hope and if iudiciall eies impartially discerne berwixt vs assure my selfe that the impuritie and blemishes thereof by such opposition of mine so substantially warrantable may the sooner be reuealed and by yourselfe whom it so neerelie concernes the better discerned and the rather do I begin with disclosing the substance of mine owne profession because we are bound to sind the true faith of christ in our selues before we examine the want therof in others and ought readilie to giue a reckoning of the same if either authority that is sufficient inioyne or causes that are substantial as in this case shal induce vs therunto MY religion vnderstand me I praie you Is the true worship of the euerliuing God 2. Sect. I know it is the true worship of God because it is that manner and forme of worship which is agreeable to his blessed wil I know it is agreeable to his wil because it is framed acording to the prescription of his holy word And I know it to be framed according to his word because I learne the same out of his owne booke which containeth nothing but his word deliuered first by his owne voice to our fore fathers after indighted by his owne al-sufficient wisdome penned downe by his owne chosen seruants the prophets and Apostles sealed and confirmed with the precious bloud of his owne deere sonne and from age to age through persecution through captiuitie thorough the most powerfull occurrents that euer Sathan deuised for impugning the same by his owne woonderfull prouidence so mercifully preserued to be food for the soules and direction for the liues of his elect here on earth while the world endureth which booke we therefore intitle the sacred scriptures commonly the Bible so that my Religion is a worshipping of god after his owne will reuealed by his owne word comprized in his owne booke and therfore as I first said a true worship of the euerliuing God And is it not iudge you the wisest course we can take for the vnderstanding the wil of our God without which we are no better then the beasts that perish and which necessarilie wee must attaine vnto before we can do it as we must doe it before we receiue that which you call the wages of wel-doing To read diligentlie this book to search reuerently these scriptures and to haue continuall recourse vnto this word which may be called the trusty Embassador that faithfullie deliuereth the reuealed councels of God the holy mouth that truely vttereth the oracles of his blessed sanctuarie which is the word of life the worde of truth as true as himselfe his owne word and therefore the best reuealer of his will and most absolute describer of that platforme after which hee delighteth to be worshipped I will not by way of inference as I go along roue at any marks of your profession til I haue in som perfecter sort measured out mine owne else could I me thinks with an arrow drawne out of this quyuer pierce euen the quickest vaine of those vnwarranted Decretals and humaine Traditions of yours But let your thoughtes a while be bestowed in consideration of what I say touching mine owne religion which earst I desined to be The true worshipe of the euerliuing God Wherein least you should mistake in thinking I deale Pharasaically or attribute perfection of impossibility vnto my selfe who being but flesh am therefore full of sinne and thereby disabled for that righteous cariage and the perfourmance of those holy offices which properly belong to the seruice of him who is all righteousnesse and true holines it selfe conceiue I pray you how I vnderstand my selfe and desire to be vnderstood therein I confesse that all men are sinners and my selfe as sinfull as any man I might saie more sinful for I must iudge my selfe seuerely and of others charitably besides I knowe mine owne wickednesse and my sinne is euer before me The Angels of heauen that excell in strength may keep o happy happie are they that while the commandments of the Lord but the inhabitants of the earth that are composed of weakenesse doe nothing but breake them In a word I am one of Adams crooked brats My workes are impure and all my righteousnesse as a polluted cloute So that to doe true worship to that Euerliuing God as I professed of my selfe I am not able for a sinfull lumpe of fleshe I finde it impossible Who am I said Moyses in a timerous distrust of his owne abilitie Exod. 3 xi that I shold go vnto Pharo Thē what am I maie I better expostulate from the certaine knowledge of my disabilitie to worship the Euarlasting God What am I that am a thousand times inserior to that Moses to worship him truelie who is ten thousand nay innumerable and vnimaginarie millions of degrees superior to that Pharo But the same God who in respect of his owne desert being the perfection of all thinges and all perfection before thinges had being requireth such exact seruice from me knowes whereof I am made for I am a worke of his owne handes and remembreth that I am but dust the substance of my forefathers vnskilfull how for I am no better then a beast in my owne knowledge and vnapt if I were skillfull so to serue him My hearte by nature being continually so misdisposed And out of the great storehouse therefore of his vnualuable compassion hath he sent me a full supplie to all my desects and plainelie directed me how to adresse my selfe for the manner of seruice which must purchase his acceptation for as he gaue encouragement to Moses and taught him with his owne word what to saie vnto and howe to carrie himselfe before Pharo It hath pleased him in like sort to imbolden mee in my greatest seare and by the perfect rule of the same powerfull word to instruct me after what sorte to appeare before him and how to demeane my selfe in the presence of his Maiestie his sacred word I saie still the spirit of truth expounding the same vnto me is my instruction Hence I learne which is the lesson that all christians should be perfect in the knowledge of Iesus christ and him crucified to know him to be perfect God and perfect Man my maker my sauiour my mediator My maker as he is God my Sauiour and mediator as he is God and man this is all I desire to knowe and may be wel enough for that learned Apostle of his notwithstanding his miraculous conuersion aboundant inspiration and heauenly vision by his own testimonie knew no more as he needed not the docctrine thereof being indeede the verie summe and scope of the whole scriptures This knowledge whosoeuer hath though he knowe nothing else knoweth all thinges as who so wanteth the same though hee knowe all thinges else maye bee saide to knovve nothing This is that christall sountain from whence the pure Waters of life do flovv and they that drinke soundlie thereof shall neuer thirst This is that fixed Helice which
