the Ministers of the Reformation some there are of great zeale and learning such as haue suffred much for the puritie which they haue taught haue bene content with litle whereby they deserue great commendation Neither desire I any more but that still they may be more and more carefull for the peace of the Church for such contentions there haue bene euē among the Reformed as haue not greatly auailed to edification and herein I greatly commend Bucer yea and honor his ashes for he would neuer leane to any the partialities among the Reformed but bare him selfe quietly betweene both parts and neuer innouated any thing in the state of the Clergie Neither should we endeuor to triumph ouer our brethren but ouer our enemies For my part I would not seeke to triumph ouer the Clergie but ouer the Papacie which is the Beast ouer whom we are promised to triumph in the Reuelation And as for the Clergie I wish by reasonable offers and iust admonitions to induce them to participate with vs in the triumph ouer the Beast by renouncing her superstitions As for the English gouernment I say that it is grounded vpon Gods word so farre foorth as it concerneth the state of the Clergie instituted in the olde Testament and confirmed in the Newe And concerning the gouernment of the French Church so much as concerneth the equalitie of Ministers it hath the like foundation in Gods word namely in the example of the Apostles which may suffise to authorise both these formes of estate albeit in seuerall times and places None can denie but the Apostles among them selues were equall as concerning authoritie albeit there were an order for their presedence When the Apostles first planted the Church the same being small in affliction there were not as yet any other Bishops Priestes or Deacons but them selues they were the Bishops and Deacons and together serued the tables Those men therfore whom God raiseth vp to plant a Church can do no better then after the example of the Apostles to beare them selues in equall authoritie for this cause haue the French Ministers planters of the reformed Church in Fraunce vsurped it howbeit prouisionally for it is a matter auowed that they hold their discipline but by prouision reseruing libertie to alter it according to the accurrences But the equalitie that rested among the Bishops in the primitiue Church did increase as the Churches increased and thereof proceeded the creation of Deacons and afterward of other Bishops and Priests yet ceased not the Apostles equalitie in authoritie but they that were created had not like authoritie with the Apostles But the Apostles remained as soueraine Bishops neither was there any greater then they Hereof do I inferre that in the state of a mighty peaceable church as is the Church of England or as the Church of France or such like might be if God should call them to reformation the state of the Clergie ought to be preserued for equalitie would be hurtful to the state and in time breede confusion But as the Apostles continued in this perfect equalitie so long as their new planted Church was small so should equalitie be applied in the planting of a Church or so long as the Church continueth small or vnder persecution yet may it also be admitted as not repugnant to God word sith it hath takē place in the Church in those places where alreadie it is receaued rather then to innouate any thing I say therefore that euen in the Apostles time the state of the Clergie increased as the Church increased Neither was the gouernement vnder the bondage of Egypt during the peace of the land of Canaan alike for the Israelites had first Iudges and as their state increased they had Kings God him selfe likewise first dwelt as a shepheard in a Tabernacle built by Moses but afterward as a king in a house built by Salomon And the tree of life beareth twelue fruicts according to the twelue seasons of the yeare whereby we are taught that such as haue charge of the Lords garden must vse the fruictes thereof according to their seasons It is also to be thought that the Ministers of the Reformation which planted Reformation in Fraunce had respect to their businesse and to the worke they tooke in hand when they brought in this equalitie which was to plant a Church and to begin after the maner of the Apostles when they planted the Church at Hierusalem as also they meant not to reuerse the state of the Clergie either to submit it to their orders whensoeuer the Clergie or whole state of France should happen to admit Reformation But their purpose hath tended to ouerthrowe superstition and in the meane time to beare them selues according to their simple equalitie which in deede was the true meane to Reforme the Church whereas had they meant both to abolish superstition and to reuerse the state of the Clergie they should with one hand haue reformed the Church and with the other haue deformed the state And they that presumed that Reformation must needes subuert the state of the Clergie conceaued that foreiudgement out of season and without any sufficient cause their foreiudgement hath bred great calamities in Fraunce Wherupon I inferre that he which would take occasion of the equalitie brought in into Fraunce to reuerse the estate of the Episcopall Clergie among the Reformed shall greatly wrong the cause of those who therevnder haue reformed Fraunce and had neuer that intent as also they should