amongest these kinde of mē or to their fathers before them any thinge newe or strange that in case there were any y t wolde complayne of their errors and desire the restitution of true religiō suche by and by as inuentors of new thyngs as factious persons to be condemned for Heretiks For Christ was called for none other cause a Samaritane thē for that he was supposed to haue declined vnto a certayne new religion and vnto Heresy And Paule the Apostle of Christe was called before the Iudge aunswer for himselfe vpon Heresy I saith he do worship the God of my fathers accordinge to this waie whiche they cal Heresy beleuing al things that are written in the lawe and the Prophets To be short this whole religiō which Cristiā mē do professe at this daie in the first beginnings therof was called of Heathen men a sette an Heresye thei w t these voyces alwaies filled the eares of Princes to the entēte that thei being ones broughte vpon an opinion conceiued before hande to hate vs to take whatsoeuer shold be said on our behalfe to be factious and Heresy might be caryed from the matter it selfe and from hearinge of the cause But the greater and y e horribler the faulte is so muche ought it to be proued wyth greater and more euident arguments specially in these daies nowe that men haue begonne to giue lesse credite vnto these mens dreames and more diligently to examine their doctrine then afore thei were accustomed For the people of God is otherwyse instructed now then they were when all thinges that were set forth by the Popes of Rome wer taken for the Gospell al religion depended onely vpon their authoritie The holy scriptures are now abroade the writings of the Apostles and Prophets ar abroad out of the which bothe all truth and catholike doctrine may be proued and all Heresye confuted But wheras of all these authorities these men bring not a worde against vs neuerthelesse to be called Heretikes that haue not declined nother from Christe nor frō the Apostles nor from the Prophets it is very iniuriouse and to to greuous With this sword Christ repulsed the Deuill when he was tempted of him with these weapons all loftynesse that auaunceth it selfe agaīst god must be ouerthrowē vāquished For al scripture saith Paul inspired of God is profitable to teach to confute to instruct to reproue y t the mā of God may be perfecte furnished vnto all good workes Thus alwais y e godly fathers fought against Heretiks w t none other weapons but out of y e holy scriptures Augustine when he disputed againste Petylyan the Donatiste heretike Suffer not saith he to be hearde these words amongst vs I saie or y u saiest rather let vs speake thus This saith the Lorde ther let vs leke the Churche there let vs trie out our cause And Ierome saith All those thinges whyche withoute the testimonie of the Scriptures are affirmed as thoe thei were deliuered from the Apostles are beaten downe with the swordde of God Ambrose also vnto Gratian Let the Scriptures saith he be asked the questiō let the Apostles be asked let the Prophets be asked let Christe be asked for the Catholike fathers Byshops in those daies doubted nothing that oure religion myght be sufficiently proued oute of the Scriptures of God Nor at any tyme durste they accounte any man for an Heretike whose errore they coulde not plainely and euidently reproue out of y e selfe same scriptures We therefore do saye for to answer w t S. Paule that according vnto this waye whiche they call Heresy we do worship God the father of our Lorde Iesu Christ we receiue al things y t are writē other in y e law or in the Prophets or in the bokes of y e Apostles Wherefore if we be Heretikes if these men be as they will be called Catholikes why do thei not that thynge whiche thei se the Fathers trew Catholike men in dede alwaies did Why do thei not conuince vs out of the holy scriptures Why do thei not cal vs to be tried by thē Why doe thei not make it appeare that we haue seuered oure selues from Christe from the Prophets from the Apostles frō the holy Fathers Why stagger they why flee thei it is Gods cause Why doubt thei to commit it to Gods worde But if we be Heretikes whiche referre all oure controuersies vnto the holy Scriptures and make oure appeale vnto the selfe same wordes whiche we knowe are sealed by God him selfe and doe preferre them before all thinges that may