the which before they fledde but of this by ioyning bothe the swordes together the spirituall and the temporall the rather to vanquishe and discomfite the enemie But nowe if it were so that emongest the rest the bishop of Rome had bene comprehended in this epistle yeat the calling of him brother or felowe in the ministerie is no cause to conclude as you doe against his auctoritie For neither doe I nowe nor euer hathe anie Catholike hetherto so defended or mainteined the popes supremacy that it hathe not bene allwaies acknowledged that bothe he and other bishoppes be the ministres of one common maister allthough that maister haue made him the ruler of his felowes and ouerseer of his brethren Yea the popes them selues haue euer vsed to call the other bishoppes their brethern and felowe bishoppes not renouncing therby the auctoritie of their seate What marueile is it therfore if the bisshoppes of the East had called the pope emongest the other to whome they wrote brother and felowe in the ministerie by the which name he calleth him selfe it can not be denied Nowe where M. Dorman speaketh of persecution as he dyd Nowell Fo. 13. a. 13 alittle before of oure moste cruell practise I referre it to the iudgement of all the worlde whether the papistes or we be more cruell persecutours and wheather haue suffred more persecution they or we If they be more cruell persecutours that lacking power Dorman shewe notwithstanding more crueltie in wordes then other doe in deedes if their crueltie be greater who punishe beside and against lawe then theirs who folowe lawe if it be no crueltie at all to punishe a fewe to saue the nombre by terrour of lighter paines to vse the wordes of S. Austen to â—ib de vinit eccl cap. 17. the Donatistes complaining of the Catholikes as you doe nowe to preserue from greater euills then is the matter iudged allreadie in all vpright iudgement then nedeth there no furder processe As for the lenitie by the which you woulde commende youre selues to the worlde youre charitable sermones made aswell before the Quenes moste excellent maiestie at the courte as before the nobles and other honorable of the Realme at the Crosse in the which yow haue consumed all youre eloquence to prouoke oure moste gratiouse soueraigne to imbrue her chaste and vnspotted handes with the innocent bloude of true Catholikes hathe long since made that wel knowen to the worlde So that I maye nowe truly saye to yow as did S. Austen to certeine heretikes in his time bragging of their lenitie towardes the catholikes as you doe of youres Nulla bestia si Epist. 48. neminem vulneret propterea mansueta dicitur quia dentes vngues non habet Seuire vos nolle dicitis ego non posse arbitror No beaste if he wounde no man is therfore called tame because he lacketh teethe and nailes you saye you will vse no crueltie I thinke yow can not Is not this youre verie case M. Nowell See you not a perfect pattern of youre pitie a copy of youre dissembled and countrefeite kindenesse O were youre murdering mouthes by oure most gratiouse Souereignes commaundement vnmoosseled which god for her sake forbid youre bloud thirsty handes at libertie how woulde these tame beastes bestirre them You saye that I go about to burthen you with enuie of churches either pulled downe or altered to other vses and of altars Nowell a. 12. destroied muche like as the rebelles did burthen king Henry the eight c. How the rebelles burdened king Henry or whether Dorman they burdened him at all or no as you saye they did I will not entremedle my selfe therein Of this I am suer that you be burdened of me none otherwise then S. Hierome burdened the Hunnes and wandalles being infected Epist ad HeliodoruÌ„ with Arrius heresie when he wrote of them after this sorte The churches be ouerthrowen at the altars be horses stabled and a litle after Howe manye monasteries be their taken And againe none otherwise then Optatus the bishop of Lib. 6. coÌ„â—â—â— Donatist Mileuite in Afrike burdened the Donatistes there doing the like when he tolde them that there coulde be no greater sacrilege then to breake shaue and remoue cleane away the altars off God on the whicht bothe they them selues some tymes had offred and the prayers off the people and membres off Christ were caried As for youre excuse that you make why Abbayes were ouerthrowen in oure countrye it is not trulie muche pertinent to oure purpose in this place For had it bene all true whereof the greatest parte was moste certeinely false that you sclaunderously and falsely laied to the charges of religiouse men emongest whome as there were manie offendours euen those that haue bene since in England greate pillers and in youre newe churche chiefe fauourers of youre newe religion so were there manie innocent and good who ceassed not daie and night to lament the disordred life of those other their brethren to praie most earnestly to almighty god for their sinnes and the sinnes of the people yeat was this no cause sufficient to turne vp the churches to ouerthrowe the altars Which you youre selfe also perceiuing and knowing that aswell in king Henries time those good fathers of the Chartrehouse as in the late reigne of Quene Marie bothe they in Shene the moÌ„ckes of westminstre the Franciscanes of Grenewich the preachers of S. Bartilmewes the nonnes of Sion and Dertford liued euery ordre so honestlie in all vertue and godlines according to their rule that manie wer edified by their good examples none offeÌ„did by their euil yow flee to an other shifte against the fundations off suche religiouse houses forsothe Which because you say were laied vpoÌ„ prayer for the redemption Nowell fol. 13. 2. 23. of the soules of their founders and their progenitours soules c. Were so vnsuer and weake or rather wicked that they coulde no longre beare suche huge superstructions and buildinges as were laied vpon them Well suche fundations maye be well counted weake Dorman or rather wicked by wicked Aerius who was condeÌ„ned for Aug. lib. de haeresib haer 53. lib. 3. haere 75. the like heresie as witnesse bothe S. Austen and Ephiphanius aboue 12. hundred yeares since But to all good Christian men they seme and euer haue done proufitable and meritoriouse as to him that will take the paines to reade the boke of late learnedly written of purgatorye it shall I doubt not euideÌ„tly appeare Beside that by this meanes our colleages at home in the vniuersities yea your cathedrall churche and Deanery it selfe M. Nowell might be in some daunger to be ouerthrowen if you fal to suche scanning of their first fundations Here you compell me to entre with you into a disputation about altars And for the iustifieng of your communion Fol. 14. b. Altars Nowell 1. Cor. 10. table you alleage first that oure sauiour instituted the sacrament at a
venerable memorie suerlie you haue with the better sorte not a little empaired youre estimation to vse suche cancred wordes and father them falselie vpon the councell But not staing here nor contentid onelie to haue saide this yow charge him further with the mainteining of one Apiarius against his fo 46. b. 19. bishop called Vrbanus This is a maliciouse surmise of youres M. Nowell and hath no grounde Yow saie that Zozimus pretended that it was decreed at Nowell fol. 46. b. 12. Nice that the B. of Rome shoulde be the chiefe iudge aboue all other bishoppes and that it shoulde be laufull for anie man vnder anie other bishop to appeale to the B. of Rome as to the highest iudge ouer all ecclesiasticall persones Yow haue made two lyes at once For first whereas Dorman to make men beleue that the Africanes acknowledged no maner of iurisdiction in the B. of Rome yow feine the state of the cawse betwene the pope and the bishoppes of Africa to haue bene that he pretended a decree of the councell of Nice to be chiefe iudge aboue all other bishoppes as though the Africanes had denied that and not stoode rather vpon this pointe to limite and restreine his auctoritie in matters criminall and causes of correction that is one spitefull lie As to them that considre howe in matters concerning A lye 41. faithe the Africanes submitted their doinges against August epist 90. Prosper lib. contra Collator cap. 41. Pelagius and Celestius the heretikes to Innocentius and this verie councell to Zozimus the popes by them to be approued how they required Innocentius to cite to Rome Pelagius the heretike being then in the Easte so farre from Rome it is a thing moste euident So that to alleage this facte of the Africanes truly helpeth nothing youre cause at all as by a familier example of oure owne countrie maie be proued vnto you It is not vnknowen that there be some places in Englande so priuileaged that for contractes made within those places they can be called frō thence to none of the kinges courtes yeat ceasse they not therefore to be the kinges subiectes Nowe if the Africanes pretended that they were not to be called out of their owne countrie to Rome for suche causes as seemed to them reasonable namely as they them selues alleaged because it was a combrouse thing to call witnesses for euerie thing by daunger of sea to Rome yeat woulde they not hereby take awaye his auctoritie and withdrawe their whole obedience The seconde lye is that the B. of Rome shoulde pretende that it Concil African cap. 105. A lie 42. shoulde be laufull for anie man vnder any other bishop to appeale c. That this is a lye the epistle written by the bishoppes of Africa to Bonifacius the pope dothe manifestly shewe in the which they making mention them selues of such pointes as were conteined in the popes lettres saie that the thirde was de tractandis praesbiterorum diaconorum causis apud finitimos episcopos si a suis excommunicati perperā fuerint of pleading the causes of priestes and deacons before the nexte bishoppes if they were vniustly excommunicate by their owne Is this nowe sincere dealing M. Nowell to saie that the pope pretended that any man vnder any other bisshop might appeale to him whereas here appointing the priestes and deacons to the bishoppes of their owne countrie he releaseth all suche right But hereoff I shall haue anon more occasion to speake when I come to that place where you charge the councell of Africa with making a decree against sailing ouer the sea with controuersies or appellations to the B. of Rome In the meane season I will returne to the accusation put in by you against Zosimus Seing M. Nowell you haue for your parte done what you are hable to proue Zozimus a falsefier and can not I will for the iustifieng of his innocencie proue by suche meanes as a negatiue maie be proued the contrarie that he is no falsefier First I saie therefore that this canon of the councell of Nice was not onelie alleaged by Zozimus but if not before Zozimus was borne yeat surelie almost 100. yeares before he was euer pope by Athanasius B. of Alexandria by all the bishoppes of Aegipt Thebais and Lybia Who writing to Felix the pope make expresse mention thereof not by heare saye but of their owne certeine knowledge as they that were present at the making thereof Their wordes are these Nam scimus in Nicaena magna Synodo c. For Epist Athanasij et Aegipt pontific ad Felicem de in festat Arianorū we knowe that in the greate Synode of Nice where were 318 bisshoppes it was of them all by one consent confirmed that neither councelles shoulde be holden nor bishoppes condemned without the B. of Rome his sentence that these and many other verie necessarie synodicall chapitres are burned and taken from vs * The heretikes burned the canons of the councell of Nice by heretikes which dailie molest vs and seke oure destruction that they maie thereby the easelier entrappe vs. VVhereupon hauing founde occasion all canonicall and Apostolicall auctoritie indifferently contemned they driue vs vnlaufullie * An absurditie to depriue bisshoppes vvithout making the pope priuey therto without making you priuey thereto from oure owne bishoprikes inuade the shepe committed vnto vs from Christe * The apostolicall seate maketh bisshoppes by the Apostolical grace and depriue vs of oure degrees To Marcus who was bishop of Rome before Felix they write for the true copie of the councel they make expresse mention of 70. canons that were there by their owne knowledge agreed vpon Marcus writeth againe his epistle is to besene that he hath not onelie enquired out the truthe of those canons of suche aboute him as were also present at the saide coūcell but by searching the recordes of Rome had founde all things to be as they had written in their lettres Nowe ioine these two lettres of Athanasius together M. Nowell with the answere made by Marcus and crie shame to youre selfe that haue so iniuriouslie diffamed this blessed bishop as with the crime of forging a decree which Athanasius and all the bishoppes of Aegipt Thebais and Libia testifie by their lettres to haue bene trulie made almost a hundred yeares before his time in the coūcel of Nice where they were present Cōferre now the testimonie of the bishops of Africa with the witnesse that Athanasius and the other bishoppes of the easte giue to this matter The one parte saieth they could finde no such canon in the copies that were sent from Constantinople and Hierusalem and no maruell the canons being burned as Athanasius saieth so long before The othersaieth it was in the copie sent from Nice to Rome The one parte denieth not but such a canon might be elles where The other saith there was suche a one and sheweth that it with other were burned by the Arrians
58. a. youre sclaunders of schismes and troubles as by vs raised doe we alleage the effecte of the same parable of the stronge man so quiet in his house vntill a strongre then he came and disturbed him whiche Christe oure sauiour in like sclaunder rehearsed for defense of himselfe Although the parable serued our Sauioure against the Dorman Phariseis yeat it serueth not yow against the churche off Christe When yow can proue that which yow only without proufe blasphemously hetherto haue affirmed making it aswell of the application of this parable as of all that you elles haue sayde touching comparing of vs to the Phariseis youre selues to Christe and his Apostles the verye foundation that all faitheful Christians were in that case when Martin Luther beganne first to preache that the Phariseis were at the comming of Christe then applye it and vse it it will wel serue your purpose Yeat truly to make this parable in some wise to serue youre turne it maketh well for youre Sacramentaries againste the poore Lutherans whome you haue in dede not onely disquieted but driuen from their possessions in moste places and deuoured also and swalowed into your hongresteruen paunches euen as is saide that Pharao dreamed of the seuen leane carion oxen that they had eaten vp the fatte And so let Gen. cap. 41. this parable and dreame bothe if you wil serue youre turne Iff the reader shall thinke that I haue bene to tediouse in answering Nowell this matter here but touched as it were by the waye I trust he will beare with me therein for that M. Dorman as he began and floorished the first face of his boke with blotting vs with the sclaunder of schismes so hathe he hetherto continued in the same and applied all his allegations out of S. Cipriā Basile Hierome Nicephorus and others chiefely to that purpose c. The reader must beare with yow in mo thinges then Dorman this or elles it will be wrong with yow And euen in this me thinketh and so I doubt not but other thinke to wherin yow craue pardon as hauing sayde to much he had ned◠to beare with you for saing so little For your owne defence till yow proue vs by Scripture that Christes churche shoulde decaie and come to vtter ruine and that so it dyd yow haue sayde nothing against vs till yow bring better matter then different opinions of schoolemen in disputable matters of Logiciners aboute the predicables of religiouse men in clothing diet going becking bowing c. yow haue sayde as little The first sentence that I prefixed before my booke out of Saint Augustine yow haue not yeat answered If yow had answered it there as yow pretended that you woulde you shoulde not haue neded here to haue troubled either youre selfe or the reader with that matter For answere once directly yea or nay to this whether yow communicate with all nations and with those churches founded by the Apostles labour and the matter is answered who be the schismatikes in fewe wordes you or we Where you saye that my allegations out of S. Cyprian Basile Hierome Nicephorus were applyed chiefly to this to note you of schismes I muste note that you be here contrarye to youre selfe and youre sainges before For M. Nowell contrary to him selfe in youre reproufe vpon these places you make me to haue suche sense as though I had alleaged them all directly to proue the popes supremacy And for that cause you labour with toothe and naile to proue that they ought not so to be taken Neither are they contented here with but doe also plaie with Nowell pictures very pleasantly as they thinke in the which they painte out a multitude of suche heretikes or rebelles as oure confederates or allies whose opinions we do moste abhorre and against whome we continually bothe preache and wrighte Yea forsothe this was the matter in deede allthough Dorman yow be lothe to confesse so muche that made yowe to lauish out youre store in defence of schismes and sectes It was this table this arbor as you call it or crooked tree that made yow to daunce But what saie yow to this tree I praie yow Yow saie that we haue placed there a multitude of heretikes whose opinions yowe doe moste abhorre We marueile not though yow like not all for therein standeth the grace of the table that of so manie sectes as be there set out no one of them liketh the other Yowe shoulde haue done well to haue named the opinions which yow doe abhorre as perhappes yow would had it not bene for waking some of youre felowes that seme to be a sleepe That these sectes appeare not all of them euidently emongest yow as they doe in Germanie where youre heresies first beganne VVhy sectes and schismes shewe not them selues so euidently in Englande as they doe in Germanie as that excuseth yow not being all membres of that malignant churche youre mother so is it the lesse to be merueiled at because the states of these two countries are not like England is ruled by one souereigne heade Germanie by diuerse Which is the cause that the heades being diuersly affected in religion auaunce euery of them that religion whiche liketh him best Whereas in Englande yow lacke that commoditie being vnder the rule of one only heade whiche is an inuincible argument to shewe how necessarie in the churche of God it is to haue one heade to gouerne the reast Had yow in Englande as they haue in Germanie your free cities youre dukes youre Lantgraues youre Palsgraues euery one a king within his owne dominions O how yowre sectes woulde triumphe in the courtes of princes what combattes they would kepe in open pulpites that nowe dare not but by steal the and in corners one of them snatche and snarle at the other As for youre continuall preaching and writing against these sectes whereof yowe bragge so muche what yow preache against the Lutherans Anabaptistes Osiandrins or any suche like I reporte me to them which be youre hearers I thinke what so euer face yow set vpon it here yow be colde and rare inough in that argument and be as plentifull and whot as you will yow shall haue these heretikes and suche other in places where they dare saie as muche of yowe As for youre writing yow protestantes at home haue not written anie one worde that is to be sene abroade against anye secte of the table more then in some sely translations of youre felowes bookes as yowe terme by contempte that kinde of excercise So busy yowe are in doing the message of youre father in setting furth to the worlde youre Sacramentarie heresie and defacing the popes auctoritie that as little leisour haue you to wright against other sectes if yow mislike them as yow pretende as yow haue to exhorte mē by preaching to fasting to praier to good worckes And therefore youre writing I let passe as a manifest Lye 51. lye And all
one and therein resteth the strength and force of my exāple I make no comparison betwene all kingdomes of the worlde whiche be manie and all churches which are but one as you doe here deceauing your selfe and other toe For if I shoulde so haue done then had not the comparison bene good Nowe if it were as true that God had ordeined all the kingdomes of the worlde to make one kingdome and not manie as he hath all the churches to be one and not manie then if you denied to all these kingdomes ioyned in one a visible king to be aboue all the rest and to gouerne the whole because god is the Monarche and ruler of all as you doe to the vniuersall churche for the same cause I woulde saie that you offendid as muche therein not alowing to all these kingdomes being but one one heade and chiefe gouernour as you shoulde doe if you woulde graunte to particuler kingdomes no particuler king the reason being as greate why the whole shoulde haue one ruler ouer it as why anie particuler membre shoulde But nowe I can not so saye because God hath appointed no suche ordre in the worlde as he hath in his kingdome the churche and therfore the questions be not like From this you runne as one that feared to tarie to long to gesse what we woulde saie if the time serued vs and here on Gods name you tel vs a long tale of the popes rule ouer all the worlde in temporalities and of king Iohn as muche to the purpose as if you had tolde vs of Robin hood and therfore I passe it ouer with youre other reasons that folowe fo 118. b. made to boulster vp the rotten reason of youre Apologie because they haue bene so often answered by showing the difference betwene the two states of the worlde and the churche The answere to the conclusion The 32. chapiter NOWE foloweth M. Nowelles conclusion wherein drawing nere to the ende and knowing howe weakely the matter hathe bene handled by him in the whole processe of his booke before he thinketh by a certeine lusty brauery of wordes to make amendes and so to beare awaye the garlande But nowe let vs here howe he bestirreth him Thus I trust good Readers you see the insufficiencie or more Nowell fo 119. a. 7. truly the lewdnesse of M. Dormans prouffes of the necessitie of one only heade ouer Christes whole church here in earthe you see where he saieth he hathe sufficiētly proued it to be Christes pleasure that there shoulde be suche an one heade that he hathe not nor coulde not for if he coulde he woulde alleage out of the newe testament where Christes will and pleasure is written and declared moste largely and manifestly as muche as one worde foūding to that purpose so farre of is it that it is as he saieth sufficiētly proued Thus I trust you see good Readers howe M. Nowell Dorman hauing begonne with a lye in the verie title of his booke calling it a Reproufe of my boke which reproueth but only 15. leaues hathe continued and nowe endeth the same in such wise as the middle and ende maye appeare in all mennes iudgement to answere to the beginning Yow see where he saieth that I haue not sufficiently proued it to be Christes pleasure that there shoulde be one heade in his steede in the whole churche because I alleaged no testimonie oute of the newe testament that in restreining my prouffes to the only newe testament and calling the testimonies brought out of the olde lawe as he dothe hereafter olde shadowes while he reproueth my prouffes for this cause he semeth not to be farre from the heresie of the Manichees who condemned the olde testament It was not M. Nowell because I coulde not that I alleaged no proufe out of the newe testament But the cause if you will nedes knowe it was for this that I thought it best to vse suche testimonies as consisting in facte and hauing bene alreadye put in execution you shoulde be lesse able to cauill against especially making my counte that the appointing of one chiefe prieste in the olde lawe being for the benefite of Goddes people you woulde easely admitte that Christe woulde be as beneficiall to his churche in the newe lawe Otherwise I coulde haue brought to you oute of the ghospell of S. Matthewe the wordes of oure Sauiour Matth. 16. to S. Petre where he vsing these wordes And I tell the that thow arte Petre and vpon this rocke I will builde my churche and againe what so euer thow shalt binde vpon earthe shall be bounde in heauen c. made Peter as Chrisostom witnesseth Shepeherd of the churche heade of the churche ruler ouer the whole Homi. 55. lu Matth. worlde I coulde haue alleaged lhe place of S. Iohn where Christe committing to Peter the charge of all his flocke Ioan. vlt. excepting none made by that meanes one ruler of the whole Homil. in cap. Ioan. vlt. and committed curam orbis terrarum the charge of the vniuersall worlde to Peter as saieth the same Chrisostome These places coulde I haue alleaged and other also had it not bene to auoide wrangling and for that that I persuaded my selfe that this example takē from the gouernement of Goddes people the Iues shoulde be to all indifferent mē sufficient enough to confirme my purpose as til M. Nowell confute it it is Yow see that schismes and controuersies by S. Cyprians iudgement Nowell and S. Augustins with 217. bishoppes moe assembled in the African councell with him and by good reason and experience allso maye be beste quieted in the countries where they arise You see that neither S. Cyprian neither S. Augustine Dorman neither the 217. bishoppes emongest whome M. Nowell before nombred Orosius being no bishoppe but a prieste onely and Prosper a bishop of Rhegium in Italie and therefore not like to be at anye councell in Africa neither yeat reason or experience whiche teache the contrarye doe saye Supra cap. 11. that schismes and controuersies maye be best quieted and decided in the countries where they arise That which they saye is ment of criminall causes not of schismes about doctrine as those wordes of S. Cyprian conteining the reason why he woulde haue suche causes hearde in the countries where they happen being these but ought there to make answere to their causes where they maye haue accusers and witnesses of their crimes doe well declare And thus you see that this is a manifold lye Yow see that it becommeth man vnhable well to gouerne a Nowell verie little thinge to humble him selfe and to yealde vp the honour and glory of gouerning the whole worlde and churche to God c. You see by the example of Peter refusing of humilitie Dorman the seruice that Christ offred to him in wasshing his feete Ioan 13. that true humilitye is to doe that whiche Christe biddeth to be done Yow see withall M. Nowells honestie
