called together by the Emperour Martian Leo the Bishoppe of Rome beeyng there president hee was called Archbishoppe as were the others But the history sayeth that he required the Emperour and the Empresse to gouerne there because that in the seconde Councill of Ephesus Dioscorus the Patriarke of Alexandria abusing his authoritie had approued the heresie of Eutyches whereof then there was question Nowe in that hee demaundeth this fauour it sufficientlye declareth that it was not done vnto him and if this might once bee drawen into consequence as well also must this that Cyrill was President ouer the first councill of Ephesus for all the Bishoppes of Alexandria And in very deede in the fift Councill of Constantinople his successour withstoode it not when Menas the patriarke of that place was there presidēt In the generall Councill of Aquilie S. Ambrose the B. of Millane was president there was not any mētion made of the B. of Rome although this was in Italy But behold the questiō was determined the parties being heard by the determinate sētēce of a coūcill The B. of Rome tooke vpon him a goodly large title of being patriarke ouer the churches of Affrike the schismatikes of Affrike willingly departed to go to him to finde there aid whereupon the coūcil of Mileuitane where S. Aug. was with a good nomber of fathers pronounced all them for excommunicate that had or shoulde appeale beyonde the Sea. The Bishoppe of Rome finding him selfe grieued sent to the sixth councill of Carthage where also Saint Augustine was that he might haue redresse in this matter the which was so long time in debating that Zosinius Boniface and Celestine Bishoppes of Rome succeeded one another during this Councill Aurelius the Archbishoppe of Carthage notwitstanding that their legates were there was president there and in the ende the definitiue sentence was pronounced in this force That the Bishop of Rome should not receiue those that were excommunicated by the Bishops of Affrike neither should he receiue the appellations of those that by them should be cond̄ened that all they which should appeale to him should be holdē for excōmunicated persōs The reasons of this councill contained in the 105. chapter by the letters of the council to Celestine Bishop of Rome are these that there is no coūcil that had so decreed Contrariwise that the Council of Nice had put the Clergie the Bishops of ech prouince vnder the Metropolitan That the grace of the holye Spirite had not withdrawen it selfe from euerye Prouince to discerne the right of all causes That anye myght appeale to a Prouinciall councill if hee felt him selfe grieued that it vvas more credible that GOD vvoulde inspire a great assemblie of ministers in a Councill then one man alone And because that the B. of Rome required to send his legates to be ouer those places to enquire of matters and causes they made answere that they could not find any councill that had so decreed and likewise that they would not suffer it In this council where they had time enough to dreame all their forbidding yet shall you not finde that the primacie was founded vpon anye lawe of God much lesse that which they call the fulnes of power And in very deede for to decide the matter men were not sent to search the scriptures in which S. Augustine who was present there was wel able to haue found it if it had bene there but rather to the foure originals of the coūcill of Nice which were kept in the foure patriarchall Sees In meane while Gratian the Compiler of their decree was so sottishly malicious that reciting this Canon of the Councill of Carthage That men should not appeale beyond the Sea he added vnlesse to the B. of Rome as though the Canon had bene made quite contrary to it selfe all the reasons being heard concluded to the contrary And by this place a man may very well gather what to accompte of their Canons being rehersed with such fidelitie In the Councill of Carthage holden vnder the Emperour Mauricius about the yeere of Christ sixe hundred the matter of the Supremacie was also largely debated because that thē the B. of Constantinople fauoured of the Emperor Mauricius by prerogatiue of the Citye of Constantinople called him selfe Bishop of Bishops and vniuersall Bishop And Mauricius vphelde and ayded him to beate down old Rome because thē the empire was trāslated into the East Italie left for a pray to the Northern people Let a mā read ouer al the Canōs of that council they pronounce a curse not onely vpon the B. of Cōstantinople but generally vpō al those who shall take the title of an vniuersall B. All the auncient doctors who liued during the time of these Councils yea the Latines that yelded very much to the Bishopricke of Rome as being their most neere patriarchshippe doe witnesse