Answer to a Jesuit

TYREIS LETTER.

SCHIR, after hartly cōmendatioun, of service, and prayeris: That I have written sa oft afoir (we keep his a win words and ortographie) It come of my cheritie, that I aucht to zow, for sindrie ressounis: and of the solicitude, that cheriti • causit me to have, of the eternal saluatio • ̄ of zour saule: desyrād, be zour answer to have knawin zour mind, in that behalf: whilk sen I have not obtenit, as zit, I ha • e thocht, haifand opportunity of yis beirer, to write this writing amangis the rest: and to exhort zow thairby: that ze wald, ernistly (as it becūmis ane man, to whom God hes geuin sa money giftis & talentis) and rypely consider be what way ze mon cū to that end, to the whilk God hes creatit and redemit zow.

ANSWER.

TO this long preface, we only answer this: that if the Scribes and Pharesies, who compassed sea & land, to mak a proselyt, gat a curse be y ^e mouth of our master Jesus Christ, notwithstanding all their appeirand zeal, and panefull travel: who cā dout, bot that sic as study, to draw back again to superstitioun and Idolatry, sic as God hes called frō the same, shall receive • dowble maled • ctioun, under what pretence that ever they do it. For if they who brought Ethnickis, and manifest Idolatouris, to sum Religioun, wer accursed? How much moir ar they detestable that travel to bring men frō a true Religioū, to the deapest Idolatry that ever yet was upon the face of the earth? Which long hes been manteyned in y ^e papistical Kirk, whereto we persaue the writer of the letter would entyse yow, as his subsequēt perswasionis manifestly declaireth. For thus he writeth.

TYRIES LETTER.

QVhilk appeiris to me, to be the only Faith and Religioun, keipit in the Catholic Kirk of Christ, sen the beginning thairof. Quhilk appeiris cleirly, be the mayest plane words of the Propheit Isai, where he speikis of ye Kirk. Gens & regnum quod non seruierit tibi, peribit.

Quhilk words gif ony wald apply to yair new found Kirkis & specially to zour inuisibil Kirk of Scotland (bot zit aucht zeir auld) he is cōuictit. For it is manifest yat before a thousand zeiris in all the world was yair pepill yat trow it as yai do wha defendis the contrary whilk na mā bot he that wald show his impudence & his ignorance togidder dar deny, and of the Kirk, whairof the Propheit speikis. It is said be him in the secund Cha. that it sal be manifest & visibil throw all ye world. Quhairfoir gif ze cannot show what place of the world afoir three hundredth zeir zour Kirk was into, it follow is of neces • itie that it is na Kirk. &c. Thus far of his letter.

ANSWER.

THE first part of his counsel we approve and add thereto that the life Euerlasting consists in the knowledge of the only true God, and in y ^• knowledge of him whom he hes send Jesus Christ.

That he that beleuis in the Sone of God hes life euerl • sting, and is alreddy past frō death to life, bot he that beleuis not, sall not le life, but the wraith of God abydes upon him. We further affirm, y ^• without the society and bosom of the true Kirk, never was, is, nor shall be saluatioun unto man. In thir and like general heidis we disagre not frō the Papistis, but the difference and dout standis in y ^• speciallis, to wit, what Faith is, and what ground it hes, what is religioun, & wherein i • differis from superstitioun and from Idol • try. And finally what is the true Kirk▪ and how it may be decerned from y ^• Sinagoge of Satan. Thir heads we say, ought he in special to have intreted unto yow if he had been minded to have instructed yow in a truth. But because (as y ^• progress of his letters declareth) his mind was to draw yow to the bondage of that Roman Antichrist, he takis general propositionis moste true & moste certain in them selves, whereupon he would conclude that which is most falls & altogether pernitius to the saluatioun of man. To let the craft of Satan moir evidently appear, w • shall draw his perswasioun in form of argument, and after return to the farther meaning of the Propheit, and to the declaratioun of thir termis Faith, Religioun and Catholic Kirk.

The Propheit affirms, that whosoever sall not serve Jerusalem, shall perish.

