further in coÌ„futatioÌ„ of his Church halowing It coÌ„futeth it self with shame inough to you Only I maruell Folio 38. a. that as the Angel as you say ingraued vvith his finger in the square stones the signe of the Crosse further froÌ„ God coÌ„maunded theÌ„ to make such a signe in their foreheades coÌ„maunded not aswel which had ben more to purpose to make the like signes in other stones in dedicatioÌ„ of other Churches I would wishe in the next print it might be put in that your popish Church halowing wherof I wyl speake anone myght séeme to haue som presideÌ„t for it But for S. Bartholomew I haue said inough And the same answer may suffise for S. Philip as hys exaÌ„ple is out of the said Abdias brought For as S. Hierom sayth Super. 23. Math. touching the name of Zachary of whoÌ„ meÌ„tioÌ„ is made Math. 23. that some would haue him to haue ben the .xj. of the Prophets But some other to haue ben the father of S. Ihon baptist hoc quia de scripturis noÌ„ habet authoritateÌ„ eadeÌ„ facilitate coÌ„teÌ„nitur qua probatur This bicause it hath not authority of the Scripture is as easily contemned as proued So may I say for the wordes which ye father vpon S. Philip Folio 39. In the place vvhere Mars semeth to staÌ„d fast set vp the Crosse of my Lord Iesus Christ and adore the same bicause it is coÌ„trary to the Scripture is but the report of a lying legend I may with good cause reiect the authoritie For neither was the chaÌ„ge alowable to destroy one Idoll to make an other as in the first article I proued nor to adore it was in any wyse tollerable as afterwarde more at large appeareth Wherfore your reason being as it is absurde and foolishe we be not driuen to any such shifte as ye talke of to say that fayth should be fixt in a wall Wée know no such melodie to moue as you say harde stones or make brasen pillers to vnderstande though your magicall minstrelsie hath bene such that rotten stockes haue spoke at your pleasure spoken good reason as you haue estemed it Remember ye not the Roode of Winchester that cunningly decised a controuersie betwéene the Monkes and maryed priestes pronouncing in latine for he was better taught then hys masters the Monkes Non bene sentiunt qui fauent presbyteris They thinke not well that fauour the priestes Who was that Orpheus that wrought that vnderstanding there Dunstane or the Diuell or both It hath bene alwayes a Popishe practise to make Roodes Images to rolle their eyes to sweate and to speake wherof infinite examples might be brought But that of men professing the Gospell of protestants as ye call them there hath bene any such delusion is not in any writing of any age to be founde Wherfore ye doe vs wrong in burdening vs with such vntruthes vnlesse by remembrance of your owne follyes ye will force vs as it were to open and disclose your shame But let mee come to your counsels The first ye fetch from the recorde of Iuo Gratian alleaging a Synode kept at Orleance in Fraunce Ye doe right well to cite your authors otherwise I might haue suspected the authoritie For in all the Canons of the councell it selfe we reade not the words that make for your purpose But you do wysely not to passe the compasse of your owne profession and therfore say no more than the popishe decrées do teache you But if a man may be so bolde in your owne faculty to appose you how doe the woords of this your counsell proue that euery Church must haue the signe of the Crosse Folio 40. Forsoth say you bycause it is decreed that no man builde a Church before the Byshop of that diocesse come and set vp a Crosse By the same reason the ring of the church dore is a piece of Gods seruice too For as the fixing of a Crosse the pitching of a stake as it were in the grounde doth shewe that the Byshop hath limitted out the compasse of the Church so the other is a proufe of Induction of the Priest Yet as thys signe of possession taken is no parte of duety within the Church discharged so the other signe of authoritie to builde giuen is no parte of seruice within the building to be done And this is the poynte which in this article ye go about to proue that euery Church and Chappel must haue a Crosse erected in it to the honor and seruice of almighty God But this Crosse serueth an other turne to a ciuill pollicy no poynt of religion For least that men should presume to builde Churches without authoritie ecclesiasticall it was decréed that the byshop of the diocesse should viewe the place appoynte where the body of the Church should be leaue his mark behinde him Which marke might as wel haue bene his crosier as his Crosse but that the one was lesse chargeable than the other If ye