naturall inheritaunce is planted thorough Adams fall in vs as to be vnfaythfull angrie enuious couetous slouthfull proud and vngodly these and suche other vses wherewith oure nature is venemed ought we withall diligence to cutte of and mortifie that we may daily be more pacient liberall and mercifull according to that oure baptisme doth signifie In so much that a Christen mannes lyfe is nothing els saue a continuall baptisme whych is begon when are dipped in the water and is put in continuall vre and exercise as long as the infection of sinne remaineth in oure bodyes whych is neuer vtterly vanquished vntill the houre of death and there is the great Golias slayn wyth hys owne sweard that is deathe whych is the power of sinne and the gate of euerlasting lyfe opened vnto vs and thus is Paule to be vnderstand Galat. 3. where he saythe All ye that are baptised into Christ haue put Christe on you that is you haue promised to dye wyth Christe as touching youre sinnes and worldly desires passed and to become new meÌ„ or creatures or members of Christ this haue we all promised vnto the congregation and it is represented in our Baptisme But alas there are but few which in déede fulfil that they promise or rather that the Sacrament promiseth for them And for this cause it is called of Paule the fountaine of the new byrth and regeneration Tit. iij. bicause it signifieth that we will in déede renounce vtterly forsake our old life purge our meÌ„bers froÌ„ the workes of iniquitie thorough y e vertue of y e holy ghost which as the water or fire doth clense the body Euen so doth it purifie the hart from all vncleanesse yea it is a commoÌ„ phrase in Scripture to cal the holy ghost water and fire because these two elementes expresse so liuely hys purgyng operation Now haue we expounded the signification of Baptisme which significatioÌ„ we may obtaine onely by fayth for if thou be baptised a thousaÌ„d times with water haue no fayth it auayleth thée no more towardes God the it doth a Goose when she ducketh her selfe vnder the water Therefore if thou wilt obtaine the profite of Baptisme thou must haue fayth that is thou must bee surely persuaded that thou art newly borne agayne not by water onely but by water and the holy ghost Iohn iij. thou art â–ª become y e child of God that thy sinnes are not imputed to thée but forgeueÌ„ through y e bloud passion of Christ according vnto the promise of God This fayth haue neither y e deuils neither yet the wicked For the wicked caÌ„ not beleue y e remissioÌ„ of their sinnes but fall vnto vtter desperation and make God a lyer as much as in theÌ„ is For they beleue not the testimony which he gaue his sonne and this is that testimony that all which beleue on hym haue euerlastyng lyfe Iohn v. And the deuils can not beleue it for they haue no promise made vnto them Thus through Christes bloud wherof our Baptisme hath his full strength and vigour are we regenerate and made at one with the father For by our first naturall byrth we are the children of wrath Ephes ij and the enemyes of God Roma vj. Finally baptisme is an ordinaunce institute of God and no practise of mans imagination put in vse in Christes time and after his resurrection commaunded to be ministred vnto all that beleeue whether they were Iewes or Gentiles For Christ sayth to his Apostles Go ye teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost Wherfore although it séeme neuer so exterior a thing yet ought it to be had in great price and much reuerence because it was commauÌ„ded of God to be done Beside that it is an outward signe or witnesse vnto the coÌ„gregation of the inuisible promise geuen before by grace vnto euery priuate man and by it doth the congregation receiue hym openly to be couÌ„ted one of theÌ„ which was first receiued by faith or through the grace of the promise it putteth vs also in remembrauÌ„ce that we aduertising the kyndnesse of God and our promise in Baptisme may learne to dye and mortifie our rebellyng members otherwise gyueth it no grace nether hath it any secret vertue as we haue sufficiently proued and therfore is he sore to blame that so vnaduisedly condemneth these infaÌ„tes iudgyng his brother which is in Gods hand yea and peraduenture baptised in Christes bloud For Gods election is vnknowen to man Now will I endeuour my selfe to ouerthrow and vtterly put out the second errour whiche hath long raigned and seduced many and that is of them which so strongly sticke vnto the weake ceremonies Concerning the ceremonies of Baptisme yea and all other we must behaue our selues wisely as charitie teacheth vs séekyng the profite of many that they may be saued We must coÌ„sider that we haue our conuersation with men in this world of the which the most part know not God Some are young some weake some peruerse and some stiffenecked and obdurate vnto the young ceremonies which although they be not noysome vnto the fayth nor contrary to the word of God yet will it be hard to finde such They are good and expedient as milke to leade the young tenderly into the more perfite knowledge of God The second sort are the weake vnto whom in all thynges it behoueth vs to haue respect beare their infirmities by charitie for their sake Actes xv dyd Paule circumcise Timothe yea and for their sake hée had leuer to captiue his libertie and neuer eate flesh nor drinke wyne theÌ„ to offende one of them The thyrde kynd of men are perfite I meane not so perfit that they are cleane without sinne hauyng no remnauntes of old AdaÌ„ assailyng them for such are there none but onely Christ but I call theÌ„ perfite which haue perfit knowledge in the vse of thynges whiche know that what soeuer entreth into the belly deffâ—eth not the man which know that all such thynges be pure vnto theÌ„ that are pure Tit. i. whiche know that if we eate we are nothyng the better or if we eate not we are nothyng the worse 1. Cor. 8. these are frée betwene God their conscieÌ„ce may vse all thinges howbeit they are yet bounde as coÌ„cernyng their neighbour whiche is weake and hath not the knowledge yea bound vnder the payne of sinne to abstaine from wouÌ„dyng of their coÌ„science for he sinneth against God that woundeth an other mans conscieÌ„ce 1. Cor. 8. The fourth kynde are selfe willed and obstinate which put confidence in such indifferent thynges For I thinke them not néedefull vnto our saluation Then ought we to resist in the face and not to yeld an inche vnto them as Paule geueth vs example which would not for theyr pleasure circumcise Titus but vtterly
â— little flock To put away thy sinnes Nay brethreÌ„ god forbid that ye should so thinke Christes bloud onely washeth away the sinnes of all that repent and beleue Fire salt water bread oyle be bodely thynges geuen vnto man for his necessitie and to helpe hys brother wyth and God that is a spirit cannot be serued therwyth Neyther can such thynges enter into the soule to purge her For Gods worde onely is her purgation No say they are not such thynges halowed And say we not in the halowing of them that who soeuer is sprinkled wyth the water or eateth of the bread shall receaue health of soule and body Sir the blessinges promised vnto Abraham for all nations are in Christ and out of his bloud we must fet them and his word is the bread salt water of our soules God hath geueÌ„ you no power to geue thorow your charmes such vertue vnto vnseÌ„sible creatures which he hath halowed himselfe made them all cleane for the bodely vse of them that beleue thorow his word of promise and permission and our thankes geuing God sayth if thou beleue Saint Ihons gospell thou shalt be saued and not for y e bearyng of it about thee with so many crosses or for the obseruing of any such obseruaunces God for thy bitter passion rore they out by by what an hereticke is this I tel thee that holy church neede to alleadge no scripture for them for they haue the holy Ghost which inspireth theÌ„ euer secretly so y t they can not erre whatsoeuer they say do or ordayne What wilt thou dispise the blessed Sacramentes of holy church wherewyth God hath bene serued this xv hundred yeare ye verely this v. thousaÌ„d yeres euen since Cain hetherto and shall endure vnto the worldes end among theÌ„ that haue no loue vnto the truth to be saued thereby thou art a strong hereticke and worthy to be burnt And theÌ„ he is excommunicat out of the church If y t little flocke feare not that bugge then they goe straight vnto the king And it like your grace perilous people and seditious and euen inough to destroy your realme if ye see not to them betimes They be so obstinat tough that they wyll not be conuerted and rebellious agaynst God and the ordinaunces of hys holy church And how much more shal they so be against your grace if they encrease and grow to a multitude They wyll peruert all and surely make new lawes and eyther subdue your grace vnto them or ryse agaynst you And theÌ„ goeth a part of y t little flocke to pot and the rest scatter Thus hath it euer bene and shall euer â—e let no man therefore deceaue hymselfe An aunswere to M. Mores second booke IN the first Chapter ye may not try the doctrine of the spiritualtie by the Scripture But what they say that beleue vndoubtedly and by that try the Scripture And if thou finde the playne contrary in the Scripture thou mayst not beleue the Scripture but seke a Glose and an allegorie to make them agree As wheÌ„ the pope sayth ye be iustified by the woorkes of the ceremonies and Sacramentes and so forth and the Scripture sayth that we be iustified at the repentauÌ„ce of the hart through Christes bloud The first is true playne as the pope sayth it and as it standeth in his text but the secoÌ„d is false as it appeareth vnto thine vnderstandyng and the literall sence that killeth Thou must therfore beleue the Pope and for Christes doctrine seeke an allegorie and a mysticall sence that is thou must leaue the cleare light and walke in the miste And yet Christ and his Apostles for all their miracles required not to be beleued without scripture as thou mayst see Iohn v. and Act. xvij and by their diligent alledgyng of Scripture through out all the new Testament And in the end he sayth for his pleasure that we knowledge that no man may minister SacrameÌ„ts but he that is deriuede out of the Pope Howbeit this we knowledge that no man could minister Sacramentes without signification which are no Sacramentes saue such as are of the Popes generation The iij. Chapter IN the third Chapter in the Chapter folowyng he vttereth how fleshly mynded he is and how beastly he imagineth of God as Paule sayth 1. Cor. 2. the naturall man can not vnder stand the thyngs of the spirite of God He thinketh of God as he doth of hys Cardinall that he is a monster pleased when men flatter him if of whatsoeuer frailtie it be men breake his coÌ„maundementes he is theÌ„ ragyng mad as the Pope is seketh to be venged Nay God is euer fatherly minded toward the elect meÌ„bers of his Church He loued them yer the world began in Christ Ephe. 1. He loueth theÌ„ while they be yet euill his enemies in their hartes yer they be come vnto y â— knowledge of his sonne Christ and yer his law be written in their hartes as a father loueth his young sonne while he is yet euill yer it know the fathers law to consent therto And after they be once actually of his Church and the law of God faith of Christ written in their hartes their hartes neuer sinne any more though as Paul sayth Rom. vij the flesh doth in them that the spirit would not And when they sinne of frailtie God ceaseth not to loue them still though he â—e angry to put a crosse of tribulatioÌ„s vpon their backes to purge them and to subdue the flesh vnto the spirite or to all to breake their consciences with threatnyng of the law and to feare theÌ„ with hell As a father when his sonne offeÌ„deth him feareth him with the rod but hateth him not God did not hate Paule when he persecuted but had layd vp mercy for hym in store though he was angry with him to scourge him and to teach him better Neither were those things layd on his backe which he after suffered to make satisfaction for his foresinnes but onely to serue his brethren and to keepe the flesh vnder Neither did God hate Dauid when he had sinned though he was angry with hym Neither did he after suffer to make satisfactioÌ„ to God for his old sinnes but to kepe his flesh vnder to keepe him in mekenesse and to be an example for our learnyng The iiij Chapter IN the fourth sayth he if the Churche were an vnknoweÌ„ coÌ„pany how should the infidels if they longed for the fayth come thereby O whether wandereth a fleshly mynde as though we first sought out God Nay God kitoweth his and seketh them out sendeth his messengers vnto them geueth them an hart to vnderstand Did the heatheÌ„ or any nation seke Christ Nay Christ sought them and sent his Apostles vnto them As thou seest in the storyes from the begynnyng of the world and as the parables and similitudes of the
here also a woorde or twayne We had neede to take hede euery where that wee bee not begyled with false allegories whether they be draweÌ„ out of the new Testament or the old either out of any other story or of the creatures of the world but namely in this booke Here a man had neede to put on all his spectacles and to arme him selfe agaynst inuisibles spirites First allegories proue nothyng and by allegories vnderstand examples or similitudes borowed of straunge matters and of an other thyng then that thou entreatest of And though circuÌ„sion be a figure of Baptisme yet thou canst not proue Baptisme by Circumcision For this argument were very feble the Israelites were Circumcised therfore we must be Baptised And in like maner though y e offering of Isaac were a figure or example of the resurrâ—ction yet is this argument nought Abraham would haue offered Isaac but GOD deliuered him from death therefore we shall rise agayne and so forth in all other But the very vse of allegories is to declare and open a text that it may bee the better perceaued and vnderstand As when I haue a cleare text of Christ and of the Apostles that I must be baptised then I may borow an example of CircumcisioÌ„ to expresse the nature power and frute or effect of baptisme For as Circumcision was vnto them a common badge signifiyng that they were all souldiers of god to warre his warre and separating them from al other nations disobedient vnto God euen so baptisme is our coÌ„mon badge and sure earnest and perpetual memoriall that we pertaine vnto Christ and are separated frome all that are not Christes And as Circumcision was a token certifyeng them that they were receaued vnto the fauour of God and their sinnes forgeueÌ„ them euen so Baptisme certifieth vs that we are washed in the bloud of Christ and receaued to fauour for his sake and as CircumcisioÌ„ signified vnto them the cuttyng awaye of their owne lustes and sleayng of their free will as they call it to folow the will of GOD euen so Baptisme signifieth vnto vs repentaunce and the mortifying of our vnruly members and bodyes of sinne to walke in a new life and so forth And likewise thoughe that the sauing of Noe of them that were with him in the shyp thorough water is a figure that is to say an example and likenesse of Baptisme as Peter maketh it 1. Peter 3. yet I can not proue Baptisme therewith saue describe it onely for as the shyp saued them in the water thorough fayth in that they beleued God and as y â— other that would not beleue Noe perished euen so Baptisme saueth vs through the worde of fayth whiche it preacheth when all the world of the vnbeleuyng perish And Paule 1. Corin. 10. maketh the sea and the cloude a figure of Baptisme by which and a thousaÌ„d mo I might declare it but not proue it Paule also in the sayd place maketh the rock out of which Moses brought water vnto the children of Israell a figure or example of Christ not to proue Christe for that were impossible but to describe Christ onely euen as Christ him selfe Iohn 3 boroweth a similitude or figure of the braien serpeÌ„t to lead Nichodemus froÌ„ his earthy imagination into the spiritual vnderstaÌ„dyng of Christes saying As Moses lifted vp a Serpent in the wildernesse so must the sonne of man be lifted vp that none that beleue in hym perish but haue euerlasting lyfe By which similitude the vertue of Christes death is better described then thou couldest declare it with a thousaÌ„d wordes For as those murmurers agaynst God as soone as they repented were healed of their deadly woundes thorough lookynge on the brasen Serpent onely without medicine or any other helpe yea and without any other reason but that God hath sayd it should be so and not to murmure agayne but to leaue their murmuryng euen so all that repent and beleue in Christ are saued froÌ„ euerlastyng death of pure grace without and before their good works and not to synne agayne but to fight agaynst sinne and henceforth to synne no more Euen so with the ceremonies of this booke thou canst proue nothyng saue describe and declare onelye the putting away of oure sinnes thorowe the deathe of Christe For Christe is Aaron and Aarons sonnes and all that offer the sacrifice to purge sinne And Christ is all maner offering that is offered he is the oxe the shepe the gote the kyd and lambe he is the oxe that is burnt without the host and y t scape-gote that caried all the sinne of the people away into the wildernesse for as they purged the people from their worldly vncleanesses thorow bloud of y e sacrifices euen so doth Christ purge vs froÌ„ the vncleannesses of euerlasting death with hys owne bloude and as their worldly sinnes coulde no otherwise be purged then by bloud of sacrifice euen so can our sinnes bee no otherwise forgeuen then thorowe the bloud of Christ All the deedes in the worlde saue the bloude of Christ can purchase no forgeuenesse of sinnes for our dedes do but help our neighbour and mortify the flesh and help that we sinne no more but and if we haue sinned it must be freely forgeuen thorow the bloud of Christ or remayne euer And in lyke manner of the Leapers thou canst proue nothing thou canst neuer coniure out confession thence howbeit thou hast an handsome example there to open the binding losyng of our priests with the key of Gods worde for as they made no man a Leper euen so oures haue no power to commaund any man to be in sinne or to go to purgatory or hell And therefore in as much as binding and loosing is one power as those Priestes healed no man euen so oures can not of their innisible and domme power driue any mans sinnes away or deliuer hym from hel or fayned purgatory how be it if they preached Gods worde purely which is the authoritie that Christ gaue them then they shold binde and lose kill and make alyue agayne make vncleane and cleane agayne and send to hel and fetch thence agayne so mighty is gods worde For if they preached the lawe of God they shold bynd the consciences of sinners with the bondes of the paynes of hell and bring them vnto repentance And then if they preached vnto theÌ„ y e mercy that is in Christ they shold loose them and quiete their ragyng consciences certifie them of the fauour of God and that their sinnes be forgeuen Finally beware of allegories for there is not a more handsome or apte thyng to beguile withall then an allegory nor a more subtle and pestilente thyng in the world to perswade a false matter then an allegory And contrariwise there is not a better vehementer or mightier thyng to make a man vnderstand with all theÌ„ an allegory For allegories make a man
and vnto the tamyng of thy fleshe But thou mayst vowe neither of them vnto the slaying of thy body As Paule commaundeth Tymothe to drincke wyne no more water because of his diseases Thou wilt say that Timothy had not happely forsworne wyne I thinke the same and that the Apostles forsware not wedlocke thoughe many of them lyued chast neither yet any meate or drincke though they absteined from them and that it were good for vs to folow their example Howbeit though I vowe and sweare and thinke on none exception yet is the breakyng of Gods coÌ„maundemeÌ„ts except and all chaunces that hange of God As if I sweare to be in a certain place at a certain houre to make a loueday without exception yet if the king in the meane tyme commaunde me an other way I must goe by Gods commaundement and yet breake not myne othe And in like case if my father mother be sicke require my presence or if my wife children or houshold be visited that â—ny assistance be required or if my neighbours house be a fire at the same houre and a thousand such chaunces in whiche all I breake myne othe am not forsworne and so forth Read Gods word diligently with a good hart and it shall teach thee all thynges A Prologue into the fifte booke of Moses called Deuteronomy THis is a booke worthy to be read in daye and night neuer to be out of handes For it is the most excellent of all the bokes of Moses It is easy also lyght and a very pure Gospell y t is to wit a preachyng of fayth loue deducyng the loue to God out of fayth and the loue of a mans neighbour out of y t loue of God Herein also thou mayst learne right meditation or contemplation which is nothyng els saue y t calling to minde a repeatyng in the harte of the glorious and wonderfull dedes of God and of his terrible handling of his enemies and mercyfull entreatyng of them that come when hee calleth them whiche thyng this booke doth and almost nothyng elles In the foure first Chapters he rehearseth the benefites of GOD done vnto them to prouoke them to loue his mightie dedes done aboue all natural capacitie of faith that they might beleue GOD and trust in him and in his strength And thirdly he rehearceth the fierce plagues of God vppon his enemyes and on them which through impatiencie vnbeliefe fell from hym partly to tame and abate the appetites of the flesh which alway fight agaynst the spirite and partely to bridle the wilde ragyng lustes of them in whom was no spirite that though they had no power to do good of loue yet at the lest way they should abstaine from outward euill for feare of wrath and cruell vengeaunce whiche should fall vpoÌ„ them and shortly finde them out if they cast vp gods nurter and runne at riotte beyond his lawes and ordinaunces Moreouer he chargeth them to put nought to nor take ought away from Gods wordes but to be diligeÌ„t onely to keepe them in reeÌ„mbraunce in the hart and to teach their childreÌ„ for feare of forgettyng And to beware either of makyng imagery or of bowyng them selues vnto Images saying Ye saw no image when God spake vnto you but heard a voyce onely that voyce keepe and thereunto cleaue for it is your lyfe and it shall saue you And finally if as the frailtie of all fleshe is they shal haue fallen from God and he haue brought them into trouble aduersitie and combraunce and all necessitie yet if they repent and turne hee promiseth them that God shall remeÌ„ber his mercy and receaue them to grace agayne In the fifte he repeateth the x. CommauÌ„dementes and that they might see a cause to do them of loue he biddeth them remember that they were bound in Egypt and how God deliuered theÌ„ with a mighty hande and a stretched out arme to serue him and to kepe his maundementes as Paule sayth that wee are bought with Christes bloud and therefore are his seruauntes and not our owne and ought to seeke his wil and honour onely and to loue and serue one an other for his sake In the sixte he setteth out the fountaine of all commaundementes that is that they beleue how that there is but one God that doth all and therfore ought onely to bee loued with all the hart all the soule and all the might For loue onely is the fulfillyng of the coÌ„maundementes as Paule also sayth vnto the Romaines and Galathians likewise He warneth them also that they forget not the coÌ„maundementes but teache them their children and to shew their children also how God deliuered them out of the bondage of the Egiptians to serue him and his commaundements that the children might see a cause to worke of loue likewise The seuenth is all together of faith hee remoueth all occasions that might withdrawe them from the faith and pulleth them also from all confidence in them selues and sturreth them vp to trust in God boldly and onely Of the eight Chapter thou seest how that the cause of temptation is that a man might see his own hart For wheÌ„ I am brought into that extremity that I must either suffer or forsake GOD then I shall feele how much I beleue and trust in him and how much I loue him In like maner if my brother do me euill for my good then if I loue him when there is no cause in him I see that my loue was of God and euen so if I then hate him I feele and perceaue that my loue was but wordly and finally hee sturreth theÌ„ to the fayth and loue of God and driueth them froÌ„ all confidence of their owne selues In the ninth also hee moueth them vnto fayth and to put their trust in God and draweth them from confideÌ„ce of them selues by rehearsing all y e wickednesse whiche they had wrought from the first day he knew them vnto that same day And in the end he repeteth howe he coniured God in Horeb and ouercame him with prayer where thou mayest learne the right maner to pray In the tenth he reckeneth vppe the pith of all lawes and the keping of the law in hart which is to feare GOD loue him and serue hym with all their hart soule and might and kepe his coÌ„maundementes of loue And he sheweth a reason why they should that do euen because God is Lord of heauen and earth hath also done all for them of his owne goodnesse without their deseruyng And then out of the loue vnto God he bringeth the loue vnto a mans neighbour saying God is Lord aboue all Lordes and loueth al his seruauntes indiffereÌ„tly as well the poore and feble and the strauÌ„ger as the rich and mighty and therfore will that we loue the poore and the straunger And he addeth a cause for ye were straungers
