With like vanitie lightnes and malice the Bull is not ashamed to geue foorth that the Quéene setteth foorth or enforceth to hir whole realme bookes contayning manifest heresie for the Quéene hath authorized no bookes to be set foorth to hir realme but such as hir Maiesties brother King Edward willed to be set foorth afore specially the volume of the holy Bible Now to say that this contayneth manifest heresies it is an horrible and blasphemous wickednes and the greatest treason to God that may be Howbeit by the way there be many maintayners of the Pope and his sea which make neyther shame nor conscience to put openly in writing and to teach that heresies are learned out of the Bible and that he which hath the Bible and readeth it without the interpretatiō of the church of Rome hath nothing But I will speake no more at this time of the blasphemies of these wicked men Peraduenture the Bull meaneth the booke of common prayers and ceremo nies of the church of England But so ought it also to haue bene shewed which be heresies that are contayned in that booke The soresayd parlament of London maketh honorable mention of that booke And there shall be enow that will annswer if there be heresies in that booke at least wise if the bull meane that booke shew them expresly vnlesse peraduenture according to the maner of these stately sires euery thing must beare the blame of heresy which hath not the sent and tast of the stinch of the pope or of the sea of Rome which thing deserueth no aunswering at all Truely the Quéenes Maiestie hath prohibited all vngodly bokes to be dispersed yea or read in hir realme which are hereticall indéed and repugnant to the sinceritie of our Christian religion Neither may any man spread abroad any wicked or blasphemous booke or opinion in hir realme without punishment ¶ Here be recited other articles of accusation which the Bull mentioneth concerning the Queenes abolishing of the masse and hir taking away of many other superstitions and abuses Also here is expounded what catholikenesse is and who be catholike THe Bull knitteth héerunto also other articles of accusation agaynst the Quéene She hath also sayth the bull abolished prayers fastinges choyce of meates single life catholike ceremonies As concerning the sacrifice of the masse the Quéene not vniustly but for many and most iust causes hath abolished it like as King Edward had abolished it afore In the Syuode of London whereof we haue made mention now once or twise already thus remayneth in writing concerning the masse Christes oblatiō once made for all is a ful redemption attonement and satisfaction for all the sinnes of the whole world as well originall as actuall Neither is there any other satisfaction for sinnes sauing onely that one Wherfore the sacrifices of masses wherein the priest was commonly sayd to offer Christ for release of penaltie and fault for the quicke and the dead are but forgeries and hurtfull deceites Thus much is written there But it is the dutie of kinges to abolish and banish yea and to punish noysome deceites and deceyuers Worthely therfore haue the Kinges of England abolished the masse neyther haue they trespassed at all in that behalfe against God or against their owne office Moreouer by the Masse the holy institution of the Lords supper hath bene ouerwhelmed with mans inuentions additiōs vtterly peruerted made of publike priuate also dismembred For the Lord gaue it to all his faythfull in both kindes as they terme it Also wheras the massemūger taketh vpon him in his masse as a mediator betwéene God and men he committeth such an horrible offence as is neuer able to be purged by no satisfaction For there is no mo priesthodes but the priesthode of Christ and that is according to the order of Melchisedecke and so vnremoueable as it cannot passe vnto any other by succession Againe they offred or solemnized the masse in remembraunce and honor of saintes departed which now liue in heauen But the Lord had sayd do it in remembraunce not of saintes but of me And S. Paule would in no wise haue garlands and oxen offered vnto him Who then can thinke it likely that he would haue the Sonne of God offred in honour of him in a masse Shall the Lord of Lordes being now in glory do seruice still as a seruaunt to hys owne seruaunts These are frenzies and furies of men that be out of theyr wittes I could alleage many other abhominations of the masse like vnto these but I will adde no more but onely thys to all the rest That Christ our Lord instituted his holy supper without pompe or superfluitie simple moderate without ceremonies but yet commendable for the simplicitie and honourable for the authoritie of the founder But the Masse is most ceremonious most pompous most sumptuous and set out with persian furniture which in processe of time hath so encreases with hir abuses that in some thinges it could not be abated or purged but it must néedes be taken quite away Truly the common sorte made more accoūt of their Chapleines Masses aduaunced them more then the very sacrifice of Christ which few of them either knew or estéemed as became thē And for asmuch as the Apostle Paule when the Lordes Supper began in his time to grow into abuse taught how to call it backe to reforme it accordyng to the Lordes institution Like as Christes Martyr S. Cryprian also beyng taught by the same Apostles example counselleth and commaundeth vs that in repayring or setting vp agayne the true vse of the Supper we should go to the wells head and séeke out the originall and not do any other thing in this behalfe then that which he hath done which is before all men and alonely is to be heard Seing that the Quéenes Maiestie hath done so in abolishing the Masse and setting vp the Lordes Supper agayne in the place of it Surely she hath not sinned at all but is falsly accused by the Bishop in his Bull. Most false also is this that the Bull auoucheth the Quéene to haue abolished prayer and fastyng For she hath abolilished the abuses and superstitions in them and not the good thynges themselues which God hath commended vnto vs Which thing the matter it selfe doth openly auouch It can not be denyed but prayer and fastyng are couered with abuses and superstitions yea and with Idolatries almost innumerable among the Papistes Among them prayer is not made to God alone neither beleue they that God heareth vs for the intercession of Christ alone For they call vppon innumerable creatures as well as the creatures yea and vpon them more earnestly then vpon him And they haue in such wife commended the intercession and defense of Saintes to the wretched people that they know litle or nothyng of Christes intercession to God the father which is the onely acceptable and effectuall intercession Furthermore
no equitie willeth to condemne a partie that is vnconuicted yea and vtterly giltles in the offence that he is charged with For by Gods owne iudgement he is an vniust a partiall and a wicked Iudge whosoeuer he is that condemneth a person which is vnconuicted yea and cleare to and dischargeth or acquiteth a person that is conuicted and found giltie in déed Truely by law Iudges heare the enditementes of the accusers and likewise on the other side the aunswers of them that be accused and yet he that is accused runneth not in any danger by law so long as the articles of inditemēt be not lawfully prooued but rather if he cleare himselfe of the articles of the enditement by lawfull and euident aunswer he is discharged of all domages and acquit of al fault Now forasmuch as it is certainly apparant by the thinges aforediscoursed that all the accusations wherwith the pope hath hetherto charged the Quéene of England and which he hath alleaged by hys Bull are disproued by iust open euident reasons or aunswers and therefore that her royall Maiestie is not conuicted of any of the faultes that be layd against hir It is also certaine and sure therewithall that the popes definitiue sentence against that giltles Quéene vnable to be conuicted of any of the crimes layd to hir charge is both most partiall and most vniust and that the Pope which taketh vppon him as a Iudge in thys cace is a most wicked and abhominable iudge And yet I wil not say that euen he the pope hath contrary to all right reason made himself both accuser iudge in thys case and hath bables out what so euer came at hys tounges ende and what so euer he listed but proueth not ne confirmeth not any whit of hys case ¶ That the Queene of England is not an hereticke and therefore not stricken with the popes curse nor cut of from the vnitie of Christes bodie ALthough the Bull be now sufficiently confuted and the Quéenes innocencie defended and declared and the popes outragious tyranny cruell wrong and excessiue vnindifferencie layd foorth so as his most vniust definitiue sentence may easely and by very good right be ouerpassed despised yea and laughed at yet shall it not gréeue me euen for an ouerplus to peruse it againe in sifting it by péecemeale The same hath chiefly fower points First the pope declareth and denounceth the Quéene of England to be an hereticke and a bolsterer of heretikes therfore that she is stricken with his curse and cut of from the vnitie of Christes body But it hath bene shewed in many woords already that the Quéene is a catholike and Christian princesse and not giltie of any heresie or crime Wherupon it followeth that the pope by his condemning of so giltles and rightbeleuing a Prince bewrayeth and vttereth himself what he is namly euen one of those of whome Peter hath sayd They despise higher powers presumptuous are they and stubbern and feare not to speak euill of them that be in authority c. A few yeares past the reuerend Bishops of England dyd setfoorth a godly and learned Apologie in the third chapter whereof chiefly they shew howe the Realme of Englande hath no aliance at all with heretickes or heresies In the same they plainly and stedfastly professe their fayth and openly declare themselues to be of a sound and christian religion eloquently and truely washing away all the accusations and slaunders of the papistes It is more manifest then that it néedeth