perceiue this agrement at home in youre owne chapitre where being all equall in the dignitie of canons or prebendaries yeat one deane him selfe also a canon and in that respecte equall to the rest is aboue the other in power nor in youre prouince of Cauntorburie where all the bisshoppes equall in that dignitie are yeat inferiour to the Archebishop in power as youre selfe some times graunte namelie before fol. 32. a. where you vse the worde chiefe prelates of euerie prouince yeat take the paines to make a step to westminstre hall where when yow beholde the honorable iudges sitting in their places although they beequall in this dignitie that they be all the Quenes iudges yeat is there you can not denie difference of power emongest them And so haue they all one dignitie common to them allthough some of them be in superioritie aboue the other I showed yow before but it pleaseth yow that it be repeated here againe where with I am also not offendid that so the reader maie the better vnderstande youre vanitie how S. Austen Contra duas epist 〈…〉 ea 1. Tom. ◠writing to Bonifacius then pope confesseth that he and other bishoppes haue all one bishoprike common with him beholde the dignitie common but that yeat altius praesidet he sitteth higher preaeminet celsiore fastigio speculae pastoralis he is aboue the rest in the higher top of the pastorall watche tower And what is this but in one dignitie difference of power whilest other bishoppes sit beneathe and loke onely euerie one to his owne flocke and he that sitteth aboue hathe power to ouerloke all This Iarre as yow call it is framed M. Nowell Yow maie now when it shall please yow doe this greate acte that you speake of that is proue Leo vntrue by two witnesses against one Although this M. Nowell calleth Leo thiefe by crafte I can not passe ouer in silence that where yow call Leo suche a witnesse as if a man shoulde aske youre felowe whether yow be a thiefe or no you liken and resemble him in those wordes to a thiefe whome the whole councell of Calcedon B. 24. as youre selfe confesse called moste holye and moste blessed yow sclaunder him whome they reioised that God had Allocutione Calcedon Concil ad Martianum Imp. prouided for his churche an impregnable defendour against all errours whome they called their heade and the kepar of oure Lordes vineyarde Youre venimouse and virulent tongue hath not spared him being deade whome Attila that cruell In Relatio Synod ad Leon. barbarouse tyrant he whome the worlde called flagellum dei the scourge of God durst not touche being a liue Paulus Diaconus an approued historiographer maketh mention Lib. 5. de Gestis Rom. that when hauing now spoiled Thracia Illiricum Macedonio Moesia Achaia Graecia Hungarie Germanie he was entred with like furie into Italie and had taken euen the high waie to Rome to sacke and destroie that this holye bishop and vertuouse olde man Leo accompanied as some saie with one Consul and parte of the Senate met him in the waye To whome after he had made a verie shorte but pithy oration to this effect to shewe mercy to the citie off Rome the cruell monstre without anie furder hurte doing reculed backe graunted to the bishop euen as he had wished before and confessed after to those that were nearest aboute him merueiling at and demaunding the cause of this sodeine chaunge of his minde that it was not for the feare of his persone who came vnto him but of an other reuerent olde man standing by him in priestly habite who threatened him terribly with a sworde ready drawen vnlesse he accorded to all thinges that he shoulde require Now considre you good readers what maner of man he is that raileth thus vpon suche a father as Leo was and thinke what it is that he will take conscience in the doing or saing who is not ashamed to diffame the chiefe man in his time of all the worlde But nowe let vs see how yow proue Leo to be vntrue Yow saye that he dissentith first from S. Cyprian and next Nowell fo 49. a. 23 from S Hierome From S. Cyprian because he is of the minde that controuersies shoulde be determined in the place where they doe arise and that this sentence of his and that no appellations shoulde be made to anie B. of an other prouince yea and that namelie not to the B. of Rome nor that he shoulde sende anie legates Laterall to heare or determine forraine matters doth the whole councell of Carthage where in was S. Augustine Orosius and Prosper confirme Youre allegation out of S. Cyprian is of no effect Dorman because yow belye him He speaketh not there against laufull appellations but onelie that criminall causes shoulde be iudged at home And so the pope allwaies obserueth He calleth not the witnesses to Rome from farre countries but delegateth a legat to the prouince where the cōtrouersie is The thing that specially grieued here S. Ciprian was that these desperate men of whome he speaketh ran to certeine Numidian bishoppes to be reconciled of them Of the B. of Rome that he neuer ment to diminish his auctoritie his sending a messenger to Rome to purge him selfe and prosecute the matter against those naughty mē with other diuerse arguments and cōiectures mētioned before in the 11. chap. doe well witnesse Of the 6. African councell because it dependeth vpon the matter of Zosimus I shall in the nexte chapitre entreate S. Ciprian you saye applieth manie suche places of the scriptures Nowell 49. b. 3. as are customably alleaged for the popes supremacie ouer all bishoppes to the declaration of the equall auctoritie of euerie bisshop in his owne diocesse The places brought by S. Cyprian are alleaged to persuade Dormen obedience to those that be heades and gouernours The graunting of one chiefe heade ouer all diminisheth not the auctoritie of inferiour bishoppes who in respecte of the priestes and people vnder them are in their diocesses the high priestes and princes of the people And thus muche doth Leo graunte in this epistle him selfe Therfore hetherto there is no Iarre betwene S. Cyprian and him You bring the place of S. Cyprian in his boke De simplicitate praelatorum or as the truer copies reade De vnitate ecclesiae to ouerthrowe Leo. The which place because youre selfe haue pitefully mangled as one that was not ignorant how euell it woulde haue serued youre turne without some helpe of youre accustomed squaring I will take the paines to alleage it trulie for you The wordes are these Et quamuis Apostolis omnibus post resurrectionem suam parem potestatem tribuat dicat Sicut misit me pater ego mitto vos accipite spiritum sanctum Si cui remiseritis peccata remittentur illi si cui tenueritis tenebuntur tamen vt vnitatem manifestaret vnitatis eiusdem originem ab vno incipientem sua auctoritate
40. a. 1. were bothe of one minde Therefore saie I they bothe proue the necessitie of one heade Neither care I whether S. Hierome speake in this dialogue of the B. of Rome by name or no. It suffiseth to proue my entent that as by youre owne confession S. Cypriah is of the minde that in euerye diocesse there must be one prieste and iudge in the stede of Christe whome all the rest must obeye so S. Hierome also is of the same The which being once graunted it foloweth verie well that seing for one litle diocesse a heade ouer so meane men as parishe priestes be is precisely necessarie muche more is a heade in earthe ouer all the bishoppes which haue euerie one of them so greate power ouer their owne flocke lest theye abuse the same of greter and more forcible necessitie And therefore you take greate paines to no purpose to proue that S. Hierome speaketh not of the B. of Rome but of euery other bishop the which thinge I woulde hier you to proue for me For whereas if he had spoken of the B. of Rome by name it had bene a reason grounded vpon the auctoritie of S. Hierome alone now being spoken of euerie bishop it confirmeth by reconing the necessitie of one heade particulerly in euerye diocesse the greate necessitie of the same one heade in the whole bodie of the churche by naturall reason also which proueth my purpose better then any priuate mānes auctoritie can doe If cancred malice and desire to be reuenged had not caried yow so far and fast awaye that it gaue you no leisor to loke backe to the title of the argument that is here handled youre selfe woulde sone haue perceiued howe litle it were necessarie to haue in this place anie speciall mention made of the B. of Rome Which if yow had once marcked then woulde you neuer haue gathered so foolilishely and vnlearnedly out of the argument of the dialogue fol. 40. a. 6 writen by Erasmus Liber est c. The booke is very worthye to be reade as the whiche doth conceine manie ▪ wholesom preceptes M. Nowell a weake reasoner concerning the life of bishoppes that there was nothing in the same dialogue not asmuche as one worde that is special to the B. of Rome onelye For all thoughe there be no one worde there speciall to the B. of Rome as it is not necessary that there be how shoulde yeat this auctoritie presse him that woulde maintaine the contrary and saye to you what M. Nowell I thinke your wittes faile you Maye there not be some one worde speciall to the B. of Rome in that dialogue because it conteineth manie wholesome preceptes concerning the life of bishoppes Is not the B of Rome a bishop Muche like or more foolishe then this are youre other notes gathered here and there out of this dialogue to proue that which you saie of euerye bishoppes auctoritie and to reproue my wresting as you terme it of this place to the auctority of one bishop ouer the whole church For who sence reason was first poured in to mannes heade harde euer of one that occupieth the place of a wise man a more folishe or brainesicke kinde of reasoning then is this S. Hierome speaketh in diuerse places of this dialogue of manye bishoppes because the question was whether bishoppes returning from their heresies shoulde be vnbishopped or no before they were reconciled Ergo He meant not in the place alleaged that there shoulder be one chiefe bisshoppe in the churche This semed to your self to be farre from the marke I doubte not when you promise to come nearer to the place by fol. 40. b. 22. fol. 41. b. me alleaged And therefore you bring in certeine sentences going next before to proue that which I denie not that S. Hierome speaketh of euery bishop in his owne diocesse And thereupon you conclude And therefore this whole matter is altogether impertinent to Nowell fol. 42. b. 9 D. Harding and M. Dormans purpose of one onelye heade ouer the whole churche Vnlesse M. Dorman woulde frame vs thereof this lewde argument S. Hierome saieth that euery bishop ought to haue auctoritie aboue all other priestes of his owne diocesse Ergo the B. of Rome ought to haue a preeminence peerelesse aboue all bishoppes of all diocesses and ouer the whole church thorough out the whole worlde No M. Nowell I will not reason so in this place because Dorman the argument whiche I handle forceth me not so to doe But if I had so reasoned or woulde so reason as yow thinke no man being awake wil yeat am I he that euē in my slepe M. Nowell were able to defende that argument againste yow staring with bothe youre eyes wide open vpon me And that youre selfe perceiued well inough and therefore like a tendre harted mā as lothe to breake my sweete slepe you stolle from it as softlye as you might For this being I praye you first graunted that euery bishop ought to haue auctoritie aboue all other priestes of his owne diocesse and the reason being as S. Hierome hathe here and you in making the argument guilefully left out for the auoiding of schismes I woulde infer for the minor or seconde proposition but the same reason for the auoiding of schismes dothe no lesse yea more enforce that one haue perelesse auctoritie ouer the bishops and priestes of the whole world Ergo there must be one suche heade and that by a consequent the B. of Rome who hathe euer so bene reputed and taken except you by youre deanely auctoritie haue power to appoint some other But I brought not S. Hieromes auctoritie VVhy S. Hierome was first alleaged M. Nowell to conclude so particulerly or to force it to the B. of Romes supremacy but only to proue the necessitie of one generall heade ouer Christes vniuersal churche the which no reasonable man can denie but that most effectually it dooth So that nowe youre greate musing at any man that shall to this sense alleage this place of S. Hierome maye appeare rather to procede off some dumpish melancolike vapours occupieng youre fonde and idle heade or lacke of other matter to thinke vpon then vpon any iust cause or good grounde and that also yow haue vntruly saide of me that I haue wrested this place In answering the place of S. Hierom to Euagrius you saie Nowell fo 4◠b. 18 first that he sheweth that praesbiter and episcopus a prieste and a bishop be all one by the first institution and by the lawe of God If it had pleased yow so to haue taken S. Hierome he Dorman might haue ment that the name of a prieste and the name of a bishop was all one in the vse of speche in the holie scriptures and in the sacrament of ordres but not in dignitie preeminence and auctoritie For a bishop is preferred before a prieste in iurisdiction allthough their names were once confounded Neither are all those thinges
