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heart_n	believe_v	truth_n	word_n	3,712	5	4.2368	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68090	An apology or defence for the Christians of Frau[n]ce which are of the eua[n]gelicall or reformed religion for the satisfiing of such as wil not liue in peace and concord with them. Whereby the purenes of the same religion in the chiefe poyntes that are in variance, is euidently shewed, not onely by the holy scriptures, and by reason: but also by the Popes owne canons. Written to the king of Nauarre and translated out of french into English by Sir Iherom Bowes Knight.; Apologie ou défense pour les chretiens de France de la religion reformée. English	Gentillet, Innocent, ca. 1535-ca. 1595.; Bowes, Jerome, Sir, d. 1616.	1579 (1579)	STC 11742; ESTC S103023	118,829	284

and bound it with an othe that he did beleeue that those of Meryndoll and Cabryers were better and more honest people than himselfe or any of his other subiectes And what will you infer of this will you say now that this good king was a Protestant or that he mislyked the Romayn Religion I think there is no man so shameles that dares say so For his life and actes do shew that he was very well minded towardes the church of Rome In maintenance wherof he held great warres in Italy against the Venecians and other Princes that vsurped vpon the patrimonies of the Church But he was a good king and did acknowledge that God had put the Scepter in his hand to minister iustice to all his people and not to condemne the accused without hearing their answere nor to iudge of a matter of importance by the consciences of others but meekly to geue hearing to al matters brought before him not to condemne those thinges for euill which may shew themselues to be good I therfore cōclude thus that those which in these dayes doe so presumptuouslye condemne the reformed Religion without knowing any deserued cause or without hearing such as professe the same vnder color of the condemnatiōs done already by the Popes by the councell of Trent and by the Sorbonistes doe shew therby the great forgetfulnesse of their duty of iudging vprightly And that they cary to slack a hand on the bridle of their conscience in suffering it to depende vpon the phantasticall iudgement of others Lactantius Fyrmian speaking to Constantine the great who was the first christiā Emperor did greatly cōplayn and bewayle that the Paganes and Idolaters of his time did condēne the Christian Religion and had it in disdayn without knowing what christian Religion was and without reading their bookes to vnderstand it These be the very words of Lactātius I doubt not most mighty Emperor Constantine but that if this my work wherby I shew that the Creator of all thinges is the Gouernour of the whole world doe fall into the hands of these vnlearned Religious folke they by reason of their great superstition which maketh them too too impatient will assault me with iniuries spitefully fling the booke to the grounde before they haue read so much as the beginning of it imagining that they should defile thēselues with such a crime as could neuer be wyped out again if they should ether reade it or heare it red patiently Neuertheles I beseech them in duty of humanitie not to condemne my wrytinges if it may be before they doe perfectly vnderstand them For if it be allowed by order of law that Churchrobbers Traytors and Poysoners shall speake for thēselues and argue in their own defence and that it is not lawfull to condemne any of them without examination of his cause It is not againste reason that I should intreate those into whose hands this booke shall happen to reade it or heare it read throughout and to deferre their iudgements vntil they haue read it to the end But I know well the wilfulnesse of that kinde of people to be such as I shall not obtayne this suite of them For they be afrayd least the force and strength of the truth should ouercome them and make them yeald vnto vs and to agree with vs That is the cause of their roaring storming least they should heare vs and of their shutting of their eyes least they should see the light which we bring vnto them wherein they shew the litle assurance that they haue in their own fond reasons For they dare neither vnderstand nor enter into disputation because they know they shall soone be vanquished By reason wherof it commeth to Passe that through their shunning of all manner of scanning and sifting of things by disputation They driue discretion quite away And force and fury beare the sway As sayth Ennius And because they are bente to condemn and vtterly to oppres such as they well know to be innocent they be vnwilling that their innocencie should appeare because they deeme it a greater iniquitie to condemne the innocencye that is apparant thē the innocēcy that cōmeth not to tryall Or rather as I sayde afore they are afeard that they should haue no power to condemne vs if they should heare vs. This was the inuectiue which Lactantius wrote against the heathē in his time who condemned the Christians without hearing them Which reason I wil vse against the impatient catholicks desiring them not to shew