praedicare quae saluti animarum cōuenire videantur non pauca praedicant quae ad perennem animarum perniciem ducūt Whiles that the Romish priests endeuor as much as they may to preache many thinges which seeme to agree to the saluation of soules then teach they not few things which tende to the perpetuall destructiō therof The first point of their deuilish doctrine in seducing the blinde and ignorant people is this To tell vs that we leaue this article of our Creede vnbeleeued Credo sanctam Catholicam Ecclesiam I beleeue in the holy Catholike Church if we acknowledge not the Romane church to be the holy catholique Church As though that were true In the iudgemēt of all the learned and godly the Catholique Church is dispersed ouer the face of the earth not tied or vnited to any proper place as Rome or person as the Pope The Councill of Nice in tyme past committed the charge of the Catholique Church to three principall Patriarkes Rome Alexandria and Antioch which afterwards came to Constantinople Nilius in his booke de primatu Romani Pontificis of the supremacie of the Bishop of Rome sayth Quandoquidem quaedā prouinciae spectant ad ecclesiam Romanam aliquae ad Episcopum Alexandriae aliquae ad Episcopum Constantinapolaeos iam non magis subditae sunt Romano Episcopo quam Romanus Episcopus subditus sit illis Primacie by lymitatiō Forasmuch as certayne countries are limited to the church of Rome certeine to the Bishop of Alexandria and certeine to the Bishop of Constantinople they are now no more vnder him then he vnder them I gather by this Councill of Nice which all Papists of Rome do allowe that the Church of Rome was not onely accompted Catholique but also the Church of Alexandria was taken to be Catholique in like maner the Church of Antioch I am certeine you wil not deny the Bishop of Rome euer heretofore to haue bene as yet to be Pope therefore I inferre the Bishop of Alexandria and the Bishoppe of Antioch to be Popes Christes Vicars and so consequently to be three Popes and three Christes Vicars Haue you taught our English men so that there be three Popes three Catholique churches and are you put in prison therefore No no I know it is otherwise I take you to be hirelings Pope Gregory the xiii Greg. 13. of that name or rather by his right name Hugo Bon compaignion Hugh goodfellowe hath brybed you with his money that you should preach him to be Pope alone and none other Is this pretie stuffe vt amor nummi esset casus multorum that the loue of money should be the fall of many I will speake a litle more touching your Catholique church Athanasius saith Roma est metropolis Romanae ditio nis Rome is the mother church not of the whole worlde but of the prouince of Rome I wil not speake of Englād Ireland Scotland Frāce Dēmarke Polonia Suetia Bohoemia of Germanie Heluetia Prussia Russia Lituania Pomerania Austria Rhetia Vallis Tellina c. where the Gospel florisheth But is your church the mother church and hath your Pope gouernmēt and iurisdiction ouer the churches in Asia and Affricke It is well knowen that there is Christianitie in Asia Affricke Armenia Aethiopia Cyprus Constantinople and other places where the Pope dareth not once peepe for all his pontificalitie at Rome And in respect of all Christian assemblies faithfull members wheresoeuer the church is called Catholique that is meant vniuersall So that your church and all churches are to bee tried and knowen not by your erring councils canons constitutions decrees and glosses but by the word of God which is the touchstone of trueth Ireneus saith Lib. 3. cap. 11. Columna firmamentum ecclesiae est Euangelium spiritus vitae The pillar and buttresse of the church is the Gospell and spirit of life August de vnitate Eccle lib. 3. cap. 3. Augustine vnto the Donatistes saith Sunt certe libri dominici quorum authoritati vtrique consentimus vtrique credimus vtrique seruimus ibi quaeramus ecclesiā ibi discutiamus causam nostram There are verely bookes of our Lorde vnto the authoritie whereof eche part agreeth eche part beleeueth and eche part regardeth Church to be sought in the scripture there let vs seeke for the church and thereby let vs examine and trie our matters This I thought good to note here least that any of this faithfull congregation should at any time be caried away with the bare name of your catholique churche Nowe moreouer you seeke to proue your church by antiquitie multitude succession of person or place none otherwise then false coyners who will not haue their money knowē by the finenesse of golde or by the touchstone but by the waight by the sounde by the coyne and by the colour which they may easely counterfeite Therefore they alledge