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A02464 Against Ierome Osorius Byshopp of Siluane in Portingall and against his slaunderous inuectiues An aunswere apologeticall: for the necessary defence of the euangelicall doctrine and veritie. First taken in hand by M. Walter Haddon, then undertaken and continued by M. Iohn Foxe, and now Englished by Iames Bell.; Contra Hieron. Osorium, eiusque odiosas infectationes pro evangelicae veritatis necessaria defensione, responsio apologetica. English Haddon, Walter, 1516-1572.; Foxe, John, 1516-1587. aut; Bell, James, fl. 1551-1596. 1581 (1581) STC 12594; ESTC S103608 892,364 1,076

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more commodious for vs namely sith him selfe hath spoken in the Gospell It behoveth you that I go for if I go not the comforter can not come If the corporall presence of Christ seéme in your conceiptes so necessary and so effectuall vnto Saluation Then bethinke this with your selfe how long the Apostles should haue neéded the vse of his bodyly presence how weake they were how grosse their vnderstandyng was notwithstandyng their dayly familiaritie and acquaintaunce with God and man notwithstandyng so may miracles seéne with their eyes notwithstanding so many apparaunt demonstrations notwithstādyng their dayly teachyng proceédyng from that heauenly voyce yet loe whē he should ascēde into heauē doth he not cast their incredulitie in their teéth And what was the cause hereof els but bycause the effectuall power and mighty force of the comforter could not enlighten their hartes vnlesse the fleshly presence of Christ had bene first takē away from them And do you not yet cease so drowsily to dreame vpon Christes flesh and euen for that cause haue you made such an horrible slaughter of so many thousand soules continuyng still in that sauadge and vnappeasable vnmercyfulnes And yet after this so great and cruell a bootchery may ye not endure to haue that your notable Prelate called by the name of Antichrist In deéde is this your aūcient Religion my Lord to speake nothyng in the meane space of that wherevnto the Rhetoriciās are wont to fleé whē they assayle their aduersaries most greéuously by an Impossibilitie of proofe as this that it is not possible for you to proue that your fleshly Assertiō of the Sacrament by any reason or by any deuise or imagination For how can you possibly bryng to passe that two contradictories may be verified of one selfe same body at one selfe instaunt so that the same selfe body of Christ seyng you will haue it one selfe body may be at one selfe same tyme in one and in diuerse places at one instaunt of tyme both glorified not glorified visible and not visible corruptible incorruptible which is not onely wonderfully absurde to be spoken but as impossible to be done and which also will admitte no miracle at all namely that the thyng that is true by nature should be false by miracle and be conceaued both true false at one instaunt of tyme. But bycause we determined not to prosecute Disputation hereof in this place but to treate onely of the antiquitie of doctrine I returne agayne to your Church which you garnish with a very gorgeous but in very deéde counterfaite and false title of Antiquitie wherein you deale also as subtelly and craftely Not much vnlyke to harlottes who when they will be atcompted for honest do as much as they may frame them selues to the resemblaunce of vertuous matrones from whose conuersatiō and maners they do varry notwithstandyng altogether Euen so fareth it with your Church I speake of that shape and countenaunce of the Church that now is not that which was long agoe For as I may not deny that the Church of Rome in that pure and primer age deserued wonderfull yea the principall commendation of all others not onely in respect of the noumber of Martyrs that suffred there but also in respect of her vnstayned sinceritie and Fayth euen so comparyng the Church that now is with the Church that then was The example is so farre of frō any liuely resemblaunce of the first patterne that it seémeth quite transformed and I can not tell how mishapen into a certeine chaungelyng Else without any mauer of likely applyable nesse to the feature or countenaunce of that first and auncient simplicitie and sinceritie For such was the lyfe of Christians in that purer age that they would not swerue one tytle so much from their profession Moreouer such was their profession that it would not raunge an hearebredth from the prescript rule of the Institutions Apostolique And such was the rage of persecution then as would now supper them to be Idely sluggish or to geaue themselues to vnlusty Lazines As for delightes and pleasures to rake riches together to build pallaces to seéke the exalting of themselues by honorable titles and dignityes they had neuer one minute of spare tyme to bestowe their wittes vpon Their dayly exercise then was a continuall wresting agaynst the world and the Deuill They spent all their tyme in labors and perills their whole lyfe was a paynfull turmoyle all their power was nought els but prayer Their fortresse was grounded vpon Christ Yea for Christ onely was their whole warfare Neither were those valiant souldiours destitute in the meane time of a singuler Chefetayne Christ himselfe was the chief generall of this Army who did either mitigate the horror and cruelty of their agonyes by his omnipotent power or with some comfortable restoratyue qualifie their greéues so ordering and attempering the proceédyngs and alterations of his Church that he would neither suffer the vaynes and sinowes of the same to gather any infection by ouerflowing plenty of ytching delights of this flattering world nor to be discouraged or vanquished with any immoderat assaultes or excessiue stormes of aduerse fortune and at the last would conduct them to a ioyfull Triumph and end of all their Troubles and afflictions And this was the very order of the first foundation and building of that auncient Church So that neither tickeling enticementes of the world could defile the lyfe of the godly nor any contagious error infect their doctrine For the very same ordinaunces and rules of doctrine which thapostles receaued of Christ and the holy ghost the same also which came from the Apostles vnto the Church were reteined with vnremoueable cōstancye So also was nothing at all mingled or chopt in for vse or worshippe vnlesse being deliuered from Christ or his Apostles had the rootes thereof vnseparably planted in the knowen authoritye of the sacred worde Inuielable as yet was that sacred rule of this commaundement See that you adde nothing nor diminishe any thing And that other also of Saint Paule Whosoeuer shall teach you any other Gospell lett him be holden accursed And this also They doe worshippe me in vayne teaching the doctrine and traditions of men c. Those superfluous swarmes of superstitious traditions of men were not yet growen in vre men were not yet ouercloyed with the cumbersume clusters of crabbed constitutions For it seemed good to the holye ghost not to burdeine the Gentiles with the ordinaunces prescribed in the old lawe That vnmeasurable heape of ragged Rytes were not yet raked together nor hard of in the Church Nor was there any neéde of naked ceremonies where sufficed to euery person to serue and worshippe God in spirite and trueth Nether was any thing worshipped then but his Deitye alone Afterwardes in deéde the age of the Apostles being runne ouer and the number of Christians encreasing certaine ordinaunces were instituted by
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
discrete man admitt any such person to be Iudge And yet I stand not so much vpon a Iudge herein This one thing doe I wishe onely that with the obiections of our aduersaryes our aunsweres may be heard with indifferency And I assure you if I could preuayle with wishing I would desire nothing more hartely then that the renowned king of Portingall Sebastian a prince of excellent Maiesty sith I suppose verely that the arbitriment detreminatiō iudgement of this cause doth concerne Christian Princes chiefly would vouchsafe of his singular clemēcy according to the aunciēt Lawes of Athens to geue eare indifferently to both cause and to lend his princely eares but euen a litle whiles not vnto me but to the cause it selfe whereof I shall entreate I would not doubt his highnes being iudge but that I would easely iustify that all whatsoeuer the Catholickes doe alledge at this day for their antiquitye are but bare bragges And that with vs remaineth nothing wherein they may iustly condemne vs of Nouelty And in this behalfe I can not wonder enough what came into Osorius minde to exact of vs a warrant of our Nouelty seing that of his owne Antiquitye he can yeald vs no manner of warrant at all But let vs harken a while to those notable reasons of our aduersaryes wherewith they doe defend their Antiquitye which being throughly confuted we will presently proceéde to the argumentes which they doe obiect agaynst our new masters of this new Gospell as they terme it There is a principle in the ciuill Lawe The lawes sayth they are fauorable to the party in possession in a title of prescription Yf prescription of fifty yeares doe cleane cut of all chalenge what shall be sayd then of them which affirme their continued possession in doctrine a thousand yeares and more By the same prescription of time say they the priestes of the old lawe did chalenge vnto themselues a lawfull right to sit in Moyses chayre Ergo Mans lawe doth adiudge no man a wrōgfull dissensor being able to prescribe fifty yeares possession Aunswere The priestes of the old lawe doe chalenge a right to sitt in Moyses chaire in respect of the continued prescription of time I doe confesse this to be true in deede And yet this prescription notwithstanding the Lord did call the very same priestes theéues and murtherers Agayne touching their allegation of the wrongfull disseisor by lawe and prescription of time I doe aunswere In the ciuill lawe this is true in deéd but not so in Gods lawe And yet there is also a rule in the ciuill lawe A wrōgfull disseisor shall not ohtayne though he prescribe neuer so long continuance of possession Agayne An ordinaunce begunne wickedly at the first is not sayd to be allowable for prescriptiō of tyme. But as concerning Gods lawe there be many notable testimonies of most worthy personages which disproue the same for an vntrueth Namely emongest all others the saying of Augustine chiefly The veritye being discouered custome must geue place to trueth let no man preferre custome before reason and trueth because reason and trueth doe alwayes exclude custome And Gregory Yf you pretend custome sayth he you must note what the Lord sayth I am the way the trueth and the lyfe He doth not say I am custome doughtles euery custome though neuer so auncient though neuer so generall must geue place to the trueth Emongest whome also heare what Cyprian doth say If Christ onely must be harkened vnto sayth he we may not regard what any other did thinke conuenient to be done before our time but what Christ hath done first who is aboue all other For we ought not to followe the custome of men but the trueth of God for as much as the Lord spake by the month of his Prophet Esay and sayd They worshippe me in vayne teaching the doctrines and tradicions of men Moreouer whereas themselues knowe this rule to be infallible that no custome shall prescribe agaynst the prince how much rather ought it be sayd no time or custome shall prescribe agaynst God Otherwise what shall we say of Antichrist which because he hath possessed his Seé more then an hundreth yeares shall he therfore not be accounted for Antichrist for his title of prescription Hitherto therefore the reasons wherewith the Catholickes do maintayne their Antiquitye are declared It remaineth now that we purge our selues of the cryme of Nouelty fasly obbraydid agaynst vs by Osorius especially sith Osorius doth vrge vs so earnestly thereunto wherein I would gladly conferre with that indifferent and