the sayings of Fathers or the iudgement of the auncient Church but wholy rely vpon the opinion of the Doctors of Trent and the Pope They preferre the olde Latin translation before the original text of the Bible and allow no sence of Scripture but that which the Romish church approoueth Page 693. he maketh dissension in Religion to be a note of Atheisme but if that be so then hath he branded his owne consorts with a marke of atheisme For hardly shal you finde one article of Religion wherein the wrangling Schoolemen doe not differ one from another Bellarmine quarrelleth as often with his owne fellowes almoste as with vs. About the diuine attributes and notions they are not yet resolued If they durst many would dispute against the Popes Monarchye dispensations indulgences and such like The Masse as yet is not perfectly setled Page 696. he signifyeth the erroneous opiniōs about the head-ship of the Church are enducements to atheisme which being graunted then are the Papistes in a fayre way to atheisme For vnder the title of Christ the sole and true head of the church they admit Antichrist and bring vs foorth a monster not onely with two heades but with as many heades as Popes There wanteth therfore nothing but some Hercules to cut of these Hydraes heades and to restore to Christ his right of headship Further in euerye vacation they want their visible head which as Kellison saith giueth adauantage to Atheistes and maketh them to make a mocke at Religion They haue also some times Popes without brayne or witte which is as great an inconuenience as the rest Finally if such as teach erroneously of the presence of Christes body blood in the sacrament vnderstād not the words of Christes institution ruine Christian Religion and call all other mysteries of the faith into question as Kellison Page 698. resolutelye and peremptorily auoucheth then will it plainely fall out that the Papistes are ruiners of Religion and haue no assurance of any point of faith by them defended For as I haue before touched and shall else-where more plentifully declare they erre moste grossely in their Doctrine concerning the real presence and haue shamefully mistaken and corrupted Christes institution of that holy mysterie Wee may therefore conclude first that as the true professors of the christian faith in the church of England are moste innocent and cleare of this shamelesse imputation of atheisme moste wrongfully charged vpon them by this surueying or rather surfeting Sycophant so the Papists our aduersaries and the principall actors among them are much to be suspected that vnder colour of Popery they couer a secret poyson of atheisme Secondly if eyther our aduersaries or any other would with indifferent eyes and vnpartial iudgement consider eyther the articles of our faith which we professe or the deformities and abuses of poperie which we refuse and detest discerning truth from the slaundrous imputations of such wicked sycophants as this that then they would neither mislike vs for our forsaking the Synagogue of Satan nor allowe the impious courses of our rayling aduersaries nor long sticke in the myrie and filthie puddle of popish errors and indure his tyrannicall gouernement ALmighty God which hast told vs that Antichrist shal be reuealed and slayne by the breath of the mouth of the Lord Iesus and destroyed with the brightnesse of his comming vouchsafe dayly more and more to reueale him to all the christian world and to discouer his trecherous and murdrous practises to all true Catholikes and to dispell the mistes of calumniations lyes and forgeryes which his agentes doe dayly endeuour to spread abroad against the professors of truth that so the truth appearing both such as are in error may be reformed and the weake confirmed in the sincere profession of the Gospell the Kingdome of Antichrist destroyed through our Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus And let all those that wish the prosperity of Sion and the conuersion or confusion of Babel say alwaies Amen Amen An aduertisment to the Reader RIDICVLOVS it is gentle Reader for him that entreth into the Battle to complaine of blowes He that cōmeth to strike others must not thinke strāge if he be striken himselfe And yet I perceiue my aduersaryes blush not to complaine that heerein they haue receiued wrong They I say that come like wolues with open mouth to deuoure vs raile at M. LVTHER Maister CALVIN al the church of England as if it consisted of Heretikes Schismatikes loose liuers Atheistes nay of a sort of men worse then Turkes and Pagans finde fault with me if I tell them of their heresies Treasons Gun-powder practises Idolatryes infidelitie perjuries and other vilanies Whether they or we