AN AVNSWERE TO THE TREATISE OF THE CROSSE wherin ye shal see by the plaine and vndoubted word of God the vanities of men disproued by the true and Godly Fathers of the Church the dreames and dotages of other controlled and by lavvfull Counsels conspiracies ouerthrowen Reade and Regarde Si quis diuersam sequitur doctrinam non acquiescit sanis sermonibus Iesu Christi et ei quae secundum pietatem est doctrinae is inflatus est nihil scit Paulê° 1. ad Tim. 6. If any man teach otherwyse and agreeth not to the holesome wordes of Iesus Christ to the doctrine which is according to Godlinesse he is puft vp knoweth nothing IMPRINTED AT LONdon by Henry Denham for Lucas Harryson Anno. 1565. To Iohn Martiall student in Diuinitie Iames Calfhill Bacheler of the same vvisheth the spirit of Truthe and modestie wyth increase of knowledge in the feare of God IT is not very long agoe since the famous report of your Martial affairs came vnto mine eares and treatise of defence vnto my handes In deede as a yong scholler for so ye say ye are and I by your vvorkmanship may vvell coÌ„iecture ye haue sayd for the Crosse so far as your skyl doth serue you or as the honestie of the cause deserueth I suppose it had bene more honesty for you and vvould haue furthered your purpose better if eyther your vveakenesse had vvrestled at the first on a better grouÌ„d or so vveak a cause had got some sturdier champion to defend it Novve that you fight more egerly than vvisely in a Crosse quarrell ye lie so open to be crossebytten that the cause it selfe and your poore credit go to the ground together For though ye vse to face men vvithal such termes and titles of estimacion as rather of some be gotten by continuaunce than giuen by desert as Bacheler of Lavve and student in Diuinitie yet if ye had ioyned more Logique vvith your Lavve your reasons should not haue runne so lavvlesse as they do or if you had remembred your olde humanitie you vvould not haue stayned your nevve diuinitie vvith such slaunders and lies such vaine supposals and idle tales as I am ashamed to heare of any that challengeth to himselfe the name of learning But mans lavve striketh so great a stroke vvith you that Goddes rule coÌ„science is excluded from you and being so depe in your popish diuinitie you haue forgotten al christian humanitie VVherefore the censure of S. Paul vvhich in the beginning I vsed as my vvorde may iustly be applied to you that in asmuch as ye giue no eare to the sounde doctrine 1. Tim. 6. nor coÌ„tent your self vvith that religion vvhich accordeth to pietie ye are but puft vp vvith vaine glorie ye seeke for praise of men vvhich of the vviser sorte ye shall neuer purchas Hovv vvell your poesy serueth against vs vvhom you vvold seeme to touch vvhen the Apostle inueyed against the enimies of the crosse of Christ vvhich you are and not vve shal aftervvarde be seene in the discourse But among you the vvilful vvanderers of one affection of one bringing vp the saying is verified vvhich Horace hath Horatius in Arte Poetica Scribimus indocti doctique PoeÌ„mata passim First came into our stage a gaye disguised gest a sodaine conuert and I feare me greatly least an Apostata M. Doctor Harding he bicause he is right vvorshipfull M. Doctor and hath othervvise some opinion of learning vvordes in deede at vvil he must needes be thought to say something But hovv this somthing in effect is nothing the Byshop of Salisburie aboundantly doth proue Next to the Master came the vvorthy Scholer and yet vvorthy Man he gaue but a Dor. VVe doe easly see in vvhose forge he vvas framed he sauours of the fier that flevve out before and yet neither of them both for all their heate of railing hath any vvarmth of religion His proues I passe to the reproufe published abrode already Onely I am sory M. Novvell had not a more learned aduersarie Then commes in M. Rastal and puts in his Reioynder All againste M. Ievvell Alas I pitie the poore soule he maketh his match so farre amisse Dares Entellum Nay Hinnului Leonem Yet he saith that he vvil but fight vvith a Penknife He vvill ouerthrovv vvith a breath if he can O noble courage He leaueth the bloudy launces and terrible halbardes for Hardy Harding and Doughty Dorman he himself vvil come after and blovve his enimies afore him If I should deale vvith this daungerous bugge I vvould for all that prouide my selfe of a longer svvorde for belike he hath a very strong breath and yet vvith a Bodkin he may be borne ouer I vvill not touch this proud pecockes taile I vvill leaue it at leasure to be pulled of an other To make vp the messe steps out M. Stapleton he vvil not stand by and be but a looker on hauing therefore neuer a vveapoÌ„ of his ovvne he runs to a Ruffian and borrovves his svvord He hath put on a nevv scabbard on it he hath varnished the hiltes The blade it self is al to be hackt It hath bene already in so many frayes and borne avvay so many blovves that it is novve scarcely able to scratch This yong man therefore vvil sight vvith the scabberde But if a man giue him a drie blovv or tvvo as for his vvilfulnesse he vvell deserueth vve shal see hereafter vvhat fence he hath for it There is none of all these but may vvith more ease make .xv. suche bookes as they cuÌ„ber the Printers of Antvverp vvithal than ansvvere xv leaues of sound doctrine The parties be knovven their skil their qualities vve are God vvote to vvell acquainted vvith to be novv abused by Dogs eloquence If your causes vvere better as vvorse they can not be forsoth you should finde of your olde acquaintance ynovve to match you and vnlesse ye vvere sounder to shame you to This aduauntage ye haue God be thancked for it that ye haue nothing else to do but coÌ„mit to vvriting your pieuish fansies and send them into England to set vs a vvorke vvithal VVe our selues are occupied othervvise as freÌ„ds to the flock of christ vvhich vve haue in charge thaÌ„ that vve can or vvill atteÌ„pre our doings to the levvd desert of our contemned enimies or mispende our time in ansvvering of that vvhich in the eares of al indifferent carieth a sufficient confutacion vvith it Notvvithstanding least some more simple than other may be deceued by you and you your selues be fooded in your folly through to much forbearing and silence of ours vve haue humbled oure selues beneath the honestie of our cause vve haue for charities sake vouchsaued to say more than the cause requireth or all the colledge of your coÌ„spiracy can vvith good reason ansvvere As for you good sir vvhich only come to make vp a number and seme to do something choosing to entreate of a plausible matter as your discretion doth
the land was inhabited And of the doings at New-hauen what an honorable peace insewed contrary to the wish and will of the enimies of God and of their countrey the Papistes we doe nowe féele thankes be to God and you can not denie But in the Catholique time as you call it what successe had you when Calleis and Guines so hardly wonne so long kept with such glory and gaine to the English name defended was easely in one .iij. dayes with shame lost More will I not rehearse of our desperate losses in that tyrannous interraigne I retourne to your visions Iulian Folie 33. a. as you cyte oute of Sozomenus had a shovvre of rayne that ouertooke him and euery drop that fell eyther vpon hys coate or any other that accompanyed him made a signe of the Crosse Agayne When the saide Iulian counsayled the Ievves to repaire the Temple of Ierusalem destroyed by the Romaines God to make them desist from that vvicked purpose of theirs caused the ground vvhere they had digged a great trench for the foundation to be filled vvith earth rising out of a valley And vvhen this notvvithstanding they continued their vvorke God raysed a great tempest of vvinde and skattred all the lime and sande vvhich they had gathered and caused a great earthquake and killed al that vvere not baptised and sent a great fyre out of the foundation and burned many of the laborers And vvhen all this nothing discouraged them a bright glittering signe of the healthfull Crosse appered in the element and the Ievves apparell vvas filled vvith the signe of the Crosse The application of these two histories which for this purpose I set out at large that they may the better be considered will make you glad to scrape them out of your booke For ye fare as a foole that walks in a net or as the children whose head being hidde they thinke their bodies can not be séene Although ye cast some shadowes ouer you and think that your head is hidde in an hole yet your eares be so long that they do bewray you When thus ye haue heaped vp as many mysticall figures of the Crosse as you and your learned Counsell can ye gather a fine conclusion of them that God vvilleth all hys Folio 34. highly to esteeme the thing vvhich those figures signified and to beleue that as those figures vvrought temporall benifites to the Israelites so the truthe that is the Crosse it selfe shall vvorke vnto his electe and chosen Children beleuing in hys Sonne Iesus Christ and hauing his signe printed in our foreheads the lyke benifits effectes vertues spiritually and much more greater First who tolde you that the truth of these figures was the Crosse it selfe vnlesse by a figure ye take the Crosse for the crucified Then that those figures wrought temporall benifites how can you proue Sure if they were causes of any good that came they were Causae stolidae as Tully calleth them meane and instrumentall causes as the Axe is cause of the wood cleauing and not efficient Thirdely if ye would haue concluded well Distinguenda fuissent ambigua those wordes that diuerslye may be taken should haue bene seuered into their diuers significations that we might haue knowne how to haue vnderstoode your mastership When ye