for their defence also as appeareth playnly by their bookes but I enterlaced this withall that if our writers had vsed scriptures onely they had followed herein the example of Iesu Christ and his Apostles What sayth our graue father to this Forsoth he Preacheth much of the Diuine power of Christ our Sauiour how that he was the mynde and wisedome of the father and the accomplisher of the Law and did make new ordinaunces of our Religion which were not expressed in the whole course of the old Law First of all this vnweldie old man perceiueth not how hee hath ouerthrowen him selfe in his owne turne for if Christ be the mynde and wisedome of the father as he hath most truely sayd hereupon consequently followeth that all the particular testimonies of Christ are speciall Oracles of the truth and that all his particular sayinges ought to be engrauen in our harts as heauenly Oracles This did our heauenly Father pronounce vnto Moyses and Moyses declared the same vnto the people in these wordes The Lorde thy God will rayse vp a Prophet lyke vnto me from among you ouer thy brethren him shall ye barken vnto Wherfore if we must harken vnto Christ as vnto Moyses then are we bounde as necessarely to his preceptes as to the ordinaunces of Moyses Behold the same more playnly yet in the Gospell Iesus beyng baptised came forth of the water and behold the heauens were opened and he saw the spirite of God descendyng as a Doue and standyng ouer him and loe there came a voyce from heauen This is my welbeloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Therfore sith the authoritie of Iesu Christ is sealed vnto vs by the mouth of almighty God what greater Maiestie of Scriptures may be pronoūced in the Scriptures taught or imagined more excellent then this doctrine Iames doth recorde That our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ is the onely Lawmaker which can saue and destroy Wherfore in his onely right and interest he did partly establishe new lawes partly amend the old partly expoūde the obscure partly restore them that were worne out of mynde and partly abolishe them that were receaued But what maketh this to your purpose when our Lord Iesus doth vse Scriptures doth he alledge any other then the sacred testimonies of the old Testament it could not otherwise bee say you doth he vouche any other interpreters then the holy Ghost sent downe from heauen he neéded not say you For he whom God hath sent speaketh the wordes of God for God doth not geue him the Spirite by measure The Father loueth the Sonne and hath yelded all thynges vnto his hand This is a true saying of Iohn concernyng Christ which beyng so in deéde that must bee also true whiche I enterlaced That Iesus Christ beyng contented with the testimonie of the holy Scriptures alleadged none other interpretour besides him selfe This is also vndoubted true at the last That you are a very vnskilfull and blockishe Deuine whiche professing the knowledge of God do wauder so erroniously in the nature and power of God If I should sift out the examples particularly that you haue taked together for this purpose I should finde them altogether voyde of all maner probabilitie stuffed full with grosse errours Two onely will I shake out amongest all the rest which shall condemne you of your disguised maskyng You deny that this sentence can be founde in the Law in the Prophets or in the Psalmes that the way is narrow that leadeth to saluatiō or that we must turne the left checke to him that hath striken on the right If you exact wordes you play by that Sophister If you require substaūce or sentence I do affirme it to be found euery where both in the Law in the Prophetes and in the Psalmes The old law hath an expresse commaundement That we shall not bow to the right hand nor the left hand nor adde to the Law nor diminishe there from Is it not apparaunt therfore that we are placed in straightes Truly Dauid perceaued it well who beyng a kyng and a Prophet chosen by that singular prouidence of God to gouerne the people of Israell yet doth greuously complayne that hee was partly placed in narrowe straightes partly forsaken in the darke and sometymes maketh most humble supplication to God to direct his feete in the right way but very often confesseth that the word of the Lord is a Lanterne to his feete and a light to his pathes But what neédeth a Lanterne but in combersome and narrow straightes where a man may easely goe amasked if you be ignoraunt in all those places what doe ye vnderstand that is requisite in a Deuine and Byshop or if ye know them and dissemble them what can be more wayward then you Likewise you obiect that saying of geuyng a blow on the cheékes which wordes do employ nothyng els but that we are commaūded to be patient But patience is most learnedly conteined in that first and speciall commaundement of God Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe There is no mā that will offer iniurie to him selfe in any matter wherfore he ought not to wrong his neighbour at all cā you haue any thyng more plainly spoken The vngratefull people of Israell did exclame and rage agaynst their good mild paynfull guide Moyses sometyme with secret conspiracies sometimes with open exclamations many tymes with threatnynges and very oftē with wicked cursinges What might this gentle Captaine doe in the meane space Beyng stricken yea and buffeted also vpon the cheéke doth hee not turne ouer his other cheéke What els I pray you is meant hereby that he doth often pray vnto God for such cursed caytiues his enemies when he doth so earnestly and vehemently cry out to God either to forgeue them or to blotte his name out of the booke of life if you require yet a more notable example of patience Behold our Lord Iesus Christ is prefigured vnto vs in Esay the Prophet drawen vnto death as a Lambe to be slayne who beyng rayled vpon on euery side vexed by the Iewes and buffeted with fistes on the face held his peace and as a sheepe before the Shearer neuer opened his mouth what may be thought of the whole history of Iob but a conquest of patience and in most miserable calamitie a most ioyfull Triumphe thereof And yet this veépe Deuine is so voyde of common sense that he vtterly deuyeth any sentence to be founde in the Scriptures touchyng patient sufferaunce of our enemyes wronges You say that you haue passed ouer many thyngs It had bene better for you truely that you had passed ouer all thynges then in all thynges with malice and foule speakyng so to turne the catte in the panne that your wordes can neither finde head nor foote to stand vpon can explane nothyng soundly cōclude nothyng duely proue nothyng effectually but raūge in rayling brawle with bare affirmatiues and with pratlyng past measure pester and
at all where so manifold so great treasures of good workes doe flow so plētyfully out of that riuer of fayth which workes do prepare an assured way to perfect righteousnes For what mā is he that dare presume to challenge the name of a righteous man in respect of his vnrighteous dealyng or who is he that repenteth him of his good deédes But let vs marke the sequele of this tale Agayne whenas the same Lord doth say you shall bee my frendes if ye do the thynges that I commaunde you If I do geue credite to Christes wordes and doe earnestly desire to be receaued vnto his frēdshyp I will employ all the power of my soule to fulfill all his Commaundements c. Truely I do commēde you Osorius and accompt you an happy man also if you performe in deédes that ye protest in wordes But what neédeth then to make any playster of Repentaunce for as much as you do accomplish all Gods commaundementes as you say No but I doe apply all the power of my soule that I may accomplish them How so I pray you Bycause I doe beleue Christes wordes and therfore yeld my carefull endeuour that if I doe any thyng amisse I may purge the same with Repentaunce and that I may obserue all his good preceptes to the vtterest of my abilitie Behold now Reader the platforme of Osorius his fayth Whiche by succeédyng encreasinges of dayly buddyng blossomes yeldeth continuall fruites of most beautifull and holy workes cōteined in the sappe braunches and barke of that pleasaūt stocke How commeth this to passe First of all bycause hee is endued with that fayth which fayth is proper and peculiar to holy Church Thē bycause he doth beleue the wordes of Christ Furthermore bycause he doth prepare him selfe through this fayth that he may clense his sinnes with Repentaunce and what shall become in the meane space of righteousnesse of workes in the Confession of sinnes Lastly bycause he doth addresse the conuersation of his lyfe as neare as he can after the line and leuell of Christes rules Go to Let vs compare this platforme of his fayth and the fayth of Luther and Haddon together Osorius a Gods name doth credite Christes wordes Luther and Haddon distrusting Christ hath geuen no credit at all to the wordes of Christ. Osorius beleuyng Christ and esteémyng aright of his wordes gaue him selfe to Repentaunce as became a good Christian mā and so enured him selfe thereunto that hee abhorreth his owne wickednesse and is become obedient to Christes Commaundementes These iollyfellowes haue raunged all their lyfe long in such carelesse securitie as men neuer touched with any remorse of Repentaūce or regarde of amendemēt of lyfe after the doctrine of Christ. Auaunte therefore cursed Luther and his cōpanion Haddon both byrdes of an ill feather with this your vnbelief which could neuer be enduced to haue a will neither to beleue Christ nor to come to Repentaunce nor yet to accomplish Christes preceptes You might at least haue taken example by Osorius patterne and thereby haue learned fayth and bytternesse of Repentaunce But goe to now Bycause Osorius doth triumph so gloriously of the credite that hee geueth to Christes wordes Let vs discusse the truth of his speach and search out the difference betwixt this his fayth whereof he maketh such bragges and Luthers Fayth Take an example The wordes of Christ in the Gospell are these This is the will of my Father that hath sent me that euery one that seeth the Sonne and beleeueth in him shall haue euerlastyng lyfe and I will rayse him vp in the last day Iohn 6. And immediatly after the same Christ redoubleth the same wordes agayne and agayne thereby to emprinte thē more deépely into their mindes Veryly veryly I say vnto you he that beleueth in me hath euerlasting lyfe Agayne Iohn the first To as many as beleeued in him he gaue power to be made the Sonnes of God And by by in the 3. Chapter He that beleeueth in the Sonne hath lyfe euerlasting And how oft doe you heare in the Gospell the sondry sentences and the notable titles and Testimonies wherewith the Lord doth aduaūce the fayth of his Elect and the wonderfull commēdation wherewith he doth amplifie the force and efficacy therof Thy fayth sayth hee hath saued thee Be it vnto you accordyng to your faith Math. 9. Be it vnto thee as thou hast beleeued Math. 8. Feare not beleeue onely Mar. 5. Beleeue onely and thy daughter shal be made whole Luc. 8. If thou canst beleeue all things be possible to the beleuing mā Math. 9. And he that beleueth in me shall do the workes which I do and greater workes thē I do shall he do Iohn 14. You doe acknowledge these wordes of Christ I suppose which you can not deny I demaūde of you now whether your fayth or Luthers fayth do agreé better with the wordes of Christ Luthers that doth call backe all thyngs vnto fayth Or yours that doth yeld ouer all to the workes of righteousnesse Whenas the Lord being dayly conuersaunt with the Publicanes as the Gospell reporteth doth preferre the Publicane before the Pharisee Mary Magdalene before Simō Banqueteth his prodigall Sonne more sumptuously then his obedient brother whenas he carrieth vpon his shoulders his scattered and lost sheepe looketh narrowly for his lost groate bindeth vp the woundes of him that fell among theeues offereth him selfe a Phisition to the sicke more gladly then to them that were sounde and whole whenas hee placeth Harlottes and Sinners in the kingdome of God before the Pharisees when hee requiteth their trauaile with equall wages that came to worke the last houre of the day with them that bare the brunte and heate of the whole day in the Vynearde when hee compareth and setteth the last before the first when hee promiseth Paradise to the theefe for his faithes sake onely when he fashioneth Paule of a deadly Enemie to be an Apostle whenas he doth not onely receaue to mercy the Gentiles castawayes by nature excluded from the promise voyde of all hope Reprobates for their Idolatrie but hath them in greater estimation then his naturall Sonnes What did hee meane els by all these examples then to disclose vnto vs the secret mystery of our Iustification Which consisteth rather in forgeuenesse of Sinnes then in doyng good deédes which is to be esteémed by the onely mercy and promise of God wherof we take hold fast through fayth and is not to be wayed by the valew of righteousnes nor any merites of workes Therfore sithence all you opinion doth so wholy discene from this kynde of Doctrine with what face can you affirme that your Fayth is consonaunt with the wordes of Christ and Luthers discrepaunt The Apostle doth in so many places throughout his whole Epistles thunder out as it were that there is no righteousnesse but through the faith of Iesu Christ that no saluatiō is to be obteined
alwayes commend the person but yf the person be good he doth alwayes commend the place otherwise yf he be euill he doth shame the place And what yf Peter did receaue the keyes from Christ did he alone therefore receaue them was it not also spoken indifferently to all without exception Receaue ye the holy ghost whose soeuer sinnes you louse or binde vpon earth c. Could Peter be sent by any greater authoritye then by the authoritye of Christ himselfe Finally was not this spoken to all thapostles indifferently by Christ himselfe As the liuing father sent me euen so doe I send you Peter therefore did binde Peter did louse I doe perceaue you so did also Paule louse the Corynthian and reteigne Hermogenes and Alexander Iohn the Euangelist did louse the theéfe once or twise as Eusebius doth recorde in his 3. booke Cap. 17. Other Apostles did louse lykewise others euen by the same authoritye receaued from Christ himselfe and not from Peter at all What then because Peter did before the rest of thapostles confesse his fayth and because the keyes were first geuē to Peter doth this argue forthwith that the keyes were geuen to Peter alone But to goe foreward Putt the case that the keyes were deliuered to Peters custody both first yea in respect of his confessing of fayth besides this also to him alone sith you will haue it so yet what kinde of chopplogick is this The keyes were deliuered to Peter cōfessing Christ with a true and sincere fayth Ergo. The Popes of Rome onely be the successors of Peter and are inuested in the possession of the same power of binding and lousing by the expresse worde of God A trymm conclusion surely very Catholick Wherein neither the Antecedent is true and the consequent much more false Forasmuch as neither this force of binding and lousing was geuen to Peter alone their assumption hereof surmised that the Popes of Rome onely are Peters Successors is altogether as false The reason is because the simplicitye and natiue humilitye of the Gospell doth no where acquaint it selfe with any such carnall successions which are applyed to places persons and tymes as neither Christes philosophye doth acknowledge or regard carnall Fathers Sonnes affinities and kinreddes as the which doth mount on high and doth enter by farr more excellent meanes Goe to yet for example sake lett vs imagine that Peter hadd a sonne borne vnto him by his lawfull wyfe and an other Cephas resembling the father and by discent and course of nature next heire What shall we say that this Sonne shall clayme the priuiledge of his fathers Portershippe because he is his next heyre Not so you will say And will you so flattly deny that priuiledge to naturall discent which you yeld to place and to a rotten outward Chayre If Christ did neither acknowledge mother brethren nor sisters vpon the earth but those onely which yelded their due obedience to his fathers commaundements will the same Christ vouchsafe any other successors or vicars of Peter then such as present themselues with the same cognifizaunce and badge that he did acknowledge in Peter And admitt also the very best that maketh for you that the Byshoppe of Rome doth with neuer so good a face pretend this authoritie from Christ what and be not other Byshopps of other Churches endued with semblable fayth what prerogatiue hath he then in this office and keéping of keyes now as to challenge any superioritye ouer other Byshoppes and Presidēts of the Churche The Scripture doth in a certein place deny that he which hath not the spirite of Christ is of Christ. Now this spirite of Christ wheresoeuer it resteth is humble and meéke regardeth not the thinges of the earth seéketh not her owne suffereth the iniuries of others offereth iniury to none neither reuengeth any iniury offred to himselfe haleth no man to the slaughter-house thyrsteth after euery mans sauetye yea prayeth also for his enemies earnestly doth receaue the weake in fayth doth oppresse no man endureth many thinges becometh all in all to all persons that he may winne all vnto Christ accompteth other mens chaunces good or badde as his owne lyueth not to himselfe but to the publique benefite of many doth amend that is amisse addresseth that which is out of order recouereth the lost recomforteth the dispeired estates finally doth not breake in peéces the shieuered Reéde For in very deéde the spirite of Christe canne not be vnlyke to Christ himselfe And therefore hereof we may well conclude that wheresoeuer this spirite doth plant his Seate there doughtles is the successor of Peter there be the true keyes of the Church I doe not presume here to iudge of the spirite of the Pope he hath his Iudge and shall haue his daye of iudgement which shall display abroad into open light secrets of all darkenes In the meane space touching the Popes Pardons whereof these praters preach so presumptuously this is most certen and sure That thorough the whole scriptures or aūcient Fathers one sentēce so much cann not be found to make those their Pardons Iustifiable or coulorable First touching their whole allegation of Succession it is playne fraude and deceipt their bragge of the singuler prerogatiue of Peter is false The power of the keyes doth no more belong to the Seé of Rome then to the vniuersall Church of Christ. For if by those keyes power of binding and lousing be figured as hath bene allready spoken these keyes though Peter receaued first in deéde yet did not he alone receaue them nor did euer at any tyme exercise the power of the same otherwise then as he did enioye them together with thother Apostles which for asmuch as is confirmed by very many infallible profes and established by the cōtinuall vnbrokē course of auncient Antiquitye as also witnessed euidently by the testimony of the Cannons in the Councels of Ancyra and Nice whereof we made mencion before where it is sayd that the custome of the Church was then such as that euery Byshoppe should haue the order and ouersight of euery his peculiar Prouince and vpon due consideration of the behauiour of the Penitentiaries might lawfully either mittigate shorten or cutt of the tyme of their penaunce or prolong the same according as they should thinke in necessary and neédefull for reformation and correction So that it was shamelesse presumption and most arrogant insolencye of Pope Innocent the 3. to make this vndiscreéte decreé in the Councell of Laterane in the yeare 1215. Because sayth he through vndiscreate and superfluous Pardons which certē Prelates of the Church are not affrayd to graūt both the keyes of the Church are despised and penitentiall satisfaction is weakened we doe decree that when the feast of dedication of Saynt Peters Pallaice shall be solemnized Pardon shall not be graunted aboue one yeare and so foorth in the feast of the yearely dedication the tyme of appoynted Pardons
or all the holy ordinaunces and benefices of Ministers But if you vnderstand of the personages of men that is to say of the Ministers themselues and of Byshoppes by whom those holy thynges are frequented If you do exempt those persons from the lawfull gouernement of theyr owne Prince herein you shew your selfe no lesse iniurious to our Queéne then a manifest rebell to S. Paule who geueth a farr other commaundement in the scriptures To witt That euery soule ought to submitt it selfe to the power of their owne Magistrates Upon which place of Paule Chrisostome making an exposition doth so exempt no kinde of people from this subiection that he spareth not to comprehend vnder the gouernement of the higher powers all persons by one law aswell Apostles themselues Prophettes and Euangelistes as Mounkes But lett vs peruse the Argumentes wherewith this gentle and obedient childe of the Popes good grace doth make his wordes warrantable Tell I pray you if you please fayth he where did you euer reade that a Christian Prynce dyd take vpon hym the office of the Pope Truely to confesse the trueth I did heare neuer of any For there was neuer any Christian Prynce so shamelesse to presume to take vpon him so grat a function to professe himselfe to be the head of the vniuersall Church to challenge the prerogatiue of the consistory in common with God and to vsurpe both swordes spirituall and temporall to compell all humayne creatures vpon payne of damnation to sweare him allegeaunce and to yelde all power and authority vnder him And therefore that I may be so bolde to demaund a like question of you in as few wordes I pray you tell vs if it may please you Osorius where did you euer discerne so shamelesse an Impudency in any mortall creature at any tyme that would presume so arrogaÌ„tly to entrude vpoÌ„ the onely possession and inheritauÌ„ce of almighty God and challenge an interest therein in his owne right besides this onely high Byshopp of yours But lett vs heare Osorius how he doth prosecute his argumentes Nay rather all Princes sayth he which did embrace godlynesse and iustice did reuerence the iudgementes of Priestes did obay the Byshoppes without any refusall and did most wiselye accompt it the greatest part of theyr honour to be subiect to theyr commaundementes And because his saying shall not be voyd of creditt for want of examples and witnesses there is vouched agaynst vs Englishmen our owne Countreyman Constantine the singuler ornament of our English Nation The Emperour Theodosius Lodowicke the French Kyng Princes aboue all other most famous All which besides that they were notably renowmed for theyr worthy actes and Princely exploytes yet deserued they not so great commendation and renowme for any one thing more then in that they did shew themselues so humble and obedient to the commaundementes of the Popes We are taught by the rules and principles of the ciuill law that matters of equity are not determinable by examples but by Law what Princes haue done or what they haue not done doth not make so much to the purpose But if right must be decided by law to witt what ought haue bene done I do auÌ„swere that there hath bene many and mighty Monarches whose ouermuch tendernesse and lenity towardes Popes and Byshoppes hath procured the destruction and vtter ruyne of theyr owne esâ—ate and theyr Realmes withall Whenas Rodolph Duke of SwelaÌ„d reuolted against his owne Emperor HeÌ„ry the 4. by the instigation of the Pope what successe his obedience to the Pope came vnto let Historyes report Henry the fifth became a Traytor agaynst the Emperour his owne Father by the procurement of the Pope he did obay the Pope vanquished his Father and famished him in Pryson Osor. is not ignoraunt what ensued vpon that obedieÌ„ce Phillipp the french Prince french Kinges sonne was teazed to lead an army agaynst Iohn King of England by the commaundement of the Pope he obayed and bidd him battell what he wann at the length by that submission obedience besides many miserable calamities appertayneth not for this place to make report There was a truce takeÌ„ with Amurathes the Turkish Emperour for tenn yeares by the HuÌ„garianes not long after league being broken contrary to the law of Armes by the abetting of the Pope Ladislaus King of Hungary is brought forth into the field to encounter with the Turke and ouerthrowen in the conflict In which battell the King was not onely bereft of life but Christendome also lost almost all Hungary withall I could make a great Register of the warres of Henry the 4. and Henry the v. agayne of Fredericke the first Fredericke the secoÌ„d After those of the battell of Ludouicke Prince of Bauiere Fredericke Duke of Austriche withall of the slaughter of many Christian Princes and Dukes But for as much as hath bene treated sufficiently hereof before it shall suffice to haue touched these fewe by the way by comparison whereof the Readers may vnderstand what kynde a thyng this obedience towardes this notorious Seé hath bene which hath bene the nourse of so many treasons conspiracies tumultes and vproares emongest Emperours Kynges Princes and Subiectes and which doth dayly inuade the Christian commoÌ„ weales with horrible outragies doth rende a sunder Ciuill societie doth disturbe the quiet calme of Christes Church with seditious Bulles and cruell curses doth entangle the most mighty Monarches of the world with vnappeasable mutynes vproares tumultes finally doth ouerwhelme the whole state of the world with vnrecouerable perniciousnes destruction dissipation For as it is a neédeles matter to reuiue the remembraunce of the old broyles of the late scattered world which doth flicke fast in our skyrtes yet scarse able to be shaken from the shoulders of all Chistendome euen yesterday almost in the fresh beholdyng of vs that are liuyng what one other grudge did prouoke the late Emperour Charles the v. to inuade the Germaines enflamed the Spaniardes to the bloudy spoyle of so many of their own bowels In EnglaÌ„d likewise what one thing did procure so many rebellions of the subiectes agaynst their liege Lordes Henry the 8. and Edward the 6 What thing teazed Mary the Queéne to so sauadge a cruelty agaynst her owne naturall subiectes rakyng together â—o many Fagottes loades of woodes to the broylyng of so many Martyrs finally what one thyng at this present doth captiuate and deteigne the whole Realme of Fraunce in such an vnentreatable massacre but this Popishe obedience wherewith Princes as Osorius doth suppose do most circumspectly thrust their neckes vnder the Popes gyrdle But I am of a contrary mynde and beleéue veryly that Princes might haue demeaned them selues much more wisely and prudently if in steéde of this childish submissioÌ„ seruile subiectioÌ„ they would with Princely seueritie haue snaâ—â—led the outragious insoleÌ„cy of so shameles arrogaÌ„cy in that proude Prelate folowyng the President of our most gracious
