〈◊〉 his sowing you may see Ovid. Mâ—…tam lib. 3. Iudic. 7. the Madianites and Amalekites in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the people of God builders of the tower of Babell accusers of châ—…st Susanna for they are not onely different and devided from the generall body of Catholikes in Christendome with whom they were vâ—…ited 〈◊〉 but amongst themselves they have implacable warres G. ABBOT 4. IN your whole booke you raunge froÌ„ the truth but heere not the least of all There are some fewe pointes in differencâ—… betweene the Professours of the Gospell but you hartily coulde wish that there were more eveÌ„ as an ancient Romane the more to satisfie the ambition and bloudy covetousnes of his Country-men did thus pray Let y Tack de morib Germanoâ—… there remaine and continue in those Nations if not the loue of vs yet the hatred of themselues speaking of the olde Germanes other bordering NatioÌ„s But God be praysed there is not such disagreement and multiplicity of sects as was among the old Arrians who variously contended with the professours of their owne Heresie That the Eutychians Donatists Nestorians and Valentinians did very much iâ—…rre among themselues we do not read vnlesse you meane each sect against other which fitteth not your purpose since even your selues doe thinke it no disgrace to disagree with al in the world whom you account Heretikes and especially the Protestants Neither are they the seed of Luther who as you say agree like Cadmus his men or the Amalekites and Madianites or the builders of Babell or the slanderers of Susanna but they are known Heretikes who are spruÌ„g vp since that time as Servetus the Anabaptists and other of like sort being the seede of the z Mat. 13 25 28. 〈◊〉 man who when men were a sleepe came and sowed tares And albeit some of these might go out from vs yet a 1. Ioh. 2. 19 they were not of vs as you might know by Luthers writing even at the first against these b Sleidan lib. 10. Anabaptists professing that the same Divell who set them on worke was but a grosse and foolish Divell and c Instit. li. 1. 13. Calvins against Servetus and others against other Yeamâ—…ny men of worth of our part haue not only by preaching disclaimed them but by written bookes haue confuted them with much more zeale diligence then any of your side And where the reformed Churches are the ChristiaÌ„ magistrates being taught out of the word and called vpon by their Pastours haue censured with severe punishment yea sometimes so farre as d Centur. 16 lib. 2. ca. 34. 22. to death such as haue broke out to the maintaining of any very impious and blasphemous doctrine With these it is that they haue implacable hatred and yet not with their persons but with their opinions for they loue e August de civit Dei li. 14. 6. that which God made in them but hate that which the Divel hath infused or inserted But the Professours of the Gospell doe not in maine points vary one from another nor yet from the Orthodoxe Church although they coÌ„ioine not with the servants of Antichrist who being Pseudo-Catholikes do arrogate to themselues the name of Catholikes And from these that they are come forth they are right glad least remaining in Babylon and f Apoc 18. 〈◊〉 partaking of her sinnes they should receiue also of her plagues It was no dishonor or hurt vnto Lot that he g Gen. 19. 12 came out of Sodome when God did cal him but it was his safety and happinesse for if he had remained with them hee had perished togither with them 5. The matter wherewithall you may iustly charge them is that opinion of Luther and some of his scholers concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist Where as he dâ—…ffereth from your monstrous conceite of Transubstantiation so bending too farre another way he imagineth that not only bread remaineth after consecration which is very true but the body of Christ also coÌ„substantiated with the bread And for the maintenance of this first groweth here-vnto that in the bread with the bread and vnder the bread or some way of those is the realty of Christs person secondly that by the almighty power of God he is every where invisibly vpon which ground the vpholders of that doctrine are by some tearmed Ubiquitaries and are concerning that pointe rightly refuted by h Bellar. de Christo. li. 3 cap. 11. Bellarmine This was in Luther â—…rror lapsuâ—… humanâ—… which the Lord suffred in him as he hath permitted the like both for opinioÌ„ slips of life too in divers of his Saints that thereby wee might learne that men bè men and that this world is i Bernard de modo benè viveÌ„di cap. 10. via non patria the way and not our countrey a place of defect and not of true perfection the habitation of men and not of Angels This consideration doth holsomely humble vs and maketh vs more earnestly to pray that we may haue a right vnderstanding in al things and that we may be guided by the Spirit into all truth expedient for vs. By this also wee are taught not to doate too much vpon men but only to follow them so far as they do k 1. Cor. 11. 