person to forsake the faith of their first Apostles and conuersion at the voice of a few nouellaries seemeth to wise men a very bewitching and senselesse brutishnes Such is the case of our poore countrie Germanie and others The answer That Rome hath forsaken the faith and doctrine taught by their first Apostles Paul and Peter as this Epistle doth most euidently testifie at the voice of their most proud prelats and that other countries haue from thence tasted of the same cup séemeth not to wise worldlings but to the spirit of God and to those that are thereby led and guided a very bewitching and yet withall the iust iudgement of God vpon those that had not or haue not any loue to the truth Thus haue you most manifestly your note returned vpon your selues For Paule and Peter were out of all doubt the Apostles of God and the doctrine deliuered by them voide of all filth and corruptions Galat. 3. 7. The text Know yee therefore that they that are of ⸫ faith the same are the children of Abraham The text This faith wherby Abraham was iustified and his children the Gentiles beleeuing in Christ implieth all Christian vertues of the which the first is faith the ground and foundation of all the rest and therfore here and else where often named of the Apostle The answer Sée your foule shifts when we say faith iustifieth then you vrge against vs a dead faith voide of all Christian vertues yea you go farther for you affirme that all faith and so consequently a true liuely faith may be without charitie Againe on the contrarie side when the force and plainnes of the text driueth you to confesse iustification by faith then faith implieth all Christian vertues So when it may serue your turne things inseparable as true faith hope and charitie must be separated and againe for the like aduantage things distinct must be confounded and one must imply and comprehende an other But for answer we confesse that faith is accompanied with all Christian vertues but neither they nor faith do iustifie by their owne vertue or merit as qualities inherent or resiant in vs. But faith is said to iustifie bicause by it we apprehend and lay hold vpon Christ and his righteousnes which is thereby made ours by Gods imputation And this office is proper to faith and not to any other vertue Galat. 4. 3. The text So we also when we were litle ones were seruing vnder the elements of the world The note That is the rudiments of religion wherein the carnall Iewes were trained vp or the corporall creatures wherin their manifold sacrifices sacraments and rites did consist The answer If the corporall creatures vsed in the multitude of their sacrifices sacraments and rites were an argument of their seruile estate vnder the law then consider the great heape of rites and ceremonies in your church and sée whether they doo not serue to bring Christians into seruitude and bondage againe by making them to serue vnder the elements of the world againe Naie the state of the Iewes was lesse seruile and more tolerable both in respect of number and multitude of ceremonies and in respect of the commander For the greater the dignitie of the commander is the more tolerable and better is the condition and state of the seruant Galat. 4. 14. The text And your tentation in my flesh you despised not neither reiected but as an ⸫ Angell of God you receiued me as Christ Iesus The note So ought all catholike people receiue their teachers in religion with all dutie loue and reuerence The answer The name of catholike being to true catholikes applied wée imbrace your note Galat. 4. 29. The text But ⸫ as then he that was borne according to the flesh persecuted him that was after the spirit so now also The note This mutuall persecution is a figure also of the church iustly persecuting heretikes and contrariwise of the heretikes which be the children of the bond woman vniustly persecuting the catholike church Augustine epist. 48. The answer The text is plaine that he that is after the flesh persecuted him which is after the spirit a plaine figure of your persecuting church The casting out of the bondwoman and her sonne done by Abraham may be drawne by Augustin or some other father to that purpose that you alledge it Galat. 5. 17. The text For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for these are aduersaries one to another ⸫ that not whatsoeuer things you will these you do The note Heere men thinke saith Saint Augustine the apostle denieth that we haue free libertie of will not vnderstanding that it is said to them if they will not hold fast the grace of faith conceiued by which onely they can walke in the spirit and not accomplish the concupiscences of the flesh in cap. 5. Gal. The answer The text is plaine against both libertie and abilitie of will And Saint Augustine as you know confesseth that when he wrote this he did not vnderstand that the words were verified of them which were vnder grace and not vnder the law Bicause that though such do not consent to the concupiscence of the flesh against the which in spirit they long yet they would not haue any of those corruptions of the flesh if they might and they do not whatsoeuer they would bicause they would want them and can not But then they shall not haue them when they haue not corruptible flesh Do yée not sée what a patron you haue of S. Augustine and are you not ashamed to alledge that as his which you know he himselfe hath reuoked Galat. 