this parte You aske moreouer whether the religion or faith of the Protestantes was euer taught to anie nations in steede of true Christianitie I beseeche you examine well the doctrine of the Protestants and compare it with the doctrine of Christ of the Apostles of the primitiue churche and with the religion set foorth by the godlie writers whiche wrote about the time of Constantine or shortly after And if you can proue that we doe not in al pointes agree with the religion of Christ of the apostles as it is set down in the old and new Testament Choose what translation you will or that we consent not in all thinges concerning faith and the substance of the true doctrine which the auncient fathers as appeareth in their bookes a few erroures by them mainteined onelie excepted then wee will willingly yeelde ãâã you As for example I will note a fewe capitall pointes of religion because I will not wander in generalities First we confesse with them one waye to âe iustified and saued by which is by âââ free mercies of God graunted vs by thâ onely death passioÌ of Christ our onely Lord and Sauiour and that faith is the onely meanes and instrument to apprehend this our iustification and saluation That Christ is our Mediator both of redemption and intercession that we ought ââ pray onely vnto God not to anie Saints ââ parted and that in the name of Christ and not in the name of anie Angell or ââint whatsoeuer To praye for those that be aliue and not for those which bee deade That in the Lordes Supper according to his institution we doo spirituââly by faith feed vpon the body of Christ and that Sacrament truely and faithfully receiued as the remembraunce of the âeath and passion of Christ is a spirituall foode and sustenaunce vnto our soules and a pledge of eternall life to satisfie our consciences We say further that Christ his naturall body fleshe blood and bone is noâ in the Sacrament vnder the fourme of breade it being onely in heauen on the right hand of God according to the articles of our faith where in body he shall remaine vntill the day of iudgement though Christ our Sauiour as he is God in his diuine nature filleth all places and is with his children powring daily the abundance of his graces vpon them Lastly we say that man hath no free will of himselfe to doo anie good thing no not anie good thought but that it is God that worketh in vs both the will and also the deede according to his good pleasure euen of his free grace If you will either giue eare to the doctrine which we do preach or peruse the bookes which wee haue and doe write you shall see that the Protestantes did neuer vary one ynch from these pointes of true religion which I haue recited But because you make mencion of a knowne catholike Church it behoueth for that an Harlot may haue the countenaunce of an honest woman to distinguish betwixt the true church of God the counterfeit Church and to shew howe they both may be discerned and knowne Wee must needes auouch with the holy spirit of God that the true Church of Christ being the congregation and companie of the faithfull dispersed ouer the face of the whole earth is discerned and knowen by the woord of God For the true Sheepe doo heare the voice of their Pastor Christ Neither is there anie other signe or marke to knowe the Church of God sauing onely the Scriptures of God which are the treasurie of all truth For the citie of the Saintes and houshold of God as the Apostle saith is builded vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe Corner stone So then that is the true Catholike Church consecrated a spirituall Temple ãâã God which is guided and ruled by the doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets Therefore the Church of God is called the Spouse of Christ for that shee ought in al âinges to harken vnto the voyce of the âidegroome In like manner the church â as a piller which the Lord God hath â in the earth amongst men therein so to little his truth that all stormes and Tempests euen the gates of hell and all the fernall powers fighting against it yet shâ they not preuaile because shee stayeth â selfe onely vppon the woord of God aâ thereby stayeth others and therefore a gâly father saith The piller and strength â the Church is the Gospel and the spiâ of lyfe Likewise Saint Agustine saâther be certain books of our Lord vnâ the authoritie whereof ech part agreeth there let vs seeke for the Church therbâ let vs examine and try our matters An in the same Chapter I will saieth hee haue you to shew me the church not bâ the doctrines of men but by the woorâ of God. Saint Chrisostome saith it cannot by any means be known what is the true church but only by the scriptures ⪠what the counterfeit Church is it appereth by the promisses truely euen that Church which consisteth onely in outwarde shewe challenging authoritie ouer the woord and spirit of God prescribing a rule of woorshiping of God by her owne deuise without anie warrant of the woord of GOD which deuiseth other meanes to be saued by then onely Christ which feigneth that her faith can neuer faile notwithstanding ââe neuer aspired vnto the true faith of Christ but hath persecuted the same keeping the sonne of righteousnesse as vnder âââile or cloud not suffering him to shine in simple mens mindes and hartes by his holye Scriptures which are the keyes of