Church only is this sure anchore which the popish church doth so much despise that she counted it heresie for vs to flie vnto Fayth tanquam ad sacram anchoram that is As to our only sure refuge 16 Vinea Domini THe Vineyard of the Lorde is of his owne plantinge dressed tilled by such husbandmen as he hath placed in it which will yeelde him frute in time conuenient This agreeth aptly vnto our Church which alloweth no plant but such as is planted by our heauenly Father This Vineyarde caÌ„ not the popish church be compted which plucketh vppe the vines planted by God and in the steede of them setteth thornes and thistles after the deuises of men 17 Terra viuentium THe land of the lyuing in scripture signifieth this present life as I trusted to see the goodnesse of the Lorde in the lande of the lyuing that is Although I was neare death yet I beleued that God woulde preserue me in this life Psal. 27. And vnto Doeg he sayeth Psal. 52. God shall destroy thy roote out of the lande of the lyuing that is Out of this life Also Ezechias in his psalme Esay 38. I shall not see the Lorde euen the Lorde in the lande of the lyuing that is I shall no more praise God in his temple here in this life And when you shall bring forth a place of scripture where it is proprely applied vnto the church it shal be an easie matter to proue that we onely are the liuely members of Christ which abide in his body receuing all benefites of life from him which is our heade And easie it wil be to proue that you are the lande of the deade men which are strangers from the life of God Ephes. 4. which are aliue in this worlde and not deade vnto Christ. 18 Regina in vestitu de aurato circundata varietatibus ALthough this saying alleaged out of the 45. Psalme be figuratiuely ment of the church as it is literaly spoken of Pharaos doughter whom Solomon maried yet being alleaged not after the trueth of the Hebrue but after the error of the olde translation I will not interprete it contrarie to my conscience as S. Ieronym â—ayeth according to that corrupt version but according to the trueth of the text which is The Queene in a garment of golde of Ophir As for compassing with varieties it is not in the text By this figure the spirituall magnificence of the church of Christ gathered of the Gentiles is set forth vnto vs and therefore let not the Papistes dreame that material golde is the ornament of Christ his spouse but as it is before sayed of the whore of Babylon 19 Ecclesia magna 20 Populus grauis DAuid in the 35. Psalme promiseth that he will geue thankes vnto God after his deliuerance in a great companie and solemne assemblie of people such as was wont to come together at the holy meetings in the Sanctuarie This is the true and the simple meaning of this text And it were to violent an interpretation to inforce it to be a prophesie of the church of Christ although it be true that the church is a great congregation and a mighty people yet remembring therewith that in comparizon of all the worlde it is as Christ him selfe calleth it A litle Flocke 21 Archa Noe. IN the Arch of Noe as S. Peter testifieth 1. Pet. 3. but a fewe namely 8. soules were saued in the water euen as many as were obedient vnto the voice of God the whole worlde beside were drowned Wherefore how fewe soeuer we be As the Papistes say we are not many so long as we obey the voice of God we doubt not but we shal be saued in the Arch. And the Papistes with all their vniuersality and multitude despising the lawe of God shall perishe with the wicked worlde 22 Tabernaculum altissimi THe old Tabernaecle was a figure of the true Church and we know that none shall dwell therein but such as be described in the Psal. 15. Therefore let the Papistes bragge as long as they list of the Tabernacle of the highest yet shall they not dwell there neither shall they rest in his holy hill because they be not indued with such vertues springing of true and a liuely faith As in that Psalme be set forth 23 Ager area Dei. THe church is the feelde and flower of God in his feelde he soweth none but good seede the chaffe shal be purged from his flower The Papistes are some of these tares whome the enuious man hath sowed while men were a sleepe and the chaffe which after it be purged from the corne together with the tares shal be burned in the vnquencheable fire 24 Mater fidelium IErusalem that is from aboue is free which is the mother of vs all which embrace Iesus Christ as our onely Redemer from the bondage and curse of the lawe As for that steppe mother of Rome which bringeth men into captiuitie through ceremonies and traditions of men Begetteth vnto bondage as Agar did and is become the mother not of the faithfull but of abhominable fornication Apocalip 17. 25 Nutrix Christianorum THe church of Christ is the Nurse of ChristiaÌ„s which bringeth them vp and feedeth them first with milke and afterwarde with stronger meates according as they are able to receue it 1. Cor. 3. Heb. 6. But Rome which feedeth her babes with poyson of mans traditions in steede of the milke of God his word will rather see them famish than they shoulde taste of God his worde maye well be a nurse of Antichristians but neuer did good vnto Christians 26 Ecclesia orthodoxa TRue opinions are confirmed out of the worde of trueth wherefore our church which holdeth no doctrine but such as is tried by the worde of truth most truly may be called the true beleuing church Contrarywise the Popish church which so manifestly dissenteth from the worde of trueth that she dare not be iudged thereby but most blasphemously submitteth the same to her corrupt and false iudgement maye iustly be called a false beleeuing church 27 Vna Sancta Catholica 28 Apostolica THis hath bene often proued before And namely in the first second third and fourth demandes of this last Article 29 Vxor de latere Christi sicut Eua de latere Adam AS S. Augustine sayeth The church of Christ is taken out of his side as Eue was out of Adams side which so long as she obeyeth the voice of her â—usbande is not deceiued by the serpeÌ„t But if she be absent from him that she be not instructed by him she is deceiued by heretikes Augusti De Genes contra Manichaeos libro 2. cap. 24. 26. by which place of Augustine it is proued that the Church may erre if she be not ruled by the worde of God. 30 Domus Pacis THe church may be called the house of Peace because there is in it Peace and agreement in the cheefest Articles of the Faith or because in it is taught vs the
sermon in such sorte that the common people might vnderstand it and in the 45. Canon they decreed that euery Christian shoulde learne the Creede and the Lorde his prayer Et qui aliter non potuerit vel in sua lingua hoc discat that is And he that can not yet let him learne it in his owne tongue Whereby they declare that they desier to reteine the latine tongue still but rather than the people shoulde be ignorant they commande them to learne their prayers and beleefe in their mother tongue Also by the 43. Canon wherein they iudge that no preeste can saye Masse alone it appeareth that the people commonly vnderstood the latine seruice for they aske how he shoulde saye Dominus vobiscum and admonish the people to lifte vp their heartes and diuers like sayinges where there is none by him but him selfe Nowe if the people vnderstoode not these sayinges it were all one whether they were present or absent Also in the Councell of Rhenes holden in Fraunce about the same time the like decree was made cap. 15. that bishops studie to preache sermons and homelies of the holy fathers so that all men maye vnderstand according to the property of their tongue Finally in the Councell of Laterane holden vnder Pope Innocent the third Anno Dom. 1215. in which Councell transubstantiation was first established the 9. chapter it was plainely decreed that forasmuch as within one citie and diocesse people of diuers languages be mingled together hauing vnder one Faith diuers rites and maners we streightly commande that the bishops of such cities and diocesses prouide able men which according to the diuersitie of their rites and languages celebrate vnto them the diuine seruice and minister the sacramentes instructing them both by worde and example Hereby it appeareth that when the latine tongue was either almost or altogether growen out of the common peoples vnderstandings order was taken that common prayers should be sayed and sacramentes ministred in the mother tongue of euery nation But the bishops which shoulde haue seene it put in execution either negligently omitted it or willingly refused to doe it because it was more for their profit to kepe the people in blinde ignorance So thus I haue shewed that sodenly the tongue of common prayer was not altered 10 Tell me what yeare of our Lorde vnder what Emperour vnder what Pope by whome these thinges were wrought vpon what occasion this marueillous mutation was made WHo can tell the originall of euery blind custome and peuish tradition of euery olde error and foolish fashion it is sufficient to shew that these thinges haue no grounde in the scripture of God they were not taught by Christ and his Apostles nor receiued in the church that followed immediatly after them and then we are bolde to say with Tertullian This preiudice there is against all heresies how soeuer they came vp or when soeuer they sprange vp That is true that was first and that is false that is latter therefore from the beginning it was not vsed to praye for the deade nor to the deade from the beginning common prayer was not in an vnknowen tongue Wherefore prayer for the deade and to the deade with prayer in a strange tongue are false when soeuer they beganne or how long soeuer they continued 11 VVho preached against it what historie maketh mention of it who of all your Pastors preached against it was God his Church so voide of the spirit of Trueth and strength that euen then when it most florished it had none that durst open against â—uch corruption of religion as it entred in and when it might soone haue bene repressed BEfore you demande what yeare the religion of the Papistes came in and whether it came in sodenly and as though we shoulde aunswere that it came in sodainely you demande who preached against it c. This is to fight with your owne shadowe for we say not that it came in sodainely but that it entred by small degrees at the first and therefore was lesse espied by the true Pastors especially being earnestly occupied against great heresies and open aduersaries that sought to beate downe the cheefe foundations of Christian faith as the Valentinians Marcionistes Manichees Arrians Sabellians and such like monsters So when Satan had gotten in one foote by such craftie pollitie he neuer rested vntill he had thrust in his whole bodie with the power of Antichrist 12 If it coulde not shew me then what yeare of the Lorde this mutation was made and who of all the true preachers did with stand this doctrine SO often as you demande one thinge so often must I aunswere after one sorte this mutation was not all in one yeare nor in one hundreth yeares nor in one thousand of yeares for transubstantiation no small article of your religion was not decreed vntill the yeare of God 1215. what preachers haue withstoode your doctrine at diuers times are declared before in the aunswere to the 8. Article 2. demande 13 Or note the name of him that euer first preached any article of our doctrine and if we note you not by their names euery one of your Capitaines and the seuerall errors that they tought and the time and the yeare when they arose against the former receyued trueth and the Councells in which they were orderly condemned if I saye this can be done of your side towarde vs or if we doe it not for improofe of your Church and religion I recant I Haue noted in the answere to the 6. article 3. demande the names of diuers heretikes that first preached diuers articles of your religion and further I note vnto you Pelagius and Coelestius which tought that free will without grace coulde doe somewhat towardes eternall saluation and that grace was geuen according to merite which article you teach also with culler of a distinction De congruo condigno which is a meere cauill for God is as much bounde vnto congruitie as to dignitie or worthinesse and as he can doe nothing against worthinesse no more can he doe any thing against congruitie which is a kinde of Equitie And whereas you bragge to note vnto vs euery one of our Capitaines c. except you note vnto vs the Patriarches Prophets Apostles Euangelistes and Christ himselfe you shall neuer be able to performe that you promise for we teache nothing but the eternall trueth of God wherefore we refuse not to be counted heretikes if you can proue that we holde any one article of faith contrarie to the scripture you may perchaunce note the names of them that preaching the trueth of our doctrine against your receyued errors were accounted of the world for heretikes but you must proue that their opinions are contrarie to the worde of God or els all your labour is in vaine we confesse also that some articles of our doctrine were taught by heretikes as there was neuer no heresie which had not many thinges common with true Religion but yet in
obstinately defend the filthy whore of babylon against the cleare light of the Gospell the true spouse of Christ ye shall be damned except you recant The 23. article conteyneth 2. demandes 1 Againe shew me any Church or imagin if you can by good reason a church of Christ in which there is no gathering together for preaching no spirite of prophesying no rodde of correction no order of ministring nor any spirituall functioÌ„ that can be named proue me that there should be a true Church for a thousand yeares together and lacked all these thinges YOu would faine haue a great nombre of Articles and therefore you bring in one matter often times in diuers phrase of words that it might seeme a new matter when it hath bene vttered twise or thrise before as this Article is conteined before in the 5.8 and 9. Articles where you shall finde it more largely aunswered But let vs see what this strange demande requireth we must shew him a church or els imagine by good reason a church of Christ without preaching ministring and discipline for a thousand yeares together Although we will not graunt that it hath so longe continued without these exercises yet because you geue vs leaue to imagine we can imagine that it may as well continue without publike preaching ministring and discipline for a thousand yeares as it did for three hundred yeares before Constantine But you will say there was preaching ministring and correcting though it were not knowen to the tyrantes and persecutors so say I vnto you for that thousand yeres there was gathering together for preaching ministring and correcting though the Pope and his persecuting Prelates coulde not alwayes see it nor come to the knowledge of it for if they had once intelligence of it they smarted for it as is knowen by the stories of the Waldenses Bohemians c. Furthermore continuall exercise of preaching ministring of sacramentes and executing of discipline are notes of a quiet and peaceable Congregation not of a dispersed persecuted and disquieted Church How often doth S. Cyprian coÌ„plaine that the brethren could not be gathered togither for executing of discipline whereby it is certeyne that likewise they coulde not be gathered togither for other exercises Therefore the intermission of these exercises in a persecuted Church doth not proue the same to be no true Church But where so euer there be two or three gathered togither in the name of Christ there is he in the middest of them But whereas you require the spirite of prophesie except you meane the gift of interpreting the Scriptures the Church in the most quiet and flourishing state may want the spirite of shewing things to come as well as the giftes of tongues healing c. 2 And withall that there was an other vntrue Church which for those many dayes onely practised to the saluation of many all these offices and geue me a good reason why this Church that alwayes hath had these thinges should be a false Church and the other that wanted them to be a true Church and I recant WE vtterly denye that beside the true Church there was an vntrue church that practised those offices to the saluation of any man for once againe I tell you you haue neither the preaching of the word nor ministring of Sacraments nor execution of discipline according to the truth of God his institution but either altogither changed or else greatly corrupted And whereas you say that the popish church onely hath practised these offices I aske you againe whether the Greeke Church be a parte of your Church and whether the Papistes in England be a part of your Church The Grecians you will say are not but the English Papistes are Then haue I founde out by your owne iudgement the Church of the Grecians practising these offices being an vntrue church the church of the English Papistes not practising the same yet graunted of you to be a true Church Therfore you are bound to recant The 24. article conteyneth 10. demandes 1 Moreouer let any man shew how that Church can be the piller of truth which durst not for a thousand yeares clayme either preaching of Gods word or ministring of SacrameÌ„ts or shew her selfe against falshood or superstition AS the number of your articles doth draw to an ende so your matter is farre spent and therefore to make vppe your number you must repete one thing twise This demaund is conteined before in the 11. and 12. articles where also it is fully aunswered Notwithstanding seeing it commeth againe it shal be briefly aunswered in this place The Church is not called the piller of truth because it should stand alwayes in the sight of the world for then the defection which S. Paule speaketh of could not haue come neither should the Church flie into the wildernes as was declared to S. Iohn But it is called the piller of truth because that where so euer the Church is either visible or inuisible there is the truth So though the Church were hidde a certeyne time in the wildernes yet there was trueth with the Church You seeme to be a good Arithmetrician for no number soundeth in your mouth but a thousand Neuerthelesse how long so euer it was the piller of truth decayed not And as God gaue his spirite diuers times was bold to chalenge preaching and ministring of the Sacraments yea and so boldly that it cost many of the chalengers their liues As Berengarius Bruno Marsilus de Pandua Ioannes de Gaudano Ioannes VVickleffe VValdo Ioannes Hus Ieronymus de Praga c. Thus it is manifest that the Church hath diuers tymes chalenged her right and withstood falshood 2 Let any man shew that all giftes of the spirite and functions of the holy Ghost haue bene taken from her a thousand yeares togither and onely practised to the peoples vse by an aduouterous Church THere is no man can shew this for it is a false lye that all giftes of the spirite function of the holy Ghost were either taken from the true Church or giuen to the adulterous church And this hath bene shewed more then once or twise before 3 Let it be declared how the gates of hell haue not preuailed or Christes promise and warrant for her not bene voyd frustrate if a bastard Church exercising idolatry as they say hath spoyled the true Church of all holy actions and the whole gouernment and the whole name of Christianitie almost euer since Christes tyme. THe Deuill hath bent all his force and ordinance he hath armed all the power of darkenesse he stirred vp â—yrantes heretikes Popes Saracenes and Turkes to destroye the Church the dragon that olde serpent Satanas the Deuill stoode before the woman to deuoure her childe he persecuted her into the wildernesse he cast out of his mouthe a great riuer to cary her awaie he made warre with the rest of her seede that keepe the commaundementes of god Apoc. 12. but yet in despight of the deuill the
the like practise was assayed by Mahomet the deuills onely dearling by whome numbers of wiues togither often diuorcies and perpetuall change for nouelty was permitted By which doctrine of lust and libertie the floure of Christiandom alas for pity was caried away At which time though our faith Christes church were brought to a small roome and very great straights yet by Gods grace good order and necessary discipline this schoole of lust hath bene reasonably till our dayes kept vnder and the grauitie of Christian maners as the time serued orderly vpholden TO THE PREFACE 1 IF you had not promised and professed an orderly proceding in this cause we woulde neuer haue enquired whether good order would require that an heretike should haue bene first defined before he were diuided And especially in this controuersie where either partie chargeth other with heresie it had been conuenient that the right definition or description of an heretike had bene first set downe that men might thereby haue learned who is iustly to be burdened with that crime For an heretike is he that in the Church obstinatly mainteineth an opinion that is contrary to the doctrine of God coÌ„teined in the holy Scriptures which if any of vs can be proued to doe then let vs not be spared but condemned for heretiks But if iust proofe therof can not be brought against vs but contrarywise we be able to shew manifest euideÌ„ce that our aduersaries doctrine is cleane contrary to the Scriptures of God then let the name of heretikes be applied to them to whome the definition doth agree with further punishment due to calumniators that slaunder other men in that whereof they are guilty them selues Nowe to the matter of this Preface which as the argumeÌ„t declareth consisteth of three partes wherof the first is that there be two sorts of heretiks the one preteÌ„ding vertue the other opeÌ„ly professing vice This part is shewed in three leaues following In the substaÌ„ce of which point I will noâ— differ with you yet something will I note in your handling thereof as occasion moueth me First you affirme that heresie and all willfull blindnesse is vndoubtedly a iust plague of God for sinne I mislike not your affirmation but I maruaile how you can affirme this and be a good Catholike when we cannot say halfe so much but we are charged by you to make God the author of sinne But such is the force of trueth that oftentimes the enimies thereof them selues when they speake without contention cannot auoyed a true confession God therefore as this Papist can not now deny punisheth sinne with sinne not as an euil author but as a rightuous iudge Proceding further you say that Christ hath geuen all heretikes this marke that there vnsemely works should euer detect their fained faith wherein you speake not onely contrary to the trueth but euen to your owne affirmation before For our Sauiour Christ hath apoynted false prophetes to be knowne by their fruites which is there false doctrine contrary to Gods worde cloked with the sheepe skinnes of fained holinesse and vertue which though it be many times discouered yet is it many times so closely conueyed that it clearly escapeth the iudgement of all men Who was euer hable to chardge that damnable heretike Pelagius with any notorious crime or wicked behauiour in his outwarde life and conuersation you your selfe confesse that there appeared in him nothing but grauity constancy and humility If his doctrine had not bene found contrary to the word of God he shoulde neuer haue bene tried to be a faulse prophete by his workes Such are many of his scholers the free will men of our time whose opinion if it were not manifestly repugnant to the authoritie of the holy Scriptures there manners are vnreprouable in the iudgemeÌ„t of mortall men The like may be said of Iouinian who if he were so great an heretike as you make him yet he himselfe as you shew after out of Augustine offended not in that which he perswaded others to doe Your last example of heretiks openly professing vice is of Mahomet by whose licentious doctrine you affirme that your faith Christes Church were brought to a small roome very great streights If this be true thaâ— you affirme that the Catholike Church must be otherwise estemed and by other notes then you are wont to describe it or else your Church by your owne assertion can not be counted Catholike For if Christes Church be brought to a small roome and great streights where is vniuersality Consent of all nations multitude of people c. that you are wont to talke of But by your discipline the schoole of lust hath bene reasonably till our dayes kept vnder the grauitie of Christian maners as the time serued orderly vpholden You doe well to qualifie your asseueration with those termes reasonably orderly and as the time serued For otherwise the whole Christian worlde should be witnesse against you and yet to shew with what reason order or opportunitie the schoole of lust hath bene shut vp before our time or yet is Wher your doctrine most preuaileth let the filthy stewes and brothel houses opened in euery citie yea and at your mother citie of Rome most licentiously of all other not onely by your gouernours permitted but also by your doctors defended let them I say beare sufficient witnesse against you 2 But now once againe in our cursed dayes the great flowe of sinne turning Gods mercy from vs with exceding prouocation of his heauy indignation towards the wicked hath made our aduersary much mâ—re bold and long practise of mischiefe a great deale more skilful The serpent passed all other creatures in subtelty at the beginning but now in cruelty he farre passeth him selfe The downefall that he hath in a fewe yeares rage driuen man vnto by thopen supporting of sinfull liuing it is sure very wofull to remember and an exceding hearts greefe to consider Looke backe at the Christian Epicures whom I now named view the men of like endeuour in al ages compare their attempts to ours their doctrine to ours the whole race of their proceedings to ours And if we match them not in all pointes and passe them in most I except the wicked Mahomet and God graunt I may so doe long though they had out of his holy schoole their often diuorciâ—s and new mariages in their wiues life excepting him therefore if ours passe not in open practise of mischiefe and supportation of sinne all the residue miscredit me for euer This is euident to all men that thinges once counted detestable before God abhorred of the priestes straunge to the Christian people punishable by the lawes of all Princes be now in case to maintaine them selues to geue vertue a checke mate and without all colour to beare downe both right and religion Thus doth sacriledge boldly beare out it selfe and ouerreacheth the promoters of Gods honour so doth incest encounter with lawfull mariage the
breaketh her faith of Baptisme shal be damned for mariage is not worth a rush For S. Paule sayth not she shal be damned for mariage but because she hath reiected the first faith that is such wanton young houswifes procede so farre that at length they forsake widowhood christianity and all But if M. Allen were posed where he findeth this worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Scripture vsed for a vowe or promise made to God perhaps he would aunswere he is no Graecian then let him pose D. Hardinge or some other with the same question and with all let them shew how the first faith can be expounded for the last vowe that a body hath made if he haue made more then one For the Papists holde that these women made one vowe in baptisme an other of there widowhood What so euer M. Iewell hath affirmed against the Papistes he hath so substantially and learnedly defended that he neede not to haue any other man to aunswere for him Therefore if it were not to choke M. Allen in his owne coller I woulde trauaile no farther in this question The Church you say can not erre and that company is the Church which hath the Pope for their head if therefore it can be proued that the Pope and all they that take his part haue erred it is sufficiently shewed that the Church may erre S. Augustine was in this error as you will not deny that the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ was to be ministred vnto infants but of the same opinion he affirmeth that Innocentius Bishop of Rome and all the Church in his tyme was therefore the Pope and all the Church did erre reade Augustine contra Iulianum lib. 1. cap. 2. where he sayth of Innocentius Qui denique paruulos definiuit nisi manducauerint carnem filij hominis vitam prorsus habere non posse which hath defined that infantes except they eate the flesh of the sonne of man can haue no life at all in them And by eating the flesh of the sonne of mā he meaneth eating the Sacramēt of his flesh and bloud as it is euident to them that wil bestow the reading of Augustines discourse in that place An aunsvvere to certayne obiections of the aduersaries moued vpon the diuersitie of meanings vvhich they see geuen in the fathers vvritings of the Scriptures before alleaged for purgatory and that this doctrine of the Church standeth not against the sufficiencie of Christes passion CAP. XI 1 BVt nowe the other side seeketh for some shiftes and draweth backe in this extremity thus That the places of the olde and new Testament now rather alleaged for my purpose and the proofe of purgatory though they be thus expounded of the doctours yet they may haue some other meaninge and sometimes be construed otherwise by the fathers them selues To which I aunswere and freely confesse that they so may haue in deede but the aduersary must take this with all that the pillars of Christes Church woulde neuer haue geuen this sense amongest other or rather before all other meaninges that probability or conferēce of scriptures did driue them vnto had it conteined a plaine faulsehood as the heretike supposeth it doth Yea had not the doctrine of Purgatory bene a knowne trueth in all ages it should neuer by the graue iudgemēt of so many wise men haue atteyned any colour of scripture For though many meaninges be founde of most harde places in all the Bible yet there is no sense geuen by any approued doctour that in it selfe is false And thinke you diuerse textes of the holy Scripture coulde haue caryed a false perswasion of Purgatory downe from the Apostles dayes to our time for true doctrine Marke well and you shall perceiue that the Church of Christ hath euer geuen roome to the diuersitie of mens wittes the diuision of graces and sondry giftes in exposition of most places of the whole testament with this prouiso alwayes that no man of singularity should father any falsehood or vntrueth vpon any texte but otherwise that euery man might abounde in his meaning Mary falsehood she neuer suffered one moment to take holde or bearing of any scripture vnreprehended Ecclesia multa tolerat sayth S. Augustine tamen quae sunt contra fidem vel bonam vitam non probat nectacet nec facit the Church beareth many thinges yet such thinges as be hourtfull to faith or good life she neuer approueth nor doth them her selfe nor holdeth her peace when she seeth them done by others Thereof we haue a goodly example in our owne matter So long as any conuenient meaning might be found out by the holy writers of that place alleaged out of S. Paule for such as shoulde be saued through fire she liked and allowed the same Some proued that the elect must be saued by long sufferance some said the tribulation of this life and world must trie mens faith workes some saide the greefe of minde in loosing that which they ouer much loued was the burning fire of mans affections some woulde haue the greuous vexation of departure out of this life to be a purgatory paines some construed the texte of the fire of conflagration that shall purge the workes of many in the latter day finally they all agreed that the temporall torment of the worlde to come is litterally noted and especially meant by the fire which the Apostle speaketh of All these so litle do disagree amongest them selues that not onely by diuerse men but of one man they might well all be geuen And being all in them selfe very true the holy Church so liketh and alloweth them eche one that yet by the common iudgement of all learned men that meaning for Purgatory paines she approueth as the most agreeable sense to the texte and whole circumstance of the letter But as soone as Origen went about to proue by the same scripture that all wicked men shoulde at length be saued after due purgation by fire then this pillar of trueth seeing an open falsehood gathered by the scripture of Gods worde coulde susteine no longer She set vp against this errour her pastors the graue fathers of our faith who ceased not as occasion serued to geue men warning of the deceite intended not onely still mainteining the doctrine of Purgatory but also expressely condemning all the reprehenders thereof as hereafter it shall be better declared and so misliking no sense that in it selfe was true the meaning of Purgatory yet hath bene of all the learned counted so certaine that in geuing any other likely exposition that was euer added with all as most consonant to the will and wordes of the writers So doth Theodoretus so doth S. Augustine and so in a maner did they all And as the saide holy doctour saith with whose wordes I am much delited by cause he of all other maketh trueth stand most plainely vpon it selfe One texte of scripture may well haue so many vnderstandings as may
full of posing M. Protestant as though you were Iohannes ad oppositum I wil pose you M. Allen an other while or any M. Papiste of you all that hath a forheade to mainteine this trumperie for Clemenâ— the auncient Bishoppes writing Alas Syr what if this be proued counterfect that you saye is so olde and you with out peraduenture lye that of late haue founde it so auncient what grounde haue your schollers then Tertullian hath discharged you of authority of the scripture already how will you proue it then to be a tradition of the Apostles your aunswere wil be still Clenens sayth it But alacke Sir whether is it more licke that Eusebius and Hieronym that lyued neerer to the time of S. Clement by twelue hundreth yeares then you shoulde know or here tell of his epistles and other writings better then you But Eusebius and Hieronym neuer hearde of such writinges as were neuer seen in the Church 13. or 14. hundreth yeares after Clemens his death Where shoulde you haue them then but of some counterfecting knawe that coulde not otherwise maintaine his heresie to be old but by falsyfying and counterfecting a newe that which neuer was in the olde writers heades But to shew that your shamelesse Clement daunceth bare and breechelesse with out all honesty I will yet pose you further and bidde you call your wittes together to aunswere me Whether had you rather graunt that so holy a Pope as Clemens was did erre or â—hat he was a false knaw that woulde father an error vppon so holy a mans name and credit your Syr Clemens decreeth that the fortyeth day must be obserued for the departed according to the olde forme because the people did so obserue the bewayling of Moses But if the scripture affirme that the people bewayled Moses but 30. dayes Deut. 34. Then is your Clement a falsyfier of Gods worde and his foolish decree builded vppon his false grounde How saye you now M. Allen is this Apostolike or apostotaticall is this plaine dealing or Popish counterfecting was Clemens in the Apostles age so ignorant of the scripture or was he an ignorant hypocrite that fayned this vnder the name of Clemens Trueth seaketh not to be mainteined which lyes fayth looketh not to be defended by falsehoode The Church of Christ craueth no counterfected authoritie to establish her doctrine Therefore it is neither trueth nor fayth nor the doctrine of the Church of Christ that you mainteine defend and establish by lying falsyfying and counterfecting but error infidelity and heresie he therefore that will forsake the certainetie of Gods worde to builde vpon the traditions of men for leuing the only pathe of trueth hath a iust rewarde to fall into the pitte of error 5 VVell I will close vp this parte of our talke for Tobies almes borde in the obittes of Christian men with S. Augustines graue iudgement who as he is plaine for the benefite of oblations in the memorialls of mens departures in all placies so here in a maner he ordereth the action thereof for abusies that might thereon arise in his epistle to Aurelius The offeringes sayth he obserued for the soules departed whereof there is no question but profet ariseth to them let them not be ouer sumptuous vpon the mindes of the deceased nor soulde away but geuen with out grudge or disdaine to such as be present and woulde be partaker thereof but if mony be offered it may be distributed out of hande to the poore and then shall not those dayes of their freindes memorialles be to their great griefe forsaken or destitute of companie And the ordre with honeste comelinesse shall be kept continually in the Church So S. Clement him selfe teacheth all them that be called to such dayes of prayers for the departed and to be partakers of those oblations or charitable relieues which were by some honest sober refreshing euen in the Church in those dayes obserued whether they be of the laity or of the priestes he geueth them this lesson Qui ad memorias eorum vocamini cum modestia cum dei timore comedite veluti valentes legatione fungi pro mortuis cum sitis presbyteri diaconi Christi sobrij esse debetis priuatim cum alijs vt possitis intemperantes coercere All you that are called to the funeralles of the departed refresh your selues in measure and feare of God that you may be worthy to be as it were in commission of intreatie for the deade and being priestes or deacons of Christ you are bounde to be sobre euen at home but abrode for others example and discipline 5 You had bene as good to haue left out the comparing of Augustines oblations with Tobies almes borde for that custome which most resembled your fantasie of Tobies almes borde Augustine condemneth where he alloweth oblations for them that sleepe to profit some what Sed quoniaÌ„ istae in caemiterijs ebrietates luxuriosa conuiuia non solùm honores martyrum in carnali imperita plebe credi solent sed etiam solatia mortuorum mihi videtur facilius illic dissuadeâ—i posse istam foeditatem ac turpitudinem si de scripturis prohibeatur oblationes pro spiritibus dormientium quas verè aliquid adiuuare credendum est super ipsas memorias non sunt sumptuosae c. But because this dronkennesses and riotous festes vsed in the Church yeardes of the carnall and vnskillfull people are wonte to be beleued not onely to be the honour of the martyrs but also the comforte of the deade my thinke it were more easy that this filthynesse and beastlynesse may be there diswaded if both it be forbidden out of the scriptures and that the oblations for the spirites of the deade which truely we must beleue doth helpe somewhat vpon the memories them selues be not sumptuous c. But if Augustine had knowen the horrible abuses which grew afterwarde by permission of these oblations he woulde as well haue prohibited them out of the scripture as that hethenish banquettinge in the Church yeardes in honor of the martyrs as for comforte of deade mens soules As for Clement that teacheth the preistes and deacones to be sober and moderate in eating where they were bidden to buriall feastes euen here also he sheweth him selfe in his owne colours As though in the dayes of Clemens when the Church was in great persecution they had nothing els to doe but to keepe sumptuous feastes at their burialls where at the priestes and deacons were in daunger of glouttony dronkennesse as they were in the Popish church when Popery was in the pride seldome temperate or sober and lest of all at burialls and monthes mindes c. That the benefite of prayer and almes appertaineth not to such as dye in mortall sinne though in the doubtefull case of mans beeing the Church vseth to praye for all departed in Christes fayth CAP. VII 1 THus farre we now are broght I trust with proofe and euidence enough with