to be reported with many words what the Doctors diuines ministers of the Church of Christes time haue thought to be heresie and whome they haue demed to be heretickes As for the law of Lucius the thirde concerning the suppressing of heresie which is registred by Gregory the ninth in the thirde booke of decretalles the seuenth title concerning heretickes wherby the popes deuise and shape all their iudgementes and condemnations Wise men and godly men haue alwayes déemed it tyrannicall contrary to the iudgements of holy and religious antiquitie and therfore we thincke it not woorth the naming and we estéeme all the decrées that be formed and pronounced according to the same to be tyrannicall Yet notwithstanding I can not stay my selfe but I must néedes at thys present rehearse the opinion of the auncient writer Tertullian concerning this matter In his booke of the veyling of Virgins Heresies sayth he are ouercome not so much by newnesse as by truth What so euer fauoureth otherwyse than of truth the same is heresie yea though it be euē auncient custome And againe in Prescriptions of heretikes Heresies sayth the same author are termed of the Gréeke woord as in respect of the choyce which a man vseth eyther in the mayntayning or in the receyuing of them And therefore he sayth that an heretike is condemned in himselfe because he hath chozen the thing wherein he is condemned But it is not lawfull for vs to do any thing vpon oure owne head nor to choose the thing that an other man hath brought in of hys owne head We haue the Lordes Apostles for our warrant who chose not any thing of theyr owne head to bring in but faythfully deliuered ouer to all nations the discipline that they had receyued of christ And therfore if euen an Angell from heauen should preach any otherwise vnto vs we would hold him acursed Thus far Tertullian Wherfore séeing that the Quéene hath chozen nothing of hir owne head to deliuer to hir subiectes but onely hath betaken to them propheticall and Apostolicall truth of the scriptures to be followed hir maiestie is vtterly discharged of the crime of heresy And séeing that the romish opinions and the popish rites and ceremonies differing from our opinions and ceremonies are nothing els but opinions inuented by mens owne braynes selfchozen ceremonies Let the Romanistes consider to whether of vs the crime of heresy may iustlyest be imputed and to whome it sticketh fastest Besides this the Imperiall lawes commaunde all that be vnder the Empyre to follow that religion which S. Peter deliuered to the Romanes And it addeth We pronounce that such as folow this law embrace the name of catholike Christians and that the rest are to be taken for heretiks iudging them to be mad and out of their wits But the Quéene wil haue nothing to flourish in hir realme but the Apostolike doctrine ergo she is a catholike and not an heretike neither fauoureth she heretikes nor can abide to haue heresies taught in hir realme nor cherisheth such as be stayned w the spotte of heresy but rather euen for the same cause she hath banished the romish traditions and popish ceremonies out of her whole Realme least she might be sayd to beare with any thing against the Apostolike doctrine and Christian Ceremonies And therfore the thunderclap of that Tarpeian or Romane Iupiters curse wherewith he will haue the Quéene to séeme to be striken through is but a blockish
of sinne releasing them their sinnes that is to say witnessing by the Gospell that their sinnes are released by fayth through christ For the Apostles release not sinne otherwise then by the warrant of the Gospell which auoucheth vnto them that onely Christ by his owne merite forgeueth sinnes For like as the Apostles are not sent to offer them selues in sacrifice for the clensing of the whole world as Christ was the sacrifice of whom alone clenseth away the sinnes of the whole world euē so doutlesse the Apostles were not sent to forgeue sinnes by their owne authoritie as Christ did but to witnesse vnto men that they be forgeuē by faith through christ For we must in these cases aduisedly and with a conscience obserue the matching of the superior with the inferior so as we may yéeld to ech partie that which is his owne and not wickedly attribute that glory vnto seruauntes which is due to the onely sonne of god Certesse Austine behauing him selfe reuerently in these matters sayth peremptorily that Christ worketh these thinges by power and that the disciples do the thinges which they do by seruice or seruauntly Wherof more shall follow anon Also Marke and Luke handling the same story which Iohn hath touched in his xx chapt do witnesse that in the talke which Christ hath in the day of his resurrection there is nothing els betaken to the Disciples but the office of preaching the Gospell For in Marke the Lord sayth Goe into the whole world and preach the Gospell And in Luke he sayth So behoued it Christ to suffer to rise againe from the dead the third day and repentaunce and forgeuenesse of sinnes to be preached to all nations in his name And therefore by laying all these places of Scripture together it is made most manifest and vndouted that the keyes which were geuen to Peter and the other Apostles is nothing els but the ministration of preaching the Gospel wherby the way is opened for the world into heauen wherby to be short is declared most assured release and forgeuenesse of sinnes through fayth in Christ to such as beleue Wherunto also séemeth to perteine this most elegant and fit sentence of the Lord speaking with Paule I will make thee a witnesse and messenger marke how he sayth a witnesse and messenger and will send thee vnto nations and realmes to open their eyes that they may be turned from darknesse to light and from the power of Sathan vnto God so as they may receaue forgeuenesse of sinnes and lot among those that be sanctified by the fayth which is to meward You haue in these wordes a most exacte description of the keyes of the kingdome of heauen Wherunto to adde any more I thinke it but superfluous Now if vnto all these thinges ye will adde the practise of the Apostles as they terme it and diligently search out how they haue vsed the keyes that were deliuered to them and after what sort they haue opened or shut the kingdome of heauen vnto men and also in what wise they haue either bound them or loosed them ye shal no where in all the new Testament finde them to haue exercised the Popishe practise that is to wit that the Apostles haue set thē selues downe in the places where they came to preach the kingdome of God and saluation and commaunded mē to come vnto them and there to crouch or to knéele after the maner of worshippers and to shriue them selues that is to say to poure out all their thoughtes wordes and déedes with all the circumstances of them into the eare or lap of the confessor as he sits and to craue of him the absolution of their sinnes with enioynance of satisfaction and that he on the other side laying his handes vpon the head of the shriftman whispered an absolution of sinnes ouer him in an ordinary forme of wordes and enioyned him a certaine satisfaction by the workes of penance Much lesse shall ye finde that the Apostles installed them selues in thrones and thrust downe sinners into hell by sentence of excommunication c. What then Looke vpon the Actes of the Apostles or rather goe through that booke wherein Luke hath most diligently written the notable sayinges and doinges of the Apostles and specially of Paule without ouerslipping of any thing which tended to soule health or was necessary to be knowen and therwithall hath in xxviii chapters set forth as many yeares that is to wit the things that the Apostles did by the space of xxviii yeares together in the matter of saluation and thou shalt not finde in all that great worke that all and euery of the Apostles did any thing els then agreably and constantly in all places and in euery place preach the Gospell and promise remission of sinnes and euerlasting life to such as beleued in Christ and on the contrary part threaten endlesse and most assured damnation to them that beleued not Thus I say did the Apostles vse the keyes which they receaued of the lord Thus did they binde and loose If they would haue had any other thing or any thing more to haue bene done in the Church by their successors they would not haue dissembled it by the space of xxviii yeares preaching in all their doinges which Luke hath most faythfully written And among other places of the Actes of the Apostles let the godly read the second x. xiii.xvi and xviii chapters and they will beare witnesse that the thinges which I haue spoken héere are most true yea and also thinke them selues satisfied in this case I speake of such as are not contentious for such no man can well satisfie And at this present I say to them also as Paule sayd If any man seeme to be full of contention we haue no such custome neyther the Churches of God. And whereas the aduersaries vrge this singular spéech I wyll geue the keyes of the kingdome of heauen vnto thee I say vnto thee Peter vnto thee singularly and not vnto you plurally and in their vrging do cry out that I haue openly corrupted this place of the Gospell by communicating vnto the rest of the Apostles and to all their successors being ministers of the word the keyes that were geuen to Peter onely they bewray their owne grosse foolishnesse together with their inuincible malice considering how they can not deny but that such synecdoches or figures of putting one for a number and specially in such cases are very vsuall in the Scriptures Againe seing it is sufficiently knowen what the keyes be and that the rest of the Apostles receaued them as well as Peter I pray you what will they proue by their singular number But let them aske their owne fathers why the Lord wheras he gaue equall or one maner of power to them all did neuerthelesse say seuerally vnto Peter I will geue thee and they shall perceaue that therby is betokened and expressed the vnitie of the Church Surely Austine in his 118. treatise
