endes because Pharao against godes mercie did oppose his free will Nabuchodonosor beinge touched with godes discipline bewailed his owne impietie And in another place he saith that if two persons had equall graces and equall temperature both of bodie and soule one of them may behaue himselfe well by his free will another by the same free will may behaue himselfe ill 2. That a man must dispose himselfe to receaue godes grace S. Thomas proues it by naturall reason D. Tho. q. 1. 2. q. 11 T for the forme can neuer be receaued into the subiect without aswell the disposition of the forme as of the subiect especially when the subiect hath alreadie a disposition repugnant to the forme but a miserable sinner is loaden with sinne then the which nothinge is more repugnant to godes grace by which wee be gratefull vnto him therfore that this may be introduced there must be a conuenient disposition which ought to be correspondent vnto man This is proued for as sinne was voluntarilie comitted therfore a man must haue a voluntarie disposition to forgoe sinne almightie God would haue al men to be saued therfore man is in faulte and not God that he is not saued Otherwise if this doctrine had not bene true in vaine did the Prophetts Apostles and preachers in their sermons admonitioÌ„s and exhortations crie vnto the people that they should turne them vnto God and prepare themselues with due pennance and other blessed workes to reforme themselues and to dispose themselues to serue God to obtaine his grace and remission of their sinnes by meanes of those vertues which are giuen vnto man to saue him It is proued likewise by the holie councelles Aurant â—â—lest epistola 1. and namlie by the councell of Auransican of which Celestine pope makes mention to the Bishoppes of France It is defined saith he that wee ought to cooperate with the helpe of godes grace in these thinges that appertayne vnto our saluation that by the meanes of our cooperation and disposition wee may be saued before God 3. This is also proued for that wee haue alreadie proued that sinners are iustified by a certaine forme or grace inherent in man therfore there must be some disposition in respect of the free will to receaue that forme or grace For accordinge to the ordinance of God noe subiecte receaues any forme without a disposition in the subiect accordinge to the naturall inclination of the subiect but naturall subiects are disposed naturallie therfore free subiects are to be disposed freelie accordinge to the exigence and condition of their nature 4. Heretiques doe obiect against this doctrine that of the Romaines Non volentis neque currentis c. It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth Ad Titum 3. but of godes mercie Not of the workes of iustice that wee haue done but accordinge to his mercie he saueth vs. Isa 64. Hier. 18. Rom. 9. Man in respect of his owne iustification is as it were a masse of claye in the handes of the potter or els a deade instrument without any proper motion as Isayas saith Isa 10. shall the axe glorie or boast against him that cuttes with the same or shall the sawe lyft it selfe vpp against him that draweth the same otherwise it should not be said that man is iustified freelie but for his good woorks and rather that he should iustifie himselfe 5. Wee answere that the whole worke of our iustification is attributed vnto God because he is the principall doer and agent thereof not onlie by powringe his grace vpon vs but also in disposinge our wills to receaue the same by a speciall motion of his diuine grace NotwithstaÌ„dinge it is ascribed vnto man also in that wee cooperate and that wee doe somthinge in the worke of our iustification as I haue allreadie alleadged out of scripture otherwise they should not be praysed that with all their harts should turne vnto God neither should they be dispraised that doe resiste godes vocation otherwise they should contradict the prophett Expandi manus meas tota die ad populum incredulum contradicentem mihi I haue stretched my handes all the whole day to an incredulous people and contradictinge me And also it should not be said Vos durae ceruicis resistitis Spiritu sancto You stif-necked people you resiste the holie ghoaste Sess 9. c. 5 6. Therfore the Councell of Trentt hath damned those heretiques that said that wee haue noe free will in the worke of our iustification and that wee are dead without life in those actions For though a man beinge lefte to his owne naturall forces and strenghte hath noe actiue force to obtaine the grace of God or yet any disposition therevnto notwithstandinge as a man is holpen and moued of God and eleuated aboue his owne nature by Godes helpe he doth cooperate actiuelie freelie disposinge himselfe to receaue the same And therfore S. Paule saith Non ego sed gratia Dei mecum not I in respecte of myne owne nature and force but in respect of the grace of God with me And to that which you obiect ouâ— of S. Paule videlicet wee should not be said to be iustified gratis or freelie I answere it is not soe taken but in respect of meritts which is called meritum decondigno that is to