could haue aunswered and throughly satisfied the perfect law of God vnto the vttermost title thereof it can not bee doubted but that Paule would neuer haue denyed that those should be iustified by the workes of the law who do lead a perfect and vpright life Yea rather he would haue affirmed this that he spake there which is most true Glory honour and peace bee vnto euery one that worketh righteousnesse to the Iewes aswell as to the Gentiles c. But now when as he foresaw that the Iewes did swell with a certeine Pharisaicall opinion of their workes and proudly vaunted them selues vpon them disdaynefully detestyng all other as Heathenish vngodly in respect of them selues neither seémed to stand in any neéde of the Mediatour Therfore to the end he might shake away from them that pestilent persuasion of their owne righteousnesse and force them to seéke succour at Christ hereupon he did vtterly dispoyle all workes of abilitie to Iustifie that is to say he so taketh away all Affiance of our workes beyng of all partes vnperfect bycause hee may ascribe it wholy to fayth onely and repose the same in Christ alone Therfore that I may orderly and distinctly make auÌ„swere to that your Maior beyng Hypotheticall Copulatiue which you doe so intricately entangle and miserably choake vp with obscuâ—e speach First of all we must remember that the obseruation of the law hath a double vnderstandyng for after one sorte Christ dyd obserue the law of his Father but mortall men obserue it after an other sort Christ most perfectly and absolutely but we weakly and rawly yea I know not if we performe any portion thereof very meanely Whereupon ariseth a double consideration of righteousnesse the one perfect and is peculiar to Christ and is onely of valew with God the other vnperfect lame which properly apperteineth to man and perhappes carryeth some resemblaunce of holynesse in the opinion of men but is of no estimation before God nor sufficeth to Saluation Moreouer to the purchasing of that first and sincere righteousnesse man must bee furnished with two principall Tallentes the one that hee so accomplish the whole law that no part thereof be defectiue The other that hee so throughly performe euery part thereof that nothyng may be added to absolute perfection Or els hee may heare what the Scripture threateneth Cursed be he that persisteth not in all the wordes of the law to doe them c. Agayne He that breaketh the least of them is guiltie of them all Now for as much as neuer any man was able to bryng that thyng to passe but Christ onely it is out of all controuersie that all other mortall men as well Iewes as Gentiles are fast holden vnder the curse Whereupon the Apostle after long debatyng of the matter concludeth That no man can bee Iustified by the workes of the law Which sentence is not yet so to be taken as though no deédes of the law beyng sincerely and perfectly done accordyng to the prescript rule of lawe could profite any thyng at all towardes Saluation for the very same was performed in the person of Christ whose life being of all partes freé altogether from all blemish of Sinne could not be attaynted with that saying of Paule That no man could bee Iustified by the workes of the law for that he was iustified through his owne workes especially With as good right also might we mainteine our lyke challenge therein if our infirmitie were able to rayse it selfe to that perfection of Christ. Whereupon we heare the Apostle very aptly arguyng in this wise If that law sayth he had bene deliuered that could haue geuen life then no doubt righteousnesse had come by the law Gallat 3. But wherefore is it sayd that the law can not geue life Not bycause the law waÌ„ted her efficacie to geue life but bycause we were destitute of sufficient power to accomplish the perfection of the law For otherwise what can bee of more force to righteousnesse then the law or what more effectuall to eternall life then righteousnesse if at the least the same were perfect or that our nature were capable of that righteousnesse absolutely But now beyng enuironed with so great weakenesse of the fleshe and of all sides beset with Sinnes yea and sold vnder Sinne when all our endeuour is yet so vnperfect that we neither performe the whole law neither comprehend any small portion therof with duetyfull and exact righteousnesse Therfore that saying of the Apostle may rightely be applied vnto vs wherein hee affirmeth That no man is Iustified by the workes of the law For as to that which Osorius with his crooked conueyaunce doth wrest these deédes of the law to the Ceremoniall law is altogether fonde friuolous and worthy to be scorned as beyng ouerthrowen with many sounde reasons First besides that it doth manifestly appeare by the whole discourse and phrase of that Epistle it selfe that Paule treated there of none other law then the morall law it is to be approued chiefly in these wordes where the Apostle doth not onely testifie him selfe of what law he made mention in that place but also of what part of the law he doth reason in this wise of the selfe same law For that whiche the law could not bryng to passe euen in that part wherein it was weake by reason of the infirmitie of the flesh c. But this part surely consisted not in the Ceremoniall law but in the Morall law of the ten Tables whereupon we doe argue agaynst Osorius in this wise No man is bereft of righteousnesse but in that part onely wherein offence is committed But the Iewes offended nothyng in the Ceremoniall law onely they sinned in the Morall law It is manifest therfore that Paule spake not there of the Ceremoniall law but of the law of the tenne Tables Moreouer whereas Paule did discourse of that Law whiche procureth wrath Rom. 4. Which was geuen that sinne might be more sinnefull Rome 5. Which is sayd to be written in the hartes of the Gentiles Rom. 2. Whiche doth discouer the knowledge of Sinne. Rom. 3. Which forbiddeth to lust which is called holy and is spirituall by the whiche Sinne doth shewe it selfe more aboundauntly to purchase damnation Rom. 7. From whiche law we be deliuered by the death of Christ. Rom. 7. Which is called the law of righteousnesse Rom. 9. Finall the full accomplishing whereof is loue Rom. 13. These and many other places if you haue not perused in Paules Epistles I desire you to vouchsafe to read them If you haue read them then I beseéch you to aunswere me whether to your Iudgement these sayinges seéme to concerne the Ceremoniall law or that part of the law especially which consisteth in the actioÌ„s and dueties of maners and common conuersation of lyfe But you say that the Iewes dyd put ouer much confidence in their Ceremonies And therefore to driue away the confidence whiche they
doctrine with so great sharpenesse and force of witte and vnderstandyng or haue euer descried the sence therof so effectually and discouered it so aboundauntly Why doe we not triumphauntly reioyce in this happynesse of learnyng in this blessed estate of the Catholicke people this our age be ioyfull for the good successe of that notable Realme of Portingall especially Which beyng otherwise renowmed for the great treasure of their trade in Marchādizes is yet become most fortunate in respect of this inestimable Iewell of the world which except in this great darkenesse of vnderstandyng had gratified vs with this wonderfull Deuine who might restore vnto lyfe all pietie Religiō suppressed by Luther who could with such singularitie expresse the meanyng of Paule beyng sinisterly corrupted after the sensualitie of naughtie packes and could so exquisitely haue hitte the nayle on the head all men might iustly haue doubted lest Diuinity should haue growē into great perill of vtter vndoing haue bene throwē into an vnrecouerable downfall For what mā in the world would haue interpreted Paules Epistle in this wise if he had not heard this mā before Truely I for my part and others like vnto me beyng not inspired with so profoūde deépe capacity did alwayes heretofore conceaue of the matter after this maner That the Apostles whole endeuour and trauaile in that Epistle tēded to none other end then by makyng men behold the greatnesse of Gods wrath first agaynst sinne hee might the better enduce them to perceaue and feéle how all nations and people aswell Heathenishe as the Iewes also them selues chiefly continuyng in the profession of Gods law were yet concluded vnder sinne and so might dispoyle them all of all matter to glorye vpon and so hauyng humbled and brought them into subiection before God might rayse agayne their comfort in Christ by denouncyng vnto them firme assured hope wherewith who soeuer did as then or would beleue in him afterwardes should obteine euerlastyng lyfe not through the merite of any worke but by the especiall grift of the freé promise not for our worthynesse but for our faythe 's sake simply without workes that the promise might be infallible not through any our merite which is none at all but by the mercy of God not accordyng to the proportion of that singular righteousnesse whiche is of our selues and peculiar to euery of vs but accordyng to that righteousnesse whiche is through the fayth of Christ Iesu whiche is of God euen that onely righteousnesse which is through fayth I haue bene alwayes hetherto persuaded that this was the very naturall meanyng and sence of Paules doctrine and this the right rule of Iustification neither could I euer gesse that when Paule pronounceth vs to bee Iustified by fayth without deédes of the law that part of the law was excluded onely which did treate of Ceremonies and had relation to the body and apperteined not to the soule But I accordyng to my grosse dulnesse rather did conceaue of his saying in this wise and not I alone but many other good men iarryng alwayes vppon the same stryng mistooke the note as I did and were of opinion that Paule by that his exemption did not exclude the Ceremoniall and shadowishe law onely which serued the letter onely but that most absolute and perfect part of the law also indifferently whereof he maketh his whole discourse in that Epistle the whiche also he doth note by name to be spirituall and sayth that it procureth wrath which was common to the Iewes and Gentiles all alyke Euen the same part of the law whiche commaundeth that thou shalt not lust by examination whereof Sinne is discerned Finally the same handwrityng conteyned in the tenne Tables written agaynst vs which was fastened vpon the Crosse of Christ. Bycause all those sayinges could not bee referred to the Ceremoniall law but to that part of the law whiche was conteyned in the preceptes of maners we could neuer otherwise interprete the sense meanyng of the Apostle then by such comparison of his owne wordes together vntill this new Doctour had published to the world this new light of Exposition Cōsideryng therfore the matter is in this plight It remayneth now gentle Reader that I appeale to thy Iudgement and abyde thy verdite herein whether it may seéme to theé that Luther haue wrested the mynde and wordes of the Apostle after his lust or Osorius rather haue peruerted the same to his owne folly But goe to I thinke good now to note the Argumentes wherewith Osorius iudgeth him selfe to be strongly fenced If Paule sayth he had sayd that the Iewes were commēdable for their integritie and innocencie of lyfe and yet that those deedes of godlynes did nothyng auayle them to attayne righteousnesse and so had concluded afterwardes that they were not iustified through the workes of the law the matter would then haue opened it selfe that by the name of workes he did meane the best actions and dueties of vertue Here is a strong foundation enough I suppose of an infallible Sillogisme deliuered vnto you attende now the other proposition of the same But this sayth hee is not founde in that whole discourse of Paule nay rather hee doth condemne them as guiltie of all wickednesse and crueltie This groundworke beyng this layd it remayneth that we rāme fast this buildyng vp with some good morter which in the maner of a conclusion is applyed in this wise Therfore Paule doth rightly conclude that where he affirmeth no man to be iustified through the deedes of the law he meaneth that the Ceremonies shadowes and Cleansinges of the law which consisted in outward obseruation dyd nothyng at all profite to the attaynemēt of Righteousnesse O passing pearcyng witte of Chrysippus O miserable Luther vtterly ouerthrowen with this Argument But goe to let vs ayde Luther somewhat and helpe to vnloose this Gordian knotte if it bee possible And although we may vtterly deny the forme of this Argument at the first choppe bycause it conteineth more in the cōclusion then was spoken of in the premisses yet either pardonyng or wynking at this escape Let vs examine the substaunce of the first proposition If Paule quoth he had perceaued the life of the Iewes to haue bene vndefiled and all the endeuoures and workes of their lyfe sincere and perfect and then had concluded that no man had bene Iustified by the workes of the law c. In deéde good Syr I confesse the same to bee true If the Apostle had perceaued this at the first and then had added that also that you speake it might happely then in some respect haue followed as you haue conclucluded But it could not bee possible Osorius that the Apostle would euer speake after that sorte For it is euident by Gods Scripture that it is impossible but that he which performeth the Commaundementes shall liue by them Wherfore if their conuersation had bene voyde of all blame and with like integritie
