vpon the Church of Sardis as a theife in the night and that they should not knowe vvhat hower he vvould come vpon them And to conclude that he vvould spue the luke warme Laodicians out of his mouth All vvhich greuous plagues in a short time fell vpon thos Churches of Asia And shall vvee escape if now in this great light of the Gospell vve retaine and maintayne any filthines of corruption in our Churches No God is not partiall neither vvith him is any variablenes neither shadowing by turnning Besides heer also it is vvorthly to be noted that among these seaven Churches of Asia representing all other thereis not one word spoken of an Archangel Archbishop or Lord Bishop that might over rule or governe all the rest vvhich in these our times are some of the greatest and most noisome corruptions vvhich doe overflowe all To vvhich purpose I heere set downe the vvords of M. Fox speaking of the first Primitiue Churches his vvords are these Act Mon. p 36 It is evident saith he to all men that haue eyes in their head c. that there was not then any one Mother Church aboue other Churches One Vniversall Church Militāt Invisible but the whole vniversall Church was the mother Church under which uniuersall Church in generall were comprehended all other particular Churches in speciall as sister Churches together not one greater then another but all in like equalitie c. But this ring of equalitie being broken all flewe in peeces Howbeit of this more shall be spoken God vvilling hereafter There remaineth now to speake of the third generall thing vvhich Christ heere commaundeth his servant Iohn to vvrite of namely Revel 1.19 the things that should come to passe cōcerning the Churches of God after the Apostles time to the end of the vvorld And how the Synagogue of Sathan and the vvhore of Babilon by litle and litle should creepe in and vvith her filthines endeavour to envenime the Churches till at the last she should become that glorious vvhore described in the 17. chapter clothed in scarlet and purple guilded vvith gold pretious stones and pearles and having a cup of gold in her hand full of abominations filthines of her fornication sitting upon the scarlet coullered Beast having seavē heads ten hornes and by her glorious power should banish the true Churches of God and make make them flie into the wildernes that is into secret places hidden and vnknowne vnto men But leaving the high estate of the Babilonish whore vvhich is the great Cittie that in Iohns time reigned over the Kings of the earth vvhich all men know vvas the Citie of Rome and now calleth her selfe the Catholique Church Leaving her as I haue said in her magnificence I vvill shew how by litle and litle she crept in and so at the last got vp vnto that her high estate Now this beginnyng of corruption both in doctrine and Discipline made no long delaye after the Apostles time Eusebius Hist Eccle For as Evsebius in his Ecclesiasticall History lib 3. cap 32. saith Vt vero et Apostolorum chorus c. As soone as the company of the Apostles and all that age which had received the hearing of the Lords owne liuely voyce was departed out of this world then as it were into an emptie house the wicked error of false doctrine thrust in and plunged her selfe Which thing also is euident by all Ecclesiasticall Histories as the heresie of Cerinthus sheweth about the yeare of our Lord 70. Which taught that the vvorld vvas not made of God but of Angells and that Circumcision vvas necessary to be observed and that the kingdome of Christ after the resurrection should be vpon the earth And likewise the heresy of the Ebionites about the yeare 85. Which taught that Christ vvas very man both by Father and Mother and that Moses law vvas necessary to be observed Thus daily many heresies and foule corruptions crept in so that by the time that Augustine and Epiphanius lived they vvrote speciall books against heresies to the number of an hundred severall heresies of note cōtayning all of them great corruptions some in doctrine and manners some in Discipline and orders of the Church Which corruption in Church-Discipline was often times the cause of the hereticall doctrine And heerin I purpose God assisting me cheifly at this time to insist shewing what the auncient Fathers of the Primitiue Church did practise teach in these pointes of religion now controversied among vs and likwise what the lightes of the gospell the blessed Martyrs of God from age to age since even vnto this day haue also practised and taught touching the same And this I doe the rather because many excellent men haue alreadie by manifold reasons grounded and taken out of the word of God proved that there ought to be a full reformation both in Doctrine and Discipline according to that order in the Church which Christ and his Apostles left Which must be acknowledged to be the onely sure ground of proofe for all pointes of controversie in the Church of God But because the enimyes of ful true