say that a man hath done woorks before Gods grace worthie of Godes grace which catholiques doe not say and that gratis takes not away the freedome of man neither doth it followe that a man can iustifie himselfe yet may it be said that a man maie dispose himselfe to receaue Gods grace as 2. Eccl. In conspectu illius sanctificabunt animas suas And Ezech in his sight they shall sanctifie their soules and he hath quickned his owne soule 7. This is proued by naturall reason as also in all supernaturall actions for the meanes by which man doth turne vnto God is by the acts of faith hope and charitie and a penitent harte but it should be an implication against all reason that a man should beleeue in God hope and loue God and be penitent for offendinge God and that he should doe nothinge therein or that when a man doth pennaunce or loueth God it should be said he loues not God or doth noe pennaunce in which wee see two contradictories true which cannot be for one must be false when the other is true for if it be true that a man hath faith or beleefe in God therfore the contradictorie is false that man hath no faith nor doth not beleeue in God euen as it is false that the fire doth burne and the sunne giue light and yet that none of them doth any thinge For to beleeue or to hope or to loue in man are called vitall and immanent actions which cannot be supplied by any other cause then by such principles out of which they be produced but to beleeue or to loue are produced out of the two principles of man I
respecte that kingdomes and nations are subiecte to conquestes and inuasion of strange nations which alwayes for the most parte bringe with them their languadge vtterly defacinge the languadge of the country conquered soe also in these countries there muste be alterations of trāslations of scriptures which cannot be done without great danger of the corruption thereof either in respect of the ignorance or malice of the trāslators especiallie if they be heretiques which neuer translated the scriptures trulie being carried away by their passsionat affection of their heresie And therfore S. Hierom founde great faulte Hier epist ad Paulinum that the scripture should be soe common and in contempte for saith he talkatiue ould women and doting ould men the cauelinge Sophiste all men doe presume to speake of scripture they rent the scriptures in peeces they teach it before they learne it When S. Basil heard the cheefe cooke of the Emperor in his presence to speake of scriptures he reprehended him sayinge Tuum est de pulmentis cogitare non dogmata diuina decoquere it is thy office to thincke vppon thy cooquerie not to play the Cooke in diuine misteries I am sure if these fathers were liuinge in this wicked age to see the Cobler the Tailor the Tapster speake and dispute of scriptures and alsoe to preach in the pulpitt they would sharplie reprehend them Whether we forbid the ignorante to pray in a languadge which they vnderstand CHAPTER V. 1. Cor 14. 1. THe heretiques obiect vnto vs the wordes of S. Paul saying he that speaketh with the tongue let him pray that he may interprete for if I pray with the tonge my spirite prayeth but my vnderstandinge is without fruite I answere that although it be not fruitfull for his vnderstandinge yet it is fruitefull for his deuotion for here is noe mention made of any other tonges but of such as men did speake in the primitiue churche by miracle as of spirituall collations and exhortations which the christians were wont to make to praise God and not of those lāguadges which were then common to all the world as Hebrewe greeke and latine in which the scriptures both olde and newe were written For it is a palpable and grosse deceit and cogginge of the heretiques to say that the vertue and efficacie or the Sacramentes and sacrifice oblations prayers and religion dependeth vppon the peoples vnderstandinge hearing or knowledge the principall operation and force therof and of the whole misterie of the Church consistinge especially in the verie vertue of the worcke and the publicke office of the priestes who are appointed by Christe to dispose the misteries to our saluation The infant innocente idiott and vnlearned takinge noe lesse fruite by baptisme and all other diuine offices then the learnedest clearcke yea more if they be more humble charitable deuoute and obedient and perhappes wee see more often the simple to be more deuoute and the learned more rechles and more colde for deuotion doth not consiste in the vnderstandinge vnles the will be well affected 2. S. Augustine said of the common people non intellgendi vluacitas sed credendi simplicitas tutissimum facit It is not quicknes of vnderstanding but simplicitie of beleefe that shall saue vs And in another place he saith Si propter solos eos Christus mortuus est sui certa intelligentia possunt quae ad fidem pertinent discernere penè frustra in Ecclesia laboranus If Christe had died onlie for such as can vnderstand well the misteries of our faith in vaine well should labour in godes church for God doth rather respect your simple beleefe then your deepe vnderstandinge