credite not me turne ouer your Decree There shall ye finde that ordre is taken for thinges necessary before the Church be builded But we doe inquire what is necessary seruice in a Church hallowed Wherefore I sée not how that Councell prouinciall triginta trium Episcoporum of thrée and thyrty byshops as the boke doth tell vs can make any thing for you But if there were most playne determination for the Crosse in that or any other such like Councell I am no more bound to the authority therof than you will be to the English Synodes held in king Edwardes dayes and in the Quéenes Maiesties raygne that nowe is Yet the duety of a subiect if ye were honest might driue you to this wheras there is no cause that might enforce my consent to the other Nowe for your second at Tovvres whose Canon is this Vt corpus dnÌ„i in altari non in armario sed sub Crucis titulo coÌ„ponatur Which you do english after this sort Foli 40. b. That the body of our lord consecrated vpon the altar be not reposed set in the reuestry but vnder the Roode Where we may learne two schole poynts of you Fyrst that armariuÌ„ is latine for a Reuestry Then that titulus Crucis is latine for a Roode But if your schollers haue bene taught heretofore to translate no better a rod a rod had bene more méete for the vsher For armariuÌ„ may wel be taken for a librarie for a closet or almerie but no more for the reuestry than for the belfry Yet wil I not greatly in that word coÌ„tend with you Be it that their folish meaning was for a reuestry yet doubtlesse they were not so mad as to put titulê° Crucis for a Roode Titulus crucis is the title of the crosse And I maruel that you wold not rather expound it for a Pixe than a Roode being driuen by this to cary gods body sacred from the altar into the Roode loft We haue not heard
the Sentence Let fayth be taken Sine pro eo quo creditur siue pro eo quod creditur eyther for that wherby we beleue or else for that which is beleued certayne it is that the simplest of them both is better than a signe though it be of the Crosse For be it the latter fayth Quam Daemones et falsi Christiani habent as he saith which the Diuels false christians haue yet by the same Possunt credere deum et credere deo they can beleue that there is a God they can giue credit vnto his words But a bare Crosse can not do this Take me a man that neuer hearde of Christ and bring him to a Spanyard to beholde all his Crosses at the Mary Masse and he shall be as learned when he commeth away as the Ape is deuout when he hath eaten the hoste But if a man neyther did nor could euer heare at all this naked fayth were able to teach him without any further information that a God there is which the very Gentiles did vnderstande Agayne to compare a gifte of God which is in the minde to the work of man made with the hande is Canibus catulos coniungere matribus haedos To ioyne the whelpes and houndes the kiddes and goates together Nowe to your Iulian. Iulians example Folio 21. b. Ye say that when he had consulted with Sorcerers and they had made the Diuels solemnly to appeare He vvas stricken in a feare and forced to make the signe of the Crosse in his foreheade Then the Diuels loking backe and seing the figure of the Lordes banner and remembring their fall and ouerthrovv sodaynly vanished out of sight Thus much or so much as this ye cite out of Theodorete and Gregory Nazianzene For the truth of the historie I contende not with you But what I iudge of the experiment I will tell you Fyrst of al that wicked reprobate and godlesse persones can vse the signe of the Crosse as well as other Which proposition shal quite cōfute all your ninth Article For if such as Iulian can crosse themselues and notwithstanding haue neuer a whit the more fayth as your selfe confesse then how falles it out that the Crosse driueth out heresies Fol. 22. a. Contradictions in Martiall Fol. 94. b. that the signe of the Crosse conuerteth obstinate sinners Fol. 114. 115. that the signe of the Crosse maketh vvicked men to think vpon God that the Crosse is comfortable in desperation Fol. 116. Secondly this I note How sore the Diuel was hurt by the Crosse when it nothwithstanding he retayned the possession of whole Iulian both in body and soule Thyrdly that the diuell doth fayne himself to be afrayde of that which with all his heart he would haue men to vse For this is a generall rule that the Diuell is a lier and alwayes will séeme to be as he is not If there were no other matter in the worlde agaynst you this onely were sufficient to discredite you For what better reason is there that Crossing ought not to be vsed at al than that the Diuel did séeme