forgeuen but through the merites of Iesu Christ. What then doth not Paul affirme truly that Iewes and Gētiles are all cōcluded vnder sinne Doth not the Propheticall kyng Dauid likewise lōg before him pronoūce truly There is not one righteous person no not one there is not one that will vnderstand not one that will seeke after god All are gone out of the way they are all together become vnprofitable there is not one that doth good no not one If there be not one righteous mā no not so much as one what shal be come of the worthynes of your workes then yea euen amōgest the most perfect and godly If there bee no man that will vnderstand then also the best workes of the godly are of no value If no mā seéke after God what can be duly performed of any person If all haue declined out of the way where be they that haue walked perfectly in the right way Lastly if there be no person that doth good whether then are all your excellent workemaisters vanished a Gods name if all I say all as well Iewes as Gētiles that is to say if all generally are concluded vnder sinne where can those pretie holy men bee founde of whom ye will neédes haue some but Paule vtterly none at all Through the sinne of one man sinne is poured vpon all fleshe to condemnation These be the expresse wordes of Paule which will not admitte any startyng hole yet your Mastershyp notwithstandyng will vrge a certeine perfection of our workes contrary to the manifest authoritie of sacred Scriptures But this Prelate doth make more accompt of the wordes of Christ our Sauiour saying Not he that sayth Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father shal enter into the kingdome of heauen And then hee demaundeth If the yoke of sinne bee so alwayes fastened vnto our shoulders that it can by no meanes be remoued how we may then obteine the state of righteousnesse through the grace and goodnesse of Christ Your selfe haue told it wise man truely euen through the very same grace and goodnes of Christ which you haue named And therfore Dauid being full of the holy Ghost lifting his hādes vp vnto God cryeth out in this maner Wash me throughly from my wickednes and clense me frō my sinne for I knowledge my faultes and my sinne is euer before me Why should we desire to bee washed if we did not welter in the filthy puddle of sinnes and why should we require to bee clensed and throughly purified if we were not corrupted wholy defiled with the stinckyng dregges of sinne As by the fall of one mā sayth Paule sinne is deriued by way of propaganaciō vpon all men vnto condēnation euen so by the righteousnesse of one good is extended vnto all men to iustification of life Agayne The same Paule God hath shut vp all men vnder vnbelief that he might haue mercy vpon all Frō our selues therfore proceédeth euill vnto damnatiō And from God commeth Iustification vnto lyfe Of our selues riseth vnbelief but mercy issueth from God But let vs heare our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ him selfe most sweétely cōfortyng vs with these wordes Come vnto me all ye that doe trauaile and be heauy laden and I will refresh you And therfore all anguish and grief of sinne all burden of trespasses wherewith we are ouerladen and haled down not onely to the groūde but euen to hell gates spryng out from our owne selues euen so the asswagyng of all sorrowes and ease of all our importable burdens come from Iesu Christ onely If you bee ignorant of these sentences good Syr wherewith the holy scriptures doe euery where swarme so plentyfully what is it I pray you that you vnderstand in the Gospell if you doe know them why doe ye so maliciously inueighe agaynst those learned men and singular seruauntes of God without cause especially being as now departed this life agaynst whom if they could speake for them selues ye durst not mutter one worde For what are you beyng compared with them But to let them passe whom I did not vndertake to defend what extreme amazednesse is this in you to rehearse my wordes and cull them out of purpose to carpe at them and from them to glaūce away to Luther and Caluin if your quarell be to me why do you not let them alone if ye liste to striue with them then also cauill not with me Doth not reason require this and is not my request allowable Surely it is extreme maddenesse to challenge me vnto the Barriers and then to sckyppe ouer away to others and to pursue them with your venymous toung You say further that it seemeth by my maisters doctrine for so it pleaseth you to tearme thē that the force of sinne is not as yet extinguished in vs through the bloud of Christ. Truely you and I both may acknowledge those men whose names you did recite before to be our maisters not in Diuinitie onely but in practize of pietie also But whereas ye would haue them to teache that the force of sinne is not as yet extinguised through the bloud of Christ I doe expresse here your owne wordes This is onely your horrible and most shamelesse slaūder agaynst them For vnto this marke alwayes they bent their whole endeuour to expresse vnto you Iesu Christ liuely before your eyes the same also crucified to emprint throughly in the very bowels of your soules the most precious bloud of Iesu Christ shed for vs vpon the Crosse to preach vnto vs remission of sinnes through his bitter death and passion to beate into the blind and deafe eares of the world this glad tydyngs of the Gospell beyng ouerwhelmed oppressed by your couled generatiō massemongers confessours and mens traditions altogether choaked buried vnder grounde through the silence of holy Scriptures and to disclose agayne abroad into the open light and put miserable captiues in remembraunce of the sayd doctrine beyng vtterly subuerted by the tyrannous trechery of your gallauntes And therfore in all their sermons lessons and writynges they vsed these and such like speaches The bloud of Iesu Christ doth clense vs frō all sinne You do know that you were redemed from your vayne conuersation which you receaued by the traditiō of your forefathers not with transitorie thyngs as gold and siluer but with most precious bloud as of an vndefiled lambe c. neither whoremōgers nor worshippers of images nor adulterers c. shall inherite the kingdome of God And such ye were but you are clensed but you are sanctified but you are iustified through the name of Iesu Christ and through the spirite of our God You heare men clensed from all sinne redeémed from their vayne conuersation washed sanctified and iustified through the bloud of Iesu Christ Ye know likewise that these men did take vpon them alwayes infinite labours and trauaile about the establishyng and enlargyng of the Gospell of Christ
in this corruptible body but which consisteth rather in remission of sinnes and which after this lyfe will supporte the neédy and naked weakenesse of our workes be they neuer so feéble agaynst the importable burden of the rigour of the law Of which mercy Augustine maketh mention in this wise Stand not in Iudgemēt with me O Lord exactyng all thyngs which thou hast cōmaunded me For if thou enter into Iudgement with me thou shalt finde me guiltie Therefore I haue more neéde of thy mercy then thy manifest Iudgement Agayne in an other place treatyng of the last Iudgemēt He shall crown theé sayth he in mercy compassiōs This shall come to passe at that dreadfull day whenas the righteous kyng shall sit vpon his throne to render to euery mā according to his workes who then can glory that hee hath a pure and vndefiled hart or dare boast that he is without sinne And therfore it was necessary to make mention there of the compassions and mercy of the Lord. c. And agayne somewhat more playnly where hee describeth what maner of mercy shal be in the day of Iudgement he doth set it forth in this wise This is called mercy sayth he bycause God doth not regarde our deseruynges but his owne goodnesse that thereby forgeuyng vs all our sinnes he might promise vs euerlasting life Hereunto also may be annexed the testimonie of Basile no lesse worthy to bee noted touchyng the mercyfull Iudgement of God towardes his chosen people you shal heare his owne wordes as they are For if the Iudgement of GOD were so rigorous and precise in it selfe to render vnto vs after our worthynesse accordyng to the workes that we haue done what hope were then or what man should bee saued But now he loueth both mercy and Iudgement that is matchyng mercy equall with him selfe to beare chief rule in the regall seate of Iudgement and so bryngeth forth euery man to Iudgement That is to say if Gods Iudgement should proceéde of it selfe precisely and exactly requityng euery of vs accordyng to the deseruynges of our deédes that we haue done what hope should remayne for vs or what one person of mankynde should be saued But now God loueth mercy and Iudgement And reseruyng mercy for him selfe he hath placed her before the Royall Throne of Iustice as chief gouernesse and so citeth euery man vnto Iudgement You seé here mention made of mercy and the grace of God not that grace onely that doth engender in vs good workes but the same rather whiche doth forgeue sinnes and Sinners through the bloud of his sonne in which forgeuenesse consisteth our whole redemption accordyng to the testimonie of Paule the Apostle In whom sayth hee we obteine redemption through his bloud and remission of sinnes through the riches of his grace c. If I neéded in this matter to vse a multitude of witnesses rather thē substaūce of authority it were no hard matter for me to cite for defence of the Cause infinite testimonies out of Ambrose Ierome Gregory Bernarde others But what neéde I protract the time of the Reader in vouching a nūber whenas it is euident enough already I suppose by those sayinges spoken before that our saluation can by no meanes obteine place in Iudgement without the mercy of God and his freé Imputation The first wherof our Sinnes neéde to be couered withall the next euen our best workes shall want of necessitie Whereupon that saying of Bernarde wherof we made mention before as diuers other Sentences of his to the same effect bee very pitthye Not to sinne sayth he is the righteousnesse of God the righteousnesse of man is the freé pardon of God Of which pardon Augustine very litle differring from Bernarde maketh rehearsall in these wordes Thou hast done no good thyng sayth hee yet thy sinnes are forgeuen theé hitherto thou hearest the worke of mercy Marke now for Imputation Thy workes are examined and they are founde all faultie and forthwith concluding addeth If God should require these workes after their deseruynges he should surely condemne theé But God doth not geue theé due punishement but graunteth vndeserued mercy Thus much Augustine Euen as though hee would say Our best deédes seéme in none other respect good then as farreforth as they be vpholden by his pardon and freé Imputation who if otherwise should searche all our workes euen to the quicke after the most precise rule of his seuere Iustice hee should surely finde nothing sounde in our best deédes many things lothsome and wicked in our workes all thyngs in vs altogether corrupt and defiled Wherein we do not so aduaunce the mercy of God in his Iudgement as though we would haue all the partes of his Iustice excluded from thence But we doe mitigate rather the frettyng wounde of his Iustice which you do so stiffely mainteyne with your speache applyeng thereunto the sweéte and wholesome playster of his mercyfull Imputatiō For who cā be ignoraūt hereof that God shall Iudge the quicke and the dead with Iustice and equitie And who on the other part is so blind that can not discerne this to bee most false that Osorius mainteineth who rakyng all thynges to amplifie the estimation of pure righteousnes doth so stoutly defende this pointe That all our wordes workes are of such force and value in this Iudgement that of their owne nature they are auaylable towardes the purchase of the euerlastyng inheritaunce or els do procure vs a ready downefall to euerlastyng destruction In deede he speaketh truly in respect of the condemnation of the vnfaithful and vnbeleuyng persons and of them which beyng estraunged from fayth haue not acknowledged Christ in this world and of such as abusing their fayth haue despised Christ and of them also which seékyng to establish their own righteousnesse would not submit thē selues to the righteousnesse of Christ. Neither is it any maruell if God doe execute his Iustice somewhat more sharpely agaynst those persōs whenas their deédes beyng foūde guilty haue no ayde to pleade for them that may stand them in steéde besides Christ. For Christ is nothyng elles but a seuere Iudge to them that are not within the fortresse of Fayth as in effect the Gospell doth denounce vnto vs. Who so hath not beleued the Sonne the wrath of God dwelleth vpon him Iohn 3. But the matter goeth farre otherwise with them that are engraffed in Christ by faith of whom we read in Iohn the same Chap. He that beleueth the sonne hath euerlasting life Wherfore as Christ appeareth not a Redeémer but rather a Iudge to them which without the Castle of Fayth seéke to be rescued by the law so on the contrary part Those that shrowde them selues wholy vnder the assured Target of fayth and protection of the Sonne of God shall not finde Christ a rigorous Iudge but a mercyfull Redeémer The whiche sentence he doth verifie him selfe by his own testimony and
creator himself in destroying hys creature may well be adiudged to haue condemned now not his creature which he made but the creature of Sathan which the Serpent destroyed But you will say Then was the Image of God deformed as soone as it was created I know it but by whose default by Gods default or mans default but why did not the good creator of the world forbid it to be done when as he foresaw it would come to passe As though he gaue not an especiall commaundement to the same effect in playne wordes Nay rather if your reason be so captious as will not be satisfied but with naturall reason I might more reasonably demaunde this reasonable question of you why dyd not man obay the expresse restraynt of God For what do ye reade was not Adam forbidden to touch the vnhappy Apple of vnlucky knowledge was he not carefully admonished and forewarned by denouncing the daunger that would ensue thereupon And beyng sufficiently armed with the power of Freewill hadd he not strength enough in him selfe to take heéde why thē did he not looke to him selfe at the least in season if he were not willyng to beleue and obey Gods aduertizement Certes as lōg as her reprosed him selfe his whole sauetie in the saue keépyng and custody of the Lord he was in no daunger at all But settyng Gods commaundement at naught once whenas he chose rather to become the bondslaue of Sathan aspyring to be as wise as his Creator and God here what should Gods Iustice doe now which was not bounden to be any more carefull for an other bodyes Seruaūt And yet for all this God of his mercy did not so forsake and yeld ouer his creature although his Creatour most vnkyndely forsooke him beyng his Creature He did beautifie this runneaway with the light of Reason whereby he might know what ought to be eschued and what ought to bee embraced Furthermore to make him more carefull to regard vertue he planted into him very deépe rootes and prickes of conscience hee added moreouer Statutes and Lawes not onely emprinted within euery ones hart but engrauen also outwardly in spectible Tables Finally besides these written ordinaunces of the law he did euer now and then among rayse vppe Prophetes vnto them who with liuely voyce and teachyng should neuer cease by aydyng by promising by terrifieng by obtestyng by sweéte exhortyng briefly by all maner of meanes should neuer cease to reteine the people in an vniuersall obedience accordyng to order duetie What shall we say to this also that he furnished the very Gentiles them selues though they were neuer so beastly and barbarous with the doctrine of Philosophers oftentymes with coūselles of grauen men with wonderfull helpes of good letters and preceptes of Philosophy persuadyng them to all thynges and withall not sparyng to pricke them foreward to the embracing of vertue and eschewing of vyce with horrible examples oftentymes as it were with a spurre I beseéke you now what wāted to be added more either to Gods Iustice to expresse mercy or to his mercy to expresse Iustice or to his diligēce to expresse his continuall fatherly carefulnesse But here wanted naturall strength you will say Yet was not God to bee blamed for this but mans folly rather And yet neither in this behalfe did Gods fatherly goodnesse deny his assistaunce for euen for this so are also he made a playster And to Cure this vniuersall poyson of nature he gaue as vniuersall a Mythridatū made with the precious bloud of his onely begotten Sonne wherewith the weakest Creature in the world and the most ouerwhelmed with Sinne might easily atteyne remedy of eternall lyfe For as much therefore as mankinde was of euery side so wōderfully fensed with so many and so great benefites of Gods gracious mercy what is there that any man may eyther want to be supplied by thys our most bountifull God and Creator or what could this good and mercifull God haue done more liberally for hys creatures but here bursteth out more contention and quarreling amongest the deuines wherein they plunge thēselues to much For whereas this fayth in Christ is not pertinent to all persons and that the greater sort of people do not acknowledge the sonne of God and that he is not so faythfully Reuerenced as becommeth and that they repose not the safety of their imbecillitie in this Christ as they should now commeth here the question what the cause should be then of this hys reiectiō from whence it proceédeth from out the will of men or or from out the decreé of God or out of both causes beyng coupled together Osorius here grounding hys authoritie vpon his fine Cicero doth very mightely affirme That they were therfore made the vessels of wrath because they would not be made the vessels of mercy But how this may be true I can not conceaue sufficiētly Although I do not deny this that those which eare made vessels of wrath are altogether replenished with a rebellious will wherewith they do voluntarily forsake the offered grace of their vocation yet this same will is not the cause of reprobation but the effect rather doth follow and not go before it and it selfe is made rather then maketh reiectiō For neither such as be razed out of the booke of Election are therefore become the vessels of wrath because they did forsake mercye but they doe therfore throw away mercy offred vnto thē bycause beyng excluded from the grace of Electiō they were foreappoynted to be the Uessels of wrath castawayes so that Osor. might haue spoken more truely on this wise that such were made the vessels of wrath whō God would not haue to be the Uessels of mercy And for thys cause those Pharaonicall persequutors of the church were subiect to wrath not onely because they will not be partakers of Gods mercy but also because they cannot Besides this also in as much as all the Mercies of God are contayned in Christ onely and in the knowledge of Christ as as it were fast lockt in the Ark of God in what sense will Osor. say that they which will not beleeue are made the Uesselles of wrath as though the sinne of Infidelity did not rather proceéde of the ignoraunce of Iudgement then of any motion of will of purpose For it consisteth not within the compasse of naturall strength for euery man that will to be able to know Christ as him listeth But such as it is geuē vnto frō aboue that they may be able to know and haue a will also to know Christ. Otherwise in what sense do the scriptures teach that Christ shal be the stone of offence and Rock to stumble vpon to them who doe not beleeue and do stumble vpon the worde of fayth whereunto they are marked if the whole matter were atchieued not by the decreé of God but did hang vpon the determinatiō of man euē as the Apostles doth testifie in an other place that
incompreprehensible mercy of God when as otherwise you make but a very slender accoumpt therof As to that you seéme not to be resolued whether any Christian were euer so bussardly blind as to beleue any other clensing of sinne besides that which consisteth in the onely freé mercy of Iesu Christ surely good Syr you can not bee vncerteine of this vnlesse you doubt whether your selfe doe liue whether you take breath or whether you walke a man amongest men For that pure and vndefiled founteine of auncient Religion was long sithence dried vp when as a certeine deformed counterfaite of outward holynesse was priuely crept into the Church had so garnished it selfe with such a praÌ„ckyng cloake of Shole commentaries and scattered brâ—ggs of foolish superstition that the same inestimable treasure of Christes bloudsheadyng was almost altogether ouerwhelmed This is true Osorius Yea to true I would it had neuer bene true yea rather I would to many remnaunts of this stinking carion were not now in vre I would those rotten bleare eyedâ— Traditions had not ouer many Aduocates men of great renowme Lastly I would that our Ierome Osorius were not the very ryngleader amongest them Truly if Osorius were not as he is he would not be so bitterly clamorous agaynst me in that I doe so earnestly abhorre that lumpishe leaden Idoll which hath bene most wickedly esteémed for the onely ground-worke and foundation of all other trecheries For after this gaynefull market of redeémyng of soules was proclaymed abroad by the trumpet of the Pardoner and the price of saluatioÌ„ valued euery where at a few pence there ensued such outragious licentiousnesse of lyfe by the meanes of this speady forgeuenes of sinne that we seémed to haue no neéde of Christ sitting aboue at the right hand of his Father hauyng here in earth his Uicar generall with vs who for a small trifle could absolue vs dayly But here Osorius blameth me further as well for the thyng as for the name bycause I do so oft and so malitiously as he sayth make mention of lead Wherein the famous Oratour bewrayeth him selfe to be not onely vnskilfull but also a bluÌ„tish leaden scholer For if we call to remembrauÌ„ce the vsage of the fâ—repassed aunciencie no ordinaunces no contractes no obligations no Testaments no Commissions shal be founde to haue any force power or authoritie vnlesse the same were sealed with waxe signed with writyng or ratified with some engrauen markes herein if no man can be ignoraunt beyng neuer so meanely lettered or any tyme acquainted with the common affaires of the world with what face doe you so storme at me for that I call lead by the name of a publique Instrument I vse here knowen wordes sealed with lead doe ye not know the figure Synechdoche or haue you not heard of Metonymia if happely you remember not these trifles you may learne of litle children by whom these rules are dayly practised But if you do know them as of necessitie you must why do ye dissembles And hereof you say some men tooke great gleé who doe loathe my trade of liuyng as well as yours But at the last you depart from this lead and for your better credite vouch your Romish monarche the first founder therof for proofe of whose authoritie you thinke it not neédefull to spend much winde for that your copemate of Angrence hath most learnedly established the same already Truly this saying maketh me to smile at the old meéry Prouerbe one Asse claweth an other by the elbow In deéde your companion hath herein played the tall man before you as well as hee might and therefore you play the good felow with him agayne lendyng him a lye for a tyme and helpyng to vphold his credite already crusht in peéces But as I sayd at the first you lose your labour the worke is not recouerable For that infamous Apologie of Angrence hath geuen his estimation so deadly a wounde that AEsculapius him selfe can not cure this poysoned fistula if he were now aliue Therfore let vs passe ouer that seély wretched butterflye and stoppe your nose from the ayre of that carion the remembraunce of whom is either vtterly extinct or blemished for euer with euerlastyng ignominie We will harken to you agayne the most arrogaunt slauÌ„derour not of priuate persons and Diuines onely but of Princes and common weales also First let this be graunted you say that there is but one Church not many Churches Nay rather you grauÌ„t the same fondly falsly For generally there is but one onely Church of Christ but out of the same one many particular Churches are deriued as prouinces Hereof the seuerall Churches to whom S. Paule entituled his Epistles are sufficient witnesses The Churches also whiche S. Iohn doth recite in his Reuelation doe witnesse the same After that you take this for a maxime That it is not enough for a Prince to establishe wholesome lawes vnlesse he ordeine Magistrates and Gouernours ouer them This is true surely but this hangeth nothyng together with your former Maxime neither can I perceiue to what end it is spoken Of your third proposition you take handfast vpon my wordes wherein I consented with you touchyng a Monarchie Truely I did confesse and will not yet deny that you did dispute of a Monarchie very aptly What then doe ye conclude hereof that I doe despise or finde fault with other common weales doth that person disprayse politique gouernement which prayseth a Monarchie doth he condemne the estate of Uenice that prayseth the gouernement of Florence he that commendeth Wittemberghe doth he therfore reprehende Auguste or Argentine As though that auncient Rome when it was gouerned by Consuls Senatours was not the Empresse of the whole worlde or as though that politique Regiment of Athens was not a most florishing Regiment And as though in this our age many famous Prouinces are not well ordered with most sweéte lawes and ordinaunces which were neuer subiect to one ruler alone Let this therfore be the cause that enduced me to esteéme of a kyngly preheminence either bycause I had learned so or bycause I was enured thereunto or bycause the loue of my couÌ„trey did so persuade me Shall your determination be inuiolable therefore in this sort vttered For many persons do rend in peeces a commoÌ„ wealth but one maÌ„ doth vnite fast Citizens harts together with great authoritie If you set downe this as an infallible truth you do erre monstruously for the coÌ„trary hath bene very often experimented sundry notable RegioÌ„s which haue bene miserably ouerthrowen through the barbarous crueltie of Tyrauntes and many common weales beyng at the very brink of ouerwhelmyng haue bene comfortably recouered and preserued by the wisedome of many Out of these pretie reasons partly false partly vncerteine and chaungeable you multiply your coÌ„clusion neither true nor probable That is to say That Christ determinyng to establish his heauenly common weale vpon earth did
of your side be it neuer so sauadge can with fire Fagot cōsume out of the myndes of the godly But this our new maister dispatcheth all thyngs in scoffes a petie questiōs He demaundeth of vs what is to be vnderstanded of those Sacramentes which we doe reteine First of all if we doe vse any Sacraments at all you are taken tardy for a common lyar agaynst vs especially for you rayled a litle earst that all Sacramentes were vtterly abolished by our preachers and that you haue as many witnesses of this solemne lye as England hath inhabitauntes But you proceede and would know What Sacraments be If you doe know already and will dissemble why doe you playe the foole in so earnest a matter but if you bee ignoraunt hereof what maner of Deuine will you be accoumpted that know not the first principles of Religion Nay say you I am not doubtfull of the Sacraments of Scholemen but I know not your bare and naked Images by the whiche you deny the grace of God to bee obteined How many faultes Osorius in so few wordes For first of all who euer called Sacramentes by this name Images but you alone in déede they are named signes and markes of holy thynges many tymes seales of our saluatiō many mē call them tables and so diuers men geue diuers names But your selfe are the very first that euer gaue this tearme of Images to Sacramēts But as touching wordes though you be oftētymes ouer captious we wil be more tractable with you therein and will prosecute the matter You say that our Deuines doe place naked Images in steade of Sacramentes How naked my Lord I pray you we do agrée with S. Augustine that Sacramentes are signes of holy thynges or thus that Sacramentes are visible signes of inuisible grace I trust you will permit me the same libertie of wordes which you vse to take to your selfe We do graūt that we are by Baptisme regenerate to eternall lyfe we doe also yeld that in the holy Communion our Lord Iesus is truely receiued of the faythfull in spirite by fayth Whereby it appeareth that our Deuines do not accoumpt the Sacramentes as bare naked signes but for thynges most effectuall most holy thynges most necessaryly apperteyning to our comfort they be sacred mysteries of our Religion they be assured pledges of heauenly grace And yet God the father which made vs of clay is not tyed to his workemāshyp nor bounde to his creatures But taketh mercy of whom he will haue mercy and forgeueth our sinnes for his owne sake not for the Sacraments sake Lastly Life euerlasting is the gift of God through Iesus Christ not through operation of the Sacramentes And therfore we do refuse and detest such naked falsely forged Images as dreames of your owne drousie braynes and vse the true Sacramentes as most sacred thynges as pledges of our fayth and seales of our saluation yet we do not attribute so much vnto them as though by the meanes of them the grace of God must of necessitie be poured our vpō vs by the Workes wrought as through conduct pipes This impietie we turne ouer to your Schoolemen the very first sprynges of this poyson For inheritaunce is geuen of faith accordyng to grace The Sacramentes are reuerend signes of Gods grace vnto vs are excellēt monumētes of our Religion are most perfect witnesses of our saluation If you can not be satisfied with these commendations of the Sacramēts heape you vp more vnto them at your choyse we shal be well pleased withall so that you binde not the grace of God to these signes of very necessitie For we are not saued by the receauing of these Sacramēts But if we cōfesse with our mouth our Lord Iesus Christ and with our hartes beleeue that God raysed him agayne from death this confession onely will saue vs. Iulian the Emperour was Baptized in the name of Iesus yet dyed in manifest blasphemie Iudas Iscariote did féede vpon the Sacrament of Euchariste yet immediatly after Supper hee departed to the enemyes of our Lord Iesu and betrayed innocēt bloud what néedeth many wordes Sacramētes are most precious tokens of Gods fauour but they doe not obteine Gods fauour Sacramētes are excellent monumentes of godlynes but they do not make godlynes He that will glory let him glory in the Lord not in the Sacraments For by God we are engraffed into Christ Iesu whiche was made vnto vs by God wisedome righteousnes sanctification and redemption And this much to your generall obiections framed agaynst our order of administryng the Sacramentes Now I will come to those two principall points which you séeme specially to haue culled out that in them you might braue out the nimblenes of your witte eloquence of toung Confession you name and the Sacrament of the altar as you tearme it Of Confession you draw forth a tedious talke and in the same endeauour to include the Sacrament of Repentance First of all you cast your accōptes amisse in your numbryng Osorius for if you receaue Repētaunce in the name of a Sacramēt either you must admit eight Sacramentes contrary to the old custome of your Church or els you must turne one of your other seuen Sacraments out of the doores wherein vnlesse you deale more circūspectly you will haue more fistes about your eares then your owne euen amongest your owne fraternitie But please them as well as you may and vs you shall easely winne to wincke at you which do content our selues with two Sacramentes onely to witte Baptisme and the Supper of the Lord yet do we also exercize the rest withall as matters singularly profitable and so fast knitte to the rule of true godlynesse that Christian profession can not want them When I name the rest I do not cōprehend all but Confession and yet not your hypocriticall and schoole cōfession wherof we will treate hereafter but the pure and auncient confession authorized by the Scriptures practized by the Prophetes and Apostles I adde hereunto amendement of lyfe ordination of Ministers celebration of Matrimonie and prayer although you passe by this last as a foreine straunger All these I say are in dayly vse with vs and had in great estimatiō though they reteine neither name nor nature of Sacramentes properly There be some other also wherof it is néedelesse to make any mentiō at this present for these are the chiefest which though we do not vsurpe for Sacraments as you do yet we do allow of them reuerently and religiously accordyng to the ordinaunce of the Gospell of God Whiche I thought méete to touch briefly by the way left any person vnacquainted with our orders and geuyng to much credite to Osorius may estéeme so much the lesse of our Religion Now I returne to your Cōfessiō whispered into the eares of your Priests whō though you embrace as your swéet babe and enriche with a great dower of wordes and decke with