the affection of the will concerning your faith then the hawtie knowledge of your loftie minde Charitas aedificat scientia inflat as the Apostle saith charitie doth fruictifie to edification when science serueth for the moste parte to ostentation soe as our Sauiour did speake vnto the common people in parables whose simplicitie and godly affection did proffitt more therby then the wordlie wisdome and proud knowledge of the arrogant and swellinge Scribes and Pharesies 3. Doe you thincke that the children of the Hebrewes did vnderstande when they cried in the Temple Osanna filio Dauid Or that our Sauiour was displeased therby for that they vnderstoode it not but the priests and scribes were much confounded therby saying Audis quid isti dicunt truly our Sauiour was not discontented at the prayses of those littles ones for then the prophesie was fulfilled ex ore infantium lactentium c. thou makest an instrument of the tender infante and suckinge babe to magnifie and praise thy name to the confusion and ouerthrowe of thine enemies seinge the ende of all the scriptures and of the lawe of God and man and of the science and knowledge thereof is true and perfecte charitie inflaminge and inkendlinge our hartes with the firie loue both of God and our neighbors flowinge and florishing abondantlie with all fruitfull exercises and worckes of mercie pietie and religion as the Apostle saith plenitudo legis est dilectio the fulnes of the lawe is charitie 4. The experience of the catholique flocke in agreeing and submittinge themselues to the seruice of the church in the vniuersall and common languadge thereof and of their great increase and charitie pietie deuotion religion therby as their shinning resplendent vertues of their godly conuersation and their externall worckes of mercie may wittnesse and confirme the same and the example of the contrarie practise in fewe yeares paste of these new euangelistes or pretended reformers as in disagreeing from the common vse and custome of the whole churche and reuoltinge from the obedience thereof auoucheth no lesse as also the smale or noe fruite at all that their vulgar and confused translations haue brought both vnto themselues and to their miserable and scabbed flocke which like giddy heades and itchinge braines were not contented nor setled therein but conceaued great loathsomnes thereof like the children of Israell who hauinge soe earnestlie sought vnto themselues a kinge yet when he did raigne ouer them nothinge was more toilsome vnto them Puritants cares nott for prayers soe as nothinge is more troublesom vnto your carnal appetites then any sett prayers or seruice in your vulgar translations which the puritantes doe protest to be collected out of the Popes portuis Masse Admonitio parleamenti and consequentlie verie distastfull vnto them Admonition parl pag. 45. and for this cause by the protestants of englande are censured as scismatickes Was euer their stinge more venemous or their bookes more exasperatinge or more vehement against the seruice of the church in the latine tounge then it i◠this day against the booke of comon prayer set forth in the englishe tonge and set seruice in your owne churches I haue reade the slanderous and bitinge booke of Thomas Cartwrithe oppugninge the same against doctor White-guifte Bishopp of Canterburie for defending it
though he haue neuer soe much knowledge being the author of separation deuision and schisme sith there is noe greater token of charitie then vnanimitie Quiae multitudo c. Because the multitude of such as beleeue ought to be one harte and one soule and soe one languadge comon to them all especiallie in the seruice of the church and administration of the sacraments for confusion of tounges haue hindred the worke of the Tower of Babilon and before that confusion there was but one languadge and soe before your heresie and diuersitie of religion the church of God was terravnius labij sermonem eorundem of one lip of one speech and as there was but one God adored of all soe there was but one faith embraced and professed by all one administration of the sacraments and one order of ceremonies amoungest all There was vnitie of beleefe withoute deuision of sects simplicitie without duplicitie pietie of religion without impietie of heresie one pastor and one flock the execrable and dreadfull blasphemies and heresies of this wicked age were not heard of all were called christians and not Euangelistes nor Apostles nor Lutherans nor Caluinistes nor Hugonotts nor Geues nor Adamitts nor Anabaptistes nor Papistes children were obedient to their Parents the sheepe did acknowledge their Pastors the lasciuious and pratlinge woman was not a Mistres of the scriptures the pope was not called antechriste his authoritie was not called in question The church was feared and obeied of her subiects against which there was noe rebellion or insurrection of carnall filthie incestuous and abhominable Apostates men were of honest simple disposition without contention or debate touchinge their religion euerie one referringe himselfe to the catholick church whose faith and meritts was