But if he wer not a priest what was he then Could he be greater The psalme vttreth that he was a priest Moyses and Aaron emongest his priestes They wer therefore both our Lordes priestes Here I beseche yow good readers behold the false and vneuen dealing of an heretike the author of the harborough of whom a little before I made mention He minding to elude this manifest exposition of S. Austen answereth in this manner that S. Austen was ignorant in the Hebrue tongue whereby being easely deceauid and wrapped in thiese two places of scripture wherein there seemed contradiction he leaueth them at a iarre as he found them the one to saie he was a priest thother to saie that he was none Which manner of interpretation and reconciling of scriptures how it is to be liked he leaueth he saieth to the learned reader to iudge For answer to this mere cauillation of this vaine iangler before I procede any farder because he shall not abuse S. Austens ignorance in the Hebrue tongue to the deceauing of yow good readers yow shall vnderstand that S. HieroÌ„ was not ignorant therin and yeat doeth he so expounde the place The .70 interpretours chosen and picked as it wer out of the best learned and cuÌ„ning est in that tongue by all likelihood that could be found Sanctes Pagninus and Sebastianus Munster yea that most learned Rabbine Abrahamus Esdras â— Iewe born wer not ignorant but pearlesse ParagoÌ„s therein and yeat doe all thiese expound the Hebrue word to signifie priestes as Sainct Austen doeth And where he saieth that S. AusteÌ„ being thus wrapped in thiese two contrarie textes was driuen to leaue them as he found theÌ„ the one to saie he was a priest thother that he was none in th'one he hath beliedâ— the holie scriptures in thother he hath sclaundred that holie and learned bishop For where or what scripture saieth that Moyses was no priest as he saieth that one texte saide he was an other that he was none Let him show somme such scripture or elles hath he lied apon the scripture He may show I confesse where the scripture as there apon S. Austen made his obiection speaking of him calleth him not by the name of a priest which in many other places it doeth also of Aaron Is this therefore a good reason to saie The scripture in that place made no mention that he was a priest therefore it saied that he was none Yea truelie euen as good as is this The scripture maketh no mention that th'apostles wer euer baptized therefore it saieth that theie neuer wer baptized Or doe thiese textes make anie iarre the one affirming the other denieng to saie Aaron the priest in one place and Moyses and Aaron his priestes in an other But as this is a lewd lye so to goe about to note S. AusteÌ„ to the world of such ignorance in the scriptures as though he had not byn able to vndoe this simple knot a knot if it be but was forced to leaue the two places at a iarre vnreconciled I can call it no better but euen by the name of wilfull malice As appeareth by that that guilefully in alleaging after their maÌ„ner without cotatioÌ„ the easelier thereby to deceaue the reader this place of S. Austen he left out thiese later wordes Ergo erant illi domini sacerdotes therefore they wer Moyses and Aaron our lordes priestes Now here note I beseche yow diligently that ar of the learned sorte thiese wordes of S. Austen which import in them thus much It maie seeme saieth he to some man that Moyses because the scripture nameth there onelie Aaron by the name of a priest and not him wer no priest but of them that so gather I would know if he wer no priest what he was then whether they can make him King Emperour or any thing that should be greater And although the scripture in that place doe not call him by the name of his office yet neither doeth it therefore deny him to be a priest nor we ar destitute of other places to proue the same by as namelie this psalme wherein expresselie he is so called Wherefore seing neither that place or any other doe saie that he was not a priest and there is plaine scripture that doeth call him one I maie boldelie conclude Erant ergo illi sacerdotes domini Therefore they wer bothe our lordes priestes This is no dout the true sense of S. AusteÌ„s wordes wherebie yow maie see how greate the difficulties wer in which he was wrapped and how he wouÌ„d him selfe out But then saieth this stout champion there wer two high priestes at once which could not be by the lawe and also Moyses must nedes be inferior to Aaron because Aaron and not he is there called the high prieste This obiection hath in dede a showe of somewhat although in their manner of gouernemeÌ„t to haue manie heades wer no greate absurditie at all But to this obiection answereth most fully S. Austen him self in an other place after this sorte Cùm ergo videatur c. Seing therefore that the highe priestehood seemeth to haue begonne in Aaron what thincke we that Moyses was If he wer not a priest how did he theÌ„ all those thinges which he did If he wer howe say we that the high priestehood began in his