also that the Church by their negligence shoulde become desolate and that iniquitie shoulde abound that is by reason of Mammon master of iniquitie Also he saide that there were in the Church of Christ Idols which shoulde destroy Ierusalem and make the Temple desolate but were cloaked by hypocrisie further that there bee many which denie Christ for that they kéepe silence neither doe they heare Christ whome all the worlde shoulde know and should confesse his veritie before men which also wittingly doe detaine the veritie and Iustice of God Hee taught openly that in the Pope Cardinals Bishops Prelates Priestes and other religious men was no trueth but that onely he and such as held with him taught the true way of saluation Mathias Parisiensis a Bohemian borne who about the yeare of our Lorde 1370. wrote a large booke of Antichrist and proueth him already come and noteth the Pope to be the same In this booke he doth greatly eniue againste the wickednesse of the cleargie and against the neglecting of their dutie in gouerning the Church The Locustes mentioned in the Apocalyps hee saith be the hypocrites raigning in the Church The workes of Antichrist he saith be these the fables and inuentions of men raigning in the Church the Images and fayned reliques that are worshipped euery where Item that men doe worship euery one his proper sainct and sauiour beside Christ so that euery man and citie almost hath his diuers and peculiar Christ He taught and affirmed moreouer that godlynesse and true worship of God are not bounde to place persons or times to bee hearde more in this place then in an other at this time more then at an other c. Hee was greatly and much offended with monks and friers for neglecting or rather burying the worde of Christ and in stéed thereof for celebrating and setting vp their owne rules and Canons affirming it to be much hurtfull to true Godlinesse for that Priestes Monkes and Nunnes do account themselues onely spirituall and all other to be lay and secular attributing onely to themselues the opinion of holynesse and contemning all other men with all their politicke administration and office as prophane in comparison of their owne He further writeth that Antichrist hath seduced al vniuersities and Colleges of learned men so that they teach no sincere doctrine neither giue any light to the Christians with their teaching Finally he forewarneth that it will come to passe that God yet once againe will raise vp godly teachers who being feruent in the spirite and zeale of Helias shall disclose and refute the errours of Antichrist alleadgeth the sayings and writings of the vniuersitie of Paris also the writings of Guliel de sanct Amour Henricus de Hassia an excellent learned and famous man He wrote an Epistle vnto Iacobus Carisiensis Bishop of Normacia inserted in his booke de erroribus Christianorum In the same Epistle the authour doth greatly accuse the spirituall men of euery order yea the most holiest of all other the Pope himselfe of many and great vices Hee saide that the Ecclesiasticall gouernours in the primatiue Church were compared to the Sunne shining in the day time and the politicall gouernours to the Moone shyning in the night But the spirituall men he said that nowe are doe neither shine in the day time nor yet in the night time but rather with their darkenesse doe obscure both day night that is with their filthy liuing ignoraunce impietie Hee citeth also out of the prophesie of Hildegardis these words Therefore doth the deuill in himselfe speake of you Priests daintie bankets and feasts wherein is all voluptuousnes doe I finde amongst these men In so much that mine eyes mine eares my belly my vaynes bee euen filled with the froth of them and my brestes stande astrout with the riches of them c. Lastly saith he they euery day more and more as lucyfer doe séeke to clymbe higher and higher till that euery day with him more and more they fall déeper and déeper Hee liued Anno. 1371. Nilus was Archbishop of Thessolonica and lyued 1380. He wrote a long worke against the Latins that is against such as tooke part helde with the Churche of Rome His booke first being written in Gréek was after translated into Latin and lately nowe into English in this our time In the first Chap. of his booke he layeth all the blame and fault of the discention and schisme betwene the East and the West Church vppon the Pope Hee affirmed that the Pope onely woulde commaunde what him lusted were it neuer so contrarie to all the olde and auncient Cannons That hee would heare and followe no mans aduise that hee would not permit any free Councels to be assembled c. In the second Chapt. of his booke hee purposedly maketh a verie learned disputation for first he declareth that he had no whit at all by Gods commaundement but onely by humaine Lawe any dignitie more then others Bishops which dignitie the Councels the fathers and Emperours haue graunted vnto him neither did they graunt the same for any other consideration more or greater ordinaunce then for that the same citie then had the Empery of all the whole world and not at al for that that Peter was there or not there c. 133 In the yeare 1383. Iohn wikliefe liued in England who hauing of long time made profession of diuinitie at Oxenforde a citte and vniuersitie in Englande and hee séeing that true diuinitie was vilely corrupted with much filthinesse of questions and inuentions set forth by the Pope he coulde not but lament in his hearte and determined to remedy such a disorder He sawe well that hee coulde not without great trouble remoue away abuses and that those that had so long time growen in the hearts of men could not easilie be rooted out on a sodaine And therefore he thought good to deale there with by little and little First he made this assaye against the aduersaries of the trueth that is he disputed against them of small matters that by that meane he might open an entrie to great things and amongest other hee had to deale with a certain monke named Iohn kenyngham Of these small beginnings they came to higher matters Hee at the last disputed concerninge the sacrament of the supper Therein this good man had great resistaunce affirming openlye in scholes that his principall intent was to take away idolatrie that raigned in the Church concerning this matter But marke what mischiefe happened a man coulde not so soone touth this wounde without causing great sorrowe to the worlde The monkes and especially the begging fort were in a furie the Bishops would haue knowledge of this matter He alleaged the authoritie of the auncient Doctours of the Church in those poyntes wherein they agréed with the holy scriptures declaring that there is no trueth but that which is contayned in them As for the decretistes he vtterly reiected them He stedfastly mainteined that in the sacrament
