Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	authority_n	church_n	err_v	2,923	5	9.8588	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15978	[A notable discourse, plainelye and truely discussing, who are the right ministers of the Catholike Church written against Calvin and his disciples, ... with an offer made by a Catholike to be a learned Protestant ... .]; Marques de la vraye église catholique. English	Albin de Valsergues, Jean d', d. 1566.; Rishton, Edward, 1550-1586, attributed name. aut; Allen, William, 1532-1594.	1575 (1575)	STC 274; ESTC S112318	85,201	271

heresyes of Valentine and suche other whose wordes taken out of his fourth Chapter of the sayde booke I will briefely rehearse Si quae de aliqua modica quaestione disceptatio esset nonnè oporteret in antiquissimas recurrere ecclesias in quibus Apostoli conuersati sunt ab eis de praesenti quaestione sumere quod certum re liquidum est If any controuersie shoulde be of any question were it neuer so litle must it not be méete to haue our recourse vnto the moste auncient Churches in the which the Apostles were conuersant and of them to receaue the playne certaintie thereof It foloweth Quid autem si neque Apostoli quidem Scripturas reliquissent nobis nonnè oportebat ordinem sequi traditionis quam tradiderunt his quibus committebant ecclesias But what if the Apostles left nothing written of that matter must we not folow the tradition of them to whose gouernaunce they committed the Churches Here haue you the minde of Irenaeus who was néere vnto Christ his time for as S. Hierome testifyeth in an Epistle to one Theodora he was Disciple to Papias who was S. Iohn the Euangelists scholler He woulde haue men to be taught of Christe of his Apostles and their successours and not of euery one which rashelye and without lawfull authoritie taketh vpon him to be a teacher Christen men should be obedient to christen ordinaunces and folowe that doctrine that is alowed by them that are lawfully called and haue the censure of doctrine committed to them Such were the Apostles called and put in authoritie by Christe Suche were they to whom these agayne gaue the charge ouer anye faythfull congregation Suche are all they which haue so from time to time béene lawfully called by them that haue power to put others in authoritie and so succéeded in due order els Quomodò praedicabūt nisi mittantur Howe shall they preache except they be sent as it is written in the tenth to the Romanes and sent by them which haue authoritie to sende Did not S. Paule for that purpose leaue Titus in Crete Did he not also geue Timothie charge to laye handes to quickelye on no man To these that be thus lawfullye ordeyned and called to haue cure and charge of soules ye are bounde to geue an eare by these ye must be ruled in matters of religion as obedient children to their spiriritual fathers And this biddeth S. Hierome writing to Nepotian Esto subiectus pontifici tuo quasi animae parentem suspice Be subiect to thy Bishop reuerence him as thy soules father The same lesson teacheth Chrisostome in an Homilye De recipiendo Seueriano where he beginneth thus Sicuti capiti corpus cohaerere necessarium est ita ecclesiam sacerdoti principi populum As it is of necessitie that the body cleaue to the head so it is likewise of necessitie that the congregation cleaue to their Priest and spirituall ruler and the people to their prince And within a fewe wordes after he alleageth for the confirmation of this matter the Apostle writing thus to the Hebrewes in the thirtenth Chapter Obedite praepositis vestris obtemperate eis quia ipsi peruigilant pro vobis quasi pro animabus vestris rationem reddituri Obeye them that haue the ouersight of you and doo as they would haue you for they watch for your sakes as they which shall geue accoumptes for your soules This obedience doth our Sauiour require of all men saying Qui vos audit me audit He that heareth you heareth me This obedience to Christes Churche hath continued throughout all Christendome time out of minde And if the authoritie of the learned and holye fathers ought to beare swaye and preuayle as of right it ought to doo in déede Arrogantium enim hominum est maiorum suorum authoritatem aspernari se illis ingenio vel sapientia anteponere For it is the maner and propertie of proude arrogant persons to contemne the authoritie of their elders and to preferre themselues before themin wit or learning If the consent of all christen Regions should be regarded probabilia sayth Aristotle in the first Chapter of the firste booke of his Topikes quae videntur omnibus vel plurimis Those things are probable which all men or at the least the most part doo iudge to be so If the long continuaunce of time must be of importance In his enim as witnesseth S. Hilarie vpon the hundred and eyghtéene psalme tanquàm in coelo verbum