proselite of yours to beléeue all that the Romishe Catholicke Church teacheth although the same bée directly contrary to the scriptures As to make and worship Images to call vppon Angels and saints to repose trust in the worthines of his owne workes to make himselfe a Mediator in suffering for the sinnes of his Parents and Country men to haue an opinion of holines in refrayning the vse of Gods good creatures which are all holy and to be receiued with thankes to God for the vse of them to kisse and worshippe the Reliques of saynts to beléeue the reall presence of Christes bodie in the Sacrament of the Altare to make that Sacrament a sacrifice propiâ—iatorie for the sinnes of the quicke and the deade c. To conclude if the Romysh Catholicke Church doo teach it he must beléeue it although both reason and scripture doo denye it Into this miserable blindnes you haue by your allurements and perswasions brought many youthes that myght and were like to haue doone good seruice to God and theyr Prince in theyr natiue Countrey you haue caused them to shake of all duetifull obedience to God to theyr Country to theyr Prince to theyr parents and to all that haue béene theyr fosterers and bringers vp in learning and in religious exercises you haue plunged them into the puddle of all popysh superstition and counterfayted religion you haue stolen them from our Captaine Christ and made them souldiours to fyght against Christ vnder the banner of that Antichrist of Rome Thus your proselite hath reported in the discourse of hys peregrination that he was in Rhemes in Fraunce 17. monthes together in company with two hundreth English men almost lacked nothing which argueth that some good portion of your patrimony is spent in the maintenaunce of such English youthes as you haue conueighed thether and to other places beyond the Seas I wyll charge you no furder Take héede to your selues in time Consider that there is a God that séeth your dooinges and knoweth your intents He wil not suffer such dooings vnpunished for euer If you think that the religion that is now allowed of in this Realme by law be not Catholicke séeke your resolution at the hands of such as are learned in the tongues in the liberal artes in the writings of auncient fathers and in the scriptures and are your Countrymen occupied in the seruice of God this our coÌ„mon country Such are able and wil be ready to conferre with you and by their knowledge in the scriptures Doctors artes and tongues to satisfy you and vndoubtedly if you wyll humbly craue it of God ye shall bee satisfyed Remember your duetye towardes GOD your duety towardes your prince your duety towardes your Country and Countrymen Repent purpose and endeuoure to amend that which you haue doone amisse Helpe to bring home againe such as by your meanes haue béene occasioned to stray from Christes fold in this our natiue soyle As you haue béene meanes to drawe them from Christ so vse what meanes you can to bring theÌ„ backe againe to Christes folde in Englande If they shall perrish in that schisme whereinto you haue brought them as vndoubtedly they shall if they shall ende in it theyr blouâ— shalbe required at your handes When your Seminary men tell you that we are the Sciâ—smaticks and they the Catholicks beleeue them not except they prooue it by Scriptures and probable reasons If wée doo proue both by the Scriptures and by probable reasons that the Church of England is Catholick and the Romysh Church schisuâ—â—ticall why should not you beleeue vs Because they doo knowe that if you shall reade our wrytinges you must néedes yéelde to the truth which you shal sée substantially prooued by vs they put you in feare of curssing or excommunication if you shall reade any thing that is written by any of vs or if you shall giue attentiue héede to any Sermons made by vs which argueth that themselues doo knowe that the trueth is on our sides You are Gentlemen and by naturall and ciuile order you are Frée men suffer not your selues to be ledde and commaunded as blinde and bonde men by these dolâ—ysh hypocrites which teach you to submit your selues to the decrées precepts and doctrines of men which haue but a vaine shewe of wysedome and not to regarde the wisedome of God contained and taught in the holye Scriptures Collos 2. Your calling and estate in the Common weale of this Realme is worshipfull and your duety is to be ayding to your Prince in the execution of the Lawes made for the preseruation of the state and defence of the liberty of this English nation and wyll you bée the ring leaders in the violating of those good Lawes in subâ—erting the state and in turning the liberty into thraldome and bondage God forbidde Our good God in hys good time vsed our noble King Henry the eyght as his meane by whome hée deliuered this noble and free kingdom from the Babiloâ—icall bondage of Rome and wyll you bring your selues and the whole English nation into the like bondage againe The same our mercifâ—ll GOD hath by the same Noble Prince and by his Sonne Edwarde and Elizabeth his daughter restored to this English nation the bright shyning light of the Gospell and wyll you bring vppon your selues and vpon vs and vpon all our posterity the palpable Egyptian darknes of Ignoraunce the mother nursse and continuall fosterer of all errour and wiched life God forbidde You are English men God giue you English harts that may neuer yéelde to bee gouerned by forraine power You be christian men God giue you christian hartes that may neuer yéelde to professe Antichristian Religion Suffer not your selfe to be blinded by their colours of antiquity vniuersality and vniformity For when theyr antiquity is compared with ours it is found to be but of yesterdayes hatching where ours is prooued to haue had continuaunce