learned and prudeÌ„t eares of the Quenes Maiestie whose sharpe witte and iudgement you woulde haue ben afraid of if you had wel weighed with your selfe how much pitthinesse there is in her O right excellent Syr Waulter you appeare nowe in your owne likenes Tel me I pray you doe you not see that excessiue praysingâ— doth not aduaunce the dignity of Princes but rather vtterlie peruerte their minde and iudgement oftentimes Do you not know that the most fine and sharp wit loueth truth and abhorreth excedingly all lying and flatterie For what other thing is it to praise Princes excessiuely but to set them out to the world as mocking stocks Truly if your Quene be so witty as I may wel think shee is not by your talke but by the reporte of other men she will tourne you out of her courte and companie as an open and detected flatterer and wil not suffer her selfe to be most impudently mocked of you If you set out her wit if you commende her knowledge in the Latine â—nd Greeke tongue if you praise her courtlie grace and comlines of speach iâ— is well donne But when you make her no meane Diuine when you aduaunce her witte so muche as though I ought to be terriblie afraid of it you assault her Maiestie by verie wilie and craftie meanes Is this your loialtie Is this the part of a kind hert mindefull of the benefites bestowed vppon you Is this well done that a most noble Quene a Princesse endued with most excellent wit and singular qualities should be gibed and scorned of you M. Haddon who haue as you saie your selfe ben fostred and brought vp by her Maiesty Did you so little esteeme her iudgemente that you thought her meete to make your laughing stocke To pull her downe from the setled staye of her minde by your clawing and flatterie To deceiue her for your gaine and lukers sake If when you sette for this bootie you had made your entrie more couertlye your fowle flatterie needed not to haue benne repelled with so greate inforcemente For a manne mighte haue thoughte that you had misdowbted the sharpenesse of the Queenes witte and therfore hadde deuised to vndermine secretelie that you might the better haue scaled the forte whiche you haue desired to take But now wheras you mock so opeÌ„ly ascribiÌ„g vnto her maiesty such coÌ„men dable qualities as can not possibly staÌ„d neither with her age neither with her nature as being a woman neither with her tender and delicate bodie neither yet with her estate which is otherwise employed to weightie and carefull affaires is it not manifeste that you make lighte of her witte Doe you so recoÌ„pence the benefits which you haue receiued of her bowntifulnesse If shee be so wise as you make her to be if shee haue so many excellente vertues as I desire her Maiestie to be alwayes decked and bewtified withall the moderate praises whiche I geaue her shee wil accepte with good hearte but that immoderate flatterie of yours shee will refuse and reiecte neyther will shee suffer her selfe to be mocked of suche presumptuouse felowes to the greate abatemente of her estimation and honour As towchinge the quietnesse of thinges whiche you talke of at large I saie this muche It is the parte of a madde man yea of one that is ignoraunte of the common frailtie of man to trust to much in prosperitie and not to cast long time before by causes passed such aduersities as peraduenturâ— hange ouer his heade Moreouer there canne be no quietnosse where the faithe of the holie Churche is shut out For the minde is troubled yea and oftentimes shaken quite out of the hengies by the remorse of synne the which the most presumptuous and bolde felowes in the worlde are not able to suppresse although many are able to dissemble it As for the comparison of your Church with the Primitiue Churche which you saie may be confirmed by the Histories I saie that either you haue not read the Histories or els you are past all shame You shoulde haue brought some example or testimonie out of the Histories with the whiche you might ouercharge vs. But you can neuer doe it forsomuch as all the antiquitie maketh against you Whereas you saie that your nobilitie is verie well agreed would God it were so but it is otherwise reported commonlye I passe ouer manie thinges of purpose partly bicause they are nothing to the purpose and partly because they are alreadie confuted before But wheras you saie these words Ah be not disquieted gentle Syr I acknowledge your pleasaunt manner of speach As for your heauenly kindred of the whiche you saie you are verie desirouse you doe well in it But I woulde you had some other menne of this stocke and kinred more skilful interpretours of the law of God Then how wittilie was that spoken of you Wherefore saie you that menne haue benne caried awaie by vs from that most aunciente and holie Religion whiche was grownded vppon the bloude of Iesus Christe and hathe continewed alwayes one euen vntill our daies and that they haue benne trained in an other Religion which is moste cursed and detestable Then you adde Doe you beleeue these thinges as you haue spoken them No trnely doe you not These thinges were very merrily spoken of you M. Haddon Doubtlesse your pleasant gyrdes procede of ameruelous wit especially when yon thinke your self to be cocke sure For then as though your discourse had escaped the rockes you pleasure very much to sport and dalie But whereas you saie that I doe not beleeue those thinges whiche I haue saied you are fowly deceiued For I doe bothe beleeue and confesse them neither shal the outrage and vnbrideled wilfulnesse of a sort of rascall varlets euer bring me from the coÌ„stant confession of my faith What argumentes of yours thinke you to be of such force that thei might cause a maÌ„ which is in his right wittes not to beleue that that is confirmed by the testimonie of holie Scriptures by authoritie of the holie Fathers by the recordes of al the antiquitie You saie afterward For in the olde and beste time of the Church neither was their any Popedom neither leaden redemption for synne neither the marte of Purgatorie neither woorsshippinge of Images neither runninge vppe and downe to visite Sainctes neither offering in the Masses for the liue and for the dead with other like These shamefull pointes whiche dooe disshonest Relligion at what times they crope in and by whome they were deuised you are not ignoraunie But you dissemble it to serue the eares of your companie Belke out M. Haddon streine your selfe as muche as you can ridde your stomake of this surfeicte of most barbarouse furie and rage cast vppe your poison spewe out your venime and then shall you openly triumph emongest your compagnions with this peeuish and vaine talke When you haue said nothing prooued nothing alleaged no true testimonie of the antiquiquitie when you haue broughte nothing elles
euerlasting and such as haue done euil into euerlasting fier Then that other point is also false that good workes do necessarilie arise out of Luthers faith I graunt you that good workes do folowe my faith but not yours M. Haddon if you beleeue Luther How so say you Bicause faith cometh by hearsay ād hearsay cometh by the worde of Christ For so much therfore as my faith that is to say the faith of the holy Churche is grounded vpon the wordes of Christ and Christ him self saith that al such as do not repente shall be condemned that saith and credit which I geue to the words of Christ causeth me to do penaunce Againe when our Lorde saieth 〈◊〉 shalbe my friendes if you will do th◠thinges that I commaunde you to doe if I beleeue the wordes of Christe and desire earnestly to be receiued into his frindship I wil endeuour my selfe to the vttermost of my power to do such thinges as are by him commaunded And whereas Christ telleth vs before that not he that calleth him Lorde shal come to haue the possession of the kingdome of heauen but he that ordereth al his workes according to the wil of the euerlasting Father If my faith be not faint if it be liuelie and strong and inflamed with the desire of that kingdome I am stirred vp by this faith to directe al my doinges according to the wil of God See you not now after what sort this faith conteineth holy workes within her wombe which are engendred of the fruictefulnes of her Now let vs see the faith of Luther whether it be able to bring foorth any fruicte that is quicke No without doubt First of all bicause al workes as he saieth seeme they neuer so holy are disteined with synne And no man maketh any account or estimation of a thing that is vncleane and spotted with synne Moreouer bicause as he mainteineth the force and strength of inordinate lust is so great that he thinketh it impossible to withstand it by any meanes in the world Seing then it is impossible for any man to endeuour him selfe to doe any good workes vnlesse he doe firste destroie the kingdome of synne and the kingdome of synne can not possibly be destroied if it be true that Luther saith it remaineth that no man can possibly do any holy workes For who is so mad that he wil bestowe his labour in any thing in vaine and without fruicte Last of al bicause Luther hath determined such a kind of iustice as needeth not the healpe of any doing or worke