worketh in vs both to will and to do accordyng to his good pleasure and the Lord doth first frame and fashion the will c. Therefore whereas it is sayd that God doth knocke at the gate of our will I gladly yeld hereunto but to say that he doth no more but knocke this I do vtterly deny In lyke maner whereas you say that hee admonisheth that hee foretelleth daunger ensuyng that he feédeth with hope that he promiseth ayde and that he allureth with reward truely these are not vntruely spoken Osorius But ye speake not all nor as much as should be spoken And therefore herein your haltyng bewrayeth it selfe playnely For you are flowen into a Fallax which the Logicians do tearme Ab insufficiente causarū enumeratione True it is that the grace of God doth knocke doth forewarne and doth allure what doth grace therfore nothyng els but knocke forewarne promise and persuade Doth it not also create within vs a cleane hart doth hee not renew a new spirite within our bowels doth he not plucke out of our fleshe the stony hart and engraffe in steéde therof a fleshly hart Yea doth he not also alter all our whole nature I meane all those inward naturall qualities doth hee not make them plyable and as it were out of an old deformed lumpe new fashion it into a new creature doth he commaunde those thynges which he willeth by admonishyng onely by callyng and persuadyng onely doth not Gods Grace geue also that which he commaundeth And where in the meanes whiles lurketh then the law that is written within in the hartes of the faythfull When we heare these wordes in the Gospel No man commeth vnto the Sonne but he whom the Father draweth Tell vs a good felowshyp doth he which draweth nothyng els but admonish but call but allure What is he sayth Augustine that is drawen if he bee willyng for the willing are lead and none are drawen but the vnwilling And yet no man commeth but he that is willing but to this willingnesse he doth draw vs by wonderfull meanes who is skilfull to worke within euen in the very hartes of men not to make the vnwilling to haue fayth but to frame the vnwilling plyable to be willing c. If it be so that the heauēly Grace by inward operation do make men willyng that before were not willyng I would fayne learne now whether Grace do nothyng els but knocke onely Go to and whiles Grace is a knockyng who is it within that openeth Freewill I suppose But now for as much as this Freewill is powred into all persons indifferently by a generall influence as much in one as in an other why doe not all alyke open to the heauenly Grace when the Lord doth knocke forsooth bycause they will not you will say yet doth the wheale runne neuerthelesse as rounde as it did before For I demaunde agayne why some seéme to be willyng whiles others are vnwilling what els thinke you to be the cause hereof but bycause God doth open their Freewill first whiche do open vnto God that they may be able to open otherwise it could neuer opē vnto him Whereby you may easely perceaue that Freewill is not the porter to let in Grace so much as the very gate it selfe and that it doth not els open but as it is first opened by his meanes whiche doth knocke and that it applyeth not any way els but as it is made plyable and so made plyable that it may seéme rather to be drawen then to bee lead neuer goyng before Grace but followyng altogether and to speake the wordes of Augustine Neuer as a foregoer but as an handmayden of Grace onely in euery good worke If you will deny this to be true what Argument shall I better vse agaynst you then the wordes of your owne mouth For what meaneth it els that you your selues of the Romish Sinagogue at the begynnyng of your Mattens pray dayly to the Lord Domine labia mea aperies Lord open thou our lyppes if they open of them selues and are not rather opened by him And in what sorte doe you then desire the Lord to open your lyppes that your mouth may shew forth his prayse whom you affirme to do nothyng els but knocke onely Why therfore doe ye not rather amende your booke that your prayer may bee agreable with your desire and sing an other song on this wise our Freewill shal opē our lippes O Lord and our mouth shall chaunte forth thy prayse What then will you say is it not in our owne power to moue our lyppes Yes truly Osor. there is nothyng more easie then to moue them to contētion to quarellyng to lyeng to blasphemous communication to noysome talke and vayne tittle tattle But I will in no wise graunt that we are able to moue our lippes or to open our hartes of our owne will to shew forth the prayse of God All which notwithstandyng tend not to this ende as though Freewill did worke nothyng at all yes it worketh surely but how it worketh and how it is wrought bycause Osorius doth not declare sufficiently Augustine shall make playne vnto him Not they that are carried of their owne motion but as many as are carried by the Spirite of God they are the children of God Here will some man say vnto me Then are we plyed and do not plye our selues I aūswere yea rather thou doest both apply thy selfe and art applyed And euen then doest thou plye well if thou be plyed by Gods spirite without whom thou canst doe no good thing euen so also thou doest apply thy selfe of thine owne Freewill without the helpe of Gods Spirite thē doest thou euill To this ende is thy will which is called free prone and effectuall that by doing euill it become a damnable handmayd c. Whiche wordes you must interprete to bee spoken of Augustine in this wise not that will doth worke nothyng but that it worketh no good thyng without Gods helpe And that you may conceaue the same more effectually harken what the same Augustine teacheth in his treatize De Gratia Lib. Arbit It is vndoubtedly true sayth hee that we doe when we doe and that we will whē we will but he bringeth to passe in vs to will and to do geuing to our will most effectuall abilitie which hath sayd I will make you that ye shall be able to do Briefly to cōclude It shal be lawfull for me to speake the same and in such wise touchyng openyng whiche and in what wise Augustine spake of doyng when the Lord doth knocke we do open with a Freewill in deéde bycause when we do open we do it freely and willingly but that we may be able to do so not we but he doth open our harts first Whereby you may perceaue to what end this our discourse tendeth not that Freewill hath no place but that it be voyde of merite vnworthy of prayse and to
And whereas you write that it is reported vnto you that a great number of our subiectes do remaine in their old Mumpsimus either this is not true as it is most vntrue or if it were true it would easily argue you to be a common lyar Who haue slaundered all England with a certeine new Religion in generally yet alledge no persō particularly You turne this also to my reproch that promising to vndertake the defence of my countrey against you without any dissente of mynde yet contrary to promise I do wonderfully dissente frō you What may any man or beast iudge me so mad that I would promise to differre from myne aduersary without any cōtrary affection of mynde what haue I thē professed what haue I spoken myne aūswere is extant I referre me to bee tryed by the same Wherefore with good reason you should haue pardoned me if I an English man borne the Queéne highnes subiect did in myne aunswere vnto you deale somwhat franckly without all rācour of minde without all bitternesse of dissention c. I make promise to dispute with you without all disagreéyng of stomacke without all bitternesse of contention but you peruert my saying as if I would differe frō you without contradiction of cōsent Which no mā cā honestly promise much lesse performe Are you not ashamed of this your cold friuolous quarell Surely you may be ashamed therof But this childish fault is commō with you as I will make euident hereafter in place fit for the same Then ensueth your lamentable complaint concernyng the death of the Bishop of Rochester Thomas Moore and certein Charterhouse Monckes who were you say must cruelly murthered and that England hath euer sithence remained in marueilous infamie Uerely I confesse that Moore and Rossens were both endued with great store of singular learning and lament to seé such excellent learned men runne headlōg into such absurde and pesfilēt errour as to preferre a foreine and extraordinarie power before their liege and soueraigne Kyng But when as it was enacted by the law of the land that this crime should be deémed high Treason it was requisite that all such subiectes as would wilfully infringe that law should incurre the punishment prouided in that behalfe As for the Charterhouse Monckes the losse was the lesse how much more they liued to them selues vnprofitable to their countrey and could alledge nothyng in their defence but custome and contumacie The Statutes and Lawes in that behalfe prouided could not iustly be challēged or accoūted blameworthie nor were at any tyme vnlesse with you and such as you are whose disliking we accept for our prayse Other trifles of myne aūswere you hunt after with a great kennell of superfluous wordes plodding often vpon one thyng But I will passe thē ouer bicause you note nothyng in them worthy defence Two points you carpe at in the ordering of our lawes the one is that euery man particularly may not geue his voyce as though any cōmon wealth doth admit such custome Sūmons are made by wordes by courtes by hundreds but it was neuer seéne that euery particular person should bee required by Poll. And therfore that sentēce of Liuie The greater part preuaileth oftentymes agaynst the wiser hath alwayes bene seéne in all auncient ages and our predecessours also that a speciall choise beyng selected out of all estates the same should be adiudged for law which the greater number approued and not that whiche the fewer liked of what order obserue you in making you lawes Doe you take together Cobblers Tynkers Butchers Cookes Mullettours c. other like dregges and outcastes of the people enquire their seuerall opinions or do ye reduce your infinite multitude to the choice of your wiser Citizes But ye accuse this in vs that our voyces are wrested out from vs violently and agaynst our willes No truely there is no where els more freédome whiche is wel knowen to all mē that are but meanely acquainted with the proceédynges of our assemblies which we name our Parliament But here you vrge vs with exāples and with vnsatiable practfling you runne backe agayne to Moore and Rochester and demaunde What those holy and most pure persons had committed A very small offence pardye and I can not tell how they offended nothyng at all forsooth they were condemned for high treason which is accoumpted the most execrable and horrible fact vnder heauen But here you cauill say that force was vsed in the law or in the iudgement agaynst them Neither of thē both Syr. It was orderly proceéded agaynst them accordyng to the auncient custome and statutes of the Realme For when as they violated the dutie of allegeaūce which they did owe vnto their coūtrey ordinaunces and to their liege and souereigne Lord lineally discended and true inheritour of the Crowne erected to thē selues a foreine Romish monarche through their waywardnes of opinion they were worthely punished as decestable traytours to their coūtrey But in this point they seémed vnto your iudgement propre holy and pretie Religious men what then Syr We expect not your bald sentence nor esteéme it of a rushe We doe not preiudice you in your ordinaunces no more is it meéte that you should entermedle with vs in our Statutes Whereas you haue placed in your headroll the terrours of imprisonement and chaines and the horrible punishmentes that our late Byshops do endure we doe playnly confesse that this their rebellious obstinacie whereby they refuse the most lawfull authoritie of their souereigne Princes established by the lawes of the lād ought to be yoked and tamed with extremest punishments prouided in that behalfe Neither was any iniurie done vnto those men in administratiō of Iustice as you do imagine But they were worthely dismissed frō all benefite of law for their intollerable pride and pestilent example that refused to bee ordered by the expresse and knowen authoritie of the law Lament you therfore and howle as loude as ye list they were neuerthelesse rightfully punished For in all well ordered common weales high treason hath bene alwayes accoumpted most horrible and worthy of death You prayse your purpose of writyng to the Queenes Maiestie as procoedyng of a very zelous affection that you beare to the truth and to the publicke sauetie of soules and this you auowe with a very solemne protestatiō Touchyng the secretes of your thoughtes I referre you ouer to God whō you take to witness herein But as farre as men may discerne by your wordes and phrases of speache That stile of yours is enflamed as hoate as fier agaynst the truth of God against the publicke state of our saluation And yet you beare fayre wether with vs and would make vs beleéue that you cōceaue no malice against vs but loue vs with a bagge full of loue The rather bycause you do vnderstand the some English mē haue your Epistle in great admiration I wene If this be true what obteine you