dei permanet in quibus hoc verbum non offenditur In thē doth the word of God abide among whom that worde is not offended If these thrée I saye The authoritie of the learned Fathers The common consent of christian Regions The long continuaunce of time may be a sufficient testimonie for the veritie we haue the true Gospell and the true sense of it Our religion is the very christian religion The order of Ceremonyes that the Catholike Churche doth vse is the right order Our fasting and praying is according to the Scriptures Our Church is the true and lawfull spouse of Christ from the which as many as seperate them selues they are no shéepe of Christes folde they are reprobate persons they are the children of Beliall they are ympes of hell You know what order your fathers kept howe they liued and howe they beléeued You are not ignoraunt howe you haue béene brought vp instructed and trained in the lawes of Christe Whosoeuer goeth about to infringe or breake any part of that godly order of that auncient custome and laudable vsage he is an heretike an enemye to God a murtherer to mannes soule a disturber of the common wealth a subuerter of all honest discipline and therfore moste vnwoorthy to liue among men I haue hearde read and séene manye thinges yet can I not reade heare or sée any worlde more contaminate and proue to all kinde of vices then this our age is And howbeit afore our dayes haue béene in all times and ages men and women verye vitious and monstrous in their liuing yet then vertue was vertue and vice was vice But nowe in our corrupt time we haue lost the true names and vse of all thinges and vertue with vs is taken for vice and contrarily vice is coumpted for vertue They that be studious of modestie obseruers of temperancie and louers of sobrietie they be nowe a dayes called Pinchepennyes and suche that hunger droppeth out of their noses If any be vertuous folowers of the Catholike which is the true religion they be called Phariseys Papists The discrete mā he is called an hipocrite the small talker a foole and an ignorant person On the other side they that leade their liues in all kinde of ryote they be called hansome men men of the right making and suche as can tell howe to kéepe honest mennes companye Agayne the statelyer that one goeth the higher that he looketh and the stouter and malapertlier that he speaketh the more is

folowe by that that it is not of god For by that reason one mighte saye that GOD was not the authour of the priesthood of Aaron seing that Dathan Abyron and Ozias tooke it vpon thē of their owne boldenes the which is not true And as touching this that he saieth that our order of priesthood is not of God we will proue that false in some other place but at this time we must treat of our vocation to aunswere him his complices howe and by what vertue we exercise our ministerie We are called to this estate according to the ordinarie way that is to saye by the right succession of Bisshops and Pastors and by the continuance of one Catholique faith deriued from the Apostles to our dayes without the interruption of it vniuersallye for in diuers places of the worlde it hath bene euer cleere and certaine manifestlye shining like the light set on the table to geue light to all those of the house and not vnder the busshell to be shadowed with darknes S. Paule after that he had recited by order the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie I meane of the Apostles Prophetes and Euangelists he doth declare at the last the cause why they were instituted being for the edification of the misticall body of Christe the which is the Catholique Church vntill saith he that in the vnitie of faith we go to meete him He taketh his similitude of many that come frō diuerse wayes and meete all in one waye And thus he meanes that the spirituall edification of the Churche ordeined of Bishops Pastours and Doctours shall endure vntill that the Gospell be preached through all nations By the effecte of the whiche Gospell both Frenche Spanish English Greeke Persian Arabian Latines and Barbares with manye other nations which were to tedious to name haue met together hauing of great antiquitie all one kinde of Catholike faith by the Apostles and their successors for euer As the sonne of God before he suffered did attaine and arriue to the perfection of his age euen so his misticall body of the Churche shall continue in this world vntill it be perfect in his members and that the number of the chosen be accomplished And euē as a materiall building cannot be perfectly atchieued without continuance of workemen and Masons euen so the spirituall building of the Churche cannot be atchieued without the succession of Bishops and Pastors preaching or causing the worde of God to be preached which is the verye spiritual building the which hath bene euer common and visible