learned what so euer they wrote / of other that were before them Thus muche maye be saide to M. Nowell susteining thys paradox to deface vs to the worlde that we are seely translatours because nothing can nowe be newely written for the maintenaunce of the popes supremacy or any other matters whiche we nowe treate of but such as hathe bene allready bothe written and printed many yeares agoe c. The which so strange an opinion / as for his small skyll some simple Ideot maye mainteine / so is it for the persone of M. Nowell / one that beareth some countenaunce of learning / and is in deede in the place and roume of a learned man / alltogether vnsitting And this I doubte not but he him selfe / aswell by the experience of his owne writing of late / as of other of his syde that wright daily / knewe well inough But to muche Rhetorike made him playe the foole / and while he folowed to neare the preceptes of his arte / he straied to far from the rules of all good reason For allthough it be tricke of Rhetorike / to labour to bring the aduersarie in the verie entry in to the matter / out of credite withe the reader or hearer yeat is it a pointe of reason to forsee and prouide withall / that the meanes whiche a man vseth / be not suche as maie be returned against him selfe Well this being nowe in the hearing of M. Nowell who peeped bylike To the. 2. there while in at the key hole concluded emongest the catholikes in this solemne conference of theirs / that some thing shoulde be set furthe in Englishe / the nexte deuise was of the maner of publishing it Which was / if the Reporter lye not that because they mistrusted dest this kinde of writing or rather translating should not appeare worthy to be accompted the earnest doinges of anye learned or wise man they shoulde pretende either their bookes to be written lightely for priuate frindes c. or appoint suche to beare the name as authors of such bookes as were the simplest men for learning and discretion emongest them If malice had not alltogether blinded him / and as it were bereued him of common sense / neuer woulde he haue abused youre eares good Readers / with such vaine toyes as these are For there is none of yow I trust / but that he iudgeth better of the whole nombre oâ— catholikes / then that he can be persuaded to thinke / that there shoulde be emongest them anye so wittelesse / muche lesse that a multitude shoulde agree in conference to thinke / that to wright of a matter either in the same tongue or anye other / whereof an other hathe written before / were a thing not worthy to be accounted the doing of any learned or wise man Whiche if they shoulde thinke / what were it elles but to condemne all the learned writers of so many hundred yeares / of ignorance and lacke of witte / as either being seely translatours or needy borowers Beside this / there is none of yow I trust so simple but that he can easely imagine with him selfe / that it is not likely / that anie Catholike shoulde be so far from all reason / as to feare thys that M. Nowelles fantasy surmiseth / hauing especially in his eye the example of heretikes them selues / who writing daily in the vulgar tongues / are yeat therefore counted of none but fooles in deede / the lesse learned or wise He noteth in the margent M. Doctour Harding and M. Rastell / for pretending their bookes to be written for priuate frindes And why ought they not rather being bothe of them to speake the lest men of no in famouse maners or godlesse consciences to be beleuid / affirming the same in their seuerall prefaces to the Readers / then M. Nowell withe his moste vaine and vnlikely coniectures / being allready infamouse for beelieng that learned man M. Doctour Redman / as to honest / learned / and good men yeat liuing it is notoriously knowen As for vs whome he calleth the simplest emongest the Catholikes for learning and discretion if that be true / so muche haue we the greater cause to rendre thanckes to allmighty God / who hathe preserued free from the infection of their heresies / suche a nombre no worse learned / nor of lesse discretion then we by goddes grace are Who maye when it shall please his wisdome to appointe the time / and to moue the harte of oure prince to call vs home / shewe oure selues worckemen in buylding vp that / which heretikes haue destroyed and pulled downe But I feare me and would it were not so / that euen in this pointe also / M. Nowell hathe made a Rhetoricall lye The nexte thing that he burdeneth vs withall / is common conference I woulde it were true that he laieth to oure charge If we were as To the 3. wise as we shoulde be / it shoulde be true / and we woulde in this pointe imitate our aduersaries But our sauiour hath saide it can not be false Filij huius seculi prudenâ—iores filiâ—s lucis in generatione sua sunt Lucae 16. The children of this worlde be wyser then the children of light / in their generation And so it happeneth vnto vs. But here I praie yowe good readers / marcke how he doubleth and faltreth in this tale of his / that so yow maye the better vnderstande with whome yow deale in this case First he saieth that all oure doinges be but seely translations / the whiche he maketh so easy a matter / that the meanest he saieth emongest vs haue they onlye a little vnderstanding in the latine tongue maye after this sorte loade them withe hauocke of bookes Here / forgetting that euer he spake these wordes he saieth that these bookes haue bene longe elaborated by common conference What shall we saye If this kinde of writing called by him translating M. Nowelles tongue faltreth in his lieng tale be so easy as he maketh it / what nede was there of longe or common conference / whiche thinges be onlye required in matters of greate hardenesse and difficultie What cause of feare of committing the handling of matters of suche weight to a fewe / allthough yonge men year vnderstanding the latine tongue as well as him selfe / then which / lesse knowledge by his owne confession woulde serue to loade them withe hauocke of bookes If this be true / what neded M. D. Harding or M. Rastell either / to vse the aduise of their learned frindes / to haue any suruey made by others of their doinges / seing it is well knowen / that as they are bothe hable to translate out of latine bookes before written in to theirs made in Englishe so they woulde for their wisdomes translate out of suche beside Pighius / Gropperus / Hosius / whome in this place he nameth as being neuer yeat by heretike answered / haue by the consent of
all thinges for this / that they that call her grace supreme gouernour in all thinges and causes aswell ecclesiasticall as temporall / The protestantes doinges sclaunderouse to the Quene and the realme are noted / not at home only but abroade also in strange countries / moste lewdely to abuse the same / while euen in a matter of no greater importance then is the wearing of a square cappe / they refuse the ordre of the supreme gouernour in all thinges and causes as in wordes they call her ecclesiasticall and temporall while for the signe of our redemption the crosse whiche her maiestie kepeth moste reuetently in her chappell / she is in her owne realme by a booke printed and set saithe by a meane and base subiect / inalapertly comptrolled â–ª What maye foraigne princes thinke of suche a contâ—â—mely / if as her graces affection towardes the crosse is vnknowen to none / so the onlye knowledge of the title of suche an infamouse libell rather then a booke / be brought to the eares of anie of them But what maie they saye / if vnderstanding the tongue / Calshil in â—pist ad Martialem pag. 7. they shoulde read â–ª within foure leaues of the beginning As for hir priuate doinges neither are they to be drawen as a president for all nor any ought to crepe in to the princes bosome of euery facte to iudge an affection What could they gather herof but that the princes honour were vilanously touched / as though in religion which is but one and therfore not subiecte to change / she did vse one religion her selfe / and deliuer an other to her subiectes as though which is worse she kepte for hir owne priuate vse the bad / and gaue to the rest the better yea which is yeat worst of all as though she shoulde pretende one thing outewardly / and be of an other affection inwardly / which coulde not be perceiued but by creeping into hir bosome But if he that setteth forwarde so vnhappely saile the rest of his course withe no better fortune / he shoulde in all wise iudgement haue done more wisely / if he had continued stil in the quiet hauen at the ancre wherat once he laye / then he hathe done by committing him selfe to the mercye of the windes waues of these troubelouse seas of controuersies / wherein no skilfuller pilote then he sheweth him selfe to be / maye easely make a foolishe shipwreke / and be cast awaye These be the sclaunderouse persons good Readers / whom M. Nowell if he haue that regarde to the honour of our souereigne ladye the Quene / his dutie to oure countrye lawes thereof / that he pretendeth will shortly haue in the chase / and let me and suche as I am alone / who protest neuer to desire to liue houre longre / then we shall be contented to liue like true subiectes vnder the humble obedience of oure gratiouse souereigne The prince goddes image in earthe / whome we acknowledge to be the image of God in earthe / in all ciuile and politike gouernement But nowe here I praie yowe beholde / how M. Nowell that maketh these greate bragges / of repelling withe earnestnesse suche reproches as I haue attempted he saieth to blemishe my prince lawes and countrie withall quitteth hym selfe of his promise Doth he not euen then when he commeth to that article where these surmised reproches shoulde be / flee backe and giue ouer in the plaine fielde Is not this repelling withe earnestnesse a plaine mockery to be laughed at / when about the matter that made him he saieth to wright so carefully and diligently / of 124. leaues / he bestoweth not fully three when he endeth there / without entring in to the article / where he shoulde rather haue begonne The thirde reason that hathe moued M. Nowell to wright the more largely against me / he expresseth in these wordes because the simple vnlearned readers haue often best liking in bookes more boldely then learnedly written and are moste in daunger to credite most lewde and sclaunderouse lyes I therfore haue in answering more at large applied my selfe to such as be of meane vnderstanding to whome the guilefull dealinges of the papistes can not with breuitie be made manifest These be M. Nowelles causes for his excuse why in so many wordes he hath vttred so little matter But the truthe is / when after longe streining of curtosy emongest the brethren which of them shoulde answere my booke / they all agreed / first in this / that something muste nedes be saide therto / and finally that M. Nowell of all other shoulde take the matter in hande / as he that for his rare gift of railing were best able to feede the humour of suche simple and vnlearned / as here him selfe saieth / haue often best lyking in bookes more boldly then learnedly written then he deepely considering / that the greatest vauntage that he coulde finde against me / muste be by making men beleue / that the places of S. Cyprian S. Hierome and suche like / brought for the confirmation of that first proposition of myne / That there must be one head in earth to gouerne christes churche were alleaged directly for the B. of Romes supremacy / to the whiche being conteined withein the compasse of 15. leaues of my booke / if he shoulde but answere after like proportion / his answere were The true cause of M. Nowel les so large writing like to be counted but a twopeny booke / and he for no better then a three-halfepeny doctour his high wisdome in respecte of these considerations founde it best / to dilate so that little stuffe that he had to vtter / that he might seme to haue made a iust volume / and to haue answered therein the whole For this respecte / because to haue intituled his booke A Reproufe written by Alexander Nowell of a piece of a booke c. VVhy he termed his boke a Reproufe had bene to greate a blemishe to his worship / and call it a confutation or an answere to my whole booke by any meanes he coulde not / he deuised to terme it a Reproufe of my booke / a worde as he thought suche / as in reprouing only 15. leaues he might seme to be able to iustifie / and which shoulde sounde in the eares of the vnlearned not accustomed to looke so narowly in to the nature of wordes asmuche as a confutation of the whole For this cause / to pacifie the learneder sorte whome he sawe he shoulde not be able by suche a tricke of ligier de main so easily to deceiue / and who woulde he knewe well not staye at the title / but take a diligent viewe of the contentes of the whole / he ransacking all the corners of his iugglers boxe / brought furthe at the lengthe a tricke of deceptio visus whereby he woulde make them beleue as you haue heard that M. Doctour Hardinges booke
