Persons but not his Person that he cannot communicate for if it were to be communicated the distinction of persons would be takeÌ„ away But God who is only good did participate himselfe vnto men when he coÌ„municated his word full of grace truth He took not vpon him the nature of Angels as Paul saith but humane nature In this first communication God is in himselfe but in his second after a sort without himselfe Such a one did Dionysius Areopagita regard him to be when he said This we dare speake for truth that almighty God suffered on earth by the power and force of charity viz. he was not in himselfe Of this participation S. Iohn writes and the other Euangelists And seeing God made nothing in vaine this communication also was made for some purpose For it was to take away the sinne committed by our first parents and by propagation Christ accepted past ouer and transmitted vnto mankind By reason whereof as Paul saith we are all borne the sonnes of wrath because we all sinned in Adam Wherefore the right which we had to the inheritance of eternall life before the fall of Adam we afterwards lost as the Lawyers teach But God that as a father loueth vs the sonnes of adoption decreed in his vnchangeable counsell to send forth his Sonne made of a woman and made vnder the law for what loue exceeds the loue of a father that we might receiue the adoption of the sonnes And as Iohn witnesseth God so loued the world that he gaue his onely begotten Son c. by whose coming and participation Saint Paul saith We are saued from wrath and redeemed The Sonne of God is also communicated vnto vs that he might instruct vs in his holy wisedome and vnderstanding because in him are had all the treasure of wisedome and knowledge For he was the chiefe Maister and teacher when he was appointed by God the Father that all should receiue vnderstand from him the doctrine of truth for thus God spake of him This is my wel-beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him Besides Let a man examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread c. By which it manifestly appeares that it continues to be bread And the very Priests of Rome themselues after consecratioÌ„ of the SacrameÌ„ts which according to their opinion is eueÌ„ the body of Christ not bread vse the signes of the crosse vpon the same Sacrament calling it an holy ✚ Sacrament a pure ✚ Sacrament an vndefiled ✚ Sacrament the sanctified ✚ bread of eternall life and the cup of ✚ euerlasting saluation So that they name it bread and yet are contrary to themselues The same truth teacheth that holy father Irenaeus saying Now it is no common bread but the Eucharist consisting of two things that is earthly and heauenly In which words he expresly teacheth the bread to remaine there still Moreouer the forme of the body of Christ is the soule for Aristotle saith that Anima est actus corporis physici potentiâ vitam habentis But it cannot be said that the substantiall forme of bread is conuerted into the soule Therefore the same substance of the bread remaineth Further if the substantiall forme of bread be conuerted into the body of Christ it would then follow the body of Christ to consist of two formes which is most false Also the Accident without the substance cannot be ministred or giuen but there the Accidents are seene tasted smelt c. Therefore the substance is giuen The refuge of the Papists is to make it a miracle by which the whitenesse of the bread continues and other accidents thereunto belonging But it is a false reply for it is not found in the holy Scriptures neither was it needfull that Christ should worke such a miracle Saint Augustine saith These things may be honoured as religious but to worke wonder or astonishment they cannot as miraculous Also the accidents are alwaies destroyed by the corruption of the substance But as I will make manifest hereafter the very accidents of bread are destroyed in time therefore transubstantiation of the bread is not giuen By reason whereof the Papists at their times renew such sacrifices reserued in their Vestries or other places appointed to keepe their holy things and reliques that is euery weeke in Sommer time but in the Winter time at 15 daies And this is done to take away the scandall of their corruption Therefore Transubstantiation is not giuen In a matter so plaine and euident I neither desire to spend much time nor to be too tedious or troublesome to the readers But if any shall be desirous to reade more concerning this point let them looke vpon Christophorus Pezeline and Iohn Caluin who very manifestly and learnedly teach the truth and make it cleare and apparant to the eyes and vnderstanding of such as are blind and ignorant Of the Corporall absence of Christ in the Sacrament