from the time of the first man Their vniuersalitye was neuer so large as the Romaine Monarchie but ours hath alwayes béene and styll is and euer shalbe as large as the whole worlde Theyr vniformity is deuided themselues doo scarsly knowe into howe many seuerall sects whereof not any two can be founde that doo agrée in all poynts but we béeing but one body and one spirit are called in one hope of our calling one Lorde one fayth one Baptisme One God and father of all which is aboue all throughout all thinges and in vs all â—phe 4. I pray you vouchsafe to reade with indifferent iudgment that which I haue written in my Replication and answere to that which Fryer John Fraâ—ncis of Nigeon in Fraunce hath written to hys Father and Mother And as he hath admonished in the margine of his letter no lesse then seauentéene tunes Reade it thorough or beginne it not euen so haue I sette at the heade of euery page Reade all or reade nothing I haue set down the Fryers wordes euen as he wrote them and as
the Forte of our fayth you séeme to haue determined to batter foure of the especiall Bulworkes thereof Namely the denyall of Prayers for the dead The denial of works to be meritorious of saluation The denyall of the reall presence of the body and blood of Christ in the blessed Sacrament of the Altar And the denying that there be any moe Sacramēts then two To batter these Bulworkes you will not bring any Ordinaunce taken out of the Storchouse of the holie Fathers but you wyll vse that great forcible Ordinaunce that is to be had in the Storehouse of the holye Bible and therewith you wil batter and beate down the strongest parts of our Forte of Faith Against the first Bulworke you plant a péece of Ordinaunce taken out of the 12. Chap. of the seconde booke of Machabees Against the seconde Bulworke 2. péeces of Ordinaunce one taken out of the Epistle of S. Iames and the other out of the 25. Chapter of S. Mathewes Gospell Against the third you doo plant foure péeces of Ordinaunce one taken out of the 26. Chap. of S. Mathew one other taken out of the 14. Chapter of S. Marke the third out of the 22. of S. Luke and the fourth you take out of the sixt Chap. of S. Iohns Gospell But against the fourth Bulworke you bring no Ordinaunce at all neither out of the Storehouse of the Bible nor out of the Storehouse of the holie Doctors of the Catholicke Church Onely you say that it is an heresie condemned long ago But let vs sée of what force these péeces of Ordinaunce be The first séemeth a farre off to be a double Cannon of great force But at hand it is founde to be but a sillie Base embossed and made great by cunning clowting together of Paste made of paper in the forme of a double Cannon with the colour of Brasse cunningly layde vpon it Who would not thinke that this were a Cannon of great force when he shall heare the Captaine himselfe say I will turne you to the Bible it selfe which if you dare either deny c. you shalbe no longer Heretickes but plaine Infidels Looke I beséeche you c. A Captaine of the Jewish Armie made a collection c. Yea and the latter wordes of the Chapter are these Sancta ergo salubris est cogitatio c. And tell me not nowe I pray you a tale of a tubbe c. Yea and last of all well may it be saide of you Aure audietis non intelligetis c. But let vs drawe néerer to this terrible péece of Ordinaunce that we may sée of what force it is First because Fryer John dooth charge vs that we admitt not the words which the holy Doctors of the Catholicke Church haue spoken I require him to reade that which S. Ierome hath written in his preface vpon the bookes of Salomon immediatly after those wordes that I put you in minde of when I answered to that sentence that you alledged out of the booke of Wisedome Chap. 11. S. Ierome writeth thus Sicut ergo Judeth Tobiae Machabeorum libros legit quidem Ecclesia sed eos inter canonicas scripturas non recipit sic baec duo volumina legat ad edificationem plebis non ad authoritatem ecclesiasticorum dogmatum confirmandam Euen as the Church dooth indéede reade the bookes of Iudith and Tobias and of the Machabees but dooth not receiue them amongst y e Canonicall Scriptures euen so she may reade these two bookes meaning the booke of Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus to the edifying of the people but not for the confirming of Ecclesiasticall doctrine Loe Master Frier John one of the holie Doctors of the Catholicke Church hath tolde you that this Scripture was not written by the holie Ghost and yet I trowe you will not say that he hath tolde you a tale of a tubbe nor that he hath belyed the holy Ghost or that the saying of the holie Esay may be well applied vnto him But if your selfe would vouchsafe to reade the last lynes of this seconde Booke of Machabees I thinke you woulde not thinke this booke to be of such authority as hetherto you haue in these writings séemed to thinke For in the wordes written in those lynes the author or writer of this booke dooth shewe himself to be in doubt whether he haue doone so well as himselfe wished to doo and in case he haue not doone so well he craueth pardon of his Readers and vseth a similitude to perswade him to pardon him Which is a thing all together vnséemely to be doone by the holie Ghoste Yea I suppose your selfe woulde account it blasphemie in him that wold say that the holy Ghost may doubt whether ought that he doth bée well doone or not And if you will take the paines to reade the latter part of the 14. Chapter of this booke you shall finde there a great commendation giuen to one Razias for that he murthered himselfe which commendation could not come from y e holy Ghost For such murder is not onelie contrarie to the expresse commaundement of GOD but it is contrarie to nature also Yea and I doo