through swiftenesse of opinioÌ„ doe affirme her to be such a Church as cann by no meanes goe astray and whatsoeuer this Church doth denouÌ„ce and commaunde the same they doe most greedely catche after with the whole bente of their fayth and defende it with tooth and nayle Out of this sincke were plumped at the first mens traditions and sundry preiudiciall opinions as certein vnreproueable determinations they call them Vnwritten Verities which by leysure they do coÌ„ferre with the Scriptures but in such sorte that whatsoeuer shall seeme to serue for their purpose they Canonize the same as inuiolable but if ought be founde contrary to their expectation then either they submitt it to the IudgemeÌ„t of the Church or with violent wrestyng do racke the same to colour their suggestions And hereof sprang all that Darnell and Cockell of errours and dissensions bycause many men did fashion their fayth after this frameshapen chaungelyng and not after the simple conduct of the word In which Church when they perceaued those and such other doctrines to be embraced as these to witte that the Romish See ought to be supreme Empresse ouer all other Churches that Purgatory must be beleeued That Pardons were necessary that vowes made to remayne vnmaried were meritorious That Mounckery and cowled profession hadd a certein wonderfull perfectioÌ„ That Images ought to be worshipped Sainctes prayed vnto and that the Grace and deseruynges of Iesu Christ could not of it selfe suffice to the attaynement of Saluation That no man could obteyne righteousnes through fayth without workes That Christ him selfe flesh bloud and bones was conteined and sacrificed in the Masse vnder bare accidentes That lay persons should be denied the vse of readyng the Scriptures participatyng the cuppe of the Lord. All these and many other like drugges though they neuer could finde in the liuely wellsprynges of holy Scriptures yet bycause they perceaue them to be shryned in the Decrees and Decretalles of Rome they doe constauntly beleeue that they must be of as autentique aucthoritie as if they were so many Oracles letteÌ„ downe from heauen Hereby cometh to passe that vnder the vysour of the Churche sondry deformed byshapes of doctrine are fostered vpp in the Church and vnder the pretence of Christ the true Gospell of Christ is in no small daunger to be vtterly defaced So that the lamentable complaynte vttered by Chrisostome could neuer so aptly be applyed as to this our Age Many doe walke sayth he vnder the name of Christians but very fewe in the trueth of Christ. But bycause we haue debated these matters with Osorius hereafter at large I will not deteigne your Royall Maiestie with any further Register thereof It remayneth that we make humble intercession to almightie God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ that of his immeasurable mearcy and loue wherewith he disdayned not to disclose him selfe vnto mankynde by his Sonne he will vouchsafe to beautifie and establishe and with his mighty power and outstretched arme to defende and make permanent from all errours and bloudy bootchery the true light of his holy Gospell the bright beames whereof hath allready enlightened the earth We beseeche him likewise that by the Trompett and dewe administration of his Gospell the kyngdome of darkenesse may dayly more and more be subuerted and the Church and kyngdome of his Sonne Iesu Christ may be dispersed abroad ouer the face of all the earth and preached thorough our all Nations and tounges Lastly we pray that he will endue all Christian Kynges and Princes beyng sett in aucthority and especially the puissaunt and victorious Sebastian Kyng of Portingall with all Princely ornamentes to enriche him with all perfect and absolute clemency in vertue and true godlynesse and to enlighten him with the knowledge of his glorious countenaunce and establishe his throne to the settyng forth of his glory and aduauncement of his Church through the merites of the same our Lord Iesus Christ who graunt you in this world millions of his grace and in the world to come lyfe euerlastyng Amen ¶ Faultes escaped in them printyng with correction of the same Wherein note that the figures direct to the Foland and A. B. to the first and second Page FOl. 3. b. President Presidentes ibidem is verified which is verified 15. b. lyfe hereof lyke hereof 15. b. groundewordes groundeworkes 16. a. endyng enduyng 23. b. iugglyng ianglyng 4.2 a. you say lay you 43. b. can vvith can not with 46 b. slaunder slaunderer 56. b. in a by a. 61. a. knowen an vnknowen ibidem to the of the. 66. b. was no litle was litle 96. b. with which 97. a. pitie pictie .105 a. of him in him .106 b. ofter after 10â— b. that may that we may .111 b. excludeth excluded .112 a. in other in an other 114 b Sophistically a Sophisticall lye ibidem rather of the rather the .116 a. of a. for a .117 a. requireth required .118 a. geauen be geauen .122 b. they do they that do ibidem the sentence these sentences .130 b. not one no not one .135 b. obiect obiecteth .136 a. of Luthers owne workes he alledgeth Luthers owne wordes .136 b. deny denyeth .137 b. do to to do 137 b nature the nature .151 a. frameth frame .165 a. do thteach doth teach 177. a. iudged be iudged .190 a. deliuered be deliuered .195 a. to onely to the onely 208. a. eare are .231 a. is it not .237 b. may be not may not be .239 b. includeth included .258 b. finally which finally in which .259 a. not but wonder not wonder .266 a. agaynst agayne .275 a. is neither as neither .278 b. to the by the .280 a. to credite no no credite to .285 a. Minister Minster 286. a. fourth a fourth .292 a. yee he .293 b. circumuerted circumuented .300 b. agaynst agayne .303 b. passe to passe .305 a. successours predecessours .313 a. pardon pardoned .329 b. nevves nevv .336 a. same the same ibidem yea yee .357 b. Romeo Rome do .360 b. this these .373 b. dot do not .379 a. hundred hyndred .392 a. by be .426 b. proued prouided .430 a. our your .437 a. sword word .446 a. seduced enduced .446 b. I he it he .462 b. this these 504. b. herefore there hereof therefore To the godly Reader Walter Haddon sendeth greetyng in our Lord Iesu Christ A Few yeares past a certeine Portingall named Ierome Osorius wrate a tedious Epistle to the Queenes Maiestic In the which he imagined many monstruous errours to bee frequented in our church with reprochful rayling most vnreuerently depraued the professours of the Gospel This publicke quarell against my nature countrey troubled me not a litle To some particular pointes wherof I thought good to aunswere although not to all in generall Partly bycause I wated tyme thereunto partly bycause I supposed that Osorius was deluded by some malicious report of our aduersaries therefore I hoped the man would haue bene somewhat satisfied with myne aunswere There passed ouer one yearâ—
filthy mischieuous dennes betymes You reserue a place for the defence of your Monckes by it selfe and in drawyng their petigreé you play the Philosopher at large Wherein you are not onely to childishe and tedious but so farre estraunged frō the purpose that ye seéme rather to dreame of S. Patrickes Purgatory thē to note our Religiō Let vs marke the begynnyng which is this There be ij sortes of men say you that are empaled within the boūdes of the Churche The one whose function consisteth in generall practize of maners in a meane course of vertue and godlynes The other that desire to aduaunce thē selues in a more exquisite endeuour of heauenly discipline Behold here a new Diuinitie Two sortes of Christians are sprong vp if we beleeue my Lord Byshop where as the Scriptures haue authorized but one onely state of Christians hitherto There are diuersities of giftes yet but one spirite and there are differences of administrations yet but one Lord there are diuers maners of operations and yet but one God which worketh all in all For as the body is one and hath many members and where as also many members be of one body Euē so is Christ. For we are all Baptized into one body by one spirite whether we be Iewes or Gentiles bondmen or free and we haue all dronke of one spirite These are the wordes of S. Paule Wherfore there can not be two sortes of Christians if there be but one body of Christians nor a distinct profession bycause the spirite is one and the selfe same Will you haue this made more manifest by sillables and titles One body and one spirite euen as you are called in one hope of your callyng One Lord one Fayth one Baptisme one God Father of all which is aboue all and through all and in you all All are one and in vs all as Paule doth affirme Where is your distinction therfore There is no respect of persons with God but in euery nation hee that doth feare him and worketh righteousnesse is accepted of him So doth Peter preach whō if we admit for our Scholemaister all your distinction wherein you haue trauailed so much will lye in the durte And therefore sith our profession is but one and the same common also to all Christians out of Antioche were all called once first by this common name Christians But if you will not be satisfied with the testimonies of the Apostles Let vs heare our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ sendyng his eleuen Disciples abroad into the whole world speakyng vnto them in this wise All power is geuen vnto me in heauen and in earth Goe ye forth therfore and teach all nations Baptizyng them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost teachyng them to obserue all those thynges whiche I haue commaunded you This is the pure and onely profession of Christian Religion grounded vpon the authoritie of Christ his owne wordes repeated by the preachyngs of the Apostles confirmed with the generall consent of the Catholicke and Apostolicke Church and ensealed with the bloud of the Martyrs in all ages Leaue this Religion to vs and reteine to you and your fraternitie that newfounde two horned sect whereof you can vouch no Authour besides Cicero or Aristotle But let vs pause yet a whiles vpon my Lordes diuision and consider the speciall pointes of his discreét destruction distinction I would say For after he hath enstalled two sortes of Christians hee doth geue them cognizaunces whereby they may be discerned There is one sort of them sayth hee whose function consisteth in common practize of maners and in a meane course of vertue and pietie The other desire to aduaunce them selues to a more exquisite endeuour of heauenly discipline Now I beseéche you my Lord what mediocritie of vertue and pietie do ye speake of Sithence our profession doth exact of vs a perfect and most absolute keépyng of the commaundements by expresse testimonie of both old and new Testament how oft is this sentence repeated in the old Testament Be ye holy for I am holy Wherfore we ought not to stand still in a meane but must endeuour couragiously to that perfect holynes of God This is an expresse cōmaundement I am the Lord your God you shall obserue all my ordinaūces and all my Statutes c He cōmaūdeth all maketh no exception And therfore this your newfangled meane betwixt both must bee throwen away nay rather this meane is execrable dānable our Lord God the Father thūdryng the same frō heauen If you will not harken vnto me sayth he and will not obserue all that I commaunde you I will visite you with feare with tremblyng and burnyng feauers c. The very same wordes are so oft and so manifestly repeated in Deutero That who so will diligently behold them can not but wonder at your dulnesse and ignoraunce in Scriptures God doth accurse the person that will not obserue all the preceptes of the law perfectly to doe them and all the people shall say Amen What will you aunswers to this conclusion of Moyses he commaundeth a perfection the Lord doth accurse him that doth not fulfill it yea euen by his owne mouth and all the people say Amen And you contrary to this doctrine do deuide the Christians congregation or rather disseuer it into partes practize to plante in place thereof a frame shapen meane of pietie whiche neither old nor new Testament doth acknowledge You haue heard out of the old law we will now come to the new There is also an expresse commaundement of our Lord Iesu Christ to his Apostles in these wordes Preach ye the Gospell to all creatures who soeuer beleueth and is baptized shal be saued but he that doth not beleue shal be damned Go ye forth therfore and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost teachyng them to keepe all thynges that I haue commaunded you Behold here one maner of professiō dispersed abroad ouer all Nations behold all thyngs must be obserued that are commaunded Wherefore there is but one sort of Christians not two and the same one also endeuoureth to perfection standeth not still in amediocritie Our Lord Iesus standyng vpon the mount compassed about with the people of the Iewes preached in most godly maner the chief principles of Christian Religion vnto them and amongest the rest gaue this commaundement seuerally Wherfore be ye perfect as your heauenly Father which is in heauen is perfect What impudencie is this Osorius to thrust a mediocritie into our Religion when our Lord Iesu Christ by expresse commaūdement requireth perfection But I tary to long vpon matters clearer then the Sunne And yet this our deépe Deuine doth vnderproppe his lazie Monckerie vpon these pillers whiche beyng wormeaten rotten as I haue shewed already will at length bryng all his other buildyng to ruine and
painted vnto vs there may the eyes of the soule behold him in them doth hee breath in them doth hee lyue in them doth hee reigne and triumphe My Dylemma or double Argument doth not content you wherein I did conclude agaynst Images to witte that hauing life there was no want of them wantyng breath there was no vse nor profite in them How you say theÌ„ hereunto may not 〈◊〉 parcell be iustified by the Scriptures Why doest thou cry vnto me sayth God the father vnto Moyses And yet Moyses in his prayer opened not his mouth Therfore the spirite beyng present doth present the prayers vnto God though all the sences els be silent On the other side If the hart be otherwise occupyed God will not accept the prayers though neuer so many and neuer so laboursome For after this maner the Lord Iesus doth recite out of Esay the Prophet This people doth honour me with their lippes but their hart is farre awaye from me but they worshyp me in vayne c. Behold here worshyppyng is to no purpose the spirite beyng absent Why doe ye therefore spurne agaynst matters so manifest â—ay but you presume to contend agaysnt the holy Ghost in these wordes saying The spirit being present Images do no hurt and being absent they do very much auayle Amiddes our prayers thynges may not be enterlaced that do not hurt good Syr but matter wherewith our prayers may haue accesse vnto God But whereas you would haue Images to bée auaylable being without spirite This is very straunge monstruous in a Deuine to affirme that our prayers can be commended vnto God by Images or by any other way els without the spirit God is a spirite sayth our Lord Iesus Christ and it behoueth his worshippers to worship in spirite and truth The Lord Iesus doth pronouÌ„ce that the true worshippers ought to worshyp in spirit Our Prelate doth contend that pictures may auayle to prayer without spirite Away Osorius Away For euen on this wise and in the same cause the Lord Iesus did put SathaÌ„ to flight We assuryng our selues vpon the authoritie of God the father and of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ wil together with the Prophetes and Apostles honour the Lord God the father and him onely will we worshyp the Lord Iesus Christ and the holy Ghost makyng intercession vnto him for vs. As for you if you be so altogether persuaded raunge on in this your crooked procession together with these gorgeous titles of Councels Fathers and with that filthy raggemaâ—oll of your schoolemen There will come a day when this matter will be more déepely sifted before the IudgemeÌ„t seate of our Sauiour Iesu Christ. Then shall we know whether part haue more safely and more duetyfully profited in the worshyppyng of Gods Maiestie And so now at the last your first goodly Inuectiue is come to an end from out the whiche if a man will plucke awaye your outrage in cauillyng your venemous scoldyng your superfluous sentences surely very litle will remayne wherein the learned Reader may be desirous to spend any tyme. The second Booke I Am ashamed you say to vse so many wordes in the confutatioÌ„ of your Booke It is modestly done of you to confesse your fault But your vnmeasurable braulyng hath altogether weryed me of the same opinion are all others also that haue séene your writyng who with one coÌ„sent do woÌ„derfully condeÌ„ne this your idle superfluitie of toung in an old man Yet can we sée no amendement in you for the further ye procéede so many the more Fables you do vtter wherby all men may perceaue that you are not induced to writyng of any iudgement or discretion but enflamed with excessiue malice violeÌ„t outrage with neither of that which your person and grayheaded yeares ought in any wise bee acquainted But whereas you reporte that I seeme to haue taken wonderfull pleasure in that my litle booke Herein you follow the example of wayward men whiche estéemyng other mens affections by their owne be of opinion that scarse any maÌ„els can be well disposed bycause they bee vndiscréete them selues You begyn to quarell at the ouerthrowe of the Sacramentes wherewith you say also that I do séeme somwhat displeasaunt and therfore you commend me with a scoffe no lesse vnpleasaunt then vnsauory But mocke on spare not You do trauayle with your contumelious wordes to bryng this noble Iland my deare beloued couÌ„trey into obloquie with all men with an abhominable lye doe exclame that our Deuiâ—es haue vtterly subuerted all Sanctuaries Ceremonies and Sacramentes This your infamous shamelesse and reprochfull Hiperbolycall speach I haue scattered abroad crusht in péeces and brought to nought haue so déepely emprinted your flesh with an S. for a slaunderour to your perpetuall shame that neither you nor any of all your feet shal be euer able to wipe it out agayne You do accuse Luther Carolostadius OecolaÌ„padius Zuinglius and my Peter Martyr as men that do vnreuerently rende asunder the Lordes Supper First of all I haue sundry tymes heretofore protested that your controuersse concerned vs and not them For your quarell was agaynst our English Deuines whom I vndertooke to defend you slaundered our England I stoode to the defence of the same And therfore I might well haue referred all this contention touchyng their doctrine to them selues so I do yet I will presume to say this much by the way that you deale very vngently herein to scold so importunately agaynst the good name of them which can not now plead their owne cause I do adde hereunto that the rest except Carolostadius onely of whom I can say nothyng bycause I doe not know him all the rest I meane were men of such excelleÌ„cie not onely in the knowledge of toungues and other liberall sciences but also such singular Deuines as that Ierome Osorius might haue bene scholer to the meanest of them I say this withall that you vtter your vnskilfulnesse herein to couple Luther and Zuinglius together in matter of the Sacrament whose opinioÌ„s were somwhat discrepaÌ„t in the same Lastly touchyng the matter it selfe I aunswere briefly That those famous and worthy patrones of the Gospell and true Religion whose names you rehearse in reproch did reuerently and religiously treate of the SacrameÌ„t of the body and bloud of our Lord if they may be tryed by the true touchstone of the scriptures in whoÌ„ likewise you can finde no iust cause of repreheÌ„sion coÌ„cernyng the other Sacraments vnlesse you suppose that with your naked clamorous affirmatiues ye may expell them out of the Church as meÌ„ are wont to driue common players from the Stage with hissing and clappyng of handes But they can not be so quayled Osorius They haue obteined better footyng and déeper roote in the harts of meÌ„ by their learnyng vertue theÌ„ you can be able to remoue with your penne though it bee neuer so cruell whom the bootcherly crueltie
his name Christ teacheth farre otherwise of him selfe Behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any maÌ„ heare my voyce and opeÌ„ vnto me the gate I will enter vnto him and will suppe with him and hee with me O sweéte and most comfortable voyce of our Lord Sauiour Iesus Christ which if once may be throughly rooted in the inward partes of our soule will easely rase out abolish that priuy blind buzzyng in the eares of those Massemongers and Friers But Osorius sticketh fast to his substitution and mainteineth earnestly that the Apostles were assigned to be Christes Uicares on earth whiche should supply his iurisdiction and should enterlace their owne definitiue sentences with his These are both false God is a ielous God and will not geue his honour to any other Hee hath appointed no Uicare and the holy Scripture doth acknowledge no such word neither was it his will that the Apostles should entermedle in his Iurisdiction Your surmise is false quite contrary to his heauenly prerogatiue For Christ onely hath the keyes of hell and death Christ onely is the slayne Lambe and the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda the roote of Dauid which openeth the booke and louseth the seuen seales therof neither was there any besides him in heauen in earth or vnder the earth that could open the booke and looke into it Our Lord Iesus beyng raysed from death and appearyng vnto his Apostles spake vnto them in this maner All power is geuen vnto me in heaueÌ„ and in earth Of this power was neuer iote empaired in any respect and neuer shal be What was the Commission of the Apostles then Christ him selfe doth open it in the selfe same place Goe ye therfore and teach all nations Baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost teachyng them to obserue all those sayings which I haue commauÌ„ded you This was the Embassie of the Apostles this was their CommissioÌ„ Iurisdiction or to speake more playnly bluntly this was their function this was their office To this authoritie the keyes of heauen and remission of sinnes and whatsoeuer els of the same kynde must be applyed S. Paule doth comprehend all these briefly in these wordes Let men so esteeme vs as Ministers of Christ and Stewardes of the mysteries of God You be not Uicares theÌ„ Osori you be Ministers ye be not iudges to constitute Lawes as you do wickedly take vpoÌ„ you but ye be Stewardes to dispose the mysteries of God or at the lest you ought to bee But how belongeth this doctrine of Christ and his Apostles to your Massemongers Confessours They haue an other Romishe doctrine whereby they doe receiue the seély rude people runnyng in heapes vnto them rehearsing their sinnes priuily and in some close corner superstitiously when they haue vttered what them listeth they pronounce ouer them of their own power an absolution in a strauÌ„ge language in steade of Satisfaction they do enioyne them some fastyng dayes or some long pilgrimages and to make an ende of the play they pike from them a few peÌ„ce for their labour This is your vsurped power of CoÌ„fessioÌ„s Osorius which you affirme was geuen first to the Apostles afterwardes to you by a certâ—ine title of Succession Tell me now did you euer read that any thyng was whispered into the Apostles eares priuily or that sinnes were seuerally repeated or the people absolued by their owne absolute power or any thyng done in a language not vnderstanded or any penauÌ„ce as you tearme it enioyned or at the last any reward taken What vnshamefastnes is this what impietie is it to defend this close superstitious and mercenarie eare confession vnder pretence of the authoritie of our Sauiour Christ example of his Apostles especially wheÌ„ as none of these was euer instituted by Christ or frequented of his Apostles But your braynes are so be witched and intoxicated with eare confessions that ye shame not to alledge other stuffe yet whiche is most absurde of all the rest You say that it is daungerous for men to bee left in their owne libertie wheÌ„ they should confesse them selues to God For if it were so we would not willingly yeld to that embacing and throwyng down of our selues which Dauid named to bee the most acceptable sacrifice to God You do heare and acknowledge your owne wordes my Lord then the which I neuer heard any thyng vttered more blockish The matter shal be made manifest by the same example of Dauid which your selfe do alledge Dauid beyng a Patriarche a Kyng and a Prophet and a maÌ„ accordyng to Gods hart to vse the wordes of the Scripture was notwithstandyng continunually exercized in this kynde of Confession whiche is betwixt God onely vs in whom there is such store of sorowyng sighyng lamentyng weépyng afflictyng and bewayling as the like hath neuer bene in all your seâ—â—et whisperyngs no not sith the first whelpyng of the same For 〈◊〉 els is there in all that heauenly golden Psalmes of Dauids pâ—ayer then a mournefull and lamentable confession of sinne ioyned with hartie repentaunce sure hope of pardon Be mercyfull to me O Lord sayth hee accordyng to thy manifold mercies wash me throughly froÌ„ my wickednes and clense me froÌ„ my sinnes for I do acknowledgâ— my faultes and my sinne is â—â—er before me Agaynst thee onely haue I sâ—â—ed and done wickedly in thy sight Loe here a true and souÌ„de forme of CoÌ„fession fully described in Dauid whoÌ„ you haue alledged In this coÌ„fession we do exercize our selues In this we remaine in this we do dwell We do also poure out publicke Confessions of sinnes in our Churhes where the godly Minister is harkened vnto which may minister an wholesome plaister to our wounded consciences some sentence 〈◊〉 of the authoritie of the Scriptures These be the keyes wherewith he doth opeÌ„ the kyngdome of God to theÌ„ which do vnfaynedly repent pronounceth vs that are bouÌ„de with the chaines of our sinnes freély loosed and deliuered from them in the name of our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ. These Confessions as well priuate as publicke these keyes this power of byndyng loosing we doe acknowledge appointed by the Scriptures and practized in the tyme of the Apostles Neither was any thyng done with Iohn in a corner touchyng Confession nor yet with the Disciples of Christ. This matter was referred and ended also to and before God wherof we haue a most manifest example in the Gospell which ought not onely enter the eares but also pearce the very hartes of all well disposed persons When the lost and prodigall sonne had riotously consumed and wasted all his substaunce in so much that he was driuen to eate Peascoddes with hogges he begynneth at the last to call him selfe home and earnestly to deuise how he might be reconciled to his father herein he prayeth no ayde of any Leuite nor sittyng in a