vpright reader whome earst I spake of or with any other Catholicke man who hath any sparke of sound and vpright iudgement And I would enquire of him first his iudgement vpon this poynt of doctrine whereas we beleue and professe that our nature euen from our first creation is so vtterly lost and forlorne that in our selues remaineth no helpe at all to rise agayne without Christ agayne that Christ the sonne of God taking our nature vpon him hath made so perfect satisfaction for our sinnes that there remayneth nothing wherein his deseruings haue not sufficiently enough satisfied for all generall yea for the sinnes of the whole world Moreouer that these his merites are so by wonderfull dispensation spread abroad with ouerflowing plenty vppon all mankinde through the singuler and inestimable benefitte and mercy of God that a freé passage is made wide open for all miserable wretches penitent sinners being endued with fayth to haue freé accesse vnto Christ and so layd open as that freély through fayth without all merites of ours without all the works of the lawe they be pardoned and accepted vpon this poynt I say I would fayne heare the opinion of the godly and Catholicke Reader whether this Assertiō hane any maner of Nouelty in it which hath not proceéded from Christ himselfe from Saynt Paule frō the holy Ghost and from the sacred word of God I thinke no man will say so What meaneth this That where the same scripture doth teach vs to repose all our affyaunce not in workes but in Christ onely grounding our selues in the meane space assuredly vpon the infallible promise of God whereof we haue no mistrust but that he which promised freely the same will performe most faithfully not for any our sake but for hys Sonnes sake onely in whom we do beleue so that now there be no reason els of any our righteousnesse in the sight of God then through fayth onely Let the Godly and vpright Reader iudge here agayne with me what Nouelty or Sacriledge is in this manner of Doctrine If according to the authority of Tertullian that thing ought to be preferred that was first diliuered I will aske again of any indifferēt Reader whether this custome were receyued in the Church first namely that we should acknowledge one onely Aduocate and Mediator of God and men the man Christ Iesus Or
accomplished once and in one place onely It remayneth therefore that this propheticall sacrifice of Malachy must signifie the vnbloudy sacrifice of the Masse according to the Testimonyes of the Ecclesiasticall writers Irene Augustine Ierome Damascene c. The same Argument in a forme Logicall In the new testament suche a sacrifice must remayne as may be dayly and perpetuall and celebrated in euery place as appeareth by the wordes of Malachy There can be no suche kynde of Sacrifice els but the sacrifice of the Masse proued by the Reasons before mentioned Ergo The sacrifice of the Masse is that perpetuall sacrifice whereof Malachy doth prophecy and which can not be dissolued The words of the Prophet do so throughly expound the meaning of the Prophett as that they neéd none other interpretation A pure offering sayth Malachy is offered vnto my name because my name is great amongest the Gentiles The Prophet doth playnely prophecy of the Church which is to be gathered together from out emongest the Gentiles of the enlarging of the Gospell of fayth of the knowledge of God of calling vpon his name of confessing his name and geuing of thankes And this pure and acceptable offering of the Gentiles by how farre it is outstretched and proclaymed ouer all the world so much the more euidently it doth disclose the meaning of the Prophet The Sacrifices of the Synagogue and of the Leuiticall worshipping which were ministred with outward Ceremonies be abolished to the end that spirituall Sacrifices wherein God doth take greater pleasure should supplye theyr place who as he is himselfe a spirite doth delight to be worshipped in spirite and trueth And because this heauenlye and celestiall kinde of worshipping must be proclaymed euery where ouer all the face of the earth therefore the Lord doth foreshew by the mouth of the Prophet that it shall come to passe that the great name of god should waxe mighty in all places should be generally worshipped with worthy sacrifices true honor And by what meanes can this saying vphold this outward applicatory Sacrifices of the Masse as they call it And yet if they will neédes haue it so what shall this be els thē to descēd frō flesh to flesh to make a chaūge of the old Iewishnes with a new Iewishnes S. Paule doth testifie playnly of this Propheticall Sacrifice Rom. 15. That the Gētiles may glorifie God for his mercy as it is writtē For this cause will I prayse thee emongest the Gentiles c. Prayse the Lord all ye Gētiles Psal. 117. And there shall spring a braunche out of the roote of lesse in him shall the Gentiles trust Esay 11. That the offeringes of the Gentiles sayth Paule might be acceptable Of the same Sacrifice let vs now heare what Epiphanius and other writers doe write in their Commentaries vpon these wordes of Malachy Sacrificing the Gospell sayth Epiphanius ouer all the face of the earth Agayne Tertullian agaynst Marcion in his 4. booke I haue no pleasure in you bycause from the rising of the Sunne to the going downe of the same my name is glorified in all places a Sacrifice is offred vnto my name yea and that a pure Sacrifice what kinde of Sacrifice he doth not say the Sacrifice of the Altar but pure prayer powred forth of a cleare conscience c. And in his thyrd booke he doth him selfe expresse what kynde of Sacrifice this is Namely the proclamation of glory thankesgeuing and prayse and Psalme c. The same Tertullian also Contra Iudaeos Fol. 4. Wherfore thē doth the spirite Prophecie afterwardes by the Prophetes that it shall come to passe that ouer all the earth and in all places sacrifices should be offred vnto God as he spake by the mouth of Malachy I will not accept the sacrifice of your handes doubtles bycause the sounde of the preaching of the Apostles should be heard ouer all the world Because God must be worshipped not with earthly sacrifices but with spirituall we read this where it is written A contrite hart is a sacrifice vnto God And in an other place Offer vnto God the sacrifice of prayse and paye thy vowes to the highest After this maner therfore are the spirituall sacrifices of prayse noted such an acceptable sacrifice to God is a contrite hart knowen to be c. Moreouer if you will learne what kynde of sacrifice of the Church this must be Let vs heare the wordes of the same Tertullian to Scapula And therfore we do offer sacrifice for the good preseruation of the Emperour but we do sacrifice vnto our God and his but how euen as God hath commaunded vs namely with pure prayers Thus much out of Tertullian Irene is his fourth booke agaynst the heresies of Valentine and other like vnto him cityng this place of Malachy doth say that by these wordes he made a most manyfest demonstratiō that the first people did cease to sacrifice vnto God but in all places a sacrifice is offered vnto God yea and that a pure sacrifice But his name shal be glorified emongest the Gentiles And in the 33. Chap. Iohn in his Reuelatiō sayth he doth call the prayer of the Sainctes by the name of Incense vnto the Lord. And in his 34. Chap. expoundyng the same place of Malachy And therfore he will haue vs offerre an offryng at the altar without intermission This Altar therfore is in the heauens for vnto that Altar must our prayers and oblations be directed and to that Temple c. What shall we say to Augustine Who writyng vpon the same place doth affirme the Incense there is taken for the prayers of the faythfull And immediately annexyng thereunto When he sayd I will not accept the Calues of thyne house Offer vnto God the sacrifice of prayse The same God by the mouth of this foretelling the thing that should come to passe as though it were done already doth say From the rising of the sunne to the going down of the same my name is glorified emongest the Gentiles and in euery place Incense is offered to my name and a pure oblation c. You seé therfore Osorius by the testimonie of Augu. what kinde of pure sacrifice this is in Malachy namely That Prayse and Thankesgeuing is the continuall and dayly sacrifice of the Christians but especially when we doe represent the death of Christ wherewith he redeémed us and the cōioynyng of his mysticall body by the partakyng of the holy Communion of the bread and wyne Of the same mynde also is Eusebius who doth interprete this sacrifice of Malachy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is as much to say Incēse of prayer What shall I say of Ierome Whose Exposition upō the same place of the Prophet doth not vary from the Expositiō of Tertullian affirming that the prayers of the faithfull must be offred vnto the Lord not in one onely prouince of Iury but in all places
thynges are construed The callyng of the Apostles was equall one maner of function amongest them all the authoritie indifferent one selfe same holy Ghost poured vpon eche of them at one tyme the promises generall the reward proportionall The which though I doe knit vp briefly makyng hast foreward yet if any man will behold euery seuerall parcell and withall enter into a deépe consideration of the most pure and vndefiled Church of Christ and his Apostles as he shall perceaue an enterchaūgeable communion in that strickte societie of Apostleshyp so shall he soundly iudge of that Monarchie and superioritie in possessiōs in giftes and other functions and all other priuiledges of dignitie especially That they were vtterly renounced of Peter and of all that sacred Brotherhood These former positions therefore beyng now thus well fenced your cutted Apishe Sophisme is cut of by the rumpe wherewith you conclude so ridiculously If it be euidēt say you yea more apparaūt then the sunne in mid-day that Peter was aboue all the other Apostles in superioritie of degree then is it most manifest that the same honour and preheminence in dignitie is due to all them that suceede him in place O leaddagger Argumēt in which what shall I blame first If Peter you say were a Prince It is all one forsooth as if this our holy father had wynges perhaps he would flye like a Wildgoose But admit that Peter were placed in Pontisicalibus as you would haue it though it be quyte contrary as I haue already proued But we will graunt it vnto you for a tyme. What will you gayne hereby That the same dignitie is due to the Successours wherfore I pray you The priuiledge of the person is not extended beyond the person And therefore if the Maiestie of Peter were peculiar to Peter euen so it ended in him selfe But if you had no leysure to learne the Ciuill Law can not common reason teache you that whatsoeuer priuiledge is geuen to one person alone may not bee translated to his successours vnlesse it bee limited by name But if these two crooches deceaue you come of and learne of our Sauiour Iesu Christ him selfe what kinde of superiority that was wherof Christ made mentiō to Peter Blessed art thou Symon Bariona for fleshe and bloud haue not reuealed this vnto thee but my father which is in heauen Thou art Peter c. Which wordes doe playnly conuince that flesh and bloud were not partakers of this promise nor that any especiall choise was made of the person of Peter but of his fayth and confession onely For God doth not accept the person of any man In like maner neither flesh nor bloud may challenge any succession in this promise whether it be Iuly Boniface or any other But the fayth and confession of Peter is the true succession of Peter For if his succession were due vnto personages then should this dignitie be oftentymes committed to Sorcerors and heretiques but this is altogether repugnaunt to the sacred institution of our Sauiour Christ to builde his Churche vpon so stinkyng a puddle Therfore cast away this your patched conclusion lame and haltyng of euery legge For without all question Peter obteined no such interest in Principalitie or if he did it