communicated and diffused to al her blessed members They had noe newe ghospell but that which was dictated by the holie ghoaste and deliuered by the Apostles to the Church and which the Churche proposed to the faithfull to beleeue And now since they had diuersitie of tounges they haue also had diuersitie of faith and diuersitie of heresies 4. But to aunswere more fullie this obiection the catholique churche doth not forbid any one to praye in any tounge he thinkes good priuately to himself although in the publique and comon seruice thereof shee would haue the comon languadge to be practised obserued to preuent confusion of tounges and corruption both of wordes and sense And as in the Church of God there is one sacrifice one order of ceremonies and administration of the sacraments soe wee haue but one languadge comon to all church men For if you goe to Spaine or America or to any other coÌ„try you shall haue the common languadge by which you may vnderstand them and they you Otherwise if in one church there were fortie different languadges you must haue fortie portuses and fortie Masse-bookes and soe in the like case wee must haue infinitt bookes and portuses and infinite Masse-bookes which cannot be without great inconuenience and I pray you which way can an Irish man saie Masse or mattens who hath no printe in his Countrie to printe those bookes in Irishe I am sure the protestant printer at Dublin would not printe Masse-bookes in the Irish tounge or if the Irishe or English had gon to Spaine or other Countries he could neuer saye or heare Masse and exercise the rites of his religion if it could not be don but in his owne languadge Therfore blessed is that order that taketh awaie this disordered confusion and inconuenience of these sond heretiques 5. As for priuate prayers you should not charge her for her blessed doctors in all ages haue replenished the world with infinite books of prayers of deuotion and pietie in all languadges which haue wrought such maruelous effects and strange conuersions of notorious sinners such contempt of wordlie honor such despisinge of all wordlie vanitie such heroicall resolutions in mens hartes such collections for releeuinge the poore and the distressed and such an ardent loue to our Sauiour Creator and Redeemer as the like was neuer brought to passe nor neuer shal be by any of Luther or Caluines followers Who can be ignorant of the most godlie prayers of S. Augustine and all the fathers of the churche S. Gregorie S. Bernard S. Fulgentius S. Thomas S. Bonaâ—enture S. Anselme and in our owne age â—hose of Dionis Carthusianus Laurentius â—urius Stella and Loartes translated into all vulgar tounges with infinite others which were to longe to rehearse But I cannot passe with silence that most famous renowmed reuerend and religious father Lewis de Granada whose godlie works of deuotion and prayers are translated into seuerall tounges I neuer hearde of anie booke of deuotion or religion sett forth by any of these sectaries any way comparable vnto his whose workes and bookes serue only to ouerthrowe deuotion pietie prayer and religion I haue seene many godly bookes violated and defiled by them It is strange then that you will picke out a certaine languadge for prayers and yet banishe awaie all kinde of prayers sauinge the wanton Psalmes of Geneua corrupted by your false translatioÌ„ wherein you praie to keepe vs from Pope Turcke and Papistrie yea I my selfe haue seene a supplication exhibited to the last Queene and to the parleament house wherein it was auerred that it was not lawfull for christians to saie our Lordes prayer To conclude therfore deuout prayers doe proceede from the ardent loue of God which is diffused into our soules by the holy ghoaste which is giuen vnto vs and inwardlie doth dwell and lodge in vs Rom. 8. by which wee saie and crie out Abba pater our father and by which wee prostrate our selues with our sighinge hartes and dolefull groanes before the throne of the almightie God and by which wee enioye his familiar and blessed presence Whether the Church vniuersall can be charged with errors contrarie to the first institution of the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist CHAPTER I. 1. THe church of Christ did neuer alter the matter and forme of any of her sacraments much lesse of this beinge the greatest of the rest in which Christ hath shewed his wonderfull great loue vnto the church his only spouse in feedinge and sanctifiinge the soules of her children with his owne pretious bodie and blood that beinge fedd by Christe shee may be purified and clensed by him in that fearfull and dreadful Hoast which doth exceede the capacitie of any earthlie vnderstandinge Of this wonderfull loue of Christe it was said by Isaias Quid est what is it that I ought to doe vnto my vineard and haue not don it meaninge therby that in thâ—â—â—â—â—ament he manifested the bowells of his charitie Isa 5. Chrys homil 61. ad populum AntiochenuÌ„ and loue towardes his churche which loue is magnified by S. Iohn Chrisostome sayinge Nam parentes quidem alijs saepè filios tradent alendos c. For parents doe often deliuer their children to