his name Christ teacheth farre otherwise of him selfe Behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any maÌ„ heare my voyce and opeÌ„ vnto me the gate I will enter vnto him and will suppe with him and hee with me O sweéte and most comfortable voyce of our Lord Sauiour Iesus Christ which if once may be throughly rooted in the inward partes of our soule will easely rase out abolish that priuy blind buzzyng in the eares of those Massemongers and Friers But Osorius sticketh fast to his substitution and mainteineth earnestly that the Apostles were assigned to be Christes Uicares on earth whiche should supply his iurisdiction and should enterlace their owne definitiue sentences with his These are both false God is a ielous God and will not geue his honour to any other Hee hath appointed no Uicare and the holy Scripture doth acknowledge no such word neither was it his will that the Apostles should entermedle in his Iurisdiction Your surmise is false quite contrary to his heauenly prerogatiue For Christ onely hath the keyes of hell and death Christ onely is the slayne Lambe and the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda the roote of Dauid which openeth the booke and louseth the seuen seales therof neither was there any besides him in heauen in earth or vnder the earth that could open the booke and looke into it Our Lord Iesus beyng raysed from death and appearyng vnto his Apostles spake vnto them in this maner All power is geuen vnto me in heaueÌ„ and in earth Of this power was neuer iote empaired in any respect and neuer shal be What was the Commission of the Apostles then Christ him selfe doth open it in the selfe same place Goe ye therfore and teach all nations Baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost teachyng them to obserue all those sayings which I haue commauÌ„ded you This was the Embassie of the Apostles this was their CommissioÌ„ Iurisdiction or to speake more playnly bluntly this was their function this was their office To this authoritie the keyes of heauen and remission of sinnes and whatsoeuer els of the same kynde must be applyed S. Paule doth comprehend all these briefly in these wordes Let men so esteeme vs as Ministers of Christ and Stewardes of the mysteries of God You be not Uicares theÌ„ Osori you be Ministers ye be not iudges to constitute Lawes as you do wickedly take vpoÌ„ you but ye be Stewardes to dispose the mysteries of God or at the lest you ought to bee But how belongeth this doctrine of Christ and his Apostles to your Massemongers Confessours They haue an other Romishe doctrine whereby they doe receiue the seély rude people runnyng in heapes vnto them rehearsing their sinnes priuily and in some close corner superstitiously when they haue vttered what them listeth they pronounce ouer them of their own power an absolution in a strauÌ„ge language in steade of Satisfaction they do enioyne them some fastyng dayes or some long pilgrimages and to make an ende of the play they pike from them a few peÌ„ce for their labour This is your vsurped power of CoÌ„fessioÌ„s Osorius which you affirme was geuen first to the Apostles afterwardes to you by a certâ—ine title of Succession Tell me now did you euer read that any thyng was whispered into the Apostles eares priuily or that sinnes were seuerally repeated or the people absolued by their owne absolute power or any thyng done in a language not vnderstanded or any penauÌ„ce as you tearme it enioyned or at the last any reward taken What vnshamefastnes is this what impietie is it to defend this close superstitious and mercenarie eare confession vnder pretence of the authoritie of our Sauiour Christ example of his Apostles especially wheÌ„ as none of these was euer instituted by Christ or frequented of his Apostles But your braynes are so be witched and intoxicated with eare confessions that ye shame not to alledge other stuffe yet whiche is most absurde of all the rest You say that it is daungerous for men to bee left in their owne libertie wheÌ„ they should confesse them selues to God For if it were so we would not willingly yeld to that embacing and throwyng down of our selues which Dauid named to bee the most acceptable sacrifice to God You do heare and acknowledge your owne wordes my Lord then the which I neuer heard any thyng vttered more blockish The matter shal be made manifest by the same example of Dauid which your selfe do alledge Dauid beyng a Patriarche a Kyng and a Prophet and a maÌ„ accordyng to Gods hart to vse the wordes of the Scripture was notwithstandyng continunually exercized in this kynde of Confession whiche is betwixt God onely vs in whom there is such store of sorowyng sighyng lamentyng weépyng afflictyng and bewayling as the like hath neuer bene in all your seâ—â—et whisperyngs no not sith the first whelpyng of the same For 〈◊〉 els is there in all that heauenly golden Psalmes of Dauids pâ—ayer then a mournefull and lamentable confession of sinne ioyned with hartie repentaunce sure hope of pardon Be mercyfull to me O Lord sayth hee accordyng to thy manifold mercies wash me throughly froÌ„ my wickednes and clense me froÌ„ my sinnes for I do acknowledgâ— my faultes and my sinne is â—â—er before me Agaynst thee onely haue I sâ—â—ed and done wickedly in thy sight Loe here a true and souÌ„de forme of CoÌ„fession fully described in Dauid whoÌ„ you haue alledged In this coÌ„fession we do exercize our selues In this we remaine in this we do dwell We do also poure out publicke Confessions of sinnes in our Churhes where the godly Minister is harkened vnto which may minister an wholesome plaister to our wounded consciences some sentence 〈◊〉 of the authoritie of the Scriptures These be the keyes wherewith he doth opeÌ„ the kyngdome of God to theÌ„ which do vnfaynedly repent pronounceth vs that are bouÌ„de with the chaines of our sinnes freély loosed and deliuered from them in the name of our Lord and Sauiour Iesu Christ. These Confessions as well priuate as publicke these keyes this power of byndyng loosing we doe acknowledge appointed by the Scriptures and practized in the tyme of the Apostles Neither was any thyng done with Iohn in a corner touchyng Confession nor yet with the Disciples of Christ. This matter was referred and ended also to and before God wherof we haue a most manifest example in the Gospell which ought not onely enter the eares but also pearce the very hartes of all well disposed persons When the lost and prodigall sonne had riotously consumed and wasted all his substaunce in so much that he was driuen to eate Peascoddes with hogges he begynneth at the last to call him selfe home and earnestly to deuise how he might be reconciled to his father herein he prayeth no ayde of any Leuite nor sittyng in a
For you apply your senses to the vnderstādyng of Transubstātiatiō wherby you will haue Christ to be felt to be tasted to be swallowed downe into the stomacke But I accordyng to the doctrine approued vse of the true Catholicke Apostolicke Churche doe vtterly renounce senses accidētes substaunces transformatiōs do aduisedly behold and comprehend in my mynde the Sacrament the mysterie and the Spirite You cast away the yoke of Christ and embrace the licentious outrage of the Romishe Bulles I am a poore miserable exile of Christ and his afflicted seruaunt You doe choppe and chaunge the benefites of Christ with the peéuishe trinckettes of your Schoolemen I do search for the true doctrine of Christian fayth in the most approued preachyngs of Christ his Apostles Ye do snarle at my conuersation of lyfe as if it were most wicked Wherin though you doe me a great iniurie yet ye geue your selfe a deéper wounde which in so open and manifest a lye doe put all your credite in hassarde of losse For albeit I am a miserable sinner in the sight of God yet I hope I haue so led my whole lyfe through his onely great mercy that I neéde not to feare Ierome Osorius to be myne accuser I could call to witnesse for my innocencie here in Italy Germanie and England in euery of which Regiōs I haue so behaued my selfe that hauyng testimony of all good commendable personages I may easely despise your slaunderous shameles rayling Wherfore a way with this your friuolous and insolent custome of scolding once at the last for it empaireth not the estimatiō of honest persons whiche though be vnknowen vnto you yet haue commendable report els where abroad but it rather hurteth your profession diminisheth your credite and loseth your estimation You doe prayse the Sacramēt plentifully and with many good wordes beautifie the benefites therof Wherein you doe very well for what thing vnder the heauens can be founde more prayse worthy more comfortable more honorable more precious more heauenly then this sacred Supper of the Lord whiche we not onely call by the names of Synaxim Euchariste as you doe but also bread come downe frō heauen and Angels foode Neither can you deuise to speake so fully and aboundauntly in the displaying of the excellent worthynes of this most singular sacrament but I will gladly consent with you therein You say that Cyprian was accustomed to geue this heauenly foode to Martyrs and that he would lykewise remoue from this heauenly Banquet men that were notorious for any great crime We doe acknowledge this godly vsage of Cyprian and the same do I for myne owne part Imitate as much as I may and I know not whether I haue employed any so great endeuour in any one thyng so much as that the pure and naturall honour of this Sacrament might be established and the same dayly frequented in all Churches Let my bookes bee perused let enquirie bee made of my familiars and such as I haue bene conuersaunt withall let the continuall course of my maners and lyuyng bee examined and I shal be founde of all men to haue bene a most humble and dayly folower and guest of this heauenly Supper Wherfore thē do you so immorderatly exclame agaynst me That I doe mainteyne combate agaynst the ordinaunce of Christ agaynst the doctrine of Paule agaynst the excellencie of so delicate fruites agaynst the knowen experience of that wonderfull commoditie and pleasauntnesse and agaynst the vndefiled fayth of the vniuersall Church Wherfore do you adde hereunto That I haue reprochfully abused the body and bloud of Christ and outragiously peruerted the benefite of Gods mercy Why do you knitte vp your knot at the length and say That I doe sport my selfe in these mischiefes and doe infect many persons with the poyson of this pestilēt errour God cōfounde that vnshamefast and blasphemous mouth with some horrible plague most cursed Semei whose cancred toung can finde no end nor measure in rayling I haue alwayes most reuerētly esteémed of the Euchariste as of a most precious most fruitefull sacramēt of Christes death as a most assured pledge and Seale of our redemption as a most precious treasure and mysterie of our fayth and hereunto haue I bene enduced by the ordinaunce of Christ our Sauiour by the doctrine of Paule by the iudgement of aūcient Fathers and by the discipline and receaued custome of the vniuersall Catholicke and Apostolicke Church Touchyng the doctrine therof I haue oftē tymes spoken before now therfore touchyng the Custome The same is perceaued by the dayly Custome of the Disciples which after Christ was takē vp into heauē did continually perseuere together in the doctrine of the Apostles and in participation and breakyng of bread and prayers as appeareth by these wordes Vpon a day of the Sabbaoth when the Disciples came together to breake bread c. Awake Ierome Awake you do heare the holy Ghost call it Bread and bicause you should not doubt therof you heare it agayne and ägayne yea and brokē also and this much more ye finde that the Disciples of Christ continually remayned in this holy custome And yet it was not bare Bread as you do wickedly diffame my sayinges therein but it was mysticall Bread sacred Bread finally it was the participation of the body of Christ in the same maner as the body of Christ may bee deliuered in a Sacrament by fayth and Spirite Therfore for as much as our Lord Iesus hath so instituted this Sacramēt to the euerlastyng Remēbraunce of his death passiō sithence Paule doth make mention of the sayd institution after the same maner sithence the auncient Fathers haue applied their doctrine to the same sense sithēce the primitiue Apostolicke Churche hath confirmed the same with perpetuall Custome Awake Ierome at the lēgth for shame awake if you can and rid your stomacke of that dronken Schoolesurfet of Trāsubstantiation which neither Christ did ordeine nor Paul acknowledged nor the Fathers euer thought of ne yet the Apostolique Church did euer medle withall It is a new deuised mockerie foūded first by Innocētius proclaymed by Schooleianglers scattered abroad by Sathā to the rootyng out of the true remembraunce of Christ from out our soules to the vtter ouerthrow of the power of that euerlastyng sacrifice of the crosse Lastly to the erecting of a damnable Idoll in our myndes supplying the place of Christ him selfe to be worshipped of vs. For what els meaneth this your Transubstantiated bread so much adorned with all ceremony of Religion so reuerently carried abroad so superstitiously reserued and kept in boxe lastly so blasphemously holden vp to the gaze worshypped did Christ our Sauiour do or teach euer at any tyme any of all these did Paule did the first and primitiue Church did the auncient Fathers Christ gaue Bread to his disciples Paule pronoūceth it by the name of Bread once twise thrise The Apostolicke church brake Bread
sprynges of the comfortable glad tydynges of the Gospell But lysten I pray you to Osorius disputation and wonder a whiles at his deépe insight in Logicke For in matters past recouery sayth he and in most assured confideÌ„ce there is no man that wil be enduced to rayse vp his mynde earnestly to any vertuous endeuour You haue here geuen vs a right Rhetoricall position now marke a concludyng determination more then Catholicke Ergo saith he Whereas Luther doth partly dispoile vs of the hope of righteousnesse and partly doth place the the same wholy in the righteousnesse of Christ which hope ought to be proper and peculiar to ech person what doth he herein els then vtterly subuerte and extinguishe all dueties and endeuours of godlynesse in vs Truely I do not deny but that in all maner of enterprises which happen in vsuall and dayly practize well conceauyng hope doth minister wonderfull courage to the mynde of man the whole force and lyuelynes wherof through DesperatioÌ„ or distrust is many tymes vtterly daunted But to what purpose is this alledged agaynst Luther Whose teachyng Lessons tende to this onely marke not so much to instruct vs in the rules of good lyfe which is the onely peculiar office of the law as to lead vs to know whether we ought in these good workes of ours to repose our affiaunce or elles to ascribe the same wholy to the freé mercy of GOD through Iesu Christ not bycause godly endeuours and vertuous workes are not prayseworthy but whether our workes be of so great estimation as may satisfie Gods iudgement and deserue eternall lyfe so establishe our conscieÌ„ces in sauetie This is the grounde and principall point of the controuersie which ought in this place to be decided For as much therfore as there be two kyndes of Desperation as we haue sayd it behoued you Osorius to haue distinguished the same before you had raysed your Battrye agaynst Luther There be some persons which doe vtterly dispayre of forgeuenes of their sinnes and of the mercy of God towardes them As for example the Desperation of Cain Saul Esau Antiochus Iudas Minerius Latomus Sadolete and such others And this kynde of DesperatioÌ„ belongeth properly to the vngodly and wicked whiche are altogether estraunged from God and nothyng agreable with Luthers doctrine There is besides this an other kynde of Desperation as in the attempt of any enterprise if a man be wholy discomfited to attaine the Maistrie and can not be the foremost will not yet bee discouraged but wil employ his abilitie as much as in him lieth that he may be the second at the left For the Archer that shooteth somewhat neare the sticke Deserueth his prayse though he hitt not the pricke In lyke manner we all euery one of vs doe marche onwarde paynefully in this warrefarre of Gods law as it were in a runnyng game to trye Maistric wherein albeit was neuer founde man whiche could in this lyfe assure him selfe to attayne the appointed goale yet are we not therewith so throwen downe in conceite as to bee in dispayre of our Saluation Neither ought we so to interprete the law as though through the practise and guidyng thereof onely and by no meanes elles we could obteine euerlastyng lyfe The law hath other purposes and endes to direct vs vnto whiche Osorius might haue learned out of Paule and Augustine and diuers others if he would not wittyngly and wilfully haue bene blynd The first Rule and vse of the Law is to represent vnto vs the inestimable righteousnesse of our creatour after whose Image we are created The next to condemne our vnrighteousnesse and abate our pride The other to bee for a tyme in steéde of a Schoolemaister to lead vs to Christ whiche albeit could not of her selfe geue full righteousnes to that people vnto whom it was deliuered first might neuertheles in the meane space through wholesome seueritie hold them backe and keépe them in feare and restrayne the vnbrideled licentiousnesse of their fleshe in some orderly comlynesse lest-they should runne headlong into all execrable and wicked impietie Truly these seéme to me bee the principall vses of the law the absolute and exact perfection wherof as neuer any man of that race hetherto was able to satisfie though vpholdeÌ„ altogether with the gracious ayde of God So if you Osorius can remember any one man sithence that tyme the sonne of God onely except that hath throughly performed all and euery part and duetie required by the law I beseéch you name him or if you caÌ„ name no one of all the ofspryng of AdaÌ„ which hath perfectly accomplished the whole law what moueth you so furiously to rage agaynst Luther who teacheth that all our righteousnes is vnperfect But be it that he hath likewise affirmed as the truth is that our righteousnesse is not onely vnperfect but had condemned all our righteousnesse to be more lothsome theÌ„ the defilynges of a foule menstruous clothe euen as Esay the Prophet did or what if accordyng to the saying of our Lord Iesus Christ hee had adiudged not onely all our deédes and wordes what soeuer though neuer so precisely handled not in the tyme of the old law onely but after the commyng of Christ also neither of vs alone or the rude vnlettered multitude but euen of the Apostles them selues performed to bee altogether vnauaylable to the purchasing of eternall lyfe yea and that theÌ„ selues also were in no better plighte and condition then seruauntes and vnprofitable bondeslaues what a sturre would this Daâ—â—s haue kept But now sithence no man can be ignoraunt of the most manifest sayings of Christ and the Apostles either must Osorius cite these felowes vnto the Chapter house together with the Lutherans or if he do acquyte them he must not from henceforth quarell with Luther in the cause Agayne where the same Lord in the Gospell doth promise a teacher the holy Ghost Which should coÌ„uince the world of sinne and of righteousnesse what shall we thinke that he mente by sendyng this teacher other then that hee purposed to establishe those two thynges especially which Osorius doth seéke chiefly to discredite That is to say that godly hartes beyng enlightened by the inspiration of the holy Ghost may bee instructed to feéle their owne weakenesse that from them selues as froÌ„ their owne power they haue no hope of Saluation and that for the attainement thereof nothyng wanteth in Christ Iesu and how that without Christ all that euer we haue is but in dispayred case but in him all thynges rest most safe and assured Out of the one wherof ariseth vnto vs a very coÌ„fortable Desperation out of the other floweth a most holy Affiaunce A Desperation I say not such a one as doth exclude true trust in Iesu Christ but which doth abrogate vayne confidence of our workes onely Neither doe I here meane the confidence whiche doth let louse the reynes to licentious boldnes and vnpunishable libertie but the same
confidence which doth minister necessary and comfortable gladsomnes to the godly afflicted consciences But our Porting all can in no wise allow of this confidence fearyng this thyng forsooth Lest this way be to swift and to easie to the attaynement of saluation as that whiche will drawe awaye the variable mynde of man from labour to slouthfulnesse and therfore it were much better that euery man beyng vncertaine of his owne sauetie should be holden still in feare rather And this perhappes he might seéme to haue spoken not without some reason if eternall lyfe were such a thyng as did depend vpon any couenaunt or condition of workes But whereas now it consisteth wholy in the freé mercy of God whiche neither can deceaue nor hath respect to the worthynesse of him that receaueth this grace but resteth vpon the onely credite of hym that promiseth is not apportioned to our good workes but freély geuen not to them whiche deserue but vnto them which doe beleue in him that doth Iustifie the vngodly what remayneth but that Osorius must either strippe the Scriptures naked of Gods promise towardes vs or of necessitie conclude our trust and assured affiaunce vnder that promise or that him selfe is vtterly ignoraunt what that promise of the Gospell purporteth and so bewraye his singular blockishnesse herein whiche is rather likely to bee true Now I would haue him first make me an aunswere vnto this Whether God haue made vs any promise at all Then whether that promise be the law it selfe or some other thyng ordeined besides and before the law And hereof Paule seemeth to bee a very fitte interpretour who reporteth that the promise was first of all geuen to Abrahā Then that after ii◠C. and xxx yeares the lawe was published and therefore that it could by no meanes make frustrate the Testament which was geuen first For if inheritaūce came of the law then is it not now of promise If we thinke good to beleue Paule rather then Osorius These thinges beyng now graunted I demaunde further if this Gentleman will vouchsafe to teach vs What kynde of couenaunt that was of the promised inheritaūce vnto vs whether he will confesse the same to be freé or not freé If he deny it to be freé then will S. Paule forthwith cry out agaynst him who doth ascribe all that promise made vnto Abraham of the blessyng of the seéde of the inheritaunce of the kyngdome of eternall lyfe vnto grace and not vnto the law yea and so also not onely before the law but euen when hee was not as yet in Circumcision But if he will confesse as he neédes must that the bare promise proceéded not of any couenaunt made in respect of our workes but was freély offred by the freé goodnesse of the geuer onely what reason will Osorius render vnto vs why we should not receaue the same with all assurednesse and most certeine assuraunce called in Greéke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For if fayth as Osorius hath described it in his bookes entituled De Iustitia bee deriued of hauyng affiaunce vpon whom may a man settle his affiaunce more safely then vpon God or when more assuredly then when he promiseth simply without condition or what can be of more certeintie then that which is promised by God the Father almightie to all men without exception freély and of his owne accorde yea and that through fayth onely Freély I say whereby the bountifull mercy of God poured vpon all fleshe may shyne more liuely to the comfortable chearefulnesse of afflicted consciences Through fayth I say bycause all thynges depende vpon this one condition That is to say That we all should beleue in the sonne of God in whom all the promises of God are yea and Amen I adde also fayth onely not bycause I will exclude good workes from her company simply as though they should not be put in vre but in such sort as that they shall not be esteémed to bee of such valewe as to be able to Iustifie not that beyng Iustified we should not exercise our selues in them But that we geue not vnto them the chief preheminence in Iustification not bycause we should let lowse the reynes to voluptuousnesse and treade the tract of vnbrideled lust or dissolue the seueritie of auncient godly discipline nor that we should vtterly extinguish all vertuous endeuours blot out the glory of honest actiōs or choke vp the light of true Religion and vndefiled sinceritie finally not to the end we should defile the commendable prayses of worthy renowne vnder colour of vnpunishable libertie of sinnyng in deede these are the paynted florishyngs of Osori forge glorious glytteryngs of his Sophisticall talke Wherin this our Simme suttle doth nothyng at all degender from the slye craftinesse of his predecessours Neither is this any new deuise or practize of those whiche when they are ouercharged with argumentes whiche they can not resolue cast vp presently such smocky and confused mistes of wordes and slaunderous reproches of purpose to dazell the eyes of the Readers that they may not seé the open light After the very same fashion Tertullus the Aduocate of the Iewes did behaue him selfe agaynst Paule Whose doctrine when hee could by no meanes emproue he rusheth vpon him like a Iolye Sycophaunte with slaunders and reproches vttered in smoathe and delicate order of speache with lyes vntrue reportes forged accusations and outcryes exclaimyng agaynst him that he was a troublesome man seditious a raiser of new sectes a defiler of the Temple For euen with all the selfe same cōtumelies Tertullus did then reproch S. Paule before Foelix then Presidēt like as now this our Tullian Tertullus with like vanitie and no lesse impudencie doth accuse Martin Luther of all whiche generally hee is as innocent and cleare now as Paule was at that tyme of his araignement Surely good consciences wayeng the matter indifferently cā not be ignoraunt nor Osorius him selfe I suppose will deny if he bee willyng to yelde to the truth but that neuer any such braynesicke thought dyd enter into Luthers head as to geue any scoape to the vngodly to pursue wickednesse but rather that hee was alwayes of this mynde to comfort afflicted consciences and to discouer the most sure founteines of consolation in Christ Iesu Crucified for vs. Whereby you may perceaue most vayne glorious Tertully what maner of Desperation and what kynde of Affiaunce Luther doth teach not that Affiaunce which is enemy to Saluation but that necessary and vndoubted Confidence which is able to approue it selfe allowable by the infallible promises of God and most assured testimonies of holy Scriptures For otherwise if Christian fayth had no other fortresse whereunto it might safely trust I would then fayne know of you where that peace where that reioysing in Christ Iesu is whereof Paule doth certifie them Whiche beyng Iustified by fayth haue peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ wherein we stand