5. 21. The text Which I foretel you as I haue foretold you that they which ⸫ do such things shall not obtaine the kingdome of heauen The note Saint Augustine sheweth hereby that not onely infidelitie is a damnable sinne The answer Wherein we not onely agrée with Saint Augustine but also say farther that willing ignorance the mother of popish deuotion in the which you were woont to nussell your followers is a great and damnable sinne Galat. 6. 9. The text And doing good let vs not faile For in due time we shall ⸫ reape not failing The note The works of mercy be the seede of life euerlasting and the proper cause thereof and not faith onely The answer This is plaine blasphemie to place the proper cause of eternal life and saluation not in Christ but in our selues and in our owne works of mercie which you here most plainely do Your reason is taken out of the metaphor of séede and sowing The vanitie of it is in this that you racke the metaphor beyond the scope and meaning of the apostle For the apostle exhorteth them to liberalitie especially towards their teachers and instructers in the faith To incourage men therunto he telleth them that they shall be as sure or more sure of the rewardes promised of God then the sower shall be to reape that which
heretikes for they taught in corners Mark 5. 12. The text And the spirits besought him saieng Send vs ⸫ into the swine that we may enter into them The note It is not without mysterie that the diuels desired and Christ suffered them to enter into the sâ—ine signifieng that filthie liuers be meete dwelling places for diuels August tracta 6. in epist. Iohannis The answer This mysterie opened by Augustine we well accept of and ad that if your owne stories say true then in al the world where is there a more fit place for the diuels dwelling than at Rome and with whom there rather than with the Popes good grace and his carnall colledge of Cardinals Such is the beastly filthines reported of them by al stories and not denied by your selues Mark 5. 32. The text Why make you this ado and weepe the wench is not dead but ⸫ sleepeth The note To Christ that can more easily raise a dead man than we can do one that is but asleepe death is but a sleepe Aug. de verb. Dom. ser. 44. The answer But that otherwise we should not haue vnderstood nor your ignorant followers haue maruelled at your great reading you néeded not to haue quoted your Doctor for this Mark 6. 13. The text And going foorth they preached that they should do penance and they cast out many diuels and annointed with ⸫ oile many sicke and healed them The note A preparatiue to the sacrament of extreme vnction Iam. 5. The answer Of whom learned you this Your Pope hath coined that sacrament and others mo of his owne authoritie And you his flatterers would wring it out of the miraculous dealing of Christs Apostles others in the primitiue church afore miracles ceased Mark 6. 17. The text For the said Herod sent and apprehended Iohn and bound him in prison for Herodias the wife of ⸫ Phillip his brother bicause he had maried hir The note He might and should by Moises law haue maried his brothers wife if he had beene dead without issue but this Phillip was yet aliue and had also this daughter that danced The answer The case was manifest And so was that of Henrie the eight who maried his brothers wife when he was dead but not to stir vp issue to his brother Which mariage was condemned for vnlawful by the greatest number of Diuines and Lawyers of your owne Church But for all that Pope Clement could salue the matter and make that which was naught good such is the presumptuous power that Antichrist taketh vpon him Mark 7. 6. The text This people honoreth me ⸫ with their lips but their hart is far from me c. The note They that say well or teach and preach well and haue Christ and his word and liue naughtily be touched in this place The answer This place doth most properly touch our hypocritical papists whatsoeuer shew of life they make bicause a great part of their doctrine is deuised by men is in truth nothing els but precepts of men Mark 7. 15. The text But the things that proceed from a man those are they which make a man ⸫ common The note See the first annotation vpon this chapter The answer Your first annotation is that common and vncleane is al one a profound note and therefore néeded such reference Mark 8. 