in vaine it is for men or Councils to say they be undoubtedly guided by the holy Ghost the spirit of truth unlesse they have the Word of truth for their rule and direction and can so prove the spirit whereby they speake and decree to be Gods Spirit and not their owne But againe yee know that in Councills aswell Generall as Provinciall things be caryed and over-ruled by the most Voyces and where things be so caried and ruled by the greater number of voyces there it is experimentally found to be a thing verie easily possible for the most voyces or greater number sometimes to over-rule the better part being the lesser and consequently Councils whether generall or particular because they may sometime possibly erre can not be held for anie absolute and infallible Iudge or infallible rule of truth in these controversies Or would anie think the Bish. Pope of Rome to be an infallible Iudge Why in the glosse upon the Popes owne Law that opinion also is reiected saying thus Quaero de qua Ecclesia intelligas quod hic dicitur quod non possit errare Si de ipso Papa certum est quod Papa errare potest Respondeo Ipsa congregatio Fidelium hic dicitur Ecclesia I demand of what Church it is meant when it is said as here That the Church cannot erre If of the Pope himselfe it is certaine he may erre I therefore answer that the whole company of the Faithful is here meant by the Church Where beside that you see what Church it is that cannot erre you see it directly affirmed that certum est quod Papa errare potest it is a thing certaine that the Pope may erre Gerson also the Chancellor of Paris telleth us that tam Papa quam Episcopus deviabiles à fide aswell the Pope as anie other Bishop may go out of the way of Faith Alfonsus that wrote so earnestly against Luther yet touching this point said thus Non credo aliquem esse adeo impudentem Papae assentatorem ut ei tribuere hoc velit ut nec errare possit I doe not beleeve that any man is such an impudent flatterer of the Pope as to attribute this unto him that he cannot erre Which words were in his first edition but are not now in the last but yet even in his new copies although he qualifie his termes he holdeth the same opinion verie directly saying Omnis homo errare potest in fide etiamsi Papa sit Every man may erre in faith yea even the Pope himselfe And againe he saith that Papa in fide errare potest ut melius sentientes tenent etiam ex hijs qui Papatui plurimùm favent inter quos est Innocentius ejus nominis quartus in cap. 1. de Summa Trinitate The Pope may erre in matter of faith as the better opinion is even of them that favour the Papacie most of all amongst whom is Pope InnocentÃus the fourth of that name writing upon the first chapter De Summa Trinitate Well therefore doth Erasmus also confute this new conceit strange opinion For If it be true saith he which some say that the Bishop of Rome can never erre Iudicially vvhat neede is there then of Generall Councils Why are men skilfull in the Lawes and learned in Divinitie sent for to Councils if he in his speakings cannot erre To what purpose be so manie Vniversities troubled with handling Questions of faith when thc truth may be had from his mouth Yea how commeth it to passe that the Decrees of one Pope be repugnant to the Decrees of another What Wresters of Scripture then do some Papists in these later times here appeare to be that abuse it to give an infallibilitie of judgement and an immunitie or priviledge from error to the Pope of Rome Arboreus a Doctor of Paris and one not of the meanest Sorbonists confesseth likewise and teacheth this truth saying Papa in fide errare potest Et tota mihi aberrare via videtur qui aliter sentit Assentantur sanè Romano Pontifici qui faciunt eum immunem à lapsu haereseos schismatis The Pope may erre in faith And he seemeth to mee to be in an extreame error that thinketh otherwise Surely they doe but flatter the Bishop of Rome that make him free from falling into heresie and schisme And how can it in reason be otherwise For if Provinciall Councils wherein be manie Bishops may erre in matter of Faith which is a thing that the Popish Writers themselves do grant yea if Generall Councils may possibly erre in matter of Faith which is also a thing confessed by some of the Popish Divines and cannot iustly be denied by anie is there anie likelyhood that any one Bishop singly considered by himselfe should be so priviledged as that he could not possibly erre Yea even a general Councill namely the Councill of Basil saith Saepe experti sumus legimus Papam errasse Wee have often found it by experience and know it also by reading that the Pope hath erred And againe they say Cum certum sit Papam errare posse Forasmuch as it is a thing certaine that the Pope may erre Whereupon it must be concluded that therefore the Pope also cannot be held for an unerrable or infallible Iudge Shall then the ancient Fathers be this Iudge They are I grant in all respects to have that due reverence that belongeth to them but themselves will by no meanes assume that high honour to themselves to be infallible Iudges or such as cannot possibly erre Yea they acknowledge that they may erre and therefore would have no man further to beleeve them then there is warrant for what they write and speake in the Canonicall Scriptures I cannot denie saith S. Augustine but that there be many things in my Workes as there be also in the Writings of my predecessors vvhich justly and without anie rashnesse may be reproved And when S. Cyprian was obiected against him hee answered thus I am not bound by his Authoritie For I doe not account Cyprians Writings as Canonicall but weigh them by the Canonicall Scriptures and that in them which agreeth with the Canonicall Scriptures I allow to his praise but that which agreeth not by his favour I refuse Againe he saith If anie thing be proved by the manifest Authoritie of the divine Scriptures which in the Church be called canonicall it must be beleeved without any doubting but as for other testimonies thou mayst beleeve them or not beleeve them according as thou shalt see cause to trust them And therefore he giveth this prerogative to the sacred and canonicall Scriptures that amongst all the Writings in the world they onely cannot erre and that all other may erre For which cause he saith againe thus Solis eis Scripturarum libris qui jam canonici appellantur didici hunc timorem honoremque deferre ut nullum eorum Authorem scribendo
Regem non est Crimen loesae Maiestatis quia non est subditus Regis The Rebellion of a Clergie man against the king is no Treason because he is not the kings subiect And so likewise saith Bellarmine Non sunt amplius Reges Clericorum Superiores Kings be no longer Soveraignes or superiors to Clergie men Doe not these appeare to bee most grosse disloyall and detestable opinions But thus a New King is raised over the Popes Clergie that the Scripture might be fulfilled which saith They have a King over them vvhich is the Angel of the bottomlesse pit who in Hebrew is called Abaddon and in Greeke Apollyon that is in English a Destroyer namely the degenerate Bishop of Rome that grand 〈◊〉 as 〈…〉 proved who hath thus bereaved and robbed Kingâ— of 〈◊〉 naturall borne subiects and of their ancient Supremacie and most rightful authoritie over them 2 That the King is a Governour within his owne kingdomes and dominions is a matter so evident as that it needeth no proofe for he is called Rex à Regendo â— King in respect of his rule and governement And S. Peter agreeing hereunto teacheth that not onely the King but even other Magistrates also that be under the King be Governours and instituted for the punishment of evill doers for the praise of them that doe well S. Paul also speaketh the like of Princes or Governours that beare the sword that They are not to be feared for good vvorkes but for evill vvilt thou then be vvithout feare of the power Doe vvell saith hee so shalt thou have praise of the same for he is the minister of God for thy good But if thou doe evill then feare for he beareth not the sword in vaine for he is the minister of God to take vengeance on him that doth evill You here then cleerely perceive that Kings and Princes bee Governors and 〈…〉 before that they be supreme which being put together necessarily concludeth them to be under God the supreme Governors within their owne Dominions Now that their governement and authoritie extendeth to causes Ecclesiasticall as well as 〈…〉 is a thing likewise verie manifest for as there is here no exception of anie person so is there also no exception or difference put of anie cause but whosoever transgresseth or offendeth or doth evill be it in what kinde of cause soever hee is here made subiect to this sword power and authoritie of Kings and Princes and punishable by it And doth not verie reason it selfe also perswade this For even in Christian States it is possible for Bishopâ— and other Ecclesiasticall ministers to transgresse and offend as touching the execution and administration of their Ecclesiasticall offices and functions as well as other men may in their offices and places As for example If they or anie of them would not suffer a childe or anie other to bee baptized which were not to be denied baptisme or if they should excommunicate anie upon meere spleen and malice without anie iust cause or if after a iust excommunication the person excommunicate should afterward publiquely testifie his repentance and thereupon desire to be reconciled and received againe into the Church and yet for all that should most uniustly be held out and be denied absolution or reconciliation Do not these and such like offences though committed by Ecclesiasticall persons and in causes Ecclesiasticall deserve punishment by the Civill Sword and authoritie of a Christian King If you say That such an offendor may be censured by such as be Clergie men and have Ecclesiasticall authoritie over him That hindreth not but that a King may neverthelesse punish him also civilly especially where the Lawes of the kingdome do so permit or appoint For in such cases without anie wrong or iniurie may one and the selfe same offence be punished both wayes viz. both Civilly and Ecclesiastically Your selves doe know that Bishops and Clergie men cannot by vertue of that their Ecclesiasticall office and authoritie punish anie offendors civilly but onely Ecclesiastically as namely by deprivation or excommunication or such like censures of the Church But Kings and Princes punish offendors in ecclesiasticall causes after another sort namely not ecclesiastically as Bishops doe but Civilly as by corporall imprisonment pecuniarie punishment and such like temporall paines belonging to their authoritie So that both Civill and Ecclesiasticall authoritie doe and may well stand together without doing anie wrong yea as friends and helpers the one to the other But to illustrate this matter yet further Admit Clergie men have excommunicated a man or sentenced him to be deprived or pronounced him to be an Hereticke or done all they can against him by the power of the keyes and of the Church censures and that neverthelesse he still and evermore persisteth a scorner and contemner of all that they can doe against him Is it not meete and requisite thinke you that such a one should be punished civilly and by the Kings authoritie For what other remedie is there left in such a case You see then how expedient and necessarie the governement and authoritie of a Christian King is even in respect of the Church and Church affaires as well as of the Common-weale and Common-weale causes and that in respect of offendâ—rs in Ecclesiasticall causes that be unruly wilfull obstinate and contemptuous the Church hath as much neede of him as the Common-weale Whilest therefore the king punisheth offendors in Ecclesiasticall causes not ecclesiastically and by Church censures as Clergie men doe but civilly and by a regall power and authoritie it is such a cleere evident a right as none can with anie colour of reason gainsay or disallow Yea even Heathen and Pagan Kings have this power and authoritie to make lawes and proclamations for the worship and service of the true GOD and to inflict punishment upon the breakers violaters of those their lawes and proclamations although they doe not alwayes put that their power and authoritie in execution for God as they ought but most commonly abuse it against him And yet sometime we see they doe extend it and put it in execution for God as it is evident in the examples of Artashast King of Persia Nebuchadnezar King of Babell and Darius King of the Mâ—des as also by some other Heathen Emperors mentioned in Eusebius If then as is manifest Heathen and Pagan kings have this power and authoritie albeit they doe noâ— alwaies extend it and put it in execution for God by what right or reason can it be denied to Christian Kings and Princes so to doe Yea by Gods owne most gracious providence Christian Kings and Queenes are to be nursing fathers and nursing mothers to his Church and Religion for so the Prophet Esay directly witnesseth And therefore is it that they not onely may make Lawes for Christ for so S. Augustine likewise saith that Serviunt reges Christo leges ferendo pro Christo Kings serve Christ
decrees of these former generall Councels dare and doe affirme the Pope to be above all general Councels to be supreme Iudge over all and not subiect to the iudgement of anie upon earth Is not this intolerable pride and most abhominable licentiousnesse and lawlesnesse in the Pope of Rome and most grosse notorious and palpable flatterie in his followers The Popes Supremacie ecclesiasticall then which he claimeth over all Bishops and Councels and the civill Supremacie which he likewise claimeth over all Kings and Emperors appeareth to be not onely a meere Noveltie but a thing also extreamely iniurious to all Bishops and Councels and to all Kings Princes and Emperors also and is therefore iustly worthie of all to be detested and reiected 6 For must not the Supremacie civill which hee also claimeth over Emperors Kings and Princes to depose them from their Crownes and Kingdomes and to assoile their subiects of their allegeance be a most strange and a most damnable impietie when God himselfe saith thus By mee Kings raigne and not by the commission or permission of anie Pope and when in Daniel a voice from heaven proclaimeth That it is not the Pope but The most high that beareth rule over the kingdome of men and giveth it to vvhomsoever hee vvill and when moreover not the Pope but God himselfe is hee that is intituled King of kings and Lord of lords Besides it is a thing cleerely out of the commission of the Apostles and consequently out of the commission of all Bishops and other Ministers of the Gospel for they be the Keyes of the kingdome of heaven and not of earthly kingdomes that bee committed unto them And therefore it is not within the compasse of this their Divine and Ecclesiastical commission to meddle with anie earthly matters much lesse with earthly kingdomes or to depose anie Kings from their Thrones or to give away their kingdomes or to disanull the duetie and allegeance of subiects which by the law of God and Nature they owe unto their Soveraignes Did anie Apostle yea or all the Apostles together in ancient time take upon them to depose Nero or anie other Emperor were he never so great a persecutor or were hee never so wicked Or did anie Bishops in the ancient Church take upon them to depose anie of them that were hereticall Arrian Emperors in their times and persecuters of the Oxthodox and right beleeving Christians Yea did anie Bishop or all the Bishops in the world together take upon them to depose the Emperor Iulian though an Apostata though a man Anathematized though a most impious person and a scorner of Christ and of all Christian Religion By this one president then of Iulian the Apostata if there were no other you may easily perceive that no excommunication or Anathematization nor anie power of the Keyes whatsoever committed by Christ to Bishops Ministers of the Gospel have anie force included in them to depose Emperors Kings and Princes be they never so wicked or adverse to Christ or Christianitie yea that Bishops in no sort neither directly nor indirectly or in ordine ad Spiritualia as they speake or for advancement of anie pretended or Revera Catholike cause have anie such authoritie For Iulian still remained an Emperor and his Christian souldiers and subiects notwithstanding that he was so great an enemie to their Religion were neverthelesse obedient dutifull and serviceable unto him as S. Augustine also sheweth and affirmeth So farre off were they from rebelling or withdrawing their allegeance from him and so farre off also were the Bishops of those times from perswading abetting or counselling anie such wicked matter unto them Yea whereas Bellarmine and some other Papists affirme that the Christians in the primitive and those ancient Churches were therefore obedient because they wanted sufficient power and force to withstand their wicked Emperors doe they not herein speake more like politicke Atheists then Christian Divines Where is Obedience for conscience sake which God requireth of all Christians as S. Paul witnesseth if such Popish doctrine as this were true But besides Tertullian expressely confuteth it witnessing that such was the affection and disposition of the Christians in those times being ledde thereunto by dutie conscience as that they neither taught nor put in practice any course of disloyaltie or disobedience or bare armes against their Emperor albeit they had as he there sheweth sufficient force to have done it Yea the Christians in those times notwithstanding all their great number strength their sufficient power to rebel if they had bin so ill disposed were neverthelesse so farre from rebelling or procuring rebellions to be made against the Emperor of their times that contrariwise they were quiet and suffered all things patiently and prayed for him that Almightie God would grant unto him A long life a secure raigne safetie in his Court valiant Souldiers a faithfull Counsell dutifull subiects a quiet kingdome and all those blessings and comforts that his heart could desire Sigebert mentioning the Popes proceedings against Henry the Emperor divers hundred yeares since saith thus Bee it spoken vvith the leave of all good men This novelty that I say not heresie had not as yet sprung up in the vvorld that Gods Priests should teach the people that they owe no subiection to evill Princes and though they have sworne allegeance to him yet they owe him no fidelitie nor shall be counted periured that devise against the King yea That hee that obeyeth him shall be counted for excommunicate and he that doth against the King shall be absolved from the guilt of vvrong and periurie Vincentius likewise testifieth the same matter Where you see how directly they both condemne these trayterous and rebellious positions of Poperie which be at this day by too manie amongst them cherished and maintained for points of Catholike doctrine and that notwithstanding the pretence of the Popes authoritie and of a Catholike cause they be long since condemned and accounted and recorded to be meere Novelties if not Heresies Now then you perceive I trust that as the Pope hath no Supremacie lawfull in Ecclesiasticis so much lesse hath he anie Supremacie lawfull in Temporalibus within the Kings Dominions or elsewhere within the Dominions of anie other King And I assure my selfe that such are your loyalties and such the odiousnesse and apparant untruth of the trayterous and rebellious positions delivered in these later times by Iesuites and such like Popish Teachers against Kings for maintenance of the Popes pride that yee unfainedly and utterly abhorre detest those positions of theirs together with their practises as they are indeed iustly worthie I would yee did also detest the rest of their false doctrines as I hope upon better information ye will even for truths sake and the safetie of your owne soules 7 But to proceed what cleerer or greater argument can there be against the Popes Supremacie