be deuised by manne what shall we saye to these men what manner of men or by what name were it conuenient to cal these that ar afraide to stand to the trial of the sacred scriptures that is to saie the iudgment of God himselfe and preferre before them their owne dreames and moste colde inuentions and for their owne traditions sake nowe manye yeares haue broken the ordinances of Christ and of the Apostles Sophocles the Poet when he was accused beinge an olde man to the Iudges of his sonnes for a dotarde and a foole and as one that fondely consumed his goodes and therefore seemed to haue neede of a tutor for to purge himselfe of this slaunder came into the courte after he had reade Oedipus Coloneus a tragedie which euen in the selfe same time that he was accused in he had writen wyth great diligence and very elegantly by and by he asked of the Iudges whether that verse seemed to be the verse of a dotinge man Euen so we bicause that vnto these men wee seeme to be madd and are slaundered of them as Heretiks as who woulde say we hadde now nothinge to do nother with Christe nor w t the Churche of God haue thought it shoulde not be vnconuenient nor vnprofytable if wee did plainely and freely declare vnto the worlde that faith wherin wee stande and all oure hope whiche wee haue in Iesus Christ that al men may see what we do holde touchinge euery parte of Christian religion and maye iudge with themselues whether that faith whiche they shall see confirmed with the wordes of Christ with the writinges of the Apostles with the testimonies of the Catholike fathers with the examples of many ages be only a raginge of madde menne and a conspiracie of Heretikes WEe beleue therfore that ther is one diuine nature power which we do cal GOD the same is distincted into thre equa persōs the Father the Sonne the holy Ghoste al of one power of one maiesty of one eternitie of one diuinitie of one substance And all be yt those three persons bee so distincted that nother the father is the sonne nother the sonne is the holy ghoste or the father yet that there is but one God and the same onely to haue created heauen and earthe and all things that are contained within the compasse
out by the holy and canonical Scriptures and y t which can not abide the trial of thē is not y e Church Yet these men I can not tell howe whether it be of reuerence or of cōscience or for dispayre of the victory doe alwayes abhorre and flee Gods worde euen as a thief dothe the gallous Nother is it any maruell at al. For like as it is sayde of the golde worme that in the ioyce of Balsme an ointment to all other respectes of moste sweete and delicate sauour he is sone dispatched and killed so they in Gods worde doe see theyr cause as it were in poyson to be vtterly dispatched destroyed Wherefore to the intent they might the more easily driue the people from the scriptures as from a moste daungerous and a hurtful thing the whiche neuerthelesse our sauiour Iesus Christ did not only vse in al his cōmon talke but also at the laste sealed them with his bloud thei ar wont to cal thē a colde an vncertaine an vnprofitable a dumme a killing a dead lettre Which vnto vs semeth to be asmuche as thoe they had sayd they be no scriptures at all But they sticke not to adde thereunto a similitude not al together of the beste making that thei be in maner as it were a nose of waxe that maye be fashioned and turned into all manner of shapes and serue euery mans purpose Trowe ye the Pope is ignorant that these thinges ar spoken euen by his owne derelinges Or dothe he not vnderstande that he hath such Champions Let him heare therefore how deuoutly how godly one Hosius writeth of this matter a Poloniane as he him self sayth a Byshop doutles an eloquent man not vnlearned and a very earnest and stoute defender of his cause He wil maruel I suppose that any man fearyng God coulde other thynke so wickedly of those wordes whiche he knoweth to haue proceded from the mouthe of God or write so slaunderously and that specially in suche sorte as that he would not haue it to be taken for his own iudgement alone but as the cōmon iudgement of them all In deede I doe not denie but he dothe dissemble his owne personne doth so propoūde the matter as thoe not he nor mē of his sorte but y e heretikes called Zuenkfeldians did speake after y t māner We sayth he as touchyng