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A01094 Foure sermons, lately preached, by Martin Fotherby Doctor in Diuinity, and chaplain vnto the Kings Maiestie. The first at Cambridge, at the Masters Commencement. Iuly 7. anno 1607. The second at Canterbury, at the Lord Archbishops visitation. Septemb. 14. anno 1607. The third at Paules Crosse, vpon the day of our deliuerance from the gun-powder treason. Nouemb. 5. anno 1607. The fourth at the court, before the Kings Maiestie. Nouemb. 15. anno 1607. Whereunto is added, an answere vnto certaine obiections of one vnresolued, as concerning the vse of the Crosse in baptisme: written by him in anno 1604. and now commanded to be published by authoritie Fotherby, Martin, 1549 or 50-1620. 1608 (1608) STC 11206; ESTC S102529 138,851 236

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our owne be we neuer so ignorant it must be none other mans be he neuer so learned and it must be our owne not by ordinary course of reading attained either from old or new writers neither yet by often iteration decocted but in a sort after the Anabaptistical manner both sodainely infused and effused This is with those men that noble and that worthy kind of Preaching which must in credit and authority equall the holy Scriptures in power and perspicuity farre excell them A very blind and a bad kind of doctrine For these great inconueniences must needes insue of it First if our Sermons be truely and properly the worde of God as they comonly affirme it will from thence follow that the Preacher in his Sermons cannot erre For The word of God can not erre And so we who haue taught all this while that the Fathers can erre the Pope can erre the Coūcels can erre shall now teach with the selfe same mouth that We our selues cannot erre Which were both an impudent and an impious assertion For what is that which can priuiledge vs from errour in our Preaching The Chaire of Moses could not priuiledge the Pharises from errour the Chaire of Peter cannot priuiledge the Pope from errour the earthly Paradise could not priuiledg the first man from errour nay Heauen it selfe could not priuiledge the Angelles from errour and can onely the Pulpit priuiledge vs from errour Is not Papistry Preached is not Heresie Preached is not Schisme and contention and all errour Preached doe not all these find Pulpits to vent themselues out of Why then it is apparent that a Sermon may not onely bee the word of a man but also sometimes the word of a wicked and vngodly man the word of a Schismatike the word of a Papist the word of an Heretike For as Gregory truly teacheth vs Si desit spiritus nihil adiuuat locus It is not the place can helpe vs if the spirit be not with vs. Secondly if Preaching be truely and properly the word of God as they affirme it will from thence follow that all our glosses must needes be canonicall Scriptures For the word of God is canonicall Scripture and so wee who haue taught all the expositions of the Fathers to be but the bare opinions of men shall foolishly now teach of our owne expositions that they be the very word of God which is to set the Preacher not vp in Moses chaire but to plucke downe God himselfe and to set him vp in Gods chaire Thirdly if Preaching be truely the word of God as they affirme then if I expound the Scripture one way and another man an other way both these must bee taken for canonicall senses and both be true meanings of the word of God though the one of them should be cleane contrary vnto the other as they be but too too often And so euen we our selues should make the holy Scriptures to be indeed no better then a very nose of waxe to be bowed euery way though we bitterly and worthily reproue it in the Papists Fourthly if Preaching be the very word of God and the sole ordinary meanes to beget a true faith in vs as they affirme then will it from thence follow that the Scriptures of themselues are not sufficient to saluation but as the Papists adde vnto them their apocryphal and vnwritten traditions so we must adde vnto them our vocal and speaking expositions to make them perfect These and diuers such like false dangerous consequents must necessarily follow that phantastical doctrine that Preaching is properly the very word of God of which I may truely say with S. Augustine Piget metā dicere quàm muita eos v●sana sequantur talia sentientes talia dicentes A new and a strange opinion which only doth proceede from humaine pride and ignorance and from an arrogant conceit of men which dote vpon their owne giftes Why is not all this enough which we ascribe vnto Sermons when we acknowledge them to be Gods owne holy institutions to be necessarie meanes of our instruction and powerfull meanes of our conuersion to be truthes which ought of all men to be accepted and honored when they consent