Christ The Lambe is the passeouer The circumcision is the couenaunt The sacrifice is the clensing of the law and Christ is the church For out of question all these textes are to bee interpreted figuratiuely Thus may you see that the doctrine of the Protestauntes touching the holy sacrament of the supper is grounded vpon the pure word of God. But now as touching the canons The Catholickes thinke they make altogether for them and for the vpholding maintayning of their transubstantiatiō as in deed there be of them which do and chiefly the canon before alleadged which is an abiuratiō that pope Nicolas caused to bee made at Rome by one Beringarius a deacon of the church of S. Mawrice of Angiers by which abiuratiō they inforced this poore man of Angiers to say and protest that he renounced the doctrine that he had holden aforetime wherby he had maintained that the bread and wine of the sacramēt remained bread and wine stil after the consecration that the body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ could not be handled with the handes of men nor eaten with their teeth Declaring that contrariwise he there allowed the doctrine of the Romish church and of pope Nicholas that is to wit that after the cōsecration the bread and the wine doe chaunge and transubstantiate themselues into the very body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ and that the priest in putting the sacramēt into the mouthes of the faythfull doth sensibly handle Christes very body it selfe and that the faythfull doe crowze and crashe it betwixt their teeth But agaynst this goodly abiuration racked by pope Nicholas and a hundred and fourtene bishops out of this pore Deacon whom they helde amongest them in their clawes there are many other canōs to be opposed which are of a better stampe Thus sayth one of them which is taken out of S. Augustine wher he interpreteth these wordes of the Lord The wordes which I haue spoken vnto you are spirit life meaning of the eating of his flesh and of his bloud These words sayth he are spirit and life to those that vnderstande them spiritually But to those that vnderstand them carnally they are neither spirit nor life You shall not eate this bodye that you see neither shall you drinke the bloud which they shall shed that shall crucifye me the thing that I commend vnto you is a sacrament If you vnderstād it spiritually it will quicken you the fleshly vnderstanding thereof auayleth nothing at all Afterwards he concludeth thus The Lord shall be still aboue vntill the end of the world but yet in the meane while his truth shal remayn here amongest vs For it must needes be that the body wherein he is risen agayne is in a place certayne but his truth is spred euery where throughout the worlde And to shew that the flesh of our lord is not crushed so betwixt the teeth as Beringarius sayth in his abiuration here is an other canon taken also out of S. Augustine which sayeth thus To what purpose doost thou prepare thy teeth and thy belly beleue and thou hast eaten for to beleue in the Lord is to eat the bread and to drinke the wine who so beleueth in him eateth him And an other Canon following sayth thus That which is seene and perceiued with the eies is the bread and the cuppe but as in respect of sayth which seeketh to be taught the bread is Christs body and the cup is his bloud And because the receiuing of the sacrament is spirituall It followeth that at that supper the wicked receiue but the signes onely not the things signified whiche are the spirituall meat of Christes body and bloud And the same is auowed by an other Canon which sayth He that agreeth not with Christ eateth not his flesh nor drinketh his bloud though he receiue the sacrament to his vtter vndoing and damnation By these Canons it appeareth plainly that transubstantiation is reproued and condemned and so by cosequence the locall worshipping of the body of christ in the sacrament of the bread and wine But before I passe out of this matter I will alleadge one text of S. Augustines which is so cleare and fitte to confute this transubstantiatiō as is possible For first of all that men may learne to know what manner of speaches in the scriptures are to be taken figuratiuely and what are to be taken according to the letter he setteth downe this rule which is a very notable one If there be any thing sayth he so spokē in Gods word as that it can not properly agree with the comelines of good maners nor with the trueth of fayth you must take the same to be figuratiuely spoken Afterwardes to make this rule plain by examples he sayth these very wordes If then the maner of speaking be a precept so as it forbiddeth any crime and misbehauiour or commaundeth the thing that is good and behoue full such maner of speaking is not figuratiue But if it seeme to commaund an euill fact or to forbidde the thing that is good and behouefull then is it spoken figuratiuely Vnlesse you eate the fleshe of the sonne of man sayth our Lord and drinke his bloud you shall haue no life in you By this maner of speaking he seemeth to commaunde a cruelty and an euill facte in eating of his fleshe and drinking of his bloud therefore it is a figure wherby we be commaunded to become partakers of the passion of our Lord and to imprint gentlye and profitably in our memories that his flesh was māgled and crucified for vs. The Scripture sayeth likewise If thine enemye hunger feede him if he be a thirst geue him drink no doubt but in this case he commaundeth a good deede But wheras it followeth for in so doing thou shalt heape coales of fire vpon his head forasmuch as thou mayest thinke that he commaundeth a malicious deed doubt not but that this manner of speache is figuratiue and that those wordes may be taken two manner of waies the one to do hurt the other to do good Thou oughtest therfore rather to construe them according to charitye than otherwise and by those burninge coales to vnderstand the burning sighes of repentaunce wherby the pride of the party is healed in that he repenteth himself to haue bene an enemy to such a one as releeueth his misery and necessity Also it is written who so loueth his soule shal lose it Now It is not to be thought that he forbiddeth so requisite a thing as the sauing of a mans owne soule but that this speache ought to bee taken figuratiuely He shall lose his soule that is to say he must suppresse and forsake the froward vntoward dealing wherunto his mind is now geuen by meanes wherof he is so greatly wedded to these temporall things that he hath no regard of the euerlasting things Agayn it is also written Shew mercy and receiue not the sinner The latter
to the king himselfe specially seeing we finde that such as dare but speake of the like matters are by the law gilty of high tresō No. And yet these that yeld to the Creature the honor that is due to the name of god which letting god alone do worship their fellow seruaunts think not themselues blame worthy at all as who should say they could reserue any greater honor vnto God. Now the reason why men make their suites to Princes by the meane and fauor of Noble men Captaines and Officers is because the king is borne a man and knoweth not in whom to repose his trust and confidence for the ordering of his publick affaires But as for GOD from whom nothing is hidden for he knoweth euery mans desertes vnto him we haue no need of an Aduocate but of a deuout hart For wheresoeuer such a harte speaketh vnto him he wil answere him By which sayings this good doctor S. Ambrose by good and apparant reasons confoūdeth the doctrine of the Romish Catholicks touching the intercession of Saints So as to vse any other mediator to Godward than our Lord Iesus Christ is a distrusting of his fauor and of the goodwill he beareth vs as though he were like vnto some rough and vncurteous prince that wold take displeasure if a mā preaced to his presence not being presented by some officer of his court For say the Protestants are not we certayn and well assured of the clemency goodnes of our Sauior that doth inuite vs to come directly vnto him Is not he our good Shepheard our Redeemer our attonementmaker our reconciler and our brother Wherfore hath he taken vpon him our flesh borne our iniquities fulfilled the law wherby we were condemned shed his most precious bloud and suffered death and passion vpon the crosse Is it not for vs that he hath done all these thinges to purchase our saluation and reconciliation with God his Father For neither for himselfe nor to increase his own glory needed he to humble and imbase himselfe so much And therefore it is not to be douted but that he doth discharge his office of Mediatorship much better than all the saintes can doe specially seeing that he is the only meanes that they be saints and without him they could not so be Now as it is not to be douted but he hath great good will to do the office of a Mediator for vs so must we beleeue that he will not consent that any other should take vpon him to doe it but is and will be the onely obtayner of our saluation and of the heauenly blessinges which God shall geue vs. These be the reasons which the Protestants do alleadge for the maintenaunce of their doctrine touching prayer Whereby it doth plainly appeare that their doctrine is the best according to our first maxime because that the honor which belongeth to Iesus Christ our Lord is therby better and more soundly and wholly without diminishing rendered vnto him then by the doctrine of the Romish catholicks who would haue so great a number of Mediators as they seem to leaue to Iesus Christ nothing els but onely the name of mediator doe attribute to the saints both the name and the effect Secondlye this doctrine of the Protestants is perfectly groūded vpon the word of God as all men may know by considering as well the precepts