very Epicure Liberius likewise was an horible heretike an Arrian yet B. of Rome I report of them as I finde it in the bookes written by the Popes owne friends Thus for my parte touching reason they finde me so reasonable that I answere and yet vse their owne reason But shall we nowe sée what authoritie they haue for reason wée perceyue they haue none and who the chiefest champions be that defende this primacie you may not thinke but that there are many of them yet what they are that is to be considered They be no Apostles nor yet disciples of Christ they bée the Popes of Rome themselues their Cardinals their Bishops their Doctors their dearlings their hirelings they be those whose necks were vnder the yoke either therevnto allured through gifts faire promises and flatterie or forced throughe feare or through ouermuch simplicitie blinded and seduced who so drewe forth and vphelde the pompous chariot of iniquitie And that I sée me not to vtter vntruth that the thing may appeare they were Stephanus Iulius Pelagius Symmachus with such like all being bishops of the Sée of Rome The case in controuersie is their owne they maye not bee their owne iudges in that their owne lawe is against them For I am sure indifferent Reader that in a controuersie betweene thée an other thou wouldest not willingly be tried by the defendant thine aduersarie And could the Pope except he were his owne iudge maintaine his primacie No. And therefore being better aduised they make this law that the Bishop of Rome may iudge all but he may be adiudged of none And who made it Innocētius Antherius Gelasius And what were they Bishops of Rome If therefore they prouided for their owne preferment coulde you blame them Naye you may in no wise blame them though they carie these bée their owne wordes an innumerable sort of people with them by heaps into hell And why bicause they doe iudge al but none maye iudge them I vse Christen reader no deceit they be their owne words wey thē with indifferencie I aske no more it shall doe thée good so to doe Doubtlesse it is both a pleasure and also a great griefe vnto him that hath eies and vnderstanding to sée their lawes to beholde their authorities a pleasure it is for that he seeth their fonde iuglinges being himselfe free from their filthie bondage and trumperie A great griefe it is to see men and those men which be our brethren and are called Christians to be so much giuen to blindenesse addicted to follye and so further such subiectes vnto the seruitude of so intollerable a wickednesse Wel consider we more of their lawes and let vs consider them indifferentlye For at the first beginning of their pontificall prowde kingdome they thought good to ordeine lawes that so vnto vs at this time their aunswere for lacke of reason and scripture might yet be Nos legem habemus c. We haue a law ▪ and by this law we defend our doings and fréedome by this we rule by this we raign And what be their lawes ouer vile to abhominable I warrant you They be these The Pope be he neuer so euill yet must you coniecture and ghesse him to be good Though we know him to be lewd yet lo we must ghesse that he is not so O execrable blindnesse The Pope graūteth the authoritie of the sword that is of a Princely gouernement Is not this a passing pride The Pope is not only in spirituall causes the chiefe but also in temporall O mightie ioly Monarch The Pope hath all lawes O hollow place and not holie conteyned within his breast No man maye hate him Take héede of that you may not mislike him He may dispense in things contrarie vnto the Apostles No maruaile for that is the right propertie of Antichrist All questions concerning faith he must determine And must he be the very touchstone shall holye scripture be so excluded His mynde is to bee preferred before all the bishops In déede that is the next waye to reigne Of manslaughter or adulterie he may in no wise be accused No though he be neuer such a whoremonger though he murther neuer so many Yea and that we should go into hell in déede there to beare him companie their law is that we must follow him we must kill if he kill we must do as he doth Et sperent te tartararegem Must wée serue him in hell He may not looke for Rhadamanthus place he is no such Executor of iustice Let him take heede that he come not vnder Tisiphones handes With the rest of their lawes what shoulde I trouble thée they are if it maye be than these a great deale worse I will not much scan vppon their impietie there is no person that can reade the thing vprightlye considered but will and may regarde them accordingly Onely thus much I say if pride if couetousnesse if desire alone and onelye to raigne hath bene the grounde and was the verie cause why