and agree with the holy word of God Is not all this I say enough which we lawfully may willingly do ascribe to Sermons but that we must needs make them the very word of God it selfe The Apostle S. Paul though he spake all by Gods owne holy inspiration yet doth hee twice professe in one and the same Chapter that This hee speaketh and not the Lord. He is very well content though hee were an Apostle that where he lacke the warrant of the expresse word of God that part of his writing should be held and esteemed but as the word of a man But some men now adaies are so farre inamored of themselues and so vainely conceited of their owne gift in Preaching as to obtrude all the idle fancies of their owne addle heads vnder none other title but the very word of God Purum putum flat contrary to the doctrine of S. Paul in an other place who telleth vs expresly that a Preacher may take for the foundation of his Sermon The very word of God and yet build vpon it as well Clay and Stubble as Gold and Siluer But these men do tell vs if we will beleeue them that they do build nothing but only pure gold Belike they would faine haue vs to take all for gold that glitters Beloued though we ought in all true sincerity to giue all due honour and reuerence vnto Sermons when they be truely made according to Gods word yet must we alwaies put this difference betweene Sermons and Scriptures The Scriptures we must know to bee Gods owne diuine and holy word containing nothing but pure and tried truthes being all of them writ and penned by Gods holy spirit and by him so commended vnto his holy Church and therefore of all the true members of the Church to be reuerently accepted without all exception But for Sermons we haue an other rule and direction we must in them both examine the spirit of euery speaker exact the matter of euery speech vnto the strict rule of the scripture as the Bereans dealt euen with the Apostle Paul himselfe So that Sermons ought to haue no greater credite with vs then they can gaine vnto themselues by their agreement with the Scriptures if they dissent from them no pulpit can sanctifie them no spirit can make them to bee the word of God if they consent with them yet the Canon of the Scripture being now sealed vp the Truth of God or the Doctrine of God they may be called but The word of God they cannot but onely by some Metonymie or Synecdoche or some other such vnproper and figuratiue speech Therefore it is as true a position to say that a Sermon is the word of a man as it is to say that a House is
the worke of a man For as in building though both timber and stone and iron and lome and all other the materials be the workes of God yet the house it selfe in respect of the forme may both truely and fitly bee called The worke of a man so is it also euen in Preaching too which the Apostle Paul calleth a Spiritual kinde of building though both the Sentences and Testimonies and Similies and Examples yea and Positions too be the very word of God yet the positure and placing of those things so together and the disposing of them in this and that order and so consequently the whole frame and structure of that speech which we cal a Sermon that is truly and properly the worke of a man The Inuention is mans the Disposition mans the Elocution mans the Action mans the Application and Allusion mans and the ioyning of all those things together in one artificiall body which giueth to the whole speech the name of a Sermon that likewise is mans And therfore as Chrysostome affirmeth of Reading that Lectio est legentis actio so may we likewise affirme of Preaching that Praedicatio est Pradicantis actio as Reading is the action and worke of the Reader though the thing which is Read be the word of God so Preaching is the action and worke of the Preacher though the thing which is Preached be the trueth of God Which argument howsoeuer it may distaste the eares of some ignorants which are without iudgement yet must it needes seeme very milde and gentle euen to the reprouers if it be compared with some of those speeches which haue beene deliuered by some of their owne chiefest authors For Cartwright in his answere vnto the preface of the Rhemists hee calleth the very translation of the Testament but the word of a man as though all the Scriptures which continue not in their originall languages did presently cease to be the word of God immediately become but the word of a man This is harsh indeed to call the Gospel it selfe but the word of a man when it is translated We goe not so farre by many degrees and God forbid we should we call but those glosses and expositions which are made vpon it The word of a man which is a farre more tempered and qualified speech Which censure notwithstanding lest any wicked hearer should wrest and peruert vnto the despising of Preaching