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A08240 The copie of a letter sente to one maister Chrispyne chanon of Exceter for that he denied ye scripture to be the touche stone or trial of al other doctrines whereunto is added an appologie and a bulworke, in defe[n]ce of the same letter. Nicolls, Philip. 1548 (1548) STC 18575; ESTC S104162 27,471 96

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answere suppose you they coulde make I thynke none other but as I haue made you before That is we knowe it by oure elders or holye prophetes and fathers before vs. Nowe I wyll aske you a questian whiche shall not be impossible nor verie vnlyke If it pleased God to moue the herte of a Iewe whiche wer neither christian nor turke to seke in the worlde here the moste perfecte religion He goeth to the Turkes and cometh to the christians Wherwyth woulde you perswad hym to thys perfect religion Woulde you preache to hym constitutions coūselles and customes of the elders He mought then as well beleue the turkes as you For they haue many thynges in their lawe that seme to be verie godlye And they re authoritie wythout authoritie of scripture is euen as good as yours But I knowe you wyl saye what so euer you thinke that you woulde preache the Gospell vnto hym Then must you nedes graunte that the scripture is of greater efficacie and strength them oure fathers elleders and counsayles If you wyll yet wyth your questians affirme that the fathers whyche descended frome tyme to tyme frome the Apostles hither to haue greater authoritye then the scripture I wyl axe you an other questian The Apostles of Christ forsoke the ceremonies customes and constitutions of theyr elders forefathers and of as holye mother holye churche in the iudgemente of the worlde at that tyme as yours is w t the world at thys houre and of as longe continuaunce of tyme. Yet folowed they Christes doctrine who was named of those holye fathers a sediciouse felowe a newe tidinges bringer and an heretike Answere me nowe what touchstone had they to trye Christes doctrine wyth that they so ernestlye folowed hym and refused theyr forefathers olde holye doctours proceadynge from Moyses to Christ Ther were at that tyme auncient fathers which had great learneing both byshopes and priestes The tradions ordinaunces and ceremonies whiche they vsed receyued they of theyr elders lyke as you woulde haue vs to receiue the constitucions of oure elders Tell me nowe how can you excuse the Apostles They were but pore fisher men and net makers they wer not brought vp in the scholes they hadde not the leisure toturne and tosse those greate volumes to be made doctours of deuinitie nor law And yet within a whyle they toke vpon them to teach the great doctours and what mought those holye fathers haue sayed to these fishers Take hede to your fysheynge What haue you to do wyth the scripture It is not mete for euerie coblarde to be talkeynge of scripture Howe were these men so lyghtlye perswaded What touchestone I saye had they But seynge you woulde so fayne haue the name of the holye fathers and holye churche I axe you thys questian Those Apostles and Disciples of Christe whyche were in hys tyme wyth hym presente whyche preached and wrote the scripture were holy fathers and of the perfecte true churche If the fathers syeth theyr tyme haue dissented frome them in doctryne maners custome lawes or in anye thynge partayneynge to Christes relygion whyche fathers woulde you folowe If you denye that the fathers haue dessented as is a fore sayed I refer the proue of it tyll a tyme of more leasure Partely because I thynke you wyll not denye it but chiefelye because my letter woulde be to longe Wherfore I wyl come to your thyrde question whyche in dede includeth the matter of all the reste whiche is thys If ther aryse anye contention in vnderstandeynge the Scriptures wherein boeth the parties bringe scripture for them whoe shall nowe discusse the matter Where is nowe the toucheston The scriptures can not For boeth bring scripture And the scripture you meane causeth y e cōtrouersye But I aske you whether the scriptures be deuided or no If they be deuided then accordinge to Christes worde they muste be confounded But that is an incōuenience and I knowe well you wyll not graunt that If the scriptures be not deuided but agre in one as they do in deede for one place cannot be repugnaunte to an other thoughe it so seme then haue not boeth parties scripture for them but y e one partie must nedes falsely alledge