haue reason I referre my selfe to indifferent judges that shal read the Treatises of both the partyes HILARY in his Book against CONSTANTIVS thought it no fault to speake sharply if truely Si falsa dicimus saith he infamis sit sermo malidicus That is if we speake vntruth let our tarte speache seeme infamous Otherwise he challengeth the liberty of Apostles in censuring manifest faults Si vniuersa haec manifesta esse ostendimus saith he non sumus extra apostolicam libertatem modestiam Saint HIEROME apolog 2. in Ruffin thinketh it lawfull to barke for Christ because Dogges barke for their Maisters Canes latrant pro dominis suis tu non me vis latrare pro Christo Beside that when a man is accused of Heresie hee would not haue him patient If then we neither shew impatiency nor speake doggedlie but only report those crimes truely of which our aduersaryes are most guilty it is then our aduersaries euill conscience that pincheth rather then our tart stile that byteth To let Dogges baule without correcting were nothing else but to encourage them in their dogged snarling and barking and Bishop Iewell of reuerend memory and others that haue vsed this mildenesse haue greatly confirmed our aduersaryes malice This therfore vnderstand that it is not out of stomacke but out of iudgment that wee take this course of plaine dealing Phryx plagis emendatur The PHRYGIAN and such as are of his base humor are bettred with stripes rather then with gentle wordes There distemper is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as THEOPHRASTVS saith in sympos apud Plutarchum That is a drunkennesse without wine But it may be corrected with a sad and tart answere Further necessity forced vs for the repelling of their malicious slaunders to shewe that they are to bee charged with those crimes justly which they impute to innocēt men most falsely And it may bee if truth make them not cease their barking yet shame will make them barke more softly This is the reason of our doing which if thou be indifferent I hope thou wilt allow If enimie I hope thou canst not justly condemne And if thou beest experimented in these courses thou canst not chuse but acknowledge the same to bee both profitable honest and necessary Profitable to represse the malice of such Curres as continually barke against truth honest for the defence of the pious memorie of the innocent and necessary for the ending of these brablements If the aduersaries giue vs no occation to lay open theit faultes we shall be content to burye them in silence If they persist in rayling and reuiling at honest men they must haue patience to heare our free answer Against Popes Cardinals Monkes Fryers Masse-priestes and their seditious Salt-peter followers wee cannot want either wordes or matter This is that which I thought good to aduertise thee and which I hope will satisfie all if they bee indifferent If not indifferent they haue no reason to take vppon them to bee our judges nor we to vnder-goe their censure nor you to mislike our stile as too sharp and vnfitting Laus Deo
Rebellion of al discontented Persons and Papists Further they teach that oathes are not to be performed to Hereticks easily doth the Pope dispence with them Who then is so patient as to endure this simple fellowes foolish prating these cut-throate Priestes will murder honest men their soules shal sue them for periury is not this trow you a goodly deuice Whether he speake for his owne cause or against vs his idle talke is not much to be regarded that either affirmeth matters nakedly vpon his owne bare word or bringeth no better witnesse then Nicol Borne Genebrard Baronius Thomas Aquinas such like or alleadgeth Scriptures impertinently and falselye or else belyeth his aduersaries shamefully Against Caluin hee bringeth a place out of his Institutions as if he taught that by religion men might disobey Princes lawes a matter neither taught nor euer thought vpon by him To what end then bringeth he allegations out of Scriptures and Fathers to disprooue this rebellious position would hee haue all the world to see that Papists disobeying Princes vpon the Popes warrant repugne both to Scriptures and Fathers His skill in Diuinitie we may easily conjecture not to be singular For first he preferreth the will of man in his conuersion before Gods grace Religion sayth he is not transfused with flesh and blood but infused by God with consent of our will and operation of grace Secondly he maketh mans blood an oblation for sinne and a mediation of others conuersion Thirdly he assigneth Aureolam martyrum that is a degree aboue the coÌ„mon glory of Gods Saints as a rewarde due to Martyrs for their passion Fourthly he sayth Many Virgins haue liued in the flesh