THE Aunswer of Iohn Gough Preacher To Maister Fecknams Obiections against his Sermon lately preached in the Tower of London 15. Ianurie 1570. ¶ Imprinted at London by Iohn Awdeley dwellyng in little Britaine stréete without Aldersgate 1570. ¶ TO THE RIGHT worshipfull Mayster Pellam the Quenes Maiesties Lieftenaunt of her highnes Ordinaunce of the Tower Iohn Gough Preacher of the word of God sendeth greeting in our Lord God euerlasting Amen BECAVSE ryght woorshipfull at your earnest request and godly desire I preached the 15. of Ianuarie last passed a sermon in the Tower of London in the presence of Doctour Watson sometime bishop of Lyncolne and Maister Fecknam sometime also Abbot of Westminster wyth others Sithens the which my Sermon the sayd M. Fecknam hath seemed by writing to condemne certaine articles contained in my Doctrine at that present and there by me taught That is to say where I affirmed that it was impossible to keepe the law of God he hath taken vpon him to affirme the contrarie vz. That it is possible and that it lyeth in mans power to obserue and keepe them Secondly where I taught that we be iustified by faith onely he denieth the same and therewyth teacheth iustification by workes Thirdly where I denied the inuocation of Saintes he affirmeth the cōtrary And fourthly and lastly where as I affirmed that all sinnes are deadly he teacheth the contrary Aduouching that there be some veniall sinnes therefore concludeth that all are not deadly All which his assertions he semeth very clarklye to ground and maintaine by the autoritie of the word of God and consent of the Fathers Which thing he hath in such maner and wyth such goodly glosing wordes blased and set forth that at the first shew he seemeth vtterly to beate me downe to the ground and maketh that my doctrine in the eyes of the simple and of such whose consciences are not as yet setled in true religion to appeare false and vnsound and therefore of no credite nor to be receaued I therfore thought it my boūden dutie to stand in the defence of my doctrine being sound and perfect and according to the sacred and holy Scriptures And bringyng M. Fecknams obiections to the bright shinyng Sunne of God his most holy woord hys gay cloked colours might be detected and made apparant to the eyes of all men and thereby the counterfeited mistes of his Assertions driuen away the true and wholesome doctrine of myne might be made the more manifest And therefore haue taken vpon me at this present to answer the same wherein I haue vsed this order First I haue aunswered euery article of the foure particularly and restored the Scriptures to their right sence which M. Fecknam for the maintenaunce of his errors hath very corruptly wrested That done I proue my doctrine true both by the Scriptures and Fathers so sufficiently that I am perswaded that all colours of caueling is remoued or taken away to all such as seeke the truth and onely seeke the same for the better setling of their consciences rather then for vayneglory or estimacion of men Hauing therefore now finished this my aunswer and defence of my doctrine aforesayd thought it good to dedicate the same to your worship that you with the rest of Gods Children may be the better setled and grounded in this most wholsome and sound doctrine of God his glorious Gospell And the other whose eyes are not yet opened God may in his great mercies hereby remoue the mistes of the false and corrupt doctrine of the Papistes from the same That they may yet now at length see how they haue bene seduced and deceiued and receiue the truth now also offered them to their euerlasting comfort Whych obtayned I haue my desire and shall in that respect thinke my labours herein well bestowed which I pray God for his sonne Iesus Christes sake may redounde to hys glory and profit of hys Church Amen Which thing as I haue well ment so I hope your worship wyll take in good part Whom I pray God so to behold with his most fauorable coūtenaunce that as he hath begonne in you and that in hys free mercies this his good worke and opened your hart to beleue his truth and your eyes to see the same perfect it in you vnto the end That you may dayly grow from grace to grace from fayth to fayth and from vertue to vertue vntyll you become a perfecte man in Iesus Christ to hys glory and honour and to your euerlasting comfort AMEN Yours to commaund in the Lord Iohn Gough Preacher c. ⧠The aunswer of Iohn Gough Preacher to M. Fecknams Obiections I Haue M. Fecknam red your cauelyng Obiections to certayne poyntes of religion by me touched and taught in my Sermon in the Tower of London in your presence with others Wherin as you haue corruptly wrested the Scriptures in your Assertions to the maintenaunce of your heresies So haue you also with like subteltie wrested my wordes of purpose leauing out such my reasons or arguments