should the Byshop of Rome haue done if wormyng out this ragyng ringworme of madd ambition and keépyng him selfe within his owne limittes and boundes of Scriptures modestly he would endeuour to bring to passe to become faultlesse him selfe and voyde of all iust reproche of deserued infamie Now beyng so pestered with botches blaynes on all partes what maruell is it if he complaine of pinching at the least touch of an vlcer Moreouer neither should our Osorius also demeane him selfe in any respect lesse discretly if laying aside this foule fashiō of flattering he would more simply and plainly deale herein with Authorities and testimonies of Scriptures rather then with disordered affections nor would enter into so contentious a brablyng about the Popes Authoritie before he had by good and warrantable proofes made manifest to the world by what right the Pope were able to mainteyne his challenge touchyng the sayd Authoritie Concernyng the ouerthrow of Mōckeries and Nunneries and their goodes and possessions scattered and spoyled although I can not deny but that they might haue bene in some places cōuerted to better vses yet are there no small nomber of Regiōs and freé Cities where those goodes and Selles are conuerted into Schooles of learning hospitals for Straungers and sicke persons and other good vses farre more seémely and profitable then when they were receptacles and dennes of idlenes slouth I dolatry and superstition I speake not now of the liues of these Caterpillers I touch not their hypocrisie I sturre not out the stenche of that puddle Bycause these are externall and incident to mās nature As for these beyng naturall diseases of the belly and the flesh I leaue to thē selues But I enter now into the due consideration of the very inward and best part of Monckish profession to witte the Rules of the order their ordinaunces their Statutes and the very foundations of their Religion I meane the whole course of Monckery which I do altogether accuse Agaynst this I do with full mouth exclame from the very bottome of my hart professe that this order of Monckery is wicked and detestable finally such and so wicked that if all thinges els within the same were founde yet this their very lurking in dennes after that maner of liuing can haue no maner of partaking with the kyngdome of Christ. Of other Monasteries other may Iudge better then I but of such as were in England I can speake fully of myne owne knowledge the first foundations erections wherof if a man behold it will euidently appeare that they were instituted for none other end and purpose then for the redeémyng of soules out of Purgatory for Remission of sinnes and for obteinyng of life euerlasting And what could haue bene deuised more cruell agaynst Christian Relligion or more repugnaunt to Christes Gospell Therfore as touchyng these Temples Dennes and buildyngs of Relligious houses I do not so much maruell that they are thus razed to the grounde as I maruell more at this that they could so long cōtinue to so great preiudice cōtumely and reproche of the Sonne of GOD. But it is euen the selfe thyng wherof the Lord him selfe did long sithence Prophecie Euery building that my heauēly Father hath not planted sayth he shal be pluckt vppe by the rootes But what holynes of Ceremonies do you tell vs of here Osorius If ye meane those old shadowes of Ceremonies prescribed in old tyme by God surely these vanished quite away immediatly vpon the discouery of the cleare light and bright beames of the Gospell And yet they did not so vanish away as I supose That ceremonies for ceremonies shadowes for shadowes or newes shapes should supply the old for what had this bene els then frō Iewishnes to reuolt backe agayne to Iewishnes But if you meane of Ceremonies deuised by men surely of such you may read the Scriptures greuously complatnyng euery where They do worship me in vayne teachyng the Doctrines traditiōs of mē And in an other place The houre cōmeth and now is whēas the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth And how often do we heare Paule the Apostle callyng vs backe from those hungry elementes of ceremonies and that very feruently If you be dead with Christ sayth he from the elementes of this world why are you then holden backe with ceremonies as though you were liuing in the worlde And to the Galat. How is it that you turne agayne to the weake and beggerly ceremonies whereunto agayne ye desire to be in bondage a fresh Now by what reason can you ascribe holynes to those thinges which are called in Paule Beggerly Elementes and are onely corporall exercizes scarse profitable to any thyng and which do rather make a Iew then a Christian man For what is Christianitie els then a spirituall life and worshipping Euen as God him selfe whom we do worship is a Spirite And the armour wherewith we mainteyne his warfare is spirituall our inheritaunce and countrey is sayd to be heauenly and not earthly For although we be clogged yet with infirmities of the flesh we do not liue as bondslaues to the flesh But are risen agayne together with Christ in Fayth Spirite and Truth seékyng not the uisible thinges of this world but heauenly neither betrayeng the freédome wherein we were called and agayne not abusing the freédome wherein we do dwell to the lust of the flesh But what fréedome of Religiō is this if we be holdē as yet bōdslaues to the Traditions of men Paule crieth out That one of vs should not Iudge an other in meate and drinke or in the part of the holy day or new moone or of Sabbathes And will Osorius tye necessity to the keépyng of these Be I not here taken at the worst I speake not this as though I thought simply that no constitutions of men nor ceremonies are tollerable in the Church without the which there can be no Congregations nor Churches of Christians in this life But this present treaty concerneth those ceremonies not which are brought in by any kynde of necessitie but by way of superstition not which come in for decency or order but are instituted as especiall matter of piety godlynesse In the which many men haue grounded their hope of Saluation the chief foundation of Relligion and hauen of affiaunce wherein they flatter thē selues and condemne others vpon the which the greater part of Catholickes now a dayes do fawne ouer greédely nor do onely dwell vpō them but euē bury thē selues aliue in thē And euē these Ceremonies do so nothing at all agreé with the pure and sincere Relligiō of Christ as that no pestilent botche can be more deadly cōtagious vnto it Of that which many famous godly men haue sundry tymes complayned bitterly and not without cause For wise men and men of experience did perceaue this to be true as it is most true that the effectuall force of the Gospell was
painted vnto vs there may the eyes of the soule behold him in them doth hee breath in them doth hee lyue in them doth hee reigne and triumphe My Dylemma or double Argument doth not content you wherein I did conclude agaynst Images to witte that hauing life there was no want of them wantyng breath there was no vse nor profite in them How you say theÌ„ hereunto may not 〈◊〉 parcell be iustified by the Scriptures Why doest thou cry vnto me sayth God the father vnto Moyses And yet Moyses in his prayer opened not his mouth Therfore the spirite beyng present doth present the prayers vnto God though all the sences els be silent On the other side If the hart be otherwise occupyed God will not accept the prayers though neuer so many and neuer so laboursome For after this maner the Lord Iesus doth recite out of Esay the Prophet This people doth honour me with their lippes but their hart is farre awaye from me but they worshyp me in vayne c. Behold here worshyppyng is to no purpose the spirite beyng absent Why doe ye therefore spurne agaynst matters so manifest â—ay but you presume to contend agaysnt the holy Ghost in these wordes saying The spirit being present Images do no hurt and being absent they do very much auayle Amiddes our prayers thynges may not be enterlaced that do not hurt good Syr but matter wherewith our prayers may haue accesse vnto God But whereas you would haue Images to bée auaylable being without spirite This is very straunge monstruous in a Deuine to affirme that our prayers can be commended vnto God by Images or by any other way els without the spirit God is a spirite sayth our Lord Iesus Christ and it behoueth his worshippers to worship in spirite and truth The Lord Iesus doth pronouÌ„ce that the true worshippers ought to worshyp in spirit Our Prelate doth contend that pictures may auayle to prayer without spirite Away Osorius Away For euen on this wise and in the same cause the Lord Iesus did put SathaÌ„ to flight We assuryng our selues vpon the authoritie of God the father and of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ wil together with the Prophetes and Apostles honour the Lord God the father and him onely will we worshyp the Lord Iesus Christ and the holy Ghost makyng intercession vnto him for vs. As for you if you be so altogether persuaded raunge on in this your crooked procession together with these gorgeous titles of Councels Fathers and with that filthy raggemaâ—oll of your schoolemen There will come a day when this matter will be more déepely sifted before the IudgemeÌ„t seate of our Sauiour Iesu Christ. Then shall we know whether part haue more safely and more duetyfully profited in the worshyppyng of Gods Maiestie And so now at the last your first goodly Inuectiue is come to an end from out the whiche if a man will plucke awaye your outrage in cauillyng your venemous scoldyng your superfluous sentences surely very litle will remayne wherein the learned Reader may be desirous to spend any tyme. The second Booke I Am ashamed you say to vse so many wordes in the confutatioÌ„ of your Booke It is modestly done of you to confesse your fault But your vnmeasurable braulyng hath altogether weryed me of the same opinion are all others also that haue séene your writyng who with one coÌ„sent do woÌ„derfully condeÌ„ne this your idle superfluitie of toung in an old man Yet can we sée no amendement in you for the further ye procéede so many the more Fables you do vtter wherby all men may perceaue that you are not induced to writyng of any iudgement or discretion but enflamed with excessiue malice violeÌ„t outrage with neither of that which your person and grayheaded yeares ought in any wise bee acquainted But whereas you reporte that I seeme to haue taken wonderfull pleasure in that my litle booke Herein you follow the example of wayward men whiche estéemyng other mens affections by their owne be of opinion that scarse any maÌ„els can be well disposed bycause they bee vndiscréete them selues You begyn to quarell at the ouerthrowe of the Sacramentes wherewith you say also that I do séeme somwhat displeasaunt and therfore you commend me with a scoffe no lesse vnpleasaunt then vnsauory But mocke on spare not You do trauayle with your contumelious wordes to bryng this noble Iland my deare beloued couÌ„trey into obloquie with all men with an abhominable lye doe exclame that our Deuiâ—es haue vtterly subuerted all Sanctuaries Ceremonies and Sacramentes This your infamous shamelesse and reprochfull Hiperbolycall speach I haue scattered abroad crusht in péeces and brought to nought haue so déepely emprinted your flesh with an S. for a slaunderour to your perpetuall shame that neither you nor any of all your feet shal be euer able to wipe it out agayne You do accuse Luther Carolostadius OecolaÌ„padius Zuinglius and my Peter Martyr as men that do vnreuerently rende asunder the Lordes Supper First of all I haue sundry tymes heretofore protested that your controuersse concerned vs and not them For your quarell was agaynst our English Deuines whom I vndertooke to defend you slaundered our England I stoode to the defence of the same And therfore I might well haue referred all this contention touchyng their doctrine to them selues so I do yet I will presume to say this much by the way that you deale very vngently herein to scold so importunately agaynst the good name of them which can not now plead their owne cause I do adde hereunto that the rest except Carolostadius onely of whom I can say nothyng bycause I doe not know him all the rest I meane were men of such excelleÌ„cie not onely in the knowledge of toungues and other liberall sciences but also such singular Deuines as that Ierome Osorius might haue bene scholer to the meanest of them I say this withall that you vtter your vnskilfulnesse herein to couple Luther and Zuinglius together in matter of the Sacrament whose opinioÌ„s were somwhat discrepaÌ„t in the same Lastly touchyng the matter it selfe I aunswere briefly That those famous and worthy patrones of the Gospell and true Religion whose names you rehearse in reproch did reuerently and religiously treate of the SacrameÌ„t of the body and bloud of our Lord if they may be tryed by the true touchstone of the scriptures in whoÌ„ likewise you can finde no iust cause of repreheÌ„sion coÌ„cernyng the other Sacraments vnlesse you suppose that with your naked clamorous affirmatiues ye may expell them out of the Church as meÌ„ are wont to driue common players from the Stage with hissing and clappyng of handes But they can not be so quayled Osorius They haue obteined better footyng and déeper roote in the harts of meÌ„ by their learnyng vertue theÌ„ you can be able to remoue with your penne though it bee neuer so cruell whom the bootcherly crueltie