Vntill yow be hable to proue M. Nowell that the B. of Rome is not oure laufull bishop that be English men Dorman that his power is fortaine and vsurped euen in this pointe shall yow agree with Nouatus that you sweare men against their laufull bishop as he did Yow maye not thinke youre selfe sufficiently discharged because yow saie his power is vsurped for that colour Nouatus also I warrāt yow gaue to his wicked doinges As for the heresie of Nouatus although youre othe tende not specially to the maintenaūce of that yeat maketh it directly for the maintenaunce of diuerse other more abhominable But yow contrarie to all good learning as though yow wrote only to deceiue the simple not passing for the iudgement of the learned thinke youre selues marueilously well discharged if the comparison made betwene yow and Nouatus agree not iustly in euery small point Thus you see for 5. lyes which in these fewelines yow sclaundre me to haue made whereas I haue nowe cleered my selfe of them al fiue it foloweth that as often as yow saie that I lye so often times that is to saye fiue yow haue lied youre selfe and thrise more beside as in the count betwene vs it appeareth So that nowe that I haue answered you for suche matter as from the beginning yow coulde charge me withall yow must not thinke me to deale hardely with yow if I call yow also to account of suche manifest and inexcusable lyes as hetherto in these fewe leaues of youres yow haue made Wherein I shall desire the gentle reader to shewe thy selfe a good and vpright auditor betwene vs. First yow saye M. Nowell that the sentence of S Austen In the beginning of his boke prefixed by me before my booke maketh directly against the papistes as yow terme vs. That is an euident lie as hathe bene declared Item that you promised to leaue no saying of anie olde doctour vnanswered alleaged by me Which seing you haue not perfourmed in that which being brought out off S. Austen was of all other the first but haue passed ouer in silence these wordes Thow doest not communicate with all nations wherein the force of the place consisted this is the seconde lye Item that Cyprian declareth in deede in the 9. epistle of the fourth boke that the bishoppes of all places be of equall fol. 2. b. 28 auctoritie it is an other lye grounded falsely vpon S. Cyprian Item that I falsefied S. Basile his wordes of the which I fol. 5. b. 22. made no mention it is a sclaunderouse lye Item that Nouatus began his heresie first in Afrike it is a lye falselie fathered vpon S. Cyprian who mencioneth fol. 7. a. 24 Li. 2. epi. 8. his schisme not his heresy which all writers agree that he fell first into at Rome vpon displeasure conceiued of the repulse that he suffred in standing for the bishopricke off Rome Item that the professours of Nouatus heresies trauailed in Afrike against S. Cyprian as Nouatus him selfe did in Lib. 4. Epist. 9. Italie against Cornelius the B. of Rome it is affirmed by yow M. Nowell to be proued by S. Cyprian but the place fol. 7. a. 7. hauing bene examined hathe no such thing Item whereas Nicephorus hath Cum oblationes offerret fol. 8. a. 17. when he offred the oblations you cast in this worde his and so belie Nicephorus The grosse and total some of al your lyes hetherto made beside those which because hauing all readie declared that Nouatus and you agree in swearing men against the bisshop of Rome I am clered of how often so euer I saye so did Luther so did Caluine so do these wicked men in our countrie fol. 10. a. 13. as ofte as I saye They exacted this othe c. If they geue not this othe c. must nedes also returne to you riseth to 15. lyes and with that capitaine lye of al other which hetherto you a. 22. At Paules crosse haue made aswell for the place which was publike as the audience which was honourable in saying that you had not founde any one auctoritie by me so farre as then yow had reade truly alleaged the verie greatest of all to sixtene Nowe kepe yow the counte and let vs procede You finde faulte with vntrue coating of the places alleaged which although to all writers it be a thing that commonly happeneth and to none so common * I referre me to your Apologie as to those of youre occupation yeat in me so maliciouse a man I am it must nedes be of sett purpose that suche as woulde be desirouse to see the originalls might not to spedely finde oute the lewdenesse Nowel 26. of my allegations seruing nothing to the purpose vnlesse perhappes yow saie I did neuer vse mine owne eyes in vewing of those places Well M. Nowell I praye you yeat stande good maister Dorman vnto me or at the least fauour your selfe For I thinke for anie greate faultes that be yeat committed yow are ronne as far into the lashe as I although in the space of one leafe b. 4. or little more yow saye that of fower onely places alleaged thre thereof be noted vntruly For touching the first whiche yeat you noted before with the other two in the margent but here rhetorically for lacke of store yow serue to the table againe dressed after an other sorte a point of cookery much vsed by yow in this boke of youres yeat iwysse two of them maye so be excused that youre cancred suspition shall take no place For whereas I alleaged the first sentence of S. Cyprian as out of the thirde booke the 11. epistle whereas it is the 9. epistle the copie is extant to be sene printed first by Griphius at Lyons Anno Domini 1537. then at Basile anno 1540 wherein bothe the places by the printers errour it is so printed as I alleaged it The second errour in printing the 30. chapitre of Nicephorus for the thirde was committed by this meanes I wrote in my copie cap. 3o. as yow see here The composer of the letters vnacquainted with this kinde of writing mistaking the o aboue for a figure that should stande beneathe placed it so and made of thre thirty I would haue bene lothe to haue troubled the good reader with so manie wordes in the excuse of so sclendre faultes were it not that mine aduersarie chargeth me so heinously therewithall as he doth and that I perceiue them to be the greatest that he coulde finde in my boke The third escape was also the printers faulte although I be not able to proue it so well and yeat as well to as he shall be to proue the contrarie For the which he neded not to take the matter so whot him selfe hauing alleaged before an epistle of S. Cyprian where is no suche thing to be founde Fol. 7. a. 11 lib. 4. epis 9. as for the whiche he bringeth it in Where yow
proue that Maximus and his fellowes called not Cornelius bishopp of the catholike churche in this place here brought by me Cyprian saye yow called not Cornelius bisshop Li. 3. ep 13 of the Catholike churche but bishop Cornelius ordeined in the catholike churche Ergo Maximus and his two companions called not Cornelius bishop of the Catholike churche Is not this a goodly kinde of reasoning Wil you see the like M. Nowell preached not at Poules crosse that there was no scripture no councelles no doctours no allowed examples of the primitiue churche to proue the supremacye of the B. of Rome ergo M. Iuell did not I thinke M. Iuell woulde giue you a good flice out of his benefice vpon the condition that you coulde proue this consequent to be good And that thus you reason can you not denie For the Lib. 3. epistol 11. wordes alleaged by me here out of S. Cyprian be not Saint Cyprian his but the verie wordes by his owne confession of the pore penitentes And therefore to bring a phrase out of S. Cyprian to proue that because he did not so saye therefore an other did not if this were all were a greate faulte in reasoning But now if the wordes had bene in bothe the places S. Cyprians owne then had youre reason bene like to this M. Nowell preaching before the Quenes highnes at the courte saide not that it woulde do him good to rase his buckler vpon a papistes face ergo he saied not so at Powles crosse You obiect againe against this place to be ment of one chiefe bishop ouer the whole churche that then as there is one Nowell fol. 20. b. 12. onely God and none but he so there shoulde be but one onely bishop and no more but he That were true M. Nowell if as God is the name off a Dorman moste simple nature and excellencie so the name of a bisshop were suche as woulde admitte no degree of dignitie When it is saide that there is one bishop in the catholike churche it is ment one chiefe bishop For it is not necessarie that in all pointes this similitude of one God and one bishop shoulde agree It ought to suffise you that the similitude standeth vpright in that wherein the comparison is made which is here of gouernement that as one God gouerneth heauen and earthe so there shoulde be one chiefe bishop to gouerne vnder him the churche in earthe Thus forasmuche as there be degrees in bishoppes though in God there be naturally none for by abuse of Idolatres and by participation of name there be also manie Goddes and manie lordes as witnesseth S. Paule it is sufficient that as 1. Cor. 8. there is one God so there ought to be one chiefe bishop not excluding the reste but referring them to their heade by meanes whereof and in which sense there is one bishoprike and one bishop And so consequently it foloweth that my marginall note of one God one bishoppe meaning as you saye I did was not in vaine The next obiection of youres why in this place these wordes one bishop in the catholike churche shoulde not be vnderstand of one especiall bishoppe ouer all you confirme by S. Cypriā in diuerse places First by that which he hath of one Nowell fol. 21. a. 6 Lib. 4. Epist. 