in the Churche according to the prophecie of Esaye Sap. 61. who meaning to declare the care that God taketh as touching the preseruation of his Churche he did saye as it were representing the state of Hierusalem I haue established and ordeined watchemen vpon the walles the whiche shall neuer holde their peace neither daye nor night These watchemen are those that haue announced to vs our saluation They are the trompettes of Iesus Christe which neuer haue left their sounding in the true Churche of God from the Apostles time vnto this present daye ¶ The .2 Chapter SAint Paule foloweth this discourse in the fourth Chapiter vnto the Ephesians where as he doeth declare vnto vs the fruit that doth procede of this succession of Pastors and of the perseuerance of the reasonable sheepe in one kinde of spirituall doctrine called the vnitie of fayth For he sayeth that God established this order to that ende that we shoulde not be like light childrē caried away with euerye blast of false doctrine through the subtilitie of men their craftie wordes full of deceipte In these wordes you doo see howe the Apostle doeth declare vnto vs the counsaile and the intention of the holye Ghoste I meane that we should be constant in our fayth the which is grounded vpon the worde of God interpreted and declared vnto vs by the Doctours and Pastors that successiuely haue continued in one kinde of faith and Catholike religion from the firste time that it was preached without turning with euery winde but rather that we ought to stande firme and stable Here is to be noted that when the Apostle doth tell how he hath lefte vs pastors and doctors to warne vs of the subtilitie of false teachers he doth vse a certain greeke worde very apte for this purpose the which hath in Englishe the signification of the playing or cogging at dise And euen as he that hath no great skill if he playe with suche a one he will soone loose his money because the other can cast what he wil Euen so if a simple man being vnlearned doo chaunce to talke with such a one as can cog or to speake plainely falsly interprete the Scriptures he may soone be deceaued as we see it dayly happen to many that playe awaye and put in hazarde the rest of al their spirituall inheritaunce I meane the faith which hath beene lefte to them by their fathers from age to age since Christes time Thus haue the Arrians the Nestorians and diuers other heretikes deceiued many a mā as I will shewe more at large hereafter The .3 Chapter THe place that I haue quoted of the Apostle doth shew howe dangerous a thinge it is to fall into the handes of such Coggers of the scriptures and likewise howe certaine a thinge it is to folowe the interpretation of the auncient Doctours standing to that that euer the Catholike Churche hath taught and not to turne at euery blast Vpon this matter one Vincentius Lyrinensis who florished aboue a thousande yeres agone he saith thus If anye man perchaunce demaunde saying Since that the rules of the Scripture are certaine and sufficient of them selues And what neede haue we then of the authoritie of the Churche He aunswereth For that sayeth he that the secretes and misteries of the holye Scriptures are such that euery man doeth not vnderstande them and interprete them after one sorte but that of one place this man and that man shall seeme to mainteyne their opinions being cleane contrary one to another so that looke howe manye men so many interpretations For one way it is interpreted by Nestorius another waye by Arrius another way by Sabellius and so forth according to diuers heresies that haue risen from time to time And therefore it is necessarye for the knowledge of the trueth among so manye errours to drawe the right line of the Propheticall and Apostolicall interpretation according to the rule and true sense of the Catholike Churche This is the learned opinion of this auncient father Vincentius Lyrinensis ¶ The .4 Chapter WHose discourse doeth make me remember the Complaynt that the Soule doeth make vnto her Spouse IESVS CHRISTE being both represented by Salomō and his legitimate spouse I praye thee saith she O my dere frende tell me in what place thou doest lye and rest at noone dayes for I woulde be very glad and desirous to folowe the flockes of thy felowes The which is as

