Answer to a Jesuit, Part 4 – Part 5
ANSWER.
THE first part of his counsall we approue and adde thereto that the lyfe Euerlasting consistes in the knawledge of the onlie trew God,Ioan. … ▪ and in y• knowledge of him whome he hes send Iesus Christ.
That he that beleuis in the Sone of God hes lyfe euerl…sting,Ioan. … and is alreddy past frō deith to lyfe, bot he that beleuis not, sall not le lyfe, but the wraith of God abydes vponupon him. We further affirme, y• without the societie and bosome of the trew Kirk, neuer was, is, nor salbe saluatioun vntounto man. In thir and lyke generall heidis we disagre not frō the Papistis,The h…idi… of differēc… betuix the trew worschipperis of God and the Papistis. but the difference and dout standis in y• speciallis, to wit, what Faith is, and what groūd it hes, what is religioun, & wherein i… differis from superstitioun and from Idol…trie. And finallie what is the trew Kirk▪ and how it may be decerned from y• Sinagoge of Sathan. Thir heades we say, ought he in special to hauehave intreted vntounto yow if he had bene mynded to hauehave instructed yow in a treuth. But becaus (as y• progres of his letters declareth) his mynd was to draw yow to the bondage of that Romane Antechrist, he takis generall propositionis moste trew & moste certane in them selues, whereupon he wold cōclude that which is most fals & altogether pernitius to the saluatioun of man. To let the craft of Sathan moir euidently appear, w… shall draw his perswasioun in forme of argument, and after returne to the farther meaning of the Propheit, and to the declaratioun of thir termis Faith,Maior. Religioun and Catholick Kirk.
The Propheit affirmes, that whosoeuer sall not serue Ierusalem, shall perishe.
But the promeis maid to Ierusalem,Minor. appertenis vntounto the Kirk. Ergo whosoeuer seruis not the Kirk sall perishe.Cōclusi. This hol… argument we admit, and m…st constantli… we do affirme it, and yet sall he neuer be able to proue his intent,why the Pap… & Papistes ha…e the Kirk of Scotland. which is, that y• Kirk of Scotland is no Kirk. We will oppin the wound which the wryter of the letter keapes couerit, & yet it most greuis him, as it doeth the rest of al papistis. The Realme of Scotland (all praise to God) hes refused the Pape that Romane Antechrist, and not only be preaching, bot also be the publict Lawes hes dampned his tyrannicall lawes, his odious superstitiounis, and vsurped iurisdictiō. And therefoir cry the papistis that we ar declyned from the trew Kirk, and ar fallen back frō the Catholick faith.what Pap… stes must proue be…oi… they be able to conuict vsus or any other Natioun of apostasie … the Kirk & … Faith. But befoir that they be able to cōuict vsus of those crimes, thay mō preif two thinges, former, that whatsoeuer was promysed to Ierusalem dois properly and only appertene vntounto Rome, and this mon thay do not be coniectures, but be plane wordis as God pronoūced be his Prophet of Ierusalem. This is the first. The secund is, that albeit Rome wer as able to proue a promise maid to it, as Ierusalem was of whome it was said: This is my rest, heare will I dwell, becaus I hauehave chosin it. And albeit that the papis of Rome whome he stylis the perpetuall successioun of that Kirk, had as an assured & plane probatiō, that be god they wer called, be God they wer admitted, and that be God they suld be māteyned in their ministerie & functioun, as that the Leuites and successioun of Aaron had to ꝓduce at all tymes for their defence, yet if they (we say) who cal them selues the successouris of the Apostlis be not able to proue that they hauehave cōstantlie remaned in the first league & cōuenāt which Christ Iesus maid with his Apostlis when he send them furth, to preache the glaid tydingis of the Kingdome, and to establishe his Throne, not only amonges the Iewis, bot also amonges the Gentiles, according to ye former propheseis. Albeit we say that all thir former thay wer abil to proue (as thay ar neuer able to do) yet hauehave they said nothing y• may help their caus, nor …urt ouris, onles that they thairwith planely proue y• the Kirk of Rome and the successioun of the same hes remanit and yet remaneth in ye original puritie of the Apostlis, in doctrine, lyfe, lawes & ceremonies. For thir being corrupted, the tytill of successioū will na mair help them then did the braging of the Preistis vnderunder the Law, who cryit aganis the Propheit Ieremie,… the Temple of the Lord, the