weaken the Maiestie of the Romane Empire but ransacked and rent in peéces the whole world almost Euen so the Romishe Byshops in the first swathling cloutes of the first primitiue time of the church were very godly and sounde and to vse the wordes of the scripture did many tymes withstand the enemies of the Gospell euen with losse of lyfe But after they had erected this Lordly superioritie of the Papane Monarchy there was of godlynes and integritie of lyfe no dramme at all but of intollerable ambition vnbridled licentiousnes whole swarmes did appeare And yet I speake but a litle It is not therefore requisite to hang all the keyes vnder one maus gyrdle alwayes nor yet scarse good pollicie For if it were so there might be some daūger therein lest the frowardnesse of one person might ouerthrowe the whole estate of Christianitie There is farre lesse ieoperdy where seuerall Prouinces are ruled by their seuerall Pastours for proofe wherof if it be not sufficient to haue alledged reason experience I will recite vnto you out of the Register of Romish Byshops for witnes Gregorie the first Who in this matter vttereth the same reason in the same wordes And for playnesse of the matter I will set them downe as hee hath spoken them whiche are these If we haue but one onely head the fall of that head is the fall of the whole Churche it any mā presume to take vpon him this name of vniuersall Byshop the whole Church falleth downe from her estate when he falleth which is called vniuersall But farre may this name of blasphemie be from all Christian myndes whereby the honour of all Priests is diminished in part whiles this arrogaunt singularitie is presumed vpon c. May any thyng be sayd more playnly or plentyfully can any thyng be pronounced more vehemently or effectually agaynst this extraordinary and presumptuous Lordlynes of Papacie Neither did Gregorie otherwise then he spake For when this Satanicall name of vniuersall Byshop was offred vnto him by the Coūcell of Calcedon hee refused it with great detestation and would by no meanes be acquainted therewith although you deny the same most shamelesly as shal be declared afterwardes But here you obtrude agaynst vs the misticall Sonet of Salomon Wherein he commaundeth his spouse to catch the Foxes destroying the vynes which be as you interpret it heretiques peruertyng the Churche And this you affirme cā by none other meane be brought to passe except some one be set in authoritie that may roote vp the mores of hereticall contagion before they be ripe First of all Osorius it is hard to establish a firme doctrine by an Allegorie Moreouer the denomination of Foxes doth no more resemble heretiques then any other wicked persons But to graunt this vnto you in some respect by what argument do ye proue that heretiques can by no meanes els be apprehended vnlesse your singular Monarchy be admitted The Emperour Phocas did first of all erect this Papal Empire in Boniface the iij. What then Had not Peter long before Foxes in chase and the other Apostles likewise Call to your remembraunce Ananias Saphira and Elymas the sorcerour forget not other pestilent examples like vnto the same and you will be better aduised Proceéde a degreé lower to those graue Fathers the first Byshops of the Romish Church Clemēs Anacletus Marcellus many others Could the holy Martyrs haue sealed our Religion with their bloud vnlesse they had first daunted the pride of Tyrauntes and heretiques with the sword of the Scriptures But here paraduenture you will Triumph bycause I make so honorable mention of the Romish Seé I wis it is neédelesse For I doe here commend Byshops not Popes Martyrs not Monarches And yet in truth I haue no quarell with the Romishe Seé or the Byshop therof nor euer had It is that vsurped authoritie that exalteth it selfe aboue all earthly power which I do challenge and will proclaime open warre agaynst whiles breath is in my body except I finde a stronger Goliath then you are hetherto But we will returne to your Foxes whereof I haue noted the ouerthrow of sondry most subtill and craftie before the Papacie This our later age praysed be God doth punish and vtterly suppresse whole sects of heresies although the same doth not acknowledge your Papane principalitie I dare be bold to vouch England and I conceaue no lesse frendly of other common weales agaynst the which you can not forge any probable reason to the contrary or why it should not be so For if there were no vniuersall Monarche of the Churche sittyng in that stately chayre at Rome ought that be any estoppell to the Byshops of England Scotland Poland or Germany yea of Spayne or Portingall or any other dominion or common weale but that they may apprehend hereticques yea and punish them Haue they no Magistrates do they lacke lawes are they voyde of sense and vnderstanding Put on your spectacles Osorius and behold all Christian Nations and marke wel the maners of the people Are they not sufficiently prouided for their common safetie and tranquilitie by their owne peculiar lawes do not Princes gouerne their seuerall territories in orderly pollicie may they administer all other matters well and can not confute the absurdities of heresies without this Tyrannous Ierarchy of Rome Can not we touch an heretique or can not other Regions do the like which are in the furthermost part of the world seuered from the costes of Italy except they gad to Rome for a Pelting Oracle do you iustifie this Osorius is this the wisedome of an old man are you so altogether voyde of learnyng experience and discretion also Yea rather before any Pope was at all heretiques were layd handes vpon Euen now also rigour of law is executed agaynst them Neither can any Foxe be foside so crafty as your reasons alluded vnto thē are vtterly friuolous vnskillfull But ye skippe from Salomon to Paule and of him you write in this maner Therfore Paule in his second Epistle to the Thessaloniās denyeth that it may come to passe that Antichrist shall come before there be a departyng from the fayth First of all this is somewhat straunge in you that you note the place And surely in very good tyme haue ye done it for euen here your vnshamefast imprudencie is taken tardy Paule pronounceth in that place that our Lord Iesu Christ shall not come before a departyng be of the fayth first but you for our Lord and Sauiour Christ haue placed Antichrist Paules wordes are these Let no man deceaue you by any meanes for the Lord shall not come except there come a departyng first and that sonne of perdition be reuealed You are caught Osorius and so entangled in this snatch that ye can not escape Are you not ashamed to depraue Paules sentence so blasphemously can you with so execrable impietie and horrible ignoraunce place Antichrist in steéde of Christ and the sonne
peruert the myndes and eares of all men You quarell with Paule and demaunde where he learned that those persons should be restrained from the communion and societie of Christians which retayned Circūcision Hee did learne it of Christ our new lawgeuer as I recited before hee did learne it of the holy Ghost whom by the singular benefite of God he knew to be that reuealer of the truth hee did learne it of God by whom he was by especiall callyng chosen to preache the Gospell He did not say you alledge therfore the old Law to this effect As though any man is so madde besides your selfe that will mainteine sundry sentēces to be alledged out of the old Testamēt which are not conteined there This do I say This is my meanyng This do I verifie that our Lord Iesus Christ did obserue this order continually in enlargyng the Gospell to witte to vouche testimonies out of the law and the Prophetes and the same order was also continued by the Apostles This to be vndoubted true not onely all Deuines and Byshops but all mowers also carters children and women do know and confesse if they haue either them selues handled or heard the Gospell preached by others And yet this our graue grayheaded Prelate in this so manifest light cauillously quarelleth as though the matter were doubtfull and stuffeth whole leaues with toyes gayly knittyng vp the knot at the length on this wise What is it sayth he which the Apostles speake in their assembly It seemeth good to the holy Ghost and vnto vs. They do not say It is written in the Scriptures O rotten gyd dye brayne How could the Apostles vouch the old Testament in a new matter when they made a new ordinaunce But in all thynges that were conteined in the law and the Prophetes these wordes were alwayes vttered in the speaches of our Sauiour Iesu Christ and his Apostles These selfe same wordes I say we shall finde many tymes repeated and euery where redoubled whiche you doe reiect maliciously and impudently It is writtē And this also That the Scriptures might be fulfilled Shall I annexe hereunto examples It neédeth not say you The matter is euident So is this also manifest that you doe wickedly abuse the holy Scriptures to peruert the truth of the Gospell For where as you do demaunde of me a litle after How I dare be so bold to say that the auncient Fathers dyd adde nothyng to the gouernement of the Church but that they founde in the Scriptures I will likewise demaunde of you what came into your braynes beyng an old man a Byshop and so reuerend a father to burden me with wordes which I neuer spake neuer wrate neuer once thought vpon If it shame you nothyng to make so open a lye to the manifest viewe of all the world how will you behaue your selfe in matters of Diuinitie wherein the vnleattered people haue no iudgement I affirmed that the auncient Fathers of the primitiue Church did vouch the Scriptures and the holy Ghost I do acknowledge these wordes to be myne owne Tosse them tumble them as ye list and the more ye gnawe vpon them the more will your teéth be on edge For as then your Councels whereunto you leane so much were not hatched neither any interpretours as yet fully plumed These two wherof I made mention were the onely soūde foūdations and pillers namely the holy Ghost the Scriptures after them whole flockes of interpretours flusht in all which I do not generally condēne Neither had any iust cause of contētion bene betwixt vs in this matter if you were not vnmeasurably quarellsome For wheras I had set downe in playne wordes that our late Deuines do produce the Assertions of the Fathers in their bookes as euidently appeareth by their monumentes what neéde you to prouoke me to a tedious and vnnecessary an aunswere and to plunge your selfe into questions partly false partly impertinent as I haue heretofore declared But our gentle Byshop is so vnmeasurably geuen to chatteryng wherein he delighteth beyond reason that he will willyngly permit nothyng to proceéde in order though it be altogether contrary to the purporce of the disputation Out of this corruption of your mynde commeth to passe That you deny that lust Rebellion and outrage are reckoned sinnes with vs What say you reuerend father do not we accoūpt lust rebellion outrage to be sinnes For this do you affirme in these wordes Here I aske an other questiō of you if you had but one crūme of shamefastnes humanitie wit or modestie would you with such foule slaunders dissame any kynde of people liuyng in the world yet not so foule as foolish for nothyng cā be imagined more