of enioyned penaunce shall not exceede and passe fourty dayes And imediately after This nūber of dayes of Pardons also we commaund to be abreuiated which are graunted for euery light tryfle Forasmuch as the Byshopp of Rome who doth professe the Fulnes of all power is accustomed to vse moderatiō in the like causes c. And from hence yf I be not deceiued was this Fulnes of power deriued of the first which the Romyshe Ruffians haue raked most shamefully to themselues Whether to the great reproch of the glory of Christ or the intollerable iniury of their brethren more I can not easily determine What sufficed not to vsurpe either equall power with other Byshops or encroche vpon thē somewhat higher vnlesse their vnsatiable pryde must mount also to the Fulnes of all power Go to and may we learne of you Osorius what it is that they seéke for by this word Fulnes If that be sayd to be full whereunto no droppe may be iustilled more it is out of all question that this Fulnes is proper and peculiar to Christ alone of whose Fulnes we all haue receaued not the ministers of the Church onely not Deacones not Byshoppes onely but the chiefest Apostles and Euangelistes out of which number Peter himselfe yea though neuer so much prince of Apostles may not be exempted The onely Sonne of God is a continuall flowing founteyne that canne neuer be exhausted and spent to whome the Father gaue the spirite without measure full of mercye and trueth All others beyng of our selues barraine hungry naked and beggerly by nature must neédes seéke reliefe of his aboundaūce to whom Esay the Prophet doth allure all mē to repayre and to borow Come sayth he all that be thurstie and haue no money and draw from hence freely with gladnesse from out the founteines of the Sauiour Moreouer the Sauiour him selfe also doth generally call all whosoeuer be oppressed with penury distressed with anguish and labours to come What then Sufficed not to come to this foūteyne plentyfully flowyng and most largely set wyde open for the house of Dauid the inhabitants of Ierusalē to resort vnto for the cleansing of the Sinner and defiled but the Romish Rutterkyne must call vs backe to his filthy Cesternes and durty Dytches that so him selfe being a most filthy and durty Sinner should cleanse vs with his fullnes For as much therfore as the mouth of God hath spoken it the cōsent also of all the Prophetes haue testified that God hath geuen all Fulnesse to his onely begotten Sonne wherewith onely he is able and willyng also to wash away all our filthynes and corruption from whence then commeth this Fulnesse of so absolute power to this Romaine Prelate that this one Prelate alone may by a certeine superexcellent Prerogatiue bryng to passe that which all other Byshops can not doe namely that he may franckly graunt full more full yea vnmeasurable full Pardon of all maner of offences to the most common barrettours of the world For such is the very stile of their Pardon 's many tymes Such was the wild Bull of Innocent 3. vpō a solemne Decreé enlarged to all them that would fight for the holy land or would geue any ayde thereunto Wherein he promised full remission of all their Sinnes in the fulnesse of his Porterly power and increase of lyfe euerlastyng in the full partaking of the fellowshyp of all Saintes After the same maner Boniface the 8. did graunt vnto all persons that would as pilgrimes come to visite the holy mother Church of Peter and Paule in Rome not only full and fuller but most abhominable full forgeuenes of all their Sinnes So also Clement the 6. in his Bulles of Pardons doth powre out plētyfully to them that will fight for the holy Crosse not onely Remission A poena culpa but with much more bountye and liberalitie doth graunt vnto euery of them threé or foure soules out of Purgatory whom they will and withall geueth also an especiall commaundement to the Aungels in heauen if any of those warlike pilgrimes chaūce to dye in their iourney that they forthwith transport them into heauen This is a wondrous efficacie of keyes surely if they be able to performe in deéde that which they bragge vpon so arrogauntly in words For they vaunt a full and most perfect power of doyng I can not tell what farre exceédyng all other Churches Byshops Prelates and Councels But from whence they fetche this full power they haue not yet taught fully If they say from Christ but Christ beyng him selfe the onely perfect founteine of all fulnes not able to be made empty doth neuer powre forth him selfe to fully into one man alone as that he leaueth not him selfe as accessible indifferently to all others of whose fullnes if euery person accordyng to his portion do draw forth as much grace as sufficeth then hath not one man alone made cleane ridduāce to him selfe of all Neither can it be possible that he which receaueth of any one that thyng whereof all be ioynte parteners that he alone shall possesse all that wherof all others haue a ioynte interest and possession Agayne what difference of power shall there be betwixt Christ and the Pope if ech of them be of lyke fullnes and power Or what neédeth any man to apply vnto Christ if he may be otherwise fully satisfied in the full fullnes of the Pope Or what shall remaine in heauen from henceforth for Christ if this Lieutenaunt of Christ can dispatch all thynges vpon earth with the fullnes of his power To conclude in a word If this Porter of heauen be of such supercelestiall power as that he want nothyng but may without resistaūce open and shutte when and to whom he will why then let him once scoure the coast cleare and proclayme a cleane gayle deliuery out of Purgatory and set all soules at libertie that are in that fiery lake and make a quicke dispatche of them from out those horrible flames and send them to Paradise if he can but if he can not performe as he would then where is his fullnes If he will not do that which he can where is his charitie Wherefore sithence one of those two must neédes be graūted that either ye must confesse him a poore beggerly pope or a cruell carelesse cutthroate let Osorius or his Pope chuse which he will or to geue better counsell in this case at the least let the Romaine Church foreseé and be very well aduised it selfe least in this braue bragge of fullnes it selfe be nypped with as full a scarsitie as we read sometyme written of the Church of Laodicea Bycause thou sayest I am riche and full and doe want nothyng doest not know that thou art a begger miserable poore blinde and naked I do aduise thee that thou come and buye of me fine pure gold of the finest that thou mayst be ritche and be clothed in
to God we despise and set them at naught And enen so we doe allow of Luther Bucer and of the rest so long as they explane the mysteries of the sacred Scriptures vnto vs wherein those famous men haue oftentymes trauailed very coÌ„mendably though you iangle neuer so much agaynst them As for those beggerly fragmentes of mans inuention beyng without all couer of Scriptures yea rather contrary to the same though they and you also doe warraunt them vnto vs we will not receaue them Now you are taught sufficiently enough I thinke how we haue forsaken those peltyng phantasies of men likewise how we conceaue of those notable learned fathers whose workes wil be thaÌ„kefully embraced whiles the world doth endure though you slauÌ„derously barcke at them neuer so much And yet I deny not but they were subiect to sinne and errours which happened also to the auncient fathers Augustine Tertullian Origine Cyprian Who sometymes wandred out of the way were estranged from the truth Yet do I not now compare nor at any time heretofore did compare our â—ate writers with those auncient fathers as you cauill agaynst me but I iudge of them as beseémeth me and I professe that they were the seruauntes of God Whereas you vpbrayde vs with our maner of lyfe by the reportes of our cursed enemyes such as you are you follow herein your owne gyddy brayne For true innocencie will neuer desire better witnesses then such filthy and slaunderous backbyters wherin your request to be pardoned is so much the more vnreasonable by how much you do boldly defend without all regarde of the grauitie of a Byshop or the naturall duetie of an honest man such scattered rumours rashly conceaued of headles report in steéde of well knowen and approued offences This also you seéme to mislike in me as a matter intollerable that I commende the prosperous raigne of our Queénes Maiestie and herein your couÌ„sell is to for seé the tyme to come the troublesome estate of other Princes The Queénes highnes belike without the aduise of Osorius can not coÌ„ceaue those matters wherof no man can be ignoraunt that is but meanely practized in the dayly actions of maÌ„s life Haue an eye to your owne charge of Siluan and be ye carefull for them Her Maiestie surmountyng in knowledge and wisedome regardeth not your peéuishe and dotyng counsell especially beyng conceaued rather of malice to true Religion then of any loue to her safetie Ye keépe a great sturre about the Tumultes in Fraunce and complayne much of treason conspired agaynst the kyng and safetie of his person and with all that his aduersaries required not his bloud onely but that the whole bloud Royall should be rooted out of Fraunce O licencious venemous touÌ„g worthy to be pluckt out by the rootes from out that execrable mouth except it recant in tyme. Dare you presume so impudently to make guiltie of so cruell and horrible treason so many worthy personages of the florishyng Realme Namely when as the kyng him selfe by his open Proclamation acknowledged some of them agaynst whom you rayle so pestiferously to be his deare kinsmen the other his beloued subiectes and that their beyng in armes concerned the generall safetie of FrauÌ„ce Many variable vnciuill and malicious rumours haue bene blowen abroad in many places touchyng those ciuill warres but neuer was any man heard to haue spoken so blockishly so barbarously so voyde of reason and so monstruously as this Gentleman speaketh beyng a Byshop an old man And therfore we shall the lesse wonder at your rashnesse and impudencie in controuersie of ReligioÌ„ hereafter seyng your sauadge boldnesse in this detestable bloudy accusation of the greater part of Fraunce without cause without reason and without proofe When matter and reason doe openly fayle you then you wrangle about wordes Bycause I named Luthers doctrine yours agaynst the which you stand stoutely and doe most deadly hate it What shall I say to so captious and bussardly a Sophister I terme it not yours as though you defend it but bycause you depraue it bycause you peruert and iumble it with lyeng that it can not be discerned as you haue mishapen it whereas otherwise of it selfe it is a most comfortable treasure of the Gospell somewhat infected with poysoned contagioÌ„ of childish errours but in these latter dayes through the inestimable benefite of God discouered and clensed by the commendable industrie of those singular learned Diuines Luther Bucer Caluin Melanchton and others whom though you despise at your pleasure yet wheÌ„ Osorius shal be dead and rotten and the name of this reuerend Prelate of Portingall out of all remembraunce their names wil be commended to eternitie to their immortall prayse For what man will esteéme of you who besides your foolish and vnskilfull handlyng the matter wherof you entreate are altogether ignoraunt in the proprietie of wordes wherein you may seéme to make a pretie shewe You thinke this spokeÌ„ vnproperly by me videl that your sluggishnes should be awakened and your dulnes pricked forward what say you drousie Prelate Truly you sleape so souÌ„dly that you snorte agayne that caÌ„ deny this kynde of speach A maÌ„ may be awakened out of sleape and be pricked forward beyng dull Learne out of the Gospell The blynd do see the lame doe walke leapers are cleansed the deafe do heare the dead do ryse agayne Which wordes of our Sauiour doe not argue that the blynd do see or that the lame doe walke but that those whiche were blynde and lame were restored to sight and walkyng Learne againe of Cicero who speaketh on this wise Let youÌ„g men obserue the boundes of their owne chastitie lest they defile the chastitie of others lest they consume their patrimonie be deuoured with debt Let them not offer force to virgines nor dishonestie to the chast nor infamie to the vertuous c. what Can virgines be defloured no surely not so long as they are virgines but by allurements they may be carried froÌ„ their shamefastnes CaÌ„ the chast be defiled no truely but yet this chastitie may be seduced in processe of tyme to loosenesse Learne at the last what the old Prouerbe emplyeth whereby is forbidden to pricke foreward the willyng which Prouerbe if we do admit this also is spoken properly enough The dull are to bee pricked foreward and the sluggish to be awakened Neither would you haue euer gaynsayd the same vnlesse the malice you owe vnto me had drowned your sences In good sooth I am ashamed of you Osorius and so haue bene loÌ„g agoe neither would I contend any further with so bluntish blockish a person if I were not determined to open euideÌ„tly what a senselesse aduersary of this holy father England hath and how vnmeasurable a bragger he is in whom besides a vayne sounde of friuolous wordes no mettall can be founde at all Hereafter therfore I will spende as litle labour as I may nor will willyng touche ought of all