was but in his confession of fayth onely And therfore can no man clayme any other succession as lineally from him vnlesse perhaps you may cōmaunde God to loue an Italian Prelate because he is borne in Italic better then an English or Spanish Byshop or that ye will locke fast the holy Ghost to the Citie of Rome But the Spirite will blow where him listeth and the tyme commeth and is euen now already come that neither in this Mount nor in Ierusalem nor in any appointed place God shall be worshipped God is a spirite and his true worshippers shall worship him in spirite and truth But will ye come nearer home harken to your own Doctour Ierome whose iudgement I haue here noted worthy surely to he engrauen in letters of gold If authoritie bee enquired for the world is greater then a Citie whersoeuer a Byshop be either at Rome or at Eugubium or at Rhegium or at Constantinople or at Alexandria all be together equall of like merite and of like Priesthoode The power of riches or basenes of pouertie maketh not a Byshop higher or lower They all are the successours of the Apostles wheresoeuer they sit and of what estate so euer they be c. To the same effect writeth Cyprian in these wordes The same thyng verely were the Apostles that Peter was endued with like partakyng of honour and power But the begynnyng first entered by vnitie to the entent that the vnitie of the Church might be shewed to be one Is it euen so Cypriā is this thy verdite that all the Apostles were endued with like partakyng of honour and power But you my Lord affirme cleane contrary That Peter was appointed chief of all the Apostles and that this is more manifest then the Sunne in midday and that hereunto agree the Scriptures auncient fathers and that generall cōsent of antiquitie Truly you speake many wordes but no mā besides your fraternitie will beleue you not of any pleasure of gaynesaying but bycause you alledge nothyng that may enduce to yeld And bycause you seéme somewhat tymorous of the successe of your Diuinitie in this deépe principall cause of Monarchie you catch hold fast of a Sophistical target That in the church wiche is but one ought to be one chief Ruler vpon whom all men may depende by whose authoritie troubles may be appeased and outragious opinions may be suppressed c. There is in deéde but one Church generally as there is but one confession of Christian fayth yet this generalitie of the Church is distributed into many particular congregatiōs as all Nations haue their seuerall administrations of Iustice. Now therefore as euery dominion is deuided into seuerall distinctions of gouernement so to euery particular Church are ordeined seuerall Pastours and yet in the meane whiles finde no lacke at all of your new vpstart Monarchie whereof was neuer question moued in the golden age of the primitiue church But you Reply with pretie poppet reasons That contentious can not bee calmed nor outrages suppressed except some one be ordeined chief and head of the Church This fonde distinction the common course of humaine actions doth vtterly extinguish For euery seuerall Prince doth gouerne his common weale with wholesome distinct ordinaunces and yet make not so great aduauncement of this stately Monarchy as you do phantastically dreame But perhappes this is neédefull in matters of Religion why I pray you more then in temporall regiments The gouernement of Rome it selfe for the singularitie wherof you play the champion wil minister examples vnto vs of either part Augustus was an honorable Emperour Vespasian indifferent but Caius Caligula and Nero were horrible monsters who did not onely
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 thē 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 ●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 pronoūce 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 Sathā 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 raggema●oll of your schoolemen There will come a day when this matter will be more déepely sifted before the Iudgemēt 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 confutatiō 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 cōsent do wōderfully condēne 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 violēt 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 māels 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 coūtrey into obloquie with all men with an abhominable lye doe exclame that our Deui●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 Oecolāpadius 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 excellēcie 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 opiniōs were somwhat discrepāt 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 Sacramēt of the body and bloud of our Lord if they may be tryed by the true touchstone of the scriptures in whō likewise you can finde no iust cause of reprehēsion cōcernyng the other Sacraments vnlesse you suppose that with your naked clamorous affirmatiues ye may expell them out of the Church as mē 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 mē by their learnyng vertue thē you can be able to remoue with your penne though it bee neuer so cruell whom the bootcherly crueltie
but by the Mediatour the Sonne through whom righteousnesse is Imputed not purchased by workes neither to him that worketh saith hee but to him that beleeueth in Christ that Iustifieth the wicked And yet you seémyng not to bee so much as acquainted with this righteousnes by Imputation as that ye dare not once name this worde Imputation doe notwithstandyng stand so much in your owne conceite as though Christ at his commyng should finde all fayth in Osorius but no fayth at all in Luther If a man might be so bold with you it were no vneasie matter to pike out diuers other sentences out of Scripture whiche would quickly cracke the credite of your fayth As where the Apostle writyng vnto Timothe doth so manifestly Prophecie That it should come come to passe before the end of the world That many should departe from the faith beleeuing lyeng Spirites and doctrines of Deuilles forbidding Marriadge and the eating of meates which the Lord hath prepared to be receaued with thankes geuing These doctrines of Deuils for as much as the lying spirite of Osorius doth so stoutely mainteine bende all his force to vphold in this latter age of the world as besides him no man more obstinately what may be thoughe els but that either he is departed from the fayth or that the Apostle is an open lyar Agayne Where the same Apostle writeth touchyng Antichrist paintyng him out in his colours as it were so liuely expressing him to the apparasit view of the world his Throne his wickednesse his iuggling his lyes his pride his immesurable arrogancie vauntyng him selfe beyond all hautynesse of mans Nature What may a man Iudge of these sentences the meanyng of the whiche can by no meanes possible be applyed to any thyng els thē to the Romish Sée 2. Thess. 2. Agayne in the Reuelatiō of S. Iohn where the same Antichrist is set in open stage hauing the shape and countenaunce of a meeke Lambe whiche vnder the visour of false hornes should resemble the true Lambe and restore the Image of the wounded beast to lyfe and speache Whiche place of Scripture bycause can not be wrested any other wayes then to that Romishe Ierarchie whiche bendyng to ruine at the first was restored by that great Archeprelate of Rome yet in this most apparaunt Text of Scripture if Osorius faith he demaūded whether it may be applyable to the Bishop of Rome we shall finde him as farre dissentyng from the purpose of this Prophecie as if he were demaunded the way to Canterbury he might aunswere a poake full of Plummes We haue hitherto sufficiently enough declared I suppose that Osorius for all his bragges is voyde of all ayde to defende his Fayth And so for this tyme I will commit the cēfure of those gay workes which flowe so plentyfully out of that glorious Fayth to that Iudge which shall display the hidden corners of darkenesse and to the consideration of them who by the view of his bookes haue skill to discerne a Lyon by his pawes or rather an Asse by his lolieeares Now remayneth at length to discouer briefly that which he barketh agaynst Luthers fayth Now let vs see Luthers fayth sayth hee whether it can bryng forth any liuely fruite It cā not by any meanes c. Lye on yet more a Gods name First of all bycause hee teacheth that all workes appeare they neuer so godly are desiled with sinne Nay rather but that you were by nature of so corrupt a Iudgement that ye can not frame your selfe so much as to speake the truth you would neuer haue patched this lye amōgest the ragges of your leasings Luthers disputation cōcerning faith good workes tendeth to nothyng els but that which the Scriptures euery where the sacred spirite of truth and S. Paule inspired with the holy Ghost doe by all meanes and reasons confirme which we all ought of very duetie to embrace For Luther endeuouryng to make euidēt the doctrine of Iustification comparyng our good workes with the lawe of God is enforced to confesse the very truth of the matter that is to say That there is nothing so holy in workes but beyng of it owne nature in some respect vncleane and defiled must néedes be vnsauorie in the sight of God if without Christ it bee racked with exact scrutyne of Gods seuere Iudgement And hereof quarell is pyked forthwith agaynst Luther as though he should affirme that whatsoeuer workes the very regenerated engraffed in Christ them selues did worke were nothyng els but méere sinnes and wickednesse And bycause he doth abbridge good workes in that part onely wherein they be falsely adiudged to be of valew to Iustifie before God Osorius doth argue agaynst him in this wise as though he did vtterly roote out of mans lyfe all Ciuill and Morall vertues and vertuous conuersation Wherein a mā can not easilye determine whether he doth shewe him selfe more iniurious to Luther or bewray rather his owne blockish grosenesse No man euer taught more soundly no man more highly commended good workes then Luther did beyng separated a part from the doctrine of Iustification And whereas he doth extenuate the force of workes in the treatize of Iustification he doth not therein so altogether derogate from workes as rather frendly aduertize them whiche through vayne Confidence of workes doe challenge to them selues righteousnesse in the sight of God and do depende so much vpon the deseruynges of workes as though there were none other foūteine from whence our Saluation might be deriued Luther therfore vsing Argumēt agaynst those persons doth boldly auow that all our workes are defiled yet not simply but in respect of their application beyng considered without the fayth of the Mediatour Whiche beyng most truely spoken by Luther is as sinisterly wrested by Osorius as though he had spoken it simply that there is no good or commendable thyng in workes nothyng in them acceptable to God though neuer so duetyfully or vertuously performed And for this cause hee concludeth at last as with an vnuanquishable Argument That by no meanes possible Luthers fayth could bryng forth any frutefull workes like as that barren figge tree growyng neare vnto the high way whereupon grewe nothyng but leaues But this is Osorius his owne conclusion not Luthers a Sophisticall cauill concludyng falsely If S. Paule doubted nothing at all to esteeme all thinges sinnefull which were done without faith Rom. 4. If it were lawfull for Augustine to write in this wise Thy workes are examined sayth he and are foūde all defiled Why doth he rage so furiously agaynst Luther bycause he doth professe that the déedes which we call good are in none other respect to be daémed for good thē as they bee valued by the fayth of the Mediatour The consideration of this doctrine as is of it selfe most assured so doth it not tende to that end that Osorius imagineth to discourage godly myndes from vertuous endeuour Rather well disposed