yet thinke that though you doo thinke that you doo deserue much at Gods hande by whypping your selfe with your discipline as your selfe doo report yet you are not perswaded that you shoulde deserue more if either by whipping your selfe or otherwise you shoulde kill your selfe Moreouer if your selfe be not of that number that Esay the Prophet speaketh of in the sixt Chapter of his booke cited by your selfe then there is hope that you will not sticke to reade weigh the circumstaunces of the place in the 12. of this second booke of the Machabees that you doo so much vrge vs with In the text that goeth immediatlie before that which you doo beséeche vs to looke vpon the Historian hath saide that after the Armie of Gorsias was by the mighty power of God put to flight Iudas hauing gathered his Army together came to the Cittie Odolla And when the seauenth day was come and they were purified according to the custome they did in the same place spende the time of the Sabaothe And the next day following Iudas came with his company to take vp the dead bodies of them that were slaine and to bury thē with their fathers in the buriall places that belonged to them And they founde vnder the garments of them that were flayne certain of the gifts that had béene offered to the Idolles that were at Iamnia from which the Lawe commaunded the Iewes to abstaine It was therefore made manifest to all men that this was the cause wherefore they were slayne The whole company did therefore commende the iust iudgment of the Lord which had made manifest the déedes that had béene hidde and kept in secrete And so they gaue themselues to prayer and besought God that the fault which was committed might be blotted out of memory But the moste valiant man Iudas exhorted
Fryer Iohn Frauncis of Nigeon in Fraunce A Replication to that lewde aunswere which Fryer Iohn Frauncis of the Minimes Order in Nigeon nigh vnto Paris in Fraunce hath made to a Letter that his Mother caused to be written and sent to him out of England in August 1585. Wherevnto is annexed an aunswere to that which the same Fryer hath written to his father and mother in defence and to the prayse of that Religion which he dooth nowe professe and to the disprayse and defacing of that Religion which is nowe professed in Englande Whereof the Fryer himselfe was a Scholler and professor vntill the yeere 1583. which was the 18. yeere of hys age ⸪ VVritten by Robert Crowley Anno. 1586. AT LONDON Printed by John Charlewoode dwelling in Barbican at the signe of the halfe Eagle and the Key To all such Gentlemen as beeing English borne haue Romysh hartes and doo fauoure the Romish Catholicke Religion and especially such amongst them as doo inhabite in the Counties of Sussex and Hampshyre and about London WYshing well to the Common weale of my nature Country and to the Churche of Christ in this our English nation I haue in my younger daies taken some paynes haue béene at some charges and yet am in the education of some such young Schollers as haue séemed to bée likely to prooue profitable members in this Church or Common weale of Englande Amongst whome one Samuell Debnam was one Hys Father and Mother are yet lyuing and doo by theyr honest labor sustayne theyr owne bodies and according to theyr hability they doo help to reléeue the impotent and néedy This Samuell was theyr eldest and first borne Sonne and their hope was that he should haue béene the staffe of their age And because the mother was my seruaunt in the time of her virginity my wyfe became Godmother to that young babe and as the custome of the Church is vndertooke for him at the Fountaine of Regeneration which mooued both her and mée to haue together with his naturall Parents an especiall care for his good education Hee prospered in learning and was like in time to haue prooued a profitable member of the Englishe Common weale Yea some gifts that he had receiued from God séemed to be somewhat rare in one of hys yéeres and that did pusâ—e him vp and make him proude I did then beginne to feare that which is nowe come to passe For as Syrach hath written Chap. 10 Initium superbiae hominis apostatare a Deo quoniam ab eo qui fecit illum recessit cor eius The beginning of mans pride is to fall away from GOD for his hart is departed from him that hath made him This pryde was it that caused him to harken to such amongst you as first enticed him to forsake his Parents and other fréendes in so vndutiful manner as he did on Monday which was the eyght day of Apryll 1583. In aunswering Letters that his Mother caused to bee written to him the 28. day of August 1585. Hée wryteth that he was lodged not farre from London the same night that he stept away from hys Father and her and shortly after hée was as he sayth conueyghed by night a myle of from London where hée stayed thrée weekes And on May day in the Morning carely hée was sette on horsebacke and conueighed into Suffer and so into Hampshyre where he had maintenaunce tyll the Euen of S. James the Apostle c. At his departing from London good Gentlemen as he termeth them gaue him money to the value of forty or fyftie shillinges to bring him ouer the Seas By these thinges it appeareth manifestly howe vnfréendly you popysh Gentlemen are to the Crowne and Common weale of Englande Can you worke any greater displeasure to the Crowne Common weale of England then to robbe them both of the younge frye that is likely to bée the continuance of this and the beginning of the next generation This youth béeing about the age of eightéene yéeres was meete to bée imployed to that kinde of life wherin he might haue béene moste like to doo best seruice to God his Prince and his natiue Countrey But sée what you haue doone you haue caused him to be reconciled to the Romish Catholicke