corner vnfoldeth vnto him by peécemeale how wickedly and filthyly he had behaued him selfe in all his misdoynges in hope to receaue pardon of him who could not relieue him but with an assured confidence commeth to his heauenly father and maketh his humble Confession into his eares in this wise Father I haue sinned agaynst heauen and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy sonne make me as one of thy hired seruauntes Truly this is both an humble and lowly Confession the sentence wonderfully effectuall nor any whit tedious in wordes And yet it came to passe hereupō that this most myld father was very ioyous and clothed his sonne gorgiously rendryng therof this reason My sonne was dead and it aliue was lost and is founde agayne Behold here a pure and Gospel like Confession by the which we passe from death vnto life from destruction to saluatiō And therfore we that are instructed with these godly preceptes ought to obey the holy Ghost which teacheth vs by the mouth of S. Paule That because we haue an high Priest that hath pearced the heauens euen Iesus the sonne of God we should boldly approch to the Throne of his grace with affiaunce that from thence we may obteine mercy and grace and finde necessarie relief Yet for all this our great Proctour of Confession speaketh on and faceth out the matter endeuouryng to fetch the petigreé therof out of the Prophecies of Esay and demaundeth of me How I thinke that place of Esay must be vnderstode that it Should come to passe that after the birth of Christ the suckling Babe should thrust his hand into the denne of the Cockatrice and draw him out from thence First let vs heare the famous interpretation of this reuerend father If you will interpret this place sayth he as becommeth a Christian by children you must vnderstand those persons to whom Christ hath geuen power to treade downe Serpentes and Scorpions that is to say all sauadgenes of wickednesse the deceites of Deuils and all crueltie lurkyng in the very Dennes of the soules For although those persons be of a childishe simplicitie yet are they endued with such force and strength that they may easely kill Vipers beyng baled out of the most inward entrailes of the soules Marke here Reader this deépe interpretatiō of this graue father Byshop and Deuine But what shall I reprehend in this old Dotterell first He resembleth Confessours to sucklyng babes By what reason by what resemblaunce by what likelyhoode Paul doth enforme the Ministers farre otherwise whom hee requireth amongest other thynges To hold fast the mysterie of faith in a pure conscience then that a triall be had of them first and after admitted to the Ministerie Both which are farre beyond the age of Childish simplicitie but the power to treade vpō Serpentes Scorpions was graūted to the Disciples of Christ as apperteinyng to their bodyes not to their soules That they should be dayly conuersaūt amongest poyson without any empairyng of their health for euen so doth our Lord Iesus promise thē Behold I geue you power to tread vpon Serpēts and Scorpions and vpon all the force of the enemie and nothing shall hurt you So did Paule shake from his hand into the fier the Uiper which by chaunce stacke fast vpō him beyng him selfe safe and whole when all men did looke that hee should haue swollen and burst in peéces Wherfore this promise of Christ whereby the health of the Apostles was preserued that nothyng might hurt them can not bee so mistourned and wrested to the edifieng of soules through Confessiō vnlesse it be by you and your schoolemen which in mydday ouerspread all thynges with cloudes disguise all thynges licentiously at your owne will whiche chaūge white blacke and blacke white that by such meanes that peéuishe and cold inuentions of your Commētaries may be imputed vnto our charge In like maner bycause God did place in the firmamentone great light and an other lesse in the first creation of the world ye will haue this also to be almost an Article of our fayth that hereof it came to passe that the Pope is in degreé aboue the Emperour O passing witte that can make of the Sunne a Pope and of the Moone an Emperour But ye route so soundly in these drousie dreames that you can not bee awakened out of them and therfore I will leaue you snortyng in them and will aūswere you of the true meanyng of the Prophecie whereof you moued your question Esay the Prophet doth in that place treate of the commyng of our Sauiour Iesu Christ and doth foreshew that in that tyme shall peace and full tranquillitie of all thyngs be which peace after a Propheticall maner he doth beautifie and make apparaūt vnder allusions and variable figures that by them we might be enduced to haue a better tast and feélyng therof And to expresse the same more playnly I will recite that part of Esay frō the begynnyng which you haue slightly runne ouer The Prophecy is knit together in this phrase of wordes And there shall spring a braunche out of the roote of lesse and ae blossome shall grow out of his roote c. Vpon whom the spirite of the Lord shall rest c. then a litle after The Wolfe shall dwell with the Lambe and the Leoparde shall lye downe by the Kidde And agayne The Bullockes Lions and Cattaile shall keepe companie together so that a litle Child shall leade them The Cowe and Beare shall feede together and their yoūg ones shall lye together The Lyō shall eate straw like the Oxe or the Cow the suckling babe shall haue delight to the Serpentes neast and when he is weaned he shall put his hand into the Cockatrice ` Denne This much Esay who did most eloquently describe vnto vs the cōmyng of Christ into the earth florishyng to the great benefite of vniuersall peace and publike prosperitie by way of allusion of the cōcorde and agreément of sauadge beastes accompanyeng together peacybly And because he would Emprinte the same more deépely into our inward senses he is plētyfull in comparisons and figures amongest the which he bringeth in this comfortable similitude of the sucklyng babes desirous to playe with the Serpentes whereby he doth most manifestly expresse vnto vs the happy estate of those dayes and the wonderfull clemencie and innocencie of Christ. All men may well know that this was the true and vnfayned meanyng of the Prophecie whiche will consider the purpose of the Prophet and withall will know this also that your Fable therof is very triflyng a meéte lesson for your peltyng schoole of Cōfessours and schoolemen Now here is your goodly Confession so gorgiously painted by you which you affirme to be the Queéne of all Christian discipline beyng in very deéde as you haue set her out in stage a most filthie handmayde of your Schoolemen and most pestilent bondslaue of the Romish Seé Now come we
is this to make guiltie of the body and bloud of Christ your naturall brother that hath not offended you as though he had written that which he neuer wrate as though he had done that which heé neuer did as though you haue affirmed that which you do not proue nor can euer iustifie nay rather which you haue not endeuoured to proue for what haue you alledged of myne what wordes what sentences haue you noted out of my writyngs lastly what one thing haue you explaned whereby you may not bee adiudged of all men a most shamelesse slaunderour and notorious rayler Your processe that ensueth is stuffed full with demaundes wherein albeit I dyd pittie your singular amazednesse very much yet could I scarse hold my laughter in them they were so cold so friuolous so variable and to speake my mynde at a word so altogether like Osorius him selfe Your first question is That though myne eyes are so dazeled in matters of Diuinitie that I can not cōceaue that wonderfull chaunge of earthly bread into the nature of heauenly bread yet why I would notwithstādyng with quarelling peruert so wonderfull a benefite of God Truely I doe confesse right reuerend Prelate that myne eye sight hath bene alwayes so dymme that I could neuer discerne this your counterfait Trāsubstantiation But I ought to haue beén pardoned herein bycause it hath beén a generall disease and blindnes of all tymes of all ages and of all Nations The Apostles neuer saw so foolishe a thyng The auncient Fathers could neuer discerne so cloudy a forgerie at the last Sathan opened the eyes of your Schoolemen made them so sharpe sighted that in Distinctions eccyties and quiddities they could many time easely seé that thing which was no where at all This kinde of people enlumined by the Prince of darkenes furnished with the authoritie of the Laterane Coūcell and Innocentius Pope of Rome not much aboue 300. yeares past did rayse out of hell this newfangled monster of Trāsubstantiation Euen then when that Councell had sitte abrood Transubstantiation began first to peépe out of the shell beyng neuer heard of before any where nor knowē so much as by any name Why then do ye vpbrayde me with blindnes so sharpely sith your selfe I say your selfe do know that all the world was as blind as I before that Laterane Coūcell But do you as ye list I for my part will continue blind still with Christ with the Apostles with the aūcient Fathers with all the commendable company of godly Deuines in this Laberinthe of Transubstātiation rather then I will acquaynte my selfe with so monstruous a frameshapen new start vp puppet with your Schooleianglers confessours and lousie Friers But you begyn here to waxe very whote and teastie and spurre questions at me on all sides What is it you say that you do vnderstand what do you conceaue in your mynde and reasons Lastly what is it that your vnderstandyng doth feele and know I will tell you my good father and without any cholor I promise you if you will heare me patiently First I do seé that you doe childishly wander in this bitter talke that demaunde one and the selfe same thyng in threé seuerall distinct questions Then I do also playnly seé that you are so doltishe and blockishe a patrone of Transubstātiation that ye can not with any honesty open your packe amongest your owne pedlers But you neuer cease demaundyng You aske of me what doth trouble me in the mysterie of the Sacrament Truly nothyng at all graue Prelate troubleth me there but your vnmeasurable vnskilfulnes in so great a mysterie which is no small reproch to your profession and dignitie yea to your gray heares also But ye will know more yet Whether I doe mistrust the power or the clemencie of God Neither of both finewitted Gentleman no more doe I trust your selfe nor yet your Transubstantiation bycause ye goe about to throw it vpon vs contrary to the meanyng of the holy Scriptures in the which God the Father hath most fully declared vnto vs his power and will by his Sonne our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ. Lastly ye demaūde What the cause should be why I should thinke wherefore you should beleue that the body and bloud of Christ is cōteined in the Sacrament in a wonderfull meane and that I my selfe can not beleue the same whereunto you annexe this that in witte and learnyng ye doe farre surmonte me It is a very hard matter holy father to descry any peculiar cause whiche moueth you to beleue and defende Transubstantiation but I will gesse somewhat nearer the chiefest Forsooth you are addicted wholy to your Schooletriflers and Confessours but very litle to the Scriptures by meanes wherof it is come to passe that ye skyppe ouer the open Oracles of truth and are entangled in the weuett of errour peraduenture also ye are become an apprētice to the Romish Seé and ye meane to procure with the prety Marchaūdize of your pedlers pilfe some Cardinals Hatte It may likewise be that for countenaunce sake ye will face out your false packe with a carde often bycause ye thinke it will empaire the credite of your gray heares to be ouersene in any thyng Besides all these custome perhappes of many yeares had made your iudgement rotten before it was ripe as men vse to say of common lyers which redouble a lye so often that by their often rehearsall beleue it to be true at the length euen so may you thinke to establishe the countenaunce of your imagined Transubstantiation by alledgyng in defence therof a continuall allowaunce of long tyme. If none of all these haue moued you I thinke surely ouermuch pride hath blinded you wherewith ye swell in such sort that you dare boldly without blushyng make vaunt of your selfe more like vnto a bragging Thraso or if any thing cā be more vayne thē Thraso then like a Deuine For you doe not exceede me in witte say you nor excell me in learnyng Truely I will not compare my selfe with you nor with any other person Neither do I professe my selfe to know any thyng at all but Iesus Christ and him also Crucified As for you if one droppe of Christian humilitie or ciuill modestie were in you so hautie a bragge of your braue witte and learnyng would neuer haue escaped you Consider with your selfe in good earnest my holy father this your foolish communication and learne somewhat of Christian humilitie lest almightie God besides this your most vnsauory errour of Transubstantiation adde a more heauie plague vpon you for your vnmeasurable arrogancie You accuse me that I doe trust to much to my naturall senses but that you doe direct all the course of your life to the fayth of the Churche and that I doe shake of from my shoulders the yoke of Christ but you take it vpon you and that I doe forsake the benefites of God but that you doe leane stedfastly to fayth All which are cleane contrary
and most excellent seruaunt of God Paul trauaileth very earnestly in this place partly by course of nature partly by reason partly by examples partly by similitudes to proue that coÌ„mon prayers should bee ministred in Churches in the vulgare and knowen language and herein is so plentyfull and so abouÌ„daunt and vseth so many infallible Argumentes that if the whole swarmes of SchooleiaÌ„glers and Friers and couled generation did conspire together they were not able to abyde the force and strength of his disputation And therefore Osorius craftely cloakyng this matter slydeth away from thence to the vices of men And sayth that some of our Preachers are puffed vp with pride of their science many of them be entangled in snares and difficulties and doubtfull questioÌ„s This is true this also is as true that there is a great rable of false ChristiaÌ„s amoÌ„gest whom our Doctour Ierome seémeth chieftaine standard bearer which call light darkenes darkenesse light whiche forbid wedlocke deny lawfull vse of meates obserue serue dayes and monethes yeares minutes of tymes which are turned to the naked and beggerly elementes Enemyes of the Crosse of Christ flow bellyes And yet may not godly men be defrauded of the Gospell bycause such Lurdaines do abuse the holy Scriptures to their lust filthy lucre For our Lord Iesus Christ doth thunder with manifold curses agaynst such Pharisies Maisters of ignoraunce and darkenesse saying Wo be to you Lawyers for you haue taken away the keye of knowledge and haue not entred in your selues and those that would haue entred in you haue forbidden And agayne Woe bee to you Scribes and ` Pharisies hypocrites For you shut fast the kingdome of heauen from men whereunto you enter not your selues nor will suffer others to enter in that would enter You are a Byshop Osorius you haue the keyes of knowledge or ought to haue but you keépe it close and hyde it and will not suffer it to bee opened to your selfe nor to others You are a Shepheard of Christes flocke or you ought to bee you locke fast the Gospell wherein is the kyngdome of God from your sheépe and enter not your selfe nor will suffer others to enter This is daungerous this is damnable you are accursed by the very mouth of our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ yea euen by the testimonie of your owne mouth Osorius For after your long idle and counterfaite deuises imagined vpon the wordes of Paule you conclude at length in this maner Paule doth not forbid to vse straunge language Yet he doth preferre and commende prophecyeng that is to say the expouÌ„dyng of the will of God the maner of edifieng the Church If Paule doe preferre prophecieng more why do you embace it if Paule would haue the congregations to be edified why do you practize to destroy them If Paule of an infinite loue do commaunde all thynges to be expounded in Churches by an interpretour by what tyraÌ„nie do you procure all thynges to be kept in couert in Churches and the people to bee defrauded in all thynges of vnderstandyng by meanes of straunge tounges For it is true in deéde that you say that to speake with touÌ„ges is allowed of Paul if you admit also an interpretour whiche may expresse the meanyng of the tounges But it is false that straunge languages shal be receaued in coÌ„gregations without an interpretour For this speaketh Paul If a man speake with tounges let the same be done by two or at the most by three and so by turnes let one interprete if there be no interpretour let him holde his peace in the congregation or let him speake to him selfe and to God Saint Paule commaundeth straunge laÌ„guages to be silent in the congregation if there be no interpretour Let vs therfore obey him or rather the holy Ghost speakyng in him with all humilitie and banish from vs this chatteryng chough of languages to his Confessours and cowled generation But we can not so driue away this vnportunate fleshfly froÌ„ the godly banguets of soules for he is alwayes bussing about theÌ„ at the last fleéth to this desperate carioÌ„ That this doctrine of Paule was but for a tyme and enioyned to be receaued to the Corinthians and not of vs bycause we are not so apte to be taught therein as they were and are also more incâ—inable to arrogancie Doth this kynde of ExpositioÌ„ please you Osorius and will you be accompted a Deuine and a Byshop in this your Diuinitie to say that the doctrine of the holy Ghost in matters of fayth in thynges eternall in ordinauÌ„ces assured permanent not in any part chauÌ„geable in them selues is but a doctrine for a tyme Our Lord Iesus commauÌ„deth otherwise Searche the Scriptures sayth he the same be they which beare recorde of me How shall we searche that whiche we do not vnderstand or how shall we receaue testimonie in a toung vnknowen vnto vs There is a commaundement of God the Father from heauen This is my beloued sonne heare ye him And how shall we heare him except he speake vnto vs in a knowen touÌ„g The Lord Iesus commaundeth vs to watch and to pray yea to do the same continually for that we know not in what houre he will come what therfore shall we pray in an vnknowen language Truly if it bee so the spirite shall pray but the soule shall receaue no fruite therof by the euident teâ—â—â—monie of Paule WheÌ„ I name the spirite I doe meane thereby the breath that issueth out of the mouth for so doth Paule interprete it in that place Did our Lord Iesus vse a knoweÌ„ or a strauÌ„ge language wheÌ„ he taught the Apostles the forme of prayer Lastly I demauÌ„de of you whether you can finde one sillable in the whole doctrine of the primitiue Churche or whether any remembraunce or vse of this praying in a straunge toung was frequented in the tyme of the Apostles I adde hereunto that after the opinion of S. Augustine prayer is nothing els theÌ„ a communicatioÌ„ betwixt vs almightie God What request then shall we make vnto God the father for our necessities when we vnderstand not what we aske No sober man will seéme so franticke before men much lesse will he trifle so pernitiously with God That foule mouth Osorius that foule mouth therfore would be choaked vp with euerlastyng infamie whiche contrary to the manifest doctrine of the holy Ghost contrary to the receaued custome of the Apostolicke Churches contrary to nature to reason and contrary to all feélyng of common capacitie will auowe that prayers ought to bee made in the congregation in straunge and vnknowen tounges You demaunde further of me Why we haue coÌ„mitted the interpretatioÌ„ of Scriptures to all Carters and Porters I aske of you likewise with what face you could write so vnshamefast a lye in your paper You say that all order is subuerted with vs for that all are Pastours all are Prophetes all
any good workes How know you this to bee true For I am assured that in Porting all and in Spayne good prouiso is made that no maÌ„ be so hardy to touch any of Luthers bookes if you referre your Assertion to England or Germany I doe not a litle marueile how this monstruous Spynx can cast his eyes ouer so many Seas so many high mountaines and so great distauuce of Countreys and so curiously behold the lyues of men and prye so precisely into their maners vnlesse some Phebus haue cloured vpon this Mydas head not the eares of Osorius but the eares of some lolleared Asse in the truncke wherof he may catche euery blast whatsoeuer any where blowen abroad or deuised in secrete through the reportes of whisperyng Talebearers like a credulous soole beleue the same forthwith But howsoeuer those Lutheranes in EnglaÌ„d and in Germany do exercise them selues in no good workes it goeth very well in the meane tyme with Porting all and Spayne that men lyue there holy and Angellike For I do beleue surely that men in those Countreys do so glytter in sinceritie of life and brightenes of vertues that their very shadowes do shyne in the darke and glyster more lyke Aungels then men that they are such men as plante their feéte no where but that they leaue behynd theÌ„ a certeine wonderfull fragrant sauour of modestie curtesie singular chastitie so make the very heauens in loue with their puritie sweétenes of their vertues But goe to Osorius tell vs at the length a good fellowshyp what the cause should be that such as doe geue eare to Luther will not apply them selues to doe good workes Truely I suppose that bycause he teacheth that meÌ„ are Iustified in the sight of God by fayth onely and not by workes therfore it must be an infallible consequent That whosoeuer attende to Luthers doctrine will forthwith abandone all thought to lyue vertuously and yeld him selfe carelesly ouer to all idlenesse and filthynesse As though with honest and well disposed persons fatherly clemencie shall cause the children to be sluggish to do their duties or as though the voyce of mercy doth at once vtterly abolish all Morall vertues To what ende therefore doth Christ so much not commende vnto vs that fatherly affection in the mercyfull father mentioned in the Gospell towardes his prodigall sonne but also painte him out vnto vs for an example if that doctrine of the freé mercyfulnesse of God be not true or if it be true that it ought not therefore be published bycause many vnchast and corrupt persons will abuse the same Nay rather why ought net the truth of God of greater reason be generally and openly preached for the necessary comfort of the godly Neither behoueth vs to be inquisitiue how much this doctrine doth worke in certeine particular men but rather to know how true this doctrine is of it selfe And accordyng as we doe finde the same to be true and constant so to preach the same accordyng to the capacitie of the hearers But Osorius doth vrge vs agayne with threé Argumentes chiefly as it were with a threé square battell lyke a threé headed Cerberus doth rushe vpon Luther with threé sondry assautes attemptyng to proue by his Logicke that this Luther of whom we speake doth exâ—irpe and roote out all vertue honestie and godly endeuour First by his disablyng of workes secondly through desperation of honestie thirdly by Confidence of false righteousnesse In threé wordes as it were threé lyes And first of all touchyng Desperation and CoÌ„fidence I thinke we haue spoken enough before where we haue so proued both to be falsely imputed to Luther as that we doe yet acknowledge them both in Luther For Luther doth describe CoÌ„fidence but the same which is the true Confidence he teacheth also Desperation I confesse it but the same very comfortable And therein teacheth nothyng els but the same that the EuaÌ„gelistes and Apostles haue alwayes taught For what can be more true and assureâ— Confidence or more comfortable Desperation or more â—onson unt with the Gospell of Iesu Christ and his Apostles then that we beyng in full dispaire of the righteousnesse of our owne workes doe shroude our selues wholy vnder the mercy of Christ and in his freé bounty and elemency That is to say not in workes whiche the grace of Christ hath wrought in vs but for vs As touchyng the brablyng that he maketh about the despising of good workes by what Logicke will hee proue his cauillatioÌ„ And now pause here a whiles good Reader note the passing pearcyng witte nurtured not in the Schoole of Stoicke Philosophy but nooseled by rather I suppose in some swynesty Luther doth strippe our merites and workes naked froÌ„ all Confidence Ergo Luther rendeth in peeces the very sinewes of all godlines setteth at nought and vtterly abolisheth all the efficacie and dignitie of good workes And though Osorius haue not placed his wordes after this order yet the bent of his conclusion tendeth to the same effect For what did Luther els in all his writynges and Sermons but cut of all hope of workes and so by that meanes allure vs to take ankerhold in the onely ayde helpe of the Mediatour if this be the waye to choake vp vertue and to bury her vnder grouÌ„de I confesse that Luther was an abolisher of vertue and S. Paule also as well as he But Osor. doth many tymes deny this Assertion of the Lutherans to be true that our righteousnes hope of our saluation so depeÌ„deth vpoÌ„ Christ as that the same should be Imputed to vs of God accouÌ„ted our own by ImputatioÌ„ through fayth onely For he supposeth this way to be ouer easie and that it will hereof come to passe that no man wil be carefull studious or desirous to accomplish any good worke In deéde I thinke Osorius is of the mynde of many persons whiche vnlesse be continually beaten pricked foreward lyke dull Oxen with goades and cudgels will neuer yeld their bodies to labour but forced as it were with threatenynges and stripes are drawen to the yoke quyte agaynst their willes But this neuer happeneth in natures of mylde and good disposition but rather the contrary so as by leâ—â—ie and remembrauÌ„ce of receaued benefites they are rather encouraged chearefully to doe their duties The bountifulnesse of almighty God is not to be measured after the proportion of mans imagination Neither ought we regarde how the wicked doe interprete thereof but rather what Christ doth coÌ„maunde to be preached how much the will of God will permitte and what thynges true discipline will allow of I know that there hath bene euer great store and that we shall neuer want to great a number of that sorte of people which will wickedly abuse all thynges that otherwise of their owne nature ought chiefly bee embraced Neither is it reason to defraude vertuous personages of their right for the abuses of