Tē ple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord. What was answered vntounto them, let ye …. Chap. of his Prophesie witnes. But farther of the s…ccessioun and of the assurance thairof efter. Now mō we sumthing speak of Faith, Religioun, and Catholick Kirk whairwith he wold ter…fie your conscienc… and deface the treut… …nd then mon we answer to his blaspheamous taūtis and mockage, befoir we hauehave confessit that to leue without faith, without Religion, & without the societie of the Catholick Kirk, bringis with it most certanely death and dampnation. But yet we affirme, yat all opinion that is cōmonly receaued vnderunder the Name of faith, is not faith which God approuis, bot trew faith mō hauehave for the ground and assurance thereof Godis expressed word, of his mercy ꝓmysed in Christ Iesus, whereto the heart of ye faithful mon cōsent, so moued be y• haly gaist. And therefor we fear not to affirme,what groūd …aith h…th. that the Papistis hauing no better ground for thair faith then consent of men, decreis of counsallis, and antiquitie of tyme, hauehave no faith bot a fonde, yea, a dampnable opinion. And the same we affirme of Religioū, whiche if it be pleasing & acceptable vntounto God,The warrād of religiou… must hauehave his a win cōmandemēt and approbatioū for a warrand: other wise it can not be bot odious in his presence, as a thing repugning to his expres commandement: saying, not that which, appeari… good in thy a win eyis sall thow do to the Lord thy God,Deu. 4. & … b…t what the Lord thy God hes commanded the, that do thow, ade nothing to it, diminishe nothing frō it. Be this precept of that Eternall God, who is immutable, and that can cōmand nothing but y• which is iust, or all people, Realmes, and Natiounis (that will auow them selues to be the inheritance of the Lord) bound and oblist to measure thair Religioun,Not…. not be the exemple of other Realmes, nether yet be their owen good intentioun, or determinatioū of men, but only be the expressed word of God. So that what therein is commanded, aucht to be done, and what is not commanded be him, aucht in na wyse to be done be the people of God, what apperance or externall shaw of holynes that euer it hes. And thairfoir hauehave we most iustly reiected the Rable of ceremoneis which the Papistis held for the cheif exercise of thair Religioun, as thingis hauing na better ground then the inuentioun and consent of men. Now shortlie of the Kirk commounlie callit Catholick. The name of the Kirk is commoun, and is taken aswell for the cō gregation of the wicked, as for the assemblie of the godlie, as it is plane be ye wordes of Dauid, saying,Psal. 2…. I hauehave hated y• Kirk, or the assemblie of the wicked, the terme Catholick, which signifyis vniuersall, he… not included in it that vertew which Papistes alledge, That is, that whatsoeuer is catholick, y•, must be gude. For if so wer, then sin in the originall world shuld hauehave bene gude, for it was so Catholick (that is vniuersal) that it ouerflowed y• hole earth only one hous excepted. How vniuersall Idolatrie was amongis the Gentiles, Historeis witnesse, aud how braid the pestilent sect of Machomet is this day spred, experience dois teich vsus. And yet we suppone, that no man of right iudgemēt will either approue the one or the other, notwithstānding of their vniuersalitie, & there fore we must hauehave a better assurāce of y• Kirk, to the which we aucht to ioyne our selfis then that it is Catholick, or vniuersall, To wit, it must be holy, & the cōmunioun of Sanctis. For in the confessioun of our faith, we say not I beleue the Kirk vniuersal, bot I beleue the holy Kirk vniuersall, the cōmunion of Sanctis. Wherefoir we affirme, that if that Kirk whiche is called Catholick or vniuersall hauehave not holynes in the heart be trew faith, & the Confessioun of the same in the mouth, & in the foirhead, it ceissis to be y• immaculate spous of Iesus Christ, in whose bosōe the sonnes of God ar nurished to the lyfe euerlasting. And so befoir that the wryter of the letter shalbe able to conuict vsus, that we hauehave declyned from the holy Kirk, he must first defyne what is the verray holynes of the Kirk, wherein it consistis▪ fra whome it flowis, and what is the effect of the same. And when thus he hes done, he must proue yat ye Kirk of Rome hes bene and is only holy, so that no Kirk befoir it did euer enioy that tytill, nether yet that any that after may ensew it, may