therfore are more manifeste Then he replyeth thus But euery secrete naughty minister can minister the sacrament effect though he be naught for secretnesse purgeth no mans conscience ergo a naughty Priest may minister the sacrament the effect by your own saying Thus the Canonists receiue the foyle are at Aug. hands boxed together with the elder heretique Donatistes for he proueth y t the sacrament the effect therof worketh caused by God not by the minister That the which doctrine of Augustine may stand assisted by another heare the testimony of Optatus Mileuit Episcop who flourished as Hierom saith in the raignes of Valentinian Valent which was about the yeare of grace .368 who was also in that time an earneste enimie to Parmenian an Archdonatist as his .6 bokes declare In which works talking of the effects of baptisme he sayth Has res vnicuique non eiusdem rei operarius sed credentis fides Trinitas praestat that is the which things to wéete the effectes of Baptisme are done therein by the holie Trinitie and the fayth of the receyuer and not by the minister of the Sacrament S. Chrisostome is not here to be omitted whose authoritie iudgement also shall ouerthrowe these Donatistes driue backe the iudgement of the forsayde reuerende Fathers who answereth as it were to a secret obiection of the people of Constantinople made as touching such as were baptized in y e time of the disordred estate of their church during his exile in Asia in this maner Sed multi inquiunt te absente baptizati sunt quid tum Nihil minus habet gratia non claudicat donum Dei praesente me baptizati non sunt sed praesente Christo baptizati sunt Nūquid homo est qui baptizat Homo dexteram porrigit sed Deus dexteram gubernat Noli de gratia dubitare charissime quia donum Dei est Attēde diligenter quae dicuntur Si forte aliqua causa sacra explicāda est Cum obtuleris preces subscriptā acceperis sacrā non requiris quali calamo subscripserit rex neque in quali charta neque quali quòue attramento sed vnum solummodo quaeris si rex subscripserit Sic in Baptismo charta conscientia est calamus lingua sacerdotis manus gratia est spiritus sancti c. that is But say they many haue bene baptized since thy departure And what then the grace is not diminished the gifte of God is not maymed they are baptized not in my presence but in the presence of Christ is it man that baptizeth The man in dede reacheth oute his hand but God gouerneth the same Doubt not dearly beloued of the grace for it is the gifte of God Marke what is spoken If perhaps any holy Scripture is expounded When thou shalt offer thy supplication to the Prince and receiuest it agayne subscribed thou askest not with what penne the Prince subscribed the same neyther in what parchimente nor doest thou also enquire of the yncke but this thou onely demaundest whether y e Prince hath subscribed or not So is it likewise in Baptisme the conscience is the paper the ministers tong is the penne the grace of the holy Ghost is the Princes hande These fathers also haue on their sides the sacred Scriptures to proue God onely to be y e worker of the effecte in all meanes vsed both for planting and increasing of the Church be it eyther in dyspensation of worde or sacramentes As Paule sayth to the Corinthians Ego plantaui Apollo rigauit c. I Paule haue planted Apollo hath watered but God doth giue the increase neyther is he then any thing that planteth neyther he that watereth but God that giueth the increase he that planteth he that watereth is all one c. Where now is their truth where is their brag of the perfect fayth boast of their holy Church y t erreth neuer If Augustine be of the true Church the Popistes are Apostataes If Optatus and Chrisostom be true teachers then they are Heretiques if y e scriptures are true then are these Popists false Yea where is also their harmonie their fayned agréement and cōcord Is it that the Canons of Alexand. Leo Gregorie and Martine their Popes thus brawle and disagre not onely eche with other but also with the truth For if they agrée it is as Donatists If they teach any thing in this behalf it is as the Donatists Yea if they know their roote it must be of the Donatists Neyther can it preuayle for the purgation of their Churche to bring Biell Beatus Thomas Duraud Richardus Scotus P. de Palu of opinion contrary to the Canonists and other of their Diuines whome Biell alleageth in .4 li. No not though they brought the whole Vniuersitie of Paris condemning Peter Lombard for an Heretique being of opinion with Bellem and Cardinall Alexandrinus writing thus Illi vero qui excommunicati sunt vel de Haeresi manifeste notati non videntur hoc Sacramentum posse conficere licet Sacerdotes sint c. That is but it séemeth that such as are excommunicated or manifestly noted of Heresie can not consecrate this sacramēt that is the Euchariste yea although they are Priests c. For that wil make rather to their open shame sith those Diuines and Canonistes thus standing in the heresie of the Donatists bene Papists not Protestantes birdes of their owne nestes Wherfore they must first proue if they will purge them selues of Heresie and discord that they agrée with the Scriptures and fathers and also among themselues in the truth or else must they denie their Doctors that is that Peter Lombarde is none of their Church that Bellem is none of their Churche that Cardinalis Alexandrinus is none of their Church that the Popes Leo Gregorie and Martine were not possessoures of Peters perfect chaire or at the least accuse Gratian for falselye fathering the Decrées on them which if they them selues do who shall afterward credite the same not I. Matrimonie Tatians IN the time of the raygnes of the Emperours Marcus Antonius verus and L. Au. Commodus as Hierome saith ruffled one Tatian a Sirian borne Eusebius saith in the .xij. yeare of the raygne of the same Antonius Verus which was about the yeare of our Lorde .175 Some other write that it was in the .14.02.15 yeare of the same Emperours raigne which is of the yeare of our Lord .177 or there aboutes This man being first a professour of Rhetorique gayned thereby no small glory The acquaintaunce of Iustine the martyr whose scholler in Christian Philosophie it séemeth he was stode him in good steade For so long as he liued he flourished in Christes Church as a sound Christian But after his death of a membre of Christ he became a rottē branch and an Apostatate So that we may say of him though in this world he suruiued Iustine yet that he