ioyne the truth and the Crosse togither what Crosse can I tell you speake of If it be according to your promise afore the Crosse in the fourth signification for thereof ye saide you woulde onely entreate then is not your Crosse the truth it selfe but a figure still wheras ye couple the belief in Christ and hys signe printed in our foreheads togither what signe is that the Crosse with a finger If ye meane it so ye make an vnméete comparison the one being necessarye the other ydle and vnlawfull too This am I sure your meaning is by couert spéech to deceiue the simple and cause them to deriue the glory from the truthe and transferre it to the figure to haue in reuerence your idle signe and let the thing signified be forgotten As for the figures of the olde law marke what Tertullian sayth and thereby shall you learne a better meaning of them than your meane skill considereth Aduersus Martio li. 3. for thus he sayth Sacramentum mortis figurari in praedicatione oportebat quanto incredibile tanto magis scandalo futurum si nudè praedicaretur quantoque magnificum tanto magis adumbrandum vt difficultas intellectus gratiam dei quareret It behoued the Sacrament of the death of Christ to be sigured in preaching For how much more it is incredible so much more offensiue should it be if nakedly it had bene preached and by howe much it was more glorious so muche the more it was to be shadowed that the hardnesse of vnderstanding myght séeke for the grace of God So farre Tertullian But how little grace of God you haue in sticking still to the easie letter and neuer seking the glory of the death is to wel séene by your doings The signe of the Crosse was shewed to Constantine he was not yet become a Christian It was expedient to haue a miracle We doe professe great skill and knowledge and shall we not beleue without a signe That which was once done shall it be asked euer That which was commaunded to one alone shall it be drawne a president for all Folio 34. The signe of the Crosse vvas shevved to Cōstantine in his great anxietie ye saye to instructe vs that in all anxietie of minde and pensiuenesse of heart the Crosse of Christe shall be our comforte So farre I graunt And the signe you say to be a meane to ouerthrovv our enimies Where finde ye that God hath moe meanes of comforte then one he deliuereth his that are in daunger by diuers wayes We reade that when Alexander the great Iosephus li. 11. Ca. 8. for deniall of Tribute to be paid vnto him was vtterly in minde to destroy Hierusalem and was marching thither with an huge army which no power of theirs was able to resist Iaddus which was the chief bishop then put all his pontifical attire vpon him and caused the rest of his cleargy to doe the like and went forthe to méete the tyraunt so Alexander no soner saw him but he lighted frō his horse fell flat on the ground before him The lusty roysters that were about him meruailing at this so sodaine chaunge from wrath to worshipping from force of armes to submission and praier specially to a Priest wheras the Prince vainly supposed himself to be a God and where he minded before in heat of his displeasure vtterly to haue destroyed them nowe to become contrary to his nature an humble suppliant to them Alexander made answer thus When I lodged in Dio a Citie of Macedon such a personage as this of like stature like apparell in all poynts appered to me and willed me to set vpon Asia promising that he would guide me in the voyage and in
Roode nor Crucifix nor yet of mysticall signe on the forehead which are the onely matters that you take in hande to proue Loth woulde we be to cite hym for our part inasmuch as we depeÌ„de not vpoÌ„ mens iudgementes vnlesse he spake consonant vnto the Scriptures and brought better reason for other matters wyth hym than you or any other alleage for the Crosse For the trueth of an history we admyt him as a witnesse for vs for establishing of an error we wyl not admyt hym or any other to be a iudge agaynst vs. It suffiseth you to vse the name of Iustinian how small soeuer the matter be to purpose But I wyll bryng you for one two that not in doutful speach but in playne termes and vnder greuous paine haue decréed in all their seigniories and couÌ„treis a direct coÌ„trary order vnto yours Not that there was no Crosse theÌ„ vsed which might wel answere Iustinians case but that there should not be vsed any Petrê° Crinitê° ex libris Augustalibê° De honesta disc lib. 9. cap. 9. Doth make meÌ„tion of the law the same which Valens and Theodosius concluded on His wordes be these Valens Theodosius Imperatores praefecto Praetorio ad hunc modum scripsere Cum sit nobis cura diligens in rebus omnibus superni numinis religionem tueri signam saluatoris Christi nemini quidem concedimus coloribus lapide aliáue materia fingere insculpere aut pingere sed quocuÌ„que loco reperitur tolli tubemus grauissima poena eos mulctaÌ„do qui coÌ„trarium decretis nostris imperio quicquam tentauerint Valens and Theodosius Emperors wrote on thys sorte to their lieftenant Wheras in al things we haue a diligeÌ„t care to maintaine the religioÌ„ of God aboue we grauÌ„t libertie to none to couÌ„terfet engraue or paint the signe of our Sauiour Christ in colors stone or any other matter but wheresoeuer any such be founde we coÌ„mauÌ„de it to be taken away most greuously punishing such as shal atteÌ„pt any thyng coÌ„trary to these our decrées coÌ„mauÌ„demeÌ„t Here is another maner of order taken than out of any wryting of receaued author caÌ„ iustly be alleaged for your part In Cathech suo So that with Erasmus I may iustly say that not so much as mans constitution doth bynde the Images should be in Churches Ye sée M. Martiall I haue not coÌ„celed any one of your authorities I haue omitted no piece of proufe of yours yet authoritie being rightly scaÌ„ned doth make so much against you that your proufes be to no purpose at al. Folio 46. a As for the vse of that which you cal the Church is in dede the Sinagoge of Satan I néede as little to cumber the readers with refuting of as you do meddle with approuing of it Only this wil I say that euer synce Siluesters tyme such filth of Idolatry and superstitioÌ„ hath flowed into the most partes of al Christendom out of the sinke of Rome that he neded in dede as many eyes as Argus that should haue espyed any piece of sinceritie vntyl the tyme that such as your worship wisdom according to your catholike custom when the scalding spirite of scolding comes vpon you cal heretikes nuscreaÌ„tes began to reforme the decaied state Folio 46. b and bryng things to the order of the Church primitiue Apostolike Decr. 1. parte dist 3. parag veritate Wherfore if ye sticke vpon a custom consider your decree Nemo consuetudinem rationi veritati praeponat quia coÌ„suetudineÌ„ ratio veritas semper excludit Let no man prefer custome before reason truth bicause reasoÌ„ truth alwaies excludeth custome Parag. qui contempta And in the same distinctioÌ„ out of Augustine is alleaged thys Qui coÌ„teÌ„pta veritate praesumit coÌ„suetudineÌ„ sequi aut circa fratres inuidus est malignê° quibus veritas reuelatur aut circa deum ingratê° est inspiratione cuius ecclesia eius instruitur NaÌ„ dominus in Euangelio Ego sum inquit veritas noÌ„ dixit Ego sum coÌ„suetudo Itaque veritate manifestata cedat consuetudo veritati quia petrus qui circuÌ„cidebat cessit Paulo veritatem praedicanti igitur cuÌ„ Christus veritas sit magis veritatem quam consuetudineÌ„ sequi dedemus quia consuetudinem ratio veritas semper excludit He that presumâ—â— sayth Augustine to folowe custome the truth contemned either is enuious hatefull agaynst hys brethren De baptis paruulorum to whom the truth is reueled or vnthankfull vnto God by whose inspiration hys Church is instructed For our Lord in the gospell sayd I am the truth He fayd not I am custome Therfore wheÌ„ the truth is opened let custome geue place to truth for euen Peter that circumcised gaue place to Paul when he preached a truth Wherfore since Christ is the truth we ought rather to folow truth than custome bicause reasoÌ„ and truth alwayes excludeth custome Then be not offeÌ„ded good sir I pray you if folowing better reason than you haue grace to coÌ„sider more truth thaÌ„ is yet reueled to you we refuse your catholike scisme impietie Be not spitefull to theÌ„ that know more than your self Be not ingrate to God that in these latter dayes to knowleage of hys word hath sent more aboundaÌ„ce of hys holy spirite dwel not vpon your custome Bring truth I wil thanke you Speake reason I wyl credite you NoÌ„ annoruÌ„ canities est laudanda sed moruÌ„ Ambros. in epi. ad Theo. valent Folio 64. b In orat funebri de chitu Theodo Lib. 5. ca. 20 nullus pudor est ad milior a transire Not the aucieÌ„ty of yeres but of maners is coÌ„meÌ„dable no shame it is to passe to better The tale of the superstitious whom you call vertuous lady Helena I shal speake more of in the eyght Article Certain it is the superstitious she was as is proued afterward in the eight Article who would gad on pilgrimage to visit sepulchres c. Likewise CoÌ„stantinus her sonne was not throughly reformed For as Theodorete Theodoretê° Lib. 5 ca. 20. reporteth after he came to Christianity fana non subuertit he ouerthrew not the places of Idol worshippinges Wherfore it is no meruaile if they building Churches should haue some piece of GeÌ„tilitie obserued a Crosse or a Roode loft Yet where mention is made that Helena dyd fynde the Crosse we fynde not at all that she worshipped the Crosse Ambros. de obitu Theodosij but rather the contrary For Ambrose sayth Inuenit titulum regem adorauit noÌ„ lignum vtique quia hic GeÌ„tilis est error vanitas impiorum She founde the title she worshipped the king not the wood pardie for thys is an error of GeÌ„tilite and vanitie of the wycked And where we reade Euse de vita Const lib. 4. that Constantinus the great for hys miraculous apparition and good successe did greatly estéeme the Crosse graued it in hys