sa be iustlie callit, & thus we think salbe verray hard to Maister Tyrie and all the Iesuites in Europe to proue. Bot now that the vanitie of his argumēt may ye moir euidētlie appeare, we wil in as few wordis as we can examine the mynd of the Prophet. Sic as diligently markis the scope of ye Propheit Isaias, sall cleirly se, that frō the 40. Cha. of his prophesie to the end of the same, he trauellis principally to cōfort Ierusalē, and the Natioun of the Iewis, whose miserable distruction and fearefull captiuitie he foresaw in spreit. Prounced the same in his publict sermonis, and left ye memoriall and vndouted Register thereof to the post eritie that was to follow, and was to be partakeris of all the plaigues that wer befoir spoken. And least that they in the myddis of yair calamitie suld hauehave disparit of any delyuerance: frō the same 40. Chap. back we say, that the Prophet as y• Messinger of Godis mercy pronounceth to Ierusalem, to Mont Syon, and to th… afflicted Iewis, delyuerāce frō captiuitie, the protectiō of God to be their defēce, the distructioun of Babilone, and of all their enemeis. The coming of the Messias promysed vntounto them the felicitie of his Kingdome, the vocation of the Gentiles, and finally the promyses flowing from mercy that he had maid vntounto them to cō tinew for euer. And among thir many fold promysis this was one, the Kingdome and the Natioun that sall not serue thee, sall perishe. Now glaidly wald we learne of the wryter to what Realme, to what Nation, to what Prouince or Cietie will he appoint vsus, that therein we may serue Iesus Christ, and his immaculate spous the Kirk: to the end that we shal not perishe, If he will name Rome & the Kirk therof, then must we demand two thinges, y• former. What become of all the faithfull … space of a thousād yeares that flowed b… …uix the making of the former promyses,Answer Papist…. & the dayis of the Apostilis, what tyme y• …uangel began publictly to be offered vntounto the Gentiles. All whiche tyme Rome was nothing bot a Den of Idolatrie, we think he will not say that the faithfull perished. And wear bauld to say that the faithfull serued not Rome, nether yet th… Kirk contenit thairin all that tyme. This is the first whereof we wold be resolued. The secund is, that if the wryter will alledge, that during all the tyme the promise foirsaid apperteaned to Ierusalem & vntounto Mont Syon: but that after the ascention of Iesus Christ, and after that the Euangell was receaued of the Gentiles, the promise which befoir was maid to Ierusalem was transfered vntounto Rome. If so be, we pray the wryter that efter he hes consulted with the fynest Papistis be they Iesuites, or be they others, that he wil shaw vntounto vsus where we shall find the resignatiō and y• assurance thereof. We clearly read the promises maid to Ierusalem and vntounto Mont Syon. We find that the Euangell was there preached in dispyte of Sathan. We find that from thēce Peter and Iohne …er send to Samarea, and the refter the Euangell was planted amonges the Gentiles: we find farther that Paule wrote to y• sanctes that wer at Rome, and that he him self was caryit presoner to it, and that he remanit two yeares there vnderunder custodie in his ludgeing: bot that euer the promises maid to Ierusalem wer transferred vntounto Rome, we find not. And therefoir albeit that we of the Realme of Scotland hauehave refused Rome,Not… & answer dir… lie. and the tyrrannie thereof, we think not that we hauehave refused the societie of Christis Kirk: but that we ar ioynit with it, & daylie ar fed of our mothers breastes, becaus we imbrase no other doctrine then that which first flowed furth of Ierusalem: whose Cietizenes be grac… we auow our selues to be. But now to the taunting blaspheamies of the wryter: It pleisis him to terme our Kirkis new foūd, inuisible, yet but aucht yeare auld. &c. and our Euangel newly inuented. Which blaspheamies albeit that man spair, yet we ar assured the Eternall our God sall not suffer vnpunished in this lyfe, and in th… lyfe to cum: onles that speadie and vnfeaned repentance blot away the same.
But the wryter left to the Iudgement of God,Tyries reasone. we wolde knowe of him why he calle…h our Kirkis new found, and our Euangel but new inuēted. He appeareth to giuegive his reasone in these wordes (for sayis he) it is manifest that befoir a thousand yeares in all the worlde was there peple that trowit as thay do quha defendis the contrare.