the vpper hand in persecutiōs aduauncyng his maner of spéech from bodily and earthly thinges to spirituall and heauenly thinges Yet notwithstandyng after all these thinges which surely may séeme a wonder to the whole world yea euen after thrise most earnest warning and euident instruction the Disciples dare byanby vpon Christes Resurrectiō and at the verie instant of his Ascension into heauen make mētion yet agayne of reigning yea and to cloy the Lord again with their desirousnesse of superioritie saying Wilt thou at this time that is to say before thou depart from vs into heauen restore the kingdome vnto Israell Unto which question the mercyfull Lord bearing with the weakenesse of his Disciples aunswereth méekely agayne and biddeth them referre the seasonable doing of it vnto god In the meane while he repeteth and beateth into them agayne what they should do and what he requireth at their hands saying After that the holy Ghost is come downe into you you shall receiue power and you shal beare witnesse of me not onely at Hierusalem but euen to the vttermost costes of the earth also And what els is this then if he had sayd The holie Ghost shall teach you to vnderstād what maner of kingdome mine shal be doutlesse spirituall not worldly wherin I shall sit and reigne the chief onely souerein And in this my kingdome that is to wit in the very Church of the saintes you shal be witnesses not kinges preachers and not princes For by preachyng of the Gospell you shall gather me a Church out of the whole world This I say is Christes doctrine concerning supremacie and reigning concernyng the ministerie of Christ in the Church more lightsome thē the sunne Wherby also it appeareth more clearely then the day light that the Byshop of Romes vsurping of souereintie in the Church and his bosting of himselfe to be ordeined head ouer all kinges and Realmes contrarie to Christes example and doctrine is not by the lowlie spirite of Christ but by the proude spirite of Lucifer ¶ Nor that the Apostles of Christ tooke vppon them any souereintie in Christes Church but onely the ministerie ANd when the Apostles had receiued the holy Ghost they vtterly displaced all ambition and desire of souereintie out of their hartes perceiuyng now that no such thing as they and the Iewes had hitherto surmised was to be sought or looked for in the kyngdome and Church of Christ but farre greater and diuiner thinges namely spirituall thynges And therfore accordyng to their Lord maisters cōmaundement traueling ouer the whole world they so behaued them selues that in all thinges they were sound to be the very Disciples and folowers of their maister endewed with lowlinesse not with Lordlinesse renowmed for their faithfull seruice not for stately superioritie For they not onely preached the Gospell purely without mens forgeries and traditiōs but also were wont to reuerence kynges as next vnto God in earth and chief of all men and to call them their Lordes and to pay them tribute and to obey them faithfully and to pray for their welfare without ceasing yea and to threaten Gods vengeance to such as refused obedience to the Magistrate commaunding no wickednesse They no where intermedled them selues in worldly affaires in somuch as they cast euē the care of the poore which otherwise is most holy vpon the shoulders of the Deacons verely to the end they might the earnestlyer apply them selues to the preaching of the word They no where vsurped to them selues the benches of iudges or the thrones of princes and much lesse did they depose any kyng or prince from his kingdome were he neuer so wicked and yet there is no man ignoraunt what the Romane presidentes were that liued in the time of the Apostles full of couetousenesse lechery and pride and the posteritie of Herode euen venemouse slippes yea and the Emperours them selues most filthie and vngracious persons as the Tyberiusses the Caligulaze the Claudiusses and the Neroes or discharge his people of their allegeāce or contend with any prince for the souereintie and much lesse did they euer purpose or practise to place exalt them selues aboue him Nay rather they suffered sore persecutiō the which they ouercame by patience and not by violent withstanding nor by practises and pollicies of malicious wylinesse and gathered verie great Churches vnto Christ out of the whole world by preaching the Gospell ouer all the earth S. Luke the Euangelist describeth these thynges diligently and plenteously in his booke of the Actes of the Apostles wherin although he pursue their doinges by the space of xxviii yeares together Yet doth he no where giue any little incling of that supremacie and fulnesse of power which they at this day do boast of that call them selues Apostolick and crake of the fulnesse of their power But if any man desire to here some singular thyng of S. Peter he is alwayes set first in the register of the holie Apostles But all men know that this formershyp of Peters is not in ouer ruling but in order for accordyng to the doctrine of the Gospell all the Apostles were indewed with like dignitie and power and the Churches were gouerned by their trauell in common In the meane while it was requisite that there should be order both in speakyng and doing for the auoydance of disordered confusion they that had obteined greater giftes were more honored and had in more estimation and authoritie than the residew Like as Paule speaking of Iames Peter and Iohn sayth that they séemed to be pillars in the Church Not for that they were preferred afore all the rest or had obteined a larger Commission but bicause that hauing obteined greater giftes they did more luckely and easly go through with all pointes of their charge wherin otherwise the residew had as good part as they and therfore were had in greater price and estimation among the faithfull So also were the Apostolike Churches which were first founded by the Apostles worthely had in great price and estimation in old time For their authoritie was of great credit with other Churches not that they were beleued to haue superioritie ouer them but bicause that being the first that were conuerted to the faith they kept still vnappaired the faith which they had once learned of the Apostles and gaue light to other Churches by their purenesse and constācie These thinges are set forth more at large by a very auncient writer called Tertullian in the prescriptions of heretickes In which place also he not onely calleth Rome an Apostolike Church but Ephesus also and Corinth and Thessalonica and other Churches founded by the Apostles And it is not to be douted but that the men of old tyme called Peter and Paule the princes of the Apostles not that they were secular or worldly princes or that they had dominion ouer the rest or that they had obteined a larger commission but bicause that being endewed by God with most
truly in processe of tyme the vices that had euery where occupyed and corrupted other Churches began also to enter into the Church of Rome for there arose a great schisme in the Church of Rome some chosing S. Cornelius to be their pastors and some choosing Nouatus from whom sprong the heresie or sect of the Nouatians which became very noysome to the Church But Cornelius got the gouernement vnder whom certein of Aphrike began to put the decidyng of their controuersies to the sea of Rome Neuerthelesse the blessed Martyr Byshop of Carthage Cyprian did set himselfe agaynst them also and in his 3. booke of Epistles in his first Epistle to Cornelius Byshop of Rome whom he calleth his brother he sayth among other thinges how it is decréed by all men yea and also that it is right and reason that eche mans case should be there heard where the fault is committed Also he sayth that vnto euery pastor is allotted a portiō of the slocke for euery of them to rule and gouerne and he shall render an account of his doing vnto the lord Among these thinges marke that as yet at that tyme the Byshop of Rome was not taken for the vniuersall shepheard to whom all the other Churches should be subiect Nay rather he sayth that euery shepheard had his seuerall Church committed to him to gouerne for which he should render account to the Lord God and not to the Pope And S. Cornelius himself did not either allow such as appealed out of Affricke to Rome or desire to rule ouer all other Churches and to be called the souerein Lord of all kinges and kingdomes To be bréef these Byshops of the Romane Church were all put to death for the sound doctrine and the professing of Christes name by the Emperours of Rome So farre were they of from taking vpon them full and absolute power ouer any Princes and least of all ouer the princes of Rome For which of so many vngodly bloudy manquellyng princes being mo then xl in nomber did they depose from his souereintie or which of them I pray you did they excōmunicate Or which of these bishops assoyled the people of their othe made to the Emperours Or which of all these said wrate or thought himself to haue receiued fulnesse of power at the handes of Christ our Lord by Peter to be set ouer kinges and kingdomes Therfore it is most certein that these first ministers of the Romane Church were ignoraunt of the thinges which the Romish Bishops of this last and forworne age haue vsurped to themselues and which they haue now a long tyme in vayne indeuered to stablish by the Epistles of those mē ¶ That the Decretall Epistles of the first Byshops of Rome are but counterfettes VErely I am not ignorant how there fly abroad many Epistles of these holy Romane Bishops Martyrs which they call decretals But they ouerthrow themselues with their owne absurdities and shew themselues to be but counterfettes in asmuch as many thinges be so light so triflyng and so vtterly vnlike that auncient simplicitie purenesse and maiestie that not with out good cause they séeme vnto godly and learned men to haue ben deuised long since by others Neither do I greatly regard that the same are fathered vpon the gatheryng of Damasus and Isidorus seyng that there want not some men which put ouer certeine of these kynd of thinges euen to the time of Gregorie the 7. But howsoeuer the case stād for the tyme I pray yon