would to God the forme of beleeuing were fetched from the Primitiue Church Thus saith Staâ—pulensis By which rule iustified by our Aduersaries we conclude that the holy Church of God need not receiue or beleeue any of those things following to wit Purgatory Inuocation of Saints departed worshipping of Images Auricular confession the Popes pardons Transubstantiation the Masse to be truely and properly a propitiatory sacrifice to be offered both for the quicke and the dead the Sacrament without Communicants and Communion vnder one kinde without the Cup to be sufficient for Lay people reseruation of the Sacrament and eleuation thereof to be worshipped and circumgestation in Procession for pompe and adoration Matrimony and extreme Vnction to be properly Sacraments of the New Testament and to conferre grace single life necessary to be imposed vpon the Clergy All which and more your Iesuite Azorius reckons for Traditions vnwritten p Azorius Institutionum lib 8. cap. 4. §. 3. seq Also that the Church of Rome is head of all â—hurches and that all Christians must fetch their Faith their Orders and iurisdiction from it that the Bishop thereof cannot erre in matters of faith or interpreting the Scriptures See more of this point Rainold Hart confer chap. 5. diuision 1. pag. 184 c. And chap. 8. divis 1. pag. 462. c. The Scriptures teach no such thing and therefore we need not beleeue it 5 We being constant to the former rule for the sufficiency of the Scriptures in matters of faith and good life further admit of some kind of Trad tions to wit first Doctrinall traditions agreeing with the Scriptures or thence truly deducted q Many Fathers call the whole Word of God which by some holy men guided by Gods Spirit was let downe in writing and by them also others deliuered to the people by liuely voyce A tradition which the Church must preseruâ— and also the forme of wholesome words Creeds Catechismes c. thence deducted 2 Tim. 1.13 Rom. 6 17. See Rain Hart. c. 8. d. 1. p 466 467. So the baptisme of Infants if not coÌ„manded in plaine words yet plainly deducted from Scripture Gen. 17.12 13. Col. 2.11 1â— Act. 2.38 39. Luke 18.16 Mar. 10.16 Mat. 19.14 18 14. 1 Cor. 7.14 Mat. 28.19 The doctrine of the Trinity the equality of three Diuine persons in one substance and the distinction by incommunicable proprieties Gen. 1.1 26. Mat. 3.16 Iob. 1.32 Mat. 17 5 28.29 2. Cor. 13.13 1 Iâ—b 5.7 Psal 2.7 Heb. â— 3 5. 7.3 Col. 1.15 The proceeding of the holy Gâ—ost from the Father and the Son as from one beginning and one spiration from all eternity Ioh. 14.26 15.26 16.13 14. Rom. 8.9 Secondly rituall traditions for order and decency left to the disposition of the Church being not of Diuine but of positiue and humane right r 1 Cor. 14.40 11.2 Acts 15 â—0 So they be not childish or trifling nor accounted parts of Gods worship nor with opinion of merit nor burthensome for their mâ—ltitude Å¿ Of the multitude S. Augustine complained in his time Epist 119. ad â—anuar c. 19. See D. Ram. Hart c. 8. div 4. p. 599. seq The first of these no man allowes and commends more then we and the second kind wee retaine and vse with reuerence such as are profitable and comely in our times and countries without condemning other Churches differing from ours in such matters as we find Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine did Aug. Epist 188. But a third kind of Traditions obtruded for Articles of Religion grounds of Faith and part of Gods worship neither contained expresly in Gods word nor thence deducted by any sound inference and yet receiued by the Councell of Trent Sess 4. with the same authority and reuerence that the holy Scriptures are receiued those we gainesay as things derogating to the verity sufficiency and perfection of the Scriptures And herein your Romish Writers deale fraudulenly against vs and deceiue the world for they alleadge the Fathers speaking of the first kind of Traditions as if they spake of all whereas indeed they write very strongly and sharply against this third kind which wee refuse Bishop Vsher in his booke against the Jrish Iesuite pag. 36. seq alleadgeth a whole Iury of ancient Fathers testifying the sufficiency of the Scriptures for matters of Faith Tertullian Origen Hippolitus the Martyr Athanasius Ambrose Hilary Basil Gregory Nissen Jerom Augustine Cyril Theodoret. So that the Traditions which they vrge we alow and those that we deny they write sharpely against The Fathers say your Rom sh are not of the Protestants Church because they vrge Traditions but wee say more truely The Fathers are not of the Romish Church because they teach the Scripture is sufficient and needs no Traditions to supply their defect as the Romish teach When Bellarmine and your other Doctors are pressed with the authority of the Fathers they are compelled to yeelâ— vnto vs the sufficiency of the Scriptures as I alleadged artic 4. but obserue their vnconstancy lest they should ouerthrow thereby the manifold doctrines held by their Church that haue no ground in the Scriptures they are faine to maintaine also vnwritten Traditions to bee the grounds of those Doctrines See more of this point in Mr. Perkins Reformed Catholicke the 7 point B. Morton Apol. Cathol part 2. lib. 1. cap. 32. seq And Protestants Appeal lib. 2. cap. 25. D. Field of the Church Booke B. Vsher in his answer to the Irish Iesuite Rainolds and Hart confer chap. 5. diuision 1. pag. 190. 6 We receiue and beleeue also the three Creeds The Apostles the Nicene and that of Athanasius t These are in our Bookes of publicke prayer and booke of Articles of anno 1562 art 8 and subscribed vnto by all Ministers and the foure generall Councels of the Primitiue Church as good formes of true Christian Doctrine deductions and explications of Scripture u Acknowleeged by King Iames in his Praemonitiâ—n to all Christian Monarâ—s p. 35. and by our Acts of Parliament You receiue the same also but you adde a thirteenth article decreed to be an article of Faith thirteene hundred yeares after Christ by a thirteenth Apostle Pope Boniface the eight x Boniface 8. liued an 13â—â— his Decree runs thus Subesse Romano Pontâ—fici omni humanae creaturae declaramus dicimus desinimus pronunciamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis Thus Boniface 8 in extrauag de majoritate obedientia cap. vnam santaâ— That it is necessary to saluation to be subiect to the Bishop of Rome which is neither in the Scriptures ancient Creeds nor ancient Fathers nor can be thence deducted And you haue further also dately added 12 new Articles by the authority of Pope Pius 4. anno 1564 raised out of the Councell of Trent and added to the Nicene Creed to be receiued with oath as the true Catholicke Faith to bee
