dwelt And if thou couldest be ashamed thou wouldest neuer insinuate to the Reader that Luther shoulde holde that if a man shoulde haue tenne wiues fledde from him that hee might take more For although he be too vehement against that disobedience both in men and women that submit not them selues to the ordinance of God yet it was neuer his minde that any man or woman shoulde doe that of themselues without the Magistrate and the appoyntment of the church And as for Alberus writing against Carolostadius that thereupon Iohn Leiden should take many wiues Kipperdolinge thirteen for his part It is an horrible lye y e euer it was vpon any such occasion For as Luther resisted Carolostadius when he departed from the trueth so it is well knowne testified in al his writings that he was a sharpe aduersarie against al the Anabaptistes and wrote to the Magistrates to suppresse them So that he neither taught any such doctrine neither was it practised by his authoritie But such 〈◊〉 writers care not what they set downe to the world so they may deface the trueth of God and the true Professors of it though this byrde were hatched in their owne nest and if Luther helde it hee learned it in their owne schoole and not in the schoole of Christ and therfore they haue small cause to caste it in our teeth being their owne filth and dounge The fift doctrine in the like case is also answered as the fourth and differeth not from it being a case wherein Luther one man teinted with their corruptions thought that there ought to be a diuorse but M. Charke hath interpreted Luthers meaning neyther hath this proude Parsons brought any sounde consutation against it And as longe as we allowe no suche diuorses and yet them selues doe they haue no cause to charge vs with it or so to raue against Luther being not at one with themselues As for Sebastian Flaskes confession it deserueth no more credit at our hands then the confession of an 〈◊〉 falne from the trueth lyeing in a number of thinges besides and therfore like also to lye in this And whether he lie or no concerning the matter perhappes much lasciuiousnes being in Germany though nor vpon that occasion yet was it no sufficient ground vnto him to haue departed from the trueth of God for the vices of men But the trueth is those opiniōs of Diuorsements sprung from Antichriste with the vtter reiecting of matrimonie in the Romishe kingdom else wher where such corruptions haue bin entertained maintained haue bin are the causes of al abhomination Therfore this being also their own as the former Parsons had good cause to haue laid his hand vpon his mouth that he might haue hidden the shame of his owne nest not to haue so declaymed against Luther And if the dutch Booke were suppressed hee had the lesse cause to be grieued at vs that eyther woulde haue smothered such a monster or were ashamed of it And whether Luther recanted it or no that can no whit help his cause For if he had recanted then he had renounced an opinion of their own and so could not please them or if he did not which is vncertaine yet I doubt not but the Lorde might burye it amongest other his ignorances as he doeth great and manye in his children who holding the substaunce and foundation of saluation are not in iustice separated and cast downe into euerlasting damnation But here I woulde haue the reader to vnderstande that these Papistes nowe a dayes that come so freshly vpon vs out of their Seminaries and make bookes so faste as if they had read all mens wrytinges both olde and newe I saye they haue nothing but such as they steale from others Bellarminus hauing holpen them with his Dictates and common places and this Apologie of Staphilus hauing beene the verye Storehouse of this rayling defence As for the opinion which hee maintayneth of Diuorse from a bonde woman and also from one being couetous if thee shoulde fall to steale because they haue no grounde in the woorde of God I will vouchsafe it no confutation Only this maye be noted that if Luther had remayned still in Poperie and then taught their doctrine of Diuorse for inhabilitie or obstinacie of eyther partie hee woulde neuer haue founde faulte more with the one then with the other It is foule and lasciuious in Luther but it is good and maintainable in the Pope and his Church Loe their equitie and Father Parsons honestie The laste foure doctrines which you asfyrme M. Charke to aduouche as cleare and vndoubted and which you labour to bringe into doubte they are clearer as they are defended and sette downe by Martyn Luther then that you are able with anye the leaste colour to blemishe them For for the firste whether Matrimonie be to be preferred beefore Virganitie yea or no or be equall with it It is certayne that in respecte of GOD and as you vnderstande by merite a deseruing of prayse with GOD of congruence there is neyther merite in the one nor in the other It is cleare that Matrimonie is the ordinaunce of God sanctified vnto all that haue not the gifte of continencie and of so great worthinesse the state beeing honourable that your goatishe Virgines are not woorthy to come neere and stande at the thresholde Neyther doe wee 〈◊〉 from the spirite of the 〈◊〉 Church who when they preferred single life before marriage 〈◊〉 preserred it as it was sincere and without spotte of 〈◊〉 and incontinencie which your brockish boares wanton Nuns neuer attained vnto and then againe did it not simply but by way of comparison in respect of time as when the Church was vnder persecution and other circumstances they being true virgins in deede As for Hierome against Iouinian it is wel knowne that howsoeuer hee was ouer egar that way and waded in an argument for which he had no such ground yet we take him at the best and interprete him to haue dealt against Iouinian because he perswaded some to marry who had no need of it And so wheras August in Haeresie 42. speaketh much of the merite of single life and Ambrose in that Epistle to Syricius c. affirming that mariage is not of equal merite with virginitie I answere that you abuse your reader with the doubtfull name of Merite For they meant not by merite as was sayde before any deserte to make them more acceptable to God but a worthines wherby they were freed from those incumbrances that those that were married were subiect vnto as Paule 1. Cor. 7. And M. Luther and. M. Charke doe no otherwise prefer marriage then so Neither doe those auncient Doctours that haue written such volumes in the prayse of Virginitie prayse it as a thing more acceptable to GOD in it selfe Beesides the comparison which M. Luther maketh betwixt virginitie and marryage preferring marryage as golde and reiecting the other as dounge
you and flinging your abhominations in your faces they speake 〈◊〉 Gods enemies against perlecutors and tyrants for Christ and for his church against the corrupters and betrayers of all Churches and kingdomes His bytter speech therefore iustly bestowed in waight and measure vpon you was bestowed where it should be and is no warrande for you to bestowe it where you ought not and yet it is all that which you can say where with you gorge your bookes and fil vp not your lines but your leaues and great volumes to But howsoeuer you beare it amongest men a day shall come when you shall answere it to the Lorde whom you strike then you shall knowe what it is to haue opened your mouth against the Almightie and against his blessed holy truth But heere you will not passe ouer this heape whiche like a dounge farmer you haue laide together out of the writings of the Protestants which you set downe as a token to knowe their heartes and their spirits by abusing that place of our Sauiour and comparing them with Simō Magus as fitly and as truely as you are wont to alleadge the Scriptures But if you had turned it on the other side to your selues those scourilous railers of your sort you had fitted it better For in deede that 〈◊〉 and furious backbiting and slaundering spirite agreeth with all popish heretikes and suche as not beeing able to preuaile against Gods euerlasting truth flye alwayes to that diuelish and serpentine kinde of dealing But I wonder at your folly in interpreting that place of the Actes concerning Simon Magus against vs seeing your late young masters of Rhemes acquite Simon Magus in respect of vs that blasphemed not but prayed the Apostles to pray for him That same gaule of bitternesse and budde of vnrighteousness which Peter sawe in that Patrone and forefather of yours Simon Magus was that same roote of bitternesse that budded foorth gaule and wormewood a Metaphore declaring that the fountaine was corrupt and the very heart teynted with malice and venome But what maketh this againste bytter speeche and sharpe dealing againste hypocrites suche as your selfe is and against the enemies of God and seeing also in the same place Peter vseth asgreat sharpnesse againste Simon Magus as might be Of like fitnesse is that allegation out of the eight of the Romanes He that hath not the spirite of Christe is none of his Seeing it standeth well with the spirite of Christe which came vppon the Apostles in 〈◊〉 tongues to reproue the worlde of sinne to reproue errours and falshoods in mē with the zeale and heate of God And as for Papistes they cannot challendge this texte to them seeing they make a mocke of vs when being Christes wee assure our selues to haue the spirite of Christe whiche they are wont to blaspheme and accounte it an haynous presumption that any man shoulde so thinke I graunt that as the holy ghoste appeared in firie tongues so also hee had the for me of a Doue which settethe foorth the simplicitie and softuesse wherewith the children of God are indued But as God hath softe ones so hee hath sharpe ones and both necessarie for the building vp of his Saintes And you your selfe giue vs a plaister together with the wounde whilest you allowe heate in respect of the matter and you say that it is not the question seeing Christe and his Apostles and after them many holy fathers amongest whome you name S. Anthonie haue vsed very hoat and sharp speech Wee answere you if there bee any heate in our writinges that becommeth not Christes Gospell it is meete as comming from mans corruption that it fall to the grounde but if there be heate sharpnesse and biting Corziues that gnawe vpon your proude fleshe and is as a searing Iron to your festered botches and soares in respect of the matter of truth not of any hatred to your Parsons whom for the most part wee knowe not You must bee content to abyde it If Christ come with his whip and will chase you out of his house as he did the Iewes if hee will driue you out headlonge and ouerthrowe your Tressels and Tables making his house that is the house of prayer a denne of theeues whilest you make it a markette and a place of sale who canne resist him Herode may bee called Foxe and the Scribes and Pharisees generation of Vipers the Princes of Iudah Princes of Sodome and Gomorhe theeues and compapanions of theeues and yet this no spirite of errour but the spirite of Christe Nowe then for M. Charkes woordes against the Iesuites whom hee calleth Scorpions and poysoned Spiders they are Metaphors in respect of the matter liuely setting out their cursed practises and 〈◊〉 and are rightly giuen them I will not stande vpon the application It is apparant to all the worlde that they are such in truth as those noisome venemous beasts do set them out to be in nature and condition And also in regarde of their pettigree and of spring taking their beginning of a late obscure souldier master Hanmer might well enough in suche a case to set out