herein giveth us an excellent rule saying Si quem videritis dicentem spiritum sanctum habeo non loquentem evangelica sed propria is à seipso loquitur non est spiritus sanctus in ipso If saith hee yee shall see anie man that saith I have the holy Ghost and doth not speake things agreeable to the Gospel but his owne that man speaketh of himselfe and the holy Ghost is not in him And againe he saith Si quis eorum qui dicuntur habere spiritum dicat aliquid de seipso non ex Evangelio ne credite If anie of them which are said to have the spirit speake anie thing of himselfe and not forth of the Gospel beleeve him not So that it still appeareth that the Gospel of Christ and divine Scriptures is the thing whereby men are to trie and examine all spirits and their doctrines and decrees and to determine who they be that speake and decree by the guidance and direction of the holy Ghost and who not And therefore doth S. Augustine also take it that no man is absolutely bound by the authoritie of Councels though they be generall for thus hee saith to one that obiected a generall Councell against him Neyther ought I to alledge the Councell of Nice nor thou the Councell of Arimine as thereby to preiudicate one another for neyther am I bound by the authoritie of this or thou of that but let matter vvith matter cause vvith cause and reason vvith reason make the Tryall by the authoritie of Scriptures not proper vvitnesses to any of us but indifferent to us both And concerning the Pope that he may erre as well as anie other Bishop in matter of Faith beside that which is before spoken it further appeareth even by Gratian himselfe dist 40. where it is taken for granted that the Pope may be à fide Devius a goer out of the way of faith Lyra affirmeth expresly that manie Popes have beene found Apostotasse à Fide To have been Apostotates or departers from the faith The Councell of Constance calleth Pope Benedict a Schismaticke and an Hereticke and a departer from the faith The like is said of Pope Iohn the 23. Catharinus saith directly Nihil prohibet Papam errare etiam in fide deficere etiamsi quidam novitij Scriptores ausi sint oppositum defendere praeter communem sensum Doctorum Nothing withstandeth but that the Pope may erre even in faith and faile albeit some late writers have dared to defend the contrarie against the common opinion of the Doctors And so likewise testifieth Alphonsus de Castro Papam posse in ijs quae ad fidem spectant errare immo aliquos Pontifices summos errasse in fide compertum est That the Pope may erre even in matters of faith yea it is found saith he that some Popes have erred in faith And againe he saith Omnis homo errare in fide potest etiamsi Papa sit Nam de Liberio Papa refert Platina eum sensâ—sse cum Arrianis Everie man may erre in point of faith though hee be a Pope For of Pope Liberius Platina reporteth that he held the Arrian heresie Yea Panormitan saith that a Councell may depose the Pope for Heresie ut in cap Si Papa dist 40. where it is likewise said That the Pope may be an Hereticke and iudged of Heresie Yea In concernentibus fidem etiam dictum unius privati esset praeferendum dicto Papae si ille moveretur melioribus Authoritatibus novi veteris Testamenti quam Papa In things concerning faith saith hee the saying even of one private man is to be preferred before the saying of the Pope if he be moved by better authoritie of the old and new Testament then the Pope It is therefore evident that neither the Pope by himselfe nor yet ioined in Councel with others is or can be held to be an unerrable or infallible Iudge in this case What then Would anie have the old Doctors and ancient Fathers to be this Iudge But they also may erre and doe sometimes taxe one another for errors Yea themselves as before is shewed doe humbly and reverently submit all their doctrines positions and opinions to the judgement of the Canonicall Scriptures not desiring to be further credited or beleeved then there is warrant for what they speake or write within those sacred writings Whereby they sufficiently give us to understand that God onely speaking in these his Scriptures is to be held for the only Infallible Iudge for the determining and deciding of every controversie in Religion Ista controversia Iudicem inquirit Iudicet ergo Christus This controversie enquireth after a Iudge Let Christ then be Iudge saith S. Augustine Iudicet cum illo Apostolus quia in Apostolo ipse loquitur Christus Let also saith hee the Apostle iudge with him because in the Apostle Christ himselfe speaketh And againe he saith Sedeat inter nos Iudex Apostolus Iohannes Let the Apostle Iohn sit Iudge betweene us In like sort speaketh Optatus Quaerendi sunt Iudices In terris de hac re nullum poterit reperiri Iudicium de coelo quaerendus est Iudex sed ut quid pulsamus ad coelum cum habeamus hic in Evangelio Testamentum c. Iudges are to be sought for In earth saith hee none can be found for this matter from heaven therefore is the Iudge to be sought but vvhy doe vve knocke at heaven vvhen we have here upon earth a Testament in the Gospel An earthly father vvhen he feeleth himselfe neere death fearing lest after his death the brethren breaking peace should fall at variance calling witnesses unto him out of his breast ready to dye putteth his vvill into a vvritten Testament that shall long continue And if variance grow amongst the brethren they goe not to the grave but the Testament or last vvill is demanded and hee which resteth in the grave speaketh out of that his speechlesse Testament vvith a lively voyce viz. that voice which he uttered whilst he lived He vvhose Testament it is is in heaven therefore as in a Testament so in the Gospel let his will be enquired To the same effect S. Augustine saith VVho is he that knoweth not that the Canonicall Scripture is so conteyned vvithin his certaine bounds of the old and new Testament and is so to be preferred before all other vvritings of Bishops that a man may not at all either doubt or dispute vvhether any thing be right or true that he is sure is vvritten in it but the vvritings of all other Bishops which eyther are or hereafter shall be vvritten beside the Canonicall Scriptures alreadie confirmed may be reproved eyther by more grave authority of other Bishops or learned men or by the vvords of any man that is better seene in the matter Again he saith thus Gather not my Brother against so many so cleere and so undoubted testimonies of
Relatum where it is said Non enim sensum extrinsecus alienum extraneum debetis quaerere Sed ex ipsis Scripturis sensum capere veritatis oportet For yee ought not to seeke for a strange and forraine sence from vvithout but out of the verie Scriptures themselves yee must take the sence of the truth So that although the Church of Christ and the Bishops Pastors and Ministers therein be to expound the Scriptures yet wee see by what rule they are to be directed namely by the Scriptures themselves and not to expound it at randome or as they list If they wil have their expositions to be right and sound and such as shall be deemed to come from the holy Ghost 3 Yea the verie Church it selfe is also thus to be tried and decided namely by the Scriptures For so S. Augustine holdeth directly saying thus Let us not heare I say and thou sayest but let us heare Thus saith the Lord. There are verily the Lords bookes to the authoritie vvhereof vvee both consent vvee both beleeve vvee both serve There let us search the Church there let us discusse our cause And againe he saith That all that should be remooved vvhatsoever is alleaged on eyther side against other saving that vvhich commeth out of the Canonicall Scriptures And againe he saith Let them shevv their Church if they can not in the sayings and fame of the Affricanes nor in the determinations of their Bishops nor in any mans reasonings nor in false signes and vvonders for against all these vvee be vvarned and armed by Gods VVord but in the things appointed in the Lavv spoken before by the Prophets in the Songs of the Psalmes in the voyce of the Shepheard himselfe and in the preachings and painefulnesse of the Evangelists that is in the authoritie of the bookes Canonicall And a little after he saith againe thus To that eternall salvation commeth no man but he that hath the head Christ and no man can have the head Christ vvhich is not in his bodie the Church vvhich Church as also the head it selfe vvee must knovv by the Canonicall Scriptures and not seeke it in divers rumors and opinions of men nor in facts reports and visions c. Let all this sort of them be chaffe and not give sentence before hand against the vvheat that they bee the Church But this point viz. vvhether they be the Church or no Let them shevv no other vvay but by the Cononicall boâ—kes of the holy Scriptures For neither doe vvee say that men ought to beleeve vs because vvee are in the Catholike Church of Christ or because Optatus Bishop of Millevet or Ambrose Bishop of Millain or innumerable other Bishops of our Communion doe allâ—w this doctrine that vvee hold or becaâ—se in Churches of our Companions it is preached or because that through the vvhole world in those holy places vvhere our Congregations resorted so manie wonders either of hearings or of healing be done vvhatsoever such things be done in the Catholicke Church the Church is not thâ—refore proved Catholicke because these things bee done in it The Lord Iesus himselfe vvhen he vvas risen from death and offered his ovvne bodie to be seene vvith the eies and handled vvith the hands of his Apostles least they should for all that thinke themselves to bee deceaved hee rather iudged that they ought to bee established by the testimonie of the lavv Prophets and Psalmes shevving those things to be fulfilled in him that were there spoken so long before of him And hereupon a little after he saith againe These are the doctrines these are the stayes of our cause vvee read in the Acts of the Apostles of some faithfull men that they searched the Scriptures vvhether the things vvere so or no vvhich they had heard preached vvhat scriptures I pray did they search but the Canonicall of the Lavv and of the Prophets To these are ioyned the Gospels the Epistles of the Apostles the Acts of the Apostles The Revelation of S. Iohn Search all these bring forth some plaine thing out of them vvhereby you may declare that the Church hath remained onely in Affricke So farre Augustine Chrysostome also speaketh to the same effect saying VVhen you shall see the abhominable desolation stand in the holy place that is as he expoundeth it VVhen you shall see vngodly Heresie vvhich is the army of Antichrist stand in the holy places of the Church in that time let them which are in Iurie flie vnto the hills that is saith hee Let them that are in Christendome resort vnto the Scriptures for like as the true Ievv is a Christian as the Apostle saith he is not a Ievv vvhich is one outvvard in like manner the verie Ievvrie is Christianitie the hills are the Scriptures of the Apostles and Prophets But why doth hee command all Christians at that time to resort to the Scriptures Because in this time sithence Heresie hath prevailed in the Church there can bee saith hee no proofe nor other refuge for Christian men desirous to knovv the truth of the right Faith but onely by the Scriptures And the reason hereof he further sheweth For saith he such things as pertaine to Christ the Heretickes also have in their schisme They have likevvise Churches likevvise the Scriptures of God Bishops also and other orders of Clerkes and likevvise Baptisme and the Sacrament of the Eucharist and to conclude Christ himselfe vvherefore he that vvill knovv vvhich is the true Church of Christ in this so great confusion of things being so like hovv shall he knovv it but onely by the Scriptures And afterward againe he saith thus For if they shall looke upon anie other thing but onely the Scriptures they shall stumble and perish not perceiving vvhich is the true Church and so fall into the abhominable desolation vvhich standeth in the holy places of the Church So farre he Now then these being times of Schisme and heresie and of much contention and variance betweene the Protestants and the Papists and the great question betweene them being VVhether of them is the true Church Yea these being the times wherein the verie grand Antichrist himselfe with his armie of Bishops Priests and Clerkes hath place in the world as before in some sort but afterwards is more fully declared It followeth necessarily by this rule of his as also by the former Rule and direction of S. Augustine likewise that all people that bee desirous to know the truth in these times and which is the true Church must resort and betake themselves for the true tryall discerning and deciding hereof vnto the holy Scriptures only for all other waies and courses be uncertaine and unsure and such as whereby a man may possibly and easily be deceived as those ancient Fathers do there expresly teach and affirme And to give you some little tast here also that these be the times of Antichrist and that Antichrist is long sithence come and that the Pope of Rome
not then a shame for him if he had any shame in him thus to intrude himselfe into such an high and soveraigne Authoritie without anie commission or warrant from Christ the King of his church Besides themselves acknowledge and that rightly that the companie of the glorious and invisible Saints in heaven and the companie also of the visible Saints on earth do all make but one church and one Bodie to Christ Iesus though their states be differing that is to say though the one sort be triumphant and the other militant Inasmuch then as they all make but one church one bodie unto Christ Iesus how can it be shifted or avoided but that Christ Iesus must be the head aswell of the saints on earth as of the saints in heaven aswell of the visible militant company as of the invisible triumphant Yea Bellarmine himselfe will not allow anie Christian to bee tearmed or called a member of the Pope How then can the Pope rightly be the head of the church for if all true Christians vpon earth bee and be to be termed the members of Christ and not of the Pope it must be granted that not the Pope but Christ onely is their head for the head and the members be relatives And whereas in this matter they talke of a ministeriall head which is not vitall it is also but a phantasticall and vaine distinction For there can be no head in true and proper appellation to this one bodie of Christ which is his Church but that which is vitall The Pope as appeareth even by this their owne distinction is but a dead head and hath no life in him to give to anie of the members of Christ or wherby vertue grouth nourishment or increase may distil or be derived from him as from the head to anie of the members What then should the bodie of Christ doe with such a livelesse and dead head or what good profit or benefite can anie reape or receive from thence A dead bodie is fittest for such a dead head but the living and mysticall bodie of Christ hath and requireth another manner of head namely that which is vitall which is Christ Iesus onely of whose fulnesse they have all received as S. Iohn speaketh Neither is there anie such necessitie as they also vainely fancie for the visible and militant Church to have such a visible head for albeit Christ Iesus be absent from his church militant here upon earth in respect of his bodily presence which he hath carried with him into heaven yet in his Deitie and by the power of his spirit is he alwaies present with the same his church For so himselfe witnesseth saying I am with you alwayes unto the end of the world And therefore alwaies doth S. Iohn testifie that notwithstanding the manhood and bodily presence of Christ be in heaven and there remaining yet neverthelesse by his almightie power and spirit he walketh and is in the midst of the seven golden Candlestickes that is In the midst of the seven Churches for so the text it selfe expoundeth the Candlestickes saying thus The seven Candlestickes be the seven Churches Vnder the name of which seven churches be also all other churches upon earth shadowed out unto us as Augustine Primasius Haymo Beda Thomas Aquinas and others affirme Seeing then that Christ Iesus notwithstanding his bodily presence remaining in heaven is neverthelesse by his almightie power and spirit present with all the true Christian churches in the world and walketh in the midst of them to guide governe comfort teach order rule susteine uphold and direct them and give all gifts and graces requisite It is manifest that he is sufficiently present with them in the church militant to doe all the offices of an head unto them so that they need not in anie sort the Pope to become an head unto them for anie of those uses or ends Yea is it not a verie great absurditie for anie to suppose or imagine that the Pope or anie one man mortall whosoever being on earth can better rule order guide and governe the whole militant church then Christ Iesus himselfe can doe being in heaven by his wisdome almightinesse and power of his Spirit But yet further when Christ in his manhood was to ascend up into heaven he promised neither the Pope nor anie one Bishop over all the rest to be his Vicar on earth or to supplie his roome and absence but the holy Ghost onely For thus he saith I tell you the truth It is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away that Comforter will not come unto you And this comforter is the Holy Ghost the spirit of truth as is there expresly affirmed And againe he saith that After his departure they shall have another Comforter that shall abide with them for ever even the spirit of Truth vvhom the vvorld cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Doe not these texts verie plainely shew that the holy Ghost is and is to be accounted Christs Vicar upon earth ever since his departure into heaven that is to say is in his stead and place unto the militant Church and to abide with it for ever And therefore doth Tertullian say accordingly that Christus misit Vicariam vim spiritus sancti qui credentes agat Christ sent the power of the holy Ghost to be his Vicar or in his steed to leade and direct the beleevers Howbeit if some Bishop will needes be so intituled namely Christs Vicar as being an Ambassador for Christ and in Christs steade yet let him then know that he is not so alone but that all godly and faithfull Bishops and Ministers be so likewise For which cause it is that the ancient Fathers doe call them all alike Vicarios Christi the Vicars of Christ But S. Paul yet further sheweth that not Christ himselfe tooke upon him this honour to be head of the church without his fathers appointment and constitution If therefore the Pope will take it upon him it is good reason he should likewise shew where God hath so constituted and appointed him which he is not able to doe Yea S. Paul sheweth againe That onely he is head of the Church vvhich is farre above all principalitie and povver and dominion and might and every name that is named not onely in this vvorld but in the vvorld to come And therefore this is such a high peerelesse and supereminent an honour and prerogative as that it is proper to Christ Iesus onely and not communicable to anie creature Lastly you may perceive by S. Paul that Christ is so the head of the Church as the husband is the head of his wife And is there anie honest wife that will bee content to have two heads that is two husbands though for distinction sake you should terme the one a ministeriall head or howsoever else you would please to call him 6 Now touching Miracles
offer up Christ everie day or often and that in a bodily manner and this sacrifice so offered by them they also say is propitiatorie and taketh away the sinnes of men which is most intolerably blasphemous against that sacrifice of Christ. His all-sufficient mediation and intercession they also oppugne by making manie Mediators and Intercessors beside him as namely the Virgin Mary and other Saints and Angells for whose intercession sake they desire God to heare them and to grant their requests The Kingdome of Christ the Papacie likewise oppugneth for they will not suffer his Church to be ruled and governed by his owne Word and by such orders rules and lawes as hee in his Scriptures hath ordained but according to the canons rules and pleasure of the Pope and according to his constitutions and ordinances Yea as for the lawes and ordinances of God the Pope partly dispenseth with them and partly abrogateth them making them at his pleasure of no effect by his constitutions traditions and devises yea hee taketh to himselfe to be king and head of the whole militant Church and all the authoritie to the head and king of the Church belonging and that without anie warrant at all from Christ like a notable traytor and usurper For which cause it is that he also destroyeth so much as he can all the good subiects of this kingdome of Christ even his best Saints and servants be they Kings Princes or whosoever And thus you see how he oppugneth Christ everie maner of way both in respect of his Person and in respect of his Offices and that not openly and professedly but in a cunning close and covert manner that is in such a sort as belongeth to Antichrist and Antichristian people to doe 4 It is further said in this Text where Antichrist is described that Hee shall be exalted above all that is called God or that is worshipped Observe that he doth not say that he shal be exalted above God but above every one that is called God For it is one thing to be God essentially and another thing to be called God or to have the name of God or Gods attributed to him Who then be the men that be in Scripture called God or Gods It is evident that they be Kings Princes other such like Rulers and Magistrates Now it is manifest that above all these the Pope is exalted yea even above the Emperors themselves for he claimeth a Supremacie above them all taking upon him to depose Kings Princes and Emperours and to give away their Kingdomes Empires and Dominions at his pleasure O damnable and intolerable pride in a Bishop Did ever S. Peter whose successor he pretendeth to be thus detestably magnifie and exalt himselfe All the Christian world knoweth that S Peter was of another and more humble spirit not exalting himselfe above but subiecting himselfe evermore unto and under the authoritie of Kings Princes and Emperors and taught all people likewise this duety of subiection and obedience And so did S. Paul also Yea all Bishops and even the Bishops of Rome themselves aswell as the rest were in ancient time subiect to the Emperors and the Emperors commanded over them The Emperors Writ saith Hierome caused the Bishops aswell of the East as of the West to draw to Rome This is saith Eusebius a copie of the Emperors Writ whereby hee commandeth a Councell to be kept in Rome Note that he saith he commanded it Yea hee so commanded a Councell that Pope Leo himselfe excused his absence before the Emperour The Emperor Constantine saith Sozomen sent out his Letters unto all the Rulers of the Churches that they should all meete at Nice upon a day Vnto the Bishops of the Apostolicke Sees unto Macarius the Bishop of Hierusalem and unto Iulius the Bishop of Rome c. VVee command saith Iustinian the Emperour the most holy Archbishops and Patriarchs of Rome of Constantinople of Alexandria of Antioch and of Hierusalem c. Seeing then that all Bishops and even the Bishop of Rome aswell as the rest were in ancient time subiect to Kings Princes and Emperors as to the higher powers so ordeined of GOD over them What monstrous pride is it now in the Bishop of Rome so highly to magnifie and advance himselfe as to claime and arrogate to himselfe a Supremacie and authoritie over them all Insomuch that it is registred of him in his owne Records that hee is so manie times greater then the Emperor as the Sunne is greater then the Moone Is it not then high time and more then time for all to renounce and to be ashamed of such an unholy Father whose pride by no pretences can be excused and is so superlatively ill as that it is unmatchable 5 For indeed long before this his usurping and taking to himselfe a Supremacie over all Kings Princes and Emperors to whom of right and duetie he ought to be subiect did his pride appeare and shew it selfe in taking upon him a Supremacie over all Bishops and Patriarches who were his equals so that he would be called Vniversal Priest or Vniversal Bishop chiefest Bishop head of the whole universal Church of Christ upon earth and by other such like loftie and supereminent titles And yet when Iohn the Patriarch of Constantinople affected that title of Vniversal Bishop over all you may remember what Gregory himselfe the then Bishop of Rome spake namely thus I speake it confidently that vvhosoever calleth himselfe the universal Bishop or desireth to be so called he is in that his Elation the forerunner of Antichrist because in that his pride he setteth himselfe before others Againe he saith None of my Predecessors Bishops of Rome â—ver consented to use this ungodly name No Bishop of Rome over tooke upon him this name of singularitie vvee the Bishops of Rome vvill not receive this honour being offered unto us Againe writing unto Eulogius hee saith thus Behold even in the preface of your letter you have written the word of a proude appellâ—tion naming mee the universal Pope notwithstanding I have forbidden it I beseech your holinesse to doe so no more For whatsoever is given to any other above reason the same is taken from your selves Yea it is further recorded even in Gratian himselfe that The Bishop of Rome may not bee called universal Bishop Here then you may perceive how shamelesly the Popish Church abuseth some places of Scripture wresting them for the maintenance of this their Popes claimed Supremacie and universalitie over all Bishops and the whole Church of Christ. As first they alledge that saying of Christ to Peter where after that Christ had demanded of his Apostles VVhom doe yee say that I am and that Peter had answered in the name of them all saying Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God Christ said unto him Blessed art thou Simon the sonne of Ionas for flesh and bloud hath not revealed this