Reformation of religion doe yet after the old fashion rest vpon custome antiquitie and auncient Fathers I haue thought good to follow this course before named that it might be plainely seene both how the cheife of the auncient Fathers and also of the principall lights set vp by the Lord in the deapth of the darknes of Antichrist with one voyce agrement taught practised and proved the same both by the scriptures and manifold reasons grounded thereon touching the matters of reformation now desired And heerin I thinke good for example before I enter into the rest to set downe out of Epiphanius the heresie of Audianus which heretickes were afterward called Anthropomorphits who being thrust out of the Church as simple men in time lacking learned teachers fell into a perswasiō and beleife that God was like vnto a man whereof they tooke the name of their heresie Erat autem vir a Mesopotamia oriundus clarus in patria sua c. Epiphanius de Heres Audianus saith Epiphanius was a man by birth of Mesopotamia a famous man in his owne Countrie for the sinceritie of his life and of faith and Zeale towards God which often beholding the things that were done in the Churches he did oppose himselfe against such evills even to the face of the Bishops and Elders and did reproue them saying These things ought not to be soe done these thinges ought not to be soe handled as a man studious of the veritie and of such thinges as are spoken by men which lead a most exacte life and are vsually spoken for loue of the truth Wherefore Audianus seeing such thinges as I haue said in the Churches he was driven to speake and confute it and kept not silence For if he saw any of the Cleargie to seeke after filthy luker whether he were Bishop or
Lord and other a Servant Where Luther useth this word vel parochis which must needes be englished either after the Popish phrase Parish priests or in better English parish Ministers Which you see heere M. Luther maketh as great a Lordbishop as a Diocesan Bishop or Bishop of a Diocese and unto this rule he pulleth downe the proud Pope himselfe and so breaketh the necke of his Popedome For he saith that Bishops in all the world are not other in right and truth but Parish Ministers and that the one ought not to liue like a Lord and the other like a Minister or servant And upon the 5 chapter of Peter aforesaid he saith Furthermore S. Peter calleth it peculiarly the flocke of Christ In chap 5 2. as though he should say Thinke not that the flocke is any of your owne ye are but onely Servants and Ministers to looke unto it ye ye are no Lords nor Masters over it And further afterward he saith For we haue but one Lord Iesus Christ and he it is which governeth over soules Elders Pastors haue no further charge then to feed And heere in one word S Peter overthroweth all the kingdome of the Pope and concludeth that no Bishop hath any authority so much as in one word to clogg and tye the consciences of the faithfull to the observation of their precepts For they themselues ought to be servants and Ministers and to say thus saith the Lord and these be the words of Christ it is not we the words are none of ours and therefore ye ought to doe that which is here commanded According to that which Christ saith Luke the 22. The Kings of the Gentiles reigne over them and they that beare rule overthem are called gratious Lords but ye shall not be so Contrary whereunto the Pope boasteth and brageth saying we ought to be Lords and to us onely it belongeth to excercise cheife rule and supreme authoritie The second thing that I speake of to be observed in the former saying of M. Luther is this That the state of Bishops in those dayes was such that a Bishop could not be knowen by any Lordly countenance or attendance from a plaine man of the countrie The third thing is that in his apparell he differed nothing from the common sort of men he had not on his head as our booke of Martyrs of a certaine Bishop saith a Geometricall that is to say a square cap although his head be round nor a white rochet vpoÌ„ his blake coat nor a priests cloke nor a formall gowne For by those Mathematicall marks he must needs then haue been knowen froÌ„ a plaine man of the Country as that foresaid Bishop in Africa was not Yea though he had been an unpreaching Prelat and so could not haue been knowen by his preaching But let us heare what M. Luther further saith In our booke of Martyrs many thinges are specified which are most worthy to be noted concernyng him Fox Edition 1570 to 2. pag 976. Election of Ministers ought to be by the Church to whom they belong but for brevities sake I will onely obserue this one thing namely that he affirmeth the voyces of the people ought not to be severed from the choosing of Ecclesiasticall persons in which poynt all the auncient Fathers doe with one voyce agree with M. Luther they were also chosen themselues in that manner and so caused other to be chosen And so likewise all the Protestant writers