herein applied vniustly vnto the priest the word Aspergam super vos aquam mundam Ezech. 36. I wil sprinckle cleane water on you which God peculiarly promiseth of himselfe Then also to inforce a necessity of oyle that baptisme can not cōsist without it whereas Christ did not appoint it nor Apostle vse it passed his cōmission Vt ne quid grauius But to attribute more vnto the oyle mans own inuention than to baptisme it self the ordinance of Christ I must nedes say was proud blasphemous Yet Cyprian so did for he sayde that vnlesse they were on his wyse annoynted they could not be true Christians To haue the annoynted of the father Iesus Christ within them was not ynough vnlesse a little oyle had also besmeared them A pitifull case that so good a father so faythful a martyr should haue so fowle a blotte to blemish his authoritie But as I sayd we must not gather out of the fathers writings what soeuer was witnesse of their imperfection Yet do I maruel most what mad conceyte ye had to bring this place for the vse of the Crosse in byshopping of children Onely S. Cyprian in all that Epistle and diuers other goeth aboute to proue that heretiques should be baptised And this is farre from Confirmation full little doth it confirme your crosse Agaynst the assertion of seuenfold grace Folio 57. a. Chapt. 11. Nowe to speake a worde of your Seuenfolde grace which you say is conferred at byshopping I besech you shew me the ground of your deuise I know that you delite in the odde number as al inchaunters haue done of olde And therfore vij sacraments vij kindes of graces of the holy ghost But wherefore .vij Bicause Esay numbreth but .vij And this is the reason of all the Papists that euer wrote But I might byd them tell them Esay 11. as Tom foole did his géese Esay numbreth but syx and the seauenth is their owne Therfore stil I proue that Papistes are falsefiers of the worde of God Papistes falsefiers of Scripture And yet if the Prophet had rehearsed seauē as it is of euery man to be sene he did not to gather out of that a seauēfold kinde of grace were to absurd in asmuch as other places attribute of diuerse effectes diuerse other titles to the holie ghost nor the faithful are only partakers of those that Esay doth speake of which are Wisdome Vnderstanding Counsel Strēgth Knowlege Feare of God but also of other as Chastity Sobriety Truth Holinesse which in like maner do flowe from the same spring Then also to thrust the power of Gods spirit into such a corner that it shall haue but seauen holes to start to is to straight a compasse can not contayne him But this I may excuse you as the Painter did himselfe who being reproued that he had left out a cōmaundement whereas he was bydden to write them all in a table answered There is more than ye will kepe So you in rehearsall of your seauenfolde grace speake of syxe more than you are partaker of Wherfore to make my Apostrophe to the readers as you do seing Dionisius is iustly disproued Folio 57. b. to be of no such authority and antiquity as the Papists pretend seing S. Augustine is depraued of them S. Cyprian alleaged where he defendeth an heresy The example of Christ and his Apostles most falsly drawen to proufe of Confirmation I trust you wil more esteme and better regarde the authoritie of auncient Fathers in dede whose playne assertions I haue brought to the contrary you wil more reuerence the word of God the bread of life by them abused to most impietie than the stinking leuen of these lying hipocrites who speake of scripture but esteme it not who lay the fathers for them but vnderstande them not who pretend antiquity but are caried about with euery winde and puffe of new doctrine being as S. Ciprian saith Epistola ad Nouatianos beginners of schismes authors of dissention destroyers of faith betrayers of the church Antichristes in dede who going about to deface the catholike religiō cōmanded by Christ taught by the Apostles continued in the church by the holy ghost haue defaced as it were the truth of Christs ordināce to place their own dreames deuises as it apeareth by the nūber of their sacraments by declining in al points from the order of Christ his Apostles by oyle creame salt spittle candels such like added vnto baptisme by preferring byshopping of children afore it by making oyle of their own addition of more effect vertue than the element of water sanctified by the word of God Finally ascribing perfection of Christianitie which consisteth in the spirit to the outward work of coniuring and Crossing Now M. Martial to come to your holy orders which among your sacraments ye put in the third place I maruell that ye are so barren in the ground which of it self is so fruitfull that wheras ye nūber but .vij. sacraments this one hath begotten by spiritual generation six moe For the master of the sentence whome ye and al your faction do follow maketh .vij. degrées of orders