no mo at once that is watchfull sober apt to teach hath all those other vertues and good qualities mentioned in that Text is the man that is meete to be made a Bishop S. Ambrose in 2. Cor. 11. saith That all the Apostles except Iohn and S. Paul had vvives Chaeremon Bishop of Nilus fled with his wife in persecution Euseb. lib 6. cap. 42. Demetrianus an excellent Bishop of Antiochia had a sonne called Doranus that was made Bishop in stead of Paulus Samosatenus the Heretique Euseb. lib. 7. cap. 30. Spiridion was a famous Bishop in the Councel of Nice that was married and had a daughter called Irene Ruffin lib. 1. cap. 5. Gregory Bishop of Nazianzen was a notable Bishop and father of the other Gregory that succeeded him as appeareth by the Oration he made in praise of his father Gregory Bishop of Nissa was an excellent Bishop and was also married Niceph. lib. 11. cap. 19. S. Germanus was a notable Bishop in Africa and was likewise married having a daughter called Leontia that was afterward martyred by the Arrians Victor Vticens hist. lib. 3. Yea Fabianus and Hormisda Bishops of Rome were married and manie other Bishops of Rome were Priests sonnes as Pope Damasus himselfe in his Pontifical doth testifie And although it be true that manie holy men were unmarried also yet you see it to be untrue which the Rhemists say that no holy men ever used their wives after they were in holy Orders For Socrates further mentioneth divers holy Bishops of the East Church in his time that begat lawfull children of their lawfull wives after that they were Bishops Socrat. lib. 5. cap. 22. And so doth Athanasius ad Dracontium affirme that hee knew manie Bishops unmaried and againe Monkes to be fathers of children as on the other side you may see saith he Bishops to be fathers of children and Monkeâ— that have not sought libertie of generation And good it had beene if this freedome and libertie to marry as it was left by God had so continued to all sorts of men and women without anie restraint or prohibition for be not the Clergie men in Poperie that be thus restrained and prohibited to marrie and likewise the Monkes Friars Nunns and the rest thereby occasioned or may they not thereby be occasioned to be like those old hereticks called Origeniani turpes Filthy Originists Who as Epiphanius testifieth of them Reiected mariage yet lust ceased not amongst them but they defiled their body and minde vvith wantonnesse for some of them be in the habite of Monkes that live solitarily and some of the vvomen are in the habite of women that live solitarily but they are for all that saith he corrupt performing their lust in their bodies And againe he saith of them that They studie not for chastitie but for fained chastitie and that which hath the name onely of Chastitie Clemangis a Doctor of Paris that lived above two hundred yeares agon concerning Monkes and Abbeyes speaketh thus VVhat can I say of them that is commendable they being so slippery indisciplinated dissolute unquiet running up and downe into common and dishonest places And touching Friars hee saith They be worse then the Pharisees ravening VVolves in Sheepes â—â—othing who in words pretend the forsaking of the world and in deedes vvith all possible fraudes deceipt and lying hunt after it making semblance in outward shew of austeritie chastitie humility holy simplicitie but secretly in exquisite delicates and variety of pleasures going beyond the luxuriousnesse of all vvorldly men and though not vvith their wives yet vvith their Bratts filling themselves greedily vvith wine and good cheere and polluting every thing vvith lust whose heate burneth them And concerning Nunnes hee saith Shame forbiddeth me to speake of them lest I should mention not a companie of Virgins dedicated to God but stewed deceiptfull impudent vvhores with their fornications and incestuous vvorkes For vvhat I pray you are Nunneries now-adayes but the execrable Brothel-houses of Venus the harbours of vvanton men where they satisfie their lusts that now the veyling of a Nunne is all one as if you prostituted her openly to be a VVhore So farre Hee 3 The sixt general Councel therefore assembled at Trulla to make Canons hath an expresse ordinance concerning this point of the mariage of Ministers in the 13 Canon in these words Forasmuch as vvee have understood that it hath bin ordeyned for a rule in the Church of Rome that vvhosoever vvill be a Deacon or Priest must first protest that he vvill never 〈◊〉 more after that have to doe vvith his vvife 〈◊〉 following the Apostolical order and discipline vvill that the lawfull marriage of Clergie men be for ever avayleable by no meanes separating them from their vvives nor forbidding them to come together at convenient times VVherefore if any one shall be thought vvorthy to be chosen a Subdeacon Deacon or a Priest let him not be hindred from mounting to this degree because he dwells together vvith his lawfull vvife and let it not be exacted of him in the day of his election to renounce the company of his lavvfull vvife lest by this meanes vvee be constrayned to disgrace mariage vvhich vvas first in instituted by God and blessed by his presence seeing that the Gospel cryes out that no man should separate that vvhich God hath ioyned together The prohibition of mariage then in the Popish Church to such as by Gods law be not prohibited yea which are directly allowed yea which are required and commanded in case they have not the gift of continencie to marrie rather then to burne appeareth verie cleerely to be wicked and abominable and consequently the Popish Church as touching this point must bee concluded to be the undoubted Antichristian Church And so much the rather for that they have made this prohibition in meere hypocrisie they pretending that they doe it for religion sake and that Clergy-men should be the more holy and chaste when the cause thereof indeed is another matter namely the preservation of Church goods and lest a Bishop or Priest if he were married should pare away something from them and employ it to the use of his wife and children for this a Pope of Rome himselfe hath discovered and manifested in the 28. Distinction and Canon de Syracusanis where he saith that the reason why hee did refuse to admit of a certaine Bishop was because hee had a wife and children by whom the Church goods use to be endangered And yet notwithstanding at the urgent request of the people of Syracusa he did receive him upon condition that his wife and children should not have to doe with the goods or profits of the Church Let them not therefore blind the eies of the world anie longer as though care of chastitie sanctitie and holinesse in Clergie-men were the cause of this prohibition when the true cause in verie deed appeareth to be meerely politicke worldly and earthly namely a respect and
Christ slept a long time For from the yeare 870 to the yeare 1050 whom doe you see but Necromancers but Adulterers and Murtherers and Infamous persons prâ—ferred to the Papacie Platius in the life of Benedict the fourth speaketh the like and giveth the reason of all this saying thus This libertie of sinning saith hee hath begotten us these Monsters and Prodigies vvho by ambition and corruption have rather usurpt then possest the holy chaire of Peter there being no Prince to represse the vvickednesse of these men Yea Platina though the Popes Servant and Secretarie yet well knowing their vices and the vices of the people under his government doth in a manner speake as if himselfe despaired of their salvation for thus bee his words Our vices saith hee bee grovvne to thaâ— height that they vvill hardly ever finde mercie in the sight of God But observe yet further how horrible and wicked their reproachings slanderings and defamings heretofore have beene and yet still bee of Gods church people their religion calling them usually Heretickes Schismatickes and by such other odious names laying sometimes most notorious slanders and most impious false accusations to their charge perswading as if our religion were a religion allowing licentiousnesse a condemner and disallower of all good works and as though wee approoved of all dissolutenesse and were enemies to the Virgin Marie to all Saints as though we made God the Author of sinne and evill other such like things which we utterly detest dislike and abhorre and which hee cleane contrary to our opinion and to the doctrine of our Religion Yea they not onely thus dishonour wrong the true Church and people of God upon earth but even the Church triumphant and Saints also in heaven For is it not a great wrong and dishonour to the glorified Saints in heaven to turne them into Idols or to make them instruments of Idolatry or of dishonouring God by invocating praying unto them when as Praier and Invocation is a service worship and honour properly and onely belonging to God Againe do they not much dishonour the Saints when they imploy them about base offices commending the keeping of their Hogs to one of their horses to another the curing of the Scurffe to a third c. Yea even concerning that most chast blessed glorious Virgin Mary Doe they not extreamely dishonour her when they make her to favour Immodestie uncleanenesse For there is an Italian book entituled Miracoli dâ—ella gloriosâ— Virgine Maria printed at Millan in the yere 1547 which saith that a certaine Abbesse being with Child the holy Virgin being willing to cover her crime did in her stead present her selfe before the Bishops in forme of the Abbesse and shewed him by an ocular demonstration that shee was not with Child Caesarius also in his seventh Booke Chapt. 35 reports that the Virgin Marie for twelve whole yeares did supplie the place of a certaine Nunâ—â— called Beatrice whilst shee lay in the Sâ—ewes till at last she came backe again to take her place and freed the Virgin from being in her roome any longer But consider yet further the most terrible cruell barbarous and bloodie persecutions of Gods Church and people committed by Papists About 400 yeares since Pope Innocent the third within the space of a few monthes made more then 200000 of the faithfull to bee slaine whom they called Albigenses In S. Bartholomewes Massacre in the yeare 1572 more then 80000 men were slaine in cold blood In a Massacre in France within a few dayes were murthered 70000 persons And how execrable beyond all measure abhominable and damnable was that their late Plot of Gunpowder-Treason for the overthrow of the whole State of England in Parliament at a blow and God knoweth of how many States and Kingdomes beside Yea what meaneth their Holy League as they call it not long since made for the extirpation and rooting out of all Protestancie Doe they not by all these shew themselves to bee utter enemies and that in the worst sort that can bee to all Civill States Kings and Kingdomes which reiect the Popes usurped Supremacie and his depraved and Antichristian Religion Why else also have they decreed that Faith is not to be kept with Heretickes And why else doe they hold that before Hereticall Iudges and Magistrates as they call them it is lawfull for them to sweare with Equivocations and Mental reservations and in a false deluding and deceitfull manner And why else doe they dislike and disallow Subjects not onely to take the Oath of Supremacie but the Oath also of Allegeance when in very deede and of right neither of both ought to bee refused What also meaneth the resort and comming of Popish Priests and Iesuits into Protestant Kingdomes under colour and pretence of Religion Is it not to make a partie for the Pope or some of his confederates against a fit time And doth it not also tend to sedition and treason in a Common-weale What doth the Popes claime to depose Kings and to give away their Kingdomes when and to whom hee list tend unto but to the setting of Princes together by the Eares aswell as Subiects to rebell against their lawfull Soveraignes Doe not all these things tend to the overthrow aswell of civill States and civill Iustice as of Religion and of Kingdomes and Common-weales aswel as of Gods Church and which maketh the matter yet more and indeede most odious all this they doe under pretence of Christianitie and of a Catholicke cause when it is nothing so but cleane contrarywise extreamely divelish and Antichristian Let then everie equal person now judge whether the Pope of Rome that thus wrongeth God his Church and Religion and not onely Bishops but all Kings Princes and Emperors also their People Kingdomes and Common-wealths and that thus intolerably abuseth the whole Christian world and yet for all that inflexibly persisteth therein without anie remorse or repentance shewed yea which with all his power and strength iustifieth upholdeth defendeth all those his wrongs errors abuses and impieties boasting glorying and delighting in them bee not rightly affirmed to be The Man of sin the Sonne of perdition and the verie undoubted Grand Antichrist in all respects THE CONCLVSION to the same pretended CATHOLIKES NOw then it appearing verie cleerely by the premisses that the Pope of Rome whom his blinded followers so much adore and reverence is the verie grand Antichrist and that the Popish Citie of Rome whereof he is the Head and Ruler is undoubtedly the VVhore of Babylon mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn What scruple or doubt should you or anie of you conceive to make all the good hast yee may to forsake that grand Antichrist that his Concubine the whore of Babylon and all his Priests Iesuites Bishops Monks Friars Nunns and the rest of that his Antichristian rabble and to betake and apply your selves with us to the embracing and following of Christ and
the Archbishop vvas dead Calomagnus the King of Scotts and the troupe of his Officers with the under-courtiers and the concourse of all that countrey with the same affection of heart cryed out that the holy Priest Livinus was most worthily to be advanced unto the honour of this order The King more devoute then all of them consenting thereunto three or foure times placed the blessed man in the chayre of the Archbishoprick with due honour according to the will of the Lord. In like maner also did king Ecgfrid cause our Cuthbert to be ordayned Bishop of the Church of Lindisfarne and king Pipin granted the Bishoprick of Salzburg to our Virgilius Duke Gunzo would have conferred the Bishoprick of Constance upon our Gallus but that hee refused it and caused another upon his recommendation to be preferred thereunto As the Pope intermedled not with the making of our Bishops so neyther can we finde by any approved record of antiquitie that anie Visitations of the clergie were held here in his name much lesse that any Indulgences were sought for by our people at his hands For as for the Charter of S. Patrick by some intituled De antiquitate Avalonicâ wherein Phaganus and Deruvianus are said to have purchased ten or thirtie yeares of Indulgences from Pope Eleutherius and S. Patrick himselfe to have procured twelve yeares in his time from Pope Celestinus it might easily be demonstrated if this were a place for it that it is a meere figment devised by the Monkes of Glastenbury Neyther doe I well know what credite is to be given unto that stragling sentence which I finde ascribed unto the same author for I will still deale fairely and conceale nothing that I meet withall in anie hidden part of antiquitie that may tend to the true discoverie of the state of former times whether it may seeme to make for me or against me If any questions doe arise in this Iland let them be referred to the See Apostolick Onely this I will say that as it is most likely that S. Patrick had a speciall regard unto the Church of Rome from whence he was sent for the conversion of this Iland so if I my selfe had lived in his dayes for the resolution of a doubtfull question I should as willingly have listened to the judgement of the Church of Rome as to the determination of anie Church in the whole world so reverend an estimation have I of the integritie of that Church as it stood in those good dayes But that S. Patrick was of opinion that the Church of Rome was sure ever afterward to continue in that good estate and that there was a perpetuall priviledge annexed unto that See that it should never erre in judgement or that the Popes sentences were alway to be held as infallible Oracles that will I never beleeve sure I am that my countreymen after him were of a farre other beleefe who were so farre from submitting themselves in this sort to whatsoever should proceed from the See of Rome that they oftentimes stood out against it when they had little cause so to do For proofe whereof I need to seeke no further then to those verie allegations which have beene lately urged for maintenance of the supremacie of the Pope and Church of Rome First Mr. Coppinger commeth upon us with this wise question Was not Ireland among other countries absolved from the Pelagian heresie by the Church of Rome as Cesar Baronius writeth then he setteth downe the copie of S. Gregories epistle in answer unto the Irish Bishops that submitted themselves unto him and concludeth in the end according to his skill that the Bishops of Ireland being infected with the Pelagian errour sought absolution first of Pelagius the Pope but the same was not effectually done untill S. Gregory did it But in all this the silly man doth nothing else but bewray his owne extreme ignorance For neyther can he shew it in Cesar Baronius or in anie other author whatsoever that the Irish Bishops did ever seek absolution from Pope Pelagius or that the one had to deale in any businesse at all with the other Neyther yet can he shew that ever they had to doe with S. Gregory in anie matter that did concerne the Pelagian heresie for these be dreames of Coppingers own idle head The epistle of S. Gregory dealeth onely with the controversie of the three chapter◠which were condemned by the fifth generall Councell whereof Baronius writeth thus All the Bishops that were in Ireland with most earnest studie rose up jointly for the defence of the Three Chapters And when they perceived that the Church of Rome did both receive the condemnation of the Three chapters and strengthen the fifth Synod with her consent they departed from her and clave to the rest of the schismaticks that were eyther in Italy or in Africk or in other countries animated with that vaine confidence that they did stand for the Catholick faith while they defended those things that were concluded in the Councell of Chalcedon And so much the more fixedly saith he did they cleave to their error because whatsoever Italy did suffer by commotions of warre by famine or pestilence all these unhappy things they thought did therefore befall unto it because it had undertaken to fight for the Fift Synod against the Councell of Chalcedon Thus farre Baronius out of whose narration this may be collected that the Bishops of Ireland did not take all the resolutions of the Church of Rome for undoubted oracles but when they thought that they had better reason on their sides they preferred the judgement of other Churches before it Wherein how peremptorie they were when they wrote unto S. Gregory of the matter may easily be perceived by these parcells of the answer which he returned unto their letters The first entry of your epistle hath notified that you suffer a grievous persecution which persecution indeed when it is not sustayned for a reasonable cause doth profite nothing unto salvation and therefore it is verie unfit that you should glory of that persecution as you call it by which it is certaine you cannot be promoted to everlasting rewards And whereas you write that since that time among other provinces Italy hath beene most afflicted you ought not to object that unto it as a reproach because it is written Whom the Lord loveth hee chasteneth and scourgeth every sonne that he receiveth Then having spoken of the booke that Pope Pelagius did write of this controversie which indeed was penned by Gregory himselfe he addeth If after the reading of this book you will persist in that deliberation wherein now you are without doubt you shew that you give your selves to be ruled not by reason but by obstinacie By all which you may see what credite is to be given unto the man who would beare us in hand that this epistle of S. Gregory was sent