see what this holy Apostle of christ Iesus thought touching this poynt of mans meriting And I pray you marke how firmely the learned Fathers of the church cleaue vnto the same doctrine My first place out of Paule was that wee are saued not by c. And Saint Ierom one whom your church highly reuerenceth writeth in this manner Hier lib 1 ad Pelag Then are wee iust when wee confesse our selues to be sinners And our iustice consisteth not of our owne merit but of Gods mercy Heere this holy father in the matter of iustification reiecteth with S. Paule all our owne merit and referreth the same wholly to Gods mercy My second place out of the Apostle was that the Wages of sinne is death but the guift of GOD is eternall life through c. Origene one of the most auncient Fathers of the church in exposition of these very words of Paule saith thus Origen in ep ad Ro ca 4 lib 4 The apostle saith that the wages of sin is death but he added not said likewise the wages of iustice is eternall life but he sayeth eternall life is the gratious guift of God to teach vs that wages which is like to debt and reward is a recompence of pun shment and death and to assigne eternall life to grace onely Thus you heare this reuerent father expoundeth Paule that our wickednes iustly meriteth condemnation but that the ballaunce wanteth waight the other way and that our best deedes merite not saluation which is assigned to grace only and if only to grace then are all our workes absolutely excluded in that busines My last place out of paule was The sufferings c. Answerable to this sayeth Saint Barnard on this manner Now concerning eternal life we know the sufferings of this life are not worthy of the glory to come Barn in Anunt Mariae Serm. 1 no not if one man should suffer all heere this deuout and religious father remoueth all doubt touching the former doctrine by a forcible supposition on this manner Admit that the afflictions and persecutions of Paule of Peter of Iames and all the Apostles that the paine and torments of the Primitiue Church and of those fiue and twenty Byshops which successiuely were martyred for the name of Iesus And that all the tortures and sufferings of all the Saints of God in allages from the death of Abell to the last drop of blood that euer shal be shed vpon the earth for the testimony of the Lords truth were laide vppon one man to beare and that it were possible for him onely to vnder go the paines torments and tortures that they all indured yet were the glorye of eternall life to rich a guerdon for those his sufferinges hee coulde not merite heauen thereby for the infinite iustice of God must haue a greater satisfaction This was the holy fathers censure hereupon No not saith he if one man should suffer all Now let me reason with you by an inuincible and familiar argument if the suffrings of Paule or of anye of these holy martyres whose continuall persecutions and torments were insteed of many deaths vnto them Nay if all their paines tortures and deaths ioyned together would not make vp a desert answearable to the meed of euerlasting glory It must needes followe that your deeds and sufferings which cary no neerer a proportion with the other then your span doth with the spatiousnes of the whole earth can merit no such matter and shall neuer for any desert they are of come home so rewarded No no you must not look for such an inrichment after such a reckoning but rather saye with the same Saint Barnard Serm 1 anunt Mar whom your selues confes to be one of the sweetest queresters in the Lords quier What are all our merits to so great glory The gardens of all the Fathers of the Church are thicke set with these flowers they all of them teach if true vnderstood the selfe same doctrine Thus you heare then what the Scriptures and Fathers haue deliuere touching our iustification how they referre the same wholy to the mercy and grace of God in the righteousnesse of Christ Iesus and shake off our owne merits as hauing no hand in that worke nor worthinesse in that degree to be trusted vnto But fearing least you are made beleeue that the Scriptures as we read them are false and the Fathers as we vse to alledge them but wrested as what will not falshood affirme to discountenance the trueth or error be ashamed to say for her owne shelter I will yet attempt another meane which I assure my selfe will cool and am in good hope vtterly extinguishe that your conceit of merritting and it shal be by making knowne vnto you the wonderfull inconuenience you incurre and the dangerous premunire that your soule runs into by holding your workes in such estimation There are two principall vertues whereby our grations God vouchsafeth to manifest himself to the know ledge of his seruants vpon the earth and wherin it pleaseth his diuine omnipotency to be delighted and they are his mercy and his Iustice There are likewise 2. principall offices which our mercifull Sauiour daigned to vndertake for our sakes whereby the fauour of God which our old notorious pranke had estranged is regaind vnto vs and thorough the