antiquitie vnto vs following that which was spoken vnto Iob by one of his friendes Iob. cap. 8.8 Consule quaeso priscam aetatem et compara te ad peruestigationem maiorum illorum Aske for the auncient generation and prepare thy selfe to seeke for the fathers Iob. 32.7 Prouecti aetate loquentur et annosi notam facient sapientiam Dayes shall speake the multitude of yeeres shall teach wisedome To whom I could answere by Iob himself euē in the verse next following 9. vers Magistri semper sapientes non sunt neque senes omni tempore intelligunt Iudicium The masters are not alwaies wise neither do the olde men alwayes vnderstād Iudgement Profectò spiritus ille in mortali 8. vers et afflatus omni potentis efficit eos intelligentes It is the spirit of God not yeres that ought to speak in man August ad Pet. Diac. cap. 34. If antiquitie should preuaile why then I pray you is the Church compared to a litle Barke or Ship which the more she is vpon the sea the more shee leaketh vnto a house which with age decayeth falleth to ruine to a Citie and the policie of it which is corrupted from tyme to time if it be not brought backe to the first institution to a mans body whereunto yeeres do bryng all kindes of euill to be short age is euen as sickenesse it selfe to the most healthfull and temperate body in the world I say thē that antiquitie alone ought to make vs thinke that in the Church there is a great sicknes and much filthynes that euen for this cause alone without any longer confutation it is requisite to bring a broome to purge it and to call for a Physition So farre is it off that for these things a man should mainteyne your Churche to bee pure holy as you do Furthermore I demand how you wil answere vnto Saint Augustine entreating vpon the threescore and fourth Psalme who sayth That Ierusalem began by Abel and Babylon by Cain The promise was made by
therein euen vnto the ende of my life that I may neuer swarue from his heauenly trueth vnto blindnesse and errour Psal 125.5 wherewith once seduced by false prophets I was holden captiue But nowe hauing the assistance of Gods holy Spirit the trueth of his sacred worde and perfect loue of the faithfull on my side I passe not what wicked Papistes speake or do against me their immoderate and vnciuill bitternesse proceeding from the furious and stormie passions of their poysoned heartes I may well lament but restraine I can not therefore I say Let the Papists here in England fret and fume and say of my name what euill or slaunder they can deuise let them write their letters to Rheims in Fraunce and from thence to Rome with the poste and certifie all the English Scholers there that the Popes scholer their owne companion and fellow student is reuolted from papistrie hath left the Pope in plaine fielde and quite denyed him protested against his blasphemies and renounced the deuilish dregges of all his Idolatrie So soone as these letters shal come to viewe Robert Parsons sometimes of Bailyol Colledge in Oxford they will name one Father Parsons Iesuite a Prophet or Southsayer for that he at Rome in the English Seminarie in a certaine exhortation made to the schollers prophecied that one or other of that company my selfe being then present amongest them shoulde degenerate from their faith and be the ouerthrowe of that colledge he confirmed also the profe thereof by example beginning with Christ and his Apostles Mat. 26.16 Luk. 22.4 Ioh. 6.71 pyking out Iudas one of the colledge of Christ that forsooke his master and then from the colledge of the Apostles he named Nicholaus that reuolted Actes 6.5 Apoc. 2.6 Nowe will their diuines declayme in the refectory pulpit of my sudden sequestration and estranging from their brotherly societie The triall and experience of their rash iudgement hatred and enuie mocking scoffing had pronounced against others giueth me sufficient notice that I shall incurre their like rayling and misreport I knowe that I cannot be voyde of their imagined slaunders in iudging me to be the first begotten sonne of the deuil I cannot escape their sinister exposition of all things to the worst wherefore I must arme my selfe with patience and seeing through Gods goodnesse I am reduced from the miserable captiuitie of blindnesse and errour to the true vnderstanding and knowledge of Gods holy trueth I neede take no great thought for their conceiued choller slaunderous speach and rayling wordes of Sathans prompting sithens they haue dealt so maliciously with my betters And as for their holy father the Popes curse with booke bell and candell it shall not grieue me at all neither will I take one vnquiet nappe for al his banning and cursing and seeing I haue