many horrible and vnspeakeable abhominations if he liued nowe for who is so blinde that cannot see so Impudent that will denye that all places are ouerladen with forlorne villanies lecheries murthers Robberies Treasons Uproares and conspiracies But if inquisition be made for the speciall place where these abhominations do raigne most● what place may we poynt out vnto you more notorious then Rome it selfe the mother See of the Catholicke Church where Harlottes Bawdryes howses of Stewes Brothell houses and all kyndes of filthy lechery are opēly haunted not onely not punished but made also very gainfull marketts to the Popes treasory Where you appoynt the chiefe Seé of your whole Religion the same may I boldly and with great reasō approue to be that caruell and Botche of true religion the Metropolitane Citie of all abhominations the Butcherow and shambles of Christian Bloud the sincke of thefte and auarice the very forge and schoolehouse of all Treasons Trecheries seditiones and abhominations If the bodyes of mortall men be the Temples of the liuing God who hath vyolated and defiled more temples of GOD with fire fagotte and goare then the Bishoppes of Rome And in good tyme is the vproare of Germany remembred in this place If it might be lawfull for me to bryng forth what I could out of histories Recordes and Reportes how easy a matter were it for one perticuler example onely which notwithstanding is altogether impertinent to religion to spread abroad whole decades and Iliades of seditions Tumultes Schismes how easily might I poynt out by name tyme and place not onely the practises of conspiracies agaynst princes but the cruell murthers poysoninges Banishmentes and famishings procured against them one in the neck of an other Briefly in what countrey soeuer these Droues of Monckes and Nunnes do build their nestes what els shall a man seé then all thinges polluted and contaminated with most filthy and shamefull villanies and stench yea the whole world bearing witnesse Tell me I beseech you good holy father whose doctrin is this Si non casté tamen cauté if not chastely yet warely is it Luthers or some one of your profession who maketh marketts of Incestuous marriages who alioweth the concubines of priestes for hys commoditie and pleasure who persequuteth the lawfull marriage of priestes with fire and sword To leaue ouer in the meane space the vnspeakeable abuses and misteries of your couert Paphia to the couert consideration of your couled cōfessioners who be priuie partakers of your hiddē abhominations And to passe ouer withall the Crementines Beneuantanes Peters Aloisianes Casianes or that Cacus rather nor him onely the commendation of whose vnspeakeable filthines opēly proclaimed did denoūce that stincking lechery was not only notpunished but also highly rewarded by some of you But Osorius hath found out here a very prety starting hoale to escape out at For sithe he perceaueth himselfe to be vrged so narrowly that of Necessitie he must pleade for the honesty of his Church beyng neyther able to hyde nor excuse her filthines he wringeth himselfe into this moushoole that although he can not deny that in all the societie and course of mans lyfe and that in the most fruitfullest corne stincking weeds of iniquitie do grow euery where among yet this doth neuertheles not empayre the force of his argument for he meaneth not in this place to make comparison of men and to set maners agaynst maners but he affirmeth the ground of the Argument to be● this To witte whereas the preachers of the new Gospell Luther Bucer Zuinglius Martyr did vndertake this vpon them to weede this corne cleane from the chaffe and to pluck vp the noysome weedes by the rootes and did bryng no ioate of their promise to passe nay rather whereas more wickednes hath bene seene to buddle vpp a fresh through their meanes hereupon he doth conclude as it were at a vauntage that the doctrine of these men is not onely vnprofitable but also pestiferous and noysome and not to be beleued in any wise on the other side to witte in the Catholique Chur. although Auarice and Ambition doe raigne in many and the sinowes of luste are not altogether rooted out yet because amongst them no newe prophet doth arise on thys wise taking vpon hym so great a charge as to restore to her former and primitiue bewty and Apostolicke nea●tnes the decayd Church and the doctrine of the same ouermuch weakened therefore the Argument is not of like force agaynst them To this effect almost doth Osorius frame his talke in words ouerlauish inough but in matter so nakedly and coldly that I am very loath to aunswere him The summe of this conclusion tendeth to this effect If any such new Prophet should arise amōgst thē which would take vpō him to make a reformation of the corrupt maners of the church to the aūciēt purity of the gospell did not brīg to passe the same according to his promise no credite should be geuē to that prophet Luther Bucer Phillip Caluine Martyr did take vpon them to reforme the maners of the Church and made all thinges worsse Ergo They ought not to be beleeued O Saint Sophistry what kynde of Sophisme is this If a new Prophet should arise that would endeuour by all meanes possible to reduce to amendement of life such as he were able and could not atchieue his desire in all ought he not therfore to be taken for a Prophett I think this be not true What if heé could not preuayle with many shall he forthwith be accepted for no Prophett Go to what and if hys preaching entred but into a very few yea what if none almost were profited thereby do yeé think it reason that the estimation of the preacher be measured according to the number of beleuers or vnbeleuers or rather according to the spirite and truth of hys embassye Noah the eighth Prophet and preacher of righteousnes did neuer cease calling and cryeng out vpon the people to th end hee might allure all to amendment of life and yet eight persons onely no more were reserued out of that generall destruction of mankinde When Moses was sent to the Egiptians how many of all that whole multitude became a heare bredth the better for his preaching nay rather who waxed not more indurate Esay the Prophett doth cry out vnder the person of Christ. Who haue beleued our teaching If we will measure Gods Prophetts after this rule what shall we say to Ieremy and the rest of the Prophetts what shall we say to the Apostle Steuen to Paule who cōplayned bitterly that all had for saken him and were fallen away to the vanities of this present lyfe Now ensueth the Minor of this Sillogisme But Luther Melancton Zuinglius Bucer and Caluine which took vppō thē this charge yet reaped no fruit agayn of innocēcy of lyfe nor of Charitie from amongst them that they were cōuersaunt withall
your stoughtnes herein But because I neuer chaunced to see anye such Gospelles I do earnestly desire you O holy father for the loue ye beare to S. Fraunces to S. Bruno Finally for the loue of that fifth and euerlasting Gospell which the Dominick Fryers not long sithence beganne at Paris in the yeare of our Lord 1256. in the tyme of Pope Alexander the iiij That your holines will not be squeimish to acquaynte me what maner of gospells those be of Luther Melanchton Bucer Caluine c. whereof you make mencion If you can shewe none such it remayneth therefore that we hang vppe this accusation also vpon the file of your other staūderous lyes so long vntill in your next false inuectiues you acquite you of this cryme We haue heard touching the Gospelles Let vs now seé the fayth of hys Church Which he vaunteth franckly not to be of many coates but one Vniforme not lately risen vp and ioyned with vayne confidence but deliuered from the Apostles themselues not depraued with any peeuish interpretation or corruption of madde or franrick usage Go to and what if in like phrase of speeche I make euident that Luthers fayth was one and vniforme yea the same that all the Catholicke fathers of the primitiue churche did professe not start vppe yesterday or for a few dayes agoe not grounding vpō any variblenes nor toste to and fro by any vnsteadfast assurance but proclaymed by the Apostles themselues and wholly cleared from all madnesse and outrage What if I shall shewe playnely that all these quallities be in Luthers fayth what shall remayne then but that Osorius shall become a Lutherane whether he will or no if it be one vniforme fayth that he so much esteémeth or if he hold a contrary fayth then must he needes proue an open lyar But Osorius will not credite my wordes which I shall speake touching Luther and why then shall I creditte Osor speaking for his owne fayth namely sithe he voucheth nothing in proofe but bare wordes But if the truth thereof shall be decyded not with wordes but with substanciall matter by howe many euident demonstrations shall I be able to Iustifie that there is nothing in Luthers fayth but is agreable with the truth and the Auncient age of the primitiue Church in euery poynt And that in Osorius fayth be many thinges whiche do not onely vary cleane frō thē both but are also manifestly repugnaunt and contrary to them both But let vs drawe neere to the matter The fayth that you professe is vniforme you say If by this generall word Fayth you meane the Articles of the common Creéde forasmuch as there is no Churche of the Lutheranes but doth professe the same as well as you I seé no cause here why you should challenge a more speciall prerogatiue in vniformitie in this poynt then the Lutheranes And I would to God the Fayth of your Church would stay it self with the Lutheranes vpon those Articles onely where doughtles is matter sufficient enough for our saluation But now how many by hangers do you couple to this vniforme common Creéd how many new straunge stragglers bussardly blynde and vnknowne Raggmalles to the Auncient fathers And so couple them together as thinges most necessary to mans Saluation and for these also keepe a greater coyle then for the very articles of the Creéde Wherof we shall treate more at large in place fitt for it by Gods grace And therefore whereas you say that you obserue one vniformitie of fayth I would first learne what poynts you do ground this vniformitie vpon For although I may not deny but that in certayne Decrees and Decretalles is a certeine consent and agreément of conspiring doctrine such a one as it is yet if a mā will thoroughly sist many of thē wherein Luther doth dissent frō you he shall easily perceaue that Luth. hath not so much swarued from your vniformitie as your fayth is raunged altogether out of the right pathe of the true Christian fayth from the doctrine of both Testamentes from the Apostles and Prophetts yea and from the footsteppes of the Fayth of your owne predecessors of Rome whereby appeareth euidently that this fayth which you so gloriously vaunt is not auncient but new fangled not deliuered from the Apostles but patched together with mens Tradicious not grounded vpon any certaynty but full of vayneglorious braggery finally not vniforme but of many shapes and vtterly a Bastard vnlike the true vniformitie of Fayth Such as procure to themselues so many hyreling aduocates patrones and intercessours in heauen besides the onely Sonne of God Such as do worhip God otherwise then in spirite and truth with alters superalters Images Pictures Signes Formes and Shapes grauen in wood and in marble Such as before God do hunt after true righteousnes by other meanes and merytes then by onely fayth in the Sonne of God or do apply to themselues the effectuall grace of his great liberalitie otherwise then by this only Fayth Such as do promise Remission of Sinnes by any other meanes to themselues or to others but through the onely bloudshed of the Immaculate Lambe Such as with the price of pardons do sel that to others which Christ gaue freely Such as do dayly sacrifice him for the quick and the dead who by one onely oblation once for all did make attonement for all things in heauen and in earth such as make to thēselues a way passable to the kingdome of God life euerlasting by any other meanes and wayes to witte thorough the merites of Saintes through vowes Masses orders and Rules and through straightnes of profession by the merite of holy orders humble confessions mens absolutions and satisfactions through building of Abbyes and such other trumpery barganing as it were with God for merite meritorious and not for the onely death of Christ crucified for vs Such as do thrust into Churches other Sacramentes then Christ dyd euer Institute and commaund to be kept Such as robbe that lay people of one part of the sacrament contrary to the ordinaunce of the church and in the other part leaue nothing but that which can be no where els then in heauen and which if were present naturally ought not to be ministred as meate according to the veritie of the scriptures All these I say and an infinite table more of the same hiewe cleane contrary to the scriptures Such as do retayne in fayth mayntayne in vse clogge consciences withall and proclayme to be obserued in their Temples how dare they be so shamelesse to vaunt an obseruing of one vniforme Fayth agreéing with the Prophettes and Apostles vndefiled and cleare from all spotte of Noueltie or wrinckle of deformytie Wherfore you must either cōuince all these patcheries to be falsly burdened vpon your Church as I haue rehearsed them or els you must needes confesse that your fayth is neyther vniform nor Auncient nor sprong vppe with the Apostles nor yet consonaut to sound
