Christ the onely begotten Sonne of God and borne of the Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light true God of true God begotten not made of the same substance with the Father by whom all things were made who for vs Men and for our saluation came downe from Heauen and was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Marie and was made Man was crucified for vs vnder Pontius Pilate suffered and was buried and rose againe the third day according to the Scriptures and ascended vp into Heauen sitteth at the right hand of the Father and he shall come againe with glory to iudge both the Liue and the Dead of whose Kingdome there shall bee no end And in the holy Ghost our Lord and giuer of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne who with the Father and the Sonne is together adored and conglorified who spake by the Prophets And one holy Catholique and Apostolike Church I confesse one Baptisme for the remission of sinnes and I expect the resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come Amen I doe most stedfastly admit and embrace the Traditions of the Apostles and of the Church and all other obseruances and Constitutions of the same Church I doe likewise admit the holy Scripture according to that sense which our holy Mother the Catholike Church hath holden and doth hold vnto whom it doth appertaine to iudge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures neither will I euer vnderstand nor interpret the same otherwise then according to the vniforme consent of the Fathers I doe also professe that there be truly and properly seuen Sacraments of the new Law instituted by Iesus Christ our Lord and necessarie for the saluation of Mankind although they be not necessarie for all men to wit Baptisme Confirmation Euchariste Penance Extreme Vnction Order and Matrimony and that these Sacraments doe giue Grece and that of them Baptisme Confirmation and Order cannot bee reiterated without Sacriledge I doe also receiue and admit all the receiued and approoued Ceremonies of the Catholike Church in the solemne administration of all the aforesaid Sacraments I doe embrace and receiue all and euery of those things which in the holy Councell of Trent haue been defined and declared touching Originall sinne and Iustification I doe professe also that in the Masse is offered vnto God a true proper and propitiatorie Sacrifice for the Liue and Dead and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar there is truly really and substantially the body and blood together with the Soule and Diuinitie of our Lord Iesus Christ and that there is made a Conuersion of the whole substance of Wine into the Blood which Conuersion the Catholique Church doth call Transubstantiation I doe also confesse that vnder either kind onely is receiued Christ whole intire and the true Sacrament I doe constantly hold that there is Purgatorie and that the soules which be there detained are holpen by their Prayers of the faithfull Also that the Saints who reigne together with Christ are to bee worshipped and called vpon and that they offer vp prayers to God for vs and that their Reliques are to be worshipped I doe most stedfastly affirme that the Images of Christ of the Mother of God alwaies Virgin and of other Saints are to bee had and receiued and that due honour and reuerence is to be giuen to them I doe affirme that the authority of Indulgences was left by Christ in the Church and that the vse of them is very behoofefull for Christian people I doe acknowledge the holy Catholique and Apostolique Romane Church to be the Mother and Mistresse of all Churches and doe promise and sweare true obedience to the Bishop of Rome who is the Successour of Saint Peter Prince of the Apostles and the Vicar of Iesus Christ All other things defined and declared by the holy Canons and Oecumenical Councels and chiefly by the holy Councell of Trent I do vndoubtedly receiue and professe And also all contrary things and whatsoeuer heresies condemned reiected and accursed by the Church I likewise doe condemne reiect and accurse This true Catholique Faith without which no man can be saued which now I doe willingly professe and hold I the same I. N. doe promise vow and sweare to hold and confesse most constantly by Gods helpe intire and vncorrupted euen to the last end of my life and to procure as much as shall lye in meâ— that my subiects or those of whom I shall haue care in my office shall accordingly teach and preach the same So God me helpe and these holy Gospels of God A Table of the Manuscript bookes vrged in this Booke BOston of Burie his Alphabeticall Catalogue of Manuscript bookes gathered out of 195. seuerall places lent me by the most Reuerend my Lord of Armagh MS. Basil the first Volume of the Acts and Sermons of the Councell of Basil now in Ballioll Colledge in Paper MS. Bas 2. The second Volume also in Paper that were sometimes bookes belonging to Durham Colledge in Gascoignes time MS. Bacon Rogeri Bacon operis minoris pars tertia MS. in the Archiues of the publike Librarie A. 68. Lincoln MS. Epistolae Rob. Grostheadi Lincoln Episcopi MS. G. 8. 8. Phil. Repingdon MS. Sermones eiusdem MS. in Bibliotheca Coll. Lincoln Tho. de Bracley Sermones MS. 30. MS. * MS. 43. MS. 21. MS. 0. MS. 29. MS. 9. MS. 38. MS. 51. MS. 7. All these fore-recited bookes were lent me very courteously by Master Hen. Parry Batchelor of Diuinitie of C. C. C. in Oxford they were in sight and shew very neglected bookes rusty dusty and sometimes vncouered and torne but they yeeld many good obseruations as you may find in the booke it selfe they are namelesse almost all of them but not worthlesse and vnpossible to be counterfeited by vs being written many hundred of yeares before our times as the writing shewes and are all giuen to the Publike Librarie and are there to be read of all men MS. Ignatius a Manuscript Ignatius in Latine of great Antiquitie in Ballioll Colledge in Oxford MS. Dunelm de visione Bosonis extant in Master Heggs hands Master of Arts of C. C. C. Tho. Gascoigne Dictionarium Theologicum in two Volumes Manuscript in Lincolne Colledge in Oxford Extracts out of the Tower fairely and largely transcribed by the industrie and care of Master Noye of Lincolnes Inne a great Antiquarie of the Law MS. Registrum MS. A Register of Acts and Epistles in the hands of Master Thomas French Register to the Vniuersitie MS. A. A Manuscript in Magdalen Colledge in Oxford wherein are contained diuers peeces of Antiquity the booke came from the Monasterie of S. Marie-ouereis to Master Iohn Fox the Writer of the Booke of Martyrs and by his sonne was giuen with diuers other good Manuscripts to the same Colledge MS. C. Another Manuscript Chronicle in Magdalen Colledge Ran. Higden Polychronicon Manuscript in Ballioll Colledge the largest and fairest
no otherwise then the Tree is discerned by the Fruite GOod workes owe their being to faith without which it is impossible for any man to bee pleasing or any worke to be acceptable to God in Christ This faith which is the basis of our religious workes and the all-good of a Christian must not be an idle vaine cadauerous and dead faith Non entis nulla sunt qualitates it must be a liuing working and operatiue faith and thus euery faithfull soule being iustified by grace and watred with Gods holy spirit bringeth forth fruite abundantly in his due season and the argument holdeth both in the affirmatiue such a one hath true faith ergo he wil bring forth good workes and negatiuely it may be said such a one hath no faith or no liuely faith ergo he hath no workes or no profite by his Workes And last of all in the last day of iudgement when the sheep shall be discerned from the goats the faithfull from the reprobate the elect as we know and all confesse shall bee iudged although not propter opera yet secundum opera not for but according to their workes then Christ shall say vnto them Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world For I vvas an hungred and ye gaue me meat I was thirstie and yee gaue me drinke I was a stranger and ye tooke me in c. And they shall answer againe in effect These good works were thy gift and these thy gifts thou doest crowne in vs Not vnto vs not vnto vs vnto thy name bee the glory The 32. Article BIshops Priests and Deacons are not commanded by Gods Law either to vow the estate of single life or to abstaine from marriage Therefore it is lawfull also for them as for all other Christian men to marry at their own discretion as they shall iudge the same to serue better for godlinesse This Article explained and maintained by Papists WE will by Gods grace handle this question partly Historically shewing that Priests haue bene married and partly Theologically prouing that they haue a liberty to marry as well as all other Christian men Historically thus FIrst in the old Testament all the Prophets were married sans quaestion and as little doubt is to bee made of the Apostles in the new of Peter the case is manifest in the Scripture and yet the place that sheweth it is blotted out in a late writer of Paul we haue a plaine constat out of Ignatius Epistle that place is likewise corrupted in an old Ms. Ignatius with vs belike to iustifie Bellarmines bold assertion saying that it is not found in the Manuscript copies but who told him so I haue not seene many but those that I haue viewed either haue or had Paul named written at large Of Lucas e Platina saith expressely vxorem habuit in Bythinia Lucas had a wife with him in Bythinia this place hath passed the censure of our Inquisitors and the later Edition if I be not mistaken read vxorem non habens in Bythinia he had no wife with him in Bythinia There was some such motion in the Primitiue times that Priests should be remoued from their wiues but this was against the will of the Fathers in generall and good Paphnutius in speciall by the testimony of Theodoretus and