the selfe same thing vnto vs Athanasius albeit hee was greatly bound to the See of Rome which had receiued him in his exile he saith that all the Apostles were equal in honour power S. Hierom a minister of Rome he saith If there be any question of the authoritie of all the world the vvorld is greater then one City Wherefore vvilt thou bring the order of the Church into the subiection of a fevve persons Whence cōmeth this presūption Wheresoeuer there is a Bishop be he at Rome or at Agubiū be he at Constātinople or at Rhegiū he is of one and the same dignitie and Ministery Riches or pouertye neither make one superiour nor inferiour Againe there is saith he in euerye Churche a Bishoppe one chiefe amongest the Deacons and another amongest the Elders and all the order of the Churche consisteth in these gouernors It should folow therupon seeing the the question was of vnity that he should adde and say a B. ouer the other Bishops but he speaketh nothing S. August hath written a story which maketh this matter most cleare Donate of the black cotages a Numidian of whō the Donatists tooke their name had grieuously accused Ciciliā the Archbishop of Carthage Constantine the Emperor committed this cause which was merely ecclesiastical to Miltiades B. of Rome to certain other Bishops of Italie Gaule Spaigne Nowe if this had bene his ordinarie Iurisdiction there needed not any Cōmission of the Emperor it had belonged to him to haue chosen vnto himselfe his assistants not to haue receiued them But see further Donate being condemned appealed to the Emperor who sent his appellatiō to the Archb. of Arles either to proue or disalow the B. of Romes sentence I demand then in this fact which in this case is worth a million Where is the Supremacy where is the Iurisdiction without appeale and where is this same knowledge of all appellations this fulnes of power wherof they speak so much And yet this is that Constantine of whom they boast so much who as
were so impudent as to falsifie a decree of the council of Nice bringing foorth in steade thereof the articles of the councill of Sardes yet corrupted and falsified pretending that from all parts men might appeale to the bishop of Rome But the fathers of the councill had learned well to saye that they would not beleeue those productions and therfore sent to the originalls and they being seene they pronounced the quite contrary Leo the first receiued Eutyches condemned by Flauianus the bishop of Constantinople for a time mainteyned him against him whereupon his heresie first tooke footing and grewe which might then at once haue bene quenched But none approued this vsurpation To be short in the time of Chrysostome this ambition was so great amongest them that he complained that to obteine supremacie the bishops of Rome had filled the Churches with blood had defiled the Supper of the Lord with murthers vntill they had vtterly for it destroyed whole cities And he that will see the ciuil warres for they likewise name them which were at Rome betweene Damasus and Vrsicius in the time of Saint Hierome whether of them should be bishop and afterwards betweene Laurence and Symmachus he maye reade them in Ruffinus Amian Marcellin and their owne Pontificall it selfe And howsoeuer it were all the contentions that were made by the bishops of Rome in the auncient Church yea till the time of the murthering of Phocas for the supremacie looke how many they were they were alwaies arguments from age to age and as determined sentences against them in so much that they alwayes lost their cause whatsoeuer instāce they made or whatsoeuer diligence they vsed in pleading of it But they will obiecte vnto me that neuerthelesse the bishop of Rome hath helde the chiefe place amongst the Patriarches I agree thereto but yet I deuie that it was to commaunde others And in deede it is expressely said that he shall not be called vniuersall bishop but onely the bishop of the first See. I say moreouer that this is not in respect that he was the successour of S. Peter and lesse by vertue of those places alledged out of the holy Scripture But because that in seates there must be a first a second place according to humame order I say that this was ordeyned in consideration of that order wherby the citie of Rome was set aboue others If it had bene by the Scriptures it should haue bene a wonderfull thing that for 600. yeeres together these mysteries should haue bene hidden from the Church If in respecte of the founder why not rather at Antioche and at Alexandria after Gregorie or to all other bishopricks after Cusan who saith that all bishops are Peters successors equall in the essentiall dignitie although they differ in the administration and gouernment as the bishops of Spaine themselues haue