foolish then to rayle so absurdely aswell without all shew as likelyhode of truth Pause here a whiles Osorius ponder well this your vndiscreét accusation and henceforth write more aduisedly except you meane to bewray your amazed madnesse to all the worlde But how can you handle any matter discreétly that to pike a quarell to brawle vpon will wrangle about playne wordes nay rather gnaw in gobettes seély sillables and titles of wordes For where as I wrate on this wise You do accuse vs as though we had turned out our Nunnes and droues of Monckes to lust and lowsnes of lyfe and had sold their houses for money This sentence our proper witted Aristarchus doth not cōceaue and doth beleue that these wordes Their houses sold for money should bee construed as though I did meane that the Selles of Nunnes and Monckes were sold for their owne behoofe When as I affirmed playnly that their houses were sold to the vse of the weale publique whiche wordes no man could haue wrested so monstruously but this brablyng rascall Paraduenture this will seéme a great fault to call a Byshop rascall And I confesse no lesse in deéde But I do not argue with a Byshop but with a very Beast crowned with a Myter who oftentymes calleth me franticke sometymes dronken euery where wicked and lyar Wherfore sithence he hath forgotten and vtterly layd away the personage of a Byshop he may not gape for any softer speach from me But if he chaunce to call him selfe home hereafter and gather agayne some grauitie and modestie agreable to his profession it shal be very easle for me to returne to mildnesse and fayre speach which I doe commonly vse with myne acquaintaunce and with straungers also vnlesse they bragge in brawlyng praūce proudly as Princes in ostentation of learnyng and pietie disdaynefully despising all other mens iudgementes in respect of them selues It displeaseth this our Gentleman also that my stile is so inflamed agaynst those stinckyng sinckeholes of that cowled generatiō I spake of ours which I might more easily accuse then you can defend for I knew them better you did my Lord. So had they bene lesse knowen vnto me if by the especiall prouidence of God I had not happely escaped out of these
in the remembraunce of Christes death and perseuered in the same Custome The Fathers name it Bread and a Sacrament a mysterie and a figure of Christes body And yet Pope Innocentius commyng lately out of hell with a detestable superstition horrible Sacriledge doth Transubstantiate this mysticall Bread into our Sauiour Iesus Christ. There followed him certeine phantasticall Schoolemen which did most wickedly defile the pure Supper of our Lord with durtie schoole dregges And now at the length starteth by our Osorius a braue champion of this Schoole tromperies Ierome Osorius I say that great Maister in Israell a deépe and incomparable Deuine whō no man exceédeth in witte nor surmounteth in learnyng if a man may beleue him as hee reporteth him selfe Wherfore I would now aske one question good maister Proctour of you of this Transubstātiation whether our Lord Iesus Christ when hee did first institute the Sacrament of the Euchariste did make any mention in his speach of any remouing of the substaunce of Bread of the accidentes that should remayne or whether the substaunce of his body should supply the substaunce of Bread Did Paule touche any of these did the primitiue and Apostolique Churche receiue any such thyng haue the auncient Fathers made mention of any such matter in their bookes Sithence therefore this your wonderfull conuersion of the Substaunce of Bread into the body of Christ whiche your Schoolemen by a more grosse name call Trasubstantiatiō hath bene shapen forged out of these Monasteries whereof not so much as one title can be founde in the holy Scriptures in the Custome of the Apostles in the bookes of auncient Fathers it is a wonderfull straunge matter that a bishop so exquisite in diuinity as you are or would seeme to be would yet vndertake so desperate a cause and obtrude vpon vs such cold schoole dreames in steéde of most apparaūt knowen thynges Ye seé now how pitthily my Peter Martyr hath aunswered you in all thyngs whose soule you would not haue teazed to quarell if you had had any witte For he was worthely esteémed an excellent Deuine amongest the chiefest Deuines of our age whose Scholer you might haue bene in all knowledge and litterature except your eloquence onely in the Latine tounge But you do leaue our Peter now at that length whō if you had neuer prouoked you had done better so neéded you not to doe me so great iniurie as to challēge me for my familiar acquaintaunce with him For if you thinke that ye may with your honesty keépe company and vse frendly familiaritie with that doltish Calfe Angrence hauyng no vtteraunce no witte no sence no vnderstādyng why should not I rather acquainte my selfe with a man not onely excellēt in learnyng but replenished with all comlynesse ciuilitie of maners Make choise of your familiars Osorius as you please Suffer me to enioy myne owne neither is it reason that you should limitte me or I you in this kynde of affaires humanitie cōmon course of mās life requireth that choise be made of frendship as liketh eche mans owne iudgement best not to be ruled by others phantasies Be not you squeymish therfore at the cōmēdations of godly learned men my especiall frendes Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr I loued thē when they lyued I will not forget them beyng dead I frequēted their familiaritie whiles they lyued as much as I might their names remēbraūce of thē though they be dead I will defende as much as I may and if they were now alyue I would esteéme more of a whole yeares conference with them then of one day with you for their conuersation had a certeine discreéte pleasauntnes their conference had a wholesome wisedome the whole course of their demeanour was a most absolute paterne of honestie and godlynesse And I am throughly persuaded that nothing could haue aduaunced my estimation such as it is more then myne acquaintaunce and familiaritie with these two godly Fathers You come at the length to our Church the orders whereof you do captiously snatch at but this ye do so disorderly stāme ringly that all men may iudge that ye did roaue at it in your dreame rather then dispute beyng awake I affirmed that fayth came by hearyng What say you is it no so I sayd also that our Preachers are sent abroad into all the coastes of our Realme to teach the cōmon people their duties in all thynges what will you deny this to be done You can not the matter is manifest But you exclaime and say that our Preachers are Lutherans Bucerans and Caluinistes First of all how know you this to be true then if it be so let the names goe confute their doctrine if you can But this lesson you learned of your Cowled Coockowes to braule alwayes with bare names whē you cā not ouerthrow a sillable of their doctrine Your Maister shyp will not allow that our Parliamēt and publicke assemblie of the Realme should entermedle with matters of Religion for herein ye suppose that the dignitie of Priestes is empayred First what thyng can be publiquely receaued vnlesse it be proclaymed by publique authoritie Then our Prelates and Ecclesiasticall Fathers do propoūde the rules of Religion after that the Prince with the consent of the whole estates do ratifie the same What may be done more orderly or more circumspectly This custome was obserued in the tyme of the kynges of Israell This vsage preuayled in all Counseils vntill that Romishe Ierarche had burst in sunder these lawes with his false ambitious picklockes and had commaūded all thyngs to be subiect to his absolute power I wrate also that there was great reuerence geuen to the holy Scriptures in our Churches and that vnitie and the bonde of peace was wonderfully preserued You demaunde on the other side From whence so troublesome contentions in opinions are raysed in our Churches Shew what contentions there be and we will satisfie your request But if you will not or cā not hold your toūg most wicked rayler require not to be beleued for your onely affirmatiues sake Deale in this maner with your charge of Siluain for ye shall obteine nothyng here but by meare force of Argument I did affirme likewise that our deuine seruice is ministred with vs in the mother and vulgare toūg accordyng to Paules doctrine the approued custome of the Apostolicke Churche what say you to this forsooth you can not like of it bycause it is repugnant to the ordinaūce of Rome and yet you can not well deny so manifest a truth for S. Paule did establish this doctrine of the holy Ghost with so many and so strōg Argumētes as though hee did euen then foreseé in mynde that some such erronious botches would infect our Religion that by such meanes they might blot out vtterly extinguish out of our Churches this most fruitefull worshyppyng of God beyng the very foundation of all Christian godlynes And therfore this godly mā
S. Paule in so many his Epistles doth so earnestly enforce That is to say That we should ascribe all the hope of our saluatiō in Iesu Christ onely and in him alone repose all our whole ankerhold of righteousnesse not in our selues but in the sonne of God not in the law of workes but in the law of fayth not in the preceptes of godly lyfe as Augustine witnesseth but in the fayth of Iesu Christ not in the letter but in the spirite not in the merites of good deédes but in the mercy of God Finally after that sorte in his mercy that we should not accoumpt this mercy to be mercy at all accordyng to the saying of Augustine vnlesse it bee altogether freély geuen How now are Christiās now a dayes straighted in such brambles that it may not be lawfull to speake franckely in the congregatiō the selfe same which the Prophetes Apostles Christ him selfe the holy Ghost and the purest Authours of auncient antiquitie haue set downe in writyng but that the partie so doyng shal be forthwith detected as though hee practized to subuert all honestie and vertuous endeuour and shal be constrayned to pleade for him selfe as if he were arrayned a cōmō Barretour and had committed some haynous horrible and execrable fact more detestable then high Treason Neither are these all the crimes yet wherewith this Tertullian rayler doth rage in his raylyng but crawleth foreward by enceasing degreées of amplificatiō For beyng not satisfied to haue accused Luther as an vndermyner of all honestye and vertue to haue cutte in peéces the very sinewes of godly exercise and vertuous endeuour besides this horrible accusatiō he chargeth him also with a crime passing all measure intollerable And what is that Bycause sayth he hee doth wrest the mynde and wisedome of Paule to serue his owne lust And redoublyng the same agayne in other wordes bycause he will not seéme to be an vnskilfull Ciceronian hee addeth further And he doth abuse the testimonies of holy Scriptures to establish his owne vnshamefastnesse c. Where Syr I pray you For sooth in sundry places of the Apostle and especially in the Epistle written to the Romanes Wherein bycause it shall not onely bee conceaued in mynde but also perceaued by the viewe how disorderly Luther the Standard bearer of all heritiques and his Cabbenmate Haddon and all the counterfaites of this new Gospell haue alwayes hetherto in the interpretation of that Epistle gropyngly lyke nightowles lumpred in darkenesse Let vs all and euery of vs open our eyes eares now and lysten to this new starte vp Prophet whiles this our most elegant Tertullus sittyng at high deske may instruct vs all blockyshe Asseheades and as it were an other Archymenides with lyne vpon the sande chalke vs out a way and set vp some speciall markes whereby we may finde out the lyuely naturall sence mynde and meanyng of that Epistle And first of all concernyng the Gentiles bycause he may begyn with them as Paule doth he sayth that it is euident enough that they were enlightened with a singular gift of nature endued with excellent vnderstādyng adorned and beautified with wonderfull ornamentes of Nature Who hath euer denyed this Goe to what followeth hereof Wherefore for asmuch as this so great force of nature excellencie of vnderstandyng knowledge in learnyng yea so great worthynesse of reason and capacitie could auayle nothyng at all with the Gentiles to perfect and righteous liuyng for they did exceede in all iniquitie and outragious lust thereby appeareth playnely that nature was voyde of all ayde and helpe to attayne the righteousnesse of eternall lyfe And this much by the waye touchyng the Gentiles From whom after the Apostle had remoued away all confidence whiche was vsually ascribed to the law of nature he