Sozomen but the witnesses now will acknowledge no such matter if you may haue your will for the storie is twise cancelled at the least in Zuingers great Theater Pynitus one that liued not long after was admonished that he should not lay so heauy a burden vpon his weake brethren a burden indeed that neither they nor their successours were euer able for to beare Iohn Byshop of Leodium tooke a wife and left his Bishopricke k Adolph Archbishop of Coleyn was married and left his Archbishopricke one Boso an old grandsire in our English stories had a vision for at that time it could not bee saide there was no vision nor Prophet in England and in that vision he saw a plaine field I know not how many miles long and yet there were none there but Priests wiues He is but meanly versed amongst our English Chroniclers that knoweth not that Priests were commonly married in England before Anselmes time and there was no generall prohibition of them in the West Church till Gregory the seuenth and as facts are sometimes to bee measured by their euents what followed this strict prohibition But the abhominable sinne of Sodomie in England Adulteries incests rauishments of mens wiues and daughters and what not amongst their religious Friars Clarkes Monckes Seculars Priests and others In somuch that it was enacted for a law among their Canons that hee that had not a wife might in stead of her haue a Concubine and accordingly they did compell their Parish Priests to keepe a Concubine and vnlesse he had one at the least they would not suffer him to liue amongst them was not here good stuffe And yet neuerthelesse the East Church neither then nor now to this present day receiued this doctrine into their Church but left them free to marrie at their owne discretions as commeth now in the next place to be shewed Theologically thus ALl proofes in diuinity are either diuine taken out of the word of God or humane as the Lawyers call them Semi-probationes or halfe proofes drawne from the testimonies of men or traditions of the Church which are not binding but of a fallible nature Againe diuine proofes are either plaine in the literall sence of the Scripture or hidden and latent in the Allegoricall interpretation of the wordes whereout no sound argument can be deducted as most Diuines know To accommodate and apply that which hath beene saide to our present Article What more plaine and in expresse words can there be alleaged in defence of Priests marriage then that of the Apostle t Propter fornicationem vitandam vxorem habeat vnusquisque To auoyd fornication let euery man haue his wife But if my obseruation faile me not as you haue since diuorced men from their wiues so your tormentors of books haue diuorced this sentence of S. Pauls either out of the body or the margent of your Bibles Let me say vnto you as Gamaliel did to the Jewes If this prohibition of yours be of God it will doubtlesse preuaile but if it be not from him the contrary doctrine will take place will you nill you I know it is obiected by some that in one of the Nicene Synods there was a Canon published enioyning Cleargy men perpetuall chastity but what saith the Auctour an ancient Mannuscript where this obiection is read how can this Canon of the Church bee of force against vs that were neither present in person nor consenting by our voyces to the making thereof Thus farre my olde Manuscript
better Grant from Christ Jesus the true Emperour of the whole World on whose thigh is written this diuine Impresa Rex regum Dominus Dominantium the proofes taken out of the Scripture the Protestants Carde in diuers places of the New Testament and some out of the Old as Matth. 16. Thou art Peter and vpon this Peter will I build my Church And againe To thee Peter will I giue the Keyes c. and againe Ecce duo gladij two Swords at once to signifie two Empires either of them two-edged as well to stablish the Empire in the person of Peter as to cut off all opposites and all knots and difficulties that are incident vnto these controuersies Touching Thou art Peter and Vpon this Peter c. vnlesse they get more by their Salt-peeter as they are Deuils in the Vault then by their Peter they are not likely to get much for the Popes either temporall or spirituall power out of this place you must make your Peter either the Rocke of Faith or the Rocke of Christ or else you dash against so many worthy and famous Writers of your own as against so many rockes â— Ferâ—â—s Erasmus and Faber besides sundry others of your Worthies interpret the words of the Rocke of Faith or the Rocke the Word that is Christ You cannot better these Schollers nor this expositions and furthermore let me informe you Peters Faith was not personall but common to him with the rest of the Apostles For that which is vrged of the Keyes much may be said of that also out of your owne Writers but nothing that will doe you good Ferus and Faber in the places aboue named the one giueth these Keyes to