disputed in the last councill of Trent Moreouer that Hierusalem should be the first and not the fourth seeing the Saluation of the world did there gouerne Or why is Antioche whereof Saint Peter was bishop put after Alexandria which can alledge nothing but the succession of Saint Marke his disciple To be short what hurt hath Saint Iohn the welbeloued disciple of our Lord done vnto them who so long time preached in Ephesus which notwithstanding is not nombred amongst the patriarchall cities Or what newe Apostle hath founded Constantinople three hundred yeres after the death of our Lord to attribute vnto it the second See But there is none that hath but a litle iudgement that doth not well enough marke that all the preeminences of these Sees rather proceede from the rancke and places which their cities holde then from the establishment of Christian religion Rome was then the seat of the Empire and the glorie of all the world good learning there flourished it was the chiefe of all the peoples of the earth and therefore when all the bishops were gathered together they gaue the bishop of Rome the first place for ciuilitie and courtesies sake Likewise wee reade in the histories that Alexandria and Antioch were after Rome the most famous cities and according to that degree which their gouernours helde they also helde their bishopprickes And concerning Ierusalem that was so greatly accompted of for the first originall of true Religion and therefore likewise was not reckoned in the least place for Plinie calleth it the head of all the East but yet her place was ill kept after she had lost her first glorie Afterwards Constantinople came to be builded which was called the second Rome And then also we see the councill of Constantinople where there were sixe hundreth bishops who gaue vnto it the second place which had not bene done if they had had regard to the degree of the founder and not to the degree of the citie by reason of whose might also this dignitie was confirmed vnto it by the Emperour Iustinian Aquila in Italie was called the second Rome Also there was a Patriarchship there established yea Rauenna it selfe was a long time holden not to be subiecte to Rome and it had her owne Cardinalls apart and by themselues and as Venice beganne to growe great so it had the Patriarchship of Grado for it To be short he that shall marke from countrey to countrey the erection of patriarchships and archbishopricks he shal finde no other consideration then this the same that Pope Lucinus saith alledged by Gratian That at the first they instituted Primates of the Church according to temporall policie Also Pope Clement himselfe saith That where there were chiefe Priests of the Painims there they established Primats of Christians the which is repeated in the same wordes by Peter Lombard in his fourth booke of Sentences The councill of Chalcedon wherein notwithstanding the earnest requests of Pope Leo the first the second See was giuen to the Citie Constantinople vseth also the same woordes The fathers vpon good righte with one consent agreed that the priuiledge of the first See should belong vnto olde Rome because of the Empire there and wee also moued with the same consideration agree that the second shal be at new Rome And in the 12. Act of the same council the reasoning betwixt the bishop of Nice of Basianopolis is grounded vpon the dignitie of the cities And to cut of all such controuersies this Canon was there passed That these Cities onely shoulde be holden for Metropolitans to which Kings and Princes had done this honor by their statutes And the Council of Thurin there addeth That if the earthly superioritie were translated from one Citie to another that then the right of the Archbishoprick should be translated likewise To be short when the seate of the Empire was translated to newe Rome that is to say to Constantinople we see that the Bishop of that place by by tooke vnto himselfe the primacie whereof they held euen as much as they coulde and when that
dwell there for euer And therefore the priests had no other answere to all the Propheres that reproued them but this The Temple the Temple the Temple of the Lorde But see what the Lorde him selfe answereth vnto them Goe saith he see Shiloh I haue chosen it from the beginning for my house Now see what I haue done vnto it for the wickednes of my people I wil do euen so to the place which I haue giuen vnto you and to your fathers But if you will that I dwell there amende your wayes turne from your euil deedes Nowe if he haue forsaken his owne temple for the iniquitie of the priests besides which he had none erected in the whole world must we tye our selues to the Church of Rome or to any other place seeing that al the Elimates of the world are equally