assured and reioyce in the hope of the glory of God Rom. 5. Where is that accesse with confidence and boldenesse through fayth in him Ephe. 3. Where is that accesse to the throne of grace with assured Affiaunce Hebr. 4. To what ende doth our Lord so oft in the Gospell encourage vs to conceaue couragious boldnesse vsing this reason That he alone had ouercome the world for the behofe of all people Iohn 16. If as yet euery one of vs must be enforced to purchase to him selfe the victory by his owne endeuour Where is that fulnesse of ioye in the holy Ghost If employeng our seruice after the maner of bonde seruauntes not as children we must lyue vnder the law and hope to attayne the possession of our inheritaunce as a rewarde of our workes and not thorough freé adoption rather Where is then that Spirite of Adoption cryeng in our hartes Abba Father Wherof S. Paule doth so oftentymes make mention or if you be not yet satisfied with these sentences what aūswere shall we make to Esay the Prophet Where he foresheweth euerlasting ioye vnto them which beyng redeemed by Christ are cōuerted in Syon Where is that cherefulnesse of hart Comfort in steede of mournyng glory in steede of Ashes the oyle of gladnesse in steede of the spirite of sadnesse Promised in the behalfe of the Messias that was yet to come More ouer where the same Prophet doth wonderfully commende the feéte of those which should preach peace to the people what other thyng els doth he note in these wordes then that most excellent glory of the Churche which should aboundauntly flow through affiaunce of the Mediatour vpon all that should beleue on him what meaneth that chearefull Prophecie of Ieremie concernyng the commyng of the Messias and the comfortable consolation of the Gospell to come In those dayes sayth hee Iuda shal be saued and Israell shall dwell with confidence Agayne the same Prophet And I will make them to dwell in Sauetie Whereunto accordeth likewise the saying of the Prophet Ezechiel who prophecying of the raysing vp of a Shepheard and of the blessednesse of that age euen in the same phrase of speache almost doth promise That it should come to passe that men should dwell and rest in securitie without all feare c. Now remayneth to learne of you Osorius what this sayeng to dwell in securitie without all feare doth emporte whiche for as much as your selfe will not confesse to haue relation to the fleshe then it must follow of necessitie that we interprete the same to bee spoken of the Spirite But in what sorte shall it appeare that this saying must bee applyed to the confidence of the Spirite whenas ye shall defraude the Christian fayth of assurednesse of Affiaunce as though ye would dispoyle the world of the benefite of the Sunne Finally what certeinetie of confidence shall remayne if the same doe depende as you say wholy vpon workes and not vpon fayth of the promise freé mercy of him that doth make the promise If you graunt thereunto one of those two ye must neédes confesse either that you ought to obteyne so much by the vprightenes of your workes as shall aūswere and satisfie the Iudgement of God which you can neuer doe or els that the variablenesse of your mynde shall alwayes stagger hether and thether in perpetuall amazed vncerteinetie Doe ye not perceaue Osorius into what streightes this your Diuinitie forceth you Goe ye to therfore Maister Tertullus thinke with your self whether of you two either Luther or Osorius with your Tullianisme doe more stiffely maintaine the doctrine of Desperation Surely S. Paule will teach you a lesson farre vnlike this who abrogatyng all cōfidence in workes which is none at all or at the least most vnassured doth cōclude all thynges vnder fayth onely Therefore through fayth sayth hee that it may be knowen to proceede accordyng to grace That thereby the promise may be assured to the whole seede And wherefore I pray you so through fayth forsooth bycause if the proportion of affiaunce must bee measured by the deseruynges of our workes It is so farre of that any man may possibly conceaue neuer so litle hope of saluation that he shal be forced rather to procure vnto him selfe a headlong downfall into the bottomles gulfe of Desperation And therfore S. Paul discoursing vpō both sortes of righteousnesse aswell of that of the law as that other of fayth after that hee had very exquisitely distinguished the one from the other bycause of the mutuall contrarietie or disagreément betwixt them wherewith they do varie eche from other doth conclude at the length That the Principall substaunce of the whole matter dependeth vpō fayth wholy accordyng to grace And wherfore accordyng to grace verely bycause hauyng abandoned all the righteousnes that commeth by the law which worketh indignation and therfore engendreth vncerteinetie the soule might be established in Grace takyng holdfast of the promise through fayth might attende for nothyng els from whence she should conceaue any other assurednesse of hope to attayne euerlastyng lyfe For as it is an vsuall custome amongest men earnestly to awayte for due performaūce of these thynges that are promised so contrariwise such thyngs as are graunted conditionally are then neuer till then assured but when the conditions are obserued Now if the conditions were such as might bee throughly accomplished accordyng to that absolute perfection of fulnesse wherewith they are limited thē no doubt the law were of it selfe effectuall enough to Saluation For hee that doth keepe the Commaundementes shall lyue by them But as the case standeth now for as much as we are all will we nill we subiect to the breache of the law and that no creature can bee founde whiche dare affirme him selfe able to performe all the conditions annexed to the law of God that I may be so bold to place your Maistershyp one of the number then must we all of necessitie seéke the meanes of our Saluation not from the law but from somewhere els bycause this eternall lyfe must be ascribed to an other mans death and not to our lyfe neither after the opinion of our workes but vnto the freé mercy of God Whiche doth onely ouercome when hee is Iudged Wherein for examples sake let vs heare how Dauid him selfe though neuer so well beloued of God doth as it were tymorously humble him selfe in his prayers beseéchyng God that he will not enter into Iudgement with his seruaūt And where with was hee dismayed I pray you Bycause sayth he no fleshe shal be Iustified in thy sight If so be then this so noble a Kyng and worthy a Prophet standyng to be arrayned before almightie God durst not commit the protectiō of his cause to the deseruyngs of his workes shall then Osorius or Hosius dare bee so bold to doe it We read what remayneth in Recorde of Barnarde beyng otherwise a
prayseworthy man that when her foresawe the ende of his lyfe to approche and that he was then Summoned to appeare before the Iudgement seate of the eternall God that he began to expresse a wonderfull fearefulnesse and to bee very much dismayed in his mynde whom as his frendes standyng about him would haue recomforted and encouraged to cheare him selfe with confidence of the good lyfe that hee had lead in deéde sayth he I perceaue I may seéme to bee in such estimation amongest you but I feare me least the Iudgement of God is farre vnlike the Iudgement of men Truely this was aptly remembred of Barnarde Who albeit knew it well enough before paraduenture yet as then beyng at the pointe of death he perceaued much more effectually Euen as we seé to haue chaunced to many others of this Popishe brood Who though they delite and flatter them selues neuer so much in the glory of their merites and vprightnesse of their workes yet when death knocketh at the doore of their consciences and willeth them to bidde adiew to the worlde then forthwith castyng away all trust of merites and as it were accordyng a recantation of the doctrine they shrowde them selues wholy in the death of Christ and hereupon fasten the chiefest shooteanker of sauety as it were in the most assured hauen of perfect blessednesse Whereby you may vnderstand ye Porting all Prelate how all that your frame of righteousnesse which you builded vpon the deseruynges of workes is vnioynted and shaken in peéces the force wherof was neuer yet of such efficacie and valew in any creature as could not onely not abyde the incomprehensible vnmeasurablenesse of Gods Iudgement but also bee so wholy appalled at the encouÌ„tryng of death that it can not endure the sight thereof but must neédes yelde as throughly vanquished Moreouer sithence this place offereth it selfe to debate of vertues I would wish you to coÌ„sider aduisedly with your selfe what that wellknowen saying of Augustine doth purporte and how farre it doth dissent from this your contentious quarell of righteousnesse whereas treatyng of vertue and charitie he speaketh in this wise Uertue sayth he is a kynde of charitie wherewith we loue that thing which ought to be beloued This charitie appeareth more in some in others lesse in some also nothyng at all But the fulnes thereof whiche can not be increased whiles man liueth in this world was neuer seéne in any for as loÌ„g as it may be encreased truely all what soeuer is lesse then ought to be will admitte a supply commeth of default through which default all flesh can not be Iustified in his sight wherein pause a whiles I pray you with me debate throughly with your selfe whether if that charitie whiche is in Christâ—ans though it be neuer so apparauntly discernable yea after their regeneration also be lame and defectiue what may be thought of them in whom scarse appeareth any meane resemblaunce thereof but what shal be iudged of your selfe Osorius chiefly amongest all other in whom not one sparcke so much of true charitie nor any iote so much of humanitie can be seéne in so much that who so shall read those Inuectiues of yours may easely coniecture that he heareth not the modestie of Osorius a Christian Byshop but rather some Tragicall Orestes furiously ragyng vpon some Stage But to returne to Augustine of whose iudgement in Diuinitie I know not how well Osorius will allow truely what small accoumpt he made of the worthynesse of our righteousnesse he could neuer haue more vehemeÌ„tly vttered then in these wordes wee be to the most vpright life of maÌ„ sayth he if God examine the same settyng mercy aside In like maner Gregory doth very litle varie from Augustine in wordes though nothyng in sence But altogether dissenteth from you Osorius where expoundyng the sayeng of Iob in their Chapter videl Man can not bee iustified beyng compared to God The holy man sayth hee doth perceaue that all the deseruynges of our best workes are faultie if they be wayed in the righteous ballaunce of the iust Iudge And by and by in the xi Chapter as it were redoublyng the selfe saying of Augustine Bycause sayth he if excludyng mercy workes be examined the lyfe of the most righteous wil be founde to folter and faynte vnder the burthen of Sinne. Hereunto may be annexed the consent of Barnarde of whom we made mention before worthy to be noted touchyng the same matter Who makyng a long discourse of the vnrighteousnesse of mans righteousnesse demaundeth a question at the last of what valew all our righteousnesse may be in the sight of God Shall it not be reputed filthy sayth he lyke vnto a foule menstruous clothe according to the saying of the Prophet and if strickte and narrow examination be made therof shall not all our righteousnesse be fouÌ„de vnrighteous nothyng worthe at the last as though the matter were confessed and without all coÌ„trouersie he coÌ„cludeth saying And what shall become then of sinne whenas righteousnesse it selfe hath nothyng to alledge for defence For as much therefore as it is so and that this doctrine is so manifold so manifest confirmed by so many and so famous Authours emprinted in holy writte allowed with so many inuincible testimonies of sacred Scripture published by the approued writynges of the best learned interpretour established with the vnuanquishable authoritie of the holy Ghost ratified with the common consent of the auncient primitiue Church finally so manifestly knowen by experience of all ages where is then that haynous crime that cruell offence that shameles trespasse and that intellerable facte as you say not to bee suffered in Luther Nay rather to speake as the truth is from wheÌ„ce or out of what puddle haue you sucked the shameles impudencie Osorius singular foolishnes vnmeasurable SycophaÌ„ticall rage frantique tragicall furye and so cruell and vnreasonable a custome of raylyng agaynst your Christian brethren without all cause or reason who haue rather deserued well theÌ„ euill at your handes I know not whether this proceéded from any cankred malice lurkyng within you or through corruption of your nature Sure I am that you neuer learned that insolencie out of holy Scriptures or out of the rules of the Gospell or by ensuyng the example of Christ and his Apostles or their mylde and curteous conuersation But perhaps Osorius hath determined with him selfe to leaue to the posteritie some especiall Iewell as a monument of his eloquence as Cicero did his Inuectiues called Phillipica c. Yea it had bene more coÌ„uenient for him to haue chosen some other Methode to treate vpon and farre more seémely to haue bent the rage of his penne agaynst some others rather then agaynst Luther Bucer and others the lyke For if he were willyng to confesse the truth simply what other doctrine doth Luther Bucer Haddon and all others who discourse vpon one selfe same Gospell teache then the very same matter that
S. Paule in so many his Epistles doth so earnestly enforce That is to say That we should ascribe all the hope of our saluatiō in Iesu Christ onely and in him alone repose all our whole ankerhold of righteousnesse not in our selues but in the sonne of God not in the law of workes but in the law of fayth not in the preceptes of godly lyfe as Augustine witnesseth but in the fayth of Iesu Christ not in the letter but in the spirite not in the merites of good deédes but in the mercy of God Finally after that sorte in his mercy that we should not accoumpt this mercy to be mercy at all accordyng to the saying of Augustine vnlesse it bee altogether freély geuen How now are Christiās now a dayes straighted in such brambles that it may not be lawfull to speake franckely in the congregatiō the selfe same which the Prophetes Apostles Christ him selfe the holy Ghost and the purest Authours of auncient antiquitie haue set downe in writyng but that the partie so doyng shal be forthwith detected as though hee practized to subuert all honestie and vertuous endeuour and shal be constrayned to pleade for him selfe as if he were arrayned a cōmō Barretour and had committed some haynous horrible and execrable fact more detestable then high Treason Neither are these all the crimes yet wherewith this Tertullian rayler doth rage in his raylyng but crawleth foreward by enceasing degreées of amplificatiō For beyng not satisfied to haue accused Luther as an vndermyner of all honestye and vertue to haue cutte in peéces the very sinewes of godly exercise and vertuous endeuour besides this horrible accusatiō he chargeth him also with a crime passing all measure intollerable And what is that Bycause sayth he hee doth wrest the mynde and wisedome of Paule to serue his owne lust And redoublyng the same agayne in other wordes bycause he will not seéme to be an vnskilfull Ciceronian hee addeth further And he doth abuse the testimonies of holy Scriptures to establish his owne vnshamefastnesse c. Where Syr I pray you For sooth in sundry places of the Apostle and especially in the Epistle written to the Romanes Wherein bycause it shall not onely bee conceaued in mynde but also perceaued by the viewe how disorderly Luther the Standard bearer of all heritiques and his Cabbenmate Haddon and all the counterfaites of this new Gospell haue alwayes hetherto in the interpretation of that Epistle gropyngly lyke nightowles lumpred in darkenesse Let vs all and euery of vs open our eyes eares now and lysten to this new starte vp Prophet whiles this our most elegant Tertullus sittyng at high deske may instruct vs all blockyshe Asseheades and as it were an other Archymenides with lyne vpon the sande chalke vs out a way and set vp some speciall markes whereby we may finde out the lyuely naturall sence mynde and meanyng of that Epistle And first of all concernyng the Gentiles bycause he may begyn with them as Paule doth he sayth that it is euident enough that they were enlightened with a singular gift of nature endued with excellent vnderstādyng adorned and beautified with wonderfull ornamentes of Nature Who hath euer denyed this Goe to what followeth hereof Wherefore for asmuch as this so great force of nature excellencie of vnderstandyng knowledge in learnyng yea so great worthynesse of reason and capacitie could auayle nothyng at all with the Gentiles to perfect and righteous liuyng for they did exceede in all iniquitie and outragious lust thereby appeareth playnely that nature was voyde of all ayde and helpe to attayne the righteousnesse of eternall lyfe And this much by the waye touchyng the Gentiles From whom after the Apostle had remoued away all confidence whiche was vsually ascribed to the law of nature he turneth his speach forthwith to the Iewes And bycause the Iewes them selues did in lyke maner place their whole affiaunce in those shadowes and outward ceremonies The Apostle likewise yea more sharpely also inueyeth agaynst them declaryng that all those Ceremonies of the law and Ordinaunces prescribed by Moyses did profite them nothyng at all whereby they might bee any iote more restrained from running headlong into all kynde of wickednesse nothyng lesse enclined to all filthynesse of conuersation neither any myte lesse estraunged from vertuous endeuour then the prophane Gentiles whereby appeareth that the effect of Paules Conclusion tēdeth to this end To make this manifest that neither nature nor the Ceremonies of Moses law that is to say washyngs Sacrifices clensinges Circumcision and such like corporall ordinaunces with the cōfidence wherof that people did swell and were puft vp in pride did take away sinne or did any thyng at all auayle to righteousnes By this discourse of Osorius I doubt not gentle Reader but that thou doest sufficiently vnderstand if thou bee of any capacitie what the meanyng of Paule and the whole sence and disposition of his doctrine in this Epistle to the Romanes doth purporte accordyng to Osorius his Diuinitie That is to say That we may learne how that we may not hope for any ayde towards our Saluatiō frō nature or any ordinaūces of the old law which beyng graūted it remaineth further to learne out of this Oracle of our great Maister from whence we ought at length to seéke for the true way of Saluation and in what poynt it chiefly consisteth forsooth in righteousnes saith he that is to say as Osorius doth define it In Eschewyng sinne and earnestly embracyng all godlynesse vertue and pietie vnto the which righteousnesse onely we ought to referre all surety and ankerhold of our saluation And hereupō is coyned a new Oracle not from Delphos in Boeotia but forged by Osorius in the wildernes of Syluain worthy to be Registred to eternitie of all people and tounges For righteousnesse onely sayth he doth reconcile God to mankynde The man hath spoken This mystery beyng exquisitely piked out of the hiddē mysteries of Diuinitie sithence Osorius requireth so earnestly to be graunted him without contradiction what shall become of that Fayth onely wherewith those Lutheranes and Bucerans do prattle so much them selues to be iustified by Nay rather what shall become of any Fayth at all Osorius if the onely righteousnesse of workes doe accomplish the absolute fulnesse of our Iustification Oingenious head and wonderfull deépe conclusion framed through conference of reasons and apt application of the middle proposition with the first and Clarckely concludyng and shuttyng vp the same into one knotte together Unlesse this our deépe Deuine had cunnyngly culled this Argument out of the closet of the Popes own breast as out of some horsepoole within whose bosome all knowledge of God and man is enclosed or vnlesse this Endymyon had soundly snorted in Aristotles Ethickes as it were in the hill Parnassus can any man doubt whether hee could euer haue bene able so happely to haue pearced into the inward and hidden meanyng of the Apostles
doctrine with so great sharpenesse and force of witte and vnderstandyng or haue euer descried the sence therof so effectually and discouered it so aboundauntly Why doe we not triumphauntly reioyce in this happynesse of learnyng in this blessed estate of the Catholicke people this our age be ioyfull for the good successe of that notable Realme of Portingall especially Which beyng otherwise renowmed for the great treasure of their trade in Marchādizes is yet become most fortunate in respect of this inestimable Iewell of the world which except in this great darkenesse of vnderstandyng had gratified vs with this wonderfull Deuine who might restore vnto lyfe all pietie Religiō suppressed by Luther who could with such singularitie expresse the meanyng of Paule beyng sinisterly corrupted after the sensualitie of naughtie packes and could so exquisitely haue hitte the nayle on the head all men might iustly haue doubted lest Diuinity should haue growē into great perill of vtter vndoing haue bene throwē into an vnrecouerable downfall For what mā in the world would haue interpreted Paules Epistle in this wise if he had not heard this mā before Truely I for my part and others like vnto me beyng not inspired with so profoūde deépe capacity did alwayes heretofore conceaue of the matter after this maner That the Apostles whole endeuour and trauaile in that Epistle tēded to none other end then by makyng men behold the greatnesse of Gods wrath first agaynst sinne hee might the better enduce them to perceaue and feéle how all nations and people aswell Heathenishe as the Iewes also them selues chiefly continuyng in the profession of Gods law were yet concluded vnder sinne and so might dispoyle them all of all matter to glorye vpon and so hauyng humbled and brought them into subiection before God might rayse agayne their comfort in Christ by denouncyng vnto them firme assured hope wherewith who soeuer did as then or would beleue in him afterwardes should obteine euerlastyng lyfe not through the merite of any worke but by the especiall grift of the freé promise not for our worthynesse but for our faythe 's sake simply without workes that the promise might be infallible not through any our merite which is none at all but by the mercy of God not accordyng to the proportion of that singular righteousnesse whiche is of our selues and peculiar to euery of vs but accordyng to that righteousnesse whiche is through the fayth of Christ Iesu whiche is of God euen that onely righteousnesse which is through fayth I haue bene alwayes hetherto persuaded that this was the very naturall meanyng and sence of Paules doctrine and this the right rule of Iustification neither could I euer gesse that when Paule pronounceth vs to bee Iustified by fayth without deédes of the law that part of the law was excluded onely which did treate of Ceremonies and had relation to the body and apperteined not to the soule But I accordyng to my grosse dulnesse rather did conceaue of his saying in this wise and not I alone but many other good men iarryng alwayes vppon the same stryng mistooke the note as I did and were of opinion that Paule by that his exemption did not exclude the Ceremoniall and shadowishe law onely which serued the letter onely but that most absolute and perfect part of the law also indifferently whereof he maketh his whole discourse in that Epistle the whiche also he doth note by name to be spirituall and sayth that it procureth wrath which was common to the Iewes and Gentiles all alyke Euen the same part of the law whiche commaundeth that thou shalt not lust by examination whereof Sinne is discerned Finally the same handwrityng conteyned in the tenne Tables written agaynst vs which was fastened vpon the Crosse of Christ. Bycause all those sayinges could not bee referred to the Ceremoniall law but to that part of the law whiche was conteyned in the preceptes of maners we could neuer otherwise interprete the sense meanyng of the Apostle then by such comparison of his owne wordes together vntill this new Doctour had published to the world this new light of Exposition Cōsideryng therfore the matter is in this plight It remayneth now gentle Reader that I appeale to thy Iudgement and abyde thy verdite herein whether it may seéme to theé that Luther haue wrested the mynde and wordes of the Apostle after his lust or Osorius rather haue peruerted the same to his owne folly But goe to I thinke good now to note the Argumentes wherewith Osorius iudgeth him selfe to be strongly fenced If Paule sayth he had sayd that the Iewes were commēdable for their integritie and innocencie of lyfe and yet that those deedes of godlynes did nothyng auayle them to attayne righteousnesse and so had concluded afterwardes that they were not iustified through the workes of the law the matter would then haue opened it selfe that by the name of workes he did meane the best actions and dueties of vertue Here is a strong foundation enough I suppose of an infallible Sillogisme deliuered vnto you attende now the other proposition of the same But this sayth hee is not founde in that whole discourse of Paule nay rather hee doth condemne them as guiltie of all wickednesse and crueltie This groundworke beyng this layd it remayneth that we rāme fast this buildyng vp with some good morter which in the maner of a conclusion is applyed in this wise Therfore Paule doth rightly conclude that where he affirmeth no man to be iustified through the deedes of the law he meaneth that the Ceremonies shadowes and Cleansinges of the law which consisted in outward obseruation dyd nothyng at all profite to the attaynemēt of Righteousnesse O passing pearcyng witte of Chrysippus O miserable Luther vtterly ouerthrowen with this Argument But goe to let vs ayde Luther somewhat and helpe to vnloose this Gordian knotte if it bee possible And although we may vtterly deny the forme of this Argument at the first choppe bycause it conteineth more in the cōclusion then was spoken of in the premisses yet either pardonyng or wynking at this escape Let vs examine the substaunce of the first proposition If Paule quoth he had perceaued the life of the Iewes to haue bene vndefiled and all the endeuoures and workes of their lyfe sincere and perfect and then had concluded that no man had bene Iustified by the workes of the law c. In deéde good Syr I confesse the same to bee true If the Apostle had perceaued this at the first and then had added that also that you speake it might happely then in some respect haue followed as you haue conclucluded But it could not bee possible Osorius that the Apostle would euer speake after that sorte For it is euident by Gods Scripture that it is impossible but that he which performeth the Commaundementes shall liue by them Wherfore if their conuersation had bene voyde of all blame and with like integritie
mercyfull indulgence of God And the same sentence hee doth reiterate agayne in an other place in the selfe same wordes or at least doth cōfirme it with wordes not very much differēt from the same For the sinne sayth he that is committed can not be vndone and yet if God doe not Impute the same it shal be as though it neuer were done c. Surely if the sinne shall not be accompted sinne that hath bene committed no more shall the Sinner bee taken for a Sinner that hath committed the sinne And so it followeth necessaryly hereupon that he must neédes be righteous and blessed Whereby you do perceaue I suppose from whence all this sappe or iuyce of our Righteousnesse and Saluation springeth not out of the workes of our righteousnesse which is none at all but from the onely meére mercy of Gods freé pardon as hath bene declared by the testimony of Bernarde Or if the authoritie of Bernarde cā not obteine so much credite with you yet let the Fayth of Basile Augustine Origene and Ierome persuade you or their auncientie moue you for I perceaue that you are much delighted with antiquitie And first what cā be more notable then the wordes of Basile For he that trusteth not to his owne good wordes neither looketh to be iustified by the deseruyng of good deédes all his hope of saluation he reposeth onely in the meéte mercy of almightie God I will adioyne vnto him a companion of the same iudgemēt and auncientie that notable Clarcke Origene Bycause all thynges sayth he are concluded vnder sinne therfore mans saluation consisteth not in merites of workes but in the freé mercy of God Neither doth S. Augustine differre from them who treatyng of the ende of the last Iudgement seémeth to haue setled all the hope of our sauetie in the onely mercy of God God will crown vs sayth he in the end of the world with mercy and compassions Yeldyng the same in the Latine toung almost which Basile before him dyd expresse most manifestly in the Greéke toung in this wise There is Iudgemēt not without mercy bycause here is no such man to bee founde pure and immaculate without some spotte of sinne yea though hee be an Infante dyeng the same day that he is borne And agayne the same Augustine in his booke De Ciuitate Dei 19. booke and 27. Chapter purposing to declare what accompt may be made of our righteousnes in this transitory life affirmeth it to be such as ought rather to be valued by the forgeuenesse of sinnes then by perfection of vertues And agayne the same Augustine in his first booke of Retractations 19. Chap. All the Commaundementes sayth hee are then reputed to be performed when that whiche is left vndone is pardoned And I know not whether Ierome haue declared the same more euidently who referryng all thyngs to the freé mercyfulnesse of God forgeuyng vs speaketh in this wise In Christ Iesu our Lord in whom we haue our hope accesse and affiaunce by the faith of him not by our righteousnes but by him through whose fayth our sinnes are forgeuen vs. But why doe I stand so long vpon a matter that ought to be without all cōtrouersie when as the generall consent and agreément of all learned Authours and antiquitie can not be founde more constaunt nor for the more part more consonaunt in any one thyng so much as in this The matter therefore beyng so playne it remayneth that of two meére contraries we allow the one and vtterly forsake the other that is to say either that which you doe cauill touchyng righteousnesse or els that which they doe teache vs touchyng Gods gracious forbearyng For these two are farre different eche from other and can not be admitted both for it righteousnesse be obteyned by integritie of workes then what neéde haue we of any further forgeuenesse But if this come vnto us by the onely freé benignitie of the forgeuer I beseé you then for the loue ye beare to your Myter where is now that integritie of workes that vprightenesse that may make our righteousnesse perfect For as farre as I can gesse pardon is not geuen to well deseruynges but reward rather offred as of duety Neither can it be truely sayd That pardon must be craued where no offence is committed But ye will say paraduenture that some imperfections doth lurcke secretly in our deédes though they be wrought by the grace of God which yet wanteth the mercyfulnesse of God It is well sayd truely And why then doth your darkyng penne so cruelly rage agaynst Luther Who franckely of his own accorde doth professe the selfe same thing though in other wordes which you are driuē by force to yeld vnto whether ye will or no. That is to say That our deédes are vnperfect lame blynd naked and so altogether barren and hungry that vnlesse they bee clothed and vpholden by the mercy of freé pardon no defence wil be pleadeable before the Iudgement seate of God and shal be accompted rather in place of sinnes then seéme to deserue any reward of vertue If ye be not satisfied with these testimonies but will obstinately persiste in this your opinion still that our workes may be so absolutely perfect as to deserue I beseéch you make proofe therof by some reasonable authoritie either vouched out of holy Scriptures or out of some approued auncient Authours And if ye can make no soūd proofe in that behalfe deale yet somewhat more soberly with vs. For these your reproches rebukes lyes scoldynges outcries spyttynges cursinges glorious hauty speaches and triflyng wordes make nothyng to the purpose On the other part if ye can neither make proofe vnto vs of this perfect Righteousnesse of workes by any demonstration of your owne workes nor any mā els besides you dare presume to offer him selfe in iudgement to tryed by his workes what els doe ye in chargyng Luther so sharpely when ye so condemne him for a franticke and braynesicke mā Then Tertullus did sometyme accusing Paul to bee a seditous person sauyng that he accused Paule but at one tyme once and your penne vomityng out nothyng els besides furies frensies and madnes of Luther doth so continually crawle in ragyng by degreés as will seéme neuer to make any ende at all thereof vntill ye bryng your selfe amongest the Iewes at the last and crye out as they did Crucifige vpon him Crucifige vpon him Iob a most vpright lyuear did stand in doubtfull feare of all the workes of his life Esay the Prophet doth cōpare all our righteousnesse to a foule menstruous cloth Christ him selfe doth pronounce that all our endeuours and workes are vnprofitable Paule as it were loathyng the remembraunce of his owne righteousnes how glorious so euer his works appeared yet did adiudge them so farre distaunt from true righteousnesse that hee esteemed them no better then doung Dauid durst not presume to enter into Iudgement with God Augustine