brother Aaron Although the Psalme also where it is saide Moyses anâ— Aaron emongest his priestes doeth remoue all cause of â—oubte affirming that Moyses was also a priest Wer they therefore Moyses and Aaron bothe chief priestes or rather Moyses the chief and Aaron vnder him yea Aaron also the chiefest in respect of the bishoppes apparell and Moyses the chief in reâ—pect of a more excellent ministery For â—t the beginning waâ— it said to Moyses of Aaron He shall be thy director in those thingeâ— that ar to be handled with the people and thow his in such busines as is to be done with god Hetherto S. Austen by whome we learne that it is no absurditie that two should be chief in two seuerall respectes the one in ouerseing and prescribing what shalbe doeÌ„ th'other in practising and putting in execution the thinges prescribed the one absolutely without relation the other in a respect by a comparison As in the newe lawe a figure whereof diuerse well learned meÌ„ haue expounded this priestehood of Moyses and Aaron to be Christ we see is of his churche onely simply and absolutely the head Peter and after him his successors no otherwise but in comparison of other inferiour membres Moyses as he was with god more familier theÌ„ anie other as he receiued immediatly without the help of anie other instrument to conuey it by vnto him from the mouthe of almightie god his holie will and pleasure he was there is no doute thereof the high and chiefest priest Aaron also as he was by almightie god chosen to publish to the people those thinges which Moyses had giuen him in charge as he offred the
emperour yet hath he not thereby gotten auctoritie to depose bishoppes and ordeine newe â–ª which onely bishoppes must doe So strange a thing semed it then good readers in Christes churche which nowe we see so commonly done Long after thiese emperours start vp Leo Isaurus emperour of Constantinople he that made war with images Ageinst him god raised vp also his Azarias one to warn him of his duetie and that was that notable learned man Iohn Damascenus Giue saith he the apostle Paule crieth to euery one his due honor feare pension tribute to eche one that which they ought to haue The charge that kinges haue is to see well to their common weales the ordering of the churches apperteineth to the pastours and teachers This manner of inuading other mennes offices I can terme it no better my brethern then robbery and plaine violence And a little after he hath thiese wordes Tibi ô rex in ijs quae pertinent ad presentis vitae negocia c. As for those thinges ô king which concern onely this presâ—nt life in those we willingly obey the. In ordering thâ— state of the churche we haue shepherdes which haue spoken to vs the worde of god that is to saie taught it vs and haue left vs rites and ordres therefore And in the same place he addeth Non recipio regeÌ„ qui per tyrannidem sibi sacerdotiuÌ„ vsurpat I acknowledge him for no king that vsurpeth by tirany the priestes office And last of all to knit vp the knot in plaine wordes he saith Non assentior vt regum legibus gubernetur ecclesia sed patrum potius traditionibus siue scriptae hae sint siue non scriptae I consent not saith he that the churche of god shalbe gouerned by the lawes of kinges but by the traditions rather of oure fathers be they written or vnwritten And thus much hetherto good readers haue I thought good to reherce that yow may the better vnderstand how the auncient fathers of Christes churche haue not ceased continually from time to time to resist the vnlaufull attempt of such princes as being heretikes or enueigled theretoe by heretikes for of other perdy it was neuer gone about nor of all them neither would contrary to the expresse worde of god the custome of Christes churche from the beginning continued the alowed exaÌ„ples of all ages of all common weales Christian and heathen hetherto practised mingle heauen and earth holie and prophane together by vnlawfull vsurping to them selues the supreme and chief gouernement in causes ecclesiasticall To come nearer home to our owne time and daies if in it any prince haue attempted the like there hath not lacked also stoare of diuerse meÌ„ singuler bothe for their vertuous life and exquisite learning which haue rather chosen to withstand the same with the expence of their bloud and losse of this present life then to the vtter destructioÌ„ of both body and soule and losse of that which must continue for euer to consent thereto But if thiese examples please not the deinty tast of the aduersaries as being ouer stale I shall set before them their owne deare derling the piller while he liued of their religion the very head of their churche if they be not all together headlesse their Idol and their god in earthe whose doctrine and opinions at other times and in other thinges they haue so rauenouslie deuoured Iohn Caluin him self For if kinges and temporall gouernours as our aduersaries affirme ought euerie one of them in their realmes signories and dominions to gouerne