Images are goodly ceremonies Your taking of Ashes bearing of Palme displinge with white roddes créeping to the crosse sencing and kissing of Images and burning of candles before them are goodly ceremonies Your solemne and pompous processions about your Churches and churchyardes wéekely and about your parishes yéerely are goodly obseruations Your solemne and backanall Feastes that you obserue yerely in the honour of such Angelles and men as you thinke to bée in high fauour with God and able to furder your sutes to him or of themselues to doo you some pleasure are goodly obseruations Your yerely feastes of Lent Ember Saints Vigilles and wéekely Fridayes and Saterdayes are goodly obseruations with many moe which now I doo not remember But it may be that some of your sorte will thinke that I doo vse this Epitheton Goodly by a figure in speach named by the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And is vsed when men speake one thing and meane the contrarie Surely such as doo so take my meaning doo not take it amisse for what reason is there to mooue a man to applie this Epitheton goodly in the right sence thereof to these such other ceremonies and obseruations wherein there is nothing that rightly may be called either good or goodlye We are contented therefore that your Popish Catholique Church doo take to her selfe the whole praise and commendation that the inuention of these goodly ceremonies and obseruations hath or can deserue Yea we would be verie sorie that any of your sorte should bee able to make good proofe that any of our sorte had instituted or ordayned any of those goodly ceremonies or obseruations that you estéeme so highly of As for the feastes of Easter and Whitsontyde we know that God him selfe dyd first institute them the one namely Easter in the remembraunce of the deliueraunce of the people of Israell out of Egipt and the other that is Whitsontyde or Pentecost in the remembraunce of the publishing of the Lawe in the mount Sinaie Whych as they were remembraunces of thinges then past so they were figures or shadowes of thinges then to come and now alreadie fulfilled in the death and resurrection of our Sauiour Christ and in the sending of the holy Ghost vpon the Apostles the fifteth day after the resurrection of our Sauiour Christ And we are perswaded that these two feastes were obserued euen by the Apostles themselues in rememberaunce of our deliuerance which we haue by the death and resurrection of our Sauiour Christ and of the comming of the holy Ghost which rested vpon the Apostles in the forme of firie tongues deuided Yea and we doo thinke that the Saboth or the Lordes day commonly called the Sonday was obserued by the Apostles yea and that shortly after the tyme of the Apostles the right catholique Christians began to obserue yéerely certaine dayes in the rememberaunce of holy men which had suffered for the testimonie of Christ and some dayes in the remembraunce of those great and inestimable benifits that God hath bestowed vpon mankinde in the incarnation natiuity Epiphanie and Ascention of our Sauiour Christ But there is no cause to mooue vs to thinke that eyther the Apostles or the fathers dyd iustitute those feastes as obseruations necessarie to bée obserued for euer but as profitable remembraunces wherby the congregations of Christ might be mooued to be thankfull to God and encouraged to followe the good examples of those good men whose remembraunces they dyd solemnise And after this manner and for this purpose wee also doo obserue some of those seastiuall dayes Not hauing any superstition in the holines of the times neither beeing perswaded that we doo deserue any thing at Gods hand by the obseruing of the times or that we should sinne against God if by a common consent we should abrogate the obseruation of those times or by some priuate or vrgent occasion imploy those tymes in our honest and necessarie businesses For our Sauiour Christ hath tolde vs that euen the Saboth in such causes is in mans power Man was no made for the Saboth but the Saboth was made for man Marc. 2. Marc. 2. And as touching fasting we obserue Lent the Ember dayes the Fridayes and Saterdayes in euerie wéeke and the vigilles of saintes but not as you doo superstitiously but for good policie We doo not account one meate holyer then another neither one time better then another But we abstaine from certaine kindes of meates at certayne tymes that thereby the common weale of our countrie may be bettered And would to God al would obserue that policie more precisely then any of vs dooth As touching our own persons we do not thinke our selues to be either the better or the wursse by taking or leauing of the vse of Gods creatures Rom 14 But according to S. Paules rule to the Romans Capit 14. When we take the vse of Gods creatures wée doo giue thanks vnto him for them and when we doo leaue the vse of them we doo thanke hym also Wee doo knowe that that fast is the right fast which is commended by Esay Esay 58. the Prophet Chap. 58. and by saint Peter 1. Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Breake thy breade to the hungrie That is giue of the sustinaunce of thine owne body to hym that hath no sustinaunce to féed his body withall And abstaine sayth Saint Peter from fleshly lustes that fight against the soule Thus if you wyll you may sée that the right knowne Catholique Church hath instituted and ordayned all such ceremonies and solemne obseruations as may rightly bée called goodly and that your Popishe Catholique Church hath corrupted many of them by superstition and idolatrie and hath also deuised many other such as may by the figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee called goodly ceremonies and solemne obseruations Wherefore I require you to performe your promise that you make when you say Then I wyll recant and not before The sixt Offer Offerer Syxt Let the Protestantes shewe what Church from Christ his tyme hetherto and for the whole space of these fifteene hundred yeeres past hath exercised discipline and due correction vpon offenders of all degrees and for that purpose hath not only prouided and made but continuallie executed lawes Canons and decrees ecclesiasticall by suspension excommunication degradation and such other lyke Let them prooue thys discipline to haue proceeded of the Protestantes congregations or to haue contynued from time to time in any other Church then in the common knowen Catholique Church of Christ And I wyll then recant and not before Crowley Here is much a doo and little helpe The learned protestant must prooue that thing that no Protestant hath dooth or wyll at any time affirme for otherwise the Offerer wyll in no wise yéelde to recant We doo knowe and haue at all times confessed that Christes knowen Catholique Church onely hath the keyes of opening and shutting loosing and binding and that none other congregation but that can
huic nouissimo dare sicut tibi I will giue vnto this that came last euen as vnto thée Hée that had laboured but one houre receiued as great a reward as hée that had laboured the whole day The penny that is spoken of there is the Kingdome of Heauen and is not deserued by labour but is fréely giuen to them that doo labour not in respect of their labour but at the pleasure of the heauenly Lord of that heauenly Vineyarde wherein they labour You doo therefore charge vs vniustly when you say that wee contemne good workes or that wée doo say that they are vncleane in the sight of God But thus wée say that our good workes yea our best workes as they bee wrought by vs are so vncleane that they are not méete to bée called good And herein wée are of one minde wyth the Apostle Paule who writeth thus to the Romaines taking the matter vppon him selfe and in his owne person painting our the best amongst men Scio sayth Sainte Paule quia non habitat in me Rom 7. hoc est in carne mea bonum I know that in mée that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing And againe in the third Chapter of the same Epistle the Apostle Paule citeth the woords of the Prophet Dauid Psa 14. Psalm 14. saying Non est iustus quisquam There is no man iust there is none that hath vnderstanding there is none that séeketh after God They are all gone out of the way they are al become vnprofitable there is none that dooth good no not onâ— These places may suffice to prooue the works wrought by vs cannot rightly bée called good as they be wrought by vs. But as God worketh them in vs so his works wrought in vs or by as his instruments are in déede good And wée contemne them not but as S. Paule teacheth the Hebrews so doo wée teach To doo good to distribute forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased Yea wée teach as S. Augustine did Tom. 7. De gratia libero arb Cap. 7. August lib. de grat libero arb Cap. 7. Tom. 7. Si ergo Dei dona sunt bona merita tua Deus coronat merita tua non tanquam merita tua sed tanquaÌ„ dona sua If therefore thy good merites bée the giftes of God then dooth not GOD crowne thy merites as thy merites but as his owne gifts For as those merites may bée sayd to bée ours they are too filthy yea although they bée such workes as may bee and commonly are called righteous workes According to the saying of Esay 64. Esay 64. Facti sumus vt immundis omnes nos quisi paunus menstruatae vniuersae iustitiae nostrae All wee are become as an vncleane person and all our righteousnesses are as the cloth of a menstruous woman I hope that M. Offerer dooth now sée that the seconde point of doctrine that hée requireth the learned Protestant to shew by plaine testimonies of Scripture to bee such as the Apostles and Disciples of Christ preached when they did by their doctrine conuert Peoples Landes and Countryes c. Is by that which I haue before written prooued to bée such doctrine in déede The third point of doctrine is the deniall of frée will Héerein also M. Offerer dooth abuse vs whom hée calleth Protestants For no