But the promeis maid to Jerusalem, appertenis unto the Kirk. Ergo whosoever seruis not the Kirk sall perish. This hol • argument we admit, and m • st constantli • we do affirm it, and yet sall he never be able to prove his intent, which is, that y ^• Kirk of Scotland is no Kirk. We will oppin the wound which the writer of the letter keapes couerit, & yet it most greuis him, as it doeth the rest of all papistis. The Realm of Scotland (all praise to God) hes refused the Pape that Roman Antichrist, and not only be preaching, bot also be the public Laws hes dampened his tyrannical laws, his odious superstitiounis, and usurped iurisdictiō. And therefoir cry the papistis that we ar declyned from the true Kirk, and ar fallen back frō the Catholic faith. But before that they be able to convict us of those crimes, they mō preif two things, former, that whatsoever was promised to Jerusalem dost properly and only appertene unto Rome, and this mon they do not be conjectures, but be plane words as God pronounced be his Prophet of Jerusalem. This is the first. The secund is, that albeit Rome wer as able to prove a promise maid to it, as Jerusalem was of whom it was said: This is my rest, hear will I dwell, because I have chosin it. And albeit that the papis of Rome whom he stylis the perpetual successioun of that Kirk, had as an assured & plane probatiō, that be god they wer called, be God they wer admitted, and that be God they suld be manteyned in their ministry & functioun, as that the Levites and successioun of Aaron had to {pro}duce at all times for their defense, yet if they (we say) who cal them selves the successouris of the Apostlis be not able to prove that they have cōstantlie remaned in the first league & cōuenāt which Christ Jesus maid with his Apostlis when he send them forth, to preach the glaid tydingis of the Kingdom, and to establish his Throne, not only amongst the Iewis, bot also amongst the Gentiles, according to ye former propheseis. Albeit we say that all thir former they wer abil to prove (as they ar never able to do) yet have they said nothing y ^• may help their caus, nor • urt ouris, unless that they thairwith plainly prove y ^• the Kirk of Rome and the successioun of the same hes remanit and yet remaneth in y ^e original purity of the Apostlis, in doctrine, life, laws & ceremonies. For thir being corrupted, the tytill of successioū will na mair help them then did the braging of the Priests under the Law, who cryit aganis the Propheit Jeremiah, the Temple of the Lord, the Tēple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord. What was answered unto them, let ye • . Chap. of his Prophesy witness. But farther of the s • ccessioun and of the assurance thairof after. Now mō we sumthing speak of Faith, Religioun, and Catholic Kirk whairwith he would ter • fie your conscienc • and deface the treut • • nd then mon we answer to his blaspheamous taūtis and mockage, before we have confessit that to leave without faith, without Religion, & without the society of the Catholic Kirk, bringis with it most certainly death and damnation. But yet we affirm, yat all opinion that is commonly received under the Name of faith, is not faith which God approuis, bot true faith mō have for the ground and assurance thereof Godis expressed word, of his mercy {pro}mysed in Christ Jesus, whereto the heart of y ^e faithful mon consent, so moved be y ^• holy gaist. And therefor we fear not to affirm, that the Papistis having no better ground for their faith then consent of men, decreis of counsallis, and antiquity of time, have no faith bot a fond, yea, a damnable opinion. And the same we affirm of Religioū, which if it be pleasing & acceptable unto God, must have his a win commandment and approbatioū for a warrand: other wise it cannot be bot odious in his presence, as a thing repugning to his express commandment: saying, not that which, appeari • good in thy a win eyis sall thow do to the Lord thy God, b • t what the Lord thy God hes commanded the, that do thow, ade nothing to it, diminishe nothing frō it. Be this precept of that Eternal God, who is immutable, and that can command nothing but y ^• which is just, or all people, Realms, and Natiounis (that will avow them selves to be the inheritance of the Lord) bound and oblist to measure their Religioun, not be the example of other Realms, nether yet be their owen good intentioun, or determinatioū of men, but only be the expressed word of God. So that what therein is commanded, aucht to be done, and what is not commanded be him, aucht in na wise to be done be the people of God, what appearance or external shaw of holiness that ever it hes. And thairfoir have we most justly rejected the Rable of ceremoneis which the Papistis held for the chief exercise of their Religioun, as things having na better ground then the inuentioun and consent of men. Now shortly of the Kirk commounlie called Catholic. The name of the Kirk is common, and is taken as well for the congregation of the wicked, as for the assembly of the godly, as it is plane be ye words of David, saying, I have hated y ^• Kirk, or the assembly of the wicked, the term Catholic, which signifyis universal, he • not included in it that virtue which Papists allege, That is, that whatsoever is catholic, y ^• , must be gude. For if so wer, then sin in the original world should have been gude, for it was so Catholic (that is universal) that it overflowed y ^• hole earth only one house excepted. How universal Idolatry was amongis the Gentiles, Historeis witness, and how braid the pestilent sect of Machomet is this day spread, experience dost teich us. And yet we suppone, that no man of right judgment will either approve the one or the other, notwithstānding of their universality, & there fore we must have a better assurance of y ^• Kirk, to the which we aucht to join our selfs then that it is Catholic, or universal, To wit, it must be holy, & the cōmunioun of Sanctis. For in the confessioun of our faith, we say not I believe the Kirk universal, bot I believe the holy Kirk universal, the communion of Sanctis. Wherefoir we affirm, that if that Kirk which is called Catholic or universal have not holiness in the heart be true faith, & the Confessioun of the same in the mouth, & in the foirhead, it ceissis to be y ^• immaculate spous of Jesus Christ, in whose bosōe the sons of God ar nurished to the life everlasting. And so before that the writer of the letter shall be able to convict us, that we have declyned from the holy Kirk, he must first defyne what is the verray holiness of the Kirk, wherein it consistis▪ fra whom it flowis, and what is the effect of the same. And when thus he hes done, he must prove yat y ^e Kirk of Rome hes been and is only holy, so that no Kirk before it did ever enjoy that tytill, nether yet that any that after may ensew it, may sa be justly called, & thus we think shall be verray hard to Master Tyrie and all the Jesuits in Europe to prove. Bot now that the vanity of his argument may y ^e moir euidētlie appear, we will in as few words as we can examine the mind of the Prophet. Sic as diligently markis the scope of y ^e Propheit Isaiah, sall cleirly se, that frō the 40. Cha. of his prophesy to the end of the same, he trauellis principally to comfort Ierusalē, and the Natioun of the Iewis, whose miserable destruction and fearful captivity he foresaw in spreit. Prounced the same in his public sermonis, and left y ^e memorial and undoubted Register thereof to the post eritie that was to follow, and was to be partakeris of all the plaigues that wer before spoken. And least that they in the myddis of yair calamity suld have disparit of any deliverance: frō the same 40. Chap. back we say, that the Prophet as y ^• Messinger of Godis mercy pronounceth to Jerusalem, to Mont Zion, and to th • afflicted Iewis, delyuerāce frō captivity, the protectiō of God to be their defense, the distructioun of Babilone, and of all their enemeis. The coming of the Messias promised unto them the felicity of his Kingdom, the vocation of the Gentiles, and finally the promises flowing from mercy that he had maid unto them to cōtinew forever. And among thir many fold promysis this was one, the Kingdom and the Natioun that sall not serve thee, sall perish. Now glaidly wald we learn of the writer to what Realm, to what Nation, to what Province or Cietie will he appoint us, that therein we may serve Jesus Christ, and his immaculate spous the Kirk: to the end that we shall not perish, If he will name Rome & the Kirk thereof, then must we demand two things, y ^• former. What become of all the faithful 〈◊〉 space of a thousand years that flowed b • • uix the making of the former promises, & the days of the Apostilis, what time y ^• • uangel began publictly to be offered unto the Gentiles. All which time Rome was nothing bot a Den of Idolatry, we think he will not say that the faithful perished. And wear bauld to say that the faithful served not Rome, nether yet th • Kirk contenit thairin all that time. This is the first whereof we would be resolved. The secund is, that if the writer will allege, that during all the time the promise foirsaid apperteaned to Jerusalem & unto Mont Zion: but that after the ascension of Jesus Christ, and after that the Evangel was received of the Gentiles, the promise which before was maid to Jerusalem was transfered unto Rome. If so be, we pray the writer that after he hes consulted with the fynest Papistis be they Jesuits, or be they others, that he will shaw unto us where we shall find the resignatiō and y ^• assurance thereof. We clearly read the promises maid to Jerusalem and unto Mont Zion. We find that the Evangel was there preached in dispyte of Satan. We find that from thence Peter and John • er send to Samarea, and the refter the Evangel was planted amongst the Gentiles: we find farther that Paul wrote to y ^• sanctes that wer at Rome, and that he him self was caryit presoner to it, and that he remanit two years there under custody in his ludgeing: bot that ever the promises maid to Jerusalem wer transferred unto Rome, we find not. And therefoir albeit that we of the Realm of Scotland have refused Rome, and the tyrrannie thereof, we think not that we have refused the society of Christis Kirk: but that we ar ioynit with it, & daily ar fed of our mothers breasts, because we imbrase no other doctrine then that which first flowed forth of Jerusalem: whose Cietizenes be grac • we avow our selves to be. But now to the taunting blaspheamies of the writer: It pleisis him to term our Kirkis new found, invisible, yet but aucht year auld. &c. and our Evangel newly invented. Which blaspheamies albeit that man spair, yet we ar assured the Eternal our God sall not suffer unpunished in this life, and in th • life to cum: unless that speadie and vnfeaned repentance blot away the same.

But the writer left to the Judgment of God, we would know of him why he call • h our Kirkis new found, and our Evangel but new invented. He appeareth to give his reason in these words (for says he) it is manifest that before a thousand years in all the world was there people that trowit as they do wha defendis the contrary.