y e very scriptures wherof we see brought in now a daies so many interpretatiōs not only diuerse amōgst them self but also cōtrary one to an other wil bidde Away with thē And wil rather heare God speake then turne our selfs towardes these beggerly elementes in them repose y e hope of our saluatiō It is not requisit to be cūning in the lawe in y e scriptures but to be taught of God It is but vaine labour y t which is bestowed vpō y e scripture for y e scripture is a creature and a certain beggerly elemēt These be y e wordes of Nosius writē no doubt w t the same spirite minde wherw t Montanus in time paste Marcion did speake of whome it is sayd y t they were wōte to say at what time they would contemptuously reiect the holy scriptures that they knewe many bothe moe better thinges then euer other Christ or his Apostles did knowe What shall I saye therefore in this pointe O ye pillers of Religion o ye prelates of the Church of Christ is this the reuerence that you giue vnto Gods worde Dare you so deale with the holy Scriptures the whiche S. Paule sayth ar deliuered vnto vs by inspiraciō from God the whiche God hath adorned and set forth with so many miracles in the which the most euident footesteppes of Christes passage ar certainely imprynted whiche all the holy fathers whiche the Apostles whiche the Angels whiche Christe him selfe the sonne of God when neede required did call to witnes Dare you I say abide away with thē as though they were vnworthy to be hearde of you Is not this to commaunde God him self whoe most euidently speketh vnto you in the scriptures to kepe silence or will you call that worde by the whiche onely as S. Paule saythe we ar reconciled vnto God and whiche Dauid saith is holy and pure and shall endure for euer by the name onely of a beggerly and a dead element or will you saye that to bestowe our labour about that thing whiche Christe commaunded vs diligently to serche and alwayes to haue before our eyes is a vayne labor and to none effect And that Christ and the Apostles what time they did exhorte the people to the redyng of the holy scriptures that out of them thei might become plentifull in all wisdome and knowlege did goe about to abuse menne with lies It is no meruaile thoe these men despise vs and all that we doe or say whiche make so litle accounte of God him self and of his moste holy worde Yet was it but a folish deuise of them in seking to hurte vs to commit so haynous an iniurie agaynst the worde of God But Hosius will crie out we doe him iniurie and that these be not his but Zuinkfeldius wordes But what if Zuenkfeldius also crie that they be not his but Hosius wordes For wher did Zuinkfelde euer write thē or if he did write them and Nosius iudged them to be wicked why did he not at y e least speake one worde to cōfute them how so euer the matter goe Althoe peraduēture Hosius wil not allow the wordes yet he dothe not disallow the meanyng For in all controuersies almost and namely touchyng the vse of the holy cōmunion vnder bothe kindes although Christes wordes be most plaine yet he cōtemptuously reiecteth them as colde and dead elementes and woulde haue vs beleue certain newe deuises prescribed by the Church and certain reuelations I know not what of the holy ghost And Albert Pighius saieth we ought not to beleue the wordes of the scripture althoe thei were moste manifest vnlesse the same be allowed by the interpretation and authoritie of the Churche Neuerthelesse as though this were but a smal matter they sticke not also to burne vp y e sacred scriptures as in time paste wicked kyng Aza did or as Antiochus or Maximinus did and these they ar wonte to cal heretikes bookes wherein they seeme to intende the same practise whiche Herode in time paste for the mayntenāce of his estate went about in Iury. For he wheras he was an Edomite a very straunger to the stocke and kinred of the Iewes and neuerthelesse couetid to be taken for a Iewe to the intent he might the rather establish for him and his posteritie his kingdome ouer thē the which he had before obtained at the handes of Augustus themperour commaunded all their enrolments of petigrees whiche euen from the time of Abrahā vnto that daye had bene diligentlie kepte amongest their recordes and by the which it might with out al error easily be
