pope which is of all the rest most absurd And yet least you shall thinke that these be not their own proper Assertions we will heare what holy Saynct Bonauenture and such like doctours of the same Schoole doe speake of theyr owne mouth For on this wise doe those profounde Deuynes frame theyr Argumentes out of the wordes of holye Scripture Because according to the Law say they he that doth marry his Brothers wise to rayse vpp seede to his brother that is dead ought to enioy the possession of his brothers goods that appertayne to the education of the Children Ruth 4. Therefore the dispensation of this treasure of the Church belongeth to the Byshoppes onelye which be the husbandes of the Church haue power to beget sonnes daughters that is to say perfect vnperfect and amoÌgest all these principally the high Byshopp which is husband gouernour of the whole Church vniuersall Ha Ha gentle Reader haue you not heard a mynyon mariage worthy for a Popes puppett grounded vpoÌ the very vnpenetrable Rocke of the profundity of all Scriptures by which ye may first perceiue that Christ was once the husband of this spowse Now because he departed this lyfe dyed without issue of his body lawfully begotteÌ his next brethreÌ the Byshops do succeéd him who marrying their Brothers wife may rayse vpp issue to their Brother vpon her and may begett Children perfect and vnperfect And because all this shall not waÌt creditt they do proue it by the authority of the scripture to witt in the 4. Chapiter of Ruth and other testimonies of the Law But by the way whereas we find that by the same law it was lawfull for one husband to haue many wiues or concubines I do not yet remember any such liberty geuen by the law that one wife should be married to manye husbandes Wherein truely they doe describe a very hard and miserable estate and condition of the Church if one wife shal be constrayned to be buxonne and bonaire to so many husbandes as there be Byshoppes in Christendome But let vs harken yet what followeth more For he proceédeth on this manner And therefore all Byshoppes sayth be that haue issue may grauÌt pardones but especially aboue all other our most holy Father the Byshopp of Rome as to whom belongeth the dispensation of the whole spirituall treasory because he hath the charge of all the whole Church and of all her Children whereupon all be his Children and he is the Father of all c. Thus much doth preach vnto vs our holy Saynt Bonauenture Behold here gentle Reader the summe of this most excellent mysticall interpretation of the Schole doctrine where in bethinke aduisedly with your selfe how many fowle horrible errors blasphemies are scatrered abroad by this pestilent dogg and recken them vpon your fingers if you will whiles I sett theÌ downe in order vnto you First an vtter disability and a worne out Emptymes in the bloud of Christ his most comfortable death is here set downe wherein is manifest blasphemy Then followeth an Eclipse of Christes passion That is to say whatsoeuer wanteth in his passion to the full satisfaction of our Redemption must be supplied and recompenced with the afflictions of Martirs and Sainctes Next vpon this minglemangle of the merytes of Christ and his Martirs they gather together a certayne treasury of most precious and aboundant SatisfactioÌ which they call the Treasure of the Church Now whereas out of this treasury all Remission and pardoÌ of Sinnes is dawen forth then yet must not all be Stewards and distributers of this great riches nor any other then the Bishoppes and the chiefe Byshopp of all other the Pope of Rome which is of all other a most pestiferous error Moreouer as is most meét out of this Romish Budgett and dispensation of Romish treasure are begotten Bulles and Pardons which is a most horrible fraud and liegerdemayne Lastly out of these Pardons is framed at the leÌgth the skalding house of Purgatory by this argument forsooth Because otherwise these pardons and prayers of the Church and merites of Sayntes should not be worth a Rush vnlesse the soules of the faythfull did frye and broyle in this skalding house of Purgatorye for ease of whom these qualificatioÌs are proued by the Church I haue reckened vpp orderly and briefly the chiefe of all their errours monstruous horrible enough I thinke which being directly agaynst manifestly repugnaunt and contrary to the true meaning and naturall sense of the scripture will not require any long aunswere in the confutation of them First where as they do affirme that
and so left not that we should seéke for forgeuenes of Sinnes out of the same but that these outward signes deliuered vnto vs to Eate might putt vs in remembraunce of that euerlasting remission of sinnes which Christ should purchase for vs by the shedding of his precious bloud And for this cause he doth call it the upp in his bloud which shall be shedd for many sayth he into the remission of sinnes not transitory remission I suppose Osorius but into euerlasting forgeuenes of sinnes For other wise if it be a forgeuenes Temporall how will that saying of Ieremy be true And I will make with them an euerlasting couenaunt that I may not remember their sinnes any more If it be an euerlasting Release what neéde we then any further Sacrifices or what shall be sayd of that your holynes of Religion which doth make that thing transitory to vs that God hath vouchsafed for vs to be vnremoueable and to continue beyond all ages To be briefe that we may now knitt vp the matter by that that hath bene spoken before Behold here in few wordes the trueth and substaunce of this Sacrament Iustified with most true and approued ArgumeÌts Whereunto if you will aunswere in your next letters to the Queénes Maiestie at your conuenient leasure you shall do vs a great pleasure 1. The Lord departing from hence did carry away with him out of the earth the substaunce of his body Ergo. He did not leaue the same substaunce behinde him 2. Christ did deliuer vnto vs a Mistery of his body onely Ergo. He did not deliuer his very naturall body 3. Christ did institute a Mistery of his body to be eaten onely Ergo. Not to be sacrificed In the remembraunce of forgeuenes of sinnes onely Ergo. Not a Sacrifice of cleansing and forgeuing of Sinnes 4 Saluation and remission of Sinnes is promised to them onely that beleue in Christ. Ergo not to them that doe sacrifice Christ. 5 Remission of Sinnes is not geuen without shedding of bloud Heb. 9 In the vnbloudy Sacrifice of the Masse there is no effusion of bloud Ergo. In the Sacrifice of the Masse is no Remission of sinnes 6. Saluation and free Remission of Sinnes doth consist of the promise through fayth The Sacrifice of the Masse is not free but meritorious nor coÌsisteth of fayth but of merite Meritorious Ergo. The Sacrifice of the Masse is vneffectuall to Saluation and to the Reconciling of God 7. There is no Materiall cause of forgeuenes of Sinnes but the onely shedding of Christes bloud and no formall cause but fayth The vnbloudy Sacrifice of the Masse is neither fayth neither hath in it any effusion of bloud Ergo in the Sacrifice of the Masse there is neither Materiall nor Formall cause of Remission of Sinnes 8. The Sacrifices that doe not cease to be offred for Sinnes doe not satisfie for Sinnes Heb. 10. The oblatioÌs of the Lawe can neuer make the receauers thereof perfect for if they could they would neuer haue ceased to be offred c. The Sacrifices of the Altar doe not cease to be offred doth name it a Sacramentall ministration In Clement it is called a representation of the kingly body of Christ. Others doe call it a signe of a true Sacrifice sometymes it is called the Sacrifice of prayer and thankesgeuyng by a certein mysticall figure of speakyng As in a certein place Ambrose doth call our Soules Altares Where writyng of virgines I dare boldly affirme sayth he that your Soules are Altares In the which Christ is dayly offred for the redemption of the body Not bycause our Soules be Altares or that the flesh of Christ is naturally or materially offered of vs but these sayinges are to be taken in the same sence as many other like sayings of the old writers are to be vnderstanded As where Ierome writeth on this wise That which was borne of the Virgine is dayly borne vnto vs Christ is Crucified vnto vs dayly c. After the same maner also doth Augustine speake Then is Christ dayly slayne to euery of vs wheÌ we beleeue in him that he was slayne And the same Augustine in an other place vpon the wordes of the Lord. Christ doth ryse agayne dayly vnto thee And in his 10. booke De Ciuit ate Dei Cap. 5. God is not delighted in the Sacrifices of slayne beastes but of a slayne hart Euen as Chrisostome speaketh likewise In the holy mysteries the death of Christ is executed Besides this also as Gregory de Consecrat Dist. 2. Christ doth dye agayne in this mystery c. And yet is there no man so senselesse to say that Christ is borne euery day or is Crucified ryseth agayne oftentymes or that his death is executed in the mysteries accordyng to the very substaunce thereof But these be figuratiue and vnproper kyndes of speaches wherein is celebrated a certein mysticall execution of those thynges for a Remembraunce so that the thyngs them selues be not present properly which were long sithence finished but are representations by certein applyable resemblauÌces of thinges signified onely whereby our fayth may as it were from haÌd to hand be admonished by the application of these outward signes what was accomplished before spiritually for vs in that most excellent Sacrifice of Christ. EueÌ as the NatioÌ of the Hebrues were sometyme fedd with the visible Manna as our bodyes are at this present strenghthened with dayly food of nourishyng sustenaunce which would otherwise perish through want Semblably bycause there can be no saluation for our forlorne nature besides the bloud of Christ Christ is therfore worthely called the bread of our lyfe and the foode of the world whereby the bodies are not fed for a few yeares but the soules are nourished to euerlastyng lyfe And for this cause Christ takyng an occasion of their communication which were coÌferryng together of Manna and the eatyng of his flesh not vnaptly alluding to that heauenly banquett in Moyses which dyd refresh the hunger of the body for a tyme did call him selfe bread in deéde and spake the same also truly And why truly bycause he is truly and in deéde the bread and foode of lyfe not onely of this traÌsitory and temporall lyfe but of euerlastyng lyfe not this lyfe onely which we doe now enioy in this world but which we shall lyue much more truly in the world to come And for this cause purposing euen then to suffer death for vs he did note vnto vs his body and bloud vnder the names of bread wyne This is my body sayth he This is the cuppe of my bloud Not bycause that bread and that cuppe were chaunged into his body and his bloud naturally substauncially and in deéde but bycause he could not before his death represent vnto vs the force and efficacy of that euerlastyng and spirituall Sacrifice by any more apt similitude or application of any other likenes which might continually preserue the remembraunce of him in