renounced his Popish church wherein I neither heard the worde of God syncerely taught the Sacraments rightly administred nor the Name of God duely called vpon Seeyng that I say I forsooke the idolatrous church of Rome and haue so gone from it Dan. 6.23 3.26 as Daniel went out of the lyons denne and the three children out of the furnace and am come to that Church wherein the most earnest Papistes them selues can not deny if they will say truely and as they thinke in their owne conscience but all things be gouerned purely and reuerently in this true Church of Christ I haue a desirous minde to profit my louing countreymen according to the Talent which God of his bountifulnesse shall giue vnto me in preaching vnto them his holy word in exhorting them vnto watchfulnesse and prayer against Romish doctrine which is builded vpon false miracles and traditions of men beeing the fantasticall deuises of their busie braine for lucre and ambition sake fynally in warning them vnto amendement of life that both by their faith and conuersation Gods name may be glorified If thou art a member of that church the spouse of Christ whereof he is head and not Antichrist the Bishop of Rome it needeth not then good christian Reader much to entreat thee to take in good part this vnlearned declaration of my reconcilement made as it were ex tempore my selfe being in prison and wanting bookes to the great impediment and hinderance of this my discourse The beneuolence of the Papistes I seeke not for if I shoulde it were but in vaine I can not obteine it for that I haue with vpright conscience made a true rehearsall of such thinges as I haue seene at Rome yet not all nor the twentyeth part thereof but here one thing and there another and so fewe thinges in all and this I adde in the ende if they can not afforde one good worde by mee yet for good fellowshippe sake let them then say Requiescat in pace but let it be a solemne dirge for Aristotles soule who neuer knew the true God but euer liued in gentility blindnes of the trueth that he may be deliuered out of Purgatory where they hold him to be so that we may haue conference with him know of him whether it be substantiall true diuinitie such as he taught and set forth in writing or els whether it be Plato his diuinitie who was an Heathen or Gentile and which of them is best and as for the diuinitie which Christ preached and was deliuered by the Apostles and receiued of the faithfull they are not acquainted with God euermore enflame and direct me with his holy Spirit that the zeale of his trueth may throughly pearce and possesse my heart that I may safely walke in the wayes of righteousnes holines al the dayes of my life vtterly abandon detest all hypocrisie idolatrous superstition I. N. A declaration of Gods benefites towardes me a wretched sinner HOwe prouident a patrone and bountifull a father the Lorde of life hath bene vnto me his vnthankeful and rebellious childe his sundry and manifolde benefits doe testifie and this my vnfeyned reconciliation to the true Church doeth verefie the same yea the continuance of his louing kindenesse was herein principally declared for whereas mine owne natural corruption wrought dayly in me the banishment out of his fauour and the danger of reprobation he notwithstanding in consideration of my frailtie neuer withstoode to helpe me in all dangers both bodily and ghostly and to plucke me out of the pit of perdition whereinto the haynousnesse of my offences haled me by violence Oh gratious God howe shall I a sinner conceiued in sinne and brought vp in iniquitie worthily aduance the excellencie of thy loue who shal giue me a heart to conceiue this thy kindnesse whence shal I haue vtterance to sound out thy mercie Of my self because I am a vessell of wrath subiect to sinne death hel condemnation I can not conceiue so perfect a worke thou therefore which art the euerlasting fountaine of all goodnesse Ier. 2.13 Iam. 1.17 giue it me oh giue
faceretis tamen ipsa in vobis caueremus You woorke no myracles and yet if you wrought any at your hands we would take heede of them Iere. 23. The Prophet Ieremie saith Seduxerunt populum meum in mendaciis suis in miraculis suis They haue deceiued my people by their lyes and by their myracles Aug. in Ioan. tract 23.13 saith Contra istos vt sic loquar mirabiliarios cautum me fecit Deus meus dicens In nouissimis temporibus exurgent pseudoprophetae facientes signa portenta vt in errorem inducant si fieri potest etiam electos praedixi vobis Ergo cautos nos fecit sponsus quia miraculis decipi non debemus My God hath warned me to beware of these myracle mongers saying In the last dayes shal rise vp false prophets working