knowledge the very power of God to saluation to as many as beleeue If we caÌnot vnderstaÌd the scriptures the fault is in vs and not in them As no man may coÌdemne the brightnes of the sonne because his eye is not able to sustaine the clearenes therof so the hardnes of the mistery which we can not sometimes coÌpasse or perfectly vnderstand in the scriptures ought not to take away froÌ vs the vse of the scriptures Now âââing you depende much vppon the aunciâââ doctors fathers I purpose for the satisfying of the reader to knit vp this diffeâââce betwixt the church of God and the counterfeite Synagogue of Sathan with these woords of S. Augustine Whether they haue the church or no let theÌ shew â the Canonicall bookes of the holy âriptures we must knowe the Church of âhrist euen as we likewise know Christ âhich is the head of the church in the caânical scriptures And what can be more âlaine then that which is spoken by the Euangelist Iohn disseuering the tâââ Church from the false the true Christiaâ from hipocrices and the faithful ministeâ and preachers of the Gospell from faâ prophets and counterfeit teachers in thâ fewe woordes Hereby shall ye knoâ the spirit of God euery spirit which câfesseth that Iesus Christ is come in thâ flesh is of
we faithfully râceiuing the visible and externall signes according to Christ his institution in remembraunce of his death and passion spirituaâly doe feed vpon the body of Christ aââ receiue the fruites of his death euen remission of our sinnes Other sacramentes we haue no warrant for in the worde of god These sacramentes were onely vsed by Christ and his Apostles and by all their true successours The sacramentes in the olde Testament vnto which anie promise was annexed were these two onely that is circumcision and the Passouer which doe rightly and aptly represent ãâã two sacramentes set forth in the newe âââament as Baptisme and the Lordes âââer which haue bene vsed alwaies âââe true Church euer since Christ and âââued of the auncient Fathers as the onely knowne sacramentes appoynted by ââârist So Augustine affirmeth That ãâã Lord the Apostles deliuered vnto âââewe sacraments in steede of manie ãâã the same to be most easie in doing âââst reuerend in vnderstandinge and in âââeruation most pure to wit the sacrameÌts of Baptisme the celebratioÌ of thâ sacrament of the body and blood of ouâ Lorde Likewise another sayth The sacramentes of Christ in the catholikâ Church are Baptisme and the bodâ and bloude of our Lorde Which sacramentes also and all the principle poynte of our true religion Constantine the Christian and godly Emperour and alâ his noble successours mightely defended and set forth the same The same Constantine was christened not by the Pope buâ by Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia noâ in a corner but in the presence of many other not popishe but Christian Bishopes Hee ouercame Licinium his sisters husbande who persecuted the Christians The same Constantine summoned a councell at Nice against that blasphemous heritike Arrius And as the historie saith the Emperour before named wrote vnto all the rulers of the Churches that they shoulde be at Nice by a day to the Bishop of the Apostolicke sea to Macarius Bishope of Hierusalem and to Iulius the bishope of Rome In that flourishing time liued sundry godly writers whose bookes nowe extant doe shewe that they embracced the same faith and religion which we at this day do professe touching the Sacramentes iustification by faith onely inuocation to God alone saluation onely by Christ and all other chiefe poyntes of doctrine whose workes if your Romish Church had kept inuiolable and had not corrupted as you did in like manner with the Canonicall books of the Bible you might haue learned a difference betwixt trueth and errour And if you would yet hearken to the doctrine which they doe deliuer they will teach you that your Romish church is a cage of vncleane birdes and that your religion is mingled with all heresies though you charge others with the same fault and that you haue no true discipline but rather crueltie no principall pastor sauing Antichrist no officers but Blood-suckers and no Churche in deede but the Sinagogue of Sathan that cruell mother whiche will needes haue the Childe to be cutte in peeces which spareth no Sexe or kinde no Infant though it bee in the mothers belly no hoare heade nor aged person finally your church hath no truth but falshood and iâ wholly imbamed with the heresies of aâ ages You take parte with the Iewes anâ Pagans you care not with whome yoâ shake handes so it be not with Christ or his holy Gospell vnto which you doo beare â deadly hate And yet you stand vpon youâ reputation and would haue men to beleeuâ you whatsoeuer you speake Whereas you call our Church A contemptible vnknowne close and secret company at thiâ day the Lord be thanked the greater partâ of Europe besides the countries I spakâ of before doo ioyne together with vs iâ one truth of doctrine I would haue yoâ to prooue by the worde of God for youâ wordes bee no warrant to auenturâ our soules vppon your Romish Church to bee the auncient and true Catholike Church and to professe the same faith and doctrine truely which Christ his Apostles left behinde them and that which was in the time of those godly Emperours of Rome and a long tyme after or that Christ did promise to leaue such a Church as should haue onâ generall and chiefe Pastor to sit in iudgement to punish offendors and to call a generall councell to try the truth or else we cannot ioyne with you against God and against his sonne Christ For we acknowledge no other principall Pastor but Christ Iesus whom the heauens must conteine vntill the time that all thinges be restored which God hath spokeÌ by the mouth of al his holy prophets since the world began who neuerthelesse is euer present with his Church Papist 7 AGaine I require of the Protestant to declare by good histories or by reasonable likelyhod when the true church as they account theirs to be decaied or in what yeare the religion of the Papistes came in and preuailed Whether all their true Church was so soundly sleeping that none would preach against it euen at the tyâe when it first entred Whether all nations sodeinly and in one yeare were mooued vnto the doctrine of the Papistes no one man of all their true âhurch either preaching teaching wriâââg nor attempting any thing against it â making mention of it Whether all âââkes of seruice were altered Whether ãâã a moment the masse was sayed in steede of their Apostolike communion Whether sodenly men began to pray for soules departed sodenly required the helpe of Saintes in heauen sodeinly the tongue of common praier was altered Tell me in what yeare of our Lorde vnder what Emperour vnder what Pope vppon what occasion this merueilous mutation was made by whome all these thinges were wrought who preached against it what storie maketh mention of it who of al your Pastoures preached against it Was Goddes Churche so voyde of the spirite of truth and strength that euen then when it most flourished it had none that durste open his mouth agaynst suche corruption of religion at the firste entering in of it and when it mighte soone haue beene repressed If it coulde not haue bene stayde tell me in what yeare of our Lorde this mutation was made and who of the true Preachers withstode our doctrine and yf wee note you not by the names euerye one of your captaines and the seuerall errours whiche they taught and the time and yeare when they rose against the receiued truth and the councels wherein they were orderly condemned If I say this canne bee doone on your side towards vs and wee do it not for improofe of your Church and religion I recante And for that purpose because the gouernement of the Bishoppes of Rome is moste misliked of them And yet moste notoriously knowne by euery Historie let them note the Pope that first brake of the course of his forefathers beliefe and Regiment in anie Articles of faith or necessarie Christian vsage And I recant Answeare 7. MY meaning is not to
scriptures of the Lawe and of the Gospell accursed be he Whether you haue receiued it by tradition by succession by Councell or by your elders Let âs I beseeche you neither dallie with God nor dissemble with the worlde âet vs neither bee led by selfe will nor âe blinded by our owne affections Let no friend be he neuer so deare vnto vs holde vs backe nor anie remora or stop stay vs from seeking this trueth vnfainedlie where it is to be found wee haue but a short race to runne in ⪠our iourney draweth to an ende we haue a great accompt to make euen before the great iudge who knoweth al secretes the day approcheth which wil be gloming fearfull and terrible except we present our selues before him with a cleare conscience haue on our marriage garment Therefore tender your owne saluation seeke the glorie of GOD come out of Sodom with Lot looke not backe with Lottes wife least you perish Nowe is the accepted time nowe is the day of saluation nowe doeth God offer his graces vnto you if you will embrace the same It is lamentable that you shoulde separate your selfe from GOD sithe hee hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner but rather that hee shoulde repent and amende Call to remembrance euen the principall pointes of your Romish religion and you shall see howe weake a foundation it is to builde vppon You seeke to bee iustified not by faith in the mercies of GOD offered in Christ Iesus but by your owne workes ând your meritorious deedes and therây you vtterlie reiecte the death and âassion of Iesus Christ For if anie âing had beene in man whereby hee âould haue satisfied the wrath of God and haue attained perfect reconciliation with GOD what shoulde Christ neede to haue taken vpon him our nature and to haue suffred such grieuous torments for our sinnes Nay rather you ought to say that seeing mankinde was destitute of all hope of saluation seeing that man was by nature the childe of wrath not able to deserue the least of Gods mercies being adiudged to hell âre except hee could fulfill the Lawe which was impossible for him to do Sathan being the accuser and God the iust iudge man had bene altogether remedilesse vnlesse Iesus Christ had wrought his redemption in his own body had âustained that punishment whiche was âue vnto man for sinne You say That âur sins are forgiuen vs that we are deliâered from the same not onely by the Popes âardons whom you cal God in earth but also ây holie water made by your owne brayne As one of your principall Doctours saith It is no vaine inuention saieth he that we hallowe water with salt and prayers that by the sprinkling thereof our