to dread it If that indede he had bene afrayd of it he would haue doubled a point with you and not haue played so open play He runs from the Stéeple to dwell in the people He counterfets a flight from the holy water bucket and nestles himselfe in the bosome of the priest He séemeth to giue place to the charmers inchantment yet that sacrifice doth please him excedingly Ye confesse that Iulian had no hope in Christ no loue to god no faith and will ye not confesse that he was therby a desperate person a lyin of the Diuell The Diuell then shuld haue done him wrong if he had put him in any further danger But one thing I maruell at how you M. Martiall a bacheler of law sometime Vsher of Winchester now student in Diuinitie making a boke intitled to the Quéene perused by the Learned priuiledged by the King allowed by Cunner should fall into manifest contradictions scape vncontrolled I sée it is true quod mendacem memorem esse opertet a lier had nede haue a good remembrance Ye sayd in the leafe before Folio 21. The signe of the Crosse must concurre vvith fayth and fayth vvith the signe of the Crosse Nowe ye alowe the bare signe of the Crosse without any fayth to haue the force and power aforesayd If I thought ye were ignorant of Sathans practises I would shew you some of them to make you more circumspect But you haue bene brought vp in his schole a good while and therefore I thinke ye practise after him endeuouring your selfe of set purpose to deceiue For which like a Spider ye spinne a subtile webbe You sucke out of the Fathers the worst ioyce that you can that you may turne the same into your owne fylthy and infected nature Gregorie did well in abhorring the name of vniuersall Byshop But Gregories authoritie is not taken in that Gregorie sayde well when he tolde vs the tale of Speciosus a deacon that would rather forsake his benefice than his Wife But the president of that persuadeth you not Onely when Gregorie disgraceth himselfe wyth olde wiues tales and tryfling customes of his corrupted tyme then is he meate for your sawsy mouthes A Iewe sayth Gregorie vvithout truste confidence or fayth Folio 22. b. in Christes passion vvas preserued from Spirites by the signe of the Crosse I rehearse not the circumstaunce of the tale bycause I haue tolde you more than is true already For if he had no fayth in Christ the Scripture is playne that there could no spirite be worse than himselfe Heb. 11. Impossible it is to please God without fayth And shall God by the Crosse preserue them that please him not Who séeth not what a fable this is or rather a blasphemie if it be weyghed aright But Gregorie hath it A doctor of the Church So hath he more vntruthes than this Lib. Dial. 4. Cap. 55. As that for confirmation of sacrifice for the dead he bringeth forth a vision a dreame or a dotage such a one as I am ashamed to father vpō him or any one of the faythfull yet proufe good inough for such a matter of naught His tale is this A certayne priest that vsed the bathes went on a day into them and found a yong man whome he knewe not very obsequious and seruiseable vnto him he pulled of his shooes he toke his garmentes he did whatsoeuer might be comfortable for him When this he had often done one day the prieste going thitherwarde thought thus with himselfe I ought not to séeme vnthankfull vnto him which hath so deuoutly bene accustomed to serue me whensoeuer I washe me but néedes I must cary him somewhat for a reward Then toke he with him the tops of two loaues which had ben offered at seruice And as sone as euer he came vnto the place he founde his man he vsed
For the Marble stones be annoynted wyth it and a verse of the Psalme Psalm 45. song The Lord hath annoynted thée with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes O stony hearts To apply the words which the spirite of God properly spake of Salomon vnder Salomons person of Christ to a greasy stone that euery man doth treade on euery dog berayes Then doth the quire sing Erexit Iacob lapidem Genes 28. Psalm 67. Iacob reared vp a stone whereof they knowe not the signification Also they bleate out wyth wyde throtes Ibi est Beniamin adolesceÌ„tulus in mentis excessu There is little Beniamin out of hys wyttes as they translate it And thinke ye that they were well in their wittes which for Dominator eorum would put in Mentu excessu Wheras they should haue sayd There is little Beniamin their gouernoure To saye There is yong Beniamin rauished of his wittes But this is scripture of Church hallowing This is the purpose These be the textes The prayers are the same that Salomon vsed when he was commaunded to make the temple saue that they