receiued but that alone which god hath commaunded That there is but one onely mediatour therefore they not ought to call vpon saincts That there is no purgatorie but that all men that are iustified thorough Christ goe vnto eternall life That there is no thirde nor fourth place They receiue and allowe two sacraments only Baptisme and the Lords supper They say that all masses and especially those inuented for trespasses bee damnable and that they ought to be abolished That all humaine traditions must bee reiected and not be accounted any thing necessarie to saluation That singings and rehearsing of offices fastings tyed vnto a certein day superfluitie of feasts difference of meates so many degrées and orders of priestes Monckes and Nonnes so many blessings and consecrating of creatures vowes pilgrimages and all the confusion and great heape of ceremonies inuented heretofore ought to be abolyshed They deny the prymacie of the Pope and especially the power that they vsurpe ouer cyuill pollycies And they allowe none other degrées saue of bishops ministers and Deacons That the sea of Rome is the verie Babilon and that the Pope is at this present the fountaine of all euils That the marriage of ministers is good and necessarie in the Church That those that heare the word of God and vnderstande it aright be the true Church vnto whom Iesus Christ hath giuen the Keyes for to let in the shéepe and to driue away the Wolues Lo here is briefely the doctrine of the Waldenses the which the enemies of the puritie of the holy scriptures haue impugned against for the which by their owne testimonie they haue béene persecuted Mathias Illiricus in the Catalogue that he collected of the witnesses of the trueth speaketh of the consultations of certeine aduocats of Auignon Also of the thrée Archbishops of Narbonna of Arles and of Aix and likwise of the Bishop of Albanie about the rooting out of the Waldenses written thrée yeares past by which it appeareth that at that time and before were a great nomber of the faithfull dispersed here and there throughout all Fraunce It may also be gathered by the consultations of the saide thrée Archbishoppes that as the number was great the persecution also was very cruel for in the ende of them it is founde thus written Who is so young in Fraunce that hee knoweth not the condemnation of the heretikes called Waldenses executed of long time so iustly A thing so famous and so manifest which at so great costes and charges of the Catholikes was sealed with so many condemnations and the deathes of those wicked infidels can it bee called in doubt It appeareth then what bouchery was vsed at that time with the faithfull what crueltie the supposts of antichrist exercised then against the good which were willing to mainteine the puritie of the holy true seruice of God like as by his holy word he teacheth vs that he woulde be adored serued and honoured I will also recite some thing of that which is written of Albigeois or Albois a people that had receiued a beginning of the light of the trueth and stoode in contention against the Idolatrie of transubstantiation which thing first caused them to retyre from the Romish Church They inhabited the countrie about Tholouse Albi. S. Dominick author of that newe secte that call themselues preachers came out of Spaine and persecuted them greatly both in worde and déede Pope Innocent the thirde sent also in that time vnto them a legate Nicholas bishop of Thusculane who comming thither with foure horses two mules returned in short space with fiftie and with great pillage which hee brought thence hauing exercised great crueltie and tyrannie against these poore people whom also hee charged with horrible crymes thereby to make them odious to all the worlde The said Pope caused to be published a croisard against them and gaue ful indulgence and remission of sinnes vnto those that woulde make warre against them Simon Earle of Mountforde went against them and destroyed a great multitude of them neare Tholous a hundreth and fortie were burned in the diocese of Narbonna and 4. hundreds in the diocese of Tholous at sundrie times In this discomfiture of the Albigeois Peter king of Tarracon who had fauoured them was slayne in combat Simon de Mountford pursued his victorie Looke Mathew Paris the English historigrapher who was in that time 127 In the yeare 1240. was Peter de Vinea Chauncelour to the Emperour Frederyke the seconde of that name who wrote at that time many letters in the name of the Emperour of which some be in print till this present wherein hee complayneth that all the worlde cannot content the insatiable couetousnesse of the Pope That the beastlynes of the Cleargie is so filthie that it is a shame to bée named Hée openly mainteyned that the Pope hath neither by deuine nor humaine right any power of the sworde Guillame le Orfeure also in his time shewed that the Pope was Antichrist Rome Babylon the prelates members of Antichrist Cesarius in the 10. Distinct of his dialogues Then the fruite of the doctrine that the Waldenses at that time spread abroade appeared in manie who did set themselues against the fraudes and abhominations in the sée of Rome Robert Grosted sometime bishop of Lincolne 1253. a man famously learned as that time serued in thrée tongues both Latin Gréeke and Hebrew also in al other liberall sciences whose works to this day are extant this Godly and reuerent Byshop after dyuers conflicts and agonies sustayned against the bishoppe of Rome after the Example of Guliel de sainct Amour of Nico. Gallus and other afore mentioned at length after great labours and trauels of life finished his course and departed at Buckdoue in the moneth of October 1253. Math. Pariensiens Of this Robert Grosted writeth Cestrensis in the seuenth booke of his historie that partly for that it gréeued him to sée the intollerable exactions of the Pope in the Realme of Englande partly because he refused to admitte a certaine young Nephew of the Pope to be canon of his Church Hee therefore writing to the Pope and signifying that he coulde not admit any such persons into his Church which neither knewe themselues nor the tongue of the people nor the charges committed vnto them was called vp to Rome there excommunicated who then appealing from the Pope shortly after departed in the yeare aboue written It chaunced within two yeares after his decease that Pope Innocent being a sléepe a certein Bishop apparelled Bishoplike appeared vnto him and striking him with his staffe on the left side said Surge miser veni in iudicium that is rise wretch and come to thy iudgement The next day after the Pope was founde amased and greatly troubled 128 In the yere 1260. flourished Guil. de sainct Amour a doctour of Paris a Chanon of Bauuais In his sermons as he himselfe doth witnesse hee especially reprehended the Hipocrisie of Prelates saying that