Churche which is to bée a sworne enemy to the Crowne and Common weale of thys his and your natiue Country You haue robbed our Prince of her Subiect and seruice that she might and ought to haue had of him as of one borne with in her dominions You haue robbed a poore father and mother of theyr sonne and onely childe the staffe of theyr age theyr greatest treasure in this world theyr onely hope of posterity and of that gyft of God which by natural Order hath béene most pleasaunt and delectable to them and should haue béene most profitable you haue robbed mée and the rest that haue taken paynes and haue bestowed of our goods vpon him in the nourishing and bringing of him vp to that estate wherein you found him and in making him able to doo some seruice in the Common weale of our Country you haue I say robbed vs of all this of that hope which wée had to sée him a profitable member of the Church of Christ in England you haue robbed hym of that benefit which a naturall English man may and ought to enioye within the English dominions yea as much as in you may bée you haue robbed him of that inheritaunce which Christ Jesus hath bought for him for you haue perswaded him that not Christ Jesus but the Romish Antichrist is the way that leadeth into that inheritance you haue taught him to leaue the study of the scriptures and not to looke vppon or to giue credite vnto those wrytinges that men of sounde iudgement haue left behinde them concerning the true interpretation of the scriptures but to beléeue all that the Romysh Catholicke Church beléeueth holdeth and teacheth although he doo neither knowe what the beléefe of that Church is neither howe it may bée warrented or defended by the scriptures when it is knowne yea although it doo surpasse and excell mans vnderstanding yet it muste be beléeued onely because the Romysh Catholicke Church dooth beléeue it Sâ—ynt Peter was of an other minde when he wrote thus Dominum ChristuÌ„ sanctificate in cordibus vestris parati semper ad satisfactionem omni poscenti vos rationem de ea quae in vobis est spe Sanctisy the Lord Christ in your harts béeing alwayes prepared to satisfy euery one that shall aske you a reason of that hope that is in you 1. Pet. 3. Our sauiour Christ sayde Scrutamini Scripturas Search the scriptures Iohn 5. yea and talking with two of his Disciples in the way toward Emaus He prooued the necessity of his death and resurrection by the scriptures Luk. 24. The Jewes which dwelt in Bâ—rrhaea searched the scriptures dayly to sée if that were true that the Apostles preached Acts. 17. But you haue taught this
therefore the bowels of my mercy are bent towardes him In pitty and compassyon I wyll haue mercie vpon him Which God graunt for his mercy sake Amen If you wyll not receiue this charitable admonition and receiue againe and loue that trueth from which you haue for a time béene turned away and haue loued lyes more then the truth yea and haue indéede hated the trueth and loued lyes I feare me that the threatning of the Apostle 2. Thes 2. wyll be fulfilled in you Ideo mittet illis Dens c. God will therefore sende vpon them the strength of error that they may giue credite to lyes that all they may be condemned that haue not beléeued the trueth but haue had pleasure in iniquity Thys is y e horrible falling into the handes of the lyuing God that the Apostle speaketh of Heb. 10. From which the Lord for his mercy sake deliuer both you and me Amen You procéede in your purpose and thus you say But goe furder and you shall heare our Sauiour himselfe by his owne mouth calling vs to penaunce in the 13. Chapter of S. Luke saying Sinon feceritis poenitentiam omnes simul peribitis If you wyll not doo penaunce you shall perrish altogether And héere you vse an exclamation O what a dolefull sentence you shall perish altogether Let vs therefore cry with the Prophet Ieremie c. as before But sée howe you are deceiued by giuing credite to such notes as you haue receiued at the hands of your Rhemists and Romish Catholickes I can not thinke that your selfe reading the wordes in Luke the 13. Chapter would haue set downe simul for similiter as in thys your wryting you doo and doo descant vpon it noting the horriblenes of the sentence and so consequently the necessity of dooing penaunce to as many as be not willing to perish together The wordes that the Euangelist writeth were spoken by our Sauior himselfe The occasion was a report made vnto him of the crueltye that Pilate vsed towards certaine of the Galileans Doo you think sayth our Sauiour that these Galileans were greater sinners then the rest of the Galileans were I tell you no. But except you haue repentance you shal all in like maner perish And heere one other thing wherein your notes haue deceiued you The text hath thus Sed nisi poenitentiam habueritis But except you haue repentaunce And you following your notes as I suppose for I can hardlie be perswaded that séeing the text you would so mangle it doo set it downe thus Sinon feceritis poenitentiam If you doo not penaunce you shall perish altogether I would wyshe you therefore to take good héede henceforth how you trust the iudgment of thys Romish Catholike Church that maketh no conscience thus to mangle the wordes of Christ himselfe reported by his holy Euangelistes But hetherto you shewe your selfe to be perswaded that you haue not without iust cause taken vpon you the life of a Minime Fryer But howe well you haue prooued this by those Scriptures that you haue for that purpose alledged I think your selfe doo nowe sée and are ashamed that euer you tooke this enterprise in hande Thus much for aunswere to that long discourse that you haue made concerning your departing from your parents and the maner thereof Your long and laboursome trauell in