to that that is outwardlye written For if so manye men of great learning and excellent vnderstanding haue found such great rocks in this rough sea which haue manye times ouerthrowen their ships howe daungerous then must it needes be vnto those that will take it in hande so doubtfull a nauigation hauing litle skill or none at all But as for you my masters of the contrarye syde you canne sayle with all tides and al winds geuing the gouernance of the ship or the guiding of the sterne without consideration to all kinde of people We haue at this daye in Fraunce I will not say in Englande many that haue the holy spirite Interpreters of the Scriptures And forsooth what are they Mary Pedlers Cobblers Tanners Bankrouts Runnegates and suche others which hauing no other liuing sue to my Lorde Bishop and he makes them ministers being not one of them but hath the holy spirite for assoone as they can saye the Lorde and rayle vpon the Pope the Bishops and al the learned men that haue bene in times past Oh these are great doctors no place of Scripture to them is harde all the auncient doctours were men and the generall Councels did erre I knowe that you doo mainteine your opinion with the saying of Christe alleaging it as other heretikes haue done the whiche is That the heauenly father hath hid these high and profound things from the great Clerkes and hath reuealed them vnto the meeke and humble This is true but it ought to be vnderstoode to the humble and meeke of spirite and not to those which trust so much to their owne wittes beinge puffed vp with arrogant ignoraunce that they thinke to knowe more in three dayes reading then the Doctours coulde in fyftie yeres studie faining themselues to be like the Apostles as if that god gouerned by their appetites did sende euery month the feast of Pentecost ¶ The .28 Chapter I Praye Syrs since you are so absolute aunswere me to this obiection Is it good to beleeue all maner of people that doo alleage the Scriptures or no If ye saye yea why doo not you beleue the abouenamed Valentinus Apollinaris Hebion Cherintus and Nestorius with diuers others that haue sought to mainteyne their errours with the newe and olde Testament If you saye no but that we ought rather to folowe the counsell of S. Iohn in his fyrste Epistle cap. 4. The which is not to beleue euery spirite but that we ought to proue whether it be of God or no What proufe will you shewe vs of yours Shewe the priuiledge that you haue by the which God doth enioyne vs to beleue your Gospell rather then the Gospell of the Pelagians Nouatians Nestorians and other suche false Apostles considering that they haue alleaged the Scriptures aswell as you If you saye that they were heretikes abusers of the people and rauishing wolues cloathed in lambes Skins and false Interpreters of the Scriptures all this is certaine But what though the like reporte goeth of you Ye saye that ye are sent from God to refourme the Churche They saye as muche They preached that the Pope was Antichriste shewinge themselues verye eloquent in detracting and rayling against the Catholike Romane Churche you doo the like At euery worde they did alleage the Scriptures in their Sermons to confyrme their doctrine as you do for yours That that they preached was called by them the Gospell and the pure worde of the Lord these are the very tearmes that you vse amonge your holye prophetes they haue beene condemned as heretikes by the generall Councels you are so likewise They did appeal vnto the pure word of God you doo the like Yet are they proued to be false cogging knaues and so shall you Then seing there is so great an vniformitie betweene you vppon what grounde shall we confyrme that reason that shoulde condemne theym as heretikes and allowe you for Catholikes S. Augustine in his Epistle .161 did put vnto a Donatist called Honoratus this probleme We desire thee not to think it much to aunswere vs to this what cause doest thou knowe or what thing hath there bene done that hath made Christ lose his inheritance spred ouer all the worlde to come to be contayned only in Affrick there only to remayne We put the like question to Caluin Beza Virett and the rest that it may please them to tell vs if that by chaunce they haue ben aduertised through what occasion our Sauiour Christ hath lost his inheritaunce that is to saye the Churche spread ouer all the worlde to remaine nowe in the latter dayes with a company of rude Swizers or in two or three corners besydes and not among the rest for there is a great number of good Catholikes what badge can ye shewe or what signe to make vs know that you are the successors of the Apostles of Christe If that the Scriptures that you alleage ought to be a sufficient proufe we are content to accepte it if you will be content to graunt the like vnto the abouenamed heretikes whiche haue fortifyed their campe with as manye places more then you doo alleage Nowe if that notwithstanding the Scriptures by them alleaged you doo condemne them as heretikes because that they did interprete them contrary to that that the Churche doth teache and to say truth you can imagine no other excuse to what purpose doo you take vpon you the names of Catholikes seeing that you commit the like offence The diuersities of those old heresyes grounded vppon the Scriptures yll interpreted doo teache vs that we shoulde not permit the noyse of youre reformed Gospell that