sent To beate his Rampires and his Bulwarkes downe In force wherof he weares his tryple Crowne The time is come to thine immortall prayse That this same Kaytiffe being battered sore With these same Canons of his own decayes And sinking vnder truth to rise no more Lyes beaten down with shame for euermore From day to day forgoing still his strength Vntill his State be wanzd away at length FINIS ¶ THE AVTHOR TO his Booke YE braying Canones which so grounded be Vpon the word of him that raignes on high With thundering noyze let fly your bullets free That men may heare them roaring to the sky But as for you ye Canons whom we see From mouth of brasse to spit out fiery flame Of Vulcanes smoky Forge holde you your peace You bring our Realme to ruine and to shame The others force fond ignorance to cease FINIS AN APOLOGIE FOR the Protestantes IT is well knowen that in these daies there are in Fraunce two sorts of catholickes which are of the Romish Religiō For there are of them that be tractable and desirers and louers of the peace and quietnes of this Realme and such as will not condemne the reformed religion nor those that make profession therof without hearing and vnderstanding them as the others doe but can well finde in their hartes to liue in frendship and fellowship with them and not trouble them in the exercise of their Religion but tary the time vntil God through his grace haue inlightned them and made them to know the errors and abuses which may be in the one in the other and make vs Frēchmen which are now a dayes to wilfully bent apte and willing to yealde vnto reason And there are other some so wilfull and so far run into hatred and enmitie against the reformed Religion and the professors of the same that they preferre their own vnreasonable humors before the peace common quyet of their countrey Yea and euen before the preseruation of the state of the Prince These be they to whom I speake in my Apologie And also to all that are desirous to know in what poynt and for what cause the Protestants do stande in controuersie for Religion against the Romish Catholickes First therfore I desire them all to presuppose that to iudge of a matter before they vnderstand it and to condemne a man without hearing his answere is a thing that ill becommeth not only all Christians but also any other reasonable person For by the law of nature as witnesseth the Ciuil law we ought to heare their reasons and defences whose cause we haue to iudge of therein to doe as we would be done vnto as Nature willeth and commandeth vs And therfore these ouerangry Catholickes which condemne hate and persecute the professors of the reformed religion without vnderstanding it or without hearing them do wel bewray therby that their panges and passions are very strange for that they haue such force as to cause them to forget the law of Nature the knowledge wherof God hath imprinted in the hartes of all men euen from their creation Truly it is a lamentable and beastly thing that a man shold so yealde himselfe to the humor of hatred rancor enuy desire of reuenge such like frenzes as that he should rob himselfe of his naturall wit and cause himselfe to forget the right vse of reasō as you may well see by the doinges of those heady persons I know right well that they haue been accustomed to cloake these passions by saying that the Pope the Counsel of Trent and the Sorbonistes haue long agoe condemned the reformed Religion as erronious and hereticall and that therfore it is to be holden for a resolution that it is naught and to be condemned without farther inquirie of the matter and without any other forme or processe of Law. But hereunto it hath euer been answered as we do still that those which haue thus condemned our Religion haue alwayes been both Iudges and parties And that the professors of the reformed Religion haue not been heard in their lawfull defences So that those which will needes make a president of such condemnations geuē against the parties vnheard be suspected and vncompetent Iudges and do stil fal back agayne into the former fault of condēning men vnheard a thing contrary to the law of nature and shew themselues to be parciall and fond Iudges in that they will needs geue sentence of the thing which they vnderstand no more than a blind man can iudge of colors therfore are worthely noted in way of scorne by that common prouerb That good king of France Lewes the twelfe surnamed the father of his people will neuer be forgotten who being importunatly called vpon by the Bishops and Cardinals of his time to cause a bloudy execution to be done vpon the people of Cabriers and Meryndoll in Prouince who had neither masses nor Images in their churches and were as a remnant of the auncient breede of the Albigions and of the pore men of Lyon which had been all condemned for heretickes did make this worthy wise answere I am a king quoth he ouer my people to minister iustice vnto them which I cannot do without hearing such as are accused I will therfore heare them before I condemne them though they were Turks or Deuils Hereupon it was told the Kinge that the religion which those of Cabryers and Meryndol did professe had bin often before that time condemned for hereticall and wicked specially in the Councell of Laterane Anno. 1179. Vnder Pope Alexander the third in the time of king Philip Augustus and by the Emperor Frederick the second Pope Honorius the third about the yeare 1217 and by Pope Gregory the ninth who entered into the Papacie Anno 1227. But notwithstanding all these shewes and prouocations this good king would not be led from his determination Saying that he would not stretch his conscience so far as to make a president of the iudgements and decrees of those Popes King and Emperor but would heare the answers of the parties accused before he condemned them And thereupon he gaue audience to the Comissioners of Cabryers and Meryndol And when he had heard thē he sent thether Adam Fume his Master of requestes and Ihon Paruyz his Cōfessor to informe him of their life and doctrine Who made report to his maiesty that it was true that those of Cabryers and Meryndol had neither masses nor Images in their churches but that otherwise they were all well instructed yea euen the very litle ones in the articles of the fayth and in the commaundementes of God and that they vtterly abstayned frō al blasphemous othes and whoredome keping holy the Sabaoth day and greatly reuerensing the supper of our Lord baptisme and maryage Which when the king thus vnderstoode he did not only not condemne them of heresie as he was intysed to haue done but also quite otherwise did pronounce with his owne voyce