the Church the other vnto faith Concerning that which is obiected out of the Gospell Ecce duo gladij I may very well say vnto them as Christ did vnto Peter Put vp your Swords the controuersie is ended for ought I know thus writeth the Commenter vpon Guntherus by occasion of these words Gladijs quae rite duobus Nitiâ—ur He seemeth quoth hee to follow the commentitious opinion of the Schoole-Diuines who doe not so much interpret as subuert the words of Christ of two Swords as they doe all other that appertaine vnto this heauenly Phylosophy against the example of his life which is our best precept against the doctrine of the blessed Apostles and so many thousands of Martyrs and the whole streame of ancient Interpreters commenting vpon this place In these few words Behold two Swords say they full wisely God wot one for the Emperour the other for the Church and yet would they be pleased to hearken vnto Christ he would informe them that his Kingdome is not of this World and the Apostle semblably Our weapons are not carnall but power full vnto God c. Which latter words aswell as the former are obiected against Hildebrand by Conrade Bishop of Traiâ—ct at a meeting of all the Bishops of Cermany and France at Gaâ—stâ—ng reproching him very worthily for going about with his double or two-edged sword to riuet open and vnfold the obscure places of both Testaments Thus you see plainely that the edge of both your Swords are well abated If you list to trie a venny or two at foynes for at sharpe you cannot Sigebertus and Trithemius haue beaten these Swords about your eares as one Gerochus in Auentine is bold to put you in mind that this double or two-edged Sword is giuen to saue and quicken vs and not to kill he vnderstandeth this Sword spiritually of the Word of God the life and light of men that is able by its power to raise dead men to life to make gods of men and to conuert and turne mortalitie into immortalitie Thus farre Io Auentine so much and so often commended by your Papists though you haue taken away his iust commendations quo iure quáue iniuria I know not But the best is Albertus Krantzius as good a Writer as hee giues this censure of your two Swords The Romane BB. were come now to take that state vpon them which our Temporall Princes saith he call presumption as to create Princes citing for themselues Peters words that was first Bishop after Christ Behold here are two Swords against which our Temporall Princes oppose the words of Christ Put vp thy Sword into thy sheath interpreting it of the materiall carnall and temporall Sword as if it were not lawfull for the Pope to vse that to his purpose And thus hauing put vp your Swords and shewed out of your owne best Writers that these Keyes will not serue to open the way to any forraine Iurisdiction we cleaue fast to the Rocke Christ or faith and doe certainely beleeue that the Pope hath no temporall Iurisdiction either in this Land or any other Country out of the New Testament as little helpe is there out of the places of the old for in this very question you would be accounted like the good Housholder in the Gospel that haue both old new in store for vs. The places cited by you are two in number and none in effect The first is taken out of Deut. 17. He that shall refuse to obey the commandement of the Priest by the decree of the Iudge shall die the death This argument being taken out of a corrupt reading in your Bibles ex for and well amended in your Clement Bibles as I haue shewed elsewhere let it stand by a while while we examine that other of planting and displanting planting Gods Word and displanting errors and not Kingdomes which I could prooue very sufficiently out of the ancient Manuscripts but I content my selfe onely for the present with that Exposition which the Councell of Basil giueth of these words answerable to my former words and contrary to your vnwonted exposition And thus hauing extinguished the Popes pretenced right let vs take a full suruay of him his doctrine life manners and actions towards God and towards men Some things seeme otherwise then they are all is not Gold that glistereth all are not of the best that are called so Popes may be sainted and canonized here vpon earth whose soules frie in Hell fire I know as once Lil. Greg. Gyraldus said that it were better for me to hold my peace and to commend their many abominations and manifold abuses vnto Harpocrates or the Lady Silence for else I must looke to be cursed with Bell Booke and Candle but iacta est alea I am resolued to goe on in my intended courses to intreate first of their wicked and accursed liues and then of their hereticall and damnable positions and doctrines speaking no more then others haue done before mee of your owne side some of them of great marke and eminencie I trust I shall find fauour both with God and men both Papists and Protestants or if the worst come to the worst I hope I shall haue a pardon of course