as vtterly made against you and reciting them maymedly you will séeme to triumphe before you haue obtayned the victorie And although the articles M Fecknam which you haue taken vpon you to inuey against and as it were piked out from the rest of my Sermon be already so sufficiently and learnedly answered by such as I vnfainedly acknowledge my selfe not worthy in respect of vertue and learning to carrye their bookes after them Whereby you myghte bee well remoued from these your heresies if you would rede them and in reading geue place to the truth which you onely ought to séeke and not your own estimation Yet least you should thinke I were not able to defend my doctrine which you séeme so to impugne with Doctor vpon Doctor and with certain wrested scriptures preposterously vnderstanded I shall God willing with so few wordes as I may and as my litle leysure from waightier studies shall permit and suffer me aunswer the same Wishing that God in his mercies will so open your vnderstanding that with humblenes of hart you may simply séeke IESVS CHRIST and the profit of his Church Amen ¶ M. Fecknams first Article 1 That it is not impossible to keepe God hys commaundement Which I did affirme to be impossible Your scriptures you alledge are these that follow whereof the first is Christ in Matthew 11. where he saith Tollite iugum meū super vos c. Take vp my yoke vpō you c. Wherin you triumphe ouer my poore lump of leade at your pleasure But if you weyed the text with a litle more déeper consideration you should sée that you are fowly deceiued For in that Christ calleth it Iugum meum my yoke he maketh a differēce betwene his doctrine and the law and that in respect of the straightnes of the law and of the easines of his doctrine and of that he requireth of his Children and Scholers But howe heauy a lumpe the law is S. Peter
meane repentance or faith without Baptisme or faith without hope or faith without feare or faith without charitie As though when we teach that we be iustified by faith onely that we speake of an opinion of fayth onely or of a dead or imagined fayth No no M. Fecknam you wilfully wrest our meaning herein And to say the truth I may much better herein woÌ„der at your peuish ouerthwart vnderstandyng of vs then you maruell at our subtile opinion or sensible absurdity For when we speake of iustification by faith onely we vnderstand not as you fondly imagine a dead or imagined faith but such a fayth as can no more be without repentance hope filial feare charitie c. the the sunne can be without his brightnes or the fire without his heate Neither do we speake herein of works before faith but euen of woorkes after fayth For we know S. Paules Maxime Roma 14. Quicquid non est ex fide peccatuÌ„ est what soeuer is not of fayth is sinne And Hebr. 11. Atqui sine fide fieri non potest vt quis illi placeat 1. But without faith it is impossible that any man can please him Our vnderstaÌ„ding is not so grosse as to mean of works before faith though you lust so to cauel herein with vs For after a true faith is conceyued by the holy Ghost in the hart of a good Christian he worketh not of hope of merite but of loue not to be iustified thereby but because he is so commaunded by his Sauiour Iohn 14. Si diligitis me precepta mea seruate If ye loue me kéepe my commaundements For a true faith is not idle but woorketh of loue c. Gala. 5. NaÌ„ in Christo Iesu neque circumcisno quicquam valet neque preputium sed fides per dilectionem operans i. For in Christ Iesu neither circumcision any thing auayleth neither vncircumcision but fayth that worketh through loue Not that therby we séeke iustification but therby our consciences be ascertained of our assured faith and iustification by Christ. And as for your fond exposition of the words of the Prophet Esay 64. Et facti sumus vt immundus omnes nos quasi paÌ„nus menstruatae vniuerse iustitia nostra c. And we are all become vncleane and all our righteousnes as a cloth defiled with filthy blood c Where you say that the Prophet ther speaketh of the works of the Gentils and of the vnfaithfull onely and not of the workes of the vnbeleuing man truly I do much maruell at your violeÌ„t wresting of the text rather to your peculiar fence then to the natural minde of the Prophet For I pray you when he spake those wordes was the Prophet himself either an Heathen or an vnbeleuing Iew I am sure you will say he was neither of them yet he saith omnes nos all we taketh him selfe in the number yet I am perswaded his faith was as perfect perfecter then euer was the best of the Papists take euen the holiest of them I pray you therfore M. Fecknam leaue your wilful wresting of the scriptures to deceiue simple soules withal geue place to the truth in time That we be iustified by faith onely is manifest by the scripture Iohn 17. Hec est auteÌ„ vita aeterna vt cognoscant te solum deum verum quem misisti Iesum Christum And this is eternal life that they may know thée the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent And agayne Iohn 5. Amen amen dico vobis qui sermonem meum audit et credit ei qui misit me habet vitaÌ„ aeternam et in condemnationem non veniet sed transiuit a morte in vitam i. Uerely verely I say vnto you he that heareth my word beleueth in him that sent me hath eternall life and shall not come into condemnation but is escaped from death vnto life Againe Rom. 3. Iustificantur autem gratis per illius gratiam per redemptioneÌ„ que est in Christo iesu i. And they ar iustified fréely by his grace by the redemption which is in Christ iesu And S. Iohn 1. Epist. 