Answer to John De Albines, Answer to discourse · Chapter 40
The XL. Chapter.
I Know wel, that you will take this confeſsion of mine to your aduantage, ſaying, that for feare of being infected with our ſuperſtitious diſeaſes, you hauehave ſeperated your ſelues frō the cōmon flocke: but if you doe conſider my firſt words, they hauehave barred you al maner of waies to reply iuſtly: for I hauehave already ſaied, that although wee be ſickely & weake ſheepe, as touching our doings or maners, yet, in regarde of our faith (thākes be to God) we are ſafe & ſound, keeping ſtilaIndeede you! hauehave ſaied, and ſaied it againe & againe, but yet you hauehave neuer proued …t, nor …. that integritie of religion that by ſucceſſion of paſtors we hauehave receiued frō the Apoſtles, without adding or diminiſhing any thing to the ground of our Catholicke beliefe: for as for ceremonies the Church hath vſed the euer as touching the time & the place, to the honour of God & edification of our neighboursbYour antichriſtian religion is that, that hath cauſed vsus to ſeparate ourſelues from you, as wee are biddē, Reue. 18. verſ. 4. & therfore, if you did ſeperate your ſelues frō our kinde of liuing, to lead a holy ſolitarie life, as the holie Heremites & Saints hauehave done in times paſt, forſaking the cō uerſation of the cōmon people, to liue in cōtēplation, without ſeperating thē ſelues frō the cōmuniō of the Church, in the which they hauehave beene baptiſed, & had receiued their faith, your doings had beene as much worthie of praiſe in that reſpect, as now they are dānable, conſidering how you forſake, the cōmō tabernacle, within the which both you & we hauehave receiued the ſacraments of regeneration, & our spiritual food altogither. And to the ende that no body run aſtraie frō the right path that he ſhould follow, the good Chriſtiā ought to fixe in his minde this reſolution, I meane to ſerue God, & to liue in the catholicke faith, cōmonlie or priuatelie for whē there is any queſtiō put, as touching the life, the cōmōn are,cThis is a right popiſh gloſſe, that is, a plaine peruerting of Chriſts meaning. as*Mat. 7. Chriſt doth ſay, doth lead one to perdition, & the narrow waie doeth guide vntounto the part of ſaluation. But if one ſpeake of religion, the contrarie is verified for the cō mon way is the waies of health, & the priuate waie is the path of damnationdAnd this is an other. The Prophet Dauid in the 24 Pſalme, had a regard to this, when he praied God, to teach him his waies by the religion, & his pathes, by the maners and cuſtomes.
The XL. Chapter.
YOu were deceiued, in thinking that we would pretend your euil maners, or your difference in ceremonies, for the defence of our ſeperation from you. For we hauehave alwaies proteſted, that it was eſpecially, your Antichriſtian doctrine, yt hath cauſed vsus, to accoūt that Reuelations. 18.4, Go out of her my people, that ye be not pertakers in her ſins, and that yee receiue not of her plagues: directly ſpoken to vsus, concerning your Romiſh Synagogue and religiō. And therfore is it, that we hauehave ſo ſeperated our ſelues from you as we hauehave, becauſe we find, that you are apoſtataes, & long hauehave bene, from the ancient Catholicke Church of Chriſt, and from the truly cōmended ancient Roman Church it ſelfe; with whom we cannot growe in common, vnleſſe we had forſaken your fellowſhip. And this kinde of ſeperation of our ſelues from you, we know was more neceſſarie, and is more cōmendable, then al the ſeperation, of Heremites, or any other of your caged birdes, howſoeuer you could hauehave allowed that, better then this, of ours. But you would ſeeme to hauehave bound vsus to hauehave continued with you, becauſe that we receiued, many of vsus, baptiſme at your hands. What? I truſt you are not ſo meane a diuine, as to thinke it alwaies beſt, for men to continue communion, with them in all things, that hauehave baptiſed them? You know, I am ſure, that the Arrian heretickes (their hereſie ſpreading it ſelfe, ſo broad as it did, and continuing diuers 100 yeares) and other heretiques, as well as they, baptiſed many, and yet I hope you wil not thinke, that they might not after, forſake their hereſies, to turne to the truth? You know, many did forſake them, and came to the trueth, & yet, it was counted an hereſie, to baptiſe them againe. The better yet to ſhew that we ſhould not hauehave departed from you, you tel vsus that you hauehave continued, without adding and diminiſhing, in that doctrine which was taught by the