master to rule the sterne medling not with that he hath no skill of right so when preuy rebells or open apostatas of Christen religion sowe seditious schismes and preache hereticall doctrine troubling thereby the quiet and settled consciences of true and vpright beleuers euery Christen man especially such as are of the laye and inferiour sorte ought to cleaue vnto their heades and rulers in Christ his church medling not with the determination of any point called then in controuersy but looke to be directed as they haue allwaies ben by their catholike pastours and ouerseers to whom they are commaunded by the Apostle to obey and submitte them selues truly no lesse then the souldiar to his Capitain or the passanger to his master Therefore oure Sauiour biddeth the people to beware and Take hede of false prophets nor to beleue euery spirit but trie and discern whether they be of God or no. But this lo howe maye it be Howe shal the ignorant and laye man trie false doctrine from the true It hath ben put in to mens heads of late yeares that euery man for this purpose ought to reade holy scripture and thereby to trie and discern truthe from falshood It were perhaps to be wished if it had so pleased God that as holy scripture is the true triall thereof so it were open and euident to all men that seke the triall therein but what haue lerned men iudged in times past of holy scripture Many things saieth S. Augustin are darke in scriptures and it hath so ben prouided of God to the entent that our pridemight be tamed by trauail and our knowledg not cloyed with facilite which quickely contemneth that easely hath ben lerned In like maner S. Hierom. All prophecy or interpretation of scripture contayneth the truthe in darcknes and obscurite to the entent that the scholers and lerners within may vnderstande but the rude people set without may not knowe what is saied Orels we shall cast precious stones before hogges iff we open the treasure of holy scripture to euery man Epiphanius likewise The Scripture saieth he telleth all truthe but we haue nede of good intelligēce and perceiuerance to knowe God and his word There is in the ghospell saieth Origen the letter that killeth for the destroying letter is not only in the olde Testament but also in the newe Testament to him that vnderstandeth not spiritually that which is saied Tertullian speaketh yet more vehemently hereof I am not afeared saieth he to saie that the scriptures them selues haue ben so disposed by the will of God that they mought minister matter vnto heretikes seing that I reade that heresies must be which without scripture coulde not be This is the iudgement of the lerned fathers who haue trauailed more in holy scripture then any new preacher of oure time and yet can espie no greate facilite in it but rather do complaine of the maruailous difficulte thereof And doth not S. Peter write plainly that in the epistles of S. Paule Certain thinges were very harde to be vnderstanded which the vnlerned and inconstant depraued euen as other parts of scripture to their owne destruction Doth not S. Paule write that The ghospell is vailed and couered from those that perish Are we not commaunded to serch holy scripture doth not this serching importe a diligence and difficulty more then laye men can either attend vppon or attaine vnto The Eunuchus vnderstode not the prophet vntill the Apostle had expounded it vnto him And Christ after his Ascension opened the vnderstanding off his disciples that they might vnderstand the scriptures And thincke we oure selues able to vnderstand all that we reade This then being so howe shall the laye and vnlerned man perfourme the commaundement of the ghospell bidding him To beware of false prophetes and to discern the sprits whether they be of god or no Euery secte nowe a daies chalengeth the worde of god and the right vnderstanding thereof The Catholike likewise by prescription out of memory standeth in possession thereof and will not be brought from it for all the bragges the heretike maketh Howe then shall the vnlerned man hearing bothe tales conclude with him selfe which to folowe Were it not nowe good readers much to be wished that some clere and euident doctrine were taught by what meanes and howe the holy worde of God maye rightly be vnder standed and the false prophets preachers and protestants of oure time might be auoided Truly as the sauegarde of the soule passeth all worldly interest so euery Christen hart ought aboue all thinges tender the same and with all diligence possible procure spedy remedies for the pestiferous venim off heresy which crepeth on like a cancre and corrupteth the whole estat of our saluation Hauing therefore sene and perused a certain booke of Fridericus Staphylus writen first in the Allemain tongue and after translated in to Latin wherein he first teacheth the vnlerned laye man howe to beware of false and wrong interpretation of holy scripture which is no lesse necessary then the reading off scripture it selfe secondarely detecteth certain false translations of the Bible by Luther in to his mother tongue laste of all declareth the maruailous dissension and variaunces of the Lutherans in their doctrine and chiefest articles of our faith which is a most euident argument of the sprit of dissension the diuell him selfe speaking in thē and a clere proufe of hereticall doctrine for the truthe is but one I haue thought good to translate the whole in to our mother tongue trusting in almighty God to profit hereby many a Christen soule of my dere deceined countremen which as God is my witnes was my only respect in this smal labour The first part of this booke is a very necessary lesson for the vnlerned laye man For without the true and right interpretation of holy scripture such as the church teacheth he can haue no right faith and so hazardeth his soule and euerlasting life which he ought aboue all worldly respect tender and procure For as our Sauiour saieth What auaileth it a man to winne the whole worlde and lese his soule The second parte is a good admonition for al such as are not sene in the tongues to beware of newe translations of holy scripture falsely forged for a vauntage Our english bibles sette forth these last yeares lack not such foisting in of false termes In the epistles of S. Paule as ofte as the worde Idoll is founde in the greke and latin text so ofte they turne it Image as though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greke idolum and imago in laten or idol and image in english were all one When God saieth in holy scripture Let vs make man according to our image will these men saie that God hath an idoll according to the which man was made and howe be they not ashamed to call couetousnes worshipping of images
to come backe frō whence we departed to returne to the vnite and cōsent of Christendom and all Catholike people For why be we Germans Christē men So are other nations and countres also Yf then we be not the whole corps off Christendom we are yet a parte of it But that parte is foule say the S. Austen whiche agreeth not with his whole What then surely this is the only medicine for our desease the only remedy for this mischef the only hope of amendment if that we being not the whole corps of Christendome but a parte of it suffer not our selues to be persuaded that any one parte of the body can be saued when the whole perisheth The nature and property of a generall councel is to cure euery parte of Christendom neglecting none Such a councell nowe therefore being called and prouulgated we are al called no man is excluded Truly no mans greafe or desease can be so greate but that the Coūcel is able to remedy it Nor none is of such vertu and perfection but that by the councel he may be more commēded Will we therefore auoide in time ths paganisme of these Epicures let vs all embrace the wholesom rule of Christen faithe submitting our selues to the holy Councell Will we caste of the yoke of Mahomet Will we flie the idolatry of the Alcoran Let vs seeke vnite let vs come vnto the Councell and all force of armes laied aside let vs quietly and with leasure debate our cause let vs in al softnes and loue deliberat and cōsult of the publike weale of vs al. For Charite as S. Paul teacheth is patiēt is gētle Charite striueth not it doth not frowardly it is not prowde not ambitious it seketh not her owne interest it is not prouoked it thinketh no euil it reioyseth not of iniquite but is delyted in verite it suffreth al thinges it beleueth al things it hopeth al things it abideth al things Let this lawe of the Apostle and rule of Christian Charite be the foundation of the proclaimed councell the maner of ordering it and the intent of debating in it But you will saye VVe are greuously offended with them Truly that is greate pitie But Charitie is patient suffreth all thinges is not prouoked Our aduersaires be vnlerned Charite striueth not is not proude not ambitious Our aduersaries be riche and kepe that is not their owne yea they haue that is oures Charite seketh not her owne interest it doth not frowardly It semeth the councel wil deceaue vs and not kepe promis with vs Charite thinketh no harme but beleueth al things hopeth all thinges But what if peraduenture we be there cast and condemned Charite reioyseth not of iniquite but is delited in verite Truly I am fully persuaded that if we woulde all with this minde and intent come to the Councell we shoude seking all for the truthe quickely see an ende of controuersies and seeking all vnite returne home in perfit agreement But you require to knowe the iudge and order of this councell In good time for the protestants woulde one of their flocke to be iudge and likewise the Catholikes of theirs againe they desire one order and these an other For priuat affections are on bothe sides feared lest the true iudgement be thereby corrupted Howe shall we then do to haue a Iudge voide of all suspicion that may vprightly iudge Let the worde of God and the Catholike and right interpretation of that worde be iudge in the whiche interpretation there is surely no lesse truthe then in the very texte of the worde of God For what can be more impudent and vnreasonable then to embrace the text only and reiecte the right and Catholike vnderstanding of the same to admit that is spoken and refuse that is mēt to vrge the letter that of it selfe killeth and flye the spiritual meaning which geueth life Herein therefore the greatest point of our debate cōsisteth whē the Catholike shal interpret holy scripture otherwise then the protestant or the protestāt otherwise then the Catholike to knowe which of these two bringeth forthe the more Catholike more right and more receaued interpretation And in this debate the ende must nedes be that they be iudged to haue brought the righter the more Catholike and the more receaued interpretation which are able euidently to showe their interpretation alleaged to be Catholike and Apostolicall that is to haue proceded from the Apostles to haue ben receaued of their successours deliuered from hande to hande by continuall succession and spred through the whole corps of Christēdom and so to haue come and reached euen to vs. They agayne must nedes be thought to haue alleaged the false and bastard interpretation of holy scripture which are not able to deduct it from the Apostles nor to proue it vniuersall As for example Let vs suppose that now in the councell with these newe Arrians of our dayes this question were to be debated Whether Christ be in dede the Son of God and of aequall substaunce with the father or no. where as the Arrians denie this the Catholikes do affirme it and the Arrians for their parte alleage that place of scripture where it is writē Pater maior me est The father is greater then I am againe the Catholikes alleage an other place Ego pater vnum sumus I and the father be alone and eche of them interpreting their place alleaged but bothe of them diuersly what can now help the very writen worde of God and bare text of the scripture to terminat this debate the writen worde is on bothe partes expresse and of bothe admitted Wherein then standeth the controuersie truly not in the text but in the right vnderstanding of the text Not in that which is spokē but in that which is ment Is not this I praie you agreable to the worde of God standeth it not with all reason that the same interpretation and vnderstanding of an alleaged text be iudged right and lawful which can euidētly be proued to haue ben deriued from the Apostles and so receaued and vsed in the whole corps of Christēdom I verely can imagin no better And with this my iudgmēt agreeth wel that Noble and wise Emperour Theodosius the first who in this very question of vs propounded chose for iudge in that controuersie the Catholike and receaued interpretatiō of holy scripture For thus we reade in the ecclesiastical historie of Socrates of one Sisinnius who gaue the Emperour this councell to aswage the greate contentions that were then in the church through that heresie of Arrius This Sisinius was as Socrates writeth an eloquent mā a man of much experience very well sene in the olde writers expounding holy scripture and a good philosopher This man therefore perceauing that by disputations and conferences with heretikes the schisme grewe on more and wexed more cōtentious he aduised Nectarius then Patriarche of Constantinople in this maner The olde writers saieth
continuall succession of time vncorrupted whole and perfite whiche maketh me more to maruaill what wicked and malitious sprit moued these protestants to terme them selues only ghospellers and professours of Gods worde calling the Catholikes papistes and enemies of the worde of God seing that bothe nowe and in all ages we reade the ghospell in our churches we preache the worde of God in our pulpits and interpret it to the people we expresse it by outward ceremonies rites and gestures such as we haue receaued of our forefathers euen from the primitiue church and the Apostles time And this Luther knewe him selfe well inough But why dissembled he it then forsothe to deceaue and entrappe the easier the simple people in to his preteÌ„ded religion For Luther and all his ministers knowe very wel that in the ghospel and worde of God two thinges are to be considered First that the text be sownd and not corrupted then that the same text be expounded Catholikely and not heretically For as S. Bernard saieth looke with what sprit the scriptures were writen with the same must they be read and vnderstanded Seing then the text by the instinct of the holy ghost hath ben geuen vs true and perfit the vnderstanding also and interpretation thereof coming of the holy ghost must be true and perfit so that one shall be as true and of as much force as the other It is not inough therefore to reade holy scripture perfitly but to vnderstande it well also For as S. Hierom sayeth The scriptures consist not in reading but in vnderstanding All this Luther was not ignorant of But to depraue and corrupt the right interpretation of holy scripture and to bring in place his owne hereticall and forged expositions he maketh no mencion off the text but crieth still the worde of God calling the dreames of his braine pure and holy scripture For if ye aske of the Lutherans when they preache that God coÌ„straineth men to do euill that God was the cause of Iudas his reprobation and obstinat desperation that good workes are hurtefull to saluation and such like matters what maner of doctrine that is they will incontinently awnswer you that This is the pure ghospell the sincere worde of God and holy scripture it selfe But then if ye go farder and desire them to showe yow these very wordes and propositions in holy scripture there they hush Yet will they tell you that the wordes in dede them selues be not in the Bible but the meaning of them is there To the which if ye replie agayn and vrge them farder it will soone appere that the controuersie betwene the protestants and vs is not of holy scripture it self but of the true vnderstanding of the same And so S. Hilary hauing to do with heretikes in his time pronounced Heresie sayth he is in the vnderstaÌ„ding not in the scripture And truly all heretikes neuer cried other thing theÌ„ the holy scripture the worde of God and we that are Catholikes also haue holy scripture allwaies in our mouth Nowe then a man may maruaill and aske howe cometh it to passe that the Lutherans and the Catholikes the protestants and the papistes striue and contend so one with an other where as yet bothe haue the ghospell bothe loue and embrace it bothe cleaue vnto it and bothe are ready to spende their good and their life for it Here I beseche the Christian reader marke and perceaue well that this is not the coÌ„trouersie whether the Catholikes or the Lutherans haue the worde of God but which of them doth truly rightely and sincerely expounde that worde off God For this is the Lutherans common saying The papistes vnderstand not the Bible but we haue founde the right interpretation thereof and the kaye of all truthe And to set a good coulour vppon this holy protestation they saye farder That all bisshops prelats priestes and Monkes be all without lerning all incoÌ„tinent all of euill life geauen to couetousnes to pleasure and to the bely But they theÌ„ selues that is the Lutherans be learned chaste sobre liberall deuowte and of perfit life and such as haue done great miracles and yet do Neither are these impudeÌ„t heretikes ashamed of these lowde lies although all the worlde well knoweth it is nothing so while they see Churches hospitalls religious houses of all sorte colledges and bishoprickes of these men partly cleane ouerthrowen partly rifled all taken into their handes and conuerted into palaces armories barnes cole houses shops of Marchaundrise yea and in some places in to stables These lo be the miracles of this new ghospell abundantly practised all this fourty yeares As for other miracles not one of these new ghospellers was euer able so much as to cure a lame colte or a halting biche so farre is it that these meÌ„ could euer cast out deuils heale the lame cure the blinde restore the deafe or raise vp the dead all which miracles many holy fathers of the olde ghospell as I may so speake which these men call Papistes haue wrought from time to time in Christ his churche as right approued histories do manifestly declare Now as for the good and perfit life of these men and excellent lerning all the worlde seeth it An olde sorte of heretikes called Donatistes obiected in times past to S. Augustin the very same argumeÌ„t saying that their church only was vpright holy pure and lerned But the Catholike churche was nothing so And therefore the doctrine of the Donatistes was vndoubtedly souÌ„de and perfit but that of the Catholikes false and vntrue But what awnswered theÌ„ here S. Augustin The argument saieth he that proueth mens doctrine by their life is false But let vs suppose that these holy protestants passed al the vniuersall Catholike church of Christ sens the time of the Apostles bothe in godlines of life and excellency of lerning Which I thinke in good sothe they wil not al together affirme But if it were so it wil not yet thereuppon ensue that only the Lutherans vnderstande holy scripture and the Catholikes neuer vnderstoode it For if the right intelligence of holy Scripture be only to be sought amonge such as will stoutely affirme of them selues to passe all the rest of men in vprightnes of life and excellency of lerning then in very dede must we nedes leaue this great treasure of the right meaning of holy scripture vnto heretikes For in all ages heretikes allwaies craked of their great lerning and perfit life as the ecclesiasticall histories well declare of the Arrians the Manâ—ches the Pelagians and such like And what other thinge dothe Luther in many of his workes especially in his booke against the pope Then call the olde Catholike writers and holy fathers fooles asses rude and vnlerned babes of the pope hermaphrodites and such like Neither contemneth he only the Catholikes but euen his owne coÌ„panions and felow heretikes also as Zuinglius
Oecolampadius and other of that batche Yea this mā father of all this bessed broode of protestāts so highely extolleth him selfe so presumptuousely dispiseth all the worlde like an other Lucifer that the protestants them selues of Zurich write plainely that now no more the holy ghost but the spirit of pride and presumptuousnes speaketh in M. Luther Illiricus also and his companions crake they not likewise of their vertu and great lerning especially Illiricus how boasteth he that he was perfitly sene in Aristotle and had writen maruailouse much vppon him But what doth holy scripture speake to these proude boasters S. Peter saieth God resisteth the proude and geueth grace to the make and humble And the prophet saieth of god Thou arte he which poorest out the fountaines in the lowe vallies not in the toppes of hilles Againe in an other place Euery vallie shall be exalted and euery highe hill shall be plucked downe It is therefore a great vanitie of them to iudge and pronounce so proudely of thē selues seing that the Apostle of such men saieth Saying them selues to be wise they haue proued fooles and their foolish hart hath ben darkned But nowe touching the integrite of life and vertuous behauiour of the Lutherans I would be lothe to reporte thereof my selfe Surely I see Luther to doute very much thereof For in his great postill vppon the ghospell of the first Sonday in Aduent he crieth out and complaineth That by his ghospell men were become farre worse then they were before vnder the Pope For wickednes and vice had so farre growen in his ghospellers that they semed allmost become deuills And truly this is a sure token of false prophets For Of thornes who gathered grapes or of brambles who gathered figges at any time For looke what the tre is such is the frute such master such scholer such doctrine such liuing Now where as they againe obiect vnto vs the euill and disordinat life of the prelats of the church and of the clergy as that they be gloutons dronckards ambitious horehunters and so forthe I will not here presently defend them that are such It is surely much to be lamented that the life and behauiour off the reuerēt priesthood awnswereth not to their godly and highe profession but is very scandalouse to the worlde euen in such places as the church is by heretikes corrupted and persecuted Notwithstanding I doubt not although in many of the clergy it be founde true that the Lutherans saye of thē touching euil life yet there are a great numbre of vertuous and lerned bishops and priestes of deuowte and perfit religious men such as amonge the Lutherans were harde to find But it were better in this case and more semely for Christen charite that eche part looked in his owne wallet and first Tooke out the beame of their owne eyes for so shall they see better to take out the mote off their neighbours eie And herein whatsoeuer the iudgement of man saie God knoweth who are his and who are in dede vertuous or contrary Wherefore our faith and belefe must not be pinned to the life of the clergie or preachers For by this reason we are not sure of the due administration of any Sacrament neither can we truste any preacher of the worde of God seing that we are not able to iudge whether the priest or the preacher be a mā of vpright life or otherwise But our Sauiour Iesus Christ to take awaie this doubt and to assure vnto vs the verite of his Sacraments duly administred by the clergy thereunto chosen and the preaching of his holy worde by their mouthe he hath left vnto vs a sure and certain rule to knowe the false preachers and prophets from the true and to discerne the doctrine from the person that teacheth And this rule hathe thre parts The firste is when the doctrine is good in it selfe but the life of the teacher is euill and fauty The secōd whē the life of the teacher is good and vertuous but his doctrine false and vitious The thirde is to knowe howe the doctrine may be tried by the life off the teacher and howe the life of the teacher may be tried by his doctrine As for the first part Christ geueth vs a very good lesson what to do whē the doctrine is good and the life is naught saying The scribes and pharises sitt in the Chaire of Moises What soeuer they shal saie vnto you kepe it and do it But do not according to their doings By the which wordes of our Lorde we see that the lerner ought not so much to regard the life of the teacher as the doctrine For it may be that his doctrine be sownde and good wose life is euill For although that as well in the former ages as now a daies we finde many of right good lerning whiche haue preached and taught the worde of God sincerly yet some of such liue not accordingly Neither is there at this daie any point wherein the people more grudgeth against the clergy then that many of thē leade their life cleane cōtrary and repugnant to their owne Canons and constitutions For many of them can tell a trim tale in the pulpit exhorte the people very demeurely to a sobre and perfit life but will not ones moue a foote to liue well them selues And now alas it is to true that our lorde sayeth by the prophet of his church I haue longe looked that my vineyarde shuld haue brought forth grapes but lo it hath brought forthe brambles and a litle after Wo be vnto you which rise vp early to folow dronknes and to drinke vntell the euening that they be set on fire with wine In your companies are harpes and lutes tabrets and pipes but ye regard not the worke of the lorde Can this be denied it is alas to true But what then is this their liuing accompted vertuous is this Catholike No Catholike nor Christen man wil saie so The doctrine of our religion vtterly forbiddeth these thinges and the Catholike church condemneth them Neither cā al this preiudicat in any point to the doctrine of the Catholike church For as our Sauiour saied Do all that they shall saie vnto you but do not as they do and againe First cast out the beame of thy owne eye and then thou shalt see to cast out the mote of thy brothers eye And in an other place Who so euer of you be without sinne let him cast the first stone against her Agayne We must carye one an other his burden that we may be all saued We must not rashely iudge other least we be iudged to The second part now is cleane contrary to this as when men of good and sobre behauiour preache false and hereticall doctrine of these our Sauiour geueth vs warning in these wordes Take ye hede of false prophets which come vnto you in shepes
Wittenberg the newe Lutheran Papacye Holy order he added to the entent that the Masters of Wittenberg sending abrode their preachers might binde them with an othe to preache and teache no otherwise then they had lerned of their masters as the tenour of the othe set forthe in the Ordonnaunce of the vniuersite of Wittenberg declareth Although therefore the Lutheran protestants raile and inueigh without measure against the Pope bicause vnder him doctours and other be sworne to the obedience of the Catholike church and vniforme consent of doctrine in the same yet they them selues swere and charge by othe against all reason their scholers for the mainteaunce and vpholding of their heresies and abhominable doctrine Notwithstanding these Masters of Wittenberge could not obtaine their purpose Amsdorfius and Illyricus two great masters of Luthers schole woulde neuer agree vnto them but prouoked to the former writings of Melanchthon and Luther wherein they plainely teache that all laye people men and women are priestes may minister the sacraments may baptise expounde holy scripture teache and preache This Illyricus lately wrote against Menius who had obiected him the saying of the prophet that he ranne being not sent that is that he toke vppō him the highe vocation of a bishop that he interpreted scripture after his owne pleasure corrected his brethen cōdemned them of heresie ruled the churche not in one place only but through out the whole state of Lutherans whereas yet Melanchthon and the masters off Wittenberg neuer permitted him but had decreed against him finally that he was neuer called to the ministery like a Lutheran nor neuer ordained priest as a Catholike but from teaching of a grammer schole had taken vppon him the authorite of a bishop Thus in this bely fest kingdome of Lutherans you may see howe soone visards be chaunged and howe easie a matter it is to come a lofte For when Menius and Maior two great masters of the Lutheran ghospellers obiect vnto Illyricus that he was neuer called to the ministery neuer appointed to the worde nor sent to preache and therefore he should be ashamed to plaie the bishop in the churche of Luther and to cōdemne all other Superintendts and Ministers that would not agree to his propre and seuerall doctrines he awnswereth them againe that according to the doctrine of our father Luther Euery man was a priest as cacthepolles millers barbers Phisicians vshers and scholemasters especially such as professed the Hebrewe grammer But consider here I beseche the gentle reader how soone this wether is ouercast Now faire now fowle now clere now darke For here as you see while Illyricus hath to do with the masters of Wittenberg the Scripture saieth that Euery man is a priest and fit to teache in the cōgregation But a litle after the same Illyricus hauing to do with Osiāder and his cōpaniōs in Prussia curseth and banneth them crying and writing that to dogged Phisicians naming so the Phisicians of the prince who then were preachers of Osianders doctrine Matters of religion and ruling of churches ought not to be committed for that Phisicians were not called nor appointed to any such function Be not these trim preachers and masters of the newe ghospell is there not a ioly vniformite in their doctrine Maior and Melanchthon when they fight against the Catholikes if then you aske them what authorite they haue with their newe reformation to comptroll the whole corps of Christendom and the church of Christ being neuer called nor ordained of the churche to any such office by and by they will awnswer you out of Luthers bookes De Christiana libertate de Captiuitate Babilonica that euery man is a priest euery man hath authoritie to reade the Bible to discerne true and false interpretation of holy scripture But euen in the same moment before they moue a foote furder you maye see them accuse and crie out at Illyricus that he being nother priest nor called to the ministerie behaueth him selfe very seditiousely in Germanie taking vppon him to comptroll the masters of Wittenberge and of Lipsia by his owne priuat and proper authorite Notwithstanding all these enormites and aburdities ensuing of the bare text of scripture the Lutherans seing them selues on euery side entrapped and coūicted yet euer they plaie fox to the hole and rūne to this impudent shift to saie that The next of holy scripture is sufficient for all instruction and doctrine that it may be vnderstanded of all men and nede no gloses nor expositions Is not this I beseche the good reader a captious and suttle shift to thrust only the writen text to the people defrauding thē off the true meaning and interpretation of the text Euē so did the Sadduces heretikes of the olde lawe before Christes time as Iosephus in his Chronicles witnesseth So did after Christ the Arrians Dimeritae Apostolici and many such other heretikes as it is to be senein S. Basill Epiphanius and S. Augustin If the text of holy write nedeth no expositiō what meaned oure Sauiour when after his resurrection He expounded to his disciples all such scriptures as were writen of him beginning with Moyses and so all the prophets What meaned Philippus to aske the Eunuche of the Quene of Candace sitting vppon his chariot whether he vnderstoode that whiche he reade in Esaie the prophet and after the Eunuches awnswer saying howe can I if some expounde it not vnto me to expounde him the text declaring the right interpretation and meaninge thereof Againe what will they saie to that which the Apostle writeth That the holy ghost diuideth and distributeth to euery one his giftes as it pleaseth him so that all men haue not all giftes but euery man certaine and seuerall as some the gifte of healing other the gifte of diuers tonges and other the interpretation of tonges Euery man is not a Phisician diuine or lawier as S. Paule to the Corinthians largely declareth taking a comparison of the body of mā where are many mēbres and euery membre hathe his propre and seuerall function for what could be more absurde then if the feete would playe the handes or the hādes do that which belongeth to the head The like reason is to be cōsidered of functions offices and giftes in the gouuernement of Christen religion to the setting vp whereof God hath appointed diuers and sundry ministeries especially for the instructing and teaching the right vnderstanding of holy scripture that we might thereby knowe his will and pleasure in all thinges without doubt or controuersie Whiche if euery priuat and meane man without a teacher and interpreter were able to vnderstande to what purpose hathe the holy ghoste geuen in his churche vnto some the gifte of interpretation But what nede we spend herein many wordes let vs reade the bookes of Moyses the psalmes and the Prophets see we not there a number of highe and secret misteries which before the coming of Christ