5. Et haec est victoria que vicit munduÌ„ fides nostra i. And this is the victorie that ouercommeth the world euen our faith I pray you M. Fecknam is not Gratis fréely as good as Sola fide by onely faith And that Sola fides onely faith doth iustifie euen your own Fathers of whoÌ„ you brag so much teach in most plaine wordes For to begyn with Origen first in his .13 booke ad Ro. hath these woordes Quis autem vel super iustitia sua gloriabitur cuÌ„ audiat Deum ê‘ prophetam dicenteÌ„ Quia omnis iustitia vestra sicut paÌ„nus mulieris meÌ„struatae Sola igitur iusta gloriatio est in fide crucis Christi que excludit omneÌ„ illam gloriationem que desceÌ„dit ex operibus legis i. But who shall glory of his own ryghteousnes when he heareth God by his prophet saying that all your righteousnes is like a most filthye defiled cloth The onely true glorieng therfore is in the faith of the cros of Christ which excludeth al that glorieng which discendeth of the works of the law Also S. Ierom in lib â–ª 2. contra Pelag. sayth Existimamus fide iustificari hominem sine operibus legis siquideÌ„ vnus deus qui iustificat circumcisionem ex lege preputium ex fide Manifeste ostendit non in hominis merito sed in Dei gratia esse iustitiam qui sine legis operibus credentiuÌ„ suscipit fideÌ„ i. We thinke that a man is iustified by faith without the workes of the law For because there is one God which iustifieth circumcision of the law and vncircuÌ„cision of faith It manifestly sheweth that righteousnes is not in the merite of man but in the grace of god Who without the workes of the law accepteth the faith of them that beleue The same Ierom againe in lib. 2. contra eundem saith thus Tunc ergo iusti sumus quando nos peccatores fatemur iustitia nostra non ex proprio merito sed ex Dei consistit misericordia That is Therefore wee are then righteous when wee confesse our selues sinners And our righteousnes standeth not vpon our owne merite but vpon the merite of God. Ambrose De Iacobo Cap. 21. sayth thus Non operibus iustificamur sed fide Quoniam carnalis infirmitas operibus impedimento est sed fidei claritas factorum obumbrat erroreÌ„ que meretur veniam delictoruÌ„ i. We be not iustified by workes but by faith For the weakenes of the flesh is a let vnto workes but the brightnes of faith shadoweth the error of dedes which deserueth pardon of our sinnes Also Chrisostom de Fide lege wryteth thus Latro autem credidit duntaxat c. For the Thefe beleued onely and was iustified by the most merciful god And here say not vnto me that he lacked tyme to lyue vpryghtly
omne bonū sine humilitate inanis vento glorie rapitur Multo etiā melius est peccatorem esse humilem quam iustū arrogantem Quod a domino euidenter ostenditur vt Publicanus Phariseus in exemplū adducuntur Sicut quidem sapiens ait Melior est in malis factis humilis confessio quā in bonis factis superba gloriatio That is Wherupon S. Gregory saith He that gathereth vertues together without humilitie is as one that beareth dust into the wynde For like as dust with a mighty blast of winde is scattered abroade so euery good thing without humilitie is with the winde of vaine glory disperced a sunder And also it is much better to be an humble sinner then to be a righteous man and arrogant Whych thyng is plainly set forth by the Lord as the Publican and the Pharisey are brought in for example As a certain wiseman saith better is in wicked deedes an hūble confession thē in good dedes a proud bosting But M. Fecknam I meane not yet to let this matter so passe but let vs return again You say that there is veniall syn and deadly syn And we say that all syn in that it is sin it is deadly and yet we say againe that there is not any one syn but that the same is both deadly and veniall Deadlye if the offender repent not veniall if the same be vnfainedly repented and by mercy craued at the hands of God in the blood of christ For the same God that said in Ezech. 