〈◊〉 follow Christ. And it is no shame at all but rather a coÌ„mendation to our Churches that whereas he himselfe whom we honour as an admirable servaunt of God doth swarue from the path be it little or be it more wee rather follow the way then him But some haue written that Luther before he dyed relinquished that his own opinion saying that he had gone too farâ—… in the matter of the Sacrament as the l Acta Colloquij Mulâ—…unens Ministers of Heidelberge do affirme in a Dutch booke as m Chron. lib. 4. Genebrarde himselfe relateth vnto vs. Indeede it had beene to be wished that al who came after him had beene of his minde if that were his minde and had sought peace as Philip Melancthon did but all the scholers of Luther would not subscribe thervnto but some haue divulgated bookes against them whoÌ„ in their heate they haue called Zwinglians Calvinists and Sacramentaries so having stirred vp the flames of contention haue given occasions of ioy to the enimies of them both who will soone with an n Ioy at the hurt of other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take comfort in their evill That is the fruit of Christian mens contention as long since Gregory Nazianzen could say of a difference betweene some Bishops about whom the people at Constantinople were divided o Oraâ—… 10. My Tragedie is nothing else to our enemies but a Comedie Therefore it is not a little which we haue taken from the Churches and added to the stage I doe wish that the Lutherans their con-combatants had remembred this as for some other reasons so to stoppe the mouth of the common adversary
Bohem ca. 35. He who first raised vp the opinions of the Hussites had them from Oxford carying thence into Bohemia Wiclefs bookes De Realibus Vniversalibus Cochleus who by his good will would bee taken for a vehement defender of Popery giveth yet a larger testimony For he saith n Histor. de Hussitis li. 1. that as a Bohemian brought first into Bohemia Wiclef booke De Realibus Vniversalibus so there was afterward one Pâ—ter Paine a scholer of Wiclefs who after the death of his Maister came also into Bohemia and brought with him Wiclefs bookes which were in quantitie as great at Saint Austens workes o Ibidem Many of these bookes did Hus afterward translate into their mother tongue In plaine tearmes after this the Authour delivereth it that p Lib. 2. the Hussites and Thaborites were branches of Wiclef And in the same booke Hus did commit spirituall fornication with many strangers with the Wiclefists the Dulcinists c. And in the next he avoucheth that q Lib. 3. Hus and Hierome tooke their heresies from Wiclef And once againe he tearmeth the Protestant Germanes r Lib. 6. new Wiclefists What an opinion of this man Iohn Hus had may be fully seene by that wish of his wherin hee praied s Lib. 2. that hee might there bee where the soule of Wiclef was Now what VViclef did teach may be easily gathered if by nothing else yet by the deadly hatred which the Romanists did cary toward him The s Session 8. Councell of Constance did define him to be an Heretike long after his death and commaunded that his bones should be taken vp and burnt Also t Cochl li. 1. Pope Iohn the 23. in a Generall Councel at Rome did before that time condemne him for an heretike which the Hussites did but laugh at But no man had a harder conceipt of him then Cochleus who sticketh not to affirme that u Lib. 2. he thinketh the torments of Wiclef are greater in hell then those of Iudas or Nero. If God Almighty had no better opinion of him the man were in an ill case But the best is this cholerike Criticke is not the Iudge of all the world He was angry beâ—â—ke in behalfe of Transubstantiation concerning which he citeth this Article of Wiclef There was never a greater heresie then that which putteth the Accident without a Subiect in