none allmost vnderstode And what meaned our Sauiour when he sayde vnto his disciples It is geuen vnto you to knowe the misteries of the kingdome of God but to the other in parables that seing they see not and hearing they vnderstande not What meaned our Lorde in these wordes Truly this that it is a speciall gifte of God to vnderstande well holy scripture and that this gifte was especially geuen vnto the Apostles and to their disciples and successours which should after thē beare their roume in Christes church Againe that it was inough for the people that as much as is necessary for saluation they might lerne of their pastours preachers and curates the exposition of holy scripture by similitudes and parables agreable to their capacite which may farther be proued by diuers places of holy scripture But I would here gladly aske of our newe Masters when they saye that the texte of scripture is sufficient that there nedeth no expositiō nor glose why write they so many cōmentaries such longe gloses vppon scripture so many bookes and that without all measure if we nede no exposition then surely all the Lutherans bookes and writings be vtterly superfluous vaine and to no purpose but only crafty snares to catche the simple and vnlerned withall But to tell you plainely what the protestāts meane by this sutle shifte to cleaue to the only writen worde surely this it is they would not haue the scripture vtterly not expoūded they meane nothing so for that in dede nothing serueth their turne but they would haue their expositions their maner of expounding to be receaued and beleued as the very worde of god But contrary wise when they haue to do with vs reiecting all interpretation of scripture they ring their olde songe in our eare The worde of god is cleare perspicuous aud plaine it nedeth no exposition it requireth no interpretatiō of the olde fathers or of the Churche wherein you see what is their impudencie and contrariete And this much haue we saide to showe that Scripture ought to be expounded that the bare text suffiseth not But here riseth now agreat question and worthy to be waighed Seing that holy scripture must be interpreted and that we see abrode many and diuers interpretations thereof and yet in one thing there can be but one truthe and as scripture it selfe is vndoubtedly true so the interpretation thereof must be vndoubted and certain whether of all these interpretations or what maner is to be accompted the right proper and vndoubted As for example No Christen man denieth but that these wordes of the last supper Take eate this is my body be the very wordes of God Christ him self And what coulde be sayde more plainely more distinctly more directly then these wordes of Christ are yet what happened Al the sectes and heresies that raign nowe adaies acknowlegde them for the wordes of God No secte denieth thē Whereupon then riseth these greate and horrible dissensions surely not whether secte hathe the worde of god but whether of them well expoundeth it And see howe diuersly these fewe wordes are expounded Zwinglius saith these wordes This is my body are as much to saie This significeth and betokeneth my body Oecolāpadius thus expoundeth them This is the signe or token of my body Carolstadius after this sorte Herein sitteth my body Swenck feldius yet after an other sorte This is my spiritual body Luther thus This is my naturall body in naturall breade The Catholikes haue allwaies thus expounded it Vnder the forme of bread it is the true boly of oure Lorde Nowe what shall here a simple and vnlerned man of the countre do hearing so diuers and contrary interpretations of so fewe wordes Truly if he will here of his owne head confer scriptures together and serch the true meaning of these wordes in scripture and the writen text he shall be as wise herein as these men aboue mentioned who all by conference of scripture you see howe swetely they agreed vpon the truthe But if there were any certainte in conference as sometimes it helpeth much yet the simple vnlerned man by common order of witt shal neuer finde it out For how can the vnlerned and ignorant iudge of that which he neuer lerned no more truly then the showemaker is able to iudge of the goldesmithes worke which he was neuer practised in And were not that showemaker to be accōpted very impudēt and vndiscret who seing two goldesmithes contending of the fines of some piece of gold or siluer would steppe in and take vpō him to determinat the matter betwene them much lesse ought the vnlerned medle with or determinat matters of Diuinite or take vpon them to expounde the meaning of the holy ghoste seing that in worldly affaires there can no waightier matter of more difficultie or of greater importaunce be taken in hande what then shal the vnlerned man do in this case If he may cleaue to no part at all then must he be of no church but make him selfe a newe secte forge him selfe a newe faith and so at length lese all faith and become a very painim whiche god forbid that euer any man should persuade the vnlerned If he cleaue to any part yet is he in greate daūger For almightie god cōmaūdeth straitly by his Apostle that we auoide the heretike Here truly the laye man ought to take good aduise For he is bounde him selfe to take hede of false prophets lest being blinde him selfe and not able to vnderstande holy scripture he suffer him selfe to be lead of a blinde guide such as the heretike is But howe can the blinde man see whether is guide be blinde or no Truly of him felfe he cā not see it vnlesse he hath lerned of suche as see wel some certain token howe to knowe it Is there then any such tokē or signe or where may a man seke it verely the mercifull prouidence of almighte God hath not failed in this point but hath left vnto the laie simple and vnlerned man a certain and vnfallible token whereby he may if he regarde his owne saluation beware of all false and heretical corruption in interpreting scripture There is no Christē man so rude or ignorant that knoweth not perfitly his Crede and can reherse it frō the beginning to the ending In the which though euery article ought diligētly to be marked and borne awaye yet in this time none more then the article where we saye Credo sanctā Catholicā Ecclesiam I beleue the holy Catholike church For in this worde Catholike is the very true token and marke to knowe the right interpretatiō of scripture by for that is called Catholike as S. Austin teacheth which euery where and at al times is and hath ben Thē this worde Chatolike attributed to the church is that which hath continued frō the Apostles time to our daies without any breache diuision or intermission For such a church did God the Father
and abominations were found in the whole clergy and rulers of Christes flocke notwithstanding the commaundement of Christ must remaine in his full force and effect That the darnell be suffred to growe that the scribes and pharises sitt in the chaire of Moyses do as they commaunde you to do but do not as they do thēselues Againe Obey thē that haue the ouersight of you for they watche as those that must geue accompte for your soules And euery man must plucke first the beame out of his owne eye and then take the mote out of the priestes eye Let vs therefore good Christian reader suffer the church to stande and continewe in his former and most receaued course For without doubt she is so surely grounded vpon the Rocke that hell gates shall neuer be able to ouerthrowe her or preuaile against her As for the life of the clergy God is their iudge For as of virginite so of priesthode man can not iudge Yet we discharge not here the clergy of the Ecclesiasticall censures and punishements For as it is sayde to the laye men touching the euill life of the clergy Let the darnell growe on so is it saide to the bishops as S. Augustin declareth against the Donatistes Take awaye the euill from amonge you Wherefore we reade of that notable Emperour Constantinus the great at what time certain bishops offered vp certain cōplaintes to be determined by him to haue awnswered in this sorte God hath ordained you priestes in his church and hath geuen you authorite to iudge vs and therefore we are well iudged of you but you cānot be iudged of any men It were surely very expedient that some reformation were had to correct and chasten the corrupted clergy according to the prescription of their owne Canons to thentent that such offences as rise in mens hartes against the clergy and the church throughe their inordinat life might be remedied and taken awaie But this is not in the hands of the laite or temporall rulers whose part it is to suffer and obey OF TRANSLATING THE BIBLE IN TO THE VVLGAR TONGVE ANother thing that the Lutherās obiect vnto me is that they saie it hathe ben by my meanes and counsell procured that the Bible is no more reade in the vulgar tongue especially as Luther translated it Nowe although I remembre not that I euer saide or wrote that the laye men ought not to haue the Bible in their vulgar tongue yet iff I had so done it had ben no greate trespas For surely I could neuer yet finde in holy scripture that the common people ought of necessite to reade scripture But that of the reading thereof much schisme and the destruction of many soules hath proceded daily experience teacheth vs. And holy write warneth vs where our Sauiour thus speaketh It is geuen to you to knowe the misterie of the kingdome of God but to the rest in parables that seing yet they see not and hearing they vnderstande not Who are these vnto whom our Lorde saith To you it is geuen c Surely the Apostles and their successours the rulers of Christes flocke And who are they that should lerne by parables surely such men as were better not to knowe the misteries lest misusing them they procure them selues a greater damnation For precious stones ought not to be cast before hogges and such of all likelihod are the laye ignorant people Beside our Lord in that his former sayeng may seme very well to haue alluded to the .xij. tribes of Israel whiche figured the twelue Apostles and to the threscore and ten elders chosen out of those twelue tribes which also did represente the threscore and twelue disciples that were beside the Apostles These threscore and ten elders of the Iewes had only the power as stories declare to reade and and vnderstand the misteries of the Scripture For at that time the hebrewe text vsed of the Iewes had no vowels in all the text but only consonants And this maner of reading without vowels was knowen only to the threscore and .x. elders the other Iewes knewe it not lest peraduenture the precious misteries of that olde lawe should be cast before hogges the rude and curious people These threscore and ten elders also very miraculousely translated the Hebrew Bible in to Graeke before the coming of Christ they only hauing the knowledge of the text So in like wise bicause the threscore and twelue disciples were chosen to reade and vnderstande the misteries of holy write vnto whom priestes haue succeded as in the principall seas and Bishopriks in Christendom by stories we are able to showe therof it is euident that vnto Priestes Pastours and Bishops whō God hath placed to ouersee his church the grace of the holy ghost allwaies assisteth to interpret and expounde the misteries of holy scripture by parables vnto the people as farre as for them is requisit Wherefore the vnlerned laie men maye well be admonished to refrain from all curious and gredy reading of holy scripture First lest rashely and vnaduisedly they take vppon them the office cōmitted by God to the elders to priestes and bishops wich presumptiō we see hath ben greuousely punished in the examples of King Ozias of Core Dathan and Abiron Thē also because experience of our time hath taught howe dangerous it is that euery laie man craftes man labourer or otherwise all without discretion should reade and examine scripture at their pleasure The sectes of the Picardi of the Anabaptistes of the Swenckfeldians and diuers other heresies proceded off no other cause then that certain vnlerned laie people toke vpon them to reade interpret and expounde scripture And what text do these vnlerned men reade surely such as Luther him selfe or some other archeretike hathe translated in to the vulgar tongue and corrupted partly with false additions and preuy foisting partly with hereticall gloses put in the margin Againe they come all to reading of it with a certain preiudice that Luther hath appointed them teaching that he which will reade holy scripture ought not to bringe with him any iudgement but seke it in the text Which is as much to saie that the vnlerned laie man nothing informed before in the faith of the church nothing prepared with deuotion and humilite nothing instructed by what meanes to vnderstande holy scripture may rashly and roundely set vpon it as if it were Beuis of Hampton or a tale of Robin hoode In this case if the vnlerned mā sodenly imagin an exposition of some place that liketh his braine and serueth well his humour be it neuer so contrary and repugnant to the true vnderstanding of holy scripture yet he will not be brought from it but cleauing vnto it tothe and naile forgeth him selfe a newe religion frameth a faith of his owne and setteth vp in his hart a newe idoll in the defence whereof he will spend his body his goods his life
time which is in the night Christ was borne takē beatē mocked and scorned At the prime which is in the morning he was presented to Pilate and falsely accused At the same time he appeared after his resurrectiō vnto Mary Maudelen At the third howre he was whipped crowned with thornes mocked cōdēned and bearing his crosse was lead to the place where he should be crucified At the same time also the holy ghost was geuē to the Apostles At the vj. howre he was crucified geuen to drinke with gall and vineger and reputed amonge theues At the ninth howre he rendred vp his Spirit in to the handes of the Father At Euensong he was takē downe from the Crosse at last in the Complin time he was anoynted and buried This laudable godly and deuoute custome of daily setting forthe the passion of Christ by seuen distincted howres of praier the Apostles and their successours haue allwaies from time to time reuerently obserued But Luther to the greate reproche of Christes church and inestimable dōmage of Christen soules hath in many places vtterly extinguished and abolished it placing for it the olde cursed heresie of Vigilantius Which his purpose lest it should in any point be staied such expresse scripture as declareth this maner of praier he thought good by his false translation to depraue In the actes of the Apostles according to the graeke and latin text thus we reade Peter and Ihon went vp in to the temple at the ninth howre of praier In all languages these wordes at the ninth howre of praier be so translated that they signifie some certain determinat and appointed time of praier which Luther being desirous to abolise interpreteth that place thus Petrus vnd Johannes gieugen hmauff in den Tempel vmb die neund stund zu veten that is Peter and Ihon wente vp in to the temple about nyne of the clocke to praie as though that the Apostles had by chaunce and not of a set and prefixed order praied at nine of the clocke And as though it were all one to reade in scripture the howre of praier or in some howre to praie But if a man list to see what greate desolation and confusion hath ensued of so litle an alteration of the text in churches and other place of godly foūdatiō let him remēbre with him self the nūber of religious houses Monasteries Nunneries Chappels Hospitals Almes houses yea and cathedral churches where God hath in times past ben honoured and serued at distinct and sundry times for the continuall remembraunce of his blessed passion bothe daie and night and nowe no seruice there at all but are become either prophane dwelling places or schismaticall conuenticles And all this vnder pretence of abuses which though they had crepte in and blemished that most godly institution and order of Christes church the abuse should haue ben corrected the good vse should haue remained In the same chapter of the Actes of the Apostles S. Peter when he had healed the same man he spake thus vnto the people Ye men of Israel why maruaile you at this or why looke ye so on vs as though by our owne power or vertu we had made this man goe that which the Latin text hathe pietatem the Greke hathe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is well translated vertu or godlynes Luther hath translated it merit as though the Apostles had denied merit But there is great difference betwene vertu or godlynes and merit or desert Yet Luther to take away all loue of vertu and good workes laboured all that he could to persuade men That good workes haue no merit dejert or rewarde before God and that they procure nothing but goddes wrath Wherefore all merites seming to Luther vaine and superfluous for the maintenaunce of this his heresie scripture must be corrupted seing directly it would not serue him In like maner behaued he him selfe in the Sacrament of holy Orders to the entent he might take awaie all priesthood out of the church and set in their places rennagat prentices and vnthrifty seruaunts such as had spent their owne and robbed their masters to gouuerne the newe church by him erected For this his purpose scripture must be wrethed and peruerted lest the holy ghospeller might perhaps seme to saie somewhat without scripture Therefore whereas S. Pause admonisheth his disciple Timothe whom he had then ordained bishop of Ephesus to vse well those giftes and graces of God as had ben geuen him with laying on of the handes of the priest hood that is in taking his holy Orders vising to him these wordes Despise not the gift which is in the which was geuen the thourough prophesy with the laieng on of hādes by the authorite of priesthood for the worde priesthood Luther hath translated Der altisten that is of the elders Persuading thereby the people that holy orders is no Sacrament and that it is not necessary that those which must minister the Sacraments preache and gouuerne churches be ordained of bisshops which haue the authorite of priesthood but that it suffiseth to be called to the ministery by the elders of the people as of the mayre the shrifes and other temporal rulers Whereof we see it hath happened that in Cites townes and Villages where the Lutherā ghospel taketh place showe makers and sadlers poticaries and pedlers taylers and tinkards butlers aud bakers and such other rif raf neuer admitted to holy orders men of no lerning nor sobriete take vpō them the holy office of priesthood preache their pleasure to the people to the vtter destruction of many a soule and ministre the Sacraments without authorite thereunto But Luther and Melanchthon perceauing at the last this cōfusion proceding by reason of this false interpretation to growe on so farre that euery light and seditious knaue as for example Thomas Muntzer in Turinge Bernard Rotman in Westphalia Matthias Illyricus in Saxony and diuers other in other places toke vppon them not being called nor ordained nor admitted by the masters of Wittenberg to preache and gouuerne the people sowing newe heresies and sondry schismes in the congregation sodenly they chaunged their tune For Luther to refraine a litle his euill translation that it may serue for the Sacrament of order in his last edition of the Bible vppon the worde Altisten of the elders he made this glose in the margin That is of the priestes or of the priesthood Melanchthon for the like consideration though at the first he counted all the Sacraments to be but the inuention of man and forged deceites yet in his booke of common places he reakeneth holy Order amonge the Sacraments charging expresly that it should be taken and vsed for a holy Sacrament But this recantation of Luther and Melanchthon neither serued then to any purpose nor is nowe off any force For the brethern stande stoute◠in that which Luther and Melanchthon taught first that holy order and priesthood was no sacrament at all
not be brought about being to abolish olde and auncient religion and to plant a newe of his owne inuention To coulour therefore this his intent and fetch he forceth me the Apostle to speake for him and to vtter his doctrine in the vulgar tongue putting in for the wordes of the Apostle after the elements of the worlde his owne wordes after the lawes and ordonaunces of the worlde As though the Apostle had commaunded that bicause the ciuill lawes and decrees be not worde for worde expressed in the prophets or the Apostles but instituted for a policy and worldy gouuernement therefore that no man was bounde to obey them And this pageant so pretely entred of Luther proued not amisse especially for the trim tricked translation or rather transposing and altering of S. Paules wordes In an other booke entituled Of the secular power he writeth that amonge Christen men there ought to be no superiorite no power nor no Magistrat In the very same booke and in an Epistle againste the two edictes of the Emperour he writeth That our princes of Germany be lyars obstinat men without reason very bestes and to vse his owne wordes wild pret in himel that is like wilde dere in the element that we ought to praie to God that the subiectes obey not their magistrats nor go not to warre being pressed nor geue any thing towarde battaill against the Turke for that the Turke him selfe is ten times better then our Princes In the booke of his assertions against Leo the pope he affirmeth that To fight against the Turkes is to resiste God punishing vs by the Turkes tyranny In his booke de Captiuitate Babylonica he saieth There is no remedy to be hoped for onles the libertie of the ghospell he meaneth his owne being restored and all mens lawes vtterly extinguished we iudge and rule our selues For no Magistrat saythe he no nor angell of heauen hath the authorite to prescribe any lawe ouer Christen men other then they will be content them selues to folowe For Christen men are fre from al subiection Again in a litle booke againste the Collectours of wormes he writeth that no common welth is well ruled by lawes Last of all in his awnswer against Ambrosius Catharinus he stormeth like a madde man and crieth out that the Church of Christ and the ghospell caÌ„ in no wise acknowleadg or suffer any Magistrat or iurisdiction For al these thinges be but torments and cruell inuentions of men against Christians Luther then hauing by this false and foisted interpretation of S. Paule founde the meanes to burne the Canon lawe to bring in contempt the Ciuill lawe to raise vp the commons against their princes beside many other seditions and rebellions hereby procured I trust men will take hede and beware off such false forged and foisted interpretations For who seeth not that there is great difference betwene The elements of the worlde and the ordonnauÌ„ces of the worlde Chrisostom Theophilact Theodoret and other holy fathers interpreting this place of the Apostle teache vs that the worde Elemenâ—s do meane that we should auoide the Astronomicall predictions which are seldome without enchantemeÌ„ts and coungering And this is not only forbiddeÌ„ by scripture but also by Canons of the church and by the ciuill lawes as in Codice de Iudaeis Mathematicis a man may se is greuousely punished yet Luther wil haue no other thing ment by those wordes of the Apostle whatsoeuer the holy fathers saie then politick and ciuill ordonnaunces whiche he lowdely and lewdely curseth And Melanchthon in despite of the fathers and Canons maintaineth at Wittenberg most aboue other sciences Astrologie so that in no place it is so much folowed and practised as there I could bring here diuers other false and corrupted traÌ„slations of Luther but that I feare me I should wery the reader with ouer long and superfluous recitall thereof Notwithstanding who so loueth the truthe and will not willfully be abused he may iudge of these fewe examples what trust is to be geuen to the rest of Luthers translation an such other heretikes especially if he consider that he that is ones ouer the showes will not sticke yet to wade furder But here peraduenture a man will demaunde Sir if it be so that the reading of the Bible in the vulgar tongue be so perilous a matter howe shall the vnlerned laye man prouide that he be not abused in this case For many there are amonge the laite that caÌ„ not refraine from reading holy scripture taking it for a greate comfort and instruction as well to bridle their passions as to moue them to vertu What part then of holy scripture might well be permitted them to reade For the whole corps of the Bible were it neuer so wel translated yet I doubt whether it were expedient for the laye to reade it For it might be an occasion of idle and light thoughtes if euery girle or yonge womaÌ„ should reade the stories of Lot and his doughters of Lia and Rachel the wiues of Iacob of Iudas and Thamar and howe aduoutrie may be tried in wemen Whiche all in the olde testament is to be reade Amonge the Iewes it was a lawe that before the age of taking priesthood which was of thirty yeares no man should be suffred to reade the beginning of the Genesis the Canticles the ende and beginning of Echechiels prophecy And that bicause although all this were the worde of God yet it was not thought expedieÌ„t that euery one indifferently should lightely come to these secret and high misteries whiche God would not haue reueled to all lest being coÌ„moÌ„ as it happeneth they should the lesse be estemed Nor it hath not ben without the singular disposition and maruailous prouideÌ„ce of God that throughe all the west churche the wordes of his holy Sacraments haue amonge so many barbarous nations ben kept so longe time in the Latin tonge vnknoweÌ„ and straunge to the common sorte of men Yet that the laite be not vtterly excluded from the misteries of holy Scripture but that they may as farre as is expedient for them reade and knowe them this our counsell were not paraduenture amisse Bicause in holy scripture there are many stories and other thinges which are not necessary to be knowen not only of the laite but also of the inferiour sorte of the clergy certain bishops of Rome many yeares past haue piked out of the whole corps of the Bible certain most necessary parcels thereof and set it forthe together in the forme of a Breuiary or portise to be read of the clergy by dutie and of the laite such as listeth This is so distributed in to the seuen howres of Christes passion that who so listeth applie him selfe to praier and deuocioÌ„ can surely imagin no better order then that is The right Noble and excellent lerned man George Gienger one of the preuy counsell to the Emperours Maiestie well perceauing the great commodite thereof hathe translated