and bound it with an othe that he did beleeue that those of Meryndoll and Cabryers were better and more honest people than himselfe or any of his other subiectes And what will you infer of this will you say now that this good king was a Protestant or that he mislyked the Romayn Religion I think there is no man so shameles that dares say so For his life and actes do shew that he was very well minded towardes the church of Rome In maintenance wherof he held great warres in Italy against the Venecians and other Princes that vsurped vpon the patrimonies of the Church But he was a good king and did acknowledge that God had put the Scepter in his hand to minister iustice to all his people and not to condemne the accused without hearing their answere nor to iudge of a matter of importance by the consciences of others but meekly to geue hearing to al matters brought before him not to condemne those thinges for euill which may shew themselues to be good I therfore cōclude thus that those which in these dayes doe so presumptuouslye condemne the reformed Religion without knowing any deserued cause or without hearing such as professe the same vnder color of the condemnatiōs done already by the Popes by the councell of Trent and by the Sorbonistes doe shew therby the great forgetfulnesse of their duty of iudging vprightly And that they cary to slack a hand on the bridle of their conscience in suffering it to depende vpon the phantasticall iudgement of others Lactantius Fyrmian speaking to Constantine the great who was the first christiā Emperor did greatly cōplayn and bewayle that the Paganes and Idolaters of his time did condēne the Christian Religion and had it in disdayn without knowing what christian Religion was and without reading their bookes to vnderstand it These be the very words of Lactātius I doubt not most mighty Emperor Constantine but that if this my work wherby I shew that the Creator of all thinges is the Gouernour of the whole world doe fall into the hands of these vnlearned Religious folke they by reason of their great superstition which maketh them too too impatient will assault me with iniuries spitefully fling the booke to the grounde before they haue read so much as the beginning of it imagining that they should defile thēselues with such a crime as could neuer be wyped out again if they should ether reade it or heare it red patiently Neuertheles I beseech them in duty of humanitie not to condemne my wrytinges if it may be before they doe perfectly vnderstand them For if it be allowed by order of law that Churchrobbers Traytors and Poysoners shall speake for thēselues and argue in their own defence and that it is not lawfull to condemne any of them without examination of his cause It is not againste reason that I should intreate those into whose hands this booke shall happen to reade it or heare it read throughout and to deferre their iudgements vntil they haue read it to the end But I know well the wilfulnesse of that kinde of people to be such as I shall not obtayne this suite of them For they be afrayd least the force and strength of the truth should ouercome them and make them yeald vnto vs and to agree with vs That is the cause of their roaring storming least they should heare vs and of their shutting of their eyes least they should see the light which we bring vnto them wherein they shew the litle assurance that they haue in their own fond reasons For they dare neither vnderstand nor enter into disputation because they know they shall soone be vanquished By reason wherof it commeth to Passe that through their shunning of all manner of scanning and sifting of things by disputation They driue discretion quite away And force and fury beare the sway As sayth Ennius And because they are bente to condemn and vtterly to oppres such as they well know to be innocent they be vnwilling that their innocencie should appeare because they deeme it a greater iniquitie to condemne the innocencye that is apparant thē the innocēcy that cōmeth not to tryall Or rather as I sayde afore they are afeard that they should haue no power to condemne vs if they should heare vs. This was the inuectiue which Lactantius wrote against the heathē in his time who condemned the Christians without hearing them Which reason I wil vse against the impatient catholicks desiring them not to shew them selues like vnto those heathen men in being so obstinate as to shutte their eares from hearing and vnderstāding the doctrine which they so condemne persecute without knowing what it contayneth But if those angry Catholicks which oppose themselues as aduersaries against our reformed Religion and so boldly condemn it wold temper their choller passions with such moderation as to geue place to reason and to set naturall discretion in due place and preheminence Truely I durst make thē iudges of this cause and I am wel assured that they would iudge farre otherwise than they haue done hetherto or doe