the madnes of such monsters vse those excessiue speeches and that with more warrant a great deale then you might call him shamelesse slouen whom I knowe to haue dealte a great deal more clenly then your selfe or any those filthie sottes of your side in many their writings And as for master Fulke they that knowe him better then you knowe him to haue no ruffianlike spirit although when he is prouoked by your vnlearned and doltish dealing hee hath that courage that becommeth a professour and Preacher of the Gospell to giue you fit names and to prouoke you again according to your dealing And albeit these speeches seuered from circumstances that went before and after and from the occasions that made him to set such wordes downe seeme odious Yet they that are wise can consider that they are much mitigated when they are considered as I haue saide And surely I am perswaded there is no man that carieth flesh vpon his backe and liueth as a man amongst men that can bee so patient especially with papistes Gods sworne enemies whose religion as it is grosse and altogether built vpon superstition and folly so when they will confirme it by grosse abusing the scriptures by palpable ignorance and wresting the holy scriptures of malice whiche they peruert to their owne destruction as they doe in most of their writings though Gregorie Martin vniustly chargeth vs with it then must needes fall out of our pennes and mouthes some such names as agree best vnto them whether wee will or no when wee thinke least of them I write not this to the ende to defende euery worde that is vttered by vs. Wee are men and because the Lorde buildeth by vs and mainteineth his worke it is our speciall comforte that wee builde vpon the foundation That which is ours wee desire not
that it shoulde stande like stuble it shall perishe but wee shall bee saued If I should to requite him gather all that dung and filth together of raylinge and scurrilitie which is in their bookes I should euen choke the worlde and infect the uery ayre with their filthe As the cause is so are their wordes and therefore the comparison that hee maketh betwixt D. Fulk Allen Stapleton and Martiall is very vnequall and whatsoeuer such lewde lossels and spende thriftes as Parsons is with the rest of that popish crewe thinke of suche cubbes yet wee knowe howe to esteeme of them wee by the grace of God can discerne of them and what credite soeuer they haue with the worlde with men that are blinded and partial that are wont to praise them in those thinges that are most vnworthie of praise and haue their Parsons in admiration wonder at their giftes and extoll them aboue the Moone as if they were dropped out of heauen yet wee knowe that this is a plaine argument of their corruption and of their shame wherein they so much glory Neyther is it of any credite with vs though like Mules thty rub one another and dub one anothers sayinges though they haue some good giftes seeing they are abused by them and their illusions made the stronger to deceiue others And in deede the Gentiles of whom this Parson Parsons prateth had a greater measure then euer they had but all were nothing without Christe As for that hee calleth vs good fellowes wee desire no fellowship with suche and as for calling M. Fulke Minister in derision whome also from the Censure of one of his owne haire hee calleth the poste horse of the Protestants agreeing to that popish rayling spirite whereby he is lead shall receiue no other answere but this that M. Fulke may reioice to bee so reuiled for the defence of Gods glorious truth This deserueth no shame but prayse amongest all Gods people if in the zeale of God he bee carried with a swift course to answere their peeuish and pelting writings neither doth he it as poste alone For God be thanked hee knoweth and you shall find that there are a great number his inferiours both in yeeres and in the labour of the Gospel and after him in Christe that yet may bee your masters and can answere you well enough Hee doth it not therefore of penurie as a man beeing left alone and woulde carry the burden himselfe but of a readie and forwarde minde to serue the Lorde and his Churche And if hee alone and so swiftly doe it belike if all the Lordes armie shoulde come vpon you and with preparation and furniture where then woulde bee your glorie I knowe your prowde Philistinians heart and the contempt wherewith you reproche the glory of the Israel of God but bee assured this reaching to God hee will bee auenged of it The name of Minister beeing the name of his office hee thinketh no reproche to beare it but the name of a Popish Prieste instituted by Anticriste that hath no ground in the worde of God but hath written in the forehead of it the name of shame blasphemie this name if they were not past blushing might make them ashamed As for Martiall the laste of the three the argument was so grosse and the defence so blockishe that hee tooke in hande as might not only prouoke M. Fulk to call him by those names but they might blushe that I may vse their owne woordes of suche worshipfull writers The other contumelie of attributing this to the pot is iustly returned vpon his owne head For their Doctors are commonlie fitter for the pot then for the pulpit and for an ale benche or a stage then for the Church of God with whome when rayling is done they are mumme and the tragidie is ended Now hauing done as hee saith with the schollers he letteth driue also at the Masters and heere Caluine is set in the first ranke and yet hee might knowe that how soeuer wee esteeme of Caluine as of an excellent and notable personage yet wee haue but one master neyther dyd hee in regarde of those excellent giftes God had bestowed vppon him euer challenge any such prerogatiue or authoritie That is only common to popery and what are his sharpe wordes forsooth his ordinarie tearme against the Papistes is knaues Surely as fitte a name for them in the highest signification as can bee and specially if a fitte Epitheton bee ioyned to it and yet who knoweth not that hath anye skylll either in the Latine Englishe Frenche or Scottishe tongues that it carryeth no suche odious contumelie with it If malice had not blinded this mans hearte hee woulde haue looked vpon his godly and great labours set foorth with so notable profite of the whole Church of God he would haue looked vpon his zeale for the glory and maintenance of the truth of God against such enemies and resisters as himselfe and the Papistes are And what Bishops forsooth are his Superiours Still this Parsons will bee a beggar as though M. Caluine shoulde confesse that the Pope and his Cardinalles are the Churche and suche as hee hath proudly aduaunced and appointed were his Superiours which for his heart he cannot proue eyther by the law of God or man As for Staphilus when hee will forsooth dubbe a counsailour and dare sausily compare with some of ours beeing men of honour all the worlde knoweth what an Apostatate and runnagate hee was first falling from the truth of God and then afterwardes for the glorye of men embracing false religion and following this present euill worlde What his spirite of rayling was hee that shall reade his workes especially his booke against Andreas his Hyppodromus and suche like see at large hee was one of the first deuisers of those notable lyes against Luther after whom followed Cochcteus Eccius and the rest such another as that wretch Bolsecke is of whom we shall speake afterwards Nowe as though hee had taken his leaue of Caluine hee passeth foorth to see what hee may finde in Luther whome they call the Dutch Beare This man he calleth our father as hee did Caluine before our Master and wee are newe ympes who haue receaued from our father the first fruites of his spirite as the Apostles had of the holy spirite Thus doth this prophane wretch with an impure mouth and an vnholy spirite abuse the most comfortable and holy woorde of God But as wee answered euen nowe for hauing anye man to bee our Master in matters of God so wee acknowledge but one father And though Papistes haue manye fathers of whom they receiue religion by imitation and tradition and depend vpon them being men they are newe fathers and new imps 〈◊〉 of that old father of ours which was before all times in whom we were beloued chosen called regenerated and sanctified euen bofore the foundation of the worlde was layde And so farre forth as Luther taught this old and first and
the same thing to trouble the Readers I omit As for general Councels which you say you admitte and refuse none that euer antiquitie vsed for the trial of a Catholique and Hereticall Spirite I aunsweare that though you sayde true as you doe not yet these can bee no safe wayes to trie the trueth by for as hath beene sayde afore these haue beene contrary one to another and as there haue beene more then one Pope at once so there haue beene Councelles according to their seuerall factions in those same Schismes the moste and greatest and of longest continuaunce in your Church that euer were in anie Churche in the worlde Besides that they haue erred in greate and weightie matters and most of all your late Chapter of Trent whither if wee had vppon your safe conduite come wee shoulde haue had the same intertaynment that Iohu Husse and Hierome of Prague had comming to the councell of Constance against your faith and promise which you aduouch is to bee holden or broken as shall bee best for the commoditie of the church And this is your receiued doctrine that no promise is to bee kept with an heretike and wee are as you say heretikes therefore you are not bound to stande to any promise you make vs. This is not onely practised by your Pope and his Cardinalles but also by such popishe Princes as stay vpon this his doctrine and direction And yet for all this great bragge it is plaine that you admit no generall councels but wherein they resist your errour you resist them As for example you refuse the councell of Franck ford because it determined against the worshipping of Images that of Nice that permitted Ministers to marry those of Constance and Basill that subiected the Pope vnder the Church and made him equall with other Bishops that of Carthage also that curseth him that calleth himselfe vniuersal Bishop which your Pope doth and all the rest if there be any point maintained against your popish religion Concerning the Doctors which you bring againe and againe to fill vp your booke sufficient hath beene saide before And yet wee say Augustine did well in vrging Iulian the Pelagian with the consent of the Fathers and so did Theodosius to hearken to Sysinninus and Nectarius good aduise against the Arrians For the consent of holy fathers professing the truth against errours and heresies is not lightly to bee esteemed Neither did we set light by that common iudgemente of these Orthodoxall and sounde fathers that haue liued before vs especially because their iudgement is grounded vpon the Scriptures But what serueth this to binde vs against the truth for tryall of it to bee iudged by men full of errours and seeing that immediatly after the Apostles times the churche was combred with many heresies I suppose in the first foure hundred yeeres there were not so fewe as foure hundred heresies all disagreeing one from another and all dissenting from the truth of God In which time yet God raised vp many notable and singulerinstrumentes that helde vp right the glorious profession of the Gospell whereby they resisted these heresies and errours and not by their owne worde or by their owne authoritie For how can these bee any warrant or strength of that hope which is for euer Such presumption hath notbeen founde in Gods children but in those of your fort who haue lifted vp your selues aboue Angels and made your selues Iudges ouer the lawe of God As for vniuersalitie antiquitie consent succession of Popes which you haue neuer done with and bring so often sometime as markes and sometime as tryalles as you doe in this place they are nothing to the purpose For Vniuersalitie whiche you call multitude is rather a marke of the Diuels Synagogue then of the Church of Christ. Mat. 7. 