2. The text I haue compassion vpon the multitude bicause loe ⸫ three daies they now endure with me neither haue what to eate The note Great feruor and deuotion in the good people and exceeding force in our masters preaching that made them abide fasting so long to heare his diuine sermons The answer But for entering into vnnecessarie contentions it might be easily shewed that a great number of this people followed not of deuotion but for other considerations Though their paines and long tarieng with Christ to heare him be commendable Mark 8. 2â— The text And they come to Bethsaida and they bring to him one blind and desired him that he would ⸫ touch him The note Our Sauiour Christ vsed to worke much by touching that we may learne not to contemne the corporall and externe application of holie things nor to challenge by the spirit and faith onely as heretikes do The answer Our Sauiour Christ many times to declare his méere omnipotencie healed by his word without any externe application of anything Other times applieng himselfe to the infirmitie and weaknes of them with whom he had to do vsed some externall application not to bring into estimation or reuerence spittle clay oile or such like much lesse your rotten relikes as you imagine but to teach vs wherein we may to beare with the infirmities one of another We challenge nothing by spirit and faith onely but that that which we haue good warrant for And we do most reuerently estéeme and vse all outward helps props and staies of our faith appointed of God and warranted in his word as publike and priuate reading and hearing of his word the frequenting of the Church assemblies publike and priuate praiers administration of the sacraments and such like Mark 9. â— The text ⸫ And after sixe dayes Iesus taketh Peter Iames and Iohn and bringeth them alone into a high mountaine apart was transfigured before them The note See the annotations vpon the 17. of Saint Matthewe The answer Your annotations shalbe answered by some other I am lothe to be drawne from your marginall notes Marke 9. 4. The text And there appeared to them ⸫ Elias with Moises and they were talking with Iesus The note The Lawe and the Prophets ioyne with Christ and his Gospel the one signified by Moyses the other by Elias by whose apparitions also we may learne that sometime there may be personall intercourse betwixt the liuing and the dead though not ordinarily The answer That the testimonie which the Lawe and Prophets do beare to Christ is signified by the appearing of Moyses and Elias I easilie consent The possibilitie of entercourse personall betwixt the liuing and dead bicause all things are possible to God I will not contend with you about it but that which you note it for to giue credit to the fables and tales forged for purgatorie is neuer the more likelie But it is possible for all that that they may bée lyes Marke 9. 29. The text And he said to them This kind can go out by nothing but ⸫ by prayer and fasting The note Note the great force of prayer and fasting The answer The force thereof God be praised we haue had great experience of aswell for that the prayers and teares of the poore afflicted in Quéene Maries time being heard of God threw out so manie popish diuels out of England as that also by the same weapons the diuels vicar of Rome is kept from working his will and satsfying his malice amongest vs. Marke 9. 41. The text For whosoeuer shall giue you to drinke a cuppe of water in my name bicause you are Christes Amen I say to
lib. 6. contra Parmenian How aptlie he applieth this parable to saint Pauls counsell of virginitie 1. Cor. 7. as to a worke of supererogation The answer If your doctrine be true in this point then Christ did a worke of Supererogation when he suffered death for vs that is to say a worke more then he néeded to do For if we can do more then is commaunded we may haue life by our déedes and so Christ might haue spared his paines he tooke for vs besides it were strange if any thing that maketh to the glorie of God and saluation of mens soules should be a worke more than néedeth or not within compasse of Gods commaundements But Augustine saith that Paul did a worke of Supererogation when he serued as Christs souldier without taking wages as he might you do great violence to Augustine in that place by grating vpon a word to make him serue your purpose against his will when his whole scope is nothing els but to shew that Paul abstained from that which was frée for him to take for his paines and that hée laboured for his liuing whereupon he concludeth the labour of monkes to be lawfull against idle monkes which because they would liue on the sweat of other mens browes not onlie refused to labour but also maintained that it was vnlawfull for them to labour Luke 11. 20. The text But if I in the ⸫ finger of God do cast out diuels surelie the kingdome of God is come vpon you The note This finger is the spirit of God Matth. 12. 