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
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
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
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
literaâ— Petiliani lib. 2 cap. 38. Aug. ad Vincen. Epist. 48. Retract 2.5 Christian kings may compell their subiects though not to faith yet to the outward meanes of faith And it is the body only and not the soule or conscience that they coÌ„mand and compell August in Epist. 50. 204. August Epist. 48. Retract lib. 2. cap. 5. August contra Crescon lib. 3. cap. 51. Seâ— these Texts fully answered in the third part of this booke Cap. 2. sect 5. Cusanus de Cath. Concord lib. 2. cap. 13. Aeneas Sil. li. 1. de gestis Basil. Concil Gerson Serm. pro viagiâ— Reg. Rom. direct 1. Valla. Cont. Don. Constant. Volateran in vita Const. Antonin 1. part l. 8. c. 2. Ser. iniquit Catal. in practic cancel Apostol Balbus de Coron ad Carol. 5. Concil Carthag 6. c. 3. Concil Affâ—is c. 101. 105. 92. Concil Milevit c. 22. Bellarm de Rom. pont lib. 2. cap. 14. 2. Tom. Concil in Decret Pelag 2. Tom. 2 Concil edit Bin. pa. 693. Gregor lib. 4. Epist. 34. â—pist 32. Epist. 36. Epist. 34. 38. Epist. 24. Observe well this reason amongst the rest Lib. 6. Ep. 30. Paul Diacon lib 4. de gestis Longobard cap. 37. Ab. Vsperg Chronic. Platin. Boniface 3. Otho Frising li. 5. c. 8. Chron. c. Bellarm. de pont Rom. cap. 17. Iustinian in Epist. ad Ioh. 2. Idem Co de sacros Ecc. Iustin. Co de summa Trinit lib. 7. De Episcop audientia 2. certissime Novel 3.5.7 Idem Novel 2. sequent Concil Calced Concil Nic. 2. Act. 2. Conc. Nic. ca. 6.7 Conc. Constant. 1. can 5. Conc. Chalced. Actio 16. The Decrees of ancient generall Councels against the Popes Supremacie Concil Constantinopol 1. canon 5. Concil Constantinopol 6. canon 36. Cusan Concord li. 2. c. 34. 20. The Popes Supremacie over Councels is of a verie late standing condemned by Councels Naucl. gener 47 Gerson de Au Papae Câ—â—â—il Constan. Sess. 5. Concil Basil. Sess. 38. 33. The Popes Supremacie over Kings Princes most abhominable Prov. 8.15 Dan. 4.29 Revel 19.16 Matth. 16.19 Aug in Psa. 124. Bellarm lib 5. ca. 7. de Râ—m Pont. Râ—m 13.5 Tertull. in Apolog cap. 37. Tertull. Apolog. cap. 30. Sigebert Chron. An. Dom. 1088. New Trayterous opinions Vincent in spec Histor. lib. 15. cap. 84. Gre. Vesper haeretico polit pag. 159. Marian. de rege regis Institut cap. 6. c. Theod. hist. lib 2. ca. 16. Niceph. lib. 26. ca. 17. Platina Sigeâ—ertus t. Theodor. lib. 1. cap. 19. Rom. 13.4 Grego Ep. lib. 2. cap. 100. 10â— Gregory the great Bishop of Rome subiect to the Emperor and at his command Anastatius Platina Lib. pontif Diaconus Optat. contra Parm. lâ—b 3. It is a point of madnesse to say or hold that a Christian King may not deale in matters Ecclesiastical by the testimonie of Optatus August Ep. 50. A Christian King maâ— make Lawes concerning matters Ecclesiasticall A Christian King may make CoÌ„missioners in Ecclesiasticall causes Optat. lib. 1. August Ep. 162. 16â— Euseb. lib. 10. cap. 5. A Christian King may have Appeales made unto him in a cause Ecclesiasticall Miltiades a Bishop of Rome subiect to the Emperor at his command Act. 25.11 12. Concil Affrican cap. 92. Appeales in ancient time not allowed to be made to the Bish. of Rome Concil Milevit cap. 22. Malmesbury lib. 1 de gest pont Angliae Hoveden Hen. 2. Theod. lib. 5. c. 7. Sozom. lib. 7. c. 7. Theod. li. 1. c. 7. General Councels called in ancient time by the Christian Emperors and not by the Popes Evagr. l. 1. c. 3. Conc. Calc Act. 1. zon tom 3. pag. 39. Cusan de Concor lib 2. cap. 25. Socrat. lib 5. in Prooemio Bellar. de Concil lib. 1. cap. 13. Leo Epist. 9. Leo Epist. 24. Epist. 26. Epist. 23. Leo Epist. 59. Leo a Bishop of Rome subiect to the Emperor and at his command 1. Kin 2.27.35 Zozom l. 7. c. 8. Plat. Sigeb A Christian King may nominate appoint Bishops of Diocesses Provinces Malmesbur de gestu Pont. Angl. lib. 1. pag. 205. Ibidem lib. 1. pag 205. Lib. 1. pag 204. Malmesb. de gest Reg. Angl. lib. 2. pag 45. De gestis Pont. Angl. lib. 2. pag. 242. p. 257. Metrop Grantz lib. 2. cap. 29. The Christian Emperors in ancient time had power to place and displace Popes The Act is of 1. Eliz cap. 1 in England and of 2. Eliz. cap. 1. in Ireland Euseb. in vitae Const. lib. 3. Conc. Const. 5. Conc. Chalced. Actio 3. Emperors and consequently Kings within their Dominions are to ratifie and confirme the Decrees of Councels before they be put in execution Aser Menevensis praefat ad Alfred Concil Mogunt in praefat Bin. t. 3. p 462. Bin. t. 3. p. 631. Concil Emerit ex Garsia Louisa sect 23. Bin. t. 2. pag. 1183. Gars in not in Concil Emer Calvin in Amos 7.13 Praefat. in Centur 1 Sam. 15.17 Chrysost. ad pop Antioch hom 2. Statute of 5. Eliz cap 1. Ract Crowne 8. 1. Thess. 5 12. Heb 13.17 2. Cor 5.20 Matth. 28.20 Ezech. 20.18 19. 2. Kin. 18.40 41. Matth. 7.15 1 Ioh. 4.1 Matth. 15.14 2. Thess. 2.3 4 5 6 7 8. 1. Tim. 3.16 Matth. 13.30 2. Thess. 2.7 1. Ioh. 2.18 1. Ioh. 4.3 2. Ioh. 7. 2. Thess. 2.8 Revel 10.2.8 9 10 11. Rev. 9.13 c. Rev. 10.2.8 9 10 11. Rev. 10.7 Rev. 11.15 16 17 18. Revel 2.13 2. Thes. 2.4 Revel 11.12 Rev. 18.4 Rev. 11.12 c. Rev. 11.2 M White in his his Booke called The way to the true Church In opere imperf in Matth. 49. 2. Sam. 16.11 1. Tim. 1.13 Cyprian in Psalmo Ad quid justificationes meas assumis testamentuÌ„ meum per osâ— tuum c. In vita Bernard Bern. in Cantic Card Contaren Tract de Iustificatione Pigâ— de fide Iustificatione Colon. in Antidag 1. Cor. 3.10 11 12 13 14 15. Aug. lib. 1. cont Iulian. Pelag. cap. 6. Greg Niss de hom opific. ca. ult Luke 23.40 41 42 43. Bellar. de Iustificat lib. 5. c. 7. Bern. de cons. ad Eugen. lib. 2. cap. 2 lib. 6. cap. 3 cap. 8. Epist 42 ad Hen. Archiepisc. Seâ—onensis apud Hugon in postill super Iohan cap. 1. Epist. 125. Concil Rhemens sub Capeto eius filio Epist. Leodiensis Ecclesiae ad Paschalem 2. in 2. volumine Conciliorum Acta vita Paschalis Sigon lib. 9. de regno Itâ—l Radevie in Appendice Frisingensis Avent in Boiâ—rum histor In oratione Archimistae ad Proceres Imperij Petrus Blessens in Epist. ad queÌ„dam officialem Sigeb â—onach Gemblacens apud Aventin de Tyran Pontificiâ— Guilielm Episc. Paris lib. de Collat. Benefic Henric. de Erphordia de Haiabalâ— circa Ann. 1345. Petrarch lib. Epist 14 epist. 17. epist. 19. Nicho. Oresmus in Orat. habit coram Papa Vrban 5. Iohan. de rup sciss in lib. prophetico cui
