home wherwith his hart was so sore and his body so distempered that through extreme sicknesse he got him to bed and so lying he was not able for the stinke in his stomacke and painefull vomiting to receiue any reliefe of meate or drinke but cried out still sorrowfully complayning of that stinke and with no small othes for belike he made an accompt that the Pope woulde dispence with him for them cursing y e crowe that had poysoned him To make short he continued but a fewe dayes but with extreme paine of vomiting and crying he desperately died without any token of repentance of his former life You shall hardly finde a perfect Protestant and a faythfull follower of the Gospell die in this sorte as this Masse-monger did Truly if the Masse be so auaileable and of such force as you take it to be and the Pope of such a power as many of you thinkes him to be for it is written in his law as is beforesayde that he hath all power in heauen and in earth and that is enough for a Pope then eyther by the vertue of the Masse which this Burton so maintained and busily set vp or else by the Popes mightie power me thinkes this his Champion of the Masse shoulde haue bene preserued from dying thus strangely and desperately But if the Pope and his holy Masse doe suffer them that put such trust in him and confidence in the Masse to die sodainely without repentance to die desperately and to cal on the Diuell and to lie in such extreame paines and torments as a great sort of them doe and haue done surely if I were as you the Pope and his Masse shoulde goe to the Diuell ere I would trust any more to him or to it Also one Richard Denton hauing wordes of commendations sent to him from one William Wolsey that was after burned for professing the Gospell which were that he maruelled that the said Denton tarried so long behind him seeing he was the first that deliuered him the Booke of the Scriptures into his hand and told him that it was the truth desiring him to make hast after as fast as he coulde Which Denton said when the said message was done to him I confesse it is true but alas I can not burne But after though he coulde not burne willingly in Christes cause he was burned agaynst his will not in so good a cause for after that his house being on fire he went in to saue his goods therby was burned lost his life And thus he was burned for earthly goods y t refused to burne for heauenly treasure Marke this ende of a Papist and an enemie of the Gospell One Clarke an open enemie to the Gospell and all godly Preachers in King Edwardes dayes hanged himself in the Tower of London The great and notable Papist called Troling Smith fell downe sodenly in the stréete and died Dale the Promoter of the professors of Gods worde was eaten into his body with lyse so dyed as it was well knowne of many Cox an earnest Protestant in King Edwardes dayes in Quéene Maries time a Papist and promoter or accuser of the Gospellers going wel and in health to his bed as it séemed was dead before the morning Alexander the kéeper of Newgate a cruel enimie to them that lay there for Religion died verye miserably being so swolne that he was more lyke a monster than a man and was so rotten within that no man coulde abide the smell of him This cruel mā to hasten the poore lambes to y e slaughter woulde goe to Bonner Storie and other crying oute Ridde my prison ridde my prison I am too much pestred with these Heretikes It séemes that this cruell wretch was better content to haue the companie of Théeues and murtherers great offenders against the lawe that were in his prison than Gods people that professed his word that were no offenders against the lawe Beholde the great and terrible iudgement of God on the parson of Croundall in Kent who vppon Shroue Sondaye hauing receyued the Popes pardon from Cardinall Poole came to his Parishe Churche and exhorted the people ro receyue the same as he had done himselfe saying That he stoode nowe so cleare in conscience as when he was first borne and cared not nowe if he shoulde dye the same houre in that clearenesse of conscience Where vppon he beyng striken sodainely by the hande of God and leaning a little on the one syde immediately shronke downe in the Pulpet and so was founde deade speaking not one worde more Truely if they haue no better lucke with the Popes Pardons and blessings than I sée they haue they were better a great deale to haue a foole blesse them with his Bable than to haue the Pope to Pardon them or blesse them with his handes if I were desyrous to die sodainely or to breake my necke from which the Lorde blesse me and euery bodie I woulde eyther get the Popes Pardons or else haue eyther hys or one of his Cardinals blessings for other good they doe none that I can heare or sée One Iohn Peter sonne in lawe to the said Alexander the kéeper of Newgate being an horrible blasphemer of God no lesse cruell to the said prisoners that professed the word of God rotted awaye and so most miserably dyed who cōmonly when he would affirme any thing were it true or false vsed to say If it be not true I pray God I rot ere I die Also one Robert Bawlding a Papisticall persecutor was stricken with lightning at the taking of William Seaman wherevpon he pyned away and dyed One Rockwood the chiefe procurer of the great trouble of certaine Callys men for religion who at the point of death staring and raging cryed he was vtterly damned and being wylled to aske God mercie who was readie to forgiue all that asked mercie of him he brayed and cryed out all to late for I haue sought malitiously the deathes of a number of the honest men in the Towne And though I so thought them in my heart yet I dyd that laye in me to bring them to an euill death All to late therefore all to late The which same wordes the sayde Rockwood answeared to one that said I neuer saw men of such honesty so sharpely corrected and taking it so paciently and ioyfully At which time the said Rockwood fetching a friske or two scoffingly answeared all to late But whereas he sayde and ment that it was all to late for these godly prisoners to haue pardon of their Prince in this world nowe God iustly turned these words to himselfe it was all to late for hym to haue pardon at Gods hand in the worlde to come For he saide he was vtterly damned and when he was counselled to aske God mercie he said it was all to late Also one Pauier towne Clarke of the Citie of Londō a notorious enemie to y e word of
sides and thornes in your eyes vntill you perish out of this good land which the Lorde your God hath giuen you c. Therefore as all good things are come vppon you whiche the Lorde your God promised you so shall the Lorde bring vpon you euery euil thing vntil he hath destroyed you out of this good lande which the Lorde your God hath giuen you when ye shall trangresse the couuenant of the Lord your God which he commauÌ„ded you and shall go and serue other Gods and bow your selues to them then shall the wrath of the Lorde wax hot against you and ye shall quickly perishe out of the good land which he hath giuen you This was the lesson that Iosua a little before his death gaue vnto the Israelites his people And thus may you sée that al the charge that God and the godly giueth is to harken to the voyce of the Lord and obey his law which is his word and he wyl defend prosper and fight for vs no longer than we abide in the same So that the prosperous successe victories and other great blessings of Kings and Rulers that knowe Gods worde and professe the same is a manifest Argument that they walke rightly in his wayes and that he is wel pleased with them And such Kings Princes and Rulers as haue troubles warres euill successe and are ouercome in battell of their enemies thoughe they say they haue the true doctrine of God and that they follow it and obserue it most truely of all other yet it is an infallible token that they do offend their Lord God that they doe not walke rightly nor obserue his lawes and word as they ought and that he is not wel pleased with them And thus as God did blesse prosper Iosua and all other before him that hearkned to his voyce obeyed his worde euen so he did to other that did likewise after him For God gaue such wonderfull successe to Iudah the Captaine of the Israelites who feared God obeyed his worde against Adoni-Bezek the Cananites as he gaue to Iosua And Iudah did cut off the thumbes off his handes and off his féete according to the iust iudgement of God for his great tyrannie vsed to other for the sayde tyrant Adoni-Bezek confessed that he had vsed seauentie Kings before in like manner and they gathered bread vnder his table And then hée was compelled to say thus As I haue done God hath rewarded me God also blessed the sayde Iudah and the Israelites and gaue them many wonderfull victories after that againste their enimies the Cananites and heathen Idolators But when the Israelites hearkened not to the voyce of the Lorde and disobeyed his worde and worshipped the Gods of the Cananites and did wickedly in the sight of the Lorde then the Lordes furie and wrath kindled and waxed hote against them so that he suffered them to be ouercome and he deliuered them into their enemies handes that spoyled them and he solde them into their enemies handes so that they coulde stande no longer before their enemies and whether soeuer they went out the Lord was against them according as before he had promised And God suffered the king of Aram to preuaile against them and to carry them away wiâ—â— him And so serued him were captiues vnder him eight yéeres Consider also howe wonderfully Gedeon the Capitaine of the Israelites that hearkened to the voyce of the Lorde with thrée hundreth men through Gods power and might did ouercome the huge armie of the Madianites that were as Grassehoppers in number What a victorie did God giue to little Dauid his seruant against the mightie Giant Goliah his enemie howe did he prosper him blesse him and fight for him against the Philistines whose Images he burnt which pleased God And as God hath and doeth daylye giue victorie to such Princes Kings and Rulers that hearkened to his voyce and obeyed his worde so he hath giuen and doth giue maruellous quietnesse and peace to such Kings Princes and Rulers as do the same For God did prosper and blesse king Asa King of Iudah which hearkned to his voice and obserued his law making him raigne in a maruelous quietnesse and peace the space of fiue and thirtie yéeres bicause he tooke away the Sodomites out of the lande and put away all the Idols that his father had made and tooke away the Aultars of strange Gods and the high places and brake downe the Images cut down the Groues and commaunded Iuda to séeke the Lorde God of their fathers and to doe according to the lawe and the commaundement And he tooke awaye out of all the Cities of Iudah the high places the Images therfore the kingdome was quiet before him and the Lord gaue him rest on euery side And as the Lorde did prosper and blesse King Asa wyth suche a quietnesse and peace for breaking downe the Aultars of the straunge Gods and destroying the Images set vp by Abija his father euen so he hath blessed and prospered our most gratious Quéene with a most plentifull peace al the time of hir raigne which is thrée and twentie yéeres beséeching God to triple it with the quiet raigne of King Asa for plucking downe the Aultars for breaking and destroying the Images for abolishing the most Idolatrous Masse the Popes inuented sacrifice committed and done on these Aultars for the extirping and rooting vp the abhominable law religion of the Pope erected planted by hir sister Quéene Marie to the great dishonor of God the derogation of the passion of our sauior Iesus Christ setting forth in steade thereof not onely in euery Citie but also in euerie towne and village throughout hir whole Realme of England the pure and perfect word and lawe of God And thus it is plaine that the cause of the quiet raigne of King Asa and the peaceable and quiet raigne of our Quéene Elizabeth is all one Which is for the putting away of Idolatrie which God doth most abhorre for the setting forth of his law word which he doth chiefly desire But thoughe King Asa had peace al this while bicause he abolished Idolatrie and hearkned vnto the voice of God yet after wheÌ„ he did slide froÌ„ God put not his whole trust in him the case was then cleane altred for the Lorde tooke his peace awaye and God sent to him the Prophet Hanani who spake vnto King Asa as followeth Bycause thou hast rested vpon the King of Aram and not rested in the Lorde thy God therefore is the hoste of the King of Aram escaped out of thine hande The Aethiopians and Lybyanes were they not a great host with Chariots and horsmen exceeding many yet bycause thou didst rest vppon the Lorde he deliuered them into thine hande For the eyes of the Lorde beheld al the earth to shewe himselfe strong with them that are of perfect heart toward him Thou hast then done foolishly in
Iudah if we forsake the word of God commit Idolatrie receiue againe Papistry worship Images sette vp aulters crouche and knéele to an Idol in the Masse and force and coÌ„pel with threatning punishing emprisoning racking famishing killing and burning the people of England so to do Also what a mightie king did king Iotham become and howe did God blesse him make him victorious ouer his enimies bicause he walked vprightly according to y e lawe of God What good successe and prosperous raigne had that godly king Hezekiah and what a wonderful victorie did God giue him against the blasphemous king Sanneherib hys huge mightie host by sending his angel to fight for him bycause he hearkened to the voyce of God and did walke rightly in his sight But nowe if GOD did blesse and giue victorie plentie quietnesse peace and prosperitie to these godly kings Rulers before mentioned besids many other for hearkning and cleauing to his word and for setting forth and obeying his law that was deliuered by Moses the prophet then it is not to be doubted but that he wil and doth giue victorie plentie prosperity quietnesse and peace to al godly kings and rulers that shal put down idolatrie superstition and al heretical religions and shal plant in steade thereof the pure word of God and the Gospel which was preached and deliuered to vs by our sauiour Iesus Christ the only and very son of God And if God did sende troubles wars huÌ„ger vncurable diseases thraldome and captiuity with many other curses and plagues aswel to these kings before mentioned as also to king Saule king Salomon Rehoboam Ieroboam Baasha Elah Omri Ahab Ahaziah Ioash and Ahaz with diuers other and to them that they gouerned being the chosen people of God for committing of idolatrie reiecting y e law of God deliuered to them by Moses the Prophet Then we must néeds thinke that God wil send troubles wars hunger vncurable diseases thraldome and captiuitie with other plagues and curses vpon al those kings and their people that were not his chosen people but once gentiles and heatheÌ„ that commit idolatrie worship Images and embrace Papisticall superstition and despise and obstinatly and wilfully withstand the very true and pure word of God the gospel that at the first was taught deliuered by our sauiour Christ y e very soÌ„ of God which is more thaÌ„ ether apostle or prophet Therfore if you be not blind dumb deafe altogither senselesse you will with all spéed flée from your Papistrie superstition and idolatrie on the professors and followers wherof the aforsaid curses and plagues do dayly light and embrace the true word of God and the comfortable Gospel of Christe whiche bring the greate blessings of God as quietnesse peace plentie prosperity and victorie in this world and endlesse ioy in heauen after this life to the professors and followers therof I hope you are not foolishe but that you haue some vnderstaÌ„ding not so blind but y t you haue some glimmering and not so senselesse but that you haue some reason Shut not therfore your eyes purposely bycause you will not sée If you knew how swéete our law the Gospel is as I know how sowre your papistical law is if you knew what certaintie of saluation is in our lawe the Gospell of Christe as I know what certaintie of damnation is in your law of Papistrie the doctrine of Antichrist and if you knewe and felt how this our law the Gospel of Christ doth make the wicked to be godly and to be the children of God as I know that your law of Papistrie makes the godly to be wicked and to be the children of the Diuell you woulde then I thinke embrace our Gospel and forsake your Papistrie vnlesse you loue darknesse better than light the diuel better than God hel better than Heauen which I truste you do not Perhaps some wil saye if they that get the victorie ouer their enimies are blessed of God so they are the people of God Then y e Heathen Idolaters are blessed of God are Gods people for they haue had haue dayly good successe victory ouer their enimies yea haue many times ouercome the people of God y t had his law his word I graÌ„t it as before it appeareth but therfore they were not Gods people and blessed For the heathen and Idolatrous people bicause they haue good successe doe ouercome are not blessed and godly but the children of God are scourged and ouercome by them bycause they are euill and wicked and forsake the law of God The rodde is not good bycause it doth beate the childe but the rodde doth beate the child bycause the childe is euil It is manifest before that the children of Israel were ouercome and carried away Captiue of King Aram an Heathen Idolatour yet King Aram his people was not blessed of God nor yet wer the people of God neyther their law was the law of God althoughe they got the victorie But God deliuered the people of Iudah into their hands and suffred them to be carried awaye Captiues by them bycause they did forsake the Lord disobeyed his worde and committed Idolatrie for so God did promisse The scriptures are ful of the like examples It is most manifest throughout the whole Scriptures that God hathe chieflye blessed those Kings and countries with wealth prosperitie and victorie which mightily and spéedily pluckte down Images and false Gods and did extirpe and destroy Idolatrie and set forth earnestly and zealously the worde and lawe of God though they in some other particular things somtimes offended as King Dauid did â—n numbring of his people and committing aduoutrye and murther as King Asa for putting confidence in the King of Syria and leand not wholy vpon the Lord and as King Iehoshaphat did in going to fight with King Ahab diuers other committing such like whose faultes thoughe God punished yet he neuer therefore deliuered them into their enimies hands nor to be caryed away captiues But those Kings that cast away Gods word and hearkned not to his voice but fel to Idolatrie and worshipped Idolles and strange Gods thoughe they were neuer so godly before immediatly the Lords wrath kindled against them and stirred vp enimies to fight with them and sold and delyuered them into their enimies hands suffred them either to be killed woÌ„derfully to be plagued or to be caryed awaye prisoners and captiues So that hereby it plainely appeareth that the most safetie quietnesse prosperitie and victorie of a Prince and his people and to be moste assured to haue God on their side and to defende them is to sette forth and maintaine the true lawe of God and the Gospell of Christe and to plucke vp put away deteste and abhorre all Idolatrie superstition and all religions whatsoeuer that are contrary to Gods word But as al the Kings and people that did set forth and obey Moses lawe and