18. The answer As by the onelie power of Gods spirit the diuell was then throwen out of his possession in the first propagating and spreading of the kingdome of Christ by the preaching of his word euen so againe in these late yéeres by the like mightie working of Gods spirit with the ministerie of the word Sathan who reigned by his vicar general of Rome hath béene expulsed out of a great part of his possession Luke 11. 28. The text But he said ⸫ yea rather blessed are they that heare the word of God and keepe it The note The said mother of God in that also was blessed that she was the temporall meanes and minister of the incarnation but much more blessed in that she continued the perpetuall keeper of his word Beda August tract 19. in Iohannem The answer You loue and delight to shew your reading in matters néedles Who knoweth not that it was an excéeding blessing of God to the virgin Marie that he vouchsafed to choose her to be the mother of his onlie begotten sonne Also who are there that confesse not that the greatest blessing of all is to be the childe of God wherof the obedient kéeping of the word is a testimonie Luke 11. 32. The text The men of Niniue shall rise in the iudgement with this generation and condemne it because they ⸫ did penaunce at the preaching of Ionas and behold more then Ionas heere The note ⸫ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marke that the great penaunce of Niniuites Ionae 3. is heere expressed by this Greeke word See annotations Matth. 3. 2. The answer The outward testimonies of true repentance shewed foorth by the Niniuites were not works of satisfaction as you imagine And it is true that they which waxe wiser especially in knowing and eschewing sinne will shewe it aswell by humbling them selues afore God for their sinnes past as also by a more carefull and diligent héede to their wayes after Luke 11. 47. The text Wo to you that ⸫ build the monuments of the prophets and your fathers did kill them The note Not the building of the Prophets monuments is condemned but their imitation of their fathers that slew the prophets Ambrose The answer Héere is an high point of learning that you bring Ambrose for We know that the memorie of Gods saints is pretious in his sight But in this you resemble your fathers the Iewes For the saints of God long ago dead you wil séeme to honor and estéeme But towards the saints aliue you are as cruell and outragious as euer were your fathers And therfore God must in iustice require of you the blood of all his saints shed since the beginning of the world to this day Luke 12. 5. The text But I will shew you whom you shall feare ⸫ Feare him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell The note The feare of hell also is profitable contrarie to the Protestants teaching securitie of saluation and that feare of hell maketh men hypocrits The answer Your ordinarie lieng sheweth whom in conditions you resemble and whose children yeare What protestant hath taught that the feare of hell is vtterly vnprofitable We assigne many profits which it bringeth First the wicked many times with the feare thereof are terrified and bridled that they run not so headlong to the execution of their wicked desires as otherwise they would Secondly the elect and chosen children of God being by nature as other men corrupt are many times at the first by the feare of hell driuen to séeke Christ their onely remedie and deliuerer Thirdly they are strengthened against the feare of man when they sée the eschewing of bodily death wold bring eternal death It is manifest therefore that that which you charge vs with is your malitious collection and not our doctrine But our doctrine is that they which by faith haue power to become the children of God do shew foorth their obedience of méere loue and reuerence to God their father and that they would so do though there were no hell to punish disobedience in And that they who would not shew any obedience but for feare of hell are hypocriticall slaues doing some dutie not for dutifulnes but onely for feare of punishment Luke 12. 17. The text ⸫ What shall I do bicause I haue not whither to gather my fruits The note Giue it to the poore that shouldst thou do saith saint Basil. The answer You might as well haue alledged saint Paul but that so you should not reape that which you hunt after that is the estimation of great clarks for great reading amongst your ignorant vnskilfull followers But if saint Basil had béene of your religion he would haue taught the rich man to haue founded abbeies nâ—â—neries priories and chauntrâ—â—s for his soules health or else to haue bestowed his superfluitie in gilding roodlofts and finding of lights and such other toies For with you these things consume the portion of the poore Luke 12. 20. The text And God said to him ⸫ Thou foole this night they require thy soule of thee and the things that thou hast prouided whose shall they be The note A goodly warning for all rich men The answer So it was But if the practise of your popish church were well warranted there had béene no cause at all to haue pronounced him a foole For for monie he might haue béene canonized and made a saint and whatsoeuer masses diriges