blessed means whereof we are not onely become gratious with him in this world but haue assurance of his sight and the happye fruition of eternall felicity in the worlde to come and those are his redeemershippe and mediatorshippe and I pray you what will you thinke of your Religion if the same nay if one branch thereof among twenty as rotten as it selfe if this onely point of attributing merit to your workes in the act of your iustification doeth impaire and manifestly obscure the dignitie of these excellent proprieties of God his mercie and his Iustice and withall disparage and apparantly detract from the Worthynesse of Christ his merite in that his redeemershippe and mediatourshippe if your religion I say be guilty of such heinous treason against the diuine Maiesty will you not then iudge it your securest course to abandon her daungerous fellowship and embrace insteed therof for your comfort true christianity of whome you shall be sure to learne nothing but true faith and true obedience to your heauenly Soueraigne In discouery hereof it is behoouefull for you to conceiue that as the essence of God is infinite and perfect so these proprieties of God his mercy and Iustice because they are essentiall in him must likewise of necessity be perfect and infinite which being graunted doeth not euery opinion that shall intimate defect or insufficiency therein impaire as I saide and manifestly obscure the dignity thereof you cannot denie but it doth neither shall you euer be able substantially to cleere your doctrine of merites from this high and perillous imputation For looke how much you attribute to your owne merits in the purchase of saluation So
if we truelie obserue pointeth out our land of promise and directeth vs the right waie thither Nay this is the waie it selfe that leades vs vnto truth and the truth it selfe that leades vnto life and the life it selfe that vve so long after euen eternall selicitie I am the way Iohn 14 6. the truth and the life Novv from this knowledge of my sauior I learn to renounce my selfe and relie vpon him to cast off mine own beggerlie rags patched together with abhomination and by the hand of faith to put on his princely robe the glorious robe of his righteousnes In this attire I appeare before my god become acceptable in his presence for this garment he frely giueth me and as freely teacheth me how to weare it I meane this righteousnesse of Christ which is the true consormitie with the law of GOD and an absolute fulfilling thereof God out of his meere grace and mercy impureth vnto me and withall wooâ—keth in me faith whereby I apply the same vnto my selfe so that in this sence I may presume to say the righteousnes of Christ is mine and that therein I serue my God truely as he that laboured so much euen to anotamize the worke of iustification hath for an eternall Maxime set downe that Christ is made vnto vs righteousnes wisedome 1 cor 1 30 sanctification and redemption and else where That in him we are compleat Col. 2 10 The fraile wit of man hath deuised a law whereby an act doue by one is remitted from him that did it to him that gaue consent and commission for the doing of it But the vnsearchable wisedome of our God from the deepe reach of his mercy and compassion without so much as our knowledge for he knew vs from euerlasting and before the foundation of the worlde contriued this meanes for our deliuery hath more then admirably conueyed vnto vs the memorable act of Christes humiliation and satisfaction and by his imputation and our aprehension which is likewise his guifte freelye made it ours The worke it selfe which is Iustice not altred by the exchange of the subiect but onely inattribute It being I egall in Christ in vs Euangelicall If then the righteousnesse of Christ thus be made ours if his obedience and satisfaction be thus freely bestowed vppon vs What should hinder vs it may be meruailed from affording due entertainment to so vnspeakeable a benefit and that we make not true vse of so great aduantage Is not this the delectablest food that euer any hungry stomacke longed after Is it not the softest couch that the wearied soule can find to repose vpon Questionlesse it is and therefore whosoeuer resolueth to fare well shoulde frame himselfe to this diet and he that loueth to lie soft must become his owne Harbinger and make sure in time to take vp this lodging For this is the food of eternall life this is the bed of euerlasting rest Peter not himself but being then and not only then out of his proper Element for he knew not what he said brake with christ about building of tabernacles on the mount Thabar But hee that vppon this foundation which is christ himselfe shall aduisedly erect the fortresse of his hope and Tabernacle of his felicity may be truely said to be his owne man though scarcely as the apprehension of men goeth now a daies and that he is in the right For he knowes what he doth and that his building though all those wordely fleshly and diuellish aduersaries combino in oppugnation can neuer be subuerted In more propper sence therefore then Peter spake it I may boldely say Heere is good being good for the King good for the Begger good for all heere is good being indeed and heere am I constantly resolued let neuer so many millions of misbeleeuers rest vppon what other rotten dependance they list to set downe my rest for euer This stay I know to be sure and neuer shrincking this supportation I am sure is strong and neuer shaketh This this is our soules most firme and neuer-failing anchorage yea this righteousnes of our sweete and louing sauiour is not onely a sure strong and neuer failing foundation but it is the onely sure stronge and neuer failing foundation whereupon we must resolue to build all our happines for euer if euer we resolue to for to relie vpon ought besides that the earth or the heauens themselues can afford in the great and weightie