that huge lumpe of idle wordes scattered abroad by you euery where without reason or measure more then the necessitie of the cause will require After that you haue waded in your accustomed grosse rayling agaynst the lyfe of our preacheâ—s imputyng vnto them all maner of wickednesse where with your Sinagogue swarmeth most euidently you recite at the last certeine of my wordes vouched out of Augustine which be as followeth Augustine doth greuously coÌ„playne that in his tyme such a rabble of beggerly ceremonies did ouerwhelme the Churche of Christians that the estate of Iewes was much more tollerable Osorius affirmeth that I did neuer read this sentence in Augustine This is well I will cite Augustine his owne wordes which are these For although it can not bee founde how they are agaynst the fayth yet doe they ouerwhelme Religion it selfe which the mercy of God willed to be freély exercised vnder a very fewe most euident Sacramentes with seruile burdens That the estate of the Iewes is much more tollerable who though knew not the tyme of libertie were subiect onely to the ordinaunces of the law and not to mens constitutions What say you haue I not cited Augustine truly doth he not speake the same and in the selfe same wordes playnly that I speake doth hee not render a reason also why the state of the Iewes was more tollerable in ceremonies then ours which beyng coÌ„fessed is not your ignoraunce linked with singular vnshamefastnes manifestly conuinced deny it if you can may rather bycause you can not yeld to the truth in the open light For manifest lyers are not to be winked at though they bee Byshops In lyke maner you be ouerseéne in that godly Father Ierome who requiryng all persons to searche the Scriptures and to learne them you would notwithstandyng coyne vs out of the same Ierome a contrary doctrine Bycuase he wrate vnto Paulinus that certeine persons hauing no vnderstandying nor being commendable in coÌ„uersation of lyfe did handle the Scriptures to licenciously In whiche speach of yours what would you haue vnderstoode els but that certeine wicked persons doe abuse the benefite of the Scriptures wherof no wise maÌ„ doth doubt You are ouerseéne therfore Ierome that will so foolishly and so wyde from the matter obiect Ierome agaynst hym selfe If you seéke to be further satisfied herein peruse Chrisostome who hath written of the same matter so much and so plentyfully as nothyng can bee more copious and more manifest I praysed Basile and besides him also those later Monckes which obserued Basiles rules as men that suffred lest losse Osorius denyeth it and affirmeth that we doe not contend with men but with chastitie it selfe What say you dotterell how happeneth that you rehearse the name of chastitie whereof I made no mention at all And with what face do you make our Nation guiltie of monstruous and barbarous crueltie as though it employed her whole endeuour to the rootyng out of chastitie from out our coastes whereas that kynde of sauagenes can not be seéne amongest the Turkes You proue it by the example of certeine Charterhouse Monckes forsooth whiche were worthely executed for hygh treasoÌ„ about xxx yeares past If those men say you would haue yelded to the wicked decrees of mariage then should they haue bene acquited of all other punishment As though the estate of Wedlocke were in any Realme accoumpted a punishment or as though we did constrayne Monckes to marry Wiues agaynst their willes or as though this most impudent father and shamelesse Byshop caÌ„vtter any thing in word or deéde sensibly When as he bealcheth out such foolish and filthy speaches agaynst our common weale beyng so voyde of all credite and truth as hauing no droppe of any probabilitie at all But let vs heare what a worthy conclusion this deépe wise man hath brought for his Lurdeines those mockemonckes But admit sayth hee that the greater part of them were full of all filthynes was it therfore forth with necessarie to suppresse the whole order First of all you doe notably defend your order which you confesse was full of all vice Then we deny that we subuerted any order but that those disorderous runneagates were reduced to the commoÌ„ societie of subiectes their own commoditie by meanes of our wholesome Statutes and Lawes In deéde traytours were executed accordyng to their desert as belonged to equitie The rest we remoued from their stinckyng Smynestyes defiled with all lazynes and fithynes deliuered whole and Iustie to publicke labour and exercise to prouide so for their liuyng accordyng to brotherly charitie But in the meane space say you they forsooke their orders of Dominicke and Benedicte Barnarde and Frauncisce of whom Portingall hath many perfect professours Let Portingall reteine such Ioselles a Gods name We hold our selues contented with that heauenly Oracle whiche was heard from heauen Thou art my welbeloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Him doe we attende vpon we harken vnto his Prophetes and Apostles and withall do performe our profession in Baptisme as farre forth as the frayltie of mans nature will permit other teachers other rules other orders we neither esteéme nor admit So do we also feéle and throughly know your superstitious vanitie herein You do inueigh bytterly agaynst me bycause I do compare our later Deuines in all maner of commeÌ„dation to the auncient fathers and herein you turmoyle your selfe wonderfully You shoote at randone my Lord. I do not make comparison betwixt them nor euer thought to compare them together and therefore you striue here in vayne and your whole Turkish eloquence is not worthe a straw My meanyng was to declare that the auncient Fathers did agreé with out Deuines And for examples sake I noted specially some common places reseruyng the rest for more conuenient place bycause all can not be expounded at once Ouerthrow this my course if you can but abuse not your tyme nor myne nor the Readers with such friuolous lyes nor seéme to be ouer eloquent where you haue no aduersary You are highly offended bycause I prayse Luther Let not this couÌ„ber you I will prayse him for a very prayse worthy man so will all the posteritie also and his studious trauaile in the enlargyng of the Gospell will remaine to that worldes end to his euerlastyng renowme though you and such as you are chaufe and fume neuer so much agaynst him And yet I thinke there be few like vnto you besides that durty pigge of Angrence your sweéte cabbemnate resemblyng you as it seémeth in nature and maners nearest But as to that you accuse Luther as authour of the vprores in Germany herein you reporte a manifest vntruth for no man did more earnestly defend all obedience due to the Magistrates and higher powers then Luther Whereas you adde hereunto the tumultes in Sueuya You do erre therein more then childishly where as the Switzers are farre vnlike vnto him in nature in situatioÌ„ in maners and
for their defence also as appeareth playnly by their bookes but I enterlaced this withall that if our writers had vsed scriptures onely they had followed herein the example of Iesu Christ and his Apostles What sayth our graue father to this Forsoth he Preacheth much of the Diuine power of Christ our Sauiour how that he was the mynde and wisedome of the father and the accomplisher of the Law and did make new ordinaunces of our Religion which were not expressed in the whole course of the old Law First of all this vnweldie old man perceiueth not how hee hath ouerthrowen him selfe in his owne turne for if Christ be the mynde and wisedome of the father as he hath most truely sayd hereupon consequently followeth that all the particular testimonies of Christ are speciall Oracles of the truth and that all his particular sayinges ought to be engrauen in our harts as heauenly Oracles This did our heauenly Father pronounce vnto Moyses and Moyses declared the same vnto the people in these wordes The Lorde thy God will rayse vp a Prophet lyke vnto me from among you ouer thy brethren him shall ye barken vnto Wherfore if we must harken vnto Christ as vnto Moyses then are we bounde as necessarely to his preceptes as to the ordinaunces of Moyses Behold the same more playnly yet in the Gospell Iesus beyng baptised came forth of the water and behold the heauens were opened and he saw the spirite of God descendyng as a Doue and standyng ouer him and loe there came a voyce from heauen This is my welbeloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Therfore sith the authoritie of Iesu Christ is sealed vnto vs by the mouth of almighty God what greater Maiestie of Scriptures may be pronoūced in the Scriptures taught or imagined more excellent then this doctrine Iames doth recorde That our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ is the onely Lawmaker which can saue and destroy Wherfore in his onely right and interest he did partly establishe new lawes partly amend the old partly expoūde the obscure partly restore them that were worne out of mynde and partly abolishe them that were receaued But what maketh this to your purpose when our Lord Iesus doth vse Scriptures doth he alledge any other then the sacred testimonies of the old Testament it could not otherwise bee say you doth he vouche any other interpreters then the holy Ghost sent downe from heauen he neéded not say you For he whom God hath sent speaketh the wordes of God for God doth not geue him the Spirite by measure The Father loueth the Sonne and hath yelded all thynges vnto his hand This is a true saying of Iohn concernyng Christ which beyng so in deéde that must bee also true whiche I enterlaced That Iesus Christ beyng contented with the testimonie of the holy Scriptures alleadged none other interpretour besides him selfe This is also vndoubted true at the last That you are a very vnskilfull and blockishe Deuine whiche professing the knowledge of God do wauder so erroniously in the nature and power of God If I should sift out the examples particularly that you haue taked together for this purpose I should finde them altogether voyde of all maner probabilitie stuffed full with grosse errours Two onely will I shake out amongest all the rest which shall condemne you of your disguised maskyng You deny that this sentence can be founde in the Law in the Prophets or in the Psalmes that the way is narrow that leadeth to saluatiō or that we must turne the left checke to him that hath striken on the right If you exact wordes you play by that Sophister If you require substaūce or sentence I do affirme it to be found euery where both in the Law in the Prophetes and in the Psalmes The old law hath an expresse commaundement That we shall not bow to the right hand nor the left hand nor adde to the Law nor diminishe there from Is it not apparaunt therfore that we are placed in straightes Truly Dauid perceaued it well who beyng a kyng and a Prophet chosen by that singular prouidence of God to gouerne the people of Israell yet doth greuously complayne that hee was partly placed in narrowe straightes partly forsaken in the darke and sometymes maketh most humble supplication to God to direct his feete in the right way but very often confesseth that the word of the Lord is a Lanterne to his feete and a light to his pathes But what neédeth a Lanterne but in combersome and narrow straightes where a man may easely goe amasked if you be ignoraunt in all those places what doe ye vnderstand that is requisite in a Deuine and Byshop or if ye know them and dissemble them what can be more wayward then you Likewise you obiect that saying of geuyng a blow on the cheékes which wordes do employ nothyng els but that we are commaūded to be patient But patience is most learnedly conteined in that first and speciall commaundement of God Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe There is no mā that will offer iniurie to him selfe in any matter wherfore he ought not to wrong his neighbour at all cā you haue any thyng more plainly spoken The vngratefull people of Israell did exclame and rage agaynst their good mild paynfull guide Moyses sometyme with secret conspiracies sometimes with open exclamations many tymes with threatnynges and very oftē with wicked cursinges What might this gentle Captaine doe in the meane space Beyng stricken yea and buffeted also vpon the cheéke doth hee not turne ouer his other cheéke What els I pray you is meant hereby that he doth often pray vnto God for such cursed caytiues his enemies when he doth so earnestly and vehemently cry out to God either to forgeue them or to blotte his name out of the booke of life if you require yet a more notable example of patience Behold our Lord Iesus Christ is prefigured vnto vs in Esay the Prophet drawen vnto death as a Lambe to be slayne who beyng rayled vpon on euery side vexed by the Iewes and buffeted with fistes on the face held his peace and as a sheepe before the Shearer neuer opened his mouth what may be thought of the whole history of Iob but a conquest of patience and in most miserable calamitie a most ioyfull Triumphe thereof And yet this veépe Deuine is so voyde of common sense that he vtterly deuyeth any sentence to be founde in the Scriptures touchyng patient sufferaunce of our enemyes wronges You say that you haue passed ouer many thyngs It had bene better for you truely that you had passed ouer all thynges then in all thynges with malice and foule speakyng so to turne the catte in the panne that your wordes can neither finde head nor foote to stand vpon can explane nothyng soundly cōclude nothyng duely proue nothyng effectually but raūge in rayling brawle with bare affirmatiues and with pratlyng past measure pester and