as the examples which are in the bible concerning prayer For first of all the holy Scripture teacheth vs to put all our trust in the goodnes of God and to pray onely vnto him assuring vs that he will geue care vnto our prayers saying If you being euill can skill to geue good thinges to your children how much rather will your Father which is in heauē geue good things to those that aske of him And agayne it exhorteth vs to vse the credit of Iesus Christ our Mediator to God the Father saying If any man haue sinned we haue an aduocate with God the Father euen Iesus Christ the righteous And to the end we should not doubt of the power and good will of our Mediator towards vs it doth assure vs of two thinges The one that he sitteth in his Maiestye and might on the right hand of the throne of his Father And the other that he doth pray and make intercessiō for vs. He is saith S. Paul vpon the right hand of God and maketh intercession for vs. And for that we should not abuse our selues in seking many mediators vnto god the holy scripture doth also teach vs that as we haue but one God to whom we ought to pray No more haue we but onely one Mediator saiing For there is but one God and one Mediator betwixt God and man the mā Iesus Christ And because we should not doubt that God is our Father and that we may vse him as a Father we are taught that those which beleeue in the Mediator are made the children of god by the same faith belief saying to all those that haue receued him he hath geuen priuiledge to become the Children of God that is to say To those which beleue in his name So as Iesus Christ himself teaching vs how we should pray to God hath willed vs to call him our Father Moreouer in the Psalmes of Dauid and in the other bookes of the Bible there are infinite numbers of examples which proue that all holy mē haue alwaies made their prayers vnto God and neuer vnto dead mē nor called vpon them to be their meanes and Intercessors vnto God. Wherupon it followeth apparantly that the doctrine of the Protestāts touching prayer is the most auncient and true according to our seconde Maxime Finally the sayd Romish Catholicks ought not to charge the Religion of the Protestants with heresie by the which they say there ought to be no praying to the Saintes which are out of this world for there is no man of so simple iudgement but he will confesse it to be meere madnes to pray to them which cannot heare him as questionles those which be dead cannot vnderstand the prayers which we make vnto thē in this world because as witnesseth the Canon they know nothing of the things which are done in this world except sayth the same Canon that those which die doe cary them newes of the things which they haue seene and vnderstoode before their death These are the very words of the Canon We must needes confes according to the trueth that those which are dead doe know nothing of that which is done here vpon earth but they may well be aduertysed of them by such as die and goe vnto them and yet not of all thinges but onely of such thinges as are lawfull for those that be heare to beare in memory and expediēt for the others to know Thus by this Canon it is most euident that we ought not to pray vnto Saintes seeing they be dead and cā neither heare nor see nor know
S. Ciprian all custome although it be neuer so auncient adde receiued ought to be set aside in respect of the truth all custome which is contrarye to the truth ought to be abolished There is yet another Canon which singeth thus In vayne do they alledge custome which are ouercome by reason as though custome were of greater force then the truth Or as though in spirituall thinges we should not follow that which hath bene reuealed by the holy Ghost Certaynly it is a true thing that reason and truth are to be preferred before custome But if custome be confirmed by the truth it ought to be constaÌ„tly kept and retayned There is yet another CanoÌ„ which speaketh fitly of this matter takeÌ„ out of S. Ciprian saying thus The custome that is crept into any place ought to be no impediment but that the truth shold be preferred and get the vpper hand for custome without truth is nothing els but a geuing of contynuaunce vnto error Wherfore let vs leaue the error follow the truth knowing that in Esdras truth getteth the vpper hand according as it is written Truth preuayleth and getteth the mastery and lyueth for euer and shall indure world without end To come to an end I wil adde this one Canon no more For I should not haue done very soone if I would rehearse all the Canones that are to purpose touching this matter And thus sayth this Canon If only Christ ought to be heard then must we not depend vpon the thinges which other men that haue been before our time haue thought meete to be done but rather vpon that which Christ hath done who is before all For we ought not to folow the custome of men but the truth of God specially seeing that he saith by the mouth of Esay the Prophet In vayn doe they honor me by teaching the commaundements and doctrines of men And in very deede this Cannon should make the whole rable of the Canonistes Decretistes Sarbonists Sophistes and others which handell the bookes of the Romish diuinity to blush for shame that they should strayne them selues to vphold the doctrines which haue bene apparaÌ„tly inuented by men For this one Cannon doth arregne them and coÌ„demne them al in few wordes Now to come to an end of this treatise I pray the Romish Catholikes to vouchsafe to looke aduisedly into the poynes hertofore by me discussed and to examine and ponder them throughly and without passion if it be possible For in so doing I am sure that as many as haue any naturall discression in them shall find that the ReligioÌ„ of the Protestants is a farre other thing then they haue hitherto taken it to be or than it hath bine borne them in hand to be And when they shall perceaue that the sayd Religion at the least is neither wicked nor hereticall nor new as euen the most simple may easely discern by the points before treated of it may be a iust occasion for them if they be not strangely bereft of their right wittes to incline to liue henceforth in peace and concord with the professors of the sayd Religion And herewithall I beseech them to haue earnest consideration of twoo thinges The one is that without a good peace and concord betwixt the Catholicks and the Protestants the state of the Realme of Fraunce will not only run wholy to ruine but also come to vtter vndoing and destruction And he that seeth not this is very grosse ignorant For Ciuill warres when they contynue do neuer bring forth other effectes than the changes and destructions of common weales vnles some good and vertuous men that are louers of the common weale doe fortune to preuent such vnhappy and euil destinies by procuring some good and reasonable pacification as the histories do yeald vs infinite examples therof The other thing to be considered of is this That euery perticular person ought to bethink himselfe that he hath a soule to saue and that he ought to seeke the way of his saluation For to what purpose serueth it to haue gotten honor glory riches and other contentments of the world to him that followeth the way of damnation to his own wretched soule Now he that is determined to seeke the saluation of his soule will he say that he is contented to beleeue as his Curate doth beleeue Such resolution were to foolish and beastly Or will it suffice him to say that he will liue as his Predecessors haue done and follow custome That were also a wronge way and is already condemned by the Canones heretofore alleadged Then ought we to determine with our selues to follow the truth and to imbrace the true doctrine of Christ Iesus but lord Sauior or else we shall neuer attayn to saluation And when we be thus resolued we must take heed that our passions doe not blinde the eyes of our vnderstaÌ„ding cause vs to take blacke for white For if we say stil we haue bene led and brought vp in this ReligioÌ„ my father grand fathers which were good men haue died in the same I haue borne Arms and ventred my life to mayntayne it it were not now for my honor to follow the Religion agaynst which I haue fought I am of the opinioÌ„ that there is no ill in the religion that I hould I am now to olde to learne any other and such other trifling excuses we do greatly deceaue our selues for they are nothing auaileable before god with whom we may not dally in this sort For such shiftes of descant serue to no other ond but to trifle our mindes and to lull them a sleep in ignorance and darckenes that they may haue no skill of their saluation when they depart this world What is then to be done that we may come into the path of saluation we must seek the truth And where shall we find it eueÌ„ there whether Christ did send vs wheÌ„ he sayd search the Scriptures The father of all mercy who hath created and made vs for of his owne glory and honor sake geue vs all such grace that being inlightened by hys holy spirit we may be well edified in the pure doctrine of Iesus Christ hys sonne our Sauiour to the ende that being true Christians in name and effect we may liue in good vnitye peace brotherly and christianly loue together in his holy seruice Amen Τελοσ Tit. liu lib. 1. in praefacione Esd 3. cap. 3. 4. Trip. hist li 2. cap. 5. 〈◊〉 â—nne 〈◊〉 be coâ—â—â—â—â—ed wâ—â—â—â—â—t beiâ—â—â—eard speake nun 〈…〉 Molin de mon. Fran. art 154. 155. 156. e. sicut e. excomunicamus Ex. de haeret Aut. Gazaros C. de haret Diu. Inst. lib. 5. cap 1. The pagans condemned the christiaÌ„s without hearing theÌ„ speake The decrees of Gratian authorised by the pope Annal. sur l. an 1168. The old canons are better theÌ„ the nevv We must not iudge of God as of man. Amb. in epist. ad Ro. c. 1. Math. 7.18 1. Iohn 2.1 Rom. 8.32 1.