Fraunce before you could créepe into the habite or wéede as you terme it of a Minime Fryer and howe you behaued your selfe in all that wearysome trauaile And last of all howe happy a man you thinke your selfe to be for that you are now wéeded as you terme it with that wéede and haue so played the part of a Nouice that lyking and being well liked of the Fryers of that Order you are nowe a professed Fryer and haue changed your name and are no more called Samuell Debnam but Fryer John Frauncis and therefore likelie so to liue during your naturall life But nowe we haue another Crowe to pull You haue made a meruailous inuectiue against our Religion with an earnest and pithy exhortation to your Parents to forsake both our Religion and vs also And last of all a very Christian instruction as you séeme to be perswaded but indéede a very Antichristian direction howe they may and ought to behaue themselues in this case wherin they doo nowe liue and are likely to continue And thus you enter into this excellent péece of worke The Fryar Nowe as concerning your Religion whose foundation is the deuill of hell hys Ministers beeing Tyndall Fryth Luther Caluine Beze Zuinglius Phillip Melanthon Bucer Phagius Oecolampaduts and Berengarius with others his Ministers in England els where As Crovvley Barber Doue Chark Novvell Mollins Trippe and the rest whose harts God turne or cutt short theyr liues to more speedy conuersion of our poore Countrey These are they of whom the holy Apostle Saint Iohn speaketh of in his first Epistle Chap. 2. Ex nobis prodierunt sednon erant ex nobis nam si fuissent ex nobis permansissent vtique nobiscum That is to say they came from vs but they were not of our company or society For if so be that they had beene of our company they had certainly stayed with vs. It is euident that they came from vs as not liking our kind of life Some came from vs by reason of pryde othersome by reason of deuillish suggestions Againe others because theyr heades were full of fantasies as the heade or Master Fielde is Who yf the report that goeth of hym be true is able to forge euery halfe houre a newe Religion Luther was an Augustine Fryer who after that he had left his Order beganne heresie Caluin was a Cannon Reguler and Berengarius was an Archdeacon Whose liues and deathes as also the lyues and deathes of the other Captaine Protestantes if you knew thorowly you would as I hope not onely wonder at their wilines but also leaue their folly But mine intention is not at this present to write theyr behauiours which God wylling shall be published in another page Mine intention is onely by the grace of God to withdrawe and turne your hartes from the beleefe of those damnable heresies which you holde which I beseeche God that I may performe for his names sake Crowley I would gladly stay my penne from blotting my paper with bitter or opprobrious wordes but alas I can not for the fire of zeale towards Gods glory is so kindled in myne harte that I can not hold in such spéeches as this blasphemer deserueth The spéeches shall I hope be such and so vttered that euen the blasphemer himselfe shalbe enforced to confesse that the wryter séeketh nothing lesse then the priuate reuenge of y e priuate wrong that is doone vnto himselfe The open wronge that is doone to Christ and to his blessed name and Religion is it that mooueth me to say to this boy Fryer as the Apostle Paule sayd to Elymas the Sorcerer Acts. 13. O thou child of the deuill
seauen golden candlesticks are y e seauen Congregations Yea we say with saynt Paul 1. Cor. 10. Calix benedixionis cui benedicimus nonne communicatio sanguinis Christi est Panis quem frangimus nonne participatiò corporis Domini est The Cuppe or as you call it the Chalice that we blesse is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ The bread that we breake is it not the partaking of the bodye of the Lord Quoniam vnus panis vnum corpus multi sumus Omnes quidem de vno pane de vno calice participamus For we being many are but one loafe of breade and one body And we doo all take part of one loafe of bread and of one cuppe If you therefore would deny that the Sacramentall cuppe is the Communion of the blood of Christ or that the sacramentall breade is the partaking of the bodie of the Lorde we would say that you doo lie and doo make the Apostle Paule a lyar and so consequently God himselfe for the spéeche that Paule vseth is not his but Gods that spake in him We doo beléeue that the body and bloud of Christ are giuen taken eaten and drunken of the faithfull in the Lords supper after a heauenlie and spiritual manner but yet verily and indéede Yea and that faith is y e meane whereby the bodie and bloud of Christ are receiued in the Supper All this we beléeue and confesse and your selfe Frier John had once learned this and did confesse it in my Church without Creplegate of London before many witnesses You doo vs open wrong therefore in that you say that we make God a lyer and say that he gaue not his body to his disciples but bread onely which is fully contrarie to the foresaid texts of Scripture And as touching the sentences that you cite out of the sixt Chapter of S. Iohn we acknowledge Christ to be that bread that came downe from heauen And that whosoeuer shall eate of that bread shall liue for euer And he that eateâ—h not the flesh of the sonne of man and drinketh not hys bloud shall not haue life in himselfe But he that eateâ—â— the flesh of Christ and drinketh his bloude shall haue life euerlasting and Christ will rayse him vppe in the latter day But héere you must gyue vs leaue to sale as S. Austen dooth and we must request you to thinke no worse of vs then you doo of him so long as we shall shewe our selues to be of one minde with him For hee is a Catholick