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A20944	A defence of the Catholicke faith contained in the booke of the most mightie, and most gracious King Iames the first, King of Great Britaine, France and Ireland, defender of the faith. Against the answere of N. Coeffeteau, Doctor of Diuinitie, and vicar generall of the Dominican preaching friars. / Written in French, by Pierre Du Moulin, minister of the word of God in the church of Paris. Translated into English according to his first coppie, by himselfe reuiewed and corrected.; Defense de la foy catholique. Book 1-2. English	Du Moulin, Pierre, 1568-1658.; Sanford, John, 1564 or 5-1629.	1610 (1610)	STC 7322; ESTC S111072	293,192	506

themselues wormes dust and his petty-seruants as did Gregory the first writing to Mauricius CHAP. VI. Of the Clergie and of their Liberties and Exemption § Tertia Cleri●i non possunt a Iudice politico puniri vel vllo modo trahi ad secularis magistratus tribunal CArdinall Bellarmine cap. 28. of his booke De Clericis sayth That Clergie men may not at any hand be punished by the politique Iudge or be drawne before the iudgement seat of the Secular Magistrate He saith also that the cheife Bishop hauing deliuered Clerkes from the subiection of Princes § Respondeo summus Pontifex Clericos exemit a subiectione Principum non sunt amplius Principes clericorum superiores Kings are no longer Superiours ouer Clerkes In the same place also he maintayneth that the goods as wel of the Clergy as of secular men are and ought to be exempted from the taxe and tribute of Secular Princes § Quarta Bona Clericorum tam Ecclesiastica quam secularia libera sunt ac merito esse debent a Tributis Principum secularium Hereunto the King of great Britaine speaking to the Emperour to the Kings and Princes of Christendome sayth in this manner And when the greatest Monarches amongst you will remember that almost the third part of your Subiects and of your Territories is Church-men and Church-liuings I hope ye will then consider and weigh what a feather he puls out of your winges when he denudeth you of so many Subiects and their possessions in the Popes fauour nay what bryers and thornes are left within the heart of your Dominions when so populous and potent a party shall haue their birth education and liuelyhood in your Countries and yet owe you no Subiection nor acknowledge you for their SOVERAIGNES So as where the Church-men of old were content with their tythe of euery mans goods the Pope now will haue little lesse then the third part of euery Kings Subiects and Dominions To these words so full of weight and euidence Coeffeteau answereth very softly and sillily He saith that Catholicke Kings do not apprehend any such calamitie seeing that amongst them Ecclesiasticall Persons liue vnder their Lawes and acknowledge their authority euen the Pope himselfe beeing aware of it That in France the Cardinals and Byshops performe vnto the King the Oath of Fidelity cōmendeth the Kings for hauing giuē to Clerks great immunities notwithstanding which he sayth that they doe not let to be bound to ciuill Lawes These wordes are full of timerousnesse and lurking ambiguity Answere Hee saith that Clerkes indeede liue vnder the lawes of Princes but hee doth not tell vs that in case of disobedience the King may punish them for otherwise there is no subiection He sayth that the Bishops yeeld the Oath of Fidelity but the question now is not touching fidelity but touching subiection and obedience He speaketh of immunities granted by Princes but he doth not tel vs what these immunities be for this is one as Bellarm. witnesseth and we will shew hereafter that Clerks are no longer subiects to Kings that the King is no longer their Superiour Thus can we learne nothing of this Doctor So that indeede his Maiesties complaint is so iust that if we holde our peace threin the cause wil proclaime it selfe Euery man knoweth what a Diminution to the Crowne and greatnesse of Kings these immunities of Clergy men do bring all which they couer and rabble vp vnder the Title of the liberty of the Church vnworthily transporting this sacred name of Christian liberty which signifieth in the word of God the deliuerance from the curse and malediction and from the yoake of sinne and from the heauy burthen of the ceremonies of the law to ciuill pretences and dispensations with that naturall duety which wee owe vnto our Prince vnder whom we had the happinesse first to behold the Sunne This is a thing that belongeth euen to the law of Nations and besides that is authorised by the word of God that