cause of our iustification is to trust vnto that which shall neuer stedde vs and most vndoubtedlie to become most vnhappie Now this righteousnesse of our mercifull redeemer so aduantageable to all those that constantly depend thereuppon I consider in his perfect obeying to the law of God which we had transgressed and coulde neuer of our selues haue fulfilled and his painefull vndergoing the punishment proper to such our transgressions euen the wrath of his father which was incensed by no satisfaction of man or Angel could euer haue bin appeased O sweet vneffable and incomprehensible mercie of our God who out of his owne bosome hath distilled a balme to cure all our wounds though neuer so mortall and albeit so deseruedlie receiued in the traiterous breach of his sacred ordinaunces and not spared euen his owne heart bloud to wash awaie our vncleannesse and to purge vs that were his enemies from all our corruption The meanes that conueieth vnto us this mercie of God the father in this merite of God the sonne is as I formertouched a liuelie iustifieng faith begotten in our harts by God the Holi-ghost who must needes be thefficient cause of the said Faith as the true knowledge and trust in Christ is the formall the gospell the instrumentall and the finall gods glorie By which faith it being The ground of thinges which are hoped for Hebr. 11 1 and the euidence of things which are not seene or a stedfast supernaturall knowledge and firme apprehension of Gods kindnes in Christ Iesus towards vs. Many celestiall indowmentes and good workes are kindled in the mind and hart and flame forth of the life and conuersation of euerie true beleeuer as repentance hope loue inuocation obedience iustification adoption patience consolation mortification peace of conscieÌ„ce ioy in the holighost and regeneration with the fruits therof All of them togither with diuers other such like heauenlie infused qualities though not distinguishable in time but in nature though essentially being Gods gifts and immediatelie proceeding from his grace yet properlie either begotten wrought or apprehended by the saide Faith it being in vs a cause they the necessarie effects the root and they the inseperable braunches So that when I affirme my religion to be The true seruice of God and that seruice to be performed truelie by vs in the righteousnes of Christ I do not herein exclude our workes as impertinent or vnnecessarie thereunto or deny but that good workes are Gods seruices and that therein it pleaseth him to be glorified But because
their birth immediately vpon the Apostles death but some of them sprang vp two hundred some three hundred some fiue hundred years after some sooner some later and were not al til within this very age euen the memory of men now liuing by your selus consented vnto nor absolutely by your owne vsurped authority concluded vpon Hence may you easily gather your religion being neither sufficiently waranted by authority of Gods word nor generally approued by the ancient fathers of the church how woorthily or vnworthily you stile the same with such confidence the old and catholicke religion I cannot go on with particular examination of euery part of your profession your patience and my leisure being I fear proportionable wil not permit me but do beg your attētion to the consideration of one principal point of doctrine generally taught by your greatest clarks as generally beleeued euen to the simplest amongst you whose stomackes indeed are the best digesters of such misdiet because at the hands of ignorance errour euer findeth her securest entertainment I formerlye in discourse of our Religion affirmed that our whole dependance for our saluation was vpon the free mercy of God through christ Iesus And the righteousnesse of christ without any worke or merit of our owne applyed truely by faith was before God our only iustification contrary to this doctrin you are taught and do beleeue that you shall be saued by your workes or at least that your workes must concur and stand vp with faith in the act of your iustification before God Now to make you see and acknowledge the absurdity and preiudice of this opinion first you shall heare what the Apostle himselfe inspired with the holy spirit and the fathers of the church hauing the same diuine scholmaister though instructed in farre different measure haue thought and deliuered touching the same and then som principal inconueniences that necessarily follow that doctrine pregnant and aparant enough I hope vtterly to deterre you from euer lending a listening eare againe thereunto Titus 3 5 Paule that writ more touching the manner of our iustification then all the rest of the Apostles to make his Scholler Titus and others by him to abandon all hope of being saued by their works telleth him plainely We are saued not by workes of righteousnesse which we haue done but acording to his mercy he saued vs Heere he excludeth workes though they be works of righteousnes though they be our best works and ascribeth all the matter of our saluation meerely to the mercy of God through Iesus christ I am sure there is no worke that you or the holiest of your church whatsoeuer can do that is a better worke more meritorious a worke of purer righteousnesse then the workes of Paule were No they hold in no comparison with his for his workes as yours doe not sprang from a liuely faith which made them so good as they were notwithstanding you see he vtterly renounceth them all how good soeuer and dare you in any sort rest vpon yours in this important matter of iustification The said Apostle laboring to win the Romaines to the same faith readeth them this lecture to the same effect Ro. 6 23 The wages of sinne is death but the guift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our sauiour Heere you are plainly told what are the causes of going to hell and comming to heauen The desert of man the