BEcause it is the ground and foundation of the tyrannicall monarchy of the Papists to blind the eyes of the faithfull which according to their enchaunting speeches beleeue the body and bloud of Christ to be really in the consecration of many sacrifices and as they say in euery one of them and in the cup and chalices I will speake somewhat by the way against their false opinions not to the satisfaction of them that reade for of this matter they may peruse the Institutions of Doctour Caluin c. but to expresse mine owne minde I say first The Papists do adde and detractmany times from the words of the true text to confirme and establish their owne inuentions as it is to be seene by the Inquisitors who adde to the Gospell of Christ what may serue their owne purpose For Christ doth thus admonish vs by Math. Chap. 18. before cited If thy brother trespasse against thee go and tell him his fault betweene thee and him alone c. If he heare thee not tâ—ke yet with thee one or two witnesses If he will not vouchsafe to heare them tell it vnto the Church The Church of Rome to these words of Christ addeth praeter causam fidei but for faith or religions sake so that they take away and cut off the meaning of the Gospell and contradict Christ himselfe so charitably admonishing and exhorting So do they contradict Saint Hierome Saint Ambrose and many other holy Fathers and many times adde and detract from the very words of the holy Scripture as manifestly appears in that vnchristianlike booke intituled the Index expurgatorius But now to returne to our purpose The Church of Rome to the words of Christ saying This is my body addeth for which Christ neuer pronounced nor Saint Peter whatsoeuer Thomas affirmeth And if the Priest pronounce not for among the Papists he sinnes hainously Also the Church of Rome addeth that the bread of consecration ought to be vnleauened which precept was neither deliuered
knowledge of his diuine will and pleasure and by his assistance I began to open the eyes of my vnderstanding and to purge and seclude my selfe from those mists and errors of the Romish Church by which my minde before was too much caried away and obscured I obserued againe that from time to time there was a continuall mutabilitie and various changing of opinions among the Prelats for what was one day receiued and allowed by authoritie was the next day prohibited and vtterly disanulled as it is plainely to be seene in Indice expurgatorio For whatsoeuer seemed to taxe the errors of the Priesthood the same by commandement of the Inquisitors and of the Church of Rome was forthwith razed out and extinguished Secondly because if the Bishops at any time gaue power and authority to any for the preaching of the word of God they did not graunt him free libertie of speech but prescribed him a forme of preaching as my selfe can witnesse by their Commissions granted to me in that behalfe which is manifestly knowne to be a thing repugnant to the truth For as Paul saith The word of God is not tied or limited but they limit the same saying We giue you authoritie for the preaching of the word of God so farre forth as you do it according to the opinions of the holy Fathers and to the decrees of the most holy Councell of Trent When as notwithstanding neither the opinions of the Fathers or of the Councels agree amongst them neither are they alwayes true But if they do agree and are true they are as is aforesaid euery where altered by them and changed And if according to their iudgements the word of God should be expressed the truth would sometimes be made more manifest and apparent But in this they are contrary to them selues as that most learned man Iohn Caluine hath rightly and learnedly set downe I am an eye witnesse saith he of the tyranny of the Bishops and Inquisitors for I haue often heard very learned men preach amongst them but because those things that haue bin preached were displeasing to the tyrannous Inquisitors and Bishops the same preachers and learned men haue bene compelled euen in the same Church and that against their owne consciences by their commandements and authoritie to speake against themselues and to preach another doctrine contrary to the truth For instance whereof Father Lobo a famous preacher whose name is well knowne in Spaine and Italy at Rome in the beginning of Pope Gregory the 13 in his Sermon was heard to vtter these words It is of more weight and efficacie and of greater profit and vtility with God to heare his word then the Masse But the same preacher forthwith by the commandement of that great beast the Pope was compelled to make his publicke recantation and yet for all this he was depriued of his authoritie of preaching and enioyned to other penances Let God arise and iudge his