like Angels But to say that man can liue without sinne is Pâ—â—gianisme Lastly his groundes are out of Tho. Aquinas and the School-men Is it then like that his Babylonian building wil long stand His notable simplicitie is euery where apparant For seeking king the Kings fauour he rayleth on Religion professed by the King Pleading for the Pope he ouerthroweth the authoritie of the Pope For if the authoritie of Kings be from God then cannot Popes discharge subjectes from their dutie and obedience to Princes Shewing him-selfe vnable to write or to dispute yet most simply he chalengeth vs all into the field offring to dispute with vs. Lastly wanting other meanes he maketh the King a petitioner vnto him-selfe His honesty cannot be great that rayleth against the dead flattereth such as are able to fauour him belyeth both the liuing and dead By Popes sayth he alwayes Countryes haue beene conuerted Yet for many yeares haue they giueÌ„ ouer preaching and lately haue suffered the Turkish religioÌ„ to eniambe get ground vpon Christians He saith further That our Church began but yesterday that our teachers want authoritie that our doctrine hath the markes of heresie that we pull at Christs diuinitie make him no redeemer spirituall Phisitian law-giuer Priest nor Iudge but make him ignorant desperate and damned He chargeth vs further that we haue neither Priest Sacrifice Sacrament nor Prayer matters impudently and without all colour of truth auowched as shall plainly appeare by our answer If when he commeth to dispute he bring no more truth Children will â—isse him out of Schooles for an impudent and lying compagnion These being the principall poyntes and whole somme of this rude Orators pleading before his Majestie wherein no dout he hath made the fairest shew he could of such base wares We may easily imagine that his speech to the common reader is more rude harsh and disioynted In the beginning of his epistle he ruÌ„neth out like a wilde discourser into a long sencelesse and vnreasonable speach concerning inanimate vnreasonable creatures But it must needes be a dull dead and vnreasonable cause that hath such dead vnreasonable aduocates to plead for it He turneth the Sunne into a Cocke a Candle and birds into Carpenters brute beastes into hearbists But whereto tendeth this brutish discourse voyde both of the light of the Sunne and of the light of reason doth he place his consortes among feathered fooles or else among brute beasts from sencelesse creatures in which ranke we may place a good parte of this Surueyer and his consortes he leapeth to brute beastes and froÌ„ brute beastes to man And yet nothing he writeth that may beseeme a sensible creature much lesse a reasonable and discreete man The end and marke of all his wilde vagary is this to shewe that because God hath giuen vs a will wholy bent to good and an vnderstanding naturally enclined to truth auerted from all vntruthes he hath therfore made an exact Suruey of the new ReligioÌ„ as he saith But first these things hang no better together then if he should say he would to Rome because Totnam is foure miles from London and Doway is turned Spanish For man may haue an vnderstanding and will and yet frame no such false surueyes Nay if this surueyor had either had any vnderstanding or good purpose he would neuer haue imployed his labour in such a lewde peece of seruice Further neither dooth mans wil desire any good thing tending to eternall life or vnderstand any such thing so long as he is vnregenerate by Gods grace The wordes of the Apostle are cleare There dwelleth no goâ—d thing in my flesh And againe the naturall man vnderstandeth not the things that are of God Thirdly if mans will vnderstanding had beene so inclined as he pretendeth then would Kellison neuer haue liued vnder the yoke of Poperie nor beleeued the absurdities of popish Religion of which we shall speake God willing particularly heereafter Fourthly so farre is his suruey from exactnesse as a surfet of foolery from sound vnderstanding and reason Finally nothing shall this K. bee able to alleadge in our Religion that abhorreth eyther from reason or rule of good vnderstanding The mission and calling of our Bishops and Ministers shal be iustified against all the barking of Masse-Priestes and Iesuites The markes of Hereticks shall be wiped from our selues deeply imprinted vpon our aduersaries Our Doctrine shal be cleared from the vniust imputations of our aduersaries and euerie indifferent man satisfied that we neither empayre Christes honor nor deny his Preesthood But contrariwise the Papists communicate Christs honor to creatures his preest-hood to Masse-Priestes We shall also proue by plaine euidence that we vpholde the authoritie of Princes and their lawes which the Papists ouerthowe and despise Wee doubt not further to demonstrate that none of vs euer taught that God is author of sinne or cruell or tyrannicall in his proceedings Finally we should bee much ashamed if vices and all impieties were not better censured and punished in England then in Italy Spaine and other popish Countries These matters which Kellison vanteth that hee will make good against vs haue been not onely formerly obiected vnto vs by William Raynoldes and D. Gifford in their rayling volume intituled Caluino-turcismus but also