9 Bishop in the firste booke the 3. epistle then by a sentence taken out of his epistle to Pupianus afterwardes by certaine wordes of his to Antonius and last of all by that which he hath in his boke de simplicitate praelator or de vnitate Ecclesiae not farre from the beginning To the first two places youre selfe seme not muche Dorman to trust although folowing the preceptes of youre arte you are content to vse them to make a shewe of store either because youre conscience telleth you that the reason foloweth not He saieth so in this place therefore he must nedes saye so in the other either elles because youre selfe perceiued that there is a greate difference betwene these places by reason of the worde catholike For in the place here alleaged the schismatikes returning to the churche confessed that there must be one bishop in the catholike churche in these two places auouched by you S. Cyprian saieth that heresies doo spring or arise by contempt of the bishop whiche gouerneth the churche and is one Now as the latter wordes maye according to the circumstances of the place and here are I doubte not taken for the seuerall heade of euery bishoprike so the firste can not well otherwise be taken then to exclude all particuler churches by reason of the worde catholike which signifieth vniuersall addid thereto especially the wordes being translated the catholike churche and not a catholike churche as by youre owne so turning of them and otherlike to them it appeareth they must Off the thirde place out of the epistle to Antonius you conclude nothing neither but turne the matter ouer to the laste auctoritie of S. Cypriā in his boke De simplicitate praelat where moste plainely you saye he declareth his minde of this one bishoprike wholly and equally possessed of all and ouerie bishop Well then at the length M. Nowell from post to piller you be come thither where you will cast ancre Wherewith I also for my parte am well contented and desire no better then to be in this controuersie tried by S. Cyprian Now showe how S. Cyprian maketh for you that is nothing for the B. of Rome his supremacie but directly against it For those be the wordes that yow conclude Nowell fo 21. b. 25. Lib. de Simplicitat praelator Dorman withall vpon this place That doe yow after this maner S. Cyprian saieth that there is one bishoprike which euery bishop hath wholy for his parte Ergo consequently all bishoppes be equall and no one can be aboue an other I denie the cōsequent M. Nowell Will yow knowe why This worde episcopatus comprehendeth here by S. Cyprian his minde the whole nature of that kinde of gouernement which bishoppes haue as if in like wise a man shoulde saie Vnum est sacerdotium there is one priestehode in the churche which euery prieste hath wholly for his parte woulde yow now thinke that vpon this proposition it were well done to conclude of priestes as yow doe of bishoppes that therefore because in nature off priestehode they be all equall the meanest as trulye and wholly participating the nature thereof as the chiefe there shoulde be no one priest in dignitie of gouernement aboue the other and so ouerthrowe the office of archipresbiteri chiefe priestes whereof the councell Can. 15. itē Concil Carthag 4. can 17. of Toures in Fraunce aboute the time off Pelagius the first aboue a thousand yeares past maketh mention But what speke I of priesthode will yow condemne the whole churche of Christe for making of Archebishoppes I thinke yow wil not And what signifieth this worde Archebishoppe but a chiefe bishop If there
bishoprike that one chiefe bishop which conioyneth all in one you shall see so many schismes as there be bishoppes and so shall all come to naught Thus maye appere how litle the worde in solidum wholy whereby you would wrest S. Cyprian to a forced meaning of youres to saye that be cause euery bishop had a part of this bishoprike wholy therefore they were all equall in that bishoprike maketh for you whereas in this tree compared to the whole bishoprike of the churche all and euery bowe thereof hath of that common life which is in it parte thereof in solidum wholly as well as the roote which conteineth them together and the roote hath but his parte of that life in solidum no more then hath the least branche there and yet is the chiefe parte of the tree for all that Thus you see how euen by S. Cyprians owne auctoritie you be cast in your own turne And loke what hath bene sayed of the tree the same may be sayed of the light of the sonne or of many riuers comming frome one heade spring As for that that you note me of falsehoode for remouing of the worde Sanctâ—ssimae frome his place and changing fo 19. b. 4 it into Sanctissimum for the remouing of any word that is a false lye For it is you that place the word Sanctissimum A lye 20. out of his ordre putting it before Episcopum whereas it shoulde and dothe folowe in S. Cyprian after and not I. As for the worde Sanctissimae changed in to Sanctissimum I confesse that the best bookes reade otherwise Which faulte either I committed by following some copye which had so either els as it is a thinge easely done in writing by taking out the place amisse For to doe it of sett purpose as youre spiders nature whiche is to turne all into poyson surmiseth what vauntage shoulde I haue gotten thereby If such titles would helpe I coulde haue brought furth the Aug. epist 90. et 92. epistles of the fathers of the councels of Carthage and Mileuet where in their seuerall letters they vse oftentimes to the pope the worde Sanctitas tua your holynesse with diuerse other to that effect To conclude the matter you saie that Maximus and his Nowell fo 22. b. in fin fellowes had a controuersie with Cornelius altogether diuerse frome oures and therefore that their example apperteineth nothing thing to this case of the Popes supremacie which then was neither moued nor knowen And againe that being priestes of Rome it was no merueile thoughe they reconciled them selues to theire owne bishop whome they had offended For the first what controuersie so euer they had it maketh Dorman no matter For heretikes they were and went from the communion of the bishop of Rome whether as heade off the church or their peculier bishop and Diocesan I care not This is that which I entendid here to proue that they forsoke their heade and so fell into schismes oute of the whiche it is impossible for any to rise without they ioyne them selues to their heade againe as these did here And iff they were priestes of Rome as I thinke they were not but suche as at that time folowed Nouatus in Rome yeat maketh this still thus farre for me that euery schisme must be holpen by returning to the heade what so euer he be Which is the thing to make you with often repeating to vnderstande it which I seeke in this place For I am here in my preface where eueÌ„ as in my first proposition it is inough to proue that it is expedieÌ„t to haue one heade in Christes church to gouerne the same although I proue it not of the B. of Rome so is it here sufficieÌ„t to proue that heresies beginne by forsaking the heade and that they must ende by returning to the same though I name not any heade by name Although for any thing that hath bene saied to the coÌ„trarie I might defende that euen in this place the same is proued in the Bishop of Rome the generall head of all That the recantation of Vrsatius and Valens offred vp to Iulius then pope maketh muche for the Bishop of Romes Supremacy The 8. Chapitre Doth not M. Nowell thinke you good readers playe the M. Nowel answereth to that which no man obiecteth mery man bothe with you and me and all the worlde beside in the handling of this place of Vrsatius or Vrsitus and Valens First while he maketh me to reason of the titles that these two bishoppes vsed in their libell of recantation and then solemly confuteth my reasons by other out of Saint Augustin and S. Ciprian with double epithetons for my single whereas I haue no suche one worde Next in coÌ„cluding the whole matter to recreate your foreweried spirites and to sende euery man to his home in loue and charitie with a fitte of mirthe For his musike rewarde you him as you shall see cause for for youre sakes it was and not mine To his answeres to my reasons of the titles of beatissimus Dominus Papa the moste blessed lorde pope or what so euer elles I will replye when that or anie other shall be proued to be mine In the meane season to this reason off his Vrsatius and Valens offred vp their recantation to Athanasius the Nowell fol. 23. b. 22. bishop of Alexandria ergo This maketh as muche for the Supremacy of Athanasius as it doth of Iulius the Pope because it hathe some apparence I will here make answere First I saye Dorman M. Nowell that the antecedent that is that they offered in like maner their recantations to Athanasius is a manifeste A lye 19. lye then that if it were true that yeat the conclusion doth not folowe and so the reason is faulty For the first let Nicephorus be examined whome you here alleage in two places the 9. boke the 13. and the 27. chapitres I meane the 27. for in the other chapitre there is no worde of that matter and so shall it appeare whether you be a lyer or no. Nicephorus hath that to Iulius the B. of Rome they offered libellum poenitentiae a libell of their repentance of Athanasius he saieth no more but onely that after their reconciliation to the pope they wrote lettres to him signifieng that they were nowe quieted and agreed in communion with him whome before they had so cruelly persecuted Of their recantation which is vnderstand by the worde Libellus poenitentiae he mentioneth no worde at all But let vs now coÌ„pare together the wordes first in the libell offred to the pope and then in the lettres sent to Athanasius To the pope they saie Beatissimo domino papae Iulio Vrsitius Valens To the moste blessed Lorde pope Iulius Vrsitius and Valens To Athanasius they write Domino fratri Athanasio episcopo Vrsitius Valens episcopi To oure Lorde and brother Athanasius the bishop Vrsitius and Valens bishoppes I doe not here
Italie or Rome it selfe for his wordes haue euidentlie that relation and that none thinke the auctoritie of one bishop to be lesse then the auctoritie an other but a few wicked and desperate men You were driuē to the wall M. Nowell when you were forced Dorman for a pore shift to say that Leo said as he did because he wolde haue bene lord and heade ouer the church S. Cipriā saith that euerie bishop hath his seuerall portion The same saieth Leo. Leo saieth that the charge of the vniuersall church must Lib. 1. ep 3 haue recourse to Peters chaire S. Ciprian saieth not the cōtrarie Yea so saieth S. Ciprian toe calling Rome matricem the mother church And whither should children I pray you haue recourse for succour but to their mother He saith not that the subiecte of one bishop may not appeale to an other Lyes that is one lie He saieth not that the cause determined by one bishop may be called before no other that is an other lie He maketh no comparison as you say he doth betwene the bishoppes of Afrike Italie and Rome behold the third lye He saieth not that none but a fewe wicked and desperate men thinke the auctoritie of one bishop to be lesse then the auctoritie of an other which if he shoulde youre selfe were like by that meanes to be of the nombre of such desperate and wicked men who before acknowledged chiefe prelates a worde that presupposeth other that be inferiour and fol. 32. 2. be cōtrarie to him selfe as I proued before by his writing to Steuen the pope wherby he required him to take ordre by his lettres for the remouing from his bishoprike Martianus the B. of Arles and by that that him selfe sent to Rome to Cornelius to trie the matter before him with those euill mē that complained vpon him there by his excepting againste the sentence giuen by the pope for the restitution of Basilides for no other cause but because it was obteined by false information All which exāples doe not only proue that he was not of the minde that no one bishop was aboue an other but this also that the B. of Rome was of greater auctoritie then the bishoppes of Fraunce Spaine or Afrike Hetherto of the disagrement betwene S. Ciprian and Leo which by this time all men I trust perceiue to be no suche as you vaunted it was yea to be none at all but suche consent rather as in diuerse wordes there can not be greater It foloweth that we examine how Hierome and Leo agree S Hierome yow saye hath that all churches worshipping one Nowell fo 51. a. 10 Borowed out of Caluin Inst. lib. 4 cap. 7. Sect. 3. Christe and obseruing one rule of truthe are equall with the churche of Rome that all bishoppes be the successours of the Apostles and of one priestehod and of the same merite and dignitie But Leo saieth contrarie that it was giuen to one to be aboue all the rest and that they who be in greater diocesses or cities haue more care and auctoritie and that the onelie see of Peter hath charge of the vniuersall churche and is heade thereof Yow belye S. Hierome He saieth not that all the churches Dorman A lye 38. in the worlde be equall If he did he shoulde saie contrarie to Irinaeus who saieth that the churche of Rome hath potentiorem principalitatem greater souereintie then other churches haue contrary to S. Cipriā who calleth Rome the Li. 1. cap. 3 Lib. 1. ep 3. mother churche the roote and principall churche and contrarie to S. Austen who calleth it the churche in the which the principalitie of the apostolicall see hath allwaies florished Epist 162. He saieth that Christes church is not diuided * Nec altera Romanae vrbis ecclesia altera totius orbis existimanda as thoghe Rome were one and the whole worlde an