made free for all estates In deéde this may happely chaunce amoÌ„gest some persons for what caÌ„ be so well spoken at any tyme or so circumsplectly handled but that the malice of the wicked will take thereof euill occasion to wrest to their filthy lust So in the tyme of Paules preachyng there wanted not peruerse people which in like maner tooke occasion to slaunder his doctrine with his owne wordes videl Let vs doe euill that good may come thereof There were also some whiche were not ashamed to say that Paule did destroy the law did geue to much scope to libertie Of that kynde of people Peter doth coÌ„playne which with sinister deuises practized to wrest Paules writyngs crookedly to their own confusioÌ„ Shall not good men therfore frequent his Epistles Euen by the same Reason Osorius let not flowers grow in the spryng tyde bycause the Spyder doth aswell sucke poyson out of them as the Beés matter to make theyr honnycombe But if so bee that when good men doe geue vertuous and necessary exhortation of those thynges whiche they do thinke worthy to be embraced accordyng to their duety and profession of their fayth wicked men in the meane space starte vp betwene whiche will abuse the same good thynges to their owne destruction is this the fault of the teacher or rather the fallax of the accident as Logicians do terme it Many persons say you do take occasion of wicked confidence and vnpunishable libertie through that new Gospell of Luther But many on the contrary part do receaue froÌ„ the same very comfortable consolation and finde them selues thereby to be much more pricked foreward to pursue godlynesse with more carefulnesse If Luther teach the truth shall not his doctrine therfore be published bycause wicked men doe abuse it But if you thinke his Assertions to be erronious Why do not you O Thales I pray you vouchsafe to prescribe as becommeth the fulnesse of your wisedome some pretie rules of sounder doctrine whereunto Luther might more safely haue directed his opinions I beleue that he should by your aduise haue associated him selfe with the Schoolemen and Monckes and with that sacred InquisitioÌ„ of Spayne and vsed these kyndes of speaches videl That the kyngdome of heauen is a due reward for our good workes if it were not we should otherwise be vncerteine thereof Bycause that which is of duetie is most assured but that proceédeth from mercy is vncerteine Or els ye will require perhappes that he should teach vs as your Hosius doth preach who doth affirme that euerlastyng Saluation is obteyned by deseruinges proceédyng from the grace of God Or els as our Osorius doth Who calleth faith onely to be onely rashnesse boldly pronounceth that all the meanes and worthynesse of our Saluation consisteth in righteousnesse not that righteousnesse whiche we receaue by imputation from Christ through fayth but that same which euery maÌ„ maketh peculiar to him selfe by his owne purchase through workes Or els as the Schoolemen of your old Gospell do professe who bablyng very much about Iustification haue decreéd at the length that it must be taken two maner of wayes one way which is obteyned before any workes be done through grace geuen freély as they say as in Infantes beyng Regenerated by Baptisme The other in elder yeares through great store and perfectioÌ„ of workes That is to say through the resistyng of the froath enticementes of sinne dayly subduyng therof which they call in their phrase of speach Grace making acceptable or acceptyng Grace And although good workes doe not bryng to passe that first Iustification yet they do geue the second maner of Iustifieng the grace of God workyng together with the same which doth minister strength sufficient as well to worke stoutly as to striue agaynst the very stynges and prickes of the flesh effectually so that it may not onely be possible to lyue cleare froÌ„ deadly sinne but also to atteine to be Iustified peâ— Congruum Condignum You knowe well enough these fayre flowers Osorius if I be not deceaued and glorious speculatioÌ„s of your old Diuinitie Whiche how agreably seéme to accorde with your old Gospell I know not Sure I am that Christ neuer knew this Gospell the Apostles neuer taught it nor the EuaÌ„gelistes no nor the approued auncient Catholicke Fathers had euer any smatche thereof Nay rather Christ Paule the Apostles and EuaÌ„gelistes and auncient Doctours of the Church when soeuer they treated of Saluation and of lyfe euerlastyng do endeuour nothyng more seriously theÌ„ that seueryng our workes from the cause of Iustification altogether they might dispoyle vs wholy of Confidence of our owne sauetie and so referre vs ouer to the onely mercy of God who onely geueth the kyngdome of heauen not for any our deseruynges but for his promise sake onely But we haue sayd enough herein Let vs now proceéde to other cauillatioÌ„s of this troublesome trifler though it be somewhat greéuous and as neare as we may if we caÌ„ not all yet let vs briefly and orderly cut of the toppes of them There is no man that will geue him selfe to any good workes if he haue once heard Luther for his Schoolemaister c. Whereas Luther doth not take vpon him the person of a Schoolemaister nor hath challenged to him selfe the dignitie of high deske nor euer taught any Schooles of new factioÌ„s nor euer lead any trayne of Scholers but amoÌ„gest other Christians followed alwayes Christ the common Schoolemaister And was neuer knowen to haue vttered any other doctrine theÌ„ that whiche he receaued of Christ what should moue this quarellsome Docâ—or to reproch him with this enuious title of maister Many good and vertuous men haue heard Luthers preachyng but no man as I suppose acknowledged him for his Maister For that neéded not for through all Christendome in Uniuersities and common Schooles are whole droues of Maisters scattered abroad as though they dropped out of the Troiane horse Whom we doe heare also wheÌ„ they teach what they teach I will not here stand to discusse nor I make any estimate thereof The Christians did sometymes heare the Scribes and Phariseés teachyng in Moyses chayre neither doth the Apostle forbyd vs But that may take a tast of all doctrines but pet so tast them as we hold fast nothyng but that which is good If Luther teach any doctrine of his owne imaginatioÌ„ him selfe refuseth to be beleued therin but if the teach the doctrine of Christ and those thynges which he hath sucked out of the sweéte iuyce of Christes Gospell I beseeche you Syr doth he therfore professe him selfe a Maister to Scholers or a Scholer rather to his Maister Christ And therfore this scornefull title of schoolemaister wherewith ye reproche him is a scoffe more fitte for a common Rufâ—ian then a Deuine surely altogether vncomely and vnseémely for a Byshop But whereas ye pronounce that Luthers Auditory haue not geuen them selues to
if a Turke or Infidell should pleade before the same Christ his Iudge And why bycause the one is very much holpen by yeldyng his fayth to the promise the other hath none other ayde to trust vnto but the rigour of the law But let vs proceéde that we may come at the last to the pricke that is shot at I vnderstand therfore by these wordes of Christ what shal be betyed of thē at the last that haue liued well that vnto those that are founde such in the Iudgement shall geuen possession of eternall life I heare this well But I would fayne know at the length what the Cause should be why this mercyfull Iudge will vouchsafe to reward those workemen so highly For our controuersie consisteth not in this point that reward is geuen but in this for what Cause reward is geuen Whether of any desert or without all desert whether for the proper worthynesse of the workes them selues whiche you call good or rather for the Fayth of the person from whence those workes doe obteine both to bee called good and to bee esteémed for good You will say that the spring of this together working grace floweth vnto vs out of the founteine of Fayth from whence all abilitie to do good deédes is so aboundant within vs whiche being receiued afterwardes through the bountifulnesse of Christ fruites of holy workes do issue out from vs which do make vs worthy to be Iustified and to place vs in the possession of euerlastyng kyngdome I do aunswere that ye do neither speake as much as ye ought nor that altogether true that ye doe speake For albeit we confesse that all the good whatsoeuer we do proceédeth from the bountyfull gift of God yet this is farre wyde from the marke of our controuersie now in hand neither is this matter in handlyng now to know from whence the fruites of good workes do spryng but after they are come vnto vs the question is how much they do auayle vnto vs whether they them selues through their owne worthynesse do worke our Iustification before God or whether they stand destitute of any other ayde whereby they may be Iustified them selues whether doe ye thinke workes of their owne nature so effectuall as to bee able alone to endure the heauye burden of Gods Iudgement or that the operation of the Fayth of the beleuer rather thē of the worke doth present the persons together with their workes to Gods freé Imputation and so accomplish Iustification But I doe heare a continuall ianglyng of this Portingall Coockoe chatteryng alwayes one maner of laye in myne eares Not fayth but workes sayth hee wayed in the ballaūce of Gods Iudgement do purchase either Saluation or Damnatiō vnto vs. Where finde you this Out of the wordes of Christ And those that haue done well shall goe into euerlasting life but those that haue done euill into euerlasting destruction I aūswere it is most true that the Lord speaketh but most vntrue that Osorius concludeth hereof Christ comprehendyng the fruites of workes together with the whole treé and ioynyng the Causes together with the persons doth encourage them with the hope of eternall lyfe which do yeld their endeuour manfully to their vtterest abilitie to performe the rule of the Gospell not defiuyng what the proportion of their workes doe deserue but declaryng how bountyfully and manifoldly he will require their labours whiche haue suffered any kynde of afflictiō for his names sake Osorius framyng hereof meérely false propositions doth with his crafty conueyaunce wrest force those thynges to the workes them selues onely whiche the Lord doth apply to his faythfull that liue vertuously and so at length turnyng awry that is to say From the Concreto to the Abstractum to vse here the termes of Sophistry seueryng the persons from the thyngs doth conclude disorderly after this maner of false conclusion Faythfull and godly Christians liuing vertuously shal be rewarded with eternall lyfe Ergo Good workes by them selues wayed in the ballaunce of Gods Iudgement doe deserue eternall lyfe What cā be more falsely imagined or more foolishly cōcluded thē this lye In deéde workes are the fruites of Christiā fayth and tokens not causes of Saluation Euen as a treé that bringeth forth fruites if the treé be good it appeareth by the fruites not bycause the fruite maketh the treé good but bycause the treé maketh the fruite good In lyke maner the deédes of the godly haue nothyng in them selues that may enable them to stand vpright in Iudgemēt But if they finde any grace or reward the same may not bee ascribed to their owne merite but partly to Mercy partly to Imputatiō through the sonne that is the Redeémer to Mercy I say which doth forgeue our euill deédes to Imputation whiche accepteth our good workes though they be of them selues neuer so vnperfect as though they were perfect and doth reward them with a crowne of glory so that the glory hereof is not now to be ascribed to men but to God not to righteousnesse but to grace not to workes but to fayth not to Iudgement but to mercy For confirmation wherof if we seéke for authoritie who may require any one a more faythfull witnesse or of more approued authority then the Apostle who beyng sent vnto the Gentiles as to his proper peculiar charge what doth he preach vnto thē Not by the workes which we haue done sayth he but for his mercy sake he hath saued vs If wordes may obteine any credite with you what can bee spoken more playnely if the authoritie of the witnesse may preuayle what more assured testimony can be sought for then Paule that speaketh him selfe But Osorius lacketh not a shift of descante here thinkyng thereby to craze the force of veritie For whereas Paule affirmeth that we are saued for his mercyes sake he doth interprete this saying to be verified after this sort Bycause mercy doth endue vs with abilitie and power to worke that hereof those godly deedes of pietie doe ensue which may make vs vs righteous before God and that hereof likewise it commeth to passe that all whatsoeuer true righteousnesse appeareth in vs doth proceede from the mercy and bountie of God and not from our own nature Such is the doctrine that he scattereth abroad euery where in these bookes in those other also which he hath entituled De Iustitia followyng herein as it seémeth his forerunner Hosius who maskyng in the like maze doth affirme that life euerlastyng is geuē to men so farreforth through the grace of God as it is deliuered to mens merites which do issue out of the mercy and grace of God But Augustine will helpe to vnlose this knot easely so will also all the most famous and auncient interpretours of the Greeke Latine Churche who altogether with one voyce doe so ascribe all our saluatiō to the mercy of God not that which is obteined by doyng good deédes
concupiscence thereof and had obteined to be deémed prayse worthy in respect of absolute accomplishyng the Commaundementes of God his soule would neuer so humbly haue disclaymed from Gods Iudgement and submitted all comfort of pardon to the onely freé mercy of God Let vs annexe hereunto the same Aurel. August altogether disagreéyng from Osorius where hee setteth downe the same much more playnly in his booke De Spirit Liter I said quoth he that it was possible for a mā to be without Sinne if he haue a will thereunto Gods assistaunce withall but I neuer sayd that euer was or euer should be any one who in this lyfe could be so perfect except that one onely in whom all creatures shal be quickened c. Of what force therfore can this your wyndeshaken crooche be more then Catholicke which you haue scraped out of Hosius Roffensis or Cicero as I suppose where upon your lame cripled workes do rest so boldly namely that a man may so order his lyfe in this rottē Tabernacle of the flesh after the right squarier of righteousnesse by the assistaunce of God as hauyng throughly conquered the kyngdome of Sinne he may easely accomplish all the Cōmaundementes of the law And therfore to aunswere at a word for all what shall I speake els then as Ierome reported to Ctesiphon when he wrate agaynst the heresie of Pelagians So shall I set Augustine agaynst Osorius S. Ierome agaynst Syr Ierome Thou doest say that the Commaundements of God are easie sayth S. Ierome and yet thou canst name no one man which hath performed them all c. And so the same S. Ierome proceédyng foreward Utter no such blasphemy agaynst the heauens whereby thou mayst delude the myndes of simple folke with these wordes It is and it may be for who will graunt vnto theé that a man may do that which neuer man could doe And agayne the same Ierome what is our wisedome nay rather what ought our wisedome to be which are not perfect Our simple Confession that we are vnperfect and that we haue not yet atchieued or attayned full perfection This is the true wisedome of man to know him selfe to be vnperfect And I will be bold to speake it that the perfection of the best and most righteous whiles hee dwelleth in this fleshely doughill is altogether vnperfect c. What neéde I alledge any more in a matter so manifest of it selfe so throughly confirmed with Testimonies and so playnly and notably discernable by the dayly examples of mans life But amongest the rest of this innumerable ouerflowyng multitude of Sinners here shal be a Reply made I beleéue of the Deuine integritie of this one Gentleman Osorius of his wonderfull conuersation absolute holynes Angelike chastitie culuerlike simplicitie linked together with a more then Seraphicall humilitie and incomprehensible innocencie who alone amōgest the children of women hath beautified the whole world with such brightnesse of righteousnes who carrieth about him all vertues fast lockt in the sacred cheéste of his breste and dayly numbred them who hath so quenched the boylyng froathe of Originall Sinne hath so vtterly subdued and brought into bondage the whole empire therof euen at one pushe hath of all partes so absolutely fulfilled eche tittle of the Cōmaundemēts hath tamed the flesh and all the concupiscence thereof hath supressed his affections hath with so well disposed order addressed the whole course of his life and euen now haled up on hygh with a certeine out stretched reache of mynde beyonde the heauens and rapted now into the fraternitie of S. Frauncisce him selfe is enflamed with vnquencheable desire of Deuine zeale that hee will not once treade awrye so much nor wil be blotted with one spotte of crime or suspition of crime bee it neuer so litle will not yeld to any temptations of Sathan or infirmitie of the flesh will not be seéne with blemish or suspition of Sinne no not one Solecisme or Incongruitie no nor yet idle speache in all his wordes no disorder in his whole lyfe and conuersation out of whose mouth shall issue no idle word nor lye no I dare boldly say not one no erronious doctrine no cōtumelious cauill in his bookes no rascallike slaunder no Sycophāticall outrage but all thynges shal be founde within him so attempered and quallified with a certeine marueilous peacible modestie and lenitie that no defect may bee founde neédefull to be added to fill vp a full Bushell of perfect righteousnesse And bycause thou shalt not wonder Reader by what meanes this our most Reuerend Prelate hath climbed to this immesurable excellencie of generall righteousnes and with what Pillers he vnderproppeth the same and learne withall how auayleable and effectuall this most sacred Sacrament of Confession is vouchsafe I pray theé to heare Osori him selfe telling his owne tale I doe call to witnesse sayth he Iesu Christ my Lord and my God that by the meanes of this comfortable Confession sondry times frequented I haue escaped from infinite wickednesse wherfore if I haue at any tyme subdued lust if I haue forsaken voluptuous filthynesse if I haue bene desirous to embrace Chastitie If I haue bene enlightened with any sparckle of godly zeale I do wholy ascribe the effectuall operation therof to the same Sacrament through the whiche the holy Ghost hath emparted vnto me great store of his grace c. What a test is this If beyng first ouerwhelmed with innumerable iniquities hee haue attayned that righteousnesse at the length through the vertue of that most sacred Sacrament in so much as he hath shaken of the yoake of all concupiscence hath cut the throate and cut of the head of the kyngdome of Sinne what neéde hath he then to repeate his cōfessiōs so oft when the wounde is whoale what neéde any playster or further Surgery If all Sinne bee abolished to what purpose serueth dayly custome of Confessiō and to what end is absolution craued But if he feéle yet somewhat lurkyng within him that forceth him betwixt whiles to runne agayne so oft to Confession and to the drugges of absolution how is it that he affirmeth so boldly that the kyngdome of Sinne is wholy cōquered in vs so couragiously fightyng agaynst Luthers doctrine in wordes whereas in very life he agreeth altogether with Luther Finally if Osorius dare presume to stoutely vpon his owne conscience as hauyng vtterly crusht in peéces the kyngdome of Sinne that hee is now no more acquainted therewith what may preiudice him but he may forthwith frankely Iustifie him selfe with the Phariseé and say I thanke theé O Lord Heauēly Father that I am not as other men are nor like vnto this Publican Luther and those seély sheépish Bucerans I do fast twise in the Weéke I geue the tenth of all that I possesse yea besides all this I do also dayly enure my selfe to holy Cōfession c. But hereof enough Let vs proceéde to the remnaūt rable of his raked lyes as they follow
the matter would admitte some other interpretation yet ought Assertiō haue bene compared with Assertion and place with place Finally consideration ought to haue bene had of the entent and meanyng of the writer then also of the first originall scope of his doctrine whereunto it tended and what it emported And if ye would examine vprightly the opinions and assertions of mē accordyng the true touchstone of Gods truth and not sinisterly for eiudge them whether opinion I pray you seémeth in your cōceite most sounde of those which doe aduaunce the Maiestie of Gods grace or of those whiche doe enhaunce the weakenesse of mans nature of those which doe make mens merites workes the effectes of Saluatiō or of those which do ascribe it to Gods freé imputation through Iesu Christ of them which doe determine that righteousnesse commeth by fayth or of them which say it is obteyned by the workes of the law of those whiche spoyle Freewill of all matter to glory vpon or of them which do call mē backe to a true and humble acknowledgement of them selues of those whiche razing out the euerlastyng and vnchaungeable decreé of Gods Predestination doe committe the successes of thynges to happe hazard and blynd chaunce and to freé affectiō of mans will or of them whiche settyng aside all chaunceable euentes of fortune and all power of mans will doe referre all things to the assured gouernaunce of Gods infallible foreknowledge guidyng all thyngs after his own pleasure in most stayed and stable order And yet doth not Luther so roote out all Free-will altogether and all chaunceablenesse of fortune but that he doth admitte the vse of them in some respect to witte in respect of inferiour causes although in respect of hygher causes in those thynges whiche concerne saluation or damnation he beleueth surely that no force of Freewill ne yet any chaunceablenesse of fortune doe preuayle any thyng at all For as much as this is the chief grounde of Luthers doctrine what els may the well affectioned indifferent Reader I pray you cōceaue of this his Assertiō then that which may magnifie the glory of God extoll his omnipotencie may establishe the sauetie of the faythfull dependyng vpon the freé promise of God through fayth not vpō the worthynes of merites through Freewill may terrifie the wicked with a wholesome feare of God may restrayne them frō outrage may comfort vs agaynst death with lyfe that is in God agaynst miserie with grace against infirmitie with strength agaynst destruction with Gods mercy may rayse vp the godly to loue and embrace their God The fruite of all which thyngs as the godly Reader may easily reape by this doctrine let vs seé now on the other side what poyson Osorius doth sucke out of the fame as one that seéth nothyng in this Assertiō but horrible wickednes as he fayth shamelesse arrogācie detestable maddnes execrable outrage And now would I fayne heare how he will confirme this proude affirmatiue so vehemētly vttered For sayth he this beyng graunted I doe say that lawes are abolished decrees put to silence sciences rooted out learnyng extinguished peace and trāquillitie disturbed and vtter confusion made of all right and wrong without all order If Osorius require this at our handes that whatsoeuer his lauishe tounge shall rashly roaue at large be coyned for an vnreproueable oracle thē is this matter soone at an end But that world is gone long sithēce Osor. wherin this Pythagoricall Prouerbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was takē for a law We thinke it not now enough to harken to all that a man will speake but to cōsider what vpon what groūde a mā speaketh Well what say you vnto vs at the lēgth Osorius That lawes will decay statutes be put to silence sciences rooted out learnyng extinguished trāquillitie disturbed and right and wrong confounded together Certes you haue heard of this man here many hygh and absurde speaches gentle Reader but heare yet much more absurditie I say furthermore that hereupon doth follow that mā is spoyled of sense bereft of aduise and depriued of reason and driuen to that passe as no difference may seeme to be betwixt him a stone throwen out of a mans hād And yet haue you not heard all Osori crauleth forward still is come now as it seémeth into some mayne playne where he purposeth to make vs a course of his harysh eloquence I say also that the holy cōmaundements of God his preceptes statutes his exhortatiōs and threatnyngs rewardes promised for well doyng and punishmēt threatened for malefactours were all in vayne prescribed to the posterity by Gods word O Heauē O Earth O Sea of Hercules But is there any more yet tush all these be but trifles yet For ouer and besides this ensueth so haynous a fact more horrible then toung can speake or hart cā thinke so vnspeakeably filthy so monstruously straūge that all the rest beyng layd together may in respect of this be accompted scarse worth the speakyng And what is it a Gods name Forsooth that Luther or Melancthon Bucer or Caluine or whosoeuer were the first foūder of this doctrine besides that he doth thereby turne all states and cōmon weales quite vpsidowne he breaketh yet further into such vnmeasurable impiety as that he doth imagine God him selfe the most holy of holy ones our most deare Father to whō no iniquitie can by any meanes be imputed to be the author of all wickednes and cruelty We haue heard a tedious Catalogue of haynous absurdities which as he sayth must needes ensue vpō Luthers doctrine And if it be not true He requireth vs to make him a lyar as that either Luther neuer spake so or els to teach him that Luthers doctrine may well be mainteined As though there were any such pitthe in all this your rayling M. Osorius that might not easily be confuted or any such weakenes in Luther that might not much more easily be defended yea so defended as that neither he may seeme to haue taught the doctrine of Necessitie without good cōsideratiō nor you able to deface the same without great perill of cōmittyng horrible sacriledge I speake now of Necessitie not that Necessitie that is called violēt coactiō but of that which is named of vndoubted assuraūce absolute infallibilitie not that Necessitie which the schoolemen call Consequēti◠but which is called Consequētia or ex Hypothesi For Necessitie is neither takē after one onely significatiō amongest the Deuines nor yet amōgest the Logiciās Philosophers wherof of I suppose you be nothyng ignoraunt at the least you ought not be ignoraunt therof surely Therefore they that haue employed their studyes somewhat more carefully about the scannyng of this matter haue defined Necessary after this maner to be such a thyng as can not bee altered a certeine settled and firme vnmoueablenes which can not be chaūged by any meanes from that
vnsearcheable will doth sometymes encline the willes of men to committe horrible mischiefes and after a certeine maner willeth Sinne. Ergo God may be iustly accused of vnrighteousnes iniquity Which Argument applyed in the behalfe of mans nature might seéme to be of some validitie perhappes in the opinion of men But to transpose the same from men to God It can not holde And why so bycause there is great difference betwixt thynges wherof God is the Authour and thynges wherof man is the doer For euen Sinnes them selues and wickednesse as they come frō God are scourges yea and that most righteous and whatsoeuer is decreéd either by his couered or discouered will it is in this respect both holy and righteous bycause the will of God ought alwayes to be accompted for the very foundatiō of all righteousness Upon which matter let vs heare what Augustine speaketh in his thyrd booke De Trinitate euen his owne wordes The will of God is the chief and principall cause of all kindes of actions and motions For there is nothyng done whiche proceedeth not frō that vnsearcheable and intelligible wisedome of the most mightie Emperour accordyng to his Iustice vnspeakeable for where doth not the almightie wisedome of the highest worke as it willeth which reacheth from one ende of the world to an other mightely and ordereth all thynges sweetely and doth not these thynges onely which beyng in dayly practise and by reason of common vse are not much marked or marueiled at but thynges also passing all vnderstandyng and capacitie and whiche for the rarenesse of vse and straungenesse of successe seeme marueilous as are Ecclipses of the Sunne and Moone earthquakes mōsters and vgly deformed vnnaturall shapes of creatures such like Of the which no one thyng commeth to passe without the will of God though it seeme to be otherwise in the Iudgement of many persons And therfore it seemed good to the phātasticall Philosophers to ascribe such vnkindely operations to other causes beyng not able to discerne the true cause thereof which in power surmounteth all other causes to witte the will of God wherefore besides the will of God there is none other principall cause of health sickenesse reward punishment of blessinges and recompences This is therfore the onely chief and principall cause from out the which do flow all thyngs whatsoeuer and is it selfe without beginnyng but endureth without endyng Let vs now gather the Argumēts of Augustine into a short abridgement If the will of God be the souereigne and principall cause of all motiōs what remayneth but that Osorius must either deny that Sinnes are motions or yeld vnto this of necessitie that the same motions are not done without the will of God which will neuerthelesse must be adiudged cleare from all reproche Moreouer if the same motions which are on our behalfe Sinnefull be punishementes for Sinne What should lette why that euē the selfe same sinnes should not seéme to proceéde after a certeine maner frō God without any preiudice of his Iustice at all none otherwise truely then when as God is accompted the creatour of monsters Ecclipses of the Sunne Moone vnpassable darkenes vntymely byrthes and yet notwithstandyng no ioate of his maiesty and integritie empayred But we are vrged here with an Obiection out of the Scriptures where it is sayd that God is not a God that willeth iniquitie Aunswere As though Luther did not perceaue this saying of the Prophet well enough or that he were so impudent at any tyme as that he would cōtrary to the Prophet deny that sinnes raunge immoderately agaynst Gods will We rehearsed a litle earst out of Augustine that somewhat may be done agaynst the will of God which neuerthelesse cā not happen without his will In the one part wherof the vnsearcheable wisedome of his Deuine counsell is playnly discernable in the other the thyng that is naturally wicked displeasaūt in Gods eyes So that the thing which is of it selfe in respect of it selfe naturally euill may become good in respect of Gods ordinaūce in respect of the end whereunto it is directed by God The worke of our redēption from sinne and death is a good worke of Gods mercy But man should neuer haue stoode in neéde of this redēptiō vnlesse death sinne had happened Therfore death and sinne could not execute their malice wtout the foreknowledge ordinaunce of God So also no lesse notable is the worke of Gods Iustice in executyng his iust wrath agaynst Sinners which seueritie of Iustice had neuerthelesse neuer expressed his wonderfull brightnesse if sinne had neuer bene committed But here I suppose Osorius will not deny that men rushe headlong into wickednesse and Sinne if not by Gods prouidence yet by his sufferaūce at the least For it may be that many thynges may happen by a mans permission in the which he that did permit them may be blamelesse notwithstandyng I heare you well aunswere to the same that it is not altogether nothyng that Osorius doth alledge in deéde and yet this allegation of his comprehendeth not all For first I demaunde what if Osorius beyng a Bishop do suffer Gods flocke committed to his charge to starue by defraudyng thē the necessary foode of the word whom of duety he ought to cherish with all diligēce and care What if the Shepheard doe willyngly suffer the maggotte to pester the sheépe or what if the Maister should suffer the seruaunt to perish whose perplexitie he might haue releued by puttyng his hand to in tyme may not we iustly accuse Osorius of fraude for not feédyng or can Osorius acquit him selfe by any slipper deuise of negligence in this behalfe If in cōmon cōuersation of lyfe the man that will not repell iniury when he may be adiudged in euery respect as blameworthy as if he offereth the iniury him selfe by what meanes can God whō you say doth permit sinnes to be done either deémed be excusable in respect of this sufferaunce onely or how can you charge vs as accusing him of iniustice bycause we say that he doth not onely permit but also will sinne after a certeine maner Which thyng Augustine doth very well declare If we suffer sayth August such as are vnder our correctiō to doe wickedly in our sight we must needes be adiudged accessaries to their wickednesse But God doth permitte Sinne to raunge without measure euen before his eyes wherein if he where not willyng surely he would not suffer it in any wise and yet is be righteous notwithstandyng c. Wherfore your allegation of bare Sufferaunce doth neither helpe your cause nor disaduantageth ours any thyng at all But go to let vs somewhat yeld to this word of yours Sufferaunce whereupō ye stād so stoughtely yet will ye not deny but that this Sufferaunce of God is either coupled together with his will or altogether sundered frō it If ye confesse the will and Sufferaunce be ioyned together how can God be
