A67926:3751
Acts and monuments of matters most special and memorable, happening in the Church. [vol.…Actes and monuments of matters most speciall and memorable, happenyng in the Church. [vol.…
Acts and monuments of matters most special and memorable, happening in the Church. [vol. 2, part 1] with an universal history of the same, wherein is set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church, from the primitive age to these latter times of ours, with the bloody times, horrible troubles, and great persecutions against the true martyrs of Christ, sought and wrought as well by heathen emperors, as now lately practised by Romish prelates, especially in this realm of England and Scotland. Newly revised and recognised, partly also augmented, and now the fourth time again published and recommended to the studious reader, by the author (through the help of Christ our Lord) John Fox, which desireth thee good reader to help him with thy prayer.Actes and monuments of matters most speciall and memorable, happenyng in the Church. [vol. 2, part 1] with an vniuersall history of the same, wherein is set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church, from the primitiue age to these latter tymes of ours, with the bloudy times, horrible troubles, and great persecutions agaynst the true martyrs of Christ, sought and wrought as well by heathen emperours, as nowe lately practised by Romish prelates, especially in this realme of England and Scotland. Newly reuised and recognised, partly also augmented, and now the fourth time agayne published and recommended to the studious reader, by the author (through the helpe of Christ our Lord) Iohn Foxe, which desireth thee good reader to helpe him with thy prayer.
London: printed by John Daye, 1583London: printed by Iohn Daye, 1583
No title page in the transcription: set from the catalogue record.
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.
Quorumlibet disputationes, quam uis catholicorū & laudatorum virorum, velut Scripturas Canonicas habere debemus: ut non liceat nobis salua honorificentia, quae illis debetur, aliquid in eorū scriptis improbare atque respuere, si fortè inuenerimus quòd aliter senserint quàm veritas habeat, divino adiutorio vel ab alijs intellecta, vel à nobis. Quid autem veritati magis contrariū, quàm hoc, quòd cum ipsa veritas de continentia loquens, non unius hominis,1 sed omnium planè (non excepto numero professorum continentiae) dicat: Qui potest capere, capiat: isti (nescitur unde instigati) dicant: Qui non potest capere, feriatur anathemate? Quid verò per homines fieri potest stolidius? quid divinae maledictioni obligatius, quàm cum aliqui, vel Episcopi videlicet, vel Archidiaconi, ita praecepites sint in libidinem, ut neque adulteria, neque incestus, neque masculorum (proh pudor) turpissimos amplexus sciant abhorrere: casta clericorum coniugia sibi dicant foetere, & ab eis non verae justiciae compassione, sed falsae justiciae dedignatione, non ut conseruos rogent continere, sed ut seruos jubeant ac cogant abstinere? Ad cuius imperij, ne dicam consilij, tam fatuam, tamque turpē addunt suggestionem, ut dicant: Honestius est pluribus occultè implicari, quàm apertè in hominū vultu & conscientia cum una legari. Quod profectò nō dicerent, si ex illo & in illo essent, qui dicit: Vae vobis Pharisaeis, qui omnia facitis propter homines. Et per Psalmistā: Qui hominibus placent, confusi sunt,2 quoniam Dominus sprevit eos. Hi sunt, qui prius deberent nobis persuadere, ut in cō spectu eius, cui omnia nuda & aperta sunt, erubescamus peccatores esse, quàm in conspectu hominū mundi esse. Licet ergo merito suae pravitatis, nullius consiliū mereantur pietatis, nos tamē memores humanitatis divinae, eis consilium authoritatis nunquam à pietate vacantis, per viscera ministramus charitatis. Dicimus nempe:3 Eiice primùm hypocrita trabem de oculo tuo, & tunc perspicies ut eiicias festucā de oculo fratris tui. Illud quoque rogamus eos attendere, quod Dominus dicit de muliere: Qui sine peccato est vestrûm, primus in eam lapidem mittat, quasi di•eret: Si lex jubet, si Moses jubet,4 jubeo & ego, sed competentes legis ministros exigo. Attendentes, quid adducitis, attendite quaeso & quid estis: quia, si te ipsum, ut ait Scriptura, perspexeris, nulli unquam detraxeris.