cause of damnation but the mercy of God the cause of saluation our sinne doth incur the one for the reward of sinne is death but our best deserts merit not the other for eternal life is meerly the guift of God through Iesus Christ had Paule that learned Apostle in this point approued the doctrine of your church thus questionlesse or to this effect he would haue concluded the reward of sinne is death and the reward of good workes is eternall life but you see hee quite ouerthroweth that opinion leauing vs of our selues to deserue the one but ascribing the other to Gods free guifte in Christ beyond our desert But if neither of these places haue power to remoue you from your former opinion giue me leaue to produce one saying more out of the same authour which I assure my selfe so you ponder it rightly will pierce euen the quickest vayne of your heart if the same as I hope in my sauiour it is not be not vtterly benummed the sufferings saith he of this life are not worthy of the glory to come I conceiue that the workes whereby you hope to merit at Gods hands are the workes of doing and workes of suffering the former more easie and lesse deseruing the latter lesse easie and therefore as you are taught the more meritorious but Paule that knew what it was both to do suffer better then those by whom you are perswaded to place such hie affiance in your workes preacheth vnto you heere another kind of doctrine namely that euen the sufferings of this life your afflictions your deeds of best desert are not worthy of the glory to come And you may be assured that no man that euer fought vnder the banner of Christ Iesus suffered more for his sake or deserued heauen better for his sufferings then he that teacheth you this lesson For he testifieth of himselfe that the sufferings of Christ did abound in him That in labours he was more aboundant then other in ripes aboue measure Co. 11 23 in pryson more plenteously on death oft that of the Iewes fiue tymes he receiued forty stripes saue one that he was thrice beaten with rods once stoned thrice suffered shripwracke that he was night and day in the deepe Sea In iournying often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of his owne nation in perils among the gentiles in perils in the citty in perils in the wildernesse in perils in the Sea in perils amongst false breathren In wearinesse and painefulnesse in watching often In hunger and thirst in fasting often In cold and in nakednesse and beside the thinges that were outward he was combred daiely and had the eare of all the Churches Phi 1 13 And that his bandes in Christ were famous throughout all the iudgement hall and in all other places These are Paules owne wordes of himselfe and his sufferings Now if euer there were such merit in our works sure heere it was if euer the desert of sinfull man could iustly haue challenged such a reward as euerlasting life doubtlesse Paule for these his sufferinges would haue put in with the formost Howbeit you see when he speakes of the glory to come and the proper cause of our attayning vnto eternall saluation he then disclaimeth from al his works from these his sufferings and all and cherefully runs to another refuge euen the righteousnesse of his sauiour christ Iesus wherein there is true merit indeede and wherewith hee knovveth the iustice of God is worthily satisfied and our eternall peace onely procured thus you
debt that you alreadie owe vnto God at whose hands you thinke to merit and of whom you must confesse commeth all saluation Indeede were you a cleere ground with him did you owe him nothing but had condignly requited him for all the pleasures he hath done you and satisfied him for all the trepasses you haue done vnto him Then happily there might be some colour for such an ability in you then were the grossenes of the opinion not all so palbable But being so deepely indebted vnto him I cannot particularize wherein but would haue you conceyue it thus for all that you are for all that you haue receiued that you haue not deserued and for all that you haue not receiued that you haue deserued All this being vpon your score already amounting were it truely told to ten thousand Talents at least euery minute increasing and no means in you to cleere the same how can you think to merit ought of him to whom you stand thus ingaged Is not all and more by much then you are able to doe by the considerations aforesaide due vnto him How then is it possible that the vttermost thinge you can doe when the vttermost is not so much as you are bound to do should be merritorious with him and so merritorious as to purchase of him euerlasting saluation you may assure your selfe were there no other reason but this only of the debt you owe him and cannot pay him that it is impossible The second reason is that your works admit that they sprang from true faith which must giue them vertue worthy them the title of good workes are not properly your owne but Gods and therefore it is impossible you should deserue your saluation by them for can you thinke to merit such a matter at the hands of God for giuing him that which of right belongeth vnto him and for presenting him but with the fruite of his owne vineyard you haue no foundation whereon to ground any such an opinion but Methinkes you take it very strangely that the good workes you do should not be your owne and that without proofe thereof you will not so easily be perswaded thereunto The holy apostle and learned father S Paule and S. Austin shall iustifie the same vnto you Phi 2 13 The one telleth you that it is God not your selfe which worketh in you not the wil onely but both the will and the deede and in another place saith vnto you as though he were angry with you for arrogating any goodnesse vnto your selfe Ro 4 7 Augustine Tract 3 in Ioh. What hast thou that thou hast not receiued The other I meane S. Austin assures you that god