his temple Concerning the succession of persons that is no lesse friuolous then the other In all estates cōmō weales there is one perpetual sequele of magistrates either by succession or by election Nowe if there be any questiō of reforming the estate according to the lawes there is no way so ill as to vse these argumentes I am a magistrate as was my predecessour or from the father to the sonne ergo the cōmon wealth hath not to make any reformation None euer douted but that Nero was a tyrant although he was descended from Augustus neither would any man affirme that Commodus was a good prince although Marcus Aurelius was his father In like maner euery one will accord that Manasses defiled the church violated al iustice albeit he was the sonne of good Ezechias and Iosias he reformed the Church the lawes who was the sonne of Manasses himself And the ciuil lawiers themselues which make two sorts of tyrantes the one sort without title the other of exercise that is one sort vniust vsurpers the other vniust gouernors so we also make two kinds of Popes playing the tyrantes ouer the Church one sort which they call intruders which are thrust in there vnlawfully the other abusers abusing their authoritie shewing thereby that that which may fall out in the successiō of magistrates in the common wealth may also fall out in the succession of prelates in the Church Furthermore if euer any might alledge the succession of pastors they were the Iewes for they were of the house of Aaron from the father to the sonne besides them none might sacrifice Moreouer to them it was promised that they shoulde so continue for euer And hereof it was that when the Prophets exhorted them to reformation they had no other thing in their mouth The lawe shall not perish from the Priest nor the councell from the wise nor the worde from the Prophete But the spirite of the Lorde aunswered them Say not We are wise the lawe of the Lord is with vs For it is in vaine that the pen is made and that there is a scribe The wisemen are confounded And seeing that they haue reiected the worde of the Lord what shal be their wisedome any more Likewise when they boasted to Iesus Christ that they were the seede of Abraham I knowe it well saith he but the deuil is your father And in very deede this successiue hereditarie wisedome crucified Christ and reiected it saluation as also this selfe same successiō but yet only pretended worshippeth Antichrist ētertaineth it own perdition Moreouer I demaund what these alledgers of succession would haue aunswered to the Samositans Nestorians Arrians c. who had their beginning cōtinued from the first Bishops euen to thēselues namely frō Nestorius Samosatenus both which were lawfully called to the patriarchal churches the one to Constantinople the other to Antioche Also what wil they answere to the succession alledged by all the Greeke East Churches to be short to the reformed churches of Englād Denmark Swethen a great part of Almaigne c. through all which there is at this daye this succession from Bishop to Bishop frō pastor to pastor If they will alledge the Popes supremacie a man may deny it them this is another question If simply succession then they haue lost their cause If that doctrine thē we gaine this point that the simple succession of persons without the succession of doctrine is nothing worth They alledge that the auncient Doctors haue vsed this argument we deny it not But they must marke therein eyther that this was against heretikes that denyed the holy scriptures or else there was alwayes adioyning the successiō of doctrine S. Augustine enferreth it against the Manichees but they reiected the greatest part of the scriptures and manifestly the booke of the Actes of the Apostles to the end to deny the descending of the holy Ghoste and to establish Manichee in his place He alledged also vnto them miracles antiquitie c. but he addeth immediatly after You on your part alledge nothing like but onely you holde a promise of the trueth amongst you notwithstanding if you could euidently proue it I suppose it ought to be preferred before succession antiquitie miracles and al things else This is as we dispute against thē that denye the scriptures by probable reasons by authorities of prophane bookes albeit we hold them not for rules of the trueth Against the Donatists Arrians Pelagians others who accept the scriptures he disputeth by the scriptures In a certaine place he alledgeth amongst other things the succession of 39. Bishops of Rome but this was with this caueat In al this company there was not one Donatist that is there was not one that helde any such doctrine as you do Irenee sayth that they are not alwaies true priests which seeme so to be but they which keepe the doctrine of the Apostles