all thinges for this / that they that call her grace supreme gouernour in all thinges and causes aswell ecclesiasticall as temporall / The protestantes doinges sclaunderouse to the Quene and the realme are noted / not at home only but abroade also in strange countries / moste lewdely to abuse the same / while euen in a matter of no greater importance then is the wearing of a square cappe / they refuse the ordre of the supreme gouernour in all thinges and causes as in wordes they call her ecclesiasticall and temporall while for the signe of our redemption the crosse whiche her maiestie kepeth moste reuetently in her chappell / she is in her owne realme by a booke printed and set saithe by a meane and base subiect / inalapertly comptrolled â–ª What maye foraigne princes thinke of suche a contâ—â—mely / if as her graces affection towardes the crosse is vnknowen to none / so the onlye knowledge of the title of suche an infamouse libell rather then a booke / be brought to the eares of anie of them But what maie they saye / if vnderstanding the tongue / Calshil in â—pist ad Martialem pag. 7. they shoulde read â–ª within foure leaues of the beginning As for hir priuate doinges neither are they to be drawen as a president for all nor any ought to crepe in to the princes bosome of euery facte to iudge an affection What could they gather herof but that the princes honour were vilanously touched / as though in religion which is but one and therfore not subiecte to change / she did vse one religion her selfe / and deliuer an other to her subiectes as though which is worse she kepte for hir owne priuate vse the bad / and gaue to the rest the better yea which is yeat worst of all as though she shoulde pretende one thing outewardly / and be of an other affection inwardly / which coulde not be perceiued but by creeping into hir bosome But if he that setteth forwarde so vnhappely saile the rest of his course withe no better fortune / he shoulde in all wise iudgement haue done more wisely / if he had continued stil in the quiet hauen at the ancre wherat once he laye / then he hathe done by committing him selfe to the mercye of the windes waues of these troubelouse seas of controuersies / wherein no skilfuller pilote then he sheweth him selfe to be / maye easely make a foolishe shipwreke / and be cast awaye These be the sclaunderouse persons good Readers / whom M. Nowell if he haue that regarde to the honour of our souereigne ladye the Quene / his dutie to oure countrye lawes thereof / that he pretendeth will shortly haue in the chase / and let me and suche as I am alone / who protest neuer to desire to liue houre longre / then we shall be contented to liue like true subiectes vnder the humble obedience of oure gratiouse souereigne The prince goddes image in earthe / whome we acknowledge to be the image of God in earthe / in all ciuile and politike gouernement But nowe here I praie yowe beholde / how M. Nowell that maketh these greate bragges / of repelling withe earnestnesse suche reproches as I haue attempted he saieth to blemishe my prince lawes and countrie withall quitteth hym selfe of his promise Doth he not euen then when he commeth to that article where these surmised reproches shoulde be / flee backe and giue ouer in the plaine fielde Is not this repelling withe earnestnesse a plaine mockery to be laughed at / when about the matter that made him he saieth to wright so carefully and diligently / of 124. leaues / he bestoweth not fully three when he endeth there / without entring in to the article / where he shoulde rather haue begonne The thirde reason that hathe moued M. Nowell to wright the more largely against me / he expresseth in these wordes because the simple vnlearned readers haue often best liking in bookes more boldely then learnedly written and are moste in daunger to credite most lewde and sclaunderouse lyes I therfore haue in answering more at large applied my selfe to such as be of meane vnderstanding to whome the guilefull dealinges of the papistes can not with breuitie be made manifest These be M. Nowelles causes for his excuse why in so many wordes he hath vttred so little matter But the truthe is / when after longe streining of curtosy emongest the brethren which of them shoulde answere my booke / they all agreed / first in this / that something muste nedes be saide therto / and finally that M. Nowell of all other shoulde take the matter in hande / as he that for his rare gift of railing were best able to feede the humour of suche simple and vnlearned / as here him selfe saieth / haue often best lyking in bookes more boldly then learnedly written then he deepely considering / that the greatest vauntage that he coulde finde against me / muste be by making men beleue / that the places of S. Cyprian S. Hierome and suche like / brought for the confirmation of that first proposition of myne / That there must be one head in earth to gouerne christes churche were alleaged directly for the B. of Romes supremacy / to the whiche being conteined withein the compasse of 15. leaues of my booke / if he shoulde but answere after like proportion / his answere were The true cause of M. Nowel les so large writing like to be counted but a twopeny booke / and he for no better then a three-halfepeny doctour his high wisdome in respecte of these considerations founde it best / to dilate so that little stuffe that he had to vtter / that he might seme to haue made a iust volume / and to haue answered therein the whole For this respecte / because to haue intituled his booke A Reproufe written by Alexander Nowell of a piece of a booke c. VVhy he termed his boke a Reproufe had bene to greate a blemishe to his worship / and call it a confutation or an answere to my whole booke by any meanes he coulde not / he deuised to terme it a Reproufe of my booke / a worde as he thought suche / as in reprouing only 15. leaues he might seme to be able to iustifie / and which shoulde sounde in the eares of the vnlearned not accustomed to looke so narowly in to the nature of wordes asmuche as a confutation of the whole For this cause / to pacifie the learneder sorte whome he sawe he shoulde not be able by suche a tricke of ligier de main so easily to deceiue / and who woulde he knewe well not staye at the title / but take a diligent viewe of the contentes of the whole / he ransacking all the corners of his iugglers boxe / brought furthe at the lengthe a tricke of deceptio visus whereby he woulde make them beleue as you haue heard that M. Doctour Hardinges booke
and mine were so like in substance / that M. Iuell in one shoulde answere bothe / and that therfore his furder trauell shoulde be nedelesse whereas yowe knowe / that my seconde proposition the whole conclusion of my booke / haue no maner of agrement with any argument handled in D. Hardinges boke Yow haue heard the effecte of M. Nowelles smoky preface / wherin all his labour taken is bestowed to this end / to excuse the not speedy answering of the whole brotherhod / his own parcell answering / his so large earnest answering to so meane a man as I am / finally to deface me and other that haue written / by moste lewde / foolishe / and vntrue surmises Which neuerthelesse he aduoucheth so confidently / as though he had bene present at Louaine and priuey to all our doinges / and thoughtes / yea and to more then euer we thought toe Wherein how vaine he hath shewed him selfe to be / if nothing had bene saide allreadie / euen this that he hathe of M. Rastell / whome he affirmeth to haue had his booke lienge by him readye made foure yeares at Louayn whereas yeat he hathe bene Nowell in his praeface 3. side 35 Calfhill in his epistle to M. Martiall and praeface to the reader scarse on this side of the seas halfe foure yeare / at Louain wheÌ„ he printed his booke not foure full monethes were alone sufficient to declare This deceitfull dealing of his / by defacing vs to the world / liked so wel hym that came nexte after him to wrighte / that he thought his parte not to be wel plaied / vnlesse he endeuoured also inforced him selfe to doe the like And for this cause forsothe ruffling in the figure of Ruffinisâ—us he calleth M. Doctor Harding * How muche better woulde this name haue becoÌ„med M. Iuell that of a catholike became an heretike of an heretike a catholike of a catholike an heretike againe Apostata at my name he scoffeth calling me worthy Man who gaue but a Dor. M. Rastelles because it laye not so open to his scoffing spirite / he depraued vttrely / calling him Rascall But o I woulde it might please almighty God / who hathe bestowed vpon him whome he so calleth / so bountifully so manye excellent giftes of vertue and learning / that they were bothe thoroughly knowen to the worlde for suche as they are Then shoulde M. Rastell to speake the leaste / be founde to be as farre in all respectes from all base and vile condition / as this shamelesse man is him selfe from all honesty and Christian-like behauiour in so calling hym To M. Stapleton this painted poppet threateneth drye blowes / yeat wisely vnder an if / and in the name of an other The booke of Staphylus he compareth to a Ruffians sworde al to be hacked / calling by the waie a moste learned and graue councelour to the late Emperour Ferdinandus / Ruffian In dede there was a rude blacke * Iacobus Smidelinus smythe / that did the best he coulde to breake the edge and to leaue soâ—e gashes in this sworde / but those litle nickes that he made / the * Staphyl In defens Apolâ—g Calf fol. 17. b. 33. owner therof grounde out so conningly againe / that the edge of it was after more sharpe then euer it was before Lest al this should not be inough to discredite vs / last of all he chargeth suche of vs as being in Louain haue ben of newe colleage / withe the smoky styrres blowen in Scotland the fyry factions inflamed in Fraunce the Pholish treason condemned in England the popishe conspiracy attempted in Ireland Commeth not this thinke you of a high wit / and a greate discoursing heade Thankes be to God it is yeat no horned beaste that assaulteth vs thus cruelly He chargeth vs with gaping for bishoprikes / but surely if hym selfe laboured not ambitiously to be chiefe councelour to some lorde of misrule at Christmas / he woulde neuer haue stremed so farre the streightes of his simple brayne / as by this moste singuler discourse vpon these late troubles and treasons which beside him selfe neuer a man I beleue in England coulde haue dreamed of to giue a moste vndoubted experiment / what wonders he were able to worcke by his witte / if he listed to bende it But this is the lewdenesse of oure aduersaries / when to the doctrine that we defende they are able to saye nothing / to deface as muche as in them lieth our persones by vntrue surmises / by false and sclaunderouse reportes / by all meanes directe or indirecte For this they are once as it should seme by their doinges persuaded howe trulye God he knoweth that they shall be able to write nothing so absurde / that shall not with some get credite / and finde frendely entreteinement Wherfore this is good Readers the common request of vs all vnto yow / that reiecting vttrely these vaine / vntrue / and impertinenent exceptions of oure aduersaries / whereof youre eares be longe since full / it may please yow to haue a diligent eye to the matter it selfe / and not to suffer youre selues to be thus shamfully abused / and caried from thence to suche sciendre considerations as are these whether the writers be yong men / or olde many in conference / or fewe alone whether they wright in shorte space / or take long leisour whether they translate or make of their owne For surelye they that propose these exceptions / as it is an euident argument that they mistrust their cause / so seme they not to sauour of the spirite of humilitie / which seketh nothing but the honour and glorye If S. Cyprian writing this epistle to Cornelius the B. of Rome M. suell in his Replye fo 228. beginneth to â—hrincke from his chalenge name him either the high prieste or christes vicair generall in earthe or vniuersall bishop or head of the vniuersal church c. then may M. Harding seme to haue some honest colour for his defence For these respectes therfore I saie / and other which here for good causes I conceale / it hathe ben thought good to requier yowe / to signifie to vs / whether yowe will ratifie the doctrine conteined in that boke made against the crosse / lest after yow flee to the Praetor his exception Quod nomine meo gestum non est raiuÌ„ noÌ„ habebo It is reason that we demaunde / and it is lawe Consulte youre lawier so well knowen in Oxforde for his three giftes of heresye / frenesy and Ialousy / and he will tell yow no lesse When we vnderstande youre minde herein / yowe shall knowe more of oures It woulde doe well that yow declared it at Powles crosse / from whence we are contented to take notice the rather / because we trust yow will saie nothing there / but that whereto yow will stande hereafter Faultes escaped in printing Leafe Syde Lyne Faulte Correction 23 a 25
miserably shaken notwithstāding the labour of the chiefe prelates of euery prouince Now to come to princes and tēporall gouernours if they haue as many seueral or contrary lawes as their be seuerall countries or nations cōcerning the keping of their people in ciuile ordre and peace what breache off vnitie What hurte What disordre in the worlde will folowe hereof I praye you So that to haue made this reason of youres probable you shoulde thus haue reasoned As in the whole worlde there is no disordre because seuerall princes haue seuerall and contrary lawes so in the churche will there be also none if diuerse bishoppes teache diuerse and contrary faithes But as no man is so blinde but he seeth the falsehode of this comparison so is no man I truste so voide of wit but that he seeth this to be as true as that which you made before Thus by reason we finde that schismes can not be appeased without one heade in the churche to whome the greater causes ought to be referred whome the rest ought to credite and obeye To the which heade because he is by Christes owne mouthe so priuileaged in Peters faithe that as he neuer yeat deliuered to the churche any erroniouse doctrine to be beleued but hathe allwaies continued the faith receiued from the Apostles so are we suer that he neuer shall we ought and maye in matters of faithe giue full and assured credite As by S. Austen we be counceled who to this purpose bringeth this saing of the ghospell Quae dicunt Epist 165 Matth. 23. facite c. Doe what they bidde you doe and addeth for the reason that in so doing oure faithe being moste certaine as being grounded not vpon man but vpon goddes promise can neuer be scattred by the tempest of anie schisme This being most true we maie boldely conclude that this state of Monarchie that is of gouerning the churche by one heade as it is moste necessarie so because we are suer that this one heade can not giue wrong iudgement in matters of faithe it is of all other for the churche the moste conuenient as being the verie best For in this pointe doe all men agree euen the moste aduersaries to this state that if one Monarche were suer allwaies to gouerne well that then that state off gouernement were to be preferred before all other To all this that hathe bene saide maye be added that iff you will nedes haue the seuerall diocesses and churches off euerie bishoprike to be like seueral kingdomes then as there is no only kingdome in earthe so by you it shoulde folowe that there is no one only churche in earthe Or if it may be enough for the church in earthe to be one body because Christe in heauen is the one heade thereof why maie not then the kingdomes of the earthe be in earthe one because Christe in heauen is the king of them also This being not I thinke vnknowen vnto you howe vneuen this comparison of youres was made yow will nowe leauing youre reason trie the matter by auctoritie S. Cyprian yow saie dothe most plainely teache that Nowell fo 32. a. 30 it is right and reason that seuerall bishoppes haue the gouernement of seuerall diocesses euen for the same cause for the which I yow saye doe vntruly alleage the necessitie of one heade To the place of S. Cyprian beginning Cum statutum sit Dorman Lib. 1. Epist 3. omnibus nobis c. I answere that it is right and reason that seuerall bishoppes haue the gouernement of seuerall diocesses and that to appease schismes and correcte vices as often as these thinges maie be in suche seueral diocesses commodiously done But that this maie be allwaies perfourmed in particuler bishoprikes and that if it can not recourse maie not be had to higher power that yow shoulde haue proued and that S. Cyprian hathe not Therefore this place maketh not against the auctoritie of one heade But you force it further and saie S. Cyprian affirmeth all suche appellations from a bishop off Nowell one countrie to a bishop of an other countrey to be vnlaufull for that that all bishoppes of all countreys be of like auctoritie and that none but naughtie and desperate men doe thinke the auctoritie of some bishoppes to be inferiour to the auctoritie of other S Cyprian affirmeth not here that all appellations from Dorman one bishop to an other be vnlaufull He saieth that it is reason and hathe bene ordeined emongest them that the subiectes of euery bishop haue their causes hearde there where the faulte was committed And maye not the B. of Rome doe this by sending his legates in all such cases of appeale to the places where the offences were committed there to examine the processe to receiue witnes to determine the matter Beside this if S. Cyprian had in this place vttrely forbidden all maner of appeales to Rome yeat by the phrase of his wordes it appeareth that it was decreed emongest them by a locall statute of their owne for the better maintenaunce of brothrely concorde Which as it extēded no fardre then to that place so if anie of them that once agreed to that ordre refuse at anie time to obey it although it ought to be a barre to him that once gaue his consent to the cōtrary yeat is it none to the pope why he maie not procede in the cause who neuer renounced his right if it be appealed to him The like to this is to be seene in the colleages of oure vniuersities where the founders in most places haue ordeined by their statutes that the membres of such colleages for the better reteining and vpholding of quiet and brotherly agrement emongest them shall propose suche quarelles and contentions as happen emongest them to the seuerall heades of suche colleages This ordre thus taken right and reason woulde haue kepte but if some frowarde body not contented with this will complaine furder to the chauncelor of the vniuersitie or chiefe patron of his colleage he may at their handes haue iustice That this was the case that S. Cyprian speaketh of manie thinges may persuade First that he saieth Cùm statutū sit omnibus nobis wheras an ordre is taken emōgest vs all he giueth vs two thinges to vnderstande that whereas they toke suche an ordre emōgest S. Cyprians place expoundyd thē it was not ordinarily so before but accustomed rather to be otherwise or elles what neded a statute to be made to for bid a thing neuer any otherwise practised Nexte that it was but for thē only for he saieth omnibus nobis emōgest all vs. So that in other places he denieth not yea by these words he cōfesseth rather that it was otherwise And therfore you haue done lewdly and made alowde lie M. Nowel to gather of this place this generall propositiō that all appellations from the bishop of one countrie to the bishop of an other be vnlaufull Whereas this ordre being taken
be inferiour to other Laste off all there is no worde tending to this sense that schismes maye be allwayes whiche yow must proue to deface the necessitie off one heade ouer all appeased by the seuerall bishoppes of seuerall diocesses therefore you haue made fower lyes vpon S. Cyprian A clustre of lyes 27 You repeate againe as that is a greate figure with you Nowell fol. 33. a. 6. that which yow saide before that it is impossible that there shoulde be one generall heade in earthe ouer the vniuersall churche or that suche a heade can ouersee his charge and kepe all churches from schismes and troubles and pacifie them when they are risen This as a thing tried by the state of the worlde at this daie and euer sith the first beginning thereof you will leaue to the reasonable reader to determine betwixt vs. As for the impossibilitie I answered before and saie againe Dorman fol. 50. b. that how euer it seme impossible the weake nature off maÌ„ coÌ„sidered yeat suer we are that he that appointed that ordre God him selfe is so able to multiplye grace in his ministre and to prouide him of suche helpe by the meanes of other inferiour ministres gouerning their seuerall charges vnder him that it shall not only not be impossible but easy enough Whether this one heade be hable to kepe the churche from schismes and pacifie them when they are risen better then many heades let the indifferent reader on Goddes name take the late table of Staphilus and after he hathe vpon the viewe thereof ioyned the fruiteful encrease of heresies in oure daies to the quiet agrement in faithe wherein we liued vndre the obedience of one heade lett him iudge whether he thinke more necessary for either the auoiding of schismes or suppressing of them when they be raised Which offer of youres to betried by the state off the worlde at this daye argueth to the worlde that yow haue neither wit in youre nowle nor shame in youre foreheade That the place taken out of S. Cyprian lib. 1. epist 3. proueth that for the which it was brought that is that there ought to be one generall chiefe heade ouer Christes vniuersall Churche The 12. chapitre I promised to bring the iudgement of certaine notable Nowell fo 33. a. 29 men to proue the necessitie of one heade lest anie man shoulde thinke me to be the auctor of that assertion Yow saie it was the inuention of ambitiouse popes I thinke other men haue bene ambitiouse aswell as the Dorman popes of Rome Yeat neuer was there hetherto any king or emperour muche lesse bishop or spirituall man able so manie hundred yeares to mainteine a superioritie by ambition only without all good title Neither was the diuell able to plant a succession of so many and so notable martirs confessours learned and vertuouse men as haue bene in the See of Rome to deceiue the worlde by the instrumentes of Christe It is Christe M. Nowell who hathe so by his auctoritie disposed the ordre of his churche that if you Lib. de vnit eccl will beleue S. Cyprian to make the same one he hath appointed one heade thereof in earthe as many riuers haue one spring many braunches one roote c. Which neded not by youre high diuinitie seing that it hath Christe the heade thereof in heauen in which respecte it might be one But nowe to the place of S. Cyprian here by me alleaged seing thus muche maye serue to proue you to haue made a saunderousâ—e lye Yow saie that this place of S. Cyprian here alleaged by me Nowell fol. 33. b. is not spoken of the pope Neither dothe it skill whether it be spoken of the pope Dorman or no. And yeat in this pointe yow spende a greate many of idle and superfluouse wordes For I am not as yeat come to proue the pope to be supreame heade of Christes churche but am only in the prouing hereof that it is necessarie that there be one suche heade If you woulde nedes comptrolle the alleaging of this place you shoulde showe that S. Cyprian speaketh not at all of anie necessitie to haue anye one heade or iudge in the stede of Christe obeied in earthe neither in particuler churches neither yeat ouer the vniuersal churche For so long as you coÌ„clude not thus it will euer Note folowe that if one prieste must be obeied in his owne diocesse for the auoiding and appeasing of heresies and schismes that by muche more greater reason must one prieste aboue all priestes be obeied in the stede of Christe to appease heresies and schismes in the vniuersall churche of God I had thought M. Nowell that you had knowen the proportion that is betwene the parte and the whole the lesse and the greater in the same kinde If one villaige can not consist without a heade muche lesse can one citie and yeat lesse can one shiere and lest of all can a prouince or whole kingdome Nowe when we speake of the churche one diocesse is in respecte of the whole churche as one villaige towne or shiere is in respecte of a whole prouince or kingdome As therfore it is not sufficient for the quiet gouerning of a prouince or kingdome that euery village and citie within the same haue a seuerall heade to ouersee the inhabitantes of suche villaiges or cities without there be beside one generall heade to ouersee all those inferiour heades Euen so the seuerall gouernours in particuler diocesses exclude not but inferre by a stronger reason the necessitie of one heade ouer all other heades in Christes being heade of the Churche excludeth not the ministerie of man the whole churche Which reason you can not shift awaie by saing that Christe is that only heade for so it maie be truly replied to you he is of all the particuler churches in the worlde toe And yeat this not withstanding as there woulde heresies and schismes rise in particuler churches if to vse S. Ciprians wordes there were not one prieste and iudge obeied in the same in the steede of Christe and for this cause one suche in euery diocesse supplieth the roome of Christe not visibly present in earthe so is not Christes being heade ouer the vniuersall churche any more let why there shoulde be a visible heade in his steede of the whole churche which is but one Especially seing the bishoppes maye as easely and are muche more likely to styrre vp schismes in the whole churche as are the particuler membres of euery particuler diocesse as the examples of youre first 600. yeares in which there was neuer yeat anie notable heresye that was not by bishoppes either begonne or mainteined sufficiently beare witnes Which chaunce happening seing that meanes must be sought to appease it aswell as the schismes of particuler churches and yeat Christe no more visibly present to be consulted in this case then he is in the other what remaineth to thinke but that he hath supplied
the worlde This one heade executed the censures of the churche vpon See M. Doctor Hardinges booke the seconde edition fol. 111. b. malefactours and transgressours of the ecclesiasticall canons confirmed the ordinations and elections off bishoppes approued or disalowed councelles restored bishoppes wrongfully condemned and depriued receiued into the church such as had erred and gone a straie and all this thorough out the whole worlde But with all this I saye I will not presse you because youre Apologie and you be it neuer so easy to be proued will yeat for your honour sake perhappes denie it Only this I aske of yow how yow be not ashamed to saie that it is impossible for one man to gouerne the whole churche seing by youre owne confession for 900. yeares it hathe bene so If yow will saie that the churche hathe bene euill gouerned these latter 900. yeares allthough that yow coulde right well proue as you shal neuer be hable what maketh that for this assertion off youres that one man can not possybly gouerne the whole churche conteining to vse yowre owne wordes so manie nations so diuerse Languages and natures of men Howe proueth it that one generall heade can not so ouersee his charge that he shall be able to kepe all churches from schismes and troubles and pacifie them when they are risen If one man alone coulde for the space of 900. yeares so rule all churches dispersed thorough out all the worlde that he Note was able to plant emongest so manie nations so diuerse languages and natures of men one naughty and corrupte faithe as yow saie might not the same or maye not an other with as muche facilitie haue planted or plant if it were to be planted a truthe thorough out the whole worlde If the churche haue bene so gouerned during this terme of 900. yeares that all the affaires of the churche haue by one heade bene so ordered that no membre hath had iust cause to complaine that all membres haue agreed in perfecte quietnesse one with an other and all with their heade as youre selfe hereafter confesse allthough yow labour to qualifye the matter in this wise In deede we must nedes confesse a truthe M. Nowels confession cōcerning the quiet agrement vnder the gouernement off the Pope fol. 56. b. 25. that whilest we all remained vnder the quiet obedience off youre Romishe heade in doctrine of his traditiōs there was a coloured hinde of quietnesse concorde and loue emongest all the membres of that heade the subiectes of that one gouernour and ruler and specially emongest the cleargie of that one churche if I saye by youre confession there was suche a quiete agreing thorough out all the worlde in false doctrine will you still abide by it that the same one heade that gouerned in this peasable maner all the worlde whome he fedde with euill doctrine might not haue gouerned them as quietly if he had deliuerd to them sounde and wholesome doctrine Or will you saye that God can doe lesse in procuring good thinges then the diuell in promoting euill that God can make one man hable alone to gouerne all the worlde without schismes or to appease them being moued as great as it is in euill gouernement but not in good If you will not saye thus you must nedes saie that it is nothing impossible for one man assisted by goddes grace to gouerne the churche of the whole worlde were it greater then it is and so to confesse with all that the Apologie in saing the contrary and yow in defending the Apologie haue bothe off yow falsely blasphemously and foolishely erred As for the reason whereunto the Apologie and yow leane that as God hathe giuen to no one king to be aboue all so to no one bishop to rule the whole churche that is as I tolde you before to appoint God because he hathe made manie kingdomes to make many heades of the churche which is but one and so consequently to multiply religions and make many faithes But because you repeate verie often this comparison and thinke it so absurde that there shoulde be any more one heade ouer the whole churche thē one chiefe king aboue all the kingdomes in the worlde I will here proue that within the first six hundred yeares it was taken for no absurditie There is no man I thinke that hathe bestowed anie time in the ecclesiasticall histories ignorant what a doe Theodora the Empresse wife to Iustinian the Emperour made to haue Siluerius the pope depriue Menna the good archebishop of Constantinople and to restore Anthimius the heretike laufully before by Agapetus the pope depriued To the which wicked attempt when by no meanes the good pope coulde be brought to consent false accusations were brought in against him and so he was by tirannie remoued and cōstreined to flee to a towne called Patara of the prouince of Lycia Whither the emperour Liberatus in Breuiario cap. 22. on a time comming the bishopp there as Liberatus the Archedeacon of Carthage writeth complaining to him and calling to witnesse the iust and terrible iudgemēt of God for the vniust expulsion of the bishop of so greate a seate addeth at the last these wordes Multos esse in hoc Many Kinges to gouerne the worlde one pope to gouerne the churche mundo reges non esse vnum sicut ille papa est super ecclesiam mundi totius a sua sede expulsus that there are manie kinges in this worlde and that there is no one only kinge as that pope is ouer all the whole churche of the worlde expelled from his seate Doe you not here see M. Nowell that within the first 600. yeares the whole worlde was gouerned by one heade in spirituall matters without anie necessitie to haue it so gouerned in temporall Woulde this good bishop is it credible being a suter to the Emperour if the churche had not bene gouerned by one heade at that time or if it had bene an absurditie that there shoulde be one chiefe bishop and manie equall kinges haue dasshed the Emperour in the mouthe with suche an absurde and flatte lye Or woulde the Emperour vpon this talcke immediatly haue caused Siluerius to be called backe againe into Italie and not rather haue checked the bishop for abusing him with a lye if he had not acknowledged his wordes to be true Thus muche I trust maye serue to make the indifferent reader vnderstande that I reprehended not the Apologie without iust cause You re railing against me because it is as youre selfe cōfesse fol. 39. a. beside the matter I passe ouer But so can I this by no meanes that yow take it for no reproche yow saye to haue Nowell b. 1. youre congregation secrete scattred and vnknowen to all the worlde because this is common to yow with the primitiue churche of oure Sauiour Christe and his holie Apostles Considre I beseche the good Reader whether these newe Dorman vpstart heretikes of oure age be not brought
