may meet now it foloweth not For althowgh they might meet before the holy gost by the mouth of the Apost made a seueral office of yt yet they might not so afterward when it was otherwise determined of by the mouth of god There were diuers kinde of mariages with consanguinitie as brother with sister aunt with nevew c lawful in the beginning ▪ which after that the lord had otherwise disposed of in the law were vnlawful As for that owt of Caluin and 2 Corinth 8 it is friuolous For it neuer perteined to the Deacons office to exhort for the contribution of the poor but was and is the Ministers of the word the Deacons office being to receiu and to distribute yt in that church where he is Deacon The causes also which he alledgeth of the casting of of that office and the busines which the Deaconship did draw in that church of Ierusalem are to trifle out the tyme considering that the decree of the Apostles towching the nue office was general for al places and not where there should be many poor or so many thowsand professors what a bouldnes is it also when the Scripture doeth plainly shew the cause of deliuering them selues from this office to haue bene that they should not leau their ministery and that they might be cōtinually vpon it to reiect this cause and to set vp another which the scripture giueth no ynkling of That they ordeined others for because they should goe into the world is also nothing worth seing that in some of them it came not to pas diuers yeates after and in other some neuer as those which were determined there to remain when as notwithstanding al desired this releas Beside that he answereth nothing to the inequality of giftes betwene our Bishops and the Apostles nor considereth not that the Spiritual charge of our Bishop is ouer moe now then there were then in Ierusalem and that they were at that tyme twelu where he is but one had theyr church togither which he hath scartered I shewed that the Papists are not onely condemned for vuringing the ciuil autority ouut of Princes handes but simply for exercising it and there fore this first section is idle To that I alledged that it is as monstrous for the Bishop to goe from the pulpit vnto the place of ciuil iudgment as for my lord Maior to goe to the pulpit he answereth that it is not vncomely to goe from the pulpit to ciuil administration of iustice c which is a mere mockery of his reader For not daring to deny but it is vncomely for the lord Maior he answereth by affirming that in question For if he say it is not vncomely for the lord Maior to goe to the pulpit he runneth in to that which he saith I surmise of him where of notwitstanding I haue not a letter Albeit the truth is that he may aswel say the Magistrate may minister the Sacrament and preach which is the proper dwety of the Minister as to say the Minister of the word may sit in iudgment of ciuil causes which is the proper dwety of the Magistrat For look what difference the lord hath set betwene the office of the ciuil Magistrate and of the Minister the same must of necessity be betwene the office of the Minister and of the Magistrate as there is the self same distance betwene Athenes and Thebes vuhich is betuuene Thebes and Athenes and if there be a mile from the top of the hil to the foot it is as far from the foot to the top And althowgh yt abhorring the eyes and eares of al he is afraid here to affirm it comely that the lord Maior should preach and minister the sacramentes yet as a man whose iudgment wasteth not by litle and litle but is sodenly and at a clap taken away he shameth not a litle after to affirm that the Prince may preach and the Bishop exercise ciuil office if they be lawfully called therunto where if by lawful calling he vnderstand a wonderful and extraordinary from heauen he speaketh altogither from the cause our question being whether a Minister by calling of the Magistrat or a Magistrate by calling of the church may enter vpon eche others office And if he mean by lawful calling the ordinary calling then his answer is absurd For he falleth into that absurdity which the Papistes doe falsly surmise that we giue vnto our Princes power to minister the Sacramentes yea by his diuinitye which giueth the chois of the Bishops to the Prince alone and which maketh it lawful for one to offer him self to the ministery the king of the land may make him self Bishop withowt waiting for the church is consent Vpon that he alledgeth owt of M. Beza which wisheth some of the nobilitie to be of the Eldership compared with that which I affirm that the Eldership is an ecclesiastical office he concludeth that ether I must dissent from M. Beza or graunt that one person may at once bear ciuil and ecclesiastical office I answer that nether is necessary For whereas Lordships Baronryes and Erldomes are often ether by birth or giuen of the Prince as bare degrees of honour such being of the church Eldership doe not therfore bear boeth ciuil