turneth his speach forthwith to the Iewes And bycause the Iewes them selues did in lyke maner place their whole affiaunce in those shadowes and outward ceremonies The Apostle likewise yea more sharpely also inueyeth agaynst them declaryng that all those Ceremonies of the law and Ordinaunces prescribed by Moyses did profite them nothyng at all whereby they might bee any iote more restrained from running headlong into all kynde of wickednesse nothyng lesse enclined to all filthynesse of conuersation neither any myte lesse estraunged from vertuous endeuour then the prophane Gentiles whereby appeareth that the effect of Paules Conclusion tēdeth to this end To make this manifest that neither nature nor the Ceremonies of Moses law that is to say washyngs Sacrifices clensinges Circumcision and such like corporall ordinaunces with the cōfidence wherof that people did swell and were puft vp in pride did take away sinne or did any thyng at all auayle to righteousnes By this discourse of Osorius I doubt not gentle Reader but that thou doest sufficiently vnderstand if thou bee of any capacitie what the meanyng of Paule and the whole sence and disposition of his doctrine in this Epistle to the Romanes doth purporte accordyng to Osorius his Diuinitie That is to say That we may learne how that we may not hope for any ayde towards our Saluatiō frō nature or any ordinaūces of the old law which beyng graūted it remaineth further to learne out of this Oracle of our great Maister from whence we ought at length to seéke for the true way of Saluation and in what poynt it chiefly consisteth forsooth in righteousnes saith he that is to say as Osorius doth define it In Eschewyng sinne and earnestly embracyng all godlynesse vertue and pietie vnto the which righteousnesse onely we ought to referre all surety and ankerhold of our saluation And hereupō is coyned a new Oracle not from Delphos in Boeotia but forged by Osorius in the wildernes of Syluain worthy to be Registred to eternitie of all people and tounges For righteousnesse onely sayth he doth reconcile God to mankynde The man hath spoken This mystery beyng exquisitely piked out of the hiddē mysteries of Diuinitie sithence Osorius requireth so earnestly to be graunted him without contradiction what shall become of that Fayth onely wherewith those Lutheranes and Bucerans do prattle so much them selues to be iustified by Nay rather what shall become of any Fayth at all Osorius if the onely righteousnesse of workes doe accomplish the absolute fulnesse of our Iustification Oingenious head and wonderfull deépe conclusion framed through conference of reasons and apt application of the middle proposition with the first and Clarckely concludyng and shuttyng vp the same into one knotte together Unlesse this our deépe Deuine had cunnyngly culled this Argument out of the closet of the Popes own breast as out of some horsepoole within whose bosome all knowledge of God and man is enclosed or vnlesse this Endymyon had soundly snorted in Aristotles Ethickes as it were in the hill Parnassus can any man doubt whether hee could euer haue bene able so happely to haue pearced into the inward and hidden meanyng of the Apostles
which might haue endued him with the fayth of Christ what profite had he gotten towardes the attaynement of righteousnesse by all those helpes and aydes of pitie What shal be sayd of the riche yoūg man in the Gospell who beyng commaunded to keépe the cōmaundementes made aunswere that hee had obserued the same all the dayes of his lyfe What shall I recite the example of the Pharisaé prayeng in the Temple who vauntyng him selfe proudly vppon trust of his workes gaue thankes to God that he was not as others were that he lyued not of the spoyle did not fraudulently deceaue any man by contractes nor prodigally cōsume his owne goodes nor defile his neighbours wife committed not adultery was not murtherer or wrong doer to his neighbours neither was of that sorte like vnto the Publicane but fasted twise in the Sabboth gaue the tenth of his goodes to the poore c. What neéde I to produce Nathanaell whom Christ him selfe did both acknowledge to be a true Israelite and praysed him for his vnfained simplicitie Do ye not perceiue that these persons besides their duetyfull obseruaunce of the Ceremoniall law did in vtter shewe expresse a certeine resemblaunce of good workes and studious endeuour in the Morall law all which notwithstandyng they were not the valewe of one myte more regarded in the sight of God Albeit I do not alledge these things to the end I would extenuate the fault of the Iewes whom S. Paule affirmeth to be inexcusable But Osorius doth not seé the groūde of Paules accusation agaynst them First of all the Apostle did very well forseé that the law of God is of all partes most perfect and that it requireth an exquisite full and absolute obediēce to the same which as he conceaued could not possibly be performed by any industry of mā Neither was he ignoraunt of the vnmeasurable and arrogaunt pride of that Nation lynked with lyke vanitie which beyng by a wonderfull farre way distant from the meane obseruation of the law did yet swell and were puft vp with a most false glaueryng conceite of their owne excellency and perfection as though they had left no part therof vndone persuadyng vnto thēselues saluation thereby wherein they had much rather deserued vtter destruction And so did incurre double offence First bycause they did sundry wayes horribly dishonour and defile Gods most sacred law Then as though it were not materiall that they had not perfitely accomplished the whole law a man might iustly marueile how wonderfully they flattered them selues and as though they had trimmely behaued them selues at all assayes seemed in their owne conceite to bee prety holy men despising with a certeine Pharisaicall hautines all other Nations besides them selues Wherfore the Apostle indifferētly tenderyng the miserable errour of eche Nation aswell Gentiles as Iewes doth earnestly debate threé thynges chiefly in that place First that he might conuince the Iewes as also the Gentiles indifferently that they were sinners before God Then that he might remoue from them all false opinion of Affiance Lastly that hee might emprinte into them the true way of Confidence And in this last purpose of the Apostle Osorius doth openly bewray his blockishe ignoraunce swaruyng and varyeng altogether from the entent of the Apostle For although his Iudgement bee sounde and agreable with the Apostle in this that the trust whiche the Iewes reposed in the law of Moyses was no lesse vayne and voyde of reason then the Confidence of the Gentiles who framed their life after the law of nature yet when question is moued touchyng the assignyng of true righteousnesse Paule will teache one thyng but Osorius an other For whereas Paule doth bende the whole force of his disputation to this onely marke that excludyng all other deédes workes and endeuours whether they apperteine to the Ceremoniall or Morall law or to the rule and doctrine of maners hee might referre the summe of our Iustification and hope of Saluation wholy and onely in the fayth of the sonne of God What other thyng els doth this Ciceronian Tertullus discourse in those bookes entituled ` De Iustitia Wherein he playeth so much the Philosopher as though he were in the Schoole of Morall Philosophie what els doth he breath practize and and so greédely mainteine then to persuade vs that wheresoeuer S. Paule doth exclude workes from Iustification he doth exempt nothyng els but the Ceremoniall law And so for conclusion that true righteousnesse is not that righteousnesse in the sight of God whiche Christ doth Impute to the beleuers through fayth but that righteousnesse which euery man doth properly procure and make peculiar to him selfe through his owne vertue sinceritie innocencie and good conuersation Offryng the combate pardy to Paule whether in this quarell of Iustification S. Paule shall with more probable Arguments exclude Confidence from workes or Osorius driue fayth into vtter exile vnto the which fayth in all his bookes he leaueth no maner of place truly yeldeth very litle credite thereunto Neither is it any maruell For if the matter be as Osorius doth reporte That we ought to be iuste before God and not Iustified before God And if righteousnesse onely doe procure the fauour of God and Reconcile God to mākind wherein onely we ought to settle all our sauety and worthines And if no man an be righteous but hee that keepeth the lawe That is to say if the iuste mā shall now liue but by workes and not by Fayth Iudge I beseéche theé gentle Reader redeémed with the bloud of Iesus Christ of what efficacie either Christes bloud shed for theé may be or of what estimation thy fayth towardes Christ must be Truly by this meanes Osorius with his glorious eloquence may aswell plucke downe Christ out of heauen banish Fayth out of the earth snatche Paule out of our handes roote the Gospell out of our hartes and all comfortable consolation from our consciences Finally despoyle the world of the light of the Sunne that we may all together lumper and groape in darkenesse after this blynde guide and Capteine of darkenesse But here are one or two places of Paule obiected agaynst Paule him selfe whereby Osorius may the better mainteine his challenge agaynst Paule with Paules owne weapons What had not Paule sayth he a most sharpe cōflict with the Iewes alwayes touchyng the Ceremonies What hereof thē Doth he not in his Epistle to the Galathians protest in this wise If ye be Circumcised Christ doth nothyng profite you I confesse this to bee true In lyke maner writyng to the Hebrues doth he not say that the lawe doth auayle nothyng to perfection meanyng the Ceremoniall law Conclude at the length therfore Osorius in despight of Logicke though she be neuer so angry Ergo wheresoeuer Paule doth make mētion of abandonyng the law in the treatie of our Saluatiō there we must of necessitie interprete the same to be spokē onely of the Ceremoniall law and in
no wise of the Morall law Ueryly I would not much sticke with you herein good sir if accordyng to your Logicke it may be lawfull to deriue a conclusion from the part to the whole But what kynde of Argument is this or who instructed you to frame an Argument in this sorte In some places Osorius sporteth bitterly enough vsing his Rhetoricall digressioÌ„s and is sometymes very pleasauntly disposed to play with Haddones Schoolemaister his nose who soeuer hee were that enformed him in the principles of Rhetoricke when hee was young but how much more iust cause might I take here if a man would vse the offered occasioÌ„ to geue the counter scoffe agaynst your own Maister quareller whosoeuer he was whiche nooseled your youth in Logicke and taught you so foolishly and senselesly to make bald ArgumeÌ„ts and to fetche a Conclusion from an vnsufficient numbryng of partes to affirme the whole For this is your disordered order of arguyng in this place Paule once or twise or perhaps speakyng oftentymes of the law hath relation to the Ceremoniall law Ergo wheresoeuer hee maketh any discourse about the law of God there his meanyng tendeth to the same construction eueÌ„ through his whole discourse and in all his Epistles Nay rather if you did vnderstand Paule throughly and would not crookedly wrest his meanyng after your owne grosse sensualitie Ye should easily perceaue that by way of Negatiue hee doth orderly proceéde after the surest maner of arguyng from the whole to the partes and from the vniuersall to the particular For if the vniuersall proposition may iustly be denyed it followeth of necessitie that the particular propositioÌ„s may not be admitted As where he doth say No workes at all of the law do Iustifie ye may duely conclude hereof Ergo neither the Ceremoniall Morall Naturall Politicke Ciuill nor any other law doth worke Iustification And marke here Osorius how much I doe beare with you when as I doe cut of so much of myne owne right vnto you whiche you could neuer bee able by Argument to wynne at my handes For to admit the foundation of your Argument which is otherwise altogether false we will yet for this present tyme graunt it to seéme true as you would your selfe it should bee that when Paule doth reason of the law he doth chiefly meane thereby the Ceremoniall law Yet what a monstruous Argument is this whereby ye trauaile to coÌ„firme the affirmation of one part by the nagation of the other part in this wise Paule doth deny that the Ceremoniall law doth Iustifie the Iewes Ergo the Morall lawe doth Iustifie them Nay rather how much more soundly should you haue reasoned turning your coÌ„clusion backward If the Ceremoniall