what can be more fond then the fathering of these wordes vpon Anacletus This holy holy and Apostolike Church of Rome obteined the supremacie and preheminence of power ouer all Churches not frō the Apostles but from the very Lord himselfe our Sauiour And again There was a difference euen betwene the blessed Apostles and albeit that all of them were Apostles yet did the Lord graunt and the Apostles determined among them selues that Peter should haue preheminence afore all the rest of the Apostles and be Cephas that is to say a head and hold the souereintie of Apostleship Thus sayth he But who knoweth not though he be but meanely séene in histories that after full fiue hūdred yeares it was obteined and ordeined not by Christ or his Apostles but by loytering lozels or rather by traiterous persōs that Rome should be called the head of all Churches that is to wit that it should obteine supremacie prerogatiue of power ouer all Churches Or who would beleue that Anacletus exercised himselfe so little in readyng of the Gospell that he knew not how Cephas signifieth not a head but a stone or a Rocke according as it is interpreted by Iohn the Apostle in the first chapter And which interpreter should a man rather beleue Iohn the Apostle or the coūterfet Anaclete The lewd packing then of the lewd lozelles is detected both in these and in many other thinges The same partie maketh very often mention of Archbyshops and metropolitanes neither omitteth he primates But it is most manifest that those titles were vtterly vnknowen to the primitiue Church and were afterward inuented and vsurped in times folowyng And at their first comming vp the maner of vsing them was after a sort méetly tolerable till their posteritie did afterward vse them or rather misuse them more proudly Besides this the sayd counterfet Anaclete maketh a Bishop greater than an Elder whereas Ierome himselfe sheweth by Scriptures that Elders and Bishops are all one and that in processe of time Byshops were preferred before Elders not by the ordinaunce of God but by the ordinaunce of man Moreouer this Anacletus alloweth the Appeales that are made to the sea of Rome saying that all questions and matters of weight ought to be referred to the Apostolike sea for so had the Apostles decréed But this selfe same thing is manifestly disallowed by the holy maister of Christ Cyprian writyng to Cornelius the Pope Many other thinges prateth he concerning the priuiledges and iudgementes of the Church which who soeuer séeth not to disagrés with these first tymes of the primitiue Church he seeth nothyng but is blynder then a béetle Furthermore there is a decrée fathered vpon Pope Alexander wherby he commaundeth that water should be halowed with salt to clense the people and to put away the secret slightes of the deuill But who is so light headed to beleue that so great men in so great light of the Gospell published so filthy decrées concerning such baggagely gewgawes so openly fighting agaynst the Gospell and doctrine of the Apostles These thinges sauour not that Apostolike and auncient purenesse and maiestie which entierly attributeth all saluation to the onely bloud of the sonne of God and not to water and salt Pope Sixtus in the sayd decretall Epistles commaundeth that no man els should touch the holy vesselles but he that is halowed Ye may perceiue that this stuffe agréeth trimly with the Apostolicall doctrine deliuered by Paul in the 2. to
libertie of the Church as an occasion to plucke the soueraintie to themselues and to oppresse Christian libertie Beleue me I speake of experience they will not cease till they haue gotten all into their owne handes The Pope imagineth new deuises in his brest to the intent he may stablish his owne Empyre he altereth lawes he stablisheth his owne he defileth he filtheth he spoyleth he defraudeth he killeth That lost man whom men are wont to call Antichrist in whose forehead is written a name of blasphemy that is to wit I am God and I cannot erre euen that lost soule I say sitteth in Gods temple and raigneth far and wide These and many other thinges like these did that holy byshop discourse with great boldnesse and constancie Neither was this Prelate altogether a vayne Prophet considering that within thréescore yeares after Boniface the eight of that name a most filthy and vngracious wight is reported to haue bene puffed vp into so diuelish and brasenfaste pride that openly in the Iubilie which he himselfe first inuented and ordayned contrary to the Christian fayth he durst vaunt himselfe as highest byshop and chiefe Emperour before a great assembly and prease of people of all nacions vnder heauen For the first day he came forth in hys byshoplike apparell and gaue the foolishe people his Apostolike blissing as they terme it And the next day wearing an imperiall crowne and being clothed in robes of estate he commaunded a naked sword to be borne before hym and sittyng downe in a throne cryed out Behold here be the two swordes And being not satisfied with this Luciferlike gaze he durst yet further at the same time most spitefully reiect the Ambassadours of the Princes Electors which gaue him to vnderstand that they had chosen Albert Prince of Habspurge and Austrich the sonne of king Rodolphus to be king of Romanes yea and also to make a lawe in all respectes tyrannicall and Antichristian which is extant in the extrauagantes in the booke of maioritie obedience beginning with vnam Sanctam c. In that lawe after he hath attributed all power both spirituall temporall to the Pope in the end he concludeth the same and saith moreouer we declare auouch determine and geue sentence that it is vtterly of necessitie of saluation that all men be subiect to the byshop of Rome Whereas there is commonly blazed abroad of the same byshop this commendation of his that he entred as a Fox raigned as a woolfe others haue as a Lion and dyed as a dogge And whereas Phillip the fayre king of Fraunce appeached him of heresie murther simonie and all maner of most heynous crimes yet are not the Papistes ashamed to alledge still the sayd stinking lawe of this rancke varlet for the maintenaunce of their monarchy Hereunto perteineth it that the Bull of Iohn the xxij published agaynst Lewes the 4. Emperour of that name which Bull Auentine rehearseth whole in his vii booke of Chronicles sayth among other thinges When the chief Empire happeneth to be without a head the souerein power of it is in the handes of the highest Bishop whole benefite the same is c. This durst he write the yeare of our Lord. 323. So greatly were their corages increased since Boniface dyed in prison which was within xxiij yeares space But the Emperour Lewes aunswereth the Bull at large by a proclamation which is to be read copyed whole by the same Auentine into his booke of histories In the same proclamation among other thinges The Byshop sayth he meaning Iohn the xxij thristeth after Christian bloud and soweth euery where the mischief of discord and seditions among Christians Neither can the Christians kéepe the peace giuen them of God by reason of this Antichrist So great is the madnesse of that man or rather of that féend that he preacheth his owne wicked doynges as if they were good déedes in open audience When Christian Princes sayth he are at variance one with an other then is the Romish Priest the hyghest Byshop in déede then reigneth he then is he in his ruffe And so the debate and discord of the Germanes is meate and drinke to the Byshops of Rome Therfore it standes the high prelate in hand to weaken the Empire of the Almaines And a little after the Emperour sayth Looke who soeuer kéepe their allegeance to the Emperour and to Christ our Sauiour which commaundeth them to obey Them for so doyng and for none other cause doth he brond with the marke of heresie What soeuer he listeth he déemeth it lawfull How shall I therfore deale with him He mindeth not to execute or to know any right any equitie any good He séeth nothyng he doth nothyng but what he listeth himselfe He taketh to him the spirit of Sathan and maketh himselfe like the highest He suffereth himselfe to be worshipped which thing a certaine aungell forbade Iohn to do vnto him and his féete to bée kissed after the maner of the most cruel tyrantes Diocletian and Alexander whereas Christ our Lord and kyng washed the féete of his Disciples beyng but fishermen to the intent that his messengers should do the same agayne to those that they were sent to so forth I haue rehearsed these things to the end that the manifest record and iudgement not onely of a famous Byshop but also of a most glorious kyng or Emperour concernyng this latter vnhappy and vngracious Bishops might remaine in record In the same tyme of Lewes the iiij about the yeare of our Lord .1330 that is to say two hundred and forty yeares ago florished the renowmed and sage Lawyer Marsilius of Padua who wrate a singular booke for the Emperour Lewes the 4. agaynst the Byshops of Rome and intitled it the defence of peace In the same booke Dict. 2. Chap. 4. he sheweth by many and those most euident reasons that neither the Byshop of Rome no nor any other Byshop or Priest hath any souereintie ouer any man either clerks or layman and that by the example of Christ if any such be offered them they ought to refuse it and that all Byshops and Churchmen ought to be subiect to the souerein that ruleth them Agayne the same man in Dict. 2. Cap. 25 sayth thus They haue taken to them the title which they make their boast of namely The fulnesse of power which they say that Christ gaue peculiarly vnto them in the person of S. Peter as to the successors of the same Apostle they indeuer to make it the instrument of this naughtinesse By which cursed title by sophisticall spéech they labour to bring all Princes people and persons politike and seuerall in bondage to them And agayne Although the Euangelist sayd trew in auouchyng Christ to be kyng of kynges and Lord of Lordes yet notwithstandyng he that hath auouched any power of souereintie at all much lesse any full power to be graūted to the Bishop of Rome or to any other Bishop in the persō of S.