Secondly I must crave leave to say that I find not Popery how subtill or sophisticall soever it be to be of anie such puissance but that a man of meane learning armed with the strength of the divine Scriptures may easily ruinate and overturne it Thirdly those that oppugne the Religion His Majesties Supremacie what doe they else but oppugne therewithall as they must needs at least inclusively the Lawes and Statutes of the Kingdome whereby they are both established And what reason then can bee shewed why hee that is a Lawyer by profession may not defend and maintaine the Lawes and Statutes of the Realme in those two great points especially wherein they be so unjustly and causelessely oppugned But when I consider my selfe further to be a servant though unworthy to his most excellent Majestie and that in so high and eminent a Court as His Maiesties Bench is beside my profession the duetie of my place also tyeth mee to defend his Maiesties Supremacie as being a thing properly appâ—rtayning to his verie Crowne and Regall dignitie And doth not moreover the Oath of Supremacy to His Majestie which I have taken necessarily binde mee hereunto Yea even for this verie cause that I am a subiect to his Maiestie though there were no other reason doe I hold my selfe in duetie tyed to my power to uphold and maintain that his Regall Supremacie For if everie good childe will maintaine the right and Authoritie of his Father and everie good servant the right and Authoritie of his Lord and Master ought not everie good subiect to maintaine the right and Authoritie of his Soveraigne Lord and King And as touching the Religion if there were no other reason but this that I am a Christian by profession though no professed Divine doe I hold it for that verie cause not onely well beseeming mee but my duetie likewise according to such measure of knowledge and abilitie as God hath given mee to defend and maintaine the true and Christian Religion I professe against that which is untruly called the Christian and Catholike and is indeed the false erroneous and Antichristian For whereas some have a conceit that not Lay men at all but Clergie men only and such as be of the Ecclesiastical Ministerie should meddle with the Scriptures and matters of Religion it appeareth to be a verie vaine conceit and an untrue opinion because S. Paul directly requireth even of Lay Christians as well as of others that the Word of Christ should Dwell in them and that not poorely or in a small or slender measure but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is richly plentifully or abundantly Whereupon Primasius saith that Hence wee learne that the Lay people ought to have the knowledge of the Scriptures and to teach one another not onely sufficiently but also abundantly And therefore are they further expressely charged to admonish exhort and edifie one another yea to contend and not onely to contend but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earnestly to contend for that faith which was once given unto the Saints And doth not God himselfe also command thus Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but Thou shalt in anie wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sinne to be upon him Agreeably wherunto would not S. Iames likewise have all Christians to labour the conversion of such as be in error and goe astray telling them for their better encouragement in this matter that if any doe erre from the truth and another convert him let such a one know that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soule from death and cover a multitude of sinnes You see then what duties in respect of the good of others as well as of himselfe be required even of a lay person in matters concerning God and his religion And indeede verie strange it were if lay Christians should be tyed in charitie to take care of mens bodies and yet should in no sort be permitted to have anie care or to shew anie Christian charitie or affection in respect of their soules and the good and safetie of them It is true that no man may take upon him the office and function of Bishops Pastors or other Ministers of the Word without a lawfull calling or ordination first had and obtayned but although a lay man may not therfore preach minister the sacraments nor do anie such acts as be proper and peculiar to those that be Ecclesiasticall Ministers yet in such things as be not proper and peculiar unto them but be acts and duties common with them to other Christians a Lay man may lawfully intermeddle It is likewise true that the knowledge of Gods Word and consequently of Divinitie doth in a more exact and more plentiful and fuller maner and measure and chiefly belong to those that be professed Divines and of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery but thereupon it followeth not that therefore it belongeth onely to them As also although those of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery are to teach and instruct the Lay people out of the Scriptures and that the Lay people are to learne what they rightly teach from thence yet neither doth it thereupon follow nor is that anie argument or impediment but that the Lay people may neverthelesse reade and get knowledge in the Scriptures and thereout learne what good they can also even by their owne industry diligence and endevour We reade of Aquila and Priscilla his wife that they were by their Trade Tentmakers and that Apollos was a man eloquent and mightie in the Scriptureâ— yet so skilfull learned expert were those two nameâ—ly not onely Aquila but Priscilla also his wife in the Word of God as that they tooke unto them the same Apollos and expounded unto him The Way of God more perfectly All men know that Kings Princes and such like civill Magistrates be none of that Order of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery and yet of them it is specially required that they reade the Scriptures Book of God and that they be verie diligent and conversant in it For God expressely requireth of a King that When hee shall sit upon the Throne of his Kingdome He get him the Book of his Law and chargeth him to reade therein all the Dayes of his Life that he may learne to feare the Lord his God and to Keepe All his Words and ordinances not turning from them eyther to the right hand or to the left That so he may prolong his Dayes in his Kingdome Hee and his Sonnes after him And to Iosuah a civill Magiâ—â—â—ate hee likewise giveth this charge and commandement saying Let not This Booke of the Law depart out of thy mouth but Meditate therein Day and Night that thou maist Observe and Doe according to All that is written therein for then shalt thou make thy Way prosperous and then shalt thou have good successe Was not the Treasurer to Candace Queene of the Ethiopians also a Lay man and not
good ends and purposes and not to satisfie the severity of his Iustice by that meanes for their sinnes and the punishment thereto belonging p. 125. c There is no iust cause to be shewed vvhy the pretended Catholicks should refuse to take the oath of Supremacy or refuse to come to our Churches Their obiections and reasons answered p. 1 2 c p. 407 c. See also throughout the vvhole booke for this purpose Concerning auricular Confession and to vvhom confession of sinnes is to be made and that it ought to be free and voluntarie and not forced or compelled pag. 302 303 c. pag. 253 254 D FOr vvhom Christ Dyed and to vvhom hee is a Redeemer pag. 187 188 189 c Every sinne Deadly in his owne nature although all sinnes be also veniall and remissible in respect of Gods mercie grace and bounty except the sinne against the holy Ghost pag. 114 115 E THe Emperor in ancient time had the Supremacy and not the Pope pag. 30 The Emperor in times past had power to place and displace Popes pag. 27 The Emperor in ancient time banished imprisoned and otherwise punished aswell Bishops of Rome as other Bishops pag. 22 Hee did make Lawes concerning Ecclesiasticall causes and religion pag. 24 As also Commissioners in an Ecclesiasticall cause and the B. of Rome himselfe vvas one of those Commissioners pag. ibid. An appeale to the Emperor in an Ecclesiasticall cause pag 24 Generall Councils in ancient times called by the Emperor and his Authoritie pag. 24 The Christian Emperor did and vvas to meddle in matters of the Church and concerning Religion pag. 25 The Christian Emperor in ancient time did nominate and appoint Bishops of Diocesses and Provinces and even the Bishop of Rome himselfe pag. 25 Emperors in ancient time did ratifie the decrees of Councils before they vvere put in execution pag 28 Miltiades Leo and Gregory all Bishops of Rome in their severall times subiect to the Emperor and at his command pag 24.26 Ancient Fathers Popes of Rome and Councils aswell generall as provinciall may erre even in matter of faith aswell as in matter of fact pag. 49 50 51 52. c See also the Preface for this point The Romane Empire dissolved ever since the Emperors have ceased to have the soveraigne command and rule of Rome and that the Popes have gotten to be the heads and supreme Rulers of that City and to be above the Emperors pa. 331.332 and pag. 391.392.393 The Pope of Rome hath no power or authoritie from Christ to Excommunicate any pag. 299 c Excommunications be they never so iust and lawfull be by Gods law and appointment of no force to depose from Earthly kingdomes or to dissolve the dutie and allegeance of subiects pag. 299 300 301 c F OVr Forefathers and ancestors not to be followed in any vices or errors they held pag 34 35 Foretold in the Booke of God that an apostacie from the right faith and a mysterie of iniquitie otherwise called an Antichristianisme should come upon the Church and that so the Church by degrees should grow corrupted and deformed pag. 35 36 280 Foretold also how long the Church should lye in those her corruptions and errors and vvhen she should begin to be clensed and reformed pag. 35 36 VVhat is to be thought of our Forefathers that lived and dyed in the time of Popery pag 39.40 41 42 Foretold that a strong delusion to beleeve lyes shouâ—d possesse them of the Antichristian Church because they received not the love of the truth extant in the divine Scriptures pag. 307 308 Men are iustified in Gods sight and before his tribunall by Faith only and good vvorkes be the fruits and declarations of that faith pag. 99 100 101 c. to the end of that chapter and pag. 116 117 118 c. to the end also of that chapter G God is not the author of sinne pag. 168 169 c. H NOt Protestants but Papists be the Heretickes pag. 72. and Schismaticks pag. 37 38. pag. 413.414 c Not the Pope but Christ onely is the Head of the universall militant Church as well as of the triumphant pag 94 95 96 97 98 I VVHo is to be the infallible Iudge of controversies in religion or vvhich commeth all to one effect in the conclusion vvhat is the infallible Rule vvhereby men must iudge and be directed for the finding out of truth in those controversies pag. 49 50 51 c. See also the Preface for this matter The Implicita fides of Papists reproved pag 78 79 80 K KIngs have the Supremacie over all maner of persons aswell Ecclesiasticall as Civill vvithin their own Dominions pa. 1. to p. 5 Their Supremacie in all kinde of causes aswell Ecclesiasticall as Civill pag. 5 c Kings and Princes although they have the Supremacie yet thereby claime not nor can claime to preach to minister the Sacraments to excommunicate absolve or to consecrate Bishops or to doe any other act proper to the function of the Ecclesiasticall ministers pag. 32 c Kings and Princes be notwithstanding their Supremacies under God and subiect to him and his vvord pag. 33 Even heathen Kings may command and make Edicts and Proclamations for God and his service pag. 7. c Christian Kings and Queenes are by Gods appointment to be nursing fathers and nursing mothers to his Church and Religion p. 7. The authoritie of a Christian King in respect of contemptuous disorderly and unruly persons requisite and necessary in the Church as vvell as in the Common-weale pag. 6 c Kings and Princes may command and compell their subiects to externall obedience for God pag. 6 7 8 9 10 Christian Kings may make lawes about matters Ecclesiast p. 7 8.24 Hee may make Commissioners in Ecclesiasticall causes pag. 24 He may have Appeales made unto him in a cause Ecclesiastical ib. He may nominate and appoint Bishops of Diocesses and Provinces pag. 27. Councels and Convocations to be assembled by his authoritie and the decrees thereof by him to be ratified and confirmed before they be put in execution pag. 26 27 28 Christian Kings doe punish offendors in Ecclesiasticall causes not Ecclesiastically but Civilly pag. 6 7.32 Subiects ought not to rebell against their Kings and Princes though they be adversaries to the Christian Religion and though subiects have power force enough to do it pa. 20 21 22.299 300 Kings of Rome did sometimes send the Bishops of Rome as their Ambassadors pag. 22 How thankefull subiects ought to be unto God for Christian Kings and Princes pag. 33 The power of the Keyes most grossely abused by the B of Rome to vvorke his owne exaltation above Kings and Princes pag 299 300 301 c The Keyes of the kingdome of heaven no more given to S. Peter then to the rest of the Apostles pag. 292 293 294 295 L NO Licentiousnesse or impiety in the doctrine of Iustification by faith or in the doctrine of predestination or
by making lawes for Christ but they may also command and externally compell their subiects if they stubbornly be Reâ—â—sants and wilfull to become obedient in that behalfe For so did the godly and religious Kings of Iudah as for example King Asa King Manasseth and king Iosiah The Donatists were the first that denied this authoritie of Kings in matters Ecclesiasticall Against whom therefore S. Augustine disputeth at large in sundry places VVhy doe the Donatists saith he acknowledge the force of the laws to be iustly executed against other malefactors and deny the same to be done against heretickes and schismaticks seeing that by the authoritie of the Apostle they be alike reckoned with the same fruits of iniquity yea if a King should not regard such things why then saith he doth he beare the sword Againe hee saith Mirantur quia commoventur potestates Christianae adversus detestandos dissipatores Ecclesiae Si non ergo moverentur quo modo redderent rationem de Imperio suâ— Deo They marvaile that these Christian Powers be moved against the detestable wasters of the Church If they should not be moved against such how should they render an account to God of their rule or governement Thinkest thou saith he to Vincentius that no man ought to be forced to righteousnesse vvhen as thou readest that the Master said unto his servant Compell all that you finde to come in c. Where is now saith he to Bonifacius that vvhich these Donatists harpe at so much viz. That it is free for a man to beleeve or not to beleeve what violence did Christ use whom did hee compell Behold Paul for an example Let them marke in him first Christ compelling and afterward teaching first striking and then comforting Let them not mislike that they be forced but examine whereto they be sorted And cyting that part of the second Psalme Be vvise ye kings understand yee that iudge the earth Serve the Lord in feare hee saith thus How doe kings serve the Lord in feare but when they forbid and punish vvith a religious severitie those things which be done against the commandements of God As Ezechias did serve him by destroying the groves and Temples builded against the precept of God As Iosiah did in like maner As the king of Nineveh also did forcing the vvhole City to please God As Nebuchadnezar likewise did restraining all his subiects from blaspheming God with a dreadfull law 3 As for the reason of Gaudentius that the peace of Christ invited such as were willing but forced no man unwilling the same S. Augustine again answereth it speaketh on this manner VVhere you thinke saith he that none must be forced to truth against their wils you be deceived not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God vvhich maketh them willing afterward vvhich were unwilling at the first Did the Ninivites repent against their will because they did it at the compulsion of their king VVhat needed the kings expresse commandement that all should humbly submit themselves to God but that there were some amongst them vvhich never vvould have regarded nor beleeved Gods message had they not beene terrified by the kings Edict This princely power and authoritie giveth many men occasion to be saved vvhich though they vvere violently brought to the feast of the great Housholder yet being once compelled to come in they finde there good cause to reioyce that they did enter though at first against their wills And when Petilian also obiected that no man ought to be forced by lawes to godlinesse S. Augustine still answereth and saith Preposterous vvere discipline to revenge your ill living but vvhen you first contemne the doctrine that teacheth you to live vvell And even those that make lawes to bridle your headinesse are they not they that beare the sword as Paul speaketh not in vaine being Gods ministers and executors of wrath on him that doth ill Yea S. Augustine teacheth further directly that it is the office dutie of Kings and Princes to compell their subiects although not to faith yet to the outward meanes of faith which is comming to the Churches and assemblies of Gods people there to heare the word of God read and preached and to doe other Christian dueties there used For howsoever it be granted that God only worketh faith in mens soules and not Men nor the power of Kings yet thereupon it followeth not but that Kings may neverthelesse command and compell them to external obedience and cause them to present their bodies in those Churches and assemblies where the ordinarie meanes of faith and salvation is to be had And as for Gods inward working upon their soules and his blessing upon that outward meanes when they be in those Assemblies Kings and Princes doe and must leave those things unto God alone as being things not included within their power to give nor within the power of anie earthly creature whosoever Some of the Donatists in ancient time rather then they would be forced from their fancies were so wilful unnaturall and impious as that they slew themselves yet did this nothing hinder the Church of God but that Donatists for all that were compelled by vertue of Princes lawes to their due obedience without anie respect or regard had to such their wicked and desperate doings I vvas once so minded saith S. Augustine that I thought no man ought to be forced to Christian unity but that vvee should deale by perswasion strive by disputing and conquer by reasoning lest they proved dissembling Catholickes vvhom we know to be professed Heretickes But afterward as himselfe sheweth he altered this opinion upon better advisement teaching That as it is fit that men that be in error touching Religion should be admonished instructed and dealt withall by perswasion so if they neglect scorne or contemne admonitions and instructions or doe grow wilfull stubborne perverse and obstinate upon no ground of reason they are iustly worthie to be punished according to the lawes For what a vaine idle thing is it for anie to say It is against their conscience to come to our Churches there to heare Gods word read and preached to pray unto God with us to thanke him for all his benefites to be present and partakers of his Sacraments and of other godly and religious exercises there used and yet can shew no reason at all for this their doing A blinde conscience such as this and every other is that hath not anie good reason to shew for it selfe is to be corrected and reformed and not to be followed And therfore doth S. Augustine yet further say expresly touching this matter That it is enioyned Kings from God ut in Regno suo bona iubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae ad humanam societatem pertinent verum etiam quae ad Divinam Religionem that in their Kingdomes they should command good