of further thriuing there practiseth pollicie to apply the Euangelicall doctrine of our Lord Iesus Christ wherin he was a Nouice and of mans saluation to his purpose but not without discretion For he that before among the Samaritans called himself God now among the Ievves calleth himself the Sonne and among the Gentiles the holy Spirite With whiche deuice this Pilgrime passeth daunted by Peter thence as out of daunger of shot to Rome where in shorte time he attayned if not to more yet to as muche godly reuerence as he before had to whom the Religious Romanes consecrated an Image with this inscription Simoni Deo sancto to Simon the holy God In all this ruffe it happened as Nicephorus sayth that Peter came to Rome wher this Runagate settling himselfe to stande to his tackle determined to play the prety man gaged the fielde and gaue his gloue to the Apostle contending by miracles and other his skill with him for godly honor and reuerence And this is he that before all other soughte by Heresie to stayne the true religion of Iesus Christ iustely is to be placed in the roote with Iudas as both destroyers of the common wealth of the Churche peruerters of gods order and breeders of the vvicked tree as Ireneus sayth Ex eo omnes substiterunt Hereses that all Heresies are grounded on him Thence commeth Menander thence commeth Valentine Elimas Manes Tatian Donatus Montanus Pelagius Marcion Carpocrates with the rest in this Treatise to be spoken of and an infinite number ouerpassed some holding Heresies of one man some composed by manie This is the Bore these are the Foxes that to their power destroy the Lordes vineyarde make hauocke both of soyle and soules He is the roote these are stock and trunck to the same Before the dayes of their father the Sorcerer the Church was a people not of one lippe but heart as S. Luke testifieth abyding in the sincere truth and obedience of Christes Gospell onely â–ª Then factions were not knowen scismes not practized lies and Heresies not embraced defended or out faced Then the will of man not esteemed and Gods neglected This vnhappy man hath begonne all This body of Heretiques hath continued the same hitherto But for as much as the Church in those dayes was stored with valiant souldiours in the vaward in the front of euery battayle that couragiously did handle y e svvorde of truth they little preuayled For as Peter agaynst Simon so Irenaeus Clemens Epiphanius Augustinus euery one in his time agaynst the reste haue lefte learned Volumes monumentes of their triumphes The which thing the subtile Serpent apperceyuing durst not afterward openly assayle the Church with proclaymed warre but transforming himself into an Aungell of light vnder colour of deuotion thorowe hipocrisie entred the same As Dame Artemisia Quéene of Caria did Latmù who minding to get the same Citie layd in embush hir army vnder the couert nigh therto She hir self accompanied with Maydens Women Eunuches with all kinde of minstrelsie as Pipes Tabers Timbrels such like opeÌ„ly in the face of the Citie entred y e Wood dedicated to Berecinthia y e mother of the Goddesse after the maner of religioÌ„ and deuotion than y e which there is no meane more sure to deceyue the ignorant blinde zeale to sacrifice Wher with the Latinians desirous to sée hir new kinde of seruing the Goddesse deceyued yssued out The fencelesse citie and carelesse people were by the lurking armie taken So that vnder countenance and cloke of religion Artemisia atchieued the victorie which by all likelyhode in open war she might haue myssed After the like maner the enimie hath behaued himselfe For he did sette aside the vse of the olde Heretiques his vowed souldiours odible to the Church through all ages the bare names of whome were a sufficient All Arme for Christs Knights to take speare and shield in hand and hath vnder a Vayle a Coule a Cardinals hat a triple Crowne as an Artemisia her rout deceyued y e world possessed their heartes and consciences which should be the seate and citie of God vnder the name of Gods seruice and deuotion in déede with Heresie It sprang in Samaria and flowed into Palestine but is at Rome gathered togither into one lake more perillous and noisom than Asphaltis With the streames wherof al Christendome is infected But to speake of the stocke or body of this our trée occasion requireth for thou parhaps mayst muse why I place Gratian with his brother Peter Lombard ther they being so long after Simon Magus his dayes Forsoth that thou mayst know that although the Church had gotten for a while an honorable peace and valiant conqueste as I before declared yet notwithstanding the Diuell that neuer ceassed to prophane the Church of Christ with Heresies deuising to build his Babilon in the Church by hipocrisie stirred these two persons brethren to followe the maner of the olde Heretiques Who alwayes séeking to haue a cloke for their follie manifest errors vsed for that they durst not stand to y e fier of the Canonicall Scriptures to haue certaine Apocrypha or faythlesse writtes of mens deuise to bolster and face out the same the