This reason containeth in it sic folly besides the obscurity and generality of it, that we stand in dout at what member we shall begin to confute the same. But because his greatest streng • h appeareth to stand in this, that before a thousand years, there wer people in all the world that believed otherwise then we believe: To that h •• d we will first answer & say. That granted, that before a thousand years there was people in all the world that trowed as Papists now trow, what shall thereof yet be concluded, that our Kirkis ar new found? And will he say that our Evangel is but newly invented? A good dialectis • • ne would answer: that albeit the antecedent wer granted, the consequent may justly be denied. And the reason is, because that nether doeth the Kirk, the faith of the same, nor the authority of the Evēgell of Christ Jesus, depend upon that which men believed before that it was published. Nether yet is the age of the Kirk to be compted frō the time, when it pleased God of his mercy, either to reveal his word to any Realm or Natioun that before was ignorant of it, or yet to reform abuses which have taken root amongst the people of God be the negligence of men. And that this reason and propositioun is true: the consideratioun of the planting of the Kirk, and of the diverse reformatiounis maid within the same shall witness. When God called Abraham frō Vr of the Caldeanes, and maid to him y ^• promise of the bli •• ed seed, and after gave unto him the sign of Circumcision: wer there not people dispersed universally upon the face of the earth, wha trowit and thoght that they had a good and perfect Religioun? Yea, euin that same Religioun (as they supposed) wherein Noha served God. And yet we know that the spirit • of God dampneth the multitude of that age of Idolatry: and thereintill magnifies the mercy of God, who from that corrupted multitude called Abrahā, & be grace maid him the Father of the faithful. No • would we demād of the writer of the letter, if the age of Abrahames faith, should have been measured from the error of y ^• multitude that past before him: and if that the age of the Kirk gadderit within his house should have been called an aucht year auld Kirk, when that Abraham had so long obeyed God, while that all the world continewed in their Idolatry? We demand (we say) if their auld Idolatry, maid Abrahames Faith to be but a new found Faith: and if their multitude & universality having for them antiquity, maid the Kirk that was in Abrahames house to be a new found Kirk? We suppoue that men of Iudgemēt shall otherwise pronūce and subscriue with us: that the Faith of Abraham had the same antiquity that the word had which he believed. Now plane it is, that the word which he believed was the self same word which God pronūced unto the woman in the Gardine, speaking aganis the Serpent, saying: I shall put inimitie betwix the and the woman, betwix thy seed and hir seed, that seed shall break down thy head, and thow shall break doū his heal. This promise we say, being especially maid to Abrahā in these words: In thy seed shall all the Natiounis of the earth be blessed, was the ground of his faith like as that it was the ground of the faith of Adam, Abel, Seth, and of all the faithful before him: so that his faith was no new faith, bot was that same faith which had continued amongst Godis elect from the beginning. For true • aith may not be measured from the error of men, bot frō the word and promise which the faithful believe. Is the word from the beginning, and the promise undoubted? then must the faith that thereupon is grounded, not only be true, but also of the same age and antiquity that the word is. And therefore whensoever the Papists and we shall cū to reaken of the age of our faith: we dout nothing but that there faith, in mo principal pointis nor one or two, shall be found verray young, and but lately invented in respect of that only true faith which this day in the Kirks of Scotland is professed. And the self same thing a • firm we of our Kirk, & of the Evangel preached within the same: to wit, that the Evangel which of Godis mercy is revealed unto us, is not forged be man, but that it is the self same Evangel which Jesus Christ taught be his a win mouth, and that his Apostlis at his commandment published unto the world. And therefore we say that our Kirk is no new found Kirk (as the wrytet blaspheamously rayleth) but that it is a part of y ^• holy Kirk universal, which is grounded upon the doctrine of the Prophets & Apostlis: having the same antiquity that y ^• Kirk of the Apostles hes, as concerning doctrine, prayers, administratioun of Sacramentis, and all other things requisite • to a particular Kirk. But yet will y ^• writer of the letter allege, y ^• we believe not as the moste part of men have believed a thousand years and moir. For they believed the Messe to be a Sacri • ice propiciatorie for the sins of th • quick and the dead: The Pape to be the head of y ^• Kirk and Christ's vicar in the earth: The material body of Christ Jesus, flesche blood and bane to be in the Sacrament of the Alter, after that the words of consecratiō wer pronounced be a Preast, Super materia debita: that the prayers of the leuing profit the departed, and sic others as the Catholic faith of the Papists have concluded. These Artickles will the writer say we believe not: and therefoir how can it be denied but that our Kirk is new found and the doctrine thereof is new. We have answered and yet we answer again, That whatsoever Papists have believed before us, which hath no better ground then y ^• determinatioun of their ow • n counsel: Can nether preiudge our faith grounded upon Godis expressed word, nether yet can prove our Kirk to be but a new found Kirk. For if ane common error, and a superstitious • orshipping of God, received of a multitude, should have y ^• strength that it should preuale against Godis simple truth, and against his worshipping prescriued in his word: then had the Propheit Helias been into a miserable condition: Who being but one man opponed himself to the King, to his counsel, to his Prophets, Preastes and people, and in plane words accused thame all of Apostasy from God, from his true worshipping, and from the obedience of his Law: and plainly convicted them to be Idolatoures, because they had imbrased a worshipping of God not cōteyned in his word. It is a wonder that the King with his Preastes and Propheites excepted not against the Propheit and said: how can y ^• be Idolatry, which our Kings and people sense the days of Ieroboā have used and manteyned for God's true service. Thow art but one man, and we ar a multitude: how can it be that we all should err, and that thow alone should please God. But no such thing find we objected unto the Propheit. But his requeast, being but one man was obeyed: whilk was, that God himself should judge betwix him and thē, as that he did be fire from the heaven.

This privilege crave we to be granted to us of the Papists in our days: to wit, that they suffer God to Judge betwix our Religioun and theirs: What he approveth, let it be approuen of both, and what be him is not commanded, nor be the Apostles of Jesus Christ established and practiced, let it be of both rejected, and so shall we suddanelie aggre. But if that they will still cry, that we ar Schismatykes and Apostates, because we refuse to defile our selves with their abhominationis: We cā not but appeal from their corrupt sentence to the uncorrupt Judge, of whose fauoures we are assuredly persuaded in y ^• point, because he hath said follow not the multitude in evil doing: and because that we find Kingis, Propheites & people before us, to have done the self same thing in their days (and therefore to have been approved of God), which we in Godis fear have done in our days. To wit, they have distroyed the monumentis of Idolatry, & have repressed the same externally be power and force, notwithstanding the antiquity thereof, & that great multitude adheared unto it. And this much for the multitude, and that which the multitude moste commonly believeth. Now to the further ressounis of the writer.

He first tauntis and mockis us and our Kirk, calling it your invisible Kirk of Scotland. Secundly he affirmeth, that the Kirk whereof the Prophet speaks shall be manifest and visible through all y ^e world. And for his proof alleges y ^• secūd Chap. of the Prophet Isai. And last he cōcludes in these words. Wherefore if ye cannot shaw in what place of y ^e world, afoir three hundred year, your Kirk was into: It followeth of necessity that it is no Kirk.

To these heads we must answer in order, and first we will pray the writer in his next answer, to signify unto us, why he calleth the Kirk of Scotland invisible: seeing that the ground and the persons inhabitant within the same ar subject to the senses of all those that list to look vpone them: yea, the doctrine taught unto us is so patent, that the verray enemies them selves ar not forbidden to hear and to judge of it. And finally the administratiō of the Sacraments within our Kirkis are so p • blict, that none justly can cōpleane, that they ar either debarred from hearing or from sight. And therefore howsoever it pleaseth the writer to delight himself in his owen vanity, we fear not to affirm, That the Kirk of god within Scotland this day, is as visible, as ever it was in Ierusalē▪ after that Christ Jesus ascended to y ^• heauenes, or as that it was visible in Samarea after that it received • he Evangel: Yea, we will further affirm, that y ^• true Kirk of Jesus Christ is as visible, yea, & as beautiful in all her proper ornaments this day, within the Realm of Scotland, as ever she was in Corinthus, Galacia, Philippi (yea or yet in Rome itself) what time that any of the Apostles rewled them: or that when they wer saluted be the Apostle in his Epistles for Kirkis. And this for the first head.

The answer to the secund cannot be so short, for his assertiō aggreis so little with the place of the Propheit, that we stand greatly in dout whether that ever y ^• writer hes traveled to understand the mind of the Prophet. His assertion is this. Of the Kirk whereof the Propheit speaketh, It is said be him in the secund Chap. that it shall be manifest and visible through all the world. The words of the Propheit are these.

It shall be in the last days, that the mōtane of the house of the Lord, shall be prepared in the tope of the montanes, & shall be exalted above the hills and all Nationes shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say: Cū let us go up unto the montane of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teache us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For the Law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he shall judge among the Nationes and rebuke many people. &c.

In these words of the Prophet we find no such thing as the Kirk shall be manifest and visible through all the world, We acknawledge a promise of glade things to cum to be joined to Jerusalem, & unto Mont Zion, after the miserable distructiō of the same. We find the time appointed, to wit, the last days. But that the promise may be the better tried, We must know of the writer, when these last days begā, and whē they shall be compleit. We must further know if there be any one certain place appointed, in the which it is said, y ^• the Kirk of God shall be visible and manifest in all ages. These two heads being considdered, it shall be moir easy to judge • of the assertioun of the writer, and how it aggreis with the mind of the Prophet.