by and by to be confounded as one in truthe and nature the names whereof be confounded Otherwise because the Apostles are in the gospell called disciples an Apostle and a disciple are all one which is well knowen not to be so Likewise though the termes of prieste and bishop were common yeat the thinges were neuer one in so muche that S. Austen making mention of the heresie of Aerius saieth Dicebat etiam praesbiterum ab episcopo nulla differentia secerni debere He saide Ad quod vult Deum haeres 57. also that a prieste ought to be distinguished from a bishop by no difference But what meane you here M. Nowell to talcke so much of the equalitie of bishoppes and priestes being a matter in this place nothing to oure purpose Or if it were seing it might be saide that euen as the olde canons as I declared before in that equalitie which is in priestehode vsed yeat In the 6. chapitre fol. 33. b. the worde Archipraesbiter chiefe prieste and ordeined suche a dignitie in the churche so there is nothing that letteth why in the equalitie of bishoppes and priestes while no one is more bishop or prieste then an other there maie How one bishop is equall to an other not be degrees notwithstanding of superioritie allthough not in the sacrament of ordres which is common to them all yeat in the execution of that power that is conferred thereby But perhappes you be of the opinion youre selfe that there ought to be no difference betwene a bishop and a prieste and therefore are the gladder to snatche occasion by all meanes direct or indirect to vtter youre minde therin Nowe foloweth vpon this grounde laied that bishoppes and priestes be by the first institution and the lawe of God one youre conclusion whereby you will make it appeare that you haue not without cause made mention of this equalitie of bishoppes and priestes So that all bishoppes which be the successours of the Apostles Nowell b. 24. be also praesbiteri that is to saie elders or priestes Whereof it foloweth also that there is an equalitie emongest all bishoppes by goddes lawe as the equall successours of the Apostles And that this is S. Hieromes minde in that place all learned men who haue reade the saide epistle doe well knowe This was not the minde of S. Hierome but is an idle Dorman phantasy of youre owne The learned knowe and to their iudgement I appeale that his minde was here to compare together the state of a prieste and a bishop in the sacrament of holie ordres common aswell to the one as to the other that so he might refell the better the errour of those who helde that deacons ought to be equall to priestes as appeareth by these wordes of his in the beginning of the epistle In this epistle ad Euagri◠Nam quum Apostolus c. For whereas the Apostle teacheth manifestly that priestes and bishoppes be one what eyleth the seruaūt * He meaneth deacons of widowes and tables arrogātly to extoll him selfe aboue them at whose praiers the bodie and bloud of Christe is made Doth not this example put in the consecrating of the bodie and bloude off Christe the whiche the poorest prieste that is hathe as good auctoritie to doe giuen hym in the sacrament of holie ordres as the pope him selfe declare that S. Hieromes minde was no otherwise to make priestes equall to bishoppes but in the only ordre of priestehode common to bothe Yea but yow will saie that the Apostles were equall in all respectes for if you saie not so you can not conclude absolutely as yow doe that all bishoppes their successours be so equall If yow saie so that is but your bare Lib. 1. contra Iouinianum saing only not by the auctoritie of S. Hierome confirmed but most plainly by the same impugned Who in one place saieth that emongest the twelue there was a heade chosen Peter by name and in an other place that Christ made Peter In cap. Marci 14. Note the cause of appointing one heade the maister of his house THAT VNDER ONE SHEPHERD THERE MAY BE ONE FAITH Which is directly against the equalitie that you build vpō But let it be graunted vnto you that the apostles were equal yeat shall not your cōclusion folow for all that For it is to be considered that in the Apostles there is a double respect which is to be weighed nowe of vs. Either we considre them as they were all Apostles or as they were bishoppes As they were Apostles they How the Apostles were all equall were all equall they had all like power to preache and teache thorough out the whole worlde As they were bishoppes and rulers of particuler churches they were all subiect to Petre the chiefe bishop of all As they were Apostles that is to saye generall legates to plante Christes faithe thorough out all the world to founde churchs to preach the word of God finally to gouerne vniuersally in all places where their should come they trāsmitted this right none of thē to their successours but only Peter who was the generall shepherd of all Which is the cause that some of the fathers namely S. Austē saie that the power giuen to Peter was giuē to him In psalm 208. in the persone of the church because it was not giuē to him alone but to all his successours to cōtinue for euer As the Apostles were bishops of particuler places their auctoritie ended not with them but wēt further to the whole church to cōtinue for euer Now to applye this to our purpose howe doe the bishoppes that now are succede the Apostles They succede them as bishoppes not as Apostles For if they succeded them so who seeth not that as the Apostles made lawes absolued excommunicated and ruled thorough out all How bisshoppes be the successours of the Apostles the worlde where so euer they came so might the bishoppes that nowe succede thē doe the like The which thing seing we finde by no recordes sith the apostles time that euer it was practised in the church and if it should it were the nexte waie to disquiet al the worlde and to fill the churche full of schismes and heresies reason it selfe dothe conuince that the ordre taken emongest the Apostles was but by speciall priuileage not appointed to continue for euer or to derogate anie thing from the generall ordre begonne in Peter and appointed to be perpetuall as long as the church shoulde endure To conclude therfore I graunte to you M. Nowell that the Apostles were equall as they were all the generall legates of Christe but not as they had their speciall bishoprikes and charges limited vnto them In which latter sense because the bishoppes that are nowe succede the Apostles in which pointe they were not equall it foloweth against you that all bishoppes be not equall Iff yow will saye that the Apostles were also equall euen in that that
leane vnto so notable a lie The first exception against this testimonie of Leo is this Nowell b. 13. No man maie be witnesse in his owne cause nor iudge Therefore Leo his testimonie brought furthe for the preeminence of his own See is not to be admitted c. This exception of youres yow proue by reason by scripture by lawe First to answere youre reason if reason theire maie be in Dorman anie so vncharitable a iudgement I saie it is false that the holiest and best men be lightly partiall in their owne matters He is neither holie nor good much lesse to be accounted amongest the holiest and best that for the bettring off his owne cause will swarue from the truthe Youre testimonie alleaged out of the ghospell is not to the purpose Ioan. 5. For that place proueth not that allwaies the testimonie that a man giueth of himselfe is false but that when a man hath to doe with aduersaries that will not otherwise beleue him as the Phariseis woulde not Christ then he must vse the testimonie of other theÌ„ him selfe Which as Leo in such case you maie be suer did so wheÌ„ the matter was so farre froÌ„ being by anie aduersarie gainesaide that he made his commission B. 25. to the bishop of Thessalonica to be in his steade thorough out Grecia and other countries adioning as he did here what nede had he there to bring anie proufes where there was at all no doubte If yow will saie that I defending the auctoritie of the pope bring Leo against yow which are the aduersaries and that therefore nowe becawse you are against Christes vicair as the Phariseis were against Christe him selfe for so doe yow confesse that you M. Nowell confesseth him selfe to reason against Leo as the phariseis dyd against Christ reason as they did although perhappes yow woulde haue bene angrie with an other that should haue saide so much so I must bring other witnesse then him except I will take the foile To that I answere that you come nowe to late with that exception if it had no other faulte For to answere you who dispute so depely oute of the lawe like one that is not alltogether ignorant therein conclusum est in causa M. Nowell sententia transijt in rem iudicataÌ„ I nede not to expounde these termes vnto you who haue the marow of the glose euen at youre fingres endes For other men who haue not atteined to such knowledge I saie that seing in Leo his time when he appointed in this epistle the bishop of Thessalonica in his steade thorough out Grecia and other countries adioining in an other place the B. of Orleance or some other thorough out Fraunce Hormisdas bishop of Hispalis to be his vicair in Spaine the churches that theÌ„ were and in to whose power the churches of this time succede excepted nothing against these doinges of his in his owne cause as you surmise but suffered theÌ„ to passe till our time the space of 1100. yeares and odde I answere I saye for replie to youre exception that had this testimonie bene being vrged by the rigour of the lawe insufficient that yeat forasmoche as the churche from that time hetherto accepted it for sufficient you come now to late to propose matter against it To make the matter by example more plaine if my auncestor a hundred yeares past in a contention betwene him and some other aboute a piece of landes woulde vpon trust of the vpright conscience of some neare kinsman of his aduersaries admit him to be a witnesse or iudge in the matter whome he might laufullie repell might I if sentence were giuen against my auncestor by the meanes of this iudge or witnesse come after the 100. yeares and excepte against the witnesse or iudge Leo speaketh not nowe M. Nowell he gaue this testimonie that the giueth 1100. yeares agoe The whole churche iustified his persone then to be bothe holie and blessed It is to late and to muche shame also for yow to starte vp now and saye the contrary Thus muche might be saied if it were true that Leo had bene witnesse or iudge in his own cause But the truthe is it is not his cause it is the cause of Christes church and of the whole ordre of priesthod For he pronouÌ„ceth for that seate vnde vnitas sacerdotalis exorta est froÌ„ whence priestly vnitie Cipr. li. 4. Epis 9. â—libi came Neither is Leo in this place more to be reiected for mainteining the supremacie of Peters seate wherein he theÌ„ sate then are the testimonies of S. CipriaÌ„ mainteining the iurisdiction of his owne bishoprike against stubborne rebelles Shall S. Hieromes auctoritie against deacons who woulde be equall with priestes be of no auctoritie because him selfe was a prieste This is not the meaning M. Nowell of the glose as greate a gloser as you be The glose meaneth that in priuate matters that concerne the pope as he is likewise How the glose brought by M. Nowell is to be vnderstande a priuate maÌ„ he shal not him selfe be iudge but in those thinges which concerne the whole bodie of the church and beloÌ„g to the ordre therof and haue no other iudge in earth it taketh not away the power of being witnesse or iudge Pighius you saye alleaged beside the decree of the pope the councell Nowell fol. 46. a. 1 of Vienna lest anie man might estemethe auctoritie the lesse as proceding from the pope in his owne case And by this yow saye it maye seeme that he thinketh the popes onelie testimonie in his owne cause not to be sufficient Pighius was neuer of that minde that you would haue him seme to be When he spake these wordes he touched Dorman the humour and noted the fashion of heretikes and therfore ex abundanti he cast in the mention of the councell of Vienna which I coulde doe also if that woulde helpe the matter and for Vienna giue yow Calcedon for 300. bringe yow 630. bishoppes that called Leo the kepar of Christes vineyard vniuersal bishop with other termes to that effect I forbare to alleage I confesse so muche in one place off a 28. my boke the notable testimonies of Clemens Anacletus Euaristus Alexander Xistus Telesphorus Pius Victor Fabianus and suche other onely because the gainesaiers might happelie haue excepted against them that because they were bishoppes of Rome they were not in that cause which was there owne indifferent witnesses How saye you M. Nowell what gather you hereof That you might laufullye take exception to them as not indifferent If you gather so you wrangle with me My wordes that went before in whiche to iustifie their persones and to shewe how vnlaufullie you shoulde doe it I called them martirs and in the whole course of their liues verie apostles doe witnesse with me the contrarie Yeat saide I that you might doe it de facto not de iure as you maie kill a man in dede but
disposuit Hoc erant vtique caeteri apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis SED EXORDIVM AB VNITATE PROFICISCITVR VT ECCLESIA VNA MONSTRETVR That is to saye And although oure Lorde gaue like power to all his apostles after his resurrection and saide As my father sent me so sende I you Take you the holie ghost whose synnes you forgiue they are forgiuen whose sinnes you reteine they are reteined yeat to set furthe vnitie he disposed by his auctoritie the same vnitie to beginne of one That were trulie the other apostles also that Peter was indued with like felowship of honour and power but the beginning commeth from vnitie that the churche maie be declared to be one These be the wordes of S. Ciprian faithfullie alleaged and trulie englished I will now repeate the matter euen from the beginning and doe you good Readers to vnderstande the cause why S. Cypriā mentioneth here at all S. Peter and why he entreth in to this comparison betwene him and the other apostles and then after make you priuey to the misteries of M. Nowelles sleight in alleaging this place which he perhappes thinketh that no man knoweth but him selfe and woulde I dare saie be lothe that anie mo shoulde For the first it is to be vnderstande that not manie lines before this place that I haue nowe in hande S. Cyprian complaining of the fraude and subtilite of oure enemie the diuel saith that now that idolles be euerie where destroied he hath bethought him of a newe waie to deceiue mankinde and that is by heresies and schismes to carie them oute of the churche And this commeth to passe saieth he while men come not to the beginning of truthe the heade is not sought out neither the doctrine off oure heauenly maister kepte which thinges if a man woulde considre and examine there woulde nede no long discourse nor greate argumentes The truthe hath made the way to proue the faithe easy Oure Lorde saieth to Peter and vpon this rocke will I builde Math. 18. my churche c. And after his resurrection he saieth to him feede my shepe And although after his resurrection he gaue all his apostles like power and so furthe as I rehersed before After all this he addeth Hanc ecclesiae vnitatem qui non tenet tenere se fidem credit This vnitie of the churche he that holdeth not thinketh he that he holdeth the faith Thus farre S. Cipriā The occasion you see that moued him to mention Peter Note and to compare him with the other apostles was because to auoide schismes we must he said seke out vnitie by the scripture where we shoulde finde that our lord woulde haue his churche to begin of one of him to whome he saide thow art Petre and vpon this rocke will I builde my churche Well then must this be reteined as a truthe in the meane season if we will be within the vnitie of the churche we must kepe vs in that churche which beginning and springing out of one roote or flowing out of one heade founteine for these be also in this place S. Cyprians similitudes is one Now let vs applye the place as it is alleaged by you M. Nowell and see whether you haue vsed S. Cyprian wel or no. You alleage the place to proue such an equalitie emongest th' apostles as that there should be no difference emongest thē and so ouerthrowe all S. Cyprians drift whereby he woulde proue the churche to be one because it taketh beginninge of one For if they be all equall and no difference betwene them then either the churche hathe no one beginning or 12. beginninges If no one beginning howe can the vnitie procede of that which is not if 12 how can the churche be therefore one because as S. Cyprian saieth the vnitie thereof beginneth of one or what beginning call yow that of vnitie that commeth from suche an equall multiplicitie If therefore it be builded vpon one alone as by S. Cyprian it appeareth that it must then is that one aboue the rest Nowe to haue the churche builded vpon one is thus muche to saye that as in a materiall building there is one foundation whereupon all the rest thereof stone tymbre Iron and what so euer elles leaneth so there is in the churche one to whome after Christe the great rocke and firste grounde all the rest that be membres thereof muste as it were leane he him selfe bearing the burdē of the whole building Is not this to be the chiefe stone in Gods building If you shoulde here perhappes wrangle and saye that although it appeare by this place that Christe disposed the beginning of vnitie to procede from one and from Peter toe that yeat here is no mention that the churche shoulde be builded vpon him notwistanding that Christe speaking off Peter saide he woulde builde it vpon that rocke then I remit you for the proufe that S. Cipriāmeaneth so here to those places of his lib. 1. epist 3. epist 8. 12. lib. 4. epist 9. lib. de habit Virgin lib. de bono pati epist ad I ubaianum And last of all to the epistle ad Quintum where he hath in expresse wordes against this equalitie that you dreame of Petrus quem Dominus primum elegit super quē aedificauit ecclesiā suam Peter whome oure Lord chose to be the chiefe and vpon whom he builded his churche This because yow sawe M. Nowell M. Nowell shamefully misuseth S. Cypriā that the verie wordes of S. Cyprian in this place did purport and that alleaged wholly they were to vnequall to serue your fantasied equalitie you first hewed of this knot Et quamuis and although Then you shaued cleane awaye tamen vt vnitatem manifestaret yeat that he might make vnitie manifest vnto this place Hoc erant vtique And yeat that sentence escaped not youre fingers for the last parte thereof Sed exordium but the beginning procedeth from vnitie you pared cleane awaye First the worde Quamuis althoughe is of suche a nature that where so euer it be put it is a messenger that signifieth some diuersitie like to followe as when S. Cyprian saide here although the Apostles were equall that which foloweth yeat he disposed the beginning off vnitie to begin of one argueth in that point some inequalitye Againe the wordes that folowe tamen vt vnitatem manifestaret yeat that he might make vnitie knowen and vt ecclesia vna monstretur that the churche may be shewed to be one These you passed ouer because in them lyeth the very cause why oure Sauioure hath appointed one to be aboue the rest for vnities sake because otherwise it coulde not haue bene chosen but so manie rulers so manie faithes and then where had vnitie bene Beside this the worde ab vno incipientem beginning of one lefte also quite oute ouerthroweth that false proposition of youres that to vnite the churche and make it one in earthe
Italie or Rome it selfe for his wordes haue euidentlie that relation and that none thinke the auctoritie of one bishop to be lesse then the auctoritie an other but a few wicked and desperate men You were driuē to the wall M. Nowell when you were forced Dorman for a pore shift to say that Leo said as he did because he wolde haue bene lord and heade ouer the church S. Cipriā saith that euerie bishop hath his seuerall portion The same saieth Leo. Leo saieth that the charge of the vniuersall church must Lib. 1. ep 3 haue recourse to Peters chaire S. Ciprian saieth not the cōtrarie Yea so saieth S. Ciprian toe calling Rome matricem the mother church And whither should children I pray you haue recourse for succour but to their mother He saith not that the subiecte of one bishop may not appeale to an other Lyes that is one lie He saieth not that the cause determined by one bishop may be called before no other that is an other lie He maketh no comparison as you say he doth betwene the bishoppes of Afrike Italie and Rome behold the third lye He saieth not that none but a fewe wicked and desperate men thinke the auctoritie of one bishop to be lesse then the auctoritie of an other which if he shoulde youre selfe were like by that meanes to be of the nombre of such desperate and wicked men who before acknowledged chiefe prelates a worde that presupposeth other that be inferiour and fol. 32. 2. be cōtrarie to him selfe as I proued before by his writing to Steuen the pope wherby he required him to take ordre by his lettres for the remouing from his bishoprike Martianus the B. of Arles and by that that him selfe sent to Rome to Cornelius to trie the matter before him with those euill mē that complained vpon him there by his excepting againste the sentence giuen by the pope for the restitution of Basilides for no other cause but because it was obteined by false information All which exāples doe not only proue that he was not of the minde that no one bishop was aboue an other but this also that the B. of Rome was of greater auctoritie then the bishoppes of Fraunce Spaine or Afrike Hetherto of the disagrement betwene S. Ciprian and Leo which by this time all men I trust perceiue to be no suche as you vaunted it was yea to be none at all but suche consent rather as in diuerse wordes there can not be greater It foloweth that we examine how Hierome and Leo agree S Hierome yow saye hath that all churches worshipping one Nowell fo 51. a. 10 Borowed out of Caluin Inst. lib. 4 cap. 7. Sect. 3. Christe and obseruing one rule of truthe are equall with the churche of Rome that all bishoppes be the successours of the Apostles and of one priestehod and of the same merite and dignitie But Leo saieth contrarie that it was giuen to one to be aboue all the rest and that they who be in greater diocesses or cities haue more care and auctoritie and that the onelie see of Peter hath charge of the vniuersall churche and is heade thereof Yow belye S. Hierome He saieth not that all the churches Dorman A lye 38. in the worlde be equall If he did he shoulde saie contrarie to Irinaeus who saieth that the churche of Rome hath potentiorem principalitatem greater souereintie then other churches haue contrary to S. Cipriā who calleth Rome the Li. 1. cap. 3 Lib. 1. ep 3. mother churche the roote and principall churche and contrarie to S. Austen who calleth it the churche in the which the principalitie of the apostolicall see hath allwaies florished Epist 162. He saieth that Christes church is not diuided * Nec altera Romanae vrbis ecclesia altera totius orbis existimanda as thoghe Rome were one and the whole worlde an other As for that that he saieth that all bishoppes be the successours off the apostles those wordes make merueilously for the opinion of Leo against you For vpon that proposition of S. Hierome I reason thus All bishoppes be the successours of the Apostles but the Apostles were not all equal because as S Hierom saith Peter was their head Ergo by S. Hieromes minde all bishoppes who be their successours be not equall but haue the successour of Peter their heade Againe Peter was heade of the Apostles and made because there shoulde arise no schisme emongest them Ergo the B. off Rome who is Peters successour must be heade of his felowe bishoppes for the same cause These two propositions that there was emongest the Apostles one heade and that that was Peter be S. Hieromes owne in his first boke against Iouinian The wordes although I rehersed before yeat because they perteine not onelie to this matter but to shewe also how these thre Ciprian Hierome and Leo mete and knit as it were together in this sentence that Christ appointed ouer his church one generall heade I will recite once againe The wordes therfore of S. Hierō to Iouiniā be these At dicis super Petrum fundatur ecclesia licet idipsum in alio loco super omnes apostolos fiat cuncti claues regni coelorum accipiant ex aequo super eos ecclesiae fortitudo solidetur tamen propterea inter duodecim vnus eligitur vt capite constituto schismatis tollatur occasio That is to saie But thou saiest The churche is builded vpon Peter although the same in an other place be done vpon all the Apostles and all of them receiue the keyes of heauen and equallye is the strength of the churche grounded vpon them yeat for all that is there one chosen emongest the twelue that by making a heade emongest them occasion of schisme maye be taken awaye See yow not nowe by this place of S. Hierome M. Nowell howe the equalitie of power that S. Cyprian speaketh of the similitude of honour and equalitie of calling that Leo remembreth the building of the churche in one place vpon all the Apostles indifferentlie that S. Hierome mentioneth notwithstanding they all three conclude in one maner with this worde tamen notwithstanding that the churche was builded vpon one that there was one heade that there was one preferred before the reste This place of S. Hierome as it vtterly stoppeth their mouthes who reason that the Apostles were absolutely in all pointes equall so confirmeth it moste strongly the answere made before to the place of S. Ciprian that the Apostles were all of equall power and auctority that that was true at the first but Ioan. 20. that after oure Lorde last before his ascension gaue the Ioan. 21. chiefe auctoritie to one in respecte as one was chosen from the rest vpon whome the churche shoulde be builded S. Hierome saieth that al bishoppes are of one priesthode and of the same merite you plaie the falsefier and adde of youre owne and of the same dignitie The gentlewoman