which they paynted out with certayne glorious titles as the Gospell of the Hebrevves the Gospell of Eue the Gospell of Philip the Gospel of Nicodemê° the Gospel of perfection the Questions of our Lady the more the lesse the Reuelation of Adam the stocke of our Lady c. Of which sort Marcion his schollers had an innumerable many These thei vsed to set out with such faire titles not only to the ende aforesayde but also that they mighte sequester the simple soules from the certayne sure and liuely worde of God For so also Tatian not pleased with the foure Canonicall Euangelists composed out thereof his Diatesseron as a Quintessence of the same whereby they are surely conuinced to be Heretiques that choose to defende their cause or edifie themselues with any tradition or doctrine of men For the true marke of the Churche is the open and onely vse of the worde only wherevnto they haue recourse in the time of néede for their owne succour and tryal of other But the Church of Rome hauing gotten greate possessions and wealth as well by the Donation of Constantine so claime they it for theÌ„selues about Anno. 320. as of one Lucinia a very rich damosel as Polidorus noteth hauing long before that begonne to pranke hir self vp in hir ceremonies which yet were but as ragged cloutes then as richlier marted did aboue all modesty and simplenesse of the Gospell attire hirself with the vayne pomp and outragious preciousnesse of Iew Gentile to whome she is not inferior And being thus set a loft forgetting the breade and water of affliction wherein her heart remained chast and true in loue to Christ hir spouse followed
vse the same for polluting the Sacramentes and consecrated stuffe For he that sayth that a maried man may not touch a Chalice or such like consecrated stuffe as here Aquinas teacheth meaneth that it is not bicause he is a man but bycause he is coupled in mariage that defileth Is not then Aquinas a Tatian that sayth Matrimonie defileth the man coupled therein and the man the holy things And secondly doe not then the Thomists also y t which Irenaeus saith of Tatian Sensim reprehendentes eum c. They priuily therein reprehende him that appointed the generation of man and woman for he might haue deuised a more holye waye for generation And doe they not consequently condēning the same for naught or be it that they do but disalowe it appoynte it rather to the Diuell who is properly and onely the authour of al naughtinesse and vncleanelinesse than to God from whome no such order can procéede But here the Popistes wyll obiecte that the olde Tatians did condemne matrimonie in all men they do but dysalowe it in a certayne sorte To aunswere of the which shift for it is no reason I will procéede thus First prouing that it is an heresie not to leaue matrimonie indifferent Secondly that they dysalowe it in all men and count it vnholy First of all marke that the question is not whether the Popists are further ouer the shooes in this errour than are the Tatians but whether they are in it at all For although it be a more horrible errour to discommende or forbyd matrimonie in all men yet to doe the like to a fewe or special sort is also an heresie albeit it séemeth y e gentler For those seducers that Paule speaketh of who shall haue their consciences marked with an hote burning yron shal forbyd to marry are not sayd that they shal forbid this sorte or that sorte but simply forbid to marry so that as therein Tatian the elder is foretolde so likewise his babe yong Tatian and that Church for I dare say they found no such doctrine in Luthers bokes Let vs mark the words more déepely Paule in y e thirde chapter gaue Timothe instruction of good byshoppes and ministers duties and in this fourth he is bent especially in these wordes to paynt out what naughty and ill ministers and teachers shall doe as it were by Antithesis to giue it more life and willeth among other things that he shoulde assertaine the brethren what intollerable burthens the erronious spirites in the latter dayes shall bring in without care loue and regard of the congregation and weakenesse of the flocke and that in hipocrisie For as the nature alwayes of Heretiques stuffed with false harts and heresie is seming holy in outwarde appearaunce wolues in shéepes skinnes so they themselues will not set their handes to any suche burthen Vnto this sense doth Origen vpon the wordes of Christ fytly speake with the sayde texte of Paule Repraehendit huiusmodi praeceptores qui non solum quae docent non faciunt sed etiam crudeliter sine misericordia non secundum aestimationem virium vniuscuiusque audiētis sed maiora virtute ipsorum iniūgunt Vtpote qui prohibent nubere ab eo quod expedit ad immoderatam immunditiam compellunt that is Christ reprehendeth such teachers which do not onely not that whiche they teache but doe also cruellye and without compassion not according to due estimation of euery of their auditours strength enioigne greter things thā they are able to beare as they which forbyd to marry restrayning that which is expedient compell men to immoderate vncleanenesse Thus far Origen by whose wordes it may euidently appeare that it is a doctrine contrary to the truth of the Scripture an heauy burthen and doctrine of wicked spirites and tirannes to forbid mariage or restrayne it not only in all men but in any man that can not abstayne When as certayne in the generall councell at Nice which beganne Anno. 315. woulde haue mariage forbidden to the cleargie men alone as vncleane then Paphnutius as Sozo li. 1. cap. 23. sayth start vp saying Concubitium cum propria vxore castitatem esse that it is chastitie for a man to accompany with his owne wife wherevnto the whole counsell agréed Eaque in re nihil statuit sed eam in vniuscuiusque arbitrium nō necessitatem reiecit