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.

M. Hardinge.

VVee saie, (as ye reporte) that ye haue benne once of our Felowship, but now ye are become Apo∣states and foresakers of your Profession,* 1.1 and haue wickedly departed from vs. By the name of vs, we meane not some one particular companie, but Christes Catholike Churche. VVe saie of you, as S. Ihon saide of the like,* 1.2 whome he calleth Antichristes: Ex nobis exierunt, sed nō erant ex nobis. Nam si fuissent ex nobis, permansissent vti{que} nobiscum: They are departed from out of vs, but they were not of vs. For if they had benne of vs, they had doubteles remained still with vs.

But what is your answeare hereunto? It is desperate, foolishe, and lieinge. Firste, ye confesse the thinge, and not onely that, but also thanke God for it, and greatly reioice in it. And therein ye folowe the woorse sorte of Sinners,* 1.3 of whom Salomon saithe, Laetantur cùm malè fecerint, & exultant in rebus pessimis: They be glad when they haue donne euil, and reioice in the worste thinges that are. Ye haue diuided the Churche of God, ye haue rente our Lordes nette, ye haue cut his whole wouen cote, which the wicked Souldiers, that Crucified him, could not finde in their hartes to doo. Diony∣sius Alexandrinus, writinge to Nouatus the greate Heretike, who did as ye haue donne, saithe thus vnto him, as Eusebius reciteth,* 1.4 whereby yee maie esteeme the greatnesse of your crime: Thou shoul∣dest haue suffered what so euer it were, that the Churche of God mighte not be diuided. And mar∣tyrdome suffered for that the Churche shoulde not be diuided, is no lesse glorious, then that which is suffered for not dooinge Idolatrie. Yea in mine opinion it is greater. For there one is mar∣tyred for his owne onely Soule, and here for the whole Churche. Thus it foloweth, that by your Apostasie, and by your diuidinge of Goddes Churche, yee haue donne more wickedly,‡ 1.5 then if yee committed Idolatrie.

But yet for all this, (saie they) from the Primitiue Churche, from the Apostles, and from Christe we haue not departed. VVhat can be saide more foolishly? VVhy Syrs,* 1.6 is not the Primitiue Churche and this of our time one Churche? Dothe it not holde togeather by continuall Succession till the worldes ende? VVhat, hath Christe moe Churches then one? Is the Primitiue Churche quite donne, and now muste there beginne a newe? Is not Christe, his Apostles, and all true beleuers, in what time or place so euer they liue, his one mysticall Body, whereof he is the Head all other the members? As Christe is one, the Holy Ghoste one, one Faithe, one Baptisme, one Vocation, one God: so is the Churche one, whiche beganne at the firste man, and shall endure to the laste: whereof the liuinge parte on earthe before the comminge of Christe into Fleashe, was sometime broughte to small number: after his com∣minge, and after that the Apostles had Preached and spreadde the Gospell abroade, the number neither was euer, nor shalbe other then greate (though sometime accompted, small in respect of the vnbeleuers) vntil the comminge againe of the Sonne of Man,* 1.7 at what time he shall skantly finde Faithe, specially that whiche woorketh by Charitie, in the Earth. Against whiche time busely ye make preparation.

For some parte of excuse of your forsakinge the Churche, ye saie, ye were brought vp with vs in

darkenesse, and in the lacke of knowledge of God, as Moses was amonge the Aegyptians: For that ye bringe out of Tertullian, helpeth you nothinge at all. I praie you Syrs, what darkenesse meane ye? Speake ye of Sinne? VVee excuse not our selues. But when tooke ye out the beame of your owne eies, that yee espie the mote of our eie? It were well ye proued your selues honest menne, before ye requi∣red vs to be Angels. If ye meane the darkenesse of ignorance, as peraduenture ye doo, and the lacke of knowledge of God: Now that ye are departed from vs, and haue set chaire against chaire, (I see not cause why to saie, Aulter against Aulter) what more and better knowledge of God haue ye, then we haue, and euer haue had? Doo we not know the Articles of our belefe? Tell vs, whiche doo we lacke? This is life Euerlastinge (saithe our Sauiour in the Gospell) to knowe thee God alone, and whom thou haste sente Iesus Christe.* 1.8 So farre as God lightneth our vnderstandinge with the Super∣naturall* 1.9 light of his grace, this muche wee know. For which Peter the Sonne of Iona was accompted blessed of Christe, the same we sinne full Papistes through Gods grace, also knowe and confesse. The Commaundementes of God we knowe: what is good, what is euill, whiche be sinnes, whiche be Ver∣tues, what is to be folowed, what is to be shunned, so farre as is behoofull, we be not ignorant.