suppressed and put downe Idolatrie before Christ were then the people of God and so blessed prospered and defended of him Euen so al the Kings Princes and Rulers and their people that since Christe haue and do professe and set forth the Gospell were and are the people of God and Christes flocke and are likewise blessed prospered and defended of God For howe did God blesse and loue that worthye and godly Emperour of the Weast partes called Constantine that vanquished the army of Mâ—xentius the Tyraunt that horribly persecuted the Christians who flying oute of the battel was drowned in the riuer of Tiber. And also he ouercame Licinius the Emperor that persecuted the Christians And also God did maruellously blesse and prosper Frederike the godly and Christian Emperour thoughe the Popâ— did cursse him neuer so muche for he subdued almoste al Italie except a fewe Cities that fauoured his enimies whereby you may plainely sée that God blessed this Christian Emperour with victorie and contrary curssed the Pope with ouerthrowe they both professing to be Christians But séeing God stoode with the Emperour and gaue him the victorie and ouerthrew the Pope and gaue him the foile Therfore it is manifest according to Gods promisses before declared that the Emperour was of a true religion that God was wel pleased with him and that he was the better christian and that the Pope was of a wrong religion walkt not rightly according to Gods lawe and so no good Christian and therefore displeased God Thus you maye perfectely vnderstande that as God béefore the commyng of Christe did blesse and giue victorie to the Kings and Rulers that set forth and folowed Moses law plaguing and destroying their enimies Euen so now God dothe blesse and prosper the Christian Princes and Rulers that sette forth fauour defend the gospell of Christ and dothe plague and destroy the enimies of the true Chrystians that embrace and followe the same And as God before Christe was borne didde prosper and defende none but the Iewes that followed Moses lawe and called them onelye hys people Euen so since the time of Christ he doth prosper and defend none but onely them that professe and followe Christs gospel named Christians And as the often reading hearing and perusing of the same lawe of Moses was the chief way for the Iewes to knowe it and to knowe it perfectlye the nexte waye to followe it and to follow it truely the chiefe meane for God to blesse and defend them Euen so oure often reading perusing and hearing of the Gospell is the chiefe waye for vs to knowe Gods will and pleasure and to knowe it perfectelye is the nexte waye for vs to followe it and to followe it truely is the chiefe meane for God to blesse prosper and defend vs in this worlde and through Christe to saue vs euerlastingly in the worlde to come Nowe if there be none other waye for vs to bée blessed and defended of God than by hearing reading and perusing the Scriptures as moste certainelye there is not then they muste néedes bée vnhappy haue euil successe and be subiect to all mischiefs that wil not reade it peruse it heare it nor knowe it Therefore these Papists are vnhappy accurssed that will not reade peruse heare nor know the Scriptures the knowledge and following whereof is the fountaine of all blessednesse and happinesse Perhappes some of you will saye Were all oure fore-elders vnhappy curssed or damned that didde not heare reade and beléeue thys lawe that you now teach whome I aunsweare thus Are all the Apostles and Martyres that dyed for professyng thys oure Lawe or Gospell and all the holye olde Fathers that neuer hearde of the Pope nor of hys Lawe and also all oure and youre Fathers bréethren sisters and kinsfolkes besides manye thousandes that haue refused the Pope and his lawe vnhappy curssed or damned What particular persons or people are saued or damned I referre that to God but thus much I dare be bold to say for Christ himselfe saide it He that beleeueth and is baptized shall be saued but he that beleeueth not shall be damned not meaning that he that beléeueth in the Pope and his doctrine but he that according to the Gospel doth beleue in Christ and that he is the onely sauiour of the world shal be saued Wherefore whatsoeuer the Pope teacheth there is no saluation without beléeuing in Christ. Therefore all you that cleaue to the Pope and his law and refuse the gospel which is Christs law do highly displease God If the Iewes that follow Moses law that was deliuered and commaunded by God do maruellously displease God then doe you thinke that you that followe the Popes lawe that God neuer commaunded can please God It can not be so Therefore how vnwise are you that would be thus curssed plagued be vnhappy to haue youre Idolatrous Masse here againe whiche God doth deteste and hate I beséeche you consider that the worde of God whiche we haue and the Masse which you woulde haue are so contrary the one to the other and are such Enimies that they can no more dwel togither quietly than the Arke of God could with Dagon So that the Quéenes Maiestie as a most prudent Princesse hath with al hir power and might kepte oute that Idolatrous Masse and all other the Popes trumperie thereby to obtaine Gods fauoure and his saide greate blessyngs and to kéepe hir Realme in concorde and quietnesse And as hir Grace dothe kéepe the same oute by force so if you haue it againe in hir life time it muste bée brought in by force And as the Quéene is the champion of Gods word to kéepe out Idolatrie so must some Papistes be champions to bring in Idolatrie And who woulde they be I pray you Forsooth your procured or wished souldiors of the Pope enimies to our Quéene and countrey yea and perhaps some of them disobedient to their owne Prince comming without their leaue or licence that woulde not come to maintaine or defend you as you thinke but would come to destroy you as we knowe that woulde not succour you but spoile you and woulde make you rather slaues than subiects Perhaps some of you may thinke that the straungers you wish to come hither though they be foes to the Quéen and come to fight against hir Maiestie vs will not misuse you for that you and they are of one religion Uerye wel trust you to that and we will truste to God But if they be hir foes and fight againste hir me thinkes they shoulde not be your friendes that oughte to fight with hir yet do you not sée euery day that the son being of the same religion that his father is of doth poyson destroy and kil his owne father to haue his liuing after his death Do not many kill their very friendes for their goodes and money though they be of their religion Doe not many robbe and spoile their owne countrey men though they
And thus that holye Father that names hymselfe the Uicar of Christe whome you so muche estéeme fauour and honor the third time is proued to be the chiefe cause of the ignorant peoples damnation by kéeping them from the worde of God which is their onely guide to Saluation Christe bad al his Apostles go throughout the worlde and preache the Gospell and to teach al Nations to obserue all things that he commaunded them whiche is a manifest token that he that woulde haue it preached to all would not haue it kept away or hyd from all What Emperor King or other Prince that makes good orders lawes for their subiects to kéepe with penalties of death for the breaking thereof woulde locke vp the same in their Chests and neither suffer them to be proclaimed nor their subiects to looke on them nor know them yet would put them to death that should break the same Truly there was neuer any Emperour or Ruler that were so vnreasoble For it were méete that their subiectes shoulde learne reade heare vnderstand the lawâ—s that they are bound to kéepe For how can they kéepe these lawes they know not Then it staÌ„deth as much with reason that we should learn know search study and heare the word law of God not to haue it hid or kepte from vs the kéeping and not kéeping wherof stands vpon our euerlasting saluation or damnation Therfore it is a moste diuelishe and tyrannous part of y e pope to take y e word of God from vs which Christe hathe left behind him only to leade vs to heauen to leade vs in y e darke with his Idolatrie and superstition to bring vs to Hel. Saint Paule saith There is no damnation to theÌ„ that are in Christ Iesu but how can they be or abide in Christe that neither sée heare or reade the law of God that should teach them to be or remaine in Christe Whatsoeuer S. Paule saith Pope Bonifacius telleth vs an other manner of tale who saith if we may beléeue him That There is no Saluation without the Churche of Rome And also the glose of the same saith Quicquid saluatur est sub summo Pontifice Whatsoeuer creature is saued is vnder the highest Bishop that is the Pope Here is neither mention made of Christ nor of his Gospell Christ and Saint Paule may both be deceiued but the Pope cannot erre for Christ prayd for Peter that his faith should not faile therfore the Pope cannot erre But why not thus rather Peter denyed Christe his Maister therefore the Pope denyes or forsakes Christ I think this is the more likely and truer argument for if Coniurers Idolators Murtherers Heretikes Blasphemers Fornicators Apostatas Periured persons that giue theÌ„selues body and soule to the diuel as Pope Siluester the second did that deny forsake Christ then the Popes haue erred and haue denyed forsaken Christe for they haue bin such as before is manifestly proued Therefore if the Pope holde any thing of Peter it is his denying of Christe But as they deny Christe with Peter so I beséeche God that the Pope and his Prelates may repent with Peter and not to forsake him with Iudas And though Christ prayed for Peter yet he prayed not that the Popes shoulde be Coniurers Idolators Murtherers and suche like as before is declared Christ saith moreouer My Sheepe heare my voice whiche is the Gospel Euen so the diuel may say My Goates heare my voice whych is Papistrie Thus it is manifest that they that heare not the gospel which his Christs voice are none of Christes shéepe Then the tyrannous Pope his murthering ministers that heare not Christes voice that stop their eares at his voice that suppresse and burne the Gospel his voice that torment murther and kill his shéepe that heare his voice are none of Christs shéepe And if they be none of Christes shéepe then they muste néedes be the Diuels Goates For there are none but must néeds be the one of these two that is either the shéepe of Christ or the goates of the Diuell And truely there is no better marke whereby to knowe Christes shéepe than by hearing of Christes voice whiche is the holy Gospel And there is no plainer marke whereby to know the Diuels Goats than by refusing to heare the Gospel which is the voice of Christe Therefore if you entende to be Christes shéepe then heare the Gospell Christs own voice But if you had rather be the Diuels Goates then refuse as you doe to heare the Gospell and care not for Gods Gods worde but loue and obey the Pope and followe Papistrie whych is the voice of the Diuel Here may you plainely perceiue that the Popes doctrine is to refuse the Scriptures in the mother tongue and so not to heare the voice of Christe therfore they that are of the Popes doctrine are none of Christes shéepe bicause they heare not Christs voice so that you by the refusing Gods word which is Christss voice you make your selues to be none of Christes Shéepe Therefore flye from Papistrie and hearken to the Gospell the voice of Christe that you may bée Christes Shéepe and so to bée placed on the right hande of Christe at the laste day in the Kyngdome of Heauen For assure your selues if you wil not heare the Gospell whiche is Christes voice you can be none of Christes shéepe yet to heare Christes voice is nothing vnlesse you vnderstande his voice For though the Iewes heard Christs voice when he preched to them in the Hebrewe tong whiche they vnderstoode yet if one should come vnto vs and preach the Gospell in the Hebrewe tong we should be neuer the better for though wée hearde his voice yet we shoulde not vnderstande his word whiche is the right hearing of Christs voice When the Nobles and chiefe of Thessalonia receyued the worde of God whiche Paule preached they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things that he preached were so or no but these Scriptures were not then in the Latine tong but in their mother or vulgare tong that they vnderstoode when they did reade them or else what should their searching of the Scriptures haue profited theÌ„ If one did lacke fire thogh he had a flint stone lying by him did not know ther were fire in it or if he knew it could not tel which way to get y e fire out of it what were he y e better Euen so thoughe the vnlearned in the Latine tongue had the Bible in Latine lying by them what were they the better Therefore I muse what learning or reason shoulde leade you that it is sufficient for vs to haue the Scriptures in the Latine tongue that we vnderstande not that in the Primitiue Churche and a greate while after were in the common tongues Saint Augustine was not of youre minde who saide The holy Scriptures passing from one tong and beeing publyshed abroade farre and
peaceably godly and myraculously as these professors of the Gospell before described and thousandes of such moe haue done then you woulde reioyce and clap your handes noysing abroade thereby that your Religion were true and most godly But bycause you can not shewe vs one suche I haue shewed you diuerse and coulde shewe you manye moe of your cruell persecuting Papistes that most desperately and dreadfully haue kylled and hanged themselues and that through the great and iust iudgement of God haue bene strucken with the Lordes mightie hande and so haue dyed most horribly dolefully diuelishly desperately to the great terror and feare of all them that either sawe it or hearde thereof Therefore if there be any sparke of Gods grace in you at all then the godly pacient and chéerefull suffering and myraculous and tormenting deathes of the professors of the Gospell will not onely allure you with all spéede to lay holde on Gods worde and to embrace the Gospell our religion but also the dreadfull dolefull horrible and most desperate deathes and endes of the cruell persecuting murthering Papistes will terrifie and feare you any longer to holde with the Pope or to followe his detestable and damnable doctrine Many of the Heathen haue onely bene wonne to become Christians by séeing the constant and pacient suffering of the Martyrs and will you that professe to be Christians be wonne to Papistrie by their crueltie and tyrannie and by their dreadfull horrible and desperate deathes I beséeche you therefore for the loue of God as you professe your selues to bée Christians so heare dayly and followe the lawe of Christ by whom you are called Christians But some of you haue saide that we may haue too many Sermons and too much talking of the Scriptures if wée may haue too many Preachings of the word of God which will guide vs to Heauen then you maye haue too many Masses which will leade you to Hell And if you thinke it is good to heare twentie Masses in a daye which worke your damnation then we thinke it is godly to heare one or two Sermons in a day that will worke our saluation Therefore if you will be Christes shéepe then muste you heare Christes voyce and his voyce is no where else to be heard but in his Gospell There is no lawe can teache vs Christs will better then his owne lawe that he spake and gaue vs hym selfe As no lawe can teache the Popes wyll and pleasure better then the Popes lawe so no lawe can teache vs better to please Christ and to performe his will then his owne lawe the Gospell If we ment to be Papistes wée woulde not followe the Gospell but the Popes lawe then if you meane to be Christians followe not the Popes lawe but the Gospell But howe can you followe the Gospell when you refuse to reade it or howe â—an you heare Christs voyce when by no meanes you wil heare the Preachers of Gods word that vtter Christes voyce That is such a fault in you that hath kept you in errour and will kéepe you still in blyndnesse Perhappes you will say that our Preachers doe preache heresie and therefore you will not heare them But how do you know they preache heresie before you doe heare them it were méete you shoulde heare them before you doe blame them But suppose that you had the true doctrine and that our Preachers should preach false doctrine then what néede you refuse to heare them preache or to reade their workes or writings for you shoulde sooner confute their heresie with your true doctrine than they shoulde allure you from your true doctrine to their heresie What néede a true man feare to heare a lyer speake of that thing he knoweth he shall sooner take the lyer in a trip than the lyer can make him beléeue his lie why should a wise man doubt to heare a foole talke for the wise man should rather deride the fooles folly than therby be allured to be a foole Therefore if your Religion be the launterne of light as some haue not sticked to call it and our religion the doctrine of darknesse then the light of your doctrine would soone bewray the darknesse of our doctrine And so the more you shoulde heare it the more you would despise it and the more you shoulde reade it the more able you would be to confute it As he that is in a faire goodly swéete beautiful bryght house néede not doubt to goe into a darke euill fauoured stinking dungeon least he shoulde be allured to tarrie there still and to forsake the faire and trim house euen so if your doctrine be good and true and the beautie and light of all other religions then you néede not feare to heare our Preachers of heresie and reade our bookes of false doctrine least you should be seduced thereby and forsake your owne true doctrine for as the vyle darke and stinking dungeon would rather enforce him that is in it to abhorre it and quickly to goe from it making him further in loue with the trymme bryght and swéete house so woulde our wicked and false doctrine if it were so make you further in loue with your owne true and godly doctrine But for that disdainefully obstinately and wilfullye you refuse to heare our Preachers and to reade our bookes it shewes that you doubte your owne doctrine that you are determyned to dwell styll in your errour and that purposely you wyll not come from darknesse to lyght nor from falshood to trueth But bycause we are most sure that our Religion of the Gospell is right and true and your Papisticall religion is most erronious and false wée willingly reade your bookes without anye feare to bée allured from our doctrine Nay we reade them desirously for that we are sure to confounde you with your owne bookes and writings And therfore Iulianus the Emperour and Apostata commaunded that the Christians should not be trained vp in good letters saying that he the Philosophers were wounded with their owne feathers as the Pope would haue vs not to be brought vp in the knowledge of gods word least we should pearce him and his Prelates with their owne pykes But séeyng wée haue Gods worde whiche is the tryer of trueth and confounder of falshoode wée desire none other arrowes to wounde you wythall than the same you shoote at vs for wyth your owne dartes wée destroy your doctrine Your Popishe Religion is so erroneous so false so foolishe so childishe so vayne so ridiculous so tyed together wyth rotten thréedes so farre out of square so contrarie to Christes doctrine so wyde from the Apostles teaching so farre from the auncient Doctors meaning so repugnant to reason and so farre disagréeing with it selfe as before it doeth appeare that vtterly it doeth bewray it selfe A lyer had néede to haue a good memorie or else he wyll soone be taken in a trippe let a théefe premeditate his matter before hande neuer so well and cast
for the loue of my Countrey and for the â—are I haue of the the carelesse case of many and as one more willing than méete haue writteÌ„ vnto al you that are such English enimies as wel in England as elsewhere this earnest perswasioÌ„ which if you wil as aduisedly read as I haue willingly written I doubt not but that you will or manye of you at the least y t God hath not cleane giuen ouer or whoÌ„ the diuel hath not vtterly blinded or bewitched of english enimies become English friends and of disobedient people true and obedient subiectes Besides y t you shal plainly anâ— perfectly sée the wrong way you walke in how you wishe your owne woe séeke your owne sorrowe and desire your destruction Al which if you auoide therby I hope you wil not be vnkinde and vnthankeful to him that is so zealous and careful for you Yet for al that I loke for none other but that some of you more wilful than wise more churlish than curteous wil hate me spitefully for that you ought to loue me faithfully But suche shal haue no more cause to do so than the théefe to hate him y t perswades him from stealing If any be angry bycause I name English emies it is a great presumption such are not of them whoÌ„ we count to be English friends As I haue written to many of you and yet doe not know you so I wish you maye know your selues when I touch or iustly reproue you They that are English friends friends to England wyl not be angry bycause I name English enimies for that I do not touch them but they y t are Englishe enimies are such enimies to England wil stur bicause I do pinch them But be not angry for if we haue such English enimies as I am sure we haue then I must néedes cal them Englishe enimies if I cal them by their right name for if I shoulde cal a théefe a true maÌ„ or a harlot an honest womaÌ„ I shold misname theÌ„ Therfore I know no fitter name for a traytour than a traytour for a drunkarde than a drunkard for a Pyrate than a Pyrate and so for an English enimie thaÌ„ an English enimie But if it grieue you to be called thus then let it grieue you to deserue to be called thus And wheÌ„ you do chaunge your conditions we wil then change your name For if you wil obey louingly and willingly your merciful and peaceable prince then you shal be called true and louing subiects And if you wil vnfaynedly wish procure the quietnesse and commoditie of England we wil then cal you English friends But being now cleane contrarie we caÌ„not choose y t with grief of hart but cal you English enimies English for y t you were born nourished in England enimies for y t you enuy the peaceable and quiet gouernment therof wishing séeking an alteratioÌ„ of y e same How proue you y t may some of you say as some haue sayd alredy y t we do so howsoâ—uer I proue it your own words proues y t do say so that you take your selues to be of y e same nuÌ„ber for as your stinging doth cause you to kicke so doth your kicking make you be known And that there are such English enimies y t do enuy this our peaceable quiet gouernmeÌ„t of EnglaÌ„d wish an alteration of y e same it is not hard to proue vnlesse it be hard to proue y t the sun is vp at noone Therfore mark me wel for I wil now proue it We haue thanks be to God a most wise merciful Princes vnder whose gouernmeÌ„t through Gods goodnesse we haue had such a plentie peace as neuer hath bin y e like in this realme And yet there are a great sort I feare within this Realme that loue not hyr maiestie as they oughte feare hir not as they should nor obey hir according to their duty For how can they loue hir that despise hir godly procéedings how can they fear hir that contemne hir decrées how can they obey hir y t obstinately break hir good orders Now it is wel known y t there are many born bred within England y t despise obstinately refuse to follow hir godly procéedings set forth according to gods worde they y t despise refuse these hir procéedings are sory they coÌ„tinue so long they y t are sory therfore would gladly haue other orders much worse in their place and they y t would haue other wish y t hyr graces procéedings were displast they y t wold haue theÌ„ taken away which they know wil not be so loÌ„g as hir grace doth raign do wish hir being our head to be cut off or els hopes of hir short life But al their heads y t wold haue it so how many soeuer they be I wish stood on one necke y t they al might be cut of at one stroke Now you may sée y t I haue proued y t there are such English enimies w tin this realm for if these be not English enimies y t loue not their princesse y t ar sory she liues so loÌ„g y t wish hir deth or short raign y t wold haue an alteratioÌ„ or rather subuertioÌ„ of this our most happy quiet state if these I say be not English Enimies yea and great enimies to England then I know not what to name them vnlesse I should call theÌ„ English Rebels for English friends or good subiects I am sure they are not Therefore to you Englishe enimies that are wilful obstinate and determined Papists I chiefelye do write for no other English enimies haue al these aforesayde markes or conditions but only you I doubt not but that some of you wil be offeÌ„ded with me for calling you English enimies for y t you would séeme to be as good English friends as y e best bicause you are great enimies to England therfore I caÌ„not wel cal you Englishe friends or friends to Eng. Which I am most sure to proue hereafter if that be not sufficient y t I haue proued before It is wel known y t the Pope is enimie to our Quéene his lawes are repugnant to hir lawes and his religion is contrarie to hir religion which is the Gospell and Gods word now if any that is borne within England doeth earnestly loue the Pope then they cannot faithfully loue the Quéene if anye of them obey the Popes laws and decrées they must néedes disobey the Quéenes lawes and orders And if they imbrace and loue the Popes religion then they must néedes forsake and deâ—pise Gods worde the Quéenes religioÌ„ Now for that you y t are Papists are such then you are rather the Popes louing seruaunts than the Quéenes true subiects And if you be not true and louing subiects to our Quéene who vnder God is the chief staffe stay of the peaceable prosperous state of England then you cannot be friendes but enimies