And determined nothing thereof but left it indifferent to euery mans owne wil. S. Paul also leaueth it frée and restrayneth no man there from onely he sayth to the woman quae nubat in Domino nubat she that marrieth let her marry in the Lorde Wherefore the true doctrine is to let matrimony remaine in al men indifferently that those that wil may marry euen of the cleargie And so it shoulde séeme it was practized As in .56 Distinct c. Osius There is .7 Popes rehearsed that were Deacons Priestes and Subdeacons sonnes c. Therefore the fyrst poynte is playne that matrimonie is to be lefte indifferent And that it is doctrine as beforesayd of erronious spirits to restrayne the same in any wise This notwithstanding all the Popes kingdome that is his cleargie for they are his proper and immediate subiects as the Monks Chanons Nunnes with all seculare Priestes and Regularies could not be to their orders and rules admitted vnlesse matrimonie contracted and now and then solemnized were broken and also forbydden and restrayned as in libr. 6. c. quod votum and in the Decretalls de conuers coniug per totum may appeare Of these the very Church and kingdome of the Pope immediatly consisted So y t all men whome he could peruert with his error were onelye admitted to his immediate iurisdiction And yet though this cursed Cowes hornes were so shorte that he coulde not sequester all men but onely those shauelings from matrimonie is he therefore of any better minde yea holier or sounder than Tatian was who admitted none to his speciall sorte but such as would not marrie Pardie his will was so For if a married man was chosen a byshop he must put away his wife sweare continencie his wife must become a Nunne though she were his first wife I woulde aske this question whether they counted them not the holier that vowed chastitie and abstayned matrimonie Aquinas sayth yea Then whether they wished not yea taught all men to pursue the same holy estate as beste which if they did then they condemned matrimonie But if it was not such a thing that they wished all men to embrace as an estate holier than matrimonie they then deceyued those that embraced the same aboue al other conditions and estates of calling and life for the best Of whome there is no small number as in the Chapter of Psallians hereafter shall appeare But it is most euident that they so did seing they prayed that al men might leade that single life as their Collect on the day of the Natiuitie of
knowen to simple men otherwise they were but braggers vaynglorious persons Whereof I would our Popists by their foresayd shift should rather than I accuse thē Be not amazed gētle reader to heare this their distinction of schole doctrine and Church doctrine which is as much to say as schole truth and Church truth But stay a while let me with thy pacience somewhat digresse and thou shalt briefly see y e factions of their scholes wherin they are brought vp and whence they bragge them selues to be good Schole men The chiefest founder of them and the only father that made their vnnaturall concorde for Diuinitie as the arbour declareth was Peter Lombarde who is partely receyued of his children partly refused as the 26. errors wherof the vniuersitie of Paris hath condemned him declareth From him the rest of the Diuines come Some are of the faction of those that are called Terminalles some Reà lles some Formals some Thomistes some Scotists some Occamistes yet al these wil be Catholique diuines and in the truth though they are thus in their factiōs deuided one agaynst another Qui Thomam sequuntur a Scoto Gersone dissentiunt eos penè pro Haereticis habent They of Thomas faction disagrée both from Scotus and Gerson counting them almost for Heretiques And this thing they doe within the schole walles very quietly and brotherlie though they warre abrode as Erasmus sayth Sed quid futurum arbitramur si Turcis vt Christum amplectantur Occamos aut Durandos aut Scotos aut Gabrieles aut Aluaros proposuerimus Quid cogitabunt aut quid sentiēt sunt enim illi vt nihil aliud certè homines vti audierint illas spinosas inextricabiles quaestiones de instantibus de formalitatibus de quid ditatibus de relationibus presertim vti viderint de ijs adeo non cōuenire inter magnos illos religionis professores vt frequenter vsque ad pallorem vsque ad conuitia vsque ad sputa nonnunquam vsque ad pugnos inuicem digladientur Vbi praedicatores pro suo Thoma cominus atque eminus pugnantes Minoritas contra subtilissimos seraphic os doctores iunctis vmbonibus tuentes Alios vt Nominales alios vt Reales loqui c. What thinke we sayth Erasmus would come to passe or be done if we persuading the Turkes to Christian religion should offer them the Occamistes or Durandians the Scotistes Gabrielistes or Aluaristes to peruse What would they thinke or iudge for they are as no more so men when they shal sée these knotty and vncleaneable subtilties of Instaunces of Formalities of Quiddities Relations Especially when they shall sée so much discorde amongst those their chiefeste professours of their religion that oftentimes they question hotely amongst themselues euen to reprochfull wordes spitting one at another yea and nowe and then the matter come to fystes There vpon the one side the preaching Friers in their Thomas his quarrell first skirmishing farre of wyth shotte at last aduauncing set on to the push of pyke and handgrypes Vpon the other side the Minorits coupled to their targets shield and defend their most subtile and Seraphicall Doctours nowe calling by the name of Nominals nowe Reals c. as aboue Where so many factions sectes part takings are all chalenging the name of Catholiques and of all some muste lye who can hauing care for his soule health iustly commit himselfe to their credite Seing they hauing so many