other As for that that he saieth that all bishoppes be the successours off the apostles those wordes make merueilously for the opinion of Leo against you For vpon that proposition of S. Hierome I reason thus All bishoppes be the successours of the Apostles but the Apostles were not all equal because as S Hierom saith Peter was their head Ergo by S. Hieromes minde all bishoppes who be their successours be not equall but haue the successour of Peter their heade Againe Peter was heade of the Apostles and made because there shoulde arise no schisme emongest them Ergo the B. off Rome who is Peters successour must be heade of his felowe bishoppes for the same cause These two propositions that there was emongest the Apostles one heade and that that was Peter be S. Hieromes owne in his first boke against Iouinian The wordes although I rehersed before yeat because they perteine not onelie to this matter but to shewe also how these thre Ciprian Hierome and Leo mete and knit as it were together in this sentence that Christ appointed ouer his church one generall heade I will recite once againe The wordes therfore of S. Hierō to Iouiniā be these At dicis super Petrum fundatur ecclesia licet idipsum in alio loco super omnes apostolos fiat cuncti claues regni coelorum accipiant ex aequo super eos ecclesiae fortitudo solidetur tamen propterea inter duodecim vnus eligitur vt capite constituto schismatis tollatur occasio That is to saie But thou saiest The churche is builded vpon Peter although the same in an other place be done vpon all the Apostles and all of them receiue the keyes of heauen and equallye is the strength of the churche grounded vpon them yeat for all that is there one chosen emongest the twelue that by making a heade emongest them occasion of schisme maye be taken awaye See yow not nowe by this place of S. Hierome M. Nowell howe the equalitie of power that S. Cyprian speaketh of the similitude of honour and equalitie of calling that Leo remembreth the building of the churche in one place vpon all the Apostles indifferentlie that S. Hierome mentioneth notwithstanding they all three conclude in one maner with this worde tamen notwithstanding that the churche was builded vpon one that there was one heade that there was one preferred before the reste This place of S. Hierome as it vtterly stoppeth their mouthes who reason that the Apostles were absolutely in all pointes equall so confirmeth it moste strongly the answere made before to the place of S. Ciprian that the Apostles were all of equall power and auctority that that was true at the first but Ioan. 20. that after oure Lorde last before his ascension gaue the Ioan. 21. chiefe auctoritie to one in respecte as one was chosen from the rest vpon whome the churche shoulde be builded S. Hierome saieth that al bishoppes are of one priesthode and of the same merite you plaie the falsefier and adde of youre owne and of the same dignitie The gentlewoman
sprong vp euen with youre first maister and his scholers as youre selues can not denie and departe from Christes knowen churche or elles Christe had no churche at all as those disciples off Christe that you speake off did With whom youre resemblaunce is so muche the greater because that as these first heretikes departed from the church Christe and his Apostles because they would not beleue in Christes doctrine of the blessed sacrament so haue you parted a greate nombre of yow from vs for the same cause and mainteine the same heresie as S. Augustine In psalm 54. calleth it Nowe as it were no good reason to proue vs schismatikes because yow are parted from vs being onoe as yow can not denye of vs so can no man iustly charge Christe and his Apostles with that crime because his disciples parted from him And as I answere to this so doe I to youre other obiections of the schismatikes in S. Paules time of those other also of the Nicolaites the Simonians Cerinthians c. who all parting from the knowen churche of Christe ought not to preiudicate the same For their departure was alwaies so sensible that the true christian might saye with S. Iohn They haue departed from emongest Ioan. 1. cap. 2. vs but they were none of vs. The Apostles and their companye remained alwaies a visible and knowen churche So that these examples can nothing helpe to couer your schismaticall sores whereas in Christe and the Apostles them selues there was neuer anye breache of vnitie whiche yow shoulde haue proued lykewyse therby to excuse your first Christ and his Apostles Whereas an other plea of youres is that emongest the high priestes and Phariseis there was no dissention but greate vnity and concorde emongest them against Christes Apostles to that I saye that although they agreed in this all to persecute the Apostles yeat emongest them selues they were Ioseph lib. Antiq. Iudaie 13. cap. 8. diuided into sectes and schismes some being called Phariseis other some Sadduces and yeat a thirde secte called Esseni so that they resemble more liuely yow protestantes then vs catholikes agreing as the Phariseis did against the truthe and diuided also with them into sectes emongest youreselues If you departed from vs as Christ and the Apostles you saie did from the high priestes and their churche then should you be at vnitie and concorde emoÌ„gest your selues as the Apostles were then must you shewe out of the scripture the fall of the churche of Christe the corruption of Esaiae 6â— the same and the restitution in the latter daies to come all Esaiae 66. Hierem. 6. Ezech. 44 Habacuc 2. Act. 7. 13. 28. foreprophecied in the lawe as the Apostles proued oute of the scripture the fall of the Sinagoge the corruption of the high priestes the comming of Messias the placing of the newe lawe that shoulde continue When yowe can proue this and defeate Christes promise made of his churche to be visible and vniuersall ouer all the worlde and to his churche to continue for euer then call vs phariseis hardely Matth. 16. and spare not calle youre selues Christe and his apostles we giue yow leaue For furder excuse of your schismes and diuisions yow fo 56. b. 1. tell vs of the troubles that rose in Iurie and shortly after ouer all the world vpoÌ„ the preaching of Christes gospell c. If diuisions and troubles were then it is not to be merueiled at oure sauiour him selfe saing of him selfe non veni pacem Matth. 10. mittere sed gladium I come not to sende peace but a sworde But oure age is not nowe M. Nowell the primitiue churche oure faithe is not nowe to be begonne of newe It hathe bene with consent of all the worlde established these 12. hundred yeares And therefore youre comparison is lewde and vntrue Yow saie furder And as iustly might yow charge the Apostles and their doctrine Nowell with those schismes sectes and troubles as yow do charge vs with those that haue risen in oure dayes Euer yow harpe vpon that string that yow woulde be Dorman like the apostles which when yow can proue that Christ promised to builde an other churche beside that whereof he made Peter the heade and that frier Martine Luther shoulde be the seconde Messias and Zuinglius or Carolstadius the heade therof then we will easely graunte to you But note againe I praie yow M. Nowell the difference of the schismes arising in the Apostles time and of youre schismes arising in our time The Apostles were not at diuision emongest them selues yow are The Apostles were before those schismes yowe haue risen together with the schismes Those schismes departed out from the Apostles your schismes are within youre selues Againe see the agrement of those schismes with youres and confer the case of the state of the churche nowe with that of the primitiue churche then Those schismes and sectes departed out off the primitiue churche euen so haue yow departed nowe oute of the same churche being of longre continuance They being departed multiplied into mo schismes and parted into farder diuision yow being departed multiply daily from schisme to schisme and newe sectes haue risen sence youre departure from Martin Luther They troubled and disquieted the primitiue church of the Apostles yow trouble and disquiet the catholike churche that nowe is If you demaunde the prouffe of this which I saie answer the booke which I am suer yow will neuer be hable to answere lately set furthe in oure tongue moste truly called The forteresse of the faithe c. And shewe vs as you will stande to it hereafter when the faith and light of goddes holy word which yow saie hathe nowe of late sprong againe was extinguished where and by whome Where it is well knowen to the worlde that oure learned men Nowell haue by their writinges more oppugned and repressed the saide sectes then all the papistes haue done This is that whiche I saide before that yow in dede Dorman wright diligently one against an other which is a moste euident assurance of youre dissention in doctrine And if these youre writinges were in the vulgare tongues to be reade of all men there woulde be no better argument in the worlde to disgrace youre doctrine for euer Whereas yow compare your diligence in writing with that of the catholikes if the late writinges of learned catholikes of all countries especially of Germanie it selfe were in dede compared to youres it shoulde appeare howe false and vntrue this is In dede we must nedes confesse a truthe that whilest we all remained Nowell vnder this quiet obedience of youre Romishe heade in one doctrine of his traditions there was a coloured kinde of quiâ—tnesse c. Foelix necessitas quae cogit ad meliora Happye is the Dorman necessitie whiche forceth to the better Here M. Nowell correcting him selfe for that before he charged vs so heynously withe schismes and sectes wyll somewhat
gouerne all the worlde This fonde reason of youres hath bene sufficiently answered The 11. and 12. chap. It is in dede the effect of youre whole answere in this youre Reprouse as yow call it Yeat haue yow not so greate a clercke yow are in youre whole boke brought so muche as one pore sely reason for the confirmation of it But yow as if yow were in the pulpite tanquam auctoritatem habens affirme manie thinges stoutely and wil be beleued at youre worde without reason or proufe at all Where yow saie There is no confusion in the worlde nor disordre Nowell a. 13. for that sundry partes of it haue sundry ciuile gouernours Surelie youre wittes failed yow muche and yow nodded Dorman a little M. Nowell For what wise man seeth not what learned man readeth not of yearelie and almost daily batailes quarelles contentions bloudeshead conspiracies and of infinite suche disordre to be in the worlde at this present and to haue allwaies bene by the reason of sundrie ciuile gouernours Oure Sauiour when it pleased him to take fleshe and redeme man chose that state wherein moste quiete and rest shoulde be that men might so the better attende to the preaching of goddes word which by warres and tumultuouse hurly burlies can not but be hindred He chose to come at that time when but 15. yeares before the whole knowen worlde of Europe Asia and Afrike was vnder the obedience of one Romaine emperour Octauius Augustus In that state the worlde was ruled certeine hundred yeares after vntill the Christian faithe was published and dilated vnto all the partes of the worlde Doe we not reade M. Nowell that the same emperour August bis clausit Ianum as muche to saie had twise in his daies a perfecte Alexander ab Alexandro lib. 1. Gema dier cap. 14. peace thorough out all the partes of the worlde yea thrise as some write Before that state of one vniuersall Emperour was and sence that state hath decaied how manie warres haue bene to the disquieting of all Christendome stirred vp How manie battailes cruelly fought How muche innocent bloude vnmercifully spilt What one yeare in one place of the worlde or other hath not plentifully brought furthe suche fruites as these are Are not all histories full Haue we not daily experience Haue we not hearde of the Turkes warres scarse yeat colde against vs at the Isle off Malta of the late warres in Fraunce and Scotland of allmoste the continuall warres in the daies of Charles the fifthe now with Fraunce nowe against the Mores nowe in Germanie now in Italie it selfe All this is but in one parte of Europa If we had before oure eyes the actes of other countries how muche might be saide thereof And yeat M. Nowell as though all the worlde