Reply Against Gilbert Brown, Section 31
Maister Gilbert Browne.
Where this is written, Maiſter Iohn telles not. For I am ſure, as it is ſet downe heir, there is no ſik things in our Bibles, no not in their owne corrupted Bibles, except they hauehave augmented them of new. That there ſhalbe an vniuerſall defection, it is altogether repugnant to the word of God, as I hauehave ſhewed before; in prouing the Kirk alwayes to continue. For the ſame place where I beleeue he alledges too, hes theſe words, Apoc. 1… 17.…And it was giuen vntounto him to make warre with the Saints, and to ouercome them: and power was giuen him vponupon eueryevery Tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation, ann all that inhabite the earth adored it, whoſe names be not written in the booke of life of the Lambe Heir any man may ſee that the Saints of God that ſhalbe perſecute by the Antichriſt, and ſik that is written in the booke of life, ſhall not make defection: then it ſhall not be an vniuerſall defection. And alſo Maiſter Iohn afterward in finding ſome of his Religion that ſaid againſt the Antichriſt the Pope, the time bygane, is contrary to himſelfe heir, that the defection ſhall not be vniuerſall. And where he ſayes that all nations ſhalbe drunken with the wine of her fornication, the text is otherwiſe: Becaus all nations hauehave drunken of the wyne of the wrath of her fornication: that is, that the people of all nations that hes obeyed her, ſhal be puniſhed with the wrath of God and not that all the world ſhould make defection.
Maister Iohn Welſche his Reply.
You fight heir againſt your owne ſhaddowe, Maiſter Gilbert) and whereas ye can finde nothing iuſtlie to quarrell in my wordes being rightlie taken, and taken as the Scripture takes them: you deuiſe a meaning of your owne braine, and would father it vponupon me, that ye may the more eaſilie hauehave ſomewhat to ſpeake againſt. For I neither ſpake it, nor meaned it that the elect ſhoulde make defection in the time of the Antichriſt: I am ſo farre from it, that ſuppoſe I beleeue aſſuredlie that this prophecie is fulfilled in your owne Kirk; yet I know aſſuredlie that the Lord reſerued his owne elect to himſelfe, Reuel. 14who vvas keeped free from your Idolatry, as he promiſed, and hiſtories recordes of ſome, whereof I did ſet downe ſome of their names. Domin. a Soto in lib. 4. ſent. diſt. 46 queſt. 1. artic. 1 Bellarm. lib 3, de Rom. Pont. ca 17But this is the doctrine of one of your ovvne Kirk, Dominicus a Soto, vvho beleeued it aſſuredlie, that the faith of Ieſus Chriſt and Religion ſhoulde be vtterlye exſtinguiſhed through the perſecution of the Antichriſt, if Bellarmine ſpeake true of him. And ſo turne the point of your ſworde, Maiſter Gilbert, vponupon your ovvne brother, vvho ſo taught, & not vponupon me, vvho is farre from it. And if ye vvil ſay, wherefore then called I it vniuerſall? I anſvvere: becauſe the ſcripture calles it a defection, vvithout any addition or reſtraint, & your Rhemiſts graunts, that this defection ſhalbe a reuolting of Kings, people, and prouinces, and the publick intercourſe of the faithfull with the Kirk of Rome ſhall ceaſe: and that the daylie ſacrifice ſhall be aboliſhed moſte vniuerſally throughout all nations and Kirks of the world by Antichriſt himſelf. Annot. vponupon 2. Theſsal. 2. And Bellarmine ſayes, that he ſhall be Monarch of the whole worlde. Lib. 3. cap. 16Therfore this kingdome by your owne confeſsion ſhalbe vniuerſal: & ſeeing his kingdome is an apoſtaſy or defection, for as many as ſhall obey him, ſhall make defection from the faith: therfore by the doctrine of your owne Kirk, it muſt be an vniuerſall defection. And the Scripture ſayes expreſly, that he ſhall make all both ſmall and great, &c. Reuelat. 13 Reuel. 14 8. & 18 3to receaue a marke on their right hand, and on their foreheads: and that no man may buy or ſell, &c. and that all nations hes drunken of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Nowe, whether I might call that vniuerſall whilk the Scripture calles all, and your Rhemiſtes and Bellarmine makes ſo generall and vniuerſall, that it ſhall poſſeſſe all the kingdomes of the earth, let the Chriſtian reader iudge. And let me aske you (Maiſter Gilbert) Doe you not beleeue that the Kirk is Catholicke, or vniuerſall? Coſterus a Ieſuite in Euchirid.and doe you not think with one of your owne nomber, that the Kirk is called vniuerſall, becauſe the faith of the Kirk is ſcattered in all nations: and yet for all this, all particular nations, and all particular men receaues not this faith? and yet notwithſtanding it is vniuerſall, and is called vniuerſall ſtill. And doth not the Scripture prophecie that in Abraham all the Nations ſhalbe bliſſed, Galat. 3.8and yet for all this, there were, and is millions of the Gentiles that are not bliſſed in him? Why then, in like manner, may not the defection in the time of the Antichriſt be called vniuerſall, although the elect be exemed from it? But wherefore inſiſt I to refute this vaine quarrelling of wordes whilk ſerues to no purpoſe? So then, this that I ſaid is both in your tranſlation and ours in ſubſtance, and is not contrarie to that whilk I ſaid afterward.