the broode of that fonde frier sing the same song Beza and his companions at the late Synod of Poissy in FrauÌ„ce were stiff in that opinion aloÌ„g time but at the leÌ„gth were driuen from it whereupoÌ„ they chaunged the tenour of their supplication calling them selues Les esleus de Dieu the chosen of God This wilde persuasion is allmost receiued of all protestants It is the very heresy of the Pelagians condemned therefore in S. Augustins time as in his booke De heresibus he reciteth at large What a great corrupter of holy Scripture Luther hath ben in the second part of this Apologie it is at large declared by Fridericus Staphylus How our protestants also haue folowed his example therein and how manifoldly they haue peruerted the very text of holy Scripture I haue in part touched to geue good warning in the rest Who list to see how this hath ben the guiâ—e and maner of olde heretikes Let him reade Tertullian in his praescriptions S. Ambrose vpon the epistle of S. Paul to Titus Iraeneus also and S. Augustin writing against Adimantus the manichee cap. 12. 14. 16. What should I procede farder in declaring how Luther and his scholers folowe rhe race of olde heretikes bothe in their doctrine and in the maner and setting forthe thereof The very refusall of the auncient fathers in Christes church pronouÌ„ced as you haue heard so impudently of Luther and folowed with no lesse impudence of his scholers is no new point but euen the very shift of their forefathers cursed heretikes of olde time This appeareth well by the disputations of Athanasius with Arrius by the counsell of Sisinnius to the Emperour Theodosius by the maner of Eutyches in the Councell of Chalcedon by the writings of Cirillus touching Nestorius and of S. Basil coÌ„cerning Eunonius For all these lerned fathers could not drawe those vnruly heretikes to the rule of the auncient and holy writers in the Church of Christ. They appealed to only Scripture and would be tried only by that as Luther would and the protestants of our time wil though many heretikes receiued not the whole corps of Scripture but such partes only as liked them reiecting all that made against them euen as now a daies also Luther and his scholers reiect the bookes of Machabees and the epistle of S. Iames the one bicause it praieth for the dead the other bicause it writeth directly against their only faith Of what heretikes they lerned this shift we haue already declared defending the Machabees against M. Grindall Aduise your selues now good Christen readers whether you thinke the surer waie to saluatioÌ„ to for lowe the steppes of these fathers of Luther and all new ghospellers all condemned heretikes aboue a thousand yeares past or embrace the doctrine of the holy Fathers and lerned approued writers in Christes church May we not wel iudge and assuredly persuade our selues that the very sprit of heresy spake in Luther and speaketh in all new ghospellers preaching and defending olde condemned heresies Why haue protestants departed from the olde Catholike religion and embraced the new doctrine of Luther they saie forsothe bicause all thinges are reformed after the paterne and practise of the primitiue Church What meane they trow ye herein truly I do not otherwise thinke but that a great numbre the vnlerned and deceiued sorte take them to meane wel and that all is reduced to the doctrine and religion approued and generally receiued in the primitiue church for the espace of fiue or six hundred yeares after Christ. But vndoubtedly the lerned and ringleaders of this new fangled faith if they meane truly must nedes meane the renewing of such heresies as were in that time condemned For thus and no otherwise do they folow doctrine practised in that time that is of heretikes as in a numbre of particular assertions you haue sene But to returne to Luther what point of a right heretike is there that hath not in him ben verified He condemneth the Church and holy Fathers appointed of the holy Ghoste to gouuerne and direct his church as you see by his owne wordes before alleaged He corrupteth holy scripture by false translations as the secoÌ„de part of this Apologie hath declared you He denied partes hereof at his pleasure after the acustomed maner of al heretikes He holdeth teacheth and defendeth olde cursed and loÌ„ge condeÌ„ned heresies as we haue before deducted vnto you He hath bredd diuers sectes by his owne doctrine repugnaÌ„t and coÌ„trary one to an other to wit the Anabaptistes the SacrameÌ„taries the S weÌ„ck feldiaÌ„s and diuers other as it appeareth clerely by the Table of his Ofspring in the thrid part of this Apologie Finally bicause al heretikes are knoweÌ„ by their frutes what the frutes of this maÌ„s doctrine haue beÌ„ it is in this Apologie of Staphylus in diuers places expresly set forth as wel for the great decaye of deuotion and spirituall vertus as for the temporall waste and misery that of this heresy hath ensued Of his terrible arrogancy and pride the most euident token of a wilfull heretiken and voide of all grace and goodnes all that haue read his writings can testifie abundantly None more complaine thereof then his felowe protestants the Sacramentaries of Zurich as partly by their wordes in the thirde parte of this boke alleaged it maye well appeare Neuer baude in bridwell nor scolde in the stewes so railed as this man doth beinge comptrolled of his doctrine His awnswers against all such as wrote againste him abundantly declare the same For hereupon the ciuill Lutherans do swarue in many pointes from such doctrine as he was wonte to vtter in the vehemency of sprit as they cal it and in his cholere He wrote him selfe an Euangelist off Christ euen as Manicheus called him selfe an Apostle of Christ as S. Augustin witnesseth And off his scholers he is called the thirde Helias as in the story of his deathe we reade writen by Melanchthon Ionas and Pomeranus Euen as Manicheus was of his scolers called the holy ghost and Montanus of his secte also He writeth that he is sure and certain he hath his doctrine from heaueÌ„ eueÌ„ as Aetius sayde also of him selfe I knowe God moste clerely and euen as perfitly as I knowe my selfe The cause and original of Luthers departure from the church was ambitioÌ„ as all the ecclesiasticall histories of our time FoÌ„tanus Rouerus and other do testifie to witt bicause he was not preferred to the publishing of the famous pardon of the croisad The same ambition made Aerius an heretike bicause Eustathius was preferred before him in a certain bishoprike as Epiphanius recordeth The like writeth Tertullian of ValeÌ„tinus and Nicephorus reporteth of Montanus lib. 4 cap. 2. of Nouatus libro 6. capite 3. of Florinus libro 4. capite 20. and of Thebutes one of the firste heretikes in the Apostles time the very same cause of falling in
the Iewes were as verely and as truly baptised in the clowde vnder Moyses whiche Caluin most impudently affirmeth as we are in the fonte vnder Christ and his minister why were they baptised againe of S. Ihon or of the Apostles when they came to the faithe of Christ What a numbre of baptims dothe Caluin teache vs beside the one onely baptim of Christ whiche the Catholike church hathe lerned in holy scripture Circuncision the clowde the sea the baptim of S. Ihon and al these the very same and of the selfe same effect and force as the baptim of Christ. Is not Caluin trowe ye a ioyly Anabaptiste Nay dothe he not farre passe the Anabaptistes They go aboute to repete one twise Caluin maketh vs fyue for one off the which euery Christned Iewe by his doctrine hathe foure and euery vnchristened Iewe hathe three I woulde nowe passe from his heresies to his contradictions But I muste nedes put you in minde off one ioyly tricke of Caluin which he practised in the planting of this heresy In his commentaries vpon S Paule where he teacheth this doctrine after longe labour and strife seing he coulde bringe forthe no true childe but that it proued to a mōster and ougle vnnatural thinge and perceauing one foule faute in it which he thought most of all those of his generatiō would abhorre he goeth aboute to cloke it and colour it as wel as he maie The greate faute that he espied him selfe in this doctrine is that it had no expresse scripture for it You shall heare him finde the faute and see howe he will remedy it These be his wordes Sed rursum obijcitur nullum de his verbum extare I d ego fateor sed neque dubium hoc est quin Deus spiritu suo defectum externae praedicationis suppleuerit that is But they will obiecte againe That there is no worde extant hereof That do I confesse but it is not to be doubted but that God by his Spirit hath supplied the lacke of external preaching Lo Caluin nowe is glad to runne to the refuge of the holy ghoste for his doctrine whē scripture faileth him But when the Catholike churche directed allwaies and assisted by the holy ghoste teacheth vs any thinge that is not expressed in holy scripture Caluin can not abide it Hereupon in his Institutiōs he raileth at the adoratiō of Christ in the blessed sacrament bicause in holy scripture saieth he Nulla eius mentio ostendi potest quae tamen non fuisset pretermissa si deo accepta foret that is No mentiō there of cā be showed which notwithstāding had not bē omitted if it had liked god And in the matter of reseruatiō though he graūt that the primitiue church vsed it yet bicause it is not expressed in scripture he wil none of it Thus whē it pleaseth Caluin scripture is requisit and whē it pleaseth him not scripture may be lacked and the spirit of god maie supplie it In like maner though he crie vpō scripture alwaies and as we noted you before oute of his Institutitiōs wil not allow the church no farder thē she bringeth expresse scripture for her yet not only in this place he teacheth beside scripture and cōfesseth it to but also in many other places In the matter of the blessed sacrament of the aultar you haue sene in howe many and sundry pointes his doctrine repugneth to holy scripture while he laboureth to persuade men that to be but bread and wine which oure Sauiour pronounced to be his body and bloud It cometh nowe to my minde howe impudenly he shifteth awaie the authorite of expresse scripture where with he sawe him selfe pressed You shall heare his wordes In his Institutions the 18. chapter thus he writeth Vtcunque verborū Christi tangi se religione quiritentur quo minus figuraté intelligere ausint que sunt tam aperté dicta non est tamen hic satis iustus praetextus cur omnes quae contra obijciuntnr rationes ita respuāt that is Howesoeuer they crie and cōplaine that for the reuerence of Christ his wordes they dare not take it for a figure which was so plainly spoken yet this is no sufficient pretēce why they shuld refuse al such reasons as we bringe against thē This he writeth against the Lutherās which will not go frō the real presence of Christ in the Sacramēt And see we not here the vncredible arrogancy of this proude heretike Doth he not showe him felfe to be a very Antichriste For what can Antichriste require more off men then to haue the expresse wordes of Christ yelde to suche reasons as he will obiect against And dothe not Caluin require the very same Doth he not bidd the Lutherans beleue his reasons against the expresse wordes of Christ And where as the Lutheran alleageth that bicause the wordes of Christ are plaine saieng This is my body he can not be brought to make it a figure as Caluin dothe what other shifte hathe Caluin then to saie that this is no sufficient pretence why they shoulde refuse his reasons for the contrary Which is as much to saie Though Christ speake plainely yet you must harken also what we can saie against it and ye must geue eare to suche reasons as we can laie against him and then folowe my reasō what soeuer Christe or the ghospel telleth you Nowe what cā Antichriste require more Verely as S. Iohn saied of the heretikes of his time Antichristi multi sunt there are many Antichristes so may we most truly say of our time there are many Antichristes but none a more righter Antichrist thē this heretike Calui You haue sene good readers what heresies and howe diuers Caluin hathe partely renewed partly forged of his owne in his doctrine aboute these two Sacraments which onely he acknowleadgeth and taketh for Sacraments If we woulde vse the like diligence in other points of his doctrine we coulde be longe and should be I feare tedious And truly it were to be wished that neither the heresies of this man neither any heresie at all were knowen to the common and vnlerned people But bicause this suttle heretike hathe so wined him selfe in to mens hartes that he hathe trained them not onely from the Catholike churche of Christ but also from the Lutherās and Melanchthonistes which before bore all the swaie of this new gospell I thought good to discouer his heresies and other abominable doctrine aboute these two Sacraments as two of the waightiest articles nowe in controuersy and most of all other touching oure saluation to the entent that not onely the Catholikes and suche as god of his goodnes hathe hetherto staied in the faithe of the churche may as they do vtterly abhorre his doctrine neither yelde by the wickednes of the time to any one point thereof but also oure dere deceiued countremen that so gladly reade his workes and so gredely deuoure his diue lish doctrine maye lerne of
which it is nowe clere he doth If ye answer that so it is done bicause men by their owne wickednes malice and vngratefulnesse haue so deserued to be forsaken of God that shall be well and truly answered But bicause yet we see not the reason of this variete why some being brought to obedience other continewe indurated in the discussion of this doubte we must nedes haue recourse to that whiche S. Paule noted oute of Moyses to witt that from the beginning the Lorde had stirred them vp to showe his name through out all the worlde Now these wordes from the beginning are not in S. Paule nor Moyses in any text latin greke or hebrewe but are the wordes of Iohn Caluin added to the text of Gods worde for a vauntage to witt to make vs beleue that from the beginning euen before the fall of Adam God was the cause off induration aud harde hart of reprobats For he is not you see coÌ„teÌ„ted to attribut it only to their owne deserts and malice but seketh a superiour cause in God and that by the wordes of S. Paule from the beginning which he nor none of all his scholers are euer able to showe vs in any text of S. Paule that is This is lo the plaine dealing of these ghospellers and refourmers of Christes Church These be the chalengers of Gods worde This is the pure text they vaunte and boaste of They pretend to couet after the pure text and bare letter But as the poet saied ex vno disce omnes By Caluin lerne what the rest are And Time Danaos dona ferentes trust not an heretike though he bringe you scripture it selfe What false tricke is there that Caluin hath not plaied He hath corrupted the text with false translation as we showed you in the 9. chapter of Salomons prouerbes He belieth holy Scripture as yow heard in the S. chapter of S. Paull to the Romans He denieth expresse scripture as we declared you in the 19. chapter of the Actes of the Apostles He requireth to be heard against expresse scripture as we recited you oute of his Institutions And nowe you see he addeth to holy Scripture If this archeprotestant and greate ghospelling doctour behaueth him selfe so in his printed workes which remaine to be vewed of all lerned men what will the nouices of his religion and young prinking preachers sticke to do in pulpits where they knowe their audience to be not allwaies lerned and of the lerned some of a presumed preiudice to take all for good other to winke at all vti foro Albeit the doctrine of Caluin as you haue partly sene be stuffed with abhominable heresies and most absurde contradictions yet in all his doctrine he talketh peremptorely He matcheth him selfe with the Apostles He condemneth and reprouueth at his pleasure all holy fathers Whereby his pride and presumptuousnes sure mates of heresy vttereth it selfe I will for example note you a fewe of his sayinges where you shall see howe proudely he demeaneth him selfe and howe courteousely he ordereth the holy auncient and lerned fathers First as touching his contradictions about free will witting and feeling him selfe very well that he might wottly be charged therewith in one place of his booke of predestination he vtereth his feare and with a worde of his mouthe thinketh to make all the matter smothe These are his wordes I saie again I am not ignorant what apparent absurdite and contradiction this doctrine hath with prophane men and dispisors of God But whatsoeuer they bable or barke our conscience ought to serue vs for a thousand witnesses Is not this a gaie solution trow ye hath he not geuen vs a substaÌ„tiall warrant of the vniformite of his doctrine For what saieth he Forsothe whatsoeuer contradictions we see and beholde with our eyes yet we must trust Caluins coÌ„science that he is so honest a man that he would neuer saie or vtter any such thing Now reade againe those fewe of his contradictions that we haue recited who list and let him iudge in his owne conscience what the conscieÌ„ce of Caluin is and howe farre it is to be trusted Againe as touching the singularite off his doctrine which he knoweth and confesseth to be contrary to the olde fathers what reason thinke ye bringeth he for the defence off it In his treatise of baptim the 17. chapter of his Institutions he expouÌ„deth the wordes of Christ to Nicodemus Vnlesse a maÌ„ be borne again by water and the holy Ghost he shall not enter in to the knigdoÌ„ of heauen to be but an allegoricall speache against the whole practise off Christes church and consent of all holy fathers and lerned writers expounding the wordes off Christ literally as the text hath for necessite of baptim This Caluin knewe and confessed But how then thinke you doeth he excuse the matter what clâ—ke hath he for his singularite Ye shall heare After longe talke thus he concludeth Scio alios aliter interpretari sed hunc esse germanum sensum non dubito that is I knowe that other men haue otherwise expounded this but I doubt not but this is the right sence Lo Caluin doubteth not and therefore we must beleue him more theÌ„ all the church beside What is arrogancy if this be not Likewise in his doctrine and booke of predestination such as finde fault with his doctrine he saieth they blaspheme God and crieth vnto them as S. Paul did to such as Caluin is VVhat arte thou man which disputest with God Now what the doctrine off Caluin is you haue sene partly by this our simple discourse and more especially it appeareth in the third parte of this Apologie Yet he matcheth him selfe with God and vaunteth the coÌ„ptrollers of his hereticall doctrine with the check of S. Paul as curious serchers of Gods depe secrets And therefore no maruail iff he sett light by the holy Fathers off Christes church and reuerence them no deale at all In his treatise of baptim labouring to promote his heresy touching the baptim off S. Ihon that it should be equall with the baptim of Christ remembring that the Fathers of the church laie in his waie and withstode him to make the restafeared he geueth the venter vpon S. Augustin and saieth Nec recipienda est illa Augustini argutia in spe dimissa fuisse peccata Ioannis baptismo Christi baptismo reipsa dimitti that is Neither is that sutteltly off Augustin to be admitted that by the baptim of Ihon sinnes were forgeuen but in hope by the baptim off Christ they are forgeuen in dede In other places he calleth S. Augustin in dogmatibus ecclesiae fidelissimuÌ„ vetustatis interpreteÌ„ a most trusty reporter of antiquite in doctrines of the church But when it pleaseth M. Caluin S. Augustins doctrine is but a suttelty Likewise reprouuing the doctrine of penaunce where it is compared to the borde after a shipwracke which is a vsuall similitude off all
lerned writers he writeth thus They saie it is the similitude of Hierom whose so euer it be no doubt but it is a wicked similitude Againe in his treatise of predestination where as S. Gregory as all other Catholike writers teacheth that no man can be assured off his election he vaunteth proudly that lerned Father with these wordes Pessimé perniciose Gregorius c. that is worst of al and wickedly taught Gregory c. In his commentaries vppon the sixt of Iohn disprouing the interpretation of Chrisostom whom Theophilact Euthymius and diuers haue coueted alwaies to folowe Fallitur saieth he meo iudicio Chrisostomus Chrisostom in my iudgement is deceiued What thinke you would Caluin feare to vtter that setteth so light by these lerned fathers whom the church so many hundred yeares hath reuerenced and folowed May not we saie to Caluin and al such presumptuous preachers of new doctrine we knowe S. Augustin we reuerence S. Hierom we credit Gregory and Chrisostom but you M. Caluin what are you as it was saied to the vnbeleuing Iewes attempting to worke miracles vnder the name of Iesus and Paul Iesum noui Paulū scio vos autē qui estis that is Iesus I knowe and Paule also but who are you Caluin yet staieth not here he is not contented to reiect certaī of the Fathers the most lerned and most approued in certain pointes He goeth farder He cōdēneth the whole primitiue church in the whole maner of the worshipping of God For disputing against the blessed sacrifice of the Masse he chargeth it with Iuish superstition and thus he pronounceth off the whole order of the speciall and most principall seruice of the primitiue church They folowed rather the Iuish maner of sacrificing then as Christ had ordained or the order of the ghospel required Thus saieth Caluin not speaking of these late yeares but euen of the primitiue church of the first six hundred yeares vnto the which time our Caluinistes at home dissenting in this point from their Master at lest as they pretend do referr all their doings and make the people beleue that the primitiue Church vsed that order of Cōmunion as they do now telling them withall that the blessed sacrifice of the Masse and the maner thereof hath ben vsed onely sence these later hundred yeares Notwithstanding Caluin their master acknowledgeth that maner off sacrifising in the primitiue Church longe before that time which bicause off the ceremonies thereof he calleth Iuish I wote not herein what more to maruail at and lament other the vntolerable pride of this presumptuous heretike condemning the very primitiue church and therefore leauing vs no church sense the departure hence of our Sauiour or the wicked guile of our newe preachers which doing no lesse then Caluin doth sett yet a better coulour thereon to entrappe thereby the readier the vnlerned and well meaning people in to their schismatical communion For they condemne not openly the primitiue church of Iuish sacrifising as Caluin doth but denie stoutely that any such sacrifice or cerimonies was then vsed and offer to yelde if we can proue it Let them now lerne off their Masters owne confession that such there was and let them lerne off their Crede where they saie they beleue the Catholike church not to condemne the primitiue church therein which if they denie to be the Catholike and true church of Christ they may as wel denie Christ him selfe head thereof and frustrat the whole mistery of his blessed Incarnation as you heard before Dauid George did and many Lutherās and Caluinistes do now in diuers partes of Germany to the great grief of al good Christē hartes But to returne to Caluin what may not he or any other heretike do condemning and setting light by the fathers of the primitiue Church For by them we haue not onely the true and right interpretation of holy scripture but the scripture also it selfe which without their testimouy we could not be assured of Wherefore S. Augustin after he had left the Manichees and cleaued to the Catholike church of Christ writing against thē and commending vnto them the authorite thereof he saieth Euangelio non crederem nisi me Ecclesiae commoueret authoritas I would not beleue the ghospell vnlesse the authorite of the church moued me thereto Now Caluin is nothing moued therewith but leaneth more to his owne iudgement then to al the lerned writers and holy Fathers of Christes church beside Whereof he was worthely ones checked of Bucer telling him quod iudicaret prout amaret amaret autem prout libet that he iudged as he loued and loued what him pleased And truly the only cause whereby Caluin in his Institutiōs in his commētaries vpō holy scripture and in other his workes abuseth the reader and deceiueth the vnlerned is that he feareth not expounding scriptures boldely to preferr his owne iudgemēt eloquently sett forth before the iudgement of S. Augustin Hierom Chrisostom Ciprian Gregory Bernard and all the other holy lerned men that euer wrote Now what arrogancy is this If euery lerned man may sette forthe his iudgement to the worlde as the true meaning of Gods worde and condemne the allowed doctours of so great antiquite lerning and vertu as the holy Fathers are who seeth not that euery countre in Christendom euery vniuersite of the countre yea and euery lerned man of eche colledg in the vniuersite may plante from time to time new doctrine make new expositions off holy scripture contrary to all other and teache daily a new faith especially in this our time whē lerned mē such as Caluin was lacke not in al coūtres Howe bitterly wrote Luther against Zwinglius Melanchthō against Illyricus VVestphalus against Caluin Brentius against Peeter Martyr and all the other against these Eche of them by lerning laboureth to drawe the worlde to their owne iudgement while they all condemne all other mens iudgements You will saie We must cleaue to scripture and leaue al partes aside Truly al do so And that is not the controuersy betwene these men nor betwene thē and the Catholikes which of them cleaue to scripture For al do so as fast as is possible but whether of them all do rightly expounde and truly vnderstande holy scripture For the Caluinistes do otherwise vnderstand holy scripture then the Melanchthonistes The Melanchthonistes otherwise then the Saxon Lutherans The Saxons otherwise thē the Osiandrins The Osiandrins otherwise then the Suenckfeldiās and they otherwise then all these Those whiche haue read their writings can not be ignorant thereof I will make you here a brief note of the speciall matters now in controuersy betwene them and so make an ende with Caluin The Zuinglians and Caluinistes agree with the Ciuill Lutherans the Melancthonistes in the article of good workes that they are necessary to saluation and in the Supper of the Lorde that the figure only not the true body of Christ is there geuē
by his owne wordes being forced to declare the same by the impudent reproches of Smidelinus his aduersary In his Absolut apology writē in the yeare 1562. thus he writeth Whereas Smidelinus obiecteth to me that I was Luthers and Melanchthons scholer I denie it not for I liued in the vniuersite of wittenberg ten yeares of my owne costes and charges studying there vnder Luther Melāchthon and others At that time also being a younge man rash and vnskilfull I was infected somwhat with the poisonnous doctrine of Luther Howbeit that was not so rooted in me but that it was soone driuen out again And that I neuer consented thoroughly to the fifte ghospell of Luther many thinges do euidently proue First that whereas the Masters off Wittenberg would nedes persuade me to procede Doctour amonge them I would neuer do it And that only bicause I would not take the othe of the vniuersite and make open confession of my belefe in that place And this Doctour George Maior who yet liueth can beare me witnes of Secondarely bicause I would neuer take vppon me the Lutheran Ministery in any church though fewe yeares past I haue ben required of certain Princes to high dignites as to be Superintendent in sondry places as at Augspurg at Lubeck and at Brunsuick Thirdly this may declare how litle I fancyed in my hart the doctrine of Luther that being called and chosen of the Duke of Prussia to be a Reader in his dominions at Coningsberg and a Counseller I caused in the write of my stipend this cōdition expresly to be put that I would be cōpelled to no religion or doctrine that in any point repugned with the doctrine of the primitiue Catholike and Apostolicall church and of this my condition I am able to show iff nede shall require sufficient testimonies By these wordes ye may see off what reputation and opinion of lerning and vertu this man was at Wittenberg Augspurg Lubeck and Brunsuick the most famous cytes of the Lutheran profession His wisedō and other noble qualites he well declared first in the seruice of a counseller to the Duke of Prusia from whome he was forced to depart and that as he writeth to the losse of some thousands of marks bicause like a worthy and faithfull Counseller he frely aduertised eftsones the Duke to beware of the cursed heresies of Osiander and his felowes Secondarely in the like seruice vnder the Catholike and vertuous Duke of Bauaria vnder whom he was in such credit that he was made ouerseer and Chauncelour of the vniuersite of Ingolstad iointly with the Bishop of Eistat Thirdely for his wisedom lerning and vertu he was of longe time and many yeares Counseller to the late most worthy Emperoure Ferdinandus vnder whom he hath done noble seruice as well in the diets and conferences in Germany as in embassages of Liflande Pole and other countres As for the great labour and diligence he bestowed to shift him selfe oute of the captious and contentious controuersies of this time wherein he was nouseled in his youth it may wel appeare in that as he writeth in the first part of this booke He emploied only the study of Diuinite and matters of Cōtrouersie about two and twenty yeares not medling in all that time with any worldly or ciuill matter And what thinck you after so many yeares study and labour after so great experience and lerning was the chiefest argument and reason whereuppon he forsoke the Lutherans and claue vnto the Catholikes forsoth he declareth it in the very same place last alleaged and it is right worthy to be noted This saieth he was the chief and principal cause why I actōpted the diuers doctrine of Luther and his felowes to be hereticall and for such do vtterly forsake it and detest it this again is the cause why I esteme the doctrine in all Christendom which they call the Popedom receiued to be the only true and holesom doctrine bicause this doctrine is the Catholike and vniuer sally receiued interpretation of holy scripture but their doctrine is only their priuat opinion and their priuat deprauation of holy Scripture This lowas the principall reason that drew this wise lerned and vertuous man from the sectes of his Masters Luther and Melāchthō and brought him home to the perfect vnite of the Catholike faith for he sawe by lōg experiēce that al the doctrine of the new ghospellers was nought els but their owne traditiōs their propre inuentions and priuat imaginations for ging vpon the worde of God such sence as them listed and telling then the people that the same was the very worde of God whereas the Catholikes folowed such sence and meaning of the writen worde as by the lerned fathers continual tradition and vniuersall consent of Christendom was receaued and allowed And truly this only reason may be sufficient bothe for the vnlerned and deceaued protestants to reduce them home again to the Catholike churche of Christ and to kepe also within the same such as by the grace of God vertuous education and good instructions haue not yet swarued from the same Which I beseche almighty God it may so do And thus much hitherto of this present Treatise and the author thereof Many other things there are which I would gladly aduertise the Reader of But bicause we haue I feare ben ouerlong allready and the Author him selfe hath prefixed a long but a lerned and profitable preface and therefore not to be omitted I wil here breake of and after the ende of the Authors whole discourse put for conclusion the rest of my meaning aduertising in the meane season the reader of this one thing that this our labour being an interpretation and bound to the inuentiō of the Author we haue not ne coulde not vse the like eloquence as the free stile geueth beseching the notwithstanding gentle Reader to take our paines in good part Farewell At Louain the 12. of Nouember 1564. Thomas Stapleton THen saieth Nicephorus of the time of Constantius his empire vnder whom the Arrians flourished new deuises were commended and increased daily growing to a straunge alteration so farre that euery man setting light by all auncient lawes and ordonaunces forged him selfe fresh of his owne And yet their doctrine he meaneth the Arrians was not of all such receiued but eche one imagined new opinions heaping vp euer doctrine vpon doctrine Then Aetius Eunomius Eudoxius eche one diuersly Vttered their blasphemies against Christ. Then Macedonius also blasphemed against the holy Ghoste Gregory Nazianzen reasoned against those newe doctrines in this sorte IF our faith be but yet thirty yeares olde foure hundred yeares being now passed ouer sence the coming of Christ then our ghospell hath ben so long in vaine our faith also hath ben to no purpose Then so many Martirs haue invaine testified their faith in Christ. Then so many Bishops and pastours haue in vaine so longe fedd the flock of Christ. If prescription of foure hundred