but two Sacraments of the new Testament properly so called and that Confirmation Penance Mariage Orders and Extreme unction be not Sacraments properly pag. 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 c That the Sacraments doe not give grace ex opere operato by the verie vvorke or action done by the Minister but grace commeth and is given another vvay pag. 215 216 T TRaditions not specified in the Scriptures affirmed to be Apostolicall there being no assured proofe that they came undoubtedly and originally from the Apostles be not to be urged or imposed upon the faith of men pag. 57 58 c How men in ancient time vvere deceived by Traditions said and supposed to be Apostolicall See the Preface That these Traditions be needlesse because the sacred and canonicall Scriptures vvithout them be perfectly and completely sufficient for all instruction of truth concerning divine and heavenly matters pa. 57 58.64 c. See also the Preface V THat the Bishop of Rome if hee vvere a good and orthodoxe Bishop is no more the Vicar of Christ then other Bishops are pag. 97 To vvhat Vse and end God gave his Law of the Ten Commandements pag. 151.152 it being impossible to be exactly and perfectly fulfiâ—led by men by reason of the vveâ—kenesse that is in all flesh and â—hat God therein is neither cruell tyrannicall or uniust p. 151 152. and pag. 108 109 c W GOod Workes be the effect and fruite of a iustifying faith and doe not iustifie in Gods sight pag. 101 c. p 112 c There is a reward belonging to good Workes but it is a reward of bountie and grace and not of merit or due desert by men pag. 113 114 c. Good Workes be the vvay that men must vvalke in towards the kingdome of God but they be not the cause of their comming thither pag. 105 c. Good Workes and a good life and godly conversation must be observed but not to purchase or merit heaven thereby for it cost a greater price but for other godly uses and ends pag. 110.111 112 c. pag. 121.122.123 124 pag. 151.152 â—o good Workes in Gods sight and censure before faith received pag 147 â—â—od Works done after faith received do not merit at Gods hands â—or iustifie in his sight pag. 148.149.150 â—orkes of supererogation most abominable pag. 151.152 â—orkes of mens owne invention and devising done for and in the â—way of Gods service and religion not commanded by him nor warranted by his VVord whatsoever good intention is pretended â—e neverthelesse not good nor approved in his sight and censure pa. 145.146 FINIS TABULAE ERRATA PAg 1 in marg 1. Pet. 5.12 for 1. Pet. 5.1 2. pag. 3. l. 1. audiens for erudiens p. 10. l. 6. knoâ— for knew p. 11. l. 17. otger for other p. 27. l. 25. Grantzius for Crantzius p. 74. l. 10. hirdly for thirdly p. 96. l. 19. alwayes to be blotted out p. 109 l. 22. Clesiphontem for Ctesiphoâ—â—â—â— p. 111. l. 29 manifested for magnified p. 116. l 18. reade in this sense p. 128. l. 28. able to dye 〈◊〉 able to doe it p. 130. l. 31. highest for highest p. 139. l. 37. himselfe to be blotted out p. 148. â— marg Psal 3.12 for Phil 3.12 ib. Gal. 5 1â— for Gal. 5.17 p. 159 l 4. sim for sum p. 177. l â— hâ—â—gh for though p. 190. l. 28. bloud for beloved p. 193 l. 1. sinnes for sinne p. 200. l. 14 of to 〈◊〉 blotted p. 207. l. 13. outward for inward p. 211. l 31. end for and p. 212. l. 25 popist for â—â—â—pish p. 216. l. 1. in marg Graces for Grace p 222. l. 7 member for members p. 231. l. 25. Traâ—â—substation for Transubstantiation p. 232. l. 6. aswell sense for aswell as sense l. 7. Transubstaâ—â—tiation for Transubstantiation p 239. l. 30. manet for manent p 43. l 13. ef for of p. 184. â— marg Ioâ— 4.10 for 1. Ioh. 4.10 Ioh. 4.19 for 1. Ioh. 4.19 p. 253. l. 8. it for is and l. 26. â— in good measure to be blotted p 254. l. 26. Espencaelus for Espencaeus p. 256 l. 6. continuaâ—â—â— for câ—â—ntenance p 263. in marg Exod. 23.8 for Exod 32.8 p. 271 l. 28 due for done p. 283. l. â— reade Titus Vespasian and the rest c p. 296. l. 1 althought for although l. 25. Legall 〈◊〉 Regall p. 318. l. 3. fable for fables p. 331. l. 31. Imperio for l. 'imperio l 37. had led for hanâ—â— p. 332 l 1. for for so p. 341. l. 6 no for not p. 343 l. 11. redigerint for redegerint and l. 9 â— qurdringentos for quadringentos l. 23 Empires for Empire p. 361 l 9 Doranus for Dorâ—â—nus p. 380. l. 15 21. et for est p 387. l. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 39â— l 5. Apostles for Apâ—â—stle p. 393 l. 26. or three to be blotted p. 395. l. 1 2. in the Church relation to Antichrist 〈◊〉 whose spirit they speake as S. Iohn affirmeth to be blotted p. 400. l. 20. true-Christians 〈◊〉 true-Christian p. 410. l 22. bni for bin p. 243. l 4. heree for here p. 296 in marg l 6. petrus â—â—â—spondet for unus respondit p. 380. l. 20. Theodorum for medorum p 48 Finis libri primi 〈◊〉 Finis primae partis hujus libri p. 63 l 26. that for the. l. 5. uphold for hold p. 64. l. 37. prâ—â—structae for praestructa p. 27. l. 21. Minister for Ministers p. 69. l. 1. perish for passe p. 119. l â— for not p 16 l. 15. by them for to them p. 88. l. 4. strang for strange p. 100. l. 5 truth for trutâ—â— p. 113. l. 26. to superfluous p. 38â— l. 34. odoravit for adoravit p 345. l 19. velunt for velut 〈◊〉 358. l 24. Apostolici for Apostoli p. 365. l. 3. after peace add and ioy p 375. l. 32. of prohibiâ—â—â—on for of a prohibition p. 40. in marg for Cyprian in psalmo ad quid Iustificationes meas 〈◊〉 assumis Testamentum meum per os tuum read Cyprian lib. 2. Epist. 3. ad Caecilium p. 3â—â— l. 1. howres to be blotted p. 401. l 26. licentiousnes for covetousnes Other faults may also escape in the printing which I desire the Reader to correct witâ— his pen. THE FIRST PART of the BOOKE CAP. I. Concerning the Kings Supremacie and the Oath in that behalfe to be taken HIS MAIESTIES Supremacie is chiefly considerable in two respects namely in respect of Persons and in respect of Things or Causes First then concerning his Supremacy in respect of Persons Ecclesiasticall as well as Civill within his owne Dominions who can iustly denie it him Doth not S. Peter expresly require of all Christians that live within the Dominion of anie King that they should submit themselves unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as unto the chiefe or supreame person over them It is evident that hee calleth the King
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
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