Tertullian presseth the heretikes of his time who for the most part denyed the Scriptures to shewe that their predecessours were the Apostles or the Apostles schollers but by and by afterwards he requireth consanguinitatem doctrinae the consanguinitie or kinred of doctrine preferreth it before all succession that is to say that they onely were not the sonnes of the Apostles but also their doctrines were the daughters of the Apostolical doctrine Chrysostome sayth that the pulpit maketh not a priest but a priest the pulpit To be short a man shal not finde any which hath spoken in any other sense And nowe seeing that none can transferre that to his successour which of right doth not belong vnto him that S. Paul hath forbidden vs to heare the Apostles the Angels themselues preaching any other Gospel then his owne doth it not followe that the successors of the Apostles are reiected if they preache otherwise It followeth then that the succession neither of place nor of persons is any thing worth but onely the succession of doctrine which we haue sayd before to be the true infallible marke of
by this argument as much or more aucthoritie ouer the Scriptures then it I aske of the indifferentest amongest them who shal iudge but the Scriptures And if they iudge the Scriptures who shall pronounce sentence ouer them If the Easte Churches shall then the Romishe Churche hath loste her Cause If the Church of Rome then thys shall hee in another respecte then of keeping the Scriptures If they saye it bee by their pretended prerogatiue of Saynt Peters Seate it is meete that they prooue it by the Scriptures And therefore marke Peters Sea which doeth take vpon it to iudge the Scriptures beyng yet subiecte to the Scripture it selfe Furthermore I praye euerye man to examine this conclusion The Church of GOD hath kept the Scripture The Church beareth witnesse of the Scripture Ergo shee is aboue the Scripture The edictes of a Prince are registred in all his Countries The lawes are gathered together and written by Clarkes All Contractes and bargaines are subsigned by witnesses And yet for all that he that woulde saye that they were aboue the Kinges aboue the lawes contracts hee shoulde make him selfe a laughing stocke If they say that the Lawes of God haue no place neyther more nor lesse then edictes of some Princes except they be agreeable to the worde of God I answere them that it is not the Church of God that hath this priuiledge for shee is the Spouse of Christ and hath learned to obey her husbande without anye examination of his commaundement and must by and by holde her peace assoone as shee heareth his woord For she knoweth also that the wisedome of her husband whose will is the rule of doctrine is not like that of Princes which it is necessarye to examine whether it bee honest and profitable Ciuile or vnciuile but if they be so stiffe for the obteyning of this priuiledge yet let them agree with mee herein that this is that assemblie which hath lyfted vp it selfe aboue all that is called GOD which fearing to bee discomfited by the Spirite of his mouth woulde therefore moussell and stoppe vp hys mouth all that it might The place of Saynt Augustine which they alledge maketh nothing agaynst that which hath bene sayde before I woulde not sayeth hee beleeue the Gospell vnlesse the aucthoritye of the Church constrained or moued me Ni me Ecclesiae Catholicae commoueret authoritas where it is specially to be noted that according to the style of Affricke Commoueret is taken for commouisset that is to say I had not beleeued the Gospell vnlesse the consent of the vniuersall Church had moued mee thereto hee meaneth not that the holy Ghost had not such a style as myght make it selfe sufficientlye knowen from other wrytings of men For he him selfe instructeth vs in this matter in many places Much lesse meaneth hee that the Church shoulde be aboue the Gospell For it is by the Gospell that hee examineth all the Churches of his tyme but rather that the vniuersall consent of the Churches the which receiued such such bookes for the Gospels of Christ made that he could not doubt but that they were so and that the apostles whose names thei did beare were true authours of them No otherwise then as the consent of manye ages acknowledging such and such bookes to be Ciceroes Hippocrates and Platoes doe assure vs that they were theirs These were his very words against the Manichees themselues who denyed part of the holy scriptures in another place Oh vnhappie enemies saith he of your owne soules What Scriptures shal be had in price if the Euangelicall and Apostolicall bee not Of what booke shall men hold the certaine authour if a man doubt that those holy books which the Church holdeth were of the Apostles shoulde not be theirs