factions neuer would open the same as yet to the simple to whome it appertayneth to know vnto what part they shall for reason and truthes sake encline Howe daungerously and with what care ought we to take their workes into our hands or reade the same But eyther as Vlisses passed the Maremaydes or else liued within the Witches Circes dores Wherfore it were wel towarde the discharge of their credit and simple dealing that those men that of late haue fayned names and belied sectes on others should truly set so out their owne in their proper termes so as the simple may know the schole from the Church or which part of their schole is of their Church Of the doctrine whereof Rupertus Gallus a man of no lesse holinesse than gret learning about .300 yeares past was by vision ascertayned that the Diuines then of their Churche were like vnto a man that hauing at his backe plenty of good and holesome breade not withstanding mambled a flint stone that he helde in his hande Now to returne But that the credite of Erasmus that Phoenix of our age may be without question omitting Picus Mirandula Nicholaus Clemangis Catherinus Compsanus episc with others that find fault with these seas factions of their diuines I wil rehearse returning to my place from whence I first departed the opinion of M. Shacklock his Roffensis which maketh mentiō both of the discord of the schole men heresie of their Diuines in this verie point Hoc dixi propter Patres quorum sententiam sequi malui quam Scholasticorum Cum in hac re mutuo sibi pugnent Patres enim asserunt neminem posse quicquam boni velle line speciali ▪ Dei auxilio nec sufficere generalem illum influxum Nonnulli contra Scholastici sic contendunt hunc sufficere vt quis absque illo auxilio benè moraliter agere bonum facere possit non solum ex genere verum etiā quod debitis vndique circumstantijs ornatum fit At si Scholasticorum argutias aduersus Patres admittimus sequetur etiam vt absque hoc auxilio Pharao quantūuis indurati cordis suisset ij qui traditi fuerunt in reprobum sensum potuissent bene moraliter agere mihi sane credibile non est that is I say so bicause of the fathers whose iugement I had rather follow than the schole men the which in this poynte striue eche cleane contrary to other The Fathers alleage that no mannes will can wishe good wythout Gods speciall ayde and the generall influence is not sufficiente thereto Contrarywise many schole men so reason that the sayde generall influence is of it selfe sufficient wythout the same speciall helpe So that mans will of it selfe is able to exercise it selfe morally wel And to do that which is not onely generally good but also adourned wyth all kinde of circumstances But if we shall admit allowe the schole mens subtilties agaynst the fathers iudgementes it would then also followe that Pharao although he had an hardened heart and those that are turned ouer into a reprobate sense shoulde be able likewise to doe so which truely séemeth to me not to be credite worthy Thus farre Roffensis who maketh so playne the matter of the schole mens discorde among themselues and falsenesse of their opinions in this point as that I néede not further to instructe thée thereof Yet that notwithstanding I thought it my parte gentle reader before I ende this poynt to
be true the Mice in our dayes might be happy and specially the Church Mice For some of them waying that euill men receyue Christ in the Sacramente fleshe bloude and bones and that by the consecration he is to the substance of bread c. so tied that he may not who would not else dwell with Beliall nor abide with sinners astarte but muste be touched of them and remaine with them do conclude that a Mouse Ratte c. may eate the flesh and drinke the bloud of Christ in the sacrament being holyer and purer than the wicked are F. Perin is of this opinion in his boke and asketh with the Canonistes what inconuenience can come thereof And S. Thomas is also on that part Here D. Gardener yet awakened by the last iobbe that Augustine gaue stādeth for the truth saying that no creature can eate the body and bloud of Christ but onely man While Tariers DOctor Smith sayth that Christ flieth vp into Heauen so sone as the bread is chavved in the mouth or chaunged in stomack But D. Gardener forsaketh here the Popistes in the plaine fielde both D. Smith his sworne brother saying there vvas neuer man of learning that I haue read termed the matter so that Christ goeth into the stomake of the man that receyueth and no further For that vvhich is vvritten cōtra Stercoranistas is nothing to this teaching nor the speache of any glose if there be any such vvere herein to be regarded And in diuers other places of the same worke against M. Cranmer appeareth which thou shalt finde gentle reader in M. Cranmers boke Fol. 60.64.65 Deuotion satisfactours SAint Th. sayth that the Masse is a satisfactorie Sacrifice by the deuotion of the priest and offerer fit satisfactoria illis pro quibus offertur vel etiam offerentibus secundum quātitatem suae deuotionis And before that Sed in satisfactione magis attenditur affectus offerentis quam quantitas oblationis That is the sacrament is satisfactorie for those for whome it is offered or also for the offerer according to the quantitie of the offerers deuotion For in satisfaction regard is rather had to the affection of the offerer than to the quantity of the oblation D. Gardener sayth agaynst it M. Cranmer burdening the Popists with the same Which maner of doctrine I neuer read and I thinke my selfe it ought to be improued if any such there be to make the deuotion of the Priest a satisfaction Satisfactories Reall DOctor Smith sayth the sacrifice of the Masse is the sacrifice that appeaseth Gods wrath and is our satisfaction and reconciliation Priestes do offer for our