our hartes after his death And therefore gaue vs in commaundement that we should celebrate the same perpetually receaue those elemeÌtes for an euerlastyng memoriall of that Sacrifice and not to be sacrificed for the expiation of Sinnes Take sayth he Eate ye all of this In which wordes he doth call vpon not the Priests onely but inuiteth all the faythfull ingenerall without exceptioÌ as it were to a generall banquett alluryng all men to follow his example herein Which thyng we do diligently and carefully obserue at this present accordyng to his prescript commaundement and our dutyfull obedience not in corners mumblyng vpp priuate Masses but in our publique CongregatioÌs assemblyes We do eate we do not Sacrifice we do drinke we do not purge by Sacrifice Moreouer we do not eate with our teéth onely but much more effectually with our harts not the body but with the body that so we be nourished both wayes With our bodies we do receaue the outwarde elementes in deéde in a thankefull memoriall of the Lordes body offred But with our fayth harts we do receaue and embrace not the visible signes and elements onely but the truth of the body and bloud of Christ the whole vertue and efficacy of the same Sacrament And this is the order of our Communions Osorius In the which we do neither eate the SacrameÌtall bread without Christ nor Christ wtout the Sacramentall bread For we do not rende these in peéces after your guise but we do ioyne both together the one with the other though we receaue them not both after one maner That which the soule doth feéde vpon is not bread but Christ That which is receaued into the mouth and passeth downe into the bowels is not the naturall reall body of Christ but bread And yet in respect of the signifieng mysterie it is not bread nor do we eate it for bread but for the body of Christ And therefore this mystery doth reteigne in deéde the name of the body but in substaunce the nature of bread and not of the body For what man hath bene euer of so Sauadge a nature as could not perceaue that mans flesh is no conuenient foode for mans body what Nation hath bene euer so cruell barbarous as to be serued at his table with mans bloud were it neuer so delicately roasted and spiced And what shall we say that Scripture it selfe doth not permitt this by any meanes that men shall feede vpon mens flesh and bloud Gene. 9. And in an other place you shall not feede vpon the flesh of all beastes as well foule as foure footed cattell Leuit. 7. And agayne No soule emoÌgest you nor of the StrauÌgers that doe soiourne emongest you shall eate bloud If the will of God were such that it might not be lawfull for his people to feéde vpon the bloud of beastes how much rather do ye suppose that we are restrayned by the same coÌmaundement froÌ eating of maÌs flesh Moreouer whereas Christ him selfe doth confesse that he was sent downe into the earth for that end that he should dissolue no ioate of all that the law commaunded but should accomplish euery title thereof to the vttermost by what reason could he geue an oblation of his body and bloud at his Supper for a Sacrifice to be eaten and dronken without breache of the commauÌdement of that law which is expressed in the 6. Chap. of Leuit. in these wordes The oblation that is geuen for sinne sayth he the bloud whereof is brought into the Tabernacle of wittnesse to make satisfaction in the Sanctuarye shall not be eaten but be burnt and consumed with fryer c. But here I suppose myne opposed aduersary will seeke after a knott in a Bullrush as the Prouerbe is Whereas Christ was able to doe all thinges by the assent and word of his omnipotency And whereas the same Christ also did affirme the same to be his body and bloud then must one of these two be grauÌnted of very necessitye that either we must discreditt Christ his wordes and abase the omnipotency of God or els we must needes establishe a true oblation of the body and bloud of Christ in the Supper If all the sayings of Christ howsoeuer vttered and spoken by the Lord must be done and performed in the selfe same order and effectualnesse that he spake them and if all thinges must be drawen to the killing letter you haue then woonn the Spurres But then what shall become of that spirite and lyfe of the Letter where vnto the commaundement of the Gospel doth require vs to apply Iohn 6 whereunto shall Augustines rule serue which willing vs to leaue the Letter doth force vs to a deeper consideration as often as an absurditie can not auoyded without a necessary Allegory if you be of this mynde that we ought to be driuen from such lyke Allegoricall and figuratiue speéches of lyke significatioÌs But what is this els then to noozell vpp a Grammarian not a Deuine And by this meanes withall into how many senslesse absurdityes shall you force vs horrible and abhominable to be spoken with toungue We doe in a certein place heare the Lord speakyng playnely and sensibly enough I haue sayd you are Gods and are all the Sonnes of the highest If you regard the wordes onely what can be spoken more playnely I haue sayd sayth he If the outward sence of the Letter doe force such an inuiolable creditt what remaineth but that we say the men must forthw t degeÌder froÌ naturall meÌ into Gods Agayne where we heare Peter in an other place called by the name of Sathan Math. 16. which wordes of Christ if we will interpret after this maner we must neédes conclude hereupon that the Pope of Rome is not the Successor of Peter but of Sathan Wherby I suppose your Diuinitye is well enough certified how much it skilleth to attend and geue eare vnto not onely what is read in the bare letter of the holy scriptures but also to marke diligently the sence and meaning of the Scripture In Gene. We heare the Lord speaking as is before mencioned Let vs make light and light was made If after the same maner Christ had spoken ouer the bread the matter had bene out of all question Now whoso affirmeth that some one thing is an other thing doth not forthwith commaund the same thing to be made that other thing which he noteth It is one thing to make and an other thing to speake and pronounce Whereof th one is a chaunge of substaunces thother is a chaunge of names onely But Christ now taking here the bread the cupp in his handes doth not commaund that they shonld be made his body bloud but doth dignify the bread and cupp which he tooke in his haÌds by the name of his body onely not chaunging the nature as Theodoret reporteth nor casting away the substaunce of bread and wine as Gelasius affirmeth
in the holy supper of Christ no nor Christ himself but in steéde of Christ must receaue an Idoll in place of bread certein Imaginatiue Signes and Metaphysicall Antyckes I know not what of formes and shapes haÌgyng in the ayre to speake the truth at a word can be partakers of nothyng at all for as much as neither the body of Christ can by any meanes be vpon the earth without the Sacrament and you will acknowledge no such Sacrament of the body to be in the Church after any such sort whenas you exhibite onely to the gaze the body it selfe not to be signified by representation but in very presence to be sensibly embraced and beholden with mens eyes And thus much hitherto of the materiall poynt of this your Sacrifice of the which I think that either neuer any thing may be vttered sufficiently agaynst you or els that we haue now vttered enough in that behalfe It remayneth now that forasmuche as this place ministreth occasion to discourse somewhat vpon this controuersy that we pursue as it were by tracing the track of theÌ all the chiefest bullwarkes of your reasons I meane not yours Osorius which are not worth a Portingall figge but the squibbes of your coapemates wherewith they thinke the creditt of their error safely fortified or with the smoake whereof rather they do dazell the eyes of the simple people euen in the same order as they haue bene produced least that any thing may seéme to haue escaped vs wherein Osorius may cauill that we haue not either garded our defence sufficiently or not vndermined and skattered their argumentes into powder substantially The Reasons of the Aduersaries wherewith they maynteyne their Altars and Sacrifices so Iustelye The Sacrifices of the old law did prefigure the sacrifice of the new Law and of a better Testament Ergo The Church hath her dayly and eternall sacrifice Whereas the Aduersaries do affirme that the Sacrifices of the olde Law did represent a figure of a better sacrifice herein they do erre nothing at all Agayne that the Church hath her dayly Sacrifice we do also confesse But whereas they say that their Sacrifice of the Masse is that Sacrifice this is most false and foolish The Sacrifice of Abell Noah Abraham the Pascall Lambe the Lambe without sports the read heyfer c. did prefigure an other and a more excellent Testament in deéde But all these shadowes were concluded and ended in one onely oblation which being slayne for vs once vpon the crosse hath a certain euerlasting effectualnesse pacifiyng and reconciling And therefore that Apish Sophisme is cutt of by the Rumpe To witt The olde Sacrifices doe represent a figure of a newe sacrifice Ergo The Masse is that Sacrifice of the newe Testament c. The Sacrifices of the olde Testament were not all of one sort for some were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we call propitiatory Agayne some were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which the Latinistes doe call gratulatory To the same our Sacrifices be correspondent but of a farr more speciall perfection For their Propitiatory Sacrifices did signifye Christ slayne for the sinnes of the people Their Gratulatory Sacrifices did testify and eâpresse tokens and significations of gratefull thankefullnesse of mindes Of which sort are many Sacrifices discerneable amongest vs. The preaching of the Gospell and the acceptable oblation of the GeÌtiles Rom. 15. The liuely Sacrifice of our bodyes Rom. 13. The collections of the faythfull for their brethren Phill. 