sent To beate his Rampires and his Bulwarkes downe In force wherof he weares his tryple Crowne The time is come to thine immortall prayse That this same Kaytiffe being battered sore With these same Canons of his own decayes And sinking vnder truth to rise no more Lyes beaten down with shame for euermore From day to day forgoing still his strength Vntill his State be wanzd away at length FINIS ¶ THE AVTHOR TO his Booke YE braying Canones which so grounded be Vpon the word of him that raignes on high With thundering noyze let fly your bullets free That men may heare them roaring to the sky But as for you ye Canons whom we see From mouth of brasse to spit out fiery flame Of Vulcanes smoky Forge holde you your peace You bring our Realme to ruine and to shame The others force fond ignorance to cease FINIS AN APOLOGIE FOR the Protestantes IT is well knowen that in these daies there are in Fraunce two sorts of catholickes which are of the Romish Religiō For there are of them that be tractable and desirers and louers of the peace and quietnes of this Realme and such as will not condemne the reformed religion nor those that make profession therof without hearing and vnderstanding them as the others doe but can well finde in their hartes to liue in frendship and fellowship with them and not trouble them in the exercise of their Religion but tary the time vntil God through his grace haue inlightned them and made them to know the errors and abuses which may be in the one in the other and make vs Frēchmen which are now a dayes to wilfully bent apte and willing to yealde vnto reason And there are other some so wilfull and so far run into hatred and enmitie against the reformed Religion and the professors of the same that they preferre their own vnreasonable humors before the peace common quyet of their countrey Yea and euen before the preseruation of the state of the Prince These be they to whom I speake in my Apologie And also to all that are desirous to know in what poynt and for what cause the Protestants do stande in controuersie for Religion against the Romish Catholickes First therfore I desire them all to presuppose that to iudge of a matter before they vnderstand it and to condemne a man without hearing his answere is a thing that ill becommeth not only all Christians but also any other reasonable person For by the law of nature as witnesseth the Ciuil law we ought to heare their reasons and defences whose cause we haue to iudge of therein to doe as we would be done vnto as Nature willeth and commandeth vs And therfore these ouerangry Catholickes which condemne hate and persecute the professors of the reformed religion without vnderstanding it or without hearing them do wel bewray therby that their panges and passions are very strange for that they haue such force as to cause them to forget the law of Nature the knowledge wherof God hath imprinted in the hartes of all men euen from their creation Truly it is a lamentable and beastly thing that a man shold so yealde himselfe to the humor of hatred rancor enuy desire of reuenge such like frenzes as that he should rob himselfe of his naturall wit and cause himselfe to forget the right vse of reasō as you may well see by the doinges of those heady persons I know right well that they haue been accustomed to cloake these passions by saying that the Pope the Counsel of Trent and the Sorbonistes haue long agoe condemned the reformed Religion as erronious and hereticall and that therfore it is to be holden for a resolution that it is naught and to be condemned without farther inquirie of the matter and without any other forme or processe of Law. But hereunto it hath euer been answered as we do still that those which haue thus condemned our Religion haue alwayes been both Iudges and parties And that the professors of the reformed Religion haue not been heard in their lawfull defences So that those which will needes make a president of such condemnations geuē against the parties vnheard be suspected and vncompetent Iudges and do stil fal back agayne into the former fault of condēning men vnheard a thing contrary to the law of nature and shew themselues to be parciall and fond Iudges in that they will needs geue sentence of the thing which they vnderstand no more than a blind man can iudge of colors therfore are worthely noted in way of scorne by that common prouerb That good king of France Lewes the twelfe surnamed the father of his people will neuer be forgotten who being importunatly called vpon by the Bishops and Cardinals of his time to cause a bloudy execution to be done vpon the people of Cabriers and Meryndoll in Prouince who had neither masses nor Images in their churches and were as a remnant of the auncient breede of the Albigions and of the pore men of Lyon which had been all condemned for heretickes did make this worthy wise answere I am a king quoth he ouer my people to minister iustice vnto them which I cannot do without hearing such as are accused I will therfore heare them before I condemne them though they were Turks or Deuils Hereupon it was told the Kinge that the religion which those of Cabryers and Meryndol did professe had bin often before that time condemned for hereticall and wicked specially in the Councell of Laterane Anno. 1179. Vnder Pope Alexander the third in the time of king Philip Augustus and by the Emperor Frederick the second Pope Honorius the third about the yeare 1217 and by Pope Gregory the ninth who entered into the Papacie Anno 1227. But notwithstanding all these shewes and prouocations this good king would not be led from his determination Saying that he would not stretch his conscience so far as to make a president of the iudgements and decrees of those Popes King and Emperor but would heare the answers of the parties accused before he condemned them And thereupon he gaue audience to the Comissioners of Cabryers and Meryndol And when he had heard thē he sent thether Adam Fume his Master of requestes and Ihon Paruyz his Cōfessor to informe him of their life and doctrine Who made report to his maiesty that it was true that those of Cabryers and Meryndol had neither masses nor Images in their churches but that otherwise they were all well instructed yea euen the very litle ones in the articles of the fayth and in the commaundementes of God and that they vtterly abstayned frō al blasphemous othes and whoredome keping holy the Sabaoth day and greatly reuerensing the supper of our Lord baptisme and maryage Which when the king thus vnderstoode he did not only not condemne them of heresie as he was intysed to haue done but also quite otherwise did pronounce with his owne voyce
and bound it with an othe that he did beleeue that those of Meryndoll and Cabryers were better and more honest people than himselfe or any of his other subiectes And what will you infer of this will you say now that this good king was a Protestant or that he mislyked the Romayn Religion I think there is no man so shameles that dares say so For his life and actes do shew that he was very well minded towardes the church of Rome In maintenance wherof he held great warres in Italy against the Venecians and other Princes that vsurped vpon the patrimonies of the Church But he was a good king and did acknowledge that God had put the Scepter in his hand to minister iustice to all his people and not to condemne the accused without hearing their answere nor to iudge of a matter of importance by the consciences of others but meekly to geue hearing to al matters brought before him not to condemne those thinges for euill which may shew themselues to be good I therfore cōclude thus that those which in these dayes doe so presumptuouslye condemne the reformed Religion without knowing any deserued cause or without hearing such as professe the same vnder color of the condemnatiōs done already by the Popes by the councell of Trent and by the Sorbonistes doe shew therby the great forgetfulnesse of their duty of iudging vprightly And that they cary to slack a hand on the bridle of their conscience in suffering it to depende vpon the phantasticall iudgement of others Lactantius Fyrmian speaking to Constantine the great who was the first christiā Emperor did greatly cōplayn and bewayle that the Paganes and Idolaters of his time did condēne the Christian Religion and had it in disdayn without knowing what christian Religion was and without reading their bookes to vnderstand it These be the very words of Lactātius I doubt not most mighty Emperor Constantine but that if this my work wherby I shew that the Creator of all thinges is the Gouernour of the whole world doe fall into the hands of these vnlearned Religious folke they by reason of their great superstition which maketh them too too impatient will assault me with iniuries spitefully fling the booke to the grounde