to you for your selues haue learned of God to loue one another The note All catholike christians make one fraternitie The answer Howsoeuer they differ in time or place whether they be dead or aliue and wheresoeuer they be scattered vpon the face of the earth 1. Thes. 4. 11 The text But we desire you brethren that you ⸫ abound more c. The note Christian men ought to proceed and profite continually in good works and iustification The answer If you had said sanctitie or sanctification your note had béene right but you are so gréedie and egerly bent vpon your inherent iustice that you care not what you confound for in the text there is no word of iustification 1. Thes. 4. 15. The text For this we saie to you in the word of our Lord that ⸫ we which liue which are remaining in the aduent of our Lord shal not preuent them that haue slept The note He speaketh in the person those which shal be aliue when our Sauiour returneth to iudgement The answer It is verie true and the cause why he so speaketh is to teach all men so to liue as if they were continually in present expectation of the comming of our Lord Sauior Christ to iudgement 1. Thes. 5. 8. The text But we that are of the day are sober hauing on the breast-plate of faith and ⸫ charitie an helmet the hop of saluation The note A Christian mans whole armour is not faith onely but all the three vertues heere named The answer And who but papists teach otherwise As for crosse and holiwater and such like there is no mention of them and yet these be the chéefe armour and weapons which our papists teach 1. Thes. 5. 17. The text ◠Praie without intermission The note To desire eternall life of him that onlie can giue it is to praie without intermission but bicause that desire is often by worldly cares cooled certaine houres and times of vocall praier were appointed See S. August e p. 121. ad Probam The answer You are not long in one minde One time to praie continually is to praie certaine times euerie daie an other time to pray continually is to aske life euerlasting at his hand that can onlie giue it And so it is what please you to make of it but this later enterpretation as I thinke dropped out of your pen ere you were aware For if God onlie can giue eternall life why do you request it of others As for appointed times to praie being a good meanes to stir vp our coldnes and negligence therein we both vse and like of 2. Thessalonians 2. Thes. 1. 5. The text So that we our selues also glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations which you sustaine for an example of the iust iudgement of God that ⸫ you may be counted worthy of the kingdome of God for the which also you suffer The note Note that by constant and patient suffering of afflictions for Christ men are worthy so the Greeke signifieth as the aduersaries them selues translate verse 11. of the croune of the kingdome of heauen and so doe merite and deserue the same See annot Luke 20. 35. And the Apostle heeresaieth that it is Gods iustice no lesse to repaie glory to the afflicted then to render punishment to them that afflict bicause of their contrarie desertes or merits The answer If you did not racke making worthie in English beyond the meaning of the spirit of God then to be made worthie of God to be counted worthie were all one for they whom God accounteth worthie are worthie indéed But yet it followeth not that they which are made worthie do deserue or merit the kingdome of God and the crowne of glorie by their inherent righteousnes which is the thing which both you would should prooue Your reason from the iustice of God followeth not Gods iustice indéede requireth that glorie be giuen or as you say repaied to the afflicted for his sake aswell as punishment to their afflicters not for the cause which you assigne but chieflie for his word and promise sake hauing promised that they which suffer with Christ shall also reigne with him and then also bicause it is iust that he put a difference betwéene the estates of those whome hée hath made so farre to differ your annotation or rather marginal note is answered before 2. Thess. 1. 10. The text When he shall come to be ⸫ glorified in his saints and to be made maruellous in all them that haue beleeued bicause our testimonie concerning you was credited in that day The note Christ shall be glorified in his Saints that is by the great and vnspeakeable honour and exaltation of them he shalbe honoured as now he is the honour which the Church doeth to them not diminishing Christs glorie as the aduersaries foolishlie pretend but exceedinglie augmenting the same The answer Bicause it is a glorie to Christ to aduance and exalt his saints in glorie doeth it follow therefore that it is lawfull for your church to giue to saints that which Christ giueth them not or that it is not sacriledge to rob Christ of al things due to him and to giue them to men be they neuer so holie We are not against anie lawfull aduancement of saints but against such as neither they can haue nor yet can stand with the glorie of our Christ. 