vsed was worse then the vse of the law of Nature that Bishops sinned in buying their admission of the pope of Rome that no man was bound to beleeue or to be subiect to the Church of Romes determination that the begging of Friers was idle and impious that it was not necessary to saluation to beleeue that Christs body was materially in the Sacrament And many other things against the vnsoundnesse of the Papacy Yea madnesse contra Papatus insaniam At last he was condemned of heresie by the slaues of the popish Bishops 1457. Bale cent 8. cap. 19. ex Thomae Gascoigni Dictionario Theologico 34 Iohn Capgraue Doctor of Diunity in Oxford complained much of the impious tyranny of the prelates and priests hirelings exposing their sheepe to the Wolues seeking their wooll and milke but not their soules c. 1460. Bale cent 8. cap. 1. 35 Henry Parker Fellow of All-Soules Colledge in Oxford preached at Pauls Crosse against the pride brauery and ambition of Prelates so flat contrary to Christs pouerty and humility And at the peoples entreaty he wrote and published his Doctrine to the great shame of the Prelates For which he endured long imprisonment and want 1470. Leland in Catalogo virorum illustrium Bale cent 8 cap. 29. These few for a taste I giue you excerpted out of a great number which that one famous Vniuersity of Oxford afforded Whereof you may reade more plentifully in Master Powels Preface alledged To search and alleadge the Records of that other famous Vniuersity of Cambridge and the rest of England would not be fruitlesse but I hope to you needlesse Antiquus This is full enough so many learned men Preachers Doctors Bishops and Worthies of all sorts out of one Vniuersity with the danger of their state honour liberty and life setting themselues publikely against the corruptions crept into the Church must needs argue the corruptions to be great publike and necessary to be reformed and I am fully satisfied that it was so But happily this Reformation might haue beene performed without such a breach rent schisme and scandall as you Protestants haue made by your departing from that ancient famous Church of Rome §. 16. Antiquissimus Oh sir you must know that this Reformation was sought for euen at the Popes hands with great humility and earnestnesse both by Luther himselfe at the first and also by many other learned men This appeareth by 〈◊〉 Commencaries History of â—he Councell of â—râ—â— Onuphâ—â—â— Sâ—rius Thuaâ—â—us and oth r Histories of those times States and Prâ—nces yea by the Emperour himselfe with much instance And Pope Aâ—rian the sixt was well inclined thereunto confessing ingenuously that the Church was mightily ouer-runne wâ—th corrup ions For reformation whereof diuers conferences were appointed in Germany as not onely our Sleidan but your Surius and Thunâ—nus report And Pope Clement the seuenth promised Reformation to the Emperour Châ—rles the fift and three Cardinals Caieâ—â—â— Pole and Contarene were deputed to giue aduice for this Reformation After many delayes againe Anno 1537. Historie of the Councell of â—rent Pope Paul the third appointed foure Cardinals and fiue other Prelates to consider the demaunds of the Protestants and to collect the abuses of the Church and Court of Rome and to deuise Remedies to correct them And of these abuses they gathered great numbers which are set downe at large in the twelfth booke of Sleâ—dâ—ns Commentaries But all this came to nothing For when vpon due examination the Cardinals found many things too nearely touching the quicke the Reformation thereof would vncurably wound the Sea of Rome ouerthrow and vndoe the greatnesse of their wealth and worldly estate and when they consulted deepely thereof with the Pope See D. Wâ—ite against â—â—â—er pag. 10â— 1â—7 there followed a conclusion and a plot quite contrary In regard of the principall things That nothing should bee reformed but all should be iustified since a thorow-reformation would spoyle them and a halfe-reformation would not content the Protestants and yet would giue the world occasion to thinke They might erre in many things if they reformed some Now therefore the proceeding must be changed At first many of their Diuines opposing Luther laboured to proue all their Doctrines Ceremonies and Gouernment by the Scriptures now they find it cannot be Therefore the Scriptures must be cryed downe disgraced disabled as ambiguous and insufficient to teach and guide the Church And the Church to wit their owne onely Church of Rome must be exalted aboue the Scriptures That Church must giue authority to the Scriptures yea and sense also so that no sense of the Scripture shall be receiued but that which that Church alloweth For that Church only cannot erre See B. Andâ—eweâ— aâ— Apâ—loâ—â—am respâ—â—â—â— pag. 259 and therfore they that admit the Scriptures to be the onely Iudges and Rules of Doctrine and Discipline are bad Diuines little better then Hereticks Enemies to the Church From hence came those base speeches from their Doctors Eckius Hosius contra 〈◊〉 lib. 3. pâ—g 148. 〈◊〉 sâ—â—gâ—â—â—us That the Scripture hath no authority but from the Church Hosius No more force then Aesops Fables without authority from the Church Pighius the Scripture is of it selfe but a Nose of Waxe which may be writhen euery way Costerus compares it to a sheath Costeranchir dâ— saâ—â—a script cap. 1. §. huius script pa 44. B llar de verbo Dâ—i lâ—b 4. câ—p 9. in â—alce Concil Trid. sess 4. Pighius controv 3. pag 92 Hiâ—â—arch epist nunc Mulhus disp 2. de fide pa. 21. See D. White against Vishâ—r pag 92. admitting any Dagger Wooden or Leaden The Iesuite Salmeron saith Tradition is the sure rule of Faith by which the Scriptures are to be tryed And Bellarmine saith the best way to try which be true traditions which be false is the authority of the Church of Rome So that now to speake in their Dialect or meaning The Church of Rome is the Queene and the Scripture her slaue That Church hath now two seruants of equall authority Scripture and Tradition and therefore that Churches Councell of Trent saith Scripturas Traditiones Ecclesiae pari pietatis aspectâ— ac reuerentiae suscipit veneratur We receiue the Scriptures and Traditions of the Church with equall affection and reuerence Nay no great matter what the Scripture saith for their Tradition must interpret it If the Scripture say Drinke yee all of this Matth. 26 27 their Tradition saith not all but the Clergy onely and not all the Clergy but he that ministreth it onely So what their Priests teach must be receâ—ued and obeyed whether out of Scripture or Traâ—ition Tolet. casuum conscientiae l b 4. cap. 3. p â—53 Cardinall Tolet saith The people may merit ar Gods hand in beleeuing an Heresie if their Teachers propound it for their obedience is meritorious And Stapleton They must not regard quid but quis not what is the matter but who
