Reply Against Gilbert Brown, Section 49 – Title page 2
Maiſter Gilbert Browne.
If this controuerſie of ours ſhal not be cut away whil Maiſter Iohn proue the Pope to be the Antichriſt, certainly it will indure ten hundreth thouſand yeare after the Laird of Marchiſtouns doomeſday. Then it muſt follow (ſeing that is a thing impoſſible to be done) that all they that wil not opē lie and priuatlie obey the Pope, and reuerence him as the Vicare of Chriſt, becauſe he is choſen by God to rule his Kirk heir on earth, that they muſte drinke of the wine of the wrath of God.
Our mercifull Lord illuminate Maiſter Iohn with his haly ſpirit & grace, that he may vnderſtand the truth, and receaue the ſame, and ſo become one member of his true Kirk, whereby he may be partaker of the merites of Chriſt, that his ſoule may be ſafe, Amen.
Maiſter Gilbert Browne Prieſt, and defender of the Catholicke Faith.
Maister Iohn Welſche his Reply.
It is not impoſsible to proue your Popes to be the Antichriſt. It hes beene prooued alreadie by the learned on our ſide: to the whilk you, and all your Cleargie of Rome is not able to anſwere. It hes bene taught & ſealed with the blood of infinite nombers of Chriſtians: and I hauehave not taken ſo long a tearme as you hauehave ſet downe heir, and yet, I hope, I hauehave proued it ſufficiently. Put all your might to diſproue it if you can. And as to that threatning of yours, Maiſter Gilbert, wherein ye ſay that all theſe, who will not openly and priuatelie obey the Pope, &c, muſt drinke of the wine of the wrath of God. If it may be beleeued, then howe doth this ſtand firſt with your Popes pardons, whereby he giues men pardon or licence to profeſſe, ſubſcriue, and ſweare to our religion: as it is reported that ſome of your owne religion hes confeſſed it? Next, howe ſtands it with the diſsimulation of your Ieſuites, and ſeminarie Prieſts when they come to any place where our religion is openlie profeſſed? Thirdly, what comfort is this whilk ye hauehave pronounced to your own poor countriemen, who doe not openly avow Papiſtrie, but hes ſubſcriued and communicate with vsus? Is this an open profeſſion, or not? And if it be not, if ye be a true Prophet, then muſt they drinke of the wine of the wrath of God, then muſt they be condemned in Hel by your iudgemēt, becauſe they profeſſe him not openlie. And laſt of all, if this threatning of yours be true, then beſide the many infinite thouſands who profeſſes him to be the Antichriſt, you condemne to Hell all the Greeke and Eaſtern Kirks, who in nomber far exceedes them who obeyes you, and all the Kirks that hes bene 600. yeere and more after Chriſt: for they obeyed not the Pope openlie nor priuatlie as Chriſts Vicare ouer them, as I hauehave prooued before. And alſo you condemne a nomber of your Anti-Popes to Hell, with their Cardinals, Biſhops, & Kirks who followed them: for they gaue out themſelues to bee Popes, and did not obey the other. As alſo a nomber of the Fathers of your owne religion, who in two general councels the one of Conſtance, where there was almoſt 1000. Fathers: the other of Baſile, did not obey the pope, in defining general councels to be aboue the Pope. So, if ye ſpeak trueth, infinite millions of Chriſtians in all ages, and innumerable Kirks, & thouſands of your owne religion are condemned to hell. But this is falſe, Maiſter Gilbert, and who will beleeue you? And to the end nowe my concluſion yet holdes ſure, that ſeeing his kingdome is that ſecond beaſt that hes two hornes like the Lamb and ſpeakes like the Dragon: and himſelf is that man of ſinne, Reuel. 23. …. Theſ. 2.and ſonne of perdition, that aduerſary and Antichriſt that was to come: Reuel. ….& his doctrine is that Apoſtaſie and abhomination foretolde in the Scripture: and his ſeat that Harlote and myſticall Babylon, that mother of hoordomes, who is drunken with the blood of the Martyres of Ieſus, whoſoeuer receaues his mark on his forehead or hand, that is, openly or priuatlye profeſſes obedience vntounto him, ſhall, as the Angell proclaimed, drinke of the wyne of the wrath of God, yea of that pure wyne in the cup of his wrath, and he ſhall bee tormented with fyre and brimſtone before the holy Angels, and before the Lambe. And the ſmoake of his torment ſhall aſcend for euer more: and they ſhall hauehave no reſt daye nor night whilk worſhip the beaſt or his image. And as for your praier, I beſeech God (Maiſter Gilbert) that he may open my eies, and inlarge my harte to vnderſtande and imbrace his trueth more and more, and to make me to growe vp in that ſpirituall communion with Chriſt and his members more and more. But that whilk ye call trueth is hereſie, and that whilk yee call the true Kirk is Babell: and therefore that doctrine and Kirk of yours is that ſtrong deluſion and whore of Babell, with the whilk whoſoeuer ſhall communicate is excluded from the merites of Chriſt, and ſhall be pertakers of her plagues, and finallie ſhall bee damned.
FINIS.
THE SECOND PART OF THE REPLY AGAINST MAISTER GILBERT BROWNE PRIEST, CONCERNING THE MASSE AND ANTICHRIST.
Wherein the abhominations of the one is moſt largely and fully ſet downe: and the Popes of Rome are prooued in the other to be the moſt vndoubted Antichriſt, whilk the Scripture foretold ſhould come.
By MAISTER IOHN WELSCHE Preacher of Chriſts Goſpell.
PRINTED BY ROBERT WALDE-GRAVE Printer to the Kings Maieſtie 1602.
Cum Priuilegio Regio.