we bring all ReligioÌ„ into contempt But how prooueth hee that wee contemne the Churches authoritie First he sayth it is a maxime and almoste an article of fayth among vs that the true Church which once was hath erred grossely and in no lesse matters then fayth justification merit free-will workes satisfaction Purgatory prayer to Sayntes worship of Images number vertue of Sacraments sacrifice and such like But if hee meane the whole Catholique Church this is neither article nor maxime nor opinion of ours that the whole Church hath erred grossely If he meane the Pope and his adherents and parasites why should not they erre as well as the Churches of Antioch Alexandria Hierusalem and Constantinople That they haue indeed erred we haue already prooued and offer our selues alwayes ready to prooue and it is most apparant for that their Doctrine is not only diuers but also contrary to the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles and namely in the points aboue specified Next hee sayth Luther cared not for a thousand Churches and Caluin Beza and others despised all the Councels and ancient Fathers But neyther the contempt of the Synagogue of Rome nor the reiection of diuers Conuenticles assembled by Popes nor the refusall of diuers counterfet Bookes alledged vnder the name of Fathers or of some Fathers singuler opinions doth argue anye contempt of the true Church or of lawfull councelles or of the authenticall writinges and common Doctrines of Fathers Further I would haue thought that reason might haue taught him talking so long of Religion that priuate mens sayinges and opinions should not so often haue beene imputed generally to vs or to the whole Church To prooue that contempt of the Churches authoritie bringeth Religion into contempt hee alleadgeth that wee cannot knowe which is Scripture which not but by the voice of the Church But first this is nothing to vs which doe much esteeme the authoritie of the Apostolike and Catholike Church We say also that euerie priuate man is to reuerence the iudgement of the true Church But what is this to the Romish synagogue that is not the true church againe what is this to the Pope that is an oppressor of the church and an enemie of Christian Religion if Kellison wil contend that the sentence of the Pope which neither vnderstandeth nor percase can reade Scriptures in the originall tongues must needes be followed in deciding the controuersies about Canonical scriptures his owne schollers wil laugh at him that maketh a betilheaded fellow iudge in matters of religion a blinde man iudge of colours If he refer men to the particular church of Rome that now is it will bee said that she cannot bee iudge and partye and that the auncient Church is much to bée preferred before her Saint Augustine wee confesse among manye other reasons was enduced also to beleeue by the churches authoritie So likewise are many more then he But K. remooueth all other reasons and motiues in matter of discerning scriptures and maketh his moderne Church a necessarie cause and almost sole motife of faith as if none were to beleeue eyther scriptures or any other Article of faith vnlesse hee bee resolued by the Pope and the moderne Church of Rome Blasphemously also hee affirmeth that the Romaine Church being contemned wee can no more assure a man of Scripture then of a Robin-hoodes tale But to vse these comparisons is blasphemye To make so much of nothing and to stand so much vpon a blinde Pope and to preferre the Romaine moderne Church before the auncient and all other moderne churches is foolery In the fourth Chapter he beareth his Reader in hand that wee reject some bookes of Canonicall Scripture and for proofe saith that Luther reiected the Booke of Iob Ecclesiastes and all the Gospels saue that of Iohn and that we reiect the Bookes of Iudith Tobia Ecclesiasticus Wisdome and the Machabees But these latter Bookes hee shall neuer prooue to be canonicall vnlesse wée take the Canon largelye as Saint Augustine sometimes seemeth to doe S. Hierome in prol galeato Athanasius in Synops Gregorius Nazianzenus in carminibus Epiphanius in lib. de pond mensur and the moste and best Fathers esteeme of them no otherwise then we doe The calumniation concerning Luther wee haue answered already But saith K. they will needes receiue Scripture at the Roman Churches hand And of this hee would inferre that as well we ought to follow that Church in the number of bookes as in receiuing canonicall Scripture vpon that Churches warrant This sâ—ith hee but hee taketh that for graunted that no man yeeldeth him For wee take the Scriptures as the Church of Rome her selfe did from the Prophets and Apostles We doe also assure our selues that the iudgement of the Apostolike Church is farre to be preferred before the iudgement of the Apostaticall moderne Romish Church Lastlye wee answere to his argument that wee haue diuers arguments to assure vs of the authoritie truth and number of canonicall bookes of Scriptures beside the testimony of any one particular Church as for example the testimony of Scripture it selfe the likenesse Maiestie antiquitie truth stile of Scripture and such like In the fift chapter he endeuoreth to prooue that our dissensions in Religion doe open a gappe to contempt of Religion And thereupon talketh his pleasure of Caluinistes and Lutherans Puritanes Protestants soft and rigid Lutherians Zuinglians Bezites Anabaptistes Libertines Brownistes Martinistes family of loue and damned crew But first the damned crew is by vs damned In this late conspiracie of Papists Edward Baynham that is knowne to bee of the damned crewe was choson for a fit maÌ„ to goe as nuntio from this damned crew to the Pope Anabaptistes Libertines the family of loue are more among the Papists then among vs. We say to them anathema maranatha The Brownistes and Martinistes wee generally condemne The rest are the names of slaunder deuised by Papistes To answere his obiection therefore wee say that the Churches of Germanye France and other countries doe well agree and priuate men doe submitte themselues to the determination of a free generall councell and in the meane while to their nationall Churches The groundes of his sixt chapter are laide vpon the Popes head-ship For because wee want a visible head hee supposeth wee giue great aduantage to Atheistes But as the Popes headship is a matter rather fancied then prooued out of Scriptures or Fathers so what so euer is thereupon built the same is founded vpon fancie and not worth a head of Garlike That Saint Peter did rule both the Apostles and all the church as Christes vicar generall and head of the Church it cannot bee prooued All the Apostles were called alike and sent to teach and administer the Sacraments alike They had also the keyes of the Church giuen to them by one ioynt commission and Paul professeth that the principall of the Apostles gaue vnto him nothing But had Peter had any such monarchy as is
that teacheth that the authoritie of preachers is a sufficient assurance for Christians to builde their Religion and faith vpon As for vs wee beleeue them no further then they treade in the steps and continue in the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets of God Secondly it is not sufficient to alleadge or pretend Scriptures but they must bee truelye alleadged Neither is the priuate fancie of euerie capriecious head to be equalled with the determinations of graue men and well experimented in Scriptures Lastlye there is no comparison betweene learned men called and allowed by the Church phantasticall fellowes that rashly presume to leape into the ministeriall function without eyther calling allowance or qualities fitting for such a calling In his second chapter he shameth not to say that those which ground their Religion on Scriptures which hee like a bad and bare fellow calleth bare set the gate open to all Heretickes and Heresies Thus our aduersaries aduauncing the Popes decretales and the vncertaine tradisions of the Romish Church detest the holy Scriptures and open their mouthes against God But wee are rather to beleeue Christ and his Apostles then such blasphemous gapers and speakers against holy Scriptures The Apostle Ephes 2. saith the faithfull are built vppon the Apostles and prophets Ephes 6. the word of God is called the sword of the Spirit And 2. Tim. 3. The scripture is commended as profitable to instruct and reproue and able to make the man of God perfit But neither may the ground of faith be tearmed a gate set open to Heresies nor is the sword of the spirit a meanes to breede errors Further how can the same be a gate set open to heretikes being able to make the man of God perfit certes if the allegation of Scriptures were a way to error our Sauiour Christ would neuer haue sent his hearers to search scriptures Neither would the auncient Fathers haue termed Scriptures a canon of faith if they had beene any gate set open to Heresies Irenaeus in his third booke against Heresies saith the Apostles first preached the Gospell and afterwards deliuered the same to vs in Scriptures that it might be a foundation pillar of our faith He sheweth also that it is the propertie of Heretikes when they are conuinced by Scriptures to accuse the Scriptures and to speake euill of them Origen in Math. tract 25. sheweth that Scriptures are to be brought for proofe of all Doctrines Neither neede we to doubt but that of themselues they are verie sufficient Our Sauiour Math. 4. by Scriptures onely ouercame the Diuell Neither did the auncient Fathers by other weapons preuaile against Hereticks In generall councels of olde time not the Popes decretales but the holy Scriptures were laide before the fathers Lastly if the word of God cannot be receiued it is farre more vnlike that Heretickes will respect the traditions or wrightings of men Neither is it material that Hereticks cauil against Scriptures and detort them to contrarie sences For such cauils and deprauations may easily be refuted by scriptures and to such abuses the wrightings of men are much more subiect then holy scriptures But saith Kellison The Deuill hath alwayes affected to be as like as may be to Christ and his Apostles in allegation of Scripture He maketh also a long and lewd narration of heretikes alleadging Scriptures But first most false it is that the deuil alwayes affecteth to alleadge Scriptures Nay he alleadgeth traditions customes and humane deuises more often then Scriptures False it is also that heretikes more often alleadge Scriptures then the testimony of traditions Fathers other reasons But suppose that heretikes should often alleadge Scriptures yet we are not to refuse that which by others is abused Neither doe wise men refuse meat because gluttons doe thereby surfet or forbeare to drinke for that drunkards abuse wine to excesse If then Kellison wil néeds folowe heretikes in calumniating scriptures and not forbeare as the deuil did to abuse Scriptures to contrary sence then must he giue Christians leaue to folowe Christ and his Apostles in alleadging Scriptures and not presume to condemne those which prefer Scriptures before traditions Gods worde before the Popes decretales Pag. 33. and 34. He runneth out into a large field concerning the possession of Scriptures which as he sayth belongeth to Catholikes not to heretikes But what may this make for Papists whom by many reasons we haue in our Challenge conuinced to be heretikes and not Catholikes Furthermore the question which he proposeth here concerneth the sufficiency and authority and not the possession of Scriptures But this is this Surueyors pleasure to abandon matters in Controuersie and to trifle about needlesse questions Afterward he sheweth why heretikes aledge Scriptures and mentioneth the decrees writings of the Pope the Church He endeuoreth also to prooue that Scripture is not easily to be vnderstood Matters much stood vpon by him but yet very impetinent in this place where the question is about allegation of Scriptures as an Argument of it selfe only sufficient Furthermore what if heretikes depraue and wrest Scriptures shal not true Catholikes rely vpon them Thirdly the Popes bulles and blundering decretales are not of such qualitye that they ought to be cōpared to Scriptures or mentioned where they are in place Lastly Scriptures in matters necessary to saluation are playne and easy But what if some places were difficult should we therfore absteine to alleadge Scriptures nay rather we ought diligently to study them that by vnderstanding of them we may resolue our difficultyes Tertullian alleadged by him pag. 37. doth not refuse flatlye to dispute with heretikes by Scripture or count such disputation lippe labour as this impudent compagnion falsely affirmeth For his common course was to conuince heretikes by Scriptures But if he thought it frutelesse at any time to alleadge Scriptures it was against such onely as denied the Scriptures Of holy Scriptures the prophane fellowe speaketh if not blasphemously yet basely and contemptibly pag. 35. he compareth them to colours vsed by foule women and to sweete odours vsed by sluttes pag. 39. he calleth them bare and compareth them to a nose of waxe and alloweth the saying of one that compared them to Aesops Fables especially vnderstanding the bare letter of Scriptures Finally he shameth not pag. 41. to say that the worde of God with a false meaning is the worde of the deuill Matters deseruing rather corporal punishment then verbal censures We may not therfore maruel if he rayle at Luther Caluin belying them without all shame or conscience First he sayth Luther dissaloweth S. Iames his Epistle He onely maketh it inferiour to other Canonical Scriptures as not esteemed to be his Secondly he chargeth Caluin and Luther with Misconstruing S. Pauls Epistles He should rather prooue it then falsely affirme it Thirdly he saith Luther doth discanon Iob jest at Ecclesiastes and contemne all the Gospels but S. Iohns the Epistle to the Hebrewes and that
