The vvhole workes of W. Tyndall, Iohn Frith, and Doct. Barnes, three worthy martyrs, and principall teachers of this Churche of England collected and compiled in one tome togither, beyng before scattered, [and] now in print here exhibited to the Church. To the prayse of God, and profite of all good Christian readers.

¶ Whether the Apostles left ought vnwritten, that is of necessitie to be beleued.

BUt did not y^• Apostles teach ought * 1.1 by mouth that they wrot not? I aunswere, because that many taught one thyng, and euery man the same in diuers places and vnto diuers peo∣ple. and confirmed euery sermō wyth a sundry miracle: therfore Christ & his Apostles preached an •…•…red thousād sermons, and did as many miracles, which had bene superfluous to haue bene all written. But the pith and sub∣staunce in generall of euery thing ne∣cessary vnto our soules health, both of what we ought to beleue, and what we ought to do was written, and of the miracles done to confirme it, as many as were nedeful. So that what∣soeuer * 1.2 we ought to beleue or do, that same is written expresely, or drawen out of that which is written.

For if I were bound to do or beleue vnder payne of the losse of my soule a∣ny thing that were written, nor depē∣ded of that which is writtē, what holpe me the scripture that is written? And * 1.3 thereto in as much as Christ and all his Apostles warned vs that false pro∣phetes shoulde come with false mira∣cles, euen to deceaue the elect if it were possible, wherewith shoulde the true preacher confound the false, except he brought true miracles to confound the false, or els autenticke scripture of full authoritie already among the people.

Some man woulde aske, how dyd God continue his congregation from Adam to Noe, and frō Noe to Abra∣ham, and so to Moses, without wri∣ting, but with teaching from mouth to mouth. I aunswere, first that there was no scripture all the whyle, they * 1.4 shall proue, whē our Lady hath a new sonne. God taught Adam greater thynges then to write. And that there was writing in the world long yer A∣braham yea & yer Noe, do stories te∣stifie.

Notwithstanding, though there had bene no writing, the preachers were * 1.5 euer prophetes glorious in doing of miracles, wherwith they cofirmed their preaching. And beyond that god wrote his testamēt vnto them a••way,

both what to do and to beleue, euē in y^e sacramentes. For the sacrifices which God gaue Adams sonnes, were no dumme popetrie or superstitious Ma∣hometrie, but signes of the testament of God. And in them they red y^e worde of God, as we do in bookes, and as we should do in our sacraments, if the wicked Pope had not taken the signi∣fications * 1.6 away from vs, as he hath robbed vs of the true sence of all the scripture. The testament which God made with Noe, that he woulde no more drowne the worlde with water, he wrote in the sacrament of the raine∣bow. And the appointment made be∣twene him and Abraham, he wrote in the sacrament of circumcision. And therefore sayd Steuen Act. vij. he gaue them y^• testamēt of circumcision. Not * 1.7 that the outwarde circumcision was the whole testament, but the sacramēt or signe there. For circumcision prea∣ched Gods worde vnto thē, as I haue in other places declared.

But in the tyme of Moyses when the congregation was encreased, that they must haue many preachers & also rulers temporall, then all was recea∣ued in scripture, in so much that Christ and his Apostles might not haue bene beleued without scripture for all their miracles. Wherefore in as much as Christes congregation is spred abroad * 1.8 into all the worlde much broader then Moses, and in as much as we haue not the olde testament onely but also the new, wherein all thinges are opened so richly and all fulfilled that before was promised, & in as much as there is no promise behinde of ought to be shewed more saue the resurrecti∣on: yea and seyng that Christ and all the Apostles with all the Angels of heauen, if they were here, could preach no more then is preached, of necessitie vnto our soules: How then should we receaue a new article of the fayth, with out scripture, as profitable vnto my soule, when I had beleued it, as smoke for ••ore eyes. What holpe it me to be∣leue that our Ladies bodye is in hea∣uen? What am I the better for the be∣liefe * 1.9 of Purgatory? to feare men thou wilt say. Christ & his Apostles thought hell •…•…ough. And yet (besides that the fleshly imaginatiō may not stand with Gods worde) what great feare can there be of that terrible fire which thou mayst quench almost for three halfe pence?