the Papistes by their deuises doe or whether we by remouing al Images and consequently the Crosse to doe derogate from Christ and from his passion as they doe which hauing the materiall Crosse can not come to the knowledge and fayth of the crucified I confesse that I am more aspre in my writing than otherwise I woulde or modesty requireth But no such bitternesse is tasted in me as the beastlinesse of them with whome I haue to do deserueth Beare with mée therfore I beséeche you beare with a truth in plaine speeche vttered Bayarde hath forgot that hée is a Horse and therefore if I make the stumbling iades sydes to bléede blame mée not Impute not to malice impacience that which is grounded of hatred to the crime but loue to the persons which be toucht I hope by this meanes that seyng their own shame they will come to more honesty or hearing their owne euill doings surceasse at leaste wyse theire euill speaking They haue nothing so rife in their deprauing mouthes wherwithall to burden our ministerie in Englande as heaping togither all base occupations to shew Fol. 9. a. b. that the craftes men thereof be our preachers I wis I might aunswere iustify the same that as great a number of learned as euer were as auncient in standing and degrée as they supply the greatest roomes and places of most credite Wherefore they doe vs wrong to match the simplest of our syde with the best of theirs As for their famous writers Rascall Dorman Martiall Stapleton which now with such confidence make their challenges be knowen vnto vs what they are But they which at home be no more knowen than contemned as sone as euer they taste the good liquor of Louain they be great clarkes Bachelers of Diuinitie studentes of the same they must be magnified they muste be reuerenced as if Apollo sodainly had cast his cortayne about them But to graūt that the inferior sort of our ministers were such in déede as these men of spyte ymagine such as came from the shop from the forge from the whyrry from the loome should ye not think you finde more sincerity and learning in them than in al the rable of their Popish chaplens their massemongers their soulepriests I lament that ther are not so many good preachers as parishes I am sory that some to vnskilfull be preferred But I neuer saw that simple reader admitted in our church but in the time of Popery ye should haue found in euery diocesse forty six Iohns in euery respect worse I could exaggerate their case alike and proue it better how Bawdes Bastardes and beastly abused Boyes haue bene called to be Bishops among them Sorcerers Simoniakes Sodomites Pestilent Periured Poysoners haue bene aduaunced to be Popes among them Shal this derogate from their holy sée Yet none of oures of any calling or name amongst vs can of enuy it selfe be burdened with the like As for the Rascall of their religion what were they what are they Adulterous Blasphemous Couetous Desperate Extreme Folish Gluttons Harlots Ignoraunts and so go through the crosse rowe of letters and truly end it with Est Amen Therfore if they vrge vs any further with imperfectiō in our state thereby to bring vs into contempt and harred we wil descēd to particularities and detecte their filth to the whole worlde We are not deare Christians the men Folio 9. b that the aduersaries of the truth reporte vs we doe not leane to our owne wisedomes we preferre not our sayings before the decrées of auncient Fathers But after the aduise of the fathers themselues we preferre the Scriptures before mennes pleasures This may we do without offence I trust The Popes themselues haue permitted vs this Eleutherius the Pope writing to Lucius King of England sayd thus vnto him Petijstu a nobis leges Romanas Caesaris In the ancient recordes of London remayning in the Guild hall vobis transmitti quibus in regno Britanniae vti voluistis leges Romanas Caesaris semper reprobare posumus legem Dei nequaquam Suscepisti énim miseratione diuina in regnó Britanniae legem fidem Christi Habetis penes vos in regno vtranque paginam Ex illis per Dei gratiam per consilium regni vestri sume legem per illam Dei patientia vestrum rege Britanniae regnum Vicarius vero Dei esto in regno illo c. Ye haue required of vs to sende the Romane and Imperiall lawes vnto you to vse the same in your realme of England we maye alwayes reiecte the lawes of Rome and lawes of the Emperor but so can we not the lawe of God For ye haue receyued through the mercy of God the lawe and fayth of Christe into your kingdome You haue both the Testamentes in your realme Take out of them by the grace of God and aduise of your subiectes a lawe and by that lawe through Gods sufferaunce rule your realme But be you Gods Vicar in that kingdome And so forth If the Louanistes had but a mangled piece of suche a Presidente for the Pope as here is for euery Prince Lorde howe they would triumphe They would desiphre and by rethorique resolue euery letter of it But let that passe It is ynough for thys place to shewe the Popes owne decree that all mennes deuises be they neuer so worthied with the name of Fathers may iustly be repelled and ought to giue place to the lawe of God Wherefore if any of their owne imagination haue brought in any thing to Gods seruice not altogether consonant to the worde not we but the worde doth wipe it quite away Dist 11. cap. Consuetudinem For I thinke it méete according to the decretall taken out of Augustine Consuetudinem laudare quae tamen contra fidem Catholicam nihil vsurpare dinoscitur to prayse the custome whiche notwithstanding is knowen to vsurpe nothing against the catholique fayth If this fayth be retayned I wil not contende with any but the Fathers I will with all my heart reuerence The common place of our aduersaries is to exhorte the Prince and other to kepe the aunciente traditions of our Fathers And I beséech them wyth al my heart that they will defende and mayntayne those thinges which they receyued according to truthe If tyranny of men hath brought in any thing agaynst the Gospell let not the name of Fathers and vaine opinion of antiquitie bereue vs of the sacred and euerlastyng veritie What greater follie can there be than this to measure Gods matters with the deceitfull rule of mannes discretion where the pleasure of God reuealed in his word should only direct vs They that pleade at the barre in ciuile causes will not be ruled ouer by examples but by law Demosthenes sayd very well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not méete that things should be ordered as otherwise they haue often bene Much lesse should Gods wysedome be sette to schoole vnto mannes folly
be made betwene the assertions and mindes of men were they eyther Hillarie Ciprian Agrippine or any other and canon of the Scripture Non enim sic leguntur he sayth tanquam ita ex eis testimonium proferatur vt contra sentire non liceat Concio ad Adolesc sicubi forte aliter sapuerint quam veritas postulat In eo quippe numero sumus vt non dedignemur etiā nobis dictū ab Apostolo accipere Et si quid aliter sapitis id quoque deus vobis reuelabit For they are not so red as if a testimonie might be brought forth of them which it were not lawefull for any man to gaynesay if peraduenture they thought otherwise than the truth requireth For we are in the number of them that disdayne not to take this saying of the Apostle to vs If any of you be otherwise minded God shall reueale the same vnto you Wherefore with what iudgement the fathers of the church ought to be redde Basile setteth forth by a propre similitude Iuxta totum apium similitudinem orationum participes nos fieri conuenit Illae enim neque ad omnes flores consimiliter accedunt neque etiam eos ad quos volant totos auferre tentant sed quantū ipsis ad mellis opificiū commodū est accipientes reliquū valere sinunt Et nos sanè si sapiamus quantum sincerum est veritati cognatum ab ipsis adepti quod reliquum est transiliemus We must be partakers of other mennes sayings wholly after maner of the Bées for they flée not alike vnto all flowers nor where they syt they crop them quite away but snatching so much as shall suffise for their hony making take their leaue of the rest Euen so we if we be wise hauing got of other so much as is sound and agreable to truth wil leape ouer the rest Which rule if we kepe in reading and alleaging the fathers words we shall not swarue from our profession the scripture shall haue the soueraine place and yet the Doctours of the Church shall lose no parte of their due estimation None of the Fathers but haue erred There is not any of them that the world both most wonder at but haue had their affections nor I thinke that you aduersaries to vs and to the truth will in euery respecte admitte all that any one of the fathers wrote My selfe were able from the very first after the Apostles time to runne them ouer all and straightly examining their words and assertions finde imperfections in all But I would be loth by discrediting of other to séeme that I sought some prayse of skil or else be likened to Cham Noahs sōne that seing the nakednesse of the fathers Gen. 21. wil in contēpt vtter it But bycause in ceremonies and obseruances wherein they scant agreing with themselues euery one discording from other declined all from simplicity of the Gospell we are onely burdened with the name of fathers giue vs leaue somtime to vse a Regestion let vs haue the liberty toward other which Hierome graunteth against himselfe saying Certe vbicunque Scripturas non interpretor In Apo. pro lib. contra Iouin To. 2. liberè de meo sensu loquor arguat me cui lubet Truely whersoeuer I expound not the scriptures