in causes ecclesiasticall and matters of religion whie did then that monsterous beaste in his comentaries apon the prophetes Osâ—e and Amos rayl apoÌ„ our late souereigne lorde king Henrie the eight calling him homo belluinus a beastelie maÌ„ and comparing him with Iehû whome he termeth wicked and nought Why termed he theÌ„ blasphemers that first buzzed into his eares that vaine desire to be called chief head of the churche of England for of other yow wot well he neuer attempted to be nor euer was called vnder Christe here in earth If Caluin haue taught the truthe then haue his scholers taught vs and yeat doe feede vs with lies If they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie chief head of the churche of England vnder Christ which is to saie in effect nothing elles but to be chief gouernour in all causes belonging to the same who was yet a man although laie and thereto also of great wisdome and learning in what degree of blasphemie shall we place them that giue this title not to laie men onelie but to women also and children with out respect If Caluin who touching the giuing of this vnlaufull title to our late lord and maister was vtterly innocent coÌ„plained yet that euen his conscience was wounded not a little there withall how much more daungerousely wounded ought they to thinck them selues who of so many horrible and bloudly woundes whereby for the refusall to folow this example in christes churche neuer hard of before so many godly learned and innocent men in this realme haue died some by heading some by hanging some by quartering and tearing peace meale one membre from an other haue by ther false and vntrue suggestions byn the chief and onelie occasion who yet like cruell bloudsuckers and bloudy bourreâ—aus cary about in their murdering aud malicious mouthes the naked knife which wer it laufull for them they would sheathe in the throates of euerie one of vs that thinck not as they doe But if now on the contrarie part their maister Caluin wer deceauid if they be in the right and he in the wrong why steppeth none of them furth to defend and vindicate from perpetuall infamy that prince of famouse memory which by his railing writinges this wretched caytiff goeth about to bring him into why haue they left him so long vndefended who did no other thing then whereof them selues wer the authors and first beginners Or why at the least purge theie not them selues of the horrible crime of blasphemie laied by him to their charges and all such as theie ar for if they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie head of the churche of Englande what priuilege haâ—e thiese that calling not onelie him but his sonne and daughter by the same title in effect they should not incurre the same crime Where is now their spirit of vnitie that they ar wont so much to bragge of which dissent not here in any small poinct or from any meane man but euen from the chiefest caterpiller whyle he liued of their congregatioÌ„ who not onely in thiese places before by me alleaged kepeth as it wer with their proceadings a combat but elles where in his InstitutioÌ„s doeth merueilousâ—y discredit the same And in steede of manie places which might be brought here out of his worckes I shall onely for this time be coÌ„tented to alleage one in such sort as I finde it in the frenche because at the writing hereof
by common consent and is rightely termed the certificate of their doinges to Leo the pope wherein they called him the heade and them selues the membres and in that that they termed him the man to whome our lorde committed the keping of his vineyarde doe moste plainelie affirme the same there is nowe left to our aduersaries no starting hole to escape Besides all this that yowe haue hard there is a notable testimonie of Iustinian the emperour who in his Codex calleth in plaine wordes Ioannes that was then the pope of Rome caput omnium ecclesiarum that is the heade of al churches And thus much for such as within the first sixe hundred yeares haue called the B. of Rome by this name heade of the churche To come nowe to those who although they haue not vsed the same terme haue named him yet notwithstanding by the like and haue attributed vnto hiÌ„ and acknowleged in him in all poinctes the same iurisdiction and auctoritie I shall first bring furth the testimonie of that stroÌ„g piller and vnmoueable rocke of Christes churche Athanasius and yet not him alone but accompanied with the whole noÌ„bre of the bishoppes of Egipt Thebaida and Libia Who writing to three seuerall popes Marcus Liberius and Felix called first Marcus S. Ro. Apostolicae sedis atque vniuersalis ecclesiae papam that is the bishop or pope for the worde is in the auncient doctours vsed indifferentlie for bothe of the holie apostles seate at Rome and also of the whole vniuersall churche of Christ and the churche of Rome the mother and heade of all churches acknowleged in the secoÌ„de written to Felix that almighty god had placed the bishoppes of Rome insummitatis arce omnium