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A68194 The displaying of the Protestantes, [and] sondry their practises, with a description of diuers their abuses of late frequented Newly imprinted agayne, and augmented, with a table in the ende, of all suche matter as is specially contained within this volume. Made by Myles Huggarde seruant to the Quenes maiestie. Huggarde, Miles. 1556 (1556) STC 13558; ESTC S118795 74,272 276

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anye true christian to poure out a foūtaine of teares to bewayle the calamitie thereof Whose ruyne is exceded so farre that it withdraweth mannes expectaciō to loke for amendement vnles God of his great mercy supernaturally do worke the restitucion aswell of the common wealth politike as also of the true and catholike fayth charitie and good liuyng Agamemnon might now double his exclamaciō in these dayes as Seneca reporteth which is Good life lawe good ordre godlines fayth are nowe decayed Therfore calling to my remembraūce this our carefull case I mused with my selfe what might be the cause thereof and sodaynly occurred to my remembraunce the comfortable promyses of God the father made to the obseruers of his lawes and commaundementes And likewyse I considered hys intollerable threateninges to y ● breakers of the same Then comparing the wretchednes of our lyues to the sinceritie of his holy preceptes I fynde a marueylous difference Good life was neuer in such cōtempte malice at no tyme bare suche rule the godly neuer more dispysed finally God neuer more dishonoured nor his catholike fayth at any tyme had in so lytle regarde especially of such as moste arrogantly chalenge to thēselfes the name of true christians who in very deede are of all christianitie moste barren To whome the wordes of Christ may be wel applyed where he sayeth If I had not come vnto thē they shuld haue had no synne in them but nowe their synne doth remayne Whiche woordes are verely verified in those false christians which not onely in faith do erre but also moste obstinatly seme to defende the same In whome errour is turned to heresye and of weake and fraile mē are become obstinate heretikes It is by nature geuen to menne in somme thynges to erre but to persiste therein it is againste nature For sayth Tully we be al drawē and ledde to aspire vnto knowledge wherin to passe other we thinke it a goodly matter but to slyde to erre to be ignorant to be deceiued wee counte it euil dishonest Therfore sayth he one thyng is to bee auoyded therein which is that we take not thynges wee knowe not as thoughe wee knewe them and rashely assent to them Wherfore deliberation and aduisement is to bee required in suche causes Nowe then it is the office and duetie of mā to apply his will to the grace of God by whō truth is reueled in tyme wherevnto he ought to consent but to resist his synne doth remaine which is the sinne of Infidelitie a synne doubtles whiche most displeaseth God as appeareth by his plagues executed by his wrath vpon all sortes of infideles But nowe to drawe neare vnto the purpose whiche chiefly is to displaye the factious opinions of suche which not only do erre but also cōtinue in errour and seke with to the and nayle to defendethe same For whose infidelitie God at this daye doeth so sore plague the worlde chiefly this realme whiche for vertue good liuing sake hath bene worthely nominated Decus mundi y ● floure of the worlde Nowe forasmuche as I know that thei which cōmonly do erre beyng reproued therefore wyll immediately make as thoughe they were ignorant what heresie is sometyme wyll demaunde what heresye is or who is an heretyke To whome if answere be made according to the diffinition of lerned men It is any false or wrong opinion whiche any man choseth to him selfe to defende against the catholike fayth of the vniuersall church Truth in dede say they But what meaneth the catholike church Then answere is made It is that congregacion whiche wholy dothe agre in one vnitie of fayth and ministracion of sacramentes Whiche answer when they likwise affirme Then procede they to know whether it be knowen or vnknowen and so furth Doubtlesse the catholike church is so knowen to y ● worlde that neither heretike nor other miscreant can pleate ignoraunce to learne that truth whiche leadeth to saluation For the Churche is like vnto a castle stāding vpō an hyll whiche cannot be hyd Whiche hyll is cut out of the harde rocke and exalted so high that is replenisheth y ● yerth as the prophete Daniel sayth It is resēbled also by the psalmist to a tabernacle placed in the sonne so shyning throughout the world that it