crowneth not you but his own gifts or graces which hehath giuen you rewardes not your good workes but his owne good workes in you Seeing then your workes whereby you hope to merit are not properly your owne but belonging vnto God to whom you offer the same you must needs confesse that by this reason likewise it is impossible you should deserue ought at the hand of God much lesse merit according to the doctrine of your church your owne saluation My last reason of impossibility is the disproportion betwixt the vvorke you doe and the reward you hope to acquire for doing the same for if you vvill receiue one thing in lieu of another if your deseruings must gaine you the blessings of eternall life It is necessary that those merits of yours which you bring vnto God be insome sort of equall value or neere in worth to the benifits which you are to receiue from him But do you know what comparison there is betwixt gold drosse the difference betwixt light and darknesse or what proportion there can be betwixt perfection and imperfection such a comparison such difference such and no nearer a proportion there is betwixt the greatest desert of the holyest saint vpon the earth and the least reward if there be a difference of rewardes bestowed vpon the saints in heauen For the ioyes of heauen are as I know you will confesse absolutely perfect insinite and incomprehensible and you must vnderstand that the works of the regenerate such as we call and do best deserue the title of good workes although as they yssued from the pure sountaine of gods grace they bee perfectly cleare vntainted yet passing along through the furred pipes of the corrupted wiland vnderstanding of man they loose some parte of their natiue purity and proceede from him defiled and poluted I may therefore conclude it impossible that the one being so imperfect should merit the other of such infinite perfection Further sayings I might alleadge to the same effect and make those that I haue alledged if neede were by familiar instance more perspicuously to appeare vnto you But that which I haue already said to the point is either sufficient or all that I can deuise to say would be to no purpose I haue proued vnto you that this doctrine of merits taught in your church is against the doctrine established in christes church And by no lesse pregnant reasons then because the apostle flatly condemneth it because the fathers vtterly disclaime frō it because those excellent and infinite proprieties of God his mercy and iustice are therein obscured the holy and blessed offices of christ his redeemership and mediatorship thereby infringed that catholicke doctrine of the holy ghost increasing our faith and renewing vs to newnesse of life through the same in some sort impugned and finally because it is repugnant euen to common sence and reason and standeth not with any possibility I will stirre no further into the errours nor rip vp any more absurdities of your religion But for the present with my earnest and most instant desire importune you without preiudicate opinion without foreconceipting after probabilities my insufficiency to speake substancially to matters of this nature that you wold subdue your selfe to a serious and indifferent consideration of that which I haue said against this one only opinion of your religion Shew your selfe a skilfull artist heerin and like the exquisite Geometrician that by the foote of Hercules was able to deliniate the true shape of his whole body so by this one point onely of mans merit I pray learne iudiciously to obserue what the whole substance is like to be of that which you call your catholicke religion For if this one member as you see the Apostle and fathers haue giuen Iudgement be rotten what soundnesse can you assure your selfe to find in the other parts that make vp the body of your profession if the doctrine of this point be so preiudicial to the mercy and instice of God your maker so detractory from the redeemership and mediatorship of Christ your sauior so repugnant to the office of the holy ghost your sanctifier and finally so impossible What infecting errors nay what soule-bane heresies can the doctrine of all the other points of your religion be free from There is an
for a signe vpon your hand that they may bee as a frontlet beeweene your eies and you shall teach them your children speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the waie and when thou liest downe and when thou risest vp and thou shalt write them vpon the postes of thine house and vpon thy gates This is the commaundement of Gods owne mouth vnto you But alasse how do you performe the same How can you laye his wordes vp in your heart How can you make such a Iewell of them when you neither reade them nor heare them reade vnto you Surely that is the cause of all for as an ancient father saide of the Hereticks valentiniani Ireneus cont valentianos that their ignorance in the Scriptures had brought them to that passe So questionlesse may I conclude that your neglect of the worde which would be a Lanthorne vnto your feete and a light vnto your pathes is the reason that you are thus missed in blindenesse and so seduced with error and superstition And this your ghostly aduersarie is well acquainted with for he knowes that vnlesse you reade or heare the word of God you can neuer as the blessed mother of christ did treasure vp the same in your hart to your eternal inrich ment he knoweth you can hardly beleeue a right with those honest women of Boeriae vnlesse as they did you first receiue the word with readinesse whereby true reliefe is begotteÌ„ yea he knowes by his long experience that where the word is not preached the people for the most part perish and therfore where it is neither preached nor reade nor regarded his kingdome must nedes florish which maketh him so to bestir himselfe by his vnhallowed ministers amongst you so to discountnance