Who shall knowe whether the bookes of Plato Hippocrates Aristotle Cicero were theirs vnles it be for that frō their time euen vnto ours alwayes mē haue bene perswaded that they came frō hand to hand c. Like as then I beleeue that the books of Manichee are his because men haue beleeued that they came thence frō hand to hand so also I beleeue the booke of S. Matth. because euē vntil vs the church hath so held The questiō is not thē in this place whether the writings of the Apostles haue any voice to determine matters in the church for as we haue already shewed S. Aug. teacheth vs that in a M. places but only whether such and such scriptures were the Apostles yea or no. For the heretikes denied not but that the books of the Apostles had such authority as they must be obeyed but they denyed that they were theirs because that if they had once allowed thē they knew that they must of necessity rest in them And yet they pretēded that they were neuer a whitte lesse the church then the Romane church doth For they helde that Manichee the chiefe of their secte was the holy Ghoste him selfe But this was a blasphemie not yet knowen to the most damnablest heretikes that euer were that the holye Scripture was subiect to the Church and that without her as one of the Popes Chāpions of our time saith it hath no more aucthority thē Esops fables The Iewes haue taught the Gentiles that the Olde Testament was the worde of God and manye of the Gentiles beleeued it better thē the Iewes The Gentiles haue kept for the Christians many good and auncient bookes and haue taught them that such and such were the authours of them and yet for all that they haue not giuen anye credyte vnto them The bookeseller will teach vs that such a booke is Hippocrates woorke and yet for all that hee shall not be a physitian as Hippocrates was For it is one thing to beleeue the word of any some man an other thing to be the authour of a booke This is that which was saide long agoe by a great learned man That the Church is true or vndouted but as we say by occasiō because she beleeueth the trueth of the Scripture but the holye Scripture is simplie true of it selfe For it is the trueth it self There foloweth another argument that the Church is before the Scripture Ergo it is aboue the Scripture When we speake of the Scripture we vnderstand the word of God the which at the first was not written and afterward was written aswell by Gods owne finger as by the pennes of his seruants inspired by his holy spirite as we haue before declared But now I would demaund of them from whence they fetch the beginning of the Church If from the creation of man and before sinne entred immediatly after they were created God gaue them a commaundement that they should not touche the tree of knowledge of good and euill and we must not dispute whether they had authoritie aboue this word for why they hauing disobeyed it all the world from man to beastes sighes and grones for it But will they not
as Athanasius also a fewe of the best sort with him at Rome during the time that the Arriās beeing fauoured of Constantius the Emperor spoyled and infected his Church of Alexandria And euē so likewise we at this daye in right are of the poore Church of Fraūce of Italie and other places which Antichrist holdeth by the throte to cause thē to abandon their saluation And assoone as Antichrist and his mayntainers shal be gone with al the infection which they haue brought into the church we shal be altogether ready to draw neere vnto thē to ioyne with them as nye as euer wee did and to runne to the Churches with them there to reioyce together for their deliuerance Let the wolfe be gone out of their fold behold vs al ready to enter in In meane time we wil pray vnto god to driue him away that it wil please him to deliuer thē from vnder his claw will shew thē this mercie we wil enforce our selues all that we can to deliuer thē To be short we are kuit with them in doctrine if they haue regard to the aunciēt doctrine of the Church of Rome but we cōdēne that of the popes where with he oppresseth their consciences Also we are in true charitie for what greater charity cā there be in the world thē to rid the world of such a one But we renounce that Tyranne which strangleth their soules and seeing that God by his singular grace hath deliuered ours frō him we proclayme opē warre against him for their sakes with all our heartes These things beeing wel considered it is very easy for vs to distinguish who are schismatikes that is to say the aucthors of that separation which was made in our time in the west churches either we or our enemies The canon lawe sayeth that Schisme must not be considered neither in the nomber nor place but by the cause that he is a schismatike which is the