such lewd lawes were made if Sathan was the subtile secretary therin why trouble we our selues why torment we our consciences why care we ought for them we see his authoritie let his pardons alone haue not to doe with his dispensations Papa quandoque nimium papaliter dispensat The Pope thus saieth his owne Lawyer doth sometimes too popishly dispense What authorities the bishop of Rome hath specially to maintain his estate you haue heard Now what authorities be against him let his friendes be contented to heare I will be briefe I wil not be partiall To begin I néede not with the primitiue estate of Christ his Churche wherein we can finde no such primacie no superiority amongst the Apostles who then all hauing receyued the holye ghost alike did preache the Gospell and so faithfully did set forth the truth without pride without chalence of the highest roome or once mention of any supreme heade to be had or exercised among them Let the Popes owne authorities preuayle let his euidences be seene are not the wordes thereof these Although Peter Iames and Iohn were preferred by our Sauiour in a maner aboue the rest yet claymed not they any glorie or title of primacie and shal then the Pope claime that which Peter neyther would nor could not In the time first of Cyprian we reade that certaine lewde Priests being worthily condemned by the Bishops of Aphrica ranne to Rome that by the Bishop there they might haue the matter farther discussed Ciprian findeth great fault with the hearing of them and writeth thereof vnto Lucius then bishop of Rome saying that vnto euery bishop a portion of Christes flock is committed who shall render accordingly an account for the same and that therefore these men ought to be tried as in dede they were in Aphrica and that by and vnder their owne bishops he writeth likewise at large concerning the same and
of dealing which yet I so little feared as were the punishment neuer so harde were it neuer so great I was contented yea verye willing felt I my selfe to abide it But in steade of extremity it is best to confesse the troth I founde much clemencie I founde in those whome before I lytle regarded great wisedome good learning much grauitie Which thing as I did at the first in a maner vnwillinglie so rooted was the disease consider so in time how I know not I began somewhat better to lyke it So that oftentimes weying the iudgement of the learned men that talked with mée to be short waying all and indifferentlye wyth my selfe I was diuerselye minded a maruaile it was that one mynde in one bodie shoulde be so wauering my thought was mooued my hart was in a maner amazed it made me to thinke vpon the estate of Augustine who forsaking the Manichees stood at a stay somewhat doubting which way to take Here what shoulde I doe I desired méekelie that God woulde strength me in the true fayth that he woulde vouchsafe of his great mercie to open the knowledge vnto me of the right way And what folowed anone I was minded to examine better and with good héede to consider which thing hithervnto I might not away with the writings of such as before I mislyked detested abhorred Mée thought also that in reading of mans workes the Scripture onely excepted men might by good reason vse the gift that God gaue them their discretion their owne iudgement specially in things dissonant from holy scripture Yea were he Augustine Ambrose Hierome or any other were he of neuer so great antiquitie neuer so learned had he written neuer so great volumes yet lawfull I sawe it was that we might say as Papias the scholer of S. Iohn the Euangelist did say Non multa dicentibus sed vera tradentibus auscultandum est we must hearken and obey those which set forth the truth not that say or write much Wherevnto S. Augustine himselfe did also in these wordes much further me Neyther shoulde we so esteeme the writinges of men although they bee Catholique and good as the Canonicall scriptures and as though it were not lawfull for vs sauing the reuerence due vnto such to reproue some things in their writinges and to refuse it if we fortune to fynde that they haue thought otherwyse than the truth doeth allowe and the same through the deuine helpe beeing better vnderstanded by other or by vs. Againe concerning the reading of bookes or talke to be had with the contrarie side for all is one Ye coulde sayeth he at no time allowe anye thing in vs your Byshoppes with whome wee talked would neuer peaceablye reason with vs flying as it were to talke with sinners Who can away wyth this pride as though the Apostle Saint Paule talked not with sinners yea and wyth men passing euill Touching also the wryting and decrées of any Byshop yea the Byshop of Rome is not here excepted thus