necke shall we therefore giue sentence of death inevitable against all these Fathers in the Greeke Church which being mis-perswaded died in the errour of freewill He addeth in the Margen Error conuicted and afterwards maintained is more then errour For though the opinion be still the same yet the men are not the same after that the truth is plainly taught them This cleareth these Fathers from heresie but not from error Out of these premises you may conclude these Consequents 1 It is vniust for the Romish Doctors to binde vs to the Fathers opinions when themselues refuse them 2 It is not reasonable to make the Fathers tenets rules of our Doctrine when it is confessed on all hands that the Fathers haue in many things erred Bellar. lib. 3. de verbo Dei cap. 19. §. dices quid ergo Bellarmine saith who can deny that many of the ancient Fathers had the gift of interpreting in great excellency and that they were spiriuall and yet it is manifest that some of the chiefest of them haue slipped in some things non leuiter not lightly Rossensis in responsione ad prooemium Lutheri veritate septima in fine fol. 10. 11. Bishop Fisher answering Luthers obiection That the ancient Fathers haue sometimes erred saith This doe not I deny they haue erred sometimes and they were suffered to erre that we might know they were but men 3 It is not onely vniust and vnreasonable but vnpossible to make vs in all things agree with the Fathers who doe not in all things agree among themselues When Saint Austen confutes Cyprian for rebaptization Irenaeus and Tertulâ—ian differ in the time of Christs suffering some Fathers against freewill before grace some for it c How is it possible to agree with them all Aug. lib. 2. contra Crescomium gram cap. 30. Ego Cypriani autoritate non teneor sed ejus dictum ex Scripturae autoritate considero quodque cum ea congruit cum ejus laâ—de recipto qd non cum cius pace respuo 4 Therefore there is a necessity to trie the Fathers doubtfull tenets by some superiour and vndouted rule and that rule the Fathers selues say is the holy Scripture inspired by God and therefore infallible examine all doctrines by that rule hold what agrees to that and refuse that which disagrees Thus did Saint Augustine by Cyprians writings I am not bound with the authority of Cyprian saith hee but I weigh his sayings by the authority of the Scriptures and what agrees to them with his due praise I receiue what agrees not with his good leaue I refuse And thus would Augustine haue men doe with his writings Aug. de trinitate lib. 3 cap. 1. Sane cum in omnibus literis meis non solum pium lectorem sed etiam liberum correctorem desiderem multo maxime in his c. sicut lectorem meum nolo mihi esse deditum ita correctorem nolo sibi Jlle me non amet amplius quam catholicam fidem iste se non amet amplius quam catholicam veâ—tatem Sicut illi dico Noli meis literis quasi scripturis canonicis inservire sed in illis quod no credâ—bas cum inveneris incunctanter crede in istis autem ad certum non habebas nisi certum intellexeris noli firmiter retinere Ita illi dico Noli meas literas ex tua opinione vel contentione sed ex divina lectione vel inconcussa ratione corrigere In all my writings saith he I desire not onely a pious Reader but a free Corrector as a Reader not wholly yeelding to me so a Corrector not yeelding to his owne affections not louing me more then the Catholicke faith nor louing himselfe more then the Catholicke truth As I say to him Bee not subiect to my writings as to the Canonicall Scriptures But in those when thou findest what thou beleeuest not beleeue without delay in those what thou thoughtest not certaine except thou vnderstand to be certaine doe not firmely hold so I say to him correct not my writings by thine owne opinion or contention but by the holy Scripture and sound reason §. 2. Antiquus You haue said enough to cleare you for differing from the Fathers in some things now cleare your Protestants if you can of the great scandall of differences among themselues Antiquissimus This was your late second obiection which you may partly answer by that which wee haue said of the Fathers for if the different opinions of the Fathers in some points hindred not their vnion in substance of the saith and their being members of all the same Church why should the like or lesser differences now among the Protestants hinder their vnion in substance of the same faith and their being members all of the same Church both among themselues and with the Fathers You see differences among the Fathers that touched not the foundation life and soule of Christianity brake not their vnity still they were all of one Church and of one faith in the most necessary substance thereof In which respect also we truely say they were our Predecessors and of the same Church whereof we are notwithanding our differences and theirs in other lesser points your new-Catholikes also challenge them to be theirs notwithstanding many differences betwixt them But of this point more fully hereafter For the present I will shew you a number of great and many of them for ought I see endlesse differences among your owne Doctors and yet you account them all Catholickes and of one Religion Archb. Abbot against D. Hill reason 3. §. 11. 1 In Peter Lombard a prince of the Schoolemen called by that honourable name of Master of the Sentences for searching and iudiciously deliuering the Sentences and doctrine of the Fathers so farre as he could see in them In him I say the Diuines of Paris haue noted 26 errors in quibus Magister non tenetur wherein the schollers of Rome must not hold with him These errors are added to his foure bookes of sentences to warne the trauellers through his bookes of his rockes and sands 2 Those foure bookes of Sentences alone may shew the great and numberlesse variety of opinions which he reciteth in most points of doctrine and yet all the Authors of them Catholickes The like may be said of Thomas Aquinas his summes See D. Hall The Peace of Rome 3 The latter bookes of Controuersies written by the Iesuites Bellarmine Gregory de Valentia Azorius Suarez and other their large writers doe as ordinarily confute men of their owne side as they confute Protestants Yea oftentimes I finde in Suarez fiue columnes against their owne Doctors for one against ours Yet these confuted Doctors are still Catholicks with them Archb. Abbot ibid. 4 The whole Nation of the Dominican Fryers following the Thomists doe hold that the Virgin Mary was conceiued in originall sinne the whole Nation of the Franciscans hold the contrary Concil Basil session 36.