doctrine And in the meane time to passe ouer that whereat I cannot choose but laugh I meane this addicion not ioyned with any rashe or vayne confidence As though any one thing vnder the heauens can be more arrogant vayne thē that perswasion of yours whereby you are wont to bring poore simple soules in beliefe that such as are buryed in the cowle weéde of a Francifcane Fryer are forthwith defensible enough agaynst all the Deuilles and furies of hell Againe in buing your pardōs who soeuer shall make best stake with you as soone as theyr coyne shall cry chink in your boxes shall haue as many soules as they will deliuered out of purgatory and send them vp presently fleéing rype to heauen To passe ouer in the meane tyme other gamboldes toyes not a few in nūber much more foolish apishe then these being desirous to make an end once not for lack of such good matter more then sufficient Euen as fruiolous and vayne may I say is all the rest that followeth concerning your Church vpon the which when yeé haue bestowed neuer so many delicate colours and besmeaared her with neuer so freshe and oryent oyles berduers yet shall you seeme to doe nothing but bedawbe olde rotten putrified walles with new morter Let no man sinisterly interprete of these wordes as spoken agaynst the true church of Christ. I do knowe and confesse that Christ neuer wanted neyther shall euer want his Church which shall continue one vniforme holy Apostolicke and truely Catholicke which being builded vpon the rock of the Apostles shall enioy generall participation in one body and within one bowells as it were with the whole cōmunion of all the saynetes and godly faythfull throughout all the whole world And I cannot wonder enough truely with what face you dare so hedge vp within the boundes of the Romish particuler Church onely this vniuersall Church which is not restrayned within any limittes of place nor tytles of persōs by the publique authoritie of the christian Fayth but is dispersed abroad generally and without compasse farre and wide vpon the face of the whole earth wheresoeuer the Apostolique Fayth is of any force in so much that to your seéming may beé no Catholique Church now but that Romishe at Rome from which your Church and Synagogue ye banish and expell all such as professe Christ after any other maner then after the Romish Fashion none otherwise then as if they professe no Fayth nor followed any order of any Church at all And hereof aryseth that your crabbed and snappish accusation agaynst Luther Melanchton Zuinglius Caluine Haddon and others not because they are not Christianes but because they are not Romanistes not because they haue swarued an heare breadth from the doctrine of the Apostles and Euangelistes but because they will not become treacherous traytours agaynst the Apostles and the expresse worde of God as your high Bishop is O singuler cause O profound and Catholique accusation But how wisely should you haue done in this if you hadde brought to passe that it might haue bene notified to the Christian people that your Romish Church were and is a sound member of the true Church of Christ rather then that the vniuersalitie of Christes Church should be forced to so narrow a hoale of subiection as Rome is For this sufficeth not Osorius though you cry out a thousād times wider the you do that your church was foūded by Christ established by the Apostles defēded with the army of Martirs amplified beautified with the traditions of godly men and made strong and for euer inuincible agaynst all the battery and countermoyles of Heretiques by power of the holy ghost without the whiche no hope of Saluation may be hoped for c. If besides vayne crakes of smoky speeches ye shewe no demonstration of sounde proofe why these bragges of yours should be true let vs graunt your saying Or els if onely speeches shall be credited and if to babble and prate whatsoeuer a man listeth may like you to allow of for an vndoughted Oracle Why may not I as well with the like lauishnes of tongue gene lill for loll and saye that thys Church of Rome whereupon you bragge so much was neuer erected by Christ but hath degēdered frō Christ vnto Antichrist from the auncient primer paterne of the primitiue Church of Rome to a certayne new fangled kynde of lyfe doctrine not Instituted by the Apostles but frō the Apostles quite fallen away into Apostasye not garded with the army of Martyrs but gorged embrued yea and drucken with the bloud slaughter of infinite Martyrs such so many as neuer any Nero or Maxentius did euer send more to heauē thē this Babilonicall strūpeth hath done Now where you adde beautified with the traditions of holy and godly men and made strong and for euer inuincible against all assaults and battrry of Heretiques and shall so continue permanent by the ayd of the holy Ghost Truely in these very wordes you feéme to resemble those persons which in the Prophett did call darcknes light and light darcknes euill good and good euill First as concerning mens traditions how holy those men were I know not this is most true that your Church is fully fraught with traditions and doctrine of men in deed in so much that who so shall vncloache your Church of those traditions and Implementes of mens patcheries shall leaue her altogether naked without all kynde of furniture to couer her shame except it be a poore ragge of Moyses Iaunitas solitudo Haue we not heard the Romishe church very notably defended by this Camille Camell I had almost sayd now sake an other vnuāquishable argumēt such as all the Heretiques wedges with all their Beatelles and malles can not beate abroad when they haue done all that they can where he knitteth vpp the knott forsooth on this wise Agaynst all the assaultes of Heretiques defensible by the power of the holy ghost shall cōtinue inuinciblefor euer How shall this be knowne forsooth because the Numa of our age Osorius doth Iustifie the same with hys wordes who is no more able to make a lye then the Pope is able to erre what remayneth therefore for vs to do but that beyng vanquished with the truth we become the Popes vassalles and worshippe the foothstoole of hys feete But to aunswere briefly to this Parrotte I will demaund this one thing first not of Osor. but of the whole brotherhood fraternitie of Shauelinges If they beleue themselues to be so garded by the power and force of the holyghost agaynst all the assaultes of heretiques as this reuerend Lord the Lord Bishop of Sylu doth boast why do they vphold their pylfe with such outrage and Tirannye with such boochery and blood with such horrible burninges stiflinges fryer fagotts emprisonmentes Rackinges Constrayntes to recantation Famine and sword Finally with all maner of horrible tortures without
Asscention day and Whitsonday and the Feast of all Saintes be passed ouer with no lesse brauery if besides this outward shew vayne glorious pompe nothing be ministred els to rayse vppe Fayth to the contemplation of matters of farre greater importaunce For what may we thinke when Christ was first Circumcized when he was first named A Sauiour whē in floud Iordan he was Baptized of Iohn and manifested agayne to be the Sonne of God by a most excellent voyce from heauen when as he was tempted of the Deuill after sixe weékes fasting whenas hauyng finished that triumphe of his Resurrection asscended into heauen he powred vpon his Apostles clouen fiery tounges may we thinke I say that all these were done to none other end but that we should in remembraūce of them keépe idle holy dayes in pastyme play And yet we do not much finde fault with the memorials of those thyngs in godly affected myndes whēas they be rightly taught vnto them as certeine helpes and aydes of godly exercizes euē so also we do not vtterly reiect those holy dayes approued of aūcient tyme by vse and custome yea rather we do in many places reteigne and keépe the same Holy dayes as they doe albeit not with like ceremony as farre as we may without reproche of superstition For euen we also do assemble our selues together and come to the Church celebratyng the memory of the byrth of Christ his Resurrection and Ascention and the Feast of Pe●therost also but not as a memoriall alone whereof we ought to be myndefull euery day and euery houre but seékyng an occasion of the day to heare somewhat that may conduce to sounde and pure Religion and the edifieng of our fayth vnto saluation And therfore we doe not simply deny and reiect these holy dayes but the maner of solemnizyng the same the stinking abuses superstitious worshyppyng the multitude of holy dayes your so●ges and sonnettes for the most part idolatrous your prayers and inuocations most manifestly repugnaunt and iniurious to the glory of Christ those we do vtterly abolish and not without cause The Iewes had their solemne holy dayes in tymes past though in nomber not so many yet prescribed by God him selfe They had also their bloud offringes and Sacrifices Fastynges Easter Solemnities and the brasen Serpent wherof as lōg as they folowed the lawfull vse as beyng certeine signes and meane instruments shadowes leadyng to the endes whereunto they were instituted they were acceptable enough vnto God But after that by turnyng catte in the panne they placed the chief worshyppyng of God and principall marke of true Religion in those thynges which of their owne nature were the last and of least valew how horrible and execrable they became in the sight of God no man can tell you better then Esay y● Prophet What haue I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices ' I am full of them the Burnt offring of your Rammes and fatte of your fattlinges the bloud of your Calues of your Lambes and of your Goates I would not haue when you come before my presence who sought for these thinges at your handes to walke so in my Courtes offer no more any Sacrifice in vayne your Incense is abhominable in my fight your new Moones and Sabbathes and other holy dayes I will not away with your assemblies are wicked my soule hateth you Kalendes and solemne Feastes I am greeued with these things and ouerladen with them And when you stretche forth your hands vnto me I will turne away my face from you and when you multiplie your prayers I will not heare you c. And yet God him selfe ordeined all these thynges in his owne law What then Doth God condemne the thynges which he commaunded No truly but bycause they wrested forced those thynges to an other end then they were instituted for bycause they were fastened wholy to those and had settled the chief foundation of Religiō in these Rites neglecting in the meane tyme the greater and high matters of the Law this now was it that the Lord could not away withall Go to Le ts vs also now take a through view of your notable Feastes and solemne worshyppynges and let vs