slaunderousely agaynste vs yet thys one thynge they can not saye that wee haue aparted our selues either from the word of God or from the Apostels of Christ or from the primityue Churche But we haue alwayes estemed the firste age of the Church to be catholyke y e which was in tune of Christ and of the Apostles and of the holy fathers Nor wee doubt not to call y t Church the arke of Noe the spouse of Christ the piller and perfect stay of the truth or vpō the same to repose the whole course of our saluation It is doutles an odyous thing for any man to forsake y t felowship whereunto he hath accustomed himselfe but specially of those men which although they be not yet at the least seeme to be are called Christiās And to say truth concerning their Church euen for the names sake bicause y t in time paste of what sorte so euer it be now the Gospell of Iesus Christ was truly purely set forth in it we doe not so greatly contemne it nor would not haue forsaken it but only of very necessitie and y t very much against our willes But what if an Idole be raised vp in the Church of God that same desolation whereof Christ did prophecy shoulde stande openly in the holy place What if a strong theefe or a pyrate get the possessiō of y e Arke of Noe Doubtles these mē as often as they preach vnto vs y e Church they make themselfes onely to be the Church and all those tytles they chalenge to themselfes and so they triumphe euen as they did in tymes paste that cryed The temple of the Lord The temple of the Lord or as the Pharasies and Scribes did when they boasted themselfes to be the sonnes of Abraham Thus they deceiue the simple w t a vaine apparance of gay thinges and seke vtterly to oppresse vs with y e very name of the Church euen lyke as if a theefe when that he had entered vpō an other mans house and had other violētly thrust out or murdered y e owner therof should afterwardes chalenge it for his owne and keepe out of possession the right heire or if Antichrist after y e he had goten himselfe into possession of the temple of God should say afterwardes that it were his owne that it appertained nothing vnto Christ. For these mē wheras in the Church of God they haue left nothing lyke to gods Churche yet they will seeme to be maintainers and defenders of the Church euen altogether as Gracchus in tymes paste defended the treasure of Rome what time as with launching out of large gifts and vndiscreat expenses he vtterlye consumed cast it away There was neuer nothing so wicked or so farre against reason that vnder the name of y e Church might not easily be couered and defēded For euen the waspes also doe make honycombes and the wicked haue theyr assembles and fellowshyppes together lyke vnto the Church of God But not whosoeuer are called the people of God are by and by the people of God Nor all that are descēded from their father Israell ar all Israelytes The Arryans y t were Heretiks boasted themselues that they only were Catholykes for the reste they called them al sometyme Ambrosyans sometime Athanasians sometyme Iohannites Nestoriās as Theodoret saith although he wer an Heritike yet he couered himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 y t is to say with a certain apparance cloke of the right faith Ebion although he agreed in opiniō with the Samaritanes yet as Epiphanius saith he would be called a Christian. And the Mahometans although it be euident out of all hystories and can not deny themselfes but that they came of Agar the bondwoman yet they had rather as though they were descended out of the stocke of Sara a free woman and the wife of Abraham be called Sarracens for the reputation of the name and of the stocke Thus the false Prophetes of all ages which did withstand the Prophets of God as Esay as Hieremy as Christ as y e Apostles had nothing more rife in their mouthes then the name of the Church Nether for any other cause did they so bitterly turmoile them or call them runnawaies and forsakers of their profession thē bicause they had gone from their fellowship and obserued not the ordiānces of the elders And in case we wil folow the iudgement of those men onely by whom the Church was gouerned at that time haue no respect other to God or to his woorde or to any other thinge doubtles it cā not be denied but that the Apostles in as much as they declined away from the high Byshops priestes that is to say from the catholyke