For if I persuade my selfe that the iustice of Christ is applied vnto me by faith no lesse then if it were mine own iustice and that I haue atteined vnto that moste high and perfecte iustice of Christ although I lyue and continue in syn with what desire care or hoofulnes should I be pricked forewarde to doe any good worke Forsomuche therefore as Luther both despiseth holy works and cutteth of al hope of honestie and holinesse and by this faith which he hath deuised taketh away al feare of punishment is it not euident that he is the ouerthrower of holy workes the destroier of honestie and godlines although he pretēded sometime to stirre vppe his disciples to the loue of vertue Wherefore it is manifestly seene that this man of God whō you cōmend aboue the heauens what with bringing good workes into contempt and what with causing men to despaire of honestie and by teaching a vaine affiaunce in his newly deuised iustice hath quite taken away al desire of doing and working Let vs now come to your other cōplaīt in the which you say that I make no end of babling while I lament the vnsensiblenes of Luther which tyed vp the wil of man with necessitie of destenie Truly say you I am not wonte to be moued with angre and yet now I can hold my selfe no longer It is my great fault M. Haddon that I haue by this my babling as you terme it caused you being so gentle and soft by nature as you are to rage like a mad man Wel let vs then heare the talke of this felow which is iustly prouoked to plaie the bedlome What saie you sir This slaunder say you is not only blockish and ignorant but also blasphemou◠and suche as the verie stoones them selues whiche you speake of if they could speake would not tourne it against our men I know M. Haddon that that place of Rhetorik is wel applied to this vehement kind of speach whiche you now vse And therfore I looke when you wil bring in those stones and make them to speake You say afterwarde But haue you an eye vnto the Scriptures a litle while and repent you Truly I haue a diligent eye vnto them but I haue not as yet gone to schoole with doctour Walter Now therefore I am attētiue if I may by your good instructions come to a cleerer vnderstāding of the secrets of God I wuld ye would vtter vnto vs this wonderful stuffe of your high wisedome Well what say you then God the Father hath chosen vs in Christe before the foundations of the world were laied to the ende that we should be holie and vnreproueable before him How knowe you M. Walter I pray you that you are one of the chosen Againe which be they that are holy and vnreprooueable before God Doubteles they are such as are void of al synne But by Luthers doctrine you can not be without sinne For he saith that sin is not al put out but that a certaine steime of vice breaketh out of it as it were out of a burning fornace the which deuoureth and consumeth all thinges round about it whereupon it foloweth that no man is vnreprooueable But if you peraduenture will say that you speake not of your selfe but of al mankinde if no man in the worlde be deliuered from al synne as Luther teacheth then doth it followe that no man can be vnreproueable You heare say you the election or choise of God out of the gospell the which you so muche detest in your talke and you heare the tyme also Doe I detest the election of God With what face dare you saie so In what place in what woordes before whome who is your witnesse who was made priuie in which of all my writinges can you conuince me to haue spoken any such word Haue you such a pleasure to babble out what so euer cometh vpon your tongues end Neither is this necessitie of Gods electiō say you an occasion whie we should yeald our selues wholly to felowe the pleasures of the bodie and vncleane vices as it pleaseth you full vngodly to sport but that we should be holie and vnreproueable before God through charitie as it is declared by the expresse woordes of the gospell Although I vnderstande you not verie wel yet I thinke you make with me For I saie the verie same thing that we are not compelled by any necessitie to doe
You say wel if it be so But before I begynne to declare how muche the auncient Fathers dissented from your new maisters I wil tarie a litle to see howe you can proue this goodlie agreement S. Augustine saie you coÌ„platneth in his time that flouddes of ceremonies ouerflowed the Churche in so muche that the Christians were almost in worse case then euer were the Iewes You neuer read that in S. Augustine â–ª that the Ceremonies whiche we now vse are like to the Iewish ceremonies and therfore to be reiected but your maisters haue brought you like an ignorant felowe to beleeue it S. Hierome saie you wissheth that the holie scriptures which your Churche hideth froÌ„ al men might be learned without the booke euen of children and women S. Ierome writing to Paulinus disputeth to the contrarie where he complaineth of the rashnes and boldhardines of men which tooke vppon them without any good witte or vertue to handle the Scriptures with to much libertie and of the vndiscrete chatting of foolish women which taking vppon them to expounde Scriptures defined manie thinges verie vnaduisedly It foloweth Basile imploied his vacant time in the most godlie exercise of reading and teaching diuinitie It was wel don truly for Basil was none of them that take vpon them arrogantly to teache doctrine that they neuer learned Then you adde these wordes If Monkes had leued according to the rules of Basile no man woulde euer haue touched them with so much as his finger As though your quarel had ben against men and not against chastitie it selfe But admit that their manners were loose their behauiour dissolute their life wanton What then was there none emoÌ„gest them al that kept their chastitie There were without doubt And that the loue of cleane and chast life was not vtterly decaied em ngest monkes the end of the holie fathers the Carthusians declared full wel who if thei would haue yeelded their coÌ„sent to the wicked decrees neded neuer to haue suffered other punishmeÌ„t but only to be married It was not therefore the misliking of filthie pleasure that stirred you to such barbarous crueltie but the hatred of chastitie and virginitie And I know wel that not only thei were chast and perfect men but also many other that are now bannished emong vs the which whersoeuer they set their foote they leaue behind them most manifest footsteppes of bashfulnes and honesty But admit that the greater part of them had ben drowned in vice was it therefore good reason by and by to ouerthrow the whol order How much had it ben more for your honesty to haue don as the most puissaunt King Fernandus did sometime in Spaigne and Elizabeth his wife a Princesse coÌ„secrated to euerlasting fame as the most honorable king and renoumed Prince Emanuel as Iohn the third his sonne a King for his religion and godlines worthy of most high coÌ„mendation as Charles the fifth an emperour born to immortal glorie as Euricus the Cardinal sonne of king Emanuel in whom shineth a woÌ„derful light of al vertue and holines finally as all other moste religious Princes did who seing the manners of monkes to tende towardes a nicenesse sent for certaine perfecte religious menne by whose diligence their vnbridled affection and licentiousnes was tied vp their loose manners by streighter discipline restreined and their sleapie mindes styrred vp to the most feruent loue of godlines And so there are now emongest vs most holie and religious Monkes whiche folow Basile Benet and Bernarde and Dominique and Frauncis in the puritie of most chaste religion in most earnest and zealous loue of God in most notable examples of al vertue Whie then would you rather cut of that that might haue ben healed Bicause as I said a litle before it was not anie displeasure toward filthie lust or life but the hatred of perpetual chastitie that stvrred you to deface and vtteâ—lie to ouerthrow the name of Mounkes For as S. Hierome â—aith all Heretiques haue a naturall hatred and grudge against chastitie Wherefore there is no doubt but that if your Mounkes had liued according to the rules of S. Basile the greater their perfection had ben the more displeasure and hatred you wold haue born them Afterward you bring in these wordes We reuerence the Crede of Athanasius as it ought to be neither is there any controuersie betwene them and vs. What great discorde there is betwene your menne and Athanasius I haue partely declared in that my letter whiche you so muche reuile Neither skilleth it muche whether you be agreed in some pointes yea or no. For I neuer saide that your Championsdissented from the opinion of the holie Fathers in al matters But to what end tendeth al this talke what would you prooue For sooth that Luther Bucer Zwinglius Oecolampadius Caluine and other the Ministers of this your gospel are in vertue holines chastitie and religion nothing inferiour to S. Augustine Hierome Basile and Athanasius and other holie Fathers whose writinges seeme to send forth the verie swete sauour of the holie ghost But how do you proue it S Augustine you say coÌ„plaineth that whole flouddes of ceremonies ouerflowed