offence in leaninge to the litterall sense of Christs wordes in the blessed Sacramente of the Altar CHAPTER III. 1. IF yow beleeue the omnipotent power of Christe as also if you consider his moste incomprehensible and wonderfull loue towardes his churche Ephe. 7. for which he yealded himselfe vnto death for her clensinge soe he gaue himselfe vnto her for her feedinge that shee he maie be made one ioyned together as it were a bodie ioyned vnto the heade And to shewe vnto yow the trewe plaine and euidente demonstration of those words to be ment litterally accordinge to the tenor and significant tearmes of the woords for as the philosopher saith Arist li. 1. de interp cap. 1. 2 voces sunt signa cōceptuum our wordes and voices doe signifie what inwardly we intend I will beginne with the sixt Chapter of S. Iohn that yow may more plainlie conceiue of what force that place is to proue the reall presence of Christs flesh and bloode in the blessed Sacramente Yow shall first therfore vnderstand that the Iewes of Capharnaum which therof are comonlie called Capharnites after they had bene miraculously fedd of Christe with fiue Barlie loaues and two fishes beinge themselues in number aboute fiue thowsand retourned vnto Christe againe for some other like banquet and to prouoke him the more as they thought they beganne to bragge how their fore-fathers did eate Manna in the desert giuing him to vnderstand therby that if he would gett creditt amoungest them he should in like sorte feede them wherupon our Sauiour tooke occasion to declare vnto them before hand that miraculous heauenlie foode which he minded afterward to ordaine in his last supper and which should not onlie equalize their Manna but soe farr surpasse the same as a trewe bodie surpasseth a shadowe and therfore he said vnto them The bread which I shall giue is my fleshe and that he ment by those wordes to leaue his trewe fleshe indeede to be eaten it steede of their Manna it appeareth by that which followeth most euidentlie For whereas the Capharnite Iewes grudged streight way sayinge how can this man giue vp his fleash to eate conceauinge such a carnall and grosse eatinge of Christes fleash as of other common flesh yet he did not take away that scruple as our protestants do now a dayes with saying that it should be a bare figure only or that they should eate bread onlie and not fleshe and feede on him onely spiritually by faith no he said none of all these thinges but cleane contrarie to confound their murmuringe infidelitie and to confirme his former woordes he added therunto other woordes of more vehemēce saying Verilie verilie I saie vnto yow if yow eate not the flesh of the sonne of man and drincke his bloode yee shall not haue life in yow with many more of like perspicuitie and plainenes for if he should haue answered them accordinge as the protestants expounde that place to be figuratiuely ment he should haue soone appealed their anger grudginges and faithlesse conceite of those wordes by occasion whereof they quite forsooke him sayinge This is a hard speech who can beare it Whereas if he had ment of a bare signe or figure by tellinge the trueth only he might haue kepte them continually in his companie In truth it could not stand with the intralls of Christs charitie beinge sent principally to conuerte the Iewes from their infidelitie and beinge cheeflie ordained to saue the lost sheepe of Israell that he should vse those woordes figuratiuely Matt. 15. and not declare the same plainly vnto them beinge a matter of the greatest importance and consequence that euer was for takinge away their repininge misbeleeue the truth wherof he confirmed with his accustomed oath Verilie verilie c. vnlesse they should eate his flesh c. they should not haue life yea he vsed these wordes imediatlie after their grudging 2. S. Chrisostome vpon those stubborne woordes of the Iewes Chrys ho. 45. in Ioannem This is a hard speech who can beare it saith it is the parte of a scholler not to inquire curiously of that his maister affirmeth but to heare and beleeue and to expecte in due season a resolution of his doubts and as for those people by the former miracle don by him in feedinge their hungrie stomacks beinge soe many in number they might beleeue that whatsoeuer he said he could doe or whatsoeuer he promised he could performe Chrys ho. 61. ad populum Antioch For when he declared his loue towardes vs he mingled himselfe by meanes of his body together with vs that the body and the head should be vnited together and to wittnesse his singuler affection towardes vs he permittted himselfe not to be seene of such as are desirous but to be touched and eaten and their teeth to be fastened in his flesh and all men to be filled and satisfied with the desire of him Tanquā leones igitur ignem spirantes ab illa mensa recedamus facti diabolo terribiles c. Homilia pradict Let vs rise therfore from the table as it were lyons breathinge out fire makinge the diuill himselfe a feard This misticall bloode chaseth away deuils farr off frō vs and draweth the angells neere vnto vs for