Answer to Assertions of Fecknam, Body of L.T.s answer · Part 4
4 That euerie sinne is not mortall.
MAister Goughe towardes the ende of his sermō, did verie cōstantly affirme, that eueryevery sinne committed by a Christian man, is deadly and mortall sinne: and that no sinne is veniall, no not an idle thought, as light as men made of it. Much like vntounto the old heresie of Iouinian, which to make all sinnes equall, made eueryevery sinne lykewise a deadly sinne. Whome S. Augustine condemned more than a thousande yeares agoe, as appeareth in his 6. Tom. de Haeres. Haer. 82.
How S. Augustine cōdemned Iouinian, and wherefore, it is manifest there in the place you recite and in his Epistles, for making all sinnes equall in déed: But not for saying that all sinnes deserue death, and therefore are mortall: That you can not finde in S. Augustine or any other: There is great difference betwixte these twoo, propositions, Omnia peccata sunt aequalia, and Omnia peccata sunt mortalia: Al sinnes are equall, and all sinnes are mortall. For you can not conclude, They are all mortall, therefore they are all equall. Although contrarie after a certayne manner it may be sayde they are all equall, therefore they be mortall. We saye, that who soeuer is angrie with his brother without a cause, shall be culpable of iudgement: We saye to, whoso sayeth foole to his brother, shal be punished with hell fire: We saye the lyke of murder, we say the like of the sinne of Sodome, and yet say we not that these offēces be a like: that it is all one to saye, foole, to thy brother, and all one to be a Sodomite, a manslayer, an adulterer. Although that ye maiestie of God be offended in them all, yet in some of them, thou sinnest ageinst nature, thou sinnest ageinst heauen and earth, the sonne it selfe is ashamed to behold thy villanie, and thou ashamed to shewe thy selfe in light: in some, thy sin is so horrible, yt if man do winke, yet ye earth will cry out for vengeāce. For some, Cities & towns, fieldes, euen paradises, for some, ye whole world hath bin destroyed as you reade, wt other god hath more mercifully dealt. And shall we say, that bicause the long patience and merciemercy of God doth giuegive vsus time to repentance, therfore these sinnes yt wée cōmit deserue not punishment? That bycause he soone pardoneth them to his, therfore their reward is not death: For so you and yours say veniale peccatum de sui natura est venia dignum, Raym. tract. 4 De poeni….veniall sinne of his nature is worthy pardon. A sinne it is, an erring & wandring frō the will of God, a deturning from his ways (for so doth this worde Chot signifie) and yet forsoothe he … stand in his owne iustice with God? and say vntounto him, I am worthy to be pardoned? A wound which néedeth not to bée wrapped, a sore ful of corruption yt nedeth no emplaster: a swelling that nedeth not to be mollified with oyle, a sick mā which néedeth no Phisitiō? wel we shal hauehave further occasiō to speak of these more at large hereafter. We wil now come to your reasons you bring to confirme your doctrine.
Let vsus conferre herewithall two sayings of the Scripture: 1. Iohn. 2.the one of S. Iohn which sayeth as well of himselfe and of eueryevery iust man, as of the sinner. Si dixerimus. &c. If we say that we hauehave no sin, we deceyue our selues, and the truthe is not in vsus: meaning that the iustest man a lyue is not without sinne. Nowe, if this sinne be as M. Goughe teacheth, deadly, mortal and damnable sin, whiche separateth the soule of man from God, and condemneth it to hell fire, let vsus see how a mā may be called iust, which dayly committeth such damnable sinne.