And first we think that the writer will not deny, but the last days whereof the Prophet speaks, began long before y ^• ever the Evangel of Jesus Christ was known or publictlie received in Rome, To wit, at the appearing of Jesus Christ in the flesh, when that he revealed unto the world the hole will of his Father. For so are we taught be the Apostle saying: god in auld times spake unto our Fatheres in diverse manners be the Prophets: In y ^• last days he hath spokē to us be his sone. &c. A • d the Apostle Peter in that his moste notable Sermon made to Jerusalem, the day of pentecost, affirms, That the Proph • sie of Ioell made, as concerning the pouring forth of God's graces upon all flesh in the last days, was even then cōpleit, when that the holy spreit descended down upon those that believed. So thē we have gotten the last days to have begun with Jesus Christ, who is the glory of the secund Temple: when think we that they ended? If the writer will say, whē Rome received the Evangel then was the accomplishment of the last days. As men justly may dout thereof, so will y ^• Apostle planelie deny, saying: The spreit speaketh evidently that in the last times some shall depart from the faith. &c. Whereof we may gather, that the Apostle appointet • the l • st time▪ to contine • longer, then y ^• the Evēgell was 〈◊〉 p • blictly preached: To wit, till that men should begin to fall from the faith, and give ears to the doctrine of 〈◊〉 . Yea, if ye will search t • e Scriptures we sh • ll 〈◊〉 th • t the last d • ves cōtine • from the 〈◊〉 appe • ring of Ies • s Christ in flesh, unto • is l • st returning unto I • dge 〈…〉 . So y ^• the 〈◊〉 days do not only include the first 〈◊〉 of the Evangel, but also the defectioun from it, yea, and the restitution of it again unto the world: be the brightness whereof, that man of sin should be revealed, & distroyed: Whereof we conclude, that if y ^• last days do yet continue, whereof the Prophet maketh mention, the things {pro}mysed to be performed in them, are not yet altogether compleit: but are in their progress, and shall so procead till that all be finished that is foirspoken be the holy Prophets and Apostles of Jesus Christ.

And so may Jesus Christ this day be working in Scotland, albeit that Papists rage against his Evangel, as in those days he wrought in Jerusalem, when the Preastes & the hole visible Kirk (for y ^• moste part) raged against the same. But now to the secund head.

We would know if the writer can appoint unto us any one certain place, where this holy montane of God is promised to remane, manifestly and visible. For this we mak known to the hole world, That for the lufe we bear to the building and reparing of God's holy house, we have endangered life and all things temporal. And therefore if the writer can appoint unto us a certain place, whereunto God hes maid promise: we shall everyone exhort another, with all diligence, to go up thereunto. But if he cā appoint none, having greater ass • rance be God's mouth moir then another: Then will we cheritabillie desire him to desist from taunting & mockage of so notable works of god, as he of late years hes shawen in mo Realms then one. Our Master Christ Jesus apointes us to no one certain place, where that we shall be assured of his presence: but rather forbidding the obseruatioun of all places, he sends us to his owen spiritual presence, saying: wheresoever two or three are gathered in my name, There am I in the midst of thē. And in another place, Behold I am with yow to the end of the world. We being grounded upon these promises, have good hope through Jesus Christ, that in our Cōgregationis we have the favorable presence of Jesus Christ, as well in his word, as in his holy sacraments. For in his name alone conuene we, be him alone we call upon God our Father: and be him alone we are assured, through y ^• power of his holy spreit, to obtene our requeastes made according to his will. We • onder greatly, that the writer considderis not, that the promise of the Prophet is, that all Nationis shall cum to that holy montane. We are a Nation (how abject y ^• ever we appear) why thē will the writer deny unto us, free passage to the house of y ^• Lord: seeing that the term of the last days is not yet expyred, and seeing that we desire to be taught in the ways of the Lord and to walk in his paths: yea, seeing that thousandis in Scotland refuses not to be rebuked of the Lord, and to suffer him to judge amōges us. If the writer will say, because we will not acknowledge Rome, to be the mother of all other Kirkis: We answer as before, let us hear the commandment of our God, charging us so to do, and our obedience shall not be long craved. For we are most willing to obey our mother: Prouyding that she shaw the undoubted signs of a natural mother. But an usurped title without farther assurance, we dar not admit. And this far for his assertion, and for the mind of the Prophet. Now followeth his conclusioun in these words.

Wherefoir if ye cannot shaw, what place of the world afoir three hundredth years, your Kirk was into, It followeth of necessity, that it is no Kirk. &c.

How this conclusion may be rightly gathered of the words of the Prophet, we suffer the readers and the writer him self to cōsidder. And yet because, y ^• till us it wer a thing moste grievous so to be excommunicate, that we • er no Kirk: That is, no parcel of the holy Kirk universal. We answer for our entres and say: That before 15. hundredth years our Kirk was in Jerusalem, in Samaria, in Antiochia, and wheresoever Christ Jesus was trewly preached, and his blessed Evēgell obedientlie received, whether it was amongst y ^• Iewis or Gentiles. There we say was our Kirk, which is not bound to any one place, but is dispersed upon y ^• face of the hole earth, having one God, one faith, one baptism, and one Lord Jesus, savior of all that vnfeanedly believe. And so we fear not to receive the title and authority of a particular Kirk, because we have all things be God's word that thereto apperte • nes. Yea, we are farther bold to affirm, that if ever it shall please God, to bring y ^• Kirk of Rome to hir original purity, that she shall not be ashamed to imbrase and reverence the pure Kirk of Scotland as her dearest sister, and next resembling her in all things: before that pride and avarice, joined with Idilnes and ryatous leuing, corrupted her Ministers, and that the inuentionis of men wer preferred to God's simple truth. We say yet again y ^• whensoever the Kirk of Rome, shall be reduced to that estate, in the which the Apostles left it, we ar assured that she shall vote in our fauoures, against all such as shall deny us to be a Kirk: if God continue us in y ^• simplicity which this day is mocked of y ^• world. Now let us hear how the writer proceedeth.

TYREIS LETTER.

AND swyftlie gif ze or ony of zour cunning Ministeris of zour new invented Evangel show me the dew successiō of his Kirk sen Christ, and by that, aggre the manifest contradictioun that baith I have red and seen with my ene amangis y ^• Doctouris & principallis of zour new doctrine, I sall not only re • unce the sentence whilk I haif haldin heirtofoir, bot als sall afoir all that will hear me confess my ignorance and fa • lt, and sall employ all my strength to the furthsetting of zour Religioun. &c.

ANSWER.

OF this part of the writers letter, & of that w ^t is past before it is easy to consider, that he will acknawledge no Kirk to be the true Kirk of Jesus Christ, unless y ^• it can shaw the dew succession thereof, frō the days of Jesus Christ. And farther, y ^• the teachers of it, do so aggre in doctrine, that in no point they be found to differ one from another. We answer if the immaculate spous of Jesus Christ wer, bound to these two extremities, The bondage thereof wer moste miserable: but because we find our master Jesus Christ, is moir favorable to his pure Kirk, then Master Tyrie craves, we are decreed to stand in that freedom and liberty, whereunto our head, and only souerane Lord, hes called us. We find y ^t he sends not his afflicted Kirk to seak a lineal successiō of any persons, before that he will receive thē: but he with all gentilnes calleth his sheap unto himself, saying: cum unto me all ye y ^t laubour and are laden, & I will ease yow. And again, all that the Father giveth me, shall come to me: and him that cometh to me I cast not away.

O golden and moste comfortable sentence, pronounced of him who cannot lie. Heir is no mention of any succession that we should clame to, before that we be received of him, who is the head of y ^• Kirk: but only it is said: that that which the father giveth, and that the sone receiveth, shall not be cast away: nether yet will he lose any that cūmeth to him, but that he will save them and rase them up at y ^e last day. And the Apostle speaking of the vocation of the Gentiles sends them not to seak a succession: but in the person of y ^• Ephesianes pronunceth this sentence in fauoures of all that believe in Jesus Christ.