be read in Deut. 13. and 17. and in other places of the booke of the law Besides this Moses whom God had made the onely lawfull and chief Magistrate of hys people ordeyned not onely iudges but also Priestes and by Gods word appointed euery of them his office yea euen vnto Aaron the high Priest and chosen of god It would be to long to recken vp these thinges particularly Likewise also Iosue that most deuout Capteine of Gods people geueth charge to all estates yea euen vnto the Priestes to what euery of them shall do For he ruled not onely ciuill or warlike affaires but Church matters also both by himselfe and by others Howbeit he restreined all thinges general and particular not at his owne pleasure but to Gods holy law So did Dauid order the Priestes and the Churchmatters also In conueying and settling the Arke of the Lord wherein is séene the ordering of the whole Religion he consulted with his Princes and afterward made all the people priuie to it and lastly also sent to the Priests and Leuites appointyng them as well as others what they should do Let the first booke of Chronicles be read in which he also sorteth the Priestes into degrées and appointeth euery man his office by Gods commaundement for the which thyng he deserued right great and perpetuall commendation in the Church In the 2. booke of the Chronicles and the viii chapter we read that Salomon according to the ordinaūce of Dauid his father appointed the degrées of Priestes in their ministrations and the Leuites in their degrées to wash and to do seruice before the Priestes c. And byanby there foloweth For so had Dauid the man of God commaunded Neither did they omit or go beyond any part of the kynges commaundement as well the Priestes as the Leuites The same Salomon deposed Abiathar the hygh Priest and set vp Zadoch in his sted And many other such thyngs as these did that wise king Salomon the beloued of God with Gods well likyng his owne glorie The same thinges did the rest of the kings of Iuda Dauides holy ofspryng that folowed after hym For Asa put the Priestes out of office that were defiled with idolatry set in others that were more godly Iosaphat callyng the Priestes together giueth them their charge and ioyning certein of the noblemen with them sendeth them through his Realme to preach Gods law And he not onely disposeth the Courbarres of iudges but also ordereth the offices of Priestes King Ezechias than who there was not a better since Dauid except Iosias onely repayred the temple of the Lord like as kyng Ioas also had done afore him who likewise had the Priestes at commaundement and sommoned a Counsell of the Priestes where he made an excellent Oration to them like a good diuine He delt with them as one hauing full power and commaūded them in these wordes Giue eare Clense ye Cary away c. The Priestes also rebelled not stubbornly agaynst their Prince after the maner of our prelates saying vnto him thou puttest thy siccle into an other mans corne for it is no part of thy charge to commaunde the Priestes But they submitted themselues redely to their Prince and obeyed his holy hestes in all thinges It is declared at large in the holy Scriptures that Iosias did set order in the whole Religion accordyng to the rule of Gods law commaund the Priestes puttyng some of them out of their office placing other in their roomes I will rehearse no mo examples for makyng my readers wéery But vpon all these I conclude that Kynges Princes among Gods people had souereintie and authoritie by Gods ordinaunce ouer the Priestes ouer the hyghest Byshop and ouer the whole Clergie and disposed not onely ciuill but also Ecclesiasticall matters accordyng to Gods law both rightfully and also with singular commēdation And yet in the meane while the Princes meddled not with the sacrificing which God had committed to the Priestes For that was not lawfull for them without punishment as it appeared by kyng Azarias otherwise named Osias who was striken with leprosie for presumyng wilfully to burne incense vpon the brasen altar contrarie to Gods ordinaunce For it is one thing to sacrifice and to execute the offices that belong peculiarly to the Priestes and an other thyng to dispose the Priesthode and discipline of the Church in conuenient order and to kéepe them when they be ordered For God hath sorted these offices asunder and will not haue them confoūded And what man except it be some giddybraynd and froward Anabaptist will say that Christen Princes haue lesse authoritie and power in the Churches of Christenfolke than the Iewish kynges had in the Synagoges Can ye say that the authoritie of these is diminished by Christ our Lord or by his Apostles Most certein it is that it is not diminished by christ For the Prophetes and among them specially Dauid in the 2. Psalme and Esay in his 49. chapter in other places haue foretold that kings should come into the Church of Christ that they should not onely lead their liues there after the maner of other Christen men but also more ouer continue there still in gouernyng defending aduauncing Church affaires as kinges still executyng kyngly power Which point S. Austin handleth excellently garnishyng and enlightenyng it with many sentences agaynst the Donatistes which denyed the Magistrate to haue any power at all to deale in matters of the Church Furthermore it is certein that Christes Apostles remoued not the faithfull Magistrate from the administration of Ecclesiasticall matters therby to make Christen kynges of lesse power than the kynges of the Iewes had For they say expresly that Princes are Gods ministers yea and ordeined to plant the thing that is good and to plucke vp the thing that is euill But who is so ouerlodē with the flesh that he will restreine these things to the flesh onely and to outward affaires and not also extend them to mens soules and to spirituall matters Considering how it is agréed vpon among all men of a right opinion that a Magistrate ought to looke chiefly vnto such thinges as belong to the maintenaunce of the publike welfare of the common weale or of the happy state of their Realmes But it is out of all dout that the diligent care of faith and Religion make to the increase and preseruation of the happie state and welfare of kyngdomes and common weales and therfore no man but he that is an enemy to the happy state of Gods people can deny that the regard of Religion also perteineth to Princes or Magistrates And that so much the lesse bicause we learne plainly by readyng the stories of the kinges of Iuda and Israel that those kyngdomes were and are most happie wherin the Princes do faithfully administer matters of Religion and that those be most vnhappie wherin the kynges either neglect
or peruert the matters of the Church and bryng thinges into the Church which Gods word hath not allowed and fill all thinges with mens traditions Furthermore we haue notable examples of those Emperours and Princes which accordyng to the Prophesies came into Christes Church and renownced their heathenishnesse and shewed themselues faithfull fosterfathers ouerséers and defenders of the Church Among the first in account is Constantine who for his noble actes and manifold vertewes was surnamed the great This man closed vp the temples of idols and abolished all heathenish sacrifisings In Nice a citie of Bithynia he called a Counsell the greatest of all Counsels and of most authoritie And there he rebuked the Byshops sharply and layd his commaundement vpon them set order in the matters of the Church Eusebius in the life of Cōstantine is not afrayd to terme this Prince a Byshop bycause he did most diligently looke to the matters of the Church If any man require the authors wordes thus they be Cōstantine sayth he imployed his care vpon the Church of god And bycause many were at oddes among themselues in diuers places he beyng ordeined a common Byshop by God sommoned a Dyet of Gods Ministers Neither disdained he to be at it himself to sit amōg them to become a felow of theirs to dispose to all of them the thynges that made for the peace of god Thus much sayth he Behold here is a Councell called not by the Pope but by the Emperour Wherupon when one Ruffinus obiected a certein Councell agaynst Ierome he aunswered saying shew thou me what Emperour commaunded it to be assembled Moreouer the strife of the Byshops had burst further out if this Emperour had not bridled them and brought them to order This Prince by his intermedlyng in matters of Religion of the Church dyd within a while not onely salue them but also greatly further them Which thing the Emperours Valentine Gratian and Theodosius did in likewise as it appeareth in the beginnyng of Iustinians Code And the Emperour Theodosius in Nouellis tit 2 concerning Iewes Samaritanes c. confesseth to Florentius that the searchyng out of Religion is the chief charge and greatest care that belonges to the Maiestie of an Emperour Also the Emperours Leo and Anthemius in L. omnes C. concernyng Byshops and Clerkes haue set downe by name that Ciuill Magistrates were and ought to be iudges of the Byshops And before the reigne of these Archadius and Honorius in L. Quicunque C. concernyng Byshops and Clerkes denounce a Byshop that breakes the common peace to be vnworthy the name of a Bishop and depose him from his Bishoprike and finally will that he shal be banished The Emperour Iustinian about the yeare of our Lord 550 made many lawes openly settyng order in matters of the Church appointyng Byshops Clerkes what they should do And in Nouellis Constit. 