to 15. wordes I can not but thinke that his pleasure was by a young man suche as I am to shewe how little those greate pillers off their side were hable to doe I am not I confesse of that reading and studie in diuinitie that manie other be in oure countrie What so euer it be that is in me I vowe it to Christe and his catholike faithe against all heretikes and heresies during my life And suerlye that littell which I haue shal I trust I will saie with S. Cyprian dico prouocatus dico dolens dico compulsus I saie it being prouoked I saie it sorowfully I saie it compelled by yow thereto be sufficient at all times to matche with yow in anie of those foure questions that I haue handled in my boke For why should I doubte by the aide of God to be hable to saie in defence of the catholike faithe more then yow shall against it Yow saie that hetherto I haue proued nothing and that I Nowell fo 51. b. 1. haue gone about most lewdely to gather that because euerie seuerall countrie citie and companie haue their seuerall princes rulers and heades that all churches dispersed in all countries cities townes villages c. shoulde haue one onelie heade here in earthe I reasoned and yeat doe reason in this wise Euerie seuerall Dorman countrie because it is one bodie euerie seuerall citie and companie for the same cause must haue their seuerall rulers and heades Therefore all the churches in the worlde being but one misticall bodie must haue one chiefe heade to rule and gouerne the same I reasoned after the same māner Euerie particuler churche as hath S. Ciprian and S. Hierome must haue one bishop to rule the same and to be the heade thereof Therefore the whole churche of Christe where the daunger of schismes is greater and the mischiefe likelier to happen must haue in like case one heade I haue shewed yow nowe that youre reasons to the contrarie There is no one head ouer all the kingdoms in the world and it is impossible that there shoulde be one suche therfore in like maner it is impossible that there shoulde be one generall heade in earthe ouer the vniuersall church Fol. 32. b. 14. ar of no force forasmoche as the difference of these two states is suche as suffreth Supra cap. 11. fol. 49. b. 50. b fol. 50. a 61. a. not youre argument to holde As because the diuision off vnitie that is of faithe in the churche for the maintenaunce wherof this ordre was takē that there should be one heade in the whole church is merueilouse daungerouse to christian men forasmoch as without faith there is no saluatiō as hath our Sauiour him selfe Qui non crediderit condemnabitur Marci vlt. Heb. 11. he that beleueth not shall be damned And the Apostle Sine fide impossibile est placere deo To please God without faithe it is a thing impossibile Whereas it is not so touching the obseruation of anie other vnitie emongest Christian men in ciuile policie forasmuche as it is not necessarie that all agree in common gouernement but they maie well according to the diuersitie of countries tongues conditions of men haue diuerse maners of liuing and gouernement Yea it is necessarie the contrarie natures of men and countries so requiring that there be not onelie diuerse but contrarie positiue lawes in diuerse countries and prouinces When notwithstanding no diuersitie of natures no varietie of customes no circumstances what so euer they be can excuse them from the vniforme obseruing in all the whole worlde of godde◠commaundementes and ministring of his sacramentes without the which there is no entraunce to life To this maye be added that to gouerne the whole churche in spirituall thinges how harde and impossible a thing so euer it seme to you is yeat much more easie to be done then to gouerne the worlde in temporall gouernement bothe because the businesse and affaires of the worlde are more diuerse and contrarie then are those of the church and also because the sworde of excommunication wherewith the heade of the churche dothe punishe rebelles and suche as forsake the truthe passeth soner and easelier to the correction of suche offendours be they neuer so far of then doth the materiall sworde which the temporall magistrate vseth Againe that there shoulde be one head ouer the whole churche it is Christes institution who woulde so haue it when committing to Peter the charge of aswell his shepe as his lambes he made him generall shepherde and Homil. 87 in cap. 10. han 21. ruler as saith Chrisostome ouer the whole world Whereas in temporall gouernement it appeareth not by the scriptures that he planted euer anie suche ordre Naye the scripture Eccles 17. maketh mention of the contrarie if we will beleue yow It foloweth Nowell b. 17. You haue hearde also how ignorantly if he did not vnderstande how shamelesly if he did vnderstande he hathe alleaged S. Cyprian and S. Hieromo for him c. Men haue hearde M. Nowell doubt you not how like a Dorman propre mā you haue quit your selfe And yeat as though no man had sene you hetherto with a shamelesse repetition of a nombre of lies made before you turne you as it were about againe to be better considred Howe S. Ciprian and S. Hierome make not againste me but euidentlye with me how vaine or rather a balsphemouse lye it is to saie seing God hath so appointed it to be that it is impossible that there shoulde be one only heade ouer the whole churche How my witnesses agree with moste perfite consent it hathe bene to your shame before declared Yow see there was no suche opinion muche lesse knowledge Nowell of any suche heade emongest the Apostles or in the primitiue churche but that it is a newe diuelishe deuise of the late ambitiouse bishoppes of Rome who when they were neuer able yeat hitherto well to rule the churche of Rome one citie as by all histories and experience is euident woulde yeat of the worlde vsurpe the superioritie and supremacy And if S. Paule did thinke he was not meete to haue charge of one church who coulde not well gouern his own house of what mōstrouse ambitiō and presumption is he that being neuer yeat hable to gouern one peculier church doth claime the regiment of all churches thorough out the world whereas he is not hable to tell the onelie names of a small parte of the saide churches neither knoweth in what parte a greate many of them be Are yow not ashamed M. Nowell to call it a newe diuelishe Dorman deuise of the late bishoppes of Rome and to saye that there was no suche opinion of one heade emongest the Apostles or in the primitiue churche seing that S. Cyprian and Hierome who yow saye vntrulye are againste Epist ad Quint. fracrem Lib. 1. aduers Ioninian me doe make mention thereof as I shewed before
in the easte churches that they might the rather ouerronne the catholikes The one parte giueth a perfect cause of their testimonie because they were present when the matter was concluded Imagine nowe the other who hauing sought in the east churche for suche a decree saide they founde no suche to saie which they doe not that they had harde of some that were present at the councell that there was no suche thing decreed which witnesses were to be beleuid This that hath bene saide maye seme I doubte not to anye reasonable man a sufficient cause why we ought to giue full credite to Athanasius and those other bishoppes and pronounce for the innocencie of Zozimus Yeat to make it the better appeare how true it is that Athanasius Manie canons made in the 1. councell of Nice that we haue not nowe saieth of the burning of the Nicene canons I will note vnto yow certeine canons which the fathers and stories off the churche witnes to haue bene concluded in that councell which yeat are not emongest those twentie whiche we haue I will first beginne with S. Ambrose who telleth you M. Nowell that you haue done euell being twise maried Epi. 82. li. 10. colū 11 Note M. Nowell to thrust youre selfe into the ministerie of the church not only because the apostle he saieth forbiddeth it but the fathers also in the councell of Nice S. Augustin reporteth that there was a decree made in the councell of Nice that a bishop shoulde not ordeine his Epist 110. successour bshiop with him notwithstanding that him selfe he confessed by ignorance thereof was so ordeined by Valerius his bishop and predecessour Iustinian the emperour saith that it was defined by the first foure generall councels that the B. of Rome should be Constitut 131. the chiefe of all other priestes S. Hierome saieth that the booke of Iudith was counted emongest the canonicall by the fathers of Nice In praefat in Iudith Theodoritus alleageth a decree of giuing ecclesiasticall degrees of consecrating bishops made also by the councell of Nice Lib. 5. cap. 9. Leo affirmeth that there was an other canon touching the doctrine of Christes incarnation Epist ad Leonē 78. Where is there anie canon of the obseruation of the Easter daye the desire of the vniforme obseruation whereof Histor tripart lib. 1. cap. vlt. Haere 70. Lib. 2. ca. 2 was one cause why the councell of Nice was called Yeat dothe bothe Epiphanius and the tripartite historye make mentiō of a decree made by the fathers touching the same Youre Apologie citeth out of the councell off Nice that we ought not to be humiliter intēti ad panem et vinum ouer basely bent to breade and wine We confesse it to be true but shew you it emongest the canons Who doubteth that the councell of Nice was assembled together against Arrius Yeat shewe one canon againste him emongest the 20. that remaine Was there thinke yow none made That were surely a strange matter that in the whole doinges thereof nothing should haue bene concluded against him for the repressing of whome the councell was specially called together Howe saye you now M. Nowell is it likely that the Arrians burned the canons of the councel or no Are all these falsaries and corrupters that haue alleaged thus manye canons to be of the councell of Nice because at this daye there is none of them extant I thinke you will not saye so If yow will not why Zozimus more then they Yes you saye there is an other cause why if not Zozimus for I thinke by this tyme you be ashamed of that matter yeat some other hath fasified those canons What is that I praye yow Because there appeared in the copies sent from the Easte the Nowell fol. 47. a. 11. cleane contrarye to that whiche the pope claimeth For the sixt and seuenth decree off the sayde Nicene councell make the patriarkes of Alexandria Antiochia and Hierusalem equall with the bisshoppes of Rome Trulye if it had bene so it is merueile that Athanasius Dorman who was there present shoulde haue bene ignorant of it Therefore excepte you will saye that either this epistle is feined and not Athanasius owne as that is wont in other auctorities brought against yow to be youre common and last refuge when you be sore pressed which if you doe you must not onelye saye it but proue it also Or that his memorie was so euill that he coulde not remembre so notable a thing so latelye before done or his malice so greate that he woulde faine that which neuer was done you muste nedes graunte that this sixt and seuenth canon haue an other meaning then to make the patriarkes of Alexandria Antiochia and Hierusalem equall with the bishoppes off Rome And so haue they in dede For the true meaning of The true vnderstanding of the 6. and 7. canon of the councel of Nice them is to appoint the limites and boundes of those primates iurisdictions of whom mention is there made according to the custome of the bishop of Rome As the wordes whiche answere trulye to the greke and are in Latine these doe wel declare Antiqui mores obtineant in Agipto Libia Pentapoli vt Alexandrinus horum omnium habeat potestatem quia episcopo Romano hoc consuetum est Similiter etiam per Antiochiam in caeteris prouincijs priuilegia seruentur ecclesijs Let olde customes be kepte in Aegypt Libia and Pentapoli that the B. of Alexandria haue the auctoritie ouer them all for as muche as the B. of Romes maner is suche Semblablye also thorough out Antioche and in other prouinces let the churches haue their priuileges kepte These wordes of the councell as they doe nothing at all diminishe the B. of Romes auctoritie so doe they confirme it verie muche The reason of the councell why the iurisdiction of the B. of Alexandria shoulde extende so far being beside the auncient custome in those partes the custome also of the B. Rome who it is to be thought vsed of long time so to alow it by conteining in his rescriptes those prouinces vnder the patriarchie of Alexandria Which was now brought as an argumēt to confirme and continue the same For this meaning that they should be all equall in power and auctoritie there is no worde there able to induce Except a man woulde bring in those graue fathers reasoning thus foolishely because the B. of Rome hath iurisdictiō ouer his owne bishoprike for more you giue him not and the councell nameth no place at all therfore the B. of Alexandria shall haue iurisdiction ouer all the bishoppes of Aegipt Libia and Pentapoli Had not this bene thinke you a goodly making of them equall If you will saie that the councell ment that the B. of Rome shoulde be patriarke in the west partes and therein they shoulde be equall beside that there be no suche wordes in the councell to inforce suche a meaning yeat shoulde
we of England be neuer the nearer for oure lot being to be still vnder the bishop of Rome all youre laboure were lost And againe one chiefe rule of youres ouerthrowen that all bishoppes be equall Which I desire the learned reader to note diligētly Because yow kepte before M. Nowell suche a stirre to haue all bisshoppes M. Nowell cast in his owne tune equall Whereas euen this verye councell that youre selfe bring by making only three of all the world equall if that were the meaning of the councell do the euidently ouerthrowe you Wel whether be liker of these two senses to be the sense and meaning of the councell I will leaue to the indifferent and learned to iudge who I doubte not when they shall easelie perceiue that the councell attributed so much to the auctoritie of the B. of Rome that his custome was alleaged to proue the iurisdiction of the B. of Alexandria to be as a directiō not onelie for that but also for the conseruing of the priuileges to other churches thorougheout Antiochia and other prouinces he will with as like facilitie espie how this sixt and seuenth canon doe not onelie not disagree with that alleaged by Zozimus but also peaseably agreing together the one confirme the other Thus muche touching these canons that you woulde so faine haue made cōtrarie without shewing the pointes wherein the patriarkes shoulde be equal with the B. of Rome to the other alleaged by Athanasius and after him by Zozimus Hauing allreadie sufficientlie declared that Zozimus is not guiltie of the crime laide to his charge I wil adde this as for a more confirmation that Zozimus if there had bene No cause way Zozimus shoulde forge a canon no suche canon in the councell of Nice had yeat no cause to forge one which he was not so simple but he wel knewe woulde not if he did long be vnespied and then the shame woulde light vpon him seing that he had for him the councell of Sardica not long after that of Nice for Osius the B. of Corduba in Spaine was present at them bothe nor of muche lesse auctoritie neither as in the which were 300. bishoppes not of one prouince but gathered together out of all the worlde out of Rome Spaine Fraunce Italie Campania Calabria Aphrica Sardinia Panonia Misia Dacia Dardania an other Dacia Macedonia Thessalia Achaia Epiros Thracia Rhodope Asia Caria Bithinia Helespontus Phrigia Pisidia Capadocia Pōtus Cilicia Phrygia againe Pamphilia Lidia the Ilandes called Cyclades Aegipt Thebais Libia Galatia Palestina and Arabia Seing I saye that he had for his purpose the canons namelie the fourthe and seuenth of so generall a councell as this was in which were also the bishoppes of Africa them selues whome he might haue obiected 300. if you goe to nombring Athanasius that strong piller of Christes churche being one of them against 217 witnesses all if I would reason as you doe in their owne cause I am not ignorant that Caluin being not so impudent as you saieth that Zozimus alleaged this decree of Sardica as a decree of the councell of Nice But as you in that point more wily thē he saw that he Distitut li. 4. cap. 7. Sect. 9. coulde neuer be hable to proue that so perceiued you also that he had farre ouershot him selfe in making of the councell holden at Sardica anie mention at all and therfore you thought it wisedome slyly to slippe it ouer and to inuolue it vtterly in silence lest thereby you might giue occasion to some to searche that councell that otherwise woulde neuer haue thought of it It foloweth And the saide 217. bishoppes made a decree in that African Nowell Fol. 47. a 15. Concil African cap. 105. councell that no sailing ouer the sea with controuersies nor appellations to the B. of Rome nor sending of his legates Laterall in to their countries as iudges shoulde be vsed according as by the epistle of the saide whole councell sent to pope Celestin it appeareth Beholde good Reader a moste impudent man who is Dorman not ashamed to name an epistle for the proufe of that whiche is not there Reade ouer the epistle here mentioned if there appeare to be anie suche decre made there as he saieth there is neuer let me be credite more The bishoppes of Africa in those lettres of theirs desire Bonifacius the Pope in this wise Vt deinceps ad aures vestras hinc veniētes non facilius admittatis that you will not hereafter ouer easely admit to be hearde suche as come to you from vs. Againe they applie the canon of the councell of Nice forbidding to receiue Can. 5. to communion suche as be excommunicat of other to this that the pope receiue not suche vel festinatò vel praepropere vel indebite either with to much haste or to rashly or not duly they desire hys holinesse to repell improba refugia wicked refuges Finally they praie him to call home his legate from thēce with these wordes probitate ac moderatione tuae sanctitatis salua the goodnes and moderatiō of youre holynesse excepted Where be nowe the wordes M. Nowell that yow grounde youre decree vpon Dothe not the contrarye rather appeare by this epistle that he might receiue suche appeales but not commonly and rashely not but vpō greate aduise Otherwise to what end were those wordes of not receiuing complaintes facilius to lightly or these praepropere indebite c. to rashely vniustly Why sayde they not rather boldely and freely oure auctoritie is as greate as youres Why inuade you other mennes iurisdiction Why vsurpe you where you haue no right Why bad they him not call home his legate telling him if they had made suche a decree as you saie they had that they had made a lawe emongest them selues that neither they shoulde sue to him nor he sende his legates to them What meaneth all this humble submissiō of theirs but the contrarie to this which you affirme that there was yeat no decree made or if there were which notwithstanding appeareth not by this epistle by this humble demeanure of theirs towardes the pope to moue him the rather to beare with and to confirme their doinges But there appeareth no suche decree to be made emongest them by the epistle here alleaged Excepte of that particuler narration of theirs of the incommodiouse calling of witnesses to Rome by sea of that they founde not they saide ordeined by anie councell of fathers that his holinesse I will vse their owne wordes shoulde sende anielegates laterall thither all the which was written to moue the pope as is maie seeme to consent to their petition excepte I saie of this particuler narration youre witte will serue you to make a generall decree Which is like enough to be youre meaning by the wise reason that foloweth taken from the superscription of the lettres sent to Celestinus Belike you remembred the maxime of the lawiers that those thinges which helpe not alone maye yeat gathered
be suche doltes and so depriued of common sense that we vnderstand not to what ende the fauour shewed to an Anabaptist an Eluidian or anye other heretike for the crueltie practised on the catholike tendeth Argueth it not to the worlde that you seke rather meanes politikely for the tyme to staye them then vtterly for euer to represse them Well thus muche off youre priuate dissensions and lurking heresies whereof one of late in spite of all polycie sustening Verons heresie touching praedestination to abyde no longre burst oute hathe the blaste off common fame blowen ouer to vs. What other priuey store of opinions and seuerall doctrines maye be founde emonge you they knowe best that best are acquainted with you We as we can not knowe all so we can not reporte all This that hathe bene brought is sufficient to proue yowe M. Nowell a lowde lyer vntill you shewe the like to haue bene emongest vs before your heresies began The whiche because yow dispaired to be euer able to doe for yow confesse hereafter that there was at that time a coloured kinde off quietnesse emongest vs fol. 56. b. Yow bethought yow off a better councell that is to saye that emongest the Apostles of Christe the learned fathers of the councell off Nice and other off no lesse fame in Christes churche there haue bene also schismes and sectes You re wordes are these And though there were not a perfecte consent of all men in all pointes what merueile yeat were it if that shoulde happen emongest Nowell vs which was not alltogether lacking emongest the Apostles themselues c. This impudent and blasphemouse shifte you haue borowed Dorman of your Apologie the Apologie of Iohn Caluin he of that greate Lombard the diuell him selfe But here I beseche Staphilus in Epist ad Episcop Eystetēsen the considre with me good reader what either a miserable and detestable religiō is this either elles what weake but shamelesse patrones hathe it founde when suche faultes as be noted therein can no otherwise be excused but by sclaundring moste wickedly the learned doctours of the churche the generall councelles of the same yea the moste blessed and gloriouse apostles them selues Tell these newe gospellers that whereas the churche of Christe is Matth. 5. a citie builded vpon the toppe of a hill a candell set in the house to giue light to all that be in it a kingdome that reacheth from sea to sea and from the East to the west that Lucae 11. Psalm 71. their churche that they boast of is a secrete scattred congregation vnknowen to all the worlde and to them selues toe yow shall haue a peuishe proctour steppe furthe and answere as M. Nowell dyd before we take this obiection as Supra fol. 39. a. 32. no reproche being common to oure congregation with the primitiue churche of oure sauiour Christe and his holie apostles specially in the time of persecution Charge them as I doe here with schismes and you haue hearde the answere thereto allready The reporter whereof and as manie as before haue vsed this and like defences I can resemble to no worldly thing better then to a filthy and beastly sowe who being fowle and bemired her selfe neuer careth to be cleane but fodeth on still in the durte beraieng all thinges that she meeteth or rubbeth her selfe vpon as these schismaticall proctours doe not caring so muche to purge them selues as to laie their filthe vpon other that be cleane and to make them tomble and walowe in the mire as they doe Now to this blasphemouse shift because it is in the confutation of In the 3. parte fol. 136. and seq the Apologie so learnedly answered I will saie no more but that it is moste directly repugnant to the holie scriptures which beare witnesse that credentiū erat cor vnū anima vna Those which beleued at the first preaching of the Act. 4. Apostles were of one harte and of one minde It tendeth The Apostles varied dot in doctrine openly to the defacing of that marcke which Christe as of all other the moste certeine and suer to discerne those whiche are his gaue to his disciples when commending peace and vnitie he tolde them In hoc cognoscent omnes quia mei Ioan. 13. discipuli estis si diligatis inuicem In this marcke shall all men knowe that you are my disciples if you loue together M. Nowell chargeth the Apostles as the heathen philosophers dyd that finally it commeth from the ethnike and heathen spirite of certeine vaine philosophers as witnesseth the learned father Cirillus the B. of Alexandria who made in his time this verie obiection that M. Nowell nowe dothe Th◠Lib. 1. contra lulianū which place maie it please the learned reader to viewe and there shall he finde that this good bishop was so assured off that perfecte agrement of the Apostles that he was not afearde to make the offer to those vaine philosophers that so reasoned with him as M. Nowell dothe with me to leaue to defende them anie farder in case they coulde proue anie disagrement emongest them in doctrine Nowe that yow haue done with the Apostles yow come to the fathers and doctours of Christes churche of whome yow saye What wondre if that were emongest vs touching some pointes Nowell that was not wanting in the primitiue churche emongest the olde fathers Let the variance emongest the bishoppes assembled at Nicene councell let the contention betwene the bishoppes of the east and west churche about the keping of Easter daye * Beholde an arrogant spirite taking vpon him to iudge and reprehende the most vertuouse and learned bishoppes of the East and west churche Dorman a matter not worthy of suche variance be a witnesse thereof This vaine obiection borowed also of youre Apologie as is allmost alltogether what so euer yow haue here patched vp in fiue leaues concerning this matter of schismes is in the answere therto made abundantly satisfied Thither I referre the good reader where as thow maiest finde that some of these controuersies here mentioned by M. Nowell were of matters indifferent and not determined by the churche other some not of doctrine or religion but off priuate quarelles as happened emongest the fathers in the councell of Nice finally some suche as be schismes if they be schismes at all in logike not in diuinitie or matters off faithe so in matters of weight arrested vpon by the determination of the churche such striffes can not be named neither by this schismaticall proctour neither yeat by anye other So greate cause we haue to giue thankes to allmightie God the preseruer of his churche who hathe so mightely defended the same that when schismatikes and heretikes haue done all that they can for the better cloking of their dissension to proue the like in the fathers and learned doctours that haue gone before they being not able with all that malice can deuise or falsehode