law which was the principall substauÌ„ce of Moyses law doe not Iustifie Ergo neither any other part of the law doth Iustifie Albeit I will not deny but that in the very swathlyng cloutes of the primitiue Church many doubts arose amongest the Disciples them selues touchyng the reteinyng of Moyses Ceremonies in so much that Peter him selfe durst not be so bold as to receaue Cornelius the Captaine into the felowshyp of the Gospell before he was coÌ„maunded by the heauenly Oracle Neither could the strife about the Ceremoniall law be yet so appeased amongest the brethreÌ„ for the false Apostles and such as were of the Circumcision did stiffely as it were with tooth and nayle defende the obseruaunces of the Ceremoniall law neither would geue their consent that the Gentiles should be receaued into the coÌ„gregation vnlesse they would be Circumcized after Moyses law and endeuoured all that they could to charge the Christians with the yoke of the Ceremoniall law Vntill in a Counsell holden at Ierusalem the holy Ghost did determine that the Gentiles should not be charged with any Iudaicall Traditions except a very fewe onely And it is not to be doubted as Osorius doth say that Paule had much adoe in euery place about this Ceremoniall law yea and dealt ofteÌ„tymes therein not without manifest perill of lyfe Yet all this whiles appeared not so much as one sparckle of dissention or doubtfulnesse nor any one question was raysed amongest the brethren agaynst the Morall law the keépyng whereof was yet adiudged most necessary The controuersie remayned as yet about the Ceremonies customes of Moyses law At the last when this question was decided further enquirie began to be made afterwardes of that part of the law which seémed to challenge chief authoritie and especiall gouernement ouer the consciences of men And euen here through the inestimable benefite of GOD sprang vp vnto vs S. Paule Who first of all did call backe the controuersie of this question from the speciall or particular to the generall or vniuersall disputing not onely of the outward Ceremonies but of the whole doctrine of the Morall law also Whereunto I suppose hee was moued not without great cause For he had an incklyng surely that the very same thyng would ensue thereof which afterwardes came to passe That the Ceremoniall law beyng once made altogether vneffectuall many persons would wrongfully ascribe their freé Iustification purchased with the bloud of Iesus Christ to the workes of the Morall law which thyng as Paule did foreseé in the false Apostles the selfe same wee may easily perceaue now to happen in our Pharisaicall Rabbynes in these our dayes and amongest all other in this our Osorius chiefly at this present wherfore it is not to be doubted but that S. Paule was raysed vp by the speciall prouidence of God euen for this purpose who discoursing throughly vpon the whole law and vpon the effect vse office and end of the law doth fully describe vnto vs how much we ought to attribute to our workes and how much we ought to yelde to the grace of God herein discouereth the very well-sprynges of sounde doctrine finally declareth vnto vs whiche is the false and which is the true righteousnesse in the sight of God and wherein the same doth consist Likewise whereunto it ought not be referred Not to workes sayth he for no man liuyng shal be Iustified by workes Well then if not by workes how then Through Fayth sayth he in Iesu Christ. Yet is not this all that he speaketh But adding thereunto a proofe he yeldeth this reason Bycause if through workes sayth he then is it not now of promise After this maner teacheth Paule both learnedly and playnly But our Osorius practizeth to wype away this negatiue proposition of Paule with a trimme shift as though Paule in all those places where he dischargeth workes from Iustification did meane nothyng els but that no man should repose trust of assured sauetie in the Ceremoniall law onely Uery well then is it reason that he teach vs whereupon we should grounde our Affâ—aunce Veryly in Fayth sayth the Apostle Paule and so in Fayth that if in workes then not in Fayth at all This is truely spoken by the Apostle But
that is able to accomplishe the law as he ought to do Ergo No man linyng is able to attaine the true commendatiō of his righteousnes but in respect of his workes is of necessitie subiect to the Iudgement and curse of God In this Argument doth the whole force pithe of Paules disputatiō cōsiste if I be not deceaued In the Maior first proposition whereof he setteth down before vs the seueritie of Gods Iudgement In the Minor or second proposition he condemneth all men generally as guilty of sinne By the conclusion he allureth and as it were driueth all men to Christ necessaryly By this Argument you may playnely perceaue vnlesse you wil be wilfully blind like a want how you haue piked out not one scrappe so much of all that you haue hitherto raked together to salue the credite of your cause Finally to make shorte with you I referre you to note marke examine and search out all whatsoeuer the Churche doth acknowledge of the sayd Apostles Letters Epistles yea all his sentences Ye shall finde in them all so nothing agreable to this your Assertiō That Paule should attribute righteousnes to workes or promise be meanes therof possession of euerlastyng inheritaunce as that his whole bent and endeuour may seéme to bee in no one thyng els so earnest as in this wherein he trauaileth earnestly to persuade that the promise of God poureth out vpō all them that beleue in Iesu Christ most plentyfull and assured freédome yea such a freédome as is clearely deliuered from all entanglyng of workes So that the same Apostle doth inferre his conclusion on this wise If inheritaunce come by the law then not of promise And in an other place If we bee made heyres through the law then is our fayth made frustrate and the promise of none effect Rome 4. And agayne If righteousnesse come by the lawe then did Christ suffer in vayne Gal. 2. And least that your lying spirite should with sinister interpretation wrest those sentences spoken of the law to the ceremoniall law you may heare the Apostle there treating of that law which was geuē for offendours vntill the promised seéde should come which law should in steéde of a Schoolemaister lead vs as it were by the hād directly to Christ which law did shut vp all vnder sinne as well Iewes as Gentiles that the promise might be geuen vnto the beleuers through fayth in Iesus Christ. All whiche titles of the law can not be construed to haue any apte agreément with the ceremonies of the Iewishe Sinagogue And where are now those workes of the law maister Osorius vnto whom Paule doth promise possession of the kyngdome if you exclude those wherof Luther preacheth Sitheace Paule him selfe doth so wisely and carefully not onely exclude all presumption of mans righteousnesse from the inheritaūce of the kingdome but also rēder a reason wherfore he doth so By what law sayth he by the lawe of workes No ye may not beleue so Osorius And therfore that ye may the better vnderstand how no matter of Confidence at all is left to the consideration of the workes of the law But by the law of fayth sayth S. Paule the same lawe which consisteth in fayth and not in workes That is to say if we beleue the Paraphrast The very same law which requireth nothyng but fayth Now therfore sithence these matters are so throughly debated in the holy Scriptures discouered manifestly by the holy Ghost with what shamelesse face dare Osorius thrust those workes in the doctrine of freé Iustification whiche the Spirite of God doth so openly reiect or with what impudencie dare he affirme that Paule doth promise the right and title of inheritaūce to them whiche worke good deédes Whereas the same Paule mainteynyng the challenge of fayth and not of workes pronoūceth so expressely That God doth accept his fayth for righteousnesse whiche doth not worke but beleueth on him that doth Iustifie the wicked Which two sentences beyng so meérely opposite and contrary eche to other I referre me to the Readers Iudgemēt whether Paule shal be accōpted vnconstaunt or Osorius a false Fabeler But I heare a certeine gruntyng of this Pigge beyng no lesse an enemy to the Crosse of Christ thē to Paule who assoone as he heareth good workes to be banished from the effect of Iustification doth straightway cite vs to the Consistorie as though we did vtterly choake vp all care studious endeuour to liue vertuously and destroy all preceptes and rules of godly conuersation And hereupon conceauyng a vayne errour in his idle braynes he rageth and foameth at the mouth outragiously not much vnlike to Aiax Sometyme called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who beyng swallowed vp of extreme frensie did most foolishly assayle and batter poore seély sheépe in steéde of Agamemnon and other noble Pieres of Greéce But let vs once agayne geue eare to his gay Logicke which being sometyme esteémed the Schoolemystres of Inuētion and displaying the truth this Gentlemā hath made therof an Arte of lying and desceit as thus Luther doth exclude all good workes from the cause of Iustification Ergo Luther doth extinguishe all vertue and abolishe all Morall and Ciuill actions Agayne Luther doth make fayth onely beyng voyde of good workes the cause of Iustification Ergo Luther doth require nothyng in Christians but Fayth Onely I aunswere that this is a Fallax and a Sophisticallye deriued from the proposition that is tearmed in Schooles Secundum quid to Simpliciter Furthermore herein also hee doth bewray his Sophisticall iugglyng whereas by his liedger de mayne he conueyeth away the state of the questiō which concerneth the thynges onely to the circumstaunce of the persons For whereas we agreéyng herein with Luther do enquire the thyng onely which is the instrumentall Cause of our Iustification before God he in his aunswere doth describe vnto vs what maner of life they ought to lead that are already Iustified And bycause it is most requisite that those which are Iustified by the freémercy of God through fayth shall continually exercise thē selues in good workes hereupon he concludeth That Luthers propositiō wherein he affirmeth that fayth onely doth knit vp the knot of our Iustification without all ayde of workes is vtterly false As though Luthers disputation concerned the actions and endeuours of them to whom righteousnesse is geuen and not rather of the cause of Iustification onely or as though he did not as carefully require all faythfull persons to the dayly and cōtinuall practize of godly lyfe as any of all the Byshops of Portingall doe But if you be so vnskilfull Osorius as you seéme to be you must learne that it is one thyng to treate of the persons whiche are made righteous and other thyng of the Cause that doth make them righteous And therfore this is a deceitfull and a friuolous Argument The possession of heauenly kyngdome is promised to them which doe good deedes Ergo