Christ or entende to restore the Kynges agayne vnto their duties and right and to the rowme and authoritie which they haue of God and of shadowes to make theÌ„ Kynges in deede to put the world in his order agayne then the Kynges deliuer their swordes and authoritie vnto the hypocrites to â—lay him So dronken are they with the wine of the whore ¶ The text that foloweth in Paule wil they happely lay to my charge and others How shall they preach except they be sent sayth Paul in the sayd x. to the Romaines We wil they say the Pope Cardinals and Byshoppes all authority is ours The Scripture perteineth vnto vs and is our possession And we haue a law that who soeuer presume to preach without the authoritie of the Bishops is excommunicate in the deede doyng Whence therefore hast thou thine authoritie wil they say The old Phariseis had the Scripture in captiuitie likewise and asked Christ by what authoritie doest thou these thynges as who should say We are phariseis thou art none of our order nor hast authoritie of vs. Christ asked them an other question and so will I do our hypocrites Who seÌ„t you God Nay hee that is sent of God speaketh Gods word Iohn iij. Now speake ye not Gods worde nor any thyng saue your own lawes made cleane contrary vnto Gods worde Christes Apostles preached Christ not them selues He that is of the truth preacheth the truth Now ye preach nothyng but lyes and therefore are of the deuill the father of all lyes of hym are ye sent And as for mine authoritie or who sent me I report me vnto my workes as Christ Iohn v. and. x. If Gods word beare recorde that I say truth why should any man doubt but that God the father of truth and of lyght hath sent me as the father of lyes of darknes hath sent you and that the spirite of truth and of light is with me as the spirite of lyes and of darkenes is with you By this meanes thou wilt that euery man be a preacher will they say Nay verely For GOD will that not and therfore will I it not no more then I would that euery man of London were Mayre of London or euery man of the Realme Kyng therof God is not the author of dissention and strife but of vnitie and peace and of good order I will therefore that where a congregation is gathered together in Christ one be chosen after the rule of Paul and that hee onely preach and els no maÌ„ openly but that euery man teach hys houshold after the same doctrine But if the preacher preach false then whosoeuers harte God moueth to the same it shal be law full to rebuke and improue the false teacher with the cleare and manifest Scripture and that same is no doubt a true Prophet sent of GOD. For the Scripture is gods and theirs that beleue and not the false Prophet SAcrament is then as much to say as an holy signe And the Sacramentes which Christ ordeined preach Gods word vnto vs and therfore iustifie and minister the spirite to them that beleue as Paul thorough preachyng the Gospell was a minister of righteousnes of the spirite vnto all that beleued his preachyng Domme ceremonies are no Sacramentes but superstitiousnes Christes SacrameÌ„ts preach the fayth of Christ as his Apostles did thereby iustifie Antichristes domme ceremonies preach not y â— fayth that is in Christ as his Apostles our Byshops and Cardinals do not But as Antichristes Bishops are ordeined to kill who soeuer preach the true faith of Christ so are his ceremonies ordeined to quench the faith which Christes SacrameÌ„tes preach And hereby maist thou knowe the difference betwene Christes signes or Sacramentes and Antichristes signes or ceremonyes that Christes signes speake and Antichristes be domme Hereby seest thou what is to be thought of all other ceremonies as halowed water bread salt bowes belles waxe ashes and so forth and all other disguisinges and Apesplay and of all maner coniurations as the coniuring of church and churchyardes and of alter stones such like Where no promise of God is there can be no fayth nor iustifiyng nor forgeuenes of sinnes For it is more then madnes to looke for any thing of god saue that he hath promised How farre he hath promised so farre is he boduÌ„ to them that beleue and further not To haue a fayth therefore or a trust in any thing where god hath not promised is plaine idolatry and a worshipping of thyne own imagination in stede of God Let vs see the pith of a ceremony or two to iudge the rest by In coniuring of holy water they pray that whosoeuer be sprinckled therewith may receaue health as well of body as of soule and likewise in makyng holy bread and so forth in the coniurations of other ceremonies Now we see by dayly experience that halfe their prayer is vnheard For no man receaueth health of body thereby No more of likelihode do they of soule Yea we see also by experience that no man receaueth health of soule thereby For no man by sprinckling himselfe with holy water and wyth eating holy bread is more mercifull then before or forgeueth wrong or becommeth at one with his enemy or is more patient and lesse couetous and so forth Which are the sure tokens of the soule health They preach also that the wagging of the Byshops hand ouer vs blesseth vs and putteth away our sinnes Are these workes not against Christ How can they do more shame vnto Christes bloud For if the wagging of the Byshops hand ouer me be so precious a thyng in the sight of God that I am thereby blessed how then am I full blessed wyth all spirituall blessinge in Christ as Paul saith Ephe. j Or if my sinnes be full done away in Christ how remayneth there any to be done away by such phantasies The Apostles knew no wayes to put away sin or to blesse vs but by preaching Christ Paule sayth Gal. ij If righteousnes come by the law then Christ dyed in vayne So dispute I here If blessing come by the wagging of the Byshops hand then dyed Christ in vayne and his death blesseth vs not And a little afore sayth Paule if while we seeke to be iustified by Christ we be yet found sinners so that we must be iustified by the law or ceremonies is not Christ then a minister of sinne So dispute I here If while we seeke to be blessed in Christ we are yet vnblessed and must be blessed by the wagging of the Byshoppes hand what haue we then of Christ but curse Thou wilt say When we come first to the fayth then Christ forgeueth vs and blesseth vs. But the sinnes which we afterward commit are forgeuen vs through such thinges I aunswere If any man repent truely and come to the fayth and put hys trust in Christ theÌ„ as oft as he sinneth of frayltie at
an other mans wife in the hart But as he there forbad that which defileth matrimony euen so he forbiddeth here that which troubleth vnquieteth and destroyeth the temporall regimēt and that thyng which to forbid the temporall regiment was ordayned which is that no man aduenge himselfe Christ medleth not with the temporall regiment But in all this long sermon fighteth agaynst the Phareseyes false doctrine and salteth the law to purge it of the corruption of their filthy gloses and to bring it vnto the right taste and true vnderstanding agayne For the Phariseyes had so enterpret that lawe of Moses which pertayned onely vnto the rulers that euery priuate person might aduenge hymselfe do his aduersary as much harme againe as he had receaued of hym Now if he that is angry haue deserued that men pronounce death vpon hym and he that sayth Racha hath deserued that mē should gather a coūsell to determine some sondry and cruell death for so haynous a crime if he that calleth hys brother foole haue deserued hell what deserueth he that smiteth or aduengeth himselfe wyth his owne hand Here is forbidden therfore priuate wrath onely and that a man aduenge himselfe To turne the other cheeke is a mater of speaking and not to be vnderstand as the woordes sounde as was to cutte of the hand and to plucke out the eye And as we commaunde our children not onely not to come nie a brooke or a water but also not so hardy as once to looke that way either to looke on fier or once to thinke on fier which are impossible to be obserued More is spoken then ment to feare them and to make them perceaue that it is earnest that we commaunde Euen so is the meaning here y t we in no wise aduenge but be prepared euer to suffer as much more neuer to thinke it lawfull to aduenge how great soeuer the iniurie be for he himselfe turned not the other cheeke whē he was smitten before the Byshoppe nor yet Paule whē he was buffeted before the Byshop also But ye haue heard a little aboue Blessed are the meeke for they shall possesse the earth Let all the world studie to do thee wrong yea let them do thee wrong and yet if thou be meeke thou shalt haue foode and rayment inough for thee and thyne And moreouer if the worst come God shall yet set such a tyraunt ouer thee that if thou be meeke and canst be cōtent that he polle thee properly and euen as thou mayst beare shall defend thee from all other Who is polled intollerably that hys lite is bitter and euen death to hym but he that is impatient and cannot suffer to be polled Yea poll thy selfe and preuent other and geue the Baylife or like officer now a Capon now a Pigge now a Goosse and so to thy Landlord likewise or if thou haue a great Ferme now a Lambe now a Calfe and let thy wife visit thy Landladye three or foure tymes in a yeare wyth spised cakes and Apples Peares Cheries and such like And be thou ready with thyne Oxen or Horses three or foure or halfe a dosen dayes in the yeare to set home their wood or to plow their lād yea and if thou haue a good horse let them haue hym good cheape or take a worse for hym and they shal be thy shilde and defende thee though they be tyraūtes and care not for God that no man else shall dare polle thee And thereto thou maist with wisdome get of them that shall recompence all that thou doost to them All thys I meane if thou be patient and wise and feare God thereto loue thine neighbour and do none euill For if thou keepe thy selfe in fauour with hurting thy neighbour thine ende will be euill and at the last desperation in thys worlde and hell after But and if thou canst not polle thy selfe with wisdome and laugh beare a good countenaūce as though thou reioysedst while such personnes polle thee euery man shall polle thee and they shall mainteine them and not defende thee Let this therefore be a cōmon prouerbe be contented to be polled of some man or to be polled of euery man Ye must vnderstand that there be two states or degrees in thys worlde the kyngdome of heauen which is the regiment of the Gospell And y ◠kingdome of this world which is the temporall regimēt In the first state there is neither father mother sonne daughter neither master maystres mayoe manseruaunt nor husband nor wyfe nor Lord or subiect nor man or woman But Christ is all and ech to other is Christ himselfe There is none better then other but all like good all brethren and Christ onely is Lord ouer all Neither is there any other thyng to do or other law saue to loue one an other as Christ loued vs. In the temporall regiment is husband wyfe father mother sonne daughter maister maystresse mayde manseruaunt Lord and subiect Now is euery person a double person and vnder both the regimentes In the first regiment thou art a person for thyne owne selfe vnder Christ and his doctrine mayst neither hate or be angry and much lesse fight or aduenge But must after the ensample of Christ humble thy selfe forsake and deny thy selfe and hate thy selfe and cast thy selfe away and be meeke and patient and let euery mā goe ouer thee and tread thee vnder foote and do thee wrong and yet loue them and pray for them as Christ did for his crucifiers For loue is all and what is not of loue that is damnable and cast out of that kyngdome For that kyngdome is the knowledge of God and Christ But he that loueth not knoweth neyther God nor Christ therefore he that loueth not is not of that kingdome The minor is on this wise proued he that knoweth God and Christ seeth light for Christ is light But he that hateth hys brother is in darcknes and walketh in darcknes and wotteth not whether he goeth for darcknes hath blinded hys eyes 1. Ioh. 2. Ergo he that hateth his brother knoweth not what Christ hath done for hym and therefore hath no true fayth nor is of the spirituall kyngdome of God To hate thy selfe that shalt thou get if thou considerest thyne owne sinnes and the deepe dampnation that long thereto with due repentaunce And to loue that thou shalt obtayne if thou beholde the great and infinite mercy of God wyth strōg faith There is none so great an enemy to thee in this worlde but thou shalt lightly loue hym if thou looke well on the loue that God shewed thee in Christ In the temporall regiment thou art a person in respect of other thou art an husband father mother maister maistresse lord ruler or wife sonne daughter seruaūt subiect c. And there thou must do accordyng to thyne office If y u be a father thou must do the office of a father and rule or els
sought helpe either for theÌ„selues or for their neighboures and trusted in the promyse of God would so comfort the soule and courage y â— hart that the body though it were halfe dead and more woulde reuiue and be lusty agayne and the labour woulde be short and easy as for an ensample if thou weâ—e so oppresied that thou were weaâ—y of thy life and weÌ„ttest to the kyng for helpe and haddest sped thy spirits would so reioyce that thy bodye woulde receaue her strength agayne and be as lusty as euer it was eueÌ„ so the promises of God worke ioy aboue all measure where they beleued in the hart But our hierlinges haue no Gods woorde but trust in the multitude of wordes length of bablyng and payne of body as bond seruauntes Neither know they any other vertue to be in prayer as ye may see by the ordinaunces of all foundations King Henry the fift built Syon and the Charterhouse of Shene on the other side of the water of such a manner that lippe labour may neuer cease For when the Fryers of Sion ryng out the NuÌ„nes beginne And when the Nunnes ring out of seruice the Monkes on the other side beginne And wheÌ„ they ring out the Fryers beginne agayne and vexe themselues night and day take payne for Gods sake for which God must geue them heauen Yea I haue knowen of some yer this that for very payne and tediousnes haue bidden the Deuill take their founders They call Lent the holyest tyme of the yeare but wherin is that holines verely in multitude of wordes and tedious leÌ„gth of the seruice For let theÌ„ beginne at sixe and it will be twelue or they can ende In which time they be so wearied that by the tyme they haue dined they haue lust to nothing saue to sleepe And in the ende of all they thinke no farther then that God must rewarde their payne And if y u aske how they know it They will aunswere he must reward it or be vnrighteous Now god looketh not on the paine of the prayer but on thy faith in his promise goodnes neither yet on the multitude of thy wordes or long habling For he knoweth thy matter better then thou thy selfe And though the Iewes and the heathen were so foolishe thorough their vnbeliefe to bable many words yet were they neuer so madde as to mâ—mble and buze out woordes that they vnderstoode not Thou wilt say what matter maketh it if I speake wordes which I vnderstand not or if I pray not at all seing God knoweth my matter all ready I aunswere he will haue thee to open thine hart to him to enforme and edifie thine owne selfe That thou mightest know how all goodnes is of him to put thy trust and confidence in hym and to flie to him in time of neede and to be thankfull and to loue him and obey his coÌ„maundementes and turne and be coÌ„uerted vnto thy Lord God and not to runne wilde as the vngodly do which know not the benefites of God and therefore be vnthankfull to obey hys commaundementes And that thou mayst know how what to pray he geueth thee a short instruction and ensample saying after this maner pray O our father which art in heaueÌ„ First thou must goe to him as a mercifull father which of his owne goodnes and fatherly loue that he beareth to thee is ready to do more for thee then thou caÌ„st desire though thou haue no merites But because he is thy father onely if thou wilt turne henceforth submitte thy selfe to learne to do hys wyll Honoured be thy name Honoured and praysed be thy name or honoured and praysed be thou for to honour God and to honour y t name of God is all one And to honour the name of God is to dread him to loue hym and to keepe hys commaundementes For wheÌ„ a childe obeyeth his father he honoureth and prayseth hys father and when he is rebellions and disobedient he dishonoureth hys father This is then the vnderstandyng meaning of it O father seing thou art father ouer all powre out thy spirite vppon all flesh and make all men to feare and dread loue thee as their father in keeping thy commaundementes to honour thee and thy holy name Thy kingdome come That is seyng thou art kyng ouer all make all to know thee make the kynges and rulers which are but thy substitutes to commaunde nothyng but according to thy worde and to them make all subiectes obey Thy will be fulfilled in earth as it is in heauen This is all one with that goeth before For as much then as thou art father and kyng ouer all and all we thy children brethren among our selues make vs all as obedient to seeke and to do thy will as the Aungelles do in heauen Make that no man seeke hys owne will but all thine But if thou withdraw thyne haÌ„d to tempt thy children that the rulers coÌ„maunde ought contrary to thy will then make the subiectes to stand fast by thy worde to offer themselues to suffer all extremitie rather then to obey Finally when we pray to thee in our temptations and aduersities desiring thee of whatsoeuer thyng it be and meane truely yet if thou which knowest all seest a better way to thy glory and our profite then thy will be and not ours As thy sonne Iesus gaue vs an ensample when he desired if it had bene possible that that cuppe of bitter death might haue departed froÌ„ hym saying yet not as I will but as thou wilt Geue vs our dayly bread By bread is vnderstoode all maner of sustinaunce in the Ebrue speach yea and here is vnderstand therby all that pertayneth vnto the necessitie of thys life If we haue bread there is dearth of nothing y t can pinch namely in that land Geue vs our dayly bread Geue vs all that the necessitie of this life dayly requireth Geue it vs day by day as we nede it We desire not to haue store for many yeares to exclude all necessitie of praying to thee and to be as it were out of thy daunger and to forget thee But minister it day by day that we may dayly feele thy benefites and neuer forget thee Or if thou geue vs aboundaunce aboue that we desire then geue vs an hart to vse it and to bestow it for that purpose thou gauest it and to deale with our neighbours and not to loue it inordinatly But to thinke that it is thyne and that thou mayst take it away euery houre and that we be content that thou so do ac thy pleasure and so euer to haue it but for dayly bread Forgeue vs our trespasses as we forgeue our trespassers Because he knoweth that our nature is so weake that we cannot but sinne dayly therefore he teacheth vs dayly to repeÌ„t and to reconcile our selues together and dayly to aske God forgeuenesse Seing he coÌ„maundeth vs to aske we