Onely Now chuse you therfore one of these two whiche ye will whether we shall adiudge Chrisostome a Lutheran bycause he trusteth to Fayth Onely or your selfe an execrable Iewe which set your Confidence vpon workes Agayne the same Chrisostome in other place makyng a Commentary vpon the Epistle to the Ephes. vseth the selfe same exclusiue word By Fayth onely sayth hee shall Christ saue the offendours of the law And bycause ye shall know his meanyng perfitely not the offendours of the ceremoniall law but of the same law namely which was endited by the finger of God in the most sacred Tables conteinyng the tenne Commaundementes Adde also hereunto the saying of the same Doctour in his fourth Homely vpon the Epistle to Timothe What thyng is so hard to beleue as that such which are enemies and sinners not Iustified by the law nor the workes of the law obteined forthwith to be placed in the chiefest dignitie of merite through Faith Onely c. We haue recited a litle before the wordes of Basile vpon the Sermon De Humilit so that it neédeth no further rehearsall where in expresse speach excludyng from maÌ„ the glory of his own righteousnes he doth testifie that we are euery of vs Iustified by fayth onely in Christ Iesu. I might cite his owne wordes agayne vpon the 32. Psalme as effectuall as the rest where he describyng a perfect man doth describe him to be not such a one as trusteth to his own good deédes but such a one as reposeth all his whole confidence in the onely mercy of God In like maner also Theophilact Now doth the Apostle sayth he declare euidently that very Fayth Onely is of power to Iustifie And by any by he citeth the Prophet Abacuc as most credible witnesse thereof Briefly what shall we thinke that those auncient Fathers of the purer age and primitiue Churche dyd determine therof Whenas Thomas Aquinas him selfe chief champion of this Sinagogue of Schoolemen being otherwise in many thynges a very wrongfull and false interpretour Yet vanguished herein with the manifest truth was enforced no lenger to dissemble in this questioÌ„ of Fayth Onely For in his thyrd lesson vpon the first Epistle to Timothe the 3. Chap. disputyng of the law and concludyng at length that the wordes of Paule did not apperteine to the ceremoniall law but vnto the Morall law There is not sayth he any hope of IustificatioÌ„ but in Faith Onely and arguyng agaynst Osorius of set purpose as it were he citeth to this effect the testimonie of S. Paule We suppose sayth the Apostle that man is Iustified by Fayth without the workes of the law Rom. 3. I am not yet come to this pointâ— to discusse how true this doctrine of Luther is touchyng Iustification by Fayth Onely But whether this doctrine was erected first by Luther And I trust I haue sufficieÌ„tly proued that it began euen from the first age of the primitiue Church and in the very dawnyng of the Gospell and hath bene so deliuered ouer from the most auncient writers and continued vnshaken euen vntill our age so that no man neédeth hereafter to geue credite to Osorius makyng so shamelesse a lye vpon this doctrine of Fayth Onely Iustifieng And this much hetherto concernyng Luther I come now to that point wherein Osor. did likewise shamefull belye Paule And what doe I heare now Osorius Doth Paule as you say so promise the inheritaunce of the heaueÌ„ly kyngdome to them which worke good deedes and not to them also whiche rest vpon fayth onely That is to say Which haue reposed all their affiaunce in Iesu Christ onely How shall we conceaue this where finde you this and how doe ye enduce vs to beleue this out of the Epistle as I thinke to the VtopeÌ„ses Looke there Reader at thy bestleysure for Osorius was at good leysure to lye but had no tyme at all to confirme his lye But he alledgeth somewhat I suppose out of the Epistle to the Gallat 5. Chapt. That is to say that the Apostle doth threaten vtter banishement from the kyngdome of God to the wicked and haynous sinners which yeld them selues ouer wholy to all filthynesse of sinne This truely is a true saying of the Apostle Who denyeth it But what doth Osorius in the meane space gather hereof Forsooth bycause the horrible wickednesse of men doth exclude those persons from the kyngdome of God which are endued with a false fayth onely or none at all rather hereof doth he conclude his Argument by opposition of contraryes That life euerlastyng is promised to the good and vertuous workes of men O clownishe Coridon But we are taught by the rules of Logicke that if a man will frame a good Argument of coÌ„traries hee must bee first well aduised that those propositions which are appointed for contraries must dissent and disagreé eche from other by equall and proportionable degreés Wherby it is cleare that this is not a good consequent The silthy lyfe of the wicked doth exclude men from the inheritaunce of euerlastyng habitations Ergo the honest and vpright lyfe doth obteine euerlastyng habitations And why is this no good Argument bycause the propositions â—oe not agreé together in proportionable qualitie The offences that are committed by vs are of their own nature of all partes vnperfect euill purchase to them selues most iust daÌ„natioÌ„ But on the contrary part our good and verâ—uous deédes yea beyng most perfectly accoÌ„plished by vs want yet alwayes somethyng to absolute perfection and of their owne nature are such as rather stand in neéde of the mercy of God then may deserue any prayse in the sight of men To the same ende spake Bernarde very fittely Our righteousnesse is nothyng els then the indulgence of God But here commes yet an other place of S. Paule out of the whiche this wylde wiffler may rushe vpon vs with his leaden dagger not altogether so blunte and rustye herhaps The wordes of the Apostle a Gods name in the second to the Romaines Not the hearers of the law onely but they that performe the law in their lyfe and conuersation shal be accompted righteous before the IudgemeÌ„t seat of God c. To auÌ„swere briefly I will gladly allow that which this enemy to Paule doth obiect out of Paule so that hee will not in like maner refuse the the whole discourse of the Apostle and ioyne the first with the last For the whole Argument of the Apostle in those iij. Chap. is concluded in this one Sillogisme All men shal be rewarded with the coÌ„mendatioÌ„ of true righteousnesse God him selfe witnessing the same whosoeuer be able with their owne workes to accomplish the whole law published in the tenne Tables and commaunded by God to be kept absolutely as the law requireth But there is no liuyng creature whether he be a Iewe and is ruled by the law of the tenne Tables or a Gentile and lyueth after the law of nature
the people to be taught on this wise rather That God of hys goodnes and mercye would haue all men to be saued And that the cause why all are not saued is for that all will not receaue the grace indifferently offered vnto them And this maner of teaching they do suppose to be sound On the contrary that the other doctrine of predestinatiō doth take cleane away all force vse of wholesome preachinges exhortations and disciplines c. If we onely eyther were alone or were the first that were vrged with these slaunders and cauillationes there were lesse cause to wōder at the wickednes of this our age But I do seé now no new thinge here neuer spoken of before nor any other thinge but such as many notable learned men haue bene sundry tymes combred withall long sithence Emongest whom cōmeth first to hand Augustine whom beyng occupyed in thys cause sometyme the Pelagianes but most of all the Massilianes did molest much with the very same obiectiones as appeareth playnely by the transcript of Prosper and Hillary their letters to Augustine euen the which obiections our deuines are now a dayes pressed withall which if were true then might he seeme to haue vndertaken this quarrell not rashly nor altogether in vayne as our men haue done also But let vs aunswere to their complayntes Such as are appoynted teachers in the congregation of God if they should beate into the grosse eares of the rude multitude this part of doctrine which treateth of the secrett predestination of God so nakedly and barren of it selfe as not doyng ought els nor respecting any other thing ne yet applying wtall any wholesome exhortations and allurementes to vertue shold stirre and prouoke none to vertues endeuour honest carefulnes and godly lyfe these reasons might carry some showe of truth perhapps But this matter ought to haue bene foreseene Osor. how these preachers behaue thēselues what they preach how in what maner and to what end they do lay this doctrine open before the people before you should haue burst out into those cruell accusacions and slaunderous reproches If some yoūglings peraduenture may be found not so modestly and soberly to demeane themselues as may beseeme them allured either through delight of noueltie or caryed thereunto through lightnes of witte or to braue out their knowledge and learning it is not conuenient that the lowse and vncircumspect dealing of some particuler persons should be preiudiciall to the truth of the doctrine Godly and modest wittes surely as they conceaue the true reason of this doctrine so doe they Iudge it no lesse necessary to be applyed to the end they may pluck downe that pernicious opinion of yours treating of merites of confidence in workes and of doughtfulnes of Saluation For the ouerthrow whereof what more necessary doctrine to edifie the congregacion withall may be applyed in the Church of Christians And therfore to conclude briefly For asmuch as all the doctrine of Predestination doth tend to this ende chiefly that men may be forewarned not to trust to much to their owne strength but to repose all their hope and affiaunce in God It is vntrue that you do obiect That the doctrine of predestination doth perswade rather to desperation then to godly lyfe For what is this els as Augustine sayth then as that you should say that men do then dispayre of their owne safety when they beginne to learne to repose their hope and affiaunce in God and not in themselues in any wise c Whosoeuer therefore shall instruct the ignoraunt people in the true doctrine of predestination of the holy ones discretly and modestly and in due season when case so requireth and shall ioyne withall godly and wholesome exhortations the same shall he do profitably enough without anye inconuenience seeing that the preaching of both may be well coupled and agree together according to the testimony of Augustine who affirmeth that neyther the preaching of fayth profiting in godly fruits ought to be hindered by the preaching of predestination that they which are taught may learue how to obey And agayne that the preachīg of Predestinatiō ought not to be hindered by the preaching of fayth profiting in godly fruites that they which obey may know in whom they ought to reioyce not in thoir owne obedience but in him of whom it is written he that doth reioyce let him reioyce in the Lord. Will you vnderstand Osorius how the coupling of these too doctrines is not preiudiciall to the preaching of the one to the other Paule the Apostle of the Gentills did many tymes sette forth the doctrine of predestination to the Rom. Ephe. Timot. The same did Luke in the Actes of the Apostles Christ himself likewise doth make often mencion of the same in hys sermons all which did not cease to preach the word of God neuerthelesse and do notwithstanding withal entermixt diuers good and godly exhortations to liue well Paule when he sayd it is God that doth worke in vs to will and to bring to passe according to hys good pleasure did he therefore abate any thing of hys godly lessons to make vs lesse carefull to will and to worke the thinges that are acceptable vnto God In like maner where he sayth he that hath begonne a good worke in you will bring the same to effect euen vntill the day of Christ Iesu Yet did he not cease to perswade them earnestly in the same Epistle written to the Phillippianes that they should not onelye beginne but perseuere vntill the end Beleue sayth Christ in God and beleue in me yet is thys neuerthelesse true that he speaketh in an other place No man commeth vnto me or beleeueth in me vnlesse it be geuen him from the father Christ sayth also he that hath eares to heare let hym heare Yet doth God speake in the scriptures these wordes also that he will geue them a hart frō aboue that they may vnderstand eyes that they may see and eares that they may heare c. And although it were not vnknowne vnto hym who had eares to heare and who had not that is to say the gifte of obedience Yet doth he exhort all men to heare Although Cipriane did both know and wryte that fayth and obedience were the gift of God and that we ought not reioyce in any thing because we haue nothing of our owne yet this was no hindraunce at all vnto his earnest preaching but that he taught Fayth and obedience neuerthelesse and most constantly perswaded to good life When we heare S. Iames teach vs that euery good and perfect gift commeth downe from the father of lightes yet this preaching of grace nothing withstoode but that he continued to rebuke such as troubled the cōgregation saying If you be bitterly zelous and your hartes be full of contencion doe not reioyce nor lye not against the truth for this is not the Wisedome that came from aboue but earthly beastly and diabollicall