docter and I thinke you doo take him so to be If we therefore shall shewe our selues to be of one minde with him I hope you will take vs for Catholickes also First I must tell you that in the place that you cite the words be thus Ego sum panis viâ—â—s and not panis vâ—tae That is the liuing bread and not the bread of life I note this because the meaning of our Saâ—â—our Christe was as you haue said to bring the Jewes to the knowledge of his diuinity by considering that the Manna which fell from heauen and was accounted to be the bread of life was not that liuing bread that liueth and hath life of it selfe and is the fountaine of life to al liuing creatures y t they might be occasioned to sée that the Manna was to the Fathers as our Sacrament is to vs a visible â—â—gne representing vnto theÌ„ this liuing bread as â—ur Sacrament dooth represent the same vnto vs. Concerning this matter saynt Austen wryteth thus in his 26. treatise vpon the Gospell of saint Iohn Patres vestri Manna manducaueruÌ„t mortui sunt noÌ„ quia maluÌ„ erat MaÌ„na sed quiamale maÌ„ducaueruÌ„t Hic est panis qui de coelo desceÌ„dit Hunc paneÌ„ significauit manna Hunc paneÌ„ significauit altare Dei SacrameÌ„ta illa fueruÌ„t in signis diuersa sunt sed in re que significatur paria sunt ApostoluÌ„ audi Nolo enim vos inquit ignorare fratres quia patres nostrâ— omnes sub nube fueruÌ„t omnes mare traÌ„sieruÌ„t omnes per Mosen baptizati sunt in nube in mari omnes eandeÌ„ escaÌ„ spiritu alem manducauerunt Spiritualem vtique eandeÌ„ nam corporalem alteraÌ„ quia illi Manna nos aliud spiritualem veroâ—quam nos Sed patres nostri non patres illorum quibus nos similes sumus non quibus illi similes fuerunt Et adiungit Et omnes eundem potum spiritualem biberunt Aliud illi aliud nos sed specie visibiliquidem tamen hoc idem significante virtuâ—e spirituali Quomoâ—o enim eundem potuÌ„ Bibebant inquit de spirituâ—li sequeÌ„te pâ—tra petra autem erat Christus Indepanis inde potus Petra Christus in signo verus Christus in verbo in carne That is to say Your Fathers did eate Manna and are deade not because Manna was an euill thing but because they did not eate it aright This is the bread that came downe from heauen Manna did signifie this breade The Lordes Altare did signifie thys breade Those thinges were Sacraments in signes they be dyuers but in the thing that is signified they are alike Gyue care to the Apostle For he sayth Brethren I would not haue you ignorant that all our Fathers were vnder the Clowde and that they did all passe thorow the Sea and that they were all baptized by Moses in the clowde and in the Sea and that they did all eate one and the same spirituall meate The same spirituall meate indéede for the corporall was another for they did eate Manna and we an other thing but the spirituall was the same that we doo eate But these were our Fathers not theirs They to whom we are like not they to whom they were like And hée addeth to this And they did all drinke of one spirituall drinke but in the visible kind they did drinke one thing and we another and yet signifying the selfâ— same thing in spirituall vertue But howe was it the same drink They dranke sayth he of y e spirituall Rocke that followed them and that Rocke was Christ Hence was the bread and hence was the drinke In a signe the Rocke is Christ but Christ indéede is in the word and in the flesh Can any man wryte or speake more plainly on our side in this matter then S. Austen hath doone in these wordes that I haue héere â—ited Doth he not plainly affirme that the Manna was to the faithfull Fathers in the wilderâ—es euen the selfe same thyng that the sacramentall breade in the Lordes supper is to vs nowe And that the Rocke in the Wildernes was vnto them the same thing that the cuppe in the Lords supper is vnto vs nowe And what wyll you haue vs to grant you a reall presence of Christes bodie and bloode in the Manna and in the Rocke And howe can you then require vs to grant it in the sacramentall bread wine S. Austen sayth that they and
them they are false Prophets destruction hangeth ouer their heads and hell gapeth for them They robbe Christe of his glory They rob Christians of their greatest comfort They suppresse and holde vnder true Religion They sette vp and maintaine Idolatry and superstition And to speake all in one worde they vpholde Antichrist and his whole kingdome But to returne to our purpose You say that we say that there be but two Sacraments an heresie condemned long agoe But you tell vs not when where nor by whom Therefore as we haue sayd so we doo say and so we wyll say by Gods helpe til you can prooue the contrary that Christ hath ordeined but two sacramēts to be vsed by Christians Your saying that it is an heresie condemned long agoe is but a flashe of false fire giuen to a péece of Ordinaunce vncharged and therefore can not hurt the Bulwork wherin we stande and doo denie that Christ hath ordeined any moe sacraments then two namely Baptisme and the supper of y e Lord. In his thyrd booke of Christian doctrine and in the 9. Chap. there of S. Austen wryteth thus concerning this matter Hoc verò tempore posteaquam resurrectione domini nostri Iesu Christi manifestissimum iudicium nostrae libertatis illuxit nec eorum quidem signorum quae iam intelligimus operatione graui onerati sumus sed quaedam pauca pro multis cademque factu facillima et intellectu angustissima obsernatione castissima ipse dominus apostolica tradidit disciplina sicuti est Baptismi sacramentum celebratio corporis sanguinis domini Quae vnusquisque cum percipit quo referantur imbutus agnoscit vt ea non carnali seruitate sed spirituali potius libertate veneretur Vt enim litteram sequi et signa pro rebus quae ijs significantur accipere seruilis infirmitatis est ita inutiliter signa