13. as for the Churche of Christe it is a little flocke neither doth the woorde Catholique whiche signifieth vniuersall helpe you one whit whereby is noted not a multitude but that how many or how fewe soeuer wee are haue beene or shall be heereafter that professe the Gospell of Iesus Christe wee make all but one Church So that the name Catholique 〈◊〉 all Christians that euer haue beene are or shalbe and agreeth as vnfitly to you as generall to particuler the whole Churche to Rome which is but a Citie and a lesse corner of the worlde then was that part of Affricke wherein the Donatistes would haue shut vp the vniuersall Churche As for departing we haue no otherwise departed from you then you are departed from the Church by whom is verified that which was prophesied that many should fal in the last times from the faith and giue heede to spirites of errour And the same helping causes that helde Augustine to continue his sincere profession against the Manichees doe also holde vs for we are in deede true Catholikes and you heretikes wee are retained in the lappe and bosome of the Church sucking that pure and vndefiled milke and you are in the lap of a strumpet drawing the filth and corruption of mans superstition and abhomination wee haue the consent of all peoples and nations that are gathered by this voice with vs and you ioyne in the conspiracie and treason of all that are stiffnecked and rebellious against the Gospell In whose 〈◊〉 though there be no end yea though we be but an handfull in respect of your confuse heape yet we haue the consent and you the dissent we are Catholike and you schismaticall rent from the fellowship and body of Iesus Christe The place of 〈◊〉 which you alleadge is plaine for vs. For speaking of the true Catholike church of Christ whereof wee are members wee also holde it very needefull that wee retaine that truth whiche hath beene is or shall bee retained of all or moste Christians But Vincentius is not of minde that wee shoulde follow the most the eldest and the greatest consent as thinges to trie the truth of God by and as they are considered in themselues For who knoweth not that the most are worste that errour is very olde and there may be and is many times consent in iniquitie as well as in veritie I am 〈◊〉 that Antichriste hath beene in the worlde these thousande and fiue hundred yeeres Ioh. 2. 18. The misterie of iniquitie beganne to worke and preuaile euen in Saint Paules dayes 2. Thes. 1. 2. and in deede this is the antiquitie of your Romishe Churche whereof you so muche boaste That the corruption of it in that Antichristian pride and ambition that inuaded it and by little and little afterwardes crept along till it had ouercome and choked it till that abhomination of desolation foretolde was nowe placed in that holy place and temple of God not so much consisting in the remouing of those first sacrifices of the lawe seruice then established as in bringing in a Maozim and vnblooddy sacrifice such as Christe neuer instituted I meane that
learne or to teach Dispute you as men to bee tryed or rather as these that are 〈◊〉 and woulde subuert both Church and common wealth You may prate what you list and write as long as you will but wise men see well enough where at you shoote as hath been saide before And whereas you attribute their obstinacie which you call constancie to the mercie and grace of God you abuse both the name and grace of God contrarie to the commaundement of God Thou shalt not take the name of the Lorde thy God in vaine Besides you charge God with their treason and superstition the cause neither being his not depending vpon any worde of his And therefore it was not for him but against him and in his iuste indgemente hee found them out as I doubt not but in time it shall likewise fall out with all those that are so redie of whom you speake that carry so treasonable and traiterous mindes whereto if according to your confession they be still so bent and shall pursue that which others left I beseech the Lorde to appoint the time quickly that you may receiue a iust recompence and peace may bee vpon all Gods Israel amongest vs. The rest you say in master Charkes Preface is not worth answer neither surely is that which is answered alreadie which yet you haue accounted moste worthie of answere For your bare affirmation and wordes is no more proufe and reason then a 〈◊〉 is a milstone no more is your disabling of our cause in comparison of yours Not ours but Christes as yours is not yours but Antichristes And wee easily yeelde you that in respect of the worlde surely our cause is somewhat more beggerly then yours For Satan by Antichriste the Pope doth enable furnish and decke it with all possible pompe efficacie deceite lying signes and wonders that can bee Rome is a rose coloured whoore and your Rochettes and Crochets your Hattes and crownes are not decked with studdes of Iron but all to beedawbed with iewels and precious stones Her cup in her hand is of fine golde Shee is a whore not for euery man but kinges and princes commit fornication with her And for vniuersalitie it is cleare that all the inhabitants of the earth shal worship the beast whose names are not written in the booke of life they are not written in the booke of the lambe that is slaine Hee shall rule and giue them a marke in their handes and no man shall by nor sell without the marke of the beaste In deede in this respect Christe is a beggar true religion is beggerie and your cause is honourable and you are the Lordes of the worlde But heere I must warne you that whilest you talke of your wealth and your honour yet you forgate not to begge very beggerly the matter in question If you had wonne the cause then you might charge vs with pride and take the name of humilitie But if you bee so good a Phisition to knowe the disease of an heretike I wonder you coulde not finde your owne sicknesse to the death heretikes in deede and therefore pride such a disease in you as meane Phisitions may see and handle knowen to all that knowe but little seene to them that are halfe blind and apparant to the whole worlde without measure But Christ howe base and beggerly soeuer you make him yet is hee the high riches and very treasurie of God And as Augustine with the testimonie and consent of those sounde witnesses standing in mainteinance of the truth had an honourable cause and the other though Iulianistes Arrians Donatists and all the rabble of earth and hell set against him in the strength of flesh blood had a weake and beggerly cause euen so haue you that haue neither sentence of Scripture nor sounde Doctor for the space of the first 600. yeeres to take your parte your pith is so poore of these almost 1200 yeeres that we can neither see nor feele it and therefore it is a vaine popish bragge As for Luther whō you raue so much against it is a lie that our religion began with him For our religiō is the wisedome of God before al beginning Al the Saints of God that euer were in al the times ages of the worlde haue euer both opened their mouths spoken against Antichrist you his members All the Patriarches Prophets Christ himselfe and his Apostles Yea when Antichrist grew and occupied that holie place boasting himselfe as God in the greatest times of darknes yet God euermore stirred vp lōg before Luther was borne sundry excellent spirites to controll his abhominatōs and to stand for his blessed truth which as it hath gained against him made the towers of his pride to bowe towards destruction so beeing the breath of Christe it shall not cease til it haue vtterly ouerthrowne him But it is to be marked how your popish heate carried you here into a disdayneful reproch against one of your own names when you cal him a Rūnegate Frier If his order were holy then you doe amisse because of his heresie to disdayne his profession But a man may see what reuerence and conscience you beare to your owne titles And yet me thinks this should not so much gaule you in respect of vs cause you so to raue against vs seing he is one of your owne and hauing so farre proceeded amongst you brought out such is the streight of truth so harde batterie against you But blessed be God that euen out of your own bowels hath bred so sundry notable instruments to bewray your falshood to vindicate the truth As for his impugning of vs take you no care for that It wilbe best for you to keepe your own heads as hath bin said We easily pardon that which may be pardoned euery man seeth not al things and some differences may wel stand with the vnity of faith You papistes bee not al of a coate nor all of a religion your deuision is indeede in the bowels in matters of substance and weight and therefore I trust it is a true Prognostication of your vtter destruction when God shal appeare in glory You are deuided into infinite orders professions at warre contrary one to another Nay your opinions are so contradictorie as by no meanes they canne bee reconciled and so are your popes your Popes Canons At the death of your popes you are wont to publish that they are departed out of this life to euerlasting happines and rest and yet you commaunde herses to bee set vp and prayers to bee saide for them that they may be receiued to happines and rest Yee glorie of your consent and agreement in expounding the scriptures and yet your doctours teach that the scriptures are fitted and diuerslye vnderstoode for the time so as they maye bee expounded at one time according to the curraunte vniuersall ryte of the Churche but that ryte beeyng chaunged that also