lesse friuolous vaine Nay rather if I should tell you as it is in deéde you should haue sayd rather That many thynges haue bene brought into the Church by your Catholickes long sithence the tyme of the Apostles and auncient Fathers so weake of them selues so friuolous and so absurde as could by no meanes endure the glisteryng Beames of the Orient Gospell but must neédes immediately at the very sounde of the Trumpet of truth fall downe of them selues to the grounde and vanish quite out of sight yea without touch of breath as they say And hereupon came it that the Seé of that Beast was darkened hereof came it that the Denne of momishe Monckes neuer founded by God were rooted cleane vppe hereof came it that their goodes and possessions were dispersed abroad their temples destroyed their Images Altares Idolles Monumentes of prophane superstition shyuered in peéces Finally whatsoeuer was repugnaunt to Christes Gospell whatsoeuer apperteined not to his glory whatsoeuer hypocrisie had heretofore builded vpon the Sandes and not vpon the Rocke Christ came all to vtter ruine And there is no doubt but that your Mytred pride Osorius together with that intollerable arrogancy and insolent hautynes of Romish Prelates their Princely trayne Lordly and ambitious Titles and all that Luciferlyke pompe of abhominable lyfe wherein they riotte and reuell in despight of Christ his Gospell shall come to the lyke ouerthrow which doth euen now by all lykely coniectures threaten your vtter subuersion I come now to the other part of your cauill which is in all respectes as vntrue and friuolous Wherein you conclude after this sort That sithence the Preachyng of this Gospell no Reformation of life hath ensued nor that the conuersation of their Auditorie is any ioate at all bettered but rather made much more worse then before But how doe you know this to be true beyng so farre distaunt frō this end of the world Reporte hath told you so Ueryly a fitte messenger for Osorius his grauitie But do you so stoughtly warraūt all your slaunders vpon heare-say good Syr and do ye thinke it enough for you to treade down the Gospell of Christ with your graue and solemne voucher of hearesay onely what can you so quickely harken vnto Reporte geue no credite or eare to Christes Gospell Is it so in deéde hath fame so bewitched your eyes that you cā discerne nothyng but that which is altogether remoued nothyng but wickednes lechery murthers and theftes tumultes and conspiracies Finally nothing reformed nor bettered with vs sithence the embracyng of this Gospell what say you to this when the people be instructed to repose all their hope and affiaunce of Saluation in Christ onely to seéke and craue of this onely patrone and Mediatour a preseruatiue for all maladies reiectyng all peltyng drugges of mens traditions to hold them selues assured in this onely vnpenetrable Rocke to lamēte bewayle all their sinnes before him finally to make a sure couenaūt with thē selues vpō an vndeceauable Faith to haue the fruition of all things apperteinyng to saluation euerlasting cōsolatiō in him by him when godly consciēces entangled before with innumerable snares do begyn to be recomforted with that gladsome Trumpe of Euangelicall Grace and to acknowledge embrace the inestimable riches of Gods glory in Christ Iesu whēas Kyngs hauing shakē frō their shoulders that intollerable yoake of seruile Popish bondage do know how to preserue their owne Seignories and right and Subiectes to yeld due obediēce to their Princes and Magistrates finally when as Idolles and Images beyng subuerted euery person is taught to open his owne cause vnto the liuyng Lord in spirite and truth and to lead his lyfe accordyng to the prescript rule of Gods ordinaūce and not after the Apish Decreés and Decretalles of the Pope and to surcease here frō many others of the same sort which beyng in number infinite almost are you onely alone so bussardly blind that can discerne none of all these can accompt all these pointes of so necessary reformation to be altogether fruitelesse and nothyng worthe But their maners remaine yet vnreformed or rather worse then they were sith this Gospell was receaued Harkē a whiles you Portingal Truly I may selfe haue heard the Iewes obbraying vs christiās with the same faults wherwith you do reproch vs now touching disordered life And it may be peraduēture that amongest the Iewes some Phariseés may lead their liues some what more precisely accordyng to the outward integritie of the law then many Christiās do now a dayes shall the Fayth therfore which the Christians do professe be esteémed any iote lesse ualuable and sounde I beseéch you Syr in what countrey liue you that cā so earnestly reproue vs for not keépyng the discipline of our profession What and if your Auditory say you be not onely not made better c. First render an accompt of your owne Auditory Osorius then make inquisition of ours afterwardes But that we may with lesse difficultie aunswere the faultes wherof you condemne vs I would fayne learne of you first who those be that you note by the name of Auditorie If you meane the Lutherans or Zuinglians surely I know no Lutheranes nor Zuingliās here For as much as we here in England do all professe to be the disciples not of Luther nor of Zuinglius ne yet of Caluine but of Christ the Sonne of the liuyng God onely But go to bycause it hath pleased you to accuse vs by the name of Sectaries thereby to teaze mē so much the more to hate vs tell vs I pray you first this one thyng whether those Lutheranes and Zuinglians be the men with whom these haynous wickednesses murthers and theftes be so ryse vnpunished Truly I do confesse this simply and truly which also I do lament hartely that there is a great nōber of people euery where not here in Englād alone that be endued with no feélyng of Religiō at all nor moued with any earnest motion of mynde to any contemplation of heauenly thynges But such do I neither recompt Lutheranes nor yet worthy to be reckoned amongest the nomber of true Christians Of this sort of people are some the multitude whereof is infinite who like Players vpō a Stage fashioyng them selues to the present tymes maners of Princes turne returne and ouerturne them selues after euery blaste of Religiō accordyng to the tyme and place where they lyue ready alway to follow any kynde of profession now this now that wherein they may best mainteine their countenaunces dignities and worship in good likyng and without perill but as for these I vouchsafe neither the name of Lutherās nor Catholicks but Newtralls a rascall most abiect people of all others And this also your selfe do cōfesse playnly in this booke namely that you know many in this our Realme constaunt vnremoueable Catholickes whom likewise you will not haue to be nombred as the Auditorie of this
For this is almost the whole strength substaunce of their defence And I am not ignoraunt how plausibly this probable shew glittereth in the eyes of vnskilfull and vnlettered people For so do Philosophers define Probabilitie to be such as seémeth probable either to all men or many or at the least to wise personages But in heauenly thyngs ought a farre other maner of cōsideration be had For if we grounde our selues vpon many we are taught by Christ himselfe That many are called but few are chosen And agayne in an other place That his flocke is a very litle flocke And afterwardes he demaundeth If when the Sonne of mā shall come whether he shall finde any Faith vpō the earth Neither are those thyngs alwayes best wt delight many Agayne if we shall depend vpon the Iudgemēt of the wise we heare likewise the same Lord him selfe geuing thākes vnto his Father that he had hiddē those thinges frō the prudent and wise of this world and reuealed them to litle ones And agayne we read in Paul The wisedome of this world is very foolishnes with God And therfore where as they would haue the Church to be placed on high apparaūt to the view of all the world truly they Iudge not amysse herein namely if they meane of the preaching of the word And yet this is no good Argumēt notwithstādyng that euery Citie vaūced on highest hill shall be forthwith esteémed the true church of God or els what shall be sayd to that famous great City mētioned in the Apocalips Which was foreprophecied should be built not vpon the Toppe of on hill onely but vpon seuen hills Or what shall we Iudge of that exceédyng wondering and worshyppyng of so many Nations so reuerētly hūbled to that Beast whose marcke it is sayd that small and great young and old riche and poore freemen and bondmen yea and those in noumber not a fewe but vniuersally all shall be marked withall in their right handes and in their foreheades Uerely if common sence and consent of people do make a Church where was euer a greater consent or more well likyng and greater admiration of fautours and frendes But they say that the cōsent cōmunitie of their Church is vniuersall Catholick which may not erre by any meanes Now let vs seé how they proue it The Apostle say they in his Epistles did greatly cōmēde the fayth of the Romaine Church This is true Peter also did both consecrate the same to be a See and instruct it in the Fayth I am in dought of this But what hereof After the Apostles tyme many of the Apostles Disciples say they learned Doctours and holy Martyrs Ignatius Irenaeus Cyprian Tertulliā Augustine and all that auncient age of graue Fathers did alwayes most gloriously esteeme of this Church Is there any more yet In the tyme of Basile Nazienzene Chrisostome the Church of Rome was not onely had in highest estimation but also was diuers tymes sought vnto for counsell and ayde neither will I deny this to be true couple herewith if you will that whē other Churches were tossed and turmoyled euery where with Schismes and rent in sunder with seditious factions no one Church besides stoode so long in so quiet a calme not assaulted with any such contētious sectes or variable opiniōs which did not a litle aduaunce the estimation of the Church and gate it no small authoritie Go to and what shal be concluded at the last out of all this For sooth The Church of Rome whiles it reteigned the sounde doctrine and simplicitie of the Fayth was commended of the holy Fathers by the name of a Catholicke and an Apostolicke Church Ergo The Church of Rome is the head and Metropolitane Church of all other Churches which hath neuer hetherto swarued from the true tracke of the truth nor shall euer erre vnder the which all other Churches must be subiect of very necessitie the cōmaundement wherof is an haynous obstinacie to disobey From the which to depart is manifest Schisme agaynst the which to resist and stand is playne heresie all the cōmaundements whereof to sweare obedience vnto is the surest way of sauety moreouer also a very necessary Article of eternall Saluation You do seé I suppose the whole force and subtiltie of your Catholicke cutted Enthymeme Whereof if you will seé a right proportion it is this The Church of Rome was allowed of the holy Apostles or the most auncient Fathers and all the most approued Doctours of the Church for Catholicke and Apostolicke But our Church is the Church of Rome Ergo Our Church is approued for Catholicke and Apostolicke by the consent of all the godly First we aunswere to the Maior proposition The auncient primitiue Church of Rome was approued by the famous cōsent of the learned for Catholicke and Apostolicke Peraduenture it was so yet was not this Church of Rome accompted so alone nor yet to this end so accompted bycause it should be the vniuersall Church of all other Churches For this will forthwith be gayne sayd by the Councels of Nice Mileuitane and by Pope Gregory and all the learned Deuines of that age vntill the cōmyng of Boniface 3. Moreouer neither was it for that cause so famously commended with so great consent bycause it was the Church of Rome but bycause it was a Christian Church Neither for any prerogatiue of the place though Peter sate there a thousand tymes For euen this also will an aūcient Pope Gregory deny as appeareth euidently by the Decreés Neither the places nor the dignities do make vs more acceptable to our Creatour but either our good deedes doe couple vs vnto him or our euill deedes do exclude vs frō him Moreouer not bycause it can prescribe an ordinary Succession of Byshops For Ierome also will not admit this They be not children of holy ones forthwith sayth he that occupie the possessiō of the holy ones but they that practize the workes of the holy ones But bycause with the Succession of Byshops they did ioyne agreable profession in true Religion bycause they did apply them selues to imitate the Fayth Religion and order of worshyppyng instituted by the Apostles bycause they did not varry frō well ordered Churches in any part of sounde doctrine For this cause I say namely for their sincere vnstayned Fayth and constaunt vprightenes of Religion not defiled with filthy stenche of erroneous doctrine the Church of Rome obteined of the auncient godly Fathers to haue a place amongest the Catholicke Apostolicke Churches But what is this O ye Apostolicke Princes to this your Romish Church in the state that it is now in the disorderous order whereof as it is at this day reuelyng with Cardinalles riotyng in Court glorified with this title of Uniuersall head garnished with tripple Crowne garded with the double sword magnified with Patriarches and innumerable other titles of dignitie armed with Abbottes mounted with Mounkes saluted