This place maketh more ageinst you, than with you, you wil not say I thinke yt S. Iohn was one of ye most grieuous sinners, yt he was an adulterer, a dronkerd. &c. And yet was he a sinner as the iustest mā is, yet sinned he .vij. tymes, and lacked the glorie of God. And of the same sinnes, he spake in that sentence, of the same spake he in the sentence before, saying: And the bloud of Christ his sonne clenseth vsus from all our sinnes. And in the sentence after: If we acknowledge our sinnes, he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vsus our sinnes, and to clense vsus from all vnrighteousnesse. He cō prehendeth him selfe in the number and sayeth, clense vsus from all, forgiue vsus all our sinnes. Then belike the sinnes of S. Iohn had néede of it: If they had néede, why was it? Was it not, bicause that stipendium peccati mors est? the wages of sinne is death? But peraduēture he did not acknowledge these for any sinnes. Then by your conclusion he had no sinne. Take héede of that, if you say so, he wil answer you straight, you are a lier. But you can not sée, how a man may be called iust, which daily cōmitteth such deadly sinne. You cā not sée how Dauid sayth. Beati quorū remissae sunt iniquitates & quorum …ecta sunt peccata, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen, and whose sinnes are couered? And yet, ne intres …n iudicium cum seruo tuo, Domine, quia non iustificabitur, in conspectu tuo omnis viuens, enter not into iudgemēt with thy seruant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall none lyuing be iustified. Dauid telleth you in an other place, the iust man falleth, but he riseth vp again. He repenteth him self, and flyeth to the mercy of God, and he doth forgiue him. After this you come againe to the place of Luke cōcerning Zacharie and Elizabeth: touching which place bicause I hauehave answered it before, I wil say nothing: but besides I there alleaged both out of Glossa ordinaria Theophilact and Iustinꝰ Martyr, I will now also refer you to Ierom aduersus Pelag. ad Chte. where you shal sée, whether any such thing be to be concluded or no, & take héede you be not a Pelagian in that poinct. As for the contradiction you there speake of, which foloweth of these two places conferred togither, if M. Goughs exposition do stand: there is none, more thā foloweth of your words. For as you say here after, peraduenture against your will, bicause Augustin enforseth you thither, you must say for the least sin you can deuise, forgiue vsus our trespasses: if you did trespasse him, you were not without blame. So you make a contradiction against your self, for that you say, a iust mā is without blame, & yet he must say forgiue me. The truthe is as I said (M. Fecknam) there is no contradiction, to say a mā sinneth damnably, and therfore in consideration of his own doing worthy to be condemned: yet being pardoned by the frée mercy of Christ, he is without blame.Rom. 8.33. As the Apostle sayeth, who can lay any thing to our charge? not respecting that, that we are, but that, that we receiue. And so I trust I hauehave sufficiētly answeared you for that place.
Iac. 1.To this may bee added the place of S. Iames: where he describeth concupiscēce to make a sin in vsus beside mortall sin, saying. Concupiscentia cùm conceperit, &c: cōcupiscēce when it hath conceiued, bringeth forth sinne, but sinne whē it is finished: begetteth death. Signifying hereby that sinne is then mortall & deadly, when a man cōmitteth it with a ful consent & other circūstāces. For if a light passion or a carnall thought stealeth vponupon a man by sodein delectation without consent, the same is not a sinne, which engendereth death, but a veniall sinne.
S. Iames his purpose is not as you say, to shew how cōcupiscence maketh a sinne besides mortal sinne, neither cā you proue, by this place, that which you graunt that concupiscence is a sin (although it be true.) S. Iames goeth not about here to shewe, when sinne beginneth to be a sinne, to be taken and estemed so before God: But to shew, when it commeth forth, and whence it proceadeth, that he might against the false surmises of others, shewe, that their sinne and tempting, procedeth not from God. His order is this, The consummation of sinne procureth Death euerlasting: sinne procedeth from vnordinate desires, vnordinate desires from concupiscence. Therefore in that, that men are condemned for their sinnes, they receiue but the frute which they brought forth thē selues: and therefore can they not cast any fault on God. Can you now thē proue by this place, that either concupiscence is a sinne which I deny not) eyther that it is not a mortall