These are known almost to al writers and as these heads are out of order and vnitie so are their Canons and their decrees sometime as hereticall as they cal it as any of our propositions and sometimes as ouerthwart direct against the Gospel For that which they graunt in one Canon they foribid in another that which they build vp to day they throwe downe to morrow As for example in some Canons their popish Bishoplike authoritie is mittigated and all the rest are made equall vnto them But in others it is so extolled that all men what state or calling soeuer they bee of what giftes soeuer God hath blessed them withall yet they must be subiect vnto thē and contrary to that order which God hath appoynted they muste ryde men and vse them at their pleasures Somtime they say it is lawful for a Christian that is vnmarried to haue a Concubine and in others they cōdemne against Gods truth But your owne bookes as full as they are of leaues or rather lines so full they are of outragious and malicious lyes slaunders reproches reuilinges and raylings And let all the Papistes bring forth their whole packe of pelting and lewd writings inuectiues let them lay them to this learned godly and milde reply of M. Charkes who as 〈◊〉 of purpose laboured but too much considering with whom he had to deale to cut off that sharpnesse which had ben meet he had more vsed against such enemies of God as you are thē they shall see the differēce and therfore this lie in the entrāce cōcernig his entrāce sheweth y t before you begin you are a mā 〈◊〉 spēt of al truth mo 〈◊〉 such is that you say he begā so hotly with Cāpion But that his quiet behauiour cooled him with shame alacke there while They that knewe Campion as well as euer Parsons did knewe his milde spirite well enough And it is euident that both in the first second and third dayes disputation generally in all howesoeuer there were som difference he behaued him selfe more like a man of defiance that had beene at libertie in grace fauor both of God Prince then like a prisoner in the tower of London that in the testimonie of his owne conscience had to answer at another barre and felt the gilte of his own treasons which if any thing might haue cooled him no doubt that might haue done it And whatsoeuer you speak of humilitie it was not humilitie nor the assistance and confidence of a good cause sealed with that comfortable spirite of gladnesse aboue the rest that made him either gentle or soft but his owne naughtie cause and conscience that made him to counterfaite sometimes as I haue alreadie alleadged As for that note of the conference with those of Wisbitch which by your magisteriall authoritie you call a vaine pamphlet charging that reuerende man who hath taken such notable paines in the Church of god against your heresies It was not set foorth for any such cause as your malice pretendeth nor by him it was writen to a priuate friende as a report of it procured to be published before master Fulke knew of it was also sufficient to witnes how distrustfull they were of their cause or at least that they are not at concorde with you in the opinion concerning disputing with vs whom they deeme as you doe heretikes I haue saide of this before and therefore nowe speake the lesse of it againe But in your wise Censure those reuerend and learned fathers as you call them did very wisely in contemning his pride comraing thither vpon vanitie without warrant and yet it is euident by good testimony that hee went by commission from the Bishop of Eley and had better warrand for that his so dealing then you who for ought that wee know haue no warrand thus to prouoke vs. And if you say that Campion had a commaundement from his superiours we answere that the acknowledging of those forraigne superiours and powers contrary to the prerogatiue of our prince and lawes of our countrie brought him to the gallowes and so it will you if you come not with better priuiledge But you say the falshood of that scroule hath beene discouered to you since by letters from the parties themselues and that there is nothing in it that maketh not to our discredite that it is confessed therein that after wee had depriued them of all bookes yea of their very note bookes whiche to learned men are the store house of memorie then we asked whe ther they woulde come to Cambridge to dispute if leaue might be procured And because they contemned so pearte and cockish a 〈◊〉 c. Therefore wee say they refused disputation c. For the firste I woulde haue it marked that where you are wont so to complaine of streight and hard dealing by your owne confession heere there is entercourse of writing betwixt which because your lauish penne hath not spared to vtter it may bee a meane in good pollicie to cause them to bee streightlier looked vnto heereafter and your selfe to be sought out seeing their letters can finde you out But if it bee false why is it not confuted and the truth from themselues declared Perhaps you will say they haue written in deede so I haue heard they haue but as much to the purpose and according to the 〈◊〉 in deede as it was as men that had neuer heard of it And though their followers that hang vpon mens persons without looking to the veritie may be carried with suche poore deuises yet you must consider that wee are not to beleeue them in 〈◊〉 owne cause As for taking away their bookes wherof they and you so often complaine it is answered that they were suche as had beene lately written by those of your heresie The bookes of the holy scriptures and auncient Doctours were neuer denied you and though they made a shewe of readinesse to disputation yet they added such conditions as were not in any subiect to perfourme For they woulde bee all set at libertie they woulde haue all their scattered armie gathered together and then they woulde pitche the fielde the rather that they might get that by strength perforce and with multitude that they coulde neuer winne by truthe knowledge and learning And yet these men of whose readinesse and suite nowe to dispute you make so much vaunte at the first they would none of it and your greatest forefathers as I haue saide haue vtterly shewed themselues against it Master Fulke therefore neither went of his owne head nor for any such matter as you dreame of This you and those of your sort haue alwayes hunted after as men pusfed vp that make more reckoning like hypocrites of a little prayse and vaine glorie before men then of being approued vnto God And therefore you carry all men their persons and learning with the tempest of a
must be solitarie they may not buyld their monasteries in cities they must not be vagrauntes but get their liuing by the labour of their handes their Nunnes must not cut their haire they must deuise no more newe orders but rather keepe one of the best approued Their auricular confession is not necessary to saluation but rather an ordinance of man And as their canons are so also are their councels their interpretations one against another as hath beene shewed before The councel of Basil condemneth Eugenius the pope and hee againe condemneth the whole councel The contentions brawles of Monkes and Friers they are infinite and known their schismes long horrible during many yeres the mendicāts against the vniuersitie of Paris al other orders nowe the lesuires 〈◊〉 the bel a way ourgoe al others The Sententionarists and schoolmen they also agree like cattes and dogges the writings of Catharin the Archbish are against de Soto Caietane is against others Tapper both a gainst Pighius Catharine Durand al the rest Sometimes they teach concerning iustification that by only faith in the passion of Christ our sinnes are forgiuen and the promise of pardon to be laide holde of by this onely meane Another time they teach that Christ hath satisfied for original sins actual sins going before baptisme but that we must satisfie for the rest afterwards Againe Christ hath satisfied through sufficiencie but not by efficiency and participation of fruit Christ hath satisfied for the fault but not for the 〈◊〉 for wee must satisfie for that Faith doth iustifie initiatiuè but not consummatiuè that is it begins to iustifie but it doth not performe it Also precedent workes prepare to iustification but workes consequent make it perfect These are their dissentions and horrible disagreements which they cannot discerne in themselues not begun yesterday but such as haue bin continual amōgst them as touching their greatest matters and yet they can see into our differēces in smal matters to make vs at the greater oddes they can matche vs with such here tikes indeed as we no more allow of then themselues nor so much neither no party protestāts or rather christians with vs but with them against Christ and his truth But the maiestie of Christendome in comparison of our poore faction as he calleth it doth much cōfort him Thankes be to God though the least that yet are best cannot compare for multitude with the worst that are most yet he may remember that wee are not such a poore companie as he would haue vs. For God hath caused his people to grow and increase not from Paganisme to popisme the mother of al here sies as they boast to haue done in the Indies but from paganisme and false religion indeed to true christianitie in 〈◊〉 Flaurders Germanie Spaine England Scotland some whole countries hauing vtterly abandoned their idolatries and corruptions And this not 〈◊〉 Maister Charke whom he dreameth to sit by the fire in his personage wherein as in great matters so in this also he is taken with a foule lie may see but al other christians whose eies God hath not shut vp in 〈◊〉 to their owne destruction Nowe being growen to some conclusion he setteth downe what order he wil keepe And for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will set downe his owne censure wholly againe For the man 〈◊〉 to heare himselfe speake But hee pretendeth to doe that bicause M. Charke is obscure But the truth is hee prouideth to haue that which he setteth down red fullie of his Catholike broode but as for M. Charks answere he knoweth that none of his confederates must once touch it vpon paine of the blacke curse vnlesse he be licensed and authorized thereunto This is the way that they take when all the world knoweth that we reade their bookes and answeare thē thorowly and they like butchers curres 〈◊〉 at the worst morsels of ours and neuer marke the whole drift of the matter as Sit Parsons or what parson soeuer els be the defender hath done thorow this defence of his censure ageinst M. Charks replie and in al the rest of his bookes Thus I haue answeared these prefaces minding not to deale so particularly with the booke only I wil hereafter deale with those thinges that are personal which this runnegate prodigal Parsons as he is commonly taken if he be not a parson of another parrish as some thinke as a heape of filth hath raked together to discredite those excellent instrumentes of God which the Lord hath reared vp in his church for the edifiyng of his Sayntes And although it could no whit preiudice the truth as their own writers witnesse though men had their notorious faults yet because the holy ghost wil haue the ministers of God to be blameles I will mainteyn their innocencie by examining his reasons and witnesses in order of ech as they haue liued in their seuerall times and as occasion serueth I will lay out of their owne stories the liues of some of their chiefest popes the heades and pillers of their owne popish church and this also I wil doe as briefly as possibly I can 〈◊〉 An Aunsweare for the time vnto that foule and wicked defence of the Censure IN that you set downe your whole Censure and doe but croppe heere and there out of Maister Charkes replye without either replye or aunsweare to Maister Charkes reasons and arguments you deale with suche equitie as a man maye looke for at a Papistes handes that vse neyther Fayth nor sinceritye in any theyr dealinges But you haue done it for good causes as I haue noted before to witte that you may bee sure to broche out to the worlde your falshood and conceale the trueth of God If there had beene anye purpose of playne dealing you woulde as well haue set downe full and wholly your aduersaries replye as your Censure and defence And if you had made as shorte woorke of your owne as you haue done of his we shoulde not haue had after so long time but a first parte in steed of both firste and seconde nor in so manye sheets that might haue beene comprehended in a fewe But you neyther make conscience what you write nor howe you write howe often nor howe weakelie so you may seeme to your deceyued followers and superstitious Idiottes still to haue somewhat to saie And in verie trueth you set down nothing newe All is of that worme eaten store that was longe 〈◊〉 spent and haue receyued as often aunsweares as they haue beene obiected vnto vs. Of all M. Charkes replye to that prowde challenge of a Runnegate Iesuite ye take only a word or two for your entrance What is Campion or who are the rest of these Seedemen that they should auow popishe religion c. Heere you exclaime euen beeynge out of breath your selfe that Maister Charke entred in choller and if his beginning or entrie were so hotte