the diuills when they see within vs the blood of our Lord are putt to flighte and the Angells make haste to assist vs thus farr S. Chrisostome whose doctrine herein is noe lesse ircksome and repugnant to the sacramentarie Protestants then to those lumplishe Iewes because accordinge to that holy doctor none oughte to be curious in askinge howe or by what meanes that which Christ affirmeth is brought to passe for as the Iewes were ouermuch curious in murmuringe amoungest themselues and sayinge How can he giue vs his flesh to eate How shall our stomacke away with it what a hard kind of speech is this Is it not against nature that one man should be nourished with an other mans fleashe Doe not our mouthes and stomacks abhorr the same Soe this sacramentarie protestantes haue noe other thing in their mouthes then howe can Christs fleash blood and bones be conteined in soe little a roome how can his body be at one tyme in heauen and on the alter how can it be in a thowsand places at once with many other such Iewis interrogatiōs which doe daylie proceede out of their giddy braines voide of grace not willing captiuare intellectum in obsequium fidei as S. Paule saith because they would not resigne their wilfull opinions and their blinde vnderstāding vnto the trewe direction and obedience of faith for if they beleued that God were able by his word to bringe all this to passe they would neuer reason after such a sorte for otherwise they may by like interrogations discreditt the whole christian faith and aske how God made the worlde of nothinge how a Virgin could bringe foorth a sonne how God came downe into the world to be incarnate
of whome they suspected noe such guyle he hauing promised them their libertie yet he sent souldiers in their absence to their chambers and as they returned from supper were intertained with the bloodie edge of their swordes and soe against faith and promise and after paying their raÌ„some they were inhumanly murthered In the cittie of Montbris the Barron of Adrett caused many catholiques to be cast headlong from the topp of a high Turett and caused also souldiers to attend their miserable fall and to entertaine them with the pointes of their pikes 7. Such was the impudencie and barbarousnes of a certaine hugonott that he did weare a chaine about his necke of the eares of priests shewed the same to the chiefest captaines of the hugonittes They did ripp the bellie of a certaine priest and tooke out his bowells in steede whereof they putt oates to serue their horse for a maunger The heretiques of the cittie of Neemes in Languedoc did cast a great number of catholiques into a mightie deepe and large well of that cittie and haue filled the same twise with mens bodies halfe dead Iames Socius a wicked pirate who obtaininge letters patentes of Ioan Alberte Queene of Nauare which they call letters of mart sayling towardes the Iles of Madera and Canaria mett with a shipp of Portingall goinge towardes America which he pursued and tooke In which there were 40. of the fathers of the societie of Iesus who were sent to the Prouince of Brazill to instruct them in Christian religion but the wicked and cruell Tyrant like a deuouring woolfe seased vppon these poore religious people whome he massacred and after dismembring of them of some he cutt a legg of othersome an arme and soe he cast them all into the sea 8. Lastly Anno 1567. in the Carthusian monasterie which they call Burfowtaine in the diocesse of Suesse 5. mounks of that blessed order were murthered by the heretiques that came to robb that monasterie Iohn Motto proctor thereof a most vertuous priest Iohn MegneÌ„ priest Iohn Aurill priest Benedict Lenes lay brother and Theobald priest All these that I speake of neuer tooke weapons against them but most patientlie endured martirdome at their handes But if I should speake of soe manny as were put to most cruell death and were kild in al the Prouinces of Fraunce citties and townes thereof and such that were betrayed by theÌ„ I should make an infinitt volume but I cannot omitt that worthie and inuincible Prince Frauncis of Lorraine Duke of Gwise whose murther was plotted by Beza and executed by Poltrott These and the like examples ought to moue good christians to beware of these people 9. Before the firie and furious concupiscence of king Henry the 8. who caused that vnfortunat deuorce betwixt him and hâ—s vertuous Queene Katherine there was no realme in Europe more opulent and more abundant in all things then the kingdome of England no kingdome more peaceable at home and more glorious and prosperous abroad no king so victorious and tâ—iumphant ouer his enimies as he no courte so magnificent or so plawsible being full of cheerfull shewes and replenished with an vniuersall triumph ioy and exaltation the king liued in securitie without feare of forraine princes abroad or treason or conspiracy of his subiectes at home betwixt the one and the other there was interchangeable good offices aswell of a princely bountifulnesse towardes the subiectes as of a dutifull subiection towardes the prince the king possessed the hearts of his