be saued redeemed But if Christ be not our formal justice thē his iustice was not made our iustice which contradicteth the Apostle 1. Cor. 1. If he did not formally satisfie for vs then he dyed almost in vaine and we are to satisfie for our selues If he be only the meritorious cause of our redemption and saluation then hath not Christ saued or redeemed vs but we are to saue and redeeme our selues as well as we can If by grace together with our cooperation we are saued and redeemed as this K. saith then we are formally saued and redeemed without Christ which only commeth in as a meritorious cause Beside that if grace here be nothing but charity or a habit not distinct from Charity as Schoole-men teach then our owne workes properly saue vs and not Christes Passion Finally if Christes redemption of vs from sinne be nothing else but a deseruing of grace by which we dispose our selues to justification if he hath freed vs from the tyrāny of the Diuill and captiuity of Hell because he hath procured vs grace by which we may resist maugre all the force of Hell and hath satisfied for our sinnes to obtaine vs grace that we may satisfie for all our sinnes as this wicked blasphemer teacheth pag. 262. Then is man the principall cause of his owne iustification and good workes should goe before iustification and Christ should not deserue to be called our redeemer or sauiour but a grace giuer that men might free and redeeme them selues And lastly not Christ should satisfie for vs but wee should satisfie for our selues All which poyntes are not only contrarie to Scriptures and absurd but vtterly ouerthrow the worke of Christes satisfaction and ransome payd for vs. In the third Chapter of his third Booke hee goeth on rayling against vs cryeth out with open mouth that we make Christ no redeemer at all and his reason is for that we teach that euen righteous men are sinners and that our sinnes are couered by the imputation of Christ his satisfaction and righteousnesse But his Collection is so foolish that if there were a whole couent of Fooles in place he might well prooue Abbot For Saint Iohn sayth that if we say we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and the truth is not in vs. And the Apostle Rom. 4. out of the Prophet sayth blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen and whose sinnes are couered And yet Kellison will not say but that these holy Apostles acknowledged Christ to bee their redeemer Our Sauiour also taught the Apostles to pray for the forgiuenesse of their trespasses Finally to say that a Christian can liue without sin is playne Pelagianisme Hierome dialog 1. aduers Pelagianos setteth downe these two propositiōs for the ground of Pelagianisme that a man may be without sinne if he will and that Gods commaundements are easie Saint Augustine likewise Lib. de haeres c. 88. reckoneth this assertion among the heades of Pelagius his heresie that the life of just-men in this world hath no sinne at all Neither is Kellisons exception of any moment For it followeth not if Christ make not men cleare without sinne that Adam is more potent then Christ because all his posteritie were made sinners For by the same reason it may be sayd that as all men were made sinners by Adam so all should be made righteous by Christ Furthermore the power of Christs grace exceedeth Adams transgression in this that Christ deliuered man of his meere grace But Adams posteritie by his transgression incurred the penalty therof deseruedly The Apostle sheweth that Christes grace exceeded Adams transgression For Christ pardoned many offences but death came by one mans offence He doth also charge vs that we affirme that notwith-standing Christes grace we cānot resist any temptation of the flesh or the Deuill that we cannot fulfill the Law in any sort that we cannot doe any good worke but must needs sinne in all our actions But if hee cannot prooue that we doe so teach then I thinke he cannot deny but that he hath sinned in this action Let him therfore name them that so teach and prooue it out of their wordes if he canne Or else it will appeare that we teach nothing but