before they haue read so much as the beginning of it imagining that they should defile thēselues with such a crime as could neuer be wyped out again if they should ether reade it or heare it red patiently Neuertheles I beseech them in duty of humanitie not to condemne my wrytinges if it may be before they doe perfectly vnderstand them For if it be allowed by order of law that Churchrobbers Traytors and Poysoners shall speake for thēselues and argue in their own defence and that it is not lawfull to condemne any of them without examination of his cause It is not againste reason that I should intreate those into whose hands this booke shall happen to reade it or heare it read throughout and to deferre their iudgements vntil they haue read it to the end But I know well the wilfulnesse of that kinde of people to be such as I shall not obtayne this suite of them For they be afrayd least the force and strength of the truth should ouercome them and make them yeald vnto vs and to agree with vs That is the cause of their roaring storming least they should heare vs and of their shutting of their eyes least they should see the light which we bring vnto them wherein they shew the litle assurance that they haue in their own fond reasons For they dare neither vnderstand nor enter into disputation because they know they shall soone be vanquished By reason wherof it commeth to Passe that through their shunning of all manner of scanning and sifting of things by disputation They driue discretion quite away And force and fury beare the sway As sayth Ennius And because they are bente to condemn and vtterly to oppres such as they well know to be innocent they be vnwilling that their innocencie should appeare because they deeme it a greater iniquitie to condemne the innocencye that is apparant thē the innocēcy that cōmeth not to tryall Or rather as I sayde afore they are afeard that they should haue no power to condemne vs if they should heare vs. This was the inuectiue which Lactantius wrote against the heathē in his time who condemned the Christians without hearing them Which reason I wil vse against the impatient catholicks desiring them not to shew them selues like vnto those heathen men in being so obstinate as to shutte their eares from hearing and vnderstāding the doctrine which they so condemne persecute without knowing what it contayneth But if those angry Catholicks which oppose themselues as aduersaries against our reformed Religion and so boldly condemn it wold temper their choller passions with such moderation as to geue place to reason and to set naturall discretion in due place and preheminence Truely I durst make thē iudges of this cause and I am wel assured that they would iudge farre otherwise than they haue done hetherto or doe yet And in deed if the loue of truth haue any place in their harts as I beleue it hath I beseech them euen before God and for the truthes sake to vouchsafe to examine this present defence with setled iudgement and to consider of it without affection For I protest vnto them that I will vse such modestie in my wordes as none shall iustly haue cause to accuse me of rigor First therfore I presuppose that betwixt the Romish Catholickes and the Protestantes there is disagreemēt of doctrine in many poyntes yea euen in the most principall as I will shew hereafter But yet neuertheles both the one and the other doe acknowledge generally the vnitye of the person of Iesus Christ in two natures not confounded The holy Trinitye of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost and the holy Scripture of the olde and new Testament and therefore they bothe may in this respect be called Christiās howbeit the one more aptly then the other as shall appeare by that which I will say hereafter Now that wee may the better treate of the poyntes which are in question and that all men may the more playnly iudge thereof we will distinctly examine the reasons which are to be considered in this discourse and are commonly alleaged on both sides for the mayntayning of the doctrine of either party and so by comparing the contrary reasons and alegations together the truth will the more apparantly shew it selfe because light is thē most apparant and bright when it is set nigh to his contrary ¶ Of three Maximes groundes or rules whereby a man may iudge of the poyntes of religion which are in questiō The first Chapter FOrasmuch as the whot Catholickes accuse the Religion of the protestantes to be wicked new and heretical and therfore cannot brooke the society of such as professe the same we hope to shew
through his great eloquence sought to inflame their desiers thereunto Truely both the one and the other haue sore rebuked those women which goe about to grace or rather to disgrace themselues with painting of their faces against which sort Ciprian amongst other things saith thus If an excellent painter had well and liuely counterfayted a mans face and body afterwards another vnskilfull paynter would needes take vpon him to ouerpainte the same agayne vndoutedly the former paynter should haue great cause to finde himselfe greeued and iniuryed And thinkest thou daughter to escape the punishment of God who hath fashioned thee when thy damnable rashnes dareth presume to controll Gods paynting by thy paynting For be it that thou art not vnchast whorish to the worldward yet notwithstāding thou through the whorish intisements of thy paynting art wors than the very strumpet and adulteres forasmuch as thou hast corrupted and marred Gods workmanship in thy selfe Wheras thou doest it to beutefie and to trim thy selfe it is nothing els but a corrupting of Gods workmanship and a defacing of the truth Harken here to the voyce of the Apostle who warneth thee thus Purge your old leauen that you may be made new dough without leauen For Christ our Easter Lambe is offered vp for vs Let vs therfore make good chere not with old leauen nor with the leauen of naughtines and malice But with vnleauened bred that is to say with the bread of sinceritie and truth For what continuance in sinceritie and truth is there when the thing that was pure is defiled and when the truth is changed into vntruth by false culler and painting with slabersauces Thy Lord doth say vnto thee Thou canst not make one of thy heares either black or white And yet thou to ouermaster the word of thy Lord wilt thou needes seeke to clime aboue him by thy trecherous contempt and ouerbold dealing Thou paintest thy heare and by euil hāsel of the thing that shal happē vnto thee doest frizel thy head with fire Ambrose also doth speake thus against these counterfaite paintings From thence saith he spring intisements to vice namely that women doe paint their faces with color made for the nonce In so much that by the coloring of their countenances with the filth of their painting for feare to displease men they purchase to themselues the stayning of their chastitie What a folly is it to change a naturall face for a painted face For in fearing the iudgement of their husbands they lose their own iudgement because that such as will needes change the shape and fashion which God hath geuen them by creation doe condemne themselues and in seeking to be well lyked of others doe first of all mislike of themselues What better iudge of thy foulnes thou woman can there be than thy selfe that art so loth to be seene in thy own naturall likenes If thou beest fayre why doest thou hide thy selfe If thou beest foule why doest thou bely thy selfe in desiring to seeme fayr and by thine own fault make thy self worthy of blame as well in thine own conscience as in the opinion of others The same Ambrose speaking of virgines doth set down vnto them vnder example of a perfect virgin of what behauior our virgins ought to be saying There was a virgin which was a virgine not only in body but also in minde who by no outwarde shew did at any time corrupt the sinceritie of her affection She was humble of hart sober in speach wise in vnderstanding of few words geuen to reading not putting her trust in the vncertainty of riches but in the prayers of the poore earnest in her worke shamefast in her talke seeking God and not man to be the iudge of her hart not doing wrong to any wishing well to euery body honoring all her elders not enuying her equals void of boasting folowing reason and louing vertue Hath this virgin at any time offended her Parents in word or deede when hath she beene seene to be at any iarre with her neighbors when despised she the poore when mocked she the lame or when shrunke she away from the nedy Her only care hath beene to haunte the company of such men as are accompanied with mercy and honest shamefastnes There hath not passed her one suspicious looke nor dallying word nor any vnshamefast iesture Her pace hath not been vncomely nor her voice loud or ouer shrill But to