Lib. 4. Dist. 24. Cap. 1. Et hij ordines sacramenta dicuntur these orders saith he be called sacraments He saith not that they do al concur to make a sacrament So by this meanes we haue now .xiij. sacraments A plentiful increase And to set forth the more the dignity of their calling in euery one of these holy orders they haue Christ himself a cōpanion with them But whereas sacraments must haue a promise annexed to thē a promise immediatly from God if any of these orders or they altogether should make a Sacrament some piece of Scripture shuld be brought for proufe of it Neyther Angels nor men can make a sacrament Therfore they lie when they do cal their orders sacraments in as much as they which are called among thē ordines minores the inferior orders by their own cōfession were neuer knowē in the primitiue church but long deuised after In confess Polonica Cap. 51. Hosius himself out of whome you toke your authorities as well of Augustine as of Leo to proue your orders a Sacramente confesseth in the same place that of olde time Ordines ij minores inter sacros non numerabantur These inferior orders were not rekened among the holy ones But now they be holy all and Sacramentes al. If I should rehearse the ydle ceremonies that are obserued in euery one of them The Iewish disagrements of the doctors themselues when eche man hath a sere assertion of his owne defended with toth and nayle The clouted religion of olde patches of Iudaisme Paganisme and Christianitie together wherby they commend this their sacrament to the worlde I should cumber the readers to long with vnfruitfull matters and busy my selfe more a great deale than néeded to confute that which you M. Martiall such is your modesty are ashamed
to thynke and falsely reporte of the holy fathers Reade their learned writinges wyth riper iudgemente Examine duely the very wordes whiche ye do alleage as makyng for you and ye shall sée good yong scholer that ye haue not learned your lesson well Cyprian ye saye wryteth Whatsoeuer the handes be De cardionalibus operibus Christi suspectuÌ„ opus vvhich dyp those that come to baptisme vvhatsoeuer the breast is out of vvhich the holy vvordes do procede Operationis authoritas in figura crucis omnibus sacramentis largitur effectum The authoritie of operatioÌ„ geueth effect to all sacrameÌ„tes in the figure of the Crosse I acknowleage the place It is in hys work de cardinalibê° operibê° Christi quod inter suspecta notha est But weighe the reason first he excludeth as touching any merite not only the hand but the hart of the priest He careth not what he be so that he do the thyng that he cometh for The institution of Christ retayned God worketh inwardly that which no outwarde fact can giue If the hande be euil can the worke of the hand be good In no wyse vnlesse the worke be commaunded Then shew the commaundement for the signe of the Crosse if ye wyll haue CypriaÌ„ to meane of it Experience in part we haue of more witchcraft and sorcery wrought by the signe of the Crosse thaÌ„ by any thing in the world beside Wherfore it is neyther the Priest hymselfe nor any thyng that he doth no not the signe of the Crosse made that giueth effect vnto the Sacramentes De Baptismo Christi Cyprian in playne wordes affirmeth thys Veniebat Christus as BaptismuÌ„ non egens lauacro in quo peccatum non erat sed vt sacrameÌ„to perennis daretur authoritas tanti virtutem operis nulla personarum acceptio commendaret quoniam remissio peccatorum siue per baptismum siue per alia sacramenta donetur proprie spiritus saÌ„cti est ipsi soli huius efficientiae priuilegium manet Verborum solemnitas sacri inuocatio nominis signa institutionibus Apostolicis sacerdotum ministerijs attributa visibile celebrant sacramentum rem vero ipsam spiritus sanctus format efficit consecrationibus visibilibus inuisibiliter manuÌ„ totius bonitatis author apponit Marke well the wordes in English they be these Christ came to baptisme not waÌ„ting a washing in whom there was no synne but to the end that a continuall authoritie mighte be giuen to the Sacrament and no accepting of persons commende the vertue of so great a worke For remission of synnes be it eyther giuen by baptisme or by other Sacramentes properly appertayneth to the holy ghost and the priuileage of thys effecte remayneth vnto hym alone As for the solemnitie of wordes and calling vpon the name of God and signes attributed to the Apostolicall institutions through the mynistery of the priestes they make a visible Sacrament but the thyng it selfe the holy ghost doth frame and make and to the visible consecrations the author of all goodnesse inuisibly doth put hys hande Here do ye sée that the effect is gyuen to the holy ghost and only to the holy ghost which you do attribute either to the priest or to the signe of the Crosse But let me deale with you as you deserue a whyle Let me forget that you are a bachelor of