sinne? Out of thys place I gather, that my condemnation is of my self: I canne not gather that Concupiscence is a Sinne, but onelyonly by a consequent, because it bringeth forth sinne. For such as the fruyte is, suche is the tree, and so may I conclude agayne. The fruyte is damnable, therefore the trée. But here I do gather it.Exod. 20. Nō cōcupisces. Thou shalt not couet, and so bicause it is a sinne, I conclude it is mortall,Eze. 18.20. Anima quae peccauerit ipsa morietur. The soule that shall offend or erre, the same shall dye. For the word the Prophet there vseth hachoteth signifieth but a missing and an erring from that he is directed vntounto, whiche is. Thou shalt louelove the Lorde thy GOD with all thy harte, with all thy Soule, &c. so read wée in the scriptures,Iudi. 20.16 all these could fling stones at an haires breadth, ve lo iachati, Rom. 7.and not fayle. And Paule also speaking of him selfe, and not sinning any other mortall sinne, sayth. Quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius, who shall deliuer me from the body of this death? Whether you make your veniall sinne a fayling or no,Sum. Raymundi tract▪ 4. de poenitentia. I referre it to your conscience. Some of you wryters say thus. Peccatum veniale est quod cum voluntatis deliberatione inordinata homo committit, veniall sinne is that, which a man commit…eth by an vnordinate deliberation of his will? what they are he rekeneth vp there, as when a man eateth and drinketh more than he néedeth yf it bée by chaunce, when he speaketh more than he ought, or holdeth his peace more than is conuenient: when he vexeth the poore desiring almes out of time. The vse of a mans owne wife otherwise than the institution of God is: drunkennesse, yf it bée not to often.§ Integra. For of nature it is no deadly sinne, & such like. And as you put in a lighte passion or a carnall thought, stealing vppon a man by sodayne delectation. These and suche others are your veniall sinnes, such sins as are worthy pardon of their owne nature. Is drunkennesse but once done worthy of pardon by nature? Is making whoredome of mariage a sinne worthy pardon euen of nature? Is vexing the afflicted, a sinne to bée pardoned euen of nature? is the enimitie of God, a sinne worthie pardon euen of nature? Paule sayth that a drunkerd, an adulterer shall not inherite the kingdome of Heauen. What Christe aunswereth them that are suche too the poore. Ite maledicti in ignem aeternum, goe ye cursed into euerlasting fyre, will tell you: That, that is of the flesh displeaseth God, the scripture telleth you also: what the displeasure of God is, the whole scriptures teach you. Do not you fayle thinke you in these and suche like, from the will of your heauenly father? S. Augustine sayth that these things pertayne ad corruptionem Templi Dei, Ser. 34. de voca. Pau. Ap.to the corruption of the temple of God: not onelyonly the more greeuous sinnes, but the least, Si qua vobis immoderatio de vsu isto concessarum rerum vitae humanae infirmitate irrepserit, yf any immoderatenes by the vse of thinges permitted vntounto you, do créepe into you by the frayltie of mans lyfe. Quoniam pertinet ad corruptionem Templi Dei, 1. Cor. 3.17Because it pertayneth to the corruption of the Temple of God, tenete, hold you, &c. And make you a small thing of the marring of the temple of God? Qui templum Dei corrumperit, corrumpet illum Deus. &c. sayth he. He that marreth the temple of God, God will marre him. What meaneth that, corrumpet illum Deus, God will marre him? I thinke it bée not very farre from death. Well let vsus sée what you bring out of Augustine.
To this place alludeth S. Augustine, To 7. lib. 2. contr. Iulianum. pag. 985. col. 1.where he speaketh of concupiscence that remayneth in those whiche bee regenerate, saying: Ab illo rebellante, & si non laetaliter, sed venialiter tamen vincimur. That is, of that sinne concupiscence rebelling against vsus, we be ouercomed, although not deadly, yet venially. It followeth, & in his contrahimus, vnde quotidie dicamus, dimittae nobis debita nostra. And in these (veniall sinnes) we gather, by meanes whereof we may say daily. Forgeue vsus Lord our trespasses.