be short her outward behauiour hath alwayes beene the representer and Image of the goodnesse of her minde for a good house ought to be known by his entry make shew at the first that there is no darcknesse in it but that the Lampe which is within doth shead forth his light to the outer partes What shall I say of her moderate feeding and of the great aboūdance of her duetifull doings In the one she passeth Nature and by the other she oppresseth it She letteth no time slip without doing some good And her sobrietie is such that she doubleth her fasting daies and when she hath desire to eate she maketh her meale of the first meat that she meeteth with which she taketh alonly to keep her selfe aliue and not to pamper her selfe for pleasure By these words the meaning of Ambrose is not to incourage maydens to vow virginitie but to shew of what behauiour they ought to be which haue already vowed it Hetherto I haue rehearsed the very words of S. Augustine who doth alleage the forewritten sentences of S. Ciprian and S. Ambrose to shew that they esteeme not so much the vow of virginity as the good behauior which ought to be in both those which be vowed and in the others also And it is to be noted that in the saying of S. Ambrose aboue written which speaketh of the manners dueties and behauiors of the virgines which haue vowed virginitie there is no mention made of any of the hipocritical and superstitious Ceremonies which in these dayes are obserued by the Nūs He descrybeth them at large and as it were by peecemeale what they ought to be in what sort they ought to busie themselues and wherein they ought to spend their time and yet in all this there is not one word spoken of their Popeholines But contrarywise wheras he saith that the vowed virgins which now a daies be called professed ought to be diligent in working to beware of disagreeing with their frendes and Neighbors not to withdraw themselues from the nedy to frequent only such men as are mercifull and shamefast and to be of coūtenance and behauiour sober and not nice or wanton It appeareth therby euidently that in those dayes they were not shut vp in Monasteries but kept their vow of virginitie in liuing in houses of their own or els with their kinsefolk exercising themselues in all good works of godlinesse and vertue And now that we haue spoaken sufficiently of Nunnes let vs returne againe to the Monkes It is to be noted
it appeareth by the canons that the saluatiō of men doth doth not depend wholly vpon Baptisme but principallye vpon fayth These be the very wordes of the Canon S. Ciprian to proue that the torment of death may stād in stead of Baptisme hath grounded his argument vpon these wordes of Christ spoken to the vnbaptised theefe This day shalt thou bee with me in Paradise In the examining whereof more narrowly I fynde that not onely the suffering of death for the name of Christ but also the harty beleuing in him and the confessing of him may supply the want of baptisme when the party is so distressed by some extremity of tyme as he cannot haue the sacrament of batisme ministred vnto him And there followeth an other Canon which sayth that if a learner of the Catechisme that is to say such a one as is but newly entred into the doctrine of the faith and is not yet baptised do suffer marterdome for the name of Christ he fayleth not to be saued although hee want Baptisme And the reasō herof as sayth the same canons is because that in this case such as haue not receiued the sacrament of Baptisme haue not wanted it through pride or disdayne but through inforcement of necessity In likewise it is forbidden by the Canons that women how wise so euer they bee shall either preach or baptise It is true that hereunto they do ioyn this one exception which is if it be not in case of necessity But if it be graūted according to the truth that the Infants which dye vnbaptised be not therfore excluded from saluation It followeth well that no necessity can be great inough to dispēse with women for intermedling themselues with the administration of the Sacramentes And truely in old time as the canons do witnes Baptisme was not ministred ordinarily but only at two tymes in the yeare namely at Easter and at Whittesontyde which well bewrayeth that they vsed no such haste as that women shoulde bee fayne to meddle with the matter Likewise it doth also appeare by the Canōs that Baptisme was not ministred to the infidels but only to such as had faith and did make confession therof when they were of age to do it And as touching the forementioned Ceremonies in deed there are some Canons how be it of the worst stamp which do allow thē But the best and most auntient canons do vtterly dissallow thē For by the auntient Canons men are permitted to baptise in Riuers in the Sea in fountaynes and in euery other place commodious for that purpose These be the wordes of a Canon taken out of the decrees of Pope Victor Let the Gentiles that are come to the faith be baptised in all seasons and all places fit for them be it in Riuer sea or Spring as being made cleane by confession of the Christian fayth And by an other Canon it is well shewed that wee ought rather to rest vpon the Baptisme of the couenaunt of fayth than vpon the Baptisme of water For it sayth thus The true baptisme doth not consist so much in the washing of the bodie as in the beleife of the hart as the apostolicke doctrine doth teach vs saying They make cleane their hartes through fayth And in an other Canon going before it is sayed that a catholicke not Baptised for it presupposeth that one may be a catholick without being baptised whiche hath an ardent zeale of deuine charity is to be preferred before a wicked man that is baptised As for example sayth the Canon Cornelius the Centener who was filled with the holy ghost before he was baptised is to be preferred before Simon Magus who was possessed with an vncleane Spirit after he had bene Baptised But if Cornelius hauing receiued the holy ghost had not bene willing to be baptised he had bene greuously guiltye of the despising of so excellent a sacrament By which canon it is easy to iudge that wee ought altogether to depend vpon that which the sacrament doth signifie vnto vs and vpon the graces which god doth thereby geue vnto vs and not to set our mindes vpon a sort of superstitious and vayn ceremonies as the Romish catholicks do in these dayes For they may easely perceiue by the things aforesayd that the doctrine of the reformed religion touching the sacrament of baptisme is better more auncient furder from heresy than theirs is according to our three maximes here before set downe to proue the points which are in question Let vs now speak of the supper of the Lord. ⧠Of the Sacrament of the holy supper The vii chapter THe difference betwixt the Romish Catholickes and the Protestantes concerning the Supper of the Lord doth consist in three points The one in the naming therof for the Catholickes call that the keeping of Easter which the Protestantes doe name the Supper of the lord But this diuersitie of speaking importeth not much for both of them are still a celebrating of the mistery of our redemtion True it is that the Catholickes vse the maner of speaking of the old Testament according to the phrase whereof the feast of Easter that is to say the passeouer was celebrated by the eating of a Lambe which did represent Christ in remembrance of the deliuerance of the people of Israell whom God had brought out of the thraldome of Egipt But the Protestantes vse the manner of speaking of the new Testament whereby the holy institution which our Lord Iesus Christ ordayned to celebrate the remembrance of his death and passion and to make vs partakers of his body and bloud is called the supper of the lord But we must not striue about words so it be knowen that to keepe the Easter and to celebrate the Lords Supper are at this day one selfe same thing The second difference which is much greater consisteth in the substance of the Sacrament For the Catholickes at leastwise the schoolmen vphold that assoone as the priest hath spoaken the words of consecration ouer one hoaste or ouer many they change their nature presently and are transubstantiated into the very body and bloud of Iesus Christ in the selfe-same greatnes bignes that it was vpon the crosse so as the bread of the hoast is thē no longer bread although the color and the tast of bread remayn still therin Their proofe of this doctrine is that when our Lord Iesus Christ did institute his supper as he gaue the bread to his disciples he said vnto them This is my body And in geuing them the cup he said vnto them This is my bloud They proue it also by a Canon which beginneth thus I Beringarius c. which Canon saith in expresse wordes that after the consecration the bread and wine become not only sacraments but also the very body and the very blo ud of Christ And that the priest doth sensibly handle the same very bodye and breake it And that the faithful in eating the Sacrament with