signes wonders to the end if it be possible to bring the elect into error beholde I haue forewarned you Therfore the bridegrome hath willed vs to beware for we may not be deceiued no not by miracles S. Chrysost In Matth. Hom. 49. saith In fine tēporis cōcedēda est potestas diabolo vt faciat signa vtilia vt iam ministros Christi non per hoc cognoscamus quia vtilia faciūt signa sed quia omnino haec signa non faciūt In the end of time power must be granted to the deuill to worke profitable miracles that then we cānot know the ministers of Christ by that they worke profitable myracles but by that they worke no myracles at all S. August sayth Non dicat Ideo verum est quia illa vel illa mirabilia fecit vel iste vel ille aut quia homines ad memorias mortuorum nostrorum orant exaudiuntur aut quia illa vel illa ibi contingunt c. Remoueantur ista vel figmenta mendacium hominum vel portenta fallacium spirituum Let no man saye Therefore it is true for that this man or that man wrought this or that myracle or for that men make their praiers at the tombes of our dead and obteine their desires or for that these miracles be wrought there c. Away with these things they may be either the iuglings and mockeries of deceitfull men or els illusions of lying spirits Againe saint Chrysostome saith In Matth. Hom. 49. Per signa cognoscebatur qui essent veri Christiani qui falsi Nunc autem signorum operatio omninò leuata est magis autem inueniuntur apud eos qui falsi sunt Christiani In olde tyme it was knowne by myracles who were the true Christians and who the false but nowe the working of myracles is taken quite away and is rather found among them that be false christians Neither is the Gospel of Christ preached this daye vtterly without myracles The blinde see the dombe speake Your idols are fallen Your great Babylon is come to ground These thinges my brethren if you haue eies to see are no small miracles Saynt Chrysost sayth Chrysost in 1. Cor. hom 8. The conuersion of the worlde is a miracle Saint Aug. De verbo Domini secund Matth. Serm. 18. sayeth Modo caro caeca non aperit oculos miraculo Domini cor caecum aperit oculos sermone Domini Now a dayes the blind fleshe openeth not her eyes by the myracle of our Lorde but the blinde heart openeth his eyes at the worde of our Lorde And againe Ibid. Modo aures corporis surdae non aperiuntur sed quà m multi habent clausas aures cordis quae tamen verbo Dei penetrante patescant Nowe a dayes the deafe eares of the body be not opened yet many they are that haue the eares of their heart shut vp which eares notwithstanding are opened by entring of the worde of God Therefore I may rightly saye to you with other wordes of Saint Augustine de ciuitate Dei Lib. 22. ca. 8. Quisquis adhuc prodigia vt credat inquirit magnum est ipse prodigium qui mundo credente non credit Whosoeuer yet requireth myracles to bring him to the fayth is himselfe a great myracle who seeing that the world beleeueth remayneth still in vnbeliefe Matt. 27 4◠Whereas the Pharises said of Christ Let him now come downe from the crosse we will beleeue him Saint Hierome in Matth. 27. sayth vnto them Etiamsi de cruce descenderet similiter non crederetis Yea although he shoulde come downe from the crosse yet would you not beleeue him But it were a worlde to behold the glorious countenance of your myracles your crosses can speak Popish miracles your idoles can goe your images can light their own lāpes your holy water is able to calme the sea to chase away myce to make barren women to cōceiue If you doubt hereof cōferre with Master Cope Dial. 1. Pag. 18. whome as I thinke you knewe aliue were present at his burial at Rome in the English Church you knewe him a Canon of S. Peters church at Rome and one whom Cardinal Hosius greatly esteemed But now both Hosius and Cope are dead Conferre also with that worthy Prelate the Bishop of Verona your holy father Lypomanus I am sory welbeloued that you are so readie to approue your myracles with false reasōs and vnstable grounds howbeit such religion such myracles Saint Hierom sayeth Ad Algasiam Mendacium Antichristi Christi veritas deuorabit The trueth of Christ shall deuoure and consume the falsehood of Antichrist The heathen had their deuilish myracles in the temple of their false gods in effect true as may appeare by all their histories Reade Titus Liuius in many places Et M. Cic. 1. Diuinat Simon Magus who would be acknowledged as Christ wrought miracles So much touching your miracles Touching reuelations visions which are a kind of myracles wee haue the playne text which decideth this matter Cum surgens in medio tui Propheta somnians somnium ediderit tibi signum aut prodigium