4. Hebr. 13. The Sacrifice of prayse and the calues of lippes in the same Chapter Mortifiyng of the flesh Almes Thankesgeuing The memoriall and thankefull confession of the benefites of Christ which is likewise frequented in the action of the Lordes Supper ¶ An other argument The outward Priesthood doth require an outward Sacrifice Christ did institute an outward Priesthood in the newe Testament Ergo Christ did institute a new Sacrifice in the new Testament In deéd the Church is inuested with her Priesthood and her Sacrifice in the new Testament aswell as it was in the old Testament But we do say that all that Priesthood together with the Sacrifice that is offered for sinnes is altogether resiaunt and accomplished in our one and onely Christ the sonne of the liuing God Whereupon we do acknowledge one onely Priest and one onely oblation not Priestes and Apostles nor the Apostles Successours but Christ and him onely our chiefe and high Preist And this high Priest of ours did institute a Ministery in his Church but not a Priesthood I doe meane such a Priesthood which doth necessarily require a satisfactory Sacrifice as it was in the olde Lawe For this onlye Bushoppe hauing abolished the olde priestehoodd and abandoned the olde Sacrifices doth reigne an euerlasting Priest and gaue himselfe a Sacrifice once and euen one Sacrifice for all so that froÌ henceforth is no neéd at all of any Priest or satisfactory Sacrifice for sinnes for euer In the meane space as I sayd before he left behind him a Ministery established in his Church not such a Ministery as should offer vpp any more Sacrifice for the redemption of sinnes but such a one as should onely apply the preaching of the word the due administratioÌ of the Sacraments namely Baptisme the celebrating of the Lordes supper So that the very Action and Ministery of the Minister doth auayle nothing to the deuiding of Christes Merites abroad through merite meritorious but that euery man may apply himselfe and become capable of those Merites of Christ by the force of his owne proper fayth And this Application or vse of the Lordes supper is called a Memoriall of the passion of Christ as the which doth depend not vpon the merite of him that worketh nor vpon merite meritorious but vpon the faythfull receiuing of the godly by fayth onely An Argument out of Malachy Malachy Cap. 1. In euery place is sacrificed and offered vnto me a pure offering Because my name is great amongest the Gentiles sayth the Lord God of Hoastes In this saying of Malachy three thinges as they say are to be coÌsidered The dissolution of the Synagogue The dissolution of the Leuiticall sacrifices and the institution of a new sacrifice In which new sacrifice is a double property 1. that it come in place of the leuiticall sacrifices 2. that it be offered in all places Which properties cann not be appliable any where but to the Masse onely For first they doe not agree with the spirituall sacrifices of the Christians wherewith God is worshipped with the inward affections of the soule because all these sacrifices be generall vnto vs aswell as they were in the lawe of nature and the law of Moyses Then also they cann not agree with the Leuiticall sacrifices which were not executed euery where but were limited to one place onely No more may they haue any partaking with the sacrifice of the Crosse which was
any such thing at any time no more can you make that iustifiable that you doe now by any approued testimony of the scripture or lawfull example of antiquitye But here will some one vrge agayne what did not Melchizedech offer bread and wine then I doe not deny it was he not a Priest Yes surely and a king also For he was both the king of Salem and the Priest of the most high God But he was not therefore a Priest because he did offer bread wine Nor did he geue bread and wine being a King because he would make a sacrifice thereof No more did he offer his presentes vnto God but vnto Abraham neither yet of any priestly duety but of a kingly magnificence moreouer he did not onely geue giftes which was the poynt of a princely hart but he blessed them also which was part of a priestly function For Priestes are wont to blesse men sometime but they do neuer accustome themselues to offer sacrifice to men The wordes of the History are playne and well knowne Therefore lett vs returne to the very springhead and originall according to the âounsell of Cyprian if it may please you After the olde TraÌslation the wordes be thus Melchizedech King of Salem bringing forth bread and wine for he was the Priest of the highest did blesse him c. Although here be not so muche as a word of Sacrificing Yet in this translatioÌ is no litle difference from the very originall whereas chaunging the copulatiue Hebrue sillable for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it readeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But Moyses expresseth thys sentence after an other sort for he doth vse not the word of Sacrificing but hath Hozia which word what it signifyeth according to the verye naturall proprietye I referre me to the iudgement of the learned After the same maner also doth the chaldean expositor interpret the same And Iosephus an especiall witnesse hereof doth expound it after the same sence For Melchizedech sayth he did Banquet the souldiours of Abraham suffering them to lack nothing necessary for their sustenauÌce and withall inuited Abraham to be a Guest of his owne Table Wherein the courtesy of the King is commended that disdained not to make Abraham a Guest of his owne Table Whereupon you seé that it is most false which they do assume in the Minor touching the oblation of Melchizedech who being both a Pryest and a Type of Christ is not called therefore a Pryest neuerthelesse in the history because he brought forth bread and wine as is declared before But agaynst this is there a strong countermure raysed namely the Authority of the Tridentine councell with a very horrible cursse annexed thundring out after this sort Whosoeuer shall say that the Masse is onely a sacrifyce of prayse and thankesgeuing or a bare memoriall of the Sacrifice performed vpon the Crosse and not a propitiatory sacrifice or that it auayleth to the Receiuer onely and ought not to be offered for the quick and the dead for sinnes for punishmentes satisfactions and other necessityes let him be holdeÌ accursed If he shall be holden accursed whosoeuer shall so say surelye the very same haue all the auncient Deuines before mentioned spoken and affirmed All the Doctors especially of the primitiue Church haue both sayd so and taught so neither did the whole Greéke Church almost teach otherwise not exempting out of the same beadroll all the Apostles of Christ no nor Christ himselfe vnlesse perhappes the Tridentine Lordinges will esteéme themselues to be of greater creditt and authoritye then Christ and the Apostles that so it may be lawfull for them to coyne a newfaÌgled Gospell wherew t Christ his Apostles were neuer acquainted First what the opinion of the doctors is herein hath bene expressely set downe before Surely Christ himselfe and the Apostle Paule do require nothing els in this celebratioÌ but onely a memoriall and an expressing and shewing forth of the Lordes death nor doth seéme to determine vpon any other end of this Sacrament then a remembraunce with a thankesgeuing This do ye sayth Christ in remembraunce of me And Paule deliuering to the Corinthians the same which he receiued of the Lord doth commaund them to shew forth the Lordes death whensoeuer they do celebrate this Supper vntill he come agayne Now I beseéch thee geÌtle reader doost thou heare any thing els in these wordes of Christ and his Apostle then the shewing forth of the Lordes death onely And what els will the Tridentine councell exact of vs Forsooth that we shall agayne and agayne offer the sonne of God for a sacrifice to God the Father for the remission of sinnes world without end a sacrifice I say not sacramentall onely but very propitiatorye which may helpe and be profitable not for the receiuer onely but may procure saluation for the quicke the dead also and wh thought to be offred of very necessity for the ease of punishmentes of satisfactions and of all other miseries afflictioÌs of this present lyfe But by what authority do they proue this where do they finde this of Christ of his Apostles or of any prescript word of Gods gospell No truly I am not of that mind But why do I demauÌd this of theÌ what warrant they haue by the word of God Lett it suffice me rather to admonish theÌ to beware lest through the selfe same Sacrifice wherewith they iudge themselues able to satisfy for their owne and other mens punishmentes and sinnes without all warrant of Gods word yea rather most wickedly requgnaunt to the expresse word of God they procure and heape vpon themselues lust damnation for this their shamelesse and horrible Idolatrye which they shall neuer be able to redeéme with all their massings and Iuggling Sacrifices It might seéme that we had alleadged sufficiently for thys matter and euicted the controuersy throughly if we were not pestered with such brawlers that dyd not delight rather to contend and striue for theyr owne victory then for the glorye of Christ or with such as would be satisfied with any authoritye of scriptures in the discouery of the truth of the question But they being now pressed downe and quyte ouerthrowen with the multitude of testimonies out of the sacred scripture fleé to the testimonies of men As though Diuinity as Tertullian sayth ought to be valued by the deuises of men or that the touchstone should be tryed by the golde and the golde not by the touchstone or that the course of the Sonne should be apportioned after the will of Iohn Clockekeéper and Iohn Clockekeéper not ruled rather by the course of the Sunne And on this wise now our catholicks bend their force with Testimonyes and Consent The Catholicke Churche hath alwayes hitherto from the age of the Apostles ratified those obseruaunces this doctrine of the sacrifice of the Masse whiche it would neuer haue done vnlesse this doctrine had bene agreable with the