cause who saith Viuus est sermo meus My word is a liuing word and Dauid lest he should fall did place the word of God A Lanterne vnto his feete by which also the heauens were framed and which endureth for euer To heare the same word by which all things were made and is the fountaine of wisedome the publicans and sinners assembled themselues together and the people preassed vpon Christ to heare the word of God of which all things were made for it is the fountaine of wisedome Ezekiel admonished the sonnes of Ammon the mountaines of Israel and the dry bones to heare the word of the Lord God by mediation whereof the bones came together bone to his bone and behold the synewes and the flesh grew vpon them and the skinne couered them Christ also calleth them happy and blessed that heare the word of God What the word of God makes loose and free that these tyrants do bind and tye to limits and compasse When Iohn Baptist was in prison he preached the same word which as the Lord saith we ought not any way to oppugne or resist In the yeare of our Lord 1597. Valentine Cortazer being Inquisitor the twentieth day of Iune comming to visit the city of Liria entred the same in his accustomed pompe and vanitie and did impose vpon me the charge and duty of preaching a Sermon of Faith And vpon Sonday the 22 day of the same moneth and yeare Aderat Inquisitor Ecclesiae pro Tribunali sitting in great maiestie and as the manner is Lecto mandato praeceptorum de accusatione I ascended the place of preaching and hauing saluted the Inquisitor began my Sermon After I had past ouer many things in praise and commendation of the Inquisitors and Inquisition I spake thus to the Auditorie Remember deare brethren and be mindfull of those words which I spake vnto you in Lent time in a Sermon touching brotherly correction for two Lents I was their Preacher You are bound as I then told you euery one of you to correct and admonish your brother secretly betweene you and him But if after admonishment he continue still in his wickednesse then tel and acquaint the Church therewith Yet before brotherly correction you are not tied to denounce him Marke this well This I speake vnto you in the name and behalfe of the liuing God Hauing made an end of my Sermon I was inuited by the Inquisitor with all kindnesse and courtesie to take my dinner with him which being ended he began to fall into commendation of my Sermon but vtterly to condemne that brotherly admonition saying That it is not admitted in matters of faith with which the Inquisition hath to do and takes notice of I replied with the very words of Christ in defence thereof but was compelled to hold my peace and the Sonday following constrained to preach of him that they hold and terme accursed in the presence of the Inquisitor and lay open his mind and pleasure against Gods word and to say that brotherly correction had no part or place in such matters as were contained in the Edict Do but see and behold how the word of God is tied and bound by these people of Antichrist And this whilest I was one of their number and company drew my mind into diuerse and sundry distractions Of Transubstantiation MY soule also was grieuously troubled about Transubstantiation of bread and wine into the body and bloud of Christ for this among other things alwayes seemed vnto me a matter of much difficultie And Saint Paul teacheth the contrary speaking of the Lords supper he alwayes nameth bread saying As aften as you shall eate of this bread and drinke of this drinke c. Againe Whosoeuer shall eate of this bread c. Also by this it followes that the Pope doth falsly intrude himselfe to be the head of the Church as is proued by this reason The Primitiue Church and that which flourished for many yeares knew no other head but Christ nor had any vniuersall
the Father in whom such treasures are hidden But these thinges are repugned by the Papistes who say that such certaintie of assurance cannot be without arrogancie presumption But as we must not presume of any thing to be in our selues yet we must presume of all thinges in God for in trueth we are not for any other cause bereaued of all vaine glorie but onely to the end that we should be glorified in him On the other side behold and see with what affection those miserable and ignorant persons I speake specially of Ecclesiasticall persons are mooued and ledde they easily permit both them selues and others to be ignorant negligent and carelesse of the true Religion which is taught vs by the holy Scriptures and which ought to be resolutely and firmely held among all men and thinke that it is no great matter what Fayth euery man holdeth nor whether he holdeth with God or Christ so that with an inueloped or imposed Fayth as they tearme it