euery person be subiect to the Soueraigne Magistrate But here now see how in one kingdome as in Fraunce there will be found aboue three hundred thousand persons who vnder the title of Clergy-men haue shaken off the yoake of the Princes authority yea euen children that are entred Nouices into that Body exempted from all obedience towards their parents This body of the Clergie hath its Iudges and officers their prisons likewise apart Their causes are not called to be answered before Royall Iudges but receiue hearing and determination in the great State chamber at Rome called La Zuota or in the consistorie There is a third parte of the Lands of this kingdome in the hands of Clergy men to the great preiudice of our kings For it often commeth to passe that the proprietarie owners and possessors of lands doe sell their inheritances whence accureth profite to the Prince by the Kings fine which ariseth of euery first part or first prime of such fales and other rights belonging to the cheefe Lord which Rights are lost when once immoueable goods enter into the possession of the Clergy The king doth also lose his right of Aubaine which is an escheate to the king of all such goods as any stranger dying in Fraunce is possessed of also the right of confiscation and in case of desertion when a man doth quit his owne estate The Clergy being a body that neuer dyeth that neuer confiscateth and in which body inheritances dye by Mortmaine Vpon whom the secular persons conferre euery day new Donations but we neuer see the sharing of Ecclesiasticall goods made to the profite and behoofe of any Lay-man for goods finde many gates open to enter into the Clergy but neuer a one to get our from thence like those footings of the wilde beasts which all turned inward towards the Lyons denne but there appeared no trace of any that euer returned from thence And hence it commeth to passe that as in mans body the thighs and armes grow lesse and lesse by how much the bigger the belly swelleth through excesse so in the body of a Common wealth The Nobility and the Commonalty who are as the armes and legges of that State they are brought low by the increase of the Clergy To this end also they haue obtained that the Church shal alwayes be held in non-age and in her minority that if she shall at any time haue made promise or contract that may turne to her disaduantage she may vnder that pretence be releeued And whereas in common course of law thirtie yeeres are sufficient to keepe possession by way of Prescription De Praescript Cap. 2. in Serto. Contra ipsam Romanam Ecclesiam Centenaria vel contra alias Ecclesias quadragenaria prescriptro Legitima sit completa Against the Church of Rome and against the Templaries no Prescription can be of force vnder one hundred yeares which is in effect as much as that against them there is no Prescription The other

which is there kept for a relique The first Author of this Fable is vnknown but it was deuised to perswade the people that S. Peter hauing layde aside his Crosier wore the triple Crowne as Monarch of the earth of hell and of heauen or as gouernour of Asia Affricke and Europe Now it is not without cause that this Crowne is called the Kingdome because the Pope quallifieth himselfe with the Titles of King and Monarch The last Councell of Lateran Sess 10. speaketh thus to the Pope The Empire of your Holinesse and Sess 9. Regale Romanorum Pontificum genus The Royall race of the Romane Bishops Imperium Sanctitatis verstrae Papa Sacerdos Rex and in the 3. Sess The Pope is Priest and King and in the first Session he is called Princeps totius orbis Prince of the whole world and therefore he preacheth no more Sometimes he saith Masse on some solemne day but in that Masse he causeth himselfe at sundry times to be adored If any King be present he must holde the Napkin but it must be vpon his knee as did King Charles the eight to Pope Alexander the sixth And for his better reading in the Missall he hath a Cardinall that poynteth to the letters with his finger Liber sacrarum Cerem l. 2. sect 1 as men vse to teach young children he then changeth his Hose and Shooes many times hee sucketh the Chalice with a reede at his going away he swelleth and puffeth vp his cheekes and giueth the benediction by blowing vpon them as though he gaue the holy Ghost As touching the Titles of Head of the faith supreame Iudge of all Controuersies which his Maiesty of England vpbraydeth the Pope withall Coeffeteau passeth that ouer and speaketh nothing as thinking it a thing not able to be maintayned So doth he disclaime that Title