the Church S. Ierome thought it expedient that women and children should learne the scriptures without the booke If Monkes liued according to the rule of S. Basile no man woulde once laie his singer on them and we reuereÌ„ce the Crede of Athanasius What then Can you proue by these propositions that Luther and Bucer and the rest of your Worthies are to be compared with S. Augustine Ierome Basile Athanasius in vertue coÌ„stancie chastitie cleanes of life religion and wisedom A goodlie pregnaÌ„t wit of a yong Logician he shaketh out his argumentes so fearsly that he maketh them fitte to coÌ„clude what so euer him liâ—teth to prooue Let this fourme of reasoning be once receiued and what thing is ther in the worlde so muche contrarie to al reason that maie not easily be prooued â–ª As if we should saie for example Mahumete saieth that God created the worlde S. Basile holdeth the same Basile therefore and Mahumete are moste like in godlie life Arius confessed that Christ shed his bloud for the redemption of mankinde Athanasius affirmeth the same Ergo Arius shined in vertuouse conuersation no lesse then Athanasius Luther disputeth that all good thinges are to be referred to the grace of Christe the verie same doth S â–ª Augustine declare most wisely It followeth therefore that Luther hath deserued no lesse commendation of holines then S. Augustine See you not vnderstande you not consider you not howe childishly you haue concluded howe weakelie you haue defended your newe Maisters Are you wont in skirmish so to put backe the hornes of your ennemies This was the principall and chiefest point of al in the whiche you should haue shewed al the force and strength of your witte to haue brought al the world in admiration of you You saie afterward that I doe taunt and reuile the soule
For if they be verie gentle as you saie they are then although I shall reuile them they will neuer be moued â–ª withall but wil meruelously well keepe their pacience and constancie But if they wil fearcely sette vppon me with villanous and reprochfull language then are they not so gentle as you make them to be I knowe verie wel that vnder the couert of a sheepes skynne as Christe saieth lieth hidden the râ—ugh and crewell nature of wolues It is also by experience well tried that there is nothing in the worlde more shamelesse then these fellowes are For when anie reason is brought against them thei endeuour theÌ„ selues to answerâ— it not by reason but by multiplying of woordes And therefore when they are prâ—ssed with argumentes then beginne they to chafe and sweat to feare and fainte to raile and raue and in the ende fall to plaine scolding vntil thei haue founde for their impudent assertion some shameles shifte But beleeue me I feare no mans slaunderous tongue For I haue committed myne honestie and estimation to the keeping of Iesus Christ and therefore no man shal euer be able to thrust me out of my place by the violence of his tongue And as for your reprochful woordes they moue me no more then the rauing of one that were frantike or out of his witte Were it not that the loue of godlines had moued me had I euer written so much as one letter against you No not one I tooke vpon me this charge of writing not minding thereby to mainteine myâ—â— owne good fame or â—stimation but to â—onfute your wicked and vngodlie talke Wherefore be bolde and spare not to taunt me at your pleasure to perce my good name with fowl words to tourmoile it with villanie to rente and teare it with al dishonestie and I geue good leaue and licence not onely to you but also to all your Bucers and Martyrs most gentle and softe creatures as you cal them to bende them selues as fiercely against me as thei can deuise Wherefore there is no cause why you shuld goe about to make me affraied of them for so muche as vnto their tauntes for the which I care not I wil neuer answere and their reasons are very peuish and alreadi coÌ„futed by the bookes of many learned men and I my self am at this point that I fear nothing in the worlde but only Christe As touching their persons if there be any sense of humanitie in you you see how il you haue defended theÌ„ You say aferwarde that it is nothing true that you shuld stand to the holy Scriptures only for so muche as you do receiue many sentences of the holy Fathers withal What a doubling and incoÌ„stancie is this Now you reiect many thinges for this reason only bicause they are as you say the deuises of men â–ª and by and by you receiue what you list and say that you haue not reiected al the traditions of menne You are so doubteful so diuers and so slipperie that you can not wel tel your selues what you thinke and what you mind to stand to And yet when you spake those wordes you commended them that acknowledge nothing elles but the holy Scriptures and refuse al holy traditions and ordinaunces These are your wordes Truely if it were so then folowed they the example of our Lorde Iesus Christe then folowed they the custome of the Apostles and of the auncient Fathers in the primitiue Church How many things you laie out at a venture It is like forsooth that Christ the mind and wisedome of God the Father by whose power and dispeÌ„sation the law it selfe was made by whom the Prophetes declared thinges to come of whom al holie men of old time receiued their light was content to abyde that lawe him selfe that he would not be so hardie as to speake one woorde which he founde not registred in the holy Scriptures I besech you Sir wher read he in the Scriptures that a man for being angry only although he vttered not one reprochful word shuld incur the daÌ„ger of Gods iudgemeÌ„t wher found he it written that a man for casting his eye alitle aside waÌ„tonly shuld be accounted as an adulterer By what wordes in the Law was a man forbidden to geue a bil of diuorse to his wife In what place was it euer writen that a man minding the perfect obseruatioÌ„ of the Lawe should sell all his goodes and bestowe the money made thereof to the vse of the poore reseruing to him selfe nothing Haue you euer read either in the law or in the Psalmes or in the Prophets that the way to saluatioÌ„ is a narrowe waie or that you ought when a man hath striken one cheeke to holde him vppe the other or that you ought to pray vnto God for their life that speake il of you and woorke your destruction But nowe to come to other pointes of the birth and proceding of God of the regeneration of men in heauenlie life the whiche Nicodemus a man exactlie seene in the doctrine of the lawe vnderstood not of the time in the whiche God would be woorshipped neither at Hierusalem nor in the mountaine of Samaria of the bread of heauen whiche is the foode and sustenaunce of our life of al these thinges what woorde haue you expressely written in any place of the olde Testamente But when Christ spake these wordes there was no Gospell yet written neyther did any writen monumente confirme the sayinges of Christ but looke what he ordeined by woordes was afterward put in writing to the ende that men should not forgette it I doe here let passe many thinges minding not to prosecute al that might be saied for so muche as I haue alreadie spoken sufficientlie to the intent you might vnderstand howe vnaduisedly you haue saied that our Lorde Iesus Christ did also obserue such a rule in his doinges What shall I saie of the Apostles Where had S. Paule read that such as kepte the circumcision of the Lawe were to be separated from the communion of Christe In whiche of all the holie Writers found he that it is vnseemely for a woman to worshippe God bare headed or for a man to couer his head when he praieth to God What shoulde I rehearse vnto you howe he commendeth suche men as were mindful of his Doctrine deliuered vnto them either by writing or by worde What should I speake of that that the Apostles say in their Councel It hath seemed good to the holy Ghost and vs They saie not It is writen in the holie Scripture but It hath seemed good to the holie Ghost and vs. Nowe as touching the holie Fathers which peraduenture you neuer read how durst you affirme of them that they neuer brought in any thing for the gouernement of the Churche but what thei had found writen in the holie Scriptures How many things reherseth S. Basile and disputeth that thei were deliuered from the Apostles vnto the Churche onely by woorde
