of that opinion that to despise the Sacramentes is a moste heinouse trespasse when you vnderstoode that there was a man in the worlde so lewde and wicked that he woulde goe aboute to take awaie and abolish this most worthie pleadge of the loue of God this most sure staie of all Christian Religion conteming in it all the graces and benefittes of God could you I saie speake familiarly vnto him could you salute him gentelly could you shewe him anie token of loue Haue you neuer reade in S. Iohn that he that saieth good morrowe to wicked menne is become partaker of their wickednesse But you haue not onely spoken familiarly to this Martyr but also commended him aboue the skies and you haue saied that that same golden couple of olde men were brought into your Iland by the prouidence of God to shine ouer you which had alreadie the goodly brightnesse of the newe sonne risen emongest you with a muche cleeter light Are you so sottish M Haddon that you vnderstande not howe muche you haue disteined your estimation by that countenaunce and shewe of gentlenesse towardes him For what can be more infamous then to be familiare with a fraÌ„tike and naughtie felowe But if you like his Doctrine also then is it plaine that you keepe not the Sacramentes at al for so much as you haue vppon an vnsetled pange without al order wisedome or discretion taken awaie the greatest Sacrament and that that is of al other most wonderfull Whie then say you that you wonder if there be any kind of professours in diuinitie in the worlde that despiseth and setteth at naught the Sacramentes But let vs now consider the description of your Church the which you set before our eyes to behold that we may vnderstand by it that you haue had none other maister in Religion but only the holy Ghost You say thus First of all bicause faith is by hearing we sende downe into all partes of our realme teachers of the holie Scriptures to instructe the people in all pointes of godlines and to infourme them in the true woorshipping of God Out of what fountaine sprang these Doctours If they came out of the schoole of Luther Bucer or Caluin they can teach the people no godlines being them selues open enemies to all godlinesse It were therefore muche more tolerable to haue no doctours at all then to be infected with the most corrupt Doctrine of wicked menne If they sprang out of any other heade then is it manifest that there is not emongest you any one and simple Doctrine but diuerse opinions fondly iarring within them selues It followeth Then haue we a common order of praier out of the holie Scriptures confirmed by the authoritie of a Parlament for so doe they terme the consent of the estates of our Realme from the which we suffer no man to depart By what order lawe or authoritie is this done that a Councel or as you cal it a Parlament should so impudently vsurpe the office of the Catholike Churche to make orders for praiers prescribe how religion ought to be vsed and not suffer any man to depart from the order which it hath decreed For in holie thinges it is not lawfull for these menne to geaue lawes but to take lawes For otherwise they shall disturbe the common weale if they wil not content them selues with their owne vocation but will thrust them selues into other mens doinges and they shal marre Religion if they will in matters apperteyninge to them onely that susteine the personne of the Churche take vppon them to meddle and transpose the dignitie of Priestes to them selues You say afterwarde Prouiding both in the one and in the other so muche as we coulde that the commaundement of the holie ghost be obeied the whiche willeth that such as speake in the Churche should vse the word of God and that there should be one common and agreable Doctrine emongest them all You doe verie wel vndowbtedly But wherehence riseth this so great debate and hourlie bourly for Religion in your Churches Wherefore are the confessions and Credes so often chopped and chaunged in places where Luther hath had a great name And we prouide saie you that the Sacramentes be ministred verie neere vnto the prescribed order of the holy scriptures and according to the example of the old Church in the whiche our Lorde Iesus Christ first ordeined them himselfe with his Apostles O valiant men worthie to be commended aboue the heauens O glorious attempte O liuelie courage of lustie blouddes the which thought yt not ynoughe to approche neere vnto the holines of the olde Church but they would presse euen at the verie hard heales of them It followeth All these thinges are set out in our owne mother tongue bicause it is a great madnes for a man to babble out before God he can not tell what and it is directely againste the most wholesome doctrine of S. Paule and all the auncient examples of the Apostolike Churches It is not you only that teache such as vnderstand not the Latine to praie in their owne tongue For we also doe not suffer such as are ignorant in the Latine speach to serue God but only in their