they submit their censures to the iudgement of the Church and care not though the glory of God be poluted by euident Blasphemies so that no man speaketh a word against the authoritie of our Mother the holy Church that is according to their meaning the Sea of Rome And therefore they fight and contend with such rigour and boldnesse for the Masse Purgatorie Pilgrimage and such trifles in such maner that they denie that true pietie can be obserued if all those thinges be not beleeued and holden for infallible rules of our saluation although they prooue nothing by the word of God Wherefore I pray you but onely because their Belly is their God the Kitchin their Religion and the World their Paradise which being taken away they are not onely perswaded that they can be Christians but which is more no men and although some of them liue delicately and in great aboundance and others liue barely and votarely in pouertie gnawing of Crustes neuerthelesse they liue all by one Pot which without such aydes would not onely waxe cold but wholly be frozen vp And therefore he which among them hath most care of his Belly is the most zealous in their Fayth To conclude they haue all one selfe-same purpose and intent either to maintaine their Kingdome or their Bellies and there is none of thē that sheweth the least apearance in the world of true zeale and yet they cease not to Slaunder and with Fire Sword Water and all other mischiefes to pursue and persecute the doctrine of Trueth either to make it odious or suspected But if we were permitted to speake as boldly and as well as they I am perfwaded that their hotnesse wherewith they boyle so terribly against vs would be somewhat cooled for to say trueth that which the blind world at this day honoureth in those idle Bellies is onely a faigned vizard of Hipocrifie which vnder the shadow of the Church would hide their couetousnesse to beare rule seeking for the Church of God in the beautifulnesse of Houses and other exteriour ornamentes thinking that the vnion of the Faythfull consisteth and is contayned in those exteriour thinges which are transitorie and corruptible and not rather in righteousnesse and trueth Wherefore according to the word of God we hold the Sea of Rome to be the Seate of Antechrist which eleuateth and opposeth it selfe against that of the Sonne of God which vnder a false title of Religion at this day tiranniseth ouer all the world liuely representing that Seate of Impietie whereof the Prophet Daniel and the Apostle S. Paul haue spoken whereof we say the Pope is the Captaine which hath prophaned the Holy Temple of God by horrible abhominations in such sort that therein there rather appeareth an Image of Babilon then any shew of the holy Citie of God But some men will obiect and aske mee Did not you before your reuolt know these great impieties and mischiefes viz. that all the Romane sect is but a King dome of Vntruethes where the name of the eternall God is villanously prophaned and the Lordes honour impudently giuen vnto Idoles I answere that I knew it hauing a hundred and a hundred times published and preached it vnto the World but in trueth I confesse that I neuer did so pertinently vnderstand nor marke so well the horrible Sacrileges of Antechrist as I did while I conuersed familiarly with them in Rome where euery man attendeth his owne profite and pleasures and not the seruice of Iesus Christ We must not then feare that by leauing the Church of Rome we diuorce our selues from the Church of God for the communion of the Church was not ordained to that end that it should be a place for to draw vs to idolatry impietie ignorance of the true God and other wickednes but rather to retaine vs in the feare of God and in the obedience of the truth We do truly withdraw our selues from Poperie and not from the Church we shun and flie from idols but not from the true Church we will withdraw our selues from the tyrannie of the Pope and not from the true Christian common wealth from the plague and not from life ready to reunite our selues with them when Antichrist and the mischiefe which he hath brought into it shall be driuen away In the meane time the house of God shall be my habitation the Lord my portion and his Sonne my Pastor he will cause me to rest in his parkes of assurance he will restore my afflicted soule and will preserue me if it pleaseth him from the bloudy hands of those that seeke my vtter ruine and ouerthrow All you that haue done as I haue done and haue suffered your selues to runne headlong into mischiefe and which as yet liue in the kingdome of Antichrist with a contaminated and defiled conscience and vnquietnesse of spirit for I thinke and beleeue certainly that it is impossible for a man that hath knowne the impieties