saluation to gette heauen and to auoyd hell What is to offer Christs body and bloud at Masse to purchas thereby euerlasting life if it be not the Masse to be a sacrifice to pacifie Gods vvrath for sinne and to obtayne his mercy This also M. Gardener confuteth on this wise The onely immolation of Christ in himselfe on the Altare of the Crosse is the very satisfactorie sacrifice for reconciliation of mankinde to the fauour of God And I haue not read the daylie sacrifice of Christes moste precious bodie to be called a Sacrifice satisfactorie But this speach hath bene vsed in dede that the priest should sing satisfactorie vvhich they vnderstode in the satisfaction of the Priestes duetie c. Reiterators DOctor Gardener sayth that Christes Sacrifice by him done on the Crosse is reiterated And then vve must beleue the very presence of Christs body bloud on Gods bords and that Priests do their sacrifice and be therefore called and named sacrificers Agayne The Catholique doctrine teacheth the dayly Sacrifice to be the same in the essence that vvas offred on the Crosse once But this variable man is agaynste him selfe for the truth in another place thus This is agreed and by the Scripture plainely taughte that the oblation and Sacrifice of our Sauiour Christ vvas and is a perfecte vvorke once consummate in perfection vvithout necessitie of reiteration as it vvas neuer taught to be reiterated but a meere blaspheming to presuppose Propitiators THese arise of D. Gardener who agréeth with S. Thomas That the Sacrament is a Propitiatorie Sacrifice thus The acte of the Priest done according to Gods commaundement must needes be Propitiatorie and prouoke Gods fauour ought to be trusted on c. The confuter whereof is the same D. Gardener in these wordes For vndoubtedly Christ is our satisfaction vvholly and fully vvho hath payed our vvhole debt to God the father for the appeasing of his iust vvrath Venialistes ARe they that teach that this sacrament doth purge veniall sinnes onlie as Barth Brix the glosser of the Decrées sayth And Pope Pascasius in the same Chapter the which Iodd Fan. and Archydiacon therevpon sayth Venialia tantū venial sinnes alone And Cardinalis Alexandrinus sayth also so with D. Gardener Mortalistes BE those that say it taketh away mortal sinnes also Of which sect S. Thomas is Et sic hoc sacramentum habet virtutem remittendi quaecūque peccata c. And so this Sacramente hath force and strenght to make strayght and blotte out all kinde of sinnes Breadworshippers DOctor Smith sayth that the figure of the bread and wine is to be worshipped D. Gardener sayth Adore it vvorship it there is not to be sayd of the figure so likewise Marcus Antonius Iacobites THe Heresie of the Iacobites dyd spring aboute the time of the raygne of Heracletus the Emperour And as Nicephorus writeth neere vpon the yeare of our Lord Gods incarnation .625 of one Iacob a Syrian borne an obscure person and of no fame who for the same his vnlenesse was called Zanzalus This man comprised a secte out of the former heresies which is as it were the sinke of all the filthynesse of the former ages And hauing made a medley of the errors of Arrius and Apolinaris doctrine as touching the humanitie and natures of Iesus Christ our blessed Sauior did also in outwarde ceremonies and adiaphorois expresse the same For alwayes the behauiour of any sect is to be fashioned outwardly according to the inwarde doctrine for else were the fashion monstrous and not naturall Therfore vsed they alwayes by their Church rites to preach the same effect of Christes humanitie and natures And the lyuelyer to expresse that Christ receyned not our nature a perfect soule and perfect body of Abrahams seede they vsed in the time of the administration of the holy communion the mysteries of the same very flesh and very bloud of Iesus Christ not to deliuer common breade leauened to the Communicants least they should seme with y e catholique church by the vse of the common breade leauened to confesse that Christ receyued and they in those mysteries deliuered a common body of our common nature leauened as sayth Nicephorus Iidem ipsi re diuina faciendo azymo non
or reade beside their owne Surely the Romishe cleargies ignoraunce was such that within these fiftie yeares as common reporte is they sayd in the vniuersitie scholes when gréeke wordes hapned to hand It is Gréeke and can not be read And what Latin they did vnderstand write or speake it is to common nowe to minde And yet were they proude in this their ignoraunce But I may not let passe to remember what gréeuous and haynous Heretiques they were counted that did read much more that expounded or talked of the scriptures in their mothers tong Wherefore sithens they were wholly vnséene in all good letters language and learning as wel shéepe as shepheard it is no maruell though they fell into error no more than if blinde guides or wanderers in the dark shuld do into the pit For whereas none can giue good counsell the citie decayeth as it did in the dayes of Roboā the sonne of Salomon who asking coūsel at the mouthes of the vnskilful by folowing the same peruerted the common wealth made scisme in the church of Israel And if after those dayes it happē Elias or any other of the Prophets to speake the truth in the folish eares of that ignorant and peruerted people then the husbandman with his forke who is winged as thou séest is redy at hand to strike Ah alas what a pitiful muster is now before my eyes of those whome that subtil serpent as touching the body hath slayn and as a raging tirant iniuriously murthered supposing to set forwarde his tillage by bloudshead as by Iudas he beganne But Iesus Christ our Lord hath set their soules with him on high out of whose ashes many rise in this our age to fight against this trée wherof