and to declare the Supremacie of the Emperor then this that the Emperor in ancient time exiled banished imprisoned and otherwise also by his Authoritie punished even some of the Bishops of Rome themselves as well as other Bishops and when the Emperor said moreover thus that If anie did grow tumultuous or unruly Illius statim audacia Ministri Dei hoc est mea executione coercebitur his boldnesse shall forthwith be repressed by the sword or execution of Gods Minister that is of my selfe For as S. Paul saith the Emperor King or Prince or anie of those higher powers that beare the civill sword is Gods Minister and a revenger unto VVrath to him that doth evill whosoever he be Yea such was the demeanour and loyaltie which even Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome performed to the Emperor that when the Emperor had commanded a law to be published which Gregory himselfe misliked yet neverthelesse he obeyed the Emperors commandement as a good subiect unto him Ego quidem iussioni tuae subiectus eandem legem per diversas Terrarum partes transmitti feci I being subiect to your command saith hee have caused the same law to bee transmitted through diverse parts of the earth By which one example of Gregory if there were no more spoken you may perceive that for the space of manie hundred yeares after Christ even unto his time and in his time the Bishops of Rome themselves were subiect to the Emperors and at their commands Which doth yet further appeare by this thaâ— even Kings of Rome did also sometimes send the Bishops of Rome as their Embassadors as for example King Theodorick sent Iohn Bishop of Rome Embassador to the Emperor Iustinian And King Theodatus about the yeare 537 sent Pope Agapetus as his Embassador likewise to the Emperor about a Treatie of peace But yet together with the Supremacie of Emperors let me shew unto you more fully their Authoritie in Ecclesiasticall things or causes for of their Authoritie in civill or temporall causes there is no question made 8 When the Donatists therefore alledged that Emperors were to meddle onely with civill causes and not with Ecclesiasticall or concerning Gods Religion Optatus held this to be a point of madnesse in Donatus and those his followers Ille solito furore accensus in haec verba prorupit Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia Donatus inflamed with his accustomed furie or Madnesse saith he brake forth into these words What hath the Emperor to doe with the Church Where you see he calleth it expressely a Madnesse to hold that opinion And this S. Augustine likewise censureth and condemneth accounting it an absurd thing for anie to say thus unto kings Take yee no care in your kingdomes vvho oppugneth the Church and vvho defendeth it vvho is religious and vvho sacrilegious c. For if the King be to regard and punish by civill punishment the offences done against the second Table as disobedience to parents murder theft trespasses wrongs and iniuries done by one man against another is hee not much more to regard and punish by civill punishment the greater offences namely those that be done immediately against God being breaches of the first Table as Atheisme Idolatry false vvorship vvrong relâ—gion heresie schisme blasphemy breach of the Sabbath and such like For is there anie comparison or proportion betweene Man and God But to declare this matter yet further by some particulars The Christian Emperors in ancient time made lawes for God and his Religion and caused them to be executed and so dealt in matters Ecclesiasticall as well as civill as beside that which is before spoken is further evident even by the Titles of the Civil law it selfe viz. De summa Trinitate fide Catholica De sacrosanctis Ecclesijs De Episcopis Clericis De Haereticis c. They likewise made Commissioners in Ecclesiasticall causes For when Caecilianus Bishop of Carthage was accused by Donatus and some other of that faction Constantine the Emperor commanded Caecilianus to come to Rome with a certaine number of Bishops that accused him And by his Commission extant in Eusebius authorised and appointed Miltiades the then Bishop of Rome and some others with him for the hearing and ending of that matter These Commissioners condemned Donatus who appealed from their sentence to the Emperor himselfe which Appeale also the Emperor at last received Where beside that you see that this Christian Emperor made Commissioners in this Episcopall and Ecclesiasticall cause observe withall that Miltiades the then Bishop of Rome was one of those Commissioners and therewithall you may note that the Bishops of Rome were then verie cleerely subiect and not superior to the Emperor So that a Christian King or Prince not only may make Commissioners in Ecclesiasticall causes but may also have Appeales made unto him as is here apparant Yea even S. Paul himselfe Appealed not unto Peter which no doubt hee would have done if Peter had then had the Supremacie but unto Caesar. The Councell also of Affrick would allow of no Appeales to the Pope of Rome or beyond the Sea but made a Decree directly against it appointing Presbyters Deacons or other inferior Clerkes if they were grieved with the sentence of their owne Bishop to resort to the next Bishops Quod si abâ—ijs provocandum putaverint non provocent nisi ad Affricana Concilia vel ad Primates Provinciarum suarum Ad Transmarina autem qui putaverit appellandum à nullo intra Affricam in Communionem suscipiatur And if they shall think fit to Appeale from them let them not appeale but to Councels within Affrick or to the Primates of their owne Provinces But he that shall thinke it fit to appeale beyond the Sea let him be admitted to the Communion by none within Affrick This Canon which was thus established in the Affrican Councell purposely for the defeating and disanulling of the ambitious courses and claimes of the Bishops of Rome is againe repeated and confirmed in the Milevitane Councell In the time likewise of King VVilliam Rufus Anselmus the Archbishop of Canterbury would have appealed to Rome But not onely the King but the Bishops of England also were therein against him And afterwards in the dayes of Henry the second King of England this Law was made Si quis inventus fuerit c. If anie shall be found bringing letters or a mandate from the Pope c. Let him be apprehended and let Iustice be done upon him vvithout delay as upon a Traytor to the Law and kingdome Againe it is there said Generaliter interdictum est ne quis appellet ad Dominum Papam That it was generally given in charge that none should Appeale to the Pope Moreover the Christian Emperors in ancient time had the authoritie of summoning and calling Councels as for example the first generall Councel of Nice was assembled by Constantine
the second at Constantinople was called by Theodosius the elder the third at Ephesus by Theodosius the yonger the fourth at Calcedon by Valentinian and Martian And this is so manifest a truth that Cardinall Cusanus confesseth and affirmeth that the first eight generall Councells were called by the Emperors And so also witnesseth Socrates that Since Emperors became Christians the businesses of the Church have seemed to depend upon their vvill and therefore the greatest Councels saith he have beene and still are called by their appointment But here Bellarmine steppeth in and would perswade that howsoever Emperors did call Councels yet it was done authoritate Papae by authoritie of the Pope A verie strange assertion and untrue for even Leo himselfe Bishop of Rome in his time made supplication to the then Emperor Theodosius the yonger Supplicationi nostrae dignetur aâ—nuere That hee vvould be pleased to yeeld to his Supplication for the calling of a Councell in Italy But the Emperor for all that contrarie to the Popes will and desire and notwithstanding that his humble petition caused the Councell to bee called and assembled not in Italy as the Pope desired but at Ephesus Afterward againe the same Leo Bishop of Rome made a second supplication alledging withall the sighes and teares of all the Clergie for the obtayning of a Councell in Italy He sollicited the Princesse Pulcheria to further his supplication to the Emperor He wrote to the Nobles Clergie and people of Constantinople to make the like supplication to the Emperor and yet for all this he could not obtaine it this second time neither For although then a Councel were granted yet it was not in Italy as the Pope would have had it but at Calcedon It is then more then manifest by this example of Leo that Councels in those times were assembled and convocated not by the commandement and authoritie of the Popes but of Emperors Yea by the subscription also to those constitutions you may further discerne that the Pope in those times had no authoritie to command the Emperor but contrariwise the Emperor had to command the Pope for thus saith the same Leo to the then Emperor Because saith he I must by all meanes obey your sacred and religious vvill I have set downe my consent in writing to those Constitutions If then there were no other evidences or proofes doe not these three former examples viz. of Miltiades Leo and Gregory all Bishops of Rome in their severall times make plaine demonstration and openly proclaime to the world that in those dayes the Bishops of Rome were without all question or contradiction inferior obedient and subiect to the Emperors and not superior to them But yet further ye know that King Solomon removed the high Priest Abiathar and put Zadoc in his place The Emperor Theodosius the elder did likewise nominate and appoint Nectarius to be Bishop of Constantinople Honorius also appointed Boniface to be Bishop of Rome And other Emperors did the like Is it not then lawfull for King IAMES our Soveraigne Lord likewise to nominate appoint a Bishop of a Diocesse or Province and upon iust cause againe to remove and displace him For as touching the sacration or consecration of Bishops or other Minister ecclesiasticall otherwise called the ordination of them by imposition of hands the King medleth not but leaveth those kind of Acts to be done by Bishops and such to whom they belong Yea King VVilliam Rufus likewise in his dayes nominated appointed Anselmus to be Archbishop of Canterburie And before him King VVilliam the Conqueror used the like authority nominating and appointing Lanfrancus to be the Archbishop as is also testified by the same Author And even before the Conquest King Edward the Confessor appointed one Robert first Bishop of London and afterward an Archbishop And before that King Alfred nominated and appointed Asserio Bishop of Sherborne and Denewulfus Bishop of Winchester And more then 200. yeres before that Edelwalk King of the South Saxons appointed VVilfred to an Episcopall Sea Grantzius speaking of the ancient times saith thus The Emperor placed a Bishop in Monster And mervaile not saith he that a Bishop vvas appointed by the Emperor for this vvas the Custome of those times vvhen Emperors had power to place and displace Popes And further he saith That vvhomsoever the Prince did nominate that man vvas to be consecrated a Bishop by the next adioyning Bishops And he addeth further That concerning this Iurisdiction there vvas a long contention betweene the Papacy and the Empire This vvas the Iurisdiction vvhich the Two Henries the father and the sonne and vvhich the Two Fredericks likewise the grandfather and the grandchilde sought long to Defend and maintaine but the sword of the Church saith he prevayled and forced the Emperors to relinquish their right to the Church Thus you see how namely That partly by fraude and partly by force the Popes after much striving and contending prevayled at last against the Emperors and made them to loose their rights And therefore worthily is that Statute which giveth these rights againe to our Kings and Princes entituled An Act restoring to the Crowne the ancient Iurisdiction over the state Ecclesiasticall and Spirituall and abolishing all forraine power repugnant to the same The premisses then well and advisedly considered what is there in all the authoritie concerning Ecclesiasticall causes attributed or belonging to the King that can iustly offend anie of you For I doubt not but such authorities in Ecclesiasticall causes as were in ancient time yeelded to the godly Kings of Iudah or unto the godly Christian Emperors yee will well allow as in all right and reason ye ought unto Christian kings Princes within their dominions And amongst the rest of their rights and authorities this also was one that the Emperors approved ratified and confirmed even the Constitutions and Decrees of Councels before they were promulged or put in execution For so did Constantine that Christian Emperor confirme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Decrees of the Councell Againe Rogamus clementiam tuam saith the Councell to the Emperor Theodosius ut per Literas tuae pietatis ratum esse Iubeas confirmesque Concilij Decretum Wee beseech your clemencie that by your Letters you will ratifie and confirme the Decree of the Councell Sacro nostrae Serenitatis Edicto saith also Martian the Emperor venerandam Synodam confirmamus We by the sacred Edict of our Serenity doe confirme the reverend Synod This then is a right which must likewise be acknowledged due and to belong to King IAMES our Soveraigne Lord. What obiection then or exception can be taken against his Maiesties Supremacie in any point or why should not all his subiects most readily and willingly acknowledge it and in testimonie thereof take the Oath concerning the same whensoever they bee thereunto lawfully required For if anie suppose as
some have done that the King is therein called Supreme head of the Church they are deceived The words of the Oath at this day to take away all offence that any might conceive in that point being not supreme HEAD but supreme GOVERNOR And as touching this Title of Governor within his owne Dominions none can with anie reason gainesay it inasmuch as beside that which is before spoken King Alfred reigning long sithence was likewise called Omnium Britanniae Insulae Christianorum Rector The Governor of all the Christians vvithin the Isle of Britanny The Councell also held at Mentz in Germanie the yeare 814 in the time of the Emperor Charles the great and Pope Leo the third calleth likewise the Christian Emperor Carolus Augustus Governor of the True Religion and Defendor of the holy Church of God c. And a little after they say thus VVee give thankes to God the Father almighty because he hath granted unto his holy Church a Governor so godly c. In the yeare 847. there was also held another Councel at Mentz in the time of Leo the fourth and Lotharius the Emperor where they againe call the Emperor Verae Religionis strenuissimum rectorem a most puissant Governor of the true Religion The like was ascribed to King Reccesumthius in a Councell held at Emerita in Portugale about the yeare 705 in these words VVhose vigilancie doth governe both secular things vvith very great piety and ecclesiasticall by his vvisedome plentifully given him of God Where you see it expressely acknowledged that the King is a Governor both in causes secular and ecclesiasticall And this Councell of Emerita had also good allowance of Pope Innocent the third in his Epistle to Peter Archbishop of Compostella as Garsias witnesseth So that the Title of Governor even as touching matters ecclesiasticall as well as civill or secular attributed to the King he governing in them after a Regall manner and not in that Ecclesiasticall manner which Bishops and Clergie men use can no way justly be misliked but must in all reason be well approved and allowed Howbeit I grant that King Henry the eight and King Edward the sixt had that Title of Head in their times given unto them but not of the universal Church upon earth as the Pope hath but of the Church onely within their owne Dominions and not within their owne Dominions neither in such sort and sense as the Pope taketh upon him to be Head over all the Churches in the world that is to rule and governe them at his own pleasure and as he lift himselfe Indeed Stephen Gardner Bishop of Winchester when he was in Germanie upon the Kings affaires was there a very ill Interpretor of that Title Supreme head of the Church vvithin his owne Dominions given to King Henry the eight reporting that the King might thereby prescribe and appoint new ordinances in the Church concerning faith and doctrine as namely forbid the marriage of Priests and take away the use of the Cup in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and in things concerning Religion might do what he listed This manner of declaring the Kings power and authoritie under that Title did so much offend the reformed Churches that Calvin and the writers of the Centuries did complaine of it and that iustly and worthily bearing that sense but in no other sort or sense did they dislike it Yea even that Title of Supreme head being rightly understood needed not to have offended anie for they had iâ— in no other sort or sense then the King of Israel likewise had the title of Head of the Tribes of Israel of which Tribes the Leviticall Tribe was one Or then Theodosius that Christian Emperor had the like within his Empire of whom Saint Chrysostome saith that non habet parem super terram He hath no peere or equall upon earth and affirmeth moreover of him that hee was summitas Caput omnium super terram hominum the Head and one that had the Supremacy over all men upon earth Yea by the Title of supreme Head attributed to King Henry the eight and King Edward the sixt was no more meant but the verie same that was afterward meant to the late Queene Elizabeth of blessed memorie or to King Iames our now Soveraigne Lord under the title of Supreme Governor for that they are both to be taken intended in one the selfe same sense is verie manifest even by a direct clause in an Act of Parliament viz. the Statute of 5. Eliz. cap. 1. in which also is declared how the Oath of Supremacie is to be expounded And the words of that Statute be these Provided also that the Oath viz of Supremacie expressed in the said Act made in the said first yeare of her raigne shall be taken and expounded in such forme as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queenes Maiesties Iniunctions published in the same first yeare of her Maiesties raigne that is to say to confesse and acknowledge in her Maiestie her heyres and successors none other authoritie then that vvhich vvas challenged and lately used by the noble king Henry the eight and king Edward the sixt as in the said Admonition more plainly may appeare Where first you may observe the Authoritie attributed to King Henry the eight and to King Edward the sixt and to Queene Elizabeth as touching this point intended and declared to be all one And secondly you see it enacted how the Oath of Supremacy is to bee expounded namely that it is to be taken expounded in such forme as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queens Majesties Iniunctions published in the same first yeare of her Raigne The words of which Admonition therefore as more amply conteyning the explanation of the same Oath I have here thought good to adde for your better and most full satisfaction in this matter The Title whereof is this An Admonition to simple men deceived by the malicious HEr Maiesty forbiddeth all her subiects to give eare or credite to such perverse and malicious persons vvhich most sinisterly and maliciously labour to notifie to her loving subiects how by the vvordes of the Oath of Supremacy it may be collected that the Kings or Queenes of this Realme possessioners of the Crowne may challenge authoritie and power of Ministery of Divine offices in the Church vvherein her said subiects be much abused by such evill disposed persons for certainly her Maiestie neyther doth nor ever vvill challenge any other authority then that vvhich vvas of ancient time due to the Imperiall Crowne of this Realme that is to say under God to have the Soveraignety and rule over all maner of Persons borne vvithin these her Maiesties Dominions and Countries of vvhat estate eyther Ecclesiasticall or Temporall soever they be So as no forraine Power shall or ought to have any superioritie over them And if any person that hath conceived any other sense of the