against the hayre who were punished for lying to the holy Ghost through hypocrisie and not for breach of any vow which you terriblie 〈◊〉 out to feare all your votaries to keepe them in the obedience of their rule contrary to the rule of Christe and his Gospel in thinges not in their power whereas this was in the power of Ananias and Saphyra concerning their own which they might haue kept As for the authorities whereby hee would proue that Christ and the Apostles vowed that voluntarie 〈◊〉 they haue beene in parte considered before and wee haue to leaue that to them beeing too muche addicted to that kinde of vowing without any warrant or grounde out of the booke of God The other of the blessings of God wherewith he saith the Iewes in the olde Testiment were deceiued and wee in the newe dandle our folowers tickling fleshly heartes whiche hee saith if hee bee not deceiued proueth Master Charke to bee one of those of whom the Apostle saith they serue not Christe but their owne belly c It is an impudent slaunder we teach men to esteeme of these earthly blessings as of those that god in great goodnes hath vouchsafed vs for the maintenance of this transitorie life and being good in creation and made for mans 〈◊〉 wee teach that they are lawfull by Christian libertie to bee vsed soberly which libertie yet wee hold ought to bee so moderated by charitie that we vse not our libertie to the offence of any but that wee forbeare euen of our right to the ende to doe good and to drawe others to Christ. As for pleasures and commodities from which men are called so 〈◊〉 and wherein none cleaue faster then such fleshe flies as himselfe and the rest of that carnall generation that wholy followe this worlde and their sinful lustes as if there were no other heauen vsing thinges not as 〈◊〉 and ladders to heauen and to spirituall thinges contenting themselues with titles and names of holinesse and deniyng the true practise of it These without all doubt are suche of whom the Apostle speaketh that serue not the Lorde Iesus but their owne bellies and vnder their sheepes coat beeing yet wolues come in vpon the 〈◊〉 and deuoure them hauing sweete wordes and blessing in their mouthes but the gaule of bitternesse and death in their heartes because they leade men from Christe and from his Gospel and specially of all others these hypocriticall and counterfet Iesuites whereof this Parsons hath shewed himselfe moste cunning by that desperate and poysoned booke of his resolutions which he hath lately sent abroad to make men builde vpon their owne righteousnesse and to forsake the righteousness of Christe Of Loyolas and Luther whome this slaunderous mouth coupleth together not withstanding their difference bee knowen and testified to the worlde alreadie and M. Charke hath sufficiently set it downe yet hee is still in hand with it fetching large strides that hee may passe ouer the things that pinched him most and being most materiall and cropping at words where he supposeth to take most aduantage he may bear the Reader in hande that nothing lay in his way to hinder him But these arguments of M. Charke which he so ouer hippeth of Loyalas beginning a asect M. Luthers faultes if any such were as they say he had whether they might distaine the Gospel these hee leaueth as poore deuises to solace himselfe in his miseries forsooth who taking vpon him to make a booke and his promise being passed thereof to his friendes for lacke of matter must runne out to such imaginations as neuer came into his masterships head Alacke seelie shifte when hee cannot answere them then he quarrelleth for propounding the arguments and though hee in the pride of his owne heart haue not onely taken vppon him to write a booke but to write many bookes and as hee calleth M. Fulke with an impure mouth the Poste horse of the Protestantes is in truth become not onely the packhorse but the Asse of all the Papistes to beare their burdens and to defende all their absurdities be they neuer so grosse hauing in deede as it shoulde appeare vowed to his friends others to deface Christe and all his seruants and to open his foule wide mouth against heauen yet must hee iudge M. Charke as taking vpon him either that he coulde not doe or els starting from that and seeking out occasions not to be furnished with sufficient defence of the truth But hee knewe his owne disease and that maketh him to iudge so of another It is the maner of all papistes to quarrell when they are pressed as thogh they were ouerladen and like 〈◊〉 men when they can not either swallowe or keepe in their corrupt stomackes wholesome medicines 〈◊〉 they gulp them vp in other mens faces And here he will needs yet iustifie his branded witnesses Cocleus Hosius Lindanus to whom he addeth Bartolomaeus Latomus against Sleidan and might haue added infinit others of like sort against that excellent man of God M. Luther all which are not only knowen to be parties such as being enemies no indifferēt men ought not to haue credite but being bored through the eares their railings lies slanders against the truth of god him for it knowē approued by their intēperat writings ought no more to be regarded thē y e ling of geese or the snarling of butchers curres Neither doth that shift of his hide his shame or proue his innocencie no more thē the breaches of our first parēts as being done not in a matter of controuerfie but of fact For we say there was neuer any such matter or fact they were all the sworne enemies of god who made no conscience to lye because ther was no feare of God before their eies What might not Satā suggest vnto thē they standing for false religiō enuying this mā aboue al the men in the world by whose ministerie in the strength of the gospel the foundations of their babylonical building was so shakē their crowne their belly so rauished spoiled y t they cared not what they said or wrot against him And we see by cōmon experience that godly men the holiest ministers haue not the most friends nay the more they loue imbrace the truth folow righteousnes the more doth y t world wicked mē rage against thē because they wil not run with thē to the same riot And what though they were Germans that foolish Cocleus tooke vpō him to write his story doth that proue that he was so priuie of Luthers life doings 〈◊〉 he must know al things truly or being not reprehēded that therfore hee deserued no reprehēsion still this beggarly Iesuite stādeth with his basket begging that which wil neuer be grāted For these were neither reuerend nor learned bishops but spitefull wretches hypocritees no true bishops but coūterfet crancks of Antichrists creatiō and therfore spared not to vtter
like tale is that of those in Leyden and the note in the margent out of Lyndā insinuating plainly to the world that Caluinists worship the Image of the diuel maintain worship that together with the images of the theeues hanged with Christ but abolish al other Saints both he Goddes and shee Gods But the truth is and doth appeare to all that feare him that the whole lumpe of Poperie is nothing els but a heape of Idolatrie and hauing no commandement from God either for the setting vppe or adoring of Images it muste needes bee that they adore their owne imaginations suggested by the Diuell and so honour not God in truth but the Diuell from whome is all falshood and lyes And from that spirite proceeded those monstrous and ridiculous lyes wherewith hee hath filled his whole booke as that Luther vnder pretence of keeping some fewe ceremonies hath consumed al the florishing 〈◊〉 of the Lordes garden and that retayning the others hee hath done it to deceiue the simple that 〈◊〉 as hee calleth them become Turkes that Caluine Beza and Marlorate were Arrians denying the Diuinitie of Christe and therewith also they charge Luther affirming him to haue trusted more in his Kate Philip then in Christ. So they begge at our handes that we holde that the Gospel of Christe and the worde of God hath failed in the Churche of God and beene a straunger from it as though they were the Churche of Christe and that Caluine and Luther teache that God compelleth men to all kinde of iniqeitie that Melancthon woulde haue all the liberall artes vtterly taken away and onely 〈◊〉 to remaine It woulde wearie a man to reckon vp all their abhominable slaunders and lyes which no man will beleeue 〈◊〉 it be such as God hath giuen vp that forsaking the truth in his iust iudgement being lead by lyes they may in the ende receiue with their father the Diuell a lyer from the beginning euerlasting damnation But admit that thinges had beene set downe by some particuler fewe men yea euen by the best men that might haue beene controuled by the worde of God what reason is there to charge our Churche or vs with all that neither maintaine nor hold nor by the grace of God will maintaine or hold any errours in them or in our selues if we shalbe conuicted by the woorde of GOD Whiche seeing it is so why shoulde wee bee driuen to defende the errors of men standing against your falshoodes for the truth and why shoulde mens faults preiudice the trueth whiche whatsoeuer men shall be the truth of GOD shall stande againste whiche whosoeuer set them selues they shall knowe that they fighte not with men but againste God But he saith that for the Diuels crying out in Luthers mouth M. Charke bringeth not one syllable to disproue it Cocleus hauing affirmed it that liued in Germanie with Luth. no Lutheran euer hauing beene able to reproue it The reasons are set before handeled more at large by M. Charke why Cocleus shoulde not bee credited in suche a case no more then Lyndan Staphilus and the rest Besides though Cocleus liued in Germanie yet I am sure he liued not so with Luther as hee coulde say hee hearde it and therefore his master that taught him and the rest of his fether to lye in that taught him to lye in the other His modestie in other of his woorkes stande as a scarre in his forehead or rather as a hole in his care to declare what credite hee ought to haue in this and so doe these ruffianlike woordes of yours in this place and els where of coping with Nunnes set foorth of what spirite you are calling lawfull matrimonie 〈◊〉 letcherie which the Lorde hath ordeined as a remedie against sinne to all men that haue not the gift of continencie either in the ministerie or out of it of what calling soeuer they are as may appeare by those places set downe before out of the scriptures farre aboue the credite of any councels or doctors whatsoeuer As for Luthers doctrines whereof you haue not beene the first gatherer but haue stolne them out of such as were before you and therefore are answered by such as answered them and neede not so often to bee repeated yet that you may see our minde to bee as it was wee say concerning Luther Melancthon 〈◊〉 Beza and all the rest that howesoeuer we esteeme them as rare singuler instrumentes of God whome hee hath vsed against your Pope that Antichriste for the worke of the ministerie to the edifiyng of his Saints whose prayses shall indure maugre your beardes as long as Christes Churche shall endure yet wee esteeme them but as men and this honour we giue onelie to God that he is onely wise absolutely holy without sault and his woorde without may me or impersection and therefore we say that all mens writings are to bee examined by that worde and if any gooe from it therein wee leaue them as men that might bee deceiued As for Luthers doctrine which you haue so often charged wee protest in the feare of God that the most thinges wherewith you charge them are malitiously gathered contrarie to the true meaning of them and otherwise then euer Luther intended As first in that doctrine of incredulitie though M. Charke haue cleered the matter by conferryng other places of Luthers writings yet Syr Robert this blind bayard kicketh and wincheth as if hee were madde and will needes haue it that Luther must say there is no sinne but incredulitie that no other sinnes can damne a man and that the poore man must say somewhat for credites sake in ther broken cause This you may see though Bayarde be blinde yet hee is bolde and in deede past all shame For whosoeuer will reade M. Charke shall finde that hee hath cleered Luther both in the one and the other Neither are M. Chark and M. Hanmer at such ods in this matter but that the poore wretch in deede must needes say somwhat though it be not to the purpose For M. Charke denieth not Luthers wordes but sheweth his meaning by other places and M. Hanmer saith truly that you haue maliciously racked Luthers wordes But that all other sinnes lye soking in the roote of infidelitie it is too fine for your grosse head Surely I thinke so who are disposed to vnderstand nothing as you ought to vnderstande but aboue that you ought which hath carryed you so farre beyond the listes of truth and true religion But it myght haue pleased you to vnderstande if God had opened your vnderstanding that infidelitie as Augustine calleth it is the mother of sinnes that it is the onelie sinne that separateth from God and though there bee many sinnes all which fall in account in the wicked yet in the elect of God if they beleeue in Christe though all sinnes are sinnes in them and they are condemned by the lawe and to bee condemned