doth in other places declare that they are so to be referred and expounded saying thus in his Epistle to the Ephesians Having heard of the Faith vvhich ye have in the Lord Iesus and love toward all the Saints c. So againe hee speaketh in his Epistle to the Colossians Having heard of your faith in Christ Iesus and of your love toward all the Saints By conferring of which two Texts with that to Philemon it is verie evident to everie one that is not wilfully contentious or perverse that Faith is as well in the one place as in the other to be attributed to Christ and Love to all the Saints The other Text they alledge is Exod. 14.31 where the wordes are not They beleeved in God and in Moses but the words be thus The people feared the Lord and beleeved the Lord and his servant Moses And so is your owne translation Crediderunt Domino Mosi servo eius They beleeved the Lord and Moses his servant The third Text they alledge is 2. Paral. 20.20 where your owne translation likewise is thus Credite in Domino Deo vestro securi eritis Credite Prophetis eius cuncta evenient prospera Beleeve in the Lord your God and yee shall bee sure Beleeve his Prophets and all things shall fall out prosperously But the Rhemists here seeme to appeale to the Hebrew Text because they see their owne Latin Translation to make against them and yet the Hebrew Text will also nothing helpe them inasmuch as it herein agreeth with the same their owne Latin Translation But yet they further alledge that ancient Fathers did reade indifferently I beleeve in the Catholicke Church and I beleeve the Catholicke Church It is granted that some of them did so and therefore to beleeve in the Catholicke Church was with them and in that speech of theirs all one with this to beleeve that there is a Catholike Church as they said likewise I beleeve in one Baptisme I beleeve in the Resurrection of the dead in the life to come So that although their speech herein was somwhat improper as appeareth by that which is before delivered by the ancient Fathers upon the Creede yet their meaning in those wordes being as is evident no more but to beleeve that there is a Catholike Church and not that wee should put our trust faith and confidence in the Church it maketh nothing against that which is here intended and spoken And therefore still for anie to beleeve in the Church in this sense viz. to put his faith affiance tâ—ust and confidence in the Church is to attribute that to the Church which rightly and properly belongeth unto God consequently is to make a god of it which is abominable Idolatrie 8 I here forbeare to speake of their superstitious reserving and worshipping of Reliques that is of dead bodies and insensible bones of Saints and Martyrs which it were far more meet honestly and decently to burie then so to abuse yea of some that are by Papists supposed to be Saints and Martyrs and yet are not so For all be not Saints nor the Martyrs of Iesus that are supposed to bee so neither doe all die â—or religion that are supposed by Papists to die for that cause As for example there was a Booke set forth of late entituled Martyrium c. The Martyrdome of Conoghor O Deveny which was a Popish Bishop and of Gilpatrick Ologran which was a Popish Priest which two neverthelesse were not put to death for the cause of Religion as that Booke would perswade but for Treason as the Enditements against them both extant of Record in the Kings Bench of Ireland doe expresly and openly testifie and as all the multitude of people then present at their arraignement can also witnesse Which is ever sufficient to confute the most slanderous and most notorious untruth of that Booke But Popish Rome being before verie evidently proved to be the vvhore of Babylon and consequently the Persecutor of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus it is thereby an easie matter to collect who be the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus and who not namelie that the Protestants be the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus and that the Papists be the persecutors So that if anie be so wilfull as to die in defence of the Pope or Popish Religion they appeare to be therein no Martyrs of Christ but of Antichrist And therefore also as touching this point of martyrdome let them be no longer mistaken as heretofore they have beene CHAP. II. Wherein is further shewed that the Pope of Rome is the Grand Antichrist out of 2. Thess. 2. BVT concerning this point that the Pope of Rome is that verie grand Antichrist and consequentlie that the Popish Church ruled and governed by him is the very undoubted AntichristiaÌ„ Church and therefore of everie one to bee utterlie forsaken and detested Although that cleere and evident testimonie before going of S. Iohn in his Revelation discovereth the same sufficientlie yet shall you have it manifested further by the direct testimonie also of S. Paul for your better and fuller satisfaction S. Paul therefore in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians foretelling of the great Apostacie or departure from the right faith and religion which was then to come writeth thus Let no man deceive you by anie meanes for that day namelie of Christ to Iudgement shall not come except there come a departure first and that that man of sinne bee disclosed even the sonne of perdition which is an Adversarie and exalted above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that hee doth sit in the Temple of God as God shewing himselfe that hee is God Remember yee not that when I vvas yet vvith you I told you these things and now yee knovv what withholdeth that hee might be revealed in his time for the mysterie of iniquitie doth already worke Onely be vvhâ—ch now vvithholdeth shall let untill hee bee taken out of the vvay and then shall that vvicked man bee revealed vvhom the Lord shall consume vvith the spirit of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightnesse of his comming even him whose comming is by the vvorking of Sathan with all povver and signes and lying vvonders and in all deceaveablenesse of unrighteousnesse amongst them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might bee saved And therefore God shall send them sâ—rong delusion to beleeve lies that they all might be damned vvhich beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse In these words ye see first that S. Paul fortelleth of an Apostaâ—y or Departure from the right faith and religion which should come and bee in the world which apostacie or departure namelie from the faith hee alâ—o mentioneth in his Epistle to Timothie 1. Tim. 4.1 And this Apostacie or departure from the faith least wee should be mistaken in it hee sheweth that it should bee A mystery of Iniquity