resemble the dogges that would go into the vineyard but carie a yoke at their neckes that keepeth them out for they should carie with them the let that should hinder them from compassing their intents for there is nothing that hindereth from achiuing to perfection but it may be accomplished without preiudice to the state Iesus Christ taught perfection yet spake he neuer against the state but alwayes excepted it saying that these things we must do yet not leaue the others vndone neither can there be any good thing done with the ouerthrow of the state but may more commodiously be done without preiudice to the state And Christ when they came to tempt him excepted the state not onely in Ecclesiasticall causes but also in Ciuill saying Giue vnto Cesar that belongeth to Cesar and to God that belongeth to God as also he would take no notice of Ciuill iudgement when he was required to agree a man with his brother teaching vs by his example discretly to vse circumspection in time and place As also it were but a bad consequent to say there be abuses in the state and therefore we must subuert the state but it were a good consequent to say there be abuses in the state they must then be corrected albeit without preiudice to the state I say the reason is not altogether like when there be superstitions contrary to conscience for then must we forsake them and separate our selues therefro according to that which is
other death and therfore meant by contrarying that point to make God a lyer and not that onely but also to bring of God into suspition of enuie as vnder hand taxing him to enuie mans felicitie as if God had forbidden man the eating of the tree of good and euill for feare least he should become like vnto God by the knowledge of good and euill As for our Lord Iesus Christ it is not to be doubted but the deuill hath sclandered him For what greater sclander would any man haue thē sclanderously to put him to death So that if Satan entered into Iudas togither with the soppe to the end to cause him to bring his treason to effect who doubteth but he had likewise quoifed the Scribes and Phariseis to make them enterprise the death of the sonne of God which being so who can doubt but those goodly titles that the Phariseis gaue to our Lord Iesus Christ were forged in the same shop and by the same workmā who charged our Lord that by Beelzebub the Prince of deuils he cast out deuils If thē he durst so shamelesly set him selfe against God his only sonne is it any maruell that he dare set vpon men the seruants of God bruting abroad in all places that the faithfull which serue God vnder the puritie of Reformation are heretickes We are therefore to know that as to Satan there is nothing more familier then to sclander God Christ Iesus and his faithfull members so is there nothing more familiar to the faithfull then to see them selues sclandered by the old serpent and his angels which are his members and supposts And this is so familiar and ordinarie to thē that there neede no example For we know what sclanders and persecutions Gods people haue endured by strangers and the Prophetes by their brethren in so much that it is written that no Prophet hath bene put to death but in Hierusalem And this teacheth vs that euen such as in outward profession seeme to be Gods people do for the most part persecute Gods elect and those whō he will sanctifie and separate from the broad way that leadeth to destruction For as they that among the Israelites sacrificed vnto Baal did persecute them which bowed not vnto him euē so in the Church which is termed Christiā they that folow like superstitions do persecute those that will not cleaue to the same For this cause in the Apocalypse the Church which is compared to a woman enuironed with the sunne crowned with 12. starres standing vpon the moone is notably said to be sent into the wildernesse by the two winges of the great eagle Which great eagle hath relation to the Romaine Empire and the dependances thereof as is the Papacie which hath brought this woman into the wildernesse where being she is compared to a mightie harlot holding a cup full of the abhomination of her whoredomes which are the superstitions that separate vs from the desolate woman and replenished with the bloud of the Martyrs which hath bene shed because they would not cleaue to these superstitions Euen as the Idolatrous Church of Israell persecuted the true faithfull which serued God in purenesse so also the desolate and superstitious Church amōg the Christians doth persecute the faithfull that seeke to serue God purely and without superstition But withall the examples of the pacience of the faithfull in old tyme should be vnto vs a miror of pacience and the promises of our deliuerance which God hath made vs ought to be as it were oyle to refresh the lampe of our hope as also these fatherly corrections should be a testimonie vnto vs that God accompteth vs his children to the end that we walke worthely as children of such a father separating our selues from the vanitie and frowardnesse of the world to follow the truth in abandoning vanitie and seeking to ouercome the world by that faith which is the victorie arming our faith with charitie zeale sinceritie truth and the feare of God Now the cause why we see that the faithfull are ordinarily persecuted not onely by strangers but also by those that aduow them selues to be the