his preaching in the peoples minds If by authority Saint Ierom did meane supreme power ouer the other Apostles then Iames and Iohn should haue had it as well as Peter which is not your Catholike doctrine Also an inferiour or equall in power may be superiour in authority or estimation as Tully saith of Metellus a priuate man though chosen Consull for the yeere following That hee forbade certaine playes when an officer had allowed them and that which he could not obtaine by power Cicero oratione in Pisonem he did obtaine by authority that is with the credit which hee had with the people 2 The Primacy which the Fathers speake of was the Primacy of Order not of Power because Peter was first called to be an Apostle and first reckoned this argues no more power then the Fore-man of the Iury hath ouer the rest 3 The prerogatiue of Principality was in the excellency of grace and not of power as we say the Prince of Philosophers Aristotle the Prince of Poets Homer that is the wittiest or most excellent not Lord and master ouer the rest In this sence Saint Austine speaketh Peter the Apostle in whom that grace and Primacy are so superminent was corrected by Paul a latter Apostle by calling Saint Paul a latter Apostle hee sheweth his meaning of Saint Peters Primacy to bee of his first being an Apostle and by ioyning Grace with Primacy he sheweth that in greatnesse of grace consisted his supereminency So saith Saint Austen also b Aug. in Ioan. Tract 124. that Peter was Natura vnus homo gratia vnus Christianus abundantiori gratia vnus idemque primus Apostolus But to be chiefe in grace is one thing to be chiefe in power another thing c Turrecrem in Summa de Ecclesia l 2 c. 82. Cardinal Turrecramata saith A meane Christian yea an old woman may in perfection of grace and amplenesse of vertues be greater then the Pope but not in power of iurisdiction If excellency of grace might carry the supremacy of power you should take it from Saint Peter and giue it to the blessed Virgin By gifts of grace we vnderstand all blessings wherewith our Lord honoured him insomuch as in one thing or other he surpassed euery one of the Apostles Saint Iohn might exceed him in multitude of prophesies and reuelations and many gifts of grace as Saint Ierom declareth d Ierom. aduersus Iouinianum lib. 1. Saint Paul excelled him in the chiefest gifts and laboured more then all the rest 1 Cor. 15. so that Saint Austen giues excellent grace to Peter e De bapt con Donatistas lib. 2. c. 1. most excellent grace to Paul f in Psal 130. and cals him The Apostle by an excellency g Cont. duas epist pelagianorum lib. 3. c. 1. yet Saint Peter excelled Saint Paul in Primacy or being first chosen and Saint Iohn in age being the elder and therefore preferred before them to be the chiefe of the Apostles by Saint Ieroms opinion h Aetati delatuÌ„ est quia Petrus erat senior Hiero 1. adu Iouin lib. 1. To this Bellarmine yeeldeth i Bellar. lib. 1. de rom pontif cap. 27. § respoÌ„deo Paulum seeing Paul was called The Apostle per Antonomasiam quia plura scripsit doctior as sapientior fuit cateris also for planting more Churches then any other for the other Apostles were sent to certaine Prouinces he to all the Gentils without limitation and he laboured more abundantly then they all 1 Cor. 15. And after k § testatur ib. § fortasse Paul also may bee called princeps Apostolorum quia munus Apostolicum excellentissime ad impleuit as we call Virgil prince of Poets and Cicero prince of Orators Againe Nam etsi Petrus maior est potestate Paulus maior est sapientia Leo makes them the two eyes of the body whereof Christ is the head De quorum meritis atque virtutibus nihil diuersum nihil debemus sentire discretum quia illos electio pares labor similes finis fecit aequales The like hath Maximus ib. and Saint Gregory Paulus Apostolus Petro Apostolorum primo in principata Apostolico frater est Againe l Bellar. ib. §. denique si hac Paulus videtur plus Ecclesiae profuisse quà m Petrus plures enim ex gentibus ad Christi fidem adduxit plures prouincias summo cum labore peragrauit plura scripta eaque vtilissima nobis reliquit Antiq. Saint Ierom saith further that Saint Peter was made the head of the Apostles that all occasion of Schisme might be taken away Will you make nothing of those titles which the Scriptures and Fathers so frequently giue him of authority primacy principality supereminency the mouth of the Apostles the top the highest the president the head and such like Antiquis Nothing at all for that power which the Church of Rome now claymes by them and which hee neuer claymed nor vsed neither did the Scriptures or Fathers giue him What they gaue him we willingly yeeld A principality of Order Estimation and Grace For all Saint Peters power is comprised in the keyes promised him and in building the Church vpon him but all the Apostles receiue the keyes by Ieroms iudgement and the Church is built vpon them equally Ergo by his iudgement Peter was not ouer them in power and if you will yet say hee had some gouernment ouer them what can it else bee but a guidance not as a Monarch ouer subiects or inferiours D. Raynolds ib. pag. 226 227. D. Field l. 5. cap 24. but as in Aristocracy head of the company which in power are his equals For in all assemblies about affayres of gouernment there must needs bee one for orders sake and peace to begin to end to moderate the Actions and this is Saint Peters preheminence which Saint Ierome m Hieronym adu Iouin lib. 2. meant For hauing set downe his aduersaries obiection But thou saist The Church is built vpon Peter he answereth Although the same be done in another place vpon all the Apostles and they all receiue the keyes of the Kingdome of Heauen and the strength of the Church is grounded on them equally yet there is one chosen among the twelue that a head being appointed occasion of Schisme might be takeÌ„ away The like hath S. Cyprian n Cyprian de Vnitate Ecclesia Erant vtique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consorâ—io praediti honoris potestatis sed exordium ab vnitate prosiciscitur c. The other Apostles saith he were that which Peter was endewed with the same fellowship both of honour and power but the beginning proceedeth from vnity that the Church may be shewed to be one To speake at once view all the titles of excellency giuen by the ancient Fathers to S. Peter alleadged by Bellarmine o De rom pont lib. 1. cap. 25. weigh them aduisedly without preiudice or
many nay But the issues of these Ladies were very vnfortunate and many calamities proceeded from these marriages as he there reports Yet the pope dispensed with all this partly to bind the French vnto him and partly to bridle the Emperour whom he would not haue grow too great by addition of Britany to his State Besides he needed not much care for this present Emperour Maximilian a poore prince full of affaires and of small credit Yea Maximilian himselfe afterwards affected the popedome as Guicciardine reporteth But come we to the affaires of our owne Nation Pope Julius the 2. gaue a dispensation that King Henry the 8. of England might marry Katherine the wife of his brother Arthur deceased A marriage plainly condemned by the Scriptures Leu. 18.16 and 20.21 and Mat. 24.2 4. and by many learned Vniversities Afterwards pope Clement the 7. Hist concil Trid. lib. 1. pag. 68. at Henries sute sent Cardinall Campeggio into England framing a Briefe to dissolue the Kings said marriage with Katherine to be published when some few proofes were passed which he was sure would easily be made and to giue liberty to the King to marry another This anno 1524. but anno 1529. The pope thinking it better to ioyne with the Emperour who was sonne to Katherines sister sent another Nuncio to Campeggio with order to burne the Breefe and to proceed slowly in the cause For the popement to apply himselfe to his best aduantages but the King espying their iugling finally banished the popes authority out of England Annals ibid praepar pag. A. 3. Latin Apparat. p. xij But Queene Mary the daughter of Hâ—nry by the said marriage of Katherine perswaded her selfe that all the right that she had to the Kingdome of England was vpholden by no other meanes then by the power of the pope whose dispensation made that marriage lawfull and gaue sentence of her side after her father had declared her illegitimate and therefore she was bound to cleaue strongly to the Pope Also Charles the 5 Emperour procured a marriage betwixt Philip his sonne of Spaine and Mary Queene of England by a dispensation of pope Iulius the 3. because they were allied in the third degree and that Charles himselfe had contracted to marry her being then vnder age for time to come Ibid. pag. 5. sed â—atin pag. 4. After her death King Philip desirous to keepe England treated seriously of a marriage with Queen Elizabeth his late wiues sister with promise to obtaine a speciall dispensation from the pope Which the King of France fearing it would be granted by the pope laboured secretly to hinder but the hindrance of the marriage was from Queene Elizabeth her selfe Relation of Religion in the West pag. 34. 