compare your ordinaunces who liue now vnder the Spirituall law with that people that liued vnder the carnall Law For they neither worshypped their Sacrifices nor burnt offringes at any tyme they neuer painted the resemblaunce or counterfaite of Gods coūtenaūce in table or picture they neuer bedecke their Tēples with Images they did neuer set downe any visible signes or portraictes of Patriarches or Saints to be gazed vpō neither did they euer gadde on Pilgrimage to visite thē to their Psalmes Prayers they had nothyng patched els nothyng intermixt frō els where they made no intercessiō to Saintes Sainctesses they neuer made inuocation to the dead In their Lessons was neuer any thyng heard but Gods scripture onely nor any thyng pronounced out of the Scriptures that was not in their mother toung intelligible enough of all sortes young and old indifferently Briefly there was nothyng exercized but by the expresse prescript and commaundement of Gods law so that the state and condition of the Iewish Feastes may seéme to be farre more ●afie and tollerable then yours if we haue respect to the onely outward forme superstition of myndes And yet as I sayd before I do not stand so much in this point but that Christiās may haue their holy dayes and solemne Feastes wherein they may refresh them selues be raysed to the remembraunce of Gods benefites and manifold mercyes bestowed vpon vs so that the same be obserued wtout preiudice of fayth in simplicitie of vnfayned piety Neither am I so curious to haue that comely traditions of our elders to be abolished so the true Religiō remaine meane whiles vndeffled the vse wherof cōsisteth not in outwards ceremonies nor in corporall exercises nor in places and times but in spirit truth so that false preposterous hipocriticall deuotion be abandoned wherewith God waxed wroth and was highly displeased For how many christiās may a man seé which do measure the chiefe worshyppyng of God by any other endes almost then by their dayly frequenting churches often hearyng of Masses keéping the euens and holydayes orderly fasting the Ember dayes carefully reiterating their Paternosters and Aues often and solemnely powring out their Synnes into theyr priestes bosomes in Lent treatably croochyng and kneélyng to the Crucifixe barefooted and barelegged humbly Receiuyng the very body and bloud of Christ vnder the formes of bread wyne once a yeare yea euen in their death beddes deuoutly and that besides there remayneth nought to be superadded to attain perfect saluation beleuing stedfastly nor that they be ought indepted to Christ vdoubtedly but suppose vnfaynedly that they ought forthwith for these causes receiue heauen for theyr meéd of very duety I besech you If Esay the Prophet liued now
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
haue taught They acknowledge him to be heauenly you make him earthly Theyr doctrine doth rayse vs from the earth vppe on high where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Your doctrine what doth it whereunto tendeth it whether doth it call the mindes of Christians but from aboue downeward out of heauen into the earth withdrawing the senses from the Spirite to the flesh So that we must seéke for Christ there not where he is but where you imagine him to be present The Apostle Paule when he preacheth vnto vs the liuely feature of this Christ who taking vpon him the shape of a Seruaunt suffered death in the same shape once for our sinnes vnder Pontius Pilate and afterwardes accomplishing the mistery of our redemption rose agayne for our iustification doth teach vs playnly that he ascended into heauen not leauing his body wherein he suffered behinde him here on earth but taking vpp the same body into heauen was with the same receiued into glory whom also he affirmeth he knew no more now according to his fleshlye presence that is to say according to the capacity of his carnall senses And that besides this Christ onely he knew none other Christ nor this Christ otherwise then according to the new creature onely namely visible in spirite with the eyes of fayth and not with fleshlye eies Let vs make now a comparison betwixt this Christ of our Gospell with that your Christ of the Pope in the same manner as you do fashion him and make a gaze of him to the eies and eares of the people after the order of your Gospel which seémeth to me to be after this manner not as hauing taken vpon him the shape of a seruaunt but the forme of bread is in the same forme of bread and vnder the accidents of bread made of wheat set out to the gaze of the people to be tooted vpon and is of Christians worshipped and offered to God the Father and this not once but dayly not vnder Pontius Pilate but vnder the Pope of Rome not a Sacrifice onely for the quicke but for the soules in Purgatory also to the washing away of theyr synnes Which Sacrifice being ended he is buried in deéd but buryed or rather drowned in the paunch of a priest from whence he neither riseth agayne nor ascendeth afterwardes but descendeth rather nor is euer looked for to come agayne from thence And this is that same Christ not the Euangelicall Christ but the Papisticall and poeticall Christ whom thought the Apostles or Euangelistes neuer knew yet must we be enforced will we nyll we to honor and worshippe neuerthelesse as the very Sauiour of the world forsooth Whom may not suffice to lift vppe hartes and mindes on high to him onely which dwelleth in heauen vnlesse we also lift vppe our fleshly eyes to this visible Christ and kneéle and crootche vnto him with great reuerence yea although the eyes themselues do behold nothing but bread and wine yet the eyes must lye and all the sences must be deceiued neither may in any wise be reputed other then verye herityques but in despyght of eyes and senses all we must of infallible persuasion of fayth firmely beleue that it is now no more bread and wine that is seéne But the bread and wine being thrust cleane on t of dores Chryst onely yea whole Christ doth possesse euery part of that place who though be not present in his owne naturall shape nor in the same proportion of body which he tooke of the Uirgine Mary yet in the selfe same nature trueth substaunce Identity notwithstanding vnder other formes forsooth and yet not figuratiuely but truely most absolutely perfectly and fully must in the same whole body and the same naturall blood be contayned felt seene and without all contradition worshipped These be the misteries of your diuinity as I suppose by the which you haue begotten vnto the world a new Christ I knowe not whom altogether an other Christ neuer borne of the Uirgine Mary doubtles whom the Gospell neuer knew nor the Apostles euer taught nor the Euangelystes euer saw I adde also whom neuer any of you hath seéne hetherto yet nor shall euer seé hereafter And yet these so wittelesse so dotish and monstruous deuises of drowsy dreames then which nothing can be spoken or imagyned more false and more monstruous you shame not at all to vaunt to be most auntient and most true as the Gabyonites of olde time did theyr shooes And for the same your Popish Christ made of bread you stick not to aduēture limm life more earnestly then for the true Glory of that Christ whom we do most certaynely know to be in heauen where also we do worshippe him And euen this doth your horrible butchery of an infinite number of our Martyres declare to be true by most plain and euident demonstration With the blood of whom because your holy mother the church seémeth so beastly dronken long sithence this one thing would I fayne learne of you what special cause was it that enforced you to vtter such outrage in the shedding of so much blood of your naturall brethren was it because they defrauded Christ the Sonne of God which was borne for our sakes crucified rose agayne ascended vp into heauē sitting now a Lord in heauē of one dramm so much of his due honor nothing lesse Was it because they abused or defiled the Gospel I thinke not so Was it because they brake the auntient ordinaūces and approued doctrine of the holy Apostles and Prophettes in any one thing or because they went beyond the bondes prescribed by the auntient fathers none of all these But the cause was for that they refused to allow of that newfangled and vpstart Idoll of the Popish Masse and that lately sprōg vppe Breadworshippe contrary to the doctrine of the Apostles yea contrary to Christ himselfe and because they would not in this behalfe be as furiously franticke as the Papistes themselues In the meane time we speake not this as though we were of opiniō that Sacramentes should be defrauded of theyr dewe honor For it is one thing to reuerence the Sacramentes accordyngly and an other thyng to conuert the Sacramente of Christ into Christ him selfe and to worshippe earthly Sygnes for the heauenly Christ in the one whereof is a kynde of Religion in the other manifest Idolatry To the whiche wanteth nothyng now but that they chaunt lustely together with Ieroboam These be thy Gods O Israell But we shall be vrged perhappes with the wordes of Christ in the Gospell This is my body c. As though in the wordes of Christ which be Spirite and life it be so rare vnaccustomed phrase of speaking to vse Tropes and figures now and then seing there is no kinde of doctrine that more vsually delighteth in figures Tropes parables Similitudes metaphors allegoryes mysteryes thē the mystycall speéch of the sacred
entred into any order Ecclesiasticall foreswearing to be coupled in wedlock should sweare them selues to obserue perpetuall vow of vnmaried lyfe If any man be of opiniō that this Tyrāny was brought in by the Apostles and not rather directly agaynst the ordinaūce of the Apostolicke Church is much deceaued in imagination whereas that law was neuer begon nor euer heard of before the tyme of Hildebrand And although I can not deny that there were many vnmaried Ministers many dayes agoe in the Church of Christ at that tyme when as there was not such a huge multitude of Priestes and more plentyfull giftes of chastitie possessed Christian Churches yet did neuer any man read or heare that this necessitie of vowyng chastitie became a publique cōmon coaction before Hildebrād was borne How earnestly the Germaines did set them selues agaynst this wicked prohibition decreéd by Pope Gregory the 7. at what tyme the Archbyshop of Mentz Sollicitour of this Popish decreé was almost slayne let the Histories beare witnesse As touchyng what was done in England I will note somewhat my selfe For on this wise writeth Henry Huntyngton in his Chronicle Anselme sayth he did prohibite Mariadge of Priestes in England which was neuer prohibited before Which seemed to some a matter of wonderfull continēcie but to other very pernitious and perillous least whiles they should couet for a cleannes that surmounted their power they might rushe healong into horrible filthynes to the great reproche and dishonour of Christian name This much he with whom also accordeth the testimony of Monumetensis touchyng the same matter Herbert Byshop of Norwiche sayth he by the commaundement of Anselme and a Decree of a Prouinciall Synode did endeuour by all meanes possible to sequester the Priestes from their Wiues in his Diocese And when he could not bring it to passe he was constrained to send to Anselme for Counsell This is to be founde in a written History pag. 240. The same also happened to Gerrarde Archb. of Yorke about the same tyme. Now what will Osorius say to this If I shall be able to shew him out of our own auncient Recordes more then 40. Recordes and Rolles which doe make mention not onely of our Priestes companying together with their Wiues but also that do by publique authoritie and law of the land prouide that their Wiues ought to be endowed in landes and possessions There was an old Decreé in the Councell of Gangren That no man should make any difference betwixt an vnmaried Priest a maried Priest as to Iudge the one more holy then the other in respect of his vnmaried lyfe I will annexe the wordes of the Coūcell If any man doe take exception betwixt