scripture But you will aske me who shal geue sentence or by whom the cōtrouersye shal be appeased and where is Luthers touchstone In dede at your sermō no man made answer Wherefore you made answere and sayde the holye gooste must be tuchstone As who should saye Luthers answere were not the very same When he sayeth gods worde must be the touchston as you reporte of hym And I praye you maister Chrispyn what difference is betwene gods worde and godes spirite Is not goddes worde the breath of gods mouthe And call you not that the holye goste Howe be it it is easilye perceyued what ye meane Ye put in the holye gost for a cloke to deceiue vs wyth albeit ye meane nothing lesse then the holye gooste If you aske me how I proue it I answer thus I proue it Wythout fayeth it is not possible to please God but fayeth cometh by the word of god Ergo wythout the worde of God nothyng can please God But you exclude the word of God from the spirite of God and in stead of that ioyne vnto it fathers counsayles and oure mother holy churche for you saye the worde of God can not be touchston ▪ but onelie beare wytnesse but the holye gooste is the touch stone whoe was and is in the holye fathers that haue alwayes gathered counsayles by whyche all thynges muste be iudged and dermined To proue thys ye alledge these wordes Where so euer two or three be gathered together c. These holye fathers you affirme to be the byshopes and prelates But thus to include the holye gooste into byshopes you exclude y e word of god If this be not to be disceiued sure I am deceyued But it were necessarie for you to proue the chur that you speake of to be the true-holye and catholyke churche before you perswade men so ernestye to belyeue and stycke vnto it But I saye the churche that taketh awaye the authoritye of goddes worde or diminisheth it by anye meanes is not of Christe But you mayster Chrispyne graunte youre selfe to be of thys churche Ergo etc. And in myne opinion you do naught to say that all holy fathers frō Christ to thys time wer of the same opinion that you be of concernynge goddes worde For I dare saye Augustine whome you admytte to be of the verye holye church wyll not hold wyth you in thys matter But if he woulde the authoritye of Christe is greater Whoe is it that wyll not suspecte your churche seynge you set it so high in Lucifers place aboue Christe and separate the hollye goste from Christe where as Christe sayeth I am that I say vnto you What is y t he spake vnto vs Is it not his word He saith moreouer the wordes y t I speake are spirite lyfe I
perceyued by the helpe of God nether by oure selues or other c. Suche a one am I in other mens writtinges as I would other men should be in myne If we had no moe sayeinges of the doctours but thys one consideringe the estimacion Augustine is in it were inoughe to ouerthrowe all the confidence that they woulde teach vs to haue in mens writinges besyde gods worde But heare an other He writeth vnto Hierome and sayeth I haue learned to geue this feare and honoure onlye vnto the writters whiche be called canonicall y t I stedfastly beleue that none of them haue erred in writtinge For if I finde anye thinge in those letters y t semeth contrary to the trueth either I thinke the boke not to be true or the translater hath not truelye folowed his copie or else I think verilye I do not vnderstande it But I read al other writers saieth he after this maner that I thinke be they neuer so holy and well learned that it whiche they haue written is not strayte way true because they haue thought so but because they coulde make me beleue it either by those canonical authoures or else by some probable and sure reasone which dissenteth not frō the trueth He writeth agaynste one Cresonius the grāmariā sayinge I am not boūd by the authoritie of this Epistle because I do not cōpt and esteme Ciprians letters as canonicall of lyke authoritie w t the scripturs but I way thē pōder thē by the scripture If I finde any thing in thē agreinge w t the authoritie of holy scripture I receyue it with his praise But if it agre not bi his leaue fauour I refuse for sake it Againe in his treatise of shepherdes He hath ordeined y e hilles of Israel sayth he y e authours of holy scripturs There feade ye that you maye feade salfelye What so euer ye heare of that let it sauoure well wyth you whatsoeuer is besides that spite it out agayne leste ye erre in the clowde Addict youre selues to the meaneynge of the scripture There is the deyntie of y e hert there is no poysen