wyll haue a crop of Colocyntida to marre a whole pot full of pottage For they adde vnto these Inuocation of Saintes derogation to God abuse of hys creatures When thys is done the rotten bones and reliques are halowed with like ceremonies and soleÌ„nities as they had before And then they put on their masking coates come lyke blinde fooles with candels in their handes at none dayes and so procede to the holy masse with renting of throtes and tearing of notes chaÌ„ting of priests howliÌ„g of clarkes flinging of coales and piping of organes Thus they continue a long while in mirth and iolyty many mad partes be played But wheÌ„ the vice is come from the altare and the people shall haue no more sport they conclude theyr seruice with a true sentence Terribilis est locus iste This place is terrible And haue they not faire fysht think you to make such a doe to bryng in the diuel O blynde beastes O senselesse hipocrites whom God hath geuen ouer vnto themselues that they shall not sée their own folly yet bewray their shame to all the world beside And is not thys youre Church halowing that ye talke of Thys is it that youre Church hath ordayned Now that ye may proue in particularitie that which generally ye did auouch before The signe of the Crosse to be vsed in all Sacramentes ye come to an enumeration of them all And I dare say ye be glad to catch such occasion to treate of the vii Sacramentes yet dout I not but before I haue done with you I shall make ye contented to cut of .v. of them First as touching the vse of baptisme ye begyn with Dionisius Dionisius Areopagita Folio 52. b Euseb Eccl. Hist li. 3. ca. 4. lib. 4. cap. 21. to whom ye geue the surname of Areopagita and honorable title of Saint Paules scholer Eusebius in dede maketh mention of such a one and sayth that he was the first byshop of Athens and thys he speaketh of the report of an other Dionisius of Alexandria But as for any writing of hys he hath no worde at all And doutlesse if it had bene true which you affirme he would not haue suppressed it S. Hierome maketh mention of two In catal Scripit Eccles of that name One that was at Corynth in the raygne of Marcê° Antoninus verus and Lucius Commodus An other that was scholer somtyme to Origene and byshop afterwarde of Alexandria in the raygne of Galienus But not a worde yet among all their writings which he moste diligeÌ„tly doth rehearse eyther of the heauenly or ecclesiasticall hierarchie out of which ye cite all your authorities Wherfore it is a bastarde booke vniustly fathered vpon S. Paul his Dionise wheras the style it selfe and matter there intreated of do argue that it is of no such antiquitie For to go no further thaÌ„ to those wordes that you do alleage of hys Folio 52. hovv the bishop assigneth some man to be godfather to hym that is to be baptised here is a playne lye For the vse of godfathers was not inuented forty yeare after It is euident by consent of all men yea the decrée it selfe beareth witnesse with me De Cons Dist 4. Cap. In catechismo Platina in vita Higini that Hyginus was first founder of Godfathers and among all the receaued writers of that age ye shall not lightly reade of any gossipping But suppose it be true that our recordes haue that Hyginus hatched thys egge he lyued at the least an hundreth and forty yeare after Christ And how can S. Paul hys scholer whose lyfe your selfe can stretch no longer than to the .96 yeare after Christ speake of that which he neuer thought on In the names of the authors alleaged by Martiall whiche was so long deuised after But to the matter I know ryghte well that within CC. yeare after Christ there were crept into the Church many idle Ceremonies and the simplicity of Christ hys ordinaÌ„ce refused Eche maÌ„ as he had either credite or authority presumed of hymselfe to adde somewhat to Christes institution and the fleshe deliting in hir own deuises deliuered the same with as straight a charge as if that Christ hymselfe had taken order for it notwithstaÌ„ding if ought beside the authoritie of Scripture were so auncient in dede as I last spake of admitted at any time into God his seruice yet were we no more bouÌ„d to obserue the same thaÌ„ the fathers themselues haue yelded to it For if they haue repelled the traditions TraditioÌ„s no grouÌ„d of doctrine TraditioÌ„s vary of their elders and after established some other of their own their example proueth no vse Apostolique or necessitie to haue bene in the one their president authoryseth that we may as lawfully dysanull the other Enforce not therefore a doctrine of a custome traditions alwayes haue varyed and many such as Cyprian Tertullian Augustine with