part of this sentēce seemeth to forbidde a good deed for it sayth receyue not the sinner Vnderstand therefore that this is spoken by a figure taking the sinner for the sin to the ende that thou admit not any sinne Thus haue you heard the very wordes of S. Augustine which doe very well declare vnto vs as well by the rule as by the first example which he setteth downe that the eating of the flesh and bloud of christ in his supper ought to be vnderstoode spiritually sacramentally and not after the manner of the cannibals which is vtterly voyd of all humanity and good manners as those transubstantiatiers would make vs beleue And whereas the catholickes vphold that this sacramēt ought not to be distributed vnto the lay people but by halfes which they doe terme vnder one kinde the same is expresly cōdemned by their owne canons as hie treason towardes god For you shall here what a canon sayth which is taken out of the decrees of Pope Gelasius It is done vs to vnderstand that some hauing receyued the holy sacrament of the body do abstayne from the cup of the holy bloud which thing they ought not to do for in asmuch as it is euident that in so doing they entangle themselues in I wot not what a kind of superstition they ought to receyue the sacrament whole togither or els to abstayne from it altogither For the deuiding a sunder of one selfe same mistery can not be done without great trechery And furthermore where as the most part of the lay catholikes do content themselues with the receyuing of the sacrament onely once a yeare which is at Easter they are condemned by the canons which declare that those are not to be taken for catholikes which receyue not three times in a yeare These be the very wordes of a cannon taken out of the councell of Agatha The laye people which receyue not the Lordes supper at Christmas at Easter and at whitsontide let them not bee taken ne reputed for Catholikes Thus may all men perceyue iudge with what manner of passion these catholikes are caried away which do so boldly condemne the Protestants as heretiques for their doctrine concerning this poynt of the supper of the Lord and so do spitefully name them Sacramentaries as though they denied this sacramēt For in so doing they do also vnawares condemne their owne cānons which otherwise they esteme so greatly that many of them do attribute more authority vnto those Cannons than to the holy scripture saying that they be the determinations of the holy mother church wherunto they ought to sticke bicause the scripture is to obscure and may be taken both wayes But indede it is nothing so for the scripture hath but one sence which is easy to be found out of a man that is willing to learne by conferring one text with another But the cannons are in many cases quite contrary one to another I know full well that too shift off these contrarieties the schole men say that we must always hold vs to those that were last made But I answer them that that is asmuch to say as we must alwayes hold vs to the worst For euery man of sound iudgement may always easely perceyue that the ancient cannons are better than those of latter tyme. And further to abate the authority of their canōs by their canōs thēselues I say that the cannons do will vs to serch the vnderstāding of the obscure textes of the scripture in the scripture it selfe And those which seeke it elsewhere are the very scholemasters of errour These are the very wordes of a cannon What is more vngodly than to hold an vngodly doctrine and not to beleue those that are most wise and learned But all such do fall into this kind of ignorance as make not their recourse to the wordes of the Prophets to the writing of the Apostles and to the authority of the Euangelistes to learne the knowledge of the truth in any obscure poynt but will needes trust to their own wit And therefore they become scholemaisters of errour because they list not to be disciples of the truth Which cannon in very deede doth deeply in few wordes condemne the scholedeuines that make more accompt of the authority of the Cannons and doctors of the church than of the very text of the scripture which they accompt to be to obscure And true it is that some textes of the scripture are in some places very darke howbeit there is no text so obscure but it may be made playne by other textes of the same scripture Specially if they resort not to the cannons and decretalls but to the Hebrue text for the the olde testament and to the Greeke text for the new testament as S. Augustine doth teach vs who sayth in this wise Such as vnderstand the latine tongue must for the better vnderstanding of the whole Scriptures haue the knowledge of two other languages more that is to wit of the Hebrue and of the Greek to the end they may haue recourse to the very fountayne of the originall coppies when the diuersitye of the Latin rranslations doth breede any doubte And hereto accordeth a Canon which sayth thus Like as the trueth of the things that are contayned in the old Testament ought to be examined by the Hebrue books Euen so the truth which is written in the new Testament ought to be made playne and cleere by the Greek bookes I besech you what can be braied aagaynst this Canon by the whole herd of these Asses which are so bold as to say that the Hebrue and Greeke tongues be the Languages of Heritickes and therefore doe vtterly reiect and condemne them Do they not by the same meanes condemne the canons and auncient doctors And if they condemne them Are they to bee holden for good Catholickes Well let vs come now to speake of the Masse Of the Masse The viii Chapter THe difference betwixt the Masse and the Supper of our Lord is great For the Catholick schoolemen which vnderstand what the masse is for all of them vnderstand it not doe say that it is a Sacrifice whereby the Priest offereth vp the body and the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ vnto God for the soule health both of the quick and of the dead Which Sacrifice is accompanied with diuers other parcels as accessaries that is to say with diuers prayers and diuers texts taken out of the gospels and epistles of the new Testament and with divers verses taken out of the Psalmes of Dauid and other bookes of the olde Testament and interlarded throughout with many and diuers Ceremonies And this goodly omnigatherū hath bene patched together at many Sondry tymes by dyuers Popes And that is the cause why the Catholickes do put the masse among the cōmaundementes of their holy mother Church For this commaundement Thou shalt heare masse vpō the Sondayes and vpon other feastfull dayes inioyned is the first
so well exacte the tenthes keep all to themselues and geue naught to the poore Let vs harken I pray you how the canons doe thunder against such kind of people as doe withhold the goods of the needy The tenths saith the Canon are the tributes of needy soules so that if thou payest wel thy tithes thou shalt not only receaue aboundance of fruites but also health of body and soule He that payeth them not is an vsurper of other mennes goods And looke how many poore folke doe die for want of sustenance in the place where he dwelleth of so many murders shall he be gilty before the seate of the eternall iudge for conuerting of the thinges to his own vse which are appointed for the poore And surely the Church of old time could so ill away with such an abuse in the Clergie as is the withholding of the goods of the poore that it wold neuer haue suffered it But contrariwise by the auncient Canons the Bishops and the rest of the Clergie should haue been constrayned to succor the poore and needy with the gold and siluer of the Church and to imploy it rather in this work of charity than in making of faire buildings and in repayring of Churches These are the words of a Canon taken out of S. Ambrose The Church hath gold not to hoord it vp but to distribute it to the needy To what end should a man keepe that which serueth him to no purpose Do we not know what a great quantitie of gold and siluer the Assiriens tooke out of the temple of the Lorde were it not much better that the priestes should bestowe it to the releefe of the poore and needy than that the wicked enemye should spoyle it and carry it away will not the Lord say vnto yov wherefore haue ye suffered so many needy folke to dye for hūgar For thou hadst gold wherwith thou mightest haue bought them meate wherefore hast thou suffered so many Captiues to be led into bondage and to be killed by the enemy for lack of beyng redeemed It had bene much better for thee to haue saued the vessels of lyfe then the vessels of mettall Thou shalt not know what to aunswere vnto this for what wilt thou