concupiscence thereof and had obteined to be deémed prayse worthy in respect of absolute accomplishyng the Commaundementes of God his soule would neuer so humbly haue disclaymed from Gods Iudgement and submitted all comfort of pardon to the onely freé mercy of God Let vs annexe hereunto the same Aurel. August altogether disagreéyng from Osorius where hee setteth downe the same much more playnly in his booke De Spirit Liter I said quoth he that it was possible for a mā to be without Sinne if he haue a will thereunto Gods assistaunce withall but I neuer sayd that euer was or euer should be any one who in this lyfe could be so perfect except that one onely in whom all creatures shal be quickened c. Of what force therfore can this your wyndeshaken crooche be more then Catholicke which you haue scraped out of Hosius Roffensis or Cicero as I suppose where upon your lame cripled workes do rest so boldly namely that a man may so order his lyfe in this rottē Tabernacle of the flesh after the right squarier of righteousnesse by the assistaunce of God as hauyng throughly conquered the kyngdome of Sinne he may easely accomplish all the Cōmaundementes of the law And therfore to aunswere at a word for all what shall I speake els then as Ierome reported to Ctesiphon when he wrate agaynst the heresie of Pelagians So shall I set Augustine agaynst Osorius S. Ierome agaynst Syr Ierome Thou doest say that the Commaundements of God are easie sayth S. Ierome and yet thou canst name no one man which hath performed them all c. And so the same S. Ierome proceédyng foreward Utter no such blasphemy agaynst the heauens whereby thou mayst delude the myndes of simple folke with these wordes It is and it may be for who will graunt vnto theé that a man may do that which neuer man could doe And agayne the same Ierome what is our wisedome nay rather what ought our wisedome to be which are not perfect Our simple Confession that we are vnperfect and that we haue not yet atchieued or attayned full perfection This is the true wisedome of man to know him selfe to be vnperfect And I will be bold to speake it that the perfection of the best and most righteous whiles hee dwelleth in this fleshely doughill is altogether vnperfect c. What neéde I alledge any more in a matter so manifest of it selfe so throughly confirmed with Testimonies and so playnly and notably discernable by the dayly examples of mans life But amongest the rest of this innumerable ouerflowyng multitude of Sinners here shal be a Reply made I beleéue of the Deuine integritie of this one Gentleman Osorius of his wonderfull conuersation absolute holynes Angelike chastitie culuerlike simplicitie linked together with a more then Seraphicall humilitie and incomprehensible innocencie who alone amōgest the children of women hath beautified the whole world with such brightnesse of righteousnes who carrieth about him all vertues fast lockt in the sacred cheéste of his breste and dayly numbred them who hath so quenched the boylyng froathe of Originall Sinne hath so vtterly subdued and brought into bondage the whole empire therof euen at one pushe hath of all partes so absolutely fulfilled eche tittle of the Cōmaundemēts hath tamed the flesh and all the concupiscence thereof hath supressed his affections hath with so well disposed order addressed the whole course of his life and euen now haled up on hygh with a certeine out stretched reache of mynde beyonde the heauens and rapted now into the fraternitie of S. Frauncisce him selfe is enflamed with vnquencheable desire of Deuine zeale that hee will not once treade awrye so much nor wil be blotted with one spotte of crime or suspition of crime bee it neuer so litle will not yeld to any temptations of Sathan or infirmitie of the flesh will not be seéne with blemish or suspition of Sinne no not one Solecisme or Incongruitie no nor yet idle speache in all his wordes no disorder in his whole lyfe and conuersation out of whose mouth shall issue no idle word nor lye no I dare boldly say not one no erronious doctrine no cōtumelious cauill in his bookes no rascallike slaunder no Sycophāticall outrage but all thynges shal be founde within him so attempered and quallified with a certeine marueilous peacible modestie and lenitie that no defect may bee founde neédefull to be added to fill vp a full Bushell of perfect righteousnesse And bycause thou shalt not wonder Reader by what meanes this our most Reuerend Prelate hath climbed to this immesurable excellencie of generall righteousnes and with what Pillers he vnderproppeth the same and learne withall how auayleable and effectuall this most sacred Sacrament of Confession is vouchsafe I pray theé to heare Osori him selfe telling his owne tale I doe call to witnesse sayth he Iesu Christ my Lord and my God that by the meanes of this comfortable Confession sondry times frequented I haue escaped from infinite wickednesse wherfore if I haue at any tyme subdued lust if I haue forsaken voluptuous filthynesse if I haue bene desirous to embrace Chastitie If I haue bene enlightened with any sparckle of godly zeale I do wholy ascribe the effectuall operation therof to the same Sacrament through the whiche the holy Ghost hath emparted vnto me great store of his grace c. What a test is this If beyng first ouerwhelmed with innumerable iniquities hee haue attayned that righteousnesse at the length through the vertue of that most sacred Sacrament in so much as he hath shaken of the yoake of all concupiscence hath cut the throate and cut of the head of the kyngdome of Sinne what neéde hath he then to repeate his cōfessiōs so oft when the wounde is whoale what neéde any playster or further Surgery If all Sinne bee abolished to what purpose serueth dayly custome of Confessiō and to what end is absolution craued But if he feéle yet somewhat lurkyng within him that forceth him betwixt whiles to runne agayne so oft to Confession and to the drugges of absolution how is it that he affirmeth so boldly that the kyngdome of Sinne is wholy cōquered in vs so couragiously fightyng agaynst Luthers doctrine in wordes whereas in very life he agreeth altogether with Luther Finally if Osorius dare presume to stoutely vpon his owne conscience as hauyng vtterly crusht in peéces the kyngdome of Sinne that hee is now no more acquainted therewith what may preiudice him but he may forthwith frankely Iustifie him selfe with the Phariseé and say I thanke theé O Lord Heauēly Father that I am not as other men are nor like vnto this Publican Luther and those seély sheépish Bucerans I do fast twise in the Weéke I geue the tenth of all that I possesse yea besides all this I do also dayly enure my selfe to holy Cōfession c. But hereof enough Let vs proceéde to the remnaūt rable of his raked lyes as they follow
oftentymes and in many places professe in playne wordes that mans mynde is alwayes prone and inclined to all euill cogitations consideryng also that he doth confesse euery where that to thinke euill is as properly naturall to mans will as that of it selfe it neither can nor doth acquainte it selfe with any thyng elles but with euill thoughtes And I thinke it is not so neédefull to stand much vpon the name of freédome especially sithence we doe agreé vpon the truth of the matter And it may happen that Osorius is deceaued in doubtfull cōstruction of the word or rather deceaueth others therewith takyng the same in an other sense thē Luther vnderstode it For whereas some thynges are sayd to bee freé of necessitie in respect of outward coaction some freé of necessitie in respect of bōdage Will may right well be called freé after the first maner of necessitie as the which is neuer cōstrained to will vnwillyngly that which it willeth be it good or badd For compulsary will as Augustine sayth is no will Accordyng to the latter maner of necessitie man hath neuer power ouer his owne will so but that whiche way soeuer it is carried it alwayes obeyeth his commaūdement of whom it is carried albeit it doth alwayes serue both voluntaryly and willyngly Whereupon S. Paule discoursing vpon the euill whiche hee would not but did it neuerthelesse sayth that he did it not but imputed the doing therof to Sinne dwellyng within him and to the law of his members the force wherof being greater then his own strēgth did drawe him into bondage though hee stroue agaynst it And surely that is the bondage that Luther did meane accordyng to Paules saying when writyng of bond will on this wise Mans will sayth he is after this sort common to vse as is a horse or a beast if God do ride vpō it then it willeth goeth whyther God will haue it if the Deuill sit vpon it then it willeth and goeth whyther the Deuill will haue it nor is it in his owne choyse to runne to either of those riders or to get either of them but the riders do contend for the hauyng and keépyng of him c. If Osorius do seé any meane betwixt these two riders I would fayne haue him shew it He will say perhappes that betwixt these two there is a meane in will whereby will is able to apply it selfe to this or to that Augustine doth make aunswere that the very begynnyng of this applyeng if it be towardes good ariseth not without Gods good will and grace if it be towardes euill then it springeth not but out of euill Euen as Bernarde doth teach that the whole begynnyng must be ascribed to Grace In fine to shutte vp the matter in fewe wordes as concernyng Luthers proposition wherein he denyeth that Freewill is of power to do good or euill of it selfe Two thynges seéme worthy to be noted here The one concernyng the power of doyng the other concernyng the freédome of power If we enquire of the power of will how effectuall it may be to good or euill of her owne naturall force neither Luther nor any other will deny the propertie of will to bee otherwise but that it may will the thynges that it willeth neither that the force of will is so altogether blotted out but that it may apply when it is applyed either to good or to euill and that it doth so farre forth not apply by how much it is either destitute of Grace or ayded by Grace after none other sorte then as the horse doth beare his rider hee trauerseth in his ryng and runneth his race he sweateth vnder his rider he trauaileth his grounde is very nymble chaufeth champeth vpon the bridle commeth a loft porketh out with his heéles behinde he runneth rounde in his carryer backward and foreward and performeth all other qualities and properties of his kynde which are subiect to his senses All which motions if you respect the naturall qualitie and force of the horse seéme to be not altogether out of his owne power But if ye respect the libertie of motiō the actiuitie therof will appeare to consiste not so much in the naturall power of the beast which is ruled as in the power of the ryder which doth mannage him Euē so ought we to Iudge of mans will whose naturall inclination if you regard and what it may doe of her owne strēgth who will deny that the property of will is to will but to be able to will is proper to habilitie For of will it proceédeth that we will but of habilitie it cōmeth that we performe So with our will we will with our mynde we conceaue and with our habilitie we doe performe And as Augustine sayth thinking we do beleeue thinking we doe speake and thinking we doe whatsoeuer we doe And in an other place the same Augustine doth confesse that nature may be of power not onely to do euill but also to haue fayth hope and charitie yet to haue all these hee doth affirme to come of Grace altogether Wherfore we agreé well enough together as touchyng the habilitie of will But to let passe this treatie of habilitie if question be moued touching freédome of will bycause hereupō hangeth all our cōtrouersie for neither do we enquire here what the property of will is or what will cā do properly but what euery man may do or not do in all thyngs by the freédome of his owne proper will Luther doth aūswere forthwith that the name of freédome seémeth to be a name of more maiestie thē that it ought or may agreé cōueniently to any thyng properly but to the onely Maiestie of God or to him whō the holy Ghost hath made freé by grace But the great Proctours of Freewill are wont to obiect that in some sense this is true in deéde That there is no power absolutely fully freé but the onely omnipotēt power of Gods Maiestie yet neuertheles as we call Angels immortall men holy wise and good though we doe acknowledge God onely to bee truly immortall onely wise and onely good so nothyng withstādeth but we may call men after their certeine maner freé I do Aūswere Angels in deéde are called immortall and that truly bycause they obteined that state of their creatour at the first besides that also they neuer lost that state of immortalitie wherein they were placed although some fell frō the blessednes of immortalitie But as for our freédome the condition state therof is of a farre other condition and kynde For albeit mā in the beginnyng was created in the freé estate of will through the benefite of his creatour which he might haue reteigned still without any contradiction if he would yet did hee loase the same freédome and Paradise withall by his own default so that he turned that blessed estate into miserie and his freédome into bondage that beyng out of Paradise now by how much we