that which standeth with truth and with the honor of Christ in atcheuing our redemption But our aduersaries will not so easily acquit themselues of teaching lewdly concerning the article of our redemptiō through Christ For first Kellison teacheth pag. 261. as before is noted that Christ is only the meritorious cause of our redemption which is as much as if hee should ascribe the principall and formall cause to our selues Secondly he sayth that Christ gaue vs grace by which together with our cooperation we may bee saued and redeemed Which being graunted it followeth that Christ redeemed vs not but only procured vs grace wherby wee might redeeme our selues Thirdly both hee and his consortes teach that euerye man ought to satisfye for his sinnes cōmitted after Baptisme But if a man do satisfye for his sinnes then is hee his owne redeemer Fourthly the Papistes hope by the merits of Saintes to be saued and redeemed But as he that serueth many Gods serueth no God truelye so hee that hath many redeemers hath no true redeemer Fiftlye they beleeue that the Pope by his indulgences can redeeme soules out of purgatorie Which sheweth that Christes redemption is vnsufficient Finallye in the canon of the Masse they professe that they offer pro redemptione animarum suarum as if the Priest with the sacrifice of the Masse could redeeme soules By the verie same argument also Lib. 3. c. 4. he endeuoureth to prooue that wee make Christ no spirituall Phisition As if Christ did not cure our diseases when he couereth them and imputeth his iustice vnto vs and sanctifieth vs by the holy Ghost But if his argument were concludent then must hee himselfe also affirme that Christ is no spirituall Phisition For he will not denie I trow that Christ dooth couer our sinnes and that no man in this life is so perfectly cured but that hee committeth diuers sinnes To say otherwise is flat pelagianisme Furthermore he is a good Phisition that taketh away the paine of the disease albeit hée cannot for the weakenesse of the patient cure the reliques thereof altogether And Isay c. 53. saith we are healed by the woundes of Christ Yet no man will say that in this frailty wee are so cured that we sinne not Finally there is a great disproportion and dissimilitude betwixt the diseases of the bodye and the soule The paines of the soule diseases follow after this life the paines of bodilye sicknesses come together with the disease For the soule diseases God punisheth for bodilye diseases the Phisition pitieth the patient The soule diseases consist in disobedience and actions which being once done cannot bée vndoone But diseases of the bodie consist in distemper or other euill qualitie which may be remooued Although then the
or the obliquity of the action but that he directeth their wicked actions to good endes which is the Doctrine of Saint Augustine in enchiridio ad Laurentium and diuers other places Melancthon also is moste wickedly slaundered by this false and wicked fellow for he hath no such wordes as those wherewith hee standeth charged Neither may we doubt but this fellowe that hath such leysure to prye into all mens faults wold haue set down Bezaes wordes and any thing writtē or taught by vs if the same had made for his purpose Wherefore seeing this K. setteth downe his owne malicious slaunders and not our words he may if he finde anye inconuenience or absurditie redounding thereof take the same wholy to himselfe and not impute it to vs. He may also forbeare to prooue that God is not the author of sinne For vnlesse himselfe haue any such wicked conceite we know no man that will maintaine any such blasphemy In his second Chapter of his fift Booke hee chargeth Caluin further with teaching that Gods will and power doth so domineere ouer the wil of a sinner that he cānot resist Gods motion which eggeth vrgeth him to sin Matters vtterly false forged For proofe hee citeth Lib. 3. instit c. 21. 6. et 8. But there is no such matter to be found in those places There also he is charged to say that Gods will is a necessity of things But neither doth he say any such thing in that place nor if hee should say that Gods absolute wil doth impose a necessitie of thinges doth it followe that God doth egge and vrge men to sinne It appeareth therfore that this lying companion sought not to finde out truth but to oppresse truth and the fauorers therof with lyes and slaunders deuised by himselfe Thirdly he supposeth that we teach that Gods commaundements are impossible and that a man can as soone touch the heauens with his finger as fullfill the least commaundement But this is so grosse a lye as a man may almost touch it with his finger For although we beleeue that noe man in this frailty of our nature after the fall of Adam is able perfectly to fulfill the whole Law of God yet absolutely and simply no man teacheth them to be impossible Nay we know they were possible to Adam in the state of innocencie and that now by grace many commaundemets may be performed But suppose we should say that the Law cannot perfectly bee performed yet should wee say no more then Ambrose and Hierome do teach in Galat. 