S. Augustine in déede speaketh of such remnaunts of originall sinne as remayne in the elect after they bée regenerate, whereof S. Paule spake. Caro concupiscit aduersus spiritum. The flesh coueteth agaynst the spirite: and sayth, that wée are ouercome of this remnaunt not deadly, but venially. The reason is in S. Paule. Because there is no condemnation to them whiche are in Christ Iesus, and that that relique is not able to bringe foorth any suche Sinne in the electe, whereby he may bée condemned, yet notwithstanding, least we shuld think ourselues not to be indetted or endaungered by this meanes vntounto God, thus much we get, sayth he, that we must néedes say eueryevery day, forgiue vsus our trespasses. And he sheweth not in this place, what it is in it selfe, but what it is in the electe. S. Augustine in an other place calleth these leuia peccata, light sinnes, not simplie but comparatè, by comparison. Of the sinnes of this lyfe, sayth he, Quaedam grauia & mortifera sunt, quae nisi per vehementissimam molestiam humiliationis cordis, & contritionis spiritus, & tribulationis poenitentiae non relaxantur. Haec dimittuntur per claues Ecclesiae. Some are greiuous and deadly which are not released but by most vehement sorowe of humilitie of the harte, and contrition of the spirit, and tribulation of repentāce. These are remitted by the keyes of the Church. Sunt autem leuia peccata & minuta, quae deuitari omnino non possunt, quae quidem vidētur minora, sed multitudine praemunt: There are light sinnes and small, whiche can be eschewed by no meanes, whiche trulie séeme to be lesse, but they ouercharge by reason of the multitude. And marke this by the way, a most playne contradiction to your first question:Aug. ser. 3…. hoc dicit Moses. Quae deuita…i non possunt, which cā not be eschewed: and sine quibu… non potest ista vita duci, without the whiche this lyfe can not be lead, and yet you say, the cōmaundements may be fulfilled. Posse implere Legem, to be able to fulfill the Lawe: is, Posse non concupiscere, to be able not to couet or lust. Nō potes non …oncupiscere, thou art not able not to couet or lust, Ergo, non po…es Legim implere, therefore thou arte not able to fulfill the Lawe.Luk. 18.27. And so might you hauehave had regard to Christes wordes, …uae apud homines impossibilia sunt, apud Deum possibili… sunt, those things whiche are impossible with men, with GOD be possible. And a little after: Sic ergo quàmuis minuia sunt ist a peccata, tamen quia multa sunt, vt congregata aceruum faciant, quo te pr…mant, bonus est Deus qui etiam ipsa dimittat, sine quibus non potest ista vita duci: So then although these be little sinnes, yet bycause they be many, that thei being gathered togither make a heape to ouerpresse thée, God is good who forgiueth thē also, without which this lyfe can not be passed. You sée by this place, that remission is giuē to them both, and debtes they are both. But bicause he is more readie to forgiue the one than the other, he calleth them in this place, grauia & leuia, grieuous or weightie, and lighte: in other places venalia & laetalia, venial and deadly. I wis you know that these wordes be of comparison, and not de simplici existentia, as the Philosophers call them, that is, to declare what those smaler faults be of their own simple existence, or proper nature. I can not tell how little you make of remissiō of sinnes. But by his similitude he bringeth, they would kill you, if remission came not the sooner. And in the ende, (as I alleaged before) of his sermon, he concludeth that bycause they destroy the temple of God, they should take héed and be readie to cry and call, Forgiue vsus our trespasses.
Ageyne, in his Booke de Spiritu & litera, he writeth thus of veniall sinnes: Aug. To. 3. desp. & lit. Cap. 28.Sicut non impediunt à vita aeterna iustum. &c. Lyke as some veniall sinnes doe not let a iust man from lyfe euerlasting, withoute the which this life is not led: So some good workes, do nothing profite a wicked man vntounto life euerlasting without the which the lyfe of eueryevery naughtie mā is hardly found.
You may sée by this place and by the cō parison he maketh, that bothe this place & the other you alleaged before, are so to bée expounded and taken as I hauehave sayde. For surely no sinne is able to cast the childe of God, whom he hath elected & chosen, out of the fauour of God, out of the kingdome of heauen, which is his inheritance gotten & giuen him by Christe. For the counsels of God are without repentance. So likewise it shall auayle the wicked nothing at all, yt he hath some good workes. For he is the child of wrath, the sonne of perdition. As for the faulte of youre reasoning, I let it passe: you may thinke with your self how well you deale making such Arguments: these sins are not deadly to the elect & iust: Therfore they are not deadly: à secūdo ad…acēte ad primū negatiuè: Socrates nō est Ph… losop. academicꝰ, ergo, nō est Philosophus: Socrates is no Academical Philosopher, therfore he is no philosopher, or M. Feknā was not Abbo… of Osne, therfore he was no Abbot, for you hauehave brought neuer a place directly