can by no cloude or tēpest be obscured It is also as Paule sayth the foundation and pyller of truth and can not be deceyued thoughe her aduersaries allege the contrary Full well doth the late moste famous mā Lodouicus Viues say I doo and wyll stande sayth he to the true iudgement of the churche although I sawe to the contrary a moste manifest reason I may be deceyued as I am diuers times but the church in those thynges whiche tende to religion can not bee deceyued Therfore the churche beyng soo manifestly knowen as it cannot be hidden so replenished and garnished with truth as it is the very foundation and piller of truth with what face or countenaunce can the aduersaries therof stande in contencion therewith Unlesse they be infected w t Circes cuppes or els by her enchantmētes transformed into the shape of swyne But nowe these swinishe aduersaries will obiecte saiyng Syr those which you name heretikes we will proue to bee the true congregaciō And this is their profe We allege preache vtter ▪ or talke of nothing but scripture whiche can not deceiue vs whereby we are the true churche and not you which cal your selfes catholikes Whiche reason semeth to them so infallible that it cannot be auoyded But forasmuch as the knowledge of all truth ouerthrow● of heresie dependeth vpon the thaucthoritie of the church both for the knowledge of the scriptures and also for the exposition of the same I purpose breifly to say somewhat therin The head of the churche is Christ who by the Apostles was preached to all nations of whō also his doctrine was receiued at least of so many as were conuerted to the fayth The conuerters of whom were the Apostles which in the beginnyng were the mysticall bodye of Christ their head who then beyng the Churche exalted their voyces in suche sorte as it penetrated the whole yearth their wordes extended to the endes of the worlde The succession of whiche Apostles haue continued from tyme to tyme in vnitie of the same fayth Whiche fayth is left vnto the Churche as permanent for euer therby to strēgthen the weake and to confounde the proude to establishe the electe to ouerthrowe all misbeleuers sectes hereticall whiche sectes not onely abuse the open places of that liuely worde but also do falsly expounde the darke mistical places therof as S. Peter wytnesseth of s Paules Epistles But if these ▪ good felowes wyll nedes be of Christes churche as arrogantly thei presume by their owne cōfession They must haue one vnitie of doctrine as y ● churche hath whiche
were before you c. O good father Browne qv his mother howe haue you been persecuted for the wordes sake what persecution haue you suffered frō time to tyme But the Lorde be praysed for your deliuerie and cōstancie in quiet suffering thereof The prophetes christ saith hath been so handled Therefore be of good chere mā take no thought ▪ For one daie I truste we shall all be mery in the lord and shal haue the dewe of the worde once more be sprinckled vpon our faces at what tyme I trust we shal be euē with these shauelyng priestes shaue their crownes a litle deper Yes mother qv Browne I am of good chere for I haue good cause so to be for I am cheryshed of suche good women as yeare that I lacke nothyng And howe then can I be sorrowfull hauing such cause to be mery in the lorde In the meane tyme certen other Sisterwiues I thinke thei wer for their apparayle were freese roabes and certen marchantmen tarried in the courte withoute one asking another whē the preaching time was And we hearing of some sermon towardes leauing Brownes communication with ●is mother walked vp and doune in the courte Not long after Browne cōmeth forth with his mother and sister and Iacke prentise also with his testament ▪ Browne wente into the Stable where tarrying a while belyke in doing his busynes anone he called in the cōgregacion amōges them thrust we Where Browne leanynge vpon hys horsebacke whiche was a iade scarse worth syxe pence sitting vpō the maunger he beganne to alledge certen places of Ecclesiastes withoute booke one vpon another in heapes Then beganne he to talke of thre Religions The one he termed my lorde Chauncelors religion the other Cranmers Latymers and Ridleys religion And the thirde he called goddes Religion My lorde Chauncelors he sayde was nought Cranmers the others religion not good but Goddes religion was best With suche other vayne woordes not worthy the tyme in rehersal And hearing this beastly talke we departed lamenting the great folly of the people whiche in this sorte dyd dayly spende their tyme too heare suche lying spirites And goyng homewardes we met dyuers companies both of mē and women