18. Anima que peccauerit ipsa morietur The soule that sinneth shall dye saith also in the same chap. And whē the wicked man turneth away from his wickednes that he hath done and doth the thing which is equall and ryght he shall saue hys soule alyue Here you sée M. Fecknam lyke as all syn in that it is syn is deadly so again all syn in that it is vnfaynedlye repented c. is also veniall For although Christ sayth Mark. 8. Whosoeuer therefore shal be ashamed of me my wordes in this adulterous and sinfull generation of hym also shall the sonne of man be ashamed Yet our Maister Christ forgaue Peter that fact afterward because Exiuit et fleuit amare he went out and wept bitterly Again on the other side we ar not so blockish M. Fecknam to teach that euery thought is syn but euery euill thought that ryseth in the hart of man and is not resisted but with delight followed although it be not accomplished in act the same is deadly and damnable if it be not repented Math. 5. and 1. Iohn 3. And hereto agréeeth also these fathers with others Hieron ad Demetriadem de virginit writeth thus Distinguendum est autem inter istas cogitationes quibus voluntas fauet But there must a difference be put betwene these thoughtes which our will fauoreth and with loue embraceth And those cogitacions which after the maner of a dark shadow are wont to passe ouer the mynde and but euen onely in passing ouer to shew them selues which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of bare or naked forme or shadowyng of anye thing or at the least betwene those which come into the mynde with a certaine detestation strongly striueth and resisteth For the losse of the which as it sorroweth so it doth reioyce that they are driuen out In those truly which shewe them selues softly to the mynde and do declare them as it were fleing away there is neither syn at all nor yet battell But in these with the whych for a space the soule striueth against the which our wyl resisteth there is an equal fight For either we consent and are ouercome or els we withstand and doe ouercome and in battell get the victory Augustine also Contra Pelag. lib. 3. cap. 2. saith Quidam ergo filij huius seculi sunt c Some therefore are the children of this world and yet are not the children of the deuil For albeit the deuill is the author and chiefe worker of all syns yet all syns do not make men the children of the deuill For the children of God do syn also for if they say they haue no synne they deceyue them selues and there is no truth in them But by that meanes they syn by the which they are as yet the children of this world But in that respect that they are the children of God they synne not at all For euery one that is borne of God synneth not But vnbeliefe maketh the child of the deuil which syn is called their own As though it were alone if it be not expressed what maner of syn it is Thus you sée M. Fecknam our doctrine to agrée with the sacred scriptures and Fathers Although it hath pleased you in thys your aunswer to lyken vs to certaine of the old hereticks as to the Iouinians Maniches Valentinians and to Vigilantius and sutch other But this is your common practise to cry out Heretickes heresies c. whilest in the meane season you your selues being the very Heretickes and mayntainers of heresies may the better escape Much lyke vnto a false and subtile théefe who being pursued for his theft and running away himself cryeth Stop théefe that whilest the pursuers are looking for the théefe hymselfe being the very théefe might thereby the rather escape awaye So haue I now M. Fecknam aunswered your Obiections and dout not but hereby to haue sufficiently satisfied those whose delyght is not in contention and whose stryfe is rather for the truth then for vayne glory But amongst other thinges in my Sermon M. Fecknam hauing by meanes of Peters woordes to do with the liuing God I found your dead bready God in your Sacrament of the Aultar but thereof you speake neuer a worde which maketh me to thinke that you lyke not your quarel therin and so yelde to the truth and therefore geue it ouer in the playne fielde or by your taciturnitie consent and yelde to the truth according to the old prouerb Qui tacet consentire videtur He séemeth to consent that which is obiected if that he holde his peace And know ye also that in that ye cannot away wyth the name of the lyuing God but accompt those wordes to be the token of an heretick whosoeuer accustomably pronounceth them that hereby the plage which God threatned to the stifnecked and Idolatrous Iewes is also come vpon you Papists prophecied by Ieremy in the .44 cha thus Ecce ego iuraui in nomine meo magno ait dominus quia nequaquam vltra vocabitur nomen meum ex ore omnis viri Iudei dicentis viuit dominus deus c. i. Behold I haue sworne by my great name sayth the Lord that my name shall not bée rehearsed through anye mās mouth of Iuda saying the Lord liueth And now least you shoulde thynke that I were infected with the heresie of frée wyll with you if I should hold my peace and kepe silence and which to deny