the ouerthrow is at hand which God for Iesus sake hasten Amen Of the toppe of the Tree AS the loue of God toward vs or his displesure for our sinnes hath alwayes bene pronounced by vocall meanes in his Church so hath he likewise through all ages almost preached the same in certayne examples or paternes His loue by mercyfull his wrath and horrible displeasure by meanes right terrible Yea when we are eyther so deafe that we care not to heare or that our eares are so tender that they list not abide the breath of truth for amendment then pleaseth it him to preach to our enimies y t those that cannot also heare for wāt of true teachers may anticipate and go before them that can and list not heare in amendment and in repentance of life And as the same examples are after diuers sundry sortes manifested so likewise the table or matter wherein he depainteth or carueth out the same is not alwayes one Sometimes it is in the Skie as Constantine the gret viewed some say in heauen the shape of a Crosse a signe and sermon of Gods kindenesse ensuing So armies fighting and such like haue bene doctrines of his dreadful displeasure Sometime it is in the earth and frutes as well of the ground as also of creatures wombes which being deliuered in their right shape and forme are tokens of his louing kindenesse towards vs continued But otherwise being monstrous eyther in hauing more limmes than néede requireth or wanting to satisfie the néede of nature or else hauing all be notwithstanding misseformed in fashion or colour yea or mysseplaced are after their maner eyther signes to vs oute alas of hys anger or lessons of our blindenesse and to vs often times of both As our ruffed pigs and calues haue here in England of late dayes I feare me bene of both to vs. For al be it that the tokens that God oftentimes doth shewe from heauen to the earth are nowe then truely expounded for the vse and common case of all y e world yet is it not but to be construed as a common rule that the monsters of England concern properly that land As those of other realmes do the people of y e proper soyle which is speciall to them But bycause that heauen is the common goale or base appoynted for vs all These therein shewed doe circumstaunces considered concerne so many as thinke to attayne and get that same And it is an opinion no lesse probable than common that the huge monsters breadde in the intralles and depthes of the maine seas as long as they containe themselues in the same are not any speciall preachings to any one countrey bycause the high seas are in Nullius bonis appertayne to no man or countrey properly But if that they remoue thence and are cast vp or ariue in créekes shoares or riuers of any countrey then by common assent they abode or preach to their hostes something God tourne it to good Vpon consideration wherof I haue placed in the vppermost toppe of the trée this vglie shape A thing wherin the horrible confusion of Rome is sufficiently and properly preached and cōtayned in a little sūme euen as the floure frute or séede doth in a very small bulke or codde comprise the vertue of the roote stock and braunches being many ROME the mother of the world is scituate in Italie through the same there runneth a famous riuer called Tybre vpon the which there was in the yere of our Lord .1496 found this horrible monster the shape whereof is thus The head and mane of an Asse The body throughout is scaled excepte the breastes belly and wombe and those are the partes of a woman The right hand is the foote of an Elephant the left is the hand of a man From the buttocks there issueth a Dragons tayle and at the ende thereof a Dragons heade Vpon the one hippe there is an olde mans face The right foote is the foote of an Oxe and the left is of an Eagle or of a Gryphon But for as much as it hath pleased God to carue and shape the same amongest the entiere lompe and heape of nature onely out of and from the territorie of Italie and of all other parts from the chiefest part thereof And to fashion that various and diuers monstrousnesse into one body It can not but be confessed that it doth appertayne both onely to Rome and also signifieth a body politique risen in that cuntrey to a maruellous and most horrible confusenesse The kingdomes of the Medes Persians and Macedons c. is by the holy ghost foreshewed to Daniell in the shape of bodies naturall And it standeth also with the maner of Paules speach to call the Churche by the name of a body Vnum corpus sumus We are all one body sayth he speaking of euery Christian in the Church So in the Apocalips of S. Iohn the holy ghost also foresheweth Antichrist the eldest sonne of the Diuel sometime by a woman And his kingdome by a beast of many heades And sometime by a Cat of the mountayne rising out of the seas And in that this monster is the body of a woman whose ende natural is to beare children it
muste surely preach vnto vs that Church so deformed For the Church of Christ also is figured by Esay and Iohn in the person of a woman bicause of the birth and regeneration wherein the children of God are dayly borne a newe in Christ euen as the natural sonnes of Adam are dayly misseshapened in the church of Antichrist into the societie of the mysticall body of sinne and perdition The Heade is oftentimes taken in the scriptures for the Magistrate or chiefe Soueraigne Then whō or what people an Asses head signifieth in this place thou mayst gentle Reader easily iudge Nature teacheth vs that out of an Asses hed there procedeth but Asselike instruction that is doctrine worldly carnall foolish slouthfull wanton and gentyle As the Scriptures doe accorde therto so the same we finde in the Church of Rome as the thinges before specified declare The Scriptures vse this worde Ceruix which is the Necke for pride and