A defence of the Apologie of the Churche of Englande conteininge an answeare to a certaine booke lately set foorthe by M. Hardinge, and entituled, A confutation of &c. By Iohn Iewel Bishop of Sarisburie.

The B. of Sarisburie.

Monkes, ye saie, be Goddes Seruantes: and Monkes life is the Seruice of God. And herein ye vse sutche earnest talke,* 1.1 as though, if the whole generation of Monkes were remoued, God should sit without Seruice. In deede S. Augustine shewinge vs,* 1.2 what good Seruice the Monkes of his time did vnto God,* 1.3 saithe thus: Isti non Deo seruiunt, sed suo ventri: These Monkes serue not God: they serue their bellies. Againe he saithe, lactantia ••ò est periculosior, quò sub nomine ••eruitutis Dei deci∣pit: Hypocrisie, or vountinge of Holinesse is the more dangerous, for that it deceiueth vs vn∣der the name of Goddes Seruice. Againe he saithe, Fallit dolosa imagine Sancti∣tatis: It deceiueth vs by the deceiteful countenance, or Image of Holinesse•• Againe, touchinge these Monkes, he saith, Non apparet, vtrùm ex proposito Seruitutis Dei venerint, an vitā inopem, & laboriosam fugientes, vacui pascì, & vestirl voluerint: Wee cannot tel, whether they became Monkes for pourpose to serue God, or els beinge

weary of their poore,* 1.4 and paineful Life, were rather desirous to be feadde, and clothed dooinge nothinge. And therefore he calleth the Almouse, that thei geatte, Sumptus lucro∣sae egestatis:* 1.5 & Simulatae pretium Sanctitatis: The charges of gaineful pouer∣tie: and the price of feined Holinesse. Againe he saithe, Venalem circumfe∣runt Hypocrisim: They carrie their Hypocrisie aboute to sale.

S. Hilarie speakinge of the same kinde of Holy People,* 1.6 saith thus, Conuiuia sub obtentu Religionis sumptuosa sectantur.* 1.7 Apothecas suas inutili Religiosorū obsequio defendunt: de quibus Scriptum est, Comedentes domos viduarum. Etiāsi Dominum se credant inuocare, tamen audient, quod est in Euangelio, Scimus quia pec∣catores Deus non audit: Vnder the colour of Holinesse, they seeke for deinty and coste∣ly fare: They maineteine their stoarehouses by the vnprofitable seruice of Religious people:* 1.8 of whome it is written, They deuoure vp poore VVidovves houses. Al∣though thei thinke, they serue God, yet the same answeare shalbe made them, that is writ∣ten in the Gospel,* 1.9 VVee knovve that God geeueth no eare to Sinners. Vpon these woordes of the Gospel,* 1.10 Selle al, that thou haste, and geeue it to the poore, and comme, and folovve mee,* 1.11 Your very Ordinarie Glose saithe thus, Bene ope∣rando: non mendicando: Folovve me in vvel dooinge: nor in begginge.

Wee graunte, y^• Seruice of God maie not rightly be called Idlenesse. But what if S. Bernarde saíe of your Monkes,* 1.12 Serui Christi, seruiunt Antichristo: They pretende Christes Seruice, and serue Antichriste. For where did God euer require you to doo sutche Seruice? S. Hierome saithe of them, In statu seruili, & abiectionis esse abhorrent. Laborare recusant prae pigritia: Mendicare erubescunt validi: quia nihil daretur eis: They are lothe to be abiectes, and in seruile state. For Idlenesse they wil not laboure: And to begge they are asbamed. For, beinge valiaunt, and lusty people, no∣man woulde geue them any thinge.* 1.13 Likewise saithe S. Augustine, Tanquam Con∣seruatricem Euangelij praedicant pigritiem:* 1.14 They speake mutche of their Idlenesse, as if it were the Keepe, and Castle of the Gospel. Againe he faithe, Contingit eis, quod in viduis iunioribus indisciplinatis cauendum Apostolus dicit: Simul & otiosae esse discunt: non solùm autem o tiosae, sed & curiosae, & verbosae, loquentes quae non oportet: The same thinge happeneth vnto them, that S. Paule speaketh of yonge Widowes liuinge out of order: They learne to be idle: and not onely idle, but also curtous, and ful of woordes, speakinge su••che thinges, as are not meete. Thus yée sée, M. Hardinge, that this pretense, and coloure of Goddes Seruice hathe oftentimes of the Anciente Fathers benne called Idlenesse.