quamuis eueniat signum illud aut prodigiū quod praedixerat tibi dicendo Sequamur deos alienos quos non noueras colamus eos c. If there shall arise sayeth the Lorde in Deut. 13. amiddest thee a Prophet or a dreamer of dreames and that the signe or myracle which he hath tolde thee come to passe thereupon woulde turne thee away to strange gods c. thou shalt not heare him c. There are then both Prophets and visions true in effect and yet false in their ende and the tryall of them as wee may see by this text is the doctrine Likewyse when Saynt Iohn to the ende to keepe vs from false prophets exhorteth vs to proue the spirits 1. Iohn 4. and by and by he addeth Hereby shal you knowe the spirit of God Euery spirite that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God c. that is to say Proue the spirits by the doctrine which they preach
Therefore Saul Caiaphas haue prophecied but as Saynt Augustine sayeth as Balaams asse once spake August lib. 2 ad simpli quaest 1. yet for all that they might haue once spoken the trueth for the deuill himself to colour his lying sometimes speaketh the trueth Howe weake my brethren your reuelations be and howe small credit ought to be giuen therunto there is no man but shoulde know At Rome you haue them that receiue reuelations daily as for example A poore man there is in the citie of Rome of whome I doubt not but you haue heard who maketh men beleeue that our blessed Lady with her garde of heauenly mayds saluteth him and hath conference with him dayly This man is no otherwise then a Saynt counted among the Iesuits The Pope hath him to pray for him the people regard him as a holy holy man This man helpeth the citizens to bring the wood from Tyber syde to their houses of his gaine hee reserueth nothing else but that which is sufficiēt for meat drink cloth the rest he giueth to the poore Father Hieronimus Iesuite repetitour of the Logiciās in the English Seminarie at Rome reported that there was there dwelling an old woman I wil not otherwise cal her for I deale gently mildely with you which would as he sayd tell him euery thing that hee had done in his life time and when he came to her house at any time she would tell one of her maydes not hauing seen him that there was such a felowe comming vnto her house She also foretolde him that he shoulde become a Iesuite Hee reported in like wise how the Pope in diuers matters cōsulted with her He praised this womā out of measure sayd how she was greatly in fauor with God who reuealed such hiddē secret mysteries vnto her He cōmended thereby the happie state of Rome that there shoulde be such in that city as were worthy to receiue these reuelatiōs visions he counted her a Saint No dout if one that I knew at Cowbridge in Wales in the Towne where I was borne had bene there they would haue taken him as a Saint and familiar felowe with Christ For whē he was aliue as he wandred the countrey he made men beleeue that he woulde tell them their fortune what thinges had before chaunced in their time thinges that shoulde happen afterwardes euen vnto their dying day But this man as he was wont to saye tooke his reuelations frō the Pharies But the Romanists affirme that their reuelations come from God or from some Angell or Saint of heauen where as in very deede if a man had the straight examination of them I am perswaded they would confesse that they haue their reuelations from the Phairies or frō the deuill as the other had whereof mention is made Moreouer there was a rich man in Lombardy that had the like reuelations but farre more excellent then the other vpon consideration whereof hee solde all that he had and gaue it to the poore frankly For it was reuealed vnto him in a vision by Christ his Apostles and the same also confirmed with the bodyly presence of our blessed Lady that he should be Pope of Rome and should trāslate the See of Rome into the citie of Hierusalem This man not able to reade presumed to preach and gathered vnto him twelue Apostles who at his cōmandement preached in likewise They had many folowers and such as beleeued him so much the sooner for that he told them that hee had receiued a reuelation He was presented before Cardinall Bromeo Cardinal of Milaine who examined him and when he had tolde this vision he was dismist and sette at libertie They counted not this man an heretique for crediting such false reuelations making himselfe Christ choosing to him self twelue Apostles Oh my brethren deceyue not your selues seeke not to deceyue others that meane you no hurt It is but in vaine to swim against the streame It is not wisdome to mainteyne an error knowē I am sure your consciences are burnt with hoate yrons speaking