policy And finally marke one point in Luke 14. None of them that reâ—useth not al that he possesseth caÌ„ be my disciple that is he that casteth not away y â— loue of all worldly thinges can be no scholer of Christes to learne his doctrine TheÌ„ he addeth that salt is good but if the salt be vnsauery or hath lost his veâ—…e what can be seasoned therwith verely nothing Now by salt is vnderstand the doctrine and the meaning is if ye be couetous and loue worldly thinges it will corrupt y e salt of your doctrine so that whatsoeuer you powder therewith it shal be more vnsauery then before Where your treasure is there are your hartes If your treasure be in y e worlde so is the loue of your hartes And if ye loue the world the thynges of the world the loue of God is not in you and the loue of God is the loue of his commaundements and he that loueth not Gods commaundementes shall neuer preach them truely because he loueth them not But shall corrupt them with gloses that they may stand with that which his hart loueth and vntill they haue an other sence then euer God gaue them Ergo no couetous person can be a true Prophet It is not for nought then that Christ to oft and so diligently warneth his disciples to beware of couetousnes as of that thing which he wist well had euer corrupt the woorde of God and euer shoulde The light of thy body is thyne eye wherfore if thine eye be single all thy body shall be full of lyght But and if thine eye be wicked thaÌ„ shall thy whole body be darcke If therfore the light that is in thee be darcknesse how great is that darknesse Note the conclusion wyth a proper similitude The eye is the light of the body and by the light of the eye all other members see and are gouerned As long as the eye seeth hand foote do their duties neyther is there any feare that a man should sinnible or fall into fire or water But if the eye be blynde all the body is blinde and that so blinde that there is no remedy at al set a candle before him he seeth not geue hym a lanterne in hys hand and yet he goeth not straighte Bring him out into the sunne point hym vnto y t which thou wouldest haue hym see yt boteth not Euen so if couetousnesse haue blinded the spirituall eye peruerted the right entent of the lawe of God and of the workes commaunded by God and of the sacrifâ—ce ceremonies and sacramentes and of all other ordinaunces of God which entent is the spirituall eye then is all the doctrine darcke and very blyndnes yea and then how darke is the darcknes when that which is pure blindnes is beleued to be light how darcke is the doctrine of them that teach that a man may compell God wyth the woorkes of free will to geue them hys fauour grace or make God vnrighteous How darcke is the doctrine of them which to y e rebuke of Christes bloud teach that woorkes do iustifie before God and make satifaction for sinnes How blinde are they which thinke prayer to be the pattering of many wordes and will therefore not onely be praysed and payed of the world but also by the title thereof chalenge heaueÌ„ not by y e merites of Christes bloud How darcke is the doctrine of them whose fayth is onely and all together in appointmentes which they themselues haue fayned betwene them and God vnto which yet God neuer subscribed In which also they assigne what worke and how much they will do and what rewarde and how great God must geue them or chuse whether he will be vnrighteous How darcke is the doctrine of them that say stifly that the worke of the Sacramentes in it selfe not referring it to styrre vp the faith of the promises annexed to theÌ„ doth iustifie and affirme that bodely payne for the payne it selfe not referryng it either to the loue of y e law of god or of their neighbour doth please God How darcke damnable deuelish is the doctrine of them which not onely thinke lucre to be the seruice of God but also are so farre past all shame that they affirme they be the holy Church and cannot erre and all that they decree must be an article of our fayth and that it is damnable once to doubt or search the Scripture whether their doctrine will therto agree or no But say their decrees must be beleued as they sound how contrary so euer the Scripture be and the Scripture must be expounded and made agree to them They neede not to regarde the Scripture but to do and say as their holy Ghost moueth them and if the Scripture be contrary then make it a nose of waxe and wrest it this way and that way till it agree Faith of workes was the darcknesse of the false Prophets out of the which the true could not draw them Faith of workes was the blyndnesse of the phariseis out of the which neither Iohn Baptist nor Christ could bryng them And though Iohn Baptist pyped to them with reasons of the Scripture in uincible and Christ therto added miracles yet the Phariseis would not daunce For Iohn Baptist as they thought was to mad to lyue so strayte a life and to refuse to be iustified therby And as for Christ his Disciples the Phariseis were much holyer them selues fasted oftener and prayed thicker yea and vttered many mo wordes in their prayer then they Fayth of workes is that belefe of the Turkes Iewes which driueth them euer away from Christ Faith of workes hath ben that light of darcknes in which a great part of vs Christen haue walked euer sence Pelagius and Faustus well about xij C. yeares and euer mo and mo in which all our religious haue walked all and more to this foure or fiue hundred yeare in which the Priestes also haue walked a long season the Lord bryng them out agayne Finally how darcke is the darcknesse when a Pharisey and a very Pelagian standeth vp and preacheth agaynst the Phariseis the Pelagians and is alowed of al y e audience And in conclusion when the world euer sence it began hath doth of naturall blindnesse beleue in their owne workes theÌ„ if the Scripture be peruerted to confirme that errour how sore are their hartes hardened and how depe is that darckenesse No man can serue two masters for he shal either hate the one and loue the other or cleaue to the one and despise the other Ye can not serue God and Mammon Mammon is riches or aboundance of goods And Christ concludeth with a plaine similitude that as it is impossible to serue two contrary masters as it is impossible to be retayned vnto two diuers Lords which are enemies one to the other so is it impossible to serue God and Mammon Two
for the spedy preachyng of the Gospell among the heathen throughout the world Now Christ as he was promised so was he sent vnto the Iewes or Israelites And what by Christes preaching the Apostles after his resurrection there were innumerable Iewes conuerted haply an hundred thousand or mo in Ierusalem and Iewry and in the countreys about and abode still in the laÌ„d Then Paul rose vp and persecuted theÌ„ in IerusaleÌ„ and throughout all Iewry and Damasco slaying all that he could catch or making them for â—weare Christ For feare of which persecution they fled into all costes preached vnto the Iewes that were scattered prouing that Iesus was Christ the Sauiour of the world both by the scripture also by miracles so that a great part of the Iewes came to the fayth euery where and we heathen came in shortly after and part abode still in vnbelefe as vnto this day Now the Iewes beyng borne and bred vp rooted and noseld in ceremonyes as I haue shewed and as ye may better see in the. v. bookes of Moses if ye would read them could but wyth great difficultie depart from them as it is to see in all the Epistles of Paule how he fought agaynst them and in processe gat the vpper hand And therto the first that were christened and all the officers and Byshops of y â— church euen so much as y e great God of Rome were Iewes for the most part a great season And moreouer as Paule sayth Ro. ix not all that came of Israel are right Israelites neither are all they Abrahams sonnes that are AbrahaÌ„s seede why so because they followed not the steps of y â— faith of their graundfathers Euen so not all they that were called and also came vnto the mariage which God the father made betwene Christ his sonne all sinners brought theyr mariage garment with them that is to were true fayth wherwith we be maried vnto Christ and made his flesh his bloud and one spirit with hym his brethren and heyres with him and the sonnes of God also But many of theÌ„ to fulfill the saying of Christ that the kyngdome of heaueÌ„ which is the gospell is like a net that ketcheth good bad were driuen into the net and coÌ„pelled to coÌ„fesse that Iesus was Christ and that seede that was promised AbrahaÌ„ and Messias that should come not of any inward felyng that the spirite of God gaue them neyther of any louely consent that they had vnto the law of God that it was good mourning both because they had broken it and because also they had no power to fulfill it and therfore to obtayne mercy and power came to Christ and vnto the father thorow him with the hart of naturall children which receaue all thyng freely of their fathers bounteous liberalitie and of loue become seruauntes vnto their brethren for their fathers sake But were compelled onely with violence of the scripture which euery where bare witnesse vnto Christ and agreed vnto all that he did and ouercome also with the power of myracles that confirmed the same That is to say they came wyth a story faith a popish fayth a faithlesse faith and a fayned faith of their owne making and not as God in the scripture describeth the fayth so beleuing in Christ that they would be iustified by their owne deedes which is the denying of Christ As our Papistes beleue which more mad theÌ„ those Iewes beleue nothing by the reason of the scripture but onely that such a multitude consent thereto compelled wyth violence of sworde with falsifiyng of the scripture and fayned lyes Which multitude yet is not the fift part so many as they that consent vnto the lawe of Mahomet And therfore by their own argumentes the fayth of the Turkes is better then theirs And their fayth thereto may stand by their owne confession with all mischiefe as it well appeareth by them and with yeldyng themselues to worke all wickednesse with full delectation after the ensample of the faith of their father the deuil and without repenraunce and consent vnto the lawe of God that it is good And the popish also do so beleue in Christ and so will be his seruauntes that they will be bound vnto dumme ceremonies and dead workes putting their trust and confidence in them and hoping to be saued by them and ascribing vnto them the thanke of their saluation and righteousnes And therfore because as I sayd the Iewes ye and the Heathen to were so accustomed vnto ceremonies and because such a multitude came wyth a faithles fayth they went cleane coÌ„trary vnto the mynde of Paul and set vp ceremonies in the new testameÌ„t partly borowing them of Moses and partly imagening like as ye now see and called them sacraments that is to say signes as it is plaine in the stories the sacrament of holy water of holy fire holy bread holy salt and so forth And they gaue theÌ„ significations As holy water signified the sprincling of Christes bloud for our redemption which sacrament or signe though it seeme superstuous in as much as the sacrament of Christes body and bloud signifieth y e same dayly yet as loÌ„g as y e signification bode it hurted not And the kissing of the Pax was set vp to signifie that the peace of Christ shoulde be euer among vs one to loue an other after his ensample as the word it self well declareth For pax is as much to say as peace And as for confirmation it is no doubt but that it came this wise vp that this was the vse which the word it selfe well declareth We read in the stories that they which were conuerted vnto the fayth of the age of discretion were full taught in the law of God as right is and in the fayth of our sauiour Iesus yer they were baptised vppon the profession or promising to to keepe that law and faith were baptised And then for the sâ—ccour helpe of young children baptised before the age of discretion to know the lawe of God and fayth of Christ was confirmation instituted that they should not be alway ignoraunt and faythlesse but be taught the profession of their Baptim And this no doubt was the maner as we may well gather by probable coniectures and euident tokens when the children were of sixe or seuen yeares olde their elders brought them vnto the priest or Deacon in euery parish which officer taught the children what their baptim ment what they had professed therein that is to wete the law of God and their dutie vnto al degrees and the faith of our sauiour And then because it should not be neglect or left vndone an higher officer as the Archdeacon for it hath not bene as I suppose in the Byshops handes alway as now neither were it meete came about from parish to parishe at tymes conuenient And the Priestes brought the children vnto hym at xj
hys neighbour and is a thefe And he that is proude of the giftes of God thinketh hym selfe by the reason of them better then his feeble neighbour not rather as the truth is knowledgeth hym selfe a seruaunt vnto hys poore neighbour by the reason of them the same hath Lucifers spirite in hym and not Christes These thynges to know first the law how that it is naturall right and equitie that we haue but one God to put our hope and trust in and hym to loue with all the hart all the soule and all our might and power and neither to moue hart nor hand but at his commaundemēt because he hath first created vs of nought and heauē and earth for our sakes And afterward when we had marred our selfe through sinne he forgaue vs and created vs agayne in the bloud of his beloued sonne And that we haue the name of our one God in feare and reuerence that we dishonour it not in swearyng therby about light trifles or vanitie or call it to recorde for the confirming of wickednesse or falshead or ought that is to the dishonour of God whiche is the breakyng of hys lawes or vnto the hurt of our neighbour And in asmuch as he is our Lord and God and we his double possessiō by creation and redemption and therfore ought as I sayd neither to moue hart or hand without his commaūdement it is right that we haue nedefull holy dayes to come together learne his will both the law which he will haue vs ruled by and also the promises of mercy whiche he will haue vs trust vnto and to geue God thankes together for his mercy and to commit our infirmities to hym through our Sauiour Iesus and to reconsile our selues vnto hym and eche to other if ought be betweene brother and brother that requireth it And for this purpose and such lyke as to visite the sicke and nedy and redresse peace and vnitie were the holy dayes ordeined onely so farforth are they to be kept holy frō all maner workes that may be conueniently spared for the tyme till this be done and no further but then lawfully to worke And that it is right that we obey father and mother Master Lord Prince and Kyng and all the ordinaunces of the world bodely and ghostly by which God ruleth vs and ministreth frely his benefites vnto vs all And that we loue them for the benefites that we receaue by them and feare them for the power they haue ouer vs to punish vs if we trespasse the law and good order So farre yet are the worldly powers or rulers to be obeyed onely as their commaūdements repugne not against the commaundement of God and thē hoo Wherefore we must haue Gods commaundement euer in our hartes and by the hygher law interpret the inferiour that we obey nothyng agaynst the belefe of one God or agaynst the fayth hope and trust that is him onely or agaynst the loue of God wherby we doe or leaue vndone all thyng for his sake that we do nothyng for any mans cōmaundement agaynst the reuerence of the name of God to make it despised and the lesse feared set by and that we obey nothyng to the hynderaunce of the knowledge of the blessed doctrine of God whose seruaūt the holy day is Notwithstandyng though the rulers which God hath set ouer vs commaunde vs agaynst God or do vs open wrong and oppresse vs with cruel tyranny yet because they are in Gods rowme we may not auēge our selues but by the processe and order of Gods law and lawes of mā made by the authoritie of Gods law whiche is also Gods law euer by an hygher power and remittyng the vengeaunce vnto God and in the meane seasō suffer vntill the houre be come And on the other side to know that a man ought to loue his neighbour equally and fully as well as hym selfe because his neighbour be he neuer so simple is equally created of God and as full redemed by the bloud of our sauiour Iesu Christ Out of which commaundement of loue spring these Kill not thy neighbour defile not his wife beare no false witnesse agaynst hym finally not onely do not these thynges in deede but couete not in thyne harte his house his wife his manseruaunt maydeseruaunt oxe asse or what soeuer is his So that these lawes pertaynyng vnto our neighboure are not fulfilled in the sight of God saue with loue He that loueth not hys neighbour kepeth not this commaundemēt defile not thy neighbours wife though hee neuer touch her or neuer see her or thinke vpon her For the commaundement is though thy neighbours wife be neuer so fayre thou haue neuer so great oportunitie geuen thee and she contēt or happly prouoke thee as Putiphers wife did Ioseph yet see thou loue thy neighbor so well that for very loue thou can not finde in thine hart to do y t wickednes And euē so he that trusteth in any thing saue in God onely in his sonne Iesus Christ kepeth no cōmaundemēt at all in the sight of God For he that hath trust in any creature whether in heauen or in earth saue in God his sonne Iesus cā see no cause to loue God with all his hart c. neither to absteine from dishonoryng his name nor to keepe the holy day for the loue of his doctrine nor to obey louing ly y t rulers of this world nor any cause to loue his neighbour as him selfe to absteine from hurtyng hym where he may get profite by hym saue him selfe harmeles And in likewise against this law loue thy neighbour as thy selfe I may obey no worldly power to do ought at any mans cōmaundemēt vnto the hurt of my neighbour that hath not deserued it though he be a Turke And to know how cōtrary this law is vnto our nature how it is dānation not to haue this law writtē in our hartes though we neuer committe the dedes how there is no other meanes to bee saued from this damnation then through repentaūce toward the law fayth in Christes bloud which are the very inward baptisme of our soules the washyng the dippyng of our bodyes in y t water is the outward signe The plungyng of the body vnder the water signifieth that we repent professe to fight against sinne and lustes to kill them euery day more and more with the helpe of God our diligence in folowyng the doctrine of Christ and the leadyng of his spirite and that we beleue to be washed from our naturall damnation in which we are borne and from all the wrath of the law and frō all the infirmities weakenesses that remayne in vs after we haue geuen our consent vnto the law and yelded oure selfe to be scholers thereof and from all the imperfectnesse of all our deedes done with cold loue and from all actuall sinne which shall chaunce on vs while we
was and how such ceremonies came vp and whence they had their begynnyng and what the frute thereof is and what is therin to be sought And though this were inough so that I might here wel cease yet because the vnquiet scrupulous and superstitious nature of man wholy giuen to Idolatrie hath styrred vp such traditions about this one Sacrament most specially I cannot but speake therof somewhat more and declare what my conscience thinketh in this matter Ye shall vnderstand therfore that there is great dissention and three opinions about the woordes of Christ where he sayth in pronouncyng the testament ouer the bread This is my body And in pronouncyng it ouer the wyne This is my bloud One part say that these woordes This is my body This is my bloud compell vs to beleue vnder payne of damnation that the bread and wyne are chaunged into the very body and bloud of Christ really As the water at Cana Galilee was turned into very wyne The second part sayth we be not bound to beleue that bread and wyne are chaunged but onely that his body and bloud are there presently The thyrd say we be bound by these woordes onely to beleue that Christes body was broken and hys bloudshed for the remissiō of our sinnes and that there is no other satisfaction for sinne then the death and passion of Christ The first say these woordes This is my body This is my bloud compell vs to beleue that thynges there shewed are the very body and bloud of Christ really But bread and wyne say they cannot be Christes naturall body ther fore the bread and wyne are chaunged turned altered and transubstantiated into the very body bloud of Christ And they of this opinion haue busied them selues in seekyng subtilties and similitudes to proue how the very body and bloud might be there vnder the similitude of bread and wine onely the very bread and wyne beyng thus trāsubstantiated And these men haue ben so occupyed in slaying all that wil not captiue their wits to beleue them that they neuer taught nor vnderstode that the Sacrament is an absolution to all that therby beleue in the body bloud of Christ The second part graunt with the first that the wordes compel vs to beleue that the things shewed in the Sacrament are the very body and bloud of Christ But where the first say bread and wine cannot be the very body and bloud of Christ There they vary and dissent from them affirming that bread and wine may and also is Christes body really and very bloud of Christ and say that it is as true to say that bread is Christes body and that wyne is hys bloud as it is true to say Christ beyng a very mā is also very God And they say as the Godhead and manhode in Christ are in such maner coupled togegether that mā is very God and God very man Euen so the very body and the bread are so coupled that it is as true to say that bread is the body of Christ and the bloud so annexed there with the wyne that it is euen as true to say that the wyne is Christes bloud The first though they haue slayne so many in and for the defence of their opinion yet they are ready to receiue the second sort to fellowshyp not greatly striuyng with them or abhorryng the presence of bread and wyne with the very body and bloud so that they yee by that meanes may keepe hym there still and hope to sell hym as deare as before and also some to bye hym and not to minish the price The thyrd sort affirme that the wordes meane no more but onely that we beleue by the thyngs that are there shewed that Christes body was brokē and his bloud shed for our sinnes if we will forsake our sinnes turne to God to kepe his law And they say that these sayinges This is my body and This is my bloud shewyng bread wyne are true as Christ meant them and as the people of that countrey to whō Christ spake were accustomed to vnderstand such wordes and as the Scripture vseth in a thousand places to speake As when one of vs sayth I haue dronke a cup of good wyne that saying is true as the mā meant that he dranke wyne onely and not the cup whiche wordes happely in some other nations eares would sound that he dranke the cuppe And as when we say of a child This is such a mans very face the wordes are true as the maner of our land is to vnderstand them that the face of the one is very like the other And as whē we say he gaue me his fayth and hys truth in my hand the wordes are true as we vnderstand them that he stroke handes with me or gaue earnest in signe or token that he would byde by his promise For the fayth of a mā doth alway rest in his soule and cannot be giuen out though we giues signes and tokens of them Euen so say they we haue a thousād examples in the Scripture where signes are named with names of thynges signified by them As Iacob called the place where hee saw the Lord face to face Phenyell that is Gods face when he saw the Lord face to face Now it is true to say of that field that it is Gods face though it be not his very face The same field was so called to signifie that Iacob there saw God face to face The chief hold and principall ancre that the two first haue is these words This is my body This is my bloud Vnto these the third aunswereth as is aboue sayd other textes they alledge for them selues whiche not onely do not strength their cause but rather make it worse As in y e sixt of Iohn which they draw and wrest to the carnall and flesh ly eating of Christes body in y e mouth when it onely meaneth of this eatyng by fayth For when Christ sayd except ye eate the flesh of the sonne of mā and drinke hys bloud ye haue no lyfe in you This cannot be vnderstanded of the Sacrament For Abraham had life and all the old holy fathers Christes mother Elizabeth Zacharias Iohn Baptist Symeon Anna and all the Apostles had lyfe already by fayth in Christ Of which not one had eatē hys flesh and dronke his bloud with theyr bodily mouthes But truth it is that the righteous liueth by his fayth Ergo to beleue and trust in Christes bloud is the eatyng that there was meant as the texte well proueth if they say we graunt that life commeth by faith but we all that beleue must be Baptised to keepe the law and to keepe the couenaunt in mynde Euen so all that lyueth by fayth must receiue the Sacrament I aunswere The Sacrament is a confirmation to weake consciences and in no wise to be despised howbeit many haue lyued by fayth in the wildernes whiche in 20. 30.