own mother tongue and there are manie bookes of praiers and holy scriptures writen not by Parlament as you call it but by holie Priestes the whiche being firste examined by the prelates of the church are sent abroad euerie where and by them are children women and simple folkestrained in the knowledge of their dewtie towardes God And the thinges that are thus written they are not taken out of euerie mans fantasie but out of the holie Scriptures and out of the writinges and examples of holie men So that there lacketh not omongest vs anie discipline of manners nor example of vertue nor good bringing vp in true religion to al such as coulde not imploie them selues to the studie of learning We haue also manie sermoÌ„s by the whiche men are stirred vp to the loue of godlines and religion But in preaching we vse much discretion and warines that none of those questions be opened emongest women and ignorant folkes which are not verie necessarie vnto saluation and yet maie quickely intangle their mindes with verie troublesome dowbtes and scruples For as S. Gregorie of Nazianzene saieth verie wisely it is not conuenient to reason and dispute of God neither to al men neither in the presence of all men neither at all times neither of all matters neither without good discretioÌ„ For there is required to the doing of this thinge a meruâ—lous cleanes of sowl and body a veri calme and wel setled mind good time coÌ„uenient oportunitie earnest zeale much fearfulnes and exceding great moderarion For ther is no man so simple that he can not vnderstand the difficultie of euery question but there are few so witty that they caÌ„rid theÌ„ selues out of the briers when they are once fallen in And this is the cause whie
For if they be verie gentle as you saie they are then although I shall reuile them they will neuer be moued â–ª withall but wil meruelously well keepe their pacience and constancie But if they wil fearcely sette vppon me with villanous and reprochfull language then are they not so gentle as you make them to be I knowe verie wel that vnder the couert of a sheepes skynne as Christe saieth lieth hidden the râ—ugh and crewell nature of wolues It is also by experience well tried that there is nothing in the worlde more shamelesse then these fellowes are For when anie reason is brought against them thei endeuour theÌ„ selues to answerâ— it not by reason but by multiplying of woordes And therefore when they are prâ—ssed with argumentes then beginne they to chafe and sweat to feare and fainte to raile and raue and in the ende fall to plaine scolding vntil thei haue founde for their impudent assertion some shameles shifte But beleeue me I feare no mans slaunderous tongue For I haue committed myne honestie and estimation to the keeping of Iesus Christ and therefore no man shal euer be able to thrust me out of my place by the violence of his tongue And as for your reprochful woordes they moue me no more then the rauing of one that were frantike or out of his witte Were it not that the loue of godlines had moued me had I euer written so much as one letter against you No not one I tooke vpon me this charge of writing not minding thereby to mainteine myâ—â— owne good fame or â—stimation but to â—onfute your wicked and vngodlie talke Wherefore be bolde and spare not to taunt me at your pleasure to perce my good name with fowl words to tourmoile it with villanie to rente and teare it with al dishonestie and I geue good leaue and licence not onely to you but also to all your Bucers and Martyrs most gentle and softe creatures as you cal them to bende them selues as fiercely against me as thei can deuise Wherefore there is no cause why you shuld goe about to make me affraied of them for so muche as vnto their tauntes for the which I care not I wil neuer answere and their reasons are very peuish and alreadi coÌ„futed by the bookes of many learned men and I my self am at this point that I fear nothing in the worlde but only Christe As touching their persons if there be any sense of humanitie in you you see how il you haue defended theÌ„ You say aferwarde that it is nothing true that you shuld stand to the holy Scriptures only for so muche as you do receiue many sentences of the holy Fathers withal What a doubling and incoÌ„stancie is this Now you reiect many thinges for this reason only bicause they are as you say the deuises of men â–ª and by and by you receiue what you list and say that you haue not reiected al the traditions of menne You are so doubteful so diuers and so slipperie that you can not wel tel your selues what you thinke and what you mind to stand to And yet when you spake those wordes you commended them that acknowledge nothing elles but the holy Scriptures and refuse al holy traditions and ordinaunces These are your wordes Truely if it were so then folowed they the example of our Lorde Iesus Christe then folowed they the custome of the Apostles and of the auncient Fathers in the primitiue Church How many things