he sayth We may argue and doubt of the writings of any byshop whosoeuer he be but we may not so doe of the holy scripture By any thing therefore hither-vnto done iudge gentle reader indifferentlie may I for alteracion in minde of rebuke and reproch be worthily thought guiltie I follow not mine owne phantasie I wauer not with the wynde the waight of reason of authoritie doth moue me So it followeth that when I was ridde from that superstitious scrupulositie wherein with others I was before ouer fast bounde when I felt my selfe at liberty to read with iudgement and to iudge the things I read with the holy scriptures the very touchstone of truth whē I perceyued it lawfull to pervse ouer the doings of eyther side then felt I loe my minde much eased and my conscience from that lumpish burthen wherewith it was before much cumbred nowe in a maner released Then so can the right hande of the most highest chaunge all felt I my studie to prosper the blacke cloudes to vanish away and the light of the bright Sunne to shine and appeare I will not speake much of fond gloses howe vnsauerie they began nowe to seme how the one contraried the other how few or none went faithfullye to worke Of fables of dreames of spirites and spitefull deuises of iugling miracles of feyned fiers of peruerse prophecies of christianitie and godlinesse most vngodly prophaned what should I say truely if we deale indifferently hauing a regard vnto the blyndnesse that raigned and vnto the enormities wherwith the world was ouerwhelmed we may well saye non est veritas non est misericordia non est scientia dei in terra there is no truth there is no mercye there is none that knoweth God vpon earth For was there any truth when toyes when stones when stickes when earth when ashes were adoured where was mercy when threatnings when force and when tyrannie preuayled who knew God when Gods worde was obscured and God himselfe scarcelye remembred when blockes were blessed when mothes and wormes when rust and canker was reuerenced Wo vnto him that sayth vnto a péece of wood arise vnto a dumbe stone stande vp For what instruction can such giue go we then vnto the former time let truth be sayde what finde we there superstition Idolatrie murther disobedience pride blindnesse deceit enuye hate whoredome and a verye heape of iniquitie This I speake not of heate but out of histories I report me also to the indifferent consciences of good people whether in the seruing of God there was any abuse yea whether any thing was almost in his right vse I report me to the whole worlde whether the church of Christ hath bene of a long time assaulted with diuerse and great offences or no whether she hath bene and that almost from the beginning besieged with auarice hypocrisie with lust and intollerable impietie to y e losse alas of many a christen soule or no. Some there were alwaies though in number fewe and though their workes were throughe the malicious pollicies of the aduersaries spoyled burnt and defaced that spake and wrote against wickednesse against sinne against abuses and against if I may vse the tearme honestly the beastlye life of the Clergie all ought to haue so done if any therefore nowe doe it shoulde he be misliked ought he to be reprehendeded is it reason that with Phocion he feele so much iniurie The Gospell was preached here in Englande euen when the foggie myst of ydolatrie was thickest which thing thoughe it appéere not so playne vnto vs why should we maruaile for were not the bookes by the aduersaries spoyled were not translations forbidden incurred not he the penaltie of the greatest excommunication who translated anye booke chapiter or sentence of the holye scripture into the englishe tongue and yet for all their burnings spoilings forbiddings and excommunicating we haue testimonies inough that the truth was here preached that
of Christians acknowledge y e truth that you sée embrace true and playne doctrine detest falshood abhorre foolish wrangling and wicked wresting of Scriptures Hither vnto haue we spoken of the abuses of the Church of Rome of the vsurped supremacie of their painted vaine Purgatorie and of their carnall vnderstanding of Christ his wordes spoken at his last supper But nowe wee will brieflye treate of the translation of holy Scripture into the vulgare tongue of singing of Psalmes and of such like things as they shal occurre which now are by Satan reprooued by his ministers repugned and by his chiefe defenders resisted And herein that I maye be indifferent I will vse such authorities as let Satan doe his worst must néedes be allowed Much a do many now make bicause they sée the holy Scriptures to be in the English tongue and that to the comfort and saluation of many