were shutt vpp in the house where he dwelleth at Poules saieth there is no confusion in the worlde nor disordre for that sundrie partes of the same haue sundrie ciuile gouernours This is I confesse a matter more mete for some practised Counselour to debate then for scholers suche as I am professing no such policie to entreate of It reacheth I wote well beyonde the compasse of my discourse to saie herein but some small parte of that which might be saied Yeat this small note shall I trust be sufficient to instructe the ignorant and hable to moue the learned to farder consideration Yow saie the scriptures declare it to be so appointed by Nowell a. 16. God that sundrie partes of the worlde shoulde haue sundrie ciuile gouernours Eccles 17 So hathe the churche toe sundrie seuerall gouernours Dorman in sundrie seuerall diocesses and yeat one chiefe heade ouer all notwithstanding And therefore that texte might be verified well inough allthough there were one generall Emperour or other ruler ouer all the worlde And suerlie if this place of Ecclesiasticus were so to be vnderstande as that it did forbid the hauing of one generall ruler ouer the whole neuer woulde yowe maie be suer oure Sauiour haue chosen that time to be borne in and that for a speciall liking as al writers agree that he had in that state of gouernement that then was But if it were so that God had appointed the ordre of the worlde to be suche as that there should be of necessitie in euerie particuler countrie a particuler heade and no one ouer the whole which negatiue wordes the scripture hathe not yeat might there be a secrete cause of goddes prouidence why this ordre shoulde be rather in worldly gouernement then in spirituall whiche we be not worthy to knowe Perhappes to be a punishement for sinne this ordre was taken that one off vs might be a whippe and scourge to the other whiche allthough God by his iustice doe to oure bodies thorough battaile and warre punishing them yeat woulde he not of his mercie so punishe by schismes and heresies oure soules You note to the Reader after the Hagiographa in the English The booke of Ecclesiasticus reiected by the protâ—stants alleaged Bibles that this boke of Ecclesiasticus is of the noÌ„bre of theÌ„ that are not to be alleaged for the proufe of doctrine Nowe what double dealing is this I praye you M. Nowell there to reproue it and here to alleage it and grounde a doctrine vpon it neuer hearde of before to witte that of necessitie euerie countrie must haue a seuerall supreme gouernour If you shoulde preache openly this doctrine in pulpite M. Nowell how soone woulde you either proue a traitour your selfe or make other traitours For were it not thinke you a faulte to the crowne of EnglaÌ„d in the nature of high treason to saie that Ireland being a seuerall countrie diuided from England by the maine Ocean ought to haue a seuerall gouernour other then Englishe Were it not treason for youre brethren protestantes of these lowe countries to preache by this texte as you write that because Spaine and Flaundres be farre diuerse and seuerall countries for this cause they ought not to be vnder one heade prince and kinge as they are Therefore if you loue the quiet of the realme and esteme youre dutie to youre souereigne and oures twange no more vpon that stringe I warne you like a frende You prosecute youre fonde argument and saye So is their no disordre that seuerall churches haue seueral bisshoppes to their heades Nowell a. 17. No disordre at all but moste conuenient ordre if those Dorman seuerall bishoppes obeye the one heade placed by Christe ouer them But to make those seuerall bishoppes to rule the seuerall churches without recourse when occasion shall requier to a higher as you doe we saye it is a greate disordre To returne to Nazianzene his saing where is no rule there Nowell a. 27. b. 1. is no ordre where many rule there is sedition you saye that if manie magistrates haue equall auctoritie in one common wealthe or if manie ecclesiasticall persones haue equall auctoritie in
with his father is in the * Note same momēt of time handled with all mens handes Thus it appeareth by Chrisostome that Christe is not called out of heauen but being present there with his father is also truly in the sacrament We abhor youre figuratiue presence your tropicall eating We alowe not these meanes because by the scriptures it is manifest that Christe excludeth suche meanes him selfe and of his infinite goodnes giueth him selfe corporally to vs. Wherefore there is betwene vs and the Swenckfeldians in this pointe no conformitie at all The nexte point that you compare vs in to the Swencfeldians fo 86. a. 6 Nowell is because they forbid the Scriptures vtterly we forbid them to be reade of the laitie keepe them in an vnknowē tongue and burne them written in knowen language There was neuer yeat any such prohibitiō that the learneder Dorman sorte of the laitie did not or might not reade the scriptures If to the vnlearneder sorte it were not permitted you shall finde that it proceded rather of reuerence towardes the scriptures and feare of that whiche nowe we see come to passe lest while euerie man should folowe his owne sense the worlde might be filled full of errours and the holie scripture as it happeneth to thinges that be common contemned and set at naught then of anie suche minde as with the which those heretikes reiected the scripture We burne Tindalles testament we burne Mathewes Couerdale his and Geneua Bibles not because they are scripture but because they are by false translations poisoned scripture If the mother take the poisoned breade oure of the childes hande you cā not infer hereupon that she will giue it no breade at all We agree not therfore in this point with Swenckfielde Yow procede in youre comparisons and saie Thow must not be perfecte in the scriptures say these false papistes Nowell to all laye men it is ignorance that is the mother of deuotion it sufficeth a laie man to haue fidem implicitam an implicate faithe c. We saie not that men must not be perfecte in the scriptures Dorman The learned laye mē that be and in al ages haue bene of one faith with vs so excellētly learned and much more perfectly traded in them then perhappes you would doe sufficiently A lye 71. couince this to be a manifest and a grosse palpable lye He that saide that ignorance is the mother of deuotiō if he so saide ment not to exclude the knowledge of any necessarie point of oure faithe but onely the desire of such curiouse vnderstanding the which as being vnknowē it could not make men the lesse Christiās so were it likely to bring to passe that the thinges which vnknowen before they reuerenced and honoured religiously they shoulde nowe first being knowen begin to dispute vpon from disputing come to doubting and frome doubting if not to denieng yeat to lesse esteming of them With whome if you be offendid aske S. Augustine why he taught him to Contra epist Fundam Manich cap. 4 saye so before whose wordes are these after that he had spoken of the more learned sorte caeteram quippe turbam non intelligendi viuacitas sed credendi simplicitas tutissimam facit For the reste of the multitude it is not the liuelinesse off vnderstanding but the simplicitie of beleuing that maketh them moste sure Lo M. Nowell you maie heare by S. Augustine that it is no suche absurditie nor commeth not so nere to Swenckfeldius heresie as you woulde haue it to measure the peoples knowledge Oure forefathers that contented them selues with the knowledge off the articles off their faithe the ten commaundementes of almighty god although it please you sclaunderously to saie of them that they coulde no more explicate what they beleued then can a Popeniaye passed yet so farre youre chattring pies and iangling Iayes in all ciuile honestie and godlye deuotion as the speache of a man passeth that of a Popiniaye I call all indifferent men to witnesse Nowell 28. a. And the papistes speake of the holye Scriptures not onelye as vnreuerently and abhominably as euer dyd Swenckfielde but Borowed oute off the Apologie doe farre passe him in all outrage calling the Scriptures most contumeliously and blasphemously a nose off wax and affirminge it to be but an vncerteine thing and like a rule of leade appliable to euerye wicked sentence and to all purposes except it haue the popes direct on as a moste certeine and infallible rule Dorman It is easy M. Nowell to be perceiued howe you quarrell aboute nothing and for lacke off better stuffe thinke to stuffe youre boke with suche trifflng toyes as these are In the wordes that you alleage oute of Pighius what harme is there I praye you What blasphemie haue you founde fol. 87. a. 6 Pighius belied Is Swenckfielde you saye calling the scriptures deade lettres more wicked thē is Pighius blasphemouse in terming it a nose of wax Why content youre selfe M. Nowell he calleth it not a nose of wax You beely him deadly His wordes are velut nasus A lye 72. cereus like a nose of wax Is it all one to be and to be lyke So doe you also falsifie those other wordes of his tanquam plumbea quaedam regula as a certeine leaden rule and make the comparison betwene the heretike calling the scriptures deade lettres and Pighius terming them a rule of lead a nose of wax and aske what difference there is betwene them whereas if the wordes had bene trulye compared it had bene eth for anye man to haue saide that the difference is greate seing that Pighius spake but by the waye of similitude to signifie how ploiable the scriptures were to al purposes not to condemne them as Swenckfielde did but to warne men in the interpreting of scriptures to folowe that piller of truthe the common sense and sentence of the catholike churche for those are his wordes By this meanes who can let you to quarell with the scripture it selfe and saye that it speaketh vnreuerently of Christe whome it calleth a stombling stone yea you maye finde faulte with 1. Petri. z. Matt. 4. 1. Thess 5. Apoc. 3. e◠16. Christe him selfe that likeneth his owne comming to iudgement to the comming of a theefe If you thinke you haue anye vauntage at Pighius or anye catholike man elles for sayng of scriptures that withoute the direction off the churche they be vncerteine and appliable to euerye wicked sentence as for this you note vs also fol. 86. b. I reporte me to youre selfe whether this be true seing that for this sentence of his of all other moste wicked Swenckfielde hym selfe alleaged scripture Although this sayng also to this effecte be not originally the saing of Pighius but of Tertullian Lib. de praescript aduersus haereset that auncient writer who writing a treatise euen off purpose to displaie the maners and nature of heretikes after that he hathe