27. See the whole Tract pag. 25. seq By such dispensations from the pope marriages in the house of Austria haue been so neere that they remaine still as brethren all of one family and as armes of the selfe-same body Keeping their dominions vnited still together without distraction Philip the second of Spaine might call the Archduke Albert both brother cozen nephew and sonne being vncle to himselfe cozen-german to his father husband to his sister and father to his wife Such marriages made lawfull onely by the pope dispensing with the Law of God must needs binde both the parties and issue thereof to be firme to the Papacy and to maintaine that authority by which themselues stand maintained and honoured So searched and penetrant is that Sea of Rome to strengthen it selfe more by vnlawfull marriages of other men then euer Prince yet could doe by the most lawfull marriage of his owne And thus the Pope by some one act ties vnto himselfe the fauour of many friends and many generations Yet may this be thought fit onely for blinded or ill-minded Princes The well-sighted or well-minded need no such cloake nor will make vse of any such for any otherwise vniustifiable courses But if they through their owne ignorance or their Ancestors vniust proiects haue been inuolued in such nets as their conscience now mislikes they may after our King Henries example by Gods booke and the counsell of godly wise and learned men alter their courses abolish his authority that alters Gods Lawes or deludes them and establish their state by more sound meanes Humanum est errare perseuerare diabolicum §. 9. VI. Other dispensations See Verdunt discourse anno 1563. Mense Febr. in hist conc Trid. lib. 7. pag. 676. See Tortura Torti pag 57. for diuers things hurtfull to the Church States and People but very profitable to the Pope and Court of Rome are ordinary About which one Iohannes Verdun spake freely and iudiciously in the Councell of Trent Dispensations saith he are accounted dis-obligations from the Law but Gods Law is perpetuall and remaineth inuiolable for euer The Pope is not Lord and the Church his seruant to bestow fauours as a master vpon his seruants Hee is but a seruant at the best to him who is Spouse of the Church neither can he by dispensing vnbinde any that is bound but onely declare to him that is not bound that he is exempted from the Law Indeed humane Lawes through the imperfection of the Law-makers and Cases not foreseene may admit dispensations in sundry occurrences as exceptions from the generall Law where it may be iustly thought the Law-makers would haue made exceptions if they had foreseene those Cases but where God is the Law-giuer from whom nothing is concealed and by whom no accident is not fore-seene the Law can haue no exception but all his Law is equity it selfe perpetuall and immutable Hist conc Trid. lib. 4. pag. 321. The King of France anno 1551. in a Printed Manifest published to his subiects that they were not to regard the Popes dispensations which were not able to secure the conscience and are nothing but a shadow cast before the eies of men which cannot hide the truth from God Euen in mens lawes Dispensationes sunt legum vlnera Dispensations are deepe wounds In Gods Lawes deadly wounds both to the lawes and to the dispenser for lawes often wounded haue little life left in them and he that wounds them hath little feeling of conscience Christ came not to dissolue the Law but to fulfill it Matth. 5.17 the Pope comes not to fulfill the lawes but to dissolue them He vnbinds subiects oathes to Princes yea bindes subiects with oathes against Princes both against Gods Law binding where he should loose loosing where he should binde as Anti-god and Antichrist He bindes his Catholickes for a time while they want strength they shall not stirre getting strength then they are loosed then stirre killâ— and massacre Thus Gregory the 13. interprets the Bull of Pius the 5. And thus Princes of the old Christian faith that they liue and reigne are beholden to the Catholickes of the new stampe not for their faith but for their weakenesse Hist conc Trent lib.
de script eccles ad an 420 lib. 1. de missa cap. 6. Bellarmine is not Augustines nor the worke of any Catholicke man for which he sheweth great reasons but of some Hereticke who teacheth many things against the faith and against Augustine So saith also Angelus Roccho Espencaeus The Diuines of Lovain Alfonsus de Castro Maldonatus Salmeron Azorius Leusaeus Velosillus Penerius and Harding as they are alleadged by Robert Cooke in Censuraquorundam scriptoruÌ„ veterum aedit Londini 1623. who addeth these words Here I must in few words meet with your conscience you Pontificians and especially with yours ô Turrian ô Harding ô Bellarmine I demaund of thee Turrian why didst thou write t Jn praesatione confess Augustini Be it so that all are not Augustines bookes which haue Augustines name inscribed yet surely most of them are of Saint Augustines equals and plainely all of them are the workes of learned and godly men when it is plaine by this very booke the Author was an Hereticke and by the confession of your owne brethren a blasphemous and wretched man I demaund of thee Harding with what face couldest thou alleadge those questions vnder Saint Augustines name for the primacy of the Pope which elsewhere thou didst confesse was none of Augustines I demaund of thee Bellarmine with what forehead couldest thou reckon vp the Author of these questions u Bellar. de Rom. Pontif lib. 1. cap. 25. among the 24 Fathers which thou comparest to the 24 Elders in the Apocalyps while thou fightest for thy pope since elsewhere thou hast written plainly that neither Augustine nor any Catholicke man but an hereticke was the author of these questions May we not truely say here Frons Meretricis facta est vobis you haue the forehead of an whore and cannot blush Ier. 3 3 Thus said Mr. Cooke out of his iust indignation for this one booke And we may say the same of many more To reckon vp all that is falsely fathered vpon S. Augustine alone would fill a good volume saith Trithemius Trithem de script eccles Aug. And the like may be said of S. Chrysostome Jerom and other Fathers Let this taste which I haue giuen you suffice and thereby gesse at the rest If you desire to see more of S. Augustine you may read Paulus Langius in Chronico Citizensi anno 1259. And Erasmus epistle ad Archiepisc Toletanum Parisijs 1531. And li. 3 de methodo concionandi If of all the Fathers reade Mr. Perkins Probleme but especially Mr. Cooks censure aforenamed And D. Mortons apologia Catholica pars 2. l. 2. c. 1. seq §. 8. 