and his soule And this is lo the well spring of sondry heresies nowe a daies Wherein me thinketh it fareth as if the common craftes men of a cite vpon a stomach of priuat presumption would sodenly displace all phisicians and remoue poticaries from their shops persuading themselues to knowe as wel as they the vertu of their medicines balmes drogges waters ointmēts rootes herbes and other such ware and hereuppon would take vpon them to minister bothe to them selues and vnto other potions purgations and all kinde of medicine Were not these men thinke you likely to do much good in shorte time especially if other would be so madde as to beleue them would not experience quickely teache them to call home againe their olde Masters Phisicians and poticaries and set these men to their craftes againe Surely so it is of the holy scripture translated in to the vulgar tongue and so made common for all men For the laye man may so reade them and picke out metsons mete for his appetit but for lacke of skill as experience hath tried he will cast him selfe downe being whole before and so as they saie shall paie for touching For in very dede the vnlerned man is not acquainted with the phrase of scripture he knoweth not the language of the holy ghoste and although he heare the sounde yet he seeth nothing nor vnderstādeth not to what ende or purpose this or that be spokē For it fareth in scripture as in medicines which although they are ordained of God for the helthe of mans body and are the giftes of God yet if they be not vsed in time and place as the desease requireth and as the lerned physician appointeth they may be mischef in stede of a remedy and serue to kill man being made to heale man By this similitude the vnlerned maie gather howe dangerous it is for him to reade the scripture in his mother tongue especially with the entēt to interpret it as he shal thinke best him selfe Nowe whereas I haue in dede founde faute with the translation of Luther and haue withdrawen men frō reading of it I haue don it vpon good reason and waightie considerations For it is euident that Luther in his translatiō hath bothe corrupted the text omitting and altering the very wordes and also hath depraued the sence of the text by false and hereticall gloses partly added in the margin partly foisted in the text it selfe So by clipping awaie the termes of the text and patching on the suttle shiftes of his owne braine he hath gaily coloured his pernicious doctrine with the painted shethe of pretended scripture I wil here bringe you for a taste some fewe examples of his liegerdemain geuing you to vnderstāde what conscience he is likely to haue in other doctrine that feareth not to iugle to cogge and to foist in holy scripture it selfe S. Paule writeth thus vnto the Ephesians according to the Latin translation Which also worde for worde agreeth with the graeke text Wherefore take vnto you the whole armour of God that ye maye be able to resist in the euill daie and stande perfite in all thinges These wordes of S. Paule the honourable and lerned man George Gienger one of the preuie counsell vnto the Emperoures Maiestie translated after this sorte Darum ergreift den harnisch Gottes auf daffir andem boesen tag widersteē kundt vnd in al len dingē als die volkommen vesteen mijghr that is Therefore take on the barnis of God to the entent that in the euill daie you maie resist and in all thinges stande as the perfite But Luther clipping the text translated it thus Omb des wegen so ergreifft den hamisch Gottes auff daf ir widersteen kundt an dem bosen tag vnd in allen ewren thun besteen mijgt which soundeth thus Therefore so take on the barnis of God to the entent that you may resiste in the euill daie and stande in all workes In the which sentence Luther omitteth the worde perfecti in laten als die volkommen in dutche perfyte in englishe which deprauation of the text in this place and cutting awaie the worde perfyte serued his turne very well to raise vp againe the stinking heresie of the Maniches For he writeth that Sinne is parte of man and a thing giltie it selfe which cleaueth also so fast vnto man that it can in this life be taken a waie by no vertu of the grace of God or of the Sacraments and therefore that man remaineth allwaies in sinne nor is not able to attaine to any point of righteousnes in this life And herein Luther as the maner and custome of heretikes is fighteth against scripture with scripture it selfe For S. Paule saieth Not bicause I am alreadye perfyte but I folowe iff that I may comprehend and a litle after Let vs therefore as many as be perfyte be thus wise minded Here he maketh mencion of two sortes of perfectiō One which cōsisteth in hope and is looked for in the life to come of the wich the Apostle in an other place speaketh By hope we are saued an other which Christ speaketh of saying Be ye perfyte as your father of heauē is perfyte and again Be merciful as your father of heauē is merciful which perfectiō is as for exāple that oure glory be the witnes of our owne conscience which we are boūde to haue in this life and therefore ought to labour as S. Paule before exhorted vs that taking vpon vs the armour of God we may stāde perfyte in all thinges Now Luther admitteth no perfectiō in this life but teacheth that man is so farre from being perfyte in this life that God doth compell him to sinne S. Paule vseth often times the worde perfection but so that he confoundeth not the perfectiō of the life to come with the present which in this life as procliue and subiect to sinne maye and ought be kept of vs as farre as our infirmitie beareth Yet this perfection as litle as it is Luther to the entent he might vtterly take awaie he sticketh not as you see to clippe the coyne of Gods worde and bereue the text of the worde perfite lest any man perhaps woulde labour to be honest and vertuous The like slight vsed he in an other place of the Apostle for the like purpose and intent For whereas the Latin and Greke text bothe do reade By the lawe we haue knowleadge of sinne Luther corrupteth it translating after this sorte Durchs Gesetz ist nur erkantuus dee Sijnden that is By the lawe is nothing but knowledg of sinne For as before he clipped awaie the worde perfyte so here he foisteth in the worde Nur nothinge but to buylde againe the former heresie vpon this text But although Luther as by his writinges it is manifest and as the Illyricans and Antinomi his scholers do yet teache professed at the first that the lawe nor before nor after
import Now Caluin in his frēch trāslatiō printed at Geneua and at Lyōs by the heires of Iohn Michel turneth it thus Ila tue ses victuailles il a verse son vin that is She hath killed her victuals powred out her wine and prepared her table And this is the very trāslation also of our english Bible printed in the yeares 1549. 1551. 1552. and 1562. But bothe the trāslatiōs of our Bible and of Caluin herein their Master are other them selues much deceaued or do malitiously deceaue other For the latin the greke and the hebrew all with one accorde reade after the first english translation aleaged by vs. The hebrew hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greke readeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The latin hath Immolauit victimassuas miscuit vinum suum c. Nowe I appeale to all the lerned in these tongues whether the wordes of these textes aunswer not worde for worde to the first translation brought by vs. True it is that in the greke text the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ambiguous and may signifie to mingle or to fill out But the hebrewe text admitting no suche ambiguite from whence the greke was deriued nor the latin which folowed the greke that worde must nedes be takē in such sence as the greke receiued of the hebrew and as the latins folowed in the greke Therefore the french translation of Caluin and our english folowing the same is not the worde of God nor the text of holy scripture but the worde of Caluin and his text What may not heretikes do if they maye sette vs forthe their worde for the worde off God their imaginations for holy scripture their poisonned heresies for sounde faith You haue sene what conscience our protestants make of it and howe many places of holy scripture they haue altered peruerted and corrupted for the maintenaūce of their pretēded ghospel I will not in wordes exaggerat this wicked presumption of our protestāts The matter it selfe doth I truste sufficiently speake it And I do not vtterly despeare their amendment when they shall see and fele their falshood discouered and broughte to light seing that in the later translations they betray sometime their former iuggling as in certain places here noted by Staphylus of Luther it is euident For although as we saied in our preface of all the places corrupted by Luther and noted here by Staphylus there is but one readen in the cōmon translations off our countre yet that is to be vnderstanded of the later onely printed in the yeares 1552. and 1562. For in the former translations printed in the yeares 1549. and 1551. the place of S. Paule in the 1. to Timothe the 4. chapter and the first to the Corinthians the 9. chapter are corrupted euen as Luther had first taught them but in their later editions they haue made the holy ghoste to talke in an other language Well I beseche God to geue thē grace farder to see and to amēde their owne fautes and other men spedely to beware of them And truly what one man yea what one colledge or vniuersite of lerned men may take vpon it to sette forthe any translation other then whiche allwaies hath ben receiued Erasmus Roterodam a lerned man vndoubtedly but in this point ouer rashe was the firste of our time that with his newe translation in latin of the newe Testament comptrolled the olde Whereof he is worthely reprehended of diuers And what folowed Soone after Sebastian Castalion sette forthe an other translation in latin also Likewise Luther in the vulgar tongue which only was commaunded amonge the protestants to be reade and vsed in a publick decree made at Lipsia But an on after the Zwinglians of Zurich published yet an other translation of the Bible And in the preface of it they write plainely that the congregation ought to be bounde to no certain trāslation but that euery man may turne the text of holy Scripture according to his iudgement Thus we see by this bare text of scripture left of Luther more then Antichrist will leaue as they saie in the liberte of so many and diuers translations to be a very bare and weake staye of mens consciences and litle better then if with Antichrist we had no Scripture at all For when a doubte ariseth in holy Scripture as thousandes do what helpe haue we The expositions of holy fathers Councells and so forthe by the vardit of Luther auaileth not Translations be false diuers and vncertain What then Forsothe there is yet one shifte more Places of scripture they saie must be conferred and laied together so one place shall geue light to the other Is this allwaies true Maye this be a generall rule Let vs take for example some parcel of holy scripture Greate controuersies and sundry sectes are nowe a daies vpon these fewe wordes of Christ Take eate this is my body Luther and Zuinglius Brentius and Carolostadius were at defiaunce one with an other vppon the true meaning thereoff Luther excommunicateth all that confesse not the naturall body withe the bread to be there Zuinglius and Carolostadius will haue the breade to be but a signe or tokē of the body The latin text is plaine and euident for the reall presence The greke likewise Will they counsell the hebrewe ghospell of S. Matthewe If any hebrewe text serued their turne were it neuer so barbarous or Rabbinicall they would not spare to sett it out to the vttermost Let vs then see what that text hath I meane not the barbarous text of Munster nor the lerned exercise of Quinquarboreus but that text which beinge founde in Italy amonge the Iewes was of late yeares printed and sett forthe in Paris without points by the diligence of Ioannes Mercerus That text readeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Take and eate this which is my body Here the hebrew text though it haue some one worde more then the latin and greke translation yet it furdereth the meaning of the Catholikes and fighteth directly against the Sacramentaries But let these interpretations by helpe of tongues passe Let vs see howe by conference of other places this sentēce may be lightned Luther compareth these wordes to the saying of S. Iohn Verbum caro factum est The worde is made flesh Zuinglius compareth them with an other place Caro non prodest quicquam The fleshe profiteth nothing Caluin varying from Zuinglius though bothe Sacramentaries in his commentaries vppon S. Matthew saieth Corporis appellatio pani tribuitur ea ratione qua Spiritum Sanctum Ioannes columbam vocat that is The bread is called the body of Christ as Iohn calleth the holy ghoste a pigeon An other sacramentary cometh yet and saieth those wordes are like to the saying of S. Paule The rocke was Christ. Lo these men haue conferred these wordes of Christ This is my body with other places of Scripture But haue they nowe founde out the truthe
amator ciuitatis vt valde bene audiens c I stam vero eius mortem mirabiliorem quā quā prudentiorem narrauit quemadmodum facta esset non tanquam facienda esset scriptura laudauit Nostrum est autem sicut Apostolus admonet omnia probare quod bonum est tenere Et hanc quidem scripturam que appellatur Machabaeorum non habent Iudaei sicut legem Prophetas psalmos sed recepta est ab Ecclesia non inutiliter si sobrie legatur vel audiatur that is Razias therefore was praised as one that tendred the cyte and a man of a very good name c. But his deathe more straunge and wonderfull then wise and discret is declared of the scripture howe it was done not commended as if it ought so to be done But it is our parte as the Apostle teacheth vs to proue and trie all thinges and to holde that good is And this Scripture which is called the Machabees the Iewes in dede receiue not as the lawe the prophets and the psalmes But it is receaued of the church not vnprofitably if it be read and heard with discretion Thus farre S. Augustin In whose Wordes you see M. Grindall that not only he acknowledgeth the bookes off the Machabees for Scripture and that receiued off the Church but also he telleth vs how Razias is commended in these bookes not as you obiect in your Sermon bicause he killed him selfe but bicause he was amator ciuitatis c. Howe thinke you shall we condemne the bookes of the Iudges bicause we reade there of Sampson that he killed him selfe or the Genesis bicause we reade there of Lot that he laie with his daughters and off Iudas that he compained as he thought with a hoore by the high waie shall we not rather reuerence the holy Scripture and saie with S. Augustin that Scripture declareth these thinges howe they were done not commending them as if they ought to be done As for your other sory shift where you gesse that the place of the Machabees commēding praier for the dead hath ben put to the text by some addition of late yeares bicause you saie certain of the oldest copies in greke haue no mention thereof I answer to charge the Church withe any such addition hauing no proufe thereof as yet you bringe none is the maner of olde heretikes the Manichees by name who saied also the genealogie in S. Matthew was added to his ghospell by some they knew not who And as for greke copies that lacke that place of praieng for the dead if you haue sene any such M. Grindall you may rather thinke they are corrupted of some olde or new Aerians heretikes as you haue heard in that point then to doubte of the common receiued text of holy Scripture els what heresy is there that may not escape by this shift if it may be lawfull vpon variete off copies which may rise of sundry causes as well the printed as the writen to call in doubt the authorite of holy scripture which ought without all doubt being ones vniuersally authorised assuredly and constantly be beleued and folowed And thus much to the reasons and arguments brought against the bookes of Machabees You go forthe M. Grindall and you saie Secondarely we haue no example in the Canonicall Scripture of any inuocation for the dead What then M. Grindall if that were true as we haue proued it already false will you therefore condemne the practise of the vniuersall Church which is clere and euident in this point What example in Canonicall scripture haue you off celebrating the Sonday holy daie Will you therefore driue men to their craftes that daie with the Sabbataries a secte of the Anabaptistes of oure time what example of Canonicall scripture haue you of inuocation of the holy Ghost Will you therefore as that protestant Minister of Morauia preached rather be a papist then beleue in the holy Ghoste What example haue you in Canonicall Scripture of baptising infants before the yeares of discretion Will you therefore with the Anabaptistes baptise no children hereafter in the Realme and call vs all to the fonte againe And did not thinke you the Anabaptiste laugh in his sleue when he heard you make youre reasons in pulpit vpon lacke of example of Canonicall scripture Especially when you concluded afterward so stoutely and solemnely For most certain it is if praier for the dead had ben so necessarie as many now adaies woulde haue it seme it had not lacked all authorite and example of the Canonicall Scriptures as it doth Surely M. Grindal you can neuer speake better worde for heretikes then graunting them this your proposition that without example and authorite of Canonicall scripture nothing is to be admitted And yet this one sentence is the grounde and foundation of all your newe doctrine For why May not the Anabaptiste saie vnto you iff yow hadde him in consistory before you Most certain it is my L. if baptising of infants and babes were so necessary as you would haue it seme it had not lacked all authorite and example of the Canonicall Scriptures as it doth And could you then repell him for so saying seing you preache it in pulpit and make it your strongest argument to ouerthrow praier for the dead Againe might not Nestorius haue tolde Cyrillus and all the fathers of the Ephesin Councell We haue no example in the Canonicall scripture that Our Lady is called the Mother of God And certain it is if it were so necessary a matter to haue her so called and beleued for such as you will haue it seme pronouncing me an heretike for denying it and assembling your selues so from al partes of the worlde for approuing and defending it it had not lacked all authorite and example of Canonicall Scriptures as it dothe might he not I saie thus haue tolde them as you M. Grindall do tell vs if that argument had ben thought worth the telling Might not Arrius haue quarelled in like maner with the fathers of the Nicen Councel for the wordes Consubstantiall and ingenitus might not Heluidius haue vsed the like againste S. Hierom for the perpetuall virginite of our Lady and Nouatus with S. Cyprian for reconciling of such as had abiured Christ For none of al these had any authorite or exāple in the Canonical Scriptures And yet M. Grin dall the Anabaptistes the Nestorians the Arrians the Nouatians the Heluidians be all condēned heretikes euen by your owne iudgement I doubt not though the Catholike doctrine in confuting of al those heresies lacke all authorite and example of the Canonicall Scriptures Where is then nowe become your argument against vs for lacke of Scripture supposing it were true we did so lacke Where is nowe that stoute and great assertion Most certain it is cae But to ouerthrow with one worde this forte and shooteancker of all your pretended religion tell vs I praie yow if without authorite and
that continuall communion which we surely haue withoute the frequentation of the Supper And this continuall communion withoute the frequentatioÌ„ vse or accesse of the Supper he meaneth to be the very same which we haue in the Supper as his wordes folowing declare where he saithe Simul tameÌ„ fateor nihil hic dici quod non in Coena figuretur ac vere praestetur fidelibus that is Yet I confesse withall that nothing is here spoken which is not figured and truly exhibited to the beleuers in the Supper Then the doctrine of Caluin is clere and euident in this point that we receaue Christe no lesse and haue him no lesse dwelling in vs coÌ„tinually though we come not to the communioÌ„ or Sacrament then if we come and resorte thither What nede I speÌ„de wordes time and paper in refelling this moste absurde doctrine if this be so why scorne they of Caluins secte against suche as liste not come to their table Maye not good men tell theÌ„ that by the doctrine of Caluin they coÌ„municat and receaue Christ allwaies by faithe in their hartes no lesse then at their table or coÌ„munion and that they take nothing there but suche as they had before they came thither Caluin teacheth this most directly as you haue heard and as they maye more see whiche liste to reade his litle treatise entitulâ—d A resolution vpon the Sacraments in the fourtenth and ninteth articles I will here aske one question of the Caluinistes and scholers of Geneua in our countre If as Caluin saithe vpon the sixte of Ihon we haue a perpetuall communion of Christ no lesse withoute celebrating the Supper of the Lorde then in celebrating it what nede Christen meÌ„ celebrat that Supper They will perhaps awnswer that in the Supper we receaue Christ SacrameÌ„tally not only Spiritually as without the Supper we do If this be the only differeÌ„ce touching our part and the frute that we receaue thereat theÌ„ the differeÌ„ce onely is this that at the communioÌ„ we receaue a piece of bread more then they whiche stande by and looke on Spiritually saithe Caluin al true beleuers receaue Christ and eate his body before they come to the Sacraments for els saithe he we should tye Christ to his sacraments Sacramentally we receaue Christ by Caluins doctrine when we receaue the signes to witt bread and wine Lo what the coÌ„munion of oure countre is â–ª a piece of bread and nought els They will perhaps saie we celebrat in the Supper the remembraunce of Christ his passion I awnswer So do they whiche stande by no lesse then those whiche receaue Againe is eating your bread and drinking your wine a remembraunce of Christ his deathe and passion A likely matter truly You are wonte to crie on scripture and allow no doctrine withoute it Tell vs then from the beginning off the Genesins vto the ende of S. Ihons Reuelation where the remembraunce of Christ his passion is taught to be celebrated by eating a piece of bread at a table in the churche and drinking a drawthe off wine at the hande of a Minister vpon whom no handes haue ben layed by the order of priesthood as by S. Paule we lerne to be necessary Showe this and them your communion shall be somewhat more then a piece of bread and a cuppe of wine Nowe is it nothinge elles And this verely is the cause of so many drie communions in oure countre this is the reason why in Germany as Friderikus Staphylus recordeth some of the Sacramentaries come not ones in ten yeres to the communion some neuer at all As touching the hearing of the ghospell if as Caluin in his wordes aboue recited and in his resolutions teacheth we receaue Christ and are made partakners of all his benefits no lesse then by the communion then is it ynoughe to heare the sermon and no nede at all to tary oute the communion then was the primitiue churche muâ—he deceaued suffring the Catechumins and open penitents to heare sermons excluding them afterwarde from the communion S. Chrisostom in his homelies complaineth that in the pulpit he had as greate audience as was possible but at the aultar he was lefte alone Truly by Caluins doctrine he was a foole so to complaine for the people had receaued Christ all ready at the sermon What neded they then to tary oute the communion Againe what scripture haue these men that at Sermon we receaue Christ no lesse then at the communion truly if men see not these absurdites they wil see nothing By the sermon we are instructed not clensed as by baptim we lerne Christ we do not communicat Christes body as in the blessed Sacrament But these men as longe as they may saye and teache what they liste vncomptrolled what may we thinke they will at length do truly they wil haue nor communion nor baptim nor churche nor minister but a faire pulpit in the fielde where euery man as the Spirit moueth him maie teache what he liste and the other beleue as they liste It is all ready in some countres brought to this point And there is no cause but we maie feare the like vnlesse spedy policy refraine their vnruly liberty You haue good Readers the effect of Caluins doctrine touching the blessed Sacrament with certain of the absurdites depending thereof We come nowe to his coÌ„tradictions aboute the same matter whiche when you shall see to be in him diuers and most manifest recorde with your selues that as in coÌ„moÌ„ plea where the witnesses are taken in contrary tales the euidence must nedes be naught so in the controuersy of this most highe mistery Caluin being the enditer against the olde possession of oure belefe herein and chefe pleader if you maie take him in coÌ„trary tales you maie not doubte but the euideÌ„ce of his doctrine must nedes be starke staring naught Beside his coÌ„tradictioÌ„ shall serue vs as a most stroÌ„ge weapoÌ„ to ouerthrow his doctrine layde in against vs for thus he him self shal cut is owne throte condemne and confute his owne sayengs I will first drawe you out the effect off his doctrine against the reall presence off Christ in the Sacrament and show you how he accoÌ„breth him selfe how he turneth and windeth seking by some probabilite to coÌ„founde the doctrine of the catholike churche and yet after many wordes confoundeth him selfe by his owne contradiction Marke therefore his wordes we bring you nowe and howe the other that we shall bringe you after do agree In his institutions treating of this Sacrament see howe he dothe coÌ„trary him selfe First he saith We caÌ„ not be meÌ„bres of Christ his body bones of his bones and fleshe of his fleshe which all S. Paul affirmeth we are vnlesse whole Christ bothe in Spirit and in body cleaue vnto vs. and oure Lord saieth Caluin doth testifie offer and geue in the holy supper to all that receaue that spirituall banquet suche a communion of his body and of his
Christians We haue peraduēture ben ouer longe in this one point But it was necessary that the suttle shiftes of that wily heretike shoulde be discouered This perilous booke of his Institutions is as I vnderstande in oure englishe tongue and commaunded to be reade of the simple and vnlerned priestes Let these fewe pointes that by occasion in this oure discours we haue discouered be a lesson and charitable aduertismēt vnto them what to iudge of the rest Truly it were better for them being vnlerned to nourishe a serpent at their table then to reade this perilous poisonned booke whereby the olde serpent is euer at hande to seduce them in to most hainous heresies and most horible blasphemies as we haue before in parte touched The seconde heresy that Caluin vttereth and forgeth himselfe aboute this doctrine of baptim is that the Iewes were baptised in the cloude and in the read sea as we are in the fonte He teacheth this doctrine in his cōmentaries vpon the first to the Corinthiās the tenth chapter and concludeth that in spirituali substantia in figura visibili bothe in the spirituall substaunce and in the visible figure their baptim in the cloude and in the read sea agreeth with oure baptim in the fonte And therefore he teacheth the Iewes to haue had the sacramēt of baptim no lesse then we And this he dothe bicause he woulde bringe oure Christen faith to mere figures signes and shadowes in the whiche the Iewes in the olde lawe were traded to a better perfection vnder Christ as S. Paule teacheth But let vs see howe hereticall and false this doctrine is First it repugneth manifestly against holy scripture For S. Paule after he had saied the Iewes were baptised in the cloude and in the read sea he saieth euen immediately after Hec in figura facta sunt nostri these thinges were done in the figure of vs. and againe after a fewe lines Haec autem omnia in figura contingebant illis all these thinges happened to them in figure And thus do all holy fathers expoūde this place Chrisostom saieth Veritatis nominibus vsus est in figura the Apostle vsed the names off the verite in the figure S. Augustin sayeth their passing throughe the read sea whereby the escaped the Aegyptians figured the deliuraunce of vs from the deuill throughe baptim Theodoret writeth that the cloud ouer shadowing them from burning heates figured the grace of the holy ghoste ouershadowing vs from flame of concupiscence and sinne S. Hierom likewise writeth that these thinges happened vnto them in vmbra typo non in veritate in shadowe and figure not in verite Onely Caluin against expresse scripture and so many lerned fathers impudently as his maner is defendeth that the cloude and the read sea was as true a baptim to the Iewes as the holy fonte is to vs. But let vs see what absurde inconueniences depend of this doctrine thoughe nor scripture nor authorite of holy fathers made against it If the children of Israel were baptised bothe in the read sea and in the cloude with the like perfection as we in the fonte then they were twise baptised and our baptim may be double not withstanding the perfection of it Which being so we must chaunge the scripture in S. Paule saying there is vna fides vnum baptisma but one faithe and but one baptim Caluin here awnswereth that these are two different signes making but one baptim awnswering to oure baptim But see I praie you what a sory shifte this is For first by the doctrine of Caluin as you haue heard before baptim is nought els but a signe of the remission of sinnes by the which we are admitted in to the felowship and societe of Christen men Nowe if the Iewes had two suche different signes had they not two baptims or els if those two signes made but one baptim then in the clowde they were not baptised vntell they had passed the read sea which was afterwarde Nowe S. Paule saieth they were baptised in the cloude and in the sea Iff the worde Baptised as Caluin will haue it be ment of true baptim suche as oures is then were they truly baptised bothe in the cloude and in the sea whiche were two diuers actions and at two sundry times Againe if the children of Israel were baptised in the cloude and in the sea with the like perfection as we are in the fonte howe will Caluin auoide the suspicion of an Anabaptiste seing they were baptised before in their circumcision by the doctrine of Caluin For Caluin in his Institutions in his chapter of baptim teacheth that circuncision was to the Iewes as baptim was to vs the onely difference being in the outwarde signe to witt that by circuncision they had remission off sinnes life euerlasting and were admitted in to the leage of god And oure baptim as you haue heard Caluin defineth to be naught els but a sure token or warrant that we be admitted in to the societe and number of Christen men ioyned in leage to god Nowe if the Iewes by Circumcision had their perfit baptim and yet in the cloude and in the sea were baptised again as perfitly dothe not this doctour of Geneua teache vs diuersite of baptims Dothe he not muche furder the cause of the Anabaptistes Seing it is but a matter of signes by Caluins doctrine haue not they greate occasion to crie vpon rebaptisation It is not muche to be maruailed if so many Sacramentaries be also Anabaptistes as experience doth showe in all those countres where Sacramentaries do swarme The doctrine of Caluin dothe minister right good occasion thereunto as you shall see yet by one consequence more deducted of this his heresie If the Iewes were baptised in their circuncision in the cloude in the sea and receaued the same baptim as Christen men do in the fonte howe saye we to the baptim of S. Ihon Why dyd S. Ihon baptise the Iewes being baptised before with the very same baptim For if as Caluin here saieth the Iewes were baptised in the cloude and in the sea no lesse then we are in the baptim of Christ and againe the baptim of S. Ihon be as you hearde him saie before the very same baptim that Christ his baptim is why I saie dyd S. Ihon baptise them againe Dothe he not here teache plaine rebaptisation Let vs yet go one steppe farder The Iewes saieth Caluin were baptised in the cloude and in the sea in their circuncision in the baptim of S. Ihon euen as we are in the water of oure baptim Why then dyd S. Peter at his first sermon made to the Iewes exhorte them to baptim againe And those of the Iewes whiche beleued in Christe why were they baptised as the text saieth they were For it is writen Qui receperunt sermonem eius baptisati sunt they that receaued the worde of Peter were baptised And why dyd Ananias baptise S. Paule If