a thousande But what trow yée is the cause that they finde themselues therein so much grieued Oh therein lieth the verie whole matter therein hangeth all the marring and making of their market For if the people once perceiue what superstition is will they thinke you be superstitious if they perceyue what Hipocrisie is will they be Hipocrites if they sée how hainous Idolatrie is wil they then succor Idolators if they beholde what blindenesse is will they delight in darkenesse if they doe vnderstand the ignoraunt abuses of times past will they perseuer still in ignorancie if they were deceyued blinded and moste shamefully abused will they then any longer followe dreames or delight in the couetous deuises of men when holy scripture is heard reade vnderstanded then are errors afraid lewd men amazed the deuil himself astonied This moued our forfathers to take great paines that y e scripture might be translated out of one tongue into another that so the more might vnderstand them that so the more might haue reade theÌ„ And touching any fault in our English translations if in some some thing be amisse who will maruel was not the truest auncient translation in the Latine corrupted and violated Doth not S. Hierome himself so say but I will answere such as pretende faults in our translation reade in the Church and except he defende himselfe well he is like to feele and yet I shall deale with him friendly of hys owne blowes And first I demaunde of him whether in a translation he would obserue the true sense or else séeke for y e Noune substantiue for Genders and Cases as hée hath done in the iudgement of all learned and good men the meaning of the author is to be folowed the hunting after words is not to be liked But what blameth he in our translation forsooth we haue not rightlye translated sayth he this verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It should sayth he be englished in the sixt of Iohn to worke as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worke the meate Oh sir and why not labour for the meate what I praye you is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is it not victum quaerere to labour for ones liuing you see herein your ignorance your wylfulnes the one or both you sée our true dealing vnderstanding plainesse To the rest Qui manducat me ipse viuet propter me How englisheth he this Marrie he that eateth me he also shall liue for mee And what Englishe giue we vnto it he that eateth me shall liue by the meanes of mee I praye thée Christen Reader consider this and sée who goeth néerest vnto the text yea who hath the right meaning he or we Doe not we liue by the meanes of Christ what liue we for him and is not he liuing fie why erre ye so much by the meanes of the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why speake ye here so much of the Accusatiue case hath it not the selfe same signification sometimes in the Genitiue Againe Qui manducat hunc panem hee that eateth saye we of this bread Hee that eateth sayth he this Bread What difference I pray you is here what fault is in our traÌ„slation yea it is true sayth he himselfe to saye he that eateth of thys Breade Is it true why iarre you then why séeke you a fault where none is Also Cum accepisset Iesus panem gratias egisset fregit dedit discipulis ait Iesus sayth he hauing taken Bread giuen thanks or blessed brake and gaue to the Disciples sayd Sée so to speak it how vnsauery how without sense he translateth Iesus say we tooke Bread and when he had giuen thankes he brake it and gaue it to the Disciples and sayd How sayest thou indifferent Reader who hath here the plaine sense of Christ his words plainly vttered he or we but he findeth fault with this worde it and why bicause it is Christ his meaning and so it ouerthroweth all his writing Let him for he hath had to doe with his Pronounes and Rules as late as I though yet I teach let him I say aske this question whom or what and he shall find that it answereth vnto this question But he is accurst which moueth such childishe iangling specially treating of the mysteries of God Further. Hoc facite make sayth he this thing This saye we doe ye Doest thou gentle Reader vnderstande the Latine if thou doest without anye doubt thou must néedes detest his quarelling But will he compell me to doe as he doth to fall a construing facite doe ye hoc this What blame finde you in this what shall no shame moue you shall reason condemne you shall no honestie worke in you well what followeth in meam commemorationem for sayth he the remembrance of me In saye wée the remembrance of mee O Lorde howe playne this is be not these the English phrases for a mans sake in a mans remembrance and not in a mans sake for a mans