people of God and of his Church is because that in the Church there be both of the children of Agar and of the children of Sara and the children of Agar do vsually despise and persecute the children of Sara albeit to their own harmes And Iacob also was an exile 20. yeares in a forem land for feare of his brother Esau so doe we ordinarily see in the Church of God that they that are borne after the flesh doe persecute those that are borne after the promise appertaining to Gods election The aduersaries of the Reformation do say that the Reformed are heretickes whereto I aunswere that reason maketh the man truth the Christiā To speake without reason is not the part of a man but to bable and to speake against the truth by charging any one in that which concerneth the conscience is to sclander and it is the deuils rhetorick Christian Religion is not built vpon auctoritie but vpon truth not vpon the auctoritie of men but vpon the truth that is of God If the aduersaries of Reformation should be driuen to proue their accusation by reason and truth they would be shreudly troubled and we may plainly say that they could not do it because that either they are ignorant wherein Reformation doth consist or if they know they can not taxe it of heresie without speaking against their owne consciences and therefore we will entreat vpō this point to the end that in few wordes it may manifestly appeare that there is no heresie in Reformation and also that all that the Reformed are charged withall is but sclander It is the part of a good archer to finde the white at the first view and to hit it with the first shaft and he shall be deemed a good and expert master so that it come not by chance S. Paule hath shewed the excellēcie of his arte in that with one only arrow he reached the end of the law and with an other the mark that was set vp as the end of the Gospell The arrow wherewith he hath hit the end of the law was but one onely worde vnder the which he hath comprehended the whole doctrine of the law and that is Charitie and the shaft wherewith he pierced the mark of the Gospell is also this onely word Faith where vnder he hath also comprehended the whole doctrine of the Gospell Now then if any man would know wherein consisteth the difference betweene Reformation and the doctrine termed Catholick it is in the superstition For take the superstition out of that Religion which in name is termed Catholick and there will remaine no difference betweene the Catholick and the Reformed and therefore I appeale to the iudgement of any discret person in this case videl whether it be heresie not to cleaue to superstition for if it be heresie Reformation
of the deuils but vary it how they will I force not so the definition remaine Superstition then being the cause of our separation it is also to be thought that we can not allow any superstitious doctrine But discretiō is needefull to be had in clearing the cause of superstition from that that concerneth the state and not to condemne any thing rashly The superstitions that cause vs to abandon the Popes partie are the worshipping of Images and Reliques the inuocation of Sainctes Purgatory Transubstantiation Artolatrie Traditions the Popes orders established by superstitious traditions false and faleable Pardons false merites derogatorie to Christes merites and such like As for Images it is a matter sufficiētly beaten by other and therefore I shall not neede to enter into particularities for it is manifest inough that the worshipping of them is idolatrie I know that euery Image is not an Idoll also that an Image simply maketh not an Idoll but the worship thereof which is superstition For it is written Thou shalt not honor it But we doe honor it when we celebrate it with any worship I also graunt that an Image set vp for a historie is no Idoll as we see in the temples of those that are called Lutherans in Germanie but if we attribute any vertue thereto it is superstition for the vertue that we attribute is the cause of the worship and honor thereto yet is it good vtterly to purge Gods Church frō these Images which haue bene causes of the peoples Idolatrie howbeit it were to be wished that it might be done by the kinges authoritie And it is to be meruailed that in the Churches there are the Images of God the father sith God him selfe hath so expresly forbidden it For if they might take place the heathen ought not to be reproued for their Image of Iupiter For it is certaine that by Iupiter they vnderstood Ioue pater and it is an auncient character of Noahs Religion who called God Iehoua And the Poete saying Iouis omnia plena speaketh of the great God creator of all thinges I will omit all Poeticall fictions neither doth my Argument leade me to speake of them As for the Images of Iesus Christ and his Sainctes if that of Iesus ought not to be worshipped much lesse ought those of the Sainctes but that of Iesus Christ must not be worshipped it is then in vayne to worship those of Saincts Some man may say that they worship them not hereto I aunswere that when we exhibite so great reuerence to any thing as we can not exhibite more to God him selfe we worship that thing But such is the worship that is done to Images before the which we vncouer our heades bend our knees hold vp our handes make our prayer present our offring and such like Tell me then I pray you what more can we doe to God