aultar And therefore seeing Victor contrary to the forme giuen by the Priestes in councell was so bold to make Geminus Faustinus an elder his executor there is no cause that oblation should be made among you for his falling a sleepe or that any prayer in his name should be frequented in the Church c. By these wordes it appeareth first that Cyprian in these termes sacrifice Priest aultar alludeth to the sacrifices of thankesgiuing in the lawe because he vseth also that name of Leuites by which he calleth Gods ministers For as for the sacrifice propitiatory was offered in the law only by the high Priest once in the yeare So that he meaneth no other oblation or sacrifice for the dead but the sacrifice of thankesgiuing which was for their godly departure And therefore he calleth it not a sacrifice for their sinnes but for their falling a sleepe And by prayer he meaneth nor prayer for deliuery of the deade out of purgatory but as Origen sayth for the faithfull liuing to haue the like godly departure as he had that was fallen a sleepe And therfore he sayth not that such a one is not worthy to be praied for but he is not worthy to be named in the prayer which was made for them that remayned to ende their dayes happily as such a one or such a one whose names were recited in those memories had already fulfilled their course For otherwise what so euer M. Allen iangleth of the seueritie of the churches discipline if they had thought the soules of the departed to be in so great torments and that prayer and sacrifices had bene such a necessary helpe for them it had bene â—o much crueltie for one offence that not so great either to condemne a man to so horrible punishment or to deny him vtterly all maner of helpe and comfort The discipline of the Church when it is most seuere is to bring to repentaunce them that are in life not to rage against them that are deade which can not repent Nor to reiect any man vtterly but him that is certainly knowne to be vtterly forsaken of god But this Geminius Victor of whom Cyprian thus writeth was a good Christian in somuch that Cyprian him selfe calleth him his brother Geminius Victor frater noster de saeculo excedens Our brother Geminius Victor departing out of this world c. Wherfore if the punishment had extended to the torment of his soule or the hinderance of reliefe vnto his soule being in tormentes the Churche would not haue bene so rigorous against a faithful brother for mayntenance of their owne decree which was not expresly forbidden by the word of god Wherefore it may appeare that this punishment was only a note of ignominy to Victor him selfe for his transgression at his departure especially an example for the rest of the brethren as Cyprian sayth that they cal not away the ministers of God from his seruice to worldly affayres lest they be likewise noted of infamy when they are deade 5 And here nowe our aduersaries must be called vpon and asked howe they can away with this geare whether this light of trueth be not ouer vehement for their bleared eyes owle light or moneshine I trow or mirke midnight were more fit for their darke workes and doctrine our waye is ouer much trodden for theeues All this course of our cause so agreeth with it selfe so standeth with reason so vpholden by scripture so ordered in all pointes that Momus him selfe coulde practise no art nor picke no quarelles here For such we must praye for those we must not praye in this case the sacrifice of Gods Church relieueth the departed in that case it is comfortable onely to the liuinge some men neede helpe after their death others helpe we neede and not they ours for open infidelles and heretikes prayers are not vsed for all secret offendres because their case is not knowen to the Church of charity towardes her children she openly prayeth some she punisheth some she pardoneth for all she merueillous tenderly careth This doctrine of trueth is purposely ordered by our elders euery point is touched and tried to our handes VVhat time of the day was it in Gods Church saye trueth and shame the deuill when holy Cyprian wrote these thinges when the Councell of Aphricke decreed these thinges when Victor was punished by lacke of sacrifice and prayers at his departure doeth your time of ignoraunce which you haue limited for your walke reach vp so high in Gods house but I will spare you to anone your aunswere is not ready 5 And here now our aduersary must occupy his goose quill like the gooses trumpet to awake vs to aunswere him as though we were a sleepe or he so well appoynted to fight against vs we must be asked howe we can away with this geare Surely as the sunne is not obscured with the dust that a cocke casteth vp wheÌ„ he scrapeth on the dunghill no more is the sonne of righteousnes our onely ful redemption or the light of his holy word darkned by all the myste of mennes deuises which Allen or his complices can rayse out of the whole heape of superstition and errour to deface the glory of his truth The Lord is our light and saluation therefore we will not be a feard of purgatory The word of the Lorde is a light vnto our steppes and a lanterne vnto our feete therefore we will not walke in the darkenes of mens traditions Our workes and doctrine shall one daye be tryed before God and therfore we make no accompt how we be iudged by mans daye and lest of all by such a mans dome as hath his tongue more ready to rayle and sclaunder then his hearte instructed to discerne and iudge your way is your owne way and not the way of the Lorde and because you take an other way vnto saluation then the onely right way Iesus Christ therefore by his owne sentence you are all theeues and murderers But because you gather your forces together to shew the strength of your cause I will also generally shew your feeblenesse to the ouerthrow of your purpose The course of your cause you say so agreeth with it selfe What els To proue that there is purgatory you vrge the satisfying of Gods iustice so extremely that beside the suffering of Christ and forgeuenes of sinnes yet there must needes be a suffering of the party that offended But when you will shew by what meanes this suffering maye be either mitigated or cleane taken away you cleane take away the extremitie of Gods iustice which before you so earnestly maintained O worthy agreemeÌ„t of your cause with it selfe Beside the agreement with it selfe it so standeth with reason Suerly howe reasonable so euer it seemeth to you that the merites of men shoulde winne that which the merites of Christ coulde not winne that the suffering of men shoulde satisfie for that which the suffering of Christ coulde not satisfie with the
in that honorable action prayeth and Christ him selfe is both the sacrifice and the priest both the asker and the geuer of pardon when the maiesty of God the blessed trinitie is passingly pleaced by the merites of Christes death so liuely set out in these honorable but vnspeakable misteries what maye we not here procure for the soule of the Churchies childe what shall be denied to so humble askers in the presence of Gods owne sonne and begging mercy for his deathes sake And so doth S. Chrysostome assure the faithfull in these golden wordes Non frustra ab apostolis sancitum est vt in celebratione venerandorum mysteriorum memoria fiat eorum qui hinc discesserunt nouerunt quippe illis multum hinc emolumeÌ„ti fieri multum vtilitatis stante siquidem vniuerso populo manus in coelos extendente coetu item sacerdotali verendoque proposito sacrificio quomodo deum non placaremus pro istis orantes It was not for nought that the Apostles decreed and ordeined that in the celebration of the honorable mysteries there shoulde be an especiall memoriall of the departed for they right wâ—ll knewe greate commodity and benefite to arise there vpon For the whole multitude holding vp their handes towardes heauen together with the company and quiere of priests and the dreadfull sacrifice set forth before all men how is it possible but we shoulde appeace Gods wrath praying for them looke ye what this mans iudgement was and see from whense he had it euen of the holy Apostles â–ª I warraunt you and no worse nor later founders But of that pointe for the full deriuing of our Christian vsage from the first fathers of our faith more conuenient place shall be geuen herafter Nowe I will serue the cause and the readers desire first with certaine peculiar examples of most learned and godly fathers worthy of all credit in the godly prouision for certeine of their dearest friendes by sacrifice and prayer both made by them selues procured by others That we may haue here not onely whome to beleeue teaching the trueth but whome to followe practising the same with deuotion which they preached with constancie before 5 Not altogether out of hope yet to find some foolish merchantes that will paye dearly for vnprofitable wares you comforte your selfe after your complainte exhorting men to procure the holy sacrifice for their freindes and fellowes why M. Allen if there be either such necessity or such profit of that sacrifice wherefore doe not your priests with out procurement offer it vp to the vttermost aduauntage that maye be had by it But you must haue procurers yea you must haue good paye maisters or els the olde prouerbe must be true No peny no pater noster As touching the place of Chrysostome I haue shewed already by his owne interpretation that although he allow prayers for the dead vsed in time of the celebration which he calleth sacrifice yet he alloweth no sacrifice in deede but onely a thankes geuing in remembraunce of the sacrifice of Christ. But where he sayeth it was decreed by the Apostles that in the celebration of the holy misteries a remembraunce should be made of them that are departed he must pardon vs of crediting because he can not shewe it out of the actes and writinges of the Apostles And we will be bolde to charge him with his owne saying Hom. De Adam Heua Satis sufficere credimus quicquid secundum predictas regulas Apostolica scripta nos docuerunt vt prorsus non opinemur Catholicum quod apparuerit prefixis sententijs contrarium we thinke it sufficeth enough what so euer the writinges of the Apostles haue taught vs according to the fore sayed rules in so much that we compt it not at all Catholike what so euer shall appeare contrary to the rules appointed And againe In Genes Hom. 58. Vides in quantam absurditatem incidunt qui diuinae scripturae canonem sequi nolunt sed suis cogitationibus permittunt omnia Thou seest into how greate absurdity they fall which will not follow the canon of holy Scripture but permitt all thinges to their owne cogitations but if we be further vrged we will alledge that which he sayth In Euan. Ioan. Hom. 58. Qui sacra non vtitur Scriptura sed ascendit aliunde id est non concessa via fur est He that vseth not the holy Scripture but clymeth an other way that is by a way not allowed is a theefe We may be as bold with Chrysostome as he sayd he would be with Paule him selfe in 2. ad Tim. ho. 2. Plus aliquid dica ne Paulo quidem obedire oportet si quid dixerit proprium si quid humanum sed Apostolo Christum in se loquentem circumferenti I will say somewhat more we must not be ruled by Paule him selfe if he speake any thing that is his owne and any thing that is humane but we must obey the Apostle wheÌ„ he carieth Christ speaking in him Wherfore seeing it is certayne by testimony of Iustinus Martyr that there was no mention of the deade in the celebration of the Lords supper for more then an hundreth yeares after Christ we must not beleue Chrysostome without Scripture affirming that it was ordeyned so by the Apostles That the practise of any pointe in religion maketh the most open shevve of the fathers faith And that all holy men haue in plaine vvordes and most godly prayers vttered their beliefe in our matter CAP. IX 1 ANd I take the open practise of any point to be a more pithy protestation of a mans faith then by wordes can be made Therefore if a man were doubtfull either of the trueth of any article or of the meaning of some doctors wordes looke the same mans practise and it shall put him out of doubt thereof straight wayes as for an example seeme some wordes of S. Augustine to make for the sacramentaries heresie that Christ is in the honorable sacrament but by figure or Theodoretus or any other auncient fathers declaration are their wordes doubtfull to the reader leaue the wordes then if thou sincerely seeke for trueth with out contention seeke out if thou can some practise of those same men and that Church where they liued for the same point But what waye of worke in this matter consisting in doctrine may assure vs of their belefe of whose wordes we doubted before Mary sir this looke how they behaued them selues in the receiuing of it in the ministering of it in the carefull keping of it whether they did adore it with godly honour whether they solemnely shewed it to the people to be worshipped whether they praide by solemne and formall wordes vnto it whether they taught their children to call it God and Christ yea so farre that Augustine affirmeth that the children in his dayes till they were after instructed thought that God appeared in the shape of breade as all these yongers seeing the honour reuerence of their elders
obscuro non ad propheticas voces non ad apostolicas literas nec ad euangelicas auctoritates sed ad semetipsos recurrunt Sed ideò erroris magistri existunt quia veritatis discipuli non fuerunt They fall into this folly which when they be hindered by any obscuritie to knowe the truth haue not recourse to the words of the Prophets nor to the writings of the Apostles nor to the authoritie of the Gospell but to them selues But therefore are they maisters of error because they haue not ben schollers of truth In these words Leo as great as you would haue him maketh the Scriptures not customes or traditioÌ„s the rule of truth But I will come to your demonstration which you call a sure way to try the beginning of any doctrine yet vnder correction of your demonstratiue Logike I may be bold to say it is not the proper way nor the way by which all doctrine may be tryed and so you breake 2. of those principal rules that Aristotle giueth for demonstration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the proper way to try all doctrine is by coÌ„ferring it with the word of God Againe the first author of euery heresie can not be named There was one heresie of them that were called Acephali because there was no head knowne of them It is harde to name the first authour of the Manichees whom the heretikes them selues call an Apostle of Christ. The Chiliastes the Ophâ—tes the Caineanes the Sethoites the Adamianes the Melchezedâ—chianes the Apostolike the Hemerobaptistes and an hundred more heresies shall they be thought to haue their heresie from tradition of the Apostles if the first author of them can not be named yet I weene it will be hard for him to proue out of any authenticall writer that any before Tertullian either named or allowed prayer for the deade who was almost 2. hundreth yeares after the incarnation of Christ. 2 If they answere me that this vsage is crept into the church sith the Apostles time though the first author can not be knowen I will also prouide that there no shift shall serue them Therefore I aske them whether that man which first preached it was resisted by the rest of Gods Church which before his preaching beleued the contrarie or no That is it say this doctrine of praying for the deade when it first came into the church did any of the true pastors free from the same error barke like a good shepheard against the beginner of that which they count so great a corruption of trueth Or all the Church was corrupted with it on one daye say what you thinke likest in this case aunswere with any probability or reason if you can saye plainely was our doctrine euer preaâ—hed against or neuer if it neuer were preached against then it neuer beganne as any noueltie or newe doctrine For it coulde not be that the Church being free from that doctrine shoulde straight without contradiction allowe that which they liked not before Howe can any man arise in the common welth and bring the vtter decay of all the olde ordres which he findeth and erect vp a new deuise of his owne and neuer man speake a word against him but all in one moment allow and like the same and that without all recorde by memory or monument of any chaunge But this thinge is most farre from the Churches and Gods pastors diligeÌ„ce that neuer receiued false doctrine without open contradiction and plaine noting the party that first began it as we shal plucke our gentlemen by the slieue a none All those that haue any skill in the antiquitie will beare me recorde that the pastors did neuer holde their peace when any wolfe did but once open his mouth against the sheepe They can tell that she did neuer beare the preaching or practise of any false and erroneous doctrine for one day together then it must needes consequently followe that the doctrine of purgatory and oblation for the departed with still consent of all nations receiued in the Catholike Church had no beginning after the first institution of our faith and worship of God but hath ioyned from the first grounde of our Christian institution in Christes faith with that sacrifice and due honour of God which the Apostles by the suggestion of the holy Ghost planted in all nations with the same faith Thus I make my argument euery falsehood was preached against and withstanded when it is first entered but this doctrine of purgatory and praying for the deade being alwayes vsed was neuer controwled nor gainsaide in Gods Church therfore it is no falsehood nor euer had any later institution then the Apostles owne prescription 2 Supposing that this errour crept into the Church though the first author thereof can not be knowne he demaundeth whether any man preached against it when it began first to be receiued I aunswere if the Pastors of the Church had done their duty to the vttermost it could not so easily haue preuayled And yet it is not to be thought but that some of the true Pastors in that tyme opposed them selues against it although the history of the Church in that time whâ—n it began to be spreade is to briefe vnperfect that we should be able to name who they were that preached against it Of so many heresies as Epiphanius nameth in his time it were hard to require and vnpossible to shew who preached against euery one of them at their first entrance yet they be damnable heresies In S. Augustines dayes of whose time the history of the Church is largely set forth vnto vs who preached or writte against that error which he and Innocentius Bishop of Rome al the church as he confessed did hold that infants must receiue the holy communion or else they should be damned Who preached against this error except perhaps the Pelagians that were horrible heretikes Was all the Church corrupted with it in one day If euery heresie had bene beaten down as fast as it sprang Antichrist should neuer haue set vp his throne in the temple of god If God had not sent into the world the efficacy of error that they which refused to beleue the truth should be iustly condemned to beleue lyes the man of sinne and sonne of perdition had neuer aduauÌ„ced him selfe aboue all that is called God. 2. Thessal 2. And therefore M. Allen plucke not vs by the sleue but your self by the nose you are the heretikes that refuse to beleue the truth you are they that turne away your eares from truth to fables you are they that attend to spirites of error and doctrines of deuills forbidding to marry and abstayning from meates which God hath created to be receiued with thankes giuing There is the brande marke of Romish religion that all the water in Tiberis nor in the Ocean sea shal not be able to wash out Must we finde out the authors of your heresies Nay iustifie
doth recant The third article conteyneth 5. demandes 1 Shew me why our common knowen Church did not as well corrupt the text of the Testament as the true religion conteyned in the same THere may be diuers good reasons shewed why your Church commonly knowen to be the church of Antichrist did not as well corrupt the text of the Testament as the true religion conteined therein First because she coulde not the copies thereof being so many by the prouidence of God dispersed throughout the worlde Secondly because she thought it not so needefull hauing other meanes to worke her deuilish deuise For although she coulde not corrupt the scripture yet it made the lesse matter because she founde meanes to diminish and controll the authority therof by aduancing decrees of men Popes and Councells to be equall or of greater authoritie than the scripture Thirdly because she woulde be lesse in feare to be reproued by the scripture she prouided that the knowledge thereof shoulde be hidden from the vnlearned people by a strange tongue and from the learned by the tedious mazes of questions deuised by her Canonistes and Sententiaries Fourthly because she submitted all interpretation of the scripture to her owne iudgement and therefore woulde not be controlled by the iudgement thereof but woulde alwayes expound it as it liked her best As appeareth by Ockam and Duns who though they confesse that transubstantiation seemeth to them contrary to the scripture and reason yet they beleued it because of the authoritie of the church and for none other cause These are the reasons why the Romish church did not as well corrupt the text of the Testamēt as the true Religion And yet how corrupt that Latine translation is which they woulde needes thrust vpō vs is sufficiently knowen to all learned men euen in such texts as are the most coulerable places for the defence of Popish doctrine I will geue one example for all They alleage the text 1. Cor. 10. Qui stat videat ne cadat He that standeth let him take heede he fall not against the certainetie of faith whereas the Greeke hath not he that standeth but he that thinketh he standeth let him take heede he fall not Thus the popish church cannot altogether excuse her selfe from corrupting of the text of the Testament whether it was of fraude or of ignorance or of negligence the Lorde knoweth 2 Shew me why she kept not so safely and faithfully the true sense of God his word as she preserued the word it selfe BEcause it was against her owne estimation and profit which are the chiefe endes for which popish Prelates mainteyne popish religion Take away the Popes prerogatiue which is contrary to the sense of God his word downe goe Cardinalls Legates Prothonotaries downe goeth all the Court of Rome take away workes of supererogation which are contrary to the Scripture downe goe Abbeys Priories and Chantries Take away the sacrifice of the Masse Purgatory which are contrary to the word of God downe goeth the estimation and gaynes of all the popish clergie And this is the cause why the popish church kept not so safely and faithfully the true sense of God his word as she preserued the word it selfe although she preserued not the word it self in such safetie as becommed the Church of Christ. 3 Shew me why we should beleue the Papistes as you terme them for the word it self and rather you Protestants thā them for the meaning of the word WE doe not chalenge credit to our selues in any poynt so presumptuously as the Papistes that men must beleue it because we affirme it But because we proue it to be true by the worde of god And therefore for the meaning of the word you should beleue vs rather than them because our groundes proues are better then theirs or else we require not to be beleued better than they 4 Shew me why you beleued our Church telling you this to be God his booke will not credit her auouching this to be the true and vndoubted sense of the same booke IF we had no better ground to perswade vs of the authoritie of God his booke than the testimony of your Church you may be sure we would not beleue it But because we haue most stedfast assurance of God his spirite for the authority of that booke with the testimony of the true Church in all ages If you say it is God his booke we beleue you not because you say so but because we know it to be true But if you bring out a false sense we beleue you not because we know it to be false are able to proue by the word of God that it is contrary to the meaning of the holy Ghost To be plaine with you we geue as much credit to your Church as to the deuill When the deuill sayth it is written He shall giue his angells charge ouer thee and with their handes they shall hold thee vp that thou dash not thy foote against a stone We beleue that this is the worde of god But when he auoucheth this to be the meaning of it that we may cast downe our selues from a Church steeple without daunger we doe not beleue him because we know this sense is contrary to an other Scripture which sayth Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. So when you say these wordes are the Scripture of God This is my body We beleue it because we knowe it to be true But when you say this is the meaning of these wordes This bread is turned into my naturall bodye we beleue you not because it is contrary to all places of Scripture which proue the trueth of Christ his humanitie or naturall body Thus I shewe you why we beleue you if you say the Scripture is God his word namely because we know it to be true why we beleue you not saying this is the meaning of it that is because we knowe by the word of God that it is false 5 Last of all Shew me why you beleued the olde known church affirming this to be the word of God and will not beleue her affirming Luther to be an heretike shew me good reason or Scripture for these thinges and I recant IF you meane by the olde Church the primitiue Church whose testimony of the word of God we allow beleue I deny that the primitiue Church did affirme Luther to be an heretike or the doctrine that he taught which we hold to be heresie but I am able to proue that the primitiue Church from which you haue receiued the Scripture affirmeth your doctrine to be heresie your Church the Church of Antichrist But if by the old knowne Church you meane the Church of old knowne to be the Church of Antichrist which is the popish church we beleue the deuill if he speake the trueth and we beleue not an Angell comming from heauen if he bring any other Gospel than S. Paule deliuered to the Galathians Therefore when your
church affirmeth Luther to be an heretike seeing we know that Luther did not obstinately and malitiously erre in any article of faith concerning the substance of religion we doe not beleue her and specially because she is a partiall witnesse against him whome God vsed to discouer so much of her wickednesse to her great hindrance there is no credit to be geuen vnto her when she goeth about to deface him by sclaunderous names and false accusations Thus I haue shewed these thinges that you require both by good reason and also by scripture Therefore if I may beleue you you recant The fourth article conteyneth 3. demandes 1 I demand what Church hath mightely gonne through borne downe and fully vanquished all heresies in times past aswell against the blessed Trinitie as other Articles of our religion I Aunswere the true Catholike Church hath alwayes resisted all false opinions contrary to the worde of God as her duty was and fought against them with the sworde of the spirite which is the worde of God and by the aide of God obteyned the victorie and triumphed ouer them So did Paule ouercome the Iewes Act. 18. So did the fathers of the primitiue Church from time to time confute heresies by the scriptures and declare in their writinges that by them they are to be confuted for examples sake of a great number I will alleage a few Hylarius writing of the blessed Trinitie against heretikes Lib. 4. sayeth Cessent itaque propriae hominum opiniones neque se vltrà Diuinam constitutionem humanae iudicia extendant Sequamur ergo aduersus irreligiosas impias de Deo institutiones ipsas illas diuinoruÌ„m dictorum authoritates vnumquodque eorum ipso de quo quaeritur auctore tractabimus Wherefore let opinions propre to men geue place and let not mens iudgements stretche them selues further than God his constitution Therefore against these vnreligious and vngodly opinions of God let vs follow the very authority of God his sayings and handle euery one of them by the aide of him about whome the question is Thus Hylarius woulde haue heresies against the Trinitie to be confuted not by mens iudgement but by God his word Basilius magnus very often testifieth that he woulde haue all good thinges proued by the scripture and all euill thinges confuted by the same In his moralles Dist. 26. Euery worde or deede must be confirmed by the testimonie of holy Scripture for the perswasion of good men and the confusion of wicked men And in his treatise of Faith we know that we must now and alwayes auoide euery voice or opinion that is differing from the doctrine of our Lorde And in his short definitions to the first interrogation whether it be lawefull or profitable for a man to permit vnto him selfe to do or say any thinge which he thinketh to be good without the testimonie of the holy Scripture he aunswereth forasmuch as our Sauiour Christ sayeth that the holy Ghost shall not speake of him selfe what madnes is it that any man shoulde presume to beleue any thing without the authoritie of God his worde By these and many other places it is manifest that Basilius woulde haue heresies and false opinions confuted by the holy Scriptures Chrysostome vpon Luke cap. 16. sayeth that the ignorance of the scriptures hath bred heresies and brought in corrupt life yea it hath turned all things vpsidown by which it appeareth by what meanes he would haue heresies kept away namely by knowledge of the scriptures It were to long to reherse all the places of S. Augustine by which his minde appeareth that he would haue the Church sought onely in the scriptures and heretikes confuted onely by the scriptures to whose onely authoritie in many places he professeth that he him selfe will be bounde as Epist. 19. ad Hieronymum Epist. 48. Vincentio Epist. 111. Fortunatiano Epist. 112. to Paulina contra Faustum lib. 11. cap. 5. Contra Cresconium Grammaticum lib. 2. cap. 31. 32. de Baptismo contra Donatistas lib. 2. cap. 2. De meritis remissione peccatorum contra Pelagianos lib. 3. cap. 7. De naturae gratia cap. 61. De gratia Christi contra Pelagium cap. 43. De nuptijs concupiscentia lib. 2. c. 29. In these places S. Augustine preferreth the authority of the Canonicall scripture before all writinges of Catholike Doctors of Byshops of Councells before all customes and traditions But that he would haue the true Church sought onely in the scriptures it is manifest by these places first in his 48. Epistle to Vincentius Nos autem ideo certi sumus neminem se a communione omnium gentium iustè separare potuisse quia non quis quam nostrum in iustitia sua sed in scripturis Diuines quaerit Ecclesiam speaking of the Donatistes he sayeth We are suer that no man could iustly separate him selfe from the communion of all Nations because none of vs seeketh the Church in his owne righteousnesse but in the holy Scriptures So if the Papistes woulde not presume of their owne righteousnesse but seeke the Church of Christ in the scriptures they would not separate them selues from the communion of Christes Church now by God his grace inlarged farther than the Popish church Also in his booke De vnitate Ecclesiae cap. 2. he hath these wordes Inter nos autem Donatistas quaestio est vbi sit Ecclesa Quid ergo facturi sumus in verbis nostris â—am quaesituri an in verbis capitis sui Domini nostri Iesu Christiâ— puto quod in illius potius verbis eam quaerere debemus qui veritas est optimè nouit corpus suum The question is betwene vs and the Donatistes where the Church shoulde be what shall we doe then shall we seeke her in our owne wordes or in the wordes of her heade our Lorde Iesus Christ I thinke we ought rather to seeke her in his words which is the Truth and best knoweth his owne body So the question is at this daye betwen the Papistes and vs where the church is let vs seeke in God his worde there we shall easily finde her To the same intent he speaketh in the third fiueth and sixtenth Chapters of the same treatise Furthermore that he woulde haue heretikes confuted onely by the scriptures he sheweth likewise in many places of his workes for writing against Maximinus the Arian lib. 3. cap. 14. a place commonly and often cited he sayeth but nowe neither must I preiudicially bring forthe the Councell of Nice nor then the Councell of Arimine for neither am I bounden to the authoritie of the one nor you of the other but let matter with matter cause with cause reason with reason contend by authoritie of the scriptures not proper to any but indâ—fferent witnesses to both partes If Augustine would not oppresse the Arrians by the authoritie of the Nicene Councell which was the first and the best generall Councell that euer was but only by the scriptures how much lesse woulde he
VVhere did they gather as in Councells to try the trueth of doubtfull matters AS God gaue them respight from your tyrannie they had conference one with an other and as for doubtes they tried them by the worde of God and not by number of voyces as you do in your councells as for the places where they met is nothing at all materiall at Prage at Lyons at Merindol c. 7 How might Christian men iustly offended with some of their brethern haue sought out your officers or Congregation to make complainct of him YOu are void of all reason that in a persecuted church will require all thinges to be so formall and orderly as in time of peace and quietnes I could choke you with putting like cases of your Church If a number of Papistes be carried prisoners into Barbarie or Turkey what Sacraments what discipline what Iudgement haue they among them if one be offended with his brother how shall he come to your officeâ—s or to your Church to complaine In such cases where the ordinary authoritie of the Church is hindred by persecution or otherwise the rule of S. Paule 1. Cor. 5. may serue and ought to be obserued If any that is called a brother be a fornicator or couetous or an Idolater or a rayler or a drunkard or an extorcioner with such one eate not So that if a Christian be iustly offended with his brother he ought to absteine from his company And if he may haue ordinary authoritie he may complaine further 8 Or how if it had liked any man to haue ben baptized of them or to haue receiued the communion of them or to haue bene married of them or to haue ioyned them selues in Fayth and Religion to them how might I say that secret contemptible and vnknowne company be founde in this case HE must haue sought them out as well as he could if he had bene perswaded that they onely ministred the Sacraments Ecclesiasticall rites sincerely according to the word of God it were no great matter for him to find them seing he knew by whom he was so perswaded and of them might also be informed where he should haue them I maruell you are not ashamed to demauÌ„d these questions as though it were materiall to discusse whether of vs hath the Church to haue the Church so manifest that euery man may see it Doe you not remember how many schismes haue bene euen in the popish church more theÌ„ twenty and sometime two Popes at once sometime three sometime fower which of them should a simple Papist take for head of the Church especially in the 22. schisme which lasted 39. yeares one Pope sitting at Rome an other at Auinion either hauing his court either hauing and making Cardinals either cursing other Or in the 23. schisme when the question was of one of the highest pointes in all popery and is not yet throughly decided among them Whether the Pope be aboue the Councell or the Councell aboue the Pope In the time of these schismes how might a man haue founde out which was the true Church which was Christes vicare in earth which had the right Sacraments and Sacramentalls to which Popes court should he appeale where did the principall Pastors sit in iudgement c. How should councells be gathered which Pope shoulde confirme their actes c When you are able to aunswere these questions for your owne church then you may better require them of ours As for that secrete contemptible and vnknowne company of our Church in the sight of the world was neuerthelesse manifest glorious and knowen to our Sauiour Christ and the liuely members of his body 9 If therefore you can shew me that any man euer sought Iustice or knowledge of trueth sacrament or faith or any helpe of Saluation at the Protestants secret and close congregation or any other where but of Gods knowen Catholike Church I recant ALthough it be to litle purpose to aunswere this demande because it is no reason to say these thinges hath not bene because chronicles make no mention of them yet that all men maye see how farre you ouershoot your selfe I wil partely satisfie your request Charles the great sought knowledge of the trueth of the sacrament of Bertramus Iohn Duke of Lancaster and diuers other noble men were instructed in our Religion by VVickleue The land of Bohemia was conuerted by Iohn Hus and Hieronym of Prage and sought the sacraments of them Finally you alwayes forget the Greeke church which you do not accompt parte of the Catholike church and yet you can not deny but men haue sought Iustice sacramentes faith c. of it Therefore if a man might trust you vpon your worde you recant The 10. article conteyneth in effect but 2. demandes 1 Moreouer I aske whether for all these many hundreth of yeares or euer els before there was any temporall Prince or Potentate that offered to be vnder God a minister of Iustice and an executor of Christian lawes in the right of your Congregation that euer maintained by lawes Ciuill or other your Faith and Congregation and I recant BEfore the general defection it is an easy matter to name you the Emperours and Princes which both offered to be ministers of Iustice in the right of our church and also mainteyned our faith and Congregation by Ciuill lawes as Constantine the greate Iouinianus Valentinianus Theodosius Archadius Honorius Marcianus Iustinianus Mauricius and diuers other But when the kinges of the earth had committed fornication with the great whore of Babylon as the holy Ghost foresheweth Apoc. 17. and 18. it is no preiudice to our cause if we can not shew any of them that haue mainteined our Religion Yet because you make so gentle an offer vpon the triall of such a matter which is of small force either to the hurt of our cause or the maintenance of yours I will let you vnderstande what I haue reade for this purpose Not doubting but other which haue reade much more and seene more auncient histories than I can shew you a great deale more I passe ouer as to well knowen how many of the Grecian Emperors resisted the setting vp of Images in so much that in the Greeke church to this daye they can abide none in their temples likewise I passe ouer Charles the great who wrote a booke against Images which is in printe who also declared that he liked not the heresie of the reall presence and transubstantiation which in his time was in forging in that he called Bertrame to declare his minde of that matter as appeareth by his booke which is also in printe I will not rehearse those princes that contrary to the Popes lawes defended their priestes that were maried For although these and such like defended some parte of the trueth which we holde against you yet lest you should obiect it was but in some one or two pointes I passe them ouer with silence But VVickleue I wene you will not deny
which we are iustified 2 Or in thinges where they doubt be contented to submit their seuerall meaninge to the iudgement of their Superiours THe Greeke church in doubtes will be ruled by the Patriarch of Constantinople and so will the rest of the Orientall churches by their cheefe Patriarches and bishops And the Protestants in Europe will also be ruled by their Superiours so farre as their superiors are ruled by Gods his worde 3 And to that communion and companie wherof they be name any companie of men agreeing and thus humbly affected in Christes Religion sauing the blessed fellowship and members of the Catholike communion and I recant TO the communion and company of the Grecians I name the Moscouites and Russians agreeing in Religion and so humbly affected and these are not of the fellowship that you call the Catholike communion Among the Protestants to the church of Saxonie I name the church of Dennemarcke or to the church of Helâ—etia the church of France or to the church of England the church of Scotlande but so that none of these allow any consent or submission but to the Truth which must be tried onely by God his worde And seeing none of these are of the Popish communioÌ„ if your promise be any thing worth you must recant The 16. article conteyneth one demande and one chalenge Furthermore name any one man that is confessed on both sides by the iudgement of the world to be holy and learned a member of the true Church in what age soeuer you list sence Christes time and proue him to haue bene in all articles of Faith of the Protestants meaninge SEeing you geue so large scope I will name S. Paule who I thinke is coÌ„fessed on both sides to be holy and learned and a member of the true Church whome I can proue by his writinges that in all articles of faith he taught the same which we beleeue And for triall of this because it woulde requier a whole volume if I shoulde proue euery particular article wherein we dissent from you Papistes If you will name an article wherein we agree not with S. Paule If I be not able to proue that we agree with him in the meaninge thereof I will reuoke that article and agree with you therein Yea if I bring not the aduersaries them selues to acknowledge in the ende him to be wholy against their doctrine in diuers of articles of great importance and therefore that he coulde not be of their church I recant YOu shall neuer bring vs neither in the beginning nor in the end to acknowledge that S. Paule is against vs in any article of our Faith but we agree wholy with him Neuerthelesse I know what you meane will not be afraide to vtter Forasmuch as immediatly after the Apostles time corruption entred into the Church which was hardly kept out while they liued as we maye learne by the Epistle to the Corinthians you thinke that we dare not depende vpon any one mans iudgement and therein you are not deceiued for we must depende onely vppon Gods worde But where you saye there is none but he dissenteth from vs in diuers articles of great importance you saye vntruely for you are not able to proue that Iustinus Martyr or Irenaeus two of the most ancient authenticall writers that the Church next vnto the Apostles had are against vs in any point of doctrine wherein we differ from you Yet are there certaine errors in them which neither you nor we allow as is touched before in the answere to the 11. article 1. deman But they are both wholly against you in diuers articles of your doctrine and namely in transubstantiatioÌ„ which is one of the greatest articles of Poperie as Irenaeus in the 34. cap. of his 4. booke Contra haereses Quemadmodum enim qui est a terra panis c.. Euen as the breade â–ª which is of the earth after it hath receyued the inuocation of God is not now common breade but the Eucharistie or breade of thankes geuing consisting of two thinges earthly heauenly so our bodies receyuing the Eucharistie are not now corruptible hauing hope of resurrection Here you see plainely that Irenaeus affirmeth the sacrament after consecration to consist of the earthly substance of breade which maye better be vnderstoode when we know that he reasoneth against such heretikes as denied the world to be made by God saying that he woulde neuer haue made so great a mysterie of bread which is a creature of the world if the worlde had not bene made by him Iustinus in his second Apologie to the Emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We doe not receiue these thinges as common breade and a common cuppe but euen as Iesus Christ our Sauiour was incarnate by the worde of God and tooke vpon him flesh and bloude for our saluation So we are taught that this meate for which thankes is geuen by the worde of prayer from him of which our fleshe and bloude are nourished by transmutation is the fleshe and bloude of Iesus that was incarnate Here he plainely affirmeth that the substance of the Sacrament is turned into the nourishment of our bodies Therfore it remaineth still after the consecration The other writers of later yeares as they haue some errors which neither you nor we doe allow in them so we are not afraid to confesse that they haue some corruption wherby you may seeme to haue colour of defence for inuocation of Sainctes prayer for the dead and diuerse superstitious and superfluous ceremonies yet not so addict to these nor ioyned with such absurdities as yours are But for the chiefe pointes of Christian Religion and the foundation of our faith that is for the honour of God the offices of Christ Redemption Iustification Satisfaction the fruites of Christ his passion Grace faith workes authoritie of God his word authoritie of the Pope reall presence transubstantiation Communion in both kindes Images c. the most approued writers Tertullian Cyprian Origen Epiphanius Hilarius Chrysostomus Ieronymus Ambrosius Augustinus c. are vtterly against you and therfore can not be of your church But for as much as they hold the foundation that is Christ though they haue diuerse errors superstitions they were doubtles the members of the true Church of Christ which because you are not able to disproue reason would you should recant The 17. Article conteyneth 5. demandes 1 I aske of them whether the Lutherans Zuinglians Illirians Caluenistes Confessionistes Swenkefeldians Anabaptistes and such like be all of one Church BEcause you would make simple men beleue that there be so many diuerse sectes of Protestantes as you haue giuen them names I will first discusse these sectes and afterwarde aunswere your question Lutherans you meane them that follow Luthers opinion of the Sacrament Zuinglians follow Caluines iudgement of the same Confessionistes them that exhibited their confession at Auspurge which were both the Lutherans and Zuinglians so these 3 names may be contracted