law let me forget that you were M. vsher Let me go to worke as with a scholer of Winchester C. What is the saying of S. Cyprian syrra M. The authoritie of operation geueth effect to al SacrameÌ„tes in the figure of the Crosse Folio 49. C. What is the principal verbe Iohn M. geueth C. What is the nominatiue case M. Authorite C. Well then it is authoritie that gyueth effect But what authoritie Iohn M. Authoritie of operation C. To whom referre you thys operation M. Forsoth to the priest that makes the Crosse vvith his thombe C. Downe wyth hym De sacram lib. 1. Ca. 5. Gyue me the rodde here Haue ye forgot that ye learned out of Ambrose Aliud est elementum aliud consecratio aliud opus aliud operatio The element is one thing and consecration another The worke is one thing and operation an other The worke is done by the priest but the operation by God So Ambrose sayth also that the consecration is Non sanat aqua nisi spiritus sanctus descenderit Ibidem aquam illam consecrauerit The water healeth not vnlesse the holy ghost descende and consecrate that water And is thy wytte so short that thou remembrest not the text of Cyprian that I tolde thée euen nowe One expoundeth the other As there he sayde The effect of Sacraments properly appertayneth to the holy Ghost and that priuiledge is his alone So here he sayth the authority of operation giueth effect to Sacramentes Well goe forwarde In figura Crucis English me that Iohn M. In the figure of the Crosse C. What is that M. Forsothe the red marke that I see in my masters Masseboke C. Downe againe Is your wit so good must ye be beaten twise for one sentence CoÌ„ster it M. Autoritas operationis the authority of operation largitur effectum giueth effect omnibus Sacramentis to all Sacraments in figura Crucis in the figure of the Crosse C. Why yong man do ye bring in the signe of the Crosse there Shall I take you in hande agayne The Crosse must go before in procession I tel you conster it by the poynts as the wordes do lye M. Operationis authoritas the authoritie of operation in figura Crucis in the figure of the Crosse largitur effectum gyueth effect c. C. That is another matter Wel now The authoritie of operation that is to say the power of the holy Ghost in the figure of the Crosse giueth effecte to Sacramentes But is the power of the holy Ghost in the red mark of your masters Masseboke No but it is in the figure of the Crosse that which the Crosse figureth euen Christ himselfe So ye haue learned a true doctrine now That the povver of the holy Ghost in Christ giueth effect to Sacramentes Beare it away least ye beare me a blow But nowe I remember my selfe you shall not tary long for it Hem tibi Do ye vse to make a downe point before ye come to the end of a sentence Do you not sée a comma a Coniuction copulatiue and a chiefe piece of the matter follow and wyl you falsly leaue it out all Take the boke in your hand and reade M. Autoritas operationis in figura Crucis omnibus sacrameÌ„tis largitur effectuÌ„ et cuÌ„cta peragit nomen quod omnibus nominibus eminet à sacrameÌ„torum vicarijs inuocatum The authoritie of operation in the figure of the Crosse giueth effecte to all sacramentes and the name aboue all names being called vpoÌ„ of the deputes of the sacramentes goeth through withall C. If ye had remembred your self sir boy and taken this
For the Marble stones be annoynted wyth it and a verse of the Psalme Psalm 45. song The Lord hath annoynted thée with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes O stony hearts To apply the words which the spirite of God properly spake of Salomon vnder Salomons person of Christ to a greasy stone that euery man doth treade on euery dog berayes Then doth the quire sing Erexit Iacob lapidem Genes 28. Psalm 67. Iacob reared vp a stone whereof they knowe not the signification Also they bleate out wyth wyde throtes Ibi est Beniamin adolesceÌ„tulus in mentis excessu There is little Beniamin out of hys wyttes as they translate it And thinke ye that they were well in their wittes which for Dominator eorum would put in Mentu excessu Wheras they should haue sayd There is little Beniamin their gouernoure To saye There is yong Beniamin rauished of his wittes But this is scripture of Church hallowing This is the purpose These be the textes The prayers are the same that Salomon vsed when he was commaunded to make the temple saue that they wyll haue a crop of Colocyntida to marre a whole pot full of pottage For they adde vnto these Inuocation of Saintes derogation to God abuse of hys creatures When thys is done the rotten bones and reliques are halowed with like ceremonies and soleÌ„nities as they had before And then they put on their masking coates come lyke blinde fooles with candels in their handes at none dayes and so procede to the holy masse with renting of throtes and tearing of notes chaÌ„ting of priests howliÌ„g of clarkes flinging of