forme of the said Oath shall accept of the same Oath vvith this interpretation sense or meaning her Maiestie is vvell pleased to accept every such in that behalfe as her good and obedient subiects and shall acquite them of all maner penalties contayned in the said All against such as shall peremptorily or obstinately refuse to take the same Oath The words of that Admonition being thus set downe I shall need to say no more For hereby you see I trust verie fully the true certaine and undoubted sense scope meaning and interpretation of the Oath Why therefore should anie be so contentious or malicious as to wrest or wring it to a contrarie meaning or such as it never intended For hereby appeareth that although the king be supreme Governor within his owne Dominions yet it is explained That he is supreme Governor under God so that by reason thereof the King neither doth nor can take upon him anie authoritie over Gods word or ordinances to devise alter or frame religion as he list as some verie odiously and no lesse strangely have inferred Such thoughts be farre from his godly minde Neither when it is said at anie time That the King hath Authoritie or Iurisdiction ecclesiasticall is anie other thing meant thereby but his Iurisdiction or Authoritie in Ecclesiasticall causes and over ecclesiasticall persons and thereby is not meant or intended as some againe verie absurdly and malignantly have imagined That the King hath anie such authoritie as is meerely Ecclesiasticall and proper to Bishops Pastors and such like Ministers of the Church as namely to preach to minister the Sacraments to excommunicate to absolve to consecrate Bishops or such like for the exposition of the Oath which is before delivered in the Admonition and ratified by an expresse Act of Parliament directly declareth the contrarie to that conceit And therefore his Majesties authoritie in Ecclesiasticall causes must not be conceived to be anie such as is properly Sacerdotall or Episcopall but such as is rightly and properly Regall and Imperiall Which Regall and Imperiall Authoritie ought no more to be denied unto him then that which is meerely and properly Sacerdotal or Episcopal may be denied to Priests or Bishops What should hinder then but that yee all may as ye ought utterly renounce and forsake for ever the Papall and all forraine Iurisdictions whatsoever and further also promise according to the tenor of the Oath to your power to assist and defend all jurisdictions priviledges preeminences and authorities granted or belonging to the King his heires and successors or united and annexed to the Imperiall Crowne of this Realme considering that there is no Authoritie in these matters ecclesiasticall granted or belonging to the King or united or annexed to his Crown but such as appeareth to be lawfull and is rightly Regall and Imperiall and which withall in no sort wrongeth the authoritie of anie other Church governors of Gods institution whosoever Yea the King is so farre from encroching or intruding upon or impugning or hindering anie of the offices or authorities granted or belonging unto them from God that contrariwise he leaveth all those rights and authorities wholly and entirely unto them to be executed and which is more such is his most godly and Christian disposition that to that their divine Calling Ambasâ—age and Ministerie enioyned them from God and by them sincerely and faithfully administred himselfe in his owâ—â— person most readily and willingly yeeldeth both reverence and obedience as wel knowing that in respect of God whose Ambassadors and Ministers they be and whose word and will onely they are to teach and deliver the greatest King is but a subiect Howbeit neverthelesse otherwise and in respect of their owne persons it must be confessed that they be subiect unto him and owe him obedience and are in all dutie and humilitie to performe the same unto him So that I hope you now sufficiently perceive that his Maiesties Supremacie under God his government and authoritie as touching causes persons ecclesiasticall being such as is only Regal and Imperial and no way derogatorie preiudiciall or iniurious to anie Bishops Pastors or Ministers that be of divine Institution or to their offices and functions but rather verie much helpfull to them in their places is so farre from being to be disliked that contrariwise being rightly understood it is ever to be allowed and that with much praise thanks unto God for the same whose gracious ordinance it is for the further good greater comfort and benefit of his Church and Religion CAP. II. Wherein is shewed That our Church was in the Apostles dayes and in all times and ages since howsoever that which we call Popery did as an Infection or Corruption grow unto it whereof it was againe to be purged and so to become as we call it a reformed Church and that all these things came thus to passe in the Church according to the Prophecies thereof formerly delivered in Gods owne Booke AND What is to be thought of those forefathers of ours that lived and dyed in the time of Poperie AS ALSO That long before the Dayes of King HENRY the eight and long before LUTHER or CALVIN were borne the Pope of Rome was complayned of and exclaymed against and affirmed and published to be Antichrist as also Popish Rome affirmed to be the whore of Babylon mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn BEfore I enter to speake of the other particular points hereafter mentioned it will not be amisse here to speake something in a generall sort concerning Gods Church and his Religion For how confident and resolute soever some take upon them to be in that Popish Religion they hold and professe yet is that no proofe that therefore they be right for not only those of a right Religion but those also of a wrong be verie resolute and confident as appeareth by all Sectaries Heretickes and Schismatickes who be verie pertinacious and resolute for the maintenance of their severall errors and opinions Neither is it a reason sufficient for them to say they follow the waies of their forefathers and ancestors except they be sure that they went the right way for we are not to follow our forefathers and ancestors in anie vices or errours they held be they otherwise never so deare unto us VValke not yee saith God in the ordinances of your fathers nor observe yee their maners nor defile your selves vvith their Idols I am the Lord your God vvalke yee in my statutes and keepe my Iudgements and doe them Yea ye may remember that it is written thus of some people who are therefore much reproved So did their children and their childrens children As did their fathers so doe they unto this day Where further it is said that notwithstanding this following of their forefathers and doing after their old custome yet they obeyed not God Nor is it sufficient for them to say they follow the doctrine or direction of their
yee First it is well knowne that S. Peter was a contemner of the pompe and pride of the world and a disregarder of the wealth riches thereof insomuch that hee said to one that asked almes of him that he had neither silver nor gold but the Pope of Rome is not so but contrariwise hath the pompe pride glorie and riches of the world in verie high and chiefe esteeme and aboundeth with them Againe Peter was subiect to Emperors Kings and Princes and taught all Christians to be likewise subiect to them but the Pope is so far from being subiect to them that contrariwise hee claimeth soveraignetie and supremacie over them all and taketh upon him to depose Kings Princes and Emperors at his pleasure and to disannull and dissolve the allegeance of subiects when and as often as he listeth Peter would not allow Cornelius though but a Captaine of the Italian band to fall downe at his feete but bad him arise but the Pope of Rome doth well allow not only Captaines but Kings Princes and Emperors to fall downe and kisse his feet Yea hee hath not beene ashamed with his feete to tread upon the necke of some of the Emperors Peter was a godly earnest and diligent Preacher of the Gospel in his owne person according to that commandement of Christ so often repeated saying unto him Pasce Pasce Pasce feed my lambes feed my sheepe feed my sheepe But the Pope of Rome like an idle pompous and slothfull man in his owne person seldome or never Preacheth Peter was content and well endured to be reproved at the hands of S. Paul when there was cause He also patiently suffered himselfe to be accused and contended against by certaine Christians and mildely and modestly answered to those their exceptions against him for their satisfaction But the Pope of Rome though he be never so worthie of reproofe will neverthelesse not suffer himselfe to be reproved nor accused or contended against nor will have his doings examined questioned censured or iudged by anie men such is his unmeasurable pride and unmatchable loftinesse Againe S. Peter did acknowledge S. Paul S. Matthew S. Andrew S. Iames and the rest of the twelve to be Apostles aswell as himselfe albeit they had no ordination or calling to that their Office of Apostleship from him for that they all had an immediate calling to that their Apostleship from Christ Iesus himselfe and not from Peter is a thing undeniably manifest But the Pope contrariwise acknowledgeth none to be a Bishop except he be ordeyned and made a Bishop by him or by his authoritie Moreover they were accounted and held to be Presbyters and Ministers of the Church which were made and ordeyned by other Apostles though they were not made or ordeined by Peter nor by anie authoritie derived from him But the Pope of Rome acknowledgeth none to be Presbyters or Ministers of the Church which be made by other Bishops except they be made and ordeined by him or by authoritie originally derived from him Yea S. Peter did acknowledge the rest of the Apostles to be his fellowes or Equals as well knowing that Christ Iesus himselfe did directly forbid them to beare Princely authoritie one over another insomuch that Peter aswell as Iohn was content to bee sent by the rest of the Apostles into Samaria and did goe thither at their sending But the Bishop of Rome acknowledgeth not other Bishops to be his fellowes or Equalls nor will be content to be sent as their Messenger to anie place but most proudly challengeth a Princely Primacie and king-like superioritie over them all If the Pope will needes be Peters successor it were reason and a thing equall and iust that he should claime no more authoritie over other Bishops then Peter had over the rest of the Apostles yea if hee will make Peter his patterne and president to follow as it were a happie thing for him if he were in verie deed so wel affected he must then utterly give over his triple Crowne and all his Papal worldly pompe and pride and be cleane reformed and become altogether another man in all respects wherein he is so exceedingly degenerated and unlike unto him And then together with the relinquishing of his most proud Popedome he must also forsake renounce and detest his Poperie and Popish Religion for S. Peter cleerely was such a one as we call a Protestant that is to say one that both held and taught that Religion that wee hold namely that which is conteined in the Booke of GOD the sacred and canonicall Scriptures Yea S. Peter died a Martyr for the testimonie of this faith and religion and the Pope of Rome is contrariwise a persecutor of those that professe this faith and religion For that the Papists be the cleere and undoubted persecutors of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus is afterward manifested by a direct and most evident testimonie thereof in the Revelation of S. Iohn to the end ye should not hereafter bee mistaken in that point as usually yee be nor deceive your selves anie longer therein Furthermore S. Peter was content and held it honour enough to be a member of the bodie of Christ which is his Church acknowledging with S. Paul and the rest of the Apostles that Christ onely was and is the head therof But the Pope of Rome is not content unlesse he intrude himselfe into this his verie royal prerogative taking upon him to be the verie head of the whole militant church We know that the Church of Christ is but one body as the Scripture speaketh and witnesseth though there be manie members of it and one bodie is to have but one head why then or by what right or reason doe they make this bodie of Christ which is his Church to have two heads namely one in heaven which is Christ Iesus another on earth which they say is the Pope They confesse that of the Church in heaven which is to us invisible Christ is indeed the head but of the visible Church on earth the Pope say they is the head and that such a visible head for the visible church is requisite and necessarie And here they have a distinction that Christ is indeed Caput vitale the vital head from whence all his members have and derive their life but that the Pope is Caput ministeriale visibile the ministeriall and visible head And thus they boldly speake frame and devise matters and distinctions according to the fancie of their owne braines But first what Patent conveyance warrant or commission from God can the Pope of Rome shew whereby he is thus authorized to be either Christ his special or onely Vicar Deputie or Lievetenant over his whole universall church here upon earth or to be this speciall and onely visible and ministeriall head Iust none at all doe they or can they shew for it And is it
cleere that there was then no citie in the world noted knowne by these seven hills or mountaines but Rome onely and therefore doth Virgil say of it Pulcherrima Roma Septem quae una sibi muro circumdedit arces That Rome onely hath seven hills vvithin her vvall For which cause also it is commonly termed Septicollis that is the seven hild City And Propertius also saith of it that it is Septem urbs alta Iugis toti quae praesidet orbi A City high vvith seven Hills that ruleth over all the world The names also of the seven hills are to this day knowne namely Palatinus Caelius Capitolinus otherwise called Ianiculus Aventinus Quirinalis Viminalis and Esquilinus Seeing then there was in that time of S. Iohn no citie in the world that was noted and knowne by the seven Hills and which also in those daies raigned over the Kings of the earth and had the Empire but Rome onely even by these two markes and demonstrations conioyned it is infalliby manifest that not anie other citie in the world but Rome onely is and must needs be the Woman and vvhore of Babylon there described And this is so cleere and evident that the Papists themselves confesse it to be Rome But then for an evasion Bellarmine some other Papists say that thereby onely Heathenish Rome and such as it was in the time of Infidelitie and before it embraced the Gospel and Religion of Christ is signified and intended but how untrue and vaine an evasion this is let all men iudge that have anie iudgement or indifferencie in them For first why is that woman that is the citie of Rome there called an Whore but to shew that shee was once an honest chaste and obedient spouse of Christ and that she afterward revolted and became an Whore and so fell from that obedience saith and true Religion which shee had formerly professed and embraced For is anie called an Whore but shee that was once an honest woman And doth not that word Whore import that shee was now at this time when shee thus became an Whore departed from that her former faith and fidelitie And indeed most true it is that the citie of Rome did once embrace the faith and religion of Christ and was an honest dutifull and true spouse unto him as S. Paul himselfe and other Ecclesiastical Histories doe witnesse But afterward in processe of time Ambition Pride Covetousnesse and Licentiousnesse growing in the Church and Churchâ—men and an Apostasie or departure from the right faith and religion being also foretold to come into the world for the neglect and contempt of the Gospel it came to passe that the once faithfull and Christian citie of Rome departed from that her former true faith and obedience and became an Harlot or Whore so that now and long sithence it may be said of Rome as God himselfe sometime spake of Hierusalem saying How is the faithfull City become an Harlot It being therefore manifest and a thing confessed even by the Papists themselves that by this Woman the citie of Rome is intended thereupon must needs be further granted that inasmuch as the Woman afterward became an Whore that is that Rome afterward became an Adulteresse against Christ her head and husband not the Heathen and Infidell citie of Rome but Rome after it had once received the Christian faith and religion and afterward fell from it to follow her owne false doctrine and religion is to be understood For how could the citie of Rome whilest it was Heathenish and before it ever embraced Christianitie be properly or rightly termed an Harlot or Whore that is a violater or breaker of anie faith formerly plighted by her unto Christ Iesus when as yet whilest shee was Heathen shee had plighted no such faith unto him The citie of Rome therefore which S. Iohn thus saw beforehand in vision to be such a one as should afterwards become an Whore and a great VVhore even the vvhore of Babylon as shee is entitled must needs be intended of Papal or Popish Rome for with the Heathen Rome that had never betrothed her selfe to Christ and consequently could for that time be no Whore or violater of her faith unto him it hath no fit or apt coherence and agreement Secondly as touching the Heathenish estate of Rome in that respect and for that purpose S. Iohn needed not anie Revelation at all for he knew it otherwise sufficiently even by his owne banishment into Pathmos and other daily experiments that Rome was then Heathenish and governed by Heathen Emperors and was by that meanes a great persecutor of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus but that the same citie should be afterward governed by Popes and so fall into the spiritual whoredome of Poperie that hee could not foresee or foreknow or foretell without a Revelation and therefore hath he a Revelation given him of that matter And hereat the Text also saith that He vvondred and that with great marvaile This great vvondering of S. Iohn also Thirdly declareth what maner of Rome this was for even thereby likewise appeareth that not the Heathen citie of Rome at whose persecutions they being so frequent and common in those dayes he had no cause at all to wonder but the once true Christian citie of Rome which afterward revolted from that her true Christianitie to her Antichristian and persecuting courses whereat there was indeed iust cause to wonder is the thing there meant and intended Fourthly Rome governed by the Emperors is in that Chapter distinguished from Rome as it was afterward governed by the Popes yea Rome as it was governed by the seven heads or principal Rulers of it from the beginning of it to the end is there decyphered For this vvhore or vvhorish vvoman is not onely there said to sit upon a scarlet coloured beast with which kinde of colour the Romish Popes aswell as the Romane Emperors were and are delighted as appeareth in the Decret dist 96. but it is there further said that this beast that is this State or Dominion for so by the Beast is understood a State or Dominion as afterward is shewed which thus bare up and supported this woman the citie of Rome had seven Heads ten Hornes The seven Heads be in the Text it selfe expounded to be seven Hills or mountaines which are before named and mentioned And they be also there further said to be seven Kings that is seven sorts of principal or soveraigne Rulers whereby Rome hath beene governed namely by Kings Consuls Decemvirs Dictators Tribunes Militarie with consular Authoritie Emperors Popes Five of these were fallen saith the Text in the dayes of S. Iohn namely Kings Consuls Decemvirs Dictators Tribunes and one is saith hee that is the governement by Emperors For then in S. Iohns time was Rome governed by Emperors and one is yet to come saith the Text that is the governement by Popes For as yet the
governement of the citie of Rome by Popes was not come to passe in the dayes of S. Iohn but came in afterward And for the better comfort of Gods people that should be molested disquieted and persecuted by this seventh head that is by the governement of Rome by Popes it is said that he shall continue but a short space For although the government of Rome by Popes be and hath continued divers hundreth yeares which may seeme to flesh and bloud and to a carnal and worldly understanding to be verie long yet in Gods reckoning and esteeme it is but short and of little continuance inasmuch as a thousand yeares with God are but as one day as S. Peter and the Psalmist doe both witnesse as also they are said to be but short in respect of Eternity which Gods children doe chiefly respect and in comparison whereof they set light by and little esteeme all worldly things As for the tenne Hornes they bee also expressely expounded in the Text it selfe to be tenne Kings which having formerly given the helpe and power of their Kingdome unto the Beast and in defence of the VVhore should afterward dislike abhorre and hate her make her desolate and naked and burne her with fire Who these tenne Kings be in particular the Event will best declare when this Prophesie in this point shall be actually accomplished In the meane time observe that this verie Beast vvith seven heads and ten hornes which S. Iohn saw in vision is now at this time in this chapter of Rev. 17. considerable as hee was the eight head and one of the seaven for so it is directly manifest by the verie wordes of the Text it selfe saying thus to S. Iohn The Beast that thou hast seene vvas and is not c. And the Beast that vvas and is not is the Eight and is one of the Seaven You see then that this Beast with seaven heades and ten hornes was now at this time much wasted in the number of his heads they all being spent gone and abolished except onelie this One vvhich is the Eâ—ght and one of the seaven for the VVhole Beast is here reckoned and expreslie affirmed to bee at this time onelie hee which was this Eight Head Let us then consider who is the eight Head of the Beast that is of the Romane State or State of the Citie of Rome The Text it selfe telleth us that it is one of the seaven And indeede it is one of the seaven and the verie seaventh For. Popes who be the seaventh Head wherby that Citie of Rome now is and of long time hath beene governed is also the eight because the Pope comprehendâ—â—â— in himselfe a double Princehood or Soveraignetie For he 〈◊〉 as Bellarmine and other Papists affirme of him Summus Princeps spiritualis and Summus Princeps temporalis a Soveraigne Spiritual Prinee and a Soveraigne Temporal Prince And the one namelie his temporal principalitie or Soveraignetie some of them say hee hath directlie from Christ and othersome of them as namelie Bellarmine and those that take part with him doe hold that he hath it not directly but indirectly and in ordine ad spiritualia as they speake that is so far forth as it is for the good of Soules and for the advancement of a Catholicke cause But whether directly or indirectly it is agreed by them all that he hath it And consequentlie Popes in respect of this their double Soveraignetie appeare to bee both the seaventh and eight head of the Beast By the power of which two Swords which hee hath gotten in the highest and supreamest degree it is that hee is the better able and verie sufficientlie furnished to bee as hee is also called the Beaâ—t that beareth up or supporteth that VVhore of Babylon Yea all those sixe heades of Rome namelie Kings Consuls Decemvirs Tribunes Dictators and â—mperors being gone and past for the Emperors also have ceased long since to have anie headship or Soveraigne rule there what remaineth but that the Popes who have succeeded the Emperors at Rome and bee the present Head of it bearing the Soveraignetie there bee and must needs bee the seaventh and therewithal the eight and last Head of the Beast All this while then I trust yee perceive that seeing Rome is here discribed onely as it was under the governement of him that is the eight Head therefore it cannot possiblie be intended of Heathen Rome for Rome whilst it was heathen was under the governement of the heathen Emperors and far remote from the times of the government of it by this eight Head Yea seeing Rome is here discovered and described as it was under the Popes who be the seventh and the eight and so the last head of that Citie It must needs be granted that not Heathen but Papal Rome is there clearelie and undoubtedlie intended And it is there further said to bee the Beast that vvas and is not and yet Is because whilst the Emperors were Heads of Rome the Imperial and supreame Authoritie vvas in the Emperors but afterward the Emperors ceased to be heads of Rome or to have anie Soveraignetie or Supreamacie there and then it vvas not in them But in conclusion the Popes became the Head of Rome exercising there the Soveraignetie then it vvas in them and so continueth and yet is So that in respect of the divers changes and mutations that it had it is said to be the Beast that vvas and Is not and yet Is. Fiftlie remember that it is confessed by the Adversaries themselves that by Babylon mentioned in the Revelation the Citie of Rome is understood Whereupon must further bee granted that it is that Babylon that is that Rome in whose forehead was a name written A Mystery c. which mysterie S. Paul calleth A Mysterie of Iniquity And it is so called because it should hardly bee discerned to be Iniquitie inasmuch as it should outwardly carrie such a goodlie face pretence and shew of pietie sanctitie and christianitie with it But the Heathen Citie of Rome had not this mystical hidden and covert Iniquitie in it but professed open enmitie and direct hostilitie against Christ and christianity and therefore also not the Heathen and Infidell Rome but the Papal or Popish Rome is and must needs bee there intended Sixtly the Babylon that is the Rome there spoken of is said to have Merchants that sould their wares and amongst the rest of their merchandizes and wares there is expresse mention made not onely of temporal commodities of the Bodies of men but of spiritual also namelie even of the Soules of men that they also are there to be boght sold. For there it a plain evident distinction in the text it selfe betweeen the Bodies Soules of men and therfore they must not be confounded or supposed all one Now then I pray tell mee did ever heathen Rome use this trade of merchandizing mens Soules or in what other Rome