VVhat is the darkenesse then, for whiche ye would needes be gonne from vs? And what is that woorthy knowledge ye haue wonne by your departure? Tell vs, that we maie bte the Bookes, and goe to scoole with you. Truly without ye haue some hidden and secrete knowledge, which ye haue not vttered to the worlde hitherto, as we beleue ye haue not, beinge suche boasters as ye are: we see litle cause, ye should twite vs of ignorance, and bragge of your owne knowledge. This we see full well, they that runne away from vs to your side, be they Monkes or Friers, Tinkers or Tapsters, Coblers or Bodgers, white or blacke, by and by in your Synagoges they be great Rabbins. And ye the superin∣tendentes admitte them to be your Ministers and Preachers of the woorde, and tell them they can doo well, and they beleue no lesse themselues. But the people take them for suche, as they knewe them be∣fore they tooke suche degree, and many times for their good behauiour, they foregete their Holy Mi∣nisterie, and Christen them by their common name, whiche was not geuen them at the Fonte. Yet all this proueth not either our ignorance, or your maruelous and rare knowledge. Neither shall ye euer be able to proue to any man of learninge and iudgement, that in any liberall sciences, or righte know∣ledge of the Scriptures, ye are comparable to the learned menne of the Catholike Churche. Though about fifty yeeres paste and vpwarde for a space, the studies of eloquence and of tonges were inter∣mitted, yet then and before those times was there no smal number of men, who had profounde know∣ledge of all good Artes, and specially of the Holy Letters. I reporte me to Thomas VValden, who ve∣ry learnedly confuted the Heresies of your greate Graundfather Iohn VVicklef, to Alcuinus in the great Charles time, to Beda before that, all three English men, to Anselme and Lanckfrancke Bishops of Englande, though strangers borne, to S. Thomas of Aquine, S. Bernarde, Rupertus, and hundreds moe, whiche here is no place to recken. VVere not they, by confession of all, greate Clerkes? doo not the beste learned of our time, in obscure matters fetche light of them? To saie the Truthe, in comparison of their cleare light, your ill sauoringe snoffes maie scantly seeme to yeelde a darke smoke. Many talke of your painted sheath, who, were they learned in dede, woulde soone perceiue neither that to be very freshe and gaie: for as for your sworde, what rusty and beggerly met all it is, the wiser parte of the worlde seeth.‡ 1.10 Therefore ye shall do well, Syrs, to speake no more of the darkenesse and ignorance of the Catholike Churche, and to boast lesse of your greate cunninge, and knowledge.

Notes

• * 1.1

  By this vvhole discourse, Christ, and his Apostles maie be con∣demned.
• * 1.2

  1. Ioan. ••.
• * 1.3

  Prouerb. ••.
• * 1.4

  Eccles. Hisit. Lib. 6. Ca. 5. in Graecis.
• ‡ 1.5

  A good excuse of Idolatrie.
• * 1.6

  Yes verily: E∣uen as the House of God, and the Caue of Theeues vvere al One Temple: Mat∣thae. 21.
• * 1.7

  Luc. 1••.
• * 1.8

  Ioan. 17. Matth. 16.
• * 1.9

  Here M. Hardinge laieth out his heapes of Learninge.
• ‡ 1.10

  A very Lear∣ned, and a vvor∣thy Conclusion. But vvoe be to them, that calle Light Darke∣nesse, and Darkenesse Lighte: Esai. ••.