into two Lutherans and Zuinglians As for Illyrians if you call them of Flaccius Illyricus they be Lutherans in opinion of the Sacrament and differ onely in ceremonies which can not diuide them from the faith Caluine and they that be of his iudgement agree plainly with Zuinglius so that of fiue names there remaine but two sortes differing in opinion whereunto you ioyne the Swenkefeldians and Anabaptistes Now to your question these be not all of one Church for the Swenkefeldians Anabaptists be detestable heretiks but the Lutherans Zuingliās as it pleaseth you to cal thē are of one true church although they differ in one opinion cōcerning the Sacramēt for although the one affirme a real presence the other deny it yet they both cōsent in this that the body of Christ is receiued spiritually not corporally with the hart and not with the mouth Wherfore this dissention is not so great though there be error on the one side but that they may be both of the Church of Christ as well as S. Cyprian the Martyr and all the Bishops of Africa and a great many of Asia differing with Stephanus bishop of Rome and the rest of his opinion in rebaptizing such as were baptized by heretiks 2 And if either they can proue vnto me that these being of such diuersitie in faith and religion make one Church WE haue alwaies abhorred the heresies of the Anabaptistes Libertines Swenkefeldians Dauidians Seruitians and all such But that Luther Zuinglius may be both of one Church differing onely in one opinion of the Sacrament is declared before 3 Or that each of their sects may giue saluation to their folowers being so disagreable one with an other in high points of our Religion SAluation is the gift of God and not in the power of any company or sect of men but this we affirme that out of that Church whereof we count Luther and Zuinglius notwithstanding their diuerse opinions which is but in one matter of the Sacrament to be members there is no saluation 4 Or that I should beleue all these rather then the Catholike Church or one of these more then another all making such a bold chalenge of the truth and Gospell NO man requireth you to beleue all these but the true Catholike Church onely Neither doe we requite you to beleue any one company of men more then an other but to beleue the trueth before falshood Now which of them hath the truth that they all brag of you must search in the word of truth desiring the spirite of truth that you may vnderstand and beleue the truth and so without doubt you shall come to the knowledge of the truth and of the Church of God which is the piller and stay of truth 5 Let the Protestants of all these kindes put their heades together and shew me a reason of these thinges and with all let them among them selues agree to what sorte of these sectes they woulde haue me and I will recant SVch is your impudencie in this matter as in all other that you woulde make men beleue that the Anabaptistes Swenkefeldians Libertins and other abhominable heretikes be Protestantes But it is well that you can make none but fooles thinke so as for the Protestantes they neede take no great deliberation to aunswere your demandes but you had more neede to laye your heades together to reconcile the Thomistes Albertistes Ockamistes Scotistes Reales and Nominalls which be all sectes of Papistes and especially your Canonistes and diuines about the articles of your religion that is whether the Pope be aboue the Councell or the Councel aboue the Pope Whether the Pope may erre and not the Councell or whether the Councell maye erre and not the Pope These two the Popes determination and the Councells determination being the rules of trueth in your religion and not agreed vpon how can any trueth be certeine in your Church As for Luther and Zuinglius they agree vpon one rule of trueth that is the worde of God and differ onely for the applying or laying of this rule yet but in one matter that not the greatest But you Papists some holding of the Pope and some of the Councell as rules of truth can haue no ground nor certainty thereof Therefore if you woulde haue me or any man to be of your belefe First determine how I shal know when I am in a right beleefe one sayeth if the councell alloweth it an other sayeth if the Pope alloweth what shall I doe when one of these is against an other yea when one Pope is against an other and one councell against an other shall I thinke that trueth changeth so often as they change Moreouer when one Pope graunteth that the councell is aboue the Pope and that the Pope maye erre Likewise one councell graunteth that the Pope is aboue the councell and that the councell may erre as it hath bene within the 200. yeares the councells of Constance and Basill determined that the councell was aboue the Pope and that the Pope maye erre Contrariwise the councell of Ferraria and Florence determined that the Pope was aboue the councell and that the councell might erre Martinus 5. the Pope chosen by the councell of Constance was of the same iudgement that the councell But Eugenius 4. that gathered the councell of Ferraria and Florence against the councell of Basill was of the contrarie iudgement Nowe I woulde saye he were a wittie fellow that coulde reconcile this geare together For if he be a Canonist that holdeth this opinion that the Pope can not erre whē the Pope him self graunteth that he may erre which waye shall he turne him selfe For if this proposition be true the Pope can not erre then this is true also that the Pope may erre for if he can not erre he can not erre in saying so And if the Pope erred in saying he coulde erre where he can not erre then this proposition is false the Pope can not erre so one proposition shal be both true and false which is impossible Likewise if he holde that hilde that the councell can not erre and the councell it selfe confesseth it that it may erre Gentle maister N. reconcile me these together which concerne a case that hath bene in practise and still is in the Papistrie and maye here trouble a mans conscience that woulde beleue your church and if he haue any wit restraine him for euer comming into your church If you can not vntie this knot nor winde your selfe out of this maze vnlesse you will be still obstinate it were wisedome for you to recant The 18. article hath but one demande I demande whether they were euer of the true Catholike church which either tooke to them selues newe names of religion according to the calling of any secte maister or liked not so well the name of Catholike or Christian as of their seuerall teachers as to be called of Arius Arians or of Caluine Caluinistes or of Luther Lutheranes
Catholike Church then can you no more condemne vs then Christ and his Apostles that were not onely not called the true Church but also were called heretikes deceiuers by the people of the Iewes which were as rightly called God his people as they that giue you the name of Catholike Church are called the Christian world It is well you haue nothing better to proue your Church then the honorable name of Catholike nor any thing more to condēne our Church then that we are not called Catholike and yet we haue as many nations and more then you haue that by publike authoritie call vs Catholikes and you heretikes although you most shamefully sclaunder vs that we doe refuse the name being offered vnto vs Seeing you boast so much of the name Catholike you shall heare what some of the old writers iudged thereof Chrysostome in an homelie that he writeth of Adam and Eue in the later ende hath these words after he hath tolde them that he hath no neede to repeate such depe questions as those men haue handled which haue fought against heretikes Satis sufficere credimus quicquid secūdum praedictas regulas Apostolica scripta nos docuerunt vt prorsus opinemur Catholicum quod apparuerit praefixis sententijs esse contrarium that is we beleue that what so euer the Apostles haue taught vs according to the foresayd rules is sufficient in so much that in no wise we thinke that to be Catholike which shall appeare to be contrary to the sentences before determined By this you may see that Chrysostome thought it not sufficient to haue the name of Catholike for he iudged nothing to be Catholike in deede that was contrary to the rule groūded in the writings of the Apostles Wherfore how so euer you boast of the honorable name of Catholike except you can proue that your opinions agree with the Scripture they are not Catholike in deede by Chrysostomes iudgement S. Augustine also in his booke de Genese ad literam imperfecto cap. 1. speaking of the Catholike faith sayth This is an article thereof that we should beleue Constitutam ab eo matrem Ecclesiam quae Catholica dicitur ex eo quia vniuersaliter perfecta est in nullo claudicat per totum orbem diffusa est That he hath appoynted a mother Church which is called Catholike of this because it is vniuersally perfect halteth in nothing and is dispersed ouer all the worlde S. Augustine here is not content that the Church be onely called Catholike but sheweth when it is that which it is called and therefore the popish Church not being vniuersally perfect as most Papists will confesse that many thinges in their church haue neede of reformation halting in many thinges from the truth of God his worde neither yet being dispersed ouer all the world but conteyned in a corner of Europa is not by S. Augustines rule the Catholike Church Furthermore S. Augustine cōtra Epistolam Fundamēti cap. 4. against the Manichees plainely declareth how farre forth not onely the name of Catholike but also how farre vniuersally consent succession antiquitie are to be allowed Vt ergo hanc omittam sapientiam c. Therefore to omitte this wisedom which you do beleue to be in the Catholike Church there be many other things which may hold me most righteously in her bosome The cōsent of people and nations holdeth me the authoritie begun with miracles nourished with hope encreased with charitie confirmed by antiquitie doth hold me The succession of Priestes from the very seate of Peter the Apostle vnto whom our Lord after his resurrection committed his sheepe to be fedde euen vnto this present bishopricke doth hold me Last of all that very name of Catholike doth hold me which name not without a cause this Church alone hath so obteyned among so many heresies that wheras all heretiks would be called Catholikes yet when a stranger shall aske where men meete at the Catholike Church none of the heretikes dare shew him either their principall temple or house All this you will say maketh exceeding much for vs yea but heare that which followeth Apud vos autem vbi nihil horum est quod me inuitet ac teneat sola personat veritatis pollicitatio quae quidem si tam manifesta monstratur vt in dubium venire non possit proponenda est omnibus illis rebus quibus in Catholica teneor that is But among you where there is none of these thinges that may prouoke or holde me there soundeth the onely promise of truth which if it be shewed so manifest that it can not come in doubt is to be preferred before all those thinges by which I am holden in a Catholike Church By this you may plainly see that though consent antiquitie succession and the name of Catholike be good confirmation when they are ioyned with the truth yet when a truth is seuered from them it is more to be regarded then they all it is truth that maketh Catholike to be estemed and not Catholike that giueth authoritie to truth Wherefore seeing it were better to proue your Church to be Catholike then to boast that it is so called to disproue our Church so to be then to say it is not so called The best way for you is to recant The 21. article conteyneth but one demande 1 Moreouer I aske of the Protestants whether in that time in which they holde the true church to haue bene hidden or lost the people that learned this article of their Creede I beleue the Catholike church was bounde to goe from that church which they sawe and taught them both the article and all other thinges touching their faith and by which they were Christened and receyued all other sacraments and commodities of saluation whether they were bounde I say to beleue this vnknowen and close Congregation which they coulde neuer come vnto nor by which they euer receiued or coulde receiue any benefit and so forsake that church by whom and in whom they receiued both their faith and sacraments Shew me therefore that the Christian men of these dayes were charged to beleeue any other church than that which taught them the article of the church and baptized them and I recant THis demande is like a drunken mans dreame hauing neither heade nor foote whether they shoulde beleue the church was lost whether they shoulde beleue the church that was vnknowen to them c. But if your demande haue any sense in it This is my aunswere The church was neuer lost but hidden from the eyes of the worlde Therefore if the people that where taught that article To beleue the Catholike church and were baptized to your church vnderstood that this church was not the Catholike church which was so commonly called but that God had a secret Congregation which was in deed the true Catholike church they were bound to forsake your church and to beleue the secret Congregation for if a man had ben baptized
Peace and reconciliation wrought by Christ whereby we knowing that we are iustified by faith haue peace with god Rom. 5. But neither of these Peaces are in the church of Rome for there is dissention in doctrine and their doctrine dissenteth from the truth as for the peace of conscience is altogether vnknowen vnto Papistes euen as the iustification of Faith by which onely it is obteined 31 Domus Refugij THe house of Refuge or defence may also be applied to the Church out of which is no saluation And in whose bosome it becoÌ„meth euery man to rest which shall looke for the refuge and defence of god But God forbidde that any man should seeke for refuge or helpe at your church which must be ouerthrowen with such violence as a great mylstone that is cast into the Sea and shal be founde no more Apoc. 18. 32 Domus Veritatis AS our church is the piller and staie of trueth so is she also the house of Trueth which knoweth nothing but him that is the Trueth it selfe Iesus Christ and his most holy Scripture In which this trueth is signed and testified But your Synagoge is the house of lyes where beside mens doctrines and traditions which are nothing but lyes there be also leaden legendes of lyes Promptuaries of lyes Festiuals of lyes and other infinite bookes of lyes 33 Societas Sanctorum HOw shoulde not our Church be the societie and fellowship of Sainctes which is sanctified and purged by the bloode of Christ which hath receiued the spirite of sanctification by which we crie Abba Father which is guided and gouerned by the most sacred and holy worde of god And how can the Popish church be the fellowship of Sainctes when she refuseth the sanctification of Christ his one oblation and sacrifice as sufficient to make them perfect which scorneth at the spirite of sanctification which can abide any thing rather than to be directed onely by God his holy worde Finally which acknowledgeth no sainctes but such as the most vnholy Pope for money doth canonize and make sainctes Proue vnto me therefore that these excellent and propre callinges can agree to any disordered companie or Congregation or to any vnknowen society of men but onely to the true Church of Christ spred throughout the whole worlde by Christes his promise and by vertue of his spirit continued in truth and grace from falshood sence Christes time and I recant AS many of these excellent names as in the worde of God or the doctors agreeing with the worde of God are propre or perteyning to the true Church of Christ so many haue I proued to be propre and perteyning to our most holy and well ordered CongregatioÌ„ And moreouer that they can in no wise be rightly applied to that most abhominable Idolatrous and disordered Synagoge of Rome which is vtterly departed from the faith geuing heede to spirites of error and doctrines of deuills being so liuely painted forth and euen pointed forth by the scripture to be that Antichristian church whereof the holy Ghost prophesieth that no man except he will wilfully be blinde can be ignorant thereof so that if you be not starke blinde and geuen vp into a reprobate sence when you consider these thinges you will recant Let any man therefore aliue answer directly and plainly without colour or fraude of wordes and vnprofitable digressions to the foresayd or any of the foresayd demandes and I shall willingly leaue the knowne Church playne way of Saluation and wander in the woodes to seeke after them and their congregation IF you had not added this conclusion we might haue conceaued some hope that vpon further instruction in such matters as troubled your conscience you would haue ben contented to be reformed after God his worde and good counsell But now you declare that you are so obstinatly bent that what so euer be proued against you you will not receiue it as truth but yeld vnto it perforce As for me Although I know there are very many which with more learning and eloquence coulde haue aunswered your demandes yet being such as they are I submitte my selfe to the iudgement of all them that be learned and godly minded whether I haue not directly and plainely without colour or fraude of wordes without all digression aunswered the same so that I doubt not but as many as are tractable and stayed vpon these doubtes onely may be fully perswaded by these not very long and yet sufficient Answers THE ENDE 1 A DEFENSE AND DECLARATION OF THE CATHOLIKE Churches doctrine touching Purgatory and prayers for the soules departed By VVILLIAM ALLEN Maister of Arte and student in Diuinitie 1 AN OVERTHROW AND CONFVTATION OF THE POPISH Churches doctrine touching Purgatory and prayers for the deade By W. FVLKE Doctor in Diuinitie 2 Mortuo ne prohibeas gratiam Eccle. 7. Hinder not the departed of grace and fauour 2 Such liberalitie as by any meanes may extende vnto them in burying their bodies honoring there memorie helping there posteritie TO THE READER 3 A Friend of mine very studious of the truth and zelous of Gods house one that learned to beleue first and then sought to vnderstand afterward which I take to be the naturall order of a christian schoole where faith must in most matters direct reason and leade the way to vnderstanding asked of me as of one whome he hartely loued and knew to be studious in such matters by my trade of life vpon what groundes the Churches doctrine and the Christian peoples faith of Purgatory and prayers for the departed stoode I aunswered him then presently as I could and shortly after as his further request was in writing somewhat more at large The which my doing though it was both rude and short yet he so measured it either by loue as it commonly happeth or else by a singular facilitie whereby he misliketh nothing that is meant well that he made it common to many moe then I would my selfe For though I was well contented that the simple people or any other should take profite or pleasure by my paine yet â—onsidering the matter to be full of difficultie and to reaâ—h to Gods iudgements in the world to come I called to my minde the saying of Nebridius who as S. Augustine reporteth of him with whom he was very familiar being much studious and inquisitiue of the secret poâ—ntes of our faith would be excedingly offended to heare a man aske of a matter of importaunce a briefe declaration his saying was that he loued not a short answere to a long question VVhereby I was me thought in a maner admonished that my treatise though it satisfied my friend and displeased not other yet could not written both hastely and briefly serue so long and large a matter I did feare with all to enter in this my lacke of yeares iudgement and knowledge into the search of such secretes as I knâ—w by that light vowe that I made of the matter before the orderly proceeding in
the cause would driue me vnto I did learne of auncient Irenaeus that such doctrine â—nd mysteries may be safely had and without all feare of errour taught by holy Priestes and Bishops Qui cum episcopatus successione charisma veritatis certum sâ—cundum placitum patâ—is accepeâ—unt VVho haue receaued with thâ—ir ordinary succession in their pastorall seat the gracious gift of vnderstanding the truth And these are they sayth he in the same place which may without all daunger to them selues and their hearers expound vnto vs the holy Scriptures Other men doubtles which this miserable age of ours seeth not that measureth all thinges by a fond flourish of learning whereof â—et there was neuer lesse store can not nor must not be so bold though their giftes were many moe study muâ—h longer then mine And to confesse the truth in deede I was somwhat loth such was my foolish feare then to fall in hand with that matter which being well and to the bottom ripped I perceaued of all other causes in the world most to touch the very sore of heresie and therefore might to me procure the hatred of such whose loue otherwise I could be content either to keepe or winne Besides that I saw the contention of the contrary part seking to make some answere to such thinges as might in this cause most greeue their mindes or marre their matter shoulde driue me from that course of study which otherwise in quietnesse I would most gladly keepe to serue truth and defende my cause which once of freedom and good will taken in hand must afterward of duety and necessitie be vpholden Notwithstanding all these thinges good reader which might most iustly hold me back yet now my friendes request the case and condition of this present time and my duety towards my mother the Church may of good reason and must of necessitie chaunge my former intent remoue my priuate study to the benefite of the common cause Therfore being at length by iust occasion wholy minded to serue as well as I could that way I thought good these late months to make a more full declaration of that thing which at my sayde friendes request I had so briefly touched before That as then when he first had it of me it onely serued him for his owne contentation the pleasuring of his singular and secret friendes and the helpe of some simple whome he knew deceyued by ouer light looking on so graue matters so nowe good Christian reader I trust it may helpe in common not onely such as haue been caried a way by the guile of heresie but other that are much subiect to the daungerous flattery of this present time with whome pleasure euer ioyned to the protestantes doctrine often more preuaileth then the preachers persuasion Be bolde to charge any of our aduersaries make he neuer so great accompt of him selfe with the force of trueth heere expresly proued both by argument and authoritie if it holde him not he shall I am sure brast out with impudencie and not lose him selfe by reason iust dealing or honestie And if it be proued to touch with safetie the poison it selfe let no man doubt to vse it for a preseruatiue in this common infection of our time and countrie For it were no reason any man shoulde practise with the poore people priuyly in such thinges as he were not hable to mainteine before their pilloures and preachers openly And for that hatered which I may procure to my selfe by mine owne trauell it shall not much moue me for I shall either be partaker thereof as a common praise in these euill dayes to most good men or els if I be not worthy so much I will learne to beare it as some parte of punishment satisfaction for my sinnes I may not bye frendship with flatterie nor mannes loue with forsaking Gods trueth Of such thinges then I will not make much reckening but my principall care is that in writing or wading in so deepe matters I keepe the streight line of the Churches truth which in the exceding rashnesse of these darke dayes a man may quickely lose And therefore to make sure I humbly submit my selfe to the iudgement of such our maisters in faith and religion as by Gods calling are made the lawefull Pastors of our soules Of whome I had rather learne my selfe then teach other if either they had occasion and opportunitie to speake or I might of reason and duetie in these miserable times holde my peace Farewell gentle Reader and if I pleasure thee by my paines let me for Christes sake be partaker of thy prayers At Antwerp the Second of May. 1565. 3 WHether this occasion of your writing were true or only pretendid it is all one to our purpose But where you commende your freinde for that he learned to beleeue first and sought to vnderstand afterwarde which you take to be the natural order of a Christian schoole if you had shewed where you learned that methode his coÌ„mendation should haue been the greater and your iudgement the weightier For we learne by Saint Paule a contrary order namely first to heare the worde of God preached and expounded and then to beleeue it Rom. 10. For God by the riches of his grace hath abounded towardes vs in all wisedome and vnderstanding and hath opened vnto vs the mysterie of his will according to his good pleasure so that after we hearde the worde of trueth the Gospell of our saluation we haue thereby beleeued and so are sealed with the holy Spirite of promise laboring and praying that those which haue receaued the first grace of knowledge and vnderstanding may daily more and more increase in the same that they may be full filled with knowledge of Gods will in all wisedom spirituall vnderstanding Col. 1. And as for that blinde faith which must be thrust vppon mens consciences to be accepted before they see what grounde it hath we leaue it as meete for sect masters and heretikes and in no wise to be admitted by the Disciples of Christ who calleth all men to heare him and vnderstand him Matt. 15. Mar. 7. But faith say you in most matters must direct reason But I say reason in all matters must be subiect to faith For the naturall man with all his reason neither doth nor can perceaue the things of the spirite of God for the eye hath not seene nor the eare hath hearde neither haue entred into the heart of man the thinges that God hath prepared for them that loue him but God hath reueiled them to vs by his spirite 1. Corinth 2. And this is the thing that deceiueth you Maister Allen which more like a maister of prophane artes then a good student of holy Diuinitie can put no difference betwene carnall reason and spirituall vnderstanding For that knowledge and vnderstanding of Gods holy mysteries conteined in his word whereuppon our faith is grounded we haue not by light of naturall reason but by reuelation and
and tranquilitie we haue through Gods singular goodnes vnder the happy gouernment of our Soueraigne Lady enioyed these many yeares looke to those Churches of God in Fraunce and the lowe countryes of Germany which within these twenty yeares haue bene for the most part planted growne vp flourished altogither vnder the heauy crosse and most sharp persecution what carnall pleasure hath allured them what worldly voluptuousnes hath and doth still intise them in so great multitudes to embrace this doctrine whereof if they tast neuer so smal they see present daunger of death or losse of all their goods with banishment Surely this is the Lords doing and it is marueilous in our eyes But to conclude this man if he can not haue loue and praise for his valiant enterprise yet by patient bearing of hatred and reproch he maketh full account of satisfaction for his sinnes O miserable conscience of the Papistes which haue no peace with god through faith in his infinite mercy but seeke to satisfie the streightnes of his eternall iustice by such beggerly shiftes as these which also he is so vncertaine whether they wil serue his turne that he feareth lest he lose al his labour if he happen to lose the streight line of the Churches truth which in these darke daies a man may quickly lose What say you M. Allen is it so hard a matter to keepe the streight line of the Churches truth in these darke dayes Why Where is the citie builded vpon an hill that can not be hidden Where is that visible and knowne Church which can not erre If that which was wont to be the only rule of truth among Papists faile you try an other rule of the Protestants and as Augustine exhorteth you search the word of God in the holy Scriptures and then vndoubtedly you shall finde the truth and the Church also that is the piller of truth though the dayes be neuer so darke or your eyes neuer so dymme if with like humilitie you would submit your self to the iudgment therof as you pretend to doe to the ministers and pastors of your faith and religion The Lorde if it be his will open your eyes that you may see the truth and geue you grace when you see it that you striue not against it to your owne destruction THE PREFACE VVHEREIN BE NOTED TWO SORTES OF HEretikes th one pretending vertue thother openly professing vice And that our time is more troubled by this second sort With a briefe note of the Authors principall intent in this Treatise 1 ALthough heresie and all willfull blindnesse of mannes minde be vndoubtedly a iust plage of God for sinne and therefore is commonly ioyned with euill life both in the people and preachers thereof as the historie of all ages and sondry examples of the Scriptures may plainely proue yet by the gyle and crafty conueiaunce of our common enimie the deuil falsehod is often so cloked in shadow and shape of trueth and the maisters thereof make such show of vertue and godly life that you would thinke it had no affinitie with vice nor origine of mannes misbehauiour at all So did he couer the wicked heresies of Manicheus Marcion Tatianus and the like with a fained flourish of continency and chastity so did he ouercast thenimie of Gods grace Pelagius with thapparance of all grauity constancy and humility and so hath he alwayes where craft was requisite to his intent made shew of a simple sheepe in the cruell carkase of a wily woulfe This good condition S. Paule noted in him in these wordes Ipse enim Satanas â—ransfigurat se in Angelum lucis For Satanas his owne person shapeth him selfe into an Angell of light And that his scholars play the like part our master Christ of singular loue gaue his flocke this wachword for a speciall prouiso Attendite à falsis prophetis qui veniunt ad vos in vestimentis ouium intrinsecùs autem sunt lupi rapaces Take heede of false prophetes that come in sheepes vesture but within be rauening wolues He sawe that seeth all things that the outward face of fained holinesse might easily cary away the simple he detected the serpentes subteltie that none might iustly pleade ignorance in a case so common and withall for thenstruction of the faithfull he gaue falsehoode and her fortherers this marke for euer that conuey they neuer so cleane or close yet their vnseemely workes should euer detect their fained faith But all this notwithstanding if we deeply weye the whole course of thinges we shal finde that this counterfaiting of vertue and show of pietie is not the perpetuall intent of the deuils deuise but rather a needefull shift in forthering his practise there onely where faith and vertue be not vtterly extinguished then the full ende of any one of all his endeuoures For this may we assuredly finde to be the scope pricke of al his cursed trauel to set sinne and her followers in such freedome that they neade not as often els for their protection the cloke of vertue nor habite of honestie but that they may boldly encounter with the good and godly and in open ostentation of their mischiefe ouer runne all trueth and religion VVherefore as he often cloketh subtell heresies in honest life and vertues weede so when he by likelihoodes conceyueth hope of better successe and forther aduentures he theÌ„ openeth a common schoole of sinne and wickednesse where mischiefe may with out colour or crafte be boldely mainteined This open schoole of iniquity and doctrine of sinne he once busely erected in the gentilitie by the infamous philosopher Epicurus and his adherents teaching to the singular offense of honestie pleasure and voluptuousnesse to be thonely ende of all our life and endeuours The which pleasaunt sect though it euer sence hath had some promotours yet the very shade of fained vertue and worldely wisedome of those dayes with ease bare downe that enterprise This broade practise was yet further attempted euen in Christes church first by Eunomius who doubted not in the face of the world to auouch that none could perish were his workes neuer so wicked that would be of his faith And then by Iouinianus who taught the contempt of Christian fastes matched mariage with holy maidenhood and afterward to the great wonder of all the Church perswaded certaine religious women in Rome to forsake their first faith mary to their damnation For which plaine supporting of vndoubted wickednesse S. Hierome calleth them often Christian Epicures boulsterers of sinne doctors of â—ust and lecherie Neuerthelesse the force of Gods grace which was great in the spring of our religion the sinne of the worlde not yet ripe for such open show of liceÌ„tious life speedely repressed that wicked attempt For as S. Augustine declareth it was so cleare a falshoode that it neuer grew to deceiue any one of all the Cleargy But not long after with much morâ— aduantage
them but onely to terme vice by the name of vertue And then we must be examined by what right we chaunge the names of thinges that can not alter their natures Stay a while your examination M. Allen this is no orderly proceding Good order would require that you shoulde first proue vs gilty of the crimes and then to take away our excuses Howebeit I blame you not if you leaue of the proofe of those thinges which would sooner reproue your selues then conuict your aduersaries And yet that you may see howe cleare a conscience we haue in these crimes obiected I will not refuse to answere your interrogatories although by no lawfull and orderly proceding I can be compelled thereto In primis who authorised you to call that extirpation of superstition which our fathers called sacriledge To this I answere I care not what your fathers called or counted sacriledge But God our heauenly father commaunded vs to breake burne and destroy all your idols and to deface al the monuments of them Deut. 12. And all the godly Patriarkes and fathers both before Christes comming and since haue geuen vs example of obedience vnto this commaundement and the obseruation thereof they haue termed the extirpation of superstition and idolatry Or that blinde deuotion which our holy Elders named true religion we learned of our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles to condemne that for blinde deuotion which is not grounded vpon certaine knowledge of Gods word you worship you know not what saith Christ to the Samaritane Iohn 4. S. Paule chargeth the obstinate Iewes with zeale without knowledge Rom. 10. How can they for sinne and shame honour that with the name of holy mariage that S. Ambrose termeth aduoultry S. Augustine worse then aduoultery and they with al the residue of doctours horrible incest The holy Ghost hath taught vs to call mariage honorable in all men and the bed vndefiled whatsoeuer any man hath sayd to the contrary And yet diuers godly men of the auncient fathers as Hieronym and Epiphanius allow mariage in them that can not conteine although they haue vowed virginitie euen as the spirite of God also hath spoken by S. Paule Because it is better to marry then to burne Epipha lib. 2. Haere 61. Hieron Epi. ad Demetriaden And now that I haue aunswered your questions I must be bolde to demaunde the same of you what authoritie you haue to chaunge the names of thinges when you can not alter their nature Who taught you to call that religion which holy Scripture calleth Idolatry or that true deuotion which God calleth vaine worshipping where learned you to call a gluttonous feast of fish a religious fasting or a sumptuous banket of wine spices fruites and deintie conseites a streight and holy abstinence with what face or conscience can you call that ouerflowing lust of your popish vnmaried Cleargie a pure and vndefiled chastitie Finally where learned you but of the Deuill him selfe to commaund abstinence from meates and mariage for religions sake to some men at all times and to all men at some times If for these and an hundred such you can shew no better warrant then the termes of your fathers the practise of your elders or the authoritie of mortall men the curse of God pronounced by Esay against them that call euill good or good euill must needes be turned ouer vnto you But to goe on with this orderly proceding whereby we are first accused and then by and by condemned without euer being conuicted or once put to the triall Next of all lest men should maruell howe so manifest impietie could so mightely preuaile they are told that it is onely present pleasure and similitude of maners that ioyneth so many vnto vs And for proofe hereof men must call to remembraunce the first entrance of this misery how these preachers haue had certaine persons in admiration for their owne aduantage We refuse not the triall but let men on Gods name call to remembraunce howe our doctrine beganne to be restored in these last dayes I pray you what priuate aduantage could they by any likelyhood be supposed to seeke which incurred manifest daunger of their liues by the least suspition of their profession or what persons could they haue in admiration when all Princes great personages were their greatest persecutors but they wanne them by flattery and sewed them cushians vnder their elbowes and laid pillowes vnder their heades This is in deede a sore accusation but where is the proofe Forsoth to such as made no store of good workes they cast onely faith vnder their elbowe to leane vppon O impudent blasphemer which of vs euer taught that such a faith as is not liuely fruitefull of good workes did euer profite any man but to the increase of his damnation To such as were burdened with promise of chastity they made a cushen for their ease To such as had rashly vowed that which they could not possibly performe not we but S. Paule sayth if they can not containe let them marry for it is better to marry then to burne S. Ieronym otherwise an vnmeasurable aduancer of virginitie dispraiser of mariage Ep. ad Dem. speaketh of virgins that professed chastity and liued vnpurely c. apertè dicendum est vt aut nubant si se non possunt continere aut contineant si nolunt nubere It must be plainly sayd vnto them that either they should marry if they can not containe or els containe if they will not marry Epiphanius lib. 2. haer 61. calleth mariage for such men not a cushen for their ease but an holsome medicine against their disease and the wound of burning and that sayth he was the doctrine of the Church in his time To such as cast an eye vpon Church goods they borowed a pillow of Iudas why was not this solde and giuen to the poore If euer any man hearde this text alleged by any preacher for such purpose let that man be counted such one as M. Allen termeth him if no man were heard euer to speake after that maner let M. Allen be taken for a man of such truth as he sheweth him selfe to be But it is a small thing to breake the bondes of modestie in a fewe poyntes if a man striue not to passe impudencie it selfe in shamelesse lying Commit what you list omit what you list your preachers shall prayse it in their wordes and practise it in their workes Sauing that vaine glorious affecters of painted eloquence be sometime so carefull of their wordes that they forget their matter I would haue thought that the father of lies him selfe the continuall accuser of Gods Sainctes would haue feared for euer losse of his credite to haue vttered so vnseemely a sclaunder of vs But I suppose that this disciple of his more regarding how finely then howe truely he inueyeth against his aduersaries had such pleasure in allusion of these termes commit and omit praise and practise words and workes that he respected