him selfe But the subtiler sorte do say ween you that when I kneele before a Crucifixe of wood or stone I pray to the wood or stone No I doe it to the thing represented by that wooddē Crucifixe and looking thereupon do direct my prayer to Christ Thinke you say they that I am so sencelesse as to stay vpon this visible Image mine eye is in deede vpō the visible Image but my hart is with Iesus Christ that is in heauen But let me aske thee Thinkest thou that they which sacrificed to the brasen serpēt had not the like starting hole They had more reason to sacrifice thereto then thou to a Crucifixe For it figured Iesus Christ hanging on the wood and whereas thy Crucifixes be erected by superstitious men without any cōmaundement from God that was erected by Gods expresse commandement and whereas some of thy Crucifixes are authorised by false miracles that was famous by the miracles wrought in the desert by healing such as the serpents had bitten All which notwithstanding when the people began to sacrifice thereto Ezechias brake it saying that it was but brasse Wherefore if these starting holes should take place who doubteth but the Israelites would haue had the like Thou worshipest sayest thou Iesus Christ and art not so sencelesse as to worship the Crucifixe weenest thou the Israelites were so sencelesse as to worship the brasen serpent and not rather him that was thereupon figured hanging vpon the wood or thinkest thou that they were so ignoraunt that they knew it not to be the figure of the Messias sith they liued in a time so illuminated with Prophetes as was the time of Ezechias Had such shiftes taken place Ezechias would neuer haue destroyed the brasen serpent which notwithstanding these shiftes being broken thy excuses also take no place Thou wilt say that they sacrificed to the brasen serpent but that thou doest not sacrifice to the Crucifixe I answere that there were two sortes of sacrifices the one burnt offerings the other meate offrings The burnt offrings were made of beastes The meate offrings of fruicts as of corne wine bread oyle such like wherfore whē thou offerest the like thinges to the Crucifixe thou sacrificest againe to the brasen serpēt And whē thou makest those offerings before the Images of Sainctes thou doest yet worse To be brief all these excuses are but starting holes and it is no heresie to abandon such superstition yea this superstitious worship is the cause that iustly we may well call them Idols And S. Paule teacheth vs what soeuer is sacrificed to Idols is offered to Idols wherein we doe learne that the Idols which in old time aunswered by oracles were deuils Yea there be some deuines which note the worship of the Images of Sainctes and there be Images vnder the Catholicke Religion that abuse the world which thinketh that the Sainctes doe worke miracles albeit they be such miracles as the old oracles wrought long agoe Wherein it is euidēt that they are the same deuils which abuse the people hauing onely chaunged their names In old time they would be called God and now they wilbe termed Saincts The Gods of old time had their Priestes and Sibilles and now the Saincts haue their Southsayers they frame thē selues to the time but in the meane time the people is abused thinking because the name is altered the matter is changed As for the distinctiō of Honor Latrie Doulie Hiperdoulie it is an other kinde of shift which hath neither reason nor grounde in the word of God Now therfore do I appeale to euery mans iudgement in this matter viz. that sith they worship Images whether this worship may not be taken for superstition and Idolatry also whether this worship maketh not their Images Idols And S. Paule testifieth that Idols be deuils Therefore these Images whereto they erect worship are deuils that is to say deuils are worshipped in them and so being deuils we are not to haue any acquaintance with them For Sainct Paule telleth vs that we can not participate both in the cup of the Lord and in the cup of deuils
forced as is aforesaid vpon his knees to aske him forgiuenesse who besides in spite with bitter wordes set his feete vpon his throat As for the Emperour Fredericke the II. him did Pope Honorius the III. excommunicate and againe in fauour of Iohn king of Hierusalē release but he was againe by Gregorie the IX excommunicated and then might not be released but for money Thus are the releases of kings from excommunications as saleable also as the excommunications and Bulles This release cost him 120000. markes of gold yet did the same Pope Gregorie the IX againe excommunicate the said Emperour Fredericke the third time terming him the forerunning of Antechrist wherefore the Emperour might haue appealed as from a sclaunder howbeit if you take it that the Emperours were the forerunners of the Popes the Emperour might haue vrged a Minima This Pope also called the Emperour hereticke whereby it appeareth that the Reformed Princes are not the first Princes whō the Popes haue wrongfully excommunicated as heretickes for thereof grew the faction of Guelphes Gibellines which is an euident token that the Popes haue bene no other but perpetuall perturbers of the Empire whole estate of Europe He that lust to recken vp all the Emperours Kings Princes that the Popes haue brought to their endes as the Emperour Lewes IIII. whom Iohn XXII procured to dye as also Conradin king of Sicill and