answered by vs in a Treatise called Turco Papismus And that so sufficiētly that D. Gifford resteth eyther satisfied or silent If then this new surueyor would needes renew their slaunders and vaine obiections he should for his credit sake haue doone wel eyther to haue replyed to our answere or to haue held his peace as his betters haue done Againe if hee had beene so wise and circumspect as he pretendeth to bee he would haue been well aduised before he entred this course least he might giue vs occasion to rip vp the deformities fooleries absurdities Heresies impieties and other abuses of Popery of which I doubt not but his best friendes when they are laid open will bee much ashamed Himselfe being but a new vpstart Doctor lately crept out of my Lord Vauxes Buttery will bee much puzled to make any probable defence for them Thus much may serue for answere to the front of his Suruey and his two liminare Epistles For the rest I shall not neede to say much in this place Onely this I thought good to signifye vnto thee good Reader that thou looke not for any curious or long answere heereafter to wit that the whole volume is nothing but a newe packe of olde calumniations and lyes The forme of his discourse is trifling the Subject rayling Such declamations it should seeme hee was wont in the time of his butlerage to make ouer a canne of Beere His proofes are fancies and bare conceites His witnesses fellowes of a lowe price His conclusions weake collections It may bee eyther neede and hunger or else hope and promise of reward made him so talkatiue How be it least hee might grow proud of his owne prowesse I haue vndertaken to shape him a short answere In the meane while concerning his obiections and proofes this hee may learne of mee for his instruction First that it is a foolish thing for a man to obiect that to others whereof they are cleare and hee moste guiltie and to suruey other mens estates when his owne can abide no suruey Secondly that the bosome and domesticall testimonies of Cochleus Genebrard Bolsec Stapleton and such like are little to be esteemed Fidele est testimonium quod causas non habet mentiendi That testimony saith Hierome ad Saluinam deserueth most credit that hath no causes of fiction Be not then mooued with the largenesse of Kellisons volume nor with his manifold leasings Common barators are wont to put in longest billes whē they haue least matter and shallow waters make moste noise To such lewd and long lies this our short answere will be more then sufficient Vouchsafe therefore to compare both our discourses together and to reade them with indifferency And so thou shalt soone discouer the vanitie of his accusations and giue sentence for our innocency THE EXAMINATION and Confutation of Kellisons scurrilous Suruey of the newe Religion as he tearmeth it Chap 1. Kellisons fond conceit and error concerning the foundations of our Religion IF it be the part of a wise builder to lay a firme foundation as our Sauiour Christ Math. 7. teacheth and common experience prooueth most euidently vnto vs then we may wel collect that Kellison our aduersary in his Suruey hath shewed himselfe neither wise builder nor wise man who in his first booke going about to build the Toure of his Romish Babel doth wholy mistake his foundations laying the frame of his worke eyther vpon the Pope whome he supposeth to be a visible Iudge of all controuersies or vpon the mission and preaching of Romish Masse priestes Furthermore talking of our Religion he doth grossely erre in the foundations of it supposing that it relyeth first vpon the authoritie of our Preachers then vpon their allegations out of Scriptures thirdly vpon mens priuate spirits fourthly vpon credible or probable testimonies and lastly vpō some visible Iudge matters certes rather deuised by him selfe then taught by vs. The visible Iudge and authoritie of Priestes is layd as a foundation of fayth by Stapleton in his booke of doctrinal principles That which he talketh of priuat spirits and the allegatiō of Scriptures out of mens own humors is an imputation of Papists layd vpon vs and that most vniustly For we build the Church vpon the Prophets and Apostles Iesus Christ him selfe being the cheefe corner stone as the Apostle teacheth vs Ephes 2. And the Scriptures we receiue not as they are interpreted by the Massepriests or any mans humorous fancy but as they procéed from the spirit of God by the ministery of his Prophets and Apostles Wherefore mistaking the foundation of the worke we may well imagine that his discourse that is a worke raysed either without foundation or beside the foundation is most vaine idle and absurd The first Chapter of his first booke he beginneth with a long declamatory narration proouing that no man is to intrude him selfe into the function of the ministery of the Church without mission But what is that to the foundation of religion which is the subiect which he promised to handle Doth he suppose that the principal foundation of his Massing religion is layd vpon the preaching or rather not preaching mission of pol-shorne priests sent out by the Pope to say Masse for quicke and dead if he doe then like as his gunpowder consortes went about of late to blow vp the King and Sate so doth he goe obout to blow vp the Popes Chayre together with all his Cardinals Friars Monkes and Masse-priestes For first the Pope shall neuer be able to proue his mission Ephes 4. wee read that Christ gaue some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastors and Teachers But the Pope is none of all these His state is too great to be conteyned within this small and weake number Further he is no successor of Peter For he rather killeth thē féedeth Christs shéep Thirdly he rather medleth with Swordes then Keyes and if he handleth the Keyes of the Church yet can he shewe no Commission for it Fourthly he is absurd if he clayme the right of a Bishop For he doth not the worke of a Bishop Lastly the Apostles Successors and Preachers sent from God procéed according to their Commission and Instructions receiued from God But the Pope procéedeth according to his owne Decretales and the rules of his owne Chancery Out then must he goe and all that pretend to come from him as méere intruders if we folowe the Apostles rules The Cardinals are but of a late standing S. Peter had no Cardinals about him Nor were the parish Priests of Rome that assisted the auncient Bishops of that Cittie so gallant fellowes as these new Cardinals are They neither preach nor Baptise as Cardinals And therefore cannot pretend right of succession eyther from the Apostles or from auncient Bishops or Priestes In the holy Scriptures albeit some alleadge the wordes Cardines terrae there is no mention of them Finallye the Fathers knew them not If then the Popes decretales warrant them not
of Iude. But his writings doe refute these slaunders and nothing doth K. bring to iustifie them Lastly he sayth Caluin and Luther will haue the bare letter or joyned with their voluntary exposition to be Iudge of controuersies matters vtterly vntrue and improbable For neither doe we admitte the letter without the sence nor doe we allow voluntary or priuate expositions Pag. 46. he falsifyeth the testimony of Scriptures where he sayth Her selfe confesseth her owne obscurity For S. Peter 2. Epist 3. doth not say that the Scriptures are obscure as this K. pretendeth but only that certaine thinges in S. Pauls Epistles are difficult And psal 119. the Prophet compareth Gods word to a Lanterne and to light Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum sayth he lumen semitis meis If any obscuritie and difficultie be attributed to Scriptures by Fathers it is only in such poyntes as are not necessary to saluation Finally he reciteth the words of Luther concerning the plainnesse of Scriptures partially and obiecteth vnto vs the testimony of Osiander about the differences concerning mans iustification by Christ But neither is Luther to be blamed if he reprooue those that call Scriptures obscure nor is any credite to be giuen to Bellarmine citing Osiander nor to Osiander where he writeth against those that differ from him in the Article of mans iustification Long may he declayme against Luther and Osiander and others But nothing doth his reasoning or rather rayling against reading of Scriptures effect For who will not rather folowe the exhortation of Chrysostome exhorting lay-men to get them Bibles and to read Scriptures then regarde the babling of this Popish parasite that calleth readers of scriptures Biblists and sayth we holde that to be the true meaning of Scriptures which euery ones priuate spirit imagineth In the third chapter of his first book he disputeth against those which make their owne priuate Spirit supreme iudge in earth of the interpretation of Scripture The which as it lanceth the Pope deepely whose priuate and satanical spirit is the supreame iudge whome all Papists are bound to follow so it toucheth not vs at all For albeit wee refuse the Pope and his adherents for iudges yet we relye not vpon our owne priuate spirit in expounding scriptures but vpon the spirit of God that eyther speaketh plainely or expoundeth himselfe in some other place and for atteining the right vnderstanding of Scriptures vse the hope of tonges the exposition of fathers and all learned men the discourse of histories and all other good meanes Neither did Luther thinke or proceede otherwise Why then doth noth this superlunaticall Surueyor declare who they bee that doe attribute the publike and iudiciall interpretation of Scriptures to euery mans priuate spirit and in what place why doth he forge to himselfe an absurde opinion held by none that I knowe saue the Papists who in matters controuersed hold the Popes priuate definition for a supreme resolution would hee therein shew his triumphant eloquence if this were his purpose let vs see I beseech you what he performeth First he saith selfe loue is a good as guilding and then talketh of the goodmans Cowe Pans pipe Appolloes harpe painting of womens faces Hens and Chickens and such like fooleries But his horrible eloquence declareth him to bee the Chicken of a Buzzard and a blinde Harper that cannot discerne betweene selfe loue priuate spirits His reader also may see that hee hath as much skill in painting of faces as in expounding of scriptures And yet all his Cow eloquence wil not serue to couer the deformities of the painted whore of Babilon of whome hee is a deuoute seruant and vppon whome he bestoweth much complextion to no purpose Luther regardeth it not albeit some of the Fathers should speake against a point of faith neither would hee submitte his Doctrine to be iudged by the Romish antichristian prelates But that sheweth not that he preferred himselfe before any but rather that hee preferred the Scriptures and articles of Christian faith before all And to them he exhorteth all to submitte themselues ascribing nothing to his owne opinion But what if Luther shold haue spoken out of square what is that to the new Religion he speaketh off doth our religion depend vpō euery word of Luther certes no more then the faith of the Church of Rome vpon the idle discourses of Kellisons Suruey As for Caluin hee referreth nothing to his owne spirrit but to the rule of Gods word to which he submitteth his interpretations as well of these wordes hoc est corpus meum as of other places of Scriptures else where interpreted by him Finally we neither reiect Fathers nor Councels nor godlye pastors The skip-iacke surueyor therefore that calleth Luther and Caluin Skip-iacks and like a skip-iack running from matter to matter makes so long a declamation against selfe loue and ouer-weening a mans selfe did herein seeme to loue himselfe but too much and much to offend in ouer-weening and surcuydrie that pleased himselfe in this Chapter that is so farre from the purpose so false in respect of vs and so contrarie to himselfe and his owne cause His fourth Chapter he beginneth as his manner is with a pedanticall declamation against Parricides shewing how strangely they were punished being sowed into a sacke with a Cocke a Viper an Ape and a Dogge But to what purpose is all this doth he thinke that it is no lesse then the crime of Parricide to reiect some Fathers why then the Pope and his agents by the confession of this K. are all parricides and for their dogged and viperous apish and cockish natures deserue to be sewed in sackes as Vrbane the sixt did deale with certaine Cardinals with the beastes of like nature to be throwne into the sea As for vs wee reiect no Fathers that consent one with another and with holy scriptures in matters of faith but rather the bastardlye writinges of falsaries and of such as take vppon them the names of Fathers or else such as hold singular opinions or varie from the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles of Christ Luther had no reason in matter of the Sacrifice of the Masse to disclaime the fathers which all with one voice as I haue iustified against Bellarmine make against the carnall sacrifice of the Popish Masse for quicke and dead But if hee or Caluin or any other speake against Fathers it is not against all nor against the Bookes which are certainely knowne to bee theirs but against counterfet fellowes and some particuler opinions If Caluin should call the men of Trent Hogges and Asses he did them a speciall fauour For they shewed themselues to bée worse being open enemies of the Christian faith and moste obstinate oppugners of the truth But they are none of our Fathers nor of the Fathers of the Church Nor is the synagogue of Rome maintaining the abuses which we refuse our Mother but the Mother of fornications or as Petrarch calleth her the