other haue thought to be necessary for saluation the Church of Rome it selfe hath not thought expedient to be vsed for instruction Christ gaue commaundemente Baptisme to be ministred Math. 28. in the name of the father and of the sonne and of the holy ghoste Actes 10. The Apostles continued in the same order Ceremonies or circumstances we reade of no more in Scripture saue only the water without all coniuratioÌ„ consecration Luc. 3. or insufflation the persons Baptised the preaching of God hys promises and fayth in Christ and prayer of the faythfull Nowe come ye bowne to Tertullians tyme and ye shall fynde many straunge inuentions Thrée dyppynges in the water Tasting of mylke and hony Lib. de Cormil Abstaynyng from all other washing for a seuen nyght after In Hieromes tyme Lib. 15. Com. in Esaiam Epist 72. Epi. ad Bonifacium De pec mer. remis cap. 20. there was no hony vsed but in
story annexed to the Alchoran sayth Picturas seu sculpturas omniū Imaginū sic abhorrent detestantur vt Christianos qui in hijs tantū delectantur Idololatras cultores Demonum vocent in veritate esse credant Vnde dum essem in Chio ambasiatoribus Turcorum pro recipiēdo tributo illuc venientibus introductis in Ecclesiam nostram vellem persuadere de Imaginibus nequaque acquiescentes sed omnibus rationibus refutatis hoc solum affirmabant Vos idola colitis Which words may thus be turned into English They so abhorre and detest all painting grauing of any Images that they call and verily beleue the Christians that onely delyte in them to be Idolaters and worshippers of Diuels Wherefore when I was in Chio would haue persuaded the embassators of the Turkes which came thither to receiue tribute after I had brought them into our Church as touching Images they would not agrée but refuting all reason this onely they affirmed You vvorship Idols And surely Iewes and Turkes will neuer come to our religion while these stumbling blockes of Images remaine amongst vs and lye in their way Nowe that I haue proued as well by the wordes of Scripture as by the true sense and meaning of it so vnderstode of all the faythful that it is a piece of infidelitie to haue an Image in place of Gods seruice it might suffise to decise the controuersie that is in hand But an Image can not be made of Christ vnlesse it be a lying Image as the Scripture peculiarly calleth Images lies as I proued before For Christ is God and man And since of the Godhead which is the most excellent parte no Image can be made it is falsly called the Image of Christ they that doe apply any honor to it are mere Idolaters making Christ thereby inferior to the Father cleauing onely to his humanity wher as we are by Christs own words cōmaūded that al should so honor the sonne as they honor the father Io. 5. But agaynst this a crafty Papist may reply and say that by the same reason it is not lawful to paynt a man for he consisteth of soule and body and the soule which is the chief part of him no arte or cunning is able to expresse But I answere to this that the reason is nothing like For the soule may be seuered from the body as dayly by death we sée experience nor it is impietie to think vpon or beholde the shape of a man without a soule But the Diuinitie of Christ can not be separate from his humanitie neyther is it lawful to imagine an humanitie without a Diuinitie least we fall into the heresie of Nestorius as in the third Article where I shall haue occasion to speake of the Counsell assembled by commaundement of Constantine the fifth at more large is opened And where as Christ hath caried his flesh vppe into heauen with him no more to be knowen according to the fleshe we fleshly creatures do fall from his will and make a counterfet of a mortall fleshe where as his is glorified Furthermore vnknowen it is what was the forme and countenaunce of Christ So many places so many Images and euery one of them as they affirme the true and liuely Image of Christ and yet neuer a one of them like to an other wherefore as sone as an Image of Christ is made by and by a lye is made which is forbiddē by Gods worde Wherefore since our Religion ought to be grounded vpon truth Images which can not be without lies ought not to be made or put to any vse of Religion Thus haue I declared the vnlawfulnesse of Images in which respect they are intollerable Now a word for the folly of them which among vs is nothing sufferable Oratione contra Idol Athanasius appoynteth two wayes to come to the knowledge of God Animam Opera the Soule of man which by the word may beholde the word and so enter into the priuy chambre of the Almighty and if that suffise not the workes of God