bloud Which precepte of the lawe and bycause that bloud is lyfe we affirme it to be set like as many other almost innumerable sacramentes of those Scriptures full of signes and figures of the preachyng to come whiche now is declared by our Lord Iesu Christ c. And I may interprete that precept to bee layed in a signe For the Lord doubted not to say This is my body when hee gaue the signe of his body And euen so is the bloud lyfe and the stone was Christ And yet when he sayd these wordes he sayd not the stone signified Christ but he sayd the stone was Christ whiche lest they should be taken carnally hee calleth it spirituall that is to say he teacheth it to bee vnderstand spiritually Where is now Mores litteral sense and materiall meate Now shall ye heare Chrisostome Nihil sensibile tradidit Christus licet dederit panem vinum non quod panis vinum non sint sensibilia sed quod in illis mentem haerere noluit Nam in suum corpus quod est panis vitae subuehit dicens Hoc est corpus meum perinde ac dicat Hoc licet panis sit significat tamen tibi corpus Thus it is in Englishe Christ geuyng bread and wyne gaue no sensible thyng not that bread and wine be not sensible but that he would not our mynde to sticke still in them For hee lifted vs vp into hys bodye which is the bread of lyfe saying This is my body as though he should say Though this be but bread yet it signifieth vnto thee my body Now iudge thou ChristeÌ„ reader whether M. More reporteth right of this maÌ„ that alledgeth these holy Doctours or no. Now haue ye the pure vnderstandyng of the wordes of the Lordes supper confirmed with the old holy Doctours That this is my body is as much to say as this signifieth my body And this is my bloud is this signifieth my bloud But yet was there neuer such maner of speaking in the scripture This is that that is to say This is conuerted and transubstanciated into that Or this is conteined in that the thyng conuerted and chaunged kepyng still her forme qualities quantities c. As to say This is my body that is to say This bread is conuerted into my body the bread abydyng still in his fashion tast colour waight c. For Christ when hee conuerted water into wyne dyd not leaue the fourme colour and tast still in the water For so had it bene no chaungyng But let our couetous conuerters choppe and chaunge bread and wyne till we there feele see tast neither bread nor wyne and then will we beleue them so they bryng for them the word of God For as for their false iugglyng we feele it at our fingers ende we see it had we but halfe an eye we tast it at our touÌ„gs end and know it with all our wyttes and vnderstandyng so manifestly that we perceiued them openly long agoe to be the very Antichristes of whom Christ and his Apostles warned vs to come in this last tyme. And if they say That this conuersion is made by miracles Then must euery one of them as hee say a Masse make vs many a miracle the very markes of M. Mores Churche For it is oue great miracle that Christs body should come so sodenly inuisible and so oft out of heauen and that such a miracle as the worde of God neuer knew An other that so great a body should be conteyned in so litle a place and that one body should be at once in so many places and two bodyes in one place An other that it is eaten neither the cater feelyng it nor the body eaten sufferyng nor feelyng the teeth of the eater With as many moe maruelous like miracles or rather absurdities of the bread and wyne that there must be the forme colour tast wayght broken c. and yet neither to be bread nor wyne in our belefe except we will be burned of theÌ„ bycause we beleue not their iugglyng castes O mischieuous miracle makers O cruell conuerters O bloudy butchers But hearke Christen reader and I shall learne thee to knowe Christes playne and true miracles from the sleighty iuggling of these crafty coÌ„neyers Christ would neuer haue done miracle had men beleued hym onely by hys woordes but when hee sayd first these wordes This is my body no maÌ„ doubted at them no man was in any vnbeleue of them wherfore these wordes must needes bee playne single and pure without miracle as these The iij. braunches are thre dayes without any subtile transubstantiation such insensible conuersion or any false miracle Christ wrought all his miracles for the glory of God to declare hym selfe both God and man so that all Christes miracles were coÌ„prehended vnder mans sences or commoÌ„ wyttes which bryng in such knowledge vnto the vnderstaÌ„dyng As when he chaunged water into wyne the miracle was first receiued with the sight open at the eye tasted with the mouth and so conuayed vnto the vnderstandyng And now though we neither see nor tast that miracle yet we heare it see it read it and so vnderstaÌ„d that it was once a miracle done of Christ wheÌ„ he restored the sight to the blynd healed the lame clensed the leprose reared the dead all was seen heard and so comprehended vnder our most swete senses that his very enemyes were compelled to coufesse them for miracles But our miracle makers that make dayly so oft and so many are so farre from this cleare poynt that their miracles in this matter be not neither shal be coÌ„tained nor compreheÌ„ded vnder any of our fiue wittes but they rather delude and deceyue both sight tast feelyng hearyng and smellyng ye our fayth and vnderstandyng to Beware therefore of these mischieuous miracle makers for theyr owne glory and profite and will kill thee to if thou beleuest not their lyes Beware I say of those Marchauntes that will sell the wares which they will not suffer thee to see nor to tast nor to touch but when they shewe the white thou must beleue it is blacke If they geue the bread thou must beleue it without any word of thy fayth that it is Christes body and that of their owne makyng If thou tast see and feele it bread yet thou must say it is none though the Scripture calleth it bread xx tymes Beware beware I say of Antichrist whose commyng sayth Paule He is come alredy sayth Iohn now are there many Antichristes shall be after the workyng of Sathan with an almighty power with false signes and wouders lying miracles with all deceite of vnrighteousnes c. To be to curious in so playne a Sacrament and signe to cauill Christes cleare wordes with sophisticall soâ—…mes and to tryfull out the truth with tauntes and mockes as M. More doth is no Christen maner And if our Papistes and Scholasticall Sophisâ—â—râ— will obiect and
the wordes of the iij. children Daniell 3. whiche were cast into the fornace of fire and yet preserued frō death thorough the mighty hand of God theyr wordes song was this Benedicite Anania Azaria Misaell Domino laudate superexaltate eum in secula quia eruit nos de inferno saluos fecit de manu mortis liberauit nos de medio ardentis flammae de medio ignis eruit nos That is blysse ye anania azaria and misaell the Lord prayse and aduaūce him for euer For he hath plucked vs out of hell hath saued vs frō the power of death He hath deliuered vs from the middest of the burnyng flāme and hath plucked vs out frō the middes of the fire Here may you sée the same maner of speakyng how the last ende expoundeth the begynnyng These childrē say that God hath plucked them out of hell and yet were they neither dāned nor in Purgatory nor dead But the next part of this verse expoundeth their meaning which sayth he hath saued vs from the hand of power of death So may ye know that to bee plucked out of hell and to be saued from the power of death are all one thyng And again where they say that God hath deliuered them from the burnyng flamme and that hee hath plucked them from the middes of the fire is all one sense as euery child may well perceiue and therfore is M. More to blame to be so busie seyng he vnderstandeth not the phrase and manner of speache of the Scripture THen bryngeth hee in the Prophet Zachary which sayth Tu quoque in sanguine Testamenti tui eduxisti vinctos tuos de lacu in quo non erat aqua Thou hast in the bloud of thy Testament brought out thy bounden prisoners out of the pitte or lake in which there was no water Now in hell is there no redemption and in lymbo patrum the soules were in rest wherfore it appeareth clerely that those prisoners whiche hee brought out of their payne hee brought onely out of Purgatory This text is spoken Zachary 9. for a full aunswere of this text I néeded no more but to bring the authoritie of my Lord of Rochester agaynst hym For hee expoundeth the place of the Psalme 66. for Purgatory whiche sayth Transiuimus per ignem aquam adduxisti nos in refrigeriū we haue gone thorough fire and water thou hast brought vs into colenesse If this text of the Psalme serue for Purgatory which sayth that there is both fire and water as my Lord of Rochester doth affirme bringeth also Origine to confirme it then can not this place of Zacharie serue whiche sayth that there is no water And so must M. More néedes bee ouersene for Origene and Rochester bee able to wey vp him Here might I say vnto thē both that they should first agrée with in thē selues and then would I shape them an aūswere Howbeit I know my part so sure that I will confute them both and proue that neither other place speaketh any thyng of this paynfull Purgatory that the describe But my Lord of Rochesters authoritie shall be differred vntill the thyrd part whiche shal be a seuerall booke agaynst hym This place verely approueth not Purgatory but sheweth the vertue of Christes redemption which through his bloud redemed his captiues prisoners that is to say them whom hee foūd bound with the strōg bondes of sinne to euerlastyng damnatiō which were subiectes vnto the deuil and the extreme enemyes of God but why calleth hee them his verely because they were chosen in Christ Iesu before the begynnynge of the worlde that they with him and through hym should enioy the euerlastyng inheritaunce of heauen Why are they called bounde and prisoners Surely because they were captiues boūde and imprisoned vnder the deuill through the sinne that Adā committed Roma v. why sayth he that he deliuered thē out of the pitte where in is no water Forsooth that is euen as much to say as hee deliuered them out of hell and from eternall damnation Thou wilt happely say hee deliuered them not out of hell and from eternall damnation for his prisoners that is to say they y t shal be saued neuer came there I aunswere that they should without doubt haue gone thether haue bene dāned perpetually except that Christ by his death had deliuered and losed them And therefore sayth the Scripture that Christ deliuereth vs out of hell because he saueth and deliuereth vs that we come not there which els should surely enter into it for euer It is also a common maner of speach among vs if a man should go to prison for debt or any such matter one of his frendes come in y t meane season which pacified the aduersaries payeth that debt then may we well say that he hath deliuered this man out of prison although hee came not there but should haue gone thether And likewise when we say that such a mā hath deliuered his frend from the galowes we meane not that he was all ready hanged for then were the deliueraūce to late but we meane that he deliuered him that hee should not be hanged Furthermore if a mā might bee bold to aske M. More whether Christ haue redemed loosed and deliuered him in the bloud of his Testament I thinke he would aunswere yea Now if we should aske him further from whence he hath deliuered him I am sure he is not so ignoraunt as to say that Christe hath deliuered him from Purgatory but euen that be hath deliuered him from eternall death and damnation And so hath Christe deliuered vs from the pytte wherin is no water that is to say frō hell and euerlastyng damnation not y t we were in hell all ready although we were bound vnder sinne and ready to be cast therein but because we should not enter into hell This is the pure vnderstandyng of the texte Here might I dispute w t him both of hell of Limbus patrum but because I wil be as short as possible is I will deferre y t vntil an other occasiō y t I may reason with hym somewhat at large AN other place is there also in the old Testament that putteth Purgatory quyte out of question For sayth he what is playner then the places whiche in the booke of the Machebees make mention of the deuoute remembraunce prayour asmose sacrifice to be done for soules when the good and holy mā Iudas Machabeus gathered money among the people to buy sacrifice withall to be offered vp for the soules of them that were dead in the battaile What shift finde they here Surely a very shamelesse shift and are fayne to take them to that talkyng which is their shote anker alway when they finde the storme so great that they see their shyppe goeth all to wracke For first they vse to set some
vanquished sinne and holpen many 4 If one mans sinne be able to condemne vs without our workes 4 Then much more is Gods grace of power to saue vs without our workes 5 Sinne thorough Adam was planted in vs. 5 Grace thorough Christ is planted in vs. 6 Sinne hath had dominion ouer all men through Adam 6 Grace preuaileth ouer vs through Christ 7 Death thorough sinne is planted in vs. 7 Life through grace is plāted in vs. 8 Death thorough sinne hath dominion ouer vs. 8 Lyfe through grace preuayleth ouer vs. 9 Synne and death haue cōdemned all men 9 Grace and life haue saued all men 10 Thorough Adam Adams synne was counted our owne 10 Thorough Christ Christes righteousnesse is reputed vnto vs for our owne ¶ Of this may you perceaue that we thinke that Christes death profiteth vs for we take hys death and resurrection for our whole redemption and saluation Now as concernyng mens good déedes and prayers I say that they profite our neighbours yea and good woorkes were ordeined for that entent that I should profite my neighbour through them And prayer ought to bee made to God for euery state But if I should graūt that such workes prayers should helpe them that are departed thē should I speake cleane without my booke for the word of God knoweth no such thyng Let them therefore that pray for the dead examine them selues well with what fayth they do it for fayth leaneth onely on the word of God so that where his worde is not there can be no good fayth and if their prayer procede not of fayth surely it can not please God Hebrues xj NOw suppose sayth M. More that Purgatorye could in no wise be proued by Scripture and that some wold yet say plainly that there were one and some would say playnly nay let vs now see whether sorte of these twayne myght take most harme if their parte were the wrong First he that beleued there were Purgatory that his prayer and good workes wrought for his frendes soules might relieue them therein and because of that vsed much prayer and almose for them he could not lese the reward of his good wil although his opiniō were vntrue and that there were no Purgatory at all But on the other side he that beleueth there is none and therfore prayeth for none if his opiniō be false and that there be Purgatory in deede hee leseth much good and getteth hym also much harme For hee both feareth much lesse to sinne and to lye lōg in Purgatory sauing that his heresie shall keepe hym thence and sende hym downe deepe into hell I aūswere that he should take most harme that beleued there were a Purgatory if his opiniō were wrong and could not be proued by the Scripture as M. More supposed for he should sinne and transgresse agaynst the law of God which sayth Deut. xij That I commaunde thée that onely do vnto the Lord neither adde any thyng nor diminish And before in the iiij chap. of the same booke ye shall not adde vnto the woorde that I speake vnto you neither shall ye take any thyng from it And agayne in the v. chapter ye shall not decline neither to the left hād doyng that which is good in your owne sight neither yet vnto the right hand doyng that which I manifestly forbyd you as though he should say doe that onely whiche I commaunde thée And where M. More sayth that hee can not lese the rewarde of hys good will although his opinion be vntrue I aunswere yes for it is but chosen holynesse which Paule condēneth Collos 2. which surely shall rather be imputed vnto hym for synne then for any good worke And because as I sayd before it can not be done through fayth I say that it is vtterly reproued of God And on the other side he that beleueth it not sith it can not be proued by Scripture cā catch no harme at all although his opinion were false but rather much good and prayse both of God and all good men because he feareth to swerue frō the word of God and had leuer not to be leue that thyng which is true be it in case that purgatory were and not set forth in Scripture for so shall he be sure not to sinne then to beleue for an article of y t fayth that thyng which is false in déede for so should he surely sinne and transgresse agaynst God and his holy woorde And so is there great perill to beleue a thyng for an article of the fayth whiche is not opened nor spoken of in Scripture But if I beleue it not although it were true yet is there no ryght nor law that can condemne me Now may you sée that to beleue for an article of the fayth that there is a Purgatory sith it can not be proued by Scripture may condemne a man and make hym lye for euer in the paynes of hell where as the other shoulde but a litle lenger lye in the paynes of Purgatory if there were one and so shal he be sure to catch most harme that beleueth there is a Purgatory Sauyng sayth Master More that hys heresie shall keepe hym from thence and sende him downe depe into hell Before he supposed y t it could not be proued by scripture And now standing the same suppositiō he calleth it an heresie anheresie is a stiffe holdē opinion repugnant vnto Scripture If Purgatory can not bee proued by Scripture as he maketh his supposition then cā not the contrary opiniō be repugnaunt to Scripture thus of his own suppositiō he doth euill to cal it an heresie And where he sayth that his opiniō shall sende hym down déepe into hell verely he steppeth to farre in Gods iudgement to conclude and determine so cruelly specially in the same argument where he supposeth that it can not be proued for if it can not bee proued by Scripture whereby will ye condemne hym so déepe that holdeth the contrary forsooth you are a fierce iudge God geue you eyes to sée FInallye if ye pitie any man in payne neuer knewe ye payne comparable to ours whose fire passeth as farre in heate all the fires that euer burned vppon earth as the hotest of all those passeth a fayned fire paynted on a wall Verely among all his other Poetrie it is reason that we graunt hym this Yea and that our fire is but water in comparison to it For I ensure you it hath alone melted more gold and siluer for our spiritualties profite out of poore mens purses then all the gold smithes fires within England neither yet therewith can the ragyng heate be aswaged But it melteth castels harde stones landes and tenementes innumerable For all your sectes of Religion Monkes Friers Chanons and Nunnes with other Priestes regulare seculare by this fire multiplication and alcumye haue obtayned their whole riches and pleasures euen the swete of England