interpretari male vagantie erroris est But in these dayes sith by the resurrection of our Lorde Iesus Christ a most manifest signe or shewe of our liberty hath appeared wee are not loaden with the heauye working of those signes that we doo already vnderstande But in stéede of many the Lorde and the Apostolicke discipline hath giuen vnto vs a certain small number and the same very easie to be doone and most excellent in signification and most pure in obseruation as is the Sacrament of Baptisme and the celebration of the body and bloud of the Lorde which euery man that is instructed doth when hee receiueth them knowe to what ende they are referred that he may reuerence them not in a carnall seruitude but rather in a spirituall liberty For euen as to followe the Letter and to take the signes for those thinges that be signified by them is a poynt of seruile infirmity euen so to enterpret y e signes vnprofitably is a point of error that wandreth euill fauouredly or wickedly In these wordes of S. Austen we haue occasion to note two thinges especially One is that hee did not knowe of moe Sacraments then two instituted by our Sauiour Christ and commaunded by him and his Apostles to be vsed in his Church The other is that it is a poynt of fleshly seruitude and not of Christian liberty for a man to follow the letter or litterall sence in those spéeches in the Scriptures that doo concerne those two Sacraments in such sorte that he wyll take the signes that are spoken of for the thinges signified by them A man may meruell that any of your sorte that knoweth these words of S. Austen can allowe him for a Catholicke and yet condemne vs as Heretickes in thys poynt wherein we doo both affyrme and denie euen as he hath doone manye hundrethes of yéeres before vs. But let vs sée yet one other place of S. Austen In an Epistle that he wrote to one Ianuarius which is in number 118. S. Austen wryteth thus Primò itaque tenere te volo quod est huius disputationis caput Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum sicut ipse in Euangelio loquitur lent iugo suo nos subdidisse sarcinae leui Vnde sacramentis numero paucissimis obseruatione facillimis significatione praestantissimis societatem noui populi colligauit sicuti est baptismus trinitatis nomine consecratus communio corporis sanguinis ipsius si quid aliud in canonicis scripturis commendatur exceptis ijs quae seruitutem populi veteris pro congruentia cordis illorum prophetici temporis onerabāt quae et in quinque libris Mosis leguntur Fyrst of all therefore my wyll is that you shoulde vnderstande what the chéefe poynt of thys disputation is That is that our Lorde Iesus Christ hath as himselfe speaketh in the Gospell made vs subiecte to his owne easie yoke and light burden Whereby he hath syed together the society of the newe people with Sacraments that are fewest in number easiest in obseruing and most excellent in signification as is Baptisme consecrated in the name of the Trinity and y e communion of his body and bloud and if there by any other sacrament that is in the Canonicall Scriptures commended except those sacraments which did encrease the weight of bondage of the olde people as was méete for theyr hartes and for the propheticall time and which are reade in the fiue Bookes of Moses In these wordes of S. Austen we haue occasion to note that his meaning was to certifie Ianuarius to whom he wrote this Epistle of that thing which our Lord Iesus Christ taught in that which standeth written in the eleuenth of saynt Mathewes Gospell concerning the easines of the yoke and the lightnes of the burden that Christ Iesus hath layde vpon Christians And for the explaning of hys meaning he sayth that our Sacraments are very fewe in number very easie to be obserued and most excellent in signification And hee nameth onely Baptisme and the supper of the Lorde which he calleth as we commonly doo the communion of the body and bloode of our Sauiour Christ And furder hee referreth him to the Canonicall scriptures as aduising him to receiue no moe Sacraments then he shall finde to be commended in them And least he might take occasion by those words to thinke that Christians ought to be circumcised and to obserue the sacrifices and ceremonies of Moses Lawe he excepteth all such Sacraments as were layde vpon the people of the olde Lawe by any thing that is wrytten in any of the fiue bookes of Moses So that by these wordes of thys learned Father saynt Austen it appeareth as by the other afore rehearsed that he was not perswaded that Christ Iesus our Lord hath layde vpon vs Christians that heauye burden of seauen Sacraments which your holy father the Pope layeth vpon you and vpon all hys Antichristian flocke Confirmation Order Repentance or as you call it Penaunce Matrimonie and the Visitation of the sicke which you call Extreme vnction we vse as good profitable and necessary vsages in
the Church of Christ but not as Sacraments because it appeareth not in any Canonicall scripture that Christ our sauiour hath instituted them and commaunded them to be vsed as sacraments Neyther doo they agree with that definition or description of a sacrament which is commonly allowed of amongst the learned and is thus A Sacrament is an outwarde and visible signe representing an inwarde inuisible spirituall grace ordeyned by Chryste himselfe to testify Gods good wyll and bountifulnes towards vs through the same Christ our sauiour by which Gods promises touching forgiuenes of sinnes eternall saluation giuen through Christ are as it were sealed and the trueth of them is more certainly confirmed in our hartes To thys definition or description onely Baptisme and the Lords supper doo agrée therefore they onely are properly to be called sacraments Otherwyse a signe of a