subiects they againe enioye the loue of their Prince But when he violated and dissolued the in dissoluble knott bond of matrimonie which no power in earth was able to disioyne as our Sauiour saith by this separation and diuorce Matt. 19. he separated himselfe also from Gods church all thinges were subuerted and turned topsy turuie all was filled which feares and suspitions at home with warres and diuisions a broad and with continuall frights and stranges allarmes of attempts and garboyles aswell in the court as in the countrie The treasures were exhausted the subiects impourished religion suppressed religious howses dissolued the vertuous oppressed the wicked aduanced and exalted the nobilitie condemned and beheaded and their goods confiscated and all vertuous people were fedd and sustained Pane lachrymarum aqua augustiae with the bread of mourning and teares and with the water of anguish and paine so as whatsoeuer the prophett Hieremy spake of Hierusalem may be applied to England after its apostacy The flourishing nation saith he is like a poore widdow Hier. c. 1. that wailes at night and her teares rune downe by her checkes her priests doe waile her virgins do complaine and she is euerie where oppressed her nobilitie are suppressed and many of her people ouerpressed with vnsufferable miseries and callamities Facti sunt hostes eius in capite eius inimici eius locupletati sunt Her enimies are promoted into her highest promotions and her aduersaries made riche by her spoyles Know yee and behold how distastfull it is to forsake God and nott to haue his feare before your eyes A seculo consregisti iugum Domini thow hast bracken and cast off godes yoake euen from the beginninge thy swoord deuoured the prophets quasi leo â— astator generatio vestra a destroieng lion is your generation And as King Henry the 8. himselfe said in this booke against Luther Eos qui pelluntur gremio matris Ecclesiae stat in furijs corripi atque agitari demonibus Such as are expulsed and thrust out of the bosome of our mother the Church are foorthwith ouercharged with the furious and raginge flames of hellish spirits and vanquished which diuills which assertion I would to God it had not bene verified of him that said it nor sutable to the purpose wherunto the same is applied But England to their great cost by experience knoweth this to be trew howsoeuer otherwise they dissemble it 6. But to retourne to him that applied the same against Luther the stroake did reboâ—nd and reflect vppon his owne neck Anno Domini 1533 Regni eius 24. for being excommunicated by Clemens 7. for putting away his married wife and for marrieng Anne Bullen tradidit se as the Apostle saith impudicitiae Ephes 4. in operem immunditia omnis in auaritiam he yelded himselfe ouer to impudicitie to the exercise of all vncleanesse couetuousnes he caused himselfe to be decreed by perleameÌ„t head of the church made it high treason in him that would not sweare precisely in his conscience this to be trew where many worthy personages both ecclesiasticall and lay people for refusing this oath or otherwise resisting it some were burned aliue as father Foster of the order of saint Frauncis Queene Cathrins confessor other some were beheaded as doctor Fisher-Bishopp of Rochester and Sr. Thomas Moore L. Chancler of England and may others were hanged drawen and quartered Yea he condemned the whole cleargie in a premunire which afterwardes they
For although the written law lightneth our vnderstanding with many instructions and fownd doctrine directing our vnderstanding to follow and embrace vertue and to discerne the good from the euill yet it disposeth nor prepareth not our hartes with the loue of the one nor our affection with the hatred of the other it giueth light to the vnderstanding but it healeth not the infirmitie and disease of our appetites The lawe teatcheth the way to heauen but giueth no force to our weake soules to trauaile thither which saint Iohn auerreth The law was giuen by Moyses but grace and trueth was giuen by Christ which is conferred by the sacramentes and which are instrumentes to conuay the same vnto vs. 2. As there are many maladies disseases and necessities so there ar also many sacramentes which are as it were conduits that do deriue manny remedies and receipts to ech of them And as the Humane body is first borne and so encreaseth is fedd and receaueth diuers alterations Ephe. 5. Mar. 16. in Clemen ex summa trinitate fidei Cath. ca. 1 Ezech. 36 Clemens epist 4. Vrba ep ad omnes fideles Melch ad epis Hisp Ioh. 6. 