More and my Lorde of Rochester alleadge for theyr opinions and would haue them to ponder their reasons and my solutions vnto them annexyng these wordes I am sure y t my smal learning hath condeÌ„ned their hygh eloquence that my folye hath brought to nought their wisedome that my youth hath disclosed their festered ignoraunce There Rastell thinketh that I staÌ„d well in my owne conceite and boast my selfe aboue the Moone because I touch M. More his kynsman but let Rastell take this for an aunswere if M. More would kéepe him within his owne bondes that is with medling of worldly matters onely I would neuer compare with him yet he must remember that a dawber may correct hym in his owne craft but it is euen as Socrates sayeth when a man is wise in one thyng then will hée take vpon him to define all thynges and be ignoraunt in nothyng and so disdayneth the gift that he hath and proueth hym selfe vnwise Furthermore I sée no great praise that I here attribute vnto my selfe but confesse my small learning my folly and my youth neuerthelesse if he recount it a prayse because I say it hath coÌ„demned theyr hie eloquence and theyr wisedome and disclosed theyr ignoraunce then let hym also annexe the wordes that I wrote saying And it is euen the olde practise of God to choose the foolish things of the worlde to confound the wise to choose the weak to confound the mighty and to choose the vile things which are of no reputation to confound theÌ„ of hye degrée that no flesh might bost it selfe in his sight to whom onely be prayse and thankes for euer Amen Where all men may sée that I referre all prayse to him which onely is worthy and so I may conclude that you haue not looked indifferently on my booke An aunswer vnto Rastels second chapter which improueth me for rayling dispraising others IN the second chapter he raungeth the field and searcheth out with all diligence what worde I haue spoken that might be takeÌ„ in the worst sence and calleth them rayling gesting and scolding woordes And because he would haue me to be abhorred of the Reader he alleageth not onely these wordes that are spoken against himselfe but also that are spoken against my lorde of Rochester and syr Thomas More not that he entendeth to aunswer for them or to defend theyr parties ye may be sure but onely to leaue nothing behinde which should séeme to make for him like a noble orator the wordes that he reproueth are these There Rastell taketh hys foundation vpon a starke lye and there he maketh two lyes and there he maketh thrée lyes Here I would desire my brother Rastell to pardon me of a little ignoraunce for surely I thought it had bene no more offence to call a lye a lye then to call a shéepe a shéepe notwithstanding sith he recounteth it to be rayling gesting and scolding I will hereafter temper my selfe and chaunge my words and will say that when he lyeth that by hys leaue he maketh a fitten It angreth him when I say that Rastel hath lost his wit in purgatory and therefore I will say so no more But thys I will affirme be Rastell neuer so furious that whosoeuer maketh such reasons and solutions and counteth them good in earnest that he hath no wit in hys head wheresoeuer he lost it but if you would read Rastels first argument which I haue set in my booke in the twelf leafe then you shall perceyue whether I say the truth or not Also he aleageth that I should say that saying of Rastell is against scripture but if ye count that railing and and would not haue me say so much vnto him I will count the man somwhat stately and this I ensure him that if God suffer me to liue I wyll say so agayne take it as he will Also he reciteth as a great reproch that I should say I marueyll how our scholemen may abide this felow And surely the same I say agayne for he proueth both sainte Thomas and them also foles double fâ—oles which if I shoulde so do would be counted baynous heresie Then he rehearseth what I say of M. More and my L. of Rochester and all to helpe his matter that when I say the small probations and slender reasons that those two witted men Syr Thomas More and my Lorde of Rochester had brought to confirme Purgatorye made my hart to yerne What rayling or iesting this is let other men iudge but thys I dare auow that I sayd the truth for what should a man do or say to sée them so contrary in theyr tales M. More sayeth that there is fire and no water in purgatory and my lord of Rochester sayth that there is both fire and water M. More sayth that the ministers of punishment are deuils and my lorde of Rochester sayth that the ministers of punishment are angels M. More sayth that both the grace charity of them that lye in the paynes of purgatory are increased my lorde of Rochester sayth the soules of purgatory obtayne there neyther more fayth nor grace nor charitie theÌ„ they brought in with them Now iudge good Reader whether I haue rayled or sayde the trueth but all this doth Rastell leaue out full craftely he reciteth full diligently both the head and tayle but the middle which expoundeth the matter wil he not let you sée He alleageth also against me that I say M. More is sore deceaued and set on the sand euen at the first brunt and in the beginning of hys voyage and that I would wish M. More a little more witte Euen that I say agayne and affirme it to be true and is so euidently proued in the beginning of mine aunswer agaynst M. More that I néed to say nothing but only referre the reader vnto the place Also he improueth me for saying in an other place that M. More sheweth him in one text twise ignoraunt and y t he is to buste for he vnderstandeth not the phrase of scripture This and such other sayinges he alleageth which I passe ouer for I count it folly to spend paper and laboure about the rehearsing of them for if you read my booke you shall sée all these points so plainly proued that he mought be ashamed to make mention of them This he counteth gesting slaundering and rayling saying that no reasonable man will thincke these poyntes to be thinges belonging to vertue but rather spices and braunches of pride and that I shew not my self therin charitable but rather malicious nor no wisedome therein but rather â—olly adding that if I had bene halfe a yeare at two scholes that is to say the schole of discretion and the schole of charitie I should more haue prospered in vertuous learning then I haue done in other scholes this vij yeare and sayth that I haue bene at the
grace whiche is done and geuen through the gentlenesse of God By this may we perceiue how grosse theyr ignoraunce is which without discretion condemne the infantes that departe out of this worlde not baptised in our materiall water For if that water geue no grace as I haue sufficiently proued why should they condemne more before that washyng then after Beside that the election of God is frée and foloweth not our fayth but fayth foloweth the electiō as it is writtē And there beleued euen as many as were ordeined vnto euerlastyng lyfe for they that are chosen frō y e beginnyng are no doubt chosen before they had fayth we ought not therfore to geue such vnaduised iudgement on these children which by their age haue not yet heard our fayth seyng Gods election is hidde from our eyes The children of Israell were a people which God had chosen from among all nations of the worlde and gaue them Circumcision for a token and memoriall of that election which circumcision was a figure of our baptisme and they thought that the gentiles which were not carnally circumcised had bene all condemned But their opinion deceiued them for there were also of the Gentiles which although they were not circumcised outwardly were electe of God were spiritually circumcised which onely is the thing that God regardeth as Paule testifieth saying He is not a Iew which is a Iew outwarde neyther is that circumcision any thing which is outward in the flesh but he is a Iew which is hid within the circumcision of the hart which is the cutting off of carnall desires and is the true circumcision This circumcision was in price with God wyth the which the gentiles as Iob were circumcised And in like maner may we say of our Baptisme he is not a Christen man which is washed wyth water neither is that baptisme which is outwarde in the flesh but that is the very baptisme which God alloweth to be baptised spiritually in the hart that is to subdue and wéed out the braunches of sinne that it raigne not in your mortall bodies and bring thē into bōdage vnder it of y e which our Baptisme is but a signe And there are many I doubt not which are thus spiritually baptized although theyr bodies touch no water as there were gentiles thus spiritually circumcised and yet neuer cutte of the foreskinne of theyr priuy members Furthermore the children of the vncircumcision are of the people and congregation of God aswell as the children of the Hebrewes vnder the law were members of theyr congregation I take the congregation of God in thys place euen somewhat largely that is for all them that are thought or coūted to be the members of Christ as it is taken Mathew 13. where Christe compareth it vnto a nette which receyueth both good fish and euill and agayne Mathew 25. where he likeneth the kingdome of heauen that is to say the congregation of God vnto x. virgins of the which v. were wise and v. foolish but I speake not in this place of the elect sanctifyed and inuisible congregation which is wythout spotte and wrinckle and onely knowne vnto God which hath chosen her before the foundations of the worlde were layde neyther is it to be estéemed but that God is as mercyfull vnto vs which are of the spirituall Israell as he was vnto the carnall Israell S. Iohn S. Paule and such other were they not being infantes of the cōgregation of God elect in Christ Iesu before the creation of the worlde howbeit in theyr infancy they neither had fayth nor yet knew any thing of this election Mathew Zacheus the théef and Mary Magdalene were they not likewise so chosē yet they themselues knew it not vntill they were lightened of the holy Ghost and drawne vnto Christ by our heauenly Father neyther knoweth any man of an others election but euery man may knowe hys owne through hys fayth and will that he hath to fulfill the law of God Of this sensible congregation of Christ was Iudas yea and all the other which after forsooke Christ neither wist the Apostles but that Iudas had bene of the elect sanctifyed and inuisible congregation of Christ as well as Peter or Iohn so that our iudgement recounteth all faythfull and chosen that séeme to be but Christ knoweth them that are hys and them that shall forsake him Nowe is there an opinion risen amōg certaine which affirme y e childrē may not be baptised vntill they come vnto a perfecte age and that because they haue no faithe but verely me thinketh that they are farre from the méekenesse of Christe and his spirite which when children were broughte vnto him receiued them louingly and embraced them in his armes Mat. 9. and when his Disciples blamed the bringers he called them vnto hym saying suffer children to come vnto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heauen Luk. 18. And albeit they haue no faith but are only of that inuisible congregation that is w t out spot or wrinkel yet as I haue saide they haue a promisse as well as the children of the Hebrewes by the which they are of the visible congregation which thing only is testified in theyr baptisme So it appeareth that these men are ignorāt what baptisme is For oure baptisme doth not testifie that we are of that pure congregation which was chosen and sanctified in Christe before the worlde began which haue theyr names wrytten in the booke of life of the which it is not possible that one shoulde perishe for then were it a false testimonie séeing many whiche are baptised fall afterward into perillous heresies and vtter desperation which bringeth them vnto deathe euerlasting And as for faith if they haue none when they are baptised lette them pray vnto God to giue it them afterwarde for the lacke of fayth hurteth not the sacramente but the sacrament may be as well ministred vnto a miscreant as to a faithfull if he say that he hathe faythe or haue any promise of God but thys matter will I passe ouer for I truste the English vnto whō I wryte this haue no such opinions Nowe will I procéede wyth the second poynte of this sacrament which is the signification The signification of baptisme is described of Paule in the. 6. of y e Romaines that as we are plunged bodily into the watēr Euen so we are dead buried with Christe from sinne and as we are lifted again out of the water euen so are we risen with Christe from oure sinnes that we mighte héereafter walke in a newe conuersation of lyfe So that these two things that is to be plunged in the water and lifte vp againe doe signifie and represent the whole pith and effect of baptisme that is the mortification of our olde Adam the rising vp of our new man What is y ◠old Adam verely euē that by
ye haue as it appeareth vnto you the euident wordes of Christ and therefore consiste in the barke of the letter yet are we compelled by conferring of the scriptures together within the letter to searche out the mynde of our Sauiour which spake the wordes And we say thirdly that we do it not of an obstinate mynde For he that defendeth a cause obstinately whether it be true or false is euer to be reprehended But we do it to satisfie our coÌ„scieÌ„ces which are coÌ„pelled by other places of Scripture reasons and Doctours so to iudge of it And euen so ought you to iudge of your partie and to defende your sentence not of obstinacie but by y e reason of Scriptures which cause you so to take it And so ought nether partie to dispise other for eche séeketh the glory of God and the true vnderstaÌ„ding of the Scripture This was the foundation of my first treatise that he hath left vnshakeÌ„ which is a great argumeÌ„t y â— it is very true For els hys pregnant wit could not haue passed it so cleane ouer but would haue assayled it with some sophisticall cauillation which by hys painted poetrie he might so haue coulered that at the lest he might make y e ignoraunt some appearance of truth as he hath done agaynst the residue of my first treatise which neuerthelesse is true and shall so be proued And first that it is none article of our fayth necessary to be beleued vnder payne of damnation may thus bee further confirmed The same fayth shall saue vs whiche saued the olde fathers before Christes incarnation But they were not bounde vnder payne of damnation to beleeue this pointe therefore it shall followe that we are not bounde therto vnder the payne of damnation The firste part of myne argument is proued by S. Agustine ad DurdamuÌ„ And I dare boldly say almost in an C. places For I thinke there be no propositioÌ„ which he doth more ofteÌ„ inculcate theÌ„ this y â— the same fayth saued vs which saued our fathers The second part is manifest that it néedeth no probation For how coulde they beleue y e thyng which was neuer saide nor done and without the word they could haue no fayth vppon the truth of these two parties must the conclusion nedes folow Notwithstanding they all dyd eate Christes bodye and dranke hys bloud spiritually although they â—ad hym not present to their téeth And by y e spirituall eating which is the fayth in his body and bloud were saued as well as we are For as soone as our forefather Adam had transgressed Gods precept and was fallen vnder condemnation our most mercyfull father of hys gracious fauour gaue hym the promise of health and comfort whereby as many as beleued it were saued from the thrauldome of their transgression the worde promise was this I shal put enmitie betwene thée and the woman betwene thy séede and her séede that séede shall treade thée on the head and thou shalt treade it on the hele In thys promise they had knowledge that Christe should become the séede or sonne of a woman and that he shoulde destroye the deuill with all his power and deliuer his faythfull from their sinnes And where he sayde that the deuyll should treade it on the hele they vnderstoode right well that the deuyll should finde the meanes by his wyles and wicked ministers to put Christ to death And they knew that God was true and would fulfill hys promise vnto them and hartely longed after this séede and so did both eate his body and drinke his bloud knowledging wyth infinite thankes that Christ should for their sinnes take y â— perfect nature of maÌ„hode vppon him and also suffer the death This promise was geuen to Adam and saued as many as did beleue and were thaÌ„k full to God for hys kyndnes and after it was established vnto our father Abraham by the word of God which sayde In thy séede shall all nacions of the earth be blessed And with hym God made a couenant that he would be his God and do him good And Abraham agayne promised to kéepe his preceptes and walke in his wayes Then God gaue him the sacrament of circumcision and called that his couenaunt which thing notwithstanding was not the very couenaunt in déede although it were so called But was onely a signe token â—acrament or memoryall of the couenaunt that was betwene God and hym which might expounde our matter if men had eyes to sée After that God promised him a sonne wheÌ„ his wife was past childe bearing and he also very olde Neuerthelesse he doubted not of Gods worde But surely beleued that he which promised it was able to performe it And that was recounted vnto hym for righteousnes This Abraham did both eate his body and drinke hys bloud through fayth beleuing verely that Christ should take our nature spring out of his séede as touching his fleshe and also that he shoulde suffer death to redéeme vs. And as Christe testifieth he hartely desired to sée the day of Christ And he sawe it and reioysed he sawe it in fayth and had the day of Christ that is to say all those thinges that shoulde chaunce hym playnely reuelated vnto him albeit he were dead many huÌ„dred yeares before it were actually fulfilled and reuelated vnto y e world And by that fayth was he saued and yet neuer did eate his fleshe with his téeth nor neuer beleued that bread shoulde be his bodye and wyne hys bloud And therfore sith he was also saued without that fayth and y e same fayth shall saue vs which saued hym I thinke that we shall also be saued if we eate him spiritually as he dyd although wee neuer beleue that the bread is his body Furthermore that mercifull Moses whiche brought the children of Israell out of Egypt into the wildernes obtayned of God by prayers both Manna from heaueÌ„ to féede his people and also water out of the stone to refreshe and comfort theÌ„ This Manna and water were euen the same thyng vnto them that the bread and wyne is to vs. For Saint Austen sayeth Quicunque in manna Christum intellexerunt eundem quem nos cibum spiritualem manducauerunt Quicunque autem de maÌ„na solam saturitatemquè sinerunt manducabant mortui sunt Sic etiam eundeÌ„ potuÌ„ petra enim erat christus That is to say as many as in that manna vnderstoode Christ did eate that same spirituall meate that we doe but as many as fought onely to fill their bellies of that manna the fathers of the vnfaythfull did eate and are dead And likewise y â— same drinke for the stone was Christ Here may you gather of S. Austen that the Manna was vnto them as y e bread is to vs and likewise that the water was to them as the wyne is to vs whiche anone shall appeare more playnly S. Austen sayth further