say That thou wast afrayd least the Tēple of God should not haue bene well garnished I say vnto thee that the Sacramentes haue no neede of gould The thinges which are not to be boughte for golde are neuer the more acceptable for the golds sake The redemption of Captiues is the ornament of holy thinges And truely these are the precious vessels which do saue mens soules from death That is the true treasor of the Lord which couereth that whiche his bloud hath couered And the next Canō following taken out of S. Iherom sayth thus The glory and reputation of a Bishop is to pinch himselfe to inrich the poore and it is a shame for a Priest to seeke riches to himselfe Many build vp the walles and in the mean while do pul downe the pillors of the Churche The marble glistereth the Lampe shyneth and the aulter is garnished with precious stones but of all this while there is no account made of the seruaūts of god To receiue the goodes which ought to be distributed to the poore and to be desirous to keepe them vnspent is a poynt of to great forecast or els of to great fearfulnes but to conuert any part of it to a mans owne vse is a fault whiche passeth the crueltie of the greatest theeues of the worlde Marke this definitiue sentence which this good doctor S. Ierom hath pronunced agaynst such as withhold the goodes of the poore and bestow them to their own vse Oh good lord howe full of suche theeues is this world at this day which are cōdēned by this sentence of S Ierom. At leastwise the most part of my masters of the Clergy can not wash their handes of this crime of deteining and vsurping the goodes of the poore except they will deny the Canons heretofore alleadged which are grounded vpon al reason and equity and haue bene holily obserued in the primatiue church I doubt not but that many of the clergy will thinke this little discourse of tyme which I haue made touching their discipline very hard and greuous But I beseech them to suffer their affections to geue place to the truth Their owne Canons shal serue me for a lawfull defence and excuse in this case For by them we be taught neuer to conceale the truth but bouldly to speake it vpon payne to be accounted oppressors of the same and allowers of error These are the wordes of a canon of Pope Innocentes The errour which men do not resist seemeth to bee allowed And the trueth which is not defended is oppressed If a man neglect to resist the vnruly it is as good as a mayntayning bolstering of them neither can the party be excused of suspition of secret society which neglecteth to withstand the crime that is manifest There is also another canon which sayth thus That party is gilty of the fact which is careles to correct the thing that he may amend For it is written that not only those are partakers of the misdeede which commit it but also they that consent thereunto And he that condemneth such as goe astray sheweth himselfe to hate their misdoinges and he leaueth no gap for himselfe to leape out at which challengeth those that start out of the way By which canon we ought all of vs to learne not to winke at vices and misdealings And therefore my maysters of the clergy may if it please thē make themselues a wholesome medicine of the things which I haue spoken heretofore concerning their manners and discipline And like as they spare not to exclaime against the Protestants howbeit wrongfully that they are the cause of the ciuill trobles in Fraunce and so consequently of the corruptions and disorders that are bred of them So set them bethinke themselues a litle of their own doeings and they shall finde by the Canons which I haue alleadged heretofore that in their own orders there are as many abuses and corruptions as possibly can be But now that I haue spoaken sufficiently of the Pope and of the Romish Clergie let vs now enter into theire Purgatory ⧠Of Purgatorye The xii chapter THe Romain Catholicks doe hold opinion that there is a certaine place within the earth which is not altogether so low as hell whether the soules of the good Christians which are dead doe goe to purge them of their sinnes by tormentes of fire and other rigorous paynes and that euery deadly sinne should by desart haue seuen yeares of purgation if the term of yeares were not shortned by masses suffrages and pardons And for this cause they doe hold opinion that it is needfull to cause a great number of masses and suffrages to be sayd for them that be dead and to the same end to geue
the decrees of Pope Gelasius We reade that Christ hath raysed the dead to life But we read not that euer he released any of those which were dead in sinne And he who only had the power to doe it hath geuen this principall commaundement to S. Peter saying That which thou vnbindest vpon earth shall be vnbound in heauen and that which thou bindest vpon earth shall be bound in heauen He sayth vpon earth but he neuer sayd that he which is departed bound by sin shal be released Which Canon doth well shew that the power to vnbinde doth not stretch so farre as to hell nor so farre as to the pretended Purgatory but only to the earth and that the Popes of late yeares haue gone about to extend the boundes of their territories to farre in commaunding the angels as they doe by their bulles of pardons to goe fetch the soules of such out of purgatory as the Popes themselues listed to name for they haue no cōmaundement that reacheth either higher or lower than the earth It is true that for ground of this doctrine of Purgatory they alleadge that the custome of praying for the dead hath been allowed and receaued now of long time euen from the time of the primitiue Church But it doth not therby follow but that an error is an error although it be neuer so old Moreouer as Pope Innocent the third doth witnes many of the auncient Fathers haue beleeued that the glory of those which are in Paradise might still grow greater vntil the day of iudgement and so by consequence they did imagine that it was lawfull to pray to god for the increase of their glorifying S. Augustine also wryteth how be it that he alloweth not the opinion that some auncient Fathers haue imagined that to pray for the damned sort might doe them good not to exempt them from eternall payne but to moderate their tormēts And therfore although that this kinde of praying for the dead were sufferable as in deede it is not seeing it hath no foundation in the word of God yet cannot Purgatory be grounded therupon forasmuch as the praying of the Fathers of olde time was either for those which were happy in Paradise for that their glory and blessednesse might increase or for those which were damned that their payne might be diminished and not for any which they beleeued to haue bin lodged in Purgatory For in those dayes they knew not yet what was meante by Purgatory nor where Purgatory stoode For it is but a late inuention of the new descriptions of hell The famosest doctor that euer spake of Purgatory is S. Gregory who notwithstanding speaketh after such a fashion that he seemeth to make no great reckning of the matter For he sayeth that none but veniall sinnes may be purged by the fire of Purgatory the deadly sins cānot So that by this reckning the paines torments of this pretended Purgatory haue no more power to purge than hath the simple holy water whereunto they doe likewise attribute the vertue of clensing and of washing away of mennes veniall sinnes These are the very words of S. Gregory Such as a man departeth hence such is he presented in the day of iudgement But yet we must beleue that before the iudgemēt there is a fire of purgation for certayne degrees of sinnes because the truth sayth that if any mā haue blasphemed the holy Ghost his sinnes shall not be forgeuen neither in this world nor in the world to come By which wordes it is geuen vs to vnderstand that there are some sinnes which may be pardoned in this world and some in the world to come For that which is denied in one sinne is graunted in an other by consequent interpretation But yet as I haue sayd you must vnderstand this to be spoken of the leaste sinnes as the speaking many idle wordes to much laughter to great carefulnes for a mans owne family which is a sinne that can hardly be shūned euen of suche as know best how to keepe thēselues from sinning or to erre in poyntes which are of no great importance or to be ignorant of thē Al which sinnes make a mans burthen the heuier euē after death if they be not pardoned in his life tyme. Vpon this text and vpon the interpretation which S. Gregory hath made of it howbeit amisse as I haue sayd before in the text of the holy scripture which sayth that the sinne against the holy Ghoste is not pardoned in this world nor in the world to come the Romish Catholicks or rather the Scholemen and sophisters haue altogether builded and founded their purgatory And they are