Mother of errors and the greate Whore described Apocalyps 17. Gregory the first wanteth much of the learning of former Fathers yet is neither he nor his messenger Austen so bad but that his successors were farre worse Furthermore we doe not beleeue that so wise a man as Gregory the first is reputed would write so foolish Bookes as the dialogues that goe vnder his name and are so full of olde wiues tales and fabulous toyes But should Luther Caluin or others ouerlash in speaking of Fathers yet to doe this K. fauour I am content to ioyne with him vpon this issue that the Fathers of the Church in their authentical writinges in the greatest controuersies betwixt vs and the Papistes are for vs and against them And of this hee could not be ignorant but that he is onely a Schoole pedant and an ignorant broacher of new opinions and not versed in the writings of the Fathers Against vs he alleageth the most reuerend learned Father Toby Matthew most worthy Bishop of Durham but he doth offer him singuler wrong as that reuerend Bishop will alwaies testifie Afterward he bringeth in Genebrard a professed enemy whose deposition is no more worth then if this ketler should out of his malice speake it Luthers scruples grew not vpon doubt of the Fathers doctrine but of the long approbation of the Masse and other abuses In fréewill for substance of doctrine we doubt not of the Fathers fauour against the Papistes Finally he sayth The Fathers haue the infallible assistance of Gods holy spirit in exposition of Scriptures and that those which reiect them reiect also the councels of the Church and the authority of Pastors by which the Church is directed And finallye open a gate to all Heresies But heere are manye absurdities hoodled together without truth or order For First he supposeth most falsely that all the Fathers are reiected by vs. Secondly he confirmeth the expositiō of Fathers to be equal to the determination of the Pope which neither his holy Father nor his owne consortes will graunt Thirdly not euerie one that reiecteth Fathers in some things dooth therefore reiect councels or all the pastors of the Church Finally albeit diuers late Councels were reiected and the testimonies of fathers not admitted without choise yet the definitions of Councels which are apparently deduced out of Scriptures and the Fathers authentical expositions consonant to the rule of faith might bee approued by those which haue authoritie in the Church which euerie priuate man is to followe vnlesse by some equall or greater authoritie that resolution be reuersed But if Kellisons Doctrine were confessed then might the Pope goe shake his eares For what shold we need to goe to him if the Fathers haue Gods holy spirit infallibly assisting them in the exposition of Scriptures againe if denying of the authoritie of Fathers were the opening of a gap to all Heresies thē did the Popes open gaps to al Heresies who in their decretaline expositions of hoc est corpus meum feede my Sheep and drinke ye all of this and infinit such like textes of scriptures decline quite from the common interpretation of Fathers and nothing regard their authoritie The fift Chapter is partly a Scholastical exercise concerning the motiues that may enduce men to beleeue the Christian fayth and partly an inuectiue against vs for that we admit not the rinegued Masse-priestes sent vs hither by the Pope their counterfet miracles And thereupon he would conclude that we want those probable meanes to enduce reasonable men to be of our religion which the Papists haue But first his dispute concerning probable motiues to the fayth is nothing else but a vaine discourse of his owne foolish motions disioynted opinions and improbable fancyes For not onely the Pagans of olde time but also the Turkes now may better alleage antiquity consent authority of mission the subduing of the worlde to their religiō miracles and such like motiues then the Papistes séeing Popery is nothing else but a corruption of Christian religion that is neither so auncient as Arianisme nor so largely spread abroad as Paganisme and Turcisme Neither are the Papistes for learning comparable to the auncient Philosophers Secondly whatsoeuer this K. speaketh of mission it maketh against the Masse-priestes that come both without authority and without any message deliuered by Christ or his Apostles vnto them For neuer shal he prooue the Popes vsurped authority though he should liue to the worldes end nor that Masse-priests are to sacifice for quick and dead and to cut the throat of Princes which be the principal poyntes of their mission Thirdly we offer to prooue that we haue not onely those probable motiues which he speaketh of as miracles consent antiquity and such like to enduce men to like of our religion but also the worde of God the testimony of the auncient apostolike Church and many sure groundes which our aduersaryes want Neither néeded this K. to brag much of Bellarmine or Suarez seeing their positions stand refuted without answer but that he which can say little him selfe must néeds relye on others Fourthly nothing hath this babler to obiect either against the authoritye of our teachers or their doctrine which is not more vnsauery then Colewortes twice or thrice sodden Where he calleth Boy Masse-priestes olde teachers and their doctrine also olde and our teachers and doctrine newe he like a poore disputer beggeth that which he cannot by argument effecte or conuince and like a foolish pleader talketh of matters preiudiciall to him selfe Nay when he shall come to tryall he shall find that the Fathers in all poyntes of fayth are for vs and not for the Pope whose triple-Crowneship and decretaline doctrine they neuer knewe Fiftly where he like a curre barketh at the memory of the renowned Father Bishop Iewel and snarleth at the most famous learned man the Lord of Plessis Marlj as if they had corrupted and mis-alledged Scriptures and Fathers and by vntruthes and weake proofes abused they readers the first is iustified by maister Whitakers against al the barkings of his malicious enimies the second hath verified his allegations against al his accusers by the original words of the authors by him alledged in a late edition of his booke both these verifications stand without reply But if we should goe about to collect all the lyes slaunders impostures corruptiōs falsifications errors fooleries fond conclusions absurd assertions without ground and imperfections of Bellarmine Baronius Suarez Harding Saunders Alan Stapleton and their mates they would fill Cart-loades of volumes Finally all this long discourse is as farre from the purpose as Kellison is farre from learning and honesty For heere hee should reason against the grounds of our Religion But groundes are one thing and motiues another those being certaine these probable and oftentimes not concludent But were hee not a beetle-headed Surueyor as he is a polshorne sacrificer of Baal he would haue forborne to touch this poynt of motiues
that no man is to hang his saluation on these newe Ministers Which argueth first that hee supposeth the mission of the Pope and his shaâ—â—â— Masse-priestes to be a principall ground of religion and next 〈◊〉 â—he papists are to hang their saluation vpon them But this 〈…〉 nely a meere foolery and most grosse impietye but also an open way to all superstition and Heresie The same ground is also ouerthrowne by Kellisons owne positions Meere foolery it is to build our faith vpon a blind ignorant and wicked Pope Neither can wee esteeme it other then impietie to adde a foundation to that which is already laide which is Christ Iesus and to beleeue the Popes determinations as the word of God Furthermore this being graunted then will it followe the Pope teaching Heresie that all Papists are to followe him and that when he goeth to hell for teaching errors according to the Chapter si papa dist 40. that Kellison and his consorts are to goe after him Kellison supposeth that he cannot erre But this sheweth that his faith is built vppon supposals yea such supposals as by euident demonstrations are declared to be false Finally this ground of the mission of the Popes and their adherent Masse-priestes is ouerthrowne by Kellison his owne discourse For if the Popes bee not S. Peters or the first Bishops of Romes successors then are they as Kellison saith intruders and false Prophets nay theeues and Robbers But Saint Peters successors they cannot be hauing First no vocation to be Apostles Secondly taking on them an Office that S. Peter neuer had to wit to mannage both the swords to dispose of kingdomes to cut christian mens throates that will not receiue their marke and leauing S. Peters office in feeding Christes shéepe Neither are they the lawful successors of the first Bishops For first they are no Bishops as neither hauing lawfull election by the people and Clergie but onely by certaine new vpstart electors called Cardinals nor preaching or dooing the worke of a Bishop Secondly they haue deuised a new Doctrine and faith diuers from that which the first bishops of Rome taught as their decretales shew Thirdly they haue taken vppon them an vniuersall power both in temporall and ecclesiasticall matters which the Christian Bishops of Rome in times past neuer had nor challenged The Masse-priests consequently being authorized by the Pope cannot pretend any lawfull calling or mission But were they cleare of this exception yet can they not iustifie their mission For first they are called ad sacrificandum pro viuis et defunctis that is to sacrifice for quicke and dead But of such a calling there is neyther ground nor memoriall in the holy scriptures or auncient fathers Secondly they teach not the Doctrine of the Apostles and their successors but of the Popes decretales and of the Schools Sophisters Lastly they are the market slaues of Antichrist hauing their crownes shauen and their handes annointed with his oyle and with him they fight against the Saints of God Of their abhominable villanies I will say nothing at this time although I haue iust occasion being prouoked thereto by the vniust slaunders of this greasie Masse-priest against maister Luther and Maister Iohn Caluin of reuerend memorie That part of my defence shall be reserued to a greater volume Secondly this K. excludeth scriptures from being a foundation of religion Wherin he hath great reason if we respect the doctrine of Papists For how can they admit scriptures for a foundation that rayle against them flye from them and cannot stand if their authoritie were most eminent and to bee preferred before all humaine deuises but this sheweth the Kellison is a better Mason to build Babell and the synagogue of satan which is vpholden with humane traditions and the Popes sword theÌ„ the Church of God which is built vppon the Prophets and Apostles Iesus Christ being the cheefe corner stone His third foundation as it seemeth is laid vpon Councels and Fathers For of them hee talketh much Lib. 1. C. 4. but neither doth he name what Councels nor what Fathers nor what writings of Fathers he meaneth matters of verie important consideration For foundations must be certaine But among the councels actes and writings of Fathers there are many thinges neuer established by councels nor taught by Fathers Furthermore the Fathers themselues will not haue their writings taken for canonicall or authenticall