them selues like vnto those heathen men in being so obstinate as to shutte their eares from hearing and vnderstāding the doctrine which they so condemne persecute without knowing what it contayneth But if those angry Catholicks which oppose themselues as aduersaries against our reformed Religion and so boldly condemn it wold temper their choller passions with such moderation as to geue place to reason and to set naturall discretion in due place and preheminence Truely I durst make thē iudges of this cause and I am wel assured that they would iudge farre otherwise than they haue done hetherto or doe yet And in deed if the loue of truth haue any place in their harts as I beleue it hath I beseech them euen before God and for the truthes sake to vouchsafe to examine this present defence with setled iudgement and to consider of it without affection For I protest vnto them that I will vse such modestie in my wordes as none shall iustly haue cause to accuse me of rigor First therfore I presuppose that betwixt the Romish Catholickes and the Protestantes there is disagreemēt of doctrine in many poyntes yea euen in the most principall as I will shew hereafter But yet neuertheles both the one and the other doe acknowledge generally the vnitye of the person of Iesus Christ in two natures not confounded The holy Trinitye of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost and the holy Scripture of the olde and new Testament and therefore they bothe may in this respect be called Christiās howbeit the one more aptly then the other as shall appeare by that which I will say hereafter Now that wee may the better treate of the poyntes which are in question and that all men may the more playnly iudge thereof we will distinctly examine the reasons which are to be considered in this discourse and are commonly alleaged on both sides for the mayntayning of the doctrine of either party and so by comparing the contrary reasons and alegations together the truth will the more apparantly shew it selfe because light is thē most apparant and bright when it is set nigh to his contrary ¶ Of three Maximes groundes or rules whereby a man may iudge of the poyntes of religion which are in questiō The first Chapter FOrasmuch as the whot Catholickes accuse the Religion of the protestantes to be wicked new and heretical and therfore cannot brooke the society of such as professe the same we hope to shew

them euidently that it is not so when we come to the scanning of euery poynt particularly that is in question And for proofe and demonstration of our sayinges we will take for our grounde three Maximes or generall rules which are very certayne and true whereby euery man shall easely be able to iudge whether the same religion is to be reckned wicked new and hereticall or no. The three Maximes are these The first is that that doctrine of Religion whereby God is most honored is the best The second is that that Doctrine which is best builded vpon the worde of God is the moste auncient and true The third is that the Romish Catholickes cannot well accuse that doctrine of heresie which is approued by their own Canones Which three rules or maximes be so cleere euident of them selues that in mine opinion the day or the Sun is not clearer For seeing that Religiō is no other thing than the duty which we owe vnto god It doth folow that that doctrine which teacheth vs to yeld vnto him all dutye and honour and to rob him of no part thereof is a good and true doctrine and that there can be no better Likewise it is certayn that the doctrine which is builded vpon the only word of God ought not to be called new but that we may rather say that it is as olde as the world it selfe In so much that they which doe call it new may not nor cannot so call it in respect of it selfe but onely in respect of their own ignorance for to the ignorāt euery thing that they vnderstand not is new Neither is it to be douted but that it is most true because that God who is the author therof is the truth it selfe and the fountayn of light and wisdome In like maner I thinke that al mē will easily graunt that euen the earnestest Catholickes of Rome can not dispence so much with them selues as to accuse that Religiō of heresie which is approued by their own Canones because the Canones be authorysed by the Popes themselues For the decrees of Gracian from whence I intend to draw the most partes of the Canōs which shal be alleaged were ratifyed authorised by Pope Euginie the third who commaunded that they should be red in the Vniuersytyes and vsed in iudgemēt as they haue bene euer since So that to reiect and condemn the Canons were as much in effect as to deny the Pope and all the Romane Religion But full well I know that hereafter when I shall alleadge the Canons those passionate Catholickes will rise vp and say that there be other canons contrary to these and truly I will not deny but that the bookes of the Canon law are ful of cōtraryeties Yet dare I boldly say and assuredly auow that those Canons which I will alleadge in this booke are of the best and most auncient of al the Canon law which haue proceeded from the best springs fountaynes and from such authors as