as some haue done the like vnto the despising of Reading let him vnderstand thus much that when wee call a Sermon the word of a man we take not the word of a man in the worst sense as S. Bernard doth who writeth thus of it Res vi●is volatilis est verbum hominis nullius ponderis nullius pretij nullius soliditatis The word of a man is a thing vile wauering of no waight of no worth of no estimation In this sense we take not the word of a man for so it is in a kind of contrariety vnto the word of God as appeareth by those titles which the Prophet Dauid giueth it in the nineteenth Psalme But when we call a Sermon the word of a man we take it not by way of opposition to the word of God but by way of distinction from the worde of God A Sermon is the word of a man not opposed but supposed vnto the word of God Which distinction I pray you diligently to marke for in that onely consisteth the whole resolution of this knotty question That a Sermon rightly made is the word of a man not opposed vnto the word of God but distinguished from the word of God A Sermon is not so the word of God as the text it selfe is but a discourse framed vpon it by the wit of man Which action notwithstanding lest any wicked spirit should draw it into contempt we acknowledge it as I said before to be Gods owne holy institution one principal meanes of procuring mans saluation as likewise is Reading Meditation and Praying which are no lesse to bee practised though in many places they bee too much neglected We further confesse that though in outward forme it differ from Gods word yet in substance of matter it agreeth with it if it be rightly made and that therefore though it bee not in propriety of speech the word of God it selfe yet because it is a trueth agreeing with Gods word there can no man despise it but he despiseth God that sent it For as if a faithfull messenger deliuer the true sum and substance of his Masters minde though he vse not precisely all his Masters owne wordes yet is it to be taken for his Masters message and he that despiseth him in that message despiseth not the messenger but the Master So is it likewise in our Preaching though the forme of our message be of our owne making as it commonly falleth out in an Ambassadors Oration yet because the matter is of our Masters sending you cannot despise vs but you despise him that sent vs as our Master himselfe testifieth Hee that heareth you he heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And thus much I thought good to speake at this time in iustification of my former doctrine That a Sermon may be the word of a man and yet the truth of God And that this neither was intended by the speaker nor yet ought to be extended by the hearer as implying the least disgrace vnto Preaching as certaine malignant and captious hearers snatching at my words and affixing their owne senses haue indeuoured to inforce to whom I wish a better mind and a more Christian disposition in the hearing of a Sermon The third Sermon at Paules Crosse Nouemb. 5. Anno 1607. vpon the day of our deliuerance from the gun powder treason PSAL. 81. VER 1.2 3 4 5. Ver. 1. Sing ioifully vnto God our strength sing loud vnto the God of Iacob Ver. 2. Take the song and bring forth the timbrell the pleasant harpe with the viole Ver. 3. Blow the trumpet in the new Moone euen in the time appointed at our feast day Ver. 4. For this is a statute for Israel and a law of the God of Iacob Ver. 5. He set this in Ioseph for a testimony when he came out of the land of Aegypt where I heard a language that I vnderstood not THe Psalmist well perpending and recounting with himselfe in a heauenly meditation the blessed estate where in he then liued in the land of promise wisely cōparing it with that wretched estate wherein his forefathers liued in the land of Egypt how that he was now blessed both with wealth and honour and that which is a great deale more precious then they both with the free and safe vse of Gods holy seruice whereas they were vexed both with want and labour yea and that which is a great deale more grieuous then they both with a cruel restraint frō the seruice of