other articles Of the kingdome of Fraunce Thomas Readon of the order of Carmelites who hauing knowledge of the trueth was by occasion at Rome whereas hée perceiued to be naught els but filthines al maner hypocrisie in steede of perfect holynesse proud paradises in stead of heauenly graces in stead of the feare of God execrable dissolutenes in steade of doctrine idlenesse horrible superstitions in steade of Apopostolicall simplicitie worse then barbarous tyrannie Moreouer it is saide that this good man amongst other thinges was greatly gréeued at the pride and intollerable ambition that hee sawe in them who ought to shew themselues more humble then others séeing in Rome such abhominable thinges as are horrible to be named So that this good man coulde not refraine from speaking against such villanous corruptions albeit that hee knewe well that his admonitions and counsell would not profite much For it perswasions could haue taken place the books of Wicliefe of many others like might haue sufficed The bloude of Iohn Hus and of Hierome of of Prague did still boyle speaking boldly against all those abhominations Then to be briefe nothing could hinder this good man from pursuing that which he had entreprysed but if néede required he was readie to spende his life He gate hatred by his preaching sparing none shewing euery bodie their faults and especially the horrible misdemeanour of the Cardinals Eugenius who was then Pope caused him to be shut vp in prison where hee abode much sorrowe and euils and after great and cruell tortures hee was condemned disgraded and burned quick That was in the yeare 1439. In the Realme of Englande Roger Dule gentleman was hanged and strangled for mainteining the trueth anno 1441. Of the countrey of Ferraria Hierome Sauanarola a monke of the order of Iacobins an excellent man in life and doctrine with certeine of his companions was burned at Florence at the instaunce and by the commaundent of Pope Alexander the sixt in the yeare 1491. The accusations by proces of Sauanarola bee these that hee mainteined the communion vnder both kinds in the supper that he condemned indulgences and vsed to accuse very sharpely the dishonest and infamous life of the Pope and Cardinals That he denyed the primacie of the Pope he taught that the power of the Keyes was not giuen to S. Peter alone Furthermore that the Pope did neither followe the life nor doctrine of Iesus Christ forsomuch as he attributed more to his pardons indulgences and to his owne traditions then hee did to the merite of Iesus Christ and that therefore he was very Antichrist He affirmed also that the excommunications of the Pope were not to be feared Look in the booke of martyrs Some also doe holde opinion that hee composed certaine meditations vpon the fifty Psalme some others It will scarce be possible to gather to a heape all the histories of so many doctours and martyrs of euery estate order condition which the Lord hath raised vp through all regions of the worlde for to teach and preach his holy trueth and which haue béene readie when néede required to shed their bloud rather then to accept the tyrannicall traditions and constitutions of men And considering also that you may haue recourse to diuerse bookes of martyrs c. I will not make any long mention of them In the meane while I haue thought good to note certaine for to shewe a continuall order of good and faithfull doctours and martyrs whome God hath raysed vp in time for to crie out against the horrible misdéeds of men and against their abhominable traditions repugning against his holy will Iohn Goose an Englishman which in this time was vniustly condemned and burnt at the Tower hill 1473. in the moneth of August this wee finde recorded that the saide Iohn being deliuered to Robert Belisoon on of the Shriefes to seacute e him burnt in the after noone the Shriefe like a charitable mā had him home to his house and there exhorted him to denie saith the storie his errours But the godly man after long exhortation hearde desired the Shriefe to be content for he was satissied in his cōscience Notwithstanding he desired the Shriefe for Gods sake to giue him some meate saying that hee was verie sore a hungered Then the shrieffe commaunded him meate whereof he tooke and did eate as he had beene towardes no daunger and saide to such as stoode about him I eate nowe a good competent dinner for I shall passe a little sharpe shower ere I goe to supper And when he had dined he gaue thankes and required that he might shortly be led to the place where he should yeeld vp his spirite to God Ex Polychron Iohannes de Wessalia who florished in the yeare 1476. was complained vppon vnto Dietherus the Archhishop of Mentz by the Thomistes vppon certaine Ariicles and opinions gathered out of his bookes which are as followeth That all men bee saued fréely and through méere grace by faith in Christ frée will to be nothing Only that we should beléeue the worde of God and not the glose of any man or fathers That the worde of God is to bee expounded by the collations of one place with an other That mens traditions as fastinges pardons feastes long prayers peregrinations and such like are to be reiected Extreme vnction and confirmation to be reproued confession and satisfaction to be reprehended The primacie of the Pope also he affirmed to be nothing Certaine other articles also were gathered out of him by his aduersaries but in such sort that they may séeme to follow their owne malicious gathering rather then any true intelligence of his minde Ex Munstero Weselus Groningensis who was in the yeare of our Lord 1480. a famous and learned man borne in Phrisia he was so notable and so worthie a man that of the people he was called Lux mundi that is the light of the worlde Concerning his doctrine first he reprehended the opinion of the Papistes as touching repentance which they deuided in three partes of the which thrée partes satisfaction and confession he did disalowe Like wise purgatorie and supererogation of works pardons he did disproue both at Rome and at Paris He speake against the Popes indulgences by the occasion whereof diuers of the Popes Court persuaded by him beganne to speake more fréely against the same matter then he himselfe had done The abuses of Masses and praying for the deade he disalowed and likewise the supremacie of the Pope he vtterly reiected Item that the precepts and commandements of the Pope and prelates be no otherwise but as the Councels precepts of Phisitions binding no further then they are founde to be holesome and standing with the truth of the worde of God Item that the Pope can commaunde no man vnder payne of deadly sinne except God commaund him before he saith that the keyes of the Pope and the Prelates be not such wherewith they open the kingdome of heauen but