Fredericke Duke of Austrich who by the conspiracie of Clement IIII. were beheaded Also how oftentimes the Popes haue procured the subiectes to reuolte against the Emperours or other their Princes might find matter sufficient for a whole booke But what stand I vpō these thinges which are so plentifull in bookes Read the liues of the Popes the histories of Emperours the Chronicles of the French kinges and you shall finde histories enough that euidently doe shewe that the Popes neuer serued but to trouble the state of Europe euen since the time of Lewes the meeke against whō the Pope Gregory IIII. procured his owne childrē to cōspire as is aforesaid But what greater rashnesse and vanitie yea euē follie and phrenesie would a man desire then that of Pope Innocent III. who put the whole Realme of France into interdictiō and of Boniface VIII who denounced the Realme of Fraunce to be fallen into the Popes handes But this wound the king applied the remedie of the Scorpion for it cost the Pope his life Besides that king Philip the Faire forbad the trāsport of any coyne to Rome And it is to be noted that the Popes quarell was not as then vpon any hatred to Reformatiō for that was not yet in question but vpō a desire the Pope had to trouble the state of the Realme Neither did king Philip the Faire forbid the trasport of any money to Rome as being a Reformed but as a king desiring to mainteine the state of France True it is that the Reformed Princes are not the first Princes that haue bene excommunicated because they wold not cleaue to the Popes superstitions for Pope Gregorie III. excōmunicated the Emperor Leo III. for the same cause namely for that he would not suffer Images in the Churches wherin it appeareth that the cause of the Reformed is not so new as it semeth beside that it appeareth how ruinous this cup of deuils which is Idolatry is not only to the conscience but also to the state considering that it is the ouerthrow both of the Empire and Papacie It is the ruine of the Empire because that for Images this Pope Gregory IIII. procured all Italy to reuolt from the Empire and it is the ruine of the Papacie because that for these superstitions Boemia England most part of Germanie haue abandoned the Pope as France also with the rest of Europe wil shortly do Morouer there is great difference betwene being an heretick being by the Pope denounced and heretick for we know that the Pope hath sometimes excommunicated the Florentins and the Lawyers haue affirmed the excōmunication to be voyde as proceding of hatred and his hatred against Reformation is wel known to be the hatred of Cain who hated his brother Abel because Abels works were better then his Besides it is a principle of the Canon law that one excommunicate person can not excōmunicate an other one hereticke can not denounce another an hereticke neither one Apostate declare another an heretick or excommunicate person the Pope being such a one we haue iust occasion to appeale from his sentēce but we can proue that he is an hereticke an Apostate from the faith and excommunicate by such Iudges from whose sentence he can not appeale He is assuredly an hereticke which leaneth to a doctrine repugnant to the Gospell But the Pope leaneth to a doctrine repugnant to the doctrine of the Gospell taught by Iesus Christ therefore it followeth that the Pope is an hereticke My Minor I proue thus Iesus Christ in the Gospell forbiddeth his Disciples whose successor the Pope termeth him selfe to vsurpe such dominion ouer the Nations as Kings and Princes doe But this doctrine doth the Pope diametrally contrary vsurping dominion ouer the Nations yea euen ouer Emperours and Kinges the Pope therefore is an hereticke And S. Peter whose successour the Pope termeth him selfe doth forbid the vsurping of dominion ouer the Lordes inheritaunce which the Pope doth vsurpe Moreuer S. Peter saith There shalbe false teachers that shall make traficke of men that is to say make traficke of mens soules as the Reuelatiō doth expound it but the Pope maketh such traficke by his Bulles He is therefore a false teacher and consequently an hereticke S. Paule also whose sword the Pope saith that he beareth doth say that such as forbid mariage meates be Apostotaes from the faith also that they be cleauers to spirites of errors and the doctrines of deuils he speaketh thē of the Popes who in their vowed chastitie doe forbid mariage and in their Lent meates Thus the Pope bearing S. Paules sword beareth the sword that cutteth his owne throat And this we must also note that there be some Doctors which vphold superstitions others which forced by the Popes do endure them as loth to part from them without their Princes cōmaundement Now those doe we accompt meere superstitious and guiltie of these crimes which vphold and mainteine them but as for such as of force doe suffer them it were to be wished that they were come from among the others according to the saying of the Scripture Come forth of her my people whereby we open them such a passage as shall not be vncommodious for them Out of S. Paules wordes also where he saith whosoeuer participateth in the cup of deuils is iustly excōmunicate that is to say is excommunicable from the cup of Christ we may inferre that sith the Pope through his superstitions participateth in the cup of deuils he is excommunicate out of the cup of Christ Also it is a principle