and ecclesiastical office considering that they haue no magistracy necessarily ioyned with them further then the same is particularly cōmitted Albeit hauing the Heluetian confession I finde no epistle of M. Bezas so that ether he mistaketh the place or els hath some other edition then I could get Yf the gentry and nobility of the realm be as yow confes fitter to bear these offices then ecclesiastical persons there needed some great causes to haue bene shewed by yow why the fittest should not be taken otherwise the white of expedience that churchmen should bear them which yow threap of them that they see wil be so dim that boeth the Prince and they passing by it wil I hope put down as there calling serueth this vsurped power In the mean season it being so expedient a thing for the churche at yow pretend the church is litle behoulding to yow that doe not make this expedience to appear I said that if there fal a question to be decided by the vuord of god and vuherein the aduise of the Minister is needful that then his help ouught to be required The D. herevpon fathereth of me that the magistrate may determin no weighty matter withowt him as if there were no weighty matter wherein the Magistrat could know what is the wil of god withowt sending for the Minister so that it appeareth that there is no vntruth so open which finedeth not as in a cōmon Inne lodging in the D. tong But els saith he wherfore are these wordes therfore forsooth that where yow and others might vnder colour of the knowledg which he hath in the word of god hould him the stirrup to clime into the ciuil gouernmentes it might appear that
enowgh for vs that the D. hym self can not deny but that baptim which is ministred by him which they cal a Deacon with vs is ministred by a Minister of the word so that there is here no danger of rebaptization I alledged that part of the institution as that vuhich tovucheth the vuordes of the holy Trinity being obserued and not this it is no more baptim then the papistes communioÌ„ is the supper vuhere one peece takeÌ„ the other is left whereto he answereth that the cup is of the substance because it is expresly commanded So is this of the Minister also commanded therfore by his own answer of the substance of the sacrament But saith he I can not shew a commandement that a Minister onely shal celebrate the Baptim or els be no Baptim no more can he in so many wordes that if the cup be not receiued it is no supper But yf his proof be sufficient because the lord hath coÌ„manded that yt should be receiued my proof is also that haue shewed the same in the ministring of baptim especially seing the breach is not in the circumstance but in the causes He alledgeth further that circumcision ministred by such as were no Priestes was good I graunt if it were doen by those which were simple Leuites if yt were doen also by Prophetes which were no Priestes But if he can shew it good doen by those to whom it belonged not then he saith some what To that I browght ovut of S. Paul that he can not preach vuhich is not sent he answereth it is vnderstanded of the extraordinary calling as thowgh it were not aswel required in ordinary callinges that one be sent as in the extraordinary For althowgh there be diuers sortes of sendinges yet that the Minister be sent is required of al. So that althowgh S. Paul should there draw that disputation vnto the sending of the Apostles yet the rule wherby he confirmeth the Apostelship is general For a Pastor can no more preach now in a particular congregation withowt a sending then an Apostle could then in al the world The wordes I added no not althovugh he spake the vuordes of the scripture be no such addition as he surmiseth seing they are necessarily conteyned in the Apostles sentence For when him self denieth not but that one which is not sent may speak the wordes of scripture and the Apostle saith that the same can not preach it foloweth that one not sent althowgh he speak the wordes of the scriptures can not therefore be said to preach He procedeth further saying that as it is the word of god which is preached by minister or other so is baptim true baptim by whomsoeuer it be ministred as if he had already gotten ether that whosoeuer speaketh the word preacheth yt or that it were already baptim withowt the publik minister boeth which are in demaund Moreouer if he can proue that the washing with the element withowt any to apply it is a sacrament as the word is the word althowgh no man handle yt or speak of yt then I wil graunt that which he saith But if it be no Sacrament but when it is browght into vse and the vse be defined to be such as is said then yt is apparant that there is a great difference betwene the word and sacramentes in this respect Last of al as he which taking one part of the wordes of the scripture an leauing another that should goe with yt propoundeth not the word of god but his own idle fancy euen so he that keepeth one