of mouth How many such things are recited of Cyprian Chrysostom Augustine and the rest of the holie Fathers How much do they reuerence al such holy ordinaunces as were decreed in general CouÌ„cels I do here omitte an infinite nuÌ„ber oftestimonies which do plainly coÌ„uince this madnes of you or rather of your Maisters for so much as not onely the greatest learned men of our age but also the most holy Fathers of other ages haue in these points very learnedly disputed against your opinion For in times past al heretikes in a manner held this opinion that nothing ought to be receiued vnlesse it were written in the holie Scriptures minding withal to wrest and corrupt the holie Scriptures with their owne interpretation But the holie Fathers most earnestly defended the contrary alleaging Argumentes and Examples brought euen from the Apostles time and by the decrees of CouÌ„cels directed they al their doinges Wherfore suche thinges as you report of Christ of his Disciples and of the holie Fathers are al most euidently false You say it is not true that your Doctours should take any thing vppon them aboue the coÌ„mon sort of men Can you ymagine any greater arrogancie in the worlde theÌ„ to presume to reforme the church being somewhat impaired with newe Iawes and statutes whiche neither Athanasius nor Basile nor Cyprian nor any other of the holi Fathers euer thought vpon and to set such wordes and countenance vpon the doctrine of their new Gospell as though they had done althinges by ordre and appointment of Christ him selfe You say that I am not able to shew any fault or dishonestie in the worlde in their life That is true if we must needes stand to your opinion For so much as emongest you neither filthie pleasure of the bodie nor rebellion nor any other disordre or outrage are accompted as faults You find faulte with me for that I cease not to trifle daungerously and to hinder the estimation of most graue personages by whose diligence your Churche hath ben set in a maruelous goodly ordre You could say no lesse for such as you doe commend being your selfe both for vertue and authoritie a very graue sire must needes be verie graue men Then you saie You laie to our charge that the companies of virgins and monkes which were sometimes inclosed in Monasteries to keepe the Diuine seruice of God and to mainteine the chastitie os their bodies were by our men let out to the vncleane pleasure of the flesh and al other licentious liuing that their howses were laied wide open for gaine that lawes were made that no religion shoulde hinder the pleasure of the bodie What you meane by their gaine I vnderstand not For I neuer suspected that they did for their gaine coÌ„mit any vile or filthy acte But you doe in this as you doe commoÌ„ly You can not wel tel neither what you do say nor what you would say Then how impudently is that spoken that foloweth Oâ—t vpon this ouer malepart and licentiouse desire whiche you haue to peruert all thinges We confesse yea and with all our heartes confesse that through the moste holie aduertisement of our menne those downgeous of all wickednes are fallen downe into the whiche the tender young maidens and the seelie boyes were violently thrust in to their so great hinderaunce in good manners as I can not for bashfulnesse well declare Oh what a shamefaste and may denlie fellow is this What is that I praie you that you woulde not for shamefastnes expresse Nothing in the wordle for immediatly after you bring in these woordes Those same shoppes of lewdnes had litle other thing in them but only a certaine pharisaical continuance of praiers in an vnknowen tongue Their other more secrete exercises might wel be likened to the old reuelles of Bacchus in Rome Tel me I praie you most presumptuous and impudent railer could you hane vttered any more spiteful reproche against the poore monasteries of holi virgins if your goodly maidenlines and modestie had not staied you Compare you the greene arbour of Christ the house of chastitie the representation of heaueÌ„ly life with the most horrible and filthy reuels of Bachus whiche were sometime moste sharply pounished by the lawes of the Romaines And yet you say forsooth that your may denlie modestie wil not suffer you to expresse their secrete vices Pleasure you so much in your stinking eloquence Like you so wel to taunt and reuile chastitie to ioyne the defence of your most barbarus and vile acte with the reproche of Christ As though the worlde knewe not that you ouerthrow those holy Monasteries not for any displeasure you beare to naughtines and vice but for the hatred you beare towardes chastitie And of like the greadie desire you had of the goods and possessions with the which the Nonnes and Monkes were mainteined holpe the matter well foreward If you had had no face at al no shame no bashfulnes in the world how could you with more vile and filthie language haue dishonested so holie a trade of life The exercise of Religious and chast life you cal the downgeon of wickednes â–ª that is to say a sincke of al vice a cannel of filthines a standing poole of vnclean pleasures Could any thing be more impudently spoken And yet you content not your selfe with al this stincking sturre of wordes but you say moreouer that the tender young maidens and the seelie boies were violently thrust into the said Monasteries to their greate hinderance in good manners What meane you by this What would you say What geaue you the worlde to vnderstande Is there any vice so heinouse that it may not be wel comprised in this your shamelesse talke After this there foloweth the moste beastlie word of all the rest where you cal the holie discipline of cleane life and continencie a shoppe of naughtines As for the Pharisaical continuance of praier which is but a tricke proceding of Luthers railing sprit I wil let it passe But wherto teÌ„deth the comparison which you make with the most vncleane and detestable rebels of Bacchus Is mans heart able to deuise any thing so abhominable that you may not wel coÌ„prehende it within the compasse of this your moste base and vile language Why then what is that which you can not expresse for bashfulnes Doutlesse nothing wherof it foloweth that you are vtterly void of al shame bash fulnes and honestie For I can not tel how it cometh to passe that the more a man vseth the companie and familiaritie of such men as you commende the more shamelesse is his behauiour But to the intent you may the better see howe heinouse and wicked an offence you haue coÌ„mitted against your owne self I think it good to declare the original of the name and institutioÌ„ of Monkes There are two kind of men within the folde of Christes church The one is of them which liuing a coÌ„mon life coÌ„tent them selues with the commendable exercise
These thinges being thus determined I wil aske you a question what came into your braines to be so desirous to take al the volumes of the holy Scripture and without anie necessity ye with no smal daÌ„ger of the vnlerned people to coÌ„mit them to euerie iackestraw to expounde did you it to restreyne the pride of such as are base No you haue rather puffed vp their hartes incredibly causing them to coÌ„ceiue a false opinion of wisedome in them selues Was it done to cause a more feruent charitie emongest them No you haue rather forced the weake mindes to fall out within them selues through your diuers yea and contrary expositions of the law of God Was it done to set all thinges in good order No you haue rather ouerthrowen all good and auncieÌ„t order For now euery man is a prophete euerie man is a shepeheard euery maÌ„ is a doctour euerie man will prate in euerie place very vnsemely of matters of diuinitie euery maÌ„ wil babble what him listeth of the highest Mysteries the lowest pointe whereof is farre aboue his capacitie This is by like your prouidence wherby you haue taken quite awaie that silence which was vsed of olde time in the churches that bashfulnes whiche became honest matroues meruelously wel that modesty which kept the simple people verie wel in their dewtie And so it is come to passe that wheras you pretend to folow the wordes of S. Paul you bend your selues ernestly against his meaning What lacked there I praie you in the olde time that was necessarie to keepe honest heartes in a sobre discicipline Were there not lerned Priests the which were able to choose out of the holie mysteries so muche as was needful to saluation and so muche as they might declare vnto the ignorant people without daâ—nger Were there none to supplie the place of the vnlerned man and to answere Amen Was the sownd and wordes of the Latine tongue so straunge that no man vnderstoode it in all your Churches Needed there the authoritie of the Apostle to breake vp that disordered confusion of many tongues together when there was heard in the commoÌ„ praiers of the churches but one kind of speach only and that by long custome verie well knowen and commonly vsed If the vse of one common tongue ioyneth the mindes of men in one then was there nothing more agreable to the rule of Christ then that the seruice of God should be openly saied in one only tongue the which was in all churches of the west part of the world learned in scholes and practised in the dailie affaires and nothing lesse conuenient then that the seruice is now saied in so manie tongues as there are nations emongest whome men without learning without witte without religion take vpon them the office of expounding the holie Scriptures Wherfore neither was our simplicity so vnprofitable as you wise men thought it was neither is your prouident warines so wholesome as your maisters imagined it would haue ben For out of it are risen errours and disorders and a false opiuioÌ„ of wisedome whiche is the greatest madnes in the worlde with manie other discommodities Then you goe forewarde in the declaration of the doctrine of your Church saying We vse at the laying on of handes the celebration of mariage the churching of women after child