the young man started vp and if this bee not true the Sea burnes Would you know what became of this wonder-working Iudas He was baptized not long after by the name of Quiriacus and in time anno nullo regnante nemine the time certainely cannot be assigned was made Bishop of Ierusalem and was put to death by Iulian the Emperour after most exquisite torments This Quiriacus vpon intreatie of the same Empresse was so happy as to find out the Nayles wherewith our Sauiour was crucified glistering in the ground as it were any gold How Helena disposed of them I leaue to Gregorius Turonensis and other Fablers to informe you for my part I beleeue neither part nor parcell of this Story as it is here related though I doe not denie but such Nailes might be found and perhaps stucke in Constantines Helmet and one of them was throwne into the Hadriatique Sea which hath been the quieter euer since neuer a whit yet all this will not make me beleeue that the Feast of the Inuention of the Crosse commonly called Holy-roode day tooke its originall from this Iudas Helena That which I inferre out of all this long and tedious legendarie Storie let the Papists ecclesiasticate and magnifie it neuer so much is that there is no certaintie either of the one or of the other Next touching the parts and parcels of the Virgin Maries Sepulchre I will not say that these are as certaine as her assumption or her houses transumption both which are written in the backside of my Creed but I will say confidently and peremptorily that the Councel of Trent hath long since condemned these fopperies and vanities and it will be now high time for vs to leaue them But perhaps there may bee a good constat for the Apostles Reliques Nay nay they may goe with the rest the Disciples are not aboue their Master Christ or their Mistrisse the Lady Marie Queene of Heauen and Empresse of the whole World But of these Polâ—dore Virgil said long agoe I doe not beleeue his words for Gospell you know how he is iustly censured both by Protestants and Papists that said Tam certo scio c. but I beleeue it coniecturally that there are very few that can tell vs where the very bones of the Apostles lye vnlesse they lie themselues It would make a Horse breake his bridle to runne ouer two or three lists of Reliques that I find registred in a Masse-booke from Exeter the Antiquities of Glaston and the third of the Reliques of Saint Cuthbert in Durham and did we but peruse all the Reliquiaries in the World how much more of these sleights and cousenages in ordine ad Deum would come to light How many heads hands and toes should we find that each of them had as if they had been Monsters in Nature bicipites or tricipites two-headed or three-headed and more fingered then some mightie men in the Bible But I know you will obiect that though all the World may bee deceiued in discerning the Apostles bones yet the Apostolicall Church of Rome cannot deceiue nor be deceiued I pray say not so for this were to take from God and giue vnto your Romaine Church bringing Romaine in steed of Catholike into the Creed I haue read in a good Historian that our Romans were deceiued in carrying another mans bones instead of Saint Bartholmewes bones to Rome the Author is Crantzius his Religion Popish Thus haue you been deceiued in worshipping Saint Michaels skull and these cousening Knaues that made not righteousnesse great gaine but a gaine of righteousnesse and a prey of Religion shewed you this and that for filthy lucres sake some butcher or harlotry fellowes shares instead of Beckets whom yee haue sainted long since and I know who hath dis sainted him very lately and you know and allowing besides when he was first declared to be a traytor and his bones publikely burned by the Hangman Yea you haue worshipped some mens bones that were hanged by the common Bureno and sometimes the bones of Asses and brute beastes instead of men your blind deuotion hath reached not onely to the worshipping of ashes and bones but of smockes and shirts and breeches and shoes and I know not what yea the very excrements I meane the hayres of the head which hath been so highly accounted of you that you haue made more reckoning of one little sinew or ragge of some blind Saint then of the whole body of the greatest Soueraigne in the World Yea I feare to say it but you feare not both to speake it and beleeue it most blasphemously you confide as much in the blood of some Saints as you doe in the blood of our Sauiour Time would and my promise bindeth mee to make good my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but since the Papists cannot shew me any true certaine Reliques but such as must be maintained either sola fide onely by faith which is the Protestantes Cape or by tradition onely which is the errour of the Iewes and most Papists and the very sinew that knits the scattered parts of their religion together to the Church and the Church to the Pope and that is a very Gordian knot which as strong