and maynteyning lyes in hypocrisie Oh giue not your selues ouer into reprobate wilful mindes despise not the wisdome of God within your selues Seeke not to be offensiue and grieuous to any which bee of the Church of Christe Doe what you can Gods trueth is mightie shall preuayle Dagon shal fal down headlōg before the Arke the darknes shal flee before the light the more fiercely mās wisedome shall withstande the more glorious shal God be in his victorie the more you doe falsely slaunder the faithfull and true meaning ministers of God the greater shal their reward bee in the heauenly kingdom of Christ If you take my conuersion to the true church to be outwardly and not inwardly and the same to be spotted with hypocrisie I may bee sorye not for my selfe as though I were such a one as you take mee to be for GOD knoweth it is nothing so his name be praised therefore but for your rashnesse in iudging that which you knowe not It is God that is the searcher of mens heartes and none other If I recanted eyther for feare of punishment or for prefermentes sake you mought count me then if it were so as it is not to be farre worse then a Turke or Pagan who neuer receiued the trueth Howe can I be a Protestant outwardly and a Papist in heart with a minde to be saued You knowe that according to your owne papisticall lawes no man dare in cōmon assembly deny the Popes authoritie and afterwardes to name himself the member of that church of Rome I am sure that no man is a true christian which with his lippes doeth professe Christ and with his heart doeth flatly denye him As I doe acknowledge that there is a God a Trinitie in vnitie to be woorshipped who hath most gloriously beautified the heauens most plentifully enriched the earth most Angelically created man who hath ordeyned the heauen to mayntaine life and light the earth to succour and sustaine nature all creatures liuing in land and water to supply his wants nothing to be reckened named which he hath not most liberally giuen vnto man as appointing him lord and soueraigne but them his vessels and seruants Against hunger lest we shoulde famish he hath prouided nourishment against thirst lest we shoulde perish he hath ordayned sauoury liquors Against colde lest we should die in our nakednesse he hath giuen vs clothing As I acknowledge the omnipotencie of God and confesse the vnmeasurable greatnesse of his goodnes loue towardes man so do I verily from the very bottome of my heart detest your Popish religion embrace the vndefiled trueth of Christes Gospell I cal God to witnesse that what I haue already spoken with my lippes that doe I establish in my minde I beseech you all such as haue forsaken the Pope sometimes to praye for mee that it would please God to make me a profitable
one man speaketh euill of an other their deuotiō to the church is waxen colde charitie towards the poore is more then frozen c. And whereof say they proceedeth this heape of all mischiefe the ripenes of this impietie what roote hath it springeth it not frō the corrupt doctrine of the newe fangled Preachers Vnto all these supposed cauilles and most manifest slaunders for other are they not but slaunders and those meere supposed I answere whereas they speake of the godly liues of their forefathers if their liues had bene holy these their good works whereof they boast were not vndoubted markes of true religion For reade the hystoryes of the Gentiles let the liues of the olde Philosophers both Greekes and Latines bee perused and it shall not bee able to be gaynesayed that for the ciuill state of their life and the morall vertues they lyued as vprightly as euer your forefathers did yea and that in such excellencie that some of them were euen beautified by the names of the vertues themselues as Socrates the Constant Plato the religious Regulus the promise keeper Cato the sober and such like yet neyther did their liues proue their religion to be true neyther was heauē able to be scaled by so short and weake a ladder As for that they blame the liues of them that professe the Gospell thereupon inferre that they haue no true religion they speake more by their leaues then trueth wil warrant For the imperfections of Gods children and the sinnes of particular men are not auaileable to disherite them of true religion Gen. 9.2 19.33 2. king 11. 