Now therefore ye ar no moir strangers and foraners, but Cietizens with y ^• sanct • s and of the household of God. And ar built upon the fundatioun of the Apostles and Prophets. Jesus Christ himself being th • cheaf corner stone: in whom all the building coupled together groweth unto an holy Tēple in the Lord. Heir we find men who before wer strangers maid Cietizenes with the saints and of the household of God, we find them buyded upon the • undation of the Apostles and Prophets: we find Jesus Christ to be the cheaf corner stone: but we find no mention of any sic successiō as master Tyrie seameth rigorously and without God's commandment to crave. And there • oir we cā not but wonder why that mortal man shall crave of us that, which nether God y ^• Father his sone Ch • ist Jesus nether yet th • holy Apostles in their Ministry craved of any Realm or Nation. And therefoir let Master Tyrie take this for an answer.

That an iniust requeast may justly be denied.

And yet least that the writer or any other should think thē selves rather mocked then answered. We ade to the premisses, that we are able to shaw the succession of our Kirk directly, & laughfully to have flowed from the Apostles. And our reason is, because that in our Kirkis we nether admit doctrine, ryte, nor ceremony, which be their wrytingis we • ind not authorised. And albeit that this shall not satisfy the new start up Jesuits: yet our consciences are at rest, because we are assured to be avowed of the supreme judge.

The secund which he requireth is, that we shall aggre the manifest contradiction that is amongst the principal Doctoures of our new doctrine, and late invented Evangel. His blaspheamie we remit be God's hand to be punished, and yet we would know what doctrine is that which he terms new. Our Evangel (as before is said) is that same which Jesus Christ be him self and be his Apostles manifested unto the world, as all sic as hear y ^• form • of our doctrine cā witness. Where he desires us to aggre all controversies among • our teacheris: we answer, bona fide, that we know no controversy in doctrine, especially of that which concerns man's salvation within the Realm of Scotland: but that all the Preacheours within our Kirkis uniformly aggre in doctrine and judgment, notwithstanding the diversity of gifts. If Master Tyrie would send us to consiliate all controversies that are in Germany and ellis where his secund petition hes no greater reason, then had the former. For of God we have no farther charge, but to watch over that flock w ^t is subject unto us. God hes reased and appointed us Preacheours to the Realm of Scotland: In the boundis whereof if we plant not true doctrine according to the talent committed to our Charge, and oppone our selves to all kind of errors y ^• may infect the flock, we shall be criminal before God. But y ^• we ar precisedly bound to ryn from coūtry to country, to aggr • all controversies, albeit it wer euin in the maters of Religion: we find no express commandment geuin to us in that behalf of our God. And therefoir we must desire y ^• inspection of Master Tyrie his power, be virtue whereof he may charge us to that paneful travel, before that we can promise obedience. But Master Tyrie we know will allege, that in writing of his letter, there was no such thing in his mind: but that his meaning was, that because we did not aggre fully amongst our selves in all heads, therefoir he would not be of our Kirk. For that in plane words he declareth. &c. Now all contention laid aside, we will desire Master Tyrie, and the rest of his factiō deaply to cōsidder, if they be builded upon a sure fundatioun: whill y ^• they have none other caus why they appone them selves to the truth of God, now of his mercy revealed to the world, but because that such as profess that truth aggre not in all heads amōges thē selves. We demand then what if they had leued in the days of the Apostles, when y ^• preaching of Christ Jesus was no les odious to the visi • le Kirk: To wit, to the posterity of Arahon and Levi, who then rewled in Jerusalem, then hes the light of the Evangel been, of late years, to that Roman Antichrist, and unto such as live be his Merchandice. Wold Master Tyrie (we ask) and his factiō, have refused the Evēgell, bec • us that in the bosom of y ^• Kirk there arose great controversy, and that in the especial heads of Religion? For did not some boldly affirm in the Kirk of Antiochia, that unless the Gentiles wer circumcised, according to the law of Moses, they culled not be saved. Which doctrine and affirmation was moir, dangerous and moir sclanderous in those days, then all the controversies that yet ar rissen amongst such, as have refused the damnable ways of the Papistry: for it concerneth the cheaf head of Justification. And will any yet say that therefore the Evangel was not the glade tidings of Saluatioun? And they that imbrased it • rewly wer not the true members of Jesus Christ? We look that men will be moir moderate, thē some shaw them selves to be: who for certain controversies of far les importance then that was, dare boldly dāpne y ^• truth and the professoures of the same, because say they, Proprium est hereticorum a se inuicem dissentire. That is, it is proper to Heretykes to disagre amongst thē selves which sentence how ancient that ever it be, if it should be so understand as the Papist doeth: that is, whosoever disagreis amongst them selves in materis of Religiō they are Heretykes. If the former sentence (we say) should be so understand, then shall we accuse mo of Heresy then cā be excused in any on • age from Christ Jesus to this day. For did not Paul disagre frō Peter? Yea, he did so disagre from him, y ^• he did resist him planly to his face, because that he walked not according to the right way of the truth of the Gospel. These wer two prēcipall pillars: the one appointed to the Jews and the other to the Gentiles: what shall we say of the hot contention which fell betwix Barnabas & Paul, which separated thē that before wer joined, in as strate conjunction, as ever wer two mortal men upon the earth. If Master Tyrie and his Jesuits will allege y ^• t • ese wer but suddane passions, and did not concern any cheaf head of doctrine: The holy Ghost will prove the cont ••• e. For the one tuiched the conscience of mē, concerning the freedom of meats, & the other the admission of Ministeris, after y ^• they had ones fallen back from that function: which heads wer of greater weght in those days (as heirtofoir we have said) then any controversy which the Papists ar able to shaw, to be, or yet to have been, betwix us that professes the Evangel, and do abhor their abhominationes. Farther reasoning of this head for this present we omit, and will procead with Master Tyries letter.

TYRIES LETTER.

QVhair • oir Schir considdering that in that Kirk in the whilk I am be the grace of God their is continual successiō of doctrine, and that same self whilk is preached now hes been teichit in all ages, as it is manifest till o • y man that hes red all ancient wryteris afoir our times. And mairouer I find it spread throw all y ^• world as in like manner it is manifest and the experience dost teich zow, for ze will cū to na place where Christis doctrine is ressauit, bot ze will find the Religion at leist in money personis. Quhairfoir gifze cannot show in na other Religion the samin. It followis evidently that na other Religioū is the true Religioun.

ANSWER.

TO this Epilog and argument gathered thereof, we answer only this: That of a manifest lie, there can no truth be concluded▪ His manifest and impudent lie we say, is, That he affirms, That in that Kirk in the which he is, there is continual succession of doctrine: and that the selfsame which is preached now hes been taugh in all ages. This we affirm is a moste impudent lie. For now, & of late years it hath been taught and of the people received, that the Messe was a • acrifice propitiatory for the sinnis of the quick & the dead: That the Pape was the head of y ^• Kirk, & such other heads of moste heretical doctrine, approved in the Papistical Kirk.

W • ich heads we affirm wer vnknowē in the age of the Apostles, or yet of the Fathers that immediately followed them.

And for the probation thereof, we desire their wrytingis to be produced, ever beginning at them who wer appointed of God to preach, and to plant the veriti • in the world. We are not bound to cr • dite whatsoever the Fathers have spoken: But our faith (as is before said) is builded upon the sure Rock Jesus Christ, and vpō the fundatioun of the Apostles and Prophets. So far as any Fathers aggre therewith, we reverently do imbrase it: But if the Fathers have affirmed anything with out the warrand of the written word of y ^e Eternal our God, To whose only voice the sheap of his pasture ar bound: It is as laughfull to us to reject that which proceedeth from man and not from God, as it is easy to them to affirm it. Master Tyrie may know that we use the words of the Ancientis.