2. Thess. 2. 3. The text Let no man seduce you by anie meanes for vnlesse there come a reuolt first and the man of sinne be reueiled the sonne of perdition which is an aduersarie and is ⸫ extolled aboue all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sitteth in the temple of God shewing him selfe as though he were God The note How then can the Pope by Antichrist as the heretikes fondlie blaspheme who is farre from being exalted aboue God that he praieth most humblie not onelie to Christ but also to his blessed mother and all his saints The answer The proud presumptuous prerogatiues giuen to the Pope and accepted of him doeth verie well declare this exalting of him selfe which particularlie héere to recite were too long Other men as the most Reuerend father in God Master Iuel Bishop of Salisburie and master Fore in our mother tongue for the benefit of the poore people of England haue in this matter taken great paines to whom also I referre my reader But if there were no more but that which you note as an argument proofe of his humilitie it is sufficient and inough to conuince him of Antichristian pride he that taketh vpon him to be wiser then God exalteth him selfe aboue God he that will make his praiers to anie other then God taketh vpon him to be wiser then God Ergo he that maketh his praiers to anie other but God exalteth him selfe aboue God The maior as I take it is cleare and manifest and néede no proofe The minor is
most shamefully the simplicitie of the ignorant to offer largely to you vnder colour of honoring them And therefore if you should not maintaine this note that butter would not cleaue to your bread Hebr. 11. 26. The text Esteeming the reproch of Christ greater riches then the treasure of the Egyptians For ⸫ he looked vnto the remuneration The note The protestants that denie we may or ought to do good in respect or for reward in heauen are hereby confuted The answer You haue confuted your own shadow and not the protestants for it is your slander and not our assertion that is hereby confuted For we confesse that in well doing men may respect and haue an eie to such rewardes as God hath promised But this we say withall that it is not the reward onlie or chiefelie that the saints of God haue respect or regard to for that were either hipocriticall or seruile but the reuerence that sonnes owe vnto their father who the more assured they are of his fatherlie fauor the gladder they are to please him and the loather to displease Hebr. 12. 15. The text Looking diligentlie least anie man ⸫ be wanting to the grace of God lest anie roore of bitternesse springing vp do hinder and by it manie be polluted The note That we be not good there is no lacke on Gods part who offereth his grace to vs but the defect is in our selues that are not answerable to Gods calling of vs and grace towards vs. The answer This note is verie true and therefore we ought carefullie to call vpon God to reforme vs and to renue vs that we be not also amongst them that stubburnly refuse the grace of God calling them Hebr. 12. 16. The text Least there be anie fornicator or prophane person as ⸫ Esau who for one dish of meat sold his first birth rightes The note Such as forsake their saluation and religion to saue their lands and goods are like Esau. The answer This note must haue a fauorable interpretation and some cautions exceptions except you will leaue no place of repentance to them that haue once preferred goods afore religion but either hipocriticall or too late as Esaus was Hebr. 12. 22. The text But ⸫ you are come to mount Sion and the citie of the liuing God heauenlie Ierusalem and the assemblies of manie thousands of Angels and the Church of the first borne which are written in the heauens and the iudge of all God and the spirits of the iust made perfect and the mediatour of the newe Testament c. The note The faithfull are made fellowes of Angels and of all the perfect soules departed since the beginning of the world and of Christ him selfe The answer Bicause the church is the fellowship of all the saints which haue béene are or shall be whereof Christ and not the pope is head and chiefe and which with Christ make one bodie Hebr. 13. 9. The text With ⸫ various and strange doctrines be not led away The note New diuers changeable and strange doctrines to be auoided for such be hereticall against which the best remedie or preseruatiue is alwaies to looke backe to our first Apostles and the holie fathers doctrine The answer I would to God you would once kéepe promise to looke backe in truth to our first Apostles doctrine so should our controuersies be soone at an end but you commonlie by your first apostle meane your corrupt monke Augustine And if by him you would examine your doctrine you must cast away a number of your chiefe corruptions which he neuer knew of Hebr. 13. 