a Maried Priest at that in respect of his Mariadge he ought not to minister the Communion and so sequester him selfe from Communicating with him let him be accursed There ensued after this the Councell of Areletens the 2. wherein was a contrary Decreé made that no person should be admitted to Priesthood that was Married to a Wife vnlesse he vowed to depart from his Wife c. Whereunto also agreéd a Decreé of Pope Lucius long after the other Whereby Priestes and Deacons and such as serued the Altares should lyue continently And this hetherto tollerable enough But what kynde of cōtinency he did meane let vs marke by the sequele But if it happen sayth he that a Minister doe go to bedd to his Wife after he haue once receaued orders let him not enter within the Chaūcell nor be made bearer of the Sacrament nor yet come a neare the Altar c. As touchyng Images Inuocation Sacrifies for Sinnes and Freéwil hath bene spoken sufficiently before And what shall I adde more of the rest of the rascall rable to witte of Purgatory of Satisfactory Constitutions of vowes of other lyke peltyng pelfe of the newfangled Romish Traditions and of the antiquitie of all the rest but euen as they be in deéde namely that in them all appeareth no countenaunce of true Antiquitie but are deuises altogether of mens inuētions bastardes and misbegotten chaungelyngs of Scholeianglers and cowled crauens not grounded vpon any authoritie of the Scripture altogether vnknowen vnto the aūcient primitiue Church the most part wherof hath bene hatcht thrust abroad into the world within these 500. yeares within which compasse of tyme that noumber of yeares began to be fulfilled which was long before Prophecied of for the lettyng louse of Sathan into the world whose libertie out of that bottomles gulfe of hell was foretold by the Propheticall Scriptures should be after a thousand yeares to the end he might now preuaile to deceaue the people dwelling vpon the foure corners of the earth Gog and Magog c. By meane of which pestiferous deceauing it is scarse credible to be spoken what mōstruous ruine dissipation of Empires and Kyngdomes with in these 500. yeares what an alteration hath ensued in that church chiefly how much of Christian force hath bene decayed through Ciuill warres priuate grudgynges how greatly the power of foreine Nations hath increased to our destruction and vndoyng And how in the meane tyme whiles the Turke doth inuade the Christian Church without seékyng with foreine force to vndermine it The Popish Prelates be no lesse busily bent to builde vppe their fortresse of furious Tyranny euen within the bowels of the same Church and to fill vppe their Coffers with Treasures they moyle and turmoyle all thynges Procure warres and bloudshed for the establishment of their primacy sturre vppe Ciuill warres and commotions turne all thynges vpsidowne Wherupō commeth to passe that doctrine is nought sett by by how much their treasory aboundeth in ouer flowing-plenty by so much to speake with Ierome their vertues are pyned away with famine skarsity Idolatry ambitiō superstitiō haue growne to an vnmeasurable excesse all things are defiled with abuse Religiō ruleth the roast with violence cruelty Finally all things are come to nought Trueth is turned to playne lying and treachery The place of sincere fayth possesseth false hipocrisie Praying for the dead kneéling and crowching to Images supplyeth the place of the true and pure worshipping of God The word of the Lord is troden downe with mans authoritye The most godly and auncient ordinaunces are transformed into new fangled traditiōs the simple meaning of the Scriptures is entāgled with scholetrickes and Sophystrye Luste and vnbrideled licentious outrages preuayle aboue godly conuersation and seueritye of discipline Presūptuous pride and greédy desire of Lordlynes and superioritye doe wrestle agaynst lowlynes and humilitye huge heapes of new Noueltyes increase dayly errors and falshode flocke abroad vnmeasurably Finally the whole state of the auncient Church is become a very stage of an earthly Monarchye and a filthy forgeshoppe of foolishe fond ceremonies But now assoone as the Lord of his louing mercy good pleasure towardes vs vouchsafed to amend this dayly drowsy darkenes with
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
for asmuch as we also be made so freé from any guilte of Sinne and bondage of death by the one onely Sacrifice of the Lordes passion as that there is no neéde now of any Sacrifice from henceforth for the full redemption of Sinnes to vs now is this most blessed Supper Eucharist instituted for a perpetuall memoriall of that inestimable benefitt which albeit haue no power nor effectuallnesse of the oblation which it doth represent yet is it dignified with the name of that Sacrifice in respect of the honorable representation of the thing represented And thus much hitherto touching Malachy Now let vs seé what moates these Sophisters doe knitt together touching Melchizedech It behoued that the figure of Melchizedech should be fulfilled in the true Priesthood of Christ. Melchizedech did offer bread and wine vnto God which was a figure of the body and bloud of Christ vnder the formes of bread and wine Ergo Christ did offer at his last supper his body and bloud vnto God the Father vnder the formes of bread and wine As touching the necessary agreéablenesse of the things and the Types mentioned in the Maior we doe agreé together For it is vndoughted true that Augustine teacheth in his 10. booke De Ciuitate Dei the 5. Chap. That the thinges of the olde Testament be representations of the things of the new Testament But all that which is assumed in the Minor concerning the Sacrifice is of all partes false both in respect of Christ and in respect of Melchizedech For as much as neither of thē did euer institute any Sacrifice for sinnes in bread what then will you say did not Melchizedech represent the Type of Christ our Sauior there is nothing more true But we must cōsider wherin and by what meanes this agreéablenes may be correspondēt In the Priesthood I suppose and not in the Sacrifice For comparison is made of a Priest with a Priest not of a Sacrifice with a Sacrifice Thou art an euerlasting Priest sayth he after the order of Melchizedech which in mine opinion is in threé respectes First in the participation of kingly name For they were both called kinges of Iustice and peace 2. by reason of the Priestly kindred whereas both were Priests without knowing any Parentage of whom they came .3 according to the perpetuity of priesthood because the priesthood in thē both was wtout beginning without ending vnto whom in the Priesthood was neuer assigned Successor or predecessor The playne explanation whereof doth appeare in no place more euidently then in the very Epistle of Paul to the Hebrues Which making a collection of many braunches in comparing the Priesthood of Melchisedech together with the Priesthood of Christ yet in all the same maketh no mention at all of any Sacrifice of bread and wine But they take exception and say forasmuch as Melchisedech was a Priest by what reasō could he be a Priest without a Sacrifice And who doth exclude Melchisedech being a Priest from his Sacrifice But there is none other Sacrifice of his extant say they in the holy scriptures but in the bread and the wine which were offred as ornamentes of his Priesthood A deép reason as though he that so many thousād yeares agoe was a Priest without all beginning of tyme did not at any tyme during this whole entercourse of tyme offerr any Sacrifice vnto God besides this one Sacrifice onely Which being an vnreasonable absurditie yet not to contend long vpon this poynt I would fayne be resolued of these Catholickes in one question When Melchisedech did offer bread and wine whether he did Sacrifice for Sinnes yea or no I doe maruell what aunswere they will make hereunto If they say nay how then did he prefigure the Type of Christ if they say yea I aske agayne whether the Sacrifices that are ordayned for the clensing of sinnes must be done vnto God or vnto men If he did Sacrifice to Abraham a good fellowship tell vs what had Abraham to doe with our sinnes Moreouer I would learne this also for as much as there cann no expiation of sinnes consist in Sacrifices without shedding of bloud and whereas in all this preparation of Melchisedech was no bloudshed at all what force and efficacy of expiation could there be in that Sacrifice or how could it be accompted a Sacrifice at all Forsooth say you because these thinges offred did prefigure a certein resemblaunce of this to come But what resemblaunce might be there where no lykenesse could be appliable If in the Sacrifice of Melchizedech was nothing seéne but bread and wine onely what is this to the purpose to establish the Satisfactory Sacrifice of the Masse wherein is left no croome of bread nor droppe of wine But Melchizedech is called the Type of our Sauiour That is true in deéde But the Type is past and the veritye supplyeth the place Lett vs make a comparison betwixt the sampler and the trueth Melchizedech did bring bread and wine into the Armye which he did offerr to Abraham and not vnto God neither did he bring bread and wine to be gazed vpon nor to be worshipped not to release offences but he deliuered it to Abraham to refresh him and his Souldiors after their long and paynefull Iourney The same which Melchizedech did in the Army Christ hath perfourmed in his supper who taking the bread and the cupp in his handes did not offer there his body vnto his Father but did distribute the bread wine peécemeale in the name of his body and he commaunded them to eate where is there yet any Institution or any signification of a Sacryfice I doe behold in Melchizedech a figure but I acknowledge the veritye in Christ I doe conceaue also a participation made of bread and wine by them both yet all this while I seé no Sacrifice Both of them offred bread and wine to nourish namely Melchizedech vnto the Patriarche and to his souldiours and not vnto God Christ to his disciples not to the Father but vnto men after the vsuall maner of men that vse mutually to present eche other with giftes Besides this also the Patriarche with his people Christ with his disciples were altogethers pertakers of that which was geuen Goe to now and in what sense may all this be applied to the holy sacrifice of the Masse Surely if you deriue the reason of your sacrifice from Melchizedech he brought forth nothing but bare bread and wine but you retayne neither bread nor wine and in all the rest make no man partaker of your action But one man alone deuoureth vpp all the Supper yet not the supper for he maketh a sacrifice of the Supper rather the bread heé chaungeth into the body being chaūged he vaunceth it on high to be tooted vpon being gazed vpon throughly he doth sacrifice it for the quicke and the dead Truely I beleéue neither Melchizedech in his actiō nor Christ in his supper did