praier fol. 69. Heresies suffred in the church for our triall fol. 2. .3 The duty off a Christen man in time off heresy fol. 3. b. Hungary loste by Luthers heresy fol. 128. b. The destruction off Grece through heresy fol. 129. Hierusalem destroied by schismes fol. 129. b. The miserable estat off Lislande through heresy fol. 130. Countres lost in Germany by heresy fol. 127. b The meanes whereby many haue fallen in to heresy fol. 146. The heretike more dangerous then the Turke fol. 150. b. Grece and Afrike loste the faith by heresy fol. 182. The ende of present heresies fol. 19. Good counsell of Sisinnius to defeat heretikes fol. 21. b. It behoueth not to dispute with heretikes fol. 22. b. Inconstancy of Lutherans fol. 97. b. Inconstancy of Lutherans fol. 44. b. A lowde lie of the Lutherans against the Catholike church 33. b A prety story of wronge interpretation fo 51. The liberty of Luthers ghospell fo 75. VVhat partes of scripture may be read of the laite fol. 78. b Liflande loste by Luthers heresy f. 128 The pride and presumption of Luther f. 132. Luthers penaunce fol. 133. He becometh a papist for a vauntage fol. 134. b. He is a false prophet fo 139. A murderer and stroÌ„ge thefe in the church ibi The Lutherans vary at their metings and conferences like the Arrians fo 186. b. The labells of the Lutherans principles fol. 18. b Sacramentary sectes amonge the Lutherans fol. 87. b The outward behauiour off Lutherans in Germany fol. 59. VVhy protestants barke at the euill life of the clergy fo 61. b. The church ought not to be forsaken for the euill life off men in the church fo 62. Laye men are not commaunded to read scripture f. 64. The hebrew text could not be read off the laye Iewes folio 64. b. The dangers proceding off the laites reading scripture fo 65. Luther will proue by Scripture there ought to be no Magistrats amonge Christen men f. 140. b. The marriage off Luther fol. 141. b. Contrariete in his doctrine fol. 142. The cause of Luthers breache from the church and the maner of the first entry thereof fo 149. a. b. Luther proued an heretike fo 179. His proper heresy touching the Sacrament hath wrought his owne confusion fo 181. b. Lutherans in Bohem teache the soule to die with the body fol. 17. b. Luther at the first planting of his heresy writeth against obedience to princes fol. 16. He maketh chastite a thing impossible ibid. Luther clippeth the coyne of Gods worde fol. 66. He addeth to the text fol. â—8 Enemy to virginite and wedlock bothe Ibidem b. He teacheth pluralite of wiues fol. 69. reneweth the heresy of the Pelagians and off the Manichees fol. 68. Item of Vigilantius fol 69. Chaungeth opinion in doctrine fol. 72. 74. con demneth good lerning fol. 73. writeth against obedience to Magistrats fol. 75. A notable testimony of the Caluinistes against Luther fol. 25. All new sectes haue begonne of Luther ibidem b. The frute off liberty preached by Luther fo 44. The pride of Luther fol. 36. A notable testimony of Luther of the life of his scholers lbi b. The frutes of the Lutherans doctrine fol. 39. The euill life of the Catholikes and of the Lutherans procede of diuers causes fo 40. b. 41. MelaÌ„chthon teacheth pluralite of wiues fol. 69. chaungeth opinion in doctrine fo 72. becometh a Suinglian fo 88. is a dissembling ghospeller fol. 90. he becometh a baker fo 107. b. Horrible blasphemies of a ghospelling Minister f. 112. b VVicked doctrine of Luther touching Matrimony fol. 96. Melanchthon inconstant in doctrine fol. 183. A corrupter off Luthers bookes ibidem b. A breder of sedition and rebellion f. 185. a. b malitious and cruell fo 187. b. The Machâ—bees proued to be of the Canon fol. 166. The writings of men in the churche to be folowed fol. 168. The fathers off the protestants fo 161. 162. Item fol. 165. b. and in the leaues folowing The doctrine of our protestants consisteth of olde heresies folio 161. 162. Item fol. 175. and in the leaues folowing The principle off the only written text how it is ment of protestants fol. 7. Protestants refusing the Councell show them selues to lacke Charite fol. 20. Luther proueth coÌ„tempte of Princes by scripture fol. 139. b. his counsell to â—rinces fol. 140. Protestants are proued to be heretikes fol. 98. The protestants are Manichâ—es fol. 111. b. Protestants confounde vniformite and diuersite fol. 122. b. The frutes of protestants confusion in doâ—â—rine fol. 123. Prussia loste by Luthers heresy fol. 127. b A necessary lesson for deceiued protestants fol. 58. A vaine crake of protestants fol. 59. No certainte of Faith in protestants fol. 18. Disagreement in doctrine amonge our protestants fol. 7. Outward pretence off agreement in the same ibidem b. Speciall articles off contradictions amonge the protestants fol. 80. b. Thirten heresies amonge the protestants touching the blessed sacrament fol. 90. b. Fiue amonge the Lutherans fol. 90. and eight amonge the Zwinglians 86. b. The grounde off all protestants doctrine false and deceitfull fol. 42. An other decitfull ground off protestants fol. 43. A persit rule to discern false preachers fol. 37. A charitable shift of the protestants fol. 29. b. Reall receauing can not stand without reall presence fol. 194. The cause of diuers professions of religion in the Catholike church fol. 125. Hereticall rebellion neuer proueth fol. 125. b. Scripture nedeth exposition 47. VVhy the protestants crie vpon only Scripture fol. 48. VVhat the vnlerned shall do in variete off interpretations off scripture fol. 48. b. A token to know false interpretation off scripture from true fol. 49. b. Euery heretike alleageth scripture fol. 59. b. How interpretation off Scripture is tried true fol. 60. The body of Christe vnder one kinde of the SacrameÌ„t perfit and whole 60. A similitude fol. 3. b. fol. 65. b. fol. 124. b. .189 b. Scripture corrupted by Luther fol. 66. and many leaues folowing The doctrine of Sacramentaries destroieth the resurrection of our bodies fol. 227. Caluin maketh the blessed Sacraments bare signes tokens and badges fol. 203. Of the Sacrament of the aultar see in the worde Caluin That the soule only is not fedd of Christ in the Sacrament f. 193 Chalenging of only Scripture cause of heresies fol. 114. The ground of the Leage at Smalcaldium brickle and variable fol. 110. The Sacramentaries desire to be vnder the winge of the Lutherans fol. 81. b. they condemne Luther fol. 84. b. Luther condemneth them fol. 84. and fol. 86. b. Foure Sacraments acknowledged of Melanchthon fol. 45. Scripture alone suffiseth not fol. 41. b. 42. Great confusion in the church by small alteration of the Scripture fol. 70. b. Scripture hard to be vnderstanded fol. 4. The custome of heretikes to denie partes of scripture fol. 165. doctrine defended without expresse coÌ„maundement in scripture fol. 169. Staphylus refuseth to be doctour of
daily more and more vnlesse God of his mercie stretch forthe his helping hande Howbeit whatsoeuer befall of me I am ready to lese body and life honour and goods for the furderaunce of the auncient Catholike religion And I wish to my dere countre of Germanie that minde also For sure I am whosoeuer is no Catholike he must nedes be an heretike Seing therefore that holy write aduertiseth vs to flie from heresies euen as from present poison I be seche all good men to marke wel this example which I knowe to be true and wil here recite to showe what it is to be ones fallen in to heresie A certain young man of my acquayntaunce very well lerned and sometime preacher in Misnia being according to the doctrine of Melanchthon and Maior an Adiaphoriste that is of that secte of Lutherans which take good workes and constitutions of the church to be thinges indifferent c. departed in to Saxony vppon hope of some ecclesiastical liuing there Being then demaunded of what religion he was he awnswered that he was of the opinion of Philip Melanchthon and Georgius Maior Then saieth vnto him the Illyrican Superintendent it semeth thou arte an apostat heretike And withall asked him whether he thought good workes to be pernicious vnto saluation Whereunto this poore preacher awnswering he beleued that they helped rather then hindered saluation the Superintendent strait saith vnto him Seing you are an heretike of the ghospell you maye not abide in this cite nor countre and therefore get you hence With this awnswer he departed and went in to Prussia where meting with an Osiandr in Superintendent and desiring some ecclesiasticall seruice he was demaunded whether he beleued That man ought to be made iuste by the essentiall iustice of God and whether he iudged those for heretikes which thought or taught the contrary Whereunto awnswering that he could not so thinke seing that Melanchthō and Illyricus interpreted the scripture otherwise incontinently he was thrust backe like an heretike and commaunded to depart out of all the dominions of that countre After this he came in to Pole and meting with certain Caluinistes being of thē examined and founde that he agreed not with the Zuinglians he was repelled also of them for an heretike Seing then he could not spede there passing on furder by the waye he came to the Picardi hoping that he might be receaued in to their secte But when he refused to abiure all other sectes and religions and beleue onely them he was faine to departe thence also After which he came to a Noble man of Silesia requiring seruice of whom being required howe he liked the doctrine of Swenck feldius whether he beleued That the externall ministerie or preaching was but superfluous and that the internall worde or rather the power and operacion off the worde being preached were the Son of God him selfe he awnswered that this doctrine semed vnto him an olde heresie confuted thouroughly of Illyricus Melanchthō Caluin and diuers other writers Which awnswer nothing pleasing that Noble mā our poore Minister was forced to get him packing Seing therefore that he loste his labour and spent his time in vaine he stroke ouer to Morauia where the Anabaptistes beare rule Not that he minded to tary and abide with them but to trie and knowe their religion But they craftely preuēting him asking him first of what religion he was though he went about the bush with them thinking to coulour the matter yet they perceauing that he liked not their rebaptising he was also chased from thence as an heretike At the last after longe and wery trauail and trouble this poore Minister came vnto Vienna where he happened vpon a Catholike lerned man vnto whom he declared his trauaill aduersites and diuersites off heresies that he chaunced vpon beseching him for the loue of God to helpe him and instruct him howe he might attaine to some sure and certaine doctrine and interpretatiō off holy scripture Then was it tolde him that he should folowe such doctrine and embrace such interpretation of Gods worde as was Catholike and vniuersally receiued in all places and at al times casting awaie all priuat opinions and propre interpretations of this secte or that secte For it was impossible that any priuat secte could admit the Catholike exposition of scripture whiche is commō to all or that the sectes could euer agree among them selues eche one setting forthe his owne opinion and condemning all the rest As it is writen in the prophet Ezechiel Wo be vnto these foolish prophetes which folowe their owne sprit and see nothing Therefore if he would be a Christen man and in all places be taken for such he should embrace and folowe the Catholike vnderstanding of scripture such as in Catholike doctours and writers we find From the which Catholike and vniforme expositiō of scripture although many in diuers countres haue failed and departed yet before our time it was in all places without contradictiō or gainesaieng receiued and beleued and many thousands of soules haue in that belefe ben saued Beside that there are also yet diuers Christen Countres and kingdomes diuers natiōs and people which acknowledg no other doctrine or interpreation of holy scripture then the Catholike and olde accustomed which they haue receaued of the Apostles and their first founders of religion Wherein if any doubt nowe a daies ariseth or any cōtrary interpretation be brought it is most expedient to seke of the first and most auncient teachers of Christen religion the truthe thereof For so Scripture willeth vs to do and all auncient and approued doctours as in S. Irenee a writer very nie vnto the Apostles you may see whose wordes are these These thinges then being so euident we ought not to seke the truthe at other mens handes which we maye easely haue of the Church For the Apostles left vnto the church and layde vp in her as in a riche aumerie all truthe that whosoeuer listeth may drawe of her the drinke of life For the Church is the gate of life all other are theues therefore we must auoide them but loue all that the Church teacheth vs and embrace the traditiō of truthe For what if there were but a small matter called in controuersie ought we not to haue recourse to the most aūciēt Churches in the which the Apostles haue liued and enquire of them the truthe and certainte of our doubt And what if the Apostles had not left vnto vs scripture at all ought we not to haue folowed the order of tradition which they deliuered vntothē whom they left to gouuerne the Churche after them the which order many nations of Barbarous people such as beleue in Christ do folowe hauing their saluation without paper and ynke by the holy ghoste writen in their harte and keping diligently their olde traditions Thus farre S. Irenee With this good lesson and information the Lutheran Minister being somewhat amended afterward in shorte time
that euery mā and womā were priestes Although this be an olde condemned heresie of the Aerians of Aetius and Pepusius raised vp now againe of Martin Luther by chaunging the worde Priesthoode in the worde Elders cōtrary the meaning of S. Paule and the common receaued interpretation of all Christendom hitherto Yet hath it pleased Master Luther to renew and preache to the worlde and olde detestable heresie vnder pretence of S. Paules doctrine and the expresse worde of God Nowe although these fewe examples might suffise to declare the honesty of Luther and vpright dealing in translation of the holy scripture yet for the more declaration thereof I will adde yet one place notably misused and willfully corrupted of Luther The Apostle writeth thus to the Colossians Beware lest any man deceiue you by philosophie or vaine deceites after the tradition of men after the elements of the worlde and not after Christ. Thus readeth the greke and the latin text But Luther drawing after his fashion the scripture for his purpose where it is in the text After the elements of the worlde he turneth it Nach der welt satzungen that is after the lawes and ordinaunces of the worlde It is surely a straunge case to see howe variabel and braynsicke these ghospellers are At the first broching of this newe ghospel while Luther as the rumor was lyued yet in his Patmus Philip Melanchthon taught that sithen Christen men were all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught immediatly of God him self no man should study philosophie For al the writings of Plato Aristotle Cicero and such other were but friuolous tales and daungerous deceites and to be burned and destroied as in dede in many places so they were but onely the Bible ought to be read and studied For by these the holy ghoste would minister all knowledge bothe to serue God and to liue in this worlde bothe for euerlasting saluation and for this temporal estate That a Christē man should not liue a studious quyet life for that it was writē In the sweate of thy brow thou shalt eate thy bread that is as they expounde it thou must be a plowemā a showemaker a bucher a tayler or some such handy craftes man and so with thy owne labour get thy liuinge This fowle errour beside other occasions ministred thereunto was of Luther in sundry places of his workes stoutely maintained and defended One of such places I will here at large alleage Writing vnto the Nobilite of Germany he hath these wordes The vniuersites also haue nede of an earnest and sharp reformation Truly I must speake as I think let him be angry that listeth VVhatsoeuer was instituted or ordained vnder the pope tended only to the furderance of vice and encrease of errours for the vniuersites if they be not otherwise ordered then they haue ben hitherto what other thing are they then as it is noted in the Machabees scholes of children and of the greke glorie where is all licentious dissolutnes holy Scripture and Christen faith is not taught but that blind ethnick philosopher Aristotle ruleth aboue Christ him selfe VVhe refore by my aduise the Phisicks the Methaphisiks the bookes de Anima the Ethikes should vtterly be abolished with all the rest of his workes which professe to teache the naturall causes of thinges Although therein nether natural nor spirituall knowledg is to be gotte Beside that they are of such obscurite that fewe haue hitherto vnderstode them good wittes lesing bothe labour and time about them I dare well saie that euery coblar hath as much knowleadg of natural thinges as is to be gotte in those bookes It greueth me euen to the hart that this cursed and crafty proude ethnike could so longe a time abuse and deceaue the lerned men of Christendō VVith this scorge haue we ben whipped for our sinnes This much wrote Luther in the yere of our Lorde 1520. out of these and such other writings of Luther Carolostadius and Melanchthon first sucked out the contempt of philosophie and all good lerning being so moued by the authorite of this german prophet Luther And by the yeare 152◠they furdered the matter so farre that in many famous vniuersites and cites all study of philosophie vtterly decaied And although this doctrine of Luther and Melanchthon taking awaie from Christen men as Iulian the apostat Emperour did all honest discipline liberall sciences and good lerning whereby the estat of Christēdom hathe alwaies ben in knowleadg and vertu directed and to driue all men to handycraft workes and husbandry only by a rude and bestly doctrine yet it so serued that time and was so wel liked that at Wittēberg many scholers burned all their bookes and became craftes men sheaperdes husband men and so forth Carolostadius him selfe being before Archedeacon of Wittenberg getting him to a village thereby became sodenly a ploweman tilled and sowed the grounde him self and brought wodde to the market of Wittenberg to be solde Beside many other cites especially Breslau did shet vp cleane all scholes and for the space of certain yeares suffred their youth to roue abrode without any education or instruction Which if a man had asked them why they did so the text of S. Paule serued them for a cloke of their foly where it was writen Beware ye that no man deceiue you by philosophie and vaine suttelties after the tradition of men But now Luther perceauing afterward that this serued nothing his purpose retourning from his Patmus to Wittenberg he corrected Melanchthon and draue Carolostadius out of the dominiō of Wittenberg professing then openly and declaring that without grammer logick and philosophie his ghospell could not be spread abrode conueniently Therefore in the yeare 1524. writing to the Magistrates and cites of Germanie of setting vp and main taining scholes he laboureth very ernestly to haue restored againe such as had decaied or were neglected making yet no mention of Carolostadius or Melanchthon by whom that enormite was committed To quenche therefore and appaise the tumultes stirred vp by his former doctrine and by Melanchthon letting passe the foresaied text of S. Paule he teacheth that philosophie is good in it selfe if it be wel vsed and not abused to deceiue mē Which in dede had ben of him well saide if he him selfe had not much abused philosophie to sett forthe his fleshely ghospell and to persuade his wily and suttle opinons But seing that he could not without philosophie and helpe of scholes vtter the wicked wares of his fresh and newe lerning letting passe as I saide the former text of the Apostle he toke holde of the wordes that folowed The elements of the worlde turning it the lawes and ordonaunces of the worlde For philosophie hindered not so much his purpose as the Magistrates and and lawes of the countre did Whose authorite onlesse he first ouerthrew drawing men from due obedience vnto their superiours he perceaued right wel that his purpose could
the Roman Breuiary in to the German tongue in so handsome and pure stile that the Psalter the lessons and the ghospels be as pleasauntely to be reade in the German tongue as they are in the Latin It were therefore peraduenture more expedient for the common and vnlerned laye men to haue with them some such to praie and reade in then rashely trust to euery translation or confusely reade euery thinge they list Especially being so perilous a matter to swarue from the right vnderstanding of holy scripture that the danger ensuing is no lesse then heresie It were also very profitable that certain Homelies and Sermons were gathered out of S. Chrisostome S. Ambrose S. Augustin S. Gregory S. Bernarde S. Bede and such other holy fathers whiche being distributed in to the Sondayes and holy dayes of the yeare and well and truly translated in to the vulgar tongue might safely and with great profit be reade off the common people Beside where as many godly praiers for diuers necessites are to be founde in the doctours they might serue also for common praier for the people being truly translated in to the vulgar tonge Surely any laie man that desireth to reade scripture not of curiosite but to strengthen his faith to encrease his hope and to kindle his charite may in such bookes as we haue saide satisfie fully his desire and appetit OF DISAGREMENT IN DOCTRINE AMONGE THE PROTESTANTS THe third matter wherewith the Lutherans charge me is that I haue alleaged falsely certain of their articles whereby their enormous dissension appeareth partly haue fathered some vppon them which they neuer taught As touching the first point doctour Smidelin preacher of Gopping sturreth vp heauē and earth against me sweareth and affirmeth that the Lutheran preachers vary in no one point or groūde of their doctrine But if there be any controuersie amonge them the same is saith he not of any article of their faith or of their Confession made at Augspurg A man may verely in many places finde light and impudent persons which wil not sticke to call chauke chese and saie white is black But such an impudent preacher as this Iames Smidelin of Gopping is not this fourty yeares hath ben seen in Germany which is not ashamed to write and set forthe in printe yea that in bookes dedicated to men of worship that amonge the Lutherans is no one iote of variaunce in all their doctrine nor no dissension in any article of their Confession In dede this argument troubleth much the mā that where diuision and dissension is in the chefe pointes of Christen religion there must nedes heresies be But the Lutherans can not denie their enormous dissension and open variaūce in sondry pointes yea in these articles of their Confession made at Augspurg Ergo there be heretikes amonge thē and heresies great store For whereas to the first proposition of this argument no man can gainsaie but if he be extreme impudent or very foolish M. Smidelin shifteth him selfe to the other part and denieth stoutely that there is any one iote of variaunce or controuersie betwene them Nowe then to proue the contrary and to stoppe the impudent felowes mouthe who being oftentimes frendely warned perseuereth yet in his folie I will bringe here certain of his felowe Ministers and such as him selfe is which may a litle remoue his bonet from his eyes and showe him the glasse where he may see his owne impudēt face and shameles looke that blusheth not at so lowde a lie Nicolaus Amsdorfius in his booke entituled Publica Confessio purae doctrinae Euangelij confutatio praesentium Swermerorum vel factiosorum writeth thus The matter amendeth neuer a whit but wexeth daily worse and worse It is no other wise likely but that we shall vtterly lese the ghospell and in stede of it haue nothing but mere lies and hainous errours and that for no other cause then that euery man foloweth his owne witte and desireth not after the truthe In the diet and conference had lately at wormes Brentius and the Adiaphoristes would not condemne Zuinglius and Osiander bicause they were men lerned in the tongues and liberall sciences But hissed vs out of the cōpany and laughed vs to scorne bicause we refused to agree vnto the conference and diet onles those men were condemned Some of our felowes the Lutherans pretend that they cōdemne the Zwinglians but Brentius his praeface vpon Master Iames Smidelins booke testifieth the contrary For here they go about to reconcile godly Luther and Zuinglius which is impossible For who euer heard that two contradictories could agree Such childish and impossible matters they be not ashamed to affirme which wil be counted teachers and Masters of Christen religion as though we and all other were stockes and blockes But surely we can not embrace with quiet conscience the heresies of Zuinglius and Osiander Neither can we subscribe and yelde to such as haue departed and seuered them selues from Luther Truly if they had constātly cleaued vnto the worde of God and Luther and had not geuē them selues to alteratious or yelded to them whiche first altered from Luther there should haue ben no dissension nor variaunce amongest vs and al these mischefs which we see nowe hang ouer our heades had ben escaped Farder although the Ministers which after our departure remained in the conference at wormes wrote after and published it abrode that they woulde not departe from the Cōfession of Augspurg yet in dede they do cleane cōtrary For while they wil not condemne the Zwinglians and the Osiandrines they can by no meanes agree with our Confession off Augspurg but in so doing they be all ready departed from it So haue they caused dissēsion and remoued all meanes of agreement For if they would cōdemne with vs the foresaide errours of Zwinglius and Osiander then might we agree together against the papistes But no we whereas the Confession of Augspurg teacheth that the Bloud and passion of Christ is our righteousnes and that the bread in the Lordes supper is the body of Christ this can not possibly agree with the madnes of Zwinglius and Osiander Therefore these two repugne to saie they remaine in the Confession off Augspurg and yet go aboute to defend Zwinglius and Osiander VVe therefore first and formest do condemne for heretikes Caspar Swenckfeldius and the Anabaptistes which do contemne and refuse the externall preaching of Gods worde Secondarely we condemne the Secte of Osiander which holdeth no lesse grosse and impudent heresies Thirdly we condemne the Sacramentaries Zwinglius and his felowes Fourthely we condemne the Indifferents bicause in their churches beside the ghospell they will haue mens traditions to be obserued For the ghospell admitteth no commaundements of men to be kept in their churches But these indifferents coulour and counterfaite all thinges to please the Emperour they embrace the papisticall Masse and religion which yet they loue not in dede and
owne Liege and Souuerain Therefore it should at that time diligently ben prouided that men folowed not this seditious and false high waie of Luther which no subiect can treade without his princes leaue Especially perceauing that this highe waie of Luther hath euer an vnhappy and miserable ende repugning manifestly to the worde of God all writen lawe and Luthers owne doctrine Demosthenes the lerned and eloquent oratour saith wise men deliberat before the facte and fooles after the facte For as Liuy writeth the euent teacheth fooles And we Germans vse to saie the Italian taketh aduise before he begin the french man when he is a doing and the German when he hath done Which although it hath hindered much our countre in diuers affaires yet this is in vs no voluntary negligence but a naturall infirmite For Hesiodus the poet noteth thre sorts of men to be on the earthe saieng VVho knoweth all him selfe is the best man aliue He is the nexte that counsell can vse But he is the worste that woteth not to thriue And yet of an other doth counsell refuse Seing then we Germans are not so quicke of iudgement which peraduenture procedeth of our colde countre as the Italian is to foresee what is to be done yet we maye nowe by this lamentable calamite that we see hath befallen vs and the present greate waste of our deare countre lerne and remembre howe within this fourty yeares it flourished and prospered in al respects before this German prophet and fifte euangelist Luther ranne out of his cloister And although our dutie had ben at that time to haue remembred that saieng of our Lorde Beware of false prophets and the wordes of S. Ihon. Trie the spirits whether they be of God and so to deliberat before the facte yet seing we haue forslowen that let vs at the leste after the smarte be wise and haue recourse nowe at laste to that cōmaundement of almighty God where he commaundeth the simple people to warde them selues from false prophets and teachers For this question being in holy writ propounded Howe shall I vnderstande the worde that oure Lorde hathe spoken God awnswereth and saithe This token I will geue the to vnderstāde it That which the prophet hath foresaied in the name of the Lorde and cometh not to passe that worde the Lorde spake not but the prophet of his owne vaine fantasie forged it If we drawe the line of Luthers prophecye to this rule we shall euidently see that he is not onely a false prophet but also as his greate grande father Satan is a cruell murderer Is it not a greate pride and rashe arrogancy of Luther to prophecye and write that the god of the Catholikes whō he calleth papistes wil not heare their praiers for the deliuraūce of the Duke by what reuelation had he this Againe that no man liuing shoud be able or so bolde as to restore him in to liberte Againe that those his princes the Duke of Saxony and the Lantgraue should not be bound with those fetters which the coyne brought from base Germany pretended Farder that the warre thē ensuing should haue a prosperous successe Laste of all that S. Brigids prophecy was false and his true saieng that the See of Rome and estat of the Pope should then vtterly perish and neuer rise vp againe All these thinges did Luther prophecye in the booke aboue mencioned And did the euent proue all this Not one iote But in euery point it hathe proued cleane contrary Then this worde of Luther was not the worde off the Lorde as Moyses teacheth but it was the worde of the deuill in the person of Luther Againe that Luther hath ben a very murderer of men and a stronge thefe in Gods churche it is euident hereby that his doctrine and vaine prophecyes setting together the princes by the eares hath ben the onely cause of all seditions warre and bloudshed that within this fourty yeares haue happened in Germany The first booke that Luther made to spoyle and ransacke the churche was his booke De Captiuitate Babylonica Christiana libertate In the whiche booke he so debaseth reuileth and bringeth in contempt not onely the awncient true and Catholike religion of Christ his churche but also the lawes bothe Canon and Ciuill that it maye seme he lacked but a head and capitaine to make a perfit sedition But whereas at that time there was yet amonge men more feare of God and reuerence to their magistrats thē that they would be moued with Luthers light talke fewe were founde to helpe blowe the fire which he had kindled vntell at the length Luther him selfe moued peraduenture more hotely with the sprit ronge the alarum him selfe in the yeare 1523. setting forthe a booke entituled De saeculari potestate in a parte whereoff he writeth these wordes These are our Christen princes which defende the faith and deuoure the Turke In dede worthy men and such as you maie truste that by their greate wisedome they are likely to do some what as to breake their owne neckes first and then leade whole countres and peoples to breake necke after These blinde princes I would well aduise to be ware onely of one small sentence of the 166. psalme whiche is this He pooreth oute contempt vppon Princes I swere vnto you by God that if through your negligence this poore sentence ones take holde on you you are vndone were you as mighty and of as greate power as the Turke himselfe Nether will your storming any thinge profit you The matter is nowe all ready well begonne For fewe princes are nowe that are not counted for villaines and fooles and that bicause they showe themselues for such and the people beginneth nowe to wexe wise and the plage of princes which god calleth contēpt encreaseth daily in the peoples hartes and I feare me it will not be staied onles princes behaue themselues as it becometh them and begin againe to rule more modestly For men ne will ne can lenger abyde your tiranny O wellbeloued Princes and Lordes Therefore prouide for yourselues God wil not suffre this your tiranny any more the worlde is not no we as it was in times paste when you were wonte to hunte and chase men like bestes awaie therefore with your pride power and haugtynes and labour to do that is right and good suffer the worde of God to haue his course which yet it must haue and shall haue and you shall not be able to let it If we teach heresie let it be confuted by the worde of God If you will trie the matter with the sworde take hede leste some man cōmaunde you to put vp your sworde not in Gods name But you wil saie peraduenture If amonge the Christians there ought to be no secular sworde nor Ciuill gouuernement howe then shall men be kepte in order howe shall they be gouuerned For amonge Christen mē must be magistrats and officers