bearing the visiting of the sicke and the burying of the dead solemne and publike seruice set out according to the truth of the ghospell Al the rest you comprehend verie briefely in one sentence perswading your selfe that it is sufficiently declared that you are not destitute neither of Sacramentes neither of anie other thinges apperteyning to religion You confesse plainely after that that you haue shaken of from you the yoke of the high Bishop or Pope bicause it was heauier then that either you or your fathers could beare it Your fathers and auncetours I know did beare it verie well and with great commeÌ„dation but youâ— graunt were not able to beare it For how had it ben lawful for you to breake violently into the monasteries to disanull the rules of monkes to deflower the holy and chast Virgins to deface like vngodlie and furious men al orders of religion to laie your greedy and violent handes vpon the Churche goods appointed to holie vses to pul â—owne all monumentes of vertue and godlines to ouerthrow the auncient Churche and to botch vp an other at your plesure if this yoke had not ben first taken of from your neckes You bring in a litle after Neither doe we acknowledge anie Bisshop but onlie our Lord Iesus Christe to whom the holy scriptures appoint this peculiar honour O worthie saying full of wonderful godlines and conteyning in it a most euideÌ„t proufe of heauenlie life What shal we doe to these meÌ„ which are so holie so vtterly void of al care of this present life that for the desire and loue of the presence of Christ him selfe they can not abide to see any Vicare of Christ vpoÌ„ the earth But lette vs see a litle This name of Christ doth it import the dignitie and office of a bishop only or elles doth it comprehende also the authoritie and maiestie of a King Surely it can not be denied that by the worde and meaning of Christ in this name of Christ is conteined the power both of a bishop and of a King Whie then doe you acknowledge any other king beside our Lord Iesus Christ Whie are you not so free and earnest to shake of this yoke that remaineth Whie suffer you this freedome of your gospell to be hindered through the power and authoritie of a King Whie doe you not as it hath ben already attempted in other places whiche are infected with the selfe same religioÌ„ bend your selues earnestly to make away the maiestie of a King for as you acknwolege one only high bishop so is it necessarie to obei one only King If you thinke it mete to haue an other king in th' earth as Vicare of that high and almightie king what is the câ—use whie you wold not haue an other bishop as Vicare of that most high and holy bishoppe But you wil say We haue bishops but we wil haue no high bishop Whie then it is not the name of a bishop but of a high bishoppe that offendeth you Wherefore thinke you then that the authoritie of a Kinges power whiche dowbtles is the highest is to be borne in England Are there not magistrates emongest you Is there not a publike counsel Haue you not Princes and Lordes Then take awaie the controuersie of the name and ther are in England a great many as there are also emoÌ„gest vs the which haue the authority of kinges although thei be not called by the name of Kinges Ymaginâ— therfore that they were certaine litle kinges What needed it then being so many kinges emongest you that there shuld be any one high or supreme king to restraine by his authority the other inferiour kings For if you
Whereas you saie that I doe fight or contend against an errour it soundeth to my commendacion For what goodlier thing can I doe them to plucke vp pestilent opinions by the roote But when you bring in vpō this that of the selfe same errour which I contēd against ther is none other authour bisides myne owne selfe we had nede of Oedipus to expound it You haue a meruelous liking in darke sayinges Heard you it euer reported that I should say that the workes of holie menne were defiled and spotted with synne and that for this cause no man could atteine iustice by holy workes This is the errour whiche I doe stand against But you wil not once say so and yet you are so babish that you can not vtter what you thinke But the fambling of your tongue we wil lette passe and consider howe fowly you are ouerseene in weightie matters You saie that woorkes are not auaileable to iustification and yet you say that workes are not to be despised for so much as we haue both these opinions grounded vpon the authoritie of S. Paul The principal deuisours and Archbuylders of your newe gospell whome you worshippe as Goddes of whome you learned these mysteries went further then so and said plainly that al the workes the which holy mē doe are not only vnprofitable but also vncleane and spotted through the contagion of originall synne For they doe not beleeue that originall or engraffed synne the whiche we tooke from the spring is quite blotted out in the baptisme of life but that it groweth still and casteth out such a deale of vncleane vice that all the doinges of holy men although thei be done by the mocion and instincte of the holie Ghost yea and referred to the glorie of Christ yet they are deadlie synnes and deserue of iustice the punishment of euerlasting damnation without the great goodnes and mercie of Christ If it be but litle ciuilitie as you saie and as yt pleaseth your great lawier to write also to iudge of a lawe vnlesse it be thoroughly weighed and considered reade diligently the bookes of Luther Melanchthon Caluine and other your learned men and you shall see that this was their opinion or rather that the whole somme of the doctrine whiche they professed stoode vpon this opinion that they condemned al workes as wicked and synfull You see here an extreme desperation of atteining vnto iustice For if no man can be iust but he only that keepeth the law as S. Paule saith if not he that saith Lord Lord shal enter into the kingdome of heauen as our Lord him selfe declareth plainely but he that doth the wil of the Father if iustice as the Prophetes witnesse is a shunning of all vices and an earnest desire to folowe vertue and honestie if iustice cōsisteth in cleanes of life in innocencio in good and seemelie ordre of the mind in holy conuersation in newnes of heauenly life and in the cōtinual exercise of charity and we be able neither to keepe the commaundementes of God neither to forsake vice neither to folowe honestie neither to doe the woorkes of charitie if it be so that wil we nil we we must needes beare the yoke of synne by what meanes in the worlde shall we be able to assure our selues of the state of iustice through the grace and mercie of Christe if Christe hath not yet broken the force of synne in vs by the merite of his bloude as your maisters say You see here after what sort that man that was as you say sent from heauen hath cut of by his deuises all hope of atteining vnto iustice But see on the other side how wittily he hath deuised a remedie and how al the rest haue folowed him He saieth that no man hath anie particular iustice through the grace of Christ but that the iustice of Christe him selfe is applied to all beleeuers by faith in such sorte that the iustice of Christ is no lesse accōpted and esteemed in euerie faithfull man be he neuer so wicked then if it were that mās owne iustice that staieth vppon faith onely He sayth therefore that it cometh to passe through this faith by the which euerie Christian man assureth him selfe that he is in the fauour of God that the iustice of Christ is imputed to be the iustice of that man that beleeueth You haue here the law of Luther so muche as concerneth this present place thoroughly scanned so that you can not iustly complaine of any wrong done vnto Luther Nowe consider you on the other side what a meruelouse easie waie he hath deuised to atteyne vnto iustice For to whome shal it not be a very easie matter if he wil beleeue Luther to say thus with him selfe This geare goeth gaily wel with me I am in high fauour with God for my faithes sake It is so that the iustice of Christ is become mine owne iustice I am therefore as iuste as Paule as Peter yea 〈◊〉 the moste blessed mother of God her selfe for so much as no man hath the cōmendation of any particulare iustice through the grace of Christ but there is one only iustice applied indifferētly to al such as keepe the faith the which bicause it can not be higher or lower greater or lesser it foloweth that I am so iuste my selfe although there remaine synne in me as he that is most iust You see now how by the diligence of this excellent felow all feare is put to flight presumption set on tip toe boldhardinesse confirmed in her full strēgth and force For so much as therfore a man can not be earnestly prouoked to doe any vertuouse acte being either in extreme despaire or elles in extreme presumption and Luther hath in parte cutte of all hope of iustice and in parte hath brought his disciples into a moste presumpteous affiaunce of atteyning vnto it by deuising an other iustice that was neuer hearde of before is it not euident although to eschewe enuie he spake sometymes manie thinges concerning the woorkes of iustice that he quenched all loue and desire of well doing For I praye you by what meanes wil you encourage a faint man to doe anie honest thing if he haue learned before of some graue person that such as endeuour them selues to doe anie vertuouse acte doe but loose their labour Agayne howe will you driue the feare of euerlasting damnation into them that are altogether carelesse and presume so muche of their owne iustice that they beleeue that no man doth passe them in any excellencie of iustice Wherefore no man in the worlde wil euer bend him selfe to doe holie woorkes if he hearken to the Doctrine of Luther for so much as it is impossible that any man being either in extreme despaire of honestie or elles in extreme presumption of saluation should earnestly endeuour him selfe to folow godlines But you wil say that it may be that Luther did exhorte his countrey men to good workes in his Bookes and sermons I know that