whereby the inuisible things of his eterne vertue Diuinitie may be séene of vs. Rom. 1. Then vs to seke any new wayes since these are ordayned euer since the beginning creation of the worlde is to much foolishnesse If we seke for comparisons will haue one thing set forth by an other why shuld we not rather follow Christs institution than be addicted to our own deuises Christ in the Scripture hath resembled himselfe to many of his creatures which dayly hourely are before our eyes And can we not be contented with them but make newe creatures of our owne heads to put vs in minde of our bounden dueties We sée the light shining sunne and sée we not the power of Christ in it We see the wayes dores to our houses and sée we not Christ the ready path to heauen We sée the hennes clocking of their chickens sée we not Christ continually calling vs We sèe pore shepherds féeding of their shéepe and sée we not Christ the true feder of our soules We sée our selues the liuely Images perfect coūterfets of Christ himself shal Christ be forgottē vnlesse we haue a crucifix There is nothing I promise you but madnesse in this meaning Ther is nothing that can so liuely expresse the affects as I may terme them qualities of Christ as those things which he thought good to serue our vnderstanding Shal we then refuse the more euident argument fal to the darker signification Shal we contemne Christ and his order set so much store by a blinde picture Nero I remember was sometime so wanton vt gladiatorum pugnas spectaret in Smaragdo He had an Emeraud in his ring that would giue to the eye the resemblances of things that were before it Wherfore when the masters of defēce came to play their prises he would beholde thē in his ring I wis he might haue discerned them better if he had loked on their own selues and not haue footed in a stone to sée thē But nothing can content the curious the flesh delighteth in hir own deuises Thus is it proued that Images do not according to Gregories mind teach but in al respects be vaine foolish if they did teach yet by the scripture and word of God such scholemasters are forbidden to vs. Now that they are honoured contrary to his minde experience of long time hath proued and the Popish doctrine hath confirmed For In Pontificali order is taken how they shal be hallowed First with exorcisme of water of salte then with hypocriticall blasphemous prayer afterward with sensing anoynting kyssing erecting and an hūdreth other most vile obseruances Priuyleges and pardons be graunted to them Candels and tapers be lighted afore them Much golde and Iewels are bestowed on them And leaste authoritie shoulde want to error in all their sayings in all their writings and in
their generall Counsels they haue confirmed the worshipping of them as in the seconde at Nice and that which was assembled at Rome by Gregorie the thirde But of these Idolatrous déedes and doctrines I shall haue occasion hereafter to entreate Suffiseth now that I haue shewed how the Diuel abuseth the works of God to his own purpose how Images haue crept into the Church how necssarily they are naught both by the word of God authority of good men condemned And sith they teache not otherwise than lies are notwithstanding honored to the shame of vs and derogation of gods glory they ought in generall to be remoued from the place of perill the place of Gods seruice We must not giue place to our owne reason we must not measure God with the line of our fansies but builde according to the plat layed before vs shew our thankfulnesse by obedience If we once giue place to our enimy which dayly doth assault vs I confesse with Martiall that we giue occasion of our owne fall If we be not circumspect and wise in Christ we shall vnwares be set vpon betrayed We sée how he suborneth his ministers by al crafty meanes to seduce vs if he can They were wont to say There is smal store of Saincts vvhen the Diuell carieth the Crosse But we may iustely suspect that there is small goodnesse in the Crosse when it is caried by the Diuell and hys Sainctes Martial much like to Virgils Sinon of whom he toke a president to make an artificial lye for thrée leaues together in his Preface telleth vndoubted trothes to the ende that the falshodes which folishly God wote he doth inferre may haue the more credit Note And vvhensoeuer I bring any of Martials allegations I note in the margent the leafe of his boke vvhere ye shall finde it after this sorte Fol. vvith a. or b. for the first or second page bycause it vvere vayne to recite more of his idle vvords vvhich might vvell increase the volume but cumber to much and lothe the reader Fol. 3. b. He