Church and contrary to their willes cried they neuer so much brought in an innouation a change of many thinges in religion were rightly condemned and according to law Wherfore like as thei writ of Hercules y t in wrastling with Anteus the Gyaunt he was faine to hoist him vp from the earthe his mother before he could ouercome him so our aduersaries must be lifted vp frō this mother of theirs that is to say from this counterfait shape and shadow of the Church which they mass themselues w tall for otherwise they can not giue place to y e word of God Wherfore Ieremye saith Boast not your selues so much that the temple of God is amongst you that is but a vaine confidence for these be saith he y e words of lies And y e Angel in the reuelatiō Thei say saith he thei be Iewes but thei be the Synagoge of Satan And Christ what time the Pharasies bosted themselues of the stock and kinred of Abraham You sayth he are of your father the Deuill for you doe nothing resemble your father Abraham As thoughe he shoulde saye thus You are not the men which you desire so much to be taken for you deceiue the people w t counterfait tytles and abuse the name of y e Church to the ouerthrowing of the Church Wherfore this they ought first euidently and truely to haue proued that the Church of Rome is y e true and the right beleuing Church of God and that the same according as it is gouerned by them at this day doth agree with the primitiue Church of Christ of the Apostles and of the holy fathers which no mā doubted to bee the Catholike Church True it is in deede in case we could haue beleued that ignorāce error superstition worshipping of Idols mans inuentions such as many times are contrary to the holy Scriptures either pleased God or were sufficiēt to the obtaining of euerlasting saluation or if we coulde haue perswaded our selues that the worde of God was writē only for a fewe yeares and then to be put out of all authoritie or that at any time the saiynges and ordinances of God shoulde stande at the discretion of the will of mā that whatsoeuer God sayde or commaunded
and menne retorne not home to the fountaynes of the holy Scriptures and the commaundementes of the heauenly doctor ar not kept For that sayth he is not peace but warre nother is he that is disseuered from the gospell ioyned to the Churche but these menne doe only set to sale the name of peace to their owne gayne for that peace which thei so muche require is nothyng but the ease and satisfaction of idle beallies For all these matters might be ended well ynough amongest vs if ambition bellychere and licencious liuyng were no hinderance therto FroÌ„ hence cometh all the sorowe their minde is vpon their platters This is hit they crie and make all this buysines for that thinges euill gotten they might more filthily and lewdly maintaine Al Pardoners Dataries Collectors Bawdes and others that thynke gayne to be godlines and serue not Iesus Christ but theyr own bellies doe greuously complayne of vs at this day For in time paste this kinde of men had good dayes in the olde worlde But nowe what so euer increase cometh vnto Christe that thinke they turneth them to losse This is hit whereon the Pope himself complaineth at this daye that charitie forsoth is waxen could bycause his rentes ar lesse nowe then they were wonte to be Thus he bringeth vs into hatered al that he maye and rayleth vpon vs and condemneth vs for heretikes to the intent that they whiche vnderstande not the matter should thinke there were no worse men vpoÌ„ earth Yet we for all this nother ar nor ought to be ashamed of the gospell For we regarde more the glory of God then the estimation of menne We knowe that all these thinges which we doe teache ar trewe neyther can we either vse violence agaynst the knowlege of our owne conscience nother yet present our selfs as witnesses agaynst God For if we denie any parte of the gospel of Iesus Christe before menne he on the other side will denie vs agayne before his father Now if there be any that will be offended and maye not endure the doctrine of Christe they be blinde themself and leaders of suche as ar blinde Neuerthelesse the truthe must be preached and set forthe by our open profession of the same and patiently we muste loke for the Iudgement of God to come In the meane while let these menne take heede what they doe let theÌ„ haue