conuey ouer by tradicion to the Posteritye afterwardes neither is any question made here whether Christ after he had taken bread and the cupp did say that it was his body and his bloud but whether the bread which the Priest doth offer in his Masse be really and substantially and in trueth of nature the body of Christ which himselfe hath appoynted and ordeyned to be offred in his Church by thapostles and their successors as Priestes of the new Testament for a dayly expiation of sinnes This foule absurdity whereas we and the whole consent of the Scripture doe vtterly deny you ought to haue deliuered cleare from inconuenience which as yet you haue not done out of Irene Although he doe make mention of a new oblation of a new Testament yet this doth not argue notwithstanding that either Christ should be supposed to offer him selfe at his last supper or that the Priest should be imagined to make a dayly Sacrifice in his Masse for sinnes wÌt the selfe same body wherein he suffered his Passion once vpon the Crosse for the sinnes of the world In deéde Irene doth tearme it by the name of an oblation And it is true so is it also many tymes called of many of the auncient Fathers Neither doe we mislyke the word nor yet doe abbridge the ecclesiasticall writers from libertye to frequent their Metaphors and hyperbolicall speéches as lyketh them best Howbeit the Scripture doth not acknowledge any such wordes Neuerthelesse sith it pleaseth them to accustome themselues with such speéches lett them vse this name of oblation a gods name and call this an oblation which we doe call the Eucharist we contend not about words it is the matter it selfe that we stand vpon The auncient Fathers because they seé a Communion instituted in rembraunce of the Lordes Sacrifice doe call it by the name of a Sacrifice by the same reason wherby they doe vsually ascribe vnto signes the names and effectes of the thinges signified These Catholickes on the contrary side doe cry out and exclame that he is an Heretique that will dare to say that the Sacrifice of the Masse is a bare memoriall of the Sacrifice of Christ accomplished vpon the Crosse. Neither thinke this to be sufficient that it be reputed as a memoriall but besides this bare memoriall they proceéde yet to his outrage that they endowe it also with the very power and effectuallnesse of the Lords Sacrifice so that whereas the passion of Christ is the onely meritorious cause of our redemption yet will they shamefully attribute the whole efficacye and operatioÌ of that inestimable benefitt to the Masse and in that respect they dare presumptuously commaund it to be called a sacrifice not a Sacramentall or a memoriall sacrifice but an Expiatory Propietatory sacrifice that I may be so bold to speake their owne tearmes And allthough they doe not deny that all our whole perfection doth proceéde froÌ the onely oblatioÌ of Christ Yet because this perfection is not made so absolutely perfect by the vertue and grace of Baptisme but that after our regeneration by grace we slippe and fail many tymes into many offensiue bypathes in this transitorye lyfe they doe affirme that this Sacrifice of the Church was prouided for a medicine to solue all those soares amperinges out of the fleshe as a restoratiue not onely to them that receaue it but very medictable for the quick for the dead also as though forsooth the merites of Christes bloud could not heale our wouÌdes without this minglemangle of these Satisfactory druggs How trymly this iugglyng doctrine doth agreé with the naturall proportioned squarier of the Scriptures let others Iudge as they liste I for my part that do now then exercise my tyme in the conference readyng of Scriptures auncient writers do verily iudge that these notorious Maximes can not by any meanes be of any importaunce except we plucke vppe our fayth by the rootes and banish cleane away the very sinowes and marrow of the sacred Scriptures For whereas the whole doctrine of Christes Gospell hath established all the treasure and riches of Gods promises yea Christ him selfe wholy withall his deseruyngs in fayth onely what shall remayne theÌ for this Sacrifice but that it represent vnto vs a memory remembraunce of the Lordes death onely and for this cause taketh the denomination of an oblation by the testimony of Irene and others The holy and sacred monumentes of auncieÌt Doctours be full of Testimonies which do playnly declare that the Euchariste is not an oblation properly but is called an Oblation in respect that it is a memoriall of Christes oblation performed once vpon the Crosse. Furthermore as concernyng the application that it is ministred not by any other outward Instrument them by the preachyng of the Gospell of Christ and the dispensation of his Sacramentes and that the benefitt thereof is receaued by none other meane then by force of fayth onely Now therefore let vs first heare Irene as it were expouÌdyng him selfe We doe offer vnto God sayth he the first fruites of his creatures with thankesgeuing He declareth that out of those first fruites of Gods creatures the substauÌce therof was taken which was coÌsecrated into the body bloud of Christ. And in this respect he doth call the whole action of the Minister an oblation And agayne emongest other thynges treatyng of the oblation of the new Testament he willeth vs also to offer a gift at the Altar coÌtinually and dayly Therfore sayth he there is an Altar in heauen and thither must our prayers and oblations be directed c. First if the Church doe offer vnto God a gift of his owne creature I suppose now that ye Catholicke children will not affirme that the Chruch doth offer the Sonne of God then Moreouer if our Altar be in heaueÌ as Irene did truly say to what purpose shall these Altares stand in the Church whenas we are taught to direct the Sacrifices of our supplicatioÌs to the Altar not these stony Altares in the Churches but to that heauenly Altar that is in heauen Moreouer what shall we say to Ambrose who treatyng of Uirginitie was not afrayed to call the Uirgines hartes by the name of Altares in the which Christ was dayly offred And hereunto accordeth the IudgemeÌt of Chrisostome The gift of the Gospell sayth he doth ascend on high without bloud without smoake without an Altar and without other the like c. So also Ierome Euery faythfull person hath an Altar within him selfe which is fayth Augustine likewise The Sacrifice of the new Testament is when we do offer cleane and pure Altares of our hartes in the presence of Gods maiestie And the second Councell of Nyce We Christians do scarsely know what is an Altar and what is an oblation Agreable to the Testimonies before recited is the notable and playne Testimonie of Eusebius We do sacrifice sayth he and do
nor vndertaken of any ranckor or malice nor supported with earthly treasure but to haue bene furthered and encreased by the speciall prouidence of almighty God Neither is it to be doubted if it had bene a pollicy of man onely and not rather the speciall appoyntment of the heauenly Father but that it could neuer haue bene able to haue endured and proceéded in so prosperous a course agaynst your so great and vnmeasurable Tyranny and agaynst so many conspyring confederates of factious furies Which onely successe if the Testimonies of holy scripture can not otherwise preuayle with you and the conduct of Gods mercy which guideth the stearne together with the prophecies and foreshewings which were apparauntly pronounced before the comming of Luther whereof many tokens sent from aboue are mentioned in the Chronicles of the Abbot of vsperge and in the booke entituled Staurosticon Iohannis Frauncisci and Picus Mirandula might haue bene good presidentes vnto you Osorius to instruct you that this Gospell is not the Gospell of Luther of Zuinglius of Bucer nor of Caluine ne yet of men as you prattle and lye but the Gospell of God and that the preachers were not raised vpp by Sathan as your impiety doth blaspheme but sent from an other founder namely the very same who in S. Iohns Reuelation is called by this name the word of God vpon whose Garment and vpon whose thigh is written King of kings and Lord of Lordes Out of whose mouth issueth a sharpe two edged sword agaynst the which neither all the confederate couÌcels of the wicked nor Hell gates themselues shal be able to preuayle But to proceéde of the selfe same stampe is that slaunderous cauillation which this Scourgeluther hath coupled in Rancke Of the continuaunce of thirty yeares of title of prescription of the fiue yeares prosperous Reigne of Queene Elizabeth of the grayheadded auncienty of our doctrine and ReligioÌ Wherein it pleased the hoareheadded Syre of his seémely modesty to trifle most apishly of purpose to represent vnto vs as I suppose that old toothlesse Witch of whom is made mention in a certain Greéke Poett Loe what a dust the old Trotte rayseth with her tayle when she daunceth For what if Uerity Trueth which is called the daughter of time being discouered with a farre more excellent lightsonnesse in these our dayes doe beginne to florish more fresh greéne in a certayn largesse of ouerflowing plenty by the inestimable benefite of God shall it therefore be accompted a newe doctrine in your sight because it is cloathed with flesh colors or because it buddeth out blossomes a fresh and is restored to the auncient beauty will you therefore call it new-hatcht neuer heard of before as though it were neuer seéne nor heard of before thirty yeares sitheÌce what shall we say of Christ who after three dayes lying in graue returned agayne to life froÌ out his Tombe was not he therfore the same Christ wh he was before his death We read in the Apocalips of two Prophetes whose bodyes being throwen out into the streétes did reuiue and came to life agayne after theé dayes and a halfe And after iij. dayes and a halfe sayth he the breath of life was breathed into theÌ by God c. The meanyng whereof cann not be extended any wayes to any thyng els but vnto the doctrine of the Gospell And what if the doctryne of the Gospell of Christ be nowe risen agayne into the open world out of the doungeon of darckenesse and deépe drowned blindenesse wherein it hath bene so long suppressed by you is it not therefore the same Gospell that it was alwayes before What did not Iohn Husse Ierome of Prage and the greater part of all Boheme embrace the same Gospell before Luther was borne was not the same order of Doctrine professed in England many yeares before our dayes in the time of Wiclef Swinderbee Brute and others also and in other places likewise amoÌgest others namely the Valdenses Albingenses with the Grecians Italians Moskouites in Asye in Affricke and in Europe Betengarius Bertrame Peter de Aliaco Iohn Scotus Peter Iohannes William de sancto amore Robert the frenchman whom the hott zealous Pope raked out of his graue and consumed with fire foure hundred yeares agoe Niemus Ioachimus Sauanarola Veselus many others in their time before theyr time with whose goare the bloudy slaughterhowse of the Tyrannous Pope was throughly embrued Did not all these worshipp the same Christ then that we doe professe at this present did they not confesse the same fayth and the same Articles of the Creéde that we do now professe Barnard in his dyscourse of the freé iustification by fayth did he not teach the same doctrine then that Luther hath vttered in writing Augustine disputyng