he performed and broke not And is not our Princesse Quéene of England as wel as Asa was King of Iuda And hath not she as great power in hir kingdome as he had in his And if God was well pleased wyth King Asa for making and performing that couenant as hée was indéede woulde he then be angrye thinke you with Quéene Elizabeth if she made the like and performed it I thinke not But our merciful Quéene though she hathe set forth the very true law of God as spéedily as earnestly and as zealously as eyther king Asa or anye other Ruler hathe done to be followed and obserued throughoute hir whole Realme hath not made any such couenaunt or lawe to slea or kil them that do not followe and obey the same But consider this well if the Pope not appointed by Gods law to raigne and rule as he hath done and doth may murther and kill as many of you thinke he may the professors and folowers of Gods word being not his subiects for disobeying his law deuised inuented by man on earth and procured by the Diuel Then may not we thinke that our Quéene appoyâ—ted by God and allowed by his word to raigne ouer vs may lawfully kil and put to death the Idolatrous Papistes hir subiectes for wilfully disobeying and withstanding the law of God that came from heauen béeing long sinâ—e taught vs by the Prophets by Iesus Christ the sonne of God and by his Apostles moued and procured thereto by God the holy ghost Therfore I beséeche you weigh the milde nature of our gratious Quéene the mother of Mercie that doth not vse the iustice she may and marke your holy father the Pope the Captain of Crueltie that vseth â—he iniusticie he ought not I pray you is not our Elizabeth Quéene of England aswel as Quéen Mary was what power what iurisdiction what auctoritie what superioritie what excellencie and what else hadde Quéene Mary that this our Quéene Elizabeth hath not Quéen Mary was King Henry the eights daughter so was our Quéen Elizabeth Quéene Mary was King Edw. sister so is Quéene Elizabeth Q. Mary succéeded hir brother King Edward so dydde Quéene Elizabeth succéede hir sister Quéene Mary Quéene Mary was lawful Quéene of England Quéene Elizabeth is as lawful Quéene of England I wil not say more Quéene Mary put downe Gods worde planted by hir brother and set vp Papistrie and Idolatrie and obeyed the Pope Quéene Elizabeth putte downe Papistrie and Idolatrie planted by hir sister and obeys God Quéene Mary vsed hir harmlesse and obedient Subiectes cruelly and putte them to death that professed Gods word Quéene Elizabeth vseth hir wicked and disobedient Subiectes mercifullye and suffereth them to liue that professe and stiffely defende Papistrie and Idolatrie the doctrine of the Diuel These comparisons duly considered your Quéene Mary did not muche excell oure Quéene Elizabeth vnlesse in crueltie and burning hir harmlesse subiects Nowe if Quéene Mary might put to death hir humble and harmelesse subiects for professing of Gods worde then I can not sée but that our Quéene Elizabeth maye as wel execute hir stubborne and disobedient subiectes whiche she as yet neuer did that withstande Gods worde and wil néedes followe Papistrie and Idolatrie And further if Quéene Mary hadde a lawe to burne the seruauntes of God that were obedient to hir concernyng their worldly duty and neuer meant hir harm Then why may not our Quéene Elizabeth make a law to execute the Popes seruants that are bound to be hir louing subiects which are disobedient vnto hir and that séeke procure desire and wish hir death and destruction Therfore be thankfull to God that hath giuen you and vs such a merciful Prince to raigne ouer vs loue obâ—y hir that gyueth you for Iustice mercy and for extremitie lenitie And now as hir Grace doth refraine fcom that she may do so prouoke not hir highnesse to that she can doe And as I saide thinke not that hir Grace can not vse the sworde againste you bycause she hathe not vsed it for if you thinke so you do not only deceiue youre selues but also do much abuse hir Maiestie in that you séeme thereby to make hir a Prince without power whereby you are vnworthy of the great mercy she shewes vnto you What seruant is so foolishe to thinke much more to say that bycause his Maister doth not beate him for his faulte therefore he can not beate him Bycause the mercifull father doth not beate his sonne for his offence that maketh not that he can not beate him for the same Shall hir clemencie and mercie make you thinke in hir disabilitie Therefore if anye of you thinke so as I beléeue some of you haue said so you are not worthy of suche a mercifull Maistresse that vseth you so And I am sure that it is the spirite of vnthankfulnesse the spirite of blindnesse the spirite of errour or rather the spirite of the diuel that makes you say so Thinke not I beséech you that I haue written this for that I woulde haue the Quéenes Maiestie to withdrawe hir mercie from you and to vse you with crueltie whiche is contrary to hir milde and merciful nature if anye other way would serue for I do it as the Lord knows my hart to make you to sée and vnderstand hir great mercy lenitie and gentlenesse towards you thereby to win and allure you froÌ„ obstinacie to obediencie from ingratitude to thaÌ„kfulnesse from ignorance to knowlege froÌ„ error to truth It may be that some of you wil saye that you loue the Quéene as wel as we and wishe the commoditie of youre country as wel as we If you do so then you wil not procure nor wishe anye forraine foes to come into anye of hir Graces dominions to help aide or succor any rebelles or traytors against our Quéen neither wil you be glad when you heare that any such are aryued or come into anye of hir highnesse dominions to fight against hir neither will you reioice if they and the rebels shoulde prosper againste oure Quéene and country But if you hearken for their comming in to fight against hir Maiesty and hir louing subiects or to aide rebelles againste hir or if you reioyce that they aide or helpe traitors against our Quéene or if you desire that they the rebels may get the victorie of hir and hir louing subiects as I feare many of you haue done and yet doe then whatsoeuer you say you are I am sure you are not true subiects but traitors to your prince no friendes but enimies to England Did none of you reioice that the forraine foes ariued in Ireland of late were none of you glad that they aided the rebels there against our Quéene and hir louing subiects And were none of you sory for their euil successe and ouerthrow you in your consciences know whether you do thus or not whether you are such or not whether you reioyced that the forraine foes ayded the
most necessarie as true tokens and signes of a perfecte faythe they crye out againste sinne they perswade the Quéenes subiectes to obey loue hir maiestie all which I am sure agrées with the worde of God but if your preachers that you should heare preache contrarie that is that you maye be saued by some other meanes as by Masses Trentals Dirges or by the Popes pardons and if they wil animate and bolden you to disobey your lawful Quéene and soueraigne and wil preache remission of sinnes to all men that will fight in the Popes quarrel whether it be right or wrong yea thoughe it be against their owne King or countrey you may cal it y e word of God but I am out of doubt it is the doctrine of the Diuel Therefore the premisses well wayed and considered if you shoulde require at the Quéenes hande to vse fréelye the Romishe religion without checke or controlemente truely you know then no more what you aske of hir grace than the sayd Pyrates or théeues do know what they aske of theyr kyng or the fonde Schollers of theyr Schoolemaister But if the Quéenes maiestie could not haue your loue but vppon that condition then she were better to haue your hatred in denying you than your loue in graunting you But what if a king shoulde graunt such a libertie to Pirats and théeues as Mogallus did once king of Scots and the scholemaister to his schollers might not wise men iudge that the one were more méete to be a Cobler than a King and the other more fitter to be a Crow-kéeper than a Scholemaister yes truely But though you would moste gladly haue such a libertie yet at hir graces hands you are neuer like to haue it which you know wel ynough for hir grace is too wise and too goodly to grant for vncertain loue a certain mischiefe For if hir highnesse should graunt you this libertie y t is to vse your Romish religion fréely only to haue your good wil and loue would you then loue hir vnfainedly I hardly beléeue it for it wil skant stand with your religion to loue faithfully a pure Protestaunt who euer he be which loues gods word yea though he liue neuer so godly nay perhaps therefore you wil hate him the more for if he be a Papist indéede that is a sound perfect Papist he wil not stick to carry fiâ—e faggots thrée or four myles yea and further if néede be to burne a Protestant though it be his brother sister or the nearest kinne or beste friend he hath or else an haulter to haÌ„g him withal Therfore you may say what you wil but surely I thinke that you wil neuer loue hir hartily vnlesse she should become a Papist whiche the Lord forbidde or vnlesse you become Protestants which I beséech God to graunt Is not this a godly religion trow you that bréedes such charitie in your brestes making your harts so warme that you can finde in your hartes so to warme your Christian brother that neuer after he shall féele any cold That same religion is it that hath taught you neyther to care for king nor Countrey that religion is déepe in your breastes that hath wrought this in you is it not worthy to be embrased followed and honored that teaches true subiects to be vntrue to their prince and that perswades men to be foes to their Countrey you may loke a good while in gods worde or therby you can learne any such lesson Therefore howe can youre doctrine bee good that maintaines suche mischiefe Wherfore I beséech you be not wilfully blind but open your eyes and willingly sée flie vnto gods worde that will only teache you truely and cleane not to the Pope for he wil teach you falsely I remember that Christ sayeth that we must forsake father and mother sister and brother and cleane vnto our wife but I neuer reade in any part of the Scriptures y t we must disobey our prince refuse hir laws hate our country wish or procure our Princes death and cleane to y e Pope whose law is as cleane contrary to Gods word as black is too white euil to good and as the diuel is to God King Dauid was no Papist as appeared by hys obedience for if he hadde bene so King Saule when he was priuily with him in the caue I beléeue had not escaped so as he did but he being a pure Protestante be not angrye bycause I call him so for he fauoured Gods word wold not lay his hands on him or hurt the Lords annointed yet he was as heire apparaunt then to the croune and was King after the death of King Saule Nowe if worthy Dauid being such a great estate woulde not hurt a wicked King being his enimie and one that sought his death but honored and obeyed him then why shoulde any of you to him farre inferior procure or wishe any harme or disobey your most louing mercifull and peaceable Princes that tenderly loues her subiectes and carefully defendes them being the chiefe and onely proppe staye and pyller of our safetie quietnesse and florishing common wealth I beséeche God kéepe hir from being in such a snare with some of you as King Saul was with his seruant Dauid For then your close meaning would be openly spyed I feare hir grace should not finde then halfe the fauour at your handes as you haue founde mercie at hir handes for you that are of the Popes Religion would not thinke it an offence as godly Dauid did to hurt the Lordes annoynted For the Pope is so farre in your Bookes that you thinke there is no offence but that he can pardon and that nothing is an offence that woulde please him So that to please him withall where he bids you strike you will not sticke to kill and to kill where he commaundes you woulde thinke you did a godly Acte yea if it were the ruler of a Realme As though he had a commission to kill Kings and others at his pleasure Marke how the Pope and king Dauid differs The Pope will blesse you pardon forgiue you though God will not and reward you for killing them that neuer did him harme But King Dauid caused him to bée killed that killed his mortall enimie King Saule yea and that at King Saules request Now which of these two were of the better Religion thinke you the Pope or King Dauid which of them wyll you choose though you loue the Pope neuer so well yet I hope you will not vtterly cast off king Dauid Gods Prophet Therefore by Christes doctrine choose the better of them who saith you shall knowe them by their workes Nowe it plainely appeares that herein the doings of king Dauid is better than the Popes vnlesse murther be better than mercie then if Dauids doings bée better then Dauid himselfe is better and thus to conclude if you would followe the better and leaue the worse then you must followe Dauid and forsake the
Pope Who contrarie to the Pope doth teach you mercie for murther humblenesse for hautinesse and clemencie for crueltie and he calles him blessed that delighteth in the lawe of God and exercises himselfe therein day and night whereas the Pope curseth them that exercises themselues in the worde of God and hydes and burnes the word of God But say what we will and proue what wée can against the Pope you are so farre in loue wyth him and his holye lawes and especially his Masse that you care not though al runne on whéeles so that you myght haue it here in Englande You may haue it if you will there is no penaltie of death on it Marrie they are some thing dearer than they were wont to be for the day hath bin that you mighte haue had one for a groate but nowe they are so deare that I thinke you had rather steale them priuily than buye them openly And I will not say but that you may steale a Masse in a corner as diuers haue done but if you do so you are verie théeues to God to your Prince to your selues for thereby you rob God of his glory the Quéene of hir dutie and your owne soules of heauenly felicitie O how are you bewitched with blindnesse do you knowe what mischiefes the Masse would bring with it if it might be suffred openly and fréely againe in this Realme I know well you do not for if you did you would not be so desirous of it you would faine haue the drinke but you consider not the poyson y t is in it I may compare you to théeues which construe the best but consider not the worst For théeues before they steale do say among themselues we shall haue a iolly bootie it will make vs men for euer it will buy vs trim apparell we shall fare like Lordes and we shall lyue like gentlemen and so they stay there and reason no further but therewith they consider not how therby they shall offend God than which nothing can be worse they cast not aforehand that they may chaunce to misse of their purpose and may pay as déerely as though they had it they do not consider the great shame they may reape therby they quite forget that if they be knowne and taken that therfore they shall be hanged Thus théeues vse to debate aforehand of al the best that may happen leaue out al the worst that most coÌ„monly doth happen euen so you cast in your heads what great comfort and ioy it woulde be to your minde and fond fancie if you might once enioy here your Masse againe but you respect not the manifolde mischiefes that your Masse would bring with it as the great idolatry you should commit thereby the heauie wrath of God you shoulde procure thereby and the torments of hell fire that you should gaine thereby for séeking saluation therein which can be found in nothing but in the death of Christ and by beléeuing in him Here is inough I thinke but yet here is not all for if the Masse come in shée must haue hir waiting men come with hir also and what are they I pray you if you say you can not tell yet I am sure that I can tell these they are marke them well warres troubles discordes contentions crueltie miserie bondage losse of goods yea and losse of liues and libertie which some of you may haply like them before they are come but none of vs all I thinke would like them if they should come The Lord kéepe that monstrous Masse hir relickes and hir retinue out of this Realme And I beséeche God prosper our Quéene that hath banished hir and will by Gods helpe kéepe hir out during hir life yet you doate so much of your Masse and of the Romish religion that you thinke if you had it here that then you should haue more plentie quietnesse and peace than you haue Beléeue it who will for I will not But if we had it as the Lorde kéepe it from vs you shoulde then knowe it better by féeling than you will beléeue me by telling What doe you thinke y t the Popish Masse can bring vs more plentie quietnesse and prosperitie by Idolatrie than our worthie Quéene or Maistresse hath brought to vs with Gods worde if the Diuell doth persuade you that it will be so Gods word doth assure vs that it cannot be so Marry if you coulde proue y t any one prince of your religion hath raigned so royally so quietly so peaceably so plentifully so prudently so politikely so prosperously and so mercifully with such treasons vttered such daungers escaped such mischiefes discouered with subiectes so loued of the enimies so feared with such league vnited and ech where so famed so long togither as our worthy Quéene a professour maintainer and defender of the word of God hath done the better we might beléeue you but that I am sure you neuer can doe Therefore as Papistes and we are contrarie in religion so if a Papist should raigne ouer you after our Quéene looke for contrarietie in regiment and not for the like as trouble for quietnesse warres for peace penurie for plentie follie for prudencie vnaduisednesse for pollicie aduersitie for prosperitie slauerie for equalitie bondage for libertie and crueltie for mercie and so be sure for contraries in all the rest of this our most blessed and happy gouernment How fond are you that beléeue that you shall still enioy this your happy state thoughe you change Gods true Religion and your mercifull gouernesse what woman is so foolish that liued quietly and merily vnder hir first husband that was godlye and vertuous that will thinke to liue as quietly and merily after with a wicked shrewde and crabbed husband who will thinke that if he change the bright day for the darke night that yet for al that he shal kéepe the right way goe without daunger none vnlesse mad men or fooles For chaunge your day for the night then chaunge your safe going for daungerous stumbling If a woman chaunge a good and vâ—rtuous man for a crabbed shrewde husband then she shall chaunge hir merrie life for a sorowfull life Euen so if you chaunge your godly and mercifull Princesse for a wicked and cruell tyrant then be sure to change your ioy and prosperitie into miserie and calamitie And so likewise if you change Gods true and most holie worde for false Papistrie superstition and Idolatrie then assure your selues you shall change these your wonderfull benefites and blessings of God into his manifolde plagues and cursings This assuredly looke for if you shall haue any such change as you looke for They that are not content with a faire hot Sunne-shining day without Winde or cloudes but are desirous of change of weather then they must looke that their change of weather shall be winde rayne clouds frost snow stormes tempests or lightning and thunder for fayrer weather thaÌ„ they had before they can not haue so your goodlye