and lights of the gospell do generallie affirme in their writings that by the law of God and by the holy Scriptures it ought to be still observed in the Churches of God And yet at this day it is exploded out of many Churches as namely here with us that professe the Gospell as a thing that cannot stand with a Christian common wealth wherein I will onely recite the wordes of our booke of Martyrs and one worthy sentence and also one notable example out of auncient Fathers and so leaue it to the consideration of the Christian reader and to the consciences of all christian Magistrats that profess the Gospell with myne owne prayers to God that this Apostolicke order of chosing of Ministers may be againe restored to all Christian Churches Fox pa. 5 ed. 1570. col 2 After which time of the Apostles saith our booke of Martyrs the election of Bishops and Ministers stood by the Cleargie and the people with the consent of the cheife Magistrate of the same place and so continued during all the time of the Primitiue Church till the time and after the time of Constantine the fourth Emperour which Emperour as writeth Platina and Sabellicus Enead 8 lib 6 published a law concernyng the election of the Romane Bishop Platina Sab. Ene 8. lib 6 that he should be taken for true Bishop whom the Cleargie and people of Rome did chose and elect without any tarying for any authoritie of the Emperour of Constantinople or the deputie of Italie so as the custom and fashion had ever been before that day anno 685. And a non after in our booke of Martyrs it is thus written â—owsons â—â—uralities of â—enefices likewise vowsons and pluralities of benefices were things then asmuch unknowen as now they are pernicious to the Church taking away all free election of Ministers from the flockes of Christ Heerunto I add touching this matter as I promised first a most worthy senteÌ„ce out of Cyprian who florished about 260 yeares after Christ He in his 68. Epistle saith â—yprian Epi â—8 iuxsta â—amelium Plebs obsequens preceptis Dominicis et Deum metueÌ„s a peccatore preposito seperare se debet nec se ad sacrilegi sacerdo tis sacrificia miscere quando ipsa maxime habeat potestatem vel eligendi dignos sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi Quod et ipsum videmus de diuina auctoritate descendere vt sacerdos plebe praesente sub omnium oculis deligatur et dignus atque idoneus publico iudicio ac testimonio comprobetur The people beyng obedient unto the commandement of God and fearing God ought to seperat themselues from a wicked Pastor or Minister and not to joyne themselues to the sacrifice of a sacrilegius Priest seeing the People it selfe cheiflie hath power either to choose priests that are worthy or to refuse those that be unworthy which thing we see doth come from the authority of God that the Priest may be chosen in the presence of the people that he which is worthy and meete for the place may be allowed with a publicke judgment and testimony And a litle after he concludeth saying Et sit ordinatio iusta et legitima que omnium suffragio et iudicio fuerit examinata And let the ordination be just and lawfull which is tryed by the judgmeÌ„t and voyce of all Athanasius And now as I said take one example namely of Athanasius the great The confession of whose faith is read in our Churches of England
Bucer desired to haue a better reformation of religion in England then was in King Edwards time appeareth evidently in his booke De Regno Christi written to King Edward that most gratious and religious King of England whom both Ridly Bishop of London and Cranmer Archbishop of Caunterburie confessed to haue more divinitie in his litle finger then they thēselues in their whole bodyes as you may read in our booke of Martyrs such an excellent impression of true Divinity had God ingraven in his brest beyng then but a child Who no doubt if he had lived as he had in many things well begun so would he haue made a full reformation of those foule corruptions that remayned and yet remaine to this day and would haue reduced all the Churches in his Dominions unto the Primitiue and Apostolike order and Discipline which M. Bucer in his sayd book of the Kingdome of Christ written unto him for the same purpose so earnestly desireth Whose words in his first booke and 15. chapter are these Vt vero claris Dominus et gravissimis verbis disciplinam suam cum vitae vniversae De regni Christi 1 15 tum agendae penitentiae tumetiam sacrarum ceremoniarum sancivit etc. With what playne and cleare words saith M. Bucer hath the Lord established his Discipline as well of the whole course of life as of shewing publike repentance also of the holy Ceremonies Yet how few shall you find even among those which are coūted men of speciall note among Christians which I will not say desire with all their heart to haue this Discipline restored which is the only Discipline of health or salvation but that thinke it a thing worthy once to go about it