of Monarch of the world condemning therein the Councell of Lateran before alleadged that calleth him King and Prince of the whole world And we haue before produced certaine Theses lately disputed of at Naples and dedicated to the Pope now reigning Paulo 5. Vice-Deo Christiani orbis monarch wherein he is called Vice-God Monarch of the Christian world Titles of greater Antiquity THese new titles being thus taken away Coeffeteau comes on with a fresh supply and bringeth such as are more auncient and herein he craueth the assistance of the Fathers but first he racketh and tortureth them and by strayning constrayneth them to speake things against their will The first place is out of Tertullian cap. 1. of his booke of chastity Pontifex scilicet Maximus Episcopus Episcoporum dicit ego moechiae fornicationis delicta poenitentia functis dimitto O edectum cui ascribi non potest bonum foctum where he calleth the Bishop of Rome Soueraigne Bishop Bishop of Bishops The Reader that will giue himselfe leisure but to looke vpon the place shall finde that Tertullian speaketh this by way of flouting and mocking the Bishop of Rome for these are his words Yea indeed the chiefe Bishop the Bishop of Bishops saith thus I forgiue the sinnes of Adultery and Fornication to those that haue performed their due time of Penance O Edict vpon which a man may write It was the custome of the ●●omanes to write ouer their Edicts B. F. Bonumfactum a good deed Sueton. in Iulio cap. 81. in Vitellio cap. 14. Plautus Poenulo Banum factum edicta vt seruetis mea THAT SHALL BE WEL DONE Besides we know not whether he spake of the Bishop of Rome or of the Bishop of Carthage a Metrapolitane in Affricke but howsoeuer cap. 21. he followeth the Bishop of Rome farre more plainely faying If because the Lord said vnto Peter vpon this Rocke I will build my Church therefore thou pretendest that the power to binde and loose is deriued vnto thee that is to say to euery Church that hath an affinity or neerenesse with S. Peter who art thou that changest and ouerthrowest the manifest meaning of Iesus Christ Si quia dixerat Petro Dominus super hanc petram c. id circo praesumis ad te deriuasse soluendi alligandi potestatem qualis es euertens atque commutansmanifestam Domi●● intentionem personaliter hos Petro conferentem who conferred the same personally vnto Peter The next is S. Ierome who calleth the Bishop of Rome soueraigne Priest a name which the Ancients giue to euery Bishop as doth also the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The name also of a Foundation of the Church is common the all the Apostles as wee haue shewed and to all their true Successors S. Ierome sayth not that the Bishop of Rome is the only Foundation of the Church and if hee should haue so sayd he would surely haue beene suspected of flattering his Bishop as being himselfe a Roman Priest which neuerthelesse did not hinder him in an Epistle written to Euagrius to affirme that all Bishops are of equall dignity and to place the Bishop of Rome but in equality with others The place is very remarkeable In what place soeuer saith he a Bishop be whether he be at Rome at Agubium at Constantinople at Rhegium at Alexandria or at Tanis he hath one and the same priesthood the power of wealth or basenesse of pouerty maketh not one Bishop higher or lower then another In briefe they are all the successors of the Apostles But thou wilt say vnto me how commeth to passe that at Rome a Prest is receiued to his charge vpon the testimony of one Deacon To this obiection propounded to the end to haue all other Churches ruled after the example of the Romane he answereth thus Why bringest thou me in here the custome of one towne why dost thou bring in a small number by whose meanes pride is crept in among the lawes of the Churches In the third place he alledgeth S. Augustine saying That in the Romane Church the principality of the Apostolike Sea hath alwaies flourished If he had read the ancient histories he should haue learned that antiquity giueth also this principality to the Churches of Antioch Alexandria and of Ierusalem Sozomene chap. 16. of his booke eleuenth speaking of the Councell of Nice Fluic Concilio interfuere in Episcopis qui sedes tenebāt Apostolicas Macarius Hierosolymorum Antistes c. At this Councell were present amongst the Bishops that held the Apostolike Seas Macharius Bishop of Ierusalem Eustance Bishop of Antioch and Alexander Bishop of Alexandria 〈◊〉 Ruffinus lib. 2. chap. 21. saith that Damasus at Rome Timothy in Alexandria and Iohn in Ierusalem reestableshed the Seas Apostolike In Theodoret lib. 5. chap. 9. the Church of Antioch is called the most ancient Church of all the most Apostolike presently after the mother of all the Churches as it is likewise called in many other places Coeffeteau after these addeth a falshood he saith that the Councell of Chalcedon acknowledgeth the Bishop of Rome to be head of