as it is Ant de Dominis that Caiaphas or high Priest with vs for a yeare or two hath cut a sunder and giuen full sore against his will such a blow to our fantasticks and Rome-gadders or Relique-worshippers that they will hardly be in any state of health to go to this present Iubilee but if needs they will bee trudging let them well consider into what dangers they run that thus run their Countries with hazard of liues wiues losse of goods and good manners and last of all of God and true comfort in Christ and because in changing their places they change not their faces nor alter their natures but are as impudent in the one as they are obstinate and peeuish in the other I would wish them to stay at Rome when they are once there if they returne let it be at their owne perill praedictum est caue if the Praemonere take not place I am sure the Praemunire will and here I leaue them Of Funerals and Diriiges OF these Funerals and Diriges I haue little to say because Erasmus Rhenanus Wicelius and others before me of their owne side haue scored vp their abuses in cousening men with a tale of Robin Hood or of some hood or other of Dominick or Francis which is able to send them streight to Heauen so that they shall neuer need to goe by the way of Purgatorie prouided perhaps that they bee truly contrite for mis-giuing their lands from their wiues and children vpon these Gorbellies and Lasie-bones no there is no such matter prouided that they giue liberally to their Couents and Monasteries No penny no Pater noster and it were tolerable if they would stay till it were giuen
but they will haue it many times out of mens throats as it were and bury them aliue rather then faile sending them quicke vnto the graue There is a pretty Storie to this purpose in Amatus Lusitanus worth the rehearsing one Armellius a rich man fell sicke but his sicknesse was not to death the Friars of Saint Dominick and Francis wisht him as their manner is to commend his soule vnto God and a good part of his goods vnto them that they might pray for his soules health after hee was departed this world but their meaning was to prey vpon his body being aliue for they would haue buried his body quicke that his body might haue taken possession of his graue and they of his goods but as God would haue it in comes the Physitian who wondring at his sudden departure maketh triall and findes there was life in him recouers him of his sicknesse the man liued many yeares after and reuoked his Legacy to the no small griefe of these greedy Shauelings who had lost such a booty And therefore it was not without cause that Erasmus was accounted an Hereticke before he died for writing so sharpely against their foolish Obites and Mortuaries that were bought and sold for other mens prayers that would doe the deceased no good for as the same Erasmus saith out of Augustine and hath been formerly shewed funerall pompes and such like solemnities may yeeld some comfort to the liuing but the dead are neuer a whit the better for them And therefore they are but meere Wood-cocks that will bee caught with such Springes These Springes were Confession whereby by the confession of Gul. de S. Amore our Friars and Monkes especially Mendicants get no small Legacies vnto their hands and therefore seeing prayers for the dead as hath been prooued are nothing and funerall pompes are nothing but comforts to the liuing and not the dead wise and vnderstanding men among the Papists may spare this charge and bestow it vpon their poore Kinsfolke Wiues and Children for ought I can see Against adoration of Images BEfore wee enter into the maine controuersie about Adoration of Images let vs enter some Creekes thereof and then lauch forth into the deepe and as he that goeth about to fell a Tree that is compassed with Thornes and Bushes at the bottome must first cut or grub vp the bushes that hee may come at the tree so wee will cut off certaine nice and thorny distinctions that wee may the more freely come to throw downe this great tree of Images which like Alex. Oke is growne now to adoration and speciall worship The distinctions are three betweene simulachrum and imago a similitude or likenesse of a thing an Idoll an Image and latria and doulia The Papists as much as wee condemne the worshipping of Idols and simulachra and all god-worship or latria to Images of men but not the worship or adoration of Images in a meaner sort called doulia or in a greater called latria of the Images of God either alone or in the Trinitie or of the Crosse or of our blessed Sauiour that died vpon the Crosse both God and Man But God willing we will first auoide these niceties and fooleries of distinctions out of their owne Writers and then erect and establish certaine propositions whereunto the Papists must stand vnlesse they will thwart and withstand some of the chiefest of their owne Writers A simulachre and an image are all one saith learned Vatablus With him agreeth Geo. Cedren