the word vnto you and so with their false suggestions to discourage you from the reading of it in calling it with their blasphemous mouthes imperfect doubtfull insufficient but a dead letter and euen like a nose of waxe subiect to any impression and in telling you that by the reading thereof diuers haue become Heretickes howsoeuer yet that it is impossible by such as your selfe to be conceiued But beleeue them not no more then you would beleeue their maister the father of lyes euen falshood it selfe if you saw it vnmasked For you may be assured that the word of God is perfect pure vndefiled and that albeit some places in the scripturs be obscure yet generally they giue vnderstanding to the simple and are as Iraeneus saith Plaine without doubtfulnesse Iraeneus lib. 1. cap 31 Gregorius â—â—epist id Leandâ—uÌ„ and may be heard indifferently of all men Therein is milke and proper nutriment euen for the tendrest babe that euer lay in the lap of the church It is a water saith Gregory wherin the little lambe such as your selfe may wade and the mighty Elephant meaning the learned ones may swim which Saint Augustine likewise affirmed saying that almighty God in the scriptures speaketh as a familiar friende without dissimulation Augustine Epist 3. ad VolusianuÌ„ not to the learned only but both to the learned and vnlearned And with these holy fathers of the church the rest generally accorde herein inuiting by their strongest perswasions all sorts of people the ignorant with the wise the learned and vnlearned together to repaire hether for their instruction and from hence as touching the discharge of their christian Office both towardes God and manto fetch theyr absolute direction This may giue you occasion to woonder what your Priestes meane so perimptorily to interdict you the vse of the holy scriptures when the learned Fathers whom notwithstanding they will impudently challenge to be wholly theirs were neuer heard in that tune but euer taught the contrary the reason heereof is easily gathered they know that the worde of God being absolutely trueth must needes were you acquainted with it discouer their falshoode vnto you They knowe that the nature of it being to giue light it would quickly expell that Caemerian darkenes wherewith your sence is so inveloped and by meanes whereof they lead you blindfolded into their denne of I dolatrie and abhomination at their pleasure they know that then you woulde soone perceiue their Iuggling and that thereby you would plainly discerne them in their propper colours Let them pretende therefore what they will but this chiefely is the cause Tertullian in libro de Trinit chrisostom in opere imperfectio Ho 14 for as Tertullian saith The sacred scriptures doe conuince and discouer the guiles of Haeretickes which Chrisostome likewise obserued when he saide Hereticke priestes shut fast the gates of the truth meaning they conceale the worde of God from the people Because they knowe that if the trueth appeare they must of necessity forsake their church I aduise therefore to forsake their Counsell herein and will propose vnto you for an excellent paterne of imitation those godly Sisters in christ which accompanied that Religious Paule at Bethlem Hierom in Epitaph Paulae who by the testimony of Hierome accounted it vnlawfull to to be ignorant in the Psalmes and spent not one day without learning something out of the Scriptures And that vertuous Gorgonia whome her brother the good Nazianze in his Funerall oration ouer her commendeth for being expert both in the olde and new testament let these holy virgins and blessed handmaids of Christ be your president go hand in hand with them as will best become you and most redound to your aduantage vnto this sacred Fountaine of Gods word this holy well indeed insteed of your extraordinarie vnsanctified Sai Winifreds For hereof you may drink your sill and haue your thirst quenched heerewith you may wash your selfe and haue your leprosie clensed herin your soul for that is the proper vertue of it may find an heauenly solace and be conuerted Forsake I say their doctrine herein Nay forsake and abandon both theÌ„ their doctrin them as no ministers of christ their doctrine as meere Antichristian Forthe Ministers of christ deliuer with Paule no other doctrine saue that which they haue receiued of christ but they teach you the quite contrary as in forbidding you to read the scriptures when christ commaundeth you to reade them Search the scriptures sayeth christ Io. 5 3 9 serch them not say they They tel you that the reading of them would driue you into errour Mar. xii 29 But christ telleth you that your error groweth because you read them not Is not heere a plain opposition betwixt christ and them his doctrine and theirs What reckoning then should you make of them The Apostle teleth you that if a very Angell should come from heauen and preach vnto you such doctrin as this so different from that which he and the other apostles haue preached you should be so far from beleeuing him as rather to hold him accursed Surely these fellows are such as our carefull and louing shephearde giueth vs that