This reasone conteyneth in it sic foly besydes the obscuritie and generalitie of it,Answer. that we stand in dout at what member we shall begin to confute the same. But becaus his greatest streng…h appeareth to stād in this, that befoir a thousand yeares, there wer people in all the world that beleued otherwise then we beleue: To that h…d we will first answer & say. That grā ted, that befoir a thousand yeares there was people in all the worlde that trowed as Papistes now trow, what shall thereof yet be concluded, that our Kirkis ar new found? And will he say that our Euangell is but newly inuented? A good dialectis… …ne wolde answer: that albeit the antecedent wer granted, the consequent may iustlie be denyed. And the reasone is, becaus that nether doeth the Kirk, the faith of the same, nor the authoritie of the Euā gell of Christ Iesus, depend vponupon that which men beleued befoir that it was published. Nether yet is the age of the Kirk to be compted frō the time, when it pleased God of his mercy, either to reueale his word to any Realme or Natioun that befoir was ignorāt of it, or yet to reforme abuses whiche hauehave taken roote amonges the people of God be the negligence of men. And that this reasone and propositioun is trew: the consideratioun of the planting of the Kirk, and of the diuers reformatiounis maid within the same shall witnes. When God called Abraham frō Vr of the Caldeanes,G…n. …2. and maid to him y• promise of the bli…ed sead, and after gaue vntounto him the signe of Circumcision: wer there not people dispersed vniuersally vponupon the face of the earth, wha trowit and thoght that they had a goode and perfite Religioun? Yea, euin that same Religioun (as they supposed) wherein Noha serued God. And yet we knowe that the spirit… of God dampneth the multitude of that age of Idolatrie: and thereintill magnifies the mercy of God, who from that corrupted multitude called Abrahā, & be grace maid him the Father of the faithfull. No… wold we demād of the wryter of the letter, if the age of Abrahames faith, should hauehave bene measured from the errour of y• multitude that past befoir him: and if that the age of the Kirk gadderit within his hous shoulde hauehave bene called an aucht yeare auld Kirk, when that Abraham had so long obeyed God, while that all the world continewed in their Idolatrie? We demand (we say) if their auld Idolatrie, maid Abrahames Faith to be but a new found Faith: and if their multitude & vniuersalitie hauing for them antiquitie, maid the Kirk that was in Abrahames hous to be a new found Kirk? We suppoue that men of Iudgemēt shal otherwise pronūce and subscriue with vsus: that the Faith of Abraham had the same antiquitie that the word had which he beleued. Now plane it is, that the word which he beleued was the self same word which God pronūced vntounto the woman in the Gardine, speaking aganis the Serpent, saying: I shall put inimitie betuix the and the woman, betuix thy sead and hir sead,Gen. 3. that sead shal break doun thy head, and thow shall break doū his heale. This promise we say, being especiallie maid to Abrahā in these wordes: In thy sead shall all the Natiounis of the earth be blissed, was the groūd of his faith lyke as that it was the ground of the faith of Adam, Abell, Seth, and of all the faithfull befoir him: so that his faith was no new faith, bot was that same faith whiche had continued amonges Godis elect from the beginning. For trew …aith may not be measured from the errour of men, bot frō the word and promise which the faithfull beleue. Is the word from the beginning, and the promise vndouted? then must the faith that thereupon is groūded, not onlie be trew, but also of the same age and antiquitie that the worde is. And therefore whensoeuer the Papistes and we shall cū to reaken of the age of our faith: we dout nothing but that there faith, in mo principall pointis nor one or two, shalbe found verray young, and but lately inuented in respect of that only trew faith which this day in the Kirks of Scotland is professed. And the self same thing a…firme we of our Kirk, & of the Euangell preached within the same: to wit, that the Euangell which of Godis mercy is reuealed vntounto vsus, is not forged be man, but that it is the self same Euangel which Iesus Christ taught be his a win mouth, and that his Apostlis at his cōmandement published vntounto the world. And therefore we say that our Kirk is no new found Kirk (as the wrytet blaspheamously rayleth) but that it is a part of y• holy Kirk vniuersall, which is grounded vponupon the doctrine of the Prophetes & Apostlis: hauing the same antiquitie that y• Kirk of the Apostles hes, as concerning doctrine, prayers, administratioun of Sacramentis, and all other thinges requisit… to a particulare Kirk. But yet will y• wryter of the letter alledge, y• we beleue not as the moste part of men hauehave beleued a thousand yeares and moir. For they beleued the Messe to be a Sacri…ice propiciatorie for the sinnes of th… quick and the dead: The Pape to be the head