to the left hand to goe after other Gods or to serue them which blessings most plentifully he hath poured on this Realme of England euer since our gracious Quéene put downe Idolatrie and Papistrie and set forth the Gospell and word of God And also here you may plainely perceiue and vnderstand the maruellous curses and plagues promised and threatned to them that will not obey the voyce of the Lord our God and kéepe his commaundementes and ordinaunces which plagues and cursses haue aboundantlye lyghted on those Countreys and Kingdomes that embrace and maintayne Idolatrous Papistrie reiecting the Gospell and persecuting the Professours thereof Which is a manifest argument that this Religion that we haue is the true Religion wherewith God is well pleased and your Papisticall doctrine is a false and wicked religion wherewith God is highlye displeased For as God did prosper and blesse the Iewes his people to whome Moyses pronounced the sayde blessings so long as they hearkened to his voyce and obeyed and followed his word and commaundements and as hys sayde plagues and cursses fell vpon them when they harkened not to the voyce of the Lord but committed Idotrie euen so euer since he hath and doeth blesse and prosper the professors and followers of his worde and poures his sayde plagues and cursses on them that despise his worde that are enimies to the Gospell and persecute the professors of the same Marke well and you shall sée that in all ages God guided protected and blessed the Kings and Rulers that clensed their Countreys of Idolatrie and that did set forth and obeyed his law What famous victories did he giue to Iosua the Duke and Captaine of the Israelites which obeyed God and harkened to his voyce to whom God spake as followeth Moyses my seruant is deade nowe therefore arise goe ouer this Iorden thou and all thy people vnto the lande whiche I giue them that is to the children of Israell euerye place that the sole of your foote shall treade vppon haue I giuen you as I sayd vnto Moyses from the Wildernesse this Libanon vnto the greate riuer Perath all the lande of the Hettites euen vnto the great Sea towarde the going downe of the Sunne shal be your coaste There shall not a man bee able to withstand thee all the dayes of thy life As I was with Moyses so will I be with thee I will not leaue thee nor forsake thee Be strong of a good courage for vnto this people shalt thou deuide the land for an inheritaunce which I sware vnto their Fathers to giue them onely be thou strong and of a most valiant courage that thou mayest obserue doe according to all the law which Moyses my seruant hath cōmaunded thee Thou shalt not turne awaye from it to the right hand nor to the lefte that thou mayest prosper whersoeuer thou goest let not this booke of the law depart out of thy mouth but meditate therein day night that thou mayest obserue and do according to all that is written therin for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous and then shalt thou haue good successe These were the wordes that God spake to Iosua Therfore marke y e promises of God to him if he follow do according to the law of God then his way shold be prosperous he should haue good successe none should withstand him al the dayes of his life God would be with him which in déede God performed wonderfully and kept promise with him for that he hearkned to y e voyce of the Lord and directed al his wayes according to the law of God For was not God with Iosua when miraculously he departed the water of Iorden and the children of Israel went drie ouer the same straight towardes Iericho did not God wonderfully deliuer Iericho to Iosua and his people when after the sounding of the Trumpettes the walles thereof fell downe through his power and so Iosua and all his people went into it and tooke the Citie and so they destroyed all the Idolatrous people the enimies of God that were in the same But sée howe sodainely the Lorde went from them and suffered the men of Ai to kill .xxxvj. of the Israelites and made the rest of thrée thousande of them fearefully to flée away bicause Achan in the spoyle of Iericho tooke that for a praye which the Lorde directly commaunded to the contrarie Thus you may easily perceiue that the harkening to the voyce of God following of his worde is the cause of good successe and victorie and the disobeying of his worde and following of their owne fansies was the cause of euil successe and ouerthrowe But God blessed Iosua still bicause he was not cōsenting to Achans fact who stoned him therfore to death for after y t the Lord made Iosua to vanquish and ouercome the fiue Kings of the Amorits in which conflict the Lord threw stones from heauen vpon his enimies and at Iosuas bydding the Sunne and Moone did stand still a whole day togither that he might haue time to ouercome his enimies These wonders did the Lord for his seruant Iosua and his people that harkened to his voyce and obeyed his worde Many other kings did Iosua ouercome through the strength of the Lord that fought for him and his people And when Iosua waxed olde then he called all Israel their elders their heades their Iudges and their officers before him giuing them then the same warning that Moyses and God gaue him to hearken to the voyce of the Lorde saying I am old and stricken in age also you haue séene all that the Lorde you God hath done vnto all these nations before you howe the Lorde hath fought for you Behold I haue diuided vnto you by lot these nations that remaine that as yet were not ouercome to bée an inheritaunce accordyng to your Tribes from Iorden with all the nations that I haue destroyed euen vnto the great sea Westward And the Lord your God shal expell them before you and cast them out of your sight And ye shall possesse their lande as the Lorde your God hath sayde vnto you Bée ye therefore of a valiant courage to obserue and doe all that is written in the Booke of the lawe of Moyses that ye turne not ther from to the right hande nor to the lefte c. But sticke faste vnto the Lorde your God as yée haue done vnto this daye for the Lorde hath cast out before you great nations and mightie and no man hath stande before your face hitherto One man of you shall chase a thousande for your Lorde your God hée fyghteth for you as he hath promysed you Take good héede therefore vnto your selues that yée loue the Lorde your GOD Else if yée goe backe c knowe yée for certayne that the Lorde your God will cast out no more of these nations from before you but they shall bée a snare and destruction to you and a whippe on your
this therefore from henceforth thou shalt haue warres Thus we may sée that King Asas peace and quietnesse was turned into warres and trouble bicause he slidde from the Lorde and hearkned not to his voyce euen so if your Idolatrous Masse shoulde be planted and vsed here as you desire then our prosperitie and peace would be turned into aduersitie and warres And then King Asa to mend the matter withall did imprison the Prophet for telling him so and did not repent and turne to the Lorde as King Dauid did when the Prophet Nathan reproued him which encreased the Lordes displeasure the more against him Here it is manifest as before and as it is throughe the whole Scriptures that God doth blesse his people with victorie quietnesse and peace so long as they stay vpon him and obey his worde and no longer Marke how God did blesse that good and vertuous King Iehosaphat the sonne of King Asa with victories peace and great riches bycause he walked rightly in the sight of God and abolished Idolatry which godly vertuous King in the third yéere of his raigne sent his Princes and Rulers and learned men with them to set forth Gods lawe and to teach it in the Cities of Iudah And they did teache it in Iudah and had the Booke of the lawe of the Lord with them and went about throughout al the cities of Iudah his kingdome and taught the people And the feare of the Lorde fell vpon all the kingdomes of the landes that were rounde about Iudah And they fought not against Iehosaphat Nowe weigh the comparison and consider the like or more Hath not the Lorde likewyse blessed our gratious Quéene Elizabeth with an vnfoughten victorie without any bloudshed against hir rebellious subiects the Papists and hath not he besides blessed hir with such a plenty quietnesse and peace al the rest of hir raigne as before was neuer séene in England bicause she hath hearkned to the voice of y e Lord as Iehoshaphat did who staid not vntill the third yéere of hir raigne but in the first yéere and in the beginning therof abolished Idolatrie and did set forth the worde of God the holy Bible in the Englishe tongue throughout all England not onely in Cities but also in all townes villages and other places and commaunded and gaue commission to all hir Bishops Doctours Preachers Curates and Ministers to preache teache and vse the same purelye and rightly and all other hir Magistrates to defende it And accordingly al the time of hir worthy raigne it hath béene and is dayly preached and taught throughout all England And as the feare of the Lord fell vpon al the kingdomes of the landes that were round about Iudah and they fought not against King Iehoshaphat euen so the Lorde our God hath feared all the Countries and Kingdomes round about Englande and therefore they haue not fought against our Quéene Elizabeth Thus you cannot choose but graūt that if Iehoshaphat was blessed and prospered of God then our Quéene Elizabeth is blessed and prospered of God if Iehoshaphat was a good King and did please God then our Elizabeth is a good Quéene and pleaseth God and if that were Idolatrie that Iehoshaphat did abolish out of Iudah then papistrie was Idolatrous that our Quéene hath abolished out of England and if that were y e law of God that Iehoshaphat proclaymed published and caused to be taught throughout Iudah then this is the very lawe and word of God that our Quéene Elizabeth hath set forth throughout al hir Realme of Englande If this and all the rest that I haue written can not persuade you that this our religion is the verye true religion and that God doth both like and allowe it then I thinke you are determined not to be persuaded But yet to winne you if it wil be marke what followed of wicked Iehoram thoughe he was the sonne of godlye King Iehoshaphat This king Iehoram when he was placed in the kingdome of Iudah after his father slew and killed his brethren and y e princes of Israel he walked not according as Iehoshaphat his father did but wrought euil in gods sight And he caused the inhabitaunts of Ierusalem to commit spiritual fornication that is Idolatry and compelled his people of Iudah thereto whervpon the Prophet Eliah spake to him by writing saying Thus sayth the Lord God of Dauid thy father bycause thou haste not walked in the wayes of Iehoshaphat thy father nor in the ways of Asa king of Iudah but haste walked in the wayes of the Kings of Israel and haste made Iudah and the inhabitaunts of Ierusalem to go a whoring as the house of Ahab wente a whoring and haste also slaine thy brethren of thy fathers house which were better than thou Beholde with a great plague wil the Lord smite thy people and thy children and thy wyues and all thy substaunce And thou shalt be in great diseases in the disease of thy bowels vntil thy bowels fall out for the disease daye by day Then the Lord stirred vp against Iehoram the Philistines and the Arabians and they came vp into Iudah and brake into it and carryed away al the substance that was in the Kings house and his sons also and his wiues so that there was not a son left him saue Iehoahaz the yōgest of his sons And after al this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an vncurable disease and in processe of time euen after the end of two yeares his guts fel out with his disease so he died of sore diseases c. And againe you may sée vnlesse you do wilfully winke that the abolishing of Idolatrie setting forth of the lawe of God was the cause that God did blesse and prosper good King Iehoshaphat and contrary the committing of Idolatrie and the compelling of the people of Iudah to sin therein and the forsaking of the law of God was the cause that God did thus plague and punish wicked Iehoram his son with wars with the taking awaye of his sons and wiues and spoyling his house and with y e falling out of his guts wherof he dyed Here you may easily perceiue that God spared not wicked Iehoram though he were the sonne of godlye Kyng Iehoshaphat whom God loued so wel for it is not the person or place but the truth and the godlinesse of the person whatsoeuer he be and whersoeuer he be that God doeth respect Therfore as God doeth nowe blesse vs and thys realme with prosperitie quietnesse plentie and peace aboue all other kingdomes that are rounde aboute vs as he did Iehoshaphat for abolishing Idolatrous Papistrie for setting forth obeying and preaching his holy worde Euen so assure your selues and loke for none other but that God wil cursse vs and plague this Realm of England with troubles warres with comming in of straungers spoyling of vs and our goods with the losse of wiues and childrē and with vncurable diseases or such like as he did Iehoram and
why do you wish and are content that we shoulde be spoyled burned or killed for our religioÌ„ Therfore you that are of the Popes religion are not of Christs religion bycause you haue rackt vs spoyled vs tormented vs burned vs and murthred vs which you would not haue vs do vnto you Now if your religion be not Christes religion as these words and your workes haue sufficiently proued then I know not whose religion it is vnlesse it be the diuels religion whose religion must néedes be wicked and euil for that Christes religion is most holy and good And thus I haue sufficiently proued vnto you that the Gospel that we haue is the true law of Christ And the Pops law that you followe is the false law of the Diuell or Antichrist But if your harts be so obdurate that no trueth can enter into the same Then mark this that followeth and deny it if you can or confute it if you are able If god bestowed these his blessings before mentioned onely vppon that people that hearken to his voyce and obey his worde as he hath promised and if our gracious Quéene we hir subiectes and hir realme haue had these gods blessings moste plentifully poured vpoÌ„ vs euer since she hath set forth this our religion the worde of God put away the Masse and Idolatrie then it is most euident that this our religion is the true religion of Christ and lawe of God bycause of the wonderfull blessings that we haue enioyed withall And if God send these plagues and curses before rehearsed only vpon that people that doth not harken to his voice but disobeyes his lawes and commandementes commit Idolatrie as he hath promysed if these Kings and Princes their people that obey the Pope and his lawes that are enimies and suppressors of the word of God haue dayly these plagues curses light vppon them then it is most apparant that the Popes religion is false abhominable and wicked and that God therewith is highly displeased bicause of the manifolde plagues and curses that he dayly sendes among them And thus for that God doth blesse vs with his foresayde blessings and that with such a plentie quietnesse peace and prosperitie as Englande neuer tasted before And bycause diuerse Countreys that obey the Pope and embrace Papistrie haue bene and are yet still compassed and enuironed with the saide plagues and curses of God that is warres troubles scarcitie and such like both we striuing and taking our selues for Christians as did the Israelites and the people of Iuda that were all Iewes and called the people of God whereof the Kings of Iuda and their people for cleauing to Gods lawe were blessed and prospered of God and the Kings of Israel and their people bycause they committed Idolatrie and disobeyed the lawe of God were plagued and cursed of God Therefore it cannot be denyed by any vnlesse they be as senselesse as brute beastes but that this that we haue is the true Religion of Christ whereby wée haue our name of Christians and that Papisticall doctrine which you haue is a most false and erroneous religion the professors whereof cannot iustly be called Christians but rather Antichristians Yet perhaps al this wil not persuade some of you though it be neuer so plaine and true But if this and the rest will not allure you to â—lye from Papistrie and to sticke to Gods word Surely surely you are then fully bent to resist the open manifest truth And though therby you willingly cast of God and his word yet I beséech God that he do not cast you of for euer It may be that some of you wil graunt that Gods word is true but that we do mistake it and that we haue not the true meaning and vnderstanding thereof so that we misuse it certainely this I will saye to you if we do misuse it and mistake it then God takes his markes amisse and is maruellously ouerséene that blesses vs so aboundantly that mistake and misuse his word and sendes his plagues and curses on those Countries and people that vse it well take it rightly and so by this it should séeme that God doth directly against his promise But assure your selues thoughe your presumptuous Pope and his obedient Prelates may be deceiued ouerséene as no doubt they are God and his déere sonne Christ can neyther be deceyued nor yet ouerséene marrye God ouersées them all looke they neuer so high Therefore turne to the Lord and to his holy worde that therefore will blesse and prosper you and forsake the Pope and his doctrine whereby God doth plague and cursse you and loue obey and thinke well of your most louing naturall and mercifull Quéene that mercifully and myldely doth protect you If you would marke but hir Maiesties power and knew what she may do weighe your owne doyngs what you ought to do truely you would say then that she is the most myldest and mercyfullest Quéene one of them that euer raigned You thinke not amisse in hir grace and count hir not vnmercifull though she put Théeues to death for stealing which God hath not commaunded to bée punished wyth death and can not you sée that hir maiestie is maruellous mercifull in that she suffers you to liue for disobeyng of Gods word and committing of Idolatrie which God by his law hath commaunded to be punished with death King Iosias burned the Idolatrous Priests vpon the Altars that committed Idolatrie and yet he is reckned for a godly King but our mercifull Quéene Elizabeth hath not burned the Popish Priests on the Altars where they committed Idolatry in saying of masse and worshipped a piece of bread for the body of Christ which she might haue done if she would and yet you count not hir for a godly and mercifull Quéene You prayse and extoll Quéene Mary to the Heauens for vsing crueltie and for burning hir humble and faultlesse subiects but if our Quéene Elizabeth should vse lawful seueritie on hir stubborne and disobedient people Gods foes and hir enemies that desire hir death and destruction the confusion of their countrie and the ruine of this Realme you would dispraise and slaunder hir and saie she were a cruell tirant Nay for all hir highnesse hath vsed you so mildely mercifully as she hath done yet some of you would darken hir deserts if you could in saying most spitefully falsely that this is the time of Tirannie these are the daies of persecution this I grauÌ„t but not in England though you meane in England truly such as do say so must néeds I thinke speake against their coÌ„science their knowledge vnlesse they take mercie for crueltie crueltie for mercie then I may say vnto them as Esay saide to the Iewes Wo be to you that call euill good and good euill c. If this be the time of tirannie and persecution when you that are manifest enimies to your Quéene and Countrey before wel proued are