learned Protestant either hath doth or will deny mans will to be frée although it may in some sence bee affirmed to bee bound Free it is bicause it neither is nor can bee enforced to consent to any action although the outward action may bée so enforced by violence that it may be doone or left vndoone contrary to the inward will of the person that either dooth the action or dooth leaue it vndoone As when a man falleth into the hands of théeues and fearing to bée murdered by them dooth deliuer to them his money which notwithstanding hee is willing to retaine keepe from them if with saftie of his life hee might doo it And yet in this case it may bee said that the will consenteth to deliuer the money being drawne but not enforced by the consideration of the hard choise which is eyther to deliuer the money or to die presently by the bloody tyranny of the théeues The question therefore is not whether the will of man bee free but whether the powre of mans free will bee such that it is able of it selfe to make choise of that which is good and to embrace it and to refuse that which is euill and to shunne it In the sixt of Saint Iohns gospell our Sauiour Christ hath saide thus Nemo potest venire ad me nisi Pater qui misit me traherit eum No man can come vnto mee except the Father that sent mee shall drawe him Saint Augustine August in Ioan. tract 26. In Iohannem Tract 26. writeth thus vpon this place Magna gratiae commendatio Nemo venit nisi tractus Quem trahat quem non trahat quare illum trahat illum non trahat noli velle iudicare si non vis errare semel accede intellige c. This is a great commendation of grace or frée mercy No man dooth come without drawing If thou wilt not erre bee not willing to iudge whom hee draweth and whom hee draweth not why hée draweth one man and why hee draweth not another receiue it and vnderstand it at once Thou arte not drawne pray that thou maist bee drawne But heere what doo wee say brethren If wee bee drawne vnto Christ then doo wee belieue against our willes Then is not the will stirred vp but violence is vsed Any man being vnwilling may enter into the Church hee may come vnto the aulter being vnwilling hee may come vnto the Sacrament being vnwilling but beleeue hee can not except hee bee willing If beleefe were an act of the body then might it be doone in them that bee vnwilling but it is not with the bodie that wée beléeue vnto Righteousnesse Heare what the Apostle saith With the heart wée beléeue vnto righteousnesse And what followeth But with the mouth wee make confession to saluation This confession riseth out of the roote of the heart c. Thus farre S. Augustine If there were no more to bée sayd but this the Ofâ—â—rer might be satisfied touching our doctrine seeing we â—â—aâ—h not otherwise therein then our Sauiour Christ did neither doo wee discent from the iudgment of the auncient fathers that haue wrytten vpon the woords of our Sauiour Christ But let vs see what Saint Paule hath written to the Corinth 2. Cor. cap. 3. Fiduciam autem talem 2. Cor. 3. habemus per Christum ad Deum non quod sufficientes simus cogitare aliquid a nobis quasi ex nobis sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est Such assurance to God-ward haue wée through Christ saith S. Paule not that wée bee sufficient of our selues as of our
selues to think any thing but our sufficiencie is of God And agayne to the Philippians Chapter first Philip. 2. Sainte Paule saith thus Deus enim est qui operatur in vobis velle perficere pro bona voluntate It is God that worketh in you both the will and the powre to performe the will And againe to the Romaines Chap. 7. Rom. 7. Velle adiacet mihi perficere autem bonum non inuenio c. I haue a will but to performe that which is good I finde not For I doo not that good thing which I am willing to doo but the euill thing which I am vnwilling to doo that doo I. Now it is not I that doo it but sinne that dwelleth in mée By these plaine places of Scripture it appeereth manifestly that the learned Protestants doo teach nothing concerning free will but that which our Sauiour Christ his Apostle Paule haue taught But now to the fourth pointe of doctrine The fourth point of doctrine is the denyall of the reall presence of Christes body in the holie Eucharist It is very true that all learned Protestants doo deny the reall presence of Christes bodie in the holie Eucharist And there is good cause why they should doo so For touching the reall presence of his body our Sauiour Christ him selfe hath sayd as wée reade in the 11. Cha. of S. Iohns gospeâ—l Lazarus is deade and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may beléeue If you will say that Christes body was not then glorified as nowe it is and therefore could not then as nowe it may bee in moe places at once then one then consider the words of S. Peter Act. 3. Act. 3. Repent and bée conuerted that your sinnes may bée blotted out when the time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord shall come when hée shall send him that hath beene preached vnto you euen Iesus Christ whom heauen must containe euen till the time of the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holie Prophets from the beginning By these woordes of Saint Peter it appeareth that hee knew nothing of this reall presence of Christs body in the holie Eucharist For hee saith that heauen is the place where the Reall bodie of Christ must bee till that tyme wherein hée shall appeere in iudgement which is the time of the Restitution of all thinges as hee hath spoken by the mouth of his holie Prophets which haue bene since the world began According to this dooth Saint Augustine write to Dardanus Tim 2. Epist 57. Cauendum est enim ne ita diuinitatem adstruamus hominis vt veritatem corporis auferamus Wee must take héede that wée doo not so builde vp the diuinity of the manhoode that wee take away the truth of the bodie For it followeth not that whatsoeuer is in God should bée euery where as GOD is By this it appeereth that Saint Augustine knew nothing of our Offerers reall presence of the bodie of our Sauiour Christ in the holie Eucharist All this notwithstanding wee hold that the body and blood of Christ are in the holy Eucharist present to the faythfull receiuers verily and in deede So that as many as doo with a full assurance of the mercies of God promised in Christ receiue the holy Eucharist doo vndoubtedly by faith receiue into their soules the verie body and blood of Christ to their endlesse comfort The learned Protestants doo not teach as you doo slauÌ„derously report of vs that in the holy Eucharist there is nothing but bread and wine for wee know what S. Paule hath written to the Corinth in the 10. Chapter of the first Epistle Vt prudentibus loquor iudicate vos quod dico 1. Cor. 10. Poculum benedictionis cui benedicimus c. I doo speake as vnto wise men doo you iudge that which I doo speake The Cup of blessing which wee doo blesse is it not the common partaking of the blood of Christ And the bread which wée breake is it not the coÌ„mon partaking of the body of Christ The Lord hath made vs able to iudge of the meaning of the Apostle in these woords wée doo know that as many as doo come worthely to the Lords table and be partakers of the holie Eucharist doo not receiue the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ onely but they receiue his verie bodie and blood Although not really substancially and bodily as you imagine yet spiritually sacramentally and verily and in deed And this is according to that which saint Augustine hath written in his Sermon De Sacramentis fidelium De Sacramentis fidelium Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam c. This is therefore to eate that meate and to drinke that drink for a man to dwell in Christ and to haue Christ dwelling in him And hereby hee that dwelleth not in Christ and in whom Christ dwelleth not without doubt hee neither eateth his flesh nor drinketh his blood although hée doo eate and drink the Sacrament of so excellent a thing to his owne condemnation This may suffice to certifie any reasonable man that wee denie not that presence of Christes bodie in the holie Eucharist which is taughte in the Scriptures and in the writings of S. Augustine The fift point that the Offerer dooth charge vs with is that wee denie the Sacrifice of the most blessed Mâ—sse You should haue sayd the most abhominâ—ble Mâ—sse For what thing can bee more abhominable then that thing which is directly contrarie to the scriptures and derogatorie to that one sacrifice that Christ Iesus our high Priest made of himself once for all Saint Paule to the Hebrews Chapter 10. Hebre. 10. speaking of our Sauiour Christ sayth thus Hic vero vna pro peccatis oblata victima c. After this man had offered vp one sacrifice for sinne hee sitteth at the right hand of God for euer waighting from hence forth till his enemies may bee made his foote stoole For with one oblation hee hath made perfect for euer such as are made holie And the holie Ghost dooth certifie vs when hee saith thus This is the Testament that I will make vnto them after those daies saith the Lord giuing my lawes in their hearts and in their mindes I will write them and their sinnes iniquities will I not remember any more And where there is forgiuenes of those sinnes and iniquities there is nowe no Sacrifice for sinne This farre Saint Paule What can bee written or spoken more plainely then this is for the proofe of that which wee holâ—e that is that in the Masse there is no sacrifice for sinne Christ our high Priest hauing offered vp one oblation is set downe on the right hand of God for euer and what other thing can bee ment by this then that which followeth which is that by that one oblation he hath made perfect al such as are made holie that