vpon fayth and grace agaynst freé will doth he not treat vpon the same matter that Zuinglius and Caluine doe treat vpon now Of the vse of Sacramentes we haue extaunt with vs long treatises written in the Saxon toung many hundred yeares before those thirty yeares that you speake of witnesses and professours of the same doctrine and fayth which we Englishmen do acknowledge at this present If this be the cause that doth enduce you to thinke that we are entred vpon a new Gospell because we dare shake froÌ our shoulders the yoake of subiectioÌ vsurped by the Papisticall Seé the same did long before our dayes Robert Gostred a maÌ notably learned and famous who beyng Byshop of Lincolne and commaunded by speciall letters from InnoceÌtius the Pope to enduct a certein boy a kinsman of his owne into a Benefice within the Byshopricke of Lincolne being unlearned and unskillfull of the Language did openly resist him and withall did most sharpely inueigh agaynst the Popes detestable prouisions as they call them But why doe I alledge examples of men for the ratifying of the continuaunce of Christes Gospellâ the creditt whereof doth neither depend vpon the maintenaunce of man nor is streighted within any prescription of tyme howsoeuer humaine actions tosse to an fro and neuer persist in any one setled state certes the Gospell of Christ if it be the Gospel of Christ in deede can not be any new or straunge thing nor can haue any other originall or author but Christ himselfe the very sonne of God But whereas in those latter dayes the tongues and mouthes of godly preachers being stopt and shutt vp through terror and Tyranny of the Pope not daring to manifest themselues in the open congregation be now sett at libertye by the bouÌtifull mercy of God and restored to their auncient Freédome shall we therefore accuse the Gospell of innouation or shall we rather embrace this great liberalitye of God with thankfulnes of mindes and geue our dutifull attendaunce vpon the trueth wherefore whereas this Portingall Parrot prateth so much of xxx or xl yeares limitation herein he behaueth himselfe very iniuriously He perceaueth now a new face
that either he recreate his spirites with some other exercize or cease here after do abuse our Gracious Queéne Elizabeth specially with such kinde of trumpery wherein to tell you the truth Osorius you haue lost your labor and cost for you preuayle no whitt thereby as you seé What successe you may haue hereafter we committ vnto the Lord Certes hetherto as yet you may putt all your winninges in your eyes and seé neuer a shine the lesse as the proofe it selfe doth declare And be it say you that I preuayle nothyng herein yet wanted not sufficient testimony of a well wishyng mynde which ought not be vnthankefully taken emongest gratefull and honest personages Of your good meanyng what shall I say which how ready and inclinable it is I do easily perceaue but to what effect I beseéch you For to what other end shall we Iudge it so ready but to procure our most gracious Queéne then whose nature nothyng can be more disposed to lenitie and gentlenes to be sett on fire none otherwise then as it were some flamyng firebrand contrary to the naturall disposition engraueÌ within her royall brest by the finger of God to seéke the spoyle of her natiue Countrey with cruelty tormentes and destruction of her subiectes by fier and fagottes like vnto the furious persecutions and madde outrage executed in the tyme of her sister Queéne Mary For what better successe could haue bene hoped for out of those wicked mischieuous counsell of yours for lett vs suppose and imagine in our conceiptes which yet her most excellent Maiestie could neuer haue suffred to haue entred in her thought that you might haue preuailed and obteined your purpose or at least as much as you hoped for what then Could you conceaue in your mynde that the matter had bene accomplished forthwith assoone as you had entred into the Castell of fauour as though her Maiestie alone be the onely enemy to the Pope within this her dominion Beleéue not so O Solon and hereof assure your selfe that there is within this litle Island a greater nomber by many thousandes more then any man would Iudge that will rather yeld their carâasses to tortures then suffer theÌ selues to be defiled with the marke of that Beast And what thinke you will become then of the rest of the multitude whose consciences are not yet fully settled of whom there is an infinite nouÌber within this Realme you will say that the Prince must vse force force them to fagotte that will not obay Is this the couÌsell you geue to a Queéne Herein forsooth we poore wretched Englishmen are very much beholdyng vnto your sweéte Fatherhood for your gentle reward But what if fayth will not be forced yea what if it can not be brought to yeld what if her highnes it selfe be not Queéne ouer consciences nor any worldly creature els for fayth wil be enstructed can not constrayned I say also moreouer it can not be vanquished by death but euen then rather it triumpheth most And although it may lose lyfe in this world yet will it neuer yeld to earthly creature but to God and his truth Wherefore in as much as this your whole discourse which you prosecute so earnestly is of this condition that it doth no more concerne any Christian Prince whatsoeuer then the subiectes of his Realme for what is more agreable with the maners of the people then Fayth and Religion If you haue determined with your selfe to bestow any further trauaile in the like cause by word or by writyng I iudge it best and withall do aduise you that you trouble not her Maiesty from henceforth with any such matter but proclayme forth your challenge agaynst the Byshops rather agaynst the Doctours and Deuines finally agaynst the subiectes of England and the consciences of the people whom if you be able to enduce with force of firme doctrine and pytthe of substaunciall Arguments to the direction of their consciences you shall shewe your selfe herein a very honest man But then must you frame vs some other kynde of bookes and other maner of letters For the bookes that we haue hitherto receaued from you are such kinde of ware as neither delighte the Queénes grace nor like well the subiectes For this cause therefore my good Lord Ierome I do the more willingly aduize you not to cease wrytyng henceforth Nay rather write on a Gods name paynte on deuise on and coyne on as much as ye list I will not lett you For so long shall it be lawfull for you to haue will to endite vntill at the last it will not onely repente you of the losse of your labour but withall make you ashamed of so much good tyme so wickedly employed And therefore take me not as though I would wishe you to surcease from writyng to throwe away your penne but rather I wish you to write and to endyte vntill you be hoarse withall Hereof neuerthelesse I warâe you before that vnlesse you mainteyne the quarrell that you haue vndertaken with better furniture you shall both come to late as I sayd and lose your labour also For what doe you thinke to gayne in this cause of Religion wherein if you hadd none other aduersary yet the Lord him selfe doth warre agaynst you with the very breathe of his mouth the whole Scriptures fight agaynst you and the authoritie of auncient Fathers haue bent their force to ouerthrow you Your purpose was to pleade for the Popes proper Chayre But he is quite abandonned not out of our Churches onely but much further banished out of mens consciences nor can possibly by mans pollicy be restored to the possession of Christian consciences in despight of Gods word It is the Lord who hath by his deuine Inspiration cast a darkened cloud ouer this proude Prelates Chayre which all Portingall can not bryng to light agayne though it lighten all the Tapers torches and waxe lightes in Portingall when the Sunne is at the highest But Osorius vpoÌ confidence of his Rhetoricke doth dreame vpoÌ some dry Sommer nothyng mistrustyng his Tackle as it seémeth which shal be more stronger then any Cable or Anker but that he shall be able to enduce our most Souereigne Lady Elizabeth to like well with his Request at the leÌgth maugre the bearde of thousand Haddones for after this maner writyng agaynst Haddon he sayth What sayth he doe you suppose that her witte is so rude and so vnciuill when I shall haue discouered the practizes and coÌspiracies of treacherous traytours by inuincible Argumentes and Reasons clearer then the Sunne in mydday when I shall paynte out vnto her view eueÌ before her eyes the mischieuous filthynes and wickednesse of this new fangled Religion when by manifest proofe I shall make euident the foolish and illfauored scatteryng Reasons of these heretiques wherewith they attempt the maintenaunce of their cause that she will rather allowe of that most pestilent opinion coupled with vnauoydeable perill of her
the world nor haue forged more shamelesse lyes tourning now his Typpett about doth beginne to doe as many men wont to doe which through malice haue wounded any one greuously on the headd will thinke to salue the iniury agayne with puttyng the cappe on the headd and telling him a mery tale of Robin Hoodde Semblably Osorius hauing well whett his owne humor vpoÌ reproches and slaunders being otherwise vnsatiable with any cursed speaking outragiously raging in all manner of filthynesse agaynst them whom he doth not know hauyng discharged his stomake of the very gall of his Melancholy doth now endeuor to perswade thereunto pledgeth his faith with soleÌne protestation that all his wordes and deédes before were not procured of any prouocation of hatred or malice but proceaded froÌ very pure loue of godly affection and from most hartye desire of our safetye Well theÌ Sithence you will haue it so Osorius because you make so solemne a protestation we doe beleéue your oath that you did write this vnfaynedly with all your hart not of any malice at all but simply of a very Catholicke zeale and charitie But yet we can not but maruell much what kinde of Charity this may be that rageth so cruelly gnaweth skrapeth and roumbleth so pestiferously howbeit we doe not deny but that charitye is sometyme moued with choler and hath her proper chydings and chastisements according to the misticall Sonett of the Prophett The Righteous man shall smite me freÌdly and reproue me but the precious balmes of the vngodly shall not breake my headd But to forge manyfest lyes agaynst them that you know not to beare false wittnes agaynst your neyghbors to rayle with most reprochefull blasphemies agaynst the TestameÌt of the lyuing God to teach Princes to rage agaynst their Subiectes is this a poynt of Charitye or an euident badge