although that the deuill in his enchantmentes hath at all times found out a rage more then horrible against the Church and faithfull doctours like as here is manifested by Abel who was slaine by Caine being moued thereto by a deuilish enuie by the persecution and oppression of the people of Israel by the high priestes who were slaine by Saule by Isay and Ieremie who were put to death by the captiuitie of the people when they were carried away into Babylon likewise by Iohn Baptist by our Lord Iesus Christ and by the Apostles who haue beene cruelly slayne and by so many millions of Martyrs yet notwithstāding the Church hath continued through out all ages and there haue beene alwayes doctours diuinely raysed vp in the places of others for to set vp agayne and to conserue the light of the doctrine to make it shine in the middest of those peoples and Realmes that God woulde haue it It hath then been alwayes conserued and defended for God is the protector and gardein thereof who maketh it to withstande all such assaultes And for this cause Sathan in his illusions of these times hath suggested and put in practyce the moste cruell tormentes that coulde be deuised but all in vaine There haue beene kindled fires great and small There haue beene set vp also for the true Christians Scaffoldes c. some haue beene caste into the bottomes of ponds and riuers and to conclude Sathan hath by sword and force vsed all sortes of most cruel violences for to cause that the holy seruice of God might be altogether extinct and buried but he neuer coulde neither euer shall be able to doe it Wee muste then consider and vnderstande that true religion hath of GOD an efficacie and vertue more great and wonderfull then any thinge that can bee or euer hath bene seeing that so mightie an enemie as sathā the prince of the children of this world hath so often and strongly besieged it and yet coulde neuer hinder but that alwayes thorough the goodnes of God it shoulde be set vp Now to speak of other religions which haue beene and be what continuance haue they had what stedfastnesse and assurance of the trueth haue beene founde in them what number amongst so many as were professours of the same haue euer beene so steedfast in their religions that they would euer suffer most cruell tortures therfore like as haue done an infinite multitude for the assurance and steedfastnesse that they had in the trueth which no man is able to number by whome God woulde be glorified So many and such manner of religions as haue ben haue they had euer such order such a doctrine which hath plainly shewed vnto them the truth of the being of the first originall of things that haue bene since the beginning of the world and of thinges that haue come to passe and that bee daily accomplished as God hath made his to vnderstande from time to time first by visions and oracles and since euen vntill this present time by his Prophetes and Apostles Such and so manie religions which haue beene howe coulde it euer be found in them as may be founde in the true Church by the holy scriptures howe that the supernaturall he who is euerlastingly that is the Lorde Iehova who of himselfe hath his being and not of any others and of him all thinges their beinges hath by his eternall worde and spirite created all thinges made and fashioned them and by him not by our owne force and vertue wee haue such dignitie and excellencie aboue all creatures of the earth that we were made according to his owne image which excellencie and our first perfection was lost by our ingratitude in our first parentes and that since that time we be and shall bee restored thereto againe in a more large perfection by the onely meanes of his onely sonne by which he hath made vs and that for the manifestation of his inestimable goodnesse and glorie by the which he teacheth vs in his holy scriptures and assureth vs by his spirite that wee shall be euerlastingly taken vp to his glorie forasmuch as he is able to doe so and will doe it So many and such sundrie sortes of religion as haue bene had they euer yet since the beginning of the world so continuall an order of good and faithfull doctors who being inspired with the spirit of god haue constantly taught and mainteined against all the rage of the worlde the trueth of his holy doctrine as hath the right religion of the protestants which is the verie Christianitie done Doth not GOD thereby and by sundrie other meanes sufficiently declare the vertue and efficacie of the ministerie of his holy worde and true religion which he from time to time hath approued for asmuch as therein hee hath placed and set the true and pure infallible veritie for to instructe and guide man euen vnto him who is the authour and creatour of all thinges Nowe seeing that we haue such a founder of our religion who giueth vs also grace to follow the same let Sathan inuent as many meanes as he will for to ouerthrow and extinguish it Let him breath as many illusions and inchantmentes into the mindes of men as he can for to perswade them that this true religion which wee hold began but of late and that it shal soone decay againe c. It is notwithstanding most euident that it hath bene euer since the beginning of the worlde and that wee haue testimonie of him who hath established the same and may surely repose our confidence in him that like as hee hath ordeined that whilest the sunne Moone shall giue light to the earth he will neuer faile to helpe and asiste his and that finally we shall bee with our heade and Lorde Iesus Christ And hereof we doe assure our selues and doe feele of the same in our selues a certaintie proceeding of the spirite of God that so it shall come to passe at the time which God hath ordained neither is this religion that we holde false or wicked as some yet say inasmuch as it is grounded vpon that pure word of God according to the which we labour and are willing to serue God without mingling therewith any thing imagined by our owne braine like as we be slaundered to do for to make a religion of our owne deuising And therefore let such vnderstande that this our religion had not the first beginning at Luther or Iohn Hus and that it was neuer hearde of before as some falsely say and that it shall not therefore long abide For notwithstanding that thorough the great vngodlinesse and euill that hath beene and yet is amongst some men of the Church and thorough the outrage of carnall affections with carelesnesse and not regarding the glorie of God or his trueth yea through the verie contempt and falling away from God and all trueth the doctrin which he had published set forth before by his Prophetes and Apostles and by his