stubbournesse which therfore in this monster signifieth the proude and stubbourne mindes that they in their blinde errors haue against the truth and very seruice of God The Scales wherwith the body is couered signifieth their friendes and Alies of the worlde ayding and succouring the same For in Iob we may sée the same sense The sea is the worlde as the Apocalips declareth And then consequently the fyshes the people and the Scales are their defence that they haue and vse So that thereby the Pope and his members are signified to be defended and succoured of the worlde after the maner of the same The Breastes Stomacke and Bellie signifie the Cardinals Priestes and religious rablement And the reason is bicause these partes are dearest finest and most necessarie of and to the body and to y e frute that cōmeth of the same So is their learned cleargie instructers and féeders of their blinde scholers figured therein And the two breastes are the works of Lombard and Gratian whence they drawe their diuers nouriture and foode Also it betokeneth thë volupteousnesse that they are in and vse euen past honest and ciuill shamefastnesse for the same was found as naked from couering as they whome it signifieth are voyde of grace Ready to be vsed of the whole world The right hande is as beforesayde the foote of an Elephant This beast is very huge cruel of might and courage strong And therefore the auncient warriours vsed them in the fielde agaynst their enimies to breake both the frontes and ranges of the valiant souldiors set in the vauntwardes of their Phalanxes or Squars of pietons or footemen And bycause of his strength they vsed to place vpon him more men than one in seates builte for the purpose And though he was very slowe of pace yet he did not easily w tdrawe himselfe from the ground that he once had gained no though he were withstode or assaulted by great force Neyther was he pliant in his legges bycause he wanted ioyntes therein and therfore could not be taught to bowe as mules horses such creatures are wherby also his legges are the stronger and the sturdier And the hande in Scripture signifieth mens déedes and outward life As Pilate washed his hands to declare and dissimule the innocencie of his déede So Dauid sayth to the Thecknick Nunquid manus Ioab tecum is not the hand of Ioab with thée which is the work or déede And the same interpretation might I proue by the like authorities out of both Testamētes so that the hande must signifie the déedes of that mysticall body politique being mighty cruel sturdy stubborne presuming vpon winning conquering all men not easily yelding ouer the aduauntage gotten And in that that it is the right hande it muste signifie their cleargie and Canons For as the right hande is most worthiest in his place so it is also the hande wherewith a man doth most nimbly strongly readily most accustomably doth his worke purpose But whether their decrées haue bene the same and done the like it may easily appeare to him that calleth to minde the horrible cole curses of bel boke and candle which the consciences not all only of séely men but euen the imperial thrones and crownes of Emperours haue trembled and quaked at for feare neyther could their puissance resist the assault of that Eliphants foote nor yet recouer the damages done thereby vntill this day This right hand is their spiritualtie and grieuous missegouernemente of their cleargie which is more excellent than the left hand for that is their ciuil power soueraigntie and might ouer and by the Laytie And if thou aduise thée wel y u shalt gentle reader assure thy self that some mysterie is in this That God hath placed the mans hande vpon the left syde and spoyled the right syde thereof Vndoubtedly to declare by a mans lefte hand a lefte faythgiuer promise breaker and dissembler For he with whome the Pope hath kept touch or assurance hath eyther bene to sharp or to hote for him Yea and the light breaking of his promises hath ben a doctrine authoritie and example for subiects to doe the like to their soueraignes and princes The Right foote is the foote of an oxe or such like And it hath his diuers signification For the foote is y e basest and least honoured of the members of the body Secōdly it is such as is subiect to al the powers motions of the minde other partes of the whole man is as I may say the page or groome Thirdly it is the membre that stayeth and whereon the whole man doth stande wherefore in this body politique it must for the basenesse and inferioritie for the subiection to the superiours and for the sustayning and holding vp of others the worthier partes signifie in the righte foote the basest sorte of the spiritualtie and in y e lefte the basest sorte of their laitie For Ieremie doth meane by the foote the baser or weaker sorte of men But of what maner or qualitie this their rablement of subiectes both ecclesiasticall and lay are the sundry kindes of féete doe declare The Oxe foote doth signifie their simple and doting Portifarie priestes Charterers Soulemongers and such like their Nuns Sisters Anchoresses and the reste Pardone preachers Ghostly fathers Decretaries and Summistes with an infinite rablement of Idiotes For by an Oxe is signified the blockishnesse of fooles and dullerds such as they are which in that kingdome do giue and occupie themselues in their contemplation and amaze thēselues in the milne of their inextricable subtilties and tiersome quiddities The Left foote which signifieth their laie subiects is the foote of a Griphon The former parte of which beast is an Eagle the hinder an Oxe this is one of the fore féete of the Gryphon wherewith he seazeth vpon his praie as the Eagle doth and signifieth those that in that body politique giue themselues to the life actiue and are gatherers rakers