some regarde of their owne saluation and let them ceasse to hate and to persequute the gospell of the sonne of God leaste at the length they finde him to be the punisher and reuenger of his owne cause God will not suffer himselfe to be mocked Men doe see all ready how the matter goeth This flame the more it is kepte vnder so muche the more and more it breaketh out and flyeth abrode Their vnfaythfulnesse shall not deface the fayth of God but if they dispose not themselfe to laye awaye this hardnesse of their hartes and to receyue the gospell the Publicanes and sinners shall goe before them into the kingdome of God God and the father of our Lord Iesus Christ open all their eyes that they maye see that same blessed hope whereunto they ar called that we maye all together in one worshippe that same onely and true God and that same Iesus Christ whome he sente downe to vs from Heauen To whome together with the Father and the holy Ghost be giuen all honor and glory for euer and euer Amen FINIS IMPRINTED AT LONDON by Reginalde Wolfe Anno 1562. Tertull. in Apologeticâ— Trew religion was alwaies slauÌ„dered amonge men Cor. Tacitus Tertul. in Apologetico cap. 7. C. Plinius Act. 26. Epiphanius Marcion ex Tertull. Aelius è Lactantio Euse. li. 5 ca. 2 Tertul. 3. Apologetico 1.2.3 7.8.9 Sueton. Tranquil in Nero. 1. Timoth. 4. Slaunders deuysed by Papistes A generall aunswere Slaunders that tende towardes blasphemye muste be coÌ„futed Ioan. 8. Act. 26. Quadratuâ— Iustinus Molitol Tertuli and others Pius the .iiii. Why thys Apology was writen â–ª Aunswer to the obiectioÌ„ of Heresye Act. 24. Tertul. in Apologetico 2. Timoth. 3. 2. Cor. 10. 2. Timoth. 1. De imitate Eccle. cap. 3. The same sentence is fouÌ„de against Maximum Byshop of the ArriaÌ„s lib. iii. ca. xiiii vpon the first Chapter of Agge Act. 24. The doctrine coÌ„monly receaued in the Churche of Englande Of God Of Christe Aug. tract 5â— in Ioannem Act. 3. Aug. tract 3. in Ioannem Ad DardanuÌ„ chen li 3. Fulgentius ad Regem Trasimundum Of the holy Ghooste Of the Churhe Christ hath no vniuersall depute De simplicitate Praelatorum Ad EuagriuÌ„ De simplicitate PraelatoruÌ„ 1. Tim. 3. Gregor in Regist. Li. 7. Epist. 69. cap. 47. Gregor lib. 4 Epist. 76.78 80. lib. 7. Epist. 95. The callinge of Ministers The authoritie of Ministers The keys of the kingdom of heauen 2 Timoth. 3. De poenitent dist 1. ca. uerbum Dei Luc. 11. Mat. 23. Mat. 16. Matrimony of Ministers â–ª In Titum primo hom 11. Theophyl ad Titum 10. Eu. li. 10. ca 5. In monodia sua super Basilium 1. Timoth. 4. Platina in uita Pij 2. Of the canonicall scriptures The Sacraments of the Churche The number of SacrameÌ„ts Baptisme The Lordes Supper Chrisostom ad Ephes. ser. 3. cap. 1. De Cons. dist 1. cap. omnes Dist. ca. secularis De consecra dist 2. ca. peracta Bothe kyndes appertaine to the people De Consecra Dist. 2. ca. com perimus The presence of Christe in the Supper Transubstantiation vnknowen to the Fathers In Ioan. cap. 6 De sacra li. 4. cap. 4. In Dialogis primo .2 In sermone ad infantes De Consecrat Dist. 2. ca. qui manducant In Mat. 15. Luc. 22. De Consecra .1 ca. Quando De coeno Domini In Io. tra 50. Abuses of the Lords supper Libro de Ceremoniis ecclesiae Romane How the merits of Christ ar applied vnto vs. Ad Rom. ca. 3. lib. 3. Purgatorye Aug. in psa 85 In Enchiridion cap. 67. De ciuit Dei li. 21. ca. 26. CoÌ„tra Pelagianos lib. hypognosticon 5. Of Ceremonies Ad Ianuarium epist. 119. Prayer in our owne tonge August in Psa. 18. Of intercession and worshipinge of Saintes Hier. 2. c. 11. Bernardus Of original sinne Of redemptioÌ„ by Christe The sacrifice of Christe is perfect Of good workes Of the resurrection Dist. 36. Lector In glosa Dist. 8â— Presbyter A DetestatioÌ„ of Heresye Heresies that rise with the Gospel ar not bredd by the Gospell The cause of heresies Dissension amongst those that professe the Gospell ys no certen note of heresie Sectes and Dissensions of the Papists De merito câ—â— grui coâ—â— dig ni Stephan Gaâ—â—diner in the Diuels sophi Richard Faber Recantatio Berengari Scholae Glosa GuimaÌ„dus do con dist 2. Ego Beren â–ª Thomas Gardinerus De consecra dist 2. Species in Glosa The agremeÌ„t of Papistes Euery conseÌ„t is not a true token of the Churche of God Impietie in times paste obiected againste Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