sonne he hath suffered and bene willing that this true religion should be by his most iust iudgement obscured and hidden from men so as they might not discerne it according to any outwarde appearaunce neither that it could bee redressed by the good doctours yea the trueth was so darkened that to the view and outward iudgement of the worldly there coulde be seene no tracke or steppe of God in the Church and that according to worlde mens fantasie it seemed that God had forsaken his Church and giuen it vtterly to the spoyle seeing that all was turned to ydolatrie and superstition which God in his word sheweth that he misliketh most villy abhorreth yet euen thē he had reserued some in his Church that had neuer bowed the knee before the idoll Ball before this Antichrist for to consent vnto or beleeue his doctrine being directly against the pure worde of God as came to passe in the time of Elias when the confusion and vngodlinesse of the people was such that there was no semblance of the Church seene in-in so much that this holy Prophete thought that all had beene vtterly giuen ouer vnto the worshipping of images and to idolatrie but he was deceiued for God hath reserued seauen thousandes which neuer had bowed the knee vnto Baal And in like manner if after the time of the primitiue Church the like also proued that for the wickednesse and vnthankfulnesse of the people GOD suffered the like confusion and idolatrie to raigne yet we muste vnderstande that forasmuch as God is one and the selfe same God aswell nowe as he was in the time of the Apostles that hee hath reserued vnto himselfe through all ages seauen thousande yea an infinite number which neuer bowed their knees before this stately ydoll before this man of sinne this sonne of perdition who sitteth in the temple of God The faithfull I say haue not sought for saluation in his doctrine but rather forsaking and renouncing that haue beene assured in their heart by the spirite of God to obtaine redemption by the alone meane and merites of Iesus Christ our onely sauiour They therefore be of a wrong opinion whiche iudge and esteeme the Church of God according to their fantasie not to haue continued alwayes If the doctours who were verie godly and righteous haue not wel discerned the ministerie and true religion of his Church and moreouer if that this excellent Prophet who was filled with the spirit of God so aboundantly was so much deceiued when hee woulde according to humaine iudgement recken the people of GOD what may wee thinke shal happen vnto vs whose iudgement for the moste parte is altogether vnperfecte They are also deceiued and doe foolishly and presumptuously which iudge the number of the electe acording to the capacitie of their senses for God hath a meane to him nothing difficult but to vs vnknowne by the which he may conserue his elect marueilously then when all seemeth turned vpside downe and spoyled Well may the elect then be persecuted but neuer confounded nor the Church extinct insomuch as it hath God for the founder and defendour and the elect haue God the creatour of heauen and earth for their gardein and protector like as he hath neuer fayled to helpe his at all seasons with the assistance of his holy spirite making euen seene and knowne to the worlde his greate loue and care towarde them throughout all ages as hath beene euidently seene Let vs not doubt therefore of the trueth of him who hath promised to abide with vs vntill the ende of the worlde of which his promise we see and feele daily effectes albeit that we are vnworthie thereof Thus much haue I thought good to speake concerning the continuance of the true Church whose founder is Christ Nowe will I shew briefely the order of the discourse following which is this That all the gouernement of the Church which hath beene from the beginning of the worlde vntill this present is comprised in fiue orders the first this present is comprised in fiue orders the first of which contayneth the first fathers to wit from Adam who was instructed by the son of God c. The second of the Patriarches and beginneth at Abraham The third of the Prophets and beginneth at Samuel The fourth the high priestes and gouernours and beginneth at Iosue otherwise called Iesus and at the conductour Zorobabell The fift and last beginneth at Iohn Baptist and our Lorde Iesus Christ and at his Apostles and their disciples Bishops Pastours that succeeded after them and euen vnto the Bishops whom God hath raised vp also in these last times for the mainteinance of his Church and for to correct the errours and abhominable traditions of men which doe infect the true and pure doctrin of God the which he hath conferued and will conserue for euer for the true instruction of his Church For the which also O Lorde I beseech thee that thou wilt nowe dayly more and more sende good and faithfull doctours true setters foorth of thy worde thorough out all the real mes and prouinces to the ruine and destruction of the kingdome of this man of sinne Antichrist and to the establishing of the kingdome of thy sonne Iesus Christ our onely sauiour and Lord Amen A TESTIMONIE OF the true Church of God Confirmed as wel by the doctrine as liues of sundrie holie men both Patriarches and Prophets and also by the Apostles and their true successours THE ARGVMENT Here is first declared howe that man was created in all perfection of beautie righteousnesse and puritie and that he hath despised the commaundement of God and his trueth through the persuasion of sathan to whome he with all his posteritie became seruant and slaue and was spoyled both of his vnderstanding and al beatitude and therefore he had neede to be instructed to the end he might discerne and be fully assured of the meane of his deliuerance and perfect restauration the which the eternall sonne of God hath manifested vnto him and hath vpholden perpetually his Church GOD after that he had created Heauen and Earth and all things comprehended in them created last of all man according to his owne semblance and likenesse that is to say wholy good pure full of perfection without sinne in all equitie of heart of iustice and vnderstanding and placed him with Eua his wife in earthly Paradise for to liue there in a blessed estate Then the occasiō which might make them abide in this estate was that they should in humblenesse submit them selues daily before the maiestie of God magnifying him with giuing of thankes and that in them selues they should not séeke their owne proper glory but considering that all thinges procéeded from aboue they should therefore haue their affections fixed on high for to glorifie God alone vnto whom al praise and glory is due But immediatly after when they had cast the commaundement of God behinde their backes and despised it in eating through the persuasion of the