123. he commaūdeth the Presidentes of Prouinces that if the Byshops forslow to kéepe conuocations then they should do it and execute the lawes and mainteyne the ordinaunces of the Church Furthermore Charles the great kyng of Fraunce and Emperour and his sonne Lewis the milde published many Ecclesiasticall lawes concernyng the holy doctrine the ministration of the sacramentes and the Ministers them selues Abbot Ansegisus compyled their lawes into foure bookes But it would be too tedious to rehearse and of these lawes therby to shew and proue that which is otherwise sufficiently proued already namely that the charge of Religion and of Church matters perteineth also to Kynges and Quéenes and that it is no monstruousenesse at all though the ciuill Magistrate determine of matters of Religion vnles those so many so mightie and so holy Kynges Princes and Emperours whose examples I haue hitherto alledged were all monsters But no such thyng can sinck in godly mens mindes who doutlesse do rather beleue that Pope of Rome the author of this rayling Bull is a monster both most hideous and most vgly as hath ben sayd also héertofore Which thinges beyng vndoutedly so the vertuous Quéene of England hath done nothing amisse but rather she hath done her dewtie and deserued eternall prayse for succoryng the persecuted and forwéeryed state of the English Church and for takyng vpon her the case of Religion which she hath vertuously disposed hetherto accordyng as she began at the first deposing from their estate and office the bishops that were sworne to the pope which preached the pope and papistry and not Christ our Lorde and his pure Gospell and preferring to their roomes men sworne to Christ our Lorde and to the Quéenes Maiestie which preache Christes Gospell sincerelye through the whole Realme without any corruption of popery The slaunderous Bull rayling vppon these Ministers of Christ lawfully ordeyned by the Quéene termeth them in way of disdaine and reproch lewd preachers and ministers of wickednes But it is well for them for Christ our Lord sayth Blessed are ye when men reuile you and speak all euill against you béelying you for my sake Furthermore the Apostle was not ashamed to name him self a publisher or preacher of the Gospell neyther are they lewde preachers which according to Paules saying deuyde the woord of truth rightly and honestly and endeuour to shew themselues allowable woorkmen afore God neyther are they ministers of wickednesse that do theyr seruice vnto Christ and his Church with all faythfulnesse and singular dilligence I will not say at this present how cruell those bishops whom the Quéenes Maiestie hath deposed frō their estate cast in prison were when they had the law in their owne handes agaynst the faythfull professors of Christ nor how stubbornely they sticked to idolatry and to the Romane Idoll vnto whome they had bound themselues by othe defending most pestilent and manifesterrors and continewing malicious and vnappeasable enemies of the truth of the Gospell in so much as the Quéenes Maiestie neither could vse their seruice nor ought to wink at their rebelliō traiterousnes lewd meaning if she meant to aduaūce maintain the peace of hir realme the welfare of hir people the procéeding of the Gospell Therefore if these men pyned away for sorrow and dyed miserably in prison that is nothing to the Quéenes Maiestie for they may wite it vppon theyr owne vniust stubbernesse ioyned with maliciousnes they may wite it vpon their owne most wilfull rebelliousnesse and in generall vpon their owne wickednes And as for those that be punished or put to death for their owne offences the righteous Lord God geueth sentence vpon them in his owne law saying Their bloud be vpon their owne heades Most excellent and true also is the sentence of S. Iohn Chrisostome No man is hurt but by himself Furthermore Paule in expresse wordes to the Romanes saith Princes are not a terror to them that do well but to them that do euil but wilt thou not feare power thē do the thing that is
good and thou shalt receaue prayse of him for he is Gods minister for thy welfare but if thou do the thing that is euyll then be affrayde for he beareth not the sworde in vaine for he is the minister of God to take vengeance on them that do euyll Why then did not these men well whome the Bull bewayleth for so should they doubtlesse haue receyued both prayse reward at the Quéenes hand being a gracious and bountifull prince The Quéene hath done nothing in this behalf which God hath not commaūded to be done afore in his law yea and also which is not ordayned in the lawes of the emperors Arcadius and Honorius L. Quicunque C. concerning Bishops and clerkes as hath bene sayd heretofore Yet will I not here sing the prayses of those that are set vp in the places of them that be deposed by Gods grace do their seruice at this day to the Churches of England peaceably and healthfully Their owne vertue commendeth them sufficiently so as they haue no néed of my prayse ¶ That the Queene of England hath not chosen mens opinions for herself and hir realme to follow but Gods pure word hertofore sought out and receyued by King Edward the sixth nor yet sette foorth bookes of heresie or forced her realme to receiue them THe goodly Bull a Gods name proceedeth on still to lay together the rest of the articles of his accusation against the Quéenes Maiestie in these wordes She hath sayth he commaunded hir subiectes to obserue the wicked misteries and ordinaunces which she hir selfe hath taken vp and obserued according to Caluins setting forth Also she hath set out bookes to hir whole Realme contayning manifest heresie But the lying and slaunderous Bull shooteth wide al the féeld ouer Perchance the Romish sort measure al men by themselues and because they them selues hang wholy vpon men in so much as there be many thousandes to be found among them which both will be called haue a plesure to be called Benedictines of Benet Franciscanes of Frauncis and diuersly and sunderly after many others and will both séeme to séeme to liue and glorie to liue according to these mens ordinances rules or appointmentes therefore they imagine that we also woulde be called Lutherans of Luther Zuinglians of Zuinglius and Caluinistes of Caluine and that we hang wholy vpon these mens ordinaunces but it is not so Paule the Apostle of Christ hath forbidden any such thing to be done in the Church saying to the Corrinthians Euery of you sayth I hold of Apollo I of Cephas and I of christ Is Christ deuided was Paule crucifyed for you or were you baptized in Paules name And againe when one sayth I hold of Paule and an other I holde of Apollo are ye not fleshly Therefore the true Christians will be named but onely after christ As for the names of men be they neuer so excellent we acknowledge them not in this case neither do we regard or receyue theyr ordinances furtherfoorth then they agree in all poyntes with Gods woorde and when we receiue them we receiue thē not for their sakes but for Gods wordes sake And the Quéene of Englands Maiestie neuer receiued of Caluin or of any other excellent and well learned men any ordinaunces to follow nor neuer regarded them and yet by the way if any of them haue taught any thing out of Gods pure woord no godly man can take scorn of for the Quéene in that reformation of hirs had an eye onely to the liuely woord of God deliuered vnto vs by the holy scriptures and so she setled all matters of religion vppon the very woord of God and not vpon any men Dauid speaking of Gods woord sayth in the 119. Psalme Thy woord O Lord endureth for euer in heauen Thy woord is a lanterne to my féet and a light vnto my paths Lord thou art righteous and thy iudgement is rightfull Princes sit together and rayle vpon me because thy seruaunt talketh of thy statutes and because thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors Princes haue persecuted me without cause but my hart standeth in awe of thy woord And Lord seing I stick to thy testimonies bring me not to shame c. That godly prince of blessed memorie and woorthy of immortall glorie King Edward the sixth folowing the examples of Iosias and Constantine the great two of the excellentest princes that euer were in the world began the reformation of the English church For like as Iosias calling a parlament or Couusell of his noble men Priestes and Commons did first cause the law of God to be read openly before them and then obediently refourmed hys whole realme woord for word according to the law that was read And like as Constantine summoned a generall counsell of the teachers and Ministers of the Churches through the whole worlde and sitting downe among them sayd The bookes of the Gospelles and the Apostles together with the oracles of the auncient Prophets do plainly entruct vs of Gods meaning and will and therefore laying aside all enemylike discord let vs take the exposition of our questions out of the sayinges of the Holie Ghost Euen so King Edward summoning a parlament at London of all the Nobilitie Bishoppes and notablest learned men through hys whole realme admitting also the famousest clarkes of other realmes being Gods seruauntes commaunded them to shew by the holy scriptures what was to be followed of him and his realme in so great diuersity of opinions And they executing faythfully the charge which the King had enioyned them did the same time with one consent and according to Gods woord agrée vpon certaine articles which the King did both receiue and publish without delay wyth this title set afore them Articles agréeed vpon by the Bishops and other learned men in the Parlament holden at London in the yeare of our Lord 1552. for the taking away of the diuersitie of opinions and the stablishing of consente in the true religion published by authoritie of the Kinges maiestie Therefore by the labour and endeuor of that godly prince King Edward the English Church was refourmed according to the rule and appointment of the holy scriptures After King Edwardes decease Quéene Marie repealing the same reformation abrogated it for a time And Queene Elizabeth hauing receiued it againe by Gods grace hath eftsoones set it vp in perfect estate And therefore nothing els hath she receiued and deliuered to be kept of hir whole Realme then that hir brother of blessed memorie King Edward héertofore most godlily and wisely thought méet to be receiued and beleued of himself and to be conueighed ouer to his subiectes out of the liuely woord of God as hath bene sayd already whereby it appeareth now most manifestly that the thinges are false and forged which the lying Bull hath bruted concerning wicked misteries with spightfull interlacing the name of Caluine receyued by the Quéenes Maiestie and enioyned to the Realme of England