you laie out at a venture It is like forsooth that Christ the mind and wisedome of God the Father by whose power and dispeÌ„sation the law it selfe was made by whom the Prophetes declared thinges to come of whom al holie men of old time receiued their light was content to abyde that lawe him selfe that he would not be so hardie as to speake one woorde which he founde not registred in the holy Scriptures I besech you Sir wher read he in the Scriptures that a man for being angry only although he vttered not one reprochful word shuld incur the daÌ„ger of Gods iudgemeÌ„t wher found he it written that a man for casting his eye alitle aside waÌ„tonly shuld be accounted as an adulterer By what wordes in the Law was a man forbidden to geue a bil of diuorse to his wife In what place was it euer writen that a man minding the perfect obseruatioÌ„ of the Lawe should sell all his goodes and bestowe the money made thereof to the vse of the poore reseruing to him selfe nothing Haue you euer read either in the law or in the Psalmes or in the Prophets that the way to saluatioÌ„ is a narrowe waie or that you ought when a man hath striken one cheeke to holde him vppe the other or that you ought to pray vnto God for their life that speake il of you and woorke your destruction But nowe to come to other pointes of the birth and proceding of God of the regeneration of men in heauenlie life the whiche Nicodemus a man exactlie seene in the doctrine of the lawe vnderstood not of the time in the whiche God would be woorshipped neither at Hierusalem nor in the mountaine of Samaria of the bread of heauen whiche is the foode and sustenaunce of our life of al these thinges what woorde haue you expressely written in any place of the olde Testamente But when Christ spake these wordes there was no Gospell yet written neyther did any writen monumente confirme the sayinges of Christ but looke what he ordeined by woordes was afterward put in writing to the ende that men should not forgette it I doe here let passe many thinges minding not to prosecute al that might be saied for so muche as I haue alreadie spoken sufficientlie to the intent you might vnderstand howe vnaduisedly you haue saied that our Lorde Iesus Christ did also obserue such a rule in his doinges What shall I saie of the Apostles Where had S. Paule read that such as kepte the circumcision of the Lawe were to be separated from the communion of Christe In whiche of all the holie Writers found he that it is vnseemely for a woman to worshippe God bare headed or for a man to couer his head when he praieth to God What shoulde I rehearse vnto you howe he commendeth suche men as were mindful of his Doctrine deliuered vnto them either by writing or by worde What should I speake of that that the Apostles say in their Councel It hath seemed good to the holy Ghost and vs They saie not It is writen in the holie Scripture but It hath seemed good to the holie Ghost and vs. Nowe as touching the holie Fathers which peraduenture you neuer read how durst you affirme of them that they neuer brought in any thing for the gouernement of the Churche but what thei had found writen in the holie Scriptures How many things reherseth S. Basile and disputeth that thei were deliuered from the Apostles vnto the Churche onely by woorde
you and your companions I pray you what can be spoken more plainely and cleerelie then those woordes Thou arte Peter saith Christ and vpon this rocke I wil build my Churche And what so euer thou shalt bind vpoÌ„ the earth it shalbe bouÌ„d in heauen And againe I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not and thou being turned confirme thy brethren And many other places of like effect which do manifestly proue that Peter had a Prerogatiue aboue the rest of the Apostles But you wil saie for al this that these testimonies of the holy scriptures which we haue alleged are expouÌ„ded farre otherwise of the new Apostles I wil set against the authoritie of your Apostles the authoritie of S. Ambrose Augustine Hierome Basile and all other holie men that haue with their writings geuen light to the Church of Christ But now your Doctours wil answere that although it be true that the supreme authoritie was graunted to Peter yet foloweth it not that it was geuen to his successours also Why then I aske you an other question Did Christe set vp a Church to continue but for one mans life Or els minded he to establish it for euer If he appointed that his Church should stande so little time he didde not so great a thing as was to be looked for of his infinite bountie and wisedome for so muche as he bestowed so much labour and diligence yea and shedde so muche bloud about a coÌ„mon weale whose coÌ„tinuance was limited within the bounds of so short time If he minded that his church should coÌ„tinue for euer then doubtlesse he set it in such order as should in al chaunges and alterations of times be mainteined and kept If it be then euident as it is most euident and plaine that Peter