or rather the Translator of him out of the Greeke An Idol and an Image are all one If doubt be made we appeale vnto an Herald that shall proclaime so much vnto the whole World euen Desiderius Heraldus in his learned Annotations vpon Arnobius For the third distinction of Latria and Doulia let the Christians call them what they will and distinguish the one from the other the Gentiles put no difference betweene them as testifieth Lil Greg. Gyraldus Thus hauing cleared the passages we purpose to make good these following Propositions 1. That Images were not vsed in the Primitiue Church 2. When they began to come into vse and crept into Churches they were onely Lay-mens Remembrancers not their Idols or worshipped of them 3. That when they began to be worshipped as Idolatrie commeth in step by step Images of the Trinitie or of God the Father were neuer generally receiued but mostly misliked of the Church 4. Adoration of Images crosseth Scripture 5. Repugneth to reason 6. And is very much impugned by the Papists themselues of the better sort The First Proposition Images were not vsed in the Primitiue Church IF Agobardus Works and especially his de Picturis with Papyrius Massenius notes and Desiderius Heraldus annotations vpon Arnobius bee not satisfying in this point we shal be constrained to haue recourse to the Writings of the Fathers and the Histories of the Church out of both which it will appeare as cleare as the Sunne-shine at Noone-day that the Prime-Christians could say confidently that they had no Altars no Images nor Statuaes making Images the badge or cognizance to know the Christian from the Gentill and who knoweth not that memorable History of Epiphanius recorded by Saint Hierome Which Epistle you haue laboured what you can to discredit and when you could not doe that you fell foule vpon some few Notes of Erasmus that declared the same A poore reuenge but that Epistle and the truth thereof doth stand and your doctrine of Images must needs fall vnlesse it haue better proppes to maintaine it then I see in this first Proposition The Second Proposition When Images came into the Church they were placed in their Temples for rememoration and not for adoration THe Proposition is so notorious and famous out of Gregories Epistle to Serenus of Masseils that you were best blot out that Epistle and coyne a doctrine cleane contrary to this and clap it to some Epistle or other And doubtlesse as you are cunning gamesters that can helpe your selues at a need yee haue played your parts very cunningly on both sides Saint Gregorie in his ninth booke and ninth Epistle to Serenus Bishop of Marseils blameth him for being so inconsiderate as to breake certaine Images that were offensiue by reason of the peoples worshipping them Hee saith Antiquitie knew of the painting of Saints Stories in places where men did worship God although they did not worship pictures as gods or as men I reuerence S. Gregorie as much as any man hauing perused his workes as much as some others haue done and compared him with the Manuscript Copies which vnder correction I take to bee the best reading of him or any other Greeke or Latine Author But these words quia in locis venerabilibus Sanctorum depingi Historias non sine ratione admisit vetust as hee saith but admisit permitted them to bee painted and yet I can scarsely beleeue them because Epiphanius that
ad nos deductum Er. To. 9 as the Creed and Symbole of the Apostles are of perpetuall obseruation for the most part yet some things commanded by the Apostles as vnction by S. Iames doe not oblige vs for euer which is my second Proposition The Third Proposition HVmane Rites and Ceremonies may bee made by the Church according to the Scripture to bee obserued alikely euen in things indifferent if they bee once ratified till the Church do abrogate them I call them humane Rites and Ceremonies because they are instituted by men for the good of men but otherwise they are to bee obserued with care and reuerence though they be not directly contained yet they are virtually to bee deducted out of the Scriptures and it is not for any priuate man to quarell or impugne them vntill the Prince by his authority or Cleargie in Councell doe meete and abrogate them The fourth Proposition The conditions of Rites and Ceremonies in the Church 1. THey must not be many as in the Church of Rome which complaine of the intollerable burden of them they had woodes swarmes Oceans and inundations of those Iewish Ceremonies by which they kept men in miserable seruitude and bondage 2. Mysterious for their signification 3. Decent for the ornament of the Church as the Surplice Vestiments of the Church Communion Cup c. 4. Tending to pietie and not to superstition They must conduce vnto pietie Christ is not to be sought in these outward things as meate drinke and rayment these things must be obserued if the Church command them but we must take heed we place no superstition in them we must