remembraunce Who then giueth the truest English we or you Let vs go forwarde Communicatio sanguinis Christi communicatio corporis Why maymeth he the sentence why bicause the Cup and the Breade may not like him The sentence is this Calix benedictionis cui benedicimus nonne câ—mmunicatio sanguinis Christi est panis quem frangimus nonne participatio corporis domini est The Cup of blessing which wee blesse is it not the partaking of the bloud of Christ and the Breade which we breake is it not the partaking of the body of Christ What fault woulde he finde here Marrie that we Englishe it partaking and haue not they themselues translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be participatio is it not so in the old translation what then can they make of participatio but partaking what remayneth wee being manye are one Breade Of sayth he the one Bread And what sayeth their owne translation vâ—us panis one Breade Good God! is it not a shame for one that would teach to be blamed in the thing which he himself blameth I know
one Euery parish had his peculiar God Against the holy Sainctes I will not speake the Sainctes were abused Were it in taking of a iourney in perill and daunger I put it vnto your owne consciences who were called vpon was not God in a maner forgotten and al this happened through ignorance through the want aswell of Gods word truely preached as of the Scriptures to be read in euerye mans language and receyued Let all therefore pray and speake in the speach that is vnderstanded For else when thou blessest with the spirite how shall he that occupieth the rome of the vnlearned say Amen at thy thankesgiuing he vnderstandeth not what thou sayest hee is not edified They further reproue vs for singing of Psalmes and to speak the thing plainly they reprehende vs for praising of God O Turkish blindenesse O Iewish heathennesse O hellish peruersenesse Did not Debora and Barak after the victorie sing the same daye and praise the Lorde Heare Kings Lords I will sing and giue prayse vnto the Lord God of Israell Who euer blamed them for this I will sing sayth S. Paule with the spirite and I will sing with the minde also Why then will they reprehende our singing ▪ Be yee sayeth he fulfilled with the spirite speaking amongst your selues in Psalmes Hymnes and spirituall songs singing and making melodie vnto the Lorde in your hearts You heare what the Apostle of Christ willeth vs to doe My songs sayth the Prophet Dauid will I make of thy name O thou most highest Whosoeuer therefore rebuketh vs for singing of Psalmes the same doth withstande the Scriptures and holye ghost But if they themselues do allow their owne singings why then disalowe they ours It is an vniust thing sayth S. Augustine that one should iudge another and not to be willing to be iudged himselfe Yea they themselues thus write Concerning the singing of Hymnes we haue the example of our Sauiour and of the Apostles Be not therefore any longer obstinate the Psalmes of Dauid we sing neuer go about to carpe our singing Many other things there be which in vs they doe blame I will touch ouer as manye of them as I remember and be briefe I will not be partiall my penne shall defend no vntroth it shall cloke no wickednesse Let Eurybiadas shake his staffe let as manye as thinke it their pleasure reprehende me so they bée willing to heare mée The truth I knowe must purchase hatred That made Geminius to be hated of Cleopatra Praxaspis of the King Cambyses Pantaleon of Lysimachus Phocion of the people of Athens Aristippus of Dionysius Why were the Apostles of Christ persecuted why were they hated bicause they preached the truth Why were a number put to death in the regions of Aphrica in Antioch and Alexandria bicause they professed the truth Truly it is hard to finde one without enimies who is vnto vice vntruth a professed enimie If all then be not my friendes if all deale not friendly I force not The faithful I trust will weygh with indifferencie my worke they will first reade and then iudge Much contention sayth the aduersaries is amongst our selues much varietic in opinion and great diuersitie in Religion Some will weare say they a cornerd cap some will not What vnitie is amongst these men This may soone be aunswered For what is a greater vnitie than altogither as we doe to hate blindenesse to forsake superstition to renounce Antichrist and to embrace true Christianitie wée all with one minde doe meane to labour for the meate which perisheth not our intent is to set forth the doctrine of Christ the same which the Apostles preached which he himselfe pronounced where can be a greater or a godlier vnitie than this there is amongst vs but one fayth one baptisme and one God What vnitie