the sacrament of his body and bloud that that which was once offerd for the price of our redemption might continually be honored through the mistery To consecrate a thing is to aply it vnto an holy vse Here you may see y e he calleth it the sacrament of his body and bloud which body is caried vp in the heauen And also he calleth it a mistery whiche is inough for them that will see Also Druthmarius expoundeth these wordes this is my body on this manner Hoc est corpus meum in misterio That is to say this is my body in a mistery I thinke you know what a mistery meaneth Christ is crucified euery day in a mistery that is to say euery day his death is represeÌ„ted by the sacramentes of remembraunce The Masse is Christes passion in a mistery that is to say the Masse doth represent his passion and kéepeth it in our memory The bred is Christes body in a mistery that is to say it representeth his body that was broken for vs and kéepeth it in our remembraunce You haue heard all ready the mind of the doctours how the sacrament is Christes body And now I shall shew you how the sacrament is our body which doth not a litell helpe to the vnderstanding of these wordes which are in controuersie The sacrament of the aulter is our body as well as it is Christes body And euen as it is our body so is it Christes But there is no man that can say that it is our naturall bodie in déede but onely a figure signe memoriall or representation of our body Wherfore it must also followe that it is but onlye a figure signe memoriall or representation of Christes body The first part of this argumeÌ„t may thus be proued S. Austen wryting in a sermon sayth on this manner Corpus ergo Christi si vultis intelligere apostolum audite diceÌ„tem Vos estis corpus Christi meÌ„bra 1. Cor. 12. Si ergo estis corpus Christi et membra misterium vestrumque in meÌ„sa Dominipositum est misterium Domini accipitis ad id quod estis Amen respondetis respondendo subscribitis That is to say Yf you will vnderstand the body of Christ heare y e apostle which sayth ye are the body of Christ and members 1 cor 12. therfore if ye be the body of Christ members your misterie is put vpon the Lordes table yereceiue the misterie of the Lord vnto y e you are you aunswere Amen And in aunswering subscribe vnto it Here may you sée that the sacrament is also our body and yet is not our naturall body but onely our body in a misterie that is to say a figure signe memorial or representation of our body for as the bread is made of many graines or cornes so we though we be many are one bread one body And for this propertie and similitude it is cauled our body and beareth the name of the very thing which it doth represent and signifie Agayne S. Austen sayth Quia Christus passus est pro nobis commenda uit nobis in isto sacramento corpus et sanguinem suum quod etiam fecit nos ipsos Nam et nos ipsius corpus facti sumus per misericordiam ipsius quod accipimus nos sumus Et postea dicit IaÌ„ in nomine Christi tanquam ad calicem Domi ni venistis ibi vos estis in mensa ibi vos estis in calice That is because Christ hath suffered for vs he hath betaken vnto vs in this sacrament his bodie and bloud which he hath also made euen our selues For we also are made his body and by his mercy we are euen the same thing that we receiue And after he sayth now in y t name of Christ ye are come as a man would say to the chalice of the Lord there are ye vpon the table and there are ye in y t chalice Here you may sée that the sacrament is our body And yet it is not our naturall body but onely in a mistery as it is before sayd Furthermore S. Austen sayth HuÌ„c itaque cibum potum societatem vult intellegi corporis membrorum suorum quod est sancta ecclesia in praedestinatis et vocatis et iustificatis et glorisicatis sanctis fidelibus eius Huius rei sacrameÌ„tum alicubi quotidie alicubi certis inter vallis dieruÌ„ in dominico preparatur de mensa Domini sumitur quibusdaÌ„ ad vitam quibusdam ad exitium Res vero ipsa cuius est omni homini ad vitam nulli ad exitium quicuÌ„que cius particeps fuerit That is to say he will that this meat and drinke should be vnderstaÌ„d to be the felowship of his body meÌ„bers which is the holy Church in the predestinate and called and iustified and glorified his saintes faythfull The sacrament of this thing is prepared in some place dayly in some place at certaine appoynted dayes as on y e Sonday And it is receiued from the table of the Lord to some vnto life and to some vnto destruction but the thing it selfe whose sacrament this is is receiued of all men vnto life and of no man to destruction who so euer is partaker of it Here doth S. Austen first say that thys sacrament is the fellowship of hys bodye and members which are we And yet it is not our naturall bodye as is before sayd And then he sayth that the Sacrament of thys thyng is receaued of some vnto life and saluation and of some vnto death and damnation for both faythfull and vnfaythfull may receiue the sacrament And after he sayth that the thing it selfe whose sacrament it is is receiued of all men vnto lyfe and of no man vnto destruction who so euer is partaker of it And of this saying it must nedes follow that onely the saythfull eate Christes body and the vnfaithfull eate not For he is receiued of no maÌ„ vnto destruction And of this it must also follow that the sacrament is not Christes body in déede but onely in a mysterye for if the sacrament were his naturall bodye then should it follow that y â— vnfaithfull should receiue his bodye which is contrarye to the minde of S. Austen and against all truth Thus haue we sufficiently proued the first parte of our argument that the sacrament is our body as well as it is Christes And now will I proue the second part more plainely although it be inough declared all ready to them that haue eares that euen as it is our bodye so is it Christes Fyrst you shall vnderstand that in the wyne whiche is called Christes bloud is admixed water which doth signifie the people that are redemed with hys bloud so that y e head which is Christ is not without hys bodye which is the faythfull people nor the body without hys head Nowe if the wyne when it â—s consecrated
such thynges as will not stand with hys word then will I determine that it is done by the deuill to delude the people with damnable idolatrye When Paule and Barnabas preached at Listra and had done a miracle among them the people ranne and would haue done sacrifice vnto them But the Apostles ranne among them and tare their clothes crying vnto them syrs what do you we are euen corruptible men as ye are and preach vnto you that you should leaue thys vayne superstition and worship the liuing God which made heauen earth the sea and all that is in them c. Here the Apostles refused such honour worship And therefore I am sure they would not suffer their images to haue it Now when I see a miracle done at any image and perceaue that it bringeth men to the worshipping of it self contrary to the facte and doctrine of the Apostles which would not receaue it them selues I must néedes conclude that it is but a delusion done by the deuill to deceaue vs and to bryng the wrath of God vppon vs. Euen so I say of the sacrament sith the miracles that are done by it do make mē thinke otherwise then Scripture will and cause men to worship it I doubt not but they are done by the deuill to delude the people Thou wilt peraduenture say that God will not suffer hym to abuse the sacrament of hys body and bloud Yes verely God will suffer it and doth suffer it to see whether we will be faythfull and abide by hys worde or not And maruell not therof for God suffered hym to take vp the very naturall body of hys sonne Christ and set him on a pinnacle of the temple And after he tooke hym vp agayne and lead hym to an exceding mountaine And therfore thinke not but that he hath more power ouer the Sacrament then he had ouer Christes owne body And therfore whē they tell me loe here is Christ loe there is Christ as Christ prophecied loe he is at thys altar loe he is at that I will not beleue them Neuerthelesse if I should graunt that all y e miracles which were done and ascribed vnto the sacramēt were very true miracles and done of God him selfe as I doubt not but some of them be true yet thereupon it doth not followe that the sacrament should be the very naturall body of Christ For we haue euident storyes that certayne persons haue bene deliuered from bodely diseases through the Sacrament of baptisme And yet y ◠water is not the holy Ghost nor the very thyng it selfe whereof it is a sacrament The shadow of Peter hath healed many and yet was not that shadow Peters owne person We read also that napkins and handkerchers were caryed from Paule vnto them that were sicke possessed with vncleane spirites and they receaued theyr health And yet it were neuerthelesse madnesse to thinke y e Paules body had bene actually or naturally in those thynges And therefore thys is but a very weake reason to iudge by the miracles y e presence of Christes body And surely you might be ashamed to make so slender reasons For God may worke miracles through many thinges which are not hys naturall body And as touchyng the olde Doctors whom you fayne to make with you and the truth of your opinion which you say hath bene beleued of all good Christen people this xv C. yeares is sufficiētly declared before and proued to be but a poynt of your olde Poetrie ¶ D. Barnes did graciously escape M. Mores hands ANd also Frier Barnes albeit that as ye wote well he is in many other thinges a brother of this yong mans secte yet in this he sore abhorreth his heresie or els he lyeth him selfe For at his last being here he wrote a letter to me wherin he writeth that I laye that heresie wrōgfully to hys charge And shew eth him selfe so sore greued therewith that he sayth he will in my reproch make a booke against me wherin he will professe and protest his fayth concerning this blessed sacrament But in the meane season it well contenteth me that Frier Barnes being a man of more age of more ripe discretion and a Doctor of diuinitie and in those thinges better learned then this young man is abhorreth this yongmans heresie in this poynt as well as he liketh him in many other The more your mastershyppe prayseth Doctour Barnes the worse men may like your matter For in many poyntes he doth condemne your damnable doctrine as in hys booke appeareth And therfore if such credence must be geuen to hym then much the lesse will be geuen to you But peraduēture you wil say y ◠he is to bée beleued in this point although he erre in other Where vnto I aunswere that if you will consent vnto him I would be well apayd and will promise you to wright no more in that matter For in this we both agrée that it ought not to be worshiped yea and blessed be God all the other whom you call heretickes And so both of vs do auoyde Idolatry which you with so great daunger do daylye commit And therfore if you alowe his learning then am I content that you dissent from me For let it not be worshiped and thinke as you will for then is the perillpast And sith we agrée in this poynt doubt not but we shall sone agrée in the residue and admitte ech other for faythfull brothers And your mastership sayeth that he wrot you a letter protesting that you lay y ◠heresie wrongfully to his charge I thinke it was more wisdom for him twise to haue written to you then once to haue come and tell you of it For it was plainely told hym y e you had conspired his death and that not withstanding his safe conduyte you were minded to haue murthered him and for that cause he was compelled both being here to kéepe him selfe secreatly and also priuely to departe the realme And blessed be God you haue sufficienly published your purpose in your aunswere against W. Tyndall Where you say that you might lawfully haue burnte hym Here mē may sée how perciable you are addict to our prelates And how prone ye were to fulfill their pleasures contrary to our Princes prerogatiue royall And thankes bee to GOD whiche gaue you such grace in the sight of our soueraigne that he shortly withdrewe your power For els it is to be feared that you would further haue proceded agaynst his graces prerogatiue which thyng whether it be treason or not let other men define But this I dare say that it is Printed and published to our Princes great dishonour For what learned man may in tyme to come trust to hys graces safeconduite or come at his graces instaūce or request sith not onely the spiritually whiche of their profession resiste hys prerogatiue but also a laye man promoted to such preheminence by hys graces goodnes
shepheardes staffe you helpe no man with it you comfort no man you lift vp no man with it but you haue striken downe kynges and kyngdomes with it and knocked in the head Dukes Earles with it Call you this a shepheardes staffe There is a space in the shepheardes staffe for the foote to come out agayne but your staffe turneth and wyndeth alwayes inward and neuer outward signifying that what soeuer hée bée that coÌ„meth within your dauÌ„ger that hée shall neuer come out agayne This exposition your déedes doe declare let theÌ„ bée examined that you haue had to doe with And let vs sée how they haue escaped your shepheardes hooke But these bée the articles for the whiche I must néedes bée an hereticke Neuertheles all the world may sée how shamefully that I haue erred agaynst your holynesses in saying the truth My Lord Cardinal reasoned with me in this article all the other hée passed ouer sauyng this and the sixte article Here did hée aske if I thought it good and reasonable that hée should lay downe his pyllers and pollaxes coyne them Here is the heresie that is so abhominable I made him aunswere that I thought it well done Then sayd hée how thinke you were it better for me being in the honour and dignitie that I am to coyne my pyllers and pollaxes and to geue the money to v. or vj. beggers then for to mayntaine the common wealth by them as I doe Doe you not recken quoth hée the common wealth better then fiue or sixe beggers To this I did aunswere that I reckened it more to the honour of God and to the salnation of his soule and also to the comfort of his poore brethren that they were coyned and giueÌ„ in almes And as for the common wealth dyd not hange of them for as his grace knew the common wealth was afore his grace and must bée wheÌ„ his grace is gone and the pyllers and pollaxes came with him and should also goe away with him Notwithstandyng if the common wealth were in such a condition that it had néede of them then might his grace so loÌ„g vse them or any other thyng in their stede so longe as the common wealth néeded them Notwithstandyng I sayd thus much did I not say in my Sermon agaynst them but all onely I damned in my Sermon the gorgious pompe and pride of all exteriour ornaments Then he sayd well you say very well But as well as it was sayd I am sure that these wordes made me an hereticke for if these wordes had not béene therein myne aduersaryes durst neuer haue shewed their faces against me But now they knew wel that I could neuer bée indifferently heard For if I had got the victory theÌ„ must all the Byshops and my Lord Cardinall haue layd downe all their gorgious ornamentes For the which they had rather burne xx such heretickes as I am as all y e world knoweth But God is mighty and of me hath hée shewed his power for I dare say they neuer intented thing more in their liues theÌ„ they did to destroy me and yet God of his mercy hath saued me agaynst all their violence vnto his godly wisedome is the cause all onely knowen The Byshop of London that was then called Tunstall after my departyng out of prison sayd vnto a substaÌ„ciall man that I was not dead for I dare say his conscience did not recken me such an hereticke that I would haue killed my selfe as the voice weÌ„t but yet would hée haue done it gladly of his charitie but I was sayd hée in Amsterdame where I had neuer béene in my life as God knoweth nor yet in the countrey this x. yeares certaine men did there speake with me sayd hée and hée fained certaine wordes that they should say to me I to them and added thereunto that my Lorde Cardinall would haue me agayne or it should cost him a great summe of money howe much I doe not clearely remember I haue marueile that my Lorde is not ashamed thus shamefully and thus Lordly to lye all though hée might doe it by authoritie And where my Lord Cardinall hée would spende so much money to haue mée againe I haue great maruaile of it What can they make of mée I am a simple poore wreatch and worth no mans money in the worlde sauing theirs not the tenth peny that they will geue for mée And to burne mée or to destroy mée can not so greatly profite them For wheÌ„ I am dead the Sunne the Moone the starres and the element water and fire yea and also stones shall defende this cause agaynst them rather than the veritie should perishe But if they bée so charitable to doe good workes and to spende their money so well they haue prisoners poore men inough in the land let them bestowe their money of them And as for mée I doe promise them here by this present writing and by the faith that I owe to Christ Iesus and by that fidelitie that I owe to my prince that if they will bée bounde to our noble Prince after the maner of hys lawe and after good conscience and right that they shall doe mée no violence nor wronge but discâ—…sse and dispute these articles and all other that I haue written after the holy worde of God and by Christes holy scripture with mée Then will I as soone as I may know it present my self vnto our most noble prince there offring my selfe to his grace that I will either proue these thinges by Gods worde against you all or els I will suffer at his graces pleasure Whom the father of heaueÌ„ preserue in honour Amen And if you refuse this condition then say that you are neyther good nor charitable For I dare say you can desire no more of a Christen man PRiestes doe mumble and rore out their Dyriges and Masses in the Church and churchyardes for theyr founders curious to speake theyr wordes distinctly But I ensure them that their prayers shall doe them no good but onely acceptatio diuina As for this article the Byshops did not make much of for they perceiued that it was gathered without any seÌ„tence For my saying was that men should make their prayers in such a fayth and with such a deuotion that God might accept them and not so idlely and without all deuotion bable and say their dyriges alonely of vondage and of custome and not of deuotion I brought the laying of the Apostle for mée which sayth Let your peticions and prayers appeare before God And also hée that asketh let him aske in faith nothing doubting THere is no prayer acceptable to God except it bée fetched from the fyre of the aulter This article was also gathered without any sentence for my aduersaries did not greatly care what they made of such articles as pertayned to learning and edifiing And therefore they neuer erred so much as they did in them For in those
remissiō of mortal sinne These be◠the best workes that a sinner hath in his hart or els S. Paule lyeth Wherfore it is not possible but hée must haue in his wil actual sinne for hée cā will nothyng but sinne And therefore if hée receiue the Sacramentes with this attrition hée receiueth them to his damnation For before grace hée is an vtter enemye to God and to all his Sacramentes Wherefore God must of his mere mercy mollifie his hart and geue him grace to will goodnes or els hée cā neuer doe it nor yet desire it As S. Augustine doth declare in these wordes The grace which is geuē of the largenes of God priuely into mens harts can not bée despised of no maner of hard hart For therfore it is geuē that the hardnes of the hart should bee taken away Wherfore whē the father is hard within and doth learne that we must come to his sonne Then taketh hée away our stony hart and geueth vs a fleshely harte And by this meanes hée maketh vs the children of promise the vessels of mercy which hée hath prepared to glory But wherfore doth hée not learne all men to come to Christe Bicause that those that hée learneth hée learneth of mercy and those that hée learneth not of hys iudgement doth hée not learne them c. Marke that S. Augustine sayth That there is no hardnesse of hart that can resist grace And Duns sayth that there may bée an obstacle in mās hart S. Augustine saith that grace findeth the harte in hardnes obstinacie And Dūs saith that there is a mollifieng that precedeth grace whiche hée calleth attrition S. Augustine sayth when the father learneth vs within then taketh hée away our slony hartes And Duns sayth that we can doe it by the common natural influence that is we can dispose our selues of cōgruence Marke also how all men bée not taught to come to Christ but alonely they y t bée taught of mercy bée taught and if it bée of mercy then it is not of congruence by attrition Briefely a greater heresie more contrary to Christe and his blessed word cā no man learne and yet must hée bée taken for a great clarke and a subtile Doctour bicause hée pleaseth the fleshe But shortly haue I openly proued by inuincible Scriptures and by Doctours of great authoritie that fréewill of his naturall strength with out a speciall grace can doe nothyng but abyde in sinne Fayne inuent excogitate and dreame as many holy purposes as we can as many subtile distinctions as many good attritions as many good applicatiōs and all they bée but sinne till grace come yea our sléepyng our eatyng our drynkyng our almesses our prayers our singyng our ryngyng our confessyng our mumblyng our mournyng our wayling Briefely all that we cā doe is but hypocrisie and double sinne afore God till the tyme that hée of hys mercy chooseth vs. For as hée sayth You haue not chosen me but I haue chosen you Now will I declare a scripture or two that men bring to proue our conatum and our bonum studium The fyrst place is this God from the béeginnyng dyd ordayne man and left hym in the handes of his owne counsell hée did geue hym his commaundementes and his preceptes if thou wilt kéepe the commaundementes also kéepe peasably fayth for euer they shall kéepe thée I haue set before thée water and fyre stretch thy hand to which thou wilt Of this place is gathered that mā may haue a good intent a good mynde to apply hym selfe to God of his naturall power But this can not be proued of this text For there is neuer a worde of entending of studying or of applying will For if we will take the wordes of the text as they sound they rather prooue that we may kéepe the Commaundementes of God yea and also beleeue in God then any other thing the which I am sure no man will graunt For then howe could men auoyde but that the Phylosophers be saued For no man can denye but that they dyd asmuch as lay in their naturall power to come to God Moreouer the Pelagians bring this text to proue that man may doe good of his naturall strength Nowe how will we auoyde them For if we denye that it proueth their opinion for the which y e wordes sound most then will they denye that it proueth our conatum and our bonum studium of the which the text speaketh neuer a worde Wherefore this text maketh neither for thē nor yet for you Plaine it is that the wordes of the text soūde of kéeping and of beleeueuing if we will and not of intending nor of studying Wherefore it maketh not for your purpose But let vs goe to the text God frō the béeginning dyd make man These wordes bée open of the creation of y e fyrst man Hée left hym in the handes of his owne counsell These wordes make nothing for fréewill for heare is nothing commaunded hym to doe but all onely heare is signifyed that man is made Lorde ouer all inferior creatures to vse them at hys pleasure as it is opē Genesis 2. Where that all thinges were brought afore Adam to receyue their names signifying that they were all left vnto his vse and to hys will hée was Lorde ouer them all and none ouer hym This was his kingdome in y ◠which hée dyd raigne and gouerne all things after his commaundementes but yet was it by generall influence geuen him first of God Hée did adde his cōmaundementes and his preceptes In these wordes is there no power geuen vnto hym but heare bée geuen hym commaundementes Whereby hée must bée ordered and ruled And not rule after his owne counsell but after the counsell and commaundementes of God Wherefore by these commaundementes was their parte of hys frée domination and lordship that hée had ouer the inferior thinges taken away as where God commaūded hym that hée should not eate of y e Trée of knowledge both of good and euyll Now was it not frée for hym to vse this trée after his owne will but after the commaundement of God and what power hée had by his frée will to kéepe this commaundement y e effect did declare If thou wilt kéepe y e commaundementes Here beginneth the doubt But yet of these wordes can you not gather that hée hath power to kepe them nor yet y t hee might intend to kepe them For it followeth not if thou wilt Ergo thou mayst or thou mayst entend As it foloweth not if I would Ergo I could depose you for you will let this consequent Also you haue a generall rule Condicionalis nihil ponit Wherefore these wordes if thou wilt kéepe the commaundementes geueth no power nor strength to frée will But this all onely foloweth of this texte if man will kéepe the commaundementes then they shall kéepe hym But now where shall hée haue this will that is not in hys power but