the Lambe Mulier amicta sole a woman clothed wyth the Sunne Habitatio fratrum inuicem a dwelling of bretheren all togither Mont Dei the hill of God Sacra Anchora the holy Anchor Vinea Domini our Lordes Vyneyarde Terra viuentium the Lande of the lyuinge Ecclesia magna the great and mightie Church Arca Noe Noes Arke Vna sancta Catholica Apostolicâ— Ecclesia one Holy Catholique and Apostolike Church Domus pacis the house of peace Domus refugij the house of refuge Domus veritatis the house of trueth Societas Sanctorum the fellowship of holy Saints Nutrix Christianorum the Norishe of the Christians Vxor de latere Christi the Spouse out of Christ his side sicut Eua de latere Adam like as Eue was out of the side of Adam Let the learned Protestant make proofe that these most exellent properties and peculier denominations and callinges may possibly agree to their hid and vnknowne congregations and priuate societies or to any other knowne societie of the whole worlde but onely to the holy societie most blessed companie and fellowship of the common knowne Catholique church of Christ and I will then relent yeelde and recant and not before Crowley This Offer may bee diuided into three partes In the first the Offerer requireth a proofe of that which is already prooued in the answere to the seuententh Offer Wherefore I refer that reader to that which is written there where hée shall finde that which may satisfie him in that which the Popish Offerer requireth the learne Protestant to prooue first In the second part he requireth the Protestant to prooue that the church whereof be is hath had at some one time or other such powre and authority ouer the whole Christian world as the Romish Catholike Antichristian church hath vsurped and exercised and doth still claime exercise where it may bée suffred To this I doo say on the behalfe of that learned Protestant that Christ him selfe did neuer exercise such authoritie ouer kingdomes and Nations as the Antichristian Popish church hath exercised and dooth still exercise so farfoorth as it is able and may be suffered Neyther did our Sauiour Christ giue any such authoritie to his Apostles as to haue all Christian Nations vnder obedience or to call them togither to generall Counsells or to execute discipline vpon them and to correct their falts for that power is giuen vnto Princes and Christ did not come to take that powre from them but hee hath confirmed it in them The Apostles therefore and the Apostolike men that were the immediate Successors of the Apostles euen as many as God made excellent in his Church in the time that was before Antichrist began to shewe him selfe in the estate of the papacie were contented to leaue that powre to princes and did both by doctrine and by example of life teach all Christians to shew their due obedience to Princes But when your Bishops of Rome were become Antichristian then they must needes aduaunce them selues aboue all that is called God that is aboue all Princes and they must sit in the temple of God and boast them selues as though they had bin Gods that so they might bee knowne to bee that man of sinne that Saint Paule ment of in that hee wrote 2. Thess 2. 2. Thes 2. For the third parte of this Offer wherein the Offerer requireth the learned Protestant to prooue that the tytles which are in the scriptures and Doctors giuen to the church of Christ coulde euer bee challenged by any right to their hid and vnknowne Congregation c. For answere to this the learned Protestant referreth the Reader to that answere that hee hath made to the seuentéenth and to the eighttéenth Offer with this addition that if this Offerer can prooue that euer any of these excellent properties or peculier denominations and callings might possibly agrée to that knowne Antichristian church that hee is of then will this learned Protestant relent yeelde and recant and bee an Antichristian Catholique and not before ¶ A new Offer touching the sixe seuerall signes that the Offerer calleth certaine and sure signes c. Certayne assured signes and tokens of fals prophets Heretiques and schismatikes Last of all when these notes following being most certaine and sure signes and tokens of Antichristians false Prophets Heretiques and schismatikes mentioned manifestly expressed in diuers partes of the scriptures shall by the learned protestant be prooued more aptly and truely to agree vnto vs of the common knowne church of Christ then vnto the Protestantes of so many sundry and diuers sects and congregations I shall submit yeelde and recant and not before Crowley When this presumptuous Offerer shall prooue that the Church of Rome that now is whereof hee glorieth that hee is a member is the true Catholique church of Christ and not Antichristian Hereticall and schismaticall and that the notes that hee speaketh of doo not more aptly and truly agree vnto him and to men of his sort then vnto vs that be Protestants whom hée calleth Antichristes false Prophets Heretiques and schismatikes then will I submit yeelde and recant and not before The first signe and token Offerer First signe and token appropriated to Antichrists false Prophets Heretiques and schismatikes in the scripture is their departure from the common knowne Catholique church of Christ wherein they were baptized and first receiued Christian faith and religion of the which signe and token speaketh the Apostle S. Iohn saying Ex nobis prodiâ—runt 1. Iohn 2. sed non erant ex nobis nam si fuissent ex nobis permansissent vtique nobiscum They departed from vs but they were not of vs for if they had bin of vs and of our church they would saith the Apostle S. John haue continued with vs still not haue departed from vs. And now the learned Protestant not being able to denie that they haue departed from our common knowne Catholique church from our faith religion wherin they were first baptised and not wee departed from them but still remaining in the profession of the same faith and religion that wee first receiued hee must needes by the drift of Argument and reason graunt also that this first signe and token of false Prophets Heretiques and schismatikes was before spoken of the Apostle S. Iohn onely of them and not of vs. Crowley Touching this first signe and token which this Offerer would appropriate vnto vs as vnto Antichristians false Prophets Heretiques and schismatikes I might very well referre the indifferent Reader to that which I haue written in answere to the tenth Offer Where I haue made it manifest the the same faith and religion that wée doo professe and practize now was professed practized in the time of the Apostles and many yéeres after the ascention of our sauiour Christ although not so purely towards the ende of those sixe hundreth yéeres as at the beginning of them and for the space of 300.
that hee will neuer remember them anie more 1 Iohn 2 and that therefore there is no more sacrifice for sin And in the second chapter of S. Iohns first Epistle wee are assured that Christ Iesus the righteous is the propitiation for our sinnes Your opinion therefore concerning a Sacrifice propitiatorie to bée offered in your Masse is blasphemous and dooth derogate from the glorie of Christ who is our onely mediator whose mediation is sufficient and néedeth no helpe of your massing Préesthoode Your penaunce also is in some part blasphemous as in that you teache your ghostly children to satisfie to God for theyr sinnes by suche workes as you enioyne them to doo And the fruites thereof which you call worthy as fasting watchinge praying and all straightnes of lyfe are supersticious and Hipocriticall and therefore we speake against them Your vowes your inuocation of Saints and your prayers for the soules departed are superfluous and in your meaning superstitious in very déed very wicked blasphemous For what néede hath a Christian to adde any vowe to that which is made in baptisme sith no man can truely say that eyther he hath or could performe that vow so but that God might iustly charge him with the lacke of performaunce thereof That vowe is to forsake the deuill and all his works and pompes the vanities of the wicked world and all the sinfull lustes of the fleshe To beléeue all the articles of the Christian fayth and to kéepe all the commaundementes of God all the dayes of our lyfe If this vowe bee so straight that not one amongst thousandes can bée sound that dooth not fayle in performing of it then is it more then superfluous to adde any other which may séeme to bée more straight and hard to be performed then this is or séeme to bée Your praying vnto Saintes also is superfluous For God himselfe that is all sufficient and able to doo for vs all that we doo or can desire yea and much more then wee can deuise to craue of him hath commaunded vs to call vpon hym yea and he hath promised to heare vs and to giue vs cause to glorifie him for our deliueraunce In the 50. Psal Psalme 50. the prophet Dauid saith thus in the person of God himself Jnuoca me in die tribulationis eruaÌ„ te honorificabis me Call vpon me in the day of thy trouble I wil deliuer thée thou shalt honor me And in the Psalm 81 Open thy mouth wide Psal 81 145. and I wil fil it And in the Psa 145. The Lord is hard at hand with euery one that calleth vpon him which eueryone the calleth vpoÌ„ him faithfully Esay the Prophet cha 63. Esay 63 Made his praier vnto God not to AbrahaÌ„ not to Isacke not to Iacob The apostle Paule bowed his knées that is to say hee prayed to the father of our Lord Iesus Christ that is the diuine maiestie not to the Saintes or holy Angels Ephe 3. Ephes 3 Our Sauiour Christ teaching his schollers how they should pray sayth thus When thou wilt pray enter into thy chamber and when thou hast shut thy doore pray vnto thy father in secrete and thy father which séeth in secret shall giue vnto thée And againe he sayth On this wise therefore shall you pray Our father which art in heauen c. Math 6. Math 6. By these places of Scripture and many other we are encouraged to make our prayers vnto God and to be assured that he dooth heare vs and that he will graunt our peticions For hée is both able and ready to helpe vs