of Papistrie where the bloud of Christ is bought and sold where his onely propitiatorie sacrifice offered for our sinnes is esteemed to be insufficient to deface them where the merits of men are equalized with the merits of Iesus Christ I beleeue that his soule is alwayes in paine and that if he stayeth long there in the end he will feele an executioner in his conscience which will neuer suffer him to liue in peace night nor day I beseech you most humbly in the name and fauour of Iesus Christ to abandon and leaue the synagogue of Sathan and to reunite and ioyne your selues to this Church of God vnited and conioyned in faith with the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles in the word of God which is faithfully preached and the Sacraments duly and purely administred It is into his lap that I yeeld my selfe it is vnto the guard of his pietie that I haue recourse beseeching him with all humilitie to receiue and admit me into the communion of his children hauing determined to liue with them by the power of my
by Christ nor his Apostles The Greeke Priests do vse leauened bread Therefore it may be said that if they be various in the matter there can be no truth found in the forme For the determinate matter hath her determinate forme and the determinate forme also her determinate matter But they adde and diminish at their pleasures contrary to the rules and commandements of God who saith You shall not adde to the word that I speake vnto you nor take from the same And moreouer What I command thee that onely doe neither adde thou any thing nor diminish God reprehends such as are bold and audacious in this behalfe saying I protest vnto every man that heareth the words c. If any man shall adde c. See how God reproues the bishop of Rome all his Popish Priests complices that walk against Gods coÌ„mandemeÌ„rs for the word of the Lord endureth and he himselfe saith Heauen earth shall passe away but my words shall not passe a-away Therefore that God that true and euerlasting God will send vnto them sodaine ruine and destruction Amongst other ceremonies which the Papists do vse one is after consecration of the bread to blesse the same bread with the signe of the crosse and certaine words c. Now I demand of them if it be lawfull for the creature to blesse the Creator For benediction as Saint Paul saith is alwaies from the greater to the lesser The lesser is blessed of the greater as he affirmeth in expresse words Hebr. 7. 7 For the father giues his blessing to the sons as Isaac did to Iacob and Esau and Iacob to the sonnes of Ioseph his sonne And it is commonly obserued that the father at the very point of death giues his blessing to his sonnes but the sons which are the lesser although they reuerence and honour the father do not yet giue him benediction By which I conclude that the Papist Priests as inferiour ought not to blesse Christ their superiour and if they do it in their Masse as they terme it they blesse not Christ the Creator but the bread the creature and so they worship the creature not the Creator as Saint Paul saith They haue turned the truth of God into a lye and worshipped and serued the creature much more then the Creator Neither ought we to beleeue that Christ is in their hands when the words are pronounced by them For many are consecrating the Sacrament at once and the body of Christ being but one in number is not in many sacrifices For the body of Christ is natural and keepeth a place and is not giuen in many places at one time But the Papists reply to this saying that the body of Christ is there sacramently not totally But this is a very idle distinction and a slanderous boldnesse to say they haue Christ in that manner in their hands at the Sacrament For if as they confesse Christ haue a chiefe place in heauen and yet is in the Sacrament with the same really as he is heauen it would follow God in times past who was figuratiuely in the Arke was couered with a Table of gold and so the Arke was honored and had in admiration that the Priests might with feare come vnto it For when Vzzah as the Arke of God was carried out of the house of Abinadab with a godly zeale put his hand to the Arke The Lord was very wroth and smote him in the same place for his fault and there he died by the Arke Therefore Dauid that day feared the Lord and said How shall the Arke of the Lord come to me and durst not bring the Arke of the Lord to himselfe If this be so how dare the Romish Priestes pronounce Christ himselfe with his Diuinity and Humanity to descend into their hands Or if the true body of Christ were in the sacrifice or the sacrifice it selfe were the true body of Christ how comes it that brute beasts haue place there For many times the flies goes vpon it and