beginneth then with a long processe hath cowched all his eloquence together to tell a good tale of his master the Diuell He labours busily about the which no man contendes with him of There he forgat the rule of Logique de Reciprocatione that is an ill argumēt which serueth both partes I graunt that Sathan hath gone about first by persecution feare afterward by fayre promises to make the moe to hang vpon him We haue had experience of this in some of his owne sect D. Harding whome these two Doctors feare of Death and hope of Promotion within the space of a moneth instructed more than in seauen yeres he could learne before We sée the trial of this in euery one of the new Colligioners of Louain who could be contented with all their heartes to reforme themselues vnlesse in their M. the Diuels seruice they feared on the one side a newe reuolte and rage of Antichrist and on the other side hoped to be byshoppes when the worlde should turne Rusticus expectat dum distuat amnis They knowe what followeth Nowe to turne the weapon on their owne heads Bycause the prouidence and mercy of our God hath frustrate their hope in their opinion to long they haue thought it best to make open warre against God and al honesty to sende for their frendes and summon their dicts in the lowe countreyes Thence haue procéeded the popish practises The smoky styrres that were blowen in Scotland The fyry factions inflamed in Fraunce The Pholish treason condemned in England The Popishe conspiracy attempted in Ireland that as it hath bene the olde wont and all the Religion of Romishe fathers to mayntayne by the sworde that rayne of Romulus first gotten by murder to sette sometime the a Irene against Cōstantine the syxte mother agaynst the sonne The b Henry the .4 againste Henry the .3 Emperours sonne against the father the c In England againste King Iohn and Henry the secōd people against the Prince So they might set realmes together by the eares and arme the subiects agaynst the Quéene themselues to be maintained in their pride and hipocrisie When this hath not taken the desired effecte God giuing wonderfull and glad successe to the noble furtherer of his worde and glory they haue thought it most gaynefull for them to come in with a newe battaile a battaile of bokes whereof some already be come into oure sighte and they say that more doe lye in ambushe Thankes be to God they shead no bloude though they breath nothing else but sedition and lies If it haue pleased God at any time to raise more notable instrumentes in his Church as Luther Zvvinglius Caluin were as Knokes Latymer and Cranmer haue bene to beate downe the walles of the malignant Church most of them with their bloud to beare witnesse to the truth then are they condemned of the Antichristians and with al words of beastlinesse and reproch slaundered But nowe they haue vttered themselues so farre their malice and impudence is so apparant that their tong in déede is no slaunder at all They were wont to saye that a man should not béelye the Diuell What shame is it then for M. Martiall to béelye the Saints Folio 6. b. as that the reformation at Berna should be vnder Zvvinglius where he neuer preached or had ought to doe The alteration of the state in Heluetia should be in the time of Luther his abbettors where as it chaunced almost CC. yeres before they were borne sub Bonifacio octauo That knowledge of the Gospell in England began in Latimer and Cranmers dayes whereas in King Henry the thirde his raigne An. 1374. not onely VVickleife and many in his time but also the King himself began as good matter of reformation as the Chronicles reporte But they will styll be like themselues And nowe M. Martiall brags of his masters armes recognisance in hys forehead Fol. 7. b. What it is that his forehead hath more than vnshamefastnesse I sée not what his tong hath we may al be witnesses the forward and faythfull profession of his master Ille homicida erat ab initio Ioan. 8. in veritate non extitit quia veritas in illo non est He was a manqueller from the beginning and abode not in the truth bicause there is no truth in him Wherfore dearly beloued although this Ape come forth with ten Articles in imitation of ten Commaundements yet God be thanked they neyther be the Commaundements therfore to be folowed nor articles of our faith therefore to be beleued But rather as in the processe it shall well appere euery one as he consters them swarues from the faith and therefore by commaundement we ought to beware of them iudge you indifferently I appeale to the conscience of euery Christian whether we auoiding the occasion of Idolatrye tende anye whit to Paganisme as