the Eucharist But he might haue named more pointes wherein that holy man did differ from the Church of Rome The u Session 8. Councell of Constance picketh out fiue and forty Articles of his Positions which the learned Reader may finde there Yet doubtlesse many of them are fasly reported which is a matter common with enimies of the truth to perverâ—… and mis-construe that so they may more freely defame There was one x Respo ad â—…8 artic Wiclef In â—…ase rer ex petend 〈◊〉 Wideford who tooke on him to answere eighteene Articles said to be Wiclefs whence a maÌ„ may gather some of his doctrine But that al things there laid against him were not true may wel be obserued out of the same Answere declaring that he had many things coÌ„cerning Wiclef but only by y In fine Articul 10. fame report And z Virgil. Aeneid 4. that is not the most certaine Relater What positioÌ„s indeed he held may be seene in M r. Foxe reporting his life actions as also in the a Lib. 18. Catalogus Testium veritatis And those who be not learned may esteeme of them by the doctrine of Iohn Hus before rehearsed who by the testimony of the Papists themselues as I haue shewed maintained the opinions of Wiclef 25 Now that this worthy champioÌ„ preacher of the Gospell of Iesus Christ went not alone but had many English men and women who in his life time after his death beleeved as he beleeved professed as hee professed is in the next place to bee shewed Among the chiefe of his fautours were Iohn of Gaunt as b Apolog. Hieâ—…arch ca 1. Parsons the Iesuit confesseth and Lord Henry Percy the one of them Duke of Lancaster the other Marshall of Englande Master Foxe citeth out of a c Ex Regist G. Courtney Register of the Arch-bishoppe of Canterbury a Mandate mentioning that the Conclusions of Wiclef were preached in diverse and sundrie places of the Arch-bishoppes Province generally commonly and publikely The same also is manifested by a letter of that Arch-bishoppe to the Bishop of London and in a Monition directed to d Ad Cancellar Ox. Oxford where it is said that certaine Conclusions hereticall and erroneous were generallie commonly preached and published in diverse places of the Province of Canterbury There be extant also e Ad 〈◊〉 Cant. Cancel Oxon. letters of King Richarde the seconde directly signifying so much But there is nothing vvhich maye more amply testifie the spreading of his doctrine then an Acte of Parliamente in the beginning almost of that younge Kinges dayes vvhere it is related that there vvere f Anno 5. Rich 2. ca. 5 diverse preaching dayelie not onelye in Churches and Church-yardes but also in markets fâ—…res and other open places where a great congregation of people is â—…verse sermons containing Heresies and â—…etorious errours This putteth mee in minde of a written booke which once g In manu M r. Guâ—…el Wirley I sawe being a Chronicle compiled by a Monke of Leicester Abbay who writing of the time of the saide K. reporteth at large that the people in faires markets riding by the way almost every where would talke of the Scripture and reprove the customes of that time as also the Priests to the exceeding greate trouble and offence of the Clergy This they might the rather doe out of the word of God because the Scriptures were then translated into English as may bee seene by diverse copies vvritten and remayning to this day supposed to bee so turned by UUiclf And it is very probable that in Leicestershire there were many of those of vvhome the Monâ—…e Leicestrensis spake since at Luâ—…erworth a towne in thâ—…t Counâ—…e Iohn UUiclâ—…f vvas beneficed But the greatest parte of this learned mans abode was at the first in the Vniversitie of Oxford vvhere hee was both a Doctor and Reader of Divinity and therefore is to bee conceived to have many learned men partaking with him in his opinions h In fine R. Edward 3. Maister Foxe saith out of the Chronicle of Saint Albaneâ—… that hee had a benefice in Oxford of vvhich he was deprived by Simon 〈◊〉 Arch-bishop of Canterbury It may be this was nothing else but the Maister-ship or Chiefe Governours place in Baâ—…oll College vvhich I am perswaded that he had since there are yet two auncient writings in the Treasurie of that i In Archivis Colleg. Baâ—…ol College vvhich I have seene who vvere made in the name of Iohn Vviclif Maister of that house