They say the times are now farr otherwise then it was when this Discipline florished in the first Churches men are now of an other sorte And it is to be feared least by the restoring of this Discipline the Churches should be more troubled then edified and that more men should therby be frayed from the Gospell then should be brought unto it To conclud that it is to be feared that by this meanes it should grow into a new tyranny of a false Cleargie upon the people of Christ But do not these men even by their owne wordes manifestly convince themselues of their horrible ignorance concernyng the profit of the kingdome of Christ and the true benefitts therof For know not they that the kingdome of Christ is a kingdome of all ages and of all men which are elect to salvation They are ignorant that King Iesus that is to say the Saviour of men and the best Pastor or sheepheard of his owne sheepe hath instituted nothing at all and commanded nothing to those that are his which is not healthfull unto them in all times and places if it be used as he instituted commanded the same Bucer in Ephesians 4. And upon the 4 chapter to the Ephesians he sayth Sathan goeth about to make men beleiue that by the restoring of the disciplin the faithfull Ministers should be thought to seeke ambitiously the same tyrannie which Antichrist did Yee see with what force of wordes M. Bucer lamenteth the lacke of true Discipline in England even in King Edwards time and how vehemently he desired the King to restore and establish the same which in his time could never be performed by reason of his suddaine death in the minoritie of his yeares And afterward in the dayes of Queene Elizabeth the Gospell was receaved aboue 40. yeares and no fault by publik authority amended which King Edward left in the Discipline of the Church wherin by the way I cannot but note one pretie litle poynt of the Dragon that subtle serpent Sathanas for the better safegard of his sonne Antichrist his creedit and his deare daughter Babilon the great whore of Rome for slily and cunningly he so scraped out this peece of publique prayer in all Queene Elizabeths time which both in King Hēries time and King Edwards time was used that it could never be restored unto this day Namely From the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities good Lord deliver us For he knew full well no small number of his owne enormious abominations were yet reteyned in the Discipline of the Church to the great comfort of himselfe and of his sonne Antichrist the Pope and his deare daughter the Church of Rome And it might justly be taken for a Prophesie that we should not in her dayes be delivered from the detestable enormities of the Bishop of Rome left unreformed in King Edwards time But let us heare further what M. Bucer sayth to King Edward in his second booke of the kingdome of Christ and the 1 chapter Primum haud dubito serenissime Rex Maiestatem tuam ipsam videre hanc quam requirimus imo quam requirit salus omnium nostrum regni Christi restitutionem ab Episcopis nullo modo expectandam c. First I doubt not most gracious King saith M. Bucer to King Edward but your owne Maiesty doth see that this restoring agayne of the kingdom of Christ which we require yea which the salvation of us all requireth may in no wise be expected to com of the Bishops seeyng there be so few among them which do understand the power and proper offices of this kingdom and very many of them by all meanes which they possible can and dare either oppose themselues against it or deferre it and hinder it And after in the same booke he concludeth saying De reformando itaque Episcoporum ordine serenissima Maiestatis tuae cum primis animus intendendus Therefore the mind of your most excellent Maiestie must principally be set upon reforming of the order of Bishops Of these places before cited first the reader may plainly see with what vehemency this Angell and starre holden in the right hand of Christ desireth and requyreth to haue the reformation in England which yet cannot be obteyned to be squared according to the first Churches which were in the Apostles time Secondly that the objections which are now commonly made against the reformation are even the same which Satan and his childrē made in King Edwards time the wilfull horrible ignorance wherof M. Bucer manifestly discovereth Thirdly that no hope of this reformation and the restoring of the kingdom of Christ which even the salvation of us all requyreth was to be expected at the hands of the Bishops Fourthly that that the King ought specially to bend his mind to reforme the order or estate of the Bishops And to speake the truth ye might truely affirme that the King began at a wrong end when he began at the parish Priests and leapt over the Lord Bishops for that was a tithing of mint and annis and a leaving of the waightier matters of the law undone It is a memorable and a true saying that Sigismund the Emperour used in the Counsell of Constāce Sigismund