of y• Kirk and Christes vicare in the earth: The materiall body of Christ Iesus, flesche blood and bane to be in the Sacrament of the Alter, after that the wordis of consecratiō wer pronunced be a Preast, Super materia debita: that the prayers of the leuing profite the departed, and sic others as the Catholick faith of the Papistes hauehave concluded. These Artickles will the wryter say we beleue not: and therefoir how can it be denyed but that our Kirk is new foūd and the doctrine therof is new. We hauehave answered and yet we answer agane, That whatsoeuer Papistes hauehave beleued befoir vsus, whiche hath no better ground then y• determinatioun of thair ow…n counsall: Can nether preiudge our faith grounded vponupon Godis expressed worde, nether yet can proue our Kirk to be but a new foūd Kirk. For if ane commoun errour, and a superstitious …orshipping of God, receaued of a multitude, should hauehave y• strēgth that it should preuale against Godis simple treuth, and against his worshipping prescriued in his word: then had the Propheit Helias bene into a miserable condition: Who being but one man opponed him self to the King, to his counsall, to his Prophetes, Preastes and people, and in plane wordes accused thame all of Apostasie from God, from his trew worshipping, and from the obedience of his Law: and planely conuicted them to be Idolatoures, becaus they had imbrased a worshipping of God not cōteyned in his word. It is a wonder that the King with his Preastes and Propheites excepted not against the Propheit and said: how can y• be Idolatrie, which our Kings and people sence the dayis of Ieroboā hauehave vsed and manteyned for Gods trew seruice. Thow art but one man, and we ar a multitude: how can it be that we all should erre, and that thow alone should please God. But no such thing find we obiected vntounto the Propheit. But his requeast, being but one man was obeyed: quhilk was, that God him self should iudge betuix him and thē, as that he did be fyre from the heauen.
This priuiledge craue we to be granted to vsus of the Papistes in our days: to wit, that they suffer God to Iudge betuix our Religioun and theirs: What he approueth, let it be approuen of bothe, and what be him is not commanded, nor be the Apostles of Iesus Christ established and practised, let it be of bothe reiected, and so shall we suddanelie aggre. But if that they will still cry, that we ar Schismatykes and Apostates, becaus we refuse to defyle our selues with their abhominationis: We cā not but appeale from their corrupt sentence to the vncorrupt Iudge, of whose fauoures we are assuredly perswaded in y• point, becaus he hath said follow not the multitude in euill doing: and becaus that we find Kingis, Propheites & people befoir vsus, to hauehave done the self same thing in their days (and therefore to hauehave bene approued of God), whiche we in Godis feare hauehave done in our dayis. To wit, they hauehave distroyed the monumentis of Idolatrie, & hauehave repressed the same externally be power and force, notwithstanding the antiquitie thereof, & that great multitude adheared vntounto it. And this muche for the multitude, and that which the multitude moste commonly beleueth. Now to the further ressounis of the wryter.
He first tauntis and mockis vsus and our Kirk, calling it your inuisible Kirk of Scotland. Secundly he affirmeth, that the Kirk whereof the Prophet speakes shalbe manifest and visible through all ye world. And for his profe alledges y• secūd Chap. of the Prophet Isai. And last he cōcludes in these wordes. Wherefore if ye can not shaw in what place of ye world, afoir thre hūdreth yeare, your Kirk was into: It followeth of necessitie that it is no Kirk.
To these heades we must answer in ordour, and first we will pray the wryter in his nixt answer, to signifie vntounto vsus, why he calleth the Kirk of Scotland inuisible: seing that the ground and the persones inhabitant within the same ar subiect to the senses of all those that list to looke vpone them: yea, the doctrine taught vntounto vsus is so patent, that the verray enemies them selues ar not forbidden to heare and to iudge of it. And finally the administratiō of the Sacramentes within our Kirkis are so p…blict, that none iustly can cōpleane, that they ar either debarred from hearing or from sight. And therefore howsoeuer it pleaseth the wryter to delite him self in his owen vanitie, we feare not to affirme, That the Kirk of god within Scotlād this day, is as visible, as euer it was in Ierusalē ▪ after that Christ Iesus ascended to y• heauenes, or as that it was visible in Samarea after that it receaued …he Euangell: Yea, we will further affirme, that y• trew Kirk of Iesus Christ is as visible, yea, & as beutifull in all her proper ornamentes this day, within the Realme of Scotland, as euer she was in Corinthus, Galacia, Philippi (yea or yet in Rome it self) what tyme that any of the Apostles rewled them: or that when they wer saluted be the Apostle in his Epistles for Kirkis. And this for the first head.