scriptures as may bee prooued by infinite testimonies But I will heere onelye alleadge one or two Quamuis sanctus sit aliquis post apostolos saith Hierome in Psal 86. quamuis disertus sit non habet authoritatem He saith plainely that no Father after the Apostles time hath authoritie The same Father sheweth that onely Scriptures are the foundation of the Church and Augustine lib. 2. Contr. Crescon c. 31. hath these words literas Cypriani non vt canonicat habeo The like he saith epist 19. ad Hieronymum and epist 48. shewing that there is great difference betwixt scriptures and the writings of Fathers Finally diuers Heretikes haue pretended councels and Fathers His last and moste authenticall foundation is the supreme iudgement of the Pope But that sheweth that popish religion is rather from man then God and that the Papists are rather the synagogue of Antichrist relying vppon his decretales then the church of God that is built vpon also plainelye declare that there is no certainty in popish Religion standing vppon the humor of a man whose opinions are repugnant to other popes and whose minde may change and cause him to vtter contrarie Doctrines Thirdly it sheweth that Popish Religion is absurd being grounded vpon the opinions and sentences of ignorant impious men Finally grant this then the Papists if the Pope deny Christ must all goe to hell with him Likewise Stapleton handling of purpose this argument in the preface of his booke of Doctrinall principles deliuereth vnto vs these seauen principles and foundations of faith First the Catholike and Apostolike Church Secondly the power of the same church in teaching and iudging matters of faith infallibly Thirdlye the persons in whome this power doth reside Fourthly the meanes by which they proceede in teaching judging Fiftly the chiefe heads about which that power is conuersant Sixtly authoritie to interpret Scriptures infallibly and lastly power to deliuer Doctrines not conteined in Scriptures But if he had beene bound in statute staple I doe not thinke he could haue spoken more absurdly or impiously falslye For First if hee talke of principles demonstratiue of the christian faith then should he not haue talked of single words and termes as he doth but of propositions or Scriptures conteining the primarye propositions of the Christian faith Secondly if the rude fellow had but had one graine of pietie he would not haue left out the holy Scriptures out of the number of christian principles Thirdly the Church to speake properlye is built vpon a foundation and is not the foundation of the Church
vnlesse he will haue both a building without a foundation and a foundation beside the building Fourthly it is an absurd course to separate the power of the Church and the persons in whome the same consisteth from the Church Fiftly what more ridiculous then to call a forme of proceeding a principle of Christian Doctrine Sixtly all Articles of the faith may be called heads but it is meere foppery to thinke that Christian Religion hath as many foundations as seuerall Articles Finally it is moste absurde to beleeue that eyther the Pope or the Church of Rome doth interpret scriptures infallibly or hath the power to adde Articles not contained in Scriptures to the Christian faith If then Stapletons meaning be that all traditions not written and all interpretations of the Pope and his adherents and all the Popes determinations and decretales and the sayings of the fathers and Councels allowed by the Pope are the foundations of faith then doth he endeuor to build Babylon not Hierusalem fantasticall deuises and monstrous chimeraes and not the true faith the kingdome of Antichrist and not Christes church Nay if these were foundations of faith then would it follow First that the foundation of the Romish faith is not yet fully laide For as yet all their decretales and determinations are not fully published Secondly we should not know where to finde this faith these traditions and interpretations and opinions of Fathers all of them being not yet resolued Thirdly the Romish faith should be a meere humane deuise standing vpon humane fancies Finally it should be contrary to it selfe and to scriptures for such are the Romish traditions and interpretations and allegations of fathers Canus in his Booke de Locis Theologicis layeth downe ten groundes from whence all arguments in controuersies of Diuinitie in his opinion are deriued The first is holy Scripture The 2. traditiō The 3. is the authoritie of the Catholik church The 4. is the authority of general councels The 5. is the authoritie of the Church of Rome The 6. is the authoritie of the holy Fathers The 7. is the authoritie of Schoolemen Canonists The 8. is naturall reason The 9. is the authoritie of Philosophers and ciuill lawyers The last is the authoritie of humane histories But first it is no smal wrong to ioyne with holy scriptures not onely the writing of Fathers but also the writings of Schoolemen canonists and profane writers Secondly it is the ouerthrowe of faith to found the same vppon vncertaine and vnknowne traditions Thirdly it appeareth heereby that the faith of Papists for the moste part is an humane opinion being grounded vpon men nay vpon humane reason Finally his groundes are not onely changeable for the moste part but also contrarie one to another That is prooued not onely by the mutability of the decrees of councels Doctrine of councels Schoole-diuines Canonists and prophane authors but also by traditions themselues of which diuers are abrogated and ceased This may be demonstrated by traditions by testimonies of Fathers actes of Councels the doctrine of Thomistes and Scotistes Canonists ciuill Lawyers and profane writers For not onely profane writers haue shewed themselues ignorant of matters of faith but both Schoolemen and fathers haue held contrarie opinions as shall be prooued when neede is by diuers particulars Bellarmine in his Preface in lib. de pont Rom. is not ashamed to apply these words of the Prophet Isay Behold I will put a Stone in the foundation of Sion vnto the pope There also hee auoucheth the Sea of Rome to bee the foundation of the Faith Likewise in the end of his preface de verbo dei he seemeth to holde that the sence of Scriptures is to be fetched from the Popes See and sencelesse decretales Lastly the same man doth as confidently alleadge the Pope decretales as Saint Paules Epistles Gelasius in the Chapter Sancta dist 15. ordeineth that the Histories of Martyrs and their sufferings are to bee receiued And commonly the Romish Church doth prooue her traditions partly out of such legends and partly out of their missals porteses and other rituall Bookes Kellison therefore when he looketh vpon the ruinous foundations of the Romish faith hath little reason to talke against the foundations of our Christian faith For First we all agree that the writings of the Prophets and Apostles are the principles and foundations of our faith and thus both Scriptures and Fathers doe teach vs. But the Papists as may appeare by that which I haue alleadged doe one differ from another Canus doth not once mention the Pope among his theologicall places which to Stapleton and Bellarmine is the principall foūdation of the worke Contrarywise Stapleton leaueth Scriptures out of his reckoning of principles of faith which Canus confesseth to be a moste solide foundation of faith Canus againe numbreth diuers foundations and places theologicall which others doe not once mention Secondly albeit we doe not build our faith principallye eyther vpon the actes of councels or testimonies of Fathers further then they build their Doctrine vpon holy Scriptures yet in the interpretatiō of Scriptures wee doe not neglect the authoritie of councels and Fathers But the Papists albeit they seeme to found their faith vpon the authoritie of councels and Fathers yet regard them not one straw if it be the popes pleasure to determine contrarie vnto them Thirdly our faith is built vpon the rocke Christ Iesus but the faith of the Romanists is built vppon the straw and stubble of popish traditions determinations and as they say vpon the Pope who to them is the supreme iudge and pole-starre of faith shining out of his papall Chaire Fourthly our faith is the Christian faith being built onely vpon the word of God Theirs is a decretaline an humane faith being built vpon the Popes decretales and humane inuentions Fiftly our groundes are immoouable and agree well one with an other But their groundes are mutable and contrary one to another Sixtly they cannot deny our groundes vnlesse they will blaspheme against holy Scriptures But vpon their owne groundes they are not yet well agreed We doe generally refuse them and antiquity was ignorant of them Seuenthly our groundes are safe and sure But he that foloweth the Pope or beleeueth all that is written in the Breuiaryes and Missals cannot assure him felfe that he is in the right Finally it is a thing most ridiculous to beleeue that whatsoeuer an vnlearned Pope or a man voyd of religion determineth in matters of fayth is to be holden as a matter and firme Article of fayth For as well may a blind man iudge of colours as a blind and irreligious Pope of matters of religion But we are assured that the Prophets and Apostles haue truly declared vnto vs the whole counsaile of God Open your eyes therfore deere Christians and suffer not your selues to be abused by the impostures of Masse-priestes You see they are not resolued in the foundations of fayth And doe you
and titles The Valentinians as Tertullian in his Book against them testifieth did colour their most vaine and filthie deuises with holy names titles and arguments of true religioÌ„ Sanctis nominibus titulis argumentis verae religionis vanissimà atque turpissima figmenta configurantes So likewise doe Papistes vnder colour of Catholike religion present to their followers their hereticall Dâ—â—trine concerning the being of Christes bodie in many places transubstantiatioÌ„ the carnall eating of Christes flesh with the mouth the deuouring of Christes body by brute beastes and the merits of congruitie Vnder the title of Gods true worship they commend the seruice of the blessed Virgin the adoration of Angels of Saints and of their images vnder the name of the sacrifice of praise and thankes-giuing they shadow the abhominable idolâ— of the Masse and vnder the name of succession the greeuous yoake of the Popes Tyrannye But as Wolues muffled in sheepes cloathing are discerned by their Woluish qualities so Hereticks are discouered by certaine markes and hereticall properties The which if Kellison would or durst haue set downe truely then would it haue appeared that Papists and not we are Heretikes For first Heretikes are they that teach new Doctrine in the Church Haerest deputatur saith Tertullian Lib. de praescript quod postea inducitur But such is the decretaline and Trent doctrine of traditions iustification Sacraments purgatorie indulgences worship of images Angels and Saints Secondly they flye the light of Scriptures and speake euill of them Therefore Tertullian calleth them lucifugas scripturarum and Ierenaeus Lib. 3. aduers haeres c. 2. saith when they are conuinced by Scriptures they fall to accuse Scriptures as if they stood not well or wanted authoritie or were to bee wrested to diuers sences or else as if truth could not bee sound by those that are ignorant of tradition Cum ex scripturis arguuntur in accusationem conuertuntur ipsarum scripturarum quasi non recte habeant neque sint ex authoritate quia variè sint dictae quia non possit ex his inueniri veritas ab hâ—â— qui nesciant traditionem And doe not the Papists flye the light of Scriptures forbidding them to bee read publikelie in vulgar tongues and punishing such as haue Scriptures translated into their mother tongue without licence doe they not also say that Scriptures are like a nose of waxe or as Kellison saith waxy and that they depend vpon the Church and that the truth cannot sufficiently be knowne without tradition Thirdly Heretickes teach otherwise then the Apostles did Therefore the Apostle 1. Tim. 1. gaue order to Timothy that hee should charge some that they should not teach otherwise Vnde extranei inimici apostolis haeretici saith Tertullian de praescript adu haeret nisi ex diuersitate doctrinae quaÌ„ vnusquisque de suo arbitrio aduersus Apostolos aut protulit aut recepit Whence are Heretickes strangers and enemies to the Apostles but by reason of the diuersitie of Doctrine which euerie one of his owne head either deuised or receiued contrarie to the Apostles This qualitie is also incident to the Papistes that not onely teach otherwise then did the Apostles but haue also added to the Apostles doctrine all that trash which wee desire to be scoured away as being contrarie to the apostolike forme of doctrine Fourthly Heretickes stand much vpon false miracles and prophesies as the examples both of Montanistes and Seuerians doe shew There were also certaine Heretickes called mirabiliarij confirming