SOME HOSTILE
" TRUE REPORTS " OF THE MARTYRS
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unto him, that so his life should be respited : he stoode for a while as it were in a doubte what he might doo, and after said, that he would not acknowledge that , because the church of Rome did not graunt it : and I must , quoth he, " remaine in the unity of the " Church, or els I cannot be saved; for so saith S. Augustine . " That is, quoth the preacher, " in ye unity of the Church of Christe, not of the Church of Rome: for the unity of wicked persons is no unity, but a conspiracie. We must follow peace, but it must be in holynes we will see the Lord. Well, yet," quoth Sutton, " S. Augustine ifsaith " "thee as say. pray ," quoth the Preacher, " let me heare I S. Augustine . The woordes which he alleged are written by S. " Augustine in his Epistle Contra Donatistas , the woords [ are] these:
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Quisquis a catholica ecclesia fuerit seperatus, quantumlibet laudabiliter se vivere existimet, hoc solo scelere quod a Christi unitate disiunctus est, non habebit vitam ; sed ira dei manet super eum.
" And I pray thee, quoth the Preacher, what doo these woords make either for thee or against us ? These are S. August. words : Whosoever is seperated from the Catholique Church, although he otherwaies behave him selfe never so laudably, yet in this one offence because he is seperatedfrom the unityof the Church , he shal not have life, but the wrath of God remaineth upon him. Whye we graunt all this, and ad heerunto (if thou wilt) that which the same S. Augustine hath in another place, Non habebit deum patrem qui non agnoscit ecclesiam matrem, He shal never have God for his father, that wil not acknowledge ye Church for his Mother. But this is ( as said before) spoke of the Church of Christ , not of ye Church of Rome, which Churche is his bodye, whereof he speaketh John 15 : Abide in Me, and in you : as the braunch cannot beare fruit of it selfe, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, exceptye abide in me. am the Vine : ye are the braunches , he that abideth in meand in him, the same bringethfoorth much fruit : a man abide not in me, he is cast foorth as a braunch, that withereth : etc. Heerby thou maist see, or you at ye least (good people) doo see, (for he that is filthy, let him be filthy still ) , that it is the Church of Christe, that is the piller of trueth, whence we must have direction, and the arke of Noah , wherin we shall have salvation , even when all ye wicked shall be drowned . But to thee, Sutton, (quoth he) I feare thou hast dissembled with us all this while , and therefore (good people ), let us pray & leave him to God. Wherupon the preacher then also made a godly prayer , after ye which the prisoner persisting in his wilfulnes was forthwith executed.
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The Prayer at Suttons execution . We have learned, O Lord, out of thy holy woord , how fearfull a thing it is to fall into thy hand, and how hard for him to be recovered, that was once lightned with thy grace, and having tasted of thy trueth, dooth afterward fall awaye as an Apostata,
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" " and by laying hand to the Plough and looking back againe, dooth " not only make him selfe unmeet for thy kingdome, but dooth " crucifie againe the Lord Jesus , and make a mocke of him. And "