promise where prophecyeng of the tyme of his commyng of Iudgement When you shall see the beginning of those thinges sayth Christ looke vp and lift vp your heades and so proceédyng yeldeth therof this Reason Bycause then your redemption draweth nye Marke well Osorius he doth not say your Iudgement but your redemption draweth nye And why did he choose to put his Disciples in remembrauÌ„ce of their redemption rather keépyng the name of Iudgement in silence Ueryly bycause there is so no IudgemeÌ„t of condeÌ„nation to them which are of the fayth of Christ Iesu as thereis no redeÌ„ptioÌ„ for them who without the fayth of Christ Iesu do wholy yeld their seruice to the world and to the fleshe Whereupon we may heare him agayne debatyng the same matter touching the freédome of Iudgement in the v. of Iohn Whosoeuer heareth my voyce and beleeueth on him whiche hath sent me shall not come into Iudgement but hath already passed from death to life And in an other place turnyng his speache to his Disciples whenas hee could promise them no reward of more excelleÌ„cie And you sayth he shall sit together vpoÌ„ seates Iudging the xy tribes of Israell Luke 22. What neéde I rehearse Paule writyng to the Corinthians Doe ye not know sayth he that the Saintes shall Iudge the world And raysing vs vp beyond the reache of earthly thynges to the excellencie of Aungels Doe ye not know that we shall Iudge the Aungels 1. Cor. 1. What then will you say shall we not all come into Iudgement shall we not all be arraigned before the Royall seate of the Maistie Yes Osori we shall all come to Iudgement But Augustine will discouer vnto you a DistinctioÌ„ of this Iudgement That the one part therof shall concerne Damnation the other sequestration whereby the Goates shal be seuered from the Lambes but the Lambes not condemned with the Goates And therfore I do firmely beleue that we shall come all vnto Iudgement but my assured hope and Affiaunce is that the elect shall not come into Iudgement of condeÌ„nation I know that all shall yeld accoumpt but this Awdite shal be so easie and so voyde of all feare vnto them which are engraffed into Christ as on the other side it will be most rigorous dreadfull to them which shall come forth into Iudgement with out Christ and the weddyng Garment And why so veryly bycause whom Fayth doth clothe with her Roabes the same doth Christ so shield defende and saue harmelesse with his innocentie agaynst all bytternes of tempestuous IudgemeÌ„t as though they should neuer appeare before any Iudge at all but passe presently from death to life And this truely euen this same innocencie of Christ is that pure righteousnesse of Christians which the Father doth none otherwise Impute vnto vs that beleue in his Sonne then he did once Impute to the same his Sonne all our sinnes when he suffred his Passion for sinners And he sayth the Prophet did beare vpon his backe all our Iniquities Esay 53. On the contrary part such as refusing this ankerhold of Christ and trustyng to their own tackle will hazard the sauetie of their soules before the seuere Iustice of God otherwise then clothed with this weddyng Garment must neédes suffer shipwracke of their soules voyde of all hope to recouer the hauen of perfect felicitie so beyng turned ouer to the furniture of their own store must neédes be bulged through and ouerpaâ—sed at â—ast with the buroeÌ„ of Iustice whiche they could neuer reach vnto in this life And hereof ariseth all that difference betwixt them which are ioyned to Christ and the rascall rable of Infidels For although in this iust Iudgement a reckonyng shal be made of all the deédes of all men before God and likewise reward decreede vndoubtedly accordyng to euery maÌ„s deseruynges yet the order of this Iudgement shall farre otherwise proceéde with the faythfull theÌ„ with the Reprobate For such as will challenge their Saluation as due vnto them for obseruyng the righteousnesse of the law thorough their owne workes and not through fayth and ImputatioÌ„ of Christ Those meÌ„ surely shal be rewarded according to the deserte of their own workes vnder this coÌ„dition That whosoeuer haue accomplished the rule of the law with that absolute perfection that he ought to haue done shall lyue accordyng to the decreé of the law But if he haue fayled one tittle in performaance lesse then the law required what may he hope for els then accordyng to the sentence of the law which holdeth all men fast chayned vnder euerlasting malediction that haue not continually in all the course of their lyfe perseuered vpright and vnblameable of all partes therof That no blemish be it neuer so litle may be founde in the breache of any one iote of the law whiche may procure most heauy matter of vtter condeÌ„nation vnto him And euen here most manifestly appeareth the Iustice of God for hee that of him selfe is altogether vnable to atteyne perfect righteousnesse and will likewise wilfully refuse the same beyng offered vnto him by another if he suffer punishement for his owne vnrighteousnes hath no cause to accuse the law of iniustice but must referre his plague to his owne infidelitie On the other part Those that departing hence with fayth repentaunce I speake here of sinners which are truly penitent in Christ do so prepare them selues as men reposing all their whole righteousnesse in the onely innocency of Christ and not in their workes shall neither bee impeached for their sinnes whiche Christ hath healed with his woundes And yet if they haue done any good worke they shal be rewarded with the inheritauÌ„ce of eternall lyfe not for the worthynesse of the workes but bycause of his freé Imputation he doth vouchsafe those weake workes bee they neuer so barren and naked worthy to obteine the promised inheritaunce not bycause they haue deserued it but bycause hym selfe hath promised it I suppose these manifold and manifest sayings hitherto are sufficient enough to declare the truth and discouer the falshoode of all this quarell of Osorius nay rather to shewe how many sondry faultes he hath couched vp into one coÌ„clusion how many errours he hath clouted together and into how many absurdities hee hath tombled him selfe headlong For endeuouryng to proue agaynst the Lutheranes That there is none other way to attayne true righteousnesse then by liuyng vertuously he seémeth to pretende a colour of a certeine few sentences pyked out of the Scripture such as him selfe scarsely vnderstandeth or hath ilfauouredly disguised to make a shewe in his maske and makyng no distinction meane whiles betwixte the persons and the thynges disposing nothyng in his due place and order but choppyng and shufflyng all thynges together in a certeine confused hotchpotte as it were in the old vnformed Chaos though they be as farre distauÌ„t as heauen and earth iumbleth them together without all discretion confoundyng the law
same or very like vnto the same seemeth to haue happened to Luther wherewith we read the wicked Achab did charge Elias the Prophet euē in like deceitfull maner saying Thou art he quoth he that doest trouble all Israell Not much vnlike to that example of Nero whereof the histories make mention who hauyng himselfe sett Roome on fire playing and singing vpon hys harpe the destruction thereof in Homers verses whiles it was on flame did afterwardes lay the burning thereof to the Christians charge to th end he might procure them though altogether innocent to be maligned hated and persequuted of the people Euen in lyke maner Osorius whenas ye Papistes the generatiō of your holy Father haue long sithence tourned the state of the whole worlde and the conditiōs and decrees of all Ciuill societie quite vpsidowne according to your owne lust and pleasure yea and dayly moyle and turmoyle the same haue left nothing sound and in peacible order throughout the whole earth continuyng still all maner of outrage persequutyng continually with fire and sword with your cursings and Bulles with execrable Inquisitions horrible punishmentes scourges and tormentes with all maner of horrible tortures triūphyng as it were vpon the Ransack of all Christian peace tranquillitie Yet do yeé Papistes neuerthelesse rayle rudely vpon Luther Thou art hee which doest trouble all Israell And why should not that song be chaunted rather euen into the eares of your holy Father the Pope for this is he the same very Troiane Horse from out whose belly hath issued all callamitie and mischief This is that Dauus that disturbeth all thynges This is that Babilonicall strumpet Thais the bruer of all misery What will become of that Seé hereafter I know not hitherto surely it hath so behaued it self that it may be worthely called the plague and cancker of all Europe which may be easily made manifest by many and sundry testimonyes And although I speake thereof nothing at all yet will their owne doings and proceédings faythfully described by historiographers and deepely imprinted into the present view of the world sufficiently bewray their dealinges The great and manifolde turmoyles of chaunged estates the sundry vproares of people schismes slaughters of Christiās the horrible disturbaūces of kinges and kingdomes the sundry alterations of the Romayne Empire chaunges and translations of the same from out the East first into the West do euidently declare the same whenas the pope of Rome renouncing the othe wherwith the Romaynes and Italianes hadd obliged them selues to the Emperour of Greéce did send for Charles Martellus out of Fraunce into Italie and crowned hym Emperour contrary to the auncient order of Election Afterwardes because the Frenchmen would not yealde to their outragious ambitions practised in procuring the preéminence of the Popes Election the Empire was sodenly translated from Fraunce into Germany by meanes of which inordinate alteration can scarse be expressed by tongue how great and how cruell warres and contentions followed betwixt the Frenchmen and the Germaynes in the raigne of Henry the first Otto beyng then Emperoures Neither was this amitye of the Pope towardes the Germayne Empire of any long continuance whose onely and speciall practise was that not onely all Bishops but Emperours also shoulde runne to Roome for the Inuestiture and confirmation Prouided alwayes that it might by no meanes be lawfull for any of them to entermeddle any thing at all in the Popes Iurisdictiō Now because the Germaynes could not be made plyable hereunto vpō the sodeine as men who reuerēcing the dignity maiestly of the Empire after the example of Otto other their Auncestours were not willing to yeald to thabacing of their lawfull authoritie and prerogatiue imperiall hereupon began incredible sturres and vproares to be kindled This was the occasion of the great warres of the two Henryes the fourth and the v. Then also of Frederick the first and the second After them of Ludouick of Bauiere and of his brother Frederick of Austrich And agayne of Ludouick Rodolph whom pope Gregory the seuenth of that name had priuily raysed vp against Ludouick the true and lawfull Emperour sending hym a Crowne with thys proude inscriptiō or poesie petra dedit Petro Petrus diadema Rodolpho What should I here renew the remembraunce of those old Tragedies of the Emperour Henry the vi wherwith the whole world is well acquaynted vpon whose head Pope Celestine the iiij vaunced vpō an high throane did set the imperiall Crowne not with hys hande but with hys foote and immediately with the same foote ouerthrew the same Crowne agayne most arrogantly boasting that he had authoritie to create kinges and to depose them agayne What shall I speake of Chilpericke the Frenche kyng Whom Pope Zacharie agaynst all equitie and conscience dyd depose from hys true and possessed inheritaunce and aduaunced in hys place Pypyne And it lacked very little but that king Phillip had bene driuen to the very same extremitie agaynst whom Pope Boniface the 8. did by all meanes possible teaze and egge to battell Alberte the king of Romanes to driue him out of hys kingdome Like as before hym Pope Hildebrand did mayntayne in armes Henry the Sonne agaynst his own naturall Father Henry the fourth who brought to passe by hys cruelty that the Father beyng taken prisoner by the Sonne and shorne a Moncke was thrust into a Monastery in stead of a prison where he perished miserably through famine and want of foode What shall I say of that where Pope Alexander the 3. that most meéke seruaunt of the seruauntes of God treading vpon the neck of a most renowmed Emperour as vpon the imperiall maiesty trodden now vnder foote applyed therunto thys triumphant Sonnet takē out of the Psalmes of Dauid Super Aspidem Basiliscum ambulabis c. Neyther was Frauncisce Dandalus king of Creéte and Cipres and Duke of Uenice any iot more fréndly intreated whom Clement the proud Romish Prelate would scarse at the lēgth after long sute admit vnto speech though chayned with an Iron Roape and lying vnder hys table amongest dogges Surely I shall seeme to measure the sandes when I enter vppon the gulfe of thys Romishe Ierarchy Briefly therefore and to be short what Nation what Countrey what territory what Iland did euer heare of the name of thys Seé whiche hath not withall bene pinched with their crampes spoyled with their exactions and beggered with their trumperies at or least skarse peépeth as yet frō the tirannicall thraldome thereof Yea what vproares what commotiones what warres haue wasted or consumed any Christian nation these many hundred yeares at any tyme whereof this Babilonicall strūpet hath not bene wholy or at that least for the more part the Author and procuror And no meruayle at all For what may be looked for els at the handes of so proud a prelate who beyng enflamed and boyling inwardly as it were with such an
ioue Peace yea and mainteyne Peace amongest them selues yet good men onely good Syr haue not Peace alone How glorius acceptable a thyng soeuer Peace is accoumpted to be in her owne nature yea though it be chiefly embraced and hadd in greatest price with good men Yet is not Peace alwayes and altogether conuersaunt amongest good men onely nor the entoyeng of Peace alone doth make men to be good For there is a certeyne Peace amongest the wicked Yea Pirates Theéues Robbers haue their certeine Peace and agreément in willes Neither is it to be doughted but that false Catholiques and such like heretiques haue their seuerall Conuenticles and peacyble bandes of concorde and consent euē as the false Apostles and false Prophetes had in tymes past They that worshypped the Golden Calfe and they that conspired took counsell agaynst the Lord cryeng Crucifige agaynst him did represent a certeine forme of the Churche and were firmely knitte together in mutuall Peace and agreément of myndes If it be an haynous matter to dissolue the bandes of Peace and knittyng together of fellowshyppes concluded and determined vpon for euer occasion whatsoeuer we must neédes thinke that Cicero dealt very wickedly who at the tyme of Catelynes conspiracie did breake a sunder and sparckle abroad the false treatheries of this detestable cōspiracie beyng linked together with a certeyne wonderfull agreément of willes and affections yea and affyed together sworne in one by drinkyng a cup of bloud So also did Elias very naughtely who detected so great a nūber of the Priestes of Baal agreéing together so constaūt in errour and in so great a tranquillitie causing them to be slayne And therfore it is not enough to pretend the names titles of Peace and of the Churche onely if their effectes be not aunswerable Peace sayth Hillarie hath a glorious name and truth is had in great admiratiō but who doughteth of this that the onely vnitie and peace of the Church and of the Gospell is that which is of Iesu Christ alone c. Now as the Peace of Christ and Christes true Churche doth alwayes lyue in a perfect vnitie so together with vnitie doth it alwayes enioy perfect truth and veritie On the contrary part that Peace and Churche whatsoeuer is not grounded vppon the Rocke of Christes infallible truth is not Peace but Battell rather is not the Churche of Christ but a conspirary of naughty packes And therfore we do seé many tymes come to passe that vnder the name of Peace very naturall dissentiōs are fostered and many persons are deceaued by the paynted vysour of the title of the Churche yea they are many tymes accumpted seditious persons which doe vphold and mainteyne Peace and tranquilitie most After this maner Tertullus the Oratour did accuse S. Paule to be a seditious fellow so was Christ him selfe also and his Apostles exclaymed vpon as seditious by the Phariseés the holy Martyrs were likewise charged with treasō procuring of vprores by that vnbeleéuyng Emperours and miscreant infidels Euen so fareth it now a dayes with Luther the Lutheranes Luther sayth he doth rende a sunder the Peace and tranquillitie of the Church with his writynges and preachynges doth teare in peeces Christes Coate that is without seame rayseth tumultes and vprores doth entāgle whole Christēdome with dissentions and varieties of opinions And why so Osorius I pray you From sooth bycause he doth discouer the liuely well-springes of sounde doctrine bycause he doth enstruct men to cōceaue the most wholesome and souereigne Grace of God in his Sonne and declareth vnto them the true rule of righteousnes and the true Peace which is in Christ Iesu bycause be allureth all men to the onely mercy of GOD excludyng all mans merites and vayne confidence of Freewill Now bycause their bleare eyed dulnes could not endure the sharpenes of this light from hence flush out all these fluddes of complaints from hence rush out all these Tragicall scoldinges exclamations wherewith these Rhetoricall Becons haue conceaued so greéuous a flame ragyng out on this wise Is not this mōstruous wickednesse is not this horrible maddnesse is not this intollerable presumption what feuer doth make thee so frantike Haddon what furies doe possesse thee Luther what paynes of haynousnesse doe pursue thee And such like pleasurable ornamentes of whotte eloquence which scarse any man can read without laughyng For who can endure to heare common outlawes complainyng of Sedition Truly I suppose Osorius that with the very same wordes and euen in the same maner of outrage or surely not much vnlike Herode and the whole Nation of Phariseés did crye out whenas the fame of Christes byrth being bruted abroad it was sayd that Herode the king was exceedingly troubled and with him all Ierusulem also And therfore accordyng to this Logicke and Rhetoricke of Osorius Let vs condemne Christ him selfe for a seditious fellow bycause vnlesse that child had bene borne and that Sonne had bene geuen vnto vs those troubles had neuer arisen amongest the Iewes What shall we say to that Where the same Christ afterwardes beyng now of well growē yeares did declare in playne open wordes That he came not to send peace in the earth but a sword but diuision but fire and that he desired no one thyng more earnestly thē that the same fire should be kindeled Wherfore if it be so much to be feared least breach of Peace and concorde breéde offence Let this Portingall aduise him selfe well whether Christ shal be here accused as farre forth as Luther bycause in the Gospell he is sayd to sturre vppe the Father agaynst the Sonne the daughter agaynst the mother the stepmother agaynst the daughter inlawe and the daughter in lawe agaynst the stepmother two agaynst three and three ogaynst two or whether Luther ought to be acquited with Christ for as much as in this accusation he can not duely be impeached with any one cryme which may not also aswell be charged vpon Christ. If the Peace of the Catholickes be disturbed in these our dayes through Luther the same also happened to the Phariseés in old tyme by the meanes of Christ and his Apostles yea not to the Phariseés onely but also in sturryng vppe all the Natiōs of the earth in an vproare wherein yet no fault can be layed vpon Christ who is himselfe the Prince of Peace and can by no meanes be vnlike him selfe In lyke maner and with lyke consideration Luthers doctrine is to be deémed as I suppose For what a sturre soeuer the Papisticall generation keépe in these our dayes yet surely is not their Peace hindered by Luther or if it be yet ought not he to be accused that ministred wholesome playster to the wound but the fault was to be imputed rather to them whose cankers were so vncurable that could not endure the operation of the Medicine And therefore as touchyng the crime of sedition and troublesome disturbaunce
They that doe fortifie Grace in such wise as that maÌ„s Freewill may in no sense be admitted withall doe not Iudge therof rightly For mans will whether it be good or whether it be euill doth neuer cease to be after a certeyne sort Free either Free to righteousnes or Free to Sinne which if it be good she receaueth her goodnes of Grace if it be euill she sucketh that euill of her selfe and therfore sucketh it of her selfe bycause it is seuered from Grace Furthermore it must be coÌ„sidered in what sence Augustine doth construe Freewill Surely if our aduersaries doe interprete Freewill after this sence as though it coÌ„teyned in her owne power a Free election of chusing good or euill they swarue altogether from Augustines interpretatioÌ„ Who by this vocable Freewill seémeth to signifie nothyng els then that will onely which worketh those thynges voluntaryly that it worketh whether they be good or euill An other Obiection out of Augustine Beleue the holy Scriptures both that there is Freewill and the grace of GOD without whose helpe man can neither be conuerted to God nor profite with God Agayne out of his 2. Epistle to Valentine The Catholicke fayth doth neuer deny Freewill either towards good life or towards euill life Neither doth it attribute so much vnto it as that it may be of any value without the grace of God whether it be conuerted out of euill into good or whether it continue profityng in good or whether it attayne to the euerlasting good whereas now it feareth not least it quayle and waxe faynte c. What is meant els by these wordes of Augustine but that vnder the name of Freewill that will be vnderstanded in man which is capable aswell of euill as of good and may be euill of it selfe through corruption of Nature but good onely by reformation of Grace All actions that men take in hand do proceade froÌ„ God the first mouer and ruler as from the first cause thereof accordyng to Luthers doctrine All sinnes are actions Ergo After the Lutheranes doctrine all sinnes doe proceade from God as from the chief and first cause First in the Maior this word Actions must be distinguished Some Actions are Naturall some are Deuine and Supernaturall Now if the Maior haue respect to these Actions then is the Maior true and the Minor to be denyed For the Maior doth not meane properly these Actions which are not of nature but agaynst nature of which sort are sinnes and the ActioÌ„s of wicked Spirites or if it do meane those Actions it may be denyed There is besides theâ—e a thyrdkynde of Action which is called a Freé and voluntary Action I call it Freé for this cause wherby will is willingby euill without all coaction as August witnesseth And these kyndes of Actions which are proper and peculiar to man doe proceade from will as from the nearest and most proper cause although not altogether without the prouidence and ministery of God which as it powreth it selfe abroad through out all maner of thyngs by a certeine secret influence beyond all reach of capacitie euen so doth it encline and make plyable the very wills of men to whatsoeuer purposes it pleaseth him Yet so notwithstaÌ„dyng as that no man is constrayned thereunto by this inclination For neither is any man compelled to be euill agaynst his will when he doth naughtyly except he will him selfe So that now it is neédelesse for any man to seéke for the cause of Sinne without him selfe as Caluine truly teacheth But Osorius doth obiect here agayne Whosoeuer doth entice and allure an other to wickednesse is as much in faulte as he that is allured thereununto at the least is not voyde of blame God doth moue and prouoke mens wills to do haynous offences after the Lutheranes doctrine Ergo God him selfe accordyng to the Lutheranes as the first motioner and cause of euill can not be cleare of faulte The Maior is true there where both he that doth allure he that is allured are lead both by one kynde of coÌ„sent are holden both together vnder one selfe coÌ„ditioÌ„s haue both regarde to one selfe ende in their doyng But now all these thynges doe chaunce farre otherwise in God then in men For as God doth worke nothing but that which is wrought with a maruelous pure sincere will who caÌ„ will nothyng but that which is most good euen so doth he attempt nothyng at any tyme but that he may doe of his most Freé Iustice nor is tyed to any conditions or lawes Now where no law is there neither is any Sinne at all For Sinnes properly are defined not so much by the bare actions as by the conditions lawes and endes At a word to make this matter more discernable God coÌ„maunded Abraham that he should kill his Sonne if any other had coÌ„maunded the same or if the Father had attempted to do the same at any others coÌ„maundement he had â—urely sinned But now sithe it was the Lordes Commaundement neither was there any sinne in him that did commaunde neither in him that did assent no though he had slayne him in deéde What â—hall we say of this That the same Father of heaueÌ„ and earth when he gaue his onely begotten sonne to be flayne yea altogether vndeseruyng it for this Tragedy was not played surely without his hand and secrete counsell shall we therefore say that he sinned bycause in this worke he willed the same that the murtherers dyd For neither was his coÌ„sent absent nor seneâ—ed froÌ„ their will which did Crucifie the Sonne of God ne yet his ordinaunce yet was this ordinauÌ„ce of his cleare from sinne notwithstaÌ„dyng but their fury lacked not sinne In deéde his consentyng will dyd will the same that they willed But not after the same sort for a farre other maner of end For in them that dyd Crucifie Christ appeareth a treble ArgumeÌ„t playne demonstration of Sinne. First bycause they brake the lawes that were commaunded theÌ„ contrary to all equitie right Agayne for that they layed violent handes vpon the innocent beyng enflamed with malice and despight wherein also they did not respect any other end but to embrue their madd murtheryng handes with innocent bloud to establish thereby their arrogaunt ambitioÌ„ All which were farre otherwise in God For first who euer limited any lawes for God which he might not breake Wherfore beyng Freé from all law he neither did any thyng here nor at any tyme els can doe any thyng that is not in all respectes most lawfull for him to doe And yet neither did the Father here so procure the death of his Sonne but that the Sonne him selfe did voluÌ„taryly of his own accord yeld theruÌ„to Moreouer in this the fathers will was nothing amisse in his ordinaunce nothyng malicious in the end nothyng but most glorious for our saluation For on the other side in all this actioÌ„ was woÌ„derfully vttered expressed his