other insensible creatures as is daily seene and made manifest And I my selfe often celebrating the Masse haue seene flies vpon the Sacrament consecrated and made holy Therefore we may not beleeue the true body of Christ to be there Sometimes also by negligence of the Priests part of the sacrifices haue fallen vpon the ground and bene troden vnder foote And I am a faithfull and true eye witnesse that in the yeare of our Lord 1595 in a Church which the Order of the most holy Trinity hath at Turol whereof I was chiefe a certaine religious man as they call him celebrating the Sacrament turned the chalice vpside downe and the consecrated wine as they say was part sprinckled on the earth and part shed vpon the Altar And for these mischaunces there are certaine rules set downe in the Missall of Rome ordaining punishments to such Priests by whom they happen or befall Also in the Emperours Cathedrall Church of S. Paul in the yeare of our Lord 1580. the theeues stole away a siluer Casket where the consecrated Sacrifices were vsually kept and threw the sacrifices themselues vpon the ground and vpon the Altar In the yeare of our Lord 1586 in the Monastery of S. Sauiour at Fraga theeues aâ—so tooke away the chest where the Sacrifices were kept and they were throwne vp and downe Therefore we may not beleeue the body of Christ to be there For if as they grant the body and bloud remaine vnder those formes so long as they continue vncorrupt and if also laid vpon the ground as is aforesaid they be vncorrupt and so are troden vnder foote then Christ must likewise be troden vnder foote which is a most grosse absurdity Sometimes also as I haue seene wormes haue bred in those their sacrifices If then we hold their opinion it must needs be that they beingendred out of the body of Christ not out of the bread because there as they say the bread is not Haec de Accidentibus Because if by miracle as they hold they continue and abide of themselues then they ought to be kept by miracle without any corruption for there is no greater reason for the one then for the other nor of the body of Christ Otherwise the body of Christ should change the forme and the very wormes should partake of the body bloud of Christ and from thence haue originall beginning which is most false and vnworthy Therefore it is to be said that nothing is there more then the bread it selfe Moreouer let there be two sacrifices of bread put together sod and made at one time of one meale fire and water and let the one be consecrated and made holy and the other vnconsecrated and we shall see their corruption to be alike It therefore followes that the one hath no more in it then the other neither is the body of Christ more in the consecrated forme of bread then in that which is vnhallowed
a true Bishop which doctrine amongst many other father Bazquez maintained being one of the society of the Iesuits which comming straight way to the eares of the Bishop he caused both him and them to be presently called beforehim And because amongst many other reasons that haue moued me to this separation from the Church of Rome this of the vsurped power of the Pope hath of long time bene the chiefest I thought it my part to say something of his tyranny of his name and hypocrisy But for that this little labour hath bene onely vndertaken by me to satisfie mine owne minde and to make some declaration thereof vnto others lest I should be tedious and troublesome to the Readers I will for this time pretermit the further handling of these things yet God willing in their place and time shall they be particularly expressed more at large imitating the doctrine of Saint Paul who after his owne conuersion did conuert his brethren which Christ also our heauenly Schoolmaister doth teach vs saying to Peter Now thou art at length conuerted strengthen thy brethren And I my selfe conuerted am bound in duty to do the same yet in the meane time reade Doctour Caluin li. 4. Institut Cap. 6 7. 11. Of Purgatory and the Sacraments INsomuch as I am now determined to imbrace the truth of the reformed Church I do with stedfast resolution looke into the sentences thereof being consonant and agreeable vnto the Gospell of Christ lest the words of the Lawyers may be inferred against me who hold this opinion That it is a foule dishonorable thing for any that liues in the common-wealth to be ignorant of that law in which he is conuersant And so there is no other Church allowed of more then the Church militant and triumphant But amongst the Papists Purgatory is ordained the third Church which I vtterly deny and abiure For as Saint Paul saith Christ is the purger of our sinnes and sitteth at the right hand of the Maiestie in the highest places Besides hell and heauen there is no