but freely speak of mine own sense let any man that lyst reproue me Not that I wil giue so large raynes to the headdinesse of some whiche either of affection or of singularity wil néedes dissent but that I wil not exempte any from their iuste defence Ioan. 4. from triall of the spirits whether they are of God We must followe the example of them of Berrhea which trusted not to Paule himselfe but searched the scriptures whether they were so Tvvo Iudges of cōtrouersies the vvorde and the spirite But where as this precept is generall all men to iudge all men to try what doctrine they receyue this iudgement and trial to be had by the word is somewhat in dede but yet not all that may be sayde in the matter I graunt the Scripture to be a good Iudge in deede But vnlesse the spirite of wisedome and knoweledge doe lighten our wyttes and vnderstanding it shal auayle vs little or nothing to haue at hand the worde of God whereof we knowe not the sense and meaning Golde is tryed by the touchstone and metalles in the fier yet onely of suche as are experte in the facultie For neyther the touchstone nor yet the fier can any thing further the ignoraunte and vnskilfull Wherefore to be méete and conuenient men to iudge of a truthe when we do reade or heare it by the holy Ghost we must be directed In this behalfe although I knowe that the giftes of God haue their degrées yet dare I say that none is vtterly so voide of grace It is possible to trie a truthe but hath so much conferred on him as shal be expedient for his owne behoofe vnlesse he be vtterly as a rotten member cut of from Christ Vaine it were to commaūd a thing that lies not in vs and vs to deny the possibillitie when we haue a promise of a thing that shall be doth argue our inconstancy and mysbelief Wherefore syth Christ and his Apostles saye often times Videte Cauete Probate which wordes be spoken in the commaunding mode byd vs Sée Beware and Proue I must néedes conclude that we shal not be destitute of the spirit of God so farre as shal be most néedefull for vs if we doe aske the same by fayth And whereas Christ doth affirme that we shal knowe 1. Ioan. 4. And S. Iohn in his epistle doth assure vs that 〈◊〉 doe knowe Spiritum veritatis Spiritum erroris the Spirit of veritie and Spirit of error we must acknowledge and confesse that the truth is not hidde from vs further than we lyst to shut it vp from our selues But here ariseth doubtfull case If euery man shall haue authoritie to giue his verdit vpon a controuersie Tvvo kindes of examination of doctrine Priuate which shall séeme and say that he hath the spirit no certain thing shal be decréed euery man shal haue his own way no stable opinion and iudgement to be rested on Hereto I aunswere againe that there be two kindes of examination of doctrine one priuate another publique Priuate wherby eche man doth settle his owne fayth to staye continually vppon one doctrine which he knoweth stedfastly to haue procéeded from God For consciences shall neuer haue any sure porte or refuge to runne vnto but only God He when he is called vpon will heare our prayers when he is desired wil graunt vs his spirit But he hath prescribed vs a way before hand to attayne the same if we bring vnder all senses of ours vnto his word Ioan. 8. Si patrem habetis Deum quomodo non agnoscitis loquelam meam If ye haue God to your father saith Christ how falleth it
his seruise as he was wont in all poynts Thus when he had washed and put on his clothes as he was going out he offered as a blessing vnto the man that had bene so diligent about him that which he brought with him requiring him curteously to accepte that which he offred him in the way of charitie But he mourning and afflicted answered Father what meanest thou to giue me these This breade is holy this can I not eate For I whome thou séest sometime was Lord of this place But for my sinnes nowe after my death am deputed hither But if thou wilt doe any thing for me offer this bread vnto almighty God for me to be a mediator for my sinnes And then know that god hath hard thy praier when thou shalt come hither to bathe thée finde me not So the next weke after the priest cōtinued in mourning for him euery day did offer the host for him and afterward when he came to the bath he found him not Herevpon father Gregory concludeth Qua ex re quantum prosit animabus immolatio sacrae oblationis ostenditur quando hanc ipsi mortuorum spiritus à viuentibus petunt signa indicant quibus per eam absoluti videantur In english this By which thing it is shewed how much the sacrifice of the holy oblatiō profiteth the soules when the spirites of the deade require this of the liuing shew signes wherby they may appeare to be deliuered by it And so far Gregory But is it not a pitiful case that of so weak a groūd so wicked a doctrine should be builded contrary to the manifest worde of God In the .xviij. of Deuteronomie Seke not to learne a truth of the deade And in the .viij. of the Prophete Esay Should not a people inquire at their God shal they depart from the liuing to the dead Howe soeuer the state of men is after this life no doctrine should be gathered of the talking of spirites And furthermore that dead men do serue in the bathes vpon the earth be losed out of the popish Purgatorie which they affirme to be subtus terram vnder the earth to become as it were Barbers apprentices vpon the earth may well be a legend for Plato his Purgatorie ioyned with the tale of Danaus daughters who poure in water into a bottomlesse tubbe Wherefore M. Martiall doubt ye not this but the wicked spirits which saw vas vacuum sed signatum an empty vessell but signed with the Crosse were bolde notwithstanding ad euitandum vacuum to enter into him As for the words of Lactantius which you bring forth Folio 23. Lib. 4. ca. 27. de vera Sap that vvhen they doe sacrifice to their Idols if there stande any man by that hath his forehead signed for that which you adde vvith the Crosse is more than ye finde in the texte then they offer vp no sacrifice neither their vvisserd is able to giue ansvver must rather be vnderstode of the faythfull christened than of any that were crossed For by the signed foreheade they signified baptisme and the fayth of Christ which they professed Otherwise if it be as you say Folio 23. that spirits can not abyde the signe of the Crosse nor continue in place vvhere any man is that hath the signe of the Crosse the beste counsell that I can giue men is to be marked to burne their fleshe with an hote yron and make a durable Crosse in their foreheades whereby they may be frée as long as they liue frō fearing of spirits without any more a do But I feare me least this be no sufficient defence For Serapis his priests were all to be Crossed and yet the Diuels daunced among them The Pope hath his Crosses yea double and treble yet is not the Diuell afrayde to come at him Siluester the .ij. as Platina reporteth was a practiser of naughty artes therein addict himselfe altogether vnto the cōmon enimy of mankinde And in dede first he gat the Archbyshoprike of Reme and afterward of Rauenna by Symony Last of all by the Diuels forwarding help he gat also the occupying of the Popes sée howbeit vnder this condition that when he departed this life he shuld be al wholly the Diuels by whose false deceyts he obtayned so high dignity Whervpon as thesame Platina the Popes owne Secretarie doth write When Siluester was not circumspect inough in being ware of the Diuels baytes he was killed all to pulled of the promoter of his the Diuel Yea when he was a Massing in the Church A strange case M. Martial that so many crosses as were in the church so many Crosses as were in the Masse could not saue the supreme head of the Church frō tearing in pieces by wicked spirits yea when he was at his holy Masse Wherefore the Crosse in your .iiij. signification Folio 23. is not the heauenly note and immortal signe It hath not that effect by cōtinual meditation of heauenly things the lyfe to come to make men heauenly and immortal Stil you do reason à non causa pro causa attributing that vnto the outward signe which is in dede the vertue of Christ Folio 23. b beliefe in his passion Ye say that the signe of the Crosse is spokē of by God himself in his Prophet Esay But it shall appeare by the very Scriptures that you alleage howe ignorantly and howe falsely you cite your authorities Esay 49. God by the mouth of his seruaunt witnessed how he would bring to passe that the Church which had cōtinued barren a long while shuld now be fruitfull and haue such store of children that she should wonder at hir owne increase saying Quis genuit mihi istos quum egosim sterilis solitaria relegata vaga Quis ergo educauit istos En ego sola relicta sum isti ergo vndenam sunt Who hath begotten me these séeing I am barren desolate a banisht person and a wanderer to fro And who hath nourished them Beholde I was left alone whence are these God to answere this case to shew that there shuld be a spiritual broode begottē through grace of adoptiō not by the cōmon course of nature but by the secret working of his spirit sayd Tollam ad gentes manum meam et ad populos signū meū erigam I wil lift vp my hand to the gentiles set vp my standard vnto the people Meaning that not only the Iewes but also the Gentiles should be brought to Christ which agreing in vnitie of one fayth together shuld be gathered as brethren into one mothers lap Now I besech you turn ouer your histories cōsult with your elders sée what it was that brought the Gentiles to christianite the Idolatrous nations to true religiō If it were the signe of the Crosse after your .iiij. signification Folio 24. a. made of some earthly matter to be set vp in Churches or made vvith mannes hand in the ayre