It appeareth to us be the hole progress of Master Tyries letter, that he and his factioun, can acknowledge no Kirk, which in all ages hes not been visible to the eyes of men: having lykwise a visible succession. For first he affirms, that the Kirk whereof the Prophet Isaiah speaks, should be manifest and visible through all the world. And hear last he alledgeth that we can cum in no place where we sall not find that Religion spread: at the least in many persons. And thereof he concludes, that if we cannot prove the like of our Religion: It followis that it is not the true Religion.

If Master Tyrie recant not this assertiō he must correct his creed. Aud where universally before we use to say credo sanctam ecclesiam. &c. He must say video sauctam ecclesiam. For if there be no kirk upon the face of the earth, but that which is visible, and th • t which may be shawen first, be certain notes external, then superfluous and vane it wer to us to say, I believe the holy K • rk universal: but confidētly we might affirm, I see y ^• holy kirk. If Master Tyrie will say we may both se & believe, and be our sight our Faith may be strengthened. For Thomas saw y ^• woūdes in the hands, 〈◊〉 and side of Christ Jesus, and believed: and so may we se the Kirk and yet bele • e it. If we should grant so far to M • ister Tyrie, yet wer his argument nothing helped. For the question is not, whether that we may noti • ie those things that we ar bound to beleleue. But the question is, if that we are not bound to believe those thing • , which sometimes ar utterly 〈◊〉 from the external senses of men. M •• ster Tyrie will acknowledge no kirk except that which hes been and is visible. We in the cōtrare acknowledge and reverence the spous of Chiist Jesus, sometimes exyled from the world, receiving sometimes the wings of an Egle, that she may flee to the wilderness: Whereof God and not of man, she hath her place prepared. We reverence her w ^t doeth complane, that she hath been desolate, barrane, a captive, and a wanderer to and fro. That spous of Jesus Christ brages so little of her succession, visible to mannes eyes, that she is reft in admiration, who should have nurished her Children, during the time of her baniwement. If master Tyrie be so well seen in the ancient Wryters, as in his writing he would shaw himself to be, then can he not be ignorant that it is not without great caus that the holy Goste hath taught us to say: I believe the holy Kirk universal. To wit, because that oftentimes it is, that the Kirk militāt is so afflicted. Yea, the beauty thereof is so obscured, to the most part of the world, that the Synagogue of Satan usurps the title of the true Kirk: and Babilone is preferred to Jerusalem. So that the elect are compelled to compleane and say. We s • not our owen signs, now is there no Prophet any moir amongst us. Let the days of Helyas and his complaint witness whether that the Kirk of God is always so visible, that it may be pointed forth w ^t the finger of man. Thus we write shortly to give occasion to Master Tyrie, and to such as are blinded with that error, moir deaply to consider that artickle of their believe, and not so rashly to condemn such as God of his mercy calls frō darkness to light. Now to the rest of his letter.

TYRIES LETTER.

THair is sum I knaw perchance for laik outher of gude discourse or wit measures the verity of the thing they follow be the warldly succes they have in the following of it. Bot surely I cā not esteem zow to be of that rank, and gif ze wer, I wald exhort zow to reid amangis the rest the seuintene and twa Psalm, and y ^e hundredth forty and three Psalm. Quhairby ze will easily understand, that nouther the prosperous succes of zour part (in warldly things I mene) preifis it that ze follow to be of verity, nor zit our decay and adversity makes our part to be convicted, ze rather the mater being considderit as it aught to be, zour prosperity is rather a manifest argument of Goddis wraith nor of ony truth of verity. For it is said be ane godly, holy and cunning man ane xi. hundredth zeir by past, Quod nihil infelicius felicitate peccantium, quia & penalis nutritur impunitas & mala voluntas velut interior hostis roboratur. &c.

ANSWER.

WE might have passed by this parcel without answer, because that nothing in it conceived, justly can be laid to our charge. For our warldly felicity, prosperity & rest, nether is, nether yet hes been at any time, sense we have imbrased the Evangel of Jesus Christ, such as may nurishe us in wickedness: nether yet are the Papists able to convict us of such impiety, as all the world know hath roung among them of mo years then an hundred thrice told. And in the mean time to what honor and worldly dignity they are ascended, we mak them selves judges. If they say the d • ctrine which we teach, is wondrously spread within this hundred years: So that now it hes almost red y ^• self forth of bondage. We would demand of the Papists, if the • uangell of Jesus Christ, ceased to be the doctrine of Salvation, what time the Ki • kis gat rest in Judea and elles where, in the days of the Apostles. If they answer, y ^• they mean no such thing. Then yet we demand, if the hand of the Lord be more shortened now, then that it was in the primative Kirk: So that now he may not as well manteane his tr • uth, and enlarge the Kingdom of his only Sone, as that he did in the days of the Apostlis. Whatsoever the Papists shall answer, we are assured that nether is his power diminished, so that he may not manteane his truth: nether yet is his lufe so waxen cold towards his Kirk, but that he will in his anger remember upon mercy. Why do not those cruel men consider, what innocent blood hath been shed for the testimony of Christ's E • angel, within these three score years. Wold they that God at no time should shaw piety upon the patient suffering of his afflicted kirk? Wolde they that the sword should still deuor? Wold they that the flaming fyres should never be quenched? If that so they would, they shaw them selves the Sones of him who hath been a murderer from the beginning, and yet continue in the same malice. But our God beareth towards his weak Children, a fatherly affectioun whereby he is moved sometimes to stay y ^• fu • ie and rage of Satan for a ceason: To the end that his chosen moir gladely may prepare thē selves to a new battle, Trew it is, the doctrine of saluatioun is greatly enlarged, & thereof we praise God: Trew it is, that Sathā hath not universally such power to persecute as sometimes he hath had. But will Master Tyrie thereof conclude, that in our Kirk there is no strength? But now to the Scriptures which Master Tyrie coateth.

Trew it is, that David in his 73. Psalm according to the compt of the Hebrews affirms that nether the worldly prosperity of the ungodly, nor yet the afflictiō of the godly, ought to discourage such as fear God. In this general head we aggre with Master Tyrie and with all Papists. But we affirm, that the notes and signs, which y ^• holy Ghost giveth in that place, be the which the wicked shall be known, do no wise apperteane to us: but of many years moste evidently have appeared, & to this hour do yet appear in the Pape, & in many of those that manteane his kingdom. For whether that the generatiō of y ^• Roman Antichrist hath been exemed from the troubles of mē, whether y ^• their pride hes been as visible as ever was their garment: whether that their eyes have start out for fatness: And finally whether that their licentious leuinges, their oppression and presumption, have not plainly declared, y ^t they have set their mouth against the heaven, we are content that the world (be it never so blind) the histories of • heir lives (not written be us but be their owen scribes) and the verray experience which all men now have, & heirtofoir have had of their proceadinges, bear record whether that they or we be noted in y ^t psalm. We give Master Tyrie to understand, That we a • e better acquented with the lives and conuersationis of the Papes and Cardinals, then they think us to be: and that we know the strength of th • ir laws, decries, statutes and counsalles better thē the Jesuits knows the reule of Jesus: albeit that presumpteous • y they have usurped his name. And therefoir we will crave of Master Tyrie and of all his factiō, that in writing either to us or yet till such as they would persuade: that they use truth and simplicity, and so shall they find thē selves better contented in reading of our answers. For this before the Lord Jesus, we protest that it is the truth which we teach, and wherein we delight: The luf • whereof causes us abhor all mannes invention, superstition and Idolatry. And thus far to the answers of the Scriptures which Master Tyrie coateth.