yet And in deed if the loue of truth haue any place in their harts as I beleue it hath I beseech them euen before God and for the truthes sake to vouchsafe to examine this present defence with setled iudgement and to consider of it without affection For I protest vnto them that I will vse such modestie in my wordes as none shall iustly haue cause to accuse me of rigor First therfore I presuppose that betwixt the Romish Catholickes and the Protestantes there is disagreemēt of doctrine in many poyntes yea euen in the most principall as I will shew hereafter But yet neuertheles both the one and the other doe acknowledge generally the vnitye of the person of Iesus Christ in two natures not confounded The holy Trinitye of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost and the holy Scripture of the olde and new Testament and therefore they bothe may in this respect be called Christiās howbeit the one more aptly then the other as shall appeare by that which I will say hereafter Now that wee may the better treate of the poyntes which are in question and that all men may the more playnly iudge thereof we will distinctly examine the reasons which are to be considered in this discourse and are commonly alleaged on both sides for the mayntayning of the doctrine of either party and so by comparing the contrary reasons and alegations together the truth will the more apparantly shew it selfe because light is thē most apparant and bright when it is set nigh to his contrary ¶ Of three Maximes groundes or rules whereby a man may iudge of the poyntes of religion which are in questiō The first Chapter FOrasmuch as the whot Catholickes accuse the Religion of the protestantes to be wicked new and heretical and therfore cannot brooke the society of such as professe the same we hope to shew
ceremonies for the Catholicks beleue that if a childe dye before he be baptised he cannot be saued and that in case of necessity women may Baptise And they woulde haue Baptisme ministred with coniured water such as had bene kept all the yere in a vessell which they call a font within the Churche affirming that the euil sprites be coniured to go out of the bodies of the little Infants which are baptised And that they muste be held all naked ouer the fonte in the tyme of the christning and that both salte and spittle should be put into the mouthes of the babes Al which things the Protestaunts do vtterly disallow because as touching the infāts which die vnchristened if they belong to Gods election which goeth both before their natiuitye also before theyr conception they be with him and are partakers of his saluation although they die vnbaptised For Gods election cannot be disapoynted Besides this it is not their fault if they be not baptised but the negligence of their Parentes or by chaunce of soden death And as concerning women their sect and nature doth exclude them frō publick charges which onely belong vnto men And therfore are they altogether vnmeete either to preache in Churches or to Minister the Sacramentes And touching the children of Infidels it is not reasonable to receaue them into the church to be members of christ vntil they acknowledge him to bee their heade and make cnofession of their faythe and consequently be of conuenient yeares because that being borne of vnbeleuing Parents they haue no warraunt or witnes that they belong to the couenant of god Neither doe the protestantes allow the forementioned ceremonies And their reasō is for that they beleue that god is the only cause whereof and whereby we receiue the benefite of generation and the remission of originall sinne in baptim without the ayd of hallowed water or of any of the other Ceremonies Nay which more is they take it to be a defiling of the holy baptisme to adde thereunto any other ceremonies then the institution of God that it ought to be ministred purely and simply according to his ordinaunce For wee ought to doe this honour vnto God namely to beleue that whatsoeuer hee hath ordeined is perfect and that thereto there ought nothing to be added nor aught taken away And therefore it doth appeare that in this poynte of Baptisme the Doctrine of the protestantes doth much better yeelde God his due honor then doth the doctryne of the Catholickes For the Protestantes mind not to restrayne the election of God to those onely which are Baptised but doe extend it to the children of the faythfull forasmuch as it is a thing very reasonable to be beleued that if the fathers and moothers bee of the household of God their children are so likewise But the Romish Catholicks do hold on the contrary that the children whiche die before they be baptised be not of the household of God although theyr Fathers and moothers were Agayne whereas the Catholickes enable women to baptise which they call christening in doing wherof they committe vnto them one of the chiefe charges in gods house to wit the ministring of the sacrament wherby we be graffed into the bodye of Christes church and made the members of his bodye and meyny of his householde The Protestantes will not graunt to admit women into any of the publick charges in Gods household specially seeing that euen by the ciuill lawes which in that poynt agree with the law of nature women be disabled to take vpon them the executing of anye publick office euen in the houses or dominions of earthly princes Moreouer wheras the catholickes as much as in them lieth not onely receyue such into the churche by baptisme as are faythles and haue no knowledge of Christ neither they nor their Parentes but also bestow baptisme vpon bels after such a maner as they thē selues haue inuented for it The Protestantes cannot finde in their hartes to defile Gods house so much as to receiue infidels into it or to avowe those to be the mēbers of Christ who