21. The text And the God of peace which brought out from the dead the great pastor of the sheepe in the blood of the eternall testament our Lord Iesus Christ ⸫ fit you in all goodnesse that you may doe his will c. The note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is make you perfect and absolute in all goodnesse The answer This you learned either of master Beza or of Erasmus or of both giue them thankes for it IAMES Iam. 1. 14. The text For ⸫ euerie one is tempted of his owne concupiscence abstracted and allured The note The ground of temptation to sinne is our concupiscence not God The answer Tentations are either outward or inward Tentations outward are afflictions wherebie God is woont to trie and prooue men as gold and siluer is tried in the fire Tentations inward whereof Iames speaketh in this place are inordinate desires prouoking soliciting vs to sinne but bicause men who receiue corruption from Adam are prone and readie to do as Adam did that is to lay their faults frō them selues to God therfore Iames earnestlie admonisheth them to looke into them selues and there to espie and sée the roote and matter of all corruption Iam. 1. 25. The text But he that hath looked into the law of perfect libertie and hath remained in it not made a forgetfull hearer but a doer of the worke this man shalbe ⸫ blessed in his deede The note Beatitude or saluation consisteth in well working The answer Weldoers or workers are blessed and saued and yet notwithstanding beatitude saluation doth not consist in our weldoing but in the mercie goodnes of God bestowed vpon vs in Christ. Therefore it is to be obserued that in this place Iames maketh a comparison betwéene hearers of the word whereof one sort are negligent forgetfull therefore neuer the better for the things they heare The other sort are diligent and commit to memorie and put in practise in life the thing they learned by hearing these latter so doing and not the former shew them selues to be blessed and saued For Christ preached is their saluation their workes do testifie their faith whereby they haue laied hold on Christ their righteousnes as fruits do witnes the goodnes of a trée Iames. ◠20. The text But wilt thou know ⸫ ô vaine man that faith without works is idle The note Ile speaketh to all heretikes that say Faith onely without works doth iustifie calling them vaine men The answer You shew your delight you séeke to deceiue your selues and others by equiuocations For you know well ynough that faith is not taken héere for a true and a liuely faith which worketh by loue as Paul and we take it when we speake of iustifieng by faith Secondly you know also that we make no account of anie such faith as is idle or separated from loue Thirdly you know that saint Iames taketh not héere iustifieng for being made iust but for being declared and shewed to be iust as appéereth by the example of Abraham which he bringeth For God first made him iust and afterward he was declared and shewed so to be by that most excellent example of obedience in offering his sonne Isaac There is therfore no contrarietie betwixt vs and Iames though you go about to prooue that by sound of words which by sound or iust meaning you cannot effect and bring to passe 〈◊〉 3.
thankesgiuing that the saints of God vse for his benefits It is called the song of Moyses and Christ bicause the benefits of all times of the lawe and of the Gospell are therein considered the deliuerie of the children of Israel and the redemption of all nations vnder heauen It consisteth of thrée parts namely in considering the woonderfulnes and gloriousnes of Gods works the iustice and truth of God in his waies and the terriblenes and fearefulnes of his iudgements Apoc. 1◠6. The text ⸫ Bicause they haue shed the blood of the saints and prophets and thou hast giuen them blood to drinke for they are woorthie The note The great reuenge that God will do at the later daie vpon the persecutors of his saints The answer The great reuenge that God hath done and shewed vpon all the persecuting tyrants of the primitiue church And this withal is to be diligently remembred that Gods arme is not shortened and his hand is stretched out still And therefore still blood must be the drinke of them that delight in blood and they that loue darknes shall haue their rewarde in the kingdome of darknes and they that loue not the truth must be giuen ouer to beléeue lies Apoc. 16. 