vile and odious reportes when in this age wherein God hath afforded more plentifull meanes to discover their falshood they doe dare not only in their sermons or in their secreter whisperings but in their Printed bookes to proclaime abroade concerning vs most false and vngodly calumniations and imputations as that we do teach all loosenes of life and a Weston vbique Libertinisme by this our new Gospel that we b Campian Ration 8. maintaine that al sins are aequal that wee hould it as a Maxime that God is the Author of sinne and whatsoever else it pleaseth M. Campian and his felowes to invent devise touching vs wheeras we vtterly disclaime these the like Positions as execrable vngodly Yea that Mounti-banke whom once before I mentioned hath not blushed to assevere that wee so teach as that by our doctrine c Certaine Articles or forcible Reasons At Anwerp 1600. the Protestantes are bound in conscience never to aske God forgivenesse of their sinnes And that they are bound in conscience to avoide all good workeâ—… As also that we make God the onely cause of sinne And holde that God is vverse then the Devil So shamelesse was this fellow growne that he neither knoweth not careth what he saith And yet many a poore Papist abused and gulled by the Devilâ—… deceiving instrumentes doth swalow such goageons runneth away with these things beeing as verily perswaded of them as that the Gospell is true Such a hand the Seminary Priests have over their disciples that they may not reade our bookes to see whether these obiections be true or no neither may they heare ought to the coÌ„trary Now if they thus vse vs who can speake for ourselves wil any maÌ„marveile that those who professed the verity two or three hundred of yeeres since do tâ—…st of the malignant aspersion of those times 35 The Romanists not withstanding all this which hath beene said do not yet so leave vs but once more farther adde that none of all those which hitherto have bin named or can be named but in some knowne confessed and vndoubted opinions did vary from you and therefore they and you may not bee saide to have beene al of one Church Our Maisters of Rhemes do thinke that this lyeth hardly vpon vs therfore thus vauntingly they vrge that they d In Rom. â—…1 4. will not put the Protestants to prove that there were seaven thousand of their Sect when thâ—…r new Elias Luther began but let them prove that there were seven or any one either theÌ„ or in al ages before him that was in all points of his beleefe VVhat the olde Fathers taught vvee shall have time inough in diverse Chapters heere-after to shewe where by the assistance of GOD wee shall discusse many single pointes of faith but for other of later time it is most easy to manifest that all those whome before I have named did generally for all maine matters teach the same which vvee novve doe teach There is no Papist vvho can truely and vvithout calumniating them or sayning thinges vpon them demonstrate that in causes vvhich touch the substance of faith or the foundation of Christian Religion they did dissent from vs. Hee who will try this let him looke on the Declaration e In M r. Foxes Eccles Histor. of Walther Brute which I before mentioned and let him reade it set downe by himselfe and not reported by other And what did that learned lay-man deliver there which was not the beleefe of Wiclif and the rest of the English professing the Gospell in those times But if there bee in some petty matters yea questions of some reasonable moment difference in opinion betweene them and vs shall vvee not therefore bee of the same Church with them or they with vs Yes verily for otherwise many of the auncient Fathers should not be of the Communion of Saintes or Catholike Congregation with those who came after them and amended their errours For vvas not f Divin Iustir l. 7. 14 Lactantius spotted with the Millenarie infection and g Augustin Epistol 48. Cyprian vvith the matter of Rebaptizing Had not Austen an h Epistol 106. 107. opinion of the necessity of the Eucharist to be administred to children and that Infants being deade without i Epist. 