then is to be compared vnto this What if one if two or thrée doe not so well like the wearing of a Cap shall therefore for a Cap the Gospell of Christ be thus carped Will they not vnderstande that Theodorus and S. Hierome were not in all things of one minde Know they not that S. Augustine and S. Hierome did once contende yea and that Hierome accused Augustine with these termes ostentare doctrinam lacessere pueriliter certare with such others was this no discorde maye it please them to pervse their owne doinges and they shall hardly finde any one point wherin they do not disagrée Some of them sayth that Christ did eate himselfe some otherwise some write one thing some another some alledgeth this some that some say they cannot tell what Is not this a pretie vnitie and will they néedes condemne vs for a Cap let them consider howe amongst the verye Apostles there was some dissension yea and such as amongst two of them one was in an error Quia Petrus qui circuncidebat cessit Paulo veritatem predicanti for Peter who defended Circumcision yelded vnto Paule preaching the truth Came not certaine from Iurie and taught the brethren saying Except you be circumcised after the maner of Moyses ye cannot be saued Great dissension controuersie and disputing was amongst them and yet was the Gospell of Christ not withstanding perfite and good What was there not betwene Paule and Barnabas such sharpe dissension that they parted a sunder one from another you sée that amongst the chosen amongst the verie twelue trifling dissension sometime did happen Howe then may they require a greater perfection in vs than in the primatiue Church than in the Apostles of Christ they saye further that our Ministers which I somewhat haue touched before bée lewde and that they come into the Church for liuing and not for loue or zeale vnto Religion Let them speake this particularlye of some and wée confesse it If they say it vniuersally of all we denie it But is their owne profession so pure their monasteries so perfite that there are none peruerse therein be not these their owne wordes Some came to the holye order of Priesthoode not for deuotion but for welth And some went into Monasteries rather for ease than for intent to serue God What further were they negligent in their offyce dissolute in their behauiour ignorant in good learning ambitious riche and couetous Howe with what forheades with what faces can they blame vs when these blames be in themselues For our partes we will doe as Philip the father of Alexander was wont to doe We thanke them for their reprehension we shall endeuor thereby to redresse that is amisse Yet what so euer they alledge against vs let them neuer speake of ignorancie For none were so ignoraunt as they What was a greater ignorancie than to vse such Argumentes as these God is my witnesse whom I serue c. therfore the first See or seate is in the Romaine Church This is no ignorancie I speake it in earnest I dare boldly auouch that the
this else to say than if one haue true faith it is impossible but he hauing time should haue good works What doth he else here but exhort them to shewe their fayth by their workes to shewe that they haue true fayth I will be briefe and so bring them herin to knowledge the truth Whatsoeuer purifieth the heart by that a man is iustified but fayth purifieth y e hart therefore by fayth a man is iustified Howe commeth a man to be iustified Marrie as S. Augustine sayth non per suas vires nequeper literam ipsius legis quod fieri non potest sed per fidem not through his owne strength not through the letter of the law which can not be but by faith What further testimonies theÌ„ nede we why should any arrogaÌ„tly arrogate vnto himself any supererogatioÌ„ We knowe sayth S. Paule that a man is not iustified by the dedes of the law but by the faith of Iesus Christ And therfore we haue beleued on Iesus Christ that wée might be iustified by the saith of Christ and not by the dedes of the law for by the dedes of the lawe no fleshe can be iustified These authorities bee so full agaynst the aduersaries the places bée so playne that will they nill they they must yéelde and therefore in these wordes they subscribe These witnesses doe not onely moue but also so farre further that we must confesse that wee haue the remission of our sinnes and iustification through faith by Christ Yea and that before faith there was in vs no good workes whereby we should deserue that faith which is the free gift of God Now we here sée that in this they confesse y e truth and that they knowledge the Scriptures if theÌ„ they afterwards deny it be that to their own daunger not to our deluding be it to their owne perill not to our poysoning if they to shewe