ecclesiarum curam habere praecepit in the chiefest tower that he had commaunded them to take on them the charge not of their owne propre and peculier churche of Rome onlie as though their charge extended no farder but of all churches vniuersallie witnessed beside whereof theie coulde not be ignorant them selues being present there and then which they coulde not haue brought a stronger proufe to proue the superioritie of that See that in the first councell holden at Nice it was ordeined and agreed apon that no councells should be holden or bisshoppes condemned without the auctoritie of the B. of Rome And in their lettres last of all to Liberius the popeâ— doe so openlie and manifestlie witnesse their opinion in this controuersy in saieng that to him as pope was committed the vniuersall churche of Christe to labour for all to helpe euerie one that I can not ynough maruell at your impudency M. Iuell who standing in defence of the contrary beate in to the eares of the people that this doctrine of the popes auctoritie is newe and hath for warrante thereof not so much as one auncient writers approbation and that as suerly as god is god the Catholikes if they had vouchesaufed to folowe the scriptures the generall councels the examples of the primitiue churche or opinions of th'auncient fathers would neuer haue brought in the pope again being once banished out of the realme The seuerall answers of euerie one of thiese popes wherein they acknowleged no lesse burden of charge then was by these fathers laiâ—d apoÌ„ theÌ„ I here forbeare to bring in lest theie maie by yow perhappes be chaleÌ„ged as principall partes to the title in strife The which because I knowe yow can not say by S. Hierom S. Ambrose S. Austen and other such like I shall here of many alleage some for the confirmation thereof S. Hierome called Damasus who was B. of Rome the chief and highest prieste S. Ambrose calleth him ruler of the churche Ecclesia saieth he domus dei est cuius hodie rector est Damasus The churche is goddes house the gouernor whereof at this day is Damasus S. Austen saieth in writing to Bonifacius the pope ageinst the Pelagians that although the office of being a bishop be to them all comon that yet he was in that care placed aboue the rest And in an other place comparing together the blessed apostle S. Peter and the holie martir S. Ciprian he had cause to feare he saied least he might seme to be towardes S. Peter contumeliouse not as though touching the crowne of martirdome they wer not bothe equall but in respect of their seates and bishoprikes Quis enim nescit illum apostolatus principatum cuilibet episcopatui praeferendum for who is quoth he ignorant that that principalitie of apostleship is to be preferred before all bishoprikes To these shall I adde Theodorite the B of Cyrus who writeth in this wise to Leo the pope Si Paulus praeco veritatis tuba sanctissimi spiritus ad magnum Petrum cucurrerit vt ijs qui Antiochiae de institutis Legalibus contendebant ab ipso adferret solutionem multò magis nos qui abiecti sumus pusilli ad apostolicam vestram sedem currimus vt ecclesiarum vlceribus medicinam à vobis accipiamus Vos enim per omnia primos esse conuenit If Paule that is to saie the messanger of truthe and trumpet of the holie ghost ran vnto mighty Peter to fetch from him the resolution of such doubtes as rising apon th' obseruation of the Lawe ministred to them occasion of strife that wer at Antioche much more neede had we which ar weake and abiect to run vnto your apostolicall seate from thence to fetch salues for the sores of the churche For expedient is it that in all pointes before all other yow haue the preeminence And a little after he addeth that the churche of Rome is of all other maxima praeclarissima quae praeest orbi terrarum the greatest the noblest and that which ruleth all the worlde By occasion of this place of Theodoritus calling the churche of Rome the chief of all other which yet he doeth not alone neither for so did well neare two hundred yeares before his daies Irinaeus when he would haue euery churche that is as him selfe expoundeth it all faithefull Christians from all partes of the worlde to mete and conforme them selues to the imitation of this churche propter potentiorem principalitateÌ„ saieth he for the chiefest souereintie that it hath and after him aswell S. Ambrose whose opinion was that Rome hath bene more honored thorough the preeminence and principalitie of the apostolicall priestehood by hauing there the chief tower of religion then it was before when it had there the chief throne of worldly power and ciuile iurisdiction as also S. AusteÌ„ affirming that in that churche the preeminence and chief honour of the apostolicall priestehood hath alwaies florished I shall here make this argument for the better coÌ„firmation of this controuersie that the B. of Rome is the heade and chief of the whole churche this allwaies presupposed that yowe M. Iuell whome I desire to solute this argument ar stille of this minde that the