9. The text And men boiled with great heate and ⸫ blasphemed the name of God hauing power ouer these plagues The note The desperate and damned persons shall blaspheme God perpetuallie which shall be such onely as do not repent in this life The answer If I did not perceiue that these plagues are referred to former times I would referre this to you whome I sée blinded with hipocrisie and drunken with the confidence of your owne merits so that when you intend and purpose to serue God you commit idolatrie and bicause you sée not your sinnes you can not abide anie admonition or reproouing and when God striketh and punisheth you bicause you vnderstand not the cause you are neuer the better but grudge and blaspheme and runne headlong to the diuell without repentance But when I looke vnto those former times which are here spoken of I finde the same rootes of euill in them which are in you although not so déepe rooted in them as in you that is the philosophicall doctrine of frée will and confidence in them selues and their workes which made them suppose that they pleased God when they killed his saints enemies to those opinions and bicause they did not imagine that they did amisse therefore no maruell though they repented not but grudged and blasphemed at the plagues which God powred vpon them For the same causes must néedes in euerie one haue like effectes Apoc. 16. 11. The text And they blasphemed the God of heauen bicause of their paines and woundes and ⸫ did not penance from their works The note See chapter 9. verse 2. in the margent The answer The foole will not giue his bable for the tower of London for then he should misse a great deale of good sport Your marginall annotation hath bene viewed and answered the substance wherof being friuolous and foolish you haue repeated I knowe not howe oft in these annotations Apoc. 16. 13. The text And I sawe from the mouth ⸫ of the dragon and from the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false prophet three vncleane spirits in maner of frogges The note The dragon is the diuell the beast Antichrist or the societie whereof he is the head the false prophet either Antichrist him selfe or the companie of heretikes and seducers that follow him The answer That by the dragon the diuell is signified and by the beast the Pope or the societie whereof he is the head we easilie consent with you but the false prophet here we suppose to be Mahomet that hath seduced the whole empires of the Turkes and Persians And al these by euill wicked and seducing spirits bend them selues and all their force against the Church and kingdome of Christ. Apoc. 16. 16. The text And he shall gather them into a place which in Hebrewe is called Arina-gedon The note The hill of theeues by Saint Hieroms interpretation The answer The coniectures of interpreters is very diuers vpon this word but this is plaine that being in the time of the sixt Angels powring foorth his viall it is a matter to be accomplished néere about our times and it is therefore the diligentlier to be considered and weighed of vs with the issue of it The summe of it is that the diuell and Antichrist shall by their false prophets perswade the Kings of the earth to bend all their whole force against the church and against the Gospel of God to extinguish and destroy it By all likelihoode the time of accomplishing this is nowe at hand for I suppose there was neuer afore anie such conspiracie of princes for that purpose But God who drewe Iabin and Sisera to Magiddo which bicause it was placed by a mountaine is called héere Arma-gedon to giue them and all their great armie into the hand of a woman to destruction hath promised to doe the like héere to the great comfort and consolation of his church and people especiallie of those which are now gouerned by Deborah Apoc. 16. 19. The text And ⸫ the great citie was made into three parts and the cities of the Gentiles fell The note The citie or common welth of the wicked diuided into three partes into infidels heretikes and euill Catholikes The citie is here called Babylon whereof see the next chapter verse 5. The answer The citie still I take for Rome called héere Babilon The diuision of it I take to be into Epicurean Atheists close hipocrites and cruell superstitious and yet openlie wicked ignorant people Apoc. 17. ◠The text And there came to me one of the seuen Angels which had the seuen vials and spake with me saieng Come I will shewe thee the damnation of the great harlot The note The small damnation of the whole companie of the reprobate called heere the great whore The answer The finall damnation of the popes of Rome and their church there so euidentlie described by their maners nature properties conuersation of life apparell power ouer the kings of the earth that neither man nor place vpon the earth can be found to which euerie part of this description can so aptlie agrée to as to these Open therefore your eies and espie her whom the holie Ghost laieth out so openlie before you and flie from her betimes least you be partaker of her plagues and damnation Apoc. 17. 1. The text Which sitteth vpon ⸫ many waters The note These many waters are many peoples verse 15. The answer Héere you haue found scripture for your vniuersalitie The whoore hath a large dominion and many people vnder hir euen as many as without all iudgement receiue whatsoeuer it pleaseth the bishops of Rome to obtrude to them Apoc. 17. 8. The text The beast which thou sawest ⸫ was and is not and shal come vp out of