Ten Reasons Proposed to His Adversaries for Disputation in the Name: of the Faith and Presented to the Illustrious Members of Our UniversitiesCampion, Edmund, Saint
Religion
Ten Reasons Proposed to His Adversaries for Disputation in the Name: of the Faith and Presented to the Illustrious Members of Our Universities
Campion, Edmund, Saint
Catholic Church -- Apologetic works
abjured his heresy, relapsed, and was burnt. Why do they so often
drag out one case in a thousand? Let them read their own annals.
Martin Luther himself, that abomination of God and men, was put
in court at Augsburg before Cardinal Cajetan: there did he not
belch out all he could, and then depart in safety, fortified with
a letter of Maximilian? Likewise, when he was summoned to Worms,
and had against him the Kaiser and most of the Princes of the
Empire, was he not safe under the protection of the Kaiser's
word? Lastly, at the Diet of Augsburg, in presence of Charles V.,
an enemy of heretics, flushed with victory, master of the
situation, did not the heads of the Lutherans and Zwinglians,
under truce, present their Confessions, so frequently re-edited,
and depart in peace? Not otherwise had the letter from Trent
provided most ample safe-guards for the adversary; he would not
take advantage of them. The fact is, he airs his condition in
corners, where he expects to figure as a sage by coming out with
three words of Greek: he shrinks from the light, which should
place him in the number of men of letters [_lilleratorum_
{transcribers note: the Latin is interpolated into the
translation here}] and call him to sit in honourable place. Let
them obtain for English Catholics such a written promise of
impunity, if they love the salvation of souls. We will not raise
the instance of Huss: relying on the Sovereign's word, we will
fly to Court. But, to return to the point whence I digressed, the
General Councils are mine, the first, the last, and those
between. With them I will fight. Let the adversary look for a
javelin hurled with force, which he will never be able to pluck
out. Let Satan be overthrown in him, and Christ live.
FIFTH REASON
FATHERS
At Antioch, in which city the noble surname of Christians first
became common, there flourished _Doctors_, that is, eminent
theologians, and _Prophets_, that is, very celebrated preachers
(Acts xiii. 1). Of this sort were the scribes and wise men,
learned in the kingdom of God, bringing forth new things and old
(Matth. xiii. 52; xxiii. 34), knowing Christ and Moses, whom the
Lord promised to His future flock. What a wicked thing it is to
scout these teachers, given as they are by way of a mighty boon!
The adversary has scouted them. Why? Because their standing means
his fall. Having found that out for certain beyond doubt, I have
asked for a fight unqualified, not that sham-fight in which the
crowds in the street engage, and skirmish with one another, but
the earnest and keen struggle in which we join in the arena of
yon philosophers,
Foot to foot, and man close gripping man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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