no straynge thynge ther onelye is the moste holesome feadeyng Beholde the mynde of this great doctour named to be one of the greateste clarkes that wrot sence the aposteles tyme. He woulde haue no mans doctryne what soeuer he be to be compared to the holye scriptures In hys owne wryttynges he warneth vs that we shoulde not geue ouer much credence in the thynges sayeth he that you thynke yourselfe suer vnles ye surely vnderstande it beleue it not so stidfastely And writyng to Vincentius he graūteth that he hath wryten some thynges worthye to be blamed and therefore sayth that he hath made a boke of retractacions reuoking and casting agayne that which he had made before that the readers thereby maye learne that al his writinges in al points dyd not please hym Thys diffidence had Augustine in his writynges that in no case he would compare them wyth the scripture And loke what opinion he had of his owne writinges euen the same had he in al other mens besides the canonicall scriptures For he sayth in his boke of retractaciōs I cā not nor ought to denie sayth he but lyke as in myne elders so are many thynges in so many seuerall workes y t I haue made whyche maye be blamed wythout rayshnes with good iudgment If Austen wyl haue no credence geuen to mens writinges whether they be byshops or what so euer they be onlesse they bringe the authorite of scripture w t thē as he writteth to Vincentius We must make a differēce sayth he betwene mens wryttinges He nameth Hilarie Ciprian and Agrippie which be lyke were byshopes and the canonicall scriptures For they ought not so to be reade sayth he as though we might geuefurth suche testimonies of them that it shoulde not be lawefull to thinke other wyse then they affirme For peraduenture they vnderstande it otherwyse thē y e truth requireth He y t lusteth to searche Austēs workes shal find many thinges cōtrarie to their proud doctrine kycking against y e scriptures yea cōtrarie almost to al theyr blind erroures In so muche that I haue meruayled that they haue had him so longe in such estimacion and had not rather condemned hym for an heretike As for the authoritie of mens doctrine besyde the scripture he can not abyd But in all thynges he wylleth vs to haue respect to the scripture euē in prayseing god sayeth he let it be done as he hath appoynted lest in steppinge a syde we offend him that we would prayse And agaynste fanstus be writeth euē the same we must not tourne either to the right hand neither to y e lifte no not in y e prayse that we geue to god But euen the same praises sayeth he must we frame according to y e wil of y e scriptur And in y e xvi Cha. he sayth that they which would teach y e people any other thing thē y e canonical scriptures are not only false prophets but theaues robbars euē of our sauioure How cā our olde catholike fathers abyde thys felowe He calleth thē false prophetes theaues and robbars It is tyme the popes excommunication were out for hym He writeth agaynste the Maniches and sayeth Dispise you the scriptures whiche are commaunded and established with so great authoritye You do no miracles whiche if you dyd yet we would be ware of them in you because the Lorde teacheth vs to beware of suche saynge Ther shall aryse many false Christes etc. Many mo places maye there be founde in this mans workes which thei maye be a shamed to heare if it were nedfull But because they shall not conceyue al ther malise against Austen and parauēture haue hym in examinacion for slanderinge these holye fathers ye shal heare what Hierome sayeth He declareth y t Christ speaketh in Peter in Paule and that of the people and princes y e scripture is to be vnderstanded of the doctrine of the Apostls Of those sayeth he which were in it not of those which we beholde nowe And marke what he sayeth Those that were and not those that be that ye moughte vnderstande that what so euer shal be sayed after the Apostles tyme let it be cut a way sayth he for it hath none authoritie afterward Therfore if ther be any S. after the Apostles tyme he hath none authorite for thei come to late to be alowed quia nō fuerūt in ea sayeth he If y e saints must geue place to the holie scripture and haue none authoritye besydes that than what are they that make articles of our fayth or at least condemne thē for heretikes that wyl not receyue that doctrine that hath none authoritie of y e scripture but rather against the scripture The same Ierome vpon Ieremie sayth And they haue gone after straing gods as theyr fathers taught them