Gods iustice howe can the same suffering be mitigated by masses pardons merites c. or cleane taken away by a pardon of Iubely à poena culpa Againe howe can the merites of an other abate his punishment which must suffer him selfe to aunswere Gods iustice If the iustice of God be not aunswered by the offering of Christ how is it aunswered when any mans suffering is by any of your meanes mollified or taken away But it sufficeth you that your forefathers more then a thousand yeares agoe called that place of sufferance purgatory But I pray you what is it called in the Scripture either of the olde testament or the newe or in the first and second hundreth yeares after Christ Diuerse errours be older then a thousand yeares but age can neuer make falshoode to be truth and therefore I waye not your proude bragges worth a strawe I am one of the least of Gods ministers and not worthy in respect of my greatest infirmities of the lowest place in his Church yet by his grace and the authoritie of his holy word I shall be able to ouerthrowe both this and all other babylonicall bulwarkes that are cast vp by Sathan and all his instruments For the defence of popish heresie against the tâ—uth of god And neither the myst of mens inuentions which you call the light of apostolike tradition shall be able to darken the truth of the Gospell nor the errours of mortall men which you terme the force of Gods trueth shall beare downe thauthoritie of Gods holy spirite And as for the torment of conscience by inward acknowedlging of the truth openly withstanded it is not like you could so liuely describe it if you had not experience of it in your selfe Our consciences most humble and harty thankes we yeald to the infinite mercy of God are washed white and purged from all blacknes by the precious bloud of Christ which is the propitiation for our sinnes that cleaue vnto him by true liuely faith and open iudgement shall one day shew that all obstinate Papistes which seeke to establish their owne iustice shal be voyde of the iustice of God while they wrastle to come out of purgatory they take the high way to fall headlong into hell God lighten the eyes of them that are blinde of simplicitie and confound all such as sinne of malicious wickednes The excuse of your sharpe speach perhaps might seeme probable if you did not vse intollerable sclaundering and rayling which neither by zeale of trueth nor example of godly fathers can well be shadowed much lesse warranted THAT OFTEN AFTER OVR SINNES BEFOR GIVEN BY THE sacrament of penaunce there remaineth some due of temporall punishment for the satisfying of Gods iustice some recompence of the offences past CAP. I. 1 AS it is most true and the very grounde of all Christian comfort that Christes death hath payed duely and sufficiently for the sinnes of all the world by that aboundant price of redemption payed vppon the Crosse So it is of like credit to all faithfull that no man was euer partaker of this singular benefite but in the knotte and vnitie of his body misticall which is the Church To the members whereof the streames of his holy bloud and beames of his grace for the remission of sinne sanctification be orderly through the blessed Sacraments as condethes of Gods mercy conueyde All which Sacraments though they be instituted and vsed as meanes to deriue Christes benefites and bestow his grace of redemption vppon the worthy receiuers yet like effect or force is not by the meaning of their first author and institutor emploied vpon all receiuers nor giuen to all the Sacraments That may well appeare if we marke the exceding aboundant mercy that is powred vpon al men at their first incorporation and entraunce into the houshold of the faithfull by Baptisme In which Sacrament the merites of our masters death be so fully and largely caried downe for the remission of sinne that were the life before neuer so loden with most horrible offences that in this misery man may commit yet the offender is not onely pardoned of the same but also perfectly acquieted for euer of all paine or punishment other then the common miseries of mankind which his proper offences before committed by any meanes might deserue And no lesse free nowe then the childe after baptisme which onely originall sinne brought thither So sayth S. Ambrose by these wordes Gratia Dei in Baptismate non quaerit gemitum aut planctum aut opus aliquod nisi solum ex corde professionem The grace of God in Baptisme requireth neither sorow nor mourning nor any other worke but onely an hearty profession of thy faith VVhereby he meaneth that after our sinnes be once thus freely wiped away in our first regeneration there is no charge of punishment or penaunce for farther reliefe of the same But now a man that is so freely discharged of all euill life and sinne committed before he came into the family if he fall into relapse defile the temple of God then as Gods mercy alwaies passeth manns malice euen in this case also he hath ordayned meanes to repaire mans fall againe That is by the Sacrament of penaunce which therefore S. Hierome termeth the second table or refuge after shipwracke as a meanes that may bring man to the porte of saluation though lightly not without present dammage and daunger In which blessed Sacrament though Gods grace haue mighty force for mans recouery and worketh aboundantly both remission of sinnes and the discharge of eternall punishment due by iust iudgement to the offender yet Christ him selfe the author of this Sacrament as the rest meant not to communicate such efficacie or force to this as to baptisme for the vtter acquieting of all paine by sinnefull life deserued For as in Baptisme where man is perfectly renewed it was semely to set thoffender at his first entraunce on cleare ground and make him free for all thinges done abrode so it excedingly setteth forth Gods iustice and nothing impareth his mercy to vse as in all common welthes by nature and Gods prescription is practised with grace discipline with iustice clemency with fauour correction and with loue due chastisement of such sinnes as haue by the houshold children bene committed Nowe therefore if after thy free admission to this family of Christ thou doe greeuously offend remission may then be had againe but not commonly without sharpe discipline seeing the father of this our holy houshold punisheth where he loueth and chastiseth euery childe whom he receiueth VVhose iustice in punishment of sinne not onely the wicked but also the good must much feare VVhereof S. Augustine warneth vs thus Deus sayth he nec iusto parcit nec iniusto illum flagellando vt filium istum puniendo vt impium God spareth neither the iust nor vniust chastising th one as his childe punishing the other as a wicked
example of King Dauid is counted a great and speciall bulwarke of this cause which notwithstanding is answered euen as the rest Dauid the child of God was beaten with the mercifull rodde of Gods fatherly correction and set as an example to Gods children of all ages to shew how God abhorreth murder and adultery And although the payne were bitter for the tyme as all chastisment is yet no doubt but he receaued great profite thereby Heb. 12. And as for the plague for numbring the people it fell vpon them for their own sinnes as the text is playne The saying of Gregory that God leaueth no sinne vnpunished which is pardoned if it be vnderstood that all the sinnes of the faithfull are punished in Christ which became sinne for vs it is most true But if he meane that God punisheth all sinnes that he pardoneth in the partyes them selues it is contrary to the manifest worde of God and infinite examples of the Scripture The Publicane the prodigall childe the debters all clearely remitted doe playnly proue that God freely forgiueth iustifieth rewardeth the penitent sinners without exacting any punishment of them for aunswering of the debt satisfying for the sinnes abusing his fatherly clemency Luke 7. 15. 18. Finally for auouching myne aunswer I would wish no better authority of the auncient fathers then euen that which M. Allen him selfe allegeth out of Augustine contra Faustum lib. 23. cap. 67. that the punishment of Dauid was flagelli paterni disciplina the chastisement of Gods fatherly scourge as he doth most playnly declare the same in his booke de peccatorum meritis ac remissione lib. 2. cap. 33. and for a flatt conclusion contradictory to M. Allens assertion I will vse the very wordes of Chrysostome in the 8. Hom. vppon the Epistle to the Rom. Vbi venia ibi nulla erit poena Where there is forgeuenes there is no punishment The double and doubtfull shiftes of our aduersaries pressed by this conclusion are remoued and it is proued against one sort that these foresayde scourges vvere in deede punishments for sinnes remitted And agaynst thother sect that this transitory payne hath often endured in the next life CAP. II. 1 ANd the weight of this foresayd grounde hath euer pressed the aduersaries of truth so sore that beholding as it were a farre of what inconuenience this might import they euer busily endeuored to stay the beginning of their likely ouerthrow But yet as it was and will be for euer noted in false teachers they seeke diuerse escapes so disagreable that one hindereth an other and neither of them helpes their owne cause One sorte not so impudent but a great deale more foolish then their fellowes agree by force of the places named and euidence of the examples that there is punishment to be suffered and some temporall paine remane at to be discharged in this world after remission of sinne but for the next after this life so fearde they be of purgatory they will haue none at all Thother secte maisters fearing what might follow on that graunt in no case will confesse that there is any payne due for sinne in this world or the next after the fault be once remitted For Caluine capitaine of this latter baÌ„d saw well that if any debt or recompense remaine to be discharged by the offender after his reconcilement it must needes â—ise by proportion weight continuance number and quantity of the faultes committed before VVhereby it must of necessity be induced that because euery man can not haue time either for the hugenesse of his sinnes past or his late repentaunce or his carelesse negligence to repay all in his life that there is all or some part aunswerable in the next world to come And therefore boldly and impudently as in case of this necessity he aduentureth to deny with shame that any of all these painfull miseries be as punishments for the sinnes of the sufferers but certaine fatherly checkes exercises of patience and vertue rather then afflictions enioyned for sinnes VVhich vaine shift hath no bearing by reason or text of Scripture but onely is vpholden by the exercised audacity of the author CAP. II. 1 IF M. Allens titles of his chapters were as sufficient reasons as they be bolde affirmations there were no man able to stand against him But I can well compare them to the arguments of those vayne fables that were wont to be printed in english of Beuis of Hampton Guy of VVarwick such like where the arguments shew how such a Knight ouercame such a Gyant how such a sorcerer wrought such a miracle which are tould as confidently as though they were true and yet there is no man of meane witte so ignoraunt but he knoweth them to be fayned fantasies Euen so with M. Allen to affirme is to proue to deny is to confute briefly in his titles and at large in his chapters But if he would as he pretendeth haue remoued all those reasons that we bring against his false conclusion or any of them all he must haue proued that Christ hath not satisfied the iustice of God perfectly by his death and suffering that God doth not freely forgeue vs our sinnes that he is stil an angry Iudge against them that put their trust in him He must haue proued against Ezechiel that what tyme so euer a man doth truely repent the Lord doth not put all his sinnes out of his remembraunce against Dauid that he hath not remoued our sinnes from vs as farre as the East is from the West Against S. Iohn that if any man sinne after Baptisme Iesus Christ is not our aduocate with the father and propitiation for our sinnes If he could say any thing against these reasons authorities with an hundred more of the same sort he were worthy to be heard But because that is to hard a matter for him to take in hand without all shame or shew of truth most impudently he fayneth a contrariety betwene Melanthon and Caluine but not once noting by one letter where the same is to be found in any of their workes lest their manifest wordes out of the same places being brought against him should reproue his shamelesse lying Melancthon he saith acknowledgeth some temporal payne after remission of sinnes to be discharged in this life but not in the life to come Caluin wil haue none at all O brasen face and yron forhead doth Caluine deny thafflictions of this life or Melancthon affirme that they are suffered for satisfaction of our sinnes Doth Melancthon deny the passion of Christ to be a perfect aunswering of the iustice of God or Caluine affirme thereby to be taken away the mercyfull correction of God Would God that all that professe the religion of Christ agreed in all pointes as truely as they doe in this But admitte that M. Melancthon or any man beside should graunt that the sufferinges of the godly in this life are some parte of satisfying vnto the iustice of
you must repeat that which is nothing like to your matter Paula was penitent for her sinnes with prayers almes and fasting and all for feare of purgatory So sayth M. Allen. But Ieronyme sayth not so M. Allen is here all the credit of the matter beleue him as you list But if any man had rather beleue Chrysostome speaking of such kind of workes as M. Allen and his fellowes count to be the chiefe workes of penaunce whether they serue for satisfaction for our sinnes vnto God let him consider what he writeth in his treatise de compunctione cordis lib. 2. Non requirit Deus ciliciorum pondus neque concludi inter angustias cellulae neque in obscuris antris tencbrosis sedere iubet hoc solum est quod exposcatur à nobis vt semper recordemur mala nostra c. God requireth not the burden of heauy garments not to be shut vp with the streights of a litle cell neither doth he commaund vs to sit in obscure and darke dungeons or dennes this onely is that which is required of vs that we should alwayes remember our euill life c. you see therefore by Chrysostoms iudgement that neither the satisfaction of Gods righteousnes nor any obedience of Gods commaundement hath banished the Heremites closed vp the Anachorets and cloyed the world with cloysterers but the superstitious and slauish feare of purgatory the blasphemous presumptuous pride of mens merites I passe ouer as not proper to your matter that for the honour of Christ you except his mother from confessing her selfe to be indebted to God and not to be in the numbre of those by whome the Lordes prayer is to be sayd Such honor neither doth God allowe her nor she arrogate vnto her selfe but acknowledgeth her owne basenesse and ioyfully accepteth Gods saluation It is greater honor to Christ to be sauiour of his mother then to haue such a mother as had no neede of his saluation He him selfe more then once is reade to haue reproued her wherein he had done her wrong if she had committed no trespasse Luke 2. Iohn 2. 6 But list you see how this doctrine of penaunce liked Caluine The shrew saw that by graunting of this satisfaction for sinne and the profitable vsage thereof in this life that it might argue of necessitie the residue of some paines in the next if it were here omitted or not ended And therefore I pray you see how substantially he aunswereth and how like him selfe Parumme mouent sayth he quae in veterum scriptis de satisfactione passim occurrunt video enim eorum nonnullos dicam simpliciter omnes fere quorum libri extant aut in hac parte lapsos esse aut nimis aspere dure loquutos I make small accompt of that which I often finde concerning Satisfaction in the auncient writers for I perceiue diuers of them shall I be plaine with you in a maner euery one that euer wrote till this daye in this point to haue bene fouly deceiued or spoken more roughly then they shoulde haue done Is not this a fellow a lone whether thinke you now our English bragger craking all the doctors to be on his parte or this man confessing plainely that they be all against him and yet setting not a butten by them all whether thinke you is more arrogant I am sure Caluine dealeth here more sincerely and the other more deceitfully If craking had bene a maisterie in sommer games as lying is our man might haue wone of all the worlde two games at a clappe But there is no remedy he must yelde to the learned that haue opened his impudencie Therefore I leaue him and take the benefit of this his maisters confession for further confirmatiō of my cause doubting nothing but that most wise men seeing by the aduersaries graunt all learned fathers to be on our side will accept it either as a full proofe or no small presumption of that trueth which we defend 6 But list you heare how this presumptuousse pratler can not conclude his chapter which he began with lying vpon Melancthon but by slaundering of Caluine He faineth that Caluine in the wordes by him rehersed confesseth all the doctors to be against him and yet setteth not a butten for them all The best reproofe of this calumniation shal be to sende them that be desirous to know the trueth vnto the whole discourse of Caluine vpon satisfaction Insti lib. 3. cap. 4 which who so list to doe shall plainely see whether Allen doth him not here open wrong But because euery man either can not for the lacke of the booke or will not for want of good affections towardes Caluine take so much paines as to peruse his owne writing I will aunswere in a worde or two After that Caluine hath most substantially proued both by authority of holy Scripture and also by consent of auncient doctors that their is no satisfaction vnto God for our sinnes but onely the death of Christ he cōmeth at length to speake of the worde of satisfaction which sayth he as it is often vsed in the olde writers so sometime hardely as improperly that M. Allen calleth roughly or if any of them haue erred about satisfaction it were not reason that their error shoulde preuaile against the open trueth And cleerely to conuicte M. Allen of a loude lye where he sayth that Caluine confesseth all the doctors to be against him his wordes follow immediatly after those rehersed by M. Allen Sed non credam eos ipsos adeo fuisse rudes imperitos vt eo sensu illa scripserint quo à nouis istis satisfactionariis legūtur That is how soeuer they haue either erred or spoken vnproprely of satisfaction yet I will not graunt that the same men were so rude and ignoraunt that they did wright those thinges in that sense in which they are read by these new satisfactionaries Then doth he bring forth diuers testimonies both out of Chrysostome and Augustine to shew what their iudgement was of satisfaction agreable to the Scriptures by which must be expounded what so euer they haue vttered that seemeth either erroneus or at the lest vnproprely spoken As for that reuerend father M. Iewell whome this arrogant Louanist calleth the English bragger how well he hath answered his challendge his owne learned labors do more cleerely testifie vnto the worlde then that it can be blemished by this sycophants braynlesse babling A briefe ioyning in reason and argument vpon the proued groundes vvith the aduersaries for the declaration of Purgatory CAP. V. 1 HAving vndoubtedly wonne thus much both by euidēt testimony of holy writ by the warraunt of all the learned fathers by good reason and by the aduersaries owne confession I will be bolde to bare the very iointes of the argument that both the simple may acknowledge my plaine dealing and the Protestant haue his vauntage if the reason stand not vpright VVith out colour or glose then thus I make my proofe
After the sinnes of man be pardoned God oftentimes punisheth the offender the church punisheth him and man punisheth him selfe ergo there is some payne due after sinne be remitted Secondly this payne can not alwayes be discharged in this world eyther for lacke of space after the remission as it happeth in repentaunce at the houre of death or else when the party liueth in perpetuall welth without care or cogitation of any satisfaction therefore it must be aunswered in an other place Thirdly the common infirmities and the dayly trespasses which abase and defile the workes euen of the vertuous of their proper condition doe deserue payne for a tyme as the mortall offence deserueth perpetuall Therefore as the mortall sinne being not here pardoned must of iustice haue the reward of euerlasting punishment so it must needes followe that the veniall fault not here forgeuen should haue the reward which of nature it requireth that is to say temporall payne And therefore not onely the wicked but the very iust also must trauell to haue their daily infirmities and frailty of their corrupt natures forgiuen crying without ceasing forgeue vs our debts Quia non iustificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis viuens For no man aliue shal be able to stand before the face of God in his owne iustice or righteousnes and if these light sinnes should neuer be imputed then it were needelesse to cry for mercy or confesse debt as euery man doth be he neuer so passing holy To be briefe this debt of paine for sinne by any way remayning at the departure hence must of iustice be aunswered VVhich can not be without punishmēt in the next life then there must be a place of iudgement for temporall and transitory paynes in the other world The whole discourse made before hath geuen force enough to euery part of the argument the Scriptures doe proue it the practise of the Church confirmeth it all the doctors by our aduersaries graunt agree vpon it If they haue any thing to say here I make them fayre play the ground is open the reasons laide naked before their face remoue them as they can Lette them deale simply if they meane truely and not flourish as they vse vppon a false ground that in flowe of wordes they may couer errour or in rase of their smoth talke ouerrunne truth And that euery man may perceiue that we haue not raised this doctrine vpon reason only or curiositie although the graue authoritie of Gods Church might here in satisfie sober wittes we will now by Gods helpe go nearer the matter and directly make proofe of Purgatory by holy Scriptures reciting such places of the olde and new Testament as shall proue our cause euen in that sense which the learnedst and godlyest fathers of all ages by conference of places or other likelyhood shall fynde and determine to be most true Alleaging none els but such as they haue in the flour of Christian faith noted and peculiarely construed for that purpose which now is in question That the aduersaries of that doctrine may rather striue with the said saincts and doctours then with me that will as they shall well perceiue do nothing but truely reporte their wordes or meaninge Or rather that such as haue erred in that case by giuing ouer light credit to the troblesome teachers of these vnhappy dayes maye when they shall vnderstand the true meaning of the Scriptures the constant doctrine of the Catholike Church the wordes of all auncient writers the determination of so many holy Councels the olde vsage of all nations by humble prayers obteine of God the light of vnderstanding the trueth and the gifte of obedience to his will and worde Or if there be any so sattled in this vnlickely sect that he purposeth not to beleue the graue writers of olde times nor receiue their expositions vpon such places as we shall recite for that preiudice which he hath of this owne witte and vnderstanding yet let him not maruell at my simplicity that had rather geue credit to others then my selfe Or that in this hote time of contention and partaking in religion I do repose my selfe vnder the shadow of so many worthy writers as anone shall giue euidence in my cause CAP. V. 1 TRiumphing before the victorie and that is more before the encontry of hāde strokes for we come to ioyning but now you will now win your spurs or els it shal be a blacke daye with all Protestantes I will be as shorte in mine aunswere as you are in your arguments And that I may put on an armour of proofe to beare of your terrible haileshot your first argumēt hath neither good forme nor matter no more hath your second no more hath your third If you or any for you will prepare your selfe to geue a bitter charge either I or some other shal be redy to shape you an other aunswere But because here is nothing in this briefe ioyning but which hath bene largly discharged before in aunswere to your longe excursions it were nedelesse to make such vaine repetition as you doe especially in your last shorte argument in which space all the substaunce of your large booke might easily haue bene placed only to fil vp a competent length of the fift chapter and with such a tedious inlarging of a superfluous matter as a yong practiser of Rhetoricke would be ashamed to vse in a fayned declamation much worse becomming an auncient master of arte professing to trusse vp his arguments by Logicke to make a perfect perswasion As for the promisse of further proofe both out of the Scriptures and out of the doctors that followeth after this gallant ioyning and lusty challenge shall haue no preiudice of my disabling of the meane to perform it vntill it appeare by playne conference of his arguments and myne aunswers that his words are but winde and his promisse but pratling That Purgatory paines doth not onely serue Gods iustice for the punishement of sinne but also cleanse and qualifie the soule of man defiled for the more seemely entraunce into the holy places vvith conferēce of certaine places of Scripture for that purpose CAP. VI. 1 IF we well cōsider the wonderfull base condition and state of mans nature corrupted by our first fathers disobedience and more and more abased by continuall misery that sinne hath brought into our mortall life we shall finde the worke of Gods wisedome in the excellent repaire of this his creature to be full of mercy and full of maruell But proceding somewhat further and weying not onely his restoring but also the passing great anauncement to the vnspeakable glory of the elect there shall reason and all our cogitations vtterly faint and faile vs. The kingdome prepared is honored with the maiestie of the glorious Trinitie with the humanitie of Christ our Sauiour with the blessed Mary the vessell of his Incarnation with the bewtifull creatures and wholy vndefiled of all the ordres of Angels There can nothing doubtlesse
proofe out of the holy Scripture that he may be fully established in his faith and the aduersary heretike wholy confounded in his misbelefe If he list not rather as I heartely pray to God that he may geue ouer that vnnaturall plea holden to long against the Catholike Church our mother Geue eare then vnto the wordes of our Sauiour written in the Gospell of S. Matthew Esto consentiens aduersario tuo cito dum es in via cum eo ne forte tradat te aduersarius iudici iudex tradat te ministro in carcerem mittaris Amen dico tibi non exies inde donec reddas nouissimuÌ„ quadrantem Be at agreement with thine aduersary speedely whiles thou arte with him in the waye Lest that aduersary deliuer thee vp to the iudge the iudge commit thee to an officer by whome thou may be cast into prison surely I say vnto thee thou shalt not get out till thou haue discharged the vttermost farthing Now being desirous of the trueth and true meaning of this letter for the vnderstanding maketh all because there may arise by the darkenesse of that figuratiue speach some diuersity of sense let vs indifferently wey euery worde and with diligence examine the circumstances of the texte whereby any light may appeare And first being admonished to agree with our aduersary we may right well know that he meaneth not by the commoÌ„ enemie of our kinde that rometh about seeking whome he may deuour for his cruell assaultes must onely by resistaunce be withstand Neither the worde which the Euangelistes there vsed can properly signifie any malicious enemy that by hatered of our person is become our deadly foe as those which be skillfull in the language is wherein they wrote do confesse But rather as well the worde as the iust consideration of the place driueth vs to acknowledge that this our aduersary here signifieth our brother which hath iuste quarell against vs in iudgement for that we woulde not geue eare vnto him sharply admonishing vs of our faultes being therefore an aduersary to our viceis and fleshly coÌ„uersation In which sort to vs that are flesh and bloude and redy to euill from our youth all be aduersaries that preach Christ the amendement of licentious maners repentaunce of our lothsome life past or els vse against vs the rodde of correction and bodyly punishment that our soules may be saued in the day of the appearing of our Lorde To this kinde of aduersary Christ councelleth and commaundeth vs for our great good to agree and consent whiles we be here in the way of this our pilgramage and transitory life lest all these meanes which he wroght to reduce vs to the perfection of a Christian godly life be as it were a witnesse of our contempt him selfe our accuser before the iudge that shall so iustely reward euery man according to his deedes that is Christ him selfe to whome the father hath geuen all iudgement VVhose ministers being Angels either good or badde for the execution of iustice vpon sinners shall at his appointment cast vs into the prison and dongion there to be holden from life and liberty till we haue paide the last farthing the toleration of which bondes shall recompense the debtes which by wel doing and much mourning in the way of this world we refused to pay as S. Augustine piththely speaketh in these wordes Si non reddit faciendo iustitiam reddet patiendo miseriam he that paieth not his debt by dooing that which is iust right he shall pay it by suffering misery VVhich we trust the pitifull paines of that prison through the only desertes and merites of Christ our Lorde and God shall so discharge that after the payment either pardoned or fully made we may haue ioyfull accesse to his blessed presence For the forme of speache vsed in like ordre of wordes by both the Euangelistes doth vs plainely to vnderstande that we may through Christ make full payment thereof Ells he woulde not by likelihood haue saide that we shoulde not scape forth till we had discharged â–ª the vtmost farthing but rather that seuere iudge would haue geueÌ„ charge that the offender should be bouÌ„de hand and foutte and cast into the darke doungion of euerlasting daâ—nation prepared for the deuill and his angels which is the second and euerlasting death Namelâ— the worde of Imprisonment so well agreeing therevnto that it may not well admit any other meaning but a place of temporall torment For a prison is a place of correction chastisement of such as be on liue in which as longe as life lasteth a man may be in hope of liberty though his bondage for a time be neuer so vntollerable but when sentence of death is once pronounced in this worlde or damnation in the next then we may right well knowe Gods mercy to be shutte vp and the party desperate of all recouery Neither the name of Imprisonment in Scripture is lightly taken for the place of euerlasting punishment nor can by confereÌ„ce of the sundry partes of this letter haue here conueniently any such sense CAP. X. 1 HEre according to M. Allens orderly proceding is alleged for purgatory a place out of S. Matthew where Christ saith to him that neglecteth to reconcile him selfe to his aduersary before he came to the iudge that he shall be cast into prison from whence he shall not come vntill he haue payed the vttermost farthing The meaning of Christ is playne that he shall neuer come out no more then that wicked seruaunt which was cast in pryson vntill he shoulde pay the whole debt which was ten thousand talents Matth. 18. But before we goe any further let vs se how the doctrine of this chapter agreeth with that we had in the chapter next before Theâ—e we were told that purgatory serueth but for veniall sinnes or else for such mortall sinnes as by forgeuenes in this life obtayned are made veniall trespasses But here not onely vices and fleshly conuersation but also contempt of all that preach Christ and repentaunce of our lothsome life past c. are sayd to be the debt that must be discharged in purgatory to the vttermost farthing then the which no vice is more mortall nor farther from forgeuenes For he that not only leadeth a lothsome life but also contemneth all those meanes that Christ hath wrought to reduce him to the perfecton of a Christian godly life I vse his owne wordes how can he haue remission of his sinnes in this life and yet M. Allen dare promise him that the toleration of bandes in the prison of purgatory shall recompence his debt and bring him from thence into the blessed presence of Christ. M. Allen hath the most passing faculty of any that euer I heard to build one thing in one leafe and to ouerthrow it him selfe againe in the next Neuerthelesse I can not abide that he should promise a pardon of that payment
out till they haue payed the vttermost farthing Those must passe the fiery floode by horrible fordes of skawlding waues VVhereof the Prophet maketh mention thus And a firy streame ranne before his face The space of passage shall be measured by the matter of sinne according to the encrease of our offensies the discreite discipline of that flame shall reuenge againe and looke how farre in wickednesse our foly did reach so farre this punishment shall wisely waste And like as Gods worde compareth mans soule to a brasen potte saying Set the potte empty ouer the coles till the brasse thereof of waxe hote So there thou shalt see periury angre malice vnfructefull desires sweate out which did infect the purity of mans noble nature there the pewter and leade of diverse passions which did abase the pure golde of Gods image shall be consumed away All which thinges might in our life time haue easely bene wiped away by almes and teares Such a strait accompt loe will he kepe with man that for mans sake gaue him selfe to death and being throust through with nailes hath fastened the dominion of death also So farre hath Emissenus spoken and his wordes be so weighty that they haue bene counted worthy rehersall in solemne Sermâ—ns and Homilies of the Antiquity to stirre vp their hearers to the necessary awe of Gods iudgements with much prouocation of vertuous life S. Augustine hath the selfe same discourse almost no word thereof chaunged VVith this addition Ideo fratres charissimi conuertamus nos ad meliora dum in nostra potestate sunt remedia Therfore deare brethern let vs turne and amende by time whilest the remedies be yet in our owne dealinge And in an other place thus he toucheth the scripture alleaged Apparebit Deus Deorum in Syon sed quando post peregrinationem finita via si tamen post finitam viam non iudici tradamur vt iudex mittat in carcerem The God of Gods in Syon shall appeare but when mary after our pilgramage be past and the iourney ended Excepte it sâ— fall out that after our iourney here we be deliuered vp to the iudge so the iudge send vs to prison To this place also S. Bernarde doth sâ—eetely but yet fearefully allude in this exhortation Volat sayth he irreuocabile verbum dum creditis vos cauere poenam istam minimam incurritis multo ampliorem Illud enim scitote quia post hanc vitam in locis purgabilibus centupliciter quae fuerunt hic neglecta reddentur vsque ad nouissimum quadrantem Our worde not possible to be called backe flyeth farre and whilest you seeke to auoyde a litle griefe here you incurre much greater For assure your selfe of this that after this life in places of purgation all negligencies past must be repaide a hundreth foulde home againe till the discharge of the last farthinge 4 As for this authority of Eusebius which hath serued for a patch to peece vp so many homilies of so many diuerse men as a Cuckowes song vttered in diuerse places semeth neither to haue Eusebius nor Augustine nor any other good author to be the father of it but euen some cowled cuckowe that hath left this egge in so many birdes nestes to be hatched vnder their winges and to be counted for one of their chickens but that your voyce doth soone bewray it And here a man may note a great peece of cunning in them that had the writing out of bookes about those times when errours began to take strength that not onely whole workes were falsly intitled to diuers good authours but also patches inserted to their owne workes And if any thing by them were once spoken that sounded to the confirmation of those errors that was thrust into diuers places of their writings lest it should scarse be espied in one And hereof it commeth that such sayings in Augustine Chrysostome and other as seeme to allow prayer for the dead be so often repeated in their writings and especially in homilies that were taken of their mouthes by Scribes and Notaries But who so euer was the father of this sentence as he speaketh friendely for the paynes of purgatory so he sheweth him self an vtter enemy to the release of the same So doth that Augustine which addeth his exhortation to these wordes by him repeated But the other Augustine which writeth vpon the 103. Psalme sayth that God shall appeare to them onely which are not cast into prison when they be departed out of this life therfore I muse wherefore those wordes are here brought in For Augustine as I will shew afterward vnderstandeth that prison for hell and eternal tormeÌ„ts Bernard although he be too yong to depose in this cause yet he speaketh not so much to auouch the paynes of purgatory as to deny the remedy or remission of them wherefore his testimony helpeth not purgatory so much one way as it hindreth the Papistes gayne an other way 5 Here now let our aduersaries in this bright shining trueth blinde them selues let them boldely bost of their accustomed impudency that the Catholickes haue no scriptures nor apparence of scriptures or if they stande with vs for the meaning let them shape with all their conueyaunce any one shifte to aunswere these doctors words Or if the vniforme consent of so many of the best learning and greatest wisedom in the whole Church may haue no roome with them let them shew whereupon their owne credits be growne so great that without reason likelihood or authority men must needes beleue them It is a straunge case that what soeuer they auouch it must be Gods word what meaning so euer they make for maintenance of their wicked foly it must be termed the true sense of Scripture And the truth it selfe shewing all force in the conference of diuers places of holy writte in weight of reason in the workes and writings of all antiquitie shall be so lightly regarded I would to God the people pitifully deceiued by such vayne flying talke could beholde the vpright wayes of truth or could learne by the playne dealing of our side to require some grounded proofe of these newe doctors deuises They may well perceiue if they haue any necessary care of those weighty matters touching our saluation so neare that the Catholike neuer aduentureth to bring any Scripture for his purpose but he will be sure for his warrant to haue the same so expounded by the auncient fathers of our faith lest by his rashnesse he deceiue other and father some falshood vpon the holy writers of Gods will which were horrible sacrilege But on the other side if a man might pose M. Caluin or Flaccius or such other of that light family what doctor or Scripture they followed in the exposition of S. Iames his place for the anoynting with holy oyle when they were not ashamed to giue this sense of that Scripture that it were good to call the elders of the people that had
stand with trueth and be not repugnaunt to good life and maners And he hedgeth the diuersity of mens wittes in the exposition of scripture with in the double knot of loue which is towards God and our brother Who so euer sayth he taketh him selfe to vnderstand scripture or any parte thereof and in that meaning edifieth nothing at all the double loue of God and our neighbour he misseth the true meaning thereof But who so euer can finde out such a sense that may be commodious to the increase of charitie although it were not directly intended by the writer yet he is not harmefully deceiued nor founde a lyar therein so sayth he Now as for our matter I am well assured there dare no man though he were destitute of Gods grace yet not for shame of him selfe affirme that the doctrine of purgatory is hourtfull to vertuous life the only miscredit whereof hath vtterly banished all good Christian condicions or iniurious to the faith of Gods Church which is not only agreable but principally intended by the plaine letter of Gods worde and consonant to all other meanings that may be gathered by any such scripture as we haue alleaged there for and to be short receiued of so many fathers so wise and so well learned as we haue named for that purpose as a trueth most reasonable most naturall and most agreable to Gods iustice VVell then the misbeleuers can haue no shifte nor escape by the chalenge of Gods word or doctures or diuersity of sensies here is no holde for errour all I trust be safe and sure on euery side CAP. XI 1 YOu shoulde breake your olde wonte if you did not in this chapter ouerthrow something that you haue builded in that which went next going before He hath labored all this while to proue that purgatory hath grounde in the Scriptures now he cōfesseth franckely that there hath bene no text of scripture by him alleaged to proue it but it may haue an other meaninge and is sometime other wise construed of the fathers them selues I will aske no more to proue that purgatory hath no grounde in the worde of God which is not an ambiguous oracle that may be drawen euery way like a leaden rule hath but one true sence or meaning which is the right meaning of the holy Ghost For although diuerse men may geue diuerse interpretations of some obscure and harde place which all conteine no impiety or falshode yet the spirite of God meaneth but one thing and not what euery mans wit and iudgement will take it to be True it is that so longe as the proportion of faith is kept the Church beareth with them that geue wronge interpretations but the spirite of God which is in his Church alloweth not wronge interpretations for right And where as M. Allen alloweth all the interpretatiōs that the fathers haue made of the text by him alleaged as true so long as they affirmed no error he may by the same reason affirme that contradictories are true as in that saying of him that shall not come out vntill he haue payed the vttermost farthing some haue expounded that he shal be alwayes punished some that he shall not be alwayes punished One sayth he shal neuer be released an other saith he shall be released at length how is it possible that both these interpretations can be true and yet both these interpretations are founde in some writers But his suerest shifte is that the doctrine of purgatory was a knowen trueth in all ages But this is the whole matter in controuersie For how can it be taken for a knowen trueth in all ages which hath none so suer grounde in any text of scripture that cā be wrested for it but the same text may haue an other and that a true interpretation But of the antiquity of that error we shall haue better occasion hereafter to discusse in the second booke where this matter is of purpose intreated of In the meane time we wil take that which is here graunted so liberaly that there is no text of scripture alleaged for purgatory but it may be otherwise truely interpreted and not of purgatory and that the fathers haue so done by M. Allens owne confession 2 Their extreme and onely refuge is that the paine of Christes passion and his sufficient payment for our sinnes standeth not with our satisfaction or penaunce in this life nor with paine or purgatory in the next O Lorde how farre may mans malice reach that not contented to abuse their reason and the word of God in persuasion of errour but are bolde to referre Christes blessed death also to cloke together with falsehood wanton and licentious liuing Many vertuous persons haue bene prouoked by the meditation of our Sauiours sorowes to leaue the stattering welth of this worlde and to charge them selues with perpetuall vexation of body but that any did euer so rest vpon Christes passion that in respect thereof they might passe their dayes in idle welth of lust and liberty that was I trow vnhearde of before this sinnefull sect These fellowes argue thus Christ hath paide the full price of our sinnes ergo we must do no penaunce nor suffer any paine for them But S. Paule thus Christ by paine and passiō is entred into the glory of his kingdome ergo if we looke to be his fellow heires or partakers of his glory we must suffer affliction with him and ioyne with him in paines and passion S. Peter also thus Christ hath suffered leauing you an example that ye should follow his steppes therefore all his blessed life passed in paine must be a perpetuall sturring vp of toleration gladde suffering for his name againe Iohn our maisters messenger prepared the way of Christes death and doctrine by worthy fructes of penaunce and that was the beginning of Christes owne preaching therfore I dare be bolde to say these thinges are not abrogated by the teaching of the Gospel nor voide by Christs passion which onely maketh our workes and merites to be of that value and acceptation that all Catholike men counte them of which els to the satisfying for sinne shoulde be nothing auaileable nor to the atteining of heauen any thing profitable But it is foly to make ouer many wordes in a case so plaine seeing the example of both God and good mens dealing abundantly proueth mans punishment either temporall or eternall to stande well with the excellent value of our Sauiours death For if paine for sinne were iniurious to Christes death then the holy prophet Dauid that liued long in greuous penaunce were iniurious to his Lordes death then the Church were iniurious to her owne spouse his death that chargeth all offenders with penaunce then God him selfe were iniurious to his owne sonnes death that sharply punisheth sinne forgeuen then Christ him selfe were iniurious to his owne death that both by his example and holy preaching did euer commend sharpe penaunce and paine These