were most principall in skill and holynes as may easely bee iudged by those that will compare them with their bookes Hauing thus set downe these three Maximes the truth whereof is easelie to be perceaued by euery man of common capacitie yea euen of the grossest sort I am now to apply them orderlye to euery particular poynt And first of all we will treate of Prayer ❧ OF PRAYER The second Chapter THe doctrine of the professors of the Gospell touching prayer is verye playne Their opinion is in effect that we ought to offer our prayers vnto God our maker who is able inough to geue vs whatsoeuer we aske gratious in harckening gentlye to our requestes Who also hath manifested his great goodnes in giuing his euerlasting Sonne to the end that by him our manhoode might haue accesse to his Godhead And therefore they say that in praying to God our creator wee muste alwayes vse the credite and intercession of his Sonne our mediator who may boldly goe to the Father because he is God as he is in the selfsame Godhead and being and disdayneth not also to apply himselfe to men and to be an intercessor for them because he is man as they be Nether is this manner of praying vnto God altogether disalowed of the Romain Catholicks but they wil needes adde thereunto that we must haue also other Mediators and Intercessors to God the Father and to Iesus Christ himself That is to wit the hesaints and the shesaintes which are many in number in their times haue done many a faire miracle For say they if a man would be a suiter to a king in any cause or to his eldest sonne he would not at the first dash preace to their presence but goe to some of their seruants or Lordes of their court And so it seemeth a thing very reasonable and meete that when a man is minded to pray to god for any thing he go first to some of the Celestial court to purchase acces to god to Iesus Christ his Sonne by their meanes and that to doe otherwise were a kinde of dispising of the saints who haue the charge from God to pray continually for the Millitante Church and euery particular person of the same Truely it is not to be denied but that these reasons haue some colour and shew of truth if we shall iudge of God as of man. But hereunto the Protestants reply that we may not iudge of God as of a king or as of another mortall mā for there is great difference God is altogether good and inclyned to doe good But men be they kinges or other are naturally euill and disposed to doe euill both against God their neighbors God vnderstandeth our Prayers assoone as they be conceiued in our harts and before our mouthes doe vtter them But to cause a king to vnderstande our suites we must put them in wryting or tell them by word of mouth and therfore we haue neede of Aduocates to lay forth our cases of Maisters of requestes to preferre our petitions to the Prince or to his councell and of the fauor of great Lordes and councellours to get vs audience and dispatch All which thinges haue no place with god So that to compare the maner of praying vnto God with the preferring of suits vnto Princes is a token that we slenderly consider the greatnes of god And here wee haue to note a proper saying of S. Ambrose which he vttereth in these expresse wordes Those which in steede of resorting vnto God repayre vnto creatures are wont to colour their contempt of God with this miserable excuse That by the menes of those to whō they haue recourse they may attayne to the presence of God as men attayne to the presence of a king by meanes of his officers But I pray you is there any man so mad or so careles of his owne life that he dareth yeald the honor to any of the kings seruantes or officers which belongeth

through his great eloquence sought to inflame their desiers thereunto Truely both the one and the other haue sore rebuked those women which goe about to grace or rather to disgrace themselues with painting of their faces against which sort Ciprian amongst other things saith thus If an excellent painter had well and liuely counterfayted a mans face and body afterwards another vnskilfull paynter would needes take vpon him to ouerpainte the same agayne vndoutedly the former paynter should haue great cause to finde himselfe greeued and iniuryed And thinkest thou daughter to escape the punishment of God who hath fashioned thee when thy damnable rashnes dareth presume to controll Gods paynting by thy paynting For be it that thou art not vnchast whorish to the worldward yet notwithstāding thou through the whorish intisements of thy paynting art wors than the very strumpet and adulteres forasmuch as thou hast corrupted and marred Gods workmanship in thy selfe Wheras thou doest it to beutefie and to trim thy selfe it is nothing els but a corrupting of Gods workmanship and a defacing of the truth Harken here to the voyce of the Apostle who warneth thee thus Purge your old leauen that you may be made new dough without leauen For Christ our Easter Lambe is offered vp for vs Let vs therfore make good chere not with old leauen nor with the leauen of naughtines and malice But with vnleauened bred that is to say with the bread of sinceritie and truth For what continuance in sinceritie and