tempt God yea they are delivered Then spake they that feared the Lord saith the Prophet every one to his neighbour and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a booke of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name And they shal be to me saith the Lord of hostes in that day that I shall doe this for a flocke and I will spare them as a man spareth his owne sonne that serveth him This is ever the condition of those that forsake God they repent of any good beginning if they see no worldly profit but rather troubles to come thereof And speciallie if they see wicked men preferred com to promotion they repine of the continuance in the serving of God seeing there is neither profit nor promotion that way to be gotten But every one that feareth God saith the prophet though he be never so privat a person yet speaketh even the truth boldlie to his neighbour And the Lord hearkeheth and heareth him and their wordes are written up in a booke Gods remembrance and they shall enjoye the sweete heavenly promisse for although they be but weake and sinfull men yet will the Lord spare them as a Father spareth his sonne that serveth him Neither ought the Preachers in their place to be silent nor to count it a wearines to serue the Lord in his temple like the Priests in the dayes of Malachi or to make light of it nor to offer vp that which is torne and lame and sicke Mal. 1.13 or any of the whore of Babilons dregges but plainely without dissimulation or halting and earnestlie to urge whatsoever hath neede of perfect reformation untill all corruptions and abuses in the Churches of England be restored againe into the first puritie and never cease to call upon God with teares and sorrow of heart and upon the Prince with humble sute of speaking writing and preaching untill he abolish whatsoever doth belong to that whore of Babilon But it is said in the Revelation that after the seaventh Angell had powered out his Viall Rev. 16.19 and the horrible earthquake was come upon the earth the great Citie was devided into three partes This great Citie can be taken for none other but for the territorie dominion of all Nations Kingdomes and People bearing the names of Christians and subjectes to the great Antichrist of Rome upon whose throne the first Angell hath powered out his Viall of the wrath of God wherby the glorie of his kingdome waxed darke And through the voyces lightnings thundrings and horrible earthquakes that came by the powring out of the seaventh Angells Viall That whole great Citie under the Papacie and the whores government is devided into three parts The first parte are they that doe professe the Gospell and utterly renounce the Pope and all the appurtenances of his Church of Rome which S. Iohn calleth the great Whore of Babilon which hath fullie forsaken Christ maried her selfe to Antichrist This first parte is so divided from the whore hateth her with such a perfect hatred that they cannot abide to kisse or any part of her neither finger hand nor foote much lesse her filthy parts which are not to be named Hos 2.17 according to that which is written I will take away the names of Balaim folke in hande that men may beare with the time granting that men may well cut of the thinges that are utterly intollerable and manifestly against God but yet avouching that the thinges may well be borne with which are either Indifferēt or not utterly evill I say that they which speake after that fashion doe shew full well that they haue no right meaning in them nor any desire that ther should be any reformation as were meete to be had And not withstanding the world is full of such disguisers which would faine haue a particoulored fashion of serving God and a religion that were neither fish nor flesh as men say but halfe of one sute and halfe of a nother Heere I would aske these indifferent men and particoulored disguisers of religion whether Images are not thinges indifferent I trust they will not denie but the Image and superscription of Ceasar may be giuen to Ceasar and yet I trow they will not say that it is lawfull for Ceasar to set vp Images publikly in the Churches Let Let them heare what our Engliw Homilie saith which all the Lordbishops doe mayntaine to be not onely true and good doctrine but also publikly to be read in the Church We should not haue saith our Homilie Images in the Temple Hom part 1 against per. of Idol though they were of themselues thinges indifferent And yet againe our Homilie saith expresly though they be thinges indifferent to be used in civill matters yet are they wicked abominable to be used in the Church The wordes of our Homily are these Our Images in Churches haue been be and ever wil be none other but abominable idols part 3. and be therefore not thinges indifferent he meaneth in religious use And where the common cloke is for Images like as for all the rest of superstitious Ceremonies that the people by doctrine are taught