holy thing may be called a sacrament But in that large signification of the worde sacrament there be not onely seauen sacraments but seauenty times seauen sacraments And in that meaning we deny not but that there may be in euery one of these other fiue which you call sacraments moe sacraments then one or two But I can not meruell enough at this one thinge that men of your sorte can estéeme so highly of Matrimonie as to make it a sacrament of such excellencie and yet bynde all your holiest Catholickes by a solemne vowe neuer to vse it or to take any benefite by it Yea I meruell that you can account matrimony so holy a thing as a sacrament and yet maryed persons so vnholy that if any of them shall come into any of your most holy Cloysters the walles and floores thereof must be washed as thinges polluted by the presence of those marryed persons Howesoeuer therefore by whom soeuer or wheresoeuer that which wee holde concerning two sacraments onely hath béene condemned for heresie we doo styll holde it and minde styll to holde it for right Religion tyll Fryer Iohn and hys fraternitie can and shall by the Cannonicall scriptures prooue it heresye and saynt Augustine an Hereticke Nowe you enter into your exhortatorie Oration which you make to your Father and Mother especially But it may bee thought that your meaning is that thys exhortation shoulde bee made generall For your Father and Mother must haue help in the reading and waying of those matters that are cōterned in thys exhortation I wyll therefore doo you thys pleasure if I can for olde acquaintance You shall haue this excellent Oration of yours published in print with all the rest that you haue in these your Letters written to your father and mother that all your fréendes on thys side the Seas if any such be all your vndoubted fréends of the English Nation as well in Fraunce as in Italie or els where in any part of the knowne worlde may know the depth of that diuinitie that dropped out of your penne when you wrote those Letters in Nigeon But I will be so bolde with you mine olde Scholler as to publish thys mine aunswere together with these your Letters with this admonition Reade all or reade nothing Hoping that you and your complices wyll doo as much vpon my admonition as I haue doone vpon yours which is thus Reade it thorowe or begin it not Thys admonition you haue set downe in the margin of your Letters seauentéene times Perswading your selfe by all likelihoode that we dare not reade any thing written by a Papist more then many of your sorte dare reade any thing that is written by a Protestant But you must vnderstande that we are not vnder such vowes as you are Wée are encouraged by the Apostle Paule to trie all thinges and commaunded by him to holde fast that which is good Omnia probate quod bonum est tenete Try all thinges holdfast that which is good 1. Thes 5. Yea we are of that sorte that our Sauiour Christ spake of Marci vltimo In the last Chapter of saint Markes Gospell Si mortiferum quid biberint non eis nocebit If they shall drinke any deadly poyson it shall not hurt them Wee haue receiued before hande a Treacle which is of such vertue that none of your popysh poysons can hurt vs. We doo therefore and by Gods helpe wee wyll reade all your bookes if we may haue them Yea we wyll so reade them and answere them that you shall haue cause to wish that you had neuer written them Wee doo not vse to condemne mens wrytinges before we haue reade them wayed and considered them and founde them such as are méete to be condemned If you had doone so you woulde neuer haue condemned for hereticks so many as in these your Letters you haue condemned by name and yet it may be thought that you neuer reade any one lyne written by some of them I hope you will doo as much for mee as I haue doone for you that is reade these my wrytings way and consider them and confute them if you can and let that which you shall doo be made publique to the worlde But to returne to our purpose your Oration beginneth thus The Fryer Looke to your selues I pray you beleeue our holy mother the Catholicke Church Rowle your selues vp down in her blessed lappe Leaue your Sermons heretical goe no more vnto them Ryse not so earlie in the morning as you were wont to doo to damne your selfe body and soule Goe no more I say to those Sermons of Crowley Barber Fielde and the rest Burne your bookes of Sermons with all other your bokes in which are heresies Be not ashamed of the name of a Papist Goe to cōfession confesse your sinnes to a Priest Leaue this worlde that is so disceitfull and stick vnto God c. Crovvley Héere is an heape of Patheticall spéeches powred out as it were of a Vessell full of feruent zeale towardes your poore parents and all others that be in such miserable case as you séeme to suppose that they are in You wyshe them to looke to them selues as though you sawe them in present perrill and danger of destruction There be seauen thinges that you require them to doo whereby they may escape that great daunger which hangeth ouer their heads The first is to beléeue your holie mother the Catholick Church and to rowle themselues vp and downe in her blessed lapp If that Catholick Church that beléeueth confesseth professeth that fayth and Religion that Christ Iesus taught in his owne person commaunded to be taught Catholicklie throughout the whole world by his Apostles and messengers be that holie mother of yours that you speake of then will your Father and Mother and all other that you wyshe shoulde be moued by your spéeches gladly doo that which you wishe them to doo Yea they doo it alreadie haue doone it euer since God gaue them knowledge of that mother And they doo still begge of God that they may continue rowling vppe and downe in her blessed lap all the