A FRIENDLY ADVERTISEMENT TO the pretended Catholickes of IRELAND Declaring for their satisfaction That both the Kings SUPREMACIE and the FAITH whereof his Majestie is the Defender are consonant to the doctrine delivered in the holy Scriptures and writings of the ancient Fathers AND CONSEQVENTLY That the Lawes and Statutes enacted in that behalfe are dutifully to be observed by all his Majesties subjects within that Kingdome By CHRISTOPHER SIBTHORP Knight one of his Majesties Iustices of His Court of Chiefe Place in IRELAND IN THE END WHEREOF IS ADDED An Epistle written to the Author by the Reverend Father in God IAMES VSSHER Bishop of Meath wherein it is further manifested that the Religion anciently professed in Ireland is for substance the same with that which at this day is by publick Authoritie established therein DUBLIN Printed by the Societie of Stationers 1622. TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY KING IAMES BY THE GRACE OF GOD KING OF GREAT Britanne France and Ireland Defender of the FAITH c. CIvill Iustice most Gracious Soveraigne and Externall Peace be as all confesse two things in everie Common-weale much to be honoured and highly respected but they are then doubtlesse of best and worthiest esteeme and most blessed of GOD when together with them Gods Religion flourisheth and the Supremacie of Kings and Princes within their owne Dominions is also as one of his sacred ordinances duly reverenced and obeyed For in the diligent observance of Gods ordinances added to civill Iustice and externall Peace it is as your Majestie best knoweth that the solid durable and complete Happinesse of every Kingdome especially that professeth God and his word consisteth Howbeit concerning points of civill Iustice and externall Peace I shall not neede here to speake anie thing because in those two points and generally in all matters Temporall as they be called the pretended Catholicks of this your Majesties Kingdome doe already of themselves willingly professe and yeeld a very good conformitie without any opposition or contradiction I wish they did also shew as of right they ought and upon better information received I trust they will the like good conformity as touching the two other points which be indeed points of the greatest highest importance namely concerning your Majesties Supremacie and the Religion in which two points it is that their great defect and unconformitie appeareth The cause hereof they alledge to be their Conscience and so I also conceive it But what maner of conscience it is themselves should more seriously consider For if it be as it is indeed not a right but a wrong and an erring conscience all men will grant that such a conscience ought to be rectified and reformed and not persisted in If then matter sufficient to satisfie their consciences in these points shall be shewed unto them it is as much as they can desire and from thenceforth they must eythe◠be conformed or else be held utterly unexcusable as having after that nothing further left to alledge or pleade for themselves in the case This therefore is the thing that I have here attempted endevoured to do perform as I was able and as my other imployments in the affaires of the Cōmon-weale would permit me I confesse that it might have been much better done by sundry and innumerable others that be farre more learned and have also much more leisure for these things then I and that much more might likewise have beene spoken in every severall and particular point then is here by mee delivered But as I could not nor desired to speake all but so much as might suffice so neyther doe I doubt but there will here be found matter sufficient if not redundant to give contentment satisfaction to the conscience of any that will be reasonable and equall and not suffer himselfe to be transported or caried away with prejudice or with perverse or partiall affection The VVorke is I grant in respect of mee in no sort worthy your Majesties view or patrocinie yet in respect of the matter therein handled it being the cause of no lesse then of God himselfe and of his Church and of all Christian Kings in generall if they all knew or would take notice of that which of right belongeth to them and it being your Majesties owne cause more specially and particularly I thought it meetest and my bounden duetie to dedicate it as here in all humble submission I doe to your most excellent Majestie The Almightie evermore keepe and preserve your Highnesse to the great glory of his Name the further comfort of his Church and of all your Majesties Dominions the most ample propagating of his religion and the confusion of all false and Antichristian Doctrines and to your owne everliving honour in this world and everlasting felicitie in the world to come through Iesus Christ. AMEN Your Majesties most humble subject and servant though unworthy Christopher Sibthorp The Preface TO THE HONORABLE VVORSHIPfull and the rest of the pretended Catholikes within the Realme of Ireland IT is cleere and out of all question noble Lords and worthy Gentlemen that the one side namely either the Protestants or the Papists be and must needs be mightily mistaken and strongly deluded whilst they be both so confident and yet so contradictorie and repugnant in their severall Religions opinions but where and on which side this strong Delusion is S. Paul hath foretold long agon and it will hereafter be more fully declared In the meane time some peradventure will take exception to this Work for that it is not done by a professed Divine but by one of another profession Indeed I must confesse that in respect of learning and all other abilities and conveniences it might by manie degrees have beene much better performed by such a one then by mee who am the meanest of manie thousands For which cause it was that I sollicited and that verie earnestly a learned professed Divine of my acquaintance to have undertaken the Worke but Hee whom I thus requested finding himselfe to be otherwise much busied and employed had no leisure to intend it by reason whereof the burthen of it then returned and rested upon my weake selfe Howbeit as I presume nothing of my selfe for neither is there anie cause I should so neither doe I distrust or despaire of the strength of the Almightie whose direction and assistance I therefore most humbly implore to enable mee in this so weighty a businesse wherein I am otherwise of my selfe utterly unable and altogether defective Now then howsoever it is granted that it might have beene much better done by a learned professed Divine yet thereupon it followeth not that therefore it is either unlawfull or unbeseeming Mee or a man of another profession to intermeddle in it For first it is well knowne that manie with whom neverthelesse I neither doe nor is it meet I should compare my selfe have written and that verie commendably even concerning Divinitie who were themselves no professed Divines