had a Superioritie ouer the rest of the Apostles it must needes folowe that the same preeminence or principalitie of right apperteineth to al suche as haue succeded in Peters roome and charge Or els in the Church of Christ which is one it might seeme there was ordeined not the order of the heaueÌ„ly Monarchie but the gouernement of manie And then what knot or band of concord were there in the Churche By whose authoritie shoulde the tempestes risen in it be asswaged By whome should seditious opinions and sects be rooted out By whom should pride and stubbornes be restreined and kept vnder if there had ben no man appointed in the Church from the beginning by whose authoritie all men should be kept in order No we for so much as the church of Christ is simple and one and one it can not be vnlesse there be in it one only Prince furthermore being euidente and plaine that Christ ordeined one onely ruler in his Church whom al men should acknowledge and obeie finally being out of al doubt that this preeminence apperteineth to the Successours of Peter and that none of al the auÌ„cient Fathers endewed with the spirit and grace of God euer doubted but that the bishops of Rome were the successours of Peter as bothe their writinges and the common agreement of the vniuersall Church declareth with what sprite were your newe Apostles moued to bring in this new Gospellish doctrine to distourbe the order appointed by Christe to breake the bande of vnitie and concord to shake the very Rocke and staie of the Churche But lest some man shuld thinke that these thinges were wrought of them without any cause in the world I wil briefly declare what their deuise or rather what the fetch of SataÌ„ was in this enterprise It was vnpossible that euer the pestileÌ„t sects should gather any streÌ„gth except the authoritie of the Bishop of Rome had ben first weakned For how could the mischieuous weede haue growen any long time whereas it was a very easy matter with the authoritie of the Bishop of Rome â–ª forthwith to cut it doune so soone as it appeared aboue the grouÌ„d Take vs saith the spouse of Christ the litle foxes that destroy the Vineyardes This request of the spouse who shalbe able to fulfil if noman haue authoritie to suppresse the malice and lewdnes of heretikes before it waxe great For it is manifest that by the foxes are vnderstode heretikes And therfore S. Paul in his second epistle to the ThessaloniaÌ„s saith that Antichrist shal not come before he great reuoltiÌ„g or departure froÌ„ the catholike Church of Christ It is therefor necessari for these yong Antichrists which as S. Iohnsaieth do in figure and significatioÌ„ represent the great Antichriste to come before they can bring their purpoâ—ed mischief to passe not only to depart them selues froÌ„ the Church and from the supreme ruler of it but also to solicite and procure to the like departure all such as they mind to carie away and make their disciples and this is the cause that al heretikes whose chiefe endeuour and principal intent is to ouerthrowe the catholike Church do first of al assaile this fortresse do here plant their ordinaunce doo here make their battery do here vndermine to ouerrhrow the forte For they see that if this fortresse were once ouerthrowen and wonne they may frely sow the seades of al naughtines and to the ruine and decaie of manie flee vppe and downe through the worlde whether so euer thei list without any coÌ„trol or checke And to passe ouer the olde Heretikes this was the cause whie Husâ—e endeuoured to ouerthrow the authority of the Bishop of Rome This was also the meaning of Hierome of Prage when he went about to weaken the authority of the said bishop This was the way by the which FrierLuther thought vtterly to destroy the Catholike church This was the traine by the whiche in EnglaÌ„d a gap was vnaduisedly opened to al suche errours as sence that time haue followed Nowe the railes and barres being after this manner broken downe and the gates laid wide open it was a very casie matter for al vile and desperate felowes to rush in to mangle and teare in peeoes the vnitie of the Churche to bring in so many wicked errours suche horrible sectes suche a rable of pestilent opinions one directly against an other â–ª The Zwinglians fight against the LutheraÌ„s The Anabaptists kepe continual warre with the Zwinglians What should I here reherse the heretikes called heauenly Prophetes the Interimnists and such other names of sectaries What should I saie of the hatred malice brawling and discorde within them selues What shoulde I speake of their variety and incoÌ„stancy in opinioÌ„s Yea and such as are of one sect are not al nor alwaies of one opinion Many points of their Doctrine they correct they alter and chaunge theâ— turne in and out they blot out the old they make newe nowe they pull downe and now they set vp they can not wel agree neither with other men nor yet with them selues What saye you to this Sir Are not these thinges true Can you saie that al such as are sproÌ„g of Martine