when you are at home the godly Bibles and receaue the thyng therein with great studye for thereby shall you haue great aduantage c. These wordes bée so plaine that I can adde nothyng to them woulde you that wée shoulde take you for byshops and for holy fathers that bée so openly agaynst Scripture and so centrary to holy doctours That will I neuer doe while I liue I will neuer looke to sée other Antichristes then you and so will I take you till I sée almighty God conuerte you Also the same doctour saith Which of you all that bée here if it were required coulde say one Psalme without the booke or any other part of holy scripture not one doubtles But this is not alonely the worste but that you bée so slow and so remisse vnto spirituall thinges and vnto deuillishnesse you are hotter then any fier but men will defende this mischief with this excuse I am no religious mā I haue a wife and children and a house to care for This is y e excuse wherewith you doe as it were with a pestilence corrupt all thinges for you doe recken that the studye of holy Scripture béelongeth alonely vnto religious men when they bée much more necessary vnto you then vnto them c. Here may you sée that your damnable institution was in the hartes of men in Chrisostomes dayes howe they woulde reade no scriptures but you sée hée condemneth it and calleth it a pestilēce and will you now bring it in agayne If you had but a lousie statute of your owne against mée or an other man you woulde call vs hetikes But you neither regarde Christes holy worde nor holy Doctours nor yet any other thinge y e is agaynst you But let vs sée what your owne lawe saith to this If Christ as Paul sayth bée the power and the wisdome of God thē to bée ignoraunt in scriptures is as much as to bée ignoraunt of Christ c. Here haue you playnely that to take away scriptures from lay men is as much as to take away Christ frō them the which no doubt but that you doe intēde in your harts to doe and that thing God knoweth and your workes doe declare it the which God shall aduenge full straitly ouer you Also in an other place I will set my meditation in thy iustifications and I will not forgette thy wordes the which thing is excéeding good for all Christen men to obserue and kéepe c. Here is a counsell of your owne that hath admitted that all Christen men shall study Scripture And will you now condemne it Is there neither Scripture of God nor practise of Christē men nor exposition of Doctours nor your owne law nor yet any statute of counsels that will hold agaynst you You bée marueilous giantes how shal a mā behaue him selfe to handle with you it is not possible to ouercome you for you wil admitte nothyng that is against you But yet will I not so leue you but I will first declare it manifestly y e you bée cōtrary to Christ and to all holy doctours S. Hierome reprooueth you very sore in these wordes O Paula and Eustochium if there bée any thyng in this life that doth preserue a wise mā and doth persuade him to abide with a good will in the oppressions and the thraldomes of the world I doe reckē that specially it is the meditations and the study of holy scripture séeyng that we doe differre from other creatures specially in that that we bée reasonable in that that we can speake now is reason and all maner of wordes cōteined in godly Scripture whereby that we may learne to knowe God also the cause wherefore we bée created Wherfore I doe sore marueile y ◠there bée certein men the which geue thē selues to slouthfulnes sluggishnes and will not learne those things that bée good but recken those men worthy to bée reprooued that haue that good mynde c. Marke how that this was written to two women that were learned Also hée reckeneth nothyng better then to study holy scriptures hée also marueileth that certaine will neither study Scriptures them selues nor yet let other mē study thē It is well knowē that these wordes pricke no men but you and ye bée so slouthfull so geuen to voluptuousnes that you your selues will not study Scriptures nor yet suffer other mē to study them but if you doe study them it is to deceiue your simple and poore brother there by and to maintaine your abhominable liuing with wrostyng and wryngyng of them other profite commeth there none of your study as all the worlde knoweth For you may not preach but when you haue damnably condemned Christes blessed word or els by violence made some of your poore brethren heretickes then come you with all your gorgious estate pompe and pride to out face Christ and your simple brother with your outward dānable pride afore the face of the world But my Lordes leue of your fasing and your brasing for our Lord whose cause we defend agaynst you will at length not bée out faced Remēber how the holy ghost prayeth against you saying iudge them Lord that they may fall from their cogitations expell them Lord for they haue prouoked thée doubte you not but this holy spirite will preuaile agaynst you though God suffer you for a season yet hath hée till this day defended him selfe his godly wordes agaynst all the proude crakyngs of the world and thinke you that hée wil now take a fall at your hand nay nay hée shall first thrust you out headlonge that all the world shall take example by you this is my beléeue For that word that you haue cōdemned doth thus learne me Wherfore if you doe not reuoke the condemnation of the new Testament and ordeine that all Christen men may read holy Scripture you shal haue the greatest shame that euer men had in this world for you are neuer able to defend it by any meanes nor by any power y e is in earth And if all power in earth wil withstand it hée shall rather bryng them all to dust and raise vp of stones newe rulers You wormes meate you stinking car rion you nourishmēt of hell fire how dare you thus presume against your God omnipotent whether will you flie to auoyde his daunger Heauen earth water and fire sunne moone and starres saintes and angels man and child bée against you and holde you accursed What though the deuill laugh on you for a season Remember the ende but God geue you hys grace that I lose not my labour about you But now let mée assoyle your carnall reasons that you bring for you The fyrst is this euyll men doe take an occasion of heresy out of scriptures Wherfore it is best they haue it not I aunswere lykewise good men doe take an occasion of goodnes there of Ergo the people ought to haue
great threatning Goe tell the wolfe béehold I cast out deuils and I make men whole this day and to morrow and the third day am I consumed neuerthelesse I must continew this day to morrow and the next day c. So y e hée left not the ministration of y e word neyther for the kinges pleasure nor yet for feare of death Also we haue openly that the thrée children would not obey to the commaundement of king Nabuchodonosor but because it was against y e word of God Lykewise we haue an exaÌ„ple where as the king Darius commaunded that no man should aske any petytyon eyther of God or of man within the space of 30. dayes but of hym onely Notwithstanding Daniell weÌ„t into his house thrise in a day made his prayers to God of Ierusalem for the which thyng hée was put into the denne of Lyons the which hée dyd obey as in suffering of the payne but not in consenting to the vnright commaundement So that Christen men are bounde to obey in suffering the kinges tyraÌ„ny but not in consenting to his vnlawfull commaundement alwayes hauing béefore their eyes the comfortable saying of our M. Christ Feare not them y e kill the body which when they had done they can no more doe Also S. Peter happy are yée if you suffer for righteousnes sake neuerthelesse feare not though they séeme terrible vnto you neither bée troubled but saÌ„ctifie the Lord God in your hart And let them not feare but y e their father of heauen hath care for them and shall deliuer them and also brynge his godly worde vnto lyght when it shall please his eternall will agaynst the which no tyraunt is able to withstand But when the tyrants thinke themselues most sure of the victory and bée all ready prouided to burne Susanna then shall hée rayse vp a Daniell that shall caule agayne the senteÌ„ce of the lecherous priestes and when Ioseph is solde into Egipt and there cast in prison then will hée make him Lord ouer all Egipt yea and also ouer them that solde him He bringeth also to passe that proude Hamon bée hée neuer so great in the kinges fauour shalbée hanged on his owne gallowes that hée made for Mardocheus the Israelite Also when Pharao hath coÌ„mauÌ„ded vnder payne of death to destroy all y â— meÌ„ childreÌ„ of Israell Then caÌ„ hée finde the meanes to saue Moses yea that on y t water where as all y t power of Egypt could not saue the kyng yea and hee nourished him in the kynges house at the kynges cost yea and by the kynges daughter Did Pharao suppose this or was there any couÌ„sell of Pharaos that could preuaile agaynst this was there any wisedome or tyranny in the earth that was able to extinct Moses nay verely Furthermore when Israel hath béene in Egypt iiij C. yeres in great captiuitie and thraldome yet agaynst Pharaos will keepeth hee his promise and deliuereth them and maketh water fire earth to serue theÌ„ and when all Israell was in despayre and Pharao the tyraunt was ready to sucke bloud then shewed our God his mighty power What can Israell thinke when hée hath the read Sea béefore him And Pharao with all his might and power after him and of euery side a great mountaine what hope hath hée by mans might by maÌ„s power by mans wisedome by mans pollicie for to bée deliuered none at all But béefore Israels carnallâ—tye all thyng is in extreme desperation But now you Princes that Iudge the earth learne and take héede here commeth the God of Israell whom all Egypt hath despised scorned mocked and condemned and sheweth his might where as nothyng caÌ„ helpe but bée onely and where the tyrauntes recken to bée most sure of victordem there bryngeth hee all their malice to an end And when Herode hath Peter in prison fast bound in cheynes of euery side of him a souldier kéepers set at the prison doore euery man in his office watching that Peter shal not escape for Herode intendeth the day folowyng to bryng hym foorth to wonderyng and also to death Then agaynst Herodes will aboue all his might aboue all his wisedome pollicie notwithstandyng all the souldiers and gaylers of the prison coÌ„meth the power of our eternall God and ledeth Peter through the first and the second ward yea and the brasen gate must wilfully opeÌ„ and let Peter out whom our Lord God would deliuer Shortly what should I bring many examples to prooue Gods power to declare how the truth of God and his childreÌ„ bée alwayes in persecutioÌ„ but the ende is alwayes glory vnto them Wherfore this one exaÌ„ple of our maister Christ shall bée sufficieÌ„t to stablish to confirme all féeble harts also to mollifie all stony harts and finally to coÌ„found the violeÌ„t tyranny of mortall tyrauÌ„tes which bée but stubbles haye and dust in a momeÌ„t bee brought to a lumpe of stynkyng carryon CoÌ„sider our maister Christ which is the very true sonne of God God him selfe yet is hée crucified and put to death as a seditious persoÌ„ as a malefactor as a théefe as a traytor yea and as an hereticke hée is layd also in the graue and a great stone béefore the doore souldiours that were not of the common sort but of the Romaines hée set diligently to kéepe the graue with all the pollicie and wisedome that the byshoppes could deuise and all that hée should not rise vp agayne accordyng to his worde but all this could not helpe for the power of God woulde not bee let his veritie could not bée prooued false his worde could not bee oppressed but when the tyrauntes thought to make their triumphe of victory theÌ„ were they most ouercoÌ„med For it is neither water nor fire Sea nor land heauen nor earth death nor hell that caÌ„ let God to defend his children or to bring foorth his godly word to light and to kéepe his eternall promises Therfore let Christen meÌ„ not feare to kéepe the worde of God and fast there by to abyde and not to deny it for any tyranny for the day shall come when it shall bée greatly to their glory And Sodome and Gomorra shall bée more easely handled theÌ„ such Princes that doe persecute the holy word of God Now is it cleare made that we cannot resist this temporall power in no wise by viâ—leÌ„câ—â— but if we haue wrong eyther we must doe the thing that is commaunded vs or els flie but if any thing bée commaunded vs that is against the word of God whereby our fayth is hurt that we should not doe in any wise but rather suffer per secution and also death But against this power goeth not our article for it coÌ„maundeth nothing as consâ—â—rning the conscience but all onely as concerning the ordering of worldly thinges and therefore it mynistreth a temporall payne ouer the body onely and therwith is coÌ„tent
the foote Your grace may not consyder in this cause y t multitude nor the dignitie of men for you bée as good as the best of thē but your grace must consider that it is God omnipotentes cause it is Christes cause it is the word of God it is y t blessed bloud of Christ that is ouer troden it is the ordinaunce that commeth out of heauen and not out of counsels yea and geuen by God hymselfe and not by mans auctoritye And now shall your grace suffer thys thynge so lightly to bée broken béecause men doe inuent a carnall reason agaynst it the deuill was neuer without a reason but that proueth not the cause against Gods word King Saul had no smale reasō for hym whē hée dyd saue kyng Agag the best shéepe and Orē to offer to God was not this a resonable cause to saue the beastes to Gods honour and to offer thē vp vnto God was it not a goodly shine to saue the kyng rather then to kill hym What man will recken it euill to saue a mā what man can iudge it euill to saue beastes and that y t best to offer them to God Was not God best worthy was not this a good consideration was not this a good intent Finally it is ten tymes better then the reason of the counsell is and yet Saul with all his good reason wyth all his good deuotion with all his good purpose with all his fatte beastes is repelled of God for euer all bycause hée stucke to his good intention left the commaundement of God Some men will thinke it but a light thynge whether they receiue y t blessed bloud by it selfe or els with the body but as light as they thinke it yet is it Gods word yet is it Christes ordinaūce yet did the Apostles obserue it yet did the holy Church so fulfill it And if y t word of God were away by reason it were but a light thyng to Baptise in water or in wyne but the worde of God is open that it must bée done with water and not in wyne and yet there is no cause why but the worde of God Moreouer by reason it was but a light thyng to say Bée glad y ◠daughter of Siō behold thy kyng cōmeth to thée sittyng on an Asse on her fole This saying by reason is not alonely simple but also foolishe to say that a kyng shal come riding on an Asse yea and on a borowed Asse and therof to make so much a doe as though it wer a notable thyng who would not now mocke a kyng if hée dyd so ryde notwithstandyng all this these bée the wordes of God yea and also fulfilled in very déede of our maister Christ in his owne proper person Moreouer by reason it was but a madde token that the Sauiour of the world Christ Iesus was borne to say you shal finde a young child wrapped in cloutes layd in a cribbe what is this to purpose what is this to prooue that the sauiour of y t world is borne will not reason mocke this when wil reason bée persuaded by this token y t Messias whom all the Prophetes all the Patriarkes haue promised so many hūdred yeares afore was now borne and yet this token came from heauē yea and by the ministration of aungels and the shepheardes dyd beléeue y t word Briefly by reason what bée all the articles of the fayth where is Christ where is remission of sins where is y t lyfe to come Reason mocketh all these thynges but yet they bée true bycause alonely y t word of God speaketh them Wherfore most noble and excellēt Prince looke on the word of God and not of blynde reason and saue the honour therof for it shal saue your grace at your most néede Furthermore I doe exhorte and require with all honour yea and I doe cōmaunde in the vertue of Christ Iesus and his blessed word all Dukes all Earles all Lordes all maner of estates hygh and lowe that will bée Christen men that will bée saued by the vertue of Iesus Christes blessed bloud that they doe sée this ordinaūce of the God of heauen obserued to the vttermost of their power and when soeuer that they will bée houseled that they receiue the blessed Sacramēt vnder both kyndes and at the lest desire it with all their hart of their curates and so desire it that they may bée discharged afore the immortall God of heauen whiche will not bée mocked nor auoyded with a damnable reasō but what soeuer thyng there bée that is agaynst the holy word of God and the glorious ordinaūce what collour so euer it bryng with it of holynes let it bée a cursed and reckened of the deuill This doth S. Cyprian learne vs saying what thyng soeuer it bée that is ordeined by mans madnes where by the ordinaunce of God is violated it is whoredome it is of the deuil and it is sacrilege Wherfore fly frō such contagiousnesse of men and auoyde their woordes as a canker and as pestilence c. These woordes bée playne of all maner of men of what estate what dignitie or of what honour soeuer they bée and what collour of holynes soeuer they bryng with them Wherfore in this present writyng I doe counsel and exhorte all true Christen men to take héede what they doe The word of god is so playne in this matter that they can desire it no playner It is no childes game to trifle with Gods worde God will not bée trifled with nor yet mocked But nowe to helpe poore men that bée vnlearned I will assoyle certeine of their damnable reasons The first is we will not geue it vnder that kynde of wyne lest that there shoulde by negligence either of the Priest or of the receiuer fall any droppe on the grounde I aunswere our Christ dyd know that such a chaunce might come you can not deny it except you will say that hée was not God as you would not greatly sticke to doe if you might haue maintenaunce and yet notwithstanding dyd hée institute it in both kindes Aunswere you to this Moreouer why doe not by this reasō your owne priestes abstayne frō the wine séeing that this perill may also chaūce to them as your cautelles of y t Masse doe graunt Also if it bée a reasonable cause that you shal not kéepe Christes ordinaunce béecause of auoyding of perilles then may you take away all the whole Sacrament to auoyde perilles for in receauing of it in y e kinde of bread is ieopardous least there remayne any crumme in the receauers téeth This reasō is as good as yours so that now all the Sacramēt in both kindes is taken away Furthermore if you will auoyde all perilles then may you géeue thys Sacrament to no man for you can not tell who is in deadly sinne who not for you know not their hartes it were a sore perell and greatly