Michae speaketh lest the time do sodainely fal vpon them yea and that ere they be prouided for it when they would wish them brought backe into their old formes againe as the Prophet Ioel noteth I will not Malè ominari because I see no iust cause but yet thus farre I hope I may safely goe with Saint Augustine as to giue you this one watchword for your better caution and to shake off too much presumption that Nemo potest veraciter amicus esse ●ominis nisi ipsius fuerit primitus veritatis that Those men can haerdly be truely friends to any that be not truely friends vnto the truth it selfe For as Saint Hierom well obserueth vnto the same purpose it cannot be Vera amicitia if it be not Christi glutino copulata There cannot be possibly any true and sound friendship whereas both parties be not glued together by Christ. Those ciuil and politike respects whereby nations are commonly cemented together they be but Cementum malè temperatum as the prophet speaketh they be but a kind of ill-temperd mortar Arena sine calce as it were sand without lime if that Gluten Christi the truth of Christ religion be not mixed with them And they be commonly no better then a dawbing ouer of a matter as it were the parieting of an olde rotten wall whose swelling breaketh sodainely when as no man looketh for it as the Prophet Isai noteth But a word of this point I hope will be sufficient For as Saint Hierom apologiseth in a like slippery argument Haec dicta sint non infausto contra vos vaticinio sed pauidi cautique monitoris officio vel ea fortasse quae tuta sunt formidantis Let these things be interpreted not as ominously fore speaking that which certainely will be but as carefully forecasting that which possible may be The tendernes of my loue being happily there afraid where it may be there is indeed no true cause of fear But yet stirring you vp vnto a carefull circumspection which I am sure can doe no harme For be it that we lacked the feare of all forraine enemies yet lacke we not the danger of domesticall and intestine which are more to be feared yea and so much the rather too because they can so cunningly disguise mask themselues and seeme to giue so little an outward cause of feare For how many be there now amongst vs not onely of our secret Papists but also of our open Recusants too which doe seeme to reioyce and to iubilate with vs in the commemoration of this happie day and to celebrate the festiuall solemnity of it with as great a zeale as the best of vs all giuing place vnto no man in ringing singing feasting bonefiring and in all other complements of outward reioycing but yet for all this they haue inwardly great griefe to see the remembrance of this ioyfull day so honoured their ioy is nothing els but Ementita frontis serenitas The false glimpse of a lying countenance they reioyce in the face but not in the hart as the Apostle Paul speaketh For surely if they haue any ioy at all in their hartes it is none other but onely that cruell ioy which wicked Esau had that yet for all this they hope that The time of mourning will one day fall vppon vs and then will they kill their brother Iaacob And therefore great cause haue wee to Iubilare yea and to Vigilare too to stand vpon our watch as the Prophet Habakuk speaketh yea and vpon our guard too and to cheere vp one another to watchfulnes and circum●spection that we be not taken sleeping by our waking enemies who are like to God in this that they neither slumber nor sleepe but like the diuell in this that they apply all their watching not vnto good but euill They watch not as the keeper of Israel watcheth who neither slumbreth not sleepeth to preserue and maintaine vs but they watch as the thiefe watcheth to spoile and to destroy vs as our Sauiour Christ teacheth vs. And therefore good is that counsell which in an other place he giueth vs that seeing we know not certainely when the thiefe will come that therefore we should constantly watch for his comming To shew you the necessity of this good aduice To watch in that one example whose memoriall we now celebrate you may call to your remembrance and you ought neuer to forget it how neere we were al of vs almost ouertaken for lacke of this watching nay vtterly ouerthrowne by our deepe security in that damnable plot of the gun-powder conspiracy how the plot was contriued the matter congested the worke finished and that there lacked nothing vnto the very perfecting of our destruction but onely the giuing of fire vnto the engine So that as the prophet Dauid speaketh there was but one steppe betweene vs and death but onely that one which also might haue beene as easily finished as it was so farre ripened if our gratious protector The keeper of Israel had not watched a great deale more carefully for vs then we did for our selues but that neuer-sleeping eie of Gods mercifull prouidence of whose vnspeakeable goodnes wee haue had so great experience that waked when we slept and beheld all the working of those hellish pioners yea and laughed euen to skorne all their wicked indeuors For when they themselues thought all to bee cocksure and were euen putting of the fire vnto their infernall powder he vtterly defeated all their purpose and indeuour by snatching vs as a firebrand out of the fire and causing the flames therof as the flames of Sidrachs fire to issue out vpon themselues to deuoure those that sought to deuoure vs. So that we haue as great a cause to Iubilate vnto God as euer those three children had when they sung their