2 In the bookes which the ancient Fathers and other learned Authors haue written much intollerable corruption hath been vsed Lodovicus Vives a Vives Comm. in August De civ Dei lib. 22. cap. 8. vpon one Chapter of Saint Augustine saith In hoc capite non dubium quin multa sunt addita velutâ— declarandi gratia abijs qui omnia magnorum autorum scripta spurcis suis manibus contaminabant It seemes in that long tract of time when all bookes were in such mens hands they were shamelesly bold to corrupt them For Viues speakes of the generallity Omnia and of their sawcinesse to meddle with magnorum autorum scripta and of their wickednesse contaminabant and of their beastlinesse spurcis suis manibus No doubt saith he but many things were added to this Chapter of Saint Augustine by them which with their vncleane hands defiled or corrupted all the writings of great authors This happily was then a worke onely of darkenesse done secretly and without authority tares sowne in the night by wicked men among the good wheat of the Fathers But now the like is done by authority avowed and commended For what else meanes this of Sixtus Sinensis in his b Praefat. in â—pus Bibli Epistle Dedicatory to pope Pius Quintus Tu Beatissime Pontifex expurgari fecisti omnium autorum Catholicorum praecipuè Veterum Patrum scripta Thou most blessed Bishop hast caused the writings of all Catholicke authors and especially of The ancient Fathers to be purged or cleansed For now are dispersed to Printers certaine bookes called Indices Expurgatorij appointing both in ancient and latter books what must be put out which the authors wrote what to put in which the authors wrote not and so to print the books new againe being so altered for the best aduantage of the Church of Rome to the end that men may not find in the new prints any thing against them though it be in the old and yet many things for them which the old and true bookes had not sometimes altering one word will serue the turne See D. Morton Apologia Cath. part 2 l. 2. c. 17â— pag. 239. as in stead of Non habent Petri hareditatem qui Petri FIDEM non habent to print Non habent Petri haereditatem qui Petri SEDEM non habent the seat of Peter put for the faith of Peter to tye saluation to Peters seat Rome in stead of Peters faith Christ confessed by Peter Sometimes whole sentences or pages are altered or left out c. See D. Featly Appendix to the Romish Fisher pag. 13. seq D. Mort. ibid. Thus haue they serued Gratian with his glosse Cajetan Ferus Polydore Vives Stapulensis Stella Arias Montanus Masius and hundreds of others their owne writers As you may see in the Index Expurgatorius committed to the Belgicke Printers 1571 and brought into the open light by Junius anno 1586. and another Index expurgatorius printed at Madril in Spaine anno 1584. by commandement of Gasper Quiroga Cardinall and Archbishop of Toletum and found by the English in their voyage to Cales and published to the world at Salmure anno 1601. And a third Index expurgatorius ordained by the Cardinal of Sandovall and Roxas printed anno 1612. Beside others not yet so publikely knowne Obserued by Mr. Bedell in his letters to Mr. Wadsworth pag. 100 101. Among many hundreds of examples of these corruptions I giue you these euen in the Fathers for a taste Pope Pius the fourth called Paulus Manutius an elegant Printer from Venice to Rome to print the Fathers without spots In his print of Saint Cyprians workes See B. Bilson Dâ—ffer of subiection and rebellion first part pag 89 in 8. In the Epistle De vnitate Ecclâ—siae these words are added Et primatus Petro datur and afterwards these Vnam cathedram constituit and these also Cathedra vna And in the edition of Pamelius another clawse is added Qui cathedram Petri super quam fundata est ecclesia deserit c. though the supervisors of the Canon law appointed by the Commandement of Gregory 13 acknowledge that in eight copies of Cyprian found entire in the Vatican Library this sentence is not found And had these passages been in old Cyprian in Waldensis time when he wrote for Peters chaire
and primacy he would not haue failed to vse them being so pregnant for his purpose In the same edition of Manutius Bedel ibid. See D. Field 5. cap. 42. fol. vlt. the Epistle of Firmilianus Bishop of Cesaria beginning Accepimus per Rogatianum is quite left out although Saint Cyprian thought it worthy his translation and publication and good cause why For that Bishop tartly vilifieth the Bishop of Romes both place person farre beneath that height which they now assume Firmilianns reproueth the folly of Stephanus that boasting so much of the place of his Bishopricke and succession of Peter bee stirred vp contentions and discords in all other Churches and bids him not deceiue himselfe he is become aschismaticke by separating himselfe from the communion of the Ecclesiasticall vnity for while hee thinkes he can separate all from his Communion hee hath separated himselfe onely from all He taxeth him for calling Cyprian a false Christ a false Apostle and a deceitfull workeman which being priuy to himselfe that these were his owne due preuentingly he obiected to another This Epistle is omitted in the new prints And thus graue Authors are shamefully curtalled and corrupted when they speake against the Pope and his doctrine their tongues are cut out contrarily words and sentences are foysted into their workes to make them seeme to speake for him when they neuer meant it Franc. Iunius reports that he comming in the yeare 1559. to a familiar friend of his Junius in praesatione ante Indicem expurgatorium Belgicum à se editum 1586 named Lewes Sauarius Corrector of a Print at Leydon found him ouerlooking Saint Ambrose Workes which Frellonius was printing Whereof when Junius commended the elegancy of the Letter and Edition the Corrector told him secretly it was of all Editions the worst and drawing out many sheets of now-waste-paper from vnder the Table told him they had printed those sheetes according to the ancient authenticke copies but two Franciscans had by their authority cancelled and reiected them and caused other to be printed and put in their roomes differing from the truth of all their owne bookes to the great losse of the Printer and wonder of the Corrector Gretzer De iure prohib libros lib. 2. cap. 10. The Iesuite Gretzerus defendeth these doings and writing of the purging or altering of old Bertram hee saith the Index hath done him no iniury when it hath done him that fauour which is done to some of the ancients as Tertullian and Origen Them and some others though very ancient Gratian quite cut off and the Church hath this authority saith hee to proscribe whole bookes or any parts of them great or small Thus Gretzerus And indeed of the two it were better to proscribe or cut them off as no witnesses then to corrupt and make them false witnesses to speake what they thought not or what is not true But for a Particular Church to proscribe or corrupt all the witnesses that speake against her is vntollerable See more in D. Morton Apologia Catholica part 2. lib. 2. c. 17 In the former point of Counterfeits the Children begot the Fathers In this point of Corruption the Children will teach the Fathers to speake and alter their testimonies and testaments at their pleasure §. 9. Index Expurg Belg. fol. 4. per Iunium edit pag. 12. 