submitted hymselfe vnder the Popes table Christe neuer taught the Pope that lesson to make the Citie of Venice frée and to bryng the Venetians from bondage to lybertie But you woulde fayne submitte your selues to the Pope and kisse hys foote to bryng this your famous Countrey from libertie to thraldome and your Countreymen from fréedome to be bondslaues King Alured once a worthye King in this Realme for the safegarde of his people and Countrey chaunged hymselfe from a King to a Minstrel and endaungered himselfe to goe among the Danes his enemies and played before them in their Campes whereby he perceyuing their negligence and weakenesse returned priuily to his armie then with a chosen company sodainely in the night he did set vpon the Danes and so slew a great number of them And will you then contrarie being subiectes liuing here in your own Countrey at pleasure safetie quiet wish or deuise wayes or meanes to bring in our enemies to spoyle your Prince hir louing people and Countrey Marke wel weigh aduisedly I beséeche you that when King Alured did thus daungerously hazard his life for hys Countrey then thys Realme was vexed and scourged with thrée maruellous plagues that is with their enemies the Danes wyth great mortalitie of men and with murraine of beasts but now when you séeke or wish for y e spoile and confusion of your Countrey God hath blessed vs with thrée special blessings that is with the pure preaching of y e Gospell with a great plentie of al things and a wonderfull peace such as this Realme had neuer so long before Consider therefore the good case that now we are in and y e euil case our auncesters haue bin in for this our Realme was gouerned once vnder diuerse Kings at one time but by the great policie worthinesse of our former Rulers as Mulmutius Dunwallo Aluredus K. Adelstane or rather by Gods power and prouidence this Realme was brought from the rule gouernment of seauen Kings at one time to one Monarch vnder the gouernment of one Prince but you if you myght haue your will or wishe would haue vs to loose our one most quiet and mercifull gouernour to bée ruled gouerned and to bée in bondage and slauerie vnder many tyrants Therefore I may iustly compare you to Uipers for as they are conceiued by the deuouring of their fathers and brought forth by the destruction of their mothers and at laste are destroyed themselues euen so you goe about as much as in you lyeth to deuoure your fathers that begot you to murther your mothers that did beare you to destroy your wiues that do loue you to bring your childrē to thraldome that obey you to burne your brethren that benefite you to suppresse your Prince that defendeth you to consume your Countreymen that should ayde you to spoyle your whole Countrey that doth nourish you which if you should bring to passe as God forbid then looke to haue the rewarde of Uipers your selues which is short life and destruction If you cannot sée the good case you are in I feare you shal féele the euill case you shall be in for you are like to a foolishe seruant that dwelleth with a good Maistresse who being gently reproued not sharply corrected for hir fault and therefore weary of hir welfare gets hir a shrewd husbande in al the hast who doth not only then lead a sorrowful life but also would be right wel content with the scrappes she was wonte with hir Maistresse to throw away and would be glad of simple clothes that before she disdayned so you being gouerned vnder a merciful Quéene and louing Mistresse not séeing your great plentie quietnesse and peace you haue by hir would faine chaunge hir for a cruel champion of the Popes whose traine woulde make you their slaues spoyle you of your substance rauish your wiues deflower your daughters and cause you to fight against your own friends murther you and treade you vnder their féet for if their maister the Pope hath trode vppon an Emperours necke do you thinke that his seruaunts wil sticke to trample on your backes and bellies And thus you are far worse to youre selues thoughe I haue proued you euil ynough to vs than the fonde mayde is to hir selfe for she for a good mystresse gets but an euil husband who may by law be compelled to vse hyr better but you for one moste milde and mercifull Maistresse woulde haue a thousande euill and cruell Maisters of whom you shal haue no redresse Now to auoyde all these mischiefes before mentioned cleaue vnto GOD and his worde cast off the Pope and his Lawes feare to haue Gods curses care not for the Popes curses for euer since the Pope hath curste vs the Lorde God hath blest vs with quietnesse plentie and peace and they that the Pope hath blessed it séemes that God hath cursed them with troubles wars scarcitie and many other euils for so the Prophet said I wil curse your blessings If our forefathers that estéemed the Popes blessings so greatly and dreaded his curses so much had thought that they should haue bin so happy and fared so wel as we haue with his curses and to be so troubled and molested haue such mischiefes as other haue daylye with his blessings they wold neuer haue obeyed him nor feared him so much they did Therefore séeing God doth blesse where the Pope doth cursse and also cursse where the Pope doeth blesse it is a very manifest thing that Gods lawe and the Popes lawe are contrarie and are not all one but contrary the one to the other and so if the one be true the other muste néedes be false But I trust you wil not say that the law or worde of God is false then you must néedes be compelled to say that the Popes lawe is false Now séeing it is so manifestly proued that the Popes lawe is false I hope you wil not be so wilfull and witlesse to forsake the true word of God follow still the false law wicked Religion of the Pope Consider I beséeche you how Christ became curssed to make you blessed and will you to be blessed of the Pope bée curssed of God and séeing Christe was curssed for our sakes to leade vs to heauen will you be curssed of God for the Popes sake that would bring vs to Hell Truely whosoeuer beléeueth that Iesus Christ by his death hath performed the whole law for vs as well as though we had kept it perfectly our selues and that our saluation is by and through him whosoeuer I say beléeue this faithfully and repent their sinnes vnfainedly without all doubt they are sure to be saued But whosoeuer thinke that they may merite heauen by their owne workes or hope to bée saued by some other meanes than by Christ as by Masses Trentals Dirges Popes pardons such trumperie which the Popes doctrine dooth teach you let all such be assured that they shall
neuer be without the aforenamed great plagues cursses of God héere in this worlde but shall be damned for euer in hell fire with the Deuill and his wicked Angels if they doo not repent and turne And this waie to Heauen by the onely death and passion of Christ Christ himselfe teacheth in the new Testament and the other way to Hel the Pope dooth teach which is cleane out of the new Testament and neuer came there Therefore how blinde how senselesse and how bewitched are you that will sticke and cleaue to the Pope and his Law whereby you shall haue al the saide plagues and Gods cursses in this world and endlesse damnation in Hell after your death and forsake the worde of God whereby you should enioy al these Gods wonderfull blessings in this life the kingdome of Heauen after your death Wherefore you were not best to refuse Gods worde for Papistrie nor Gods swéete blessings for his dreadfull cursses least you lose Christ for the Pope God for the Deuill and Heauen for Hell Marke well besides our happie estate for whereas diuers other Countries haue vnmercifull tirants that spoile murther and kill their owne obedient subiects we liue peacably plentifully prosperously vnder a most mild merciful Quéene wheras our neighbors and diuers countries haue had both forraine intestine wars with great troubles miseries and calamities we haue enioyed a wonderfull peace vnder our blessed Quéene euer since she raigned And whereas diuers other Countries our neighbors haue had great penurie scarcitie and hunger besides the great dearth in Quéene Maries time a time of Papistrie when thousandes of this oure countrey were constrained to eate Swines meate which was bread made of Acornes yet we thankes be to God haue had great plentie and maruelous abundance of all things And whereas diuers Kings of this realme haue called parliament vpon parliament chiefly for taxes subsidies to satisfie their wasteful expences hir Grace hath proroged hir Parliaments from time to time as the like hath neuer bin séene in Englande shewing not onely thereby that shée wil haue no more than she néedes nor so much as she may but also that she loues vs so much trustes vs so wel that she thinks our monie is as ready for hir when she néeds in our pursses as in hir owne coffers All whiche you must graunt as is before said to be the great blessings of God which God doeth not promise to bestow vpon Heretickes or that are of a false religion And God no doubte hathe endued vs with all the sayde blessings for the displacing of the Popes religion and for erecting his holy Gospel and for succouring chearishing and reléeuing of the poore persecuted members of Christe that were driuen to flée hither for succour out of their own countrey Therefore I beséech you once againe become the children of God in hearkening and cleauing to his worde loue your most merciful and lawful Quéen in obeying hir Grace and in embracing hir godlye procéedings be no more Englishe enimies but Englishe friendes and be faithful to your Countrey and séeke the quietnesse thereof and be friends to your selues in following of Gods word as you haue bin your own vtter enimies in embracing the Popes doctrine and flée to Christ and shunne the Pope trust not to his pardons nor to his Masse for they will vtterly deceiue you and al them that trust to the same Loke or wish no more for the altering of religion nor of our peaceable and quiet gouernement to the taking awaye of our moste mercifull Prince to the subuersion of this your own natiue country to our great heauinesse and quietnesse and to our vtter confusion Let your dayes go that you haue so long hoped for and yet dayly loke for least they be turned into darke stormie nightes no fayrer dayes you can haue than you haue had Marke what goodlye faire dayes all these hadde that followe the cruell tormentors of the Christians hoped for a fayre and cleare daye if they mighte once murther and destroy the Christians that professe Christe and his Gospel in hope wherof they most cruelly and tyrannously persecuted murthered and martyred theÌ„ but what was the good daye they hoped for when it came was not DECIV'S MAXIMINIVS NERO DOMITIAN IVLIAN the Apostata HERODE and all the reste of those cruel cut-throates by Gods mightie power destroyed murthered and killed with other wicked endes The wicked Iewes the Pharisies Scribes Annas and Caiphas thought they should haue a goodly and a faire day if they shoulde once putte Christe to death and didde then thinke to haue destroyed Christes Doctrine for euer but when they had got all their wils and that they wished for and had put poore innocent Christ to death was not their goodly faire day turned into a darke cloudie and stormye night I thinke yes for Vespasian the Emperour and Titus his sonne not very long after by the iuste iudgement of God besieged them and Hierusalem their Citie whereby they were so famished that the mother was enforced to roast hir owne childe to eate and that they were gladde if they might haue got it to eate Horses Cats Rats Dogs and other viler things So that be famine by the sworde they were dolefullye destroyed to the number of eleauen hundreth thousande and manye of them carryed away by their enimies the Romanes as their slaues and captiues But marke a maruellous contrarietie whereas the Emperor and the Romaines not knowing God nor Christ came on Gods side and foughte and destroyed Gods enimies the Iewes now the Pope and his Romanistes making himselfe to be the chiefest Christian of all other naming himselfe Christes Uicar or Deputie dothe take paâ—te against God and kils murthers burnes and destroyes the professors of the gospell the children of God and brethren of Christ. And euer since the Iewes for all theyr fayre daye that they hoped or looked for haue béene runnagates and roges throughout the Worlde and haue not one Country of their owne to dwell in and are and haue béene since a people most hated and despised of all other whiche is accordyng to Gods curses promised toeÌ„th if they went back from his worde Was not thys a verye faire daye that they hoped to haue by putting of Christe to death and what woulde bée the day that you hope for if you hadde youre Masse and the Popes religion vppe againe whereby you woulde put most cruelly to death the members and brethren of Christ forsooth youre fayre goodlye and calme daye you hope for woulde be turned into a darke cloudie and stormie nighte for if you looke or hope for a better day than they had you deceyue your selues for if God spared not the Iewes being his owne chosen people whereof many of them did not consent to the putting of Christe to deathe but destroyed them famished them killed them and made them â—â—aues captiues and runnagates doe you thinke that he will spare
or Emperour bring water to washe the Popes handes and while the Pope washeth let al the Byshops and laye men kneele downe Againe While the Pope is yet sitting at the table the noblest man within the Court be he Emperour bee hee King shal be brought to the Popes Credence to giue him water Againe The first dish the noblest Prince shall carrye whether he be Emperour or King Againe When the Pope is at breakefast the King shall beare the first Cup And againe Let the Popes Cuppes be borne by the Noble menne or Orators being present and let the Clearke of the Ceremonies begin wyth the worthiest estate yea thoughe he be King or Emperour Thus by the Booke of the Popes Ceremonies it plainely appeares that the Emperour shall holde the Popes stirrop let the Emperour leade the Popes Horse the Emperour must beare the Popes chayre on his shoulder the Emperour shall beare vp the Popes traine let the Emperoure bring the Bason and the Ewer to the Pope the Emperor shal giue the Pope water to wash his handes the Emperour shall cary the Popes fyrst dyshe the Emperour shal carrye the Popes first Cup. May not he be called the Seruaunt of GODS seruantes for so the Pope nameth hymselfe that hath the Emperour to his man and to wayght on hym thus at an inch The Pope neuer learned of Christe to be thus simplye serued if the Pope in this case be a Seruant I maruell then who shall be a Maister Christe was as good a man as the Pope and as well borne as he and yet I neuer read or heard that he rode was carryed or serued in this order Christ was a King aboue all Kinges and yet he was humble and méeke and was vnder all Kinges but the Pope is no King and yet he is proude out of all measure and makes himselfe Prince péerelesse and aboue all Emperours and Kinges Well though he learne not to be humble and lowly of Christ yet he learnes to be stout and proude of the Deuill I maruell by what prorogatiue he hath gotten all this dignitie Christ whose Uicar he sayth he is and Peter whose Successor he claymeth to be tooke neuer such an Emperial state vpon them alas they were poore Subiects yea and so poore that they had no monie to pay tribute to the Emperour but that they were fayne to haue out of a Fishes mawe But marke though CHRISTâ— was tributarie to the Emperour yet the Pope is frée from it Nay he makes Kinges to pay tribute to hym and thus he is quite contrarye to our méeke Christ. Yet marke the lowlinesse and humilitie of the Pope that calles himselfe the Seruaunt of Gods Seruaunts In the late Counsell holden at Lateran in Rome one Symon Begnius the Bishop of Modrusia sayde thus to Pope Leo Beholde the Lyon is come of the tribe of Iuda the roote of Dauid c O most blessed Leo wee haue looked for thee to bee our Sauiour In the late Chapter at Trident Cornelius the Bishop of Bitonto saide thus The Pope is the light that is come into the worlde but men haue loued Darkenesse more than the Light Euery man that hath done euil hateth the Light and commeth not to the Light Pope Adrian saith That no man shall iudge the Pope For it is written The Scholer is not aboue his Maister The Pope suffred the Embassadors of Cicilia to lye prostrate on the grounde and thus to cry vnto him as if it had bin to Christ Holy father that takest away the sinnes of the worlde haue mercie vpon vs Thou that takest awaye the sinnes of the worlde giue vs peace Pope Sextus saith Who so accuseth the Pope can neuer be forgiuen and his reason is this Hee that sinneth againste the holy Ghost shall neuer bee forgiuen neither in this worlde nor in the worlde to come I neuer hearde so playnely what was the sinne of the holy Ghoste before If this be true that to accuse the Pope is the sinne of the holy Ghost then it is no maruel though the Papists that beléeue this dare not accuse the Pope but thinke that he is moste holy whatsoeuer he doth for feare they shall neyther bée forgiuen in this worlde nor in the worlde to come Surely they are founde and grounded Papistes that beléeue the Pope to be the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda that he is the roote of Dauid that the Pope is the light that is come into the worlde that he is the sauiour of mankinde that he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the worlde that whosoeuer accuseth him of his wickednesse doth sinne againste the holy Ghost Oh horrible haynous and intollerable blasphemie that whych is to be applyed to our sauiour Christe the sonne of God and to none other thys vile and most sinful wretche the Pope applyeth to hymselfe I truste there is none of you be ye neuer so wilfull obstinate and bent to the Popes lawe but as soone as you heare this the Popes great blasphemie and how he takes that vnto himselfe that is onely due to Christ but spéedily except you are determined to be children of the Diuell wil flye from this Antichrist and his doctrine and embrace Gods moste holye worde for if he be not Antichriste then there was neuer any nor neuer wil be I graunt there are now many Antichrists for al they that are against Christ are Anticâ—ristes All Idolatrous Emperoures Rulers and Kings were Antichristes that worshipped Ball the God Bell Astaroth and other Idols and Nabugodonezar that made his golden Image to be worshipped and the great Turke the great Chame of Tartaria and the greate Souldan yet these haue not made neither doe make men worship them selues for Gods but other And though many Emperours and tyrants haue made men to honor them for Gods to kisse their féete and to call them Gods yet the same were Ethnicks and heathen princes and knewe neither God nor his worde but this man of sinne the Pope that professes Christianitie that knows God and his word that grauntes the olde Testament and the newe and that knowes and professes that Christ dyed for the sinnes of the people and beléeues all the Artycles of our Créede and that is Christned thus wittingly and willingly to take vpon him to be called the Lyon of Iuda the roote of Dauid the light that is come into the worlde the Lambe of God that takes away the sins of the worlde whereas he knowes right perfectly that it is neyther nor can be spoken of him nor of any other but onely of Christ neyther is due nor can be applyed to any other but onely to Christ that immaculate Lambe the Sonne of God must néedes of force be the chief and head Antichrist of all other Antichristes neyther was there euer such an Antichrist before him neither can there be any such Antichrist after him And whereas he woulde make you beléeue that they that accuse the Pope of any crime
can not doe For thoughe God be called Omnipotens Almightie yet he is not Almightie bycause he can do al thinges but bycause he can doe all that he will or woulde doe whych the Pope can not do for all he taketh himselfe to bée a God for if he could this our realme of England shoulde not haue béene so long in quyet as it hathe béene And if Christe and the Pope make or haue one Consistorie or Iudgement seate then hereby the Pope maye be copercioner and fellow Iudge with Christe at the daye of Iudgement and iudge both the quicke and the deade But if then the Pope shoulde be so contraâ—ie to Christe and so muche hys enimie as he is here the controuersies of all matters and crimes from the beginning of the Worlde will not be determined and iudged in one daye For one daye woulde be little ynoughe to trye whiche of them shal sitte the vppermost for if he be ther then as haughtie and proud as hée is and hathe bene héere he will scarcelye suffer Christe to sitte aboue him for he that hathe sitâ—e aboue Emperours and kings and hathe made the Emperours necke his foote stoole wil be loath I beléeue to sit beneath Christ that was so poore as he was Nay if his power be aboue all the powers in Heauen and in earth as is before declared you shall sée that the Pope will goe neare to thrust Christ besides his seate and sitte there alone and be Iudge and al himselfe And if the authoritie of the Romaine Churche and the Pope is more than Gods worde as Siluester Prierias doeth write Then when Christ shal sit in iudgemente at the laste daye and hathe seuered the Shéepe from the Goates and bidde the blessed Shéepe to come into the kingdome of heauen and sente the curssed Goates into Hell the Pope maye come in then by hys aucthoritie and say to Christ by your leaue sirra a little séeing you haue giuen iudgement by your lawe I will nowe giue definitiue sentence by my lawe whiche is more than Gods worde And then the Pope maye say Come backe againe yée curssed that Christ bad to go to Hell and looke that yée go into Heauen for I haue appointed it for you to dwell in and you blessed that Christe hath willed to goe into Heauen come backe againe or I wil fetche you and sée that you goe into Hell for that is the place that I haue appointed for you to dwell in And thus maye the Pope by his aucthoritie whiche is more than Gods worde as Prierias sayeth controll and vndoe all Christes doings and sende the godly to Hel and the wicked to Heauen and he himselfe to be in Heauen like a God that liued on the earth like a Diuel What Hel-houndes are these that would make vs beléeue that the Popes power and aucthoritie is more than the word of God But if the Pope in a maner can do whatsoeuer God can doe or if he haue all power giuen hym in Heauen and in Earth as he sayeth then why did Pope Boniface the eight suffer Scaira wyth his souldiours to set fire on the gates of his pallaice and to breake downe the dores and windowes where he was in Aruagium and to enter vpon him and to rifle him of all his goods iewels and Treasure which was suche a deale as Christe and all hys Apostles neuer had And why then did he suffer them to sette him on a wilde and vnbroken colte with his face towardes the horsse tayle and the colte to runne vp and down with him vntil he was almost breathlesse and why did he suffer himselfe to be imprisoned by the sayde Scaira thrée dayes and to be almoste famished for meate thys holye Father that coulde commaunde the Angels to carry mens soules to Heauen I maruell that he did not commande them to come out of Heauen to deliuer him out of prison and out of his enimies handes But be bolde he woulde haue done it if he coulde haue done it And therefore you maye perceiue that he promiseth you more by hys Pardons than he is able to performe for if the Pope hath suche power to pardon you and to forgiue you your sinnes and to sende your soules by Aungels to Heauen then the Pope woulde haue helped himselfe out of prison and thraldome Therefore you maye sée if you wil sée that he tels you that he can doe a greate deale more than he can do for if he coulde deliuer mens soules from Hel he were able to deliuer his owne bodye out of prison And iâ— he be able to bring other mens soules from Earthe vnto heauen where he was neuer then he were as able to bring his own body out of prison to his own house where he hath bin And thoughe the Pope hathe suche greate and high aucthoritie as he hath he claimeth it not but by the aucthoritie of the Scriptures or by excellente and learned argumentes As thus the Sun is higher and greater than the Moone therefore Pope Innocentius sayeth that the Pope is greâ—er and higher than the Emperour this is that holy and méeke Pope that sayde that either he woulde lose his Mitre or else he woulde pul the Emperours Crown from his head Maister Harding to excuse the Pope withal said This is not a reason but a similitude To whom Maister Iewel the Bishop of Salisburie aunswereth as followeth This thing may easilye be graunted for in deede it is a similitude vtterly voyde of either Witte or Reason But who taughte the Pope so childishlye to playe with similitudes thereby to aduaunce himselfe and to abase the Emperour of the Worlde who tolde him that the Pope is the Sunne and the Emperour the Moone or that the Emperour is so farre inferior to the Pope as the Moone is inferior to the Sunne Isodorus that liued 600. yeares before Pope Innocentius the third sayth quite contrarie By the Sunne saith he we vnderstande the kingdome and by the Moone wee vnderstande the Priesthoode whereby he giueth vs to vnderstand contrarie to the iudgement of Pope Innocentius that as the Moone is inferior to the Sun so is the Pope inferior to the Emperour And here is another excellent argumente to proue the Popes aucthoritie both of the Spiritualtie and Temporaltie Peter sayde to Christe Lo heere are twoo swords Therefore Pope Boniface sayeth that the Pope hathe power both of the Spiritual Sworde and of the Temporall Sword Uery wel gest Maister Pope euen so one may say that by as good aucthoritie Lo here are two daggers And then a straunger to him that hath the Daggers may starte straighte-way in and say Marry therefore I oughte to be Lord Chauncelor of England and the Archebishoppe of Canterburie The Pope can lacke no power if suche conclusions may serue his turne Marke what a trimme exposition one of the Popes pâ—n men to maintaine the Pope in his Godhead hathe made vpon a verse of the eighte Psalme attributing