your selfe in wordes like a conquerour You doe in your owne conceit not only beate backe the hornes as you saied before but also ouerthrow and discomfite a whole armie You bring diuers places of S. Paule which are nothing necessarie to prooue that there is a prouidence After that you laie out against me with open mowth as though I should coÌ„clude that by the prouidence of God if there were any a man were bereft of his senses The which is in deede a verie shameles lie For you neuer read anie such word in my oratioÌ„ Neither doth it folow that a man should be like a blocke of gods prouidence but of Luthers madnes by the which coÌ„trarie to gods prouideÌ„ce he taketh awaie the freedome of the will But you peradueÌ„ture thinke that the lewdnes of Luther is so ioyned with this prouidence that who so euer speketh ernestly against Luthers madnes he must needes appaire Gods prouidence But I am of a contrarie mind that who so euer foloweth the lewdnes of Luther doth so much as in him lieth ouerthrow the prouideÌ„ce of God But what meaneth this Wherfore declare you not in plaine words what you wold haue wherfore vse you such darke parables wherfore forsake you the name of Babilonical bondage and take vp violeÌ„tli the name of prouideÌ„ce Luther saied that free wil was either a thing of a title only or els a title without a thing He saith that maÌ„ doth suffer and not doe that he is drawen and doth not deliberat that he is onli an instrumeÌ„t the which God turneth as him listeth that God driueth him foreward and pulleth him backeward as his plesure is and that he vseth him as a sawe or a hatchet and that man hath no power or strength in the worlde to doe either good or euyl But he correcteth him selfe afterward in this manner I did il saith he to saie that free wil before grace is a thing of a title only I ought rather to haue saied simply that free wil is a feined deuise in thinges or els a title without a thing For so much as it is in no maÌ„s power once to thinke anie good or euil as it is in the article of Wicleffe condemned at ConstaÌ„ce but all thinges doe come to passe of a mere and absolute necessitie He amplifieth these things afterwardes with manie wordes and streineth him selfe verie sore to prooue that the mind is alwaies tied the wil bownd the power to doe taken awaie yea in suche sort that we can not possibly not only doe but also not so much as thinke vpon anie thing good or bad These thinges taught Melanchthon also and so did Caluine with great copie of woordes and other whome I here omit To be short the somme of this doctrine was that ther is no difference betwene vs and anie other woorking toole These are the thinges whiche your Doctours teach openly But I faie and al good men al holy men all men endewed with godlines and vertue auowch my saying to be true that to teach this your doctrine is a heinouse offence a desperat boldnes a detestable owtrage a coursed acte For graunt me this doctrine to be true and I saie that lawes are taken quite awaie counsells put to silence honest craftes ouerthrowen learning defaced ciuile gouernement disordered the determination of right and wrong confounded I saie moreouer for it foloweth of necessitie that man is bereft of his senses spoiled of couÌ„sel depriued of reson and brought to that passe that there is no difference betwene him and a stone cast out of the hand I saie also that the warninges of the lawe of God the commaundementes counsells exhortations and threâ—tninges the rewardes assigned vnto vertue and the punishmentes appointed for sinne and wickednes were to no purpose enregestred in the holie scriptures for the perpetuall remembraunce of them All these inconueniences folow vpoÌ„ the doctrine of Luther necessarily There foloweth also an other incoÌ„uenience the which to conceiue it only in heart is the most horrible blasphemie that euer could be spoken or ymagined that God the most holy and vpright iudge in whom no iniquitie can possibly rest doth vniusli punish that offence of the which him selfe was as Luther saieth a perswader a forcible mouer yea the doer For eueÌ„ as when a murder is coÌ„mitted not the sweard but he that committed the murder with the swerd is arained so right and reason would that not I which was forced to doe a mischiefe by a certaine fatal violence the which I could not withstand but he that vsed suche forcible meanes towardes me shuld beare the blame of it I saie therfore that this point out of the whiche foloweth so many and suche horrible moÌ„sters is so heinouse and wicked that if al the rest were gathered together in coÌ„parison of this they might seeme to be very light For it doth both ouerthrow quite the societie and good order emongest men and it doth falsly charge that our most holie Lord and bowntiful father with the crime of vniustice and creweltie This therfore do I saie iudge define determine taught by infinite testimonies of the holy scripture moued theruÌ„to bi the monumeÌ„ts of al holy meÌ„ that euer wrote either of old time or in our daies instructed by many disputatioÌ„s of the most excelleÌ„t philosophers endewed also with vpright reason the whiche was wont to be called the lawe of nature and God that this absolute or fatale necessitie with the which Luther tied vp all the doinges and thoughtes of men without exception can neither stand nor enter into the mind of anie reasonable man and that who so euer deuised it first was of al men that euer liued vpon the earth most vile and wicked This is that which I saied This I would haue you to confute and to declare either that Luther neuer spake it or els if he did to prooue that he did it vpon good coÌ„sideration The which thing of like you doe not peradueÌ„ture for feare of enuie and therefore you shifte your selfe into a disputation of Gods election and you goe about to prooue by the testimonie of S. Paul that there is a prouidence as though I had disputed against the prouidence of God and not against the madnes of Luther Can anie man in the worlde deuise a more fond or foolish order of disputation and coÌ„futation then this is You are ouer bold and rash to abuse the epistle of S. Paul to the Romaines being as you are altogether ignorant in it And yet as though you had with this your leadden sweard killed God haue mercie on his sowle when you had brought in that example out of S. Paul of the children that were yet vnborne you ranne vpon me like a mad man This is the language that you vsed What saie you good sir Behold the election once againe and that according to the pourpose of God Behold the time of the election which was before the children were borne What shall we then saie that
beleâ—ueth that there was nothing apointed and ordeined of God from before the begynning of the worlde without verie great counsell iustice and reason And contrarie wise thei that saie that God hath sorted out of the common lumpe of mankind such as he woulde directe vnto euerlasting glorie and such as he would apoint vnto euerlasting daÌ„nation vpoÌ„ none other reason or coÌ„sideration but bicause him listed so to doe how so euer they maintaine the prouidence of God in word they denie it in deede For he that taketh awaie the meaning and reason taketh awaie prouidence But will you see how like a babler you prosecut the rest of your matters Your woordes are these At the length when you haue scholded your fill you begynne to conclude somewhat making a totall somme of all suche thinges as you complaine haue ben ouerthrowen by our men and you aske what thing hath succeded in their roome O M. Haddon I haue iust cause to complaine For I see none other thing set vp in the steede of them but only that woorshipfull acte of yours in the which you glorie so muche and therfore you repete it verie often For the superstitious ydleâ—es of lurking hypocrites saie you we haue set vp the necessarie busines of Christian profession for wandering pleasures most honourable marriage for the dreames of mens inuentions the holie Scriptures of God the Father and of our Lorde Iesus Christ The wast and hauoke of holie thinges I see but what you haue restored in their roome I see nothing as I told you before except it be for most godlie quietnes most wicked stirring for the loue of chast life filthie and incesteouse ribaudrie for the