sprong vp euen with youre first maister and his scholers as youre selues can not denie and departe from Christes knowen churche or elles Christe had no churche at all as those disciples off Christe that you speake off did With whom youre resemblaunce is so muche the greater because that as these first heretikes departed from the church Christe and his Apostles because they would not beleue in Christes doctrine of the blessed sacrament so haue you parted a greate nombre of yow from vs for the same cause and mainteine the same heresie as S. Augustine In psalm 54. calleth it Nowe as it were no good reason to proue vs schismatikes because yow are parted from vs being onoe as yow can not denye of vs so can no man iustly charge Christe and his Apostles with that crime because his disciples parted from him And as I answere to this so doe I to youre other obiections of the schismatikes in S. Paules time of those other also of the Nicolaites the Simonians Cerinthians c. who all parting from the knowen churche of Christe ought not to preiudicate the same For their departure was alwaies so sensible that the true christian might saye with S. Iohn They haue departed from emongest Ioan. 1. cap. 2. vs but they were none of vs. The Apostles and their companye remained alwaies a visible and knowen churche So that these examples can nothing helpe to couer your schismaticall sores whereas in Christe and the Apostles them selues there was neuer anye breache of vnitie whiche yow shoulde haue proued lykewyse therby to excuse your first Christ and his Apostles Whereas an other plea of youres is that emongest the high priestes and Phariseis there was no dissention but greate vnity and concorde emongest them against Christes Apostles to that I saye that although they agreed in this all to persecute the Apostles yeat emongest them selues they were Ioseph lib. Antiq. Iudaie 13. cap. 8. diuided into sectes and schismes some being called Phariseis other some Sadduces and yeat a thirde secte called Esseni so that they resemble more liuely yow protestantes then vs catholikes agreing as the Phariseis did against the truthe and diuided also with them into sectes emongest youreselues If you departed from vs as Christ and the Apostles you saie did from the high priestes and their churche then should you be at vnitie and concorde emoÌ„gest your selues as the Apostles were then must you shewe out of the scripture the fall of the churche of Christe the corruption of Esaiae 6â— the same and the restitution in the latter daies to come all Esaiae 66. Hierem. 6. Ezech. 44 Habacuc 2. Act. 7. 13. 28. foreprophecied in the lawe as the Apostles proued oute of the scripture the fall of the Sinagoge the corruption of the high priestes the comming of Messias the placing of the newe lawe that shoulde continue When yowe can proue this and defeate Christes promise made of his churche to be visible and vniuersall ouer all the worlde and to his churche to continue for euer then call vs phariseis hardely Matth. 16. and spare not calle youre selues Christe and his apostles we giue yow leaue For furder excuse of your schismes and diuisions yow fo 56. b. 1. tell vs of the troubles that rose in Iurie and shortly after ouer all the world vpoÌ„ the preaching of Christes gospell c. If diuisions and troubles were then it is not to be merueiled at oure sauiour him selfe saing of him selfe non veni pacem Matth. 10. mittere sed gladium I come not to sende peace but a sworde But oure age is not nowe M. Nowell the primitiue churche oure faithe is not nowe to be begonne of newe It hathe bene with consent of all the worlde established these 12. hundred yeares And therefore youre comparison is lewde and vntrue Yow saie furder And as iustly might yow charge the Apostles and their doctrine Nowell with those schismes sectes and troubles as yow do charge vs with those that haue risen in oure dayes Euer yow harpe vpon that string that yow woulde be Dorman like the apostles which when yow can proue that Christ promised to builde an other churche beside that whereof he made Peter the heade and that frier Martine Luther shoulde be the seconde Messias and Zuinglius or Carolstadius the heade therof then we will easely graunte to you But note againe I praie yow M. Nowell the difference of the schismes arising in the Apostles time and of youre schismes arising in our time The Apostles were not at diuision emongest them selues yow are The Apostles were before those schismes yowe haue risen together with the schismes Those schismes departed out from the Apostles your schismes are within youre selues Againe see the agrement of those schismes with youres and confer the case of the state of the churche nowe with that of the primitiue churche then Those schismes and sectes departed out off the primitiue churche euen so haue yow departed nowe oute of the same churche being of longre continuance They being departed multiplied into mo schismes and parted into farder diuision yow being departed multiply daily from schisme to schisme and newe sectes haue risen sence youre departure from Martin Luther They troubled and disquieted the primitiue church of the Apostles yow trouble and disquiet the catholike churche that nowe is If you demaunde the prouffe of this which I saie answer the booke which I am suer yow will neuer be hable to answere lately set furthe in oure tongue moste truly called The forteresse of the faithe c. And shewe vs as you will stande to it hereafter when the faith and light of goddes holy word which yow saie hathe nowe of late sprong againe was extinguished where and by whome Where it is well knowen to the worlde that oure learned men Nowell haue by their writinges more oppugned and repressed the saide sectes then all the papistes haue done This is that whiche I saide before that yow in dede Dorman wright diligently one against an other which is a moste euident assurance of youre dissention in doctrine And if these youre writinges were in the vulgare tongues to be reade of all men there woulde be no better argument in the worlde to disgrace youre doctrine for euer Whereas yow compare your diligence in writing with that of the catholikes if the late writinges of learned catholikes of all countries especially of Germanie it selfe were in dede compared to youres it shoulde appeare howe false and vntrue this is In dede we must nedes confesse a truthe that whilest we all remained Nowell vnder this quiet obedience of youre Romishe heade in one doctrine of his traditions there was a coloured kinde of quiâ—tnesse c. Foelix necessitas quae cogit ad meliora Happye is the Dorman necessitie whiche forceth to the better Here M. Nowell correcting him selfe for that before he charged vs so heynously withe schismes and sectes wyll somewhat
mitigate that cruell sentence off his and therefore he muste he saieth nedes confesse that there was when we lyued vnder the obedience off the pope a coloured kynde off quietnesse emongest vs. Surelye I am sorye M. Nowell that we can not saye as muche off yow that we can fynde no tyme when emongest yowe there was so muche as anye shadowe off coloured quietnesse But doe yow remembre withe what schismes and sectes yow charged vs before The Thomistes and Scotistes the Nominalles and Realles met they not daily at the scooles The Benedictines Cistertians Carmelites c. kept they their names so priuey that they were knowen to no man Their habite in some whit in other blacke c. were men so blinde they coulde not see Their diuerse diet their shauing going becking bowing c. were they thinges so priuilie vsed that no man knewe of them If these thinges were knowen to all men as they were how saie you that there was a coloured kinde of quietnesse emongest vs when the greatest and all the schismes and sectes that you coulde falsely charge vs withall were so farre from all colour that M. No. well writeth contraries they were manifest and open to the eyes of all men And thus are you manifestly contrary to your selfe saing here that we had emongest vs a coloured kinde of quietnes and before that lest the religiouse men whome you call sectes Fol. 114. a of Hypocrites shoulde not be knowen they studied for diuision and fled all shewe of vnitie But when that Christe the auctor of that light as he him selfe Nowell so 57. a. 7. and by his Apostles bewraied the errours of the Iuishe traditions by the saide light first springing and withall troubled their vnitie and concorde in the doctrine of suche traditions and their quietnesse in their Sinagoge so settled before so nowe the same oure sauiour in the time by his wisdome appointed c. In this place M. Nowell openeth to the worlde the secrete Dorman iudgementes of God about the restoring the truthe quite extinguished in these latter daies For proufe wherof the indifferent reader maye note that he who triumpheth so much of holie scripture and of the necessitie of prouing all thinges by the expresse lettre therof bringeth nowe no one texte or piece of texte out of the whole bible Yeat shal you see how weightie the matters are that he affirmeth First he saieth that oure Sauiour in the time by his wisedome appointed hath disclosed that the pope and his haue obscured hidden broken and forbidden the lawe of God Againe that this he hathe done by the light of his holie worde againe springing and shining to them sitting in palpable darckenes c. Nowe these pointes M. Nowell vttered by you without all warrant of scripture as they are the fundation of all youre religion so conteine they against oure Sauiour and his holie worde moste horrible blasphemies as the which importe an vtter ouerthrowe of the church and suche a terrible Eclipse and defect of light in that cleere sonne wherein the sonne of God hath pitched his beautiful tabernacle that the darckenes Psalâ— 18. you saye was palpable and coulde by no meanes be chased awaye till a lewde Apostata and ronneagate frier the worst man by the iudgement of his owne scholers that liued in his time and worst able to bridle his affections vpon malice enuie and couetousnes restored the same againe All that foloweth you builde vpon this fundation the which being naught the matter laied vpon it must nedes come downe withall And therfor it foloweth By this occasion is there risen a like schisme betwene you and Nowell vs as was betwene S. Paule and the Phariseis c. Here you heape nombre of lies together laing to oure Dorman charge that the cause why we crye and barcke you saie against you is because by this occasion of the light oure gaine is decaied oure quietnes troubled oure rest interrupted oure good cheare marred oure pompe abated We are not offendid with you for this M. Nowell The cause of oure misliking with your religion and why we call you schismatikes you dare not so muche as name which is because you separate youre selues from Christes churche because you teache contrarie to the scriptures that the churche of Christe prophecied by the prophetes promised by Christ to continue for euer hathe bene quite ouerthrowen To this because you can not answere you feine other causes at youre pleasure to bring vs into hatred Of the which faultes obiected by you to the catholikes I saye generally as S. Austen did to the Donatistes obiecting the like In his omnibus nullum crimen orbis Li. de vnit eccl cap. 2. Christiani esse ostendimus we shewe you that in al these thinges which you laye to vs there is no faulte of the whole christendome And againe ad quosdam quippe illa perimere possunt non ad vniuersum orbem christianum for those faultes maye perteine to some they can not be the faultes of al Christendome Leaue therfore M. Nowel these extrauagant excursions of railing against the euill life of some or abuses of certeine wherewith a greate parte of this idle Reproufe of youres is stuffed and come to the doctrine it selfe Proue vs your negatiue diuinitie by the rule and trial of holy Scripture by the councels and decree of the church or by the learned fathers if yow be hable It is an easie matter sayeth Saint Augustine to the Donatistes either for yow Lib. de vuit eccl cap. 5. to call vs Phariseis or for vs to cal yow so It is as easy for vs to saye that yow persecute vs the true beleuers as the Phariseis persecuted the Apostles as it is for you to saye as yow doe here that we folowe the Phariseis in persecuting yow It is as easy for vs to saye that you are lyke painted graues full of olde rotten bones within pretending outewardly Gods worde contempte of the worlde brotherlye charitye c. being within couetouse whoorders vp greate exactours of mony proude cruell with suche lyke and so call yow Phariseis as it is for yow to saye and write the same of vs. But M. Nowell though Christ as the searcher Rom. 8. and iudge of mennes hartes might boldely so pronounce of the Phariseis whome he knewe better within then other did without yeat we must not iudge other lest we be iudged oure selues as the ghospell teacheth vs. Briefly the strife Matth. 7. wil be endelesse vaine and childishe if in controuerfie of doctrine and religion suche impertinent discourses be entremingled Wisedome it had bene for yow M. Nowell to haue pricked directly at the matter of schismes discharging thereof plainely youre selues by shewing that yowe ioyne in communion with all the worlde and not to haue roued as you haue done now here nowe there at no certeine marke And so finally for this parte of purgation of oure selues against Nowell fol.
this doe they for that they are not ignorant that suche Nowell though moste false sclaunders being yeat so importunely and cōtinually laied to oure charge are of muche effect to offende the weake and simple and to stirre vp their hatred against vs. And therefore they vse suche constant asseuerations for argumentes as in their schooles they are taught to doe when they are destitute of due prouffes c. If we sclaunder yow how easy a matter had it bene for Dorman yow to haue recouered youre good name by saing There be not so manie sectes sprong out of Luther as the table saieth there are and then haue named some suche as had bene falsely noted in the same The which because yowe haue not done not for lacke of good will as appeareth yow haue verie muche confirmed the truthe of the table Whereas yow stande vpon the bare deniall against manifest proufe yow make vs in deede remembre a saing of the schooles plus potest asinus negare quà m Aristoteles probare But because this table offendith yow so muche yow maie perchaunce shortly haue an other of allmoste 90. diuerse sectes gathered together by the reuerent father WILLIAM In Dubitantio suo LINDAN Bishop of RVREMVND But perhappes yow count this a sclaunder because yow acknowledge but one religion of Iesus Christ how manie sectes so euer there be emongest yow For so it foloweth For we as we haue no religion but onelye Christes so desire we Nowell to be called after the name of none but his c. Whiche we M. Nowell For so saieth euerye secte Dorman in the table aswell as yowe sacramentaries doe It is not inough for you to saye that you haue no religion but the religion of Christ the contrarie whereof neuer heretike durst yeat in wordes professe Proue it first then saie it afterwardes Begin from the Apostles and come to oure time and shewe youre religion in euery age as oures hathe A reasonable chalenge to the protestāts of late bene learnedly shewed and then bragge that you haue none but Christes religion We offer you faire refuse vs not in goddes name and in the behalfe of his church I saie refuse vs not If you dare and mistrust not your cause procure vs libertie freely to sende in oure bookes and to other indemnitie for hauing and reading thē It is the thing that if you meane as you pretende the planting of true religion in the hartes of all men you shoulde most earnestly haue desired refuse it not therfore being frely offered It is the thing that on youre knees ioyntely together with vs you ought to become humble petitioners to the Quenes moste excellent maiestie to voutchesaufe to graunte and to remoue all suche occasions as might stoppe or hinder in anie wise the course of so necessarie an attempt It is the waie to ende all controuersies to ceasse all striffes to restore vnitie to betraye schismatikes to make manifest the true catholikes and so consequently to make it appeare whether you haue no religion but only Christes The whiche saing of youres till you proue by this meanes wil be counted no better then a bragge common to all heretikes Thinke they that if we list and had leisor as they haue we coulde Nowell not frame an arbor or tree twise as greate as they haue deuised c. Now let this pleasant deuise of youres come furth when Dorman you wyll M. Nowell What shall you proue or wyn thereby No schisme no secte no cōtrarietie of opinions in doctrine of the faith cā ye proue or shew there No blasphemy against the blessed Trinite no heresy against the Sacramēts of Christes church against the godhead of Christ against our blessed lady no article of our Crede denied shal you finde in that your deuised arbor as in the table of your petigrue M. Nowel all such thinges are to be founde But thinke you againe that if we list and had leasure to be euil occupied we coulde not deuise as fonde foolish toyes as your sharpe wit hath imagined touching your ministres and their wiues your ronnagatfriers and mōckes with their strompets your late skirmish vpō square cappes and copes your diuersites of apparell of hattes and clokes of beardes and such like trifling toyes more mete for children in a Christmas playe or for laddes of the countrie in a whitson game then for a preacher and pretended deane in his printed workes Wherefore I conclude omitting all other not necessary trifles in this your trifling processe that the crime of schismes and sectes most truly laied to youre charge hath most falsely vniustly and barrenly ben reuersed vpon vs and do rebounde directly and truly vpon you and your felowes in such sorte that while you liue M. Nowell nor in many yeres after the storme of your heresies be calmed this your horrible diuision and multitude of schismes in so fewe yeres spronge vp shall at any time be forgottten or blotted out of eternall memory to the perpetuall ignominie of protestants and great glory of God and his church That the place brought out of the. 17. Chapitre of Deuter. is well and to the purpose alleaged The 18. Chapitre YOW saye M. Nowell that the circunstances of this place Nowell fol. 59. a. 27. B 26. of Deuteronomium being well considered they maie easelie informe the reader that the popes tirannie to saye and doe what he liste can not be grounded vpon this place and that if the pope or anie creature doe commaunde against goddes worde he maie and ought to be disobeied therein And that therfore bothe Pighius and I haue in vaine alleaged this place for suche supremacie as the pope claimeth The circunstances to be cōsidered are the A 27. place which God hath chosen the prieste which must be Leuitical Thirdlie the place to be doubtefull whether the whole determination B 1. doe perteine to one or to many c. Fourthly that it is requisite that the saide priestes or prieste doe teach according to the lawe of God and not at his owne pleasure To youre texte M. Nowell for shame will you euer be Dorman thus raunging at randon It was not my purpose here to proue by this place of Deuteron the bishop of Rome his supremacie ouer Christes whole churche no more then it is Pighius his in the place by you alleaged The matter that I haue here in hande is to proue that there must be one heade to gouerne the churche now as there was to gouerne the same in the olde lawe before Whether it be at Rome at Hierusalem or in anie place elles I dispute not here And therfore youre first * The place consideration and * The prieste secōde came without all consideration out of season But I maie beare with you the better because I haue bene vsed to this maner of dealing of youres before as the reader I doubte not can beare me witnes One thing yeat I can
folowe that euerie diocesse hath not now one chiefe ruler but manie If you will not so saye then muste you yealde to this that Rogatianus complaining to the Archebishop graunted that notwithstanding that superioritie whiche he had ouer all that were of his diocesse there was yeat the archebishop aboue him And if these two maie stande together Euerie bishop is the heade and chiefe priest of his owne diocesse and yeat there is one archebishop aboue all then why may not these propositions stande together Euerie Archebishop is chiefe of the prouince where he is Archebishop and yeat there is one pope chiefe of thē all Rogatianus did here more then he neded who denieth that If the B. of London haue in his diocesse a stubborne and vnruly prieste who doubteth but he maie first punishe him by his owne auctoritie if he list And yeat if he refer the matter to the Archebishop of Cauntorburie he dothe the Archebishop more honour and sheweth him selfe to be the more humble The Archebishop is an eye to ouersee the bishop that he doe his dutie as the pope is to ouersee all So long as the bishop is hable to take sufficiēt ordre for all occurrētes in his diocesse him selfe if he vse not this power but referre it to the Archebishop he dothe more then he nedeth but yeat honorablie for the Archebishoppes parte and humbly for his owne Where you saye that suche by S. Cyprian transgresse the Nowell fo 61. a. 1. lawe of God in the Deuteronomie that make them selues bishoppes ouer other bishoppes c. It is true in S. Cyprians meaning that is in suche as Pupianus Dorman was who being an inferiour membre no primate no patriarche no pope woulde take vpon him to iudge S. Cyprian the archebishoppe and iudge appointed of God This place includeth no more the pope who is heade bisshop ouer all other bishops and heade iudge ouer al iudges then it dothe note the bishoppes of euery diocesse for taking vppon them to be the iudges of the curates that be vnder them who in their seuerall cures be iudges in Christes steede it can not be denied For they haue power giuen them of God to loose and binde to iudge inter lepram lepram betwene syn and syn It perteineth I saye no more to the pope then it dothe to the Archebishop who iudging and ouerloking the bishoppes doinges falleth not I trust by youre owne iudgement into this faulte that S. Cyprian noted in Pupianus If then the bishop maye iudge ouer suche priestes as be vnder him Goddes iudges in their particuler cures and the Archebishoppes againe ouer the bishoppes without anye offence why may no◠I praye you the pope be iudge of the doinges of the Archebishops and all other Youre argument which is this Pupianus the bisshoppe might not be iudge ouer the doinges off Saint Cyprian An absurde reason who was an Archebishoppe Ergo the pope maye not be the iudge off all other bisshoppes is like to this M. Nowell maye not make him selfe iudge ouer the bishop of London ergo the Archeb of Cauntorbury dothe not well and is a false vsurper in making him selfe heade bishop ouer all the bisshoppes and chiefe iudge ouer all the iudges in his prouince For such a one as is M. Nowell was Pupianus that proude arrogant man a priuate persone for anye thinge that appeareth to the contrarye as he is This propertie whiche you falselye note to be in the pope is the propertie of your good Lorde M. Grindall with his felowes who occupye the places of other laufull bishoppes yeat liuing and therefore make themselues as S. Cyprian noteth of Pupianus bishoppes ouer bishoppes and iudges ouer the iudges off God for the time appointed That the place of Gregorie Nazianzen was applyed aptly and to the purpose The 19. Chapitre BECAVSE I saye that I remembre a sayng off Gregorye Nowell fol. 61. b. 3. Nazianzene yow infer thereuppon M. Nowell that men maye note that I haue a good memorie c which notwithstanding had I yow saie enlarged to a fewe wordes going before it had appeared that these wordes being spoken of one god gouerning the whole worlde had bene impertinent to proue that there ought to be one pope to gouerne the whole churche You maye note good readers that M. Nowell hath more Dorman wit then honestie that can cauill at a phrase of speache pleasantly when the matter it selfe he can not reproue trulye For yow saye M. Nowell full clerckely that this place b. 29 is alltogether impertinent to the purpose Yeat in the verye nexte wordes folowing youre shrewde wit put yow in remembraunce that there was a waie how I might bring it to make yeat at the least some shewe to the purpose And therefore you saye Nowe if M. Dorman list to transfer the sentence from God gouerning Nowell b. 29. all the worlde to men ruling in the worlde after this sorte Nazianzene saieth there is one onely God who gouerneth all Ergo there must be one onely pope or heade bishoppe to gouerne all the churche I denie the argument and affirme that it foloweth no more then that there must be one only Emperour to gouerne all the worlde I reason not M. Nowell altogether so barelye as yow Dorman surmise that there is but one God and that therefore there must be but one heade to gouerne the churche The force of my conclusion dependeth vpon the reason why there is but one God which is this where many rule there is sedition This argument of myne I so little repent me of that I will here presse you with one other comming from the same moulde S. Austen labouring to proue the certeintie of one God emongest other reasons vseth this for one Sicut enim in ipsa rerum naturamaior est auctoritas vnius ad vnum omnia Lib. de vera religio cap. 25. redigentis c. For euen as in naturall thinges the auctoritye off one bringing all thinges to one is greater neither hath any multitude in the kinde of man any power but such as consentith that is thinketh one thing so in religion the auctority of them ought to be greater and of more credite who call vs to one Of the place of Gregorie Nazianzene as before I reasoned that as there was but one god in the worlde to auoide confusion so there must be in the churche but one heade for the same cause Euen so from this faing of S. Augustine I reason in lyke maner that as the auctoritye of them is greater in religion who call vs to one God because their opinion maketh moste for the conseruation of vnitye so ought their auctoritye and credite to accounted greatest who call vs in the churche to one heade Now what haue yow to saie against this maner of reasoning M. Nowell Yow denie the argument and saie that it foloweth no more then that there must fo 62. a. 3. be one onely Emperour to