haue loked so farre in the 34. and 35. leafe of my firste booke Nowe to the place of Chore Dathan and Abiron of the whiche you saye Nowell B. 5. thus Concerning the reason made by Chore Dathan and Abiron that the people ought not to obeye their gouernours because they be all holye * These wordes and the lorde is emōgest them left oute by M. Nowell Dorman and that therefore the magistrates ought not to lifte them selues aboue the Lordes people it is not oure reason cet No in dede M. Nowell as you haue alleaged it it is not youre reason But if you had trulye reported it it woulde haue gone as nere to your reason as twelue pense to a shilling But you doe here as you did before with the reasons of Swenckfielde that is leaue oute the chiefe reason wherein the comparison is made and then crie oute vpon me for making suche wise comparisons Who seeth not that I compare you hereto these schismatikes refusing to obeye Moises and Aaron not because they saide they were all holy but because they added in ipsis est Dominus and the Lorde is present with the multitude as you refuse that one heade of Christes churche because Christ is present with his churche As for the wordes that you note here in the margent of youre boke multitudo sanctorum and populus domini papae as though you coulde thereby make some shewe that this place might be applyed to Chanon Chore Deane Dathan and his felowes it deserueth to be rather laughed at then answered seing that bothe it is a manifeste lye wherewith you sclaundre the cleargye who neuer called them selues the holy people of the greate Lorde of Rome as you here feine and also it is well knowen that what so euer libertyes and immunities the cleargye had the same were giuen as the faithe encreased by Emperours and kinges them selues and therefore they were moste far from the maner of reasoning vsed by these schismatikes Nowe whereas M. Dorman alleageth the Apologie as thus reasoning Nowell B. 25. that the churche hathe no neede of anie other ruler because Christ is with it truth it is if M. Dormā doe meane one only heade of the vniuersall church For Christe nedeth no suche generall gouernour seing he is bothe present him selfe continually by his spirite as he promised and also for that he hathe in euery peculier countrie and churche his Moises and Aaron that is to saye his feuerall deputies in his steede euerye where here in earth for that no one mortall man can possibly suffice to the gouernaunce of the whole worlde or churche c. If he nede gouernours of euery peculier churche where Dorman he is no lesse present then with the whole why nedeth he not aswell one chiefe heade to gouerne the whole who shall emongest so manie heades diuided into partes euerye one thinking his opinion to be best strike the stroke and preserue vnitie If yowe saie God maie so preserue euerie bishop that he fall not into heresie you put god to worke daily mo miracles then he doth to preserue the chiefe bisshop of all whiche yet you stagger to graunte as a thinge impossible The wordes folowing in youre Apologie that no one mortall man can suffice to the gouernement of the whole fo 96. a. 3. worlde or church I of my accustomed sinceritie omitted yow saye And what haue you gotten by it nowe you haue alleaged it youre selfe Verilie this that you will make all men vnderstande that god is able with you to doe no more then you list to giue him leaue but of this I haue entreated before sufficiently You saye that you are far from rebelling Nowell against youre naturall soueraigne and other gods ministers appointed to gouerne you c. But how farre M. Nowell I Dorman praie you Who made the boke of succession at home Who sounded the two traiterouse blastes against the mōstrouse regiment of women their Quene being a woman From whence were they blowen but from the lake of Gehenna Who grudgeth against the princes ordinaunce in matters indifferent and of small importance no greater then of a square cap Who made warre against their prince in Scotland Who set all Fraunce in an vprore against their king Who but that vnhappy vermine the protestants That which foloweth fol. 96. b. and 97. a. b. is answered before That the waye to ouerthrow Fol. 68. vsque ad fol. 106. heresies is not by the only scripture The 27. chapiter THIS matter hath bene sufficiently handled before in the 21. chapitre And allthough in me it be a greate faulte and highly laide to my charge to alleage thrise one place of scripture yet muste yowe good readers beare withe M. Nowell if he alleage his absurde and wicked assertions more then six times thrise and maie not in any wise twite him with the prouerbe Crambe his that to muche of one thing is naught yea allthough he neuer proue anie of them once But maie yowe not be ashamed M. Nowell so vniustly to M. Nowell repre hending other men for vnreuerent speaking of the scripture speaketh of all other most vnreuerētly him selfe charge Pighius and Hosius with vnreuerent speaking of the scripture when youre selfe in this place applie your prophane prouer be to signifie that to muche of scripture maie be nought that anie place thereof maie so often be alleaged that it shoulde become vnsauory By what auctoritie claime yow I praie yowe tell vs suche libertie that yowe maie speake of the scriptures that whiche is vnlaufull and plaine blasphemie and other maie not vse so muche as similitudes or comparisons betwene the scriptures and other prophane thinges Why is it laufull for yow so oftentimes to repeate these heathenishe wordes that it is impossible for one man assisted by gods grace for otherwise we affirme it not to gouerne the whole churche of Christe that we be like to the Phariseis and high priestes of the Iues you to Christe and his apostles that there ought no more to be one chiefe heade to gouerne the churche then one emperour to gouerne the whole worlde that the pope can not be iudge in his owne cause as though goddes cause were his owne priuate cause with suche like absurdities a nombre mo and maie not be laufull for me to alleage thrise the holie scripture of God to proue three seuerall pointes Firste that it coulde not be likely that God prouiding for his chosen The place of Deuter. alleaged by me thrise to three seuerall purposes people the Iues a chiefe and heade gouernour to ende and determine all their controuersies woulde not for his churche whiche he loueth more tendrely where he knewe shoulde be greater nede doe the like nexte to answere thereby youre foolishe reason Christe is heade of his churche and present allwaies withe it therefore there nedeth no other By which reason I saide that God shoulde haue prouided for the Iues no chiefe
therefore they be no parties thereto Whereas yowe promise so largely on the diuelles behalfe yow maie be bolde for as muche as he is hable to doe he is at youre commaundement To youre conclusion that the worde of God is the true B. 13. iudge in all controuersies and doubtes of religion I saie as I saide before that when the church hathe giuen sentence of the meaning and right vnderstanding of the scripture that then in that sense and no otherwise the scripture is the true iudge in all controuersies otherwise I saie that the worde of God lieng yeat in the lettre as it were in the huske is an vncerteine iudge to determine controuersies what so euer Luther Caluin or their adherentes the rest of that blacke garde do saye to the contrarie or be M. Nowell neuer so angry therewith Whereas I declared before what starting holes the Arrians Fol. 105. a ▪ 23. rians Anabaptistes Lutherans Caluinistes and other heretikes haue founde out for the mainteinaunce of their religion and that vpon the same groundes and principles anye desperate heretike that is maie mainteine anye heresie yow take occasion of that worde desperate heretike to reherce once againe a place of S. Cyprian where he calleth by the same name yowe saie all suche as thinke one bishop inferiour to an other as I and all other papistes Cap. 11. sub finem doe but the contrarie to that I haue showed before And surely to thinke thus if it be to be a desperate heretike M. Nowell contrarie to him selfe or a desperate heretike and papist by his owne confessiō or a papist either I praie yowe what be yowe M. Nowell that in youre boke fol. 32. a confesse that in euerie prouince there be certeine chiefe prelates Doeth not the worde chiefe import that there be other inferiour prelates Which worde if yow will nowe reuoke againe if youre bishop will not I trust youre pretensed Archebishop will call yow to a count for it That whiche foloweth fol. 105. b. and. 106. a. because it conteineth but vaine wordes and hathe bene in diuerse other places handled I will here passe ouer Of the place of S. Hierome taken out of his epistle to Damasus and that it hathe bene alleaged to the purpose without wresting or falsifieng The 28. chapiter PROSEcuting this controuersie whether the scripture as we haue it written were hable alone without other meanes to determine all controuersies the whiche the heretike seeth being proued that it can not it will nedes folowe that there must be some other iudge to supplie that office I saide that S. Hierome notwithstanding his greate and excellent knowledge in the tongues woulde not take vpon him to leane in the discussing of doubtes to that rule of theirs to laie and confer together one texte with an other but referred him selfe to the see of Rome c. whose example I exhorted also other to folowe To this M. Nowell answereth as foloweth S. Hierome saieth no where that he would enot compare the Nowell fol. 106. a. 23. scripture together for the discussing of doubtes as M. Dorman woulde beare vs in hande and S Austen saieth he woulde doe it and exhorteth other to doe the same Where doe I beare yowe in hande that S. Hierome Dorman saide that he woulde not not compare the scriptures together A lye 81 ▪ for the discussing of doubtes Why noted you not here the leafe and side I denie not but that it is a necessarie and verie proffitable waie of reading the scriptures to conferre the places together And so doubte I not but that S. Hierome aswell as S. Augustine vsed to doe The whiche maketh verye muche for the Catholique opinion that all questions can not be discussed by thys conference off scripture For iff they coulde what neded S. Hierome so well learned as he was in this controuersie betwene the Catholikes and the Arrians to write so far out of the wildrenes of Syria to Damasus the pope a man allthough singulerly well learned yeat not comparable with him for learning to be resolued at his mouthe what parte to take whereas he had with him the scriptures of God by the whiche by youre saing if he had diligently conferred them together he might haue bene fully instructed in al pointes What ment he elles that he vsed not nowe his accustomed maner of conference but that he sawe that this was a question that coulde not so be tried and therefore he woulde consulte Damasus who being he persuaded him selfe the successour of Peter shoulde be able sufficiently by the grace giuen to that office to resolue him in that which by all his owne labour and diligence he were not at all or not so soone and certeinly hable to finde out S. Hieromes wordes to Damasus Bishop of Rome make nothing Nowell against vs nor with M. Dorman For what merueile is it if that S. Hierome borne in a coast of Italy christened at Rome brought vp at Rome and made prieste at Rome woulde in the faithe of the blessed Trinitie rather ioyne him selfe in communion with Damasus bishop of Rome a learned and godly mā then with Vitalis and Meletius whome M. Dorman calleth Miletus and Paulinus who were Antiochiā bishoppes and therfore strangiers to him and also not cleere from the Arrian heresie That you reporte of S. Hierome that he was borne in a Dorman The place of S. Hieto me to Damasus Tom. 2. epist ad Damasum examined Lib. de ecclesiastie scriptorib coast of Italie it is vntrue For he was as he writeth him selfe borne in a towne called Stridon in the borders of Dalmatia and Pannonia whereas Italie it is well knowen neuer reached so farre or if it had neuer did the peculier prouince of the bishop of Rome extende thither for whiche respect Damasus might be accounted his bisshop But supposing this to be as true as the rest that he was Christened at Rome c. Yeat the causes whiche S. Hierome addeth why he ioyned him selfe to him rather then to anie other maie euidently make faithe that neither because he was borne in a coaste of Italie neither because he was christened brought vp or made prieste in Rome but because he was the successour of Peter he ioyned him selfe to hym in communion rather then to anie other For that ment he by these wordes Beatitudinituae id est cathedrae Petri communione consocior To youre holinesse that is to saye to Peters chaire am I ioyned in communion Tell vs if you can what there neded here anie mention of Peters chaire to be made but that he woulde declare therby the only respect of his communicating with him to be because he was the successour of Peter An other cause which yeat might trulier be called a cause or reason of the first cause why he ioyned him selfe to him that sate in Peters chaire your selfe woulde seme to haue founde out in these wordes folowing But will M. Dorman saye S. Hierome