3 By deuised glosses and witty but wrong interpretations they wrest the sentences of the Fathers to meane otherwise then the Fathers intended This is confessed by the Diuines of the Vniuersity of Doway speaking of Bertrams booke The title Vt liber Bertrami presbyteri de Corp. sang Domini tolerari emendatus queat Iudicium Vniversitatis Duacensis Censoribus probatum Then their iudgement followes with some reasons why they rather mend the book then forbid it lest the forbidding should make men more desirously seeke it and greedily reade it and condemne the Church for abrogating all antiquity that is alleadged against them c. Therefore they will vse it as they doe other ancient Catholike bookes which they deliuer in these words Cumâ— in Catholicis veteribus alijs plâ—â—â—os feramus errores extenuemus excusemus excogâ—â—â—â—omento persaepe negemus commodum ijs seasum â—ffingamus dum opponuntur in disputationibus aut in confactionibus cum aduersarijs non videmus cur non candem aequitatem diligentem recognitionem mereatur Bertramus c. that is Seeing in other ancient Catholike writers we beare with many errors and we extenuate excuse and oftentimes by witty expositions deny and dâ—uise a commodious sense vnto them when they are opposed in disputations and conflicts with our aduersaries we see no reason why Bertram may not deserue the same equity and diligent recognition In this passage we may obserue these things 1 They acknowledge many errours to be in ancient Writers whom yet they account Catholickes and of their owne Church or Religion Otherwise they must haue a small and the Protestants a large Church 2 That those opinions though many which they Call errors make for their aduersaries the Protestants and are against Romes present doctrine and so obiected by the Protestants 3 How they auoyd them euen by applying their Art Wit and Learning Gods talents committed to them to obscure the Truth corrupt the witnesse thereof deceiue the simple and gull the learned making all beleeue that the ancient Writers are nothing at all against them but fully for them by peruerting their allegations to speake quite contrary to the Authors meaning O wit and learning wickedly bestowed conscience seared poore people miserably deluded And note further 4 the generality of this practise Iudicium Vniuersitatis Duacensis Censoribus approbatum confessed professed by a whole Vniuersity at once and deliuered for their deliberate iudgement and approoued by the most learned and iudicious censors appointed to that great office by the Hierarchy of the Church of Rome though this practice was a long time closely carried in darkenesse yet now it is defended in the open light by Gretzer the Iesuite §. 10. 4 The Roman Doctors may bring in whole Armies of witnesses on their side when they change the question and proue what no body denies a Bedel letters to Wadworth pag. 109. As when the question is whether the pope haue a Monarchy ouer all Christians an vncontroulable Iurisdiction an Infallible Iudgement c. b Bellar. de summo Pontifice lib. 2. cap. 15. 16 answered by D. Field lib. 5. cap. 35 36. Bellarmine alleadgeth a number of Fathers Greeke and Latin to proue onely that Saint Peter had a primacy of honour and authority which is farre short of that supremacy which the popes now claime and which is the question So to proue the verity of Christs Body and Blood in the Lords Supper c Bellar de Eucharistia lâ—b 2. toto Bellarmine spends the whole booke in citing the Fathers of seuerall Ages To what purpose when the
powre abroad his gifts into the whole body that the Church might stand vpon Peters firmnesse King Iames Remonstrance pag. 163. English 1 Cor. 2.15 In these latter times they haue found out more texts but no whit better for their purpose then these Our learned King Iames in his Remonstrance to the Cardinall Peron reciteth some of the chiefest Saint Paul saith The spirituall man discerneth all things ergo they gather the Pope must be Iudge of all men and matters Mat. 28.18 Mat. 8.31 Mat. 21.2 Christ said All power is giuen to me both in heauen and earth ergo to his Vicar The Diuels said If thou cast vs out send vs into the heard of swine and Christ said to his Disciples Ye shall find an Asses colt bound loose him and bring him to me This sheweth that Christ disposed of temporall things ergo so must his Vicar Ioh. 21.15 Act. 10.13 Iesus not onely commanded Peter to feed his sheepe but also said Arise kill and eate therefore saith Baronius Duplex est Petri officium vnum pascere alterum occidedere Peter had two offices one to feed another to kill Belike Peter is now come to the top of the house and entred vpon his second office to kill and deuoure Ier. 1.10 God said to Ieremy I haue establishd thee ouer Nations and kingdomes to wit to preach Gods promises and threatnings Luk. 22.38 Mat. 26.52 Molina Iesuita lib. de iure tract 2 disp 29. and Peter said to Christ See here are two swords and Christ answered It is sufficient not too many Also Christ said to Peter Put vp thy sword into thy sheath ergo the Pope hath power ouer Nations and Kingdomes and two swords one spirituall the other temporall Psal 45.16 It is said Psal 45. In stead of thy fathers thou shalt haue children whom thou shalt make Princes in all lands Ioh. 12.32 1. Cor. 6.3 Christ said If I were lift vp from the earth I will draw all things vnto me and Saint Paul Know yee not that we Paul and the Corinthians c. shall iudge the Angels how much more the things that pertaine vnto this life Vpon these places the Papall monarchy for temporall causes hath beene built in these latter ages As in former time Pope Boniface the eight Extrauag vnam sanctam grapling and tugging with Philip the Fayre built his temporall power vpon this that In the beginning God created heauen and earth Antiq. I am very sorrowfull to see the sacred Scriptures so vainly alleadged by men accounted holy wise and learned I cannot iustifie them Bellarm. de iustif l. 3. c. 8. initio Bellarmines rule condemnes them when he saith that All we are bound to beleeue with certainety of Faith must be contained in Gods word in plaine words or else euidently deducted from thence by good consequence of Reason But for this great point I speake my conscience here is neither euident words nor scarce any shew of consequence §. 10. Antiquis But for the contrary See K. Iames Praemonition pag. 47. you shall finde in the Scripture both euident words and manifest consequence The Scripture is plaine that the words Tibi tibi dabo claues in effect are spoken in the plurall number in another place Mat. 18.18 Whatsoeuer yee shall binder loose in earth shall be bound and loosed in heauen whereby the very power of the keyes is giuen to all the Apostles And the words Pasce oues vsed to Peter were meant to all the Apostles as may bee confirmed by a Cloud of witnesses both of Ancients and euen of late Popish writers yea and diuerse Cardinals Otherwise how could Paul direct the Church of Corinth to excommunicate the incestuous person cum spiritu suo whereas he should then haue said cum spiritu Petri as our gracious King Iames gathereth adding also that all the Apostles vsed their censures in Christs name neuer speaking of his Vicar that Peter in all the Apostles meetings sate amongst them as one of their number that when letters were sent from the Councell Acts 15.22 23. the style was It seemed good to the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church c. without mention of the Head thereof that Saint Paul blameth the Corinthians for that some said they were of Paul some of Apollo some of Cephas some of Christ which he would not haue done if Cephas that is Peter had beene Christs Vicar and head of the Catholike Faith that Saint Paul compareth or rather preferreth himselfe before Peter Galat. 2. which had beene rudely done had he thought Peter his Head Such reasons alleadgeth our iudicious King See also before sect 6. to which might bee added also that Saint Peter was compelled to giue account of his doings to the rest of the Apostles who contended and contested with him about them Acts 11. I hope these Allegations are farre more pregnant against the Supremacy of Saint Peter then the Romists are for it §. 