souereigne with shauelyngs and infinite skulles of fectes fortified with those Canons Decreés Decretalles and Rescriptes pampered vppe with Pardons exalted with Idolatry sumptuous in superstition entangled with so many snares and Articles embrued in so bloudy a bootchery of Saintes that might easily fill vp a thousand Toonnesfull of Babilonicall horrour and crueltie aduaunced with so many more then Pharisaicall Traditions and peltyng Ceremonies which would easily ouerlade a monstruous Carricke glitteryng in gold precious stones and pearle enriched with large and great possessions patrimonies beautified with purple and scarlet finally so blazing in brauery with the Royalties of S. Peter If S. Peter if Paule the Apostle if the holy Fathers and auÌ„cient Doctours of that pure primitiue Church had seéne these glorious gawdyes which we seé veryly I doe beleéue they would so litle acknowledge this Church for Catholicke that they would euen from the bottome of their hartes vtterly abhorre it and would scarsely acknowledge it by the name of a Christian Church And thus much to your Maior Now I do aunswere to your Minor wherein you haue committed a great eskape in the word which the Logitians do terme aequiuocum or ignoratio Elenchi For this word Romayne Church is in the Maior taken after one sort in the Minor after an other sort In the Maior it noteth such a Church as did retayne the true worshippyng of God and sincerity of Religion as into the which were no poysoned infections of sinister Doctrine no filth of false opinyons crept But in the Minor thys word Church is of a farre contrary condition and quality as the which doth carry no resemblaunce at all of that auntient and primitiue Church besides a bare name onely and a certayne whorysh dissembling counterfayt of outward Succession In all thynges els which do make a true vnspotted and vndefiled Church it beareth so no countenaunce at all as that it seémeth rather vnder the name and Tytle of the Church to be at defiaunce with the Church rather and vnder the name of a ChristiaÌ„ souldior to fight agaynst Christ her captain trayterously to betraye him to Antichryst For if Christ be the verity it selfe surely counterfayt verity as Origen sayth is very Antichrist And therfore if they will iustify theyr consent and Antiquity by good argument Let them yelde vs such a Church of Rome as the auncient Fathers did honourably esteéme of and then shall it not want our agreéable and mutuall assent and allowaunce And let them make vs a playne demonstration of those ornaments which are worthely ascribed to a true Christian Church and we will confesse it to be a true Church Where the Church is sayeth Irene there is the holy Ghost and where the Spirite of God is there is also the Church and all grace But the Spyryte is the verity therefore verity is the life of the Church without the which the Church is blinde and euen dead being aliue and deserueth not so much as the name of a Church no more then the portraiâ—t or counterfayt of a man doth deserue to be called a maÌ„ properly whereupon the Church is with the Apostle very fittely called a sure piâ—ler and a foundation not of mans authority but of Gods verity And by the testimony of Lactantius that Church is called the onely Catholicke Church wherein God is worshipped aright which Church if the ofspring of the auncient Romanistes did now professe as truely and in the same forme as the Catholicke Fathers did extoll prayse it with such great commendation there would be no controuersy at all On the other side if they haue determined with theÌ„selues neither to admit the trueth within theyr Citie themselues nor to tollerate the same to beé preached being brought in by others let them accuse themselues not the Lutherans who had rather patiently endure coÌ„tinuall enmity and hatred of them then to become open aduersaries of the truth Moreouer lette them also cease hereafter to pray in ayd of antiquity number of voyces for defence of their church forasmuch as they can alleadge no true report of the one and the other can helpe them nothing at all For if it may be lawfull for vs renouncing the verity to mayntayne one cause by vouching antiquity and number of nations namely in those thynges which appertayne properly to Christ and his Church then let vs not spare to argue after the same forme of Logick The Religion of Mahumette hath bene of as long a continuaunce of tyme and yeares as the Church of the Pope Ergo Mahumettes Religion is of as great authority as the Popes And agayne The greatest part of Priestes haue long sithence bene ouer gredily couetous Ergo They that doe inueigh agaynst theyr greedy Auarice most be accounted Cosen Germaynes to the valdenses heresy Agayne The greater part of the people did cry out Crucifige and stoaned Stephen to death And the most part of meÌ„ do at this day follow their owne sensuality and lust Ergo Let vs all ioyne together in sensuality and lust If on this wise we shall thinke to measure the truth and sincerity of Religion by the standard of Antiquity and number of yeares what shall we winne by this argument when we doe heare that many are called but few are chosen when as fooles also be in number infinite when as from the highest to the lowest all are become couetous when as euen from the Prophette to the Priestes all worke deceit What shall we win I say by this argument but that the part of Sathan which is more in number shall be of greater force and seéme to tryumph agaynst the Lord But to lette passe the Romysh Church I returne to our own Church In the which Osorius hauing alleadged nothing hetherto nor being by any meanes able to alleadge any matter truely that may seéme either new or straunge in our doctrine or that doth in any respect swarue from the institution and discipline of the Apostles he runneth away from the question that concerneth the sincerity of Religion and doctrine and commeth to this point to catch some occasion of outward life and maners of men whereby he may reproch vs subtlely enough I warrant you imitating herein the old crafty Rhetoricall Foxes who feéling themselues altogether vnable to prosecute the cause which is specially in hand with effect do wring the state of the Question an other way or enforce the whole bent of theyr accusation agaynst theyr aduersary with some contrary cauillation turning Catte in the Panne that so being not otherwise able to compas theyr cause it selfe they may yet at least entangle theyr Aduersary with some perill and daunger Not much vnlike hereunto happeneth now to Osorius in this kinde of controuersy who being not able to mayntayne the cause of his guilty Church with any iustifiable argumentes bendeth himselfe wholly to defame our Churches with falsehoodes and vntruethes And on this wise at length addresseth his
and shew how they sprong vpp first emongest the olde Fathers and so by litle and litle in what order they proceéded lastly by what degreés they clymed vpp so high to become marchauntable in the Primitiue Church When as Emperours raged furiously agaynst the first entrye and beginning of Christes Church albeit very many godly Fathers gaue their lyues with wonderfull constancye for the testimony of the trueth Yet did not all persist in lyke constancye of minde but many of them falling away from their profession to Idolls were holden guiltye of Idolatry sacriledge Who notwithstanding renouncing their Paganisme and retourning to Christ ministred occasion to the Elders to pause awhiles and to take breath vpon good aduise what were best to be done with them It was concluded at the last the mercy ought not to be denyed to these backslyders Yet so as they should not by and by be restored to the congregation whom they hadd offended by their euill example by perfourming some penaunce prescribed vnto thē for a certain space of tyme. In the meane tyme as euery of the Penitentiaries seémed to grow in greater carelessnes of their penaunce so was their penaunce aggrauated and lesse consideration hadd of releasing their punishment At the last the persecution being ceased yet ceased not the infirmity of sinning Whereupon the posteritye followed the example of their predecessors vpon lyke occasion ministred by obstinate sinners Then were added certein Cannons gathered together out of Councells first from the Councells of Ancyra and Nyce and from the Councells following A transcript whereof was made by Buchard and Gracian whiche the Latines doe call Penitentiales and the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is before mencioned Wherein was comprehended how much penaunce was prescribed for euery particular fault Neuerthelesse some qualification of the sharpenes of the sayd Canons was ministred to the Penitentiaries through the clemency and humanitye of the Pastors accordyng to the qualitye of the trespasses and estates of the persons And this kinde of discipline of the Canons was exercized yet in a certein meane state of the Church by the space of a thowsand yeares and somewhat more vntill at the last the auncient sincerity of the Primitiue purenesse beginning to waxe colde and the rigor of the olde Canons growing by litle litle out of vse or chaunged into lighter burdeines new Pardons exept in place which were not onely abrydgementes and easementes of those penaltyes that apperteined to the censure of the Church but which did stretch further a great deale to absolution a paena culpa not in this present lyfe onely but euen to Purgatory it selfe Wherein were promised not onely Releases of Ecclesiasticall satisfactions but full and generall acquittaunces deliuered of those forfaytures and trespasses which appertayned chiefly to Gods owne Consistorye Whiles these thyngs were a doyng and freé Pardons flewe abroad now euery where thorough all Churches without measure which happened not long before the yeare of our Lord. 1200 by and by began question to be made by whom those Pardons might be graunted by their Parish Priest onely or by any other of like dignitie or by a superior power After that this kynde of dispensation was translated to Byshops and Archbyshops onely And at the last came it in question where the full power of plenary Pardons should rest Which after solemne disputations was agreed and concluded vpon must neédes be in the power of the Byshop of Rome In the meane space was a Councell Sommoned to be holden at Laterane vnder Pope Innocent the thyrd in the yeare of our Lord. 1215. Wherein complaint was made of that cōmon scatteryng abroad of Pardons whereby certein Proctours of Spittellhouses which gathered the good deuotion of the people for their poore houses were wont to graunt out great and large Pardons bycause they would procure the people to deale their ahnes somewhat more franckly There ensued afterward a Coūcell holden at Vienna which I doe wonder why hath bene omitted in the bookes of the Cannōs vnder pope Clemente the 5. in the yeare of our Lord. 1311 In which Councell the auncient Fathers perceauyng the subtile practizes of certein Pardoners and their ouer greédy outrage in settyng their Pardons to sale and their scrafty conueyaunce to cratche vppe the pence thought good to preuent this mischief betymes and thereupō made a solemne Decreé wherein the dissolute licentiousnesse of these pratyng Proccours was sharpely suppressed bycause they gaue of their owne myndes motiō to speake their owne tearme Pardons to the people dispenced vpon vowes absolued such as would cōfesse open periuries manslaughters and other horrible crimes bycause they would release for money the thyrd or the fourth part of penaūces that were inioyned bycause they would dispatch Purgatory of threé or foure soules whom they listed at a choppe bycause they would graunt plenary remission of Sinnes and would make out their Bulles relaxatory A poena simul Culpa And at the last the holy Synode concludyng We sayth the Canon will and commaunde that these abuses by colour where of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction groweth to naught and the authoritie of the Church keyes is brought into contempt be vtterly abandoned and abolished c. Certeinely I am sure that this doyng of the Fathers will sett a good face vpō the matter Osorius that these good fathers had respect to nothyng els then to the Reformation of the sayd abuses onely But the matter it selfe bewrayed the contrary whatsoeuer pretence was made here of the perill of soules of the infamy of the Church of the contempt of the keyes and of ouer greédy rakyng for money yet this was not the principall cause that prickt forward the Romish Prelates to preuent this peltyng powlyng of the Proctours But there was an other cause For they did presume to absolute A poena Culpa Which accordyng to the Glose vpon the Decretalles is called the fullest forgeuenesse of Sinnes and is graunted by the Pope onely Moreouer they were to bold to geue out their Pardons to the people vpon their owne authoritie not receauyng nor obteinyng first licence and power thereunto from the Seé Apostolicque This was so haynous a matter that the Popes Councell could not be able to disgest it And hereupon began that crowyng agaynst the poore Proctours as I sayd before not so much for that they did abuse their Indulgences to gayne and lucre for what els haue the Popes them selues done at any tyme But bycause the Romishe Rauens felt no small feathers pluckt from their backes For these great wise men foresawe that which was true in deéde that if other Churches might be at freé libertie to bynde and louse as farreforth as they this would grow to no small preiudice to the Primacy And therefore was a prety waye founde out whereby all this absolute power of Pardons which at that season seémed in deéde generall to all Churches indifferently beyng afterwardes taken away