sayd then either to suffer the thyng whiche he willeth not or to will the thyng wherof him selfe is not after a certeine maner the cause but if you sunder will from Sufferaunce so that Gods Sufferaunce be made opposite to his will That is to say contrary to the determinate coūsell of God in bringyng any thyng to passe Surely this way your bare Sufferaūce will not be sufferable but foolishe false and ridiculous For neither can any thyng be done without Gods Sufferaunce but must be done by his will and agayne nothyng soundeth more agaynst the conuenience of reason that any thyng may be done with his will otherwise thē as him selfe hath decreéd it to be done But if so be that ye set Gods Sufferaunce opposite to his will namely to that will wherewith he vouch safeth and accepteth any thyng veryly it may so be that some one thyng may be executed by Gods Sufferaunce yet altogether agaynst his will so that we forget not in the meane space that this Sufferaunce is not idle fruitelesse but altogether effectuall not much vnlike the orderly proceédynges in Iudgementes whenas the Iudge deliuereth ouer the trespassour to be executed it is cōmonly seéne that the Sufferaunce of the Iudge doth worke more in the execution of the offendour thē the acte of the executioner yet the Iudge is not altogether exempt from beyng the cause of his death though he be cleare of all blame in that respect And therfore to make you conceaue our meanyng more effectually Osorius you may vnderstand by the premisses That the will of God is to be taken two maner of wayes either for that vnsearcheable will not manifested vnto vs wherewith thynges may happen accordyng to to the determined decreé of his purposed coūsell whereunto all thynges are directed And in this sense or signification we doe affirme that God doth will all thynges that are done and that nothyng at all is done in heauen or in earth that he would not haue to be done Or els how should he be called Omnipotent if the successes of thyngs be other then as he hath decreéd them Secundarely the will of God may be takē for that which by expresse word and commaundement he hath reuealed vnto vs and which beyng done he accompteth acceptable in his sight And in this sense The faythfull and godly onely do execute the will of God euen that will wherewith he can not will nor allow anythyng but pure good After this maner is that will fully disclosed and ensealed vnto vs in his Scriptures wherewith God is sayd to be a God that doth not will Sinne. Accordyng to that former will which is hidden from vs and is neuertheles alwayes iust and discouered vnto vs but in part by his word as there is nothing done without his prouidence foreknowledge so in this sense we do affirme that he willeth nothyng at all but that which is of all partes most pure and most righteous be it neuer so secrete For euen as it is hidden frō the knowledge of all men what shall come to passe by the purposed appointement of God so shall nothyng come to passe but that which he hath decreéd vpon before neither should any thyng at all be done if he were altogether vnwillyng thereunto Finally to conclude in few wordes all whatsoeuer concerneth this present discourse God can not be sayd to be properly truely the very cause of sinne accordyng to that will which he would haue to be reuealed vnto vs in his Scriptures And yet if the cōcurraūce of causes must be deriued from the first originall surely God ought not be excluded altogether from the orderyng appointmēt of sinne Frō whence if we respect the meane second causes it is vndoubted true that mākynde doth perish through his owne default For no man liuyng sinneth vnwillyngly But if we tourne our eyes to the first agent principall cause by the which all inferiour causes haue their mouyng Then is this allso true that all second and subordinate causes are subiect to the eternall prouidence and will of GOD. And therefore both these may be true That mans destructiō commeth through his owne default And yet that therein the prouidence of God beareth the sway without any preiudice at all to his Iustice. But this prouidence notwithstandyng is altogether vnslayned for albeit Gods euerlastyng purpose be sayd to be the cause of our sinnesiull actions yet are those Sinnes in respect of Gods acceptaunce meare righteousnesse For GOD in most vpright disposed order doth by Sinne punish Sinne. And therfore with those Sinnes in that they are scourges of Gods Iustice God doth worthely execute his iust Iudgement agaynst mē which although his pleasure be to vse otherwise accordyng to his vnsearcheable counsell either to execute his Iudgement vpō the reprobate or to manifest his mercy towardes his elect neither is he iniurious to the one in exactyng that which is due neither culpable in the other sorte in forgeuyng that which he might haue exacted These two thyngs therfore especially be to be beleued to be inseparable in God though mās capacitie cā scarsely atteine hereunto the first That there is no wickednes with God Secondly That God hath mercy of whom it pleaseth him to haue mercy and doth harden their hartes whō he willeth to be hardened Now that we haue spoken sufficiētly in the defence of Gods Iustice and acquited it cleare from all quarellsome accusation to retourne agayne to our former question If Osorius doe demaunde now if God bee the cause of Sinne Bycause I will protract no tyme I aunswere in two wordes That in seuerall and sundry respectes it is both the cause not the cause Now let vs seé how this will hang together First I call him the cause not bycause he distilleth new poyson into man as water or other liquour is powred into empty caskes from somewhere els for that neédeth not for euery man ouerfloweth more then enough already with faultynes naturall though no new flames of corruption be kyndeled a fresh but bycause hee forsaketh our old nature or bycause he withholdeth him selfe from renewyng vs with grace Bycause nature beyng not holpen waxeth dayly worse and worse of it selfe without measure and without end Whereupon Augustine debatyng of mans induration speaketh not vnfitly on this wise But as touchyng that whiche followeth Hee doth harden whom hee will Here the force of mans capacitie is ouerwhelmed with the straungenesse of the word But it must not be so taken as though God did beginne to harden mās hart which was not infected before For what is hardnesse els then resistaunce of Gods commaundementes which who so thinketh to be the worke of God bycause of this saying He doth harden whom hee will let him beholde the first beginnyng of mans corruption and marke well the commaundemēt of God the disobedience whereof made the hart to offende and let him truely confesse that whatsoeuer
before committed but Purpose concerneth thyngs to come preuenteth them Agayne if we must speake after the proper phrase of speache whatsoeuer is done by Iudgement must neédes be cōfessed to be righteously done according to deserte not accordyng to Grace But whereas the Election Predestinatiō of God which I think Osor. would gladly expresse by this word Purpose for this word Predestinatiō he dare scarse meddle withall as not worthy the finesse of a Ciceronian proceédeth from grace and not from workes by what meanes may any sentence be geuen vpon workes that were neuer done or how will Osorius say that Election commeth by Iudgement geuen vpon workes which Paule affirmeth to be ascribed to Grace freé mercy onely all merite of workes beyng excluded Hee sayth that in the euerlasting counsell of God all things which are which haue bene and which shal be are all as if they were presently in the sight of God so that in executing his iudgement he needeth not to regard the thinges thēselues I do confesse that all thinges whatsoeuer are be open and present to the foresight of God as if they were presently and openly done but what will Osorius conclude hereof vnto vs forsooth he doth conclude hereupon that God hath already determined according to the diuersitie of mens actions foreseéne by him before after this manner To witte That whome God doth foresee will cōtemptuously despise his benefites those he hath excluded from Paradise contrariwise whom God doth foreknow will behaue themselues in this lyfe dutifully and vertuously those he hath mercifully chosen to euerlasting lyfe as worthy of his mercy To impugne this crafty cauillacion I perceaue I shal be pestered not with Osorius alone but with Pelagius and with the whole troupe of the Pelagians for this hereticall schoole chattereth not vpon anye one matter more then in maynteining this one heresie But Paule alone shall suffice at this present to refell all the rable of them The force of the Argument tendeth to this ende at the last The wonderfull quicksited mynd of God did throughly perceaue euen from the beginning what manner of lyfe euery person would leade as well as if the view thereof had bene layed presently open before him Ergo Gods purpose was applyed according to the proportion of euery mans workes and life forseene of God before to choose the good to saluation and to iudge the wicked to damnation This argument is altogether wicked and tending altogether to Pelagianisme And the conclusion meerely opposite to the doctrine of S. Paule For if the difference of eternall election reiection do depend vpon workes foreseéne before Then doth the Apostle Paule lye who affirmeth that election is of Grace not of Workes Rom. 11. and agayne in the 9. Chapter of the same Epistle That the purpose of God might remayne according to election not of workes but of him that calleth What and shameth not Osorius to affirme that which the Apostle doth deny If it were expedient for me to ruffle Rhetorically agayne with a Rhetoriciane You seé Osorius howe great and howe champaine a plaine lyeth open for me to triumph vpon you and such crauēs as you are with lyke force in farre more weighty matter What tragicall exclamations could I bray out here what quartaine feuers what outrages frensies madnes dronkennes impieties impudencies yea what whole Cartloades full of raylinges and reproches frequented by you and pretely pyked out of your Cicero could I now throw back agayne into your teeth and spitt euen into your owne face But away with these madd outragies of rayling and this cāckred botch of cursed speakyng worthy to bee rooted out not of mens maners onely but to be razed out of the writinges bookes also of christians the contagious custome wherof being frequented by you to the noysome example of the worlde I do verily thinke vnseemely for the dignity whereunto you are aduaunced neyther would I wish any man to enure himself vnto the like after your example namely in the debating of so sacred a cause where the controuersie tendeth not to the reuēgement of iniury but to the discouery of the truth where skirmishe must be mayntayned and conquest purchased by prowesse of knowledge and Gods sacred scriptures and not by outrage of rayling And therefore to returne our treatise to the right tracke of the Scriptures leauing all bypathes aside the Apostle doth deny that election springeth out of workes What aunswere you to the Apostle Osorius you will vouch that old rotten ragge worne out to the hard stumps by your schoolemen to witte that the workes that were foreseene are the cause of predestination not those whiche are done but which are to be done for so doe the schoolemen expound and distinguishe it but this will be proued many wayes both friuolous and false by sundry reasons First if this be true which you did earst confesse and whiche Pighius doth euery where inculcate that of all thinges whatsoeuer nothing is to come or past but is as it were present in the sight of God Agayn if there be no diuersitie of times with God because his knowledge comprehendeth as you say all thinges past present and to come as though they were present in view how can hys election or reiection spring out of workes then that are yet to be done If they bee present in what sence call you them to be done in after tyme but if they be to come and to bee done in after tyme how call you them present or how doe these thinges agree together that there is nothing to come in respect of the foreknowledge of God and yet that election must be beleued to issue frō out the foreknowledge of works to come 2. Agayne in what respect soeuer these workes are taken whether in respect of God or of men which your schoolemen do distinguishe into works done and works to be done they vauntage thē selues nothyng by this distinction but that the question will continue as intricate as at the first For whereas all good workes which either men worke or shall worke do proceéde frō God the question reboundeth backe agayne frō whence it came first to witte Why God accordyng to the same purpose should geue good workes more to one then to an other if the performaunce hereof did arise of foreseéne workes and not rather of the determined will of him that calleth whiche is not limited by any conditions of workyng 3. Whereas the Scripture doth manifestly declare that we are created elected to good workes it appeareth therfore that good workes are the effectes of Predestination But the effectes cānot be the cause of that wherof they were the effectes Ergo workes can not be the cause of Predestination But if they alledge that not workes but the foreknowledge of workes in the purpose of God be the cause out of the which the Grace of Election ensueth and is gouerned surely neither can this
be agreable to reason For God did also foreknow the euill will of the reprobate as there is nothyng in the world that his vnsearcheable purpose did not foreknow euen aswell as he foreknew before the glory of the elect that should come yet did he not therfore chuse vnto glory some bycause he foreknew thē nor did chuse all thynges which he did foreknow but whatsoeuer his Electiō had predestinated it is out of all doubt that the same were all foreknowen 4. Agayne the foreseéne pety workes which they make to be the cause of Election are either our owne or properly apperteynyng to God If they be Gods and not ours where then is the freédome of our choyse any merites of works But if they be ours that is to say in the direction of our owne willes then is that false that Paule teacheth God it is that worketh in vs both to will and to worke declaryng hereby that we are vnable to will or to attemp any thyng that good is without Gods assistaunce 6. The fift reason is this whatsoeuer is the cause of the cause is worthely adiudged the cause of the effect If the foreseéne workes of the faythfull be the cause of Predestination certes they must neédes be the cause of Iustification also whiche is directly opposite and aduersary to the doctrine of Paule and the Grace of Christ. 6. Workes as they issue from vs are thynges vncerteine But Gods Election is a thyng alwayes certeyne and permanent Now by what reasō will Osorius proue then that thyngs beyng of their own nature certeine vnchangeable shall depēd vpon thynges transitory and variable Not but foreknowledge sayth he of thynges that are foreseene doth stand in a certeine permanēt and vnremoueable assuraunce Neither do I deny this And therefore when the foreknowledge of God hath established thyngs in such a Necessary vnaduoydeable assuraunce whiche will be chaunged by no alteration what should moue him to gnaw so greédely vpon Luther for teachyng such a Necessitie of our workes 7. When as God did regarde the people of the old Testament as a Damsell naked polluted and adulteresse c. Agayne in the new Testamēt where we are heare the vyle things things despised in this world and thyngs which are not to be had in estimation with God Moreouer whereas accordyng to the testimony of August Gods Electiō is said to haue ouerpassed many Philosophers notable for their vertue famous for the cōmendable cōuersation of life doth not the thyng it self declare sufficiently that the whole exploite of our saluation is accōplished not of any desert of our workes that were foreseéne but of his onely bountyfull benignitie and most acceptable freé mercy 8. Moreouer what shall be sayd of Infantes who are taken out of this worlde assoone as they are Baptised what shall we thinke of the theéfe hangyng on the Crosse and others the lyke who hauyng lyued most abhominably were yet receaued into the kyngdome of Christ by holy repentaunce onely thorough fayth whenas they had done no good worke at all were either any workes to come foreseéne in these persons which were none at all shall we Iudge that they wanted Electiō bycause they wanted workes foreseéne before 2. Furthermore whereas this seémeth to be the onely scope of Paules Epistle to extoll and aduaunce the freé mercy of God by all meanes possible surely this scope is vtterly ouerthrowen and rooted out if the whole action of freé Election must be decided by merites of workes foreseéne before Whiche matter moued Augustine so much that to preferre knowledge of workes yea of foreknowledge of fayth either before the Grace of Election he adiudged matter of all other most intollerable 10. Lastly bycause Osorius doth so scornefully loathe our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 innouations as her termeth them as newfangled deuises of rascallike abiects to make it euidēt that we are not altogether destitute of antiquitie to iustifie our Assertions to be true we will ioyne with vs herein the Iudgement of Augustine who excludeth foreseéne workes altogether from the worke of Gods Electiō For these are his wordes most expressely set downe And least peraduenture the faythfull should bee thought to be Elect sayth he before the foundation of the world for their workes that were foreseene he proceedeth addeth therto But if Electiō come by Grace then cōmeth it not now of workes Or els Grace now is not Grace at all c. What say you moreouer to this that in an other place hee doth vtterly deny that choyse was made of the younger to beare rule ouer the Elder through the very foreknowledge of any workes at all c. Which matters being thus set in order what remayneth but that we encounter with our aduersaries argumentes wherwith they endeuour to reuiue the auncient heresie of Pelagius and hale it out of hell agayne For as those olde heretiques dyd teach that mans will was so farforth freé as that euery man was elected for the merite of their workes foreseéne before by God none otherwise do these our new Pelagians iarre vpon the same string or not very much vnlike treading the track of their forerunners the Archheretiques referring all thinges in lyke sort to workes foreseéne before least something maye seéme to bee found altogether without recompence in the behalfe of our most bountifull and souereigne God And amongest these notable Champions rusheth out this couragious ringleader Osorius and geueth a proud onset agaynst the kingdome of Grace and hath so disposed the whole force of hys battery that the maiestie of Freewill may not by any meanes bee endamaged trustyng chiefly to this Target of proofe before mentioned arguyng on this wise If election did consist of freemercy onely sayth he without respect or choyse of any the thinges that God did foresee he might be worthely accused of vnaduised and rashe dealyng But now whereas God accordyng to his vnpenetrable counsell doth determine all thinges aduisedly in a certayne well disposed order Ergo Gods Election doth not consiste of his mercy onely without respect or choyse of workes which he foresaw would be done by the faythfull To aunswere these thinges brieflye If Osorius senselesse iudgement were not throughly ouerwhelmed with heddinesse and rashenes he would not skatter abroad such black and thick cloudes to vse Augustines wordes and such crafty cautels of confused disputations We doe know and confesse Osorius that God doth neuer any thyng at all aduētures nor vnaduisedly Yet doth not that rashe imagination therefore followe whiche you haue as rashely conceaued in that blynde denne of your intoxicate braynes to witte that workes foreseene before are the cause of Election Moreouer Gods Election is neyther therefore decreéd vpon without cause nor yet therefore guyded by blynde chaunce though it hang not vpon the choyse of works afterwardes to be done But Osor. beyng a very naturall Philosopher and very Ethicall seémeth to
Axe of the truth and vtterly rooted out with the vnuanquishable force of Gods scripture Therfore first Let vs heare what discourse he maketh of Gods Iustice and mercy against the Lutheranes For whereas Luther and all good men of Luthers opinion do professe that the regarde of merites is directly cōtrary to Gods libertie and power as touchyng his Election and Predestination Osorius on the cōtrary part doth enforce all his might possible to proue that it is not so vsing these Argumentes especially Whereas we were all wrapped vp in one brake of perdition so that beyng ones defiled with sinne we became all most worthy of euerlastyng destruction for our naturall hatred agaynst Gods law engraffed fast within the nature of our bodies subiect to the outrage of lust God in whō neither any rashnes not vnrighteousnes can fall beyng a most iust Iudge towardes all men indifferently could not of his vnuariable equitie with singular clemēcy so embrace some as he must hate others vnlesse there were some cause or reason to enduce him to extēde his mercy to some and to execute Iudgement agaynst other But God now doth perceaue the whole cause therof to consiste in the maner of liuing and workes not the workes which were already done but which God foresawe should be done For what is there that the wisedome of God in his infinite knowledge doth not comprehende euen as it were present though the same be to be done in the vttermost minute of ages And by this reason it may be that God accordyng to the seuerall conditions of men did of his clemency elect them to eternall life whō he foresawe would be obedient to his Cōmaūdementes And on the other side did exclude them from the fruitiō of his kyngdome which he foresaw would vnthankfully despise his heauenly benefites And by this meanes sayth he Gods Iustice may right well be defended all the defence whereof standeth vpon mercy which otherwise cā not by any meanes deliuered from due reproch What a mockery is this as though if God should follow his owne libertie and will in the order of Predestination without all workes foreseéne before his Iustice could not stand inuiolable nor garded safe enough from all slaunder or suspition of vnrighteousnesse I demaunde then what if God out of this huge lumpe hadd chosen no one man at all whiche he might lawfully haue done if him lysted what if he had duely Iudged to deserued damnation the whole masse of mankynde which did altogether deserue his indignation wrath to speake Augustines wordes could any man cōdemne him of iniustice Goe to May not he that oweth nothyng to any man of his owne meére liberalitie lawfully exempt vndeserued out of this corrupted loste masse whō him listeth or haue mercy on whō he will haue mercy could not hee indurate and reiect whom he would without respect of meritorious workes followyng whenas there was matter more then enough ministred by their former desertes to condemne all to destruction As for example Admitte that a mā haue two debtours whereof the one is indebted vnto him in an exceédyng great summe of money the other oweth not so much by a great deale and the bountyfull creditour vouchsafe to forgeue the greater summe to that first I pray you is there any iust cause here for the other to grudge agaynst the creditour If he doe shall not his mouth be forthwith stopped with that aunswere of Christ in the Gospell Is it not lawfull for me to doe as I will with myne owne is thyne eye euill bycause I am good The very same doth that place of Paule seéme in my simple capacitie to emply where treatyng of the Election of the yoūger and refusall of the elder and of hardenyng Pharaos hart withall he doth annexe immediatly vnto the same what shall we say then is God vnrighteous makyng this Obiection agaynst him selfe as vnder the person of Osorius after this maner If God did not worke after the proportion of foreseene workes and deseruynges Ergo God may seeme to be vnrighteous in his Election and should offend against Iustice distributiue This Argument the Apostle doth forthwith deny saying God forbyd and withall rendreth a reason of his illation negatiue namely that both propositions bee Iustifiable in God Both that God is not vnrighteous And also that God accordyng to the equitie of his Freewill doth take mercy on whom he will haue mercye not in respecte of anye mans deseruynges but of his owne freé bountyfulnesse benignitie and mercy And therfore for the better establishyng of this his defence he doth forthwith cite the same wordes that were spoken to Moyses I will haue compassion on whom I haue compassion and I will shew mercy to whom I do shew mercy So that hereby you seé good Syr that to the worke of Election and Predestinatiō the Apostle iudgeth Gods will onelye though there were no cause els matter sufficient to acquite his Iustice freé from all flaunder and reproch that in my Iudgement now the defence of Gods Iustice which you haue placed in Gods mercy seémeth more aptly applyed to his will For as he can will nothyng but that which is most righteous so nothyng is truly righteous in deéde but that whiche proceédeth from the will of GOD. So that now it shall not be neédefull at all to be inquisitiue accordyng to the coūsell of Augustine after any other principall causes besides Gods good will consideryng that no hygher cause can be founde of greater importaunce But what can be so well spoken but that some will be founde somewhat scrupulous without cause will not in most brightest Sunneshyne seé wtout a candle Therfore this cauillyng colcouerthwart creépeth yet foreward If it be true sayth hee that Gods Election is directed by his will onely in allowyng or makyng hardharted whom he will that no man cā resist his will It seemeth then that Pharao and others who of indurate contumacy of mynde are wicked whereas in that their wickednesse they do execute the will God that they are not the cause of their owne wickednesse nor that they can chuse but do the wickednesse whereunto they are violently thrust necessitie If it be so what iust quarell can God haue then agaynst those whom him selfe hath made to be stiffenecked wherefore he should condemne thē To be short The substaunce of the Obiection is for the most part knitte vp in this Argument If God do harden mens hartes then should not Pharao be the cause of his owne Sinne consideryng no man can resist the will of God Or to reduce this consequent into a Sillogisme No mā hath iust cause to blame him whom him selfe enforceth to offende God doth iustly finde fault with sinners Ergo God doth compell no mā to sinne nor doth make them endurate I do Aunswere First euen by the self same Obiections wh the Apostle vnder the person of the
of the Grace of God and so should he haue spoken more aptly in thys wise that the remnaunt were saued according to the Election of workes And how then shall God be sayd to haue mercy on whom he will haue mercye and so harden whom hee will harden if that he will nothing but that whiche is due of verye right nor doth receaue any to mercy vnlesse it appeared that he rewarded them both according to their workes forseéne But what kinde of duety can that be called which is freely geuen or what kinde of mercy is it whiche is not poured foorth vpon any but such as do deserue it If it be of Grace sayth the Apostle now is it not then of workes or els were Grace no more Grace Whereunto Augustine doth further annexe Not of workes done already sayth he but where the Apostle vseth this generall phrase of speech Not of works there he doth meane this to be spokeÌ„ both of workes past and workes to come c. Whereof let Osorius beé well aduised lest whiles he immagine in hys mynde vnder the colour of purging Gods Iustice of due reproche to escape the iutte of a moulehill he breake hys neck ouer a Rock by putting Gods mercy out of doores for what place will there be left for mercy or what office will Osorius assigne vnto her If Gods Iustice doe measure all thinges by lyne and leuell of hys foreknowledge of things to come For Osorius in this disputation of Election and of the purpose of God calling backe all things to the foreknowledge of thinges which God doth perceaue will came to passe Osorius doth not in wordes onely professe but with the whole bent of his skill practize that ouerthrowe of Grace Goe to And what be those goodly workes good Syr whiche God doth foreseé shal come If they be good and righteous what is more agreable to equitie then that the workes which be good should be worthely embraced and accompted prayse worthye But if they be euill that then also they should euen of very right be forsaken And what shall become of Mercye in the meane space but that shee sitt mute in a corner with her handes in her bosome like a dumbe stocke play mumme budget in Osorius Stage of merites But here forthwith will Osorius rayse vp hys Bristles and merueile it is but that we shall heare him belching out agayne in most beastly braying noyse Feuers quartanes tertians furies woodnes frensies helhoundes botches shamelessnes and what soeuer outragies els he hath suckt out of the olde tragicall deuises What will he say haue I euer spoken or imagined any thing of Gods mercy otherwise then becommeth me what kynde of foolehardinesse is this what vnmeasurable and disorderous kynde of liyeng Doe I thrust the grace of God out of doores with what face dare you aâ—ow this vpon me where when in what place in what phrase of wordes to whom in whose presence in whose hearing in what booke can ye approue that I euer vttered any such thing who haue alwayes most reuerently esteemed of the Grace of God and do yelde euery where so much to Gods mercy that I haue affirmed that in Gods mercye onely the whole protection of Gods Iustice doth consiste whiche if were not otherwise fortified with the ayde of mercy could neuer be free from reproche And how is it that I am so sodenly accompted a changeling fugitiue a traytor to Gods grace and a cutthroate of mercy I doe heare you well good Syr surely these bee smoothe wordes that you speake But may I be so bolde by your leaue as to cyte your owne wordes before the Inquisition and to rack the same after the maner of an Inquisitour to seé whether ye approue the same man in deéde which you so boldly pronouÌ„ce to be in wordes you say that ye diminish not so much as the value of a myte of Gods grace and that you doe not so exclude Gods mercy out of doores but that ye rather coÌ„clude all things vnder her as vnder the most especiall and onely fortresse of all other Goe to then Let vs take a taste both of your selfe and your doctrine And forasmuch as there be iiij thinges in the whiche all our saluation and doctrine is chiefly conteyned Namely Election Vocation Iustification the Glory of immortalitie forasmuch also as the whole purporte of the sacred Scriptures and the generall profession of Christian doctrine do consent in this one thing aboue all others that the whole hope and confidence of our Saluation consisteth in no one thing els but in the onely mercy of God promised vnto vs in all these now would I fayne learne how much Osorius wisedome doth yeald vnto mercy whiles he ascribeth so much to Gods Iustice. First as touching Election and Predestination if workes foreknowne do beare the whole sway here and that Gods Election falleth vppon no man but whose whole course of lyfe being knowne before hath made not vnworthy of this honorable dignitie of Election what place I pray you then is left here for mercy seéing this whole worke of Election seémeth to be ascribed to Iustice rather For as Iustice vouchsaffeth none but the good and such as deserue it euen so Grace and mercy doe relieue none for the more part but abiectes outcastes such as are altogether vnworthy therof Moreouer as concernyng VocatioÌ„ and CoÌ„uersioÌ„ if the habilitie of mans Freewill be such accordyng to this new Maister Doctour that it may not onely worke together with God but may also as well preuent the grace of God by some good motioÌ„ as follow it and that Grace is none otherwise either offred vnto vs vnlesse we put forth our willes thereunto before or that it is not otherwise effectuall in vs but whiles we stand fast to our tacklyng and hold fast the helpe offred vnto vs yea and encrease it with our owne strength and that no man is holpen of GOD but who that both willyng hopyng and prayeng doth make him selfe apte thereunto truly whosoeuer teach this doctrine let them set neuer so glorious a face towardes the blazyng of mercy in wordes yet in very deéde they be nothyng els but very Rebelles to Gods Grace or at the least manglers and spoylers of the best part and power of Gods Grace whiles they attribute part to grace and part to Nature The same is also to be adiudged of the worke of Iustification from the whiche though you seème not to exclude the Free-mercy of God altogether yet doe you gelde the most forrible partes therof surely and yeld them ouer to workes flowyng froÌ„ out the fouÌ„teyne of Freewill wherein also you make such a myngle mangle that ye will neither graunt onely fayth in the worke of Iustification nor onely Grace on the worke of Election by any meanes Lastly what shall we say of the reward of Glory for if our workes beyng wayed in the righteous ballaunces of Gods