gouerne all the worlde This fonde reason of youres hath bene sufficiently answered The 11. and 12. chap. It is in dede the effect of youre whole answere in this youre Reprouse as yow call it Yeat haue yow not so greate a clercke yow are in youre whole boke brought so muche as one pore sely reason for the confirmation of it But yow as if yow were in the pulpite tanquam auctoritatem habens affirme manie thinges stoutely and wil be beleued at youre worde without reason or proufe at all Where yow saie There is no confusion in the worlde nor disordre Nowell a. 13. for that sundry partes of it haue sundry ciuile gouernours Surelie youre wittes failed yow muche and yow nodded Dorman a little M. Nowell For what wise man seeth not what learned man readeth not of yearelie and almost daily batailes quarelles contentions bloudeshead conspiracies and of infinite suche disordre to be in the worlde at this present and to haue allwaies bene by the reason of sundrie ciuile gouernours Oure Sauiour when it pleased him to take fleshe and redeme man chose that state wherein moste quiete and rest shoulde be that men might so the better attende to the preaching of goddes word which by warres and tumultuouse hurly burlies can not but be hindred He chose to come at that time when but 15. yeares before the whole knowen worlde of Europe Asia and Afrike was vnder the obedience of one Romaine emperour Octauius Augustus In that state the worlde was ruled certeine hundred yeares after vntill the Christian faithe was published and dilated vnto all the partes of the worlde Doe we not reade M. Nowell that the same emperour August bis clausit Ianum as muche to saie had twise in his daies a perfecte Alexander ab Alexandro lib. 1. Gema dier cap. 14. peace thorough out all the partes of the worlde yea thrise as some write Before that state of one vniuersall Emperour was and sence that state hath decaied how manie warres haue bene to the disquieting of all Christendome stirred vp How manie battailes cruelly fought How muche innocent bloude vnmercifully spilt What one yeare in one place of the worlde or other hath not plentifully brought furthe suche fruites as these are Are not all histories full Haue we not daily experience Haue we not hearde of the Turkes warres scarse yeat colde against vs at the Isle off Malta of the late warres in Fraunce and Scotland of allmoste the continuall warres in the daies of Charles the fifthe now with Fraunce nowe against the Mores nowe in Germanie now in Italie it selfe All this is but in one parte of Europa If we had before oure eyes the actes of other countries how muche might be saide thereof And yeat M. Nowell as though all the worlde were shutt vpp in the house where he dwelleth at Poules saieth there is no confusion in the worlde nor disordre for that sundrie partes of the same haue sundrie ciuile gouernours This is I confesse a matter more mete for some practised Counselour to debate then for scholers suche as I am professing no such policie to entreate of It reacheth I wote well beyonde the compasse of my discourse to saie herein but some small parte of that which might be saied Yeat this small note shall I trust be sufficient to instructe the ignorant and hable to moue the learned to farder consideration Yow saie the scriptures declare it to be so appointed by Nowell a. 16. God that sundrie partes of the worlde shoulde haue sundrie ciuile gouernours Eccles 17 So hathe the churche toe sundrie seuerall gouernours Dorman in sundrie seuerall diocesses and yeat one chiefe heade ouer all notwithstanding And therefore that texte might be verified well inough allthough there were one generall Emperour or other ruler ouer all the worlde And suerlie if this place of Ecclesiasticus were so to be vnderstande as that it did forbid the hauing of one generall ruler ouer the whole neuer woulde yowe maie be suer oure Sauiour haue chosen that time to be borne in and that for a speciall liking as al writers agree that he had in that state of gouernement that then was But if it were so that God had appointed the ordre of the worlde to be suche as that there should be of necessitie in euerie particuler countrie a particuler heade and no one ouer the whole which negatiue wordes the scripture hathe not yeat might there be a secrete cause of goddes prouidence why this ordre shoulde be rather in worldly gouernement then in spirituall whiche we be not worthy to knowe Perhappes to be a punishement for sinne this ordre was taken that one off vs might be a whippe and scourge to the other whiche allthough God by his iustice doe to oure bodies thorough battaile and warre punishing them yeat woulde he not of his mercie so punishe by schismes and heresies oure soules You note to the Reader after the Hagiographa in the English The booke of Ecclesiasticus reiected by the protâ—stants alleaged Bibles that this boke of Ecclesiasticus is of the noÌ„bre of theÌ„ that are not to be alleaged for the proufe of doctrine Nowe what double dealing is this I praye you M. Nowell there to reproue it and here to alleage it and grounde a doctrine vpon it neuer hearde of before to witte that of necessitie euerie countrie must haue a seuerall supreme gouernour If you shoulde preache openly this doctrine in pulpite M. Nowell how soone woulde you either proue a traitour your selfe or make other traitours For were it not thinke you a faulte to the crowne of EnglaÌ„d in the nature of high treason to saie that Ireland being a seuerall countrie diuided from England by the maine Ocean ought to haue a seuerall gouernour other then Englishe Were it not treason for youre brethren protestantes of these lowe countries to preache by this texte as you write that because Spaine and Flaundres be farre diuerse and seuerall countries for this cause they ought not to be vnder one heade prince and kinge as they are Therefore if you loue the quiet of the realme and esteme youre dutie to youre souereigne and oures twange no more vpon that stringe I warne you like a frende You prosecute youre fonde argument and saye So is their no disordre that seuerall churches haue seueral bisshoppes to their heades Nowell a. 17. No disordre at all but moste conuenient ordre if those Dorman seuerall bishoppes obeye the one heade placed by Christe ouer them But to make those seuerall bishoppes to rule the seuerall churches without recourse when occasion shall requier to a higher as you doe we saye it is a greate disordre To returne to Nazianzene his saing where is no rule there Nowell a. 27. b. 1. is no ordre where many rule there is sedition you saye that if manie magistrates haue equall auctoritie in one common wealthe or if manie ecclesiasticall persones haue equall auctoritie in
or some other like vnto it If this were not youre meaning M. Nowell why cut you of the worde quaÌ„uis at the beginning and these other in the middest Tell vs some other cause if you can Next after these auctorities you alleage a treatie of one fo 73. a. Borowed of the coÌ„fession of wittenberge Tit. de Eccles that you set furth Rhetorically calling him an auncient auctor printed withe Chrisostome and of long time taken for him to proue that the churche must be tried by the scriptures To this place I answere that whether it be Chrisostomes owne worcke from whence it is taken or no this is a thing moste certeine that it is to be warily readen as the boke which hath thrust into it if it be Chrisostomes owne or anie other catholike mannes by some false Arrian heretike manie poisoned and perniciouse sentences for the maintenaunce of the Arrians heresie Emongest other to note to you one or two euen in the. 48. homilie whiche is the verie nexte before this that you alleage here the Catholikes for mainteining the equalitie of Christe with God the father are nombred emongest heretikes and in the. 45. they are called heretikes that holde that the blessed trinitie is equall of like substance and auctoritie And therefore in suche places as this auctor who so euer it be dissenteth from the common faithe of Christes churche we haue iust cause to suspect that there this heretike who hath it appeareth ouerronne the whole hath dipped in his fingres and therefore that we reiect As in this place it is likely that he thought to make a waie for his heresies by chalenging to be tried by the scripture onelie the common request of the Arrian heretikes because the worde they saide Homousion was not to be founde in the scriptures But nowe if these wordes were Chrisostomes owne and not put in by the heretike yeat foloweth it not that because the churche is to be tried by the scriptures onelie that therefore all other questions maie be decided by the same alone For God whose wisedome diuised whose holie spirite brethed whose finger wrote the scriptures as for heretikes that coÌ„temne the auctoritie of the churche he hath so disposed them as Tertullian writeth that they might ministre them Lib. de praescript aduers haeres matter so hathe he againe for them that shal be content humblie to rest in the lappe of the same made that matter by the scriptures so clere that a catholike man maie be bolde to prouoke an heretike yea all the heretikes in the worlde to dispute by scripture onelie of that question whiche and where is the true churche And suerlie so was it expedient that it shoulde be that the churche whiche shoulde iudge of the true sense and meaning of the scriptures shoulde by the scriptures be so euidentlie proued that about that their might be no wrangling As it is not to be merueiled therefore if anie catholike man giue councell to proue the church by the scriptures the scriptures speaking of the churche as hath S. Austen more plainelie then they â—narrat in psal 30 doe of Christe him selfe and therto being writteÌ„ so euideÌ„tly that the textes making for the trial therof nede no interpretatioÌ„ Lib. de vnitate ecdes ca. 16 so can you not reason that all other controuersies in semblable wise must be tried by the scripture because the scripture is more ambiguouse in other maters and because the church is proued so plainelie that it might afterwarde hauing the continuall assistence of Goddes holie spirite and being the piller of truthe assuer vs being in doubte of the true meaning of scripture And thus muche for answere to your long place alleaged to so little purpose out of that auncient auctor printed withe Chrisostome and of long time takeÌ„ for him By whose auctoritie lest the worekes of S. Clement making so muche against youre newe A sleight of M. nowells doctrine might get anie credite being here alleaged by this auncient auctor printed with Chrisostome and of long time taken for him you toke youre pen in to youre hande and cut that sentence clene awaie Hauing nowe spent youre store of testimonies brought fo 74. b. 9 by you to proue that the scripture alone ought to be the iudge of all controuersies you returne to youre olde plea so often auouched and neuer proued that we be the phariseis and therfore can not be the true churche of god that you alleage scriptures against vs as the Apostles did against the phariseis of whom and vs you saye furder as foloweth And I am suer that the high prieste withe his Iuishe churche Nowell b. 29. was able to saye as muche for the ordinarie succession of the highe priestes his predecessours euen from Aaron vntill his time for antiquitie for consent and for vniuersality against Christe and his Apostles so fewe in comparison and as it semed latelye start vp as yowe are able to saye for youre churche or againste vs. But yeat we doe thinke that the worde of God as it was alleaged by Christe and hys Apostles againste the saide high prieste and his churche so maye it and ought it allso to be alleaged by vs againste youre highe prieste and youre churche cet What so euer the Phariseis had to saye againste the Apostles Dorman for them selues they had not this to saye whiche we haue againste you that theire churche was by the testimonies of the Scriptures promised to continue for euer The Apostles proued to them the contrary oute of the scriptures if you can doe the lyke to vs and shewe by euident scriptures that the churche of Christe shoulde for the space of fiftene hundred or nine hundred yeares either be ouerthrowen and at the length restored by a newe Messias we renounce the benefite off succession we giue ouer antiquitie consent vniuersalitye and what so euer elles Thus alleaged the Apostles the worde of God against the Phariseis Thus must you alleage it against vs if you will alleage it at all And whether you be so or no the true church of god seing it Nowell fol. 75. a. 23. is in question and a greater doubte and controuersie emongest men I am suer then can be aboute the sense of anye place off the scripture yow shall neuer be hable to make anie exception to the scripture as no competent iudge in controuersies but we shall be able ten tymes more to make exception to youre Pope and his churche as no indifferent nor meete iudge We make no exception nor euer did againste the scripture Dorman as of it selfe an incompetent iudge to determine controuersies This we saye that the frowardenes of men addicted to mainteine their once receiued opinions maketh that the scripture is not alone sufficient to decide the same till the church haue giuen sentence betwene those that shall thus contende which is the true meaning of the scripture How the scripture decideth controuet
present when he saide Qui minor est Lucae 9. inter vos omnes hic maior est He that is the leaste emongeste you all is the greatest Belike you woulde haue asked hym how one could be the greater and the lesse But do you not youre selfe confesse that euerye bishop is the heade of hys diocesse And howe then M. Nowell doth that agree I vse youre owne wordes with the humble ecclesiastical ministery Is your heade the bishop a headye seruant and a seruile heade Kinges and Princes are they not the heades of the people whome they gouerne and yeat in that verie respecte that they be heades ministres notwithstanding as S. Paule witnesseth Rom. 13. and seruantes M. Dorman harpeth to muche vpon one string oute of tune Nowell b. 16. for his purpose I meane the example off the Iuish high prieste cet Who twangeth moste vppon one string that let the learned Dorman reader iudge Once this is suer that the string that you shoulde strike here you touche not so muche as once For I bringe not in this example of the high prieste off the Iues at this tyme as because I once did you dreame that I doe still to proue that there ought to be one onelye heade in Christes churche as there was emongest the Iues but to detecte the vanitie of this reason of youres Christe is heade of the churche and able to rule the same him selfe alone ergo there nedeth no other To this answered I so was M. Nowell dissembleth my reasō and twāgeth vpō a false string he being God heade of the Iuish Synagoge also and as wel hable to rule the same without anye helpe or meanes as he is nowe to rule his churche Yeat was his pleasure to appointe a highe prieste c. And therefore that ought to be no reason to persuade vs that he dothe not or maye not do the lyke nowe To this because yow were not hable to replye you dissembled my meaning as a little before in this verye place you doe when you saye that my examples make rather against me then with me The whiche practise you vse also hereafter as in place shal be declared For this matter I haue no more to saye but to aduise you that you take youre harpe into youre hande and twang once vpon the right string In prosecuting the confutation of that naughtie argument fol. 80. a. 24. 1. Reg. 15. of youre Apologie I vse the examples of Saule called in the scripture the heade ouer the tribues of Israel of the husbande called by Paule the heade of his wife off the 1. Cor. 11. Archebishoppe heade ouer the other bishoppes of his prouince and conclude thereupon that as it is no good reason to saye God was heade of the tribues of Israel therefore Saule was not Christe is heade of vs all men and wemen therefore the husbande is not heade of the wife The Arche bishoppe is heade of the other bishoppes of his prouince Therefore the bishoppes be not hedes euen so that the argument of youre Apologie Christe is heade of his churche therfore there is no other head is a faulty argument because if it were good it shoulde exclude also whiche it dothe not the other heades that I named confessed to be true heades in earthe For quae ratio partis ad partem eadem totius ad totum the same proportion that is of the parte to the parte the same is the proportion of the whole to the whole that is if their maie be a heade of one diocesse in earthe which is parte of the whole notwithstanding that God is heade of the whole there is no let by this argument but there maie be an other heade also vnder him ouer the whole And so I proue the reason of the Apologie naught in the whole quia non valet in partibus because it is not good in the partes To this reason of mine you neuer make answere but dissembling it as you did the other before you saie that I bring these examples to proue that there be diuerse seuerall b. 13. heades in earthe vnder Christe So I did in dede But why woulde I proue that To proue that there ought to be one heade ouer the whole Why saye you so for shame M. Nowell Why dissemble you that whiche anye man that hathe his common sense can not but see to be otherwise I bringe it to shewe howe absurde it is for you to graunte that ouer the tribues off Israel there maye be a heade ouer seuerall churches there maye be heades withoute derogation to Christes honour who is the chiefe and yeat you will not graunte so muche to the whole churche for the impediment of that pretended reason because Christe is the heade which letteth not in particuler churches And therfore neither Hosius nor I care whether Saul were head of the tribue of Leui or no this example prouing how euer it were sufficiently our intent whiche is to disproue your folishe reason that because Christ is heade of his church there nedeth no other When Hosius or I alleage this place to gather thereby that there ought to be one head in earth vnder Christ ouer all churches then we will folowe your minde in cōcluding In the meane season we take youre argument that because Christe is the onelie heade ouer the vniuersall churche therefore there nedeth no other generall heade vnder him to be by this example sufficiently confuted as before I shewed Yeat because your desire is that it maie be considered whether when the scripture saieth that Saul was made heade of the tribues of Israēl he were appointed heade ouer the tribue of Leui also that is ouer the cleargie considre it I praie yow and spare not and when yow haue all considered and done yow shall perceiue howe muche this exemption of the cleargie from the auctoritie of king Saul maketh against yow and youre companions that will make kinges to rule the cleargie in causes ecclesiasticall I doubte not but some of youre side that haue more staied heades then yowe and that are lesse passionat will saie that yowe might haue kepte this consideration to youre selfe still And where yow mingle kinges and bishoppes together whose Nowell b. 30. fo 81. a. 1. offices are distinct and vse the examples of the Archebishop off Cauntorbury and the bishop of London what titles so euer your bishoppes when they were in those roumes vsed or abused I am suer they who be nowe in place take it for their chiefe honour to be and to be called also gods ministers in his churche What a worlde is this when protestantes complaine of Dorman mingling kinges and bishoppes together As though the worlde knewe not who confoundeth and iumbleth together these two offices they or we But the faulte is founde with me for reasoning from their offices whiche be distincte Why yow knowe M. Nowell if you haue not forgotten youre logicke that it
also because how true they are I had rather make the worlde iudge then my selfe I esteme not and therefore I passe ouer in silence Whereas yow liken me to Iudas for that yow saie I haue forsaken my maister Christe in hope of worldly gaine all though partly the condition and state of my life that I nowe leade will answere for me in that respecte yeat thus muche I maie saie beside that when I left youre pestilent and perniciouse opiniōs being of age betwene fiftene and sixtene it is not likely that I cast anie great eye after worldly gaine If I had I would belike hauing left my house and the hope of so good a felowship in so famouse a colleage as the new colleage in Oxford is knowen to be for my cōscience sake in king Edwardes daies haue ben afterward when the time serued better a greater prowler for liuinges thē I was the greatest and only liuing that I had or desired to haue being a felowshippe in Allsollen colleage Or if fortune had not fauoured me then if worldlie gaine had bene so muche in mine eye I woulde in this time haue putt my selfe forwarde when I sawe some of mine owne fellowes as meane as I called to be Chauncelours to bishoppes other some to be Archedeacons manie to greate and riche benefices and not contrariewise haue abandoned all and sought strange countries thinking there to finde worldlye gaine As for D. Harding allthough he be able to saie muche more for him selfe yet this maie I saie because it is manifest that in refusing to ioyne with yowe in youre heresies he lost as good promotions as yow haue anie and was a man coulde he haue framed his conscience to your procedinges like to haue had as good parte of worldly gaine as yow or a better man then yowe either But of this lewde lye I can saie no more but A lye 70. transeat cum coeteris Nowe to the seconde point in whiche yow procede thus Swenckfield saieth M. Dorman doth saie we must haue no Nowell fo 84. a. 6 scripture c. The Huguenotes and heretikes saie we muste haue no pope of Rome to be heade of Christes vniuersall churche Lo Sir yow see a greate likenes betwene them c. No greate likenesse indede M. Nowell as yowe haue Dorman handled the matter But if yowe had trulie and whollie rehersed my wordes and added the cause whiche the Swenckfeldian bringeth for his opinion because God can M. Nowell cutteth away the chiefe parte off my wordes teache vs without withe the reason that yowe alleage why we ought to haue no heade of the churche because God is the heade him selfe and can rule it without any other then yff yow had cried Lo Sir you see a greate likenesse betwene them other men had bene like to haue soothed that in good earnest whiche nowe yowe vtter so pleasantly in sporte As yowe cutt of here the two reasons in whiche bothe the Swenckfeldians and yow agree they to banishe awaie the scripture and yow to ouerthrowe the heade of the churche so to make the conference the more vnlike yowe chaunge my wordes by casting in of the name of the pope of Rome whome I name not here but intreate onelie in generall wordes of one heade that ought to be in christes churche The nexte pointe wherein I compare yowe withe the A. 10. Swenckfeldians is that as they reiecte the scriptures sainge they are but dead lettres so doe yowe the pope beinge the heade of the churche saing that he is but a sinfull man as other are and therefore as vnmete being but a sinfull man to gouerne the whole churche as is the scripture whiche they call deade lettres and to be accounted emongest other creatures to signifie to vs the will and pleasure of oure Lorde God Thus haue I shewed the similitude why doe yowe skornefully mocke at it and shewe not rather the dissimilitude Finally I compare yowe withe the Swenckfeldians because A. 16. as they barre God of suche externall meanes as it hathe pleased him teache to vs by that is the scripture so doe you of suche externall gouernour as it pleaseth him to gouerne his churche by that is one generall heade to gouerne the whole Thus I reasoned and thus yow doe Against the whiche yowe haue nothing to saie but to singe youre olde song often saide but neuer proued that it belongeth to B. 8. onelie Christe to gouerue his churche and that it is impossible for one only man to doe it and so conclude with a fit of railing against the pope and there an ende Whereas M. Dorman procedeth saing that we tell Christe that Nowell fo 85. a. 7. he is of age and able to doe it him selfe and that therfore there is no remedie but he must nedes come downe and giue answere to all oure wise demaundes in his owne person I trust that all men do knowe that M. Dorman did knowe that he lied lewdely when he did write this I lied not M. Nowell For allthough yow saye not so Dorman muche in wordes youre dedes speake as much all together seing that yow alowe vs not one suche heade as maie by his auctoritie ende and determine all controuersies rising in the church without the which either the churche must from time to time be miserably shaken with schismes whiche I thinke you meane not either Christe come downe and giue answere in his owne person whiche is the thing that yow be offendid with me for saing of you vpon good and iust cause as you see Hauing nowe as yow thinke well purged youre parte yow will matche vs withe Swenckfield and therfore you saye And M. Dorman and all the aduersaries to the truth maie be ashamed Nowell a. 30. b. 3. to charge vs as not alowing Christe meanes to worcke his spirituall grace by but vexing him by calling for his corporal presence whereas they them selues as those that thinke he can doe nothing excepte he be corporall present woulde turmoyle him euery houre and minute also from place to place and would imprison him allso in narowe and streight roumes passing little ease in the tower of London manifolde If you alowe him suche meanes as yow speake of why Dorman make you so muche adoe about this that he can rule his churche alone that he nedeth no other cet It is vntruly and blasphemously saide of you that we woulde turmoile Christe euery houre and minute which you meane of his presence in the blessed sacrament from place to place that that pretiouse body of his being reserued for the benefite of Christian men is imprisoned We abhorre suche grosse and locall mutation as muche as yow We saye withe Chrisostome O miraculum O dei benignitatem qui cum patre sursum sedet in illo ipso temporis articulo omnium manibus pertractatur Lib. 3. de Sacerdotio O miracle o the benignitie of God which when he sitteth aboue
haue loked so farre in the 34. and 35. leafe of my firste booke Nowe to the place of Chore Dathan and Abiron of the whiche you saye Nowell B. 5. thus Concerning the reason made by Chore Dathan and Abiron that the people ought not to obeye their gouernours because they be all holye * These wordes and the lorde is emōgest them left oute by M. Nowell Dorman and that therefore the magistrates ought not to lifte them selues aboue the Lordes people it is not oure reason cet No in dede M. Nowell as you haue alleaged it it is not youre reason But if you had trulye reported it it woulde haue gone as nere to your reason as twelue pense to a shilling But you doe here as you did before with the reasons of Swenckfielde that is leaue oute the chiefe reason wherein the comparison is made and then crie oute vpon me for making suche wise comparisons Who seeth not that I compare you hereto these schismatikes refusing to obeye Moises and Aaron not because they saide they were all holy but because they added in ipsis est Dominus and the Lorde is present with the multitude as you refuse that one heade of Christes churche because Christ is present with his churche As for the wordes that you note here in the margent of youre boke multitudo sanctorum and populus domini papae as though you coulde thereby make some shewe that this place might be applyed to Chanon Chore Deane Dathan and his felowes it deserueth to be rather laughed at then answered seing that bothe it is a manifeste lye wherewith you sclaundre the cleargye who neuer called them selues the holy people of the greate Lorde of Rome as you here feine and also it is well knowen that what so euer libertyes and immunities the cleargye had the same were giuen as the faithe encreased by Emperours and kinges them selues and therefore they were moste far from the maner of reasoning vsed by these schismatikes Nowe whereas M. Dorman alleageth the Apologie as thus reasoning Nowell B. 25. that the churche hathe no neede of anie other ruler because Christ is with it truth it is if M. Dormā doe meane one only heade of the vniuersall church For Christe nedeth no suche generall gouernour seing he is bothe present him selfe continually by his spirite as he promised and also for that he hathe in euery peculier countrie and churche his Moises and Aaron that is to saye his feuerall deputies in his steede euerye where here in earth for that no one mortall man can possibly suffice to the gouernaunce of the whole worlde or churche c. If he nede gouernours of euery peculier churche where Dorman he is no lesse present then with the whole why nedeth he not aswell one chiefe heade to gouerne the whole who shall emongest so manie heades diuided into partes euerye one thinking his opinion to be best strike the stroke and preserue vnitie If yowe saie God maie so preserue euerie bishop that he fall not into heresie you put god to worke daily mo miracles then he doth to preserue the chiefe bisshop of all whiche yet you stagger to graunte as a thinge impossible The wordes folowing in youre Apologie that no one mortall man can suffice to the gouernement of the whole fo 96. a. 3. worlde or church I of my accustomed sinceritie omitted yow saye And what haue you gotten by it nowe you haue alleaged it youre selfe Verilie this that you will make all men vnderstande that god is able with you to doe no more then you list to giue him leaue but of this I haue entreated before sufficiently You saye that you are far from rebelling Nowell against youre naturall soueraigne and other gods ministers appointed to gouerne you c. But how farre M. Nowell I Dorman praie you Who made the boke of succession at home Who sounded the two traiterouse blastes against the mōstrouse regiment of women their Quene being a woman From whence were they blowen but from the lake of Gehenna Who grudgeth against the princes ordinaunce in matters indifferent and of small importance no greater then of a square cap Who made warre against their prince in Scotland Who set all Fraunce in an vprore against their king Who but that vnhappy vermine the protestants That which foloweth fol. 96. b. and 97. a. b. is answered before That the waye to ouerthrow Fol. 68. vsque ad fol. 106. heresies is not by the only scripture The 27. chapiter THIS matter hath bene sufficiently handled before in the 21. chapitre And allthough in me it be a greate faulte and highly laide to my charge to alleage thrise one place of scripture yet muste yowe good readers beare withe M. Nowell if he alleage his absurde and wicked assertions more then six times thrise and maie not in any wise twite him with the prouerbe Crambe his that to muche of one thing is naught yea allthough he neuer proue anie of them once But maie yowe not be ashamed M. Nowell so vniustly to M. Nowell repre hending other men for vnreuerent speaking of the scripture speaketh of all other most vnreuerētly him selfe charge Pighius and Hosius with vnreuerent speaking of the scripture when youre selfe in this place applie your prophane prouer be to signifie that to muche of scripture maie be nought that anie place thereof maie so often be alleaged that it shoulde become vnsauory By what auctoritie claime yow I praie yowe tell vs suche libertie that yowe maie speake of the scriptures that whiche is vnlaufull and plaine blasphemie and other maie not vse so muche as similitudes or comparisons betwene the scriptures and other prophane thinges Why is it laufull for yow so oftentimes to repeate these heathenishe wordes that it is impossible for one man assisted by gods grace for otherwise we affirme it not to gouerne the whole churche of Christe that we be like to the Phariseis and high priestes of the Iues you to Christe and his apostles that there ought no more to be one chiefe heade to gouerne the churche then one emperour to gouerne the whole worlde that the pope can not be iudge in his owne cause as though goddes cause were his owne priuate cause with suche like absurdities a nombre mo and maie not be laufull for me to alleage thrise the holie scripture of God to proue three seuerall pointes Firste that it coulde not be likely that God prouiding for his chosen The place of Deuter. alleaged by me thrise to three seuerall purposes people the Iues a chiefe and heade gouernour to ende and determine all their controuersies woulde not for his churche whiche he loueth more tendrely where he knewe shoulde be greater nede doe the like nexte to answere thereby youre foolishe reason Christe is heade of his churche and present allwaies withe it therefore there nedeth no other By which reason I saide that God shoulde haue prouided for the Iues no chiefe