dare saie that if he were not acquainted with the plot nor would haue aplauded it if he had beene but beareth a minde opposite to such deseignes he is an honester man then some of his predecessors haue beene Witnesse the letter which N. the Cardinall of Como sent vnto Parry for the murthering of our deere deceased Soueraigne of famous memory Queene Elizabeth to this effect SYr the Popes holines hath perused your letter and cannot but commend your good disposition resolution which as you say tendeth to the publike benefit wherein his holinesse exhorteth you to persist and to effect that which you promise And because you may be the better assisted by that good spirit which hath induced you to this his blessednesse graunteth you full pardon and forgiuenesse of all your sinnes as you desired assuring you that besides the merit which you receiue in heauen his holinesse will become a further debtor to acknowledge your deseruings in the best sort hee may And the rather for that you vse so great modesty in pretending nothing Put therefore in execution your honorable and holy thoughtes and looke to your safety And so I present my selfe hartely vnto you and wish you all good and happy successe From Rome the thirty of Ianuary 1584. Yours to dispose N. Cardinall of Como If this letter will not fatisie you that your Popes haue approued such bloody courses take notice I pray you how Pope Gregory the ninth made a decree Decretum Greg. 9 cause 23 that anye man might renounce and imbrewe his handes in the bloud of his kinsinan his sonne his father or whomsoeuer without destinction in case he were an Hereticke as al were adiudged that professed not papistry And how Pope Sextus quintus tooke vpon him the Office of an orator and in a publicke and premeditated speech before all his cardinals extolled to the skies that Wicked Monke which so murthered Henry the third King of France commending the murther for a notable rare and merueilous peece of worke condemning the murthered as an vnfortunate king dying in his sinne and bestowing no worse a title then Religious man vpon the villaine that was the murtherer And lastly Bulla 〈…〉 how Pope Pius quintus practised the death of our saide Queene Elizabeth ánd sent his Bull for that purpose importing as followeth It is our will and we commâ—und that the subiects of England take themselues to armes against Elizabeth their Queene In these few mirrors the eye that is not vtterly blind may plainely discerne whether your Popes be compact of nothinge but fanctety and integrity as they are continually described vnto you and howe their harts cleaning fast to the former grounds rest affected in such a case of murthering princes and incitinge their subiects to rebellion This seemeth then a weake shâ—lâ—er but shame must haue a couer though it be but of fig leaues I could methinkes out of the bowels of christian charity from my hart deplore that they who professe the true seruice of God and in some sort call vppon the name of Iesus should so far degenerate from the nature of a christian as to plot and prosequte to the period such a monstrous and diuellish deseign as the hart of the most irreligious and hardest-frozen Atheist would haue trembled at and the worst of those barbarous Seythian bloud-suckers could not but haue abhorred Which the idolatrous Turke and all wicked Ethnicks will for euer I think as an argument against the pretious bloude of our fauiour cast into the teeth of Christendome because it putteth down call the world for a point of immanity irreligion and compleat vilany Inquire said Moses of the antiant daies which are before thee since the day that God created man vppon the earth and from one end of heauen to the other if euer there were the like thing done And is not this speech though froÌ„ a different ground proper to this conspiracy if the last worde be left out Indeede it was not absolutely done for the bow brake at the vp hot It was done to these your catholicks that wished and went about the doing of it We giue them like thankes and GOD without Repentance will giue them the like reward as if it had bene done But it was not done to our Kinge to our Queene to our Prince and those thousandes which by the power of that infernall blast shoulde no doubt haue accompanied them to the presence of the eternall Maiesty It was not done vnto them blessed be our mercifull God that vndid it and out of his all-louing kindnes to his church so gratiously put his owne right hande which bringeth mighty things to passe betwixte the purpose and the execution Surely they thought themselues of gods priuy counsell In the letter to the lord Moun togle God and man haue concurred to punish the wickednes of the time But had they bin so much as of his court they would better haue known his pleasure for there they would haue herd the Lord giuing them this precept Thou shalt not kill There Dauid would haue asked them this question Who can lay hand on the Lord annotnted and be guiltlesse There Paule would haue set them downe this position Whosoeuer resist purchase to themselues damnation The Tyrauntes boasted that they could do mischiefe In the said Letter to the Lord Mo. I say they shal receiue a terrible blow but we felt that the goodnesse of God still indured The Lord according to the prayer of Dauid woulde not deliuer the soules of so many of his Turtle Doues vnto the multitude of their enemies and therefore he shot at them with a swift aroow hewed the snares of these vngodlie ones in pecces yet in somthing they said truth the conclusion of that confident menace fell out right And yet they shal not see who hurt them In the said Letter They do not indeed God that shielded them from that terrible blow be euer praised They do not see who hurt them but they see that which those vipers little thought they shoulde haue seene they see some of those that woulde haue hurt them and I hope will see the rest howsoeuer I knowe they are seene and will be remembred accordinge to his blessed will that best knoweth how to rewarde them They doe not see who hurte them but they see who preserued them from hurt His Maiesty doeth see and acknowledge that it was the same God that stoode so neere his holy father King Dauid in al his daungers That saued his life so oft from destruction and crowned him with such mercy and louing kindnesse that it was the same God that stucke as close to his deare Sister Queene Elizabeth in all her troubles and from her cradle till he had set the crown vpon hir head during al the time of hir most famous and victorious raigne preserued her as the Apple of his eie and neuer left her vntill he had chaunged her corruptible crowne of golde to