their follye or to vtter their arrogancie doe passe this scope séeking by wresting the scriptures by shifts and subtilties to shadowe the truth let that redounde to their false dealing not to diminishe out faith to their iugling not to our vndoing Let this be vnto thée Christen Reader a watch worde wander not wyth them into the wyldernesse â–ª staye with the Scriptures at the standarde of truth let Paule perswade thée let not the Pope allure thee let an Apostle of Christ â–ª instruct thee let not an Apostata deceiue thée This much of iustification The next thing and the last which we nowe will defende is mariage wherein sayth S. Augustine if puritie bee kept damnation is not to be feared Deus masculum foeminam propagandi generis causa nuptiali castitate coniunxit GOD sayeth he coupled man and woman togither for the increase of mankynde in chast wedlock But what will one saye néede you to write in y e defence of mariage is there anye man that maye or meanes to impugne it yes Else had not the holye ghost spoken in Paule that in the latter times some shoulde giue héede vnto the spirite of errour and deuilish doctrine of them which speake false through hypocrisie and haue their consciences marked with an hote yron forbidding to marrie We wil therfore bring forth y e testimonies of holy scripture and that from the first institution of mariage against this deuilishe doctrine against these spirites of error against such as forbid to marrie After that Heauen and Earth the Sea and all that in them is were made after the creation likewise of man the Lord God cast a slumber on Adam and of one of his ribbes he made a woman and then he sayde For this cause shall a man leaue his father and mother and cleaue vnto his wyfe and they shall bee one flesh Such was the first estate of mariage it was instituted in Paradyse Here is no exception of anye man no excluding of any woman no cause is here shewed no prohibition is made but that all men maye marrie This holye institution was so allowed of all and euery where with such sinceritie receiued that if a man should be fouÌ„d lying with a woman that had a wedded husbande then they both shoulde be put to death The Prophet Malachie doth bitterly reproue him that putteth awaye or despiseth his wife Neither in Moyses nor yet in Malachie can we finde anye one worde to prohibite matrimonie Reade from the first of the Genesis vnto the last of the Apocalipse reade the first reade the last you shall finde in no place mariage prohibited or any kinde of person of what calling so euer excluded O how godly is the state of mariage set forth and howe to marrie in Tobias O that aswel the maried as the vnmaried woulde reade and well weigh it Consider chaste Sara who though she kept not companye with those that passe their time in sport yet an husband consented she to take not for hir pleasure but in Gods feare The Chamber vndefiled is commendable the estate of mariage is honorable But amongst whom amongst a sort a certaine a fewe No. Inter omnes amongst all This is spoken vniuersallye not particularlye If amongst all then why forbiddeth the Pope to marie why defendeth he that deuilishe doctrine why maintaineth he in any rather fornication than lawfull coniunction with what face can he set forth that it is lawfull for one to haue loco vxoris si coniux dâ—est concubinam in the steade of a wife and if he haue no wife a harlote If the Reader be indifferent then will hee deale indifferently For my part I promise before hand I will not be partiall I like the vnmaried I mislike not the maried I commend both if they follow their calling But yet be he Priest or anye other person the flesh is frayle if he cannot abstaine let him marrie For it is better to marrie than to burne it is better to haue an honest wife than a wicked harlot it is better to liue in holinesse than in whoredome If one marrie onelye to aduoyde fornication non tamen ideo nuptiae malae iudicantur yet is not mariage therefore counted euill Well when began this deuilish doctrine through which men are prohibited to marrie had it anye place within y e compasse of holy scriptures No. And that the Pope knoweth well ynough The question was moued in the Councell of Nice there they laboured that Priestes mariages shoulde not be lawfull But at that time stoode vp Panutius the confessor he there expressed the Scriptures he perswaded the whole Councell he caused them to reuoke their opinion so was it left in euery mans will mariage was still lawfull What was not this a decrée of their owne If anye doe this thinke of a maried Priest that he ought not by the meanes of his mariage to minister the Communion and so doth therfore mislike his ministring let him be accurst Here is the