renowned Psalme in the fiery ouen For surely their deliuerance was neuer more miraculous then was that of ours who were both designed to as cruell a flame and as strangely deliuered from the same euen by the immediate hand of God he being as it were in the middest of the flame with vs as he was with them For in that miraculous deliuerance of ours there be two points most remarkeable in both which the hand of God may be sensibly felt yea and his pre●ence in a sor● may be visibly seene there shined so great an euidence of Gods prouidence in them The first of them is this that he made their owne tongue the instrument to bewray them that so they should Suo indicio quasi sorex perire as the Comike speaketh that they should perish as the rat doth by bewraying of themselues and that so their owne tongue should fall vpon them as it is in the Psalme For the same tongue which could contriue the treason could not conceale the treason but though it inioyned dumbe silence vnto others yea euen vnto their owne pestiferous confederates
confirmeth it by two notable instances the first of them Historicall taken from the former times Moses was resisted by Iannes and Iambres two notable inchanters the second of them Propheticall giuen to the latter times So shall the truth also be resisted by these men that is inchanting hypocrites Which two examples the Apostle onely nameth not for lacke of other store for the continued succession of Romane Bishops which is so much stood vpon hath beene oftener interrupted and for longer space then the succession of Heretickes and Schismaticks and such like resisters of the truth hath beene as appeareth by Chronologistes and writers of stories But he setteth down these two by way of Synecdoche putting a part for the whole and a few examples for a many to avoyd prolixity In which few notwithstanding by this his comparing of the first times with the last and of that which hath beene with that which shall be this appeareth to be an irrefragable Axiome that The truth shall alwayes be resisted For first if we take the name of Truth in his largest and most extended sense for the generall speaking of the truth as the Apostle Paul doth in his former vnto Timothie I speake the truth in Christ Iesus and lie not the truth in this sense is so commonly resisted that it passeth in euery mans mouth as a common prouerbe that Veritas odium parit The reward of speaking the truth is onely hatred Of which vnequall measure the Apostle Paul complaineth vnto the Galatians Am I therefore saith he become your enemie because I haue spoken the truth vnto you And our Sauiour Christ likewise vnto the Iewes Ye goe about to kill me a man that haue spoken the truth vnto you Secondly if we take the name of Truth in a particular and more restrained sense for the truth of Gods religion and the doctrine of his word as our Sauiour Christ doeth in the Gospel of S Iohn Sanctifie them with thy truth thy word is truth in which sense I take it to be taken in this place the Truth is in this sense so naturally resisted by all that are not the Truthes owne naturall children that Tertulian hath giuen vs this generall obseruation Simulatque apparuit veritas inimica esse coepit The truth saieth he no sooner peeped out and appeared but by and by it began to be hated yea and that by two contrarie sorts of people as hee noteth in that place Extranei à quibus quotidie obsidetur and proprij à quibus quotidie proditur The first sort of those resisters of the truth are strangers and aliens from the common wealth of Israel such as openly professe not only the resisting but also the vtter subuerting of it such as were Nabuch●donoser and Antiochus in the time of the law the persecuting Emperours in the time of the Gospel and the Turke in our time professed and sworne enemies not onely of the faith but also of the very name of Christians The second sort of those resisters of the truth and they much more dangerous are dissembling Hypocrites of whom this text more poperly speaketh such as pretend to assist the truth but intend to resist it by secretly supplanting it and planting manifold errours vnder the name of it Of which sort of persons the Apostle Paul foretelleth vs that euen of our selues there shall such men arise speaking peruerse things to drawe disciples after them Such as doe veritatem non veritate docere as S. Augustine speaketh They sometimes speake the truth but seldome truely which is a peruerse thing for as Tertullian noteth in the forealleadged place Ne tunc quidem cùm aliquid veri afferunt sine mendacij vitio sunt They seeke to deceiue euen whilest they speake the truth because they speake the truth but with a lying heart as they did in S. Paules time who preached the truth but onely for contention and a many like in our time who oftentimes abus● the