1. Cor. 11. Iohn 2. so there are many such varietie of alterations of the soule which is borne and regenerated by water and the holy ghoast which is baptisme and the grace and vertues which are giuen in baptisme are againe confirmed by the Sacrament of confirmation which maketh the soule stoute and constant in the profession of his faith which faith and grace hath neeede to be nourished and augmented which is don by the holie Sacrament of the Eucharist which is the body of Christ which is the foode of our languished soule which through many infirmities and diseases incident therunto hath great need of a spirituall phisition to heale the same by contrition confession and satisfaction And for that after long and prolix sicknesse and disseases there are many dregges of the old sicknesse stil left Ia. 5. cont Flore for the healing and curing wherof the Sacrament of extreame vnction is ordained as also that a christian in his cheefest agony of his spirituall extremitâ—e should be releued and refreshed 3. The other 2. Sacramentes are inioyned for the 2. states of people Matt. 19. Ephes 5. the one for such as be married the other for such as be ecclesiasticall and seruing in godes church But the new religion hath no Sacrament althoughe for some shew of litle deuotion they do not reiect the Sacramentes of Baptisme and Eucharist yett they handle them without any deuotion or reuerence at all as for Baptisme some or most of them doe holde that it is not necessarie to our saluation for they thincke that the childe is saued by the faith of his parents As for the Eucharist with they call the Lords supper they make no more accompt of it then of anny common bread whose effect is nothinge els ten to remember Christ his death which may be don aswell by the one as by the other The 4. Excellencie is to fauor the good and to punish the wicked CHAPTER V. 1. WHen the end of euery lawe is to take away vice and wickednesse and the occasions therof and to make meÌ„ sober honest and vertuous it is meete that the good should haue many priuiledges fauors and rewards and the wicked should be punished Deut. 28. Ezech. 5. 6. as we may read in Deutrono wher god almightie threatneth death and destruction against the transgressors of his lawes and comandementes The like also we may read in Ezech. But the new religion taketh away both merits and rewards from the iust and paine and punishmentes from the wicked saying the more wicked you are the neerer you are to Gods fauor and grace as Luther affirmeth The 5. Excellencie is the conuersion of all nations vnto Christe and driuing Idolatrie out of the world CHAPTER VI. THe more that princes persecuted christian religion the more the same encreased as Pliny the 2. being a Pagan withnesseth For when he saw such a multitude of christians to be put to death he wrott to the emperor Traian aduertizing him that there were thowsands of christians executed by exquisitt tormentes for no kind of offence but for being Christians and the more they were tormented and afflicted the more they encreased and florished and the more the reuerence of the Idols decreased But the new religion neuer conuerted the gentles from Idolatrie to Christian religion whose only imployment and drift is to corrupt and confound the faithfull and neuer to reforme themselues charging the church with Idolatrie as old heretiques haue done Athanasius witnessing the same The 6. Excellencie of the Catholique Religion is that the same is proued and auerred by so many good witnesses as sacred and learned doctors blessed saincts martyrs and generall counsells CAPTER VII 1. ARistotle saith that a man is beleeued for three causes and ought to be presupposed that he telles the trueth 1. If he be wise 2. If he be vertuous 3. If he be oure frind For wee thincke that a wise man should not be deceaued a good man should not lie a frind should not deceaue his frind Such therfore as did beare witnesse of our catholique religion were wisemen eminent and exquisitt in all sciences and faculties most holy and religious in their liues as Dionisius Areopagita disciple to S. Paule saint Ignatius Policarpus Origines saint Basill the great and his brother saint Gregorie Nissenus saint Iohn Chrisostom Theodoretus saint Nazianzenus saint Gregorie saint Aug. saint Hierom saint Ambrosse saint Hillarius saint Cyprian Lactantius Firmianus S. Vincentius Lirinensis Arnobius saint Bernard saint Bonauenture Scotus Alexander de Halles with diuers others for they had no cause but to tell the trueth being honest vertuous free from all inordinat affection that should otherwise restraine theÌ„ to declare the trueth therof being people that were altogether addicted to the seruice of God and most zealous of his glory and honor which they preferred before all worldly designements and promotions 2. Vnto these are annexed for confirmation of the trueth all generall counsells of the world which were 20. with the aprobation of Christs viccar generall in earth together with all the blessed martyrs that euer were in all the persecutions and tempestuous stormes and agonies of the church which she suffred vnder 14. Kinge and Emperors according to S. Aug. accompt lib. 18. de ciuitate Dei The first was of Nero who was so infestuous to the Christians that he caused Rome to be sett on fire in diuers places and laid the imputation of that infamie vppon them wherby the Romanes should insult vppon them and should destroy and massacre them euerie one the Tirant himselfe commanding the same The 2. was of Domitian who caused S. Iohn the Euangelist to be cast into a Tunn of hoat burnâ—nge oyle which caused also by his edict published that all the bookes of Christians should be burned