depose them that were Elected if they liked them not And hauing attempted this deuise sundry tymes in vayne at the last after the death of the Emperour Henry 3. they crept couertly into an occasion of colorable entraunce effectuall and plausible enough as they supposed whereunto they bente all their force endeuour imagination to the vttermost of their power Pope Benedict 1. slyly entryng into conference with some of the familiares of the foresayd Henry immediately vpon the death of Conrade his Father practized forthwith to dishinherite him from the Empire and withall to aduaunce in his place Peter Kyng of Hungary presentyng vnto him this precious Owch to set on his cappe Petra dedit Romam Petro tibi Papa coronam The Rocke gaue Rome vnto Peter and the Pope the Crowne vnto thee Henry the 3. beyng dead left behynd him a sonne named Hēry 4. a very babe tender of yeares Agaynst this young Prince was a conspiracie practized by certeine State of Saxony with whom conspired also many Byshops but chiefly aboue all the rest Gregory 7. pope of Rome The Emperour is conuented of heresie for lewdly disposing the goodes and possessions of the Church and geuyng Ecclesiasticall promotions to vnworthy personages This pretence was plausible enough The Emperour is cited to Rome to defende his cause and by the Pope adiudged to penaunce namely That renouncyng his Imperiall dignitie he should doe penaunce dayly by the space of one whole yeare at the Church doore as Peter Paule yea besides this also that barefooted and barelegged he should personally crooch and creépe to kisse the popes feéte whiles this pageaunt was playeng the meane while Rodolphe Duke of Saxon is suborned to inuade the Empire vnto whō the Diademe is sent with this Inscription Petra dedit Petro Petrus Diadema Rodolpho The Rocke gaue vnto Peter and Peter geueth the Diademe vnto Rodolph The young Emperour vnderstandyng the matter dispatcheth away into Germany Rodolphe beyng in fiue battels disconfited and put to flight whiles he laye a dyeng was presented with his right hand which he lost in the battel which when he beheld he spake to the Byshops that stoode about him after this maner This is the right hād wherewith I vowed my Fayth to the Emperour Now is the same hand become a witnes and testimony of my breach of fidelity and detestable treason against my Souereigne euen by your procurement prouocation chiefly After this when the other confederates of the same Saxon conspiracy whō the pope had inueigled to reuolt to witte Herman of Luxemburgh Ecbert Marques of Saxon Duke Otto with his sonnes Conrande and Henry the grosse Echarde sonne of Ecbert Vdo Geberde and others had suffered lyke punishmentes the Emperours good fortune alwayes preuailyng The pope surceased not his practize neuerthelesse whom sufficed not to teaze straūgers to treason vnlesse he had seduced the naturall Sonnes of the Emperour to witte Conrade the first and immediatly after his decease Henry his other Sonne agaynst the Father Wherepon ensued afterwardes horrible broyles and at the length the death of the Emperour also And yet that vnhappy conspiracy of Henry the Sonne ioyning with the Pope agaynst Henry the Father happened not happely on his side afterwardes For when Henry the Sonne did withstād the same inordinate Articles of the Byshops which his Father refused Lotharius is pricked forewardes agaynst him by new practizes of the pope euē the same Lotharius whō agaynst his Fathers will he had made Duke of Saxon before who mainteining the quarell of the pope after that he vanquished the army of Henry the 5. the Emperour now left destitute of frēdes and throughly weried out with the continuall trechery of the Byshops was constrayned to relent and yeld ouer his right The Emperours therfore beyng thus weakened and for the most part brought vnder subiectiō immediatly began to spryng vp the Absolute power and Monarchy of the pope about the yeare 1094. by the speciall practize of Hildebrand and Vrbane 2. which did forbyd that no man from thenceforth should receaue any Ecclesiasticall promotiō they call it Inuestiture of any Temporall Authoritie Whē they had accomplished this with effect they began to attempt an other matter much more waighty to witte that they to whom the Byshops did owe due obedience before should now become the popes Uassalles and stand at his courtesie For wheras the Byshops were so subiect to the Emperour hitherto that no Election of any pope could be holden legitimate if the Emperour had not ratified it And agayne whereas alwayes heretofore the lawfull authoritie of the Imperiall Succession was deriued from the Fathers to the Sonnes without any graunt allowaunce or confirmation of the pope These Sacred and holy Fathers outragiously boylyng with an inward charitable zeale to vnlade the Princes of that heauy burden of authoritie and to lay it vpon their owne shoulders what do they forsooth vnder colour of false surmise both horrible agaynst God and outragiously presumptuous agaynst men they pretende that this authoritie to erect and set vppe earthly Empires and kyngdomes and to dispose and trāspose them at their pleasure where when and to whō they listed was geuē cast vpon them frō aboue not by any terrene ordinaunce but euen by Christ him selfe and that it was now no more lawfull for any man to clymbe to the state Imperiall but at the will and lawfull Election of the Pope And hereof are many Decreés extaunt abroad shamefully forged by them and much more shamefully countenaunced and faced out The Maiestie of the Empire beyng thus brought in subiectiō and worne quite out of countenaunce the intollerable arrogancy of the Byshops grew to such outrage that not contented to haue pluckt out their owne neckes out of the colier of lawfull obedience drew also vnto them selues the Emperours interest lawfull authoritie in creatyng the Pope in enstallyng of Byshops in callyng of Councels in disposing Ecclesiasticall promotiōs finally in administryng all Ecclesiasticall matters and the Emperours them selues beyng thus made subiect vnto thē after a most execrable sort did moyle turmoyle oppresse enforcyng them not onely to sweare allegeaunce and obediēce vnto them but to prostrate them selues to kisse euen their stinkyng feéte also extollyng and magnifieng their owne absolute power and Monarchy in the meane space aboue all the kyngdomes of the earth gloriously vauntyng that the Imperiall Maiesty was seuēty tymes seuen tymes Inferiour and baser then the glory of the Popedome was alledging this similitude for a speciall Argument that as God sayd they had created two great lightes in the firmament and as the creation of heauen and earth had not two begynnynges but one begynnyng Euen so now was left nothyng for the Emperour no not in the lowest Sphere of the world wherein he might beare any preéminence but that the whole Chaos of all power generally seémed to be fast locke vp and ensealed within one
onely begynnyng And that the pope of Rome onely if we may beleéue the Popes Parasites must now be Lord of Lordes and Kyng of Kynges to whoÌ„ is due the fulnes of all power more then Princely authoritie ouer all maner of subiectes All which beyng so vndoughtedly true ratified with the generall consent of all Historiographers that no man can be able to deny it I beseéch you Osorius by your beautyfull foreheaded if you haue not rubbed all shamefastnes away from it where is shame become where is fayth where is Catholicke obedience so many tymes bragged vpon by you wherewith you affirme boldly that you do not refuse the commauÌ„dement of any lawfull authoritie for the coÌ„futation of which wordes of yours what shall I say vnto you so much as the liues of them whoÌ„ you defend most do most of all bewray you to be a great lyar though I held my peace Chronicles and Hystories are full of examples complainyng of no one thyng more greéuously then of a certeine singular continuall and vnappeasable rebellion of this your holy order agaynst the lawfull Magistrates Call to remembraunce Osorius how discretly and humbly Pope Iohn the 12. of that name behaued him selfe who conspiryng first with Berengarius the 3. afterwardes agayne with his sonne most trayterously supported their treachery agaynst Otto the first beyng the lawfull Magistrate And how afterwardes beyng sommonned to the Councell by the Emperour he disobeyed his lawfull commaundement and refused to come And for that cause beyng deposed from his Ecclesiasticall function by the generall consent of the whole Councell did not yet so geue ouer his trayterous practizes agaynst the lawfull Maiesty Anno. 963. It would make a great Uolume to gather together all the seditions and contentions one after other that happened betwixt the Emperoures the Popes afterwardes I will here there touche and runne ouer some as many as shall suffice for the present purpose And first of all What shall I speake of Gregory the 7. of whom I can neuer speake sufficiently enough Who after that he had contrary to the auncient Decreés and receaued custome of the Elders wrested wroong out of the handes of the Emperour Henry the 4. all right of chusing the Pope of disposing the promotions of the Church of callyng Councels not satisfied as yet with this horrible treason agaynst the Imperiall Maiestie Rusheth moreouer most furiously like a brute sauadge Tyger agaynst the Emperour his own person thundereth out excommunications agaynst him dispencing with his subiectes for their Oathe of allegiance which they had sworne vnto him what shall I say that this most arrogaunt Mastigo would scarse after threé dayes admit to come within the walles of Canusium the Emperour him selfe with his Empresse and young Sonne threé dayes I say submittyng them selues bare-footed and barelegged in frost and snow at the gates of the Citie And yet beyng not herewith contented did notwithstanding not absolute him from his fault which was none at all without doing a whole yeares penauÌ„ce Besides all this the greédy Cormoraunt beyng not yet with all these reprochefull iniuries fully gorged became so monstruously madd as to prouoke by all meanes possible Rodolphe Duke of Sueâ—ia to driue him out of his Empire in the yeare 1074. Not long after this Gregory succeéded Vrbane 2. Pascalis wherof the one did teaze Conrade sonne heyre of the same Emperour by his first wife to wage warre agaynst his naturall Father the other after that Conrade was slayne enlured Henry the 5. his other sonne vnto like outrage agaynst his own Father the Emperour In the yeare 1300. O miraculous and Catholicke reuerence towardes the higher powers to speake nothyng in the meane tyme of the warres that Pascalis mainteyned agaynst Ptolome and Stephen Cursus a Romane Citizen of great power and agayne how the same Pope prouoked Anselme Archb. of Canterbury to pricke proudely and insolently agaynst Henry 1. Kyng of England After the death of the Emperour Henry the 4. succeéded in the Empire HeÌ„ry the 5. who beyng no more courteously entreated of Pascalis and Gelasius 2. and of Albert Arch. of Meniz through whose deadly practizes and infinite seditioÌ„s the Emperour beyng throughly worne out was driueÌ„ at the last to that extremitie that maugre his hart he must agreé to the Popes commaundement yeld to his will stand to his courtesie and deliueryng ouer the preéminence of the Imperiall scepter was coÌ„strained of necessitie to thrust his necke into the yoake of the Ponrificall tyranny 1122. By meanes of which submission and yeldyng of Henry 5. it is scarse credible to be spoken how monstruously these holy Fathers raysed their crestes what outragious atteÌ„ptes they practized afterwardes whereby they might bryng to passe to haue the Empire vtterly troden vnder their feéte which them selues had miserably wasted and taken out of the Emperours handes before and withall how they might reteigne vnto them selues the authoritie of the keyes of the whole Church wherof they had vnlawfully likewise dispoyled the Emperour preteÌ„ding an authoritie from aboue geuen vnto them by Christ him selfe whereby they were made Lordes my Iudges of all Churches Byshops Pastours Kyngs finally Lordes of whole ChristeÌ„dome in all causes aswell Ecclesiasticall as Temporall WhereupoÌ„ they enforced the Byshoppes to purchase their Election at the popes handestand to these keyes they annexed freé and absolute power to ordeyne dispence with and to coyne new lawes the breach and violatyng of the which must be taken for as haynous offence as if they had Sinned agaynst the holy Ghost according to the Decreé of Demasus For euen so they spake of them selues besides this also they armed them selues with those terrible gunneshottes of Excommunications of Decreés enioynyng of penaunce and cursinges and withall did rake vnto them selues a certeyne Heauenly power out of the very Heauens and exercized the same vpon the earth so that from thence forth no humane creature might be so hardy as once to mutter agaynst this new vpstart Peacocke whereupon the Decretalles of Gratian had bestowed no small plumes of gay glitteryng feathers euen now hatched and peépyng abroad at the first to establish an absolute monarchy power by the Decreés Councels of Byshops of let purpose as it were to ouerthrowe the Maiesty Imperiall Now these holy Fathers beyng thus throughly garded with this munition and engynes hauyng also subdued the highest power of the world do begyn to bende their force agaynst the Inferiour powers Potentates And first Innocent 2. choppes away at one blow the auncient order dignitie of Senatours of Rome and doth besiege Rogerius in the Castell of Gallucius in the yeare 1130. How execrable the insolency was of Alexander 3. the Cardinalles agaynst Fridericke Barbarossa agaynst whom beyng their liege Lord most worthy Emperour besides horrible thuÌ„derâ—rakes of curses they raysed all Italy and the Venetians is
be of more authoritie in a Realme if ye way well his purpose what was more profitable for the Countrey or more agreable to Gods word Let vs now behold a singuler president of Catholicke obedience which if were as playnly discernable in the lyues and maners of your Clergy Osorius as you haue notably painted it out with your penne I would not thinke you to be more worthy of credite theÌ„ your Catholickes worthy of commendation Now how ready and diligent they were in performing the Kynges commaundementes the matter doth more then sufficiently declare it selfe For it was so farre of that the pope would yeld any iote at all to the Kynges Requestes that he seémed to grow into great choller agaynst the Kyng yea and to threaten him for the care he had of his owne Realme The kyng of England sayth he which doth kicke and spurâ—e agaynst vs now hath is CouÌ„sell But I haue my Cousell also which I will follow c. and withall sendeth ouer Letters with expresse Bulles to the Byshops to the Byshop of Worcester chiefly whereby he was coÌ„maunded to prosecute the popes practize by all meanes possible at a day prescribed thereunto which was the AssuÌ„ption of our Lady agaynst which day Auditte must be geuen of this sacred Receipt Addyng also thereunto that whosoeuer should withstanding his proceédynges herein should be presently accursed yea if it were the kyng him selfe what thinke you of these dealynges right reuerend Father is this to obey Princes commaundementes suppose you or rather to commaunde Princes what they shall doe What may we say to that request whereas the same Henry accordyng to his princely prerogatiue and as of right he might lawfully haue done aduaunced into the Bishopprick of Canterbury one Richard who being repelled by the Monckes and in despight of the king an other A Moncke of the same house named Gualter beyng enstalled the king not a little displeased with the vnhonest refusall made meanes to the Pope by his letters and Ambassadours who after hys wonted maner more inclinable to the Monckes then to the King coulde be by no meanes reconciled the King because he would not seéme to be ouercome of hys owne Monckes in his owne Realme was enforced to growe to composition with the Pope and to graunt hym a tenth of all the goodes moueable in England and in Scotland The most holy Father vndermyned with this crampe yelded by and by But it shall not be amisse for the better declaration of the matter to sett downe the very wordes of the Author Our Lord the Pope sayth he beyng inwardly inflamed aboue all things to suppresse the hautines of the king recoÌ„forted with these promises was made to consent This much Mathaeus ParisieÌ„ Which grauÌ„t how pestiferous pernicious became afterwardes to the Realme can skarsly by any estimate be comprehended An. 1229. Raunge at random now Osorius and spare not to vtter whatsoeuer shall come into your harish Eloquence as lowdly as ye can of the humble obedience and ready inclination of your Clergye towardes the Lawes and commaundementes of Princes But ye annexe a tagge to your poynt Which ordinaunces are not contrary to Goddes lawes And what may bee construed I pray you of that where Charles the great and Otto the first one a Frenche Emperoure the other a Germaine to the singuler benefite of the Empyre dyd ordayne yea and that not without the generall consent and agreément of the bishops and the Councelles that no person should be chosen pope of Rome without the consent and confirmation of the Emperour and that the right of appoynting Bishoppes and the determination of ecclesiasticall causes should be ordered by the Temporall authoritie This ordinaunce so holy so faythfully instituted by them so long and so firmely obserued and kept by their Successors eueÌ„ vnto the warres of Themperours Henry the father and the sonne and the Popedome of Hildebrand yea and Cannonized also amongest your decreés will you affirme to be contrary to the Law of God if you do graunt it how came it to passe that they were established by your popes which could not erre if you deny it how chaunced that Hildebrande and the other Lordinges Successors of that Seé did abrogate the same so wickedly And with what face may the ordinauÌ„ces of Princes be sayd to be duetifully obserued of them who do so litle shame to speake agaynst their owne Princes and oppugne their ordinaunces who accompte it no small part of their Maiestye to delight and pastime themselues in scorning theyr Lawes deryding and denienge their requestes In like maner to be so bolde to Inferre somewhat of our owne Countrye Lawes It was an auncient custome here in England tyme out of mynde that the Byshoppes and the subiectes of the Realme should sweare their allegeaunce to their kyng accordyng to a fourme thereof prescribed And also that no person whatsoeuer should be so hardy to appeale to Rome without the kinges coÌ„maundement Moreouer that in Election of Bishoppes and disposing of Ecclesiasticall promociones namely such as were of greatest estimacion should haue the first and chief voyce afore all other c. out of Parisiensis Of these auncyent ordinaunces you shall heare what our Auncient kynges do testifie in the Chronicles themselues For in this wise King Henry 1. speaketh There is an auncient custome sayth he of my kingdome ordayned by my Father that no person shall sue any appeale from vs to the Pope whosoeuer will attempte to enfringe this custome doth offend agaynst our Maiestye and the Crowne of England He that will seeke to dispoyle vs of our Crown is an enemy Traytour to our persoÌ„ c. Now agayn Let vs heare the wordes of the same King to hys Subiect What haue I to do with the popes letters I will not breake the Lawes of my Realme c. And out of all question These constitutions remayned sound safe and inuiolable vntill the tyme of Hildebrand By force of which ordinaunce Lanfranck was appoynted Archbishoppe of Caunterbury by William King of England DuÌ„stane enstalled Byshoppe of Worcester by Edgar Odo by Adelstane Oswalde made Archbyshoppe of Yorke by Edgar without any consideration had of the Bishop of Rome So were also other Bishoppes admitted by other kynges Which auncient lawes and ordinaunces of Princes if your clergye had euer determined with themselues to obey as inuiolable what ment Sainct Anselme Sainct Beckett Langton and many other Archbyshoppes and Moncks of Yorke Canterbury and Douer what did they meane I say who roonning to Rome in their often chase rechase sweating turmoyling spent coÌ„sumed great Sommes of mony about pacifieng of tryfles wh would haue bene concluded at home with lesse charge and more ease if they would haue harkened vnto their owne princes and obeyed their lawfull lawes and ordinaunces rather then haue bene so much addicted to the pope But what do I moyle my selfe in thys huge and vnmeasurable Gulfe
and Charitie As though amongest all other this were not the least porcion of your care whenas Bishoppes beé for the more part busily exercized about other affayres some very flowbackes some bussardes and blockheades vnappt altogether to teache and whenas Priestes attend their singing and piping no tyme canne be spared for preaching I speake of many of this sort For the whole charge of teaching is throwen vpon momish Monckes flattering Fryers and others such lyke Religious Rackhells altogether almost And these do teache the people in deede But what do they teach Osorius the word of God or the traditions of men do they preach the Gospell or do they seek to please seély women doe they persequut their Enemyes and reuenge priuate griefes or preach the kingdome of heauen or do they scatter abroad olde false fables out of the legend of lies or out of pupilla oculi◠or out of manipulus Curatorum doe they barcke agaynst the Lutheranes and Zuinglianes and with full mouth keépe a sturre about the reall natural corporal Identicall formes and presence more then metaphysticall in the Sacrament For these be commonly the Theames about which theyr whole prating preaching is spent But go to Admitte that amongst those are many also which in their preaching do expresse these thinges which be auaileable to the endeuor of godlinesse and piety and for that cause do sette open display to the view of their audytory the glorious crown os eternall Glory and the horrible paynes of euerlasting Tormentes Yet sithence the people and vnlettered are admitted to heare such preachers why may they not also be permitted to reade at home in their houses the Prophettes preaching vnto them in the olde Testament and the Apostles yea Christ hym selfe in the new Testament teaching them more perfectly forsooth you descry me here a great and daūgerous Rock to witte least being dazeled with the brightnes of that light which they are not able to endure like as men that bend the force of their eies directly agaynst the sunne beames they may be ouertaken with blindnes Truely I do know and confesse that there be many thinges of such nature as will require a necessary moderation and quallification of light Of which sort is the inaccessible brightnes of the glory of Gods Maiestie So was also the Apparition of Christ when he was manifested vnto Paule the brightnes whereof exceeded the reach of mans capacitie Not much vnlyke vnto the same is the cleare beholding of the vnspeakeable righteousnes of God and the contemplation of our owne Sinnes without confidence in Christ Whereof Barnarde speaketh very fittely in a certayn place the prayer of a Sinner is hindered two wayes sayth he eyther by ouermuch light or by no light at all that Sinner is enlightened with no light that neyther seeth hys owne sinnes nor confesse them Agayne that Sinner is blinded with to much light which seeth hys sinnes to be so great that he doth dispayre of release from them Neyther of these two do pray truely What then this light must be quallified that the Sinner may behold hys sinnes and may pray to be forgeuen them In these therefore Osorius and in others like vnto the same you might well haue required a certayne quallification But where was euer any daunger to be feared of ouermuch lightsomnes in any man that were willing to reade the Scriptures The Psalmist doth call the light of the Lord a bright light enlightening the eyes not blynding the eyes And agayne Blessed is that man called that doth exercize himselfe in the Law of the Lord day and night And therfore forasmuch as the kingdome of Christ is the very principall matter handled through the whole Scriptures what man is able to bend the eyes of hys mynde or of hys body sufficiently to the searching out of the glory of this kingdome Whereas Paule himselfe wryting to the Ephesianes of the incomprehensible Maiestie of this glory desireth nothing in his prayers more earnestly then that God would vouchsafe to open the eyes of their hartes whereby they might perceaue and knowe the heighth length breadth and depth of the knowledge and loue which is in Iesu Christ. And the same Paule doth pray in an other place that the Ephesians may know Wher is the vnmeasurable greatnes of hys power towardes vs c. But where can a man attayne to any more perfect or plentifull knowledge hereof then in reading the holy Scriptures We heare the saying of our Maister Christ cōmaunding all persons without exception on this wise Search the scriptures What And shall we suffer the Romish Philistines to stoppe vpp agayne from vs the Cesternes of holy Scriptures which the mouth of the Lord hath discouered vnto vs Albeit I know that there be many which doe wickedly wrest and wrieth the holy Scriptures to their peuish sensuality and corrupt hereticall affections Yet forasmuch as this commeth to passe not through the fault of tounges in the which the enlightned efficacy of the holy Ghost doth speake indifferently to all creatures ingenerall without exception but through the peruerse waywardnesse of some men abusing good thinges for the most part to an euill purpose I seé no cause why the reading of holy scriptures in what toung soeuer may be any thing preiudiciall to the lay people so that they be endued with an earnest godly desire wh is the best interpretor to the vnderstanding of Gods word On the contrary part where so euer wāteth this godly affection of minde which is gouerned by the holy Ghost there the reading is very perilous doubtles yea euen in the learned themselues Therefore where these wise fathers are so prouident to preserue the vnlettered from gathering a dimnesse of vnderstanding by reading Gods word I cannot discern wherein their wisedome may be praysed To my iudgemēt they should do much more wisely if themselues would employ theyr carefull endeuor to read the scriptures least themselues which do take vpon them to be guides of the blinde doe become most blinde of all others So also if they doe eschue those thinges chiefly which they finde to be manifest vntruthes contrary to the sincerity of the written word But now whereas these godlye Catholickes do so behaue themfelues as that they cannot choose but feéle the Gospell of Christ directly repugnant agaynst their intollerable pride their horrible cruelty theyr peéuish decreés their stately dignities their vnmeasureable couetousnesse their pompous trayue and theyr vnspekeable lust and portlye Lordlinesse their filthye superstition and abhominable Idolatry what maruell is it if they prouide so circumspectly that the greater part of the people may not become acquaynted with the Scriptures because they may more freely disport themselues in that generall blindenes of men and rule the roast as they list There remayneth now to treat of the Authority of Popes and Byshoppes because Osorius doth make a freshe challenge herein and offereth the field with a new onset
Let the Reading of the Gospell helpe vs through the merites of our Lady And agayne where they pray that the merites of our Lady may bring vs to the heauenly kingdome Agayne in the Feast of the Inuention of S. Stephen in the Legendes of Dunstane in the miracles of S. Nicolas and S. Katherine in the Assumption of our blessed Lady in the Feast of Corpus Christi in Reliques Sonday in the Feast of the fiue woundes of S. Asisian what monstrous Fables what an incredible quantitie of detestable lyes what maner and how fruitelesse and wittlesse trinkettes toyes and trifles what guegawes more theÌ„ childish maskyngs mommeries in the rest of your holy dayes are heaped vppe and haled together to delight and please simple wemen and fooles I suppose surely one Homere were not able to recken vppe all the rable of them in one whole Iliad But let vs heare Osorius him selfe telling his owne tale of his holy dayes The holy Fathers sayth he did make preparatioÌ„ for the commyng of Christ. This is true and we know that he is come long sithence do hartely reioyce for it What doth Osorius and his holy Fathers looke for els That Christ the Sonne of GOD shal be yet looked for to come agayne in the flesh No. But that we call to remembraunce the hartie and earnest affections of the holy Fathers that were before vs. What a iest is this As though it sufficed not them which did looke for the coÌ„ming of Messias to haue their reioysing in Christ if they were holy men in deéde vnlesse they leaue their solemne holy Feastes behind them to be celebrated aswell as that memoriall of Christ or as though we may seéme not to haue done our dueties sufficieÌ„tly if we do embrace the commyng of our Sauiour with all mindefulnes and fayth vnles we sticke fast in the shadowes that went before At the length our myndes beyng in this sorte prepared for the commyng of Christ Christemasse day forthwith approcheth Yet eueÌ„ here in this very entrey may some scrupule arise whether Osor. RaleÌ„der do halte ye or nay For Christ was not borne in the day tyme but in the night But I will not trouble Osor. holy dayes about this In which feast day accordyng to the solemnitie of the day Organes and other instruments of Musicke sounde very loude Psalmes and Hymnes are song in pricksong and descant Notes are warbled song as loude as the throates can stretch The Belles from the Turrettes on highe make a wonderfull ianglyng and fill the whole ayre with their noyse So that now in so great and pleasaunt a melody of Organes songes notes voyces and ringyng of Belles nothyng wanteth but our Osorius to daunce in the midle of the Quier with his myter on his head to speake nothyng meane whiles of waxelightes of their gorgeous attire in Copes and Uestimentes of the furniture of Aultars with Siluer plate of perfumes burnyng of Frankensence and odoriferous smelles of the glorious varietie of Siluer Gold of their solemne Processions and their gay maskyng at Masses For vpon this one Feast euery shauelyng may say threé Masses accordyng to an auncient custome And all these tend to this end at the leÌ„gth to rayse vs vppe to behold the mighty Sonne of God in the weakenesse of a very young sucklyng Babe lyeng naked in the Cradle After this sort forsooth do our Popes and Byshops vse to make a shewe of Christ their Sauiour vnto the people horne in extreme pouertie them selues ouerflowyng in vnmeasurable Riches lyeng naked in a Cradle them selues like Monarches dwellyng in Princely Pallaces wrapped in ragged beggerly swathlyng cloutes them selues glitteryng in purple gold and precious stones contented with a litle milke them selues engluttyng Partriches Peacockes Woodcockes PhesauÌ„tes most delicate Cates alwayes stuffing their crawes with most exquisite vyandes lyeng in a mauÌ„ger whiles them selues sing sweétly in Churches with Organes Shawmes Trumpettes â—ullyng in melody delightes A good fellowshyp Christian Reader is not here a notable shew of Christ As though Christ the Sonne of God appeared for none other purpose but to become a gazyng stocke and to keépe mens memory occupyed with the onely outward history of his beyng on earth But the first day of Ianuary which is the eight day after the byrth of Christ and so forth in the other feasts what is done in euery of the solemne Feastes but a remembraunce of that thing done before Of the Circumcision of Christ of geuyng him a name of the Childe beyng sought out by the wise men of the blazing Starre that guided the wise men of purifieng the Virgine that was most pure of her selfe and other circumstaunces belongyng to the same we call to remembraunce also Symeon embracyng Christ in his armes the reioysing of Anna finally the Oracles and Prophecies of them concernyng Christ. And what more after all this And all these are celebrated by the Church sayth he after a most soleÌ„ne maner yea with torâ—helight waxelightes burnyng on midday forsooth to the view of the beholders to the end the remeÌ„braunce of the same may be more deepely emprinted in their mynds Behold here a new asseÌ„bly new ioyes new trippyng dauncyng new sightes shewes goodly spectacles helpes are set out for weake memories But such they be yet as do onely feéde the eyes of the beholders edifie their myndes nothyng at all to witte Hymnes Prayers prayses sweete songes and sweete lessons I confesse but such as the vnlettered multitude vnderstand not so much as sillable The Organes pyping in the meane space the Belles Ringing And why do ye not shoote of Gunnes aswell to awaken the people if happely they fall a sleépe in the Church But how much were it better for the people Osorius and more beseéming your personages if the rable of the holy dayes were cut shorter which rather engeÌ„der sleuthe and idlenesse then pietie and godlynes and that ye would conuert your Ceremonies Masses Diriges blessinges prayers stretched out in a superfluous lauishnes of babblyng Hymnes Canticles Uersicles and these Festiuall melodies into wholesome and holy Sermons whereby you may trayne the godly well affected hartes of honest ChristiaÌ„s through some godly exhortatioÌ„s instructioÌ„s froÌ„ that fruitelesse gazing vpoÌ„ palpable poppettes to know the principall pointes of true holynesse and euerlastyng saluation which might rather edifie their fayth theÌ„ delight the eares the eyes Now what auayle all these vayne toyes though vpon Ashewednesday they Crosse and besmeare their heades and foreheades with Ashes though they carry about Palmes and scatter flowers from out their Turrettes vpon Palmesonday though on good Friday and Easter Euen they washe the feéte of the poore though they consecrate oyle and fier washe the Altares blesse the Fontes creépe to the Crosse barelegged and barefooted and offer egges also what auayleth it if Easter day be celebrated most melodiously and solemnized most sumptuously what if