The answer to the secund can not be so short, for his assertiō aggreis so lytle with the place of the Propheit, that we stand greatly in dout whether that euer y• wryter hes trauelled to vnderstand the mynd of the Prophet. His assertion is this. Of the Kirk whereof the Propheit speaketh, It is said be him in the secund Chap. that it shalbe manifest and visible through all the world. The wordes of the Propheit are these.
It shalbe in the last dayes, that the mō tane of the hous of the Lord,Isai. … shalbe prepared in the tope of the montanes, & shal be exalted aboue the hilles and all Nationes shall flow vntounto it. And many people shal go and say: Cū let vsus go vp vntounto the montane of the Lord, to the hous of the God of Iacob, and he will teache vsus his wayes, and we will walk in his pathes. For the Law shall go furth of Syon, and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem, and he shall iudge among the Nationes and rebuke many people. &c.
In these wordes of the Prophet we find no such thing as the Kirk shalbe manifest and visible through all the worlde, We acknawledge a promise of glade thinges to cum to be ioyned to Ierusalem, & vntounto Mont Syon, after the miserable distructiō of the same. We find the time appointed, to wit, the last dayes. But that the promise may be the better tryed, We must know of the wryter, when these last dayis begā, and whē they shalbe compleit. We must further know if there be any one certane place appointed,Question of the last day… ▪ in the which it is said, y• the Kirk of God shalbe visible and manifest in all ages. These two heades being considdered, it shalbe moir easie to iudg… of the assertioun of the wryter, and how it aggreis with the mynd of the Prophet.
And first we think that the wryter will not deny, but the last dayes whereof the Prophet speakes, began long befoir y• euer the Euangell of Iesus Christ was knowen or publictlie receaued in Rome,Nota. To wit, at the appearing of Iesus Christ in the fleshe, when that he reuealed vntounto the worlde the hole will of his Father. For so are we taught be the Apostle saying: god in auld tymes spake vntounto our Fatheres in diuers maners be the Prophetes:Hob. 1. In y• last dayis he hath spokē to vsus be his sone. &c. A…d the Apostle Peter in that his moste notable Sermone made to Ierusalem, the day of pentecost,Act. …. affirmes, That the Proph…sie of Ioell made, as concerning the powring furth of Godes graces vponupon all fleshe in the last dayes, was euen then cō pleit, when that the holy spreit discended doun vponupon those that beleued. So thē we hauehave gotten the last dayes to hauehave begun with Iesus Christ, who is the glorie of the secund Temple: when think we that they ended? If the wryter will say, whē Rome receaued the Euangel then was the accō plishment of the last dayes. As men iustly may dout thereof, so will y• Apostle planelie deny, saying: The spreit speaketh euidentlie that in the last tymes some shall depart from the faith.… &c. Whereof we may gather, that the Apostle appointet… the l…st tyme▪ to contine… longer, then y• the Euāgell was … p…blictly preached: To wit, till that men should begin to fall from the faith, and giuegive eares to the doctrine of …. Yea, if ye will searche t…e Scriptures we sh…ll … th…t the last d…ves cōtine… from the … appe…ring of Ies…s Christ in fleshe,Nota. vntounto …is l…st returning vntounto I…dge …. So y• the … dayes do not onelyonly include the first … of the Euangell, but also the defectioun from it, yea, and the restitution of it agane vntounto the world: be the brightnes wherof, that man of sin should be reuealed, & distroyed: Whereof we conclude, that if y• last dayes do yet continew, whereof the Prophet maketh mention, the thinges ꝓmysed to be performed in them, are not yet altogether compleit: but are in their progres, and shall so procead till that all be finished that is foirspoken be the holie Prophetes and Apostles of Iesus Christ.
And so may Iesus Christ this day be working in Scotland, albeit that Papistes rage against his Euangell, as in those dayes he wroght in Ierusalem, when the Preastes & the hole visible Kirk (for y• moste part) raged against the same. But now to the secund head.