coales and piping of organes Thus they continue a long while in mirth and iolyty many mad partes be played But wheÌ„ the vice is come from the altare and the people shall haue no more sport they conclude theyr seruice with a true sentence Terribilis est locus iste This place is terrible And haue they not faire fysht think you to make such a doe to bryng in the diuel O blynde beastes O senselesse hipocrites whom God hath geuen ouer vnto themselues that they shall not sée their own folly yet bewray their shame to all the world beside And is not thys youre Church halowing that ye talke of Thys is it that youre Church hath ordayned Now that ye may proue in particularitie that which generally ye did auouch before The signe of the Crosse to be vsed in all Sacramentes ye come to an enumeration of them all And I dare say ye be glad to catch such occasion to treate of the vii Sacramentes yet dout I not but before I haue done with you I shall make ye contented to cut of .v. of them First as touching the vse of baptisme ye begyn with Dionisius Dionisius Areopagita Folio 52. b Euseb Eccl. Hist li. 3. ca. 4. lib. 4. cap. 21. to whom ye geue the surname of Areopagita and honorable title of Saint Paules scholer Eusebius in dede maketh mention of such a one and sayth that he was the first byshop of Athens and thys he speaketh of the report of an other Dionisius of Alexandria But as for any writing of hys he hath no worde at all And doutlesse if it had bene true which you affirme he would not haue suppressed it S. Hierome maketh mention of two In catal Scripit Eccles of that name One that was at Corynth in the raygne of Marcê° Antoninus verus and Lucius Commodus An other that was scholer somtyme to Origene and byshop afterwarde of Alexandria in the raygne of Galienus But not a worde yet among all their writings which he moste diligeÌ„tly doth rehearse eyther of the heauenly or ecclesiasticall hierarchie out of which ye cite all your authorities Wherfore it is a bastarde booke vniustly fathered vpon S. Paul his Dionise wheras the style it selfe and matter there intreated of do argue that it is of no such antiquitie For to go no further thaÌ„ to those wordes that you do alleage of hys Folio 52. hovv the bishop assigneth some man to be godfather to hym that is to be baptised here is a playne lye For the vse of godfathers was not inuented forty yeare after It is euident by consent of all men yea the decrée it selfe beareth witnesse with me De Cons Dist 4. Cap. In catechismo Platina in vita Higini that Hyginus was first founder of Godfathers and among all the receaued writers of that age ye shall not lightly reade of any gossipping But suppose it be true that our recordes haue that Hyginus hatched thys egge he lyued at the least an hundreth and forty yeare after Christ And how can S. Paul hys scholer whose lyfe your selfe can stretch no longer than to the .96 yeare after Christ speake of that which he neuer thought on In the names of the authors alleaged by Martiall whiche was so long deuised after But to the matter I know ryghte well that within CC. yeare after Christ there were crept into the Church many idle Ceremonies and the simplicity of Christ hys ordinaÌ„ce refused Eche maÌ„ as he had either credite or authority presumed of hymselfe to adde somewhat to Christes institution and the fleshe deliting in hir own deuises deliuered the same with as straight a charge as if that Christ hymselfe had taken order for it notwithstaÌ„ding if ought beside the authoritie of Scripture were so auncient in dede as I last spake of admitted at any time into God his seruice yet were we no more bouÌ„d to obserue the same thaÌ„ the fathers themselues haue yelded to it For if they haue repelled the traditions TraditioÌ„s no grouÌ„d of doctrine TraditioÌ„s vary of their elders and after established some other of their own their example proueth no vse Apostolique or necessitie to haue bene in the one their president authoryseth that we may as lawfully dysanull the other Enforce not therefore a doctrine of a custome traditions alwayes haue varyed and many such as Cyprian Tertullian Augustine with other haue thought to be necessary for saluation the Church of Rome it selfe hath not thought expedient to be vsed for instruction Christ gaue commaundemente Baptisme to be ministred Math. 28. in the name of the father and of the sonne and of the holy ghoste Actes 10. The Apostles continued in the same order Ceremonies or circumstances we reade of no more in Scripture saue only the water without all coniuratioÌ„ consecration Luc. 3. or insufflation the persons Baptised the preaching of God hys promises and fayth in Christ and prayer of the faythfull Nowe come ye bowne to Tertullians tyme and ye shall fynde many straunge inuentions Thrée dyppynges in the water Tasting of mylke and hony Lib. de Cormil Abstaynyng from all other washing for a seuen nyght after In Hieromes tyme Lib. 15. Com. in Esaiam Epist 72. Epi. ad Bonifacium De pec mer. remis cap. 20. there was no hony vsed but in