addeth a cause whiche is Nowell fol. 107. a 10. the pyth of the matter saing thus Super illam petram aedificatem ecclesiam scio I knowe that vpon that rocke Peters chaire the churche is builded which is the cause why S. Hierome ioyned with Damasus will he saye Will you see what a perilouse brained man M. Nowell is Dorman He hathe readen my answere allready and can tell what it shall be before I vtter it the seconde time But you must giue him leaue sometimes to scoure his Rhetorike lest it wax rustye and therfore here vpon a brauery he setteth a lusty countenance vpon the matter and that which he knoweth can not be passed ouer in silence because it hathe bene moued allready he will so bring furthe the seconde time as though suche a pore catholike as I am had not had suche an obiection in store without I had first receiued it by his liberalitie euen as it were in the waye of all moise Yeat this I can not but mislike that as sone as he had giuen it it semeth that he wished that he had kepte it in his purse still for it foloweth But he maye be ashamed had he anie shame at all thus shamefully Nowell 14. by a false Parenthesis to intremingle these wordes Peters chaire in this sentence of S. Hierome and so to falsifie it as though S. Hierome had saide or ment in this place that the popes chaire is the rocke whereon the church is builded Well these be but wordes M. Nowell how proue yow Dorman that this is a false Parenthesis that S. Hierome ment not that the popes chaire as it is S. Peters chaire is the rocke whereō the churche is builded You re reasons to proue it folowe after that you haue charged me withe mangling of the sentence of S. Hierome in this wise For he did see that S. Hierome admonishing Damasus of humilitie Nowell b. 20. and withall professing him selfe to folowe no chiefe or heade but Christe not excepting Damasus case but rather affirming him not to be primum the chiefe maketh cleerely with vs who in this controuersie of the popes vsurped supremacy saie the same c. furthermore he did see that the wordes of S. Hierome folowing vpon this rocke I knowe the churche to be builded might and ought to be referred to Christe mentioned fol. 108. a. 1. by S. Hierome so nere before and by Petre confessed to be that rocke whereon the churche is builded and therefore M. Dorman left out of S. Hieromes sentence the mention of Christe that he might moste falsely and blasphemously refer the rocke to Peters chaire as though Peters rotten chaire or ruinouse Rome were the rocke whereon the churche of oure Sauioure Christe is builded You re proufes that this Parenthesis is false conteined Dorman in these wordes are two First because Hierome professed him selfe to folowe no chiefe or heade but Christe not excepting Damasus nexte because these wordes Vpon this rocke I knowe the churche to be builded ought to be referred to Christe c. as before To the firste I answere that you haue M. Nowell falsifieth S. Hierome in translating not delt honestlie and sincerely in translating the wordes nullum primum no chiefe or heade as though S. Hierome had bene of that opinion that he woulde professe him selfe to folow no other heade in earthe vnder Christe whiche if it had bene so howe agreeth this with youre owne He is contrary to him selfe wordes in this place that Damasus was S. Hieromes owne bishoppe If he were his bishop he was his chiefe or heade If he were his heade you will not I trust make him to mende youre owne cause a rebelliouse membre One of these two will folowe that either S. Hierome if youre translation were true condemneth all heades in earthe but onelye Christe or that he will obeye them as far as he list him selfe Is not this sincere handling trowe you of the fathers writinges Is not this wholesom doctrine that you woulde make them to be patrones of But I praie you that translate this worde nullum primum so diuersly three maner of waies in little more then the cōpasse of one leafe first interpreting it no chiefe or heade fol. 107. b. 5. lyne then in the same side 15. no chiefe heade Last of all fol. 108. b. 21. no heade tel vs when you write nexte to whiche of these interpretations you will stande For the second interpretation a man might graunte to you and without preiudice to vs or gaine to you For it is true in dede that in respecte of Christ there is no absolute chiefe heade but he the pope is but chiefe and supreme heade nexte vnder Christe Although this were not in this place the meaning of S. Hierome but only to signifie that nexte after Christe he ioyned him selfe to Peters chaire and that he folowed nullum primum nisi Christum none first but Christ as muche to saie as Christ first and Damasus of all other next after Youre nexte proufe that the worde rocke shoulde be referred to Christe and not to Peters chaire because Christe is mentioned so nere before and by Petre confessed to be that rocke whereon the churche is builded leaneth to a verie fickle and weake grounde and maketh me to thinke that at the leaste you nodded M. Nowell if you slepte not downe right when you wrote this For if you take the boke waking into youre hande once againe you shall I dare M. Nowell ouer throwen by his owne reason assure you finde that the worde Peters chaire is nearer to the worde rocke then is Christe so that by youre owne argument and reason it foloweth that the worde rocke shoulde be referred to Peters chaire placed so neare before Whereas you saye that Petre confessed Christe to be that rocke whereon the churche is builded where hathe Petre those wordes Note the place in youre nexte writing elles will it be thought that you make and coine scripture at your pleasure We denye not notwithstanding but that Christe is the rocke whereon the churche is builded although in Sainte Petre those words be not so to be found Yeat foloweth it not that therefore Peters chaire or Petre for bothe is here taken for one is not also the rocke whereon it is builded For Christe is Fundamentum primum maximum the chiefe and greatest fundation as witnesseth S. Augustine reconciling together these places of the scripture no man can In psalm 86. 1. Cor 3. Ephes 2. laye an other fundation then that which is layed which is Christe Iesus and this Builded vpon the fundation of the Apostles and prophetes and Petre is also a foundation nexte after Christe As to make the matter plaine by example if a man woulde builde a house vpon a rocke that rocke were the How Christ is the rocke and howe Peter chiefe and principall foundation for it hathe soliditie and strength of it selfe not of
vnlearned you vse termes like youre selfe against this chaire of S. Petre minding as I take it to persuade that I shoulde drawe S. Hieromes wordes to suche a meaning as that he shoulde meane that Christes churche were builded vpon a materiall chaire You maye be ashamed M. Nowel where you lacke iust matter to blotte paper and waste incke with suche cauilling triffles as euerie man that hath common sense wil as sone as they haue passed once youre mouthe be hable to discouer and reproue Dothe not S. Hierome in this place make twise expresse mention of Petres chaire Why triumphe you not ouer him as you crowe against me with youre foolishe and vnsauory Rhetorike and saie that he was well occupied to write from Siria to Rome for councell from a rotten chaire that he was a wise man to ioyne him selfe in communion theretoe Who seeth not that yow woulde haue taken the matter as whotly with S. Hierome as you doe with me hauing as good cause alltogether sauing that yow feared the burning of youre lippes I saie therefore M. Nowell that VVhat S. Hierome ment by Peters chayre S. Hierome to answere you in this pointe if you were so verie a dolt that you vnderstode it not before by building the churche vpon Petres chaire meaneth euen as he did in those two places before where you can not denie but that he maketh expresse mention of that chaire Sainte Hierome meaneth there no materiall chaire and therefore no rotten chaire as you like a rotten membre and deuided from the churche blasphemously saie He meaneth as Matt◠23 Christe doeth in the ghospell speaking of Moises chaire as the fathers Cipriā Epiphanius Austen Ambrose Optatus and the rest doe as often as they vse this worde that is to saie by the chayre the power and bishoplike auctoritie which Petre hauing giuē to him cōmitted to his successours For euē as a riuer though it runne manie thousandes of miles leeseth not yeat but reteineth neuerthelesse the name of the founteine and heade spring from whence it came so fareth it in the succession of bishoppes that how many so euer there be that succede yeat they are all saide to possesse the chaire of him that ruled firste yea allthough euerie of them had made for him selfe a newe chaire For the matter consisteth not as I saide before in materiall chaires no more then doth the opening or shutting of heauen gates depende vpon materiall keyes And as well might you like a Lucianist or a Porphirian haue scoffed at Christe for saing that the scribes and Phariseis sate vpon Moises chaire which if they had had emōgest them if euer Moises sate in anie should at that time haue bene as rotten as is S. Petres nowe there being betwene Moises and S. Petre not manie fewer yeares then are nowe betwene S. Petre and oure time or for making keyes for heauen as yow doe against me But to let this passe and to exaggerate no furder that for the which at the handes of suche as be of the learneder and wiser sorte you are like to susteine punishment enough by incurring the note of this infamie to be no learned reasoner but a railing wrangler I will nowe as compendiously as maie be iustifie the inserting of this Parenthesis Peters chaire First these wordes vpon this rocke I knowe the churche to be builded ought to be referred rather as youre selfe before confessed and in this case if in anie you ought to be beleued for you haue bene a scholemaister and practised better in the gramer rules then in the scriptures and fathers writinges to the wordes that go nearest before but the wordes Peters chaire are placed nearest before Therefore by youre owne confession the building of the churche ought to be referred thither Againe S. Hierome in this place it is to be presumed alluded in these wordes I knowe the churche to be buylded on that rocke to the wordes of the ghospell Tues petrus super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam Thow Matt. 16. arte Petre and vpon this rocke wil I builde my church But in that place Christe appointed an other fundation of the church beside him selfe to wit Peter It foloweth therefore that S. Hierome in this place ment not of Christ but of Peters chaire that is Peters auctoritie or Peter him selfe Thirdly it is more then probable that sainte Hierome mēt not in this place of building the churche vpon Christe only but vpon Petre also nexte after Christe because to him that with iudgement wil reade the epistle considre duly the circunstances especially the beginning it shal appeare that his whole talcke is so framed that whereas of purpose and directly he maketh mention of consulting Peters chaire off ioyning him selfe to Peters chaire and in that whole discourse of his setteth furthe the praises of the churche off Rome he speaketh of Christe but incidently and as it were by the waie of a parenthesis and that toe to auaunce the dignitye of the See of Rome as before the which he woulde preferre he saide none but Christe The whiche being so what sounde iudgement will not rather refer these wordes aboute whiche the controuersie is to that whiche is principally and directly handled rather then to that which is mentioned but incidently and indirectly Last of all it is to be iudged that S. Hierome agreeth here with his owne writinges in other places Nowe is this euident that euen the thirde epistle before thys he saieth in plaine wordes that the churche was builded vppon Petre. His wordes are Apostolus Petrus super quem Dominus fundauit ecclesiam Tom. 2. epist ad Marcellā Petre the Apostle vpon whom our lorde founded his churche Thus you see good Readers I trust howe falselye and withoute all cause M. Nowell hathe quarelled with me for this parenthesis added only to make more plaine the wordes of Saint Hierome It foloweth that I showe to you howe he prosecuteth his purposed malice by the auctorities of Erasmus and S. Augustine in the 108. 109. and 110. leaues Erasmus saieth M. Nowell cleane contrarye to all papistes Nowell fol. 108. a. 18. saieth in his notes vpon these wordes Super illam petram c. Non super Romam vt arbitror c. That is to saie Vpon that rocke not vpon Rome I trowe c. From Erasmus thus farre we dissent not that we knowe Dorman as well as he that the church was not built vpō Rome For if Rome were sacked as God forbid to morowe nexte the church should continue neuerthelesse although the bishop went from thence and shoulde sit at the meanest towne in all Italye or elles where As for that that he woulde haue the churche to be builded by S. Hieromes meaning vppon Peters faithe that first he affirmeth not confidently but saieth he troweth so next it maye be saide that in this place Erasmus telleth his owne opinion in the other place off this epistle vpon these wordes Extra hanc domum without this
house he confesseth the minde of S. Hierome whiche he saieth was vtterly that all churches ought to be vndre the Romaine See or no strangers from it If Erasmus in his interpretation before saing that the churche was not as he thought builded vpon Rome but vpon the faith of Petre agree with S. Hierome in this pointe that all churches be subiect to the Romaine See howe happeneth it that you and youre fellowes to withdrawe all men from this subiection to that See make that principle that the churche was builded not vpon Rome but vpon Petres his faithe youre chiefe grounde seing that in Erasmus iudgement bothe might stande well inoughe together Iff on the contrarye parte this interpretation made by Erasmus can not agree with the minde of Saint Hierome Why shoulde we rather credite Erasmus not sure off his owne opinion then S. Hierome confidently affirming the contrarye Yea and furder the same Erasmus in the beginning of his argument Nowell fol. 108. b. 1. vpon his treatye against the Luciferians whiche is nexte to his two epistles to Damasus hathe these wordes Nulla haeresis grauius afflixit c. No heresie hathe more grieuously afflicted the churches of all the worlde then the Arrians in so muche that it hathe wrapped in the bishoppes of Rome and the emperours them selues It pleaseth M. Dorman sometime to alleage Erasmus against vs whose auctoritye if it be good downe goeth the pope and all popery For if the bishoppes of Rome haue bene infected with heresie then is not there that vniuersall rocke As good men as Erasmus and better to haue susteined Dorman the contrary that there was neuer bishoppe of Rome heretike But if there had it foloweth not thereof that there is not that vniuersall rocke Let that be the answere till I come to youre question What if the Pope be an heretike Nowe if M. Dorman did not see these notes of Erasmus vpon Nowell b. 16. the place by him alleaged out of S. Hierome I praise his diligence he maye of Dorman be called Dormitantius as S. Hierome whome he falsely alleageth called Vigilantius and more iustlye bothe by nature and sounde of name may M. Dorman be so called then euer was Vigilantius by S. Hierome c. I sawe them and vnderstode them it appeareth better Dorman then you Reade S. Hierome contra Vigilantium ad Exuperium and then see who is likely by S. Hieromes minde to be called Dormitantius you who with that drowsy sleeping heretike raile against the tapers and lightes in the churche the worshipping of sainctes the reuerent keping of their blessed relikes or I who with saint Hierome mainteine the contrary But I thinke euen for that cause a little thinge woulde make yow to call S. Hierome Dormitantius to for it appeareth that it pleased yow neuer a deale that he shoulde so roughly handle youre deare frinde and therefore yow prefer youre allusion to my name before that of his to the name of Vigilantius But I woulde counsell yow M. No-well either to gette yow some new trym name such as is Theodore Basile or some suche like or elles to leaue scoffing at other till this that yow haue conteining nothing well in it maie be mended Because yowe perceiued that Erasmus either made little for youre purpose or that his auctoritie woulde not be muche set by yow saie But if Erasmus iudgement be nothing worthe c. I will yeat in Christes quarell that he is the rocke and not Petres rotten Nowell B. 26. chaire bring furthe one witnes not onelie greater then Erasmus but also equall with S. Hierome and aboue all papistes in credite and auctoritie S. Austen in his 13. sermon vpon the ghospell off Mathew Yow fight with your owne shadowe M. Nowell when Dorman Fol. 109. ◠1. yow imagine to encountre with anie matche that shoulde offre Christe wrong No man denieth to Christe that excellencie to be the rocke of his churche yow maie therfore put vp youre dagger the fraie was donne before it begonne But yeat hereof it foloweth not that therefore Petres chaire that is to saie Peter is not also a fundation in Christe the first and greatest fundation as a little before I showed To the auctoritie of S. Austen I answere that euen as youre other witnesse that yowe brought before Erasmus durst in this case affirme nothing boldely but only shewed his minde doubtefully so is S. Austen in this question as it Lib. 1. Retractat cap. 21. appeareth in his worckes not fully resolued For in his first booke of Retractations where yow saie most impudently that he repeateth and mainteineth moste earnestlie this interpretation An impudent lye made vpō 12. S. Austen B. 18. that Christe and not Petre is the rocke he proposing bothe the interpretations that Peter is the rocke as he confessed that the same sense he had bothe him selfe giuen in writing against Donatus and was song in his time by the mouthe of manye in the verses of S. Ambrose where speaking of the cocke he saieth Hoc ipsa petra ecclesiae canente culpam diluit at the singing of this cocke the rocke of the churche him selfe purged his faulte he proposing I saie this sense and also that other that Christ is that rocke concludeth in this wise Harum autem duarum sententiarum quae sit probabilior eligat lector Of these two opinions let the reader chose that whiche he thinketh moste probable Is this M. Nowell to defende moste earnestly that Christe and not Petre is the rocke to sett men at libertie to beleue in this pointe as they list Is this the candor the sincere and vpright dealing that yowe speake so muche of But if yowe will yeat by no meanes graunte that S. Austen doubted of this pointe if he were resolued on anie parte I will proue by alleaging diuerse places against this one of youres that he thought as we doe and not with yow First in a sermon that he made of Petres chaire he hathe these wordes Petrū itaque fundamentū ecclesiae dominus nominauit August Serm. de cathedra S. Petri ideo digné fundamentū hoc ecclesia colit supra quod ecclesiastici aedificij altitudo cōsurgit That is to saie Our Lord therfore named Petre the fundation of the church and for that cause dothe the churche worthily worship this fundation vpon the whiche the heigth of the ecclesiasticall building riseth Againe in an other place speaking of the firste miracle Sermon de Sanct. 26. that S. Petre did in restoring to a lame man the vse of his feete he writeth thus Audistis frequenter ipsum Petrum a Act. 3. domino petram nuncupatum sicut ait Tu es Petrus super Matth. 16. hanc petram oedificabo ecclesiam meam Si ergo Petrus petra est supra quam aedificatur ecclesia recté prius pedes sanat vt sicut in ecclesia fidei fundamentum continet ita in homine membrorum
of Rome as Erasmus hathe noted yet he knowing or some man warning him that the house withoute the whiche the paschall lambe maye not be eaten the arke c. by all doctours is interprete to be the one vniuersall church of Christe and by none to be the churche of Rome therefore like a wise man or elles a false fox he let that folowing alone also as he cut of Christe the heade going and ioyned nexte before and so he hathe tolde you a tale bothe withoute heade and tayle thereby to proue the pope who is Antichrist to be the heade of Christes churche Is not this M. Nowell more then intollerable impudencie Dorman to charge me with fraude for the leauing out of that sentence then which there is none either in the workes of S. Hierome him selfe or anie of the other learned doctours that more maketh for the dignitye of the see of Rome for the omitting whereof in my boke I deserued rather to be noted at the catholikes handes of ouermuche simplicitye then at youres of fraude and sutteltye But howe truly here let the place itselfe iudge Omitting Erasmus whose iudgement nowe you condemne which yeat in me might haue bene counted some pointe of leuitie if I had euer praised him as you did before to be no vnskillfull or negligent viewer of the olde fathers writinges I will come to the place it selfe whiche I doubte not but by construing for I truste although you care not muche for the rules of the churche you owe yeat for olde acquaintaunce youre reuerence to the rules of Grammer to make bothe you and other men to vnderstād also how much this place maketh for me and howe little cause I had to suppresse it and howe muche yet lesse you had to make anye mention of it Saint Hieromes wordes therefore concerning this matter are these Ego nullum primum nisi Christum sequens beatit udini tuae id est cathedrae Petri communione consocior Super illam petram aedificatam ecclesiam scio Quicunque extra hanc domum agnum comederit prophanus est Nowe let vs construe M. Nowell Ego I sequens folowing nullum primum none first nisi Christum but Christ cōsocior am ioyned communione in communion beatitudini tuae to thy holynesse id est that is to saie cathedrae Petri to the chaire of Petre. Super illā petrā vpō that rocke what rocke M. Nowel but the same chaire of Peter to the whiche he professed him selfe to be ioyned in communion going nexte before these wordes scio I knowe ecclesiam the churche aedificatam to be builded Quicunque who so euer comederit shall eate agnum the lambe extra hanc domú out of this house prophanus est is prophane Now these wordes being truly by me thus construed euerye man learned and vnlearned maye see that S. Hierome by the house whiche he here mentioneth ment Christes vniuersall churche but builded Super illam petram vpon that rocke whiche rocke in the wordes nexte before he called Petres chaire to saie Petres auctoritie If you can construe them otherwise and make them to haue any other relation then this and proue it by the rulers of Gramer you maye vaunt that you haue showed vs a scholemasters tricke that neuer was harde of yeat But I am halfe in dispare that you shall euer be able seing that youre frinde Erasmus as good a Grammarian as you and as euill in a maner affected to the See of Rome as appeareth in diuerse places by his notes and censures coulde finde no suche shifte and therefore was faine as you muste at the length to confesse the truthe that S. Hierome was of the minde that all churches shoulde be subiecte to the churche of Rome or at the least no strangers from it Nowe whereas you saye that this house that S. Hierome mentioneth is of none interprete to be the churche of Rome what were that to oure purpose if it were so seing it is interprete of the vniuersall churche whiche is of all the auncient fathers acknowledged to be builded vpon Peters chaire as S. Hierome saieth here and as hathe bene declared before S. Cyprian who calleth the churche of Rome for that cause catholicae fidei Lib. 4. epist 8. radicem matricem the rocke and mother churche of the catholike churche Yeat lacke there not also fathers that in a sense that is as in the churche of Rome all other churches are conteined call it also by the name of the catholike churche As in effect S. Ambrose did when he called Damasus the pope ruler of the whole church which he coulde by no meanes be but as he was bishop of Rome Thus In commēt in cap. 3. 1. Tim. muche maie serue for my purgation that I haue not delt fraudulently in leauing out this parte of S. Hieromes sentence Nowe let vs procede Yow make much adoe about Vitalis and Meletius and saie that I saie vntrulie that S. Hierome saieth he knoweth not Nowell fo 111. a. 1. them because they were aduersaries to the seate of Rome the cause being because they were aduersaries to the true doctrine of the moste blessed Trinitie whiche Damasus did defende I reporte me to the learned whether I had cause to saie Dorman so or no not because of these wordes who so euer gathereth not with the scattreth alone which might perhappes be trulie spoken to anie other catholike bishop but because of the circumstances that go before ioyned to these as the consulting of Petres chaire the ioyning of him selfe thereto in communion To the whiche because they did not ioyne them selues as he did he refused them If yow had spoken no more vntrulie then I yowe woulde not to colour the matter the better haue imagined that emongest other causes why S. Hierome kepte not these schismatikes companie one was because they were foriners and not his owne bishoppes an other for that they were of a strange language Ah M. Nowell did yow nodde here that yowe coulde not see that S. Hierome affirmeth that the folowed the Aegiptian confessors the bishop of Romes felowe bishoppes Were not they as muche foriners to him as were Vitalis and Meletius was not their language as strange Yeat yow vpon this desire the reader to note that S. Hierome woulde B. 25. not knowe Vitalis and Meletius because they were foriners not his owne bishoppes c. And so make a comparison betwene youre refusall of the pope and S. Hieromes refusall of these schismatikes laing for a grounde without anye proufe that the pope is a foriner and hathe nothing to doe withe yow Of the place of S. Austen taken out of the 110. question of his questions vpon the olde and newe testament The 29. chapiter HERE M. Nowell vpon the censure of Erasmus of this worcke of S. Austens maketh this shorte but sharpe conclusion against me So that it were to muche impudency for Nowell fo 112. a. 30. Dorman anie man but only M.