things forbid evill things not onely such things as belong to humane societie but such things also as belong to Gods Religion Can anie thing be more plainely or more directly spoken for this purpose 4 It is true that the Oath of Supremacy conteyneth in it not onely an affirmative clause that The King is the onely supreme Governor of this Realme and of all other his Highnesse Dominions and countreyes c. but a negative clause also viz. that No forraine Prince person Prelate State or Potentate hath or or ought to have anie Iurisdiction power superioritie preeminence or authoritie Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall within this Realme c. And why should wee not all frankely and freely acknowledge this For beside that the effect of this negative clause is included in the former affirmative what hath anie forraine Prince or Prelate to doe within anie the Kings Dominions without his leave and licence For as touching the Bishop of Rome otherwise called the Pope concerning whom all the scruple is made his authoritie is by Act of Parliament directly banished and abolished out of all his Maiesties Dominions So that by anie humane Law or constitution of force in this kingdome he neither hath nor can challenge anie authoritie at all much lesse a supremacy amongst us How then doth he claime it Or which way can he have it Is it by anie Divine Institution That hath been often pretended I know but could never yet be proved nor ever will be For as for those three Texts of Scripture which be usually alledged namely the one in Matth. 16 Tu es Petrus super hanc Petâ—â—â— c. and Luk. 22. Oraâ—i pro te Petre c. and Ioh. 21. Pasce oves meas c. They have beene often heretofore as they be againe afterward examined and cleerely shewed to make nothing for him in respect of anie supremacy eyther Civill or Ecclesiasticall In the meane time will you be pleased to heare what some great learned men even of former times when Poperie was not altogether so grosse and bad as it is in these daies have written of this matter Cusanus a Cardinall did himselfe dispute in his time against them that thought the Pope to have more power and authoritie then otger Bishops Oportet primum si hoc verum foret Petrum aliquid à Christâ— singularitatis recepisse Papam in hoc successorem esse sed scimus quod Petrus nihil plus potestatis à Christo accepit alijs Apostolis First if this were true then must Peter have received something singular from Christ and that the Pope be his successor therein but we know saith he that Peter received from Christ no more power or authoritie then the rest of the Apostles Aeneas Silviaâ— likewise who was afterward himselfe a Pope of Rome hath written a Booke of the Acts and proceedings of the Councell of Basil and first handling that Text Tu es Petrus super hanc petram c. he saith thus A quibus verbis ideo placuit eâ—ordiri quod aliqui verba haec ad extollendam Romani Pontificis authoritatem solen◠〈…〉 sed ut statim patebit alius est verborum Christi sensus Of which words it therefore pleased mee to begin for that some are wont to alledge these words for the extolling of the authoritie of the Pope of Rome but as shall by and by appeare there is saith he another sense or meaning of those words of Christ. Iohn Gerson also Chancellor of the Vniversitie of Paris inveighing against flatterie and flatterers of the Pope saith That this offence was given by such as would prove his Iurisdiction from certaine Texts of Scripture as Tu es Petrus super hanc Petram c. and Oravi pro te Petre c. and such like which Texts saith he bee taken by these flatterers grosse non secundum regulam Evangelicam grossely and not according to the rule of the Gospell Observe well these speeches for they tell you how much these Texts of Scripture both heretofore have beene and still be herein abused it being indeed a thing certaine that neither to the civill Supremacie nor yet to the ecclesiasticall the Pope can make anie good title In times past he claimed the one or at least a great part of the Empire by a pretended gift or donation of Constantine the Emperor But that supposed donation and conveyance hath beene long since shewed to be a forged and counterfeit thing and that not onely by Protestants but by Papists also as namely by Valla by Volateran by Antoninus Catalanus by Canus also loc Theol. lib. 1. cap. 5. and by Pope Pius the second as Balbus witnesseth and by sundrie others In like manner he claimed in ancient time an ecclesiasticall supremacie by a supposed Canon of the Councell of Nice but that was also upon examination found to be a forged and counterfeit Canon and so discovered and made evident to the world by the sundrie Bishops of those times assembled in Councels And divers other forged Authors they likewise alledge for this purpose as for example certaine Decretall Epistles under the nameâ— of Clemens Anacletus Evaristus Sixtus Teleâ—phorus Higiâ—s Pius Anicetus Victor c. of which Epistles Bellarmine himselfe speaking saith Nec indubitatas esse affirmare audeam that neither durst he affirme them to be undoubted or uncounterfeit Such forged suspicious and counterfeit writings therefore can make no good or sure title to the Pope but contrariwise doe make the matter the more evident and the more odious against him Yea even the title appellation of universall Bishop wherin consisteth the summe and substance of the ecclesiasticall Supremacie he claimeth did two Bishops of Rome themselves in ancient time oppugne stand against when it was first affected by Iohn the Bishop and Patriarch of Constantinople for first Pelagius and then Gregory the great both Bishops of Rome withstood it Let no Patriarch saith Pelagius use so prophane a Title Againe he saith God forbid that it should ever fall into the heart of a Christian to assume any thing unto himselfe vvhereby the honour of his brethren may be debased for this cause I in my Epistles never call any by that name for feare lest by giving him more then is his due I might seeme to take away even that which of right belongeth to him For saith he The Divell our adversary goeth about like a roaring Lyon exercising his rage upon the humble and meeke hearted and seeking to devoure not now the sheepe-coats but even the principall members of the Church And againe hee saith Consider my brethren vvhat is like to ensue c. For he commeth neere unto him of whom it is written This is he which is King over all the children of Pride which words I speake with griefe of mind in that I see our brother and fellow Bishop Iohn in despite of the commandement of our Saviour the precepts of the Apostles
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
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
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
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