middle place found in the holy Scriptures where our soules should rest or be detained The opinion which the Papists hold of Veniall sinnes and the ceremonies by which the same is absolued I wholly disalow as vile and excreable nor is there any other then mortall sinne which is onely washed away by true contrition of heart by the mercy of God and the shedding of the bloud of Christ as Saint Paul saith The Sacrament also of extreme vnction by mediation of which as the Papists dreame the reliques of sinnes mortall are taken away is a very idle and ridiculous matter and no Sacrament For if it were a Sacramēt the redemptiō of Christ were imperfect and in vaine which is against the truth of Gods word which saith The Lord is mercifull and righteous and our God is full of compassion The Lord preserueth the simple I was in misery and he sauedme I reiect also the Sacrament of Confirmation and the rest which the Pope hath ordained and onely reuerence and embrace the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords Supper instituted by our Sauiour By this I am instructed in the rules of Christ and by this I am more and more strengthened and confirmed in him Of Auricular confession AVricular confession which the Papists call the Sacrament of Penitence is very foolish For this tyrannicall confession is neither found in the law of nature nor in the Law of God but in the diuell and the Popes kitchin to increase their fare and delicacies Neither did the Apostles teach the same or Saint Iohn Baptist as Caluin directly proueth And Chrysostome also maintaineth whose words Con. 3. t. 2. Pag. 1371. are these Why dost thou blush and art ashamed to tell thy sinnes Take heed thou reueale them not to any man lest he vpbraid thee nether confesse them to thy fellow seruant lest he publish them but vnto him which is the Lord who hath care and charge ouer thee And againe Tell thy faults only vnto me priuately God here speaketh that I may heale thy disease and deliuer thee from sorrow Which words because they are repugnant and contrary to that great beast are by the commandement of the Inquisitors taken away and blotted out in the booke called Index expurgatorius Many in the same manner of confession haue reuealed their sins willingly to their Confessours and the Confessour to the Iudges and others A certaine Bishop of Girona in the time of Iames the second king of Arragon being his Confessour reuealed his confession to the Pope and the king forthwith cut out his tongue I my selfe can faithfully witnesse that being many times present at the talke communication of Confessours they haue so foolishly behaued themselues and so openly in their talke reuealed the sinnes that haue bene confest vnto them priuately by the penitents that their names and persons haue easily become knowne to me and perhaps to many others that haue heard the conference And although there be diuers lawes ordained by the Pope to punish Confessours thus offending they yet commit this crime of reuelation and which is worse without a summe of money the Penitents haue no grant of absolution as appeares in the bookes of Taxes c. By which feare many euen in the very act of confession do conceale the truth till they be compelled to confesse the same I could speake much of this matter and point it out with my very fingar but I will obserue my oath and with good aduice forbeare to relate it In this matter of auricular confession the Confessours are wont to seduce and auert the minds and affections of women from God and to turne and conuert them to their owne lusts and filthinesse To proue this true I present as witnesses those Confessours that haue bene punished by iudgement of the Inquisition for such abhorred and abhominable wickednesse and such as haue bene adiuged to punishment and by sentence of the Prelats and others for being found guilty of the like misdemeanours For by auricular confession many monstrous enormities arise and are begotten To auoid the imputation of tedioulnesse I will not continue to make any longer discourse or discouery of the errours of the Church of Rome But with all my heart with all my minde and with all my soule I reuerence and confesse all things whatsoeuer our new reformed Church doth allow and embrace And if any of the Church of Rome shall vpbraide me that I haue falsely and perfidiously fallen from the same I answere with Saint Ambrose In leauing it I forsake not Christ Him onely no man ought to forsake or change to whom it is worthily said Lord to whom shall we flie Thou hast the words of euerlasting life For the faith of the Church is commanded chiefly to be sought for in which if Christ haue habitatiō it may vndoubtedly be chosen and followed But if the people be perfidious and the maister an