principal part of the sacramteÌ„ leauing another behynde ministreth no sacrament of god but a deuise of his own head Now where he would draw this cause into hatered in that there is as he sayth no learned man of this iudgment althowgh the reason be weak and yt vnmeet that the trwth should be mistrusted because she can fynde no suertishyp emongest men yet if that wil help hym he hath M. Beza which doeth praecisely affirm that the baptim vuhich is ministred by a priuate man much more by a vuoman is vtterly void Seing then they onely are bidden in the scripture to administer the Sacraments which are bidden to preach the word and that the publik Ministers haue onely this charge of the word and seing that the administration of boeth these are so lincked together that the denial of licence to doe one is a denial to doe the other as of the contrary part licence to one is licence to the other considering also that to minister the Sacraments is an honor in the church which none can take vnto hym but he which is called vnto yt as was Aaron and further forasmuch as the baptizing by priuate persons and by wemen especially confirmeth the dangerous error of the condemnation of young children which dy withowt baptim Last of al seing we haue the consent of the godly learned of al tymes against the baptim by wemen â–ª and of the reformed churches now against the baptim by priuate men we conclude that the administration of this Sacrament by priuate persons and especially by wemen is merely boeth vnlawful and void There remaineth another quaestion whether the infantes of papistes are to be receiued to baptim Of which as of a thing more dowtful amongest the godly learned because I wrote priuately and more at large when I came to the confutation of the D. book in that point I passed by yt with mynde to take afterward my reply thereunto more commodiously from the discours I wrote of yt Howbeyt the trwth is vntil I came to the place of the printing where I had not his book with me I forgot yt Yf therefore in answering I ether pas by any weight of reason or ascribe any thing to hym otherwise then trwth I desire the readers gentle support herein ether vntil his next answer or els vnto another opportunity when the argumentes of boeth sides may be more fully debated Vnto the reason that I alledged owt of S. Paul to my remembrance he answereth nothing but onely opposeth M. Bezas autority in his epistles which yf they had not come forth whilest his book was in making yt seemeth that he had bene vtterly destitute of answer His reason owt of hym that the papistes are to be compared with the Israelites which fel away from the tâ—w religion and not vuith the Idumeans can not help hym oneles he first shew that the infantes of those Apostatas were lawfully circumcised For if they were not circumcised by gods order and institution but rather at the lust and pleasure of those which being fallen away from the covenant ceased not to put to the seal as yf they had bene stil within the couenant yt foloweth that in this respect there is no more succour for the Papistes in their resemblance with such Israelites then when they are matched with the Idumeans or Ismaelites THE II. CHAPTER OF THIS TRACTATE OF THE CORRVPTIONS in doctrine abovut the
holy communion beginning pag. 526. diuis vij of the D. book AMongest diuers reasons browght to proue that the whole body of the church should so much as may be communicate â—n the holy supper togither he cauilleth â—t that alledged owt of S. Paul saying that he blameth those which did contentiously separate them selues whereas the Apostle vnder one kinde noteth al needeles sundring of the members one from another in that holy action That owt of S. Mathew 18 of two or three gathered in Christs name ys answered nether ys it denied but that two or three may communicate yf the other wil not at al onely yt ys said that where the other wil althowgh not so often as is conuenient yet that in such a case the three should for the reasons alledged whereunto he answereth nothing tarry for the rest his next diuision is answered in the 9 diuision which he taketh vp before by rending my book asonder that he might seem able to say somewhat which answer of myne vpon how good ground yt standeth let the reader iudg his reply whereunto is senseles where also his mervailing that I say the tvuelue vuere made Apostles after their first calling argueth his want considering that the ordeyning of them to be Embassadors throwghowt the world which is the vocation of their Apostleship was not vntil after the resurrection That which deceiueth hym is for that he considereth not that yt is the vse of the scripture in speaking of the beginninges of thinges to term them by the names which they had at the tyme of the writing and not which they had when that which they wrote was doen as in the names of Babel and Peleg c. the next requireth no answer In the next he accordeth that by