Law of the Realme bee put to death or was there a Law in former times when Poperie raigned to put Protestants to death under the 〈◊〉 of Heretickes which were in verie died no Heretickes but of the most ancient religion and the Orthodox and right beleeving Christians and is there not a Law now when Protestancie reigneth to put Papists to death for heresie who be Hereticks reveâ—â— and in verse deed For you must 〈…〉 it is not the Determination of a Councell without appâ—â—bation of Gods word that is sufficient to prove a man an Hereticke because then should that renowned famous godly Bishop Athanasius who was condemned in the Councels of Tire and Antioch bee held and concluded to bee an Hereticke Which God forbid Yea if as is evident the determination of Councells bee not sufficient to convince or proove Athanasius Iohn Chrysostome and other Orthodox Bishops in that time to bee Heretickes much lesse is the determination of the Bishop of Rome and of his Councells in these latter times when both hee and they bee so farre revolted and degenerate able to convince the Orthodox Protestants of Heresie The strength force and authoritie of the holy Canonical Scriptures must be produced to convince a man to be an Hereticke For an Hereticke is hee that stifly and obstinately holdeth maintaineth an error in matter of Faith against the manifest authoritie of the Canonical Scriptures So that not what men hold but what God holdeth to be error heresie is so to be reputed And by this rule namely by sufficient evidence and warrant of the Canonical Scriptures it was that the Bishops their Councels in ancient time convinced the Arrianâ— Nestorianâ— Eâ—tâ—chians the other Heretickes of their dayes Which rule of iudging and convincing Hereticks by the Canonical Scriptures if it had beene held as evermore it ought it is thereby evident that Protestants never were nor ever rightly could have beene concluded to bee Hereticks Yea by this rule Papists cleerely are to bee iudged the Hereticks as appeareth by examining and trying their severall and particular Doctrines and Opinions wherein they differ from us and wherein they bee so wilfull and pertinacious by the same Canonical Scriptures And how should it or can it be otherwise For must not the doctrin of the gâ—and Antichrist of his Concubine the Whore of Babylon bring adulterate erroneous and Antichristian needs be concluded if it be wilfullie and obstinately persisted in to be cleere Heresie If then our Bishops should as they might if they were so disposed and that His Maiestie would give â—â—ave thereunto censure some points of Poperie to be heresie being 〈…〉 and obstinately persisted in and thereupon should cyte some Papists to come before them to answer as for heresie and did upon hearing and examining of the cause by sentence defiâ—â—tive declare and pronounce them to bee Hereticks What should or can hinder but that the Kings Writ de Haereticâ— Comburendo after all due circumstances observed might issue and be awarded for the putting of them to death Doth not the Law of the Realme apparantly warrant this For the Lawyers of your owne Religion can tell you that even by course of Common Law those that bee convicted and condemned of heresie may bee put to death And this it further evident even by those verie Statutes themselves viz. of 2. H. 4. cap. 1.5 and 2. H. 5. cap. 7. and 25. H. 8 cap. 14. which although they were afterward repealed in England yet do they sufficiently shew declare both what was yet stil is the Common-law in that case namely that Bishops in their several Diocesses and Provinces aswell as in their Convocations might and therfore still may even by course of Common-law notwithstanding the repeale of those Statutes by their Iurisdiction ordinarie cite Heretickes censure and sentence them and so leave them to the Lay power to bee executed And this also is learned and judicious Writer in his Apologie of certaine proceedings by Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall doth tell you and testifieth against Fitzherberts opinion who seemeth to put a difference in this point betweene the Bishop of a Diocesse and the Convocation that hee hath heard the two Chiefe Iustices the Lord chiefe Bar◠〈◊〉 some other Iudges and the Queenes learned Councell resolve against that difference in a speciall consultation held about the matter of Heresie viz that Every Bishop within his owne Diocesseâ— as well as the Convocation might at the Common-law and still may â—â—â— demne an Hereticks Yea hee hath made a whole Chapter affirming this verie point viz. that Iudgement of Heresie still reâ—aineth at the Common-law in Iudges Ecclesiastical and that the Provise in the Statute of 1 Fliz. cap. 1 which is in Ireland 2 Eliz. cap. 1. touching Heresie is onely spoken of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and such as bee authorized by that Statute So that the authoritie and Iurisdiction of Bishops in their severall Diocesses Provinces as also in their Convocations notwithstanding that or anie other Stat. still remaineth such as it was at the Common-law namely of force sufficient for the citing censuring sentencing of Heretickes whereupon Execution of death by burning may ensue All which neverthelesse I speake not to anie such end as to incense or exasperate anie in authoritie so farre against papists but only to answer and disanull their untrue conceits and so to represse and remove the insolencie of some of them and to shew them that if our Protestant princes pleased and were so disposed they might have found as still also they may a way and meane and law sufficient to put Papists to death for Heresie Wherefore it is no defect of matter of Heresie in Poperie wherewith it doth abound nor anie defect of law which sufficiently warranteth the putting of Heretickes to death but it is the meere mercie and clemencie of His Maiesty and of other Protestant Princes his Predecessors that doth thus spare and forbeare them Whereby as they may all learne to be highly thankfull unto God for such mercifull gratious Princes to whom they are so much beholding for not executing the severitie of their lawes upon them in this case so is it their parts to give no occasion further to incense or anie way to provoke them thereunto Where also you may observe to put a difference betweene the two Religions viz. of Protestancie and Poperie considering how milde gentle and mercifull the one is namely Protestancie in comparison 〈◊〉 the other which is and ever hath beene where it is predominant and beareth rule against Protestants most terrible cruel inhumane and extreamely Bloodie and so bee mooved to affect and imbrace the one and to abhorre and detest the other as it deserveth But as touching these points I shall not neede to use manie words to men of understanding learning and iudgement especiallie when the thing desired of you tendeth to your owne good not onely in respect of this world but