28. Baptisme were not only deprived of the fruition of heavenly ioyes but were damned to the pit of hell and to everlasting torments And what man religiouslie affected will suspect but that although Saint Cyprian and the other Affricane Bishops aslembled in a k Concil Carthag in CypriaÌ„ oper Councel did concerning the new baptizing of those who were already baptized by Heretikes determine cleane contrarie to Cornelius the rest of the Italian Bishops yet they should not be of the same faith in generall and of the same holy Church whereof Cornelius was Saint Austen can thus write concerning Cyprian l De Baptism contra Donatist lib. 1. Whereas that holy man Cyprian thinking otherwise of Baptisme then the matter was vvhich was afterward handled and with most diligent consideration established did remaine in the Catholike vnity both by the plentifulnesse of his charitie a recompence was made and by the sickle of his suffering there vvas a purging m Lib. 〈◊〉 In another place hee saith The authoritie of Cyprian doth not terrifiâ—… meeâ—… but the humilitie of Cyprian doth refresh mee Hee meaneth that if that vvorthy man had lived to have seene more light in that argument or to beholde vvhat the succeeding time had reveiled and concluded in that behalfe hee vvould in greate humilitie and meekenesse of hearte have conformed himselfe and yeelded vnto it VVhich may iustly serve for a true defence of the Waldenses Iohn Wiclif Iohn Hus or any other servant of God who might seeme in matters of small moment to vary from vs. 36 And thus I trust that by this time it appeareth to every one who will not wilfully close his eies stoppe his eares against an appâ—…rant truth that God hath at all times had his children houlding the verity of Christian Religion not approving of the filthie Superstitions sacrilegious Idolatries of the abhominable Antichrist of Rome So that it is a most fonde collection that either the Popish Convocation or Confusion are the right vndoubted spouse of Iesus Christ or els that for a thousand yeeres togither there was no Church in the worlde They doate much vpon themselves and on the opinion of their bewty who in such intolerable deformities doe predicate and magnifie their Synagogue as the vnspotted wife and mystical body of our most blessed Saviour Truth it is that intending to blind the ignorant and to abuse the simple they laboured by all externall pompe and shew to give to their hypocrisy and outward formality a setled opinion of pietie and sanctitie and for that cause there was no corner of the braine of man or rather of men in many ages succeeding togither
Faith Valent the Emperour with deadlie pravity did send teachers of the Arrian sect The Gothes held the instruction of the first faith which they receaved Ualens had before the rule of the Catholike faith but leaving it hee did intangle himselfe vvith the perverse opinion of the Arrians Therefore by the iust iudgement of God they burned him alive who by reason of him when they are deade are to burne by the fault of their errour And that is the truth your owne conscience D. Hâ—…st telleth you which is manifest by the mincing of your words the greatest part of those Gothes were Catholike Christians before Not all but the greatest part Therefore some which is in truth the whole Nation of the Uese Gothes were first coÌ„verted to Christianity by Arrian Heretikes And so your owne Proposition that Heretikes cannot convert Infidels is made voide by your owne example Nowe wheras you say that such turning is not to make the converted better theÌ„ they were before we must confesse that if you speake of such as be Heretikes indeede and not those whom you onely call Heretikes being Gods good servants that the gaine theÌ„ is but this that formerly they knew not Christ at all and now they know him in some sort although it be not so rightly as they should If this bee to bee accounted but a little then your Indian Converts of whom you boast gaine but a little by you for you mingle to their handes the doctrine of the Gospell with many pollutions of vile Idolatry most horrible superstition like to that of the olde Heathens T. HILL FOR that they having indeede the Scripture in some sorte yet have not the true sence thereof which properly is the sword of the spirite and the wordes are rather the scabard in which the svvord is sheathed And therefore they fighting onely with the scabard vvithout the sword cannot wound the heartes of Infidels And no marveile though they perverte Catholikes for that men are proue to liberty and to loosenesse of life vvhich by such doctrine is permitted So that they are indeede most aptely by Saint Augustine likened vnto Partridges which gather togither Libr 13 cótr Faust cap. 12. youngâ—…ones which they begot not whereas contrarywise the Holy Church is a most fertle Dove which continually bringeth forth new