all their Doctrines with miracles Tertullian de praescrip aduers haeret Sheweth that Heretickes shall commend the authoritie of their teachers in raysing the dead curing the weake and fore-prophecying things to come adijcient multa de authoritate cuiusque doctoris haeretici illos maxima doctrinae suae confirmasse mortuos suscitasse debiles reformasse futura significasse In which pointes the Papists doe followe them at the heeles bragging of the miracles of Dominic Francis Ignatius Xauerius and other their Romish Saints and making miracles prophecies markes of their Church and motiues to enduce men to like of their Religion Fiftly Hereticks commonly stand vpon traditions as wee may reade in Irenaeus Lib. 3. c. 2. And because Christ said he had many things to say to the Apostles which they could not theÌ„ beare imagine that their deuises were conteined in these concealed Doctrines Omnes etiam insipientissimi haeretici qui se Christianos vocari volunt audacias figmentorum suorum quas maxime exhorret sensus humanus saith Augustin tract 97. in Ioan. bac occasione euangelicae sententiae colorare conantur vbi dominus ait adhuc multa habeo vobis dicere sed non potestis portare modò The same humor is likewise in the Papists and diuers of them vse these words of our Sauiour to that purpose albeit S. Augustine calleth them therefore most foolish Heretickes Sixtly our Sauiour Christ sheweth that false Prophets shall come vnto vs in the habit and cloathes of Sheepe but are inwardly rauening Wolues The same we finde partly verified in the Arians and Donatistes but moste expressely in the Papistes For albeit they will bee called Catholikes and Christes sheepe yet they deuoure true Catholikes like Wolues and massacre all that once dare open their mouthes against their idolatries and hereticall imaginations Their inquisitors tribunals are full of blood of innocents and their garments are red with blood and carrie euident markes of their crueltie In France they haue massacred old and young men and women and spared none that came in their way farre passing in crueltie both the Donatistes and Arians 7. To defend their peruerse erroneous Doctrine Hereticks are wont to detruncate and by false expositions to peruert holy scriptures Tertullian de praescript saith of marcion that to fit his purpose he cut the Scriptures at his pleasure ad materiam suam caedem scripturarum confecit Hierome in epist ad Galat. c. 5. saith hee may bee called an Heretike that vnderstandeth the Scriptures otherwise then the sence of the holy Ghost requireth albeit he be not yet departed out of the Church So likewise the Papists abuse the holy Scriptures moste shamefully in their allegations cutting them and forcing them contrarie to the meaning of the holy Ghost The old Latin translation of the Bible cutteth off and addeth to the originall text and yet will they needes haue it authenticall These words of Isay ecce ponam in fundamentis Sion lapidem c. in praefat in lib. de pontif Rom. Bellarmine most impudently detorteth to the Pope Likewise doe the Papists abuse these wordes Hierem. 1. ecce constitui te hodie super gentes to prooue that the Pope is made head of nations These words bibite ex hoc omnes they conster as if none of the communicants but the preest were to drinke of the chalice 8. Hereticks conceale diuers of their false lewd Doctrines Iraeneus lib. 1. c. 23. saith that they holde that they are not
to deliuer publikely their mysteries but in silēce to cōteine thē in secret Non oportere saith he omnia ipsorum mysteria effari sed in abscondito continere per silentium Tertullian also saith they hide their mysteries in secret ne margaritam porcis sanctum canibus iactarent that is least they should cast Pearles to swine and holy things to Dogges So likewise the Papists pronounce their Canon in secret and will not that lay men shal dispute of matters of faith and thinke it is not fit that holy Scriptures in vulgar tongues should be read eyther publikely or of all Christians without restreint Some also adde the same reasons which Heretickes abusing Christes wordes doe bring viz. least pearles should bee giuen to Swine and holy thinges to Dogges 9. Clement of Alexandria Lib. 7. Strom. telleth vs that Heretickes being conuinced doe oftentimes deny their Doctrine So likewise Papists openly refuse to professe that the pope hath power to commaund the Subiects to cut their Kinges throates and will not graunt that images are to bee worshiped with diuine worship Yet to their followers in secret they doubt not to propound these pointes without scruple of conscience 10. Heretickes denying their faith to God seldome keepe faith to men as the example of the Pricillianists doth plainely declare Herein therfore the papists doe plainely shew whome they follow teaching that faith is not to be kept with Heretickes and dispensing with oathes moste easily The Rhemists in their annotations vpon the 23. of the Actes doe expressely teach their followers to breake their oathes and to runne into wilfull periurie 11. The liues of Hereticks are verie leud loose libera sunt illis omnia et soluta saith Tertulliā de praescr Theodoret lib. 1. haeret fab in praefat saith their obscenity is such that the Stage Players would be ashamed to speake or heare it And what he saith not we may imagine by the popes of Rome whose abhominable beastlinesse modest eares refuse to heare Publikelye they maintaine Stewes and nothing among Masse-priestes and Fryars is more common thē vnnatural lust The Pope and his lawes they feare of Scriptures they speake vnreuerently God they feare not 12 They farre excell all men in pride and will not haue their dooings or doctrine◠examined Heerein they resemble Mahomet who would not haue any question made of his law But the pope excelleth both Mahometans and all other Hereticks He will bee honored as God If he should drawe innumerable soules with him to hell yet will hee not be taxed for it as appeareth by the Chapt. Si papa dist 40. His determinations as his folowers hold are in fallible Finally by our aduersaryes discourse and by their owne confession they may also plainely be conuinced to be Hereticks For first it is the propertie of Heretickes saith he Lib. 2. cap. 1. To go out of the Church to depart from the faith He might also haue added teaching Doctrines of Deuils and forbidding to marry and commaunding to abstaine from certaine meates and then the matter would haue beene very cleare For moste wickedlye they disgrace marriage in the Chap. proposuisti dist 82. As if married folkes liued after the flesh could not please God and forbid their priestes Fryers and irreligious orders to marrie They doe also restreine their Monkes frō eating flesh forbid lay-men to eate it vpon certaine daies But albeit he hath concealed these wordes from vs yet hath he said sufficient For teaching a new faith neuer knowne to the Apostles nor taught by them the Papists are clearely gon from the faith and hauing receiued a newe head of their Church and new foundations of their Doctrine and strange formes of sacraments they are closelye departed out of the Catholike church imbrace the particuler faith of the Pope Neither can this their departing be denyed or concealed for as Arius by denying of Christes diuinitie and equalitie with the Father and Nestorius for making two persons of Christ and other Heretickes for teaching singular pointes of Doctrine contrarie to the doctrine of the Apostles were said to depart out of the Church and so to abandon the societie of the faithfull although they might pretend succession and still claymed the title of the Church and of Catholikes so the papists if they teach any new Article of faith not taught by the Apostles and auncient Church they are departed out of the Apostolike and Catholike church Secondly he saith that later standing and noueltie is a marke of Hereticks And this hee goeth about to proue by Scriptures and Fathers But he might well haue spared his labour for wee doe not deny it Nay vpon this ground we professe that wee are able manifestly to demonstrate the Papists to be Heretickes For such a societie as the Pope and his adherents are was neuer séene for a long time after the Apostles If Kellison say contrarie let him leaue his pedātery shew his triple-crowned Pope with two swords treading vpon Princes neckes and cutting their throates and ruling the world his purple Cardinals his shauen Masse-priestes his Monckes Nonnes and Fryars and their retinue to haue continued since the Apostles times Furthermore the doctrine of the carnal eating of Christes flesh of transubstantiation of the subsistence of accidents in the eucharist without their substāces of the communion vnder one kind of the popes vniuersal headship of purgatorie of indulgences and other pointes decreed in late conuenticles would be shewed and prooued If Kellison can deriue these Doctrines from the Apostles his holy Father will giue him his blessing if not by his owne confession his owne consortes are to be anathematized as Heretikes and the Pope for the head of them In his third Chapt. of his second booke he saith that particular names takē frō Sect-maisters are notes of Heretickes which is also a third argumēt to prooue him his consorts Hereticks being al called of their grād sect maister the Pope papists some of Benedict being termed Benedictines others of Francis and Dominicke Franciscans and Dominicans and of Ignatius Ignatians and some of Thomas and Scotus Thomistes and Scotistes Nay leauing the common name of Christians and catholikes they will be called Catholike Romans Against them therfore the word◠of Hierome contr Lucifer may aptly be turned out of which wee may conclude that they are not the Church of Christ but the Synagogue of Antichrist Neither doth Iustine speake any thing against the Valentinians and Marcionistes or Cyprian against the Nouatians concerning the imposition of their names but the same may be applyed against the Papists In his fourth chapter he maketh it a propertie of Heretickes to renew old Heresies Which although it be not incident to all Heretickes yet it is a verie eminent qualitie in the papists For from the Simonians they haue borowed their practise of buying and selling ecclesiasticall matters and the vse of Concubines from the Carpocratians they haue taken the worship of images from the Collyridians the
saying of Masse or offering their wafer Cakes in honour of our Lady from the Marcionistes the baptisme of Christians by women and their limbus patrum from the Valentinians Manicheies their opinion of the being of Christs body in the Sacrament without soliditie from the Pelagians the denyall of originall sinne in the blessed virgin the perfection of iustice and impeccabilitie of Christians Finally they haue deriued diuers other branches of old condemned Heresies from other Heretickes as at large I haue shewed in my late challenge His fift marke of an Hereticke is want of succession A simple marke if wee doe well consider it For neither in the beginning of the world nor in the time of Aaron was there anye succession of knowne priestes in the world Likewise neither our Sauiour Christ nor Peter did succeede the priestes of the Lawe For Christ was a priest after the order of Melchisedech and Peter was by Christ designed an Apostle hauing none to goe before him But to confesse succession to bee a marke of the Church and want of succession a marke of an Hereticke yet would this one property of Heretickes much blemish the Romish See For neither are the Popes Bishops or Peters successors nor can the Papists deriue their Doctrine of the popes vniuersall power of his two swords of his espousals with the church of his indulgences of the carnal eating champing Christs flesh with the téeth of TraÌ„substantiation of the CoÌ„munion vnder one kinde of adoring the Sacrament and the Crosse with diuine worship of making vowes confessions and prayers to Saintes and such like pointes of decretaline Doctrine from the Apostles or any Apostolike men which as Tertullian sheweth is a necessarie point in succession Ego saith he sum Heres Apostolorum sicut cauerunt testamento suo sicut fidei commiseruÌ„t sicut adiuraueruÌ„t ita teneo As if he shold say none can be the Apostles heires but such as kéepe the doctrine coÌ„tained in their testameÌ„t The same father in the same place excludeth heretikes as strangers enemies holding a contrary doctrine to the Apostles Furthermore the pole-shorne Masse-priests sacrificing Christes body and blood really in the Masse for quicke and dead and diuers purposes caÌ„not deriue their pedegree eyther from the Apostles or from the Priestes and ancient Doctors of the church Finally this forme of gouernment and Doctrine which is now in the Church of Rome cannot bee confirmed by any succession of Bishops and Priests Nay that rotten succession of Popes whervpon the cause of Papists doth hang as vpon a thrid of a Spider-web hath no other ground and certainty then the testimonie of Anastasius the Popes blinde bibliothecary