truth is there when the thing that was pure is defiled and when the truth is changed into vntruth by false culler and painting with slabersauces Thy Lord doth say vnto thee Thou canst not make one of thy heares either black or white And yet thou to ouermaster the word of thy Lord wilt thou needes seeke to clime aboue him by thy trecherous contempt and ouerbold dealing Thou paintest thy heare and by euil hāsel of the thing that shal happē vnto thee doest frizel thy head with fire Ambrose also doth speake thus against these counterfaite paintings From thence saith he spring intisements to vice namely that women doe paint their faces with color made for the nonce In so much that by the coloring of their countenances with the filth of their painting for feare to displease men they purchase to themselues the stayning of their chastitie What a folly is it to change a naturall face for a painted face For in fearing the iudgement of their husbands they lose their own iudgement because that such as will needes change the shape and fashion which God hath geuen them by creation doe condemne themselues and in seeking to be well lyked of others doe first of all mislike of themselues What better iudge of thy foulnes thou woman can there be than thy selfe that art so loth to be seene in thy own naturall likenes If thou beest fayre why doest thou hide thy selfe If thou beest foule why doest thou bely thy selfe in desiring to seeme fayr and by thine own fault make thy self worthy of blame as well in thine own conscience as in the opinion of others The same Ambrose speaking of virgines doth set down vnto them vnder example of a perfect virgin of what behauior our virgins ought to be saying There was a virgin which was a virgine not only in body but also in minde who by no outwarde shew did at any time corrupt the sinceritie of her affection She was humble of hart sober in speach wise in vnderstanding of few words geuen to reading not putting her trust in the vncertainty of riches but in the prayers of the poore earnest in her worke shamefast in her talke seeking God and not man to be the iudge of her hart not doing wrong to any wishing well to euery body honoring all her elders not enuying her equals void of boasting folowing reason and louing vertue Hath this virgin at any time offended her Parents in word or deede when hath she beene seene to be at any iarre with her neighbors when despised she the poore when mocked she the lame or when shrunke she away from the nedy Her only care hath beene to haunte the company of such men as are accompanied with mercy and honest shamefastnes There hath not passed her one suspicious looke nor dallying word nor any vnshamefast iesture Her pace hath not been vncomely nor her voice loud or ouer shrill But to be short her outward behauiour hath alwayes beene the representer and Image of the goodnesse of her minde for a good house ought to be known by his entry make shew at the first that there is no darcknesse in it but that the Lampe which is within doth shead forth his light to the outer partes What shall I say of her moderate feeding and of the great aboūdance of her duetifull doings In the one she passeth Nature and by the other she oppresseth it She letteth no time slip without doing some good And her sobrietie is such that she doubleth her fasting daies and when she hath desire to eate she maketh her meale of the first meat that she meeteth with which she taketh alonly to keep her selfe aliue and not to pamper her selfe for pleasure By these words the meaning of Ambrose is not to incourage maydens to vow virginitie but to shew of what behauiour they ought to be which haue already vowed it Hetherto I haue rehearsed the very words of S. Augustine who doth alleage the forewritten sentences of S. Ciprian and S. Ambrose to shew that they esteeme not so much the vow of virginity as the good behauior which ought to be in both those which be vowed and in the others also And it is to be noted that in the saying of S. Ambrose aboue written which speaketh of the manners dueties and behauiors of the virgines which haue vowed virginitie there is no mention made of any of the hipocritical and superstitious Ceremonies which in these dayes are obserued by the Nūs He descrybeth them at large and as it were by peecemeale what they ought to be in what sort they ought to busie themselues and wherein they ought to spend their time and yet in all this there is not one word spoken of their Popeholines But contrarywise wheras he saith that the vowed virgins which now a daies be called professed ought to be diligent in working to beware of disagreeing with their frendes and Neighbors not to withdraw themselues from the nedy to frequent only such men as are mercifull and shamefast and to be of coūtenance and behauiour sober and not nice or wanton It appeareth therby euidently that in those dayes they were not shut vp in Monasteries but kept their vow of virginitie in liuing in houses of their own or els with their kinsefolk exercising themselues in all good works of godlinesse and vertue And now that we haue spoaken sufficiently of Nunnes let vs returne againe to the Monkes It is to be noted