haue no fayth in them neither themselues nor their Parentes for asmuch as it were to vnseemely a thing to avow such a one for a member of a body as acknowledgeth not the heade there of Finally the Protestantes yeeld this honor vnto holy Baptisme instituted by God that they will in no wise adde any thing to it besids gods ordinaunce nor defile it with spittle oyle salt coniured water and such other Ceremonies As the Romishe Catholickes doe Besides this the word of God doth teach vs that Christ receiued little Children whiche were not Baptised and that he pronoūced of them that the kingdome of heauen doth belong vnto them and that God doth promise his blessinges vnto all the faythfull and to their children yea euen vnto the thousandth generation So as those infantes shall neuertheles be saued though they dye vnchristened seeing they be comprysed in the couenaunt of God. The same word doth also teach vs that Christ gaue commission of baptising and preaching not to the holy virgin his mother nor to any other of the women that resorted to his Sermons but to his Disciples and Apostles And therfore women ought not to take vpon them to baptise seeing that as saith the Apostle None ought to vsurpe any charge or degree of honor without lawfull calling therunto And the same word doth declare further vnto vs that those which doe not beleeue in Christ nor come of beleuing parents ought not to receaue Baptisme forasmuch as baptism is no other thing but the zeale of faith And lastly the same word of God doth teach vs that in the tyme of the Apostles Baptisme was alwayes ministred with common water That is to say without any charme or particular blessing For the Apostles and disciples of Christ did baptise men on the banckes of Riuers or in the first water that they found fit for the purpose Also it doth teach vs that God is the God of the faythful and of their Children So as little Infantes begotten and brought forth of beleuing or faythfull Parentes doe belong to God to hys couenaunt euen from their moothers womb And so by consequence their bodyes as is aforesayd cannat be possessed with ill spirites And therefore it is needles to dryue them out by coniurations as the priests of the Catholicks do Likewise the Protestantes say also that to hold the tender babes all naked ouer the font specially in winter is often time a cause of their death and that those which do practise that Ceremony be oftē guilty of murder which is forbidden by the commaundementes of god Likewise they disalow the salte the oyle the spittle and the other ceremonies aswell for that they cannot but be hurtful to the little childrē as also because they be filthy and fōde ceremonis and haue no groūd in the word of God. Also
founded this doctrine is that they haue imagined it to be a stayning and defiling of the Churchmen which doe handle sacred thinges to be married In so much as there hath bene some of thē which haue termed second marriages by the name of honest fornicatiō And yet for all their forbidding of Priestes to be married they haue allowed thē to keep concubines as we haue sayd before in the fourth chap. By meanes whereof they haue geuen them leaue to transgresse Gods commaundemēt which saith thou shalt not commit adultery by taking from them the liberty of Marriage which god doth allowe to all persons But if it should be asked them wherfore priestes whom they esteme holy and sacred persōs should not vse marriage which they call a sacrament what would they answere For sacramentes are meetest thinges for sacred persons And if marriage be a sacrament as they holde opiniō it is can it defile those which participate the same Truely it is as absurd a thing to say that a Sacrament can defile as to say that whitenesse can make blacke Thus doth it followe that God is better honored and his ordinances are more sincerely obserued by the doctrine of the Protestāts than by che doctrine of the catholicks The doctrine of the Protestantes is clerly founded vpon the holy scripture whereby Marriage is commaunded to all such as haue not the gift of stayednes as before is sayd in the fourth chapter For when God ordayned mariage first of all at the creation of world he gaue this generall rule It is not good for man to be alone Also S. Paule geuing an other generall rule thereof sayth thus For the auoyding of whoredome let euery man haue his wife and euery woman her husband And in an other place he sayth that to forbidde mariage is a deuilish doctrine And how thē can the followers therof a vow that their doings in that behalfe are acceptable vnto God Therfore it is easy to iudge whether of the parties are best grounded vpon the word of God namely whether it bee the Protestantes who hold opinion that the celebration of Marriage is lawfull to al people and at al seasōs or the Romish Catholickes which mayntayne that it is not lawfull for Priestes Monkes and Nunnes nor ought to be celebrated in the lent aduent or the foure ember weekes There be Canons also which doe flatly cōdemne the doctrine of the romish Catholickes in this poynte and which affirme that marriage ought not to be forbiddē to men of the church which thing was also maintayned by a good Byshoppe named Paphnutius although himselfe was neuer married in the first generall counsell holdē at Nice in the countrey of Bithinia In the raigne of the Emperor Constantine the great which opinion of his was followed by consēt of al the counsel These are the words of the Canō The counsel of Nice intending to correct the liues of the Ecclesiasticall persons made certayn lawes called Canons in consulting wherupon it seemed to incline to the bringing in of a law to forbid Bishops Priests Deacons and Subdeacons to lye with theyr wiues which they had taken in marriage before their entring into holy orders Then Paphnutius