prouing what they are in thēselues. What you could bring oute of Luther, I know not, when I see it, I will answer it if I cā. Non iurau… in verba Lutheri, I hauehave not sworne to credit eueryevery woord yt Luther writeth. And sure it is, some thinges he writte extāt in print, before he was well persuaded in many points of soūd doctrine. Now, touching ye austeritie of M. Gough, GOD make vsus all ageinst vice austere, and not to flatter our selues in our concupiscences: we can not hate sinne to much, nor cōdemne sinne to grieuously. I would I might, I, by the worde of God persuade my selfe that sin were no sinne, mē might liue more at libertie. But yet I think my selfe blissed that he hath called me to the libertie of his Gospell,What the libertie of the Gospel is, & wherein it consisteth. which is frée remission of my sinnes & sinful lyfe in the bloud of Christ Iesus, and a calling to walke after the spirite and not after the fleshe. It is time and highe time for vsus (M. Fecknam) to beate downe sin, and not to séeke meanes howe we may cloke sinne. Let it appeare in his owne nature, that we may be ashamed of him: put not a Lyons skin vppon an Asse. Call white, white: and blacke, blacke: good, good: and bad, bad. So shall we take héede, that we fall not to often: and if it can not otherwise be, but we must fall seuen times, yet that we may learne to feare thereby, and not to make a fleabyting of it. If we do so, we shall bée more like to Abell than Cayne: to Isaac, than Ismaell: to Iacob, than Esau: to Iohn, than to the Pharisies: to Simon Peter than to Simon Magus: to Iohn than Iudas: in no miserable state, in no euill condition, in state of saluation not perdition, Christ of his merciemercy releasing our infirmities. If the iuste man did fall only, if there were no more but so, that he sinned & sinned deadly: then were he no iust man, thou were he in as euill case as Paynimes and heathen people. But in that he falleth and ryseth vp ageyne, as Dauid teacheth vsus;Ps. 37.24. he is better than Paynymes, better than the Heathen: as good as Habel, as Isaac as Iacob, as Iohn, as Simon Peter, and Iohn ageyn: he is, I say, notwithstanding al these falles, the felow of Angelles, the child of God, & inheritour of the kingdome of heauen. Why? Bycause he hath spoken by the mouth of hys Prophete:Psal. 37.24. Ippol, lo iutall. He shall fall but he shal not be cast away: and as ye wise mā sayth, Scheba ippol tzaddik vakam▪ septies cadet iustus, sed surget: the iust man shal fall .vij. times, but he shall rise. As for this word Naphal, to fall, it caryeth with it a more weightier signification than you alledge. All these things being considered, it is no euill way to preach repentance, and yet say that all sinne of it selfe is damnable: to exhort to good woorkes, and yet to teach a man not to presume of his owne works as to giuegive part of his saluation, seing that the whole is wrought by Chryst his death, and applied to vsus by only faith: to exhort all men to pray for eche other, & yet not to spoyle Christ of the office of his mediatorship, which is taken away by the prayer to Sainctes & to exhort men to kéepe Gods commaundements, and yet to teach yt they be impossible: that séeing our owne weaknesse through our owne sinne, we may flie to his mercy, and say: Da quod, iubes, & iube quod vis, giuegive what thou cō maundest, and commaūd what thou wilt. So sound Doctrine as this is, God giuegive grace to all his ministers to preach, & you to embrace: that they with their preching, and you & I with our folowing may glorifie our father which is in heauen.
Thus hauehave I in few wordes answered your cauilling arguments and counterfet stuffe as time did serue me: if not so amply as I might, yet sufficient for those you brought, framing my answere shortly to your argumēt. And as you vniustly lay to M. Goughs charge contradiction to ye holy scriptures, to the fathers, and to hauehave nothing to stād vponupon but old heresies reuiued, as of the Maniches, Eunonius, Vigilantius, & Iouinian: I hauehave and do lay to your charge iustly, contradiction to the scriptures, false alleaging of doctors to no purpose, such slē der, such childishe, so against all arte & reason in forming of your talke, as any Boy might hauehave bin ashamed to hauehave vsed the like. I hauehave, and do, I say, lay iustly to your charge your false burdning him with those foresaid heresies, as vnfit as vnaptly layd against him, as any thing could be. I can not see why in these cases you myght not as well hauehave blamed him to be an Arrian, a Sabellian, and what you will: as a Mani…hean, an Eunonian, a Vigilantian, a Iouinian.