of purpose going to Islyngton to heare the sermon of this peltig prophet But within a whyle after I heard saye thys father Browne his brood with the congregacion were remoued from that place and were dispersed into corners Truly pitie it is he is suffred in this sort to range the countreis without restrainte not only for corrupting the people with ill opinions but also for disseminating his vaine Prophecies to excite rumors But this opinion I haue of Browne that he had rather liue a proude confessor then burne a stinking martyr With many such similitudes of Godlines manye of the protestantes in our tyme be inspired Here myght also be rehersed the zeale that the lame mā that was burnt of late at Stratford had when he called for his croche too haue the same likewise to be burned with him thinking without the same he could not meritie the crown of martirdome And thus they haue certen resemblances of godlines and deny the power thereof And in vsing these their counterfait zeales they doo not onely mocke with God but they deceyue his poore people with incēsing their frayle natures with a thousand mo of these their practises whiche here I omytte And these their folyshe deuyses are so folyshe if they be duely marked that nothing can be more folishe And if it be well consydered any Indifferēt man may sone discerne to what ende their purpose is to directe the same for th ende is either to bringe their conceyued opiniōs in credite with the world or els to sturre vp wicked brutes and lies vpon the magistrates suche as please not their fancies to make vproares and comocions within the realme Therby to reedefie their cōfused churche or els to seke the destructiō of this said noble realme and vs all the people thereof And cōcerning the other vices whiche are of these sortes of mē wherof saint Paule prophecied because they be partly described before I purpose nowe to conclude exhorting all men that entende to aspire to saluacion to waye diligently the premisses Firste to consider the vnitie of Christes churche whiche in all thinges touching our faith vniformely doth agree and to consider the sundrie factions of y ● protestantes vpon the fayth wherin they do not agree Waye their falshode in alleging the places of the scriptures onely to say euil of the churche and to misreport the same Ponder the wordes whiche S. Paule prophesieth vpon sondrye heretikes whiche should come denying marriage and eatyng of meates to bee vtterly nought and howe maliciously they applye the same vpon the Churche whiche with honourable wordes doth commend them bothe Perceiue aduisedly with your selues what cause the Protestantes haue to shorten their lyues by fyer and what cause they haue to call their iuste punishementes persecutions And consider with youre selues the state of Christes Churche in the beginnyng and the state thereof at this present which in one vnitie of doctrine is all one thoughe not then so firme as it is nowe Waye also the folly of the vngodly whiche presumptuously chalenge to them selues the tytle of Martyrs and more fondly offer themselues to y e fier not cōpelled thervnto as the true Martyrs were but obstinately as who would saye in the despite of the Churche Examine with your selues also what faith the church of Christ teacheth whether it denieth God refuseth the sonne or contempneth the holy ghost as Infideles and other miscreantes do Emonges whiche infideles if these menne suffered then more truely they might name themselues Martyrs But the churche professeth with more sinceritie that God whiche they do that Christe that holy ghost that they do The Churche dothe teache the sacramentes to be in numbre vii as the scripture leadeth and as the Apostles tradicions and holy doctours do prescribe The Churche in nothing concernyng the substāce of religiō doth varie or altar The churche teacheth that the inuisible bodye of Christ sytting at the right hand of God the father is here in the visible formes of breade wyne inuisibly contained in the sacrament of the Altare the dearest iewel whiche Christe lefte vpon earth and offered of the Preist in a lyuely and pure sacrifice at Masse to God the father for the comfort of the whole churche accordyng to the prophecie of Malachie the prophete speaking in the name of God the father these wordes I haue no wyll and pleasure in you and I wyll receiue no offering or rewarde at your hande From the rising of the sunne to the setting my name is great emonges the Gētiles and in euery place there shal be sacrifice done and a pure and cleane oblatiō shal be offered to my name The churche also teacheth the adoration of this moste pure sacrifice