Answer to the Devilish Detection of the Bishop of Winchester, Treatise · Part 7
❧ The foundation whereupon oure fayth is grounded.
BUt I do take our doctours and reade them wyth lyke iudgement as I do the Rabines of the Hebrues. That is to ſay, to be mē learned and highly endued with knowledge of ſecret thynges, and therefore that they cā open deaply hid miſteries. But yet al men of iudgemēt may know that they hauehave their gyftes but vntounto a certeyne meaſure, and as they are mē, ſo do they erre many tymes, in the mattiers of moſte weight & importaunce. Wherby is wrought the marueilous wiſedome of God, who onelyonly wyl be accompted alwaies true, vprighte and iuſte in all his wordes, and that all men ſhould appeare (as they are) lyars. If in any one man ſhoulde reſt the fulnes of al trueth, we woulde by our weakeneſſe verie proudely ſwere into his wordes, thereupō eſtabliſh oure beliefe, and make hym as it were an earthly God.
Paule therefore led by the ſpirite of God, taketh his maiſter Gamaliell and the greate Rabines, to no counſell in the ſettynge furth of the high miſteries, which God had reueiled vntounto him. No he woulde not confer with fleſhe and bloude, that is, with any man, notwithſtanding he him ſelfe was wonderfully enſtructed in the lawe, and became irreprehenſible therin, beinge a phariſei, that is to ſaye, an interpreter, and (as your men are) a doctoure hym ſelfe. Notwythſtandynge he bryngeth nothynge of Thalmud, he teacheth not hynge by the traditious of their fathers, but by Moyſes, by the prophetes, and the open worde of God, whereupon onelyonly fayth can hauehave his foundation. Fayth is of hearing ſayth Paule, and this is by the hearing of the worde of God, and not of mans doctrine.
Though you therfore, do cal this your doctrine of the real and carnal preſēce of Chriſt vnderunder the fourme of bread and wine, the foū dation of our faith: yet were they neuer ſet in our olde Crede & beliefe, nor nūbred among the. xii. articles of our faith. And Paule, whē he ſaid, I do only know Ieſu Chriſt and him crucified, which is the very foūdation of our faith, wherby we might be ſaued, though we lyued in wylderneſſe, or dyed vponupon the ſeas without thys ſacrament. Yea though we be murdered in your preſence and by your formentes put to death, wythout the receyueinge of this Sacrament. For our …ayth ſtandeth fully grounded vponupon this worde. Wh… ſo euer confeſſeth Chriſte to be come in the fleſhe, he is borne of God, and who ſo euer beleueth and is baptiſed, the ſame is ſaued. Adde you hereunto what newe foundations you pleaſe. We feele in oure hertes (beinge taughte by the open worde) that no man can No man can laye any other foundation then Chriſte.laye any other foundation but Ieſu Chriſte. By whoſe death we dye from confidence in all creatures, and by whoſe ryſynge from death: we do ryſe agayne and do ſeeke thinges that are aboue, where Chriſte ſitteth at the right hande of God.