not contented that onely veniall sinnes should there bee purged as S. Gregory would but they will needes haue it to serue for the doing away of deadly sinnes also either by remayning there the full time of seuen yeares for euery deadly sinne or else by redeeming or shortening that long season by the celebrating and founding of Masses and other suffrages Which addition of the Sophisters hath maruelously inriched the kitchins of the clergy mōkes and brought great aboundance of water to their milles which had neuer happened to them if purgatorye had serued but onely to purge veniall sinnes according to the aforesayd opiniō of S. Gregory for the good people of christendome had rather to haue purged themselues from those sinnes with holy water which did no harme to those that sprinckled themselues therewith then by the fyer of purgatory which is affirmed to be extremely burning and scalding hot or by the founding of masses and Obits which were farre deerer then was the holy water So as purgatorye had bene brought to nothing as a wast and barren soyle if men had held themselues to the onely sayings of S. Gregory Thus may you see how the poore world hath bene abused by the inuētors and practisors of such holy deceytes ¶ Of the exception of prescription The xiii chapter HEtherto I thinke I haue made it to appeare playnely enough that the Romish Catholickes are not so well groundes as they imagine in the poynts of religion which they would mayntayne agaynst the protestantes Now therfore let them blame the reformed religion asmuch as them listeth and report it to be new full of errors and heresies and contrary to the word of God and finally let them deface it as much as shal please them For when it cōmeth to the vpshot their hasty headines and their wilfull fordeeming through the corruptnes of their affections shall neuer bring to passe but that truth shall alwayes be truth and darcknes be darcknes Do what they can to the vttermost yet will the trueth continue alwayes to strong for them in the iudgement of the wisest sort I know well that those which thinke themselues to haue the best braynes and to be of greatest insight in all matters are the persons that vtter their opinions so boldly in this controuersy of Religion saying that the
reformed Religion which they tearme new is a sauage Religion fond and full of follies and errors and they will needes be beleeued in the matter vpoÌ„ their bare word without proouing any part of that which they speake But as those kinde of people are commonly ignorant and malicious and moreouer possessed with ambition and beastlines so doth it appeare that their mouthes are euer stil open euen when their ouerarrogant ignorance is beaten down by good reasons and allegations And when they haue done all that they can for their last refuge they are fayne to runne to the exception of prescription saying that the Romish Religion hath been receaued and obserued in Fraunce euer since the first setting vp of the kingdome euen since the great king Clowis who was the first Christian king and that it is not like that God would leaue the world so long time which is more than a thousand yeares in error and ignorance But what if it be denyed that their Religion such as it is this preseÌ„t was obserued in the time of Clowis or of Charlemayn or of many other kings of Fraunce which haue beene since that time How would they prooue that which they haue sayd And if the contrary be proued to them by wrytings of auncyent Bishops and Doctors of Fraunce by the which it doth appeere that in this Realme in olde time they did hold the same Religion or uery neare the same which the Protestants doe in these dayes what will they answere then And were it not also very easie to proue by the Historiographers which haue written the liues of the Popes and also by the decrees of the Popes themselues that the most part of their ceremonies and traditions whereof at this day they make more account than of Gods word haue bin inuented and brought into the Church by the Popes of later times long since Charlemayn And therefore they which sayd that the Romish Religion such as it is at this present hath been obserued in FrauÌ„ce euer since the beginning of the kingdome there doe greatly mistake their markes and cannot verify their saying but the contrarye is easie to be prooued But let vs put the case how be it without graunting it that the thing which they say is true and that this Romish Religion is of the vttermost antiquitie that can be Must the truth of God therfore forgoe his right by the exception of prescription Noe truely For if by the Ciuill law there be no prrscription agaynst a king how much lesse then may it be against the king of kinges And put the case again without graunting it that prescription ought to take place against God yet were it not reason thinke you to recken the lapse of time according to Gods measuring thereof Now it is certayn that with God a thousand yea and twelue hundred thousand yeares are no more than an hower or a quarter of an hower and therfore by the lapse of so litle space of time prescription can take no aduantage But all men of sound iudgemeÌ„t will alwayes grauÌ„t that as time doth not change the truth into vntruth nor vntruth into truth So also of consequence we must not admit a ReligioÌ„ for true and good vnder colour that it hath indured long time seeing that the exception of prescription is not to be admitted in such caces For els if the Romish Catholickes will needes sticke to the Iudgement of prescription for the allowance of a Religion then must they make good the religion of Mahomet which hath already lasted aboue a thousaÌ„d yeres which thing I am sure that none of them will doe how passionate soeuer they be otherwise And if it be demauÌ„ded wherefore god hath so long tyme suffered the error of Mahomet amoÌ„gst the Turkes Persians Arrabians Sirians the other Esterne and Southern people of Asia and Affrica among whom the Apostles and disciples of Iesus Christ preached the Gospell and plaÌ„ted so many fayre Churches there is no other answere to be made vnto it but that god hath done it by his secret iudgement wherof we are ignorant Full well we know that he hath done it for good and a iust cause to good purpose because he doth nothing but that which is good and iust But it doth not become vs to search any deeper for the perticuler causes which haue moued him so to doe neither ought we to be inquisitiue of his priuities and secret diâ—gâ—mentes The same also is to be answered to such as say that it is not likely that God would suffer the people of Christendome to erre so long as since the masse hath had his full scope For to be short seing that God is the truth it selfe and that his word is true it is much better to yeld God his due honor by sticking onely to his word then to refort to custome and prescription of time to authorise the traditions of meÌ„ Iesus Christ himselfe doth teach vs playnely enough that we ought to reiect the traditions of men although they be neuer so auncient and grouÌ„ded vpon prescription of time out of minde and that we ought alwayes to haue recourse back to the pure word of God which shal last for euer notwithstanding al customes prescriptioÌ„s which are agaynst it For in reprouing the traditioÌ„s of the Pharisies which had then bene receiued allowed of long time he exhorteth his disciples to cast them of and to returne back agayne to the pure word of God and to the naturall meaning thereof saying you haue heard how it was sayd to the meÌ„ of old time c. As for the auncient Canons they are so cleare and expresse in this case as is possible therfore it shall suffice me to translate them here simply These be the very wordes of the CanoÌ„ An ill custome is no les to be reiected shunned then a pestilent infection because that if it be not the sooner plucked vp the wicked do serue their turne with it as it were by right of priuiledge insomuch that the sundry disorders and dyuers vsurpatioÌ„s which are not repressed out of hand begin anon after to be receiued for lawes and are alwayes obserued as priuiledges By which Canon wee may well note the pernicious effectes of ill customes which cause vs to receiue vice in steade of vertue and euill in steade of good wherof our miserable world hath to many examples as well in causes of Religion as in matters of pollicie and law For in these dayes men defend nothing more earnestly than the abuses and errors which are in all estates vnder pretence that they haue taken root by long custome and contynuance of time which haue suffered them to passe in force of lawes and Priuileges Another Canon taken out of saint Gregory sayth thus If a man happen to obiect custome against vs we must consider what the Lord sayth I am the way saith he the truth and the life He doth not say I am custome And truely as sayeth