And that the Apostles should teach ought by mouth which they woulde not write, I pray you for what pur∣pose? because they should not come in∣to the handes of the Heathen for moc∣king, saith M. More. I pray you what thing more to be mocked of the Hea∣then coulde they teach, then the resur∣rection, and that Christ was God and man, and dyed betwene two theeues, and that for his deathes sake, all that repent and beleue therein should haue their sinnes forgeuen them, yea and if the Apostles vnderstoode thereby as we do, what madder thing vnto hea∣then people coulde they haue taught thē y^t bread is Christes body, & wyne * 1.10 his bloud. And yet all these thynges they wrote. And agayne purgatory, confession in the eare, penaunce and sa∣tisfaction for sinne to Godward, with holy deedes, and praying to Saintes with such like, as dumme sacraments and ceremonies, are maruelous agre∣able vnto the superstition of the Hea∣then people, so that they needed not to abstaine from writing of thē, for feare least the Heathen should haue mocked them.

Moreouer what is it that the Apo∣stles * 1.11 taught by mouth, and durst not write? The sacramentes? As for bap∣tim and the sacrament of the body and bloude of Christ they wrote, and it is expressed what is signified by them. And also all the ceremonies and sacra∣mentes that were frō Adam to Christ * 1.12 had significations, and all that are made mention of in the new testamēt, Wherefore in as much as the sacra∣mentes of the olde testament haue sig∣nifications, and in as much as the sa∣cramentes of the new testament (of which mētion is made that they were deliuered vnto vs by the very Apo∣stles at Christes commaundement) haue also significatiōs, and in as much as the office of an Apostle is to edifie in Christ, and in as much as a dumme eremonie edifieth not, but hurteth al∣together (for if it preach not vnto me, * 1.13 then I can not but put confidēce ther∣in, that the deede it selfe iustifieth me, which is y^e denying of Christes bloud) and in as much as no mētion is made of thē, as well as of other, nor is kno∣wen what is ment by them: therefore it appeareth that the Apostles taught them not, but that they be the false marchaundise of wily hipocrites. And therto priesthode was in the tyme of the Apostles an office which if they would do truely, it woulde more pro∣fite

then all the sacraments in y^e world. * 1.14 And agayne Gods holinesses strine not one against an other, nor defile one another. Their sacraments defile one another. For wedlocke defileth priest∣hode more thē whordome, theft, mur∣ther, or any sinne against nature.

They will haply demaunde where it is written that women should bap∣tise. Ʋerely in this commaundement, Loue thy neighbour as thy selfe, it is written, that they may and ought to minister not onely Baptim, but all o∣ther in tyme of neede, if they be so ne∣cessarie as they preach them. * 1.15

And finally though we were sure that God hymselfe had geuen vs a sa∣crament, whatsoeuer it were, yet if y^e signification were once lost, we must of necessitie, either seeke vp the signifi∣catiō or put some significatiō of Gods word therto, what we ought to do or beleue therby, or els put it downe. For it is impossible to obserue a sacrament without significatiō, but vnto our dāp¦natiō. If we keepe y^• faith purely & the law of loue vndefiled, which are y^• sig∣nificatiōs of all ceremonies there is no icopardy to alter or chaunge the fashi∣on of the ceremony, or to put it downe if neede require.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Whether y^• Apostles taught any thing that they did not write.
• * 1.2

  So much to written as is neces∣sary ••or 〈◊〉〈◊〉 saluation.
• * 1.3

  The scrip∣ture writtē must con∣••o••nde the vnwritten verities.
• * 1.4

  Writing hath bene from the beginning.
• * 1.5

  God frō y^• beginning hath 〈◊〉〈◊〉∣ten 〈…〉〈…〉y^• hartes of his 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.6

  The Pope hath taken fro vs the significati∣ons of the Sacra∣mentes.
• * 1.7

  Actes. 7.
• * 1.8

  There can no more be taught vs then to cō∣teyned in the scrip∣tures.
• * 1.9

  Purgato∣rye.
• * 1.10

  The Hea∣thē thought nothing more mad∣der thē the doctrine of the resur∣rection.
• * 1.11

  The Apo∣stles tau∣ght no∣thing that they were afrayde to write.
• * 1.12

  Sacramē∣tes haue significati∣ons.
• * 1.13

  All y^• Sa∣cramentes taught ey∣ther in the olde testa∣ment or new, haue significati∣ons.
• * 1.14

  ☞ The Po∣pish Sacra¦mentes 〈◊〉〈◊〉 one agaynste an other.
• * 1.15

  Sacra∣mēts with out signifi∣cations are not to be 〈◊〉〈◊〉.