sinnes may bee forgiuen And so saith Platina That Alexander the first Pope of that name ordeined water mixt with salt to be hallowed and to be kept in churches and priuate houses to chase away diuels and euill spirites not onelie out of houses where they dwell but also out of the heartes of the faithfull Marke I pray you howe contrarie the doctrine of your Churche of Rome is to the vndouted word of god Esai the Prophet speaking of Christ doeth say that hee was wounded for our sinnes he was broken for our iniquities the chastisemeÌt of our peace was laid vpon him and by his stripes we are healed So S. Iohn saieth Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world S. Peter also saith That there is saluation in none other for among men there is giuen none other name vnder heauen whereby we must be saued Likewise Saint Iohn saieth That the bloud of Iesus Christ doeth purge vs ârom all sinne So that by these testimoâies of the holy Ghost it euidentlie apâeareth that neither pardon nor holie âater neither anie other deuise of man iâ able to procure the forgiuenesse of our sinnes at the hands of God but onlie Iesus Christ being a faithfull witnesse the first begotten of the dead and Prince of the kings of the earth who hath loued vs âashed vs from our sinnes in his own bloud You say that the Masse is a propiciatorie âacrifice for the quicke and the dead yet Saint Iohn saith that Iesus Christ is the pââpiciatioÌ for the sinnes of the whole world that is of all those that beleeue Againe Christ by one sacrifice of him selfe once offred hath made perfect for euer those that be sanctified There is no mencion made of your Masse either in the olde or new Testament and it being compared with the institution of our Sauiour Christ in his last supper which Saint Paule doth âall the communion of the bodie and bloud âf Christ they differ as much as blacke ând white light and darknesse heauen ând hell You affirme that the soules of âuch as haue not made full satisfaction for their sinnes here in this life do after their death goe into Purgatorie fire as you call it a place by the iudgement of your owne writers of as great torments as hell fire it selfe and no difference betwixt them but that the one endureth for a time and the other for euer And in that fire the sillie soules must remaine vntill they bee deliuered from thence by your trentals of Masses but for euerie Trentall your Priest must haue x. s. so that the poore which haue no siluer to giue must lie still for no pennie no Pater noster Marke nowe howe this doctrine agreeth with the doctrine of Christ and of the Apostles Christ saith He that beleeueth in me hath life euerlasting and shal neuer see death but shall passe from death vnto life Hee saieth not He shall go when hee is dead vnto purgatorie The Euangelist saith Blessed are those that die in the Lord for froÌ henceforth saith the holie Spirit they rest from their labours If they be in rest then not in Purgatorie For there is litle rest or ease by your owne confession And for that you blinde the worlde in perswading them that some men are able â make full satisfaction for their sinnes in âis life It is a perillous and a most daungerous doctrine and doeth make the satisfaction of Christ of no force Compare this your assertion with the worde of God and you shall see ⪠howe ântrue it is The Apostle Paule saieth âhat God hath made Christ vnto vs wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption The theefe that had no time to make satisfaction was pertaker of the righteousnesse of Christ vnto whom Christ saide not Thou shalt goe into Purgatorie but thou shalt bee with âee this day in Paradise Lazarus who was in the same case was not carried into Purgatorie but into Abrahams bosome What shall I speake of your inuocating or calling on Sainctes of your prayers for the dead of the authoritie of your Church of Rome of your prayârs and seruice in an vnknowen
foresaide states in their gouernement and ministerie And if he can proue vnto me that their Churche hath neuer lacked the same appointed officers or that anie other Churche or congregation besides oures hath alwayes kept that charge and I recant Answeare TRuth it is that Christ gaue some to be Apostles some Prophetes some Euangelistes some Pastoures and teachers but where doe you reade that our Sauiour Christe euer promised all these functions to continue successiuely to the worldes end Shew vnto me anie which was called apostle or prophet after Christ his Apostles Saint Paule the blessed Apostle maketh mentioÌ of false Apostles which alwaies withstood the doctrine of the Gospell maintained the ceremonies of the Lawe and the inuentions of their owne braine and set them selues opposite vnto the true Apostles and if you will claime your succession from them I will easily agree vnto you There hath bene Preachers and teachers at all times saue onely when they haue bene kept vnder by your tyrannie which haue preached Gods truth and reproued your grosse Idolatrie whom your Church hath alwaies persecuted vnto death and euen vntill this time there hath bene and are Christians in Graecia and Asia which haue euerâââe and doe yet vtterly detest the Pope the head of your Church with all your deâââs and traditions But shewe mee in one place I pray you of the Scripture where euer Christ promised anie such