Pigeons G. ABBOT 22 HEretiks you say have the Scripturs in some sort Certainly many of them have the wordes without any difference froÌ„ the Orthodoxe For whereas many of theÌ„ spruÌ„g vp in the Greeke Church they had for the Old Testament the Septuagint in Greeke the Newe Testament word for word in that language wherein it was writen But they want the sence thereof which is the sword of the Spirit for the wordes are but the scabard and the scabard cannot wound the hartes of the Infidels What mischiefe with the letter of the text and their owne perverse interpretation Heretikes may do to theÌ„ who were formerly vnbeleevers may bee gathered by that of the Arrians last named by the Pelagians by the Donatistes and many other But those have not the true sence What is that to vs vnlesse you can prove that we also want it which M. z Ration 〈◊〉 Campian in kindnesse would threape vpon vs. There is not in the world any fit meanes to come to the right sence of Scripture which our men doe not frequeÌ„t They seeke into the Original tonges wherin the booke of God was writen They conferre translations of all sortes they lay one text with another expound the harder by that which is lesse difficult they compare circumstances of Antecedents and Consequents they looke to the Analogy of of faith prescribed in the Creede of the Apostles They search what the first Councels did establish they seeke what was the opinioÌ„s of the Fathers concerning textes in question and refuse not therein to cope with you about the highest points as the Primacy of your Pope Transubstantiation or any other vvhatsoever Yea they looke over the interpretations of your vvriters to knovve if anie thinge there occurre vvorthy observation they conferre one learned man vvith another they praye to the blessed Trinitie to open and lighten their vnderstanding and in a vvorde they omitte no meanes vvhich either Saint a De doctr Chriist l. 3 4 Augustine or anie other good writer doth or can prescribe vnto them Only heere they lay a strawe that they are not perswaded that the Bishop of Rome hath all knowledge iudgment so in b Vide Platin in Paulo 22 Scrinio Pectoris that by his finall sentence all may be resolved no not that he with the c Bellar. de veth Dei li. 3. 3. Councell which he shall like to call is the only determiner of the true meaning of al controversed passages The Poes all of them are men and therefore may be deceived many of them are ignorant men in comparison of any great Clerk-ship and many of them haue entertained vnsound opinions as Liberius and Honorius and divers Councels haue grosly erred as that second Synode of Nice and therefore blame vs not if we pinne not our salvation vpon such weake or partiall mens interpretations 23 When you report that Heretiks pervert Catholiks by your owne second Reason before handled you must meane Papistes by your Catholikes or no body and then you are a right good Proctor to speake in their cause Their matter was bad enough before and in the telling you make it worse Your Catholike men for your words can touch no other are proÌ„e you say to liberty and loosenesse of life Would you haue a fee for this pleading We do not doubt but many of theÌ„ are very licentious great breakers of the Sabaoth swearers and blasphemers and much inclined to other viciousnes whereof if a man would see the spectacle of all spectacles let him but goe to Rome And who would forbeare this lasciviousnes when a pardon from a Pope and absolution from a Priest can make all as cleere as it had never beene But we on the other side teach our people that these your peccatillâ—… doe offend Almighty God and that they yea every d Mat. 12. 36 idle word must be reckoned for and our Church discipline doth bring notorious transgressours to the censure of excommunication and open pennance for their crimes They who haue turned vnto vs are some of the best and gravest of your sect and those which bee most vertuous of life wheras contrarywise many such as among vs haue beene wanton toyish people or deeply touched with suspition of lubricity haue bin observed to retire theÌ„selues to your shores as being the fittest harbour for such rotten vessels It were an easie thing to name many who leading liues as they do a maÌ„ rightly may say of them They are fit to be Papists We doe not envy you such persons although we could wish that even such would come to the truth and not amende their former vice with future