thereby declaring that it shall not bee anie open hostilitie or professed Enmitie against Christ and his Gospell such as is amongst Turkes and Iewes and other Infidells of the world but an hidden close and covert Iniquity not easie to be discerned to be Iniquitie it should carrie and convey it selfe so subtillie and under such shewes and pretences of godlinesse and Christianitie And least wee should deceive our selves in the time or thinke that this Mysterie of Iniquitie vvas to rise to his height and fulnesse on a sodaine or all at once or not till some few yeares beâ—ore the end of the world behold S. Paul telleth us that it was then in working eveÌ„ in his daies so that even then namelie in S. Pauls time it began to worke in such sort as it could going on and creeping forward by little and little and by degrees untill at last it came to his full stature and highest tallest growth And further the text sheweth that in this Apostacie or mystical Iniquitie there should bee signes vvonders and lying Miracles wrought for the better prevailing and fortification of it and for the stronger alluring of people thereunto and confirming them therin Now they bee called lying Miracles or lying wonders partlie for that they bee false and counterfeit and partlie for that they lead men into falshood and errors as Chrysostome expoundeth those words And likewise S. Augustine sheweth that they be called lying signes and wonders either because hee shall deceive the senses of mortal men by counterfeit shewes and apparances that he may seeme to do that which hee doth not or else because they shall draw unto lies such as shall beleeve that they could not be done but by the power of God they not knowing the power of the Divell For the Divell sometimes interposeth himselfe to worke these miracles And even in this verie place also to the Thessalonians they are said to bee done by the operation or vvorking of Satan Consider then whether these things bee not found verified in the Papacie As touching the Miracles which are said to bee done in Poperie there be as that learned and reverend Bishop D. Dovvnam hath distinguished set them downe three degrees or three sorts of them the one such as bee merelie fabulous and devised by lying Companions whereof their Legends Festivalls and other their Bookes have good store of examples some of them being so notoriouslie incredible as that none except he were miserablie intoxicated and bewitched could or would beleeve them which lowd and lewd lies and no better then Poetical Fictions were neverthelesse in so high esteeme in the Popish Church that they were both publickelie and privatelie read in the vulgar tongue when as the sacred and Canonical Scriptures were closed up and kept from the people in an unknowne language And as this first degree of Miracles is of such as never were indeede not so much as in apparance but in the opinion onelie of men besotted and given over to beleeve incredible untruths So the second degree or second sort of their Miracles is of such as be in shew or apparance onelie or artificial conveiances of deceitful men or iugling trickes of Legerdemaine of which sort are the nodding or moving the smiling or frowning the sweating or speaking of Images and such like The third sort of their Miracles bee such as bee done by the power of the Divell working by natural causes and naturall meanes although so closelie covertlie stilie and speedilie sometimes as that they draw ignorant people that perceive not the reason of those things into a great admiration and conceit that they are true miracles indeed when as neverthelesse though they bee done yet they surpasse not the strength of nature as those doe that bee true and divine Miracles For those that bee true Miracles indeed bee supernatural and beyond the power of all natural causes whatsoever and are done onelie by the omnipotent power of God Neither is the Pope nor all his partakers able to produce anie one such true Miracle wrought by a Divine power and by the finger of God for confirmation of anie pointe of their New Religion wherein they differ from us although they pretend divers Yea some of their owne writers doe ingenuouslie confesse that sometimes there is verie great deceiving of the people by Miracles fayned by the Priests or their adherents for temporal gaine sake And another of them saith directly thus That in the Sacrament appeareth flesh sometime by the conveyance of men sometime by the operation of the divell Another of them saith likewise that Miracles bee sometimes done to men that flocke to Images by the operation of Divells to deceive inordinate worshippers God permitting it and the infidelitie of such men requiring it Irenaeus even in his time also telleth of a certaine man called Marke which in the Sacrament of the Eucharist mightilie deceived the people by changing the colour of the wine in such sort as that it seemed to bee blood All which kinde of deceiveable practises it is good that all those that bee so much devoted and wedded to Poperie and to listning after Miracles should take special notice of and thereby learne to take heede of such Impostors and Deceivers in time All the great wonderfull and supernatural Miracles which have beene done by Christ and his Apostles and in those ancient former and elder times be sufficent for confirmation of that old and most ancient faith and religion which wee hold namely which is conteined in the sacred and Canonical Scriptures neither doe wee desire anie moe or thinke anie more requisite or necessarie For as S. Augustine saith Quisquis adhuc prodigia ut credat inquirit magnum est ipse prodigium qui mundo credente non credit VVhosoever still seeketh after wonders that hee might beleeve is himselfe a great wonder who when the world beleeveth beleeveth not Yea if the Papists had not these their signes wonders and miracles amongst them they could not bee as here wee see the Antichristian Church But there bee no people of the world that so much obiect and boast of them as they As for the Iewes they have them not The Turkes and Mahometists disclaime them professing that their religion is to bee propagated and promoted not by miracles but by force and armes and by the sword The true Christians which bee the Protestants urge them not nor require them onelie the false Christians that is the Antichristians which bee the Papists doe urge and require them and glorie and vaunt of them and none so much as they nor anie like to them and therefore this note or marke of Antichristianisme touching Miracles is verie evident and most apparant amongst them 2 Againe this text of S. Paul sheweth that this great Antichrist who is the head of this Apostatical Church which thus aboundeth with false and lying Miracles and Wonders should sit in the Temple of GOD that
remaineth an husband and consequently whatsoever others doe his wife that oweth him special duetie and respect is not to withdraw her duetie and obedience but is still to performe it unto him as to her husband If the Master be excommunicate and that others therefore doe withdraw their companie from him yet is not his servant to withdraw his duetie and service from him for notwithstanding excommunication hee still is and remaineth a Master to his servant and consequently notwithstanding excommunication he is still of all his servants to be obeyed as a Master In like sort if a King be excommunicate and that therefore other Kings and Princes and such as owe him no subiection doe withdraw themselves from him yet may not his owne subiects withdraw their subiection duetie and obedience inasmuch as notwithstanding excommunication hee still is and remaineth a King to his subiects and consequently is of them still to be honoured and obeyed as their King But so as the Pope may serve his owne turne and erect and stablish to himselfe a Throne and Kingdome upon earth above all Kings Princes and Emperors of the world which is the chiefe or onely marke he shot at what careth hee what or whom or how he doth abuse be they Kings or subiects or whosoever Yea it is too well knowne to the world that some of his Cardinals Priests and Iesuites have been so monstrous as to perswade subiects to lay violent hands upon and to murther their owne Soveraignes accounting it forsooth to be a matter meritorious to commit such abominable and lothsome villanie in their pretended Catholicke but indeed most divellish and Antichristian cause If anie make doubt hereof let Parry Ballard Babington and sundrie others executed in the late Queene ELIZABETHS dayes be witnesses hereof And let also that late most execrable plot and intention of theirs to blow up the Parliament house in England and all that should be in it with Gunpowder likewise beare witnesse hereof to all posterities How then can such a Religion which under colour of being Catholike and under pretence of a Catholike cause when neverthelesse it is nothing so but the cleane contrarie alloweth warranteth commandeth and commendeth rebellion treason and murther of Christian Protestant Kings and Princes and their people as a matter good and meritorious be but most detestable and damnable And what can the Pope being the approver allower and chiefe in this businesse and for whose sake all this is done be but the Grand Antichrist Where also you may further understand that the Popish Priests Iesuites and the rest of that order being as they are no Ministers of Christ but of Antichrist can therefore give to none of you anie absolution or remission of your sinnes but doe rather augment enlarge and increase your sinnes so much the more as they must needs by such your unlawfull resorting to them So that hereafter ye shal doe well to forbeare and leave off your Eare-Christ or Auricular Confession to them which hath also no commandement or institution from Christ but is onely an humane devise whereunto none is necessarily tied Which thing is so cleere that their owne Canon Law affirmeth that It vvas taken up onely by a certaine Tradition and not by any auâ—horitie of the Old or New Testament Panormitan likewise saith That opinion of the Canon Law greatly pleaseth him because he findeth no manifest authoritie that ever God or Christ commanded us to confesse our sinnes to a Priest And Rhenanus and Erasmus also affirme that Christ ordeined it not Mâ—ctarius Bishop of Constantinople upon an accident that fell out at Confession put it cleane downe in his Church and the Bishops of the East did the like in theirs Which those godly ancient Bishops would never have done nor lawfully could have done if it had beene Gods owne ordinance and institution As for the confession of sinnes which they made that came to be baptised of S. Iohn Baptist it was voluntarie and publike and no private or auricular confession and so was also their confession voluntarie and publike and not secret or auricular which is mentioned in Acts 19. It is true that S. Iames saith Confesse your faults one to another and pray one for another that yee may be healed But this no more tyeth you to confesse your faults or sinnes to a Priest then to another man yea it no more tieth you if yee well observe the words to confesse your sinnes to a Priest then â—t tâ—eth a Priest to confesse his sinnes to you for by these words Christianâ— bee charged to confesse their sinnes one to another as they be likewise there charged to pray one for another I grant that in the ancient Church such as were publike offenders did for those their open and publike offences publike pennance by publike and open confession of them in the Congregation with sorrow for the same and asking forgivenesse first of God then of the Church or congregation which they had so offended After which publike confession and pennance and satisfaction so made to the Church or Congregation where the offence was committed they were againe reconciled and received absolution by a publike pronouncing of it upon that their repentance declared Which kinde of publike confession and open pennance and absolution thereupon is also observed in the reformed Protestant churches But this no way serveth to prove your private secret and auricular confession yea it rather maketh against it because this was publike Yet if anie thinke that a private confession to a Minister of Christ is sometime and in some cases convenient and meet to be used the Protestants in their learned and godly workes against the Papists have told you that they doe not dislike it but well allow and commend it so often as burthen of conscience oppresseth anie man for anie sinne by him committed to utter those his griefes and confesse his sinnes which wound him so sore either to anie faithfull Minister of Christ or to anie other skilfull godly and discreet Christian whosoever thereby to receive helpe remedie and consolation Caietan himselfe though hee like well with us of a voluntarie confession which is not forced or commanded yet expressely denieth this Popish manner of Auricular Confession to be of Christs institution And indeed the Ministers of Christ may verie well pronounce absolution or forgivenesse of sinnes upon a free and voluntarie confession though they binde not men by a law of necessitie at certaine times of the yeare to make such a confession unto them as is used and urged in the Papacie after a tyrannical manner This Christian moderate and allowable course doe the Protestant Ministers hold in their receiving of anie Confessions as also they forgive not sinnes absolutely and at pleasure but onely as is before said ministerially and declaratively and with a limitation viz. so as they have a right and lively faith and a true repentance to whom they pronounce their absolution But to proceede and
respect of his Episcopal or Spiritual And for this cause also the one is said to arise out of the Sea and the other out of the Earth Rev. 13.1.11 for in respect of his Episcopal supremacie and Pseudoprophetical demeanour hee arose from the Earth it receiving his original from below and from the Earth and not from Heaven and in respect of his Imperial dominion hee arose out of the Sea because the Ruines of the Empire by meanes whereof hee arose to that his Imperial Greatnesse were not otherwise wrought but by the wavering and disquiet turbulencies that were in the World in those daies So that howsoever it is called the first Beast and the second Beast in distinct considerations yet upon the matter they both make but one Antichrist And therefore in Rev. 17. is there mention made but of One Beast only which supported the Whore of Babylon Yea Fatentur omnes pertinere omnino ad Antichristum verba illa Iohannis c. All men confesse saith Bellarmine himselfe that those vvords of Iohn in Rev. 13.11 c. doe undoubtedly belong to Antichrist Now then let us examine and see if they be not all verified in the Pope and Papacy First it is said that this second Beast had two hornes like a Lamb but he spake like the Dragon Duo Cornua similia Agni scilicet Christi cuius duo Cornua sunt duo Testamenta He shal have two Hornes like to those of the Lambe that is like to those of Christ vvhose two Hornes be the two Testaments as Lyranus Primasius and Augustine also expound them Whereby appeareth that Antichrist shall outwardly pretend great sanctitie sinceritie humilitie and simplicitie and as if hee did all things by good authoritie and strength of the holy Scriptures the two Testaments the Old and the New and yet in verie deed his voice and speech that is his doctrines decrees lawes canons and constitutions should bewray and discover him to be but a Wolfe in Sheepes clothing and no lesse cruell and malignant against the true Church of God then the verie Dragon Doth not everie man perceive that these things doe rightly fit the Pope For who maketh a greater outward shew of sanctitie pietie and Christianitie then he and what doth he else but pretend the strength and authoritie of the two Testaments namely of the holy Scriptures for warrant and maintenance of the false doctrines errors heresies hee teacheth and holdeth Can anie man outwardly pretend greater humi litie then he when he entitleth himselfe Servus servorum Dei a servant of Gods servants and yet for all that he taketh upon him by his claimes and actions to be Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium the King of Kings and Lord of Lords So that howsoever hee pretendeth humilitie yet wee see hee is farre from it And howsoever hee pretendeth the authoritie of the holy Scriptures viz the two Testaments for the strengthning and confirmation of his religion doctrine and doings alledging them to be shadowed out and figured in the two Hornes of his Myter yet partly by reason of the unsound and false translations of those Scriptures which he defendeth and authorizeth against the truth of the Originals and partly whilest he perverteth and misinterpreteth the true Scriptures themselves and equalleth also his Traditions unto them and moreover dispenseth with them at his pleasure and preferreth his owne authoritie and the authoritie of his Church above them and so maketh them to speake in another sense and otherwise then ever they meant it is apparant that being thus used and abused they be at the most but like the two Hornes of the Lambe as this Text speaketh and be not the verie two hornes themselves that is they be not the pure incorrupt and undoubtedly true Scriptures themselves but corrupted differing from them Pope and Popery then appeareth to consist all in shewes semblances and likenesses of veritie sanctitie and pietie and have it not in verie deed and substance And therefore not without good cause did diverse Bishops make their complaint long sithence in their Epistle to Pope Nicholas recorded in Aventine saying in this sort unto him Thou bearest the person of a Bishop but thou playest the Tyrant under the habite and attyre of a Pastor vvee feele a VVolfe It is a lying Title that calleth thee Father thou in thy deeds shewest thy selfe to be another Iupiter being the servant of servants thou strivest to be the Lord of Lords c. But moreover doth not the Pope speake like the Dragon that is like the Divell for by the Dragon in the Revelation is the Divell understood when he saith that the Kingdomes of the world be his and that he hath power to dispose and give them to whomsoever hee will For did not the Divell speake the verie same to Christ in the Gospel Yea the Pope is as they write Totius orbis Dominus The Lord of the vvhole vvorld and hath Coelestis terrestris potestatis Monarchiam The Monarchy or soveraignetie both of the heavenly and earthly power and to him forsooth they apply that Prophecie Dominabitur à mari ad mare à flumine usque ad terminos orbis He shall rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the vvorld Yea they attribute that unto him which Iesus Christ spake of himselfe saying that All power is given unto him both in heaven and earth Matth. 28.18 Be not these most abominable blasphemous and divelish speeches being attributed to the Pope But yet further what doth hee else but speake like the Dragon that is like the Divell whilest he teacheth that doctrine of Divells mentioned in the Epistle to Timothy as shal afterward appeare and whilest he maintaineth a wrong worship of God a false faith and an Apostatical and Antichristian religion against the right most pure and onely true religion of Christ extant in the booke of God the holy and canonical Scriptures 3 Againe it is said that this second Beast did exercise all the power of the first Beast and that before him And who is so ignorant but hee knoweth that the Pope exerciseth all the power of the first Beast that is of the Latine or Romane State and that before him or before his face that is to say even at Rome and in the presence of the Romane State For hath not the Pope gotten that which was the seate of the Emperor namely Rome and made it his seate And is not the Emperor put downe from having anie Headship or Soveraigne Authoritie there Yea doth not the Pope there take upon him to exercise all the Imperial power authoritie tamen sine nomine Romani Imperatoris yet vvithout the name of the Emperor of Rome as Bellar. himself also saith that Antichrist must doe For this Imperial Authoritie aswell as his Ecclesiastical that is to say both his supremacies as before is shewed hee claimeth and holdeth under the name and title