the zelous Lutherans Illyricus Gallus Amssdorffius and such other which will not departe from any one iote of Luthers doctrine No nor Luther him selfe cannot abide it For thus he writeth in his presumptuous booke against our late Souuerain king Henry the eight It repenteth me saith Luther that I submitted my selfe so much before the Emperour at VVormes that I would suffer any man to sitt Iudge on my doctrine or heare if any man could conuince me of any errour For I should not haue declared so foolish an humilite being sure and certain of my doctrine Beside that the same submission nothing auailed me before that tyran A man must be so sure and certain of his doings that although all the worlde be sett against him yet he departe no one iote from them Thus farre Luther Where you see he confesseth not that he speaketh amisse sometime by infirmite sometime of a passion but he maketh him selfe to stande vpon a most sure grounde so that he can not saie a misse Likewise at what time Carolostadius suaruing from Luther would so haue excused him selfe that at the beginning he was but weake in the spirit c. Luther awnswereth him that the spirit of God vseth no such excuse Well then if the doctrine of Luther be so sure and constant that it may not vary will our protestants and new Masters at home stande stoutely to the same Will they condemne all Councells all holy Fathers all authorite of the Church all that Christen people haue hitherto beleued for these are the very wordes of Luther quoted you before oute of his workes Truly this were a compendious waie not only fot their purpose but for the Turkes to Yea and for Antichrist him selfe For when he cometh can he deuise any more politick engin to vnderminde Christendom can he wish for any better harbengers to prepare mens hartes and good wills to lodge him in waight the matter who listeth wisely and diligently he shall finde none like to this Yet Luther they will saie leaueth vs holy Scripture which Antichrist will not do Yea truly but how leaueth he it I meane to be read of the vnlerned laye man Forsothe he translateth it in to the mother tongue And how sincerely and truly I reporte me to the second part of this Apologie where you haue sene how vprightly he hath dealed herein As for the common text which our protestants after their Master Luther do vse and commaunde to be read in Churches we haue in our preface noted you in part the truthe and soundnes thereof But to show to the worlde their fidelite and sincerite yet farder I will here specify some other places of holy Scripture altered and corrupted by them And this I will do but in part and brefely noting such as it hath ben my chaunce here and there to espie not making any speciall discours vpon the whole translation of the english Bible which may with time and more diligence hereafter be done Where as S. Paule hath Haereticum hominem deuita Auoide the heretike man our new english traÌ„slatioÌ„s reade Auoide a man that is an author of sectes as though an heretike and an author of a secte wer all one By this false forged text the doctrine of our protestants being proued hereticall yet Luther Caluin Suâ—nâ—k feldius Osiander and such other were only to be auoided as being the authors and first beginners off these present theresies but our protestants being no authors theÌ„ selues of sectes but folowers of other may notwithstanding S. Paules wodes be embraced and supported But an heretike as S. Augustin defineth is he which for tempor all commodite honour or welth either forgeth him selfe new doctrine or foloweth And all such S. Paule biddeth vs auoide But no maruail iff these men did so alter this text It is good reason a maÌ„ fauour him self for els perhaps the people reading this text of S. Paul would beginne to auoide our protestants whom they see to be heretikes And therefore in an other place where S. Paule saieth Oportet haereses esse There must be heresies they likewise turne it There must be sâ—ctes auoiding allwaies the name of heresy bicause it touched them to nigh And verely it were not amisse for them if the name of heresy and heretikes were quite forgotten seâ—â—g their whole doctrine which they haue lerned of Luther and Caluin is nothingels but olde condemned heresies patched together and newly scoured as in this discourse we shall euidently declare vnto you For this purpose also where S. Paule writeth to Timothe Pâ—ophanas vocum nouitates deuita auoyde straunge nouelties of wordes whereby he ment new â—ereticall doctrine these men turne it auoide vnghostely vanities of voyces altering quite bothe the wordes and the sence of the Apostle for it standeth vpon these men to haue nouelties allowed With the like vaine of euangelicall sincerite bicause they may not abyde to heare off aultar hauing plucked them downe against the expressâ— practise of the primitiue churche and all ages where S. Paule writeth Are not they which eate of the sacrifice partakâ—â—s of the aultar these men turne for the 〈…〉 The latin hath altare and the graeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the same place they make S. Paule talke of images as thoughe Christen men had then worshipped images whiche yet they say is but a late inuention where as he talketh only of idols and idolaters In like maner bicause traditions are a great eye sore to all newe ghospellers they putt out of S. Paule the worde Traditions and put in his place sometime Ordinaunces sometime Institutions as ofte as S. Paule biddeth theÌ„ to be kept In other places when the traditions of the Iewes are reprehended then they kepe the worde gladly All Sacramentaries that folow the banner of Caluin make light of the Sacrament of baptim teaching that the children of Christen parents may withoute daunger lacke it if there be no coÌ„tempt or negligence on our parte We shall haue occasion in examining of Caluins doctrine to speake more of this cursed heresie Nowe bicause the saying of oure Sauiour in S. Iohns ghospel Onlesse a man be borne again of water and the holy Ghoste he shall not entre in to the kingdome of heauen did vtterly ouerthrowe this wicked opinion our protestants in their translatioÌ„s haue founde the meanes so to clippe the text that it might no lenger directly fight against them and therefore they leaue out the worde againe in S. Iohn which of necessite imported a second natiuite of baptim But of this we shal haue occasioÌ„ to speake more hereafter In the me ane ye see the vpright dealing of our protestaÌ„ts How are they to be trusted in their sermoÌ„s in their homelies and in a numbre of assertions and articles which they teache without scripture that corrupt the Scripture it selfe They wil saie they alter sometimes the text bicause of the greke which varieth from the latin
example of Canonicall scri pture yow admit nothing where finde you in all the corps of the Canonical Scripture from the beginning of the Genesis to the ende of S. Iohns ReuelatioÌ„ this very rule and sayinge of yours that If it were a necessary matter to praie for the dead it had not lacked all authorite and example of the Canonicall Scriptures Where finde you in Scriptures that without Scripture nothing is to be admitted wil you driue vs for lacke of holy scripture to praye no more for the dead and binde vs to your owne rule hauing the same lacke also Will you make a rule of your selfe withoute Scripture and will not admitt the rules and lawes of the church except they bring you example and authorite out of scripture I trust your wisedom considereth how vnreasonable the request is and I doubt not but the ChristeÌ„ reader wil by this coÌ„sideration beware off such deceitful persuasions whereby great part of our faith in Christ Iesus may by the guile of heretikes be deluded To passe therefore to your other reasons let vs coÌ„sider the remnant of your talke Thirdly saie you where in the olde Testament be Sacrifices and expiations appointed for many and sundry thinges whereoff some semed small offenses yet was there neuer any Sacrifices appointed for any purgation or expiation of the dead What if there were any such sacrifices for the dead in the olde lawe would you theÌ„ nowe practise theÌ„ M. Grindal in your coÌ„mon praier and seruice of the church If you woulde why vse you no sacrifice for the sinnes and trespasses of the quicke as you see in the olde lawe practised abundantly Why reiect you the blessed Sacrifice of the Masse clerely figured and foreshowed in the ceremonies of the olde lawe Why leaue you the Realme without any sacrifice at all as well after the order of Melchisedech whiche you knowe was proper to Christ and shoulde endure for euer amonge Christians as after the order of Aaron which was proper to the olde lawe and shoulde ende when the light off the ghospell appeared If you woulde not vse any Sacrifice for the dead though in the olde lawe you hadde fouÌ„de example thereof as it is moste euident you woulde not no more then you vse the other why then finde you that lacke and refuse to offer sacrifices for the dead bicause you haue no example in the olde lawe Do not wise men see youre collusion and false plaie herein I will not spend time and paper in amplifying youre guile I leaue it to the prudent Reader to be coÌ„sidered I come to your other reasons that I may ones returne to my principall purpose againe You saie Nowe if they shall alleage that the auncient doctours make for them first it is to be saied that mens writinges alone are not sufficient in matters of faith and Religion I answer we haue not only mens writinges but holy scripture euen beside the Machabees as we haue sufficiently proued Againe make you so light of mens writinges what are Caluin Beza Bale and such other whose writinges you reuerence and reade are they not men also why commaunde you the priestes of England to reade the Institutions of Caluin why in your notes vpon the Bible referre you vs to baudy Bale for the right vnderstanding of it laste of all why make you so vaunting a chaleÌ„ge against al the Catholikes that liue and offer to yelde if they can bringe but one poore sentence of any one doctour or Councell against you As touching the writings of men we knowe that Animalis homo non percipit ea que dei sunt the fleshly maÌ„ knoweth not those thinges that appertaine to God Yet we are bidde in holy Scripture Interrog are patres nostros c To aske our fathers and they will declare vs to enquire of our elders and they shall tell vs. And S. Peter sayth Spiritu saÌ„cto inspirato locuti sunt sancti Dei homines The holy men of God haue spoken as inspired with the holy Ghost Neither can we forgett that beside the prophets the Euangelistes and the Apostles of whom we haue receaued the holy write of Gods worde Christ hath left to his Church also Pastores doctores Pastours and doctours as meÌ„ by whom the Scripture ought to be expounded and the church directed And according to these lessons of holy Scripture heretikes haue ben confuted by mens writinges without holy Scripture as in the conflictes of Athanasius with the Arrians of Cirillus with the Nestorians of S Augustin with the Pelagians of Tertuâ—lian and Irenee with the Valentinians of S. Basill with Eunomius you may reade and see M. Grindall if you haue not yet sene But let vs passe on and see what you saie farder It can not be denied but from Gregories time But the eldest writers and doctours of the Church speake not at all of praying for the dead wel then M. Grindall att one push you condeÌ„ne all the ChristeÌ„ people of England that euer hath ben of errour and superstion For sence the time of S. Gregory only you knowe we englishmen haue had the faith of Christ and of that blessed Pope we receiued it But let that passe your stomach is good that caÌ„ digest so many hundred yeares without grudge of conscience The eldest writers saie you speake not at all of praying for dead Not at all M. Grindall will you abide by it Before so honourable an auditory at such a solemne funerall in so open and publick a place blushe you not at so lowde a lie I am sory you did so farre forget your self You spake then in pulpit and now you speake in print These two conditions require deliberatioÌ„ truthe and honesty And how shall I proue you the contrary where shal I beginne I showed yow before out of S. Augustin and Epiphanius that Aerius was condemned for an heretike euen for this cause that he disallowed praier and oblation for the dead Be not Augustin and Epiphanius elder then S. Gregory Your freÌ„des CarioÌ„ and Pantaleon can tell you they are his auncetours the one aboue a hundred the other allmost two hundred yeares But these wordes may seme to haue escaped you though if they had in pulpit escaped yet in print they might haue ben corrected for euen in your wordes folowing you remembre your selfe better and then you runne to your distinctions and you saie If the auÌ„cient fathers when they praie for the dead meane of the dead which are already in heauen and not els where then must we nedes by their praier vnderstande either thankes geuing or ells take such petitions for the dead for figures of eloquence and exornation of their stile and oration rather then necessary groundes of reason of any doctrine Howe can you suppose M. Grindall any such meaning in the olde fathers as though they were either of so litle wisedome as to praie for those that neded no praier
to thy perfect seruaunt Ferdinandus Feared you that if yow had so saied yow shoulde haue ben thought to haue praied for Ferdinandus and when S. Ambrose saieth so wil you not haue vs thinke that he praied for Theodosius Might not you haâ—e vsed it for a figure of eloquence and so haue folowed the maner of the olde fathers as you would seme to do in all your doinges if that maner of speaking were but a figure of eloqueÌ„ce as you saie it was no more Againe what difference is it M. Grindall to saie Lorde geue reast to thy seruaunt and to saie Lorde haue mercy vppon the soule of thy seruaunt For to the departed out of this worlde no other rest can be geuen but to his soule iff his be so why are they called papistes which vse so to speake and yet S. Ambrose so speaking is no papist But what stande we so longe hereuppon I wil aske one question and so passe to your allegation off Chrisostom Faustina a vertuous woman lamented much the death of her Sister S. Ambrose writeth vnto her and saieth Non tam deplorandam quam prosequendam orationibus reor nec moestificandam lachrymis tuis sed magis oblationibus animam eius Deo commendandam arbitror That is My aduise is that you lament not your sister but praie for her and commend rather her soule to God with oblations then mone and morne it with teares I aske here Did S. Ambrose will Faustina to leaue her lamenting and fall to figures of eloquence and so to vtter her vehement affection to her sister doeth your wisedome iudge so Master Grindall Or do not rather all wise men see howe farre from all witt and wisedome this shift of youres is Well though perhaps ye spake but merely here yet you haue a sadde testimony out of ChrisostoÌ„ For he offreth the sacrifice of the masse euen for the Pariarches prophets Apostles yea and the blessed virgin also â–ª what if he do so M. Grindall Mary saie you shall we now gather hereof that these are in purgatory It is to greate an absurdite I graunte it is so What then wil you gather hereof M. Grindall This oblation therefore saie you is only a thankes geuing to God for the Saints of God departed Will you gather so M. Grindall that is to greate an absurdite Haue ye not heard S. Augustin saie that the sacrifice of the aultar is for some a thankes geuing for other a propitiatioÌ„ This your coÌ„clusioÌ„ of only thaÌ„kes geuing in the oblatioÌ„ of the church is much like to your concluding of only faith The scripture saith Iustus ex fide viuit the iuste maÌ„ liueth by his faith LO say you faith only iustifieth and you forget it is writeÌ„ againe Factores legis iustificabuÌ„tur the perfourmers of the lawe shall beiustified whereby it is clerely proued that good workes must coÌ„curre with faith Euen so nowe you forgett that although Chrisostom here offer vp the oblation for the Saints as in thaÌ„kes geuing to God for theÌ„ yet that in the same liturgie in the next petitioÌ„ after he maketh an other especiall praier for the dead saying Sancti Iohannis Baptistae prophetae praecursoris sanctoruÌ„ nominatissimoruÌ„ ApostoloruÌ„ sancti huius cuius memoriaÌ„ agimus omniuÌ„ sanctoruÌ„ supplicationibus visita nos deus memor esto oÌ„niuÌ„ in domino dormientiuÌ„ in spe resurrectionis vitae aeternae aâ— requieÌ„ presta eis c. that is By the supplicatioÌ„s of S. Iohn baptist the prophet and precursor of the holy and most renouned Apostles and of this Sainct whose memory we kepe this daye visit vs good Lorde and remeÌ„bre al those that slepe in our Lorde in the hope of resurrection to life euerlasting and graunt them rest cae this lo M. Grindall you forget and conclude very absurdely that the oblation is only a thankes geuing But let vs now againe haue a recours to S. Augustin the faith fullest reporter of antiquite in the doctrines of the Church by the verdit of Caluin him selfe and let vs lerne of him how and in what sence the Church vsed the memory of saints in the blessed sacrifice of the Masse and whether that sacrifice be only a thaÌ„kes geuing as you conclude M. Grindal These are the wordes of that lerned and holy father Habet ecclesiastica disciplina quod fideles nouerunt cum martyres eo loco recitantur ad altare dei vbi non pro ipsis oretur pro caeteris autem commemoratis defunctis oretur Iniuria est enim pro Martyre orare cuius nos debemus orationibus commendari that is The doctrine of the Church hath which the faithfull do knowe when the Martyrs are in that place reakoned vp at the aultar of God where they are not praied for but the other soules departed there reakoned vp are praied for For it is an iniury to praie for a Martyr by whose praiers we ought to be our selues commeÌ„ded In these wordes of S. Augustin we lerne M. Grindall that the martyrs are not praied for though they be named at the aultar as you heard in Chrisostom the Patriarches Prophets and Apostles named We lerne that other soules departed not Martyrs are praied for Laste of al we lerne that the martyrs praie for vs we praie not for them Where is now your imagined sâ—pposition M. Grindall that the eldest fathers praiyng for the dead meaned such dead as were already in heaueÌ„ S. Austen denieth that the church praieth for theÌ„ he saieth the doctrine of the church hath otherwise taught and that the faithful knowe it Yf you be of the church M. Grindall if you be of such a faith as was in S. Augustins time you knowe that Martyrs were not praied for you knowe that other soules departed were praied for Last of all you know that the Martyrs praied for vs. But you denie al these matters you mocke and scoffe at it and therefore you are not instructed in the doctrine of the church you are not of such faith as was in S. Augustins time To coÌ„clude you holde with the heretike Aerius coÌ„demned for an heretike a huÌ„dred yeares afore S. Augustin flourished And yet you were not afeared to abuse the honourable Nobilite assisting at that Funeral soleÌ„nite nor ashamed to preache in pulpit for the very pure worde of God an old cursed heresy I beseche God to lighteÌ„ the hartes of our most gracious Souuerain and Lady the Quenes Maiestie and of the most honourable Nobilite of her realme that they may see auoide and exterminat this caÌ„cred vermin of heresy corrupting no lesse the teÌ„poral welth and prosperous estate of our dere couÌ„tre then the spirituall hope of our saluatioÌ„ and al right faith in Christ Iesus I haue auÌ„swered al such reasons as you haue brought in your sermoÌ„ M. Grindal against praier for the dead I haue done in part my duty to the church of God as my vocatioÌ„ required I haue declared my good will to my
Augustin when they sayde that the worde Catholike was not ment of the societe and communioÌ„ of the whole worlde but in obseruing of al gods commaundements and all his sacraments Thirdly the protestants of Lunneburg and of the Lantgraues dominions were offended with the Saxons in the publishing of their coÌ„fession bicause they yelded to much to the Catholikes in the question of ecclesiasticall iurisdiction and authorite off bishops whereupon Melanchthon was expresly commaunded to yeld no farder Fourthly whereas in that confession presented to the Emperour in the yeare 1530. in the tenth article we reade this They teache that the true body and bloud of Christ is truly present in the Supper vnder the formes of bread and wine the next yere after the same Confession being printed at VVittenberg they frame the same article after an other sorte and write That the body and bloud of Christ are truly present and distribued to those which receiue in the supper By the which addition they exclude all reseruation of the blessed Sacrament for the sicke and tie Christ to the pleasure of the receiuers But in the yeare 1540. wading furder in the moire of heresy they make that same article yet fouler For this they saie That with the breade and the wine the body and bloud of Christ is truly exhibited to those whiche receiue in the Lordes Supper Thus lo at the length this monster of Luther was brought to perfection I meane his proper heresy about the SacrameÌ„t But what Doth all the brotherhood of that Confession staye here Nay the zelous Lutherans denie it and complaine of it For from this their Confession Brentius and the Masters of WitteÌ„berg in their conference helde at Wormes in the yeare 1557. haue departed openly yelding to the heresies of Zuinglius and Osiander directly repugning to that ConfessioÌ„ as Nicolaus Amsdorffius a zelous Lutheran chargeth them in open writing His wordes you may reade in the beginning of the thirde parte of this booke Thus you maye see howe the sprit of Melanchthon and his felowes agree with the doinges and behauiour of olde heretikes And although Philip Melanchthon at the first visitation of the protestants in Germany was praysed for his modesty and meakenes yet afterwarde as he grewe in heresy so did he in malice and cruelty The thrusting in of OsiaÌ„der in to Prussia procured by him displacing Morlinus by force his open writing against the visitatioÌ„ of Bauaria his bitter and dispiteous inuectiues againste the lerned vertuous and Noble man Fridericus Staphylus hath sufficiently declared to all the worlde that as good men eunt de virtute in virtutem encrease and go forward in vertu so he proceded in mischefe and malice of harte as the property of heretikes hathe allwaies ben Illyriâ—us and other zelous Lutherans ceased not daily while he liued to entwit this vnto him And I haue here recited onely for the intent God is my witnes that his credit hereafter may be the lesse amonge suche as by his hereticall ciuilite haue ben deceaued and trained into heresies from the vnite of Christes churche where only saluation is to be hoped for For that is the body off Christ as S. Paule saieth and the piller of truthe and as S. Augustin writeth Whosoeuer beleueth that Christe Iesus is come in to fleshe and in the same fleshe hathe suffred for vs hath risen again and is ascended vp and that he is the son of God God with God and one with the father by whom al was made and yet do so dissent from his body which is the church that they do not communicat with all the whole corps of Christendome certain it is that they are not in the Catholike churche What Christen maÌ„ therefore is there so destitut of the grace of God and all good reason that will hazarde his soule to folowe that guide which woteth not him selfe which waie to walcke or to lerne a newe belefe contrary to all Christendome beside that nowe is and euer hathe ben of suche a Master as knoweth not him felfe what he may saie and was euen to his deathe but a lerner and scholer For then onely began he to professe him selfe a Caluiniste and a Sacramentary hauing all his life time before taught and deceaued a number after the trade of Luther And howe can his scholers be assured that theÌ„ he founde out the truthe We will therefore nowe come to Caluin him selfe to whom Melanchthon hathe yelded and see whether he be a ghospeller worthy to be folowed againste the vniforme consent of Christes churche Perusing diligently the doctrine of Iohn Caluin in his Institutions commentaries vppon the holy Scripture his resolutions vppon the Sacraments and other his workes touching his doctrine of the blesâ—ed Sacrament of the aultar whiche he allwaies termeth the Supper off the Lorde and recording with my self howe the greatest swaye of the lost flock of our time forsaking Christ the heauenly shepearde and his vicar here on earthe haue folowed more that wolfe of Geneua Iohn Caluin then the foxes of Germany Luther Melanchthon Osiander and other truly I bothe lamented much the losse of so many ChristeÌ„ soules straiyng after so perilous a guide and maruailed yet more at the blindnes of our wicked time that would be so soone lead out of the highe waie of Christes churche wherein onely saluation is to be sought and folow the trade of such a doctour or Master which like a madde will full man being out off the waie runneth vpp and downe among the bushes and briers this waie and that waie seking of purpose any waye rather then he will take the common highe beaten waie that all Christen people haue walked in I saie this good Readers not as enemy to the man whom thanked be God I neuer sawe nor heard but as finding him such in his writings as I haue saied and intending by Gods helpe to sett him so before your eyes that yow shall also saie and iudge no lesse of him then I do vnlesse you are which God forbidde of the number of those obstinat Iewes who seying would not see and hearing woulde not heare I trust rather in allmighty God that no man hath so pinned his soule to Caluins doctrine but that he will yelde to the expresse worde off holy Scripture and euident reason when he shall see the same doctryne to fight directly against them bothe And first we wil coÌ„sidre how is doctrine fighteth against euideÌ„t reason which by two maner of waies we will declare you First by certain of his propositions importing absurde consequences and impossibilites nexte by clere and most euident contradictions of his owne saiengs wherby not onely the faithfull Catholike but the deceiued protestant may euidently iudge and pronounce that this mans doctrine can not be of god and his holy Spirit which is the Spirit of truthe and vnite but is of the diuel and his wicked sprit which is the sprit of falshood and