God sinnes are remitted not by the force of water but power of the spirit therefore the Diuell would haue his consecration of water and of salt De Consecr Dist. 3. qua cuncti sanctificentur ac purificentur aspersi as it is written in the Popes decrées that whosoeuer are sprinkled therewith are by and by sanctified purified made cleane and holy go no further than to their Portesses and you shal sée how they approue it Aqua benedicta deleantur tua delicta Aqua benedicta sit tibi salus vita By the holy vvater so be thy offences put the fro Let the holy vvater be saluation and life to thee These words were in their daily seruice But O blasphemous mouthes to attribute that to their inuentions which is the work of God alone the price of the bloud of Christ our sauiour Yet wil they haue as their father had when he came forth with Scriptum est the Scripture for them applied I promise you to as good a purpose as when the Witch by hir Pater noster made hir payle goe a milking For why should I not compare the Priests that consecrate Crosses and ashes water and salte oyle and creame bowes and bones stockes and stones that christen bels that hang in the stéeple that coniure wormes that créepe in the fielde that giue S. Iohns gospels to hang about mens neckes to the vilest Witches and Sorcerers of the earth Eche Prince hath his people deliuereth his lawes to be obserued of them which if they kepe they shew they are his And God that his seruants might be knowen to the world by walking according to his wil ordayned some works wherin he would haue vs to exercise our selues As the feare the faith the loue to Godwarde the repentance of our euils the profession of the Gospel the furtherance of the same praier thankesgiuing praise of God pacience perseuerance iustice charity and such other like What doth the diuell now To seale his seruants into league with him he deuiseth ordinaunces to make theÌ„ to be knowen by As strange attire difference of meates refusal of mariage rising at midnight shutting vp in a cloyster erecting of Images worshipping of saincts seruice in latin gadding on Pilgrimage making of vowes most wilful beggery most vile hipocrisy Hereby the simple haue bene so deluded that they thought gods seruice to consist herein and so the diuel for God was honored Hereby the diuels children haue so magnified themselues that Gods law neglected their beastly fansies haue ben had in reuerence For prouse whereof go no further than to this Sole life is not by God coÌ„mauÌ„ded The diuel doth exact it in his ministers Genes 26. Exod. 20. 1. Cor. 6. Heb. 13 Adultry is by god condemned The diuell in his ministers makes a trifle of it That filthy vice which by the testimony of the Apostle Paule doth quite exclude vs from the kingdome of heauen they make but a game of or a sinne veniall If ye credit me not read the the decrée of Alexander the .iij. of the name Cap. At si Clerici paragra de Adult there he affirmeth that as for adultery such other faults which he accompteth by expresse word crimina leuiora trifling offences the bishop may dispeÌ„se with And yet some good fellowes wil say that we preach liberty We or the Papists Iudge ye Dist. 24. cap. Fraternitatis Pelagiê° the Pope as we read in a certain decretal of his when I speake of decrees decretals think that I speake of no other matter than that which the papists haue in as souerain a price as the bible giues a worthy ceÌ„sure in the like case A man that had ben maried wold nedes after the decease of his wife become a priest sued for his orders The Prelates fell of examining the matter whether he were Bigamus or no that is to say whether his wife was a maid when he maried hir or whether he himselfe had maried a second wyfe For if eyther of these had bene found in hym he had bene vnméete to enter into orders But found he was to be an adulterer who after his wiues death had a childe by an other woman Nowe what sayth the holy father In as much as he is not found to be Bigamus but yet proued incontinent vve hope vvel of him let him haue his orders As for his lechery vve beare vvith him in respect of the vveaknesse of this our age Sée the religion of Poperie If it had bene his hap to haue maried a wydowe or the second time to haue entred into the holy state of matrimonie this man shuld haue had no orders Nowe that he is become a whoremaster he hath them Here coÌ„mes in place the famous iudgemeÌ„t of him that makes the gloze not in mockery but in good earnest Ecce casus vbi plus valet Luxuria quam Castitas Beholde a case where Incontinence hath a more priuilege than Chastitie Thus I suppose ye sée how the Diuel doth aduaunce his workes and by the ministerie of the Papists set vp himselfe in place of God Nowe that his religion should in all points