latter clause with you you would not haue attributed operation to the priest nor effect of sacraments to the signe of the Crosse nor haue bene layd ouer the forme for it But ye féele not the stripes I am very sory for that verely verely ye haue well deserued them For if S. Cyprian would not ascribe so much vertue to the name of God that it should be able to do all otherwise than called vpon which respecteth the fayth of the receyuer shall we thinke that he had a sory breaking of the ayre wherby the Crosse is made in such hie reuerence and admiration On a time the same father was demaunded his iudgement whether such as were baptised bedred were Christians Cyprianus Magno Epist. 64. or no wherto he answered Aestimamus in nullo mutilari debilitari posse beneficia diuina nec minus aliquid illic posse contingere vbi plena tota fide dantis sumētis accipitur quod de diuinis muneribus hauritur We thinke that the benefits of God can not in any thing be mangled and made the weaker nor any thing lesse can happē there where the grace that is drawē from the spring of Gods goodnesse is apprehended with ful and perfect fayth as wel on the giuers behalfe as on the receyuers If such as were baptized in their beds hauing but a little water sprinckled vpon thē wanting a great number of ceremonies which Cyprian thought Apostolique and necessary were in as good case as the rest Quia stant consummantur omnia as he sayth maiestate Domini fidei veritate Bicause all things do stand and be brought to perfection by the maiestie of God and sinceritie of fayth shall we thinke that the idle ceremony of a Crosse can giue effect to sacraments and sacramentes be imperfect without a Crosse Your owne doctor doth ouerthrow you But ye cite two authorities of S. Augustine to confirme your error For the first where he sayth Folio 49. b. With the mysterie of the Crosse the ignorant are instructed and taught the font of regeneration is hallovved c. I aunswere as I did before according to the true meaning of the word mysterie that the meaning of the crosse which we beleue and sée not for so Chrisostome Chrisos 1. ad Cor. cap. 2. Hom. 7. saith and not the visible and materiall Crosse worketh the effectes aforesayd For you wyll graunt me that the signe of the Crosse is but an accessory thing The substance of the sacrament may consist wythout it Augustine Aug. in Io. Tract 40. et de catacl cap. 3 sayth not Accedat Crucis signatio ad elementum fit Sacramentum Let the signe of the Crosse concurre with the elemente and it is a sacramente But let the worde come to the element and it is a sacramente And yet he doth not attribute so muche to the elemente it selfe or to the worde as you doe to the signe of the Crosse For of Baptisme he sayth Vnde ista tanta virtus aquae vt corpus tangat cor abluat nisi faciente verbo Non quia dicitur sed quia creditur Nam in ipso verbo aliud est sonus transiens aliud virtus manens Whence commeth this so great vertue of the water to touch the body and washe the soule but by the working of the worde not bycause the worde is spoken but bycause it is belieued For in the worde it selfe the sound that passeth is one thing and the vertue remayning another If onely fayth bring effecte to sacramentes if the worde it selfe be not auayleable wythout beliefe shall we thinke that S. Augustine made such accompt of the signe of a Crosse In déede he made great of the mysterie of the Crosse bicause on it onely dependeth fayth But the mysterie you haue nothing to doe withal For vnlesse it be a materiall Crosse or a Crosse made with a fynger in some part of the body ye professe that in thys treatise ye will speake of none Folio 24. And now to the seconde allegation out of Augustine As the maner of signing with the Crosse was in his time vsual so wold I wish for your own sake that ye could content your self with his significations and wade no further in so daungerous a puddle than he hath dypped his fote before you Wel doth he please himself in a subtile deuise of his when he wil referre the Apostles wordes Ephe. 3. to the figure of the Crosse meaning by the breadth that there is spoken of Charity by height Hope by length Pacience by depth Humilitie But these make no more for Paules meaning than the Geometricall proportion that Ambrose out of the same place gathereth Onely there is some edification in the wordes and though ye apply them to your most aduauntage Folio 48. b. yet can ye not inferre your purpose of them For you would haue it appeare that no Sacrament were made and perfected rightly wythout the signe of the Crosse Trac in Ioā 118. But Augustine goeth not so farre Onely he sayth Nihil eorum rite perficitur None of them is solemnly done and according to the receyued order For are you M. Lawyer ignoraunte of this common position among the Ciuilians Quod recte iusticiā causae rite solennitatem respicit That this terme recte hath respecte vnto the righteousnesse and truth of the cause but rite which is the word that Augustine vseth doth go no farther than to the order and solemnitie thereof So I graunt you well that in Augustines tyme if there wanted a Crosse there wanted a ceremony and yet were the sacraments perfect notwithstanding In our Church of England a Crosse is cōmaūded to be made in baptisme yet was it neuer thought of any wise or godly De Conscr Dist. 5. Cap. Nūquid nō that baptisme was insufficiēt without it Go to your Canon where order is taken Vt omnia Sacramenta Crucis signaculo perficiantur That all Sacraments shal be made perfect with the signe of the Crosse Yet in the glose vpon the same place ye shall finde twise in one leafe these words Non remouet quin aliter possint sanctificari valere ad remissionem sed refert factum nec aliter fit solennis baptismus He doth not take away this but that otherwise that is to say without the signe of the Crosse they may be sanctifyed and the thing be auayleable vnto remission But it is requisite that the thing be done that is to say the signe of the Crosse be made nor othervvise it is a solemne baptisme This is the Popes lawe and your gospell Wherefore I besech you good solemne sir be not so harde master to vs that for default of solemnity Folio 50. a we shal be defaulked of fruite of Sacramentes As for Chrisostome I haue answered you oft he speaketh of a Crosse that you haue nothing to doe withal It is to heauy for you to beare It is not to be séene
as supply theyr roumes For if it be presumed to be otherwyse let it be voide and of no effect But how came that bishops by thys prerogatiue How chaunce that euery priest may minister baptisme the supper of the Lord but only byshops may confirme Only the Apostles dyd in their tyme minister these Sacramentes and therfore by that reason onely byshops should haue that office nowe But are onely byshops the Apostles successors when ye inhibite any of the lay fée to take the host in hys hande thys cause ye alleage that it was deliuered only to the Apostles Papistes contrarye to themselues In thys case ye admytte euery poore priest a successor vnto them But why not in the other Bicause if any be lesse successors to the Apostles thā other they be your bishops But to make a deuise of your own brayne although in matters of religion it be not sufferable yet to make a lye of the holy ghost to falsify the Scripture is more intolerable And is it not a straunge case that the holy father writing the law Gratian collecting it so many seraphicall doctors commenting of it Papistes beelye the Scripture so long vse in all realmes confirming it it should there be written and suffered to remayne that in the Apostles tyme it was neuer red or knowen that imposition of handes was done by any but by the Apostles themselues Why what dyd Ananias He layed hys handes vpon Saul Acte 9. wherby he receyued hys syght was indued with the holy ghost What bishop was he No bishop forsoth In glosa preced Dist Monkes Apostles vicegerentes But a Monke by all lykelyhode For by the cannon law they be alwayes the Apostles vicegerentes Sée you not by thys tyme youre own shame Shal this notwithstanding your cōfirmation be styll a Sacrament hauing nothing else but mans deuises and a sort of impudent lies to support it If it had bene a truth that only the Apostles had layd on hands if it were a good order that only bishops should do the lyke how falleth it out that the popes themselues haue dispensed with the matter Gregory wryteth thus Vbi episcopi desunt Decr parte 1. Dist 95. ca peruenit vt presbyteri etiam in frōtibus baptizatos chrismate tangere debeant concedimus Where bishops want we graunte that priestes also may annoynt in the foreheades suche as be baptised How is thys presumption auoyded howe doth the Sacrament now stande in force But who wyll seke for any reason constancy or truth in popery The example of Christe is pretended Yet Christ neuer bad it Nor the facte of Christ can be drawen to imitation nor their selues wyll sticke vnto it Christ neuer vsed oyle They make it necessary Christe promised indifferently to all the faithfull hys holy spirite They do restrayne it to their owne ceremonies Christ for our behoofe instituted baptisme that we myght dye to synne and lyue to ryghteousnesse They by confirmation haue cutte awaye halfe the effecte thereof The Apostles withdrawe vs from the elementes of thys world they wyll haue vs seke our saluatiō in an oyle box The Apostles vsed imposition of handes which had effect when miracles were in place they wyll haue the same order although they can not haue the same ende The Apostles layed handes but onely vpon some which had the gyft of the holy ghost withall they without respect or differences of persons confirme euery body Therfore it is but a mere tradition and the same neither Christian nor Apostolique In the order of it they be contrary to themselues They