was also a spirituall foode yea and the very same which we receaue in the Sacrament the doctrine of Caluin defendeth though blasphemously as you shal see anon in the conferences of his doctrine with holy scripture Hereof will it folowe by the absurde doctrine of Caluin that the figure shal excell the verite Manna shall passe the body of oure Lorde the synagoge of Iewes shall be off more perfection then the Church off Christ ransomned with his precious bloud Againe if the soule onely be fedde in this blessed Sacrament the paschall lambe shall also passe and excel it The paschal lambe was eatē contra spiritum percussorem against the destroyer spirit for a sure preseruation of the Iewes bothe bodely and ghostely euen as this heauenly passeouer wardeth vs bothe body and soule frō the assautes of the deuill And our Sauiour beginning with his disciples this heauenly banquet calleth it a passeouer as Tertullian expoundeth it and Origē saying I haue inwardely desired to eate this passeouer with you before I suffer ▪ if the Iewes passeouer excelled this as the sacramētary doctrine of Ihon Caluin importeth why desired Christ so inwardly to eate this passeouer with his disciples doth the lambe of God Christ him selfe not so much profit the due receauers thereof as the paschall lambe of the Iewes Whereunto thinke you tendeth this doctrine but by litle and litle to traine vs euen to infidelite who tendreth his soule helthe and life euerlasting let him spedely beware of it Thirdly I might aske Caluin and all the ranke of sacramentaries swarming nowe so miserably in oure dere countre to the vtter destruction off the same where they reade in holy scripture that the soule onely fedeth on Christ and receaueth the body off Christ. The wordes of holy scripture declaring vnto vs the promis of this heauenly foode be directed vnto men consisting of body and soule not to the soule onely Beside that life and resurrection the promis of this blessed Sacrament are no lesse requisit to the body ▪ then to the soule as we shall hereafter more at large declare when we come to the olde heresies depending of Caluins doctrine Where you shal see that this doctrine of the Sacrrmentaries graunting only to the soule the eating of Christes his flesh denieth the resurrection of the body As touching the seconde pointe to witt that we receaue the body of Christ truly and really and yet so that the same body of Christ is as farre distant from vs as heauen is from the earthe I knowe not what can be more absurdely saide Caluin in dede will haue this to be a miraculous operation of the holy ghoste For saith he the vertu of the holy ghost is such that it is able not onely to gather together thinges by distaunce of place separated one from the other but also to vnite them together and make them one Marke and ponder well the saing of Caluin for this reason is the onely ancre off this point of his doctrine He semeth perhaps to some that lightly ouerrunne his wordes to speake reason Let vs thē cōsidre his wordes It is most true that the holy ghost being god him self can do al thinges that can be done and therefore can as Caluin saith knitte in one those thinges that are farre distant as God can by his omnipotency ioyne heauē and earthe together which we see are most distant but then they being so ioyned shall no more be distant We graunte that by the vertu off the holy ghoste the body off Christ which is in heauen may be the foode of oure soules But then it shall not onely be in heauen but here also or els oure soules shall be there to and then seing oure bodyes remaine here I see not but whosoeuer communicateth after Caluins doctrine he must dye the soule being separated from the body and we saie not onely he can do so but the Catholike churche teacheth vs he doth so Nowe Caluin bicause he will denie the real presence of Christ ▪ in the Sacrament imagineth that we eate the body of Christe really withoute the reall presence But this imagination is a plaine contradictition And contradiction is of those thinges that can not be done A thing can not be present and distant to A thing can not be hotte and cold to in one very place and moment of time And therefore all lerned men haue euer saide that God worketh no contradiction This then being a plaine contradiction to haue Christ present and not present to haue him in the Sacrament and not in the Sacrament we saye the holy ghoste dothe not worke it Not bycause off any impossibilite off God but bycause the thinge it selfe is impossible And euen as we may wel say God can not sinne and yet derogat no whit from the omnipotency of God so maye we saye God can not worke a contradiction God can not make a thinge present that is in dede absent and not present and yet we diminishe not the omnipotency of allmightye God For that consisteth in suche thinges as are semely for his diuine Maiesty and are of them selues possible Nowe contradiction is of it selfe vtterly impossible Againe the workes of God are permanent and vniforme the one of them destroieth not the other But in contradictions one parte destroyeth the other as a thinge to be present taketh awaye the absence thereoff And likewise the absence destroieth the presence To saie therefore as all lerned men saye that God can worke no contradiction argueth not an impopotency or lacke of abylite in God But rather the doctrine of Caluin making God the authour of contradiction argueth it Theodore Beza and his companions at the late Synod off Poissy in Fraunce praesenting vpp their confession touching this blessed Sacrament thoughe they were all scholers of Caluin yet they dyd not attribute this contradiction to the operation off the holy ghoste but vnto faith The wordes of their Confession presented the laste daye of September vnto the councell are these Bycause the worde off God vpon the which oure fayth is stayed warranteth vs the true and naturall body by the vertu of the holy Ghoste In this respect we acknowleadge that the body and bloud of oure Lorde Iesus Christ is in the Supper By these wordes Encestesgard In this respect we meane that we apprehēd this great and excellent mystery by faith which is of such vertu and efficacy that it maketh thinges absent to be praesent Hitherto the wordes of their confession Wherein they attribute that to faithe whiche Caluin their Master attributeth to the operation of the holy ghoste But be their faithe neuer so stronge and vehement yet shall they neuer obtaine thereby that one selfe thinge shall be bothe present and not present For this being a contradiction is a thinge impossible and suche as God him selfe worketh not Faith saieth S. Paule est argumentum rerum non apparentium Is a certainte off thinges which are not sene By faith
at the oblation and distributiō thereof For after the ghospel they we re all by the deacōs excluded And to this daie at Rome where Turkes sometime resort and Iewes alwaies cōtinewe some infidels and some Catechumeni at the solēne festes when most resort of people is at the high masse after the ghospel a staie is made and a serch whether any Catechumeni other of the Iewes or of the grekes be present Notwithstanding these Catechumeni beleued in Christ some off them no lesse then the Christiās S Ambrose was a Catechumin and a beleuer in Christ though not baptised euē when he was elected bishop of Millain S. Augustin being yet a Catechumin wrote diuers litle bookes wherein he declared him selfe not only a true beleuer in Christ but an excellent diuin as it appereth especially by his Soliloquia which he made in that time Nowe if Caluin had liued in those daies and sene S. Ambrose and S. Augustin not yet baptised notwithstanding the faith and lerning they had to be thrust out of the churches after the ghospel and not to haue bē suffred so much as to be present at the sacring time and the residew of the Masse he woulde of al likelihood comforted thē with the faith of his ghospell and whistred them in the eare that they receaued and did eate the fleshe off Christ no lesse thē the other that receaued at the aultar seing they beleued no lesse then the other He might also haue checked S. Ambrose for keping the Emperour Theodosius so longe out of the church for the greate murdre he had caused to be done at Thessaelonica For the Emperour notwithstanding remained in his faith as it well appeareth by the greate lamentations he made at home in his house when he sente Ruffinus one of his Nobles to S. Ambrose to be admitted in to the churche And in very dede Caluin by this his doctrine not onely comptrolleth S. Ambrose and S. Augustin but condemneth all the primitiue church excluding the Catechumeni from receauing the blessed Sacrament if as he saie faith only geueth them this foode I beseche here all good Christen men and such as feare God and loue their owne soules diligently to aduise with them selues howe they folowe the Sacramentary doctrine of our preachers of Geneua lest that in folowing them they departe from the Catholike church bothe that nowe is and euer hath ben which in their Crede they professe to beleue Thirdly if when our Sauiour saied to his disciples Take eate this is my body by the worde eating he badde vs beleue what did he bidde vs in the worde taking do we take by faith as we eate by faith why then call they men so earnestly to their table maye I not as wel eate and take by faith at home as at their table doth not my faith serue me as well in the house as in the church they are wonte to saie we maie as well praie at home as in the church and why maie we not also as well beleue at home as in the church Then if bothe taking and eating the body of Christ be but a matter of faith what nede they storme and trouble such as will not receaue at Easter or other times maie not good men tel them that by their owne doctrine they receaue at home beleuing in the passion and resurrection of Christ Againe when Christ bad the Apostles take and eate his body did they looke vpon him beleuing him and receaued nothing outewardely yes they will saie they receaued the bread what was the bread the body of Christe the Lutherans indede would be glad to heare that For so should Caluin be a Lutheran and agree with Westphalus which while he liued he would not do for his life What wil here the Sacramentary saye What shift hath he yet He will perhaps saye that Christ bad thē take bread and eate his body This were in dede to make Christ a very sophister to witt that bidding the Apostles take and eate both together saying withall it was his body he should meane they should take bread and eate his body Brefely this I cōclude Yf Christ in these wordes Take eate this is my body meaned this Take and eate this bread which is my body then Caluin agreeth with Westphalus and is become a Lutheran against his will If he meaned this take bread and eate my body then was it a sophisticatiō For it is a point of sophistry to ioyne two termes together taking one properly and the other improperly As here by this laste meaning Christ bidding them take ment properly they should take in dede and bidding them eate mēt vnproperly that is they should not eate in dede but beleue For as al the worlde knoweth beleuing is a very vnproper signification of eating and suche as neuer was heard of before the daies of Iohn Caluin being ment of sacramentall eating But will you see that by the doctrine of Caluin the Apostles did not eate Christ at all in the last supper I meane by faithe For Caluin as you haue heard by his wordes in his Catechisme meaneth such faith as beleueth that Christ died for our redemption and hath risen for our iustification Nowe what faith the Apostles had when Christ made is maunde touchinge his death I will not nowe dispute Althoughe it may seme they doubted much thereof whē they wōdered so muche at his wordes signifiēg his deathe as that Iudas should betraie him as also S. Peter after denieng him But as touching the resurrection the scripture telleth vs plain that diuers of the Apostles at that time beleued it not For first S. Ihon in his ghospell writeth of him selfe that after he looked in to the graue and sawe nothing but the winding shete lefte Vidit credidit he sawe and he beleued And straight after he writeth of S. Peter and him selfe Nondū enim sciebant scripturā c. for they knewe not yet the scripture that he should rise frō deathe S. Thomas also an other of the Apostles woulde not beleue that Ghrist had risen vntell he put his finger in to his woundes And therefore our Sauiour saide after vnto him Quia vidisti me Thoma credidisti Thomas thou haste beleued bicause thou haste sene me Lo then S. Peter S. Ihon and S. Thomas beleued not in the resurrectiō of Christ whē they receaued the blessed Sacramēt in the laste Supper therefore if Caluins doctrine be true the Apostles did not eate Christ at all in the laste Supper See what godly doctrine ensueth of this ghospel of Geneua But here perhaps some scoler of Caluin will obiect what Sir Will you then conclude that bicause in the laste Supper the Apostles without such especiall faith receaued the body of Christ therefore nowe any man may receaue it without that faith Truly suche maner of reasoning of it selfe were naught But yet inioyning with Caluin it were not amisse For he vseth the like against the doctrine of the
flesh and bloud off Christ yet he meaneth nothing so But why did he thus dally and delude the world a man maye demaunde Forsothe as I suppose euen for this cause Caluin being lerned and knowing the truthe wel if he had listed to vtter it perceaued right wel by the expresse wordes of scripture in sundry places that Christ of his passing mercy and goodnes woulde be ioyned to man not onely Spiritually and by grace but euē really and truly by the participation of his body and bloud Caluin knewe all this and acknowledged it as you haue heard in his wordes before for expresse scripture moued him thereunto Notwithstanding being vndoubtedly malitious and selfe willed and in dede a very heretike desirous to plāte a newe doctrine to bringe the churche in cōtēpt pricked with malice against the clergy which in his workes he vttereth many times though he graunted that man receaued whole Christ bothe in body and Spirit as he writeth in the 18. chapter of his Institutions yet he would not graunt the reall presence off Christ his body which the church teacheth and all holy fathers haue acknowledged as a most necessary consequent to the reall receauing but as you see imagineth a communion of Christ his fleshe to be deriued vnto vs by the Spirit off Christ as by a pipe Bicause therefore truthe and falshood can not possibly agree he falleth often in to open contradictions sayeng one thinge as truthe and conscience taught him and then saieng an other thinge as pride malice ▪ and enuy moued him the walking mates of heresy Hereof rise the sundry and manifold contradictions in his writings not onely aboute this most holy mistery but in the doctrine off baptim and of fre will especially as we shall in parte note hereafter vnto you And truly it hath so pleased God to confounde the counsell of these Achitophels rebelling againste their Liege Souerain the churche of God that not onely one against the other teacheth most contrary but also eche one with him selfe disagreeth And this mercifull prouidēce of God hathe ben allwayes a souerain meanes for the vtter cōfusiō of heretikes Let vs returne to the wordes of Caluin aboue alleaged and see why Caluin graunting first a reall and true receauing of Christ his body and bloud afterwarde denieth the reall presence thereof whiche is to denie that he saied before He saieth that Scripture speaking of oure partaking with Christ referreth the whole power thereof vnto the Spirit for S. Paule saieth he writing to the Romanes in the eight chapter teacheth that Christ dwelleth in vs no otherwise then by his Spirit Marke here well good Readers and see the truthe off Caluin S. Paule saieth in that eight chapter that the Spirit of god dwelleth in vs and againe that the Spirit of him that raised vp Iesus from deathe dwelleth in vs and that he whiche raised vp Christ from deathe shall quicken oure mortall bodies bicause of his Spirit that dwelleth in vs. In all these wordes S. Paule teacheth the Spirit off god god him selfe to dwell in vs to quicken oure mortall bodies that they die no more in sinne but liue to god Other thē this S. Paule in all that chapter speaketh not touching the dwelling of the Spirit of god in vs. Reade the chapter and see Nowe is this to saie that Christ dwelleth in vs no otherwise then by his Spirit Marke the saieng of S. Paule and the consequence of Caluin S. Paule saieth the Spirit off god dwelleth in vs. and Caluin saieth Christ dwelleth in vs no otherwise then by his Spirit is this a good consequence The spirit of god dwelleth in vs. Ergo he dwelleth in vs no otherwise then by his Spirit Euē as good as this VVe are iustified by faith ergo by only faith These wordes no otherwise then are the wordes of Caluin fathered vpon S. Paule not the wordes of S. Paule they are the limitation of a prowde heretike set vpon holy scripture not the wordes off holy scripture He folowed herein his father Luther who translating the wordes of S. Paule per legem cognitio peccati By the lawe cometh the knowledge of sinne turneth it thus By the lawe cometh naught els but knowledge of sinne which texte to what purpose he so peruerted you haue sene in the seconde parte of this Apologye But what will some scholer of Caluin saie though S. Paule saie not expressly so yet perhaps he meane so seing that no scripture beside expresseth any other dwelling of Christ in vs thē by his Spirit I awnswer All were it true that scripture expressed no other dwelling of Christ in vs then by his Spirit yet were it not true that S. Paule saied so in that chapter as Caluin saieth he doeth But the Scripture saieth plaine that we are ioyned to Christe not onely in Spirit but also in body heard you not before that S. Paule sayed that we are membres of Christ his body bones of his bones and fleshe of his fleshe And dothe not Caluin saie that this can not be perfourmed onles whole Christ bothe in Spirit and in body cleaue vnto vs they are his wordes before alleaged oute of his Institutions in the. 18 chapter And dothe not Caluin here ones againe write a plaine contradiction he tolde vs euen nowe that Christ dwelleth in vs no otherwise then by his Spirit and that S. Paule taught so Nowe he telleth vs that whole Christ must cleaue vnto vs bothe in Spirit and body and that bicause S. Paule teacheth so sayeng that we are membres of Christ his body bones of his bones and fleshe of his fleshe Lo you see him in cōtrary tales nowe truste his euidence who liste Thanked be god Caluin hath turned the weapon vpon him selfe minding to strike the churche of Christe Againe Caluin disputing against the Catholikes that the euill men receaue not Christ in the Sacrament maketh his argument of the body of Christ whiche if euill men receaued seing they receaue no life but damnation they shoulde saieth Caluin receaue a dead body and the body of Christ without the Spirit of Christe If this reason of Caluin be good thē the good and worthy receauer muste nedes receaue the body of Christ not onely the Spirit of Christ he muste nedes haue Christ dwelling in him bodely not onely Spiritually as he saied before His wordes are these in his commentaries vppon S. Paule to the Corinthians Ego hoc axioma teneo neque mihi vnquam excuti patiar Christum non posse a Spiritu suo diuelli vnde constituo non recipi mortuum eius corpus neque etiam eum otiosum aut disiunctum a Spiritus sui gratia virtute that is I holde this principle and will neuer be brought from it that Christ can not be diuided from his Spirit wherefore I determin that his dead body can not be receaued nor he also vnfrutefull seuered from the grace or vertu off his Spirit Here Caluin
in the ghospell off S. Ihon. Who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hathe life euerlasting Caluin in his institutions and in his coÌ„mentaries vpon that place teacheth thus Who eateth the bread at the communion he receaueth a cundyte pipe by the whiche life is deriued vnto him Marke I beseche you Christen readers howe he hathe altered the wordes of oure Sauiour Where Christ saith Who eateth my flesh Caluin saithe who eateth the bread at the communion and where Christ saithe he hathe life euer lasting Caluin saithe he hathe a cundyte pipe by the whiche life is deriued calling the blessed fleshe of oure Sauiour one person with the godhead a coundyt pype or instrument by the whiche life is deriued from god the Father For that is his meaning as you shall see more plainely hereafter when I come to his heresies attributing life not to the fleshe of Christ as Christ him selfe dothe but to the Father in whom he teacheth life to remaine principally as you shall anon see But nowe to an other proposition Christ saithe I am the resurrection and the life Caluin saythe in his commentaries vpon the sixte off Ihon The Son is as a riuer by the whiche the life abiding in the father is deriued vnto vs. Here again Christ speaking as god and man saith him selfe to be the life For as the general councell of Ephesus charely warneth vs the wordes of the ghospell are all waies to be attributed to Christe as to one person thoughe consisting of two natures â–ª Caluin saithe the life to remaine in the father Where blasphemousely he excludeth Christ making him as a riuer or meanes by the whiche life is deriued vnto vs. But of this we shall haue more occasion to speake hereafter Oure Sauiour after he had sayde in the sixte off Ihon my fleshe is meate in dede and my bloud is drinke in dede expounding those his wordes vnto the carnall Iewes thinking he had meaned his fleshe and bloud after the bare nature of man saithe thus The wordes which I spake vnto you are Spirit and life geuing vs to vnderstande as the lerned Father Cirillus noteth that he spake of his fleshe and blood inseparably annexed to the godhead and one person with the same Nowe Caluin in his institutions affirmeth that by the Spirit of Christe his fleshe is deriued vnto vs and made our foode In the whiche doctrine he separateth the Spirit of Christe from his blessed fleshe geuing vs the one without the other whereas Christ him selfe aboue affirmed that he meaned his fleshe coupled and vnited to the Spirit sayeng the wordes whiche I spake vnto you to witt of my flesh and blood are Spirit and life that is not bare flesh but endued with my Spirit the godhead it selfe nor to be deriued vnto vs by the Spirit as separated from the fleshe or as a cundit pype to conducte the fleshe vnto vs whiche Caluin in his institutions saythe as you haue heard before but to be geuen vnto vs with the Spirit and deite of oure Sauiour iointly and inseparably as they are in him one person and one Christ. Thus you see howe he correcteth and altereth the wordes off oure Sauiour at his pleasure Againe whereas Christe saythe in S. Ihon He that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hathe life euerlasting promising vs by eating to haue life Caluin correcting the sayeng of oure Sauiour in his commentaries vpon S. Ihon where Christe promiseth life and resurrection by the eating of his fleshe and drinking of his bloud he saythe Christ speaketh not here of the Supper but of the perpetuall communion of him which we haue beside the vse of the Supper And yet that ye maye not thinke he meaneth of any other communion naming the perpetuall communion then the very same whiche we haue in the celebration of oure lordes Supper in fewe wordes after he addeth thus muche And yet I confesse that nothinge is here spoken whiche is not also figured and truly exhibited vnto vs in the Supper Thus he maketh him selfe as sure off Christe withoute the receauing of this blessed Sacrament as when he receaueth it whiche by the coÌ„ference of an other place of holy Scripture you shall see yet ones again S. Paule saieth The bread whiche we breake is the participation of the body of our Lorde whereby we lerne in this blessed SacrameÌ„t to receaue the body of Christ. Caluin teacheth vs without the blessed sacrameÌ„t to receaue it For in his resolutioÌ„s vpoÌ„ the sacrameÌ„ts he hathe these wordes Right as the infidell by the vse of the Sacraments receaueth no more profit thereby theÌ„ if he vsed theÌ„ not eueÌ„ so the verite figured in the sacraments is coÌ„municated to the faitheful and beleuers thoughe not receauing the signes or sacrameÌ„ts By this rule we receaue Christ in the supper which before hath bâ—n geueÌ„ vnto vs and dwelleth in vs perpetually And in the .9 article of the same worke he saythe that such as haue before receaued Christ receauing the Sacrament do renewe and continew that which they had before receaued By this his doctrine you see he correcteth the wordes of Christe teaching vs to receaue him by eating his fleshe and drinking his blood And the wordes of S. Paule sayeng the bread to be the participation of our Lordes body by whiche worde he meaneth the blessed Sacrament naming it so of that which it was before as the serpent was called Moyses rodd and the wine water in Cana Galilea S. Paul sayth Who so euer eateth the bread and drinketh the cuppe of the Lord vnworthely he eateth and drinketh his owne daÌ„nation geuing vs to vnderstaÌ„de that at the receauing of the blessed sacrameÌ„t we receaue other life by the worthy receauing other daÌ„nation by the vnworthy Now the doctrine of Caluin directly repugneth For thus he writeth in his resolutioÌ„s vpoÌ„ the sacrameÌ„ts Farder saith he the profit which we receaue at the sacrameÌ„ts ought not to be restrained to the time we receaue theÌ„ as if that the visible signe as soone as it is geueÌ„ vs should bringe vs forthewith the grace of god It may happen that the receite of the sacrament which in the acte profited nothing through our defaulte or slacknes maie afterward bring forth better fruict Thus farre Caluin CoÌ„sider nowe if this doctrine be not cleane coÌ„trary to the meaning of S. Paul For if as S. Paul saith receauing the sacrameÌ„t vnworthely we receaue our own daÌ„nation why also in receauing it worthely receaue we not withal incontinently the grace and vertu thereof Againe if by our defaulte it worketh vs daÌ„nation as the Apostle saith howe caÌ„ it afterwarde auaile vs as Caluin teacheth Thirdly if at the receite of the sacrameÌ„t we receaue nothing what shall the bread that Caluin imagineth alone signifie shall it signifie that by eating it we receaue no profit thereby In good sothe it will signifie vnto vs that Caluin mocketh with God and
the worlde and that in eating the bread we eate nothing els â–ª And truly if you remembre his doctrine before yow see he meaneth nought ells S. Paule speaking of our Lordes body and bloud geuen vs in the blessed sacrament saithe thus He that eateth and drinketh vnworthely eateth and drinketh his owne damnation not discerning the body of oure Lorde Caluin in his coÌ„mentaries vppoÌ„ this place saithe That the wicked person therefore eateth vnworthely bicause he refuseth the body of our Lorde offred vnto him eating thereby the onely signe to wit bare bared Marke the differeÌ„ce of S. Paules doctrine and Caluins imagination For howe dothe the wicked eate the body and therewith his daÌ„nation whiche S. Paule teacheth iff he eate but bread and refuse the body which Caluin imagineth I will graunte who refuseth Christ refuseth life and thereby worketh his owne damnation But this is not to eate his damnation in such sorte as S. Paule speaketh there Our Sauiour in the sixte of Ihon saithe Your fathers did eate Manna in the desert and are dead This is that bread whiche cometh downe from heauen that a man maye eate thereof and not die Caluin in his commentaries vpoÌ„ the first to the CorinthiaÌ„s the tenth chapter teacheth that the Iewes eating MaÌ„na did eate the very body of Christ spiritually as we do and receaued the same effect by eating the Manna as we do by the communion He laboureth muche in that place to proue this fonde doctrine and forgeth a sory shifte to auoide these wordes of our Sauiour in S. Ihon. Christ saythe he hauing to do with the Iewes preferring Moyses before him in his answer to them expounded not what Manna signified but letting all other thinges passe framed them an answer mete for their capacite speaking not according to the nature of the thinge but according to the meaning and sâ—ns of the hearers Thus muche Caluin But beholde I beseche you the sophistry of this wily heretike He woulde make vs beleue that Christ in S. IhoÌ„ plaied the RhetoriciaÌ„s part and withall is not afeared to make our Sauiour O blasphemous Sacramentary a lyar For Christe saithe plainely That the Iewes eating Manna died for not by eating Manna but by beleuing in the Messias to come they were fedde of Christ But the bread which he would geue shoulde be life euerlasting to those whiche eate off it Iff nowe as Caluin saithe the eating of Manna serued their turne no lesse then the bread of life Christ him selfe serued oures to witt that they receaued also the bread of life spiritually in eating Manna as we do in eating the blessed Sacrament then were not that sayieng off Christe true nor his comparison good preferring the bread of life which he would geue vs before the Manna of the Iewes For their Manna as Caluin saithe was bread of life to them then was it not inferiour to that whiche Christe woulde geue but all one and the same But nowe to an other Our Sauiour in S. Ihon hath these wordes Who eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him Caluin correcteth these wordes in his doctrine of the Supper and maketh this proposition Who beleueth in the death and resurrectioÌ„ of Christ the coÌ„munion of his flesh is deriued vnto him by the vertu of his holy Spirit First in this doctrine where Christ biddeth vs eate his flesh and so promiseth him selfe to dwel with vs and in vs Caluin biddeth vs beleue in Christ his death saieng thereby we eate his flesh and theÌ„ in stede of Christ God and maÌ„ abiding in vs which our Sauiour in this most holy SacrameÌ„t promiseth and no doubt perfourmeth vnto vs Caluin warraÌ„teth vs of a certain coÌ„munioÌ„ of the flesh remaining only in heaueÌ„ which shal be deriued he sayeth by the Spirit off Christ vnto vs. This is lo not to haue God and man Christ him selfe abiding in vs which bicause Christ promiseth vs we must vndoubtedly beleue so but to haue him onely spiritually abiding in vs to witt coming to vs onely by spirit and abiding onely in heauen by fleshe How false and howe farre disagreble with the wordes of our Sauiour this doctrine of Caluin is we haue in his absurdites and contradictions declared Presently it suffiseth to knowe that he dothe bothe in termes and in sense comptroll and alter the wordes and meaning of oure Sauiour S. Paule writing to the Corinthians of the due accesse and reuerence of this blessed Sacrament saith Let euery maÌ„ trie him selfe and so eate of this bread Caluin in his Institutions and vpon the sixte of Ihon teacheth that by beleuing we eate Christ. Nowe seing that no man trieth him selfe but first he beleueth and in beleuing we eate Christ then before we trie oure selues we do eate contrary to the expresse wordes off the Apostle bidding vs first to trie our selues and so to eate of this bread of life And truly according to the doctrine of Caluin as you haue sene before beleuing in Christes deathe and resurrection we eate and receaue the body and bloud off Christ allwaies no lesse then in the vse of the Supper or communion Which excludeth all triall of our selues required by S. Paul For the maintenance of this wicked Sacramentary doctrine Caluin abuseth and turneth from their right vnderstanding not onely suche places of holy scripture as directly make against him as you haue hetherto partly sene but also suche as by any consequence of reason might seme to hinder the course of his wicked doctrine For example I will pnt you in minde of one or two Whereas it is writen in S. Ihon that Christ entred where his disciples were the doores being shutt bicause this miracle might importe to the body of oure Sauiour a possibilite of being in sundry places at ones and so destroy the false grounde of these sacramentaries tying Christ to the right hande of his Father Caluin in his institutions saithe that Christ entred not the dores being shutt but that the dores opened of them selues Otherwhere he writeth that an erthequake was made and so the dores opened Brefely he inuenteth what shifte he maie rather them he will yelde to the truthe of the churche With like confidence this presumptuous SacrameÌ„tary Ihon Caluin peruerteth by false traÌ„slatioÌ„ the wordes of holy scripture in the prouerbes of SalomoÌ„ coÌ„taining a clere prophecy of this blessed sacrameÌ„t We alleaged you the place before and after what sort it was by him corrupted If we would in other pointes and articles of the Catholike faith by him denied and impugned vse the like diligence we could be as loÌ„ge in the retical and setting forthe of theÌ„ as he is in the whole corps of his workes where such doctrine is taught But nowe I will procede to the other partes of oure promis touching this one article and after saie somewhat of some other point of his doctrine Oure Lorde in holy scripture by the mouthe off his prophet