more commodious for vs namely sith him selfe hath spoken in the Gospell It behoveth you that I go for if I go not the comforter can not come If the corporall presence of Christ seéme in your conceiptes so necessary and so effectuall vnto Saluation Then bethinke this with your selfe how long the Apostles should haue neéded the vse of his bodyly presence how weake they were how grosse their vnderstandyng was notwithstandyng their dayly familiaritie and acquaintaunce with God and man notwithstandyng so may miracles seéne with their eyes notwithstanding so many apparaunt demonstrations notwithstādyng their dayly teachyng proceédyng from that heauenly voyce yet loe whē he should ascēde into heauē doth he not cast their incredulitie in their teéth And what was the cause hereof els but bycause the effectuall power and mighty force of the comforter could not enlighten their hartes vnlesse the fleshly presence of Christ had bene first takē away from them And do you not yet cease so drowsily to dreame vpon Christes flesh and euen for that cause haue you made such an horrible slaughter of so many thousand soules continuyng still in that sauadge and vnappeasable vnmercyfulnes And yet after this so great and cruell a bootchery may ye not endure to haue that your notable Prelate called by the name of Antichrist In deéde is this your aūcient Religion my Lord to speake nothyng in the meane space of that wherevnto the Rhetoriciās are wont to fleé whē they assayle their aduersaries most greéuously by an Impossibilitie of proofe as this that it is not possible for you to proue that your fleshly Assertiō of the Sacrament by any reason or by any deuise or imagination For how can you possibly bryng to passe that two contradictories may be verified of one selfe same body at one selfe instaunt so that the same selfe body of Christ seyng you will haue it one selfe body may be at one selfe same tyme in one and in diuerse places at one instaunt of tyme both glorified not glorified visible and not visible corruptible incorruptible which is not onely wonderfully absurde to be spoken but as impossible to be done and which also will admitte no miracle at all namely that the thyng that is true by nature should be false by miracle and be conceaued both true false at one instaunt of tyme. But bycause we determined not to prosecute Disputation hereof in this place but to treate onely of the antiquitie of doctrine I returne agayne to your Church which you garnish with a very gorgeous but in very deéde counterfaite and false title of Antiquitie wherein you deale also as subtelly and craftely Not much vnlyke to harlottes who when they will be atcompted for honest do as much as they may frame them selues to the resemblaunce of vertuous matrones from whose conuersatiō and maners they do varry notwithstandyng altogether Euen so fareth it with your Church I speake of that shape and countenaunce of the Church that now is not that which was long agoe For as I may not deny that the Church of Rome in that pure and primer age deserued wonderfull yea the principall commendation of all others not onely in respect of the noumber of Martyrs that suffred there but also in respect of her vnstayned sinceritie and Fayth euen so comparyng the Church that now is with the Church that then was The example is so farre of frō any liuely resemblaunce of the first patterne that it seémeth quite transformed and I can not tell how mishapen into a certeine chaungelyng Else without any mauer of likely applyable nesse to the feature or countenaunce of that first and auncient simplicitie and sinceritie For such was the lyfe of Christians in that purer age that they would not swerue one tytle so much from their profession Moreouer such was their profession that it would not raunge an hearebredth from the prescript rule of the Institutions Apostolique And such was the rage of persecution then as would now supper them to be Idely sluggish or to geaue themselues to vnlusty Lazines As for delightes and pleasures to rake riches together to build pallaces to seéke the exalting of themselues by honorable titles and dignityes they had neuer one minute of spare tyme to bestowe their wittes vpon Their dayly exercise then was a continuall wresting agaynst the world and the Deuill They spent all their tyme in labors and perills their whole lyfe was a paynfull turmoyle all their power was nought els but prayer Their fortresse was grounded vpon Christ Yea for Christ onely was their whole warfare Neither were those valiant souldiours destitute in the meane time of a singuler Chefetayne Christ himselfe was the chief generall of this Army who did either mitigate the horror and cruelty of their agonyes by his omnipotent power or with some comfortable restoratyue qualifie their greéues so ordering and attempering the proceédyngs and alterations of his Church that he would neither suffer the vaynes and sinowes of the same to gather any infection by ouerflowing plenty of ytching delights of this flattering world nor to be discouraged or vanquished with any immoderat assaultes or excessiue stormes of aduerse fortune and at the last would conduct them to a ioyfull Triumph and end of all their Troubles and afflictions And this was the very order of the first foundation and building of that auncient Church So that neither tickeling enticementes of the world could defile the lyfe of the godly nor any contagious error infect their doctrine For the very same ordinaunces and rules of doctrine which thapostles receaued of Christ and the holy ghost the same also which came from the Apostles vnto the Church were reteined with vnremoueable cōstancye So also was nothing at all mingled or chopt in for vse or worshippe vnlesse being deliuered from Christ or his Apostles had the rootes thereof vnseparably planted in the knowen authoritye of the sacred worde Inuielable as yet was that sacred rule of this commaundement See that you adde nothing nor diminishe any thing And that other also of Saint Paule Whosoeuer shall teach you any other Gospell lett him be holden accursed And this also They doe worshippe me in vayne teaching the doctrine and traditions of men c. Those superfluous swarmes of superstitious traditions of men were not yet growen in vre men were not yet ouercloyed with the cumbersume clusters of crabbed constitutions For it seemed good to the holye ghost not to burdeine the Gentiles with the ordinaunces prescribed in the old lawe That vnmeasurable heape of ragged Rytes were not yet raked together nor hard of in the Church Nor was there any neéde of naked ceremonies where sufficed to euery person to serue and worshippe God in spirite and trueth Nether was any thing worshipped then but his Deitye alone Afterwardes in deéde the age of the Apostles being runne ouer and the number of Christians encreasing certaine ordinaunces were instituted by
the pacyfying of quarells determined and ended complaynts and forced them to vnitye aud concord all which he ought to haue submitted to the pōtificall iurisdiction Moreouer this also was a part of no lesse insolencye in him to presume to fitt emongest the Byshopps in the Councell of Nyce as Theodoret doth testify to direct them with his councell commaunding thē earnestly to foreseé that in determining and decyding all matters of Religion they should haue a speciall regard to the wrytinges of the Apostles and Prophetts The same may be veryfied by the Emperor Theodosius who as Socrates reporteth did not onely sitt emongest the Byshopps and was present at their disputation but was president and chiefe of the Councell also and did vtterly condemne the opinions of the heretiques In the councell of Chalcedon when as Dioscorus Iuuenall Thalassius were condēned for heretiques who gaue sentence vpon them the ciuill Magistrate or the Byshoppes of Rome lett Osorius make aunswere at his best leasure In the 3. Councell of Constantinople the Emperour Constantine did not onely sitt together with the Byshopps but subscribed their decreés also with his owne hand on this wise We haue readd sayth he and haue subscribed them Lykewise in the Councell of Arausium we reade the same was done I doe not say of the Princes themselues but of thambassadours of Princes and states of the Potentates also who did not onely vtter their mindes in matters of Religion but did adde also their owne subscriptions emongest the Byshopps When as Iustinian the Emperor made a law touching the reformation of lyfe and the restrayning of the insolent licētiousnes of Priestes and when as he deposed two Popes Siluerius and Vigilius striuing together for Peters chayre In lyke maner here in our litle Brittaine when as Athelstane Edgar Egelrede and Canutus doe establishe Byshops in their Seés when as they doe make lawes touching the Sabbath touching payment of Tythes touching Ceremonies touching worshipping touching cases of Matrimony of Penaūce and Excommunication did they thinke that they had no charge committed vnto them for Reformation of Religion And what shall we aunswere to Ierome then who writyng agaynst Rufinus touching the lawfull aucthoritye of Councells Tell me sayth he what Emperour did commaund that Councell to be sommoned What shall I speake of August lykewise who taking vpon him to confute the error of the Donatistes emongest other many reasons forced this Argument chiefly Why did you conuent Cecilian Byshopp of Carthage before Constantine sayth he If it be not lawfull for an Emperour to determine vpon matter of Religion Moreouer how shall Chrisostome be aunswered who by the authoritye of that place of Paul before rehearsed doth restraine euery humaine creature not exempting the very Apostles and Euangelistes themselues to the dutiefull obedience not of one Byshopp but of euery of his owne particular Prince Furthermore what shall we say of the Apostle Paule himselfe who purposing to be tryed in the controuersie of Religion doth make his appeale not to Peter sitting as the Papistes doe say at Rome but to themperor Nero notwithstanding he was a most horrible Tyrant So that concerning the duetye of obedience on the behalfe of the subiect not the person that is in highest authority whether he be Kyng or Queéne but the estate it selfe which is ordeyned from God is to be considered Which beyng most certeynely true what cann be more voyde of shame then Osorius face more vnsauory then his writing and more false then his opinion who raking a heape of wordes together to bring vs to be more maligned and enuied Barketh agaynst vs Englishmen with his doggish Eloquence Who haue submitted the Sacred affayres of holy Churche not onely to a king which you doe accompt a haynousnes vnpardonable but also to a Queene contrary to all equitye and right contrary to the holynesse of most pure Religiō and contrary to the prescript ordinaunces of almighty God and haue translated also the Sacred dignitye of the highest Byshopp violently taken away from lawfull Byshopps to the gouernement and direction of a woman c. Loe here gentle Reader the substaunce of a most greuous complaynt agaynst the Sacrilegous Englishmen haynous enough considering the force of our accuser Osorius which because you shall not think but that it is in ech respect as true as it is cruell and odious and least his declamation may happen to light emongest such as be hard of beliefe and therefore skarse finde any place of creditt behold now with what Arguments with what force and with what kinde of proofe he iustifieth his accusation and therewith enforceth creditt not by reason onely but with aucthoritye and doth make it vnreproucable by the testimony of an Oracle so that now no man cann be so distrustfull as to conceaue any ill opinion of the Accuser being a man vncontrollable Namely because himselfe hath spoken the word euery of whose wordes be inuincible sentences Goe to then what is it that Osorius vpon his superexcellent creditt doth warrant vnto vs Marke well you wretched Englishmen you outcast and abandoned Nation which haue made subiect to a womans gouernement all holy Church and all holynesse rēnonucing the Pope of Rome his aucthoritye harkē vnto your cōplaint wherewith Osorius doth charge you Which thing verely I do affirme to be an haynous offence a beastly and sauadge wickednesse and a detestable and execrable abhomination It is enough for so our Tomme told vs. Neither hath he told it onely but hath proclaymed it also and doth so proclayme it not as the Iewes did sometyme exclayme whē Christ was accused for they cryed out on this wise We haue no king but Caesar. But Osorius pypeth vpp an other note wee haue no Kyng but the Pope And as for Priestes and Byshopps to be subiect to a womās aucthoritie he accompteth it an vnpardonable haynousnes worthy of a thousand Purgatories And I beseéch you Syr what was there done at Rome when as Ioane an English woman beyng Pope all Churches holynes were subiect not onely to the Iurisdiction of a woman but were at commaundement of a Strumpett But I lett this passe and retourne agayne to you who recompt it a matter intollerable that the affaires of holy Church should be ordered by any Magistrate other then by the Popes aucthoritie By what Argument do you proue this to be true Forsooth bycause Osorius hath spoken the word But farre otherwise spake and did Augustine Ierome and Chrisostome of whom we made mention before Otherwise also spake Gelasius a Bishop of Rome who doth franckly and boldly professe that the priuiledges of the Church are in the power of the Emperour deliuered vnto him from aboue I speake not here of the person man or woman nor yet of the maners of Princes but of the authoritie which whether happē to mā or womā if their prerogatiue be warranted by the ordinaunce of God there is no cause why it
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