puritie of most holie doctrine most pestilent errours of desperate felowes Would God saie you ye had here broken of your most reprochful epistle Of like you are not ashamed of your tauntes which you haue gathered together without anie cawse in the world I assure you I am wearie of the rehersal of them To what purpose is it to repeate so often without argumeÌ„t without comely grace without any likely hod of truth those your so shameles and vnreasonable errours in the eares of the Quenes maiestie yea in the eares of al Christ endume How staÌ„deth this geare together M. Haddon Saied you not before that I was an excellent framer of wordes and sentences Confessed you not that you liked wel my kind of vtteraunce Haue you not called me often times in this your booke Cicero his scholer Wherfore then saie you now that my epistle was written without anie argument as for the comelie and pleasaunt grace I wil saie nothing By like when you commended mine eloquence you spake not in earnest and as you thought You dalied with me Sir pleasaunce you dalied and the ladie Venus in the honour of whome you haue prophaned and vnhalowed the teÌ„ples of chastitie hath besprinkled you with her comelie and pleasaunt graces Howbeit I thinke this very much to be misliked in this your pleasauntnes that it can not be well perceiued when you speake in earnest and when you sport But peraduenture you thinke it a coÌ„mendation of a sharpe witte to speake darkly and therefore you vse it in disputation also But howe often you caste me in the teeth with the name of Cicero As though I shoulde be ashamed of hym or els thought my selfe hable to expresse in my writinges anie parte of his witte vehemencie and copie as though I had studied Cicero only and had not spent verie muche time in other â–ª the highest pointes of learning But you like a foxie lawier and wilie proctour haue made a verie good prouiso that no man maie wel laie the name of Cicero to your charge For you speake nothing in cleane speach nothing plainly nothing distinctely nothing orderly nothing grauely nothing eloquently What so euer liketh you you put it in and then you prooue it not by argument and reason but by railing and shameles talke At the length as though you had wonne the field you pricke me with the bristles of your reprocheful tongue you presse me with a numbre of apish questions â–ª you triumph like a noddie before the victorie Whervpon you saie thus What saie you good sir And then S. Paul detesteth it Ierome Osorius is not afraied to auouch it As though I affirmed that thing whiche you there denied or els meaned to dispute with S. Paul and not with Luther And again What saieth Ierome Osorius And again Doe I make anie thing Doe I chaunge anie thing And with these woordes for sooth you would haue seemed to be a vehement speaker 〈◊〉 this of the M. Haddon if you can bicause your 〈◊〉 lucke was to chaunce vpon such a maister which brought you vp so foolishly and so ignoraÌ„tly that these questions are then both graâ—e and vehement in deede when the aduersarie iâ— coÌ„uinced by some firme and sure argument For otherwise they are verie â—olish and to be laughed at for so much is they haue no vehemeÌ„cie or strength in the worlde but only a declaration of a certaine pitifull pang or heat of the stomake So God healpe me as I could not sometime although your talke seemed vnto me verie much to be pitied hold my selfe froÌ„ laughing And so I am fully discharged of my promise whiche I made you that in case you could driue me either by grownded reasons or els by true exaÌ„ples to geaue my assent vnto you I would not refuse it For neither haue you brought anie argument neither alleaged any example that was to the pourpose and yâ—t as though you had borne your self like a pretie man you rage and reuel in wordes and keepe a meruâ—lous pitifull and frantique stirre I can not deuise what wicked sprite it should be that put you in mind to take this charge of writing vpon you Yet I meane not but that you maie doe as you thinke good neither wil I limite you in suche sorte that you maie not in writing shew your selfe to be as foolish as you list And to put you in good comfort take this of my worde that no man which is of anie iudgement wil find fault with you for being to much a Ciceronian THE THIRD BOOKE IT foloweth now that we make answere vnto your other complaint in the whiche you seme to take that part of myne epistle very grieuously wherin I reckened vp the impudencie the robberies poysoninges conspiracies and other detestable vices so manie that my maister Cicero as you faie neuer heaped vp moe against Verres with the whiche I shoulde saie that England was atteinted Wherin you shew verie plainly that you read those my letters with litle heede For it was neuer my meaning to condemne all Englande of suche vices For I knowe there are in that Iland verie manie godlie and religious men which neuer fel from the holy church but would gladly yeald their liues for the glorie of Christ if neede so required Yea manie haue alreadie
greate hinderaunce of the Church do preach ofteÌ„times Such as are not able to discharge it themselues appoint certain religious and wise persons men wel learned not in the rules of Bucer or your Martyr but in the holy scripture and in the bokes of the holy Fathers to instruct the people with chast pure and religious doctrine And as we see it come to passe especially in such as are bleare eyed that if they be either put into an extreme dark place or els loke ouer steddily vpoÌ„ the sonne beames thei leese their sight euen so if meÌ„ either be altogether turned away froÌ„ the light of God or els wil looke to intentiuely vppon it before the blearednes of their minde be healed they are striken stone blinde Wherefore it is very wisely and warily prouided of vs that we neither suffer the common people to lacke the light of Gods word any time neither do we dasel their eies so muche with the brightnesse thereof which they are not able to abide that they may be therewithall miserablie blinded We bring therfore none other thing in our sermons but that which we iudge effectual to bring men to the loue of godlines and folowing of charitie to the hatred of sinne and forsaking of vncleanes of lyfe And for this cause doe we set before their eyes oftentimes the crowne of euerlastinge glorie and the paine of the euerlasting torment But the daungerous questions of darke and secret matters we do for good consideration leaue vntowched in such sermons as are made vnto the people The authoritie of Bishops is great in so much that it is not very hard for them to restreine the vnbrideled lust of disordered persons and to remoue them that be obstinate in sin from the Communion of the Church Neither are such menne chosen to be Bishops as may be either for basenesse despised or for folishnes set at naught or for notoriouse vices reprehended and so do much hurt by their example The times of the yeare are so consecrated and diuided with ordinarie and solemne ceremonies that at all tymes there is somewhat done in the Church which may renew in vs the remembrance of Gods graces and benefites And to beginne at the Moneth of Decembre we are then styrred vp to remembre that time in the which the holy Fathers of the olde time loked for the coming of the Sonne of God into the earth and besought him with continuall prayers to hasten it and had a most earnest desire to see it that we might the better vnderstande howe muche we are bound and endebted to God which hath graunted vs the ioyfull fruition of that moste excellent fruit which the old Fathers very holy men and of God intierly beloued so griedily lusted and longed after When the daie of Christes birth is come we keepe watches and singe hymnes and Psalmes by note our organs also and others instruments sound euery where to the honour and praise of God euery thing doth then stirre vs vp to beholde the Sonne of almightie God the most excelleÌ„t Lord and maker of al the world lying naked and crying in a mangier in the weake fourme of a sucking babe We heare then with the eares of our heartes the voices of Angels bringers of that glad tydinges and we endeuour by faith to doe our homage with the sheapeâ—erdes vnto the King that is borne vnto vs and fixing our selues in the conteÌ„plation of him wee receiue the fruicte of incredible ioye The first day of Ianuarie the Churche putteth vs in minde to beholde the wound which our Sauiour receiued that daie and the Mysterie of circumcision and the moste dreadefull name of Ihesus which is the pleadge of our saluation and the lesson which was then geuen vs of that most perfect obedience and so by the strength and signification of this moste holie name we labour muche more cheerefully to atteine to the saluation which is promised vs. What should I here saie of the most bright starre which appeared to the Gentiles in the furthermost partes of the East How might I expresse the incredible ioy and pleasure of the holie man Simeon when he bare the child in his armes What should I here rehearse the exceeding gladnesse and cumfort the which Anna the widowe conceiued or els the godli prophecies which shee pronounced when shee