of that horrible hellhounde which is a lyer and a manqueller froÌ the beginning But there is no neéde now to rippe vpp a freshe rehearsall of those vnmeasurable and incredible lyes slaunders and blasphemies wherewith this your volume is fully fraught and stuft euery where But this in the meane space doth seéme to carry a wonderfull shew of marueilous Charity Whereas he affirmeth that he will willingly lose his life for our sauety To contemne death boldely in wordes is a very common practise in many meÌ and to make stought bragges of vndaunted courage especially when no perill is in place So seémed Peter chearefully willing to dye for his Lord and Maister whiles all thinges were calme no Ieoperdy thought vpon which foreward stomake neuerthelesse immediately vpoÌ the sight of present perill vanished away into flatt deniall of his Master But thanked be God there is no cause why you should offer any such hassard of life in our behalfes good Syr. For as concerning the safety of our soules we are well assured is firmely grounded vpon an vnpenetrable rocke not vpon your death which can auayle vs nothing at all but vpon the death of the sonne of the liuing Lord. Therefore if the care that you take for our saluation you will employe diligently for your owne preseruation you shall in my iudgement so much the better prouide for your selfe by how much you be now more farther of and more daungerously distaunt from the right rule and course of the truth For if according to your Rhethorick the way for vs to saluation to the hope of eternall felicity be none otherwise open then being atchiued by godly actions and excellent integrity of lyfe And if thys be the onely righteousnesse as you say wherewith the fauour of God is procured to mankynde Pag. 142. Then what doth this your doctrine emport els theÌ to forclose you vs both froÌ all passable way to heaueÌly inheritaunce for where shall we finde that excellency of integritye where shall we finde that absolute righteousnesse whereof you bragge so much which in equall ballaunce is able to counteruayle the iudgement of God Surely not in England you will say nor in any common weale of the Lutherans who do set theyr foote on no ground but that they do infect the same with all stench and abhominable contagion Emongest the Portingalls therfore hope I where a man may be bolde to say be no hedgcreépers men but Golden Aungelles flying abroad Truly that is well And how commeth it to passe then that emongest those Aungelles so many of all sortes men and weomen be daylye seéne in your publique assemblies to scourge and teare their naked carkasses with greéuous whipps and bloody lashes I would fayne learne of you whether they doe it for any theyr good deédes or els for their offences and sinnes What meaneth Osorius himselfe in this that he so holy a Father doth so often roonne to reitterate confessions lett him aunswere at his best leisure whether he confesse his good deédes or his wicked Wherefore if neither this reuerend Byshopp so curious a carper of other mens faultes is able to behaue himselfe so precisely but that he must fleé dayly with vs to the mercy seate and compassion of God where be then these glorious crakes of integrity or whyther will your integrity absolute perfection addresse vs to seéke out this superexcellent excellency that you boast vpon so much Peraduenture to Platoes common weale or to Moores Vtopia or els to the goodly fieldes in hell whereof the Poets make mention for without question it can not possibly be found any where in this common course of vniuersall imbecillity of nature But euen as it is reported that Xenophon the wise Philosopher of Athenes did in the describing of the famous vertues of Cyrus imagine him to be not such a one as he was in deéde but such a one as he ought to haue bene and to haue expressed his wished and harty desire rather then any true description of the Prince according to the very nature of a description historicall So do I suppose that Osorius hath a will to teach vs not so much what we be but what we ought to be and so purposed in his mind to make a proofe of the force of his eloquence what it were able to doe in the extolling the prayse and commendation of vertue And hereof who can either be ignoraunt or doubtfull that all our actions and course of life ought to excell in such a perfection that there neéded no supply to be required to absolute and Angelicke integrity the which neither the Prophane Philosophers before the birth of Christ neither the Pharises had any feéling of without Christ no more did they expresse the same in the dutifull affayres of their life who being altogether estraunged from the knowledge of Christian Religion were neuerthelesse not ignoraunt hereof that all mans felicity consisted wholy in vertue onely and ciuill direction of life and that it was vertue onely which alone could make a passable way for godly minds to attayne euerlasting felicity the likelihood
stricken downe and confounded with the remembraunce of theyr owne sinnes vnto whom chiefly appertayneth the comfortable promise of fayth how can it be possible that this serious and earnest repentaunce cann conceiue any pleasure or delight in horrible wickednesse And yet out of this so manifestly false forged slaunder Osorius hath clowted vpp the remnaunt of all his patcheryes And from hence forsooth are all those so manye huge Tempestes Lightenynges and Thunderboltes so many outragious exclamations tragedies and earthquakes raysed vpp agaynst the poore abiect Lutheranes no lesse vnsauory then shamelesse Wherefore I was so much the more desirous to aduertyze the godly zealous youth that they would not suffer them selues to be entangled by any meanes with the flattering fawning of Osorius bookes and that they behaue themselues with discrete moderation in the reading of them least as the SerpeÌt did once beguyle Eue they also may be carryed away from the pure simplicity which is in Christ Iesu. God did not in vayne send his sonne into the world nor in vayne did he geue that especiall commaundement that we should harken vnto him Moreouer not in vayne lykewise dyd the Sonne himselfe descending from out the bosome of his Father take vpon him to proclaime the fathers will out of heauen If petitions proceéding from harty inward and most pure loâe if most excellent and vndefiled prayers if most commendable conuersation of life in all kinde of vertue might haue auayled to the attaynment of perfection of saluation I seé no cause to the coÌtrary why the heauenly Father might haue taken away that bitter Cupp of heauy displeasure out of the haÌd of this Sonne But our woundes could not otherwise be healed but by the death deadly wouÌdes of the Sonne The wound was farr more deépe and deadly then could be curable by any pollicy power treasure workes or actions of men Briefly when Osorius hath spoken of and aduaunced iustice and most excelleÌt integrity of life with all the skill that he cann Yet shall he neuer be able to bring to passe the contrary but that the song which we dayly sing vnto Christ shal be an vnuanquishable trueth Thou onely art holy Out of the which what thinke you may be gathered els but that all other creatures whatsoeuer adorned with neuer so plausible opinion of holynes be neuerthelesse vncleane and defiled in the sight of God And yet do we not hereby derogate one hearebredth so much from the grace of God whose riches and treasure we do confesse to be vnspeakeable and dispersed ouer the face of the whole earth Notwithstanding we do also as boldly professe that this grace wherein doth coÌsist the highest honour of most perfect obedience did neuer happen to any nor was euer geuen to any but vnto Christ alone But what neéde any more CircumstauÌce I will vrge one Reason agaynst Osorius and so make an end What one prayer can be more holy or knitt vpp in fewer wordes then the Lordes prayer Herein I do appeale to his conscience Let him pronounce the same one prayer vnto God in such sort that he be not faulty in some respect nor swarue in thought any where froÌ that absolute perfection of righteousnesse whereupon he doth bragg so much with such an vnremoueable conuersion of mynde to Godward and in so humble an abacement of himselfe and with so dutyfull a reuerence as is beseémyng so vnspeakeable a Maiesty And I wyll yeld him the victory I do most hartely desire and wish vnto the learned Reader and to all other the elect Saynctes of God whosoeuer do professe the name and weare the badge of Christ Iesu that departing from iniquity and gathering all together into one vniforme agreément of sincere doctrine by thenlightening and inspiratioÌ of the holyghost we may be all together receiued into that heauenly Ierusalem and into that kingdome of immortall glory and eternall felicity which shall neuer haue end not for the workes of righteousnesse which we haue done but for the loue of our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ who suffered death for our sinnes and rose agayne for our Iustification Amen AT LONDON Printed by Iohn Daye dwellyng ouer Aldersgate Cum Gratia Priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis Anno. 1581. Iohn 7. Apoca. 17. Emanuell Dalmada a Portingall Byshop of Angrence Thomâ Wilson Osorius beginneth with a double excuse Emanuell Byshop of Angrence in Portingall a Popish Inquisitour Two causes shewed by Osorius why hee writeth agaynst M. Haddog The second part of the excuse of Osorius Rom. 2. The name of a priuate persoÌ what it signifieth Plautus in milite glorioso Syr Thom More Iohn Fisher Byshop of Rochester More and Rochester rightly coÌuicted and condemned for traytors by the law Osorius is writing to our Quene vnder pretence of charitie goodwill couereth extreme hatred against true Religion True charitie is sooner preteÌsed in wordes theÌ truely performed in deedes Cicer. Orat. in Lucium Pisonem Cicer. Phillip 2. in AnthoniuÌ In SalustiuÌ Cod. de proba lib. ãâã Osor. pag. 8. Osorius coÌplaineth of subuertyng Religion in England Nonnes Images of Saintes Picture of the Crosse. Auncient ceremonies of the Romane Church The words of M. Haddon cited by Osorius Cicer. in Anthon Phil. 2 Osor. pag. 9 Osor. pag. 9. b. Osorius maketh Bugge beares and fighteth with shadowes Osor. pag. 9. b. Luther falsely accused Luther to be take whole and not by pecces Osor. pag. 10. The cauilling of Osorius vpon wordes and sillables Perpessa Persparsa Psal. 119. Two soule abuses noted in Osorius his Religion Trust in Popish pardoÌs vayne and wicked Osorius agaynst hym selfe Osorius cauilleth about the word of lead Synechdoche Metonymia The Bishop of AngreÌce One Church Apoc. 1. One Monarchie Liuius 3. Decad. Polycrates Phalereus Dionysius Apoc. 21. 22. Luce. 4. ex Esaia Ad Heb. 10 Timoth. 1. Luce. 9. Mar. 6. Math. 9. Touchyng supremacie of Peter his successours Marg. 9. Iohan 6. Aug. Retra Cap. 11. Chrisost. in Hom. Penthec To. 3. Hillar de Trim. lib 6. Cipr. Epist. 3. Orig. in Math. Cap. 16. Gregor 1. Distinct. 10. ConsideraÌdum Math. 18. Luc. 22. Amongest the Apostles no singular power geuen to any one more then all the rest Iohan. 17. Iohan. 17. Orig. in Math. Cap. 16. Augustin de Agone Christi Math. 16. Gal. 2. Petri Epist. 1. Cap. vlt. Act. Cap. 1. 2.5 Act. Cap. 15. The priuiledge of the person reacheth no further theÌ the partie him selfe vnlesse it be limited by name Math. 16. Galat. 2. Iohan. 3. Iohan. 4. Iero. and Euagr. Cypri ad Simplic Osorius pag. 17. Osorius ibidem Ibidem Sueto in the lyfe of xiâ Emperours Platina de vitis Pontificum Grego in Epist. ad Mauri lib. 4 Epist. 32. Grego in Epist. 30.50 36. Cant. 2. Osor. pag. 17. Act. of the Apost the 5.15 Chap. Osorius pag. 18. b. Ad Thessa. 2. Cap. 2. Osorius pag. 18. b. pag. 19. pag. 19. Alphonsus de Castro contra haeret lib. 4. Cap. 4. pag. 19. Osori