of the doctrine of faith calleth Pope Gregory the 13 Supremum planè Supremum in terris Numen The supreme verily the supreme god upon earth And Steuchus the Popes Librarie keeper in his Booke of the Donation of Constantine saith that Constantine the Emperor held Pope Silvester for a god â—doravit ut Deum and worshipped him as God And the Councell of Lateran in the 3 and 10 Sessions further telleth you saying The Pope ought to be worshipped of all people and is most like unto God and least you should thinke that he speaketh of a civill kinde of worship it is there told you what manner of worship it is namely that it is with that kinde of worship or adoration that is mentioned in the 72 Psalme Adorabunt eum omnes Reges terrae All the Kings of the earth shall worship him where by worship the highest kinde of worship is meant which is due to the Sonne of God as Tertullian also teacheth in his 5 Booke and 7 Chapter against Marcion Againe Leo the 10 in the Councell of Lateran before cited is called the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah the roote of David the Saviour of Sion And Bellarmine in the Preface of his Book calleth the Pope the Corner-stone a tried stone a precious stone All which bee titles proper and peculiar to the Son of God And in the 25 Cause 1 quaest it is said that to violate his Canons and ordinances is to blaspheme against the holy Ghost which is a sinne not to bee forgiven in this world nor in the world to come Againe he calleth his decrees and Canons by the name of Oracles Now an Oracle signifieth an heavenly answer proceeding from the mouth of God Rom. 3.2 11.4 Sutably whereunto hee saith That his decretal Epistles are to bee numbred amongst the Canonical Scripturs in the 19 distinction in the Canon In Canonicis Againe what can bee more said of God then that which the before cited Councell of Lateran in the 9 and 10 Sessions attributeth to the Pope namely that hee hath all power aboue all Powers both in heaven earth And himselfe speaketh asmuch of himselfe in the first Booke of holy Cerimonies saying thus This Pontifical Sword representeth the Soveraigne temporal power that Christ hath given the Pope his Vicar upon earth as it is written All power is given mee both in heaven and in earth and elsewhere His dominion shall bee from Sea to Sea and from the River to the ends of the earth And Pope Paul the 5. in his holy Register calleth himselfe a Vice-god the Monarch of the Christian world and the upholder of the Papal Omnipotencie So that if the words of S. Paul in 2 Thes. 2. concerning Antichrist had beene as they are not that hee should expresly say and affirme that hee is god you perceive by that which is before spoken how it might have beene verified and withall in what sort and sence it is that the Pope hath the verie name of God given unto him For it appeareth to bee given him in a farre other sense then it is to Kings and Princes and yet in verie deede Kings and Princes and such like Magistrates of the earth and not Bishops bee the men that in Scripture bee called Elohim or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Gods And they are called Gods as Christ himselfe declareth in respect that the word of God was committed to them not as it is to Bishops and Pastors publikely to preach in the Congregations but by their authoritie to establish and promote it to command obedience to it and to punish the violators of it and to countenance and encourage the professors and observers of it For to this end is it committed to their charge and custodie And for this cause are they called Custodes utriusque Tabulae The keepers of the two Tables wherein the Lawes of God were written And for this cause also was it an Institution from God and accordingly an observation in the Church of the Iewes that at the Coronation of a King the Booke of Gods Law should bee delivered unto him When therefore the Bishops of Rome take upon them this title to be called gods they take that which God in his Scriptures doth no where give them but when further they take upon them to be adored as God they doe that which is in them most intolerably blâ—sphemous And when you suppose out of this Text that Antichrist shall call himselfe God you see how much you are mistaken and that the Text affirmeth it not Obiect 7. Yea Antichrist must bee exalted even above God himselfe 2. Thes. 2.4 Ans. How proove you that For in the verie Text it selfe the highest degree and step of the pride and aspiring minde of Antichrist is discribed and set forth in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. So that hee shall sit in the Temple of God as God shewing himselfe that hee is God Hee doth not say that such shall bee his pride and elation as that he shall sit in the Temple of God aboue God or so shew himselfe as if hee were aboue God but onely that hee doth sit in the Temple of God as God and so shew himselfe as if hee were God The pride of the Divell himselfe is noted to be such as that he would bee onely as God or like the most high but not above Him And when the Divell tempted the first man Adam being in state of Innocencie and Integritie unto pride and ambition it was not to anie such pride or elation as to be above God but to be onely as God knowing good and evill It were therefore strange if the pride of Antichrist should be supposed to exceed or goe beyond the pride of the Divell his Master Yea indeed how can it enter into the conceit of anie creature to thinke it anie way possible for him to be exalted above God his creator when nothing can be conceived or imagined greater nobler or higher then Hee who is God over all blessed for ever But secondly observe that the words be not as you suppose viz. that Antichrist shall be exalted above God but above all or everie one that is called God for the words in the Greeke Text be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super omnem qui dicitur Deus aut Sebasma that is above everie one that is called God and above every one also that is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sebasma .i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est Augustus for so Pausanias interpreteth that word and so is it likewise taken and used in the New Testament it selfe So that the meaning of those words is that the grand Antichrist should be exalted not only above Kings Princes and other Magistrates but even above those also that be Emperors and have an Imperial command and authoritie For it was indeed this Imperial State that was the hinderance or impediment that Antichrist
of his most holy and most pure Religion and ordinances delivered in the sacred and canonical Scriptures the Infallible rule of Truth For doe you thinke that ever Christ and Antichrist will agree together VVhat hath the chaffe to doe vvith the vvheate saith the Lord. Or VVhat fellowship as S. Paul speaketh hath righteousnesse vvith unrighteousnesse vvhat communion hath light vvith darkenesse vvhat concord hath Christ vvith Belial vvhat part hath the Beleever vvith the Infidel vvhat agreement hath the Temple of God vvith Idols In some things I grant the Popish Church holdeth rightly and in all things such is the mysterie of Iniquitie maketh a semblance and pretence of pietie and Christianitie But take heed and be not here with deceived for beside that it is the nature and maner of Hypocrisie so to doe you now I hope doe sufficiently understand that neither the Pope of Rome could be Antichrist nor his Church be the Antichristian vnlesse they did make this semblance of pietie outward shâ—w and pretence of Christianitie yea cleerely they should be altogether Vnchristian and not Antichristian people if they made no semblance or profession at all of Christ. But all is not gold that glistereth nor that ever right and true Christianitie that seemeth to be so The Divell himselfe will hold some things rightly and will sometimes utter and tell some truths but it is to the end to gaine credite and beleefe to himselfe at other times and in other things when and wherein he speaketh lies And this craft and subtiltie have all Antichristian and false teachers learned and do practise being as S. Paul calleth them False-Apostles deceiptfull vvorkmen transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ And no marvaile saith he for Satan also himselfe is transformed into an Angel of light Therefore it is no great thing though his ministers transforme themselves as though they vvere the Ministers of righteousnesse vvhose end shall be according to their vvorkes Now then concerning the Kings Supremacy and his Authoritie in all kinde of causes and over all sorts of people aswell Ecclesiasticall as Civill you see what it is and you understand I trust the cleere lawfulnesse of it within his owne Dominions For a time there was as before is shewed when the Bishop of Rome was limited his precincts and bounds aswell as other Bishops and had no more Supremacy or Authoritie over other Bishops then they had over him Yea a time there was when Bishops in a Councell assembled had authoritie over the Pope of Rome and might and actually did depose him and when also the Bishops of Rome were subiect to the Emperor and at his command as is likewise before declared So that the best title which the Bishop of Rome at anie time had to his Supremacie within anie Kingdome appeareth to be not by anie institution or law of God but by an humane constitution onely and a positive law And seeing that this his Supremacie was afterward put downe againe dissolved and abolished within this Kingdome as also in all the rest of his Maiesties Dominions by as high and as good authoritie as at anie time it was erected and established in the same namely by Act of Parliament made within those Realmes Everie subiect to his Maiestie now standeth tied and bound in duetie utterly to renounce and forsake it If yet yee alledge as ye sometimes doe that for the space of divers hundreth yeares in the later times the Kings and Princes in Christendome submitted themselves to this Supremacie of the Pope I answer first that it is apparant that Non fuit sic ab initio it vvas not so from the beginning and that the most ancient Precedents be to the contrarie Secondly that this was to fulfil a prophecie in the Scripture which foretold that so it should come to passe namely that these Kings should vvith one consent submit or give their Kingdome unto the Beast untill the vvords of God vvere fulfilled Yea these Kings not onely submitted themselves and their Kingdomes to this Supremacie of the Pope but to the adulterated Religion likewise of that Whore of Babylon the Papal Citie of Rome to fulfill the like Prophecie which saith that vvith her have committed fornication the Kings of the earth and the Inhabitants of the earth have beene made drunken vvith the vvine of her fornication Inasmuch then as these things be thus foretold in holy Scripture to come to passe what marvell should it now be to anie to see and know them to have beene accomplished accorcordingly But yet thirdly observe that although these kings did for so long time yeeld and submit themselves and the people of their kingdomes to this Beast vvhore of Babylon yet the later part of this Prophecie remaineth to be fulfilled which is this that Tenne of these Kings that were so long enchanted and bewitched with this Whore and seduced and abused by her shall afterward discerne and espie her fraudes and wickednesse and thereupon shall detest and hate her make her desolate and naked eate her flesh and shall burne her vvith fire Which Prophecie as it is alreadie begun to be performed in some of these Kings which have fallen from her hating and detesting both her authoritie and her adulterated religion so shall it in all the parts and points of it in the due time appointed of God be fully and actually performed and accomplished The long continuance then of Pope and Poperie in the world is no argument or proofe of the lawfulnesse or allowablenesse of them for beside that it was foretold to be of that long continuance Mahometisme Paganisme heresie and error drunkennesse adulterie and sundrie other sinnes and vices be also verie ancient and of long continuance in the world yet doth not that make them therefore to be ever the more lawfull or allowable Yea the longer the Popes Supremacie and his adulterated Religion have continued the greater wrong and iniurie hath been done all that while not onely to all other Bishops in the world and to all Emperors Kings and Princes likewise but also to the whole Church and religion of God and even to God himselfe And therefore this maketh not for the upholding or confirmation but for the further and greater detestation and condemnation of them both 2 So that no sufficient cause or reason can anie of you shew why ye should refuse to be of our Religion or why yee should not all come to our Churches assemblies and ioine with us in the right and true service of God For first where yee suppose Ours the Protestant Religion as it is called to be false and heretical and yours the Popish to be the onely Catholike right it hath before bni made verie manifest unto you cleane contrariwise that Ours is the right Apostolike Catholike most ancient religion that yours comming in afterward is the new adulterate heretical false Antichristian and that those be not the children of the right and
here useth is taken among authors oftentimes in contrarie senses eyther to signifie a great while since or else but lately or erewhile In the former sense it must be here taken if it have relation to the time wherein Bede did write his book and in the latter also it may be taken if it be referred to the time whereof he treateth which is the more likely opinion namely to the comming of Bishop Aidan into England which fell out within a yeare or little more after that Honorius had sent his admonitorie letters to the Irish. who as hee was the first Bishop of Rome we can reade of that admonished them to reforme their rite of keeping the time of Easter so that the Irish also much about the same time conformed themselves herein to the Romane usage may thus be manifested When Bishop Aidan came into England from the iland Hy now called Y-Columkille the colledge of monkes there was governed by Segenius who in the inscription of the epistle of the clergie of Rome sent unto the Irish is called Segianus Now there is yet extant in Sir Robert Cottons worthy librarie an epistle of Cummianus directed to this Segienus for so is his name there written abbot of Y-Columkille wherein he plainly declareth that the great cycle of DXXXII years and the Romane use of celebrating the time of Easter according to the same was then newly brought in into this countrey For the first yeare saith he wherein the cycle of DXXXII yeares began to be observed by our men I received it not but held my peace daring neyther to commend it nor to disprayse it That yeare being past he saith he consulted with his ancients who were the successors of Bishop Ailbeus Queranus Coloniensis Brendinus Nessanus and Lâ—â—gidus who being gathered together in Campo-lene concluded to celebrate Easter the yeare following together with the universall Church But not long after saith he there arose up a certaine whited wall pretending to keepe the tradition of the Elders which did not make both one but divided them and made voyde in part that which vvas promised whom the Lord as I hope will smite in whatsoever maner he pleaseth To this argument drawne from the tradition of the elders he maketh answer that they did simply and faithfully observe that which they knew to be best in their dayes without the fault of anie contradiction or animositie and did so recommend it to their posteritie and opposeth thereunto the unanimous rule of the Vniversall Catholick Church deeming this to be a very harsh conclusion Rome erreth Ierusalem erreth Alexandria erreth Antioch erreth the whole world erreth the Scottish only and the Britons doe alone hold the right but especially he urgeth the authoritie of the first of these Patriarchicall Sees which now since the advancement therof by the Emperour Phocas began to be admired by the inhabitants of the earth as the place which God had chosen whereunto if greater causes did arise recourse was to be had according to the Synodicall decree as unto the head of cities and therefore he saith that they sent some unto Rome who returning backe in the third yeare informed them that they met there with a Grecian and an Hebrew and a Scythian and an AEgyptian in one lodging and that they all and the whole world too did keepe their Easter at the same time when the Irish were disjoyned from them by the space of a whole moneth And vve have proved saith Cummianus that the vertue of God was in the relicks of the holy martyrs and the scriptures which they brought with them For we saw with our eyes a mayde altogether blinde opening her eyes at these relickes and a man sicke of the palsie walking and manie divells cast out Thus farre hee The Northren Irish and Albanian Scottish on the other side made little reckoning of the authoritie either of the Bishop or of the Church of Rome And therefore Bede speaking of Oswy king of Northumberland saith that notwithstanding hee was brought up by the Scottish yet hee understood that the Romane was the Catholick and Apostolick Church or that the Romane Church was Catholick and Apostolick intimating thereby that the Scottish among whom he received his education were of another minde And long before that Laurentius Mellitus and Iustus who were sent into England by Pope Gregory to assist Augustin in a letter which they sent unto the Scotts that did inhabite Ireland so Bede writeth complayned of the distaste given unto them by their countreymen in this maner When vve knew the Britons vve thought that the Scotts were better then they But we learned by Bishop Daganus comming into this Iland and abbot Columbanus comming into France that the Scotts did differ nothing from the Britons in their conversation For Daganus the Bishop comming unto us would not take meate with us no not so much as in the same lodging wherein we did eate And as for miracles wee finde them as rife among them that were opposite to the Romane tradition as upon the other side If you doubt it reade what Bede hath written of Bishop Aidan who of what merit hee was the inward Iudge hath taught even by the tokens of miracles saith he and Adamnanus of the life of S. Colme or Columkille Whereupon Bishop Colman in the Synod at Strenshalch frameth this conclusion Is it to be beleeved that Colme our most reverend father and his successors men beloved of God which observed Easter in the same maner that we do did hold or doe that which was contrary to the holy Scriptures seeing there were very many among them to whose heavenly holinesse the signes and miracles vvhich they did bare testimony whom nothing doubting to be Saints I desist not to follow evermore their life maners and discipline What Wilfride replyed to this may be seene in Bede that which I much wonder at among the many wonderfull things related of S. Colme by Adamnanus is this that where he saith that this Sainct during the time of his abode in the abbay of Clone now called Clonmacnosh did by the revelation of the holy Ghost prophecie of that discord which after many dayes arose among the Churches of Scotland or Ireland for the diversity of the feast of Easter yet he telleth us not that the holy Ghost revealed unto him that he himselfe whose example animated his followers to stand more stiffely herein against the Romane rite was in the wrong and ought to conforme his judgement to the tradition of the Churches abroad as if the holy Ghost did not much care whether of both sides should carrie the matter away in this controversie for which if you please you shall heare a verie prettie tale out of an old Legend concerning this same discord whereof S. Colme is said to have prophecyed Vpon a certaine time saith my Author there was a great Councell of the people of Ireland in the