not to use them superstitiously and therefore they may safely be used in the Church Against this pild cloake our Homilie thus concludeth To conclude saith our Homilie it is evident by all stories and writings ibedem and experience in times past that neither Preaching nor writing neither consent of the learned nor authoritie of the godly nor the decrees of Counsells neither the lawes of Princes nor extreeme punishments of the offendors in that behalfe nor any other remedie or meanes can helpe against idolatrie if Images be suffered publickely And this conclusion of Images may be by the selfe same reason made as well also of the signe of the Crosse the surplice and other Ceremonies which serue for religious signification and haue ben with further Idolatrie and superstition used by our forefathers yet are still so used by our papistes that remaine in England and by all other the Popish kingdome of Evrope But in the same Homily it is rightlie said of Images Take them cleane away and then is all the danger gone for none worshippeth that which is not and the very same may be justly said of all the rest As for that intrepretation of the great Citie wherein Antichrist hath so long raigned and yet boasteth to be the head thereof if any doe mislike it let him know that this is not myne interpretation onely but of many that are of singular learning and sincere iudgment As namely Doctor Fulke whose wordes are these in his Commentarie upon this place of the Revelation Fulk Cōm in Rev. 16 19. They which in times past with one consent haue worshipped the beast are now divided into three sects For some of them doe from their very hearts abhorre and detest his tyranie others doe remaine in the
not foure or fiue thowsand pounds by the yeare nor made him a Lords grace nor an Archprophet but let him liue in-such a meane estate as hath been before declared and as the Prophet thought meetest for himselfe to continew in And not unfitly heerevnto may be joyned the history of Constantin the great and his singular loue and favour towardes the Ministers and Preachers of the word of God in his time that we may see together what was the estate both of the Prophets in the old Testament and of the Preachers of the word of God in the New And how Kings Princes maintayned thē which most dearly loved them In the life of Constantine thus it is written Dei vero administros ad se accersitos semper honore praecipuo dignos censebat et omni officio prosequebatur Vit. Const apud Euseb nihil circa devotos addictosque numini benignitatis aut humanitatis omittebat Homines quidem de vultu ornatuque tenues alia tamen apud eum nota convictores erant haud asseclae The Ministers of God being called unto him he ever thought them most worthy of speciall honor and did reverence them withall duetifulnes and he omitted nothing towards them who were devoute and dedicated to God which pertained to loving kindnes or curtesie yet they were men indeede in countenance and garnishment but poore but in another note they were familiar companions with him and not waiting servants I neede not to amplifie this matter ye see as I haue saide the estate of the Ministers of Gods word both in the old Testament and in the New vnder those Kings and Princes which so highly favoured honored and so dearely loved them And yet never made thē Lords nor Archlords nor maintayned them in any pompous or lordly estate And heere I will ad the example of Athanasius who must needs haue been extolled and lifted up unto a Lordly dignitie by that great and mightie Emperour Constantine if he had not thought it vtterly unlawfull so to exalt any Bishop in the world Being the onely man aboue all the rest among all the three hundred Bishops in the Counsell of Nice which confuted and confounded the horrible heresie of Arius which then was readie to overrunne the Church of God in so much that he was called Oculus mundi the eye of the world And whose Confession is set up and received even to this day in all christian Churches and called Athanasius Creed yet when he was accused to haue turned the corne which the Emperour sent unto the Citie to other uses then the Emperour had appoynted The Synod of Alexandria in their Apologie for Athanasius maketh this answer Synod Alexan. Apol 2. Quid Athanasio remotius a crimine qui si vel in ipsa Alexandria fuisset quid tamen ipsi cum negotiis prefecti What could be further of from fault then Athanasius Which if he had ben at that time even in the Citie of Alexandria yet what had he to doe with the affaires of the Magiistrate And further they say Nec fieri posse vt homo privatus et pauper tantum virium haberet Neither could it be possible that such a private and poore man should be able to doe it Heere you see the estate that Athanasius the most famous Bishop in the world at that time was in and how the Bishops themselues and the most godly Princes and Emperours thought fit for thē to liue in All these things being considered I