realme of Englande I haue also proued by the Scriptures by examples and by other infallible argumentes that wée haue the true religion and how that God therefore hath and doth prosper and blesse vs I haue proued also that the Popes whom you so much loue and leane to haue béene moste wicked Murtherers Coniurers Aduouterers Heretikes Blasphemers Idolators Sacrificers to Diuels and Derogators of Christs benefites hys death and passion and that they are the enimies of God the children of the Diuel yea and the verye Antichrist Therefore I beséeche you procure not to youre selues the cursses of God for the blessings of that wicked Antichriste enforce not youre moste mercifull Princes displeasure that doth defend you for that wicked Popes good will that will destroye you and séeke not youre Countries confusion that doeth nourishe you to haue youre Popishe religion that wil bring Gods plagues and cursses vppon you Perhappes some of you maye saye thoughe the Pope be wicked euil and thoughe he be proued to be Antichrist yet this religion that you and your fore-elders haue hadde vsed is not therefore euil nor to be despised to whome I answere if the trée be euil the fruite cannot be good can the Diuel sette forth a godly religion no it is agaynste his nature then can the Pope which is of the Diuell and the very Antichriste sette forth the pure worde of God no it is impossible for as the euil fruit doth shew the trée to be euil so the detestable doings wicked religiō of the Pope shewe him to be wicked and of the Diuell therefore make the trée good and the fruite good or the trée euill and the fruite euill But bycause I wil leaue nothing vndone that may allure you not onely from the Pope but also from his pestiferous religion I will God willing prooue the chiefest pointes of Papistrie that you stand vppon both by Scripture auncient Doctors and by naturall reason to be false most wicked and abhominable And bycause one parte of the Popes religion whiche is worshipping of Images is mentioned before among the cursses of God and therefore abhominable vnto the Lorde and directly against the second commaundement therefore I will firste beginne with it not doubting but that many of you doe not so much regarde and estéeme the worshipping or hauing of Images though some of you are déepely and superstitiously giuen thereto And first let vs heare what God said to Moses therein and in his lawe Thou shalt not saith God make to thy selfe any grauen Image of any likenesse that is in Heauen aboue nor in the Earth beneath or in the water vnder the earth thou shalt not bowe downe to them nor worshippe them This is the very commaundement of God that he gaue to Moses and enioyned the children of Israel in anye wise not to breake for if they did he promised to send vpon them his plagues and greate cursses before at large declared which diuers times he performed when they after did breake the same worshipped Images straunge Gods as I haue manifestly proued before by diuers examples Nowe bicause your Papistrie permitteth Images and your papistical Churches are al ful of Images and Idols and bicause you bowe downe vnto them knéele vnto them go on pilgrimage vnto them and pray vnto them therfore your religion is cleane contrarie to this lawe of God written in the first Table of Moses and therefore moste wicked and abhominable which deserues procures Gods great plagues cursses and vengeance And the yongest chylde that is if hée haue eyther read aught or learned aught knowes that to estéeme reuerence or worship Images is euill and wicked and against the commandement of God so that your religion of Papistrie in this poynt muste néedes be euill wicked and abhominable as is aforesayd and the Pope and his Prelates doo not onely suffer and permit them in Churches but also maintaine them defende them and make lawes that they shall be adored and worshipped as vtter enimies to God striuing with all their power to set vp Images whiche God directly dooth forbid And that this may more plainely appeare Pope Gregory the second did not onely withstand the Emperours Deputie by force of Armes which he neuer learned of Christ nor yet of his Apostles in taking downe and suppressing Images out of Churches but also wrote into all partes that neither for feare nor entreatie they shoulde obey the Emperours commaundement in taking away of Images and pictures of Saintes out of Churches for auoyding of Idolatrie but would haue Images erected set vp worshipped contrary to the holy worde of God Also the Pope and his Bishops in Nicene Counsell agréed with one consent contrarie to the counsell of God that Images in Churches are not onely to be allowed but also deuoutly and reuerently to be honored and that with the same honour that is due to God him selfe O Cerberus whelpes Sathans broode and destroyers of mens soules are they Christes Uicars can not they erre that make such lawes and decrées in their Deuilishe counsels that a péece of crooked rotten wood or a stone wrought and framed by earthly wretches is to be deuoutly honored euen with that honour that is due to God himselfe how can you that take God for your Father and Christ for your Sauiour abide either the Pope or his detestable religion any longer Also one of them saith I receyue and worship the reuerend Images and this will I teach whyle I liue An other sayth I doe perfectly adore the holy Images and I accursse all them that holde the contrarie yea but I beléeue your cursses come to late What if God haue curssed you before that worshippe Images how will you doe then I thinke his cursse will stand for a cursse before yours if you can either out cursse God or vndo his cursses make your owne curses to stande or to be of force then I will saye you haue good lucke Marke what a godly decrée was allowed in the Gréekes Counsel touching the worshipping of Images which is as expresly against the lawe of God as is possible to be And thus it is He that feareth God adoreth or worshippeth an Image as he would adore the sonne of God he that adoreth or worshippeth an Image and saieth this is Christ offendeth not he offendeth that adoreth or worshippeth not an Image he that adoreth not an Image is an Heretike wée muste adore or worshippe an Image wyth the same reuerence wherewith we adore or worshippe the holy Trinitie What varlets are these what vile wretches are these that make such contrarie decrées to Gods lawe would you haue thought it vnlesse you had read it nay will you beléeue it for that you doe heare it God sayeth Thou shalt not bowe downe to Images nor worship them The Pope sayeth he that feareth God worshippeth an Image as hée woulde worshippe the sonne of God The children of Israel worshypped a golden Calfe and
Irenaeus affyrmeth who saith thus Columna firmamentū Ecclesiae est Euangelium spiritus vitae The piller and buttresse of the Churche is the Gospell and the spirite of life Saint Augustine saith Nolo humanis documentis c. I will not saieth he that the holy Churche bee shewed by mens documentes but by the worde of God Chrisostome saith Nullo modo cognoscitur quae sit vera ecclesia Christe nisi tantummodo per scripturas By no way it is to be known whyche is the true Church of Christ but onely by the Scriptures Thus you may sée plainly by these ancient holy lerned writers whatsoeuer the Pope his late Parasites write and bragge of the Church of Rome that the true Church Christ only is to be known tryed by the holy Scriptures Perhappes you wil say that many places of the Scriptures are so darke and so doubtfull that they wil neuer be vnderstanded vnlesse they be opened and expounded by some learned Doctor or Writer I wil not deny but that it is good and necessary to haue the Scriptures opened and declared by godly vertuous and learned men yet not of necessitie to be bounde thereto and so to beléeue their writings so farre as they shall agrée with the Scriptures but that must not be by the Pope and his Doctors for they as you haue heard before so interprete the Scriptures that they lose their meaning and sense both of God Christ the Prophets and the Apostles and so are made the Popes doctrine onely to serue his wicked and ambitious authoritie and desire And also you shall here perceiue that the holy and auncient Fathers and Doctors are of this opinion that the Scriptures are able to expounde themselues and néede none other interpretor and that there is no case in religion so doubtful or darke but y t it may wel be either proued or reproued by collection and conferēce of the Scripturs Saint Hierome saith Moris est scripturarum obscuris manifesta nectere It is the order of the Scriptures after hard things to ioyne other things that be plaine Saint Augustine also saith Solet circumstantia scripturarum illuminare sententiam The circumstance of the scriptures is wont to giue light and to open the meaning Tertullian giueth the like rule Oportet secundum plura intelligi pauciora The fewer places must be expounded by the moe Thus these learned Fathers and Doctors iudgement is that the Scriptures expounde their owne meaning and one place openeth an other But nowe marke what one of the Popes Chaplaines wryteth concerning the exposition of the Scriptures and whether he agrée with the Diuel or with these saide holy Doctors or not Hosius one of the pillers of the Popes Church saith If a man haue the exposition of the Church of Rome touching anye place of the Scriptures althoughe he neither know nor vnderstand whether and howe it agreeth with the wordes of the Scriptures yet he hath the very word of God You may perceiue by this fellowes writing of what Church he is and that he is of an other Church than Saint Hierom Saint Augustine Tertullian or Chrisostom were for he saith If the Church of Rome expound the Scriptures though it be contrary to the Scriptures or do not agree with the wordes of the Scriptures yet it is the very word of God Thus haue the Popes Doctors deluded the people that the Scriptures were no Scriptures vnlesse it agréede with the expositions and so they made the very word◠of God whyche is our light to Saluation to be very darkenesse and our leader to damnation Marke also what that Caterpiller Cardinall Cusanus writes for the authoritie of their Romishe Churche aboue the Scriptures I tell thee saith he that there is nothing taken for Christes commaundement vnlesse it be so allowed of the Churche meaning the Churche of Rome when the Churche hath chaunged hir iudgement Gods iudgemente is likewise changed Oh abhominable and detestable imps of Sathan though the whorish Church of Rome may change in hir iudgementes yet God in his holy worde is infallible and vnchangeable in hys iudgements What hel-houndes are these that woulde make vs beléeue that as the Popes iudgements doe change so Gods iudgementes doe change and that nothing is taken for Gods commaundement vnlesse the Pope and the Romish Church allowe it but contrary say I that the commaundements of the Pope and of their Churche are nothing vnlesse Christ doth allow them And marke wel for as thys Cusanus hath written euen so the Pope hathe chaunged the law of God cleane contrarye to his own or rather the Diuels commaundement For whereas God himselfe sayde Thou shalt haue none other Gods but me Now that is not Gods cōmandemēt vnles it be allowed by the Church of Rome and bicause the iudgemēt of the church of Rome is changed therfore Gods iudgement therein is changed So that this law must now be takē thus thou shalt honor Pope for a God on earth and thou shalt call him Lorde God the Pope And whereas God saith Thou shalt not make to thy self any grauē Image of any likenesse that is in heauē c. Now the Church of Rome hath changed hir iudgement therein therfore Gods iudgement is changed wherfore that commandment must be turnd thus Thou shalt worship Images as thou wouldst the sonne of God he that worshippeth an Image and saith it is Christe offendeth not nay he offendeth that worshippeth not an Image he that worshippeth not an Image is an heretike thou shalte worship an Image with y e same reuerēce wherwith thou dost worship y e holy Trinitie And wheras God said Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine c. Now the church of Rome hath changed hir Iudgement so that God hath chāged his iudgemēt therin also Therfore now you must say thus if thou haue married a wife thou shalt sweare take thine othe to forsake hir to put hir away from thée but thou shalt not sweare to forsake whoores or harlots or to refuse whoredome And whereas God saith thou shalt keepe holy the Sabboth day c. now that is none of Gods cōmaundement for the Church of Rome hath changed hir iudgement therfore Gods iudgemēt is likewise changed wherfore that lawe must now be turned thus Thou shalt not kéepe holy the Sabboth day but whereas Gods worde should then be redde and preached thou shalt in stéede therof commit idolatrie worship Images and pray vnto them and knéele to Masses and honor a péece of bread and take it for the bodie of Christ. God also saith Honor thy father mother yea but now for that the Church of Rome hath chaunged hir iudgement God hath also in this commandement changed his iudgement therfore that law must now be thus Thou shalt disobey thy father and mother King Prince Country and obey the Pope and the Church of Rome
yea and thou shalt accuse thy father and mother if they professe the Gospell to the holy inquisitors of the church of Rome that they may be burned for Heretikes if thou be an Emperors son or a Kings son thou shalt rise against thy father and put him downe place thy selfe in his roume as Henry the Emperour was serued by his son if he loue embrace the Gospell and do any thing against the Popes wil and pleasure And whereas God saith Thou shalt do no murther now the iudgement of the Church of Rome is chaunged therfore God hath likewise chaunged his iudgement so that thys commaundement must now be turned thus quite contrary Thou shalt murther kil and burne thy brother mother father sister or else any other whatsoeuer he be if he professe the Gospel and followe Christes lawe And whereas God saith Thou shalt not commit adultry nowe the iudgement of the Pope and the Churche of Rome is chaunged and therfore Gods iudgement is chaunged so that this lawe by the iudgement of the Churche of Rome must now be thus Thou shalt not marry but thou maiest haue a Concubine or a Harlot to commit aduoutrie or fornication withal and thou shalt haue a licence for money of the Pope to doe so and so he shall allowe thée to commit aduoutrie or to playe the whoremonger or Harlot but take héede thou marry not according to the law of God for then thou shalte loose all thy lyuing thou shalte be taken for an heretike and the Pope wil not dispence with thée therfore And wheras God saith Thou shalt not steale now y e iudgement of y e Popes church is changed so Gods iudgement is changed therefore this law must now be after this sort thou shalt steale and rob God of his glorie thou shalt giue the glorie that is due to God vnto his Saints nay vnto stockes and stones yea and if thou chaunce to steale anye mans good care not for the Pope shal pardon thée therfore for the Pope by his power is able to dispence with all the lawes both of y e olde Testament of the new Testament And whereas God said Thou shalte not beare false witnesse against thy neighbour nowe forasmuch as the iudgement of the Romishe Church is changed the iudgement of God is changed therfore this lawe muste be turned an other way and thus it muste be taken thou shalt beare false witnesse against God his word say there is no saluation without the Church of Rome and that the death of Christ is not a sufficiēt sacrifice for our sins if thou chance to bear false witnes against one that professes the gospel thou shalt be heard the Pope shal giue thée his blessing for it thou shalte haue no harme therfore And if thou chance to beare false witnes against any for a little mony thou shalt haue y e Popes pardon for it therfore beare false witnesse and spare not for y e pope the holy church of Rome do giue thée leaue And whereas God sayd Thou shalt not couet thy neighbours house thou shalte not couet thy neighbours wife nor his seruant nor his maide nor his Oxe nor his Asse nor anye thing that is his Now this is not Gods commaundement bycause the Churche of Rome doth not allowe it and Gods iudgement is therein changed bycause the Church of Rome hath now chaunged hir iudgement therfore you must turne this lawe vpside downe take it thus thou maist be bolde to couet any thing that is thy neighbors for if thou steale anye thing from hym or take it by vyolence or take thy neighbors wife or his maid lye w t them or lye with thine owne sister and marry hir the Pope wil dispence with thée and pardon thée for money as Pope Martin didde dispence with one that marryed his owne sister Thus this vile and viperous generation haue by their authoritie whiche they say is aboue the Scriptures allowing the scriptures whatsoeuer they list and taking from the same what they thinke good haue turned cleane contrary the commaundements of God into the commaundementes of the Pope whiche you maye plainelye perceiue by their doings and dispensations before mentioned to be the very doctrine of the Diuel And further this Carnal Cardinal sayeth Scripturae ad tempus adaptantur c. Scriptures are applyed to the states of diuerse times so are taken in diuerse senses so that at one time they are expounded according to the current order of the Church but the order being chaunged the sense of the Scripture is likewise changed Howsoeuer they would haue the Scriptures to be chaunged in their meaning the wicked Pope and his presumptuous Prelates are chaunged from al goodnes and truth both in their sayings liuings for according to the time they make the Scriptures and the Gospel of Christ agrée with their doings but they wil not frame their liuings to make thē agrée w t y e scriptures And bycause the Popes conditions and the iudgemente of the Church of Rome is chaunged therefore the meaning and sense of the Scriptures must be chaunged as is before sayde For whereas Christ sayd Blessed are the mercifull for theirs is the kingdome of heauen nowe the meanyng and sense therof ought to be chaunged quite contrarie and say thus blessed are the vnmerciful for theirs is the kingdome of Heauen or else thus vnhappye are the merciful for theirs is the kingdome of Hell And whereas Christe sayde Blessed are the peace makers for they shall bee called the children of God Now according to the time the sense of the Scripture is chaunged bicause the iudgement of the Church of Rome is chaunged and therefore not to be expounded as it was in Christs time So that now it ought to be turned thus Blessed are the peace breakers and they that set men togither by the eares as the Pope doeth and blessed are the rebels that fighte againste their Prince and Country in the Popes quarrel for they shal be called the children of god and the Pope wil giue them the kingdome of heauen And wheras Christ sayth Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorify your Father in heauen Now the meaning thereof is chaunged according to the time therfore now it is thus let not your light shine before men but worke the déedes of darknesse wherby you may please the Diuel your Father And wheras Christ saith Whosoeuer puts away his wife except it be for fornication and marryeth with another cōmitteth aduoutry now for as much as the iudgement of y e Church of Rome is chaunged therfore according to y e time y e meaning of this saying must be changed therfore vnderstand it now thus what Priest soeuer kéepeth his wife and puts hir not away from him though she be neuer so honest shal be coūted