These thinges being thus determined I wil aske you a question what came into your braines to be so desirous to take al the volumes of the holy Scripture and without anie necessity ye with no smal daÌ„ger of the vnlerned people to coÌ„mit them to euerie iackestraw to expounde did you it to restreyne the pride of such as are base No you haue rather puffed vp their hartes incredibly causing them to coÌ„ceiue a false opinion of wisedome in them selues Was it done to cause a more feruent charitie emongest them No you haue rather forced the weake mindes to fall out within them selues through your diuers yea and contrary expositions of the law of God Was it done to set all thinges in good order No you haue rather ouerthrowen all good and auncieÌ„t order For now euery man is a prophete euerie man is a shepeheard euery maÌ„ is a doctour euerie man will prate in euerie place very vnsemely of matters of diuinitie euery maÌ„ wil babble what him listeth of the highest Mysteries the lowest pointe whereof is farre aboue his capacitie This is by like your prouidence wherby you haue taken quite awaie that silence which was vsed of olde time in the churches that bashfulnes whiche became honest matroues meruelously wel that modesty which kept the simple people verie wel in their dewtie And so it is come to passe that wheras you pretend to folow the wordes of S. Paul you bend your selues ernestly against his meaning What lacked there I praie you in the olde time that was necessarie to keepe honest heartes in a sobre discicipline Were there not lerned Priests the which were able to choose out of the holie mysteries so muche as was needful to saluation and so muche as they might declare vnto the ignorant people without daâ—nger Were there none to supplie the place of the vnlerned man and to answere Amen Was the sownd and wordes of the Latine tongue so straunge that no man vnderstoode it in all your Churches Needed there the authoritie of the Apostle to breake vp that disordered confusion of many tongues together when there was heard in the commoÌ„ praiers of the churches but one kind of speach only and that by long custome verie well knowen and commonly vsed If the vse of one common tongue ioyneth the mindes of men in one then was there nothing more agreable to the rule of Christ then that the seruice of God should be openly saied in one only tongue the which was in all churches of the west part of the world learned in scholes and practised in the dailie affaires and nothing lesse conuenient then that the seruice is now saied in so manie tongues as there are nations emongest whome men without learning without witte without religion take vpon them the office of expounding the holie Scriptures Wherfore neither was our simplicity so vnprofitable as you wise men thought it was neither is your prouident warines so wholesome as your maisters imagined it would haue ben For out of it are risen errours and disorders and a false opiuioÌ„ of wisedome whiche is the greatest madnes in the worlde with manie other discommodities Then you goe forewarde in the declaration of the doctrine of your Church saying We vse at the laying on of handes the celebration of mariage the churching of women after child bearing the visiting of the sicke and the burying of the dead solemne and publike seruice set out according to the truth of the ghospell Al the rest you comprehend verie briefely in one sentence perswading your selfe that it is sufficiently declared that you are not destitute neither of Sacramentes neither of anie other thinges apperteyning to religion You confesse plainely after that that you haue shaken of from you the yoke of the high Bishop or Pope bicause it was heauier then that either you or your fathers could beare it Your fathers and auncetours I know did beare it verie well and with great commeÌ„dation but youâ— graunt were not able to beare it For how had it ben lawful for you to breake violently into the monasteries to disanull the rules of monkes to deflower the holy and chast Virgins to deface like vngodlie and furious men al orders of religion to laie your greedy and violent handes vpon the Churche goods appointed to holie vses to pul â—owne all monumentes of vertue and godlines to ouerthrow the auncient Churche and to botch vp an other at your plesure if this yoke had not ben first taken of from your neckes You bring in a litle after Neither doe we acknowledge anie Bisshop but onlie our Lord Iesus Christe to whom the holy scriptures appoint this peculiar honour O worthie saying full of wonderful godlines and conteyning in it a most euideÌ„t proufe of heauenlie life What shal we doe to these meÌ„ which are so holie so vtterly void of al care of this present life that for the desire and loue of the presence of Christ him selfe they can not abide to see any Vicare of Christ vpoÌ„ the earth But lette vs see a litle This name of Christ doth it import the dignitie and office of a bishop only