standing vppe spake agaynst it saying that marryage is an honorable thing and that it is chastity for a man to vse the company of his owne wife And so he perswaded the Counsell not to make any such law alledging this reason both right graue and of great importāce namely that it might be an occasion of fornication to the ecclesiasticall persons thēselues or to their wiues Such matter did Paphnutius alleadge notwithstanding that he himselfe was neuer married and his aduice was allowed by all the counsell in so much that there was no law made then cōcerning that article but the matter was left at liberty for euery man to do as he listed Loe here a very notable and aūciēt canon which hath euersince bene obserued and kept in the eastern churches which would neuer suffer themselues to be bound to the vow of single life And if the westerne churche of Rome had done the like Priests had neuer filled the world with so muche whoredome and wickednesse as they haue done And vnto this Canon of the counsell of Nice is agreeable the fifteth chap. of the Apostolick canōs which are allowed for good Catholick in the Decrees of Graecian where it is sayd thus If any Byshop priest deacon or Subdeacon or any other man of the order of Priesthood doe abstayne from marriage or from eating flesh or from drinking of wine not to make his mind more apt to the exercises of godlines but as in way of misliking them forgetting that God hath made bothe male and female and that all his creatures be good thinges and so thereby blaming and slaundering that which god hath created let him be corrected or deposed and put out of the Church By which Canon is condemned not onely the prohibition of mariage vnto priestes but also the forbidding of men to eat flesh vpō certayn daies whereunto doth well accord that which S. Athanasius did write to one Dracontius a Moonke who refused to be a bishop because he imagined that the Monkes life had more holines in it by reason that the Moonkes dyd obserue more scrupulously the prohybition of marriage and the eating of certayne meates Well then sayth he let not such things be alleadged to thee by such as counsell thee to shunne the charge of a Byshop For I haue knowne Byshops which haue bene great fasters And Monkes which haue bene great eaters And Bishops which haue dronk no wine Monks great drinkers of wine Byshops which haue bene workers of miracles Monks which haue wrought none Agayne diuerse Byshops haue abstained from marriage and many monks haue bene maried and had children And contrariwise there haue bene many Byshops maried and bene fathers of children and many Monkes vnmaried And there haue bene clergie men that haue eaten and drunke and Moonkes which haue fasted For both of them be lawfull and none of them both is forbiden but euery mā may lawfully chose which he listeth Whereby this good doctor doth playnly declare that in his time marriage was not forbidden to menne of the clergye nor to any monks And in like manner the auntient Canons accurse al those which in exalting virginity do condemne marriage These be the wordes of the Canon Whosoeuer keepeth virginity or single life as in derogation of marriage cursed bee hee because his folowing of virginity is not for that it is good and holy And in very deed the true virginity is that which consisteth in the mind rather than in the body as witnesseth an other Canon saying It is much better to haue the soule a virgin than the flesh yet wer it good to haue them both so if it may be But if wee cannot bee chaste to the worldward let vs yet at the lest be chast towardes
taken out of S. Ambrose S. Peter and S. Paule haue preheminence aboue all other Apostles by speciall prerogatiue But yet is it vncertayne whether of them two were preferred before the other For I think that they were both equall in deserts likewise in their deathes and passions and also that they liued in like deuotion of faith and finally came Both together to the glory of martirdome And I beleue that it hapned not with out some cause that they both suffered martirdome in one day in one place and vnder one persecuter for they suffered in one day that they might goe together in company to Christ and in one place to the end that Rome should not want either of them both vnder one persecuter that both of them might be partakers of one cruelty The day therefore was ordayned for their desert the place for their glory and the persecuter for their vertue And they both suffered martirdome at Rome the soueraign Lady and head of all nations to the end that where the head of superstition was there should rest the head of holines where the princes of the Gentils dwelt there should remayn the Princes of the Church By which Canon it may easely be iudged that S. Peter was in nothing to be preferred before S. Paule that both were equal in all respects which sheweth plainly that S. Peter was neuer head of the Church neither in respect of nature nor in respect of ministration For if he had been thē should as much haue been sayd of S. Paul according to the Canon And so by consequence we should say that the Church had then two heads like a monster a thing that were to absurde strange I know wel that such as imagine the gouernment of the Church to be like the gouernment of a kingdome doe thinke it meete that there should be one supreme head and gouerner and that the same should haue Cardinals as great Princes of his court Archbishops somewhat in lower degree than the Cardinals and Bishops as inferiors to the Archbishops and so consequently Abbots Priors Channons and Curats ech in degree vnder other And in good sooth this order of holy gouernment hath a fayre outward shew but there is one thing that marreth all which is that it hath no foundation in the word of God which doth not teach that there is any inequalitie