to the worldes eye be as perfect as Gods and the men should not want helpes ynowe to hel As God appointed the prayers vnto him to be made through Christ our mediatour So when the Diuell will be serued best he deputeth sainctes to be intercessors and euery one of them hath his charge lymitted One to deliuer vs from the feuer Quartane another to preserue vs from the daunger of the sea One to restore the goods that we haue lost another to defeÌ„de our foldes from the Fox One for the plague another for the purse One for our selues another for our swyne And is not this mere Gentilitie Yet is it right Poperie As they had Iuno for womeÌ„ in childbed so we the blessed virgin in hir place with vs. As they had Esculapius to saue them from diseases so had we S. Roke to supply that rome As they had Mars to help them in warfare so had we S. George to make vs win the fielde Finally least there should want any thing to please the wanton world As God of his mercy did make man after the image and likenesse of himselfe so the Diuel hath put in the minde of man to make Images after the likenesse of God and so to transferre his honor vnto creatures The blockish Images the dead crosses haue bene crept to bene worshipped The liuely Images of Christ himselfe haue bene brought to the crosse and burned cruelly May I not therefore wyth Clement the Apostles successor say Quis est iste honor dei per lapideas ligneas formas discurrere atque exanimes figuras venerari Recog li. 5. hominem in quo vera Dei Imago est spernere What honor of God is this to runne about the counterfets of tymber and of stone to worship the shapes that are without soule and despise maÌ„ in
his seruise as he was wont in all poynts Thus when he had washed and put on his clothes as he was going out he offered as a blessing vnto the man that had bene so diligent about him that which he brought with him requiring him curteously to accepte that which he offred him in the way of charitie But he mourning and afflicted answered Father what meanest thou to giue me these This breade is holy this can I not eate For I whome thou séest sometime was Lord of this place But for my sinnes nowe after my death am deputed hither But if thou wilt doe any thing for me offer this bread vnto almighty God for me to be a mediator for my sinnes And then know that god hath hard thy praier when thou shalt come hither to bathe thée finde me not So the next weke after the priest cōtinued in mourning for him euery day did offer the host for him and afterward when he came to the bath he found him not Herevpon father Gregory concludeth Qua ex re quantum prosit animabus immolatio sacrae oblationis ostenditur quando hanc ipsi mortuorum spiritus à viuentibus petunt signa indicant quibus per eam absoluti videantur In english this By which thing it is shewed how much the sacrifice of the holy oblatiō profiteth the soules when the spirites of the deade require this of the liuing shew signes wherby they may appeare to be deliuered by it And so far Gregory But is it not a pitiful case that of so weak a groūd so wicked a doctrine should be builded contrary to the manifest worde of God In the .xviij. of Deuteronomie Seke not to learne a truth of the deade And in the .viij. of the Prophete Esay Should not a people inquire at their God shal they depart from the liuing to the dead Howe soeuer the state of men is after this life no doctrine should be gathered of the talking of spirites And furthermore that dead men do serue in the bathes vpon the earth be losed out of the popish Purgatorie which they affirme to be subtus terram vnder the earth to become as it were Barbers apprentices vpon the earth may well be a legend for Plato his Purgatorie ioyned with the tale of Danaus daughters who poure in water into a bottomlesse tubbe Wherefore M. Martiall doubt ye not this but the wicked spirits which saw vas vacuum sed signatum an empty vessell but signed with the Crosse were bolde notwithstanding ad euitandum vacuum to enter into him As for the words of Lactantius which you bring forth Folio 23. Lib. 4. ca. 27. de vera Sap that vvhen they doe sacrifice to their Idols if there stande any man by that hath his forehead signed for that which you adde vvith the Crosse is more than ye finde in the texte then they offer vp no sacrifice neither their vvisserd is able to giue ansvver must rather be vnderstode of the faythfull christened than of any that were crossed For by the signed foreheade they signified baptisme and the fayth of Christ which they professed Otherwise if it be as you say Folio 23. that spirits can not abyde the signe of the Crosse nor continue in place vvhere any man is that hath the signe of the Crosse the beste counsell that I can giue men is to be marked to burne their fleshe with an hote yron and make a durable Crosse in their foreheades whereby they may be frée as long as they liue frō fearing