or elles doth it comprehende also the authoritie and maiestie of a King Surely it can not be denied that by the worde and meaning of Christ in this name of Christ is conteined the power both of a bishop and of a King Whie then doe you acknowledge any other king beside our Lord Iesus Christ Whie are you not so free and earnest to shake of this yoke that remaineth Whie suffer you this freedome of your gospell to be hindered through the power and authoritie of a King Whie doe you not as it hath ben already attempted in other places whiche are infected with the selfe same religioÌ„ bend your selues earnestly to make away the maiestie of a King for as you acknwolege one only high bishop so is it necessarie to obei one only King If you thinke it mete to haue an other king in th' earth as Vicare of that high and almightie king what is the câ—use whie you wold not haue an other bishop as Vicare of that most high and holy bishoppe But you wil say We haue bishops but we wil haue no high bishop Whie then it is not the name of a bishop but of a high bishoppe that offendeth you Wherefore thinke you then that the authoritie of a Kinges power whiche dowbtles is the highest is to be borne in England Are there not magistrates emongest you Is there not a publike counsel Haue you not Princes and Lordes Then take awaie the controuersie of the name and ther are in England a great many as there are also emoÌ„gest vs the which haue the authority of kinges although thei be not called by the name of Kinges Ymaginâ— therfore that they were certaine litle kinges What needed it then being so many kinges emongest you that there shuld be any one high or supreme king to restraine by his authority the other inferiour kings For if you
And in this place you are so chaused that you laie Sacrilege vnto Princes charges bicause thei wil rule the lawes of the Church â–ª and vnreuerently handle holy thinges Anon after you counsell me like a sage and graue man that I shoulde tempre my choler saying vnto mee O Maister Ierome be not ouer much disquieted Such great choler and wrath is not seemely in a Philosopher In this place M. Waulter if you dally you dally very stalely If you speake in earnest it is nothing true that you saie Neither was it angre whiche is a sodaine rage stirred through the opinion conceiued of dishonestie that could haue moued me to write those my letters for so muche as I was neuer prouoked to displeasure with so much as one rough worde of any English man but it was the loue of most holy Religion and the good wil I beare towards the Quene that moued me to send those letters and to aduertise her to eschew the danger that hanged ouer her and her Realme Neither is there any token of anger to be seene in my talke excepte you will cal a iust and lamentable complaint of the state of our moste vnhappie time angre But that that foloweth howe pretily it was spoken Take breath a little As thoughe you had with this your wonderfull force of talke so disquieted me that I coulde not take my breath Then that other saying of yours what a pleasante grace it hath Come to your selfe againe This is a foule rebuke For it seemeth to M. Haddon a wise man whose iudgement was alwaies simple pure and vncorrupted that I am out of my wittes Or els he would neuer warne me to come to my selfe againe You saie afterwardes You shall see all shal be wel That do I loke for in dedâ— how be it I am sore afraid left you being an eloquence man and wonderfull in perswading â–ª may force me to beleue thinges that are not proued vnto me Yet I looke for your reason by the which you wil proue that it is lawfull for your Quene to meddle in Ecclesiastical matters and to laiâ— suche lawes vpon Churches as her listeth What saie you Sir The Kinges Maiestie saie you maistereth al persones in England What els So doth the French King the French men and the Scottish King the Scottes I commend your briefenes in reasoning For you conclude al in one worde as often as you list and that meruelouse wittily But yet you take such thinges as are neither true neither of force to conclude those thinges that you would proue For first of all the gouernement of a King is not violent neither tyrannical and suche as he hath taken vppon him to mainteine â–ª like a louing Father he doth not maister them like seruauÌ„ts neither doth he imploye his regimente to his owne commoditie but to the safety of his subiectes It is therefore false that he doth maister them except he wold rather be accounted a tyranne then a King Moreouer admit it were true yet doth it not folow that he doth gouerne them in al matters That therefore that you should haue proued you laiâ— for a ground as though it were alredy proued and grauÌ„ted the which is one of the gretest faults that mai be in a disputer Last of al neither doth the french King gouerne the french men in spiritual matters neither the Scotish Kinge the Scottes and if he doe the which is nothiÌ„g true then doth he not his owne office but vsurpeth an other