conclude that the Pastor or Preacher of the word of God ought to be so maintayned that being freed from all other busines he might haue one man at all times to waite upon him Whereunto a convenient proportion of living as the state and rate of thinges stand at this day in England cannot be lesse then one hundred pounds by the yeare considering that he may not attend upon any other occupying affayres or busines but onely and continually upon prayer and administration of the word Wherefore I say at the least one hundred by the yeare for so the sound judgment of reason requyreth Howbeit if some one be aboue other charged with many children or other wayes A reasonable proportion for a Pastors maintenance or in speciall sorte with excellencie of guifts be found worthy to be preferred before other the living unto such may ought to be encreased yet so that none exceede the revenues of two hundred or there about Which thinge agreeeth well with the words of his Majestie in his second booke of his Basilicon Doron where he saith As some will deserue to be preferred before other pa. 44. so chaine them with such bonds as may preserue that estate from creeping to corruption And surely a foule and shamefull corruption it is that any Ecclesiasticall person should be maintained upon and by any Ecclesiasticall lyving exceeding the reasonable estate and proportion before named For so he is both corrupted himselfe and also robbeth other of that which by right belongeth unto them while the one is lifted up to a Lordship and the other kept under in a beggerly estate Now to goe forwarde with the proceeding and growing up of Antichrist and his Babilonish whore When the Bishops had taken a degree aboue the rest of the Pastors and had the name of Papa as it were written one their foreheads and usually given them in their titles and their regiment creaping up to whole Cities Diocesses So that some of them began to maintaine themselues as Lords and to claime a Lordly estate The godly learned Fathers not seeing the mischeifes that were alreadie by a generall and common consent crept in whereby it was imposible to keepe out the foule corruptions following not onely tollerated the foule abuses brought in but also they themselues in their simplicitie with a zeale of God though not accordyng to knowledge brought in many bald Ceremonies and corruptions which for brevityes sake I will passe over and onely set downe the words of our English Father George Alley Bishop of Exeter of the corruptions in the Sacrament of Baptisme brought in by the auncient Fathers Alley Whereby we may see the weaknes even of the first times and former ages Tertullian writeth saith he that when we come to the water we stay somewhat before in the Church vnder the hand of the Preist and doe protest that we will renounce the Devill his pompe and all his Angels After that we be thrise dipped in the water de coron militi◠answering no more then the Lord hath determined in his gospell And then being taken out we tast of milke and hony And from that day we abstaine from being washed by the space of a whole weeke Here you may see saith our Bishop of Exeter by the words of Tertullian what rites were added unto Baptisme as abrenunctions three immersions tasting of milke and hony abstinence from washing lib. 15. in Esa In his first booke against Martion he maketh mention also
of oyle S. Ierome testifieth that wine was added to the milke he writeth in his commentaries after this manner The Lord did provoke vs not only to buye wine but also milke which signifieth the innocencie of infants which manner and type is even at this day observed in the west Churches that wine milke be given to them that be borne againe in Christ S. Augustine in certaine places of his works doth shew that divers prayers and manners were vsed about Baptisme he maketh mention of Exorcismes and Exufflations against the contrary power he speaketh of Godfathers which promise faith for the infants he maketh mention also of oyle wherewith the christened were annoynted After Augustine Rabanus Maurus Bishop of Mentz maketh rehearsall of many moe Ceremonies in Baptism as to signe him that was Baptised with the Cross in the forehead and in the breast to blesse salt and to put it into his mouth of a white cloth which we call the Chrisome All those things and many such other were added from time to time by men But if antiquitie may seeme to defend the manner of these rites who dare deny the authority of the Apostles far to excell their authorities for the Apostles were longe before them Therefore it shall be best to cleaue to and follow the steppes of the Apostles as well in the ministerie of Baptism as in other godly ministrations Thus far our Bishop of Exeter And as these foule corruptions and other such like were even then brought into Baptisme so likewise in the Supper of the Lord many other orders of the Church As namely the filthy vermin of Monks in the time of Augustine and