they serue and worship God and Baal together The Popish fastynges are not wynges and helpes of prayer nor an humbling of our selues wherby our amendement is declared but meritorious workes and playne hipocrisie And if they be compared with the fastyngs of the auncient Church they shal be found to be nothyng lesse than fastings But it wéerieth me to rehearse the fondnesse of these men in this behalfe This onely do I say or rather repete at this presēt which I haue said already That the vertuous princesse Quéene Elizabeth Kyng Edward haue abolished the abuses and superstitions of prayer and fastyng and not the true praying and true fastyng it selfe And it is straunge that the Bull alledgeth also the choise of meates If he know not how diuersly yea and also with how great libertie they were vsed in old tyme without any blame at all Let him read Socrates in the fifth booke and xxij chapter of his Ecclesiasticall history or the ix booke and xxxviij chap. of the Tripartite historie Among other things these are left in writyng And for asmuch as noman is able to shew any commaundement written concernyng this thyng it is apparant that the Apostles left it frée to euery mans will and choyse to the intent that no man should do the thyng that is good for feare or by compulsion Thus much is there We simply folow the thinges which we know to be deliuered to the faythfull by the Lord and hys holy Apostle The Lord sayth what soeuer entereth in at the mouth goeth down into the belly is cast out into the priuie But the things that come out of the mouth procede out of the hart be those thyngs that defile a man c. Math. 15. And the Apostle sayth Let noman iudge you in meate or drinke c. Also all thynges are cleane to the cleane but vnto the vncleane and the faithlesse all thynges are vncleane Moreouer as for the choyse of meates the Apiciusses or masters of gluttonie which are appointed and interteyned for the nonce haue a greater regard or speciall care at this day to come by the finest meates in the Court of Rome in Byshops palaces and in the dennes or Cloysters of Monkes than is had any where els in the vniuersal world And therfore we leaue them this fattie discourse vntouched Let belly Gods intreate of belly matters But I maruell more with what face these men beyng most vncleane and stinkyng of filthynesse the bondslaues of lustes and vnreasonable lecheries can make any mention of single lyfe What maner of single lyfe was in the religious houses of England and why the noble Prince Kyng Henry the viij emptyed them and ouerthrew them euery chone truly I had leuer it should be knowen by the Centuries of the reuerend Byshop of Ossoria in Ireland then by my declaration For I willingly spare chast eares Finally I say with the Apostle Honorable among all men is wedlocke and the vndefiled bed And agayne It is better to mary then to burne and for auoyding of fornication let euery man haue his wife Also if thou mary a wife thou sinnest not and if a mayden mary she sinneth not For it was lawfull euen for the Apostles who were busied in the ministerie to leade their Christian wiues about with them And all antiquitie auoucheth that many of the Lordes Apostles and specially Peter were maryed men And Paule more then once expresly sayth Let a Bishop be the husband of one wife hauyng faythfull children Yea and he calleth their doctrine a doctrine of deuils which forbid mariage like as also which forbid meates I know that our aduersaries wrest this place from themselues to the old heretickes Tatian Montane and others But the Prophet speakyng most effectually sayth Forbiddyng not Condemnyng The old heretickes condēned meates mariage vniuersally But our aduersaries condēne not meates mariage but restreine the frée vse of thē bynding men from them by wicked lawes Properly therfore the Apostle spake of them And what speake they of Catholicke ceremonies wheras if they did terme them aright they should call them superstitious and Idolatrous ceremonies These men bewray their owne shamelesnesse matched with wickednesse chiefly in this point that they foully deceiue the simpler sort by pretendyng the terme Catholike vnto all their errours They sticke to the terme and imagine I wote not what a singular holynesse and truth in themselues when in very déede they be not Catholikes but Cacolykes that is to say mischieuous wolues or shéepebyters settyng forth thinges particular and not vniuersall that is to wit burdenyng silly soules with the Decrées and deuises of certeine men both few in nomber and which were conspired to do mischief The Church is called Catholike that is to say Uniuersall bycause it is not onely found in some one place but also is spread abroad both through the whole vniuersall world and through all ages and also bycause there be no mo Churches without this For there is but one true Church which is the Catholike Church There is but onely one body vnder the one Christ in whom onely is saluation Wherupon it foloweth that there is no saluation but onely in the Church Therfore the Church of Rome lyke as also the Church of Antioche or of Alexandria or of any other place is not the Catholike Church For they be but members of that vniuersall body if so be that they be by one faith and one doctrine knit into this vniuersalitie as in the body vnder the head Christ. The Catholike Church then comprehendeth the Church of the fathers before Christes comming and our Church after his comming and consequently all the Saintes or faithful folkes of all places tymes and to conclude in one word of tymes past tyme present and tymes to come all which are one Catholike or vniuersall body vnder one Catholike or vniuersall head Christ. And so the Catholike faith doctrine is that which is preached and heard in this Catholike Church attributyng all thinges to Christ the onely head of saluation and depending wholly vpon the word of God and directing and gouerning all her matters by the same Therefore those be Catholikes in déede which in what place soeuer or in what tyme soeuer they be are in the felowshyp of this one body vnder the onely head Christ beyng all of one fayth and doctrine attributing their whole saluation vnto Christ alone dependyng wholly vpon his holy and most soothfast word These also are called Orthodoxi or Rightbeleuing that is to say of right opinion or iudgemēt and of sound doctrine accordyng to Gods word But as for them that are not in the compasse of this body vnder the fore sayd onely head Christ that they may draw life out of him and therfore are of a diuerse or rather of a contrarie doctrine and fayth deuising to themselues a new fayth a new doctrine a new
the Pope And if he obey not he commaundeth all his Lordes temporall and spirituall to forsake their Prince and to compell him to obey the Pope This Bull was published the xv day of October the yeare of our Lord God. 1323. But Lewes asked the aduise of all the Clerkes that were best séene in the lawes as well of God as man through Germanie Italie and Fraunce at Paris Bononie Padua and other Uniuersities who gaue an agreable aunswere That the Popes doinges against the Emperour are contrarie to Christian doctrine that the Pope was out of his wittes and made hauocke of Christes people for desire of dominion and that the Emperour was not subiect to the Pope but the Pope to the Emperour For the seruaunt of seruauntes ought not to beare rule but rather to do seruice to such as sit at the table But the Bishop cryes out that all these which gaue the Emperour this aunswere are heretickes and he excommunicateth them all with the Emperour and burneth their bookes The Emperour for all this called a Parlament about the matter and sommoning a Counceil deposed the Pope For he was openly proclaymed for an heretike a tyraunt of the Church and a troubler of the common peace and thereunto his image was burned in the Marketsted Neuerthelesse when Iohn the xxij was dead Clement the sixth continewed the displeasure still agaynst Lewes commaunding him likewise to depose himselfe from the Empyre Yea he proceded yet further and reuiuyng all Iohn the xxij processes denounced the Emperour to be an heretike and a schismatike moreouer commaundyng the Electors to chuse another king by a tyme appointed except they had leuer that the Bishop himself should giue them a king They therfore obeying his manaces chose Charles Marques of Morania But for asmuch as the better part of the Empyre was displeased both with the Pope with Charles and sticked still to Lewes their true souerein Lord and Emperour it came agayne to swordes drawyng on both sides and there was burning wasting and sleayng the accustomed frutes of the Byshops of Rome which neuer brought tydinges of peace but alwayes blew vp the trumpet to battell And least Italie and Naples might take breath any while from their slaughters and wastinges Vrbane the sixth of that name made sute to Lewes the puissant king of Hungarie that he should send Charles Duke of Durace into Italie with an host of Hungarians for he would bestow the kingdome of Sicilie vpon him Therfore when he came to Rome he crowned him king of Sicilie howbeit in such wise as he departed with certeine of the best Earledomes in the Realme to the Bishops neuew Againe least Clement the Antipope might séeme of lesse authoritie then Pope Turbane he crowned Lewes Duke of Angeow a sideman of his kyng of Sicilie who immediatly enters into Italie with threescorethousand mē Then folowed spoilyng burning and sleaing againe and all maner of crueltie was exercised on either side verely by the instigation of these good and peaceable Apostles the souerein Shepeherdes of the Church of Rome I wittingly passe ouer here many outrageous doynges of the Bishops which the storywriter Theodoriche of Nyem prosecuteth very largely and truly in his thrée bookes of the Schisme Now come I to Martine the fifth that was created Bishop at the Councell of Constance who being nothing vnlike his predecessors gaue Sicilie in Fee to one Aloyse