the Bishops of the world We graunt then willingly that the auncient Bishops of Rome before the corruption of Doctrine and vsurpation of the Monarchie in the Church were successors of S. Peter in the Bishoppricke of Rome onely euen as the Bishop of Corinth was successor to S. Paul but withall we adde this that through the corruption of Doctrine which hath by little little crept into the Church of Rome euery age hauing added and contributed thereunto hee is now wholy and iustly falne from that succession For he may not in no wise be called Peters successor who oppugneth the Doctrine preached by S. Peter and who in the Chaire of verity doth establish a lie The Turke may not bee called successor to the Emperour of Greece albeit he be seated in his place seeing that he is rather his subuerter I would haue one shew me that euer S. Peter preached any other purgatory then the bloud of Iesus Christ or any other satisfaction to the iustice of God then his obedience any other sacrifice propitiatory then his death That euer he gaue pardons for an hundred thousand yeares or drew soules out of Purgatory with buls and indulgences that he euer degraded Emperours that he tooke away from the people the reading of the holy Scriptures or the Communion of the Cup or that he commaunded the worshipping of Images and publique Seruice to bee said in an vnknowne tongue or that he euer constrayned other Bishops to take from him letters of Inuestiture and to pay vnto him Annates Or that euer S. Peter was called God on earth the Spouse of the Church and caused himselfe to be worshipped or that euer he sung Masse or commaunded the Host to be adored or that euer he left off preaching the Gospell or quitted the Crosier-staffe to take vnto him a triple Diaderne If I say they can shew me that S. Peter euer did these things then though the Pope were Bishop but of one Village alone I will willingly acknowledge him for S. Peters Successor but still in the Bishopricke only and not in the Apostleship which ended in his person and is not deriued vnto his Successors in particular Churches THus doth the confession of the King of Englands faith remain firme and vnshaken against which Coeffeteau hath armed himselfe with humane testimonies being vtterly destitute of any authority out of the booke of God For as they that are ready to drowne catch hold on any thing so these men in a desperate cause embrace all defences but least of all those that be good Againe whatsoeuer this Doctor alleadgeth out of the Fathers is found to be eyther false or clipt or vtterly counterfeit This payment is not currant especially to such a Prince who hath consecrated his penne to the defence of the truth But this is not to be imputed to Coeffeteaus disability but to the vnlawfulnesse of the cause vnto which we haue in such sort satisfied as whosoeuer shall examine my worke he shall finde an answere to Bellarmines booke also which he hath not long since made against the said booke of the King of great Britaine with more weakenesse and lesse dexterity then Coeffeteau hath done There remayneth the last part of his Maiesties booke wherein with a straine of admirable wit assisted by the spirit of God hee openeth the booke closed with seuen seales and piercing into the secrets of sacred Prophesies he findeth in the seat of Rome the full accomplishment of the Apocalyps When hate and bitternesse shall be extinguished through time Posterity shall admire both the worke and the person and looking backe into ages past for the like patterne shall not be able to finde any thing to be compared with it We will not feare then to enter into these darkenesses vnder so great a guide for it is hard eyther to stumble or to stray where so faire a Torch doth light and shine before vs. But we must here take breath a while before we enter into this taske For the sudden death of our King like a great cracke of Thunder benummeth our handes with astonishment and troubleth our spirits with griefe and anguish Let vs then giue place to necessity and leaue to write that we may haue leisure to lament and let Posterity carefully bethinke it selfe of remedies and hold it for a thing most certaine that hee that setteth light by his owne life is master of another mans and that there is nothing so forcible to make vs to contemne our owne liues as this new doctrine which by the murther of Kings openeth the way to the Kingdome of heauen FINIS Faults necessarily to bee corrected The first number noteth the Page the second the Line The letter R. standeth for Reade L. signifieth the line in the same PAGE PAge 13.25 r. 