ecclesiastical censures and ciuil punishmentes the rest of the church should be browght to communicate with the three where he manifestly forsaketh the book which leaueth yt free three seasons of the year onely excepted And the truth is yf it be conuenient that yt should be celebrated oftener yt is also meet that there should be punishmentes for the breach of that conueniency his exception against the proof of excommunication for want of doeyng this duty that to cut ovut his soul from the people signifieth to put to death and not to excoÌ„municate vttereth his want considering that the same commandement was giuen to Abraham in the gouernment of his how 's which was the church of god And yet that no ciuil sword was put into his hand ys manifest in that being a priuate man in the common wealth he dwelt in he had no power of lyfe and death But of this matter he may learn further other where His obiections against the Adm. and my allegation of canons ascribed to the Apostles are answered That the owtward vncleannes vnder the law may be easlier auoided then the inward which owght to kepe vs from the communion being so generally spoken is vntrue and refuted by me in the case of procuring the funeral of our friendes to which we are bound whereunto he answereth nothing nether can the vncleannes of lyfe which is priuate and not openly knowen hinder any oneles yt be such as men mean not to amend That weaknes of faith owght to withdraw vs from the communion is a manifest vntruth yt being instituted for the strenghtning of the weaknes thereof The examination of hym self is required not onely in the partaking of the communion but also in hearing of the vuord of god as whether he come with minde to be tawght and to folow or whether he come of curiosity or of custome or to please men and such like As for corruption of iudgment want of instruction in the vse of the sacrament open offenses and al such disorder of life as requireth separation by the churches ceÌ„sures they fal not into this case where is disputed not for what causes men owght to be put from the holy communion but for what causes they may withdraw them selues when they be by common and good policy of the church admitted Therfore al this is but an abusing of the tyme which is browght against that which I said that yf being of the church and able to examin them selues they be not fit for the hearing of the vuord nether are they fit for the receiuing of the coÌ„munioÌ„ whereby also may appear how vnworthily he doeth now the second tyme obiect contraryety with my self so openly refuted by expres wordes As for the reasons which I alledged to confirm this sentence with he once towcheth not whereunto I wil ad the iudgment of the auncient writers that he may learn to blush which not contented to haue reprehended yt here setteth yt in the beginning of his book as a dangerous point and palpable error Chrysostom writeth thus of the supper hovu tariedst thovu behynde I am thovu saist vnvuorthy then art thovu also vnvuorthy of the communication vuhich is in the prayers The like sentence he hath in another of his homilies uÌ„to the people of Antioche Ambrose saith he that is not fit to receiu the bread of the supper dayly is not fit once in a year August speaking of this matter sheweth that yf the synnes be not so great that one should be excoÌ„municated for them that then a man ovught not to separate hym self from the daily medicine of the lords body whereunto ad M. Bucer which disalowing the communion which is by the Minister aÌ„d one other and withal shewing that the rest of the church owght to be driuen vnto yt boeth alledgeth and aloweth that sentence of Chrysostom before rehersed In the next diuisioÌ„ of the cause of the superstitious fear of coming to the coÌ„munion let the reader iudg of coÌ„sidering that of the euil beginninges of lenton fast I haue spoken before and wil not suffer the D. to start away by mouing of other questions To this chapter belongeth the rest of the 15 Tracta where in the pag. 590 first diuision for his saying we read not that wemen receiued the supper he pretendeth M. Caluin and Zuinglius but they excuse not his rashnes For althowgh they haue the same wordes yet they match this cause with others which are necessary and which haue certein proof owt of the scripture althowgh not in expres wordes whereas he matcheth yt with those thinges which are by his own confession indifferent and not necessary giuing thereby to vnderstand that there is no better grownd of the one then of the other which reason being alledged to proue the occasion of triumph which he giuith here vnto the Catabaptistes and Anabaptistes he answereth not The three next diuisioÌ„s are answered Next vnto this foloweth another vnchangeable doctrine as yt lyeth pa. 603 of the D. book where althowgh the Answ dare not opeÌ„ly vndertake the defence of driuing of known papistes vnto the lords supper yet partly in trifling with the proofes browght for the