of spirits without any more a do But I feare me least this be no sufficient defence For Serapis his priests were all to be Crossed and yet the Diuels daunced among them The Pope hath his Crosses yea double and treble yet is not the Diuell afrayde to come at him Siluester the .ij. as Platina reporteth was a practiser of naughty artes therein addict himselfe altogether vnto the cōmon enimy of mankinde And in dede first he gat the Archbyshoprike of Reme and afterward of Rauenna by Symony Last of all by the Diuels forwarding help he gat also the occupying of the Popes sée howbeit vnder this condition that when he departed this life he shuld be al wholly the Diuels by whose false deceyts he obtayned so high dignity Whervpon as thesame Platina the Popes owne Secretarie doth write When Siluester was not circumspect inough in being ware of the Diuels baytes he was killed all to pulled of the promoter of his the Diuel Yea when he was a Massing in the Church A strange case M. Martial that so many crosses as were in the church so many Crosses as were in the Masse could not saue the supreme head of the Church frō tearing in pieces by wicked spirits yea when he was at his holy Masse Wherefore the Crosse in your .iiij. signification Folio 23. is not the heauenly note and immortal signe It hath not that effect by cōtinual meditation of heauenly things the lyfe to come to make men heauenly and immortal Stil you do reason à non causa pro causa attributing that vnto the outward signe which is in dede the vertue of Christ Folio 23. b beliefe in his passion Ye say that the signe of the Crosse is spokē of by God himself in his Prophet Esay But it shall appeare by the very Scriptures that you alleage howe ignorantly and howe falsely you cite your authorities Esay 49. God by the mouth of his seruaunt witnessed how he would bring to passe that the Church which had cōtinued barren a long while shuld now be fruitfull and haue such store of children that she should wonder at hir owne increase saying Quis genuit mihi istos quum egosim sterilis solitaria relegata vaga Quis ergo educauit istos En ego sola relicta sum isti ergo vndenam sunt Who hath begotten me these séeing I am barren desolate a banisht person and a wanderer to fro And who hath nourished them Beholde I was left alone whence are these God to answere this case to shew that there shuld be a spiritual broode begottē through grace of adoptiō not by the cōmon course of nature but by the secret working of his spirit sayd Tollam ad gentes manum meam et ad populos signū meū erigam I wil lift vp my hand to the gentiles set vp my standard vnto the people Meaning that not only the Iewes but also the Gentiles should be brought to Christ which agreing in vnitie of one fayth together shuld be gathered as brethren into one mothers lap Now I besech you turn ouer your histories cōsult with your elders sée what it was that brought the Gentiles to christianite the Idolatrous nations to true religiō If it were the signe of the Crosse after your .iiij. signification Folio 24. a. made of some earthly matter to be set vp in Churches or made vvith mannes hand in the ayre
dare and vvil ioyn issue vvith you Let the doctrine of the receyued fathers for you make fathers of friers legēd lies lavves decise the cōtrouersy that is betvvixt vs. If I bring not more soūd antiquitie to cōfirme my truth than you cā auouch for maintenance of your error If the self same fathers direct me not in the right vvay vvhich you misconster for the crosse vvay Let our Theodosia deale as she lusteth vvith me the shame to be mine Othervvise if it be Gods vvill the amendment to be yours Amen THE PREFACE to the Readers IF neyther experience of elder age nor present authoritie of Scripture were to put vs in minde of the sleyghtes of Sathan howe he continuallie doth bend his force against the forte of our afflicted soules yet the subtile conspiracies of these yonger dayes the practise of the Papist that Martials now the Diuels hoste and marcheth forward with a forged Ensigne appearing outwardly to be the frend of Christ whose fayth religion he vtterly subuerteth may serue as a warning piece out of the watch tower to make vs runne to the walles of fayth betaking our selues eche man to his defence in the certaine truth of Gods eternal testamēt For if the groundwork be shaken once whervpon we builde our health and saluation which is the affiaunce in Christ our God and credite to his worde then enters our ennimy with banner displayed and beateth vs downe to the pit of damnation Wherefore he séeking to supplant Christ and pul our hearts from seruice of him cōpasseth by al meanes to winne him selfe some credite with vs and the knowledge of God reuealed in his worde by a little and a little to be taken frō vs. But he hath of him selfe to ill a name to be estéemed so and therefore vnder viser of that that he is not he winnes men