that being touched with remorse for some offence committed by him he fell at S. Colmes feet lamented bitterly and confessed his sinnes before all that were there present Whereupon the holy man weeping together with him is said to have returned this answer Rise up Sonne and be comforted thy sinnes which thou hast committed are forgiven because as it is written a contrite and an humbled heart God doth not despise Wee reade also of Adamanus that being verie much terrified with the remembrance of a grievous sinne committed by him in his youth he resorted unto a Priest by whom he hoped the way of salvation might be shewed unto him he confessed his guilt and intreated that hee would give him counsel whereby he might flee from the wrath of God that was to come Now the counfell commonly given unto the Penitent after Confession was that he should wipe away his sinnes by meet fruits of repentance which course Bede observeth to have beene usually prescribed by our Cuthbert For penances were then exacted as testimonies of the sinceritie of that inward repentance which was necessarily required for obtayning remission of the sinne and so had reference to the taking away of the guilt and not of the temporall punishment remayning after the forgivenesse of the guilt which is the new found use of penances invented by our later Romanists One old Penitentiall Canon we finde laid downe in a Synod held in this countrey about the yere of our Lord CCCCXL. by S. Patrick Auxilius and Isserninus which is as followeth A Christian who hath kild a man or committed fornication or gone unto a southsayer after the maner of the Gentiles for every of those crimes shall doe a yeare of Penance when his yeare of penance is accomplished he shall come with witnesses and afterward he shall be absolved by the Priest These Bishops did take order we see according to the discipline generally used in those times that the penance should first be performed and when long and good proofe had beene given by that meanes of the truth of the parties repentance they wished the Priest to impart unto him the benefit of Absolution whereas by the new devise of sacramental penance the matter is now far more easily transacted by vertue of the keyes the sinner is instantly of attrite made contrite and thereupon as soone as he hath made his Confession he presently receiveth his Absolution after this some sorie penance is imposed which upon better consideration may be converted into pence and so a quick end is made of manie a foule businesse But for the right use of the keyes wee fully accord with Claudius that the office of remitting and retayning sinnes which was given unto the Apostles is now in the Bishops and Priests committed unto every Church namely that having taken knowledge of the causes of such as have sinned as many as they shall behold humble and truely penitent those they may now vvith compassion absolve from the feare of everlasting death but such as they shall discerne to persist in the sinnes which they have committed those they may declare to be bound over unto never ending punishments And in thus absolving such as be truely penitent we willingly yeeld that the Pastors of Gods Church doe remit sinnes after their maner that is to say ministerially and improperly so that the priviledge of forgiving sinnes properly and absolutely be still reserved unto God alone Which is at large set out by the same Claudius where he expoundeth the historie of the man sicke of the palsey that was cured by our Saviour in the ninth of S. Matthew For following Bede upon that place he writeth thus The Scribes say true that none can forgive sinnes but God alone vvho also forgiveth by them to vvhom he hath given the power of forgiving And therefore is Christ proved to be truely God because hee forgiveth sinnes as God They render a true testimony unto God but in denying the person of Christ they are deceived and againe If it be God that according to the Psalmist removeth our sinnes as farre from us as the East is distant from the West and the Sonne of man hath power upon earth to forgive sinnes therefore hee himselfe is both God and the Sonne of man that both the man Christ might by the power of his divinitie forgive sinnes and the same Christ being God might by the frailtie of his humanitie dye for sinners and out of S. Hierome Christ sheweth himselfe to be God vvho can know the hidden things of the heart and after a sort holding his peace he speaketh By the same majestie power wherby I behold your thoughts I can also forgive sinnes unto men In like maner doth the author of the booke of the wonderfull things of the Scripture observe these divine workes in the same historie the forgiving of sinnes the present cure of the disease and the answering of the thoughts by the mouth of God who searcheth all things With whom for the propertie of beholding the secret thoughts Sedulius also doth concurre in those sentences God alone can know the hidden things of men To know the hearts of men and to discerne the secrets of the minde is the priviledge of God alone That the contract of Marriages was either unknown or neglected by the Irish before Malachias did institute the same anew among them as Bernard doth seeme to intimate is a thing almost incredible although Giraldus Cambrensis doth complaine that the case was little better with them after the time of Malachias also The licentiousnesse of those â—uder times I know was such as may easily induce us to beleeve that a great both neglect and abuse of Gods ordinance did get footing among this people Which enormities Malachias no doubt did labour to reforme and withall peradventure brought in some new matters not knowne here before as he was very desirous his countrymen should generally conforme themselves unto the traditions and customes of the Church of Rome But our purpose is here onely to deale with the doctrine and practise of the elder times in which first that Marriage was not held to be a sacrament may be collected from Sedulius who reckoneth it among those things which are gifts indeed but not spirituall Secondly for the degrees of Consanguinitie hindering marriage the Synod attributed unto S. Patrick seemeth to referre us wholly unto the Leviticall law prescribing therein neyther lesse nor more then the Law speaketh and particularly against matching with the wife of the deceased brother which was the point so much questioned in the case of King Henry the eight this Synodicall decree is there urged The brother may not ascend into the bed of his deceased brother the Lord having said They two shall be one flesh Therefore the wife of thy brother is thy sister Yet how farre this abuse prevayled afterward in this countrey and how foule a crime it was esteemed
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