Dorman to alleage it for S. Augustines Beholde I praie the good Reader in what credite Erasmus is nowe sodenly with M. Nowell whome before noting S. Hierome to be of the minde that all churches shoulde be subiect to the See of Rome he estemed so little Then he was no body nowe hauing wonne M. Nowelles fauour againe he is so extolled that to denie that whiche he shall affirme or contrarywise is extreme impudency so greate a matter is it to be in his good grace But I praie you M. Nowell in what case then are those shamefull shamefast and modest maisters I woulde haue saide the compilers of youre Apologie who notwithstanding his iudgement vpon S. Austens libri Hypognosticon haue yeat with to much impudency for anie man but onelye for them alleaged them against purgatory What case are yow in youre selfe who notwithstandinge Erasmus iudgement vpon that worcke taken for Chrisostomes vpon the ghospell of S. Mathewe were not ashamed as modest as yow woulde seme Opus imperfectum to be to alleage it against vs I will not be so malapert as to compare withe youre Apologie but surely me thinketh of reason I might as well vse anie thing in this worcke of S. Austens as yow in that of Chrisostome If the difference betwene oure two cases be that yowe handle the matter rhetorically calling the auctor an auncient auctor printed withe Chrisostome and of longe time taken for him whereas I giuing no suche credite nor reuerence neither to Erasmus iudgemente of the true or countrefeite writinges of the olde doctours like a plaine blunt felowe alleage the place as I finde it I will sone mende that faulte if it be one and by imitation saie as yow doe an auncient auctor printed withe S. Augustin and of long time taken for him And nowe what saie yow to this auncient auctor First yow saie that the greatest parte of these wordes alleaged Nowell by me be not to be founde in the place by me noted I graunte nor it is not necessary for I doe not so alleage Dorman the place as though euerie worde shoulde be there I doe allude only to S. Austens wordes It is enough that there is there sufficient to proue youre chaire a chaire of pestilence and youre bodie a bodie without a heade Make of it then a tronck or what yowe list elles For the better declaration herof I will reporte here the wordes of S. Austen or rather this auncient auctor that I misse not my termes printed withe S. Austen and of longe time taken for him whiche are these Quoniam cathedram pestilentiae non esse de August in ques◠veter noui test q. 110. dei ordinatione asseuer auimus etiam eorum qui extra ecclesiam vel contra ecclesiam sedes sibi instituerunt cathedram pestilentiae esse dicimus Qui enim inconcessa praesumit reus est quanto magis si corrumpat traditionem eius cuius sedem vsurpat Nam ordinem ab Apostolo Petro coeptū vsque ad hoc tempus per traducem succedentiū episcoporū seruatū perturbant ordinem sibi sine origine vendicantes hoc est corpus sine capite profitentes vnde congruit etiam eorum sedem cathedram pestilentiae appellare That is to saye for as moche as we affirmed that the chaire of pestilence was not of gods ordinaunce euen their chaire also we call the chaire of pestilence who haue made them selues sees without or against the churche For he that presumeth vpon that which he ought not is guilty how much more if he also corrupte the tradition of him whose seate he vsurpeth For they trouble the ordre begonne of Petre the Apostle and kepte to this time by the continuance of bishoppes succeding chalenging to them selues ordre without beginning that is to saye professing a bodie without a heade * These wordes M. Nowell trāslated falsely thus wherefore it is agreable their seate allso to appeare to be the chaire of pestilence Wherefore it is agreable to call their seate also the chaire of pestilence Hetherto S. Austen or c Of whose wordes I reason thus who so euer make them selues sees against the churche or out of the churche whiche hath continuall succession of bishoppes from S. Peter sit in the chaire of pestilence But oure counterfeit bishoppes of England doe so ergo their chaire is the chaire of pestilence The maior is proued by this auncient auctor the minor allso by him because they trouble the ordre begonne of Petre and continued by the succession of bishoppes to their time They trouble this ordre because they chalenge to them selues ordre without beginning as they who deriue it not from S. Petre the chiefe rocke after Christe and are a bodie without a heade The which thing if you denie M. Nowell thē let vs loke to the ordre begōne of Petre. what was that Let S. Cyprian tel you who in his boke de simplicitate praelatorū or rather De vnitate ecclesiae witnesseth that God by his auctoritie disposed the beginning of vnitie to begin of one that was Petre. If this were the ordre begonne of Petre who seeth not who be the troublers of this ordre We that for vnities sake admitte but one chiefe heade bishop vnder Christe and no other but suche as be deriued from him or yow that will haue manie heades without suche ordinary deriuation Hath not this ordre bene kepte in the church euer since by the continuance of bishoppes without interruption till youre vnhappy time Peruse if you list the ordre in oure churche of England of the bishoppes of Cauntorburie for example beginning at william Warham the last catholike bishop before heresie founde first entreteinement there and so ascende by degrees till you come to sainte Austen oure English Apostle In all this succession the space of allmoste a thousande yeares this ordre hathe bene continued in Englande so that you are not able to shewe for youre liues anie one of all those bishoppes that continued not this ordre begonne of S. Petre. Nowe staye not here but from S. Austen the first bishoppe of Cauntorburie go to him from whence he receiued that ordre to Gregory the bishop of Rome from Gregory to Pelagius from him to Benedictus and so in ordre to S. Petre and name if you can one of them in whom this ordre was not kepte This being most true where began nowe your ordre Who was the auctor thereof but frier Luther From whom conueighed he this ordre but from Sathan the father of all disordre and lorde of all misrule If it be not so proue the contrary If you doe not disturbe the ordre begonne of S. Petre then acknowledge one heade bishop ouer the reast and kicke not against Gods ordonaunce who hath so disposed that the vnitie of the churche shoulde begin of one that is of Petre. Confesse that the cause during still why as saieth saint Hierome sainte
you haue hearde were yeat emongest the religiouse in the primitiue church You see how often he repeateth and neuer proueth that it is impossible for one man to gouerne the whole churche You see that Nazianzenes wordes were not alleaged by me as spoken of one pope and that therfore therein as in manie other thinges he hathe also beelied me You see the wordes of an auncient auctor printed with S. Austen and of long time taken for him alleaged why not as boldely M. Nowel as you without blusshing alleage a worcke by the title of being printed withe Chrisostome and of long time taken for him And vniuersally you see M. Nowelles falsehode in translating or fraude in corrupting mangling or adding to suche auctors as he dothe alleage you see his lyes as thicke as leaues You see my selfe discharged of suche false translating corrupting mangling as here vntruly he reproueth me of 5. tymes in the margent Neither is his deceite and fol. 120. b. 30. guile comparable to his impudency as being not abasshed to alleage the epistle of the African councell sent to Celestinus for the proufe of a decree pretended to be made in the councell against appealing from thence to Rome and sending legates from Rome thither whereas there is no suche decree specified there And thus you see good Readers while M. Nowell in this long Reproufe of his hathe answered nothing to the scripture alleaged but moste vainely and fondly this that God hathe prouided better for his churche then for the Synagoge by apointing ouer it many heades where as the Synagoge had but one and also that the Iues were but one nation c. which answeres haue bene cōfuted before while the argument taken from S. Cyprian and S. Hierom concluding that seing schismes be raised by not obeing the particuler heades of euery diocesse that then by greater reason schismes are like to growe in the vniuersall church if emongest so manie heades there be not one chiefe heade to rule the rest is not yeat soluted while the reason that euerie seuerall companie that is one ought to haue a seuerall heade to rule the same applied to the churche hath not hetherto bene answered the only reason that M. Nowell leaneth to to the contrarie that it is impossible for one man to gouerne the whole churche being directed by the spirite of God for otherwise we affirme it not neuer being proued it foloweth that my prouffes by the scripture by the mindes of the auncient fathers by good and probable reason stande vpright against youre wrangling Reproufe M. Nowell You re charging of me with impertinent discourses I answered before let the iudgement of that matter be referred to the learned reader But beholde nowe foloweth M. Nowelles conclusion Seing therfore this first and moste principall pointe of one heade of the churche is not proued c. all the popes supremacie Nowell commeth downe vpon their heades If I had proued this first pointe as weakely as you woulde Dorman make men beleue I haue or not proued it all yeat commeth not downe the popes supremacy as before in the beginning of the. 11. cbapitre I shewed And therfore for the councell that you giue me here out of time to recoyle from this Thesis of one heade of the churche to the Hypothesis of the pope heade of the churche as there is no nede to admit it so there is no cause to thanke you for it You saie that I haue placed in the residue of my booke as in the rerewarde bag and baggage withe suche pages drudges Nowell and slaues to attende vpon the same as are more readie to runne awaye then to abide anie brunt of battaile The which saie you I haue not as yeat assailed for that I saw the B. of Sarisbury his bāde bent vpon them whose hādes if anie of that cowardly company escape c. I promise to haue them shortly in the chase vntill I haue left of all M. Dormans bragging but moste cowardly army of lewde popishe reasons and allegations not asmuch as one souldiour vntaken or put to shamefull flight Take heade what you doe and aske councel of your wife Dorman It is possible that the fauourable aspecte of Venus may moderate youre Martiall fury In any case if this great bishoppes bande that you speake of encountre not with this cowardly company as I heare saye he hath inough to doe already and wil combre him selfe with no more venture not your owne person so good a mannes bodye against suche drudges and slaues Against whom as it is possible that you may take some hurte so are you suer neuer to gett honour What should so valiant a capitaine as ful oftē times you haue at Paules crosse shewed your selfe to be when that coragiouse stomacke of youres hath prouoked the papistes to meete with you when they durst whose daggers were as sharpe as theirs you tolde thē when you offere your selfe with a small cōpanie but yeat so that they were of the same spirite that you are to kepe Newehauen against all the power of Fraunce when it woulde you saide doe youre harte good to rase youre buckler vpon a papistes face What shoulde I save so singuler a capitaine matche him selfe with suche a sorte of pages drudges and slaues as were those mecocke and dastardly bishoppes assembled in the coūcelles of Nice Constantinople Ephesus Calcedon as were Beholde what pages drudges and slaues M. Nowell hath foūde oute Ignatius Policarpus Irinaeus Ambrose Hierome Augustine Chrisostome Athanasius Theodoret Leo Innocentius whome I placed as it were in the rerewarde more likelier as you saye to runne awaye or to bide by it and laye their heades vpon the blocke then to plaie the tosse buckler to kepe a holde with you or to dye in the fielde armed with youre maister Swinglius But thanked be God this is but youre opinion and a fewe other suche Bulliners as you are emongest the learned they haue bene allwayes taken to be as they are triarij milites of the verie best souldiors M. Nowell Of this question whether a laye man a woman or a childe maye be heade of the church The last Chapitre THIS being the second pointe of my purposed ordre to proue that the partye that shoulde gouerne in spirituall matters ought to be a prieste no laye man c. it is a worlde to see howe M. Nowell bestyrreth him selfe aboute it and whereas he dareth not come neare to it howe yeat he reacheth at it a farre of as it were with a long pole or a morispike and so laboureth to saue his honour as well as maye be For he saieth that I proue those thinges whiche no man dothe denye to witte that no prince man woman nor childe maie ministre the sacramentes preache excommunicate and absolute c. And lo this is the ioly pretense that M. Nowell maketh to shifte his handes of this seconde pointe as that wherein for excuse of his silence he saieth that
did to those that obiected to Lib. 5. ep 32. him the Emperours auctoritie in matters of religion Soluimus quae sunt Caesaris Caesari quae sunt dei deo Tributuâ— Caesaris est non negatur Ecclesia dei est Caesari vtique non debet addici quia ius Caesaris esse non potest templum dei Quod cum honorificentiâ— Imperatoris nemo dictum potest negare Quid enim honorificeÌ„tius quaÌ„ vt imperator ecclesiae filius esse dicatur Quod sine peccato dicitur cum gratia dicitur Imperator enim bonus inâ—ra ecclesiam non supra ecclâ—siam est We paye to Cesar that which is his and to God that whiche belongeth to God Tribute is due to Cesar it is not denied him The churche is goddes it maye not apperteine to Cesar because the temple of God can not be Caesars right The whiche no man can denie to be saied but with the Emperours honour For what is more honorable then for the Emperour to be called the sonne of the churche The whiche when it is said it is spoken with fauour without offence For a good Emperour is within the church not aboue the churche Thus muche S. Ambrose a prowde prieste by youre iudgement because he acknowledged not the Emperour to be his supreme gouernour in causes ecclesiasticall But because you thinke M. Nowell and saye also that I haue lewdely abused my selfe in confuting that whiche no man holdeth I will make it appeare that you haue lewdely done in so saing and that I went not about to proue that the heade is not the heade because it can not or list not doe all offices of all the principall meÌ„bres of the bodie which you saie vntruly is the effecte of all my seconde long treaty but that temporall princes can not be the heades because they can not doe the office of the heade The whiche to proue I will alleage youre owne wordes wherein the parte of a heade you saye consisteth They are these To commaunde thinges aswell ecclesiasticall as ciuile to be done Nowell to see them done to commende and rewarde all well doers of them to correct and punishe all euill doers of them or negligent in their office is the parte of a heade or supreame gouernour to doe thinges commaunded is the office of inferiour membres and obedient subiectes We haue now good Reader M. Nowels owne limitatioÌ„ Dorman wherein the office of the heade of the church consisteth I praie the coÌ„sidre when I alleaged scripture that the gouernemeÌ„t Act. 20. of the church was coÌ„mitted to bishoppes and priestes that they must be obeied which watche for oure soules spoken also of priestes Hebr. 13. when I alleaged the blessed martyr Ignatus bidding vs Epist. ad SmirneÌ„â—es first to honour God nexte the bishop as bearing his image and then after that the king willing all the people to obeye Epist ad Piladelphenses Lib. 10. cap. 2 eccl histor Ambros lib. 5. epi. 32. the Emperour the Emperour to obey the bisshop the bisshop Christe c. wheÌ„ I alleaged the exaÌ„ple of ConstaÌ„tine the first Christian Emperour refusing to iudge ouer bisshoppes because God had giuen them power to iudge him when I alleaged these wordes of S. Ambrose to the Emperour Quando audisti clementissime imperator in causa fidei laicos de episcopo iudicasse Ita ergo quadaÌ„ adulatione curuamur vt sacerdotalis iuris simus immemores quod deus donauit mihi hoc ipse putem alijs esse credendum Si docendus est episcopus a laico quid sequitur Laicus ergo disputet episcopus audiat episcopus discat a laico At certe si velscripturaruÌ„ seriem diuinaruÌ„ vel vetera tempora retractemus quis est qui abnuat in causa fidei in causa inquam fidei episcopos solerede imperatoribus non imperatores de episcopis iudicare Eris deo fauente etiam senectutis maturitate prouectior tunc de hoc censebis qualis ille episcopus sit qui laicis ius sacerdotale substernit That is to saye when haue you hearde moste gentle Emperour that laye men haue iudged of the bishop Be we therefore so crookened withe flattrye that we shoulde forget the priestly right and that whiche God gaue to me I shoulde thinke to be to be commited to other If the bishop be to be taught of the Laye man what will folowe Let the laye man then dispute and the bishoppe be a hearer let the bishoppe learne off the laye man But truly if we will loke to the course of the Note holy scripture or call to memorye the times past who can denye that in a cause of faithe a matter I saie of faithe the bishoppes were wont to iudge of Christian Emperours not Emperours of bishoppes Yow shall be God willing youre selfe one daye of more ripe age and then you shall iudge what maner of bishoppe he is whiche bringeth the right of priesthode in subiection to lay men Thus farre the wordes of Sainte Ambrose to Valentinian the Emperoure taking vpon him by euell councell to entremedle in ecclesiasticall iurisdiction When to these places I added the notable testimonies out of Athanasius where the Emperour In epist ad Solitar vitam agent is bidden not to entremedle nor commaunde in ecclesiasticall matters He is called Antichriste for making him selfe chiefe of the bishoppes for ruling in ecclesiasticall iudgementes for making his palace the consistory of ecclesiasticall matters Finally when I brought Caluin him selfe against this opinion of making temporall princes the heades in ecclesiasticall matters did I fight with mine owne shadowe Did I laboure in confuting that whiche no man holdeth Are not these auctorities directly against the commaunding of princes in ecclesiasticall thinges against the taking vpon them to correcte or iudge bishoppes in matters of faithe wherein the office M. Nowell saieth of the heade dothe consiste You maye therefore nowe perceiue good Readers that it was but a pretended cause of M. Nowelles parte that he here alleageth to shift of that to M. Iuell at the least from him selfe whiche he was suer he shoulde neuer be able to answere Wherefore nowe to conclude with you M. Nowell I will giue you this frendely councell for a farewell to striue no longre against priestes lest it happen to you that the blessed Martyr S. Cyprian saieth was reuealed to him Qui Lib. 4. epist 9. Christo non credit sacerdotem facienti postea credere in ipiet sacerdotem vindicaÌ„ti He that beleueth not Christ appointing the prieste shall after begin to beleue him reueâ—ging the prieste Struggle no longer against the See of Rome of the A singulier testimonie â—or the churche of Rome It maye be added be fore fol. 192. b. Psal contra paâ—em Donati which S. Augustine saieth Ipsa est sedes Petri quam non vincunt superbae inferorum portae That See is the rocke whiche the proude gates of hell shall not ouercome For iff you doe you are like to leese youre labour as you see except a lymme you thinke be able to doe more then the wide gates off the diuells palace ¿ Deo Gratias Quandoquidem Liber iste perlectus approbatus est a viris Sacrae Theologiae linguae Anglicanae peritissimis iudico eum suto posse imprimi euulgari Ita testor iudico Cunerus Petri pastor Sancti Petri Louaniensis 16. Octobris Anno. 1561.