as a most mighty and mercifull father It is therefore a thing altogeather vayne and superfluous and vnnecessarie to make any prayers to any other In lyke manner it is a thing altogeather vnnecessary to make prayers for the soules departed For if they be departed in the Lord they be happie and blessed as wee are certified by that voyce which came from Heauen Apo 14. Apoc â—â— And on the contrary if they departed not in the Lord then are they most vnhappie and cursed so that thereis no saluation for them Nothing that we can doo can profit them So that in the one case they doo not stand in néede of our prayers and in the other our prayers can doo them no good Your prayer therefore for the dead is altogether superfluous and vnnecessary Your opinion in this poynt is grounded vpon no Canonicall Scripture but vpon an imagination that you haue conceiued concerning the meaning of Iudas Machabaeus 2. Mach 12 2 Mach 12. Of what authoritie the booke is may appeare in that which Saint Hierome hath written in hys preface vpon the bookes of Salmon Hierom praef in pruden Salomon Thus hath Saint Hierome written there Sicut ergo Iudith Tobiae Machabeorum libros legit quidem Ecclesia sed eos inter canonicas scriptura non recipit sic haec duo volumina c. In English thus Euen as the Church dooth in déede reade the bookes of Iudeth and Tobias and of the Machabies but doth not receiue them amongst the cannocall Scriptures euen so she may reade these two bookes meaning the Booke of wisedome and Ecclesiasticus to the edifying of the people but not for the confirming of Ecclesiasticall doctrine By this it appeareth that the foundation of your imagination is verie weake and not sufficient to beare that waightie buildinge that you doo lay vpon it Which is as weighty as an article of our fayth The authoritie of that booke may bée séene also euen in the last lines of the booke wherein the authour dooth shewe himselfe to stand in doubt whether he had doon so well as he wished to doo and in case he had not he craueth pardon at the handes of his readers And he vseth a similitude to mooue his readers to pardon him Which is not found in any of the writers of the Canonicall Sriptures And in the latter part of the 14. Chapter of that second booke of the Machabies 2 Macha 14 theris great commendation giuen to one Razias for that he dyd murder himselfe whych can not make for the credite of the author of the booke neither of the matter contained in the booke But let the booke bée of as great authority as this Offerer wold with it to be what hath Iudas Machabaeus doone that may mooue vs to thinke that he had any such meaning as this Offerer and his fellowes doo imagine the he had The Historian sayth that afâ—er the Armie of Gorgias was by the mightie power of God put to flight Iudas hauing gathered his armie togeather came to the Cittie Odolla And when the seauenth day was come and they were purified 2 Mach Chap 12. according to the custome they did in the same place spende the time of the Saboth And the next day following Iudas came with his company to take vp the deade bodies of them that were slaine and
but wee doo alwaies make one and the same sacrifice but wee doo rather worke the remembrance of a sacrifice Except our Aduersaries haue vtterly lost the vse of Reason they must needes see that Chrysostomes meaning was to teach that it is not the holy Eucharist but the death and passion of Christ whereof the Eucharist is a remembraunce that is the sacrifice propitiatorie whereby our sinnes are taken away Euen in the iudgement of Chrysostome therefore the Masse which you call blessed is in deede curssed bicause it is derogatory to the office of Christ Iesus whose comming into this worlde was to saue sinners And hee onely it is that hath saued his people from their sinns by making a sacrifice of him selfe once for all By which one sacrifice once made hee hath made perfect as many and bee made holie that is all the Elected and chosen children of God So that now there is no more sacrifice for sinne Hebr 10. As the Apostle hath written to the Hebrews Chapter 10. But what should I make any more to doo about this matter sith the Scripture is plaine on our side Sit Deus verax Psalm 116. omnis autem homo mendax Let GOD the author of the scriptures bée true and euery man a liar Now the last point of doctrine that you charge the Protestants with is the abolishing of Christes sacraments of all the graces and goodnesse by them conferred vnto vs. To this I say that no learned Protestant either hath doth or will abolish or consent to the abolishing of any one sacrament that our sauiour Christ hath instituted or of any grace or goodnes cōferred to vs by them Wée confesse with S. Augustine Ad Ianuarium Epist. 118. August ad Ianuarium 118. that our sauiour Christ hath instituted verie fewe sacraments and that the same are verie effectuall as is Baptisme and the Communion of the bodie and blood of our sauiour Christ These two sacraments wee acknowledge to bee instituted by our sauiour Christ as sacraments that is outward and visible signes representing inward inuisible and spirituall graces In Baptisme the outward and visible signe is water and the inward inuisible and spirituall grace is forgiuenes of sinnes and regeneration or new byrth both which we haue by the death and resurrection of Christ and in that sacrament wee receiue a seale and pledge of the same Yea and where wee are by nature the children of Gods wrath wee are by Baptisme receiued into the church and assured that wee are now the children of God ioyned and graffed into the bodie of Christ and are become his members and that wee doo grow into one bodie with him Yea and being assured that Gods couenant and promise made to faithfull Abraham and to his seede belongeth to vs and to our seede bicause belieuing in Christ wee bee the spirituall posteritie of Abraham wée are bould to baptise our children as fellow members togither with vs of the same mystical bodie of Christ that it hath pleased our heauenly Father to make vs members of And when they bee able to learne wee doo teach them to belieue and acknowledge that they bee so and to endeuour in their life to expresse that duetie both to God and man which was at their baptisme professed and promised In the other sacrament which we doo commonly call the Lords supper the outward and visible signe is breade and wine both which wee doo according to Christes commaundement receiue For hee hath said Take eate this is my bodie and drinke yee all of this for this is the Cup of the new testament in my blood c. And wee are assured by Faith that as wee doo receiue the breade and wine into our mouthes and stomacks euen so wee doo by faith receiue into our soules the very body and blood of Chryst that heauenly foode whereby our soules are refreshed and fed vnto euerlasting life And this bodie blood of Christ are the heauenly parte of this sacrament remooued from all outward senses But wée doo not belieue as you popish Catholiques would haue vs belieue that the substance of the bread and wine in this sacrament is turned into the substance of the bodie and blood of Christ for so it could not bee a sacrament which must haue in it both an outward and visible signe and an inward inuisible grace Wherefore the bread and wine must remaine in their natures and properties Neither doo wée belieue that this sacrament was ordeined to bee a sacrifice to God the father for the remission of sinnes for wee know that onely Christ Iesus hath bin and is able and worthy to offer sacrifice for the deliuerance of mankinde from sinne And that hee hath by that sacrifice that hee made of himselfe once for all fully satisfied for the sinnes of the whole world and hath left nothing for vs to doo but firmely to fixe our faith in him and thankefully to take the vse of this eternall sacrifice which wee chiefly doo when wee come worthely to the Lords table bee partakers of that holy sacrament Now if you thinke that I haue doone that which you required the learned Protestant to doo then shame not to yeelde and recant and bee no longer an obstinate and wilfull blinde popish Catholique which is an Antichristian schismaticke But bee a tractable and an obedient Scholler of Christ Iesus hearkening to and belieuing the gospell of Christ which is the glad tidings of free pardon and full forgiuenes of all our sinnes by the merites and mediation of our onely Lord and sauiour Iesus Christ protesting to hold euerie gospell that is contrary to this Gospell accursed as saint Paule willed the Galathians to doo So shall you bee a right Catholique Christian holding and professing that Catholique faith which Christ himselfe commanded his messengers to teach Catholiquely when hee sayde thus Euntes in mundum vniuersum docete omnes gentes baptizantes eos in nomine patris Math. 28. filij spiritus sancti c. Going into all the world teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father of the sonne and of the holy ghost teaching them to obserue all those things that I haue commaunded you This is the Catholique doctrine that wee haue heard and learned and doo belieue it By hearing this woord of the gospell or glad tidings of free pardon and forgiuenesse of sinnes our God hath wrought in vs such an assurance of Saluation that wee doubt nothing thereof And this assuraunce woorketh in vs an vnfayned loue towards him that hath adopted predestinated and called vs to bee meete Images of his sonne and one of vs towards another although not in such perfection as hee hath loued vs and as hée commaundeth vs to loue one another yet in some measure and in such measure as hee in mercie alloweth of Wee protest therefore that wee will hold this faith and still craue the encrease of this faith and that wée may grow ritch in