cloth there is also in the same Cathedrall Church at Rome the very Cradle wherein he was rockt and the peticoate which hys mother Mary did knitt for him yet we read in the Gospell that the Maunger was the onely cradle that the Child had As meére a mockery also is this that in an other place of the same City the Piller whereunto Christ did leane when he disputed in the Temple is brought forth to be looked vpon brought vnto Rome as they say together with eleuen other pillers out of Salomōs Temple which if be true was done doubtlesse after the Popedome of Gregory For it is euidently knowne by his owne writynges that in his tyme was no such Bables at Rome There be Monasteries which make a shew of the water pottes in the which Christ did turne water into wine At Aurelia also they do bragge that they haue the very wine that was turned out of water which is sayd to be the wyne of the mayster of the feast Euery yeare once it is offered to be licked with the toung to them that will geue money for the same out of the topp of a spoone alleadging that it is the very wine that our Lord did will the Master of the feast to drinke of at the marriage what a fitter place for exclamation were heare O shamelesse Impudency O wittlesse folly O grosse mockeryes At Rome in a place which they call Sancta Sanctorum they doe shew forth the shoes of Christ. But what shoes did Christ weare then whenas Mary Magdalen did power forth sweéte oyntment vpon hys bare feéte I thinke and wyped them with the heares of her head as he sate in the house of Simon at Dyner It is skarse credible that any dropp of Christes blood which was altogether powred forth vpon the ground is remaynyng at this present And yet that naturall blood of Christ is shewed more then in an hundred places There is a solemne Pilgrimage made to a few droppes thereof at Rochell in Poytiers in Fraunce which as they say Nichodemus did gather vpp reserue in his gloaue At Mantua also greate gobletts full be to be seéne At Byblion in Auuergne in Fraunce it is brought forth to be seéne cleare renning in a Christall glasse In an other litle towne neére adioyning the same blood is shewed clotted together At Rome it is poured forth in broad platters full in the church of Sainct Eustathius but in the same City at Saynct Iohn of Laterane it is found mixt with water euen as it gushed out of hys side In England in the Abbay of hayles was solemne pylgrimage made great worshipp geuen to that which the Moūcks did bring forth in a cleare Christall glasse in steéd of Christes blood to be gazed vpon of the pylgrimes where if Osorius had come on Pylgrimage what would he haue done I dought not but he would haue worshypped it very religiously But if he had done so he should in steéd of the Reliques of holy bloud haue surely worshypped the bloud of a Ducke The Table wherupon Christ made his last supper standeth at Rome in the Churche of Iohn of Laterane There is in a Church called Saynt Sauiour in Spayne a crust of the bread also that he brake at his last supper The knyfe wherewith the Paschall Lambe was cutt in pieces is at Tryers in Germany The cupp wherein Christ gaue the Sacrament of his blood is to be seéne neére vnto Lions in Fraunce in the Church of Maria Insulana The same Cuppe also is in Switzerland in a certeyn Mounckery of Austine Fryers The platter wherin the pascall Lambe was put is at Rome at Genes and at Orleaunce That is to say threé manyfest lyes about one poore platter And yet these raynebeaten Ruffians be not ashamed to delude the world with such kinde of Mockeryes Neyther is Osorius ashamed to become as shamelesse a patron for those open guegawes But let vs proceéd to the rest of those lying Reliques The Towell wherewith Chryst did wype the disciples feéte is to be seéne at Rome at Saynt Iohns of Laterane The same also is at Ayre in Germanye It is shewed likewise all at one time in S. Cornelies Church A crust of the broken bread wherewith fiue thousand people were fedd in the desert is worshypped at Rome at S. Maria noua An other litle crust thereof is worshipped at Saynt Sauiours in Spayne which I thinke flew directly out of the Baskettes into Spayne But thys is but a Trysle to preserue barly breade there if they did not also shewe at the same Saynt Sauiours a braūch of palme which Christ did beare in his handes on palme-sonday whē he came vnto Ierusalem Emongest the which most holy Reliques is reserued a clodd of earth which they doe affirme was vnder Christes feéte when he raysed Lazarus from death to lyfe Many sundry reportes are made emongest the writers of the Ecclesiasticall history concerning the Crosse. The first that found it out is sayd to be Queéne Helene who did send a piece thereof to the Emperour her sonne an other part very curiously enclosed in a Chest of Golde she delyuered to the Byshopp of Ierusalē to be preserued If it be true that thys Crosse was deuided betwixt the Emperour the Byshop Then must the other Reportes made touching the Relyques of the same Crosse neédes be fables especially sith there is skarce any so litle a City wherein some gobbet of that Crosse is not residēt First chiefly at Parys in the holy chappell at Poytew and at Rome where a whole Crucifixe of a meane stature made of the same Crosse is to be seéne Goe to what will Osorius say to me here For whereas we are certeynly assured by the hystory of the Gospell that the Crosse whereupō Christ suffered was no greater thē that it might he carryed vpon one mans shoulder now it is growen to so vnmeasureable a quantity in greatnesse in breadth and in lēgth that if all chyppes and gobbets thereof that are skattered throughout the whole world were gathered together I am well assured that a great Carrick would be skarce able to beare them all Moreouer who may beleéue the deuise of the Cityzens of Poytew that the skrapp of the Crosse remayning amongest them was stollen from Helene by a certayn mayd and by her conueyed vnto them after that she had runne away from her Princesse wandring abroad lame and halt chaunced to come at the last vpon their coast And I maruell if there be no fragmēt of the same Crosse in Portingall the trueth whereof I commit to Osorius one of the Inquisitors of Portingall to finde out This one thing would I fayne learne what Osorius would doe If Osorius had the very true Crosse it selfe within his owne Byshoppricke I suppose he would worshipp it and why so forsooth because it did heare the body of Christ. That is well I aske further what if the
that either he recreate his spirites with some other exercize or cease here after do abuse our Gracious Queéne Elizabeth specially with such kinde of trumpery wherein to tell you the truth Osorius you haue lost your labor and cost for you preuayle no whitt thereby as you seé What successe you may haue hereafter we committ vnto the Lord Certes hetherto as yet you may putt all your winninges in your eyes and seé neuer a shine the lesse as the proofe it selfe doth declare And be it say you that I preuayle nothyng herein yet wanted not sufficient testimony of a well wishyng mynde which ought not be vnthankefully taken emongest gratefull and honest personages Of your good meanyng what shall I say which how ready and inclinable it is I do easily perceaue but to what effect I beseéch you For to what other end shall we Iudge it so ready but to procure our most gracious Queéne then whose nature nothyng can be more disposed to lenitie and gentlenes to be sett on fire none otherwise then as it were some flamyng firebrand contrary to the naturall disposition engrauē within her royall brest by the finger of God to seéke the spoyle of her natiue Countrey with cruelty tormentes and destruction of her subiectes by fier and fagottes like vnto the furious persecutions and madde outrage executed in the tyme of her sister Queéne Mary For what better successe could haue bene hoped for out of those wicked mischieuous counsell of yours for lett vs suppose and imagine in our conceiptes which yet her most excellent Maiestie could neuer haue suffred to haue entred in her thought that you might haue preuailed and obteined your purpose or at least as much as you hoped for what then Could you conceaue in your mynde that the matter had bene accomplished forthwith assoone as you had entred into the Castell of fauour as though her Maiestie alone be the onely enemy to the Pope within this her dominion Beleéue not so O Solon and hereof assure your selfe that there is within this litle Island a greater nomber by many thousandes more then any man would Iudge that will rather yeld their car●asses to tortures then suffer thē selues to be defiled with the marke of that Beast And what thinke you will become then of the rest of the multitude whose consciences are not yet fully settled of whom there is an infinite noūber within this Realme you will say that the Prince must vse force force them to fagotte that will not obay Is this the coūsell you geue to a Queéne Herein forsooth we poore wretched Englishmen are very much beholdyng vnto your sweéte Fatherhood for your gentle reward But what if fayth will not be forced yea what if it can not be brought to yeld what if her highnes it selfe be not Queéne ouer consciences nor any worldly creature els for fayth wil be enstructed can not constrayned I say also moreouer it can not be vanquished by death but euen then rather it triumpheth most And although it may lose lyfe in this world yet will it neuer yeld to earthly creature but to God and his truth Wherefore in as much as this your whole discourse which you prosecute so earnestly is of this condition that it doth no more concerne any Christian Prince whatsoeuer then the subiectes of his Realme for what is more agreable with the maners of the people then Fayth and Religion If you haue determined with your selfe to bestow any further trauaile in the like cause by word or by writyng I iudge it best and withall do aduise you that you trouble not her Maiesty from henceforth with any such matter but proclayme forth your challenge agaynst the Byshops rather agaynst the Doctours and Deuines finally agaynst the subiectes of England and the consciences of the people whom if you be able to enduce with force of firme doctrine and pytthe of substaunciall Arguments to the direction of their consciences you shall shewe your selfe herein a very honest man But then must you frame vs some other kynde of bookes and other maner of letters For the bookes that we haue hitherto receaued from you are such kinde of ware as neither delighte the Queénes grace nor like well the subiectes For this cause therefore my good Lord Ierome I do the more willingly aduize you not to cease wrytyng henceforth Nay rather write on a Gods name paynte on deuise on and coyne on as much as ye list I will not lett you For so long shall it be lawfull for you to haue will to endite vntill at the last it will not onely repente you of the losse of your labour but withall make you ashamed of so much good tyme so wickedly employed And therefore take me not as though I would wishe you to surcease from writyng to throwe away your penne but rather I wish you to write and to endyte vntill you be hoarse withall Hereof neuerthelesse I war●e you before that vnlesse you mainteyne the quarrell that you haue vndertaken with better furniture you shall both come to late as I sayd and lose your labour also For what doe you thinke to gayne in this cause of Religion wherein if you hadd none other aduersary yet the Lord him selfe doth warre agaynst you with the very breathe of his mouth the whole Scriptures fight agaynst you and the authoritie of auncient Fathers haue bent their force to ouerthrow you Your purpose was to pleade for the Popes proper Chayre But he is quite abandonned not out of our Churches onely but much further banished out of mens consciences nor can possibly by mans pollicy be restored to the possession of Christian consciences in despight of Gods word It is the Lord who hath by his deuine Inspiration cast a darkened cloud ouer this proude Prelates Chayre which all Portingall can not bryng to light agayne though it lighten all the Tapers torches and waxe lightes in Portingall when the Sunne is at the highest But Osorius vpō confidence of his Rhetoricke doth dreame vpō some dry Sommer nothyng mistrustyng his Tackle as it seémeth which shal be more stronger then any Cable or Anker but that he shall be able to enduce our most Souereigne Lady Elizabeth to like well with his Request at the lēgth maugre the bearde of thousand Haddones for after this maner writyng agaynst Haddon he sayth What sayth he doe you suppose that her witte is so rude and so vnciuill when I shall haue discouered the practizes and cōspiracies of treacherous traytours by inuincible Argumentes and Reasons clearer then the Sunne in mydday when I shall paynte out vnto her view euē before her eyes the mischieuous filthynes and wickednesse of this new fangled Religion when by manifest proofe I shall make euident the foolish and illfauored scatteryng Reasons of these heretiques wherewith they attempt the maintenaunce of their cause that she will rather allowe of that most pestilent opinion coupled with vnauoydeable perill of her