addeth a cause whiche is Nowell fol. 107. a 10. the pyth of the matter saing thus Super illam petram aedificatem ecclesiam scio I knowe that vpon that rocke Peters chaire the churche is builded which is the cause why S. Hierome ioyned with Damasus will he saye Will you see what a perilouse brained man M. Nowell is Dorman He hathe readen my answere allready and can tell what it shall be before I vtter it the seconde time But you must giue him leaue sometimes to scoure his Rhetorike lest it wax rustye and therfore here vpon a brauery he setteth a lusty countenance vpon the matter and that which he knoweth can not be passed ouer in silence because it hathe bene moued allready he will so bring furthe the seconde time as though suche a pore catholike as I am had not had suche an obiection in store without I had first receiued it by his liberalitie euen as it were in the waye of all moise Yeat this I can not but mislike that as sone as he had giuen it it semeth that he wished that he had kepte it in his purse still for it foloweth But he maye be ashamed had he anie shame at all thus shamefully Nowell 14. by a false Parenthesis to intremingle these wordes Peters chaire in this sentence of S. Hierome and so to falsifie it as though S. Hierome had saide or ment in this place that the popes chaire is the rocke whereon the church is builded Well these be but wordes M. Nowell how proue yow Dorman that this is a false Parenthesis that S. Hierome ment not that the popes chaire as it is S. Peters chaire is the rocke whereō the churche is builded You re reasons to proue it folowe after that you haue charged me withe mangling of the sentence of S. Hierome in this wise For he did see that S. Hierome admonishing Damasus of humilitie Nowell b. 20. and withall professing him selfe to folowe no chiefe or heade but Christe not excepting Damasus case but rather affirming him not to be primum the chiefe maketh cleerely with vs who in this controuersie of the popes vsurped supremacy saie the same c. furthermore he did see that the wordes of S. Hierome folowing vpon this rocke I knowe the churche to be builded might and ought to be referred to Christe mentioned fol. 108. a. 1. by S. Hierome so nere before and by Petre confessed to be that rocke whereon the churche is builded and therefore M. Dorman left out of S. Hieromes sentence the mention of Christe that he might moste falsely and blasphemously refer the rocke to Peters chaire as though Peters rotten chaire or ruinouse Rome were the rocke whereon the churche of oure Sauioure Christe is builded You re proufes that this Parenthesis is false conteined Dorman in these wordes are two First because Hierome professed him selfe to folowe no chiefe or heade but Christe not excepting Damasus nexte because these wordes Vpon this rocke I knowe the churche to be builded ought to be referred to Christe c. as before To the firste I answere that you haue M. Nowell falsifieth S. Hierome in translating not delt honestlie and sincerely in translating the wordes nullum primum no chiefe or heade as though S. Hierome had bene of that opinion that he woulde professe him selfe to folow no other heade in earthe vnder Christe whiche if it had bene so howe agreeth this with youre owne He is contrary to him selfe wordes in this place that Damasus was S. Hieromes owne bishoppe If he were his bishop he was his chiefe or heade If he were his heade you will not I trust make him to mende youre owne cause a rebelliouse membre One of these two will folowe that either S. Hierome if youre translation were true condemneth all heades in earthe but onelye Christe or that he will obeye them as far as he list him selfe Is not this sincere handling trowe you of the fathers writinges Is not this wholesom doctrine that you woulde make them to be patrones of But I praie you that translate this worde nullum primum so diuersly three maner of waies in little more then the cōpasse of one leafe first interpreting it no chiefe or heade fol. 107. b. 5. lyne then in the same side 15. no chiefe heade Last of all fol. 108. b. 21. no heade tel vs when you write nexte to whiche of these interpretations you will stande For the second interpretation a man might graunte to you and without preiudice to vs or gaine to you For it is true in dede that in respecte of Christ there is no absolute chiefe heade but he the pope is but chiefe and supreme heade nexte vnder Christe Although this were not in this place the meaning of S. Hierome but only to signifie that nexte after Christe he ioyned him selfe to Peters chaire and that he folowed nullum primum nisi Christum none first but Christ as muche to saie as Christ first and Damasus of all other next after Youre nexte proufe that the worde rocke shoulde be referred to Christe and not to Peters chaire because Christe is mentioned so nere before and by Petre confessed to be that rocke whereon the churche is builded leaneth to a verie fickle and weake grounde and maketh me to thinke that at the leaste you nodded M. Nowell if you slepte not downe right when you wrote this For if you take the boke waking into youre hande once againe you shall I dare M. Nowell ouer throwen by his owne reason assure you finde that the worde Peters chaire is nearer to the worde rocke then is Christe so that by youre owne argument and reason it foloweth that the worde rocke shoulde be referred to Peters chaire placed so neare before Whereas you saye that Petre confessed Christe to be that rocke whereon the churche is builded where hathe Petre those wordes Note the place in youre nexte writing elles will it be thought that you make and coine scripture at your pleasure We denye not notwithstanding but that Christe is the rocke whereon the churche is builded although in Sainte Petre those words be not so to be found Yeat foloweth it not that therefore Peters chaire or Petre for bothe is here taken for one is not also the rocke whereon it is builded For Christe is Fundamentum primum maximum the chiefe and greatest fundation as witnesseth S. Augustine reconciling together these places of the scripture no man can In psalm 86. 1. Cor 3. Ephes 2. laye an other fundation then that which is layed which is Christe Iesus and this Builded vpon the fundation of the Apostles and prophetes and Petre is also a foundation nexte after Christe As to make the matter plaine by example if a man woulde builde a house vpon a rocke that rocke were the How Christ is the rocke and howe Peter chiefe and principall foundation for it hathe soliditie and strength of it selfe not of
one and therein resteth the strength and force of my exāple I make no comparison betwene all kingdomes of the worlde whiche be manie and all churches which are but one as you doe here deceauing your selfe and other toe For if I shoulde so haue done then had not the comparison bene good Nowe if it were as true that God had ordeined all the kingdomes of the worlde to make one kingdome and not manie as he hath all the churches to be one and not manie then if you denied to all these kingdomes ioyned in one a visible king to be aboue all the rest and to gouerne the whole because god is the Monarche and ruler of all as you doe to the vniuersall churche for the same cause I woulde saie that you offendid as muche therein not alowing to all these kingdomes being but one one heade and chiefe gouernour as you shoulde doe if you woulde graunte to particuler kingdomes no particuler king the reason being as greate why the whole shoulde haue one ruler ouer it as why anie particuler membre shoulde But nowe I can not so saye because God hath appointed no suche ordre in the worlde as he hath in his kingdome the churche and therfore the questions be not like From this you runne as one that feared to tarie to long to gesse what we woulde saie if the time serued vs and here on Gods name you tel vs a long tale of the popes rule ouer all the worlde in temporalities and of king Iohn as muche to the purpose as if you had tolde vs of Robin hood and therfore I passe it ouer with youre other reasons that folowe fo 118. b. made to boulster vp the rotten reason of youre Apologie because they haue bene so often answered by showing the difference betwene the two states of the worlde and the churche The answere to the conclusion The 32. chapiter NOWE foloweth M. Nowelles conclusion wherein drawing nere to the ende and knowing howe weakely the matter hathe bene handled by him in the whole processe of his booke before he thinketh by a certeine lusty brauery of wordes to make amendes and so to beare awaye the garlande But nowe let vs here howe he bestirreth him Thus I trust good Readers you see the insufficiencie or more Nowell fo 119. a. 7. truly the lewdnesse of M. Dormans prouffes of the necessitie of one only heade ouer Christes whole church here in earthe you see where he saieth he hathe sufficiētly proued it to be Christes pleasure that there shoulde be suche an one heade that he hathe not nor coulde not for if he coulde he woulde alleage out of the newe testament where Christes will and pleasure is written and declared moste largely and manifestly as muche as one worde foūding to that purpose so farre of is it that it is as he saieth sufficiētly proued Thus I trust you see good Readers howe M. Nowell Dorman hauing begonne with a lye in the verie title of his booke calling it a Reproufe of my boke which reproueth but only 15. leaues hathe continued and nowe endeth the same in such wise as the middle and ende maye appeare in all mennes iudgement to answere to the beginning Yow see where he saieth that I haue not sufficiently proued it to be Christes pleasure that there shoulde be one heade in his steede in the whole churche because I alleaged no testimonie oute of the newe testament that in restreining my prouffes to the only newe testament and calling the testimonies brought out of the olde lawe as he dothe hereafter olde shadowes while he reproueth my prouffes for this cause he semeth not to be farre from the heresie of the Manichees who condemned the olde testament It was not M. Nowell because I coulde not that I alleaged no proufe out of the newe testament But the cause if you will nedes knowe it was for this that I thought it best to vse suche testimonies as consisting in facte and hauing bene alreadye put in execution you shoulde be lesse able to cauill against especially making my counte that the appointing of one chiefe prieste in the olde lawe being for the benefite of Goddes people you woulde easely admitte that Christe woulde be as beneficiall to his churche in the newe lawe Otherwise I coulde haue brought to you oute of the ghospell of S. Matthewe the wordes of oure Sauiour Matth. 16. to S. Petre where he vsing these wordes And I tell the that thow arte Petre and vpon this rocke I will builde my churche and againe what so euer thow shalt binde vpon earthe shall be bounde in heauen c. made Peter as Chrisostom witnesseth Shepeherd of the churche heade of the churche ruler ouer the whole Homi. 55. lu Matth. worlde I coulde haue alleaged lhe place of S. Iohn where Christe committing to Peter the charge of all his flocke Ioan. vlt. excepting none made by that meanes one ruler of the whole Homil. in cap. Ioan. vlt. and committed curam orbis terrarum the charge of the vniuersall worlde to Peter as saieth the same Chrisostome These places coulde I haue alleaged and other also had it not bene to auoide wrangling and for that that I persuaded my selfe that this example takē from the gouernement of Goddes people the Iues shoulde be to all indifferent mē sufficient enough to confirme my purpose as til M. Nowell confute it it is Yow see that schismes and controuersies by S. Cyprians iudgement Nowell and S. Augustins with 217. bishoppes moe assembled in the African councell with him and by good reason and experience allso maye be beste quieted in the countries where they arise You see that neither S. Cyprian neither S. Augustine Dorman neither the 217. bishoppes emongest whome M. Nowell before nombred Orosius being no bishoppe but a prieste onely and Prosper a bishop of Rhegium in Italie and therefore not like to be at anye councell in Africa neither yeat reason or experience whiche teache the contrarye doe saye Supra cap. 11. that schismes and controuersies maye be best quieted and decided in the countries where they arise That which they saye is ment of criminall causes not of schismes about doctrine as those wordes of S. Cyprian conteining the reason why he woulde haue suche causes hearde in the countries where they happen being these but ought there to make answere to their causes where they maye haue accusers and witnesses of their crimes doe well declare And thus you see that this is a manifold lye Yow see that it becommeth man vnhable well to gouerne a Nowell verie little thinge to humble him selfe and to yealde vp the honour and glory of gouerning the whole worlde and churche to God c. You see by the example of Peter refusing of humilitie Dorman the seruice that Christ offred to him in wasshing his feete Ioan 13. that true humilitye is to doe that whiche Christe biddeth to be done Yow see withall M. Nowells honestie