11. Antiq. Yet the ancient Fathers vnderstand the Scriptures so These Fathers are thus alledged by Mr Hart Conference with D. Raynolds cap. 5 diuision 3. p. 217 out of Stapleton priu do l. 6. c. 13 Raynolds ib. pag. 2â—1 that they gaue S. Peter most honorable titles S. Austen saith The Primacy of the Apostles is conspicuous preeminent with excelleÌ„t grace in Peter Chrysostom calleth him the mouth of the Apostles the chief the top of the Company Theodoret the Prince of the Apostles which title is giuen him by all Antiquity Others ad out of Epiphanius The highest of the Apostles Austen the head president the first of them And Cyprian saith The Lord did chuse Peter first haply hee meant his first Apostle not his first Disciple for Audrew was first a Disciple and followed Christ as Saint Ambrose obserueth And Saint Ierom saith Peter was of so great authority that St. Paul went to visit him as himselfe writeth Gal. 2. and Ierom saith also that Peter was chosen one among the twelue to the intent that a head being appointed occasion of Schisme might be taken away Of such sayings as these the Fathers bookes are full Antiquis Doth not Doctor a See Raynolds Hart ibid cap. 5. diuis 3. Raynolds there answer you soundly and fully which you may reade there at large the briefe substance whereof is this that all the Fathers sayings touch onely three prerogatiues the first of Authority the second of Primacy the third of Principality but all far short of the Supremacy which the Pope now claymeth 1 The authority mentioned by Saint Ierom is onely Credit and Estimation for so Ierom expresseth his owne meaning Saint Paul went vp to Ierusalem to conferre of the Gospel with them that were esteemed that is with Peter and other Apostles to wit with Iames Peter and Iohn who were esteemed to be Pillars Gal. 2.2.9 for his conference with Apostles of such authority or estimation might adde some credit authority and estimation to
partiality and you shall finde they proue no more then the excellency of honourable estimation the primacy of order and the principality of grace and are farre short of prouing the Supremacy of power ouer the whole Christian world now claimed and practised by the Bishop of Rome B. Carlton iurisdiction pag. 55 56. Wee may also iustly alleadge that the honours and titles that other Bishops gaue to the Bishops of Rome for their great vertue in former times the Romists of these latter times vniustly draw to proue the iurisdiction of that Sea because they may finde the same or greater giuen to other worthy Bishops as to Saint Ambrose to whom p Basil epist 55. Saint Basil writing saith He holdeth the sterne of that great and famous shippe the Church of God and that God hath placed him in the primacy and chiefe seate of the Apostles So q Sidon lib. 6. ep 1 4. Sidonius Apollinaris Bishop of Arvern calleth Lupus a French Bishop Pope Lupus and his Sea Apostolike And writing to Fontellus another French Bishop r Lib. 7. ep 4. Quod Apostolatus vestri patrocinium copiosissimumconferre vos comperi saith he greatly reioyced that he found he did aboundantly defend his Apostleship And againe Å¿ Lib. 6. ep 7. Ego quoque ad Apostolatus tui noticiam accedo I come to the knowledge of your Apostleship t Chrysost de laudibus Paul hom 8. in Gal. 2. Erat Paulus Princeps Apostolorum honore par Petro ne quid dicam amplius Saint Chrysostom called Saint Paul Prince of the Apostles u Ruffin histor lib. 2. cap. 1. Iacobus Apostolorum princeps Ruffinus gaue Saint Iames the same title x Greg in 1 Reg. lib. 4. cap 4. Paulus ad Christum conuersus caput effectus est nationum qui obtinuit Ecclesiae totius principatum See D. Field Church booke 5. chap. 41. Saint Gregory gaue Saint Paul the title of Head of the Nations and that hee obtained the gouernment of the whole Church What titles doe the Fathers giue vnto Saint Peter beyond these If these doe not proue any generall Iurisdiction in others how doe they proue it in Saint Peter §. 12. But what need we stand vpon Titles which the ancient Fathers gaue to Saint Peter or the Pope when the whole course of their actions were against the Supremacy now challenged Remember what I haue said a See before booke 1. chap. 1 §. 2. before of the Fathers misliking and disswading the Popes assumed authority in the smallest matters as Polycarpus disswading Anicetus Polycrates and the Bishops of the East and Irenaeus with his French Bishops in the West disswading Victor from new vnusuall vniustifiable courses ibid. §. 3. Other Fathers afterwards plainely resisting and reiecting the Popes iudgement and authority as the holy Martyr Cyprian with many whole Councels of the African Bishops Saint Basil the Great and the whole Greeke Church I shewed you also how three Popes in succession Zozimus Boniface and Celestine aboue 400. yeeres after Christ claymed their superiority and priuiledges not by the Scriptures but by a Canon of the Councell of Nice which Canon the holy learned Bishops in the Councell of Carthage reiected finding no such thing in any of the Copies of the Councell of Nice which their Church kept or the Church of Alexandria or the Church of Constantinople So that finally condemning that Canon to be countefet and the claymed authority of the Church of Rome to bee new and vnlawfull they made Decrees against the Popes clayme conformable to their owne Decrees and Customes of former times b Ibid. sect 4. I shewed you further by the Contention betwixt Iohn Bishop of Constantinople and Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome that your owne Gregory condemned the titles and supremacy which Iohn then laboured for and which your Popes now take vnto them he I say condemned them for Antichristian and said none of his ancestors did euer claym them c Ibid. sect 5. I shewed you also how the Bishops of France Germany and Brittany with many Councels one at Constantinople another at Frankfurt another at Paris with whom also ioyned Charles the Great and Ludouicus Pius beside many learned men in their bookes at that time opposed the Pope and his Councels and his authority in imposing the worship of Images vpon the Church Of these and of the succeeding times I haue spoken d See ibid. sect 9. 10. c. in mine opinion sufficient to satisfie any moderate man and vpon occasion I haue much more to say But reade aduisedly at your leysure B. Iewel B. Morton D. Field and our other learned Protestants or our most iudicious King Iames his bookes or reade onely B. Bilsons booke e B. Bilson The true difference between Christian subiectioÌ„ vnchristian rebellion specially the first part p. 94. seq in 8. who writes fully enough and punctually of these matters and if you bee not prejudicate and obstinate beyond all reason you will be satisfied Onely I will adde here for the present one thing of the African Church about Saint Cyprians time and after The Contention betwixt the Bishops of Africa and the Bishop of Rome was so great that on the one side as Cassander f Cassander consultation arâ—ic 7. pag 54. obserueth Pope Steuen repelled Saint Cyprian à communione suâ from Communion with him See â—efoâ—â— châ—p 2â—â—â— admitted not to his speach the Bishops of Africa comming from Saint Cyprian as Legats yea and foâ—bade all his fraternity to receiue them into their houses denying them not only peace coÌ„munion but also tectum hospitium house-room lodging calling Cyprian Pseudo hristum dolosum operariâ—m a false Christ and deceitfull worker And on the other side Saint Cyprian and the Africans stood out thinking the Pope and the Italians in the wrong neither sued they neither cared they for the Communion of the Pope and the Church of Rome Doctor Harding saith g Hardings answer to Iewels challenge pag. 290. The whole Church of Africa withdrew it selfe from the Church of Rome by reason of this difference of Appeales and so continued in Schisme an hundred yeeres and in that time were brought into miserable captiuity by the Vandales Harding might remember that Rome it selfe about the same season in the space of 140. yeeres was brought to miserable calamities being sixe times taken by the wilde and barbarous enemies h B. Iewel ib. after which time of 100. yeeres Eulabius B. of Carthage condemning his predecessors disobedience and seeking reconciliation to the Pope did by publike instrument or writing submit and reioyne the African Church to the Roman And Boniface the Pope writes thereof to the Bishop of Alexandria exciting him to reioyce and giue thankes to God for this reconciliation saying that Aurelius Bishop of Carthage and his fellowes whereof Saint Augustine was one being set on by the Diuell had