yt to the Synod he answereth that yt letteth not but that he had autority sauing that therby he shewed his wisdome in committing matters of doctrine to them which are moste fit to entreat of them A straunge kinde of wisdome to put ouer that which belonged vnto his office to them to whose office that did not belong verely this is not the wisdome which commeth from aboue For althowgh it be lawful for a Prince to discharge part of his burthen vpon others for the more commodity of his subiectes yet if this belong vnto him as he is appointed of god the ciuil Magistrate he can not put yt vnto any other thē vnto a ciuil Magistrate as I haue before shewed Here also I would ask of him how the Councel of Nice was fitter to iudg of the matter then the Emperour was it by some singuler case or by reason of their office of being Bishops Yf as needes he must he answer that they are by calling and by office fitter to iudg of such causes how must not that pertein vnto them which are hereof by calling the fittest Iudges For althowgh there be found sometymes some ciuil gouernour which hath more skil to iudg in church matters then some Bishop as also some Bishops to haue more skil in common wealth matters then some ciuil gouernour yet notwithstanding nether the one nor the other hath this kunning by any gift incident into his office which he exerciseth So that the Answerer in reputing it for wisdome in the Emperour to commit these matters vnto the Bishops as vnto the most able Iudges maketh a deep wound in the wisdome of god whilest he supposeth that god hath committed that to be doen by the Magistrate whereof by office he is not the fittest doer which is a voice vnworthy of a very sukling much more of a D. in diuinity And that this is most properly belonging vnto a Bishop it appeareth in that the Apostle requireth that he should be able to conuince the gainsayers which he neuer required of the ciuil Magistrate and notwithstanding would haue required yt if the decision of such causes had apperteyned vnto him For the lord calleth no man to any thing of whome he requireth not giftes meet to furnish his calling Not vnlike to this reason is that in the 5. diuision page 701 which is that for so much as the Ministers are moste able to decide of church matters that therfore the decision belongeth vnto them whereunto he answereth first that it is Hardings reason but sheweth not where it is to be found where I alledging it as his own reason pointed hym the place wherunto he answereth not a word Secondly he saith that yt proueth onely that it is most conuenient and necessary that the ministers while they be godly and learned may haue the deciding of matters in religion Here if the Answ had not fumbled and faultered in his speach we had had hym if not altogither yet very nigh consenting with vs therefore let the reader note that whereas he hath borowed boeth his answers and al his auncient autorities from the Bishop and M. Nowel withowt confessing any one onely place owt of the Bishop excepted in this answer wherein the cheif point of the question doeth consist he hath giuen them boeth the slip For they boeth doe flatly confes that as long as the Ministers be godly and learned yt is necessary they should decide these matters that the Prince is commanded to haue recours vnto them in dovutful matters that it belongeth to the Bishops office to decide of such causes but that Christian Princes haue rather to doe vuith these matters then ignorant and vuicked Priestes and that in case of necessity meaning when the ministery is wicked the Prince ovught to prouide for cōueniēt remedy the very self same thing which we maynteyn in saying vuhen there is no lavuful ministery that then the Prince ovught to take order in these thinges Now because he dissenting from them would yet seeme to be at one he also hath set down that it is necessary but how mark I pray yow and yow shal see that in stryuing against a manifest truth he became speachles Forsooth it is necessary that they may decide he durst not say that it is necessary they should but that they may decide where in saying that it is necessary he leaueth no choise again in saying that they may he destroyeth the necessity which he had before put leauing it in the Princis power whether they shal or no. Thus as the mous kleauing fast in the pitchbox in one sentence he affirmeth that a godly and learned ministery must of necessity and not of necessity decide of these causes That which he addeth that the autority doeth as wel stil remain in the Prince when the Ministers decide as when the Iudges determin of ciuil causes is vntrw Yf as he pretendeth it were at the Princis chois whether a godly mynistery should decide of them or no then yt were true he saith but if it be true which the Bishop and M. Nowel say that yt is necessary that a godly ministery should decide of them and that yt belongeth to the the Bishops office so