of God you wil scantly like The Popes Doctors say auouch it for truth that if the Priest say thus when he doth Baptise a childe Ego te Baptiso in nomine patris filij spiritus sancti diaboli that is I Baptise thee in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and of the Diuell yet the forme of Baptisme is very good and the child is rightly christned I remember that Christ bad his Apostles Baptise in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost but that he bad them Baptise any in the name of the Diuel I neuer heard If they be rightly christned that are christned in the name of the Diuel according to the Popes law then I hope they are not falsely christned that are christned in the name of God without naming the Diuell accordyng to Gods lawe If wée shoulde allowe such Baptizing to bée good and that they were rightlye Baptized that were Baptized in the name of the Diuell you that call vs nowe Sathans broode woulde then call vs as you myght well the chyldren of the Diuell Must not this Churche of Rome bée a holy Church that hath such goldy doctrine and diuine Doctours if they bée curst that take any thing from the worde of God then they are not blest that adde the Diuell to the Baptizing of the children of God Euerye one that haue an affection to the Popes Religion woulde scantly beléeue that there is such handsome doctrine belonging to his religion This is not much vnlike other of the Romish Doctors doctrine for in the Defence of the Apologie which the learned Bishop of Sarisburie wrote against the confutation of Doctor Harding are these wordes Petrus Asotus Hosius sticke not to affirme that the same Counsell wherein our Sauiour Iesus was condemned to die had both the spirite of Prophesie and the holy Ghost and the spirite of truth And that it was no false saying when the Bishop sayd we haue a lawe and by our lawe he ought to die and that they so saying did light vpon the very truth of iudgemēt and that the same was a iust decree whereby they pronounced that Christ was worthy to die Thus the Popes Prelates take part with Annus Caiphas against Christ. If that were a good true iudgement that most shamefully wrongfully condemned the sonne of God to death then where shal we finde any false and wicked iudgement by this meanes the Popes sentences iudgements in burning the members of Christ for professing of y e Gospel cā not be false wicked or euill I feare they y t say they had the holy ghost the spirite of truth y t iudged Christ to death and that the same was a iust decrée wherby they pronounced y t Christ was worthy to die I feare I say y t they are none of them that Christ dyed for and as they y t iudged Christ most wrongfully did it not by the spirit of God Euen so Asotus Hosius and all other that say y t their iudgement was true that their decrée was iust whereby they pronounced that Christ was worthy to die spake and vttered the same by the spirit of y e diuell for if they gaue true iudgement against Christ then Christ was an offendor and deserued to die The Lorde blesse euery man from beléeuing the doctrine of such that either say or beléeue that Christ the Sonne of God that neuer offēded nor sinned was worthily or rightly condemned to die If our Bishops Preachers and Doctors shoulde preach teache or write such blasphemous doctrine you might then iustly cal vs Heretiks as we may wel cal them al other y t take their partes blasphemers the disciples of Antichrist But Caiphas sayd it is good that one man die for the people least all the people perishe Ergo sayth M. Harding Caiphas had the spirit of God To whom that learned and worthie M. Iewel late Bishop of Sarisburie replyes with these wordes But that ye may the better M. Harding espie your ouersight like as ye saye Caiphas prophesied blindly himselfe not vnderstanding what he sayd Ergo he had the holy Ghost S Paule sayth no man can say the Lorde Iesus but in the Spirit of God hereof by your Logicke you may reason thus the Diuell sayd vnto Christ I knowe that thou arte Christ the Sonne of the liuing God Ergo the Diuell had the Spirit of God c. If Caiphas had the spirit of God then he had y e holy ghost that wrote this note vpon the Popes decrée that the Iewes had committed mortall sinne if they had not nayled Christ to the Crosse. Now open your eyes and beholde whether this be good sound doctrine or not y t these Papisticall Doctors do teach They that worship God aright follow Christes Gospel wil do detest such diuellish doctrine Therefore flie from this Romish Church that taketh the Pope to be hir heade and that refuseth to be tried by the Scriptures and spéedily become members of that Churche that taketh Christ to be hir heade and is content to bée iudged by the Scriptures For they that are of Christ will heare his voyce which is the Gospell which true Church wherof Christ is the head can not be knowne but by the Scriptures Chrisostome saith now can no mā know the Church but by the scriptures S. Augustine saith Whether they haue the Church or no let them shewe by the Canonicall Bookes of the holy scriptures we must know the Church euen lykewise as we know Christ which is the head of the Churche in the holy Canonicall Scriptures Againe he saith the holy Scriptures shewes the Churche without any doubtfulnesse Againe the question or doubt is where the Churche shoulde be what then shall we doe whether shall we seeke the Churche in our owne wordes or in the wordes of hir heade which is our Lorde Iesus Christ In my iudgement wee ought rather to seeke the Churche in his wordes for that he is the trueth and best knoweth his owne body And agayne he sayeth Let vs not heare these wordes this say I This sayest thou but these wordes let vs heare Thus sayth the Lorde there let vs seeke the Churche there let vs discusse our cause And Saint Ambrose sayeth the Church shineth or is knowne not by hir owne light but by the light of Christ which is the word of God These learned holy and auntient fathers wordes are sufficient to proue vnto vs that y e Church of Christ is known and is chiefely to be discerned by the word of God But what if these auncient and learned Doctors had not written thus shoulde wée then haue taken that for the Churche of God which the Popes doctrine doeth allowe then we shoulde haue a trimme and holy Church as by the premysses doth appeare And nowe bicause nothing can describe which is the true Church better than Christ
yee alleage none But howe may it seeme likely that yee punish so cruelly your Bishops for fauourable dealing herein seeing your high and all only Bishop and the Bishop of all Bishops is so wel content vpon agreement for money to licence both Bishops and Priestes to keepe Concubines If yee mistrust the trueth hereof beside your common practise as you know your owne Pope Gregorie himselfe will soone tell you touching aduoutrye and other small faults Here the Pope makes aduoutrye but a slender or small sinne The Bishop after penance done may dispēce with a Priest Likewise again it is noted in your glose with Priestes hauing sundry Concubines the Byshop may dispence that they maye neuerthelesse do their office Thus fornicating Priestes are good ynoughe to saye the Popes Masse and seruice for such holye seruice such holye Priests And in the sayd former glose sayth Maister Iewel you shall finde another speciall note well worthye to bee written in the Popes Gallerie in letters of gold And this is it that followeth Marke wel that he that keepeth sundrye Concubines is not thereby made Irregular Which is that he hath not broken his order of Priesthoode but is as good as holy and vertuous a Priest as though he kept no Concubines or played not the fornicator Is not this a trim glose that can glose that fornicating Priestes are right and perfit Priestes I wil not saye but that they are righte and fit Priestes for the Pope and the Diuell but they are not méete and perfect Priests for God and Christ. If Priestes that kéepe neuer so manye Harlots be righte and perfecte Priestes then it were a hard worlde that the Pope should lacke Priests But now sée how their own gloses disclose their knauerie Thus it is Marke wel sayth the glose here is a maruellous straunge reckning The Bishop dispenceth with him that offendeth hauing sundrye Concubines but with him that offendeth not hauing married two wiues yea or but one wife he dispenceth not Therfore he shal be Christes Uickar no longer but the Uickar of the Diuel And further he sayth Here lecherie hath more libertie thā chastitie If they had made no falser nor worser gloses than this their gloses then woulde haue bene more true and godlye than they are Again in the decrées it is thus writtē Whatsoeuer woman haue such companie with Priests let them be remoued by the Bishop and solde and made slaues Vnto this law being in it selfe ouer rigorous the glose addeth this fauourable construction let them be sold and made slaues This is true if the Priests marry with them as with their wiues Otherwise I graunt not that for simple fornication they maye bee sold. By this goodly glosing marriage is double fornication And here they punish the maried and sell them for slaues and suffer the fornicators to be in quiet and reste what a heauenly interpretation of the Popes decrées is this you shal not finde such a glorious glose in the whole Byble Otho in his Legantines sayth thus The Priest that opēly keepeth Concubines let him be deposed Herevpon the glose sayth thus He that openly keepeth Concubines let him be deposed vnderstand thou by this word openly if he be not afraide though hee appeare vnto the people it is otherwise if he keepe his Concubine secretly whether it be◠in an other mans house or in his owne for so he commeth not within the daunger of the law for a house betokeneth not an open matter Thus therefore sayeth the glose expound thou this constitution if hee keepe his Concubine openlye that is to saye if hee keepe hir commonlye and in the sighte of manye Therefore if such a Concubine bee sene twice or thrice openly it is not sufficient and so endeth the glose This Churche of Rome muste néedes be a very catholike Church that hath suche Catholike constructions and gloses of hir lawes By this kinde of glosing if a Priest lye not wyth hys Concubine or Harlot in an open Fayre or Market or in the open stréete that euerye one maye looke on them or sée them they are safe ynough this law cannot once touch or hurte them you call the Gospellers Lutheranes Swinglyans Hugonets and Caluinistes and I can not tel what and take them for moste rankest Heretikes in the world and that they gaue libertie to sinne but yet neither Luther Zwinglius Caluine nor anye other that are Gospellers made euer any such construction or exposition of anye parte of the Scriptures nor in anye of their preachings or writings giue such libertie to sinne in any point but perswade from sin as the Popes doctors by y e construing and glosing of the Popes laws and decrées haue giuen liberty for fornication and whoredome as here it doth too manyfestly appeare I am sure there are many of you simple and ignorant persons that fauour Papistrye y t would not haue thought that the Pope and his Prelates had any such gloses and that the Pope were such an open maintayner of sinne and whoredome and such a sufferer of suche horrible vices and blasphemies againste God as herein is most truelye and plainely described And further in this point M Iewel sayeth to M. Harding Wheras you say if a Bishop shew fauour herein he himselfe shal be suspended your own Doctour Abbot Panormitane would haue you the contrarie Who saith the Bishop is not bound to depriue a Priest that kepeth a Cōcubine To make short saith M. Iewel yee also haue of greate prouidence deuised a special premunire to embolden your Priestes in fornication and to warraunt them free from all daunger of any your lawes made in that behalfe For thus you saye If a lay man by the instigation of the Diuell accuse a Prieste of an incontinent life straight way he is thrust backe and put to silence The lay sort may not be hearde in the accusation of a Bishop And againe a lay man may not accuse a Prieste of fornication This is that extremitie and vniuersal rigour Maister Harding that yee shewe your Priests in these causes no laye manne maye accuse them no Bishoppe maye depriue them and no law may touch them Hildricus the Bishoppe of Augusta in Germanie writing vnto Pope Nicholas against the restrainte of Priestes marriage vseth the like manner of speech as we haue vsed Thus he saith vnto this commaundement I wil not say vnto this Counsel they set so foolishe and so shamefull a suggestion that they say it is an honester thing for a priest to be entangled with many Concubynes in secrete and priuilie then openly and in sight and in knowledge of all the world bee ioyned in marriage with one wife which thing verilye they woulde not vtter if they were either of him or in him that saith wo be vnto you ye Pharises that do al things to please men In like sort the coūsel of Worms wrote sometime against Pope Hyldebrand for that he had deuised great rigour and tirannie to
sunder Priestes from their wiues saying He placeth strumpets before honest wiues and fornication incest and aduoutry before Chast marriage What neede wee manye wordes in so cleare a case the whole practise of your Church M. Harding professeth the same If a Priest marrie a wife yee suspende him yee excommunicate him yee depriue him ye disquiet him and trouble the whole Church But if he keepe a Concubine one two or three ye are then contented and readie not onely to dissemble it but also with fauour to excuse it Thus much Master Iewel against Maister Harding I heard it credibly tolde that a certaine married Priest came in Quéene Maries time to Doctour Bonner then Bishop of London bringing a letter with hym from a gentleman that was wel acquainted with the Bishop which letter was to desire the sayd Bishop Bonner to be good to the Prieste for the admitting of him into a certaine benefice that he required which letter y e Bishop louingly receâ—ued willingly red which done the Bi. shewed a louing countenaunce vpon y e Priest bidding him to come again to him another time then he would answere him what he wold do As soone as the saide Priest was gone there was one y t was in coÌ„pany of the B. that knew the Prieste who sayde vnto the Bishop my Lord if you let him haue the benefice you know not what you do why said the Bishop forsoothe my Lord sayd he bycause he is a married Prieste is he so said y e Bishop now afore God let me alone y e knaue wil come to me againe And then after within thrée or foure days the same Priest came again to Bonner the Bishop of London Ah sirra said y e B. you are euen he y t I loke for you are a married knaue you no my Lord said the Priest y t is vntrue whosoeuer told it to your Lordship no said the B. it is credibly told me y t you are a married Priest truely said the Priest I had a woman I must néeds confesse but I neuer toke hir for my wife but for my Harlot no sayd the B. I pray God it be no worse I pray God it be no worse and so went casting his armes abrode saying stil I pray God it be no worse as though to haue a wife was worse than to kepe a whore Whether this honest chaste Prieste sped of that he came to the Bishoppe for I knowe not but the Bishop was better pleased with him for saying that he toke hir for his whore than if he hadde sayde that she was hys wife Thus you maye well perceiue that thoughe the Popes shew a face of chastitie by restrayning of Priests from mariage yet both he and his Prelates preferre and mainetaine abhominable whoredome as by the sequele it shall more manifestly appeare Upon the Legantine constructions of Otho ye maye finde these words noted in the glose Whether may a Priest be forced to forsweare his CoÌ„cubine or not it seemeth saith the glose that he may not the resolution hereof is this If a Priest haue married a wife in this case he is forced to forsake hir by an othe Thus these holye Fathers forbidde not fornication nor aduoutrye nor they maye not take an othe to putte their Harlots away but they muste sweare to put away their wiues and to forsake them If Saint Paul had the holy ghost then this Popes lawe is the doctrine of Diuels Further the glose sayth but marke it wel for it is good doctrine It seemeth that the Church of Rome ought to dissemble the falt of whoredome or else it is not worthye to be Sathans Synagoge for the Popes Marshal in deede receiueth tribute or pention of whores Is not this holy father worthye to beléeued estéemed and honored of you as a GOD or Christs own vickar that mayntaines Stewes and brothell houses and takes yearelye rente for whoredome you shal not finde in all the Scripturs that God did either appointe it but plainly forbad it or that eyther Christ or Saint Peter who they say was the first Pope did euer permit or allow it or got money on that fashion Yet Maister Harding woulde fayne excuse the Pope for the kéeping of his Stewes and therefore he sayth thus as followeth Wherefore is the Bishoppe of Rome more to bee blamed for maynetenaunce of his Stewes than the Frenche King or the King of Spayne well sayde Mayster Harding it is spoken like a Diuine Doctour you haue w t no small consideration allowed the Popes Stewes For though the French King and King of Spayne can learne no chastitie of y e Pope yet the Pope may learne Whoredome of the French King of the king Spaine But me thinks the Frenche King and the King of Spaine mighte saye thus rather why maye not we maintayne whoredome and open Stewes as well as our holye Father the Pope for if it were not good and lawful he being Christs vickar would neither vse it nor suffer it This had bene more méete for a lerned Doctour to haue said though not for a Catholike Doctour God sayde vnto the Iewes There shal bee no whore of the daughters of Israell nor anye whore-keeper of the sonnes of Israel Yea but the Pope and his glosers may glose this saying well ynoughe for they may saye that the Pope nor his Prelates nor Priestes that are within hys Uickaredge or Dioces are no Iewes nor are the sonnes or daughters of Iacob Therefore they are none of the sonnes or daughters of Israel and so they maye kéepe whores and playe the Harlots well ynough and bicause Gods law doth not touche them therfore the Popes law doth allow them Marke here what a straight law was made against women for lying with Priests In a prouinciall Councel holden at Oxford it is written thus Let Priests Cuncubineâ— be warned by the Archdeacon c. if they wil not amend then let them bee forbidden to kisse the Pax and to take holye breade in the Church was not this a grieuous and sore punishment to make Harlots refuse their whoredome wyth Priests did their Harlots care so much for kissing of the Pax that they woulde forsake the kissing of Priests no I warrant you and therfore this hard and straight law was made As good a law to auoyde druÌ„knesse were this whosoeuer wil not forbeare drinking of wine wherby they become drunke let them in no wise be suffred to drink water this is as good a law to suppresse drunkennesse as their law at Oxford was to auoyde whoredome Saint Paul sayth It is better to marry than to burne but the Pope is of a clean contrary spyrite and iudgement For his lawes and his déedes shewes that it is better to burne in concupiscence than to marry But if Saint Pauls words be turned cleane backward they will be the Popes owne law And though the Popes law is quite contrary to gods law yet I dare vndertake to make the Popes law
Gods law agrée both in one and that very quicklye yet manye would thinke that it is a very harde thing to doe bycause they séeme so contrarie one to another And marke for thus I wyll make them agrée If in euerye sentence of Gods law you do put in this word not if it be not there alredy and likewise if you take the same word not out of euerye sentence of the same where it is assure your selfe that then the whole lawe of God wyll straight way be turned into the verye lawe of the Pope as thus for example God sayde Thou shalt haue none other Gods but me put not away and then it is thou shalt haue other Gods than me Also God sayth Thou shalt not make to thy selfe anye grauen Image c. Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them But take not out of the same sentence and then it wil be thus thou shalt make to thy selfe grauē Images thou shal bow down to them and worship them And again God sayth Thou shalt not kill take not away from it and then it is thou shalt kil And again God saith Thou shalt not committe adultry take away not and then it is thou shalt commit adultry And thus these holy laws of God by taking away not are now quickly turned into the Diuellishe lawes of the Pope And wheras Christe sayth Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall bee called the children of God but if you putte this word not to it then it is blessed are not the peace-makers for they shal be called the children of God And whereas Christ sayth Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes adde this worde not vnto it and then it will be thus let not your light shine before men that they maye not sée youre good workes and thus you maye quicklye and easily turne the lawe of God into the law of the Pope You maye sée by this preatie lesson that followes whether y e Pope by his restrayning of Priests from Marriage doth meane that thereby they shoulde lyue chaste or not this it is marke it wel Si non castè tamen cautè If you deale not chastely yet deale charily The rule is both pretie and shorte thoughe the Pope knows that his Chaplaines can not hyde their vitious lyuing from God yet he would haue thē hyde it from men A man may looke through the whole Bible and yet finde not suche a fine rule for whoredome and bycause it is not to be founde in the Bible but directly against the doctrine of the Bible therefore I maye conclude that it is thoughe it came from the Pope the doctrine of the Diuel But Maister Harding did allowe it wel ynoughe for whatsoeuer it pleased the Pope to allowe hée woulde not sticke to affyrme for the saide Maister Harding saith That thereby a man is not animated or boldened at all to do euil but if he hap to do his vncleane lust or wil not be staid from it is admonished to do it charily thoughe not chastely It doth not animate him saith he at al to doe euil and truly I cannot sée how it should bolden him to do good If we had no other lawe for théeues but these wordes that followe If men liue not truely yet let them steale priuily do you think that then we should haue as few théeues as we haue I thinke not And as this would encrease the théeues so doth that fine rule of the Popes bréede fornicators aduoutrers whoores and harlots Thoughe Maister Harding say that it doth not animate or encourage them to doe euill And thoughe he accompte it as a good admonition yet Saint Paule in my iudgement gyueth a better admonition who saith To auoide fornication lette euerye man haue his wife better it is to marry than to burne that is in desire or concupiscence thus though not by the Popes lawe yet by Saint Paules rule Priestes oughte to haue wiues to auoide fornication if they be men mary if they be women they are then without the compasse of S. Paules admonition Marke what Petrus Rauennus one of the Popes Canonistes vpon the Decretalles saith Notwithstanding handling and kissing in Lay persons bee the occasions or beginnings of incontinent or vnchaste behauiour yet in Priestes it is farre otherwise Uery well sayde and Doctor-lyke for Priestes doe not kisse or dally with women as other men doe for the Priestes kissing and dallying with women is the beginning of godly deuotion Therefore when wée sée a Priest kisse or dally with a woman wée muste assure our selues that by and by after they will fall to prayer suche vertue haue Priestes in theyr kyssyng and dallying aboue other menne And this was the cause that women haue so willingly suffered Priests to dally with them to kisse thē Here is also a goldē glose for maintaining of priests chastitie And thus it is If a Priest embrace a woman a Lay man must iudge of it thus that he doth it to the intent to blesse hir and wel saide for suche blessings of the Priestes haue béene so full of vertue that many women thereby haue had such Tympanyes that they coulde neuer be helped of theyr disease before they had Midwiues to be their Phisitions Are not these goodly gloses to make Priests to liue chast In diuers places vnder the Pope the Byshoppes and Officialles doe not onelye suffer Priestes to haue Concubines so that they pay certayne summes of money but also compell continent and chaste Priestes whych liue without Concubines to pay tribute for Concubines affyrming that the Byshoppe hathe néede of mony whych beyng paid it shall be lawful for them eyther to liue chaste or to kepe Concubines at their pleasure muste not these holye Fathers be of a sound and true religion that maintaine theyr Prelates and Priestes to liue thus chastely and that doe not onely allowe whoredome and forbid marriage but also compell men to pay money for the kéeping of whores that would liue without them Here you may plainely sée that the lawe for restraint of Priests marriage is not that the Priests should liue chastly but thereby to get money for licencing them to sinne I wil not deny but that these Popes and Prelates are spirituall menne but they are not inspyred with the spirite of God but they are led by the spirite of the Diuell It were more reasonable me thinkes that the Pope if he woulde néedes haue money to take money of Priests for hauing of wiues than for kéeping of whoores Cardinall Caietane saith that The Pope maye dispence with a Priest of the Weast Church to marry a wife in my opinion hée maye do so well ynoughe for he that may dispence with Priestes of the Easte Church to kéepe whoores which God doth forbid he maye dispence with Priestes of the Weast Churche to marry wiues which God doeth allowe But I maruel what the Priests of the