Emperor the murdred Mauricius his wife and children was the first that gaue the title of vniuersall bishop to Bonifacius the 3. then bishop of Rome And this was 600. yéeres after the birth of our sauiour Christ Your church was in hatching the later 300. yéeres of the 600. but neuer perfected before Phocas time Wherefore your antiquity is nothing Your vniuersalitie was neuer so large as the Romain Empire your vnity diuided into moe sects then euer the heathen Philosophers were Your succession of Bishops is such that no man can iustly prooue that Peter was the first nor that euer hee was Bishop of Rome Or if hée were Bishop of Rome no man can certainely say how longe he was there Bishop nor who it was that was the next Bishop after him And by the testimony of your owne Hystorians some in the succession of your Bishops were as wicked men as euer liued vpon earth and one was a woman an arrant whore And bisides all this your Apostolike seate of Rome that you bragge so much of hath bin voyde for the space of one yea two yeeres togither more You haue had also two yea three Popes at one time and much blood hath bin shed about the triall of their titles But our vniuersality is and euer hath bin as large as the whole world yea when in the iudgement of men of the best sorte our Church seemed to bée cleane rooted out as in the daies of king Achab it séemed to bée in the kingdome of Israell yet had God his number knowne vnto him although not knowne vnto men And therefore when Elias complayned and said The children of Israell haue forsaken thy couenant they haue ouerthrowne thine alter they haue slaine thy prophets I alone doo remaine and they seeke after my life 3. Reg. 19. 3. Reg. 19. Then did the Lord answere and saide vnto him I haue reserued for my selfe 7000. men that haue not bowed their knees to Baall As then and there so at all times and in all places the Lord hath had hath still and still will haue in despight of all Turkish and Popish enimies his number knowne vnto him selfe that number is his Catholique knowne church And this church hath God made able at all times to conuince all heresies and Heretikes And at this day hée dooth for euer hereafter hee will make the same church able to conuince all turkish popish Heretikes Heresies although not by the sword yet by the word as at this day you M. Offerer and all your popish Catholique brethren may sée if you haue eyes to sée willes to consider of that which you doo and must néedes sée Our vnitie also in the substance of religion is the same that was taught by the Patriarches by the Prophets and by Iesus Christ and his Apostles and was by the first Christians that were in Roome and in the rest of the Citties that then were vnder the dominion of the Romane Emperours receiued holden and professed That is with one full consent wée beléeue holâ—e and confesse all the Articles that are conteyned in the three Créedes namely the Apostles Créede the Nicene Creede and the Créede of Athanasius We beléeue as S. Paule hath taught the Ephes to beléeue that there is but one Lorde one faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all which is aboue all Ephe 4. and in vs all Ephe. 4. Our succession of Bishops is such as the succession of the Prophets was We make no account of that succession of Bishops in Rome which you doo bragge so much of for the Scribes and Pharisies might haue bragged of such a succession as well as you doo and might haue sayd to our Sauiour Christ as you do to vs where was your Gospel 400. yéeres past But we doo make account of that succession wherein God hath in his good times stirred vp some in the spirite of Elias to deale in doctrine with men of all sortes as Elias dyd with Achab and the Isralities and as Iohn Baptist dyd with Herode and with the Iewes in his time The high Préestes had theyr succession euen from Aaron as your Popes haue had from Peter some of them asspiring to that estate by one sinister meane and some by an other as by the Histories it appeareth But in the meane while God stirred vp Prophets but now and then for the worde of God was precious in the dayes of Elie the high Préest when the Lord stirred vp Samuel to bee a Prophet And when Iohn Baptist was stirred vp there had béene no Prophet amongst the Iewes for the space of many yéeres together This was the execution of Gods iust iudgement vpon the Iewes because they had not regarded those Prophets which he had styrred vp amongst them In like manner in the time that hath béene since the Incarnation of our Sauiour Christ because men had giuen ouer themselues to beleeue lies did not regard the trueth God tooke from them such as had laboured to leade them in the waie of trueth and gaue them ouer to the efficacie of error Yea béeing wilfully blinde hee gaue them blinde guides that might leade them the right way into the ditch of distruction Thus you may sée if you haue a lust to behold the truth that not your new found Popish Catholique Church but our most auncient Christian Catholique Church is that Church that hath continued thoroughout firme and stedfast whiles all other couenticles and congregations aswell of Arians c as of Mahumetans and Popish Antichristians and the rest of Heretickes of all sortes haue decayed and béene conuinced and ouerthrowne and that by none other Church then by the knowne Catholique Church of Christ builded vpon the rocke Christ which Peter confessed Math. 16. Math. 16. And vpon none other foundation Wherefore I doo require you now to yéelde and recant according to your promise The fifte Offer Offerer Fifte if it may sufficiently be prooued that any other Church then the common knowne Catholique Church of Christ hath instituted and ordayned all goodly ceremonies and solemne obseruations in the same daily practised and vsed as the festiuall daies of Christmas Candelmas Easter Whitsontyde the feastes of the Apostles and holy Euangelistes Saint Michael the Archangell and of all hallowes and blessed Saintes the obseruation of the holy fast in lent and Ember dayes the fast of th'apstoles and of all the aforefayd festâ—uall Euens besides the weekely fast of Fridayes and Saterdayes and the rest yet obserued and allowed on both sides to the honor and glory of God then I will recant and not before Crowley Vnder the name of goodly ceremonies you comprehend all manner of ceremonies good and badde such as are daylie practised and vsed in your Church Your Baptising of Churches or buriall places of Belles and of Shippes to sayle on the Seas are goodly ceremonies Your hallowing of bread water or salte of Waxe and Wax candles bowes beades garmentes fire and
it if he were caught or else béene enforced to abiure and so goeth it with such at this day and so is it lyke to continue so long as your Antechristian mother shal be able to doo any thing The thousandes which that mother of your hath in this tyme of the last thousand yéeres murdered in Italie in Bohemie in Germany in Portinggale in Spaine in England in Scotland and in the late massacre in Fraunce doo all with one voice crie vnder our Alter Christ saying How long Lord thou that art holy and true doost thou not iudge and reuenge our bloode vpon them that that dwell on the earth Apoc 6. Apocal. 6. If you had not altogether lost your inwarde sight you might sée that the crie of these holy Martyrs is hearkened vnto for sixe of the seauen Angelles to whom were giuen seauen Vialles sull of the wrath of God haue already powred out theyr Vialles at the commaundement of God and the seuenth is ready to power out his Viall and shall shortly power it out into the ayre And then shal that great voice procéede out from the temple of Heauen euen from the throne saying Factum est It is finished Apoc 16. Apoc 16 This voyce shal be terrible to your Popish Catholique mother and to all you her children But most comfortable to the true Catholique Church of Christ our mother and to all vs her children I say therefore vnto you as Christ Iesus sayd to the Angell of the Church of Laodicea Apoc 3. annoynt thine eyes with eye salue that thou maiest sée c. Apoc 3 Thus I hope I haue made it plaine enough to as many as will sée that the Church whereof all right Protestantes are members hath brought foorth all those thousandes of Martirs that you speake of when you say that not one of them was of our congregation fayth or beléefe whiles they liued in this transitorie estate And that she hath brought foorth and nourished vp thousands moe in the tyme of thesâ— latter 1000. yéeres which your mother the Popish Catholique Church hath murdered and made Martirs Wherefore submit your selfe now and recant although you would not before The eight Offer Offerer Eight Wheras the Apostle S. Paule testifieth that Christ gaue vnto his church some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastors and Doctors ad consummationem sanctorum in opus ministerij and so to continue to the edifiing of the bodie the Catholique Church vntill his comming againe Now if the Protestants shal be able to prooue by ecclesiastical histories of all ages the continuance vse of the sayd functions and degrees in theyr congregations and that by some orderly succession and plaine account made from Christ his tyme hetherto they haue neuer lacked the sayd appointed officers or that any other Church of Christ hath had at all times and the continuance of the same I shall then recant and relent and not before Crowley Ephe 4 It is a strang matter to sée how impudently this Offerer dare set downe the wordes of the Apostle Paule in the 4. Chapter of his Epistle to the Eph. as testifying that for an in fallible trueth which is as false as God himselfe is true That is that our Sauiour Christ hath appointed that hys Church shall haue Apostles Prophets Euangelists Pastors and Doctors continually tyll his comming againe and that in a continuall and orderly succession Amongest the learned interpreters there is not one that hath noted anie such meaning in those wordes of the Apostle It is verie true that our Sauiour Christ made choyse of such men as he had made méete to be his messengers and sent them foorth first into those Citties that belonged to