but sturred vpp by the flaming fyrebrandes of the furyes of hell and that they applyed themselues not to teach men but to peruert men Of the discention and variable opinions of Deuines and Churches hath bene spoken of before so that it shall be but neédeles to repeate the same agayne onely I will aunswere here to the argument God is not the Author of discention but of peace I doe know this and confesse it to be most true So also is the same God the fountayn of all righteousnes and father of all consolation The same is also Author of Matrimony and of all good thinges Go to now where can you finde in all the estates courses and actions of this transitory lyfe that fulnes and absolute perfection of righteousnes of consolation or of peace yea in the most holy estate of matrimonye as may be aunswerable to that absolute patterne of perfection Lett it suffice vs to haue receaued the first fruits thereof though we possesse not the Tenthes There will come a day and a place when as no darkened cloud of discention shall ouershadow this perfect peace betwixt vs. In the meane space whiles we lyue in this vale of misery men with men we shall neuer be destitute of one thing or other that will alwayes argue vs to be men dwelling in the tabernacle of Imperfection And therefore if Osorius will be so nyce as to exact of vs so precise a knitting together of vnvariable minds as may in no poynt swarue frō ech other lett himselfe become a president hereof in his owne Coūtrey and shew himselfe an Angell emongest his owne people And what maruell is it if in so great varietie of Iudgemētes and amongest so many men two men onely dissent somewhat in matter of so small importaunce whenas in this your so vniforme a Church whereof ye boast so proudly there is no parcell of Religion almost or order in profession wherein Schoole agaynst Schoole Uniuersitie agaynst Uniuersitie Colledge agaynst Colledge Councell agaynst Councell Canon agaynst Canon doe not mainteine continuall iarryng How is it then Osorius that with shuttevppe eyes ye can so lightly ouerlooke and not looke vpon so many and so monstruous Beames ouerspreadyng your Churches and not passe ouer one litle moate in our Church without controllyng your brethren but that ye must burst out into such whotte fury of hellish firebrandes With the Spirite of God say you is no dissensiō This is most true And so it is true also that Luther Zuinglius be not taken for Gods which can not erre nor dissent eche from other in some pointes Neither doth it therfore follow hereupon that bycause they do not reteigne a mutuall constaunt cōsent of myndes in all thyngs that therfore they were not raysed vppe by God Otherwise after this Logicke how many auncient and godly Fathers will you banish out of all Churches was there neuer any iarryng betwixt Moyses and Aaron That contention betwixt Paule Peter about the mainteynyng of the libertie of the Gospell and agayne that separatyng a sunder of Paule from Barnabas is well knowen to all mē It whiles the Lord him selfe lyued vpon the earth the Disciples them selues could be at variaunce about preéminence and superioritie what maruell now if his Disciples do not so well agreé together in all pointes sithēce Christ is not present emongest them who were more familiar then Basile and Gregory Nazienzene and yet in this marueilous consent of qualities and studies wanted not a certeine offence and breache of that mutuall amitie Victor did not of all partes agreé with Policarpus How earnest a conflict deuided Iohn Byshop of Constantinople and Epiphanius Byshop of Cypres Neither did Augustine in all thynges agreé with Ierome And yet I thinke you will not say that these men were not raysed vppe by the grace and Deuine inspiration of God Well now Let vs seé what this so great dissention was betwixt them which as you say proceéded from Luther What a brable was there betwixt them say you about wordes what varietie and inconstancy of opinions how disorderly how intricately and ouerthwartly do they speake in how many sondry matters and Argumentes do they not onely not agree with others but also disagree eche from other Forsooth if you will know Osorius and sith you require the same I will shew you in few wordes what and how monstruous this cōflict was betwixt thē First they do all togethers with one voyce confesse one God they doe all with one Fayth acknowledge the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost They do all with one mynde agreé togethers in the Articles of the Christian Creede with the true auncient and Catholicke Fayth of the Church of Christ. Of this Church they do all acknowledge the authoritie of the Scripture to be chief next vnder Christ the second place and dignitie they do yeld to the Church to the auncient and approued Councels The godly and auncient Fathers they do all with one consent allow and yeld vnto so farreforth as euery of them is founde to agreé with the expresse word of God Heresies and false opiniōs reproued by the authoritie of holy Scripture and the sacred antiquitie of the Church they do all generally oppugne besides this authoritie of Scripture the most couenable proportion of Fayth whatsoeuer hath priuily crawled and crept in by stealth into the profession of Fayth and true worshyppyng of God they do all vtterly and worthly abhorre whatsoeuer is most aunciēt in Fayth and most approued by cōstaunt allowaunce of antiquitie the same is had amongest thē in greatest admiration In the acknowledgemēt of one onely Mediatour in heauen one onely Sacrifice for Sinnes which is resiaunt not in the earth but in heauen in confessyng one onely generall head of the vniuersall Church in all these is there no discention nor brawlyng about wordes or Sentences Moreouer in this they agreé together all be of one mynde and iudgement all namely that the Pope of Rome is the very Antichrist whereof they haue assured and vndoughted proofe by the certeine and infallible Rules and forewarnynges of the holy Scripture and by his horrible persecution of the word of God Besides this also that all Idolles and Images ought to be abolished out of the Church of God That those choppyng chaungyng of Pardons ought to be abhorred That all affiauce of righteousnes of God ought to be settled in the onely Fayth of Iesu Christ and in nothyng els That superfluous vowes and Traditions of men which do yoake fast and clogge Christian libertie and well disposed consciences ought vtterly to be abolished That Ceremonies and Constitutions which are ioyned with an opinion of righteousnesse of worshyppyng of Saluation merityng ought worthely to be banished abandonned that Priestes Concubines ought to be conuerted into lawfull Matrimony that those mōstruous vpstartes of disguised professions rules and orders ought be rooted out that all thyngs may be reduced and leuelled
to witte That the Church is a multitude of people such as is bounde to obey the Pope of Rome seuered from other Nations by certeine Ceremonies which the Popes haue ordeyned fast tyed to the ordinary cōtinued course of Succession of Byshops and to that onely interpretation of Scriptures which the Byshops and Councels doe deliuer And this is the true proportion and full Definitiō of your Church if I be not deceaued But this Definitiō the learned in Logicke will deny to be good sounde where the thyng defined is not of all partes equiualēt with the Definitiō Which rule is not obserued here For to admitte this vnto you that in the true Church of Christ must be Popes Byshops who must be obeyed who also must haue an ordinary outward succession and who may challenge vnto them selues a speciall prerogatiue in the interpretation of the holy Scripture yet is not this by and by true that all Popes Byshops which are entituled by the name of Popes and Byshops which do pretende a continuall succession which do carry the countenaunce of consentes which do challenge a right in the interpretatiō of Scriptures are the true sheapherds of the Lordes flocke And why so forsooth bycause that thyng wāteth which makyng specially for the purpose you haue specially left out namely the truth of sounde doctrine which may be able to treade downe and crushe in peéces errour and hypocrisie That is to say That Byshops do truly and vnfaynedly become the same in the sight of God which in vtter shew they would fayne seéme in the sight of men Agayne that Succession be not of persons onely but a speciall Succession of Fayth vertuous lyfe that the obedience of the people may not proceéde so much of feare of punishment as of harty affection and willyngnesse of mynde that the interpretation of scriptures be not wrested to the maintenaunce of errour and mens sensualitie but be directed and aunswerable to the meanyng of the holy Ghost and the true naturall sense of the Scripture For these be the true markes Osor. whereby a true Church is discernable from a false not the title and name of a Church not the authoritie and Succession of Byshops not the opinion of a multitude besides the truth of Gods word But the very Rule of the word must be kept which will so describe vnto vs a true Church by true markes tokēs boundes and foundations That it be a Congregation dispersed abroad euery where ouer the face of the whole earth vnited agreéyng together in soūd◠doctrine of Fayth and the true worshyppyng of God which beyng sanctified by the holy Ghost and admitted by partaking the Sacramentes do truly beleéue in God through the Sonne of God Iesu Christ accordyng to the doctrine of the Gospell although some be enlightened with more spiritual graces gifts and some with lesse By this standard and Rule let vs measure now the Argumentes of Osorius Luther and Melancthon are fallen away from the Pope of Rome and his Cardinalles Ergo Luther and Melancthon haue rent in sunder the vnitie of the Church The onely Church of Rome hath an ordinary succession from Peter Ergo The onely Church of Rome is the true Church The great part of Christendome doth acknowledge the Church of Rome Ergo The Churche of Rome is the Mother Churche and Queene of all Churches The Churche of God hath a promise that it shall neuer erre Ergo He that doth interprete the Scriptures otherwise then after the meaning of the Church of Rome or that doth not acknowledge him selfe obedient to the Romish Decrees in all thynges is an heretique and doth sequester him selfe from the boundes and communiō of the Church To this aunswere shal be made briefly and logically These be meére fallacyes and deceites of the Equiuocation deriued from a false description of the Church and the succession thereof and from false markes For as touching the names and Tytles as touching the long pedigreés of neuer interrupted course of Succession as touching the consent of the multitude and the promises made by God if the other tagges were tyed to these poyntes and made suteable namely sound doctrine true godlynesse surely it would seéme somewhat to the purpose that Osorius mayntayneth But now whatsoeuer they bragge and vaunt of tytles and other reliques without the especiall coupling and cōioyning of the Euangelicall and Apostolicall doctrine is altogether nought els but smoake and winde nothing auayleable to establish the true vnity of the Church First as concerning the name of the Church we do heare Christ himselfe speaking Many shall come in my name Touching Successiō we heare out of Ierome Not they that sitte in the places of Sainctes c. Touching the multitude Augustine doth teach vs. That the consentes of voyces must be weyed and measured not numbred Touching Gods promise made for perseuerance in the trueth harken what Iohn Baptist speaketh Do not say we haue Abrahā to our Father For God is of power to rayse vppe sonnes to Abraham out of these stoanes If Osorius will argue after this maner why should not these arguments be of as great force The high Priest of the old law in the Iewish Regiment did beare the face and name of the Church with full allowaunce and cōmon consent of all the multitude yea euen in the tyme of Esay Ieremy Amos Elias and Christ. The same also did conuey theyr Succession from the priesthood of Aaron And did vouch also theyr authority seat lawe and the promise agaynst Ieremy agaynst the Prophettes and agaynst Christ. The Law say they shall not perish from the Priestes Ergo Those high priestes did enioy a true Church nor coulde possibly erre at any tyme. But if Osorius shall thinke with him selfe that these Argumentes were not forcible enough in the olde Church why should they be more effectuall in the new Churche In the olde lawe it was lawfull to examine the very prophettes themselues if they spake the word of the Lord yea certayne infallible tokens were set downe whereby they might be discerned In like maner euen in the new testament we are commaunded to proue the Spirites if obey be of God being forewarned by the spirite of God that we beleue not euery spirite And what kinde of people then be these Popes and Cardinals of Rome which of a more then Imperious Lordlynesse doe commaund and require all men to receaue and reuerence their Satutes Ordinaunces Ceremonies opinions and all theyr wordes and deédes ingenerall without exception and contradictiō vpon greéuous paynes and Penalties that shall ensue agaynst him whosoeuer dare presume to make a question of the right of their authoritye or to make any doubt of any theyr deuises and imaginations And so geuing the slippe to all those he commeth downe againe to our Church with a maruailous blaff of windy words but with no reason at all imagining to proue
to exclayme agaynst Luther was hissed out of the place not without great gleé and delight of the beholders So small and so no acquayntaunce at all hath this proud hawty and loftye kynde of myncing Minnions with our Lord and Sauior Iesu Christ. I do willingly abstayne from naming of men because I would haue them forewarned rather to theyr benefitte then reproched to their infamy if there be any besides this Osor. whom this Ciceronian skabbe hath infected with like dottage But I come agayne to Pardons wherwith as they say they sweépe all Purgatory and make cleane riddaunce when they will and by which picklockes they locke fast the gates of hell opeÌ„ the gates of heauen to whom they list But I pray you Osorius by what authoritye doe they this By the same authoritye you will say where of was spoken to Peter I will geue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen c. That the keyes were geuen to Peter no man will denye But what is this to the Pope of Rome because next vnto Peter the succession of the See Apostolick falleth vpon the Pope forsooth And why so how will you proue this to be true I beseéch you What because he doth enioy Peters Chayre what had Peter no more Chayres but one or did he fitt no where but at Rome And what if he neuer sate at Rome But putt the case he sate at Rome I wil geue you an argument not much vnlike vnto this It was not vnknowne to be old Poetts what a skilfull Harper Orpheus was whom they imagined to haue drawen aâ—ter him with the sweétnesse of his Harpe stoanes and woodes It came to passe in processe of time that one Neanthus Sonne of Pittacus chaunced to come by the same Harpe who being farre vnlike this Orpheus in skill of playing altogether an Asse as the prouerbe speaketh at the harpe yet through a foolish opinion conceaued of himselfe dyd persuade himselfe that he should be able to draw after him Rocks and Woddes immediately vpon the sound of the Harpe This clownish Cocklorrell therefore wandring abroad ouer hilles and dales and maruayling that the Rockes and Woods stood still as before vnmoueable and would not sturre out of theyr place at the sound of the Harpe neuer surceased from striking from stretching from thumping the Harpe vntill hauing made hymselfe loathsome to the very cattell with the tedious and brutish noyse of the Harpe became a pray to dogges and was guawed and rent in pieces by them And what els doth this popish Prelate emport with his pompous pryde and stately Chayre wheron he is no lesse â—rantickly fond then this seély soule was vpon the Harpe I list not as now to gesse the garbroyle of his glory of the thing it selfe I dare boldly speake this much as Orpheus Harpe maketh not an Harper forthwith so neyther doe Peters Keyes shape a right succession but the onely confession and fayth of Peter And yet did the Church alwayes acknowledge the Byshoppe of Rome to be the Successour of Peter the Apostle So did also the consent of the Fathers and the Antiquity of time I do heare you But by what authority by what testimony and witnesses will you iustify this to be true or by why what reason or argument will you proue it what because he canne shew the Chayre that Peter sate in Nay rather lette him expresse the vertuous life and gratious giftes of Peter and in his life geue forth vnto vs as Peter did a President and patterne of the causes precedent and the true Circumstaunces for the which the Keyes were deliuered vnto Peter For on this wise are we enformed by the Gospell Because flesh and bloud hath not reuealed this vnto thee but my Father which is in heauen You doe heare mention made first of the notable testimony of his faith and open confession of the Sonne of God which was not discouered vnto him by flesh and bloud nor by any naturall Philosophy nor engraffed within him by any force of natures lore but which being endued with heauenly inspiration he had receaued from aboue beyond all reatch of humayne Capacity For the knowledge of Christ commeth by the onely inspiration of the holye Ghost Which assoone as the Lord perceaued was engrauen within Peter wondring as it were at the greatnesse of the miracle doth first declare vnto him the glad tydings of blessednes froÌ„ God Thou art blessed Simon Bariona then alluding to the nature of his name because he was called Cephas that is to say Peter vpon that Petra that is to say vpon that Rocke of his fayth an confession he doth promise to establish the building of his Churche And added hereunto the promise of the Keyes I wyll geue thee sayth he the Keyes of the Kingdome of God c. By which CircumstauÌ„ces what are we taught els then that the foundation of the Church of Christ wheresoeuer it be is grounded vpon nothing els then vpon true fayth and vnfayned confession of the Sonne of God For when the Lord spake this vnto Peter he made no accouÌ„pt of his righteousnesse nor of hys vertues and conuersation of life neither of his fastings nor his dutifull obseruation of the commaundementes ne yet the holines of his Religion forasmuch as all these ornamentes dyd shyne as aboundauntly in others as they did in Peter But at the first vtterannce and confession of his excellent fayth the Lord doth denounce him to be blessed buildeth his Churche and doth promise the Keyes vpon the same Whereupon remayneth that we conclude at the last most truely that wheresoeuer the Keyes are exercised which are Christes true Keyes in deéd there of necessity must an influence and speciall inspiratioÌ„ of the holyghost and a certayn earnest and harty effectualnes of fayth and coÌ„stant confession of Christ goe before On the contrary part where no perseueraunce or feéling can be perceiued of the ingraued knowledge of Christ from the heauenly Father whose minde being not endued with any influence of the holyghost sauoureth of nothing at all beyond the retch of flesh and bloud who hath wedded his hart to earthly treasures to the Royalty pompe and gorgeousnes of this world who neglecting the glory of Christ is vassall and bondslaue to Ambition subiect to affections geueth himselfe to pamper the paunch and is drowned in the deépe doungeon of worldly cares who doth breath out of his nostrilles the blood and butchery of his brethreÌ„ That person in what Chayre soeuer he sitte doth with to much shamelesse arrogancy vaunte vpon the possession of the Keyes And therefore yf this Romishe ruffler doe meane to royst stille with Peters keyes he must endeuor to expresse in his maners the vertuous lyfe and godly conuersation of an Apostle and not chatt so much of a Chaire Otherwise to what purpose is it how sumptuously soeuer a man be enthronized yf he be wicked and vnworthy the place the place doth not
vouchsafe to enlighten that ouerdarckened blindenes of your drowsy sences and new fashion the same into a more found knowldge and vnderstanding of the trueth of his Gospell Now doe you perceaue the desire and loue that we haue of your safety Osorius albeit you be not come to Purgatory as yet It is reason therfore that we lykewise vnderstād the Carity of your Charitie We doe pray vnto God say you with earnest intercessions and prayers most purely powred forth for the quick and the dead and for the sauety of our Brethren I doe behold a very godly and comfortable imagination of yours conceaued in the behalfe of the dead and do prayse the same But when doe ye this good Syr In your dayly supplications and meétings I thinke not so But at that tyme especially say you that is chosen out to be most meere to worke the most holy worke of all to witt at that tyme which we do choose to pacifie the wrath of God not with the bloud offringes of footed Beastes but with the body and bloud of Christ. what a bald deuise is this of the man how variable is the inconstancye of his doctrine For if as you sayd a litle earst Christ onely doe not performe the full price of our redēption but that Paule and many others doe dayly offer most holy Sacrifices for the dead that is to say for the saluation of the dead with what confidence dare you now presume to pacifye the wrath of God with the onely body and bloud of Christ excludyng the Sacrifices and offringes of all other or how often must the body of Christ be offred to pacifie the wrath of God If our first Father Adā was able by one onely offence to destroy and cast away the whole ofspring of posterity Is not Christ in all respectes as able by one onely oblation of his body and bloud to make amendes of the same which Adam foredidd and brought to nought And with what reason will you perswade vs that you take vpon you to reconcile the fauor of God by the bloud of Christ who professe that your Sacrifice is not a bloudly Sacrifice Moreouer whereas the Sonne of God did satisfye for all thinges with his precious bloud shedd vpon the Crosse as well the thinges in heauen as the thinges vpō the earth what one thing then hath he left to be satisfied by you Or if there remayne any thing as yet of Gods Iudgement vnreconciled and not throughly clensed euen to the vttermost and most absolute fullnes how hath he then by one onely oblation made perfect for euer all them that be sanctified how did it seéme good vnto the Father that all fullnesse should dwell in the Sonne how were all thinges sayd to be at an end and finished whiles Christ did hang vpon the Crosse with what face dare Paule teach vs that all Enimity was blotted out by Christes death on the Crosse and all hatred wipte awaye by his fleshe if Gods Maiestye must be as yet reconciled by your offringes and Sacrifices He that brake downe the wall that was betwixt vs and God was not the same able to ouerthrow rotten Walles of your paynted Purgatory he that did vtterly remoue the wrath of his Father could not the same he extinguish and quite put out the flames of Purgatory without Sainctes merites and Popish Pardons Nay rather what neéde any Pardons at all procured or imagined out of the treasure of the Church if you Catholick shauelinges doe take vpon you to reconcyle the Maiestye of God by your dayly offring of Christes body and bloud I will recyte here not a fable but a true history of Germany out of Wolgangus Musculus which happened at Haganoy in the yeare of our Lord 1517. to witt the same yeare wherein M. Luther beganne to Inueigh agaynst the Popes Bulles There was a wyfe of a certein Shoomaker who a litle before sheé dyed for a certayn number of Crownes purchased a Bull from the Pope whereby she did assure her selfe of freé deliueraunce out of Purgatory Within a whiles after this woman being dead the Husband hauing intelligence of the Bull perfourmed the obsequies and funeralls of his wyfe orderly and decently as beseémed an honest Husband to doe not regarding in the meane space Masses Dyrges Trentalls and other trincketts of the lyke Mockeries vsually exercised in the Church after the old solēne maner for the redeéming of soules departed out of this lyfe The parish Priest being not a litle greued with the matter beganne to maruell and to take in ill part the contempt of Religion and to complayne of the vnkinde behauior and impiety of the Husband towardes his wife and at the last framing a libell of the matter accuseth the Shoomaker for an heretique To be briefe The Shoomaker was arested by a Serieant the matter was pleaded before the Maior of the Cittie The Shoomaker for his defence pleaded that the cause why he did not purchase Supplications and Masses according to the olde accustomed fashion for the health of his wyues soule proceéded not of any contempt that he hadd agaynst any of the solemne ceremonyes of the Church but because he was assured that his wyues soule was already saued in heauen he thought good to abate such extraordynary and vnnecessary charges and withall taking the Popes Bull out of his bosome desireth the Maior that it might be openly readd The Maior doth deliuer the Bull to the parish Priest to read The Priest seéing the Popes Bull stood still amazed at the first and a good whiles refused to reade it at the last being constrayned by the Maior he didd reade it ouer assoone as the Bull was read ouer both the Maior and the parish Priest being throughly ashamed held their peace The Shoomaker was earnest to proceé to Iudgement vpon the aucthoritye of the Apostolick Release to make it appeare what they iudged now of the soule of his wyfe whether sheé were now in heauen or in Purgatory If sheé be in Purgatorye then the Bull doth lye but if sheé be flowen vpp into heauen according as the Pope commaunded her then was there no cause why he should hyre any hireling shaueling to say Masses or Dyrges for his wyues soule The Maior and the Priest hauing nothing to say to the contrary nor daring to condemne the Popes Pardone acquited the shoomaker of the action by a Nonesuite Masses and Sacrifices BUt I returne to Osorius agayne who if hadd bene Commissary in this case I know not what aunswere he would haue made to this shoomaker But this is out of all question that this Purgatory whereabout these Catholickes keepe such a sturre can by no meanes be of any force and power but that either the Popes Pardons or these your Sacrifices of Satisfactory Masses Shall be by that meanes doughted of and come into great perill to be vtterly discredited For if yonr Stationes of Rome the Pardons of