To witt if there be not a Purgatory Osorius doth lye if he be a lyar Ergo he is not sent froÌ„ God but from the Deuill the father of lyes Which counterbuffe is so much the more probably applyable agaynst Osorius then agaynst Luther by how much he persisteth more obstinately in the maintenaunce of that filthy quauemyre of Purgatory For as much as although Luther did erre somewhat in that matter at the first yet afterwardes knowing the trueth did reduce himselfe to a more sound iudgement so that now he neither maketh for the Papistes in affirming Purgatory neither by that his former vntrueth error sinneth agaynst God at all Therefore as touching his forked and double horned argumeÌ„t wherein the first part of Osorius his Position If there be no Purgatory Luther doth lye If Osorius here doe vnderstand of a lye Formaliter Luther doth not lye but Osorius doth lye But if Luther be adiudged according to that which he once thought and taught once why should he be more reproched with a lye in affirming Purgatory then commended in the trueth in denying Purgatory afterwardes Moreouer if a lye be such a kinde of thing as you doe affirme in your other Position wh doth separate vs from God surely he is to be accoumpted a lyar not that reuoketh the error which he maintayned before but he that still persisteth obstinately in his ouerthwart opinion manifestly agaynst the trueth But the Scholemen that in their Schooles dispute somewhat more subtilly of the nature of a lye do ioyne together to the full proportion or making of a lye the will also of him that doth make the lye to speake the schole tearmes with the part of the false surmise In the one whereof they ground the matter or substaunce in the other the forme or qualitye Therefore for asmuch as there is no sinne but that which is voluntary if we will speake after the proprietye of speéch he that in teaching or disputing doth mainteyne a falshoode thinking that he doth maintayne a trueth he is to be sayd that he erreth and is deceaued in opinion but doth not make a lye properly but per accidens as the schoole men speake and materialiter And therfore touching the one horne of your sophisme If there be not a Purgatorye Luther doth lye If you meane it formaliter as I sayd it is vntrue and a deuise of Osorius Now remayneth thother horne whereof we must be well aduised how wee doe aunswere it If he did lye say you Ergo He was not sent from God If this be true that neuer any man was sent from God that did make any kinde of lye at any tyme Lett Osorius looke well to the matter how he may be able to crack me these two nuttes that I will lykewise geue vnto him as euidently in ech respect agaynst him If Sara were not Abraham his sister then did Abraham lye If Abraham did lye then was he not sent from God Yea further also to adde hereunto an intent of deceauing Here is yet an other matter If Iacob were not the first begotten sonne of Isaack by Rebecca his wyfe both Iacob lyed and the Mother also If the Myddwyues did not drowne the young sucklings of the Hebrues then did they make a lye vnto Pharao If king Saul gaue vnto Dauid no commaundement by worde of mouth commiâ—g to Achimelech then did Dauid make a lye 1. Kinges Chap. 21. If all these of whom I haue spoken Iacob Rebecca the Middwiues Dauid did lye Ergo they were not sent from God which if Osor. will not deny to be a most arrogant vntrueth what remaineth but that this cruell Sauadge two horned beast together with Luther goare the holy Patriarches also with his hornes or casting away his hornes acquite Luther and the Patriarches also both together Now I put Osorius to his choyse to take which he will Howbeit I speake not this to acquite Luther cleare from all spott of error NotwithstaÌ„ding it is not all one to hold an error and to maintayne a lye It is one thing to be vnskilfull and ignoraunt and an other thing to reuoke in season assoone as a man doth know his error The first whereof is a speciall poynt of humaine infirmitye thother a singuler benefite of Gods mercy Both which we haue seéne to haue chaunced euen in the most holy ones of all We reade of the most holy messenger and forerunner of the Lord speaking on this wise And I sayth he knew him not Neuerthelesse in an other place we heare the same speaking on this wise Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world And what maruell was it if Luther were ignoraunt in some thinges a whiles which were discouered vnto him afterwardes And where hath euer bene so quicksighted a Spinx that was able to seé all things at once which prerogatiue the Barnardines dare not geue vnto Barnard himselfe But Osorius will not leaue of his handfast And would gladly know as he sayth Whether senteÌ„ce of Luther Haddon will determine vpoÌ„ to be true seing Luther is Author of both Of the first wherein he affirmeth a Purgatory to be or the last wherein he denyeth the same thing agayne That I may passe ouer in the meane space whose Cartloades full of Tauntes Mockes and Mountaynes of lyes which he vomiteth out in the bosome of the good man most brutishly euen to the ridding of his gorge almost I will aunswere to the matter and the reprochfull Taunt it selfe briefly without Tauntes As concerning the very trueth and naturall substaunce of Doctrine howsoeuer mens opinions and Iudgements be carryed hither and thither in wauering vncerteynty yet trueth is neuer vnlyke it selfe but remayneth alwayes one and the same also vnchaungeable which suffreth not it selfe to be toste to and fro after the whirling variablenes of mens imaginations but standeth alwayes sound and vnshaken builded vpon the vnpenetrable Rocke of the Scriptures of God Now if Luthers rule be agreably apporcioned accordyng to the infallible squarier of that holy staÌ„dard whether it be first or whether it be last why should it not be worthely embraced not because it is the last but because it is the truest On the other side if in all his doctrine be any assertion that deserueth to be reprehended as repugnauÌ„t or varying from the true touchestone of Christian profession there be extant the holy Scriptures of God manifest and layd open there be auÌ„cient ordinauÌ„ces of the Primitiue Church There be approued Testimonies of learned men There be groundes and principles of doctrine wherewith ye may lawfully conuince him Yet orderly notwithstanding and courteously that the Readers may finde you to be a learned Deuine or skilfull Logician not a rayling Slaunderer and fryuolous brabbler Now to what purpose serueth so much cursed rayling no lesse vnseasonable then vnreasonable so many Tauntes so many slaunders so many subtiltyes and so many bitter skoffes what neéded
the death of Christ is not of sufficient efficacy and power to accomplish the misterye and pryce of our redemptiō vnlesse a supply of Sayntes afflictions be annexed to make vpp the full measure herein they do eyther moustruously lye or els it is false that Saynt Paule doth affirme that we are all made absolutely perfect and complete in Christ Iesu for asmuch as it is vndoughted true that the thing that is most perfect and fully absolute can want nothing to fyll vpp the measure of perfect perfection And so also is the saying of Saynt Paule to the Hebrues in ech respect as false where it is sayd that Christ did by one onely oblation consummate or make perfect them that be sanctified Surely if one onely oblation doe fully accomplish all the partes of our satisfaction then all other oblatiōs whatsoeuer be not onely not profitable but wicked also and execrable Moreouer whereas that Typicall Lambe in the olde law did represent vnto vs the perfect patterne and Image of the true and immaculate Lambe which was slayne from the beginning of the world what shoulde be the cause that the redemption which is of the bloud of the sonne of God should in any respect not be as fully perfect vnto vs as was that deliueraunce of the people full and absolute that went before but in a Type or representation And whereas they dare be so shamelesly Impudent as to make a mingle māgle of the merites and afflictiōs of Sayncts with the passion and bloud of Iesu Christ I do wonder that they are not ashamed hereof howbeit I can not deny but that the death of his Saynctes is precious in the sight of the Lord yet is not this to be taken so as though the price of theyr death were of as great value as that it ought or can be able to counteruayle the wrath of God by any meanes Neither are they therfore sayncts because they do dye and suffer persequution but because they that do suffer persequution be holy therefore is theyr death called precious in the sight of the Lord. And the cause why they are Sainctes and be called Sainctes commeth not of any vertue of theyr death but of the onely power efficacye of the death of the sonne of God in whō they do beleue which dignity they do receiue by theyr owne fayth onely not for any their afflictions sake so that now to be Sainctes is not of any merite of their own but of the merite of the onely sonne Iesu Christ who is onelye righteous and doth make others righteous as Augustine doth both wisely and learnedly testify Christ sayth he was that one onelye man which could both haue the fleshe of man and could also not haue any Sinne. Euen that onely he and alone which is himselfe iust and doth instifie others the man Iesus Christ. And therefore sayth he we can not be compared with Christ although we suffer Martyrdome for his sake euen to the sheading of our bloud And immediatly after making a comparison betwixt the afflictions of Christ and the afflictions of the godly Martyrs Christ sayth he had no need of any our helpe to worke our saluation but we cann do nothing at all without him he gaue himselfe vnto vs his braunches a liuely vine and we without him can not haue so much as any breath to preserue life withall Finally although brethren do suffer death for brethren yet is not the bloud of any Martyr shedd for the remission of his brothers offences which thing Christ did in his owne person for vs. Neither did he by this exāple as by any speciall patterne direct vs to immitate him but onelye that for this example we should become thankefull and reioyce in him c. 3. So that by this testimony of S. Augustine now I doe suppose no man doth dought how he ought to determine of the other threé namely the Treasory of the Church Pardons and Purgatory For if it be true that the same Augustine doth say that the most holy ones of all others are not able to cure the woundes of their brethren being themselues daylye and incessaunt beggers in theyr dayly prayers for remission of theyr owne Sinnes What shall become then I pray you of the merites of Sayntes 4. But if the merites of all holy Martyrs and Apostles be nothing auayleable with what reason then can this gaye treasory of the Church be mayntayned of whose Iewelles they brag so gloriously or what shall become of that office of Stewardship and dispensation of Pardons 5 Moreouer if those ragged skrappes of pelting Pardōs be throwen out to the dounghill I neéde not drawe forth any long discourse to tell theé gentle Reader what shall become of that rydiculous Relique and bable of Purgatory For as much as the matter it selfe being so easely discernable will quickly enduce theé to perceaue that this fable which these catholick Fathers haue forged of Purgatory doth no more emporte any trueth or lykelyhood of trueth then this lye and peéuish pracing of Pardons doth differr from manifest falshood foxlye fraude then which toye neuer crept into the Church any one trinckett more ridiculous or worthy lesse credit All which notwithstanding our Portingall Rhetorician must yet proceéde forward and shoulder out his puppett Purgatory with all the strength that he can and demaundeth a question Whether there may be any tyme for Christians to abstayne lawfully from Carity whose chiefe and principall poynte of Religion doth consist in Caryty If you speake of Dearth Osorius It is true that you speake that the principall groundworke of all your Religion is Dearth For she maketh most on your side And hereof commeth it that all ecclesiasticall matters are sould so dearely with you yea the Churches themselues Byshopprickes Prouostshippes Priestehoodes Myters Palles Consecrations Immunityes Priuiledges Dispensations Indulgences Monasteryes Temples Altars Colledges Emongest all which the highest degreé of Papacy it selfe what a price it beareth and what a Dearth hath growenouer all these thinges is skarse credible to be beleued or able to be expressed with pen or tongue But you meane Charitie a word deryued from out the grace loue and mercy of God I doe aunswere you that in all your Religion is either so no Charity at all or surely so litle as that all thinges with you are full of skarsitye and dearth But our Osorius Tullianisme doth not distinguish Caritatem Dearth from Charitatem Loue by any speciall difference And therefore lett vs heare the questiō that he propoundeth himselfe of this his Caritas dearth What can there be any exercise of caritas imagined greter then this wherein we do pray with most earnest prayers vnto God for the saluation of our Brethren No surely I thinke And therefore for the great affection and loue that I doe beare vnto you I doe pray most humbly and hartely vnto God for your sauety that pardoning this your lewdnes of wryting he may