the Kingdome of Israel and after his resurrection he sent them into al the world commaunding them to teach all nations Baptising the beléeuers in the name of the father of the sonne and of the holie Ghost And by the ministerie of those and a fewe others whome he dyd afterward stirre vp and ioyne in commission with those hée planted hys Church in all quarters of the world Those were the Apostles of whome Saint Paule wrote to the Ephesian 4. saying Hée gaue some Apostles These contynued in executing theyr offyce fathfully and painefullie tyll they had runne out the rase of theyr naturall lyfe Which course God dyd not suffer to bée ended béefore the sounde of them had béene hearde all the world ouer as appeareth by the wordes of Saynt Paule Rom 10 Rom 10 When these had executed theyr office and were taken out of this lyfe it was not néedefull that other should bée sent from God to doo that worke which these men had alreadie finished and so it was altogeather vnnecessarie that there should bée an orderly succession of Apostles in the Church But when God shall sée cause hee may at hys pleasure stirre vp and sende foorth such messengers as hée shall make méete to doo hys message And such hée hath styrred vp sence the tyme of those fyrst Apostles and such hee dooth and wyll styr vp send foorth at his â—leasure and such may bée called Apostles of Christ béecause they be styrred vp by hys spirit and are sent of hym But this can not bée called a continuall and orderly succession Such Apostles our Church did not lacke in the time of the first 600 yéeres next after the ascention of our Sauiour Christ as by your owne histories it dooth most plainely appeare And euer since you fell from vs we haue had and haue styll as many as our good God knoweth to be needeful for vs as by the regesters kept in your consistories may bée séene for therein are written the horrible sentenses of excommunication that you haue pronounced against them because they would not worship the image of the Beaste nor take hys marcke in theyr handes nor forehead Our Sauiour Christ gaue vnto our Church Prophets also such as he made able to foretell of thinges to come as Agabus Ac. 11. Acts 11. the daughters of Phillip the Euangelist Act. 21 Act 21. S. Paule himselfe Act 20 1. Timoth 4 2 3. Act 20. 1. Timot. 4. 2 Timo 3. And Iohn that wrote the Reuelations with many moe Yea when hys pleasure is he can and dooth foreshewe vnto men things to come by the ministerie of such as it pleaseth him to foreshewe those thinges vnto Yea and he hath alwayes furnyshed and dooth styll furnish our Church with such Prophets as S Paule writeth of 1. Cor. 14. to whom hee giueth the gifte of interpretation so that they are able to make plaine the darke speaches that are some times vsed by the Prophets that speak of things to come 1 Cor 14 Of these Prophets our Church had many in the time of the first sixe hundreth yéeres that were next after the ascention of our Sauiour but not so many as since the time of your Apostacie which was in the dayes of Bonifacius the
Christ which was 70. yéeres after as it is supposed that Peter was made bishop of Rome So that the church vsed none of those things that were diuised by him for the space of those 70. yéeres of the first 300. yeeres After this Alexander Sixtus 1. was made bishop of Rome in the yeere 121. after the incarnation of our sauiour Christ if the hystories bee true and the fourescore yeere after the supposed entring of Peter into the Byshopricke of Rome This man diuised sundrie things as Sanctus sanctus sanctus to bée songe in the celebration of the Lords supper But heere I must note how vnlikely this is to bée true for as saint Augustine hath written in the 7. August li. 9. Conf. Ca. 7. Chapter of the 9. booke of his confessions the custome of singing in churches was not begun in the Latine church before the dayes of Ambros who liued about the yeere of our Lord 380. And more ouer it can not bee prooued by any hystories that the Christians had any liberty to builde any church in the citie Rome before the time of Constantine the Emperoure who builded at his owne charges the first churches that the Christians had in Rome But let it bée as Platina hath written in the life of Sixtus the first Hée commanded that Sanctus sanctus sanctus that is holy holy holy should bee songe in the celebration that is in the ministration of the cōmunion But I pray you marke what Platina saith further Nuda primo haec erant c. At the first those things were bare and naked and all thinges were handled simply For when Peter did consecrate hée vsed the prayer Our father Iames the bishop of Hierusalem encreased or enriched these mysteries and so did Basill and other For Celestinus gaue the Introite of the Masse Gregorie the Kyrie eleison Telesphorus the Gloria in excelsis Deo Gelasius the first gaue the Collations and Hierome the Epistle and the Gospell Haleluia was taken from the church of Hierusalem The Credo from the counsell of Néece Pelagius inuented the cōmemoration of the deade Leo the third inuented the Incense Innocent the first inuented the kissing of the Paxe And Sergius ordained that Agnus Dei should bée songe But séeing that in the daies of Sixtus fewe were founde by reason of the often murders or slaughters of Christians that durst professe the name of Christ and the Christians in France did desire to haue a bishop Sixtus did send vnto them one Peregrinus a citizen of Rome c. Thus far Platina By these woords of Platina it appeareth that during the first 80. yeeres after saint Peters supposed entring into the bishopricke of Rome there was no more vsed in the ministration of the Lords supper but the Lords prayer which beginneth thus Our father which arte in heauen c. Celestinus that gaue the Introite of the Masse was not bishop in Rome before the ende of 420. yeeres after Christ so that for the space of 420. yéeres your Masse had no Introite That Gregorie that appointed the Kyrie eleison was made bishop of Rome in the yéere 590. after Christ so that your Masse lacked that parte for the space of 600. yeeres almost Telesphorus added the Gloria in excelsis about 130. yeeres after Christ so that your Masse did lack that parte so longe time Gelasius the first that diuised the Collations was bishop of Rome about 490. yeeres after Christ so that your Masse lacked hir Collations almost 500. yéeres Hieronimus that added the Epistle and Gospell was neuer bishop either in Rome or else where Hee liued in Bethlehem about 380. yéeres after Christ so that your Masse had no Epistle or Gospell for 380. yeeres after Christ And your Halleluia was taken from the church of Hierusalem by Gregorie the first who was bishop of Rome about the yéere of our Lord 590. The Nicene Créede could not be vsed before that councell wherein it was agréed vpon which was 330. yeeres after Christ And Pelagius that inuented the remembrance of the deade was made bishop of Rome in the yeere of our Lord 556. so that for the space of so many yeeres after Christ there was no remembrance of the deade in your Masse Leo the third that inuented the burning of Incense was made bishop of Rome in the yeere 796. after Christ so that for the space of so many yeeres there was no burning of Incense in churches Innocent the first was made bishop of Rome in the yeere 406. hée inuented the kissing of the Paxe at Masse so longe therefore was your Masse without that ceremonie And Sergius that appointed the singing of Agnus Dei was made bishop of Rome in the yeere after Christ 694. or there about so that your Masse lacked hir Agnus Dei for the space almost of 700. yeeres after Christ Now M. Offerer consider with your selfe I pray you whether the learned Protestant may not as easily prooue the antiquitie of his communion booke euen from the Apostles time as you may prooue your Authenticall seruice and ministration of sacraments now daily openly practized If you would with indifferent iudgment weigh al that I haue here written I doo not doubt but you would cōfesse that during the first 90. yéeres after Christs ascention there was no prescribed order set downe in any booke for publike seruice or ministration of sacramēts other then that which is contained in the scriptures Wherefore there is none so great a cause of misliking in oure common booke as that there be so many of your latter inuētions allowed of in it And surely if our princes people would yéelde to a perfect reformation wee might make our communion booke a great deale lesse then it is by blotting out of it all that hath bin inuented by your bishops of Rome Thus I doo thinke I haue said enough to cause you to recant although you would not before The twelfth Offer Offerer I demaund of the learned Protestant to know cause and reason why their congregations doo admit and receiue all bishops priests deacons and other officers spirituall ordered by our Catholike church as men lawfull and sufficient to preach the word of God to minister the Sacramēts to exercise all spirituall iurisdiction in no lesse wise but rather more then if they had bin ordred in their owne congregations whereas the Catholike church of Christ dooth not acknowledge any man of their ordering and calling to be any whit the more fit for any spirituall function in Christ his church then other cōmon lay men When therefore the learned Protestant shal be able to shew good cause and reason why our Catholike church hauing by their owne consent and approouing lawfull priestes bishops and spirituall ministers not to be also the lawfull true and Catholike church of Christ I will then recant and not before Crowley This Offer is altogither friuolous and foolish For what reason was it that mooued this vnreasonable Offerer to require the learned