Ierome grew to be almost innumerable which although at that time they had very coulerable pretenses and great shew of vertue and holines yet had they noe ground in the word of God and so by the event we now manifestly see that they were nothing else but the very Locusts which even then began to come out in the smoke of the bottomles pit spoken of in the 9. chap. of the Revelation Yet these auncient Fathers tolerating and bringing in these and many other follies and Humane inventions laboured with might maine to keepe downe the poÌ„pe pride and stately regiment which they now saw grew so fast and without measure in the Bishops Pastors and the rest of the clergie as things in the Church which they saw to be most intollerable and most cleerely against the word of God And therefore they fought against them both by their examples of life by their doctrine and by generall constitutions and decrees made in their assemblies and Counsells Basil moral 70 cap. 28 As Basilius Magnus which saith Quod non oportet eum cui concreditum est predicare Evangelium plus possidere quam ea quae ad necessariuÌ„ ipsius vsum sufficiant That it is not lawfull for him to whom the preaching of the word of God is committed to possesse more then that which may suffice for the necessary vse of this life And to shew the practise of his owne life thervnto according vpon occasion being threatened with the confiscation of his goods he answereth Siquidem horum nihil me cruciari poterit equidem opes non habeo Zoz lib. 6 ca. 16 praeterquam vestem laceram et paucos libros sicque terram incolo quasi semper ex ea migraturus Certainely saith Basil none of these thinges can greatly vex me for surely I haue no riches more then a ragged gowne a few bookes and so I dwel vpon earth as looking ever to depart out of it And Gregorie Bishop of Nisse in his funerall oration in which he did celebrate the prayse and memory of this his brother Basil the great saith Placuerat ab initio nihil quicquam possidere et paupereÌ„ esse tanquam petra immota atque inconcussa stabile firum Impress Basil Anno 1562. pag 347 id iudicium fuit concupisebat per puritatem appropinquare Deo It pleased him saith Gregorie Nissen to possesse nothing at all and to be a poore man and this his judgment was stable and firme as a rocke that could not be removed and he coveted by puritie to drawe neere unto God Marke well what a Puritane this Basil the great was who had his addition of greatnes not for the greatnes of riches but for the greatnes of his learnyng vertue and purity of life And marke how the Bishop of Nisse also numbreth these things among his excellent vertues namely that he lived in a meane estate which he calleth povertie in comparison of pompous dignitie and Lordship As he that may dispend but one hundred pounds by the yeare is but a begger in respect of him that may dispend three or foure thowsand Thus much of Basil the great And Ierome complaineth and cryeth out against the Lordship of Bishops of his time in his Commentary upon on the booke of the Preacher saying Hoc autem propterca evenit quia nemo peccantibus Episcopis audet contradicere nec statim Deus scelus ulciscitur Ierome sed differt paenam dum expectat penitentiam This mischeife commeth to pass saith Ierom because wheÌ„ Bishops doe naughtily no man dares speake against them and God doth not straight way take vengaunce of the abominable wickednes but he deferrs the plague expecting their repentance Heere we may see by these few wordes of Ierome how the Lordly state of Bishops was even then crept up what thinke yee Ierome would say if he saw their magnificent estate in our age Alas the poore proud Bishops of Ieromes time if they should be compared with these the comparison would be as between Mountaines and moule hills But straight way after in the same place Ierome saith further Nemo quip pe audet accusare maiorem propterea quasi sancti et beati et in preceptis Domini ambulantes augent peccata peccatis For indeede saith Ierome no man dareth to accuse him that is greater then himselfe and therefore as though they were holy and blessed men they goe foâ—â—â—rd and heape sinne upon sinne And heere it is worthy to be noted how Ierome againe in this place girdeth at the superiority that Bishops then had got aboue other Ministers of the word For saith he no man dares accuse him that is greater theÌ„ himselfe and therefore they goe boldly from one wickednes to another and this is indeede all the advantage that they get by their superiority But if that mischeife came of that small superiority what a world of wickednes commeth of the Lordly estate wherein the Bishops now are But Ierom in the same place goeth forth saying Difficilis est accusatio in Episcopum si enim peccaverit non creditur et si convictus fuerit non punitur It is a difficult accusation against a Bishop saith Ierome for if he offends no man belieues it yea if he be convicted yet is he not punished And agreeable speech vnto