speaking of the truth but onely to the venting of som● priuate affection which preuaricating kind of speaking of the truth is indeede nothing els but a resisting of the truth it is nothing els but only ars fallendi vt per bona facilius per suadere possint mala as Vincentius Lirinensis noteth that is an Arte of deceiuing that so vnder the countenance of a few smaller trueths they may bring the better credit to a many greater errors Of which hypocriticall resisters of the truth there be two diuers kinds The first of them are such as hold the truth in small things but resist it in greater matters as euen now I noted such as were false Prophets in the the time of the law and deceitfull heretikes in the time of the Gospell both which the Apostle Peter yoaketh together in one sentence As there were false Prophets amongst the people so shall there be also false teachers amongst you which priuily shall bring in damnable heresies The second sort of hypocriticall resisters of the truth doe seeme to be cleane contrarie vnto the former for they hold the truth in greater matters but resist it in smaller about which notwithstanding they stirre vp no small stirres Such as the Chuch calleth Schismatikes who contend for trifles as it were for life and lims making a great cōscience where they should not but none at al where they should as diuers men amongst vs doe who for Cappes and Surplices Holy daies and Crosses and such like smaller matters belonging only vnto order external regiment haue made in our Church a dangerous faction and rent making head against their heads and crying out like vnto Libertines or rather indeede like seditious Tribunes that all our Christian liberty is vtterly betraied because in these matters the priuate fansie of euery idle head may not countermaund the authority of a publike law and yet couering all this their grosse disobedience vnder an outward cloake of religion and conscience But howsoeuer those men may seeme to please and applaud themselues in making a conscience to resist the Magistrate whom the Apostle Paul cōmandeth them euen for Conscience to obey yet sure I am of this that Saint Augustine is so farre from allowing of this their disobedience to be conscience that he openly pronounceth it to be indeede nothing els but onely a true resisting of the truth Cui nisi ipsi veritati resistitur saith he cum regi ex veritate iubenti resistitur What doe men resist but onely the very truth when they resist the lawfull commandement of their Prince A wise and a true censure Thus you see that the truth shall surely be resisted both by many men and by many meanes And therefore no man ought to be so weak minded as to cal the truth of the truth in questiō because he seeth it to be resisted or heareth it to be boldly contradicted For as S. Hierom truely noteth Haec est conditio veritatis vt
not-with-standing that indulgence which you seeme to giue them So that the creatures of GOD haue no greater priuiledge beeing monuments of idolatry then other things haue And I desire to know either the place where or the case when or the cause why such priuiledge is granted them For I suppose that this clause of exemption is but cunningly inserted into the proposition onely to auoide the force of those euident examples which may be brought of GODS creatures and ordinances abused to idolatrie which yet haue beene restored vnto their vses of piety and to tye vs onely vnto the inuentions of man wherein you suppose wee can bring you none instance So that from this clause of your exemption I thus argue The creatures of GOD haue no greater priuiledge then the ordinances of the Church But the creatures of GOD by your owne confession are priuiledged from destruction though they haue beene abused vnto idolatry Ergo. The ordinances of the Church are likewise priuiledged and consequently the crosse So that either you must shew by the testimonie of Scripture where that speciall priuiledge is granted vnto Gods creatures or else will wee plead it as a common lawe for ceremonies and for mans inuentions as it pleaseth you to call all ecclesiasticall constitutions though T.C. haue an other opinion of them as you heard before pag. 16. The second reason which moueth mee to deny your proposition is the iudgement and practice of the primitiue church against it who haue admitted of diuerse inuentions of men in the seruice of God which had formerly beene abused vnto idolatry euen with deuils To giue you one instance aboue all exceptions The Christians in the primitiue church conuerted those same temples into the houses of God which had before bin consecrated vnto heathen idolls These idolatrous temples are mans meere inuentions erected not only without any warrant but also directly against Gods commandement and yet you see that the primitiue and purest