to doe then the comparison is most vnequal For the iudgment of ciuil causes doeth so be long vnto the Magistrate that he is not bound by the law of god to translate yt vnto other Nay the law of god wil haue that Princes them selues so far as they may and are able shal bear their dominion vpon their own shoulders and iudg the causes of their subiectes in their own persons cōsidering that the scripture calleth al princes Iudges and setteth euery one a Throne to iudg the causes of his people Now to return bak where I leaft foloweth his answer to the Councel of Constantinople that it is to late a testimony being other in the year 549 or 681. which might haue place in this case where the question is of the Bishopes iurisdiction as that which in proces of tyme did owtreach were it not confirmed by other testimonies of the former age In the first of which Councels Menna the Patriark being president it is said that the decree of the Bishopes firm in yt self vuas cōfirmed by the Emperour Now seing the Bishops had then this autority how much more by his own confession had they the same in the other which was later And the same Constantine which the D. speaketh of giueth more to the Bishopes then we doe namely that he vuould compel none to the truth oneles they concluded something That yt was said that the Emperour confirmed the decrees of the Councel and not that the Emperour made the decrees serueth also wel for this purpose For if ether he had made them or they had bene made vnder his name they should haue bene said to haue bene made by him as decrees made by the Princis deputies are said to be made by the Prince That which he addeth
Vuhat force there ys in the name of saintes dayes to make men beleue that they are instituted to their honour let the reader iudg of that which I haue written How much more doe they confirm this when boeth the corrupt custome and doctrine in popery hath forestalled the peoples mindes with that opinion whereunto his answer that I might much better reason against the names of Sonday and Moneday ys vntrue For first the vse of such thinges is not so free in ecclesiastical matters as in ciuil affaires Secondly our people hath not bene nusled vp in that filth of worshipping the Sun and Mone as they haue bene of the saintes in so much as the learned set apart there are few which know that there were euer any dayes obserued in the honour of the Sun or Mone Yf they had bene so nusled who seeth not but that yt had bene moste cōuenient for the rooting owt of that Idolatry to haue made a change of these names Thirdly yt ys knowen that good men after the example of Dauid which would not once defile his lippes with naming the Idols or Idolatrous thinges except yt were with detestation boeth absteyn from such names as much as the common vse wil suffer and desire the abolishment of them To my reason that as the lordes holy dayes are taken to be instituted to his honour so the saintes holy dayes may easely be thovught of the ruder sort to be instituted to their honour he answereth that the lords holy dayes are so called especially because the scriptures concerning hym are then red which is no answer For yf hys answer were true yet yt confessing by the way that they are taken in part to be instituted to the lords honour graūteth forthwith that there ys occasion giuen to the ruder sort to think that the Saintes dayes are in part instituted to their honour As for hys sentence owt of Augustin yt ys a meer abusing of the tyme as yf euery thing instituted to the honour of god were a sacrament or that a thing doen in remembrance of the lord may not or rather ys not doē to hys honour And here yt is to be noted that the D. ys taken in hys own nettes For he defendeth the keping holy of these Saintes dayes as they were vsed in the elder churches and as Ierome and Augustin mayntein thē Now hym self hath for hys defence alledged owt of Ierome that these dayes are obserued to the Martyrs and owt of Augustin that in them we honour the memoryes of martyrs Therefore hys escape that no man ys so mad as to think that by these dayes we doe any honour vnto the Saintes ys not onely an opē vntruth but directly contrary to that hym self maynteyneth Vuhat ignorance is in the land for want of teaching I leau to the readers iudgment of that which hath bene said To that I alledged that althowgh there vuere teaching yet yt vuere good that these names should not help to vnteach he answereth not Howbeit he goeth further asking whether for euery particular mans ignorance or abusing of yt the churchis order must be changed He may wel know that yf there be one man which abuseth yt throwgh ignorance there are moe then a thowsand and yf there were but one onely yet seing that man ys in danger to wrake hym self at this rok owght not the church rather to change this name then to giue occasion of destroying hym for whome Christ hath died cōsidering that of naming those holy dayes