Martin Polonus Platina Sanders Genebrard Illesca and such like base fellows which no Christian I trow wil admit for the Basis and foundation of his faith His sixt marke of heretikes is dissension in Doctrine and this he prooueth in a long and tedious discourse But with this mark he brandeth his owne consortes for Heretikes For they dissent not onely from the auncient Fathers But one from another most manifestly That is aparent by diuers treatises written of controuersies This is prooued by the differences of Thomistes and Scotistes and of all Schoolemen one from an other Neither doe they differ in small matters but in the highest pointes of Religion as namely whether the holy Ghost proceede more principally from the Father then the Son about the diuine notions about the atributes of God about Meritum Congrui about the cause of predestination about the thing designed by the word hoc in these wordes hoc est corpus meum about the conception of the blessed Virgin and all matters of diuinitie as the treatises of Schoolemen doe plainely shew Bellarmine also doth in moste controuersies no lesse earnestly dispute against his owne consortes then against vs. Neither is it materiall that all of them professe themselues willing to abide the Popes determination For vntill he determine somewhat their contentions are endlesse And albeit they then cease to contend yet their differences in opinions appeare neuerthelesse The seauenth chapter of his second Booke discouâ—seth of a seauenth marke of Heretikes and therein he endeuoreth to prooue al to be Heretikes that follow a particular sect Nowe who seeth not that this toucheth the Papists in generall that restreining themselues within the Romish Church followe the Popes sect And are bound by their Doctrine to follow him although he leade them with him to the pit of hell The Monkes also and Fryars follow the heades and rules of their seueral sectes without looking whither they leade them The eight marke of an Heretike saith he is to be condemned by the church or else as he saith afterward by generall Councels which doth no lesse touch his holy Father then the rest For coÌ„trary to the forme of the Nicene councel c. 4 He giueth libertie to Abbots to consecrate Bishops and contrarie to the 5. Cannon absolueth those that are excommunicated by other Bishops Contrary to the 6. Canon hee inuadeth the dioceses of other Patriarkes contrarye to another order hee separateth Priestes from their wiues With Eutyches condemned in the councell of Chalcedon hee beleeueth the Christ hath a bodie neither solide nor palpable nor like to ours For such is that body which he supposeth to be in the Sacrament Likewise all the old Heresies which hee holdeth are condemned by the whole Church Lastly all true Christians doe inwardly abhorre Popish impieties idolatries and Heresies Finally the Papists generally in the Chapt. ad abolendam de haeret condemne them for Heretikes that teach contrarie to the Doctrine of Christes Church concerning the Sacraments But this doth notoriouslye touch themselues For where the Scriptures mention onely baptisme and the Lordes supper as seales of Gods grace they increase the number of Sacraments and make seauen Where Christ said take and eate they say offer heaue hang vp and carry about Where Christ ordeined that all communicating one kinde should also receiue the other they sacrilegiously depriue the people of the cuppe Finallye they teach that Christians are iustified by confirmation and extreame vnction and that all their Sacraments haue like effectes Thus we see hee hath marked his owne consortes with the markes of Heretikes But hee shall neuer bee able to fasten his markes vppon vs. In the beginning of his second Booke hee talketh after his declamatorie manner of the diuels disguising himselfe in the habit of a young gallant like percase to the young Iebusites and Masse-priestes that going about to seduce simple soules attire themselues like gallants or of a Fryar Hee assureth also his disciples that he is discryed eyther by his staring eyes or stinking sauor or horned head or forked feete or base voice But first we would gladly knowe of him why the deuill should rather speake in a base then in a meane voice and next how hee commeth so well acquainted with him that hee knoweth his whole description from his hornes
to his clouen feete And lastly how it hapned that speaking of the Deuill in the first part of the period he forgot himselfe in the second speaketh of some member of the Deuill and of an Hereticke what are Heretikes discerned by their staring eyes and forked feete and such like partes he telleth vs also of the pecking of Birdes and the counterfeting of alchymistes grauers and Heretickes putting grauers of idolatrous images nere to Heretikes as they doe well deserue But what is that to vs if heretikes be such as counterfet religion and yet are gone out of the Church then concerneth it vs nothing For with our mouth we professe and with our hart we beleeue all the Christian and Apostolike faith and dissent not from the Apostolike church in any one article of faith professed publikelye for a thousand yeares after Christ Nay wee doe onely relinquish the Papists as Christians in old time left the Arians and Donatists and as some now leaue the Mahometans wherein they haue forsaken Christ and his truth Either then must this K. shew that as former heretikes haue done we broach some doctrine contrarye to the ancient faith or else hee talketh idelye of going out of the Church Maister Luther he left the Papists hauing once folowed their opinions but not in any point of faith but rather where they taught contrary to the faith Secondly neuer shall he prooue either that the professors of our Religion are of a later standing then the moderne Papistes or that our religion embraceth nouelties For Luther is not our founder nor any of late time but the Apostles of Christ Iesus whose doctrine left in deposte to the church we embrace detesting all prophane nouelties of Papistes Neither doe we bring in any new faith but reiect the popish later Heresies and corruptions though to some they seeme olde But saith Kellison the faith hath neuer increased in substāce but onely in explicatiō as if their Doctrine of traditions of Romish interpretations of the latin vulgar translation of the 7. sacramēts of iustificatiō by orders and extreme vnction of transubstantiation of the carnall eating chāping with the teeth of Christes flesh of the sacrifice of Christes body blood in the Masse vnder the accidentes of breade wine for quicke and dead and the Popes vniuersall Monarchie were matters of no substance or else as if the substance of these Articles had beene euer beleeued in the Church This he would insinuate but the noueltie of them is so apparent that his consorts are much puzled when they come to search them in auncient writers Thirdly we neither call our selues Lutherians Caluinistes Zuinglians nor any such particular names Neither is it materiall that the Papistes doe call vs in scorne by these names For who doth credite the malicious tearmes of enemies nay in this point we are more cléere then the papistes that call themselues some Franciscans some Dominicans some by other names which we doe not Fourthly wee renounce all old Heresies condemned by auncient Councels and pronounce Florinus that held God to bee the author of sinne Anathema The like we say of Eunomius Pelagius and their consortes Neither was Caluin of other opinion but that his malicious enemies doe falsely impute vnto him that he should teach that God is the author of sinne Wee doe not say with Iouinian that all sins are equall nor denie to the bodies of Christians decent buriall Nor did Hierome writing against Vigilantius allowe prayers to Saints departed or the merits of Monkery or teach as the Papistes doe of vigils or lightes set vp in churches at noone time But suppose he shold holde opinions cōtrary to the truth yet are not his wordes a rule of Heresie The second synod at Nice allowed a certaine reuerence doone to images but nothing so much as the Papistes now giue to them But whatsoeuer that synode decreed in that point the same was reprooued in a synod at Frank-ford and neuer generallye receiued eyther in the East or West Churches Aerius was reputed an Hereticke for Arianisme and not for finding fault with superstitious oblations for the dead Whatsoeuer his opinion was it toucheth vs nothing that doe allow the orders of the Church established among vs. Finally we anathematize the Heresies of the Simonians Menandrians and others whome he ridiculously surmiseth to haue bene condemned for denying the real presence of the Messalians and Caians whome he imagineth to haue beene accounted Heretikes for denying the sacramentes to conteine grace as the Papistes hold it of the Nouatians that denyed repentance to publike sinners of the Gnostikes Manichees and Encratites whome hee ignorantlye surmiseth to haue beene condemned for denying marryage to bee a Sacrament of Heluidius Rhetorius and all other auncient condemned Heretikes If then this Hereticke will obiect Heresies to vs hee must both set downe the wordes of the Heresie condemned by the Catholike Church and prooue that wee holde such an Heresie Fiftly wee want no proofe of our Religion which may be drawne from true succession For we do not only communicate in matters of faith with the Apostles but also with the auncient Bishops of Hierusalem Antioche Alexandria and Rome almost for a thousand yeares Wee succeede also to the Bishops of England before Bishop Cranmer in al things which they taught well and according to the Catholike fayth But could we shew no line of succession yet if we agree in doctrine with the Apostles and first Bishops of the Christian Church it is sufficient Ad hanc formam prouocabuntur ab illis ecclesiis saith Tertullian de praescript aduers haeret quae licet nullum ex apostolis vel apostolicis authorem suum proferant vt multo posteriores quae denique quotidie instituuntur tamen in eadem fide conspirantes non minus apostolicae deputantur pro consanguinitate doctrinae He telleth vs playnly that they are Apostolike Churches that teach the same Doctrine albeit they were not founded by the Apostles or Apostolike men nor had any succession of Bishops Likewise hee sheweth that they are the Apostles heires that hold that fayth which is conteined in their Testament Seeing then we do only publish Apostolicall Doctrine and purge away Popish errors our Churches are most truly Apostolicall But sayth K. pag. 196. This is to make bare Scripture judge of our Doctrine and as much as if we should say that the Church of God fayled and that the Synagogue of the Diuell possessed the world many yeares Hee telleth also how Luther in his preface before the disputation of Lipsia vanted that he had first published Christ But first this is a common abuse of Heretikes to call Scriptures bare Secondly false do clearely disperse this cloud of slaunder But his foolish attempt may giue cause to vs to touch both him and his consortes for their manifold and blasphemous impietyes In the beginning of his third Booke he sayth that as the Stoickes commend Zeno the Platonickes Plato the Peripatetickes Aristotle the