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A DEFENCE OF THE CATHOLICKE FAITH CONTAINED IN THE BOOKE OF THE MOST Mightie and most Gracious King IAMES the first King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the FAITH AGAINST THE ANSWERE OF N. Coeffeteau Doctour of Diuinitie and Vicar Generall of the Dominican Preaching FRIARS Written in French by PIERRE DV MOVLIN Minister of the word of God in the Church of PARIS Translated into English according to his first Coppie by himselfe reuiewed and corrected LONDON Printed by W. Stansby for Nathaniel Butter and Martin Clerke 1610. To the KINGS most Excellent MAIESTIE I Take mine Authors word and mine owne experience for warrant from beyond the Seas most Dread Soueraigne that your Maiesties excellent knowledge and learning haue wonne you admiration among forraine Nations And for home-affections it is well knowen that your Maiesties sincere loue to the truth of Religion and constant Confession of the Catholicke Faith whereof your Maiestie is worthily stiled The Defender haue knit the hearts of your people vnto you Who well perceiue by your Kingly Apology directed to the Princes of Christendome that God hath made your Maiesty such a one as was DAVID The sweet Singer of Israel euen a Propheticall King 2. ●am 23.1 and a Kingly Prophet whose bold profession it is Psal 119. I will speake of thy testimonies Psal 119.46 euen before Kings and will not be ashamed Such as the Kings also among the Heathen are said to haue beene both Princes and Prophets Rex Anius Virg. Aeneid 3. rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos Concerning the Authour and Pen-man of this booke I neede not say any thing Authorem commendat opus Touching my selfe vpon whom this taske was secundarily imposed I know the Translation will blab out mine imperfections Your Maiesty is apt to pardon greater offences and therfore I hope these The ground worke is your Maiesties owne which maketh me bold to vse that saying toward your Maiesty my Soueraigne Lord wherewith Paulus Orosius dedicateth his Story to S. Austin his Master and Tutor Totum tuum sit quod ex te In initio ad te redit It is all your Maiesties owne doing which comming from you I returne it back againe vnto you And so I dedicate you to your selfe In Apologet. cap. 30. concluding with that which Tertullian reporteth to haue beene the auncient Christians Prayer for the safety of their Emperours and is now in vse also in the Church of Rome if we may beleeue Doctor Coeffeteau but I feare me not with like true affection Fol. 5. Vitam Maiestati tuae prolixam Imperium securum domum tutam exercitum fortem Senatum fiaelem populum probum regnum quietum obnixè precor Your Maiesties most humble and faithfull Subiect IOHN SANFORD To the most Mighty and Gracious King IAMES the first King of great Brittaine and of Ireland SIR AS your greatnesse no way needeth our seruice so your exquisite learning wants not any defence For your greatest enemies to whom your power is redoubtable haue your learning in admiration But were it so that you had vse of any mans pen yet should you haue litle cause to seeke further then your owne kingdomes since amongst your subiects there is so great a number of learned men to whom we are in all regards inferiour Yet notwithstanding we haue held it necessary to declare vnto the world that that religion which you defend is the same which we professe and that it befits vs to make resistance to such as in your particuler person assault the generall truth This vndertaking of mine is great and my abilities but ordinarie besides my vocation very laborious neither is a tempest a fit time to write in or a banke of an vnquiet torrent a fit place for serious meditation But SIR the perfection of your worke may supply my defect for to fight after you cannot be properly termed fighting but the pursuite of your victory for though the point of truth be euer sharpe yet it entreth and pierceth more or lesse according to the force and vigour of the arme It is not then to be maruelled if it strike cleane through errors being guided by so strong and powerfull a hand To you then SIR belongs the glory of this holy worke to vs remaines the good and benefit of following your example for