mans Yet you say But the Quene putteth not her hand vnto holie thinges Why so I pray you M Haddon Is it bicause she thinketh it not lawful Or els bicause she wil not If she thinke that it is not lawfull then doth shee speake directely against you If she be occupied with other affairs and therfore committeth holie thinges to men of the basest sort shee doth otherwise then her estate requireth For she thinketh that there is some other thing to be preferred before holie things You say The ciuile affaires are coÌ„mitted to the ciuile magistrates the Church matters to the Bishops What Bishops meane you Are they those Bishops that you haue violeÌ„tly thrust out of their Bishopriks and cast into the iayles or els are they suche as you haue caught vppe in the streates and froÌ„ the alebeÌ„ches and haue placed theÌ„ in the roome of those most holibishops O what an honorable presence of Bishops is that for all subiects to reuerence and al il men to be afraid of But I would faine learne of you what goodly glosse of vertue was that that moued you to place those base felowes in this roome and dignitie Was it their meruelouse and chast life which you can not abide Was it the knowledge of holie Scriptures the which thei had learned in tauernes or in scholes where perhappes they had ben Maisters Was it their wonderful eloquence where with thei were able to withdrawe the coÌ„mon people from licentious liuing to continency which they them selues abhorre For it is to be thought that they that depriued those godlie and learned Bishoppes of al their dignities would not haue done such wrong vnto the vertuous men vnlesse they had meant to set other in their places that did very farre excede them in all godlines learning and eloquence But I wold demauÌ„d one thing of you if they be so holi so lerned and so eloqueÌ„t wherfore did you not coÌ„mit vnto them aboue all other this care and charge to write against me Wherfore would you betray to the worlde your owne ignoaaÌ„ce and babishnâ—sse Was there suche a scarcity of learned Bisshops that you must needes take vpon you a charge that was none of yours no nor seemely for you to medle in For to mainteine Religion apperteineth to a Bishop not to a man that is to urmoiled in the suites and questions of the ciuile Law If they did not excel in such vertues and qualities as are to be required in Bishops what a frowarde malice was that to thrust out the good Bishops and to put such base felowes in their roomes and dignities You politike wise man doe you not see that that common weale is neere to vtter ruine and decaie wherin such honours as are dewe to honestie and vertue are geauen to base varlettes But be it that they had ben promoted to this honour for their excellent qualities for I can not wel gesse the truth of the matter and it maie be that thei were before thei came to that dignitie put to schoole to Bucere or els to your Martyr but sir I demaunde of you by what right or iustice was it done Howbeit as touching iustice you haue already satisfied me when you affirmed that within the coÌ„passe of the Queenes Maiesties authoritie is conteined what so euer concerneth God or man But yet I pray you tell me with what ceremonie with what solemnitie with what Religion was it done Who laied handes on them who coÌ„secrated them I would know what holines and
shamefull language when he had vttered most horrible and diuelish blasphemie when he had wasted spoiled and burned all holie thinges when he had committed all these outrages and villanies then was he thought a meete man to be taken into gods pricuie counsell and a persone woorthie to whome God besides all other secretes shoulde mercifully reuele that mysterie also of the deuising of purgatorie Then did this great wise man vnderstand at the length that S. Augustine which held that we should praie vnto God in our Sacrifices for the dead that S. Cyprian which laied this most grieuous punishment vpon such as appointed Priestes in their testamēt to be tutours or gouernours to their children that there should no sacrifice be offred vp for them in the churches that S. Chrysostome whiche referred this ordinaunce to the tradition of the Apostles that S. Denise to passe ouer a numbre of others which wrote very diligently of the care that is to be had for the departed in the faith and of praiers that are to be made vnto God for their deliueraunce Luther I saie vnderstood from heauen that al these men had ben in great errour and folie Trulie the capitaine of this your faction had a great commoditie of his naughtines and folie if after the reising of such broiles and troubles in the worlde he was deliuered by the benefite of God from that errour in the which those holie Fathers most Godlie and wise men excellently wel learned in the Scriptures linked vnto Christe with a most streight band of heauenlie loue were quite drowned If no man can thus perswade him selfe vnlesse he be peeuish frantike and starke mad void not only of al godlie religion but