the aduersaries that wil haue Christ as God to act nothing but ascribe the whole office of Christes Preest-hood to the humane nature doe deuide the person and not onelye the two natures approching neerer to Nestorius then our teachers to error Finally hee alleadgeth the testimony of Egidius Hunnius against Caluin as if in expositiō of scriptures he did Iudaizare or fauour the Iewes But neither is the testimony of a sworne enemie to be much regarded nor hath any man that felicitie in expounding Scriptures that he fayleth in nothing In the second chap. he chargeth vs that we make Christ an absurd redeemer these are the words of this absurd surueyor And why so I pray you forsooth because we hope onelye to be iustified by Christes iustice But this doth not touch vs onely but the holy prophets apostles also God by his prpophet Isay c. 53. saith that his iust seruant shall iustifie many by his knowledge shal beare their sins The Apostle 1. Cor. 1. teacheth vs that he is made vnto vs wisdome righteousnesse sanctification redēption To make his matter good page 257. hee maketh vs to say that there is no justice but Christes justice nor good workes but Christes workes nor merit but his merit nor satisfaction but his satisfaction But these are his owne sottish ideotismes and not our wordes For wee doe not denye that there is a certaine imperfect iustice in man sanctified by Gods holy spirit and that such doe good workes pleasing vnto God We confesse also that man by sinne doth merit death albeit his workes be not so perfect that they can deserue eternall life Finally we know that the Fathers sometime accompt the obedience of the law to bee a satisfaction and so cal the performance of penalties enioyned by the Church But did we attribute all the honor of our iustification and saluation vnto Christ our Sauiour yet this is neither absurditie nor dishonour to him But this absurd and kettle Diuine dooth dishonour and blaspheme Christ ioyning the wordes absurd and redeemer together He doth also contradict the Scriptures where hee saith that Christ with one word or teare or drop of blood might haue redeemed vs. And therein he passeth the impudency of his holy Father Clement the sixt in the chap. vnigenit extr de poenit remiss for he saith one drop of blood would haue sufficed But this dropping dreary dunse addeth a teare or a word How cōtrarie they are to scriptures these testimonies declare Isay 53. therfore shal he deuide the spoiles of the strong because he hath giuen his soule to death Mat. 20. We reade that he came to giue his life a ransome for many and Luc. 24. that so Christ must suffer and 1. cor 15. that Christ dyed for vs according to the Scriptures Gal. 3 We learne that to deliuer vs from the curse of the law he was made accursed and Hebr. 2. that it was fitting that the author of our saluation should by suffering be cōsummated Heb. 9. that his testamēt could not bee fulfilled without the death of the testator Absurdly also he talketh of a storme raysed in heauen for the Sonne of God when Lucifer wold be like the highest For it is ridiculous to thinke of any stirre or storme raysed in Heauen where there is and alwaies was such quiet and content or to suppose that Lucifer contended with the Sonne of God Hee might doe well to tell vs what Deuill tolde him this For in holy Scriptures no such thing is found Finally describing the blessed state of man in Paradice and of his miserie being throwne out of Paradice vnawares he ouerthroweth with his boysterous eloquence two bulwarks of Popery to wit Freewill and Purgatory For if euery sinner bee a slaue to his flesh and a captiue to the Diuell and a slaue to sinne and the Diuell as hee saith then hath hee not freewill For to bee free and bound at one time implyeth contradiction Againe if the deuill hold sinners in hell perpetuallye as page 254. hee confesseth then there is no redemption out of Purgatory which as Papists teach is in hell Pag. 258. he chargeth vs farther that we teach that good workes are not necessary and thence inferre that no Lawes eyther humane or diuine can bind vs in conscience And lastly he sayth that we hold that no sinnes nor euill workes can hurt vs because Christes justice being ours no sinne can make vs sinners And so he runneth on in a course of wild eloquence like a Colte that hath broken his halter But as Hierome sayth in his Booke against Vigilātius stultum est fingere materiam cui rhetorica declamatione respondeatur It is a foolish and dizardly thing to feine matters thē in a rhetorical surueying declamatiō to answer In his fictions certes this man seemeth neither to haue reason nor conscience For first albeit we say that we are not iustified by workes yet we teach that as many as are iustified by faith in Christ are also sanctified by his grace and that workes are necessary effects of our iustification Secondly we directly affirme that Gods Lawes doe bind in conscience and mans Lawes as farre as they commaund for Gods Lawe albeit through Christ Iesus we are deliuered from the curse of the law being iustified by fayth and walking no more after the flesh but after the spirit Thirdly we beleeue that all sinnes and euill workes do hurt those that doe them Although we also beleeue that he who is borne of God and iustified by fayth sinneth not vnto death Finally most falsely he maketh vs to teach first that Christ hath redeemed vs because no sinne can hurt vs and next that we are deliuered from the Law because no Law can binde vs and thirdly that we are deliuered from the Diuel and Hel because howsoeuer we liue they cannot hurt vs. Nay we pronounce him anathema that shall hold that eyther sinne cannot hurt or that the Law bindeth not or that howsoeuer Christians liue they cannot be damned to Hell And thus much may serue to cleare vs from this barking curres slaunders But Popish Doctrine concerning our redemption is not so easily defended For Papistes beleeue that the Pope by his indulgences can redeeme soules from Hell They teach also that euery man is to satisfie for his sinnes committed after Baptisme But then Christ is but halfe a redeemer Neither do they sticke to say that the sonne of God assuming the nature of Thomas Aquinas or some other might haue redeemed the world which is contrary to all the promises made to the Fathers concerning the Messias to come of the seede of Abraham Kellison pag. 261. sayth that Christes Passion was not our formall justification nor satisfaction he should haue said Christes Passion obedience and iustice if he would formally haue crossed our Doctrine but only the meritorious cause of our redemption and saluation which deserueth for vs at Gods hands grace by which together with our cooperatiō we may
also prooued for that Christ was baptized by Iohn and for that the Apostles were baptized with no other baptisme Neither dooth the example Act. 19. prooue it to bee different For eyther they were not well baptized that were baptized into Iohns baptisme or they were not rebaptized but onely had imposition of handes and the baptisme of Gods spirit True it is that caluin denyeth womē power to baptize so wold that aduersaries also if they did not corrupt al good orders But that addeth to the dignitie of the sacramēt He saith further that some that are not baptized may be saued And so the aduersaries graūt also especiallye when eyther Martyrdome supplyeth baptisme or a man seeketh baptisme and cannot haue it in time That the Children of the reprobate are not to be baptised or that the Children of the faithfull neede not to bee baptized Caluin neuer sayd nor thought Neither dooth hee say that wee receiue bare signes in the Lords supper but the communion of the body and blood of Christ If then this surueyor would haue set downe these learned mens wordes truelye then should hee haue had no reason to charge them with taking away the Sacraments or derogating from them But the Papistes while they depend wholy vpō the préests intention and chop and change wordes in the holy institution and take away not onely the substance of bread and wine but also the Cup from the communicantes doe indeede depriue Christians of the Sacraments Thomas Aquinas p. 3. q. 66. saith that baptisme may bee administred in lixinio that is in lye and Albertus in Brodio that is in pottage Dionysius Carth. in 4. sent dist 3. q. 2. saith that our Ladies name may be added to the name of the Trinity and yet all remaine good Potest in inuocatione beatae mariae fieri baptismus cum inuocatione Trinitatis Finally they teach that Dogs Hogs may eate the Sacramēt of the Eucharist vse to baptise belles These are the men therefore that abuse the Sacraments and depriue Christians of them not Luther or Caluin His sixt and last bolt is directed against the Liturgie and prayers of the Church But as in other places so heere also the man shooteth at rouers ranging vp and downe in an idle and tedious discourse concerning the excellency of prayer which no man calleth in question But that which in the title of his Chapter hee proposeth to himselfe hee forgetteth and cannot prooue viz. that eyther wee haue no prayer or else disorders in prayer Hee is not ashamed to affirme that wee haue no prayers at al on working daies But that is confuted both by common experience and the publike orders of the Church On Holy daies hee saith we spend our time in yelling out Geneua Psalmes So the Deuill teacheth him to yell out blasphemyes against the prayses of God in Psalmes translated out of holy Scriptures And why thinke you forsooth because wee admit not the filthie idolatrous prayers of the Masse and breuiaries and for that also wee pray in tongues vnderstood and with our spirit and vnderstanding and for that we vse not their Baals songs But when Christians consider how Papistes pray like Parrats not vnderstanding what they say and sing their monkish Hymmes call vpon they knowe not whome and send vp their prayers before stockes and stones they haue no occasion eyther to mislike our Prayers or Psalmes or to allow their owne Neither is it materiall that wee beleeue not that Prayers merit heauen or satisfye for our sinnes or that man naturally hath liberum arbitrium both in knowing and dooing thinges pleasing to God For albeit they merit not yet they both obtaine thinges necessarie and remooue thinges hurtfull Againe albeit wee cannot satisfye for our sinnes by prayers yet by them we obtaine remission of sinnes for which our Sauiour hath sufficiently satisfyed Finally albeit the natural man by freewil and nature dooth neither vnderstand the thinges of God nor pursue after thinges pleasing to God yet directed by Gods holy spirit by prayers wee obtaine Gods grace that both enlightneth our vnderstanding and helpeth our weakenes So in all these cases prayer is profitable Furthermore albeit wee teach that man is iustified by faith and that euerie true Christian led by Gods spirit is to assure him selfe of Gods fauour yet are wee not to neglect the meanes nor to contemne Prayers which are exercises of our faith and helpe to confirme vs and are meanes to obtaine thinges necessarie for vs. The Surueyor therefore that concludeth against the meanes because wee assure our selues of the end promised vnto vs through Christ Iesus is but an ideot disputer For albeit wee hope to attaine to the end yet wee doe not deny ordinarie meanes Chap. 8. The Surueyors calumniations against our Doctrine concerning God refuted AS it is a heynous Heresie to make God the author of sinne and condemned in Florinus and Blastus so it is a heynous calumniation to charge innocent christians with so heynous a crime as to hold God to bee the author of sinne All this notwithstanding Kellison a Surueyor as hee calleth himselfe but not for Christ but for Antichrist will needes affirme that wee make God the author of sinne and wickednes But what if we teach contrarie will it not appeare that the author of sinne was author also of this shamelesse and sinfull slaunder well then let vs see what is publikelye professed by the reformed churches In the confession of the French Church we reade that God is not the author of euill and that he is cleare of all blame for thinges done euill The Heluetian Churches condemne Florinus and Blastus for maintaining the contrarie Doctrine Damnanus say they Florinum Blastum omnes qui deum faciunt authorem peccati The same also wee doe both in our writinges and Sermons publikely teach and professe Neither can this K. alleadge either sentence or word to the contrarie But saith he lib. 5. c. 1. Caluin and his followers auouch that God immediatelye and directlye is the author of wickednes and Melancthō in Rom. c. 8. auoucheth that Dauids adultery Iudas treachery were as much the work of God as S. Paules vocation He saith also that Beza diuers others haue like sayings But first wee are vniustly charged with euery priuate mans opinions neither will our aduersaries thinke it reason in their owne case to bee so vsed Secondlye Caluin is much wronged by this foule mouthed curre For he is so farre from saying that God is the author of all wickednesse that expressely lib. 1. instit c. 18. he teacheth that God is author of no wickednesse Falsely also dooth he charge Caluin to say that God not onely foreseeth mans sinnes but hath created him of determinate purpose to that end Hee saith onely that God dooth not onely permit men to doe what they will but dooth gouerne their actions and direct them to such endes as he appointeth not that he willeth or acteth their sinne