the easiest way to speake well for you is to speake that which we haue learned of you neither is it possible that any one should write well in your defence that writes not in your imitation Wherein these my paines can no way merit to be compared For your Maiesty poureth out largely with a royall hand into the Threasury of the Sanctuary whilest I like the poore widow make offer of my mite the which I do with the more affection boldnesse in respect that our Kings participate with you in the cause and that we do see our crowne already foiled and our kings life endangered for want of considering those things which your Maiesty in your booke propoundeth and God grant that your Maiesties warnings be not prophesies and that our good mercifull and victorious king who flourisheth equally in peace as he is feared in warre being endued with an admired vigor both of body and mind may be long preserued amongst vs who hauing had so good experience and in so many places of our fidelity will not we hope be displeased with this our liberty in defending of our religion to which we are not drawne by the hatred of any but by our zeale to the cause of God and through compassion of the poore peopla who being carried along with the streame of custome thinke they do God good seruice to hate vs yea so farre are they transported as they are become iealous and suspitious of the holy Scriptures fearing lest by the word of God they should be misled and seduced for the saluation of whose enthralled soules we would willingly expose our liues and will not cease daily to pray to God to enlighten them in the truth whom we likewise pray that he will preserue your Maiesty from all euill and blesse your person and kingdomes and the Church that liueth vnder the shade and quiet of your gouernment with praier from my heart I recommend to God remaining From Paris the 20. of Ianuary 1610. Your Maiesties most humble and most obedient seruant P. D. M. The Translator to the Reader Gentle Reader I here present thee a worke very worthy of thy study and Meditation if eyther thou beare a loue to Gods truth or good affection towards thy Soueraigne Onely let me intreat thee out of a common feeling of humane frailty to pardon and before thou reade to amend the faults that haue herein escaped through ouersight of the Printers my sickenesse at that time and the distance of place not giuing me leaue to be alwayes present to preuent the same In the Translation I haue not nicely tyed my selfe to the wordes neyther was it requisite

the Church and the first of all other and this is found in the 16 Session But note that it is not the Councell which speaketh thus but Paschasin deputed from Rome who pleadeth his owne cause and yet this hindred not this Councell from making a Canon expresly declaring and defining that the Bishop of Constantinople is equall with him of Rome in all things yea euen in causes Ecclesiasticall the Canon hath beene produced by vs before He further saith that Irenaeus chap. 3. lib. 3. doth attribute vnto the Church of Rome a principality more powerfull thē vnto others which is most false and an euident corruption of the place Irenaeus speaketh of the principality and power of the city for being the seate of the Empire the faithfull of all Churches had necessary occasions to repaire thither The words are these Ad hanc Ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem conuenire c. Ecclesiam vnto this Church by reason of the more mighty principality it is necessary that euery Church should resort As if I should say that all the Churches of France should come to that of Paris because there is the principality and power of the Realme and yet can I not for all this say that the faithfull ministers of the Church of Paris haue a principality ouer the rest Saint Cyprian in the third Epistle of his first booke doth directly call the Church of Rome the principall Church because in all the West there was no Church so great or so remarkable as it He saith that the vnity of Priesthood came from thence because his opinion was Hoc crant vtique caeteri Apostoli quod Petrus pari consortio honoris potestatis sed exordium ab vnitate proficisc it ur vt Ecclesia vna monstretur that albeit the Apostles were all equall in power and honour yet S. Peter was entertained into his charge some small time before the other Apostles Iesus Christ hauing a determination to begin from one to the end to shew the vnity of the Church as he saith in his treatise of the simplicity of Prelates He beleeued then that S. Peter who for a season held the sacerdo tall dignity