We wold knowe if the wryter can appoint vntounto vsus any one certane place, wher this holy montane of God is promysed to remane, manifestly and visible. For this we mak knowen to the hole world, That for the lufe we beare to the buylding and reparing of Goddes holy hous, we hauehave endangered life and all thinges temporal. And therefore if the wryter can appoint vntounto vsus a certane place, whereunto God hes maid promise: we shall euerie one exhort an other, with all diligence, to go vp thereunto. But if he cā appoint none, hauing greater ass…rance be Godes mouth moir then an other: Then will we cheritabillie desyre him to desist from taunting & mockage of so notable workes of god, as he of late yeares hes shawen in mo Realmes then one. Our Maister Christ Iesus apointes vsus to no one certane place, wher that we shalbe assured of his presence: but rather forbidding the obseruatioun of all places, he sendes vsus to his owen spirituall presence, saying: wheresoeuer two or thre are gathered in my name, There am I in the middest of thē. And in an other place,Math. …. Behold I am with yow to the end of the world.Math. 28. We being grounded vponupon these promyses, hauehave good hope through Iesus Christ, that in our Cōgregationis we hauehave the fauourable presence of Iesus Christ, aswel in his word, as in his holy sacramē tes. For in his name alone conuene we, be him alone we call vponupon God our Father: and be him alone we are assured, through y• power of his holy spreit, to obtene our requeastes made according to his wil. We …onder greatlie, that the wryter considderis not, that the promise of the Prophet is, that all Nationis shall cum to that holie montane. We are a Nation (how abiect y• euer we appeare) why thē will the wryter deny vntounto vsus, fre passage to the hous of y• Lord: seing that the terme of the last dayes is not yet expyred, and seing that we desyre to be taught in the wayes of the Lord and to walk in his pathes: yea, seing that thousandis in Scotland refuses not to be rebuked of the Lord, and to suffer him to iudge amōges vsus. If the wryter will say, becaus we will not acknowledge Rome, to be the mother of all other Kirkis: We answer as befoir, let vsus heare the commā dement of our God, charging vsus so to do, and our obedience shall not be long craued. For we are most willing to obey our mother: Prouyding that she shaw the vndouted signes of a naturall mother. But an vsurped tytle without farther assurāce, we dar not admit. And this far for his assertion, and for the mynd of the Prophet. Now followeth his conclusioun in these wordes.
Wherefoir if ye can not shaw, what place of the worlde afoir thre hundreth yeares, your Kirk was into, It followeth of necessitie, that it is no Kirk. &c.
¶How this conclusion may be rightly gathered of the wordes of the Prophet, we suffer the readers and the wryter him self to cōsidder. And yet becaus, y• till vsus it wer a thing moste greuous so to be excommunicate, that we …er no Kirk: That is, no parcell of the holy Kirk vniuersall. We answer for our entres and say:Nota. That befoir 15. hundreth yeares our Kirk was in Ierusalem,Answer. in Samaria, in Antiochia, and wheresoeuer Christ Iesus was trewly preached, and his blissed Euāgell obedientlie receaued, whether it was amonges y• Iewis or Gentiles. There we say was our Kirk, which is not bound to any one place, but is dispersed vponupon y• face of the hole earth, hauing one God, one faith, one baptisme, and one Lord Iesus, sauiour of all that vnfeanedly beleue. And so we feare not to receaue the tytle and authoritie of a particulare Kirk, becaus we hauehave all thinges be Godes word that thereto apperte…nes. Yea, we are farther bold to affirme, that if euer it shall please God, to bring y• Kirk of Rome to hir originall puritie, that she shall not be ashamed to imbrase and reuerence the pure Kirk of Scotland as her dearest sister, and nixt resembling her in all thinges: before that pryde and auarice, ioyned with Idilnes and ryatous leuing, corrupted her Ministers, and that the inuentionis of men wer preferred to Godes simple treuth. We say yet againe y• whensoeuer the Kirk of Rome, shalbe reduced to that estate, in the whiche the Apostles left it, we ar assured that she shall vote in our fauoures, against all such as shall deny vsus to be a Kirk: if God continew vsus in y• simplicitie which this day is mocked of y• world. Now let vsus heare how the wryter proceadeth.
¶TYREIS LETTER.
AND swyftlie gif ze or ony of zour cunning Ministeris of zour new inuē ted Euangell schaw me the dew successiō of his Kirk sen Christ, and by that, aggre the manifest contradictioun that baith I hauehave red and sene with my ene amangis y• Doctouris & principallis of zour new doctrine, I sall not only re…unce the sentēce quhilk I haif haldin heirtofoir, bot als sall afoir all that will heare me confes my ignorance and fa…lt, and sall employ all my strength to the furthsetting of zour Religioun. &c.