church made no scruple at all of vsing those temples though they were the same indiuidua that had beene abused and haue an expresse commandement to be destroyed Whose example contrary to your position all the reformed churches of Christendome do imitate in vsing without scruple those very same churches which haue manifestly and manifoldly beene polluted with popish idols which practise euen Caluin himselfe alloweth Neque nobis hodie religio est sayth he templa retinere quae polluta fuerunt idolis et accommodare in vsum meliorem Now what can bee the reason why both the primitiue church and ours should so fully conspire in vsing the same temples which haue beene abused contrary vnto the expresse and particular commandement of God as you imagin but only this that they thought not themselues there bound to vse destruction where the things abused would admit a reformation as it hath apparently done no lesse in our crosses then in our churches If you call those temples the creatures of God because the wood and stone and other materialls whereof they were made are the creatures of GOD you apply that name vnproperly and very abusiuely and by the sam● proportion I may likewise call the signe of the crosse the creature of God because In him wee liue and mooue and haue our beeing and without him is nothing made that is made and of him and through him and for him are all things If you grant these te●ples to bee mans inuentions as they can not be denied to be the workes of mens hands no nor of their heads neither then must you either denie that they were lawfully conuerted vnto the seruice of GOD cont●ary to the running firea●●e of all Diuines Or els you must cancell that which before you auerred That it is vnlawfull to vse the inuentions of man in the seruice of GOD if once they haue beene abused vnto idolatry My third reas●n of denying your proposition is that I doe finde you to bee singular in it and all Diuines beside your self● a●ainst it Peter Martyr in an Epistle which he writ to B●shoppe Hooper vpon this very question giueth these pregnant instances against your proposition That not onely the temples of heathen idols were conuerted into the houses of GOD but also their idolatrous reuenues dedicated to their playes to their Vestalls nay to their deuills yet were co●uerted to the maintenance of Christian Ministers Hee addeth in that place many other instances and hee deliuereth his iudgement in this memorable sentence Non mihi persuadeo papatus impietatem esse ●antam vt quicquid atting t●omnino reddat contaminatum quo bonis et sanctis vsus pio non possit concedi Marke vsus pio With him likewise consent both ●ucer Gua●ter and Bullenger whose sentences beeing long to write heere and yet very worthie the reading you may finde in Bishoppe Whi●gyfts booke pag 276.277 yea and euen T. C. himselfe contrary to his owne Doctrine ye● is forced by the euidence of the truth to yeelde thu● much That things abused to i●olatr● may lawfully ●●e vsed in the Church so that first they bee purified from their abuse Yea and in an other place hee yeeldeth that euen monuments of idolatry note your owne word may bee vsed in the Church so that there come manifest profit of them Neither speaketh hee there of either the creatures or ordinances of God but of the Cappe and Surplice which are mans inuētions both which though he affirmeth to be monumēts of idolatrie yet he granteth that they might be vsed in the church but that they be altogither with out any profit And againe he professeth of them in that place that they neither haue any pollution in themselues nor transfuse any pollution vnto their wearers but that hee reiecteth them for lacke of profit in them and not onely because the Papists haue abused them Vnto these I might ad Tertullians iudgment who giueth many instances of heathen mens inuētions which haue notably bin abused vnto idolatry and yet had good vse in Christianity amongst which these be some that letters were first inuented by the heathē god Mercury Physick by the heathen god Aesculapius yet the first of these he granteth to bee necessary non solum commercij rebus sed et nostris erga deum studijs the second though it were the inuentions of a heathen yet was vsed both by the prophet Isay towards king Ezechias in prescribing him his plaister and by the Apostle Pa●l towards his scholler Timothy in prescribing him wine in steede of water Yea and he further affirmeth that our Sauiour Christ himself when he girded him with linnen to wash his disciples feete did therin vse the proper habit of the heathen god Osyris And he determineth this question with this conclusiō that al those inuentions of heathen gods may be vsed in the seruice of Christ and the true God which do either bring to men a manifest profit as Mercury his letters do or a necessary helpe