delicat teachers of our time that vnder pretence of preaching the Gospell auouching the glory of God and the grace of our redemption haue serued mens lustes abandoned the olde austerity of Christian life and rased out of the peoples hartes the feare of Gods iudgements were foreseene by the holy Apostle Iudas And he calleth them Impios transferentes Domini nostri gratiam in luxuriam VVicked men turning the grace of our Lorde vnto wantonnesse and lust Against whome also S. Paule made this exception that they shoulde not in any wise by the freedome of our redemption chalenge any liberty of the fleshe Notwithstanding Christes passion then we must not otherwise thinke but to suffer for our owne sinnes not as helping the insufficiencie of his merites but as making our selues apte to receiue that blessed benefit which effectually worketh vpon no man but by meanes nor serueth any to saluation but by obedience of his will and worde For if Christes death shoulde worke accordinge to the full force of it selfe it woulde doubtlesse suppe vp all sinne and all paine for sinne it might wipe away death both of this present life and eternall it woulde leaue neither Hell Purgatory nor paine the price and worthinesse thereof being so aboundaunt that it might being not otherwise by the vnserchable will and wisedome of the sufferer limited saue the whole worlde But now ordinary wayes by Gods wisedome appointed for the bestowing of that excellent medicinable cuppe as S. Augustine termeth it and condicions required in the parties beside Christes death doth not discharge vs of satisfaction for our sinnes nor of any other good worke whereby man may procure his owne saluation 2 The sufficiency of Christes passion is compted a light argument to M. Allen but the weight thereof shall not withstanding beaâ—e doune all the blasphemous doctrine of Popery He sayth thereby we cloke falsehoode and licentious liuinge The Lorde knoweth that he â—claundereth vs Then he will frame our argument therof as he list but there in he doth vs too much wronge But thus we reason in deede Christ hath payed the full price of our sinnes therefore there is no parte of the price left to be payed by vs Christ hath fully satisfied for our sinnes therefore their remaineth no satisfaction for vs Christ hath suffered for our iniquities therefore we are healed by his stripes And yet we neither exclude repentance nor the true fructes thereof which are good workes but rather we establish them For Christ hath payed the price of their sinnes that repente and beleue in him that follow his steppes that walke in his precepts but neither our repentaunce nor our fayth nor good workes deserue any thing onely the death of Christ is all our merite and the onely meane by which the same is applied vnto vs and we receiue it is our fayth thus the scripture teacheth thus we beleeue And as for that vaine amplification of M. Allen that the full force of Christes death woulde suppe vp all sinne death hell and paine we may see there by how Sathan deludeth heretikes to extende the benefits of Christes death vppon a fonde supposition beyonde the limittes of his will not to allow the same to stretch so farre as Gods determination hath apointâ—d it Christ hath satisfyed for our sinnes yet we must make satisfaction our selues Christ by his suffering is become a cause of saluation to all that beleiue in him yet euery man by good workes must procure his owne saluation These are the enemies of the crosse of Christ which glory in their owne shame whose ende is confusion 3 And I am not a frayde to vse the word Satisfaction with Cyprian Oâ—â—gen Ambrose Augustine and the rest of that blessed fellowship VVho right wel knew the valew of our redemption and the force of that satisfaction which our Sauiour made vpon the Crosse. I dare well leaue these pety diuines and speake with the grand capitanes of our faith and religion And I woulde to God I coulde as well in any part come after them in example of Christian life VVho not so much in worde as in the course of all their conuersation lefte vnto vs perfect paterns of great and greuous penaunce Their longe watching and wailinge their straunge weyelde and waste habitation their rough appareling their hard lying their meruelous fasting their perpetual praying their extreme voluntary pouerty and all this to preuent Gods iudgement in the worlde to come for those small infirmities and offensies of their fraile life may make our aduersaries ashamed of them selues that neither will followe their blessed steppes nor yet which is the greatest signe of Gods anger towardes them that can be like it and allowe it in others 3 Touching the worde of Satisfaction vsed by the olde writers I haue shewed before that they vsed it not in that sense which the Papistes doe And I confesse with M. Allen that they not onely knew but also haue expressed the valewe of our redemption by Christ in such words as it is not possible that the Popish satisfaction can not stand with them Against the valew of which redemption if they haue vttered any thing by the worde of satisfaction or any thing els we may lawfully reiect their auctoritie not onely though they be doctors of the Church but also if they were angels from heauen There heartie bewayling of their sinnes and fructes of true repentaunce that they shewed not to iustifie them selues thereby but to humble them selues before God and to cause their light to shine to his glorie we praye God we may follow not to set vp our righteousnesse but to the prayse of his name An euident and most certaine demonstration of the trueth of Purgatory and the greuousnesse of the paines thereof vttered by the prayers and vvordes of the holy doctors and by some extraordinary vvorkes of God beside CAP. XII 1 ANd we also that by Gods grace and great mercy be Catholikes must needs here conceiue singular feare of Gods terrible iudgments which of iustice he must practise vpon our wickednesse that liue nowe in pleasure and worldely welth after such a carelesse sorte that men may iudge we haue no respect of the dredfull day nor care of Purgatory which in wordes we so earnestly mainteine The deepe and perpetuall feare whereof caused our elders not only to leade their life in such perpetual paine but further forced them to breake out in bitter teares and vtter most godly prayers that they might escape the iudgement of God exercised by the paines of Purgatory at the ende of our shorte and vncertaine life Some of them I will recite that our hartes may melte in the necessary foresight of that terrible time and the heretikes be ashamed to deny that which so constantly in worde and worke they euer professed For feare of this fire to come holy S. Bernarde maketh this meditation O vtinam magis nunc daret aliquis capiti meo aquas oculis
incredulity to blaspheme these peculiar steppes of the spirite S. Cyprian complaineth of such misbeleuers in his time that woulde not agree to the trueth after especiall reuelations had of the same VVhich kinde of men he noteth in the latter ende of an epistle by these wordes Quanquam sciam omnia ridicula visiones ineptas quibusdam videri sed vtique illis qui malunt contra sacerdotes credere quam sacerdoti Sed nihil mirum quando de Ioseph fratres sui dixerunt ecce somniator ille venit Although sayth he I know right well howe litle accompte they make of visions which they esteeme as mere trieftes But yet it is such onely that had rather beleeue against then with Gods priestes And no meruaill that is seeing good Iosephs owne brethern saide by him in mockage Lo yender comes the dreamer So did they scoffe at him because he had more familiarity with the spirite of God then the other had 4 Now followeth a large and needelesse apologie of visions and reuelations the doctrine of which is briefely and plainely set forth in the worde of God what so euer is consonant to the word of God is to be receiued that which is not agreable therewith is to be detested although not a man from purgatory but an angell from heauen were the bringer of it Then seeing the doctrine of purgatory is blasphemous against the merites of Christes death though all those fables of visions that are fayned to defende it were true stories yet are we nothing moued with them I passe ouer the impudency of this man which is not ashamed to compare so many thousand fables or illusions of Sathan as are reported to the maintaining of purgatory to the reuelation of S. Paule and the Apocalypse of S. Iohn or the appering of Moses and Elias with christ They may be in deede a great nombre of them not vnlike to that spirite of Samuell which was raised by the witche which as Augustine affirmeth and M. Allen dare not simply deny was the spirite of the Deuill him selfe 5 Now as the ioyes of heauen Paradise with the tormeÌ„t of sinners and other secrets of the next life haue bin straungly represented to some one or other in all ages by sundry meanes most expedient to our saluation and most seemely to the wisedom and will of the worker so certainely no article was euer with more force of spirite or more graue authority set forth sence the beginning of Christian religion then this one of Purgatory Neuer nation was conuerted to the faith but it had this trueth not only taught by worde but by miracle also confirmed And namely in that aboundant floode of faith when it pleased God almost at once to spreade his name amongest all these contryes it was thought most necessary to his diuine wisedome together with the true worship of his name to plant in all faithfull mens heartes the awe and necessary feare of that greeuous torment for the reuenge and iust iudgement of wicked life This greeuous payne was vttered by the very sufferers them selues as we may see in the notable histories of Paschasius and Iustus reported by S. Gregories owne mouth This greeuous punishment was agayne declared by Furseus who as the reuerent Bede reporteth had the beholding of the eternall blesse the euerlasting miâ—ery and the temporall payne of the next life Drichelmus also by the ordinaunce of God taken from amongst mortall men into the state of the next world after he had seene likewise the terrible iudgement of God practised euen vpon the elect was restored to life againe in our owne nation and was a witnesse worthy of all credit of this same truth not only by his word wherof he was so sparing all his life time after that he would not vtter this same mistery but with singular care and respect of the persons intent that asked him thereof but namely by passing great penaunce and incredible chastising of his body which proceded of the sensible knowledge that he had of the paynes prepared And being asked sometime as holy Bede sayth why he so tormented him selfe in the willing toleration of extreme heate or contrary cold both of frost and snow he made aunswere simply and shortly Frigidiora ora ego vidi austeriora ego vidi Ah maisters I haue seene colder I haue seene sharper Meaning by the vnspeakeable paines of Purgatory The whole history of his visions with many the like may be reade in the Ecclesiasticall history of our owne nation written by as faithfull a witnesse as euer was borne in our lande of such vertue that he woulde begile no man willingly of so great wisedome that he woulde report no tale nor triefle rashly of such grace and learning that he was well able to disâ—erne a false fable and superstitious illusion from a true and diuine reuelation For as it were foly and mere vanity to geue credit to euery spirite so to condemne a spirite or reuelation or any worke of Gods finger approued by the Church of God in which there hath euer bene the gifte of discerning spirites it is properly a sinne against the holy Ghost And because euery man hath not that gifte as I woulde not counsell any man ouer lightely to geue credit to euery priuat spirite and peculiar vision because they may come of wicked intentes and sinister motions so I thinke it were good in feare reuerence and humility to commit the discerning of such thinges to the spirite and iudgement of Gods Church VVith the belefe of euery peculiar mans phantasie we are not charged with humble submission of our whole life and belefe to the Church of Christ there are we especially charged And because there is nothing reported either in the workes of S. Gregory or in Bede or in Damascen or in any other the like concerning the paines either of the elect or the damned in the next life but as much hath bene vttered before by all the holy and learned fathers in great agony of minde and feare of the saide iudgement we may be the more bolde to thinke the best or rather we are bounde to thinke the best of that spirite which so conformably agreeth with the doctrine of the Church and faith of all the fathers There can no man say more of Purgatory nor more plainely then S. Ambrose being in a maner a frade him selfe of wasting away in that horrible tormeÌ„t none more effectually then S. Augustine that confesseth there is no earthely paine comparable vnto it none more fearefully then Eusebius Emissenus who termeth it skaulding waues of fire none more pithely then Paulinus that calleth those places of iudgements Ardentes tenebras burning darknesse More peculiarly may the circumstances and condicion of that state by God be reueled but the trueth thereof can not be more plainely declared nor better proued These babes feared no bugges I warraunt you neither picked they Purgatory out of Scipio his dreame
flambes of purgatory But as I haue noted before that you haue hetherto kept this order for the most parte to plante one thinge in one chapter and then to pull it vp by the rootes in the next so you haue not forgotten your selfe in the diuision of your bookes But that the latter shoulde be a sufficient confutation of the former or else the former a manifest excluding of the latter For if the iustice of God doth so necessarily require a punishment for sinnes remitted that the same coulde not be satisfied no not by that only sacrifice which the sonne of God offered once for all on the aulter of the crosse it is a colde comforte that a carefull conscience can receiue that the same shoulde be done by his merites or your Masses which was not done by the bloude of Christ Yet now you will talke how the fiery sword maye be turned away surely if the fiery and shaking sworde that was set to exclude man from Paradise was not taken away by the death of Christ when he opened Paradise yea the kingdome of heauen whereof Paradise was but a sacrament vnto all beleuers I meruaill how either the penitent these had passage into Paradise or what engins you Papistes haue to turne it awaye which he had not The wordes of Damascene if they were not applied as you saye they are to purgatory paines and remedies of the same were true of Gods iustice and his mercy but as his age is to young so his authoritie is to light to controll the trueth of the worde of God or the practise of the first purest Church which knew no purgatory nor prayers for the deade But if our sinnes forgeuen were neuer so greuous c. what mad man woulde euer write thus Euen such a one as might be allowed to speake thus if blacke were neuer so blacke before it were cleane taken away and perfect white placed in the steede yet when white is white it is white But M. Allen wil not allowe that the coullor of our sinnes is cleane taken away and a contrary coullor of righteousnesse set vppon vs but that sinnes forgeuen be but halfe forgeuen the gilte taken awaye the punishment due for the gilte still remayning And this one halfe of forgeuenesse is but graunted in wordes and denied in deede For if the gilte of our sinnes be cleane taken away from vs and layed vpon the person of Christ and the righteousnesse of Christ is communicated vnto vs what is there lefte in vs that God of his goodnesse can hate or of his iustice can punish So it is but for a fashion that the papistes graunt any parte of our sinnes forgeuen when they will haue vs make satisfaction for them our selues But where as M. Allen is out of measure prodigall in promising releiffe and release of purgatory paines to them whose sinnes were neuer so greuous their vicious life wasted in idle wealth the space of penaunce and opportunity of working neglected in time preuented by sodaine death c rehersing so many meanes of mitigation as sometime the bloude of Christ the residew of his merites the crye of the mother Church the memory of the Masse the merites of all Sainctes the prayers of the faithfull and workes of the charitable All this notwithstanding take heede you poore Papistes that you geue no credit to these flattering wordes For it is the opinion of all the olde writers that doe allowe any of these thinges to profit men after their death and concluded by the Maister of the Sentence and aduouched by Allen him selfe afterwarde chapt 7. that no man can receiue benefit after his departure by any worke or will of the liuing but he that in his life deserued the same neither shal any thing worke vpon him more or lesse but according to his owne deseruing in this life Trust not therefore in these sophisticall vanities which are contrary one to an other but imbrace the vniforme vndoubted doctrine of Gods word which teacheth repentaunce faith iustification and saluation not with curious questions to troble your braynes but with perfect conclusions to quyet your conscience not suffering you to sleepe in securitie vpon hope of helpe after your death but charging you to shew the force of mortification and fruictes of fayth while you are aliue Not puffing vp your phantasie with pride of your owne merites but teaching you to ascribe all prayse to Gods glorious grace and infinite mercy 2 The cruell aduersary of man kinde as before he wrought his worst against Purgatory so here he busely pricketh forwarde the schoole of Protestantes to improue to their owne vtter damnation and the notable hinderaunce of our louing bretherns saluation all such meanes as God by scripture or other testimony of his worde hath reueled to be profitable for the abating of paine or the release of the apointed punishment in that place of temporall torment to come Against which deceiuers I meane by Gods helpe in this ordre to trauell 2 The cruell aduersary of mankinde and enuyor of Gods glory inuented Purgatory to deface the merites of Christes death and to blemish the onely meanes of mans eternall life which when he coulde not with any seemely coullor establish by the authority of the holy Scriptures the onely testimony of his worde and will reueiled and confirmed by his holy Spirite he hath inuented fayned fables and deuilish illusions to deceiue the mindes of them whome he had enclined vnto superstition and not bene ashamed to match them in credit and estimation with the very worde of God it selfe As appereth by this scribe of Sathan which nameth the scriptures for a simple shew but by and by addeth other testimonies of Gods worde beside the scriptures inspired by God whereby he maketh equiualent those false reuelations raised vp from Hell with the inspiratiō of the holy Ghost which hath brought the truth from heauen But now commeth in the order of this deuillyshe horror 3 First I will proue that sinnes may be pardoned or the debt and bonde thereof released in the next worlde 3 You shall neuer proue by authoritie of Gods word that sinnes not repented in this life shal be pardoned after this life where there is no repentaunce profitable nor yet any debt payed but by them that paye it eternally in perpetuall torments 4 Then I shall shewe what meanes the holy Scripture approueth or the example thereof awarraunteth to be proffitable for the soules departed 4 When you can proue either by doctrine or example agreable to doctrine of the canonicall Scriptures that any thing profiteth the soules departed that be not in happy state we will beleue it 5 I will open what the principall pillars and in a maner the flowre of all the faithfull sorte in sundry agies and almost in all Christian contryes haue lefte in writinge for this pointe 5 You are not able to bring one authenticall writer that within one 100 yeares and more after Christ hath allowed prayer for
the dead or any point of purgatory 6 I will declare what they practised for their dearest frends priuately and what the Churches of most notable Nations vsed for all deceased in Christes faith in their publike seruice openly I shall proue vnto you that the practise of suffrages and Sacrifice for the deade isshued downe to vs from the Apostles dayes 6 You shall not proue that either in publicke or priuate prayers the deade were commended otherwise then by waye of thankes geuing for their departure or that any suffrages or sacrifice was offered for them by the Apostles or their lawefull successors or many yeares after the Apostles times 7 I shall pointe you to the first father of the contrary doctrine and his principall abettours in such troublesome times at such marchants were to be founde Ye shall see them knowen amongest all the holy of their time by the name of heretikes 7 You shall shew no heretike that denied your doctrine but I will shew you other heretikes before him that allowed it 8 You shall see their doctrine improued and them selues condemned by the graue iudgement of Councells both Generall prouinciall for heretikes If any of them all can say any thing to the contrary of that which we vpon so good groundes mainteine he shall be aunswered with no worse then the very wordes of the holy auncient writers Finally if any other thinges be necessary beside for the declaration of this matter to the simple or for proofe against our aduersaries they shall not be omitted as occasioÌ„ by course and fall of the matter may be geuen All which pointes being auouched and not proued shall condemne me of arrogancy But both auouched and fully proued they shall deserue any reasonable mans consent and beare testimony of the aduersaries impudency here and witnesse of their contempte of Gods approued trueth in the worlde to come 8 How vayne your bragge is of generall counsels it appeareth by this that with in fouretene hundreth yeares after Christ you can finde none to serue your turne vntill you come to the councells Florens and Trent whereof the one was held in our grandfathers dayes the other within these 20. yeares your prouinciall councells shal be aunswered by as good prouinciall councells as they are And that which I haue to say in confutation of your heresie shall be no worse then the very word of God it selfe which is better then the consent of all the world against it And although the custome of praying for the dead be an auncient errour so that fewe of the latter writers there are but they shewe them selues to be infected therewith yet hath it not such an vniuersall consent of all writers but that I shall be able by Gods grace to shew that the most auncient and nearest to the Apostles tyme receiued it not and that they which of later time admitted it had neither any ground out of the Scriptures to warrant their doing nor any certainty of faith to assure their conscience which when it is found in the ende as it is now sayd in the beginning your arrogant boasting and impudent lying togither with the falshoode of your opinions shall be manifest to all men That there be certaine sinnes vvhich may be forgeuen in the next life and that the deserued punishement for the same may be eased or vtterly released before the extreme sentence be to the vtmost executed CAP. I. 1 ANd first that sinnes may be pardoned in the next worlde that were not in this life forgeuen our Sauiours owne wordes do teach vs written in the Gospell of S. Matthew thus Ideò dico vobis omne peccatum blasphemia remittetur hominibus spiritus autem blasphemia non remittetur Et quicuÌ„que dixerit verbum contra filium hominis remittetur ei qui autem dixerit contra spiritum sanctum non remittetur ei neque in hoc saeculo neque in fuâ—uro I tell you that all maner of sinne and blasphemy shall be forgeuen vnto men but the blasphemy of the spirit shall not be forgeueÌ„ And who so euer shall speake against the sonne of man it shall be forgeuen him But if he speake against the holy Ghost it shall neither be pardoned in this worlde nor in the worlde to come The same thing in sense hath Marke and Luke affirming that such offense shall neuer be forgeuen The which worde Neuer S. Marke expresseth thus in aeternuÌ„ non habet remissionem he shall not haue pardoÌ„ as you would say in all eternity by which he may plainely seeme to reache further then the limites and borders of this worlde for the remission of sinne And this speach hath as much pith and proper force in it as S. Matthewes who expressely distinctly and belike as Christ spake it vttereth that sense of the eternity which passeth the measure of worldely time by these words Neither in this world nor yet in the world to come And for that cause S. Marke sayth Reus erit aeterni delicti he shall be gilty of an eternall faulte signifying that in some case a man might perhaps not speede of a pardon in this life yet may obteine it in the next But for that horrible blasphemy he in a maner dischargeth the offender of all hope of remission either in this life or in the next that is to come VVhich forme of wordes can neither be founde in scripture nor in mans common talke to haue any place in such thinges as extend no further but to the transitory time of our life for in those matters it had bene vsually and truely spoken it shall neuer happen in this world And therfore instructing vs that sinnes or the paine due vnto sinnes may either be released in this worlde or in the worlde to come he followeth that phrase and forme of wordes in which man might well conceiue the reache of remission and pardoning of sinnes farre to passe the compasse of our time and life CAP. I. 1 YOu were as good to kindle a fire out of yâ—e and snow as to goe about to frame your fiery forge of purgatory out of this place The meaning of our Sauiour Christ is so playne his wordes so expresse that no reasonable man can gather any errour out of them For vndoubtedly the errour of purgatory was first inuented before this place was drawne vnto it So is there no heresie so absurd which Satan putteth into the head of wicked men but it may finde some sound of wordes in so many bookes of the holy Scriptures that by peruerse wit may be wrested vnto it But the doctrine of Gods truth and all articles of our beliefe are plainly taught in the Scripture either by manifest words or by necessary conclusion and argument which by no subtilty of SataÌ„ or his instrumeÌ„ts may be auoided or deluded And this is the difference betwene heresie and truth when they both apeale to the authorities of the Scripture Truth as she hath her foundation in the Scriptures and
ante iudicium purgatorius ignis credendus est pro eo quod veritas dicit Si quis in sancto Spiritu blasphemiam dixerit neque in hoc saeculo remittetur ei neque in futuro In qua sententia datur intelligi quasdam culpas in hoc saeculo quasdam in futuro posse relaxari quod enim de vno negatur consequens intellectus patet quia de quibusdam conceditur sed tamen vt praedixi hoc de paruis minimisque peccatis fieri posse credendum est For certaine small sinnes that there is a purgatory fire before the daye of iudgement we must needes beleue because the trueth it selfe vttered so much in these wordes If any sinne against the holy Ghost it shall not be remitted neither in this worlde nor in the worlde to come By which sentence it is geuen vs to vnderstande that as some offensies be released in this worlde so there may some other be remitted in the life following For that which is denyed in one sorte the meaning is plaine that of some other kinde it must needes be graunted But as is saide before this is onely to be taken of lighter offensies thus farre spake S. Gregory and proueth learnedly beside by examples and sondry Scriptures through out the whole worke our matter If our aduersaries woulde with desire to learne as they commonly do to reprehend reade but his discourse onely they might quickely see their owne foly and amende their misbelefe They call him the last good Pope as he was in deede a blessed man and by his authority the perfect conuersion of our nation to Christes faith was wrought I woulde his holy workes deserued but as much credit now with certaine forsakers as his Legates then did with all the vnfaithfull people of our countrie But to go forwarde in our matter we shall finde in S. Bernarde the same wordes of our Sauiour alleaged for our purpose thus Non credunt ignem Purgatorium restare post mortem sed statim animam solutam a corpore vel ad requiem transire vel ad damnationem quaerant ergo ab eo qui dixit quod dam peccatum esse quod neque in hoc saeculo neque in futuro remittetur cur hoc dixerit si nulla maner in futuro remissio purgatione peccati They beleue not sayth he by some heretiques of his owne time that there is any purgatory paines remaining after death but they suppose that the soule straight vpon departure hense goeth either to rest or damnation let such fellowes aske therefore of him that saide a certaine greuous crime coulde neither be forgeuen in this worlde nor in the worlde to come why he so saide if there were no remission nor purgation of sinnes in the life following thus said Bernarde opening his graue iudgement both vpon the text and our matter whose authority if any esteme lesse because of his late writing let him know that the aduersaries haue none for their side so auncient by C C C. yeare except they name the heretike Aërius or such like whose antiquitye maketh not so much for them as his auncient condemnation for heresie in this poynt maketh against them 2 M. Allen in his conscience knoweth that he hath no grounde in the authority of Gods word and therefore he flyeth to the authority of man But that he might seeme to be driuen perforce to that where vnto he doth come most willingly he pretendeth a fonde excuse because he hath to doe with such fickle marchaunts as wil not sticke to breake boldly the bands of euident Scriptures But he knoweth in his conscience that he hath no authoritye of Scripture to charge vs for if he thought we would breake the bonds of Gods word he might well thinke we would not be holden by the authoritie of mens writing and those of the latter sort six hundreth yeares after Christ the eldest For Augustine makeâ—h as litle for them as he doth against vs Gregory and Bernarde whereunto he addeth Bede are of opinion that sinnes not remitted in this world may be remitted in the world â—o come but how hapneth it that Chrysâ—stome and Ieronym which both interpreted that place could gather no such matter although they otherwise allowed prayer for the dead The reason must needes be because the errour of purgatory growing so much the stronger as it was nerer to the full reuelation of Antichrist Gregory and Bede sought not the true meaning of Christ in this Scripture but the confirmation of their pausible error M. Allen thinketh we must be sore pressed with the authoritie of Gregory because we mâ—slike not his authority where he inueigheth against the supremacy of one Bishop aboue all other or where so euer he agreeth with the truth But he must be once againe admonished that we are bound to no mannes authoritie no longer then he followeth the authoritie of Gods word And therefore though Gregory were the last of all the Romish Bishops in whom was any sparke of goodnes because Boniface his successor and so all the rest by Gregoryes owne iudgement prophecy were all Antichristes yet is not all that Gregory writte of equall authoritie with the word of God without authoritie whereof we beleue not an Angell from heauen as I haue often shewed much lesse a Bishop of Rome 3 But that in the mouth of two or three witnesses all trueth may appeare and contrary falsehood vanish away S. Augustine him selfe gathered by this place now alleaged euen then when he had no occasion geuen him by the wrangling of any misbeleuer to wreast any scripture otherwise then the very wordes imported the trueth of remission of certaine faultes in the next life in these wordes Facta resurrectione mortuoruÌ„ non deerunt quibus post poenas quas patiuntur spiritus mortuorum impertiatur misericordia vt in ignem non mittantur aeternuÌ„ neque enim de quibusdam veraciter diceretur quod non eis remittetur neque in hoc saeculo neque in futuro nisi essent quibus etsi non in isto tamen remittetur in futuro There shall be certaine at the time of resurrection also who shal obteine mercy after they haue suffered such paines as deade mens ghostes do abide that they be not cast into the euerlasting fire for els it coulde not in any true sense be spoken that certaine shoulde neither haue pardon in this worlde nor in the worlde to come except there were some that speeding not of pardon in this life might yet haue remission in the next so sayth he Being I warraunt you so sadde witted and so farre from phantasies that he would not grounde any assured doctrine vpon euery light occasion offered or motion made had not the very words and forme of phrase approued it and Gods Church liked it Hauing then these graue fathers with others for our warraunt in the exposition of this place we do take it for a sure grounde that the paine of purgation in the next worlde
against his wicked doctrine euen as he shoulde be and as these wranglers in the like case must be The place well marked shal serue our turne when so euer we heare them so impudently reiect scriptures because they impugne their heresies which els shoulde be as good scriptures as any booke of the Bible if they either woulde make with them or by any crafty colouring not plainely make against them Thus he sayth Nec ideo liber Sapientiae qui tanta numerositate annorum legi meruit in ecclesia Christi pati debet iniuriam quoniam resistit eis qui pro meritis hominum falluntur rursus omnibus hic liber tractatoribus anteponendus quoniam sibi cum anteposuerunt etiam temporibus Apostolorum proximi egregij tractatores qui eum testem adhibentes nihil se adhibere nisi diuinum testimonium crediderūt in English thus It is no reason that the booke of VVisdom which so many worlde 's together hath bene worthy the reading in the Church of Christ shoulde nowe receiue such wrong at our handes because it plainely resisteth these fellowes that exalt mans merites aboue Gods grace And againe this booke is of more authority then all the expositours in the worlde for the noble writers hard by the Apostles time did much preferre this booke before them selues who alleaging the testimony of that scripture doubted not but they vsed thereby the witnesse of Gods holy word Euen so must we tell our maisters that it were plaine wrong to discredit the history of the Machabees which hath bene in our Bible euer sith Christes time for holy Scripture because it hath an euident testimonie against their false belefe concerning the state of the soules departed which booke is not onely better to be beleued then all Caluins false gloses but of more authority then all holy expositors Out of which booke both S. Augustine others many haue vsed proofe of their matters as of the testimonie of Sacred and holy scripture 2 I will not gaine saye but who so denyeth the authority of the holy Scriptures thereby bewrayeth him selfe to be an heretike as all Papistes doe which I will proue afterwarde But he that admitteth for scripture that which is not proceded from the spirite of God and thereby will auouch for trueth that which is contrary to the vndoubted worde of God is no lesse heretike then he for it is all one sinne to adde to the worde of God and to take from it But M. Allen pretending to proue the booke of Machabees canonicall by authority of the Church when he can not by consent that it hath with the scriptures of God beginneth with the authority of Hieronym in prol Mach. But what he meaneth thereby or what place he noteth I know not But this I knowe that in his Preface vpon the booke of kinges he doth not onely omit it in rehersall of the canonicall bookes but also accompteth it plainely among the Apocryphall Next he alleageth the canons of the Apostles Wise canons I promise you as truely made by the Apostles as the double canons that lie on the tower hyll of London In which are rehersed 3. bookes of Machabees two Epistles of Clemens for canonicall scripture but the Apocalypse of S. Iohn hath no place at all by which it may appeare what Apostles they were that made that canckred canon Then followeth the prouinciall Councell of Carthage the third which nameth the 2. bookes of the Machabees amonge the canonicall scriptures euen as it doth the 5. bookes of Salomon whereas the Church alloweth but 3. namely the Prouerbes the preacher and the Canticles and although you shoulde numbre to these the booke of Wisdome yet can you make but 4. in all that we know of Againe in what sence they did call those bookes canonicall appereth by Augustine that was one of that Councell namely that they maye be reade so it be with iudgement Contra 2. Gaudentij epistolam lib. 2. cap. 23. Et hanc quidem scripturam quae appellatur Machabaeorum non habent Iudaei sicut legem Prophetas Psalmos quibus dominus testimonium perhibet tanquam testibus suis dicens oportet impleri omnia quae scripta sunt in lege prophetis in psalmis de me Sed recepta est ab ecclesia non inutiliter si sobriè legatur audiatur And this scripture of the Machabees the Iewes compte not as the lawe and the prophetes and the Psalmes to whome our Lorde geueth testimony as to his witnesses saying it behoued that all thinges should be fulfilled that were written of me in the lawe and in the Prophetes and in the Psalmes But it is receiued of the Church not vnprofitably if it be soberly reade and harde Here you see that Augustine howsoeuer he alloweth those bookes yet he alloweth them not in full authority with the lawe Prophetes and Psalmes nor with out condition of sobriety in the reader or hearer But Hieronym sayth plainely the Church receiueth them not as canonicall scriptures in his preface vpon the booke of Prouerbes Sicut ergo Iudith Tobiae Machabaeorum libros legit quidem ecclesia sed eos inter canonicas scripturas non recipit Sic haec duo volumina legat ad aedificationem plaebis non ad authoritatem ecclesiasticorum dogmatum confirmandam Therefore euen as the Church readeth in deede the bookes of Iudith Tobias and Machabees but yet receiueth them not among the canonicall scriptures so maye she reade these 2. bookes videlicet Ecclesiasticus and the booke of Wisdome falsely intitled to Salomon for the edification of the people but not to confirme the authority of ecclesiasticall opinions Thus if Augustine doe simply allowe these bookes you haue Hieronym that doth simply refuse them If Augustine saye the Church receiueth them for canonicall Hieronym sayth the Church receiueth them not for canonicall As for Damascene except you woulde stryue with numbre of witnesses I know not why you alleage him being one to whose iudgement as but a late writer in comparison you know we ascribe small credit I might produce against him Athanasius or at leste wise one of elder time then Damascene vnder the name of Athanasius but that I haue alleaged already is sufficient to represse that vaine and vnskilfull insultation that you vse in so many wastfull wordes against vs for refusing the authority of him that abridged Iason the Cyrenians bookes for canonicall scriptures 3 But our aduersary learned not this practise of Pelagius onely for it is an older sore and a common sicknesse to all deuisers of deuilish doctrine as the skillfull in the Churchies affaires may acknowledge For some there were that otherwise coulde not vpholde heresy but by the vtter deniall of all the olde Testament as Carpocrates Ceuerus Manicheus But Marcion and Cerdon reiect all together sauyng Lukes Gospel Now Cerinthus and Ebion make counte of none of all the Euangelicall histories but the Gospell of Matthewe Cerinthus againe and Seuerus