Iudic. 20. Here note that the children of Israell fought at Gods commaundement and in a righteous cause yet were twise ouerthrowen 1. Macha 3 M. More Frith Christe spake of no carnall eating of him but of a spirituall catyng by sayth The Papistes doe falsly alledge this text Aug. in IohaÌ„ tract 26 To beleue in Christ is to dwell in Christ Math. 26. Iohn 6. Iohn 15. Iohn 10. Gene. 35. Gene. 32. Ieremy 19 More Frith Roma 4. 1. Cor. 10. Iohn 15. Iohn 10. Osea 17. Math. 2. The Scripture speaketh diuersly and hath diuers senses M. More More is a mocker and trifler Frith In aunswere to Mores triflyng Eucharistia The right cause why we should come to the Table of our Lord. More hath here a cheke mate M. More Frith Why certeine places of y e Scripture must be vnderstand spiritually M. More Frith No man is to be beleued that bryngeth hys owne iudgement onely vpon any senteÌ„ce of Scripture More is here pretely â—…ypped M. More Frith Iohn 6. Note here the saying of S. Austen How the fleshe of Christ profiteth nothyng and how it doth profite Frith vseth not wordes without alledgyng authorities Augustinus in sermone ad infantes Augu. 54. The Iewes vnderstode Christ carnally and not spiritually as he meant M. More fallen into the errour of pope In nocent Aug. Lib. 3. de doctrina Christiana Here S. Augustine sheweth plainly that Christes woordes were a figuratiue spech Augustinus in sermone ad infantes Origi in leus ho. 7. Christes wordes are spirituall and not carnall Augusti sermo eirca sacra feria Pascha The eating drinkyng of Christ what it is Idem Beda super 1. Cor. 10. The wicked eate not the fleshe of Christ Roma 5. August de ciuitat dei li. 21. ca. 25. Beda super 1. Cor. 6. The sacrament is a figure token and a memoriall of the breaking of Christes body sheding of hys bloud Ambros de sacra Lib. 5 cap. 4. Prosp in libro sententiaruÌ„ sent 339. Idem Beda super 1. Cor. 11. More Frith More hath no olde author to maintaine hys quareling Papistry The Papistes haue corrupted the Scriptures and aduaunced them selues aboue Kinges and rulers Articles of our fayth made by the Pope To beleue the articles contayned in our crede is sufficient for our saluation Frith allegeth authorities to proue hys doctrine true Tertul. lib. 2. contra MarcioneÌ„ Tertul. lib. 4. contra MarcioneÌ„ This is my body that is to say a figure of my body August in prafa Psal 3. Christ deliuered to his desciples the figure of hys body August super Psal 98. S. Austen ad BonifaciuÌ„ Epist. 23. The sacrament is the memoriall of Christes death The sacrament of Christes body and bloud after a maner is Christes body and bloud Good Friday next is called the day that Christ suffered hys passion and yet it is not so for that good Friday is past loÌ„g sâ—â—hens Frith writeth of the Masse according to the coÌ„mon opinioÌ„ that was at that time After a certaine maner the Sacrament of Christes bodye is Christes body August contra AdamaÌ„ tum cap. 12 Christe gaue to his Disciples the signe of his body Ambrosi super illud mortem domini annuÌ„â—ia Ambrosi de sacra Lib. 4 Cap. 4. Ambrosi Libro 4. de Sacramen Cap. 5. The Sacrament is a figure of Christes body Hieroni. super eccle Cap. 3. We eate the very flesh of Christ drinke hys bloud in a mystery The vnder standyng of the Scripture is very meate very drinke Christes body is no materiall meate or drinke Hieronimus super Math. 26. Where there is no true body there can beno figure of the same Beda super Luke 22. Bread and wiâ—â—e is mistically referred to the body bloud of Christ A Sacrament what it is Ad Marcellum Bread and wyne represent vnto vs the flesh and bloud of Christ Chrisosto super Math. 26. Sacrifice Christes body a sacrifice offered on the crosse once for all Chrisosto ad Hebre. Home 17. The Sacrifice that we offer in bread and wyne is the remembraunce of Christes death Roma 6. As S. Austen declareth afore ad Bonifacum The masse is called a sacrifice be cause it representeth the death passion of Christ that was sacrificed on the Crosse Chrisost super Math. 〈◊〉 Christ by drinkyng of the cup dyd shewe the mistery and that it was no naturall nor carnall bloud Super Ioh. cap. 6. Hoâ—… 46. All misteryes must be considered spiritually The plaine saying of Chrisostome â—uâ—pentius 〈◊〉 Lib. de 〈◊〉 The Sacrament of Christes body is a thankes Seuyng Fulgentius This cup is the new TestameÌ„t is as much as this cup signifieth the new testament Eusebius Consecrat Druthmarius The Sacrament how it is our body Augustinus in sermone adâ—…fantes Aug. in sermo de sacraferia pascha Here you may see that y â— Sacrament is our body August de sacra feria pascha S. Austen calleth it by the name of SacrameÌ„t meanyng the figure signe or token of Christes bodyâ—… The wâ—…ked and vnfaythfull do not receaue the body of Christ and yet they receaue the SacrameÌ„t to their daÌ„nation The Sacrament as it is our body so it is Christes Note well this argument Bartram The Sacrament is Christes body in a mystery Cyprianus adâ—… As water is the people so wine is Christes bloud Eusebius By ytâ—…ture of water y t faithfull people are in corporate with Christ M. More â—rith More is a captious Sophister 〈◊〉 subâ—â—le Poet and 〈◊〉 malicious Papist More is better acquainted with the Popes lawes them with S. Austens workes Ad Hiâ—râ—nimum Christes body occupieth one place onely August ad BardanuÌ„ What Christ ment by thys worde Paradise How S. Austen laboureth to proue that Christes body might not be in ino places at once then in one If we affirme that the body of Christ is in many places at one mstant theÌ„ we should take away the truth of his body Augustin ibideâ—s Austen Christ as touching his Godhead is in all places Fulgentius Christ ascended into heauen because he is locall and a very man More Frith The flesh profiteth nothing The fleshe of Christ profiteth much if it be eaten with fayth August tract super 6. 〈◊〉 Athanasius 3. lib. qui dix verb. lâ—…ram The bread and wyne in the Sacrament why they are called mysteries If the Sacrament of the body of Christ were his natural body theÌ„ note what inconueniences must folow The wicked may not nor can not eate the body of Christ The wicked eate the SacrameÌ„t but yet dwell not in Christ Iohn 6. Iohn 6. Iohn 6. Math. 26. Mark 14. Iohn 12. God may do all thing but yet so as he caÌ„not denye hys truth neither restore virginitie c. Iohn 3. The naturall body of Christ is not present to our teeth in the Sacrament ArgumeÌ„ts to proue that Christes naturall body is not in the SacrameÌ„t of his body and bloud The ioyfull eatyng of Christ is â—y
all wayes and done thy best to hew them and to make them frame thou must be fayne to cast them out wyth the Turkes and Iewes to serue God wyth the image seruice of their owne false workes Of these and such like textes and of the similitudes that Christ maketh in the Gospell of the kyngdome of heauen it appeareth that though the holy ghost be in the chosen and teacheth them all truth in Christ to put their trust in hym so that they cannot erre therein yet whyle the worlde standeth God shall neuer haue a church that shal eyther persecute or be vnpersecuted them selues any season after the fashion of y ◠Pope But there shall be in the church a fleshly seede of Abraham and a spirituall a Cain and an Abell an Ismael and an Isaac an Esan and a Iacob as I haue sayd a worker and a beleuer a great multitude of them that be called and a small flocke of them that be elect and chosen And the fleshly shall persecute the spirituall as Cain did Abel and Ismaell Isaac so forth and the great multitude shall persecute y ◠small little flocke and Antichrist wil be euer the best christen man SO now the church of God is double a fleshly and a spirituall the one will be and is not the other is may not be so be called but must be called a Lutheran an hereticke and such like Vnderstand therefore that God when he calleth a congregation vnto hys name sendeth forth his messēgers to call generally which messengers bring in a great multitude amased and astonied wyth myracles and power of the reasōs which the preachers make and therewyth be compelled to cōfesse that there is but one God of power might aboue all that Christ is God and man and borne of a virgine and a thousand other thynges And thē the great multitude that is called and not chosen when they haue gotten thys fayth common as wel to the deuils as them more strongly persuaded vnto the deuils then vnto them then they go vnto their owne imaginations saying we may no longer serue Idoles but God that is but one And the maner of seruice they fet out of their owne braynes and not of the worde of God and serue God wyth bodely seruice as they did in tymes past their Idoles their hartes seruing their owne lustes still And one will serue hym in white an other in blacke an other in grey an other in pyed And an other to do God a pleasure withall will be sure that his show shall haue two or three good thicke soles vnder and wyll cut hym aboue so that in sommer whyle the weather is hot thou mayst see hys bare fote in winter hys socke They wyll be shorne and shauen and Saduces that is to say righteous and Phariseis that is seperated in fashions frō all other men Yea and they wyll consecrat thēselues altogether vnto God and wyll annoint their handes and halow them as the chalice from al maner lay vses so that they may serue neither father nor mother maister Lord or Prince for poluting thēselues but must wayte on God onely to gather vp hys rentes tythes offeringes all other duties And all the sacrifice that come they cōsume in the altar of their bellies and make Calil of it that is a sacrifice that no mā may haue part of They beleue that there is a God But as they can not loue hys lawes so they haue no power to beleue in hym But they put their trust and confidence in their owne workes and by their own workes they will be saued as the rich of this world whē they sue vnto great men hope with giftes and presentes to obtayne their causes Neither other seruing of God know they saue such as their eyes may see and their bellyes feele And of very zeale they will be Gods vicars and prescribe a maner vnto other and after what fashiō they shall serue God and compell thē therto for the auoyding of Idolatry as thou seest in the Phariseis But little flocke as soone as he is perswaded that there is a God he rūneth not vnto hys owne imaginatiōs but vnto the messēger that called hym and of hym asketh how he shall serue God As litle Paul Act. ix whē Christ had ouerthrowen him and caught him in hys net asked saying Lord what wilt thou that I do And as the multitude that were cōuerted Act. 2. asked of the Apostles what they shoulde do And the preacher setteth the lawe of God before them and they offer their hartes to haue it written therein consenting that it is good and righteous And because they haue runne cleane contrary vnto that good law they sorrow mourne and because also their bodyes and flesh are otherwise disposed But the preacher comforteth them and sheweth thē the testamēt of Christes bloud how that for his sake all y ◠is done is forgeuē and all their weaknes shal be taken in worth vntil they be stronger onely if they repent wyll submit themselues to be scholers and learne to keepe this law And a little flocke receaueth thys testament in hys hart and in it walketh serueth God in the spirit And from henceforth all is Christ wyth hym and Christ is his he is Christes All that he receaueth he receaueth of Christ and all that he doth he doth to Christ Father mother maister Lord and Prince are Christes vnto hym and as Christ he serueth them wyth all loue Hys wife children seruauntes and subiectes are Christ vnto hym and he teacheth them to serue Christ and not hymselfe and hys lustes And if he receaue any good thyng of mā he thāketh god in Christ which moued the mans hart And his neighbour he serueth as Christ in all hys neede of such thynges as God hath lent because that all degrees are bought as he is with Christes bloud And he wil not be saued for seruing hys brethrē neither promiseth his brethren heauē for seruyng hym But heauen iustifying forgeuenes all gyftes of grace and all that is promised them they receaue of Christ and by hys merites freely And of y t which they haue receaued of Christ they serue ech other freely as one hand doth the other seekyng for their seruice no more thē one hand doth of an other ech the others health wealth helpe ayde succour to assiste one an other in the way of Christ And God they serue in the spirit only in loue hope faith and dread When the great multitude that be called and not chosen Cain Ismaell Esau carnall Israell that serue God night and day wyth bodely seruice and holy workes such as they were wont to serue their Idoles withall beholde little flocke that they come not forth in the seruice of god they rore out where are thou Why commest thou not forth and takest holy water Wherfore saith y
be turned bodely into Christes bloud then is it also neâ—essarye that the water which is admixed be bodely turned into the bloud of the faythfull people For where as is one consecration must follow one operatioÌ„ And where as is lyke reason there must followe lyke mystery But whatsoeuer is signified by the water as concerning the faythfull people is taken spiritually Therefore whatsoeuer is spoken of the bloud in the wine must also néedes be taken spiritually Thys reason is not myne but it is made by one Bartram vppon a 700. yeares since when thys matter was first in disputation Whereupon at the instance of great Charles the Emperor he made a booke professing euen the same thyng that I do and proueth by the olde Doctors faythfull fathers that the Sacrament is Christes body in a mystery that is to say a signe figure or memoriall of hys body which was broken for vs and not hys naturall body And therefore that doctrine is new which other wyse teacheth not mine which is not myne but the doctrine of Christ and of the olde fathers of Christes Church till Antichrist began to sit and reigne in the temple of God Besides that Cyprian sayth that the people is annexed in the Sacrament through the mixture of water Therefore I maruell me much that they are so contentious and will not sée that as the water is the people so the wyne is Christes bloud that is to say in a mystery because it representeth Christes bloud as y e water doth the people Furthermore Eusebius sayth DuÌ„ in sacramentis vino aqua miscetur Christo fidelis populus incorporatur iungitur quandam ei copula perfecta charitatis vnitur That is to say Whiles in the Sacrament water is admixte with the wyne the faythfull people is incorporate and ioyned with Christ and is made one with hym with a certayn knot of perfite charitie Now where he sayth that we are ioyned and incorporate with Christ what fondnesse were it to contend sith we are there onely in a mystery and not naturally to contend I say with such pertinacitie that hys naturall bodye must be there and not rather that he is ioyned with vs as we are ioyned with hym and both in a mystery by the knot of perfite charitie The young man perceaueth well inough that an allegorie vsed in some place is not a cause sufficient to leaue the proper significations of Gods word in euery other place and seeke an allegorie and forsake the playne common sense For he confesseth that he would not so do saue for necessitie because as he sayth that the coÌ„mon literall sense is impossible For the thing he saith that is ment therby caÌ„ not be true That is to witte that the very body of Christ can be in the sacrament because the sacrament is in many diuers places at once and was at the Maundy that is to witte in the handes of Christ and euery of his Apostles mouthes And at that time it was not glorified And then he sayth that Christes body not being glorified could no more be in two places at once then his owne can And yet he goeth after further and sayth no more it can wheÌ„ it is glorified too And that he proueth by the saying of Saint Austen whose wordes be that the bodye with which Christ arose must be in one place c. Hetherto hath M. More reasoned reasonably but now he beginneth to decline from the dignitie of diuinitie into the dirtie dregges of vayne sophistrye For where I say that I must of necessitie séeke an allegorie because the literall sense is impossible and caÌ„ not be true meaning that it can not stand with the processe of Scripture but that other textes doe of necessitis constrayne me to construe it spiritually There catcheth he thys worde can and thys worde impossible and woulde make men beleue that I ment it coulde not bee true because reason can not reach it but thinketh it impossible And there he triuÌ„pheth before the victory and would know what article of our fayth I coulde assigne in which reason shall noâ—driue awaye the strength of my proofe and make me leaue y e literall sense wherin my proofe shoulde stand and send me to séeke an allegorye that might stand with reason and driue away y e fayth But now deare brethren sith I speak not of the impossibilitie of reason but of the impossibilitie to stand with other textes of Scripture ye may sée y t thys royall reasoÌ„ is not worth a rush TheÌ„ would he fayne know the place where S. Austen so sayth which thing although it were harde for me to tell sith I haue not hys bookes to looke for it yet I thanke God my memorye is not so bad but I caÌ„ shew hym where he shall finde it And because I thinke that hee is more accustomed to the Popes lawes then to Saint Austens workes sith hee is become the Prelates proctour and patrone I say he shall not fayle but find it in hys lawes de consecratione And where as hee would wrest the words of S. Austen which sayth that the bodye in which Christ arose must néedes bee in one place saying that he might meane not that hys body myght not be in diuers places at once but that it muste be in one place that is to say in some one place or other he speaketh sayth M. More nothyng of the sacrament nor sayth not hys body with which he rose must néedes be in one place that it can by no possibilitie be in any moe Thys seemeth to some a goodly glose and yet it shall proue but a vayne euasion For if a man woulde saye that the kings graces body must be in one place and then an other woulde expound y e notwithstaÌ„dyng hys wordes hys graces body might be in two places at once I thinke meÌ„ myght soone iudge that he delighted to delaye and myght say what néede bee to determine that he must be in one place except he thought in deede y â— he myght be in no moe but onely one And though men myght so argue on other mens words yet of S. Austens words thys must néedes follow for he bringeth them in as God would by a contrary Antithesis saying Corpus in quo resurrexit in vno loco esse oportet veritas autem eius vbique diffusa est That is to say Hys body wherein he rose must be in one place but hys truth is dispersed in all places Where he plainly concludeth by the coÌ„trary Antithesis that as hys truth is dispersed in all places so must hys body néedes be in one place onely As by example if a man shoulde say The kyng hys graces bodye must needes be in one place but hys power is throughout hys realme Where no maÌ„ doubteth but that in saying one place he meaneth one place onely And therefore though in some place y e worde must doth