soundeth so shrill to make vs reele from our auncient fayth and without going so farre to seek that that we haue so neere at hande Let vs talke of the present time howe many contrarye sectes doth there reigne howe many heades of heresyes Some are Lutherans some Anabaptists some Puritans some Protestants some Precisians and all these do fortifye their campes with Scriptures to fight one against another The Zuinglians and the Caluinists on the other syde doo write that all these doo erre and they proue it by Scripture The Anabaptists laughe at all the rest The Prophetes Celestes which is another secte doo no lesse grounding theym selues vppon their reuelations because that Dauid sayeth Heare what the Lorde doeth speake in me The Deists or Trinitaries which are come last of all crye out and saye that all they are heretikes and they proue it by the olde and newe Testament I praye nowe tell me which of al these shall I receaue seeing that they doo all alleage the holye Scriptures If we receaue some and not all those that are refused will saye that we offer them wronge for they haue their shoppes stored with as good stuffe of the Scriptures and as wel alleaged as all the rest If we receaue them all it will be a renewing of the olde confusion of Babilon through the neglecting of so manye Gospels If you

saye that we oughte to folowe those that conforme them selues moste vnto the pure worde of God that will come to one ende for if I doo demaunde of you how we shall know whiche do conforme theym selues moste vnto the truthe you aunswere me that it must be done by the grace of the holye Ghoste sent by the Lorde yf with a true hearte he is inuocated of the faythfull Seeing you knowe so well the way how to agree together howe comes it to passe that you haue not vsed it this fortie or fiftie yeres which are the precinctes of the time since your auncient Churche beganne seeing that you haue assembled so manye times together why haue ye not prayed vnto the Lorde to sende the spirite of truth to make peace amongst his Apostles I thinke that you are not so vnshamfaste that you will denye the quarels and debates that haue risen amonge you I doo not saye in light wordes but in great battailes in rayling processes in horrible excommunications sent from the Churches of the Lutherans vnto the Caluinists and from the Caluinists vnto the Lutherans as I haue set foorth at large in the booke that I made of the Sacrament and therefore ye are greatlye ouerseene that ye haue not inuocated the spirite of the Lorde as Caluin hath taught you in his Cathechisme to the ende that you may come to some accorde ¶ The .29 Chapter NOwe to turne againe to our former purpose if it were so that of our owne free deliberation we were minded to forsake our Catholike religion the iniurious disputations that you vse amonge your selues were sufficient to make vs to suspende oure iudgement without leaning to anye of both parties vntill that we coulde see you more resolute in youre opinions being the hardest matter the knowing in what countrey the residence shoulde be kepte for that matter You haue geuē absolute sentence saying that the Catholike Churche hath erred euen from the Apostles time vnto this present in praying to God for the soules of those that are deade constituted in a thirde place called Purgatorye You shoulde me thinke at the least allowe a thirde place although it be not that to receaue the soules of those whose consciences you haue so troubled that they knowe nowe neither what is their faith nor of what religion they should be for whē they reade Luthers workes they are Lutherans whē they meete with Caluins workes they are Caluinists and at the last they do not know which side in deede is the truest being both false and therfore I think it were good that a sequestration were made that neyther God nor the Deuill might haue parte of their soules till there were a farther inquirye made of suche a number of sects and that some good and honest arbitratour might geue iudgement as concerning which partie hath moste right And in the meane while I beseeche God to open so the eyes of the people that they maye see both youre errours and their owne and that through the aboundaunce of their sinnes he permit them not to fall into an Heathenisme vnto the which you doo seeke to drawe them with so manye contrary Gospels ¶ The .30 Chapter IT doth appere well by that that I haue saide howe the assuraunce of your vocation to the ministerie is but founded vpon sande forasmuche as you doo seeke particulerly a contrary meaning euery one to his owne perticuler sense being not this the waye that an extraordinarye minister sent from God shoulde vse to confyrme his doctrine for this hath beene the custome of all olde heretikes as I haue alreadye sayde There is a verye great difference betweene setting foorth the Scripture