both in them selues and others yet they are pardoned and blotted out in them which is a most comfortable doctrine in deede farre of another nature then your desperate doctrine of iustification by workes The repetition therefore of Luthers woordes whiche you might haue spared together with the rest you haue stoln out of Staphilus and others The second concerning the ten commandements whether they appertaine to vs or no howe they appertaine to vs and howe they doe not is sufficiently declared by M. Charke how and in what sense Luther spake it but what wil satisfie a wrangling Iesuite who hath sworn to gainsay whatsoeuer is saide by vs be it neuer so truely saide For I appeale to all the Papistes and Iesuites in the world Did not Luther Doe not wee teache the commaundementes of GOD Doe wee not expounde them in our churches and schooles and set them as rules of our obedience But what will not suche 〈◊〉 instrumentes doe that theye maye deface the trueth and bring the teachers of it into hatred O blinde malice Wee neuer blotted out one of them as it is plain they haue done in al their Breuiaries Masse books Catechismes The like is that of the foure Gospels wheras in truth the gospell is one contayned in those prophetical Promises before the cōming of Christ as in those Euāgelists that were the 4. notaries therof as also in Paules Epistles And if he haue any such wordes of S. Iohns Gospel hee speaketh it onely by way of comparison not to discredite the other as this Sycophant woulde employ but to declare how diuinely S. Iohn wrote of the Diuinitie of Christ and other profound matters of our religion As for that he cauilleth because M. Charke cannot finde euery thing cited by him The truth is that himself as should appeare neuer read Luthers works but hath stoln these accusatiōs frō Staphilus others that wrote before them and onelye hath a little smoothed them as though they were some fresh merchandize neuer offered to the sale before True it is that Luthers workes haue been often published and some I thinke that he wrote wer yet neuer published but what maketh this for his excuse in not setting down places out of known books quoted directed in their seueral editions for the better triall of the truth and ease of the Reader Is there anie booke extant of Luthers that we who are more conuersant in thē then they should not find out if they would but direct vs to them But I ghesse and I suppose truelie that Luther wrote more as lecherous and godlesse a man as they would make him then the most of thē haue read those that are extant may be founde and had so that if there were any sincerity in them they should not lye by tradition or sende vs at aduenture to finde them we cannot tell where which is a token of their ignorance and taking things at the second hand not seeing them themselues The like is to be said of their cauil for the diuersitie of editions betweene the soft and the rough Lutherans Wee denie not but Luthers woorkes may be subiect to mens affections as other of the auncient Fathers haue beene and he may be made father of many children that are most vnlike him as was Augustine and other of the Doctours but what helpeth this their cause when he and his workes both are no farther allowed of vs then they agree with the woorde of God Wee knowe that euen as there is difference in fruites and mettals of wines in the first and latter vintage so we know that Luthers workes are to be considered according to the times wherein he wrote He writ many thinges being 〈◊〉 in his cowle soone after he had cast it of which 〈◊〉 somwhat 〈◊〉 it and GOD gaue him grothe according to that measure of grace in knowledge vnderstanding according as he saw meete for his church for the bulding of it He saw not al at once neither had he that sinceritie in the beginning whilest he would scarse come frō among you 〈◊〉 afterwards by the grace of God he attained vnto If therfore his works wer filed by himself or by others with his cōsent during his life or after I know not why he should not inioy this priuiledg as wel as al other authours writers who are woont as they grow in knowledge either to adde or detract inlarge or abridge their own works as they haue seene good yet ought not hereby to be therfore esteemed inconstāt or not like thē selues As for the cōplaynt of Iohn Alusco cōcerning the confessiō of Auspurge perhaps too toghly too much vrged stood vpō by Luthers schollers afterwardes in respect of the matter of the Sacramēt as it was first set out it helpeth not your cause For besides that it was found faulte with by some of our side the oftē setting of it forth was to better it being but written for a interim for the according of both sides which although it seemed a thing altogether impossible yet for the greatest matters and substāce of Doctrin it was in a maner brought to passe had not some intemperat spirits by the mallice of Sathan fought too too egarly and bitterly against it standing vpon tearmes and tautologies that haue in them no edification at al. That which he addeth out of that place alledged by M. Charke to proue that he spake in detraction of the Euāgelistes because he saith Paules Epistles may bee called more rightly the Gospel which he would make vs beleeue to be done of some tooth against the other is altogether friuolous and foolish which shewes that he hath a tooth against whatsoeuer Luther vttereth As though there were no Gospel in Paules Epistles or as though al were not the gospel of equal authority hauing bin indited by one the same spirit It appeareth y t this man measureth the Gospel by the titles set ouer those stories written by these principal notaries making so many Gospels as there were writers Authours who cannot forsooth abide y t Paules Epist. should be the Gospel or that the Gospel should be one And yet Paule doubteth not to call it his Gospel Here you cry out against M. Charke for not finding out that which you neuer found out your self but as you receyued it by tradition one from an other as often answered as euer it was obiected which I suppose you sawe not with your owne eyes and that made you to refer vs to Coclaens from whom you tooke it at the second hand thē taking an hold of our hemme by all edging Gesner that maketh mention of such a preface wherin by way of comparison onely he speaketh so off I am Epistle not denying the authority therof which you Campion falsely say both he we haue cut off from the body of the scripture yet Luther commendeth that Epistle in his Preface vpon it
consisted not in those thinges whiche papistes take to bee their greatest glory For it was not so much for the virgine to haue borne Christe as to beleeue in Christe nor for the Apostles to haue seene Christe in the fleshe and to haue beene presente at his myracles as to see him in spirite and faith beeing assured that he was the true Messias Euen therefore like as all the members of a bodie being knit in the same body are partakers of the gouernement direction grace righteousnes glory of the head to that whole bodie so the members of Christ are alike directed gouerned iustified sāctified and saued howe soeuer their places bee different in that mysticall body the grace and merite of Christe are equally dispensed to all that are his The saints that were then the saints that are nowe are alike sainted And as for our merite wee knowe none nor claime it howsoeuer the saints of God haue difference of giftes doe differ by offices by times and places and according thereunto shall differ in glory one from another And this is the inequalitie that the Doctors which you speake of doe mention And therefore Christe our best scholemaster hath taught vs which also is to bee learned of you when the woman cryed out that the wombe was blessed that bare him and the paps that gaue him sucke hee replied Yea blessed are they that heare the worde of God and keepe it Againe when they tolde him that his mother and brethren were without to seeke him hee replyed they are my mother and my brethrē that doethe will of my father Euen as they are the right sonnes of Abraham that are his sonnes not according to the fleshe but according to faith and the promise of God And as for your Dionisius Areopagita whome you woulde of a forrenner make a free 〈◊〉 by the bare mention of his name in two generall councels and yet name but one and infinite other testimonies wherof you name none yet it is plaine by the starre in his forehead that hee is not that Dionysius but some bastard and stranger in deed far from that natiue knowledge sinceritie iudgement religion that the other was like to bee of As for the place out of the first Epistle of Iohn the thirde Chapter whereby you woulde proue that they onely are holy and righteous whiche so woorke righteousnesse that they comprehende all righteousnesse If this be true then not onelie Peter and Paul and the blessed virgine but also all the saints of God are without this working iustice and so not iust But if this bee true righteousnesse to beleeue in Christe who fulfilled all righteosnesse not for him selfe but for vs who by faith communicated the same righteousnesse vnto vs which is not of vs nor cleauing in vs but in him who is made our righteousnesse then no onelie they but also wee doe exercise that righteousnesse and walking as the children of God the time that wee are heere fighting against 〈◊〉 and expecting his glory we shal be glorified together with him for euer Thus you might see if God had opened your eyes what smal cause you the rest haue had thus to storme vniustly to carp against the doctrine of that excellent man of God Martyn Luther whose flaunders howe you haue iustified I leaue it to the iudgement of the Churche of GOD and howe M. Charke hath dealte it is set downe and cannot bee carried with the preiudice of an aduersarie with blustering and storming lying and facing to deface it but beeing the truth shall