wyll haue it necessary to saluation and yet they let many dye without it They say that only bishops are the Apostles successors and yet in other cases they graunt that euery priest is a successor too They affirme that the Apostles gaue them only their president and yet Ananias that was no Apostle is proued to haue done the same They teach that a byshop must only minister it and yet they dispence for a priest to do it And may not we biblers be bold to cal you bablers If only these heresies lyes absurdities were in your proufes of Confirmation they only were sufficient to confirme you fooles But sée a fouler matter of all Christian eares to be abhorred Whyle ye go about to auaunce your inuention ye deface the ordinance of almighty God and ouerthrow the grounde work of our saluation Confirmation a Sacramēt yea a Sacrament worthier thā baptisme For the master of the sentence sayeth Lib. 4. Dist 7. Cap. 2. Sacramentum confirmationis dicitur esse maius baptismo The Sacrament of Confirmation is sayd to be greater thā the Sacrament of Baptisme And afterwarde the cause is added Quia à dignioribus datur in digniore parte corporis bicause it is giuen of worthier persons and in the worthier part of the body For only bishops as is sayd confirme but euery priest may minister baptisme And in baptisme oyle is layd vpon the head but in Confirmation vpon the forehead Where fyrst is to be noted Papistes attribute more to oyle in baptisme than to vvater that ye sticke in one myre styll ascribing more to the oyle your inuention than to the water which is Gods element It suffiseth vs to haue as Christ and his Apostles had fayre water in our baptisme your oyle is better for a sallet than a sacrament Then also by the way ye fall into another heresie For when ye decrée the byshopping of children to be greater sacramente than baptisme is bycause euery priest may christen but only byshops may confirme shewe ye not therein your selues to be very Donatistes Papistes are Donatistes esteming the dignitie of the sacraments of the worthinesse of the minister Yet not only the master of the sentence but also the decrée confirmeth that doctrine Melchiades an author of yours and a Pope sayth Sacramentum manus impositionis De con dist 5. cap. de his vero sicut nisi à maioribus perfici non potest ita maiori veneratione venerandum est et tenēdum The sacrament of laying on of hands as it cā not be made but only of the greater so is it to be worshipped with greater reuerence and so to be defended But O God Diffinition of Popish by-shopping what a strange religion is this A droppe of grease infected and filed with the stinking breath of a sorcerous priest inchaunted and coniured with a few fumbled words to be compared to Christes holy sacrament preferred to the water sanctified by the word of God But this is your maner to depraue the scriptures in euery point corrupt the sacramentes with your owne leauen and let nothing that good is stand in due force for your spirituall pollicies and fresh inuentions Gyue ouer therefore at length the breast of fornication leaue sucking of the dregs of superstition and poperie whereto I persuade my self that rather fond nurses haue inured you than
herein applied vniustly vnto the priest the word Aspergam super vos aquam mundam Ezech. 36. I wil sprinckle cleane water on you which God peculiarly promiseth of himselfe Then also to inforce a necessity of oyle that baptisme can not cōsist without it whereas Christ did not appoint it nor Apostle vse it passed his cōmission Vt ne quid grauius But to attribute more vnto the oyle mans own inuention than to baptisme it self the ordinance of Christ I must nedes say was proud blasphemous Yet Cyprian so did for he sayde that vnlesse they were on his wyse annoynted they could not be true Christians To haue the annoynted of the father Iesus Christ within them was not ynough vnlesse a little oyle had also besmeared them A pitifull case that so good a father so faythful a martyr should haue so fowle a blotte to blemish his authoritie But as I sayd we must not gather out of the fathers writings what soeuer was witnesse of their imperfection Yet do I maruel most what mad conceyte ye had to bring this place for the vse of the Crosse in byshopping of children Onely S. Cyprian in all that Epistle and diuers other goeth aboute to proue that heretiques should be baptised And this is farre from Confirmation full little doth it confirme your crosse Agaynst the assertion of seuenfold grace Folio 57. a. Chapt. 11. Nowe to speake a worde of your Seuenfolde grace which you say is conferred at byshopping I besech you shew me the ground of your deuise I know that you delite in the odde number as al inchaunters haue done of olde And therfore vij sacraments vij kindes of graces of the holy ghost But wherefore .vij Bicause Esay numbreth but .vij And this is the reason of all the Papists that euer wrote But I might byd them tell them Esay 11. as Tom foole did his géese Esay numbreth but syx and the seauenth is their owne Therfore stil I proue that Papistes are falsefiers of the worde of God Papistes falsefiers of Scripture And yet if the Prophet had rehearsed seauē as it is of euery man to be sene he did not to gather out of that a seauēfold kinde of grace were to absurd in asmuch as other places attribute of diuerse effectes diuerse other titles to the holie ghost nor the faithful are only partakers of those that Esay doth speake of which are Wisdome Vnderstanding Counsel Strēgth Knowlege Feare of God but also of other as Chastity Sobriety Truth Holinesse which in like maner do flowe from the same spring Then also to thrust the power of Gods spirit into such a corner that it shall haue but seauen holes to start to is to straight a compasse can not contayne him But this I may excuse you as the Painter did himselfe who being reproued that he had left out a cōmaundement whereas he was bydden to write them all in a table answered There is more than ye will kepe So you in rehearsall of your seauenfolde grace speake of syxe more than you are partaker of Wherfore to make my Apostrophe to the readers as you do seing Dionisius is iustly disproued Folio 57. b. to be of no such authority and antiquity as the Papists pretend seing S. Augustine is depraued of them S. Cyprian alleaged where he defendeth an heresy The example of Christ and his Apostles most falsly drawen to proufe of Confirmation I trust you wil more esteme and better regarde the authoritie of auncient Fathers in dede whose playne assertions I haue brought to the contrary you wil more reuerence the word of God the bread of life by them abused to most impietie than the stinking leuen of these lying hipocrites who speake of scripture but esteme it not who lay the fathers for them but vnderstande them not who pretend antiquity but are caried about with euery winde and puffe of new doctrine being as S. Ciprian saith Epistola ad Nouatianos beginners of schismes authors of dissention destroyers of faith betrayers of the church Antichristes in dede who going about to deface the catholike religiō cōmanded by Christ taught by the Apostles continued in the church by the holy ghost haue defaced as it were the truth of Christs ordināce to place their own dreames deuises as it apeareth by the nūber of their sacraments by declining in al points from the order of Christ his Apostles by oyle creame salt spittle candels such like added vnto baptisme by preferring byshopping of children afore it by making oyle of their own addition of more effect vertue than the element of water sanctified by the word of God Finally ascribing perfection of Christianitie which consisteth in the spirit to the outward work of coniuring and Crossing Now M. Martial to come to your holy orders which among your sacraments ye put in the third place I maruell that ye are so barren in the ground which of it self is so fruitfull that wheras ye nūber but .vij. sacraments this one hath begotten by spiritual generation six moe For the master of the sentence whome ye and al your faction do follow maketh .vij. degrées of orders Lib. 4. Dist. 24. Cap. 1. Et hij ordines sacramenta dicuntur these orders saith he be called sacraments He saith not that they do al concur to make a sacrament So by this meanes we haue now .xiij. sacraments A plentiful increase And to set forth the more the dignity of their calling in euery one of these holy orders they haue Christ himself a cōpanion with them But whereas sacraments must haue a promise annexed to thē a promise immediatly from God if any of these orders or they altogether should make a Sacrament some piece of Scripture shuld be brought for proufe of it Neyther Angels nor men can make a sacrament Therfore they lie when they do cal their orders sacraments in as much as they which are called among thē ordines minores the inferior orders by their own cōfession were neuer knowē in the primitiue church but long deuised after In confess Polonica Cap. 51. Hosius himself out of whome you toke your authorities as well of Augustine as of Leo to proue your orders a Sacramente confesseth in the same place that of olde time Ordines ij minores inter sacros non numerabantur These inferior orders were not rekened among the holy ones But now they be holy all and Sacramentes al. If I should rehearse the ydle ceremonies that are obserued in euery one of them The Iewish disagrements of the doctors themselues when eche man hath a sere assertion of his owne defended with toth and nayle The clouted religion of olde patches of Iudaisme Paganisme and Christianitie together wherby they commend this their sacrament to the worlde I should cumber the readers to long with vnfruitfull matters and busy my selfe more a great deale than néeded to confute that which you M. Martiall such is your modesty are ashamed