Saintes dayes there can be no fruit or profit assigned Hys exception against Augustins complaint of the multitude of Ceremonies that he speaketh not of holy dayes ys vnworthy of answer considering that he speaketh generally of al kinde of ceremonies likewise that he saith he speaketh of vnprofitable ceremonies For he disputeth simply against the multitude of Ceremonies vnder the gospel whereas yf they had bene but a few and yet vnprofitable he would therefore haue condemned them As for that he saith that ours are profitable and appoued by the custome of the whole church the first ys an asking of that in question the other ys an vntruth as doeth after appear Now whereas I said that in this ceremony of holy dayes vue excede euen the Iues he maketh hys accountes so that they as he saith had the greater numbre But what Auditor wil alow these accountes of yours First of al therfore yow must strike of the supposed holy day of Iudith for the reason shewed in another place likewise those of the Makabites as those whereof there is no certeinty and boeth Iudiths and the Makabites togither as those which yf euer they were houlden were houlden many hundreth yeares after the giuing of the law For the which cause the two dayes of Hesther althowgh they differ as far from the other as heauen from earth owght not to come into this account For this comparison is not instituted betwene vs and any estate of the Iues vnder the law but with the ordinary estate and with that which was giuen in mount Synay by the ministery of Moses For that is boeth S. Augustins meaning and yt is a fowl wart in the churches face vnder the gospel to be so ceremonius as the ordinary estate of the church was vnder the law There remayn onely three feastes of the Pasouer whitsontyde and the Tabernacles vnto euery one whereof yow ascribing seuen raise the sum of one and twenty holy dayes But here also yow are fowly ouer reckened For the first onely and the last day of euery of those three seuēs were holy in the rest which were betwene them althowgh there were extraordinary sacrifices yet men might after diuine seruice folow their ordinary vocations Oneles therfore yow make a far other rowl of the Iuish holy dayes then yow haue doen hether toward yow see that my saying that vue haue more thē dubble as many holydayes as they ys mayntenable and deserueth no such censure as yow giue yt For any thing that I could euer learn we are by the lawes as much bownd from labour vpon the saints dayes as vpon the lords day wherein I report my self to that which may be knowen hereof the rest ys answered In the next diuision there is nothing but a manifest piller of popery with shameful owtrage vnto the holy gost in that he calleth the appeal to the scriptures and example of the Apostles from certeyn customes of the churches which were more then a hundreth yeares after Christ an vnlearned shift which is before towched In the next the testimony of Socrates ys faithfully cyted of me As for that he answereth that by euery one he meaneth not euery person but euery countrey or people alledging to that purpose another place in the same chapter where saith he ys put euery particuler people he ys abused For there is no more mention of people in that place then in that which I alledged Beside that in
pag. 536 against the particuler thankes giuing at the churching of wemen whereunto he answereth that there owght to be for this especially because yt is so dangerous and common yet yt is not so common as siknes which throwgh disobedience befalleth to men and wemen boeth nor so dangerous as a number of diseases owt of which one doeth not so likely escape as wemen owt of their trauail beside that the restoring of some to health towcheth the church nearer oftentymes then this As for his asking after scripture not able to answer the reasons grounded vpon the scripture yt is vnworthy the answering In the example of the Massilian heretikes that held that we should alwayes pray he doeth but abuse the tyme talking much but not towching the point wherefore I alledged yt let vs therefore return I alledged that the original of the Let any brovught in vpon occasion of some general mortality likevuise of certein confessions of the diuinity of our Sau. Christ vpon occasion of the detestable heresy of Arius ovught tovuching the ordinary vse of the church to ceas vuhen those euils vuere appeased whereunto he answereth that we are stil subiect to these mischeifes So were the elder churches before those euiles came and al other churches now as wel as ours yet nether did the elder churches then institute an extraordinary remedy before the mischeif nether doe other churches now continue yt after recouery And in deed herein yt is with the church of god as with mans body whereunto no wise physicion prescribeth an extraordinary diet but vpon some diseas present or apparantly approching other wise why are not there also extraordinary confessions and