succession to continue in all ages Yâ were so that the truth of Gods worde â the functions in Gods Church should âceed alwaies by ordinary succession tâ you had a good foundation to builde yâ succession vpon Then Christ our Sauiâ by right should not haue controuled â Scribes and Pharesies which satâ Moses chaire which bragged of succeâon as well as you doe saying We are the seed of AbrahaÌ we are the disciplâ of Moses vnto vs God hath made â promisses as for Christ we knowe nâ from whence he came And therefâ they asked Christ By what power he dâ such thinges who gaue him that auâthoritie and so they might very well haâ said in respect of their outward successioâ For so Annas and Caiphas were Bysâops aswell as Aaron But that warniâ and admonicion which Saint Paule gaâ vnto the congregation of Ephesus toucâing succession might satisfie you I know this saith he that after my departingeâ there shal greuous Woolues enter in amoung you not sparing the flocke moreouer of your owne selues shall mâ arise speaking peruerse thinges And againe he saith That true faith cometh not by succession but by hearing not the Bishoppe of Rome but the worde God. Yf Christ had appoynted anie such succession would he haue forewarned vs that desolation of abhomination should sit âââhe holy place and that Antichrist should ââârude him selfe into the roome of Christ If you looke well about you you haue no cause to glory in succession for that by your writers sufficient is spoken to discredit your succession for one saith That many Popes haue fallen into heresies that Hildebrand in whose time defection froÌ the faith tooke place was charged by a generall councell to be an adulterer a Churchrobber a periured person a maâqueller a sorcerer and an apostata Another calleth the Popes monsters and ãâã shapen creatures If your heade and chiefe of your Church be such what shall we iudge of the rest I wil take for proofe of your succession euen the confessioÌ of Pope âdrian the fourth Succedimus non Peâââo in pascendo sed Romulo in parriciâââo We succeede saith he not Peter in âââeding but Romulus in killing To be ââât what auaileth the succession of your Church vnlesse you coulde prooue that she hath alwayes mainteined the doctrine of Christ For Saint Augustine saith Thaâ many doo giue the outward marke of a Byshop to wolues and be wolues them selues That the truth of Gods woord maâ be the touchstone of lawfull succession giuâ eare to the godly councell of a learned father It becommeth vs saith he to obeâ those Priestes in the Church which hauâ their succession from the Apostles anâ together with the succession of their Bishoprikes according to the good wil oâ God the father haue receiued the vndoubted gift of the truth An other being pressed with the like succession saith If any of my predecessors haue not obserued and kept the same that our Lorâ hath taught vs both by his example anâ also by his commaundement his simplicitie may be pardoned but we if we doâ the like can hope for no pardon beinâ now admonished and instructed of ouâ Lord. And comparing all other Churcheâ with the primatiue âhurch the same fathâ saith If the pipes of the conduit whicâ before ran with abundance happen â faile do we not vse to search to the heaâ The Pristes of God keeping Gods commaundementes must doo the same that if the truth haue fainted or failed in any point we returne to the original of our Lord and to the tradition of the Gospel and of the Apostles that thence wee may take the discretion of our dooings from whence the order it selfe and originall first began Thus muche concerning the succession of your Church hauing no warrant by Gods woorde Papist 6. AND for the necessarie vse and execution of the foresaide offices they must further bee asked what sacraments the ProtestaÌts ministred for the space of a M. yeares together in which they confesse their congregation to haue beene neare or wholly hidde what correction or discipline they kept for offendors to whom they did preache their heresies Where did ãâã principall pastor sitte in iudgement âââre did they gather as in a councell âââye the trueth in doubtfull matters Hââe might Christian men iustelie ofâââd with some of their Bretheren haue sought out your officers or congregation to make complaint of him or how if it lacked any man to haue beene baptized of them or to haue receiued the communion of them or haue ioyned them selues in faith and religion vnto them How might I say that coâtemptible and vnknowne companie haâ beene found out in this case If therefoâ you can shewe me that euer anie man sougâ iustice or knowledge of truth sacramentâ faith or anie helpe of saluation at the Proâstants secret and close Church or anie othâ where else but of Gods knowne Catholâ Church And I recant Aunsweare 6. TOuching Sacramentes we finâ two appoynted expresly by the worâ of God namely Baptisme and the Lorâ Supper The one doeth signifie our neâ birth and regeneration that as by watâ the filthe of the body is washed cleane through faith in the bloud of Christ oâ soules are clensed from all sinne and wâ are incorporat and ingraffed into the bâ of Christ and made members of his boâ of which he is the onely head the other doâ put vs in remembraunce that Christ Iâsus is our spiritual foode and sustenaunâ that he is the celestial Manna which came downe from Heauen and