Ye saie, Monkes now Serue the Aultare, and Minister Sacramentes: and therefore are not bounde to Bodily laboure. This is a faire coloure to shadowe their Idlenesse. For who euer hade Monkes to Serue the Aultare: or gaue them Authoritie to Mini∣ster Sacramentes? What Doctour? What Father? What Anciente Councel? In olde times it was not lawful for a Monke to be a Prieste. S. Gregorie saithe, Nemo potest Ecclesiasticis Officijs deseruire,* 1.15 & in Monastica Regula ordinatè per∣sistere: No man can serue the Ecclesiastical Office, and orderly keepe the Rule of Mon∣kerie.* 1.16 And S. Hierome saithe,* 1.17 Monachus, non Docentis, sed Plangentis ha∣bet officium: A Monkes office is, not to Preache, but to Mourne.* 1.18 Againe he saithe, Alia causa est Monachi, alia Clerici: Clerici Oues pascunt: Ego Pascor: The state of a Monke is one thinge, and the state of a Prieste is an other. Priestes Feede the Flocke: I (beinge a Monke) muste be fedde. Whereupon the Glose saithe, Ego Pascor Sacra∣mentis ipsorum: I am fedde with the Sacramentes of the Priestes. Whereby it is e∣uidente, that the Monke him selfe had no Authoritie, to Minister Sacramentes, no not so mutche as priuately to him selfe. But, touchinge Bodily laboure, S. Hierome saithe,* 1.19 This was holden as a Lawe emonge the Monkes in Aegypte, that who so woulde not laboure, shoulde not eate.

And S. Augustine saithe,* 1.20 as it is alleged in his name, Nihil Dei Seruis peius est otiositate.* 1.21 Operentur ergo in nomine Domini: Vnto the Seruantes of God there is no∣thinge woorse then Idlenesse. Let them woorke therefore in the name of our Lorde.

Of sutche Idle Monkes S. Augustine saith, Isti manus otiosas, & reposito∣ria plena habere volunt: These Monkes wil haue Idle handes, and ful Cellers. A lear∣ned Father was woonte to saie, by the reporte of Socrates, A Monke, that labo••∣reth not with his handes, maie be resembled vnto a Theefe. S. Bernarde saithe, Restat, vt sint in laboribus Daemonum, qui in laboribus hominum non fuerunt: They muste needes be in the trauailes of Diuels,* 1.22 that were not in the trauailes of menne.

Of these S. Augustine saithe, Diabolus tam multos Hypocritas sub habitu Monachorum vsquequaque dispersit: Sutche a number of Hypocrites hath the Diuel scattered abroade euery where, vnder the coloure of Monkes.

The firste Suppressours of Monasteries within this Realme, in our memo∣rie, were twoo of your déerest frendes, Cardinal VVoulsee, & Doctoure Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester:* 1.23 either of them wel warranted thereto by the Authori∣tie of the Pope. Longe before that time, the Godly Learned Bishop Letoius o∣uerthrewe, and burnte the Messalians Monasteries, and saide they were Dennes of Theeues: and, as Theodoretus reporteth, chased the VVouues awaie from the Folde.