collum suspendis si in intellectu ergo melius in corde posita prosunt quam circa collum suspensa Tell me thou foolish priest is not the gospell dayly read and heard of men in the Church Therfore who hath no profit by hearing of the gospel how can it saue him by hanging it about hys necke Furthermore wherin consisteth the vertue of the gospel in the proportiō of the letters or vnderstanding of the sense If in the letters wel doest thou hang them about thy neck but if in the vnderstanding thē would it profit more reposed in thy heart thā hāged about thy necke Thus much Chrisostom And least peraduenture ye should thinke that thys only superstition were reproued of hym he procedeth further and toucheth matter that doth more néerely concerne our case Alij qui sāctiores se ostēdere volunt hominibus partē fimbriae aut capillorū suorum alligant suspendunt O impietas maiorem sāctitatē in suis vestimentis volunt ostendere quam in corpore Christi vt qui corpus eius māducans sanatus non fuerit fimbriae eius sanctitate saluetur vt desperās de misericordia Dei cōfidat in veste hominis In english Some other which wil shew themselues holyer vnto mē do binde together hang vp a piece of the hem of Christes garment or hys heare O wyckednesse they wil shew more holinesse in the garments thā in the body of Christ that he which is not healed by eating of hys body shal be saued by the holinesse of hys garmente hem that he that dispaireth of the mercy of God shall put hys confidence in the garment of a man And thinke ye not that the coate of Christ which touched hys blessed body that the heare of Christ which grew vpon hys holy head is of as great vertue as a piece of the Crosse wherevpon he dyed Then if Chrisostome coumpted it impiety to haue such estimation of the coate or heare of our sauioure Christ shall we thynke that a piece of wood was in such price with him Would he inclose the Crosse in gold or coūsel other to do the same which held it wickednesse so to esteme a percel of his body Christ hath left vs hys body in dede for a memory of him for a cōfort of vs to be receiued and shal we seke for external meanes which neither haue part of promise nor be deuoyde of perill We reade in the gospel that after Christ was crucified Ioseph required the body and interred it the Maries were beholders of hys passiō and burial Mat. 27. Luk. 23. there was no sparing of cost for oyntmēt yet none of thē al cared for the crosse If it had bene such a iewell as you do make it they would haue brought it stolne it or spoken at the least wise of it Many other thynges of lesse importance than thys is by your supposall be mentioned in the Scripture as necessary or expedient Only more than that Symon of Cyrene caried it we reade nothing of the Crosse that he dyed on I remēber that it is a great argumēt of yours How God wyl not suffer hys Church to erre I remember ye alleaged in the Article before Foli 87 b. quod in hanc Apostoli plenissimè cōtulerūt omnia quae sūt veritatis That the Apostles most plentifully cōferred on the Church all thinges appertayning vnto the truthe as Ireneus doth truly say Lib. 3 ca 4. contr Her How chaunceth it then that thys truth of the Crosse for foure hūdreth yeares together was hydden from them From the death of Christ tyl the tyme of Helena no man or woman euer talked of it When she came she founde it .ij. hundreth yeares after it was vtterly consumed I thynke that such idle chaplenes such morowmasse priestes as you so slenderly furnished out of the store-house of fayth to fede the people would be glad to deale more of your popish plenty if thys at the first were gently accepted We should haue extolled S. Leonardes bolle S. Cornelis horne S. Georges colt S. Anthones pigge S. Fraunces cowle S. Persons bretche with a thousande reliques of superstition as well as thys For miracles haue bene done by these or els you lye nor authorite of mē doth wante to these Longolius a learned man and Charles the v. a noble Emperoure requested to be buryed in a friers cowle and so they were Therfore the friers coule must be honored Ye remember what the hoste in Chawcer sayd to-sir Thopas for hys leude ryme the same do I say to you bicause I haue to do with your Cantorbury tales for youre fayre reasons One thyng remaineth which I do you wrōg if I omit the singuler vertue that is not only in euery portion of the holy Crosse but also in euery signe thereof inasmuch as it onely driueth avvay all subtiltie and craftes of euill spirites destroyeth vvitchcraft Folio 92. 93. doth as much as the presence of Christ in earth pocedeth vvith like efficacie as the fyrst sampler Strange effectes I promise you But fyrst I maruel why you are offēded with vs for preaching onely fayth iustifyeth synce you do teach vs that the onely signe of the Crosse can do as much as it If onely woode if onely making an ouerthwart signe disappoynt the might of aduersarie powers he is but a foole that wil be troubled with sprites he is but a beast that will feare the Diuell Signo crucis tantū vtens homo omnes horū fallacias pellit Man vsing onely the signe of the Crosse putteth away all their subtiltie and craft If a piece of wood that wormes do bréed in that neuer God nor good man commended otherwise than wood haue such spirituall vvater flovving thereinto vvhich is knovven to be saluation of faythfull soules Folio 93. shal we be condemned for attributing the like effect to spirituall and liuely fayth which the word of God so ofte so earnestly with such promis of grace such assurance of safetie cōmendeth to vs If the signe of a Crosse drawen with a finger do the same that the presēce of Christ did in earth as is by you alleaged O men vnmercifull that suffer so many halte so many lame so many blinde so many sore to liue in misery and missecary with vs. Christ cured the like he by his presence brought health and comforte to all diseased why do not you my Crosse masters the like If these allegations be true as confidentely they be printed of you why ceasse your miracles Confirm vs in your folish faith When we sée the effectes we shall consider of the cause Thus haue I shewed you that in cases of religion as this is one no mens authority shuld prescribe vnto vs no time no custome preiudice a truth Examples be daungerous to be follo wed both bycause they be sometime but personall and are not alwayes of Gods good guiding spirite which if it be true in them of whose fayth and holynesse we haue in the
the prayer that God hath taught vs which is eyther thankes for benefites receyued or desiring helpe with trust to be relieued Their Crosses haue displaced Christ Their pictures haue defaced Scripture Their Lay mennes bokes haue abolished the lawe Their holinesse is to forbyd that which God ordayned to be receyued with thankes giuing as meate and Matrimony Their owne workes they mayntayne they let Gods decay Breake theirs and they persecute to the death Breake Gods and they eyther loke thorowe their fyngers or else giue a flappe wyth a Foxe tayle for a little money Then is it easy to be espied what they are Let them dysguise themselues neuer so closely yet by this examining of their natures and properties they wyll bewray themselues Chrisostome commenting vpon the seauenth of Mathewe sayth Si quis lupum cooperiat pelle ouina quomodo cognoscet eum nisi aut per vocem aut per actum Quis inclinata deorsum balat Lupus in aëra conuertit caput suum contra coelum sic vlulat Qui ergo secundum Deum vocem humilitatis confessionis emittit Ouis est Qui vero aduersus veritatem turpiter blasphemijs vlulat contra Deum Lupus est Which is thus in englishe If any man sayth he couer a wolfe with a shepes skin how shall he know him but by his voyce or by his doing The shepe bowes downe the head to the ground bleates The wolfe lifts vp his nose into the ayre barks Therfore whoso euer according to Gods word speaketh with the voyce of humblenesse and confession he is a shepe But he that contrary to the truth blatters out blasphemies agaynst God is a very wolfe That the Papistes are such as it doth sufficiently appeare already so shal it abundantly ere I haue done be proued Therefore I say Beware of Papists To the seauenth Article ALthough we ought not in discussing of a truth ruled ouer by the worde greatly contende what rytes and ceremonies haue of presumption or toleration bene brought into the Church yet that you may sée before your eyes what ill of such presidentes hath insued how one inch graunted to superstition a whole ell hath followed consider a while your Litanies processions Folio 93. b. The singing and saying of Letany you say is coÌ„monly called Procession but Litanies were receyued long before processions did come in place For Litanies what are they but humble prayers supplications vnto God to procure his fauour and turne away his wrath These haue bene receyued in the Church of olde and according to occasion diuersly vsed We reade that when Constantinus the Emperour had purchased peace vnto the Church of God about a thrée hundreth and thirty yeare after Christ then publiquely the Christians repayred together then were there in the congregations as Eusebius Euseb eccle Hist lib. 10. cap. 3. reporteth Orationes Psalmodiae sacrorum operationes mysteriorum participationes gratiarum actiones Prayers singing of Psalmes businesse about holy things participation of mysteries giuing of thankes And that which is worthy to be remeÌ„bred he writeth of the good Emperor on this sort CaÌ„tare primus incepit vná orauit De vita Const li. 4. A notable example of a Prince conciones stans reuerenter audijt adeo vt rogatus vt consideret respoÌ„derit fas non esse dogmata de Deo remisse ac segniter audire Himself began first to sing prayed with the rest reuerently heard the sermons standing on his féete so farre forth that when he was required to set him downe he aunswered that it was not lawfull to heare the precepts of God with slackenesse and with slouth Hilarius also .370 yeare after Christ writeth of the order of the Church in his time thus Hilarius in expos Psal 65. Audiat orantis populi consistens quis extra ecclâ—siam vocem spectet celebres hymnorum sonitus inter diuinorum quoque sacramentorum officia responsionem deuotae confessionis A man that standeth wythout the Church may heare the voyce of the people praying may beholde the solemne sound of hymnes and as the Sacramentes are a ministring the aunswere of a deuout confession Likewise Ambrose Ambros de voc gentiuÌ„ Cap. 4. Praecepit Apostolus fiers obsecrationes postulationes gratiarum actiones pro omnibus hominibus c. The Apostle commaundeth .1 Timoth. 