cause of schisme not he which beginneth the separation euen altogether like as he which denyeth the lawe is the cause of processe and not he which first beganne Now we haue required the pope and his prelates to reforme the Church according to the Scriptures and to the auncient forme desiring to remaine vnited with our brethren and in steade of agreeing vnto vs they haue excommunicated vs without euer hearing vs The prelates therefore of the Romaine Church are the Schismatikes and not we who demaunde nothing else but Reformation to make vs at one Also the Canon sayeth that the essentiall and materiall cause of all Schisme is want of charity Nowe for our parts we haue offred our liues to death to recouer our brethren from errour and contrariwise the prelates of Rome to drawe vs frō that they say we are what earnest request soeuer we could make they would yet neuer graunt vnto vs a free Councill But when they haue called vs to their assemblies it was to burne vs and not to teach vs and all their Councils were but conspiracies to kill vs and not consultations to heale vs And therefore the lacke of charitie is in them and so consequently the cause of Schisme Also the Canon lawe teacheth vs that is to saye the Pope him selfe That the Pope which suffreth a controuersie to waxe olde in the church concerning saluation he is one that seeketh after deuision heresie And that if he be required to helpe it by a generall Councill and do it not of Apostolique which he should be he maketh him selfe an Apostata and Schismatike That as from such a one the Cardinalles Prelates Priestes peoples and prouinces ought to separate them selues for that asmuch as lyeth in him he suffreth the people children that are borne to growe vnder two heads into two churches That all those that winke in that matter specially hauing a charge and a calling to withstand it they are partakers with his faulte and are schismatikes as well as hee notwithstanding all their othes homages obligations which they haue made vnto him And in deede by the counsell of the diuines of Paris folowing the foresaid coūsell king Charles the sixte declared him selfe his realme all his subiects to be separated from the cōmunion of pope Iohn the 22. afterwards by the same counsell cut of him selfe from the obedience of Benedict the thirtenth from Gregory the 12. admonishing and requiring all princes to do the like For that saith he in his protestation they will mainteine diuisions in the Churche by their tretcheries and vvill not submit themselues to the ordinarie meane of a free councill and to the determination of the church Now it was eight score yeeres agoe that this strife began in the Church after threescore yeres or thereabouts it was spread ouer all Europe The princes and people called still for a free councill and alwayes sometimes by one meane sometimes by another the Popes went scot free During all which time they sought all the wayes they could for their liues ordinary extraordinary to make an end of vs They therefore their mainteiners though the saluation of Christendome was not in controuersie as now it is are by their own canons foūd schismatikes they who haue winked at it fautors of schisme they who haue with drawē themselues frō their obedience admit that their Popes had bene sometime heads of the Church no Antichrists are grounded in the trueth exempted from all suspicion of schisme and blamelesse of all the mischiefes and disorders which through schisme haue arisen in Christendome Now cōtrariwise if as we hold the Pope be Antichrist the papall doctrine contrary to saluatiō in Iesus Christ and al the seruice that they do in al the churches that acknowledge him which they cal the church of Rome polluted with idolatrie thē there needs no longer disputatiō whether men do well to separate thēselues from him or no but rather to conclude ful and wholly That we are traitors to God who hath created vs to Christ who hath saued regenerated vs to the Church who hath borne vs to be short to our brethren to our selues if we protest not against his blasphemies if we withdraw not our selues from his obedience if we renounce not his cōmunion to be shorte if we do not our vttermost to make him knowē to euery one and to deliuer the world from his tyrannie Hereupon thei obiect vnto vs that Moses for the idolatry cōmitted amongst the people of Israel to the golden Calfe separated not himself I graūt it But they must adde that Moses chid Aaron chastised the people ground the golden calfe into powder and cast it into the water There was no cause then that he should flye Idolatrie because hee coulde driue it out Nowe wee will not bee more scrupulous then Moyses Let them suffer vs to beate their Idols to powder to cast Idolatrie out of their Church and