of Sicilie against Alphons king of Spayne Wherupon rose againe not a few nor small calamities The same Byshop was the cause of the Ciuill warre in Beame and that the Germanes that went into Beame with a great power brought nothing thence but dishonour very great losse I will not pursue the slaughters burninges wastringes miseries of that warre They be described at large by Aenaeas Syluius in his Historie of Beame The same author setteth out the horrible and blouddy practises that Eugenie the fourth and his successor Martine the fifth vsed to ouerthrow the Councel of Basill And it hath ben shewed already how great mischief the same Eugenie the fourth brought vpon Christendome when he inforced kyng Ladislaus vnto vnhappie warre contrarie to his othe made vnto Amurathes Prince of Turkye Pius the second and Sixtus the fourth were forewarder to feates of armes then to peace and preaching of the Gospell They neuer yelded an inche to any Prince but indeuered most scoutly not onely to maynteine but also by hooke and by crooke to increase the maiestie of their sea The histories beare witnesse hereof abundantly I will not any further report what the Byshops of Rome haue committed in our age and within the remembraunce of man least I trouble the gentle reader to much for they be better knowen then that they néede to be rehearsed For who knoweth not how great lawlesnesse they haue abused in transposing kingdomes in dischargyng subiectes from their dew faithfulnesse and obedience in putting downe and settyng vp of kynges and in hatching of most blouddy and mortall warres The horrible trecherie of Alexander the sixth agaynst Charles kyng of Fraunce is well inough knowen in that he made him take armes vppon him and called him into the kyngdome of Naples agaynst the kyng of Spayne and yet for all that did byanby after most trayterously take part with the Spanyardes agaynst him Iulius the second a Lombard practised the Uenetian warre which being the greatest and sorest of all others continewed eight yeares with excedyng great bloushed before it could be ended and stirred vp Lewes kyng of Fraunce agaynst the Uenetians and byanby after led not onely the Uenetians but also all the puissantest Princes and people of Europe agaynst Lewes Also he behaued himselfe after such a sort in the matter of calling a Councell that euen the Papistes themselues do greatly blame him and finde fault with him in that behalfe Yea and euen Onuphrius Panuinius hath blamed this dealing in Iulius the second Leo the tenth not onely appeased not the troubles styrred vp by Iulius but also continewed them doubblyng mischief vppon mischief armyng nation agaynst nation and kéepyng promise neither with Germanes nor with Frenchmen Clement the seuenth passed Leo and some of his predocessours For first he tooke part with the Emperour and afterward slipt away to Fraunces the French king to whom he was the occasion of a very great losse For in the kyngdome of Naples whether Lawtreche had brought his army very well appointed by the instigation of the Pope he lost the greater part of his armye by reason of an vnmercyfull plague that fell vpon them The storie of Frijndsperg Captein of the Almaine souldyers auoucheth in the eighth booke and the hundred and thréescor the leafe that of fourescore thousand there remained alyue scarcely one thousand and seuen hundred What troubles Paule the third the Romish Byshop wrought vnto Germanie the warre that
was made in the bowels of Germanie commonly called the Protestauntes warre witnesseth For he sent an armye of Italians priuily into Germanie and set the Germanes together by the eares among themselues Which thyng the storywriters setforth at large As for the outrages of Paule the fourth they be better knowen by reason of his horrible actes yet fresh in remembrauÌ„ce then that they néede to be set forth in many wordes But all this whole declaration tendeth chiefly to this end partly that such as haue not yet learned to know the Romish Bishops and therefore do reuerence and honour them still may learne to know them euen by their abhominable sayinges and doynges bearing in minde this faithfull forewarnyng of the Lordes Ye shall know them by their frutes and therfore should also so iudge of them as their sayinges and doynges teach folke to iudge of them wherwithall be interlaced by the way here and there some iudgements of certein godly and wise men in former ages concernyng the Bishops of Rome and partly that all Realmes and all common weales which will not wittingly and willingly perishe and specially thou noble Realme of England should hereafter not onely make no account of the Popes Bulles tyrannously deposing kinges wrongfully transposing kingdomes and wickedly assoyling subiectes of their dew faithfulnesse and obedience but also cast them away and tread them vnder foote as they be worthy Ye haue heard how great calamities the Popes haue oftentymes wrought to kyngdomes and nations by such maner of Bulles And he is a wise man that can learne to beware by other mens harmes Therfore if ye be wise and loue to liue at ease kéepe your promise that ye haue made and obey the Princes whom God hath set ouer you maynteyne peace and eschew warres as well inward or Ciuill as outward or foreine And that God may voutsafe to performe these thyngs vnto you pray ye faithfully and diligeÌ„tly vnto him perseuer ye stedfast in true godlynesse and in the Gospell of the sonne of God and cast ye away all the Popish toyes superstitions and Idols all together The Prince of peace voutsafe to graunt you these thynges who at hys commyng into this worlde brought tydinges of peace to the world and at his goyng out of the world left his peace to those that be his euen our Lord Iesus Christ graunt you them to whom be glorie for euermore world without end Amen ¶ FINIS What the Popes beare men in hand concerning their infinite power An obiection The answere To feede Shepeheards Pastors or Feeders Foode Sheepe 1. Pet. 5. Harken to this ye Romish Monarkes Act. 20. What the sheepe or flocke be Teachers Doctrine The maner of the Bishop of Romes feeding Zach. 11. Luk. 22. 1. Iohn 5. The fayth of the Church of Rome neuer fayled Comparison betwene Peters fayth and the Romish fayth Christes bidding of his disciples buy theÌ„ swordes Matth. 26. 1. Cor. 11. Iohn 6. 1. Pet. 2. Esay 28. 1. Cor. 10. 1. Cor. 3. Ephes. 2. 1. Petr. 2. Iohn 12. Iohn 16. 1. Iohn 5. Luke 11. Math. 23. Esay 22. Luke 4. Ioan. 20. Marke 16. Luke 24. 1. Cor. 11. 2. Cor. 5. Math. 28. Exod. 4. Luke 12. Iohn 6. Matth. 22. Math. 17 Luke 22. Rom. 13. Gal. 2. 1. Pet. 5. Act. 8. 2. Cor. 11. 1. Cor. 4. Exod. 23. Queene Mary Queene Elizabeth The giuyng of interteinement and refuge to banished foliâ—s â–ª The barbarousenesse and crueltie of the Romish Byshops Esay 16. The striuyng of the bishops of Rome for the supremacie What monstruousenesse is Apoc. 17. That Quenes although they be women doe reigne lawfully Rom. 13. That the care of Religion belongeth to the ciuill Magistrate Moses Iosue Dauid Salomon The kynges of Iuda Iosaphat Ezechias Ioas. Iosias God made difference of functions and will not haue them confounded Kynges of the new TestameÌ„t haue no lesse authoritie then had the kynges of the old Testament ChristiaÌ„ Princes and defenders of the Church Constantine the great Iustinian Charles the great The Queene of England hath not done amisse in taking vpon her the care of religion in deposing the popish bishops Math. 6. 2. Tim. 1. 1. Tim. 2. Rom. 13. True Christians entitle not theÌ„selues after any men 1. Cor. 1. 1. Cor. 3. The maiestie of Gods worde What order K. Edward the vi folowed in reforming the church of England â–ª What our souereigne Ladie Queene Elizabeth hath setfoorth to her whole Realme to be folowed The Queenes Maiestie hath setfoorth no bookes of heresy to hir realme The abolishing of the sacrifice of the masse Heb. 9.10 Rom. 3. 1. Iohn 2. The masse corrupteth the Lordes supper Read Austen against the epistle of Parmenian lib. 2. cap. 8. Act. 14. 1. Cor. 11. Lib. Epist. 2. Epist. 3. Not prayer but the abuse of prayer is abolished Fastyng Choyse of meates Coloss. 2. 〈◊〉 1. Single lyfe Cunturia 8. folio 665. Heb. 13. 1. Cor. 7. 1. Cor. 9. 1. Tim. 3. Titus 1. 1. Tim. 4. Catholikes rites and Ceremonies The Catholik Church The Catholik fayth and doctrine Catholikes Orthodoxi Cacodoxi Whether the Romish sorte be Catholikes or no. The Queene doth iustly forbyd her subiectes to acknowledge the Church of Rome Iere. 23. Act. 2. 1. Cor. 10. 1. Iohn 5. Apoc. 18. The Queene hath lawfully compelled her subiectes to for sweare the Pope and the Papacie 2. Reg. 11. 1. Esd. 10. 2. Chron. 15. Heretikes sayd that no man is to be compelled vnto fayth Psal. 119. Iere. 31. Augustine him selfe also was sometyme of opinion that no man was to be compelled Prouerb 9. Prouerb 27. The Lord him selfe compelled men to the faith Why the Apostles called not for the Magistrates helpe for the stablishyng of ReligioÌ„ Psal. â— How kynges serue God in feare How in what sence AusteÌ„ giueth a man free choyse or will read in hys booke of chastisemeÌ„t grace chap. 1. In hys boke of the spirit the letter to Marcellus chap. 30. in hys booke of Merites remissioÌ„ of sinnes Lib. 2 cap 8. against the second Epistle of Pelagius Lib. 4. Cap. 6. Euery man must not be suffered to folow what seemeth best to hymself in Religion 1. Samuel 15. God commauÌ„deth false Prophetes to be put to death 1. Tim. 1. Leuit. 24. Num. 19. Exod. 32. 3. Kynges 18 4. Kynges 9. 4. Kynges 11 4. Kinges 23 S. Austens opinion concerning this matter Dan. 3. Act. 5. Act. 13. Rom. 12.13 Why the sword is geuen to the Magistrate Lawes of christen princes concerning religioÌ„ * of Idolatry Measure to be vsed in punishing Here is concluded the answer to the articles of accusation The generall conclusion 2. Petr. 2. Who is an hereticke The curse of the Tarpeian Iupiter is not to be feared Iohn 16. The Queene is not cut of from the vnitie of Christes body Dan. 2. Iob. 12. 1. Samuel 9.10.12.15 1. Sam. 16. 1. Kynges 11 1. Kynges 14 1. Kynges 15 16. 2. Kinges 9.10 God vsed the