alone to testifie the vnity of the Church had beene at Rome and that from thence Christiā religion spred it selfe into the West Now in this Cyprian goeth about to soften and to gratifie the Bishop of Rome to the end to prepare him the better to taste and to brooke the checkes and reproofes which afterwards he adioyneth whereby he proueth to Cornelius that he hath no power at all ouer Affricke and that he neither could nor ought to receiue the causes of those whom the Bishops of Affricke had condemned for saith he presently after seeing it is ordered among vs all and that it is a thing iust and reasonable that euery mans cause should be examined where the crime was committed and that vnto euery Pastor there is allotted a portion of the flocke which each one ought to gouerne and leade as being to render an account vnto the Lord of his carriage and behauiour there is no reason that those whom we guide should runne from one place to another and through their fraudulent rashnesse seeke to breake the concord of Bishops friendly knit together but that they should there pleade their causes where they may haue accusers and witnesses of their crimes lest it fall out that some desperate and forlorne persons should thinke that the authority of the Bishops of Affricke who haue condemned them should be lesse then others their cause hath beene alreadie examined the sentence hath beene alreadie pronounced To conclude he maintaineth that Cornelius may not take knowledge of any causes determined by the Bishops of Affrica without accusing them of lightnesse and vustaydnesse and so trouble the peace and quiet of the Church This is the cause that made Cyprian to gild his pill to extol the dignity of the Church of Rome before he would shew him that he ought not to thrust himselfe into the affaires of other Churches For it is diligently to be noted that those among the ancient Fathers that affirme that the Bishop of Rome is successour to Peter doe thereby vnderstand that he is successour in the charge of Bishop of Rome but not in the Apostleship After this sort also the Bishops of Ephesus were successors to S. Iohn and S. Paul the Bishops of Ierusalem successors to S. Iames so farre as these Apostles were Bishops of Ephesus and Ierusalem but they neuer were successors to the Apostleship and to the gouernment of the Church Vniuersall Nor is there any reason why the Bishop of Rome should be successor to Peter in his Apostleship and yet the Bishop of Ierusalem should be onely successor to S. Iames in his Bishoppricke Besides the Bishop of Antioch more auncient then the Bishop of Rome hath alwaies beene called the successor of S. Peter and why should it not be aswell in the Apostleship and gouernment of the Vniuersall Church If you will say that Peter hath taken away the prerogatiue and preheminence from Antioch and hath transported it to Rome we vtterly deny it and thereof no proofe worthy the receiuing can be brought If they further say that Peter dyed at Rome I will also say that Iesus Christ dyed at Ierusalem And why should not Christ his death at Ierusalem haue in it more power and vertue to make the Bishop of Ierusalem chiefe of the Church then the death of S. Peter at Rome to conferre this great dignity vpon the Bishop of Rome I leaue it likewise to the Readers to iudge who after the death of Peter ought of right to bee the chiefe of the Vniuersall Church For S. Iames liued yet at Ierusalem after S. Peter was dead And the Apostle S. Iohn out-liued him 32 yeares Eusebius in his Chronicle saith that Peter and Paul died the yeare of our Lord 69. and that S. Iohn dyed at Ephesus in the yeare 101. according to the accompt of Eusebius and Irenaeus Is it a thing to bee beleeued that S. Iohn the Disciple whom Iesus loued who leaned on his breast vnto whom he recommended his mother at his death whose writings are diuine oracles as the Reuelations in the Apocalips doe witnes that he should bee inferior to Linus the Disciple of Paul and indeed our aduer saries themselues haue inserred into the first Tome of their Councels certaine Epistles which they say were Clements Bishoppe of Rome amongst which there is one to S. Iames Bishop of Ierusalem and thus it beginneth Clemens to Iames brother of the Lord Bishop of Bishops gouerning the holy Church of the Hebrewes which is in Ierusalem Clemens Iacobo fratri Domini Episcopo Episcoporum yea all the Churches which are founded euery where by the prouidence of God And a little after hee calleth him his Lord words which witnesse that Clemens acknowledged Iames for his superior and chiefe of all