also of common sense who doth not see that this opinion of Luther is wicked ād detestable taught and set out by none other then by the enemie the diuell But this saie you is not witten in the scripture What then The thing which the Apostles taught by word of mowth which their schollers deliuered to the posteritie whiche hath ben most constantly holden and beleeued from the primitiue Churche till our times whiche hath ben approued by the beleefe and full agreement of the whole Church for so manie hnndred yeares shall Luther a seditious mad selowe after so manie ages garishly auowch it to be a feined matter Shall men whiche take vpon them to be both Godlie and religious folow him as a God of heauen that attempteth most desperatly to assault heauen For he maketh warre against heauē which taketh vp armour against the faith of the Church No no saie you you would not thinke what manner of man he was For he I tel you woulde allowe nothing vnlesse he fownde it written in the holie scriptures Well sir I will not nowe handle that matter whiche is by the holy Fathers discussed long a goe howe the gospell consisteth not only in thinges written but also in customes and ordinaunces receiued without any writing deliuered vnto the Churche by worde of mowth and order of the Apostles how much the sure and groūded authoritie of the Church which is the piller and staie of truth is to be esteemed of howe great value and importaunce the agreement of all holy men in one minde without anie varietie ought to be all these thinges I will nowe omit and aske you one question how Luther when he saied there was a purgatorie to prooue it alleaged the testimonies of the holie scripture if there were no testimonie in the scripture that proued that there was a purgatorie Then againe when he saied that there was no Purgatorie by what testimonie of the Scripture thought he that Purgatorie might be vtterly disprooued Brought he anie one place by the whiche he might conuince that there is no Purgatorie Dowbtlesse not one Such therefore was his presumption that what so euer came into his head that woulde he constantly affirme and againe the selfe same thing if it misliked him would he vtterly denie And yet his disciples for sooth find no fault at all neither with his inconstancie neither yet with his lewd fasshions but what so euer the drowsie blowbol draueled out ouer his pottes that toke they vp so griedily as though it had ben good gospell But lest you should saie that it can not be shewed by the testimonie of the scripture that there is a purgatory although it be not necessarie yet besides those places whiche are wont to be alleaged for the proofe thereof I thinke it good to bring a fewe of the whiche that is one of S. Marke where our Lorde when he had saied that hel into the which al such shalbe throwen downe as esteeme more their bodilie pleasure then their dewtie towardes God shoulde haue this propertie that the worme of them that shall be tombled down headlong into it should neuer die and their fyer neuer be quenched he brought in foorthwith these wordes for euerie man shalbe seasoned in fyer and euery sacrifice shalbe seasoned in salt In this place there are two thinges to be noted One is that there is a worme that is to saie a vexation or torment of cōscience gnawing and molesting the minde the whiche shal haue an ende and that there is a torment of fyer also the whiche in like manner shall haue and end in some men For otherwise our Lorde woulde neuer haue brought that place out of Esaie their worme dieth not and their fyer is not quenched By the whiche place we are taught that there is one torment euerlasting and an other that lasteth but for a time For so muche therefore as this worme and fyer is a torment or vexation of minde and of tormentes there is one whiche is appointed by the iudgement of God to last but a time and the other to continew for euermore is it not euidently prooued that there is a purgatorie for so is the place of punishment called in the whiche by the sentence of God the sowles are purged within a certaine time of suche spottes of venial offences as they had gathered in this life An other thing worthy to be noted is this that no synne shal escape vnpunished For euen as in the old lawe it was not lawful to offre vp any Sacrifice without salt so is it not lawful for our soules to approch vnto the throne of Gods maiestie vnlesse their vncleanes be before clensed by salt and fyer that is to say by the rigour of Goddes iudgement and by dewe punishment that when al the spottes of vncleane affection be put out and quite consumed the faithful sowles may come to haue such a puritie and cleerenes that thei may be able to receiue the brightnes of God in them selues and be likened and confourmed to the glory of God For although by the mercy of God synne is taken quite away in such as stay them selues vppon a liuelie saith yet are they for the most parte so bounde with some knot of the law that they must needes satisfie