to refourme ones religion to reforme ones conditions for when there is any questiō of the refourming of ones maners there is no neede to regarde whether the doctrine be newe or olde for as the Apostle sayth let euery man take it to his owne sense but when it is to be talked of as touching ones fayth the Catholike ought greatlye to beware of singuler interpretations and to holde them as very suspitious He ought to folowe the sentence that is holden and taught by the auncient Catholike Churche without making any accompt of all these new deuises for euen as when one will repaire an olde house he dares commit it to anye Mason although his cunning be but small but if the foundation must be touched he will seeke the best masters he can fynde Euen so when one will correct me for my euill life or conditions although that it be so that he that seeks to reforme me be not of the wisest of the worlde and that he alleage to me some place or figure of the Sceipture not altogether to the purpose yet all this ought to turne to me to one effect for I know his meaning although he cannot well expresse it the which is to haue me chaunge my naughtie life and to leaue my yll conditions But when he shall come to touche my fayth and to perswade me from that that all my auncetours did euer holde frō that that the Catholike Churche deriued from the Apostles hath holden and doth holde and from that that both the Scripture and the generall Councels and all the auncient doctours teache and affyrme In the repayre of this foundation I ought to trust none but euen the verye best I meane not one or two but all these that I haue named And now if you say that they maye all erre I praye remember the olde prouerbe that saith He is a foole that thinkes that he onely is wise and all the other fooles and that it is more agreable to reason that one onely should erre then one great multitude for as thei say commonly two eyes see more then one and fowre more then two ¶ The .31 Chapter OVr Sauiour Christe did approue his vocation after another sort thē you doo yours Searche saith he the Scriptures for they beare witnes of me he doth not say that they ar Iudges as you saye for you will haue none other arbitrator but the word of god You knowe that they are two different thinges to beare witnes and to be a Iudge yet the scriptures of the old Testament doo conteine not only the veritie of the doctrine of our Sauiour Christ but therwithall the very sufficient probation of his person to teache vs the true worde of God to ouerthrow destroy the whole kingdome of Sathan as it is plainlye seene by those that list to looke vppon the oracles of the olde patriarchs and Prophetes It is written in the third of Genesis that God saide vnto the woman that her seede shoulde breake downe the serpents head And likewise in the said booke ther is mentiō made of this diuine seede of Abraham in the. 15. and. 53. Chapters of Esay in the. 2. Psalme Dauid doth talke of it And in like maner Daniell Moyses Aaron with al the rest of the prophets in their sacrifices haue very

woulde be mercifull to them because their error proceeded of ignoraunce and so that he will haue pitie of vs because of ours But I knowe that you will say that we are nowe vnexcusable because that wee do refuse the truth that you do preach By the selfe same reason our auncesters can alleage before God no good excuse forasmuch as they do make no accompt of the receauing of such ministers as you are and that haue preched the like Gospell that you doo announce vnto vs S. Hierome and al the Christians of his time are then condemned because they woulde not receaue the Gospell of Vigilantius who did euen as you doo preache that we shoulde not allowe the exposition of the doctours nor honour the relicques of Martyrs S. Augustine is likewise condemned because he wrote preached against the Arrians who taught as you do that it is an offence to pray for the dead And to be briefe if that which you doo preach ought to be called the Gospel and true word of God since the Apostles time ther hath bene neuer a Christian Doctour in the Church for they haue all taught the contrarye to your forged Gospell as euery man may see that will take the payne but to looke in their workes or to reade those places that are quoted by me and diuers others that haue confuted your heresies manye a hundred yeere agone by their authorities Let them then that haue any eyes beholde the hazarde that ye runne into and so manye others throughout the worlde which folowe your opinion If one shoulde come to accuse another of falsehoode and that before he be assured of this matter wherewith he did seeke to attaynt the defendaunt woulde not one thinke his matter verye great or his knowledge very small to run headlong into the daunger of that crime which if he could not proue he shoulde be condemned for himselfe