Now to the sentence of the ancient writer, whose name he suppresseth. We answer, that his words cut the throttes of the proud Papists of that age and of all their followers sense those day is. For thē began the taill of the Dragoun, to draw the stars from the heaven to the earth: Then began the fontanes which sometimes gave clear & wholesome watter to become bitter: yea, to be turned unto blood, and yet did they prosper in all wordly felicity. Which was the caus that many godly men lamenting that public corruption, wer compelled to pronunce, that, & like sentences, against the verray Kirk mē that then lived. And least that Master Tyrie should think that this we affirm without authority. We remit him to the writings of Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose, Bernard, & others that wer nether come long before nor after the time that he whose writings if he shall diligently examine, he sal find, what was their judgment of the seat of Rome in their days, and what others y ^t after followed, added to the former impiety of their Fathers: from the day that ones the Popes wer decored or rather deformed with a triple Crown, let the writers of all ages sense bear witness. And least that Master Tyrie shall think that we put him to to much pane, when that we send him to all writers in general. We shall releue him somewhat, and appoint him to two only, whome justly he cannot suspect to have been corrupted be us. The one is Abbas Joachim, a man sometimes of great authority and reputation amongst the Papists. The other is Ioānes Avētinus historiographur, whose history was prented be command & with privilege of the Empreour Charles the Fyft: Let the Writings we say of these two bear witness, what hes been y ^e judgment of diverse men in diverse ages, of Rome, of the pride of the prelacy, of their corruption, in life and doctrine, and finally of their defectioun from the truth. Abbas Joachim writing upon the words of the Revelation of sanct John, The sext Angel poured forth his Phyol • upon the great flood Euphrates. &c. Hes this sentence. Si autem aquae huius fluminis quod vocatur Euphrates, populi sunt, & gentes, & linguae, quae parent Romano imperio: Si quidē ciuitas Romana ipsa, est noua Babylon. &c. That if (saith he) the watters of this flood that is called Euphra tes be people, Nationis and tongues that obey the Roman Empire, for the Cietie of Rome itself is new Babylon: This place and that which ensewes of the drying up of the watters evidently shawes, what was the judgment of the writer in his days of Rome. To wit, that it was become new Babylon. And least that any should think that the Author meaneth of the ancient Roman Empire, and not of the regiment of the Kirk that was in it, or in the dominion thereof, he explanes him self after, whill that he interpretes the great hoore, and the Kings of the earth, who commit huredome with her. The great hoore he says, the universal Fatheris affirmed to be Rome. Not says he as concerning the Congregation of the just, which sometimes was a pilgramer in it, but as concerning the multitude of the reprobate: who be their wicked works blaspheameth & impungeth the same Kirk, being a pilgramer with hir. Let Master Tyrie mark that the writer saw in Rome two Kirkis, the hoore, & her multitude dispersed in all y ^• places of that Empire: & the Kirk which was a stranger blasphemed and impunged be the multitude. And yet after he explanes himself more plainly: saying, Reges vero terre, dic • i sunt praelati, quibus cōcessum est regim • n animarum. Quorum nonnulli fornicantur cū Babilone, quumquidem vt placeant hominibus, paruipendunt & negligunt mandatum dei. The Kings of the earth (says he) are called the Prelates, to whom the Regiment of saules is committed, of whom nevertheless some commit fornication with Babylon: Becaus that they for the pleasure of men neglect and dispyse the commandment of God. And least that any should think y ^• such a sentence had recklesly eschaped him, he dowbles the same words over again: saying, Reges vero terrae esse praelatos ecclesiarum, quorum aliqui fornicātur cum Babilone supertus dictum est, It is before said (saith he) that the Kings of the earth are the Prelates of the Kirkis, of whom some commit hooredome with Babylon. And proceades farther saying.

Et quod sequitur: Et mercatores terrae de virtute deliciarum eius, diuites factisu • t: ad fall • os sacerdotes & hipochritas, re • erendum est. qui negotiantes regnum dei temporalibus lucris. &c. That is. And that which followeth (saith he) and the merchandes of the earth wer made riche of y ^• power of her pleasures. That is to be referred to the falls Preastes and Hypocrhites, who making merch • ndice of the kingdom of God, gapes for temporal advantage. &c. And after a little upon these words, and the merchandes of the earth shall murne. &c. He says.

Negotiatores terrae qui sicut superius dictum est: ipsi sunt sacerdotes bruti, qui nesciūt que dei sunt. Sacerdotes animales qui dati sunt in atrium exterius, vt manducent peccata populi: qui ven dunt orationes & missas pro denarijs, facientes domū orationis apothecā negotiationis, faciētes inquam forum publicum & speluncam latronum. &c. That is, the merchandes of y ^• earth (as is before said), they are y ^• brutish Preastes that know not those things y ^• apperteane to God. Sensuall Preastes that are placed in the outward court that they may eat the sins of the people, who sell prayers and Messes for money: Making y ^• house of prayer ane chop of merchandice: yea, making it (I say) a public and oppen mercat, and a den of thieves. &c. If Master Tyrie or any other of that sect, blame us of railing (as commonly they use to do, when that we speak the truth) Then let him and them consider, that we learned not of Martyn Luther, what kind of men the papists wer: but that which we speak and affirm now we have received of the Papists them selves. For this hath been the merciful prouydence of God towards his little flock ever from the beginning, That when an universal corruptiō begā to spread the self, thē wer rased some as it wer one or two amongst y ^e hole multitude, till admonish the present age and the posterities to come, how far men had declyned from the original purity: that at least God might have some testimony, that y ^e verity of God, was not altogether buried in the earth. But now let us hear the judgments of others.

Such as be anything acquented with y ^• Histories of the antiquity, cannot be ignorant, how vehement was the contentiō betwix Nicolaus the first, and certain of y ^• Bishops of Germany, for the divorcement and secund marriage, of Lotharius King of Vngarie. Which of the two parties had the just actiō, we dispute not: but what wer the crimes lade to the Pape in those days, we shall shortly tuoche. Efter that Tetogaudus & Guntherus, who wer y ^• two cheaf Bishops that opponed thē selves to the pride of y ^t Roman Bishop, had largely purged thē selves of all things wherewith he charged them. They enter in into moste bitter accusation of the said Nicolas Pape. And after other things they lade to his charge, that most tyrannically he had oppressed the liberty of the spous of Jesus Christ. And after that they have rehearsed the principal ornaments wherewith y ^• true Kirk was decored. They, say, Quae benesicia tu veluti latro intercipis, templo dei preripis, in • e{que} transfers. &c. And after. Tu pontificis quidem personā prae te fers, ac tyrannum agitas: sub habitu & cultu pastoris, lupum sentimus: titulus parentē mentitur, luce factis iouem ostētas. That is, which benefits thow as a murderer cutteth of, and takis away from the Kirk of God, transferring them unto thy self. Thow shaw is the person of a pasture, but plainly thow plays the tyranne: under the habit & cloithing of a sheapherd, we feale the cruelty of a Wolf. The title lies, for it calleth the father: but thow thy self into thy works shawes, the thundering of Jupiter. &c. And therfoir (say they) we know not thy voice: we regard not thy statutes: nether yet fear we thy bulls, nor thunderinges. If thow pretend to interdite us, we fear not to cut thy throt with thy owen sword: For the holy ghost is author of all y ^• Kirkis wheresoerver they be dispersed upon the face of the earth.

This was the judgment of many otheris then of these before expressed, of the seat of Rome in those days about 800. years after the ascension of Christ, and how y ^• the pride and iniquity of that seat augmented, as also the free speaking of men against the same, the subsequentis will declare.

What lamentable tragedi • was played betwix Hildebrand called Gregor the s • uint, and Henry the fourt Empreour of Rome, mo Historiographoures then one or two do witness. Nether yet do those writers who wer most addict to the factiō of the Pope, to wit, Gerochus, and Paulus, so cover the shame of that deceauer, but that they give sufficient light to men, to se what mischeaf lurked within the bosōe of that p • stilent seat. For writing what y ^• said Hildebrand did, what time that he was fi • st deposed from that seat, which be craft and without all order he did usurp (they say) that he spared not largely to bestow the patrimony of the Kirk upon soldiers, and vpone capitane of war: upon the which, the pure, cheafly, should have been susteaned: yea, they affirm, y ^t he show himself more rigerous against y ^• empreour, thē it b • came a pasture to have done. If this was their judgment who took upon them to defend his action & caus, what think we was the judgment of others?