Iudgement shall procure vs lyfe or death as Osorius writeth Pag. 145. Agayne if the righteousnesse onely which consisteth of well doyng doth purchase Gods fauour to mankynde Pag. 142. What soppe I pray you shal be left for mercy here to deale withall or what shall remayne at all wherein the Grace of God may be exercized If these be not your owne wordes Osorius deny them if you dare but if they be with what artificiall Argumēt will you persuade vs not to accōpt you for an enemy of Gods grace whiles ye sight so much vnder the banner of his Iustice Yet will not I be so captious a cōptoller of your wordes as to call you by the name of an enemy of Grace though in very deéde I dare scarsely thinke you to be in any respect a sownde frende thereunto hetherto veryly as yet haue you declared your selfe no better And the same euen your owne writings do more then sufficiently denounce agaynst you in that which it is a wonder to seé how lauish prodigall you be in the aduauncyng of the prayses of Iustice for the amplyfieng whereof you can scarse finde any end but in the meane tyme towardes the commendation of Mercy so sparyng a niggard and hardelaced that ye seéme either not to conceaue of the wonderfully Maiestie therof sufficiētly or els very vngratefully not to be acquainted therewith sauyng that ye begyn now at the lēgth to preach somewhat of the excellency therof also takyng occasion of these wordes of Paule What shall we say then Is there vnrighteousnesse with God God forbid for he sayth to Moyses I will haue mercy on him to whom I do shew mercy and I will haue compassion on him on whom I haue compassion In that which place say you Paule doth render a Reason Wherfore no man cā by any meanes accuse God of vnrighteousnesse And doe annexe hereunto a conclusion agreable enough to your defence For the defence of Iustice say you cōsisteth wholy in mercy And agayne But the mercy of God doth acquite his Iustice free from all reproche Whiche reason of yours Osori although perhaps might be allowed in some respect yet doth it not exactly and substauncially enough discusse the naturall meanyng of the Apostle nor sufficiently aūswere the Apostles question Which will euidently and playnly appeare either by the Apostle him selfe or by Augustine the Expositour of the Apostle if we will first note before the marke and state of the question diligently and truely The scope wherof Augustine affirmeth to be this That the Apostle may lay open before vs that the Grace of fayth ought to be preferred before workes not to the end he might seéme to abolish workes but to shew that workes do not goe before but follow grace and to make the same more apparaunt he alledgeth amongest others the example of Iacob Esau Who beyng not as yet borne into the world hauyng done nothyng worthy either to be fauored or to be hated but that equabilitie of estate had made eche of them equall with the other and betwixt whō was no difference of natures or deseruyngs which might procure aduaūcement of the one before the other Finally whenas by orderly course of byrthe and right of first byrthe the elder might haue challenged the prerogatiue of honour before the younger Almighty God vsing here his vnsearcheable Electiō did make this difference betwixt them whereas was no difference of workes or merites as that for sakyng Esau who by no merite after the rule of Iustice had deserued to bee reiected he gaue the preheminēce to the younger turnyng the common order of nature vpsidowne as it were that whereas the younger are wont to be subiect to the elder now contrary to kynde the elder should become seruaunt to the younger Whereupon whē the Apostle sawe what scrupule might arise in the imagination of the hearer or Reader therof he putteth a question vnder the person of one that might argue agaynst it whether God had done any thyng herein agaynst equitie and right or any thyng that he could not iustifie accordyng to Iustice distributiue whereunto him selfe aunsweryng immediately doth with wonderfull vehemency detest that slaunderous cauill and withall acquiteth God freé from all accusation and suspition of vnrighteousnes this not wtout lawfull authoritie of the Scripture What sayth he do we not read spokē vnto Moyses on this wise I will haue mercy on whō I do take mercy and I will haue cōpassion on whō I haue compassion Besides this also addyng forthwith the example of Pharao he doth conclude at the length on this wise Therfore he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth But if our captious accuser will yet persiste in his obstinacie as though it sufficed not for God to do what it pleased him he doth cōfute him with a most manifest Argument of lyke comparison on this wise The Potter fashionyng his vesselles either vnto honour or to dishonour or to what purpose seémeth him best doth not offend at all And shall it be lesse lawfull or God to shew his power vpon his owne creatures then for the Potter vpon his Chalke or Clay Therfore whether God be willyng to haue mercy or to indurate any man he doth nothyng herein but that which is most lawfull and most agreable with equitie You perceaue therfore Gods Iustice sufficiently enough desended I suppose which in all his workes ought by good right be mightly defēded But how it is defēded is now to be seéen Osorius vrgeth stoughtly that Gods Iustice standeth not otherwise to be defended but onely in respect of his Mercy which albeit might be graunted after a sorte yet is not altogether simply and absolutely true and the reason therof is pyked out of Osorius credite rather then out of any Argument of S. Paule Whereas Paule seémeth to referre all this whole defence of Iustice not to mercy but to onely will of God Saying God taketh mercy on whom he will and hardeneth whom he will Albeit I will not in the meane whiles deny but that the Election of the faythfull doth consist vpon mercy alone yet surely the defense of Election is not vpholden but through the will of God onely Likewise also albeit the castyng away of the Reprobates do proceéde from the onely Iustice of God yet will no man say that the defence of this reiection consisteth in Mercy but in the onely will of God And therfore it is the onely will of God which doth defende Mercy in Election and Iustice in reiection For otherwise how could this come to passe that the onely Mercy of God should defēd his Iustice either in the Reprobate in whō scarse one sparckle of Mercy is discernable or els in the Predestination of the faithfull wherein appeareth no execution of Iustice therfore what is it then that may defend Iustice in these Mercy in those other but onely the purpose of Gods will onely wherof S. Paule maketh
all do not apprehend fayth Agayne we heare also by the testimony of the same Paule That it is neyther of him that runneth nor of him that willeth but of God that taketh mercy finally of theÌ„ which are ordeined sayth Luke to eternall lyfe and whose harts as the same Luke recordeth God doth open to make them know the word of God And agayne the same Paule doth deny them to haue knowne the Lord of glory for if they had knowne hym they would not haue crucified Christ. But what was the cause that they knew him not but because the whole matter thereof rested not in their owne willes but because by Gods secret decreé it was not geuen to them that had eares to heare and eyes to seé For their eares were made deafe that they should not heare and their hartes were blynded that they should not vnderstand And therefore the Lord himself doth openly pronounce that manye were called but fewe are chosen Moreouer in an other place the same Lord calleth his flock a little flocke And why doth he call it a little flocke good sir I beseech you If Gods mercy so largely poured abroad and so freély offered as you seeme to blaze it out doe extend it selfe to all persons indifferently without exception why do not all persons then indeffereÌ„tly repayre vnto Christ at the least why is not the greatest part drawne vnto him forsooth because they will not say you You are come back agayne to the first question For I demaund what the cause is why they will not but because it is not geuen vnto them so that ye may perceaue now the very welspring of this fountayne springeth not from mans will but from the counsell of God Or els how doth Christ name them which be hys to be but few in number but that he foreknew assuredly that it would be so or how did he foreknow it but because it was decreed first of an infallible certeinty And therfore Christ teaching his disciples spake openly and playnly vnto theÌ„ That it was geueÌ„ vnto them to know the misteries of the kingdome but to others in parables that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not heare Likewise Peter confirmed by the same spirite speaking of the rock of offence doth openly denounce not onely what they should do which should be offeÌ„ded at Christ but also that they were ordayned of very purpose so to doe And yet I will not deny that which they teach of the mercy of God I do know and confesse that it is farre and wyde dispersed abroad euery where and that the same mercy of GOD denyeth it selfe to no person as Augustine sayth but to such as will not receaue it But in thys same very mercy neuerthelesse two thinges are to be considered That God doth not onely offer those promises of benefites and blessings of his meére mercy bounteous liberalitie but also that he doth inspire the hart of man inwardly with hys spirite to receaue those thinges that be offered And so after the first maner of speakyng I do confesse that there is a certayne generall grace of God and a certayne freé choyse of Election layed open to all without exception that he may receaue it that hath a will to receaue it so that vnder thys word layd open Gods outward calling be vnderstanded which consisteth in preceptes in exhortatioÌ„s in Rules writteÌ„ either in the tenne CoÌ„maundementes or in the conscience or in preaching of the word And in this sense may we rightly say the Pharao hymself wanted not the grace of God nor Saule no nor any of the rest whom he did oftentimes allure with geÌ„tle promises terrifie with miracles reward with giftes enuyte to repentauÌ„ce with prolonging of punishment suffer with much patience alluring calling all men dayly to amendment of lyfe All which be infallible tokens of hys mercifull will called Voluntas Signi But after the second maner of speakyng if we behold the mercy of GOD and that grace which maketh acceptable or if we respect that will of his wherewith he not onely willeth all to be saued but wherewith hee bringeth to passe that these whom he will shal be saued the matter doth declare it selfe sufficiently that that Mercy and Grace of acceptyng those thyngs whereunto they are called is not layd open for all and euery one indifferently but is distributed through a certeine speciall dispensation and peculiar Election of God whereby they that are called accordyng to the purpose of his grace are drawen to coÌ„sent By meanes wherof it commeth to passe that the same callyng accordyng to Gods purpose fayling euery man hath not in his own hand to chuse or refuse that earnest desire and generall Grace indifferently offered but such as haue either receaued the gift of God or are denyed the gift of God Neither doth the matter so wholy depende vpon the choyse of our will either in chusing or refusing totally for then might it be verified that there was no Predestination before the foundations of the world were layd if our ElectioÌ„ were necessaryly guided by our willes and that our will were the foundation of our SaluatioÌ„ Therfore whereas they say that God doth accept them which will embrace his grace and reiect theÌ„ which will not receaue it is altogether vntrue Nay it rather had bene more coÌ„uenient to fetch our fouÌ„teine froÌ„ the wellspring of Grace then froÌ„ the puddle of our owne will So that we might speake more truly on this wise That God doth endue vs with his grace and fauorable countenaunce bycause we should be willyng to embrace his ordinaunces and Commaundementes on the contrary part as concernyng those that will not receaue his grace offered that such do worthely perish And that the very cause that they will not receaue it doth hereof arise bycause their will is not holpeÌ„ and that they do therfore not receaue it bycause they are not theÌ„ selues receaued first For as touchyng the Obiection vrged out of Chrisostome that God did as much vnto Pharao in deede as hee could doe to saue him if ye referre Gods doyng there to that will which is called Nâ—on signi but to beneplaciti which God could would vtter in those whom he made Vessels of mercy wherof S. Paule maketh mention treatyng of the mercy of Predestination surely the Scripture is quite repugnaunt agaynst it saying God did harden the hart of Pharao For if GOD did harden the hart of Pharao how then did he to Pharao as much as he might But if Pharao did harden his owne hart after that God had not mollified his hart had not tamed his insolencie and not bowed him to godly inclinations which he is accustomed to doe to his elect In what sence then is he sayd to haue done as much to Pharao as to his other Vessels of mercy whom Election had Predestinated to be saued But to let Chrisostome passe
a whiles Let vs heare Augustine hereupon and make him as it were Iudge of the cause For where question is made Whether God did call all men indifferently by a generall inspiration to fayth and Saluatiō Augustine doth make this aunswere For as much as vocation or callyng is taken two maner of wayes to witte internall and externall true it is sayth he that all men are indifferently called after the maner of that externall calling but all are not as indifferently drawen by this internall vocation And if the cause be sought for why all are not drawen indifferently but that to some it is geuen to others some not geuen He maketh this aunswere Some there be that will say quoth he it is the will of man But we say it is the Grace and Predestination of God But God doth require mē to beleue I confesse sayth he yet is fayth neuerthelesse the gift of God For he that doth require faith doth promise withall that he will bring to passe that they shall performe that which he commaundeth c. And agayne If it be demaunded whether mercy be therefore geuen to man bycause he beleueth or that mercy were therfore bestowed vpon him bycause he should become beleuyng to this questiō he maketh the very aunswere of the Apostles I haue obteined mercy bycause I should be faythfull He doth not say bycause I was faythfull c. And this much hetherto out of Augustine Let vs now come to Pighius And bycause we are happened vpon this place to discourse vpon to witte the equall dispensatiō of Gods mercy It shall not be amisse to consider briefly his opinion herein agreéyng with Osorius altogether For these be the speaches of Pighius God doth offer him selfe sayth he an equall and indifferent father to all persons he ouerspreadeth all mē generally with the one selfe same gladsome beames of mercy and clemency without any difference Now if some through this lenitie become tractable and other some hereby made more indurate this discrepaunce proceédeth frō the corruption of mē There is no vnequallitie of distribution of lenitie and mercy in God For proofe whereof takyng a Similitude out of the Epistle to the Hebrues the iiij Chap. For as not euery land watered with like bountyfulnesse of the heauenly dew doth yeld lyke fruite to the husbandman but one land yeldeth forth corne an other thornes brambles the one wherof is blessed of God the other accursed euen no lesse ioyously doth the mercy of God shyne indifferently with generall and equall largesse and bountie towardes all vniuersally which beyng set wyde open to all alike doth deny it selfe to none but such as will refuse it them selues But some turne to amēdemēt of life through this mercy others some do abuse this mercy to more outragious licentiousnes of sumyng And agayne fetchyng a similitude frō the heate of the Sunne Whereas the Sunne yeldeth one selfe same heate we doe seé that through the same the earth is made more stiffe and hard and the waxe softened and made more plyable Hereupō Pighius gathereth That what soeuer difference is betwixt the good and the reprobate the same wholy to issue out of the corruption of men and not out of the will of God But our Expositours haue sufficiently aunswered this slipper deuise that this Assertion of Pighius and of his mate Osorius that Gods mercy is powred alike into all men is vtterly false and absurde where they do affirme that God maketh no choyse in the dispensation of his Grace that there is great difference betwixt the godly the vngodly in deéde that there is great difference betwixt the good bad we do not deny But where they doe ascribe the principall motion and efficient cause hereof in mans will onely and not in God onely they are altogether deceaued For as concernyng the common nature of mā truly in this we may with more certeintie determine equabilitie of condition in mankynd as that they reteine one semblable condition and qualitie of freé choyse for as much as all beyng created out of one lumpe are alike all poysoned alike with one kynde of infectiō as men that be altogether vnable of them selues to doe any thyng auayleable to Saluation And for as much as this imbecillitie doth infect all mākynde alike as with a generall pestilence It appeareth therfore euidently that this difference standeth not so much vpon the determination of their will or at least if it stand vppon their will yet that it doth not proceéde first from mans will but from the callyng of God whiche offereth it selfe not alike to euery one nor after one maner to all ingenerall but doth diuersly drawe some after one sort and some after an other For as I sayd before The Scriptures haue set downe a double maner of callyng the one wherof is generall and outward The other is inward accordyng to purpose to witte the callyng of them whose willes the holy Ghost doth enspire and enlighten with an inward effectuallnesse But this Similitude of the Clay and Waxe is ridiculous and worthy to be laughed at Bycause that this distinction can not be appliable to Freewill after the fall of Adam For of the whole ofspryng of Adam not some be plyable as Waxe nor some lumpish as hard earth For where God doth fashion vessels of one kynde of Clay as Paule sayth some vnto honour some vnto dishonour no mā is so madd to affirme that the Clay is the cause of this difference but the Potter rather Moreouer to as small purpose serueth that place to the Hebrues which treateth not of Grace Freewill but of the word of God and men whom he doth exhort by way of demonstratiō and cōparison of frutefull grounde to receaue the word of God fruitefull and professe the same with effect The same also is to be vnderstanded of that Parable of the good ground yeldyng to the husbandman plenty and aboundaunce of fruite mentioned in the Gospell But how may these be applyed to Freewill or what will Pighius coyne hereof If Gods word take roote in none but such as be good what auayleth this sentence to establish the doctrine of Freewill For the question is not here whether they onely be good which receaue the word of eternall lyfe effectually But this is the pointe that must be touched From whence men receaue habilitie to be made good of the nymblenesse of their owne will or of the callyng of God And therfore that Parable serueth to no purpose in this case as beyng applied for none other end but to signifie the dispensation and disposition of Gods holy word which in a maner may aptly be compared to seede wh though the husbandman do sow vpon euery ground indifferētly yet it yealdeth forth fruite but in a fewe yea in those also that be good groundes But hauing now rent in sunder these slender and trifling cob webbes The aduersaries notwithstanding be neuer a deale the
of God do loue do wish and earnestly desire to be saued But yet we do call these the effectes not the causes of mercy who beyng now made the Uessells of mercy could neuerthelesse not haue bene able of thēselues to bryng to passe that they should haue attayned the first primitiue Election of God August sayth that men are worthely cast away for sinne Ergo On the contrary if men are reiected for their sinnes why should they not aswell be predestinate for their good workes Augustine doth not meane here that reprobation that is cōtrary to predestination but vnder this reprobation he doth vnderstand the last end effect of Reprobation namely damnatiō And in this sence it is true that men are dāned for their sinnes not forsaken as they are neyther predestinate for their good works Luther and Caluine doth deny that it is in mans power before grace receaued to seeke and desire it But Augustine affirmeth the contrary Nay rather what is more common in Augustines mouth then these speaches Couldest thou be conuerted vnlesse thou were called Did not he that called thee back agayne bring to passe that thou shouldest be cōuerted And agayn do not presume vpō thy cōuersion for vnlesse he had called the back agayne thou couldest not haue bene conuerted And in an other place God doth not onely make willing of the vnwilling but maketh also obedient of such as are stifnecked and stubborne The doctours of the popish faction although deny not that nature is very much corrupted in originall sinne yet yeald they not thys much that man can do nothyng els but sinne Neyther that any thing els is taken away from Nature besides the supernaturall gift onely whereby Nature might haue bene made more perfect if it had not fallen And therefore that Nature was beautified with those supernaturall giftes of the which she is now spoiled the naturall power and abilitie of will remayning in her force notwithstanding This is most vntrue whereas Nature and will it selfe not by alteration of Substaunce but by accesse of sinne and disposition is so depraued and reuolted from God so weakened and spoyled through it own operation as that it may be not conuerted but by the onely grace of God hauing of her self no part in thys work but as farre forth as it is preuented by God Whereupon Augustine doth witnes That will doth not goe before but is handmayd to well doyng Wherefore the same Nature and substaunce of will remayneth still not chaunged into a new shape by Gods creation but defiled with the corruption and filthe of Nature The same affections also do remayne that were before in respect of their substaūce but in respect of their disposition they be so putrified and stincking that nothing can be found in them now that bringeth not with it some matter of filthines Who soeuer is holpen he doth worke somewhat together with hym that helpeth hym and suffereth not him self to be applyed meerely passiuely Will beyng not renued is holpen of Grace Ergo Freewill euen sithence the first creation seemeth to bring much to passe and not to be altogether applyed passiuely In the Maior proposition should haue bene added perse by it selfe For what soeuer worketh by it selfe hauing the help of an other is not altogether plyed passiuely but with this exception the Minor must be denyed for freedome of choyse when as it selfe neuer preuenteth grace following her but is altogether holpen of Grace goyng before according to the testimony of Augustine what can it bryng to passe at all of it selfe Or if it can do any thing at all by it selfe that whiche it is able to doe it doth in morall good thinges externall and ciuill exercises certes to deserue eternall lyfe to purchase the fauour of God Saluation Iustification and the euerlasting kingdome Freéwill is altogether vneffectuall but is a meere sufferer onely nor hath any thing but that which it hath receaued and is altogether vnprofitable yea when it hath done all that it can possibly do And this is it that Luther seemeth to stand vpon Let hym be accursed that will say that God commaundeth thynges impossible Melancton doth aunswere what soeuer were the occasion of this saying surely those wh vouch the same so busily vrge it seéme voyde of vnderstanding in the causes why the law of God was geuen worldly wisedome supposeth that lawes are published onely because they should be obserued But the Lawe of the Lord was ordayned for this cause chiefly that the Iudgement and wrath of God should be layd open agaynst sinne that it should conuince vs of wickednes and increase the horror therof that wickednes might be restrayned from to much licensiousnes that putting vs in remēbraunce of our own weakenes frayltie it should in steed of a schoole master enstruct vs to Christ as it is declared before And there was no lye found in their mouthes Apoc. 14. to this August maketh aunswere aduertising vs how man may be in this sorte sayd to be true of hys worde through the grace and truth of God who otherwise of hym selfe without all doubt is a lyer As is that saying You were sometymes darcknesse but now are ye light in the Lord when he spake of darcknesse he added not in the Lord but when he spake of light he annexed by and by in the Lord. But Osorius will vrge agaynst vs here Ergo Nature beyng holpen through grace sayth he may eschew all lying and sinning To aunswere hereunto agayne out of Augustine he that will speake so let hym be well aduised how he deale with the Lords prayer where we say Lord forgeue vs our Trespasses which we needed not to say except I be not deceaued If our consents neuer yelded to false speaking nor to the lust of the flesh Neyther would the Apostle Iames haue sayd We are trespassers all in many thinges for that man doth not offend but he whom flattering lust hath allured to consent contrary to the rule of righteousnes Thus much Augustine Out of the wordes of Ieremy If I speake of any Nation that I may destroy them and they do repent them c. And if I say the word that I may plant them and they tourn away from me c. vpon this the Romanistes do build as followeth Euen as men behaue themselues such shall the potters vessels be afterwardes Ergo it is false that the Lutheranes teach that the regard of worke doth fight agaynst Freedome and the power of God in chusing or refusing The Prophet doth treate here properly of the punishment rewardes which do follow mens workes at the last Iudgemēt and not of the maner of eternall Electiō which doth preceéde all our workes either goyng before as August reporteth which were none at all or comming after which were not as yet If the aduersaries of Luther shall wrest these words of the Prophet to the cause of Electiō as though