Sacrament of bread and wine is called the body and bloud of Christ. August to Boniface 13. Episto August vppon the psalme 89. August agaynst Adimant 13. The circumstaunces about the Supper of the Lord are to be considered August vpon the wordes of the Lord in Lake Ser. 33. August in Ioh. tractar 25.26 The abseÌce of the body of Christ more profitable for vstheÌ his presence An Argument in respect of the profit therof Antichrist An argument from Impossibilitye Contradictiories cann not be together not so much as by miracle A great diuersitie betwixt the auncient Church of Rome and this vpstart Church The lynes and couersatioÌ of the auncieÌt Fathers of the primitiue Church The first age of the Church Deut. 12. Gala. 1. Math. 7. In processe of time the maners and ordinaunce of ChristiaÌs were chauÌged The middle age of the Church How sure forth humayne authoritye doth binde Ecclesiasticall function consisteth in two thinges chiefly How farre ecclesiasticall power doth extend it selfe In matters appertayning vnto God dew obedience ought to be geuen to the Pastors and Ministers How farre forth obedieÌce ought to be geuen or not geueÌ to Pastours of the churche in matters of mens constitutioÌ What ministers ought to consider in makyng new ordinaunces Of iudiciall power of Churches The difference betwixt Ecclesiasticall temporall IudgemeÌts Ecclesiasticall discipline in the primitiue Church The first institution of the primitiue church compared with the tymes of the latter Church The foundation of the christiaÌ Church The foundation of the Romyshe Church The Popes doctrine coÌuinced by foure principall pointes The popes Church more like an earthly kyngdome then the kyngdome of Christ. A smale discription of the Romishe Ierarchye A comparison betwixt the kingdome of the Pope and the kingdome of this world Iohn 20. A comparison betwixt the popes kyngdome and Christs kyngdome Luke 20. Mar. 10. Luce. 12. 2. Cor. 10. 1. Cor. 4. 2. Cor. 1. 1. Pet. 5. Rom. 12. The shape of the Romish Ierarchy The counteâfaite authoritie of popes The church wickedly defined by the papistes How the Romishe stagers doe counterfayt olde Antiquitye A manifest declaration of the Romish church as it is now to be nothing at all Gregor 4. booke 30. Epistle The order of Cardinalles The electioÌ of the pope of Rome Cyprian 4. booke Epistle 2. The auncient authoritie of Emperours in sommoning Councelles and in chusing popes A Decree of Charles the great Otto Distinct 6 3. The olde Canons do abhorre priuate Masses Canon 8. The power of both swords coÌtrary to the old CanoÌs The thyrd CouÌcell of Carthage Cap. 47. In the new Constitutions 123. 146. Cap. 3. Antiquitie agaynst Images in Churches Origene vpon Leuit. Cap. 16. Chrisost. vpon Math. 1. Homel 2. Vpon Iohn Homel 31. August de opera Monach Malburiensis de pontificibus Lib. 1. An auncieÌt law of EnglaÌd against pluralities All thynges altered by the pope Out of the Tridentine Councell Generall Councels accordyng to the old constitutioÌs aboue the pope The Church of Rome as it is now is conuinced of Nouelty The Councell of Laterane A new doctrine first instituted in the same vnder Pope Innocent 3. Cap. 1. Of the sacrifice of the Masse Of priuate confession The Laterane councell vnder Innocent 3. Cap. 21. Chrisost. in his fourth Sermon of Lazarus Chrisost. vp on the psal 50. hom 2. Chriso vpon the Epistle to the Hebrues homi 31. Tripart histo lib. 9 Cap. 35. Erasmus iu his Apolo The Sacraments of the Romish Church Out of Huntington the 7. booke Out of the Chronicles of Monumetensis Councell of Gangren Cap. 4. Out of the 2. councel of Arelaten 2. cap. Pope Lucius decree distinâ 81. Ministri The greatest part of the Romish doctrine newly fouÌd out and brought in within thâs 500. yeares Apoc. 21. Trueth suffereth violence A figure called Hypotiposis Whereby the state of the RomaÌs Church and the Reformed Churche is expressed In the question of the Churche many things are conteined People buildyng doctrine forme of gouernement Where the Churche of Lutheranes was fourtie yeares ago A Similitude betwixt the restitutioÌ of Religion the finest of the tounges Reason reÌdered why Religion is more pure at this tyme in the Churches then it was in many yeares before The Arte of Emprintyng The reason and obiection of the Catholicks in the defeÌce of their Church Probable with Deuines Rome built vpon seuen hilles Apocal. 13. The reason of the papistes touchyng the consent and proofe of their vniuersalitie The captious conclusion of the Catholicks The aunswere to the Argument Distinct. 40. Non loca Distinct. 4. Non est A fallax in the Equiuocum which is of diuers significations The Rom. Church doth combate against the true Church of Christ vnder a coulour of christian name Origen vpon Mathew cap. 17. Irene 3. book cap. 4. The trueth is the life of the church Lactant. 5. institu cap. 30. ArgumeÌtes made from consent and multitude of authors are weake Math. 10. Eccle. 1. Ieremy 8. Osorious accusation which was properly bent against Doctrine is transposed to maners To what end tendeth the force of Osorius Accusation Osorius doth deny that Luthers doctrine hath any affinitye with the Apostolique Scriptures Pag. 181. Osor. pag. 182. Osorius lying Rhetorick The Argument of Osorius The Aunswere to the Argument Osorius quarell of lyfe and maners Tit. 1. Ill may the Snight the Woodcock twight for his long bill The lyfe of the Lutheranes compared with the Catholickes The vices of maners are not to be imputed to his doctrine The fruites of Luthres doctrine Osor pag. 182. The confutation of hisl aunder Artic. 21. The scoffe of Luthers doctrine Luther offeÌded with the life of his countrey men Osor. pag. 187. Deut. 18. The argument of Osorius 1. Kinges Act. 1â A true difference betwixt the false and the true Prophett Luther vpon the 130. Psalme Mens iudgemeÌts in findyng faulte may be free so that they be vpright Out of Valer Ansel. Iohn Stella Out of BeÌuo a Cardinall Of couenauntes and promises not alwayes holden true emoÌgest the papistes Iere. cap. 23. Osorius argument out of Ieremy Aunswere to the argument The fallax of the consequent The aunswere to the Maior The reason to discerne betwixt false and true Prophetes accordyng to Osorius The aunswere of the Minor Osori pag. 190. The place of Ieremy expounded Iohn Husse The prophecy of Iohn Husse touchyng the doctrine of the Gospell to be restored by Luther A small coÌtrouersy betwixt Luther and Zuinglius Osor. pag. 191. Of diuisioÌs of the churche Dissentions in the Papane church Dissentions amoÌgst the most godly A full consent of doctrine in reformatioÌ of Churches The Articles of the chief grouÌdes of Religion wherin the Ministers of the Church do well agree together How great a concord is ctetwixt many Churches in the matter of the Sacrament Papistes murtherers of Martyrs Osori pag. 192. Osori doth beleue fame Authour of all his vntruthes A prouerbe
any thyng if you shall thinke that it ought not to be accoÌpted in any respect a partener in workyng a good worke For auÌswere wherof I would wishe you to harkeÌ not to the wordes that I speake but vnto Augustine It is most true Osori that whatsoeuer good worke is wrought by vs the prayse thereof ought to redounde wholy not to our Freewill but to Gods grace which performeth all whatsoeuer is performed by vs godly and worthy prayse For that is it that the wordes of Augustine emporte that true and humble confession doth require in vs. That is to say That we referre all vnto God And yet this grace of God doth not so worke all that whiche is proper to it selfe by her selfe onely as workyng in vs without our Freewill And agayne it neither worketh so together with our Freewill that any portion of prayse or rewarde should bee ascribed to Freewill for any of all whatsoeuer is due vnto God And therefore where as Augustine in his booke De gratia libero arbitâ both affirme that neither grace without Freewill nor Freewill without grace is sufficient We do confesse both to be true for either of them worketh with the other I coÌfesse it but yet after a certeine seuerall sort For the Grace of God worketh when it helpeth mans Freewill yet it worketh in such wise as that it is neuer wrought by an other it doth so helpe Freewill as beyng neuer holpen by Freewill Furthermore it doth so helpe but that it is alwayes freé not to helpe if it will In fine wheÌas Gods grace doth worke most effectually by helpyng maÌs will yet worketh it not so with maÌs Freewill as staÌdyng in neéde of the helpe of Freewill by any meanes but rather vsing the seruice therof But the state of Freewill is farre otherwise For Freewill worketh together with Gods spirite not as commaundyng his seruice at any tyme but alwayes wantyng his assistaunce In the one wherof you perceaue the efficacie of the cause that worketh in the other the seruice onely of the Instrument Moreouer when will doth worke most effectually Gods grace directyng it yea and freély bycause it worketh voluntaryly yet doth it neuer attempt any good thyng of her selfe without the directioÌ of grace neither by any meanes otherwise then as it is holpen but neuer helpeth grace by which it is both wrought and holpen Yea and then also when it is wrought it so worketh that it can not chuse but worke of very necessitie Euen as Seruauntes in respect of their birth are freé but beyng commauÌded by their Maisters whom they be bounde vnto they must obey whether will they nill they of very Necessitie In like maner fareth it with mens Freewilles albeit they stand in such plight as that they be alwayes carried