East Church haue offended that they may not be dispenced withall to marry as wel as the Priests of the Weast Church belike the Pope thinkes that God hathe appointed the Easterne Priestes to liue in whoredome and the Westerne Priests to liue in marriage sureâ—y this your Romish religion is the fondest the vnreasonablest and most coÌ„trary to it self of al other Thus I trust you are satisfied for the marriage of Priests and Ministers which I haue not onelye proued to be lawful by Gods lawe by the ancient Doctors by reason but also haue manifested what mischiefe and wickednesse this vowed chastitie of Priests hath wrought besides the Popes abhominable lawes and shameful suffring nay rather maintaining and procuring of whordome and most vitious liuing of his Prelates and Priestes And nowe as I reproued the forbidding of Priestes marriage and other of the doctrine of the Churche of Rome manifesting the same to be moste wicked and vngodly and against the word of God euen so I will proue that your Masse is moste wicked detestable and that the Sacrament as you vse it is bothe moste abhominable Idolatrie and not the body of Christe as your Romishe religion doth teach and as you beléeue though you thinke Gods worde can not confounde it no doctrine disproue it no writers ouerthrowe it nor no reason condemne it And now to beginne therein whereas many of you are persuaded that this youre Masse was vsed of Christe and his Apostles and so came from them your opinion therein is moste vntrue false for if Christe hadde instituted it and the Apostles had vsed it then assure youre selues that Christe woulde haue made mention thereof in the Gospell or Saint Luke would haue shewed it in the Actes of the Apostles or the Apostles woulde haue written of it in their Epistles or else GOD would haue reuealed it in the Reuelations whereby Saint Iohn woulde haue vttered it in the Apocalips and therefore forasmuche as there is no mention at al in any of those places eyther of the Masse or of any part of it as you haue it wée muste néedes thinke and are moste assured that it is not to be receiued allowed vsed nor estéemed but rather to be eschewed and contemned of all true Christians for whatsoeuer is necessarye for vs Christe and hys Apostles haue vttered in the Newe Testament And therefore this that I haue alreadye sayd is sufficient to ouerthrowe and quyte to confound your Masse For where shoulde we Christians looke for Christe oure Capitaines lawe but in Christes Booke and what other Booke hath Christe but onelye the Newe Testament therefore hys lawe and wil is there to be founde and no where else and so whatsoeuer is not to be found in that booke is not the law of Christe and bycause your Masse is not to be found in the Newe Testament therefore it is not Christes lawe nor commaundement and séeyng it is not Christes lawe nor commaundement what shoulde Christians doe with it this me thinke were sufficient for you vtterly to refuse and forsake the Masse bycause it is not mentioned by Christe nor his Apostles Perhappes some of you wyll saye thoughe it be not in the Gospell yet therefore it is not to be reiected for that Christe lefte many things oute of the Gospell that hée woulde haue vs to follow whych you would séeme to proue by these wordes of Christe which he spake to his Apostles I haue many things to saye vnto you but you are not able to beare them yet c. if this be the best foundation to build your Masse on it wil be quite ouerthrowne at the firste I can tel you that this is the text whereby the Pope would proue his Purgatorie and pardons with much of his other trashe I muse that any wil be so fonde as once to thinke that a text wil proue that thing wherof it makes no mention you are very hard driuen for your Masse when you muste be faine to trye it by a sentence that neither names it nor meanes it He is harde bestadde that is enforced to go to one for the tryal of hys honestie that neyther knows him nor euer sawe him Bycause Christe saide I haue manye things to say vnto you but you are not able yet to beare them therefore you muste knéele to the Masse whiche is a Sacrifice both for the quicke and the dead Is not this a good proofe thinke you what if the Quéenes Maiestie should say to one of hir seruantes sirra I haue many thinges to saye vnto thée but bycause thou canst not nowe remember them al I wil tell thée my minde when I come againe Nowe when the Quéene is gone if the same fellowe shoulde saye that hir Grace by these wordes did giue him one of hir greatest Parkes and Lordships that he woulde choose and so hée therevppon pluckes downe hir Pales and houses putting oute hir tenauntes and buildes what he listeth vppon hir ground do you thinke therfore that this was the Quéenes meaning or doe you thinke that she will be well contente with his doynges I thinke not Nowe looke what authoritie this man had by these hir wordes to haue one of hir beste Parkes and Lordshippes and to plucke downe hir houses and Parke pales and thereon to build what he list euen so by like aucthoritie of the saide wordes of Christ the Pope hath entred and taken possession of Christes Church plucking downe his ordinaunces taking away the Scriptures whiche is the wal and defence of his Churche and putting out the Preachers of Gods worde building and setting vp insteade therof in the same this your monstrous Masse with all the Idolatrie belonging to the same which Christ neuer thought nor meant by these his words if euery seruant might construe take his Maisters wordes in this order spoken in like sorte and shoulde by aucthoritie haue it performed the Maisters within a while should become seruants the seruants would be Lords Maisters as the Popes be who make the scriptures to meane what they list But Christe to hedge you out of this libertie and that you shoulde not build your Masse nor other dreames out of these aforesaide wordes written in the 16. chap. of S. Iohn he shewes more plainely in the 14. chap. of S. Iohns gospel what things they are y t they are not yet able to bear away or remember And these are the words But that comforter the holy ghost whome my father will sende in my name he shall teache you all and bring al to your remembraunce whatsoeuer I haue tolde you Hereby it plainly appéeres y t neither the Pope nor any other can imagine out of their own brains any thing by y e same words of Christ but only such thiÌ„gs as Christ had told his disciples before al which throughe their fleshly weaknessâ— they coulde not remember vntill they had receiued the holy Ghoste who dyd then putte them in remembraunce of al thynges that Christ had tolde
only contemning and despising them but also all other that knewe it would neuer after buy any of those his priuiledges And also the Pope is right certaine if he should sell one a plackard that whatsoeuer he did steale he should neuer be hurt hanged nor put to death for the same yet when he should be troubled hanged or executed for stealing which he should be sure of at one time or other then the same théefe would not only crie out of the Pope for deceyuing of him and for selling to him suche a false plackard and perhaps would saie that he had neuer played the théefe but for the Popes warrant to saue him harmelesse as manye I feare would not sin so muche but for the Popes pardons but also euery one that shoulde heare howe the Pope hadde serued hym woulde despise the Pope and buy no more of his plackardes But as these that shoulde buy suche Priuiledges of the Pope to robbe and steale at their pleasure without anye feare of punishement were worthye to bée compted for théeues so you that buy the Popes pardons to release you of your sinnes whereby you may be bolde to offende God at youre pleasure can not be compted verye true to God But nowe for that perhaps you wil giue but small regarde to my reasons arguments or persuasions for the reprouing of the Popes pardons though some of you may happly yéelde as bad reasons arguments or persuasions for the proouing of the Popes pardons I will first shewe you by Christes owne wordes who is worthy to be beléeued that we ought to craue pardon for oure sinnes onelye of God For in our prayer whiche Christe taught vs wée do say Our father which art in heauen c. Forgiue vs our trespasses c. Here you maye sée that wée are taughte by Christe to aske pardon for oure sinnes of God and not of the Pope And forasmuch as we committe our sins againste God and not againste the Pope therefore wée ought to craue Gods pardon and not the Popes pardon if we offende the Pope the Popes pardons maye doe vs pleasure but if we sinne against God the Popes pardons can doe vs no good though they may doe vs muche harme by trusting to them that can do vs no good Al the holy Patriarkes Prophets holy and vertuous kings that God both loued and blessed Christs Apostles al holy Martirs other godly men did neuer aske pardon for their sins and offences but onely of God And shal wée think that bycause they had not the Popes pardon y t therfore they wer not pardned or shal we beléeue that you are better pardned of the Pope than they were of God think you what you wil for I can neuer thinke it neither wil beléeue it If you can shewe me but one of the holy Patriarks Prophets or the Apostles or godly martyres or other auntient and holy fathers that either bought any of these Popes pardons or desired anye of the Popes pardons as wée can shewe you that euery one of them didde onely require and craue Gods pardon I will yéelde vnto you and graunte that the Popes pardons are good necessarie and requisite But bycause I am sure you cannot therefore to allowe the Popes pardons we oughte not And bycause none of all these holy menne of God whome God dearely loued nor yet Christe the sonne of God whome God aboue all other estéemed did neuer teach write nor once make mention of the Popes pardons therefore I am sure that they are neither good nor necessarie For if the Popes pardons hadde béene so full of vertue as some of you fondely beléeue wée should haue hearde something of them in one place or other of the Scriptures Nowe for that they are not warranted by Gods word nor to be foūd in any part of the Bible therefore if you are true Christians if you loue Christe if you woulde haue Christ to take you to be of his shéepe and flocke then beléeue not the Popes pardons trust not to the Popes pardons neither allow the Popes pardons bycause they are not allowed nor expressed in the Gospel and lawe of Christe For if an Aungell shoulde come from Heauen or if one should come vnto vs in the likenes of Christ teaching any other doctrine than Christe hathe alreadye taught vs we ought not to beléeue them Then wée may wel ynough discredite the Pope that is a wicked earthlye man cleane contrary to God and also contemne and refuse his paltrie pardons that are contrary to Gods worde And though some of you through ignorance and Papisticall persuasions thinke that the Scriptures doe allowe the Popes pardons you shall here what Siluester Prierias that was Maister of the Popes Pallace writeth therein who saith Pardons are not knowne vnto vs by the aucthoritie of Gods worde but by the aucthoritie of the Church of Rome and of the Pope whiche is greater than the aucthoritie of the Scriptures Here you sée that the Popes owne seruant confesses that pardons are not aucthorized or warranted by Gods worde but they are aucthorized by the Churche of Rome and by the Pope whose aucthoritie hée saith is greater than the word of God Marke this wel to proue the Popes abhominable pardons the vile wretch and the Diuels Doctor doth not sticke to committe moste horrible blasphemie making the Pope aboue God and the Churche of Rome aboue the lawe of God Saint Iohn saith In the beginning was the worde and the worde was with God and the worde was God c. So that hereby it appeareth that God and his worde is all one Then thys Siluester Prierias affyrmeth That the aucthoritie of the Pope is greater than the aucthoritie of God For if the aucthoritie of the Pope be greater than the aucthoritie of Gods worde and God his worde be all one then it must néedes be so and so by this meanes this vile blasphemer maketh the Pope and the Churche of Rome to bée greater than God and hys worde I hope that you that are the déepest drowned in Papistrie wyll detest and abhorre the Popes pardons that muste bée allowed or aucthorized by one that is greater than God and his word O flie from this purple whoore of Babilon the Antichrist that thus extolleth hir selfe aboue God and hys worde leaste you bée partakers of Gods terrible vengeance that God hath prepared for hir Fisher once Byshoppe of Rochester sayeth That hee knoweth not from whence pardons firste beganne whiche hangeth only vppon Purgatorie then what shall we néede pardons Marke also how the Popes pardons do bewray themselues what they are for some of the Popes pardons are for a twentie thousande yeres and if you set all the yeares of the Popes pardons togither they come to such a number as they that bought them paid for them yea and all other y t should haue profite by them shal haue little néed of them For the whole worlde will not laste by coniecture nor by conference
pleasure to talke of their tormentes yet they had no great pleasure in féeling their torments But who I pray you did put them to death in their errour false heresie as you call it euen they y t are of your holy Romish Church who without repētance shall answer y e shedding of their guiltlesse bloud yea some haue not sticked to say that they that were burned were damned which was but a hard iudgement first to iudge their bodies to be burned here on earth and after their soules to be burned in Hell they will not stand to this iudgement they will rather appeale But if they died in errour and are damned as some of your religion saide then who was the cause of their damnation forsooth euen they that condemned them and burned them for thoughe they had bene so wilfull to burne in an euill opinion yet they shoulde not haue bene so mercilesse to haue burned them in that opinion If you should sée a mad man running into a pit to drown himself would you run after him thrust him into the pyt The children of God would rather pluck him backe saue him frō drowning Euen so if they had bene such heretikes as you would make them their opinions so damnable as you report them why did your holy religious brethren of the Churche of Rome so cruelly burne them whereby they were damned haue you no greater zeale to your brethren but so rashly and vncharitably to sende them to hell Euerlasting damnatiō is an horrible and dolefull thing for they that are there once shal be in torments vnspeakable in hell fyre for euer and euer worlde without ende And can you or any such looke to haue any mercie at Gods hande that thruste your brethren being as you say in a damnable opinion or heresie first into the fire here and burne them from thence sende them into an other fire the fire of hell where they shall burne for euer truely you may looke and hope for mercie but if you refraine not from this your heathenish crueltie and repent the same vnfaynedly you are more like to goe without it than haue it You that are such burners of your brethren herein doe condemne your selues for most cruell and mercylesse tyrants for you burne them here and after say they be damned The Franciscane Friers of Paris in Fraunce maye séeme to bée more charitable than the Popishe persecutors before mētioned for they whiles one was in a good opinion as they said hanged him vp quickly bicause he should be saued go to Heauen but these said cruell Papists haue burned their brethrē bicause they should go to hel Marke it wel for it is worth y e hearing There was a ritch marchant mā in Paris who said in 〈◊〉 to the Friers of S. Fraunces you weare a rope about your bodyes bicause S. Fraunces once shoulde haue bene hanged and the Pope redéemed 〈◊〉 vppon this condition that all his lyfe after he shoulde weare a rope Upon this saying the Franciscane Friers of Paris caused him to be apprehended and to be laid in prison also iudgement past vppon him that he shoulde be hanged But he to saue his life was content to recant and so did the Friers hearing of his recantation commended him saying if he continued so he should be saued and so the Friers calling vpon the officers caused them to make hast to the gallowes to hang him vp whiles he was yet in a good way sayd they least he fal againe And so this Marchant notwithstanding his recantation was hanged Thus though some of you do burne men to send them to hell yet these charitable Friers did hang this Marchant to sende him to heauen But as your burning of vs contrarie to your saying doth bring vs through Christ to saluation so I pray God that the Friers hanging of the Marchant contrarie to their saying did not bring him to damnation If the Popes Friers do hang men for iesting against them then it is no maruell though the Popes Champions doe burne men for speaking against them in earnest The hanging of this Marchant may well be iustice according to y e Popes lawe but it is scant iustice by Gods lawe nor by the lawe of any godly Prince These holy Friers might learne this of the Diuell for I am sure they neuer learned it of God You shall sée by Christes wordes whether you that doe this murther and persecute your brethren are of God or the Diuel Christ saith Whatsoeuer you would that men should doe to you do euen the same to them Now weigh with your selues would you be content that if you were heathen men or Iewes that other shoulde burne you and sende you thereby after to hell I thinke not Christ saith Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie but the Papisticall persecutors are vnmercifull tyrantes as their burning of their brethren and their saying after they be damned do euidently declare therfore you that are the Popes persecutors are vnhappie shal not obteine mercy vnlesse as I said you repent in time But we are most sure that they are not gone to Hell as some of your sect haue both boasted and bragged for they are vnder the Altar where the rest of the Saints Martirs be that haue dipt their garments in y e bloud of the Lambe But if they had bin in errour or Heresie thus you would haue serued them And though they died willingly they died not in Heresie and yet they died not so willingly as the mad man I spoke of parabolically but that they woulde haue liued if they might with a safe conscience without denying Christ. For you droue them to a mischiefe eyther to be burned here in your fire and to saue their endlesse life in Heauen or else to saue their life here and to burne for euer in Hell who remembred Christes wordes which are these Whosoeuer shall denie me afore men him also will I denie before my father in Heauen Thus you may sée what cruell Tirantes the Pope and his partakers are that without all pittie and mercie do burne and kill vs here to burne vs and kill vs euerlastingly in Hell And yet the Popes for all this call themselues the Seruants of Gods Seruants but if the Pope be such an vnderling then he vsed y e Emperour his maister but homely when he made him lie downe and trode in his necke and also if the Pope be the Seruant of Gods seruants then he is a very euill seruant that hath killed so many of his maisters And now you shall haue an other infallible rule that our Religion is the true Religion and that the true professors and followers thereof are of the kingdome of God The Popes kingdome is encreased and mainteyned with crueltie murther and persecuting but Christs kingdome increaseth by humilitie by being murthered and persecuted for though the true Christians are dayly killed and murthered yet their number is