2. supplications prayers intercessions and giuing of thanks to be made for al men Which rule and lawe sayth Ambrose all Priests faythfull people do so vniformely obserue that there is no part of the worlde wherein such prayers are not frequent So that it is euident that Litanies were then in vse although we reade not of any Processions Polidor de inuen Li. 5. Cap. 10. till the time of Agapetus Pope who as Platina reporteth did first ordayne them Anno. 533. although we reade the like of Leo the thirde about .810 yeare after Christ Surely whensoeuer Processions began they were taken of Gentilitie We reade ofte in Liuie that the Romaines in all their distresses would run to euery sere Idoll that they had would goe their circuites from thys place to that place and thinke they dyd acceptable seruice vnto God We reade in Arnobius Arnobius contra gent. Lib. 8. thus much of their folly Nudi cruda hyeme discurrunt alij incedunt pileati scuta vetera circumferunt pelles coedunt mendicantes vicatim Deos ducunt Quaedam fana semel anno adire permit tunt Quaedam in totum nefas visere est quaedam viro non licet non nulla absque foeminis sacra sunt etiam seruo quibusdam ceremonijs interesse piaculare flagitium est c. They gad about naked in the raw winter other haue their caps on they carry about with them old targets they beate their skins they leade their Gods a begging round about the streats They suffer some Chappels to be gone to once a yere some must not be séene at all some a man must not come vnto some other are holy ynough without women And for a seruant to be at some of them is a haynous offence So much Arnobius concerning the Romaines And thinke you not that our Processions with banners displayed and Idols in armes be liuely described here Certayenly amongst the Christened I neuer readde that any vsed Processions before the Montanistes and the Arrians Tertullian Tertullian li. 2. ad Vxorem maketh mention of the one and Eusebius Euseb eccle hist libro 6. Cap. 8. of the other Méete it is therefore that Papistes participating with their errors should also take parte of their idle ceremonies Concerning Litanies as of latter yeares they haue bene ordayned you must vnderstande that some be called Minores the lesse some Maiores the greater The lesse were instituted by Mamertus byshop of Vienna in the yere of our Lord. 469. as Sigibertus or .488 as Polichronicon reporteth The order of them was but a solemne asseÌ„blie of people vnto prayer at such time
worde it was that he charged them wythall that was the treasure that being well bestowed Ioan. 4. Apoc. 22. Ioan. 6. Cantic 8. Psalm 119. Sap. 18. Naum. 2. Math. 16. 1. Cor. 10. Apoca. 15. should bring infinite pleasures with it For his worde is the lyuely water wherby the heates of our lusts are quenched the breade of lyfe to féede our hungry soules the pleasaunte wyne to cheare and make vs merry the lanterne to guide our steppes the sworde that ouerthroweth the enimies of the truth the fyrie shielde to defende vs agaynst our aduersaries the sure rocke wherevppon to builde the touch stone to try out doctrines what spirits are of God the key to open shut heauen gates the swete tuned instrumēt to passe away the tediousnesse of this our exile the medicine for all dyseases the ioy the iewell the only reliques of Christ departed hence which if we minde to knowe his will as it becommeth obedient children if we do loke to be heires with him as all men do make a rekening of then must we seke obserue and haue alwayes in reuerence For hence is the perfecte knowledge of all truth onely to be had and all other blessednesse in as ample wise as if that Christ were before our eyes ready to perfourme and pronounce the things Wherefore sith the Scripture is worthyed of these titles and none of them can iustly be applyed to the Crosse sith the worde is the ordinary and only meane that God now vseth for instruction of his the Crosse is a scholemaster of error and impietie let no man pleade ignorance for his excuse which may wel be increased but refourmed neuer by a beggerly boke of woode or stone As for the other percell of your aunswere that bycause all men can not so conuenientlie at all times heare a good preacher Folio 117. a. as they may see the signe of the Crosse therefore the Crosse must be had beside preaching I may tourne the argument on your owne heade that the more generall the matter is and more easily come by being in it selfe vnlawfull the more seriously it ought to be reproued the more iustly condemned For whereas Images doe but infecte the hearte are occasions of fall and nothing else it is a perillous matter the poyson to be more generall than the medicine the remedy to be harder than the offence to come by Bonum quo communius eo prastantius sayth Aristotle A good thing the more common it be the better it is The more vve may see a crosse the vvorse But a mischiefe the more it spreadeth the more it anoyeth And of all mischief an Image most For Images Crosses Crucifixes are euery mannes ware A good preacher is scarcely to be founde in a countrey Images continually doe preach Idolatry the preacher can not alwayes open his mouth against it Images are likely to seduce a multitude all men of nature being prone to Idolatry The preacher is able to persuade but a fewe fewe men inclined to credit sounde doctrine Wherfore the doctrine of a good preacher a gay puppet set vp in the church being direct contrary the lesse we may heare the preacher the more we may sée the puppet the lesse is our comforte in Christ our Lorde the more doe we stande in the Diuels daunger As for affectiō to be stirred by Imagery Leude affections stirred by Imagery I graūt they may be some but not such as they ought For impossible it is as in the preface is declared an Image to come in place of Gods seruice not allure to a wicked worship Experiēce hath taught vs examples doe proue the princes for their pleasure erecting Images haue bred the vile affection of Idolatry The booke of Wisedome is most euident therin Then if the picture of a liuing mā a mortall creature be of such force to crooke the soule what shall we thinke of Images of them that are reputed saincts of the Image of Christ our God and sauiour Luc. 10. Act. 14. Gala. 3. Whose names be written in the booke of lyfe they care not for their faces to be paynted on a post They that aliue abhorred any worship wyll not being dead prouoke so great offence Christ the as God wil be honored in truth must not to the world be set forth with a lye nec qui spiritu coeperūt carne consumādi nor they that began in the spirite must be made perfite in the fleshe The heathē the beleued not immortalitie of soule were altogither vainglorious and proude had a pleasure to haue their Images set vp their childrē reioyced in their parents folly but this must not be taken as president for vs Christians For they had no other rewarde of well deseruing we looke for an other maner of crowne of glorye 2. Tim. 4. 1. Petr. 5. which is layde vp in store for vs against a better daye They had no lawes to forbid such coūterfets yea the law it selfe to excite men to vertue decréed Statuas in foro Images in the market place Deu. 4.5.7 1. Ioh. 5. Car. Mag. Li. 3. ca. 15. We haue law inough from the maiestie of God to condemne Images in place of prayer Wherfore I may say with the good fathers of Franckeforde Si homines mortales proteruia vanitatis inflati c. If mortal men puffed vp with frowardnesse of their owne vanitie proude of worldly pompe bragging ambitious bicause they coulde not be in all places would be magnified in some place bicause they loked for no heauēly profit would therfore haue an earthly prayse Shal thys inforce vs to make a picture of our God who is in euery place can be contained in no place whose seate the heauens are whose fotestole is the earth who is wonderfull in all places can with the eye be discerned in no place Where hys vertue is so great hys glory so excellent hys myght so vnmeasurable he is not with coloures to be portrayed to be séen in temples made with mans hande to be honored or knowen in a beggerly picture but to be set forth in hys worthy workes soughte for in the heauens worshipped in heart the Prophet saying Adorate dominum in atrio sancto eius Psal 28. Ioh. 4. Worship the Lord in his holy Sanctuary And the Euangelist Deus spiritus est qui adorat deum in spiritu veritate oportet adorare God is a spirit and they that worship God must worship hym in spirite in truth Thus haue I proued that our affections to God warde nether ought nor cā be styrred vp by the vaine painters or caruers craft howsoeuer mens fansies are delited with them Yet to consider your own histories Whē Alexander the great was faire and finely painted Iulius Cesar beholding him was made more ambitious and he that otherwyse could haue bene contented with hys own estate was throughe a picture made a plague of the world Scipio the Aphricane by loking on hys