with freé motioÌ that is to say with voluntary motion to the thynges whatsoeuer they do yet is it so farre of to be able enough of their owne power to prosecute their purposed imaginations as they would wishe them selues that many tymes they are withdrawen agaynst their willes from executyng the mischief whiche they conceaued Agayne to do good deédes they are so the Seruauntes of grace that when they are drawen they can not chuse but obey of very necessitie What neéde examples in matter most apparauÌt How ofteÌ and how many doe we finde that purpose many thynges in their myndes which notwithstandyng come to a farre other maner of end then they were deuised for beyng quite ouerthrowen by the onely countermaunde of almightie God As appeareth in Balaam and the brothers of Ioseph of whom the first was barred from speakyng that which he determined the other from executyng their deuises by the wonderfull prouidence of God It would be to much to recite all the exaÌples meÌtioned in the scriptures to this effect as Pharao Sennacherib Hamman Antiochus Herode the Pharisees Iulian and innumerable others of the same sorte whose Freewill beyng wonderfully interrupted euen amiddes their chiefest practizes was neither able to do any good thyng well nor yet accomplishe the euill that they had imagined accordyng to their determinate purpose It shall suffice to produce one or two examples whereby it may make both euideÌtly appeare how that it neither resteth in the choyse of maÌ to proceéde in euill doyng after his owne will nor to leaue of froÌ doyng well beyng drawen by Gods Spirite Saule breathyng forth as yet slaughter threatenynges whenas he persequuted the ChristiaÌs with wholy bent affection of Freewill what crueltie would he haue executed if he could haue brought to passe the deuise which he had throughly determined in mynde And why could hee not doe it But bycause there is no freédome in mans Freewill of it selfe euen in workyng wickednesse but such as beyng hindered many tymes alwayes bonde must be enforced to acknowledge her owne weakenesse on euery side Let vs couple with Paule the Apostle Peter that we may learne in theÌ both how that we are not able of our selues either to frame our lyues altogether to wickednesse or to direct the same sometyme to godlynesse And first touchyng Saules wicked will in his most wicked enterprises how litle it auayled hath bene declared already Let vs now behold Peters fayth not by what meanes he receaued it at the first but let vs seé what his fleshly will was able to doe to the vttermost of his power either in refusing fayth when it was geuen him or in forsakyng it when he was holpen UpoÌ which matter let vs geaue care to the testimonie of Augustine When it was sayd vnto Peter sayth hee Peter I haue prayed for thee that thy fayth may not fainte Darest thou presume to say that ` Peters fayth should haue fayled though Peter him selfe would haue wished it to haue fayled considering that Christ prayed that Peters faith might not fayle as though Peter would haue willed any thing elles then as Christ had prayed for him that hee should will Whereupon appeareth that Peters faith did not depend so much vpon his owne will is vpon the prayer of Christ who did both helpe his faith and direct his will And bycause his will was directed of the Lord therfore could not the prayer made for him be vneffectuall And therfore when hee prayed that his faith might not fayle what prayed hee for els but that he might bee endued with a most free most valiaunt vnuanquishable and most perdurable will in the faith Thus much Augustine And therfore Ieremie the Prophet cryeng out vnto the Lord most worthely I know O Lord sayth he that the way of maÌ is not in him selfe neither is it in man to walke and to direct his owne steppes Whiche wordes me seémeth that Luther did note not altogether vndiscretely whose wordes if I would here set downe I can not seé which part therof Osorius would be able to confute For in this sorte doth Luther argue If mans way mans
steppes be not at his owne disposition how shall the way of the Lord the pathes of the Lord be at mans direction And hereupon deriuyng an Argument a Comparatis as they tearme it in Schooles addeth forthwith how then is maÌ able to dispose him selfe to good whenas he is not able of him selfe to make his wayes euill For otherwise if he be able how then did the Prophet say that he knew that mans way was not in him selfe or how is it that in the 16. of his booke of Prouerbes the wise Kyng beyng enspired with the same Spirite confesseth that he knew as he testified The hart of man sayth he purposeth his way but the Lord doth direct his steppes Albeit this is not spoken to this end as though we did affirme that maÌs will is no wayes freé towardes wicked thynges for who knoweth not how frayle and prone the disposition of maÌs will is alwayes to catch hold of euill though from doyng therof it be many tymes hindered The comparison tendeth to this ende onely that if mans Freewill beyng hindered and bonde seéme many tymes lesse freé to put in executioÌ euill thynges how much lesse freédome thinke you doth it enioy towardes the thynges that further vnto godlynesse for as much therfore as this appeareth to bee most true by the euident testimonies of the Scriptures and experimented by the continuall course of mens actions and conuersations Let vs heare what Osorius doth obiect agaynst Haddon But I say thus that all good men all godly men all men most endued with heauenly giftes doe testifie that in this sentence of thine lurketh haynous wickednesse vnshamefast impudencie detestable maddnesse and most execrable treacherie Unlesse your so manifold lyes hetherto dispersed abroad and as it were clouted together in one lumpe vnlesse your shamelesse face Osorius and that your impudent vsage in lyeng and blaunching your monstruous vanitie the lyke wherof can scarse possibly be founde in any writer surely more monstrous in no man had long sithence disabled all the substaunce and credite of your talke in the IudgemeÌt of all good and godly men you might happely haue founde some one which would haue soothed this your coÌmunicatioÌ But now hauyng vttered scarse one true Sentence throughout all this worke of yours with what countenaunce and with what face dare ye speake in this wise But I say this c. And what doth this famous speaker tell vs at the length I do say this that in this senteÌce of Luther Melancthon and Caluine lurketh haynous wickednesse vnshamefast impudencie detestable maddnesse and most execrable outrage Goe foreward then and tell vs first without a lye if you can I pray you what they haue vttered in their wordes Forsooth bycause they stand stiffely herein that mans mynde is alwayes holden captiue his will fast chayned dispoyled of all abilitie to doe in so much that we can neither doe good nor euill no nor thinke any good thought by any meanes Finally this is the effect of their opinion that there is no difference betwixt vs and any other toole or instrument c. Truely I should haue marueiled much Osorius if that lyeng spirite in your mouth if your wicked lippes deceitfull toung could haue vttered any thyng vnto vs without a lye or haue made a lyÌe without raylyng Yea Syr Is the winde in that doore who that assigneth freé and voluntary power to doe good not in our owne will but in Gods grace who that ascribeth all our actions especially these which be godly to the direction and disposition of God who that affirmeth that our will is neither freé of it selfe without Gods Grace and that it doth nothyng els but sinne deadly when it worketh after disposition of her owne nature doth he so dispoyle man naked altogether of all will as though it could doe nothyng at all or purpose nothyng at all or as though he made no difference betwixt man and any other instrument or toole who that endeuoureth to proue manifestly by the Scriptures this thyng chiefly that all the thoughtes of mans hart and all his senses alwayes are prone and inclined at all tymes to wickednesse doth hee seéme to affirme that man is voyde of all feélyng of thought Tell a good fellowshyppe the man that doth that which is in his owne power or the man doyng that whiche is in his owne power doth nothyng els but sinne doth this man now nothyng at all whiles he sinneth or whiles he imagineth mischief doth he imagine nothyng at all And how then I pray you doth Luther spoyle men of their will or how is hee reported to bynde mans will fast in euerlastyng chaynes in such wise as that it can not onely not doe but also not thinke any good or euill But Luther doth deny that it resteth in mans Freewill to make his wayes euill And what inconuenience is there in this sentence if the meanyng therof be taken in the right sense as it ought to be Truely if our wayes either good or badd were simply and absolutely at our owne disposition how is it that the Scripture teacheth that mans steppes are directed or how is it that the Prophet doth deny mans way to be his owne or how read we in the holy Prouerbes That when maÌ hath prepared his hart most yet it is the Lord that gouerneth the toung How often doe we finde the old Prouerbe to proue true that man doth purpose one way and God doth dispose an other way How rife are the examples of some persons which with halter in hand and knife ready bent to dispatch them selues of their wretched liues or whiche haue practized to drowne them selues haue not accomplished the wicked fact that they deuised euen then when they were most willyng thereto Surely Gods diuine prouidence doth wonderfully dally with mans thoughtes and imaginations deludyng ouerthrowyng makyng frustrate transposing beyond all expectation of man the thynges which we haue most firmely determined And what freédome is this at the length whiche is alwayes constrained to serue at an others appointement the strongest force wherof beyng many tymes hindered must alwayes depende vpon the permission and commaundement of the hygher power whiche thyng Augustine doth very well declare All willes are subiect sayth he to the will of God bycause they haue no power but such as hee graunteth The cause therfore that maketh this and is not made is God other causes doe both make and are made as are all created Spirites but chiefly such as are endued with reason And agayne Our willes are so farre able by how much God would haue them to bee able and foreknew it And therfore in what soeuer abilitie they stand they are vndoubtedly able and what soeuer they shall doe they shall surely do bycause he did foreknown that they should be able and should do whose foreknowledge can not be deceaued c. And agayne in an other place Neither is it to be