What then shall become of you O most simple sheepe which seeke with fayned arguments to condemne not one or two but all the Christians and Catholikes that haue bene in this worlde since the Passion of Christ the which haue refused and reproued your doctrine as hereticall haue taught vs this that wee holde at this day But now to aunswer vnto that that was mentioned a litle before and that which a number of your flocke haue told me when I haue cōferred with them which is that the errour of our predecessours was not imputed vnto thē forasmuch as these good simple people went to worke after the grossest sort thinking to doo well and that as then they did not vnderstande well the truth which is nowe brought to light through your Gospell I saye that in this ye are deceaued more then halfe the value of your religion for before some of them dyed they had forgotten more then euer you haue learned for all that that you know you haue learned it of their bookes or stollen it to say the truth interpreting both their workes and the Scriptures contrary to the truth of their meaning And although it were so that they had al erred your colored excuse of simplicitie could auaile them nothing for the worde of God would accuse them If the Gospell saith S. Paule had bene hidden it hath bene hidden to those that haue perished the spirites of the which the God of this world hath blinded then if that those vnto whom the truth hath beene hiddē haue perished wherfore doth your excuse serue them This being true as it is moste like I meane that they haue not erred nor that you onely shal be saued and they all condemned To my iudgement our auncesters with all their simplicitie did neuer erre so muche as your disciples doo to folowe such masters as condemne that faith that the catholike church hath taught mainteyned these 1500 yeres to mainteyn those heresies that haue bene buried in hel many an hundred yere agone and nowe are called vp againe by Martin Luther Caluin and his felowes ¶ The .40 Chapter YF that by a good and a right title your disciples call them selues the children of god this makes me beleue that the saying of our Sauiour is fulfilled in them the which is The childrē of this world are wiser in their generation then the children of light To proue this true we see this daily experience for a wise worldly man when he doth put out his money to gayne he will not trust the promise so soone of one or two or three as he will doo the bondes of a whole Towne or Citie that should warrant or assure his gayne But you nor your disciples haue not done thus but rather the contrarye It had bene better for you to haue fyrste put youre fayth and truste in God beleeuing that he hath geuen his holye spirite and declared the meaning as touching the Scriptures vnto the Catholike Churche and not to hazarde the hope of your saluation putting it into the handes of Luther Zuinglius Oecolampadius and three or fowre other such pelting merchantes which haue newly set vp shoppes at Wittemberge Geneua and Losane which one of these dayes we shall see bankruptes as their predecessours haue bene before them the which after that they had deceaued the poore simple Catholikes and gayned some of their soules for the deuill they haue at the laste solde all theyr their honestie and credite so that at this daye except that it be those that reade the auncient historyes no bodye els doth remember that euer they liued in the world You are come now last of al to make vp their merchaundise but your credite can hardlye be good before God for you shall haue against you all the auncient Catholike Churche which hath continued visible since the comming of Christe vnto this daye all the doctours of all the vniuersities all the Empires Kingdomes and priuate state throughout all the worlde which haue receaued honoured this doctrine that you call Papistical And if you saye that you will not trust men but the very word of the Lord we agree to the like that we ought all to beleue the Scripture but we vary about the interpretation for you interprete it after one sort and we after another you expounde it after a new sort and the Catholike Churche doth folowe the olde exposition of the auncient Doctours and traditions which you haue forsaken or to saye the truth your Ministers haue led the sheepe astraye from the olde flocke at the departing from the which they haue bene all scatered abroade some folowing Luther some Caluine some the Anabaptists and so forth for the which the Popes and kinges and others that haue had the gouernment of the Churche shal answere at the last day of iudgement for as much as while they slept you haue come and sowed weedes among the good corne Then seeing you are the sheepe that rome astray what excuse can they make before God that wilfully folowe your steppes We confesse that we are the poore sheepe of God