That shall we better understand be his accusation and be the sentence pronūced against him, be all the Bishops of France and Germany. Who with one voice concluded, that Hildebrand was ambitious periur • d: an usurper of the Empreoures autho • itie: one that violated and brak the concord o • the Kirk: and therefore that he was unworthy of that seat. This sentence was pronūced in his owen face, while that he was sitting in counsal in Rome be one Rulandus, cheaf Preast of Parma.

Who boldly and without any salutation, offering the decreit of the counsel, together with the Empreoures letters, said. This Hildebrand is no Bishop, no Father, no pasture: he is a theaf, a Wolf, a murderer, a Tyranne: and therefoir let him he deposed. &c. We are not ignorant y ^t hereof ensewe great tumult, sedition, and trouble. But as that purged nothing his former infamy, so did it not stop y ^e mouths of many, plainly to pronunce, what Judgment they had of him and of that seat. To wit, that he under the title of Christ, did the verray work of the Antichrist: That he sat in the Tempell of god, which then was become Babilone: That he was worshipped and extolled above all that w ^c was called God: That he glorified as if he could not err. &c. These and others crimes of no les weight wer lade in that age, to the Bishops and seat of Rome: and this was far without the term of three hundred years within the which Master Tyrie would limitat the doctrine of our Kirk. But let us hear farther.

As the practices of the Bishops of Rom • , • er more and more espied, the Bishops of Germany assembled them selves in counsel at Regmoburgiū: where the Bishop of that same cūtry in his most vehement orison, made against the authors of sedition, amongst other things, pronounced this sentence against the Bishops and seat of Rome. Christ our Savior (says he) most diligently foirwarned us, to be ware of falls Christ's, and falls Prophets, whom he willed us to discern & know be their works. Whome presently unless we be more then blind we may se.

For (says h • ) Romani flumines arma in omnes hab • nt Christianos, audendo, fallendo, & bella ex bellis ferēdo magni facti, omnes trucidant, occidunt, pacem concor diam terris depellunt. &c. That is, these Roman Preastes (he not • s the hole Rable) make war against all Christians, some times malepa • tly, sometimes craftily, and be deceat they still continue war upon war. They them selves being made great, murder & slay the sheap. Breifly they take peace and concord from the earth. And after a little in the sam • which is to be found in the seuint book • of the History foresaid he says: Hildebrandus ante annos centum atque septuaginta, primus specie religions, Antichristi imperij fundamēta iecit. Ho • bellum nephandum primus auspicatus, est quod per successores hu • vsque continuatur. &c.

That is, Hilldebrand (says he) before an hundredth and seuintie years, first under appearance of Religion, laid the foundation of the Empire of the Antichrist, he first began this unhappy war which to this day is continued be his successoures: he farther proceades and says, Beleue the man that he • experience. These Preastes of Babilone desire to regne alone: They shall not cease unto such time as that they have oppressed the honor of the Roman Empire. And consequently the true pastures that would fead the slocke, being oppressed, and the barking dogs being removed, they shall extinguishe the truth, they shall murder and trode all things under their feat: They shall sit in the Tēple of God, and be extolled above all that is worshipped. &c.

These and many other grave sentences wer pronounced be the said Ebirhardus, & wer ratified and confirmed be the hole Bishops, & Senate of Germany: whereby it is evident what judgment that age had of the Bishops of Rome, and their Colleges. To avoid farther pro • ixitie, we omit the orison and judgment of probus, the Bishop of Tullos: The public edict set forth against the Pope and against his practices in the days of Lodouicus y ^• fourt Empreour, together with the judgments of many other: which such as are exercised in Reading of Histories may note. So that if Master Tyrie or any of his sect shall, after this accuse us▪ that we are the first that have disclosed that man of sin: The moste ancient writers shall convict him, & purge us. Now shortly to the rest of his letter.

TYRIES LETTER.

SEN my departing fra zow I have seen sindrie cōgregationis, specially in Germany, Professing as they pretendit the true word of God and his Evangel, bot in verity betwix them their selfs & them and zow, I find sa greit difference and repugnance in materis of greit consequence, that gif their wer na other argument to let me not depart fra the Catholic Kirk, in the whilk I was Baptized, that wer sufficient. &c.

ANSWER.

WHen Master Tyrie shall accuse in special, wherein the Congregationis in Germany, differ amongst them selves, and that we differ from them: then shall we shaw our Iudgementes, whether the difference be of such importance, as it ought to dissolve the unity of the Kirk. The confession of our faith & the order of our Kirk, is patēt to all that liest to read the same, whē either he or any other shall oppunge any one or two heads of the same, so long as God pleases to reteane in this miserable life, such as of his mercy he hes made his Ministers to blow the trumpet of his judgments to this most wicked generation: nether he nor any other that please to oppone them selves to our confessio • n, shall long crave an answer, an answer we say of any one or two heads which they please to oppoung. For Master Tyrie ought to understand, that the preacheing Ministers within the Realm of Scotland, are oxen, ever lauboring under the Yock: and that into the husbandry of the Lord. And therefore they cā have no time vacant from their necessary cures, to compass countries with the Jesuits (who ar subject to none other yocke then to that of their owen electiō) to espy what faults they can find amongst the Congreationis. As we have no vacantes (we say) to consider all tryfles that offend delicate men, who can acknowledge no Kirk, but that which in all pointes be absolute and perfect: so albeit that both • • e did consider them, and condemn them, yet we usurp no authority abou • our brether: but remit all men to their owen judge. And do reverence all Congregationis, who do aggre with us in the principallis of our faith: as the particular Kirkis of Jesus Christ: albeit that in all ceremoies there be not uniformity: yea, & albeit that in some heads of doctrine also, there appear repugnance, yet will we not brek brotherly concord, prouyding that we aggre in the principallis. Principallis we call those heads of doctrine, without the confession & consent whereof, the Kirk was not planted. Be these few words Master Tyrie (if he be wise) may understand what we mean, & so we procead to the conclusion of his letter.

TYREIS LETTER.

QVhairfoir Schir I exhort yow as I begouth, to think on this mater as deiply as it becūmis a Christiane man, and when ze have swa done advertise me of zour sentiment. In the mean time I sall pray almichtie God be his grace to illuminate zour spreit to knaw in this mater y • richt way, and to gif fortitude and strenth when ze haif knawin it to profess it sa far as shall be convenient to zour estate and saluatioun, having na farther occasioun of writing committis zow to the protectioū of Almichtie God.

ANSWER.

AGainst this exhortation will we object nothing. For our ernest desire is that men diligently consider what doctrine they imbrase, what foundation and ground their faith hes, and finally what way they follow, thinking thereby to atteane to eternal felicity. For this careless security that universally may be espied in mē, we dampne, and ever have dampened: But this we fear not to affirm, as before we have written, that the doctrine of the Papistical Kirk, now many years bypast, hath been altogether corrupt: that their opiniō which they call their Catholic faith, hes no sure ground within the word of God: And that the way which they for y ^• moste part have followed, was the verray way of perdition, to all such as without true repentance departed this life in y ^• blindness. And much more shall be to all persons and estates, that now shall manteane those abhominationes, because the light is come and hes sufficiently declared the • ormer darkness. That man of sin is so manifestli • revealed, that excuse of ignorance there resteth none: But a fearful judgment abydes all such, that yet farther will follow his damnable ways.

This Schir ye have our judgment, which albeit ye shall receive laitter then we would: yet the state of time being considdered, we dout not but ye shall interpret all things to the best. Use our letter so we pray yow, that it may come to the knowledge of the writer to yow, whose conversion we no les seak then he appears to seak yours. And thus we hartly commit yow to the protection of the Omnipotent.