amongest the Shepheards but that they ought to gouern their Churches with one common consent by Gods word making assemblies or meetings which are cōmonly called Sinodes or Councels for the same purpose if need require And moreouer that they ought to submit themselues to the Ciuill Magistrate And the very Canons themselues doe agree herewith specially one Canon which is taken out of S. Iherom seeing that in the time of the primitiue Church there was no difference betwixt a priest or an elder and a bishop and that the Church was then gouerned by the common councell of the elders Let vs heare the very words of the Canon In olde time an Elder and a Bishop were all one thing till scismes and parttakings crept into Religion by the deuils inspiration and that folke began to say I hold of Paule and I of Apollo and I of Cephas Vntill this time the Churches were gouerned by common aduice of the Elders But after that euery man began to brag of his own disciples whom he had baptised and not of Christ then it was ordayned that in euery Church one of the Elders should haue authoritie ouer the rest to take away the seede of scizme Wherefore like as the Priests know that by the custome of the Church they be put in subiection to the party that is set in authoritie ouer them So let the bishops know also that wheras they themselues are of more authoritie than the Priest it is not by the ordynance of God but by custome and that they ought to gouerne the Church by common aduise Which Canon in very truth is very notable specially for that it doth euidently shew that all the degrees and dignities which are infinite at this day in the Church of Rome are not grounded vpon the expresse ordinance of God but only vpon the positiue law of custome for looke what the Canon speaketh of Bishops is much more by all reason to be spoken of Cardinals Patriarches Archbishops and other dignities seeing that the office of a Bishop wherof the holy Scripture maketh mention was instituted long time before the dignities of the Cardinals and the others And hereupon it followeth that men should not make so great reckning of any of these great and pompous dignities which are founded but onely vpon custome which ought not to be of any or at least wise of very litle authoritie in the Church of God as shal be declared more at large in the last chapter of this booke As touching the residue if it be alleaged that the Bishop of Rome had in olde time and still ought to haue cheefe authoritie and preheminence at the least wise in the assemblies of coūcels and Sinodes the answere is that he hath nothing to doe with the matter for the Ecclesiastical histories and the acts of the auncient councels as that of Nice holden in the time of Constantine the Emperor doe witnesse vnto vs that the Bishoppe of Rome was so far of from ouerruling the coūcels that he tooke his place in sitting but as fourth in degree which is a good way offe from the first and cheef place as he did at the generall councell of Nice But forasmuch as in this point of the Popes Supremacie the Romish Catholicks chiefly the Canonists doe maintaine the authoritie of the Pope by meanes of a donation and of certaine prerogatiues which they affirme to haue been graunted vnto the Pope by the Emperor Constantine the great I will here a litle examine the truth of the matter I say therfore that this donation and graunt of prerogatiues inregistred by Gratian in his decrees is a thing inuented of pleasure and altogether false and that it neither is like nor possible that the Emperor Constantine did at any time make such a pretended gifte or graūt of prerogatiues as may easely be perceiued by the histories of his time And for proofe of this matter ye must first vnderstand that in their sayd surmised donation they make the Emperor Constantine to say within foure dayes after he was baptised that he wold haue all the Bishops and Priestes of the Romayn Empire to acknowledge and hold the Bishop of Rome for their head in like sort as the iudges of a Realme doe holde their king and that he should haue greater authoritie than the Emperor himselfe Geuing vnto Siluester the vniuersall Pope and to his successors his Imperiall Pallace of Lateran which is at Rome and the Citie of Rome it selfe with al the Prouinces Places and Cities of Italy and all the west part of the Empire together with
legacies and foundacions of Obites to massepriests and chauntrypriests and to make good prouision of pardons specially in the time of the great Iubileis and Croysseys which they sell very good cheape And in very truth this doctrine of Purgatory hath exceedingly inriched the Cleargie yea more than any other thing For there dyed not so poore a wretch which gaue not some legacie to the priest yea often times euen the best thing they had to haue them sing masses for the case of their soules and to shorten the time of their abode in purgatory And hereunto were al sick folke perswaded by their Confessors which would make great difficultye nicenes to geue them absolution except they would promise to geue one thing or other to the church And the better to draw them hereunto they made them beleue that for euery mortall sinne their soules shold remain as is said seuen yeares in the paynes of purgatory which would be an infinite time if it were not shortened by masses For say they although that God doe in this world pardon the sinnes of all such as confesse them to the priest and make satisfaction yet doth he remit but the sinne only and not the payne so as we must needes goe to purgacory to suffer paynes for al the sinnes which we haue committed in all our life time Which paines are so great as greater are not possible For say they there is as greate difference betwixt the fire of purgatory and the fire of this world as is betwixt a burning coale