vnusquisque in vias suas nec fuit iam diu qui faceret bonum non fuit vsque ad vnum The Bishop of Bitonto preaching in the first session of the conuenticle of Trent speaking of the manners of the people then confesseth that they said in their heart that there was no God dicunt in corde suo saith he quod non est Deus This may also bee specified by infinite examples both of Popes and Cardinals and their followers Theodoricke à Niem de schism lib. 2. c. 42. calleth Gregory the 12 and Petrus de Luna Elders of Babylon and saith that such iniquitie was gone from them that the Catholike faith was therby ouershadowed and that Religion suffered Shipwracke and that vertue was departed from all men Vt Catholica fides obnubiletur omnis religio naufragium patiatur Virtutes ab omnibus recesserunt Iohn the 12. or as some number the 13. dranke to the Deuill in his meriment and called vpon him when he playd at Dice and as the Histories set out by Papistes themselues declare was a wicked fellow Gregory the seuenth as Beno the Cardinall writeth had commerce with the Deuill and was in the Councell of Brixina condemned for a Magician Hee saith also that hee cast the Sacrament into the fire which is not so much in him to bee maruelled For hee that worshipeth the Deuill cannot esteeme much of the body of Christ which as Papists hold is contained vnder the formes of bread and wine in the Sacrament This man when he dyed as Sigebertus witnesseth confesseth that by the perswasion of the Diuell hee had raysed many stirres in the world Siluester the second as storyes report made a compact with the Deuill It is sayd also that Gregory the 6. Bonet the 9. Paul the third and diuers other Popes were Magicians and Negromancers But such men as giue themselues to art Magick renounce God and serue the Deuill Of Sixtus the fourth we read that hee laughed at Religion and beleeued not that their was a God Riserat vt viuens caelestia numina Sixtus Sic moriens nullos credidit essé Deos. saith one Vpon Alexander the sixt Sanazar wrote these verses as a memoriall of his impieties Humana iura nec minus caelestia Ipsosque sustulit deos c. That is he disolued both Gods Lawes and mans Lawes and beleeued not that there was a God Clement the 7. as is said when hee drewe neere to his end told those which stoode about him the shortly he hoped to bee resolued of that of which he had euer much doubted viz. whether there were eyther Heauen or Hell or no. And the rather wee beleeue this report because these verses were written of him Contemptor diuum scelerum vir publicus hostis that is a contemner he was of God a flagitious fellow and à publique enimie of his Country Iohn the 23. was condemned by the councell of Constance for denying the resurrection of the dead and for other poyntes of Atheisme Leo the 10. esteemed the Gospell no otherwise then as a fable And of Iulius the third the Papistes them-selues reporte diuers speaches sauoring of Atheisme If then Atheisme do so raigne in the Popes of Rome whome the Papistes call most holy and honor as the heades and foundations of their Church supreme Iudges of all controuersies and are bound to follow albeit they may lead infinite soules to Hell as it is said in Chap. si Papa dist 40. it is no maruell although the Masse priests and their followers be tainted with Atheisme and contempt of Religion Machiauell whome many Atheists follow was no English-man but an Italian and a great friend of Clement the 7. to whōe also he dedicated his Florentine historie Neither was he an English-man that held it a peccadillo or little sinne no creer en dios that is not to beleeue in God That Italian that beleeued no other Trinity then Messer domine dio il papa et nostra donna et preti et frati that is God Almightie the Pope and our Lady and Priestes and Friars learned not his impiety I trow from vs. The * That the Doctrine of Popery tendeth to Atheisme very doctrine of Popery tendeth to Atheisme and ignorance of God Generally the lay-people think themselues safe if they beleeue as the Church beleeueth and so Hosius and others teach their Disciples But what I pray you is this but Atheisme for men to be ignorant of Christ his grace and of the meanes of their saluation and of Gods true worship Ephes 2. the Gentiles worshipping many Gods are sayd to be without God in the world May not then the same be verified of Papistes that worship so many Angels and Saintes and giue the honor of God to the Sacrament to the Crucifixe and the Images of the Trinity Thirdly how can we esteeme them to haue any feeling of true piety that speake so lewdly of Scriptures Some call them a Nose of Waxe some a Ship-mans Hose some a bare Letter some Inky Diuinity some a matter of strife some the ground of Heresies Kellison pag. 687. saith if a man contemne the authority of the Romane Church that hee shall no more bee able to assure himselfe of Scripture then of a Robin Hoodes tale Pag. 41. hee saith the Scripture with a false meaning is the word of the Deuill As if the Scripture being endited by the holy Ghost could in any respect be called the word of the Deuill Pag. 39. he compareth Scriptures to Aesopes Fables and saith they are of a Waxie nature But he that is of God heareth Gods worde and speaketh reuerently of Scriptures Fourthly none but Atheistes and such as sauour of Atheisme directly violate and impugne Gods commaundements and make Lawes repugnant vnto them But the Papistes offend heerein both greeuously and notoriously God sayth thou shalt haue no other Gods but me the Popish faction sayth contrary thou shalt haue other Gods commaunding their followers to call vppon Saints and Angels to worship the Sacrament and Crucifixes to confesse their sinnes to offer Christes body and blood in the honor of Saintes and Angels Tursellinus a Iebusite in his Epistle to Peter Aldobrandini before his storie of Loreto saith Christ hath made his Mother partaker of his diuine Majestie power as farre as it was lawfull Matrem suam saith he praepoteus ille deus diuinae maiestatis potestatisque sociam quatenus licuit asciuit In the second Commaundement we are directly prohibited to make grauen Images to the intent to bow to them and to worshippe them But the Papistes haue impiously blotted out this commaundement in their short Catechismes commaund men vpon paine of death and damnation to fall downe before Crucifixes and other Images and to worship them somtime with doulia sometimes with latria according to the subiect The third Cōmaundement forbiddeth vs to take Gods name in vaine But Papistes in their rascall Rhemish annotations in Act. 23. teach their followers to
the sayings of Fathers or the iudgement of the auncient Church but wholy rely vpon the opinion of the Doctors of Trent and the Pope They preferre the olde Latin translation before the original text of the Bible and allow no sence of Scripture but that which the Romish church approoueth Page 693. he maketh dissension in Religion to be a note of Atheisme but if that be so then hath he branded his owne consorts with a marke of atheisme For hardly shal you finde one article of Religion wherein the wrangling Schoolemen doe not differ one from another Bellarmine quarrelleth as often with his owne fellowes almoste as with vs. About the diuine attributes and notions they are not yet resolued If they durst many would dispute against the Popes Monarchye dispensations indulgences and such like The Masse as yet is not perfectly setled Page 696. he signifyeth the erroneous opiniōs about the head-ship of the Church are enducements to atheisme which being graunted then are the Papistes in a fayre way to atheisme For vnder the title of Christ the sole and true head of the church they admit Antichrist and bring vs foorth a monster not onely with two heades but with as many heades as Popes There wanteth therfore nothing but some Hercules to cut of these Hydraes heades and to restore to Christ his right of headship Further in euerye vacation they want their visible head which as Kellison saith giueth adauantage to Atheistes and maketh them to make a mocke at Religion They haue also some times Popes without brayne or witte which is as great an inconuenience as the rest Finally if such as teach erroneously of the presence of Christes body blood in the sacrament vnderstād not the words of Christes institution ruine Christian Religion and call all other mysteries of the faith into question as Kellison Page 698. resolutelye and peremptorily auoucheth then will it plainely fall out that the Papistes are ruiners of Religion and haue no assurance of any point of faith by them defended For as I haue before touched and shall else-where more plentifully declare they erre moste grossely in their Doctrine concerning the real presence and haue shamefully mistaken and corrupted Christes institution of that holy mysterie Wee may therefore conclude first that as the true professors of the christian faith in the church of England are moste innocent and cleare of this shamelesse imputation of atheisme moste wrongfully charged vpon them by this surueying or rather surfeting Sycophant so the Papists our aduersaries and the principall actors among them are much to be suspected that vnder colour of Popery they couer a secret poyson of atheisme Secondly if eyther our aduersaries or any other would with indifferent eyes and vnpartial iudgement consider eyther the articles of our faith which we professe or the deformities and abuses of poperie which we refuse and detest discerning truth from the slaundrous imputations of such wicked sycophants as this that then they would neither mislike vs for our forsaking the Synagogue of Satan nor allowe the impious courses of our rayling aduersaries nor long sticke in the myrie and filthie puddle of popish errors and indure his tyrannicall gouernement ALmighty God which hast told vs that Antichrist shal be reuealed and slayne by the breath of the mouth of the Lord Iesus and destroyed with the brightnesse of his comming vouchsafe dayly more and more to reueale him to all the christian world and to discouer his trecherous and murdrous practises to all true Catholikes and to dispell the mistes of calumniations lyes and forgeryes which his agentes doe dayly endeuour to spread abroad against the professors of truth that so the truth appearing both such as are in error may be reformed and the weake confirmed in the sincere profession of the Gospell the Kingdome of Antichrist destroyed through our Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus And let all those that wish the prosperity of Sion and the conuersion or confusion of Babel say alwaies Amen Amen An aduertisment to the Reader RIDICVLOVS it is gentle Reader for him that entreth into the Battle to complaine of blowes He that cōmeth to strike others must not thinke strāge if he be striken himselfe And yet I perceiue my aduersaryes blush not to complaine that heerein they haue receiued wrong They I say that come like wolues with open mouth to deuoure vs raile at M. LVTHER Maister CALVIN al the church of England as if it consisted of Heretikes Schismatikes loose liuers Atheistes nay of a sort of men worse then Turkes and Pagans finde fault with me if I tell them of their heresies Treasons Gun-powder practises Idolatryes infidelitie perjuries and other vilanies Whether they or we haue reason I referre my selfe to indifferent judges that shal read the Treatises of both the partyes HILARY in his Book against CONSTANTIVS thought it no fault to speake sharply if truely Si falsa dicimus saith he infamis sit sermo malidicus That is if we speake vntruth let our tarte speache seeme infamous Otherwise he challengeth the liberty of Apostles in censuring manifest faults Si vniuersa haec manifesta esse ostendimus saith he non sumus extra apostolicam libertatem modestiam Saint HIEROME apolog 2. in Ruffin thinketh it lawfull to barke for Christ because Dogges barke for their Maisters Canes latrant pro dominis suis tu non me vis latrare pro Christo Beside that when a man is accused of Heresie hee would not haue him patient If then we neither shew impatiency nor speake doggedlie but only report those crimes truely of which our aduersaryes are most guilty it is then our aduersaries euill conscience that pincheth rather then our tart stile that byteth To let Dogges baule without correcting were nothing else but to encourage them in their dogged snarling and barking and Bishop Iewell of reuerend memory and others that haue vsed this mildenesse haue greatly confirmed our aduersaryes malice This therfore vnderstand that it is not out of stomacke but out of iudgment that wee take this course of plaine dealing Phryx plagis emendatur The PHRYGIAN and such as are of his base humor are bettred with stripes rather then with gentle wordes There distemper is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as THEOPHRASTVS saith in sympos apud Plutarchum That is a drunkennesse without wine But it may be corrected with a sad and tart answere Further necessity forced vs for the repelling of their malicious slaunders to shewe that they are to bee charged with those crimes justly which they impute to innocēt men most falsely And it may bee if truth make them not cease their barking yet shame will make them barke more softly This is the reason of our doing which if thou be indifferent I hope thou wilt allow If enimie I hope thou canst not justly condemne And if thou beest experimented in these courses thou canst not chuse but acknowledge the same to bee both profitable honest and necessary Profitable to represse the malice of such Curres as continually barke against truth honest for the defence of the pious memorie of the innocent and necessary for the ending of these brablements If the aduersaries giue vs no occation to lay open theit faultes we shall be content to burye them in silence If they persist in rayling and reuiling at honest men they must haue patience to heare our free answer Against Popes Cardinals Monkes Fryers Masse-priestes and their seditious Salt-peter followers wee cannot want either wordes or matter This is that which I thought good to aduertise thee and which I hope will satisfie all if they bee indifferent If not indifferent they haue no reason to take vppon them to bee our judges nor we to vnder-goe their censure nor you to mislike our stile as too sharp and vnfitting Laus Deo