seeke after those things rather which are inward 5. Putting no affiance or confidence in them 6 Not lasting but arbitrarie according vnto the times Countries and seasons The fifth Proposition The Primitiue Church had but few The sixth Proposition All Iewish Ceremonies are abolished The seuenth Proposition DIuine Constitutions are to be preferred before Humane they must be pure without mixture The neglect hereof was complained of by diuers * Learned men the Constitutions of men were punished more then the breakers and violaters of Gods Lawes so that small faults as the neglect of their Feastes or omissions of their Fasts were punished with Scorpions but greater sinnes as their Priests â—ippling and whoring it in the Stewes were let passe with a gentle correction They must not haue any mixture of humane inuentions there must be no addition of mens traditions to Gods Precepts The eighth Proposition HVmane Rites and Constitutions must as neere as may be consist in inward and not outward and externall matters aswell in regard of the end as the matter Ad offensionem populerum vitandam For feare of offending any of these little ones as Hierome sometimes spake vpon the like occasion Who knowes not how the vulgar people doe dote vpon these showes rather then substances of Religion nay rather runne gadding and madding after these toyes and fopperies as Erasmus knew by wofull experience in the Countries where he liued The ninth Proposition THough Ceremonies bee to bee misliked and prooue distastefull to the Church yet it is for no priuate man to disturbe the settled peace and quiet order of the same but to expect the Kings prohibition either by himselfe or his Cleargie I am thus opinioned of Ceremonies that they may be corrupted with the Leauen of the Pharisees infected with auarice negligence or ambition or adored as the golden Calfe making a great shew of pietie and preuailing more then any thing else with the vulgar people and that they are to be abolished or changed but who shall doe it No priuate person I warrant you they must beare and forbeare with a Faciat Iesus vt cito purgentur God send wee may be well rid of them making prayers and no stirres tumults or commotions when all is done the Churches censure or the Princes commandement or rather the Churches censure by command of the Prince is to be attended no phlegmaticall schismatick is to haue a hand in this businesse though it be to pull downe Images out of Churches or Pictures out of windowes for this were to open a window to priuate mens fancies rather then zeale and commeth neere to the error of the Eiconoclasts which in this case may be iustly censured Leaue we this to Leo Isaurus and other Emperours The tenth Proposition AS they are to be seuerely punished that contemne the setled orders of the Church so if there bee no contempt of publike Gouernment wee are not rashly to censure them Graue non est transgredi as one writeth constitutiones Ecclesiae nisi accedat contemptus malitiosus A man may transgresse the orders of the Church happly out of error it may be of ignorance but disobedience and contempt is as the sinne of Witchcraft a most heynous sinne as all those take it that haue not their shooes made at Geneua otherwise if there be weakenesse in them let there be charitie in vs and there will be no rash Iudges left in the Land And thus farre of Rites and Ceremonies and if I bee in the right I shall be glad if otherwise blame the Papists and not mee and let the perclose of this Discourse be my sufficient Apologie The 28. Article Of the Lords Supper I Will take out of this Article as much as is in controuersie betweene vs and the Papists Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot bee prooued by Holy Writ but is repugnant to the plaine words of Scripture ouerthroweth the nature of a Sacrament and hath giuen occasion to many superstitions The body of Christ is giuen taken and eaten in the holy Scripture onely after an heauenly manner and the meane whereby the body of Christ is receiued and eaten in the Supper is Faith c. The 28. Article maintained and explained by the Papists THe Papists in the Councel of Trent make it a Sacrifice both for the liuing and the dead Admit it be a sacrifice which cannot bee well denied being well vnderstood yet is it neither satisfactorie nor expiatorie but rememoratiue so Schoepperus that is not properly a Sacrifice but a memoriall of a sacrifice so Erasmus Arias Montanus giueth the reason of both For we do not offer that Sacrifice againe but proffer and represent it to the memorie after an vnbloody maner which was offered vp once in blood a Sacrifice without the matter of a sacrifice to speak in Cyrils termes Neither wil it auaile the Papists to say that Melchisedec sacrificed for he was a Priest of the Highest for hee sacrificed no otherwise then Abraham Isaac and Iacob which herein imitated him For of them wee haue a plaine constat that they did not sacrifice by any