woulde haue robbed the Church of the actes of the Apostles A sect called Alogiani do refuse the Gospell of S. Iohn with the Apocalypse Martine illiricus Caluine and their companions that no man being but an heretique shoulde euer out pricke them will shoulder with the proudest and lifte out of our Bibles the bookes of Machabees with S. Iames Epistle and more when more nede requireth The which Epistle as also the Epistles of Iohn and Iudas were once doubted of not as conteining any matter wherof the trueth was vncertaine but as bookes not knowen to be of like force as canonicall scripture in the impugning of heresies or confirming articles of belefe as all workes be till Gods Church haue published their authority and declared all thinges in them conteined to be of the same credit that the spirite of God is and of Gospell like trueth And by that authority of the Church what booke so euer be allowed though it was not so taken before yet now we must needes accept it sicut vere est verbum Dei as the very word of god And so be these canonicall Epistles and bookes of Machabees as before is declared Here nowe euery man may learne that it is a very daungerous matter to geue lesse credit to any of these bookes or wauer in any point of faith written in them for such fellowes iudgements that nowe amongest them haue lefte vs neither olde nor newe Testament Such stubborne boldenesse had these willfull men in mainteinaunce of mischeuous doctrine VVhose open impudencie was counted handsome conueiaunce of their scholers and adherents which were very many notwithstanding the Catholike Christian men in all ages both meruailed and lamented their blindnesse And yet doubtlesse it is not much to be wondered at to see that man flatly forsake the scripture of God who is not abashed to refuse and condemne that sense and vnderstanding of the Scripture which the whole Church with all her learned men haue euer allowed and counted most holy VVell by the strength of this piller we haue chalenged and saued hitherto for all the barking of bandogges the Scripture of God with the knowne meaning thereof And so I trust we shall doe still from the new aduersaries by the assured promise of thassistance of Gods holy spirite which shall leade vs not onely to the true canonicall Scriptures with the sense of the same but also guide vs in all truth necessary for our saluation Let euery man therefore here take heede how he doubteth of the knowne and certayne sense that the Church of Christ by decree of councell or consent of doctors applyeth to any Scripture least by mistrusting the sayd sense he goe forward vnaduisedly from open deniall of the common to found a priuate meaning of his owne in the stubborne defense whereof when he shall against the truth malipertly stand he goeth vnluckely forward at the end blasphemously reiecteth the blessed word sacred Scripture of God as we haue proued the auncient enemies of truth to haue done and as in these new sect maisters we may to our great dolour see Yet loe euen these are they that in all ages as Vincentius sayth flye in their talke and teaching ouer the law the prophets the Psalmes the Gospell That cry out of pottes pulpits nothing but Gods word the booke of the Lorde the testament of Iesus Christ Paule scripture as it may be supposed and as in th ende it is proued to driue out of doores Paule Scripture Testament and Christ too and not to bring into the peoples heades or heartes the feare and loue of God the holsom precepts of Paules heauenly preaching nor the true meaning of any Scripture VVho being vrged will rather credit a minstrells ballat then the Machabeis or best booke in the Bible But now you may see that whiles these men thought to saue their credits by miscrediting the Scripture they haue wrought so wisely that they haue lost their owne credits both in this poynt and in all other for euer And as they hoped by deniall of Scripture to cloke their errour they haue wonne to them selues the property of an heretike by open shew of their owne folly 3 And euen as vaine friuolous is this discourse that followeth to shew what bookes of scripture were in olde time refused by what heretikes But you thinke to match vs with them for denying the Machabees where vnto you adde the Epistle of S. Iames. If Martine and Illyricus haue some times doubted of that Epistle they are not the first that doubted of it Eusebius sayth plainely it is a counterfect Epistle lib. 2. cap. 23. And yet he was not accompted an heretike I saye not this to excuse them that doubt of it for I am perswaded they are more curious then wise in so doing but whereas you ioine Caluine with them it is because you can not leaue to lye with out shame while you are an instrument to defend diuelish errors with out shewe of trueth For Caluine receiueth it defendeth it expoundeth it and in all his writings allegeth it as canonical scripture Therefore if he were as ill as you compt him yet it were shame to lye on the deuill But we shall not nede to â—ake among the olde heresies to finde what bookes of holy Scripture you Papistes refuse when it is an easy matter to take your owne confessions and bolde assertions by which it is manifest that you doe not as those heretikes which you name reiect some one or two bookes but the whole authority of all the canonicall scriptures For when you affiâ—me that no booke of holy Scripture is canonicall but so farre forth as your Church will allow it who seeth not that you doe abrogate all maiestie and authoritie from the word of God submitting it to the iudgements of men Moreouer when you will not admit any sence of the scripture but such as your Church wil allow although the same be contrary to the plaine wordes thereof what authority doe you leaue to the worde of God which you make to be but a dead lettre vntil you geue it such a sence as it pleaseth you Finally where you make decrees of men either priuate or common customes traditions vnwritten verities in which is no certainety at all not onely equiualent but also oftentimes superior to the auctority of holy scriptures what certainety credit or estimation doe you leaue to the scriptures of God aboue other writinges nay all other writinges are in better case then the scriptures are with you For other writings may be compted the workes of their authors with out your censure the holy Scripture may not be compted the worde of God except you list so to allow it which may as well refuse that which is Gods worde in deede as you receiue and obtrude that which is not the worde of God at all Other writings haue such sence as the authors haue expressed them selues in their workes and maye be gathered by their wordes The
holy Scripture may not haue any allowed sence approued to be the meaning of God the author thereof by consideration of the wordes nor conference of one place with an other but it must nedes haue such sence as your Church will fayne vnto it Finally other writinges are of credit according to the authoritie of the writers The holy Scriptures with you haue not credit according to the authoritie of God the author of them but according to your determination that maye conferre or perferre vnto them what you list whereby it is manifest that you Antichristian Papistes receiue onely the names of the canonicall scriptures and the metaphysicall wordes abstract from all sence but the authoritie meaning and credit you vtterly deny to be in them submitting them altogether to your owne selues and your most corrupt peruerse iudgement The rest of your tedious rayling vnto the ende of the chapter I know not why I should aunswere further except it were to waste incke and paper For the stocke of your fructlesse tree being digged vp by the rootes the proude toppes and braue braunches therof must nedes fal downe and wither away with it That the funeralls of the Patriarches both in the lavve of nature and Moises and Christ had practise in them for the reliefe of the soules departed CAP. IIII. 1 NOw therefore I haue great hope to trust so much of all studious readers for that loue which they beare vnto truth that they will geue creditte to the manifest wordes of Scripture which so plainly doe set forth not onely the benefite that ariseth to the departed by prayers but also witnesse that there was practise at Ierusalem by oblation and sacrifice for the same purpose by order of their law For otherwise would that good knight so highly commended neuer haue presumed to bring in any superstitious new vsage contrary to the rule of that Church neither would the Priestes at Ierusalem haue offered for the dead without contradiction vnder the gouernment of so good a bishop neither would the Author of she booke vpon so light a beginning haue praysed the fact or otherwise made mention of it then as of a new deuise of the same man VVhom I doubt not therefore rather to haue followed the continuall custome of the Church then to haue inuented any newe vnknowne order of his owne VVhich may well appeare at this day by the ceremonies and sacrifices of the olde lawe yet superstitiously obserued emongest the dispersed Iewes where emongest other rites of their lawe they offer and make solemne supplication for the soules departed as Antonius Margarita a Iewe that forsooke his profession and became Christian witnesseth in a booke that he made of the faith of the Iewes VVhere he reporteth out of their sacrifice this prayer Deus animarum fidelium recordetur in paradisum cum Abraham Isaac Iacob alijsque integerrimis sanctis collocet that is Lord remember the faithfull soules and place them in paradise with Abraham Isaac and Iacob and other thy perfect Sainctes and holy men And for that purpose they haue a memoriall booke as he sayth out of which the names of the departed are yerely recited But we much neede not this report herein for that may well appeare to haue bene vsed long before Iudas Machabaeus his dayes For what other thing doth that long mourning fasting charitable releuing of the poore and other common afflictions which men tooke vpon them at the obites of their friendes and fathers as well in the law of nature as afterward continually in Moises time what else can they meane but perpetual practise for the rest of their soules Looke how religiously Abraham celebrated the rites of his wiues funerall which the Scripture calleth Officium funeris the office of the Buriall which he fulfilled by weeping and lamentation made ouer the corps Neither can I thinke that the office and iust funeralls stoode in mourning or sorowyng without praying or other remedies of reliefe towardes the departed seeing especially that office of mourning by solemne dirigies as we nowe tearme them had place time and ordre by rule appointed to be executed yea and were not ended by many dayes together nor at one time nother As it appeareth that Ioseph and his brethern executed their fathers funeralls first fourty dayes in Aegypte and then in their owne country celebrabant exequias saith the text seuen dayes together So the children of Israel celebrated Moyses obsequies with thirty dayes solemne mourning in the downes of Moab Not by that weeping which procedeth of priuate affection towardes a mans friende for that can not be limited nor yet prescribed by rule as all these solemne dirigies were But questionlesse this office conteined for the reliefe of the deceased almes prayer fastes and teares all which may well be termed mourning songes or weeping ouer the dead for that time most cōuenient Of which the wise man geueth this precept Super mortuū plora VVeepe ouer the departed And that thou maiest well perceiue these publike rites of solemne dirigies to perteine properly to the due helpe of those for whome they be exercised S. Ambrose doubteth not to affirme that of those burialls in the lawe of nature the necessary obseruation of our Christian dayes monthes and yeares mindes kepte for the deade had their beginning saying thus in his funerall sermon made the fourtith daye solemnely kept for the memory of the noble Emperour Theodosius Eius Principis proxime conclamauimus obitum nunc quadragesimum celebramus assistente sacris altaribus Honorio principe quia sicut sanctus Ioseph patri suo Iacob quadraginta diebus humationis officia detulit ita hic Theodosio patri iusta persoluit quia alij tertium trigesimum alij septimum quadragesimum obseruare consueuerūt quid doceat lectio consideremus defuncto inquit Iacob praecepit Ioseph pueris sepultoribus vt sepelirēt eum repleti sunt ei quadraginta dies Haec ergo sequenda solemnitas quam prescribit lectio Bonus itaque Ioseph qui formam pio muneri dedit c. VVe kept of late the day of this noble kinges buriall And now againe we celebrate his fourtith dayes mind the prince Honorius his sonne assisting vs before the holy altares for as holy Ioseph bestowed vpon his fathers funeral fourty dayes dutie euen so doth this prince procure his fathers obsequies And because some obserue the thirde day and the thirtith other kepe customably the vij and the fourtith let vs looke vpon the text which readeth thus Iacob being departed Ioseph commaundeth the prouisours of the sepulture to bury him and so they did and made vp full fourty dayes in that obite this solemnity then must we fellowe prescribed by the scripture Good was this Ioseph that first gaue vs the forme and fashion of so holy a function By these wordes we see the antiquity of our Christian dirigies and diuersitie of dayes as yet it is vsed in
diuines some affirming that he was deliuered out of Hell in deede some that he remaineth still in Hell but not in the tormâ—nts of Hell in which opinion is Mathew monke of Westminster in his Flores historiarum Anno gratiae 605. How shall we beleue the booke of Conformities of S. Frances who is there reported to haue deliuered not one but many soules out of Hell. If these be fables and lies M. Allen they be forged in your owne shop wheras purgatory all such other rotten postes and pillers of your Church were receiued If these be true that be set forth with so great authoritie then were not you well aduised to publishe such principles as be proued false by your owne patrons proctors 3 Therefore let no man withdrawe his almes charity or prayers from any of the houshoulde of faith vpon any light presumption yea or strong coniecture of any mans finall continuance in sinne or wickednesse vpon whome in the last spirite of breath as God maye haue mercy so mans prayers then shall be both needefull and exceding beneficiall vnto him Onely with conscience thou may and must cease with Gods Church to practise the wayes of mercy vppon such as be not baptised or otherwise after their baptisme haue by leauing this holy communion of the faithfull iudged them selues vnworthy and made their case vnapte by continuance therein to receiue any benefite either of the Church which of their owne accorde they haue forsaken or of any membre thereof wherevnto by faith and loue they are not ioyned And so all heretikes shall be voide of this mercy and grace after their death which did in their life so earnestly abhorre the same Vpon all other where any hope may be had if thou pray or procure the meanes of mercy it shall at least be to thy selfe a singular helpe and gayne though the partie for whome thou doest it either neede it not being already receiued into blesse or els in perpetuall damnation of Hell be helples for euer Si preces pro mortuis facimus sayth S. Chrysostome si elecmosinas damus etsi ille indignus sit nobis Deus placatior erit If we pray for the deade and bestowe almes for their sakes if he be founde vnworthy yet God will the rather be mercyfull to our selues And sure it is that who so euer be founde so gracious as with much compassion of the deceaseds misery to procure with study and care Gods mercyfull pardon towardes them that such a one especially shall finde grace and fauour at the time of neede and be meruailous apt to receiue benefit by others procurement againe For as it is certaine that no man can receiue benefite after his departure by any worke or will of the liuing sauing such as in their life deserued the same so must it needes be that where these remedies be needefull and profitable that yet more or lesse they shall worke vpon the party for his reliefe according to the more or lesse deuotion and deseruing in this life Therefore this trueth of mutuall participation of the deade with the liue geueth no man occasion of idle rest or carelesse affection in his owne time and cause when he may be assured to lacke the reliefe of others to whome in his liefe by well working he woulde not ioyne before But I had rather ye hearde S. Augustine vttering expressely this meaning of mine in his owne wordes It can not be denied sayth he but that the soules of the deceased be relieued when the sacrifice of our redemer is offered for them or almes bestowed in their behalfe in the Church But in deede these are profitable to none but to such as in their life deserued that those things after their departure might doe them good For there is a state of life that is neither so perfect but it may well haue neede of these helpes after death not yet so very euill but such thinges may well succour them after their departure Mary there is a kinde of conuersation so vertuous that it requireth no such ayed and an other kinde so wicked that those which passed their former life therein can haue after their passage no reliefe by such meanes for by our merites in this life we do obteine that after our deaths we may either atteine to remedy or els be voide of all helpes For it is a very vaine hope that any man should presume to winne that at Gods hand after he be passed out of this worlde which when he was in the worlde he neuer sought nor deserued And a litle after thus he maketh all plaine VVhen the sacrifice of the altar or els any kinde of almes be offered for all men departed being baptised for the very good they are thankes giuing for the indifferent that be not very euill they are a mercyfull deliueraunce For the wicked and very euill all though they be no succour for them which be departed and deade yet they are confortable for those that be aliue And to such as receiue benefite thereby either commeth full forgiuenesse or els their iudgement and damnation is made thereby somewhat more tolerable The which sentence almost in like wordes for that it merueillously opened this matter this author repeteth in the fourth question ad DulcitiuÌ„ and els very often VVhereby the faithfull man may learne both how much and whome these remedies do relieue And then that the Church in his dayes offered sacrifice for all those that were baptised and in the faith thereof departed both for that it was vncertaine who had neede thereof and also because euen then when the parties were not nor coulde not be partakers thereof that Gods glory notwithstanding was excedingly set forth and man comforted thereby Therefore Gods Church in a true sense may be saide to offer sacrifice euen for the holy and blessed martyrs who no doubt by sheeding of their bloude for Christes name and defense of vnitie be fully purged in this their death and so perfectly released of all sinne paine that might otherwise haue deserued punishment and some expectation of Gods mercy in the life to come For so S. Cyprian and other of his Church offered sacrifice for Celerne Laurence and Ignatius as he testifieth him selfe Sacrificia pro eis semper vt meministis offerimus quoties martyrum passiones dies anniuersaria coÌ„memoratione celebramus For them we offer sacrifice as often as we celebrate the yearly memories of martyrs For which kinde of perfect men sacrifice is thankes geuing vnto God for their glory and giftes of grace and a kinde of intercession to them in our necessities For which cause S. Augustine affirmeth Quòd pro martyribus non oramus fed ipsi oranâ— pro nobis VVe pray not for martyrs but they pray for vs Nowe the sacrifice often celebrated for the wicked also that be not knowen to the Church so to be is not beneficiall to them neither because their naughty life and death makes them
iustice of God to them that haue there reason rightly reformed it seemeth altogether vnreasonable So vpholden with scripture Neuer once mentioned in scripture and so confessed by Tertullian one that leaned to some parte of your cause so he ordered in all pointes So patched together like a beggers cloke with so many peeses of so many colours one patch out of Tertullian an other out of Augustine an other out of Gregory an other out of Damascene many stolen out of the monkes cowle and sayed to be geuen by Clemens Athanasius and such like some rent awaye violently against the owners willes as from Origen Cyprian the Councells of Vase and Carthage and no small peeses out of drousy dreames and mockadoe miracles narrations and relations c. I promise you a goodly ordered cause But of Cyprians time we must saye the trueth and shame the deuill so we will and shame the Pope to his eldest sonne It was such time M. Allen as Cyprian byshoppe of Carthage thought him selfe equall with Cornelius and Stephanus byshoppes of Rome 1. lib. epist. 1. cap. 4. de simplicitate praelatorum c. It was such a time that Cyprian taught that fayth onely doth profit to saluation To. 2. ad Quirin cap. 42. And that he beleeued not in God at all which placeth not the trust of all his felicity in him onely De duplici martyrio Yea it was such time that Cyprian woulde haue nothing doen in the celebration of the Lords Supper and namly in ministring of the cuppe but that Christ him selfe did lib. 2. epist. 3. And yet it was such a time also as Cyprian and all the byshoppes of Africa decreed in Councel that those whcih were baptised by heretikes should be baptised againe And therefore it was no such time but that he and all his fellowes though they held the foundation of Christ yet might and did erre in some opinions contrary to the trueth of Gods worde And where you aske whether the time of ignoraunce that we limitte for our walke doth rech so high as Cyprian his time I woulde you knewe we walke not in ignoraunce of any time but in the knowen path of Gods word which is higher then Cyprians or any mortall mans time But the time of ignoraunce which is limited for your walke that call ignoraunce the mother of deuotion first is all beside the path of Gods worde and then euen from the time that the misterie of iniquitie beganne to worke 2. Thess. 2. Euen vntill the time that Antichrist was openly shewed in the full power of darkenesse in all times when so euer and where so euer was any peese of miste or darke corner though all the rest were light there were the steppes of your walke As euen in the Apostles time when the superstition of Angells beganne to be receiued there was one steppe of your waye which you holde euen to this daye Colos. 2. And from that time the deuill neuer lefte to set in his foote for his sonne Antichristes dominion vntill he had placed him in the temple of God and prepared the wyde world for his walke VVhat that holy sacrifice is vvhich vvas euer counted so beneficiall to the liue and dead The punishement of our sinnes by the heuy losse thereof The great hatered vvhich the deuill and all his side hath euer borne tovvardes Christes eternall priesthoode and the sacrifice of the Church And that by the saide sacrifice of the Masse the soules departed are especially relieued CAP. VIII 1 ANd nowe we must fall in hande with the good Christian Catholike for the search of this so often named sacrifice so comfortable to the liue so profitable to the deade and what that oblation is which the holy Catholike Apostolike Church hath euer vsed through out the worlde for the sinnes of the departed in place of the offeringes of the law and that sacrifice which Iudas Machabeus made and procured at Hierusalem for the offensies of his people that perished in battle Surely it is no other but the sacrifice of our Mediatour as S. Augustine termeth it and the offering vpon the altar It is no other then that oblation which so fully and liuely expresseth the death and passion of Christ Iesus VVho being once offered by the sheeding of his blessed bloud for the redemption of man kinde hath wrought such a vertuous effect not onely in the holy sacraments for the giuing of grace and remission of sinnes but also hath lefte in a merueillous mistery his owne holy and blessed body and bloude as well to feede vpon for the especial strength and comforth of our soules as to offer vp the same for the remembraunce of his death and cleansing of ouâ— sinnes Not in that wise as it was done vppon the Crosse by the painefull sheeding of his bloude but as it was instituted first in the last Supper VVhere Christ our God and Redeemer according to the order of Melchisedech gaue to his Apostles and offered to God the father that body which afterward was betrayed and the same bloude which was shedde after also for the remission of sinne being with all tearmed by him the bloude of the new and eternall testament as that which in the newe lawe shoulde succeade the bloudy offeringes of the olde testament VVherof God almighty being as a man woulde say lothesome or full hath instituted this by his onely Sonne as a most pure and precious oblation and sacrifice to be continued in the Church through out the costes and corners of the rounde worlde VVhich being celebrated in the blessed memory of his Sonnes passion and hauing no other hoste nor oblation then that which then was offered can be no other sacrifice then that which there was made for the forgiuenesse of sinne and redemption of the worlde The which worthy action of Christes Church so fructefully applieth vnto vs the benefite of our maisters death that thereby we may haue comfortable hope of remission of all such misdeedes as most iustly deserued Gods wrath and terrible indignation against vs. CAP. VIII 1 NOwe the good catholike shall haue holsome doctrine taught him concerning the sacrifice of the masse which first commeth in place of the sacrifices of the lawe and that sacrifice which Iudas Machabaeus procured to be made at Ierusalem Well sayd M. Allen shall the sacrifice of the masse shoulder out the sacrifice of Christ his death The Apostle to the Hebrewes teacheth vs an other lesson cap. 10. that Christ offering but one sacrifice for our sinnes and that but once cap. 9. hath made perfect for euer those that are sanctified that our sinnes are taken away by that sacriâ—â—ce and therefore there is no more sacrifice for sinnes left Wherefore it excuseth not but increaseth your blasphemy that you say the sacrifice of the masse is all one with the sacrifice of Christ his passion which was but one sacrifice and the same but once offered and by that one oblation hath made perfect all them that receiue any benefite
and them selues nurtered to holde vp their handes and knocke their breastes must yet needes meruail how these outward formes came to so holy an vse further whether the Christian people were not sclaundered for worshipping and doing sacrifice to Ceres and Bacchus when the wicked infidells sawe their behauiour towardes the holy Hoste whether it was not vsed in working of miracles in driuing away deuills in daungerous times of tempests of trauelling of sickenesse and in other necessities VVell these be plaine practises no heretike can denie but they haue bene so vsed of the whole Church of God with many such other like in that holy action which can not in any case stande with bare breade or any other way of presence but onely the proper true and bodily presence of Christes owne person A doctors wordes may be misconstrued may be picked out of place may be writhen and wastred by false teachers but a mans example can not lightly be misconstrued And therefore heretikes whose purpose is alwayes by sutteltie to deceiue the simple will neuer make discours by the practise of the Church or exercise and example of the auncient learned men through out the Church of Christ hauing enough for their meaning to racke a place or two out of the fathers whole workes that may seeme to the ignoraunt to set forth their errour So if thou woulde knowe whether that place that our aduersaries impudently doe alleage out of Gregory the great against the soueraignty of the see of Rome was in deede written for their seditious purpose beholde the practise of the same father and thou shal s finde him selfe exercise iurisdiction at the very same time when he wrote it in all prouincies Christianed through out the worlde both by excommunication of byshoppes that gouerned not well by often citation of persons in extreme prouincies by many appeales made vnto him by continuall legacies to other nations sent either to conuert them to the faith or to gouerne in their doubtfull affaires and by all other exercise of spirituall iurisdiction Is it not now a very false suggestion to the poore people that this blessed man in so plaine vtteraunce of his meaning by workes and not by wordes shoulde yet be brought as a witnesse to condemne him selfe though the wordes being well vnderstande make for no suche meaning in deede as by others it hath bene sufficiently declared The like impudencie it is to alleage S. Bernarde against the Masse or the presence of Christ in the blessed Sacrament Good man I dare say for him he sayde Masse euery daye if he were well at ease For other busines did not commonly let them in those dayes from that worke of all other most necessarie So the reciting out of S. Ambrose for the improuing of inuocation of holy Sainctes is no more but an abuse of the simples ignorance knowing well that he and all other of that time did practise prayers both often to all holy martyrs and sometimes peculiarly to such whome for patronage they did especially chuese of deuotion amongest the rest I speake not this that any might hereby iudge the doctors wordes to stande against their owne deedes but that euery man maye perceiue that where the workes and practise of all men be so plaine their words in some one place founde darke can not by any meanes be preiudiciall to that trueth which in all other placies they plainely set forth by wordes and by the euident testimonie of their owne practise to the worlde proteste the same Therefore I woulde exhorte all men in Christes name for their owne saluations sake to take heede how they giue credit to these libelles conteining certaine wrasted places out of the doctours workes against any trueth which by the further discourse of vsage and practise they are not hable before the learned to iustifie And therefore that all mistrust of vntrue dealing maye be farre from vs I will as I saide let them haue the feeling and handling of our cause throughly They shall behold in examples of most noble personagies both for their name vertu and learning the peculiar practises in praying and Masse saying for the deade both in the auncient Greeke and Latine Churchies CAP. IX 1 NOwe shall we haue the practise and examples of the olde fathers concerning sacrifice and prayer for the dead And here M. Allen before he commeth to the matter maketh much a do to shew how much more certayne the practise is then the wordes of any doctor because the wordes may be mistrusted or wrested the practise can not be altered As though he could shew vs any practise but that which is vttered in their wordes in which if there be any obscuritie or improprietie there shall be as great cōtrouersie of their workes as of their doctrine as they vsed the name of sacrifice in their teaching so they vse it in declaring what they did practise according to their teaching And therefore it is not worth a straw that M. Allen thinketh we may knowe their meaning rather by their practise then by their wordes except he could either in picture or in vision describe vnto vs euery thing that they did But let vs consider the examples of those thinges which he bringeth in to proue that practise is more certeyne then wordes First he can not deny but the wordes of Augustine and Theodoretus stand with vs that the sacramēt of Christes supper is a figure of his body and bloode and not the same naturally But the practise must expound the words not to stand with vs For they did so carefully keepe it adore it shew it to be worshipped prayed to it yea they taught children to call it God and Lorde which they would not haue done if they had not beleued it to be the very body of christ For this is cited 1. Theodoret. Dial. 2. in the margent His wordes be not set downe because they be directly against transubstantiation and nothing fauouring the grosse imagined presence of Christes body in the sacrament for he calleth the sacrament signa mystica the mysticall signes and the diuine mysteries which represent the body of Christ that is a true body and not fantasticall or absorpt of the diuinitie as the Eutichians dreamed wherefore it is playne that the adoration he speaketh of is nothing else but the reuerent estimation of the sacrament to be that which by Christ it is ordeyned to be and not any knocking or kneeling as M. Allen would haue vs beleue Augustine also vppon the 98. Psalme is cited belike to proue the adoration who in deede alloweth the adoration of the body of Christ whereof that is a sacrament but neither can you proue out of that place that he would haue the sacrament honored nor that the sacrament is the very body of Christ but euen in the same place speaking of the sacrament he sayth in the person of Christ non hoc corpus quod videtis manducaturi estis bibituri illum sanguinem quem fusuri sunt
testifieth that the Gospell was preached in this lande in the reigne of Tyberius the Emperour proue vnto vs that Paule or Simon or Thaddeus or Ioseph or who so euer first preached the Gospell in this Ilande tought prayers or sacrifices for the deade Proue it I saye and the daye is yours for euer if you proue it not as neither you nor the deuill for you is able to doe it the worlde may see your swelling bragges to be nothing but blowen bladders or bubles in which there is nothing but ayre as your wordes are nothing but winde yet are you not ashamed to name Gildas who as about the first conuersiō of the Britaynes to the faith he hath no worde of any such matters so where he complayneth of there ruyne and decaye he accuseth the priests of his time for sieldome sacrificing but of sacrificing for the deade he speaketh not although the error of praying for the deade were receiued in other places and whether this countrye were free from it I am not able to saye nor you to proue that it was infected with it And therefore hauing nothing to shew for six hundreth yeare◠almost in which this lande was neuer voyde of Christians you come in at last with the peruersion of the Saxons by Augustine that prowde cruell and vnlearned monke of whose pryde and cruelty our stories doe testifie at large his ignorance and vnskilfulnesse is bewrayed by him selfe in his writinges to Pope Gregory I force litle what miracles he wrought to cōfirme his errors neither doe I waye worth a flye that longe tale you tell out of Beda of him that had his cheines fallen o◠in Masse time That credulous and superstitious age had many such fayned miracles 500 such tales are toulde in vitas patrum serm discipuli legenda aurea the festiuall c. But make you no more accompt of Beda his graue authority then of those fayned fables suerly I make this accompt of Beda that if he had reported the matter of his owne knowledge I woulde haue credited the facte done and yet tending to the maintenaunce of false doctrine I would neuer the sooner haue bene moued from the trueth of Gods worde But when he reported it onely of heare saye and that not of the parties them selues that might haue bene witnesses but of them that hearde this one man tell it by him selfe it caryeth small credit with it I beleue that such a tale was tolde to Beda but what if they added some what to it that tolde him and what if he that tolde them lyed if Beda had not bene ouer light of credit him selfe he shoulde not haue put it in writing before he had perfect intelligence not only of the party him selfe but also of that Londiner and gentleman and those that kept him in prison But how so euer the matter weare true or false it is no proofe nor preiudice against the trueth of God vttered in the holy scriptures Let Augustine speake for vs in his booke ae vnitate ecclesiae against the Donatistes which boasted of miracles as the Papistes doe but Augustine will not allow them for sufficient proues with out the authoritie of the scriptures non dicat verum est quia ego hoc dico aut quia hoc dixit ille collega meus aut illi collegae mei aut illi episcopi vel clerici vel laici nostri aut ideo verum est quia illa illa ▪ mirabilia fecit Donatus vel Potius vel quilibet alius aut quia homines ad memorias mortuorum nostrorum orant exaudiuntur aut quia illa illa ibi contingunt aut quia ille frater noster aut illa soror nostra tale visum vigilans vidit vel tale visum dormiens somniauit c. Sed vtrum ipsi ecclesiam teneant non nisi diuinarum scripturarum canonicis libris oftendant c Let him not saye it is therefore true because I say it or such a one my companion sayed it or those my companions or those our byshoppes or clerkes or laye men or it is therefore true because Donatus or Pontius or any other did these or those miracles or because men praye at our dead mens memories and are harde or because these or these thinges doe happen there or because this our brother or that our sister sawe such a vision waking or dreamed such a vision sleeping c. but whether they holde the Church or no let them shewe none otherwise but by the canonicall bookes of the holy Scriptures This place M. Allen if it might take place with you might serue to cut of all controuersies not onely of purgatory but of the Church it selfe and what so euer is in question betwene vs But you are wise enough you will neuer venture your cause vppon that triall 2 VVe must here stay a litle and ponder in our mindes how our forefathers and people of our owne lande were taught in this article when they were first deliuered out of Sathans bondage and conuerted to the fellowship of Christes Church and let vs nothing doubt but that which our owne Apostles both by worde and worke by miracle and by martyrdome first proued vnto vs is the very true and unfallible faith of our Christianitie For if that were not true which at our first conuersion was preached vnto vs then we receiued not the faith but falsehoode at their handes then the histories doe make a lowde lye in testifying we were turned to the Christian faith both at that time and by such men then it were no conuersion from heathen Idolatrie to the worship of Christ but it were a chaunge from one superstition to an other and this latter so much worse then the other because vnder the name of Christ there were practise perpetuall of execrable sacrilege in instituting of a sacrifice to the defasing of our redemption in adoring bare breade as the hoste of our saluation in offering it vp to God for the sinnes both of the quicke and deade in practise of vnprofitable prayers for the soules deceased with the like false worship of God in all pointes Then their preaching was highly to Gods dishonour pernicious to the people and damnable to them selues Then haue all that euer ranne the rase of that faith and doctrine till this daye which they taught perished with them then are they founde false witnesses whome we haue accompted as our vndoubted true and lawfull pastors then God hath purposely deceiued vs with fayned miracles full many with numbers of vaine visions then all our labour is lost till this day The holynesse of so many good princies and priestes is praised in vaine the bloude of Martyrs shed in vaine the exercise of all sacraments in vaine and because all deuotion consisted in our fathers dayes in the earnest zele of so false a religion as they thinke this to be then the more deuotion the farther from Christ the lesse religion more neere to saluation then happy was he