at one onely battaile 58. thousand men as Nicephorus saith Anselme speaketh of 50. thousand and of fifty fortresses that were taken and 985. Villages destroyed both by famine and fire and bloudsheade And all the rest of the Iewes were driuen away from Ierusalem and solde into all partes of the worlde So terrible a destruction as they had by Titus might sufficiently teach them that the kingdome was taken away from them like as the Prophets had foretolde them but it came so to passe that they felt almost as great a punishment at the seconde time as they had at the first Then many Christians of the Gentyles gathering themselues together elected as before I was telling Marke for their Bishop who was the 16. Cassianus the 17. Publius the 18. Maximius the 19. Gayan the 21. Symmache the 22. Caius the 23. Iulian secundus the 24. Capito the 25. This is recorded of Eusebius lib. 5. Chap. 12. For asmuch as the Church of the Gentyles had then their habitation there the Lorde woulde declare that the true Messias was alreadie come and that they ought to looke for none other 72 In the time of Marcus Aurelius Antonius about the yeare 160. after the natiuitie of Iesus Christ Melito borne in Asia was Bishop of Sardis he wrote to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius concerning the Christian faith Theophilus bishoppe of Antioche wrote against Marcion Apollinaire Denis bishop of Corinth Iustus bishop of Vienna wer Martyrs for the faith There were also Philip bishoppe of Créete or Candie Egesippus Iustin the Philosopher Modestus Musan and certaine others of whose bookes we haue but fewe Eusebius doth partely and Hierome partely rehearse the bookes written by them 73 Eleutherius borne at Nicopolis in Gréece gouerned the Church of Rome 15. yeare and more in the time of Marcus Aurelius the 17. Emperour in the yeare of Christ 179. he gaue commaundement against the Seueriens herisie that then raigned Also that no Christian for any ceremong should forsake any kinde of meates accustomed to bee eaten 1. volume of councells 74 Ireneus the scholar of Polycarpus was ordeyned byshop of Lions after that Photin bishop of the said Church had suffered Martyrdome when he was 90. yeares old and with him a greate many moe Frenchmen Hee was in the time of Prince Commodus about 170. or a 180. yeares after the natiuitie of our Lorde Iesus It is saide that hée was put to death in the citie of Smyrna vnder the raigne of Maximine Hée lyued aboue fourescore yeares There was great persecution in the Church about that time and it lasted very long For the Paganes were offended because that the Christians reproued and sought to abolysh their olde accustomed manners of worshipping and the Religion of their auncestours And for this cause a great multitude of Christians were put to death all abroade in dyuers countryes and regions especially aboue all others the Doctours Bishops and Pastours of the Churches Nowe during these venemous rages and horible crueltie of the Deuil God preserued some faithfull Doctours and prolonged the liues of some others to the ende that by them the pure doctrine might be conserued and publyshed abroad amongst whiche were Polycarpus Ireneus and others 75 About this time or shortly after lyued Theodotion bishoppe of Ephesus of Alexandria Pautene Miltiades Appollonius Serapion and Policrates of whose liues Eusebius and S. Hierome make larger demonstration and of their bookes also All the which sustayned sundrie combattes against many heretykes to wit Marcion Montanus Valentinian and the Hermogenians and diuers others 76 Victor bishop of Rome gouerned the church 10. yeares in the time of Didius Iulianus Milancius Emperours Hée ordeyned that those which woulde not reconcile themselues shoulde be depriued of the table of the Lorde 77 About 200. yeares after the natiuitie of our Lorde Iesus in the raigne of Seuerus Pertinax Antonius Carcalla Emperours was Tertullian of Affrica of the citie of Carthage His bookes be nowe extant in which Cyprian tooke so great pleasure as saint Hierome wryteth that he woulde not passe ouer one day without reading some of his workes It is written of him that he lyued vntill the last age 78 Leonides the father of Origene was martyred for the faith he had his head cut off in the persecutions stirred vp against the Christians by the Emperour Seuerus in the tenth yeare of his Empyre Origene his sonne being then young of 17. yeares of age saide my father take héede that in no wise you change and swarue from the trueth you haue begon This Origene after that the goods of his Father were confiscate for the faith kept and mainteined his mother and brethren with teaching schole and being but eightéene yeares olde he was called by the Bishop of Alexandria in Egypte to the office of a Catechiser for to instructe children and straungers Out of his schoole came many Martyrs If any woulde sée what was his life his manners exercises writinges and bookes let him haue recourse to Eusebius in the ecclesiasticall historie in the sixt booke He lyued vntill the time of Gallus that is vntill the 70. yeare of his age Amonius the philosopher was his maister who perseuered in the Christian faith vntill he died Origene was 255. yeares after the natiuitie of our Lorde Suidas saith that he was buried in the citie of Cyr. In that time was also Tryphon Minutius Felix that was a Romain Berillus Hippolitus Alexander bishop of Cappadocia Iulius Affricanus Gregorie bishop of Pontus in Nercesarea Dionise bishop of the citie of Alexandria all which for the most part had béene the scholers of Origene 79 Vrbane a Romaine Bishop of Rome gouerned the Church 8. or 9. yeares in the time of the Emperour Heliogabalus Damasus saith that he was of a holy life so as he drewe certeine Gentlemen as Tyburtius and Valerian the husbande of S. Cecil to the Christian faith Moreouer Damasus saith that he ordeined that the Churches shoulde possesse landes farmes and other possessions and that the saide goods should be common and distributed for the sustenance of the mynisters the poore and the notaries called the protonotaryes who wrote the actes of the martyrs 80 Cyprian of the country of Affrica bishop of Carthage suffered martyrdom vnder the empyre of Valerian and Galerien in the yeare after the natiuitie of our Lord Iesus 260. Nowe in that time that is to say in the reigne of Dionisius the Emperour arose great persecution and thereof Nicephorus saith in his fifth booke and twenty Chapter that it is as easie to number the multitude of those that suffered in this persecution as it is to number the sande of the sea Alexander bishop of Ierusalem honourable because of his pietie and age was brought before the seat iudiciall in Cesarea and after that he had made confession of his faith he died in prison Babyle byshop of Nicomedie Asclepiades of Antioche Germane Theophilus Cesarius Vital Polichronius bishop of Babylon Serapion Apolline the