Of late yéeres, sundrie of the Cardinalles of Rome, emongest whome also was Cardinal Poole, beinge specially appointed in Commission by Pope Pau∣lus 3. to viewe the disorders, and deformities of the Churche, returned their an∣sweare in this sorte:* 1.24 Alius abusus corrigendus est in Ordinibus Religiosorum: quod adeo multi deformati sunt, vt magno sint scandalo Saecularibus, exemplo'{que} plurimum noceant. Conuentuales ordines abolendos esse putamus omnes: An other Ab∣use there is to be Reformed in the Orders of Monkes, and Freers. For many of them are so vile, that they are a shame vnto the Se••••lares: and with their example doo mutche il. As for Conuentual orders, vvee thinke it good, they be al abolished.

This, M. Hardinge, was the Iudgemente of your owne frendes. And therefore ye haue the lesse cause to be offended with the suppressinge of Abbies. For your owne déere Catholique Fathers partely haue suppressed thē them selues, & partely haue consented vnto the same.* 1.25 In the Booke called Opus Tripartitum, ioined vnto the Councel of Laterane, it is written thus: Totus ferè Mundus obloquitur, & Scandalizatur de tanta multitudine Religiosorum Pauperum, qui introierunt in Mundum: VVelneare the whole worlde crieth againste, and is offended for so greate a mul∣titude of begginge Monkes, and Freeres, that are entred into the VVorlde.

Therefore was this Decrée published in the Councel of Laterane,* 1.26 Ne nimia Religiosorum diuersitas grauē in Ecclesiā Dei offensionem inducat, firmiter prohibemus, ne quis de coetero Nouam Religionem inueniat: Leste ouer greate diuersitie of Re∣ligious folke bringe greate offense into the Churche of God, wee doo earnestly forbidde, that from hencefoorthe no man diuise any Newe Religion. Damasus, speakinge of the order of them,* 1.27 that were called Chorepiscopi, saithe thus, Vnde iste Tertius Ordo processerit, ignoramus: & quod ratione caret, extirpare necesse est: From whence this Thirde Order is comme, wee cannot tel. And the thinge that wanteth reason, muste needes be taken vp by the rootes.

Notes

• * 1.1

  August. De Ope∣re Monachor. Ca. 12.
• * 1.2

  August. De Ser∣mone Domi. in Monte.
• * 1.3

  Eodem loco. Augustin. De O∣pere Monachor. Ca 22.
• * 1.4

  Monkes. Goddes Seruice.
• * 1.5

  Augustin. De O∣pere Mona••hor. Ca. 28.
• * 1.6

  Augustin. De O∣pere Monachor. Ca. 31.
• * 1.7

  Hilari. in psal∣mum. 52.
• * 1.8

  Matthae. 23.
• * 1.9

  Iohn. 9.
• * 1.10

  Luke. 19.
• * 1.11

  Matthae. 18.
• * 1.12

  Bernardus in Cantica Cantl. Hieronym. ad Eustochium.
• * 1.13

  Augustin. De O∣pere Monachor. Ca 22.
• * 1.14

  Augustin. eodem Capite.
• * 1.15

  16. Quaestion. 1. Nemo.
• * 1.16

  16. Quaestion 1. Monachus.
• * 1.17

  16 Quast. 1. Alia causa.
• * 1.18

  Glossa.
• * 1.19

  Hieronymus ad Rusticum: Et in vita Hilarionis.
• * 1.20

  Monkes. Bodily la∣boure.
• * 1.21

  Augustin. ad Fratres in Ere∣mo. Sermo. 1. Augustin. De Opere Mona∣c••oar. Ca. 23.
• * 1.22

  Historia Tripar∣tita, Lib. 8. Ca. 1. Bernardus in Psalm. 72. Augustin. De O∣pere Monachor. Ca. 28.
• * 1.23

  Theodoretus, Lib. 4. Cap. 11. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.24

  Concil. Tomo. 3. Con. Delectorum Cardinali. Pag. 822.
• * 1.25

  Concil. Tom. 2. Pag. 1000. Ope∣ris Tripart. Li. 3. Cap. 3.
• * 1.26

  Concil. Lateran. Sub Innocen. 3. Ca. 13.
• * 1.27

  Dist 68. Chore∣piscopi.