3. and Chrysostome in Gal. 2. and Bernard serm 50. in cant and Thomas Aquinas in Gal. 3. lect 4. He wold prooue that the cōmaundements of God are easie and light But therin he sheweth his owne lightnesse that condemneth himselfe for not performing that which he taketh to be light The rest of his illations are meere fooleryes grounded vpon his owne fancyes In his fourth Chapter he would inferre that wee make God a most cruell Tyrant because we teach that no man is able to performe the whole Law of God perfectly But his inference is most wicked and blasphemous and could not proceede but out of the blasphemous thoughts of a wicked Masse-priest Out of our Doctrine no such matter is to bee inferred For as in matter of debts the Creditor may iustly exact his owne the Debtor hauing bound himselfe to pay and after proouing vnsufficient vnable so man is iustly punnished for not paying his debt whereto he is boūd which by his owne fault he is made vnable to pay Luther de seruo arb confesseth that in this obscure light of nature and debility of vnderstanding man cannot see why God should not bee vniust condemning him that cannot chuse but sinne But yet he accuseth not God eyther of injustice or cruelty as this man would haue it but rather accuseth man of blindenesse and ignorance And yet others do plainly see that God doth most iustly exact that at the hande of man which by his owne default hee is become vnable to performe Finally he chargeth the reformers that they pul down the true God out of his throne and place an Idole in the same of their owne imagination And his reason is first for that all Heretiks are Idolaters and next for that we hold that God is the author of sinne and of a bad nature vnreasonable and cruell But if all Heretikes be Idolaters then as the Papistes are grosse Heretiks so are they grosse Idolaters holding diuers brāches of the Simonian Carpocratian Collyridiā Angelican Manichean Pelagian Heresie and of diuers other damned Heresies Againe if all Idolaters pull God out of his Throne then the Papistes that giue Gods honor to creatures worship the Sacrament stockes and stones Idolatrosly do pull God as much as in them lyeth out of his Throne Finally if we haue cleared our selues from all the iniust imputations of this Sycophant and shewed that neither Caluin nor any of our teachers do hold that God is author of sinne or guilty of any iniustice then I hope the very Papistes thē-selues wil be ashamed to heare such blasphemous termes proceed frō their teachers bee more wary hereafter how they giue eare to our aduersaryes clamours It is one thinge to crye loud and another thing to bring sound proofe Sycophants obiect great crimes but wise Iudges proceed according to proofes Chap. 9. That our Doctrine giueth due obedience and respect both to Princes and to their Lawes HOW wickedly the Popes of Rome haue abused the clemency of Christian Princes it would require a long discourse to relate This breefly may be verified that they haue trod downe the maiestie of Kinges contemned their Lawes and set variance betwixt the Prince and his subiectes from time to time And yet as if the Doctrine of Popery were cleare in this poynt this K. blusheth not to obiect the faultes of his consortes to vs. Like vnto Parmenian the Donatist who when hee might bee ashamed of his owne faultes yet blushed not to accuse innocent Catholiques Cum pro tuis erubescere debueras saith Optatus to Parmenian Lib. 2. contr Parmen catholicos innocentes accusas The difference betwixt our Doctrine and Popery in this point is very great We say it is not lawfull for any subiect to lay violent handes vpon their annoynted Kinges The Papistes are taught to rebell against Kinges excommunicat by the Pope Nay Pius the fift in bulla contr Elizahethā denounceth them excōmunicate that would not stirre against Queene Elizabeth and take armes against her Secondly we say that the King is not subiect to any forraine Potentate They hold that it is necessary to saluation for the King of England to be subiect to the Pope and thinke men bound to beleeue it Nay they say the Pope is as farre aboue the Emperour as the Sunne aboue the Moone Thirdly we say that the Kinges Lawes concerning Ecclesisticall matters are to be obeyed The Papistes giue all power in Ecclesiasticall affaires to