to yelde to that that they should not He becommeth therefore in all his workes an Ape of God to imitate and resemble after his hellish maner to the vtter ouerthrowe and destruction of our soules that which our heauenly father hath prouided for our health saluation and blysse Herein hath he handled himself so workmanly that he lokes very narrowly that can discerne the difference Yea the eyes of his heart must be better cleared than by the light of reason or else he shal be blinded in the myst We sée that euen from the beginning after Gods spirit had moued Abell and the holy Patriarks to offer sacrifice vnto him that should be figures all of that one sacrifice which Christ according to the prefixed pleasure of the eterne Deitie should at his time on the Crosse perfourme The Diuel in worshipping of his Idols did come so néere the same that the self same did séeme to be doone in both Yea generally in all the superstitions and detestable rytes of the heathen folke he toke his paterne out of the ordinaunce of the Hebrewes and maners of the Christians Which thing Tertulian among the Latin writers the most auncient and chiefe right well declareth De Prescriptionibus ad uers Heret Ipsas quoque res Sacramentorum diuinorum in Idolorum mysterijs emulatur c. Yea the very matter and substance of the diuine Sacraments he counterfeyts in his Idol seruice He hath his baptisme whereby such as do beleue in him haue forgiuenesse promised them He marketh his men with signes in the forehead he hath his offrings his sacrificers his virgins and his votaries That if we loke on the supersticiōs of Numa Pompilius the badges the priuileges the offices of his priestes the vessels the ceremonies the furniture of his sacrifices we shal sée how the Diuell Morositatem illam as Tertullian termeth it Iudeae gentis imitatus est did imitate the fansies and selfe wilnesse of the Iewes As Moses went vp into the mount Syna and there receyued the Law tables whereof the author God him self should be So Minos afterward among the Grecians hyding him selfe a while in Iupiters caue came forth at length and gaue them lawes from mighty Ioue as he pretended And to the ende the people might the more be bounde in obedience the lyke practise had the Romaine King of whom I spake before saying that in the night time he had secrete conference with Aegeria and she deliuered him such holesome lawes as the mighty Gods had decréed on Whereby what other thing was attempted of the Diuell but that all credite should be denied to Moses in asmuch as Minos and Numa to did alleage the like authoritie for themselues yet it was euident they were but fables Will ye go to the circūstances of place and persons Then as God ordayned his seruice to be had first in the tabernacle then in the temple at Hierusalem so would the Diuell haue his hilles and groues As God did raise vp his holy men and Prophetes that being inspired with the holy Ghost might declare his will and by force of miracles winne the more credite So hath the Diuell his coniurers his witches his figure flingers and his sorcerers with the spirite of illusion to worke straunge effectes As we haue a place of eternall rest so haue they their heauen Elisios campos et amaena vireta fortunatorum nemorum the swéete pleasant Paradise and places of good hap As we haue hell euen so haue they that if we preach the blessednesse of the faythful by the merits and mercies of Christ our Sauiour then step the godlesse out take it as a tale of the Poets Paradise If we threaten vengeance to the misbeleuers and extreme torment of hell fier the Diuels limmes laugh vs to scorne againe and doe resemble it to Plato his Purgatorie or to the scalding of Pyriphlegeton a riuer so deuised by the heathen folke to burne in hell wyth flames vnquenchable Such sleights hath Sathan to put vs in securitie of any further payne to pull vs from the hope of perfecter estate that here we may liue as the Diuell would haue vs in the ende to receiue as the Diuel can rewarde vs. And he hath not wanted his instrumentes of olde He hath made himself ministers from time to time that in the worlds eye were most worthy reuerence and likelier than the rest to compasse his desire Among them all to the Diuels behoofe neuer so faythfull seruaunts to the destruction of the people neuer so pestilent instruments as the Papists are for what haue they not done to the vtter subuersion of al true religiō As Christ cōmaunded the beleuers in his name to be baptised So they in the Diuels name haue baptised Bels with the same ceremonies solēnities that they would vse in Infants christening saue that the Diuel would haue in his sacramēt a certaine more Maiesty than God in his Therfore the Papistes by the spirite of the Diuel ordained that a byshop must needes christen a Bell where as euery poore priest may christē a childe And bycause that through water consecrated by the word of