but honoring the visible signes by the name and caling it his body and bloud whereby he might more liuely expresse to our sences the vertue and efficacy of his death and passion ensuing For it commeth to passe I know not how that as often as we are minded to expresse the excellency of any notable matter we doe not accustome our selues altogether to the naturall proprieties of speéches but apply sometimes vnproper and borowed speéches to make the matter seéme more Emphaticall which thing is vsually frequented not in sacred Scriptures onely but very often and much also in the continuall practizes of humaine actions ciuill societye Such as haue vsually called Money the very Synowes of warres such as haue named Scipio the sword of the Romaines he that sayd that Quintus Maximus was the shield of the Romaines It is not to be doughted but by these figuratiue speéches they did meane to expresse more then the wordes did emport The Parents of Tobias when they named their Sonne the staffe of their age did they forthwith chaunge their sonne into a staffe of wood or did they vnderstand him rather to be their comfort of their lyfe vnder the lykenes of a staffe to leane vnto Paul commaundeth vs to take the sword of the spirite which he doth call the word of God In lyke maner when Christ commaundeth vs to receaue into out mouthes that which he named to be his body why doe we not as truely and in deéde transubstantiate the sword of God into a materiall sword as the Eucharist into the naturall fleshe of Christ If we shall speake after the proper phrase of speéch it appeareth playnely that the same death of our Lord which he dyed for our sakes did purchase for our soules euerlasting sauetye fulnes of lyfe And it is not to be doughted by that the Lord himselfe at his maundy before he suffered foreseéing what was comming vpō him did long before certyfy his disciples thereof by some significant token But to thend his wordes should be more deépely engrauen into their hartes he vouchsafed to enstruct them with some similitude of sensible thinges rather then with wordes by demonstration rather then by speculation setting before their eyes not onely a denomination of bread and wine alone but also a visible example of a material eating to enstruct thereby not our mindes onely vut to endure our senses to perseueraunce much more effectually And hereof both the cause and the originall of the Sacrament begann to spring at the first Doe ye this sayth he in remembraunce of me Go to then let vs aduisedly consider what our Lord did in that Supper and what the Apostles lykewise and what we also ought to doe Christ tooke bread in his handes he brake the same bread which bread being broken he offred not to his Father but to his disciples not for a Sacrifice but for a Remembraunce not to satisfy for Sinnes which could not be accomplished without shedding of bloud but in Remembraunce onely of that bloud which was to be shedd Doe ye this sayth he in Remembraunce of me And this was the whole order of Christ his action at that Supper what did the Apostles they receaued the Sacrament of the body deliuered vnto them when they had taken it they did eate it eating it in a thankfull remembraunce of their Redeémer they gaue thankes Now if we following their example herein doe not doe the lyke accuse vs if we doe the same accordingly tell vs Diogines what is it whereat you snarle Now agayne for your partes what you Catholickes doe in corners either vouchsafe to declare your selfe Osorius or harken a litle whiles I doe expresse it First the Priest doth take the bread sett downe vpon a stony Altar taking it doth consecrate it the bread being consecrated he doth himselfe worshipp first afterwardes he lifteth it vpp aboue his head as high as he can betwixt his handes as it were betwixt two theéues to the gaze to be worshipped of others and withall offring the same bread to God the Father in steade of a Mediator maketh intercession betwixt the Sonne and the Father beseéching the Father that he would vouchsafe benignely to accept these oblations of the body and bloud of his owne sonne And this doth the Priest forsooth aswell for the quick as for the poore prisoners in Purgatory Hauyng offred the Sonne on this wise the Priest doth reteigne him thus offred vnto him selfe doth deliuer him to no body but breaketh him to him selfe into threé small peéces if I be not deceiued two partes whereof he placeth vnder his handes one ouer an other after the maner of a crosse the third he drowneth downe in the Challice O wondrous and vnspeakeable mystery of the Pope These thinges being on this wise ordered this Christemaker taking vpp at the last this hoste deuided so into threé peéces two partes he deuoureth vpp and the third he suppeth out of the Challice in such wise neuertheles as that not so much as a croome of this supper or apish Enterlude rather cann come to the peoples share who must be contented to haue their eyes only fedd as it were in playes and Enterludes whiles this whipstart alone haue played all the partes of the Pageaunt and at the last throwing out a blessing from out the bottome of this Chalice commaundeth his gazers euery one to departe whither they will For as much as those things are dayly and euery where practized by you with bigge lookes supported to the hard hedg may I be so bold to learne of you by what right by what title of antitiquitie by what grounde of Scripture or by what example at the last ye be able to defende this your deuouryng of fleshe and breadworshypp by any example of Christ or his Apostles but where did Christ euer institute in the Supper a Sacrifice of his body where did he consecrate bread into his body or where did he transforme bread into his flesh where did he lift vpp any hoste vnto his Father with outstretched armes towardes heauen to pacifie his Father or where did he make a shewe thereof to the people to be gazed vpon what did the Apostles where did they euer worshypp the bread that they did eate in the Supper or in their Communiōs where did they euer inuyte others to any Adoration of this Sacrament and not rather to the eatyng thereof onely where did they Sacrifice it for the quicke and the deadd where did they euer carry abroad the Eucharist in Procession and open assemblies or where did they reserue it for stoare where did they euer defraude the lay people of one part of the Sacrament Briefly how all the proceédinges of this your iugglyng Enterlude doth varry from the first Institution of the Apostles how it hath not any partakyng or acquaintaunce with the Communion of Christ nor any resemblaunce or affinitie with his holy Supper Let whole Christendome be Iudge
schooles which doth affirme that an Allegoricall Argument concludeth no trueth I referr me to the Logicians Of no greater valydyty is that Argument lykewyse which they rake out of Augustines wordes For on thys wyse is Augustine cited Melchizedech sayth he did deliuer to Abraham first as to thè Father of the faythfull the Eucharist of the body bloud of Christ. c. To graunt this vnto them as for confessed which neuerthelesse resteth yet vnproued That Melchizedech did represent the Euchariste in a type and vnder a veyle of likenesse yet whereas he offered nothing but bread and wyne this is not a good argument to proue that the Pryest which doth celebrate the Masse shall by and by offer vpon the Altar vnto God the Father the very same substaunce of his sonne for sinnes whiche suffered on the Crosse. Neyther is thys forme of argument allowable in Schooles Melchizedech did represent the Eucharist in a figure Ergo The flesh of the sonne of God is really offered for the quick and the dead in the Masse or Communion But lett vs proceéde to the remnaunt of our Aduersaryes Fragmentes There is also thrust in place a saying of Hesychius who writing vpon Leuiticus but as going before sayth he he did offer vpp himselfe in the Apostles supper Which they do know who be partakers of the efficacy of the misteries c. Nothing withstandeth but that Christ may be sayd after a certeine sorte to offer himselfe to the Father in his last supper euē by the same figuratiue speéch wherein the Lambe is sayd to be slayne from the beginning of the world Or as it is sayd in the old Testament that oblation is offered by Sacrifices in which phrase of speéch the same Hesychius in an other place in the same Chap. doth call Christ an Altar Christ being incarnate in the Uirgines wombe to be a soddē Sacrifice not in actuall veritye in naturall trueth of the thing in deéde but in power and vertue of a Mystery Whereupon lett vs heare what aunswere August doth make not vnaptly to these figuratiue speéches of Hesychius was not Christ once offred in himselfe sayth he And yet he is offred to the people not onely at euery solemne feast of Easter but euery day also Neither doth he lye that being demaunded shall aunswere that he was Sacrificed For if Sacraments hadd not a certain lykenesse of the thinges whereof they be Sacramentes they should not be Sacramentes at all Thus much Augustine whose authoritye if be not of sufficient creditt Lett vs annexe thereunto the Sentence of Lombard For thus speaketh he After this sayth he question is demaunded whether the action of the Priest may be called a Sacrifice properly or an oblation And whether Christ be dayly offred or whether he be offred once onely whereunto may be aunswered briefely That the thing that is offred and consecrated by the Priest is called a Sacrifice an oblatiō because it is a memoriall and a representatiō of the true sacrifice an oblatiō offred vpon the Altar of the Crosse. For Christ did suffer death vpon the Crosse once and was there offred in himselfe But he is dayly offred in the sacrament because in the same sacrament a memoriall is made of the same thing that was once offred c. And because we may not seéme to want witnesses lett vs couple hereunto the common Glosse differing nothing at all from the Maister of the sentēces which enterlacing a commentary vpon the place of Augustine where Christ is sayd to be Sacrificed De consecrat Distinct. 2. he doth expound the wordes of the distinction on this wise Christ is sacrificed That is to say the sacrifice of Christ sayth he is represented and a memoriall is made of his passion c. Now Syr how doe these hang together with the decreés of the Tridentine ghostly Fathers who are not satisfied to call the Masse by the name of Sacramentall Sacrifice wherein a memoriall and a representation may be made of the Lordes Sacrifice vnlesse it be accompted also a Satisfactory and Propitiatory sacrifice beyond all consideration and trueth of Scripture and besides all custome of the auncient Fathers But I retourne agayne to Hesychius who sayth that Christ did Sacrifice himselfe at his supper which saying I do admitt But Augustine doth playnely disclose what maner of Sacrifice that was De consecratione distinct 2. The very Sacrifice sayth he which is made with the Priestes handes is called the Passion of Christ his death his crucifying not in the trueth of the thing in deed but in a signifyeng mistery c. And agayne When the hoast is broken and the blood powred into the mouthes of the faythfull what is signified thereby els then the offering of the body of Christ vpon the crosse c. Therefore such as be of sound iudgementes will say that to deduct true and vnreproueable propositions frō the wordes that are spoken figuratyuely and after a certein sort is a shyft of subtle sophisters and not a poynt of sober Diuynes After this ensueth a place out of Irene very much and many times canuassed by our Aduersaries And he tooke sayth he that which is of the substaunce of bread and gaue thankes saying This is my body And the cuppe likewise which is of the creature of wine that is vsuall with vs he did confesse to be his bloud and did teach a new oblation of a new Testament which the Churche receiuing from the Apostles doth offer vnto God through the whole world of the which amongest the twelue prophets Malachy did prophecy on this wise I haue no pleasure in you sayth the Lord God of hostes and I will not accept an offering of your handes c. The place of Irene whereupon they beate their braynes so busily is chopt in here at this present according as the olde prouerbe sayth as good neuer a whitt as neuer the better as iust as Germaines lipps For whereas proofe ought to haue bene made that the same boyd of Christ which was once hāged on the Crosse thrust through the side vpon the Crosse is offered dayly in the Masse really and substantially in an vnbloudy Sacrifice for the redemption of sinnes for hereunto tendeth their inuincible Maxime they slipp away frō thēce now are come to shew that we are bound to offer vnto God the first fruites of all his creatures by the commaūdemēt of God least we may seéme vnthākefull vngratefull For besides this the wordes of Irene emporte nothing Now to graunt them all this that Christ tooke bread and the cupp of the Creature of wine that is vsuall with vs and did call the same his bloud what will all this preuaile to defend them in this lurking hoale for the question here is not whether we onght to make an oblation to God of the first fruites of all his creatures nor whether Christ gaue his commaundement to his Apostles which they did
men not to the worshipping of the liuing God but to the inuocation of dead soules and adoration of Reliques not vnto fayth but vnto workes not vnto freé forgeuenesse but vnto Pardons not vnto grace but vnto workes not vnto the promises of God but to mens satisfactions not vnto heauen but vnto Purgatory which doth allure vs not to the spyrite but vnto the hungry letter to ceremonies to written Traditions and vnwritten verityes to the bare naked elemēts of this world to bodyly exercises which of theyr owne nature do prenayle litle or nothing at all If this be not the very naturall power and state of all your Religion almost confound me if you can but if you cannot with honesty denye it where is then that glorious bragg so often craked vpon of the first principles of your Traditions which how gaylye are liked and blazed abroad by you let other mē like as they list Surely I am of this opinion that there be no surer groundworkes of our Religion nor better layd then such as the Apostles and Prophettes haue established vnto the which if you will but call vs we will yelde gladly and ioyne with you But you doe meane some other principles and foūdations I suppose not such as were builded vpp by the Apostles and Prophets but such as haue bene inuented by Mounkes Fryers and Noonnes whose orders and institutions you iustify to be most holy and godly and haue determined with your selfe that all thinges which are swarued from thence ought to be called home agayne to the holynesse of these sacred orders howsoeuer some particuler Mounckes doe abuse theyr profession yet you do stoutly auerre that the first institutiō of the profession and foundation of their orders doth persist as at the first and ought not by any meanes be dissolued This is well But what if I be able to iustify the contrary to witt that the very first foundations of those Mounckeryes as they were erected by the first founders thereof be wicked damnable and to be detested of all christians Now I beseéch your syr Byshopp for the honor of your sacred Myter if any man doe direct you to any other redeémer then vnto Christ the sonne of God or will allure you to seéke for any other redemption then in the most precious blood of Iesus Christ Doe ye thinke such a fellow in any respect tolerable I do not beleue it Goe to then let vs take a view now of the originall causes and principles vpō the which were groūded the first foundations of Mounckeryes I will speake onely of our owne Mounckeries here in England as much as I know by experience When the first foundations of Mounckeries beganne to be erected in this Realme which was in the tyme of a certeyn Mounck called Austine whēas Ethelbert reigned king of kent in the yeare 605. We will declare euen out of his owne letters patentes the very cause that moued him chiefly to build an Abbay at Douer for the order of Benedictines And these be the very wordes of his owne charter I Ethelbert established in the kingdome of my father and enioying the crowne and dignity of my father by the permission of God in peacible tranquillity emōgest other churches that I haue builded by the persuatiō councell of our holy father Austen haue erected from the very foundation a Church to the most blessed Prince of the Apostles S. Peter and to S. Paule Doctour of the Gentiles and haue endeuoured to enriche the same with large Reuenewes and landes and haue caused there to be assembled Mounckes which do feare God Therefore entending to amplifie and to enlarge the same Church to the proportiō of a iust heighth being in perfect minde and sownde iudgement I haue geuen vnto the same church by the consent of Ealbalde my sonne and other my deare counsellors a Towne called Cistelett for the redemption of my soule in hope to attayne euerlasting reward for the same c. I do not accuse the well disposed king worthy of singuler prayse but I doe vtterlye condemne Austen the Mouncke that wicked counsellor and instrument of that doctrine Uerely if redemption of soules be purchased by buylding of Abbyes then dyed Christ in vayne and the promise is made voyde and of none effect finally what remayneth for vs by this reason but that weé haue as many redeémers as we haue Mouncks You haue heard of Ethelbert the father now harken likewise of Ealbalde hys Sonne I Ealbalde placed in my Fathers kyngdome followyng my Fathers steppes who of a valiaūt courage did build Churches of God at the earnest entreaty of Father Austen and enriched them with diuers dignities doe freély and willyngly geue and graunt a certein part of my kyngdome called Northburne to the behoofe of the Monckes of the Monastery of Peter Paule at Douer in the honour of almighty God and his holy Apostles and of S. Augustine for the Redemption of my Fathers soule myne owne soule and my predecessours soules c. I Ethelrede kyng of Mercia do graunt this Charter for the redemption of my soule and to be prayed for by the seruauntes of God the Moūckes of Malmesbury The same Charter was confirmed by kyng Berthewalde for the Saluation of his soule as his Letters Patētes do declare and for the Remission of the Sinnes that he hadd committed What shall I speake of the rest of Osricke kyng of Mercya of Oswy kyng of Northumberland of Whitrede Cissa kyng of Southsex Ethelrede Prince of Mercia Ina Renulphe Offa Alurede Athelstane Edgar William of Normandy Henry the first Stephen kyng Iohn and Edward by whom whereas many Monasteries haue bene erected euen from the first foundations and endowed with large possessions and reuenewes if we behold the originall Charters of the first founders we shall finde that they were erected for none other cause nor vnder any other Title but for the Redemptiō of soules for saluation of soules and to vse their owne wordes for the remedy and remission of sinnes For myne owne soule and all my predecessours soules for my fathers soule and mothers soule for the soule of my wife and all Christian soules for the Remission of sinnes for the prosperous estate of our kyngdome the subiectes of our Realme To the honour of the blessed Uirgine Mary for reward of eternall felicitie c. For all these titles are extaunt in the auncient Charters of the kinges grauntes After the same maner did Elfride wife to the Earle Ethelwolde builde an Abbay at Malmesbury for the death of her husband whereof she was her selfe a Procurour for the Remission of that wicked acte into the which afterwardes she made her selfe a perpetuall Recluse for euerlastyng penaūce Moreouer kyng Edgar which murthered the sayd Ethelwolde for the loue of his wife for satisfactiō of his offence and for the preseruation of his subiectes is reported to haue builded so many Abbayes as there be weékes in the yeare
stricken downe and confounded with the remembraunce of theyr owne sinnes vnto whom chiefly appertayneth the comfortable promise of fayth how can it be possible that this serious and earnest repentaunce cann conceiue any pleasure or delight in horrible wickednesse And yet out of this so manifestly false forged slaunder Osorius hath clowted vpp the remnaunt of all his patcheryes And from hence forsooth are all those so manye huge Tempestes Lightenynges and Thunderboltes so many outragious exclamations tragedies and earthquakes raysed vpp agaynst the poore abiect Lutheranes no lesse vnsauory then shamelesse Wherefore I was so much the more desirous to aduertyze the godly zealous youth that they would not suffer them selues to be entangled by any meanes with the flattering fawning of Osorius bookes and that they behaue themselues with discrete moderation in the reading of them least as the SerpeÌ„t did once beguyle Eue they also may be carryed away from the pure simplicity which is in Christ Iesu. God did not in vayne send his sonne into the world nor in vayne did he geue that especiall commaundement that we should harken vnto him Moreouer not in vayne lykewise dyd the Sonne himselfe descending from out the bosome of his Father take vpon him to proclaime the fathers will out of heauen If petitions proceéding from harty inward and most pure loâ—e if most excellent and vndefiled prayers if most commendable conuersation of life in all kinde of vertue might haue auayled to the attaynment of perfection of saluation I seé no cause to the coÌ„trary why the heauenly Father might haue taken away that bitter Cupp of heauy displeasure out of the haÌ„d of this Sonne But our woundes could not otherwise be healed but by the death deadly wouÌ„des of the Sonne The wound was farr more deépe and deadly then could be curable by any pollicy power treasure workes or actions of men Briefly when Osorius hath spoken of and aduaunced iustice and most excelleÌ„t integrity of life with all the skill that he cann Yet shall he neuer be able to bring to passe the contrary but that the song which we dayly sing vnto Christ shal be an vnuanquishable trueth Thou onely art holy Out of the which what thinke you may be gathered els but that all other creatures whatsoeuer adorned with neuer so plausible opinion of holynes be neuerthelesse vncleane and defiled in the sight of God And yet do we not hereby derogate one hearebredth so much from the grace of God whose riches and treasure we do confesse to be vnspeakeable and dispersed ouer the face of the whole earth Notwithstanding we do also as boldly professe that this grace wherein doth coÌ„sist the highest honour of most perfect obedience did neuer happen to any nor was euer geuen to any but vnto Christ alone But what neéde any more CircumstauÌ„ce I will vrge one Reason agaynst Osorius and so make an end What one prayer can be more holy or knitt vpp in fewer wordes then the Lordes prayer Herein I do appeale to his conscience Let him pronounce the same one prayer vnto God in such sort that he be not faulty in some respect nor swarue in thought any where froÌ„ that absolute perfection of righteousnesse whereupon he doth bragg so much with such an vnremoueable conuersion of mynde to Godward and in so humble an abacement of himselfe and with so dutyfull a reuerence as is beseémyng so vnspeakeable a Maiesty And I wyll yeld him the victory I do most hartely desire and wish vnto the learned Reader and to all other the elect Saynctes of God whosoeuer do professe the name and weare the badge of Christ Iesu that departing from iniquity and gathering all together into one vniforme agreément of sincere doctrine by thenlightening and inspiratioÌ„ of the holyghost we may be all together receiued into that heauenly Ierusalem and into that kingdome of immortall glory and eternall felicity which shall neuer haue end not for the workes of righteousnesse which we haue done but for the loue of our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ who suffered death for our sinnes and rose agayne for our Iustification Amen AT LONDON Printed by Iohn Daye dwellyng ouer Aldersgate Cum Gratia Priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis Anno. 1581. Iohn 7. Apoca. 17. Emanuell Dalmada a Portingall Byshop of Angrence Thomâ— Wilson Osorius beginneth with a double excuse Emanuell Byshop of Angrence in Portingall a Popish Inquisitour Two causes shewed by Osorius why hee writeth agaynst M. Haddog The second part of the excuse of Osorius Rom. 2. The name of a priuate persoÌ„ what it signifieth Plautus in milite glorioso Syr Thom More Iohn Fisher Byshop of Rochester More and Rochester rightly coÌ„uicted and condemned for traytors by the law Osorius is writing to our Quene vnder pretence of charitie goodwill couereth extreme hatred against true Religion True charitie is sooner preteÌ„sed in wordes theÌ„ truely performed in deedes Cicer. Orat. in Lucium Pisonem Cicer. Phillip 2. in AnthoniuÌ„ In SalustiuÌ„ Cod. de proba lib. 〈◊〉 Osor. pag. 8. Osorius coÌ„plaineth of subuertyng Religion in England Nonnes Images of Saintes Picture of the Crosse. Auncient ceremonies of the Romane Church The words of M. Haddon cited by Osorius Cicer. in Anthon Phil. 2 Osor. pag. 9 Osor. pag. 9. b. Osorius maketh Bugge beares and fighteth with shadowes Osor. pag. 9. b. Luther falsely accused Luther to be take whole and not by pecces Osor. pag. 10. The cauilling of Osorius vpon wordes and sillables Perpessa Persparsa Psal. 119. Two soule abuses noted in Osorius his Religion Trust in Popish pardoÌ„s vayne and wicked Osorius agaynst hym selfe Osorius cauilleth about the word of lead Synechdoche Metonymia The Bishop of AngreÌ„ce One Church Apoc. 1. One Monarchie Liuius 3. Decad. Polycrates Phalereus Dionysius Apoc. 21. 22. Luce. 4. ex Esaia Ad Heb. 10 Timoth. 1. Luce. 9. Mar. 6. Math. 9. Touchyng supremacie of Peter his successours Marg. 9. Iohan 6. Aug. Retra Cap. 11. Chrisost. in Hom. Penthec To. 3. Hillar de Trim. lib 6. Cipr. Epist. 3. Orig. in Math. Cap. 16. Gregor 1. Distinct. 10. ConsideraÌ„dum Math. 18. Luc. 22. Amongest the Apostles no singular power geuen to any one more then all the rest Iohan. 17. Iohan. 17. Orig. in Math. Cap. 16. Augustin de Agone Christi Math. 16. Gal. 2. Petri Epist. 1. Cap. vlt. Act. Cap. 1. 2.5 Act. Cap. 15. The priuiledge of the person reacheth no further theÌ„ the partie him selfe vnlesse it be limited by name Math. 16. Galat. 2. Iohan. 3. Iohan. 4. Iero. and Euagr. Cypri ad Simplic Osorius pag. 17. Osorius ibidem Ibidem Sueto in the lyfe of xiâ— Emperours Platina de vitis Pontificum Grego in Epist. ad Mauri lib. 4 Epist. 32. Grego in Epist. 30.50 36. Cant. 2. Osor. pag. 17. Act. of the Apost the 5.15 Chap. Osorius pag. 18. b. Ad Thessa. 2. Cap. 2. Osorius pag. 18. b. pag. 19. pag. 19. Alphonsus de Castro contra haeret lib. 4. Cap. 4. pag. 19. Osori