done by him we beleue assuredly is done either to expresse his power or to make his glory discernable or to commend his Iustice or els to discouer the wonderfull riches of his mercy Wherfore when Luther doth affirme that with GOD all thynges are done by an absolute Necessitie whether they come by destiny chaunce or any fortune at all why should not it be as lawfull for him to speake so as for Osorius to speake in the lyke phrase and in lyke titles of words That God is of Necessitie the best the most iust and the most wisest But I heare the sounde of an Argument from the Popish Diatriba They say that they abridge not God of his power no nor that they can do it neither would at any tyme otherwise then as him selfe hath abridged it Although there be nothyng but that the omnipotency of God can bryng to passe yet would he haue nothyng lawfull for him selfe to do that might be contrary to his Iustice. And bycause it is an horrible matter that any man should be damned without euill deseruynges and that it is not reason that good workes should be defrauded of their due reward therfore it must needes follow accordyng to the rule of Iustice that God should chuse thē whom he would haue to be saued for the good workes whiche he did forsee to be in them and condemne the other lykewise for their euill doynges For otherwise if he doe not regarde the workes then were not his Iustice constaunt and permanent This Obiection must be ouertaken after this maner It is one thyng to treate of Gods Election and an other thyng to treate of his Iudgement As concernyng the Iudgement of God it is euident that no man is damned vnlesse he haue deserued it for his wickednesse and that no man is saued vnlesse some matter be founde in him whereunto his saluation may be imputed It is farre otherwise in Election and Predestination which is accomplished accordyng to Gods Freé determination and coūsell without all respect of workes either goyng before or commyng after Or els how can that saying of the Apostle be true Not of workes but of him that calleth c. meanyng thereby the Free Election of GOD Whereupon let vs heare Augustine very aptly discoursing in his booke De Praedestin Grat. It is sayd not of workes but of him that calleth The elder shall serue the younger He doth not say of workes done before but when the Apostle spake generally not of workes here he would that men should vnderstand it both of workes done and already past and workes not as yet done that is to say workes past which were none at all and workes to be done which as yet were not done c. Workes therfore haue both their tyme and their place Certes in Electiō they haue neither tyme nor place Neither is any thyng here of any value but the onely will of God which neither dependeth vpon fayth nor vpon workes nor vpō the promises but workes fayth and the promises and whatsoeuer els doe all depend vppon it For neither are our deédes vnto him a rule to direct his Election by but our deédes are directed by his Election as the effectes do consequētly depend vpon the causes and not the causes vpō the effectes Neither doth God worke vnrighteously in the meane tyme in this if he take mercy on whō he will take mercy or if he harden whō he will harden And why so For sooth bycause he is indebted to no man For sithence we are all in generall euen from our mothers wombes ouerwhelmed drowned in this puddle of originall sinne he may accordyng to his good pleasure haue mercy on whom it pleaseth him and againe passe ouer whom soeuer hym lysteth and leaue them to them selues that is to say not take mercy vppon them Whereupon all men may easily perceaue aswell the Reprobates what it is whereof they may iustly accuse thē selues as also they that are chosen how much they are indebted to God for his great and exceédyng mercy Euen as if one man kill an other with a sworde no man doth therfore accuse the sword but he rather is knowen to be in faulte which did abuse the sword to murther with as good reason for asmuch as men are nothyng els but as instrumentes of wickednesse onely in Gods hand they that yeld of Necessitie are not so much in fault as he rather deserueth to be blamed that caused them to do wickedly If so be that men whom God hath created after his owne Image were such kynde of Instrumentes whiche lyke vnto a sword or sawe were driuen not of them selues and without any motion or consent of their owne or if God were such a Royster or hackster that would delight in the slaughter of men the similitude were not altogether to be mislyked Now to graunt vnto them that the wills of men are directed and are subiect to a stronger power then they are able to resiste yet do they not suffer onely as Instruments brutish and senselesse doing nothyng them selues in the meane whiles Men are drawen in deéde but with their owne wills as Augustine maketh mention Neither is any man euill but he that will him selfe And if man will be of his owne accord euill who ought to be blamed therfore but him selfe For where shall we say that sinne is but where a will is founde to committe Sinne But Osorius ceaseth not as yet frō his chatteryng They that doe affirme that God hath seuered out of all the vniuersall masse of mākynde some whō he would prepare to euerlastyng glory and some others whom he would appoint to euerlastyng destruction not for any other cause but bycause it so pleaseth him doe plucke Gods prouidence vppe by the rootes The Lutheranes do alledge none other reason of Gods Predestination besides his will onely Ergo The Lutheranes do foredoe and plucke the prouidence of Cod vppe by the rootes I beseéche you Osorius if as yet you haue not cast away all feélyng of an honest and sober Deuine vtterly returne to your selfe at the length In deéde say you so Do they foredoe Gods prouidence which say it is so for none other cause but bycause it pleaseth him c. What kynde of Argument doe I heare from you Cā God be pleased to do any thyng that is not most correspōdent to reason or cā any Reason be of all partes so absolutely perfect that can disagreé frō the chief and principall patterne of his will or do you seéme a reasonable man that doe talke so fondly But I beseéche you Syr. For as much as the will of God whether soeuer it bende and encline it selfe is nothyng els but a most perfect Reason of it selfe and of all partes most absolute and without blemishe and for as much also as Reason it selfe is nothyng els then the very rule of Gods will nay rather for as much as the will of God is the very essence
Iudge them not worthy to be heard in any wise whiche will affirme that God doth chuse whom he will vnto Saluation out of the whole masse of mankynde for none other cause but bycause it so pleaseth hym Pag. 163. First where hath Luther any such Assertion Why do ye not set it downe good Syr and admit that he hath what is it that your carpyng cauillation cā gnaw at here if you interprete it aright For although Luther seéme in your goodly conceipt to be more then a thousand tymes madd whom ye can neuer name without some gall of raylyng speache yet was he neuer hetherto so foolish as to haue a will to spoyle the most wise workes of God of Reason and counsell in any wise There is with God a most perfect stable vnchaungeable knowledge of all the workes of his owne handes but such a knowledge as doth altogether surmount the greatest reach of our nymblest capacities and seémeth rather to be wōdered at then to be searched out by vs. Surely it is farre beyond the Reason that you make vnto vs. For deliberately notyng with my selfe and entring into a very deépe viewe and consideration of the thynges which are spoken of Election of purpose of Gods prouidēce for this word Predestination as scarse fine enough for a Ciceronian you abhorte neither dare ye so much as once to name in all your bookes hereūto all your drifts seéme to tende that ye suppose that Gods Iustice can by no meanes be defended in makyng a differēce betwixt them whom he reserueth to be saued those whom he adiudgeth to be damned but by foreknowledge of those workes which God doth behold shall be in them As though Osorius would seéme to argue with God with such an Argument as this is There must be alwayes with God a stable assured and vpright reason in euery choyse to be made There can be none other iust cause of Reason of Gods Election and Reprobation but in respect of the merite that must follow Ergo To the attainyng the grace of Election some preparation of merite must needes go before First I do aunswere out of Augustine that it is a most pestilent errour to say that the Grace of God is distributed accordyng to merites this is one of the errours of Pelagius Then as touchyng the Maior There is in deéde with God a perfect sounde vnchaungeable Reason of all his workes But by what reason be ordereth his workes may not be subiect to the Iudgement of the claye as Augustine sayth but of the Potter Now I come to the Minor Which we do vtterly deny for where you make a definition of Gods prouidence in chusing or refusing whom he will to be none other then such as dependeth vpon the foreknowledge of workes this is altogether most brutishe and vnreasonable For albeit that preuēting for eknowledge of things which out Deuines doe call foreknowledge is vnseparably knitte together to the will of him that doth Predestinate yet do we not graunt the same to be the cause of Predestination For first as concernyng the cause efficient for as much as the will of God is the very substaunce of God aboue the which there cā be nothyng more highe there can be no efficient cause thereof rendered either before it in limitation of tyme or aboue it in Maiestie but the materiall and finall cause therof may after a sort be assigned The materiall cause about the which it doth exercise her force is mākynde and those thynges which God doth geue vnto men by Predestination namely Vocation Faith Iustification Glorification The finall cause is two maner of wayes either that which forceth him to doyng by the preuentyng will and reason of the first Agent or els that which is produced out of action And bycause there may be many endes of one thyng it may be that there is one end of Predestination an other end of him that is Predestinated and an other of him that doth Predestinate As for exāple As Saluation and life euerlastyng is the end of Predestination the end of him that is Predestinated is to beleue and to lyue well and the end of him that doth Predestinate is his owne glory and the manifestation of his Iustice power and mercy As we do reade in Salomons Prouerbes God doth make all thinges for himselfe and the wicked man also for the euill day And therfore if it be asked whether God do predestinate for the workes sake it may be aunswered with S. Paule that the holy ones are predestinated not for their good workes but to do good workes so that now the respect of workes be vnderstanded not to be the cause efficient of predestination but the effect rather For thus we heare the Apostle speake Euen as God hath chosen vs in hys sonne frō eternitie that we should become holy to the prayse of hys glory c. not because we were or should be holy sayth he but that we should become holy to the prayse of hys glory c. So that no reason of Election may appeare but that which is to be sought for in the freé liberalitie of hym that doth make the Election neyther that any other last end may be conceaued but the prayse of the manifestation of hys heauenly grace So that as without God there is no cause efficient which may enforce predestination so if weé seeke for the very beginninges of eternall predestination we shall perceaue that S. Paule doth reduce them to iiij principall heades chiefly 1. to hys power Where he sayth hath not the Potter power c. 2. to hys purpose or hys good pleasure For so we reade in the Epistle to the Ephesianes where he vseth both these wordes because he hath predestinated vs sayth he according to the good pleasure of hys will c. And immediately after whē we were predestinated sayth he according to hys purpose c. 3. to hys will Rom. 10. he will haue mercy on whom he will haue mercy and will harden c. 4. to hys mercy or loue Where he sayth Rom. 10. It is neyther of hym that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that taketh mercy Last of all if you demaund further for some reason of Gods Election who shall more liuely expresse the same vnto you then the Apostle Paule writing to the Romaynes on this wise If God sayth he willing on the one side to shew his wrath and to make his power knowne did with much lenity beare with the Vesselles of wrath prepared to destructiō and on the other side to make knowen the riches of hys glory towardes the Vessells of mearcy which he hath prepared to glory c. Unlesse you haue ceased long sithence to be a reasonable man Osorius what more perfect reason can be made vnto you or more manifest of Gods workmanship then this that is here set downe in Paule Whereby you may playnly perceaue that all these councells and workes
that the actions of mans lyfe are not gouerned without the prouident and circumspect direction of Gods will and that it is he alone that inclineth mens willes whither him listeth Yet neuerthelesse euen he that applyeth the willes hath enclosed also the same willes within certeyne limittes and lawes and as it were enuironed them with certeine hedges boūdes which whether we accomplish or no seyng he hath made the will of God manifestly discernable vnto vs certeinly they do not onely sufficiētly acquite and cleare his Iustice but also aboundantly commende the same 4. And lastly though we be neuer so vnable to the performaunce of his ordinaunces yet for all this can no iust accusation of quarell be framed agaynst God but the faulte must be wholy imputed vnto men and that worthely For why would this beastly flesh beyng throughly fortified at the begynnyng vnder the safe keépyng of God and vnderstādyng become Carter of his owne carriadge and guide of his owne flitteryng lyfe afterwardes refusing the conduct and leadyng of God Which if can now gouerne it selfe rightly in deéde as it ought to do let it then a Gods name enioy his owne knowledge but if otherwise yet is Gods Iustice sufficiently enough defended and euen for this same cause bycause he first forewarned them of the perill ensuyng it is with very good reason acquited of crime for what standeth more agreable with Iustice then to punish sinnes with sinnes and to crushe downe with sharpe and bitter correction that proude rebellious arrogancie agaynst the high God his Creator But howsoeuer the matter goeth here I do maruell at this in the meane whiles with what fayth and with what face this one place is vrged so much which maketh nothyng at all to sedition whenas many other thynges may be gathered out of my bookes euery where which are manifestly profitable for the preseruation of peace and tranquislitie For what els doe all my bookes and preachynges more earnestly emporte the necessary instructions of fayth beyng once established then that the multitude of the rascall rable and ruder Boores together with all other Christians should conforme their lyues altogether to patience and desire of concorde though they were oppressed with neuer so many iniuries where did I euer by worde or writyng teaze any man to armes Where did I euer geue so much as a crooked looke agaynst the Magistrate Nay rather who euer esteémed of the gouernours more honorably or taught the duetie of subiectes to their Princes out of holy Scriptures more earnestly faythfully who did euer more carefully aduaūce call backe to their former dignitie the Ciuill gouernours and Magistrates vtterly suppressed almost through the Romish Pontificall Tyranny whose mynde or penne dyd euer more hatefully abhorre disorderous vprores and outragious rebelliōs And if my writynges and behauiour doe not witnesse this to be true that I speake I am contended that this reproche be Registred amongest the other Beadroll of Osorius lesinges After that the light of the Gospell was restored Carolostadius began to plucke downe Images and to make an innouation in many thynges the matter beyng duely wayed was of it selfe commendable enough yet bycause he attempted it with violence and vprore the Magistrate not beyng made priuy vnto it I withstoode him The lyke attempt was made by Zuinglius and Oecolampadius about the matter of the Sacrament I doe not here debate of the truth of the cause And yet no one thyng restrayned me so much from subscribyng to their Assertitions as did the dought of broyles which I feared would afterwardes haue ensued I will adde also somewhat of my selfe when the Counsell was called at Wormes beyng cited by publique authoritie to appeare before the Emperiall seate I dyd not refuse Certainly the daunger was assured and apparaunt For beyng aduertized as I was on my iourney that I should haue regarde of my sauety in tyme I thought better to put my lyfe in hassard then susteine the reproche of disobediēce Beyng ouercome at the last not by Scripture but by power I cōmitted my cause to the mercy of the Lord to the authoritie of the Emperour I onely defended my cause constauntly If I had bene of so lewde a disposition so foreward to sedition as you suspect Osorius there wanted not at that tyme both Princes frendshyp and fautoures of the cause yea and perhappes there was tyme good enough to put it in practize But was there euer any Prince or Subiect encouraged by my meanes to moue discension This beyng done not long after in deéde the Boores of the Countrey began to raunge in that outrage whom afterwardes Muncer and Phyfer takyng partes withall brake out into lyke maddnesse The common weale beyng thus deuided disquieted how greatly I was greéued withall what meanes I vsed agaynst them accordyng to my duety what aunswere I made to their Articles with what reasons I refuted them what counsell I gaue and what exhortations to commō quyet and Christian obedience myne owne writynges extaunt as yet doe testifie for me and the Hystories therof doe sufficiently declare And Osorius him selfe doth not deny the same Yet takyng occasion of my writynges he shameth not to make me the authour of all this rebellion And why so We sayth he haue learned of you that we are not able of our selues to doe good or euill And what then Hereof we conceaued our foolehardynesse this was the cause that moued vs Boores to Armes O notable Argument cōcluded by clownes but very clownish surely I suppose Coridon him selfe could not haue done more rustically But if you will take occasion to argue agaynst me of that which you might haue learned out of my writyngs O ye Boores ye were in them enstructed after this maner That Magistrates ought to be reuerēced why did you not obey this lesson How often did I teach you that Rebellion must be eschued by all meanes possible that no priuate man should auenge his owne iniuries that it was not lawfull for any Christian to auenge any priuate wrong That Christ had no neéde of any warlyke guarrison That the Maiestie of the Gospell was able and strong enough of it selfe to mainteyne her owne quarell That there could be no more forcible victory for the truth and pure doctrine then which is atchieued with sufferaunce and patience that the nature of the same was such as the more it were pursued the more forcibly it would preuayle Why learned ye not to follow these lessons Lastly when ye were in Armes and dereygned in field and by sound of Trumpet had published your Articles and Requestes to the hygher powers how much dyd I moyle and turmoyle my selfe to reduce you to order and reclayme you from your attemptes teachyng you out of holy Scriptures conuincyng you aduertizyng you chidyng beseéchyng perswadyng threatnyng finally omittyng no part of duety vntouched whereby I might reclayme you from your hurly burly to peace and tranquillitie If so be that my
you so besides all order and without all cause to whirle your selfe into such outrages exclamations and outcryes so ofte to double redouble theÌ„ whereunto you haue so tyed your selfe by commoÌ„ custome that if you should not vtter your olde choler you would surely burst your gall Goe to and what kinde of incestuous Marriage at the length is it I beseéch you for the loue ye beare to that smoathe shaueling Uirginitye of yours worshippfull Syr that ye obbrayd agaynst Luther what kinde of procurement of Citizens to commit treason what kinde of warre speake you of leuyed agaynst Chastitye and sacred holynesse where were these tumultes and vproares sturred vpp where is this state of Churches rent a sunder where is destructioÌ„ where be these discipatioÌ„s burnings fierings of holy Reliques Or what frantique speeches be these Finally what kinde of Battell and warres are promised agaynst heauen it selfe agaynst the earth and Seas of Neptune and agaynst the fayth of the Church with most abhominable attemptes And why was not this added agaynst Purgatory also that so the Rhethoricall amplification might haue flowen aboue the Weathercock I wis the defence of this skalding howse hadd waxed very cold I suppose vnlesse these florishings hadd bene choppt in emongest to encrease the vehemency of the speéch and extoll the Maiestye of his Rhetorick But how much more beseémed you Osorius sith you were so minded to vphold and defend the creditt of Purgatory with some Maiestye to haue vttered your skill by way of Argument rather then by skolding and slaundering and so Iustified your cause good with reasons not with accusation But now you shew your selfe in rayling not halfe so couragious and foreward as you bewray your dastardly cowardize and fearefulnes in disputing You cyte the names of Augustine Cyprian Chrisostome and Dionisius once or twise and those you name onely but nether vouch any sentence of these Doctors nor shew any Testimony of their bookes nor yet compare any authorityes together And although I neede not so to doe say you yet because Luther doth deny that Purgatory can be veryfied by any testimony of Scripture you will conuince his falshood herein by force of your Diuinitye At the length you are tumbled downe to the very closetts of Scripture alledging out of Scripture it selfe besides the coÌ„mon places that haue bene vsually set out by others certein new testimonies culled out by a certien new ingenious pollicy Wherof the first shall be out of that place in Marke the 9. Chap. In the which when the Lord hadd made mention first of those whose worme should not dye in that fiery Lake nor where the fier should be neuer putt out he annexed imediately for euery man shall be Salted with fyer and euery sacrifice shall be seasoned with Salt Surely he that can discerne one sparke so much of this Purgatory fier in these wordes hadd neéde to be quicker of sight then euer Lynceus was But you wonder peradueÌ„nture gentle Reader whereunto this compasse of Osorius doth tend Note therefore diligently For in this place two poyntes are specially to be obserued First where you heare the Worme and the Fyre spoken of which doth not dye which do expresse vnto vs the euerlasting tormentes of Hellfire what do you conceaue by this worme that doth not dye and thys fire which neuer ceaseth to be on flame but that there is a certayn Worme that neuer dyeth and a certayne fyre that is neuer extinguished Otherwise the Lord would neuer haue vsed these wordes in Esay The Women that dieth not and vnqueÌ„chable fire but by alluding to some other worme which doth dye and some fire that is put out Loe here you haue the very groundwork of Purgatory O notable straunge diuinity doubtles neuer heard of before hetherto amongest all the deuines of the world The other is where you heare mention of Salt for this is an vnauoydeable reason to establish Purgatory by For as in the olde law no Sacrifice was performed without Salt euen so is it not coÌ„uenieÌ„t that mens soules should come within the kingdome of heauen but by purging all the fayth of their sins first with Salte fire with due punishmeÌ„ts which because can not be performed in this life that which wanteth must of necessitie be supplied in an other life For wheras the Lutherans do teach that sinn is by the singuler clemeÌ„cy mercy of Christ sâ—ayne and extinct in them which are endued with a liuely and effectuall fayth in Christ albeit this saying is true after a certayn sort yet this is not sufficient enough And why so Forsooth because cleanesse it selfe obtayned by the liberality of Christ hath certain degrees so what whom the bloud of Christ hath purged the same may be washt more cleane ought to receiue increase of theyr cleanesse in Salte in the fire of Purgatory whereby the Sacrifice may be made more cleane and more acceptable in the sight of God But as concerning those partes of Christes clemency We must defend them in such wise as not passing ouer the maiestye of his righteousnesse vnregarded to the patterne and likenes whereof our vnrighteousnesse ought to be coÌ„formed As that blessed heauenly Doctour Saynct Thomas doth teach vs The crime being inordinate sayth he is not reduced to the order and rule of Iustice but through some punishment For it is conuenient that he which hath with a voluntary will followed his owne appetites more then he ought should agaynst his will suffer some punishment more then he would Which Sinne albeit be released by Christ yet is not the Sinner forgeuen therefore But the trespasse being pardoned there remayneth yet a punishment appoynted for the purging of the other dreggs of sinnes So that it is necessary now that the Iustice of God be satisfied euen to the vttermost farthing And because this doctrine shall not waÌ„t a Patrone the matter is made manifest by the example of Dauid to whom albeit the offence of aduoutry was released the punishment remayned notwithstanding to be executed vpon his Sonne and the subiectes of his kingdome I haue in few wordes described the substaunce of Osorius iudgement It remayneth that we aunswere him in as fewe wordes First whereas he alleadgeth the text of the scripture touching the Worme gnawing the conscience and that vnquenchable fire we do confesse the same to be true Moreouer that other also which he doth affirme touching the other tormeÌ„t which hath an end in processe of tyme ouer and besides that other endlesse horror we do not gaynesay But I looke for the knitting vpp of this knott Ergo sayth he it appeareth manifestly that there is a Purgatory after this life that is as himselfe doth interpret it a pledge or witnesse of Gods clemencye and his iustice withall Of his iustice which doth punishe the soules with the Worme and the Fire of his Clemency which doth make an end of his punishment I
all and euery of the which vpon a iust accompt made do Surmount to the number of tenn hundred thousand yeares againe if the Pilgrimes that come to Rome to seé the onely heades of Peter and Paule do obtayne pardon of their sinnes for xij thousaund yeares or if the fulnesse of the Romish Seé be of such estimation in the sight of God as you boast vpon it that it is able to trāslate whatsoeuer soules it listeth sodenly without touch of breath out of Purgatory into heauen yea and that without any helpe of Purgatory at all to what purpose then doth this Sacrifice of yours serue wherewith you doe vndertake as you say to pacifye the maiestye of God for the sinnes of the dead If there be no meanes els to reconcile his fauor but by this dayly Sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ of what vertue then shall your popish Pardons be wherefore either must your Bulles of very necessity breake their neckes if your satisfactory Masses stand still at the stake or if your bulles be fatt and lusty you must neédes confesse that the iolly bragges bigg lookes of your satisfactory Masses will be down dagger Furthermore how will that your infallible Assertion agreé either with the rule of the holy scripture or with the determinations of your owne Schoolemen For whereas your great Doctours do call this oblation an vnblooddy sacrifice which you name the oblatiō of the body and bloud of Christ either they must lye or els Osorius must neédes saye vntruely If the Schoolemen say true that it is an vnblooddy sacrifice I doe demaund them by what reason it is ministred for the washing away and cleansing of the sinnes of the quicke and the dead when as it appeareth by the most manifest testimony of the scripture that there can be no remission of sinnes without effusion of blood Moreouer yf this vnblooddy sacrifice be such an effectuall and soueraigne Balsamum for the curing of the festered woūds of the quick for what soares then auayleth your Sacramentall playster of penaunce For if sinnes be washt away cleane before you go to Masse to what vse shall this necessity of Sacrifice and confession be employed Doe ye not yet conceiue playnely fine man into how many monstruous and frameshapen filthy deformities this your friuolous and apish reason would entangle vs which neither accord scarcely betwixt themselues and withall do much lesse resemble any countenaunce or shew of countenaūce with the holy Scripture You affirme that you do take vpon you to reconcile the fauour of God by the body and bloud of Christ But why do you so loase our labor For all this matter that you now take in hand is quite dispatcht and accomplished long sithence All the coast is cleare here already the reconcilement is concluded vpon the olde rotten wall is broken downe the obligations be all cancelled so that you neéde not to beat your braynes any more about making any Releases Gods memory is not so obliuiōs that it can so soone forgett this couenaunt that he made with the late sacrifice of his Sonne except you rubb vp his remēbraūce with your dayly sacrifice Neither is this attonement purchased of so slender force that we neéd to be afrayd of any such breach of couenaunt as can not be continued without your delicate daylye dayntyes What shall I say of the nature of the sacrifice it selfe which though you would the contrary neuer so fayne neither ought nor can be handled with any mans handes besides him onely who being cleare from all spott of sinne did deserue to be heard for his obedience sake and who alone as Augustine writeth is the onely priest and the sacrifice the offerer and the offering it selfe And what fayth is there so great in you or what obedience to godwardes or rather what shamelesse impudency in the sight of men wherewith you dare presume to handle this so honorable a sacrifice for sinnes being of all partes so polluted stynking and filthy sinners your selues But I meddle no more with your vnshamefastnesse I demaunde touching the matter it selfe what reason or argument you can make for any your necessary vndertaking this Sacrifice and I desire to be aunswered of you herein Forsooth say you because God is wrathfull agaynste sinners and because sinnes do dayly boyle vpp and buddle from without vs therefore a dayly Sacrifice is very requisite for the obtayning of dayly pardon But this pardon is obtayned by our owne fayth in Christ yea without all your Sacrifices or els the verity of Gods word it selfe doth lye surely and Christ also doth deceiue vs as appeareth by the promise made vnto Paule that they should receiue forgeuenesse of theyr sinnes through fayth that is in Christ Iesu. c. How saye you to this shall we now abandon our fayth that we may establishe your vnbloody sacrifice for otherwise how can you ioyne the perseueraunce of the one with the maintenaunce of them both If fayth do obtayne remission of sinnes what neéde we then your Sacrifice on the other side if sinnes cānot otherwise be washt away but by the sprinckling of this Sacrifice then is fayth altogether vnprofitable But you will say the very same Christ in whom we do beleeue is resiaunt in that holy Altar Doth he lye their groueling or looking vppward what say you Osorius But go to what is this to the Sacrifice for if fayth fastned in Christe wheresoeuer he be do obtayne all our suites at his handes what further neéde we of him to be sacrificed againe or of your priesthood Because when as by our ministery say you the sonne is offered vpp vnto the father he can not choose but be fauourable vnto vs and with his mercy forthwith embrace vs And therefore this Sacrifice is vndertaken of vs not in vayne whereby we do pacifie the maiesty of God whose iustice without this Sacrifice could not otherwise but be very greuously angry and heauily affected agaynst our sinnes But we are otherwise taught by the scripture of God which doth playnly affirme that we being iustified by fayth haue peace with God Rom. 5. To what purpose then neéde we any reconciliation where assured peace is proclaymed already But God is angry with our sinnes This is true But this anger is alayed by fayth and repentaunce without all your oblations But if you thinke that an aduocate must be procured hereunto we are taught by Iohn that this Aduocate is now already in heauen and not in the earth And he is sayth Iohn the propitiation for our sinnes 1. Iohn 2. But whē he is offred in the earth the wrath of God cānot choose but be recōciled with so acceptable a Sacrifice Nay rather be ye well aduised hereof least whiles you take vpon you to pacifie the wrath of God by Sacrifice you defile your selues by the same meanes with most horrible Idolatry so prouoke the wrath of the Lord much more sharpelie against you to your