God they are now bestowed according to their founders intent For they that serue the aultar of God must needes pull downe the aultars of idolls And if any portions that were taken from the world be gone to the worldely agayne I meane the Abbies and their landes it is the iust plague of God vpon them that vnder hypocrisie of forsaking the world liued not like men of the world but like deuills of hell And whereas you aske agayne if any man would take from his owne wife children to bestow vppon Priestes wiues and children I haue aunswered before that the chiefe collegiat Churches in England were first inhabited of married Priestes which taught sounder doctrine and liued a more chast life then the Epicureous Monkes that succeeded them I might aske of you M. Allen if they meant not to mainteyne Priestes wiues their children whether they ment rather to mainteyne Priestes whores their bastardes Byshops brothells and their minions Sodom and Gomor of Monkes Fryers it was neither Cutberd VVilliam nor VVilfryde wether they were holy or superstitious but the prouidence of God that appointed such portion as the Church now enioyeth if the same by any meanes should be taken from them yet God hath appointed that they which preach the Gospell shall liue of the Gospell We are not so carefull of worldly liuelihood as you knowing your owne disease imagine that we should be that we would come into your filthy Synagoge to winne Cardinalls hatts or Archbishops palls some of vs if they had sought worldly promotion by abusing their learning wittes to the maintenaūce of your horrible heresies needed not to haue come frō you to seke preferment among the Protestants which you know is neither so great nor so easy to come by as among the Papists 8 But let them on thinke on these matters them selues I will turne againe to my purpose although I can not goe farre from my matter so longe as I am in the beholdinge of that faith which our first preachers brought vnto vs at our first conuersion or in any steppe of the antiquitie which we well perceiue to be the fructe only of that doctrine which we haue declared and an euident testimony of so vndoubted a trueth I thinke there is no way so certaine for the contentation of a mans selfe in this time of doubting and diuersitie in doctrine as in all matters to haue an eye towards the faith which we receiued when we were first conuerted And for that point I woulde wishe that S. Bedes history were familiar vnto all men that hath vnderstanding of the Latine tongue and to all other if it were possible for there shall they plainely see the first beginning the increase the continuance the practise the workes proceding out of the catholike faith feare not that is the trueth for that was the first and that was grounded by Gods worde and openly confirmed by miracle And that point must be considered not onely for our owne countrie but for all others that be or hath bene Christianed For into the selfe same faith were they first ingraffed also as by the peculiar practising of euery good man towardes his freinde and louer I haue already declared and nowe for the generall vsage of Gods Church the reader shall at large perceiue that nothing may wante to our cause whereby any trueth or light may be had 8 The conclusion of your chapter is a recourse to the beginning you thinke it is the suerest way to looke to that faith in all poyntes which this land first receiued If men should follow your counsell as in some things they should follow your faith which you now teach so in many poynts namely in that which you coūt the chiefe the reall presence of the naturall body of Christ they should go as farre from that you teach nowe as you would haue them come neare some things that were receiued thē And wheras you wish that Bedes history for that purpose were made familiar and some of you in deede haue taken paynes to translate it into English they that list not to be deceiued but to see into what faith all nations were conuerted that were turned by the Apostles they were better to consider the word of God and the history of the actes of the Apostles which if you durst abyde the tryall thereof you would exhort men to reade it at least wise that vnderstand Latine And if you were as zealous to sette forth the glory of God as you are earnest to mainteyne your owne traditions one or other of you which haue so longe founde faulte with our translations of the scripture woulde haue taken paines to translate them truely your selues as well as to translate Bedes booke or else to write such bables as you doe M. Allen and all the packe of you but all in vayn◠to shadowe the same whose right shoulde easely discusse all clowdes of darke doctrine and the more it is impugned the more bright shall it shewe and the more it is compared with darkenesse the more glorious it shall appeare That in euery ordre or vsage of celebration of the blessed sacrament and Sacrifice through out the Christian vvorlde since Christes time there hath bene a solemne supplication for the soules departed CAP. XI 1 THerefore let vs see howe the Church our mother of her piety vseth generall supplication in all seruice and solemne administration of the blessed sacramēt euen for those whose freindes haue forgotten them whose paines and trauell worldely men remembre not whose obscure condicion of life or pouerty woulde not suffer them to procure prayers by their knowen deedes of charity or almes Those men I say that doe lacke singular patronage of their freindes those hath she remembred in the rites of celebration vsed in all countries and in euery age sithens the Apostles dayes VVhich ordres of diuine seruice as they haue bene diuers in forme of wordes so they perfectly and wholy agreed in the substance of the sacrifice in praying and offering for the deade and supplication to sainctes as thou shalt straight wayes by their vsed ordre of wordes perceiue And as we goe forwarde herein euer let vs beare this rule in minde Quòd legem credendi lex statuit supplicandi in that sense speaketh S. Augustine often against heretikes the ordre of the Churches prayer is euer a plaine prescriptiō for all the faithfull what to beleue And the motherly affection that the Church beareth towardes all her children departed the saide doctor thus expresseth Non sunt praetermittendae supplicationes pro spiritibus mortuorum quas faciēdas pro omnibus in Christiana Catholica societate defunctis etiam tacitis nominibus quorumcūque sub generali cōmemoratione suscepit ecclesia vt quibus ad ista desunt parentes aut filij aut quicunque cognati vel amici ab vna eis exhibeantur pia matro cōmuni That is to say in our tongue Prayer must not be omitted for the
benedicta agni videlicet immaculati qui tollis peccatum mundi potare de fonte pietatis tuae qui per lanceam militis de latere emanauit crucifixi Christi domini nostri vt consolati exultent in laude gloria tua sancta This in English we besech the most holy father for the soules of all faithfull departed that this high and greate sacrament of piety may be vnto them helth and salfty for euer ioye release and perpetuall refreshing O my Lorde God geue them this daye greate and perfect comfort of thee which art the bread that came downe from heauen and geuest life to the worlde Let them take ioye of thy holy and blessed flesh that is to saye of the lambe that taketh awaye the sinnes of the worlde Geue them to drinke of the springe of thy piety which by the pricke of the souldiers speare did aboundantly ishue out of the side of our Sauiour Christ and Lorde crucified that they being so comforted may reioyse in thy laude and glory euerlastingly To be brieefe all the Christian worlde agreeing as Isiodorus saith vpon one waye for the celebration of diuine mysteries maketh intercession for the faithfull departed that by the blessed sacrifice they maye obteine pardon and remission of their sinnes 7 It is a world to see that you haue nothing in a manner but forged euidence to proue the antiquitie of prayer for the deade in publicke seruice of the Church Who is so ignoraunt in antiquitie but he that will needes be obstinate that knoweth not those preparatories to that masse to be none of S. Ambrose his doings Otherwise it were not harde to proue that by the name of sacrifice he meaneth thankes geuing for the sacrifice of Christ as the maner of that vnpropre speach was to terme the holy sacrament which is but the seale of our saluation and not the matter thereof it selfe To be briefe what so euer Isidorus sayth if all the worlde agreed that intercession and sacrifice should be offered for the deade seeing it disagreeth from the worde of God and the practise of the primitiue Church so long as it followed the rule of Gods worde it is no whit to be regarded 8 For I assure the good reader that all realmes which nowe by Gods grace are in true faith and their Christianitie continuing or else before haue bene and now by schisme doe forsake the same that all those nations as they receiued one faith so in substance they haue euer agreed vniformely in order of seruice which they receiued at their first conuersion from the way of gentilitie by the good prouision of such as wrought vnder God in their happy turne to the Christian faith and religion The same men that brought in the faith of Iesus with all brought in this way of worshipping Christ in the same faith take away then this order of worship and solemne supplication which they planted thou must needes ouerthrowe the faith which they taught also This I say was euer found in the celebration of the fearefull mysterie of Christes body and blood besides the oblation of that holy host for the quicke and dead both namely for certaine and generally for all departed in Christ a solemne prayer and supplicatiō VVhich no doubt Christ instituted at his last supper which the holy Ghost afterward secretly suggested to the Apostles which they againe faithfully deliuered to the nations conuerted by their preaching and to diuerse of their owne disciples by whom the same was deriued downe to our dayes taught in all nations and carefully practised of all people VVhereof we haue worthy witnesses for all countries almost For so the godly doctors Tertullian Cyprian Augustine both taught and worshipped in Africke the same doth Hierom and Damascene in Syria Origen and Athanasius in Egypte Denyse the auncient and Bernarde in Fraunce Chrysostome in Thrase Basill and his brethern in Cappadocia Ambrose and Gregory the greate in Italy Augustine our apostle and Bede in our countrie of England with the rest of all nations baptized whome I named before and might doe yet a number what shoulde I say a numbre all that euer were counted Catholikes since the beginning were of the same sense in that cause And to name the residue where these do not serue it were lost labour For whome they can not moue I can not tell what maye perswade him in any matter Or if he dare not bestow his credit on these mens doinges whome maye he salfely trust If the communion and faithfull fellowship of so many godly and gracious men so vniformely consenting both in the teaching and practising of this matter can not sattell and quiet a mans conscience who can appeace his disquieted vnsteadfast minde and cogitation If in the construing of Gods word and scriptures so many of such graue iudgement of so approued wisedome of so passing learning of such earnest studie in tryall of the trueth of so vertuous a life of so heauenly a gifte and grace in the expounding of Gods worde maye not be salfely followed in this our search whome shoulde we follow or to whome shoulde the simple addicte them selues in so greate a turmoyle of learned men one sorte craking so fast of scripture and the other sorte when the matter commes to triall alleaging so many with so auncient and graue testimony for the true meaning of the same to which I saye is it wisedome to geue consent and credit if not to such as faithfully both followe and recite the scripture with the agreement of the worlde for the true sense thereof S. Augustine writing against Parmenianus the Donatiste much woundereth in that cleere light of trueth and the Churches doctrine the heretikes coulde be blinde or not see the euidence of that which all the worlde but them selues sawe And in many places he reckeneth the most horrible punishment in the worlde to be the cecity and blindenesse which God striketh the stubborne mans hearte with all in forsaking the fellowship of the Churches children But he that considereth the processe of our cause maye a thousand times more maruaill and feare Gods heuy iudgement in the blinding of the disobedient mens heartes and senses for sinne If they them selues were of their consciences examined what els they would wishe for the triall of any doubt I am sure they coulde name no one point nor any meanes in the worlde which our cause woulde not suffer and admitte For by what waye so euer any trueth in Gods Church was seuerally in the auncient times auouched against the aduersary heretike I am sure we haue the same with the aduauntage And for this last point of prayers in the Masses of all nations it is so euident that no man can gaine saye it and so generally practised that the vsage of praying coulde in no matter euer so cleerely set out the certaintie of our belefe as in this 8 If you will take M. Allens assurance in so weighty a matter that vseth so commonly to
sacrifice for the deade was instituted by Christ at his last Supper which the holy Ghost afterwarde did secretly suggest vnto the Apostles and they as secretly deliuered to the nations For no worde nor halfe worde therof is conteined in their writings which are to vs the only true testimony of their tradition Thus haue these heretikes no grounde of their heresie but shifte from the worde of scripture to secret tradition from tradition to the meaning of scripture from the plaine meaning of scripture to the vnconstant opinions of men from the variable and contrary opinions of men in times past to their owne obstinacy and continuaunce in error in time present yet he woundreth that we are so blinde that we can not see the cleere light of the trueth If Satan transforming him selfe into an angell of light hath so dasled their eyes that they can not see the true light they are iustly plagued because they haue refused the faithfull testimony of Gods worde which only geueth true light vnto the eyes as the Prophet saith and geuen heede to spirites of errors and doctrines of deuils by whom they are blinded in vtter darkenesse though it be with false imagination and dreaminge of light Yet see the confidence of the man he is suer that if we were examined of our conscience what triall of this doubt we woulde wishe there is none we coulde name but his cause might well abide it Why M. Allen we haue testified of our conscience longe agoe that the onely authority of Gods worde written shall satisfie vs as well in this as in all other matters if you were as desirous to satisfie vs as you pretend and as able to performe as you are to promise we should haue hearde before this time some sentence of scripture to maintaine prayer and sacrifice for the deade not standing vppon voluntary collection but either in plaine wordes or necessary conclusion For there is nothing that we are bounde to knowe nothing that we are bounde to doe but either in expresse wordes or in necessary collection which is as good as expresse wordes it is set forth in the holy Scriptures Beside this you shoulde bring a great preiudice against vs if you coulde bringe the consent and practise of the primitiue pure Church for the space of an hundreth yeares after christ But neither of these doe we looke to see we before see with our eyes the certainety of those thinges whereof now we contend in words and writinges The heretikes of our time and country be yet further vrged vvith the practise of prayers for the deceased their contrary communion is compared vvith the olde vsage of Celebration They are ashamed of the first original of their Christian faith they are vveary of their ovvne seruice they are kepte in ordre by the vvisedome of the Ciuile magistrates and are forced flatly to refuse all the doctors CAP. XII 1 THe chiefe argument that the Church of God vsed in olde time against Pelagius the enemy of Gods grace was this that at the holy altar the Priest prayed to God for to conuert heretikes and infidells to the faith and euill liuers wicked conuersation to vertue and honesty the which prayers had bene to no purpose if the grace of God had not borne the principall stroke in the chaunging of mans hearte But being assured of this as a grounde that the prayer of the Priest in the whole Churches name at the altar can not but beare singular strength and trueth it is necessarily concluded that seeing the publike minister so prayeth that we must needes beleue that God hath mans hearte in his hande and may turne it to the belefe of his worde or loue of his will as he liketh and listeth notwithstanding the perfect freedome of mans will which by Gods grace is neuer perished but alwayes perfected And in this assured foundation of the publike prayers S. Augustine who then was the souldier of grace so triumphed against one Vitalis a Pelagian that he ringeth him this peale Exerce contra orationes ecclesiae disputationes tuas quaÌ„do audis sacerdotem dei ad altare exhortantem populum dei orare pro incredulis subsanna pias voces ecclesiae dic te non facere quod hortatur homo in Carthagiensi eruditus ecclesia etiam beatissimi Cypriani librum de oratione dominica condemna Holde on fellow exercise thy contentious talke against the vsuall prayers of Gods Church and wheÌ„ thou hearest the Priest of God at his altar exhort the people to praye for the misbeleuers scoffe at the holy wordes and make him aunswere thou wilt not pray as he biddes thee And being brought vp in the Church of Carthage condemne withall S. Cyprians worke vpon our Lordes prayer wherein he teacheth the same I tary nowe the longer on this point that thou mayest learne to kepe an heretike at the bay and to fasten thy stroke so surely vpon him that which waye so euer he shifte he shall beare thy blowe vpon his necke and shoâ—lders It is not for our cause taken in hand that I now so much trauell for that is longe sith made sure enough for all the deuills in Hell or their followers in earth But I woulde in this one example of praying for the deade geue the studious a tast of all such wayes as the trueth of all other pointes in controuersy may be both surely defended and so plainly proued and vpholden that the aduersary shall not be able to say baffe vnto any one of the least of all the groundes wherevpon Gods trueth standeth Handeling then our good men as S. Augustine did the like say to them boldely that the same Church which exhorteth the people to pray for the misbeleuers doth geue vs example to pray for the soules departed Vitalis and Pelagius were heretikes for withstanding the one they must needes be as very heretikes for refusing the other It was the greatest extremitie that Pelagius coulde be driuen to by force of Augustines argument to mocke at the priests prayer made at Gods altar and that which then was so foule an absurditie for those false teachers can it be borne out of ours with honestie Vitalis the Pelagian had a foule foyle by S. Augustine â—hen he charged him with the contempt of S. Cyprians authoritie Byshop of Carthage being him selfe a â—hield of the same Church And shall they goe away so smouthly nowe a dayes not only with contempe of their owne English patrons and Apostles but with impudent deniall of all the doctors at once that euer were gydes of Gods Church sith Christes faith was taught It was of Augustine counted a singular arrogancy not to praye in that forme as Gods Church and ministers at the altar both praye them selues and exhorte other to pray and shall it be such prayse for our preachers to erect a new seruice to be checke mate with the olde to controele the rites and vsages of solemne supplication in all countries Christianed and with the
wantonnesse in all their ordre of life for they are so dronken and drowned in heresie that they haue no sense of common reason VVhat a do had the magistrates to make these wylde men go in priestelike apparell to kepe their Rotchettes to obserue some steppe of antiquitie in their maners How they were driuen to tempre their lustes in prouision for some ordrely choise of their wiues that seeing them haue no respecte on what women they light that by Iustices of peace yet they might be bestowed if not well yet with their lesse dishonestie vpon persons not openly infamous Such fellowes are more fit to be gouerned then to beare rule ouer other in whome without constraint you shall neither finde comelynesse in maners ordre in life nor constancy in religion God of his mercye geue them some light to see their owne misery and spirite of humilitie to subiect them selues in time to Gods Church that is so carefull ouer them though to their owne great harme they so deadly hate her They can showe no cause in the world why they neede in any one pointe of all those which at this daye be in controuersie betwxit them and their owne mother rather to credit their owne phantasies then her graue authoritye which onely without farther questioning with obedieÌ„t children maketh more then all argument or eloquence of man in the earth 7 If the ciuill Magistrates haue thought good in some outward ceremony or vsage to beare with the infirmitie of the weaker sort of your side in hope to winne them it is a small matter for you that are the obstinate of that secte to triumphe vpon when all your blasphemous doctrine is abolished and nothing left but a fewe ragges of your robes to looke vpon And as for the iniunction for Priestes mariage was either to stoppe your slaunderous mouthes when godly ministers wiues should haue testimoy of their honestie by men of such credit or else to bridle the lust of your owne tounebulls the popish Priestes which when licence of whordom is denied them and liberty to marry permitted them would make no better choyse perhaps of their wiues then they did before of their women We can shew no cause in the world you say why we neede in any one poynt of controuersie depart from your Church yes M. Allen this one cause shal serue for all because your church is departed from the truth of Gods word and dare not abide the tryall thereof but will sitte like a proud dame in a chayre controll the Scriptures the ordinance of Christ and the commaundements of God him selfe But how so euer you boast of her fast sitting she shall downe she shall downe euen to the bottome of hell 8 And for such as maye for their simplicitie be soone deceiued by following other mens errors with whome the names of doctors or the onely bare bragge of scriptures are as good as the allegation of places Let them aske of their teachers howe they can shifte them selfe when they see the practise of Gods Church generally so plaine for all Catholike assertions as for the article of praying for the deade amongest many other the like is nowe before proued Call vpon them and aske them in earnest because it lyeth vpon thy saluation whether thou must giue any credit to the perpetuall agreement and consent of all auncient doctors If they saye yea desire them to aunswere first to all these places so euidently confirming our purpose that they can not abide any cloude or couer of mans sutteltye for their shifting to any forged sense If they can not yet let them alleage some place of any auncient writer them selues which do expressely denye purgatory or prayers for the deade as we for the confirming therof haue done in plaine termes with out crafte or colour many If they be not able to do so much yet go further with them aske them whether they haue any expresse wordes in scripture that denie prayers to be profitable for the deade not by a fonde gesse of their owne heades corrupt consciences or preiudicate mindes expounded to that purpose but I say by expresse words or at least which is liberty enough expounded for that meaning by any one man of all the antiquitie If they can alleage thee but one worde of scripture construed of any one I say in all ages to confirme their vnderstanding to be currant and not framed for their phantasie to serue the necessity of their cause be bolde to followe them I woulde not put them to the paines to make discourse throughout all ages churches times and doctors as we haue done but onely let them to kepe their credit and scholars and to saue their honesties bring but one or two of all that euer wrote in the compasse of Gods Church and thou maiest with lesse daunger and better reason follow their doctrine But there is no one such place I assure the good reader neither in scripture doctor nor councell nor countrie nor age sith the worlde beganne I will go so farre in this point where there was euer steppe of any true worship of God there was prayer founde for the dead also They can not shew me any forme of ministration in the Christian world that was approued which hath it not expressely if it be knowen that it was in deede the seruice of any auncient Church not corrupted by them selues The same I dare be bolde to auouch for the lawe of nature and Moyses because it is proued already All their bragging of the example of the primitiue Church the masses of other countries of the doctors of the scriptures of the councells is but an vntollerable delusion and abuse of the simplicity of such as be not skillfull in the authors whome they name For when the matter comes to an ishue when they be harde holden either in this or in any other matter theÌ„ the doctors whom they chalenged before the simple for their partakers were but men then they might erre then they haue learned onely to credit the holy Scriptures then there is nothing but Gods worde and booke with them which els full faine would haue the doctors consent out of whom it were but a meane place which they would not alleage for their purpose if it might be founde Then if deniall of all the doctors iudgements serue not their turne In accusationem ipsarum scâ—ipturarum conuertuntur they will not sticke boldely to condemne the holy Scriptures with all 8 Now the youngers must pose their maisters as M. Allen a passing good Logician doth teach them yea and that is more he will teach vs what to aunswere also but sauing his wisedome he must geue vs leaue to aunswere for our selues First if we be asked howe we can shifte our selues against the generall practise of Gods Church for all popish assertions and namely this of praying for the deade we aunswere that we deny the practise to be generall because we finde it not in the holy
Scriptures nor in the most auncient writers that lyued with in an hundreth yeares and more after the time of christ And to the particuler practise of the later times we aunswere that it is not sufficient to controll the auncient doctrine and primer practise If we be required to shew some place of any auncient writer which denyeth purgatory or prayers for the deade we haue already shewed that Augustine some time doth doubt whether there be purgatory some time affirmeth there is no meane or thirde place but heauen for the elect and hell for the reprobate likewise for praying or satisfying for the deade we haue alleaged Cyprian and others your owne common law out of Hieronym sayth that the prayers of the liuing profit not the deade 13. quaest 2. In praesenti saeculo c. In this present worlde we knowe that one of vs may be helped of an other either by prayers or by counsells but when we shoulde come before the iudgement seate of Christ neither Iob nor Daniel nor Noe can intreate for any man but euery man must beare his owne burthen Yea Gelasius the Pope sayth that no man can be absolued of the Pope after his death 24. q. 2. C. legatur Wherefore serue the Popes pardons then To that which is required of the expresse word of God forbidding prayers for the deade we aunswere that all places of scripture that forbidde prayers without fayth forbidde prayer for the deade for faith is not euery mans vaine perswasion but an assurance out of the worde of God which because we can not haue in praying for the dead therefore we are forbidden to praye for them If it be against the hope of Christians to morne for the deade much more it is against the fayth and hope of Christians to praye for them For by our prayer we suppose them to be in misery whome the worde of God doth testifie to be in happines to be at rest to be with Christ Iohn 17. Apoc. 14. And as for a place so expounded by an auncient writer I will seeke no farther then the place of Hieronym euen now alleaged out of your owne canon lawe vppon 2. Cor. 5. referring the reader to many other places alleaged in this aunswere as out of Cyprian Origene and others by which the intollerable lying bragging and rayling of this miscreant shal be better confuted then by any contradiction of wordes And where as he sayeth we chalenge the olde doctors before the simple for our partakers whether they be simple or wise before whom we speake as we speake not alwayes before the simple onely but often times and commonly before as wise and well learned men as M. Allen we neuer make any such challenge of them as the Papistes doe which offer to stand to their iudgement in all thinges and yet in most thinges yea in the cheefest pointes of religion that be so in deede or be so compted of them they are contrary to the doctors and olde councells for which cause and not for confirmation of trueth we alleage the authoritie of men for we haue learned as Augustine sayth to geue this honor only to the canonicall scriptures that we must beleue them with out controuersie and all other writings we receiue so farre as they agree with the scriptures and not other wise wherefore we doe not onely saye that the doctors haue erred like men but we haue proued it so that the Papistes them selues can not saye naye for shame But to that he sayth we doe boldely condemne the holy Scriptures that it out of all measure impudent and sclaunderous And that which he citeth out of Irenaeus belike as he had it of some foolish priest that fedde him with notes of doctors or as he is impudent enough to peruerte the fathers meaning him selfe so if he had alleged the whole sentence he might well haue taken him selfe and the rest of his fellowes by the noses for heretikes by the iudgemeÌ„t of Irenaeus whose wordes be these Cum enim ex scripturis arguantur in accusationem conuertuntur ipsarum scripturarum quasi non rectè habâ—ant neque sit ex authoritate quia variè sunt dictae quia non possit inueniri veritas ab his qui nesciant traditionem non enim per literas traditam illam sed per viuam vocem When they be confuted by the scriptures they are turned into the accusation of the scriptures them selues as though they were not well nor of sufficient authority both because the trueth can not be founde of them which knowe not the tradition for that was not deliuered by writing but by worde of mouth How saye you M Allen who is an heretike by Irenaeus iudgement who accuseth the scriptures as though they were not of sufficient authority who sayth the scriptures are like a nose of waxe who saye the trueth can not be founde in scriptures without tradition of vnwritten verities In good sooth M. Allen you haue the worst grace of any that euer I knew in alleaging the sentences of the doctors for you alleage fewe or none but either in whole or in parte they make against you 9 But if you thinke that I feane of them you shall see what shamefull shiftes the maisters and captaines of the contrary assertion haue deuised for the defense of them selues I dare say if the studious be but any whit indiffereÌ„t he will leaue their sâ—hoole for euer The chiefe Captaine of all these contentious heades like an vnshamefast childe affiâ—meth that the doctors praysed and followed the common errors of the ignorant people in almes and prayers for the departed Brentius aunswereth that Tertullian making mention of yearly oblations for the deceased tooke his error of the hethen vsage of the gentility And Augustine he saith affirmed purgatory prayers and almes for them for the affiance that he had in mens merites towardes the remission of sinnes Melancthon as though he were no man that might orre him selfe sayth the doctors were men and discented amongest them selues As for the vsage of any celebration in the worlde what roume can it haue with these champians when Câ—luin confesseth in plaine termes that the celebration of the Sacrament hath bene contaminated euen in a maner sith the Apostles time and first planting of our religion and to reduce it to the puritie againe the man frames a newe one of his owne so farre from superstition that it hath no steppe of religion or true worship of god But well the worde of God is yet safe with them there a man may holde them No surely they are as â—alsie with the very scripture it selfe when so euer it maketh against them Brentius before named is not ashamed to saye that he pardoneth the author of the Machabeis of his error and ignorance And that thou may see the perfect image of a prowde heretike Caluin sayth thus as for the booke of the Machabeis I will not vouâ—hsalfe to make aunswere to it Mercifull God what faithfull
whose workes the aduersaries woulde be glad of one likely sentence And whose life and doctrine are so glorious in Gods Church that their owne aduersaries raling at vs aliue yet dare not but with great feare once blemish their names departed Though sometimes it brastithe out in some one of them to their owne miscredit So beutifull is the light of trueth And on the other side howe miserable is their carefull case that followe and defende that doctrine the authors whereof they dare neither acknowledge nor name whome all good men with open mouth boldely doe reprehend and their owne scholars dare not defende Such a glorious maiesty this doctrine of theires beareth that pricketh vp with pryde those that be alyue and blotteth out of honest memorie her doctors that be deade 10 Nay M. Allen though those doctors build some hay or stuble vpon the onely foundation Christ their case is ten thousand times better then yours which build nothing but dirt and donge tempered with hay and stuble vpon no foundation at all except it be the sande and seeke by all meanes to digge vp the onely true foundation of our fayth Iesus Christ making him nothing better then a common person except his bare name and woe may be to such Catholikes as can finde nothing but hay and stuble where such store of precious matter is and the most precious corner stone the foundation of all excellency And happy be those which not regarding the streames of waters that runne through the vaynes of earth but seeking to the onely fountayne of heauenly truth conteyned in the holy scriptures haue certeyne comfort of saluation while they are aliue and sure possession of felicitie with Christ as soone as they are dead yea which dye not at all because they beleue in Christ which is life nor enter into iudgement but passe from death of this body which is temporall vnto life of body and soule which is eternall The first Author of that secte vvhich denieth prayers for the departed is noted his good condicions and cause of his error be opened vvhat kinde of men haue bene most bent in all ages to that secte And that this heresy is euer ioyned as a fit companion to other horrible sectes CAP. XIIII 1 BVt yet because they haue diffamed our practise in praying and offering for the deade by referring it to a later origine then the Apostolike authority and tradition seeing we haue fathered our vsage vpon such as the aduersaries dare not blame we will helpe them to seeke out the fathers of their faithles perswasion lest by the feare and bashfullnesse of their owne scholars they be vnkindly forgotten Mary to finde out these obscure loyterers it will be somewhat painefull because as theeues doe they kepe by wayes and lightly treade not in honest mens pathes For the finding out of recordes for the testimony of our trueth we kepte the day light the high waye of Gods Church All the knowen notable personages in the holy Citye of God offered them selues both to witnesse and proue with vs VVe droue this trueth from our dayes through the middest of that holy communitie which S. Augustine calleth the Citye of God and our aduersaries will not saye otherwise but they were the liuely membres of that happy and heauenly fellowship VVe brought the practise of it to the holy Apostles by plaine accompte we went with the trueth of our cause to the lawe of Moyses from thense by like light to the lawe of nature But nowe for the other sorte we must leaue the cytie of God and the fellowship of these noble personages of doctors Apostles Prophets and Patriarches and seeke on the lifte hande in the other citye which is of Augustine named the citye or common welth as a man might call it of the deuill in which body all practise of mischiefe and origin of error ishuing from that vnhappy heade to the corrupt and deadly limmes thereof is to be founde VVe shall heare of the aduersary perswasion then in the company of Anabaptistes of Arrians of Saduceis of Epicures where so euer the weedes of the common enemies corrupte seede groweth there shall we find amongest breares and brembles this choking weede with all For as the true preachers the Apostles of Christ Iesu did sowe in the beginning of the Christian church which was the springe of the worde of lyfe and trueth amongest other heauenly seedes of true doctrine that profitable practise for the reliefe of such as were hense departed in the sleepe of peace with the decent ordre which euer fithens the Catholicke Church hath obediently followed euen so Inimicus homo superseminauit zizania the common enemy came afterwarde and ouersewe darnell and cockle either for the vtter choking or else for the especiall let of that good seede which the Maister of this fielde by his houshold seruauntes had plentifully sowen before This common aduersarie as our maister him selfe expoundeth it is the Deuill who as he in all other thinges beneficiall to mankinde is a great staye so Christian mens commoditie in this point he notably hindereth by his wicked suggestions and deuilish deuise whereby he prouoketh many vnder the shewe of Gods word or bare name therof for that is the lambes cote which this wyely wolfe boroweth to maske in to be vnkind vnnaturall and with out all godly affection towards their departed frendes The which contrary corrupt seede of false doctrine we right well know came of the sayd aduersary because it was long after ouersowen learning further of Tertullian Id verum esse quodcunque primum id adulterinum quod posterius That to be true that was first taught and that to be false and forged which came latter CAP. XIIII 1 WHen the Apostolike writing can not be shewed it is but the poynt of an heretike to boast of Apostolike tradition So did the Valentinians although their heresie were newe when they were confuted by the Scriptures shrowed them selues vnder the name of traditions as we haue shewed before out of Irenaeus lib. 3. ca. 2. And therfore it is but vayne bragging that you promise to seeke out any other fathers of our perswasion then the Apostles of Christ by whose holy writings we neuer refuse to be iudged what if any heretike haue affirmed some thing that is true is truth worse in an heretikes mouth The deuills them selues confessed christ Their confession was true their testimony was refused So if any heretike haue confessed the truth we may receiue the truth and yet reiect his testimony For truth hath testimony of God his word and whether it be affirmed or denyed by the deuill it is all one The high way that you prate of is a bye way for the Scripture is the onely high way to the truth with the guidance of Gods spirite And yet that way which you haue taken hath so many hills and holes woods and thickets that you haue rather flyen ouer it in a dreame and imagination
dayes they thinke they haue a good argument against the Catholikes Therefore they woulde father transubstantiation vpon this Councell the adoration of the Sacrament vpon that Pope indulgencies vpon that byshop c. For they be as saulcie with Gods Church Councells chiefe gouernors as we be with the Iacke strawes of Geneua And yet when they haue traualed to their heartes ake they can finde no one thing first inuented by any of them whome they falsely name to be the authors thereof But well seeing it is so stronge an argument of heresie to haue the ofspring of a later author with plaine prouisò of Gods Church for his markinge let vs adde so much strength to our cause to haue the father of the contrary falshood knowen and noted of the antiquity by his name 3 If you haue not a better vnderstander then you are a rule giuer your rule is false for though you hedge it in with many conditiōs yet you leaue out the chiefest which is that the opinion it self be cōtrary to the truth first preached by the Apostles or else it is no heresie though it may be truely fathered vpon any man priuate or publike sooner or later And here I muse why you put in the condition of a priuate man belike if the Pope inuent a new doctrine because he is a publike person that can not erre it must not be taken for heresie In your second rule except you vnderstand that the opinion of him which is withstāded be new and of his owne inuention the withstanding thereof no not by good men maketh it not false They that defended that heretikes should not be rebaptised were withstoode by Cyprian and all the Bishops of Africa who were notwithstanding their error in the vnitie of the Church yet were they not heretikes nor their opinion heresie because it was not of their inuention but of the word of god And wheras you affirme that we can not find any of those thinges inuented by them by whome we say they were inuented though we trauail vntill our hartes ake I aunswere though you seeke vntill your head ake lye vntill you haue worne your tongue to the stumpes you shall neither finde those things in the word of God nor to haue any other authors thē the writers of your owne sect haue named to be the fathers of most of them And that you charge vs with like saucines towards your Prelates that you vse toward the Iacke strawes of Geneua if you had not thereby confessed your selfe to be a saucy Iacke you might haue giuen vs occasiō to think no lesse of you For although perhaps you count the chief teachers of that Church for Iacke strawes yet the worlde can testifie that there is more grauitie and modesty in the lightest persons of all that Church then hath appeared of many Popes and Cardinalls of your Church of Rome 4 Epiphanius that notable man in his booke that he wrote for the confutation of all the heresies that were before his time and in other of his workes too nameth an obscure fellowe one Aërius to be the first author of this heresie that prayers and sacrifice profiteth not the departed in Christ. But what maner a fellowe he was and how lickely to be the founder of such a schoole thou shalt perceiue best by the writers wordes When Aërius coulde not obteine the byshopricke of Eustathius deposed after that he was once perfectly well skilled in Arius doctrine he inuented new sectes of his owne affirming that there shoulde be no offering for the departed and of him loe the scholars were called Aërians Let not the simple whome I woulde helpe in this cause be deceiued by the liknes of these two names Arius and Aërius for this later was the author of their secte and was a follower of the first called Arius in his doctrine beside And of the same sect and sectmaister S. Augustine thus sayeth following Epiphanius The Aërians were so named by one Aërius who taking snoffe that he coulde not get a byshopricke fell into the heresie of Arius first and then added therevnto other heresies of his owne makinge saying that we shoulde not offer sacrifice for the deade nor obserûe the solemne appointed fastes of the Church but that euery man should abstaine when he liste And there both he and Epiphanius doe recken moe of his holy opinions which I omit For it is enough for our purpose and to confunde all the heretikes of our dayes that this opinion was noted as it spronge vp in the primitiue Church for heresie and the authors not onely condemned as heretikes in that point but in many other thinges beside For I neuer reade of nor yet knewe any heretike but if he once mistrusted the catholike Church the Deuill was hable to perswade with him as well in a numbre of matters as in one And that is the cause that any man seduced falleth from one falshood to an other till he wholy be drowned in the waues of tempesteous doctrine And when he commeth once at the bottom then God knoweth he setteth light by the matter contemneth it and is often past recouery as it is sayde Peccator cum in profundum venerit contemnit Euen so did this Aërius first through ambitious pride fall to the Arians sect but because he counted it nothing glorious to be a scholar he woulde be a maister and that of a misheuous matter and a matter repugnāt to the sense of all Christes Church which before his preaching generally as after receiued and faithfully vsed prayers and oblation for the deade Of which consent of the vniuersall worlde and the heretikes follye in withstanding the same the sayde Epiphanius sayeth thus I will report his wordes in Latine because they sounde very well though him selfe wrote not in that language Assumpsit ecclesia in toto mundo assensus est factus antequà m esset Aërius qui ab ipso appellantur Aëriani quis autem magis de his nouit hic ne seductus homo qui etiam superest nunc an qui ante nos testes fuerunt c. Thus in english The Church hath receiued this trueth through the wide worlde it was sattled in all mens mindes before Aërius was borne or any of his secte that be nowe called Aërians And who I pray you is most like to knowe the trueth of these thinges this false wretche yet liuinge at this daye or else the faithfull witnesses that were before our time Beholde here you worshipfull maister ▪ you may suerly take greate cause of comforte in his liuely worde mary Sir he might haue bene an Archbishoppe in our dayes for he loued neither fasting nor praying He was fayne to be an heretike for anger because he coulde not be made a bishoppe then who now if he were in this happy age when the light is more plentifully powred vpon the people might haue bene promoted at Caluins decease to the ouerlooking of Geneua But his opinion was