As for that place of Scripture whilk ye cite heir, Apoc. 3.7.8. it is not ſpoken heir of the Antichriſt, but of the perſecution of the Romane Emperours. As for that calumnie of yours in calling our Bibles corrupted, and augmented: this is your ſinne (Maiſter Gilbert) whereof one day ye ſhal make an accompt to the Maieſtie of God, for the ſlandering and bearing falſe witnes of the trueth of God. And to ſpeake the trueth, this is trew of you: for both you hauehave added to the Scriptures of God, firſt the Apocrypha, next your Traditions, whilk your Kirk hes decreed to be receaued with equall reuerence and godlines with the Scripture: Concil. T…ident. Se…. 4 Grat…us diſt. 19. Et Alph…nſu… de g…ner… in theſau o Chr ſt relig… 3. n…. 5.thirdlie, the Decretal Epiſtles of your Popes, whilk ſome of you hes reckoned in the nomber of the Canonicall ſcripture. And alſo you hauehave corrupted the ſcriptures of God by your corrupt tranſlation, eſpecially that of the Colledge of Rhemes. The whilk to be trew, if time would ſerue, I might ſone be able to proue, whilk hes bene ſufficiently prooued by that learned and worthie man of God Doctor FVLK: vntounto the whilk you, not al your clergie hes not anſwered as yet, for ought that I know: nor neuer is able to doe.
And as for the laſt point wherein ye ſay, that the text is otherwayes then I ſet downe: let the Chriſtian reader iudge whether my words be one in ſubſtance with this text or not for ſuppoſe this be ſet downe in the preter-time, and I ſpake it in the future-time: yet it is a prophecy of a thing to come: and your Kirk graunts it is not fulfilled yet, therefore they are both one in ſubſtance. And as for your expoſition, where you expone this of the puniſhment of the people that hes obeyed her, and not of their ſinne in communicating with her Idolatrie, that is manifeſtlie againſt the text. For this is ſet downe heir as the cauſe of her puniſhment, whilk is pronounced before in theſe wordes, Babylon hes ſalne, &c. Nowe the reaſon, becauſe al nations hes drunken of the wyne of the wrath of her fornication, whereby in the Scripture is ſignified Idolatrie: and it is called the wine of the wrath, &c. becauſe her fornication prouoked God to wrath. Oſea 1. Ierem 3.And Aretas exponeth this fornication, a defection from eueryevery good. And in the 18. chapter it is more euident, where after the denunciation of her fall, this reaſon is ſubioyned, Becaus all nations hes drunken of the wyne of the wrath &c. and the Kings of the earth hes committed fornication with her: and the marchands of the earth are waxed riche through the aboundance of her pleaſures. The whilk as they cannot be vnderſtood of the puniſhment, but of the defection: ſo this drinking cannot be vnderſtood of their puniſhment, but of their communication with her Idolatrie: and yet how euer it be, this prooues that vniuerſall defection, of the whilk I ſpake.
Maiſter Iohn Welſche.
And the K rk of God ſhalbe latent, and flee to the wilderneſſe, and there lurke, and be fed of God all that time ſecretly.