beholde the Child All these thinges hath the Churche set before our eyes with solemne pompe and procession and candels burning to the intent they should sincke the deeper into our heartes Now when the time of fasting draweth nero we behold how Christ was baptised by Iohn in the floud Iordane we here the voice of the Father we consider the fast wherwith the sonne of God punished his owne bodie we record the tentations and wilie practises of Satan against him we endeuour our selues as muche as we can to set out the victorie of Christ we call to minde the homage of Angels which brought him meate and serued him By this exaÌ„ple of Christ we are taught that we ought to kepe ftil that puritie and cleanes whiche we receiued in the holie fount of Baptisme that we should receiue the voice of the father commaunding vs to obeye him with heart and minde that we should subdewe the body with fasting and encounter with our old enemie the dinel to the end that â–ª at the length the battaile being fought and the victorie by the mightie protection of God atchieued we might be refreshed with heauenly foode and comforted by the ministerie of Angels When the time approcheth in the which we mind to celebrate the supper of our Lord â–ª to do so holy a worke with the greater deuotion we prepare our selues much more diligently then at other tymes and we doe it with gladnes and feare together Then doe we consecrate the holy Oiles by the which are fignified diuers gyftes and graces of the holy Ghost according as S. Denyse and other holy Father write and we minister the body of our Lord to al such as are readie to receyue it and we wash the feete of poore men not only with water but also with many teares sometimes and by this example we cause suche as looke on to powre out teares abondantly But when we behold attentiuely Christ hanging on the Crosse when we consider how he was scorned reuiled tormented and put to death when we pray for the saluation of all menns when we come bare-footed to worship Christ in his Image when we bring in God him selfe complaining of our misliuing when we craue pardon for our synnes in moste humble and lowly wise what man thinke you is then in the Churche which is not foorth with stirred vp to forsake synne and to folow a better ordre of life But when Easter day is come we vse suche honour and pompe we sing suche Hymnes and Psalmes to aduaunce the victorie and triumph of Christ raised from death to set out the sacke and spoile of
but railinge for argument madnesse for reason impudencie for true exaumples you keepe such a raginge stirre as though you hadde alreadi◠wonne the fielde with greate honour But we on the other side are wont to declare by authoritie of the holie Scriptures by testimonies of the holy Fathers by fetching the Monumentes and Recordes of al the Antiquitie finally by reason by vse by experience by a number of examples that thys kinde of gouernement hath allwaies bene in the Churche and that who so euer goeth about to appaire it is a breaker of peace an ouerthrower of Religion a woorker of sedition a puller downe of the Churche whiche is one and a fettor vp of diuers and sundrie churches diuersly sundered and diuided within them selues a bringer in of infinite most filthie vices and trowblesome errours As for the mart of Purgatorie which you speake of we answere you that there is no such thing If at any time in so many hundred yeares ther hath ben any bying and selling of holie thinges vsed the holie Churche alloweth it not but banisheth it out of the bounds of the Christian common weale as a most pestilent and pernicious abuse Likewise of Images we say that al we that liue in the holy catholik faith are able to prooue both by reasons argumentes and examples that euen frō the primitiue church especially after it might be done for tyrannes there hath ben Images set vp in churches to the euerlasting remembraunce of vertue to moue men to godlines and religion to the glorie and honour of Christe the whiche is seene in the wonderfull vertue of holie men We saie moreouer that the errour of those men that threw downe Images was condemned by manie authorities of the holy Fathers by diuers decrees of generall councels the whiche thing your maisters be they neuer so shameles can not denie vnlesse they wil first burne al the writinges of holie fathers al histories and records all the decrees of general Councels What shoulde I here reason of the reuerence and honour which was of old time geauen vnto sainctes Could you neuer spare a litle time from the fine woorkes of Accursius to bestow in the reading of Gregorie Nazianzene Basile the Greate Hierome and Ambrose If you coulde doe it you shoulde see it in their bookes howe many times godlie personnes came together in the olde time what resortes and assemblies there were made what eloquent Orations were pronounced in the commendation of Sainctes how greate multitude of the common people pressed thither to heare them But nowe if I woulde shewe you with what feruente zeale and deuotion verie many men were wont to continue all night at the Tombes of Martyrs it were a hard matter to expresse it None of al the holy Bishops in those daies did once put backe the common people from hearing the cōmendation of Martyrs no man disswaded them from that moste earnest deuotion towardes the Saintes no they did rather exhort al such as were present to visit their Monumentes to praise and honour them to obserue and keepe such woorshippe as was dew vnto them For they sawe in those assemblies when the name of Martyrs was sette out with heauenlie prayses that not the nature of the bodie but the grace of God and the almightie power of Christe him selfe was dewlie honoured in them For if the Christian menne in those daies kept the signes of the holie Crosse and the Images of Sainctes whiche were of deuotion sette vppe in Churches with such reuerence if they were oftentimes put in minde by those signes to plucke vppe their heartes and to remember the vertue whiche those domme Images did represente was it not muche more conuenient that the liuely Images of Christe shoulde be honoured with greater feruencie and that all suche as serued God truely and heartilie to doe this honour the better should visite the Tombes of Martyrs and Churches builded in the honoure of them And is it not euidently sene that the Sainctes are by the operation of the holy Ghost shapen to the likenes of God and that they beare a very true and expresse Image of Christ As touching your pastime that you make with Purgatorie for you must needes haue a snatche at euery thing can there be broughte any grauer testimonie against you then that which the manne that was sent as you saie from heauen hath geuen openlie Who is that saye you It is that Luther whome you honoure and reuerence whome you make a God whome you affirme to haue ben borne for youre saluation Hee sayed more then once or twise and abidde by it that there was a Purgatorie and that he did not weene thinke or beleue it but certainely knowe it to be so For proufe whereof he constantlie alleaged that place of S. Mathew where Christe said that the synne of suche as did wilfully resist the testimonie of the holie Ghoste shoulde neuer be forgeauen neither in this worlde neither yet in the worlde to come by the which wordes it is signified that some hope of forgeuenes is mercifully shewed by God vnto many men euen in the worlde to come He alleged also that place out of the Machabees where Iudas made oblations for the synnes of such as were departed With these and other the like argumēts and allegatiōs he was earnest to proue that there was a Purgatorie How then If Luther saied there was a Purgatorie and you will warrant it that Luther was sent from God and if he were sent from God so long as he was in that embassage he coulde not lie it is manifestly prooued by his authoritie the whiche you maie not gainsaie that there is a purgatorie If there be no purgatorie Luther lied If Luther lied he was not sent from God but from him that is the father of lying Choose therefore whether you like better For either the authoritie of Luther shal cōfirme that there is a purgatorie or els the feined tale of purgatorie as you terme it shall conuince Luther of vanitie and madnes But he afterward denied purgatorie That is no wonder For not only he but all his ofspring saie nowe one thing and now an other they correct and alter manie thinges neither can they staie them selues in anie one degree but rather when they haue once begonne an errour they heape and increase it with a numbre of other errours But I would faine learne of you M. Haddon whether of these two opinions whiche are mainteined both by Luther think you to be the truer The later saie you Well then the former he receiued not of God Then was he not as yet sent from God But after he had disteined him selfe with incestuous wedlocke after he had allured his contrei men to rebellion after he had defied chastitie and all holines after he had stirred vp such broile and sedition in the common weale that he coulde not appeace it him selfe afterward when he had railed against the state of the church with most reprochfull and