schooles which doth affirme that an Allegoricall Argument concludeth no trueth I referr me to the Logicians Of no greater valydyty is that Argument lykewyse which they rake out of Augustines wordes For on thys wyse is Augustine cited Melchizedech sayth he did deliuer to Abraham first as to thè Father of the faythfull the Eucharist of the body bloud of Christ. c. To graunt this vnto them as for confessed which neuerthelesse resteth yet vnproued That Melchizedech did represent the Euchariste in a type and vnder a veyle of likenesse yet whereas he offered nothing but bread and wyne this is not a good argument to proue that the Pryest which doth celebrate the Masse shall by and by offer vpon the Altar vnto God the Father the very same substaunce of his sonne for sinnes whiche suffered on the Crosse. Neyther is thys forme of argument allowable in Schooles Melchizedech did represent the Eucharist in a figure Ergo The flesh of the sonne of God is really offered for the quick and the dead in the Masse or Communion But lett vs proceéde to the remnaunt of our Aduersaryes Fragmentes There is also thrust in place a saying of Hesychius who writing vpon Leuiticus but as going before sayth he he did offer vpp himselfe in the Apostles supper Which they do know who be partakers of the efficacy of the misteries c. Nothing withstandeth but that Christ may be sayd after a certeine sorte to offer himselfe to the Father in his last supper euē by the same figuratiue speéch wherein the Lambe is sayd to be slayne from the beginning of the world Or as it is sayd in the old Testament that oblation is offered by Sacrifices in which phrase of speéch the same Hesychius in an other place in the same Chap. doth call Christ an Altar Christ being incarnate in the Uirgines wombe to be a soddē Sacrifice not in actuall veritye in naturall trueth of the thing in deéde but in power and vertue of a Mystery Whereupon lett vs heare what aunswere August doth make not vnaptly to these figuratiue speéches of Hesychius was not Christ once offred in himselfe sayth he And yet he is offred to the people not onely at euery solemne feast of Easter but euery day also Neither doth he lye that being demaunded shall aunswere that he was Sacrificed For if Sacraments hadd not a certain lykenesse of the thinges whereof they be Sacramentes they should not be Sacramentes at all Thus much Augustine whose authoritye if be not of sufficient creditt Lett vs annexe thereunto the Sentence of Lombard For thus speaketh he After this sayth he question is demaunded whether the action of the Priest may be called a Sacrifice properly or an oblation And whether Christ be dayly offred or whether he be offred once onely whereunto may be aunswered briefely That the thing that is offred and consecrated by the Priest is called a Sacrifice an oblatiō because it is a memoriall and a representatiō of the true sacrifice an oblatiō offred vpon the Altar of the Crosse. For Christ did suffer death vpon the Crosse once and was there offred in himselfe But he is dayly offred in the sacrament because in the same sacrament a memoriall is made of the same thing that was once offred c. And because we may not seéme to want witnesses lett vs couple hereunto the common Glosse differing nothing at all from the Maister of the sentēces which enterlacing a commentary vpon the place of Augustine where Christ is sayd to be Sacrificed De consecrat Distinct. 2. he doth expound the wordes of the distinction on this wise Christ is sacrificed That is to say the sacrifice of Christ sayth he is represented and a memoriall is made of his passion c. Now Syr how doe these hang together with the decreés of the Tridentine ghostly Fathers who are not satisfied to call the Masse by the name of Sacramentall Sacrifice wherein a memoriall and a representation may be made of the Lordes Sacrifice vnlesse it be accompted also a Satisfactory and Propitiatory sacrifice beyond all consideration and trueth of Scripture and besides all custome of the auncient Fathers But I retourne agayne to Hesychius who sayth that Christ did Sacrifice himselfe at his supper which saying I do admitt But Augustine doth playnely disclose what maner of Sacrifice that was De consecratione distinct 2. The very Sacrifice sayth he which is made with the Priestes handes is called the Passion of Christ his death his crucifying not in the trueth of the thing in deed but in a signifyeng mistery c. And agayne When the hoast is broken and the blood powred into the mouthes of the faythfull what is signified thereby els then the offering of the body of Christ vpon the crosse c. Therefore such as be of sound iudgementes will say that to deduct true and vnreproueable propositions frō the wordes that are spoken figuratyuely and after a certein sort is a shyft of subtle sophisters and not a poynt of sober Diuynes After this ensueth a place out of Irene very much and many times canuassed by our Aduersaries And he tooke sayth he that which is of the substaunce of bread and gaue thankes saying This is my body And the cuppe likewise which is of the creature of wine that is vsuall with vs he did confesse to be his bloud and did teach a new oblation of a new Testament which the Churche receiuing from the Apostles doth offer vnto God through the whole world of the which amongest the twelue prophets Malachy did prophecy on this wise I haue no pleasure in you sayth the Lord God of hostes and I will not accept an offering of your handes c. The place of Irene whereupon they beate their braynes so busily is chopt in here at this present according as the olde prouerbe sayth as good neuer a whitt as neuer the better as iust as Germaines lipps For whereas proofe ought to haue bene made that the same boyd of Christ which was once hāged on the Crosse thrust through the side vpon the Crosse is offered dayly in the Masse really and substantially in an vnbloudy Sacrifice for the redemption of sinnes for hereunto tendeth their inuincible Maxime they slipp away frō thēce now are come to shew that we are bound to offer vnto God the first fruites of all his creatures by the commaūdemēt of God least we may seéme vnthākefull vngratefull For besides this the wordes of Irene emporte nothing Now to graunt them all this that Christ tooke bread and the cupp of the Creature of wine that is vsuall with vs and did call the same his bloud what will all this preuaile to defend them in this lurking hoale for the question here is not whether we onght to make an oblation to God of the first fruites of all his creatures nor whether Christ gaue his commaundement to his Apostles which they did
estimation of his speaches without yeloyng any reason or demonstration of the thynges which he vttereth in good sooth then haue you spoken enough Osorius and crackt the creditt of all the poore Lutherans vtterly as you say But if in decidyng of controuersies trueth must be tryed not with bare speéches but with substantiall matter certes either you must gett a better visor for your glorious persuation or els in my iudgement you were better hold your peace altogether You doe oppresse vs in a glorious braggery of speéch with the speéches of the Apostles and with the tradicioÌ„s of the Apostles disciples And yet out of all the Apostles writings can not any man hitherto force from you no not by violence one title so much which will auaile any ioate to the creditt of those your Assertions but will rather deface them discouer your packing Upon the neck of them you do force vpon vs also the authoritye of auncient Fathers and the generall consent of the vniuersall Church cleare from all maner of variablenes and disagreéing What a iest is this As though there were any one of those auncient Fathers euer borne as yet that euer vttered one sillable so much of purging the sinnes of the faythfull after they were once departed this lyfe or of the Popes Pardons of the Propiciatory Sacrifice of the Masse of Transubstantiation of Merite Meritorious of Merite of CoÌ„gruum and Condignum or that euer durst presume to make the Sacrifice of the Altar comparable with the Sacrifice of the Crosse or durst affirme that Christ himselfe was really in the consecrated hoast with all the dimentions and liniaments of the same body which suffred death vpon the Crosse or would euer ascribe to a pelting Priest full power to Merite and offerr Sacrifice for the quick and the dead Now if euer you haue chaunced vpon any such Doctrine in the writings of the auncient Fathers gentle Syr Byshopp why doe yoe not vouch the same boldly wherby you may seéme to haue confuted vs not with babling but with trueth and substaunce of matter But if you haue not so done as yet nor seéme euer able to doe it where is then that generall consent and agreément of the whole Church Where be these Records and Monuments of auncient Antiquitye and of all foreages Where be those inuincible Arguments Where be those irreproueable Testimonyes and vndeceiueable examples wherevpon you crake so lustely perhappes you will empart them vnto vs in your next bookes at your better leysure For hitherto as yet you haue hadd no leysure to muster that your braue guarison that you beare your selfe so stought vpon and to leade them into the fielde being otherwise surcharged with farr more weightie affaires And now to deteigne theé no longer geÌ„tle Reader thou hast heard heretofore howe this Portiugall hath powred forth his prattling Rhetorick for the vpholding of his Purgatory his Uowes his Supplications and Prayers for the safety of the dead and also of that most holy oblation of all other the Sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ offred for the reconcilemeÌ„t of Gods wrath and displeasure There remayneth behinde the knitting vp of all this geare Wherein purposing to make an end of his whole discourse he rusheth vpon Haddon with all the bent of his Eloquence Dare you be so bold sayth he to call this holynes of Religion this ardent endeuour of Loue this comfortable oblation offred not for vs alone but for our bretheren also wherewith we are knitt together in an euerlasting amitye to be defacinges disgracements of Religion A very haynous offeÌ„ce verily to call a Boate by the name of a Boate and a Mattock by the name of a Mattock But here was one sharde left open which must neédes be slopt vp with some brambles and Bryars Is not this foolishnes Is not this vnshamefastnes Is not this Madnes For if Osorius Eloquence were not furnished with these flashing flames surely it would be very colde But how more commendable yea how much more seémely and sittingly for his personage in my conceipt should he haue done if surceasing these outragious exclamations which preuaile not to the creditt of his cause the value of a pinne he hadd discreetly and with sober reasons debated the matter first and examined thoroughly whether Haddon hadd spoken trueth or falshood If he haue vttered the trueth then is Osorius frendly dealt withall If he haue spoken any untruethes there be scriptures there be arguments meéte and couenable Reasons wherwith Osorius might easily both defend the truth of his ReligioÌ„ and preserue it from to be impeached by others Spightfull reproching Skornefull taunting Cotqueanelyke rayling Rascallyke raging and Barbarous exclaming further not the defence of his cause If Osorius be so fully settled and so throughly wedded to his Church that no persuasion will seduce him to thinke that his Churche may straye by any meanes from the right course and that in all his Religion is no wrinkle or spott that may be amended surely he is herein very much deceaued Conferr who so list the whole face shape of the Popes ReligioÌ„ to witt his adoratioÌ„ his SacrameÌ„ts his Masses his breadworshipp his Imageworshipp his Sacrifices his ApplicatioÌ„ his TransubstantiatioÌ„ his Releasing of sinnes his Merits his Ceremonyes his Pardons sixe hundreth lyke papisticall truÌ„peries with the pure cleare founteines of the sacred Scriptures with the Institution Euangelicall and the expresse rule of the doctrine Apostolique and he shall easily perceaue that Haddon did vse an ouer myld maner of speéch wheÌ„ he called theÌ„ disgracements Some other man perhappes would haue blazed abroad these dreggs with some grosser tearmes Truely if the Apostle Paul hadd heard these profound opinions and these deépe deuises of the Romish Religion and hadd seéne their decrees their Cannons their Clogges of Ceremonies snares of consciences I he liued now and beheld these obseruations of dayes Monethes times these vowes and restraintes of meÌ„ forbidding Marriage denying the lawfull vse of meates which are now dayly frequented in the Church would any man dought whether he would call these disgracements of Religion or the Doctrines of Deuils rather But because we haue spoken hereof sufficiently before It shall be lesse neédefull to take this dounghill abroad any more But Osorius goeth forward and because HaddoÌ„ shall not escape sâ—â—tfreé for naming his pontificall pilfe to be disgracements of Religion Osorius acquiteth him with the like beadroll of the Lutherans corruptions in a long raggemarow of wordes that so comparing both partes one with an other to witt Luthers nakednes and beggery with the maiestie glory of the Catholickes he may make them to grow into the greater obloquy and hatred It remaineth therefore that we geue eare a whiles vnto the gallaunt brauery and loftines of Osorius Eloquence To abaÌ„don dutifull obedieÌ„ce to the Magistrate to disturbe the auncient ordinaunces of the Church to defyle the virginitie of sacred Nunnes