may by the example of Christ aunswere one question with an other why was it first reueiled to the Arians in councell holden against Christ that the article of his descent into hell was meete to be added to the creede and confession of faith which was not reueiled to so many godly meÌ„ as set forth the Symbole nor to the holy Nicene Councell Aunswere me if you can or any Robin good fellowe of your sect â–ª learned or vnlearned is it any preiudice to the trueth of that article or to the right that it hath to be placed in the creede that it was first added by the Arrians why was the trueth reueiled to heretikes concerning rebaptisation rather then to Cyprian and so many catholicke byshoppes why was it reueiled to the Pelagians that infantes might be saued without the participation of the sacrament of Christes body and bloude rather then vnto S. Augustine Innocentius byshoppe of Rome and as Augustine sayeth all the catholicke fathers of that time which thought it was as necessary for them to receiue the communion as to be baptised If heretikes shoulde not affirme somethinge that were true they shoulde neuer deceiue any man And sometime Satan affirmeth the trueth not because he will haue it beleeued but rather that proceding out of his lying mouth it might the sooner be discredited And therefore sometymes Arrians Pelagians Anabaptistes and such like by the subtilty of Satan haue affirmed somethinge that is true either to winne credit to their manifolde lyes or else to drowen the credit of that trueth among so many errors 7 Nay I will pose you further is not your preaching the very ready waye to all such extreeme blasphemies as they boldely mainteine did euer man fall from the Catholicke Church to those further heresies then you yet openly professe but he tooke yours by the waye as a plaine passage to extreme infidelitie yea your opinions doe so well stande with the other that they neede not afterwarde to refuse any one pointe of all your doctrine to mainteine their owne There is no article of Catholicke doctrine but it is as much hated of them as of your selues Helpe your selues here my maisters or else all the worlde will take you to be in your heartes of the same sectes wherevnto your faith is alwayes so dearely ioyned Put your heades together and tell vs whie your doctrine is so deare to the AriaÌ„s all wicked men so hated of the holy fathers of Christes Church If you frame not your aunswere well you liese your credites your scholars and your honesties VVell thus haue I pointed out your author his name was Aërius you must be called Aërians you maye kepe the name of Protestaunts or Euangelistes beside For a holy newe calling is lightly ioyned to such men VVhereby though some simple be deceyued yet wâ—se men be warned Or if the olde authors of this secte be not so glorious as these new reuiuers if they list and like so they may call them selues Lutherans or Caluinistes or what they will but Catholickes Although Martyn Luther graunted purgatory and prayers with this error that such as were there might yet by their diuers deseruinges winne or loose life euerlasting as men of doubtefull state as they were before in the worlde plaine against our Sauiours admonition and carefull warning veniet nox quando iam nullus operari potest VVorke whiele the day lasteth for the night shall come wheÌ„ no man can labour But I neede not to stande vpon this point which of neither parte is much regarded Neither will I spende any more time in getting them an author of their secte seeing they haue choise of diuers Let them goe out of the Citye of God from amongest the holy company and turne on the lifte hande and looke amongest the outcastes of all agies and they shall haue freindes and fellowes enowe 7 That you saye of our preaching to be the waye to so many heresies might haue bene sayed of the Gentiles and Iewes to the whole Church of Christians The Gentiles continued constant so did the Iewes without schisme in their errors when the professors of Christianity were rent and torne into an hundreth sectes and heresies There were no heretikes but they hated Iewes and Gentiles as much as the true Christians was therefore the religion of the Iewes and Gentiles better then the religion of the Christians Yea there neuer was since Christ any heresie or heretike but they agreed in many more thinges with the Christians then with the Gentiles and Iewes was therefore the Christian religion false or the Paganes and Iewes superstition true It is therefore no dâ—sâ—redit of our doctrine that Arrians or Anabaptistes of our time either haue any thing of yours or prayse any thing of ours Neither our credit schollers nor honestie are in daunger for their errors which they learned not of vs neither are your wit learning or heresie the greater for vttering this foolish conceipte which no more toucheth vs or defendeth you then it carpeth the religion of Christ and mainteineth the Idolatrie of the heathen The worlde seeth what vaine reasons you leane vnto being destitute of the worde of god An heretike helde this opinion therefore it is false The deuill beleueth there is one God therefore shall not Christian men beleue so why woulde God reueile any trueth to heretikes why did the Pharizees which otherwise were heretikes defende the resurrection of the deade This vaine frothe of wordes and smoke of foolish and vnlearned questions will euen fall downe and vanish awaye of it selfe though it be not blowen away by vs The latter end of this chapter hath one croppe of his olde custome to charge Luther with defending of Purgatory which either was while he remained in ignorance or else it is but a fained fable as many other of him and others are deuised by the Papists who as they erre from the trueth of God so they delight in sclaundering of good men but they shall not preuaile their madnes is made knowen to all men That their falsehood is condemned and the Catholicke trueth approued by the authority of holy Councells Their pride in contemning and the Catholickes humilitie in obedient receyuing the same And a sleight vvhereby the heretikes deceiue the people is detected CAP. XV. 1 ANd for our parte it is sufficient good reader that we knowe the first founder thereof and that we be nowe right well assured that he in his time and his scholars in theirs haue bene noted called and condemned for heretikes in this as in other fonde peruerse opinions beside not onely by the singular iudgements of diuers learned men but by the common sense and consent of the worlde and by auncient Councells both generall and particular as we maye reade in the Councells of Carthage the iiij of Bracharense and Vase the Decrees of which by occasion we rehearsed once before They are both auncient and of greate authority and honored with the presence of
conteyned the argument is most inuincible that concludeth negatiuely thus All true doctrine is taught in the Scripture purgatory is not taught in the Scripture therefore purgatory is no true doctrine And this conclusion M. Allen him selfe made of mans authoritie cap. 13. purgatory and prayers for the dead were not preached against at their first entry ergo they are true But of all mens authoritie it is false wheras he sayth we are ouerthrowers destroyers we confesse we are so of all false doctrine and heresie For the word of God is appoynted not only to teach truth but also to ouerthrow error not onely to build faith but to destroy falshood But it is a proper cōceit wherin he pleaseth him self as other of his sect do to tel vs that all our faith standeth vpon negatiues I could frame the Papists as holsome a creede all vpō affirmatiues if they wil receiue it This is more then boyish babling All trueth is to be affirmed all falshood to be denyed Therefore it is not to be loked what is affirmatiue and what negatiue but what is true or false that is affirmed or denyed But to runne through the articles of that creede which he hath framed for vs we truely beleue that man after his fall hath not free will no not aptnes of will to thinke any thing that is good 2. Cor. 3. we beleue truely that a man is not iustified by workes but by faith onely Rom. 3. And yet we beleue that good workes are necessary to be in euery man that is iustified Iac. 2. we beleue that the Church is not alwayes knowne to the wicked vpon earth neither the vniuersall Church seene at all of men because it is in heauen Gal. 4. we beleue that the catholicke Church hath no chiefe gouerner vppon earth but Christ vnto whom all power is giuen in heauen earth Matth. 28. we beleue there are but 2. Sacraments of the new testament baptisme and the Lordes supper instituted by Christ 1. Cor. 10. we beleue that they geue not grace of the worke wrought but after the faith of the receiuer and according to the election of God. 1. Cor. 10. Baptisme is necessary for all Christians to receiue that are not by necessitie excluded from it 1. Pet. 3. Christ is present at his Supper but not after a grosse and caparnaiticall maner but as he was present in Manna to the fathers 1. Cor. 10. There is no sacrifice propitiatory for our sinnes but onely the sacrifice of Christes death once offered for all Heb. 10. There is no priesthood to offer sacrifice propitiatory but only the priesthood of Christ according to the order of Melchizedech Heb. 7. The spirituall priesthood is common to all Christian men and women 1. Pet. 1. we haue an altar of which it is not lawfull for them to eate which serue the tabernacle and other beside we haue none Heb. 13. we call not vpon Sainctes because we beleue not in them for how shoulde we call vpon them in whome we beleue not Rom. 10. There is no prayer for the deade nor purgatory after this life because they that liue vnto Christ dye vnto him and being dissolued are with him Ioan. 17. Christ descended into hell to redeeme vs out of hell by suffering the wrath of God for our sinnes Heb. 5. There is no Lymbus for the fathers were at rest with God where they are now whether we call the place Abrahams bosome or paradise or heauen Luke 16. and 23. 2. Cor. 12. The rest which you adde maye be the beginning of the Popish creede which you maye as you list continue negatiuely or affirmatiuely after this maner God a lone knoweth not the heartes of all men God onely is not to be worshipped and serued for Sainctes haue both the one and the other God onely is not true for the Pope can not erre Christ is not our onely mediator and aduocate for Marie and the Sainctes are also Christes death is not a sufficient redemption for vs for we must satisfie for our selues Christes death hath not taken away both our sinnes and the punishment of them but the Popes padon maye Christ is not onely our high priest according to the order of Melchizedech for euery hedge priest is of the same order Christ hath not made them that are sanctified perfect by a sacrifice once offered for all For y greatest part is lefte to the masse Our sinnes are not freely forgeuen vs by Christ for we must satisfie for them A man is not iustified by fayth without the workes of the lawe for euery man must merite for him selfe The scriptures are not sufficient to teach vs all trueth but we must haue vnwritten verities The worde of God is not of soueraine authoritie for the decrees of the Pope and generall councells be equall with it This is the Papistes creede both in the affirmatiue and in the negatiue But in that you exhort the Papistes to reade Caluins institution and there to see whether he teacheth any truth therein I woulde to God that all Papistes in Englande woulde followe your counsell pray vnfaynedly that God would open there eyes that they may see his trueth if it be taught in that booke 2 This negatiue faith hath no grounde nor confidence of thinges to be hoped for nor any certaintie of such thinges as doe not yet appeare but it is an euident ouerthrowe of all our hope and a very canker of the expectation of thinges to come This faith therefore of these pluckers downe must needes vse a conuenient instrument to destroye and not to builde to plucke vp and not to plante to improue and not to make proofe But what way is that mary by way of negatiue proofe they confirme their negatiue and no faith Purgatory say they nor prayers for the deade be not so much as once named in all the scripture ergo there is neither of them to be beleued VVhich forme of argument serued the Arians against the consubstātiall vnitie of God the father his sonne our Sauiour It helped the Anabaptistes against the baptisme of infantes it was profitable to Heluidius against the perpetuall virginitie of Gods mother and it helpeth all pluckers downe but it neuer serueth a buylder The vanity whereof is so well knowen that I will not stande to talke thereof namely seeing it hath no place in our cause for which we haue brought diuers scriptures all construed by most learned fathers for that sense and some so euident that they droue our aduersaries to the open deniall of the holy canonicall scripture 2 What grounde or confidence of thinges not seene and yet hoped for our fayth hath it is not for infidells to iudge no more then for blinde men to iudge of collours And as for our negatiue argument it is stronger then your affirmatiue error can abide there of groweth the spight But when as you saye we frame our argument of the name of purgatory onely or prayers for
the deade you followe your customable course of lying and sclaundering And yet we maye saye it is a greate preiudice against your purgatory and prayer which you make so necessary and about which no small parte of your religion is occupyed that it is not so much as once named in the scriptures But we saye and truely saye that neither the name nor the thinge it selfe is taught or can be proued by the scriptures so of all other heresies All trueth maye be proued by scripture either in plaine wordes or by necessary conclusion which is all one And therefore the Arians or Anabaptistes haue no more helpe of this argument then you Papistes As for the perpetuall virginitie of the mother of Christ as we can thinke it is true so because the scripture hath not reueled it neither perteineth it vnto vs we make no question of it what scriptures you haue alleaged and howe falsely you slaunder vs for denying the canonicall scripture is set forth at large allready 3 But yet one of these ouerthrowers frameth as he supposeth his negatiue argument to the more sure shake of our faith herein after this sorte In the olde lawe all sacrificies and expiations both appointed and reckoned euen for the smallest offensies that man coulde commit yet there was neuer no sacrifice for the purgation of the dead◠How Lorde like Maister Grindall made his Argument here VVhere he shoulde plainely haue inferred the contrarie after this sorte There was no sinne so small vnpardoned but there was some sacrifice of release or expiation thereof in the olde lawe ergo if any man were bounde with sinne were it neuer so small whether he were aliue or deade there was some appointed purgation therefore For there is no consequence nor any apparance of right deductiō to inferre vpon the naming or rehearsall of all sinnes the peculiar mentioning or plaine rehersall of such persons as maye be burdened with those sinnes There were sacrificies then in the olde lawe for wemen as well as men for the Princies no lesse then for the poore for the priest for the people for the deade as well as for the liue And where there was no difference nor respect of persons in that point there was no peculiar mention to be made for the distinction of states The peculiar rehersall therefore was onely made for the diuersity of offensies and not alwayes for the difference of persons And nowe the departed in faith being but distincted by state of life and not by bonde of sinne from those that be aliue must needes in the case of like sinne for the vnitie which he is in haue the like remedie as the lieue hath for the same sinne And therefore to helpe your ignorance some thing thus you must learne that there was no peculiar sacrifice for the deade as though they were not of the common body with the liuing but they had the same sacrifice done for them that the liuing in this worlde in the like case of sinne or punishment for offensies had Doe you not see Gods Church Maister Grindall sacrifice for the deade but not for them by a peculiar meanes of offeringe but the very selfe same oblation she euer vseth for her Children departed that she practiseth for her faithfull flocke a liue And in all other practises there is a perfect communitie of all benefites betwixt the deceased and their brethern remayning yet in this worlde And therefore when you seeke for sacrifice in the olde lawe looke not for any distincte waye of handeling their offensies which is not common with the lyuing But consider what there was practised for the release of the smaller trespassies and that was vsed for both the liue and dead without distinction Marke what sacrifice was for the abating of any paine due for great offensies and the same shall be well vnderstande to be with out difference practised for the liue and deade together That therby we may by good reason conclude seeing sacrifice was then offered for purgation of euery light offense that it was done for all states of persons that were either in this life or after their death to be perfectely clensed from the same Although the facte of Iudas Machabeus be a plaine proofe that there was a common knowen ordre of sacrifice for else howe coulde he haue conceyued any such sacrifice neuer hearde of before howe coulde he limite the value of procurement therof by a certaine summe for euery soule deceased howe coulde he gather in pretence of a thinge neuer vsed before the peoples almes with out their murmure or motion therein VVhy woulde he haue sent mony to Hierusalem to procure that which had no example in the lawe or vse in the Church was he so ignorant that he knew not their ordre herein or so vnwise to haue sent his mony for nothing S. Augustine aunswering an heretike that by the authoritie of the facte of Iudas woulde haue proued that by sacrifice men might be saued though they died vnbaptized or in deadly sinne sayth vnto him that he is not hable to proue that Iudas or any other in the lawe offered for his freinde or any man else being vncircumcised no more then the Church nowe practiseth for any man not baptised VVhereby he plainely confesseth that the lawe had a sacrifice for the deade which being vrged by that heretike he might haue denied with good helpe of his cause and aunswere to the aduersary but that the contrary case was so cleare not onely by that booke which he tooke for Canonicall scripture as before is proued but also by the full consent of all the Church of God which both by plaine practise and most graue ordinaunce had from Christes time set forth and approued the vndoubted trueth thereof 3 To passe ouer your saucines and scurrilitie being as agreeable to your profession and leuitie as vnmeete for his grauitie and dignitie whom you name the argument is of more force then you haue wit to vnderstand But to beate it smaller that it may enter into your head or at least wise that they which haue any brayne in their heades may conceiue the strength of it I will vse your owne figure and mode All lawfull sacrifices were prescribed by the lawe sacrifice for the deade was not prescribed by the law therfore it was no lawfull sacrifice you aunswere that the rehersal of sinnes proueth not the peculiar persons that may be burdened with those sinnes And with this foolish distinction you thinke you haue broken out of prison But you that so like a proud foole take vpon you to help his ignorance bewray your owne intollerable arrogancie and more then beastly blindnes For if you had redde the law whereof you make your selfe such a Rabbine Leuit. 4. 5.12 15. you should haue seene the peculiar mentioning and playne rehersing of all such persons for whome sacrifice was to be offered both men and women the Princes and the priuate persons the Priest
and the whole congregation yea and speciall regard of the oblations of the poore And in the perticular rehearsing of diuerse kind of persons and the forme of the sacrifice named according to euery perticular state it is so farre of that the deade shall be reckned that such thinges are enioyned euery of these perticular persons to doe as it is playne that none but the liuing could offer or haue sacrifice offered for thē What law was appoynted touching lamenting for the deade you may reade Leuit. 21. how the Priest was forbidden to lament for any but speciall persons also Nu. 19. diuerse ordinances concerning the deade yet neuer any sacrifice or prayer for the deade When Nadab and Abihu were slayne their father and brethren were forbidden to mourne for them the people were permitted By all which it appeareth not only that no sacrifice for the deade was offered but that they were so separated from the liuing that the Priestes might haue nothing to do with any of them but in speciall cases And as for your common shift of the common body of the liuing and the deade helpeth you nothing for although all the faithfull make one body in Christ yet there is one state of them that worke an other of them that are iudged according to their works to put no diuersitie betwene them is not to make a communion but a confusion But of all other it is a clerkely cōclusion that you send M. Grindall to looke vpon the example of your masse whith is a sacrifice both for the quicke the deade and thereof will proue that the olde lawe had but one sacrifice for the liue and the deade In deede there you were to good for him if the practise of the popish church be a good president for Moyses to follow in his law we will reason no longer But the fact of Iudas Machabaeus putteth all out of doubt Surely then the fact of euery man that transgressed the lawe shall be sufficient to proue what the lawe was and not the booke of the lawe For else how coulde he haue conceiued any sacrifice which he neuer hearde of How did Dauid conceiue the cariage of the arke in a newe cart which he neuer heard of except it were of the Philistians that sent home the arke in a cart And euen so it is like that Iudas Machabaeus if he deuised not that sacrifice of his owne head yet tooke it by imitation of the Gentiles whose studies and practises your owne author confesseth were more frequented in those dayes among the Iewes then the preaching or keeping of the law Finally to all the other howe 's and whyes I aunswere with one word he had no warrant of his fact in the law of god Neither doth S. Augustine sufficiently answere the heretike that would proue by that fact that men dying in deadly sinne might be saued by sacrifice For though they were not vncircumcised for whom Iudas sent an offering yet they dyed in deadly sinne and such sinne as for which they were iustly slayne as your owne author confesseth for the idolatrous iewells that they had euery one in their bosomes Concerning the authoritie of that booke and how it was taken by Augustine I haue aunswered enough before 4 But here will I nowe make an ende desiring thee gentle reader with such indifferency to weighe the doing and dealing of both parties as the importaunce of the cause the loue of truth the necessary care of thine owne saluation and thy duety towardes God and his Church requireth There is none of all those pointes which the vnfaithfull contention of our miserable age hath made doubtefull in which thou mayest better beholde howe vpright the wayes of trueth and vertue be and howe pernicious double and deceitfull the dealing of heresie is The one is vpholden by the euidēt testimony of holy scripture the other mainteineth her traine by bolde deniall of scriptures the one seeketh with humility the meaning at their mouthes whome God hath vndoubtedly blessed with the gifte of vnderstanding and interpretation the other by singular pride foundeth her vnfaithfulnesse vpon the phantasies of light and lewde persons that are pufte too and fro with euery blaste of doctrine The one resteth vpon the practise of all nations the vsage of all ages and the holy workes both of God and man the other holdeth wholy by contempte of our elders flatery of the present dayes and vnhappy waste of all workes of vertue religion and deuotion the one followeth the gouernours and appointed pastours of our soules whose names be blessed in heauen and earth the other ioyneth to such as for other horrible heresies wicked life are condemned both a liue and deade of the vertuous and can not for shame be named of their owne scholars The one hath the warraunt of Gods whole Church the other standeth on curse and excommunication by the grauest authority that euer was vnder God in earth To be shorte trueth is the Churches dearlinge heresie must haue her maintenaunce abrode This one holy Catholike and Apostolike Church is it wherevnto we owe all duety and obedience both by Gods commaundement and by the bonde of our first faith and profession There is no force of argument no probability of reason no subtelty of witte no deepe compasse of wordely wisedome no eloquence of man nor Angell nor any other motion that can be wrought in the world that shoulde make a man doubte of any article approued by her authority And if thou yet feare to geue ouer thy whole sense and thine owne selfe to so carefull a mother in whome thou wast begotten in thy better birth compare our Church with theirs compare her authority and theirs her maiesty and theirs 4 In Gods name let the readers waye indifferently the doinges and dealinges on both partes the cause the trueth their saluation the Church and the glory of God aboue all thinges And as they see this pointe handeled so let them iudge of the reste The trueth is vpholden by euident testimony of scripture the error by custome practise and iudgement of men The trueth seeketh vnderstanding of the scriptures of the spirite of God in the scriptures error at the mouthes of mortall men The trueth resteth vpon the onely authority of God error vpon the maintenaunce of carnall deuises The trueth is founded vpon the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles the other vpon Gentiles and heretikes Trueth is embraced of the pure and primitiue Church of Christ error is continued from a corrupt state of the Church of Christ vnto a plaine departing awaye into the church of Antichrist To be short trueth is tryed by the worde of God heresie by the inuention of men The holy Catholicke and Apostolicke Church is that which humbly obeyeth the word of God and the Synagoge of Satan is that which arrogantly challengeth authoritie aboue the worde The true Church shall neuer decaye but alwaye reigne with Christ the false Synagoge shall daily more and more decaye
penaunce there remaineth some due of temporall punishement for the satisfying of Gods iustice and some recompense of the oftensies past 31. chapter 2 The double and doubtfull shiftes of our aduersaries pressed by this conclusion are remoued and it is proued against one sorte that these foresaide skourgies vvere in deede punishments for sinnes remitted And against the other secte that this transitory paine hath often endured in the next life 43. chapter 3 That the practise of Christes Church in the courte of binding and loosing mans sinnes doth liuely set forth the ordre of Gods iustice in the next life and proue Purgatory 65. chapter 4 That the many folde vvorkes fructes of penaunce vvhich all godly meÌ„ haue charged theÌ„ selues vvith all for their ovvn sinnes remitted vvere in respect of Purgatory paines for the auoyding of Gods iudgemeÌ„t teÌ„poral as vvell as eternal in the next life 74. chapter 5 A briefe ioyning in reason and argument vppon the proued groundes vvith the aduersaries for the declaration and proofe of Purgatory 89. chapter 6 That Purgatory paines doth not only serue Gods iustice for the punishement of sinne but also cleanse qualify the soule of man defiled for the more seemely entrauÌ„ce into the holy placies vvith confereÌ„ce of certaine textes of scripturs for that purpose 92. chapter 7 That there is a particular iudgemeÌ„t and priuate accompt to be made at euery mans departure of his seuerall actes and deedes vvith certaine of the fathers mindes touching the textes of scriptures alleaged before 103. chapter 8 Origen is alleaged for our cause vpon vvhose error in a matter somvvhat apperteining to our purpose S. Augustins iudgement is more largely sought and there vvith it is declared by testimony of diuers holy authors vvhat sinnes be chiefly purged in that temporall fire 114. chapter 9 A further declaration of this point for the better vnderstanding of the doctors vvordes VVherein it is opened hovv Purgatory is ordeined for mortall sinnes and hovv for smaller offenses vvho are like to feele that greefe and vvho not at all 125. chapter 10 A place alleaged for Purgatory out of S. Matthevv vvith certeine of the auncient fathers iudgements vpon the same 132. chapter 11 An aunsvvere to certaine obiections of the aduersaries moued vpon the diuersity of meaninges vvhich they see geuen in the fathers vvritinges of the scriptures before alleaged for Purgatory and that this doctrine of the Church standeth not against the sufficiency of Christes Passion 148. chapter 12 An euident and most certaine demonstration of the trueth of Purgatory and the greeuousnesse thereof vttered by the prayers and vvordes of the holy doctors and by some extraordinary vvorkes of God beside 156. chapter 13 Of the nature and condicion of Purgatory fire the difference of their state that be in it from the damned in hell vvith the conclusion of this Booke 169. THE ARGVMENTES OF THE Chapters of the seconde booke THe preface of this booke vvherein the matter of the treatise the order of the authors proceding be briefly opened 180 chapter 1 That there be certeyne sinnes vvhich may be forgiuen in the next life and that the deserued punishment for the same may be eased or vtterly released before the extreme sentence be to the vtmost executed pag. 187. chapter 2 That the faythfull soules in purgatory being novve past the state of deseruing and not in case to helpe them selues may yet receiue benefite by the vvorkes of the liuing to vvhom they be perfectly knitte as felloâ— members of one body 197. chapter 3 VVhat the Church of God hath euer principally practised for the soules departed by the vvarrant of holy Scripture vvith the defence of the Machabees holy hystory against the heretikes of our tyme. 205. chapter 4 That the funeralls of the Patriarches both in the lavv of nature and Moyses and Christ had practise in them for the reliefe of the soules departed 220. chapter 5 Man may be relieued after his departure eyther by the almes vvhich he gaue in his life tyme or by that vvhich is prouided by his testament to be giuen after his death or else by that almes vvhich other men doe bestovv for his soules sake of their ovvne goods 238. chapter 6 Of certeyne offerings or publike almes presented to God for the deceased in the time of the holy sacrifice at mens burialls other customable dayes of their memories and of the sundry mindes kept in the primitiue Church for the departed 266. chapter 7 That the benefite of praier almes apperteyneth not to such as dye in mortal sin though in the doubtfull case of mans being the Church vseth to pray for all departed in Christes faith 271. chapter 8 VVhat that holy sacrifice is vvhich vvas euer counted so beneficiall to the liue and deade The punishment of our sinnes by the heâ—uy losse thereof The great hatred vvhich the deuill and all his side hath euer borne tovvardes Christes eternall priesthood and the sacrifice of the Church And that by the sayd sacrifice of the Masse the soules departed are especially relieued 288. chapter 9 That the practise of any poynt in religion maketh the most opeÌ„ shevv of the fathers faith And that all holy men haue in plain vvordes and most godly prayers vttered their beliefe in our matter 304. chapter 10 That vve all nations receiued this vsage of praying sacrificing for the departed at our first conuersion to Christes faith And that this article vvas not onely confirmed by miracle amongest the rest but seuerally by signes and vvonders approued by it selfe And that the Church is grovvne to such bevvty by the frute of this faith 328. chapter 11 That in euery order or vsage of celebration of the blessed Sacrament and Sacrifice throughout the Christian vvorlde since Christes time there hath ben a solemne supplicatioÌ„ for the soules departed 347. chapter 12 The heretikes of our tyme and cuntry be yet further vrged vvith the practise of prayers for the deceased their contrary coÌ„munion is compared vvith the olde vsage of celebration â—hey are ashamed of the first originall of their Christian faith they are vveary of their ovvne seruice they are kept in order by the vvisdome of the ciuill Magistrates and are forced to refuse all the doctors 364. chapter 13 That the praying for the deade vvas appoynted to be had in the holy sacrifice by the Apostles commaundement and prescription And that our doctors by the maiestie of their name beare dovvne our light aduersaries 386. chapter 14 The first author of that sect vvhich denyeth prayers for the departed is noted his good conditions and cause of his error be opened vvhat kind of men haue bene most bent in all ages to that sect And that this heresie is euer ioyned as a fitte compagnion to other horrible sectes 407. chapter 15 Their falshood is condemned and the Catholike truth approued by the authority of holy Councells Their pride in contemning the Catholikes humility in obedient receiuing the same And a sleight vvhereby the heretikes deceiue the people is detected 424. chapter 16 An aunsvvere to such arguments as the heretikes doe frame of the holy scriptures not vvell vnderstanded against the practise of Gods Church in praying for the deade or the doctrine of Purgatory 436. chapter 17 An aunsvvere to their negatiue argument vvith the Conclusion of the booke 448. FINIS
but they had it out of Gods holy worde and tradition of the holy Apostles and by the very suggestion of the spirite of trueth All which if it can not moue the misbeleuer and stay the rashenesse of the simple deceiued sort it shall be but lost labour to bring in any more for the confirmation of that trueth which all the holy doctours haue so fully both proued and declared to my hande 5 The tales that you tell out of Gregory and Bede may be hearde as they are tolde and beleeued as they deserue but that you make the opinion of purgatory such an article of faith that no article with more force of the spirite nor with more graue authority was set forth sence the beginning of Christian religion and yet neuer taught in the scripture that is by no meanes to be borne with all If Sathan hath labored to plante that error which is most blasphemous against Christ and occasion of most licentious wickednesse in all them that professe Christ and beleue it if Sathan I saye hath bent all his force to plante such an error by which his kingdome is so much aduaunsed no wise man can maruell Of like leuen it is that you affirme That neuer nation was conuerted to the fayth but it had purgatory taught by worde and confirmed by miracle O impudent affirmer Of so many nations as S. Luke recordeth in the Actes of the Apostles to haue bene conuerted to the fayth name one vnto which you can proue that purgatory was taught eyther by worde or miracle But to be sure you name all euen of the primitiue Church when that aboundant floude of faith was spred ouer all countries But when the proofe commeth you leape but 600. yeares from Christ to Gregories dialogues from which time I will not deny but you may haue great store of such stuffe as you haue miracles now in Flaunders of the honest woman of the olde Baylye in London and such like 6 But nowe for vs that through Gods greate mercy be Catholikes let vs for Christes sake so vse the benefit of this our approued faith to the amendement of our owne liues that where no argument will serue nor authority of Scripture or doctour can conuerte the deceiued yet the fructe of this doctrine shewed by good life and vertuous conuersatioÌ„ may by Christes mercy moue them Let the priest consider that this heuy iudgement must beginne at the house of God as S. Peter affirmeth and so doth S. Ambrose proue it must do In whome for the dignity of his honorable ministery as much more holynesse is requisite so a more straite reckening must be required Let the Lay man learne for the auoyding of greater daunger in the presence of the highe Iudge willingly to submit him selfe to Gods holy ministers VVho haue in most ample maner a commission of executing Christes office in earth both for pardoning and punishment of sinne that suffering here in his Church sentence and iuste iudgement for his offensies he may the rather escape our fathers greuous chastisement in the life to come Therefore I woulde exhorte earnestly the minister of God that in geuing penaunce he would measure the medecine by the maladie aptly discerning the limitation of the punishment by the quantity of the faulte not vsing like lenity in closing vp of euery wounde For they shall not be blamelesse surely that do the worke of Gods iudgement committed to their discretion negligently nor the simple soule that lookes to be set free from further paine can by the acceptation of such vnâ—quall remedies auoide the scourge of iudgement prepared except he him selfe voluntaryly receiue as I woulde wishe all men shoulde some further satisfaction by the fructes of penaunce that of his owne accorde he may helpe the enioyned penalty and so by Gods grace turne away the great greefe to come Excellently well and to our purpose saide S. Cyprian in the fourth booke of his epistles talking of such offenders as were not charged with penaunce sufficiently or otherwise negligently fulfilled the same by these wordes We shall not herein any thing be preiudiciall to Gods iudgement that is to come that he may not allow and ratifie our sentence if he finde the perfect penaunce of the party so require But if the offender haue deluded vs by fayned accomplishing of his penaunce then God who will not be deluded because he beholdeth the hearte of man shall geue iudgement of such thinges as were hidde from vs And so our Lorde will amende the sentence of his seruauntes VVhere this doctour seemeth to allude to the accustomed name of Purgatory which S. Augustine and other do often call the amending fire Though it may well be that he here calleth the contrary sentence of iudgement to eternall damnation vpon the impenitent sinner whome the priest because he coulde not discerne the fayned hypocrasy of his externall dealing from the inward sorow of hearte pronounced to be absolued of his sinnes it may stande I say that he termeth that contrary sentence of God the correction or the amendement of the priestes iudgement How so euer that be it is a worke of singular grace and discretion so to deale with the spirituall patient that he haue no nede of the amending fire 6 Here is an exhortation vnto Papistes first to the priestes that they will shew the fructe of this doctrine in their conuersation For my parte â— am perswaded if feare of eternall torments in Hell that God threatneth by his scriptures will not terrify them the fayned paines of purgatory which they can by their owne Masses and other like merits auoide will not restraine them The laye men are exhorted to submitte them selues to the priestes who haue such an ample commission that they may both pardon and punish sinne euen as Christ him selfe did vpon earth But what auayleth this submission when the ignorant or negligent priest that weigheth not the penaunce in euen ballance with the offence doth not by his absolution or pardonning take awaye one houres torments of purgatory as both M. Allen him selfe in effect confesseth and the Maister of the sentence also teacheth vnto whome M. Allen hath bene so good a scholler that he hath borowed of him not onely his iudgement but in diuerse places his very wordes also he hath translated Of the nature and condicion of Purgatory fire the difference of their state that be in it from the damned in Hell vvith the conclusion of this booke CAP. XIII 1 IF any curious heade list of me demaunde where or in what parte of the worlde this place of punishment is or what nature that fire is of that worketh by such vehement force vppon a spirituall substance I will not by longe declaration thereof feede his curiosity because he may haue both the example and the like doubt of Hell it selfe and many other workes of God moe The learned may see that question at large debated in the bookes of the City of God and in