Gospell and vndoubtedlie you shal be saued Let not the vaine estimation of the world stay you from saying I yéeld and recant although he therto it haue stayed you so that you could not so say notwithstanding that your conscience hath tolde you that you ought so to doo and say The seauenteenth Offer Offerer Seauenteenth I demaund of the learned Protestant whether if the whole space of that thousand yeeres of blindnes wherein theyr Church lay hid and vnknowen suppressed by Papistrie superstition and Idolatry as they terme it whether they which were then baptised and openly professed Christ were saued or not If the Protestant doo answer yea consequently it followeth that they were saued without the Church of Christ liuing in all ignoraunce superstition and idolatry as they say If he aunswer no and that there was no saluation out of theyr hyd and vnknowen Church then all men of al degrees young and olde for the whole space of the foresayd thousande yeeres by the Protestantes iudgement perished without all hope of Gods mercy and were damned When therfore the learned Protestant shal be able to prooue by good reason and argument eyther that there is a way to saluation without the Church of Christ or that all people professing Christ perished for so many hundreth yeeres togeather then wyll I recant and not before Crowley It séemeth that this Offerer perswadeth himselfe that by making this Offer he shall put the learned Protestant to silence for euer For if he shall open his mouth and say yea to that demaund which he maketh then must it néedes followe by good consequence that there is a way to saluation without the Church of Christ whereof no Christians eares can abide the hearing And if he say no then it must néedes followe by the lyke consequence that all men of all degrees young and olde that were borne into the world and professed Christ for the space of a thousand yéeres together dyd all perishe without all hope of Gods mercie and were all damned Thus in the opinion of this proude Offerer the poore Protestant is enforced to giue ouer in the plaine féelde and to yéeld and recant and so to become a Popish Catholique But I hope wée shall sée it fall out far otherwise Fyrst the ground whereon this Offerer buildeth hys argument or reason is not sure For he imagineth that the learned Protestants doo hold and affirme or graunt that theyr Church béeing suppressed by Papistrie superstition and Idolatrie dyd lye so hidde and vnknowen for the space of a thousand yéeres that no man could tell where to finde it But that imagination is vaine and foolish For although the Catholique Church which is the Protestants Church were during the tyme of blindnes sore opressed by Popish tirannie and ouercountenaunced by Popishe superstition and Idolatrie yet was it euen then as a cittie standing on an hil as a candle on a candlesticke yea it was the light of the world the salt of the earth Math 5. Math. 5. For when was the Church more obscure or when could it be lesse regarded then it was at that time wherein our Sauiour spake those wordes As then therefore euen so afterwarde in the tyme of the tenne first bloody persecutions the Church of Christians was the cittie on the Hill c. And so was it and is styll during those 1000. yéeres that the Offerer speaketh of For those thousand yéeres are not yet fully expired and although God haue giuen Halsion dayes to Christians in some regions as in Heluesia and in the vpper Germanie and now for a fewe yéeres in England and in Scotland yet in Fraunce Spayne Portingale and in the lowe countries and in Italy the seauen headed beast dooth still holde battell against the two witnesses that were slayne and are reuiued Apoc. 11. Apoc 11 But because our Catholique Church hath not at any time florished in the world in such pompous maner as the Antichristian Catholique Church dooth and euer hath doone since it first began therefore this Offerer imagineth that it lyeth hydde and vnknowen as in déede it dooth to such as he is which will not sée nor knowe that which most easilie may be knowen of all men He imagineth also that none of them that haue béene or bée baptised amongst them haue béene bée or can bée of our Catholique Church because such doo when they doo first come to yéeres of discretion professe Christ openly after theyr Antichristian manner But herein he is very much disceiued for very many of vs were borne and baptised amongest them of which number I my selfe am one And when I was growne vp to discretion I professed Christ after the Antichristian manner But God that had fore appoynted me and the rest of his chosen children to be vessels vnto honour would not leaue vs in that filthy puddle of popish superstition but did by his good meanes drawe vs out and hath washed vs in the fountaine of water by the word of lyfe Eph. 6. Ephe 6 And we doo not doubt but there bée yet many amongest you that in Gods good time shal be drawne out of that filthy puddle and washed as we bée No maruaile though such as this Offerer is can not sée this For euen Elias the Prophet could not sée the like in Israell in his dayes They haue sayth he ouerthrowen thine Altar they haue slaine thy Prophets I doo remaine alone a Prophet of the Lord and they séeke to take away my life But the diuine maiestie made answer I haue reserued for my selfe 7000. that haue not bowed their knées to Baall 3. Reg 19. 3 Reg. 19 Though this Offerer and his fellowes neyther could heretofore nor can now sée any of our sort amongest them yet God hath his number euen in Roome vnder the Popes nose And this is that sure seale that S. Paule wrote of to Timoth. The Lord knoweth who they bée that are his 2. Timoth. 2. 2 Timoth Cap 2. It séemeth that this Offerer is perswaded that baptisme in water and an outward and open professing of Christ are infallible signes of saluation The Israelites were in lyke manner perswaded concerning theyr circumsition and outward and open professing of the lawe But Esay sayth Esay 29. Esay 29 as our Sauiour him selfe hath cited hys words Ma. 15. Math 15 In vaine doo they worship mee teachinge the doctrines and commaundements of men Circumcission was to them the infallible signe and seale of Gods couenant made with theyr fathers and with them and God neither dyd nor could disceiue them but hée dyd alwayes performe that couenaunt towardes them at that time euen as hee had before performed the same towardes theyr fathers but they brake the condition of the couenaunt which they and theyr fathers had promised to kéepe which was to serue him according to his law When they therfore had deuised wayes wherein they would serue God not according to his lawe but in many
an ende And our Offerer woulde prooue by this place that all such immediate callinges such as the calling of Moses was wherein God vsed no meane are nowe ceased and that wée must from hencefoorth bee ordynarily called by externall vnction as Aaron was And what is this other then to set vp the carnall Priesthoode of Aaron againe and to disanull the spirituall and euerlasting Priesthoode of Christ directly contrary to the meaning of the Apostle in this place alleaged by this Offerer Wée doo not holde or teach that euery man may thrust himselfe into the ministery without orderly calling or that any man may take vnto himselfe the honor of the calling not being called of God as Aaron was but wée doo both holde teach that such as shall minister in the Church of Christ haue an inward calling from God and be outwardly admitted by man But that this admission must bée by outward vnction such as was vsed in Arons Préesthoode or such as the Antichristian Catholiques haue deuised and doo vse that wee doo flatlie denye because the Apostles neuer taught any such maner of admission S. Paule hath taught 1. Timoth 3. 1 Timot 3 That such onely are to bee admitted into the ministery as be qualified so as in that place he hath prescribed Yea none is admitted but such as do confesse that they are inwardly drawne there vnto and haue determined to continue the whole course of theyr life in that seruice of God and to imploy themselues wholy therein séeking to set foorth Gods glorie in the edification of his Church And then they are not admitted without inuocation and praiers made vnto God and imposition of handes and such other Ceremonies as haue some ground or foundation in the holy scriptures Which we vse not as thinges of necessitye that may not be altered or lefte but as thinges indifferent whych may bée vsed so long as the vse of them may edifie lefte when such as haue authority ouer vs shall sée the contrarie But your Antichristian vnctions wée can no skyll of Thus hauing prooued as I thinke sufficiently that we Catholique Protestants not béeing departed from the first Roomish catholique Church but continuinge in the same fayth and religion that was professed and holden by that catholique Church are not Schismaticall but catholique And haue our authoritie from Christ as that first Roomish catholique Church had doo by that authority call admit such ministers as by such outwarde tokens as saint Paule hath mentioned 1. Timoth 3. doo appeare or séeme vnto vs to bée called of God And haueing thus admitted them wée appoint them to minister in the church of Christ so nighe as possibly may bée euen according as Christ Iesus commaunded hys Apostles to minister hys worde and Sacramentes Now M. Offerer hauing thus prooued our iust and due vocation ordinarily to procéede of God I require you to yéelde and to recant as you haue promised to doo The third signe or token of false Prophets Offerer The third signe and token of false Prophets Heretickes Sismatickes is that they being first departed froÌ„ the Catholique Church secondarily not called do foorthwith all of themselues preach and teach contentiously and sediciously against the doctrine before time taught of the common knowen Catholique Church of Christ as against the Sacramentes of Christ his Church by a flat deniall of many of them against the reall presence of Christ his body in the holy Eucharist against the blessed sacrifice of the Masse propitiatorie bothe for the liue and deade against penaunce and the worthy fruites thereof by fastinge