the breath of a mannes mouth By reason wherof the poore world had so great feare and conceit of this hote fire of purgatory and of the infinite time which they should be fayn to remaine there accounting seuen yeares for euery mortall sinne which was committed in a mannes life time that euery man gaue vnto the Priestes as much as they would craue to the end that their time in purgatory might be shortned But contrary to this doctrine the Protestantes doe hold opinion that we haue no other purgatory than the bloud of our Lord Iesus Ghrist which washeth away and clenseth all mens sinnes which beleue in him And they say that his precious bloud is more then sufficient to wipe out all our sinnes without hauing neede to be purged by any fier And that our sauiour doth not clense vs by halfes but throughly altogether and we should doe him wrong and iniury to beleue that we haue need of any other kinde of clensing than of that which he him selfe maketh in iustifying vs by bearing our iniquities and by wyping away our sinnes and blemishes And that it is a mockery to say that God doth pardon our sinnes and not the payn due for sinne as if you wold say he forgeueth vs the dets that we doe owe him but not the payment of the dettes for he will haue that still And now to say the truth all men may easily iudge that this doctrine is better thā the doctrine of the Romish Catholickes according to our first rule because that by the same Christ our Redeemer is most honored forasmuche as he is acknowledged to be the only and whole purger of our iniquities and our true and only Attonementmaker and Iustifyer And asfor the holy scripture that doth teach vs that the faythfull and chosen of God do dye vnto the Lord and that those which dye vnto the Lord are very happy do go into the place of rest These are the expresse wordes of S. Iohn Happy are they which from this time forth do dye to the Lord for they do rest from their labors And for those which dye not to the Lord forasmuch as they be none of his nor members of the body of the true church whereof christ is the head it is certayne that there is no saluation for them And therefore it is in vayne to imagine a purgatory either for the one or for the other For as many as die to the lord go presently to rest not into purgatory And those which doe not dye to the Lord do go into euerlasting payn not into purgatorye and there is no saluation for them And as for the text taken out of the booke of the Machabees which alloweth prayer for the dead and so by consequence purgatory also The Protestantes say that it ought to be houlden for a certayn and vndoubted rule that we ought not to build any article or fayth vpon the bookes called Apocripha of which nūber this booke of the Machabyes is one insomuch as the Author thereof that wrate it confesseth that he may perchaunce haue ouershot himselfe and that he hath written in simple stile and that he was not of skill to write any better which is an vnmeete kinde of speech for the holy Ghost who can not erre nor hath any neede to be excused for speaking in a base stile for when he listeth he speaketh in a higher stile than the excellentest Orators that ouer were in the world And as touching the text where it is sayes that the sinne against the holy Ghost is not pardoned neither in this world nor in the would to come Whereupon the Romish Catholicks doe inferre following the interpretation of S. Gregory that then the other sinnes are forgeuen in the other world and so by consequence that there must nedes be a purgatory the protestantes affirme that to be an ill conclusion For in so saying our Lord Iesus Christ mente nothing else but that the sinne againste the holy Ghost shal neuer be forgeuē S. Oregory himself as we will declare hereafter doth not say that all other sinnes sauing the sinne agaynst the holy Ghost shall be pardoned in the world to come but onely that the smalest sort of sinnes which are called veniall sinnes shal be then forgeuen Let vs now come to the Canons There are two peeces of Canons in the decrees of Graecian which may easely quench and confound purgatory For by the one it is sayd that in this world one of vs may wel be helped by the prayers of another But when we depart from hence to appeare before the seate of Christ euery man must beare his own burthē and then the prayers of Saints which are in paradise will nothing auaile vs and much lesse will the prayers of mē of this world stand vs in any steade These are the wordes of the Canon In this present world we know we may helpe one another with our prayers and good aduice but when we come before the iudgement seate of Christ then neyther Iob. nor Daniell nor Noe can pray for any but euery man shall then beare his own burthen The other Canon sayth that neither the bishops nor the Apostles can assoyle the dead of their sinnes Wherupon it followeth that men haue bought the Popes pardons in vaine for the redeeming of those which are sayd to haue been in Purgatory These are the very words of the said Canon taken out of