cleere it selfe and stande when suche poore deuises and beggarly shiftes shall fall and come to nothing For the truth beeing of God must needes bee true Diuinitie against whiche though Satan rage and bestirre himselfe neuer so busily to ouerthrowe yet the more hee sweateth the greater glory shall bee set vpon it tyll it bee beautified sined and cleered from the corruption of man and all his 〈◊〉 Againe that whiche is from the Diuell though it come into the worlde with strong winges and as a mightie streame with great beautie as he is a very cunning painter and that which is nought needeth greater curiositie to set it out That whoore is a rose coloured whoore and that whiche is in the cuppe though it bee a cuppe of golde to allure the wicked though the mouth of the beast speake great and terrible things and the whole worlde be taken with the hewe of it yet in the end it shall appeare from whence it came and take such foile fall as truth can giue If the doctrine that M. Luther taught had beene suche black diuinitie learned from the Diuel which this blasphemer aduoucheth it neither had proceeded from God could haue stoode so long nor haue endured such tryall nor haue so ouerthrowne Satans kingdome nor weakened the power of Antichriste as thanks bee to God it hath done and shall doe daylie more and more All heresies that haue proceeded from the Diuell and from his instruments carrie with them a sufficient marke who was their father As they had a beginning so they haue had shall haue an ending but the truth of God which is without beginning which is not learned from man as the authour of it it cannot perishe because GOD cannot perishe and whatsoeuer man builde vpon it whiche may perishe yet the foundation shall remaine sure Therefore to call this a licentious and carnall doctrine is to blotte not Luther but God seeing it hath beene prooued according to the trueth of God that incredulitie is the roots of all finne and iniqnitie that true christians truely beleeuing in Christ howsoeuer they sinne there canbe no dānation vnto them that 〈◊〉 soeuer the 〈◊〉 of god belong vnto vs there is no iustificatiō but by the keeping of thē yet forasmuch as Christ hath fulfilled thē satisfiyng y e righteousnes of his father for vs we are discharged from that yooke of death and condemnation so as their power cannot come neare vs. As for the other thinges heaped vp in the conclusion the premisses beeing confuted they are also confuted And therefore this is but a countrie Bagpype whereupon Syr Robert stil bloweth and as it were is stil twanging vpon one string like a Iesuiticall Friar to delight those that followe the diuels daunce to bring them to vtter destruction As touching that whiche followeth concerning other absurde doctrines whiche M. Charke thought that Parsons passed ouer by an hyperbole that hee may not bee founde a 〈◊〉 as hee is he taketh vpon him yet to 〈◊〉 many grosse absurdities first generally accusing M. Luther that of all other writers he hath written the most absurdly Whiche by threatening some kindnesse vpon M. Charke hauing reade some of his workes hee saith hee must needes knowe In deede the truth is that the nearer he was vnto his Friers coule the more appeared his weakenesse But as God drew him further out
and that curssed estate in succession but also the supporter and maintayner of that kingdome by false myracles stronge delusions and woonders where by hee woulde confirme it What shoulde I speake out of your Legendes Festiualles and Stories of the continuall conference that in a manner all your Sainctes haue had with the Deuill whome they name almoste in euery leafe I speake nothing of Frauncis of Dunstone and Dominick the wonders and life of the one as in an Alcoran framed to ouerthrow al religion is set out in that booke of Conformities and the woonders and miracles of the other set out by Iohn Capgraue and the last by other Legendes As for that thou chargest Luther with pride for that by a fiction he setteth forth dialogue-wise in that spiritual conflicte it maketh nothing to the purpose neyther dooth that any whit make for the confirmation of a sensible conference that he reporteth of the death of Empser and Oecolampidius whome though in some ouer great bytternesse Luther accountinge them for aduersaryes him selfe hauing indured so manye sharpe assaultes supposed to bee ouercome by the Deuyll yet this maketh no more to prooue a bodilye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rest Fynally that Luther confesseth him selfe to haue 〈◊〉 a bushell of salte with him is also from the purpose For I am sure neither Parsons profession not his weede his Medoles his Agnus Deies and such other trumperies can ridde him from the like acquaintaunce with the Deuill Naye I saye not the lyke for hee by profession and religion is the Deuilles darling by a full resignation and possession and therefore eateth drinketh sleepeth with him obeyeth followeth and loueth him but those that feare GOD howsoeuer Sathan layeth at them rageth and stormeth against them exercising them with manye sharpe and fearefull conflictes that hee maye gayne them to damnation neuer sheweing him selfe more restlesse vnpacified with them then when they most resiste him yet he neuer so vanquisheth and ouercommeth them that he will bee at one or haue any 〈◊〉 peace with them Concerning Luthers death which this impure mouth chargeth to haue beene a dronken death and that from a deceitful deuil al which bee layeth downe by coniecture is more then villanous to charge so excellent and notable a man of GOD with Therefore whereas M. Charke deemeth iustlye that it is lacke of discretion I pronounce that it is extreame madnesse and more then impudencie in Parsons and all the packe of Papistes vpon the testimonie of such partiall witnesses to vtter any such horrible lyes and sclaunders And as for Iohn 〈◊〉 credit hee shall haue more credit being a professour of the Gospell a man singularly well learned and 〈◊〉 for his gystes and as appeareth by the stories hee hath written of greater intelligence then all the reste of Luthers enimies that neuer coulde come neere him Against whom if they would take any exception because of his religion they muste remember their owne rule that it was in a matter of facte whereof all men might be witnesses wherein though he woulde haue deceaued them yet hee coulde not And howsoeuer Sir Robert asketh the reason yet I see not why one Iohn Sleidan a Christian and an Historiographer shoulde not be preferred before al the packe of Papists being irreligious Apostates that haue auowed a matter they knewe not who though they liued in Luthers time yet liued not with Luther And though they were Gormaines yet coulde not therefore either knowe his life or his death Neither can Fontanus and Pontanus though they should haue noted some ouer sightes in Sleidan receiuing that which they had by intelligence nor Gasper Genepaeus who hath dubbed their lies of purpose nor Bartolomeus Latomus that dyed as a desperate man once cracke the credit of worthy Sleidan who though as you say he haue noted so many lyes in his historie yet he hath not proued anye and if hee had beene aliue to haue aunswered hee could not haue caried it so long in peace and silence And as for Gropper whome in your opinion you tearme to be so rare and excellent a man that commonlye called Sleidans booke the booke of lyes his authoritie ought not much to weigh with vs by your owne rule For if Iohn Sleidan were not to bee credited who yet had many writing with him beecause hee and they were Protestantes why shoulde we credit you being all partial Papistes And as for Charles the Emperour who was woont to interrupt the Reader with saying there the knaue lyeth it is but the reporte of lying Lindane and may be as very a lye for ought wee knowe as any of the rest And as for Guilielmus Mulenaeus that shoulde refute Sleidans Commentaries First we saye that we neuer yet sawe his refutation so that belyke though he would haue done it hee coulde not or hauing attempted to doe it durst yet neuer publyshe it Sleidan therefore though not alone but hauing manye that did ioyne with him though hee had beene alone yet beeing a Christian a learned and sincere writer ought to bee credited in this case and to ouerbeare a clowd of such false and partial witnesses as the Papistes are and euermore haue shewed them selues to be But now forsooth wee shal not want a sound testimonie to strike the matter dead against Luther to prooue that hee died a drunken death and that is out of Iustus Ionas beeing Luthers deere friende and his Cooke and as partiall towardes him as Sleidan him selfe See here the mallice of Sathan in this helhounde Parsons and such lyke from whence hee hath taken it For where hath Iustus Ionas whome hee calleth else where also Luthers Cooke though he were a woorthy and a notable man vttered anye such woorde Indeede hee is sometimes called by a borrowed speeche a thirde Elias and that is mentioned in that storie written by those notable learned men Iustus Ionas Michaell 〈◊〉 and Iohannes Aurifaber And this was onely doone in respecte of his great zeale and feruencie of spirite that he had in defence of the trueth of GOD and against error But what makes this for the mayntenaunce of that which hee vttereth not out of Iustus Ionas writing but out of 〈◊〉 Burdegalensis with 〈◊〉 name that hee maye seeme for to haue some power and authoritie he bedaubeth the margent of his booke to dasell the eyes of his reader You shal not want saith he a sound testimonie For I wil alleadge you Iustus Ionas Luthers deere friend c. For thus Pontacus writeth Martinus Lutherus quem tertium 〈◊〉 quidam ausi sunt vocare c. That is Martin Luther whome some dare call the thirde Elias going well typpled and 〈◊〉 to bedd was founde dead the next morning c. First wee shoulde heare it out of Iustus Ionas and now there is brought in the reporte of Pontacus the first a learned man that hath no such woordes the