required in philosipher so may the want therof be borne withall in a Deuine Ieromes Epistle to PaÌ„machius Luke 16. Esay 2. 1. Cor. 1. â— Osor. 163. Prouer. 16. Fine poolished speach is alwayes impudent An Exquisite affectation of Eloquence not so much to be regarded of Deuines Pag. 166. Osori inueighed against EnglaÌ„d but not agaynst all Osori pag. 167. What Osorius doth promise in this booke Osori Argument not able to be resolued Haddones auÌ„swere to Osori Argument Osor. pag. 167. The testimony of the world agaynst the Lutheranes The rebouÌ„ding of the Argument agaynst Osor. Osor. pag. 168. A trimme reason of Osor. Osor. pag. 169. Osor. Argument coÌ„futed The spirite of the Prophettes is not to be measured by the nomber of beleuers Moah Moses Esay Ieremy Stephen S. Paule The first beginning of Luther Luthers humble letters to pope Leo the tenth Pope Leo his proude insolency agaynst Luthers humble submission Luthers second letters to Leo the Pope Anno 1519. Luthers Protestation Luthers huÌ„ble Supplication to the Church of Rome Stanislaus Hosius in his first booke of heresies The Pope the seruauÌ„t of seruauÌ„tes of God by a figure called Antiphrasis The cause of Luther honest Osori conclusioÌ„s false Sophistry A comparison betwixt the professoures of the true Gospell the Papisticall Osor Pag. 169. The prayle of the Romish church after Osor. A fifth and euerlasting Gospell made on a tyme of the Dominick Fryers at Parise Anno Dom. 1256. Osor. pag. 169. Of the Fayth of the Romishe Church Whether the vniformitye of fayth be more discernable in the Romish Chur. or in the Lutheranes How many wayes the popes fayth is contrary to the right institution of the Gospell Arrogancy and vayne confidence The name of vniuersal Church is restrayned to the Romaynes onely contrary to the nature of the Gospell Osor. pag. 169. The false and lyeng braggeâ— of the Romish Church Osor. pag. 169. Esay 5. How the Church of Rome is laden with mens tradicions Emptynes and voyde Apoca. 13. Osor. pag. 170. By what Reasons the vniuersality of Christes Vicar is coÌ„firmed One head of the Church The doctrine of the Gospell doth call all the Ministers of the Church to humilitie permitteth superioritie to none in any wise August agaynst Petilian Epist. Cap. 3. Cyprian Whether the authoritie of the Romishe See be Necessary for the takyng away of Schismes The Romishe See the Metropolitane of Sectes Where the Romish authoritie is quite banished there is most rest The Papacie nothyng els then a certeine mighty faction and armed power of kyngs The slaunder of the Sectes and dissentioÌ„ of the Lutheranes FactioÌ„s and Schismes in the Church of Rome Diuerse coÌ„tentiones of papistes amongst theÌ„ selues touching the supper of the Lord. Whether Popes See were erected by god or men See hereof before Haddons discourse in the first booke pag. 15. Peter sate at Rome What a diuersitie is betwixt Rome now and as it was in the tyme of Peter The principallitie of the See of Rome by what begynnyng it crept to so great power and tyranny When the name of Vniuersalitie and the order of Cardinalles beganne Vrsinus Damasus Anno 369. How many and how great conflictes haue raunged in the Chur. of Rome about the choosing of the Pope Boniface Eulalius Anno. 420. Simachus Laurentius Anno. 499. Stephanus Constantinus Phillip Anno. 768. Anastasius Benedictus 873. Leo. Christoph. Sergius Iohn 13. Leo. 8. Anno. 968. Out of platina this Iohn the 13. was takeÌ„ committyng adultery and was slayne Benedict the 5. being taken prisoner was cast into Adrianes Doungeon Anno. 973. Donus 2. Boniface 7. ranne away with the Treasury of Rome 975. Gregor 5. Iohn 17. Siluester Anno. 995. Out of Cardinall Benno Clemens 2. 1048. Benedict 10 1058. Alexander 2. Cadolus 1062. Hildebrand Clement 3. Victor 3. Vrbanus 2. Anno. 1083. Pascalis Albertus Theodoric Maginulph Vibertus False Popes Platina Blondus Gelâ—sius 2. The Archbishop of Bacchara a false pope Anno. 1118. Calistus 2. Gregory 8. false popes Anno. 1124. Distinct. 76 Cap. Ieiunium The first institution of Cardinalles about the yeare 1124. Innocent 2. Anacletus 1130. Out of AEmilius his 5. bookes Blond Platina Guil. Tyrius 14. booke and the 12. Chapter The Consuls of Rome brought in subiectioÌ„ to the Pope Blond in his 6. booke Lucius 3.2 Schismatick 1182. Vrbanus 3. called Turbulent for his troublesome head 1185. InnoceÌ„t the 3. the chief champioÌ„ of all the calamities and troubles of the church 1215. Honorius 3 Innocent 4. Gregoâ—y 9. most rebellious traytours agaynst the Emperour Friderick 2 The factioÌ„s of the Guelsians and Gibellynes raysed by the meanes of this Gregory 9. Celestin. 5. Boniface 8. a firchrand of factions 1295. Platina AEmil The most impudent shamelenes of Boniface 8. agaynst the Archb. of Genua Innocentius 6. Gregorye 11. the greatest author of Schisme 1352. Vrbanus 6. thrust into the Popedome by violeÌ„ce 1378. The See of Rome deuided in Schisme by the space of 74. yeares A cruell coÌ„tention betwixt the Cowled generation about the Conception of our Lady 1400. Boniface 9. Innocent 7. a seditious murderer 1405. Gregory 12 AlexaÌ„der 5 a troublesome pope Iohn 24. by force and money occupyeth the Sec. 1411. Three Popes deposed at one time Martine 5. The Councell of CoÌ„stance The Conuenticle of Constance did coÌ„deÌ„ne Ierome of Prague and Iohn Husse to be burned Martin not the Vicare of Christ but of Bellona Engenius an other chicken of Bellona A CouÌ„cell at Basile 1435. Eugenius a Schismatick is deposed from the Popedome 1442. This schisme endured 9. yeares The battell agaynst the Heluetians and Basileans by the procuremeÌ„t of Eugenuius Rob. Gaguinus and Phrigio Thomas of Redon thorough the popes Tyranny burned 1436. Antonius others A non causa vt causaÌ„ The fallaxe of the accident Luther a speciall aduersary to Sedition Osor. pag. 187. Of the Româ—nistes obedience rowardes Princes pag. 170. The Emperoâ—â— translated from the Grecyanes to the Frenchmen by the popes contrary their oathes Charles the Great The Creeks inuaded by the Turkes An Auncient ordinaunce of the right of the Emperour and the Pope The Maiestye of the Empyre was translated from Fraunce into Germany by the pope A degree of Gregory the 5. Concluded vpon with Otho the thyrd Emperour The wayward Rebellion of the popes alwayes agaynst the Imperiall Maiestie An olde grudge of the popes agaynst the Emperours for the bestowyng of Ecclesiasticall promotions Benedicte doth rebell against HeÌ„ry 3. The horrible conspiracie of pope Gregory 7. and the Bishops agaynst Henry the fourth Rodolphe suborned agaynst his Lord and Emperour by the practize and treason of the pope Rebellion punished The pope beyng the firebrand of seditioÌ„ doth prouoke the sonnes to rebell agaynst their Father Gods iust iudgement executed vpon the sonne that rebelled agaynst his Father The popes absolute power The Maiestie Imperiall subdued and subiect to the popes De Maior obedi Cap. Insolitae De Maior Cap.
enough and is busied about heaueÌ„ly thyngs and godly coÌ„templation Truly this your speach doth not describe vnto vs any godly Moncke but either some notorius hypocrite or happely some drunkard or some one distraught of his wittes For why should his senses be ouerwhelmed at the namyng of God They should rather be liuely and ioyfull Wherfore should he fall to the ground on the deuils name if he were a true Christian he should rather rayse him selfe vp and reioyce in him from whom onely commeth all saluatioÌ„ How chaunceth this holy father that you an old man a Byshop a Deuine of so great estimation are so fallen to Fables Certes a meéte aduocate for so monishe a matter You demauÌ„de of me why we suffered our MoÌ„ckeries to escape vnpunished if there were such licentiousnes of lyfe amongest them How did they escape vnpunished good Syr we ouerthrew their durtie dennes The Brothelles them selues beyng bondslaues to all vnthriftynes we haled out of their swynestyes set a libertie we did abolish the occasioÌ„s of their treachery as much as we might not hatyng that persoÌ„s but their vyces when their vyce was rooted out what els might haue bene exacted not of you onely who blinded with malice know nothyng but of any other reasonable person To this dauÌ„ce you hauge the Uestale virgines whom the auÌ„cient Romanes reuereÌ„ced greatly so in lyke maner require our Nunnes to be honored of vs. Surely you handle this matter very kindly Salij Priestes of Mars did dauÌ„ce naked in their opeÌ„ filthy Pageantes for this was a speciall Article of their Religion why then do not you likewise beyng an old priest thinke it as seémely for you to daunce for Religion sake Herein I may seéme to scoffe ouer bytterly No truely For what can be lesse tollerable then an old grayheaded Byshop and a Deuine as he persuadeth him selfe to march with the madde superstitioÌ„s of the Romaines agaynst the veritie of the Gospell of our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ You turmoyle your selfe much about the vowes of widowes which doth not coÌ„cerne our disputation and argue as though virgines vowyng chastitie could not bee ioyned in lawfull mariage without great haynousnesse How can men or maydens promise single life or if they promise rashly how can they performe truly when as chastitie is the peculiar gift of God and is not in our own power Get you to S. Paule whom you produce in your behalfe touchyng the same matter These be his wordes But euery man hath his proper gift of God one after this maner and an other after that What can be alledged more manifest then this If you be not yet satisfied annexe hereunto our Sauiour Christ and withall his owne wordes touchyng Eunuches wherein you triumph so Iollylye bycause that our Lord Iesus reported that some did geld them selues for the kyngdome of heauen Is not this also added a litle before He that can take it let him take it all men can not conceaue this saying but those to whom it is geuen Wherefore if chastitie be the proper gift of God we may not assure to our selues the thyng that is the proper gift of God And if none can be chast but to whom it is geueÌ„ how can we promise to our selues that which we know not whether we shall euer attaine or no Great is the force of the truth greater then this our great Maister of Israell can coÌ„prehend And howsoeuer he lyst to iangle here he confesseth the same a litle before in expresse wordes that chastitie is the gift of God as in deéde it is And for proofe therof vrgeth the same wordes of Christ mentioned before namely All men can not compreheÌ„d this saying but vnto whom it is geuen I maruell much Osorius that you haue so quickely forgotten your selfe But I ought not maruell thereat bycause of a very greédy affection to cauill an â—rabble you rush headlong many tymes into most pestilent errours You accuse Luther Bucer Zuinglius Oecolampadius Caluin and Martyr of lust As though men liued not chastly which hold them selues within the limittes of lawfull Matrimonie or as though all the Cowled droues of Sophisters aswell of your Nation as of any part of the world els were comparable with these godly fathers in commendable conuersatioÌ„ of life or excellencie of learnyng or as though the namyng of those persons made your cause any myte that better or as though Paule whom you do wrest and peruert for the mainteynaunce of your single lyfe did not sufficiently interprete him selfe or as though there were any thyng in you besides arrogancie cauillyng and choler You moue a very saucie question of Christian libertie Whether the same appeare greater in your Cowled generations then in maryed folkes I aunswere that the pure Eunuches whom God hath endued with the gift of chastitie do enioy most excellent freédome of mynde but the question coÌ„cerneth not those persons in this place But the rest of your mocke Eunuches haue no freédome of mynde except you lift to tearme it a wicked fréedome an horrible libertie to whoredome Neither am I alone of this iudgement for that were of no credite Paule is of the same mynde Who hauyng sayd It is good for a man not to touch a wife immediatly addeth But for auoyding fornication let euery maÌ„ haue his owne wife and thereof presently rendreth this reason For better it is to marry then to burne The first part of this senteÌ„ce you vrge very stoutly Osorius but the later you doe wickedly wincke at But we may not halt so bycause as Paule sayth we goe the right way to the Gospell not haltyng as you do But halt you as ye lift dissemble still wincke still at the horrible actions of your cowled Lurdeines yet is this true yea to true alas that these hypocriticall professours of chastitie doe not burne onely but swell also and are enflamed with insaciable firebrandes of Lecherie And it is not a whiueryng voyce of a vow bloweÌ„ out in respect of gayne or idlenes that can very easely quenche suppresse in the myndes of young persons those intollerable flames of naturall corruptioÌ„ There be great droues nay rather vnmeasurable herdes of your drousie Uotaries to be so bold as to coyne a new name for a new thyng whose poysoned filthynesse hath so defiled the earth that they may with horrible feare looke for Gods iust terrible vengeaunce to bee poured vpon them with Gomorrhean and Sodomiticall brimstone and fire heauen vnlesse they repent be tymes You do reproche Luther with his Mariage and slaunderously rayle that at the celebratyng thereof Venus was President not Venus of Paphia nor Erycina but Venus the furie of hell O vncleane mouth Dare you so blasphemously rayle agaynst the estate of Matrimonie commeÌ„ded with so glorious titles as which the holy Ghost commaunded to be honorable amongest all persons whiche our Lord Iesus Christ did honor with his presence which was ordeined of God
the father in Paradise confirmed by the Patriarches and Prophetes established by the Apostles and Martyrs continued most honorable in the best and purest ages of the world and by most notable personages Dare you with so blasphemous a mouth defile the dignitie of this Matrimonie beautified with so many ornamentes Dare you name that execrable furie of hell to be President at this honorable Mariage Beseémeth an old man a Byshop a Minister of the Sacraments so to dally and scoffe in matters of so great importaunce Forsoth I do reprehend say you the Mariages which the Votaries do contract together Uery well remēbred Syr what monument then can you geue vs of those gay professours of chastitie in that golden age of the primitiue Church when our Lord Iesus Christ and his Apostles did dwell vpon the earth If you can shewe vs no one exāple of those chast soules in that most blessed tyme Nay rather if that pestilent cōtagion of Uotaries did long after begyn to infect the Churche Packe ye hence with that deuilishe Priest of hell from vs and acknowledge your owne Priest that Satanish hellhounde Hildebrand who first of all enacted by publicke authoritie that infamous Canon of cōstrained vnmaried life Curse ye that your own hellhounde Priest and batter him with your thunderboltes of wordes and Sentences For Beelzebub him selfe withall the furies of hell could neuer haue practized a more pestilent infection of lyfe You proceéde to defend Images wherein you fight so stoutly agaynst your selfe that you neéde none other aduersary But first ye furnish your selfe with a startyng hole wherein you may shroude your selfe from a showre For you deny that Images are worshypped that pictures are honored but you confesse that in them is a certeine naturall power which may bryng some helpe to vnlettered persons If it were so Osorius we could be somewhat tractable herein would somewhat frendly tollerate the rude weakenesse and grosse ignoraunce of the people But how say you Is not worshyp geuen to Images Truly people fall prostrate before thē they stretch out their handes vnto them they perfume them with frankencense they set cādles before them they call vpō them by name they decke them gorgeously they carry them solēnely abroad and make a shew of them openly they waxe hoarse with scrichyng and cryeng out vnto them in their sicknes and diseases They gadde many a wéerysome iourney on pilgrimage vnto them they powre out prayers vnto them with great reuerence they enlarge vnto then magnificently yea they do beléeue that they do worke miracles If all these doe not playnly denounce worshyppyng by what other Argument may a man discerne the nature of worshyppyng But if ye yeld not that these blasphemies are committed in your Romishe Church yea in your owne Temples of Siluania it is very well and I would to God it were true for your credites sake But if you graūt it as ye can not deny it why doe you so impudently deny in wordes the thyng whiche you know to bee haynously handled in dayly practize How much better had it bene for you Osorius to haue defended worshyppyng of Images as well as ye could though without all colour of truth thē so stoutly to deny that which your women and childrē do sée to be dayly hourely frequented in your Churches yea your selues the very Authours therof ministryng example to others But you haue lost both your witte and modestie that in so dayly and manifest abuses will séeme to be ignoraunt and withall mainteine your vntruth with pretie popet demaundes so blockish and so farre from the purpose that a man may iudge you to be fast a sleépe with your eyes open You demaunde earnestly of me whether the Images of the Cherubines were placed before the Arcke of Couenaunt in the old tyme and whether the Brasen Serpent were erected that such as were wounded with Serpentes might behold it and be made hole what then wise man as though any man could or would deny that Images pictures were made in all ages or that it came euer into my thought to condemne the commendable Arte of Engrauyng Paintyng I graunt that there may bee some vse of Images but I deny worshyppyng of them I doe allow that there may be pictures but I do abhorre all honor in them And the same hath our Lord and heauenly father prohibited by expresse commaundement You tell vs that the Auncient Israelites had diuers Images of Cherubines I confesse it but you can not shew that they were worshypped at any tyme. The Image of the Brasen Serpent◠as a remedy for them that were bytten with Serpentes I graunt it But when in processe of tyme the people came at length to worshyp it the godly kyng Ezechias detestyng their Idolatry cōmaūded the Image to be taken downe and broken in peéces and herein your selfe do wonderfully cōmende him You marre therfore all your owne matter Osorius by this your owne example For ye graunt that the worshyppyng of Images is damnable defiled with poysoned Idolatry Ye deny that men are now at this present or euer heretofore were at any tyme so blockish and senselesse as to beleue that godlynesse was included in Images and withall yeld your selues to be accoūpted for madde and buzzardly blynd if this can be iustified agaynst you What els do ye then whenas you throw your selues prostrate before pictures and neuer make any end almost of embracyng them lickyng them kissyng them deckyng them presentyng them with giftes goyng on pilgrimage vnto them when you call vpon inuocate the Images of dead persons by the proper names of your Saintes pictured there when you keépe such a sturre before stockes and stones and confesse neuerthelesse that in thē is neither vertue nor sense your selues surely be worse thē rotten blockes that will geue such reuerēce to dead stockes But I will sticke somewhat neare to your skinne in this matter The people of Israell as ye know were a chosen Nation an holy kinred a peculiar and elect people and yet in the absence of Moyses they forged a golden Calfe and beleued that there was in this Image not onely lyfe and sense but with open mouth did professe also that it was God yea the very same God that brought them out of the land of Egypt For when they had commaunded that this Image should be borne before them as the cōduct of their iourney they added hereunto these blasphemous wordes also These be thy Gods O Israell whiche brought to passe that thou were deliuered out of the land of Egipt There followeth yet more And Aaron seyng this erected an Aultar before it What say you Osorius Truely though you conceaue neuer so well of your selfe and loue your coūtrey as meéte is you should neuer so much yet you do not beleéue I suppose that those your countrey men what soeuer they be are more deare now vnto God then the children of Israell
most iust Iudgemēt agaynst sinne his most excellēt piety towards his sonne his most tēder loue towardes mākinde For in that he did most sharpely and with seuerest Iustice punish our Sinnes in his owne sonne he restored him to life to a most ample kyngdome wtall thereby prouided most fatherly for all our saluatiō generally We Read lykewise in the holy Scriptures It is necessary that offences shall come it is necessary that heresies be c. And it is not to be doughted but that this Necessitie doth issue frō the ordinaunce of God And what then if these offences do chaunce altogether besides the ordinaunce of GOD how then doe they chaunce of Necessitie Agayne if they happen by the ordinaūce of GOD how shall we then defende the goodnesse of GOD Forsooth euen by the same meanes that I spake of before For if he which dyd foreordeyne those offences were alyke affectioned and of the same mynde nor dyd respect any other ende then the persons themselues do from whom those offences doe aryse there should nothing withstand but that he should be in the self same fault and in all respectes as blameworthy as they But nowe sithe there is so great diuersitie betwixt them in the maner of doyng and the respect of the end hereby it commeth to passe that in one selfe action that which is committed by mē is a most haynous cryme and in that which commeth of GOD appeareth most euidently a wonderfull commendation of Iustice and pyety But here is yet a very great knott in thys bullrush whereupon Osorius scrapeth agayne very busily To cōfesse this to be true that offences and heresies must aryse by men yet forasmuch as their willes are not otherwise ordered but by the guyding and leading of Gods direction it can not be denyed but that God hymselfe as one that doth suggest some matter first must be accompted for an Abettour or furtherer for whosoeuer shall be the cause of any other cause or action euē the same must needs be an accessary to the cryme that is committed That offences and other sondry inconueniences of this present lyfe do flow from out the corrupt affections of men as out of their naturall source and sprynghead is most true And agayne that the willes of men which way soeuer they bend them selues are guyded not without the permissiō and especiall prouidence of God This is also most true Furthermore that the very Will of God and hys prouidence doe seéme to be in some cause that offences and inconueniences do aryse I doe confesse likewise agreéing herein with August Well and what hereof what if we graunt that God is after a certayne sorte the cause of euill Ergo Osorius doth conclude presently vpon the same that God as beyng the cause of euill cannot be excused of blame But if he do so hee is at hand that will deny his argument For it is not a good consequent which is deriued from the cause of offences and euilles but onely in such offences and sinnes which are not themselues the very punishment of sinnes and reward of trespasse where the euills that are committed be the vttermost effectes of the cause agent Whereof neyther of them both may be imputed to God For neyther doth Gods prouidence work in the corrupt affections of men as the principall cause vnto the last ende moreouer neyther are mens wills enclined or hardened to wickednes by the operation of God but where God hath most iust cause so to do aswell because God doth all thinges to make the excellency of hys power and Maiesty to appeare more glorious and to beé wondered at as also because hee doth harden the hartes of no person but to th end with sinne to punish the former sinnes wickednes and mischieuous facts that haue bene committed before Yea and this also most rightfully Whereupon August sayth this must be grounded and vnremoueable within your hartes That there is no vnrighteousnes in God And for thys cause when ye do reade in the holy scriptures that men are seduced by God or that their hartes are hardened dought nothing at all but that they haue committed before offence enough for the which they ought worthely to suffer c. If mans nature be of it selfe so valiaunt as to defend it selfe sufficiently agaynst all stormes and assaultes of sinne wherefore then doth he suffer himselfe to beé caryed away willingly and wittingly out of the right way why doth he not preuent all occasions and temptations as heé ought to do why doth he not practize the same courage that his owne reason inuiteth him vnto If he cannot why then euen from the beginning throwing ouer boorde the helme of Gods gouernement did he take vpon hym to be pylote of hys owne course why did he presume to be wise without God why was he so arrogant with so hauty and lofty a courage to geue the attempt vpon the tree of lyfe and graspe of the fruit thereof why being not contented with hys owne simplicitie chose he rather to raunge the field himselfe with the bridle in his teéth thē to abide the managing of the Lord who now if were able to gouern him selfe without Gods assistaunce doth worthely breake hys neck if he fall ouer the rock If he cannot guyde hys owne wayes euē for this cause is he worthely forsaken and spoyled because him self cast of of God beyng hys Ryder frō hys back Whereupon this is a good consequent and must be graunted of Necessitie that eyther God is not the cause of euill or if he be yet that in this cause is nothing at all but that whiche standeth most of all with equitie and Iustice likewise that in man is nothing but that whereof he may worthely condemne hym selfe The will of God doth worke together with mans will in sinne according to the Lutheranes It standeth therfore with as good reason that the same should be imputed to the one that is imputed to the other If the circumstaunces of them both were in all respects like the consequent would be good but the circumstances beyng altered the state of the conclusion is altered also All the actions of mans life are gouerned by the disposition of the secret prouidence of God This is very true Mans will also doth endeuour withall together with the same Here is therefore an operation and working on both partes God worketh and man worketh and both in one matter But bicause God doth order things after farre other meanes and respecting an other ende then men doe herein redowndeth vnto hym the highest commendation of power Iustice aud Bounty Men are worthely blamed as beyng the very causes of their own harmes When Ioseph was solde by hys brethren when Iudas betrayed the Lord when Absalon defiled hys fathers concubines When Pharao witheld the people of Israell When Semei rayled vpon Dauid When Antiochus waxed wrothe agaynst the Iewes long sithence whenas Antichrist euen now gryndeth hys teeth agaynst the