watch prayer and all straightnes of lyfe against vowes inuocation of Saintes prayer for soules departed and finally against the Church it selfe flatlie denying that Christ hath here vpon earth any spouse or visible Church here to bee heard speake perceiued or seene The Apostle S. Paule in admonition giuing vnto vs to bee ware of this signe and token sayth Hebr 13 Doctrinis varijs peregrinis nolite abduci Bee not you led and caryed away with these diuers and strang doctrines so termed of the Apostle S. Paule because they are not agreeing but contrary to the receiued and commoÌ„ knowen doctrine of Christ his catholique Church When therfore the learned Protestant shal be able to prooue that they and theyr congregations are not the raysers vppe of these contentions and strifes by theyr preaching of these straung doctrines but wee that are members of the Catholique Church then I wyll submit and recant and not before Crowley To the first parte of this signe or token this Offerer may thinke himselfe sufficiently answered already more then once Wée Protestant Catholiques are not departed from the true Catholique Church neyther are we without our ordinarie calling from God and by men Béeing ordinarily thereunto called wée doo preach not contentiouslye and seditiously but constantly and sincerely Not against that doctrine which in tyme paste hath béene taught in the commonly knowen Catholique Church of Christ but against the new doctrine of Antichrist preached in the commonly knowen Antichristian catholique Church Against the Sacramentes of Christ we preach not neither doo we flatly deny any of them but wée doo teache the right vse of them and we doo deny those other to be Sacramentes which your antichristian Church hath enforced vpon vs as Sacramentes which doo not agrée with the definition of a Sacrament As is already declared in the aunswer to the first and to the eleauenth offers Against the reall presence of Christes body in the holie Eucharist after that grosse and carnall manner that you do teach it to bée present we doo preach in déede and are by S. Augustine admonished so to doo Ad Dardanum Epist 57. August Epistle 57. Cauendum est c. Wée must take héede that wée doo not so builde vp the diuinity of the manhoode in Christ that wee doo take away the trueth of his bodie We doo knowe and we doo teach that our Sauiour Christ is present in the holy Eucharist and dooth therein exhibite himselfe to the worthy receiuer that is to the faithfull that hath by due examination prepared himselfe and so commeth to the Lords table receiueth that holy Eucharist And we teach the such a one so prepared receiueth as the faithfull Apostles dyd Panem Dominum that breade which is the Lord. But the vnfaithfull doo as Iudas dyd receiue Panem Domiâ—i contra Dominum The Lordes bread against the Lord. Augustine Tract in Iohn 59. Against the Sacrifice of the Masse which you doo call blessed August in Ioh Tract 59 and propitiatorie both for the liue and the deade we doo preach in déede and that not without iust cause For in the tenth chapter of the Epistle to the Heberews Hebr 10 it is written That Christ Iesus hath by one Sacrifice made perfect as many as be made holy And that the deuine maiestie hath so blotted out the sins of his elected so made perfect
strong you haue dispersed the flocke of Christ which was at the first but one societie and fellowship In not sparing nor preseruing the vnitie of that flock you haue made your selues knowen to bée the same rauening wolues that the Apostle S. Paule spake of Acts 20. Act 20. Ego scio saith S. Paule I doo knowe that after my departing from you raueninge wolues shall enter in amongest you not sparing the flocke And from amongst your selues there shall rise vp men that shall vtter frowarde speaches that they may drawe schollers after them Not from the common knowen Catholique Church of Christ therefore whereof wée Protestants are members but from the now knowen antichristian Church whereof this offerer and his fellowes are members dyd that Schisme procéede that this Offerer speaketh of For by the deceitfull false doctrine that they haue taught and by theyr bloodie tyranny they haue drawen many from the vnity in Christ which is the verity and ioyned them to the Schisme of Antichristian impietie This matter béeing made so plaine as to mee it dooth séeme to be I doo thinke that euery indifferent reader here of will in hys heart say thus to this Offerer for shame stay no longer but yéelde and recant out of hand lest the heauie wrath of God fall vpon thée for that thou hast not yéelded and recanted before The fift signe and token false Prophets Offerer Fift signe and token of false Prophets Schismatickes and heretiques is disobedience Et non obedire sed resistere eis qui praesunt in Ecclesia Dei And not to obey but resiste those which doo beare rule and gouerne in the Church of God of the which sorte of men the Apostle S. Paule giueth vs warning Quemadmodum Iamnes Mambres restiterunt Moysi ita hi resistunt veritati homines corrupti mente reprobi circa fidem 2. Timot 5. Exodus 7 Like as Iamnes and Mambres dyd resiste Moises euen so doo these resist the trueth beeing men of corrupt minde and reprobates in fayth Now when the learned Protestant shal be able to prooue that this rebellion and disobedience to all Bishops Prelattes and ecclesiasticall gouerners is to be found in the chatholick Church and not in the priuate Church and congregations of the Protestantes then I shall yeeld submit and recant and not before Crowley As obedience is more acceptable in Gods sight then sacrifice 1. Regum 15. 1 Reg. 15 euen so there can nothing displease him more then disobedience dooth But we may not hereof conclude that God is so displeased with euery disobedience as he was with Saules disobedience when he dyd contrary to that which he had commanded him to doo neither euery obedience is so acceptable to God as that obedience shoulde haue béene if Saule had doone in all pointes euen as God had commaunded to him to doo For that obedience onely is acceptable to the Lord that is doone in the Lord and for the Lords cause and obedience in dooing that which the Lord hath forbidden to be doon and in leauing that vndoone which the Lord hath commanded to be doon is not to be accounted for obedience but is in déede disobedience Let vs sée therefore what manner of disobedience it is that this offerer hath charged vs with Euen such as was in Iamnes Mambres when they did resist Moses By coniecture these two that S. Paule nameth in the third Chap. of his second Epistle to Timoth were the Sorcerers that stroue against Moses in Egipt and dyd by theyr sorcerie worke such wonders in outwarde appearaunce as Moses dyd by the mighty power of God in very déede as in the 7. Exod 7 8 and 8. Chapters of Exod it appeareth But Moses dooth not name those sorcerers neyther are they named in any History of the Scriptures wherefore it may bee thought that S. Paule had some other writings then are now extant whereby he gat the knowledge of the names of those sorcerers that dyd so withstand Moses But howe so euer Moses came by theyr names this offerer hath not taken theyr names aright for both the translation that the Tridentine councell hath allowed of and the Greeke text haue Iannes and not Iamnes the Gréeke text hath Iambres and not Mambres But the matter is not great let the Offerer and his fellowes descide this matter at theyr leasure The Apostle S. Paule hauing described such men as by the Spirite of prophecie he did foresée should come in the latter dayes he sayth that they should bée such as resist the trueth euen as Iannes and Iambres did resist Moses Howe those sorcerers did withstand Moses dooth appeare in the two Chapters of Exodus that I haue noted before They dyd what they could to discredit all that was doone by Moses and to stay Pharao and the Egiptians from giuing credite to that messadge that Moses dyd from the Lord God of Israell So long as the Lord would suffer them they made shewes of as great and wonderfull workes as those were that were wrought by Moses Euen so saith S. Paule those men doo withstande the trueth béeing men corrupted in minde and lewde concerning the fayth But they shall preuaile no longer For the madnes of these men shal be made manifest to all men euen as theirs was Now let the indifferent reader iudge who they bée in these dayes that may most rightly be sayd to be lyke vnto Iannes and Iambres the Popish Catholiques or we Protestant Catholiques Wee come in the name of the Lorde God onely do labour to bring the people of God out of the Egiptian darcknes of Rome to serue God in spirite and in trueth for so God delighteth to be serued Iohn 4. Iohn 4. But the antichristian Popish Catholiques doo labour as Iannes and Iambres dyd to kéepe them in that darcknes styll and to that ende they doo what they can to cause vs to be taken for false Prophets Heretiques and Schismatickes and the Gospell of Christ which wée doo preach to be false doctrine Heresie and Schisme Yea let the indifferent reader iudge whether of both the sorts protestants or roomish catholiques may be déemed to be that men that S. Paule did Prophesie of in that third chapter of his second Epistle to Timoth. 2. Timot 3. They shal be saith S. Paule loouers of themselues couetous high minded proude blasphemers disobedient to parentes vnthankfull wicked voyde of affection truse-breakers false accusers incontynent cruell vncurteous traiterous frowarde malicious and such as doo looue pleasures more then God hauing a shewe of Godlines but denying the power thereof The Chronicles or Histories of times doo witnes that no men can bée more lyke vnto these men that saint Paule hath here described then the Popish prelates haue béene for the space of these last 1000. yéeres almost and so they doo continue stil as daily experience dooth shew Whereunto I doo refer the indifferent reader for the trial of the trueth herein Nowe therefore as