12. Matth 26.72.74 as the drunkennes of Noah the incest of Lot the adultery murther of Dauid the backsliding of S. Peter c do declare of whō to say they sinned therfore they were not in the right way were to conclude very impertinently without all rule of reason Now wheras vpon this weake supposall grounded vpō an vntruth ye misreport of the preachers of England saying that they allow all licentiousnesse of life it is cleane contrary for they diligētly exhort the people to amendement of life they condemne not good workes no they commend them highly herein truely you and they do differ they make workes to followe faith as the fruites according to that S. August August de fide operibus cap. 14 epist 106. sayeth Opera sequūtur iustificatum non praecedunt iustificandum You make workes the grounde and faith the roofe putting the cart before the horse and heate before the fyre The Queene goeth before her handmaydes folow not that she is not able to go without them but that as necessarily to the Maiestie Royal port of a prince such attendance is necessary so is it in faith and works You my brethren say that good workes are necessary thereby to merite heauen and deserue saluation But as the scriptures are flat against you euen so are the doctours also none of thē do beare with you they all beare against you We teach the people trueth you fables Wee preach faith and yet exhorte vnto good workes you seeke more for the huske then for the kernel We are not such as Cardinall Hosius misdeemeth vs to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naughtie and euil preachers neither preach wee any thing that Gods worde alloweth not How your Elders and our forefathers liued it standeth you in hande to consider of they put their sonnes into monasteries their daughters vnto Nunneries what they did they haue answered if they did well they are pardoned by mercie in the promise made vnto Abraham if euil no mā shal haue a crowne but hee that fighteth lawfully yet herein ye offer them a great deale of wrong that as blind guides leading them into by-pathes robbing thē of their inheritance spoiling thē of the trueth of Gods worde ye put the sheepe to answere for the blindnesse of the shepheard That they liued in ignorance it can not bee denyed it was not of faith Rom. 10.14 for it was not grounded vpon the writtē word of God They did as they were taught if they had bene taught better better woulde they haue done yet is it not fit that we shoulde condēne any mans seruant whether he stande or fall Neither is their early rising to Mattens to their Complyn at midnight their going barelegged and barefoote their fasting and wilful pouertie their hard lying their whippings their going in sackecloth their lōg praying in the streetes nor all other the like practises able to drawe vs from the trueth nay what wil ye answere when God shall aske you Esa 10.12 Mat. 15.9 Why did ye worship me with mens traditions who hath required this at your handes Reade the booke entituled Hierosolomitanus peregrinus you shal finde that the Turkes liue more austerely in their Monasteries and abroad then euer any of you did It were too long to rehearse their outwarde godlinesse they fast and pray as you doe they build Temples they maintayne hospitals they visit the sicke they pray in the night time more then you doe and the day tyme they spend either in prayer or in some good woorke They clothe the naked feede the hungry harbor the harborlesse they followe you in al points of good woorks yea and they farre surpasse you For proofe hereof I referre you to the reading of their Histories yet will ye not say I thinke that the Turkes for all their good workes are like to bee saued If this were a good argument that by good works men are saued then could I reason thus The Turkes do good works But they which doe good workes shal be saued Ergo the Turkes shal be saued And whereas you say that they did well which make their daughters Nonnes For say you they serue God and our Ladie if their seruice be good commendable seeing that they attribute and apply that vnto our Lady which in Dauids Psalmes is spoken of God the father and the sonne iudge you For when they pray they pray after this maner In te domina speraui miserere mei domina dixit dominus dominae meae sede mater mea a dextris meis c. In thee O Lady haue I trusted O Lady haue mercie vpon mee the Lord said vnto my Ladie sit my mother at my right hand c. In such sort that these blasphemies which they call our Ladies houres were the chiefe deuotion of those that were most deuoute Nowe seeing the blessed virgin was put in Christs place I aske what remayneth for him and if because shee bred hym and bare him and brought him forth she accomplished the saluation of those that cal vpō her what then was there that he should deliuer himselfe to death for vs But let mee I praye you speake a worde or two concerning the doctrine of these false prophets which teacheth a man to be iustified by his good workes If I should iustifie my selfe myne owne mouth shall condemne