Now when you hauehave done all this, as though you had atchieued a notable feate, you require of their worships a thing reasonable (as you wold make it) yt you might not be enforced to come to sermōs: a thing as you say, against all former example, a thing as true as the residue. Did you neuer read Augustine to Vincentius, Epist. 48.against the Donatists concerning this matter? If you did not, I pardon your ignorance: If you did, I wil not spare but tel you of your vntruth. Do you not read in his Epistles, cum haereticis esse v… agēdum, Epist. 50.that heretikes must be dealt with by force? Do you not remember that he sayth, it did good to the Churches in his time. That the Donatists were constrained by authoritie to the embrasing of christian religion, and there reheasreth diuers of their gratulations Do you not remember that he sayth, not to do it is malum pro malo reddere, to requite euil for euill? Do you not remember, that he sayeth, A…elius est cum seueritate diligere quam cum lenitate decipere? Better it is to louelove with seueritie, than to deceiue with lenitie? And that it pertaineth to princes? Do you not remēber how he answereth that obiection, bicause there was none in the Apostles time? Do you not remember the example of Nebuchadnezer, which he sayeth signified the state of the Church in the Apostles tyme, & this now? When he constrained to Idolatrie, howe the Apostles were persecuted? When being turned to God, decreed in his kingdom that whosoeuer blasphemed ye God of Sydrach, Misach and Abednego shuld be worthely punished, what prynces ought nowe to do? For then saith he, that scripture was verified, Quare fremuerunt gentes. &c▪ why did the Gentyles tumultuously rage. &c. But now is fulfilled that, & principes erūt nutrices tuae, and Princes shall be thy nurses. Do you not remember how he sayeth, capitale …u…icium, punishmēt of death was appoynted by the law of the Emperors against ye sacrifices of the Paganes? Do you not remember when he sayth of that, quis nostrum quis vestrum non laudat? Which of vsus, which of you doth not praise it? Do not you remēber how he sayeth, that Constantine did decrée vt conuictorum res fis…o vendicarentur? that the goods of the conuicted should be chalenged to the common treasure? Do yée not remember, that he was once in that errour, that they should not bée constrayned vntill he was conuicted by examples of the profite it did? Do you not read in the same, that in matters of religion: Mansuetudo quae perdit hominem crudelitas est seueritas quae castigat improbum charitas est? gentlenesse which destroyeth a mā is crueltie, seueritie, which chastiseth a wicked mā is charitie? do you not remember the similitudes he vseth? Do you not remember that he sayth,Epi. 68. ad Ianuar. the Church of Christ doth persecute, shewing it in the example of Sara? doo you not remember, poenam decem librarum auri ab Imperatoribus consti…u…am, that by Emperours was appointed or decréed a punishment or penaltie of ten pounds in golde, agaynst the Donatistes? But yf it bée a thing so straunge, agaynst all exāple: why did you so then vse it in Quéenes Maries time, and so farre, that you contented not your selues to cast them in pryson, to hale them to Masses, but to burne them also? yf it had bin no more but your owne example, you might hauehave bin ashamed, to giuegive forth this reason. You in your doings coulde bée called defensores pacis, prouisores Ecclesiae, defenders of peace, and gardians of the Churche. The Quéenes grace that now is and her Lieuetenaunts are cruell vexers and oppressours. But you shewe your selfe as you are, a righte Donatist both in profession nowe, and in dooyngs then. As they, when they accused Caecilian, the Bishop of Carthage to Constantine, and required to hauehave him punished, then were they defensores pacis & prouisores Ecclesiae ▪ defenders of peace and gardianes of the Churche: but when they were serued with theyr owne sause, then they coulde cry out and saye: Non esse vt agendum, that there oughte too bée no dealing by constrainte. Suche were your doynges in Queene Maries time, this is your demaund and talke nowe▪ What is this other, than as Tychonius one of theyrs, and your Master, sayde of you bothe? Quod volumus, hoc sanctum est. That is holy that wée will hauehave. As for our owne men, you name Luther, Bucer, Bullinger, &c. (not citing or coting any theyr woordes or one place of their writings,) you might hauehave thus thought. That they were of a more gentle spirite than you were, and yet would they not hauehave an obstinate hereti que, mainteyned neyther. Their moderation is good as they learned of Augustine and others, in case theyr gentlenesse might bée vsed. But séeing you will not embrace yt, yf you had the smarte you coulde, not complaine of contrarietie to our owne men, neyther of iniurie. As for example wée hauehave of you. Wée deale otherwise with you, than you dealt with vsus. Wée follow that good rule that Augustine giueth, you did it not. Si terrerentur, & non docerentur, improba quasi dominatio videretur, yf they should be feared and not taught, it might séeme as a wicked gouernance. You hauehave bin taught, & are taught. No more with ours but from pryson to fire. Therefore as wée do that, so must wée do that foloweth. Sed rursus si docerentur & non terrerentur, vetustate consuetudinis obdurarentur. But againe yf they should bée taught and not feared, they would be hardened with oldnesse of custome. So that what is done is but well done: and not agaynst example, as you say: yf worse were shewed, wee hauehave example to, both of Augustine and your owne doings. But this do not I wish for, neyther woulde hauehave it shewed, God knoweth what I speake, yet so much must I say, because you prouoke it, seming vntounto me rather to scoffe at these worshipfull men, than otherwise hauing iust occasion to complayne. God gyue you grace to enter into your selfe, that ye may remember how you goe a stray, not walking in such wayes as he hath appointed for you, that at the last you may séeke vntounto him, you may repayre homeward, after this your peregrination, and he receyue you as a most ioyfull Father. Amen.
End of the text · Laurence Tomson, Answer to Assertions of Fecknam (1570)