of Bohemia bishop of Prague went to Pannonia for to preach the faith and baptised the king of Hungaria From whence he went to Prusia whereas he was martyred 119 In the raigne of Henrie the seconde of that name Duke of Bauiere who obtained the Empire by election in the yeare 1005. Burchardus firste a Monke of Lob disciple of Albert afore mentioned was bishop of Wormes he compiled the old canons which afterward were abridged by Gratian or rather corrupted as it may easily be iudged in conferring the one with the other Rhenanus in his annotations vpon Tertullian 120 In the raigne of Henrie the thirde of that name and in the yeare 1039. lyued Berengarius a Doctour borne at Tours Archedeacon of Angres who maintained the opinion of the foresaid Iohannes Scotus and Bertran concerning the Eucharistie And in the yeare of Christ 1051. Pope Leo assēbled a councell at Verseill whereas was first handled the opinion of Transubstantiation albeit that this worde had beene inuented not long afore and there was condemned the opinion of Iohannes Scotus and Bertran Berengarius appeared not at the saide councel but sent thither two clearkes and as they went about to excuse Berengarius and to shewe reasons therefore they were beaten with fistes and put in prison Looke howe Decolampadius reasoneth therabout Arnulphus Archbishop of Lugdune Liued in the time of Honorius the seconde 1127. as writeth Hugo Platina Sabellicus He was a man learned zealous and of great deuotion and a worthie preacher he came to Rome in his preaching he rebuked the dissolute and Lasciuious losenes incontinencie auarice and immoderate prid of the cleargie procuring all to followe Christe and his Apostles in pouertie rather and purenes of life By reason whereof this man was well accepted and highly liked of the nobilitie of Rome for a true disciple of Christe but of the Cardinals and the cleargie no lesse hated then fauoured of the other In so much that proudly in the night season they tooke him and destroyed him This his Martyrdome sayth he was reuealed to him before from God by an Angell he béeing in the desert when hée was sent foorth to preach wherevppon he saide to them publikely with these wordes I knowe sayth he ye séeke my life and knowe ye will make me a way priuely But why because I preach to you the trueth and blame your pride stoutnes auarice incontinencie with your vnmeasurable gréedines in getting and heaping vp riches Therefore be you displeased with me I take héere heauen and earth to witnesse that I haue preached to you that I was cōmanded of the Lord. but you contemne me your creatour who by his onely sonne hath redéemed you and no maruell if ye séeke my death being a sinfull person preaching to you the trueth when as if S. Peter were here this day and rebuked your vices which doe so multiply aboue all measure you woulde not spare him neyther And as he was expressing this with a loude voyce he saide moreouer for my part I am not afraide of death for the truths sake but this I say to you that God will looke vppon your iniquities and will be reuenged you being full of all impuritie play the blinde guides to the people committed to you leading them the way to hell A God hee is of reuengeance Thus the hatred of the cleargie being incensed against him for preaching the trueth conspired against him and laying priuie waite for him tooke him and drowned him Sabellicus and Platina saith they hanged him Diuerse and sundry articles he held which are set downe in the two volumes of the generall Councels 121 About the yeare of our Lorde 1110. Sigebert florished who as it may well appeare was a verie expert man like as his Chronicle yeeldeth testimonie In the yeare 1126. Hugo of the Saxon nation and surnamed of saint Victor the diuine of Paris was in that time at Paris Amongest his writings are founde many complaintes against the disorders of the Clearkes in his time 122 Bernard first Abbot of Claireuaux a Burgonion borne flourished about the yeare 1140. By the writings of S. Bernard we may knowe how that in that time miserably corrupted he stroue against the impietie of the Pops and Churchmen Look his sermon 67. he calleth them the ministers of Antichrist in the sermon 57. to Pope Eugenius and in the sermon 33. vpon the Canticles he saith oftentimes how that the prelates are become Pilates He reproued Eugenius because he letting alone the word of God aduanced mans traditions Hugo a Cardinall in his postille vppon Saint Iohn alleageth that S. Bernarde saith in a certain place thus It séemeth O good Iesus that all the vniuersitie of Christians professed haue conspired against thee and that those be chiefest of the conspiration which do obtaine the prymacy in thy church About the end of his days he declared sufficiently that he knewe perfectly the true doctrine of iustification through Iesus Christ whom alone he had for his refuge casting aside all other holynes and righteousnes His writing do yéeld certeine testimony of him he died being 63. yeares olde Nauel 123 Iohn of Saresburie Bishoppe of Chartres was in the yeare 1157. Who sharply withstoode the wickednes of the Popes and of the Cleargie He wrote a booke intytuled Obiurgatorium Cleric In his booke intituled Policraticus he saith thus In the Romishe Churche be set the Scribes and Pharisées lading the shoulders of men with importable burthens The highe prieste is heauy to all men yea wholly importable and past the strength of man to beare His legates doe so disperse themselues abroade as if sathan were come out frō the presence of the Lord for to torment the Churche Iudgment against the people none other thinge but a verie marchandise They tustifie the wicked for golde and siluer and delight in matters that are vngodly They eate the sinnes of the people they be therwith clothed norished in all excesse whereas the true worshippers do worshippe the Lorde in spirite He that sticketh not vnto their doctrine is eyther iudged an heritike or a schysmatike c. There haue béen oftentimes good doctors in the Churche but they durst not say nor write all that which was néedefull In a booke intituled Speculum it is saide that this good Bishop Iohn amongst other complaintes hath somtimes ben heard say vnto Pope Adrian the fourth with whome he was very familiar on this wise That the Pope hath beene truely called a sernaunt of seruauntes because hee serued the Romaines that were seruantes to auarice The saide Pope Adrian sometimes woulde say vnto the saide Bishop Iohn That many Popes did succede rather Romulus in murthers and parricides then saint Peter in feading the flockes 124 In the yeare 1127. and in the raigne of Friderike Barberosse the Emperour Arnolde bishoppe of Bixta stode in contention against the administration of ciuill matters of the temporall sword which the cleargie had vsurped And therefore R. Barns saith that