of this milde Phenix our most gracious Soueraigne a few yeares more in this life truely I doe nothing mistrust but that the whole generatiō of your Catholick Caterpillers loytering lozels shall be driuen shortlye not to the gallowes but to that howling outcries and gnashing of teéth described in the xviij Chapter of the Apocalipps which you may reade and peruse at your leysure and afterwardes aunswere vs when time and place wil serue for it But we must cōmitt all these as all other our actions successes els to the guidyng and conduct of him in whose handes are the hartes of Princes and Potentates and the order and disposition of tymes and of chaunces He is our Lord. Let him determine of vs as seémeth best in his sight whether his pleasure be of his infinite mercy to blesse vs with a continuaunce and settled stay of this quyett calme which he hath fauourably bestowed vpon vs or whether he will scourge our Sinnes with the cruell whippes of these Popish Philistines or whether he will vouchsafe accordyng to his promise after the long and greéuous afflictions of his tourmented Church to roote vpp the foundations of your Babylonicall Towres and ouerwhelme them in the deépe doungeon as it were a mylstoane in the Sea But whatsoeuer the successes shal be of our hope it can not be but most acceptable and commodious for his faythfull whatsoeuer his prouident Maiestie shall determine This one thyng I would wish from the bottom of my hart that our lyues and and conuersations were aunswerable to our publique profession and that our maners were so conformed as might no more prouoke his indignation and wrath then the doctrine that we embrace and professe doth moue him to displeasure which one Request if might preuayle with our Englishmen there were no cause then wherefore we should be afrayed of hundred Romes sixe hundred Osorianes and as many Portingall Dalmadaes Now the onely thyng of all other whereat I am dismayed most is not the force of your Argumentes not the brauery of your bookes not the crakes of your courage not the legion of your lyes Osorius but our home harmes onely our pestilent botches of pestiferous wickednesse and licentious insolency Wherein you seé Osorius how litle I doe beare with the maners of our people and how much I doe agreé with you in condemnyng their waiwardnesse whose maners you do gnawe vpon so fiercely whose Fayth and Religion neuerthelesse I can not choose but defēd agaynst your Sycophanticall barkyng with iust commendation as they do duely deserue But for as much as we haue treated largely of Queéne Elizabeth I will now come downe vnto others and will pursue the conclusion and end of your booke furious enough and full of indignation wherein you heape whole mounteynes of wordes brauely and behaue your selfe most exquisitely and artificially and besturre your stumpes lyke a sturdy pleader couragiously and launche out lyes as lustely yet herein not as Oratours vse orderly but after the Cretensian guise ouersauishely Of whom S. Paule maketh mention The men of Creete are common lyars For you say that Haddon dyd counsayle you that you should not meddle with the holy Scriptures Which coūsell as neuer entred into Haddones head so neuer raunged out of Haddons penne And out of this lye beyng as it were the coyne of the whole buildyng it is a wonder to seé how you shoulder out the matter what greéuous complaintes you doe lay to our charge which haue neither toppe nor tayle foote nor head I would wish you to peruse the place of Haddon once agayne whereat you cauill so much but with more deliberation For this was neuer any part of his meanyng to abbridge you the Readyng of one lyne so much of holy Scriptures Moreouer neither did he so couple you to the Colledge of Philosophers and Oratours as to exclude you from the noumber of Deuines as your cauillation doth sinisterly emporte without all cause of iust quarrell For what can be more conuenient for a Byshopp and a Deuine and an old man also then to be exercized in the mysteries of heauenly Philosophy night and day or what dyd Haddon euer imagine lesse then to rase your name out of the Roll and order of Deuines But when he perceaued as truth was that you did behaue your selfe much more plausibly in other causes and therefore highely commended many qualities in you to witte an excellency of style exquisite eloquence ioyned with ingenious capacitie stoare of Authours and many bookes of yours likewise and especially your booke De Nobilitate and withall did grauely consider by the conference of your bookes that you were by nature more enclined or by Arte better furnished to treate of other causes then to dispute of those controuersies of Religion wherein you seéme a meére straunger and goe groapyng lyke a blyndman wandryng altogether in Iudgement and withall a professed enemy to the Maiestie of the glorious Gospell takyng vpon him the part of an honest friendly man thought good to aduertize you friendly and louingly not that you should not employ any study or trauayle in this kynde of learnyng but surceasing that presumptuous boldnesse of rash writyng and vnaduised decyding of controuersies wherewith you were but meanely acquainted that you would with a more circumspect deliberation consider of the matters whereof you purposed to discourse and that you would not from thenceforth rush so rudely agaynst vs with such disordered Inuectiues which doe in deéde bewray nought els but your ignoraunce procure generall myslikyng and auayle nothyng at all to publique commoditie For hereunto tended the whole scope mynde and meanyng of Haddon Which you doe causelesly miscouster agaynst him euen as though he had debated with you as your Catholickes doe vsually accustome with old wemen poore badgers Carters Cobblers the meaner state of poore Christiās whom you doe prohibite with horrible manacings cruell prohibitiōs frō the reading of sacred Scriptures none otherwise then as from bookes of hygh Treason But in very deéde you doe interprete of the matter farre otherwise then euer Haddon did meane And therfore here was no place for your nyppyng Satyricall scoffe which you did pretily pyke out of Horace Uerses wherewithall he doth dally with his Damasippus and you beyng an old and meary conceited man resembling the old dottarde Silenus of Virgile do ridiculously and vnseasonably deride Haddō withall The Goddes and the Goddesses Rewarde you with a Barbour for your good counsell Nay rather keépe this Barbour in stoare for your selfe Osor and for the rascall rabble of your sinoath shauelynges who in respect of your first and second clippyng nypping shearing and shauing must neédes room dayly to the Barbours shoppes who also doe accompt it an haynous matter to weare a long bearde as is also especified in the same Satyre For you I say euen for you and those dishheaded dranes of that shauelyng and Cowled rowte who with bare scraped scalpes beyng a new fangled
Sophistication If all thyngs that goe commonly after a certein maner together be done together must be coupled applyed to one and the selfe same operationÌ„ by this Reason it must come to passe that he that hath feéte eyes and eares and haue them not by them selues alone therefore he shal be supposed to goe not vpon his feéte onely but to walke vpon his eyes and to seé with his eares For the matter goeth none otherwise in Fayth Hope and Charitie which threé heauenly Iewelles albeit be instilled into vs by the freé liberalitie of God with Remission of Sinnes and cleaue fast within one subiect yet euery of them are distinguished by their seuerall properties and functions notwithstandyng As for Example If a question be demaunded what thyng it is that doth Iustifie vs in the sight of God and obteine vs euerlastyng lyfe I doe aunswere that it is Fayth yea and Fayth onely If you demaunde by what meanes I do aunswere through Iesus Christ the Mediatour Agayne if you aske what kynde of Fayth that is I do aunswere not an idle nor a dead Fayth but a liuely Fayth and a workyng Fayth If you will demaunde further by what markes you may be able to discerne a true Fayth from a false Fayth S. Paule will make aunswere vnto you The true Fayth is that which worketh by Charitie If you will demaunde further yet what this Fayth worketh I doe aunswere accordyng to the seuerall properties thereof two maner of wayes namely Fayth worketh Saluation thorough Christ and it worketh obedience of the law by Charitie what absolute obedience I doe not thinke so What then vnperfect obedience But such a Fayth must neédes be insufficient to the full measure of absolute righteousnesse and perfect felicity And where is now that excellent integritie of lyfe which doth purchase vs a way into the kyngdome of heauen where is the effectualnesse of Charitie auayleable to eternall lyfe where is that solemne Decreé of that Tridentine CouÌ„cell which doth ascribe the onely begynnyng of our Iustification to Fayth but maketh the Formall cause thereof onely Charitie as a certein new kynde of obedience which they call a righteousnesse cleauyng fast within vs whereby we are not onely accompted righteous but be both truely called righteous and be also truely righteous in the sight of God Annexing thereunto a very dreadfull and terrible curse If any man dare presume to say that man is iustified either by the onely Imputation of Christes Righteousnesse or by onely Remission of Sinnes excludyng Grace and Charitie which is poured forth into their hartes by the holy Ghost and cleaueth fast within them or if any man will presume to say that the Grace whereby we be Iustified is the onely fauour and mercy of God Lett him stand accursed And agayne in the Cannon followyng If any man dare presume to say that Iustifiyng Fayth is nothyng els then a CoÌ„fidence of Gods mercy forgeuyng Sinnes for Christes sake or to be that onely affiauÌ„ce whereby we be Iustified lett hym be holden accursed Behold here learned Reader a notable Decreé of this Councell which when these graue Fathers did coyne may any man dought but that the Maister of the Familie was a sleépe when the enuious maÌ„ did scatter abroad darnell emongest his wheate They doe discourse and determine vpon Iustification but none otherwise then as they might argue in Aristotles schoole about naturall causes or powers of the soule For how much more nycely could Aristotle him selfe the Prince of the Peripateticall Schoole dispute if he hadd accoÌ„panyed them and debatyng this cause together with that Ghostly Councell then Osorius and the Tridentine Deuines did Philosophically dispute of the formall cause of Iustification which consideration of doctrine if must be holden for an infallible foundation then lett vs be bold and blush not to roote out withall the whole natiue and essentiall substaunce of all mysticall Diuinitie and lett vs raâ—e out the very foundations of all our Religion For if the state of our Saluation be come to this passe that it must be established by merites not by freé Imputation onely where then is that righteousnesse which is called the righteousnesse of Fayth the force and power whereof is so highely and often aduaunced by Paule what shall become of the difference betwixt the law and the Gospell which if be not obserued very diligently we shall wander and straggle blindely in the course of the Scriptures none otherwise then as wantes and rearemyce at the bright beames of the cleare Sunne Moreouer what shall become of that Antithesis of Paule betwixt the righteousnesse of the law and Fayth betwixt grace and merite what shall become of all that excluding of glorious boastyng vpon workes where is that Fayth Imputed to Abraham for righteousnesse Moreouer how shall this saying of Paule agreé with these Tridentine Lawgeuers to witte Not to him that worketh but vnto him that beleeueth on him that doth Iustifie the wicked Sinner Fayth is imputed for righteousnesse Moreouer what shall become of those exceptiue exclusiue senteÌ„ces of S. Paule wherein all the consideration of our Saluation beyng taken away from confidence in workes is ascribed wholy to Imputation Finally what shall become of all those sweét and most amiable promises of God if according to the rule of this doctrine we shal be excluded from our assurednesse of Saluation and Gods freé imputation We do heare the Lord promising in the Gospell When you haue lifted vpp the Sonne of man on high I will draw all things vnto my selfe And how cann this be true if all assurednesse must be attributed to merites according to the TrideÌ„tines Not so simply to merits say they but we do couple Grace therewith which grace because is not receiued but through the merites of Christ herefore there it commeth to passe that the merite of Christ is so farr forth effectuall to vs in the worke of our saluation as God doth powre into vs the measure of his grace to worke well O notable Deuines But goe to that I may the better aunswere them may I be so bold to demaund a question or two touching Abraham whose workes if we behold what thing coulde be more holy If we respect the vprightnes of his life what was more excellent if we regard the grace of his sanctificatioÌ„ and renouacioÌ„ where was it euer more pleÌ„tifull in any man And now lett vs heare the iudgement of S. Paule concerning all those so manifold and wonderfull workes For if Abraham haue anye thing whereupon he may glory sayth he he hath it in respect of meÌ„ but not of God What where the most excellent workes of Abraham are nothing worth shall our most filthy workes be auayleables Lett vs haue recourse to the first creation of mankinde and lett vs call to remembraunce the auncient age of our first Parent Adam who alone tasting of the forbidden fruite did he
an infallible assuraunce of Saluation and eternall lyfe there cā be nothyng more false and more damnable for as much as the same is not obteyned by our owne merites and deseruynges but is freély geauen to the vnworthy and vndeserued and is thē also geauen whenas we are founde Sinners so that in this whole worke the mercy of the Lord doth beare the whole and full prayse and palme not our workes which do but folow Gods reconciliation as fruites and not make attonement with God None otherwise then as Osorius whenas he doth Consecrate when he doth geaue orders when he doth weare his Myter he doth not all these to the ende he would be made a Byshopp but bycause he was made a Byshopp before therefore he doth execute the duties apperteignyng to a Byshopp And as the Seruauntes of noble men are knowen by their seuerall Badges but do not weare noble mēs badges bycause they shall become those noble mēs seruauntes In semblable wise Christian Fayth albeit it worke allwayes by loue and doth shew a speciall demonstration of pure and true Fayth doth not therefore procure Saluation bycause it worketh but bycause it doth beleéue in Christ Iesu who beyng able alone to geaue that absolute integritie which is required for this cause therefore onely Fayth in Christ Iesu doth obteyne our Saluation not our perfection and integritie So that all the whole felicitie of our happy lyfe doth not proceéde from any efficacy or force of our owne worke but by consideration of the Obiect onely which is receaued thorough Fayth Neither are the endeuours and actions of loue charitie and pietie excluded in this course of transitory obedience as I haue often declared before as though by this meanes they should be of any lesse necessitie not to accompany or not to attend vpon Fayth Agayne neither are workes so ioyned with Fayth as though they should exclude Fayth from her dignitie and her proper operation nor enfeéble or abase the wonderfull riches of the grace of God which is in Christ Iesu nor that they should extinguish the Glory of Christes Crosse nor dispoyle afflicted consciences of their heauenly cōsolation nor should destroy the synceritie of sounde doctrine which the Apostles haue left vnto vs which for as much as ascribeth the whole estate of our Saluatiō to no one thyng els then to the onely freé liberalitie and mercy of Christ Iesu I doe appeale to the secrett Iudgementes of all the godly whether the opinion of them be better which doe establish their sauetie in Fayth onely or of Osorius which doth measure all our assuraunce and confidence of Saluation by the onely Rule of our owne righteousnes and who doth affirme that Fayth onely is onely rash temeritie Truely if the Spirite of the Lord could not disgest those Laodiceans which beyng droūken with vayne persuasion of their owne righteousnesse hadd not any feélyng or perseueraunce of their owne vgly deformitie and filthy barraynesse It may easily be coniectured what we may determine of the hawty spirite of this Portingall Deuine and of all his Diuinitie Wherefore in that you seéme so inwardly carefull for our sauety Osorius as herein your honest inclination of gentle courtesie towardes vs may not vnthankefully be neglected of vs altogether Euen so we also in requitall of our good will towardes you do earnestly exhort and hartely desire you that either you will vouchsafe to instruct vs in the true doctrine of Saluation more wholesomely and purely hereafter or els that you reteigne still with your selfe this your safety which you do wish vnto vs if you can wishe vs no better and enioy the same to your great comfort as much and as long as you will for euer and euer world without end Amen ¶ Lett vs pray OSorius I do hartely pray and beseech the hygh and eternall Lord Iesu Christ for the loue of his most precious bloud which was shedd for the Saluation of all mankynde for his woundes for his bitter passion for his death wherewith he dyd vanquish death for his victory wherein he triumphed ouer the kyngdome of Sathā that he would vouchsafe to enlighten with the bright beames of his coūtenaunce and deliuer frō all errours this kyngdome which was once a Receptacle of all vertue Religiō wisedome and Iustice disquieted now by the wicked practises of naughty packes woulde also vouchsafe to reclayme it to the Fayth and vniforme consent of most sacred Religiō into the aūcient boundes of the Churche defend the same with the assistaūce of his holy Spirite that whereas we are now disagreeyng in opinions we may be conformed together at the length in vnitie of one Fayth and one vniforme mynde of most vndoughted Religion and may attayne together that euerlastyng glory to the vnspeakeable ioy and Reioysing of all the holy Citizens in heauen At the Feast of Easter Alleluya Alleluya In recompence of this your solemne collect Right Reuerend Father what remayneth at the length but that we all and euery of vs doe with one mouth one spirite and one voyce sing as lowd as we can vnto you Amen which being but one word wanting onely to the knitting vpp of the prayer I doe not a little maruaile why was forgotten of you vnlesse perhappes because it was skarse a good Latyne word and neuer foūd in the bookes of Cicero therefore it was vnworthy to be inserted in this place as not meéte for your fine phrase of Ciceroes Eloquence Neuerthelesse it is right well yet that making intercession for vs poore outcast Englishmen you skippe ouer all other pelting and petty mediatours and aduocates and haue thought good to call vpon the helpe of the most mightye mercyfull Lord Iesus Christ without calling for or inuocating the helpe of any other Gods Which deuise how well will agreé with the rest of your discourse I can not well conceaue for you seéme to pray one way and to dispute an other way quite contrary You doe pray as a Lutherane but you dispute as a Papist What a contradiction is this I pray you where the Pyper playeth the hornepype and you daunce the Antyck For if this be true as we are taught by your example that we ought to fleé for succour to Christe onely as the most chiefe and highest Soueraigne and in him onely alone to repose all our whole shoote ancker of prayer inuocation without praying to all other perry Saincts what neéde we then of any other Sollicitours Patrones and Aduocates But if the estate of our necessitye be such as may not want their ayde and assistaunce how chaunceth it that renouncing the necessary helpes of pettygodds and pettygoodesses intercession is made here onely vnto Christ Afterwardes you doe proceade in your whott zealous prayer doe make intercessiō For his bloods sake that was shed for the saluation of all mankynde for his woundes sake for his most bitter passion sake for his death sake wherewith he vanquished
But when a man may be without sinne and by whom that is the thyng that is in question If thou wilt say in this present life and in the body of this death how then do we pray in this life forgeue vs our sinnes If maÌ„ can of him selfe be without Sinne. Ergo Christ dyed in vayne c. But Osorius vnderproppeth his Freewill here with this crooch in couplyng the grace of God with it disputyng on this wise By the assistaunce of Gods Grace nature may subdue Sinne. The grace of God doth assiste them that be his owne Ergo In the thynges apperteinyng to God all Necessitie of Sinnyng is quyte excluded Least Osor. may not seéme to differre nothyng at all from the Pelagians he doth vphold the cause of Freewill with an addition of Grace And yet for all this he doth not so catche the thyng that he gapeth for but that a Necessitie of sinnyng shall alwayes be resiaunt euen in the holy ones of God Grace assistyng sayth he Nature may exclude Sinne. If he meane the perfect assistaunce of grace by the wh all infirmitie of nature is taken away the Maior is true but that Minor is false For to confesse as truth is the riches of Gods graces to be wonderfull and his blessyngs which God powreth into his Elect to be magnificent yet this Grace of God doth not make any man of such a singuler perfection in this world but that the best of vs all many tymes offende in many thynges and do pray dayly that our trespasses may be forgeuen The grace of God in deéde doth helpe our infirmities that they may be lessened and pardonable but to be cleane cutte away that I do vtterly deny it doth in deéde helpe out infirmities yet leaueth it vs neuerthelesse in our infirmities that he may alwayes help vs. How plentifully the Grace of Christ was powred vpon hys holy Apostles no man is ignoraunt which Grace notwithstanding did not make perfect their strength to the full measure but the same grace rather was made perfect through their infirmitie In part fayth S. Paule we do know and in part we do perceaue But when that is come which is perfect then shall that which is vnperfect be abolished For now we behold as by a glas in a darck ridle but then shall we see face vnto face nowe doe I know in part but then shall I know as I am knowne And therfore to aunswere at one word If Osorius do meane that assistaunce of Gods Grace which may make absolute and perfect obedience in this life Augustine will immediately deny the same who discoursing vpon the first commaundement whereby we are commaunded to loue God withall our hart and our neighbour as our selfe We shall fulfill that commaundement sayth August when we shall see face to face And immediately after And therfore the the man hath profited much in this lyfe in that righteousnes which ought to be accomplished who doth knowe by profiting how farre he is distaunt from the full perfection of true righteousnesse Lastly whereas it is argued from the power of Gods grace that sufficeth not to exclude Necessitie of sinning for it may come to passe through Grace and the absolute power of God that a man may not sinne at all And that the fire may not burne also And it might haue come to passe likewise That the punishment of the whole corrupted masse in Adames loynes should not haue bene deriued into the posterity if it had so pleased God Yet are not all things done that may be done vnlesse the decreéd Will of God do ioyne together with his power Not vnlike vnto this is the very argument of Celestius the Pelagian agaynst Augustine If God Will it may come to passe that man may not sinne in wordes nor in thought But Gods will is that no man should sinne Ergo Nothing withstandeth but that man may not sinne in wordes nor in thought The forme of this argumeÌ„t should rather haue bene framed on this wise If God Will and do minister help withall it may come to passe that man shall not sinne at all but God willeth helpeth withall that a man shall not sinne at all in worde nor in thought Ergo c. I doe aunswere with Augustine vnto the Minor That it is true in deéde that God willeth and helpeth agaynst the force of sinne I doe adde ouer and besides that no man is holpen but he that willeth and worketh somewhat himselfe also But two things are to be noted here both who they be that are holpeÌ„ how God doth help them Forsooth such as call vpon him such as beleue in the Sonne such as are called after the purpose of hys Will and such as whose will is sâ—irred vppe to this end to craue earnestly for assistaunce Because whom he hath foreknowne theÌ„ hath he also predestinate to be made like vnto the Image of the Sonnes of God c. Furthermore it must be coÌ„sidered by what meanes he doth helpe not to the ende that no more dregges of sinne should from thenceforth cleaue fast in the flesh but to the end that sinne should not raygne in the mortall bodyes of them whom himselfe hath sanctified through Grace What thing so euer God will haue to be done must of Necessitie be done God will haue all men to be saued Ergo It is of Necessitie that all men shal be saued I do aunswere vnto the Maior all things that God will haue done must be done of Necessitie so that God yelde hys helpe also together with hys will that they may be brought to passe Then I thus annswere to the Minor That it is true that God would haue all men to be saued with this addition annexed All to witte All that beleéue in the Sonne For without the Mediator he will haue no man saued But now sithence it is not geueÌ„ to all men to haue fayth nor that all men do repayre to Christ for helpe The fault hereof is their own vnbeleéuingnes not the will of God But some of Osorius pupills will vrge agayne Forasmuch as fayth is the gift of God and hys will that all should be saued is an vniuersall promise and that the greatnes of his mercy is prepared ready and set forth to all indifferently why then is not geauen to all indifferently to haue fayth is it because God will not geue it but so should he seeme an vnrighteous distributour and so should he offend in Iustice distributiue Or is it because men will not embrace the kingdome of GOD But this doth argue that men may take holdfast of the gift of fayth if they will And how then is the power of Freewill suppressed I do aunswere first out of the scriptures then out of August And they beleeued as many as were foreordeyned to lyfe euerlasting Actes 13. Augustine Two thinges are to be holden to be resiaunt alwayes in God That there is
no vnrighteousnes with God and likewise it must be firmely beleued that God hath mercy on whom he will haue mercy and on whoÌ„ he will not haue mercy theÌ„ he hardeneth That is to say on whom he listeth he will not take mercy whereupon whether he geaue any thing or require that is dew vnto hym neyther he of whom he requireth it can well complayne of hys vniust dealing nor he to whom he geueth ought to be ouer proud and boast of hys giftes for the one neither rendereth any more then is due and the other hath nothyng but that which he hath receaued If God had commaunded vs to do the thinges that hym selfe saw were impossible for vs to do he might seeme worthely to be accused of vnrighteousnesse This obiection were perhaps to some purpose vnlesse the scriptures had prouided a Triacle for this malady namely Fayth in hys Sonne in whom when we do beleéue endeuoring in the meane whiles as much as lieth in vs we do then fulfill the whole Law of workes That is to say we do attayne full absolute righteousnes as well as if we had fulfilled the whole beyng endued wiâ—h righteousnes now albeit not properly our owne yet enioying hym notwithstanding whiche of God was made our righteousnesse by Fayth Whereupon Luther in hys booke of Christian liberty hath written very excellently That which is impossible for theé to bring to passe in the whole works of the Law sayth he which are in number many thou shalt easily accomplish with small labour Namely by Fayth Because God the Father hath placed all thinges in Fayth so that whosoeuer is indued with this Fayth may possesse all thinges and he that is voyde of this Fayth may possesse nothing at all After this maner the promises of God doe geue that which the commauÌ„dements do exact they do finish that which the law commauÌ„deth so that now he onely alone is he that may coÌ„mauÌ„d and he onely and alone is he that may bryng to passe c. To what end are ordinauÌ„ces to liue well prescribed why are threatninges added to the stifnecked and rebellious if men were not able to liue well why is a freedome of choyse set out vnto vs to enter into whether way we will if we can not be able to holde the right way who is so madde to commaund a blinde man to keepe the right path or who will commaund that man that is so fast bound as beyng vnable to moue hys arme but vnto the left side to reache hym a a thing on the right side whiche is not possible for hym to doe Augustine will aunswere That which man is not able to atteine to by nature vnto the same may he yet attayne by grace he doth meane there of liuyng commendably not of liuyng perfectly which was neuer as yet graunted to any one person in this life no though he were aided by grace but to Iesu Christ alone But ye will demaund agayne to what end then was the law published and naturall choyse set out vnto vs if that choyce be not free to make choyse of these thinges that are set forth to our Election I do aunswere That this complaynt of Nature might beé not altogether impertinent if he that gaue the lawes had created the same Nature such as we haue at this present But now whereas he did at the beginning create Nature vpright and vnspotted God according to the selfe same Nature did publishe hys law vnto men whiche shoulde be holy and vndefiled Neither could he do otherwise whose commaundemeÌ„ts if we be not able now in this corruption of Nature to accomplish with due obedience there is no cause why the fault thereof should be imputed to GOD who can neyther will nor commaund any thing but that which is most righteous but we our selues and our first parentes Authors of this disobedience and the Deuill the couÌ„sellor are to be blamed therfore God caÌ„ not be vnlike himselfe If we become vnlike to our selues whose fault is it ours or his Furthermore touching the obiection of the blind and the maÌ„ that was bound hereunto I do aunswere That the similitude is not in all respectes correspondent for this cause For if God had blynded man at the first or had chayned hym fast with such Roopes of Necessitie and afterwardes had commaunded hym whom he made blynde to keepe the right pathe or him whom he had first bounde fast to reach afterwardes ouer to the right hand this were perhappes not altogether from the purpose that is cauilled but now for as much as the cause of this blyndnes was procured by man him selfe and not sent by God he is not to be blamed that geueth necessary counsell to speake as Augustine doth but he that hath entangled him selfe into such a Necessitie out of the whiche he can by no meanes vntwyne him selfe agayne A righteous and wise Law geuer doth neuer proclayme such Statutes the performaunce whereof will exceede the abilitie and capacitie of his subiectes God is the most righteous and most wise Law geuer Ergo God in publishyng his law did prescribe nothyng beyond the capacitie and abilitie of his owne Creatures I do aunswere vnto the Maior two maner of wayes First That the same is true in deéde in those lawes whiche were established of the Lawgeuer to this onely ende that the subiectes should exactly performe the same But albeit GOD did desire this thyng chiefly that all men should precisely and throughly obserue his Ordinaunces yet besides this consideration there are many other endes and causes 1. That the Iudgement and wrath of God agaynst Sinne should be made manifest 2. That we might be more easily brought to the acknowledgemeÌ„t of our Sinnes and weakenesse 3. Thyrdly that vnderstandyng our weakenes the more we feéle our selues more heauyly oppressed with this burden the more sharpely we should be prouoked as with the Schoolemaisters rodde to fleé vnto Christ who is the end of the law 4. That by this Schoolyng as it were we may learne what way we ought to take that if it be not geuen vs at the least to atteyne the full and absolute obedience of the law yet that begynnyng to be obedient we may profitte as much as we may Secundaryly we do confesse that the Maior is true in respect of those lawes for the due obseruation of the which there is no cause to the coÌ„trary either by the Lawgeuer or in nature it selfe but such as appeareth rather in the Subiectes Whose onely fault and disorderous licentiousnes procureth the breach therof As for example If a Prince do sende foorth an Ambassadour in all respectes whole sounde and well enstructed to whom afterwardes he geueth in commaundement to put some matter in execution which he might very easily bryng to passe vnlesse through his owne default and disorder he made him selfe lame halte or vnable to execute the commaundement of his Prince Now if this Ambassadour