findeth no other excuse for Bishop Aidan herein but that eyther hee was ignorant of the canonicall time or if he knew it that he was so overcome with the authoritie of his owne nation that he did not follow it that he did it after the maner of his owne nation and that he could not keepe Easter contrary to the custome of them which had sent him His successor Finan contended more fiercely in the businesse with Ronan his countryman and declared himselfe an open adversary to the Romane rite Colman that succeeded him did tread just in his steppes so farre that being put downe in the Synod of Streanshal yet for feare of his countrey as before we have heard out of the ancient writer of the life of Wilfride hee refused to conforme himselfe and chose rather to forgoe his archbishoprick then to submit himselfe unto the Roman laws Colmanusque suas inglorius abjicit arces Malens Ausonias victui dissolvere leges saith Fridegodus Neither did hee goe away alone but took with him all his countrymen that he had gathered together in Lindisfarne or Holy Iland the Scottish monkes also that were at Rippon in Yorkeshire making choyse rather to quit their place then to admit the observation of Easter and the rest of the rites according to the custome of the Church of Rome And so did the matter rest among the Irish about forty yeares after that untill their own countreyman Adamnanus perswaded most of them to yeeld to the custome received herein by all the Churches abroad The Pictes did the like not long after under king Naitan who by his regall authoritie commanded Easter to be observed throughout all his provinces according to the cycle of XIX yeares abolishing the erroneous period of LXXXIIII yeares which before they used and caused all Priests and Monkes to be shorne croune-wise after the Romane maner The monkes also of the Iland of Hy or Y-Columkille by the perswasion of Ecgbert an English Priest that had beene bredd in Ireland in the yeare of our Lord DCCXVI forsooke the observation of Easter the tonsure which they had received from Columkille a hundred and fiftie yeares before and followed the Romane rite about LXXX yeares after the time of Pope Honorius and the sending of Bishop Aidan from thence into England The Brittons in the time of Bede retained still their old usage untill Elbodus who was the chiefe Bishop of Northwales and dyed in the yeare of our Lord DCCCIX brought in the Romane observation of Easter which is the cause why his disciple Nennius designeth the time wherein he wrote his historie by the character of the XIX yeares cycle and not of the other of LXXXIV But howsoever Northwales did it is verie probable that West-wales which of all the other parts was most eagerly bent against the traditiōs of the Roman Church stood out yet longer For we finde in the Greeke writers of the life of Chrysostome that certaine clergie men which dwelt in the Iles of the Ocean repayred from the utmost borders of the habitable world unto Constantinople in the dayes of Methodius who was Patriarch there from the yeare DCCCXLII to the yeare DCCCXLVII to enquire of certaine Ecclesiasticall traditions and the perfect and exact computation of Easter Whereby it appeareth that these questions were kept still a foot in these Ilands and that the resolution of the Bishop of Constantinople was sought for from hence as well as the determination of the Bishop of Rome who is now made the only Oracle of the world Neyther is it here to be omitted that whatsoever broyles did passe betwixt our Irish that were not subject to the See of Rome and those others that were of the Romane communion in the succeeding ages they of the one side were esteemed to be Saincts as well as they of the other Aidan for example and Finan who were counted ringleaders of the Quartadeciman party as well as Wilfride and Cuthbert who were so violent against it Yet now a dayes men are made to beleeve that out of the communion of the Church of Rome nothing but Hell can be looked for and that subjection to the Bishop of Rome as to the visible Head of the Universall Church is required as a matter necessarie to salvation Which if it may goe currant for good Divinitie the case is like to goe hard not only with the twelve hundred Brittish Monkes of Bangor who were martyred in one day by Edelfride king of Northumberland whom our Annales style by the name of the Saincts but also with S. Aidan and S. Finan who deserve to be honoured by the English nation with as venerable a remembrance as I doe not say Wilfride and Cuthbert but Austin the monke and his followers For by the ministery of Aidan was the kingdome of Northumberland recovered from paganisme whereunto belonged then beside the shire of Northumberland and the lands beyond it unto Edenborrow Frith Cumberland also and Westmoreland Lancashire Yorkeshire and the Bishopricke of Durham and by the meanes of Finan not only Essex and Middlesex regained but also the large kingdome of Mercia converted first unto Christianitie which comprehended under it Glocestershire Herefordshire Worcestershire Warwickshire Leicestershire Rutlandshire Northamptonshire Lincolneshire Huntingtonshire Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Staffordshire Darbyshire Shropshire Nottinghamshire Chesshire and halfe Hertfordshire The Scottish that professed no subjection to the Church of Rome were they that sent preachers for the conversion of these countries and ordayned Bishops to governe them namely Aidan Finan and Colman successively for the kingdome of Northumberland for the East-Saxons Cedd brother to Ceadda the Bishop of Yorke before mentioned for the Middle-Angles and the Mercians Diuma for the paucitie of Priests saith Bede constrayned one Bishop to be appointed over two people and after him Cellach and Trumhere And these with their followers notwithstanding their division from the See of Rome were for their extraordinarie sanctitie of life and painfulnesse in preaching the Gospell wherein they went farre beyond those of the other side that afterward thrust them out and entred in upon their labours exceedingly reverenced by all that knew them Aidan especially who although he could not keep Easter saith Bede contrary to the maner of them which had sent him yet he was carefull diligently to performe the workes of faith and godlinesse and love according to the maner used by all holy men Whereupon hee was worthily beloved of all even of them also who thought otherwise of Easter then he did and was had in reverence not only by them that were of meaner ranke but also by the Bishops themselves Honorius of Canterbury and Felix of the East-Angles Neyther did Honorius and Felix anie other way carry themselves herein then their predecessors Laurentius Mellitus and Iustus had done before them who writing unto the Bishops of Ireland that