A46876:231
The apology of the Church of England, and an epistle to one Seignior Scipio…
The apology of the Church of England, and an epistle to one Seignior Scipio a Venetian gentleman, concerning the Council of Trent written both in Latin / by ... John Jewel ... ; made English by a person of quality ; to which is added, The life of the said bishop ; collected and written by the same hand.
London: printed by T. H. for Richard Chiswell, 1685
THE APOLOGY OF THE Church of ENGLAND. Written by the very Learned a… › Chapter 3
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
8. BUT the most insufferable of all their Slanders, is their Pretence that we are impious Men, and have cast off all care of Religion. But this is the less to be regarded, because they who make this Objection, do themselves know, that it is contumelious and false. And Justin Martyr writes also, that when the Gospel was first published, and the Name of Christ discovered to the World, that all Christians were then styled [Greek or Hebrew]; that is, Men without a God, or Atheists. And when the Holy Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, stood before the Tribunal,1 the Rabble incited the Proconsul to the Slaughter and Destruction of all those who professed the Gospel, with these words, [Greek or Hebrew], that is▪ exterminate out of the World those wicked men who have no God. Not that the Christians ⟨p. 47⟩had indeed no God, but because they would not adore the Stones and Blocks which were then worshipped as Gods. But the World now sees plainly what we and ours have suffered from them, for the Sake of God and our Religion. They have cast us into Goals, and Fire, and Water, and have rolled themselves in our Bloods, not because we are Adulterers, or Thieves, or Murderers, but purely because we embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and put our whole Trust only in the living God; and, O good God! because we truly and justly complain, that they have for their most impertinent Traditions, violated the Laws of God; and that these Enemies of ours, who knowingly and willingly despise the Commandments of God, are the haters of the Gospel, and the Enemies of the Cross of Christ.
8. BUT the most insufferable of all their Slanders, is their Pretence that we are impious Men, and have cast off all care of Religion. But this is the less to be regarded, because they who make this Objection, do themselves know, that it is contumelious and false. And Justin Martyr writes also, that when the Gospel was first published, and the Name of Christ discovered to the World, that all Christians were then stiled 〈non-Latin alphabet〉; that is, Men without a God, or Atheists. And when the Holy Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, stood before the Tribunal,1