Ieremy speaking against the perilous presumption of those which forsake him and his holy worde pronounceth the plage that falleth on theÌ„ in these wordes They haue forsake me the fouÌ„taine of life and haue digged theÌ„ selues pittes and pudles al to broken and suche as can holde no water geuing vs to vnderstand that who so forsaketh the right waie prescribed vnto vs by allmighty god in his holy worde and refuseth the moste holesom drinke of the fountaine god him selfe is forced forthewith being as a man berefted of his right vnderstanding and sence to lappe in suche pudle as the fonde imagination of his owne braine instructed and supported with the deuill ready to thruste forwarde when god forsaketh can inueÌ„t Of suche it is saied in holy scripture Who loueth the peril shall perish in it and againe VVho toucheth the pitche shal be filed therewith You haue sene howe Caluin hathe forsaken the expresse wordes of god in his ghospell to furder thereby the plausible doctrine and pleasaunt poison of his owne imaginations You shall nowe see what pittes and pudles he is faine to lappe in forsaking the doctrine of Christ in the ghospell Truly they are suche and so filthy that I feare the recitall thereof maie be to good Christian hartes more noysom then profitable Notwithstanding bicause this man is of suche credit amonge the deceaued sorte of oure countre that his Institutions the very fardle of all his beggarly doctrine and boxe of his venimous heresies is commaunded to be read of suche as haue charge of soules a sufficient meanes truly to drawe all the vnlerned of England but if god staie them to eternall daÌ„nation I will by the grace of God geue you for a taste suche instructions touching the most blessed sacrament of the aultar and the sacrament of Baptim which only for sacrameÌ„ts he alloweth that you maie hereafter litle lust after the perilous persuasions of his doctrine in other inferiour pointes of oure Christen faithe the dearest and most precious iewell that we haue on earthe The pittes and pudles that Caluin hathe digged him selfe are olde heresies condemned aboue a thousand yeares and nowe renewed by him partly in expresse wordes partly by most assured and necessary consequence of his writings Caluin in his commentaries vpon S. Ihon hathe these wordes It is to be noted there are thre degres of life The liuing Father hathe the first place as the fountaine off life but yet farre distant and hidde The Son foloweth him whom we haue sette before vs as a riuer by the which the life abiding in the father is deriued vnto vs. the thirde life is that which we drawe of him Thus farre Caluin This doctrine beside that it is a mere imagination of Caluin and a broken pudle of his brickle brain it conteineth in it sundry heresies First if the Son of god Christ him selfe be a folowing that is a second cause of life as Caluin saithe then is it not equall with the first and so is it a creature not god the Creatour which is first and chefest and secoÌ„d to none TheÌ„ he coÌ„pareth Christ to a riuer and god the father to a fountaine Now the fouÌ„taine is before the riuer and is cause of the riuer theÌ„ by the doctrine of Caluin god the father is before the Son and cause of the life in the Son For al this he meaneth of god the Son not of the flesh off Christ which he denieth to geue life or to be quickening of it selfe This lo is the cursed and detestable heresy of Arrius condemned in the first general councell of Nice aboue twelue hundred yeres paste If Sâ—ruetus whom Caluin burned at Geneua for an Arrian were nowe aliue again and Caluin to he might chalenge M. Caluin for the like and call him worthely to the stake Againe this doctrine of Caluin resembleth much in wordes but in effect passeth farre the doctrine of Faustus Manicheus who sayde that god the father occupied the chefest and principall light but the Son consisted in a seconde light Which fonde opinion of him Saint Augustin confuteth as a detestable heresy Muche more maye we so do in this distinction of degres of life that Caluin imagineth to be in the blessed Trinite Thirdly he affirmeth the life whiche we receaue of Christ the Son to abide in the Father as though Christ of him selfe gaue not vs life by the participation of his diuine fleshe Which to saie is the heresy of Valentinus whom S. Irene confuteth Caluin in his commentarie vpon the resolution of the Sacraments saythe that Vnto the substaunce of bread remaining bread the body of oure lorde whiche is the verite figured by the bread is so coupled and vnited as the godhead was to the fleshe of Christ it remaining true and naturall fleshe And this his doctrine he goeth aboute to proue by the wordes of Gelasius in his epistle to kinge Frauncis prefixed before his Institutions It is also the doctrine of Caluin that Christ is in the Sacrament onely by faithe not corporally â–ª For so sayeth he he is onely in heauen Then will it folowe by the reason of Caluin that the godhead was ioyned and vnited to the fleshe of Christ onely by faithe and that the fleshe was not deified and one person with god This was the heresy of Paulus Samosatenus condemned all most thirten hundred yeares paste The doctrine of Caluin in his Institutions is as you partly heard before that in the blessed Sacrament the maner of receauing Christ is by the operation of his Spirit whiche saythe he is as a certain â—undyt pipe whereby what soeuer Christ is or hathe is deriued vnto vs. and by the Spirit of Christe he sayth we receaue in to oure soules his body and bloud whiche yet departeth not from the right hande of the father This doctrine separateth Christ making his holy Spirit to serue as a cundyt pipe for the conuaiaunce of his fleshe in to oure soules Beside the absurdite of the doctrine whiche we before declared you it sauoureth of the heresy of Nestorius For as he denied the fleshe off Christ to be inseparably vnited to the godhead and therefore taught that we receaued not whole Christe but his fleshe onely and not his godhead for these were his wordes as Cirillus recordeth Qui manducat carnem meam non dixit qui manducat diuinitatem that is Christ sayde he that eateth my fleshe he sayde not he that eateth my diuinite c. so Caluin denieth we receaue whole Christ graunting vs a spirituall foode onely For so in his commentaries vpon S. Paule he concludeth saieng that a certain quickening vertu is deriued vnto vs out of the flesh of Christ by his Spirit thoughe the flâ—sh be farre distant from vs and not ioyned with vs. The doctrine of Caluin as it containeth variable and contrary assertions so it bredeth diuers and sundry heresies You heard euen nowe that by making the Spirit of Christ a pipe for the
abominable doctrine it shall stretche to all children For what is the proufe he bringeth Forsothe the promis of God What promis is that that whiche he made to Abrahan saieng he woulde be his god and his sede after him In this worde saieth Caluin their saluation is contained Let vs theÌ„ suppose that by the warrant of Caluins mouthe all the realme of Englande being nowe Christian shoulde leaue their childreÌ„ vnbaptised bicause they are allready admitted in to the leage of life euerlasting Those children coming to the age of meÌ„ and hauing other children muste they baptise their children or must they not If they muste baptise their children then the promis of God reacheth not vnto them For if it reached to them it should ereache also to their children In which case they nede not be baptised but maie liue by the baptim of their grandfathers If they may not baptise their children but let them liue withoute baptim theÌ„ see what detestable enormites and hainous blasphemies will ensue thereupon First by this rule all the christening of children in England sens the faithe first planted there and the realme thouroughely baptised wiche pricketh nowe wel vpon a thousande yeares hathe ben in vaine and to no purpose for that they came of the issue and bloud of Christen parents Secondarely all baptim nowe maie cease in the realme all fontes maie be shutt vp and of two sacraments whiche onely remaine they maie take away one to witt baptim and then talke no more of the Sacraments in Christ his churche but of a sacrameÌ„t whiche also in what pointe Caluin hathe lefte vs we haue I truste sufficiently before declared Thirdly Christendome shall be no more a spirituall matter geuen by the administration of Sacraments but a temporall benefit entailed to the bloud of the pareÌ„ts And then greate questions might arise of bastards being not the â—ede of Christen mariage but the frute of filthy fornication or sinnefull aduoutry Fourthely we muste put oute of the scripture the wordes of oure Sauiour Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua spiritu sancto non intrabit in regnum caelorum that is Onles a man be borne againe of water and the holy ghoste he shall not enter into the kingdome of heauen And truly they drawe well towarde to do so For looke in the Englishe bibles who will printed of late yeares and he shall finde the worde againe to be lefte oute And euen as nowe they haue lefte oute that one worde by the which oure regeneration by baptim is moste necessarely imported â—o may they within fewe yeares leaue oute the whole sentence and theÌ„ make a scripture of their owne For what other can we looke for of these impudent presumptuous heretikes if they may be suffred to runne their race at will Oure lorde staie it if it be his pleasure Laste of all if Christendome so dependeth of oure parents why haue all Christen men euer so charely baptised their children as all stories do testify Was it as Caluin writeth bicause they shoulde not departe withoute the signe or badge of a Christian man Truly he writeth so and in so writing he holdeth the heresy of the Maniches as in the other he dothe of the Pelagians as ye shal anon see But nowe harken what lesâ—on S. Augustin geueth vs touching the baptim of children These are his wordes Quisquis dixreit quód in Christo viuificantur paruuli qui sine SacrameÌ„ti eius participatione de vita exeuÌ„t hic profecto contra Apostolicam praedicationem venit totaÌ„ condemnat Ecclesiam vbi propterea cum baptisandis paruulis festinatur curritur quia sine dubio creditur aliter eos in Christo viuificari omnino non posse that is Whosoeuer shall saie that infants shall haue life in Christe which departe oute of this life withoute receauing baptim truly that man bothe procedeth against the doctrine of the Apostles and also condemneth the whole Churche where men make haste and runne to baptise their infants for that cause surely bicause vndoubtedly they beleue that other wise they can haue no life in Christ. Lo the testimony of S. Augustin a most assured witnes of antiquite and beste to be trusted in reporte of awncient belefe by the verdit of Caluin him selfe Let vs a litle considre the place Caluin as you heard before saieth that children of ChristeÌ„ parents are borne holy and are admitted in to the leage of life euerlasting being yet in the mother wombe and that by the promis of god they are all ready saued S. Austen saieth with oute baptim they haue no life in Christ and that who so saieth contrary as Caluin dothe teaching them to be saued afore baptim he procedeth against the doctrine of the Apostles and condemneth the whole Churche Lo nowe you see expresly what the doctrine of Caluin is It fighteth directly against the doctrine of the Apostles It condemneth the whole churche It is the heresy of the Pelagians But some scholer of Caluin will saie that S. Agustin here speaketh of the children of hetheÌ„ parents No truly For marke his wordes He saieth meÌ„ make haste and runne to baptise infants What men trowe ye were they hethen Would the hethen runne to baptise their children being them selues vnchristned and detesting all Christendome Or would Christen men runne with the children of hethen parents No that was against the lawe of the primitiue churche For the childe coulde not be baptised or Christened against the fathers will vntel he came to full age and discretion And therefore at this houre the practise is in Italy where Iewes are coÌ„mon that the father remaining a Iewe the childe vnder age can not be forced to baptim against the fathers wil. Els by this time all Iewes had ben christned in Italy and other where By this testimony therefore of S. Augustin it is clere that Caluin by this detestable doctrine defendeth the cursed heresy of Pelagius Nowe ye shall see he teacheth also as the Maniches dyd S. Augustin reakoning vp the suÌ„dry and hainous he resies of the Maniches amonge the rest reakoneth also their heresy against baptim writing of them in these wordes Hij baptismum in aqua nihil cuiquam perhibent salutis afferre nec quenquam eorum quos decipiunt baptisandum putant that is These men affirme that baptime done in water bringeth no saluation to any And thereupon such as they deceiue they thinke they nede not be baptised Let vs nowe heare whether Caluin saie not eueÌ„ the same of baptim In his institutions in the treatise of baptim defining it to be but a signe and token or badge of a Christen man he concludeth with these wordes Quis ergo aqua ista mundari nos dicat quae certo testatur Christi sanguinem veruÌ„ esse atque vnicum nostrum lauacrum That is Who then will saie that we are clensed with this water which dothe assuredly testifie that the bloude of Christ
of the Lutherans In decret Synodi Nicenae Lib. praescrip Melanchthon acknovvled geth iiij sacrameÌ„ts Philipp in annot in epist Pauli in postrema ediâ—â—one Loc. Com. Lege scholae VVitten bergensis ordinationem Illyricus li. contra lustuÌ„ meniuÌ„ Ierem. 18. Illyricus li. coÌ„tra OuÌ„an drina iustiluta Note the disorder of these Archeprotestants To cleane vnto the vvriten text only is an olde heresie Scripture nedeth exposition Luc. 24. Actâ— 8. 1. Cor. 12. Lucae 8. VVhy the protestaÌ„ts crie vpon only Scripture A questioÌ„ vvhat interpretation of scripture is to be so lovved Lucae 22. Vide Luthe ri Confessi onem de Coena VVhat the vnlerned shall do in perplexite and variete of interpretations of scripture Tit. 3. Matth. 7. 16. A tokeÌ„ to knovve the false interpretion of scripture from the true VVhat is Catholike Cotra Gau denâ—iuÌ„ Donat lib. 3. Psal. 2. Matth. 28 Lib. de vni late ecclesi 1. Tim. 3. A prety storie of false interpretation 2. Tim. 2. 2. Petri. 1. Avvicked persuasioÌ„ of vvorldly careler men Iaco. 2. Vide Ious Lascy coÌ„tra episcopum Hosium et Lutherum in vltima CoÌ„fessione suade Coena Deuâ—iâ— Psalm 115 Matth. 16. 1 Timo. 3. A buckler for the vnlerned against nevve preachers Den. 4 Deut. 32. A very good faith of a Coolyar A readie vvaie to trie out an heretike Matth. 13. Caluinâ—s libr. contra IoachimuÌ„ VVestphalum Zuinglius lib. de baptismo coÌ„tra Vrbanum Regium Caluinus li. de praedestinatione Theodorus Beza in defensione Caluini Epiph anius lib. 2. coÌ„tra hereses Tit. 3. Suentfeldius lib. de dup statu Christi mulnis alijs tractat OsiaÌ„der lib de Confessi one doctrinae suae Hiorem 23. 33. Tit. 3. Vide Amsdorsium de haâ— proposâ—â—one Luther in 3. cap. ad Gal. See out discourse VVhy the author forsoke the Lutherant The duty of a conuerted Catholike A notable example of the sun dry sectes in Germany A necessary lesson for deceiued protestants Ezech. 13. Lib. 3. cap. 4. coÌ„tra hereses A Godly instruction of Ireneus Eccle. 19. The outvvarde be hauiour of the Lutheran in Germany A vaine crake of protestants Euery heretike all ageth the scripture Hovv interpretation of Scripture is tried true The body of Christ vn der one kinde per fit and vvhole 1. Cor. 1. Exodi 16. 2. Cor. 10. De CoÌ„secr dict 2. cap. vbi pars Bedurum Vratisluia Ratispona In the yeare 1556. Vide Pontanum li. 5 fol. 432. Matth. 13. VVhy the protestaÌ„ts bark at the euil life of the clergy Mat. 18. Tit. 3. Tvvo good and godly lessons of S. Antony Math. 7. Matth. 15. The churche muste not beforsaken for the euill life of meÌ„ in the church Mat. 13. Mat. 24. Ephes. 4. Hebre. 13. Matth. 13. Mat. 23. Heb. 13. Matth. 7. Math. 16. Mat. 13. 1. Cor. 5. Eccl. histor li. 10. ca. 2 Laye men are not coÌ„maunded to reade Scripture Luc. 8. Vide Theo philactuÌ„ 〈◊〉 Luc. cap. 8 Math. 7. Exod. 24. Num. 11. The hebrevv text could not be readen of the coÌ„mon Ievves Vide Iosephum Iusti num mart in suo paraenetico I renaeum lib 3. cap. 25. ClemeÌ„ Alex lib. 1. StromatuÌ„ HilariuÌ„ in 2. psal August de ciuit dei lib. 18. cap. 42 43. 2. Par. 26. Num. 16. The dangers proceding of the laities reading Scripture The vvel spring of heresies novv a daies A similitude vvorthy to be noted Hovv and vvhere Luther hath corrupted the text of the Bible Ephes. 6. S. Paule corrupted by Luther The maner of he retikes Philip. 3. Rom. 8. Matth. 5. Luc. 6. 2. Cor. 1. Ephes. 6. Lib. de seruo Arbitrio Caluiaus de prae destruat Rom. 2. Lib. Saxonice ecclesiae contra Geor. MaioreÌ„ Amsdorffius in libello Bona opera saluti obesse Vide Nileuitanum et ArausicanuÌ„ CoÌ„ciliae 1. Cor. 9. This place is also corrupted in our English traÌ„slations printed in the yeares 1549. and 1551. 1. Cor. 7. Ibidem Luther addeth to the text Luther enemy to Varginite and vvedlock Luther and MelanchthoÌ„ teache pluralite of vviues Lib. de opere Monachorum cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the Canonicall hovv resvsed in the churche Psal. 118. Psal. 54. Acto 10. Daâ— 6. Lut. 6. Actor 2. Actor 3. Great coÌ„ fusion in the churche by small alteration of the scripture Acto 3. 1. Tim. 4. Oure English traÌ„slations printed in the yeares 1549. and 1551. haue corrupted this place also The Lnther ns Ministres Luher and MelanchthoÌ„ chaungâ— their language So do also the later English translations printed in the yeares 1â—52 and. â—502 The schâ—clers of Luther disobey their Master Vide lib. 2. EpiphaÌ„ de haeresibus Bernardum Coloss. 2. So hathe our englishe traÌ„slatioÌ„ anno 1552. 62. Vide Lutheri prefaetionem in annotat Philippi in Paâ—um Genes 2. Tom. 6. fol. 589. Luther condemneth good lerning Nicephorus li. 10. cap. 26. histor eccles And MelanchthoÌ„ becometh a baker See the Table folovving Vratislauis Coloss. 2. Luther chauÌ„geth his hoode Luther vvriteth against obedience to magistrats Note the liberty of Luthers ghospell Gen. 19. Gene. 38. Num. 5. Vide Hieron praefat in Ezechielem VVhat partes of Scripture may be read of the laite Confessio Augustana Note the grounde of this booke The first testimony of the LutheraÌ„s disagreing In the yeare 1557. The definition of a zelous LutheraÌ„ Our protestants haue vvell marked this Our protestants a-recondemned by the LutheraÌ„s The master Lutherans of Lipsia be Pelagians The schole doctours neuer taugh so Caluinus in vltima admonitione sua ad Ioach VVestphalum The second testimony Special articles of contradictions among tho Protestants Rom. 6. The third testimony * Although in very dede the Iesuites are no more to be counted amonge these he retikes then pigeons amonge crowes The Sacramentaries desire to be vnder the vving of the Lutherans fo 179. In lib. contra longioreÌ„ CataloguÌ„ sol 166. Fol. 1. 2. Li. 8. Top. Fol. 152. Novv Lutherans can abide no nevve doctrine Fol. 1. 2. The fourthe testimony Vide Ioannis Functij scriptum de rebus Osiandri The fift testimony Luther him selfe Tom. 2. Iâ—o 260. Math. 18. Luther excludeth Suinglius and SvveÌ„cfeldius froÌ„ his grace Fo. 263. Note Luther did vvhich he reproued in his scholers Note hovve heretikes maye be used The protestants of Zurich against Luther Aniâ—â—um in saâ—hanasiatum super sathaâ—aâ—atum persathana aâ—uÌ„ Fol 3. libri contra catalogum Luther against the Sacramentaries Luther calleth SvveÌ„cfeldius by the name of Stencfeldius in mockerie as one that stinketh Corpus pancum Of this mide vvas Melanchthon at his later daies In iudicio Heidelbergensi Doctor Smidelin proueth Luther to be a vviched man Sacramentary sectes and diuisions amoÌ„ge the Lutheraus The sixt testimony Melanchthon So in the Alcoran of Mahomet all disputing of religion is forbed MelanchthoÌ„ vvoulde haue vs chaunge thâ— institutioÌ„ of Christ in the Supper and saie this is the participation of my body vvhereas Christ saide this is my body
to princes Thankes to the Luther Luther proueth there must be no magistrats amonge Christen men by scripture Tâ—m 6. Fol. â—â—1 The reuerence off Luther tovvard Princes 1. Pet. 2. Sleidan in the 5. booke The mariage of Luther Vide Erafmum in epistol ad ThomaÌ„ LupsetuÌ„ an 1525 Tom. 6. germanico fol. 612. Ecclel 27. Contrari ete in the doctrine of Luther A godly exhortation Psal. 94. Rom. 2. Psal. 79. Anchar 1. Theren 5. Matt. 24. Ambros. in 9. cap. Luc. Aug. in psa 80. Esa 42. Thren 5. August de vera falsa paeâ—it cap. 2. Vniuersalite Antiquite Consent The booke is in oure englâ—sh tongue already traÌ„slated and is most necessary to be read in theseâ—imes Matthe 7. Lib. 2. cap. 7. de bello Iudaico Matth. 15. Ioan. 21. 2. Petr. 1. Ioan. 14. Philip. 3. Ephes. 4. 1. Timo. 6. 2. Petr. 2. 1. Timo. 3. 2. Timo. 4. Esaiae 30. In libro de capt Bayloniâ—a The argument off this discours ActoruÌ„ 2. Româ— 6. 2. Timo. 1. Matth. 7. Fontaâ—us lib. 2. Lâ—â—e Eras maÌ„ in â—y 〈◊〉 Vide historian Dauiâ—s Georgij Antuer pâ—â— impressam anno 1560. The heretike more dangerous theÌ„ the Turke Ioan. 17. Ioan. 14. In the Ieafe 18. Sleidanus lib. 3. histo In epist. ad Argentoratenses Melanchthon de vita morte Lutheri Tomo 6. fo 436. editionis an 1553. Tomo 2. fol. 35. sac 2. contra caelestes prophetas Tit. 3. A numbre of places corrupted in the englâ—sh Bible printed in the yeares 1549. 51. 52. and 62. In lib. deâ—tilitate credendi ca. 1. 1. Corin. 11. 1. Timo. 6. 1 Cor. 10. 2. Thessal 2. 3. 1. Pet. 1. In institut cap. 17. in fine Ioan. 3. A refuge for false translations of scripture confuted Vide Liâ—danum de optimo scripturas interpretandi genere lib. 2. Cap. 13. Rom. 5. Matth. 15. Psal. 18. Philip. 2. 2. Pet. 1. a Ibidem b Lib. 2. epist. 3. c Lib. 17. cap. 20 de cinit Dei d Homil. 5. in paschâ— Prouer. 9. See the places aboue in the leafe 71. and. 68 â–ª Fontanus lib. 1. histo eccles Lindanus de opt genere interpr scrip cap. 8 â–ª Vide Tiaphylum in absoluâ—ae apolog fol. 62. Smidelinus coÌ„tra apologiam Staphyli c. 4. fa. 1. Matth. 36 In parna Confess de Caeua Do. Ioan. 1. Ioan. 6. In Matthe 26. 1. Cor. 10. In the leafe 85. In vltima admonitione In his institutions the 17. chapter In libr. de vbiquitate In the Apology of England euery vvhere 1. Cor. 4. The fathers of the Protestants Artic. 36. Super cap. 8. fol. 52. In lib. de predest coÌ„tra Caluini sycophaÌ„tas a haer 46 b haer 42 c In recognit d In epist. Rom. 3. Staphylus in prodrâ—me August her 54. eâ— lib. de fide et operibus Epiphan her 76. Lib. 21. ca. 21. contra FaustuÌ„ lib. 8. cap. vlt. de Cluitat Dei Ad quoduultdeunt haer 53. Haer. 75. 2. Cor. 13. CoÌ„maundement in Scripture to praie for the de ad beside the bookes of the Machabees 2. Thess. 2. Homil. 69 ad populum Antioch Iac. 5. Matth. 12. Apocal. 21. In prolegoments In his institutions the 18. chapter Lib. de cuâ—a pro mor â—uisgerenda cap. 5. Lib. de vnitaâ—e Eccles. Her 75. The custome of heretikes to denie partes of Scripture Tertul. li. 4 contra Marcionem Contra Fanâ—â—um Manich vbique in haer 46. ad Quo auult Haeres 76. Cap. 17. Vide Meâ—chiorem canumia locis theolog lib. 2. The Machabees proued to be of the Canon CaÌ„ vltima Can. 47. Lib. 6. Eâ—y molog c. 1. Lib. 2. c. 5 Lib. 18. cap. 30. Contra 2. Gaud. epist cap. 23. 1. Thes. 5. Cap. 16. Cap. 19. Cap. 38. August coÌ„tra Faust. Manicâ— Praier for the dead ought to be vsed thoughe no Scripture commaunded it See the Apologie in the leafe 113. Leuit. 4. 6. 7. Exod. 12. 16. Leui. 16. Psal. 109. Heb. 7. In the 16. chap. off the Apocalâ— and other vvhere The vvritings off meÌ„ in the church to befolovved 1. Cor. 2. Deute 32. 2. Pet. 1. Ephesi 4. a In lib. de decretis Nic. CoÌ„ b In apolo giâ— post 8 â—â—athem c In â—uliaÌ„ libro 2. d In lib. coÌ„tra valentin e lib. 4. ca. 43. f ep 60. et 69. The meaning of the fathers praiyng for the dead imagined by M. Grindall vaine and foolish De. 8. Dulcitij quaest quest 2. * they are propitiatory for the vvicked and very euill though they c. as in the next Epist. 8. Abacuâ— 2. Rom. 1. De verbis Apost serm 17. a Epi. 93. cap. 4. b Haer. 75. c Lib. 30. cap. 3. coÌ„tra FaustuÌ„ MaÌ„ d In praefat Lib. 1. c. 7. de peccat meritâ—s remissione Homil. 5. in â— Iob. â—ome 1. Lib. 8. dâ— curat Grae car affectionum lib. 10. cap. 20 â–ª Lib. 3. de imag Cuâ—â— Lib. 6. ca. 27. In li. de cap tiuitate Babylonica De haeresibus hae 27. Epiph. hae 79. et 49. In Psal. 132. Toâ—o 5. CoÌ„tra Cres. lib. 3. ca. 6. Contra 2. epist. Caud li. 2. ca. 9. contra Donat li. 6. c. 4. contra Parm. lib. 2. cap. 5. Epi. 20 4. et coÌ„tra PetilianuÌ„ saepe Aug. haer 50. Epiph haer 70. Lib. 9. coÌ„tra Iulian. â—d Quoduâ—â—â—deum haer 69. Fonâ—â—nus lib. 2. Heres â—â— Cap. 17. Capit. vlti Lib. 1. c. 1. Coram Probo Indice Socrates li. 5. cap. 10. Actione 1. Epist. 28. lib. 1. coÌ„tra Euâ—â—mituÌ„ Luther â— ued an he retike See theâ—efe 29. and folovving Also the leafe 127. b. c. In the leafe 84. b. and 85. In epist. ad Argentoratenses Contra epi. fundameÌ„ti cap. 6. Ibidem Vide Rofensem contra cap. Baby Epiphanius in haer 76. Haer. 75. Lib. contra ValeÌ„tinianos Lib. 4. cap. 7. Sleidanns Fontanus lib. 17. The proâ— heresy off Luther touching the SacrameÌ„t hath vvrought his confusion Fol. 68. Surius in epist. nuncupatoria praefixa Prodroâ—â—c Pagi 121. In lib. Rectafides de câ—â—a â—â—i Vide throuologiam Alexandri Sculteâ—i Luc 21. Grece and Afrike â—oste the faâ—â—ithe by he resy Of the ciuil Lutherans Staphylus in Def. contra MelaÌ„ch thon Staphylus in prodromo Vide LipseÌ„ Interim literas ad Carolvvitzium iteÌ„que postremas aâ— Com. Palatinum In libellâ— Vox VigiluÌ„â— fol. d. 3. Vide epist. Hosis al Henri duceÌ„ Brunâ—uicen sem Luc. 6. See in the Iâ—a c. 45. and 72. In cap. 8. fol. 53. Staphylus in absoluta apologia fo 126. Cap. de humanis viri bus lib. arbitrio Gallus in librosuo Wechterhan Theologi Saxonici in libellis supplicatorijs ad conuentuÌ„ NuÌ„burgensem Sleidamâ—s lib. 6. et 11. Histor. Pontaâ—us Rouerus li. 5. reruÌ„ memora pag. 410. Non theolâ— gum sed philotheolâ— gum Erasmus Reinhold iâ— epist. sua ad amicuÌ„ In libel ad Bohemoset Siâ— sios Illyricus in informatiâ—ne sua de quibusdam aâ—itulis The ciuill LutheraÌ„s resemble olde heretikes Lib. 4.
vpō vs we suffring such deriuation and infusion Therefore betwene the saying of our Sauiour and the doctrine of Caluin there is as much difference as betwene doing and suffring action and passion Fourthly what meaned Caluin to imagin this communion of Christ his body to be deriued vnto vs and not the body it selfe He might haue muche peuish meaning beside which perhaps they onely know that are admitted to the secrets of his misteries as the Electi of the Maniches were But this one thing I am sure he meaned that bicause communion importeth a number of communicants and one alone cā not communicat which is the cause why these sacramentaries require allwaies a number at their table therefore he would haue no receiuing of Christe without a communion nor any other receiuing of Christ then by hauing a communion of him deriued vnto vs. Let vs suppose then as it maie easely happen that amonge the numbre of all that communicat one onely be a true and vpright beleuer and all the rest euill and miscreants as among so diuers sectes of protestants none other are to be found but such as for feare or otherwise sitt downe amongest them being no protestants in dede though in this point no good catholikes neither But let vs suppose that at the table of the protestants one onely were faithfull and duly prepared thereunto It will folow that bicause according to the doctrine of Caluin the infidel and wicked receiueth only the signe and bare bread the faith full person remaining alone through the infidelite of other shall not receiue Christ neither For being alone he can haue no communion of Christ his fleshe deriued vnto him euery cōmunion importing a number as these men saie Now what an absurdite is this that the good man shall not receiue Christ in the Sacrament bicause euill men receiue with him or bicause he can haue no cōpany of good men Fiftely if the communion of Christ his flesh be deriued vnto vs by the Spirit of Christe then the Spirit of Christ serueth the fleshe as an instrument Which Caluin in his institutions expresly saieth calling the Spirit of Christ a cundyt pipe by the which the flesh of Christ is deriued vnto vs. Nowe beside that this is a horrible blasphemy to make the Spirit of Christe which is his godhead inferiour to the flesh of Christe as an instrumēt of the same it is also cōtrary to al reason and common course of nature For the fleshe serueth well in thinges created as an instrument whereby the Spirit showeth forth his operations as by our eies we see by oute handes we feele and so forth but the Spirit neuer serueth the fleshe nor neuer may be saied to be an instrument of the same Last of all if the due eating of Christ is to haue the communion of flesh deriued vnto vs by his Spirit whereby we receiue life then the vnworthy eating of Christ is the communion of dānation How shall that be deriued vnto vs by the Spirit off Christ to what cā be a more horrible blasphemy by some euill sprit that were the doctrine of the Maniches And yet if it be true that the due receiuing of Christ is no other thing but to haue a cōmunion of him deriued vnto vs thē truly the vnworthy receiuing of Christ must nedes be a communion of damnation deriued also vnto vs. Lo in what absurdites Caluin hath entangled him selfe by departing from the Catholike faith For keping the Catholike doctrine none off al these absurdites shal ensue Wherefore it semeth I maie well saie nowe to Caluin and all suche as folowe this his doctrine that which S. Augustin saied to the Arrians Ego secundum fidem Catholicam Video quomodo exeam de questione sine offensione sine scandalo tu autem circumclusus quaeris qua exeas that is I folowing the catholike faithe ▪ can easely finde a waie to ridde my selfe oute this of question without offence or inconueniēce But thou being al compassed in arte to seke whiche waie to gett oute And euen so fareth it with Caluin For leauing the sure knowen doctrine of the catholike Churche teaching vs according to the tenour of Christ his owne wordes that we eate his fleshe and drinke his bloud in the blessed Sacrament and imagining a communion of Christ his fleshe to be deriued vnto vs by the Spirit of Christ as by a coundit pipe you see what hainous blasphemies and brutish absurdites he is forced withal to cōfesse And this point by vs nowe examined is the chefest Kaye of all the Sacramentary doctrine which being proued nought and full of absurdites declareth that all the store within is of no better stuffe And that shall you anon see and sensibly feale if priuat preiudice haue not vtterly bereued you of common sence Caluin in his commentaries vpon the first to the Corinthians disputing howe we receaue Christ in the blessed Sacrament concludeth his whole disputation in these wordes I conclude saith he the body of Christe is geuen vs in the Supper really as they commonly speake that is truly to the entent it may be holesome foode for oure soules I speake after the common fashion but I meane that oure soules are fedde with the substaunce of Christ his body to the entent we may be made one with him or which is all one that a certain quickening vertu is poored vpon vs oute of the fleshe of Christ by his Spirit though it be farre distant from vs and be not mingled with vs. In these wordes Caluin vttereth two straūge doctrines First that our soules are fedde with the body of Christ secondarely that we receaue the body of Christ really and truly though he saie after that body to be farre distant from vs meaning that it remaineth only in heauen as in the very nexte wordes folowing he declareth As touching the first point if oure soules are fedd with the body of Christ by eating the sacrament we must lerne whether he meane the soule onely to be fedde and not the body or the body also to eate the fleshe of Christ as well as the soule Caluin meaneth the soule onely to eate the body of Christ. For in his cōmentaries vpon the sixte of Iohn he pronoūceth our eating of the sacrament to be the worke of our faith and saith farder in expresse wordes I confesse we eate not Christ any other wise then by beleuing which doctrine howe absurde it is we shall anon speake off Nowe let vs see what absurdites folowe graunting the eating of Christ his body onely to the soule First if the bread of life whiche Christ geueth in the Sacrament be eaten onely off the soule then Manna the figure of this sacrament was more auailable to the Iewes then this blessed foode is to vs Christians For that the Iewes did eate Manna bodely not onely by faith and that it was a corporal foode vnto them the scripture doth clerely testifie Againe that it