due alone vnto him whom al the saintes must honour and reuerence and do put their trust in them which ought to be transserred to God onely and more ouer séeing they are so affectioned towards those images that they like better of and be more deuoute to one them then to another mine opinion is said he the of such do commit Idolatry and a deadly sinne against God vnto whom doth belong all honour glorie and praise Lastly hee saide that hee was thus perswaded that there dwelled none here below vpon earth but was in a pilgrimage either to goe vnto life or els to tende vnto torments That whoso doth so order his life that hee transgresseth the commaundements ordinances of God whither that he knoweth them not or will not knowe them hee must not hope for saluation albeit that hee raunge abroade to all the corners of ths worlde Contrariwise hee that shall kéepe the holy ordinances of God cannot perishe although hee neuer make voyage nor pilgrimage in his life vnto any place whither disordered men haue vsed to goe on pilgrimage There be also founde of his other principall articles as of the two natures in Christ diuine humaine and that like as his diuinitie was here béelowe on earth hidden and couered vnder humanity so in the sacrament of the Eucharistie there is bread and the bodie giuen vs to wit the breade which we sée and the bodie of Christ which wee sée not thus expressed hee his Faith touching the Sacrament c. Also that it is not necessarie for the obtayning of saluation to confesse his sinnes to his owne Curate or any other priest whilest he liueth Also hee denyed not onely the worshipping of Images but also that which we call the holy Crosse Furthermore he saide concerning the power of the keyes and touching the Pope Archbishoppes Bishops and other Prelates that the Pope is very Antichrist and that these Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates be his members and the fryers the tayle of Antichrist like as the Pope is the heade to whome no man ought to obey that is to say to the Pope Archbishops Bishoppes and other Prelats except they be followers of Christ and Peter in life and manners and in conuersation and that hee which is the best lyuer most pure in conuersation is the successour of Peter not otherwise It is reported moreouer that the saide Lorde Oldcastel saide with a loude voyce stretching his handes abroade and perswading those that were present These who iudge and woulde condemneme will beguile you all and leade both you themselues into hell and therefore beware of them To make short sentence of death was pronounced against him not withstanding he forbode a while after as it were banished and was sent away by a wile And at the last hee being taken againe and remayning constant without denying the trueth which he saw conteined in the holy scriptures was condemned to be burned And thus this valiant Doctour and Martyr fynished the course of his life and recommending his soule vnto God and praying for his ennimies after that hee had exhorted the people to applie themselues vnto the true faith and pure religion yelded vp his spirite vnto the Lord. He that woulde sée of him more at large let him read the booke of Martyrs 139 In the same time also that is 1418. 19. 20. and so consequently the Lord shewed sufficiently that the bloude of Iohn Hus and Hierome of Prague and of other good doctours and Martyrs of the Church fell not to the grounde for to be swallowed vp and come to nothing as some pretended but it did greatly fructifie with an incredible commoditie not onely in Englande and in Bohemia but also in Germanie and Fraunce and generally in other realmes countries and prouinces For God hath much more since that time shewed a clearer chaunge of thinges causing tongue to be renewed as messengers and arts to bee as forerunners to Dame veritie who immediately came forth with the brightnesse of the most cleare sunne that is the preaching of the Gospell wherein many times they haue excelled being fortified with all necessaries against darknesse Many haue dealt verie valiantly and haue not onely brought againe diuinitie to his naturall and first puritie but haue also endured martyrdome for a more ample witnessing thereof Amongst others one named Grunfelder a priest called to the order of Iesus Christ was burned in the citie of Rinsbourg in the yeare of our Lorde 1420. William Tayler an Englishe man a master in artes was also martyred The princial cause of the furie raysed vp against him was because hee had composed a booke against calling vpon or praying to saincts For that cause hee was burned in the citie of London in the yeare 1422. hee abode the fire verie constantly Henry Radtgeber of the order of Popish priests first did valyantly fight and endured a cruell death for the profession of the Gospel in the foresaide citie of Rinsbourg this was in the yeare 1423. Iohn Drandorfe of a noble house in the countrey of Misne was executed at Wormes in the yere following 1424. Peter Toraw was afterwarde martyred in the Citie of Spira anno 1426. Iohn Bale an English writer speaketh hereof in his booke of the famous men of England 140 In the yeare 1425. there was a Priest called William Wight an English man who hauing vsed to reade the sermons of Wicliefe chaunged his life wholly and acknowledging the filthinesse of his former life he forsooke his benefice whereby he had receiued large reuenewes After that hee following the holy ordinaunce of God tooke a wife Being maryed he applied himselfe to studie and teaching either publikely or priuately labouring to profite all men At the laste hee was taken in the citie of Norwich and there they layed against him thirtie articles for the which hee was cruelly burned by the procuring of the Bishop and this was in the yeare 1428. His wife following the example of her husband ceassed not according to her facultie for to instructe euery bodie and for this cause she was very hardly intreated by the saide Bishop Also in the yeare 1430. Richarde Houenden an English man and a Citizen of London could by no meanes bee withdrawen from the trueth for any perswasions that coulde bée alleaged and therefore he was condemned to be burned néere vnto the tower of London 141 Many good personages of dyuers Realmes haue greatly beene afflicted and persecuted in the yeares following because they spake and mainteined the pure trueth and haue spilte euen the vttermost drop of their bloude God notwithstanding assisted them the they might make the aduersaries of the puritie of his holy and diuine seruice the more ashamed In the Realme of Bohemia Paul Crau in the yeare 1431. was deliuered to the seculer power by a Bishoppe for to bee burned and that because hee blodly withstoode the wicked opinions of the people touching the Eucharistie inuocation of sainctes auricular confession and