letanyes against al other detestable heresies and heauy iudgmentes which haue bene from the beginning of the world vnto thys day He answereth further that so the psalme made vpon special occasion should be now vnprofitable which is nothing so for they haue alwaies the same profit to be studied in to be red and preached vpō which other scriptures haue and this for aduantage aboue the rest that they are to be sung as their name doeth declare But to make dayly prayers of them hand ouer head or otherwise then the present estate wherein we be doeth agree with the matter conteyned in them ys an abusing of them For how incōuenient ys yt that our church liuing vnder a godly Prince should in sted of a prayer for yt self say a psalm which complayneth of oppression by a Tyrāt Yea when the estate of the churches should be such as the psalm doeth expres yet considering that the prayers in the churches owght to be framed to the vnderstanding of the moste simplest and the psalmes haue maners of speaches which the learned them selues haue enowgh to doe to vnderstand yt is manifest that they are not the aptest formes of publik prayer That of the repetition of the articles of our belief is alledged to no purpose For yt is a short Sum of the whole Christian profession directed against no particular heresy but alike needful at al tymes To proue that gloria patri c may be oft repeated at one meeting he answereth that a good thing can not be to oft said which that I abyde in the former similitude is as much to say that a man can not take to many purgations And yf yt be so as he saith why is there any other thanckes giuing then this His reason that yt is a good thing ys not enowgh so much as to bring yt into the church much les to cause yt to be so oft repeated vnles also yt be so good that nothing can be for the tyme and place better Hether belongeth that of vayn repetitions in the end of the book where first with what face he denieth that he vnderstood his wordes wickedly wrested of the Geneua translation cyted by the admonition let the reader iudg of his wordes wherein rendring the reason of this charge he saith for the wordes of Christ be not as they translate them but c. Then let hym obserue that of diuers reasons vsed by me to establish that translation he answereth not so much as one To proue that long prayers are not forbidden which none denieth also that the true translation is that we should not bable much which ys in effect the same with that of Geneua he bringeth diuers autorityes but to proue that our Sau. Christ meant to condemn onely repetitions withowt faith or that he condemned not when one thing is ordinarily oft repeated in a smal tyme which be the pointes in question nether the 4 first testimonies nor the 2 section haue one word of As for that owt of M. Martyr yt proueth that multiplying of wordes withowt faith is babling but not that that onely is babling which to put vs from this place of S. Mathew owght to haue bene proued Nether doeth the example of our Sau. Christ repeating the same wordes thrise help hym For first yt appeareth not in how short space this was doen. Then yt is vnmeet of euery example of prayer made in some especial estate ether of exceding ioy or of exceding affliction to make a patern for the ordinary prayers of the church For when this repetition is engendred of a zeal which by this ioy or affliction as by more wood put vnder the furnais is made whotter then commonly yt vseth to be in the best of the children of god yt is apparant that where this strenght of zeal is not to send forth these repetitions and with a strong voice to cause as yt were this Ecco there as hypokritical they can not but displease the lord Therefore the ordinary and vsual prayers of the church owght to be so conceiued as al the children of god by that measure of zeal which the lord commonly departeth vnto them may be able to folow with affection Yf some member can by reason of such particular scholing as is before spoken ouershoot this commō mark he hath his chamber at home alone as our Sa. Christ had his garden here where he may haue further scope But that the prayer of al the church should be framed vnto hys estate is no more conuenient then for that some one laboreth of the diseas of the gout al the whole church should haue an ordinary prayer to be deliuered from that diseas The same reason is of the thankes giuing by magnificat Benedictus and nunc dimittis which were made by occasion of certein particuler benefites no more to be vsed for ordinary prayers then the Aue Maria. whereūto he answereth that that pertayneth to the virgin onely euen so doe certein thinges conteyned in these psalmes ether agree to certein particular persons onely or els are such as can not agree to vs As to haue seen our Sa. Christ with bodily eyes to be called blessed of al generations to haue a son which should prepare the vuay to the son of god And therefore by his own answer these