reformed Religion which they tearme new is a sauage Religion fond and full of follies and errors and they will needes be beleeued in the matter vpoÌ„ their bare word without proouing any part of that which they speake But as those kinde of people are commonly ignorant and malicious and moreouer possessed with ambition and beastlines so doth it appeare that their mouthes are euer stil open euen when their ouerarrogant ignorance is beaten down by good reasons and allegations And when they haue done all that they can for their last refuge they are fayne to runne to the exception of prescription saying that the Romish Religion hath been receaued and obserued in Fraunce euer since the first setting vp of the kingdome euen since the great king Clowis who was the first Christian king and that it is not like that God would leaue the world so long time which is more than a thousand yeares in error and ignorance But what if it be denyed that their Religion such as it is this preseÌ„t was obserued in the time of Clowis or of Charlemayn or of many other kings of Fraunce which haue beene since that time How would they prooue that which they haue sayd And if the contrary be proued to them by wrytings of auncyent Bishops and Doctors of Fraunce by the which it doth appeere that in this Realme in olde time they did hold the same Religion or uery neare the same which the Protestants doe in these dayes what will they answere then And were it not also very easie to proue by the Historiographers which haue written the liues of the Popes and also by the decrees of the Popes themselues that the most part of their ceremonies and traditions whereof at this day they make more account than of Gods word haue bin inuented and brought into the Church by the Popes of later times long since Charlemayn And therefore they which sayd that the Romish Religion such as it is at this present hath been obserued in FrauÌ„ce euer since the beginning of the kingdome there doe greatly mistake their markes and cannot verify their saying but the contrarye is easie to be prooued But let vs put the case how be it without graunting it that the thing which they say is true and that this Romish Religion is of the vttermost antiquitie that can be Must the truth of God therfore forgoe his right by the exception of prescription Noe truely For if by the Ciuill law there be no prrscription agaynst a king how much lesse then may it be against the king of kinges And put the case again without graunting it that prescription ought to take place against God yet were it not reason thinke you to recken the lapse of time according to Gods measuring thereof Now it is certayn that with God a thousand yea and twelue hundred thousand yeares are no more than an hower or a quarter of an hower and therfore by the lapse of so litle space of time prescription can take no aduantage But all men of sound iudgemeÌ„t will alwayes grauÌ„t that as time doth not change the truth into vntruth nor vntruth into truth So also of consequence we must not admit a ReligioÌ„ for true and good vnder colour that it hath indured long time seeing that the exception of prescription is not to be admitted in such caces For els if the Romish Catholickes will needes sticke to the Iudgement of prescription for the allowance of a Religion then must they make good the religion of Mahomet which hath already lasted aboue a thousaÌ„d yeres which thing I am sure that none of them will doe how passionate soeuer they be otherwise And if it be demauÌ„ded wherefore god hath so long tyme suffered the error of Mahomet amoÌ„gst the Turkes Persians Arrabians Sirians the other Esterne and Southern people of Asia and Affrica among whom the Apostles and disciples of Iesus Christ preached the Gospell and plaÌ„ted so many fayre Churches there is no other answere to be made vnto it but that god hath done it by his secret iudgement wherof we are ignorant Full well we know that he hath done it for good and a iust cause to good purpose because he doth nothing but that which is good and iust But it doth not become vs to search any deeper for the perticuler causes which haue moued him so to doe neither ought we to be inquisitiue of his priuities and secret diâ—gâ—mentes The same also is to be answered to such as say that it is not likely that God would suffer the people of Christendome to erre so long as since the masse hath had his full scope For to be short seing that God is the truth it selfe and that his word is true it is much better to yeld God his due honor by sticking onely to his word then to refort to custome and prescription of time to authorise the traditions of meÌ„ Iesus Christ himselfe doth teach vs playnely enough that we ought to reiect the traditions of men although they be neuer so auncient and grouÌ„ded vpon prescription of time out of minde and that we ought alwayes to haue recourse back to the pure word of God which shal last for euer notwithstanding al customes prescriptioÌ„s which are agaynst it For in reprouing the traditioÌ„s of the Pharisies which had then bene receiued allowed of long time he exhorteth his disciples to cast them of and to returne back agayne to the pure word of God and to the naturall meaning thereof saying you haue heard how it was sayd to the meÌ„ of old time c. As for the auncient Canons they are so cleare and expresse in this case as is possible therfore it shall suffice me to translate them here simply These be the very wordes of the CanoÌ„ An ill custome is no les to be reiected shunned then a pestilent infection because that if it be not the sooner plucked vp the wicked do serue their turne with it as it were by right of priuiledge insomuch that the sundry disorders and dyuers vsurpatioÌ„s which are not repressed out of hand begin anon after to be receiued for lawes and are alwayes obserued as priuiledges By which Canon wee may well note the pernicious effectes of ill customes which cause vs to receiue vice in steade of vertue and euill in steade of good wherof our miserable world hath to many examples as well in causes of Religion as in matters of pollicie and law For in these dayes men defend nothing more earnestly than the abuses and errors which are in all estates vnder pretence that they haue taken root by long custome and contynuance of time which haue suffered them to passe in force of lawes and Priuileges Another Canon taken out of saint Gregory sayth thus If a man happen to obiect custome against vs we must consider what the Lord sayth I am the way saith he the truth and the life He doth not say I am custome And truely as sayeth