Apoſtles firſt, and ſince from hand to hand, in all integrity, hath bene by the ſucceſſion of faithful paſtors, conueighed downe vntounto you: and ſo we had both baptiſme, and all our other ſpirituall foode with you. Theſe are but wordes, the euidence of the thing is to the contrary (as I hauehave ſufficiently made demonſtration before.) Proue this indeed, and we will repent vsus of our departing from you, & moſt ioifully & willingly wil wee ioyne with you againe. I like very well your counſell, that eueryevery good Chriſtian ſhould fully reſolue, and determine to ſerue God, and to liue and die in the Catholicke faith: but then I adde, that he had need well and throughlie to bee reſolued, what, and which is that true Catholicke Faith. For his direction in this behalfe, how to diſcerne, which is the right way to heauen, and which not; and conſequentlie, which is the true catholicke faith, & which is not: you teach him, that when there is any queſtion put, as touching life, then the common way, as Chriſt doeth ſay, Mat. 7. doeth lead to perdition, and the narrow to ſaluation: but in religion it is contrary: whereunto you ſaie, Dauid alluded Pſal. 24. ſaying: ſhew me thy waies O Lorde, and teach me thy pathes: by waies, meaning religion; and by pathes, maners. Where learned you this diuinity? If you looke vponupon Chriſts wordes well, you ſhall finde, that hee counted the waie to heauen, ſtraight, as well in reſpect of religion, as life: and that there is nothing more vſuall with Dauid, then indifferently without any ſuch nice diſtinction, to vſe theſe wordes waies, and pathes, both in reſpecte of the one, and the other; you might eaſily perceiue, if you were anie thing conuerſant in his Pſalmes: looke vponupon Chriſts time, whereunto he had an eſpeciall eie, when hee vſed theſe wordes, and you ſhall finde, that true religion was a thing more geyſon, and rare then in the worlde, and had fewer followers; then an holy and a vertuous life. For euē many of the Phariſees, and Philoſophers made great ſhew of that; & that therefore, to leade vsus rather, to thinke that in reſpect of Religion then maners, he had vttered thoſe wordes; immediately thereupon he addeth, beware of falſe Prophets. And as for Dauid (if your argument be grounded vponupon that that he placeth the word waies, in the firſt place; and pathes, in the later) if you marke him well, you ſhall oftentimes finde him, to inuert that order in the Pſalmes. And Pſalme 109. becauſe you ſhould plainly ſee, that he referreth waies, as wel to maners, as to Religiō, he ſaieth: take from me the way of lying, and teach me the way of thy ſtatutes. And conſidering that you cannot be ignorant, that Idolatry and Paganiſme, in Chriſts time, was more common, then Chriſts Religion, & therefore had 10000. that tooke it for true religion, in compariſon of one, that tooke Chriſts ſo; I wonder that you euer durſt thus expound Chriſts wordes. For by your expoſitiō, he tolde them, that it was better for them, to embrace paganiſme, then his Religion: for that was the common beaten way, and his was but a ſmall bie-path. Againe, in Liberius his time, when it was an hard matter, to finde one true Catholique, for an 100. Arrians: inſomuch that Conſtantine ſaied vntounto Liberius, yt he alone fauoured Athanaſius, Theodor. Eccleſ. Hiſt. lib. 2. cap. 16. by your rule, Liberius did well, in that, ſeeing Arrianiſme to be the common waie, and his ancient Religion, that then was but as a bie-path, wherein few walked; that he yeelded his ſubſcriptiō, to Arrianiſme. Indeede it ſhould ſeem, that this Pope Liberius was of your minde, & ſo long you care not I am ſure, as that you may hauehave a Pope on your ſide. Wel yet, if you had but remembred yt the Turkiſh religiō, is at this day, & hath beene a long time cōmon to moe, then your owne religiō is, or euer was: it might hauehave ſtaied you frō teaching mē, to meaſure religion by the cōmonnes of it, or multitude of followers, leaſt you ſhould hauehave ſo perſuaded them to Turciſme: But it may be you had rather hauehave it ſo (ſeeing in cōpariſō therof, ours is but a narrow path wherein few doe walke) then that they ſhould follow vsus. If your ſkil in interpreting of the ſcriptures, & in preſcribing rules for the direction of men, be no better, then you hauehave ſhewed in this; you may very well be a Doctour, and great maſter, in your blinde and ignorant kingdome of Popery: but in the kingdome of Chriſt, there is little hope, that there will euer any great reckoning be made of you.