in that cankered heart of yours for all men of God know by the grace of God wilconfesse that these men in deed were holy men and Saints of God and whatsoeuer infirmities they had yet the Lorde hauing appointed them to a singuler work did inrich and beautifie them with 〈◊〉 and singuler giftes neither yet do we say that these men were the first beginners or restorers of our Gospell For our Gospell was before all beginnings deliuered and restored to the Churche of God in all ages 〈◊〉 in it selfe and shining into the hearts of all the faithfull from time to time to their euerlasting saluation In deede some of these men were rare instrumentes in the generall Eclipse of the worlde when Antichriste your Pope had preuailed and had now corrupted and confounded the truth and true religion of God these were instruments to scatter that doctrine to scoure of that filth and rust that in length and continuance of time was growne vpon it bringing foorth that worde of God that long had lyen hidden and the Lorde gaue a singuler blessing vnto their labours reclaiming a great part of the world from your heresies and being also godly vertuous men your supposition being false all that you inferre vpon it must likewise bee false And as for your recapitulation it is proued before vpon occasion of that you haue obiected that the vocation life and doctrine of M. Luther was from God not from Satan as you blasphemously speake from whome can proceede no good thing but the religion of Iesus Christe which by the 〈◊〉 of God Martyn Luther professed was as I haue saide the wisedome of God hidden in a misterie with God from before all beginninges Of the publishing whereof although it pleased God to make Martin Luther an instument and others after him yet were they not neither 〈◊〉 nor beginners As for that you 〈◊〉 in Carolostadius with Occolampadius and 〈◊〉 the one beeing in deede an heretike and the other sounde and godly learned fathers It is but your olde practise to the ende you might deface them For concerning Carolostadius hee was a man so corrupt and euil in religion as hee was instly sequestred from their vnity and in that Sleidan our owne historiographer doth set foorth his banishment and miserable ende it sheweth how both hee and wee did like of it The other two in deede were hardly thought of by Luther and there was some difference betwixt them concerning a poynt of the sacrament but this was not in any suche matter of substance as coulde or did break that same vnitie that is amongest the children of God As for 〈◊〉 hee was a worthie man and it cannot bee shewed by any testimonie that hee came to any suche death that was an ende that 〈◊〉 out to some of their Popes who were carried as their stories witnesse euen as a man may say quicke to the Diuell Of like truth is it that out of lying Lyndan who hath laboured to discredit all religion and to bring the scriptures of God into doubt concerning the originalles both Heberwe and Greeke that hee deliuereth vnto vs that he should kyll himselfe with his owne handes for that is the ende of that desperate doctrine of poperie which teacheth satisfaction to the iustice of God by their owne 〈◊〉 which when any of them haue felt them selues too short of they haue bin their own hangmen and come to miserable ends Mention hath beene made before of some and I referre the reader vnto those places that are quoted If I would enter into that field and make comparison betweene both the one and the other euery man should see what litle cause Parsons hath to speak of the end of anye that prosessed the Gospel of Iesus Christ For a man might reckon vp al sortes amongst them that haue died most wretchedly in great dispaire in 〈◊〉 of conscience in doubtful wauering of their saluation the most smitten by the hand of God and for lacke of peace smiting them selues wheras the others died ioyfully in great peace and assurance of the fauour and mercye of God And so did not onely Oecolampadius but also Zwinglius whom impudently also hee would make to haue receaued his doctrine of the Sacrament from a spirit as hee had charged Luther before him whose ende though it were in the field hee dooing the duety of a good Pastor and not forsaking his flocke died gloriously because hee dyed in mayntenaunce of the trueth against the enemies of the Gospell And as for Caluine besides that that hath beene said the noble 〈◊〉 of his woonderful learning great paines excellent knowledge sincere iudgement c. shall be enough to stoppe the mouthes of al his enemies whose doctrine though hee would seuer and set at oddes from that which Zwinglius taught by the testimonie of two false witnesses like him self Andreas Sebedeus preacher of Noion and Iohannes Angelus pracher of Burtin both zwinglians which they did take vppon them to prooue against Caluine beefore the Magistrates of Berna Caluine him selfe beeing present whereupon should proceede a decree from those Magistrats in the yeere 1555. that none of their dominions should go and communicate with Caluine at Geneua c. It is euen as true as the rest for if there had beene such difference in so many Articles why are not those Articles sette downe Why is not an extract of that edict also set forth that men might see the causes of that restraint But all this is nothing but malice For shall we thinke that the Lords of Berne who are ioyned to the other Churches in the same profession and maintaine the Gospel that there should be suche difference betwit them Indeede in well reformed Churches the people are bounde not to runne where they lyst and to communicate where they will but they are sorted into flockes and euerye flocke hath their owne Pastors and such an edicte might passe from the Magistrates But whoe is this Pontas by whose credit this is deliuered vnto vs If it be your lying Potacus which you haue mentioned before hee deserueth as little credit in this as in the other thinges that he brought before As concerning Beza who you say hath brought our doctrine to perfection that is as you expound to Puritanisme in whom you say M. Charke may greatly reioyce for that he sheweth him selfe in his reply a most zealous Puritane I aunswere that wee thanke God for those notable helpes which we haue receiued by the excellent ministerie of that worthy man M. Beza The trueth of God though it be so perfect in it selfe as no man can bring perfection to it yet then it is moste cleare and gloryous when it is separated and purified from the corruption and 〈◊〉 of Poperie wherein if M Bexa his paynes haue beene further imployed then others why shoulde this bee imputed vnto him as worthy of blame and as if hee were an heretique he be
from him and from that popishe broode and infection the clearer and sincerer was his doctrine Luthers writings therefore generally for all seeing we are so ofte drawen in to speake of them are not all as I haue saide before of one byrth nor of like iudgemét But this appeareth plainelie that after God discouered vnto him that the Pope was Antichrist he euermore set him selfe against him And if the writinges of their side be layd with his and measured by the woorde of GOD which ought to be the touchstone of all mens writinges there shalbe no comparison of absurdities rybauldries scurrilities shamelesse sclaunders and impudent lyes The thinges of impietie that he noteth which he saieth are condemned by the Church whiche yet is a shamefull begging of the question as though their Church were the true Church which he saith cutteth the very sinewes of all vertue which he hath stolen out of others hauing neuer read the places themselues nor considered the circumstances they are nothing so as he setteth them done For some of the assertions they are catholike and sounde others are so wrested that they are made to speake that which Luther neuer purposed As for example When he holdeth that the very iust man in euery good work doth sinne as he saith mortally This article is both collected and also condemned by his aduersaryes who haue wrested it vnto their purpose Luther indeede teacheth that the very righteous man doth sinne in euery good woorkebecause that in euerye good worke that hee dooth there is imperfection and though this doctrine bee contrary to the Popes doctrine who in the Tridentine councel accurseth al them that holde it yet neyther hee nor his adherents nor sir Robert Parsons with all his power shall be able to mayntaine it Neyther is it a cutting of the sinews of vertue to drawe men so from good woorkes but an establishing of them in the righteousnesse of Christ. We are no right measurers what is well done and what is euill done because there is in vs a certaine selfe loue as long as wee liue here in this worlde which is woont to make great mountaines but molehilles and molehilles mountaines that is to saye accounteth great vices to bee but small thinges if a man may so speake and small faultes it maketh many times vertues yea Sathan abuseth this to shrowde vices vnder the names of vertues and vertues vnder the names of vices But the eye of God is as a flame of fire as wee reade in the Apocalipes from which no imperfection can lye hidde Besides God dwelleth in a light that is inaccessible so that we cannot come neere vnto him Furder al our actions proceede from our will and our appetite now these were corrupted and altogether depraued in Adam therefore also in vs so that what soeuer floweth out of these corrupt fountaynes as it commeth from them they must needes be corrupted Againe if our actions were simplie pure and good in them selues they shoulde bee for themselues acceptable to God But there is nothing that wee doe but it needeth the patronage of Christe and for Christe it is to bee accepted therefore euen in our best workes there is sinne Also if our weakenes bee such as wee cannot indure the light of Angels whiche is lesse then that same inaccessible light of God howe can it bee that our workes in themselues should abyde that tryall Esay saith that our righteousnesse is as a filthie cloute and the Apostle addeth That wee cannot thinke a good thought lesse desire it and least of al performe it beeing by nature the children of darkenesse and of wrath howe therefore shoulde it so be that in our good workes there shoulde not bee sinne and imperfection And if Parsons will except that wee were sometimes darkenesse but nowe wee are light in the Lorde and that therefore there can bee no sinne in our good woorkes Againe that God woorketh those good actions in vs and therefore if there be any fault in them it is to bee imputed vnto God as they blasphemously gather the aunsweare is at hande For the firste that we are in deede light in Christ but yet as long as we remaine in this vale of miserie we are not such light as hath shaken off all darkenesse those same remnauntes of sinne beeing still left in vs. For the second concerning euery good action in it selfe there is no fault in it as it proceedeth from God and is ordered and gouerned by the spirit of God but as it is ordered and gouerned of vs so that euery good action although it be the gifte of God yet because our will and our powers haue a hand in it in that respect it is vitious And thus much concerning this xxxiiii and xxxvi article Wherein yet if this Momus that hath receiued this at the second hande from others his predecessors as malitious as him selfe would but haue looked backe into Luthers aunswere hee might haue beene satisfied if the trueth coulde haue satisfied him Concerning the second where he chargeth Luther to say that man hath not in his owne power to doe euill hee wresteth the place contrary to Luthers meaning who prooueth that it is not in mans power to do good And yet this is the comfort of al Christians that neither in men nor deuils there is not any such freedome to doe euil but they are moderated and gouerned by the power of God For he hath the Deuil in a chain al wicked men so that they can goe no further then hee shal slacken it and loose it vnto them Against free wil therfore he alleadged not onely the scriptures but also the Doctours first prouing out of the scriptures and then out of the Doctours that there is no free will in man especially to doe good Without me ye can do nothing He that saieth 〈◊〉 thing shutteth out al preparatiue works and moral vertues to make way to grace He that abydeth not in me as a brauneh wythereth and is cast out c. S. Augustine saith free wil without grace auayleth to nothing but to sinne Now what libertie saith Luther is this which can do nothing but in the contrary parte and the worser Is this to be free not to be able to do any thing but to sin Now how agree these wordes with Parsons accusation I leaue this to the consideration not onelye of al that feare God imbracing religion but euen to the Papists themselues that haue any conscience what a shamelesse notable impudencie this is in a lying Iesuite Concerning the fourth where heechargeth Luther to teach that to fight against the Turke is to resist God him self he dealeth in this as in al the rest hauing borowed it frō his own brothels that like flies corrupt the sweetest ointments For Luther addeth that it is to fight against God visiting our iniquities by them which haue brought vpon vs the hande of the Turke and al other infidels